The world shakes. People are screaming, and running like their lives depend on it.

Like they should of course.

I stagger at the use of my explosion spell, it’s not one I’ve gotten to really use before. It’s more of a "get away from me" kind of spell than an "I will destroy everything" thing. Brings too much attention for too little of an outcome.

Now I’m counting on that.

My ears suddenly flatten themselves to the side of my head as the alarm on the ambulance goes off from the impact. The suddenness of everything almost makes me trip over someone who was knocked over. I see someone point up to the sky, the direction of the explosion, as the winds from the force had parted the clouds above.

The lady however stood there completely unaffected.

I swallow hard and try to get my nerves under control… It doesn’t really work at all.

Suddenly, she takes a step forward, that’s all she does… I panic again.

Immediately I set up a weak barrier between us, making sure the show magic is completely covering it. It almost looks like a giant pillar of flame to be honest, and it’s enough to block sight lines at least.

I know I shouldn’t be too concerned about the output of my spells right now, even as the sword slices through the wall I feel my connection to it disappear. So I try to keep anything I cast weak.

I force myself to backpedal a bit to make space between us, and I slowly begin to fill it with ‘fireballs’. My aim is atrocious, but somehow she manages to slice through every single one.

With a dash she’s in front of me, sword held out behind her. Out of instinct I jump back and flip out of the way. The movement of the air from the swing only made me more anxious.

She was on the offensive now.

All I could do was dodge, my feet never staying still for more than a moment. I tried to block some of the swings with a burst of condensed space, which delayed death just enough for me to not be there when it happened.

About a minute later I was starting to run low on endurance. I need some kind of break. The next swing was particularly low, trying to take out my legs and cripple me. So, as the rabbit, I move to jump over the possessed lady.

At least I think she’s possessed, there’s no chance on earth someone her age and build should be able to do what she’s doing right now… I think.

As soon as I hit the ground behind her I book it right to the ambulance that is still here for some reason. With a small boost from a space step I land on the roof, and catch my breath.

Whatever is possessing the lady is in no hurry to get to me again, at least not yet. How the HECK do I get that stupid sword off of her now? There’s only so much I can do, and no possible help has arrived-

“I AM HERE!” A voice yells… Okay, maybe there's something.

With a great impact, pain blossoms in my vision. It only grows worse when I hit the ground, landing on my side. It gets kind of hard to breathe when a heavy object is placed on my chest, pinning me down.

“Now what say you criminal?” the new character announced as I looked up through bleary eyes… Shoot… The Holy Knight… I can work with this but… I’m still screwed.

“One… Ow…” I say, trying to stay in character at least. I bring my left hand up and point toward the lady, shaking all the way. “Two… Wrong target idiot.”

The Holy Knight, the strongest hero in the British Isles, takes in the scene.

Yes, it is my luck that I attracted the attention of the British version of Iron Magnum. Like, in this section of the world, the sword of the land, Holy Knight is only matched by the lance of the land, Dark Knight.

Also, a hero surprisingly enough.

The Holy Knight finally gets off of me and grabs my right arm, yanking me up.

A yell suddenly escapes me as tears well up in my eyes. Crap… My shoulder is dislocated. The Holy Knight flinches back a bit.

I try and think back to some things Faye said about field medicine that could help, but my brain is a bit too frazzled for that right now. I stumble a few steps away from everything and try to stabilize my shoulder. You’re supposed to just pop it back in right? I remember that correctly… I think…

I know I tried to pay attention to all of Faye’s lessons too.

A loud clang sounded out as two swords met. The Holy Knight’s almost porcelain-like blade held up against the cursed artifact. I let out a breath of relief that I didn’t know I was holding. There’s a real chance now.

Now what do I do?

I can try to fix my shoulder and get back in there, or even turn into the bull and skip that step. There’s no chance I’m using the tiger after messing up my hand… Or I could leave.

It’s the safest option. I’ve handed the threat off to a hero that can handle it as far as I’m aware. I can take this chance to back off and heal up.

But the sword… What should I do about the sword? Hells, the only reason I’m concerned about it is because someone I don’t know wants it… Someone with blackmail on me.

Do I care about that enough to keep going for it? Is it worth it when I don’t know the dude who wants it? For all I know they could want it for their next plan at world domination as much as trying to store it away forever. Heck, I don’t even know what kind of payday I’m getting out of this.

