Everyone Else Has a System

"And what do I get in return?"

"What do you want in return?" I asked without beating around the bush and he laughed at my words,"Haha, nobody has ever talked to me like that for such a long time… even the people who used to travel with me treated me as if I were a God or something… fascinating! How truly fascinating!" before his expression turns serious as he speaks,

"All right, then I will tell you what I want from you. I want you to help me persuade that kid, Lucas, into using my system and becoming more powerful than what he is supposed to be."

I looked at Lucifer for a few moments before calculating something and then speaking,"All right."

Hearing my answer, he made a surprised expression before he asked,"didn\'t you hate Lucas?"

I looked at him for a few moments before speaking,"I despise him, all right. I am jealous of everything he has and I couldn\'t wait to thrash him over for taking what was supposed to be mine… however… I know… I know what happened before. That is why I can\'t bring myself to hate him… despite him being my worst enemy, I can\'t help but think it\'s unfair, my pursuit for revenge."

While it was true that Lucas took Lucia away from me, defeated me at the battle that took place on the sky ship right before I died in the previous timeline, it does not mean that he did it out of jealousy or to win against me.

His sister, Lucy Laurentz, was killed by the enemy\'s leader in the previous timeline just a few days before the fight and he wanted to avenge his sister all by himself despite being weaker. While it is still unknown to the people of this timeline, Lucy was the most important person to Lucas after losing everything he had.

The Vampire King then proposed something… that was to get Lucia and Lucas marry. Supposedly, there was this bedridden ritual that allows female vampires to transfer half of their powers to anyone they will sleep with for the first time. Lucas was very strong enough on his own, but still nobody wanted to take any risks.

Lucia was strong… not as strong as Lucas, but still extremely strong, to say the least. People… or perhaps the whole of Planet Vermillion agreed to this proposal, because afterall… it was better for the planet\'s survival.

However… it killed me from the inside… I knew I was jealous… I harbored a deep hatred for Lucas… Even though I understood him, I couldn\'t just let this marriage happen. The worst thing was that Lucia agreed to it without showing even a shred of hesitation. I thought she was being manipulated or something… but oh well; I guess I was naive.

When I fought with Lucas… he wasn\'t aiming to kill me… he never was serious with the battle to begin with… I knew killing him would be the only way to get Lucia back, but… at what cost? At some point, I didn\'t even remember why I was fighting with Lucas.

Though, before I could do anything, Lucia pushed me off the sky ship as I was trying to protect myself from Lucas\' attacks. I kinda knew this was going to happen… or maybe I just wanted to die at that point…

The world was against me.

Living again wouldn\'t be worth it.

Everyone I had ever cared for either hated me or was already dead.

I couldn\'t even get back to normal after that as I just couldn\'t bear the thought of Lucia sleeping with Lucas… it would make me go fight again… then again… at what cost?

When Amon gave me a chance to go back to the past, it didn\'t even cross my mind for a moment about making Lucia mine or killing Lucas. Lucia isn\'t worth it and Lucas didn\'t have a choice in all of that… perhaps if I had been in his place, I too might have made the same choices, though I will make him suffer a bit to quell my hatred.

My work here is to save those who have helped me before, while I will kill those who need to be killed. I won\'t kill them for something they haven\'t done, but I will wait for them to repeat that act… and I will stop them… and then I will kill them brutally…

"I will make him suffer… in ways I can without disturbing the timeline," I spoke as I looked at Lucifer, who narrowed his eyes at me, wondering what I meant by those words.

"Will you kill Lucas?" he asked again, and I shook my head as I spoke trying to be level headed,"I want to grow out of it. Killing a teenager just because he will try to take revenge, because his most beloved person was brutally killed in front of him? That too because I was jealous for a b*tch who doesn\'t even give a f*ck about me? No thanks, that\'s a hard pass for me."

\'Even though I do want to kill him… making him suffer… damn it… I wonder what will I do when I will face him,\' I thought as I pondered about Lucas before turning to Lucifer who was analysing me and then he nodded as he spoke,

"So I can take that as a yes?"

I then sighed before speaking," Yeah. I will nurture your young user in return for using you and your power whenever I want. Is that right?" and he nods at me before moving towards me with a serious face and moves his hand forward for a shake. I shake his hand and an aura of bright light surrounds my right hand before a white symbol forms on the back of my hand.

"With this, you can call me whenever you want, as long as I am in close proximity of you. I hope you hold your end of the deal," Lucifer spoke with a piercing gaze and I nod before asking a simple question,

"What is it that you really want?"

Upon hearing my question he looks at me with a small smile before speaking,"I too… have someone to save… someone to kill…" and then his voice drifts off before another shocked voice comes from the other side,

"How… How can you trust… a mere human? I know he is a fragment… but still? I don\'t understand. You are a Guardian, for God\'s sake? Don\'t you have any honour?"

Dolos, the second Primordial, spoke with a baffled expression, as if he could not comprehend what was going on.

Though nobody answered his question, Amon simply asked,"what are you going to do with him?" "I guess I can let the deal with him go for now. I wanted to make him dance on my palms, but he is too cunning to be manipulated. He will always be ready to backstab me, and I would rather not place a knife at the back of my neck," I spoke as I turned to face Amon.

Amon nodded at me before moving towards Dolos as he sighed before speaking,"well… I guess I can see what I can do with him. Janus and Lucifer can stay here to help me formulate a special barrier to hold him, while Zero, I would like you to venture deeper into this place. Go fetch the other space fragment and join with it. It will give you a boost."

I glancee at the confidant face of Amon and I gave him a thumbs up before speaking,"all right partner. See ya in a few moments," and then moving towards the other side where a small building was visible at some distance.

Janus looked at me go with a shaky expression but then turning at the smiling face of Amon, he sighed and then moved towards Dolos. Lucifer too began helping Amon to entrap Dolos, while Dolos tried his best to run away but failed anyway.

"You guys are all crazy, aren\'t you? Trusting such a weakling and even stooping so low as to make a deal with him? You must have all lost your damn mind!!" Dolos shouted as hard as he could, but the others didn\'t pay attention to him.

The reason they didn\'t hesitate to strike a deal with Zero, even going as far as treating him as an equal, was because… all three of them sensed something in him. He was special…

And that was because…

He not only had the fragment of rejection from the Guardian of Space, but also he could accept the fragments of other Guardians. When Amon sent him back through time, he did not know that Zero was a fragment of space… so he added his own power fragments into him forcefully… and rather than rejecting that fragment, Zero\'s fragment merged with Amon\'s.

Lucifer too realised that as soon as he saw Zero, that is why he found him interesting and amusing, while also finding him dangerous.

Lucifer didn\'t have any fragment to give, but still he forced some of his power into Zero, that would help both Lucifer and Zero in times of danger and, surprisingly, rather than the power getting rejected, its power merged with Zero\'s.

They couldn\'t let this fact be known to Dolos… or perhaps even Zero, cause nobody knows what would happen if Zero ends up taking all of the power to himself.

They could only try to watch over him to make sure he doesn\'t become a threat to them. But for now, they need him to be strong… strong enough to defeat the third Primordial… the strongest among all the Primordials.