Chapter 177: Death of a Noble

(I was dragged off to the countryside today, so my writing time was limited. This chapter may be slightly shorter than usual; I will make it up to you all tomorrow or the day after.)

"Crack-snap!" Electric arcs detonated as the thunder spears, manifested from a multitude of blood-wrought hands, collided with the clown's torso. The restless electrical elements, unsatisfied with merely surging through the clown's body, leaped outward, bright yellow light-arcs dancing across his skin and the surrounding surfaces.

A bizarre, acrid stench of burning flesh drifted up with a plume of white smoke. The areas where the thunder spears had struck the clown were scorched to a charred black, and the clown, who had shown no visible injury throughout his battle with Wang Yu, finally found himself unable to remain unaffected by this blow.

His limbs stiffened violently under the stimulation of the current, and for a few fleeting moments, the force transmitted through the hands locked in struggle with Wang Yu actually intensified.

But soon, the severe paralysis brought by the current coursing through his body took hold; his muscles lost the ability to exert force, and his entire frame went limp.

The face, masked by colorful paint, betrayed no expression, but his hands could no longer contest Wang Yu’s strength and were pinned ruthlessly against the backdrop.

"Giggle, giggle..." Wang Yu was exerting force not only with his physical hands, but also with the additional limbs manifested from his blood-drenched cloak.

His physical hands held the paralyzed clown, who could no longer muster his previous monstrous strength, pinning him firmly to the backdrop. As Wang Yu increased the pressure, cracks in the backdrop rapidly widened, the entire structure trembling and emitting a wretched groan under the weight of his titanic force.

The blood-wrought palms behind him extended, locking firmly around the clown's throat. The secret art of the Bloody Wrath Knight consumed Wang Yu’s battle aura, which he poured out in a desperate surge to amplify his grip.

Hard. Incredibly hard. The feedback from the mass of blood-hands coiled around the clown’s neck was clear: the unknown substance coating the clown’s skin granted him an exaggerated level of defense. Bludgeoning and crushing were of no use against this rigid protection.

The thunder spears had partially pierced this defense earlier, but the sheer volume of spellcasting had exhausted the mana stored in the Spellweaver’s Grimoire, rendering it useless for a time. Wang Yu now had to find another way to send the clown to his grave.

"Why... oppose our... ideal kingdom? Is such a world not... beautiful? This is the happiness that most people crave. Why... must you stop us?"

The clown’s throat was constricted by the blood-hands, and his entire body was pinned by Wang Yu, yet he still managed to move his lips to pose the question. His bloodshot eyes, like those of a dying fish, stared straight at Wang Yu, filled with an indescribable emotion.

This eerie gaze, the face of a dying man, and the desperate, powerless whisper would have dealt a massive psychological blow to any ordinary person.

"None of your damn business. Can you even breathe?" Wang Yu remained unmoved, merely increasing the output of his battle aura to maintain his grip while asking a question that had nothing to do with the clown’s rambling.

"Our ideal kingdom should not be stopped... You are unwilling to accept such a world... You... *huff, huff*." The words continued with great difficulty, eventually devolving into loud gasps and exhales as the spreading blood completely clogged the creature's nostrils.

Unable to breathe through his nose, the clown was forced to use his mouth. His jaw hung wide, greedily swallowing the air in a desperate attempt to draw in oxygen, though the constriction of his throat made the process agonizingly difficult.

"Mm, good. Bang!" Wang Yu nodded in satisfaction. The next instant, a thunderous roar erupted. A searing flash of fire burst from the muzzle of the Furnace’s Fury—a weapon Wang Yu had retrieved from his holster with a blood-tendril and raised to his shoulder, aiming directly at the clown’s gaping maw.

A charged shot. The target was the clown’s wide-open mouth. At such close range, the crimson beam of light traveled too fast for any reaction; the moment the sound reached the clown’s ears, the bullet, infused with immense heat and mana, had already been driven down his throat.

Releasing his grip, Wang Yu took a sharp step back to create distance. Simultaneously, the crimson blood-cloak behind him shifted, whipping out in front of him and plunging into the stage floor, where it rapidly hardened into a protective wall.

"Boom!" Before Wang Yu could even retreat further, the charged shot from the Furnace’s Fury detonated inside the clown’s body.

Scorching energy erupted from the clown’s eyes, nose, and every other orifice not covered by that strange, hardened substance, while his fragile internal organs were instantly obliterated.

The terrifying force generated by the massive internal explosion finally exceeded the limits of the clown’s protective layer. Like a soda can stuffed with firecrackers, the clown’s body burst apart.

The scattered fragments and shockwaves slammed into Wang Yu’s blood-wall, cracking the barrier, though its purpose had already been served. It had absorbed the brunt of the initial blast, and the remaining ripples were of no consequence to Wang Yu’s physical durability.

The hardened, fractured blood-wall softened once more, returning to a liquid state and flowing back into the cloak behind Wang Yu. He glanced at the pile of fragments that had once been the clown; the hardened substance had allowed the remains to retain their basic shape, but the creature was dead beyond any doubt.

