“The System, or Systems, date back to before the discovery of the Aether Planet by the earthlings. Going back even further into the past, there were three ‘Holy’ Artifacts known as the Three Divine Scriptures. One of them is the Paths of Extinction System.”“It’s an Artifact?”“Yes, of the highest grade. Throughout history, there have been only 6 8th-grade Artifacts, and the Paths of Extinction System is one of them. Two more are also systems, one is the moon you see at night. I don’t know what the rest are.”Although he was morbidly curious about how the moon could be an artifact, Zeke perked his ears and listened.“Anyway, it was said that the Three Divine Scriptures originated from the Creator God. Think of him as the one true celestial entity behind existence itself. That’s what the records I have read claimed, at least. The Paths of Extinction appeared only a handful of times… five to be exact. However, with each appearance, there is a cataclysm that follows. The Age of Eternal N
The woman was unfamiliar to Zeke, but her fancy attire and her elegant demeanor made her assume she was their first client.“Madam Rodrey, it’s always a pleasure to meet you.”Sulong was speaking with extreme politeness as he fawned over the beauty. Even Zeke was momentarily stunned by her seductiveness as she crossed her legs. He averted his eyes from her exposed thighs and went to Jack.The lanky Jack leaned closer to Zeke and whispered, “She’s madam Bella Rodrey, the owner and manager of the brothel opposite this building, but rumor is…” Jack gulped some saliva and lowered her voice even more, “She has several secret identities, like being a lobbyist and a weapon dealer in the underworld.”Zeke could remember Sulong talking about her, but as she wasn’t an enemy, he didn’t think much of it back then.A soft feminine chuckle echoed within the relatively silent office as Bella glanced at Zeke, who only nodded back in greeting.“Isn't it time you introduce your new friend?”“A-ah!
Hanging from the top of the gate was an eviscerated and mutilated headless body.The rest of the corpse, which was the head, was right next to it, pierced by a bloodied hook.Zeke stood there, in absolute shock, for close to a minute. His hands were clenched into tight fists and his mouth was wide-open.It wasn’t the first time he saw a corpse or a gruesome sight, but it was the identity of the corpse that caused him to have such an extreme reaction.‘N-no… it can’t be. It can’t be.’Zeke’s body twitched as he lowered his head and mumbled incoherently. His eyes were hollow and his face was dangerously pale.The students were panicking and calling for help while the civilians notified the authorities.Barely two minutes later, the Dean, Professor Nayro and even Solas arrived at the scene.The Principal used his magic to lower the corpse to the ground. The elderly Dean covered it with a large cloth and shouted at the crowd to step back.Meanwhile, Zeke was kneeling on the ground and sta
“Aren’t ya going to attack? Hehehehe! I can’t wait to slice you up.” Kley kicekd Maxine in the abdomen, sending her body rolling dozens of meters away. Zeke injected himself with an illusory syringe before shooting forward. Thunderbolt shots from his hands, but the assassin spun around and easily extinguished the voltage. “You’re at your peak state. Show me what you can do, boy!” In but a couple of seconds, Zeke crossed the distance separating them and clashed with Kley. Using [Sreyzhanian Arts] and the empowered from [Self-injection], he avoided the rapidly-moving sickles and unleashed a torrent of punches. While [Fists of Fury] landed on Kley’s blody, they barely made him budge as he cackled and swept both his sickles downwards. A violent gale made of a black-colored aura descended upon Zeke, who leapt back while leaving a lightning orb. [Spark] exploded upon contact, letting out a rain of thin thunderbolts. This time, Kley was hit by the voltage, his clothes had small holes
Counsellor Mary was so surprised to see Zeke that her drowsiness and sleepiness disappeared. She fixed her slightly messy attire and positioned her special tools as she motioned for the gloomy youth to sit down.“I’d like some counselling, please.”Zeke lowered his head as he uttered those words, looking dejected and sad.“I know it has been hard for you ever since our last meeting. I also heard about your friend’s death… my condolences.”“Thank you.”He wryly smiled and kept looking down, his hands clenched as he struggled to voice his thoughts.“Let me prepare some tea for you first. It will help.”He meekly nodded and patiently waited for her as the unique fragrance of the tea leaves spread across the oddly-decorated room.Soon, a small cup of tea was in front of Zeke, who sipped from it.“This one is different from the tea I served you during our first meeting. It’ll ease your heart a bit.”Just as she said, Zeke felt inexplicably serene a minute later. A warm sebastian swelling w
The first three days of the Final Exams were uneventful and devoid of unexpected tragedies. Except for revising, Zeke busied himself with the mundane Daily Tasks of the System. In his free time, he would just stay in his room buried in books. At last, the tired students glimpsed a glimmer of peace as the Theoretical Exams, which were infamous for being soul-draining, were over at least. Beginning from the fourth day of the week, Thursday, and ending on Saturday, the First Year students will be undergoing the Practical Exams. Just like last time, it was a long chain of one on one fights while abiding to several conditions and restrictions. Zeke would have been excited for it were it not for Samuel’s death and the subsequent disappearance of his father, Vans Valort. When Zeke went to talk with the detective at the police station, he was told that Vans quit his job right after his son’s death and hasn’t been seen since. There was also the noticeable absence of Katrina, but Zeke di
