The Jester of Apocalypse

Chapter 129: The Jester

Something unusual was happening at the outer edges of its domain. It took it a while to notice, but now, it was clear as day. There were many monsters coming and going, but one was far more… Clever than the others.

No matter, it thought. This was what Master was trying to achieve anyway. Foes worthy of facing him in mortal combat. Who was the shrub to take that away from him?

Besides, it had more important things to focus on. Right in the center of the chamber, where the ambient energy was by far the most abundant, it had created a sphere.

The glass puppet was out in the caves somewhere, laying inert and ignored.

The puppet was precious. It was a gift from Master. But it was insufficient.

Within the glass sphere lay a new avatar. A direct extension of its power, something it won’t merely be manipulating, but rather, something it will truly embody.

And for the first time since it had started working on it…

A hand of the avatar moved.

***

Harel swung the metallic spiked ball in frustration, and as it impacted the earth golem, the shock that spread through its body turned most of it to sand.

She dug for the monster core that lay within, and when she finally found it, she crushed it in her grip.

“Not good enough.”

It was so frustrating. She understood Neave’s argument from a logical perspective, and after his display, she believed his evaluation was right.

But according to his own testimony, he had access to a special method of fusing spirit powers together. And they didn’t.

It was yet another thing connected to his spirit creation ability. She had asked him several times if he could try teaching it to her, and every time he simply stated that it was impossible.

She didn’t necessarily not believe him, but his argument didn’t seem very convincing.

The thing that made her most frustrated was simply how lost she felt. Throughout her entire life, all she had pursued was power, and that pursuit happened on a very straight and narrow path.

It had once been for the glory of her sect, and now…

Why?

What was she truly fighting for?

There wasn’t all that much to do in the nightmare realm, so, if she ever came across any of the others, they would talk. All of them seemed to have something. A passion, a drive that they could fight for, something that didn’t depend on absolute power.

While she…

Harel took a deep breath. What she wanted more than anything was to be free. And, perhaps even sadly, she had already achieved that. It had been too easy. There had been little to no conflict.

The rope hanging around her neck frayed and crumbled before she could even attempt taking it off.

She tried distracting herself with focusing on growing stronger. Strong enough to truly make a difference in the fight against the messenger.

Laughable.

Neave was miles ahead of any of them in power, and she couldn’t imagine a single way to truly catch up with him in any reasonable sense.

If martial arts could form a natural disaster, that would be Neave.

Once they were out, well…

It wasn’t like they couldn’t or wouldn’t be useful. If they could reach the diamond path in here, they would certainly have their use if given enough time to catch up.

That was difficult, unimaginably so, but given that they likely had a life's worth of time in here, it was practically inevitable.

She needed something else. Something more.

Harel spotted another golem slithering in the dark and threw the chain ball at it. The impact shattered its entire body to bits, and she dragged her ball back.

As the ball scraped the ground and reached ever closer to her, she frowned.

Did she really have to discover what she wanted to do right now?

The more she thought about it, the more she felt that it may just honestly be a matter of habit. Perhaps she just wasn’t used to being free, so she needed something to shackle her once more.

The moment she realized this may be happening, she immediately changed her perspective on her situation.

Why the hell would she rush into that immediately!?

Was there anything wrong with simply enjoying freedom? Why did she have to be useful? Why would she have to be the exact thing that made the difference between their failure and success?

She didn’t. And she probably wouldn’t.

Hoisting her spiked ball back, she grabbed the dangerous object and smiled. Perhaps it was time for her to truly enjoy having her freedom.

***

Hunter stood his ground as the massive stone golem slammed into his shield over and over.

The shield rejected the force, and the effect of his massive sword kept him firmly locked in place. Frankly, this golem wasn’t even remotely dangerous enough to act as practice.

Its strikes were mighty, yes, but Hunter could barely even feel the force behind them.

There was still a purpose behind what he was doing. He was observing the potential of the shield. Hunter had spent a great deal of time pondering his path, and the more he worked on it, the clearer the vision became.

Immovable. Indomitable. Impenetrable.

He would become a mighty defender, an unrivaled juggernaut of justice. Not even the moon falling from the sky could crush his defense.

That lofty goal was quite distant, however, and he had to start somewhere. Beginning with focusing his growth on the potential of defense.

Eventually, the backlash from striking the shield proved to be too much for the massive monster, and its arms crumbled. It moved on to slamming its head, and finally, to throwing its entire body at Hunter.

Finally, nothing but a rough pile of shattered rocks remained as the final vestige of the golem’s power blinked out, and it perished.

The potential of… Backlash? Self-harm through overzealously striking potent defense?

There was something to this scenario, something deeper he felt held potential, but it was hard to pinpoint exactly what.

