Chapter 43 - Lie, lie, lie, deny, deny, deny

"Nice spell you got there, brother." Marui vocally commented but his face showed no clear sign of one who just complimented someone. "But let's see if you can keep that up," he said before he disappeared in a flash of lighting and appeared in front of the edgy Rofta, who nearly got split in half diagonally.

Rofta wasted no time and used his new spell *Position Reversal* that lets him change his position with another object. The fights quickly turned to a cat and mouse game for Rofta and Gina.

The speed and precision was something he couldn't deal with as every time he changed places with a stone or twig, Marui was already there, intending to end his life swiftly. He didn't even have time to use *Axis Reversal* as it was a large-scale spell and takes time to use.

Gina was running between trees at times dodging hair needles her opponent, Emma, was firing at her legs. When she finally thought she found an opportunity to retaliate, Emma somehow already knew where she was.

As time went on, Gina and Rofta encountered each other and stood back to back, cornered by Marui and Emma. There was no doubt who was the hunter and who was the prey.

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Before Gina and Rofta got cornered, Marc was having a nice talk with a jester.

"Dude, a man needs to eat and drink," Marc said before he somewhat began whispering "though I don't mind if you kill him after I get the money."

"You are a funny little one aren't you-" The green-haired jester wanted to say something more but Marc turned his attention to a screaming Carlos. After getting his leg cut off, he felt despair and death looming over him.

"Arrrrrgggghh, my leg!!"

"Would you shut the fuck up? Just be happy you didn't lose your third leg!" Marc kicked the bleeding man without mercy, making Carlos feel his despair is insignificant after hearing him. What if his dick got cut off instead? He shuddered and stopped screaming like a pig but he still screamed a little.

Turning his attention back to the jester, Marc actually 'apologized' "Sorry dude. Where were we? Ah, I know. Thanks for the compliment, you are a mood killer too."

Finding the usual situation where he corners his prey differently this time around, the jester played along "Ora, sorry for killing the mood. Want me to lighten it up again with a magic trick?" The jester said before waving his hand and it was suddenly full of cards between his fingers.

"I love magic tricks. But I might already know the trick you will show, you know?" Not feeling intimidated at all by the jester that was overflowing with killing intent, Marc told him.

"Ora? Then keep an eye on these cards" The jester said before the cards disappeared after waving his hand again, showing an empty hand "Guess where the cards are?"

Already knowing this trick, Marc answered without batting an eye "Behind your hand."

With a good smile and slit eyes that promises to kill him if he answers wrong, the jester showing his hand from all sides "Where? There's none."

Seeing there weren't any cards, Marc wasn't surprised as there are tons of ways to hide it with various tricks. He confidently said, "No, it's there!"

The two were now having a stare-off. Marc was standing with his arms crossed and a sure expression while the jester was turning his arm around to show there really was nothing. In the end, the jester said "…Fine, you are right," and almost like a layer of gum, he peeled the card off from his hand.

When he was done peeling it off his skin, the jester suddenly threw the card "How about you show me a trick this time?" The card flew very precise and fast at Marc's neck, clearly not intending to hand over the card but kill him with it. It wasn't just a normal card, but one with Magic Power infused in it, making it very deadly.

Yet, Marc didn't dodge it. Instead, he just used his magic and slapped the card into the ground in front of him. "Sure, why not?"

Being a little impressed the jester smiled even more with a glint in his eyes flashing once. "Ora, so we are having a show-off between jesters? Then we got to have a price…How about-"

"How about betting their lives? If I win, they can leave with their lives? Oh, and you can't go after them afterward!" Marc proposed a ridiculous bet without blinking.

"Ora, trying to save your friends?"

"Yeah, seems like my friend can't keep up with that black dude. Actually, I want nothing more than fight you right now but my friends' safety comes first." Marc admitted.

The jester looked meaningfully at Marc for a few seconds…

"Interesting, you are on. Then it's simple, if I can see through you magic trick then you lose and you all die." The jester then motioned for Marc to show his trick.

