One Last System

"So that's why..." Ackhart muttered silently before slumping to the ground.

The news that the monster-turned-girl brought down upon the entire group could only be called devastating.

It wasn't easy to learn that the entire world that they knew was about to end and still keep their composure. As such, I couldn't help but get impressed when Ackhart managed to react somewhat calmly to the news.

"Still..." Ackhart whispered while sending a glance towards Antrall's corpse. "Wasn't it counterproductive to kill him?" he asked, moving his eyes back on me. "Even if we stood on different sides before,  I don't think it's the right time to keep ourselves stuck in the fights of the past," he claimed before releasing a deep sigh.

"Right now, we need to focus on surviving the change that's happening to this world," I said, reading what Ackhart wanted to point out.

Then, as if to prove that sentence, another meteor flew above our heads only to crash somewhere far to the northeast.

"That's right," Ackhart nodded his head while pretending not to see the hateful stares of the other elders.

Despite his attempts at calming the situation down, it was clear that only my power was stopping them from jumping Ackhart down.

"You failed to realize one thing." I shook my head. "For me, it makes no difference whether this world goes to shit or not," I stated before raising my hand and gently rubbing it against Mia's cheek. "And those idiots wouldn't listen if I didn't showcase how little their power means against me," I added, reinforcing the idea of me being the unbeatable monster in the room.

The truth was, though, I couldn't really deal with all those elders if they decided to jump on me. The only reason why I could be safe, for now, was because they were within the range of my Mage's Tower and my nearly absolute control over everything within that area thanks to my disturb spell.

"And you did that despite requesting to talk before we would start killing each other?" one of the elders spat out, clearly unhappy with how the situation went. "Fucking liar," he added under his breath.

"I think I already explained it," I replied to the accusation. "If I didn't make a statement, you guys wouldn't listen," I said before turning my eyes towards the elder that dared to speak ill of me. "Normally, I would kill all of you just to take my sweet revenge for the bullying my fiancee, and I received," I claimed while raising one of my eyebrows. "Killing only one of you is already the highest form of mercy you can expect!"

This time, not a single of the elders dared to speak up, the sight of the dead body of their leader serving as a reminder of why doing so would be a bad idea.

"So?" Ackhart asked, the expression on his face proving how awkward it was for him to sit in peace right by the people he was spying on. "What are we going to do now?" he asked before throwing a quick look at the girl by the fireplace.

Ever since she revealed the same information to the rest of them that she did to me just a moment earlier, this was the one main question that has to be in the back of everyone's heads.

But what one should do when the world they knew was coming to an end?

'I guess I have it way easier than the others,' I thought, releasing a deep sigh.

Even though the situation influenced me just as much as everyone else, I had one advantage over the others.

For me, this wasn't a world that I could call my own. And with my current level of strength, I should be able to somehow make do with all the possible hardships that were about to descend on everyone.

"To be honest, I don't really know," I said before shaking my head. "Nor, to be honest, I do care. As long as I can keep Mia safe and close, I don't care about the rest," I admitted, only for the girl on my lap to squirm a little.

What I just said was a petty lie. Because what I cared the most about right now was following the advice of the girl I saved and finding some room for Mia and me to properly reunite, both in the soul but also in the flesh.

"Aren't you going to help us save people back at the outerpost?" one of the Sangakarts' elders asked, finally managing to overcome the fear I instilled in them with my former sentences.

"Help you?" Mia moved on my lap. While she clearly didn't intend to do it, her sudden twist sent a wave of pleasure down the spine as my tent dug into her crotch. And with only two thin layers of our robes separating those two parts of our bodies, it was a pretty strong stimulus for someone who had abstained from carnal pleasure for several months already!

"Don't think that I forgot how you ignored all the problems back at the outerpost, all for the sake of hunting Arty down!" she shouted in an accusing tone before shaking her head and taking a deep breath. She then relaxed her body and returned to her usual position on my lap. "The fact that we pretended to believe in your shit so far clearly made you too stupid to realize it was nothing but an act," she muttered as she dug her face back into my chest.

"Still, that doesn't answer the question," Ackhart whispered before sending a sneaky glance at my face. "What are you going to do, now?"

Yet again, Mia moved on my lap. This time, however, she was clearly nervous.

"Just speak up, dear," I said in a gentle tone, running my finger down her cheek. "Whatever you wish for, I will do my best to accomplish," I informed.

There was clearly something wrong with this relationship. Despite being born and educated in a world that put a massive emphasis on stuff like being alpha, beta, and sigma males, despite knowing that me right now could only be classified as the beta one...

I couldn't care less.

There would be a time when I would look into this matter, trying to uncover the source of this relentless passion that I felt towards Mia. But right now, I was too busy enjoying her warmth to bother with such pointless stuff.

"If you say so..." Mia whispered silently, averting her eyes even though I wasn't looking at her face at all...

"Then I want to save the rest of my team," she stated, raising her head and looking with her deep eyes right into mine. "Do you think it's possible?"

Mia's body trembled, showcasing just how nervous she was. Yet, rather than being shaken by the development, I couldn't help but smile.

"It's better to work together; I implied it myself right at the start," I admitted before shaking my head. "But to be honest, there is only one thing I dislike about your request, dear," I added with a small smile while putting my fingers on Mia's soft, moist lips.

"What is it?" Mia asked, a look of uncertainty appearing deep in her eyes.

"The fact that you hesitated before asking."