https://youtu.be/EHvsApnM5Vo

The inside of the tower was surprisingly bright, due to the holes in the walls allowing the light of the outside world to enter. The room here had fallen gravel and dust everywhere, giving it an appropriately old appearance. But aside from that, it was an utter mess, with smashed monuments scattered everywhere alongside the kaleidoscopic bouncy balls on the floor, while thick streaks of orange paint were splattered all over the wall. It was far from the ancient, dignified tower that Oz had expected to see here - rather, this was like some mob had come in and ransacked the place. Which they had.

"My goodness...such brazen rudeness. I'm almost impressed." the einherjar murmured, slowly and carefully treading across the room. Ahead of him was a staircase, stuck to the wall and crafted from the same old stone, spiralling upwards. He picked up one of the bouncy balls and examined it closely, humming before he began to go up the stairs.

"Oz, I'm detecting people on the next floor." Freya warned him, her ethereal voice resounding in his mind. "I sense about three of them..."

"Hmm...are we talking about cannon fodder here?" Oz asked, looking up as he continued making his way upstairs.

"They don't seem to be as strong as Biff or Chip...but you should probably be careful, anyway."

"Duly noted, thank you." Oz replied, eventually making it to the top of the staircase to see the next floor. It looked largely identical to the ground floor, save for the decreased number of bouncy balls. The grey stone floor and walls were similar, right down to the random splashes of orange paint. On the walls, one could see a lot of artefacts - swords, spears, and suits of armour, browned by rust and littered with cobwebs and dust.

But no enemies were seen, which immediately struck Oz's eye. Clearing his throat, he stepped further into the room, placing a hand on his chest and fanning his arm around the room like some sort of tour guide. "And on this floor, we have an ancient armoury! An exhibit of the old times before we started putting magic in our equipment!"

"...Oz? What are you doing?" Freya questioned, watching as Oz took a deep breath. "Who are you talking to?"

"Oh, you could say I'm just going through the motions." Oz admitted, shrugging. "My friend and I used to act like that during our adventuring days."

"Your friend?" Freya noted, her voice suspicious in tone, and Oz could practically smell the raised eyebrow. "Was it your special friend? Your-"

"Why does everyone think that?" Oz sighed, smiling resignedly. "He was a friend. The rest is up to you."

"Are you sure you want to leave that to someone like me?" Freya giggled. "There's no telling what I could dream up."

"Think whatever you want, just as long as no feet are involved." Oz said casually, looking around the room as he carefully stepped across, his hand on his chin. "Freya, you said there were three people here, right?"

"I did. They're still here, too."

Oz cleared his throat at that, before raising his voice. "Well, wherever they are, it's awfully polite of them to wait for us to finish talking!"

His voice echoed across the room, and at once Oz began to look around quickly, trying to detect any movement. But he didn't see anything - even the bouncy balls on the ground seemed perfectly undisturbed. But maybe those could be helpful here. As he picked one up, he threw it as hard as he could, watching it ricochet off one of the walls. And then another. And the floor. And then the ceiling, and then another wall, and then - well, you get the gist. You must understand that I simply am not a man who exaggerates - when I say "bouncy ball", I damn well mean a bouncy ball.

Oz carefully tracked its movement, captivated by its rainbow colours while he stared at it, but with a light thudding noise, it seemed to stop in midair, before falling to the ground. Recognising what this meant, Oz summoned his gun and pointed it at where the ball had stopped, smiling proudly for being able to locate his opponent. Surely, the other two would show themselves shortly...

"He's spotted us, boys! Show NO mercy!"

"W-Wait, I haven't spotted-"

https://youtu.be/deVkA48enPg

Before he could finish that sentence, he felt one of the bouncy balls being pelted at him, beaning him right in the head. Before he could properly parse the feeling, another struck him in the shoulder. Then more got his back, his neck, his sides, and soon enough, he was practically being stoned to death with bouncy balls. He raised his arms for cover, trying to see where the balls were coming from - which wasn't easy, because when they hit him, they bounced back towards the walls, floor and ceiling, bouncing more and more. This was ricocheting on a whole new level, and it made traversing the room almost impossible, let alone paying attention to his surroundings.

"Oz, are you okay?" Freya asked, desperately working her magic to try and pinpoint the locations of the clowns.

"I'm afraid not, Freya." Oz lamented, trying to keep his cool even now. "I feel like this whole operation is going balls-up as early as the first floor!"