I look over to the new fight, the cursed sword having gone on a full offensive. The casual speed of the fight is only going faster and faster. The Holy Knight is keeping up with the growing pace, and their armor can definitely hold up to any real strikes. But…

Screw it, I’m in too deep at this point.

I use my left hand to guide my right into the pocket, quickly grabbing the bull and setting myself on fire. A ‘Huh?’ comes out of the Holy Knight as they are caught off guard by my action.

The moment of distraction seems to be a bit of a slip-up. A loud echoing clang rings out through the campus as the Holy Knight is tossed back by a blow. The hero manages to land on their feet and charge back at the possessed lady while I judge how I can help as the transformation finishes.

I do a quick stretch and reach out to the surrounding space, trying to think as to how I can actually help. With a flicker of Show a tall ring of ‘fire’ closes the three of us in, hopefully blocking the cursed sword in. From there I summoned a ‘fireball’ tossing it between my hands.

“Hey, knight in blinding armor.” I said as I started to circle around the battle, “Now that you have an idea of the situation. Any ideas to get the sword off of the poor mortal?”

The Holy Knight grunted in effort when they blocked an overhead strike. They then turned their head to me, their barely visible glowing eyes staring daggers into me.

“You say that the sword is the cause of all of this?” their voice echoed from within the gleaming helmet, “Then we remove the cursed artifact from the maiden's grip.”

I stalled a bit, having expected a better answer to be honest. That and I couldn’t tell if the knight actually knew it was cursed, or if that is just how they talked. I’ve never paid that much attention to heroes not from North America unless they happen to be really important for the moment.

Now that I’m in the theater I should really change that. The Holy Knight is basically the hero on call for the U.N. and a big player in the League of Heroes.

To be fair, I live on the other side of the globe. I’ve never expected to have to interact with sir talks weird over here.

“Well, good luck then,” I say back and facepalm. The Holy Knight continues to block hits for a few more moments before finally taking the offensive.

A new problem almost immediately reared its head. Whatever technique is involved with the sword allows it to dodge or parry every single strike the Holy Knight sends.

I take my moment to start helping and grab the fireball and pitch it like a fastball. The lady isn’t caught off guard, unfortunately, slicing right through it in a spin that ends in another blow to the knight’s own weapon.

However, that’s only the beginning of my assault, whenever I think there’s a possible opening I toss another fireball.

Nothing changed however, at what was my fifteenth throw I knew a new strategy was needed. The Holy Knight was just dueling with the intent to get the sword off of the lady, and I think they are holding back as well. Maybe it was a mistake to tell them that the lady is a normal person.

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That means making any progress will fall to me… shoot. Think, think, think…

Right now, the bull is not the body I want. I need the tiger, but there’s no chance I’m letting my blood anywhere near the artifact. The rabbit would work as well, however, that body isn’t in any state to do anything. I can’t lean on my space magic either, all the tricks I have will either be severed or are too destructive for the moment… technically…

The only school of magic I have left at my disposal is my show magic… great. I’ve already been abusing ‘line of sight’ stuff the entire time, can’t hit a target you can’t see after all. But I’m missing something, I know it.

I make three more fireballs and toss them one after another. It does nothing useful other than spare the Holy Knight another glancing hit.

My energy flags a bit and I stumble back a step, my mana levels are running low. I’m not in danger of becoming over-taxed again, nothing big enough was cast to cause that. However, the mental exhaustion is starting to get to me. I’m breathing hard and my hands have a subtle shake to them.

I can’t help but think back to how Firework was able to fight Iron Magnum. It makes me wonder just how the living lightshow was able to get to that point. He was able to keep his casting up for what felt like a few hours, and here I am unable to keep up with one fight I can barely contribute to.

I can already imagine Sable readying a lecture on managing my emotions during battle. She’s already done that to Reed and Casper on multiple occasions.

Yet another clang snaps me out of my thoughts as the Holy Knight takes the biggest hit so far. The hero stumbles back to the edge of the ring… a ring made with my show magic… gods why didn’t I think of this before.

I’m Carnival. That’s a very circus-ie thing, isn’t it? And I’m standing in the center ring of the circus. I’m the ringleader, aren't I? The Holy Knight is just My act performing for the crowd.

And here’s the thing about show magic. It wants to be seen. It works best when being used for an actual show.

I let up on the high walls of the ring, leaving only about a half foot or so in the end. From there I make a cane out of fire-covered space and lean on it.

