“Fraud, huh.” Tsu looked around. “Do I still qualify for this stage even though I got frauded by Kiyu?” He chuckled to himself as this would have been Evon’s stage.
Kiyu was the one who had pressed on the fraud button elevator, skipping the circles of Heresy and Violence. She had been curious to see if the elevator systematically brought the lift to every level or if they could actually choose whichever level they wished to fight on.
Surprisingly, the elevator really did move to Fraud… after which Kiyu had kicked the distracted Tsu, who’s checking out the Pandamonium App Stream on his phone, out of the lift. While both Tsu and Evon could have fought back and got Kiyu to let them both back on, they were easy going enough to take on any stage. They just knew it wasn’t worth it to fight Kiyu since there were a few stakes on this mission. (Unlike Kraft who took this chance to have fun all by himself, distracting any armed forces away from their raid.)
“Are you a victim of someone framing you too?” A voice sounded with concern, and a child’s head stuck out from one of the pillars.
“Hahaha, such an old uncle got cheated as well!” Another child’s voice could be heard, and soon Tsu sensed that in the current hallway, a child was hiding behind each pillar.
“And of all kinds of people, they just had to put me against the hardest type of opponents for me,” Tsu smirked as he recalled why he could possibly be one of the best candidates for this particular circle.
He and Kai had always cheated their elders when they were younger so they could have a little more rest time, take a bit more food for each other, and most importantly, they had lied and deceived to cover each other’s mistake. The two brothers had been through thick and thin together that even when pitted against each other, they rather die together then taking each other’s life.
As for this stage, there was no one better at lying than a child, and that personated opinion would never change for Tsu. He understood that behind every pillar, these children must have had to beg, lie, fight and win to get this particular position.
When he learnt that the Church of the Afterlife used Paradiso as a factory to regain back their losses, Tsu had suspected as much that the debtors could have sought out to try their luck in these circles. But it never occurred to him that the children were possibly imprisoned to repay the debts of their parents as well.
The previous guard supervisors might have thought they were harmless beings which were why they might have lost to this group of children.
While a lying child on their own would be one thing, it turned into something far scarier when there was someone to lead the herd of sheep.
He should know since he and his brother had been the ringleaders for their own group of kids… and every single one of them would become the wolves in sheep’s clothing to portray as the herd of harmless, weak sheep in the eyes of the adults around them.
Still, Tsu decided to observe them for a little while longer before going for the kill. From further inspection, it turned out that they were beast-men. (or more accurately beast children) These kids had been born with physical bestial traits such as horns, feline cat ears and tails.
Tsu might not know much about the Dungeon World, but if a group of them ended up in prison and eventually took over the guard supervisor post could most likely mean that they were discriminated against too. It wasn’t too surprising though when he thought about their own world, where half breeds between monsters and humans had also been criticised for the ‘sin of existing’. Unless this was a professional group of delinquents who just happened to consist of beast children, they must belong to the same category.
“If they were beast children, would not be surprised if they were under the debts of the Church of Afterlife too. Guess the Dungeon World has its pains too.”
Although his initial assessment was that they were the guard supervisors because of the nature of this particular circle, his experience told him that there should be a leader handling all these children. It was quite a conundrum for Tsu.
Most people believed that the right thing to do would be to intervene and give those troubled kids a second chance at life. And while it was a praiseworthy goal to wish to save them from their ‘misery’, that was only looking at it from one perspective.
To the children, any sort of interference onto the hierarchy they had established for themselves would be met with stern resistance, so Tsu already predicted that the kids would backstab him if he tried to go the samaritan route.
“Ahhh…so troublesome. Do I go along with their fraud, or should I just kill every single kid here? No, I better come up with something better. Otherwise, the rest will think I’m no smarter than Ixel.” Tsu thought to himself and laughed at the comparison.
“Uncle, why are you laughing to yourself? Is it really funny to see kids here?” A wolf eared child asked as she approached the Wolf Clan’s Fox.
“Teras! Don’t go near him! He might attack you!” Lapp, with similar features but in white, shouted as she pulled her friend away from him. She even showed her teeth as a show of aggression.
“Oh gosh, these people are good in their acting.” Tsu noticed in the corner of his eye that instantaneous grin Lapp had shown when she thought she was out of his view while pulling Teras behind the pillar. All of the foxes knew this mischievous type of grin as it was practically synonymous with Kraft.
“But you all saw him get kicked out of the elevator by his friends!” Sola, a feline cat girl who was holding onto a separate pillar, tried to continue the acting.
