"All of you can only see one."
Zylus did not raise his voice when he said it. He did not point. He did not mock. The words left him softly, almost like a thought that slipped out by accident. Yet to him, they carried weight.
The blood he had spat earlier trembled on the ground. Thin dark stains between cracks in the arena floor. Slowly, carefully, it lifted. Just a little. Not enough to draw attention. Not enough to look unnatural. It was subtle, like steam rising from warm stone.
To Zylus, it was clear. To everyone else, it was nothing.
The crowd kept roaring. Coins clinked. Laughter rolled through the stands. They saw a masked fighter standing still after getting beaten down, staring at the empty air.
Zarek narrowed his eyes."You finally lost it?" he asked.
Zylus didn’t answer imdiately. His focus wasn’t on Zarek. It was in the space in front of him, where black translucent screens hovered quietly.
[Human System]
[Status: Active]
[Elental Affinity: Blood Oath]
[Orders Available: 1 / 2]
No sound. No glow. No presence that could be sensed. Even the Fifth Rank, seated above the glass barrier with wine in hand and a woman leaning against his shoulder, showed no reaction. No flicker of awareness.
That was the strange part. This wasn’t stealth. This wasn’t concealnt. It was an absence. The Demon Realm did not acknowledge the Human System at all. As if it did not exist under its rules.
Zylus breathed in slowly. "So this place really can’t see you," he whispered.
Zarek shifted his stance. "Who are you talking to?"
Zylus finally lifted his head. "Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."
Zarek snorted. "You’re stalling."
Zylus smiled faintly. "No. Give a second."
Just then, the man who would never lung first, did it this ti.
Zarek pushed himself forward.
"Coming first this ti, cool," Zylus whispered, lifting his arms.
His fist ca forward fast and clean, aid for Zylus’s face. Zylus leaned back slightly, but not enough to avoid it completely. The punch brushed his cheek. Skin split. A warm line of blood ran down and dripped onto the stone.
The crowd exploded.
"He landed again!""Just end him already!"
Zylus touched his cheek with two fingers and watched the blood drop.
[Blood Registered]
[Order 1 Condition: Active]
Zylus exhaled. Slow. Calm.
"So it still works," he thought. "Even here."
Zarek stopped advancing. "You’re smiling again."
Zylus looked at him. "Because you’re proving sothing for ."
Zarek frowned. "What?"
"That your strength is real.""And that my system is too."
Zarek rushed again, this ti with no hesitation. Two punches. One aid for the ribs. One aid for the jaw. Zylus blocked the second but let the first land.
Pain surged through his side. His body shifted back several steps.
[Blood Registered]
Zylus’s blood still hasn’t surpassed the limit where his technique will beco unusable. The crowd roared louder. Zylus straightened slowly. His breathing never broke his rhythm.
Zarek laughed. "You don’t even defend yourself."
Zylus replied quietly, "I don’t need to yet."
Zarek’s smile faded. "You talk like you’re already winning."
Zylus tilted his head slightly. "Maybe because I do." His eyes narrowed.
Zarek attacked again. Faster. Stronger. The Demon Realm style was brutal and direct. No wasted motion. No hesitation. Zylus let another hit land against his shoulder. Blood spilled again.
[Blood Registered]
Zylus could feel it now. The balance. The amount of blood he had gathered was small, but precise. Controlled. Exactly within the system’s limit.
Order 1 had been registered to activate through its given permission. Fortunately for Zylus, it worked because he had reached the percentage between the maximum and minimum.
[Blood Loss: 5%]
From the outside, he looked like a fighter being dismantled slowly. From the inside, he was assembling sothing invisible.
The Fifth Rank took another sip of wine, bored. The woman laughed at sothing he said. Not a single glance toward Zylus.
"So even you," Zylus thought, "can’t see it."
That made his chest feel strangely heavy.
"What are you really?" Zylus wondered, looking at the holographic screen in front of him. "A system? A rule breaker? Or sothing that doesn’t belong in any realm?"
Zarek rushed again as Zylus lifted his hand slightly.
"Order one," he whispered."Piercing Blood."
Zarek suddenly froze mid-step. His face twisted. His leg buckled.
"AAH!"
He dropped to one knee, clutching his calf as blood poured through his fingers.
The arena fell into confusion.
"What happened?""He didn’t touch him!""Did sothing explode?"
Zarek stared at his wound in disbelief."You didn’t hit ."
Zylus stepped forward calmly."No. You hit ."
Zarek looked up, fear beginning to crack his certainty."What are you?"
Zylus paused.
"Noelle," he answered... honestly, "Noelle Crucifix."
And for the first ti, that frightened him more than the fight itself.
