I Hate Systems

War!

It is something one must never experience in their lifetime. A living being's desperate wish during its survival was to never become part of a war.

Unfortunately, in a society controlled by the greed of the wealthy and powerful, their words were the decree that plunged millions and even billions of people into a life of horror, one brought by a war of vested interests.

Pheeeetalalala!

A whistling sound resounded loud and clear as the Death God's weapon scoured through the night sky, shining brightly like a shooting star as it gradually headed closer to the ground.

In a street with damaged buildings, brought about by the whistling sound, the refugees walked out one after another. They wore clothes covered by dust, blood, and sweat, almost rags. Their faces were unkempt while their teeth had seen better days.

A lack of food, sanitation, and even basic necessities to maintain a human life resulted in such a situation. The expressions of none seemed filled with hope, having seen better days.

"World War Three, my ass!" A middle-aged man lacking a leg cursed as he used a metal pole to hop forward, staring at the shooting star in the sky as he despaired, "Our world is doomed."

In a parallel world resembling Earth, World War Three had erupted. Over 27 countries participated, headed by the eight nuclear countries. The world economy collapsed, trade had stopped altogether, and the livelihood of people in countries lacking natural resources plummeted instantly.

If they didn't die of hunter, they died from either a bullet to the head or a stab to the gut. If they were lucky, an explosive snuffed their life instantly.

The war raged on for only a short three years, but by then, the death toll had reached two billion. And then, the day arrived, when humanity signalled the death of the world and unleashed the Death God's spite.

"I'm sorry." The middle-aged man muttered as he stared at a child before him. They weren't related. He had never seen that child before this. But for some reason, he felt the need to apologise.

Kneeling on the ground, he hugged the child, one barely six years old, "The world before this wasn't perfect. But, it was still a beautiful world."

"I promise, humanity wasn't like this back then. If…" Tears streamed out of his eyes as he stared at the child, his vision blurry, "If there is a second life, I hope you live in a world without humans. I'm sorry."

Pheeeetalalala!

The whistling sound came closer and closer as the people on the dilapidated street converged around the child, patting him; all the adults apologised, "I'm sorry."

"We didn't allow you to see a bright world."

"We denied you your birthright to live in this beautiful world."

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

"We're sorry."

The shooting star was a cold, metallic object that impacted the region, resulting in light that shone brighter than the sun, brightening up the entire night sky over a significant region of Earth.

The bright light dissipated a few seconds later as a mushroom cloud rose to the sky, spreading around the stratosphere to blanket the world.

One after another, shooting stars of death landed on Earth as billions were wiped out in a matter of seconds among humans alone. As for the total annihilated life, it reached the trillions, all in a matter of seconds.

The mushroom cloud from all reached the stratosphere and spread out, eventually covering the entire Earth, preventing sunlight from ever reaching it for probably the next tens of thousands of years.

Survivors among humanity?

Probably a few million, scattered amongst the far stretches of society that remained beyond the reach of the world-rending weapons.

At this moment, invisible to the eyes of all the surviving lifeforms on Earth, an ethereal entity detached itself from Earth and condensed for a moment to stare at the result of the scenario it had caused.

Its form stabilised into a human woman that had been embedded into a pyramid, only, her figure was bigger than the moon.

Right as she appeared, a star arrived beside it as a feminine voice resounded, "I told you to take it slow, Ruination. Humanity would have been annihilated if I had arrived any later."

"Ruination?" The woman embedded in the pyramid tilted her head and spoke slowly, "I do have a name, you know? Call me Gehera."

"Fine, Gehera." The star hummed a bit, "Three years is too short of a time. It's just a waste. Imagine the amount of Mental Energy that you could have gained had you extended the war for probably a decade."

"I'm not concerned with the quantity of Mental Energy," Gehera spoke calmly, "The shorter the war, the more devastating it is. And the resultant Mental Energy's quality is that high. I've even gained a significant sum of Mental Energy with protagonist qualities."

"Fine, as long as you are satisfied." The star dimmed a little before warning, "But you should take note, Ruination. I won't be able to leave this world for at least the next two decades. So in the meantime, you will have to find some other Grade 3 System to assist the world you've destroyed."

"I'll…wait for you." Saying so, Ruination returned to the System World, leaving behind a sentence, "Don't make me wait too long. I don't like depending upon the other Systems, Stencil."

"Fine," The star hummed as it fused with Earth and rapidly began to modify its laws that had been influenced by Ruination.

"Huff…just a bit farther. There's a base there." An old woman said as she dragged a sled that carried a wounded dog. She had been living in a forest, cut off from civilisation. But one day, three months ago, mysterious clouds covered the sky.

Due to that, the atmosphere cooled rapidly, plunging the temperatures of the surface dangerously low. The ocean froze up while the plants began to die one after another. It became hard to scour for food.

The old woman had been living with her dog. She had stockpiled enough rations to last six months, but unfortunately for her, a mishap happened as her dog was injured by a prowling wolf that barged into her house.

After somehow killing the wolf, the old woman began to march forth toward a nearby settlement from memory, intending to request help for her dog.

"Hah!" She plopped to the ground, unable to walk anymore, too numb in the cold to move. Her vision felt weak as her eyes drooped, "Is this where I die?"

Boom!

Intense heat ruptured from a nearby location, colling down enough that it was a warm current when it reached her, instantly giving strength to her cold body. The old woman stared in the respective direction in shock, "W-What the hell is that?"

"My God!"

A few kilometres away from her stood a tower that reached into the skies, seemingly unending.