[Congratulations! You''ve completed the 9th challenge of the Ferris Wheel! You defeated the clown... if barely. And here we fought that it''s going to be the end for you...]


    [Congratulations! You''ve completed the Bonus Objective]


    [Rewards are being calculated based on performance... It can take a while. You can try to complete the secret objective in the meantime! What is it? It''s called secret for a reason!]


    The System’s message chimed, a stark, digital pronouncement of victory, as Barry’s gaze followed mine. His eyes widened in horrified realization as he saw the clean, precise cuts where his legs had been severed. In the final, desperate moment before impact, I had sent Antipucker, my sentient blade, flying, a dark blur against the chaotic backdrop of the ruined amusement park. With a final surge of my remaining Mana, I had calculated the precise trajectory, summoning him back to me. Even without the raw power of Gravity Mana, Antipucker, in his ultimate form, possessed the ability to return to my hand, a silent, deadly echo of my will.


    Barry’s feet touched the ground, fulfilling the challenge’s grim requirement. They touched, but they were no longer connected to the rest of him. The clown’s grotesque form, a cluster of writhing, gummy-like worms, just smiled grimly. And then, he laughed.


    The laughter started low, a guttural rumble that quickly escalated into a manic, high-pitched cackle. The writhing worms began to recede, retracting back into the remnants of his human form, which slowly reformed, the grotesque distortions smoothing out until he stood before me, once again the jovial, if unsettling, clown. His smile, though still wide, held a hint of genuine awe.


    “Mr. Anomaly,” he said, his voice regaining its theatrical flair, “you truly are a marvel! I confess, I had my doubts. They said you were… exceptional. But to witness it firsthand! To see you carve through the System’s barrier, to wield Aether like the tempest, and then, that final, brilliant maneuver with Antipucker! Simply exquisite!” He clapped his hands together, the sound echoing through the entire Ferris Wheel Zone. “You have surpassed my wildest expectations! I haven’t been this entertained in… well, in a very long time. You’ve earned my respect, Mr. Anomaly. No, more than respect. You’ve earned my… admiration” He bowed, a flourish that seemed almost absurd given the circumstances. “Truly, you are a force to be reckoned with. And I forgive you for killing Sugar. Ten years I will spend reviving him... would be but a small price for such an entertaining fight!”


    “Is it so? Well, then, as a gesture of goodwill… how about you send me back to the cabin? I think the girls might require some help.”


    Even though our fight was incredibly intense, in reality, it only took a bit more than five minutes, most of which were spent talking and recovering between our bouts of offense. At our Tier, dozens, if not hundreds, of attacks were exchanged in mere seconds. The girls wouldn’t all lose so fast, right? They were playing cards, not fighting.


    “Of course, sure! Though I doubt that your help will be required. You see, despite how she looks, our… esteemed Ringmaster doesn’t play around when she plays around!” Barry’s smile widened, a hint of something darker lurking beneath the jovial facade. “But, if you insist...”


    Barry patted me on the shoulder and as I allowed the Space Mana to control me, the world around dissolved into a kaleidoscope of swirling colors and distorted shapes. The familiar disorientation of spatial manipulation washed over me, and then, just as quickly, it was gone. I found myself standing in the center of the cabin, the air thick with tension.


    The scene before me was… unsettling. The Ringmaster, a little girl in disguise with a surprisingly agile hand, sat at a small, ornate table, her eyes gleaming with manic energy. Cards, shimmering with an otherworldly light, floated in the air between her and the three girls. Mille and Arabella, their faces pale but determined, stared at their own hands, their expressions a mix of fear and concentration. Eleanor wore her mask, her expression unreadable.


    “Ah, Clinton! Just in time for the grand finale!” Lucy''s voice was full of childlike glee, in direct contrast with the tense atmosphere. “The stakes are high, and the game is… well, let’s just say it’s not your average poker night!”


    I could feel the strange energy radiating from the cards, a subtle hum that resonated with my Mana sense. This was no ordinary game; Lucy was weaving her powers into the very fabric of the contest.


    “What’s going on?” I asked, my voice low.


    “He’s… he’s changing the rules!” Arabella whispered, her eyes fixed on the shimmering cards. “Every hand… every draw… it’s like he knows what we have before we do!”


    “And the cards…” Mille added, her voice trembling slightly. “They’re not just cards. They’re… they’re like… little prisons.”


    The Ringmaster’s laughter echoed through the cabin, a disturbingly excited giggle, that didn''t match the grave tone of the Cardinal. “Prisons? Oh, you’re too kind! Think of them as… personalized vacation homes! For an eternity!”


