Dance with the Devil

Boop

Branzy pushes himself up. Come one, he can fo better than this! Clown's mask glares at him, somehow glowing in the morning sun. People have been fighting him all night. Every time somebody loses, a new heart gets added to the pile. Winner takes all. If nobody beats Clown, he gets them. Branzy is the last one to fight. Everybody lost.

He said this game would just be for fun, to heal any rifts in between people. Branzy could tell after ten seconds that he just wanted easy hearts. Clown is smart like that. Give people an impossible challenge, they're going to take it. It's actually genius, except now, Branzy is against him. He doesn't like these odds anymore.

Everyone around is watching in absolute horror as they realized what they did a few minutes prior. Clown could have killed him within the first two seconds. He's just playing with his prey.

Branzy needs to win this. Not only would it stop the imminent annihilation of life as everyone knows it, but it would rocket him directly from being the weakest link, to the strongest. People would actually respect him instead of walking past without a car, not even thinking he's a threat. Branzy will prove he's a threat!

Clown takes a step forward and it snaps Branzy back out of his daydreams. Yeah, he's not proving anything here, he's going to die slowly and painfully. Maybe quickly and painfully, he and Clown have a relatively good history.

Clown swings his sword, not even bothering to pull out his scythe. Branzy scrambles to block it, his iron blade barely withstanding an attack from the netherite. Rek looks like he's about to cry. Parrot is freaking out. Everybody knows that this is the end.

Branzy counterstrikes, not making it even two feet within Clown. He parrys the strike and slices his shoulder. Branzy let's out a gasp of pain, stumbling back a bit. All the other fights he killed them so fast! Why is he drawing this out out?

Branzy decides to just get things over with, pulls back, and as soon as Clown steps forward again, he rushes in and swings. This time, he hits the hilt of Clowns sword, knocking it out of his hand. Everything freezes. He disarmed Clown. He actually did something- he disarmed Clown! He might actually-

Clown pulls out his scythe and laughs. "Sorry Branzy, this is over now."

He rushes towards him, and he ducks, kicking at his leg. Clown simply sidesteps him and kicks his arm. That didn't work. He switches hands. One of the great things about being ambidextrous: both arms are sword arms.

They've now switched arena sides, with Branzy being on the non bloodstained area. Clown killed most people on their own side.

That makes things way worse, now he's looking at a psychotic Clown with a blood stained mask, holding a blood stained scythe, in a blood stained arena. He should have just accepted death. Now he's sure it's going to be slow.

Branzy has an idea. It's a really bad idea, yes, but he has to try something.

He rushes at Clown, swinging his sword to the right. Clown automatically blocks it, launching an attack of his own. But Branzy is ready. Instead of blocking, he drops his sword, leaving Clown confused and feeling victorious. Clown pulls his scythe back towards himself, and Branzy grabs it. He pulls it harder, trying to get it out of his grasp. Branzy uses this tug as force for his own blow, and kicks Clown in the abdomen, and his own strength and Clowns.

Clown obviously wasn't expecting that, and kind of staggers from the shock and pain. Everyone is quiet again. Branzy landed a blow on Clown. But he's not done. He grabs Clown's sword, and strikes with all the power he has. Clown recovers just in time to block, but when netherite hits wood, netherite usually wins. The blade of his scythe is knocked clean off, the wood just below sliced. He grabs it, putting it if his old swords sheath.

Branzy panics internally. On one hand, he just successfully pulled off an attack plan on Clownpierce. On the other, he didn't actually think this far ahead.

Everyone's cheering now. Clown seems like he's in shock, and then let's out a low, almost a growl if anger. "Branzy. You're going to pay for that."

Oh he's dead, he's so dead. He might as well pull out all the tricks. Branzy grabs a water bottle from his inventory and throws it at Clown. He dodges, focusing on it for a moment, and branzy uses that to attack, slicing him in the shoulder. He was aiming for the leg, but don't tell anyone that.

Everyone is freaking out now. Branzy is actually winning? Branzy's freaking out too. There's no way this is happening-

The sword goes flying as Clown strikes his hand. He grabs it with ease, taking the stick in his right hand and the sword in his left. In a fluid motion, before Branzy can even react, Clown has him pinned to the wall by the stick, and the sword is by his throat.

Clown chuckles, a dark, amused laugh. "You tried so hard Branzy. But you lost. How does that feel?" Rek is trying to comfort Parrot. Everybody knows now that they lost, and this server belongs to him now. He holds all the power. He holds too many hearts.

Branzy grins. "Pretty good actually." Clown pauses, as the blade of his own scythe comes out of his back.

The rules state the winner is decided when someone dies. Clown should have killed Branzy when he had the chance. Because now, maybe he's not the strongest player, but he just became a hero to everyone.

Everyone except the one that matters.

Right before Clown slumps down, he slices Branzy's throat. Everything goes black just as the corpse in front of him dissappears.

...

Branzy jolts up by worldspawn. His bed must have been destroyed. Nearby, there's another person. Everyone is still by the arena. This must be Clown.

He turns to look at Branzy, his mask only half on his face. Whether he has anger or hatred in his eyes, Branzy can't really tell. Whichever one it is, Branzy is terrified. Clown is in a position to take every last one of his lives. And nobody is close enough to stop him.

"Branzy..." He sounds angry. Branzy is going to die here, isn't he? It's been a good run. Not really. It's been a half decent run. Maybe. It'd actually been horrible. It's been a run.

Clown turns to the direction where the arena is. "Branzy they're probably taking your hearts." Oh. Oh they probably are.

"Don't go back, you'll probably die." Yeah, actually. They would probably kill him. In fact, the arena is probably in absolute chaos at the moment.

Branzy scratches the back of his head. "Well- yeah. You're not mad?"

Clown looks at him like he's insane. He is, but still. "Mad? Why would I be mad? Branzy, that was amazing!"

Branzy looks away. Hopefully Clown thinks it's because he's scared instead of flustered because oh my Clown is really hot with the mask off and he just told Branzy he's amazing and he might actually kill him without even touching him. "It was? You really think so?"

Clown steps near Branzy, who is still very much turned away. "Yes! That kick was genius! And I never even saw the scythe coming. I still don't even know where you had it!"

Branzy looks into Clown's eyes, not really caring if he sees the blush anymore. "We should go to the fun house. Anyone could be here soon."

Clown laughs. "Not fun house. Casino. I'm thinking of opening up a new venture, where you can gamble both diamond and hearts."

Branzy kind of gasps. "Clown, can I make a giant roulette?"

Both of them knew that neither of them were ever going to see those hearts again. But neither could really find it in themselves to care.

Although maybe they will once the casino is ready.