Letisia and William stood there frozen, as if trying to process just what was transpiring before them. After all, there was a lot of build up made for this battle and then they found their enemy, horsing around riding a unicycle.

“This is too much! Simply too much!” Letisia shouted inwardly as she fired a small elemental spell to the trickster riding in mid air.

The man easily dodged the attack by bouncing up and then landing on thin air about two meters away. He stepped off the unicycle as it immediately started disintegrating.

“Sorry about that.” The man suddenly spoke scratching his head. “That unicycle wasn’t my idea, it was the box! Truthfully, it took way too long to deactivate and I was forced to improvise.” He explained as he started dusting himself off. He then shoved the treasure cube inside the hat forcefully.

The man then placed his hat on his chest, and gave William and Letisia a grand bow. Upon finishing this gesture he returned the hat back on his head and gave them a warm smile.

“First thing’s first! Let me introduce myself again. My name is Sylvester Clea-”

A volley of spells were then aimed at the trickster trying to give his polite introductions. However, Sylvester easily avoided these attacks by sinking into thin air and popping out a few meters away.

“You know, you really should let other people finish when they’re talking.” Sylvester said as he crossed his arms talking in a playful but chastising manner, like a parent scolding naughty children.

“It's basic courtesy! It’s like that one time Rossa nuked the golem we were supposed to fight togethe-” Sylvester continued as he dodged another spell.

“Enough of your games Trickster!” Letisia shouted. “We’re here for that treasure cube and we don’t have time for your stupid tricks!” She declared as she continuously tried to attack Sylvester but then stopped as she noticed something off.

"Wait, where is the treasure box?"

"It's inside the hat. If you want it, then you better take the hat." Sylvester replied in jest when suddenly another loud voice interrupted them.

“Oh crap!” William shouted.

“How much time do we have left?” He then started scouring the area looking for the clockpost, only to start panicking the moment he realized he couldn’t find it.

“Oh, are you looking for the clock?” Sylvester suddenly spoke again as he noticed that the man accompanying the girl with drills was frantically moving his head around in obvious distress.

“Sorry about that, I was trying to remodel this place earlier but here you go!”

Sylvester then snapped his finger and all of a sudden mist started forming and diffusing at the center of the dark room as a light was shone above it, revealing the most crucial object for the next few minutes; the clock that told the time.

“Oh, so 10 minutes left huh?” Sylvester commented as he popped out of thin air and landed on an invisible platform, immediately sitting down while upside down with his left hand underneath his chin.

Something within William’s mind immediately clicked, thinking that his opponent seemed to have made a mistake and revealed his trick to them.

“This is surely a very powerful illusory spell!” He yelled out loud as Letisia looked at him with a knowing nod.

“Oh really now?” Sylvester replied with an unperturbed smile, making William feel confident that his opponent was bluffing.

Gathering mana into his fingertips he prepared to cast a spell to counter whatever illusion spell Sylvester was using.

He decided to go for a relatively advanced one since he didn’t want to take any chances.

“Oh hammer of truth!” He started chanting as his fingertips started glowing a golden color.

“Destroy these falsehoods that blind my sight! Greater illusion dispel!” William then snapped his fingers causing a golden shockwave to erupt. The waves then started to undo itself and degrade into small particles of light resembling golden glitters.

Sylvester remained in his upside down sitting position seemingly undisturbed as nothing seems to have changed, a fact that shocked both Letisia and William.

“It can’t be, it didn’t work?” William yelled out in confusion when suddenly he heard the sound of a lonely applause.

“Ohhh.” Sylvester said as he started clapping his hands while looking around him. “That’s a pretty fancy illusion counter spell you have there huh? Two line spell too!”

“I wonder if the spell archives have a copy of that particular illusion dispel. I kinda want to have it now just for the special effects!” Sylvester declared while maintaining a playful tone that seemed to irritate Letisia even more.

“Will you take this seriously already!” She yelled out in frustration. She could not believe that the leader of the group that decimated her team and everyone else is acting like a complete fool, and even dresses like a charlatan.

Despite her rising anger her opponent, Sylvester, doesn’t seem to care much and continued on with his carefree nature. It reminded her of the day of the trials, she witnessed the sign that appeared over his head declaring his qualification.

