Belobog, Administrative District, Central Plaza.
Half an hour earlier, in the center of the Central Plaza, near the Everwinter Monument, the atmosphere was not eerie so much as joyful—in fact, it was unnervingly joyful.
Here, a person dressed in a wildly disordered, gaudily colorful clown-like outfit that practically dazzled the eyes—their face hidden behind at least three overlapping masks showing different expressions: maniacal laughter, crying, and rage—was twisting through strange dance steps, circling a stunned Silvermane Guard.
"Who is it~ Who is it~ Who dragged the scrap iron~? (circling) Life's too dull~ days too stale~ (leaping) Come on, say it~ let the clown have some fun~ (clapping)."
As the clown-like figure spun, they sang in a cracked, raspy voice with dramatic cadence, while the Silvermane Guard stood like a stake, too afraid to move.
Seeing this scene, the other Silvermane Guards and citizens nearby wanted to laugh but dared not, wanted to approach but held back.
It was not without reason.
A few skeptical Silvermane Guards had lunged earlier, but the clown always slipped away like an eel.
In the end, not only did they fail to catch them, they ended up colliding into one another in a heap, bruised and battered, while the clown clapped and laughed at them—their masks trembling as they laughed.
===
Qlipoth Fort, Supreme Guardian's Office.
"Mother, that person can't be caught at all. He disappears for no reason, then appears somewhere else."
In the office, Cocolia listened attentively to Bronya's report.
"Also, he doesn't hurt our people—he just keeps laughing and dodging."
"If that's the case, what about the injuries reported?" Cocolia asked with a frown.
"They were... actually injuring themselves..." Bronya explained, looking a bit embarrassed. "They ran into walls… fell into pits… headbutted one another—it's all from trying to grab that person and failing—getting mocked into a bunch of minor injuries."
Truthfully, she was almost ashamed to continue.
Silvermane Guards—so many of them—were all well-trained soldiers who had fought against the Fragmentum monsters, endured freezing blizzards, and wore the latest exoskeletal armor.
And yet, what was the result?
They had been toyed with by a single person, like a bunch of roadside fools.
In fact, even Seele herself hadn't managed to land a single hit.
For that reason, she had been provoked and driven into a red-hot rage, completely losing her composure. Now, she piloted her mech, scouring the entire mountain range searching for that clown.
"Hahh, too bad Mr. Screwllum, Madam Herta, and Ms. Ruan Mei left yesterday. Otherwise, they might've figured something out..."
Cocolia spoke helplessly while massaging her throbbing temple.
In the end, after pondering for a moment, she dialed Lucian's number to tell him about the matter.
Soon after she hung up, she gazed at Bronya with an earnest expression.
"Daughter, we need to be stronger. We can't let him think we're just useless vases." Cocolia said seriously. "A vase's value lies only in its appearance—once he grows tired of it, he'll replace it with another. Do you understand what I mean?"
"I understand, Mother." Bronya nodded heavily. "I will become someone he can never replace."
"Good girl." Cocolia nodded in satisfaction. "Don't worry, I will always stand behind you."
"Stand behind what for?"
Just as Cocolia's words fell, Lucian—having heard the tail end of her sentence—appeared between the two women and chimed in with a question.
"Of course, to stand behind her and help you." Cocolia responded with an amused smile.
Hearing this, Lucian understood instantly.
Bronya, however, did not and took it as encouragement.
"Welcome back, Lord Lucian." Bronya saluted with a graceful smile, carrying the elegant bearing of a noble young lady.
Lucian never failed to look handsome, no matter how often she saw him.
"I heard there was a troublesome guy." Lucian said with a gentle smile. "I was worried about you, so I came back right away."
Bronya's heart surged at once—that handsome face combined with that gentle smile was a lethal bomb of charm.
'I was worried about you... I was worried about you...' Bronya silently repeated the words in her head, then responded with the same gentle smile. "Thank you for worrying, Lord Lucian. I'm fine—it's just that Seele is... not doing so well..."
"Seele? What about her?" Lucian frowned and began to worry.