After Nayro finished his explanation, the First Year students were instructed to split into evenly-numbered groups as their opponents showed on a massive screen behind the podium.There wouldn’t be more than one fighting arena, but, generally, the fights would last for one to two minutes, at most.Even with over a 100 students, the whole thing wouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.For the first day, the students would only fight three fights to determine if they passed or not. However, most students- excluding the few defects- perform relatively well in the Practical Exams.As mentioned earlier, Zeke’s first three opponents would be of ‘similar’ ranking to him.He was more than confident to win, but he didn’t act overly-arrogant. With Samuel gone, he had no one to actively talk to so he stood there and patiently waited while the final preparations were completed.The fighting arena was at the center of the large room, surrounded by a semi-translucent half-spherical barrier.The
The two students took the stage; Zeke was solemn-faced and didn’t look particularly excited, as opposed to the seemingly frustrated Veronica.There was a hint of animosity in her eyes as she stared at him, though her anger was to be expected after he had stolen the shipment from her team.Azmer did say that the Ivory Oak Order wanted to have a word with him, but even if they threatened him, Zeke wasn’t going to return Angel to them.The child was mentally and physically scarred and she was suffering from a serious medical condition. “Get ready, both of you.”They stood 20 meters away from each other and patiently waited for Nayro to signal the beginning of the fight.The Zyth’s beady eyeballs were fixated on Zeke, eager to see more of his ability. It wasn’t just him, Solas and the other teachers were interested too.“Go easy on me, okay?”Veronica playfully winked at him as snakes slithered from her clothes and hissed menacingly.The second the fight started, deafening azure lightnin
“I and Hephradet personally studied it, but found nothing. Here you go.”Kleya handed back the strange item back to Zeke.“There’s no Aether or any other foreign energy inside. We couldn’t determine its purpose.”“I see. Thank you anyway.”“Don’t worry about it. You should rest more or else I’ll never hear the end of it from Jenny.”Zeke wryly smiled and nodded. His mother kept nagging him day and night, telling him to rest and not continuously wander around the castle checking on everyone and making sure there were no issues.His body was already healthy and he felt no odd disturbances or unexpected awakenings. Everything is as normal as it could be.Just as Kleya left the room, Jennifer came in. Behind her was a red-faced Celestia, which made Zeke frown.“Mom?”Surprisingly, Jennifer grabbed his ear and pulled him to the couch.“Did I not tell you to overdo it?”“W-what? I haven’t done anything!”“That’s not what she told me!”Celestia stood a distance away, her head lowered in emba
“It’s still too early to assess everything, but… over 80% of the entire planet’s population died.” Kleya, whose eyes were a bit red and her face was filled with fatigue, sat across Zeke and Celestia. “And Her Majesty?” When she heard his question, Kleya lowered her head and held herself back from crying. “We… we think she died fighting the System. It’s no longer possible to return to the Unending Star, so we decided to acknowledge that Her Majesty was amongst those who had fallen there.” “I’m sorry.” “Don’t be. She… she died protecting what she believed in. Us. Not just the Witch Association but all of the Aether Planet.” Zeke sighed, feeling sorry when he saw Kleya like that. The Witch Queen was the pillar of the Witch Association, their respected leader. It was especially so for Kleya and the other 6-star Witches, excluding Jennifer. “A-anyway, the situation at the capital of the Nezulian Republic remains the same. We’re still looking for a way to cancel that Frost Spell cast
“Huff… huff…” With a hand pressed against his hurting chest, Zeke dragged his tired feet toward the fallen copy. The copy’s head turned to look at him, its eyeballs, which looked as if they were to pop-out, were letting out the familiar yet incredibly dim crimson light. “We had completed our objective. There was nothing left for Us to do.” “That didn’t give you the right to wipe entire civilizations.” “You… wouldn’t understand, Zeke Orland.” Unlike earlier, the System spoke through the copy’s mouth. Its charred and cut lips moved in an unnatural way, but the voice was identical to Zeke’s. “We had succeeded. We had saved the world. Then, We understood that our creation, our existence was only for that purpose. That We were a tool destined to cease existing.” “...” “We could not tolerate that.” “So you manifested a will of your own?” In response to that, a self-deprecating laugh came from the copy. “After choosing our first User, we saw how the Races we were supposed to prote
