"I'm…sorry." Compass Carburettor hugged Grisha, watching her body tremble as he said, "I…"
"It's fine…" Grisha remained in the embrace, closing her eyes as she spoke after a couple of minutes had passed, "I can understand the type of enemies you have to face. Now that I know…they…are real, it makes sense of the losses I faced in my previous loops."
"What exactly happened during the previous loops?" Compass Carburettor asked.
"Let's not talk about it…for now." Grisha said weakly, "I still haven't come to terms that this world is looping every twenty years."
"Fine, I'll wait until you recover." Compass Carburettor sighed, gently patting her as he consoled her.
Grisha buried herself in him, sobbing from time to time as she let out all her emotions. Sometime later, she fell asleep. Just when he planned to cover her with the bedsheet and work a little, her hold on him tightened, preventing him from leaving the bed.
Sighing, he accompanied her, thinking, 'I never thought it would be like this.'
He massaged his forehead, 'It seems I had become cocky at some point in time and disregarded the feelings of others.'
Even though he tried to act otherwise, a part of him knew that this was a world that was looping constantly. So, it meant…no matter what type of damage he wrecked around, everything would disappear once the world resets.
Even though he tried to not think about that fact, somewhere along the line, he became careless and treated Grisha light-heartedly. That was why, he didn't even warn her before shooting her with the System Fragment of Remembrance.
Normally speaking, he should have talked about it with her first, prepared her mentally and then…only then should he have given her the System Fragment.
But, he was also concerned about disclosing details related to the world, afraid that he would incur the Grade 4 System's wrath if he did anything that it didn't like. 'No, that's just an excuse. I definitely could have done this better.'
"Sorry," He patted Grisha, trembling for a moment as his eyes moistened, angered by his emotional state. "It seems I haven't gotten rid of my bastard self yet."
"Get out…" Right when it seemed like the mosquitoes intended to barge into their room, he used Directional Misalignment to make them slam into the ground, leaving their fate in the mandibles of the ants.
His expression was forlorn as he noticed Grisha's eyelids trembling, feeling pained at her expression, 'What…does she mean to me?'
Until now, he was putting off this question, unwilling to think about it. There was guilt in him, complicating his thoughts, making him run away from confronting them head-on.
Part of him was just hoping for Grisha to take the lead so that he could write it off as 'It happened!'.
He wished to go along with whatever she proposed next as part of their relationship. But, Grisha too had been tacit, ensuring to not intrude into his personal life, giving him some space.
So, he hadn't been decisive, putting off his decision in this regard, taking on the excuse that he didn't have the time and peace of mind to think about such things since he was facing Systems as his foes.
Another day passed in such a fashion as Compass Carburettor noticed Grisha waking up finally, looking like she was feeling a bit better now. A good day's worth of sleep had healed her mind to a certain extent.
"How…are you feeling?" Compass Carburettor asked, albeit with some hesitation.
"Will you remain in this world?" Grisha asked in return, "What's…your objective? You said you had someone to protect here. But, since this is a looping world, how long would you remain here to protect him? What…will you do next?"
"If you're worried about that…" Compass Carburettor sighed, explaining the situation about Rhizen and the Coincidental Luck System. After that, he talked about his past, as a System Host to the Money-Making System, as to how he failed to protect his family, resulting in their death while his only daughter, Stencil had lost her arm.
And now, once the Money-Making System failed to devour him, it returned to Earth and made Stencil its Host next.
He talked about his only goal of saving Stencil and the reason he was in a trade relationship with the Coincidental Luck System.
After listening to everything, Grisha turned silent, only speaking through telepathy after an entire hour had spanned in silence, "So, this world is the property of the Coincidental Luck System? And no matter what, many Systems would enter this world to hinder its growth?"
"Yes, this world will never be safe. And, even without the Systems, this world is facing an apocalypse and would loop every twenty years." Compass Carburettor replied.
"Then…" Grisha asked after a moment's hesitation, "A System Slayer…how can I become one?"
"You'll have to become a System Host first." Compass Carburettor said, "And, once you return to the System World, I'll have to rescue you, preventing the System from devouring you. After that, you'll become one naturally. But, there is no guarantee that this would be possible."
He then talked about the limited number of System Slayers that could exist and the fact that he had no way of verifying if the limit had been attained or not. "Also, I have no guarantees in whether or not you can remember everything in the next loop. The System Fragment I used in you may or may not survive the reset and could be absorbed by the world."
"It doesn't matter," Grisha said, suddenly kissing him, "I can say with a guarantee that out of all 49 loops, this has been the one in which I have been the happiest. So, no matter what, I'll be selfish and would extend this happiness."
"Will you object to it?" She stared at him, making eye contact, expressing her seriousness.
Compass Carburettor gazed at her eyes in return, looking at her resolve, one that ensured she wouldn't live a second longer if he denied her happiness. Though, he wasn't planning on doing that anyway, not when she had already taken a step forward.
"I understand," He replied, hugging her, watching her begin to sob immediately in response, "Feel free to do whatever you want.. Be happy."
