Sip after step, it got harder and harder to reach Mike. The vines latched onto Silva and refused to allow him to move.

But Silva pushed through it, taking it step by step, though he wasn't sure if this would be enough, because the vines wrapping around Mike were getting more and more.

Silva decided to try something else; he needed a way to fight inside of Mike's mind, or else he wouldn't get there in time.

The only way to do that now was with the help of the system.

"System, purchase whatever it will take to allow me to get through this place faster," Silva gave a vague instruction.

Since his spells and skills didn't work here, he couldn't say for sure what would work, so he decided to leave it to the system.

[Unique Abyss spell purchased: The Joker of the Abyss]

[The Joker is a being beyond reason and reality, his uncanniness and craziness make him uncontrollable, a being that defies logic.]

The system offered a solution, but it didn't come at a small price; it cost Silva his entire SP in one go.

This was the first time he had bought anything so expensive; he didn't even think there were things this expensive.

The Joker spell activated, and a purplish aura enveloped Silva, changing his outfit into a purple Joker suit with a black shirt underneath.

White makeup covered his face, and a grin was drawn in red, his eyes glowing in a sinister way.

In his glove-covered hand lay a deck of cards, black as the abyss and giving off a terrible aura.

Silva didn't know why, but he felt free and untouchable in this form. Whatever this spell was, it was not normal.

He moved his hand, took a card out of the deck, and flipped it over. On the card, there was a sword, an A-ranked sword called "The Severing."

Silva knew that he didn't have this sort of weapon, but it seemed the Joker spell was the cause of this. He now understood why the Joker was said to be a being that defies logic.

The card lit up in a bright light and transformed into the Severing sword. SikaSik gripped it, and he felt the immense power flowing through it.

He raised the sword and took his next step. The vines shot at him, but he simply swung his blade, and several blade arcs shot out, destroying all the vines.

Kyaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

A loud screech sounded when Silva cut the vines. The vines gathered a small distance in front of Silva and turned into a humanoid figure.

"Are you the abomination taking over his mind? Hand over my brother now!" Silva demanded.

"He chose this path, his hate led him this way. There is no going back for him," the humanoid figure spoke in a very creepy voice.

"You will hand him over to me, or I'll tear you to pieces," Silva said, followed by an uncontrolled burst of laughter, a feature that came with the Joker—the inability to take anything seriously.

"Why am I begging this creature in the first place? I should just wipe him out," Sikag said with a grin and took out another card.

On the card was the imprint of a heart. It transformed into a real heart, and when the vine figure was set as the target, it transformed again into a vine-shaped heart.

The heart started beating in his palm. Silva squeezed it slightly.

Kyaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

The vine figure screamed in pain as soon as Silva pressed the heart. Silva looked up with a smile, took the Severing sword, and stabbed it into the heart.

The vine figure screamed even louder, but Sikag didn't care; he just stayed smiling.

Finally, he tore the blade out, and the heart crumbled, and so did the vine figure.

Now that the path had been cleared, Silva stopped the Joker spell and headed for Mike. He got to Mike, and the vines around him unraveled.

Silva caught Mike and held him tightly.

"Mike, if you are still in there, this is Silva. You may hate me, you may despise me. But remember that if you go, there will be people who will cry.

The friends you made, your mother and your father, your brother and your sister. Even me, because we haven't finished our brotherly feud. We haven't found out who wins.

You aren't just going to let me win, right? That's not who you are. You are a fighter; you never give up like that, and you push till the end, even against unimaginable odds.

I don't know where the Mike I know went when you left Roxy for dead or pushed us into the hole, but I believe that wasn't the real Mike there.

I know you believe that Lia hates you, but I promise you this: she will be sad if you die. So get back up and make her smile."

"Master, his body is transforming back to human," Fang told Silva telepathically.

'Guess it worked out then,' Sikag thought, looking at Mike.

"I'll be going ahead for now, so wake up and plot against me like you always do," Silva said and then ended the mind invasion spell.

He returned to his body that had been lying on the back of Fang. He sat up and looked at Mike. His body had turned back to normal, and he lay there unconscious on the floor, naked.

Quin took out a large piece of cloth and covered Mike up before picking him up.

Silva came down from Fang. "I'll be heading back to town with them, Fang. Stay in the forest a bit. A lot has happened, and I don't have the strength to start introducing you to everyone that asks," Silva said and left with Quin and the rest of the party.

His mind could not forget the person who had appeared out of nowhere and forced Mike's transformation.

He didn't sense that person's presence, even when the person appeared. Even Fang, who was a lot stronger, didn't sense the person.

"Who the hell was that?"