Utopian System

Chapter 422 System's Final Boss - 6

elio's hand stopped. not from mercy, but from the peculiar calm in his enemy's voice.

"when you kill me," zahyla spoke through the blood, her voice strangely peaceful, "everything will start again. as it always does."

"what are you talking about?"

"the game," her eyes gleamed with amusement. "the 'eternal dance' between humans and artromus. each time one side wins, everything returns to the beginning. like a cycle of matches. humans have won nine times, you know? nine victories in a sea of defeats. i... i have won 9,999 times... one more and the final victory will belong to nala. not so eternal anymore, right?"

the metal prison tensed. "you're lying."

"can't you see the reality yet? well... i suppose you don't have as many clues from dionz as they did since you finished the first ring early." her smile was almost gentle. "fathoran is the one who faces me most times. lucien, a few times, selene even less, and they all deduce it's true... farbe... well, he was interesting but he's even rarer."

elio tensed at hearing that name. zahyla noticed the subtle change in his expression.

"oh," her eyes lit up with understanding. "you know him?"

"it's my father's name." elio said, tightening his hand a bit more.

"you must take after your mother then... because i certainly don't remember you from any other iteration."

"my father is..." elio began, but stopped.

"your father is dead i guess," zahyla savored the words. "how fascinating that he almost always dies yet is the strongest one when fighting me. but do you understand what this means, right? you could win today. you could give humans their tenth victory. but they'll never reach 10,000 before i do."

her voice softened, almost compassionate. "this is the first time you've appeared in the game, and it will be the last. next time it will be fathoran again, or lucien, or perhaps someone new. but certainly not you. never you again."

elio's fingers tightened around his sword's hilt. "it doesn't matter. if i can kill you now..."

"for what?" zahyla interrupted. "so everything starts over? so i win once more and reach ten thousand? it's inevitable. the final victory will be mine. why not avoid all that suffering and surrender now?"

reflexes enhanced by his superhuman perception were the only thing that saved elio. his body moved before his mind could process the danger, a desperate impulse that pulled him from the lethal trajectory.

but the relief lasted a fraction of a second. explore more at empire

a heart-rending scream tore through the chamber. elio turned, icy horror spreading through his veins as he understood what had happened.

diana.

still trapped in the other metal hand he had created to contain her.

the cores had reached her instead of him.

diana's body arched impossibly as the dark cores sank into her flesh like molten iron through snow. her eyes opened wide, her mouth frozen in a silent scream as darkness spread through her veins like ink spilled on paper.

the change began with her hair. blue strands extended from the root, zahyla's characteristic color replacing diana's natural tone.

diana's floating book flickered, the statistics rewriting themselves before elio's eyes, visible through the crystal in his book.

the metal hand containing her disintegrated like dust in the wind.

diana, or what was now diana, floated with unnatural grace.

her movements were fluid but strange, as if two different entities were trying to control the same body.

"how disappointing, i thought i had you... i shouldn't have warned you... nah, this way is funnier. but, this body is... uncomfortable," the voice that emerged was a disconcerting mixture of diana and zahyla. "your friend is fighting more than expected. human minds normally submit to my huge consciousness fast, but she..." a grimace of pain crossed her face. "she's clinging to her memories, her identity."

elio checked his own statistics with growing desperation. only a bit more than 100 mana points remained. against the renewed resistance of 1,900,000 points, even his most powerful attacks would be insufficient.

"it's fascinating, really," the dual voice continued as it stabilized.

"i can see her memories, feel her emotions. all that remorse for the betrayal, that twisted love for her mother..." she paused, as if listening to something. "oh, and there's so much about you, elio. so many complex feelings buried under layers of guilt and duty."