Chapter 431: The Glitched Harlequin?
God’s Value, or GD, was a measurement used to address the number of Gods needed in total to start the Trial.
The number of Gods needed would, of course, depend on the rank of the Trial.
For an E-ranked Gate, only five gods needed to be present.
For a D-ranked, 10 gods were needed for it to begin.
For a C, about 30 gods were needed to donate a portion of their mana to the Jester to begin it.
And for B-rank... About 50 gods needed to be there.
Anything above a B-rank was near impossible to get, especially an S-rank and above.
The moment Lillian fell into the portal, her entire body felt like it was being warped and shaped—as though preparing her for her immediate destination, which only happened in a fraction of a millisecond, yet felt like minutes for her.
Lillian’s eyes slowly fluttered awake as she pushed her back off against the ground, which was much different compared to her last time here.
Instead of a sandstone-like material, it was now made up of stone bricks. Lillian hummed slightly at this before raising her eyes around the House of Entertainment—the place where all the gods will arrive to watch her.
And...
She couldn’t help but widen her eyes at what she saw...
Light flashed around the audience seats, reflecting in Lillian’s eyes. She watched as humanoid figures of various sizes began to slowly take their seat amongst the available seating.
She continued to twist herself around, counting and watching in awe as at least 40 Gods had made their appearance in her House of Entertainment to watch her, all separated by two different colours.
Some were a dark greyish, while the others were a starry blue, the majority being grey. The only similarity was that they all had their features covered and hidden to prevent the other gods from seeing each other.
As Lillian continued to turn around, she watched as all the gods turned towards each other, especially those that were of a deep blue colour.
Lillian sensed the atmosphere becoming stale and suffocating. But due to the gods’ unreadable expression because of their hidden features, she couldn’t tell.
But she knew what it was.
For the gods that were greyed out... Were the gods that had perished during the Celestial war, while those that were hidden with the colour blue were those who were still living...
Lillian unconsciously held a hand over her neck, instinctively trying to grab onto her necklace for comfort before realising it wasn’t wrapped around her neck.
’That’s right... None of my items besides my clothes can be here...’
As Lillian twisted her head around for one last time, she flinched and immediately froze in place at the sight of a floating coloured mask hanging right before her face, staring down at her intensely.
The mask was pristine and splattered with countless vibrant colours, and it wore a comical three-pointed hat with bells at the end of each tip.
It was the Jester, the one in charge of the creation of Trials...
...
However...
’Why... Why does it feel off...?’
The more Lillian stared into the Jester’s hollow eyes, the more unsettled and uncomfortable she felt in its presence.
Was it just scrutinising her incredibly closely? Had she piqued its interest, somehow?
’That can’t be it...’ Lillian internally shook her head at her last point, but still continued to wonder...
Why was it just staring down at her quietly? It hadn’t even greeted her yet.
Drip... Drip... Drip...
"W-what the—?!"
Lillian instinctively flinched back, watching as a black, viscous substance poured out from the Jester’s eyes as though it was crying oil.
Seeing this, she then sighed. This was a normal sight, she remembered it did this during her last Trial as well.
’But usually it would only happen right before I get sent off into the Trial...’
Drip... Drip... Drip...
Lillian continued to watch as the Jester cried with seemingly never-ending black tears. This caused Lillian to worry a bit—it usually doesn’t cry for this long.
Suspicion began to appear within her heart, but also in the divine crowd of Gods, who realised something was off as well.
Lillian slowly pushed herself away from the Jester, whose mask began to feel slightly dull as the colour began to dim a little the more it continued to cry.
The Jester followed after her eerily.
Its androgynous voice then echoed out from its already open mouth, which had also begun to expel the viscous black liquid.
{W—! W-welcome back to the House of Entertainment, Pathetic Rabbit of Fated Truths!}
Lillian, who continued to push herself away from the floating, eerie mask, couldn’t help but pick up on its glitched voice.
That hadn’t happened before... Not that she was aware of...
