SMOKE COVERED THE STAGE at the center of Cirque du Magique’s Grande Tent. The smoke which resembled a dark nimbus cloud began to produce lightning and thunder, but rather than to produce a flash of ordinary lightning, the cloud produced colorful lightning.

Silence briefly occurred inside the Grande Tent.

The cloud suddenly dispersed as a large Anuebow flew up. The Anuebow was a rainbow-colored bird that lives on top of giant trees of Cloud Canyon. Even though it was a huge bird, the space inside the Grande Tent was still wide enough to let the bird fly freely. As the Anuebow landed on the stage, the Ringmistress showed up next to it. She gave a few words before officially starting the circus show.

The Ringmistress started the show by doing several exotic animal acts. The Ringmistress showcased her trained Orachols, lion-like creatures that have burning manes, Taramphants, elephant-like beasts that can release nitrogen gas, Groogeys, monkey-like animals that have hand-like appendage at the end of their tails, a venomous snake the size of an anaconda called Verifel, and several other mammals, birds, and reptiles that she tamed all around Laniagaea.

After the performance of the Ringmistress, more awesome performers followed. There were acrobats that performed death-defying acts that kept the audience at the edge of their seat, contortionists that showed snake-like flexibility, clown and comedy acts that made all audience laugh, rope walkers at a very high place which made the audience sweat their hands and feet, several juggling acts from small objects to large ones, and performers that showcased their balancing skills.

Each performance was accompanied by wonderful lighting and music. It was truly a show worthy of the presence of the royal family.

Brunnhilde, Siegfried, and Jack were left in the Grande Tent in case something happened during the show. Brunnhilde and Siegfried enjoyed the show, but Jack was restless for the entirety of the show.

“Why should I be the one left out?” grumpily asked Jack.

“Come on, Jack. At least try to enjoy the show,” Siegfried tried to convince him.

“Besides, if the mastermind is here, at least you’ll be able to deal with that person right away,” Brunnhilde added.

* * * * *

During the group’s planning before the show started, Daisuke and Mirana shared their hunch that the fairies could have a bigger role in the Star of Arianna incident.

“Listen up. We need to split into several teams,” said Mirana. “Daisuke and I will try to find the leader of the outsourced men the caught hunter talked about. Riku and Marcactas, you guys can go check this Fairy Dust bakery.”

“We don’t want any unwanted attention, so small groups would be better. The rest of you, stay inside the Grande Tent. If the mastermind is at the show, we need more people that could beat that person,” Daisuke added.

Raijin raised his hand. “But what if this ‘leader’ is also powerful? I think you two could use an extra hand. I’d like to come with you guys.”

“Raijin’s right,” said Lanatte. “Since Marcactas is coming with Riku, I’ll go with you guys. That person could also know more things about artificial power.”

“Also, I think I am better off with Marcactas,” said Musaoi.

“Wait, that leaves us with three people inside the Grande Tent,” said Jack. “I’d rather go out than to watch those silly circus people. Besides, how can you say that the mastermind would be there, watching the show?”

Daisuke glanced at Mirana.

“The hunter also said that the mastermind will be at the show until the final act,” said Mirana.

* * * * *

Jack slumped to his seat. “Can't believe I was tricked in staying here...”

Sundara, the Ringmistress, returned to the stage. She announced that the show was nearing its end. And for the final act, her protégé, Magenta, would do a performance with several monkeys and apes.

As soon as Magenta walked on the stage, the tent got filled instantly with the scent of lavender. All of the people’s attention was on her.

The performance started. It was a simple act of tightrope and balancing skills that Magenta trained the monkeys and apes with.

Jack knew that something was off, but he couldn’t think straight. The fragrance coming from the stage was too overwhelming that he couldn’t help but watch. Even Sundara, the other performers, and the logistics and utility guys stopped what they were doing to watch.

Siegfried and Brunnhilde noticed the scent and remembered about the girl they met who was as fragrant as lavender flowers. But even they got hypnotized by the scent.

Magenta’s act concluded. The fragrance eased up and everyone applauded.

Jack shook her head. “That woman. She’s also an artificial power user.”

“Huh? What are you saying, Jack?” asked Siegfried.