    I knew then that I couldn’t afford to wait. Whatever game she was playing, it was clear that the stakes were far higher than mere cards. I had to intervene, and fast. Before they became trapped forever. But... as it turned out, I was already too late.


    “And with this… I win!” Lucy, her old-man disguise still firmly in place, slammed a card onto the table. The shimmering light around the other cards intensified. Arabella’s face was a mask of disbelief, her hand revealing a perfect Full Flush. Mille’s expression was equally stunned, her cards showing Four of a Kind. But Eleanor, surprisingly, sat with a calm expression, her cards displaying five aces. Impossible.


    "Well done, my little vampire!" Lucy clapped her hands. "You''ve passed my little test! You see, unlike your… companions, you understood the true nature of the game. And you''ve got a great hand! Five Aces! Just like mine!"


    With a sickening snap, Mille and Arabella vanished, their forms compressed into the glowing images on the cards. Their eyes, wide with confusion, stared out from the tiny portraits, their voices trapped within the magical confines. Eleanor remained, her crimson eyes gleaming behind her mask.


    I surged forward, a surge of power building within me, but an invisible barrier shimmered into existence, blocking my path. It was the System''s "not-so-absolute-barrier the same one that had protected Barry, amplified and reinforced, a testament to its formidable strength. I wasn''t about to attack a child with Antipucker, but I needed to get through. But it seemed that even the System itself wanted me to play by the rules.


    [Attacking little girls is a big"no-no"! To defeat the Ringmaster... you should win them at their own game.]


    "Oh, my dear Clinton, don''t be so hasty!" Lucy''s voice held a playful lilt. "You wouldn''t want to ruin the fun, would you? I won, and so I got the prize, completely fair and square!"


    "What have you done to them?" I growled, my voice low and dangerous.


    "Just a little… rearrangement," she giggled, her eyes gleaming with an unsettling light. "They''ll be perfectly safe. For now. But if you want to see them again, you''ll have to come find me. At my circus. I''ll be waiting. Bye-bye!"


    [Bonus Challenge Failed: Mille and Arabella have been captured.]


    She vanished in a swirl of light, teleporting away as the cabin continued its slow descent. I clenched my fists, frustration and anger warring within me. This situation was a disaster. Not only were my companions trapped, but the Super Mega VIP Platinum Ticket, the only known way to face Mr. Chuckles, was now lost with Arabella. And Mille? Now I had to explain to the Pope why his right-hand woman disappeared while accompanying me.


    Exhausted and tired, I waited for the cabin to reach the ground as I tried to recover the little Mana I could. I couldn''t even leave it on my own because as a backlash from Aether Spring controlling Gravity right now would be... problematic. To say the least.


    "This is a mess," I muttered, "a complete and utter mess."


    "Tell me about it," Antipucker chimed in, his voice unusually subdued. "First, we fight a clown, then a little girl traps everyone in cards. What''s next, a tea party with a talking teapot?"


    I ignored his sarcasm, checking my map. A dot flickered, a beacon of hope in the sea of despair. It was inside the Ferris Wheel Zone, in the restroom right at the Zone''s entrance. Relief washed over me. At least I would finally meet Leah.


    As the cabin almost reached the ground, I opened the door using the Maintenance Tool. With a surge of Mana, I took to the sky, flying towards the dot. I waited outside the restroom building that also served as a revival zone. I wasn''t brazen enough to simply stroll into a women toilet, was I?


    And then, a figure opened the door, the dot on my map clearly pointing at her. Except, it wasn''t Leah. It was someone else entirely. Someone I recognized. To my shock. Sarah told me that the young woman was called Emily. And that she looked like me. Yeah, right. She didn''t lie, not at all. Not even exaggerated.


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    Because before me stood a woman who should have been dead, unchanged from the old photographs, her eyes brimming with a kind, tearful gaze as she looked at me. An impossible existence who had been missing from my life throughout all those years.


    "Hi, mom."


    ***Four years and three hundred seven days after arriving in Luminosa***


    The castle hung suspended in the air, held aloft by the king''s loyal Casters and Primalists—a last desperate display of royal power as rebels overtook the lower city. A hundred feet below, its original foundation lay shattered, the royal gardens trampled beneath fallen stone. The once-proud towers, gleaming in white marble and gold, now bore scars of battle. Entire walls had collapsed, and smoke poured from every window. The sound of distant fighting echoed through the valley as the revolution reached its violent climax.


    I ascended through billowing smoke, my Air Mana creating a stable platform beneath my feet. Antipucker hummed in my grip, ready for the confrontation ahead. The throne room no longer had a ceiling—it had been blown away during the initial assault. What remained were the ornate marble floors, the tattered royal banners, and the throne itself.


