Karaoke bar: Chapter 33

In the busy streets of Fester town, multiple people go through their everyday busy lives. Some are going through their jobs, others go to play with their friends and some just stand in the streets watching and admiring this beautiful day. Because today was the day for the residence of Fester Town to start preparing for a special festival dedicated to only one person. These days, you could see multiple props hanging from one street to another. Things like paper banners with the Royal Emblem placed in them, trucks carrying a huge set-up for a stage and mostly kites that are casually gliding in the air in tradition to the Kastelyst kingdom's standards.

In a few days time, this whole preparation will only come towards the celebration of one important person. Avelor Winstone Kastelyst, the third prince of the Kastelyst Kingdom.

As the people busily work in these streets, some just casually walk on by and talk with their friends. Particularly this four group of people who were each carrying backpacks that were filled with something heavy looking.

"You did bring everything right?" asked one of the guys who wore a gray shirt and glasses.

"Yeah yeah, most of the stuff is in the bag." said one guy who wore one red jacket and had yellow hair that was obviously not his original hair color.

"Good, I should have finished building it yesterday…but I'm still half way through in making it."

"Damn, wasn't the boss expecting it to be sent today at our base? If we go there now, he'll surely kill us!" said one guy who wore a beanie over his head and a black hoodie.

"Shut up man, you don't think I know that!" said the gray guy with glasses.

"...Okay, how about we delay the delivery and finish building it now?" suggested the guy with blonde hair.

"We do have all the equipment here with us." said another guy who wore a long stripe sleeve and had a pony tail on his head.

"...All I need to do now is just mix some soluble parts of a mana core into a flask and wait for it to be unstable…once its done, I can just stick it to the pre-made explosives." said the guy with glasses.

"We need a private place though for it to happen…your apartment is already two hours away if we go back so what about a hotel?" said another guy who wore a beanie.

"...its impossible, all of it is already reserved by some people whose going to attend the parades. It'll take to long to look for an available room." said the man with glasses

"Damn festival." cussed the guy with a beanie

"How about a karaoke bar?" suggested the blonde haired guy.

"Hmm, it could work. As long as they have an outlet, I can make it work with my magic." said the guy with glasses.

"Okay, lets go then." said the guy with a beanie.

As they walk through the busy streets, all they could see before them was a bunch of people busily working to prepare the props for the streets.

"...these people, they don't know that their celebrating a fascist event…it makes me sick." said the guy with the beanie.

"Keep it quiet, we'll let them see the truth in a few days time." said the guy with glasses.

"...once they do, they'll finally understand the cruelty of this kingdom." said the guy with a pony tail.

"True." said the guy with a blonde hair.

They continued to walk in this busy streets, maddened by the efforts the public people puts out for a celebration. In the outside they looked nothing more but simple looking people in their twenties, casually walking as if they had no bad intentions whatsoever but deep down they couldn't wait for that day to come…a day to celebrate their truth.

As they got closer and closer to a Karaoke bar lead by the blonde guy, a certain person was also casually following them through the streets.

Wearing nothing but a gray hoodie, some jeans, a black mask and a cap over his head. He was just casually following them with his head looking down on the floor as to not raise suspicion.

'The progress so far is just like in the book. Casually talking about the bomb making, insulting the people, and making sure that they can finish it in the karaoke bar...looks like they're almost at the bar.' he thought while he could see a flashy store with a sign carrying a microphone.

"looks like this is good enough of a place." said the guy with glasses.

As they each went in the bar, Hamil cautiously waited for them to get in front of the counter and listen to the number of the room they were getting in using his sensitive hearing.

"Good day, what room would you like to rent and for how many hours?" asked the guy who managed the counter

"A medium room will do fine and set it up for 2 hours." said the guy who had blonde hair.

"...Does the room have an outlet?" asked the guy with glasses.

"They do, please use it as you see fit." informed the cashier.

As the cashier started processing the inquiry for the room, the guys just casually stood and waited. Not long after, they finally received their card key.