“Alright! That’s enough!” I shout like I have the authority, and both the hero and the possessed woman suddenly look at me. As well as whatever is left of the crowd from earlier. “Ladies and gentlemen, I think we’ve had enough. So the real show now begins!”

With a big dopey grin on my face, I hold my hands out. I also began to reach out to a bit more of the space around me, but this time I went for the space hidden in the ground.

I don’t believe that The Holy Knight could sense what I was doing and all the lady did was stand there with a blank face.

With a quick movement, I drew a quick circle on the ground with my foot then stomped into it. The dirt, grass, and a little bit of cobbled road shook and uprooted itself in a small radius. The terrain quickly became wavey and difficult.

I then followed behind the wave of destruction while coating my fist with a shell of hardened space. My hand lit on fire as I threw a haymaker at the poor lady.

I felt my hand make contact with something as I readied myself for what was next. I then looked up to see what I hit… It was The Holy Knight, their hand was wrapped around my fist, inches from the lady's face. Oh, come ON!

Then all I could do was yell in pain, my attention immediately settling on the sword embedded in my side, going up to my ribcage.

A roar emanates from… somewhere… I couldn’t tell if it was me, the sword, or the hero, but I could definitely feel the sensation of unfamiliar magic wracking its way through my body, aiming its way to my mind and soul.

I think I fell to my knees as the sword was ripped out from me. The world around me grew a bit more dreary as the flames of my magic winked out. The air around me grew a bit more brittle as any space was lost to me. And I struggled.

All I could do was struggle.

The magic was attacking my mask.

MY MASK.

This is MY mask, MY body.

There was a weird taste to the foreign force. I ignored it.

It’s not a part of me. IT is NOT ME!

It was back and forth for what felt like an eternity, the fire-

No, not fire, not me.

The not me was too close to my mind, so I pushed back.

The not me was too close to my soul, so I barred it off.

The NOT ME is forbidden from my being!

It has NO RIGHT dictating WHO I AM!

Eventually, with one last cycle of mana through every bit of my person, the ball of… It was pushed back out of the wound it entered through, taking most of the damage with it. It left behind a nasty-looking and tender scar, but I wasn’t in danger anymore… I think.

The world slowly came back to me. There were the subtleties of the grass and leaves swaying in the slight breeze. There were the reflections coming off of the windows of the buildings and the armor of the knight, slowly moving in the dimming light of the afternoon. There were the mutters and murmurs of the people surrounding me, soft and terse, an odd combination. With a deep breath, I tasted the air, dust, and rain making their way into my lungs, an undercurrent of copper was still left over.

I made an effort to stand, slowly stretching out stiff muscles. I don’t want to say it but it felt like I had a serious stitch in my side.

Soon the sound of moving metal was in front of me, The Holy Knight was standing right there, seemingly staring me in the face.

“You are really stupid.” The hero’s words snapped me back to reality as the feeling of cuffs tightening themselves around my wrists, “By the authority of The League of Heros and The Sword of Avalon, I hereby detain you, foul villain.”

I looked at the cuffs in disbelief, my brain refusing to really process the situation. Then I noticed the cursed artifact sitting in its sheath which was tied to the knight’s waist… great.

“The situation is clear.” The Holy Knight held their wrist up to their helmet and seemingly spoke into some kind of communicator, “I request transport with a weakened villain in tow.”

I raise my brow at that last part. Yeah, I wasn’t feeling that great right now, but I’m not exactly weakened right now… Oh… These are suppression cuffs… I forgot that these exist.

After all, they don’t work on magic… and the Knight doesn’t know that. At least I can keep some kind of advantage. I should honestly just grab the sword now and-

Suddenly, without a sound, a plane the size of a cruise ship is flying overhead. Except, now there was a whirring sound, the space around us begging to tear itself apart… And it feels like my head is splitting open.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

Magnus Defender spends most of his life very stressed, yet somehow it was always the worst when he had to deal with teenagers.

“At least I caught my bad guy!” Hailey Laviene snarks to her twin, “Driving two bad guys off only does so much when they are gonna run anyways.”

“Well, you almost let your bad guy almost bloody die!” Henry Laviene snaps back, “Letting them run is better than killing them, right Magnum?”

Magnus just sighs and makes a show out of debating the conundrum, despite already having an answer from the last time the two knights argued something like this.

“It honestly depends on the villain and what you know about them.” Earth’s defender relents. “Normally with members of The Theater, we let them run, no harm comes from losing them. However, Hailey, this time you made a mistake and got lucky.”

