77 Wicked Smile

Demonic Joker! This name, which at first only seemed to be a trivial matter, began to become something more serious. The deaths of the people who crossed the path of the Demonic Joker were anything but pleasant.

Many of the victims would have bruises and lacerations all over their bodies, some would have missing limbs, and there even a few that continued to breath. The number of victims left alive was small when it came to the Demonic Joker, however their state would be extremely disturbing.

Some of the barely living victims would have their stomachs cut up with their organs showing, while others would even have things shoved in their mouths. Of course, whatever was in their mouths came from their bodies, not from the surroundings.

Because of all of these disturbing occurrences, many were enraged and wanted to hunt down Arnin, however the only people who actually did so were the strong. Although the battlefield was filled with death, no one wanted such a gruesome ending. Plus, seeing others in such states made them extremely uncomfortable.

Information on the Demonic Joker spread like wildfire. Everyone knew how he looked and what his cultivation realm was, at least on the surface.

Crimson red hair, with deep purple eyes. His skin was pale like a ghost's, while his forehead had three horn tattoos. His cultivation realm was sitting around Orb Birth - Hell, however it seems to drop at certain times, and sometimes even rise after killing.

This was all the information that could be collected. It was extremely easy to distinguish Arnin from others, mostly because of his hair and tattoos, since these attributes could be seen from afar. Arnin did not mind all of the attention that he was getting, rather he actually wanted people to come and find him.

He knew that there were people at Essence Manifest somewhere in the battlefield, and with his cultivation finally reentering Orb Birth - Hell, he was able to fight many Essence Manifest cultivators head on. The only problem that he was facing was that he did not have the power to control any of his other abilities.

He had received so much damage that he could not rely on any of his strongest abilities for the time being. He could use his blood essence and fight with his physical body, however that was all he was capable of for now. He didn't completely understand the full usage of his new Elemental Seed, preventing him from being able to use it in actual combat, and since his Seed of Neutrality was unusable, he was not well off.

"Huh, seems like I need to quickly get rid of all of these pests and find a way to heal myself. I can't keep going in such a state, it's too risky." Arnin walked in a large area with slightly red rocks and dead grass that looked like blood.

Behind Arnin was a small child around the age of seven. This child seemed to be a boy, however it was difficult to determine. The child was completely naked, and had an arm chopped off. That missing arm did not disappear, rather it was wrapped around the other arm. Of course, it did not look normal at all.

Since the arm was twisted in such a forceful way, the bones in the arm stuck out and there was blood leaking from all the wounds. However, this wasn't the most unpleasant sight. The child had blood dripping from his crotch and it was completely mutilated.

The child's face was covered in bruises and one of the eye's was even missing. His death did not seem pleasant in any way, however Arnin ignored the state completely and continued to drag him across the rocky ground.

Behind the child's body, a bloody trail appeared, however this was not done unintentionally. Arnin knew that he was going to be targeted by stronger people from now on because of his ways of killing, and this was exactly what he wanted. Although it was risky to fight someone when he was so weak, he still wanted to completely understand and master his usage of blood.

He was now much better with using blood in fights, and had discovered that blood was very efficient to use during dire moments or in group fights. Although blood could be an extremely powerful offensive power, right now Arnin could only use it to affect movements or kill others through discreet means.

The blood trail was meant to lure people to him, and it was working very well. His name was infamous and many avoided him, but now there were people looking for him.

*SHHH*

Finally, Arnin heard a sound from behind. His lips couldn't help but rise into a sinister smile, while his eyes began to brighten.

One other thing he could now do was somewhat control the time ability of his eyes. Well, more so turn them on and off. He did not know any other abilities of the Runic Eye's yet, however the time pause, or or at least slowness, was extremely beneficial. The only problem that came with the ability was the large amount of blood and essence needed to activate it. Arnin had a feeling that such a problem would slowly disappear as he mastered the power of the eyes because when he finally gained the ability to willingly use the eyes, the amount of blood and essence needed to activate the time ability lessened slightly.

"They finally come crawling. Hehe." Arnin couldn't help but snicker quietly as he continued to walk with the dead child behind him. He didn't show any signs of stopping or acting like he noticed them. He just wanted to play with them for awhile until he figured out how many there were exactly.

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Back in the cave where Fae, the Headmistress, and the mysterious people were watching, the air became extremely chilly. Although the faces of the mysterious people could not be seen, one could tell that each and every one of them was angered. Even Fae and the Headmistress had uncomfortable faces.

"Fae, what is wrong with this child? Isn't this a little too gruesome?" The Headmistress looked at Fae questionably. Her shock was reasonable as the Headmistress only knew about Arnin because of Fae, as she was the only one that provided information about him and closely observed him.

