The copy calmed down within a few seconds, he stared back at Arthur and said emotionlessly

"So you found out."

Arthur shrugged nonchalantly and added:

"It's wasn't that hard to guess your identity. I have been having strange dreams for a period... I saw myself and Lucy but it was all blurry, what's more is that despite our exact appearances, we're totally different people. I also do not believe I'm your reincarnation whatsoever. What I don't understand, however, is what you want from me."

Arthur received only silence for an answer. After glaring at him for some time, the copy sighed and said

"You're right, we're separate entities but that doesn't mean that you have nothing to do with the whole matter. I won't add a single word about this matter until you reach a place called the Garden of Words."

With both parties not uttering any more words, Arthur swiftly left the ARK without even looking at his Status Window.

Once he opened his eyes, he found a strange-looking man gazing at him with a funny smirk on his face.

"Welcome back to reality."

Arthur took a few seconds to adjust his vision and check if his body is still injured. Fortunately, he seemed to be in his peak condition.

"I assume you're the one they call the Joker."

"Indeed I am, Arthur MoonStar."

Hearing his over-friendly tone, Arthur frowned and displeasingly said

"You speak as if we're acquaintances."

"Oh but we are! Even more than acquaintances but that's not why I'm here."

Arthur merely gazed at this man, expecting a reason for his unwelcome visit. In response, the Joker took out two red envelopes with a golden stamp on them and put them next to Arthur.

"I've already made a deal with your wife. I expect you two to come when my competition begins."

'A deal?'

Arthur wasn't aware of what happened but he trusted Lucy's so he didn't waste time asking about this deal as she would tell him later.

"Now then, onto the serious things."

The Joker took out a deck of cards and stretched to Arthur with their back facing the latter.

"Pick any card you like."

Seeing him do such a thing, Arthur remained unresponsive for half a minute before he picked a card after a bit of pondering.

The card turned to be a special card, the Joker card.

The Joker's grin widened as he spoke again

"You spent 3 seconds pondering about what card to choose but ultimately, you never had a choice."

He flipped all his card and surprisingly, they were all Joker cards. The Joker covered the fifty or so card for a split second only for them to turn into a normal deck of cards.

"It's called the illusion of choice. Spending time to think about useless things is often the demise of the most powerful people. Sometimes, it's better to not think but act on the spot but of course, that's just my opinion."

"What do you actually want?"

Arthur never liked beating around the bush so he directly asked the other party.

"Me? Nothing. I just want to tell you two things."

He pointed at the dark blade in the corner of the room whilst saying

"That blade will bring calamities to you but that's not my business. I will only interfere if you ever encounter one of the Seven Deadly Sins. If that happens, crush that card in your hand and I shall be summoned next to you."

"Why the Seven Deadly Sins?"

"It doesn't matter! It's only a one-time thing to pay back what you did for me in the past and if an encounter with them can be avoided then do so."

The Joker finally stood up from his seat walked to the door. Just as he was about to leave, he muttered a few words with a low tone

"Remember, your enemies are not the ones within but the ones outside and we 'three' shall be the ones to end it, once and for all."

With that last sentence said, the Joker left the room, at last, leaving a confused Arthur who doesn't know what the hell is going on.

Merely a few seconds after being left alone, Lucy's figure appeared next to Arthur. She looked at him tenderly and checked his body to see if something was done to him.

The only odd thing she found were the two red envelopes next to her husband.

.....

The couple spent two or so hours talking about the deal with the Joker and what happened when Arthur went out of control.

"... So she died?"

Arthur spoke with a bitter tone. He couldn't take revenge against the vicious ex-wife. However, the next sentence of Lucy startled him

"The Joker told me that although she died, we can surely bring her back from Hell but on the condition, we arrive at that place first."

He shook his head and said

"Let's leave at that. She didn't suffer enough but at least she died. We got more important things to do."

"En!"

Lucy agreed and leaned on his shoulder, smiling brightly as everything ended well and nothing horrible happened.

"I need to seclude myself for a few days. I need you to go get Gutcha."

Obviously, Lucy agreed and her short trip was postponed tomorrow. The couple spent the rest of night snuggling and doing what lovers do, any details shall be omitted!

.......

The next day, all the others were relieved to see Arthur healthy but didn't get to spent much time with him or Lucy. He secluded himself into a cave underground where no one can disturb him and Lucy was sent to Earth via a Spatial Tunnel he created.

Since she isn't proficient in Space Magic, Arthur created a special device with the help of Claud, his copy, to facilitate the trip to and from Earth.

The reason he needed to seclude himself still remains unknown, even to Lucy, but it surely had something to do with the notifications' log he read the night he woke up.

.........

East of Astria, precisely on the Itas Continent. In the middle of a thick forest a fair distance away from the World Tree, the Joker stood there silently with his eyes closed and a serious expression.

The small area around him was littered with blood, the stench was too nauseating and the ground was dyed red. The corpses belonged to ugly and scary looking monsters, each had more than two arms and they had distorted expression as they surely died a very miserable death.

"Sons of bitches really know how to hide."

He spat on the ground angrily then squatted down, grabbing a blue crystal that belonged to one of these monsters.

"Tch! Summoning crystals! I guess I have to make a detour."

He waved his hand, crushing all the crystals in the surroundings then took out a card a special grey card from his deck and used his hand to pulverize it thus activating the spell contained within

'Ghost Rat Trail : Activated'

The Joker's form blurred then vanished within a few seconds, disappearing from Astria.