Harlequin, Bozo, Auguste, and Scarecrow, all Apostles of the Jester, were gathered in a singular tent, peering over the living map as they waited for the last pawn to exit the stage.
Their faces, odd-looking as they were with a mask obscuring a portion, revealed a great deal of joy at that moment as they saw a great future ahead under the newly ascended Jester.
It would be a truly wonderful world!
However, their joy was short-lived as they sensed an intruder entering into the kingdom of their Lord.
"Troublemakers," Harlequin muttered with a pout.
"What... to... do?" Scarecrow asked.
"Let us greet our guests," Harlequin remarked with a mischievous look in her eyes.
Exchanging looks, the four swiftly left the tent and at the same time, the last pawn on the map began to crack.
Meanwhile, Alex, Victoria, and the Fixer appeared at the entrance of the Unending Carnival, all breathing sighs of relief at surviving what was otherwise a most dangerous endeavor.
Thankfully they had survived... Alas, they didn’t get the chance to celebrate this tiny victory of theirs as the four remaining Apostles of the Jester appeared before them with Harlequin in the lead.
The Apostles towered over the trio, each one almost as tall as a mini giant with Harlequin speaking in a mocking tone.
"I had no idea that bitch was still conscious. To think she would send you here."
"Watch your mouth!" The Fixer lashed out, unwilling to accept any form of insult towards his Goddess.
Harlequin grinned. "Are you so hungry to die that you would face me without any backup?"
"I have what I need and with what I have, I will put an end to this madness. The Jester shall not ascend!"
"And who will stop it?"
"We will." The Fixer boldly stated, eliciting a cold laughter from Harlequin.
She then glanced to the side, her gaze falling on Alex who met it with a calm look.
"I will give you an opportunity. You seem to have potential. Pledge allegiance to our Master and we shall spare your life. Failure to do so and you, just like the machine, will die."
"I serve no deity and I do not plan to do so," Alex replied.
"Tragic," Harlequin remarked. "Well then, I believe this is goodbye."
After saying that, she raised her hand and struck down, seeking to flatten the trio.
"Stop the ascension!... I will handle this!" The Fixer exclaimed as he took a step forward and transformed.
His fleshly body gave way to a brass golem with a steam core.
Harlequin’s palm slammed against the golem, but the Fixer managed to remain standing, preventing her from flattening him along with Alex and Victoria.
They didn’t hesitate to make a move with Alex undoing his spiritual form with an exertion of Will before proceeding to snap in a bid to teleport deeper into the kingdom.
Unfortunately, when he appeared, Auguste was waiting to receive him with open arms!
Alex immediately changed his trajectory, swiftly dodging the embrace Auguste prepared for him.
As for Victoria, Scarecrow prevented her from moving an inch, moving at speeds so fast that he was creating afterimages.
Back in the tent, the last pawn suddenly turned to dust and for a brief moment, the living map stilled.
Following that, Harlequin and the other Apostles received feedback as they exclaimed in joyous tones.
Almost immediately, a passage into the Carnival was created and out of it, a smiling Cybele emerged.
Harlequin, sensing that something was wrong with Cybele’s entrance, immediately swiped at her to end her life.
Unfortunately, Cybele transformed into a stream of data to dodge the attack, catching Harlequin and the other Apostles off guard as they all had the same question.
At the same time, deep within the carnival, in the tent that stood at the center of the kingdom and was also the largest, its occupant, an Apostle of the Jester otherwise known as Pierrot, let out a frightening cry as he began the last phase of his transformation into the Jester; ascending to the rank of Demon God.
The voice of the one that spoke, whoever, it was, was filled with a deep agony that reverberated through the entirety of all those that heard it.
Due to this, they were able to go through just a minute fraction of the torment the entity was going through.
Elena, perhaps the most affected party amongst everyone present, barely managed to remain conscious, and even then, she began to hallucinate as she found herself standing in an unfamiliar place.
Ahead, there was something... she let out a scream as she found herself unable to fathom what it was.
Elena fell unconscious, her breathing slowing as she quickly found herself on the brink of death.
Ana was also affected, though not as badly as Elena, allowing her to focus on Ulysses despite the pain she was experiencing.
Once she noticed Elena’s condition, she swiftly acted, pausing Elena’s time to prevent her from dying before she could finish up with Ulysses.
As for the Corroded Queen, she did not dare to linger after sensing what had cried out in Elena’s direction.
It was the reason for everything and she did not dare to go against it... only those at the top would dare to do such a thing.
With that, she fled the scene, revealing, perhaps, for the first time, the sight of an Otherworldly running for its life.
With the seven pawns dead and the Goddess Khanna currently recovering in subspace while being chased by an angry God of Slaughter, the continent of Henos and perhaps, the entirety of Eventide was about to witness the birth of a new supreme deity.
The implications of this were, of course, massive as it meant that the age of steam would come to an end to herald an era of foolishness, one ruled by the Jester and his cohorts.
As though to make this clear, a potent wave of foolishness swept across Eventide, affecting both Gods and men alike, with Cryptids and mutants hardly spared.
Concepts were also affected as reality itself was fooled and with this, an entity from beyond Eventide made its move, attempting to cross between dimensions as the barriers between neighboring dimensions were weakened.