"If you give up those experience points, then I will offer you a perk worth at least double that amount," Johnny stated, spreading his arms wide with a smug expression all over his face.

"Let's hear it then," I remarked, keeping a neutral expression as I paused, waiting for Johnny to keep going.

"The perk I will give you won't give you the instant power-up you're looking for right now," Johnny explained, taking a severe attitude. "But with time, it will take to heights that would be impossible for you to reach otherwise," he added, pausing for a second as he seemed to be choosing his words.

"It will pave your path towards true freedom," he concluded, pausing as he sent me a meaningful glance.

"True freedom, you say?" I remarked, raising an eyebrow. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" I asked, frowning in contemplation.

"It's one of those things you have to figure out on your own," Johnny replied with a smile, shaking his head.

"All you need to know is that many..., things, yeah let's go with that, things, did not want you to receive the offer, and I had to bargain for a good century to get you this offer," he indifferently added, shrugging a shoulder.

"Things? I don't like the sound of that," I remarked, my frown becoming more pronounced. "And what do you mean centuries? It hasn't even been an hour since I received the EXP," I asked in genuine confusion, wondering if this was a prank of some sort.

"I call them things because they're not people, and that's all I'm going to say about that," he replied, shaking his head with a severe expression.

"And time moves differently in different realities, so don't overthink it too much," he added, losing the severe expression and reverting to his smirking self.

"So what will you do, kid?" Johnny asked, returning to the topic at hand. "Will you take the offer?" he added, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

"You haven't even told me what it is your offering exactly," I replied with a sigh, holding the bridge of my nose.

"I can't tell you that," Johnny replied, firmly shaking his head. "It's part of the bargain," he explained with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I thought as much," I said, heaving a sigh.

"In any other situation, I'd take the offer in a heartbeat, but I need the power up to get out of here so...," I reasoned, reluctantly trying to refuse the offer when Johnny cut me off with a wave of his hand.

"I can get you and your friends out of here, but I'll take whatever EXP you have other than the million you just got," Johnny stated, dismissively waving his hand.

"Deal!" I immediately agreed without a shred of hesitation. Getting an instant power-up was absolutely tempting, but something that this smug bastard bargained for a century to get is even more enticing.

Johnny might not look like it with his carefree attitude and playful nature, but the guy is definitely exceedingly powerful, as I can not even sense his presence even while standing in front of him.

I have never failed to sense anyone's presence since I had awakened my aura as long as they were within my sensory range. Even the Deterrent, the most powerful human on the planet, was not an exception, as I sensed his presence as soon as the game simulation stopped.

Not to mention the fact he's working with some ROB, but I digress.

"Good choice, kid," Johnny remarked, smiling as he nodded in satisfaction. "Now, let me just locate your friends, and I'll send you somewhere safe," he added, briefly closing his eyes in concentration.

"There, I already sent you friend ahead of you," Johnny said, his concentrated expression replaced by a playful smile.

"What's with the smirk?" I asked with a frown, getting a bad feeling.

"Don't worry about it!" Johnny said, his smirk turning into a broad shit-eating grin.

"Is it too late to refuse the offer?" I asked with a sigh, massaging my forehead.

"Yup," Johnny replied with a nod of his head, chuckling in amusement.

"Anyway, let me take the EXP, give you your perk, and I'll let you be on your way!" Johnny stated, changing the subject, and putting a hand on my shoulder.

[1,017,650 EXP has been deducted for special services]

[Remaining EXP: 0]

[You have gained the perk: Predator]

The system's robotic voice sounded in my head, and that was the last thing I heard as my vision turned dark, and I felt something yank me away from this place.

...

Earlier.

It took a few seconds for the fake Game Master to gather his bearing and regain balance after flying back a respectable distance away due to the sock wave Clay created.

And he immediately calculated the trajectory of Clay's flight, quickly flying towards the spot he deducted the latter crashed into inside the facility.

It took several more seconds for him to reach the place, and he promptly tried to fly in there at his fastest speed, only to crash into an invisible barrier, causing him to stagger mid-air.