"Your room is number 15. if you like to inquire some food and beverages, there's a menu on the table set in there as well as a phone."

"Okay…we'll call if we want something. Lets go guys." said the blonde guy as he and the group went to the room number 15.

One by one, they went and immediately brought out a items from the backpack and layed it all out on the table. From a light-red mana core, to some tubes and flask, the process of making a bomb was finally in its process. All they had to do for this process was to make this expensive mana core into an unstable core that was ready to blow up a town.

Unstable Cores was the result of chemically disturbing the elements inside the core and making it corrupted. At the point of its corruption, it'll one simple explosive can trigger it to blow up as well. Once affected by the explosion, it'll expand and explode to ten times the effect of a normal bomb could. The more valuable the core the more explosive it could get.

They tried playing out some random music so it wouldn't seem suspicious as well as sing along the music to pass the time. They also didn't order some food and drinks because if anyone was to see this, things would get complicated.

All they did was rely on the guy who wore glasses as he was the only person who knew how to create this mana core into its unstable form, and he was also the only person who was gifted the ability to control mana. Using mana in the process of his creation will for sure increase the speed.

1 Hour later…

"...Okay, it seems like all we have to do now is wait for the core to turn unstable." said the guy with glasses as he pulls a handkerchief and starts to wipe off the sweat on his forehead.

"How long will it take?" asked the guy with the beanie

"About 30 minutes…"

"Damn, I hope boss will tolerate this."

"...Yeah, he's pretty strict about tardiness."

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Suddenly a knock came to their door.

"Hmm? Did we order something?"

"No, we didn't."

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"...It must be the guy from the counter." said the guy with glasses, as he slowly puts every item that was no longer in use back to the backpacks.

"Should I open it?" asked the guy with a pony tail.

"...wait." the blonde haired guy was cautious. They didn't order anything from the counter, so to receive a knock from the door was suspicious.

"Who is it?" he called out to question the knocking

"...Its Service." a voice then responded behind he door. It didn't seem like it was the person who managed the counter so they got worried.

"Service?"

"We didn't order any drinks though." said the blonde guy as he looked to his friends to affirm if they did order something.

"...Open it, I've put everything back in our bags." said the guy in glasses, as he tried not to make his friends worry about the bomb they were making.

"Okay." as the guy with a ponytail slowly opens the door, the blonde man and the one wearing a beanie slowly reached out to their backs, strapped behind their backs was a gun.

As it slowly opened for them to see, they nervously gripped down on their guns. but as the ponytail guy fully opened it, all they saw was nothing behind that door.

"..."

"..."

They were shocked to see that no one was there…this made them even more suspicious.

"...they must have picked the wrong room." said the glasses guy, assuming that the one who carried those drinks made a mistake and returned back to the counter.

"...Probably." said the guy with the beanie.

As they closed back the door, all of a sudden, music then starts to play…a random song.

""!?""

Nervous from the sudden tone of the song, they all instinctively turned to the screen of the bar and saw the title of the song.

[TWINKE LITTLE STAR]

"Did you push in some song? Asked the blonde guy to the guy who wore a beanie.

"What? No I didn't!" replied his friend back as he denied his question.

"Didn't you hit the playlist at random?" questioned the guy with glasses.

"Its been playing random from the beginning." said the guy with the ponytail

~Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are.~

Suddenly, the mic creaks in static.

*CREAK!*

And yet the song continues

~Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky.~

All of a sudden, the boys noticed the lights slowly turns to a darker shade, as if someone was missing around with the light switches…until

*Flick!*

Complete Darkness enveloped the room.

""!!"" all the guys in the room was suddenly in full alert.

And the music continues to play on.

~When the blazing sun is gone, When he nothing shines upon,~

~Then you show your little light, Twinkle, twinkle, all the night.~

"What's Happening!?" shouted the guy who wore the beanie.

"I don't know!" the blonde guy yells back.

