Nobody dared to move, Joker was standing pridefully while staring down at Orion, it was like a wild animal looking at its pray before devouring it, Teras could see a similar aura around the man like Tokkou's, maybe because he was a card possessor, or maybe because both he and Tokkou didn't have good intentions when they met Teras but one thing was for certain

This man isn't going to let them live so Teras had to do something in order for everyone to escape

"Why are you doing this? If you want to kill us then do it already!"

Teras said as he lifted up his head

"Why? There is no "why"! I just feel like doing this, are you going to do something about it?"

The Joker asked Teras while continuing to smile

"If you enjoy causing trouble this much then why aren't you attacking the royal capital? You are the legendary Joker after all"

Teras told him ironically, the Joker didn't like that

"You are a comedian aren't you? Then how about you tell me a joke, if I laugh then I will let you go, and if not I will cut one of your fingers"

The Joker said, he was no longer smiling

"I would like to but this guy there probably has more to say than me"

Teras said as he pointed something behind the Joker, the Joker turned around to see who was the person Teras was pointing at but little did he know Teras was joking, but before he could do anything Teras attacked the man with his mana overload(explosion), the explosion of the attack created some distance between the two

"Guys run as far away as you can from here!"

Teras said as he got ready to fight, but the others didn't seem to listen, instead of running they too got ready for this difficult fight

"What are you doing? We can't win! Just LEAVE!!!"

Teras screamed as he turned around

"Your enemy is right here boy"

The Joker said as he rapidly got closer to Teras, but before he could react the Joker had already attacked him, sending him to the other side of the field they were standing

"Don't touch him, you bastard!"

Cara yelled as she attacked the Joker, sadly her dagger didn't even scratch him, the Joker then punched the dagger breaking it easily

"Don't fight me with toys! Fight me with your power!"

The Joker said as he too placed his daggers on his belt

"If you are this eager to get punched then eat this!"

Har said as he punched him, Har had covered his palm with the usual rocky gloves he creates, those gloves also had spikes on the edge so they were supposed to deal more damage but that wasn't the case with Joker

"You call that a punch? This is what a punch looks like!"

The Joker said as he punched Har in his stomach, even though Har covered his stomach with a rocky skin Joker's attack did critical damage, Har was launched back, and he was spitting blood out of his mouth after this attack

'It must have damaged my insides!'

Har thought as he desperately tried to get up

"What are you guys doing? This fight isn't one that we can win so RUN! Run as fast as you can and let me deal with him"

Teras yelled as he started charging at Joker

"You stay down dog"

Joker said as he swiftly stomped Teras, Teras once again fell and was unable to get up from the damage

'No matter how much mana I put into defense it is not worth it! This monster will always be stronger'

Teras thought as he tried to get up, he was using his head and both of his arms but the weight of his body felt massive

As Joker was looking at Teras a boiling stream of water hit him but he didn't react, his mana defense was too strong to feel anything

"Oh, are you now peeing on me?"

He asked jokingly, suddenly as a huge wave of electricity hit him, the attack lasted at least four seconds but it weren't nearly enough to cause damage to him

"Was this your all? A child could do better than you"

The Joker said as he started to slowly walk toward them

'I used everything I had on him but it was still not enough? Is this because of pregnancy? Who am I kidding? This bastard is way out of our league, comparing us to him is like comparing ants to humans, the ants may bite us, and we may feel a slight pain for a little but it won't affect us further'

Lia thought as she slowly stepped back, while walking she started vomiting, was it because of fear?

"Nastyyy! Couldn't you hold it for a little?"

The Joker asked, he looked disgusted, Teras then tried to launch an attack behind his back but Joker quickly reacted by grabbing his hand

"Do you not have any more new tri..."

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Before Joker could finish his sentence, Teras used mana overload on his feet to propel it at Joker's chin, while Joker's head was looking at the sky, Teras hook kicked the man, and the kick brought his head to the ground, when Joker's head stuck the ground it created a big whole and cracked the ground around it

"That's how you kick bitch!"

Teras said as his silver aura was shinning

"Silver? That's new! It is a shame that I won't see it again"

Joker said as he got up, He then quickly charged at Teras but before he could attack a wall was raised between them, and the ground below Teras was moved towards the others

"I SAID RUN! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?"

Teras angrily screamed at Har and the others

"We can't just leave you here!"

Cara said as she tried to heal everyone's injuries

"Too bad, you should have listened to the boy because my patience has run out"

The Joker said as he charged at Lia, stabbing her in the stomach...

...

Everything froze, except the blood running from her belly

"Hunter...."

That were Lia's last words before bleeding out, but even after she died she was holding her belly

"LIA NOOO!!!"

Cara screamed as she tried to heal her, Teras was unable to move

'She is fine, we will get away and then Cara will heal her, so don't worry'

Teras thought to himself

"YOU BASTARD!!!"

Har screamed as he covered his whole body with rocky skin, Har then started to rapidly attack Joker, slightly pushing him back after every punch

"Haven't you figured it out? You can't defeat me!"

The Joker said as he laughed, Har's punches were tickling him

"SHUT UP!!!"

Har yelled as he increased the speed of his attacks, but after some attacks, the Joker ducked under one punch and with a smooth rotation he sliced the head of Har

"H-H-Har...."

