I Hate Systems

"Dumbass, why are you so slow?" A dragon plushie cursed arrogantly as it teleported a youth and pointed him towards a location atop a building, "A strong Invader would be appearing there in about twenty seconds."

"Had you been a tad faster, we would have had enough time to evacuate the people." It grumbled.

"Why is it my fault when you're the one in charge of teleporting me to the target location?" The one complaining was Earth Star, having been running all across the world with minimal rest for the past week.

"Anyway, it's your fault." The dragon plushie snorted as it slapped his cheek with its tail, "You took too long to kill the last Invader. And that caused a delay to my divination."

"You expect me to perform my best when I'm this exhausted?" Earth Star complained but despite that, his feet were moving. In the end, he arrived a dozen seconds before the Invader at the designated spot and took in a deep breath, "Now, stop speaking. Let me concentrate."

His Hero Suit wriggled, allowing him to synchronise with it as he expanded his senses using his power, feeling the vibrations coursing through the floor, using it to determine the material composition and the structural integrity of the building, frowning in the end, "This won't last even a single hit."

His senses morphed in response as he now focused on the vital signatures around him, determining the position and number of people. With their positions known, he made preparations to prevent them from noticing anything amiss, causing a tiny black hole to form before him, "Contained gravity field."

The black hole expanded to encompass a sphere with a radius of thirty metres on the terrace as he now floated in its centre. The gravity was directed at the centre but wasn't strong enough to rend the body of anyone in its range.

The edges of the black hole sphere were a shade darker than the surroundings, but that was all. Beyond that, there was no effect of its gravitational field, fully contained within this sphere.

Grrr…?

The Invader jumped through the barrier and landed on the terrace, intending to make an impactful entry when it noticed to its shock that its feet stopped a foot above the terrace. Following that, its body slowly moved up, stopping thirty metres above the terrace.

Even though the gravity seemed weak, it was strong enough to trap the target Invader who stared at Earth Star in alarm, "Y-You! You're the one killing all of us."

"Let's finish this quickly, shall we?" Earth Star yawned as he punched forth casually.

"Wha…Impossible!" The Invader felt as if a celestial body thousands of kilometres long was punching it as the sheer gravity unleashed was overbearing. Its body ruptured and collapsed into a million fragments, contained within the gravity sphere.

They condensed in the centre of gravity, forming a small sphere that Earth Star observed, asking the dragon plushie, "So, how strong was this Invader?"

"Two Star, based on the obtained data." The dragon plushie said, "Why? Are you planning to fight a stronger one?"

"Yeah," Earth Star focused on the sphere as he clenched his hand into a fist, compressing the fragments into a tiny grain-sized marble that he placed within a bag before retracting the gravity sphere. "If those bastards are planning to invade us in two months, I need to prepare."

"Aren't you confident in the Genesis Hero's strength?" The dragon plushie asked in curiosity, "No matter how many enemies arrive, she can easily…"

"Please, stop with the lies." Earth Star sighed as he observed the place to ensure there were no traces before taking a seat on the nearby water tank, staring at the dragon plushie to say, "You've told me enough for me to not piece the information together."

"The Genesis Hero isn't strong all the time, right?" He asked and stared at the sky, "Otherwise, the majority of the Invaders wouldn't be appearing at night-time. Moreover, I feel like the barrier isn't competent in protecting us all the time. It's strange."

'Everyone in the Ranger Troupe is special, but Earth Star is in a league of his own.' Thinking as such, the dragon plushie nodded, "It seems you've figured out the truth. But fret not, the competency issue has been solved. The Invaders that are making their way through are those we purposefully allowed to train our Heroes."

"Setting that aside," Earth Star asked in all seriousness, "Do our enemies know of this weakness?"

There was silence between the two at the end of which the dragon plushie nodded, "…yes."

"Fuck!" Earth Star cursed in response. He then glared at it, "Tell me, is the Genesis Hero suffering from a wound and is pushing herself to protect us?"

"Are you sure you wish to know the answer?" The dragon plushie turned serious as a formless pressure oozed out of it, impacting Earth Star.

Though, the latter didn't even flinch at that attempt and nodded resolutely, "I do. Otherwise, I might fail to protect our world."

"Fine, don't regret it." The dragon plushie waved its tail when their figures vanished from the spot and appeared within the Hero Association Headquarters.

It then led him to a secluded room within which a dragon plushie limped forth and snuggled on his legs, pissing a couple of seconds later, "What the heck?"

Just as he reacted to the strange action, he noticed his surroundings had changed, finding himself within a separate dimension.

There was a mountain farther away and built at its peak was a house. "This place is…?"

"The Genesis Hero's residence." His dragon plushie said before greeting the dragon plushies that flew towards them.

Earth Star looked around, noticing the dragon plushies tending to the garden that seemed to be growing strange plants the likes of which he had never encountered, "Are these plants from the other world?"

"No, they are from ours." The dragon plushie said, "Rare plants with exquisite properties appear from time to time depending on a lot of factors. Every time one such plant emerges, the Genesis Hero collects them and cultures them here for research and development. Using it, she was able to gain a deeper understanding of the Power Concepts."

"Is there no one else here?" Earth Star asked upon seeing only the dragon plushies around.

"Just me."

A feminine voice resounded from behind as he turned around in alarm before kneeling instinctively, "Earth Star greets Lady Genesis."