I Hate Systems

Bang!

The starlight stream crashed into a rack in a toy store to become the humanoid cat that panted in exhaustion.

It slowly got up and grabbed a nearby toy, a plastic figure of a dinosaur, spanning the length of a foot. The toy gradually melted and was absorbed by the humanoid cat figure who quickly rearranged the rack, keeping the fallen toys back in their original locations before transforming into a starlight stream that entered the rack, becoming the dinosaur plastic toy in its original location.

A couple dozen seconds later, the sounds of footsteps resounded in the place as immediately, the figure of a middle-aged man appeared before the rack, casually grabbing hold of the dinosaur toy as he approached the counter, staring at the old man there, "I'll buy this one."

"Okay," The old man nodded as he stared at the toy, letting out a subtle smile, "Another remnant of the Contained Villain?"

"Yup," The Muscle Lantern nodded in response, "There's just no end to them. This is the third one I encountered just this week. It was hard to act like I saw it for the first time before my family."

"Where's your costume though?" The old man asked, "You shouldn't use your powers without your costume. If your identity is leaked, your old enemies would..."

"I know, sir." Muscle Lantern thanked the old man, "I'm grateful for your teachings."

"It's just the ramblings of a retired old man." The old man didn't say much beyond that, took the money, and packed the toy in a gift wrap, "Take care."

"You too," Muscle Lantern nodded as a mysterious energy exuded his body and enveloped the dinosaur toy, preventing it from taking action as he casually whistled a tune and returned home, dialling up his wife's number, "You can return now. I've captured the thief."

Fifteen minutes later, Pink Jail arrived home, motioning for her children to fall asleep as she arrived at the living room, staring at the dinosaur toy in her husband's possession, "Is that it?"

"Yup, this was easier to catch than the previous one." He said before pushing the dinosaur toy towards her, "Can you wring out the suits from its internal storage?"

"Piece of cake." Nodding in response, Pink Jail touched the plastic toy, jailing air inside it until she noticed a mysterious dimension, casually breaking through its defences before invading inside, observing the humanoid cat seated inside.

"You won't escape." She said upon noticing the opponent's startlement, causing the air to slam into the humanoid cat to injure it before causing a leak in the place, making the two suits spill into the real world.

Upon observing that the two suits were undamaged, Pink Jail stared at her husband, "What shall we do with this? Fragment it might be, but it's still part of the Contained Villain. Turning one in would gain us immense rewards from the Genesis Hero herself."

"Genesis Hero..." Muscle Lantern shook his head immediately, "No, it's too dangerous. I've seen her once in my younger days, she's terrifying. And to date, she hasn't aged a bit."

He stared at his wife, "If we gain fame for turning in a fragment of the Contained Villain, we'll gain attention worldwide and suffer the wrath of the other fragments. They might not have been active much in recent times, but there's still enough of them out there."

"Then, I'll just kill it." Saying so, Pink Jail raised the force in her fist, crushing the dinosaur toy, watching it splatter as the fragments vaporised into starlight before vanishing, causing the figure of the humanoid cat to appear.

At this moment, Muscle Lantern unleashed a beam of light on it, causing its body to grow weak while he flashed before it, punching its face in an effort to kill it once and for all.

The humanoid cat barely raised its arms, causing it to spark with lightning as it defended against the attack, watching its hands vaporise in response as it crashed into the wall, sliding to the floor in exhaustion, staring at the two individuals before it weakly, 'To think things would come to this.'

It then watched the fist of the Muscle Lantern approaching its face once again, blanking out in response, its final thought being, 'Things had gone south ever since that day seventy-five years ago.'

...

Boom!

The white flash of light spread around, destroying the world created by Magister's Genre Representation, one that had enveloped the Apocalypse System's Core Skill Manifestation to encompass this.

The flash of light spanned a mere two seconds, vanishing as abruptly as it arrived, revealing a void from where the Fantasy World was visible far away.

The range of the flash of light only encompassed the constructed world. And hence, the Fantasy World avoided a fate of destruction.

"Aargh!" Zaira shouted in horror, "Is everyone alright?"

"No..." The Apocalypse System muttered weakly, on the verge of death as it had suffered the worst of injuries, having been the closest to the attack.

Zaira harnessed as much of her strength as possible and channelled it into the Apocalypse System, barely managing to keep it alive. She then looked around, unable to find any Grade 2 System.

All had died.

Among the Grade 3 Systems, despite their critical injuries, none were dead. Remaining in a protective embrace around them was the Regression System, in a state worse than the Apocalypse System as Zaira hurriedly supported it too.

It was only thanks to it that the Grade 3 Systems survived. But at this time, Zaira's face paled in shock, for she was unable to sense the Tell-Tale System any longer, collapsing in despair as the records related to the Tell-Tale System vanished from the System World.

It meant that the Tell-Tale System had been killed.

"Gah!" Arnark gasped for breath as his figure reappeared, collapsing to his knees as he was out of energy. His Core Skill of Checkpoint was the sole reason he survived.

He then turned around, sighing in relief upon watching Slayer revive. As the Fantasy World was perfectly alright, as its representative, even if his body was destroyed, Slayer wouldn't die, just like a Genre Representative.

He then stared at Zaira, nervous as both sides were at the end of their wits. The next blow by either side would result in the death of the other.

Beep!

At this moment, the figure of Compass Carburettor appeared in his Invoked Spirit form, hurriedly bringing out some Mental Fragments that took on a physical body form as he returned to the safety of the Dreamland.

The physical body transformed into a truck and crashed into the Waning Essence System that was the closest.

Reverse Transmigration!

Honk!

The Waning Essence System stumbled weakly onto the forest floor, staring at its familiar surroundings to notice a couple of Grade 1 Systems staring at it with eyes similar to commoners gazing at their emperor.

"Move!" Followed by a curt shout, the truck moved past the Waning Essence System, sending the Grade 1 Systems flying as its figure gradually turned transparent before vanishing.

"To think he used the System World to leave...bastard." The Waning Essence System muttered before collapsing, losing consciousness.