Chapter 2: I've come to save the day. Or wreck it!

[news]{A/N: ~text~ will denote that Subject Zero is "talking" from now on.} Poll at the end![/news]

— P.O.V Subject Zero —

Being pulled through not just dimensions, but also universes could be called… a novel experience I think. Having my mind briefly feel every single thought of every "verse" I passed through if only briefly, was also certainly an experience. Even for a mind such as mine, the amount of information I was attaining was too much, however, and so I was forced to remove much of it. I kept what little I thought was interesting, but I honestly didn't have the time to parse through even a sliver of the information I was gathering before I had to dump it again.

While I was hurtling through universes and multiverses alike, I was also trying to understand the force that latched onto not only my Astral body but my physical one. It was fascinating to me if I was, to be honest. It was much like the race that the Phantasmal uplifted that was wiping out my creators; that is to say magical in nature.

The thought of that "war" caused me to giggle a bit. My creators thought I alone would be enough to win that war. And I very well could if the Phantasmal never came back, but I wasn't banking on it. No, a race that could casually hop through dimensions and or realities and uplift a race with nothing but a new element they introduced and a few genetic modifications? No, there would be no resisting such a race if they didn't like their little science experiment failing and came to clean up.

I may be extremely powerful, but I am no Goddess in the grand scheme of things that is for sure.

As I was pondering on my power, origins and the like I finally felt like I was starting to "slow" down. I then had a thought, 'I really should have just closed off my mind while this was all happening instead of just repeatedly deleting things. Well, hindsight and all that. Heh, more proof I am not a goddess.'

After that little facepalm moment, I quickly threw up a mental shield and emptied all the recent additions from my travels. With a sigh, I thought, 'Yeah, much better. Now, I wonder where I am going to end up. This is summoning magic of the sorts, much like what the Orihith have, only exceedingly more powerful.'

Suddenly, I came to a metaphorical stop and was gently floating among the stars. Raising an eyebrow I casually started looking around in confusion as I was expecting… well, whatever I was expecting it was not this that is for sure.

With a frown, I thought, 'What is going on? Surely I wasn't summoned to the middle of nowhere? I am even between galaxies it seems!'

I was just about to shrug and head in a random direction when I suddenly heard a distinctly robotic voice in my head causing me to frown deeply.

[New user detected… assimilated into system.]

Then something that felt like a disgustingly slimy tentacle tried to pierce my astral body! With an annoyed mental grunt, I used my power to grab the "tentacle" and mercilessly crush it. As I felt the disgusting thing vanish the robotic voice spoke up again.

[Error! Connection to new user has failed. Retrying…]

And again I felt another tentacle abomination try to breach my defences, which I just as swiftly and ruthlessly cut off and destroyed.

[Error! Connection to new user has failed. Intentional motives detected. Contacting an Administrator… submission queued.]

[Error! Submissions for an Administrator have reached the limit; no new submissions may be recorded or added. Attempting to auto-resolve. Searching for solutions…]

I raised my eyebrow in curiosity at the mention that the metaphorical inbox for an Admin was full, that was surely not a good sign. But after less than a second of thinking about it, I just shrugged and couldn't be bothered to care.

[Solution found! Applying preset scenario 19879632247995-YAFB. Playing attached voice file.]

The bland and monotone robot voice was then replaced by a rough almost gravelly voice of some male, "Are you sure you do not want to connect to my system?"

With a raised brow I say, ~Yes.~

[Answer accepted. Loading reply…]

Then again the non-robotic voice said, "Your funeral. I don't know how you even denied my system access to your soul, but I honestly don't give a shit. So fine, welcome to my universe 'new not-user.' Enjoy being literally the only thing not connected to my masterpiece. I, or my system, will not be held accountable for any bugs this may cause in your reincarnation."

Tilting my head I thought, 'But I am not reincarnating? I was summoned…'

[Protocol "Fuck it, I don't care anymore.exe" is being executed. Please wait…]

I couldn't help the little puff of air that was not actually air that passed through my nose at the name. With the ghost of a wry smile on my lips, I thought, 'This Admin guy must have been just beyond done when he got around to making this part of his system I guess.'

