Chapter 632: The Strange Relic

"This Main Character is such a troll." Slayer stopped laughing, stating in irritation.

"What...happened?" Balveta frowned as the remaining four peak System Slayers arrived, staring at the surroundings where too many things not belonging to this world were floating around, having originated from the various Core Skills that had been unleashed.

"I've played right into his hands," Slayer said, staring at the corpse before him, observing the distorting face of a world-devouring serpent, "Whose thoughts in this world can exhibit the purest and greatest of Mental Energy?"

"You, of course..." Balveta said as she flinched, retorting, "But with your defences, your thoughts would never exit your body in the form of Mental Energy."

"Normally, that should have been the case." Slayer nodded, "But, a mysterious coin appeared in the Tukkan Crystal Aronaut bought from Stencil. And it suddenly forced a crack in my defences, allowing my thoughts to create Mental Energy."

"I had indeed been thinking about Compass Carburettor, since Aronaut was reading something made by him. So..." He sighed, "The Mental Energy I unleashed ended up reinforcing something he had planned, resulting in a terrifying Relic, one capable of absorbing the mental imprint from all Relics, not to mention the System fragments growing in the minds of the people."

"What?" Balveta was shocked, exclaiming, "Impossible! Even we cannot do that!"

"But it happened." Slayer nodded, "And strangely, it was able to absorb some from even me and Aronaut. So, it's a terrifying Relic."

"Where are they now?" Balveta looked around, failing to find any traces.

"They disappeared..." Slayer said, "Whether it was Aronaut or the rest of the System Slayers, all disappeared. They were brought away by the Relic."

"But, your spatial ability is still in effect." Balveta wasn't able to believe it as she touched the borders of this dimension that Slayer had erected at the start of the battle, feeling its solidness, "There is no sign of damage..."

"There isn't...because its cause and effect have been influenced." Slayer let out a breath of air, getting up as he snapped his finger, unleashing a sea of flames that vaporised everything before he unleashed a secondary wave of energy that vanquished all traces of System Skills and their effects.

Following that, the dimension vanished as they returned to the original room.

"Have you been able to find Compass Carburettor?" Slayer asked next, staring at Balveta.

Balveta looked at the other four in response, focusing on the Elf named Keel.

Keel shook his head, "He's able to travel using Mental Energy. He can go anywhere in the world through it. I'm unable to divine his location without enough clues. His Main Character shielding is too strong."

"Of course, it's strong." Slayer muttered, "I already sensed more than sixty fragments of the Main Character System in his body."

"This shielding would only continue to strengthen in the future, especially if he chances upon the group of System Slayers that vanished with Aronaut and absorbs their Main Character fragments."

...

"Gah!" Aronaut woke up with a start, looking around to see that he was on the sandy shores of a tiny island. Strewn about on the sand were the rest of the System Slayers that had been brought with him.

They were yet to regain consciousness as it seemed this abrupt movement had taken a toll on them.

"What...just happened?" Aronaut felt a searing headache as he blinked in confusion, his eyes widening in shock as he gradually recalled the sequence of events that had transpired, hurriedly staring at his hands to look for the Relic, frowning when there was nothing there.

Instead, a tattoo had appeared on the back of his hand, kite-shaped. The moment he gazed at it, there was a flash of light before a crystal hovered before him.

The Relic seemed sentient as it stared at him.

Only now did Aronaut notice something amiss, feeling that he had grown a lot weaker as compared to before, "What the...?"

There was only one Personal Fragment remaining in him now, and even that was steadily growing dim, losing power, flustering him, "What the heck's happening?"

He then stared at the crystal hovering before him, "Are you...are you the cause behind this?"

The crystal hummed in response, moving up and down, accepting that it was indeed the cause. But strangely, Aronaut wasn't angry, the sensation surprising even him.

After all, the crystal didn't express any negative feelings towards him and seemed rather drawn toward him.

Now that he was aware the crystal before him was the Relic he had created, Aronaut wondered just what was up with it, for even he didn't have the means to break out of that extracted dimension that Slayer had created. Only if he managed to defeat or outwit Slayer did he have a chance at escape.

And even then, it was only possible for him alone to escape. But now, the rest of the System Slayers too were safe. Just as this thought resounded in his mind, Aronaut stared at the closest System Slayer when he cursed aloud in response, "What the...?"

"Where are their Personal Fragments?"

'No, there's no Main Character System fragments in them anymore!' He thought, observing to see that it was the same for everyone.

His focus then fell on the Relic, observing that all the Main Character System fragments were now in it, causing it to hum jovially.

'Hah, this just doesn't make sense.' He felt drowsy all of a sudden, tired as the last of his Personal Fragment too disappeared, being absorbed by the Relic. "I don't know anymore..."

He collapsed to the ground as the waves of the ocean washed over him from time to time, covering him with a bit of sand.

He, along with the rest of the System Slayers had been reduced into normal people as their bodies began to morph, returning to their original, unmodified forms without the influence of any System Skill.

And the Relic hovered above Aronaut's hand, constantly absorbing everything related to a System from them all, humming in delight as it bobbed up and down before twirling a full circle, emitting disco lights in joy.