CORE
Chapter 22 - "Jester"

"...Boring," The Jester mentioned, with an overexaggerated frown on their face, before they grew that wretched smile back instantly, their eyes extending upward as their limbs stretched to unnatural lengths, reaching 30 meters as his tentacle-like limbs attempted to rush and grab Hero simultaneously.

Immediately Hero sent forth an explosion of magic through his legs, swiftly careening through what limbs tried to grab him as he made his way to The Jester's main body while raising his hands in the air, and forming a large ice hammer about five times as large The Jester, as Hero then slammed it straight down onto their body, sending them flying to the void as their long limbs shiveled up and return to normal length.

"...Something's wrong," Hero thought, looking down as The Jester fell as his behemoth of an Ice Hammer faded away into magic.

The Jester suddenly sprung back to life, extending their long limbs with such efficiency and power they blasted themselves upwards back on equal ground with Hero, in which they increased their size, now not only being thrice as large but 20 times larger than Hero as he looked down on him with a wicked grin on his face.

"Have you never seen such an amazing magic trick?" The Jester commented as they raised one of their hands, swiftly and quickly as they tried to slash Hero down, but they were able to defend themselves with a swift rainbow kick, which released a mini-hailstorm, deflecting their hand away.

"His Inborn Magic, I get it now..." Hero said as he flew back on a floating icy path, like one on a rollerskates riding through wet concrete floor.

"The ability to change his size and length at will, and possibly his flexibility... How troublesome," Hero said as he raised both of his arms in the air, before sending out a heinous barrage of ice bullets as if it were a mini-gun.

Upon seeing this, The Jester cackled before shrinking into a smaller size, compact enough to the point he was far more miniature than the ice bullets themselves.

Due to this, Hero could no longer see The Jester, and unwilling to waste his magic, he stopped his barrage of ice bullets, putting his hands down as he looked left, right, up and down for The Jester, but it seemed like they had disappeared into thin air.

Almost instinctually, after realizing this, Hero froze his surroundings in an ice-like dome, which should have frozen The Jester, and if not, they would not be able to harm or much less, get close to Hero.

"His size is most likely at a molecular level at this point," Hero remarked, expressing his desperation as he cautiously looked over his surroundings within the ice dome.

"...Nothing-?" Hero questioned himself, but suddenly, he was thwacked in the head by The Jester, who snuck up on him and grabbed onto his back, growing back into full-size while they enlarged their fist, attacking Hero in that moment of desperation.

Hero stumbled back on his ice path, his ice dome thawing as immediately looked back to where The Jester was, quickly raising his hand as he attempted to fire a blast of magic, however, before he could, his entire body was struck by The Jester's large hand, sending him flying to The Carnival's rooftop.

Although this did not stop him just yet, he attempted to recover quickly, reforming the ice path he floated on as he took a sharp breath, and made a large ice sword which should be as big as The Jester himself.

But before he could even swing it, The Jester suddenly stretched over to Hero, swinging back both of their arms as they sent a flurry of rapid-fire fists towards Hero, who, seeing no other choice, used their blade and put it up front, blocking the attacks.

"Come on... There has to be one way or another," Hero said as he scoured for anything that could prove useful, but in this desperation, The Jester suddenly broke through their sword, catching Hero off-guard as they thought it could hold off for far longer.

He attempted to counterattack nonetheless, however, it was too late, The Jester suddenly punched their entire body, with a large fist, and due to the strength of the punch, clearly being augmented by magic, it had left him unconscious, but luckily, without any injury while Hero slowly fell onto the rooftop of The Carnival.

"Nighty nighty!~" The Jester spoke as they stretched their upper half over to Hero, who did not respond, not even a groan, or a shriek, The Jester then grabbed him with one hand alone, before making his way inside The Carnival, traveling elsewhere, claiming a new 'victim'.

However, as they made their way to the entrance, for a moment, Hero's hand shook, releasing concentrated ice magic into the palm of The Jester, and further within, without them noticing...

There Justice lay in the tent, sitting down near the walls of fabric, his hand still on his face as he was practically half-asleep, he was starting to feel relaxed, his magic had regenerated by about 60%, which should be good enough amount if any fight were to occur along the way, Justice thought, but suddenly...

"...Huh?" Justice mumbled, his hand hovering away from his face as he felt a strange sensation in his body, at first he dismissed it, before quickly remembering what it had meant, and without a second wasted, he got up and in one fell swoop dashed out of the Entrance Tent.

But much to his puzzlement and surprise, no one was there at all, not near the strange pathways, nor the void, there was no one but him as he floated idly amidst it all, yet, his eyes then narrowed to The Carnival before him, and upon receiving really the only possibility in his mind, his fists clenched as he then spoke with a sharp breath of air and in an aggravated tone.

"What did you do, damn clown?" There Justice began to see a magical barrier that covered the outer of The Carnival, clearly that of The Jester's, his originally void-like, white glowing eyes glowing an orange hue as, for a moment, unrefined, and unshapened magic in the form of yellow electricity sparked from those very eyes.

Meanwhile, within The Carnival...

Amidst the darkness the tent's roof showed, contrasting it were many a purple light, rings, and bulbs that illuminated that originally dark space, an incomprehensibly unorthodox city, branded with colors and clowns, the streets of it painted with mini streaks of blood, while what roamed of it were many smaller jesters and clowns, all wearing masks that hid their face as blood dripped down from where their face was originally as soft yet disturbing laughter emitted from within almost 24/7, filling the bustling streets of that there 'city'.

