"Ha. ha. ha. ha. ha. HAHA .AHHA HAAAAAAAAAGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAaaaaaa....."

  The jester head dragged its laugh as it surged back and snapped into the door from whence it came. The two remaining arms lifted and then punched together with a swift couple clicks. There was no bell to signal the start of the second round.

  Sail listened as the melody swiftly teleported from behind the jesters head to behind him.

  Without having time to turn around Sail immediately just kicked Shillings body further into the room and then turned into obsidian with his leg still raised. The whistling sound surged behind him and he braced for an impact that he wouldn't feel. From the door they had just arrived, a giant Sucker punch shattered straight through the closed wooden door and smashed through into Sail's back.

  The force boomed and echoed against his obsidian body sending it into a slide across the kitchen floor. With only one leg currently on the floor, Sail slid out into the open like a bizarre stationary figure skater.

  The glove was sucked back deep into the servants quarters and disappeared within. Sail listened and focused hard on pin pointing the exact position of the sound that flickered back and forth from every which angle. Two tracks of the same lullaby pulsed from within every room going round and round circling him before they finally choose their course. Sail undid ever noir and placed his feet firmly on the ground and watching the light forge within the door ahead and heard the sound surge from a door behind.

  *Cough, cough*

  Shilling after being woken up with a kick to the stomach opened his blurry eyes that were filled with saw dust. His throat was coughing up all sorts, his eyelids were doing what they could and his body felt dead. He had last seen a glistening red ball and assumed his death had finally come.

  "Gastin.. Gastin.. your still..."

  As his eyes returned to him, now sat in the ruins of some kitchen sink, Shilling was greeted to the show of a complete pummelling.

  "BANG. BANG. BAng. BA.. BANn.. BAnG. BAn BANg Bang."

  "BANG"

  From every angle, from every door, a lone statue was being wailed upon by giant red gloves on springed chains. The sucker punches smashed into the figure, whipped back from the door whence they came and instantly shot back out from another door. The two springed hands were relentless and constant. The figure was knocked every which way back and forth in a flurry of blows that kept getting faster, never getting time to ever receive the fallout of one hit before being hit again from the opposite direction.

  Shilling sat up but soon led straight back flat on his back as he watched one such punch shoot straight over him and then slurp back into the door like letting go of a tape measure. He tilted his head and watched the obsidian bastion making its stand. A perminant conviction was locked into its stone face along with an array of 5 diamond like black monk talismans between its fingers.

  "Gastinn.."

  Shilling couldnt help but well up tears in the edges of his eyes. He yelled weakly with the back of his throat gurgling blood and reached his hand to the roof. A gentle white light forged in his hands and he conjured forth a bell that he then pulled down with passion and smacked hard against the floor.

  "OOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG"

  There was a bell for the third round.

  Sail, while having the treatment of fruit in a blender, was motionless with only his mind being able to move. He had managed to stay firm against all such brute force trauma so far and this was no different. Although forcibly frozen in place and having his body done away with, he wasn't actually accumulating any form of damage that would ever break through, at least that's how it felt. After figuring his body was safe, even amidst something like this he managed to keep thinking straight. Not experiencing pain can do this.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  The punching gloves seemed to be increasing in speed every strike, perhaps the springing performance of pulling back and shooting forth was building an ever more powerful crescendo. Sail focused and watched the time limit on his Wretched vision ticking down.

  Everything else other than what was shown to him in his mind through the system was currently a complete blur of red and black. Reality was already melting but now it was collapsing. He was getting increasingly more apprehensive about getting out of this and the plans he considered were getting more and more reckless as time kept passing. The time limit for the return of dash was now sat at 22 seconds.. It was then that a familiar shrieking bell met him.

  The bell rang out and a shudder ran through the gloves stopping the onslaught briefly. Sail watched as the rapid gloves lost their balance and spectral floating ability, simply falling to the ground with a strong thud. Following the will of his eyes and heart Sail ran straight to one of the doors that showed a bedroom interior.

