Surviving the Apocalypse with a System.

Fading World ( Part 3 )

And what if you have already killed him you fucking psycho !” a young woman with a child of barely ten years clinging to her blouse spoke up from behind the enforcer.

“ You speak absent measurement of word and regard for standing ,” the enforcer turned to her , the two prisms drifting towards her in an ominous inertia free motion.

The proliferations that had closed opened up again and prepared to fire at the cow boy’s command.

At that time , right there and then , Jack realised why Aiko had been so afraid of the man. Without batting an eye , the enforcer stood smiling as the two prisms made short work of the woman, her child and all of the people around her.

He wanted to speak up and avoid further massacres , but with what he was seeing , there was reason to believe that the man would still kill everyone iregardless. This was just plain gratuitous slaughter.

“I have made attempt at giving reasonable choice , and the man I seek has shown decision made. Now it is time to spill human blood upon fucking ground ,” the enforcer said after his prisms finished their onslaught.

He willed them back to the centre around himself , then prepared to launch an omni directional attack at every person in the bunker.

“ Stop , I’m the man you're looking for,” when Jack’s Perception talent made him realise what was about to happen , he found himself already on his feet without a second’s thought.

Hamilton went to pull Jack back down but the enforcer had already turned in their direction .

“Fucking idiot ,” Hamilton clicked. He twitched the fingers of his left hand , trying to bring out Raging Furnace, but found nothing when he tried to summon the elemental power.

“ Declare name ,” the enforcer commanded , his prisms starting to rotate around Jack’s head.

“Bossman , he is way more powerful than you ,” Aiko warned.

To handle the tension surging through him , Jack reminded himself of how he had survived the monsters at the company.

Though the cow boy before him was leagues ahead of these beasts , they all shared one common similarity ; they had all been more powerful than him when he encountered them.

“ Jack Kamphar , and what’s yours?” He composed his voice.

“ I stand as Ludicrous Ceaser ,” the enforcer replied , taking a step closer to Jack. Jack did the same.

“ What do you want from me ?” Jack continued , growing bolder with every passing word.

“ Fault belongs to another , yet burden lingers on innocent soul ,” Ludicrous started , pulling away his prisms.

“You stand honourable , rising before me absent proper power. As deserved reward , I will give patience till sun rises tomorrow.

Strengthen your System in given moment , that we may have equal words after ,” Ludicrous finished , his prisms dissipating into grey dust.

The cow boy took one final look at Jack , then left the same way he’d come.

Just as he was about to relax , Jack’s System seemingly decided to beef with the cowboy as well.

[

System Quest

Kill Ludicrous Ceaser

Expected Rewards - Summoning Tickets x4 , Points x550 , Forked Viper Fangs x5 , Dread Ghost Bones x10

]

“ You’ve got to be kidding me ,” he said looking at the blue screen in front of him , “ Aiko , what happens when I decline a quest from the System ?”

Truth be told , now that the enforcer had decided to give him time to level up , Jack had thought of using the chance to flee the city and get as far away from the man as possible.

“ Well it's never really one thing. Sometimes the System may decide to overlook it , other times it will throw in punishment for mutiny. Best not to disappoint it Bossman ,” she answered , her voice uneasy like someone coming out of hiding but still alert for danger.

Listening to Aiko’s counsel and then looking at the aftermath Ludicrous Caesar had left in his wake , Jack didn’t know who to fear more between the enforcer and his own System.

He decided to decide later.

It did not take too long for military reinforcements to arrive alongside the mages that Hamilton had mentioned. They had been briefed of the attack incident and had come guns blazing, interrogating everyone who may have even remotely been privy to the scene.

Just as Jack had feared , some of the people in the bunker pointed fingers at him , which brought him the attention of the commander of the platoon himself.

The mages had revamped a clerk's office for the interrogation . Most of the furniture was taken aside save for a wooden table and two seats . Jack sat on one of the chairs, quietly awaiting his interrogation to start.

Taking advantage of the free time , he started making use of the two summoning tickets that he’d gotten from killing the Dread Ghost. He disintegrated them and the blue screen automatically popped up.

[

System Notification

New Artefact

Excalibur - an ancient sword with great durability forged through centuries of war.

Installing new artefacts…

Artefact installed.

New Talent

Flowing Paradise - reduce effective damage sustained from enemy attacks.

Installing new talent…

]

He stifled his frown , having gotten used to the lengthier installation period talents had when compared to artefacts.

“Aiko , how many talents does the System have in total Aiko ?” he asked .

“ Aiko thinks that there cannot be a maximum number of talents ,”

“ What does that mean ?”

For a man being held in custody during a State of Emergency at the risk of being branded a terrorist , Jack was surprisingly cool and composed. With the upgrades he was getting from the System , he had started losing appreciation for threats posed by mere humans. And who could blame him after seeing the things he had been beating in the past 24 hours.

“ Aiko thinks it's better for her to explain how talents are made first. You see Bossman , Titans live for centuries and in that time come across many great warriors from different warriors.

They clone these warriors for their powers which are manifested as Talents. This is a process that’s still on going , so as we speak Aiko is sure that more talents are being added to the System remotely,”

“ Does that mean that these Talents are actual living beings inside me ?”

“ Aiko sees things as more complicated than that , Bossman. They are more of replications , possessing all of the properties of the original with the exception of originality , free will and a soul ,”

“ Are you also like this , Aiko ?” Jack’s question hit closer to home than Aiko had expected , causing her to halt her lively yapping for a moment.

“ Aiko ?” Jack got a bit worried when she prolonged her silence.