Chapter 228: The Jester’s Dance
-----
“Well, I think that worked just fine…”
Jackes flew through the skies. After having found Caesar midway through his flight towards the sinking castle, he decided to leave the rescuing to him while he went to stop the enemy soldiers, who were slowly regaining their consciousness and fiercely attempted to fight back. They believed they had broken out of some kind of brainwashing that Caesar’s army had implanted into their heads instead.
This caused the whole war to slowly begin again, but with Jackes, Aiyana, and Francisco here, that wasn’t going to happen as they wanted. Sara was also above the skies, using her techniques to paralyze dozens of soldiers at once, sometimes hundreds, and make them submit to her powers.
Half of the enemy army had already been suppressed, some died fighting, and others ended up being beaten down so badly that they were forced to surrender. When the news about Claudius' death started to spread, several soldiers quickly began to surrender more willingly.
However, there were still many stubborn soldiers who didn’t believe Jackes, Aiyana, or Sara about it, and continued fighting fiercely.
“These guys are a real pain in the ass, we’ve been telling you all this time to surrender already!”
Jackes Shadow Specter Aura roared furiously, attacking the enemy soldiers with gigantic shadow claws and firing red lasers from its countless crimson eyes.
Not only was Jackes pushing away nearby foes while helping the few soldiers that served Caesar to escape to safety within Sara’s Domain, but Aiyana was also there helping him make things quicker.
“If you don’t plan to surrender then don’t expect mercy!”
And despite his terrifying appearance, Aiyana was perhaps even more horrifying with her fighting style, charging like a wild beast and throwing everyone away with huge tackling and charging attacks, although she tried not to kill too many, most of those that survived did so with their spines or several limbs broken or dislocated.
“She’s seriously a monster…”
Jackes twitched his eyebrows in disbelief as he saw her charging at her foes and making huge, concentrated squads of soldiers blow away into the skies.
However, he quickly glanced back at Francisco, who was looking for someone.
“Don’t you need help, Francisco?”
The young magician received Jackes’ telepathic message, smiling back at him and waving his head, he was fine by himself, apparently.
“I’m alright, I’ve already found him.”
“Where is he? Is the clown face dispelled on him?”
“It’s strange, he’s certainly weakened, but the clown face isn’t gone completely either… Half his face is still weird.”
“Then take him down!”
“That’s what I’ll do.”
Francisco quickly confronted Atticus, who was escaping from the battlefield while giggling maniacally, deep inside he was suffering and going insane though, he didn’t know why he did the things he did, and this strange brainwashing in his head was only halfway gone, making his head even more twisted than before as his previous personality mixed with his insanity.
“W-What is… Hahaha…! What is going on?! My head- heheheh! I can’t stop laughing… Guahaha! Ugh…! I can’t…!”
He fell to his knees as he rolled over the mud, gasping for air, and coughing. He looked at his own hands covered in the blood of his allies and even his King which he betrayed.
“My King never did anything wrong…! I was in the wrong…! I-I… Hahahah! I betrayed him…! Hahahaahahah! I am so pathetic…! Haha… I can’t… believe I am so- guahahaha!”
As he continued laughing, he grabbed his face, trying to pull out his skin as he wanted to stop his laughter at all costs.
“Hey, you.”
“Huh?”
BOOOM!
Before Atticus could react properly, a beam of pure mana hit him at almost point blank from a boy who appeared right behind him, sending him flying away.
“Ugh…!”
He fell to the mud several meters away, his armor gaining several cracks, he glared back at the young man approaching, his eyes filled with horror at a mere glance of his aura!
“P-Please wait- Hahaahahahah! Wait!”
“What do you want me to wait for? You’re the one who started spreading this! I’ll take you down.”
“I was manipulated, it wasn’t my fault- Guahahaha!”
“If it wasn’t your fault why do you laugh so much?! You damn lunatic!”
Francisco quickly charged towards the knight, as his Aura expanded, generating several magic circles everywhere, bombarding Atticus with elemental projectiles.
“S-Shit!”
