The God of Jesters
Chapter 586 - 9.08.3 Elder needs help.

Chapter 586: 9.08.3 Elder needs help.

Nothing can be a greater driving force in this world than Obsession. An obsession that began with a simple battlefield which was not even relevant anymore in Alabasta’s eyes. What he cared about was the inhuman monster that was born out of it. A being of pure evil that wore the mask of a voyeuristic entertainer who appeared to mess with the lives on the surface.

But Alabasta knew the ugly truth, the one that everyone else kept ignoring. Though those words, he can’t say clearly, for few knew or even understood what dreams were since the great ban. And his own knowledge of the subject would have deemed him to be a blasphemer. That was when he was powerless and the case is not the same anymore.

It was such knowledge in the dreams that Alabasta understood the danger this being possessed to the world, and this knowledge also let Alabasta see into things that others could never hope to imagine. He had seen the insides of the minds of that wraith. The hatred and ugly desire to watch it all burn.

It was a monster that enjoyed misery more than anything else and once in power it will spread that misery for its enjoyment far and wide. The only good thing till now had been how powerless he was. Incapable of influencing the real world due to lacking a material body.

He can even be considered lucky that he had a dream realm to hide in, making it so that he never got lost, as other spiritual beings are forced to enter the realm where the gods reside. A place with no time or sense of direction. Where standing still is not an option as everything will keep moving no matter what happens.

Alabasata even had hoped to banish that beast to that hellish realm himself, but that wraith kept escaping his traps one way or another. Which made him understand one thing. His methods were too simple. He had a way to deal with a being that was born of Nightmare, and he even had methods to deal with a being of a spiritual nature like a Wrath.

But a being in between born naturally? Now that was an oddity that shan’t exist. If it does then it is something that can only exist as a mindless beast and not a being capable of thought, ideas, and desires.

Which had driven Alabasta to greater desire for knowledge over the dream world and the spiritual world, expanding his knowledge to a level unprecedented among the Radiant Order. However such knowledge was only gained after he was banished from the order due to his slight offenses caused in Durum.

Though what neither the Radiant Order nor the Mages from Durum mentioned was why he went so ballistic there. But that is the story for another time.

Alabasta after years of his own study and practice also came across a wonderful secret of the world that might explain how a being like that Wraith can exist. ’Anomalies?’ It’s a word that generally means "Something unnatural". Though when mentioned in the context of a transcendental being, the gravity of this term increases by a huge amount.

’Two forces of opposite nature co-exist in a body together without conflict, even elevating it to a new level.’ They were anomalies, beings that shouldn’t exist due to conflicting natures but they do due to some oddity that is harder to understand.

This is how Jester was born. A Wraith feeds on the souls of others for it can’t make its own thoughts, including the dreams of mortals, while a nightmare born of greater fear of individuals also does the opposite, instead of feeding on the thoughts, it drains the souls of its victims through creating nightmares. Which generally ends up killing the victim.

Making it so, these two mindless beings were enemies to each other as one was made up of soul, food to the nightmare. While the other was made up of dark thoughts which ended up turning food into the wraith.

Forming a being that had both thoughts and a mind of its own, and was capable of so much more than one can ever imagine.

That’s why all his means had failed, and why few were successful in ever dealing with it. It just had way too many ways to escape and reform itself, even if its body was destroyed. And there was little to no limit to the mental manipulation this monster was capable of. However due to Alabasta’s constant pursuit, that being never got to grow up too strong. However, the moment he was forced to resign, things turned far from worse.

You can already see the current state of the world. Wherever you go, there will be traces of Jester one way or another. That monster had brought nothing but misery to this world and there was no stopping it at the moment with the rate at which it was growing.

’Even named itself Jester.’ Alabasta had a curse when he heard the name this bastard gave itself. A name that brought him some ugly memories, which made the hatred in Alabasta’s heart grow brighter than ever before. ’You mock me even now.’ Were Alabasta’s thoughts when he had initially learned of this name from his protégé. However, he hadn’t made a move at that time due to still being in the process of ascending to the ranks of Legends.

But now the case was far from different.

"Sir Alabasta... you went into retirement," Ziegart spoke, appearing a bit disturbed by Alabasta’s momentum.

There were Legendaries in Radiant Order. Though rarely did anyone of them ever make a move And they acted more like reserves when something drastic happened that threatened the existence of Radiant Order or the common people. Otherwise, due to many political reasons, rarely did anyone among them ever make a move.

This is what Alabasta should do, enter the reserve force and wait for his deployment when the need arises.

"Retirement that was forced on me due to those corrupted mages... Specifically, this one called Kairut, was a serpent even then, and lo and behold, he really was since long ago. Falling for Jester’s words.... Hah, if you had allowed me to let me do as I wanted, the tragedy in Durum could have been prevented." The old events were kept hidden due to how shameful they were for the Knights’ order as well as the Mages.

Before the one-man war of Alabasta against all the Knights in Durum, there was a branch of Radiant Knights there. Although far smaller than other branches, it was still there, helping common folks and such.

They had been able to claw out an existence by not interfering with the mages for a long time.

Once Alabasta learned of Jester’s arrival in the city, he went there and found ugliness that was not even hidden in the city.

There were human experiments, sacrifices, and even far worse things, all driven by the unfettered curiosity of Mages. That brought only misery to the world.

That’s what started his war. A war in which many mages lost their lives, including one Archmage of the Arcane Tower. Who died protecting Kairut of the occult tower, which is how Holfaraz Akhtar, the new master of Arcane Tower took over.

Though in hindsight, Alabasta knew that he had been used. It was not until the Durum incident did everyone learned the true nature of Holfaraz, a terrorist part of the Blue Lotus cult. Which just further caused Alabasta shame and anger.

He felt like he had been used by that monster, manipulated, and forced to do his bidding. Rarely did anyone understand how dirty this feels, how powerless one feels in the face of an enemy that can craft such bizarre instances due to his power of manipulation.

Knight Alabasta knew that the only reason that Zeigart could remain so free of this obsession was that he never had to deal with that monster. In this whole room, this obsession can only be understood by Remira. And by proxy of his own, his student Vance.

Though there was one more who might know this feeling. Someone who had suffered at the hands of Jester as well, though that man for the betterment of the Order had chosen to ignore it. The very same man that was usurped by Ziegart not long ago. The old leader of the Knights order, Majodhar Daar.

"We don’t live in the past, the future is what’s important at the moment. And our priority at this moment is the Immortal serpent that is close to waking up, and I believe we would love it if someone of your caliber were to go in to support our Knights in the seas." Alabasta spoke, intending to shift the topic. But Alabasta was in no mood.

"I am not asking for your request, the actions from this point are mine and mine alone, the Radiant Order won’t be implicated in the matter at all,"Alabasta spoke in a straight manner, before looking toward Remira and saying. "And this girl, she will be my guide, I am too old and prone to losing my directions. So she will come and help this elder reach his destination. Am I clear Little boy."