A month ago...

  After the white cat finished explaining the rules of the Judge's Trial, Laughter was of course the first to speak of the nine other students placed into the realm with him. He tapped a finger to his painted chin, as though in thought.

  "A game then? I love games."

  At that same moment, he glanced around the open space, examining the others. They all seemed tense and hesitant.

  Nope.

  Nope.

  Nope.

  His singular eye flicked through the numerous students, seeing if he knew any of them. If there was anyone worth knowing, he surely would. Eventually...

  Aha!

  Laughter pointed at the girl standing furthest away from him. She had a shaved head and stood taller than even the boys.

  "Coline, right. The Boxer?" Laughter said, holding up his fists in a playful manner. "Did you know that I once fought Vahlon the Rockfist, and knocked him out in one blow?"

  Coline's eyebrows rose. Vahlon was a well-known boxer in Pentagon, only a few years older than them.

  "Really?" She said sceptically.

  "Yes really." He responded cheerfully, throwing a few sloppy, poor punches in the air. "In fact, the fight took place at a location similar to this. A place that doesn't really exist."

  "Where?" She asked, bluntly.

  "My dream."

  "..."

  The space remained silent for a few moments. Then, one of the other students laughed at the bad joke. The laughter caused a chain reaction, which earned him a chuckle from Coline herself.

  Just like that, she was entertained. The others were too, but for Laughter, she was the best option. Everyone's attention was completely drawn to the Jester.

  Laughter reached into his breast pockets and drew out his deck of cards. The boy's comedic getup, and the nature of how he spoke and acted, allowed the students to forget about the terrible task that they would soon have to perform. Even if only for a moment.

  After flicking through the cards, he stopped at one, flipping it over and showing it to Coline from across the space.

  "The Ace of Clubs. What does that mean?" She asked whilst squinting at the card.

  Before Laughter could even answer, Coline let out a sudden cry. At first, it seemed to be from pain, but afterwards, it became clear that pain was not what she felt. Rather, she was in shock at the great change in power that she suddenly felt in her body.

  An aura came from her figure. Black as shadows, yet dancing around her figure like flames. She looked down at her fists and smiled, before looking up at Laughter, a strange look of admiration on her face.

  Laughter smiled, even beneath his face of clown paint.

  "Coline Bainbridge, would you get rid of these students quickly so that I can tell you all about the Ace of Clubs?"

  The other students went tense, as they felt the menacing aura coming from the boxer sharing the realm with them. Coline cracked her knuckles and rolled out her neck, appreciating this strange power, yet not understanding it.

  Still, she was prepared to do what was necessary to find out more.

  "With pleasure." She said, as she got to work.

  Leox tapped into the newfound power within his body, and immediately he felt a foreign feeling coming deep from his heart and spreading throughout the rest of his body.

  Before even processing what the feeling was, Leox decided to act. He had to, otherwise the Leviathan would devour Samson whole.

  He used Greater Overheat on his legs, pushing himself to his complete limits, drawing on his life force. Then, like a coiled spring, he sprang across the clearing, sword in hand and now coated by the flames of his skill.

  The Leviathan had the struggling Samson held to its tentacles, which kicked at him wildly. The demon's jaws were opened, its teeth baring at its next meal. Until a flaming blade ran up the length of its arm, creating a hot wound that sizzled its flesh from wrist to elbow. The demon let out a cry as it dropped Samson, sending the chained boy falling into the water with a splash. As it cried, it looked down at the new wound in its arm.

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  Leox was standing there, with his flaming blade lodged into the demon's elbow, using it as leverage to remain standing on the demon's arm. He tried his best to saw back and forth with the blade, doing as much damage as he could, until eventually, the demon swung its arm, sending Leox's tumbling across the grass and coming to a stop on his back. He wasted no time pushing himself back to his feet, despite the pain he felt in his bones and muscles.

  By that point, Astra and Marybetha had both recovered enough to mount an attack of their own. Astra charged another beam of golden light from his trident, whilst Marybetha distracted the beast, sending golden arc strikes from her sword towards the demon. It raised its giant arms to defend itself, allowing the strikes to further cut the skin of its forearms and spilling more blood. Then, a golden beam struck into the muscle of its right arm, piercing right through it, emerging from the other side, and crashing into the demon's chest.

  The Leviathan fell backwards, crashing into the water and causing waves to topple onto the shore. During this moment, Samson was able to escape from the lake and climb onto the grass, which was a difficult task due to his chained state.

  Meanwhile, Leox stood, staring down at the heart tattoo on his hand. He noticed that his body was behaving strangely. He felt certain that he had pushed himself to his limits when using Greater Overheat to save Samson, yet he was still standing there, alive.