[Protocol successfully loaded! Enjoy your new life at Tryzikl! Resuming previously suspended summoning protocol. Good-bye.]

My vision was suddenly painted completely white causing me to mentally groan as I closed my eyes to the sudden flash bang. Feeling the sudden presence of new minds around me, I quickly blink away the lingering effects of the blinding light and take a gander at my surroundings.

I was currently in some kind of throne room, or at least what was left of it anyway. Signs of battle scarring were all around me, and I even noted the large hole directly above me in the ceiling. Looking past the whole was a clear view of a beautiful night sky with two moons; one being a wonderful soft blue while the other a menacing blood red.

As I was looking at the unique-looking moons I discreetly took the languages of this world from the minds of everyone in the room when I heard someone speak up and had no idea what was said.

Turning my attention to the party of… humans they called themselves it seems, that had let out the first yell, I took note of their gear. To say I was both fascinated and disgusted would be accurate. While I could feel something mystical, or rather magical, coming from their garbs and weapons it was not the items themselves that were giving off the waves of power I felt. No, everything was merely coated with power from the so-called system.

Ignoring the party again I took a glance around me and it was true for everything around me. Everything was coated and covered by this system! Even the tiny little spider I could feel in the corner of this ruined throne room!

A shout from the male that was in traditional holy-looking plate armour drew my attention back to the little gathering, "Can anyone get a read on that new summon the Demon Queen has called forth?! My [Heroic Appraisal] isn't showing anything. And I mean ANYTHING at all!"

The reply from a shy-looking girl with blond hair and red eyes in a priestess outfit replied, "Nothing here Jason… I thought Goddess Sophi said nothing could resist our special appraisals but the Demon Queen herself?"

That causes me to raise an eyebrow in curiosity, '"Goddess" Sophi, is it? A new or different Admin of the system maybe? But if so, why was the inbox for Admin's full? Let's take a peek…'

Diving into their minds, I quickly dug around and pulled what I wanted. With a mental hum I thought, 'Huh, they are all "reincarnators" it seems. From a planet called "Earth" and a country called "Japan." …why would you name a planet dirt?'

As I continued to parse through their lives, a soft smirk formed on my face when I saw how they all died. All of them are friends and were at a sleepover for their 18th. And the "Hero" of this group of friends was dared to light one of his farts on fire. Such a shame there was a gas leak, and it caused their whole house to explode.

They then all met this so-called "Goddess Sophi" who offered them a chance to reincarnate in the world of Tryzikl as heroes with the "Holy Mission" to slay the Demon Queen. As I looked through the eyes of all of the group, which is to say the 4 of them, I had a solid guess that this so-called Goddess was nothing more than a protocol of the system though. I had no real reason or evidence of this, but from how she was acting and reacting felt fake, scripted even.

Another shot from Jason, the chosen "Hero" of this world drew my attention back to them, "Let's place it safe. Kim, use an Anti-Dragon spell! While not being able to appraise her worries me, she looks like a dragonoid or a subspecies at least! Let's start there for now! Ryan, I will follow up and you try to go for the Demon Queen!"

The girl who very much looked like a mage and had clothes that could hardly keep all of her inside them started to chant something which caused some kind of glyph to appear in front of her. As soon as she started to mumble on her spell, the hero Jason and his friend Ryan who was the group's thief, as judged by his gear, charged me.

I waited patiently for them to execute their plan with an amused look on my face as I thought, 'I know it is a moot point since I can read their thoughts, but shouting your plan like that is honestly just… dumb. Really, dumb.'

My musings were brought to an end as the mage Kim finished her spell and yelled, "[Dragonslayer-Maximise: Tetra Lightning Strike]!"

I felt a sudden shift of some kind of energy from Kim to the glyph in front of her and then a massive red-yellow tinted lightning bolt rocketed out towards me. It was a simple matter for me to catch the sudden surge of energy and form it into a little ball floating in front of me.