And yet from her perspective, he looked extremely weak. His mana alone was pitiful. She couldn’t believe that such a person would be placed so high above her while she herself only managed to qualify for B-rank trials.

This encounter seemed to be a culmination of past grievances as the stress seemed to mount on top of another. Letisia then raised her hand once again to prepare another attack when Sylvester spoke once again.

“Sure, actually I was quite bored waiting for all of you.” He started complaining. “I even thought that you guys won’t make it in time. I put a lot of effort in my preparations, you know?!” Sylvester said as he raised both his hands.

“Preparations?” William asked, puzzled over Sylvester’s choice of words.

“Yes! What kind of villain waits with his pants down while the heroes make their way to his lair? Of course I prepared something! ” He began to explain.

“A classic tale, a simple narrative, to give this rather bland free for all a narrative spice and added sprinkles of excitement.” He exclaimed.

“Shut up! You dare continue with this mockery!?” Letisia once again aired her anger.

“Mockery? No no no! I take this festival very seriously!” He said as he shook his head. “I mean, don’t take me wrong, I understand where you guys are coming from and I do want to win so I can make my own little club but at the end of the day, this is all just a game! Lighten up.” he continued.

“A GAME!?” A loud shriek reverberated inside the room as Letisia’s rage reached boiling point.

“Yes, a game! A fun little bonanza made to entertain the masses inside the walls of Inanis Orbis! To be perfectly clear, I am not belittling the festival as I said earlier I am taking this very seriously.” Sylvester continued explaining his side.

“But you see, it was really boring to just pick people out one by one during the last thirty minutes or so, and I doubt that is fun to watch for the audience.”

But then his little rant was interrupted by William who also wanted to give Sylvester a piece of his mind.

“It may be just a game to you!” He yelled out in a serious voice. “But my friends placed all their trust and hope on me and I will fight to answer. Not only that, both me and Letisia here carry the hopes of those who gave up their chances just so we can reach you!” William declared in a fit of passion.

Letisia was a little stunned by William’s sudden outburst and could not stop herself from smiling. His words managed to help her regain control of her anger, and yet, it seems Sylvester too was affected by his speech.

“Splendid! Very good! Now that is the hero I wanted to see!” Sylvester shouted in glee as he once again clapped his hands.

“Well now, since you both look so eager and all, let’s continue this final clash.” Sylvester raised his hand. “Hmm, you already called me a trickster and all so I guess this setting would fit.” He declared as he snapped his finger.

Almost immediately the scenery around William and Letisia changed. An illuminated grand stage with red curtains then appeared from thin air as the entire room was transformed from a dilapidated looking ruin to a theatre devoid of seats.

The lone post that held the digital clock stood in the middle, defiant over the transformation and was a scar to the otherwise breathtaking scenery. Sylvester then jumped down from his position and landed on the stage that he created.

“What is going on? How?!” Letisia’s voice was filled with confusion and disbelief, the scene before her cannnot possibly be a simple illusion.

William did not hesitate and used his two line counter illusion spell once more.

“Greater Illusion dispel!” He shouted and the theatre was once again filled with golden glitter, however it did nothing but function as a confetti to complement the scene Sylvester has created.

“Unfortunately, this little trick of mine isn’t your run of the mill illusion spell.” Sylvester started to explain as he walked on the stage.

“This spell was a toy that my father made for me when I was 12 years old. You see I managed to get a perfect grade for a math test during that time and he promised to give me a reward.” He continued.

“While it is true that it took me only 3 to 6 months to learn this spell, it took me almost 4 years to reach this level. I’m actually quite proud!”

Sylvester then took off his top hat and raised both hands into the air before he continued to speak.

“You see, dear heroes, I didn’t just sit idly by while waiting for your arrival. I did say I was making great preparations did I not? Well what do you think?” He then stopped and placed his hat back on as the heroic duo stood in silence.

“The moment you entered this room was the moment you gave up control of your sight." Sylvester then paused and placed his fingers in front of his eyes, trying to make his eyes look as big as he could.

"A word of advice, do not trust your own eyes.” He said with a smile.

Letisia and William then tensed up and looked around them, still in disbelief at what was unfolding in front of them.

“Oh and by the way.” Sylvester then pointed at the clock.

“Tick tock goes the clock. less than 9 minutes left.”