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The sky of the Empire turns red.

The moment all the users stepped into the crimson space created by the “Clown,” they suddenly lost their strength and began to fall.

Users with the ability to fly were already rolling on the ground, and those using powers other than magic had their abilities sealed.

“W-What’s happening?!”

“Ugh…”

“Master!”

Leo, who was using spirit magic, was no exception.

Even through the Spirit Ascension of four elemental spirits, Leo was reduced to the level of an ordinary ranker, just flailing about helplessly.

Magic swelled around the Clown.

It was an overwhelming display that could truly be called the embodiment of ‘destruction.’

Leo looked at his master, the Spirit Lord, with despair.

The Spirit Lord, already gravely injured, was drawing out faint spirit energy.

‘Even that was being consumed by magic.’

“It’s hopeless… How do we stop that?”

“……”

“If only Lady Lily were here…”

Lady Lily was preoccupied with the angel.

While Leo well knew that Lady Lily despised angels, he wondered if placing the angel as the top priority even in this situation was necessary.

“…No.”

Leo shook his head.

He held no resentment.

It was Lady Lily’s choice, and given how much help she had provided him over time, he could understand it perfectly.

He simply wished for her to return soon.

The hand of the Clown hovering in the sky came down.

The skeletal hand grew larger, reaching a size comparable to several stars.

Its overwhelming size could cover the capital of a mighty empire.

If users, most of whose abilities had been sealed, were to be struck by that hand, they wouldn’t stand a chance at survival.

No, even if the users were resurrected, the residents who hadn’t evacuated wouldn’t survive.

‘The residents struck by demons can’t be resurrected!’

Lady Lily’s resurrection wouldn’t heal those afflicted by magic.

Leo gritted his teeth and signaled the rankers who could still move.

If they couldn’t survive, at least they had to save one more person.

The majority of rankers, in disbelief, tried to flee or logout, but some users accepted Leo’s proposal.

“Ahh!!”

“Let’s go!”

“Use everything we have!! We need to buy as much time as possible…”

At that moment, when they were straining themselves for one last stand.

Crack!

“Huh?”

“Uh…”

“What the heck is happening now?!”

The sky opened up.

The ominous red aurora-streaked sky was violently torn apart, and from within, someone descended.

She was…

“Lily…?”

“Adults shouldn’t interfere in children’s fights.”

‘Crush (contrítĭo).’

The Clown and its enormous hand were shattered into countless pieces.

■

When the space beyond the sky opened, the Clown instinctively raised its head.

What appeared beyond the space was Black Lily.

Upon seeing Black Lily, the Clown widened its eyes and moved its hand, but she was much quicker.

Bam!

The Clown was obliterated.

The immense magic from Black Lily smashed apart the body of the Clown, and its drastically enlarged skeletal hand was also destroyed.

Skeletal fragments fell below.

Despite the users cheering at Black Lily’s sudden appearance, she didn’t even glance down.

With a twitch.

“Oh…”

Her gaze was fixated solely on the shattered body of the Clown.

As the pieces of its body, numbering in the thousands and tens of thousands, began to convulse and reconnect into one.

Swish!

The scattered skeletal fragments gathered together, and the crimson space that covered the capital was absorbed into him.

Dressed in the usual clown outfit, the only noticeable change was the dark red cloak swirling behind him.

The Clown, meanwhile, exuded power that had reached ‘Upper’ status.

The size and power of his abilities were significantly different from before.

He sighed heavily, looking at Black Lily, who was staring at him intently, with a troubled expression.

“Ha… I’m really tired. So tired. How did things get so tangled up?”

“If you’re tired, why not just die?”

“I’m already dead.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes!”

As the Clown flipped his cloak, dozens of Clown dolls appeared in the sky.

They were undead who were alive yet not alive, and each one was approximately at the intermediate level of demons.

Users, now pale with fear, started to flee again.

With that kind of army, they could physically crush the continent right away.

Black Lily took out a staff entwined with purple magical stones.

“Since it has come to this, just die! After all, there’s no way I could follow his will anymore…”

“Space (laxaméntum), Crush (contrítĭo).”

Boom!

Dozens of dolls were crushed in mid-air.

Despite their meticulous craftsmanship, the dolls didn’t even resist and were obliterated, causing the Clown’s expression to stiffen.

In a hurry, the Clown summoned new dolls, rapidly increasing its own size while simultaneously unleashing an attack on the users on the ground.

An attack from an Upper-level Clown.

No matter how strong Black Lily was, blocking all of it would be difficult.

If forced to give up one, it would have to be the users…

“Transform (convertíbĭlis), Bind (obligátĭo), Accelerate (accelerátĭo).”

