"So let me get this straight — one last time. You want me and Shija to infiltrate a military base that would take at least a week to reach on foot, while both of us are fugitives, AND steal some data?"
My voice echoed off the metal walls of the base — the same room where I first opened my eyes in this nuthouse.
Armin nodded. "You really are a good listener, kid." His elegant British tone only pushed my frustration higher.
"I think so too," Alice agreed.
I couldn't take this madness. I know that's rich coming from me — but I'm just a clown, and I don't know any of them well enough for this.
Four eyes took off his glasses and cleaned them with a black pocket square, slowly and deliberately.
"Well, dear Sammael — you forgot a couple of important details."
"What details, your majesty?" I asked, sarcastically.
He folded the pocket square with great care instead of answering.
When he finally placed it back, he looked up at me.
"The first — minimum damage should be the second priority, after collecting the data." Then he looked at Shija. She was frowning in a way that was genuinely terrifying, and it was the first time I was glad she wasn't looking at me.
Four eyes coughed. "And to clarify — those words were directed entirely at the kid. Not our glamorous Shija."
I understood now why the god of selflessness, Buddha, is currently at war with the British Empire ruled by the Queen of Lust.
Wait a moment.
"If I'm such a nuisance and unpredictable lunatic — why do you even want me going with her in the first place?"
Alice yawned. "Our Sammael is a bit sensitive, isn't he?"
"Oh, shut up, you hot demon!" Damn my tongue.
"Oh — I'm hot?"
Shija whispered to her, "I think he's at that age…"
"COULD YOU THREE SHUT UP FOR ONE SECOND!" Four eyes' voice rang with genuine frustration.
The three of us exchanged glances.
"He gets mad?" I whispered.
"Apparently," Alice whispered back.
Four eyes pulled out a cigarette and lit it.
As the smoke curled out, he muttered,
"Damn it all… I said I'd quit five decades ago."
I didn't take him for someone with weak willpower — wait. Five decades? He looks thirty at most.
He noticed my confusion.
"And for the second detail — there's no week-long trip or anything like that, because I can teleport you both."
I thought he'd answer my other question first.
But this was interesting too. I'd never heard of a blessing that could teleport others instantly.
Four eyes smirked. "And to answer your obvious curiosity — I'm three hundred years ol—"
Alice interrupted. "And I'm fifty!" she said joyfully.
"What?! You look twenty at most!"
"I'm really starting to like this kid."
"But how do you all live that long and stay so… stunning?"
Four eyes smiled. "Oh, dear Sammael, you don't need to use such sweet word—"
"Just to clarify — I meant Shija and Alice. Not you, four eyes." I interrupted, and I was glad I did. Shija was giggling.
Being a clown does have its perks.
Four eyes looked at the ground, hand pressed to his head.
"Anyway… we apostles of Lucifer can neither die nor age until all the gods are killed."
He said it in such a casual tone that it hit me twice as hard.
I can't die? That's really a curse.
"I-I'm included in this?"
"Sadly, yes."
"…"
Why sadly, dear Shija?
Her reply crushed me more than the immortality news itself. I don't even know why. Shouldn't anyone be thrilled about living forever?
I'll ask that chained angel next time we me—
Something hit my hair. A cigarette.
Four eyes.
I lifted my head and looked at him — he was standing, eyes on both me and Shija.
"What is it?" I asked.
His eyes narrowed. "You didn't hear a single word I just said?" The British accent was particularly heavy here, which somehow made it funnier.
"Dear God," he muttered, and grabbed my arm, pulling me to my feet.
"I want you both to transform. Now."
Transform?
"The lights are already off… you might want to check your prescription."
Shija slapped the back of my head.
I turned to her. She was holding a red dagger near her finger.
"He means—"
She cut her finger.
And suddenly she transformed back into that Corinthian girl — the one I'd been dreaming of every night.
"—like this," Shija finished, her tone different now. Too warm. Too gentle.
I hadn't thought I'd ever get to see her like that again.
Hope really is something… strange, don't you think.
"Your turn, kid," Four eyes said.
My turn? He wants me to become the clown again? Honestly — I enjoyed being the clown. The idea that every act I commit, good or bad, becomes a joke… it frees me.
"How?" I pointed at Shija. "Do I just do the same?"
Four eyes chuckled. "Well, it's not as easy as Shija makes it look. First you must face the curse — and more importantly, yourself."
"Myself? That sounds hideous.
Can't I just cut my wrist like last time?"
Four eyes' mark — the eye on his palm — flickered yellow.
"Every curse must be accepted within yourself before you can outrun it."
What the hell does that mean?
"In other words," Shija clarified, "you must outrun the curse and take control of it — not the other way around."
Alice immediately added, "Like when you blinded children and called it a joke, you sadistic lunatic."
That was both harsh and confusing enough to make my head spin.
Four eyes exhaled.
"Just close your eyes to start."
I looked at him with suspicious eyes. "You're not going to, like… touch me or anything, righ—"
"Just close your damn eyes already!" Shija snapped.