And in the middle of that city was a large circular stage, crooked and expired like the people it watches, filled with patterns and putrid magic iron bars all around, almost like a retractable cage as they went up and down in an illusionary pattern, and with the stage lights applied onto it, lightened the city further, even to blinding, irritating, and dreadful amounts, a gradient color of blood and desaturated magic spread along the sides of the stage, but within the stage cage itself? Many shattered bones, rotting flesh, and dissipating magic left uncleaned and unremoved.

And there from the shallow light the entrance of The Carnival emitted, sprung out The Jester, holding Hero who was still 'unconscious' as their body stretched across the city as the forced-smiling crowd looked up, beginning to clap in harmony, and yet, with a mix of melancholy as The Jester let out a nasty cackle, his laughter filling the city while he was then shrinking down into a smaller size, and landing right onto the stage in the middle of the city, with the hand they used to grab Hero slightly enlargened.

"Welcome one and all! To yet another one of your favorite Gorey, bloody, and overly zealous shows!" The Jester spoke in an abrasive, dramatic tone as he bowed down, the civilians near the area gathering to the stage as they simultaneously began to clap in chorus.

The Jester then dropped Hero to the ground, who quickly woke up, boosting himself back up with both of his hands as he immediately tried to send an ice magic-infused right hook to The Jester's stomach, however, they laughed in awe as they swiftly shrunk down, and escaped the magical cage stage.

"Calm down, cowboy! You don't want to harm The Ringmaster now do we?!" The Jester taunted, standing on the edge of the stage and right in front of the magic bars.

Hero, rather than responding, stood silent, as he took this opportunity to review his surroundings, but, given the endless crowd of strange, mask-like individuals, it was hard to see, but one thing Hero did notice was the almost unnatural amount of blood that leaked from their masks.

"...What the?" Hero thought, his eyes slightly widening as he took a step back, concerned as he then looked at the magic bars that kept him captive, and just for a test alone, he shot a blast of magic at one of them, which they suddenly reacted and retracted downward the moment the magic blast got close, before pulling it back up the nanosecond it was out of its range.

"That's a problem," Hero sighed, snapping his fingers as the blast of magic dissipated, so as to not cause any damage to the area and its 'civilians'. Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ꜰindNʘvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

"Ha ha, some have been there and done that, now, without further ado, why not start your First Game? Yes, that's right! Your very own game based on your own self!" The Jester shouted, stretching up into a larger size that overlooked the stage cage, as the civilians stopped clapping, standing silent as they observed, it was almost... Inhuman, Hero had thought at that moment.

"Now..." The Jester said, his sharp teeth edging out as he raised his arms in the air, grabbing something up in the air that Hero could not see, but as The Jester stance back down, Hero was mortified to see The Jester hold four people, each looking similar to the civilians that watched below, seeming lifeless, but that was not what horrified Hero, no, it was the fact that The Jester was holding them by a noose, dangling from his fingertips as he waved and whooshed his fingers as if they were puppets.

"...Please... Help..." One of the civilian puppets begged before The Jester raised their finger, hanging them further and causing them to choke, shutting them up, Hero's face turned serious, and he took a step forward as he, without a second wasted, activated his magical aura as the civilian puppets were lowered further until their feet touched the marble floor of the stage.

"...Game #1: Will you save them, or get sent to a grave along with them?" The Jester uttered as he purposefully swung his fingers side-to-side, the puppet's necks growing redder by the second as Hero took a quick exhale, his eyes fixated on the noose and the rope that hung them.

"Here's the catch though..." The Jester grinned, causing for Hero to stop, just before they were about to sever the ropes that held them by the neck.

"...If you sever these ropes..."

"Then you these magic bars that hold you captive, will thicken until not even a molecule of magic can get past it," The Jester uttered.

"Now... Dance! Dear puppets!" The Jester spoke in a jumpy tone, before swinging one of the puppets at Hero, who quickly moved out of the way, severing their ropes as they fell to the ground, the magic bars thickened.

Hero then, before The Jester could move the other puppets, sent an ice shard through his fingertips, ripping through one of the ropes as that ice shard ricocheted off the magic bars that widened further, severing the two last ropes that held the other puppets.

And so, with the deed done, Hero stood there amidst it all, the civilian puppets began to get up, their neck aching red, but they were no longer in pain.

"I'm done with your game, now just what else do you want?" Hero spoke in a threatening tone, staring at The Jester above, who's grin faded away but quickly returned to that of a smirk as he shrugged his arms.

"I don't know... This maybe?" The Jester spoke, but before Hero could figure it out, the civilian puppets suddenly burst into magic, their Cores were overloaded with magic that was of The Jester's, causing for a deadly surprise as Hero, in the nick of time, summoned a dome of ice to keep him safe, despite the initial shock.

"Haha! That was intriguing!" The Jester cackled as the magic soon faded away, Hero's ice dome melting as they stared into the white, cold floor.

The audience that watched began to laugh uncontrollably as well, as Hero realized, this was no natural laughter, it very well seemed force, even strained till their lungs ached.

"Aw..." The Jester said, resting his head on his hand as he stared down at Hero, who looked back at The Jester, he quickly sent a slash of ice magic towards his face, but they responded by strengthening their flexibility, the ice magic slash just barely bouncing off of them as it returned back to Hero, who tanked it without much damage.

"...Is the little dog mad?" The Jester taunted as an aura of white electric magic started to spaz out of Hero's body, unrefined, and unkempt.

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