08:43 pm, June 26, 1378 ASV
There's something off about this guy…
Eros had seen those eyes once before, that thirst for battle, in Velvo Volarion when he had massacred his settlement. That hunger for chaos lived in Grimace's eyes as well.
"You're an artist, aren't you?"
How did he know!?
"No, unfortunately I'm an Empyrean…" Eros showed Grimace his Mark of the Moon, who simply ignored the mark. Grimace rested his chin in his hand, curiously staring at Eros.
"Maybe so, but you're also an artist. I can see you trying to manipulate your aura to match that of a regular slave's, but you're no regular slave…"
I might have to take him out before he exposes my identity…
"Don't worry Eros, I have no intention of ratting you out. I've noticed more artists like you around the dining hall. So tell me, what is your mission?"
"To create chaos…"
Grimace grinned devilishly, the restroom lights reflecting off of his perfect white teeth. His true mask slowly peeled its way off of his face, revealing the insanity of the depraved performer.
The restroom door swung open, 3 men in blue suits walked in laughing obnoxiously. They stopped when they saw Eros, their pleasant expressions turning into ones of anger.
"Well well well, if it isn't the Golden Star himself, Eros…"
The man in the front was careful not to say Eros' last name in front of Grimace.
"You two know each other Eros?" Grimace asked, observing the arrogant man in front of him.
"Not really…"
"Why'd he call you Golden Star then… do you even know where tha—"
"Hey performer, why don't you do all of us a favour and get the hell out of here. We want to catch up with old Eros here…" The man laughed, elbowing his buddies for approval. The two men behind him who were likely drunk, smirked at Grimace. "What are you, deaf? Leave before we break one of your bon—"
Grimace punched the man in his nose, shattering the bone in one quick strike. The group leader clasped his nose, screaming out curses as blood leaked from his nostrils. Blood stained his suit, leaking its way onto the floor and causing him to slip back against the wall.
The other two men charged at Grimace, who ducked the first punch and side sweeped the leg of the attacker. He was instantly met with an elbow to his chest, gasping for air as he crawled away.
"Oh fuck it!" The second attacker increased his Astral Aura around his body, throwing a flurry of kicks at Grimace who held his guard. Grimace caught one of the kicks, flinging the second attacker through the bathroom stall door. He jumped on top of the man and punched him repeatedly in the face, sculpting him a new face with his bloodied fists.
"Come on artist! Show me something interesting!" The jester laughed in a psychotic manner, taking pleasure in every strike. The Astral Aura surrounding the mad jester was a thin pink aura, one that he was constantly supressing to keep secret from his enemies.
"Astral Art: Creepy Colony!" The group leader shouted, now back on his feet and pointing his finger at Eros and Grimace while his other hand covered his bloody mess of a nose. "Burrow your way through their hearts!"
"Idiot! We're not supposed to use our arts until we enter!" Eros screamed at him, watching as an army of ants crawled out from the crevices of the walls and floors. There must have been thousands of them in that room, crawling their way up both Eros and Grimace's shoes. He felt a thousand tiny bites on his ankle, a wave of blood crashing into the ant colony.
SPLAT! SPLAT! SPLAT! Grimace laughed deliriously as he stomped on the ants, leaving puddles of insect blood and limbs on the ground. No matter how much he stomped, more and more continued to crawl out of the walls.
In the background, the ants lifted the other two men over their heads and carried them out of the bathroom while the group leader stayed in the room to bark orders.
I get it now, his art's strength is based off of the overwhelming number of ants he has at his disposal. However, it's only useful in confined spaces such as this restroom and it seems he must be in that same room to give orders to them. If I used my art in here, I wouldn't be allowed to kill him before the festival or else it would draw attention to us.
Judging off of the fact that he intends to kill us, he'll order his ants to hide our bodies in the vents above the restroom. Then he'll order them to clean up the scene as if it never happened. His art is quiet enough to carry out these murders without drawing attention, mine would make too much noise. But I think I have an idea…
Eros kicked the ants off of him and sprinted to turn on all of the bathroom sinks. Grimace caught onto the plan quickly, jamming rolls of toilet paper into the sinks to clog it. The water began to overflow, flooding the white bathroom floor until it rose to their shins.