"Strange," the fake Game Master remarked as he ran his hand through the invisible barrier. "Clay shouldn't have enough energy remaining to erect such a barrier," he murmured to himself as he began floating the invisible wall, blocking him from reaching the Deterrent.

He stopped in front of the barrier after concluding that breaking would be impossible, intending to wait until the blockade runs out of energy and dissipate on its own, as he did not detect any source of energy feeding it.

He raised a hand, pressing a button on his watch, which caused a holograph to appear in front of him, showing Clay talking to Kaden.

"Oh...," the fake Game master intoned, seemingly amused. "Now, this is interesting," he added while listening to Clay speak his last words.

He snorted in a mixture of amusement and disdain as Clay talked about the Thrikans and the danger they represented to humanity. It is unknown whether he directed his snort of contempt towards Clay or the Trhikans, but that is neither here nor there.

He finally started laughing like a maniac as Kaden cleanly decapitated Clay's head as the latter was trying to end his own life. "I suppose the apple didn't fall far from the tree," he cryptically remarked in a satisfied tone as he watched Kaden's baseball bat absorb something from Clay's body.

It was also at this time that the invisible wall blocking him dissipated. "Though I hate to do this, I have to break the kid's bubble," he said, shaking his head as he began flying towards Kaden.

However, he suddenly froze in place, and so did the entire dimension as Johnny made his entrance and remained frozen until Johnny sent Kaden away, disappearing himself.

"How peculiar," the fake Game Master remarked as he landed in the place where Clay died, finding no one in sight. He suddenly froze as he began scanning the surroundings upon detecting the traces of an outrageous energy signature.

'This is way above my paygrade,' he thought to himself, suddenly feeling a sense of unease. 'In any case, my mission is already over with the Deterrent's death, so I better not linger here any longer,' he concluded, mostly flying into the air with his fastest speed and disappearing from sight.

...

"The fall of a legend," Ashura remarked in an even tone, emptying the whisky glass in his hand with a single gulp as he received a report of Clay's death. "A shame I couldn't see it with my own eyes," he added, clenching his hand and crushing the whisky cup.

"Let's get out of here, Aloka," he instructed, standing up and leaving as he adjusted the collar of his fancy, white suit jacket.

"Right behind you, boss," came Aloka's voice from behind Ashura as she followed behind him while maintaining her invisibility.

...

Somewhere not too far away from the Game Master's simulation facility, inside an enormous aircraft.

"May I come in, mistress?" Sebastian asked as he stood in a grey hallway full of metallic doors after knocking on a decorative wooden door, most likely one of a kind inside this metallic aircraft.

"Come in," came a feminine voice from behind the door, and Sebastian obliged, opening the door and walking inside.

"The Deterrent is dead, mistress," Sebastian said in a courteous tone as he stood in front of Aesthetica, Demira's boss.

"I see," Aesthetica said in an even, dismissing Sebastian with a gesture of her hand. "You foolish, foolish man...," she murmured under her breath as she turned to the side, gazing at the clouds outside through her room's window.

...

Somewhere, deep in space, on a planet not that different from earth.

"Our spies send word of the Terran Defender's demise, your majesty," a humanoid alien with silver skin stated while kneeling in front of a strange-looking, colorful throne.

Despite its bizarre appearance, the throne was majestic and awe-inspiring nonetheless, mainly comprising three metals, the color of copper, silver, and gold, respectively, with an enormous diamond resting on top of it.

A golden humanoid alien with a diamond identical to the one on the throne on its forehead sat on the throne, and it listened to the silver one report without speaking.

"What should we do, your majesty?" the silver aliens asked, still kneeling in front of the throne. "Mant generals have sent requests, asking to invade Terra earlier than planned," the silver alien added, pausing and waiting for a reply.

"Fools the lot of them," the golden alien remarked in an even tone. "If Terra has someone or something capable of slaying even that man, then we need to delay the invasion and make further preparations instead of rushing there," the golden alien added.

"There will be no further talks of invading Terra until I say otherwise," the golden alien decreed. "Now go, and spread my word...," the golden alien concluded, closing its eyes and giving no further heed to the silver one.

"As you wish, your majesty," the silver alien remarked, standing up and slowly exiting the throne room.