Atticus screamed, evading the incoming projectiles by infusing his body with all the Knight Aura he had left, jumping high in the sky.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“I-I almost died…! I can’t die now; I must apologize to his majesty and- Hahahahaha!”
“I’m getting sick of your laughter.”
“Huh?!”
Atticus gasped in disbelief as he saw Francisco above him as if he teleported there.
And he did, actually.
Teleportation Spells were the first Spells he mastered inside of Bing Xue’s Divine Realm!
“{Emerald Typhon}”
FLUOOOSH!
A massive tornado made of small emerald jewels manifested out of thin air, engulfing Atticus completely and making him spin around.
The jewels weren’t ordinary crystals, upon contact, they exploded into Emerald Flames, which drained Atticus' energy.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Uuuaaaggh!”
His powerful magic armor rapidly shattered into pieces, as he fell from the skies with a loud explosion of magic and aura.
BAAAM!
“…”
Francisco quickly teleported down, waving his hand as a huge Mana Hand cleaned the smoke left behind, noticing Atticus was still alive.
“You’re a tough nut to crack… I suppose that’s the King’s righthand man for you. I can’t kill Caesar, but I can kill a traitorous bastard like you, right?”
Despite being almost 16, Francisco sure spoke like someone much more mature. Beneath that innocent façade, there was someone much more mature.
Perhaps because of all the things he had seen through the apocalypse, and now with the strength to back up his words, the young man had stopped holding back his true self.
“W-Wait a moment please- hahah…! I-I am not- Ugh…! Hahahaha! I am not…! I want king Caesar to- Ugh…! Hahahahahah!”
“Enough! Such disgusting laughter! Die!”
Francisco didn’t have any more patience, firing a powerful beam of concentrated Mana at Atticus.
Without being able to avoid it anymore, Atticus saw the beam approaching…
And through his eyes, someone else was also watching what was happening.
“Well, well, things got a bit boring, didn’t they? Nobody is laughing anymore aside from this clown…” He sighed. “It’s really depressing don’t you think buddy? How about we spice things up a bit? Eh?”
Atticus could hear that voice within his mind, it was as if space and time around him became so much slower every time it spoke, making every second agonizing.
“S-Stop…! Please no more! Atticus screamed internally.
“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt.”
The man behind this pushed his hand into the empty air, but somehow, Atticus felt long fingers grasping at his own heart.
“U-ugh?! W-What the…?!”
CRASH!
And then his heart was crushed, exploding into…
Confetti and bright lights.
FLAAASH!
“Uuuaaaggh!”
As Atticus felt the light burn through his skin, Francisco’s beam connected and hit him in the chest, blowing him away with a loud explosion.
BOOOM!
“Is it done?” Francisco wondered. “Ugh, my head… that laughter was already beginning to annoy me way too much.”
He waved his hand again, noticing Atticus' body amidst the smoke…
“What?!”
Francisco was shocked, the man was still alive.
But something bizarre was happening to him, something beyond Francisco’s understanding.
(Listen While Reading: Final Fantasy VI - Kefka )
“What in the world… Am I seeing?!”
“Uuaaaggh! Help! Heeelp! Hah… Hahahahaah!”
As Atticus screamed for help, he began to laugh, his entire body was melting into pure and colorful paint, light coming out of his chest, which now had a huge black hole.
To make things worse, all of the reality around him was being warped, and distorted, Francisco quickly stepped back, unable to understand what he was doing!
“Whatever he’s doing I have to kill him before…!”
“GYAHAHAHAHA!”
Out of nowhere, a demonic laughter that didn’t even sound like that of a human echoed, it was way too high-pitched and sounded too strange.
Atticus' body was completely different, as he melted into colorful pain, he grew thrice as tall, and his clothes merged with the paint, suddenly materializing a bright set of jester clothes.
Primarily of the colors of black, purple, pink, and gold.
His skin distorted and turned purple, his arms and legs were extremely long, and so were his fingers, with sharp black claws.
To make things worse, his face completely transformed, growing a long goblin-like nose, pointy ears, and spiraling red eyes with a creepy, and big smile with sharp teeth.
A jester hat appeared above his head, and then, a colorful mask showing a smiling face painted with many colors.
