(Y/n's POV)
After you had your discussion with Bierce about Malak and what he had meant a few minutes earlier before leaving, you then jumped into the next nightmare portal that had just now opened. This time you saw one of those Murder Monkeys standing not too far away from the entrance of the portal.
"Looks like Malak's left one of his hideous monstrosity to guard the entrance. It reeks of desperation, don't you think?", Bierce stated to you. You decided not to answer, in fear of alerting the killer monkey of your presence.
"You'll just have to scare it off. Go and stare into its eyes and convince it that you're the bigger monster here. Trust me, it works. Just ask my late husband.", Bierce said. You were curious about if that would actually work, but before you even got the chance to test it out, Bierce said, "Ha ha! I'm joking! You wouldn't stand a chance against that thing without a little extra boost! Come back and go to the ring alter."
You rolled your eyes at her snarky remark about the situation and went back to the ballroom. Once you got to the ring altar, you were given a new power called, "Primal Fear", that allowed you to send a massive wave shock that caused any monster close to your proximity to stun in place (temporarily).
You then went back inside the portal and then used your new ability to scare the Murder Monkey away, so that you could past. You then ran pasted the monster guard and entered the nightmare world.
Inside, you saw that you were in a circus-like area with walls filled with posters promoting this world's circus attractions. "Ah, the circus, those were pretty popular in my day. Such great talent and showmanship. As a young girl, the performance never failed to fill me with wonder and excitement. Watching them back then, I wanted to become a star too... And now, children just sit around and do... what? Watch other people play video games online, huh? That just sounds absolutely boring if you ask me.", Bierce explains.
You looked around and saw that most of the circus posters had the same creepy-looking clown(s) on them. "Uh... this place is giving me the creeps!", you said as you opened the entrance gate of the circus.
As you walked ahead, you saw strange looking stands and cage wagons that had images of previous enemies that you had encountered before. You then saw a, turned off, merry-go-round in the center of the area.
Suddenly, as you were about to continue walking, a yellow-colored, clown car came speeding by you and honked its horn loudly. You could also hear a sinister laughing sound coming from inside the vehicle.
The car then drove off into the opposite direction and towards the big circus tent. "Hm...let me guess, Coulrophobia?", Bierce asked you, even though it sounded like she was taunting you.
Truth be told, you did have a bit of a fear of clowns when you were little. Due to this, you had avoided many circuses because clowns would cause you to run in fear or hide away from their presence.
Luckily, your ex had used a special technique that he had learned from his uncle to help you deal with this fear. Now, whenever you saw a person dressed up as a clown, you calmly walked by with a straight face on.
Remembering this, you decided to do the same and calmly continue your walk down the path that leads to the Big Top. As you arrived to the entrance of the circus tent, you saw the same clown car parked in front of the entrance, as if it was waiting for you to show up.
And just like earlier, the yellow car sped off inside the big tent before you got anymore closer to it. "I think they're inviting you in. Are you ready for the big top?", Bierce says to you.
"Um...I guess?", you said, even though you knew that you didn't have a choice to go in or not. You then walked inside and saw that the tent was empty, except for a bunch of cardboard cutouts of the various foes that you have met on your quest, all lined up around the bleachers and watched your every move inside.
Also, you saw one of those "test your strength" carnival games in the center of the big top, illuminated by the spotlight shining on it. 'Huh?! How on earth did this get here?', you thought to yourself as you approach the carnival game attraction.
You then picked up the mallet that was leaning next to the game. "Go on, press it. You know you want to. Live a little!", Bierce insisted you as you used the mallet to hit the button really hard and cause the bell to hit the top with a loud "BRING!".
"Oh, my, you actually did it! I my have underestimated how little you consider the consequences of your actions.", Bierce says. Suddenly, a large lion cage came down on you, trapping you inside.
"Hey! What gives?!", you yelled out loud as you grabbed the bars of the cage and tried to get yourself free. Then, the yellow clown car came out and sped around the lion cage, like it was circling its prey.
Finally, the car came to a complete stop right in front of you and out popped four creepy, scary-looking clowns. (See picture above) They came running towards the cage you were trapped in and began to claw at it with their sharp fingers, all while laughing in a deranged and maniacal voice.
"I've got to get out of here before this cage gives out!", you fearfully said. You then used "Primal Fear" on the four clowns and they all disappeared in a puff of smoke, along with the cage you were currently in.
"You seem to be far more luckier here in this world.", Bierce comments. After dusting yourself off, you then continue on your way to the next room area of this strange, circus-like world.
You were then teleported to a super trippy, surreal area with two giant images of those same clowns you've met earlier. "Well, this is all a bit... surreal.", Bierce said to you.
