A minute ago.
After the big splash from two eels collision that covered Maya's vision, both Theo and his clone chased Maya and struck their spears.
However, that wasn't what truly happened. Clone Theo had indeed come after Maya, but the other Theo along with the falling spear was merely an illusion.
The real Theo changed into a fish and submerged underwater, waiting for his chance.
His Clone kept fighting her as if he didn't care about his life and lowered Maya's guard. He even added another illusion to show Maya he couldn't summon his clone anymore because of his condition.
That last move was made to stop Maya and catch her off guard while Fish Theo summoned his Magic Bullets.
And this tactic was perfectly executed as Maya had no other way to escape..
…
On the surface, Maya was deep in shock when twenty Magic Bullets appeared.
"What?!"
"Lightning Barrier." Maya summoned the barrier again, stopping all the bullets that hit him.
As if it was his last effort, Theo charged forward with everything he had except the Cannon Blast. He struck the Lightning Barrier with his spear.
Bam.
The sound was loud, but there seemed to be no damage. However, the next thing she realized, she had fallen under another illusion.
It turned out Theo had cut her barrier while another Theo emerged from the water.
Maya didn't want to lose, so she quickly pointed her shotgun at the Injured Theo's head while the other Theo pointed his spear at her neck.
"Put your weapon down. I win. Now, it's time for you to stop and heal your wound." Maya exclaimed in a hurry, wanting to treat Theo's injuries.
However, Theo claimed otherwise. "I win. You lose."
"You… Don't piss me off!" Maya gritted her teeth and called, "Niki!"
Nikita appeared next to them with a poker face.
"Help me treat his wound." Maya signaled Nikita to stop Theo and treat his wound.
To her surprise, Nikita remained silent and didn't do anything.
"Why are you not moving?" Maya was frustrated because these two didn't seem to care about the injury.
Nikita shook her head helplessly and explained, "Young Miss… How can I treat a perfectly healthy guy?"
"Huh?" Maya was dumbfounded and confused, not understanding why she said that. It was clear Theo had a severe injury… Unless…
She came to a realization and drew a gasp, staring at the pale Theo, who suddenly recovered the redness of his face. When his lips curved, Maya couldn't help but pull the trigger, shooting him on the head.
Bang.
The bullet pierced through him, instantly killing him.
"Oi, oi. Why did you shoot?" The Theo behind her started talking nonchalantly while using his Telekinesis to recover the spear.
"You bastard! Are you playing with your life?" Maya gnashed her teeth and grasped Theo's collar.
Theo looked away as if he didn't do anything wrong while Nikita brought Maya's rifle.
"Miss, this is your weapon."
Maya's body was shaking and she lowered her head, fuming in anger. After a few seconds, she pinched the bridge of her nose and grabbed the rifle, turning it back to a bracelet.
She raised her vision and looked Theo in the eyes, asking, "Can I punch you in the face?"
"Ehm, no."
She released Theo and moved back a little bit. Taking a few deep breaths, Maya finally understood what had happened.
"I let you win," Maya said.
"Miss, you should be a bigger person and admit you have lost." Nikita corrected her words again. "Please don't make your brain and heart smaller. It's not good for your health."
"What the hell? Can they even become smaller?"
"That's why I said it's not good for your health." Nikita shrugged.
"…" Maya really wanted to beat Nikita and Theo or at least punched them once. She never thought she would be owned this entire time.
Theo and Nikita exchanged looks and nodded to each other as if they came to an understanding.
"Anyway, I won." Theo smiled. "I will be expecting you to fulfill your side of the agreement, okay?"
"Yeah. Well, I have assessed your ability as well, so I think I have completed the minimum requirement." Maya was disappointed in herself.
"So, what are we going to do now?" Theo asked.
"First of all, I want to say something to you." Maya waved her hand as if asking him for a bit of time to calm herself down. After that, she said, "I am impressed by your power, especially since I have seen your performance in the Grand Gaia.
"You are almost at Master Level in terms of Control even though you seemed to be a newbie during the competition. This impressed me the most."
"Thank you."
Maya nodded and continued, "Then, it's truly wonderful to see your performance and overall growth. All I can say, everything is phenomenal. I can't really say everything because my mind is also still processing the information, but yeah, I think I have a good grasp of what I will say to my country."
"That's good."
"So, tell me, what skill do you want?"
Theo smiled and said without hesitation. "Illusion Skill, Illusion Construct."
Maya accepted it like it wasn't a big deal, while Nikita was dumbfounded when she heard Theo's request.
Noticing her expression, Maya started to become suspicious. "Do you have something to say, Niki?"
"Illusion Construct is a B Rank Skill that is said to be close to an A Rank Skill. You may need to pay a high price to get it, considering how rare it is and the number of people desiring the skill."
"Oh. How much do I need to pay?"
"I am not sure, but over a hundred million, I guess?"
"Dollars?"
"Zils."
"Okay, no problem." Maya brushed it off without batting an eye as if a hundred million wasn't that big of a deal to her.
"But miss, even though it's a hundred million Zils, it's going to cost you a lot, you know."
"It's fine. I can just make more money after that. Besides, knowing this guy's ability with just a hundred million, I think it's cheap."
"You are the only one who thinks that way." Nikita rolled her eyes.
"Hahahahaha!" Maya laughed it off as if it wasn't important. "People call this squandering, but I call this investment."
"But I call you shameless."
"…"