Master of the System

“Holy crap,” Karta said after Grandpa Vremya disappeared. Her eyes widened as her gaze landed on Vremya, not that she could see him thanks to the darkness. “Your avatar actually did it!”

Vremya cleared his throat and glanced at Karta from the corner of his eyes, evidently feeling quite proud of himself despite not having done anything. Upon seeing the stinky dog not reacting, he cleared his throat again and prodded her hindleg with his finger.

“What?” Karta asked. She glanced at her leg. Was there a bug on it? In the first place, that wasn’t possible. “What is it, old man?”

“Our bet,” Vremya said.

Karta stiffened. “I let you off when you lost, so shouldn’t you do the same for me?”

Vremya merely smiled in response.

A deep sigh escaped from Karta’s mouth. “Fine, fine, fine,” she said and rolled her eyes. “I apologize for saying you’d be a nobody in life if you weren’t a god. Clearly, you’re quite capable of becoming a god as long as you stuff your avatar’s brain full of things that normal lower-dimensional beings would never understand.”

“That’s a terrible apology, but it’s still acceptable,” Vremya said and nodded. “And the second part?”

“Do you really want me to wholeheartedly serve you until you’re bored of me?” Karta asked, her expression darkening. She was shaped like a dog! How was she supposed to serve anyone? For goodness’ sake, she didn’t even have thumbs!

“We’ll continue this topic later,” Vremya said and stood up. His stomach bulged, and an old man tumbled out of his bellybutton, falling to the ground in a heap. It was Grandpa Vremya. Vremya stroked his beard, watching as his avatar picked itself up and took in its surroundings. He wasn’t quite sure how to address his own avatar. Would it be like talking to himself?

Luckily, Vremya didn’t have to worry about a thing. Grandpa Vremya took the initiative to speak first. “This is the higher dimension?” he asked. A moment later, he nodded. “This is the inside of a black hole, huh? I see. So that’s why.”

Vremya nodded and handed his avatar a jade slip. “This is the rest of my knowledge,” he said. “I couldn’t fit all of it inside of your mind because of your physical limitations, but it should be fine now.”

Grandpa Vremya grabbed the jade slip. Then, he pressed it against his forehead. Moments later, the look in his eyes deepened, and his aura seemed to be tinged with an ancient aura. His spiritual energy became heavier, denser, while his body seemed to wither. He lowered the jade slip and glanced around the room. “Are the three of you ready?”

“Ready for what?” Pravos asked.

“To kill a god,” Grandpa Vremya said, a vicious smile appearing on his lips. “What else?”

“Wait,” Karta said, her gaze shifting between Vremya and Grandpa Vremya. In the end, she decided to take individual control of her eyes, using her right one to stare at Vremya and her left one to stare at Grandpa Vremya. “I thought you were just breaking us out of here. What’s this about killing?”

“Right. You’re just breaking us out,” Pravos said, bobbing her head up and down. “It’s impossible to harm Gravitat.” Violence was forbidden amongst gods. Even if they could break out of the black hole, what could they do to Gravitat? Unfreezing thousands of titans around the god of gravity wouldn’t do anything; he was the protector of the borders; millions of titans died by his hands every day. Perhaps Vremya could banish him into the future like what happened to Dvizhen, but how was he going to kill a primordial god?

Vremya snorted. “The current god of the sword was a mortal from the lower dimension, no?” he asked. “What happened to the previous one? Obviously, he was killed, his divinity taken. Gods might not be able to harm each other, but my avatar isn’t a god yet.”

Karta’s jaw dropped open. “You’re going to let your avatar duel Gravitat to the death?”

“Duel? Why the hell would we fight fair when that bastard surprised attacked us and trapped us in here?” Vremya asked. “This isn’t a duel. This is going to be a one-sided beating.”

Karta and Pravos exchanged glances with one another. Where the heck was Vremya getting his confidence from? And judging by the look on the avatar’s face, it seemed pretty confident as well!

***

Gravitat sat on top of a black hole, the one he had trapped Vremya in. All around him, black holes were devouring the endless number of titans, stopping them from heading towards the light. A frown appeared on the god of gravity’s face. The black hole underneath him was trembling. If Vremya was struggling, it was normal for the black hole to show some fluctuations, but from the way the black hole oscillated, Gravitat could tell it was about to explode. He sent some energy into it to stabilize it, but his eyes widened when he realized his energy wasn’t able to do anything. It was as if someone had encroached on his domain, stopping him from fully displaying his powers.

The black hole didn’t make a sound as it exploded, but a pillar of light shot through the area, piercing through the dense mass of titans. When it exploded, three figures were revealed: Vremya, Pravos, and a black dog. As for the landmass Vremya called home, it wasn’t there; Gravitat could only assume it was stowed away or destroyed in the explosion. “What did you do?” Gravitat asked, his expression as dark as coal. “How did you escape from my black hole.”

“Obviously, it was thanks to me,” Pravos said without opening her mouth. However, the god of justice’s expression was completely unnatural, and the voice she spoke in was extremely deep. In fact, her whole body was unnatural. It was elongated, stretched out. It almost seemed like someone as tall as Grandpa Vremya was wearing a Pravos costume.

“I don’t like this. I don’t like this at all,” Pravos said, tears practically falling from her eyes. “Get him out of me! Why did I agree to this!?”

“Oh, be quiet,” Vremya said. “If he damages my avatar, we’ll have to wait for another one to grow.”

“What about Karta? Why couldn’t she be the living armor!?”

Grandpa Vremya snorted, the sound coming out of Pravos’ nose. “She doesn’t have thumbs,” he said as if he were stating an extremely obvious fact. “We already discussed this and agreed on this beforehand. Why are you protesting so much now?”

“I didn’t think it would be this uncomfortable!” Pravos said, practically shouting. “Shouldn’t the avatar wear the main body as armor? This is bullying! Just because this is the best way for me to contribute in this fight doesn’t mean it’s the right way!”

“Quit your whining,” Vremya said. “Make sure my avatar doesn’t get hurt.” As for why he didn’t turn himself into a living armor, it would be hampering his strength if his avatar was moving his body around all willy-nilly. Since Pravos wasn’t capable of fighting, it didn’t matter if Grandpa Vremya controlled her body or not. Vremya grinned at Gravitat. “I recall you telling me by the time I was free, you’d have already obtained Kosmos’ divinity. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

Gravitat’s expression crumpled. He could tell the time had been frozen in the nearby region. There was no way for him to contact Istoriya for help. He was evenly matched against the god of time, but if the god of time also had an avatar of gravity, the balance obviously tipped out of Gravitat’s favor. What was even worse was Gravitat couldn’t harm a single hair on the avatar of gravity’s head because he was wearing the god of justice as a suit! To get to the avatar, Gravitat would have to get through Pravos first, but how could he do that when gods couldn’t harm one another?