"Yeah... For once I agree with you.", you said to her as you walked forward. You then saw a huge slide that leads to the starting area of where the first soul shards are.
"Well, here goes nothing!", you said as you sat down and slid down the huge slide. As you were sliding down, you heard Malak's evil laughter as you reached the end of the crazy slide.
"Woah! That was a pretty cool ride!", you said as you got yourself up from the ground. "What an unusual nightmare world. I wonder what your connection is to a place like this?", Bierce says.
You knew the answer to her question, but had decided to not let Bierce know about it, until you felt otherwise. You then took a deep breath and ran towards the shards to begin your mission.
(Timeskip to, after gathering all the soul shards in Zone 1 and avoiding all the dangers, later...)
You've managed to get all the soul shards, while also avoiding the many death traps and those super creepy clowns, that had kept on chasing you throughout the first zone, until you used your new ability to get rid of them. Currently, you were in a big purple-colored circus tent, that the floor was spinning around in a circle, with the ring alter placed in the center of it.
However, before you could get the next ring piece, one of those scary clowns appeared out of nowhere and began to chase you around, until the next portal opened up. You then took the opportunity to jump inside before the clown caught you.
"Phew! That was a close one.", you said in relief. You then saw that you were now in a room that looked like where a roller coaster ride would start at.
There, you saw one of those carts on the tracks with the safety bar up, like it knew that you would arrive to ride in it. You then went over and took a seat inside the cart and put down the safety bar.
"Are you prone to motion sickness? I hope not, because there's plenty more of this here.", Bierce says to you. You then felt the cart start to move and go forward towards the big, bright, and colorful light patterns on the walls of said ride.
'Hm... this doesn't seem so bad.', you thought as you relaxed in your seat. The ride wasn't scary at all, except for when you saw six Clown Gremlins that looked really big, lined up on each side of the track.
As you pasted by them, they all each waved "HI!" to you with that same toothy grin on their face. You quietly waved hi back to them as well, due to not wanting to be rude to them.
You then continued onward through more crazy optical illusions on the ride and the finally made it to the end on it. Once the cart stopped, you got off and saw that you were in front of the entrance to a spooky-looking Funhouse.
"What's black, white and red all over? I suggest you start running before you find that out.", Bierce states as you walk inside the Funhouse. The surroundings inside looked like they were all glow in the dark, which made it look pretty creepy, to say the least.
"Well, might as well get through this as fast as possible.", you said. And with that all said, you then ran inside to begin collecting the second half of the soul shards in this nightmare zone.
(Another timeskip to after gathering all the soul shards in the Funhouse area zone later...)
"That's it! Now get to the ring piece, quickly.", you heard Bierce say as you ran back towards the Funhouse's exit portal. As you ran, you could hear Malak's voice, taunting you while saying, "You just don't know when to quit, do you (y/n)?"
You then saw the entrance of the Funhouse and ran all the way there and then jumped inside. You were then transported back inside the same purple, spinning tent that had the ring altar in the center.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, two Clown Gremlins popped out and began to run after you. "Yikes!", you yelled out as you ran away to get as far of a distance away from them as possible.
Luckily, you managed to retrieve the next ring piece from the altar. Once you did, the two Clown Gremlins disappeared and a portal out of the purple big top tent appeared in front of you.
"Huh, that was easy! A little too easy...", you said as you walked through the portal and arrived back in the fair grounds that you first arrived here through. You then walked back to the portal that leads out of this crazy, creepy clowns and stuff world.
However, once you went past the carousel and were about to walk though the pathway back, the gate was then blocked by the same glowing net material that you saw back in Agatha's world.
"Ah-ah-ah! I've got you now, my bride.", you heard Malak say from behind you. You turn around and saw him, in his humanoid demon form, standing with his arms crossed and a sinister-looking toothy smile on his face.
"Well, well, well! Here we are, yet again. I'm afraid to say, my (y/n), that this won't be too easy for you to escape this time. I'll stop you right here and make. You. Mine... Forever!", Malak says to you in a creepy, seductive voice. Deciding that you have had enough of hearing his terrifying threats, you said to Malak with confidence and anger in you, "Leave me alone! I don't want to be or have anything to do with you! I just want to gather the rest of the ring pieces for Bierce, so that she can give me a second chance at fixing up all my mistakes before I died."
You then heard Malak begin to chuckle, then it turned to maniacal laughter, as the confidence that you had once gained, immediately disappeared and was replaced with absolute fear of him. "Ah, my sweet, dear (y/n)...~ How much I love that beautiful spark that your soul has, but I'm afraid that you don't get the choice to decide your fate. Only I do and that's with me... and me alone."
