I Hate Systems

"P-Please, spare me!" Strewn on the ground, lacking limbs and flinching in fear was an Elf, its expression one of absolute despair.

[Primordial Origin (Level 72): Guys, help me! Arnark is here! I'm in World B-000…]

"Had fun calling your friends?" A figure arrived at a halt before the Elf, letting out a casual grin before saying, "You shouldn't have been arrogant before me, right, Primordial Origin?"

"T-Take the fragment in me, but please spare me." The Elf, Primordial Origin pleaded for life. It was the Primordial Origin System that resulted from a System Slayer falling victim to the trap of the Systems.

It was this entity that had targeted Compass Carburettor in the Apocalypse World, employed by the Destiny Luck System.

Its earlier mission was regarding Stencil. But too many things changed after that, resulting in it proceeding with its usual life to hunt in various other worlds to level itself up.

Unfortunately for it, just as it had gained a few levels after all that painstaking effort, absolute death came knocking on its door, for Arnark had shown up.

It wasn't even a battle as it was down before it could even resist. And with the Restriction Order in place, all its powers were sealed, including the powers of the native world that it was using.

Well, even if it could use the native power of this world, nothing would change, especially against Arnark.

'This is the Main Character!' It despaired, sensing all its powers being sucked into the other party before soon, even its mind was destroyed.

Burp!

"For a low levelled System, it was pretty delicious." Arnark commented after devouring the Primordial Origin System, clenching his hand into a fist, "I'm at 996 fragments now. Almost there."

"I'll hit Grade 2 soon," Muttering as such, he thought, "Hmm, I've been hunting all the System Slayers around and pretty much went through them all. There's that troublesome bastard, Valmor Du Te Ace. He has three fragments in him. Then,"

He frowned, "What about the last fragment?"

"I can't seem to sense any traces of it at all." He spoke before turning his head around, staring at the figure of a teenager who had pissed his pants, "Right? Can't you help me ask around in the Astral Network?"

When Slayer and the Universe Relic Wielders jumped to their new power, the Main Character System fragment in them was consumed. But of course, as long as the concept of the Main Character existed, the fragments were created once again.

And Arnark found them in the bodies of those worthy enough to possess them and harvested the fragments. Eventually, he gathered everything, except four fragments.

He was aware of where three of them were, but he couldn't do anything for the moment, despite killing Valmor Du Te Ace. The Main Character System fragments in the other party vanished along with the Demon Fragment that he represented.

And after that, the man continued to escape from one universe to another, always on the run to avoid being found by Arnark. By taking energy from the Demon System, he was always on the run using the Astral Network.

He wasn't even doing anything other than travelling, entering and leaving a world every few seconds, preventing Arnark from catching up to him.

It would be possible if Arnark truly wished to do so, but that would make him waste too much time. So, before hunting Valmor Du Te Ace, Arnark wished to reclaim all the other fragments.

"I don't know what you're talking about." The teenager trembled in fear, "I'm just an ordinary high school student."

Arnark frowned for a moment as his vision changed. Currently, he was standing at a fork near a school where the Elf had arrived to farm Mental Energy. Surprisingly, there was another System here.

The surroundings vanished as in his vision, the teenager was replaced by a pulsating heart that thumped twice every minute.

Doki-Doki System (Level 2)!

"Now, shall we talk?" Arnark smiled. And this time, it wasn't the teenager hearing his words but the Doki-Doki System itself. Moreover, it was able to converse.

The Doki-Doki System looked around, noticing that the world had greyed out. Time wasn't flowing here anymore. This was the same phenomenon that happened when a System wished to leave a world.

Arnark had initiated the same. But this time, he dragged the duration, a feat other Systems weren't capable of, making it possible to have this conversation.

"Y-Yes," The Doki-Doki System nodded weakly.

"But…" Arnark squinted, "If I remember it right, weren't you at level 3 a century ago? Why have you fallen to level 2 now?"

"Y-You know how my concept is, right?" The Doki-Doki System said, "I've made some bad choices in my Hosts that didn't feel anything after getting their first girlfriend, and…"

"Enough, I don't need to hear your drama." Arnark rolled his eyes before saying, "Connect to the Astral Network and ask about the whereabouts of a System Slayer. Tell them that it's a quest from the Main Character."

Saying so, he smiled, "The one that succeeds would be personally helped by me. They'll get a second Core Skill and would be levelled up to 99 by me. If they are already at the peak, I'll help them attain Grade 2. That's more than enough of a reward, right?"

"Record this and post it there."

"Y-Yes," The Doki-Doki System nodded in response and posted in the Astral Network, spamming the message in every single group it managed to join, attaching Arnark's footage in it for authenticity. Immediately, the attention of every single Grade 1 System fell on it, for the first time in history, a Quest directed at the Systems.

<Ding!>

[Quest: Find the last System Slayer]

[Quest Description: The legendary Main Character is on a hunt to find the last of its fragments and become whole for the first time since its concept manifested. Find the System Slayer possessing the final fragment and give it to the Main Character.]

[Time Limit: 5 Months 3 Weeks]

[Rewards: One Core Skill, level up to 99/Grade 2]

Instantly, every single Grade 1 System was allured by it as even the ones resting in the System World jumped into any potential world they thought was the one.

"Why the time limit?" The Doki-Doki System finished spamming the message throughout the Astral Network as it stared at Arnark, trembling to ask.

"That's when the fate of the multiverse seems to arrive at an ignition point." Arnark smiled and didn't explain further, 'It seems that's when you'll finish your preparations, Compass. I'll be done with mine by then too. We'll duke it out to attain a conclusion. After all,'

'There can only exist one Main Character!'