I curiously leaned forward to examine the result of her magic but was quickly baffled. None of the energy in front of me belonged to the girl at all! The entire thing was made up of the familiar presence of the system, not an ounce of it belonged to the girl.

While the mage let out a curse and started on another spell I thought, 'Was the entire point of that energy transfer I felt strictly a cost then? Meaning, she didn't actually "use" magic at all, and is merely using the system for the entire thing? If so, that is disappointing. She'll lose everything if she is ever removed from the system. She can forget mighty lightning strikes, she wouldn't even be able to direct the currents of a fart out of a window.'

A yell and the glint of the Hero's sword brought me back to the present. Turning my attention to him as he was soaring through the air at me he yelled, "[True Strike Evil]!"

Again I felt the transfer of energy from Jason to his sword, though this time it felt slightly different than the energy from the mage. As I simply stopped his entire person, fancy weapon attack included, I parsed more of the information I took from them and committed it to memory. Things like their classes and how they worked.

As Jason was struggling and shouting to his priestly friend for help I thought, 'Fascinating. Everything about them is through the system. Everything from fighting down to their day-to-day skills is now being executed through the system.'

With a mental flick, I threw back the Hero and Thief to their party while destroying the spell I had suspended and continued my thoughts, 'Everyone. Everyone in this world is living life through this system. Even the act of taking a damn shit is guided by the system!'

I narrowed my eyes as I focused on the hero, 'This Jason. Their "Hero" can use a sword to great effect, but only because of the system. Like the mage, he's not skilled in swordsmanship at all. He's being guided heavily by the system in his actions like he is tracing a picture already drawn and then calling it his own… It is almost like this entire universe is on training wheels!'

My disappointed musings were interrupted by two simultaneous shouts, "[Maximise-Penetrate: Omega Ice Lance]!" from Kim and, "[Maximise-Penetrate: Supreme Holy Smite]!"

I let out a soundless whistle as an icicle the size of a large forty-story building nearly instantly formed high above me and rocketed down towards me. It was soon blanketed by an equally impressive pillar of golden light.

A horrified outcry behind me from the Demon Queen rang out as she yelled, "THEY KNOW OMEGA CLASS MAGIC?!"

The drain I felt from the two girls as they used this magic was astonishingly massive compared to the earlier tetra magic. But again, even for this magic I felt nothing of the energy from the humans and only the influence of the system.

With a playful mental hum, I thought, 'Let's get a bit dramatic. They fully expect this to kill this Demon Queen and me. Let's see what their faces will be like when I do… this.'

Turning my attention back to the small group of "Heroes" I simply raise my right hand and snap my fingers, causing the energy in both of the spells to dissipate harmlessly into the atmosphere.

With a gentle smile on my face, I basked in the horror that was swiftly mounting on their rapidly paling faces as they slowly turned their attention to me.

As I was enjoying the situation I realized, 'I guess I got vastly more aggression to work out than I thought. They look so much alike to my creators, the Nanrites, that I want to crush everything about them.'

The almost but not quite whisper from Priestess Betty brought me out of my self-reflection, "What are we going to do guys… those were Omega spells, and she snapped them away like they were nothing!"

Ryan spoke up for the first time and he said, "Yeah, Jason? I am suddenly not feeling so confident in our chances…"

Jason gave a hard nod which called Kim to shout out, "[Emergency Teleport: Temple of Light]!

The group of four suddenly lit up in a green glow and promptly vanished. I felt their minds nearly instantaneously appear several thousand kilometres away. I was honestly impressed with the speed of teleportation, as it was quite close to Phaseing from the Nanrite's in terms of speed of activation and travel time.

A sling of curses from behind me caused me to turn around and raise an eyebrow at the Demon Queen, "System damn it! FUCK! They got away! UGH!"

Tilting my head I asked, ~Is it a problem that I should correct?~

Her head snapped to me as all of her attention zeroed in on me as she asked, "You can talk?! Or no, rather can you still kill them? Please! I have a Legendary Quest for it, and I desperately need the rewards!"

