I Hate Systems

Compass Carburettor never needed his powers as the God of Humanity to deal with Arnark. Even as a mortal, he was long since fully equipped to deal with the latter.

But being the God of Humanity resulted in all the important characters of the world paying attention to him, increasing his weight to the world. As a result, Lore and Tell-Tale personally focused on him too.

This allowed him to get a larger audience to display Arnark's maniacal dance moves. The dude was losing his shit by now, having been at it for a few days already.

The fact that Peddler would sell tickets to the event, making Saints gather to spectate, the region of the fight, the actions of the divine beasts, the various fights, everything seemed to be well within Compass Carburettor's calculations.

It was a fact that he was damn smart. But more than that, he simply…had experience regarding all situations. Therefore, he didn't even need to use his head to scheme, rather simply relied on his experiences to formulate the best strategy.

He only used his intelligence to fine-tune his plans, saving up a lot of brain power. On the other hand, Arnark had been busy racking his head to become the absolute strongest in Faith Grounds.

Unfortunately for him, his enemy wasn't someone strength could ever hope to beat. It was something Arnark understood but never took to heart. After all…

"You're the Main Character System, Arnark. You're not the Main Character." Compass Carburettor's words resounded in the region, causing Arnark's eyes to protrude with a bloodthirsty glare, "What you are is just an accumulation of the qualities you stole from the protagonists."

"At your core, you're nothing, just a mere thief."

"Shut up!" Arnark roared as he transformed into a peacock and hurled feathers in all directions, with each feather powerful enough to kill a regular Deity. Intending to buy time with this radial attack as a cover, he blocked the faith streaming into him, sensing Compass Carburettor's original position.

He then recovered his power and launched an attack in the direction he perceived Compass Carburettor in just a moment ago, shattering him for the millionth time.

"Man, are you blind?" A voice full of mockery resounded as the figure of Compass Carburettor appeared once again.

'Dammit, I won't miss the next time!' Arnark roared mentally, his thoughts churning their fastest, 'This rat managed to evade in the last second. But I felt some resistance this time. I'm getting closer. My timing is becoming better and better. As long as I continue doing this, I'll be able to time my attacks and eventually catch him.'

Having gathered his bearings, Arnark put on a façade of him losing his cool while in truth, he was coldly calculating Compass Carburettor's actions. The first time he attempted to block his faith, he was almost pierced by the shadow.

But over the numerous tries, he was getting better at predicting the shadow spikes, evading them even while in mortal form. Moreover, the rate at which he was switching out of his mortal and Deity forms was becoming quicker and quicker, causing his attacks to close in on the true figure of Compass Carburettor that he was only able to see in his mortal form.

As for the act of the Saints keeping their eyes closed, it didn't work after the first attempt as Arnark observed that as long as the divine beasts observed through the Saints, whatever effect Compass Carburettor had unleashed was reaching him.

So, it wasn't a feasible solution, leaving him to focus on blocking and regaining his faith at quicker paces to close in on Compass Carburettor's true figure that was constantly evading his attacks using the hallucinations.

'I'm the Main Character! Insane growth is my thing!' Arnark bellowed mentally as was rapidly mapping out his opponent's tactics and countered them better. The fact that his mortal form hadn't been pierced by a shadow for the past couple of hours was testament enough.

What Arnark wasn't aware of was the fact that whether it be the shadow spikes piercing his body, his attacks making contact with Compass Carburettor's true body, the tactics used, etc. were all in his mind.

None of them was actually happening. They were just being fed into his mind. He was just engrossed in a solo dance on the battlefield.

Compass Carburettor was just hopping through the void in Arnark's senses as he constantly affected the surroundings through sight, sound, smell, temperature, etc. continuing to influence both Arnark and the spectators.

'I'm getting close!' Arnark thought, having jumped while in his mortal form as he approached within arm's reach of the figure of Compass Carburettor, instantly activating his faith. Even though the figure of Compass Carburettor vanished in his senses, he was aware that the original was still there and extended his hand like a spear.

Rip!

He felt a sensation in his hand, feeling something warm for a moment, smiling as a result, 'My hand pierced through his gut this time. Let's see how long he can continue to evade.'

The smile on his face widened as after a few hours, Arnark gained another advantage, activating his faith as he punched forth, feeling hard resistance this time, 'Good! I shattered his thigh bone.'

Every few hours, he delivered a mortal blow by outsmarting Compass Carburettor. By this point, he was able to smell a faint scent of blood in the air, occasionally hearing the pants of someone, very subtle in nature.

'Great, I'm able to sense him bleeding blood. His exhausted pants are leaking through whatever trap he had erected. It means that he's almost at the end of his rope.' Arnark thought as he kept up with the attack, shocked to see that he wasn't able to close in anymore.

'He's also learning and adapting to my attacks.' Arnark grunted in anger, wracking his brain to the limit as he kept up with his attacks for almost two weeks before managing to deal another injury, 'Damn this guy, he's putting up a tougher fight now. As expected of the most dangerous Main Character.'

Subsequent attacks took longer and longer, but every successful attack caused Arnark's smile to become wider and wider, 'He's also evolving rapidly, but I'm a tad faster. His damage is accumulating faster than his evolution.'

The battle raged forth for two years in such a fashion when Arnark's figure flickered rapidly, switching a million times from his mortal and Deity states in a second as he accurately targeted Compass Carburettor's figure and then, crushed his head.

He followed up with another flickering attack to obliterate the God of Humanity's body, bellowing aloud, "Finally! You cockroach fucker! I won!"

Arnark roared in elation, having never felt such a high-intense exhilaration, leaping around in joy, for he had truly emerged victorious this time, having persevered through such an intense battle that raged on for more than two years. "Finally…"

"Finally what?" A familiar annoyed voice resounded, "Are you retarded, bro? Didn't I tell you a million times?"

"That it's all in your head?"

The expression of exhilaration shattered instantly and out exploded despair that was a notch stronger in Arnark. He looked around in disbelief, staring at the figure of Compass Carburettor, questioning reality, and also…

His sanity.