Brakos POV
Seeing Volt flying towards us scared us both. I saw Jack move to try and catch him. Unfortunately, his momentum continued, and he was flung back with Volt and smacked into a tree.
I looked back at him with worry but quickly turned around to the woman in the white cloak.
"What do you want?!" I shouted, while raising my hands in preparation to defend and fight.
"Are you the one who took away my gift?" the woman asked in a monotone, robotic-like voice, devoid of emotion.
"Your gift?" I asked.
"I chose that boy to be a hero and grant me passage. Now I learn he has forsaken the blessing of the Divine! All who do this shall face Divine Punishment!" the woman shouted, but remained emotionless.
My face dropped as I heard the woman speak.
She was a god who could descend upon the mortal world and wanted to kill everyone here. She is also the one who gave Jack the [Hero's Will] skill and why it was Divine Grade. She planned on using Jack as a vessel and introducing her religion into this world.
"Why go through all this trouble? The next era will allow more Gods to enter this world and found their religions," I said, trying to defuse the situation.
She tilted her head in confusion, and I could feel her eyes analyzing me.
"Brakos. Primordial Spirit. Master of Time Knowledge and holder of the [Domain: The Library]. Created the tri-book system given to the rebelling Avatar: Jackson Drovas. Cause of the de..."
"How the hell do you know that!" I interrupted her, shocked that she knew so much about me.
"..."
"I am the System God, Metsys. You are the one who made the system for the rebelling Avatar without proper authorization. Your punishment is nullification."
I looked at her with both confusion and fear.
Even though Rank 10 Spirits can fight lower Gods, that only applies to those who can fight, while I can't. Plus, the fact that she was the God of Systems answered how she messed with the Black book.
Suddenly, she jumped towards me and tried to attack.
I dodged, jumping to the left, and created a water shield, then sent ice spikes through it, trying to hit her.
'I may not be much of a fighter, but that doesn't mean I don't know how.' I thought to myself.
She waved her hand, and the ice spikes stopped moving and just hovered there. Then she snapped her fingers, and the ice spikes fell to the ground and shattered.
"huh?"
Suddenly, I saw her raise her hands and send ice spikes of her own towards me.
I made the water shield solid, and the spikes shattered, and the shield fell when they made contact.
I placed my hands together and said, "[paper cutter]" and pushed my hands towards her.
When doing so, a portal opened behind me, and hundreds of sheets of paper flew out towards Metsys in a cyclone.
This spell was my creation, where I summoned paper I imbued with my energy to make them tougher and sharper. Then send it towards an enemy, and the paper turns into a blender and shreds anything in it to nothing.
As I watched the paper cyclone, I noticed Jack and Volt were up. I was about to tell them to run when, all of a sudden, the paper cyclone burst into flames, and Metsys burst out and stabbed me in the stomach with a spear that I didn't see before.
"All those who defy Divine will and those who help them will face Divine Punishment," she said, still in her monotone voice.
chuckle I heard a small laugh from behind me.
I turned around and saw Jack and Volt getting up after they recovered from the initial shock from the hit.
"Earlier you said your name was Metsys, is that correct?" Jack said.
"Yes. Why?" she responded.
"Metsys is System backwards, kind of a dumb name, don't you think so..." Jack stopped and looked Metsys in the eyes and said, "false God who embodies the programming of all systems and scavenger of the abyss who found a divine Fragment."
I could see her tense up and saw an opening. I punched her in the face and summoned several light blue magic circles that shot out high-pressure jets of water at her, punching her away.
Then, by controlling the water, I turned it to ice and imbued it with my Spiritual Energy, freezing her in a block of ice, making a temporary prison for her.
"How did you know that?!" I asked as I rushed over to Jack.
He held up the Blue Book and said, "[Appraisel]"
~~~~~~
Jacks POV
When I tried to catch Volt and was flung into the tree, it hurt, a lot, but I fought to keep myself awake.
When I saw Brakos fighting this woman, I decided to use [Appraisel] to try and find out who she was and any weaknesses she had.
When I did, the book said
{[Appraisel] of the God of Systems, Metsys will take [70 days]}
'Shit! That's a God, there is no way we can win! Why does this have to take so long!' I thought while screaming internally.
"Do I have anything to increase the speed?" I asked the book.
