"What?" Mystique shouted in shock when he was sent flying back into the Core Skill Manifestation.
"Sorry for the intrusion," Arnark's nervous voice resounded as he peeked in through the hole and observed the situation inside, "I just came for a visit."
"Arnark?" The two Grade 4 Systems were surprised at his visit as they stared at one another. Usually, they wouldn't have paid him any attention. But now that he had become whole, he was by far the greatest target for the Systems.
'As long as we bring him to the System World, this war is as good as a victory for us.' The Reincarnation System thought as it took action, attacking Arnark.
In response, Arnark only seemed stunned as his body was destroyed. But an instant later, he reformed nearby, extending his hand to make a small circle around the hole before he flew inside.
Main Character Core Skill—Cheat Death (Level 99)!
Check Point allowed him to revive at a designated location while Cheat Death overrode his death, reviving him at the same place instantly.
Lore, Restriction Order, Plot Armour, Checkpoint, Cliff Falling, Bond, Flashback, World Centre, Plot Convenience, and Cheat Death. They were ten of his eleven Core Skills.
The moment the Reincarnation System targeted him, Arnark didn't even bother with it, watching its attack dissipate by the time it reached him, rendered into pure energy that he casually devoured.
With Restriction Order, he wasn't afraid of Systems.
"You're my target." Arnark grinned as he stared at Mystique, teleporting before him immediately. Thought, an instant later, his face burst into millions of worms that splattered around.
But in contrast, it was Mystique that was surprised, observing the wriggling worms drop dead immediately after as Arnark revived nearby and rushed at him.
"I don't know what you're planning, but I won't allow you to target him." Technocraft frowned and unleashed a beam that vaporised Arnark.
But that didn't matter as Arnark seemed to have already set up a Checkpoint beside Mystique as he revived there. He extended his hand, about to touch the latter when his body dissolved into a dozen serpents that writhed around in insanity.
Main Character Core Skill—Flashback (Level 99)!
A Core Skill activated automatically as immediately, countless images flashed through the mind of the writhing snakes, forcing them to recall their life as they re-joined to become a large serpent.
The serpent regained sanity using the memories of its past as it committed suicide and revived nearby as Arnark. The individual glared at Mystique and charged at him again, shouting, "Your internal chaos will calm down!"
The eyes of Mystique widened in shock as the collective consciousness fighting inside him turned a tad sluggish, allowing the current collective consciousness to have better control over his body and last longer.
"You just set yourself up for failure." Mystique tilted his head in confusion and puffed, severing Arnark's approaching figure into a billion tomatoes.
The tomatoes exploded into a sea of juice that condensed into Arnark's figure.
Main Character Core Skill—Plot Armour (Level 99)!
He had just reformed his body through the tomato juice when his eyes made contact with Mystique's, suddenly causing him to clutch his head and bawl out like crazy to the extent his ear drums ruptured, followed by his vocal cords exploding.
Boom!
Aargh!
Kaboom!
Aieee!
Explosions resounded every few seconds, followed by the howls of a certain someone.
For the first few minutes, Technocraft interfered to protect Mystique. But upon seeing that Mystique was perfectly fine against Arnark's best attempts, he decided to simply stay on his guard against the two Grade 4 Systems.
Reincarnation and Transmigration had targeted Arnark at the start, but upon seeing their abilities being turned into a tonic to fuel his growth, they stopped their attacks, unwilling to reveal their cards before the Genre Representatives.
Both sides had to guard against a possible retaliation from the other side, so they couldn't unleash their strongest attacks for the time being.
This allowed Arnark to fight Mystique without any interruption. Though, all that resulted was his endless suffering.
"It's strange." The Reincarnation System frowned as it glanced at the hole Arnark had sauntered in from, observing that the place had healed. Following that, it observed the fight with a confused expression.
"What's strange?" The Transmigration System asked, unable to notice what was wrong this time.
"Look at the abilities Mystique is using…" The Reincarnation System said in confusion, "Do you remember them?"
"The abilities…?" The Transmigration System frowned as it observed Mystique's attacks when suddenly, the images of hundreds of Systems writhing in insanity in a certain corner of the System World came to mind.
Its gaze shuddered as it said solemnly, "I remember. They are abilities that can affect even Systems. Two Grade 3 Systems have fallen victim to them until now and have yet to find a solution. Their conditions are only growing worse as time passes."
"Indeed," The Reincarnation System nodded, "Even we have been careful in targeting him only after unleashing our Core Skill Manifestation. In this domain of our absolute rule, we wouldn't be affected by Mystique's strange powers. But,"
It stared at the ongoing slaughter, "Arnark has been killed more than a thousand times by Mystique now. But, how come he has yet to show any signs of insanity? He's not in the least affected."
"Now that you mention it…" The Transmigration System expressed its shock, "Even though he became whole, he's still a Grade 1 System. How is he still sane while facing Mystique? Even a Grade 3 System would have been suffering from side-effects by now."
"He's as absurd as Mystique." The Reincarnation System said, shuddering for a moment upon noticing that despite suffering from insanity before every single death, Arnark hadn't even shown the smallest sign of fatigue. Moreover, there was even a subtle smile on his face.
"What?" Mystique suddenly expressed shock.
"How is this possible?" Technocraft failed to believe his eyes.
The two Grade 4 Systems stared at the faces of each other, wondering if they had been affected by Mystique's power. But even they were aware that the case was different. They weren't under any hallucination of the sort.
That means…the phenomenon that transpired before them was indeed reality.
Koff!
Mystique coughed out blood as he stared at the hand that had pierced his stomach before observing the smile of relief flashed by Arnark.
"Finally, I reached you," Arnark muttered as he yanked his hand out, pulling something from within Mystique.
