"Round kick!"
**WHAM**
The sound echoed through the makeshift arena like a thunderclap, causing several pigeons perched nearby to scatter in panic.
"Stomp!"
**WHAM**
"Create distance," came the voice again through the Shadowbud, calm with its inner malice.
Kira obeyed every command as perfectly as she could, though inside the suffocating bunny costume, she could tell all of her attacks weren't making reasonable impact.
Sweat dripped down her face as she adjusted the oversized bunny head that kept shifting with each movement she made, giving her a view of either the ground or the sky—never quite where she needed to see, yet strangely, it never really proved to be a handicap for her.
"And the fuzzy bunny is not holding back!" announced the commentator, whose voice seemed nervous but somehow, no one seemed to notice. "The fuzzy bunny is going to save you, children!"
"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
The collective joyful response from the audience of children rang out loudly through the amusement park. The kids bounced up and down as they watched the show, their fingers clutching balloons, ice cream cones, and various snacks.
"Isn't the bad guy supposed to also be dressed in a costume?" A little girl muttered from the audience with a barely audible voice.
Vexis heard the comment with perfect clarity—his ears were quite trained so that they could probably pick up whispers from afar if he focused, so it was normal to him.
"I think they decided to make a little change in the traditional way today," Vexis responded smoothly, wrapping his hand around the girl's shoulder with gentleness and ease.
On his face bloomed a smile that transcended ordinary human expressions. It was the kind of smile that belonged in historical paintings of legends—beautiful, brave, and slightly... terrifying.
It was simultaneously the most gorgeous and most unnerving thing the little girl had ever seen, which made the curious little girl stare with stars in her eyes.
The child—whose name was Emma and who prided herself on being immune to adult nonsense—found herself completely mesmerized.
"I like the new change, how about you?" Vexis asked, his smile maintaining its supernatural qualities after seeing the little girl's awestruck expression.
Emma, with stars in her eyes, nodded like a bobblehead doll. How could she disapprove when such a divine looking figure like this man was in approval.
"Very good." Vexis ruffled Emma's hair with gentleness, then added, "Enjoy the show."
The moment they both turned back toward the stage, his presence seemed to simply... disappear. Not literally—he was still standing there—but the overwhelming warmth that had radiated from him suddenly vanished.
His posture shifted, his expression cooled, and his eyes returned to their natural state: calculating, predatory, and cold.
Vexis had turned back just in time to witness the figure who had been designated as the villain of this performance struggling to regain his footing.
'This scumbag sure doesn't know when to give up,' Vexis thought with disdain, clenching his fist.
He placed his hand on the Shadowbud, the piece of technology that looked like nothing more than a standard Bluetooth earpiece but functioned better and across a longer range.
The lady inside the enormous bunny costume wasn't so much a willing participant; however, she was a puppet, dancing to his strings whether she liked it or not.
And the man playing the villain? He was less an actor and more of someone else's puppet, just like Kira was to Vexis, related to Vexis's real enemies—the ones searching for him desperately.
Vexis had been in the assassination business long enough to recognize the signs, after all. He already understood the whole picture but still did not know where his enemies were.
The entire scenario was a carefully orchestrated piece of show, with himself as the director, the audience as oblivious spectators, and his enemies as the real entertainment that was soon to be complete.
They were here, somewhere in this crowd of laughing children and oblivious parents. Watching. Waiting. Planning.
"H-He... He's getting back to his feet," Kira's voice trembled through the Shadowbud, her words came out in whispered panic.
"I can see that," Vexis responded through the Shadowbud, his voice as cold as his gaze. "In fact, I'm growing bored of this little performance."
"I'll give you one more combination of attacks. If you fail to perform it perfectly this time, you'll face a penalty that will make your current situation seem like mercy."
His tone had shifted, becoming nearly guttural as he spoke, almost like a predatory growl. A threat hung in the air between them.
Vexis was being extraordinarily cautious, speaking clearly without even the slightest movement of his lips. To any casual observer, he appeared to be simply another engaged spectator, perhaps a father watching his child's performance silently.
Although all focus—the audience and his enemies—were at the fight, that still didn't give him the freedom to let his guard down or act suspicious. There were eyes everywhere, after all.
"Take two steps backward and assume your fighting stance again," he commanded through the device.
Kira nodded, the motion causing the oversized bunny head to dangle haphazardly after her movement. She obeyed the instruction, making her movements as perfect as she could manage while wearing such heavy clothing.
The crowd watched with focused attention as their beloved fuzzy hero prepared for what appeared to be the final confrontation.
Children held their breath, parents fumbled for their phones to record the climactic moment, all in anticipation.
As soon as the man who she was dueling with got back to his feet, he did something she thought he wouldn't dare since they were out in public.
He reached into his inner shirt and brought out two daggers, one for each hand.
The weapons gleamed in the afternoon sunlight with the kind of shine that made it absolutely clear that they were very real and very sharp. This was definitely not standard amusement park entertainment style of performance, not anymore.
"I am done playing around," the armed man declared, his voice carrying across the makeshift arena with clarity, causing the spectators to instinctively step back.
On his face spread a smile that belonged in a horror movie—the kind of expression worn by people who had given up on the concept of sanity and decided to accept chaos as a lifestyle.
It was the smile of someone who was not just willing but actively eager to paint the immediate vicinity in shades of red.
"If I take care of you now," he continued, spinning the daggers with swift professionalism, "it will save my contractor all the stress of hiring additional assassins beyond those they've already deployed. And I'll claim the bigger share of the bounty on your head."
He paused, letting the words hang in the air for a short moment before he completed.
