Chương 63: [BL] 62. A Grand Performance [2]

[You Grow Stronger] [Auric Huntress—Level 26] [Divine Hunt(II) IV]—Allow Auric Huntress to call her Olympyas to her side. Two sensations assaulted Willow—sight and hearing. This was familiar; she had felt it multiple times during her ascension. It was the feeling of the world being shredded apart and her body being taken somewhere else. A circle of red expanded around her, and it rose, blocking her vision like a hazy sway of smoke.

Willow tried to move through them, but her body refused as she suddenly became wobbly. She tried to draw her arrow, but was unsure where to aim as the world around her grew redder. [The Bannerlord grants you his Banner] [The Jester's Last Gambit rejects the Banner!] Trumpets blared their triumphant sound all around her. Each note banished away the hazy red that threatened to eat away the world. Her Olympya Archer tenderly shook her shoulder as Willow fell to her knees.

When her state of delirium slowly went away, another wave of ghastly red choked her, stretching its thick mist across her vision, and it poisoned the world around her. Willow could only watch as the world turned into a void for a single second. She awakened to a comfortable darkness, seated in an audience seat that circled a grand circus stage where the spotlight had been pointing. Motes of light swayed across like fireflies.

One of them touched Willow's cheek, and a warm, fuzzy sensation spread through her cheek to her brain. She gasped, her eyes opened, and she traced down a finger to summon her Auric Bow. Willow quickly glanced around. Behind her, the audience seats rose to higher tiers, and then the world just ended. There was no exit through the highest row, just endless darkness. [You're inside the Devil's Managerie]"A Marble Reality," Willow mumbled. She took a deep breath to calm herself. The Jester Devil had died.

She killed it with Kroos' help. So what the hell was happening here? She followed the spotlight, and right in the middle was the figure of the Jester Devil. A figure that looked like a starry void with no actual body, like a mere projection. [Jester Devil—Level 10] Level ten? Okay, what the hell? The Jester Devil found a lone stool and sat. Countless cages of various sizes covered the stage and surrounded the Devil. Various creatures were inside them.

Willow saw an elephant, monkeys, bears, horses, even a tiger and a lion. All of them cried for the lone Jester, who weakly reached for another stool, snapped up five juggling balls, and started juggling. Was it trying to do magic?

"Mark." Thankfully, the Mark was working. It appeared right above the Devil, and Willow didn't waste time. She fired. Her Auric Arrow cut through the darkness and into the spotlight, flying at the Devil until one cage burst open, and a monkey threw itself onto one mountain of cages. Its hand gripped the edge of the steel bars, and it arched its body back to propel itself right into the Auric Arrow's flight path like a catapult.

The arrow hit the monkey's chest and pierced through, then went off course, missing the Devil and pinning the monkey against the circus ground. Willow did not think about it. She quickly read her upgraded Divine Hunt and tapped into the power. More cages opened, and a surge of circus animals at first checked in on the Jester, watching his weak performance for a bit, then settled their eyes on Willow—someone who intended to kill the Jester.

A tiger and a lion, faster than the other circus animals, leaped through the lower tier of the audience seating, charging their way toward Willow, who was in the middle row. The lion's mane swished as it pounced, its claws carving down through the orbs of light right at her, but Willow did not draw her arrows. Instead, three golden lights brimmed around her, blinding the lion for a moment. The lion cried out, and Willow moved.

She ducked, leaning down to dodge the claw swipe, and slammed her bow to the lion's side, sending it spinning and crashing into three audience seats that broke apart under its weight. Before it could roar, a golden arrow from Olympya Archer carved its throat, silencing it into a wail. The archer's scarlet hair swished as she spun and released dozens of golden arrows upon the charging circus animals, shooting down monkeys that tried to be smart and flank them.

Dogs and goats joined in, and they ran across an aisle to reach Willow, but a shower of golden arrows halted them. To her right, the Olympya Executioner materialized and sliced its axe in a cruel swing that split the tiger's body into two parts. Blood was still falling when the Executioner, drenched in red, charged down the aisle and, in a whirlwind motion, carved into groups of horses and donkeys. Every animal had a mad look in its eyes. This was not bloodlust. This was some kind of zeal, a passion.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Willow bit her cheek, and an anger she had never felt before rose inside her. She remembered well how the Jester took away her mind and made her a fool, forcing her to clap for it. Willow jumped above her seat and shot small golden arrows that skipped over any charging animals. The arrows landed just near an elephant's feet. It blocked Willow's from seeing the jester behind its immense body, alongside the rhino.

The Olympya Magus telekinetically lifted its cube and spun it, summoning green fireballs to chase after any animals that got too close, burning them and sending their bodies crashing against the audience seats. Flame took over, and a putrid smell of searing flesh hung in the circus.

"Starfall." Specks of light recalled from her arrows and danced around Willow. She sent forth a hail of golden arrows, firing them above the rows of seats and piercing over any animals in her way. Willow then drew an Auric Arrow, and with Sunpiercer, she drew it, sending an arrow that punched through a single line in front of her. With a straight path toward the center stage, Willow descended. So far, the Devil had done nothing. Around her, battles were still being fought.

