I Hate Systems

"What the…what just happened?" Mystic was shocked as he managed to break free of the restraints that Magister had cast on him, hurrying towards one of the worlds under him.

To steal his monocle, Magister sealed him up and used his power to create the Tiara. And now that he broke free, he sensed that one of his worlds had died out mysteriously, hurriedly appearing before it as he stared in shock, tearing up in response, "Why…why did you have to go this far, Magister?"

Anger billowed out of him as he noticed that the world was just a crumbling mass of dust now, with the people there devoured, same for the essence of the world itself, reducing it into a dying husk of its former self.

As he stared at it, the world crumbled completely. The resultant dust washed over his face, turning it ashen as he stared at the scene for a good hour as a droplet of tears skidded down his cheek.

"You'll pay for this, Magister!" Mystique uttered as his figure appeared before a magical world, expressing anger as he clenched his hand into a fist, craning it backward.

"Aaargh!" The people of the world, one filled with mages screamed in fright as massive cracks appeared all over the world as the mana became corrupted, turning devilish as everyone in contact with it suffered to the extreme before turning into devils.

"Gah!" Magister grunted in pain, noticing a spot on his hand turning into a blotch of ink, jet black as malevolent energy churned within it. "One of my worlds has been corrupted by a mysterious power?"

"This is bad!" He hurried in response, for if more worlds were to become corrupted, it would result in his power dropping as the corrupted powers would vie for control over his body.

Boom!

The earth rumbled as the people of this world collapsed into maggots that devoured one another, evolving into vicious insects, capricious in nature.

"Mystique! Stop what you're doing!" Immortal noticed his actions, hurrying there, "Don't destroy those worlds. If you are angry at Magister, just steal his worlds. Don't destroy them! Each world is precious."

"He started it." Mystique stated in anger, "All along, you've treated me as a weakling, right?"

"I've been enduring it, but no more, not after you've destroyed one of my worlds." Saying so, his figure turned ethereal before vanishing.

"Dammit!" Immortal was alarmed as he slashed forth with a sword, cutting into space as he jumped through it and appeared before another world of Magister that was destroyed by Mystique.

Moreover, once destroyed, such worlds gradually developed a new power system, one falling under Mystique's control, causing his power to creep gradually while Magister weakened in response.

"Stop! Mystique!" Immortal bellowed, "If you don't, then I'll destroy all your worlds!"

"Do it then!" Mystique's angry voice resounded, "Haven't you threatened me about doing the same multiple times already? I'll give you the chance now."

"In return, I'll destroy your tens of thousands of worlds." Mystique vanished once again as Immortal failed to catch him.

"This slippery bastard." Immortal began to sweat in response as even the strongest of his seals failed to keep Mystique in place who had divided his body in surprising ways that even if a body were to be captured, all its powers would mysteriously transfer into another body.

Due to this, Mystique couldn't be captured as he went around, damaging every world he came across.

"Fucker! What the heck did you do to piss off Mystique?" Immortal grabbed hold of Magister, punching the other party in the face.

"I only stole his monocle…" Magister said in a hurry, "I didn't destroy his world, promise. Even I know that he's overprotective of his few worlds. So, why the heck would I do that?"

"Magister!" A robust voice resounded as a middle-aged man wearing martial arts robes appeared at the scene, pummelling Magister, bombarding the protective magic circles that appeared.

The magic circles cracked as he bellowed, "What the heck happened? Why is Mystique targeting my worlds now?"

"I…don't know, Martial." Magister frowned, "I have no idea why Mystique is attacking the worlds of everyone. He only should have been targeting mine."

"Don't act like I don't know what you've done, Magister." Suddenly, Mystique appeared, a lot stronger than before as he oozed out killing intent, "That weapon that you created, where is it?"

"It's something that's capable of annihilating us all!" He shouted, "And only I can stop it before it's too late. Now, hurry up and cough it!"

"What weapon?" Immortal stared at Magister in anger, "What monstrosity did you create this time?"

"I…don't have it with me." Magister said, "The Human I bestowed it upon stole its power and vanished. I'm unable to locate her anymore."

"I feared this might happen!" Mystique bellowed in anger, chiding Magister, "Didn't I warn you to not experiment with Mental Energy? The worlds under me might be few and weak, but each of them has enough potential to affect everything!"

"Do you think I didn't know of the means to strengthen my worlds?" He shouted, "I purposefully kept them weak, just to prevent such a thing from happening. But, did you listen to anything I had to say before sealing me?"

"Screw you! Researcher of secrets my foot!"

"This weapon…what exactly can it do?" Immortal asked, forcefully calming Mystique down as he glared at Magister.

"It can create beings of the mind…" Magister said, noticing the expressions of everyone shift in response.

Immortal stared at Mystique, "Are you…able to deal with them?"

"Mind? Yes," Mystique nodded, "But, it's impossible to destroy them for good. My monocle…you see, is indestructible. Even if you were to destroy it into pieces, it would reform soon after. You've seen it in action before, right?"

"So…your world…" Immortal asked.

"It was destroyed by whoever obtained that power." Mystique glared at Magister, "Since Mental Energy originated from this world, they absorbed the entire world's essence to strengthen themselves. Now, the entire power is in their hands. I cannot use Mental Energy anymore."

"I have strengthened myself by taking over some of your worlds. I need it to deal with this weapon. But, I have no guarantee that this is enough. You seriously created something terrifying just to satiate your curiosity."

"What do we do now?" Magister asked in the end, sighing as he understood that he had messed up big time.

"What else? We search!" Martial snapped in response as he hurried to find traces of Zaira.

At this time, the person in question had returned to her home world, using Mental Energy to teleport to the heart of the Demon Empire, appearing before the Saint of Calamity, grinning as she stared at him, "You're the final part that completes this puzzle."