However, the ants began linking their legs together to create rafts and float in the water. They created a huge raft in the middle of the room with at least hundreds of more ants on its back.
"Did you really think your plan would work, Golden Star? Ants can swim you idiot!" The group leader laughed diabolically, cherishing the final moments of his victory. Water rose to their waists now, the group leader ordered his ants to create a second raft for him to stand on. Luckily enough, the restroom was 3 stories high giving them enough time to think of a new plan before they drowned.
"We should unclog the sinks before we fully drown." Grimace said, eyeing the ants crawling up the wall.
"No, that won't work. The ants are protecting the sinks. They won't let us get near."
"We're gonna drown…"
"I have an idea…"
Eros infused Astral Aura onto his right hand, lifting the broken bathroom stall door with ease. He then infused the aura onto his feet, standing on the floating stall door like a surf board. Grimace followed his lead:
"Alright, we're safe for now. But I'd say we have about 3 minutes before we drown in this room. So what's your plan?"
"Maybe we can escape through the vents…nevermind."
Grimace and Eros stared at the vents above them, there was an army of ants awaiting their arrival. The moment the room was fully submerged, the ants would swim through the water and tear them apart.
"What about the entrance?"
"He's guarding it and even if we get past both rafts, he likely ordered his ants to seal the entrance…"
"How do you know that?"
"Because if he didn't, the water would've leaked through the entrance and alerted everyone by now. The staff would've sent someone in here to investigate. He wants to carry this out quietly and strategically…"
"But aren't you both artists? The association sent both of you here for the same mission so why is he trying to kill you?"
"That's what I'd like to know…"
"I'm guessing I can't kill him either or else it'll raise everyones' suspicions…"
Eros nodded his head, analyzing the room for a way of escaping this encounter.
I see! That's it!
"Do you trust me, Jester?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"You do, you can jump in and die right now or you can wait with me until the room's fully submerged…"
"You're giving up?"
"I'm getting out."
Grimace eyed the rising water, they were now about half a story away from being fully submerged into the insect pool. He grinned at Eros:
"Show me something interesting artist!"
Eros matched his devilish smirk.
The room fully submerged, the group leader opened the vent above him to stick his head out for air. His ant colony jumped down and swam towards Eros and Grimace, who were already swimming towards the bathroom stalls. Surprisingly, this species of ants could swim really fast, enveloping Eros' leg within the first 10 seconds of being submerged.
The water slowly turned red as Eros felt thousands of sharp teeth penetrate his left leg, leaving holes in his nice white pants. Grimace infused his hands with Astral Aura, using the broken bathroom stall to swat away the ants from Eros. They focused their attention on him now, forming a ring around him.
Just hold out for a few more seconds…
Eros infused his aura onto his hands, gripping each toilet's flush handle tightly to infuse aura onto it. He weaved a long string of his aura, tying it to each handle. His lungs felt like they were about to explode and his vision was slowly dimming. Once he reached the final stall, he infused the remaining aura from his hands onto the handle and pulled it as hard as he could.
A loud flushing sound vibrated its way through the bloody water, sucking up everything inside of it. Eros and Grimace infused aura into their fingers, gripping onto the bathroom stalls to avoid being pulled in by the power of the suction. The ants and water were forcibly flushed down the toilet drain, causing Eros and Grimace to drop onto the dirty bathroom floor.
The group leader's head was stuck in the toilet, screaming out for help as he tried to wiggle his way free.
"You might be more insane than me… you know that, Golden Star?" Grimace coughed out water, completely drenched by a mix of dirty water, ant blood, and Eros' blood.
"You're one to talk… you're the reason we had to go through this…" Eros laughed, puking out water and ant blood.
The restroom door swung open, Lucerio walked in with his hands in his pockets, surveying the destroyed room:
"You guys look like shit…"
Eros and Grimace both broke out into an uncontrollable laughter.