As the night gradually brightened, in the quiet dim cave, something was wriggling.
An odd black hole appeared on the ground of the cave. A giant mouth suddenly opened from that black hole. A figure tumbled out from that mouth. It was a thin and emaciated girl. She looked utterly weak. Her body struggled to crawl up from the ground but ultimately collapsed limply. Now she was not much stronger than a newborn infant.
That terrifying mouth did not retreat back into the cave. It continued making vomiting motions. Moments later, it only spat out a tattered Joker mask. The mask was truly dilapidated. When it fell to the ground, it immediately shattered into several pieces.
“All the power of this mask has already been exhausted… Damn it!”
The woman said in an icy voice. She was the Joker Girl, Liya.
However, now she had not transformed into Denny’s appearance. Instead, it was her original hunched and scarred ugly woman image. Her body truly could no longer activate any trace of magic power. This made her unable to use life magic to maintain Denny’s form any longer.
But after all, she had not died. After having Sako’s power reclaimed into her body, she had planned to go down with them by absorbing all the ghosts into herself. In that case, her existence would also be devoured by the ghosts, turning into a completely evil aggregate. But One-Punch Heroic Spirit’s attack had saved her. It caused the ghosts in her body to scatter and perish. And she had regained clarity at the very last moment. Fortunately, she had long prepared a backup plan. At the critical juncture, she activated “Heroic Spirit Reverse Summon”, allowing her to escape silently.
But because she was too weak, her body broken and incomplete, it took until now for her to slowly recover fully. She returned from the heroic spirit world to the real world. The heroic spirit world was not suitable for human survival, and the power spent on restoring her body meant that every extra minute she stayed there weakened her life force by a fraction. Now finally back, she was weak beyond description. But luckily, she was still alive.
“To fully recover my vitality, it will take at least months or even years!” She sensed her body’s condition and thought darkly in her heart. “But it does not matter. This time I failed, but next time, I must kill them. Ye Dui, Debbie! I swear…”
“You have indeed not died yet.” A young man’s voice suddenly came from the dim cave.
Liya’s body trembled immediately. She struggled to turn her head and look towards the figure standing in the corner. She knew who it was. Only that person knew where this cave was located: “Your Highness the Prince…”
“You have disappointed me greatly.” The youth walked to Liya’s side and gently squatted down. Under the faint light from outside the cave, one could see a tender yet cold face. That was the Ninth Prince.
The “Your Highness the Prince” that Ye Dui had seen in the Joker Girl’s memories. His identity was precisely the Ninth Prince.
“This time it was because I was careless. But as long as I recover my vitality, next time I certainly will not fail!” Seeing the Ninth Prince waiting here, Liya suddenly felt relieved in her heart. She said softly in assurance.
“But I very much dislike failure. Moreover, the Crown Battle is about to begin soon. You are already useless to me.” The Ninth Prince said coldly.
“Your Highness the Prince, you…”
In the next moment, an icy dagger pierced through the Joker Girl’s chest. She now had no power to resist and could only feel that heart-piercing pain. Her whole body trembled continuously. She looked at the Ninth Prince in shock: “You… you actually killed me!”
“A failed subordinate should accept punishment. However, although you failed, fortunately you still have a bit of use at the end.” The Ninth Prince said with a cold laugh. He took out a scroll from his bosom and gently unrolled it. “This is a very precious magic scroll. Its name is ‘Forced Casting Scroll’. Its use is quite marvellous. It can forcibly control the opponent’s magic guidebook, making the opponent cast a certain spell… Just like now.”
The Ninth Prince placed the scroll on the Joker Girl’s body. Waves of white light enveloped the Joker Girl. Thus, the Joker Girl’s body began to tremble violently. Her orange magic guidebook was forcibly summoned out and began automatically casting a certain spell.
Life magic, disguise spell.
The Joker Girl’s body soon transformed into the Ninth Prince!
“You will die in my place, making Ye Dui the target of all. Tonight I confirmed one thing, that is, the power of Ye Dui this illegitimate child exceeds my imagination and also exceeds the imagination of the other princes. If he returns to the capital normally, then in the struggle for the throne, he will be the greatest opponent. So I must eliminate him first. I, as the benevolent prince, have always had good relations with people. If it spreads that Ye Dui killed me, then he will have no hope of inheriting the throne anymore!”
The Ninth Prince said his plan softly. From the beginning of the meeting, he had directly told Ye Dui he had no interest in becoming emperor, but in fact, he was determined to get the throne.
In the original plan, he hoped the Joker Girl could resolve Ye Dui’s group here, as well as Denny. He had manipulated Denny and brought her to Joker Town precisely for this purpose. Then the Joker Girl would live on as Denny’s identity. He would marry the Joker Girl and gain the support of the Joker family. Although the Anduin family had declined, it was after all the empire’s fifth-ranked family and could provide him with much assistance.
But now the Joker Girl’s failure forced him to redeploy.
The Ninth Prince looked at himself on the ground, a cold smile on his face.
Liya’s hand trembled, wanting to grab the Ninth Prince’s arm, but ultimately it fell limply. She suddenly recalled the first time she saw the Ninth Prince. That was two years ago. She had intended to join the Anduin family in the capital and contribute her power to restore the Anduin family’s glory. But upon arriving in the big city, she discovered that the prosperity here exceeded her imagination.
