Unfortunately, the attack wasn't enough to even shake the Joker, who remained unfazed and motionless even when the fist landed on his body. In fact, Arthur, who was in an enraged state, was sent flying as if he was the one who got hit.

Although he wasn't injured, the Joker frowned and pondered about something as he gazed at Arthur, who swiftly stabilized his body and charged at him again.

This time, the fist seemed uncomparably slow as it glowed with a green light. [Heavenly Mountain Fist] Empathizes slowness and monstrous strength. However, it only looked slow to weaker people. In reality, the fist was so fast that even Sovereigns wouldn't be able to react before being obliterated by it.

As it cracked the air and released an unimaginable pressure, the fist left waves of black flames behind it as it clashed with the Joker, who stretched his palm to counter-attack.

He used no skills or technique, merely his physical strength. Contrary to the silent yet enraged Arthur, the mysterious man was bursting with laughter as he excitedly resisted Arthur's fist.

The clash was enough to cause tremors all over Astria and alert all of its citizens. What's more worrying is the complete darkness that covered the whole world. In such darkness, only the World Tree and the Joker emitted enough light to illuminate a few their surroundings.

In this second clash, the result was the same as Arthur was sent flying like a kite. The bones of his fist were shattered and it became completely useless only to be instantly healed a second later.

"Hahahahahah I must say, it's been such a long time since someone was able to contend against my physical body!"

This time, Arthur didn't charge at his opponent. He remained in the darkness for a few seconds. The longer he remained passive the more pressure the Joker felt.

Bored from waiting and since he can't clash with Arthur if the latter remains fused with the darkness around him, the Joker clicked his tongue and waved his hand which was holding a simple looking card.

"10♥ Rain of Negation!"

Just as he muttered the name of his spell, the card glowed with an unusual light. Then, by the next moment, rain made of crystalline and shiny droplets fell down from above and purged all the darkness in the surrounding areas. The looming darkness couldn't even resist again those droplets.

When the view returned to normal, the Joker was able to locate Arthur, who transformed into a dark figure with lengthy wings made from dark flames and a miniature dark red sun floating just above him.

The sun was emitting a terrifying heat that surprised the usually nonchalant Joker.

"Hooo... the flames of hell... is it?"

Before he could contemplate the miniature sun for a bit longer, Arthur vanished from his spot and appeared right in front of the Magician.

A powerful burst of Dark Magic exploded from his body, pushing the enemy a few steps but before his next attack could land, he was hit from the behind by a monstrous force.

Unlike last time, Arthur wasn't sent flying as his new version of [Eternium] boosted his defense to a high degree. As he was pushed a few dozen meters, another silhouette appeared before him and used a simple palm to blow him a distance away.

The Joker, who didn't move from his initial position, was holding another card that glowed with a red light before it disappeared

"2♥ Heart's Haze."

This was none other than the card he used against the reaper. It has a simple function of creating two clones of himself and there was no drawback to using it. The clones had physical strength similar to his and were literally past versions of himself.

The two blows Arthur just suffered didn't cause him any injuries. He angrily glared at the three Jokers then raised his hands while unleashing an absurd amount of Dark Mana.

This lead to the sky turning jet black from the countless number of Heavenly Arrows that appeared. Each has a pressure more suffocating than the other and unlike the time against the Divine Beasts, these Heavenly Arrows were a mix of pure Dark Magic and Death Energy.

Seeing the spectacle above him, The Joker's face showed a wide grin as his expression was devoid of worry or fear. His two clones appeared next to him and strangely intersected their fingers to make a triangle while pointing toward the cluster of arrows, which were rotating each other.

Slowly but surely, the huge cluster of dark arrows, which were two to three meters in length, formed a slowly rotating tornado that shattered space and sucked all the wind and air around them.

The tornado of arrows' target was none other than the Joker, who imitated his clones and excitedly shouted

"Let the show begin! Hahahahah"

As his words fell, with a speed faster than sound and due to the short distance separating the tornado from its target, it seemed as if it teleported right above the Joker.

The Magician wasn't fazed as the simple motion he did with his finger created a two meters long triangle that blasted a ray of golden light which penetrated the tornado and dispersed all the arrows within a split second.

As he saw this result, the Joker sighed and gazed the golden ring he was wearing with a sad tone

"It's really a shame... it's flashy and powerful but not really my style. Oh well! At least I tried it."

He nonchalantly shrugged his shoulders then turned to face Arthur, who was done preparing his next attack.

The miniature sun was pulsing with an ominous red light as if it was about to explode. Just when the Joker shifted back his attention to Arthur, the sun disappeared from existence and the heavens above were split in two as a large flaming lotus descended from above and burned even space itself.

The flaming lotus created space tears all around it but even those insanely dangerous tears weren't able to affect its pressure or heat.

Seeing yet another beautiful spectacle, the Joker's expression brightened again. A few dozen cards appeared in his hand and as the lotus was descending and was ready to roast him alive, he kept his calm and inspected his guards. He was stuck in a dilemma and wondering which card to choose. Finally, when his strange clothes starting to show signs of burns, he covered his eyes and shuffled the cards before picking a card in random. He stealthily peeked at the chosen card then muttered

"It's a bit of an overkill but... luck has chosen this one."

'9♦ Arrow of the Diamond Queen.'