{XP from past [Appraisel] can be converted to time reduction}
<200XP = 1 day reduction>
"That's only 40 days. Can I forgo the XP from this [Appraisel] to reduce the time to 0?" I asked, panicking but having hope.
{...}
{Unable to do so at the current level}
After reading that, I looked up at Brakos and the woman fighting and saw her stab Brakos with a spear.
"Do it and transfer the primary knowledge to me!" I told the book.
As I did so, the book glowed, and I could sense it evolving. Then I felt a slight headache as information was forcefully implanted into my brain, and I could feel my nose bleeding.
As I went over what I learned in my head, I let out a small laugh.
Seeing both of them turn to me, I asked a question.
"Earlier you said your name was Metsys, is that correct?" I said.
"Yes. Why?" she responded, still with the spear in Brakos' stomach.
"Metsys is System backwards, kind of a dumb name, don't you think so..." I said and stared into her eyes and continued. "False God who embodies the programming of all systems and scavenger of the abyss who found a divine Fragment."
Seeing her flinch and Brakos freeze her was impressive, but I could feel myself becoming tired, and I could feel the urge to just lie down and sleep. I fought off that feeling and focused.
When I showed Brakos the book, I could see cracks in the Ice Prison and quickly said,
"I will explain later. All you need to know is that she is a World Grade Entity who planted a seed in the system. We can't kill her unless we find her [Divine Core]. My powers can't be limited by her so long as you distract her, but I don't know what she can do when she focuses on me."
Brakos nodded and asked, "Do you have a plan?"
I turned and saw Volt was up and ready to help and turned back and pulled out my wand and dagger, as I didn't have my spear.
"How many of your abilities can you use right now?"
"I can use any normal magic on my own, but I can stop time for you for 10 seconds, but only 10 seconds. I can break it up. If we can't kill her, I will have to withdraw."
I looked over at Brakos with a questioning look, but he said, "Don't get me wrong, I don't want to abandon you, but the library is more important than anything else to me."
"If I die, its guardian will be lost and the library will fall. She can't follow me there, so I may be able to bring you with me, but I'm not sure."
I sighed but nodded, understanding that some things are more important than a single person.
"Volt, I need you to help me with a spell. Brakos, distract her for as long as you can. After the spell is cast, stop time for the full 10 seconds so we can all run away," I said.
Brakos looked worried but said, "I hope this works. Although I can't fight, I do know how to dodge."
As we finished planning, the Ice Prison shattered. The woman burst out and came running towards Brakos, and he did the same, trying to divert her from me and Volt.
I turned to Volt. "Can you channel all of your magic into a single beam and fire it at her? I have this so I can supercharge you," I said, showing him my wand.
^I can't do it like that right now, but I can temporarily merge with the wand, making it more powerful.^ he said.
I nodded and started to chant a spell as Volt became ethereal and fused with my wand.
"Wrath Of The Storm, A Flash Of Light, Thunderous Voice, Strike Of The Sky, Heed My Call To Thee. Strike Down My Enemies, With A Bolt, A Bolt Of Lightning!" I shouted, hoping that I would be able to cast the spell.
As the words left my mouth, I could feel my Mana leaving my body and becoming supercharged as it entered the wand, thanks to my mother's work and Volt boosting it even more.
*Crackle*
As I saw the spell, I could feel such power coming from it. It was a massive bolt of lightning shooting straight towards Metsys.
As Brakos noticed the spell, he stopped time before Metsys could react, and we all ran away.
*BBBOOOOOOMMMMMM*
A large explosion happened, and I almost lost balance as I ran, but thankfully Volt came out of the wand and supported me.
We continued to move away, even after the time stop ended, and Brakos made his way over while we moved.
"Did it work?" Brakos asked, worried.
I shook my head and said, "I don't know. Even if she is a god and the God of Systems, systems are electronic-based. The lightning should have shorted her powers temporarily. She hasn't come at us yet, so I may be right."
"Think again." I heard a female voice in front of me and saw her standing in front of us with her spear pointing at my face.
"Interesting tactic, Jackson Drovas, but ineffective against me," she said.
We all froze in fear as we looked at her. Her clothes were slightly dirty, but no real damage was visible. Now I could see one of her eyes glowing a bright golden colour as she stared right at me.
"If you are unwilling to submit to the will of the divine, you must face Divine Punishment and die," she said as she thrust her spear directly at my face, and I closed my eyes, waiting for death as I knew we couldn't beat this thing.