It seems there's no other way.
Tsk!
Jester stopped his goofing around, put on a serious dead face, and walked slowly until he entered the circle.
The black-red light started hitting Jester's laughter, making his body paralyzed. Then, crazy laughter started appearing from everywhere around him, making him laugh until massive blood started pouring from his mouth.
Jester put his hand under his mouth.
His hand was filled with blood.
It was like a river that couldn't be stopped.
"Ohhh, so this is the feeling of bleeding."
"Haaaaaaaaaaahahahahaahha!"
"So this is how pain feels."
This isn't funny!!!
A headache started hitting his head.
"Ahhhhhhhh!!"
Boom!
Boom!
He started smashing his skull on the ground to calm it.
"Heheheheheheeheh!!!"
He put both of his hands on his head and pressed hard, trying to decrease the pain.
Velmoro shouted from outside the circle,
"Throw your tarot cards now!"
As the cards fell from him, the circle connected them, and they started to burn from within. Then—
Boom!
The cards started evaporating and entered Jester's body as they burned. His skin began burning too, and a few images appeared and disappeared on it, like a statue being sculpted and then erased.
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Jester gripped his neck with both arms, pressing tightly, letting no air enter, trying to make himself stop breathing.
His saliva started pouring from his mouth.
A creepy smile appeared on his face.
He put all his fingers together except his thumbs, then—
Crack!
He bit his fingers.
A blue color appeared along with his saliva and blood.
"You! Stop looking at me!"
"Stop! I said stop!"
His normal eyes turned red.
He kept hitting his skull again and again and again.
It was a loop of repeated hits, making his head turn blue and purple with red blood.
As if that wasn't enough, he started biting himself.
An electric shock passed through his bite, making him shake.
His bite deepened, and a part of his skin was cut and swollen inside his mouth as he kept biting.
Black shadow clowns started entering his body, and a knife began penetrating his soul.
As the clowns entered, they made his soul suffer.
"HAAHHAHAHAHHAHAH!"
Jester's voice rose as Velmoro began chanting the final part:
Beneath the moon of painted lies,
I call the jester where madness lies.
O saint of sorrow, fool divine,
Stitch my heart and make it thine.
Let reason fade, let laughter reign,
Turn my joy to sacred pain.
Bless my breath, my blood, my mind,
And break the chains that sanity binds.
Paint my soul in colors vile,
Burn my flesh, the Cursed Smile.
Laugh, bleed, kneel, obey.
The clown ascends, the world decays.
Hail the Smile, eternal and wild.
Hail the birth of the Cursed Child.
Velmoro started walking back as the circle's pressure increased.
At that moment, no one knew about the terrifying monster that was about to gain power from the blessing.
A terrifying monster that should have been killed.
A monster who should never have gained any power.
A monster who should never have been given a chance.
A clown more terrifying than a monster was about to be born, and no one could stop him.
It was a present served on a silver plate.
Velmoro and Jester, who had been preparing the ritual to use it on children to gain power and reclaim their friends, had found a rare chance with a massive number of sacrifices.
Pain tore through Jester's skull as if someone were drilling inside it with a knife.
His body stiffened, then fell.
He hit the bloody ground hard, lying there motionless, breathing raggedly as the circle's pressure increased.
A vast circus dome appeared, where unseen crowds seemed to watch in silence.
His shadow grew larger and started laughing with crazy laughter until the sounds faded.
As Jester forced his eyes open,
A small room surrounded him, its walls made of mirrors.
In each reflection stood a different version of him:
A child, a jester with crimson eyes,
A man smiling through cracked lips,
And a corpse still clapping.
"Did it work?"
"You vessel."
The two voices rose together, merging until they sounded like his own.
One reflection reached out through the glass and touched his face.
His skin split open.
A smile carved itself across his cheeks like a wound that refused to close.
"You existed before the laughter."
"And you'll end when the stage falls silent."
Jester staggered back, only to hit another mirror.
From it emerged a painted face,
black and red markings crawling across its skin,
and two wide eyes glowing with wicked amusement.
"Remember me, little one?"
"Or am I still inside you?"
He tried to scream,
but what came out was a crazy, violent laugh.
He laughed until his mouth filled with blood,
making the mirrors shatter and fall around him in glittering shards.
Each shard still showed his smiling reflection.
Then everything went dark.
When Jester woke again,
He was lying under the same tree.
The sky above was gray, the air thick and cold.
His hands were coated in white paint.
And on his left palm, carved in trembling strokes,
was a single word:
"Velmoro."
Then a cold whispering voice began to speak,
"Prepare yourself for your blessing test."