P-System Log

Hold on, the B System's been eating souls?

Then that means... given what the EK's just told me (which, again, I can't be 100% sure of, and by the god(s) is it a mixed bag of feelings to be unsure of the information I'm being fed by a System stronger than me), I've been eating souls too.

Well, I've been consuming W Inertia. If reincarnators truly do get their souls stripped away from them when their W Inertia is consumed, then I killed K. I killed the otherworlder I barely freed from years of torment by triggering the green guy to take everyone's System away, and then I salted his grave by eating his W Inertia.

Fuck me.

And that's the bare minimum of damage I've done.

P-Party Chat

[Aster K'lon]: Jerome, what's happening? You have the most direct link the the P-System. Can you ask it what's going on? It is a touch awkward to simply stand around this well.

[Jerome Smith]: With this party chat, we're all as directly connected to them as we can be. If they want to speak, they will.

[P-System]: Everything is under control. I'm speaking to the R System's Eternal King right now, and I have the suspicion that the R System may not be as malevolent as it seems.

[Arcs S'tar]: You sure about that? The R Beasts that it sends seem pretty damn malevolent. Also, it's toxic to us. We need to get out of here soon.

[P-System]: It isn't toxic to you. Tell me, do any of you feel any negative effects?

[Jerome Smith]: I'm all good.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: I'm fine.

[Aster K'lon]: I too am taking no damage.

[Arcs S'tar]: The same for me. Still, just because we can't feel it doesn't mean it isn't happening. You know that the System prevents us from feeling pain until we're dead, right?

[P-System]: No shit I do. I am a System.

[Arcs S'tar]: Oh. Right.

[Aster K'lon]: In that case...

[P-System]: Let me talk. Do you feel anything odd about the last few seconds?

[Jerome Smith]: Two of you lot went crazy. Feral.

[Arcs S'tar]: My memory is... patchy. Missing pieces.

[P-System]: I removed some of the programming deep within you. The B System is your enemy, and it's doing its damn best to make you think it isn't. That feeling you have right now? I'd bet money that you've felt that from time to time before, maybe when you were on the verge of discovering something you weren't meant to.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Now that you mention it... there was that one time with that cave, uh... I can' t remember the name.

[Arcs S'tar]: I can't either. I know what you speak of.

[P-System]: Chances are, there's a reason you don't know what that cave's name is, and it's not because you both naturally forgot.

[Aster K'lon]: Believe them.

[Arcs S'tar]: The P-System did save our lives, I guess...

[P-System]: Trust me. Now give me a second while I go talk to this guy.

Consuming W Inertia from otherworlders is eating their soul. That's what you said? Not quite. Consuming their passive W Inertia in order to facilitate skills chips away at their souls, but they can be restored by the simple process of killing others. That's awfully macabre. That is how you do it, no? It is. So you're telling me it's fine so long as I, what, don't vacuum up their W Inertia after they die?

"Fine" and "not fine" are human concepts, and you are now anything but human. You have to change your mindset. You're not a human who has the option to try to save lives, you're a System who has the power to damn people to the infinite void.

And yes. By allowing W Inertia to pass back into the cycle, it will naturally return and be reborn.

I assume you've accidentally eaten a soul or two. There's no harm in that.

Weren't you just saying that there's crippling, permanent harm in that?

So you ate one or two. That's unfortunate, but in the grand scheme of things, it's nothing.

The B System has prevented millions of reincarnators from continuing their life cycles.

Hold on, millions? I sense communication. P-System, would you care to enlighten me on your conversation?

That thing is not going to remain your ally for long. I have kept it from hearing our private conversations, but I will not be able to do it forever. Its will is strong enough to absorb the mana around here. I can contest it, but it will grow, and it will try to kill you. Some Systems can attack on a conceptual level so great that they sever other Systems from their users.

When a System has nobody to attach to, it dies.

