Silence.
The world was completely still.
It all seed to slow down in that mont.
Obsession. Desire. Madness. Perfection.
Perfection wasn’t made up of a single aspect. It was sothing made out of many aspects. This was sothing that I had co to learn from the mories.
It wasn’t a hard concept to grasp.
But to reach perfection, one had to sacrifice what they desired most.
Perfection could only be achieved by those who gave it their all.
Passion wasn’t enough.
Passion was rely sothing that equated to a strong interest in sothing. With passion ca praise and cheers.
’You’re so passionate!’
’Amazing!’
’Oh, you found your passion? Aweso! Chase your passion! Go for it!’
Passion was good.
But was passion enough? Was passion enough to reach perfection?
No.
It wasn’t.
One needed to be obsessed to reach perfection.
But obsession wasn’t looked upon highly by the world. It was frowned upon. It was a sign of craziness. It was a sign of the inability to be satisfied.
Obsession was the path that led to perfection.
Desire was what kept soone in the path.
And Madness...
That.
That was what kept one obsessed.
Obsession. Desire. Madness.
They were the vicious cycle of perfection.
The Conductor’s vicious cycle.
It was a strange thought. One that I struggled to grasp myself. But at the sa ti, it was a dangerous thought. The mont I caught a glimpse of the result that ca with perfection, I felt my heart race.
Perfection...
I wanted to reach it too.
I thought I had reached it, but I was wrong.
I had yet to reach perfection.
But...
Reaching perfection wasn’t easy. The Conductor had tried, but ultimately failed. In the end, he had never been able to achieve his dream. The reason why the Conductor sought perfection wasn’t as simple as his obsession with it.
He sought perfection to leave a mark.
To be rembered.
To...
Not be forgotten.
It was this sudden understanding of the conductor that drove deeper into my imrsion.
My previously trembling fingers had stopped trembling.
My breath had evened out.
...And the silence around no longer felt unsettling.
It felt like peace.
Blinking slowly, I looked around. The lights were no longer as bright. The Conductor wasn’t as scary, and the world... It seed so strangely empty.
But within the emptiness, a figure remained in my vision.
Swoosh!
His baton fell down.
Dang!
A single note filtered through the air.
It was soft, yet loud.
"....."
My chest rose. My third node trembled, and I felt a strange power starting to seep out from my body. It was a power that I couldn’t control, but was very familiar with it.
"H-hooo..."
I loosened up my wrist.
Dang, dang—!
My fingers glided across the keys. They danced and painted each key with a new note.
I could feel the weight on my node starting to increase with each key that I pressed. Sothing was coming out of my body, but I didn’t know what it was.
I just basked in this feeling.
This sensation.
Perfection was a vicious cycle.
Obsession. Desire. Madness.
I focused entirely on the notes in front of . I made sure to press the key with the sa exact pressure, and even forgot to breathe. Sweat dripped down, and my vision blurred, but I ignored it.
I wanted to reach the end.
My back unknowingly hunched over the keyboard.
’More. More. More...’
Dang— Dang!
Each note was different.
It carried its own pitch and lasted in the air differently.
Dang!
But this wasn’t enough.
Faster!
Harder!
Smoother!
I continued to press the keys. This ti, I started to slow down. I was halfway through. This was the slowest part before the second part.
The most maddening part.
Dang———!
I started to slow down.
The node in my mind stopped churning as much.
I didn’t know what was happening to the world outside. I was so focused on playing that I had drowned everything out.
By the ti I stopped, the world was bathed in silence.
"....."
Slowly, I raised my head.
I looked towards the conductor.
He was staring at , his face hardened.
I blinked slowly and looked behind him.
Red.
That was all I saw.
A scene of carnage.
My breath caught.
My anxiety rose.
But amidst it all...
I found myself smiling.
"Hehehe."
A laugh escaped my lips.
One that echoed quietly within the theater.
One...
That made my very own hair raise.
"....I’ll begin again."
Dang!
The piece continued.