“Didn’t you smell it? That hypnotizing scent coming from the stage?”

“What smell? All I can smell were these lavenders on our seat,” said Brunnhilde.

Jack noticed that there were indeed lavender flowers on their seats. It was like a decoration inside the tent. “When did these flowers get here?”

Siegfried and Brunnhilde looked at Jack worryingly. They were going to ask if Jack was alright when suddenly the lights turned off. As it turned back on, a person in a cloak was now behind Magenta. Magenta, on the other hand, looked as if she lost consciousness, but still standing up. As the person in the cloak moved her fingers, so did Magenta.

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The audience thought that it was still part of the show and applauded, but Brunnhilde knew otherwise.

“That person behind her! She’s using magic!” said Brunnhilde.

Jack leaped from his seat down to the stage. But before he could do anything, Magenta, who still looked unconscious, suddenly used her power. Lavender plants grew everywhere. The audience clapped and cheered. But soon, the aroma from the lavender plant got stronger and everyone inside gradually fell unconscious.

“Siegfried! Brunnhilde!” Jack shouted.

Siegfried has immediately slashed the plants even before the aroma bursts. Brunnhilde, with her remaining reserved mana, used magic to summon Geri and Freki. The two rode at the back of the Earth Wolves and went down to the stage.

“Well, this is bothersome,” said the person in the cloak.

“Let the woman go!” shouted Brunnhilde. “She’s not your puppet!”

“Oh, her? Don’t worry. I’m just going to use her for a short while.”

“What does she has got to do with you stealing the star fragments?” asked Jack.

Hundreds of puppets appeared out of nowhere. “It is none of your concern. And since you three look pretty strong, you can waste your time dealing with my puppets. Enjoy!”

Jack used his power and threw a jackfruit towards the person in the cloak but only hit that hood, revealing the face of Alicia.

“Alicia?”

Alicia, together with the puppet-controlled Magenta, left the Grande Tent and headed towards the Arcane Fountain Castle.

Jack tried to follow her, but the puppets blocked their way. The puppets were small, just the size of an average six years old kid. But the puppets were armed with various weapons and attacked all at once.

“Princess! Stay close!” Siegfried shouted.

He dismounted from Freki and used his swords to cut down all puppets that tried to attack Brunnhilde. Unable to fight, Brunnhilde relied as well on Freki and Geri that protected her from the puppets. Meanwhile, Jack used his power to create a jackfruit barrier and rammed straight into the charging puppets.

“Where are the others when you needed them?!” asked Jack.

Suddenly, a humanoid Orachol appeared and burned the puppets. “You all go! I'll deal with these puppets.”

“Who are you?” asked Brunnhilde.

The humanoid Orachol breathed flame towards the puppets. “I'm Sundara, the Ringmistress. Now go! And please, save Magenta.”

* * * * *

Unfortunately for Daisuke and his team, they fell into a spatial trap that was created by one of Eduardo’s men. Currently, the four of them were inside a maze and they could not find the exit.

“We’ve been here for hours,” Raijin complained. “How do we even get out of this place? This spatial magic sucks.”

“Hey, mustache guy! Who did this?” asked Mirana.

Despite his effort to fight with his artificial power, Eduardo was easily overpowered by Mirana and Daisuke. “Guillermo. He's the one in charge of spatial magic to make the space in the tents wider.”

“There must be a limit on how wide this space could get,” Lanatte assumed. “Mirana, is there a way to counter any spells?”

“Spatial magic is complicated. I’m not sure if there are any counter-measures for this one. This is actually my first time getting trapped inside one.”

Daisuke looked around. “Hey, aren’t we still at the same spot outside the tent?”

“Well, yes. You don’t go anywhere else. We’re still inside the tent and the tent is still outside,” Eduardo confirmed.

Daisuke concentrated. He closed his eyes and imagined that he is at the center of the tent. He assumed the size of the tent, how big and tall it was from the outside. Outside the tent, a cherry blossom tree started to grow. The tree crawled inside the tent and grew even more, horizontally. Soon, the tree reached them and stopped growing.

“Woah. Where did that tree come from?” asked Mirana.

