I Hate Systems

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Calm your horses, my man!" The man with a large build waved his hands in a hurry, "Let\'s not behave like savages, shall we?"

He pointed at himself, "You can call me Dullin. My Martial Spirit is the Armoured Gorilla, and I\'ll be the reason for your bad luck starting today. That\'s from my side. What about you?"

"I have nothing to say to a dead man." Compass Carburettor snorted. \'If he\'s speaking the truth, then he\'s the Host to the Bad Luck System. But, what reason does he have to reveal his abilities to me?\'

"Even though you\'re wearing a mask, I\'m sure you\'re wondering as to why I\'m revealing my abilities, right?" Dullin grinned, twirling his bushy moustache as he spoke, "You see, I\'m of the belief that revealing my cards places me in a bind mostly. It means I don\'t have any hidden variables at play that I need to depend upon. And this usually causes my opponents to screw up more than usual."

"Now, I\'ve been curious from the moment I learnt that there was someone who\'s an actual concept. The Main Character. How does it feel to be the centre of whatever world you enter?" Dullin asked.

"If you kill yourself, I\'ll tell you everything. Howe\'s that?" Compass Carburettor slowly smiled, "I do keep up my promises."

"Hmm, that\'s a good offer. Sadly, I don\'t have any plans to die just to learn some facts." Dullin shook his head.

"How unfortunate. I recommend you try it one though. It might be a fun experience." Compass Carburettor spoke.

"I\'ve done that a few times already, you see." Dullin slowly loosened the muscles on his arms and legs, relaxing his hip as he began to approach Compass Carburettor, "Now, I\'m curious to see what would happen once you\'re dead. Will this world stop immediately? Or can a world continue on even with the death of a Main Character?"

"Why don\'t you satisfy my curiosity, Compass Carburettor?" Dullin spoke, causing a minor wave in the water as he rushed straight at Compass Carburettor, punching him, "By the way, you have a sick taste in masks. I\'m surprised people haven\'t killed you out of anger, you know."

"It just means you cannot appreciate art, seeing as you\'re…you." Compass Carburettor dodged the punch, his eyes widening in surprise, \'This crazy is fast!\'

He hurriedly somersaulted backward, evading Dullin\'s attacks as he took out the repeating crossbow, launching a string of arrows at him.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"What the…?" Compass Carburettor was shocked to see the arrows bounce off Dullin, as if they had slammed into metal. Thinking that the opponent too was wearing armour, he aimed at his face, watching Dullin evade the arrows as close in on him.

Bam!

Compass Carburettor defended against an attack, skidding on the slightly slippery floor as he lost balance, rolling in the water before hurriedly getting up, watching the figure of Dullin be present right before him, slamming an attack as his sides, causing him to grunt in response.

"Hmm, that doesn\'t feel righ…" Dullin muttered as he evaded in a hurry, noticing a pearly white blur sweep past him, scratching his knees.

"There\'s something indeed off about you." Compass Carburettor muttered, getting up normally. His previous grunt was a feint to make Dulling leg down his guard. With the energy blade armour acting as his hard defence, and the soft Mental Energy Body Layer cloth serving as a second layer of softer defence, he didn\'t even feel anything from that attack.

But, when he retaliated with a slash using the energy blade sword, he noticed that he wasn\'t able to cut through Dullin. This was strange, considering how sharp his energy blade sword was. This was adding onto his body strength which was currently twice a normal human.

Even after suffering a hit to his knees, Dullin was uninjured.

"Like I said, my Martial Spirit is the Armoured Gorilla. One of my attributes is Armoured, and not Armor. See that difference?" He grinned, observing that Compass Carburettor was shocked through his body language, laughing as he spoke, "Right, unlike all Martial Spirits, my attribute of Armoured is passive in nature."

"The Origin Essence in my body doesn\'t stay in my Martial Spirit alone. It has fused into my body to condense a natural armour on my skin. And this skin is tougher than thirty-millimetre steel. This is what my Armoured attribute is." He spoke.

"I see, that makes you the perfect candidate in this zone where Origin Essence is sealed." Compass Carburettor muttered, "Your armour would exist even here. So, you\'ll actually have a greater advantage fighting here."

"Bingo!" Dullin smirked, "Besides, don\'t you think the floor is slippery here?"

"What?" Compass Carburettor muttered in shock as he hurriedly defended himself against Dullin\'s lunge, being sent skidding backwards when suddenly, he lost grip, collapsing into the water.

With the water cover him, it turned his movements slower. And before he managed to get up, Dullin jumped on him, kneeling onto his chest, "Hah! That\'s one tough armour you\'re wearing there!"

"Urgh!" Compass Carburettor grunted, slamming his sword into his opponent when Dullin took it head on, grinning when he wasn\'t injured. He smacked it away, grabbing hold of Compass Carburettor\'s hands as he made a light jump, kneeling on his chest once again, this time causing Compass Carburettor to grunt honestly in pain.

"I\'m heavier than you. And with me pinning you down like this, you don\'t have much of a choice in escaping me." Dullin grinned, "The moment you touch me, you\'ll be affected by my bad luck. Let me see how long you\'ll survive."

"I\'ve been called an ill omen by my friends, colleagues, and even family in the past. Everyone I touch eventually has something bad happen to them. And you…" He grinned, "I\'ve been touching you for plenty long, right?"

\'Dammit! The Dust Wave spheres shattered?\' Compass Carburettor was alarmed, noticing that his innate luck was indeed decreasing the longer he was in contact with Dullin.