Since the room was soundproof, nothing seemed out of the ordinary from the outside. So they could yell as much as they could and nothing can pass through.

"Get the lights, its too dark." ordered the guy who wore glasses.

"On it!" the guy with a ponytail then turns to the light switch, but as he couldn't see clearly, he rumbles a bit while looking for the switch.

As he was slowly looking for the switch, a hand suddenly pops out of nowhere and forces his head to smash straight into the wall. The impact of his head resounded the whole room and the body fell to the ground fully unconscious.

Since the room wasn't too big, they immediately noticed this.

"What was that? hey are you alright?" blinded by the complete darkness of this room, the glasses guy decided to pick up his phone and shines a light to where that sound came from.

"!!" only to find that the ponytail guy was laying on the sofa, completely knocked out.

"What the!?" the two guys also saw the unconscious body of their friend on the sofa with its head slowly bleeding from the impact.

Still the song continues to play.

~Then the traveller in the dark, Thanks you for your tiny spark,~

~He could not see which way to go, If you did not twinkle so.~

The beanie guy rushes to his friend to check on his condition. As he did so, the blonde guy reaches out for his gun and started to cautiously look everywhere.

"Damn! Something doesn't feel right!" the glasses guy said to the blonde guy.

"You think!" he said as he turns to shout at the glasses guy of the obvious, but as he turned to look at him, he could see two hands rushingly making its way to the guys face.

*Thud!* the floating fist strikes down the lower jaw of the glasses guy, resulting in his brain to shake violently and knocking him out.

"!!" shocked by what just happened, his reflexes acted on and he points his gun to where that fist came from. But as his hand slowly directs itself to where that hand was, another particle was coming to clash against the gun.

A light blue sword suddenly emerges out of thin air and slices off the fingers of the blonde guy along with his gun. It disperses the second after it stopped the gun from pointing at that direction

"Ahh!" he screamed in pain as his hand bleeds from the attack.

He kneels down and tightens his grip around his injured arm.

"Aa-" he tried to scream but all of a sudden, the arms came rushing to block off his mouth from screaming. Holding down his breath until he was quiet. The grip was strong around his mouth, he knew if he made one mistake this arm can easily rip off his mouth away from his face. So he stayed quiet. In desperation he turns to his friend with a beanie, asking for help.

"!?" the guy with the beanie turns around to another friend's direction as he heard the disturbing fall of his friend with the glasses, then to his blonde friend as he heard him scream for some reason.

"!!" but as he turned to the look towards his blonde friend, he was meet with a floating arm. Suspiciously enough it was covered in a bluish murky aura around two fingers in the position to flick his head.

"!?"

*Flick!*

Light a snapping bamboo, the flick of the floating arm knocks back the beanie guy as it aimed for his forehead.

*Thud!* his head falls down to the floor and left him unconscious as well.

All that was left was the blonde guy. Paranoid and shocked from what just happened, he could only stare at the floating arm that was holding off on his mouth.

'Damn it! What is going on?' he couldn't rely on anyone anymore because all of them were knocked out in a quick instant. He also couldn't do anything because he wasn't a man gifted with mana. The only person capable of saving them was the guy with glasses, as he was the only person capable of using mana but all of that chance of them getting saved was lost the moment his friend got knocked out.

He was the only person left who was conscious and slowly but surely the lights were now starting to turn back on…along with that, the hands were also starting to reveal its full form.

As if like a ghost appearing out of nowhere, the hands started to fully show its full body to the blonde fellow. In just a few seconds, what appeared before him was a simple fellow who wore a gray hoodie with a mask and cap over his head.

"!?" The cold look this person gave the blonde guy made him shiver, as the look itself was filled with murderous intent.

"Hummph Fofff Faff" the blonde guy tried to talk to this mysterious person but the hand was muffling out his words.

".…" seeing that the last remaining person was trying to talk, the masked person decides to release his mouth and gave him the chance to speak.

"Phaaa! Who are you!?" agitated but also scared, he nervously asked the masked person who his identity was.

