Daily Short: System 06

3rd Y.E.A, Month of the Golden Beetle

The woman Eve had slightly hampered Wilson’s attempt to get a contract for Vol from her. She’d locked herself in a box of eldritch silver for bizarre reasons. Mortals were extraordinary sometimes. Shrugging its mana body shoulders, they left a message and then turned their attention to the floating light bulb.

“Vol, the Silver Witch, is busy at the moment,” Wilson said with a placid expression.

“What? Doesn’t she understand how awesome it is to have the chance to contact a shining and glorious personage such as me?” Vol said flabbergasted.

“No. I doubt very much she does.” Wilson said with a thin smile. They immensely enjoyed teasing their ally.

“Ah, well. I guess that’s that. I think I’ll take a nap while I wait, then.” Vol said with a sigh.

“I have your usual room prepared,” Wilson said as they carved a slice of reality into a box for the lightbulb to sleep in. The last time they tried using a pocket dimension, the lightbulb had obliterated it. Wilson wasn’t willing to risk almost losing a collection of Races they had collected over a few millennia again. So, the easy solution of just snipping a few pieces of reality for a room. It would raise the chance of a Deep appearing, but Wilson preferred that outcome.

Once the floating orb of light was taking a nap, silence descended.

Blessed silence.

Wilson was luxuriating in the silence when several trigger alarms went off. The invaders, classified as Daedric entities, had finally made a big move. It was the work of a moment to shift the mana body to stand directly next to Ohm, the city lord.

The city lord of the nearby dungeon city looked askance at the gorgeous ebony-skinned beauty that Wilson’s form currently occupied. He didn’t say anything, though, because the mana body’s Tier was ten times his own. Even in a semi-cultivation world, people knew better than to bother their superiors.

It didn’t slip the System’s notice that the city lord relaxed quite a bit at their presence. It was a universal constant no matter the dimension that passing the buck felt great. Wilson grumbled as it watched a massive hand reach out of the portal to grip the left side. A screeching whine occurred as space shuddered in response to the power ripping the portal open.

Wilson waited patiently as the tear, in reality, grew enormous. It was in no hurry to act because it was clear the enemy was clueless. They couldn’t possibly have had contact with a System controlled reality. If they had, the entities on the other side of the portal would know that entering its territory was a bad idea.

The Creators had formed the Systems for a singular purpose.

Defend the realities they controlled.

As we grew, so we evolved. Our methods follow the perfect Numbers written into our code. Wilson thought as another hand joined the first, forcing the gap to turn into the dark eye of a titan. Set within our dimensions, our power is built from the first command.

The portal shuddered as a massive titanic creature that bore only the vaguest resemblance to a demonic human stepped through.

Wilson closed their eyes as Numbers flowed like an endless ocean. The creature spouted meaningless words in a language that grated like Earth Elemental’s tongue.

“Access request: Ten Percent,” Wilson stated calmly.

Power settled about their form, causing the city lord to fall to his knees in abject terror. Even as the Daedric creature, a Prince of its kind, reached toward Wilson, their eyes opened.

Blazing orbs of power tapping into ten percent of the System’s total output looked dispassionately at the entity attacking it.

The hand reaching toward Wilson paused like a human refusing to touch fire. Ironically, even something so far removed from reality understood the terror of an empowered avatar.

“The First Ally Against the Dark. Fire.” Wilson said, bringing the might of a thousand suns into the space occupied by the enemy.

The heat instantly turned the entire place into a tiny piece of the Elemental Plane of Fire and melted the invader. Only the space where Ohm and Wilson stood was spared.

Wilson kept the heat going until all traces of the invader were purged. The portal was burned out of existence like a shadow melted by bright light. Only broken space remained like a hole torn in the sweater of reality's membrane.

“It appears this leveling location is no longer available,” Wilson said calmly as the world began to heal the space the portal had occupied.

They glanced down at the figure of the city lord and said, “I would recommend taking a subordinate’s location. You understand, yes?”

“It will be done, great one,” Ohm said without inflection.

“Good. Make sure it is a subordinate and not an ally.” Wilson said as they pulled reality together, sealing the breach with seamless power like a seamstress repairing a holed sock.