The God of Jesters
Chapter 644 - 9.20.3 Epilogue: The scared Jellyfish.

Chapter 644: 9.20.3 Epilogue: The scared Jellyfish.

Malidi has researched this monster called the immortal serpent. Well, why won’t he? Anything with Immortal in its name was the target of his research, which made Dragon the perfect research subject on his end.

The issue was, the history of this Dragon was far deeper than one might have expected, his origins even more wild than Malidi expected.

How it attained its immortality when even its totem couldn’t do so, well that was a mystery in of itself. But the other part of the mystery was how it keeps being reborn in the same place again and again to no end. Well for that, Malidi did visit the origin land of Dragon, though alone without Heroth’s consent or his knowledge.

And what he found there was something wondrous. ’A corpse.’ A corpse that existed in two states together, one illusory being the majority of the body and the real, being the mountain peaks of Verna island, turned out to be the scales of this beast.

Its true size was insurmountable for even Malidi. This was definitely not a simple Totem, a god perhaps, or even worse, one of those disastrous existences that float in the cosmos above.

But the latter of which was hard, for a Knight to be born the consent of the entity is needed in one way or another. Not to mention, through all his lives, the man that was sometimes called Heroth, sometimes Jiggen, or Rotho. The children he sired never held his blood.

Fascinating, isn’t it?

Such an odd situation, it’s as if the being that gave Dragon his blood didn’t wish for it to spread wide, all it wished was for Dragon to be the only one holding onto it and achieve a greater realm of Totems before it Dragon can’t fall.

Well, that was the case normally, but it’s not like Malidi didn’t have a way to ensure he never returned.

The words he spoke to the dwarves held true, once the Verna Islands are destroyed, Dragon can’t ever return and might even lose a huge portion of his mutant strength, making it far easier to kill it.

But that was never the whole truth. "With the anchors destroyed, I wonder if the forbidden domain inside will fall to that side." That side, Malidi had been aware of it for a while, and with his current ascension to the ranks of Totems, no... a Daemon. His connection to that side was stronger than before.

With some will, he can enter the realm that gods and totems hide in, the world far from the reach of normal humans, or even the majority of Legends.

And if it happened as he had planned, with no karma involved on his end, he might just be able to consume that corpse for his own use. ’But I don’t think I will be capable of it... as of yet.’ That corpse was obviously there for Heroth or the personalities that lived inside his head.

One capable of retaining all memories and actions, one capable of only harm, and one that starts a new every time it’s reborn.

But this doesn’t mean he can’t let this corpse be stored in his domain once it’s eventually built. And with that, he might be able to gain true ownership of the Immortal Serpent.

’Kill him fast, destroy his home... that’s the only way.’ He spoke, waiting from the side for others to make his job easier.

Something that is far harder to do on his end due to the difficult thing called Karma.

But the details of it can be explained later. Malidi looked at the world that was slowly being reformed inside of him and with a calm sigh, he looked toward the distance and spoke.

"Nightly watcher, your transgressions against me were not appreciated, I would want an answer," Malidi spoke, his voice low and lacking any emotion, but it did reach the Jellyfish that remained silent to the end.

His answer was clear for Malidi to see. "Your cowardice is real... I have learned of this." Malidi didn’t sugarcoat the words, seeing the unresponsive beast that had tried to ruin his ascension, Malidi wouldn’t be kind or respectful in the least.

However, the word Cowardice did elicit some response from the Jellyfish that reformed into a small version of itself as it did with Remira before. "A newly ascended, but words filled with poison, your death will be far faster than you can imagine." It spoke, letting Malidi understand that it didn’t appreciate the tone.

"It matters not... Compensation on your end, or I break part of this veil." At those words, the tendrils of the jellyfish shook for a bit, holding back the anger. Before it turned silent and let go of what appeared to be a shiny stone. "A drop of my source blood... the only valuable thing that is mine."

"Hmm." Seeing such stone, Malidi paused and gave the Jellyfish a deep look. Before taking, it.

Karma was formed. The thing he got from the Jellyfish was too much to be considered a simple compensation; it was far more precious, and hence, Malidi owed this Jellyfish from that moment on.

"I will be leaving then, " Malidi said, planning to wait a week until his domain is properly constructed before visiting Lord Emotion.

As for the Jellyfish, it let this little monster go. ’Another one born on this land... the collapse is coming fast.’

Once beings like Malidi start popping up in the material plane, great upheavals are soon to be followed.

Among these, the major one was probably the fall of the veil. ’My time is coming to an end.’ The Jellyfish wonder.

This veil, the creation of this master, was the giant net that covered the whole planet, protecting it from the void and the monsters that were born from it.

Which once falls, will start the age of great upheaval once again.

An age far crueler than the time of the Curse apocalypse.

"Master... what should I do?" It wondered, fearing that the last trace of his master, this very veil that protected the planet for so long would fade away and with it, the chance of his Master’s return. ’Why...’

*******

Death is inevitable, that is a situation that Vance has faced countless times in his life.

First was his family, all of them died at the hands of his own father, possessed due to a golden cup. If not for the existence of the Radiant Order in his city at the time, he would have been one of them. For most of his youth, Vance had wondered why was he spared while his family never was, why his little sister whom he should have protected didn’t even get the chance to speak before she was eaten by his very own father.

That cruelty became the very core of Vance’s being. One being recruited to the Radiant Order as an apprentice Knight, he found that many others had the same stories as his, some of which were far more brutal than his own. Which made him find compatriots in trauma easily.

He along with others of his batch promised to prevent such tragedies from ever happening again, they swore to destroy all the corruption and free the world of all the filth. But only a few among his batch were capable of going through the bloodline transfer ceremony, most were relegated to the Radiant Eyes, acting as supports for the Knights.

While Vance, was far luckier than his friends, for he was not only born with high compatibility with the blood of Radiance. But he was even chosen as a direct disciple by an elder of the Order.

An eccentric old man who only took him in due to his advanced age. Not hiding his true intentions from the start. "Others don’t care, but I want someone to carry my legacy." Although he had been warned by other elders about it, saying to only learn the methods, not the goals of the old man. Vance still did his best as he was tools by his master.

Copying the methods, fighting techniques, and leadership skills at a fast rate. But he also learned of his Master’s regrets, the thing other elders had feared was finally open to him. The story of a Wraith that kept growing and creating tragedies wherever he went.

A Wraith with potential to be a great menace if not dealt with properly. But none in the Radiant Order truly cared. Or even if they did, they barely had a method to deal with him.

"Don’t be obsessed with him like I was. He is my enemy, I will be the one to end him, you just focus on learning from me."

"But Master, what if you... didn’t they stop you?"

"I would die before stopping my pursuit of him...for now I am just bidding my time while honing my sword, a day will come when I go on his hunt again."

And such a day did come, and it wasn’t long after it that his Master... "He is dead." Waiting up from what seemed to be an abandoned island on the seas, Vance was left mute while watching the horizon.

"What do you mean dead... how" Remira had woken up a bit earlier than Vance, and hence been able to breathe in the lingering smell of Farhad, Rosso, and even a cat for some reason in the vicinity.

Odd to say for sure, but what surprised her more was the broken state of Vance and no sight of Sir Alabasta.