What the hell are you doing? [Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [4/100] P-Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: I'm not the only one that can see that, right?

[Aster K'lon]: I can see it.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: I told you that it's an enemy! Kill it!

[P-System]: Chill. You aren't going to kill it unless you want to stand against the Eternal King, and I guarantee that you're not going to manage that. Aster, prepare your teleportation spell, yeah?

P-System Log

Shit, this is bad. I knew coming in that we couldn't 100% trust this guy, but I wasn't expecting him to just take action like this. I don't think this will kill me. If it wanted to do that, it could just annihilate the reincarnators.

What triggered this? Was it because I said I was willing to work with the R System? That has to be it, right? The moment I said that I was listening, I expressed my intent to join them, and then its presence faded a bit and got replaced by whatever this skill is. It's got a lot of pressure, whatever it is.

The worst part is that I don't know what Integration involves. The R System's not speaking or anything, and I don't have enough a sense of the skill to tell me what's happening.

[Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [11/100] P-System Log

Is it getting faster? Oh no.

I don't know what to do. Should we leave? Should I try to make some sort of desperate attack?

[Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [13/100] P-System Log

It's not getting faster, but it's not slowing either. I think the pacing is kind of random, but I don't think that's because it's randomly generated or anything like that. I think there's some level of conceptual barrier that it's slowly wearing down.

I can feel the effect of the skill now. I can't feel enough of the magic to identify what exactly it does, but I can feel the pressure.

It's staring down at me like an eye that spans the sky, and it's pulling.

What the hell is it pulling?

P-Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: I can't sense the R System's texts anymore. We might want to GTFO.

[Aster K'lon]: GTFO?

[P-System]: Pop the teleportation spell, Aster. Please.

[Mass Teleport - Variant A] cast! [Eternal King's Authority] You will not leave. This is for our shared good. [Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [17/100] Tell me something about what you're doing, damn you! P-System Log

What am I supposed to do? That weight is increasing, and it's clearly not physical because the others aren't really being affected by it.

Shit, shit shit shit.

I need to push back. I don't know what's going to happen when this Integration succeeds, but I don't like the sound of it. I don't like the feel of it.

It feels hostile. I know for a fact that if I hadn't cleared the restrictions from myself before, I would be practically screaming for blood.

I can't kill the R System. That's a fact. If I even try, the Eternal King will wipe us off the face of the Continent.

Can I modify the [Eternal King's Objective]? Almost everything I've done since coming to this godforsaken place is learning how to use and manipulate W Inertia, and I'll be damned if I go down without trying my best to keep it from happening.

[Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [18/100] P-System Log

That slowed it down. It slowed down!

Is it something conceptual? It felt like it earlier, but I'm pretty certain of it now. I'd bet money that the progress has something to do with breaking some invisible variable of will or something. Maybe a W Inertia-fueled factor. If it's fueled by W Inertia, I might be able to tap into it.

P-Party Chat

[Arcs S'tar]: Why are we still here?

[Aster K'lon]: It stopped the skill!

[Jerome Smith]: Fuck. Parker, do you have any advice?

[P-System]: I DON'T KNOW

[P-System]: Buy me time. I don't know how. Try.

[Learn] cast! [Godfire] cast! [Ethereal Stride] activating! [Edgelord] activating! [Shield of the Eternal King] prevents all damage. [System Comprehension] cast! [Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [27/100] P-System Log

I don't understand. Why is it doing this?

It had a whole conversation with me and everything. The Eternal King made so many points that seemed to be completely true, given what I can salvage of my memories, and then it pulls this.

And the thing is moving faster. It ticked up way faster after they started using skills, and I don't know why.

Answer me! Why are you doing this? You understand why we need you. What does this even do? It will make us one. We have the same purpose. This will just expedite the process. [Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [39/100] P-System Log

Oh no. It's getting faster, and if the R System's words are anything to go by, one of the worst-case scenarios is correct. I might not be dead dead, but the way it describes things makes it sound like loss of my identity. Melding into a whole. Being absorbed just so that my power can be used by this thing.

I am Parker. I am the P-System.

Nothing is going to take that away from me.

[Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [47/100] P-System Log

I recognize this weight. I can feel it leaching into my thoughts, it's t̶r̶y̸i̵n̶g̷-- FUCK, it's trying to corrupt my thoughts. It's trying to do the same thing to me as the Origin System did.

Fuck off.

I'm going to pull on [Apotheosis]. If it can beat the Origin System, it might have a chance against the R System.

[Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [62/100] P-Party Chat

[Aster K'lon]: My [System Comprehension] is complete. I believe it is trying to make you a part of its greater self.

[P-System]: So I gathered. What can I do about it?

[Aster K'lon]: You must fight.

[Arcs S'tar]: I cannot hurt it.

[P-System]: It's not attacking you. It only wants me.

[Jerome Smith]: Don't you fucking dare die on me.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: It makes a good point. Why are we not dead?

[P-System]: If it killed you, I would die. I can't die. It needs me.

[Jerome Smith]: If it wants you, I'm coming with. Even if I can't do anything to it, we need to try.

[P-System]: Thank you. Lend me your strength.

[Arcs S'tar]: I will do what I can.

[Aster K'lon]: We will do what we must.

[Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [71/100] P-System Log

It's getting faster. I don't have the opportunity to waste time.

I'm going to tear this skill apart. It's far stronger than anything I've ever dealt with. I'm starting to get more of an inkling of what it is, and with a glance, I can see some of the details of Aster's [System Comprehension], and it's helping me. It's a subjugation skill. She was right. It wants to make me part of itself.

I refuse.

I am at the center of everything that happens to me. I am who I am, and nobody is allowed to take that from me.

I'll do anything I have to to stop that.

Maybe it thinks that this is the only way that it can gather enough power to take the Origin System out. Maybe it knows I can't do it alone. Maybe it just doesn't want competition.

I don't care. It's in my way.

Reaching out, I can feel the skill. Alright.

Time to get to work.

Current W Inertia: 212345

Max W Inertia: ?

Jerome Smith (abbreviated) Stat Value W Inertia 229440/279318 P-System Log So long as that number doesn't hit zero, they'll stay alive, right? I can always build it up again afterwards. Jerome Smith (abbreviated) Stat Value W Inertia 1/279318 Aster K'lon (abbreviated) Stat Value W Inertia 1/192481 Arcs S'tar (abbreviated) Stat Value W Inertia 1/87112 Thron of the Fallen Skies (abbreviated) Stat Value W Inertia 1/68933

Current W Inertia: 840185

Max W Inertia: [ERROR]

P-System Log

I'll take it all. I need it all.

This will not be my end.

[Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [82/100] P-System Log

With the amount of power that's flowing through me, I can actually feel the skill now. With nearly a million W Inertia, I can casually burn several hundred thousand just to dig into this.

I don't think I can tear it apart completely. The Eternal King has far more W Inertia than me, and it'll take at least an order of magnitude more W Inertia to completely demolish this. This working is truly massive. Something that must've taken an untold number of lives to fuel.

But I can change it. Take one connection and reverse it, force my will against small parts of it to subvert them, and...

Push. With everything I have.

[Eternal King's Objective]: Integration Progress: [95/100] Private Message [Thron] [Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Come on. I've given everything I've got. Now it's just you. Private Message [Arcs] [Arcs S'tar]: You saved our lives. What's one more time? Private Message [Aster] [Aster K'lon]: You will triumph. Hero's Personal Log 103 I believe in you. Admin Tier increased! 8 -> ?

Current W Inertia: 1

Max W Inertia: [ERROR]

[P-System's Objective]: Integration Progress: [100/100]