  Laughter now stood nearby, watching him. Leox turned towards the Jester and asked.

  "What is this?"

  Laughter flashed him a smile. "Your Overview should tell you that."

  Leox paused, before glancing over the information to see if anything had changed. Laughter was right. He had been granted a new skill. Or in other words, one of his skills has changed.

  [Zero-Second Resurrection - Temporary Immortal Skill]

  Deathless Rebirth had now become Zero-Second Resurrection.

  Leox's first feeling was fear. He glanced over at Laughter again, fearful that his secret had been revealed. The secret that led to his six-month torture. He contemplated whether he would have to cut his friend down there and then. However, Laughter didn't show any signs of caring. The boy shrugged his shoulders.

  "You can stand there, trying to figure out the secrets of the Jester. Or, you can use this temporary buff to end this fight." Laughter said with a smile.

  Leox didn't understand anything. Not the words of Laughter. Not the demon in front of them. Certainly not the power inside of him. But at that moment, he was certain of one thing. Zero-Second Resurrection would do exactly as it said. Upon death, he would immediately be remade. In other words, Leox was in a state of true immortality.

  The Leviathan roared as it battled against Astra, Marybetha, and Samson. The three descended upon it with sword and trident, trying their best to weaken the beast, yet no matter what, it seemed to be stronger than them.

  "Alright then," Leox said, no longer wishing to watch from the side. "But after this, we must talk."

  Laughter chuckled. "No promises."

  Afterwards, the immortal lifted his blade into the sky, covering it in flames once more. The blade roared fire like a dragon, before being contained by the winds of the tempest. The flames were pumped with so much power, that the tempest was no longer able to contain them. Then, lightning struck. The blade glowed yellow, as Stormblade, the fusion skill, was activated. The sword now sparked with lightning every now and then, drawing the attention of everyone in the area. Laughter took a step back, not wishing to get zapped by stray power. Especially since the power seemed to continue growing.

  Leox pumped everything into the blade, both mana and life force. He felt his life leave him, but then the resurrection skill did as it said, bringing him back to life immediately. After repeating that process five times, the winds around the blade had become a black cloud, begging to release the powers within.

  He stumbled forward, struggling to maintain his grip on the now heavy blade. He overheated his legs to the point where he felt muscles swelling beyond capability. His spine groaned too, so he pumped that with enough power to kill himself as well.

  With this, he managed to step forward.

  "Away... From the water." He managed to roar to his comrades still engaging in combat with the Leviathan. At first, they shot him strange glances, before realising what his intentions were. They immediately disengaged, distancing themselves from wherever water might be.

  Noticing this, the Leviathan roared again, reaching for a tree to hurl at its fleeing opponents. It took the largest one it could find, tearing it from the earth and lifting it above its head to throw. Leox wouldn't let it.

  Holding his thunderous blade overhead, he poured everything into all his skills. Tempest, Flame Coating, Greater Overheat. Then, in one swing, he brought the blade down.

  A deafening crash sounded throughout the forest, at the same time that a bolt of lightning erupted from the blade, and thundered into the water. The lightning filled the water with power so great, that even the Leviathan couldn't withstand it. Its body spasmed as it was continuously zapped by the electrified water. Its tentacles flapped around as a roar of agony escaped its mouth.

  Leox dropped the blade in the process. He couldn't hold it any longer. Whatever Laughter had done to him seemed to have worn off, and his immortal skill had returned to Deathless Rebirth. He felt himself die once again, collapsing to the ground, and would have to wait minutes to come back to life.

  Luckily, there were others there to finish the job for him. From atop a tree in the distance, Astra aimed his trident like a cannon towards the Leviathan, firing one last blast larger than all others. It travelled with blinding speed, striking the stunned Leviathan directly through the side of its head and out the opposite side. Golden blood sprayed from its skull, and the demon's body went limp, falling into the water where it would continue to be zapped.

  The others were still not finished. From afar, Samson and Marybetha continued to launch ranged sword attacks towards the demon, riddling its body with wounds and holes. After a full minute, the forest became quiet. The Leviathan's body lay slumped, floating in the water. Its full figure could be seen now, which was only an upper body, and head, both of which had been damaged beyond survival.

  Most importantly, Leox's life had returned to him. Right afterwards he sat up, looking around frantically. Once his eyes landed on the demon, clearly seeing that it had no plans on waking up soon, he relaxed, but only slightly.

  A hand landed on his shoulder. He looked up to find Laughter standing over him, blood dripping from his mouth. When had he taken damage?

  "Jheez, don't scare me, Leox." The boy said with a shaky laugh. "I thought you had died on us."