“I am a trickster.”

“…” Theodon’s expression darkened. He knew that Theo had been faking everything this whole time. It turned out his real plan was to make him lower his guard instead of defeating him.

It was true that crushing someone had a different meaning for a trickster.

For Theo, crushing Theodon meant completely fooling him until he defeated him.

And Theo had succeeded in doing so.

“I see. So, that’s how it is…” Theodon was annoyed, but he couldn’t help but acknowledge this defeat. Theo’s way was truly similar to the God of Mischief.

The only reason why he considered Loki as his friend was due to his trickery that made him lose. And this time, Theo did exactly the same. Though, he didn’t know whether Loki or Theo was superior. He would probably not get the answer since both of them were on the same side.

“I see. It seems that the ultimate move is not what it seems…” Theodon let out a long sigh.𝑂𝚟𝐋xt.𝓒𝒪𝐦

Theo’s reply came in the form of a smile.

Theodon finally explained what Theo did. “You were going around to find the exit in a place with no exit. After confirming that you had no way out, you were tricking me into thinking that you had gradually lost all hope.

“But if you continue your acts just like that, I wouldn’t believe you. But you actually tried to use your ultimate move out of desperation. This made me believe that you were completely out of options.

“Unfortunately, that was actually the trick. By making you look like you have surrendered, you force me to come out. After all, you know that I want to teach you. There’s no way you’re not going to use that opportunity to deal with the killing blow.

“And I never thought you would use him to distract me.” Theodon sighed. “I should have known… No, even if I tried to see through your scheme, I wouldn’t be able to figure out the situation. After all, you also knew him, especially how he acted.

“Just like how he told me in the past.” Theodon paused for a moment as he closed his eyes, remembering the time when they sat in front of each other.

“How did you even come up with that trick? I couldn’t even see through anything.” Theodon sighed, asking Loki.

Loki only smiled as he calmly said, “I guess you can say there is one trick.”

“A trick?”

“Yeah. The secret is simple. I just have to know you and all the things I use as an illusion. If I don’t know how the soil behaves, I won’t know if the sand will fly if the wind is blowing. If I don’t know how you behave, I won’t be able to create an illusion of how you will act…”

Theodon was stupefied at that time. After all, Loki meant he knew about him. “Why do you even know about me? You’re not even from here. Don’t tell me you have been following me this whole time.”

Loki shrugged while saying playfully, “Who knows.”

Theodon knew that he must have been around him this whole time. He just didn’t know who he impersonated.

Remembering that conversation, Theodon let out a sigh as he looked at Theo with a serious expression.

“Since you have defeated me, I’m going to tell you about three things you need to know about Reality.” Theodon raised three fingers.

Since he had confirmed his defeat, Theo also turned back his sword into the bracelet form and listened to him.

Theodon asked with a smile. “Do you know what happened earlier?”

Theo shook his head. “I’m not sure.”

Theodon then raised his hands, projecting a small humanoid figure and a huge barrier that isolated him.

“This is the barrier earlier. But when you’re moving…” Theodon started moving the humanoid figure to the front like how Theo moved earlier. In that instant, the barrier started to change its shape.

The half sphere was stretched to where Theo was going, matching it so that Theo remained in the middle. When Theo reached one place, he ended up reaching the middle of the barrier again.

After that, Theodon showed him what happened when Theo turned into a dragon form as well as flying into the air. Everything was similar to what happened earlier until Theo gave up.

“This…” Theo sucked a cold breath, never expecting the trick to be like this. “So, you have been matching my movement this whole time?”

“Of course.” Theodon smiled.

“But I still can’t understand how you hid from me when I used that technique to illuminate the entire area,” Theo asked. He remembered that Theodon was nowhere to be seen. And he had even changed the rule of an area with a diameter of a quarter mile.

Theodon smiled. “It’s simple.”

Theodon formed another humanoid figure, but this time outside the barrier.

“Wait a minute…” Theo gasped. “So, have you been utilizing a black screen this whole time? Depending on the material, the black color can absorb all light completely. It can create an illusion that the surrounding area is still covered in pitch darkness.

“But that color should have been changed when I used that ability…” Theo narrowed his eyes, realizing what he had done earlier.

“After seeing how your ability reacted, I knew I had to change the color of my screen. So, I simply followed it while coming out of the barrier.”

Theo scratched the back of his head, not knowing what to say. He was completely defeated by this barrier even though he still won the match. It felt like he lost the battle but won the war.

“I guess I have a lot to learn after this.” Theo sighed. However, he noticed something was wrong. “Now that I think about it, I felt something ominous looming in the darkness. What is that?”

The answer to that question came in the form of a playful smile. It seemed Theodon was annoyed by Theo’s trick earlier, so he also teased him by whispering with a cheeky tone. “You better don’t know about it. Hehehe…”

“…”