Malak then started to walk around your frightened figure and continued to say, "But, since I know you love a good challenge, let's up the ante a bit, shall we? I want to see if you can handle these next monsters that I have..." You were confused by what the terrible demon had just said, until you felt the ground start to shake violently.
Suddenly, you saw four ginormous versions of the Clown Gremlins appear around you with that same sinister grin on each of their faces. 'Holy sh*t!!!', you thought to yourself as you knew that these creepy clowns would crush your tiny form in an instant, like a fly on a window.
"Well, I'd love to stay and chat, but I must make my leave now. But don't worry, we'll meet again real soon. Oh! One more thing. Could you please try to keep them laughing while you're at it? That would be great!", Malak says to you as he disappeared, leaving you alone with the deadly giant clowns. "Oh man! How am I supposed to defeat these guys!?", you said as you began to dodge an incoming attack from one of the Clown Goliath's.
Then, you were given a mallet and you decided to use this on the gigantic bosses. Once you slammed the mallet on their fist, they immediately yelped in pain from the shear blow that you made.
Suddenly, each one of them began to throw up bluish, glowing balls that released numerous of Clown Gremlins that started coming at you. You then decided to use the mallet on them, which was hard considering that their numbers continued to increase after you had defeated one of the Clown Goliath's.
Finally, after repeating the same tactic over four times, you managed to defeat all of the Clown Goliath's and they disappeared in a puff of smoke. "No! Impossible! I was close... SO close to winning what's mine! This isn't over, (y/n)! You can't escape me that easily. I'll make you my bride if it's the last thing I do!", you heard Malak say in an enraged voice.
Suddenly, you saw Malak appear in his phantom form as he began to chase after you. You wasted no time in bolting your way out of the fair grounds and back to the entrance portal that lead out of this crazy, whacked-out nightmare world.
You turned to see Malak catching up to you, with his hand sticked out to grab you. However, you made it to the portal and jumped inside just before Malak could take you.
"Woo, that was a close one! I was almost certain for a second that I was a goner.", you said as you took deep breaths to help calm yourself down. Afterwards, you walked around the ballroom area looking for where Bierce was, until you spotted her figure standing in front of the fancy, red-colored door that led to Malak's domain.
"It's over, Bierce! You're only delaying the inevitable. You and I both know that you can't keep me out of your little pocket dimension forever.", you heard Malak state to Bierce and, if looks could kill, you could sort of tell that she knew that this was true. However, you couldn't tell for sure since Bierce had her signature smirk look on her face right now.
"I'm coming to collect what belongs to me, so no more Mr. Nice Guy. I will claim (y/n) as my own and I will make her my wife and queen, forever! So be prepared, Bierce, because soon you are going to pay dearly... with interest.", Malak continued as his "eye" looked around the room and then instantly stopped at your figure that stood next to Bierce. "(Y/n), please reconsider my offer. If you give that witch the ring piece, you will most certainly regret it. I can protect you and give you anything that your heart desires. We can rule these pitiful humans in my realm together. Just think about it...", Malak says to you in a sweet voice.
You were about to reply back, but then you heard Bierce say, "Blah, blah, blah... just more lies and empty threats that he keeps on babbling about. You really except her to trust you, when you've been trying to murder the poor girl at every single turn?"
You had to agree that, despite her suspicious behavior and mannerism, Bierce did have a good point and you could find any other reason to disagree. Malak had tried to attack you, even if he didn't do it himself at times and just sent one of his deadly minions to do it instead.
You were pulled out of your thoughts when you heard Malak say, "It doesn't matter, but you better enjoy your little victory moment. It won't last..." Bierce retorted his comment and said, "What difference does it make? Bring the ring piece over here, love."
And so, you did as Bierce asked you and gave the ring piece to her. You then saw that Malak had disappeared again, leaving you to think about what he had said to you.
"Hey Bierce, we are safe in your area, right? I mean, after what Malak had said I just want to be sure.", you asked Bierce. Instead of getting an answer to your question, Bierce instead says, "Oh there's no time for that. We're halfway there to getting all the ring pieces, love! Just four more left to go. You wouldn't want to disappoint me now, would you?"
You shake your head no to her and Bierce smiled and said, "Good! Now here comes the next one." Then a new nightmare portal opened up and its symbol was that of a paper bag with a hospital sign traced out on top.
"Alright, just four more to go and I'll finally get what I desired for so long...", you said with shear confidence in you as you began to walk over to the next nightmare portal.
Or will you...?
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Hey guys! Sorry that this is WAY overdo, but thank you so much for being patient with me.
Busy with school work again, as usual. I'll try and get the next one out probably either by Saturday or Monday.
Anyways, hope you like this chapter and let me know in the comments below!