'It can't end like this!' Souta thinks as he turns around to run before feeling a strong grip on his shoulder.
"You're not going anywhere boy." Noel grumbles spinning Souta around sending his fist flying toward Souta's face.
Souta leans back attempting to dodge the fist but is instead blasted by the raw strength of Noel the spirited. Falling to the ground he tries to get up only to be kicked away.
Shakily standing he puts his fists up 'I at least have to try and get away' he thinks swinging at Noel. masterfully dodging his punch Noel tries to return with a counter only to find that Souta had run past him.
"You little-" giving chase, Noel uses all his strength to try and catch Souta, however he is just fast enough to evade Noel.
Unfortunately, whether it be divine intervention from a cruel god or just plain old bad luck, Souta tripped and fell flat on his face allowing Noel to almost instantly catch up to him.
"You little bastard" Noel screams angrily before kicking Souta hard in his stomach
"Please. I didn't do anything wrong" pleads Souta.
"Your entire existence is wrong" Noel says coldly with a grimace of anger contorting his face.
Receiving a kick to the jaw Souta becomes disoriented before receiving a follow up kick that knocks him out cold.
He wakes up
Souta regains his consciousness quickly realizing he's in a church, he notices a tinge of pain in jaw and yawns surveying how much damage his jaw received.
He looks around noting that he's being surrounded by many church pews with many 'followers' dressed in opal colored tunics and veils staring at him unavoidably all silently praying while all holding the same pendant that Noel had.
"I swear I don't serve whatever god u fuckers are talking about! Is there any way I can talk to the leader?! I'm interested in joining the paladins!" attempting to try and make eye contact with one of the followers, noticing that his dizziness and blurry vision has not yet subsided from whatever the oracle did to him at the carnival.
Souta receives blank stares and silence as a response
"ahem.." Noel speaks up from behind him
"You people only know how to trick others, your silly antics won't work on us" He steps up to Soutas' right.
"And.. on top of that, you decided to bring a dagger with you" he brandished the silver dagger in front of the followers as well as Souta, showing it as if it were some magical object.
"No t-this is a misunderstanding! I swear I can expla-" Souta gets cut off with a punch to the kidney causing him to spit out blood staining his lips and the marble floor below him with dark crimson.
Upon seeing this the 'followers' in the front slightly recoiled before almost unnoticeably beginning to pray faster.
"We know your tricks. you clowns." The man crouches down clenching his fist gathering a handful of Soutas hair, forcing eye contact between him and Souta.
"you're going to tell us where your carnival lies or you're going to die." The man remarks closing the distance between the silver blade and Souta's throat.
"Yo-you would never do s-something so drastic right, I-I mean I d-dont even know where they are. I only stumbled upon them by pure chance" Souta stutters out feeling paralyzed by fear
"Well you better remember exactly how you stumbled upon them" Noel says matter of factly.
"Or else.." he says drawing a couple drops of blood from Soutas neck.
Soutas eyes widen in fear darting around the room.. Not having anything to do with the random carnival he found himself in other than a short ritual that has been forgotten by his memory.
'What the hell did I get myself into!, i'm going to die!, I don't want to die!, I thought- just for once-, that this opportunity to live a life of my choosing would last..
But no this was inevitable wasn't it.. Out of the nine gods, why would any of them want to aid someone like me? How fictitious.' Soutas eyes grow easy and cold.. slowly submitting to the idea that a life of enjoyment was a life only lived by those who are blessed by a higher existence.
"This world really is fucked" Souta mutters staring up into the sky
"What was that?" Noel says mockingly
"You sadistic fucks would rather die in your own self righteous crusade than admit that you were fucking wrong" Souta yells getting choked up as he speaks, feeling his eyes begin to fill with tears.
"All that the world ever was is people who were born 'lucky' or 'chosen' who walk around like this is some sort of game. As if they were the main character leaving all the side characters behind. Well guess fucking what I want to be the main character too sometimes. I want to be able to live a life worth living too you know. But I'll never be able to contend with all you shitty main characters." Souta cries out as he hopelessly sits in the center of the church.
'Where did it all go wrong' he thinks as Noel walks closer to him gripping the silver dagger in pure rage.
"Get up." A voice echos
"ah.. that voice.." Souta thinks, noticing that time seems to be slowing down.
The followers look at him groveling, with eyes full of disgust and pity.
"Do you want to make a deal?" The voice directs its aid toward Souta
"I'm done hoping for opportunity to present itself.. what if I became the opportunity I craved" he says aloud to the voice hidden within the darkness.
"I take it you accept my conditions, is that right?" the voice iterates at Souta, welcoming him.
A decrepit hand reaches back out toward Soutas outstretched hand.
Souta smirks with tears still in his eyes.
"If I can't be reborn as the main character.. I'll be just as content on settling as 'the villain" he says as he feels a torrent of energy inside him begin to flow violently in a circle before condensing itself in his chest and then exploding outwards in a wave of energy.
Looking on to Souta, Noel can't help but begin trembling.
"What the hell are you" Noel says his voice trembling as he looks onto the existence before himself. Upon looking at Souta he notices that his eyes have turned completely black opposed to the strange crimson that they were previously.
Noel instinctively took a step back as the strange entity before him began to speak.
"Time for a Show."