It didn't make any sense at all to Arman. Not only did it not make any sense, but it debunked everything that the System had told him so far and opened up a whole new world in front of him as he looked at this woman.
First, the System said it was an extremely rare achievement that he was reincarnated into the body of somebody who was being tortured, but now it didn't make any sense because this Fool thing was surely not a passive skill at all, because the woman referred to herself as the Fool.
Not just that, the whole understanding of the System itself now just broke apart, because up until this point he believed and was told that he was a selected person whose wish was answered and got the System to be able to get what he wanted the most.
"You seem confused, darling," the woman spoke. "Come sit down." She snapped her fingers, and suddenly from the darkness, a table and two chairs appeared where she sat down and waited for Arman, who was just in silence, but knew one thing for sure.
He needed to sit the fuck down. So he did and up close he just realized that she wasn't a human for sure. Her skin was literally pale white, just like her hair, her nails, her eyes. She looked more like an angel than a so-called Fool, but that feeling quickly broke too.
Because Arman felt like if he spoke, he would just get thrown into more darkness, because even if she looked like a pure being, something radiated off her, and that something was death.
It was a feeling that he couldn't describe. She had the same aura around her as that old man who one-shotted him, but hers was way more intense and dark.
Like fear itself was her being, like darkness was truly her.
"I saw into your memories, your past lives, and you misunderstood a lot of aspects of this." she said as she leaned back in the chair with a faint smile. "You were not abducted by the System, but more so your wish was answered."
"My… wish?" Arman asked.
"Yes, you wished for her, didn't you?" She asked as she pointed her hand to the side, and there she was.
Arman's mother was standing there, and as he looked at her, he couldn't say a word, couldn't form a single thought.
"You said you would do anything to bring her back to life, so you were chosen by the System." She smiled and put her hand down, and with it, Arman's mother disappeared too. "Hmm… I don't have much time, but I can say this much." She smiled even more."I am a Fool, just like you. I thought killing humans would bring me immortality, but in the end, I was cursed by the very thing I believed in and destined to live in the darkness."
She suddenly snapped her fingers once more, and suddenly they appeared.
All of the people Arman and his criminal family killed across his six lives, all of them, hundreds of people, were standing around them. Some of them had chopped bodies, a lot of them were shot, or looked like they were tortured, but all of them had the same thing.
They were all dead. They all died because of Arman.
"They all had dreams, they all had goals, but you took their chance to reach them so you could reach your own goals, your own wish, and now you have become the Fool." She smiled softly. "Two hundred years ago my wish was answered too. I was an old lady and I wanted to become young again so I could live longer, but as I said, I became the Fool of my own wish just like you."
Now it made more sense to Arman, and he slowly put everything together in his mind as he looked at her more carefully. Her dress looked like something from the 1800s, something old and distant, something that did not belong to this time. But even if she said she was cursed to be the Fool because she believed killing would give her immortality, it still did not make sense to Arman, because he could not understand why he would be the Fool, or how he had already become one.
Because his wish was not greedy, it was human, it was simple.
He just wanted to bring back his mother, nothing more, nothing less.
But the more he thought about it, the more the truth started to settle in his mind.
It was a foolish wish, because deep down he already knew it was impossible.
Which meant he was the Fool from the very beginning.
"You are the Fool of your impossible, desperate wish to bring your mother back to life. And you accepted it. More so to make your wish come true you were cursed to become the villain. An interesting and dark combination of the two worst outcomes, but do not worry, for us darkness is home, and until you prove yourself to the darkness, you are untouchable."
"Provide what?"
"Oh darling, you still do not understand, do you?" she giggled quietly. "You need to kill as much as you can, for as long as you can, so the darkness can save you. But do not worry, I will be here, just like them."
As she spoke, Arman noticed there were people standing around them, but they were different.
They were not victims. They were not dead bodies.
They were all Fools from many eras. Some wore World War army outfits. Some seemed to come from centuries ago, while others looked just like Arman from the modern age. But all of them had one thing in common.
Behind them, Arman could see a black shadow that resembled a Fool, a jester-like figure smiling.
"Goody by Arman and I wish you to break the curse."
She snapped her fingers, and in a single blink, Arman was back, or more accurately, alive once again.
[System: Welcome back.]
"Welcome back…? Y-you lied to me."
[System: I never lied. You never asked anything at all.]
It was true, even if it sounded absurd. Arman had never once really asked questions like what this was or how it worked, because he did not care about it. His real life was just despair after his mother died, and he was left with nobody.
And being granted a System sounded like a good adventure.
"You said this was a passive skill, not that I myself am a Fool?!" Arman shouted as he stood up from the ground, not really caring about where he was or his surroundings.
[System: The Fool is an extremely rare position to be in. You need to kill hundreds of people to fit into the role, and even after that, you need to stay sane. You perfectly fit it and became one. But be happy, at least you can now become the villain much easier.]
"Easier?!" Arman shouted as he punched the System window. "I am fucking cursed, more so I was one-shot by a fucking old man!"
[System: True, but now at least you have skills. Moreover, you will be seen as a villain, as other System users can see the Fool. The old man killed you because he noticed it.]
"Which means other people can know I am a fucking anomaly?" Arman asked, his voice now more desperate than angry.
[System: Exactly.]
"Which means… they will hunt me, will they?"
[System: Exactly.]
"Which also means, if I die… then I die for real, like no reset anymore, I just die?"
[System: Exactly, but you need to be killed in a special way to truly die.]
"What do you mean?"
[System: You need to be dismembered from head to toe, then burned during a Perish ritual.]
Nothing. Arman said nothing at all, because well this good life where he could have rested every single time he wanted, a life that was kinda cool and enjoyed now turned into a last stand.
"So… I need to kill. Kill to stay alive." Arman whispered as he finally looked around and realized he was somewhere in a field under the starry night. "Kill to get the wish granted… the wish I forgot about." he said as he reached his hand toward the sky. "I forgot about my own mother."
[System: You didn't. You got carried away by your goal, which was and still is to become the villain, and your wish will be granted.]
"I think that's a lie," Arman said as he looked down at his hands. "That woman, Lavinia, and the other Fools. I know for a fact they killed a lot, but none of their wishes were granted. They never reached their goals."
[System: You are the first Fool whose quest and goal is to become the villain.]
Silence fell as Arman thought about it all, but the same thing kept circling in his mind. Not the fact that it was all real, that he was a Fool, something otherworldly, but the fact that he forgot about his own mother.
He forgot about her in all of his past lives.
Which also meant he fought and killed for nothing in reality, because even if he had become the villain, nothing would have happened.
Because he forgot his wish.
"I guess I really am a fool."
[System: Indeed]
[System Synchronization: New Beginning Initiated]
[Rise of the Fool]