Freya let out a light chuckle at that, having detected the clowns, but she sighed at what she saw, not seeming to like it. "...I've spotted the enemies, but they're dancing."

"Dancing? From my point of view, they seem to be throwing bouncy balls at me - as if it's a deadly weapon and not simply a major inconvenience." Oz sighed. "I must confess, I'm getting rather sick of these dancers."

"Well, hopefully-" Freya began, only to cut herself off. "Oz, knife! Behind you!"

On cue, Oz spun out of the way, his movement much less graceful than he would have liked, and he heard the sound of the knife becoming embedded in the wall. Glad that it wasn't bouncy, too, he drew his guns and began shooting wildly in the same vague area that the knife had come from. The balls kept coming all the while, with one of them knocking a gun out of his hand. Undeterred, he used the Forge to create a boomerang and hurled it where the ball had come from, knocking several other balls out of its path and eventually hitting something solid.

"More knives incoming!" Freya exclaimed. "To your left and right!"

"Sharp, aren't you?" Oz quipped while he ducked, causing the knives to fly over his head. Once that was done, he stood back up, quickly dishing out a parade of pill-shaped Galan grenades in all directions. He didn't seem to let up, nor did he show any signs of running out. As the grenades spread out, many of them hit bouncy balls in midair, exploding in a burst of deafening sound, and this repeated ad nauseam. Oz felt his sense of hearing vanishing, but as Freya watched, she noticed that even though the einherjar stood strong, the clowns froze, the auditory assault too much for them to handle. Oz, seeming to take advantage of this, went to town, shooting at his enemies with one hand and tossing spherical Berstan grenades with the other.

"Alright, they're all stunned!" she cheered. "You know what to do next?"

Oz didn't seem to notice her, much to the goddess' exasperation, but she figured she might just do her thing regardless of his input. Freya, sitting in her room, closed her eyes and placed her hands around the crystal ball projecting Oz's adventure to her. The ball began to glow pink, and she began to chant;

"Love empowers the soul and motivates the righteous! With my love strong inside me, the hateful shall fall! Heartstrings!"

Once she said that, the room Oz was in glowed with a dark pink light. There were relatively few balls still bouncing, but the ones that did quickly shone with a bright light as quick, powerful rays jumped between them. Despite their speed, they seemed careful and calculated in their movements, avoiding Oz and seeming to seek out his opponents. He watched as the lasers began to close in on three different spots, causing audible screams from each of their positions - well, not so audible to Oz himself, who nonetheless aimed his attacks at where the lasers were hitting, which led to more screams.

Screams that, eventually, Oz could hear. His sense of hearing was returning to him, and he continued to shoot, while lasers continually hit his opponents, until eventually, whatever invisibility magic they were using failed to hold up. In an instant, as all the bouncy balls fell to the ground at once, three figures revealed themselves. Wearing all-red versions of Biff and Chip's harlequin outfits, with white paint on their faces and floppy jester hats, all three of them laid on the ground, groaning. Oz, taking note of this, grinned happily, putting his weapons away and gesturing widely as he moved towards the centre of the room.

"Haha!" he announced loudly, so that all could hear, his mannerisms like those of a showman. "Do you see now, Hel's Angels? You cannot possibly hope to comprehend my dazzling display of strength!"

"Uh, Oz? That was me..."

"When you go home today, and the rest of your circus inquires what happened," Oz continued, slowly stepping towards the stairs. One of the clowns attempted to lob a knife at him, but their lack of strength stopped it from going too far. "You may tell them that it was I, the Comic Mask, who had the last laugh!"

He quickly waved his hand over his face, and at once his mask appeared over it. He let out another laugh, seemingly at their expense, and made his way to the staircase unimpeded. "You fought well, my friends! But now, it is time for you all to rest. I will continue to fight the good fight."

He left them laying there and slowly walked up the stairs, a smile on his face beneath the grinning mask. "I thank you for your aid, Freya. You were very helpful."

"It's no problem. I'm just glad you're safe." Freya responded. "So...what was that all about, 'Comic Mask'?"

"Isn't it obvious? That'd be an 'alter ego' of sorts." Oz cheerfully explained. "I like to leave an impression on my enemies, and by the power of this mask, I can do just that with ease!"

"Is that mask magical, then?" Freya asked half-jokingly. "Does it have an enchantment that makes you look cooler to whoever you're lecturing?"

"I wasn't aware such an enchantment existed. I'll certainly have to look into it." Oz mused. "This mask has no such powers, however - it only works its metaphorical magic on its wearer."

