The God of Jesters
Chapter 112 - 2.29.6 Change in direction.

Chapter 112: 2.29.6 Change in direction.

The blood on his hands was burned with a single thought. But his mind was still tired from what Maisel had learned.

This whole place was nothing more than a dead end. Dantalian was much more thorough than he had given her credit for before. In fear of being followed, she had chosen to teleport to the old hideout which was to be used, before the arrival of the Jester, whose actions had streamlined the whole ceremony.

So, they abandoned this place, letting it rust, while also recycling as much as they could from this place, which became the reason why this place appeared so dead.

Because it was. There was no escape.

Or so Dantalian hoped that Maisel would think.

But Maisel was way ahead of her. Since the effect of the curse on his mentality was lifted, there was no need to think much hard, the years of experience hunting many dangerous Mages throughout his life, he had found himself in such situations a couple of times.

Using oneself as a scapegoat so your friends can go away? He appreciates such passion. But he also knows that the desire to live is somewhat innate among the living.

Even if coming here was a way for Dantalian to trap Remira or whoever follows after Remira. That is only possible if Remira can come here to begin with. Dantalian probably wanted to use this as a jumping point and escape here in case she was not followed.

As for how she would do it?

"Remira, go have your fill, I got what I wanted from her..." He informed the beast that was holding back its urges.

Urges that became loud the moment the beast heard Maisel’s voice. But her strong will still held back the hunger, before ignoring him and going toward the sorry woman who probably wished for death. Making Remira’s following actions, somewhat closer to a mercy killing.

But Maisel was not interested in that at all.

Seeing Remira leave, he looked at the mangled hand, which once held the Revolver of the now Dead Pierta. Of course, Maisel did not know such detail, he just focused on something else.

A finger that was not too far off from the hand, which still had a signet ring on it. "It used to be on her body," Maisel recalled what happened in the last 10 minutes. Dantalian never gave away a single piece of information. But it was that lack of details, which made it easier for Maisel to pinpoint her exit strategy.

Picking it up, he wondered where to go from here. Talking the ring of the finger would only result in that ring breaking due to the enchantment it held. So he was already glad that during Remira’s little episode, she didn’t harm the finger too much.

There was one issue though, he might have the key, but it doesn’t mean he had the gate where this key would fit.

An exit strategy, he had to find it somehow.

Then, he finally heard the last cries of Dantalian, which was painful, to say the least, followed by Remira, who had some piece of flesh and blood on her jaws. ’A beast, through and through.’ Maisel thought before his eyes widened. "I have found a way to escape this place. But first, we have to find where this key would fit." Maisel said, picking up the signet ring. "Pick up the scent on this key, a scent that is not the same as that woman. And see if it’s possible to find some similar scent in this cavern?"

Time was of the essence and no matter how powerful Remira felt at the moment, they had to deal with the bastards leading the ceremony. Destroy the ritual before they destroy this city.

As for their claims of this ritual being harmless, Maisel might have believed it completely if he was still under the influence of the curse and even if their words hold true, he still won’t allow it to happen.

Not after what they did to his son. There was also the fact that he had witnessed a vision of god before, created by none other than the bastard that now hiding inside his son’s body.

That single vision destroyed a two-acre government facility, with hundreds dead in its wake. Imagine what might happen when that same vision is used as fuel to reincarnate a true god and not just a vision.

This was the reason why he chose to come follow Remira. He didn’t wish for the past to repeat itself.

Not to mention, if the Blue Lotus succeeded in their goal, their presence and threat would increase. They will surely come back to take revenge on those who had wronged them and Maisel was the first on that list.

And no matter what Adam claims of not harming Maisel again, he knows better than to trust liars like Adam. Whose background since the start was all just a lie when he had first met him.

******

"Odd, the position changed?" Faust said, as the small winged snake turned its head to the direction of something familiar and then started to fly towards it.

Making him confused for a bit.

’An error?’ He wondered. Being a computational genius, he barely ever experienced the real battlefield, as most of his time was toiled up in the libraries and his research and development lab in an effort to finesse his Mage-Tech armor.

Making him lack practical experience when it comes to adapting to the ever-changing battlefield. But it was due to this simplistic nature of his that he didn’t treat it with much suspicion that others in his place would have.

He just did as he had planned to. Currently, the Knights would be the same way as well. But they were much slower due to their heavy armor and the likes and breaking through the multiple barricades setup by the military that were also into sleep would be too much, when using a truck.

That is when they can find a truck that worked, as in an attempt to thwart any wilful citizens that might be annoyed by the army occupation of the city, all kinds of fuels were taken by the military already.

Which in turn caused the current problem, where moving from place to place became harder. And the Knights, who were still limited by their physicality would probably be way behind in their speed.

With the fastest being the mages or those from the Tower of Contracts. As the mages from the Tower of Illusion and Phantasm were still under high suspicion and hence taken down in case they pulled something similar, just like their Tower master did.

Though, unlike him, the master of Contracts had gone on the hunt for the rogue Kassandra. Intending to bring them to justice. While her men, without her support, could only summon their own flying creatures and travel at a much slower speed than when they had the help of their master.

Meaning, the Military’s Mage-tech Armor Regiment would still be the first to reach the destination.

"This direction, it’s the Towers."

The place they came back to was the place they started from. The Institute of Magic where all the Mage towers were located.

’Curious. Were they really working together?’ Faust wondered, before ordering his men. "Our enemies are mages once again, kill anyone that acts suspicious. There is no need to hold back." The previous battle was more of a suppression and not a battle for destruction.

This was why, lethal means were rarely used and the mages faced sharp opposition from the army which had the number advantage, along with their modern weapons which could take Mages from afar.

Modern weapons were operated by normal soldiers, without an inkling of supernatural strength in them.

Most of them now lay in their place, sleeping soundly, unaware of the disaster the people of Durum, who were fed the cure for the plague, were experiencing.

This meant that the greatest strength of the military was now unusable, putting the Mage-tech Armor units at a disadvantage.

A disadvantage that finally forced the group to use their full capability, in the face of the opposition that they might face from the mages.

But there was another issue, the weakest among the group of 13, had their energy reserves drop below 60%. Such high-intensity movements require energy to function.

A cost that Faust was very much aware of. If the armor loses its energy, it might still have a backup source that can be used to get out of a tight situation, but that’s it.

On the other side, Jester. Who saw the frustrated eyes of his capture, who also just happened to be the weakest member of the group understood what worried them.

’Hoho, am I too heavy? Is this why he is being like that?’ With his state now being sealed, Jester became unable to read the thoughts of people easily. He was like a normal human, as normal as a walking and talking corpse can be.

’Hmm? A direction change? Guess Maisel reached that place.’ Then a hint of appreciation appeared on his face, as he saw how the group changed direction in an instant. Letting him know that the location of Blue Lotus is being outed.

And then, he wondered even further. ’I wonder, who would be narrating my story now?’ Said the Jester, a bit sad that he couldn’t talk to his gods again, and tell them the amazing stories he came across.

Which was almost sad.