I Hate Systems

Boom!

"Aargh!" Gehera screamed as one of her arms was blown off by the impact. Her screams only fuelled her maddened rage as she emanated a bloodthirsty aura that only sought to grind Slayer's bones to dust and devour them.

She leapt forward and grabbed a spike that Slayer had unleashed, instantly devouring it as she recondensed it and threw it at him, lodging it in his body.

"Rrrawh!" Slayer bellowed a beastly roar as he yanked out the spike and healed the injury instantly. His body exploded to become a giant whose steps thundered, quaking the ground. He blasted forth a myriad of attacks, each accompanied by dozens of Skills, all aimed at Gehera.

Swoosh!

Her arm regrew as Gehera whistled aloud, leaping into the air as a dozen Totems appeared around her. One of them stabbed into her back as immediately, her figure flickered like the wind and disappeared.

Boom!

An explosion resounded on Slayer's head, creating a large crater as the dozen Totems stabbed into it, immediately causing spores to gush out of his body and transform into creatures, all having been birthed from his power.

They consumed his foundation to form and immediately in response, targeted him, causing injuries to form all over his body.

Slayer opened his mouth and converged a torrent of energy into a sphere before blasting forth a breath attack, incinerating everything in his path. The beam trudged forth, forming a crack that ruptured the Serpent Universe's boundary along it, causing it to become exposed to the outside world.

The laws of the Serpent Universe hurriedly mended the crack, but in the meantime, the beam slammed into Gehera.

Whoosh!

A gigantic totem appeared before her as it unleashed a domain, one that erected a dome to defend against the breath attack. It only lasted an instant before collapsing, but by then, Gehera had teleported to Slayer's back.

Her jaws parted open as she stabbed a Totem into herself, transforming into a beast similar to a hydra, but one with a hundred heads.

Each of them condensed a sphere of energy in their mouth and blasted them at Slayer, puncturing his body with holes like Swiss cheese.

The necks expanded as the heads coiled around Slayer's body before chomping on his body. With every chomp, Gehera stole a portion of his power.

But in response to her action, Slayer condensed the latest power he had stolen, one that originated from the World Spirit System.

Energy welled up within one of the hundred-headed beast's mouths, spiking in density as it sparked an explosion, imploding the head from within. It happened because the energy simply countered the energy form the beast was relying upon.

Every power unleashed by Gehera had a source that she stole from. Hence, Slayer simply used a power that ran counter to the respective power system. And what best way to create energy than using the World Spirit System's power?

Instantly, dozens of heads exploded as the rest followed suit, causing the headless beast to collapse to the ground. Through one of the destroyed necks slithered out Gehera, for a moment weak.

But an instant later, she transformed into a giant, just like Slayer. This was the power she just stole from him as immediately, the two titans collided, unleashing breath attacks with reckless abandon as they tore into each other like primal beasts.

It was true that they were primal beasts, for the longer they fought, the faster they lost their sanity, fully influenced by the madness sinking into them.

"Aah!" Anak woke up in fright as he looked around, immediately crawling towards the unconscious figure of Arak nearby as he grabbed the latter, "Arak! Get up!"

Blood leaked out of Arak's orifices as he was constantly trembling, not to mention his mouth moving at an incessant speed, as if he was mumbling at a thousand times the speed of a speech. Inanity was brimming in his being as Arak didn't seem capable of waking up anytime soon.

The billions of minds that generated each collective consciousness were now rampaging around, having gained greater individuality. His mind was a mess now.

'Wait! How am I fine then?' Anak was bewildered before he observed that despite the minds forming the collective consciousnesses gaining greater individuality than Arak's, they didn't rampage around and submitted to the stronger ones.

They obeyed the law of the jungle, meekly keeping their heads low while they gathered strength while only the strong rampaged. This was the dog-eat-dog world that formed the foundational mentality of a Cultivation World.

So, despite being drunk on madness, the chaos functioned with a set of rules, forming the laws of the jungle. And the jungle was himself, Anak. The madness was overwhelming, but over time, even that would adjust itself to the rules of the jungle.

That was why he was able to recover from the effects. Whereas, Arak wasn't able to withstand it. It resulted due to the difference between the Genres.

Of course, if he was subjected to the same for extended durations, even the jungle would collapse. It had its limits in sustaining disorder and chaos. But as long as he gains more worlds under him, Anak would be able to endure greater chaos.

Upon realising this, he turned around, intending to help Slayer when he paused in shock, watching the figures of Slayer and Gehera tearing into each other like mindless beasts, "No, Grand Master!"

He immediately condensed a seal and slammed it into Slayer, causing it to absorb part of the madness affecting him, allowing Slayer to regain a bit of lucidity, "What…the heck happened?"

"Grand Master! You must stay away from Gehera. Fighting her is speeding up the seepage of madness in you!" Anak shouted.

"I know…" Slayer punched Gehera, cursing upon seeing the other party devour a part of his power and punch back, "But I can't hold back now. There's a limit to her Ruin of Amagoth's durability. As long as I endure for a few more minutes, I can defeat and steal her power."

"Is…that so?" The Fate System landed a kilometre away from them, appearing pretty normal in the region brimming with chaos. "Too bad, you were late, Gilthru."

"What…?" Slayer was confused for a moment before his eyes widened, realisation slowly sinking in him as he grunted, "You didn't reveal this location to her, but instead, you brought us to her…"

The mouth of the Serpent Universe was forcefully opened as an energy-condensed figure peeked inside, staring at the figure of Gehera, Anak, and Arak, finally falling on Slayer to state with parlous laughter, "Welcome,"

"To the System World."