While the Phoenix battled the System in the Cursed Plains of the Unending Star, Zeke’s fight against his copy continued.Things took a turn for the worst when the Crown was crushed and the System’s powers dramatically increased. Nevertheless, Zeke didn’t lose yet. His body was flung and then crashed into the ground, blood gushing out from his shoulder and back.Even then, he slowly stood up and grinned toward the System.“Still fighting the good fight.”The previously calm ‘copy’, or at least the System’s disembodied voice, grew agitated as Zeke refused to remain on the ground.“My will is not so easily broken.”[Voltage King]Zeke’s eyes shone with an azure light as his voltage grew silent and became white.[Divine Champion][Divine Sreyzhanian Arts]Just as he charged at the System again, its body suddenly turned stiff as if being immobilized by something.The item handed by Kayro Ol Zerg flashed from Zeke’s pocket.[Fist of Fury]Zeke’s fists, glowing orange and wrapped in condens
“What’s wrong? I thought you were invincible in your domain.”Zeke’s taunt had no effect, at least not at first. The System stood straight and looked down on its wounded body.“You know nothing of Us.”The copy raised its hand, and very soon, something familiar appeared.It was a tangible object of an odd-shape, but Zeke knew what it was. The Crown.“You will know what it is to be helpless and defeated, 5th user.”“You’re still talking?”Zeke let out a smile and charged forth, his fists wrapped by thick voltage.The System crushed the crown as the red voltage manifested and exploded in an uncontrollable manner.…“Is it done?”Julia Lopmore furrowed her brows as she looked at the enemy, whose body was crushed, burned, and almost unrecognisable. It wasn’t a body anymore, but a mass of flesh and poison.The silence lasted for a very short time as the Crown also appeared in reality.“Stop it!” Shouted Frederic as took out a blue bead, one with the same size and shape that Nicneven had pr
Xiao, with his spear in hand, actually deflected the Divine Thunder before safely landing on the ground.Several people appeared close to the Witch Queen. As she swept her eyes across the six people that unexpectedly showed up here.“Your Majesty, we’re here to lend a hand.” Frederic Whitefort smirked and looked at her as he muttered those words. He had brought along Azmer, Xiao, Celestia, Ava, and Julia Lopmore.“You… how ar-”“We can save that talk for later, eh?”Frederic motioned toward Zeke, who was standing there and staring back at them with a hollow expression.“As I’m the weakest of the bunch, I’ll just stay behind and offer assistance… as well as try to heal Her Majesty.”The Vagabond knelt next to Nicnteven and extended his hand towards her. He let out a warm and serene white light, which made her feel rejuvenated. It was Holy Magic, something which she didn’t know he could use.“Wouldn’t Zeke die if we tried to kill the System?” Asked Julia while furrowing her brows.“Not
Right after the destruction of the Heart of the Dead Ends, Zeke stood there, seemingly in a daze.The Witch Queen stared at him intensely, and when his eyes glowed with a crimson light, she immediately attacked.Jonathan roared and rushed as well, a creeping Darkness exploding from his hands.Nicneven struck out from afar, unleashing a blazing wave of flames, fused with a spinning thick beam of Ice-aspected energy.The Paths of Extinction System, which had taken control of Zeke’s body, retaliated with full-force as well.Dozens of thunderbolts erupted from Zeke’s raised hand, blasting Jonathan back and clashing with the Queen’s magic.“The Seat of Magic.” Muttered a voice that didn’t resemble Zeke albeit speaking from his mouth.It was emotionless and cold, one which no living being would be able to imitate.[Voltage Zap]Using such an elementary skill, the System shot innumerable bolts that arched in the air and concentrated on Nicneven.She jumped out of the way and performed a stra
“I know this is a lot to take in, Zeke Orland. But, I want you to trust me. Know that I have your best interest in heart and I wouldn’t have come unless necessary. I could’ve let you venture alone and complete your objective, after which you’ll be killed by your own System.”Zeke pointed his open hand toward the incoming shades.[Voltage King]A barrage of lightning bolts was unleashed, piercing through the shades and extinguishing them. They vaporised in an instant, leaving only a bit of red fog.The Dead Ends and the Paths of Extinction System, they both had that unique and ominous crimson light. However, Zeke thought it was just a coincidence.Now that the truth was revealed to him, he felt a bit lost. It wasn’t that much of a surprise that his System was dangerous or a threat as he had already suspected as much after learning about Edward Heart.Nevertheless, the fact that it was a tool from the very beginning did make him feel weak and clueless.An eerie silence flowed between Ze
Thanks to the thunderstorm Zeke had previously summoned, the three of them managed to reach and enter the Black Spike. Strangely enough, the entrance of the spire was fully-opened as if beckoning them inside. “This looks man-made.” “Because it is.” Answered Nicneven as she held the black katana with one hand and controlled five differently-colored elemental orb with the other. The interior of the black spike was empty but particularly eerie. Everything was black and except a spiralling staircase that led to the top, there was nothing else, not even the crimson fog. “Who made it?” “...” “Why do you refuse to tell me anything, Your Majesty? What is the Dead Ends? Who created it?” “You do not need to concern yourself with that. Just destroy the Hearts and everything will end.” Her immediate dismissal did irritate him, but he didn’t press her for answers he knew she wouldn’t give. “This is the final stretch. Jonathan, take the vanguard.” “Yes, Your Majesty.” Jonathan pushed bac