The laughter of the bloodied jester inside the Crystal Ball grew louder, and the next moment, as if ready to crawl out, it gave the Black Robed Wizard chills. Even though he was a Wizard, he had never seen such a bizarre occurrence. With a tremble of his hand, he threw the Crystal Ball aside.
With a sound, the Crystal Ball did not fall and shatter on the ground but was caught by someone.
The Black Robed Wizard looked over, and his breathing halted for a moment as he saw that the one who caught the Crystal Ball was a Clown, or rather, someone dressed as a Clown.
The person was somewhat thin, with a clown mask on their face. The mask’s mouth was split open, forming an exaggerated smile. However, the aura emanating from the person was cold and dangerous. The Black Robed Wizard could even imagine the face beneath the mask filled with mockery at this moment, creating a stark contrast to the smile on the mask.
"Who... are you?" the Black Robed Wizard asked, his voice trembling as he spoke. He was afraid, seized by an uncontrollable fear. Without showing any extraordinary powers, the Clown in front of him invoked fear like a natural predator, which was simply unbelievable.
At this moment, the Clown spoke, addressing the Black Robed Wizard, "You can call me Jack, though I prefer you to call me Mr. Clown."
"Mr. Clown? What... do you want?" the Black Robed Wizard took a deep breath and asked loudly.
The Clown toyed with the Crystal Ball in his hand. He did not immediately answer the question, but instead said to the Black Robed Wizard, "You must have been puzzled before, wondering why the Crystal Ball was damaged, considering your usage of it was correct. Here, I must apologize to you. The Crystal Ball was damaged because I played a little trick. I am here to do something quite simple, to prevent you from reporting necessary information to your superiors."
"You!" the Black Robed Wizard’s eyes widened, his soul trembled. He hadn’t anticipated the Clown to know more than he had imagined.
"Heh." The Clown chuckled, looking at the Black Robed Wizard, "You must be wondering how I know your secrets, right? Actually, there’s no need to be surprised; it’s quite normal, because, a long time ago, I had dealings with you all."
"You... what exactly are you?" the Black Robed Wizard took a deep breath.
"Let’s say, I am a remnant of the Black Spirit Empire you once destroyed, the leftover of a failed experiment, a seed left by a great being. Someone like me, to confront you directly, would be impossible. The lessons of past failures teach us that. Only when you suffer a terrible defeat, will I be able to act within my power and clean up the aftermath.
To put it simply, I am here to kill you, so you cannot relay the message to others. Although I know the matters of the East Coast will be hard to keep secret for long, the more I can delay, the better. The longer it’s delayed, the harder it will be for you to handle, and the more advantageous for us. After all, most of your efforts are occupied by the Main Continent, right?" the Clown said slowly.
The Black Robed Wizard no longer knew what to say.
"Alright, alright," the Clown said, as if feeling it was about time, his eyes narrowed, "It’s time, after talking so much, I should send you on your way."
As he spoke, the Clown gripped the Crystal Ball in his hand forcefully. Strangely enough, the Crystal Ball began to deform like mud, being molded by the Clown into a dagger—a blood-red Crystal Dagger.
Holding the Crystal Dagger, the Clown stepped closer, aiming it at the heart of the Black Robed Wizard and stabbing down.
The Black Robed Wizard’s eyes bulged, trying to resist, to cast his most powerful Spell in defiance. But he found out that somehow, a force had bound him, rendering him unable to move an inch, only able to watch as the blood-red dagger pierced his body, pierced his heart.
The Black Robed Wizard saw blood flowing from the wound, the blood-red dagger stabbing deeper and deeper, intense pain erupting. At the same time, the Power of Destiny from the dagger flowed into the depths of his being.
The Black Robed Wizard felt his Life Force draining rapidly, his consciousness blurring more and more, and in the next moment, with a "boom," the world plunged into darkness.
It was still the inconspicuous cave hundreds of miles west of Deep Blue Castle, in the mountains, where a campfire burned quietly inside.