"Vexis, the solo assassin."
The name hit Kira like a bolt of lightning and suddenly, several pieces of the puzzle clicked into place.
The man who had been using her as a participant in this deadly puppet show was not just some psychopath with a flair for dramatic entertainment. He was an assassin—a professional killer—and apparently, he is currently being hunted by others in the same line of work.
There was a bounty on this Vexis character's head, which meant multiple people were probably trying to collect it. And somehow, through a series of events, she had been manipulated to become the focal point of their attention.
The way the knife-wielding maniac had phrased his declaration made it crystal clear that this hunt didn't involve only him.
There were already multiple assassins in the area, all hunting for Vexis, and they had somehow concluded that she—a perfectly ordinary person whose greatest life achievement had been successfully spending one week's worth of savings in one day—was their target.
"Why me?" The question echoed through her mind as sweat began to soak her costume, while her legs trembled.
Of all the people in this amusement park, of all the possible victims or bystanders or random passersby, somehow the universe had selected her to be the unwilling star of this living nightmare.
"Left jab."
The exact moment the assassin suddenly charged forward, Vexis's cold, calculating voice suddenly resonated through the Shadowbud with perfect timing.
"Right jab."
"Squat."
"Uppercut."
The rapid sequence of commands snapped Kira back to reality quickly from her inner monologue. She jolted slightly at the sudden intrusion of Vexis's voice, but her body responded almost automatically to the instructions.
Years of aerobics classes in the past had apparently programmed certain reflexes into her memory. Her body moved before her conscious mind had fully processed the commands, executing the sequence with surprising fluency.
This adrenaline... Was it fear of death? Was it desperation? She couldn't quite understand, but she didn't want to die.
'Left jab.' Her costume-restricted fist shot out toward her opponent's torso. The oversized bunny glove made contact with a satisfying thud, causing the assassin to spit out.
'Right jab.' Before the assassin could fully process the first attack, her other fist followed through, catching him off-guard and forcing him into a defensive position.
The assassin, or rather, the so-called villain, raised his arms to protect his vital organs, clearly not expecting the fuzzy bunny to demonstrate actual combat skills amidst her costume restrictions.
As both jabs connected, the assassin attempted to go on the offensive. The daggers in his hands gleamed as he prepared to strike back, probably aiming with pure bloodlust, not minding ending Kira's life that instant.
'Squat.' But Kira had already moved to the next command. She dropped low just as the villain's blade swept through the space where her head had been a moment earlier.
Several audience members gasped, finally beginning to suspect that this might be slightly more intense than typical children's entertainment. One mother started searching for her phone frantically, though whether to call security or to make sure she got this on video.
It was getting more realistic every second.
'Uppercut.' As Kira rose from her crouch, she put every ounce of strength, frustration, and remaining energy into the final move.
Her fist, wrapped in fuzzy pink bunny padding, connected with her opponent's chin with a force that carried its own wind pressure.
**WHAM!**
The impact lifted the villain clean off his feet. For a brief, almost magical moment, he hung suspended in the air like a character in a cartoon who had just run off a cliff and hadn't yet looked down.
Then gravity remembered its job.
The man crashed to the ground with incredible force. His daggers flew from his hands, clattering across the ground and coming to rest near the edge of the makeshift arena's platform.
The villain lay motionless, knocked out cold.
"YEEEEEAAAAHHHHH!"
The cheer that erupted from the crowd was so loud that for a moment, it overwhelmed all other background noise across the entire amusement park. Children jumped up and down with joy and even the adults were amazed.
The commentator gulped down, then turned towards Kira with his dramatic composure regained as he suddenly remembered his role: "And with a devastating finishing move, our heroic fuzzy bunny has defeated the villain!"
"Children, you have been saved!"
"YEEEEEAAAAHHHHH!" The children erupted into another cheer as they rushed towards Kira, who was still trapped inside the massive bunny costume, panting heavily with both hands on her knees.
Her breathing came in ragged gasps that had less to do with physical exertion and more to do with the kind of adrenaline strain and partial relief of fear.
Inside the costume, sweat dripped from every pore of her skin, soaking the mascot costume enough to show from the outside.
"Fuzzy bunny, you were amazing!" shouted a gap-toothed boy who appeared to be around six years old.
The children surrounded her joyfully, their small arms wrapping around the enormous costume in a group hug that threatened to topple her over if she didn't maintain her footing with extra effort.
"You saved us from the bad guy!" declared a girl with pigtails, with a similar smile as the boy earlier. "I wish I could be just like you!"
"I love you, fuzzy bunny!" called out another child.
The comments of admiration rained down on Kira, each one delivered with the pure sincerity that only children can manage. Even the adults who were recording seemed satisfied.
Under normal circumstances, this would have been heartwarming. Under current circumstances, it felt like being praised for successfully not dying, which was technically accurate. But this was barely the beginning and she knew that, especially after hearing all the assassin had to say.
There were still more people here. Just how long did this Vexis plan to toy with her life?
"Blend in and continue your role this instant," came the familiar cold voice through the Shadowbud.
"Right, sir!" Kira stammered, though the words came out muffled through the costume's head.
She straightened up, accepting the embraces from the children. She was grateful this time for the costume, which was concealing her terrified face perfectly.
From his strategic position at a safe distance from the action, Vexis observed the scene with broad satisfaction grin.
'Don't feel exhausted this early,' he thought, his inner voice carrying a hint of amusement that he perfectly prevented from showing on his stoic facial expression. 'Amusement parks are for fun, after all. The fun is only beginning.'