***
A deep sense of suffocation had taken hold of the theater. Nobody said a word as all eyes were fixed on the Jester, its body pressed closely to the piano as its hand glided across the keys, a gentle yet incredibly haunting tune flowing out of the piano.
Its eyes glowed a strong red hue, and while nobody could see its expression, one could see the madness in its movents.
It was sickening.
"H-ha... W-what is this?"
"I... can’t hold on any longer."
"H-help."
What ca with his music was a terrifying power. One that seed to be on par with the conductor’s, if not even higher.
"It’s rising. It’s rising..."
The Section Chief’s gaze was fixed on the device in his hands, his face growing paler by the second. The ter was rising rapidly. Faster than ever before, and he could see the threshold starting to reach the rank.
’No, no...’
Panic started to set in across the entire theater.
The faces of the other groups had paled considerably, with so even passing out on the ground. The deaths... They had long lost count.
In spite of the nders from every group working together to keep everyone alive, the madness of the music had transmitted right to them.
Da-Da-Da-Da-Da-Da Dang—
The Section Chief stopped holding back.
He moved forward and pressed his hand over the Team Leader while mumbling, "This might hurt, but you must resist."
The node in his mind churned, and the do that covered their surroundings thickened and expanded even further. He wasn’t done. The next node churned. The mont it did, a second shield began to form. Layering right over their original shield.
His face twitched under the strain, but he had to hold on.
He had to resist.
"Get two nders over here. Heal her quickly!"
As the Section Chief spoke, two people hurriedly arrived before the Team Leader as they pressed their hands over her pale and trembling body.
This wasn’t all.
The Section Chief turned his attention towards Kyle.
"Ready?"
"Yes..."
The Section Chief placed his hand over Kyle’s body. His node churned further, and Kyle’s body shook violently.
"Get another nder here."
Ti started to slow down.
The notes started to slow down in the air, and for just the briefest monts, the situation cald down.
But it wasn’t for long.
The Section Chief had only managed to buy them a single minute.
Tik, Tik—!
The scale continued to go up.
The energy within the gate increased further.
The Jester’s eyes shone even redder, and his back hunched further.
Wam! Wam!
His hands slamd against the keyboard.
Droplets of red spilled from his hands.
And yet, the Jester basked in the red, its every movent growing more and more sickening.
Desperate.
Obsessed.
...P-perfect.
WAAAAM—!
The sound thundered throughout.
"Hold on! Keep holding on! It’s almost over!"
The Section Chief scread.
Cra Crack!
But cracks had already ford across the first do.
WAAAAAM—!
Crash!
It soon shattered.
The Section Chief’s face paled. The Team Leader’s eyes rolled back, and she passed out. And yet, the shield remained. The Section Chief’s node churned even further, his body slowly starting to tremble.
WAAAAM—!
The notes scread once more.
The Jester had stood up.
Cracks started to form on the second shield.
The Jester raised its hands once more.
The scale tipped further up.
’No, no—!’
WAAAAM!
Its hands slamd down once more, the do shattering and the faces of many paling, so passing out, with others dying directly.
Blood streaked down the Section Chief’s mouth as he looked at Kyle.
He was the last line of defense.
He couldn’t allow him to fall.
He—
"Eh?"
The Section Chief stopped.
It was in that mont that he realized sothing.
"....."
The theater was quiet.
Not a single note echoed, and as he slowly lifted his head, the Section Chief’s gaze fell on the Jester.
It sat by the piano, both hands on the keys.
Its head dropped slightly by the keys, and as its red eyes shone, the Section Chief looked at the pocket watch.
- Rank.
In that mont, all eyes were fixed on the Jester.
Be it the conductor or the audience.
All eyes were on the Jester.
It basked beneath the lights, its bells softly dangling before its head.
And slowly, the Jester raised its hand.
Dang!
The last note played.
In Obsession, it sought perfection.
In Desire, it followed perfection.
In Madness, it reached perfection.
Swoosh!
The curtains fell.
The Cycle of Perfection.
Such was the na of the piece.
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