Wshhh!

The magic spreading in the air transformed into purple chains.

Soon, hundreds of thousands of chains shot up from the ground, binding the Clown at breakneck speed.

Simultaneously, chains warded off every attack directed at the users.

The dolls had long since shattered into particles and ceased to exist.

Creeeak…

The chains were set ablaze by the Clown’s magic.

They were merely burning, but the chains themselves remained largely intact.

The Clown, bound all over, wore a bewildered expression.

“…This is absurd. I didn’t think it would be like this, even after seeing all that.”

“I wasn’t just playing around. Believe it or not, I’ve been quite busy?”

“Are you stronger than the main body? I’m curious. At this level, it feels like the main body would win…”

“We’re somewhat similar.”

“……”

“Not that we’re particularly in a master-servant relationship?”

Black Lily slowly approached the Clown.

The Clown had once been the highest-ranking undead of the Demon Race.

At a glance, he may seem like an ‘intermediate boss,’ but that was far from the truth.

“I was a bit surprised. For a being at the top of the Demon Race to not only split its soul willingly but even to acknowledge its own consciousness.”

The Clown was a split soul of Silence, the final boss of this disaster, the top-tier Demon.

Normally, it lived with restricted memories and powers but could temporarily borrow from the original in times of crisis or when enacting significant ‘plans.’

In other words, from the very start, there had been a final boss-level entity strolling across the continent.

Some might argue this gave the demons an unfair advantage; this world operated on the laws of a System and Balance.

Unless a true crisis occurred, or like now, when he was pushed back and unable to think of the rear, he couldn’t utilize his full power.

“…Ha.”

“Or maybe, as you rise higher, it’s more common to split oneself. Although it’s rare to acknowledge one’s own consciousness.”

“Hahaha… How ridiculous. Then you must know you can’t kill me.”

“Hm?”

“My soul is far away in the Demon Realm, so even if you kill me, it would have no meaning. As you said, I am like a division of his….”

“But you would lose yourself.”

Lily’s assertion.

For the first time, the Clown lost his smile.

“You seem to have a strong will to not lose ‘yourself.’ Do you think if you keep dying, you will be able to continue your activities, Silence will just let you be?”

“……”

“I assume it’ll just absorb your soul and erase the existence called ‘Clown’.”

“Shut up!!!”

Kugugugug…

The power of the Clown soared.

The many chains binding the Clown snapped, and soon, he became a being of freedom.

At this point, he was an intermediate to upper-level entity…

No, he possessed even greater power comparable to Black Lily.

“Well, that’s something I hadn’t considered?”

“Damn it! I exist as myself! I will exist eternally under him!!!”

“It’s natural to dream big.”

“Shut up!! After I kill you, I’ll be recognized by him…”

Again.

For yet another time, the Clown’s body ruptured.

He drew forth his powers yet again to regenerate.

As he declared, his soul resided in the distant Demon Realm, and no matter how strong Black Lily was, she couldn’t do anything about a soul that wasn’t present.

As someone who hadn’t yet reached the top tier, it was a tough challenge to confront a split soul of a high-ranking Demon.

Swoosh…

“Is it a bit chilly for you?”

Yet there was a method.

From long ago, she had witnessed the end of the Demon Race, one of the six rulers.

They were grotesque beings, but the powers they possessed could not be denied.

Lily’s hand and staff froze.

“Arctic Power (rĭgor).”

Crash.

The Clown, undergoing endless regeneration, froze.

No matter how hard he tried to escape the eternal cold, he could not overcome the power that even froze time.

Of course, it wasn’t genuine cold…

“That’s not perfect, but it’s the same for you, isn’t it?”

A mere split soul couldn’t contend with the powers of a Demon King.

The Clown ultimately failed to shatter the ice and lost his body.

Now he would return to the Demon Realm, and barring any special circumstances, he wouldn’t return again.

Black Lily retracted her frozen hand, igniting the flames of magic.

“Oh, it’s cold…”

It would take a while for her hand to return to normal.

Kuooohh…!

“!”

Then she saw it.

“…That looks a bit dangerous?”

Somewhere to the North.

Countless divine spears were blooming enough to fill the sky.

Given the distance from here, how could they appear so vividly?

Black Lily seriously pondered whether or not she should confront him when she suddenly recalled the Clown’s last words, filled with malice.

Just before he lost his body and fled to the Demon Realm…

‘I curse you! I will curse you to the end! Your main body will NEVER acknowledge you…’

“…Well, I wonder.”

Would Lily’s acknowledgment have any meaning?

‘When the main body doesn’t even act like one.’

 

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