Chad had thought that he would be able to say any kind of false information to Noah, thinking that he would just believe it, or say some irrelevant information to get rid of Noah at that moment, but Noah already foresaw it, and he had the perfect way to deal with it, and this was called [Hell's Contract].
--- Flashback ---
Chad thought he could deal with Noah in a way that he wouldn't come out of so badly. In his mind a number of credible lies had arisen, or if those lies didn't work, he thought of some ways to say not too bad things about his boss that would please Noah but that they would not screw with his boss in a definitive way, just claiming that he had no access to worse information.
And just as he imagined, Noah accepted, but not in the way he imagined.
"Hmm, I think this proposal could be interesting," Noah told Chad as he continued to attack him as if he was just talking to someone while exercising, but in fact these "exercises" he was doing could take Chad's life at any time.
Chad was happy that Noah was interested, but he was frustrated that Noah did not stop attacking him while he spoke. But he swallowed that complaint and told Noah in a slightly flattering way. "Yes, yes, it will be very interesting. How about we stop for a while and talk about it? I'm sure I will have interesting information for you!"
Noah was practically playing with Chad. If Noah didn't have the dagger in hand, the only way he could have dominance in this battle was if he used [Hell Flames] and [Hell Tunneling], since Chad's strength and agility were superior.
Noah had a huge increase in his own strength, but that only made him stronger than normal Blessed with average Blessings; Blessed like Chad who had Blessings that specifically increased their strength were still much stronger than Noah. But Noah was more than satisfied with his strength, since he didn't even have a Blessing in that regard and was already more powerful than the vast majority of the Blessed on the same level.
Seeing that the man apparently did have information that might be useful to him, Noah stopped for a second and watched Chad.
The man was tall and muscular. His face looked 40 years old. He was an already older man who had probably gotten tired of breaking into Fortresses and looked for a more stable job in which he did not need to be afraid of death whenever he needed money - something understandable for someone who had probably reached the maximum that his potential could take.
'If you really had acted honestly with me, wanting to do something fair, I might as well be courteous to you, but since you don't think your life is worth that much, I think it would be more interesting if you gave it to me,' Noah thought as he looked at Chad and thought of a very fun possibility.
Chad didn't know what Noah was thinking, but he could see in Noah's eyes that Noah was definitely thinking up something terrible for him. But Chad had no option to refuse since that strange spatial power of the boy in front of him would definitely make him die today.
"Before we talk about it, I believe that like any good business, a contract is necessary so that both parties can feel secure about what they are doing. Wouldn't you agree with me?" Noah asked with an apparently sincere and innocent smile on his face.
Chad, seeing that smile, felt that there was something wrong. This boy was looking at him like an unimportant bag of meat that was going to die at any moment just a few minutes ago, and now he had these friendly eyes. Once again, Chad's instincts started to make noise, trying to warn him that something was wrong with what was happening, but Chad unfortunately couldn't do anything about it, since if he refused, the boy would just lock him in place with his space power and Chad would die. It was better to do some nonsense and have the opportunity in the future to make up for that nonsense than to die and not have a chance.
"Yes... For sure... haha..." Chad said, trying to convey an impression of confidence that obviously wasn't working since his voice came out shaky at times, before he gave an empty laugh that practically said: "Whatever you want, sir."
Noah understood that, and of course he would not let the opportunity pass. In less than a second and with just a few thoughts, Noah formulated a contract with [Hell's Contract] and made that contract float from his hand to right in front of Chad so that he could read and sign it as soon as possible.
Chad read the contract and his forehead, which had been sweaty for some time, had now become a waterfall, exuding liters of water with nervousness. He had already visited the pet monster store with his young son, and when he helped his son form a contract with a shiny white mouse, a similar contract was used between his son and the monster. After the monster accepted that, he practically became his son's slave, which was incredible in Chad's view.
But now that Chad was looking at that contract again, instead of amazing, the only word he could think of to describe this contract was terrifying. When he had helped his son, he thought about trying to use one of these contracts on another human, but after searching the internet about it, Chad found out it was impossible to use contracts on humans, even with their consent. After all, the contracts had been developed to work only on the minds of animals.
But now, not only was Chad seeing a contract that theoretically could never be used on other humans, he was seeing this contract applying the idea he had when he first saw it, and in fact the target on the losing side of the contract was himself.
At that moment Chad was in conflict. He didn't know if he preferred to accept the contract that would practically make him a slave to this boy, or if he would rather die. But thinking of the wife he had, in addition to the small son of whom he had to care and support at home, Chad quickly dismissed the idea of refusing the contract and dying.
To stay sane and have a little hope, Chad forced himself to believe that this contract was a fake, that it was just something that would utilize the Placebo effect.
In Chad's mind, this contract could easily be made just to show something, but it would not have the strength to force someone to perform, just like a Placebo remedy, which had no effect but made the patient's mind believe they were taking a functional drug and start producing antibodies to eliminate the problem on their own. Chad believed that this contract had the same purpose.
'I just need to know that this is not real... Yes! If not even any famous researchers were able to find a way to make a contract that would work on humans, why would this kid who doesn't even have the money to pay for a house be able to create a way to make this contract work? That is impossible! If he had really found a way to make humans submit to him, he would have already had a large army of slaves, or he would have sold the formula for how to do this to large corporations and become a millionaire. Money would never be a problem for someone like that; he probably just wants to scare me!' Chad started looking for so many excuses that he truly managed to convince himself that he was right in his thinking.
Noah was observing the turbulence of emotions that Chad was going through just analyzing his body language, trying to find out how other humans would possibly react when faced with this same situation, so that in the future, he could be prepared. At first he thought Chad would go into despair and start begging him to use another alternative, but it never crossed Noah's mind that Chad would actually start out desperate, but in time he would become more confident, and that confidence would grow to the point where Chad would start looking at Noah with a hint of contempt in his eyes. It didn't piss Noah off at all; in fact it intrigued him a lot, since in Noah's mind, it didn't make any sense for Chad to start behaving like that.
'Humans are truly strange creatures, especially when they are in a desperately risky situation,' Noah thought as he continued to watch Chad decide whether to accept the contract or not.
This was all until Noah was able to see clearly when Chad accepted the contract, not only because he received a warning from the system, but that Chad's confident expression actually deflated like a balloon, leaving the man, who was just a moment earlier so tall and proud, with a true expression of fear and despair on his face.
It just reminded Noah of the iconic phrase associated with the skill:
[Be careful when dealing with the Devil.]
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Please read the author's notes down here! :3 ↓↓↓