I Hate Systems

"No…nooo…What is happening? This shouldn't be possible!" Slayer wailed in loss, staring at an insurmountable wall before him, one that he could never scale.

This was the wall that prevented Grade 3 Systems from attaining Grade 4 status.

Magister was calm as he observed the wails of the Slayer fragment fused to him. A minute later, Magister opened his mouth slowly before yelling with guttural desperation, "Yeeeahhhhhhhhhhh!"

"Wha…?" The sound was so ear-piercingly loud it echoed throughout the multiverse, inaudible to the various races, only perceivable by the likes of Genre Representatives, Systems, and any other entity on their level. Magister's shout stunned Slayer, causing him to forget what had happened to him in a fluster.

Boom!

Magister stabbed his hand into his body as millions of magic circles formed on his hand like bangles as they spun rapidly before merging into a single, impossibly complex magical circuit. Mana gushed out from the magic circuit and latched onto a certain entity that had seamlessly fused into his being.

A moment later, Magister let out a maniacal laugh, "I'll leave it to you, my successor!"

Kaboom!

Magister's body exploded, resulting in his death. The torrent of mana from the magic circuit latched onto the fragment of Slayer that was within Magister's body and protected it from the explosion, sending it away, causing him to stare in shock, yelling, "M-Mad…Madman!"

Magister killed himself but his mana acted as a protective membrane that defended Slayer's fragment from the impact of the explosion. Ten universes were destroyed from the sheer impact of the explosion.

But immediately, the connection between the System—Slayer's fragment—and its Host—Magister—were cut off. Immediately, the Magic Worlds whirred into life, seeping all their essence as in the next second, they birthed another Magister.

This Magister had the same collective consciousnesses and abilities as the former, but they were different entities.

A couple of seconds after Magister was born, he stared at the Representative System fragment before him in curiosity, stating calmly, "Say…Systems dissipate when exposed to the outside environment, right?"

"Then, what type of environment would cause you to dissipate the fastest?" Magister tilted his head before grinning as he snapped his finger, unleashing a magic circle that erected an environment around them, "Only one way to find out."

'I should return!" The Representative System's fragment thought as he intended to return to the System World. Unfortunately for him, Magister's previous explosion destroyed ten universes, also eradicating the Astral Network in them.

And at present, the nearby universes were still bracing from the impact of Magister's explosion. So it would take a while before they expand enough to fill the void.

It meant that until that happened, Slayer was helpless, having to suffer just to satiate Magister's curiosity.

Originally, his foundation as the Representative System was strong enough to turn even Magister into his Host. He was a Grade 4 System after all.

But now, once he regressed into a Grade 3 System, he still could make Magister his Host. There was just one problem. Just a fragment of himself was no longer enough to handle Magister.

He, Slayer, wholly as the Representative System would have to appear, only then would he have enough authority to be a System that Hosted Magister.

That was why, when he regressed, the fragment within Magister wasn't able to keep him in check. Of course, it wasn't easy to break free from a System, not to mention a Grade 3 System at the peak like the Representative System.

This was why Magister committed suicide and prevented the Representative fragment's death, to avoid their fused state from being considered as a union. This way, when the Magic Worlds birthed him, Representative wasn't included, which allowed him to deal with the latter once he fully formed.

It was a risky gamble, one that immensely weakened the foundations of all Magic Worlds, especially since Magister had been defeated just recently even after he had used a Genre Representation, for the second time in recent history.

But taking risks and seeking death calculatedly was the essence of a Magister. In the end, he succeeded and managed to let go of his status as a System Host.

With that, he took out his pent-up frustrations on the Representative System fragment before sealing it. This way, no information regarding this event would reach the System World.

Even Slayer would be unaware that Magister had escaped from his grasp.

"Hmm…I see, so that annoying bastard is now antagonist to the Systems, huh." Magister smiled and disappeared.

…

"Yup, it's done." Ahjar smiled casually, "Slayer has fallen to the level of a Grade 3 System now."

He then stared at Compass Carburettor, "We have our differences, but I believe this is a good show of my sincerity, right? It's a display of gratitude for having employed the use of Lore and Tell-Tale for a moment in Faith Grounds."

"We'll be fighting on the same side," Compass Carburettor extended his hand and shook hands with Ahjar as his hold tightened, "But, we won't be fighting side by side."

"Don't think for a moment I haven't forgiven any of your past actions. None of this would have been an issue had you never turned Stencil into your Host."

Yikes!

Ahjar retracted his hand in a fluster and saw it beginning to rot. He severed it and regrew it anew by relying on the power supply from his concept.

"Fine, I wasn't hoping to fight alongside anyway…" He was interrupted by Magister's roar, stunning the two individuals for the roar was ear-piercingly loud.

"Something happened to Magister?" Compass Carburettor felt nervous for a moment before he thought of something and grabbed Ahjar and activated his boots.

Universe Weapon—Boots of Transmigration!

The two arrived at a universe the farthest away from Faith Grounds. Compass Carburettor didn't wish to reveal the location of Faith Grounds to anyone, especially a trigger-happy individual like Magister.

As for Ahjar, he had formed plans to ensure the other party would never leak any details regarding Faith Grounds. It was the same scheme that he had used on Horan in the Magic World long ago.

Phew!

Letting out a breath of relief, Compass Carburettor patted Ahjar's back casually as he turned around, staring at the individual that teleported before him.

An old man with a bushy beard that relied upon a cane to walk, one whose baggy robes made it all the more difficult to move. Skin that resembled tree bark and a mouth that was eerily parted to the side, revealing a gleeful grin that would only terrify the recipient. His excited eyes stared at the duo before his gaze fell on Ahjar, "You fucker."

"How the heck did you claim Space?"