    King Alaric stood there, his golden armor dented but still gleaming in the late afternoon sun. Flanking him were four Royal Guards—veterans of countless battles, each at the peak of Tier 4. Among them stood Sir Roland, my former instructor, his scarred face betraying no emotion as he gazed upon his wayward student. They formed a protective semicircle around their monarch, their weapons drawn, faces grim with determination.


    "So the Chosen Hero has become the people''s villain," the king said, his voice amplified and resonating with Sound Mana that made the very air vibrate with royal authority. "You were given everything a man could want—status, wealth, power. And still, you betrayed us."


    I landed at the edge of the throne room, my boots touching down on cracked marble. "Everything I was given was a prison. Every luxury, a chain."


    "You ungrateful dog!" The king''s composure faltered for a moment. "We treated you as family. I offered you the most precious thing in my life—my daughter''s hand!"


    "Your daughter?" I couldn''t help the bitter laugh that escaped me. "Princess Saella was never a gift—she was a curse. A cruel, self-obsessed monster hiding behind royal blood."


    The king''s face darkened. "You dare speak of her this way? After all she taught you?"


    "Oh, she taught me plenty." I took a step forward, and the guards tensed. "She taught me that power without compassion is nothing but tyranny. That beauty without humanity is just a mask."


    "You''ve been corrupted by the rabble," the king said. "By their petty grievances and imagined slights."


    "Imagined?" The Mana within me surged, my control slipping as anger rose like a tide. "Was it imagined when your tax collectors took half the harvest while children starved? Was it imagined when your daughter crippled an old lady for failing to bow deep enough?"


    The king''s eyes narrowed. "The strong must rule the weak. It is the natural order."


    "Then why do you hide behind a crown that does your fighting for you?" I gestured to the ornate headpiece that rested upon his brow. The artifact gleamed with ancient power, runes flashing in response to my challenge.


    "You know nothing of leadership, boy," the king spat. "This crown has been in my family for generations. It carries the weight of divine right."


    "Divine right?" I shook my head. "I''ve met your brother, you know. The one you tried to have killed when he questioned your methods. Turns out he survived, and he''s gathered quite a following."


    The king''s face distorted. "Impossible. Cedric is dead. The one you''re talking about is a mere imposter."


    "He''s very much the real deal. And he reached Tier 4 in hiding—not through royal privilege but through his own merit. And unlike you, he listens to the people. He''ll make a better king."


    "ENOUGH!" King Alaric roared, his voice enhanced with Sound Mana that shattered remaining glass throughout the throne room. The crown on his head flared with blinding light, ancient runes igniting across its surface. Power surged through him—raw, primal energy that transformed him before my eyes. His muscles expanded, his skin hardened with crystalline patterns of Frost, while flames danced along his fingertips. His eyes blazed with white fire.


    The Royal Guards backed away, even they feared what their king became when using the crown''s full power. This was the kingdom''s most closely guarded secret—an artifact that could temporarily elevate its wearer beyond normal limits. Of course, there was a price to pay, but did it matter when faced with me? King Alaric had just stepped from Tier 4 into Tier 5.


    "I gave you everything!" the king bellowed, his voice distorted by power. "I raised you from nothing! I made you the Hero! And this is how you repay me?"


    "You didn''t make me anything," I replied, my voice calm despite the hurricane of power swirling around us. "Everything I am, I built from the ruins of what you tried to create. You wanted a weapon. You got me instead."


    The king charged, moving so fast that the air cracked around him. The Primal Sound Surge wasn''t a joke, even for me. His fist, now wreathed in a destructive combination of Fire and Frost Mana, aimed directly for my heart. The Royal Guards didn''t even move, completely confident in the King''s power. In fact, he probably could take them all at once. But so did I.


    I didn''t dodge his strike. I didn''t need to. My own Mana surged in response—just Gravity. I caught the king''s fist in my hand. The impact sent shockwaves across the floating ruins, shattering what remained of the windows. The king''s eyes widened in disbelief. No one had ever stopped his crown-enhanced strike before. But they didn''t have my Primal Gravity Surge.


    This was what it meant to stand at the threshold of Tier 5 as a Primalist with a Supreme Element. Even if the king was temporarily on a higher Tier, he still was not a much to me. One final step remained, but I couldn''t take it. Not yet. Not until I confronted the demons that haunted me since that day in the training yard.


    "Impossible," he whispered.


    "You keep using that word," I said. "I don''t think it means what you think it means."