As an ugly woman who was despised and scorned even in a remote town, the Joker Girl, despite possessing genius talent, still inevitably felt a bit of inferiority while walking on the capital’s streets. She could hear the passersby gossiping and see the undisguised mockery on their faces.
At a street corner, a group of ruffians blocked her into an alley. Vulgar words, piercing lewd laughter, intending to do something to her. Although she had an ugly face, her figure was after all quite good. That attracted these ruffians who usually had no chance to touch women. To them, an ugly woman in tattered clothes simply would not attract anyone’s attention.
Just then, someone suddenly rushed out. It was a girl wearing a veil. That was Denny, who was only fourteen at the time. By her side was a little follower, the Ninth Prince.
Denny had quite some fame in the capital, thanks to her status as the Anduin family’s sole daughter and her usual quirky clownish behaviours. Her appearance successfully drove away those ruffians. Then she patted the Joker Girl’s shoulder and said many comforting words.
“Although you are very ugly, you can also be ugly with confidence.”
The sentence the Joker Girl remembered most deeply was this one. Denny’s intentions were perhaps good, but she really was not suited to comforting people. Not only was she not suited to comforting people, her words were unspeakably piercing. Later, the Joker Girl thought about it seriously. If Denny had not said that sentence back then, perhaps she would not have such intense hatred towards the Anduin family…
When Denny left, a few gold coins were placed in the Joker Girl’s hand.
Was this pity?
Anger suddenly surged in her heart. Who needs your pity!? She threw those gold coins under her feet. Just then, the ruffians who had left earlier suddenly returned. Clearly, they had no intention of heeding Denny’s warning and letting the Joker Girl go just like that.
Looking at these ruffians’ ugly faces closing in on her, the Joker Girl merely moved her fingers. If not for Denny and the Ninth Prince suddenly appearing just now, she would already have prepared to act. These ruffians, she could kill them with a single finger. Thus, one terrifying fantasy creature after another appeared, wrapping around those ruffians’ bodies and dragging them into the abyss of hell…
Then, as she prepared to leave, she saw the Ninth Prince who had returned.
There was slight surprise on his face, which soon turned into a playful smile. Standing there, he said to Liya: “Can we be friends?”
After that, she became the Ninth Prince’s subordinate, helping him deploy his plans. She knew that under the Ninth Prince’s benevolent prince reputation hid the darkest personality. She knew his secrets and participated in his secrets. In the blink of an eye, two years had passed… And now she was ultimately to die at the Ninth Prince’s hands.
Her consciousness began to fade gradually. At this moment, the Joker Girl suddenly thought of something. A glint seemed to flash in her lifeless eyes. Her fingers moved slightly. The Ninth Prince thought she was trying to fight desperately before death and hurriedly retreated backwards. But in the end, nothing happened. When the Ninth Prince walked back to the Joker Girl’s side again, he discovered she had completely died.
Dead in the Ninth Prince’s appearance.
Life magic could change a person’s physique and appearance. These changes required magic power to maintain. But if one died in the state of altered appearance, the corpse would maintain the changed form and could not revert.
“Liya, you are a very capable person. If not for the current situation, I really did not want to kill you. After all, you are still quite useful to me…” He said somewhat regretfully to the corpse that looked exactly like himself.
…
It was already the early hours of the morning. In Joker Town, the residents were clearing the ruins and debris. Suddenly, accompanied by a crashing sound, something drilled out from under a collapsed house. The residents were greatly startled and fled in panic, letting out wails. Moments later, Ye Dui and Green arrived there following the frightened residents. They saw a massive plant like a man-eating flower growing there.
Ye Dui recognised this thing. It was the Joker Girl’s fantasy creature.
“What the hell? She is still not dead?” Ye Dui felt a bit崩溃 at this moment. He saw the man-eating flower’s disc slowly open. A human figure rolled out from inside.
“That is…” Ye Dui was stunned and hurriedly rushed up to check the person’s breathing. It was Liya’s father, Neil!
Last night, when Ye Dui and Debbie learned of Liya’s identity and went to find her, they saw Neil collapsed in a pool of blood on the ground. They thought Neil had already been killed by Liya. Later, the battle began, and Ye Dui had no mind to check Neil’s body again. Now he discovered that Neil had only been knocked out by Liya earlier and had not suffered fatal injuries. Then he had been wrapped up by this man-eating flower fantasy creature until now.
Ye Dui looked at that terrifying man-eating flower. After spitting out Neil, it rapidly shrivelled and withered, turning into ashes.
“Although thoroughly evil, it seems Liya ultimately still had a trace of conscience. She did not kill her own father.” Ye Dui said with a sigh.
The sun rose to mid-sky.
The Ninth Prince, missing for half the night, was finally found by villagers in a ravine beside Joker Town. But that was already a corpse…
Then, that very night, the news that “the illegitimate child killed the Ninth Prince” rapidly spread within the capital. The Ninth Prince died beside Ye Dui. The truth of the matter was unimportant. What mattered was this outcome.
And then, the assaults on the Name-Whatever Magic Guild, which had finally quieted down, began once more.
The difference was that this time, it was no longer merely assassinations by private forces but had turned into an imperial warrant. The Ninth Prince was after all a prince of the royal family. Killing him was an unforgivable crime. In the blink of an eye, Name-Whatever Magic Guild became the public enemy of the empire…