The arena was built on rules. Everyone there understood that. No matter how brutal the fight beca, no matter how much blood-stained the stone, so lines could not be crossed. And right now, one of those lines was clear.
No systems allowed. Well, no Demonic systems at least.
The Fifth Rank had made that decision the mont the match began. This duel was ant to be raw. Body against body. Skill against skill. Power stripped down to flesh and instinct.
That was why the silence around Zylus felt so heavy. Not because he was using sothing forbidden. But because he wasn’t using anything at all. No one, not a single soul, was able to see it; it simply looked as if one man was using so psychotic trick.
Zarek could feel it. Every fighter in the stands could. Normally, even when systems were suppressed, there was still residue. A faint pressure. A dormant hum in the air. That was systemic flow. It never truly vanished. It only slightly declined, because that’s the flow of this realm.
But around Zylus, it felt... empty.
Not suppressed. Not sealed. Just absent.
Zarek leaned against the wall, blood soaking his side. His breath was rough, his body screaming for him to activate sothing, anything. His system was locked. He could feel it pressing against an invisible barrier, useless and silent.
"You’re not using your system," Zarek said slowly. "I can tell."
Zylus looked at him calmly. "Neither are you."
"That’s the rule."
Zylus nodded. "Exactly. So then, why are you confused?"
Zarek clenched his teeth. "Then explain how you’re doing this."
Zylus didn’t answer imdiately. He wasn’t hiding anything. He just enjoyed the delay. The way confusion settled into Zarek’s eyes. The way his understanding of the world began to crack.
"My physical capabilities, of course," Zylus said. "Nothing else but that."
Zarek pushed himself slightly upright. "Then what is this?"
Zylus gestured lightly toward him. "This is my Demonic physical capabilities, like I said."
Lie after lie, Zylus slightly giggled.
The crowd whispered amongst themselves. They were used to seeing physical techniques. Used to seeing flow. But Zylus was doing nothing. No stance that suggested a system. No trace of activation. No distortion in the air.
Yet, Zarek, the man who was renowned as the strongest in the arena, was losing.
Zylus stepped forward. He moved almost lazily. His aura was aggressive.
Zarek tried to stand fully. His leg shook. His system wanted to engage. His instincts scread at him to release power. But he couldn’t.
"This isn’t a system fight," Zylus said. "This is what you look like without one."
Zarek spat out blood. "You sound proud."
"I am," Zylus replied. "Not because I’m stronger. But because you’re weaker."
Zarek stared at him. "Everyone relies on their system."
"Exactly, that’s why all of you lose." Zylus said, "And why, I always win."
He didn’t activate anything. He didn’t command anything. The Human System remained silent, invisible, untouched. Not because it couldn’t be used, but because it didn’t need to be.
Zylus was proving sothing far more valuable. That even without his greatest weapon, he was still above them.
He moved in close. Not to strike. Just to stand where Zarek could feel more of his malicious presence.
"You think my system is what makes dangerous," Zylus said quietly. "But you were already losing before I ever considered using it."
Zarek swallowed. "You’re wrong."
Zylus tilted his head. "Then stand."
Zarek tried. His legs buckled again. He caught himself on one arm, breathing heavily. His body had nothing left to give.
Zylus watched him like a scientist observing a failed experint.
"So fragile," he thought. "Without structure, you collapse."
The Fifth Rank observed from above. His eyes narrowed, not in anger, but in interest. This was not the kind of dominance that ca from overwhelming power. This was sothing subtler. More unsettling.
Zylus was winning without breaking any rules. Without touching the system.Without challenging authority.
He was proving superiority within their own restrictions.
The knight overseeing the match shifted. "You can end it," he said.
Zylus glanced at Zarek. The man was broken, but alive. Still breathing. Still thinking.
"No," Zylus replied calmly. "This is better."
Zarek looked up. "Better for who?"
"For ."
Zylus straightened and turned away slightly, as if the fight was already over.
"You fought with everything your realm gave you," Zylus said. "And it still wasn’t enough."
Zarek’s hands trembled. "So what are you?"
Zylus paused.
He could say demon. He could say human. He could say system bearer.
But none of those felt accurate.
"I’m what exists before permission," he said.
The announcer inside the glass barrier raised himself, slamming onto the table, he grinned.
"The duel is over! Winner, Noelle Crucifix!"
The announcent felt glorious.
Zylus walked away slowly.
Not because he was tired or because he was satisfied. But because the experint was complete. He had learned sothing important. The Human System can not be seen by Demons, while also being real, and can affect them.
And that ant, when he finally chose to use it in this realm...
They wouldn’t even understand what had hit them.
"This wasn’t even why I ca here in the first place," Zylus smiled, "but it works out."
He kept his mask on.
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