I Hate Systems

'This guy holds the System that prevents me from attaining Grade 2?' Arnark frowned as he gazed at the figure of Ying held securely by Stencil, unable to see through the other party, 'This doesn't make any sense. All I can sense is the Hunter System fragment in him.'

"Are you pulling my leg, Zaira?" Arnark said, thinking, 'I have already finished my preparations. But still, I want to accumulate more strength before targeting Compass.'

"I have no reason to lie about this." Zaira's voice resounded next to him, her tone serious, "In Ying also lies a safety measure that allows me to steal Stencil's powers in the future, just as you had done on Compass Carburettor in the past. So, I wouldn't lie about it."

"If Stencil severs the fate stream between the two, all my preparations against her wound become nullified." Saying so, Zaira launched more attacks on Stencil, preventing her from running away. 𝘣𝑒𝑑𝘯𝘰𝘷𝑒𝘭．𝑜𝘳𝘨

Arnark observed Stencil, morphing his vision as he noticed the dense stream of fate connecting Stencil and Ying, "Fine, I'll trust you on this."

Thump! Thump!

His heartrate accelerated all of a sudden as right at this moment, Compass Carburettor completed his Representative Psyche Star. The sheer surge of fate on the other side caused Arnark to feel a strange sense of attraction, as if he wished to become part of Compass Carburettor once again.

'His Main Character nature has almost reached my level. This is bad, I need to attain Grade 2 as soon as possible.' Thinking as such, Arnark extended his hand and condensed a tiny star of explosive energy on his palm, pointing at Stencil as the star slammed into her in the next moment.

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Boom!

Stencil erected dozens of rings around her while Earth Star unleashed powerful gravitational fields to slow down the projectile. But the attack was still terrifyingly quick as it slammed into the defensive rings and splattered them into debris.

"Kyak!" Stencil screamed in fluster from the explosion while Earth Star rushed before her to tank the shockwaves, also unleashing myriad gravitational waves that acted as cushions to keep Stencil and Ying safe.

"Stop!" Earth Star glared at Arnark as he clenched his hand into a fist, causing energy from the universe to slam into Arnark to crush him.

The blanket of space began to tear up in response to the pressure that Arnark grunted to resist. But an instant later, he casually slipped past the hold like a slippery eel and resumed his attacks.

Swoosh!

Two planetary-sized rings appeared around Arnark at this time as they began to rotate at terrifying speeds, unleashing lightning sparks that dug into his body, beginning to affect him.

But before they could take effect, the mystical hands unleashed by Zaira crushed the rings. But right after, the rings suddenly glowed before exploding to further the crack in space.

"Now!" Stencil covered herself, Earth Star and Ying within 24 rings that formed a protective sphere as it shrunk in size under Earth Star's power and slipped into the tiny spatial tears, heading into the nearby universe.

"Heal!" Earth Star summoned the energy of the universe they had arrived at to instantly heal the spatial tears. He immediately caused another tear through which they slipped, following which the spatial tear healed.

In this manner, they began to jump from one universe to another.

Unfortunately for them though, this region of the multiverse was completely mapped out by the Systems, for no matter which universe they went into, Zaira could access it through the Astral Network.

As for Arnark, it seemed he had placed checkpoints everywhere in preparation to face Compass Carburettor, constantly on their tails as he continued to target them.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Gah!" Stencil's body trembled in response as blood began to drip from her orifices. Arnark's attacks were wounding her at a conceptual level.

It wasn't just Compass Carburettor that was making preparations to counter Systems. Arnark too had prepared to counter them in response, and this also included Stencil.

Swoosh! Kaboom!

Stencil and team skipped universes one after another while being targeted by both Zaira and Arnark. If it was just Zaira alone, they could have somehow managed to endure. After all, as long as she personally doesn't make an appearance, she wasn't a threat enough for them to worry about.

But Arnark was a whole other matter. Just facing him alone was a precarious situation. Adding on Zaira just worsened things further.

"Don't strain yourself further." Earth Star said as he harnessed lifeforce from the universe and poured it into Stencil to slowly heal her wounds, worried upon seeing the healing effect being subpar, "He's directly targeting the source of your power somehow."

"Only sir is able to face him. We should lead him there." Earth Star suggested, unable to endure seeing Stencil suffer attacks one-sidedly.

"Not…yet." Stencil took in a deep breath as she created more chokers to cover them before layering the trio in a certain energy.

Concept Representative—Citizen!

Immediately, their figures vanished as they appeared in a park, situated within the habitable world in that universe.

Their presence and energy signature were perfectly concealed, making them appear no different from the other natives. This was the effect of the Concept Representative of Citizen.

"Where did they disappear to?" Arnark frowned once he destroyed the rings before him, noticing the figures of Stencil, Earth Star and Ying vanish mysteriously.

He immediately switched to the fate streams, surprised to not find any data of Stencil's presence even in this. 'So, she's capable of manipulating Fate to a certain extent.'

"She should be somewhere within this universe only." Zaira said, "I haven't detected any spatial tears."

"Did they lead us wrongly by making us assume their sole mode of escape was through spatial tears?" Arnark muttered as he stared at Zaira, "Doesn't Stencil has the same powers as you? What if she created an Astral Network equivalent?"

"That will help her escape quickly."

"That's impossible." Zaira said, "Had that been the case, it would be impossible to escape my senses."

"Let's keep searching for them then," Arnark muttered as he turned around and noticed two figures appear before him. They were Slayer and Martial.

Slayer had obviously arrived to support Arnark and devour Stencil while Martial was somewhat Zaira's lackey. They were the reinforcements Zaira was depending upon to get the job done, which was somewhat overkill since Stencil was unable to handle Arnark alone.

"What's our plan?" Seated within a café, Earth Star asked nervously.

"We buy time." Stencil said as she wiped the blood on her face, her eyes sharp, "My dad still needs some more time to finish his preparations."

"Can we do it?" Earth Star asked.

"We must." Stencil replied with a solemn tone, "Otherwise, we'll be defeated and consumed by the enemy."