Transcending Realms With My Leveling System As A Demon-Chapter 65: Outplayed

"Hmhmh," Jace mumbled, stuttering continuously as he looked down, "but... I altered your memories."

"What do you mean?" Zylus grinned, "It was all an act." He finished slicing through Jace, kicking his back to the ground right after.

"But..." Jace’s face lingered in one awkward position. "How did you know my blessing?"

"Blessing?" Zylus paused, "What the fuck is a blessing?" He leaned in coldly, "I just figured it was something to do with altering memories."

"But-"

"It was kind of obvious," Zylus said, "the fact that you made Fred think you were his sister, the same way you made Clare think someone helped us infiltrate the academy, or maybe somebody actually did, but you made her forget, who knows?"

"That shouldn’t have been enough!" Jace pathetically screamed, and a yellow particle flew off his hair.

"Oh, it wasn’t," Zylus froze arrogantly, "it’s also the fact that you just randomly yelled out, ’The False Hydra.’"

"What if I did?!"

"You think I’m stupid? I’ve read a lot of literature when I was younger," Zylus continued, "reading about mythological creatures was just something I loved." Particles slowly but surely started coming off Jace’s hair. "You see, while ’The False Hydra’ can alter anybody’s memories, there’s a condition."

"Of course there is, but how would you know?!" He screamed, breathlessly trying to pick himself off the floor, but Zylus’s foot stopped him from doing so.

"Thank the author, not me." Zylus whispered, "But anyway, you have to be more arrogant than your opponent, and the reason it works all the time is that everybody in this world feels fear, which the creature feeds on."

"Then, how were you not affected?!" The yells continued, but the pity Zylus felt made his grin feel even better. These reactions are what he loves, the expression of his applied vengeance.

"Fear?" Zylus leaned closer to Jace’s left ear, "I can’t feel fear anymore; that emotion has been completely erased." He paused, "and you have to understand, a gambler has to always have one hundred and one percent confidence." Zylus winked, like a professor teaching his student a wise lesson.

"Of course, when you sang that lullaby, it activated what should’ve been a blessing to eradicate my memories, yet it didn’t work in your favor; rather, it worked in mine." Zylus declared.

Jace’s hair now flew in particles, each of his hair strands. He looked up, "You Demon!"

Zylus stomped on Jace’s leg, "I still had to play pretend, of course, so you can lower your guard and rid yourself of the one transparency blessing. So I just waited until you were arrogant enough to leave an opening." He said.

Particles now started to slowly come off of Jace’s leg, rising into the air, "But how could you trust your intuition so much! What if my lullaby didn’t signify the activation! What if those weren’t my powers in the first place!" He wanted an answer, a truthful answer, before being his end.

As the particles now climbed faster, connecting to his face, his eyes began slowly dispersing with it.

Zylus grinned, "I’m a gambler..." he paused, "a Wrestless Gambler."

"Damn you!" Just then, Jace began dispersing into the air; nothing of him was left, no remains at all, a fortunate end for somebody who had been manipulating Zylus this entire time.

With his death, it brought back the original memories to everybody he ever dealt with, even Clare, especially now.

"Hey Zylus!" Clare yelled, "Come back-"

"Don’t worry, Clare," Zylus smiled, "I’m fine, just fine."

"Did you figure out more about the academy yet?" She asked, her voice pulsed into the mic.

"I know more information than ever. It’s fine to leave the remainder, but there is still one more person I might have to deal with," Zylus said, his gaze darkening as he looked at Fred’s unconscious body.

Clare paused, "Okay, but be quick."

"No worries." He responded, calmly stepping up to Fred.

[Time Remaining: 10 Minutes]

Zylus stood right on top of Fred’s unconscious body. He tried not to look, he didn’t want to murder somebody as good a person as he is.

"Z-Zylus." Fred awakened, his former nervous self appeared, "What happened to your face?"

For some reason, he hesitated; he couldn’t murder him, even if it meant for the greater good.

Zylus lowered his hand, "Follow me, Fred."

He began walking. Fred got up, looking around, but he didn’t spot anything too suspicious. The bodies Zylus murdered were left under bushes. He got up as if he didn’t have any minor injuries.

It seemed as though Fred forgot everything: his fight against Zylus, what he did, and more. But it all made sense, his panicking form, and the original are like two different people entirely.

"C-coming!" Fred yelled, rushing to Zylus’s side. "Your face, Zylus, what’s wrong with it?"

"Oh, this?" He smiled gently, walking through the forest, "It’s a costume."

Fred shook, "Those types of costumes, they’re the ones that give me the butterflies."

He laughed right after. Zylus’s demeanor changed as he started walking faster, "Come on," waved to Fred, "Just up ahead."

Zylus suddenly stopped, looking down, as the wind breezed through him coldly.

"Why’d you stop-"

As Fred was about to ask, he caught up to Zylus, stopping just at a cliffside, a beautiful one.

"Is this place..." Fred paused, "In the air?"

"It feels as if it is," Zylus responded, his face saddened.

Below, you couldn’t see cities, lights, mountains, or anything apparent. All there were were clouds, beautiful artistic ones, ones that seemed fresh out of a painting.

"Why do you seem so sad, Zylus?" Fred asked, slightly worried, "What’s wrong?"

"Do you know what they mean when they say, ’we must do things for the greater good?’" Zylus asked, his gaze unshaken.

"Yeah, of course!" Fred paused, calmly taking all his surroundings in, "We have to sacrifice things to gain something better."

The wind breezed through most of them, as they stared each other deeply, Zylus especially. The bushes made soft noises, leaves fell from the trees, and the clouds below moved slowly in harmony.

Zylus and Fred stared at those clouds below, thinking of what beauty this world truly offers.

"Okay, that makes things better," Zylus’s gaze darkened, "then, you’ll understand this..."

Push.