Chapter 219 - The Giant Clown Head
Midnight scoffed and entered the inn. He dropped his bags on the floor and let Luck pick them up.
"What has gotten into him?" Elliot asked Lance. "He's acting… different."
"He's like this when he's terribly nervous," Lance whispered back.
"Don't tell me he's nervous for tomorrow?" Elliot chuckled. "He can whoop anyone with his power."
"Well, yeah," Lance said. "He's not nervous about himself. He's nervous on what he might do to his opponents. Especially since the event will be held at night."
Elliot could only nod and watch Midnight act differently. The older man wanted to calm down but his nerves seem to get into him all the time.
"Hello, everyone," Connor greeted and walked down the stairs with the other two. They sat on one of the inn's dining table where the others were.
"You know," Midnight suddenly said. "I feel like I need Sun to create a bright light tomorrow."
"Where's Frederick?" Lance asked. "Is he not coming?"
"He'll come with the others," Midnight said. "He's going to–"
Midnight was cut off when there were several large amounts of magic popping in the city's square. They all looked at each other and ran outside, leaving the inn as they sped up to where the vast energy was coming from.
"Is it Malice?" Lance asked.
"It's Terran," Midnight said. "I think it's just a few guilds showing off."
Their speed was slowed down for a moment until they heard a woman yell for help.
"Definitely not a few guilds showing off," Luck said and whistled. 'Ode of Flight.'
The wind circled around his body and lifted himself from the ground. "I'm gonna go first. You all should follow."
Luck blasted himself in the air and into the city's square. The others found themselves being slowed down by the people on the street, so they decided to jump on the roof and run from there.
From where they were, they could see twelve beacon-like auras in the large open space of the square. The beams had different colors in them, indicating that they were from different people.
"Maybe the guilds are fighting?" Elliot asked, everyone else nodding in agreement.
They all had the same thoughts now. People from different guilds were fighting. They needed to be stopped or else they could create a large mess.
When they got there, Luck was standing in place. His back was facing them so they couldn't see his expression.
"Luck what's… wrong," Midnight could only sigh as he saw the twelve people the aura was coming from. Twelve Adventurers were dancing inside the city's square. The people around them were cheering on, happily watching the group run around.
"What in the hell," they heard Galaxia groan. He just arrived at the scene, seemingly having the same thoughts as he was with his guildmates. "What are these people thinking?"
"Come one, come all!" A loud voice boomed throughout the center. There was a large clown head in the middle of the square and a man was slowly arising from the clown head. He had a white powder throughout his body that covered his skin, and he had a red ball as a nose.
"That's Jester," Galaxia introduced. "He's the Top Five Adventurer, and a member of the top three guild."
"Their guild has the largest number of Top Thirty Adventurers," Lance said. "All those with the beams are members of that Top Thirty."
Alice also arrived at the scene. She was running to Elliot's group when she realized that this was all a sick joke from Jester.
"Why hasn't he changed?" Alice grunted.
His friends could see his face lit up in excitement. Elliot slowly walked over to the woman, smiling at her with his signature awkward boy look.
"He's grown up," Ed faked cried and wiped a fake tear on his cheek. "Elliot has really grown up."
Lance didn't seem to bother even looking at them. He was only watching the group of silly Adventurers dance in the middle of the busy area.
"I can't believe nine from those twelve are participating," Lance sighed. "I wish we could even make it to Top 3."
"You don't actually think that," Connor snorted. "You're just saying things because you're actually thinking of something– ouch, Lance what the hell?"
Connor led a series of curses after Lance pinched his cheek. Lance gave him a deadly glare, his eyes almost glowing with the color of his affinities.
"I didn't say anything!" Connor raised his hands defensively. "It was all Ed's idea. Edward is such a bully sometimes."
"They're pretty strong, aren't they?" Hope found himself asking. Everyone looked like they wanted to say something but opted on not saying it. It looked like they were all keeping something from each other.
"By the way," Galaxia said to the group. "Where is Midnight, my beautiful darling?"
"Stop it with the obsession, Galaxia," a woman from Galaxia's guild said. She had a dark purple hair and was wearing it with twin tails. She also had a pair of square glasses that sits perfectly on her button nose. "We need to focus on the Championship."
"I am focusing on the Championship, Janine," Galaxia cheered. He opened his hands in front of him and showed the specks of the multi-colored light. "And Midnight is also my priority. And they're both amazing!"
Galaxia raised his hands and shot the specks in the air. The small dust-like light shot up, exploding with their multi-colored light in the air. The crowd thought that it was done by Jester's team and they started cheering because of it.
"Galaxia," Jester said in a sing-song tone. He leaped from the clown head and into in front of them. There was a large red ball appeared from the ground before Jester could land. He stood on top of the ball and balanced on it. "Galaxia, fight me."
Galaxia gasped, but his face was smiling. He turned to Janine who quirked her brow up, shaking her head in disapproval.
"Aww," Galaxia pouted. "I'm sorry, Jester, but my boss says no."
"Oh, that's a shame," Jester frowned. "I guess I'll take Midnight with me then."
Jester turned, leaving Galaxia frozen with his smile. In the clown head, Midnight slowly ascended. He was tied up and had a cloth in his mouth, screaming for help.
"My darling Midnight?" Galaxia gasped. "My darling!"
Janine raised her hand to stop her friend from dashing himself to Jester. With her hand, she conjured a knife and threw it over to Midnight's direction, making everyone gasp. Her knife passed through Midnight, relieving everyone instantly.
"They have Tempest with them, the best illusionist in all of Avancia," Janine said. "You're all fools."
With that, Janine left with Galaxia and their other guild mates. One man in particular was staring at them before he ran to his friends. He almost tripped on his way to them, making everyone stop their laughter with all their might.
When Galaxia's guild was gone, Jester and and his guild left not long after. Midnight crept from the alley he hid on, and walked to his friends.
"Are they gone?" Midnight asked. "Now you have a taste of how strong your enemies are going to be."
Midnight kept on talking but there was only confusion on Elliot's mind. He was doubting everything that he felt just now, asking himself…
"Why do I feel like they're not even matched with me?"