The balloon drifted closer… toward the center of the clearing.
"What the hell…?"
"Why is there a balloon here?"
"Did someone get lost in this forest?"
One of the men frowned.
"I don't think so… but look at how it moves. There's no wind."
The red balloon swayed slowly from side to side, as if it were breathing.
The boss remained still.
Watching it.
And then…
Everything became strange.
The air grew heavy.
The temperature dropped suddenly.
A faint vapor escaped Vivian and Madeleine's mouths when they breathed.
The two of them were huddled together, trembling. The damp forest floor soaked their knees. It smelled like rotten earth, old wood, and dried blood.
None of this made sense to them.
The boss raised his axe.
The blade vibrated.
A slash charged with energy cut through the air and split the balloon in half.
Explosion.
From the dark forest, more balloons began to emerge.
Blue.
Green.
Yellow.
Purple.
From every direction.
They floated between the trees as if the forest itself were spitting them out.
"This isn't normal…" one muttered.
The man with the crossbow saw something.
A figure.
Dark.
Between the trunks.
He aimed.
But it was already gone.
"What are you aiming at, idiot?"
"I saw something…"
The boss slowly turned his head.
"Where?"
The man pointed.
The boss released his aura.
This time it wasn't like before.
It was heavier. Denser. More monstrous.
The air vibrated.
Leaves fell.
The balloons froze midair.
Some of the men smiled nervously.
"The boss stopped them…"
But no.
The balloons began to move.
Coordinated.
They gathered in front of Vivian and Madeleine, forming a floating wall that shielded them.
The boss clenched his teeth.
He wrapped his aura around the axe and struck.
Impact.
The wall held.
The sound was like hitting thick concrete.
Silence.
The boss spoke, his voice low and dangerous.
"Come out… or I'll hunt you down myself."
Then—
Laughter.
Soft. Cheerful. Inappropriate.
The balloons forming the wall exploded at the same time.
Vivian and Madeleine seized the moment.
They ran.
"Find them!" the boss ordered furiously.
His voice had lost its calm.
The men chased after them.
The boss stayed behind.
Watching the balloons.
No more appeared.
In the forest—
"Hey beauties, come here!" shouted the crossbow man with a disgusting grin.
Vivian and Madeleine ran clumsily.
A red balloon floated ahead of them.
As if guiding them.
"Follow it!" Vivian said.
They didn't know why.
But they did.
"To hell with it—wound them!"
An arrow whistled through the air.
It pierced Madeleine's thigh.
Her scream tore through the forest.
She fell.
Vivian held her as best she could.
"Get up! Get up!"
But the men were already close.
The red balloon vanished.
Vivian felt her heart shatter.
Their chance…
A man approached.
He slapped Vivian, knocking her sideways.
Another kicked Madeleine.
Both girls fell to the ground.
Disheveled. Covered in mud.
Vivian began to cry.
Despair was suffocating her.
"Those balloons only delayed the inevitable," one spat.
Then—
Confetti.
Tiny colored papers began falling from the sky.
"What the hell…?"
The confetti landed on one of the men.
At first they laughed.
Then he stopped laughing.
The confetti stuck to his skin.
It sank in.
It wrapped around him.
"Help!"
No one moved.
The man was swallowed.
He disappeared beneath a mass of colors.
Silence.
The red balloon appeared again.
Vivian saw it.
She crawled to Madeleine.
Helped her up.
And they followed it.
The man with the crossbow aimed again.
A knife fell from the sky.
It pierced his skull.
He dropped without a sound.
More knives descended.
Fast.
Precise.
The screams mixed with the metallic sound of blades cutting through flesh.
Vivian didn't look back.
She just kept walking.
Holding Madeleine.
The balloon stopped.
Vivian was exhausted.
Her arms burned.
Her legs trembled.
But she couldn't stop.
Then—
Footsteps.
Heavy.
Slow.
Madeleine lifted her head.
The boss.
Walking toward them.
His eyes were black.
Dark smoke rose from his nostrils.
Vivian felt the world freeze.
The balloon positioned itself between them.
The boss stopped.
The balloon drifted a few meters toward a dense cluster of trees… and exploded.
The blast ripped trees from their roots.
It left a flat space.
Clear.
And then—
Whistles.
Applause.
Circus music.
Confetti.
Fireworks.
Balloons falling from the sky.
Laughter.
A cheerful voice echoed:
"Ladies and gentlemen…"
The balloons began to merge.
They formed one enormous balloon.
Bright.
Spinning.
It exploded.
And there he was.
A clown.
Smiling.
Waving exaggeratedly.
"Your clown has arrived at this hunt's show to add a little more excitement!"
He clapped.
"Too gloomy… too gray… it needs color!"
Flowers emerged from his hands.
He threw them at Vivian and Madeleine.
The flowers hooked onto the collars of their cheerleader uniforms.
And water began to gush from them, soaking their faces.
Like small fountains.
The clown's laughter echoed.
Vivian didn't understand anything, her face dripping wet.
But she wasn't crying anymore.
She was paralyzed.
The clown slowly turned his head.
He looked at the boss.
The boss looked at him.
The forest fell silent.
Two presences.
Two monsters.
Face to face.