### Chapter 158: Long Night, Dark Fire (5)
Wow, I think I may have gone a bit overboard…
Looking at the vast expanse of frostbitten land, the swirling frost mist, and the collapsed fences of the town in the distance, the knights outside the town were propping up their big shields, forming a line to resist the biting cold. They had nearly retreated to the edge of the fence, looking as if they might freeze solid, their armor glistening like icy Christmas ornaments…
I quickly stuck out my tongue and tugged at my hair, feeling a twinge of frustration.
On the battlefield in the southern regions, I had been doing my best to hold back, not daring to unleash the Power of Order without caution, worried that I might accidently hurt my own people. Yet here I was, back home, and somehow I ended up going overboard…
So close to the town…
Fortunately, the strike was aimed at the mountains in the distance. If I had been even slightly off-target, the destruction could have been catastrophic… The clerics were still over there, but I… huh?
Suddenly, amid the icy expanse and bone-chilling cold, I spotted a tiny flicker of red light slowly approaching.
That is…
A tiny ball of flame flickered in the freezing winds and snow, its light dimming and brightening like a candle in the wind, flickering as if it might go out any moment but stubbornly drawing closer, trailing a long line of fire across the ground, burning the wild grass and melting the frost…
I furrowed my brow.
How…
Is there something still alive…
“What are you… looking at?”
Suddenly, I heard a chilling voice and the sound of hurried footsteps behind me. A blazing, scarlet light flared up from behind, and without turning around, I knew the Tall and Slim Heretic I had knocked to the ground earlier was back on his feet, launching an attack at me. “You still haven’t… killed me!”
With a hoarse, terrifying shout, flames crackled, and an incredible gust of wind rushed past my ears!
Buzz—
In the next instant, a brilliant blue light erupted from my eyes.
The icy winds swirled at my feet again, lifting my skirt and hair slightly. In a flash, I raised my right hand, not even glancing back, and seized the arm that was slashing toward my neck, burning with Infernal Fire. With a firm grip, I snapped his wrist like a twig!
“Ugh…”
The Tall and Slim Heretic let out a gasp from behind me, his right arm caught in my iron grip, unable to escape. Amidst the whistling wind, he seemed ready to attack again, but in the next moment, I yanked his already shattered wrist forward, bent down firmly into a horse stance, and swung him around like a windmill. With a resounding thud, his body flipped over my head and crashed to the ground in front of me, sending ice and dirt flying.
“Ugh!”
He let out another muffled grunt as he slammed onto the ground, his back hitting the frozen hard earth, cracking it open. His grotesque, twisted face was now mere inches from mine, displaying fresh wounds that were slightly mended but still oozing bl**d and flesh. Only his mouth and one eye had healed, now revealing a crazed, sinister smile: “Heh… Hehehe cough, hehehehe…”
Laughing like a madman.
I leaned down, raising my little fist wrapped in frosty mist, and smashed it squarely into the Heretic’s chest.
Boom!
The ground shook, clouds of dust erupted like an explosion, and hot bl**d and charred flames gushed from the Tall and Slim Heretic’s mouth, splattering across my skirt, my arms, and my face, burning but quickly extinguished by the cold. My fist pierced clean through his chest, that hot, disgusting sensation immediately creeping up my arm.
“Heh, heheheh…”
The Heretic continued to laugh, his frenzy only intensifying.
“It’s not over… the game isn’t over… Ha ha ha…”
“Is that so? You think this is a game?”
I spoke softly, pulling my right fist out from his chest, leaving behind a gaping bloody hole. Within, glistening, sticky masses of flesh stirred faintly; my entire arm was drenched in glistening fresh bl**d, sickening to behold.
Truly, a disgusting villain.
“…Forget it, just a beast.”
Humans and beasts cannot communicate.
When faced with one, the only path to survival is to k*ll it.
With a howling wind, my little fist surged forward, fierce as a tiger, slicing through the air and thundering down toward the left side of the Heretic’s heart.
“GAME OVER.”
Boom!
The air exploded in front of me, an undeniable shockwave throwing countless shards of ice into the air, the sounds of flesh tearing and bones crunching reverberating around us. My punch burrowed deep into the Heretic’s chest, shattering his insides, bl**d spray shooting up four or five meters, freezing in the chilling winds.
The Heretic’s body curled up, his arms and legs splayed as if they were pinched into the earth, his eyes bulging out, his mouth wide open and splattered with bl**d, fiery red flames erupting from his mouth, eyes, nose, and ears, painting the darkness around us.
The blue glow in my eyes intensified.
…Frost.
