Too Stubborn to Die

Talia wasn’t the kind of person to just follow orders without good reason, and so when she’d first been asked to stand out of the fight, she had hesitated. However, when Aaron insisted she get back, she knew to take it seriously.

Did she know exactly why he had taken faith in what the strange, fate-seeing local said? No. But with the immediate threat of danger looming, she knew better than to question it. Questions could wait.

Besides, he was hard to kill, as much as it annoyed her to admit.

Talia liked to plan. She was a damn risk assessor, and yet since joining forces with Aaron, it felt like they were tumbling from one disaster to the next.

Still, despite her instincts telling her otherwise, she was glad to have him around. Especially when weird shit like this happened, like ominous power erupting from the sky, and the dark clouds that crackled with an otherworldly energy pouring down.

In truth, she barely saw them for a second before the barrier appeared. But she knew what they were. How could she forget? And she had never expected to be on the other side of a fight against them.

Her first thought was that this had all been an elaborate trap to capture Aaron. But it seemed things just kept getting stranger from there.

She didn’t need to be an expert to know that the barrier created by J’Kayden was no ordinary barrier. Both she and Zero had attempted to enter it after it was created, and she had felt a power like none other when pressing her hand against it.

And that was only the start of it. Unfortunately, the surface of the barrier rippled like water, distorting everything within and making it difficult to see exactly what was going on. But she didn’t need to get a perfect view. When she saw the inhabitants of the barrier, including Aaron, literally rewind before her eyes, she began to piece it together.

This must have been why this J’kayden fellow had chosen Aaron, and Aaron alone. Of course, she couldn’t be entirely sure, but when she watched Aaron crushed and blown apart before her eyes, only to be rewound, and start again, and start the entire fight again, she got a pretty good idea.

It was always Aaron’s impressively sturdy soul that was getting him into trouble.

At her side, Zero growled. Then the wolf flashed forward and collided with the barrier. A bang and a spark sounded, but the barrier seemed entirely undamaged.

“It’s okay, boy. He’ll be fine,” she cooed. “Come.”

Zero did as asked, returning to her side and nestling his nose in her palm. She could tell that he was stressed, but there was nothing to be done about it. And it was probably for the best.

However, despite Zero’s theatrics, Talia had to admit that she was, well, kind of enjoying it. It was nice to sit back and watch as a spectator for a bit, and perhaps a little bit of pain would do Aaron good.

After all, he was the main catalyst for throwing them into chaos time and time again, even if he was also the one securing victory.

It would have been different if she doubted him. But as she figured out what was going on, she knew that there was no better situation for him. This was exactly the kind of battle he would excel in, and there was little point in worrying.

And with that thought, a thin smile lined her face.

He’s really going at it, isn’t he? Oww

Talia winced. She knew the madman could endure the pain, but seeing him splattered against the ground still made her body tense up. It was much easier to watch when she was busy with her own fights.

Ouch, that must have hurt.

The figure of Aaron and the assistants, distorted by the barrier clashed again, and again.

Despite her faith in Aaron, as the battle went on, she actually began to think that the fight might have been beyond him. Each round lasted only seconds, and he didn’t seem to be able to get an offense going.

But then, after one spectacularly gruesome death, her eyes widened. Instead of the usual ass-kicking, when Aaron clashed with the assistants, one of them actually exploded.

She couldn’t really see what had happened, and barely a second later, Aaron was killed and the fight reset again.

It seemed he was always getting stronger. Then again, she could only imagine how she might be able to sharpen her own sword if she were able to throw herself against a wall countless times as he did.

Strange lights poured down from the sky, enveloping the assistants as Aaron blew apart another one of them, and the fight once more swung in the opposite direction.

If the assistants were strong before, the light empowered them to an entirely new level, and Aaron was ragdolled for a second or two before dying.

But of course, that didn’t stop him from throwing himself straight back into the carnage.

Talia nodded approvingly, but as the battle continued, a new thought played on her mind. All of this was rather strange. If the assistants actually worked for the System, why would they even need to deal with people like her and Aaron personally? Even if Aaron was the strongest D-grade in the entire multiverse, he was still nothing compared to the System.

And if they served the System…

Why? Why are they here?

She did consider the fact that the assistants were clearly sentient. And sentience meant that there could be any number of selfish reasons for their actions.

Maybe the System wasn’t actually involved in this.

That seems like the most likely reason. But what could they be trying to achieve?

She didn’t understand what difference it made if these people escaped the dungeon.

Aaron clashed again with the light empowered assistants, and they swung back at him for several long seconds. It was the longest she had seen him survive their onslaught, and it was a blur of action she could barely keep up with.

Light flashed across the barrier as the battle seemed to intensify even further, but a couple of seconds later, he was dead again.

By this point, Zero seemed to have understood what was going on and was howling every time Aaron dove back in. Zero still looked a little stressed, but his tail was wagging, and his howls intensified whenever Aaron made a good move. Talia smiled as she saw this and decided to join in herself.