“Lucky, WHAT?” The Holy Knight’s hand landed on the handle of her sword, which was a dangerous tool for someone her age to have, even if she is untransformed at the moment. “How the hell was I lucky? I did what I needed to…”

That petered off with a look from Magnus, one that held years behind them.

“The villain clearly told you what the situation was and how to handle it, but you took too long and he tried to escalate in an extremely dangerous and preventable way. The only reason he didn’t take things too far was because you had to stop him! And let's not talk about the fact that the only reason he’s not dead or worse is because he was able to handle the effects of what is clearly a corruptive artifact.”

Hailey's whole demeanor dropped a bit at the scolding. Magnus didn’t care for the fact that he was playing the parent here, they weren't his subordinates, but they were some of the only people who were close to Justice… His son couldn’t afford to lose any more friends, and he doubted either of the twins could either.

Things suddenly got worse when Henry laughed under his breath.

“Don’t think you are off the hook either young man.” Magnus leveled his gaze on Henry. The teen suddenly stiffened up at the sudden pressure. “I understand that Austria is a difficult place to try and operate, but that doesn’t account for the fact that neither of you has paid any attention to the reports of an International Threat.” Magnus took a breath, “The only reason I’m here to begin with, is because you failed to study up on a group that can attack at any given moment at any location. There’s a real reason we classify them similarly to the Coalition of Villains.”

The room was getting tense, and it seemed like both of the teens had found something interesting outside of the plane… in the only windowless room.

Magnus let out another sigh and thought back to the rest of the day. Flying halfway around the world was always stressful. At least the golems The Theater bring along sometimes make for a good punching bag, and it was secretly kind of funny to watch Actress and Record fumble to deal with his sudden arrival.

And as much as he’d hate to admit it, two top-level heroes being forced to show up in Vienna could do some good for the smaller countries in the U.N., most of their arguments are on thin ice anyways…

Now for the elephant in the room… or the bull…

The World’s Hero was surprised that The Beast of Many Faces was alive at all. So the villain being out of it wasn’t too surprising. Ever since The Holy Knight detained him and brought him onto The StarShip an hour or so ago, Carnival had just sat there with a blank look on his face… Obviously soaking in every detail…

It doesn’t help that The Knights of Avalon depowered as soon as they were on the ship, but Magnus was considering it compensation for what was learned today.

Carnival’s state wasn’t that great either, he looked exhausted. Most of his costume was littered with tears and cuts, not to mention soaked in blood…

That honestly had to be the worst part. The large scar running up his right side, and the way it would randomly begin to bleed again when whatever remnants of that… corruption, left him. Oh, and the way his very being would waver. It wasn’t surprising that it was still happening to the poor guy in hindsight, but the way the nurse jumped when it first happened almost sent everyone into fight mode.

The sight of Carnival silently screaming will forever be one of those images in Magnus’ mind. Nowhere near the worst, but it brought back memories of a… similar situation. Unfortunately, all the villain could do now was grin and bear it then hide it away once it’s over.

Speaking of which, Magnus was already having his people suppressing any footage of the fight online, especially the end of it. Don’t get it wrong, his people were also going to study every frame of it, but he doubted that Carnival or even The Theater would react all that well to his human form being shown off to the world.

The Iron Magnum had made sure he was there when Carnival first saw the footage. The hero in him wanted to grill the villain for every detail about anything, but that stopped with the look of abject horror on the beastman’s face when the last of the fight played out.

It wasn’t actually that disturbing in Magnus’ opinion, but to Carnival watching himself shift from form to form while fighting off the corruption must have been something very revealing.

Especially since between each form, he turned into a human.

And of course, the only line anyone had gotten out of the villain all afternoon was right then and there.

“So it’s still possible.”

Magnus’ inner detective was ringing every alarm possible, but from there on out the villain had become so withdrawn and contemplative that there was no use in trying for the moment…

Which sucked, ‘cause Iron Magnum knew for a fact that the track record of keeping a Theater member in custody was absolutely nil. He was honestly waiting for the moment everyone forgot about the villain and for the ship to be down one beastman. Any moment now…

“Magnum! Magnum!” Both of the twins were going off, each of them drawing their swords. “Carnival is missing! / The villain is gone!”

Iron Magnum sighed and looked up from his communicator, important messages having to go unanswered for the moment… and yup, a pair of cuffs were snapped in half and the slight glimmer of fading lights was all that was left…

At least today wasn’t for naught, there’s still a corruptive sword artifact to study.