Boom—
A horrifying sound burst forth from within the Heretic, thick frost mist erupting from his wounds, bursting through his torn skin and smothering the flames. His body expanded then shrank rapidly, white ice spreading from his chest within a blink, creeping along his limbs and distorting his face. His bulging eyes stared at me, then turned white.
“…Three hundred thirty-eight.”
Clatter…
The frozen body shattered into countless pieces, scattering into the shockwave. My arm was still stuck inside the Heretic’s chest, but the warm, sticky sensation had vanished, the flames were nearly extinguished, replaced by cold, hard ice.
“……”
I straightened up, the frozen flesh clinging to my arm, and as I moved, the sound of cracking echoed as the Heretic’s face shattered. His limbs had long since separated from his torso, leaving only a large portion still attached to my arm. With a quick flick, I tossed it aside, where it rolled into a frozen patch of grass nearly ten meters away, tumbling into the brush.
Snap, snap, snap…
Suddenly, clapping echoed ahead.
…?
I looked up and squinted.
That flicker of Infernal Fire was now less than twenty meters away from me.
I could see a figure within the flames.
Wild, fiery red hair, bl**d-red eyes, a brown suit that looked like it’d survived one too many fashion faux pas, all torn up with countless rips, holding a black cane, he seemed thin, hunched over, making his steps appear oddly whimsical… That seemed to be a man. His silhouette flickered amidst the flames. I couldn’t clearly see his face or age but could feel a malice and danger radiating from him.
That is…
“I was just standing there watching you.”
The man stopped clapping, rested his cane on the ground, and paused ten meters away, speaking slowly and leisurely, his tone infused with… a consciously contained but extremely uncomfortable excitement.
“And you know what? The more I watched, the more surprised I became. My mind kept racing, trying to figure out who you are… Whose child are you? I thought about going over to greet you, but I hesitated… I’ve been off the stage for a long, long time. A child like you probably doesn’t even recognize me anymore, nor would you be scared of me…”
Whoosh—
The flames on the man burned vividly against the cold wind as he rambled on, and the intensity of the flames slowly diminished as he stepped forward, shaking his hand as if keeping time, his fingers moving around his head, tilting slightly as if contemplating his words.
“…But it’s fine.”
After a brief moment, the man continued, his voice quavering slightly, whether from the cold or excitement: “You’ll eventually remember. Especially someone as exceptional as you. You know, I watched you k*ll my people, one, two… cleanly and efficiently. I witnessed your strength and thought…”
“…You are the Jester?”
I took a deep breath and spoke, taking a step forward, but the man ignored me, standing there amidst the ice and snow, extinguishing the flames, acting like a lunatic while babbling on and on.
“I was thinking, if someone like you… Miss Silvya, could slay the Abyss all alone, saving the people from disaster, you’d be their hero. As a child, you seem to have never faced defeat… they must hold you in great respect. The Church and those monkeys must respect you greatly… and they must like you, like you very much… Oh, you’re just so d*mn pretty… like a noble, sacred ice lotus…”
Suddenly, the man shoved his hand into his mouth, biting his nails. His voice twisted, warped by madness: “But what if someone like me—a nameless nobody—were to taint you, to desecrate you in the eyes of those filthy rats, tearing you apart, and then… ha, ha…”
He twisted his neck, letting out a couple of neurotic laughs: “What if I strip you bare, exposing your most genuine self for all to see…”
“You see, I don’t fully know you, but I know that you must have many secrets concealed… Everyone has their secrets, their parts they wish to keep hidden, right? If I were to expose all your little secrets, your girlish ones, for everyone to see, how would you react then? What kind of weak expression would cross that beautiful face of yours…”
“Would you… come to fear me?”
The silhouette, hunched like an old man, swayed as his cloak flapped in the gust.
And from that frail, inconspicuous form, pure malevolence surged forth like mud, swallowing the endless night, colder than ice and chilling to the bone.
“You… are the Jester.”
It clicked.
He was the Jester.
The Jester…
Boom!
The ground beneath me cracked and collapsed entirely.
The moment I recognized this truth, the emotion surging up my spine and flooding into my heart was fiercer than I had imagined, so intense that I didn’t want to say anything, didn’t want to care for anything or anyone, my scalp tingling, and in my chest, something that felt hotter than Infernal Fire ignited with a thunderous roar.
I barely caught the rest of what he said.
All I wanted was to k*ll him.
Right here, right now.
With a passionate, unprecedented darkness and fury, my small figure leapt from the shattered earth, a powerful intimidation exploding in the night, the fierce winds swirling as the ground was plowed and deep furrows carved out, unleashing the might of frost, charging toward the diminutive, isolated figure ahead, ready to crush him!