"Done." Wang Yu shook his hands and turned toward Shael. Edward’s barrier still covered all the spectators, though the shields linked to the barrier and Edward himself bore several wounds, none of which were serious. Seeing Wang Yu look over, Edward gave him a thumbs-up—a gesture he had learned from Wang Yu.

The edges of the barrier were littered with the remains of "beast corpses." Under the influence of the illusion, these had looked lifelike, but in reality, they were merely puppets with mana-skeletons filled with internal padding and covered in a shell. Now, they lay in a heap at the edge of the barrier.

"Whew, the mana consumption on that was terrifying. I don't think I had much left, but once you took down that clown, Wang Yu, all these things just stopped on their own."

Shael exhaled, his mana nearly depleted after a long barrage of magic. He wasn't particularly adept at high-output, large-scale spells, unlike Avia.

Shael excelled at using his special tarot cards in tandem with spells, attacking flexibly and providing support for his teammates. Dealing with these suicidal, swarming puppets had been a challenge for him.

Some of the fallen puppets had their bodies twisted by the sheer power of his spells, while others looked relatively intact. It seemed that once the clown was dealt with, the puppets had indeed ceased to function.

"Huh? What happened to me? Why is everything so wrecked?"

"Ah? What is this..."

"Wasn't I just watching a show?"

With the clown destroyed, the audience seemed to awaken from the illusion. They looked at the barrier surrounding them and the chaotic interior of the circus, appearing utterly bewildered.

"This circus is compromised. You were all dragged into an illusion. The Night’s Edge is taking over this scene now; evacuate immediately."

Edward retracted the barrier and announced the situation to the spectators, who had been lured here by the circus, while flashing his identification badge.

The audience remained confused, but upon hearing the name "Night’s Edge" and verifying the badge, they quickly evacuated the circus, leaving the three of them to handle the remaining issues within the ruined performance tent.

Wang Yu walked through the interior of the tent but found no one else. The performers who had been on stage earlier seemed to have never existed, yet it wasn't an illusion—it was likely the clown’s doing. He was the core of the circus; once he was destroyed, most of the circus’s manifestations simply ceased to be.

"It matches the patterns of the Ideal Kingdom Circus appearing in various kingdoms. Once you eliminate the key figure, the circus’s special properties vanish. The clown must have been the key this time."

Shael recalled the reports, confirming that the circus was now likely reduced to nothing more than a pile of mundane, unremarkable objects.

"It went smoothly enough, but that clown’s ability was truly strange. My prayer communication network couldn't stop him from affecting my mind, and I didn't sense any trace of the Void. His method of influence was bizarre. Didn't you feel anything, Wang Yu?"

Shael began to ponder the strange influence he had been subjected to while working with the clown—a unique power he had never encountered before.

"No. But I suspect he tried it on me, too. It just didn't work."

Wang Yu recalled the clown’s incessant chatter during their fight. The words were much the same as what he had said to Shael; he assumed the clown had used that same mental-influence ability, but it had had no effect on him.

"God, I don't even know what to say about your mental resistance. I've never seen anything so exaggerated. His ability to influence the mind is truly strange—it seems, just as the clown said, the will of the masses, not just me..."

"Buzz! Buzz!"

Before Shael could finish his sentence, a loud buzzing sound echoed from outside the circus. It was an alarm—and not an ordinary one. It was a high-level alert, requiring all city guards to assemble immediately, as well as any off-duty members of the Night’s Edge.

The three exchanged glances. Though they didn't know what had happened, they rushed outside immediately. As they ran, their magi-tech communication devices began to transmit information.

Wang Yu glanced at his as he ran, his expression shifting slightly in surprise.

"What's the situation?" Edward asked.

"A Viscount was assassinated in his own mansion. The killer is currently fleeing. Captain Shuguin and Mr. Zieg want us to assist the Viscount’s guards and the city watch in intercepting them. It’s not far; we should be able to make it. I’m going ahead."

Wang Yu quickly answered Edward’s question and picked up his pace. He checked his battle aura reserves—more than half remained, which was plenty to maintain his strength and the secret art of the Bloody Wrath Knight.

Reaching the side of a street building, Wang Yu leaped upward. The blood-cloak behind him transformed into flexible, tentacle-like appendages that extended and gripped the edge of the architecture. Using the Knight’s secret art, he pulled himself up, allowing him to easily vault across the city’s rooftops, moving at high speed in a swift, three-dimensional displacement.

Wang Yu wove rapidly between the buildings, following the guidance of his communicator toward the direction of the killer’s flight.

Edward and Shael lacked Wang Yu’s ability to ignore terrain, so they could only run as fast as possible. Shael, having cast a series of speed-enhancing spells on himself, kept pace with Edward, and the two hurried toward the designated location.

"The victim is Viscount Glen, a minor noble. It shouldn't be an attack from Sewenthen; why would they go to such lengths to use a deep-cover agent inside Alastair just to kill a Viscount who has no impact on the war?"

Shael analyzed the situation as he ran.

"Viscount Glen... I believe he had just applied for a new seat on the Council of Elders. It’s highly likely this was an inside job. Heh."

Edward let out a cold snort. Shael understood the implication immediately, and the two stopped speaking, accelerating their pace even further.