279: Chapter 280 "Ordinal War" [Clone City]: A Dark Purple Sky

"Ahhh!!!—"

A shrill scream pierced the sky above the Cage of Flesh as Passerby Man flailed his limbs wildly in the air, plummeting straight down like a kite with a broken string.

The Serpent of Calamity coiled around his neck constricted tightly, its dark gold reptilian pupils filled with tension. It flicked its tongue repeatedly, attempting to mobilize the power of calamity within its body to condense a Calamity Black Cloud to support its master. However, having just hatched, its power had already been exhausted when the Calamity Black Cloud previously exploded into black snowflakes. Now, even with all its strength, it could only barely steady itself and fall along with its master.

The black snowflakes filling the sky continued to drift down slowly, like drops of ink falling into warm water, silently merging into the churning dark red flesh below.

Just then, a burst of frenzied, shrill laughter suddenly rang out in the mid-air of the Cage of Flesh. The sharp laughter pierced through the thick fleshy walls of the Crimson Giant Eye, reaching the ears of the Eye Demon, who was focused on observing Passerby Man.

"Hahahaha! Splendid! Simply splendid! What disorder!!! Hahahaha!!!"

As the laughter subsided, a small purple balloon abruptly appeared in the Crimson Giant Eye's field of vision. Amidst the drifting black snowflakes, it rapidly expanded into a giant purple balloon as tall as a three-story building.

An exaggerated clown's smiling face was printed on the surface of the giant purple balloon. As it continued to expand, it made a "creak-creak" sound of stretching rubber. Finally, upon reaching its limit at four stories high, it exploded with a bang.

"Bang—!"

Amidst the deafening explosion, countless head-sized purple balloons gushed out from the debris of the giant purple balloon, blanketing the entire sky like a tide. Interweaving with the slowly falling black snowflakes, they dyed the originally oppressive dark red canopy of the Cage of Flesh into an absurd and eerie purple-black.

The balloons filling the sky bobbed up and down with the air currents, each one printed with the same grinning clown face as the giant balloon, swaying back and forth in the air.

Once the purple balloons covered the sky, a pitch-black top hat emerged from where the giant purple balloon had exploded, materializing from faint to solid as if it had arrived via Transmigration from another space. The black magic top hat drifted down slowly, spinning three times in the air. From the upward-facing opening of the hat, the Carnival Clown, dressed in a purple suit with clown makeup on his face, leaped out. He performed a somersault in the air and landed steadily on the brim of the hat.

The Dream Spirit toy box, "strange," at the Carnival Clown's waist snapped open and shut frantically with its master's movements, making sharp "clack-clack" sounds.

With an expression of pure enjoyment, the Carnival Clown slowly spread his arms and bowed deeply toward the Clone Tower below. He then shouted in a frenzied voice, "Thank you for the disorder you've brought! Next, let the revelry continue! More disorderly than disorder! Endless revelry!!!..."

Before the Carnival Clown could finish his sentence, a series of "thump-thump-thump" sounds from balloon collisions came from behind him.

The falling Passerby Man's back happened to strike a drifting purple balloon. The highly elastic rubber instantly sent him bouncing off, where he hit another balloon and was sent flying once again.

Like a pinball, he was bounced continuously between the purple balloons filling the sky. His originally straight downward trajectory was transformed into a completely unpredictable, zigzagging arc.

Passerby Man was bounced until he was dizzy, his screams stuck in his throat. He could only desperately protect the Serpent of Calamity coiled around his neck, letting himself be bounced around by the purple balloons.

As Passerby Man continued to be bounced, the highly elastic rubber caused him to accelerate constantly. Accompanied by the whistling wind, he nearly turned into an afterimage, tracing an unpredictable path through the air. This continued until the back of Passerby Man's head slammed squarely into the back of the Carnival Clown's head, just as the latter was about to continue his frenzied "speech."

"Thud!"

With a dull thud, the Carnival Clown's movements froze instantly. He stumbled forward, his feet leaving the brim of the black top hat.

Passerby Man was also seeing stars from the impact. He subconsciously reached out and grabbed the belt where the Carnival Clown's "strange" was attached. Like two pinballs tied together, they spun and plummeted straight down from the heights.