Demon Clown

What... what happened to me?

After an unknown length of time, Wei En opened his eyes in a daze.

A dazzling golden light filled his vision, making him shut his eyes again despite himself.

Only after he had adjusted a little did he carefully open his eyes. Seeing the scene around him, he could not help freezing.

He found himself amid a boundless sea of clouds. An enormous sun was slowly rising, radiating warm, brilliant light.

A gorgeous rainbow pierced through the clouds and arced over that cluster of golden palaces.

A breeze blew past, carrying a faint fragrance that brought him pleasure and peace.

Flocks of angels in white robes flew by in groups, revealing perfect bodies like meticulously carved works of art.

So white, and so big...

It was a beautiful, wondrous painting, and he could not help being utterly entranced.

"Is this... heaven?"

Wei En got up and looked at those birdmen, then at the majestic palace complex in the distance.

He did not understand why he had appeared here...

Melbel?

Suddenly, among the birdmen, he saw a familiar figure. It was none other than the mysterious masked man who had appeared in the chapel.

Wei En shouted loudly, "You—Melbel! Where is this?!"

But his voice seemed like the voice of the world, and the entire space began to echo with it. "Where is this... is this..."

The piercing sound seemed to shatter the peace and serenity of this world.

The golden palaces began to crumble, the rainbow slowly faded, and those birdmen flew one after another into the clouds...

Only Melbel turned toward him with a mysterious smile...

Immediately afterward, the entire world turned pitch-black in an instant.

Just as when he had been dragged into the world of Gulaier, the Lord of Despair, he once again sank into endless darkness.

Wei En froze. He knew this scene. Did that mean that enormous eye would appear next?

Very soon, he realized he had only guessed half right...

Enormous was indeed enormous, but it was not that eye.

An enormous sun tore through the darkness and slowly rose.

But it was not like the one he saw every morning, dim and dusky. Instead, it was shrouded in a layer of dazzling red light.

The sight gave him the feeling that... that the sun had put on the Red Moon's outer garment.

A red sun?

"Light is eternal, darkness endures forever, yet neither is the origin..."

"Only dawn is both one face of light and one face of darkness..."

Murmurs surrounded him from all directions, as if an ancient deity were speaking of the meaning of dawn.

"Only dawn, only dawn, only dawn!!"

Wei En stared blankly at that red sun. His mind and spirit were entirely occupied by it, as if he had become part of the red sun.

At this moment, what he did not know was that the panel in his mind had already been filled by one blood-red message after another.

[You suffered Melbel Osiris's sacred strike and were dragged into the Fountain of Dawn Faith. Evaluation: weakling. Reward: Survival Points +3.]

[You fell into the Fountain of Dawn Faith. Partner Contract target—Calamity Species Tina Klosterman has entered a dormant state. Evaluation: Like? Like my ass. Special Reward: Tenacity +1.]

[You are being eroded by the Fountain of Dawn Faith. Your origin is about to undergo a mutation. Evaluation: This is really ***. Special Reward: Survival Points +10, Mental Level +2, Tenacity Level +2.]

[You witnessed the alternate-aspect incarnation of Orpheus, Lord of Dawn. Evaluation: I don't understand, but I'm deeply shocked. Special Reward: Origin +2.]

[You learned the name of Orpheus, Lord of Dawn. Orpheus's attention toward you +1. Current ranking: 9789. Evaluation: Fucking awesome!! Special Reward: Origin +3.]

As Wei En sank deeper and deeper, he only felt that he was the red sun, and the red sun was him...

It was as if his entire being had fallen into something warm and peaceful, a drifting, floating sensation.

"Sas!" (Demon.)

Just then, a domineering, majestic voice rang out.

Then a pitch-black Gonzalez Language character tore through space and instantly pierced that red sun.

As the red sun trembled, a vast and sacred voice sounded, seemingly carrying a trace of confusion and surprise. "Leonard?" (Clown?)

But that was all.

As the voice fell, the entire red sun began to shatter.

After the world before his eyes completely broke apart, clarity returned to Wei En's gaze. He looked at the chapel in front of him, gasping for breath in great gulps.

How could he not understand that he had nearly been played to death by that red sun!

Fuck.

It was just a simple mission at the Church of Dawn. Did it really need to turn into this big a scene?

[You were rescued by Alais Koulibaly using Forbidden Object 1-83, Demon Clown, and broke free from the Fountain of Dawn Faith. Evaluation: I don't want to talk about it. Reward: Survival Points +3.]

[Your Partner Contract target—Calamity Species Tina Klosterman—has recovered. Evaluation: Actually, you could consider terminating the contract. Reward: Survival Points +2.]

Only after Wei En finished reading through the entire panel did he understand just how dangerous things had been.

Not only had he nearly fallen there, it had even affected Tina along with him.

This mission...

Not good. Time was almost up.

"Move, now!"

Wei En hurriedly ran outside. He had glanced at his pocket watch just now; there were less than five minutes left. If he did not leave now, the potion's effect would vanish.

When that happened, even if he wanted to leave, he would not be able to.

The one blessing in misfortune was that after this ordeal, his tenacity level had risen quite a bit.

Aside from feeling hungry, his strength and speed had both improved, letting him charge out of the cathedral in less than a minute.

Under the slightly frowning gazes of the Church of Dawn's believers, he quickly crossed the square and ran out of the cathedral grounds.

As for the cathedral guards, they merely glanced at him in surprise before going back to their own business.

Believers of Dawn were also allowed to have urgent moments—only, the same thing was permitted just once!

"Huff, huff..."

Wei En sprinted at full speed, not stopping until he was far away from the cathedral grounds.

Melbel...

That masked bastard—this time, I'll remember this!

"Wei En?"

Wei En nervously lifted his head. After seeing who had come, he could not help letting out a breath of relief. "Brother Marco."

The expression on Marco's face no longer held its previous flippancy. He said with unusual seriousness, "Don't talk. Hurry and come with me."

Huh???

P.S. More extra updates tomorrow, charge charge charge!!

I humbly beg the big shots to keep reading.