Marc thought a little about what trick to show "Do you have a full set of cards?"

Without bothering to answer, the jester just threw a set of cards that Marc caught and was about to start shuffling them, but then he thought about something and used his Paw Magic on them, making the jester smile a little as he was caught placing a minuscule amount of his Magic Power on each card with small differences, so he would be able to differentiate between them later.

When Marc was done shuffling them, he showed all the cards to the jester without himself seeing them. "Pick a card and remember it"

"That one." The jester pointed at one.

"This one?" Marc asked for confirmation which the jester nodded.

"Okay, catch." Marc took it and threw it to him without looking at it before shuffling the deck again.

"Now replace your card with another one." Instructed Marc while holding the cards face down. The jester just threw the card into the deck without getting closer and said "Give me the left one beside the card I threw."

"Sure thing." Marc threw the picked card back before dropping a card face down on the ground "This card will save my friends!" He said before doing a Herrmann pass and a pinky break and a few other tricks in between.

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After doing a couple of steps and throwing a few cards in the air and catching them, Marc threw the deck back to the jester "You card shouldn't be in the deck, right?"

After going through the cards the jester confirmed "It's not"

A few seconds after, a card fell from the sky, landing on the ground in front of the joker. "That's your card! Now here's the question. When did I throw it in the air? The first, second, third… or eighth time?" Asked Marc.

"What a wonderful trick! But it was number 7." The jester said with a big smile and slit eyes that looked confident and amused at the situation.

"Fuck…" Cursed Marc in his head as it was the correct answer. Praying it wasn't his usual bad luck in games when money is at stake, he did the only and correct thing. Lie, lie, lie, deny, deny, deny.

Marc showed a brilliant smile of his own with teeth and everything "Nope, you were wrong."

"Ora, I was sure I was spot on though?" Said the jester before he was seemingly gone in a puff of smoke, and appeared in front of Marc in a squatting position. They were at a pretty even height, looking deeply into Marc's eyes, who didn't move despite feeling the danger looming. He was pushing his *Panthera Disaster* to its limits to get a read on the jester's intention. Was he going to attack?

"This boy's look in his eyes is so different. Is he lying or telling the truth? I can't tell…And I'm not sure if it was the right card, though I do know it was either 2nd, 4th, or 7nth throw." The jester thought while trying to read Marc's facial expressions, but not even a speck of sweat flowed down his face making the jester believe him.

"Then it seems like you won. Congratulations, your friends can now leave and become strong mages in the future." The jester clapped his hands in celebration.

"Then can you stop your lesbian friend and that sleepy brownie dude? I don't think they will listen to me…" Marc asked while pointing in the direction of where his friends are fighting.

"Ora, afraid I will go back on my promise? But don't you worry, as I look forward to what happens next." After saying that, the jester snapped his fingers, making Marc confused as nothing happened here.

…

But something did happen at Marui and Emma's location. On each of their clothes, they both had a mark of a star that suddenly went boom and sent confetti flying.

When they saw it they stopped pursuing Rofta and Gina and read something from one special-colored confetti that said "Come back and let them go. If they insist on coming too. Kill them."

After reading it, Marui told them with his bored attitude "You can leave."

"What!?" Gina exclaimed in surprise as she thought they were about to be killed.

Rofta was surprised too and asked about the message "What was written on that confetti?"

"Our leader wanted us to let you go and if you insist on saving your friend, then we should kill you." Explained Marui. It wasn't a secret so he just told them the context.

"…" Various thoughts went through Rofta and Gina's heads. What should they do?

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(A/N: Well explaining card tricks when you don't understand them is very hard...)

(A/N: Next chapter will be about a legendary escape- or something. I might also update a few chapters tomorrow as they have a few mistakes in them. The bad thing about doing that is some comments will disappear. Just so you know.)

(Words: 1678)

(A/N: Support me and this story on -> bit.ly/2MZTn3p )