I Know The Secret To Surpass Level 100

Jester was bouncing up and down the ground with his pointed shoes, the bells all over his costume ringing loudly. He was the type of guy that was powerful and hard to catch.

Midnight would admit that if he faces someone who is faster than him, he couldn't keep up, even with his power. But Jester could do it. Even when an enemy is faster than he is, he could use his tricks that would lessen the speed of his opponent so he could keep up.

He had tricks inside his pockets and sleeves, and most probably all parts of his costume. Elliot was lucky he blocked with Formidable Parry just a second after the explosion. He crashed on the ground, creating a small hole from the impact.

"Oh, little Elliot," Jester called. "I think you need more practice. I don't think you're qualified to win it yet."

Elliot sighed and vanished, flashing behind the clown and slashing his sword with one quick motion. His speed was consistent and his mana regeneration was stable. Using a few skills consecutively won't affect him much.

"The Fool's Censor," Jester casted. Not a second later, Elliot lost his vision. He continued slashing the sword but he failed to hit anything.

"Fight me fair and square," Elliot yelled, turning around as he feels the aura of Jester in the air.

"This is how I fight," Jester said. His voice was far, but it sounded like it was nearby. He must've used some kind of diffuser while Elliot was being blinded. "I utilize my skills with my affinity. It wasn't my fault I was born into a family that lived in a circus and my power is creating tricks."

Elliot was silent for a moment. His plan was to let Jester continue with his small speech while he figure out how to unblind himself. His mana detection was almost doubled due to the lack of his sight, but he still needed his vision to see the surprises Jester have. Most of the time, his attacks would come with a visual first before it emits mana.

"You have both speed and power," Jester said. "Why aren't you utilizing that to their full potential? Maybe that night at Round One was just luck. Maybe your allies just boosted your morale. Maybe you're not really strong–"

Jester was halted when a breeze of wind passed through him. The crowd held their breaths, seeing that Elliot was now behind the clown, his sword was raised in his eye-level.

"Utilize," Elliot whispered. "Okay, I will utilize my skills. But make sure you can handle when I go all out."

A line of wound appeared on Jester's upper cheek. The blood dripped from it, staining his white powdered face. Jester chuckled and turned his head behind him, grinning at Elliot.

Jester laughed hysterically "Now you're doing so much better! Guess I'll go all out too!"

Jester rolled his eyes to the back of his head and spread his tongue out. His head was tilted to one side while his hands waved themselves in the air until he created balls, juggling them with a rapid speed. 

The balls suddenly blasted off into Elliot's direction, the boy barely dodging them after they explode. He still didn't have his vision back, so he had to rely on the dangerous amounts of energy that was packed inside the balls.

Jester's cannon-like balls doesn't seem to run out. He kept on juggling balls while shooting them with an incredible speed.

"Utilize my speed," Elliot whispered. "Utilize my speed."

He didn't have to close his eyes to focus. His vision loss had helped him concentrate on both avoiding the balls while trying to gain more speed.

"More speed… more speed… I need more speed…"

Elliot continued the words like it was his mantra. His body looked like it wasn't there anymore. Normal citizens could see nine Elliots leaping around and avoiding the attacks from Jester. His afterimages were starting to look like clones.

"More," Elliot continued whispering. "More speed. More speed. I need to be faster."

It was a split second time when Elliot reached Jester. He forcefully regained his eyesight and shifted his body, rotating himself and kicking Jester off of his giant red ball.

The clown couldn't comprehend the scenes that came after. He was being blown away by an intense force, his body felt like it was being pulled by tens of hands. When he crashed on the ground and rolled a couple of times, Elliot had appeared in front of him.

In his eyes, the boy had his brown hair turned to a parted black and white one, covering his eyes with it. A pair of slender horns started to grow in his forehead while his skin had red tattooes all over them. The tattooes were composed of tribal designs, lacing his skin while glowing by itself.

Behind Elliot was a large male head of a humanoid monster, hovering just beside his head. The monster didn't have its neck, instead, it had fog trailing behind it like it was its tail. The head grinned at Jester, exuding an immense amount of magic that the clown never once felt before.

"T-This is…" Jester stuttered, eyes widening like they were about to pop out of their sockets. His body was trembling in fear, shaking under the boy standing in front of him. "This is a prank!"

Jester leaped and spun. When he faced Elliot, he had a large bell in his hands. He slammed it on the ground, creating an explosion that covered both of them with black smoke and dust.

The audience had to hold their breaths as they waited for the fight to finish. There was only silence for a couple of seconds before they saw two figured standing inside of the smoke and dust.

"W-Who won?"

"Did they both win?"

"Jester was defeated by a nobody? Impossible!"

…

When the audience started their speculations, the smoke had faded. Both of them were standing, Jester upright while Elliot was leaning beside him. The pommel of his sword was slammed into the clown's stomach, Jester coughing blood as he slowly fell on his knees and into the floor.

Another wave of silence followed. Everyone was still processing how Elliot, someone from the Top 100 guild could defeat the third strongest Adventurer in Avancia.

Elliot took a deep breath and turned to the Circus Clown guild members. He glared at them as sharp as he could, making sure he gets his point across.

Tempest raised his hands, waving them once and made the coliseum disappear in an instant. It was obvious why this man was on top of the rankings. He was able to manipulate everyone's senses, placing them in his made-up battleground.

"Was that you?" Elliot whispered. "I could swear that wasn't me."

'The Manual thought it would be wise to let you borrow my power,' Irus replied. 

Elliot felt the energy leave him, his body slowly getting heavier as moments passed. "What are you exactly?"

'The Manual forbids you to speak of its existence, I am forbidden to speak my own existence,' Irus said. 'But I can assure you, I am on your side, Elliot. Humans like you saved me.'

"Then that's good," Elliot chuckled. "At least I know you won't betray me."

Elliot felt his body lose balance, his energy was drained and his mana had plummet.. The fight was over, and he won.