    I pushed him back, and for the first time in his reign, King Alaric stumbled. The Royal Guards attacked in unison, their runic weapons leaving trails of Mana as they sliced through the air. They enhanced their bodies with Surges, enhancements on their armor shining in resonance.


    They were powerful, but I didn''t have to face them head-on. Not when I already started to prepare a technique that will defeat them all in one go. And I didn''t want to just waste my time and risking injury, so I escaped their attacks with the Lightning Surge, and blocked some more with Antipucker.


    The king regained his footing, fury etched into every line of his face. He gathered his Mana, as he summoned a spear that emanated strong Light Mana waves—his strongest weapon, even though the Element didn''t quite match.


    "You were supposed to save this kingdom!" he shouted, his voice attacking me as he imbued his Sound Mana into it, trying to take me off guard.


    "I am saving it right now."


    His spear launched forward, carrying enough power to level a mountain. I mean, a big damn mountain, not Everest, but a mountain half the size of it, but with all the energy focused on one place. I met it with the technique I''d been secretly preparing for the last minute, they probably thought that this was just an ordinary attack of Air Mana. Between my palms was a sphere of compressed air, held together by Gravity Mana, with a core of Lightning—the Tsar Sphere. My ultimate attack.


    The collision was cataclysmic.


    For a moment, the world went white. Pain lanced through my body as the backlash of my own technique tore through my Mana channels. The Tsar Sphere wasn''t perfect just yet. Besides, I rushed its execution this time.


    When the light faded, the throne room was gone. As was the most of the castle... Only a circular platform of pulverized marble remained. The king lay at its center, his golden armor blackened and broken. The crown remained on his head, but its glow had dimmed to embers. The Royal Guards weren''t in sight, but with my Mana Sense I found them scattered around the castle''s ruins, groaning or unconscious. Though no, one seemed to be dead - too bad for him. Should''ve chosen the right side of the battle.


    I approached the fallen king, my expression calm and composed despite the pain I felt from the backlash.


    King Alaric looked up at me, his eyes no longer blazing but filled with genuine confusion and pain. "Why?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper. "Why turn against us? We gave you purpose."


    "Purpose?" I shook my head. "You gave me chains. But I found my own purpose."


    "With the rebels? With that peasant girl?" His lips curled in disdain.


    "Her name was Lia," I said, my voice cold. "She had dreams of protecting her village. Of earning a title through merit, not birth. And your daughter destroyed her for daring to reach beyond her station..."


    "The natural order—"


    "There''s nothing natural about what you''ve built," I cut him off. "Do you know where Lia is now? Living at the edge of the kingdom, hunting demons with one arm. Still trying to protect her people while you hide behind walls of marble."


    His expression hardened. "You would destroy a thousand years of tradition for one crippled girl?"


    I reached down and grabbed the king by his throat, lifting him effortlessly. His feet dangled above the marble floor.


    "No," I said as I threw him to the ground. "I would destroy it for every child who starved while you feasted. For every village fallen to demons because they couldn''t pay your taxes. For every person who died on your borders while you collected artifacts."


    With a pulse of Gravity Mana, I forced him to his knees. The mighty King Alaric, kneeling before the boy he had once forced to kneel before him in this same place. I didn''t miss the irony.


    "Your reign is over," I said. "Your brother will take the throne. He''s already promised reforms—to dismantle the noble houses and their privilege, to protect the border villages, to make this kingdom worthy of its people. And if he goes back on his word... well, the same fate waits for him."


    Fear flashed across the king''s face, but it wasn''t fear of death. It was the fear of irrelevance. "You can''t just—"


    "It''s already done." I leaned closer, my voice dropping to a whisper. "There''s just one thing I want to know."


    His eyes met mine, wary.


    "Where''s Saella?"


    The king''s expression shifted to something unexpected—grief. "Gone," he whispered. "She fled when the rebels breached the outer wall. Took her personal guard and her favorite artifacts. As for where... I don''t know. She had always been a problem child, but ever since that day... it''s as if she''s possessed by something. Something that makes me shiver..."


    I straightened, looking out across the burning city toward the distant mountains. So the princess had escaped. Part of me had expected it. I couldn''t help but think that there was something more to her than met the eye.


    "If you ever find her," the king said, a hint of his old arrogance returning, "tell her that her father never stopped loving her. Even when she became something he couldn''t recognize."


    I turned away without answering. The revolution had succeeded, but my journey wasn''t over. Not while Saella remained free, not while my powers remained incomplete, not while demons still threatened the borderlands where Lia and thousands of other people lived.


    There would be time for all of that. For now, I had a kingdom to help rebuild.