I Hate Systems

Gehera was conflicted in her choices. On one hand, Stencil was in a dangerous situation, possibly attacked by Zaira and Arnark. Now, adding on the Invader System, she would be hard pressed for survival.

But, if Gehera chose to go there, it would leave the 24 Rings World defenceless. It had to be noted that through the Astral Network, the Invader System could return to the spot next to the serpent—from where he escaped—and poke a hole to enter it once again.

Without Gehera to resist it, the Invader System could straight up charge deep into the enemy lines to destroy the 24 Rings World.

The moment this happens, Stencil would be weakened to the limit. At present, the source of her strength originated from the Concepts present in that world, which was what she used to fight. Without them, she would become weak and become helpless before her enemies.

Gehera didn't know whether or not Stencil managed to solve her issue of Infinite Regression. If she didn't, it meant that without her world, the moment she begins to grow young, she would become batshit weak.

That implied a definite death.

But as long as Gehera defended the 24 Rings World, Stencil would be having a constant influx of power at her disposal, giving her somewhat better chances at survival.

Her choices influenced Stencil's survival, so Gehera couldn't make a swift decision, 'Is Compass not yet finished with his preparations?'

With the power she had stolen from him before, Gehera had the means to establish a communication line with him. But, the moment she does that, he would become aware of Stencil's crisis and that would prompt him to stop all his preparations and hurry to her rescue.

And if that happens, he would die under Arnark's hands, "Shit! I don't know anymore!"

"We'll endure." Suddenly, the dragon plushie that she had been carrying around spoke resolutely, realising the solemnness of the situation, "We won't be defeated as quickly as you think."

"No matter what, we'll buy time, as much as possible. So please," It sported a pleading expression, "Stencil is indeed in danger now. Save her!"

"Argh! Dammit!" Gehera grunted, vexed by the situation as she stared ahead, "If I weaken the enemies enough, you'll be able to endure for a longer duration…"

Boom!

Her expression turned solemn as terrifying auras locked onto her, causing the ground to crack in response. Each aura seemed to possess as much power as the immortals part of Immortal's army.

She had seen Shen Ze during the previous war when he joined Mascot's faction. The strength felt from the auras were only slightly weaker before him. Moreover, there were dozens of them, to the extent Gehera felt fain-headed.

'I can kill them, but it will take too much time. And I'll also be expending too much of my power in the process.' Gehera closed her eyes, weighing her odds before letting out a long breath as she took out a sphere and placed it in the hands of the dragon plushie, "If the 24 Rings World is in risk, crush it. Compass Carburettor would be alerted."

"Be careful." The dragon plushie said as it grabbed hold of the sphere and vanished, returning to the 24 Rings World.

Gehera then placed her hand on the region of the ground that the Invader System had destroyed, rapidly stealing power from it until a hole formed on it once again. She flew out and snapped her hand, returning the power she had stolen to mend the damage, watching a massive giant slam into it.

The giant was one of the strongest among the Invader System's underlings, expressing rage upon missing Gehera by a hair's breadth. It slammed its fists on the border but was unable to dent it.

The universe border wasn't weak enough for something like it to destroy. Whether it was the Invader System or Gehera, they were just special and possessed enough power to do so.

'I don't have time to waste.' Thinking as such, Gehera closed her eyes, morphing her figure to resemble Stencil, having used the power she had stolen from the latter over the decades.

A group of chokers formed before her that spun rapidly before gradually aligning themselves with each other to form a cylinder that began to condense a terrifying amount of Mental Energy.

"A thought travels through the universe in a second…" Gehera muttered as her body passed through the cylinder and disintegrated into a stream of thoughts to travel in a straight line.

The cylinders shattered after the launch, having inserted all their possessed power into the thought stream that quickly slammed into the other side of the universe and poked a hole through, continuing in its way as it made a beeline towards Stencil.

By using Stencil's power, Gehera was able to accurately lock onto the position of the other party. But, she didn't have a convenient means of travel like the Astral Network. Using the power of the Systems that she had stolen, Gehera was indeed capable of traversing using the same mode as Systems.

But the chances of her succeeding were zero. It had to be remembered the at the end of the previous war, Compass Carburettor had indeed used the System World to make his escape, bringing everyone with him.

So, Zaira would have taken countermeasures already. Moreover, with the destination being the same universe where all her attention was being focused upon, Zaira would trap Gehera the moment she arrived at the System World.

Instead of taking that risk and failing in her efforts, it was better to go the safer path, even if it might consume her a lot of time. Hence, Gehera could only hope, "Don't die before I arrive."

"Your dad would go crazy."

…

"S-Shit, this madman!" Earth Star cursed in response upon seeing the world they had taken refuge under go up in flames, crumbling into fragments as all life was snuffed out immediately.

"It's just a world, why are you concerned about them?" Martial spoke coldly, having just unleashed a terrifying attack to destroy an entire world. When they were unable to find traces of Stencil and group even after searching throughout the world, he took action, destroying the sole world filled with life in that universe.

And of course, the entities that survived were Stencil and group. Now, they had no more room to hide.

"Besides," Martial condensed a sword and pointed at them, "You'll be joining them shortly after anyway."

"So," He raised the sword and condensed a frightening amount of energy in it, bringing it down with momentum enough to cut the universe in half, "Just give up your futile resistance."