“OH YES! I’M FINALLY HERE! HOW AMUSING THIS IS! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!”
“W-What in the world am I seeing? A damn clown?”
“NOT A CLOWN YOUNG MAN!”
The jester quickly stood up, Atticus was no more, whatever he had become wasn’t the knight that Francisco had seen before.
“I AM A JESTER! IT’S DIFFERENT.”
“W-What? No, you’re just- Forget it!”
Francisco didn’t know why he even engaged in a conversation, his Aura expanded at full power, showing dozens of giant magic circles rotating everywhere.
The elements around him resonated with his powerful Magic and his Ki combined…
“{Divine Elemental Catastrophe}!”
Each of the elements manifested as a different gigantic god-like entity, the Jester looked at the scene with surprise, and his mask changed shape to express emotions.
“OH. MY. GOSH. THAT IS SO COOL! OKAY LET ME DO MY TRICK TOO!”
“DIE!”
Francisco had no more patience, all of his elemental guardians attacked at once, as ultimate elemental magic rained down on the giant four-meter-tall jester.
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
And yet…
“HEY THAT’S RUDE KID!”
The Jester waved his hand, and each elemental projectile that touched him instantly exploded and turned into harmless confetti, flowers, or jellybeans.
POOF! POOF! POOF! POOF!
“W-Wha…?!”
Francisco’s face distorted in disbelief as he was unable to understand what the hell he was seeing.
And then…
He saw a finger touching his shoulder as if trying to attract his attention.
A long, purple-skinned finger.
He glanced behind him in disbelief, the Jester was there.
“He’s behind me? But I never saw him…!”
When he looked down there, the Jester was gone.
How did he teleport when he didn’t teleport at all?
“I GOT THIS GIFT FOR YOU! HERE! PLEASE OPEN IT!”
Francisco suddenly found out he was holding a red and white colored gift box.
“When did I…?”
And his hands moved automatically, as he opened the gift.
And inside was…
Dynamite that had been lit, about to explode!
“Huh?”
“UH-OH! IT’S DYNAMITE! RUN!”
The Jester escaped, leaving behind a trail of white smoke as Francisco glanced at the dynamite again.
“Eh?”
BOOOMMM!!!
“U-uuggh…!”
The explosion was immensely powerful, Francisco’s barriers shattered completely, as he took mostly all the damage head-on.
His entire body was covered in black ashes, as smoke was coming from him, he was almost roasted alive.
BAAAM!
And his body fell to the floor beneath, barely caught by a gigantic shadow claw.
“F-Francisco! Hang in there!”
Jackes came to help him out, using a spare Elixir and healing his wounds.
“Cough, cough…! Agh! T-That bastard tricked me! He… He has weird powers, Jackes!”
Francisco coughed black ashes as he looked back at Jackes, and then…
“He’s already here!”
He noticed the Jester was sitting over a wooden chair, reading the newspaper while smoking from an old-fashioned pipe.
“HMM, THE NEWS TODAY ARE NOT QUITE GOOD, EH? PEOPLE’S JUST NOT SMILING ENOUGH, DON’T YOU THINK PALS?”
“He’s… reading the newspaper?”
Jackes didn’t understand what was happening, as Francisco grabbed him a second before…
“BAAAM!”
The Jester laughed while screaming, a huge black rifle appeared out of his newspaper, piercing the paper and shooting a massive bullet.
BOOOMMM!!!
Another massive explosion reached the ground, and the shockwave alone sent the two flying away.
Francisco and Jackes glanced at the thing on the ground with incredulous eyes.
“OKAY, OKAY, THAT WASN’T FUNNY EH? TOUGH AUDIENCE TODAY… COME ON, WILL YOU LAUGH FOR ME?”
“Ah!”
“Shit! How did he…?!”
And before they knew it, the Jester was suddenly floating above them, swinging down a massive wooden hammer!
PAAAAF!
And when they got hit, a weird sound effect came out, their bodies falling to the ground, flattened like pancakes, as if their bodies had become made of gum.
“OOPS! DID I GO OVERBOARD?”
-----