After returning to that white room, Zenra took a deep breath, struggling to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall.
'Tem... so this is the reason El won't let go of me?'
[No doubt about it, Load. To Cruel, you're the only light that appeared in the total darkness of his life. He doesn't care if you're a cultist or selling mosquito-repellent crackers, as long as you remain the "Abang" who won't abuse him ever again.]
The young man stared at the white ceiling of the room, lost in thought, imagining the memories he had just witnessed with the system.
"It turns out Cruel's past was really that dark, huh."
[Yeah, that's just how the little devil's childhood was, so it's no wonder he became the world's antagonist, right?]
"True enough. Now I feel guilty for just leaving Cruel like that. I wonder how he is now? Did the soul replacing Kara turn out to be fierce or what? Let's hope that soul isn't already knocked out and useless before it can even feed my brother."
[Well, none of us know, Load. Let it be. Just pray that the soul replacing Kara is good at making money. By the way, Load, don't you have any last wishes before we get deleted? We're going to die in a few hours.]
"Wishes? We're about to die, man. If we had 10 years left, I'd have dreams. But this? We've only got a few hours. Right now, I'm in that phase: I want to have tons of money, but I don't want to do any work. Manifesting through rotting in bed hasn't been approved by the universe yet. Maybe I'm not 'working hard' enough, or maybe the universe is just doing maintenance? You know how I am—",
GREGREEKKK!!! BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Suddenly, the whole white room shook violently.
A roar echoed, sounding like a thousand earthquakes happening simultaneously in one room. The empty white walls at the edge of the dimension suddenly began to crack, emitting pitch-black fissures like glass about to shatter.
[Warning! Warning! Extreme anomaly in the central dimension wall! Outside magical pressure rising to nine hundred percent!]
Tem panicked, spinning around in the air.
"What? Is your Boss renovating the room or something, Tem?" Zenra joined in the panic, trying to flip his body to stand upright in mid-air.
BOOOMMMMM!!!
The boundary wall of the white room shattered into pieces. From behind the billowing black smoke and the debris of the exploding dimensional energy, a small silhouette with dark hair appeared. In his hand, an ancient book bound in pitch-black leather emitted a terrifying, dark purple aura—high-level demonic spells that shouldn't have been able to break through the system's digital barriers.
The cold eyes that were always hidden behind a storybook in the corner of the shack now stared straight at Zenra with a rage that could freeze the entire ocean.
"Abang," the voice called out. Cold, flat, but heavy with absolute possession.
Zen gaped. His jaw practically hit the hollow floor.
"C-Cruel?! How did you end up here?!"
Cruel didn't answer. The boy stepped forward, ignoring the system room's gravity laws. Every step he took made the white floor beneath him turn black and crack. He glanced at the corner of the room, where the large shadows of the 'Boss' and Protocol 001 suddenly appeared with pale faces.
"Who is trying to delete my Abang?" Cruel asked softly, but his aura caused the system screens around them to glitch violently.
The Boss tried to maintain his authority, stepping forward while adjusting his crooked tie.
"The Zenra Replacement Soul Unit has completed its task. According to world regulations—"
KRAAAKKK!
Before the Boss could finish his formal sentence, Cruel moved in the blink of an eye. Without a word, a small fist coated in thick black energy landed squarely on the Boss's jaw, sending the large shadow figure flying three hundred meters back until he crashed into the dimension's main server.
That very second, all the transparent screens in front of Zen flickered in a panicked, fiery red, displaying an emergency notification with the largest capital letters Zen had ever seen in his life:
[GOD-LEVEL WARNING! THE LITTLE DEVIL HAS PUNCHED THE ADMIN!]
[SYSTEM ERROR 404! HALF OF THE CENTRAL WORLD HAS BEEN DESTROYED BY THE ANTAGONIST!]
[PLEASE NEGOTIATE IMMEDIATELY BEFORE THE ENTIRE DATABASE IS FORCIBLY REFORMATTED!!!]
After taking that hit, the Boss, who was previously standing tall in his expensive suit, was now slumped on the floor of the void, holding his left jaw which had suddenly turned black and blue.
Next to him, Protocol 001—the senior system who usually had a flat expression—was shaking so hard his red screen was flickering in despair. As for Tem? He was already hiding behind Zenra.
"Y-You... what kind of illegal character can punch central authority?!" the Boss winced, his voice no longer grand, but squeaky with pain.
Cruel didn't respond. The boy just stood straight in front of Zen, turning a page of his ancient spellbook which emitted a dark purple glow.
"Abang said he wanted a 'mercon banting' (banger firecracker). If this office guy can't provide it, I might as well blow up this office with hellfire right now."
