I Hate Systems

Concept—Mortality!

Dreamcraft—Everything Was a Dream!

The bloodlust vanished as the ruptured universe disappeared. Surprisingly, the universe was back to normal, as how it existed a second ago, its timeline no longer paused.

And in one location appeared the figures of Stencil, Gehera, Ying, and Earth Star, their expressions just as how they were before Arnark paused time.

The only difference was the figure of Compass Carburettor between Stencil and Gehera, hugging them in a protective embrace.

"D-Dad?" Stencil stared at her father in shock, "Why did you come here? Weren't you still in preparation? We could have bought you enough time."

"No…" Despite his best attempts to calm himself, Compass Carburettor was already tripping on the verge of insanity from blinding rage, 'The stigma I placed in you activated. It means…'

'Had I been even the fraction of a moment late in activating my Mortality, I would have lost all of you.' He didn't say it out loud and put on a forced smile, patting Stencil's head, "You must have endured a lot. Now that I'm here, get some rest."

"But dad…" Stencil stared at his back in worry, able to sense power rapidly leaking out of his body, 'If you had completed in filling up your Psyche Stars, you wouldn't be losing power like this.'

She clenched her hand into a fist in regret, 'If only I endured for a few more minutes, dad would have finished charging up his Psyche Stars.'

Psyche Star was his energy. And, a Psyche Star was a single energy unit, similar to one unit of Mental Energy.

Its power was just on a whole other level, and hence, just to charge up a single Psyche Star would take him months. As Compass Carburettor was simultaneously filling up all eight Psyche Stars, not one attained full capacity.

Meaning, he couldn't use even one of them properly, which was why the moment he unleashed his Mortality to save Stencil, he began to rapidly lose power. It was because he went against the principles that formed his own concept.

When he did the same in Stencil's world, his Mortality was already active externally, which was how he could make any deaths be mere dreams.

But while training, he had cut off all external influx of power from his concept. Therefore, when Stencil died, it wasn't governed by his Mortality, as he didn't maintain his connection to it at that moment.

So, the moment he sensed her death, Compass Carburettor formed the connection to his concept externally and then had to alter cause and effect through the power of Dreamcraft to push the timeline up a few moments to reverse Stencil's Death.

While doing this, he was also reversing the timelines of beings on the level of Martial and Zaira by those few moments. Without a completed Psyche Star, it was impossible.

Therefore, he triggered the backlash from his own concept.

"Just as I expected." Arnark let out a grin at this moment, sensing the excitement within his body calm down rapidly, "I forced your hand right before you completed your preparation."

He extended his hand and flashed a middle finger towards Compass Carburettor, "Now, you cannot win against me, Compass."

"My preparation exceeds yours."

"Gehera," Compass Carburettor muttered as he plunged his index finger through her forehead before the latter could react, stating his request, "Protect everyone, please."

The figures of Gehera, Stencil, and Earth Star was instantly transmigrated into the Serpent. As there was no Grade 4 System affecting the timeline of this universe and since he had already reversed Arnark's time pause, Compass Carburettor could transmigrate the trio without any consequences on their behalf.

…

Swoosh!

Gehera, Stencil and Earth Star landed within the fortress they had built at the tail of the serpent.

The moment they appeared, a tiny sphere of energy exited Gehera's forehead and seeped into the serpent, making a subtle change in its inherent nature. Immediately, her eyes lit up as Gehera instinctively took action.

Hiss!

The Serpent rapidly shrunk in size—without the space within it being affected—until it was only a metre long. It opened its mouth and tore into the fabric of the boundary forming the adjacent universe to slither into it.

The Serpent slithered through the void of that universe and soon reached a portion of the boundary where it detected the border of another universe. It poked a hole through the two boundaries and slipped through the next universe, continuing to rapidly flee in such a manner.

"Dammit!" Zaira's hateful voice resounded in the original location of the Serpent, unable to sense it anymore. With the group escaping, she couldn't capture them anymore, not to mention use them to pressure Compass Carburettor further.

With the serpent continually fleeing, it would be impossible even for her to detect it anytime soon. Moreover, with Stencil, Earth Star, and Gehera within the Serpent, the 168 worlds brought by the Invader System wouldn't be able to win against them.

Rather, they would serve as fuel for their growth. This was what he had cunningly schemed, which was why he created such a serpent in the first place.

Moreover, as the Serpent was a transformed universe, it had more than enough energy to remain on the run for a million years or even more.

…

"You bastard!" Zaira glared at the figure of Compass Carburettor, "Do you seriously believe I cannot find them?"

"By the time you find them, they'll become strong enough to oppose you." Compass Carburettor muttered as he calmed his wobbly body. Unleashing two peak abilities consequently caused severe damage to his abilities and all he managed to do was guarantee the safety of his family for the time being.

He still had to take care of the enemies before him, sensing the rate of his power drain as he analysed his choices before staring at Zaira, "Why are you acting brave while covering within the System World?"

"Come out here if you dare."

While he taunted Zaira, Compass Carburettor observed that at some point in time, Slayer had disappeared, clicking his tongue subtly, 'He's a sly rat.'

He grabbed Ying and passed a sliver of energy, communicating through that in order to prevent any eavesdropping from Arnark, "You on my side, bro?"

"If that guarantees my survival?" The Secondary System replied through the same channel.

"If you work with me, then the chances are higher." Compass Carburettor said, watching Ying nod in response as he grabbed the other party and vanished, appearing before Martial as he kicked the other party in the face using his right leg.

In that instant, his left leg manifested before the Invader System and kicked it in the face. His head appeared before Zaira and head-butt her, destroying her projection and the Astral Network present in this universe.

Finally, his free hand appeared before Arnark and rapidly slapped the opponent on the cheek with a flurry of attacks.

Boom!

The figures of Arnark, Martial, and the Invader System crashed into each other and stopped while Compass Carburettor was raining down attacks on them in a torrent while using his radiation to cancel their attacks, aware that he would only be able to maintain this for a second before they break free.

But, that one second was enough as Compass Carburettor felt as if his head would burst as he expanded his domain through the concept of Mortality externally, encompassing the maximum limit he could withstand as he glared at the trio before him with a maniacal gaze, "How many fucking times are you bastards intending to hurt my child?"

"Is this your last ditched effort?" Arnark grinned as his bloody self began to heal rapidly as he began to gradually push away Compass Carburettor's hands, "You're rapidly losing power. In a few seconds, you'll be no more than a dead mortal."

But suddenly, the trio felt fear grip their being as a power capable of erasing all their gains surged from their attacker, flustering them as Compass Carburettor broke into a devilish grin.

"You can forget your identities from today onwards." He tightened his hold to prevent them from escaping as he transmigrated them to a vacant universe where the reach of either the Systems or Genre Representatives had yet to extend towards.

​ His body began to rupture everywhere as he was just mere moments away from an implosion, bellowing with all his power, watching the fear in the faces of Arnark, Invader System, and Martial—that was Hosting the Waning Essence System—morph into absolute despair, "Genre Representation…"

Survival Life of a Fragile Mortal!