The God of Jesters
Chapter 536 - 8.11.4 He is here.

Chapter 536: 8.11.4 He is here.

An outsider, that’s who Heroth had been for most of his life.

And the reason for that? Heroth knew it, he knew it full well and to prevent things from getting worse, he did his best to soothe those in his head with simple songs. He has never sung for himself, he sang to keep those in his head quiet.

A way to suppress the things that were getting stronger with time. As for what was to blame for it, he could never pinpoint it, even his employer Malidi just spoke of the walls breaking down and nothing more.

"Bold words for someone in your position." Lady Lies said, rubbing the blood on her forehead with her handkerchief.

"You forced me into this, this hearing was never just, you are worse than a Pirate’s court. Lacking any semblance of fairness."

"The Judge was never I. The Artifact judged you for your prior crimes and deemed you liable. And that was before the attempt on my life, though calling it an attempt would be too much, as I did die." She spoke without any hint of fear. As if dying was nothing more than a simple annoyance for her.

Which Annoyed Heroth a bit further. "You will die again, I will make sure of that... but before your death, tell me why? I just wished to live here peacefully, why go so far as to drag me down for a mistake you man-made."

"Your words, they lack fear. Do you truly believe in your own lies?" In her own arrogance, she never treated Heroth’s threat so seriously. To Lady Lies, in this court, unless there are more perverts like Pea or Sheva. Those not belonging to the Church are helpless, unable to muster their strength at all. "But let me feed your curiosity, the only reason you were brought down is to deal with the ones behind you, those from the Bartender’s Association were getting arrogant, and we needed an excuse to deal with them for a long time... And then you came, their apparent weakness."

"This bitch, just for this? Ask them and they will leave. Why play this long gam... Hah No, the fool was me, this city is kind, but its leaders are foolish.k Foolish to extreme..."

"How dare you..." The Knights came to stop his vulgar words and this time, Lady Lies didn’t speak a word about it. There were no more words that needed to be said as there was something much more serious going out in the city outside.

Heroth was not the priority anymore; Sheva was due to her attempt on the Grand Priestess’s life and the little monster spreading his disease through the city.

"Disable his legs, drug him in case he possesses a healing factor." She spoke to the Knights before walking towards the broken wall that had at some point started to close up like a healing wound.

But Heroth, who was tackled to the floor again and forced into binds kept feeling his sanity slipping bits by bits, and when a sword stuck his spine, cutting off his nerves from the waist below. The final part of his mind snapped.

"Foolish boy, this was going to happen eventually. Why struggle." Spoke a voice much different than Heroth, as his face as well as body started to contort and mutate before the Knights could react.

"What?" There was a dangerous smell around Heroth at this moment, an aura that caused palpitations in the heart of the Knights, but they remained adamant about suppressing Heroth while putting their faith in the suppression effect of the court.

Big mistake, as Heroth, completely ignoring their strengthened body, slightly swiped his while trying to get up, causing three of the knights that got in contact with the arm to fly into the air with broken bones and blood flowing from their whole face.

"I thank you foolish ones." The man that got up appeared with the face of Heroth, but much younger and his tone nobler, appearing as an entirely different person at this point.

Not far from him Lady Lies, who had come to ignore Heroth at this point turned her head toward him, and in a tone that carried some fear, announced. "Back off, don’t intera..."

"That voice. You were the one that made the little boy so angry." The figure spoke as an arm scaly arm materialized from her back and grabbed her neck.

"Priestess." with her capture, the Knights didn’t have the time to question why was Heroth suddenly a new man, or why could he ignore the suppression. All they had in their mind was to kill Heroth before he could harm the Grand Priestess.

"N..." And The Priestess, seeing this tried to shout in a horrified look, but before she could. The figure smiled, pointing his finger towards the Grand Knights, and said. "Silence in the court." With a simple flick of his finger, before the Knights could even reach Heroth, their tongues were the first to get to Heroth before them. "I find your voice annoying." The figure spoke with some slight sadistic smile on his face as screams came from the court with some Knights falling down and clutching their mouth in horror.

What happened? They wondered. Never in their whole life, they had ever felt so helpless. So utterly powerless to fight back in a single exchange.

Which can only mean one thing.

"A legend." Shouted one of the nobles, before he tried to run.

Of course. "Your steps are annoying." Came words that sounded like a death sentence, causing the Noble to fall to the floor, crying in agony as he found his legs had turned to bloody mist. But considering he got to keep his life, he can be considered lucky.

Of course, his luck didn’t reach the others who dared to try and escape from the small hole that Sheva had created not too long ago. Because at this moment, they understood that the hunted had turned into a hunter... a monster.

A Legend, that something even the Church of Truthful Deceit didn’t possess at this moment.

So the first to make sound and try to save their lives, they were first to fall to the ground like the noble before. And before these people can voice out their pain. The monster in the court spoke some words again.

"Your cries... they are annoying." The man spoke again, completely obliterating the heads of all those who cried after losing their legs.

Such a scene left those who remained unmoving completely still like a statue, not even daring to voice out any complaints.

"Peace, ah, the peace... no not yet. Those wonderful armored men, present your armor to me, and I will spare you your tongue."

It was time for the horrors to begin that Heroth had been suppressing all this while.

******

Not far from the South District, there was a young man sitting alone in a dark room with his eyes closed while a few figures appeared and disappeared from his side. "You are getting weaker, a few years more, and I will be free." Duke Wortham spoke to the immaterial figure that tried to possess him, but unlike before the figure kept failing to poison the Duke like it had always done till now.

Much to the figure’s frustration.

But this small exchange suddenly came to a pause when the Duke’s eyes fell into the distance, feeling a threatening existence that seemed to be actively claiming lives. "This city finally saw some action after such a long time."

With a thought the Duke appeared in the air and then cracking the very air itself, he appeared directly over the South District, bringing with him a storm of sorts born out of his momentum alone.

"An old friend and a new one... The old one can take him on, no need for me to be involved..." As he reached these words, the Duke came to a pause, as he noticed a life that he held somewhat dear to him slowly losing its light.

’Hah.’ But he didn’t do a thing. That woman, her lies had always got him.

She is untrustworthy, to say the least. A master liar that had fooled death countless times, and had come back again and again. "Well, you always cried for vacations." He spoke before looking down on the odd undead running amok in the city.

Unlike other Legendary beings, he lacked a proper domain. By giving up complete control over a large area, the Duke was able to create a specialized domain of a mere One-meter radius where he was invincible. Making it much more important for him to hone his other senses to match the reaction time and movements of other Legendaries, who can in truth move anywhere within their domain and have access to the void.

That’s what made him a monster. A man whose speed matches that of teleporting to a target. A man that exceeded what can be considered normal for the absurdity that the Legendary beings were capable of.