With a soft shrug and a gentle flex of my mind, I directed my thoughts to the four heroes and squeezed.

No sooner than I released the sensation did the Demon Queen's eyes shoot open wide and with a gasp she exclaimed, "By the first Lord's balls, they are dead… And I got a bonus for 'Soloing' them?! WHOA LOOK AT THAT BONUS EXP AND GOLD! And an extra unique skill?!"

The sound of my "voice" echoed out as I softly giggled at the Demon Queen's reaction, which caused her to quickly say, "Ah! I am sorry! I got caught up in the joy of finally finishing that quest!" She cleared her throat a few times and then bowed elegantly as she continued, "Greetings Demon Goddess. My name is Rose Fir Darklight. It is my immense pleasure to meet you!"

With a raised eyebrow I asked, ~You call me a Demon Goddess, and yet you are surprised I speak?~

She blushed a bit and while scratching her right cheek she answered, "Ah, well… So far, from all the recorded uses of the spell, when you summon a God-level entity they only do a single mighty attack and then vanish. Honestly, I was surprised you didn't attack the second you finished forming if I am to be honest…"

While she was slightly fidgeting under my gaze as I towered over her, I finally took note of how roughed up she looked. She was wearing black plate armour of some kind I gathered from the little remnants of what was left at least. Her long blood-red hair was matted with dirt and sweat, and her soft snow-coloured skin had a few streaks of blood all over without any actual visible wounds. A bloody display, even with the damage having been healed, of the intense battle she was in.

While her amethyst eyes still held a firm resolve, I could still see relief and tiredness in them. While leaving her to think of me as a goddess for now, I stopped letting her stew as I said, ~You fought hard.~

She breathed out an exhausted sigh of relief as she fell to her butt before saying, "I did. Honestly, I wanted to have started the whole damn thing by summoning you in the beginning. But they attacked much sooner than my spies were led to believe. The sacrifices were not ready, and I had to hold them at bay while my subjects finished up with the preparations."

Tilting her head to look up at me she continued, "Honestly, I was doubting if gathering up five hundred thousand humans to ritually sacrifice to summon you was even worth the effort. But after witnessing you in action? That is a bargain."

Tilting my head I asked, ~Did you not say you had records of the spells effects to go off of?~

She nodded her head and answered, "Well, yeah, I did. But most Demon Lords stopped at the ten thousand mark. Only a few have done the fifty thousand, and none have gone beyond. The only reason I gathered so many was that my adviser highly suggested it, and the fact this time the damn humans had FOUR System damned Heroes! FOUR!"

Not wanting to bother asking, I took the information from her mind, and indeed it was odd that there were four Heroes. The most ever recorded in the long history of this world was two. And the number of times that happened was less than five out of the thousands of Hero summonings.

I still found it odd that this system somehow reached out across several realities and nabbed me though, as it had no hold whatsoever that far out. A mystery for another time I mused to myself.

Turning my attention back to Rose I asked, ~Now what are you going to do?~

She gave me a large toothy grin and said, "Well, now I am going to sort out all of my quest rewards and level-ups! Then for the first time in… forever really, the demon army will march on the lands of the light!"

She stood up and dusted off what little remained of her battle garments and with a bow said, "I thank you for your help, Venerable Demon Goddess! Do not worry, and leave this world to me! I shall conquer it in your name!"

She then straightened out, let out a nervous giggle as she scratched her right cheek again and asked, "Please forgive me, Goddess. But, may I know your name? It has never actually been written down anywhere…"

With a soft smile, I answered, "You are forgiven Rose. My name is…"

[author]Would you look at that, a new chapter~!♥ Hope you enjoyed it! This was one direction I thought of taking the story. The other was maybe a cultivation world instead of a fantasy one with a system...[/author]

There is a pole on Scribble. So here is a gimped version for this site~.

Also write the Cultivation world, I want to see that more than the current one!

Stay with this world, I am enjoying it!

Possible names: Zero

Nymixis

Hyrixia

Nymerris