“Woooo! You got this, Aaron!”

She didn’t know if her cheers came across as genuine, but she figured it was a nice thing to do. After all, he had died an epic amount of times already, and just the thought of how much pain he must of enduring made her queasy.

But still, the fight went on. Flashes of light and explosions lit up the barrier. And as it dragged on, Talia lost track of how many times Aaron died; her thoughts drifted off.

“Wooo!” She waved her hands, but her gaze was shifting from the barrier.

It wasn’t that she was getting bored. Rather, seeing Aaron visibly improving so quickly gave her a lot to think about for herself. She was still higher level than him, for now, but there was no question who was the stronger of the two. And after this incident, the gap would no doubt grow.

Talia wasn’t the type to always have to be the strongest in the room, but she didn’t want to be weak. After living her life as a corporate slave, she was now finally in a world where strength meant freedom, and she didn’t want to go back to the old her. She didn’t want to have to bend the knee to anyone. To play by anyone else’s rules. And even if Aaron had no intent to make the rules, who was to say there wasn’t someone else like him who did? What if Pentival, or someone like him, took over their world, and Talia was stuck under their thumb because she wasn’t strong enough?

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Hell no.

Jaw set, she turned away from the battle in the sky and drew her sword. Around her, the natives backed away, faces full of fear, but she ignored them. Instead, she focused her whole mind on herself. She recalled the assistants Aaron was fighting, replaying their movements in her head. She imagined herself in the same situation as he was. If they descended on her, would she be able to react? No, not as she was. But she could train.

And she did. While Aaron endlessly died, she began to practice her own techniques, and though she was not improving as quickly as Aaron was, as the hours passed, she too was getting stronger.

*Dungeon Command*

Sprawled across the multiverse, there were countless autonomous dungeon command centers hard at work. The mystical beings known as the assistants worked tirelessly to keep the whole operation going.

But in truth, they were just another species of the multiverse, though they had been there from the very beginning.

From the outside, their existence might have seemed rather strange and incomprehensible. But they were really just denizens of the System, just the same as anybody else. And like people everywhere in the multiverse, they were granted quests. Opportunities for rewards.

Unlike most denizens of the multiverse, the assistants were granted quests related to the operation of the multiverse’s array mechanisms that kept it all going.

And in this particular command center, they controlled a dungeon.

Dungeons were complicated things. The assistants were provided with various resources, both living and otherwise. Their task was rather simple. Take what the System provided, and use it to keep those who adventured into their dungeons from finishing them too easily.

But such tasks could be so troublesome. Assistants were granted resources, but they were far from gods. And they were often forced to rely upon creatures with free will to do their bidding.

Of course, most of the time, this wasn’t a problem. Their failure was to be expected. After all, the System wanted people to complete dungeons. And it took this into consideration when providing resources and tailoring quests.

Every dungeon was designed to service participants of certain levels, and at certain difficulties. And as such, assistants regularly failed to keep people from finishing them. And that wasn’t such a big deal. There were plenty of rewards to go around, and there was always an unprepared group of dull-minded adventurers marching toward their deaths.

But in this particular instance, when the chief officer in control of the dungeon command center was offered a quest reward that he just couldn’t live without, he had gone rogue.

You see, there were more than just standard quests in the multiverse. This was true for both its regular denizens and its assistants. And this particular quest just so happened to be mythical.

And for one thousand years, the chief officer had delicately worked toward its completion.

All he had to do was stop the inhabitants of the dungeon from escaping it. And since dungeon denizens couldn’t usually escape, it had seemed like he would get an easy win.

That was until their monitoring senses had picked up on something troubling.

One of the inhabitants had somehow managed to receive a Divine Trait.

It was incomprehensible. How was that possible in a weak dungeon like this? It was only designed for peak E-grade and low D-grade talents. And such a world should have been far too starved of energy to produce such a thing, and yet it had happened.

Immediately, he knew that it had to be related to his quest. And suddenly, he understood why the quest was mythical.

His first plan was to capture the man. He couldn’t allow someone with such a powerful trait to run wild and throw his plans into disarray. But suddenly, the local had disappeared, and their tracking devices were no longer able to follow him.

Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t complete the quest, and so he endeavored to have those attempting the dungeon deal with the issue.

What he hadn’t expected was that his dungeon would be participating in the hundredth and first universe’s dungeon competition. He knew the moment it happened that another piece was falling into place.

He knew about the extraction zones, and he knew they were the perfect opportunity for the locals to escape.

And then things go even worse when one of the people who entered the dungeon had such an odd array of abilities and traits. Almost like they were hand-picked to work alongside the evasive local who had been causing so much trouble.

Now, with but a single month remaining on the clock of his quest, and his reward within reach, they had set their plans in motion.

The pieces of his decades-long plan were quickly falling apart, and he knew that if he didn’t act, they would soon escape. It all happened so quickly. He wished he had time to formulate a better plan, but he couldn’t risk failure. And so, he decided to deal with it himself.

