The God of Jesters
Chapter 669 - 10.05.1 Kama

Chapter 669: 10.05.1 Kama

The dragons don’t exist on the material plane, nor have they ever existed on it to begin with. Their true birthplace still surrounds itself in mystery, to which Chalice had an answer, but speaking or even thinking about it at all would bring ’its’ attention to him, so he didn’t dare, nor did he dare to deal with the Dragonkin Vesta.

No matter how frustrated he felt over the scenario. ’My chalice.’ He mumbled, wondering what to do.

But it didn’t take long before his eyes, along with those of his clones lit up, noticing a bizarre instability around the collapsing islands.

Although the heat was enough to sunder the very earth and evaporate large batches of the seas, making it far harder to witness what was happening below through sight alone, and too hot to even get close to. But Chalice could see it, the destruction followed by the collapse of what appeared to be chains in space.

’What is this?’ A broken world connected to these islands?’ Chalice mumbled, his mind racing as thoughts formed up and he said. ’Obviously, that’s going to be the case.’

His target, that scholar, ran here and didn’t even bother to respond when the island collapsed. Why should he do this and why not retaliate against the Dragon Vesta and save his home? The answer was obvious.

’He is not affected in the slightest.’ he looked into the crack, deep into the place that exists far away from reality, a realm too small to be considered a domain, but when looking deeper, it singed Chalice’s eyes. ’What a wonder, a forbidden realm of such odd requirements.’ His eyes were enough to tell him what kind of place was hidden inside, the years of experiences as a Daemon Mage were not for nothing. Although practicing blood Magic, his insight into the oddities of the world was far deeper than even some gods.

This is how he was able to learn the state of things inside, and the worry in his eyes disappeared, replaced with some hunger. ’Wonderful harvest.’ With those words, he ignored the heat in the area and then flew toward the cracks that were closing in.

A movement that caused even more chaos than the explosions, turning the very air into plasma due to the high speed as he along with his clone droned into the crack that had been expanded greater using Chalice’s magic.

"We are here." He shouted, appearing in a realm small enough to be ignored in his eyes, but Chalice didn’t look down on it, for he felt a breath that even threatened him.

Not too far from him, in a pool of water, was Malidi, who turned around to look at the ceiling of this small paradise and spoke. "Unexpected guest." He spoke before a childish cry came from his hand, exploding what appeared to be a human baby.

"No no, don’t worry. I am still here."

"The child... Riktor Malidi, return my Chalice or face annihilation." The child appeared odd to Chalice, but he held in his curiosity. This place was not his home ground, nor could he use any domain, leaving him pretty weak, but there was no fear of death, not anymore.

And with the number of clones he had, it wouldn’t be an issue, his life was ensured, so no matter how much harm this young Daemon could bring on him, he could face it without an issue.

"A guest from far off, there is no need for force, not in a beautiful place like this," Malidi spoke as the water pool below him rose and took the form of multiple young girls each giggling while taking the baby out of his hand. "And there is no need for you to ask what you want," Malidi spoke, as the space around him cracked and a small hand brought the small chalice cup out of the space crack. "Please take it back, I was going to give it to you anyway when I was free of my duties here," Malidi spoke, holding no shame nor fear towards the small army of legends that had entered his doorsteps.

As for the surprise over being found out? Well, there was none, he had been aware of Cynark’s connection to those people since the start. It’s not the first time they have intruded on his activity. In the name of stability and maintaining lives and survival of humanity, they had constantly impeded Malidi in many directions.

And usually, the hands they used were mostly from Cynark. This was proof that they were not as neutral as they appeared to be, but Malidi also understood that great assistants are hard to come by, It is one of the reasons he snags them up the moment he comes across them, although most did die out of old age or the bizarre places he used to go.

Though that talk is for later, for Malidi the current issue was far more important.

"The blood in it, where is it?’ The Chalice contained at least three hunts worth of blood of the Dragon and it was not the sullied low-quality blood, but the most precious heart blood that was carefully purified by him.

"Take the cup and forget the blood, it’s not yours, to begin with," Malidi spoke, holding not even a bit of fear on his face. Which did cause Chalice and his clones to wonder one thing. ’Where is this confidence coming from?’ From what he had learned of this Scholar, he was never a fighter, an obvious lie in the minds of ignorant people who would use his actions in the last three decades as proof that he has strength enough to move unfettered.

But Chalice didn’t care if Malidi held strength for combat or not, he had already witnessed Malidi’s horror not too long ago when his Chalice was stolen, so there was no way he would look down on him. Instead, what he cared for more was his body language, that casual flair.

This was not an ambush like earlier, Malidi was all out in the open, and even if he had bizarre spells that could render Chalice immobile, there were just too many Chalice at the moment, and it would be harder for Malidi to survive. So why still so confident?

’The only answer is this place.’ He was safe here, and this place is not the battleground that Chalice should cause chaos in. "You bastard. You think I will let you go just because you handed me my Chalice?" But arrogance and emotion always trump reasons.

This place, although feeling odd didn’t seem to have enough power to cause damage to him, not to mention, ignoring these five hundred clones, there were over another five hundred of his clones hiding in the realm of Spirit, with few of them even existing outside of this space, back in his room, just in case some accident does happen and he dies.

A backup copy for bad situations, so why fear? He had already burned through countless resources to summon these clones, he better make use of them.

"Lord Chalice, I want you to understand, that if you fight here, you are not coming out on top. Think it through, my patience is limited, I still have so much to learn about this realm and this place... I don’t plan to waste it for a standoff." Malidi’s mind had been more open recently, active in a way that he was not capable of before.

Which made his speech better, and his thoughts far deeper. Probably the effect of what he extracted from the Radiant Knight that dared to attack him.

His domain did wonders for his mind, helping him realize so many things in such a short amount of time. Which made his subsequent planning and confidence in his strength to soar a new realm. Currently, Malidi felt he was in control over the narrative. An old Daemon like Chalice won’t stand a chance against him as long as the fight doesn’t enter the realm of spirits, which is where he is nothing more than an insect.

And well, he was correct, due to his fear and warnings, Chalice really didn’t bring his true body to the place, not like he had to worry about it, as a will of thought on his end can summon his true self using the clones as proxies.

’If one doesn’t wish to fight, then he has something to lose, a weakness and fear.’ Chalice thought before acting, he chose to ignore all warnings and swarm toward Malidi and even the baby that was currently being cared for by the Water Nymphs not too far off.

And well, that was the moment, Malidi showed an expression he rarely did in his life.

"Kama." He spoke a small word and puked a bit of blood. Turning it into a branding that flew towards the army of five hundred Legends.

And then, he spoke. "Self." To himself, while stabbing his own heart with his hands.

Which was enough for an odd scene to take place. "What?" Chalice hadn’t even reached his enemy and suddenly he felt hollow. ’My heart.’ His heart had disappeared.