I Hate Systems

The teenager condensed a short sword and threw it, causing it to burst like a bullet and become lodged into the burly man's thigh, pinning him to the ground. But in response, the burly man waved his hand, unleashing a wave of energy that slammed into the teenager, sending him crashing into the walls of the crater.

Both the parties were injured now, but that only served to further their fighting spirit. The burly man was a simple guy that just wished to vent his anger on the teenager.

As for the teenager, the more they fought, the more he understood that the burly man had special powers that didn't make sense when he thought about it based on the power structure of their world.

So, he wished to delve into the depths of this secret. Moreover, he had a faint inkling that he had already figured out the reason before but had forgotten it for unexpected reasons. It was just his conspiracy instinct flaring up from time to time.

From the start, their memories had been wiped out four times. But, using Directional Misalignment, Compass Carburettor ensured that they got on the nerves of each other after that. As he understood the characters of both people, he made them fight one after another without a problem.

It was to the extent that both the Systems were freaking out.

In the Astral Network, they were conversing nonstop, fighting from time to time.

[Conspiracy Slayer (Level 8): This is pretty strange. For some reason, they are getting into fights. They coincidently bump into each other or just do anything that results in the two duking it out.]

[Destiny Luck (Level 92): Coincidence…where's Rhizen? Also, is that System Slayer dead?]

[Fractional Disguise (Level 10): We are still engaging with Rhizen. Our situation is currently in a deadlock.]

[Destiny Luck (Level 92): If Rhizen's still engaged with you, then the situation with Conspiracy Slayer and Power Punch makes zero sense]

[Night Ranger (Level 10): The stigma I hit Compass Carburettor with has vanished. So, he should be dead. Did you confirm his corpse, Power Punch?]

[Power Punch (Level 4): Yes, I confirmed it many times. His corpse has fallen into an ant nest and is still there. A couple of ants have already begun to consume his flesh.]

[Destiny Luck (Level 92): Then there is only one possibility…]

The group turned silent at its words. A couple of seconds later, the Destiny Luck System spoke.

[Destiny Luck (Level 92): Coincidental Luck should have brought in another System Slayer. With its resources, such a feat is rather simple. And from the start, the System Slayer named Compass Carburettor was just a decoy.]

[Power Punch (Level 4): What Boss said makes perfect sense. But, how can we leave this place now? We've already completed our objective.]

[Night Ranger (Level 10): My part of the plan was to swoop in only when you failed to kill Compass Carburettor. Since that's already been done, I'll head over to separate the both of you now. We'll assign another team onto the new System Slayer.]

[Conspiracy Slayer (Level 8): Wait…fuck!]

The group stirred up in response immediately upon its swearing as the Conspiracy Slayer System spoke in a fluster.

While that was happening, Compass Carburettor had retreated into the ground, standing within an ant tunnel as he relied upon Directional Misalignment to keep track of the battle.

The reason he had done so was due to a third System Host approaching them. Upon sensing their approach in advance through Info Scanner, he and Grisha made a retreat. Meanwhile, countless ants squirmed within the various tunnels, looking ready to rush out into the crater where the teenager and the burly man were fighting.

"Gah!" Slamming into the crater's walls for the tenth time, the teenager grunted, coughing out blood as he intended to get up when his hand felt something metallic. It had slid out from a hole, dropped by an ant.

He picked it up and looked at it, noticing that it was a hand recorder.

He didn't think much about it, intending to ignore it when his thump moved all of a sudden, as if it had a mind of its own, pressing the play button, causing a voice to resound.

"Hahaha! So, this is where you are hiding."

"So, both the villains are here."

"That's great."

"This is…my voice?" The teenager was shocked to hear his voice playing in the recorder, shuddering as he heard it further, understanding it immediately as he linked the details, "So, this happened when I jumped into the balcony of Compass Carburettor."

As he heard further, his eyes widened, coming to a realisation, laughing as he said, 'System, oh System, so you are a freaking Devil. Just as I suspected, you've erased my memories of the incident.'

The moment he said it, something within him stirred up as all the memories that had been erased returned, causing him to snort, "Fuckers, so you've been erasing my memories nonstop."

He then suddenly rushed forth, punching the burly man, "Stop for a moment. We've been manipulated."

"This is a conspiracy."

"What…the heck are you talking about?" The burly man slumped to the ground, healing himself as he got up with a start, intending to continue the fight when the teenager opened his mouth, uttering something that shocked him, prompting him to utter a single word.

Even though he was just a brute, the burly man opened his mouth, uttering, "Syste…Gah!"

He slumped on the ground, spasming for a couple of minutes, unable to even think of anything, writhing like a dying bug.

He then got up slowly, gasping for air, his body soaked with cold sweat, muttering in utter shock, "So…it is true."

"Now you know it." The teenager said, patting his shoulders, "Our memories are being erased constantly. Due to that, we are fighting as if this is the first time, every single time."

"That is boring," The burly man sighed, slumping on the ground, "I just wanted to fight freely. I hate schemes."

"Same here," The teenager extended his hand, "By the way, I'm Ianon. What about you?"

"Dwun," The burly man said, extending his hand to grab hold of Ianon's when suddenly, tens of thousands of ants gushed into the crater, swarming them. Compass Carburettor had been blocking them with Directional Misalignment all along.

And now that he judged the time was right, he retracted his Core Skill, watching them swarm the two System Hosts.

After all, a third System Host had just arrived at the scene, intending to pry them away from one another. But now, right at his arrival, all the ants began to attack them, causing the two to serve their heads and glare at the third party with a baleful gaze.