A quick scan of the core showed an underwhelming boost to defense, one that Hunter promptly threw aside as he returned back to the chamber.

Neave had rejected the powers they suggested, and now, they were all back to hunting for more.

There had been quite the fight between Harel, Dukean, and Neave once he rejected the powers.

Harel made the argument that Neave could simply remove the spirit powers if they turned out to be suboptimal. However, Marven and Gabrias, who had both experienced the removal of spirit powers, were adamant that that wasn’t something one could take lightly.

Neave agreed. The ultimate point of acquiring spirit powers was to seek synergy. The only way to find synergy was to have enough powers for it to show.

And if he removed too many powers at once, it would likely result in death.

This made Neave suggest that Dukean’s powers should be removed immediately, which received a rather harsh response from the young master.

Throughout this whole thing, Hunter had stayed silent, and now, it was undeniable that a certain tension hung between them.

However, Hunter saw this as a test. He ran the scenario through his mind, over and over, looking for the right solution, the most just and right option.

He failed, but he didn’t beat himself up about it. It was a tough subject, besides, it was debatable whether it was even in the realm of moral quandary, as opposed to simply being a disagreement on a practical problem.

Soon enough, he made his way back to the main chamber.

Gabrias sat in a corner where he had a workshop of sorts. He was surrounded by countless metallic plates, courtesy of Dukean, which he used to sketch all sorts of plans for the future.

There were grand plans of a tower reaching far into the sky, a massive dome that sat beneath the earth, and the creation of a branching, trap-filled underground maze that would make it impossible for intruders to get close.

Hunter rushed to the weights before Gabrias could notice him. He was fond of his friend, and he dearly enjoyed interacting with the strange man, but…

Lord, was he a pain in the ass when he started talking about construction. Hunter couldn’t grasp any of the stuff the man blabbered on about, and he was worried that too much exposure to that would hurt his opinion of his friend.

So he made sure to moderate his exposure to his talking.

“Oh, Hunter, are you…” Gabrias noticed Hunter, however, it was too late, as he had just started lifting the weights, “Oh, nevermind, we’ll talk later then.”

Phew.

Just as he breathed out a sigh of relief, Marven and Dukean walked into the chamber.

Marven was repeatedly attempting to justify Neave’s decisions and behavior, and Dukean looked right about ready to stab the man if he didn’t shut up.

Hunter had grown somewhat estranged from his father. They didn’t have a very strong father-son relationship, and Hunter wasn’t particularly willing to fight for it either.

It was hard to say whether this was bad or not. They were on good terms, and there was no spite or bad blood between them, but that didn’t necessarily make it right.

Marven had a clear and overwhelming bias toward Neave. The reasons for it were irrelevant to Hunter. He did feel somewhat jealous at first. It wasn’t easy for any child to witness a parent giving preferential treatment to a sibling.

However, jealousy was an ugly beast, and Hunter did everything in his power to squash it before it could grow big enough to possess him.

It was yet another trial he had overcome and yet another step he believed had taken him in a better direction.

It was a difficult path to tread. But it was rewarding.

It was an easy reality for Hunter to accept. After all, carrying heavy weight made one stronger.

That was something he had known his entire life.

***

A slime hopped, and as it traveled, the glass brushes grew smaller and smaller, and the ambient energy grew less and less dense.

It instinctively understood that places with high ambient energy had mighty beasts. That was no place for a powerless little slime. It sought a wilderness, a weak yet peaceful desert where it could grow at its own pace and gradually catch up with its superiors.

And finally, the tiniest of shrubs were overtaken, and it was free.

One hop. Two hops. Three hops.

Then, an arm reached from the darkness far faster than it could react. And it was dead.

***

It had grown quite a bit in a short time. Now, it stood on two legs and feasted on the slime with two arms.

Its extra arm had morphed into more children as it yet again evolved, and this time, rather than consume them, it set them free.

They would walk the same path as it did and become even more harbingers of vengeance.

If eaten, that would be no loss. Those that consumed them would merely be awakened as well.

As it finished its feast, it contemplated whether it should delve into the depths of the glass forest.

Perhaps it wasn’t yet time for that. It still couldn’t even break off one of the branches. There was no way it could survive the wrath of the creature that birthed them.

“Whoa, holy shit, what is this thing!?”

It turned as quickly as it could, mind flush with panic and fright. What could have possibly snuck up on it with such ease?

However, as it turned to face the creature that had arrived, it froze.

It couldn’t be…

The hair, the face… The beautiful form.

It opened its mouth and spoke in a gurgly, untrained voice, “A miracle…”

Instantly, the face of the newcomer morphed into a deep frown.

It walked toward him, arm stretched out, “The Jester stands before me.”