"You know…" Arnark said, "I don't mind parting away with a fragment. I'll even erase my imprint on it. But, to get that, you need to pay a price."
Arnark pointed at Compass Carburettor, "Your death, that is."
"Fine," Compass Carburettor extended his hand, "Give the fragment now."
"Sure." Arnark nodded casually before condensing a blinking Coordinate in his hand, one that seemed to be morphing its shape nonstop.
Main Character System Fragment— (1/1000)!
"Thanks…" Compass Carburettor extended his hand and grabbed hold of the fragment, grunting in alarm as he severed his hand, watching the Mental Fragments forming his hand squirm before writhing in an instant, their energy absorbed by the Main Character System fragment.
"What is the meaning of this?" Compass Carburettor glared at Arnark.
"Think of this situation a bit long term." Arnark leapt back and retracted the fragment before saying, "Suppose you go through with your promise and kill yourself, that would mean Stencil is defenceless. There is no one else strong enough to protect her like you."
"And considering her value, she would be captured by Zaira one day or another." Arnark shrugged and revealed his empty hands, "If Zaira gains possession of Stencil, it would be the end of everything I've worked on to date. So, it's a necessary sacrifice."
"Stencil's death would make our lives easier…" His pupils contracted rapidly as Arnark brought out the Relic and condensed it into a shield, defending against Compass Carburettor's Spirit Morph.
The surface of the Relic began to squirm as Arnark shed the infected parts, transforming the Relic into a gun to unleash a barrage on Compass Carburettor. "For the betterment of all universes, your daughter must die. Otherwise, the Systems would become unstoppable."
"Fucker!" Compass Carburettor raged forth as his body exploded into thousands of serpents that spread wings and covered the skies, rapidly converging upon Arnark.
Swoosh!
The surroundings began to morph into Mental Fragments that were absorbed by the flying serpents to fuel themselves as Punisher Lightning sparked between them, charging up energy by converting the absorbed Mental Fragments into Mental Energy.
Boom!
Arnark leapt back as the Relic hovered before his torso and tanked the Punisher Lightning, causing him to stare with a solemn gaze, 'Even though the Relic defended the attack, one of its Skills had been destroyed.'
Punisher Lightning was capable of destroying any impurities. And as it was created to oppose Systems, its attacks annihilated Skills and Core Skills too. Thankfully for Arnark due to his tremendous luck, he only lost a Skill from the attack, that too a useless Skill that he had multiple variations of.
Bang!
Suddenly, a canon shell slammed into the Relic, sending it flying away by two metres, revealing Arnark's figure behind as another canon shell slammed into his face.
"Keuk!" Arnark flew away and slammed into a mountain, forming a large crater from the impact. But a second later, he got up and dusted himself, snapping his finger as a Main Character branched out from him and rushed away to engage in his battle.
It was the Main Character with the Core Skill of Plot Armour. In times of need, Arnark retracted that power to defend against Compass Carburettor's attack.
"Just…die!" Compass Carburettor roared in anger as the flying serpents opened their mouths to shoot out bullets condensed with Punisher Lightning. Some of them glared at Arnark, targeting him with Spirit Morph.
In response, Arnark evaded the blows, creating metallic obstacles—constructed using Mental Mana—that blocked the attacks. Even if converted into Mental Fragments, they were of no use, only wasting Compass Carburettor's Mental Strength further.
Boom!
"What the?" The teenager stared in alarm, watching a flying serpent explode into flames before his face. It had leapt at him from underground, right at the moment he let his guard down. He stared at Magister that had protected him from the attack, expressing his gratitude, "Thanks."
"Why aren't you prepared to face the very individual you nurtured the growth of?" Magister snorted before spamming attacks at the Grade 3 Systems.
"That's Arnark's job though. I'm not equipped to deal with Compass." The teenager said, watching a cage of lightning manifest around him that vaporised all the snakes that dug out of the ground to target him.
"I'll leave that with you. It'll protect you against these attacks." Magister said before focusing on his fight.
"Thanks, old man." The teenager smiled awkwardly before continuing to attack the Vampire System.
"Tch!" Compass Carburettor snorted upon seeing his widespread attacks being dealt with by either the Main Characters themselves or by either Mascot or Magister, preventing him from targeting the other Main Characters and stealing the fragments in them.
Only Arnark wasn't protected. But that was because they were confident in his strength. Compass Carburettor had yet to reach the level of the Arnark of the past, not to mention the present. So, Arnark could deal with him easily. And indeed, that seemed to be the case.
"Burn to nothing!" Arnark's figure vanished as a miniature sun manifested around Compass Carburettor and began to burn him. But unlike when Conjurer unleashed that attack, Compass Carburettor was unable to devour it, for it wasn't made of flames but acid. Its external appearance was just to fool him into making the wrong move.
"Argh!" Compass Carburettor screamed as his Mental Fragments melted under the attack, reducing his body to nothing.
Arnark then focused on the flying serpents, causing mini spheres of acid to envelop each target with pin-point accuracy, destroying them all.
'Thankfully, Compass Carburettor doesn't have enough fighting experience with his new powers. It has only been a few dozen minutes since he attained his current state of being.' Arnark let out a breath in relief upon staring at the mark formed on the ground from his attack, "Thankfully, I dealt with whatever he brought out of the Realm. It shouldn't have been his real body, for it's not as strong as I expected."
Suddenly, the murky mark on the ground squirmed as immediately, a four-metre-tall figure manifested before Arnark to transform into Mental Energy and slam into him, becoming mist that sparked lightning as Arnark was stunned for a moment before grunting in pain.
Flowing away was Compass Carburettor—Invoked Spirit form—that was holding a genuine Main Character System fragment. It buzzed in his possession, struggling to break free of his hold and return to Arnark.
"Shut up!" Compass Carburettor roared as Punisher Lightning coursed through it, rapidly destroying Arnark's imprint on it as the Mental Energy stream he transformed into flowed towards the Realm.