Assistants weren’t supposed to get directly involved in the dungeons they managed. And if the union found out, he would be in dire trouble. But since there were no conditions within the quest itself preventing his involvement, he had thrown caution to the wind and pulled up his sleeves.

That was all in the past now, and he stared down at those who intended to ruin his plan.

But instead of attacking, he paused. He was confused. It was like his mind was a mess. His brain was telling him that he had just accepted the prompts and descended into the dungeon seconds ago.

But something was off. Very off. Worst still, he could feel the pang of something very wrong in his chest.

What? That feeling. It has to be. But how? Who could have caused me soul damage?

He had no idea what was going on. Was the System attacking his soul directly for breaking the covenant of the assistants? But since when did the System do such things without a warning?

And more importantly, why did he feel like this had all already happened before?

His brow bent. If the System really was getting involved, then he had better make this quick. He stared at the men who threatened it all, both the local and the intruder.

They needed to be dealt with. And he was totally confiscating those striking shorts for the effort of having to do this himself.

In an instant, he flashed toward the man, but somehow, the invader had known exactly where he would strike and stepped effortlessly to the side.

He gasped. It was simply unbelievable. This was just some D-grade nobody. A mortal, and one far, far slower than himself. And yet, he had somehow perfectly dodged his attack.

He swung again, and again. The first was dodged, and the second sailed harmlessly through the man’s chest. What in the System was going on? He wondered.

Growing furious with the exchange, he pushed himself harder, swinging faster and more wildly than before. But it was like he was playing to the man’s tune. Like it was a choreographed fight, and this human knew exactly where every punch and kick he threw would land.

Still, he kept going through, increasingly frustrated. This didn’t make sense. But it didn’t need to. They were assistants who had lived for thousands of years, and this was just a stupid man in gorgeous shorts. Utterly ridiculous.

Power rushed around the assistant, and his strikes flew out at increasingly fast speed, and then–

“BOB!!!”

It all happened in an instant. One minute, they were pressing the attack against this worm of a human, and the next second, Bob exploded before his very eyes.

A tear welled in the corner of the assistant’s eye. Bob was only here because of him. Because they were friend. Because he had asked him to. It was his fault; he had pestered Bob into helping him relentlessly. Heck, Bob wasn’t even a fighter. He was their HR guy!

“Damn you and your fabulous shorts!” He roared as he flung himself into battle in an increasingly furious rage.

His face bent with anger and he pushed himself further, and further, speeding himself up. And yet, it all seemed so futile. Somehow, this man still knew exactly where to stand, exactly how to avoid getting hit. He dodged his attacks by literal millimeters, or they just flew straight through him.

He felt like screaming. How could a mortal be so hard to hit? It made absolutely no sense.

And then the unspeakable happened. Just like Bob, seconds later, Clarence from accounting exploded, showing him in chunks of burnt meat.

He gasped. His two best friends were blown apart before his eyes because of his greed. Because of a stupid quest. And by some worm who was nothing more than an infant to the multiverse.

How was this possible?

At that moment, rage completely overwhelmed him, and he threw everything into his attacks. And the frustration of his fists and kicks either missing or flying straight through the human, only served to infuriating him further, and several seconds later, he felt a warmth expand within him, and then his perspective spun like a tumble drier.

It took him a second to realize what had happened. His head was spinning through the sky.

He had been decapitated.

Sighing, there was only one thing left to do. He had utterly failed, and the contagion protocol was the only thing left up his sleeve. The assistant chief closed his eyes as he called down on the almighty admin power.

Light filled the sky, and then a beam of unimaginable power shot down, and with it, everything was destroyed.

That should have been the end.

“Huh?”

He blinked.

“What the?”

Instead of the end, he found himself floating in the crackling skies above the dungeon, seconds after he had accepted the prompt.

“Something the matter?” Bob asked at his side.

“Wait, Bob? You’re alive? Oh my goodness! Thank the System!”

He hugged Bob so tightly he almost squeezed the life out of the man. But then, his thoughts returned to the strange dream.

What the hell had just happened to him?

* Aaron *

Aaron was standing before J’kayden under the darkening sky for what had to be the thousandth time. Calmly, he started stuffing his face, bolstering his reserves while he waited for the System Assistants to arrive. This time, though, it was different.

Although J’kayden said that Aaron would have as many attempts as he needed, it was clear that the old man couldn’t keep this up indefinitely. He was looking more gaunt than ever, and though he didn’t look quite like he was in danger of collapsing, Aaron knew that pushing him too much further would only end badly.

Fortunately, he wouldn’t need any more. Aaron had felt it in the last attempt. He could do it. He had figured out the assistants’ abilities. He had almost won the fight the previous time, despite the fact that the lead assistant seemed to be becoming somewhat aware of the loop. And he could definitely win this time.

“You good, mate?” he asked.

“Never better,” J’kayden wheezed with a weak smile.

“Me neither,” said Aaron, cracking his knuckles. “Let’s end this.”