"And what 'metaphorical magic' would that be?"

"A spell that gives one's mind the overpowering strength of an ox!" Oz announced, stepping onto the next floor and thankfully spotting no bouncy balls on the ground. But he didn't spot any clowns, either, which was very curious indeed. "With this, I can do anything I set my mind to!"

"Aww, how nice." Freya commented. "So it's like a security blanket, then?"

Oz froze momentarily upon hearing that, but quickly composed himself, tilting his head to dodge a knife he saw coming his way. "Don't be silly, Freya, it's a mask."

"If you say so." Freya giggled quietly. "There's four of them this time, by the way. You may wanna focus."

"Haha, but of course! Watch as the Comic Mask dispatches these clowns with haste!"

.........

https://youtu.be/MRKJZUq034s

And dispatch the clowns he did, with as much haste as he could muster, and this process repeated itself as he made his way up the multiple floors of the castle. From the heavens, through her crystal ball, Freya took great pleasure in watching him fight his way through, lending the odd helping hand where needed. And she was impressed with what she saw, too. She could barely take her eyes off him, though she had to survey the situation to see how she could best help him. Still, it was very impressive - he fought in a nearly animalistic manner that was reminiscent of the Berserker people on Midgard, but it was more of a graceful animal like a serpent in the grass.

But now, there were only a couple of floors left until the ninth, where the commander presumably was. As the final clown fell to the ground and Oz walked past the dusty yet otherwise untarnished bookshelves in the walls and towards the stairs, his mask staying on, Freya motioned to continue their previous banter, only to be beaten to the chase.

"Hey, Freya." Oz spoke, slowing his stride and looking up. "Out of curiosity...do you have any siblings?"

"Huh? Well, yes, I do." Freya responded, a twinge of curiosity in her voice. "A brother, a little older than me. His name is Frey."

"Oh, really?" Oz murmured. "Did you like him?"

"Yeah. he was a bit of a little shit at times, as brothers tend to be, and he could be a little cold...but he was nice. I loved him."

"That past tense tells me something bad happened to him."

"No, nothing like that!" Freya exclaimed. "He just had a bit of a career change. He's in Alfheim, with all the elves. I'd visit, but Svafrlami's made that a little difficult."

"So...it's been a while since you last saw him, right?" Oz questioned, to which Freya made an affirmative noise. "I see...have you at least managed to keep in touch?"

"Oh, definitely! We send each other pigeons!" Freya chirped. "But Oz, why ask this all of a sudden? Do you have any siblings?"

"Siblings? No." Oz shook his head. "But I did have something similar."

"...is this your 'special friend'?" Freya asked, and seeing Oz nod, she then asked, "And is his name...'Anwin'?"

"Heh, how did you know?" Oz questioned, sighing.

"Well, you reacted pretty strongly to the name when you were talking to Biff and Chip...so I took a guess." Freya noted. "Plus, ever since you entered, you've been weirdly cheerful."

"My cheer is constant, Freya." Oz said, shaking his head again. "But, yes...granted, it could be someone else, but there's a very good chance that the one on the ninth floor is someone I know. 'Anwin' isn't exactly a common name."

"And...how does that make you feel?"

"...I can't say." Oz bowed his head. "I haven't seen him in years - not since he died for me when we were humans."

On his face was a sad smile, though he didn't dare remove the mask and let it show. "Those were the days, I say. A shame it all had to come to an end." he commented. "I haven't been able to find him since - most likely, he's another race. All I have now are memories, after all - memories of Anwin the human."

"And I reckon you don't really want to fight him, huh?" Freya murmured. "Such are the bonds of love..."

"Yeah. To think these are the circumstances under which we'd be reunited..." Oz sighed, before clearing his throat. "But in the end, I can't change the past, can I?"

"Yeah. Reminiscing is good and well, but it won't change the possibility that Anwin's fallen to the dark side, will it?" Freya said, and Oz nodded in response.

"My thoughts exactly." he agreed. "If Anwin truly has joined with these villains, then it's my duty to learn what caused his shadowy plunge and bring him back to the light."

"That's the spirit!" Freya cheered. "Let's press on, okay? You've only got a couple floors left."

"Right."

And Oz pressed on, feeling emotions brewing within. Feelings of doubt, of hope that the "Anwin" at the top wasn't the one he knew. That if he was, he'd be able to reach him. Feelings that he quickly pushed aside once he reached the next floor. He had a job to do, after all.