"No…that's not possible. How? Why? It doesn't make sense! Why me? Screw this! Please, sorry! No!" Arnark collapsed on the ground, lacking any strength, experiencing a complete mental breakdown.
The situation was frustrating from the start where despite possessing ultimate power, Arnark was unable to kill Compass Carburettor. And when he found hope, he poured his everything into it, going full throttle at it for more than two years.
And when he finally succeeded, he was elated, feeling all the tension accumulating in him leave his body, replaced by the feeling of success. But when Compass Carburettor appeared once again, his body became empty, embracing despair.
His mind was unable to endure it and had shattered.
Arnark became stupid!
"Ooga…booga…" He stared at the figure of Compass Carburettor standing before him, smiling stupidly.
Seeing his state, the divine beasts sighed in defeat and stopped praying to him. Their hope had long since shattered when Arnark was unable to kill his opponent despite possessing peerless strength as he had boasted all the time.
The divine faith pouring into Arnark trickled down to a halt and vanished, causing his body to begin turning into a rock.
Compass Carburettor extended his hand and pulled out a rope hidden within Arnark's clothes, tugging it as he applied a bit of strength to it and snapped it. Immediately after, the layer of stone forming on Arnark's body dissipated.
The rope was the God King's Tool of Authority. With no faith flowing into it, it was at its weakest, and hence, easily destroyed by the God of Humanity.
With his Tool of Authority destroyed, Arnark lost his status as the God King, reverting to a mortal. In this state, it was easy to kill him, but Compass Carburettor didn't do that.
He inched forth and leaned forward, whispering in Arnark's ears, "There's one way to escape from your dream. You know the way."
"Y-Y-Yes…gowaabwaba…" Arnark drooled in response as he crawled on the field, eventually reaching a boulder, the sole object on the vast field. It was what he used as his throne to be seated upon majestically at the start.
But now, he was before it, as a madman, having lost everything. "T-This is a nightmare…I…I should…wake up."
Arnark placed his hands on the boulder as he craned his upper half backwards as much as possible before suddenly, he rushed forth with all his strength, slamming his head on the boulder.
Bam!
It was a vicious slam, cracking his head as he fainted. Blood leaked out of his head as his body twitched erratically in response. Evident on his face was a maniacal smile, but also one of peace.
Finally, he could escape this nightmare. And indeed, he did, by giving up on his life.
Arnark, the Main Character System, the one responsible for the start of Compass Carburettor's story breathed his last. His corpse dissipated as Lore and Tell-Tale manifested above him, absorbing his entirety.
Immediately, Compass Carburettor could feel the foundation of Faith Grounds taking a qualitative leap, generating enough fate to rival the Fantasy World under Slayer. Everything possessed by the Main Character System, from its past to its present was absorbed and assimilated by Faith Grounds.
At the same time, formless power surged in him as Compass Carburettor closed his eyes, muttering happily, "Welcome back,"
"Lore."
Other than the portion necessary to maintain and run Faith Grounds, Lore and Tell-Tale branched out and fused with him as the figure of Compass Carburettor vanished from the world, "Live bereft of external influences."
The last he observed was the faces of the Deities and Devils staring at him through their Saints, smiling as he arrived above the world of Faith Grounds, observing six tendrils akin to tentacles extend out of it and grab onto nearby universes, one per each.
And through the tentacles, Faith Grounds was absorbing the energy and foundation of these worlds. It had become a parasitic universe that parasitised upon other universes.
'My Dreamland is no more.' He thought upon inspecting himself, for it was his Dreamland that had been used to create Faith Grounds. His Psyche Stars still remained behind, but they were empty. As for the backlash he had sustained before while activating his Genre Representation, it had healed by now.
Moreover, Compass Carburettor snapped his finger, using both Lore and Tell-Tale simultaneously as he changed himself at a foundational level, adjusting his fate too accordingly, making a full recovery.
His figure then vanished, reappearing in an uninhabited universe as Lore and Tell-Tale worked in full swing, rapidly altering the laws of the universe, taking only a couple of months to do so. And the moment he finished, the universe whirred as all its energy transformed into heat and was absorbed into his body, instantly filling up his Psyche Stars.
They weren't just filled once but every single Psyche Star was filled up at least a couple dozen times. There were two dozen plus units of each in him now.
As for the energy-less universe, Compass Carburettor modified their laws casually as the space within contracted. The universe morphed and transformed into a cloak that covered his body.
Just Tell-Tale allowed him to transform a universe into a serpent. Adding Lore atop that was like giving wings to a tiger while also equipping it with an assault rifle. He was unstoppable.
Honk!
Just as he finished draping the universe cloak over himself, a truck appeared before him all of a sudden and crashed into him, shattering in response.
The figure of someone flew out after that, severely wounded, barely holding onto life.
"Truck-Kun…? No," Compass Carburettor muttered before observing the entity clearly, "Hazen?"
"What are you doing here?"
"You finally appeared, Compass." Hazen gasped in exhaustion as he almost collapsed, speaking once he was propped up by Compass Carburettor, "Why…did you take so long?"
"What happened?" Compass Carburettor frowned, "I was only away for a century. Didn't I make the necessary arrangements to safeguard everyone for more than a century?"
"Century? What the heck are you talking about?" Hazen glared at him, "Seven millennia! That's how long you were gone for!"
"Zaira and Arnark, they had a backup plan all along. And it was to stall for time, no matter the outcome of the fight between you and Arnark." Hazen said in despair, "Seeing as how you came out only now, they have succeeded."
"Succeeded in what?" A bad feeling enveloped him as Compass Carburettor grabbed Hazen and shouted, "What the fuck did they succeed in?"
"Everything, Compass, everything." Hazen stated as he fainted, "I'm all that's left. We lost the war. I wish it was just a dream, but it's our reality."
"The Systems won."
Volume 5: Dreamcraft—The End!
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Author notes: I've released a new novel. It's a sequel set in Faith Grounds in the far future. Search for [Serial Killer's Devil Hunt] and start reading. I promise it'll also be a fun ride.
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