I Hate Systems

"Greetings, Beast Form. I believe this is the first time we're conversing." Compass Carburettor extended his hand towards a giant beast.

The mane of a lion, the eyes of a lizard, the whiskers of a cat, the mouth of an alligator, the tongue of a snake, the ears of a dog, fish gills along the neck, shark fin on the back, the skin of a rhinoceros, the feet of a gecko, etc.

The features of everything single animal and beast were perfectly integrated into this entity that at first glance, one would think it made actual sense. Such was the Beast Form System.

Currently, it was bound by energy blade whips that prevented it from moving. And lying on the ground, beaten, battered, and crushed were the carcasses of countless beasts, all that it had transformed into.

All of them resembled a sieve, riddled with bullet wounds. And, most of them lacked any limbs, seemingly as if they had been turned into dust, judging by the sand that was on the ground.

It was the remains of their limbs that had been disintegrated as such.

"Slayer…curse you." The Beast Form System opened its mouth, screaming in regret. It had been defeated, soundlessly so, with all its means soundly countered by Compass Carburettor.

"Beast Form…that's your name, your ability, and…" Compass Carburettor muttered, his eyes sharpening, "Your achilles heel."

"I've been thinking about it," Ignoring its roars, Compass Carburettor tapped the underside of his chin with his thumb, pondering as he talked, "What makes a System so…omnipotent. Is it just because of Mental Energy? Is it due to the universality and versatility of their powers? Just what makes them so…different and special."

"Hmph, you'll never get anything from me." The Beast Form snorted.

"I know about that. You're not the first System I've killed." Compass Carburettor sighed, gazing up as he spoke, "I'm just rambling on now since I have a bit of free time on my hands. The Systems, what is your origin, what is so different about you that…everyone desires to be your slave?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure anymore." He massaged his forehead, "Before, I thought I knew about it. To grow, Systems would select Hosts and give them Quests. And when the Quests are completed, they are rewarded with a variety of things, all of which are better than what the Host could ever hope to gain through his abilities. Given, this behaviour can be considered that the Systems just wish to progress and grow. That's all."

"But, now, after obtaining this recent ability of mine, I'm not so sure anymore." His face convulsed as he gazed at the bound Beast Form System, "Even though what I obtained is only a fake, a sham as compared to the original, it is still a cheap knockoff. And, there's one piece of information in it that doesn't make sense."

"A System…doesn't need a Host to survive. No, that's wrong. Or rather," He gazed at the Beast Form System, "If you wish, you can instantly take over your Host, destroy their mind and soul and wear their bodies as a container to move around in the world freely. But, why haven't you done that?"

"You, the Beast Form System, the one I killed before, the Reality Marble System, the Young Master System, Night Ranger System, Remembrance System, and even Directional Misalignment System. If this was possible, it shouldn't have been possible for me to kill any of you." He muttered, watching the Beast Form System silently stare at him.

"What…exactly are you creatures?"

"I believe, it's best if you end this battle now. You'll neither get any answer nor even so much as a hint from me." The Beast Form System closed its eyes, showing no sign of resistance, anger, indignation, and the other emotions that it had shown before.

"I see, right, it makes sense." Compass Carburettor muttered, "Since when did I assume that Systems had emotions, hah…haha…hahaha!"

He began to laugh, "Such a deep level of brainwashing that it had become common sense for me."

The Beast Form System silently stared at him, expressing no emotions, silent, like a statue, but still full of life.

Staring at such an entity, he shuddered, feeling fear, noticing his limbs trembling. He realised that while grasping straws, he had managed to touch one, just once, a mild graze. But, he felt it, realising that he had stumbled upon something greater, vast, terrifying, something he wasn't prepared to face.

'Wait, by refining them, am I actually killing them?' This thought popped into his mind.

'Even if I kill them, they exist. When I kill them in my mind, their Core Skill still remains behind. And then, if Systems are representative of certain concepts, then…' He turned around, looking, for the first time observing this place that he had addressed as his mind space.

He had treated it as common sense. But in actuality, this shouldn't have been common sense. How would he, a mortal human living on Earth know about things like the mind space that hadn't existed in him before?

A jet-black place resembling the depths of space, lacking any semblance of life. And, hovering in one place of it was him, behaving like he was walking on land while in actuality, he had been walking on the void.

As for the Systems that he had fought until now, they too had done the same, running around like there actually existed a land underneath them.

Compass Carburettor kneeled before a carcass, observing that there was nothing underneath it to keep it in place. Using an energy blade hand, he crushed the carcass, causing tiny parts of it to fall on the ground.

Ground!

Ground that didn't exist, but acted like it did.

There wasn't anything like that.

'What…the heck? Why did I never think about it before?' Compass Carburettor was startled at the observation, wondering what the heck was up with him, to think he was oblivious to something so blatantly obvious.

His heart thumped as he placed his hand on the 'ground', not able to feel anything. But, as if he had come into contact with the ground there, his hand stopped perfectly. Even the muscles on his palm were slightly compressed, as if there was glass forming the ground.

But, he didn't feel it.

'There is no ground.'

And when this thought took root in his mind, his hands passed below. And then…

Everything fell through.