episode_0000

Rain poured as if a huge hole had opened in the sky. The sound of the torrential rain seemed to announce the end of the world. Whoosh.

Where the academy once stood, everything had crumbled to dust, and instead of the bright chatter of students, only screams of despair could be heard. A demon, having climbed over the rubble of the demolished academy, roared. “Hahaha, the Empire’s academy falls by my hand!”

A melody drifted.

At that moment, music completely out of place with the atmosphere began to play. Bright and cheerful music. The demon glared in the direction of the sound. “Who’s there?!”

A man stood there. Even amidst the crumbled academy and swirling dust, not a speck of dirt clung to his clothes, and a red cape fluttered with each step he took. However, the most striking feature of the man’s appearance was the mask he wore on his face. A white mask completely covered his face, giving the man a mysterious aura, but the exaggerated smiling pattern over the eyes and mouth made him appear merely like a ludicrous clown.

“There are countless ways to refer to me, but for now, as you see, I am simply an ordinary clown.” The clown spoke with exaggerated gestures, like an actor in a play.

“A survivor?! Die!” The demon charged at the clown without hesitation, swinging its sword. The clown was split in half before he could even react. “Hahaha. Now everyone is truly dead—”

“Oh my, what a violent individual you are. To swing a sword without a word.” The clown, who had surely been split in half, was somehow behind the demon. The demon immediately spun around and swung its sword, and again, the clown was split in half. “This time he’s truly dead—”

“To interrupt a clown in the middle of his lines, this audience member certainly lacks patience.” After that, the demon cut the clown down several more times, and each time, the clown revived just the same.

“Aaaargh!! Who on earth are you?!” “I just told you, and yet you ask again. It seems this audience member is not only violent but also lacking in intellect.” “It changes nothing, no matter how many times you revive. The academy has already vanished by my hand!”

At the demon’s words, the clown pretended to ponder for a moment, then opened his mouth. His voice was tinged with amusement. “The stage must have been too realistic; it seems this audience member has fallen for an illusion.”

Snap.

Saying that, the clown snapped his fingers. As the clown snapped his fingers, the landscape visible to the demon completely transformed. The torrential rain vanished, and the sun shone brightly in the sky. The academy building stood perfectly intact in its place.

“Who… who are you?” Unlike before, the demon’s question held a sense of futility rather than anger.

The clown bowed like an actor in a play and spoke. “As I’ve said several times, I am simply an ordinary clown.”