"I don't know, but this child is really too… cruel." Fae was also at a loss for words. All of them watched Arnin gruesomely kill each child and even leave some alive in near death situations.

None of them expected Arnin to be so cruel and evil. They applauded the person who came up with Arnin's nickname, Demonic Joker. It worked well because Arnin's methods were extremely demon like, and he even seemed thrilled when committing such actions.

One of the mysterious people walked forward and looked at Arnin's projection closely. "Tell me something, have you all noticed this boy's eyes?" The voice was hoarse, however there was a bit of astonishment contained within it.

Fae was surprised and asked with some confusion. "What do you mean? He has purple eyes. Don't many people have weird changes because of different cultivation techniques?"

The person shook their head and continued to speak. "That isn't it. This boy's eyes are a little… different. They seem like an, I don't know,an ability? I can't explain it, but they are not normal." Because of this person's persistence, the others in the cave also began to pay closer attention to the eyes.

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Behind some large boulders, there were three young girls that looked identical to each other. All three had lapis eyes with coal hair. Freckles were scattered around their nose, and their pink lips moved as they spoke with one another.

"Is this it? Is he the Demonic Joker?" One of the girls asked. Although all three were identical, there was a single difference between them which set them apart, their style of hair. The one that just spoke had short hair, another had long curly hair, while the last had her hair in a bun.

"He should be. He meets the description, and look at what he is doing… what a beast!" The long haired girl couldn't help but speak with great disgust. She saw Arnin dragging the boy and felt extreme rage. They themselves had killed a few people, but they would never torture their enemies. They gave them all a quick and painless death.

The girl with the bun also had fury in her eyes. "Don't go out yet. Let's keep following this kid. Once we see that he is distracted, we'll end him right away."

"Isn't he distracted right now? He doesn't even know we're here, plus one of his arms is occupied. Isn't this the best time to strike?" The one with long hair couldn't help but ask with confusion and impatience. It seemed like she really wanted to devour Arnin at any moment because of his beastly actions.

"You…" The girl with the bun couldn't help but shake her head bitterly. "You really are clueless. Although he has not discovered us, if you look closely, he is ready to attack. The hand that is occupied is actually quite loose, while his other hand seems to be a little different from the rest of his body. Although he hasn't found us, it seems like he knows that someone will attack him." The other two girls were shocked by their sister's analysis.

The two gave Arnin a closer look and found that their sister was right. Arnin, although oblivious of them, was in attack mode. "This kid is really cautious." The girl with short hair exclaimed with displeasure.

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Arnin wasn't as oblivious as the three girls thought, rather he had actually already found out how many people were following him and where exactly they were located. In reality, the three girls were the ones oblivious to the fact that they were not the only ones following Arnin.

A total of seven people were following Arnin. Because of him being in the best position, Arnin was able to figure out the general strength of the group. The weakest was surprisingly at Orb Birth - Hell, while the strongest reached Essence Manifest - Earth.

This could be considered a very strong lineup for someone like Arnin, however the latter was not worried one bit. Because of the amazing crowd control that his blood ability had, Arnin was not too worried about dying, however he still felt unsure about his firepower.

His physical body was frightening, but it wasn't as powerful as his Flames of Neutrality. He knew that fighting such a large group would be a little more difficult, plus he needed to reserve lots of essence throughout the fight because if he lost it all, there was a high chance of death.

Arnin was in attack mode, however he was also acting somewhat loose. He wanted to show the people following that he was somewhat cautious, however only a little. He didn't want them thinking that he had already discovered them.

As time passed, the blood trail began to slowly fade and become lighter. Arnin continued to walk straight, acting oblivious to the surrounding people. After walking for a few more meters, Arnin pretending to lower his guard by taking back his essence and aura. Right then, he 'tripped' on a rock and began to lose balance.

"NOW!" A loud roar that seemed to come from multiple people resounded in the surroundings.

Arnin's face brightened and a wicked smile appeared on his face. He looked around, and saw seven people rushing towards him from all directions. He saw that there were three groups. The triplet girls, a pair of chocolate skinned lovers, and even a person with a beast.

Arnin couldn't help but smile. The strongest of the group were the lovers, while the weakest were the beast and his partner.

Right away, the pair of lovers struck towards Arnin, both of their fists flying at the same time. The crazy thing was that both of them were at Essence Manifest - Earth.

The rest hesitated for a moment when they saw each other, however they also shot towards Arnin with attacks of their own.

The triplets grabbed onto a large spear that they held together. The spear shockingly carried as much power as the lovers, while the beast and partner had a weird unique cooperation. The partner actually held onto the beast, did a small twirl, and released the beast towards Arnin. Large fangs that dripped with a white liquid were aimed directly at him.

Arnin was attacked from all sides, there was no escape. All of the attacks were deadly, however Arnin maintained his wicked smile.