[MOMMY! LOAAAAD! TAME YOUR BROTHER, HELP! MY DATA CODE COULD GET WIPED IF HE KEEPS RAMPAGING!] Tem was hysterical, truly using Zenra's collar as a living shield.
'How did he know I wanted firecrackers earlier? Wow, my brother is really sensitive,'
[Get a grip, Ra!!!! Don't talk about that now, do you want us to die together here?]
Zen, just waking up from his shock, slapped his forehead. He was right; he was thinking about the weirdest things.
"Hey, you little death-bringer! Since when did you get the enlightenment to hack the heavenly gates like this?! But... nice shot, that hit right on the jaw!" Zenra gave two thumbs up with a narcissistic grin that was completely inappropriate for the situation.
[Why are you praising him? T—though, it's true, the little devil was really cool just now, should've hit him harder.] The system squeaked, only audible to Zenra.
"Enough! Enough! Negotiation!" the Boss yelled, hurriedly raising both hands in the air, surrendering completely before his world server was leveled to the ground.
Protocol 001 stepped forward, trembling, trying to read the points of the new agreement.
[E-Emergency Protocol Notification. The soul of Zenra, alias Baskara, is canceled from permanent deletion. However... according to dimensional law, your soul no longer has a place in the previous fantasy world because the antagonist prevention task has been declared complete.]
Zen frowned. "What do you mean? I can't go back to my shack?"
[Correct,] the Boss said while getting up, trying to fix his tie that was skewed from Cruel's punch.
[If you insist on leaving this white room now, your soul will automatically be deleted because there is no empty vessel synchronized in that continent. Unless... your monster brother here does it.]
Hearing the word 'deleted,' the aura around Cruel's body darkened again. His cold eyes stared sharply at the Boss, making the room tremble once more.
"Want me to punch you again?"
"WAIT! DON'T DELETE YET!" the Boss shrieked in panic.
"There is one option! A negotiation option! We have one 'Bug' dimension that hasn't been cleaned up yet. Dimension Number 404. If you and your system want to go down there to solve the cyber mysteries and intrigue there, we will provide a new physical vessel permanently. And you..." The Boss pointed at Cruel with a shaking finger,
"...you are allowed to enter there too so you can watch over your brother!"
Zenra went silent, weighing his options.
"What kind of dimension? Another cultivation world? Or isekai'd into a prince?"
[No,] Protocol 001 took over the screen.
[Dimension 404: A modern 21st-century high school environment. However, you won't enter with your old identities. The system has prepared three high-level empty vessels in the 10th grade.]
A pale blue virtual screen appeared before Zenra's eyes, displaying three rows of new names that immediately made Zen frown in surprise.
"What kind of names are these? They're as long as a European royal family lineage," the 18-year-old scoffed.
[Vessel Name 01: Prince Raffayel Leonzio]
[Reserved for: Cruel Character Soul. Status in the new world: 10th-grade transfer student, son of a mysterious, prominent family, with absolute protection and intimidation levels.]
"Raffayel?" Zen turned to his brother.
"Fancy name you've got now, Kid. With all the 'Prince' stuff."
Cruel just blinked innocently, not caring about the new name as long as he could stay near his brother.
[Vessel Name 02: Lucanno Khandra Fusena]
[Reserved for: Zenra / Baskara Soul. Status: 10th-grade student, user of the 'Bug' identity who will lead the way in solving cyber mysteries at the school.]
"Lucanno... Luca? Not bad, sounds like the name of a handsome guy ready to charm everyone in the high school cafeteria," Zenra praised himself while combing his hair back with his fingers.
[And Vessel Name 03: Xavier Theodore Adipta]
[Reserved for: System Unit 007 (Tem). Status: Full human. Top-ranking nerd student who will provide cyber data support for Lucanno.]
Hearing his own name, the blue light ball jumped for joy in the air.
[OMG I HAVE A BODY?! I HAVE HANDS FOR GAMING?! I CAN EAT SEBLAK?! BOSS, I AGREE! LET'S GO NOW!]
Zenra let out a long sigh, smiling a little; it was nice that his materialistic system finally had a physical form. He then looked at the Boss and Protocol 001 with a challenging gaze.
"Okay. I accept your challenge. But remember, if your snobby system or the mysteries at that school mess with me..." Zen wrapped his arm around Cruel, who was now officially holding the name Raffayel,
"...my brother will come back to level the rest of your office."
The Boss could only swallow hard and nod in resignation.
[Mass Transmigration to Dimension 404 commencing...
Synchronizing the souls of Lucanno, Raffayel, and Xavier to 10th grade in 3... 2... 1...]
FLASH!!!