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
“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
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
“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
“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
“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
The sun rays pierced through the worn-out window curtains, signaling the beginning of another monotonous day. A boy, seventeen years of age, groaned in annoyance and reluctantly got off the bed. Apart from the usual lack of sleep and absence of enthusiasm, the teenager felt frustrated over the fact that he had to go to school and, as always, be subjected to unwarranted bullying. Zeke absent-mindedly stared at the wall for a good minute or two before changing his clothes and going downstairs. His parents, as was their wont, were at work and his big sister was living in the school’s dormitory, thus he had to eat breakfast alone. The unwillingness to head to school was almost overwhelming, nevertheless, Zeke purged any thoughts of skipping due to how ludicrously expensive it was to get admitted in the first place. To begin with, only a selected few individuals were accepted into Erys, his school. All thanks to their ability to manipulate Aether. However, Zeke was one of a handful of s
Alas, this peculiar occurrence was abruptly interrupted by Julia, who waved her hand right in front of his eyes. As he snapped out of it, he realized that the light vanished and the sky returned to normal. “I asked you a question.” “What?” He stared at her with visible confusion, his mind still wondering about what he had just witnessed. He wasn’t crazy enough to see such a realistic hallucination, nor was he on drugs or any substances, therefore, he was certain that it wasn’t just a simple trick. “I said; Why don’t you grow a pair of balls?” “...” Still not understanding, Zeke contented with silence, which only irritated the girl. She pushed her long auburn hair to the back and leaned her face closer to his. “You’re a man, aren’t you? How can you let Azmer boss you around?” He swept his eyes across Julia and her four friends then calmly responded, “I don’t see how it is any different than what you are doing.” “What? You think I’m bullying you? You should be glad Azmer is an