主妇丈夫倡导的户外生活

Harker walked on more rainbow light hallways. That's what he decided to call them. It's so damn colorful yet dark at the same time. 

He can still hear the jazz music no matter how far he had gone on them. The hallways made twists and turns, and yet it never seemed to go distant. Harker wasn't sure whether there was just a sound system that played the music even in these places, or if it was something supernatural.

He still wasn't sure what Ivan was. He could compel him with his hypnosis to answer, or get into his memories using the black worms. 

But he felt like doing that might make things worse somehow. 

It wasn't that he was scared of Ivan, though he was cautious. But his 'friends', these patrons…. There's something seriously wrong with them. 

Harker suddenly heard a voice in his head. 

'Don't go there, Master'.

Harker frowned, and answered back in his mind. 'Why not?'

'They know.'

Yan sounded perturbed when he said that, like he was truly frightened.

'They know what? That I'm a demon lord? So what, that just means that just confirms that they're monsters too. I'll also see what they're capable of in this 'fight' so I'll know how to deal with them.'

'It's more complicated than that. You should go back and send someone else, Master.'

'Someone else? What, am I supposed to send in Roland? No way. Poor guy already suffered a lot because of me, and it's tearing us apart.' Harker sighed. 

Yan still sounded uneasy. 'Just…. Be careful, Master.'

'Yeah, I'll try my best.'

Harker knew himself that he wasn't really the best at staying careful, after all the damages he gained for every monster he encountered and the situations he got himself into. This was precisely why he didn't consider himself a genius.

He was too curious for his own good. Even if he did realize the danger, he would linger a bit because of this innate desire to always find the truth.

Suddenly, Ivan spoke. 

"I do not like unknown visitors that don't introduce themselves."

Harker's eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"Your friends weren't so polite to introduce themselves. I do not like it. Both guest and host must uphold some etiquette, right? So too when it comes to the entertainers and the watchers." Ivan told him.

Harker secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He really thought he was referring to Yan.

"Their names are Roland and Artea." He said, since he could feel that sharing names was something significant with these people.

He also noticed how he put emphasis on the policeman's name. Maybe it was a sort of peace offering for them?

"Those are good names." Ivan remarked. 

He went quiet again, and they kept walking. Harker was getting so tired. It felt like this place was endless. 

"Just how big is this place? We should have covered the whole streets of downtown Manhattan by now. Or are we somewhere else already?"

Ivan turned to him with a smile. "It is important for my Circus to stay hidden from all traps."

"Right, the police lights." Harker remembered.

The strange circus man did not say anything to this. He then asked: 

"How skilled are you at fighting, Harker?"

Harker shrugged. "Probably not the best of the best, but I've defeated pretty powerful folks over the past 6 months. So I think I'm strong enough for this 'Show Room' fight."

Ivan chuckled. "Not bad. But I do not ask how strong you are. I asked for the best fighter, that does not always mean strength." 

They finally reached the end, and Harker could see from the small doorway that the Show Room must be much larger than the Circus Cabaret itself. There was sand and what seemed to an arena waiting for him.

"Best fighters know how to conceal themselves. To blend in the shadows and places beyond their enemies' vision." Ivan told him. "Just ask your spectating friend. Hiding is actually a more powerful trick than you think."

Harker's eyes widened. So he does know about Yan's presence, even though he's invisible.

When Harker arrived at the large arena, he realized that it must have been a circus. Above him was a tightrope, and he seemed to be inside a large tent. The seats went around in circles, and there was no one seated there. 

He was all alone. But he knew that wasn't the case. 

He stayed alert, and tried to use his current abilities to his advantage. Eating Legion and adding his Absorption Limit allowed him to keep all of them even after 3 months had passed. He focused on his heightened senses…..

"Argh!"

He suddenly felt a sharp pain on his shoulder. 

Did… Did something just bite him!?

Harker tried to shove it away, but it was gone faster than he could move. And he could move very fast already with the speed of his abilities.

There was suddenly an uproar of laughter in the spectator's seats. But there was no one else, and Harker couldn't even determine their location from the sound alone. They seemed to be everywhere, all at once. 

Harker tried to use his Succubus Ability, ejecting a sickeningly sweet scent to keep them all still. 

For a moment, everyone stopped laughing and the thing didn't seem to make its move again. Harker breathed heavily, trying to locate his enemy— or enemies. He walked around the arena, still unable to sense them.

Could it be that they were immaterial just like Yan?

The best he could do was to use the Succubus Ability, but without any way of attacking them back, he can't win the fight. He could only keep them still. 

"Show yourselves, you bastards!" Harker commanded, trying to use the Snake Demon's hypnotizing skill.

It only works if someone was looking him in the eye. 

Sure enough, something did appear in front of him. But Harker just became even more confused…

As what appeared before him was nothing but a mannequin. A tall, pure white humanoid figure with no features, and no insides.

It was hollow, and was unnervingly still.  Harker touched it, but it still didn't move. Just a piece of hard plastic.

Then....

He rose to the ground, as something picked him up—

And started to eat him! 

Harker yelled in pain, but he wasn't alarmed. This was his chance. Whatever was eating him would only bring his black worms from Legion into its body. Then, he could destroy and corrupt it from inside out. 

But as he reached out for the things inside….

It was empty. There were no organs for him to destroy, no flesh, no nothing. It wasn't organic material. It was made of pure plastic, or anything else that was artificial. 

Harker found himself stuck inside a darkness unlike anything else. It caged him like a prison, and he couldn't find any way to escape. He clawed and punched and kicked his way out. 

But no matter how strong he was, it was useless. Strength didn't matter in a fight like this. 

"Let me out! Let me out of here!"

Ivan clicked his tongue. "How disappointing. I told them to bring their best fighter. Still, the show must go on."

He regarded the invisible audience on the chairs, raising his cane and wearing that wide, showman smile.

"Shall the betting begin? Our Big Bear has our challenger in its stomach, but will he be able to escape? Or will his existence dissolve into nothing? Place your bets before the time runs up!"