Hiick!
Tears streamed uncontrollably out of Hazen's eyes as his body trembled from grief. Everything he loved and wished to protect was no more.
Their opinion was that they were holding him back from excellence.
Until now, Hazen had the capability to protect the world despite everything. So, things were fine. But the moment a force struck that was beyond his capability, they realised their happy times ended.
If they remained behind any longer, Hazen would simply die alongside them. Therefore, they committed a collective suicide to shed Hazen of all the chains that held him back and kept him rooted to the Cultivation World.
This was just their opinion.
Hazen hated it. He just wished to be with them, until their last moments.
"Hazen! Watch out!" Suddenly, Alika's shout resounded in his mind, jolting him to his senses, staring at a gigantic object heading straight towards his face.
Origin Art—Frog Leap!
Hazen crouched forth like a frog as a tremendous amount of power surged through his being, causing him to leap through space and evade the terrifying attack.
With the laws of the entire Cultivation World fused into his body, he was at present a humanoid Cultivation World, causing a leap to his universality.
The dust of his home world surged towards him and turned into a blanket covering his body as Hazen glared at the Systems with a bloodthirsty gaze, "You are the cause for all trouble!"
Origin Art—Gloss Over!
His figure vanished from the senses of the Systems as Hazen rapidly flew across the void and stabbed a transparent string into the mind of the Regression System, intending to harm the strongest one first.
His current powers weren't mind-based, but causality-based, using cause and effect to unleash attacks. Since the domain he was most well versed in was the mind, he used cause and effect to attack the mind.
After all, in all forms of attacks, a blow to the mind worked the best against the Systems.
Through the transparent connection, Hazen sent in millions of mental cues, ones that hatched in the Regression System's mind to sprout derivates of power, each devouring a part of its being. As a result, millions of Systems hatched off from the Regression System, causing its level to take a hit, losing one whole level.
Origin Art—Sleeper Cell!
Origin Art—Mental creation!
But suddenly, the world turned static right after the Regression System lost a level. The timeline paused as Hazen looked around in fluster, 'Even I can't move in this time stop?'
His eyes widened upon seeing that even the Grade 3 Systems too were in the same situation. Among the Systems, only Zaira seemed capable of moving through this level of time stop, but she decided not to. Instead, she calmly stared at Hazen.
The timeline of the universe was put on a pause button. And a moment later, time flowed in the reserve, causing everything to move as if one was rewinding through a scene.
Hazen observed his body moving, mimicking the actions he had just done, but in reverse. His figure appeared close to the Regression System, watching in shock as the millions of Systems that sprouted out of the Regression System return to its being as the effects of the Sleeper Cells vanished.
The Sleeper Cells flowed out of its back, back into Hazen through the transparent connection he had erected. The entire scene rewinded itself as the Regression System regained its lost level, regressing the damage it had sustained.
Time began to flow once again, right from the moment when Hazen used the Origin Art of Gloss Over to appear beside the Regression System.
But this time, his location was known to everyone thanks to the regressed timeline as immediately, Hazen faced a bombardment of attacks, turning his figure bloody.
'Dammit, as long as the Regression System is here, my attacks mean nothing!' Hazen clenched his teeth until they cracked. Blood dripped out of his eyes as his bloodshot glare was desperate to wound his enemies.
"Hazen! Just flee! You can't win a head-on confrontation against them!" Alika shouted in his mind, having taken form through the memories he had of her, "Survive and live to fight another day! As long as it's not a Grade 4 System, your attacks are threatening to their very nature!"
"Hazen, it's disappointing." Zaira chuckled softly as she stared at his bloody figure, "When Compass Carburettor branched into four Main Characters, you embodied the most terrifying aspect he had cultivated. Unfortunately, because of the very Lore that created you, Hazen, your nature sought peace."
"And peace isn't a time where the strong grow. As a result, your capabilities haven't seen much improvement from the last time you faced us." Her smile widened as she waved her hand, prompting the Grade 3 Systems to attack, "If you were desperate for power, you would have grabbed Lore from Compass before it was stolen by Arnark."
"With your powers, assisted by Lore, you would have been unstoppable." She cackled, "After all, everyone is aware that among the Main Characters that branched out of Compass Carburettor, you were the most terrifying."
"Sadly for you, that terrifying nature of yours remained just as that, untapped potential."
Boom!
Attacks rained down on Hazen, breaking through his defences time and again as no matter what he did, all his successful attacks were simply rendered obsolete once the Regression System caused the universe's timeline to regress.
Boom! Kaboom! Tsssch!
Hazen focused his entirety on defence as his expression was dark, defending against the attack externally while hearing the screams of complaints from the memories of his family in his mind.
"Hazen! Why are you getting injured? Escape!"
"You need to survive!"
"Your well-being is our priority!"
"Please! You need to escape!"
"Everyone! Shut up!" Hazen shouted as suddenly, power exploded out of him, destroying all the System Skills targeting him.
Zaira frowned as she stared at Hazen, observing the inherent limitations behind his character—erected by Lore—breaking off one by one.
Origin Art—Mental Destruction!
"I don't dare call myself the Harbinger of Serenity when I failed to protect my loved ones. I'm useless in that regard." A terrifying concept of mind was activated through the fluctuation of cause and effect, destroying the foundation that formed his core character, "So, I needn't tether myself to this concept anymore."
Boom!
His nature as one that wished peace was no more, immediately causing a spike in power, for he became someone that would now employ all his abilities without any moral inhibition, "I'll just become someone that uses all his power to exact revenge for the death of my loved ones."
He stared at the Systems; his lips curled up a bit while his eyes cracked before they shattered. There was maniacal insanity in his aura, one dedicated to pouring his everything to destroy his detested enemies, "I won't breathe my last until the lot of you are annihilated. This, I vow, as the…"
"Aggressor!"
