"Someone's been murdered, help!"

At that moment, Ed was shouting and running toward the distant city gate like a madman.

His deliberate, sharp cries startled the guards stationed there. Seeing a well-dressed man who looked wealthy running and shouting, they immediately assumed he was being robbed. They hurriedly grabbed their weapons and rushed toward him.

"What's wrong, sir?" one of the guards asked with a frown, looking past him.

Ed stopped, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. With a look of horror on his face, he raised a trembling hand and pointed behind him. "There's a psychopath out there! He's dressed like a clown, and he wants to kill me. He already killed my girlfriend! Guards, please stop him! I'll give you half the reward!"

Hearing about the reward, the guards, who had hesitated, thinking the assailant might be out of their league, quickly grew serious. They looked past Ed and spotted a figure rushing swiftly through the shadows, its movements exaggerated, strange, and erratic.

This unusual sight put the guards on high alert; they could tell this madman wouldn't be simple to deal with. Gripping their halberds tightly, they signaled to the guards on the city wall, who raised their rifles in preparation.

Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Ed took advantage of the moment. He slipped between the guards and retreated behind them, a look of fear still plastered on his face as if his girlfriend had truly been murdered by the pursuing clown. He backed all the way to the city gate and leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

By then, Nivek had also approached the soldiers. The moonlight illuminated his figure as he emerged from the shadows, his movements as exaggerated and reckless as before. The soldiers tensed at the sight of this bizarre character.

However, a voice suddenly rang out. "Wait, stop!" It came from a man on the wall who appeared to be a commander or squad leader. He seemed to recognize Nivek.

Ed immediately sensed that something was wrong—the other man's tone clearly suggested some connection with the clown. Without pausing to think, he bolted through the gate and sprinted into the night, cursing his bad luck. If not for that bastard on the wall, I might have bought more time.

"The man who escaped is a wanted criminal!" Nivek shouted toward the wall, ignoring the guards.

"Motherf*cker!" Ed cursed, running even faster and wishing he had an extra pair of legs.

The captain, who had been doubtful from the start, now immediately believed Nivek as if they were brothers from different mothers. "Quick, intercept that wanted criminal! Don't let him get away!" he commanded loudly.

The halberd-wielding guards hesitated for a moment but then stepped aside to let Nivek pass. Although they felt the man in the crazy getup couldn't be trustworthy, they didn't have the authority to defy their superior. Meanwhile, the guards on the wall turned their rifles toward Ed and opened fire.

Bang! Bang!

Bullets whizzed past Ed, who cursed the guards' entire families.

"Shit, shit, bastards! Why didn't you fire when I said a murderer was chasing me?" Muttering random nonsense, Ed adjusted his path, weaving through a patch of dense flowers. The lush plants obscured him from view, and the dim moonlight further concealed his movements.

Ed was certain Nivek had no idea he was actually a wanted criminal. He assumed Nivek had made the accusation on a whim to get the guards to cooperate—just as he had done. But who would have thought that damn clown's words carried more weight? He had turned the guards against him simply by showing his face. "F*ck! That lunatic hit the mark by accident. What luck!"

The situation also hinted that Nivek was no mere shady gangster. He clearly had some level of status or influence, though only God knew why someone of that stature was pretending to be a clown and performing on the roadside.

"Ugh!" Ed groaned as a bullet tore through his left arm. The sharp pain threw off his stride, but he gritted his teeth and forced himself forward, diving into the garden lining the road. The foliage offered cover, and the bullets began to scatter wildly, missing him entirely.

Clutching his wounded arm, Ed pressed against the injury to stem the bleeding as he kept running. But the wound slowed him down, and Nivek was closing in.

"Desperate? Scared?" Nivek's cruel, angry voice echoed from behind. "This is all because I can't beat you in magic. Can't you make the pain vanish like you did with your cards? If you hadn't pretended to be cool in front of me without knowing who you were dealing with, would it have come to this? Are you regretting it now, Mr. Magician? Hahaha!"