Seeing his concern, Bronya hurried to add, "Seele is safe, but emotionally agitated. Now, she's piloting her mech and combing the mountains and valleys for the Clown—she wants revenge."
'Clown' was the code name they had given the clown-like figure.
'Well, as long as it was nothing serious...' Lucian thought in relief, feeling relaxed.
If it had been something serious, he would've stormed out in a fit for his disciple's sake without hesitation—even if the so-called Clown really were Aha, THEY would get a piece of him.
"Alright, leave that guy to me—this isn't something you should handle."
Lucian spoke casually while ruffling Bronya's hair, which caused Bronya to narrow her eyes lightly, looking like a pampered cat.
Cocolia watched her daughter's intimate interaction with Lucian and felt an uncontainable happiness.
'Well done, Daughter—make him yours as I did!' Cocolia cheered silently in her heart.
Not wasting time, Lucian immediately teleported to the Central Plaza, but after scanning his surroundings, he didn't find any clown-like guy.
"From the description, there aren't many who'd be this nuts..." Lucian muttered thoughtfully. "When they said 'scrap iron,' they probably meant Nous, right? No matter how I thought about it, my gut feeling tells me it was most likely Aha..."
===
Several hours before the clown incident occurred, in the Administrative District lay a workshop called Neverwinter Workshop, a place for repairing machines and instruments that smelled of spark plugs and rang with clinks and clatters.
Gepard, a captain of the Silvermane Guards, pushed the workshop's entrance door open, and as soon as he entered, he saw a composed woman focusing on repairing an instrument.
Serval Landau was her name, and she was none other than Gepard's big sister.
Like the handsome Gepard, Serval was a beautiful, tall, blue-eyed woman with blond hair that had dark blue streaks and light blue tips at the ends, with a single hoop earring, a black choker, black nail polish, and a purple lightning bolt tattoo on her waist.
At this moment, she wore what appeared to be a black tube top stitched together with half of a white lab coat that trailed down to her ankle and had a burn hole near the bottom.
On her hands, she had mismatched fingerless gloves—a black leather glove on her right hand and a pink cloth glove on her left.
On her bottom, she wore a royal blue miniskirt with a cutout over a pair of navy-blue shorts, fastened with a black leather belt, and wore a set of pantyhose, with a black thigh-high stocking on her right leg and black ankle boots with gold lining.
Gazing at his sister, Gepard walked over and knocked on the workbench, making her look up and let out a faint smile.
"Ah, you're here, Gepard."
"Sis, some residents complained about your noise." Gepard said solemnly.
"I'm already trying to be quiet, but this place's in a low-traffic area—can't they just deal with it?" Serval shrugged, not really caring. "Why all the fuss now? They only started getting picky after things got better."
Hearing this, Gepard couldn't help but sigh.
Indeed, during those long months of ice and snow when the city was barely surviving, people hadn't cared about noise, but now that expansion had begun, and living standards improved, their tolerance for it had shrunk.
"But if there are complaints, I have to handle them." Gepard said solemnly. "I'll find some land and help you build a big workshop out in the suburbs—then no one will complain. In the meantime, try to keep it down."
"Yeah, yeah." Serval replied, waving her hand dismissively.
Serval, Gepard, and their youngest sister, Lynx, were siblings of the Landau family—a noble family in Belobog.
Serval had once been Cocolia's close friend and an elite researcher at the institute, in charge of Stellaron research, but after Cocolia became corrupted and ordered the research to be halted, the two had fallen out and gone their separate ways.
In the end, Serval left the political center to pursue her own hobbies, such as rock music and mechanical repairs.
"Regardless, thanks for helping out. I'll get back to work."
Leaving these words behind, Gepard turned to leave, singing along to the soothing music playing in the workshop.
"We've made a choice. Go fight against your fate~"
"Pain will come with the blade~"
"Pain will wake up the despondent crowd in this dormant world somehow~"
{Note: Wildfire's lyrics.}
Needless to say, the song Gepard sang was the same one he had heard from Lucian before.
Serval, upon hearing her brother singing, stopped what she was doing as the lyrics and melody instantly caught her attention.
'Weird... I kinda wanna beat up Cocolia all of a sudden...'
===
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