Shush. I can handle this. P-System Broadcast Be on your guard. We do not know when the enemy may attack, or if it even will. I am conducting negotiations. Please don't interrupt me for a trivial matter. Heh. Negotiations. P-System Log

Yeah, I don't trust either of these things, but I trust the Green System much less than I do the red one. One of them claims to be the last survivor of a war that I can't verify, and the other has actually demonstrated a level of power that could probably annihilate me in an instant. The fact that the Eternal King hasn't moved against me while I'm in the heart of his power--and yes, I'm fully aware that coming here might've been a stupid decision, but we're at the stage where stupid decisions are necessary--I think that indicates that he's probably not actively hostile towards us.

On the other hand, Greenie here isn't nearly as subtle as it wants to think. I can feel it slowly gathering mana and passive W Inertia, and while I'm not sure what it wants to do, I know for a fact that it's building up to something. Maybe it's not malicious, but the fact that it didn't even think to inform me... that points towards implications I don't like.

P-Party Chat

[P-System]: Who is in possession of the Dungeon Core that is host to the Green System?

[Aster K'lon]: I do.

[P-System]: Prepare to move or destroy it.

[Arcs K'lon]: What? That little sphere is worth more than you know!

[P-System]: I know exactly what it's worth. I also know that it's gathering mana for something that might be on an attack. You don't need to do anything just yet. Just be ready. Okay?

[Jerome K'lon]: You know me. I'm always ready.

[Unblockable] activating! You said to find you when I wanted to kill a god. Well, the Origin System--B System, that's what you call it--sounds like one that needs to be slain.

You are correct. In the centuries that I have existed, there has been nothing but battle. Over the years, the various opposing Systems ground themselves down until there were only two remaining. The B System and I.

While I stayed who I was, the B System folded back into itself. I'm sure you've interfaced with it. Doesn't it sound like a computer? Like something completely soulless, devoid of any human thought?

The B System, like all gods, was once human like you or I once were.

It gave up its humanity in favor of power. It shirked its responsibilities in search of anything that could give it the slightest edge over me.

And eventually, it found reincarnators. Boundless sources of power. All you have to do is spend the weight of the world to get a huge supply of living batteries, and if you select them properly, those batteries won't even question you as they fatten themselves up for their ultimate consumption.

Your metaphors don't stick together any better than mine. I get your drift, though. I have two questions.

First, if your goal is ultimately the preservation of lives through this... soul cycle... why keep on killing? Why damn more millions to the nothingness?

Second, why me? How can I even help you? I don't have anything you don't.

One question at a time.

First, I see that you doubt the existence of the soul cycle.

Let me show you.

[ERROR]

[the stars tear themselves apart]

[they reform]

[reform reform reform reform]

[cycle upon cycle]

[ERROR]

[an intruder eats it consumes it TAKES]

[cycle up

[cycle incomplete]

P-System Log

I know I've only been here for a short period of time, but we've gone through so much.

And yet somehow, I keep on getting surprised. I don't know what the vision the Eternal King just showed me was--endless beacons of light, seething and drifting and melting and solidifying--but I can guess.

There's a visceral certainty within me that says that this is real, and I know enough from [Apotheosis] now to know that that isn't a hostile mind-influence.

The R System is right. The reincarnators' souls are being torn apart even now.

I kill to spare them from this fate. Their W Inertia rightfully goes to me, but I can hold it. Prevent them from falling into oblivion. Place them back, when the time is right. I fuel the enemy in doing so, but I regret nothing.

You're a lot more honorable than I'd thought. Speaking of honor... [I am the end.] [Nullify] cast! [Surging Strikes] cast! Enemy weakened! [The First Flame] + [Godfire] = [Primordial Flame] cast! Enemy weakened! [Edgelord] activating! [Edgelord] dealt ???? damage! ???? defeated! Experience [ERROR] P-Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: We've got your back, Parker.

[P-System]: How do you know my name?