"What a f*cking lunatic! I'll definitely get revenge for this, you bastard," Ed cursed under his breath but refused to slow down. Nivek's shouts grew louder, the gap between them narrowing.

Finally, knowing he couldn't run anymore, Ed clenched his teeth and muttered with determination, "Let's fight!"

Ed lowered his right hand, which had been gripping his left arm, and flipped it over. A red gradient card appeared in his palm.

Without hesitation, he swiped the card across his belt. The crystal stone embedded in the side of his belt scratched against it.

The crystal instantly emitted a faint blue light, which flowed into the card like a silken thread.

The flaming red cross on the card lit up immediately. The previously cold card now felt slightly warm.

Without delay, Ed threw the card. It slid along the ground, slicing through flower roots one by one before embedding itself in the soft mud ahead.

Two more metallic cards flew backward.

Under the faint moonlight, the enemy's clown-like face emerged, twisted in an evil grin.

This time, Nivek was prepared. He didn't attempt to dodge in place. Instead, he surged forward, rolling across the ground to avoid the cards that whizzed past his back. Then, like a ravenous tiger, he lunged toward Ed.

Ed, half-squatting on the ground, seemed exhausted from continuous running and severe blood loss.

The crystal at his waist still emitted a faint glow.

By the dim moonlight, Ed could see Nivek rushing toward him madly, now only four or five meters away.

The hideous, feral clown face was twisted with malicious glee. His grin stretched unnaturally, almost reaching his ears, revealing yellowish, unbrushed teeth.

Bang!

Suddenly, Ed, who had worn a desperate expression as if he had accepted his fate and was ready to meet his ancestors in hell, allowed his lips to curl into a victorious smile.

A wide column of fire, over half a meter across, erupted from the ground.

The flames engulfed Nivek entirely, while two additional fiery pillars shot out from the left and right.

Flames surged outward from the four corners of the card in a cross pattern.

The fire blazing toward the ground scorched the earth, spreading outward with intense heat.

The powerful flames illuminated the dark night instantly.

Nearby flowers withered and blackened under the searing heat.

The fiery glow bathed Ed, highlighting his determined expression.

Amidst the roaring flames, Nivek's twisted grin had vanished. The smile now belonged to Ed.

Still chuckling, Ed stood up, clutching his injured left arm as he cursed the ungrateful guards, and prepared to leave.

But then, a figure engulfed in flames shot out of the inferno.

Burn marks covered Nivek's body. His clothing had fused with his charred flesh, and the makeup on his face had melted, merging grotesquely with his skin.

Ed's eyes widened in disbelief as the clown staggered forward from the fire like an infernal man he'd seen in comics in his previous life.

"This motherf*cker can still move, even in such a critical condition? Is he really human?" Ed stared at Nivek with a dumbfounded expression.

Dense, blood-red thorns crawled across Nivek's burned flesh, glowing faintly in the darkness, making his already horrific appearance even more eerie, as if a demon had crawled out of hell, ready to kill Ed.

"Die!"

A hoarse, guttural roar erupted from Nivek. Several daggers appeared out of nowhere in his hands, gleaming with a deadly cold light as they flew toward Ed.

The attack came suddenly, and the distance was too close. Even though Ed dodged to the side at the last moment, it wasn't enough.

But just as he was about to become a pincushion, a thin light curtain emerged around his body.

Andre's protective artifact, given to him for emergencies, had activated just in time.

The three daggers pierced the light curtain, shattering it, but they lost their momentum and clattered harmlessly to the ground.

However, Nivek's clawed right hand, glowing with five blood-red streaks of light, raked across Ed's chest, aiming to dig out his heart.

Five deep, bloody gashes appeared as his clothes tore, and blood spurted out.

Nivek landed lightly on his toes. His left hand, covered in charred flesh and entangled with scarlet thorn vines, swung toward Ed.

This time, the attack was aimed directly at Ed's head.

The bloody light glinted, reflecting in Ed's wide pupils as he watched death approach, about to embark on a journey to hell.

"Silver Light Fist!"

A figure descended from mid-air, his fist shimmering with silver light as it collided with Nivek's outstretched left hand.

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