"S-Shit…" Truck-Kun cursed before falling unconscious. Gehera grabbed hold of him and took flight on a Magic Beast, watching the Dragon of Systems flying at them as a stream of Mental Energy.
Kieee!
A Magic Beast made an appearance, causing the Mental Energy stream to stop before it as the Dragon of Systems swiped once, eradicating the Magic Beast, only to see two more hinder her path.
In the meantime, the Magic Beast before Compass Carburettor chomped, securing him within its mouth before taking flight. A Magic Beast tried to do the same to Hazen too but was destroyed by the other party who didn't have full control over his body yet.
Roar!
The Dragon of Systems condensed a beam of energy in its mouth before blasting it towards Gehera, destroying the two Magic Beasts before her.
"Shit!" Gehera leapt to the side, carrying Truck-Kun with her to dodge the attack, rolling on the ground as she looked around in a fluster. She thought for a moment before taking out a Totem Pole to stab into the ground, watching it cause cracks that healed rapidly.
'The foundation of this world is rapidly increasing.' She stared in alarm, stabbing two Totem Poles into her body to gain their source power, rapidly moving her body as she carried Truck-Kun to evade attacks from the Dragon of Systems.
Stencil churned energy to create a burning entity beside her, one that resembled Balmer from the Cultivation World. And in terms of power, it mimicked his Extreme Providence.
One of Stencil's powers was the Earth Divine Martial Spirit from the Cultivation World. After becoming a Dragon of System, all her powers evolved.
And now, she could individually manifest all the powers of her Earth Divine Martial Spirit in the form of Earth Martial Spirits. But just them wouldn't be strong enough, especially since the power level of the Cultivation World was low.
But, her plans didn't end there as Stencil created a Coordinate and placed it within the Earth Martial Spirit, also designing its shape and character by inserting the desired Mental Energy into it, condensing it to almost create a Core Skill.
But upon recalling how Zaira possessed absolute authority over Systems, she didn't wish to add to Zaira's arsenal by creating another system. Instead, she focused on the Martial Spirit trait, stopping moments before she condensed a Core Skill, transforming it into a trait that the Martial Spirit abided by, evolving it from an Earth Martial Spirit into a Heaven Martial Spirit.
Following that, she condensed a choker and fused everything into it, resulting in a choker that shone with a crimson hue.
Stencil threw it away, watching it slam into a monkey far away before slipping through its head to stop around its neck.
Following that, the choker turned transparent and seeped into its body, transforming its mind into a mix between a mind space—where Systems dwelled—and a Martial Spirit as the monkey's mind fell under the choker's control.
The monkey immediately brimmed with energy, attaining the Extreme Providence Stage as it rushed towards Gehera, hurling fireballs at her to result in a torrential explosion.
"Hah!" Gehera took off into the air, evading the attacks before throwing Truck-Kun at the monkey, startling it for a moment.
In that timeframe, she took out another Totem and teleported behind the monkey, placing her hand on it to instantly steal all its power, watching even the figure of the monkey vanish.
"You are indeed dangerous, Gehera." Stencil said, looking serious as she threw out a dozen more chokers, causing animals brimming with festive works to take to the skies and attack Gehera who in turn defended using her army of Magic Beasts.
"But," Stencil grinned, becoming the Dragon of Systems to appear before a certain Magic Beast to swipe her claws, shredding the target apart to gaze at the helpless figure of Compass Carburettor within.
She opened her mouth and unleashed a Mental Energy breath attack, slamming Compass Carburettor into the ground as the hill shattered in response.
"Guh…" Compass Carburettor let out a weak groan, expended of all Mental Strength as his body was unable to move anymore, instantly collapsing to become a sphere. In this basic state, he would recuperate and recover Mental Strength to move once again.
But of course, Stencil didn't intend to allow him that precious recovery time, opening her mouth in an effort to clamp upon him and devour all his accumulations.
"Don't do something you'll regret…" Hazen's voice resounded as suddenly, Stencil looked around in alarm, unable to find traces of her targets anymore.
Whether it be Compass Carburettor, Hazen, Truck-Kun, Genera, or even her Magic Beasts, none were visible.
'Where did they go?' Stencil looked around in alarm before focusing on the rings encompassing this entire world, noticing that they were unharmed, 'They haven't left the world yet. So, they've gone into hiding.'
'Hazen's power, huh.' She muttered before extending her hand to clench it into a fist, 'Unfortunately, the collective consciousness in you was something meant to be mine. So, I can somewhat influence them.'
'You won't be active for long.'
"Urrgh!" Just as she expected, Hazen stumbled, almost blanking out for a moment before desperately holding on. Currently, they were on the back of a Magic Beast that was flying at its maximum speed.
Gehera had retracted all the other Magic Beasts before intending to help Hazen. But she was on her last stretch of power too, having already been overtaxed from the war before.
"Listen to me…Gehera." Hazen said as he held her hands, looking at the figures of the other two, "Compass and Truck-Kun are unconscious. When I read Stencil's mind, I found out that she's blocking all external powers. Meaning, Truck-Kun would never recover his power as long as he's in this world."
"But this also means that as long as you do what his concept entails, he would gradually regain his strength." Hazen continued in a hurry, "As for Compass, since Immortal's infinite power supply vanished, he must be reeling from the after-effects of the countless Core Skills that impacted him. It would take him decades to erase all the negative effects and recover fully."
"But, only my power of Gloss Over is masking our locations. The moment this is lifted, Stencil would find us and kill us all."
"T-Then, what should I do?" Gehera asked in a fluster.
"You stole Compass's power, right?" Hazen said as he extended his hand, condensing a sphere, "Steal my power using his Spirit Morph."
Gehera hurriedly took out the Totem created from the power she stole from Compass Carburettor—when intending to summon him from Conjurer's world. She stabbed it into herself, gaining the power as she used Spirit Morph to transform the power in Hazen's hands into Mental Fragments.
After that, under his guidance, she shaped that into Armour, one per each that absorbed sunlight and generated enough energy to maintain the effects of Gloss Over on them.
"I…need to recuperate and deal with this internal crisis." Hazen said, fainting the moment Gehera placed the armour on everyone, "Until then, I'll leave our safety and return to you."
