[Nightmare]

"GHOST WALKER TRIGGER!?" Tilo roared.

"You used this [this] spell on yourself?

Just how depraved are you!?"

Tilo roared on the floor, laughing.

"Haaaaaah. What a champ." He chuckled.

He then stood up.

"Okay, what was your conditional trigger? I know you have—"

Tilo looked at Helix as though he had seen a ghost.

"M-Master, what is it?" Marie stuttered with a worried expression.

Tilo has fallen to his needs and started moving Helix's body frantically.

"Master!" Charlotte cried.

"Be still! He's fine!" Tilo roared in annoyance.

"It's just… this is incredible."

The women were relieved beyond words.

Tilo cast a couple of spells on Helix's body.

Then he picked the young man up and walked over to the group.

"Come on. Let's get this boy to a bed. We're done for the day.

I can't even eat lunch after what just happened! Hahaha!"

The young women grimaced after they processed what he had said.

They could relate.

The group walked in silence back to the home Helix was renting in town.

Tilo carefully walked him up the stairs to the room.

It was a slow process, and Tilo laughed every time he had to take a break.

He still felt sick.

Once they laid Helix on the bed, Charlotte broke the silence.

"Master. You told us that you'd explain what happened once he was here…." She said hesitantly.

"Haaaaaah." Tilo chuckled as he slumped in a leather chair in the corner of the room.

"Get comfy. This fight needs one hell of an explanation!"

The women saddled on the bed hesitantly.

"Hah! That boy has fought for the right to have multiple girlfriends doting on him." Tilo laughed.

"You don't have to be so reserved. Cuddle up or whatever you want.

You all did well today."

The women's eyes lit up.

Without being bashful, they all sat very close to Helix.

They weren't cuddling him, but everyone somehow had a leg and hand touching him.

"Alright, chief. Can you explain what Helix did during the match?" Charlotte requested.

"Let's start with how Helix ended up hitting me." Tilo began.

He explained how Helix had put his voice on top of Tilo's to hide the illusion.

The man surmised that there was a conditional trigger on the dummy to release the illusion instantly upon getting hit.

The illusion of victory, paired with Helix's voice next to him and seeing the dummy before his eyes, was disorienting.

Then the flashbang went off, destroying his field of vision and allowing Helix to win.

Helix only got hit because Tilo attacked by reflex after getting punched.

After all, a weak punch from Helix wouldn't cripple the man's battle capacity.

"So why were we getting sick?" She asked excitedly.

Tilo pulled out one of the magic circles Helix used.

"That spell is called Ghost Walker Trigger.

It's a spell for creating illusions of clones."

Charlotte's eyes widened.

"Why would he use a cloning spell when his Nightmare uses illusions?" She asked.

Tilo slumped into the chair, sending a wry smile to the ceiling.

"Girl, that spell is an intermediate spell that should be easy to detect and dispel.

However, that boy continues to prove it's the most brutal spell in existence!" He laughed.

Charlotte's eyes gilded in confusion, and Marie raised an eyebrow.

"Let me tell you the history of that spell!" Tilo announced.

He spent fifteen minutes describing the hallucinogenic experience he had fighting Helix for the first time.

The women giggled as they heard the bizarre account.

They learned how reckless it was and how he [technically] won.

Tilo made the story as dramatic as it was.

Of course, he left out the detail where Helix almost got his chest smashed in.

Tilo didn't lack that much tact.

"Now that you know what he did in the past, look at his palms." Tilo chuckled.

Riley's eyes lit up with fascination.

"Magic circles!? How didn't I notice."

"I hid them with a concealment spell." Tilo chuckled.

"I don't want him flaunting a trump card."

Charlotte looked at Tilo.

"These aren't Ghost Walker Trigger, though...."

"No. They're a mundane conditional spell that's connected with the alignment of Ghost Walker Trigger." Tilo chuckled.

"He was using it with a condition."

Everyone looked at Tilo in confusion.

"When he did [something] unknown with his hands, it caused his body to glitch the slightest amount." Tilo chuckled.

"So we'd clash swords three times, and something wouldn't align on the fourth strike.

But then, everything would be normal for two or three strikes before the next glitch."

Marie's eyes filled with understanding.

Charlotte and Riley listened with gawking expressions.

"Sometimes, things would be normal for two strikes.

Sometimes there would be glitches back to back.

It was seemingly random, so I couldn't anticipate it even though I knew what was happening." He continued.

"That's why you were getting sick.

The sound and sights weren't aligning, and it happened at random intervals."

"Oooooooh. That must have sucked fighting that….

Haha. Hellie is a boss!" Charlotte cried.

