The Central Arena was deafening.
Fifty thousand people were screaming my name. Or maybe they were screaming for my blood. It was hard to tell over the sound of my own heart trying to escape my ribcage.
I stood in the center of the sand-covered ring, wearing my usual black coat. My hands were shoved deep into my pockets.
Not to look cool. But because if I took them out, everyone would see them shaking like leaves in a hurricane.
(I am going to die. I am going to die in front of a live studio audience.)
Across from me stood Daichi. He was clad in gleaming red mage armor, surrounded by floating orbs of fire. He looked like a protagonist.
I looked like a guy who had forgotten to eat breakfast for three days.
"Renji Amagiri!" the announcer boomed. "The man who claims he can win without using his hands! Is it arrogance? Or is it godhood?"
Daichi spat on the ground. The saliva sizzled.
"You're going to regret humiliating me," he shouted, his mana flaring. "I'm going to burn that smug look right off your face!"
I didn't reply. I couldn't. If I opened my mouth, I might vomit blood. The black tar I had coughed up last night was a grim reminder that my 'Sealed Power' was actually just organ failure.
I simply looked at him and sighed.
To the audience, it was a sigh of boredom. To me, it was a wheeze of pain.
"Begin!"
Daichi didn't hesitate.
"Fireball!"
He launched three spheres of flame. They roared through the air, aimed straight at my chest.
I didn't move.
(I can't dodge. I literally cannot dodge.)
Instead, I gripped the small black scroll hidden inside my pocket.
[Item Activated: Nightmare Projection.] [Target: Daichi.] [Manifesting: Subconscious Fear - 'The Vengeful Spirit'.]
Fwoosh.
The fireballs evaporated inches from my face.
Daichi blinked.
To the crowd, I hadn't moved. The fire had just... fizzled out against my aura.
But to Daichi, the world had changed.
He didn't see a sunny arena anymore. He saw a dark, claustrophobic closet. And standing where I was... wasn't a human.
It was a towering, ten-meter tall specter wreathed in black shadows, with empty eyes that bled oil.
Daichi shrieked. It was a high-pitched sound that cracked his voice.
"G-G-Ghost!" he screamed, stumbling back. "Stay away!"
He fired a blast of flame at the empty air two meters to my left.
"Die! Stay back!"
He swung his staff wildly, fighting an invisible enemy. He ducked under phantom claws. He rolled away from imaginary bites.
I stood perfectly still in the center of the chaos.
(Please don't accidentally hit me. You're aiming very close to my head.)
The crowd went silent, then erupted.
"Did you see that?!" "He's moving so fast he's creating afterimages!" "Daichi can't even touch him! Renji is dodging before Daichi even swings!"
In the VIP box, I saw Detective Sae Kirishima stand up, her binoculars pressed to her eyes. She looked confused.
Runa was cheering from the sidelines, waving a flag she had made herself. "Master! Show him the Void Step!"
(It's called 'Standing Still Step', Runa.)
"Why won't you die?!" Daichi screamed, blasting a crater into the sand. Tears were streaming down his face. "I'm not scared of ghosts! I'm not!"
He was hyperventilating. The hallucination was doing its job. He was wasting all his mana fighting air.
I decided to add a verbal component to seal the deal.
"Is that all?" I whispered.
The System amplified my voice, projecting it directly into Daichi's ear like a ghostly rasp.
Daichi froze. He looked at me—or rather, the Demon God overlaying me.
"You..." he whimpered. "You're a monster."
"Kneel," I commanded.
Daichi's knees buckled. He fell to the sand, trembling.
It was over. I had won without lifting a finger. The crowd roared.
[Desire Points Gained: +500.]
I relaxed my grip on the scroll.
That was my mistake.
The Nightmare Projection had a duration of 60 seconds. I had gotten cocky at 58 seconds.
The illusion flickered.
Daichi blinked, shaking his head. The giant demon vanished. The dark closet dissolved.
He saw the arena again. He saw the crowd laughing at him.
And he saw me. Standing there. Smirking.
The fear in his eyes didn't disappear. It curdled. It turned into something much more dangerous.
Humiliation.
"You..." Daichi scrambled to his feet, his face twisting into a mask of pure hate. "You tricked me! You made me look like a fool!"
His mana flared. Not the controlled orange fire of before, but a chaotic, white-hot flame fed by adrenaline and shame.
"I'll kill you!" he screamed. "I don't care about the rules! I'll turn this whole arena to ash!"
He raised both hands. A massive sphere of plasma formed above his head. It was the size of a car.
The heat hit me like a physical blow. My coat began to smoke.
(Uh oh.)
"Daichi, stop!" The referee shouted, running forward. "That spell is forbidden in the arena!"
Daichi ignored him. He hurled the massive sun at me.
It moved fast. Too fast.
My [Nightmare Projection] was on cooldown. I had zero Desire Points left. I had no shields. No defensive skills.
I was just a dying man standing in the path of a nuclear warhead.
I watched the fire approach. It was beautiful, in a terrifying way.
(Well. At least I'll die warm.)
I didn't close my eyes. That would be admitting fear.
I stood my ground, hands in my pockets, and watched my death arrive.
The heat singed my eyebrows. The roar of the flame drowned out the screams of the crowd.
There was no trick this time. No lie could stop physics.
I was going to burn.