She saved her runes, as they were really running low. Was the Jester too weak to pull any trick? But then again, she could never know what it was doing now since the rhino and elephant were blocking it. When Willow crossed to the stage, her feet touched the edge of the circular dome where the last two animals stood strong. A chirp sounded, and Willow looked around to see where it was coming from. Around the elephant's feet were groups of rats; each stood on two legs and clapped.

The Elephant and Rhino stepped up, showcasing their trunk and horn. [Circus Elephant—Level 25] [Circus Rhino—Level 25] A pressure was building inside the elephant's trunk, and it pointed at Willow, who drew her right foot back and fired an Auric Arrow just in time for it to meet a jet of water that overpowered it. She did not watch the exchange; Willow unfurled her Six-Fold wings, took to the sky, and burst forth to the Elephant's head, gripping her Cold Dagger.

The Elephant craned its tusk above to gore her, but Willow tucked her wings and hovered sideways. She switched to her Auric Bow and was about to fire until electricity ran through the Rhino's body and gathered at its horn. Seriously? That's too much like Nora. Willow, seeing the thunderbolt coming, let go of her bow and shot her Sun Thread, wrapping it around the Elephant's tusk and pulled. At best, she was hoping to draw the Elephant. But of course that didn't happen.

The Thunderbolt struck through the air into the darkness behind as Willow pulled her body close to the elephant. The elephant's trunk tried to wrap around her, so she cancelled her Sun Thread and tucked her wings close, falling below. As her feet touched the ground, she moved into motion—summoning another Auric Bow and fired a Starfall. A dozen golden arrows dug into the elephant's chest, carving inside the thick skin. The Elephant let out a deep rumble as its body took a back step.

Willow was about to fire a point-blank Auric Arrow when suddenly a jet of water hit her. She did not see that the trunk had been pointing at her. Willow's body went rolling backward. Her head hit the edge of the stage, and she crashed down into the first row of audience seats. A bit of wood dug into her cheek as she coughed.

"Ouch," She whined, at the blood around her vision. A sharp wood bit her head. Damn Elephant. Willow rose and drew another arrow, only to see the elephant had slumped down. Even as it was dying, it still used itself to shield its master. The rats scurried around it, clapping and chirping to cheer the elephant to no avail. Her arrow naturally went to the rhino, who had been charging its thunderbolt. Willow applied Sunpiercer to her draw, and heat rose around her.

She waited and waited until the rhino shot its spell, and Willow did as well. Her arrow cut through the thunderbolt and sliced right into the rhino before it rammed its horn to ward off her arrow. Willow did not stay idle. Her wings unfurled, and she took to the sky, swooping down at the rhino, who hastily built another thunderbolt, but this time Willow fired her Sun Thread around its horn. She pulled, tucking her wings as her body swooped down.

Her feet slid across the ground, and she slipped in between the elephant's dead body and the Rhino. She released her thread and whirled around as she passed both, to show a golden arrow.

"Starfall." Hundreds of golden arrows caught the rhino, even when it barely turned, showering its thick hide with light, and its body careened awkwardly to its left as it toppled over. Willow fired a fully charged Auric Arrow at its throat, and her arrow punched through its neck and up, spearing its brain. She huffed, still maintaining her bow in her grip. Calmly, Willow turned as she nocked an Auric Arrow. The Jester Devil was still juggling as if nothing had happened.

Willow's Olympyas Knights gathered around her, and she stepped into the Devil's vision. It did not regard her. [Jester Devil—Level 10] Still level ten. If they fought normally, if she had been trapped with this Devil at full power, Willow wondered what kind of bullshit it could do, with the many circus animals it could use. She drew and released. Her arrow plunge right in the devil's middle chest. It dropped its juggling balls, and they went rolling to Willow's feet. The Jester Devil finally regarded her.

It tried to stand, but it stumbled over its stool instead, and with one last struggle—it sat up and sent a deep, furling bow with its hand to her. The world shifted. Lines of light ran through the circus, eating the darkness as if cleaning it of impurity. Slowly Kroos' throne room bled into existence around her. [Your Hunt is Successful] [Jester Devil has been slain] [You Grow Stronger] Blue light spun above her even as the Devil's Marble Domains began bleeding away.

It manifested into a white ceramic jester mask with a single teardrop engraving right beneath its left eye slit. [The Jester Mask (Tier 2)] [Slot (Dark Rune: 5/5)] [Coin Toss] [1] [The Divine Hunt has been invoked!] [Target: Devil Depth Spawn] [...] Willow took her time and read over the hunt information. Her breath stilled, and despite still feeling the after-fight bloodlust pounding through her veins, her blood almost froze.

"My Lady, you're back," Kroos said. Although he sounded calm, the relief was obvious across the tier-four open face.

"Kroos. Is it possible for rifts to join into one?"