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Jin sat down on his bed; his eyes narrowed. He had been really acting different nowadays. The Healstone still had an effect on him. He really could express a bit of emotion, but the emptiness was still present.

He opened his system screen; and singled out but one skill alone. 'I can't have you guys stopping me from doing what I must,' he thought, furrowing his brows.

He had three horrible dreams in a row. One of them occurred after going unconscious the day when Benji had massacred him. After loosing to Benji, Jin had noticed that he was weaker than he had thought, and wanted to make a difference.

These dreams were about the arrival of the demons. He had no idea how these lucid dreams were so vivid and so rich in detail. He couldn't understand these dreams. But, he felt that there was a slight chance the system was trying to tell him something.

Get ready. He believed that a time would come where there was going be nothing but war and apocalypse. Soon even the government would know about the systems and would want them for themselves.

***

Jin leaned against the wall; sweating.

Cliff laughed, lowering his scythe to his side. "Ha Ha! You're fucked if you have to use this weapon someday, kid."

"It's not like it's my taste either way," Jin replied. "And I still don't trust you, so I don't think a day would come where I use one of your belongings."

Cliff looked at him. "Whatever you say, kid. But I just explained who am I and why I'm here. About ten minutes ago. Again, I don't want to be here. I'm just doing my job before I get erased by the system.

"I'm your Disciple. It fucking hates me to say it, but hey, what can I possibly do about it? Trust me or not—I'll still be here, just like your friends."

Jin glared at him. "I trust my friends."

Cliff's weapon vanished. He jammed his hands in his pockets, and glanced at Jin. "But do they trust you? This 'new' you?"

Jin averted his eyes; now looking down at the floor. He hadn't said anything after that.

"Thought so," Cliff looked away from him, "That's just the way it is. Everything happens for a reason. And right now—if you truly care about your friends—you need to get rid of them.

"After being betrayed, you came back to the very same location known by the demons. In other words, you could expect a ravage to come some time. But hey, at least it's expected, amirite?"

Cliff looked mortally at Jin. Jin didn't look back—but he knew the gawk was there. Cliff shook his head. "I understand why you haven't relocated yet, kid. I do. This house has memories of lost times. And it's the easiest way to find Nyx and the others. Only a fucking arsehole searches for revenge. I hope you do know that.

"And worst of all, the house is filled with your friends you care so much about. Should Nyx and the others attack. You'll loose 'em, loose them all. Now," he pushed a hand in his pocket, "I'm sure you don't want that," he pulled out a cigarette."

Jin glared at him. "So what do you want me to do? You think I want them here? They won't leave. Not knowing I'm fine, they won't."

Cliff said, "Even if the demons have no plans to attack your home. There are other dangers of having them around you while you coming your atrocious deeds. One of them … can potentially sell you out. Or even worse; who knows? Take that girl for instance. She's gonna go looking for you."

Jin raised a brow. "What girl?"

"Sylvia, is it?"

"How'd you know about her?"

"If I know about your mother and father—of course I know about one of your crushes."

Jin glared at him. "I don't like her … not anymore. I hate her. And what are you saying about her coming here?"

"Forget it."

It grew silent for a while.

"There are only a few ways your friends could be safe around you or not, kid. It's either they get strong enough themselves to take on demons—your friend Tristan looks like he's in good shape for that. Or … you have them leave your house, knowing that you are your 'old' self.

"The former is more promising, since y'know … demons are going to be attacking the whole city and your weak friends would be hopeless by themselves. So … you should get them strong even if you go with the choice of having them leave your house."

Jin grimaced. "How am I suppose to do any of those options? It's not like I can just give them orders, and they'll do them. They see me as a murderer."

"It's easy," Cliff said, "use a certain skill, which is at your disposal right now. Doing this, you can get them to do both of these things easily. Deceive, manipulate—power. Or … since they see you as a murderer, hurt them a bit—I'm sure they'll run away."

***

Jin tapped into more details on the skill he had been looking at. "Having grandma and Benji under this skill for so long had leveled it up when I had absolutely no idea."

[Skill: Deceptive Delusion] [Level 5]

[Level 1: Delude beings into believing what is not the truth.

Level 2: A single belief alone with regards to what is said lingers as truth can potentially put people under the spell.

Level 3: When in a Delusion; the victim no longer believes anything that's outside of this delusion and opposes it. Said victim doesn't see what he doesn't want to see.

Level 4: When already in a Delusion; the victim can now be placed into more delusions similar in belief to the first.

Level 5: Additionally, a victim under the hex can pass the hex to another person who has the slightest belief that coincides with what he himself falsely believes.]

"I believe Sylvia had experienced the effects of both level two and three," said Jin, softly, "That should be enough to keep her out of my way.

"Upon testing the skill repeatedly on Ashton at the Chinese restaurant—I learned a lot of things. In a way," he smirked, "you can manipulate him. You can get him to do what you want him to."

'I'll get rid of those I don't want in my way. I don't want my friends in my way either. So I'll have to get them out of my way. I'll finally become dependent. How can they possibly help me when they're not even around me?'

'I'm tired of them getting in my way. I don't like it when they look at me as if I'm some murderer. I don't want them to paint me as that for I am superior to a murderer. I'll delude them into thinking all is right with me—I'll never be belittled to just a murderer again. I do what I must. And what I must, I'll do."

'To repay them for what they've all done for me; I'll manipulate them into getting strong even when they have no idea they are. This … is a Scheme.'

He grinned. "This level one skill truly is OP!"