Tilo gave her a wry smile.

"Yes. It was awful. The frustrating thing was that the boy had five of those circles.

So when I negated one, there was a trigger to the next one.

The glitches were different on each, so each time it reset, I didn't know what to expect." He explained.

"However, he did. He was controlling the glitches so he could at least anticipate.

What a nightmare. That boy's preparations and ingenuity are becoming monstrous.

I'd think he's just getting used to me, but I imagine hitting someone with something like this out of the blue is game over."

"That's amazing…." Marie commented with wide eyes.

"Hah. If you like it, you should do it." Tilo chuckled.

"You were doing the same thing during our match.

If you switched the frequencies in random intervals, you could achieve that same effect."

Marie's eyes lit up.

"You're right! He gave me that strategy.

So I think he was showing me how to use it better." She exclaimed while clasping her hands.

"I knew that the moment that I saw it." Tilo chuckled.

"Your control was flawless. I was shocked."

Marie's face filled with pride.

"Same with you, Riley. I was very impressed." He added with a gentle smile.

"And for you…."

Tilo looked at Charlotte with a wry smile.

"We're going to bring out your Nightmare's full potential.

That thing is a trump card at Level 1!"

Charlotte showed a proud expression, but she instantly turned back to Helix.

"Yeah. It's strong, but your story just made me realize that raw strength won't win against a smart opponent." She said.

Marie and Riley nodded.

"I mean damn! Hellie won in a fight against you the day he woke up!?" Charlotte cried.

Marie's eyes trembled.

"I don't understand…." She whispered.

While Marie was impressed, she was worried Helix was being reckless because of Emelia's death.

"Hah. I'm not sure why you're so surprised he could fight when he knew he wouldn't die." Tilo laughed.

Marie, Charlotte, and Riley's eyes widened in understanding.

"That's right. Unlike before, he knew he'd live and he was given rules to play by." Tilo continued.

"Helix is a gamemaster. So when he was given parameters, he exploited them."

The young women looked at Helix with shocked expressions.

"If you think about it, he's always come out on top." Tilo pointed out.

"Helix survived the beginning by luring scum to hit him to prove their instability.

He couldn't use his Nightmare, so he baited them to hit him.

Then he knew there were death threats against his life.

However, allegations would spark retaliation, so he entered the deathmatch against someone in the bottom 25% of the class to gain undeniable proof with a blood pact.

The boy still couldn't release information on one person without retaliation because he couldn't take down everyone.

So he used the information from the blood pact to create a trigger to cause chaos and get their entire party taken down simultaneously for protection.

I doubt he would have used it in battle. It's more likely he planned to plant it for them to find if they were moving to attack.

If that wasn't enough, he created countermeasures to prevent you three from attacking the group so you could play the hero.

The boy won't admit it because he's smart, but he strong-armed the Kingdom into protecting him and you three.

I'm sure he didn't tell any of you about the information he gathered for the same reason.

If it didn't work out heavily in our favor, that boy wouldn't be alive now.

I doubt he'll ever tell you out of fear it could get you implicated in his strategy.

That's why he consistently warned Macron and others, collected and sat on a treasure trove of information, and let their plots stew until it was a threat in Alzeria's favor.

That's what caught our attention. While it was borderline treason, we understood his good intentions and desperation. Moreover, it was necessary.

That's why Alzeria didn't hold it against him and figured he'd be valuable to train."

The women looked at each other in pure astonishment.

They knew Helix had a plan, but they didn't understand the extent.

That wasn't the only reason the kingdom allowed [grandmasters] to follow Helix.

Aside from the Myriad Library, they also knew how valuable Marie, Charlotte, and Riley were.

As a result, they figured that training Helix would build a valuable bridge between potential resources.

Moreover, they couldn't harm Helix without his faction destroying a part of the kingdom.

They were genuinely strongarmed.

It was a complicated situation, but it worked out for everyone.

Of course, Tilo wouldn't tell them the rest of the story.

"He worked with the limitations and played by the rules.

In the end, he won. He has always won.

Maybe not against me 98% of the time, but he's always won when it mattered." Tilo chuckled.

"No... that boy... He's not [a] gamemaster. He's [The Gamemaster].

That's what caught Tyrene and I's attention.

So you shouldn't be surprised. This is just another situation where he's won once again."

Pride and excitement filled the women's faces as they gazed down at Helix's sleeping face.

"He does look like he's wearing a shit-eating grin right now, doesn't he?" Charlotte laughed.

Marie and Riley giggled, and Tilo followed. Then they waited for the gamemaster to wake up.

—

[A/N: Only a few more days until the start of a wild mini-arc. I have a surprise for all of you!]