I Hate Systems

"What are you doing?" Compass Carburettor frowned upon staring at Hazen's mischief, focusing for a moment before exclaiming in surprise, "You mad lad."

"If you were able to see through that, guess you've attained a high enough level." Suddenly, all the adults vanished as an eight-year-old boy sat on the stove, his legs dangling as he smirked, "took you long enough to evolve yourself."

"Was the damage that worse?"

"Indeed, I had underestimated their resolve." Compass Carburettor nodded, "Without my knowledge, multiple Systems had descended into my body and hid themselves within my Dreamland. Even I failed to sense their locations initially."

"It took a loot of time to weed them out."

"Indeed, anywhere with the Astral Network, the Systems could casually descend into your body and fuse with your entire being." The boy nodded, "When there was one second left for Dota to finish the process, more than a dozen Systems tried to enter Stencil's body. It seems we subconsciously took that burden, so she's fine."

He also pointed at Gehera, "If not for Regriel becoming the Ruin of Amagoth, Gehera would have fallen under the control of the Systems by now. He stole their power and erased their existence."

"You managed to talk with him?" Compass Carburettor asked in surprise before staring at Gehera, "I always wanted to have a chat with him. I'm still curious about the method he used to determine Slayer's and Arnark's true scheme in such advance and even make plans regarding that."

"Dad woke up?" Gehera frowned and closed her eyes, immediately focusing on her Ruin of Amagoth, failing to sense any traces of her father. She then stared at Hazen, "It's the same as usual here."

"Why are you searching for him?" Hazen tilted his head in confusion, "The Ruin of Amagoth is your power. And your dad is the Ruin of Amagoth. Just call your power."

Gehera's eyes lit up in enlightenment as she focused on her power, causing a pyramid to flash into existence before her. She stared at it, noticing a pair of eyes lit up behind it as a familiar voice resounded, "Dammit, Hazen. I wanted her to discover this on her own."

"Retard, she's been longing to see you all these decades." Hazen snorted in disdain, "How long will you keep her sad?"

"My daughter is perfectly…"

Boom!

Gehera punched the pyramid, shouting in anger, "Damn old fart! If you were there all along, why did you respond? I've been calling out for you like a madman!"

"Well…I had to think and plan ways in which your powers could grow further. Time simply flew without my realisation…" Regriel didn't even finish his sentence when Gehera retracted the pyramid, taking in deep breaths to calm down.

"You're not conversing with your old man?" Hazen asked.

"What old man?" Gehera exhaled lightly, clenching her hand into a fist, "That's not my dad. It's just a remnant soul. No, it's not even that. It's just an AI my dad designed on his behalf."

"He paid his life to create this." Her eyes reddened before she controlled herself, quickly gathering her bearings before calming down, "Guess I was a fool to expect something else."

"If it was really my father, he would have shown himself long ago."

"Indeed, you've matured a lot, Gehera." Hazen nodded as his figure gradually grew older, stopping upon becoming a wizened old man, "If you're this attentive, then I'm sure you'll be fine irrespective of the situation you face in the future."

He then stared at Compass Carburettor, "Take care of her, will you? There's not many that care about her despite there being so many universes."

"Why…are you speaking like that?" Gehera frowned, "You're talking as if you're going to die."

"No, I'm just leaving this place. I've stayed here long enough." Hazen said, smiling jovially, "My grandson was born just yesterday. So, all of me should be present there to celebrate, right?"

"What? Where? When did this happen?" Gehera was shocked, "I didn't even notice you leaving this house."

"I never left this house." Hazen smiled, "Or rather, I've been gradually leaving this universe through my own timeline."

"How?" She was confused.

"I think some of his selves from the past were in the Cultivation World. Through them, he applied the power of cause and effect on his own timeline and was summoning his future selves to the Cultivation World."

"One second at a time, I kept at it." Hazen said, "And eventually, I've summoned most of myself there. My current self just encompasses the last five seconds of my life. I've been reclaiming the rest nonstop."

He then condensed a watch and threw it towards Compass Carburettor, "The collective consciousnesses seemed useful, so I consumed them. In this watch lies some information I researched regarding their nature. I hope it proves of use in helping Stencil."

He then stared at the living room, "Truck-Kun, are you coming with me? I've reinforced the timeline when you arrived at the Cultivation World to help me. If you want, I can summon all of you to the Cultivation World using that instant. What do you say?"

"What? Really?" Truck-Kun asked as he jumped in joy, teleporting before Hazen as he grinned, "I can't wait to ram into some delusional…ahem…talented high school students and transmigrate them."

"It took time for me to set up and make preparations. Sorry for the delay." Hazen bowed in apology.

"It's fine. Seventy-five years is nothing for me." Truck-Kun waved his hand casually before latching himself onto Hazen like a koala bear, "Now, let's return."

"All the best," Hazen stared at Gehera, "If you ever feel lost, just visit my world. You possess a fair amount of my power in your Ruin of Amagoth. So, just use them to make the trip, alright?"

"Yes, thank you for everything." Gehera nodded in gratitude, slightly tearing up in response, having gotten used to Hazen's company for the past few decades.

Hazen then took in a deep breath to finally stare at Compass Carburettor, "Now then, I guess this is where we part ways. Enough time has passed for us to become fully separate entities. I've also adjusted my timeline so that neither or our timelines can be used to interfere with the other."

He waved his hand as his and Truck-Kun's figure gradually turned transparent, "Please don't come running to me to fight your war ever again. I dislike fighting with passion. Also,"

He flashed his middle-finger at Compass Carburettor, "My grandson is a hundred times cuter than Stencil. Fuck your Earth genes."

"Fuck you too, cultivation retard!" Compass Carburettor flashed a two middle fingers at Hazen, breaking into a laugh when the other party vanished.