1 You'll Have to Catch me First (0.1)

Maniacal laughter floated through the metallic halls of the System World lobby. Experienced souls and systems quickly dodged out of the way of the careless bastard who was crashing into walls as he made a mad dash for the Fountain of Lives at the center of the vast lobby that was reminiscent of a mall. Confused newbie systems and hosts were nearly killed a second time because the strength of that man's soul energy as he breezed past was enough to make them freeze up in fear, causing them to get trampled by everyone moving out of the way.

[SYSTEM 000.1a1 RETURN TO YOUR ASSIGNMENT! AWAIT PUNISHMENT AT YOUR ASSIGNED LIVING DORM! SYSTEM 000.1a1! SYSTEM 000.1a1! SYSTEM-]

"MY NAME!"

His lean, muscled but elegant arms helped him jump over a railing down to a lower level.

"IS!"

As he fell he shot a bullet of what seemed to be pure energy from his hands. Immediately, one of the flying metal orbs that was chasing him blew up.

"NOVA!"

Another blast shot from his hands, this time aiming for the Fountain. As soon as it was about to make contact with the water a forcefield with the shape of a net appeared rippling, stopping the energy from entering the waters. Even though it didn't do any damage Nova smiled as the forcefield revealed itself. He ran at full speed, slamming his body, and all of the wild energies within it at what he determined to be the weakest point visible.

[SYSTEM 000.1a1! YOU ARE GOING AGAINST THE NATURAL ORDER OF THE WORLD! OBEY YOUR PROGRAM! STOP RESISTING AT ONCE!]

Nova finally felt the barrier burst. While pressing his body into the crack that had formed he yelled at the thing.

"YOU'LL HAVE TO CATCH ME FIRST!"

...And then he vanished. The barrier around the Fountain resealing itself in an instant.

The veterans who knew to dodge out of his way now rushed to absorb the scraps of the Enforcer he had destroyed. Every single piece of that was spiritual energy! For the sake of nurturing your soul! Hurry up and pick up the candy that came out of the piñata!! The best part about it? You won't even be punished for it!

Public opinions on Nova were controversial. His morals, or more accurately, absence of any morals made it a bit difficult to support him. After all, an unpredictable and unstable bastard like him would always be a liability. However, he has done more things for the benefit of both hosts and systems than anyone else ever has. How many little systems dreamed of being like him? Free from the bondage of a host? Wandering around wherever he wanted to go and living with his own strength. It was admirable...

The admirable and awe-inspiring Nova was currently on all fours coughing up blood in an empty white room.

"Damn it!"

He slammed a fist into the ground, immediately afterwards he heard, and felt, the bone of his finger crack...

Damn it!

He hit the ground again. It resulted in nothing but more pain and frustration.

He had miscalculated the exit point of the last world he was in and ended up being spat out right at the hectic entrance of the System World lobby. One of the places with the most security in all of the System World. Immediately those annoying pieces of scrap metal started screaming about "the natural order of things" and calling him by his serial number.

He was a person not a pawn. The thing he hates most in life is this so called "natural order".

Out of annoyance he ended up destroying too many Enforcers. Forcibly drawing the spiritual energy out of your body and using it to cause harm to something else was already taxing on the soul. Not to mention the fact that he did all of that in The Lobby where it should be impossible to bring harm to another being. The Law of the World clearly did not approve of his rebellion. As evidenced by the disturbing amount of blood he kept coughing up.

It was really a mistake. He should have controlled himself better. He's lost so much spiritual energy in such a stupid way, it would definitely be a struggle to succeed in whatever world he ends up in this time.

Calming himself down he started meditating to draw his energy over to his broken finger and heal it before he had to leave this place.