".…" yet the masked man didn't speak.

"D-Do you even know who your dealing with right now!?"

"..." the masked man continued to not speak and instead reaches down to his pocket to pull out a specific item.

"I know some people that will make your life a living hell!"

"..." He held this item by his hand and injected it the minimum amount of mana.

The item glowed a golden color and was dropped down to the floor with the biggest space in that room. There it expanded little by little until it grow into a cage that would only fit one man.

"Ahh…what is that!?" he was shocked by what just appeared before him.

"...Get in." said the masked man with a low tone and cold voice.

"What?"

"Get in." he said it again but this time he glared at the blonde guy. This resulted in giving goosebumps to the guy as he saw face to face that murderous glare he gave him.

"..." without any struggle, he slowly but scarcely made his way into the cage. While on it, he still held on to his injured arm.

The masked man then proceeds to close the gate and shuts him right in.

"Now then, where is your base!?" straight to the point, the masked man asked him the only question needed for today's event.

"Its..its in the Third Pier, by the fish-market. There an abandoned building is being used to store some dried fish." said the guy monotonously as his words seemed dead from the way he spoke. As if he was forced to tell the truth.

'What am I doing? Why am I telling the truth to this bastard!?' the blonde man was confused and furious as his actions were somehow controlled the moment he stepped into the cage.

Conscious or not, once a person is trapped inside the verity cage no truth shall be hidden from anyone. This was the ability set upon the Verity cage.

"..." the masked went silent and slowly but surely made his way to a certain unconscious persons body. There, he slowly then picks up one item.

The Phone the glasses guy tried to use back then at the dark.

"..."

Seeing that the phone was locked and only accessible by using the fingerprints of the owner, he went and used the unconscious body and accessed the phone.

Then after accessing the phone, he dialed down a certain emergency number.

"...*Ring* *Ring* *Ring*…Hello? Is this the Emergency Department...I'm calling because I found out a bunch of people are making something dangerous in this local karaoke bar…yeah, its in fester town…no I don't know what it is, but I heard they said it was a bomb…"

"!!" The Blonde guy was shocked to hear what the masked guy just said. And in response to this, he angrily yells to the masked man.

"Hey! What are you doing!" his angry tone could be heard over the phone.

"..."All the masked man did was listened to the phone as he coldly looked towards the mad look of the blonde guy.

[Place sit still sir, the authorities are on their way]

As the masked man finally heard this from the phone, he ended the call and dropped the phone down to the floor. With a single stomp of his foot, he crushed the phone down with his legs.

"..." he looks to the raging man in the cage and slowly approaches him.

Face to face, they glared at each other. But as the masked man reaches for the cage, he could see the change in the reaction from the blonde guy's face. Fear enveloped over it and the blonde guy could tell that he was about to be silenced.

The masked man then opens the gate and surprisingly the blonde guy didn't fought back…he just stood all angry-like.

"..."

The masked man raises his arm to the forehead of the blonde guy and envelopes his to two fingers in mana.

"..." if the blonde guy did fought back, all he would receive in return was a beating…it was pointless to fight against a mana gifted person, and he knew this all to well. So he accepted his fate…he accepted their defeat.

"I hope the boss will kill you, you son of a bitch!" he said as he looked straight in the eye of the masked man.

In return, the masked man just stared as coldly as he only ever did.

*Flick!*

The flicking sound echoed in the room and the thud of a falling body fell to the ground.

"...I better leave before the cops arrives." he said as he touched the verity cage and dispelled its form back into its small form.

It wouldn't take long for the cops to arrive here in the karaoke bar, so he wasn't afraid of the group of impostors from escaping this place…all he had to do was leave the evidence like the bomb and what other items to the police and they would take care of the rest.

'Light Reflection…' he said as he used his bow skill to erase his body from plain sight and just casually walked out of the room.

Everything was done for today…he got the information of the impostors base and he also got the group arrested for bomb making…all he had to do now was simply approach the base and end this terrible arc from ever happening.