Civil War!
In these turbulent times when the Genre Representatives broke free of the control of the Systems, in a time of war where Grade 3 and Grade 4 Systems were busy facing the representatives, and in a situation where the fate of the Grade 2 Systems was unknown, the Grade 1 Systems formed the bulk of the army power possessed by the System World.
But when a portion of them retaliated against the remainder, things became chaotic.
A System could only devour and assimilate the powers of Systems from the same genre as itself. If it devoured any foreign Core Skill, it would be wounded based on the level difference between the two. It might even implode if it devoured a higher levelled Core Skill.
That situation only applied when they remained a System though. The Grade 1 Systems that had become members of Secret Society had been awaiting the perfect opportunity to sneak attack.
And since they mingled among the rest of the Grade 1 Systems, they strategically positioned themselves amidst Systems that they could kill and devour instantly. Once Compass Carburettor gave the signal, they launched their attacks.
"You…traitor!" The Factual Keyboard System screamed as its body was destroyed. With its shell of a body destroyed, all the Mental Energy that formed its body returned to the System World, revealing the Core Skill.
The one that attacked it was the Hero Sword System, level 60. It swallowed the Factual Keyboard System and experienced bleeding injuries immediately. The opponent was level 58 after all.
The Hero Sword System had unleashed the strongest of its attacks and hence was in a weakened state. The injuries only weakened it further. "No, I can't stop here. I can swallow a few more."
The Hero Sword System evaded the attacks of the nearby Grade 1 Systems and targeted the Hatchling Systems, swatting through them with ease. It then proceeded to swallow them until it became a bloody mess.
"Trash traitor, this is the end of your path." A high levelled Grade 1 System sent the Hero Sword System flying with an attack, screaming as it prepared another attack to put an end to the traitor.
"Hahaha! Too late, dumbass!" The Hero Sword System coughed while spitting blood as a blinding light shone from its body.
Core Skill—Hero Sword (Level 60)!
Core Skill—Factual Keyboard (Level 58)!
Core Skill—Rich Master (Level 5)!
Core Skill—Copious Beggar (Level 9)!
The various Core Skills it had devoured were consumed by a mystical power as the Hero Sword System's body transformed into a Haggon. Its previous powers paved the way to the foundation of its current form as the Haggon grinned lethargically.
It condensed an energy-blade sword, the hilt of which possessed the keys of a keyboard, with each triggering a set effect. The Haggon raised the sword and spun thrice, layering three sword beams onto each other to unleash a crescent beam that swatted away the high-levelled System.
"Wash your neck and wait. I'll be back." The Haggon grinned as it consumed 100 Darlac and took on a human form.
Honk!
A truck appeared beside him, the trailer of which resembled a bus. It had over thirty seats, most of which were occupied by humans sporting confident, arrogant, and aggressive expressions.
"See ya!" Flicking a thumbs down towards the Systems, the man entered the truck and occupied one of the vacant seats.
"Damn you!" The high levelled System got up with a start and leaped towards the truck, only hitting the air as the target vanished.
One after another, the traitors digested all their gains as Systems and changed races to become Haggons. They then transformed into humans, boarded a truck, and vanished from the System World.
Even though the number of traitors was a minor fraction among the Grade 1 Systems, they had been positioned strategically to target valuable Grade 1 Systems. As a result, their actions cut off the System World's future.
Even if Zaira were to win this war, all she would be left with were useless Systems that had minimal if not no potential for growth. More than helping her rebuild the System Race, they would in turn expend more Mental Energy and collapse everything.
A mother had ten children, eight of which were useless, but the bright child, the ninth killed the one with the most potential, the tenth and vanished. Now, her only option was to nurture her eight useless children by expending her time, resources, and everything.
Even when these children mature, there was no guarantee of a return on her investment. That was Zaira's state now. Compass Carburettor stole all her talented Systems, only leaving behind the useless ones.
She still had more than ninety-nine percent of the original Grade 1 Systems. But not even one among them had the potential to reach the peak of Grade 1, not to mention enter Grade 2.
"You've gone too far!" Zaira fired off Core Skills en masse as she sent all the Genre Representatives flying away.
She then grabbed the figure of Compass Carburettor that she had been stomping upon all along and choked him. Layering her hands were over a thousand Core Skills, sealing Compass Carburettor as she held him in a chokehold.
Her energy-condensed form created another pair of hands as one of them stretched forth and grabbed his monocle. The monocle fired Hate Erasure rays at her but were all drowned by the sheer tsunami of Mental Energy Zaira exuded.
The hand gripped hard as the monocle shattered into fragments, losing its effect as the laws of the universe within it were shredded into dust.
Compass Carburettor clenched his right hand into a fist and slammed it on her face, causing one side of her face to cave in. But it eerily regenerated as Zaira stared at him with hatred. Her extra pair of hands removed the glove on his right hand and tore it apart.
Similar to how she destroyed the monocle, Zaira destroyed his Universal Anthozoa. She didn't stop at that as the Boot of Transmigration and Suit of Mortality were next.
Finally, Zaira picked up the Ring of Secrecy and stared at it with a twisted expression, "The source of power that affected my Systems originated from this. Once I destroy this, everything will return to normal. Isn't that right…"
Her hands tightened as blood leaked out of Compass Carburettor's face, "Compass?"
