Morning-
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-the-
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-First-
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-Day:-
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"You are finally going after the Skull Kid?" the giant fairy lady asks, reading Neo's mind.
Neo gives her a look, feet pointedly atop the waters of the fountain.
The floating lady huffs, "Be careful of his companions. Two fairies who have been tricked into believing nothing is wrong. I tried to free them a long time ago and… well, you have seen my broken form. The consequence of not following his will. Our only good news is that he cannot remember these loops. Even if he defeats you, you will return to the beginning."
So he is not the one causing this?
"No, though I do believe he is part of the problem. I did not sense the dangerous magics on him until he shattered me."
The giant doesn't tell her to be careful, and Neo doesn't want any attachment forming between them. They're in a business relationship at best, and whatever 'magic' Neo's been given has yet to reveal itself. There is no real trust, and they will meet again whenever Neo drags the missing piece back to the woman.
Truly, Neo is in the mood to hit something. She could pick any person off the street to throw hands at but choosing someone that everyone currently hates will cause less problems in the loop. Neo peers up, hand above her to shield from the sunlight.
There. Still making a fool of himself above the clocktower. Just like what she remembers from the telescope. Neo taps her umbrella tip against the ground of the town's wall, mapping out how to get up there. Big jumps aren't her specialty, but she'll make do. Her aura flickers up to max, Neo stretches her limbs and ignores the unimportant people watching.
Then she runs.
Jumps.
Leaves a crack in a wall as she pushes off it to a higher point. There are shouts from below, but Neo is more focused on keeping momentum upwards. She's pushing her abilities to the limit as she leaps onto roofs, gathering enough speed so she won't fall on the final sprint.
Leaps with a boosted aura, caving in the roof behind her. For a moment, her eyes widen at the thought it wasn't enough.
Her heart beats heavy and she isn't afraid of falling. Neo's free hand snaps out, latching onto the moving edge of one of the strange clocks. It ticks upwards, letting her push off into the higher air. The woman does another grabs and push, throwing herself this time. Her umbrella flicks open at the peak, and Neo glares at the child below as she glides down.
"Who are you?"
Neo looks over to a… glowing ball. She dismisses it and snaps her weapon shut, a soft landing of heels on the wood below. The woman straightens, and with a click a needle-like point shoots out of her umbrella tip. With a smile fueled by bloodthirst, her heels click and the point drags with an awful noise.
"Hey!" The ball of yellow light snaps, a purple ball hovering behind it. "I asked you a question!"
The thing that's small enough to be a child puts its hands on its hips, "Don't come any closer."
Neo pauses for half a second, a rush of something passing over and beyond her. Her aura shield lights up against it. She bares her teeth and lunges.
She doesn't get a hit in, the apparent Skull Kid jumps away. Neo ducks as the ball of yellow light dives for her. Then an overwhelming, cloying sense floods the area, stilling them all.
A voice, neutral, and most definitely not a child comes from the kid, "You're a bad guy…"
With a wrenching force, Neo turns. Her breath leaves in a rush, eyes glued to the floating child-thing, swinging by its mask.
"And when you're a bad guy… you run, right?"
Tentacle-like things sprout from the mask, magic gathering in dark and light spheres around it as the tension grows. Neo leaps backwards off the tower, and moments later her illusion shatters before her. She plummets, gasping for breath and rolling away, leaving another illusion to take a hit. Further away from the thing is easier to think. All of her senses are panicking, begging to get away.
Neo thinks she might be a bit scared.
She knows she is angry.
The woman runs and hides and ducks, the thing tearing apart the city in search of her. Her goal is the graveyard, not because of the lack of people but because of all the distractions it holds. Monsters and platforms, things that make it difficult for those who don't know the place and – even more important – won't leave her a sitting duck to someone who can fly.
All she has to do is make it across the field without being shot, and Neo is running on enough frustration and spite to do it.
Maybe it will get bored and leave me alone, she thinks. Judges the screams of the village idiots to be on the other side of the town and then makes a run for it.
As it happens, she makes it so clear across the field that the thing doesn't notice her. Neo makes it to a high-vantage rock and watches as the clouds grow darker, tears fall more and more from the moon, and after Clock Town lays in ruin the thing gets to destroying the forest.
A person with a purple hood and one eye – something she's killed before – sits next to her. They smell of death, and the madness within them feels muted as the watch the horrors with her.
"There was once a mask that was filled with evil powers," they rasp. "Eventually it became strong enough to destroy the world. The only way to defeat it was to siphon the powers into other things, until all that was left was the being born from the powers."
Neo rolls her eyes and motions to the burning landscape.
They cackle, "Yes, well, the giants were given pieces of its power in order to stop this from happening. Guess they must have failed, but there are other masks out there. Small powers, large powers. Abilities passed through people; if only those could become masks. This is nowhere near the evil mask's full power. The moon would have fallen completely if it was."
Neo makes a get to the point gesture.
"It will waste all of its power here and then run when it realizes it cannot flee the moon falling." The red of their eye glows brighter. "In destroying this world, it will lose plenty of its power. We will not need to worry about the worlds it terrorizes after this."
Neo makes a face. She really doesn't care about all of this, but the mask information might be helpful for the next go-around. She'll have to keep an eye out and steal everything that looks like one. Maybe the floating giant can tell whether there are traces of the thing on it.
While she hides in the mountains the next few days, the thing destroys forests, mountains, and oceans. Neo purposefully doesn't think about the farm, instead watching as the moon draws closer and the thing stops raging. It is hard to see, what with the darkness in the sky and land, but a small glow shoots towards the remains of Clock Town and disappears with a mere hour left.
Neo is alone in a desolate world, wondering once more if this is some kind of punishment.
Lesson learned: don't attack Skull Kid until she is more powerful.
A small smile pulls at her lips. She closes her eyes and waits as the seconds tick down. She is going to find a way out of this place. Plenty of time to learn plenty of skills.
And then, Neo will be the one destroying this world.
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Neo drops.
Morning of the First Day: 78 Hours Remaining
And gets to thieving.
A/N: Thank you for reading! A really big thank-you to Kevin Bakeland for your review! The support means a lot.
I hope everyone is well and has a fantastic day! Please take care