Cara mumbled as she saw Har's head roll to her, she stopped healing Lia at this moment

"I didn't get to say to my family I love them, I never became a known adventurer, I never saw the royal capital or any capital, I didn't get married, I didn't have a kid yet, there is so much I want to do... I don't want to die here, Teras help me"

Cara said as she turned to Teras

'I-I warned y-you, why did you stay?'

Teras couldn't say anything, only think silently

Cara started walking past the Joker and towards Teras, but before she could get close to him her heart was penetrated by the Joker, the blade of the dagger pierced Cara's body, and blood spilled onto Teras's face

"I love..."

Cara said as she touched Teras's face with her right hand but she was unable to finish her sentence

'I'm dreaming, aren't I? That's right! Joker is just a myth, he can't possibly be hunting us right now, after I wake up I will be in my bed with the others waiting for me'

Teras thought as he smiled

"Hahaha, you are more screwed in the head than I am kid! Your whole party was murdered in front of you and you smile? Man, I can't find something to top that!"

The Joker said as he started manically laughing

"You are not real! This isn't real"

Teras said as he pinched his face

"This is indeed real kid, everyone is killed, looked at the face they made before dying, they looked sad and unfulfilled, do you want to be pathetic like them? Do you want to die with a dumb face like that? Well, the real question is do you want to live?"

The shadowy figure asked Teras, this time no dark clouds were surrounding it, the figure was as clear as a real person but it was still unidentifiable

"I d-don't want to die here"

Teras said with no emotion on his face

"That's right! Every human wants to live even if they don't say it, you are no different, but do you want to simply live?"

The figure asked implying something

"W-What do you mean?"

Teras asked

"Look into my eyes"

The figure said as it got close, the figure then grabbed Teras's head and touched their foreheads, Teras then looked deep inside the figure's red eyes

An empty house

A bloody rose

A crimson butterfly

A group of people chained together

A twisted red moon

A kitchen knife

A couple with red eyes

A diabolic angel

A group of four horsemen

A wounded wolf

A person standing on the moon

That's what Teras saw in the figure's eyes

"Do you understand now?"

Teras nodded

"Then you know what you have to do right?"

The figure asked him, Teras once again nodded

"Then kill him!"

The figure said as a twisted smile started forming on its face

This same smile started forming on Teras's face too, and the beautiful silver aura Teras had turned into a dark black aura, Teras was surrounded by this aura, only his eyes were the only familiar essences that remained on Teras

The Joker felt a huge wave of power come out of Teras, it was huge enough to create a repelling wave of air but even though it was pushing him away, Joker also felt like he was getting absorbed by Teras

"What is this kid did I make you mad?"

Joker asked in a concerned tone, but to his surprise, Teras was already in front of his face

The Joker tried to back down but he was too slow, Teras punched him with all of his strength sending Joker flying across this big forest, the Joker crushed at multiple trees while flying but none stopped his movement, only after crashing into a thick tree Joker's movement was stopped

"This fucking kid! I can't believe I was caught off guard by someone like him!"

The Joker said as he got up

But before he could fully recover an explosive attack hit him, it was Teras, Teras ran all the way to Joker and used his mana overload to attack

"You are not leaving me room to breath are you kid"

The Joker said as he swiftly got behind Teras, suddenly he was once again launched at the same spot the fight began, the Joker stabbed his daggers at the ground to stop his momentum, when Joker lifted up his head he saw Teras standing there as his black aura consumed him

'This is weird! Very weird, I feel like his power is increasing more and more but for some reason, his mana isn't decreasing, it is rather increasing'

The Joker thought as he watched Teras

"You hit hard kid, too bad you didn't do that earlier"

The Joker said with a smile on his face, Teras ignored him, he simply started to slowly walk towards his sword, the Joker carefully inspected his as he walked, when Teras got ahold of the blade he started swigging it around

Every swing he Teras took activated the special effect the blade had when mana was put in it

"You swing this thing around very carelessly kid, somebody is going to get hurt if you do this"

The Joker told him with a smile on his face

In a flash Teras charged at Joker severing his right hand in the process, Joker's right hand also happened to be the arm that he was holding the mana-enhanced weapon he had, Teras quickly grabbed the severed arm, and charged the weapon with mana, Teras then swung then dagger at the Joker creating a massive air slash at him, the Joker used his other dagger to defend the attack but it still wasn't enough, the Joker was launched to a tree and his chest was hurt from the attack

'How the hell did this kid use the ability of the dagger, he wasn't holding the dagger, only my arm, don't tell me this kid's mana control is that good that he can use my own mana veins?!'

the Joker thought as he watched Teras taking the dagger out of his cut-off arm

The Joker tried to move but as soon as Teras noticed that he channeled mana into his arm, and out of thin air Teras was able to pull the mana from the atmosphere into his hand, with this mana Teras created a red sphere-like attack, Teras then launched this attack at the Joker

Once the attack landed it created a huge blast of energy

This was the so-called Mana overload: Ranged form

The Joker was damaged from this attack but was still able to fight completely fine

"I like where this is going, kid! Bring it all!"

The Joker yelled as he was ready to attack

Teras then prepared both of his weapons for the incoming attack...