The body of Witch Ellie and the male wizard Gab lay on the ground, while the Black Robed Wizard stood stiffly between the two corpses.
He clutched a crystal ball in his hand that he had not thrown away, with light continuously flickering inside. His body was rigid, motionless, his expression wooden, and his eyes lifeless, looking like a puppet without a soul.
In front of the Black Robed Wizard stood a person wearing a clown mask.
The Clown glanced at the Black Robed Wizard, shook his head slightly, approached, and took the crystal ball from his hand. With a slight force, he crushed it with a "crash." Then, sensing something, he tilted his head slightly and looked toward the cave entrance.
The next moment, the sound of "tap tap tap" footsteps arose as a Yellow-clothed Elder walked in.
"How did it go, Jack? Is it done? I hope you didn’t screw it up," said the Yellow-clothed Elder upon entering.
The Clown glanced at him and replied tonelessly, "Of course it’s done. Have I ever made a mistake, Librarian, Mr. Manhattan? You didn’t think it’d be like the last time at the Royal Library of the Black Holy Mountain Kingdom, did you?"
"I..." The Yellow-clothed Elder opened his mouth but faltered.
At this point, the Clown grabbed one of the Black Robed Wizard’s hands and carefully removed a Black Iron Ring from one of his fingers, then took a palm-sized wooden box from his chest, carefully placed it inside, and secured it.
After doing so, the Clown looked at the Yellow-clothed Elder and asked, "How are things on the battlefield?"
"The battlefield has been mostly dealt with, and everything that needed improvement has been improved," the Yellow-clothed Elder replied, then sighed, "However, there isn’t much gain. I have examined the bodies, and almost every corpse had its ring taken from their hand. Many fingers were twisted as well, it seems that the boy didn’t act directly, but used Wind Magic to forcibly extract them, thus breaking the fingers. So, it’s likely that this is all we’ll have."
After speaking, the Yellow-clothed Elder also took out a palm-sized wooden box from his chest, opened it, and saw that it contained about a dozen Space Iron Rings.
The Clown glanced at it and said softly, "That will do. Since that boy was keen to take all the rings, it shows he knows what they are and how to use them. Meanwhile, we, having taken them, will need a long time to decipher even one, far less efficiently than him; it’s better to let him take them."
"So, you think highly of him?"
"Of course," the Clown said, not hiding his opinion, "It’s just that, had he been there before, maybe the experiment wouldn’t have failed, and we wouldn’t have to hide. Now that he’s got the prize, it seems he’s preparing to go to the Main Continent. I think it’s very likely he will give us a big surprise."
"Then let’s wait and see," the Yellow-clothed Elder said, "I don’t have much to think about right now; I just want to return to the Library to rest. After all, it’s very unusual for us to be out this long; we’re not accustomed to it."
"What can you do when you return? Continue to guard the library?" the Clown asked.
"Ha, can’t I play chess with you?" the Yellow-clothed Elder replied, "I’ve already thoroughly researched your Clown Chess over this time. From the very beginning until now, our record stands at 123866 games, with 59234 wins, 64021 losses, and 611 draws. I’m confident that within five years, I’ll make the wins outnumber the losses."
"Is that so?" said the Clown. He didn’t think the Yellow-clothed Elder was bragging, then suddenly blinked and said, "However, I feel that after playing for such a long time, Clown Chess is a bit outdated; we should play a new type of chess to determine the winner."
"A new chess? Do you have another invention?"
"You can’t exactly call it my invention."
"What kind of chess is it?"
"Five-in-a-row," the Clown said softly, without explaining further, and with that remark, he stepped out of the cave.
The Yellow-clothed Elder stood there, slightly puzzled: "Five-in-a-row? What is Five-in-a-row?" With these words, he followed out, disappearing outside together.
Inside the cave, the Black Robed Wizard collapsed to the ground with a "thump," his body shattering like a piece of porcelain.