It nearly made me wet myself — but without thinking, my eyes were already shut.
"Fine, what now?"
"Dig deeper. Into your very being.
You might find the way to force the transformation like Shija — or have it happen instantly, like me and Alice."
His words didn't inspire confidence. Just anxiety.
I opened my eyes — but I wasn't in the base.
I was in the tunnel.
Something wet and thick beneath my feet.
I looked down.
The filthy, bloody water.
"Right… I ended up here. But… why?"
Laughter began to rise somewhere nearby.
Familiar. Unhinged.
"A fellow clown?"
I walked toward the voice, the laughter growing with every step.
And there he was — a clown seated in a chair, bound in chains. Head down, wet filthy hair hiding his face.
My legs stopped.
I looked down.
They were trembling.
My heart began to pound — that same sensation I felt when I killed Leonel.
Pain.
"Hey?" I called out.
"Are you the curse, by any chance?"
The clown stopped laughing but didn't answer.
Minutes passed. The sound of running water was the only anchor I had in this madness.
Who is he?
Why won't he speak?
Then the sound of running water disappeared.
The clown slowly raised his face.
His hair was still in the wa—
He lifted it back.
And what I saw was a hideous jester, smiling — eyes flowing with tears.
"You are m—"
Before the words could land, I was back in the base.
"Who were you talking to?" Armin asked.
I looked at my reflection in the black TV screen.
I was the clown.
The same clown as always. The same one I'd just seen.
For some reason I wasn't scared or disgusted as I should have been. Instead I felt… thrilled. As if a missing piece of a puzzle had finally been found.
"Kid — are you alright?" Four eyes asked, worry in his voice.
I smiled. "Better than ever!"
Four eyes shrugged.
"What did you see? Or rather — how did you manage to pull it off?"
I winked. "A terrifying man."
His eyes narrowed with curiosity.
"That explains why you looked like you were having a nightmare…
Tell me more about this man."
Wait — I was scared? Doesn't matter.
"Oh right — he wore glasses and a luxury suit of pitch black. The terrifying part was when he yelled at me — 'don't you dare fail!' — with this unbearable British accent."
Four eyes didn't look offended by my harmless joke, but his eyes stayed suspicious.
The silence was suffocating — until the blonde angel saved it with a soft laugh.
"He's funny!"
It looked more like a forced laugh — but a laugh is a laugh.
Shija looked composed, yet her eyes were twisted in a way that made me wonder what I might have done.
As I reached the middle of my joke list, Four eyes began rolling up his sleeve.
Then he drew a dark yellow dagger — impossibly clean, not a scratch on it — and cut the hand bearing his mark.
Blood poured onto the ground.
"What is he doing?" I whispered to Shija.
"The teleport," she answered.
The blood began to form the shape of an eye — wide enough for two people to stand inside.
I wonder who those two people might be.
Surely he was joking about me going with Shija… right?
Four eyes smiled and reached into his pocket, pulling something out and tossing it at me.
I barely caught it.
A coin. An eye was engraved into the metal — a cross forced through it, warping its shape — yet it felt like it was still watching.
It reminded me of a flag. A flag of rebellion against one of the gods — though I couldn't remember which one.
It made me chuckle, honestly. I didn't picture Four eyes as the rebellious type.
"Do you like it?" he asked.
"Creepy," I replied. "Tell me what it does and I might change my mind."
He smirked. "Various uses — but for this moment? Call it a precaution."
A precaution for what?
My eyes widened.
IS HE—?
"SHIJA — NOW!" he shouted.
Before I could run, Shija pulled me into the circle of the eye. It began to glow red.
"What the—?! Please, no!! I might die!"
"Don't worry. You'll be resurrected if that happens."
Then the glowing eye exploded with light and my eyes slammed shut.
When I opened them…
I was standing before an enormous building.
"The military facility of the Rosehold family."
I looked at Shija — her face was perfectly calm, which only made my blood boil.
"You bastards…" I muttered.
But strangely, Shija didn't laugh or curse back. She just kept staring at the building with hateful eyes. That's when I realized her calm wasn't calm at all.
It was the beginning of a storm.
My pocket began vibrating furiously. I reached in — the coin.
Shaking. And the eye engraved on it felt real — as if it were watching me.
"Four eyes — I swear to god, I'll poke your eyes out."
"Easy there," the coin said in Four eyes' voice. "Now, now — no need to be so upset. Lighten up! No one loves a gloomy clown."
His voice was more British than I could tolerate, so I threw the coin away.
A sigh of relief. "Finally—"
"You can't get rid of me, kid." His voice returned, uninterrupted.
But how?
The coin was back in my hand.
"Sorry to tell you, kid — but this link can't be severed until the mission is complete."
I genuinely considered driving the black dagger into my own ears.
But somehow I found myself airborne.
I looked up.
It was Shija — carrying me like a stray cat.
"Huh… Shija?"
"Shut up."
"Yes, ma'am."