  "RING EVERY 3 SECONDS"

  "IT TAKES 10 *cough* 10 SECONDS"

  "THEN RING EVERY 10 SECONDS"

  "ALRIGHT"

  Sail ran straight through the door and was greeted to a master bedroom with a luxurious king bed on his right. Perhaps not exactly king-sized as it was big enough to easily fit 10 or so kings in there. The bedroom had only two doors and thus Sail ran straight for the other and yanked it open moving into a new hallway.

  The hallway was sat inbetween a spiralling staircase that made no sense above and below. Scattered across the doorway were once again a vast array of various door on all sides. Sail's beady eyes darted about and ran with specific intention.

  With certainty he ran down the corridor and took a given set of golden steps like he knew them well. He ran down jumping several steps at a time, a skill he never figured would help him in life. After he watched 10 seconds pass down on the countdown of wretched vision he briefly turned into rock.

  "ooonnnnnggggggg" faded in the distance.

  He jumped down into a new corridor and continued on and on until he found what he was looking for. Opening up a specific door that looked the same as any other he found yet another massive bedroom. This one with thousands of draws and make up mirrors, poufs and stools with a bed so wide it could one again serve to provide sleep for a whole family. Floating in the centre of the room was a bundle of straight black hair which span back in on itself like an escalator. The slender body beneath dangled its bare feet as it walked on the air towards Sail.

  Sail stared at the ghoul as it placed its hands forward in an 'x' shape one over the other. The rings of scissor handles forged and appeared within its grip from thin air. The dirty rusted scissors snapped around sands neck as the velvet scissor flicked her slender arms. No snip sound occurred, only a clang. The scissors simply were not sharp enough to cut obsidian. Like a stubborn piece of wrapping paper, the scissors made no progress and the velvet kept trying over and over to no avail.

  "ooonnnnnggggggg" faded in the distance.

  "Dash"

  Once the scissors opened once more and the velvet hesitated for but a moment, Sail used dash on his legs to duck beneath the next coming slice and firmly gripped the head of a bozu like a gear stick. The scissors snapped and cut a brief bit of his hair. Sail in a passionate display chucked the bozu at the heart of the velvet.

  The velvet scissor floated back in a swift swerve, telekinetically flipping and pulling the scissors back towards her while slicing upwards. The bozu was perfectly bisected lengthways and flew past in two halves which soon turned to ash.

  Sail took the second to dash beneath the velvet and booked it to a given makeup booth. He yanked open the 2nd draw down so hard he hurt his arm and almost broke the drawer. He then looked down and amidst the array of tools inside sat a red comb.

  The Velvet let forth an ear piecing wail as the scissor ends became doused in a thicker and more viscous blood then ever before. The blades span so fast as to be indistinguishable from discs and went to behead Sail. Grabbing the comb, Sail placed both of his hands and his free fingers upon its sides. Staring at the red discs he once more turned to obsidian. Him and the comb turning into a cold dark black.

  "KKLLAAANNNNGGGG"

  *snap*

  Sail snapped the small plastic comb cleanly and watched the result of the scissors that ricocheted of him, one slicing straight through the bed and the other sending all the draws around into pieces. A loose ghostly aura floated from the snapped comb and the screaming wail of the velvet was cut short. Sail watched as the Velvet grasped and clawed out reaching for something as its body swirled in on itself into non existence.

  He felt his heart still pounding against itself so loud he wouldn't be surprised if it were soon to pass 200bpm. The Scissors, the main body and the comb were all connected by a continuous thread as clear as day to him. Intuitively, the dark threads had taught him that the core of this creature was such an item at the end of its line. For it to be something so fragile as this is a massive relief.

  Sail breathed out slowly...

  "ooonnnnnggggggg" faded in the distance.

  Sail rubbed his ears a bit as he got stunned by the piercing sound he had briefly forgotten was coming. It not so bad from afar.. Good. He's still alive.