“No time to explain! Now come on!”

The group, together with Eduardo, climbed the horizontal cherry blossom tree. They followed the cherry blossom until they finally reached the exit.

“Finally! We’re out of that tent!” said Raijin in relief.

“H-How did you guys get out?”

“You again?” Raijin remembered the face of the one who spoke. It was the one who tried to attack him from the tent’s entrance.

“You must be Guillermo,” said Lanatte.

Guillermo tried to run, but Lanatte used her power to create banana plants to block his way.

“Raijin, if you will,” said Mirana.

Raijin took his tonfa and strikes Guillermo with it, electrocuting him with a high voltage. “That felt good.”

“Quick! We’ve got to inform the others,” said Mirana.

But before they could enter the Grande Tent, numerous puppets came out flying in pieces. Jack came out of the Grande Tent inside his jackfruit mana barrier, rolling like a hamster. Next came out Geri with Brunnhilde on its back followed by Freki, still chewing on one particular puppet. Siegfried came out next. As he came out, he slashed through the air, sending long-range slashes inside. Puppets then came out in pieces.

More puppets tried to follow them, but a humanoid Anuebow came out a used its rainbow-colored wings to send a whirlwind back to the tent. The humanoid Anuebow went back inside, not letting any puppet escape.

“Hey, what’s up?” Daisuke asked casually.

“W-What was that?!” asked Raijin.

“That was Sundara, the ring mistress,” Siegfried answered. She'll take care of the enemies inside the tent.

“Where you guys have been? The show’s over. Alicia and another artificial plant power user are on the loose. And we’ve been being attacked by these puppets.” Jack complained.

From the distance, they could hear the shouting of Musaoi and Riku. Soon, they reached the group, still shouting “GHHHOOOOOOSSSTS” and “AAAAAHHHHHHHH”.

Marcactas came next, running away from hundreds of puppets filled with cactus thorns all over them.

“Oh, for gods’ sake. Nixeve Ventoai!”

The cold, freezing wind rushed towards the puppets that turned all of it instantly into ice. The frozen puppets fell down and shattered. “I guess we’re all here now.”

“Alicia *huff* *huff* Mastermind *huff* *huff*,” said Riku while still catching her breath.

“We know,” said Jack. “We’ve got to hurry now. Where are they heading?”

“She’s probably heading towards the castle. That’s where all the remaining fragments are,” said Musaoi.

“Where’s the missing Sapphire fragment then?” asked Siegfried.

“With her,” answered Eduardo. “I already told this Ice Mage. Alicia hired us to do whatever she asked us to do. She’s trying to steal five treasures. And when my men got one, we gave it to her.”

“They were supposed to attack the Southwest Shrine,” said Mirana. “But my sist---Lanaya and I fought back there. The attack was supposed to be a diversion so we would think that the hunters didn’t know about the castle’s magic vault.”

“But in reality, placing the fragments inside that vault was all part of the plan. It’s all so that Alicia could get the remaining fragments in one place,” Riku added.

“Okay. Okay, Okay. Shouldn’t we all go to the castle now?” asked Jack.

“The Guardian Mages and Lanaya are enough to deal with her,” Mirana claimed. “I failed to stop her here.”

“Fine. But who’s the other plant power user she’s controlling?”

“Who are you talking about?” asked Daisuke.

“The lavender girl. The one who has the power to take out everyone with just the scent of lavender. There are many mages inside but that lavender managed to render them all unconscious.”

The Seekers looked at each other.

“Are you talking about Magenta? What happened to her?” asked Marcactas.

“What do you mean being controlled?” asked Lanatte.

“You know that woman? Why didn’t you guys tell me? I was with you guys yesterday!”

“We need to help her. The other mages might hurt her. She has nothing to do with any of these!” Musaoi insisted.

“We’re sorry for not telling you about Magenta, Jack. But she’s innocent. The mages already talked to her and she’s just here as part of the circus,” said Lanatte.

Jack looked at Mirana.

“I'm sorry. But she has nothing to do with the fragments, so I decided not to bring her up.”

“I’m coming with you guys,” said Jack to the Seekers. “You go and save that Magenta. I’m not done yet with that Alicia.”