I Hate Systems

Holla hadn’t even managed to take a breather when suddenly, Grisha appeared above her, dangling upside down from a branch while carrying two sword handles.

As for the blades, it was condensed using her Space attribute, creating jet-black blades that were each thirty centimetres in length.

Her head was positioned right above Holla’s as her hands flashed around, slashing her neck, aiming her at the exact spot where her armour had been destroyed by her arrow.

“Gah!” Holla screamed hoarsely, barely evading the attack. But still, her throat had been slashed, preventing her from leaking any legible sounds.

But, she too was an experienced apocalypse survivor with experience spanning almost a millennium. So, instead of her hands instinctively clutching the injury on her throat, Holla clapped her hand, unleashing a shockwave that served to destroy Grisha.

Only then did she notice that Grisha had already vanished. The moment she noticed her combo attack failing to claim Holla’s life, Grisha vanished immediately.

“That face…it’s Grisha,” Holla muttered when she noticed that she was falling to the ground. All the attacks and the shockwaves destroyed the branch she was upon, causing her to fall to the ground.

And right at this time, she felt her luck trembling even more severely, noticing the figure of Ranze rushing straight at her.

“Dammit!” As she was still falling, she didn’t have any foothold to change directions. Grunting in response, she condensed a bow of light, followed by an arrow, launching it right at Ranze, hoping to slow him down in this fashion.

Clang!

Ranze summoned a brick and deflected the arrow, using his movement type Origin Arts to appear before Holla, unleashing multiple beams that targeted her.

“Ahh!” Holla unleashed a burst of shockwaves, deflecting all the beams when suddenly, a massive brick slammed into the shockwaves, barely flinching under the effect as its weight carried it towards her, slamming into her body.

Due to its size, there was no way Holla could avoid it.

She thought of using the shockwaves to fly away and avoid the impact. And that she did. But shockingly, a jet-black portal appeared in her way, with its counterpart leading right into the brick, causing Holla to slam into it with force.

“Gah!” Her head spun under the impact, coughing vehemently as she was unable to make heads or tails of the situation.

Right before the brick crushed her into the ground, an earthworm—a Martial Origin Stage Origin Beast—jutted out of the ground, coming into contact with the brick, halting its progress.

Holla flew a bit forward and rolled on the ground, avoiding death as she gasped for air, “Fisksher! Heal me!”

“Fisksher…?” She was shocked to see the middle-aged man a dozen metres away from her, barely enduring Grisha’s attacks. He looked at Holla, trying to come to her rescue but only suffered injuries from Grisha instead.

Suddenly, her spatial blades flickered for a moment before Grisha unleashed a beam at Fisksher.

Fisksher activated an Artifact to condense a protective shield, intending to defend against the attack.

But the jet-black beam—crescent moon shaped—arrived before his shield, suddenly teleporting ten centimetres forward, bypassing his shield as it slammed into him, eliciting screams from him as his legs were severed.

“Fisksher!” Holla screamed in shock. After all, even though they had only known each other for a day, Holla had become a bit close with him. The other party was indeed a comrade that she thought high off.

Suddenly, Fisksher unleashed a beam of energy towards Holla, rapidly healing her injuries right before he collapsed to the ground.

The barrier was still perfectly firm around him as he began to work on healing his legs immediately, showing that he was indeed a veteran expert at fighting.

“I’ll kill you, Grisha!” Holla screamed as she unleashed countless shockwaves.

In response, Grisha simply teleported behind her, shredding her defensive barrier. But just before she could go in for the vital blow, Holla blasted another shockwave.

“Do you remember?” Grisha spoke slowly, teleporting to a safer spot, “In the 17th and 23rd loop, we were friends. In the 7th, 9th, 18th, and 20th loops, we were on opposing sides.”

“But in the 31st loop, you were killed brutally by Velcorn.” She came to a halt, speaking, “At that time, you asked me, your precious best friend, to avenge you. Even though I failed, I ended up crippling Velcorn that time. And I sincerely hoped that your spirit would rest in peace after that.”

“But now that you’ve come to know the truth, why are you being a System Host? And, why the heck are you working with Velcorn?” Grisha asked.

“The same reason you’re on Compass Carburettor’s side.” Holla snorted, “You know the truth of our world. We’re doomed to repeat the same misfortune every twenty years. If that’s the case, I might as well remember everything and save myself endless misery.”

“Is that it?” Grisha asked.

“Pretty much.” Holla smirked, “In most of my loops, I led a miserable life for the first five years. It was hell on earth. But even when I gained strength after that, there was no meaning. I had nothing to look forward to, just plain old suffering day after day after DAY!”

“You do realise you’ll forget everything after another 16 years, right?” Grisha said, “Our world is owned by the Coincidental Luck System. There’s no way you’ll be a System Host again. You’re only suitable for that one System that’s inside you now. And it would never pick you again since that would mean offending the Coincidental Luck System.”

“I know.” Holla smiled all of a sudden, “But, we’ve established a deal with the Coincidental Luck System. It’s not much, but in return for killing Compass Carburettor, I’ll be granted memory of one loop.”

“Just one loop?” Grisha frowned.

“Yes, that’s enough for me.” Holla smiled, “I’ll select the tenth loop where I reached the peak of the world and my experiences were by far the greatest. As long as I remember that, I won’t have to suffer in the future loops.”

“Isn’t that a worthy reward?” She extended her hand towards Grisha, “And if you help me, you’ll also get the same. You can select to permanently remember everything that happened in one loop.”

“That way, no matter how many loops you go through, you’ll never face a disadvantage due to your knowledge and experience.” Holla spoke, “There are greater benefits on our side, Grisha.”

“Fight for our world. If we fail to kill Compass Carburettor, our world would be eradicated by the System World. That’s why, we have no other choice.”