“All they demanded from me was to get the puzzle key for the dungeon core. If you would kindly hand it over, I’ll be on my way again.” Tsu asked them nicely in a gentlemen’s tone, and suddenly, an older looking girl with the horns of a dragon came out from hiding as if blind courage suddenly took over her heart and actions.
“No! We cannot give you that!” She shouted, and Tsu could hear the not-so-quiet frustration and disappointment from the rest of the girl group in the area.
“Don’t listen to this dragon girl! We can give you that!” A girl with tiger ears and tail quickly dismissed the dragon girl as she placed her hand on Shen’s mouth.
“Swee, why are you stopping me! I have had enough of lying!” Shen eventually overpowered Swee the tiger girl and yet another wave of sigh was emitted through the pillars.
In the meantime, Tsu who saw this considered it either to be an utter failure in their group dynamics or a superb masterclass act by the entire troupe of beast girls. (He had yet to see any boys in the group.)
Regardless, he decided to go along with their act for the time being and see where they were telling the truth or not.
“Mister, I know this is a bit too much, but we need you to drop your weapons here if you wish to proceed further into the Prison Core. Only true sincerity can open the core’s inside.” Sola offered as she came over and pulled his hand to guide him to the place. The cat girl decided to improvise on the ongoing drama and to reinforce Swee’s claim that the key could be given out.
“Then why are you all still here? If all you need is sincerity, you all would not need to be imprisoned here.” Tsu thought to himself as he allowed himself to be dragged around. She brought him to the end of the hallway first where she kindly requested Tsu to drop his weapons.
Tsu pondered over the scenario of an ‘Honesty Dungeon Core’ with an environment setting full of frauds. Was it possible the Prison Core demanded pure honesty since all the frauds who entered this circle would tend to try and swindle their way out.
“The Truth will set you free?” Tsu whispered to himself, but none of them was listening, his words drowned by the children’s loud ‘whispers’ in the background. Without Tsu turning his head, he could already feel the eyes in the room were all looking at Shen for attempting to expose them.
“But then again, the Prison Core could cheat since it is reigning over the entire circle…ah so troublesome. Kiyu, why did you do this to me, you are so much better at manipulating people.” Tsu scratched the back of his head as the doors opened and it revealed a statue kneeling down with its head in reverence to something more mythical in nature.
“… Ok now, this is just too over the top… who is supposed to fall for that?! Enough of mind games!” Tsu questioned in the direction of the Prison Core that was right above the kneeling statue. The beast girls had already moved his weapons away and were silently brandishing their knives to stab him…only to realise the entire room and hallway had suddenly been enveloped in darkness.
None of them was able to move, and the devouring abyss started to slowly creep up their legs and eventually their whole body. They were all paralysed and could feel that their bodies were being eaten by the darkness. Can one still breathe when one thinks that their lungs were missing? Can one feel fear when there were no hearts to beat? That was how the children were experiencing right now.
Nothing but void.
Only the two wolf girls had somehow managed to grasp the vague situation and escaped Tsu’s darkness in time. “Should I say, as expected from the wolf children? Well, it’s a wolf style technique, so perhaps I should not be particularly surprised.” Tsu concluded as he raised his next palm and an invisible force caught the two stragglers within the darkness.
“After living in this place for so long, it will be hard for you to trust others. Nevertheless, I believe Jin and his other minions can provide you with a better life. So, please take this death as a passage to a new life. Please, do not deceive both yourselves and the people around you anymore.” Tsu said as he closed his palm and all of the beast girls were killed instantly.
“As for the main culprit.” Tsu eyed the statue as he raised his palm once more and his weapon flew towards him.
“You do not deserve mercy from me. Die painfully for making those kids work for you!” Tsu stabbed the statue and blood emerged out of it.
“How?! How did you recognise that it was me?!” The Statue tried to move, but he had been pierced through and was unable to move.
“Your scent alone disgusts me. You are not even worthy of Jin’s attention. Just rot here for all eternity.” Tsu beheaded the statue and picked up the dungeon core key.
Naturally, the fraud statue hadn’t been the real body of the perpetrator, but he realised that he was still experiencing the very same kind of pain as the statue. Then did the Statue notice the darkness that had already enveloped the kids crept on him too. “Impossible! How did his magic reach me?!”
Only this time, it would be eternal as Tsu promised. He had used a forbidden wolf art to basically turn him brain dead. Even if he would get resurrected, his mind would no longer recover.
“Encroaching Darkness. No matter where your dreams wished to take you, blank space will follow suit.” Tsu put his hands together like a prayer due to habit, but he later turned it into a middle finger.
The actual guard supervisor did not deserve peace, and he also did not care to see how his enemy looked. The children were saved, and the key was more important than anything else.
