Chapter 229: Death Party of Smilebacks


    ?


    "What the hell is going on?!" Johnny shouted as he stood in the middle of a vige, surrounded by strange chaos.


    The windows of all the houses had a smile painted on them, and a group of clowns were dancing wildly in the streets.


    The mercenaries were trying to kill those clowns, but when they tried doing so, the clowns fought back-they turned into killer clowns-and ughtered the mercenaries with theirughter sounding like death.


    Those clowns and smiles appeared out of nowhere.


    It was just a calm, sunny day, but now it felt like a nightmare came to life.


    "Hello, Little Johnny-" The clown came over to him. "Would you like to see a magic trick~"


    "H-how do you know my name?" Johnny asked fearfully and backed off into one of the open houses.


    "Jajajajaja!" The clownughed. "It''s your birthday party, is it not? See!"


    Johnny looked over to the vige. There was arge banner hung between two buildings that read, "Happy Death Day, Johnny!"


    Johnny stormed inside the house, skipped the stairs to the second floor, and hid himself in one of the rooms. He heard the clown''s squeaky shoesing up the stairs.


    "This..." Johnny took a cold breath. "I know what this is. It''s a Death Party of Smilebacks!"


    "Ding, ding, ding-" The clown''s voice came behind the door. "Let the party begin!"


    Knock, knock, KNOCK!


    The clown knocked on the door. The first knock was normal, the second knock was quieter, but the third knock was loud and forceful.


    "Let me inside, Little Johnny!"


    "Leave me alone, please!" Johnny sat on the ground while trying to keep the door closed. "I''ll join Smilebacks! Yeah, I''ll let you have this ce!"


    "You will?" The clown whispered. "Are you lying, perhaps~"


    "N-no, I will!"


    "You should''ve said so from the beginning!" The clownughed. "Jajajaja~"


    Withughter, the clown disappeared, and all the smiles on the windows vanished. The


    vige was left inplete silence, wondering what had just happened.


    Knock, knock, knock.


    Again, someone knocked on the door.


    Johnny flinched.


    "Come out, Little Johnny; I''d like a word with you." The voice was deep like a sea.


    "W-who is it?" Johnny asked.


    "Name''s Jesse." He said. "I am with the Death Party."


    "What do you want?" Johnny asked. "Were those clowns with you?"


    "I''ll enter." Jesse said, and then without any effort, he pushed the door open and made Johnny fall aside.


    Johnny picked up the first thing he found from the floor. It was a shoe. He was holding it like a sword.


    Jesse sat down on the window sill, and opened the window to allow a greater space for him to sit on.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om


    The streets of the vige still looked hectic.


    The mercenaries of the guild that was in control of the vige were healing their wounds. No one actually died from thest attack, thanks to the healers that were present.


    "I saw the banner at the entrance. Your guild is called the Lion Twisters, is that correct?"


    "Y-yeah..." Johnny said. "You''re from Smilebacks?"


    "I am, and I am here to take this vige under our control." Jesse said.


    "Where did those clowns go to?" Johnny asked. "They were everywhere, and then they were nowhere."


    "Those are friends of mine. They''re part of the Death Party alongside me. We would''ve killed all of you, but you sounded like you wanted to stay alive.


    "So, you want to change factions?"


    "Y-yeah, as long as I don''t have to meet those clowns ever again!" Johnny said. "We''re originally part of the Darkstar faction, but we''re really not that loyal. Its the only faction that sought us!"


    "Yeah, sounds about right." Jesse said. "Your guild is weak, but it does have numbers. Quantity over quality, no doubt."


    Those words hurt Johnny deep like daggers, but he couldn''t argue against that.


    They took control of some abandoned vige that had been ravaged by a natural disaster, so they built the vige from the ground up and made it their base.


    They allowed everyone to join theirmunity, as long as they were willing to work hard and contribute. That made the overall strength of the guild weak.


    "No wonder Darkstar sought you out." Jesse said. "They''re factions with the greatest numbers. It''s because they''ve simr mindsets as you-quantity over quality."


    "We''re more than happy to join ships." Johnny said. "As long as we''re not abandoned in the war."


    "My boss will use this route to gather supplies and reinforcements. He''ll probably build an outpost in this very vige, so all of you will be safe."


    "That''s good to hear..." Johnny breathed a sigh of relief.


    "Hung this next to your banner." Jesse handed him a g.


    It was a g of a smile on a ck background.


    "With that, it''s obvious who your loyalty lies on." Jesse said and looked down to the street.


    "If you betray us. Y''know that the Death Party wille after you."


    "T-those clowns?" Johnny gulped.


    "Especially those clowns. Now, farewell." Jesse jumped out the window.


    Johnny rushed over to the window and saw Jessend on his two feet in the ground before


    walking away.


    ...


    Jesse walked to the hillside forest that overlooked the vige in the distance.


    When he arrived there, he looked around for a moment, but then four other figures emerged


    from the trees to join him.


    "It''s done?" Emmett asked.


    "Yes, a stronghold has been set up," Jesse said.


    "Good, it''ll help." Lara said.


    "What now?" Alec asked.


    "To the Imperium City?" Zera questioned with a furrow on her brows.


    "Yes," Jesse said. "Bartholomew needs his Death Party."


    "Hmm~" Lara took a seat by a big boulder and giggled with her legs crossed. "Were they


    frightened?"


    "It looks like the little Johnny was quite afraid of clowns." Jesse said with a chuckle and


    crossed his arms.


    Alec grinned and then spun around while a clown''s outfit appeared on him in a puff of smoke.


    As he did the clownly dance, the squeaky shoes squeaked on the ground.


    "Little Johnny-"Alec''s voicepletely changed to mimic that of a clown.


    The Death Party was infamous in the New World. They were the strongest group that


    Smileback had on their side-their ultimate weapon.


    It was because wherever the Death Party went, victory followed. It was what made Smilebacks


    a formidable force in the first ce.


    A carriage was waiting for them at the edge of the forest.


    As they hopped inside, Jesse stood on its side, holding onto the railing, and looked around. He then created a driver out of a puff of smoke. The driver wore a top hat and looked very


    distinguished.


    The ugly, brownish carriage also changed into a beautiful, shimmering gold color. It looked


    like a carriage used by royalty.


    That wasn''t all.


    Wings grew from the sides of the carriage and the horses. With a pull on the reins, the driver


    urged the horses to take flight into the sky.


    With a couple of gallops, the horses took flight, and the carriage followed, flying through the


    air without any worry in the world.


    However, before they could reach the skies, dark clouds appeared out of nowhere.


    ''It''s about to rain? Right now?'' Jesse clicked his tongue.


    It was sunny just moments ago.


    However, then the sky started to rumble with thunder and the carriage started shaking like it


    was caught in an earthquake.


    At that moment, an enormous shadow flew over them. It was so big that it looked like it


    turned night for a second.


    Jesse''s eyes widened in shock, but for some odd reason, he couldn''t see what the creature was.


    Inside the carriage, others also looked outside with an equally stunned expression.


    "What the hell is that?!"