{Y—! Y-your last Trial had raked in an entire Constellation. This time, it seems that you had raked in 1 Living Constellation, 4 Other Living Gods, and a w—!}
Lillian watched as the floating mask began to spasm mid-air before expelling a flood of black liquid onto her, as though it was vomiting blood.
Her eyes trembled slightly as the black ooze dripped over and wrapped itself around her body like living slime.
Something was definitely wrong... Something was definitely wrong with the Jester!
{W—! W-whopping 35 Deceased Gods! Truly a g—! G-Glorious achievement, Pathetic Rabbit of Fated Truths!}
As the Jester continued to vomit out the black substance, Lillian quickly pushed herself onto her feet and began to hurriedly wipe off the black ooze.
However...
’It’s not coming off!’
No matter which hand motion she made, the black ooze continued to cling to her clothes stubbornly.
The Gods, who watched this, stood up from their seats, as if outraged, not because of Lillian’s sake but for the reason of the Jester’s odd behaviour.
They all unitedly turned towards a Constellation of blue gods.
The members of the Constellation noticed the look they were getting and turned their heads towards one of their members, who, despite not being able to be discerned, had a rather beautiful figure.
This God answered the enraged gazes and raised their closed fist, facing the back of it to the Gods around them, before slowly pushing out their middle finger as a silent answer.
As Lillian continued to struggle to free herself, she shouted frantically:
"G-get off me, damn it...!"
Her fingers continued to tear through the black ooze, trying to free herself before suddenly being captured by an oversized black hand, which was made out of the same substance.
Lillian, who now found her entire body held in the centre of the black hand, couldn’t help but begin to panic even more.
Why was this happening?! This hadn’t happened before!
As her mind began to run wild, she listened as the Jester’s glitched voice rang out once again:
{P—! P-prepare yourself, Disciple, Lillian Ker Arius, f-for your Trial...}
She listened as best as she could and instantly noticed the Jester’s voice slowing down near the end.
She then felt the hand that had wrapped around her entire body slowly begin to tighten its grip, crushing her.
In an instant, her bones were crushed, causing her to scream out as unimaginable pain shot through her mind.
’This... This pain...’
This was the worst feeling yet!
She instinctively flexed her hand, trying to make use of her elements or abilities, but was met with another dreadful discovery.
... She was unable to use it in the House of Entertainment.
CRACK!
The Jester squeezed its grip once more, cracking her already shattered bones, at the sight of her trying to defend herself.
Pain.
Unimaginable pain shot through her mind—a pain even a hated king wouldn’t wish on his enemies.
It was unbearable! She felt her mind splitting because of it!
This...
This was the pain that trumps all the pain she had ever endured!
It was as if she was stuck inside a crusher against her will with a thousand different knives stuck inside her body, which ripped her apart the more her body was crushed...
She screamed out in pain:
"P-PLEASE! SOMEONE! H-HEL—...!"
Her words, filled with dread and fear, suddenly lost their volume... As she suddenly lost her voice due to the pain...
However.
It would be more accurate to say...
SQUELCH!
"A-Ah—..."
Her throat was crushed.
With the last bit of her consciousness, she listened as the Jester’s voice rang out again, this time... Inside her barely conscious mind.
{Entertain your audience well...}
Then, when the Jester finished uttering those words inside her mind, it gripped one last time before relaxing its hand.
The black oozing hand then raised itself towards the gods, the arm it was attached to connected to the inside of the Jester’s mouth.
The Jester then unfurled the hand’s fingers.
The gods, who were expecting to see Lillian’s crushed remains, found that nothing was inside the Jester’s hand, who then took a bow...
Having finished its magic trick of making Lillian disappear.
But in actuality, it had only just sent Lillian off to her Trial...
***
...
"Oh! Am I here already?" Lillian, who had just woken up, looked around her location and found herself on what she assumed to be a beach.
Her face beamed as she pushed herself onto her feet, excited to take on her 3rd Trial and hopefully ascend into the next Tier.
It was...
It was as if she had suddenly lost any recollection of the pain she had just gone through.