The condition of the Systems wasn't as absolute as compared to a century ago.
First of all, there now existed enemies like Slayer and Stencil with powers similar to Zaira. Secondly, the Main Character—Arnark—had revived and was on a hunt to strengthen himself, causing the Systems to weaken in response as their Coordinates were stolen.
Slayer too was targeting the Systems to fuse them into his world and raise its foundation further.
In this precarious situation, the Grade 4 Systems of Reincarnation and Transmigration were engaged with Mystique and Technocraft. Meanwhile, the Regression System had yet to recover its strength, unable to use its Core Skill for a year from the after-effects of activating its Core Skill Manifestation.
The primary problem originated from the fact that Zaira now had a human body, preventing her from utilising her powers to the limit. This caused a sharp reduction in the production of Core Skills, resulting in a sharp decline in the birth of new Systems.
With their decline, the Mental Energy funnelling into the System World took a hit, leading to an overall slowdown of their development.
After all, they were fighting against the Genre Representatives on multiple battlefronts. On a sheer scale in terms of energy recovery, the Grade 3 Systems still paled in comparison to the major Genre Representatives.
Mascot especially rose to become a terrifying threat, having been the greatest victor of the previous war, having devoured the entirety of Immortal's army, the strongest in the multiverse.
With her original army ranked second, the combined strength under her was now unmatchable. Moreover, she had been working hard modifying the worlds she had stolen from Immortal, allowing them to switch to her genre.
And with that, her strength continued to rise. Magister had grown temporarily weak since his use of his Genre Representation, giving Mascot a chance to steal some of his worlds too.
This resulted in her becoming the strongest Genre Representative, an overpowered cheat character that went on a System killing spree to free her worlds from their influence. Even though she couldn't destroy them, she was able to kill them.
The respective Systems would need to consume a tremendous amount of Mental Energy to revive and recover, causing a hard hit to their finances.
So a lot of Systems were trying their best to face her. Two Grade 3 Systems had already suffered so much damage that they made a loss to such an extent that their levels regressed by one, which was a startling cause of worry.
After all, Grade 3 Systems of the present never made a loss, for their concept was that strong and diverse enough. But the fact that it still happened was an indication of Mascot's threat.
Even if she couldn't kill them, she could bankrupt them until their levels regressed to an extent they were no longer a threat.
And in this situation where Slayer was eyeing them like a hyena, they couldn't afford to make a loss anymore.
"My hands are full dealing with Mascot already. With Tell-Tale dead and the three Grade 4 Systems engaged, it's on me to face Mascot. And Mystique's ability is just giving me more headache, ugh." Zaira complained before saying to the Invader System, "I'll be able to divert some strength to your side, but it won't be anything significant. Remember this,"
She said in all seriousness, "If you fail to kill them, don't expect the one reinforcing you to be able to do so. So, don't be careless."
"I don't intend to," The Invader System said, "I only wanted to inform you so that you're aware of what's happening, in case I fail. It's not just Arnark that's growing at an exponential pace, Compass too has become terrifying."
"He was on the run throughout his life. But now, he had 75 years to consolidate his gains from the war." The Invader System said solemnly.
"Wait a second…" Zaira suddenly focused on something as she processed all the data the Invader System supplied, grinning as she said, "I know of a reinforcement."
"Arnark?" The Invader System was shocked, "Will he take the bait?"
"He'll be forced to do so," Zaira grinned to say, "Thanks to the Secondary System, I've finally gained access to the protagonist genre. Without killing it, Arnark would be unable to attain Grade 2. And best of all,"
Her expression turned bloodthirsty, "It's the Money-Making System that was involved in turning Compass and Stencil into System Slayers. So, they are still connected by fate."
After a minute of observation, her smile grew deeper, "Interesting. It seems Compass managed to sever his ties of fate somehow. But, Stencil is still connected thanks to Regression's Core Skill Manifestation. Her fate with the Money-Making System is still maintained strongly thanks to her daily regressions."
"So, by targeting the Secondary System, I'll be affecting Stencil, which would force Compass to take action against it. But since it is of vital importance for Arnark to attain Grade 2, the two would face." The Invader System nodded before asking, "But, what about its power?"
Zaira extended her hand, causing a spherical vortex to form on it.
Core Skill—Secondary (Level 10)!
"The moment it arrived at the System World, I gained all its data. So, even if Arnark devours it, I can still recreate it. And if I supply this power to the Hunter System, it would evolve even further and might even reach Grade 3." She spoke and retracted the power.
"Things are getting interesting now. The protagonist genre is finally falling into my grasp after so long."
"No matter how this turns out, we'll be victorious in the end." The Invader System nodded in response, "With Arnark as my reinforcement, I needn't fear then."
"I'll go at Compass with full throttle," It asked next, "It's fine if I kill Stencil, right?"
"It's fine," Zaira said, "Don't weaken yourself by trying to capture her. We failed once already. Focus on killing them with all your strength. If she is alive in the end, then it's our luck. Otherwise, it's simply our fate."
"Luck, huh." It nodded before asking, "Speaking of luck, how long will it take for the birth of the Luck System?"
"A bit more time," Zaira said, "With Apocalypse weakened, it's unable to locate and target Rhizen at the moment. He's interfering with its revival."
