And there was no way Crown Clown or his clown legion would show up here.
“It’s just a clown from those circuses you usually see. But… weird. I think it’s ‘flat’.”
They checked for a moment without finding anything. As they decided to consider it someone’s hallucination, they heard someone singing an aria in a terrible voice.
“Croak! Shava loves my voice, but that dusk-colored old witch couldn’t understand true art! Oh, and the white beard old thing! Croak! And that red ugly! Croak! Shite! Shava is my only friend!”
Dusk-colored witch, white beard old thing, red ugly? Was the voice referring to Twilight, Kooper, and Lydia?
As the music which combined aria and harp went on, they saw a frog and a fox slowly showing up. Before they could make a move, the animals released some green and red ripples, which aroused a strange restlessness inside their minds. By the time they managed to suppress the emotion, the animals were already gone.
“Maybe this is really an illusion.” Someone spoke, “Mister Sunders is in there, right? Maybe he did this.”
“Yeah, he can definitely do something like this.”
A moment later, the white mist disappeared before they could reach any solid conclusion.
It did not happen immediately. The mist dissipated in front of their eyes gradually and turned from dense to thin.
As the mist completely vanished, the inner hall returned to being crowded with people. Twilight was standing on the stage, while the participants were well on their seats. The VIPs also showed up inside their private rooms.
Everything returned as if nothing happened. The wizard group led by Devildare was now the odd sight in the hall.
“We’re back… we’re really back?!” An apprentice exclaimed, which helped Devildare realize that they were not dreaming.
“What’s going on, Twilight? Aren’t you dealing with the intruder-” Devildare looked at the corner where the boy and a bird collapsed. He did see blood and the crack on the wall, but the said intruders were not there.
“They’re gone?” Devildare was confused a bit. “Are we under attack? The rebels from Midnight Sovereign?”
Twilight shook her head and signaled the other wizards to give her some privacy. She then told what she saw to Devildare using voice transmission. She also ordered the guard captain to arrange affairs for the dead guards and regain order of the hall.
Devildare scowled harder and harder as he heard more information. In the end, he glanced at Chamber 19. “Resume the auction. We shall discuss when everything’s done.”
With that, Devildare’s body slowly disappeared.
Twilight watched as the guards reestablished order for the auction. The strange journey in Nightmare Domain gave them three casualties, but the buyers were all fine, apart from several slightly injured apprentices.
Twilight Auction might suffer some disrepute, but not much, since the customers were alright.
Twilight sighed and glanced at Chamber 19 as well. She cursed in her mind.
“Everyone. We just experienced something unique in our lives. Let’s turn the precious experience into a tool which shall pave our paths toward the ultimate truth.”
Twilight gave the audiences a long, emotional speech, which was rare for her. Most of her words were useless overtalk. She mainly hoped that the customers could forgive the auction house about what just happened.
It was something they already agreed upon inside the Nightmare Domain, so the wizards gladly agreed.
“Now, let’s continue our auction. The 172nd lot, and the last but one item that’s being sold today is a waiter from Barbie’s Restaurant. Staring point is ten thousand magic crystals and raises should be five thousand or higher!”
The eyeless man was placed inside the iron cage again. The lack of eyes did not prevent him from glancing at Chamber 19 every now and then. It was where Toby was staying in at the moment.
…
Inside Chamber 19.
Sunders’ room now had two extra people plus a bird.
The gentleman sat under the light as he quietly looked at the unconscious young man on a sofa nearby.
“You would keep staring at him while he takes the Nightmare Domain? Well, either he wakes up later or gets lost in illusions forever. Staring won’t help,” Flora spoke in midair, bare-feet.
There was a hint of jealousy in her voice.
“Those clothes… are yours, right? Is Angor trying to mimic your way, professor?”
“I gave him.”
“Aw… you never gave me things to wear.” Flora pouted.
Sunders did not reply to the unproductive comment.
Flora kept slandering Angor, “Look, he tore your precious clothes. So disrespectful.”
Again, Sunders did not answer. The man looked back at the auction hall.
The bidding for the eyeless man had gone all the way to 100,000. Considering the value held by a gourmet wizard, it was completely expected. Everyone would want one of them to satisfy their appetite.