The Gamer's System

Chapter 273: Breaking Point

Throughout the whole fight, the group has been unsuccessful in actually dealing a killing blow in a single hit. Vardus thought this was impossible as he could simply continue turning back time whenever it was needed.

Even with only a miniscule piece of his identity being retained at that moment, the Grand Monarch still prided himself in this fact. That was probably the reason why, Zeke's attack infuriated him so.

"We did it!"

"We've won!"

There were already cheers being made by some members of the group as Vardus' head began falling towards the ocean floor. He was beheaded. Not by a Monarch whom he could at least consider as an equal but, a mere mortal at that.

These things combined was all it took for Vardus to finally snap.

Time stopped at that moment. But unlike the previous versions of the skill, everything stopped aside from the Grand Monarch and all of his enemies. All the waves froze in the moment as well as the clouds in the sky. The wind also felt static as Vardus began transforming.

"ZEKE!" Vask was in an even greater state of panic than before. Knowing exactly what was to come.

"Hey pipe down will you." The gamer on the other hand was calm about it all. And this wasn't something normal because, aside from him, everyone was in a state of tremendous fear.

"Do you not understand the situation we are in? This is bad news." Zeke simply sighed as all of them could do nothing but watch. Even without any detection skill, everyone knew that Vardus had no openings at that moment. And that striking would lead to their immediate death. 

However, the gamer still wore a smile on his face. Like what was happening was nothing to worry about; as if he got everything covered. And he did. 

A few seconds before Vardus finished his transformation, Zeke snapped his fingers which was a signal for his favorite [Conjure] Samael.

"Allesiah, I'll leave everything to your care for now." Were the last words the gamer spoke as he [Shadow Dived] right on top of Vardus who just finished transforming at that point. But within the same second that this happened, Samael already activated [Grand Chariot].

"You know it's funny. The last time I went in here, it was also to fight someone who was a lot stronger than me." Zeke said, with the Grand Monarch finally turning back to his true form.

As mentioned, the new form of Grand Chariot allowed Samael to sustain it as long as Zeke could supply him mana. Dying itself was not a problem for the [Conjure] as, its existence was also determined by how much mana Zeke could provide in order to sustain him. In short, as long as Zeke had mana and, as long as he was alive, [Grand Chariot] would be maintained.

But Vardus didn't know any of this, nor could he care less.

"Die" Vardus didn't waste any moment. He activated [Emperor's Time] and, at his current form, it could go on for as long as a whole hour.

He didn't want to tolerate the insolence of the gamer any longer than he had to. Nor did he want to listen to any ramblings made by the mortal. 

Right through Zeke's body, a hundred spears pierced through. Vardus was even generous enough to leave a few seconds of life for his opponent. Just so he could see the despair on his face.

"Regret having faced me in battle." Vardus said as time finally resumed.

Blood was supposed to splatter all around. But since the spears also served as a clog to Zeke's wounds, there were only spills of it dripping out. Vardus waited, observing Zeke's face closely. 

"Any last words human?" Zeke nodded to this, making Vardus feel even more superior.

"Well what is it then?" 

"Game Over." Vardus didn't even have time to understand the meaning behind the words as Zeke finally passed away. But even before the Grand Monarch could lower his guard, he felt a dangerous presence form. And as he looked where it was coming from, his gaze went back to the dead gamer.

[Information: The gamer, Zeke Elwood, has died. Requirements have been met for the activation of a skill.]

[The One Who Cheats Death has been activated]

Zeke was swallowed entirely by darkness. Vardus rewinded time just a bit in order to prevent this from happening. Casting [Emperor's Time] right away as he even beheaded the gamer. Yet, as he resumed time, the transformation still continued. Consuming all that was Zeke Elwood into an eternal darkness.

[Skill Limitations have been released.]

[Immunity from damage has been activated.]

[Infinite Mana has been activated.]

The one-time skill, [The One Who Cheats Death], was also reset as Zeke changed bodies. Apparently, what the skill registers is the body of the one who uses. Hence, with Zeke changing to Keith's body, he not only gained superior health and mana. But also, Zeke was given another activation of the said skill.

"It's your loss." Zeke said and, with this, the two began their fight.

Sparks flew in the air as their weapons clashed against each other. Vardus stopped time over and over again, hitting Zeke on all his vital spots and even tearing him to pieces. But Zeke's skill allowed him to comer back in one piece no matte how shredded he got. After all, the condition of the skill was that, it could never end unless the opponent who killed the skill caster has been disposed.

"What is this sorcery!" Vardus was slowly but surely regaining his ego and his personality back. 

The gamer continued attacking in all direction. They clashed multiple times and despite Zeke not being able to follow most of Vardus' movements, he was nevertheless able to predict some of them. In fact, this data only grew as the fight progressed.

No matter what Vardus used, the [Time Eaters], [Emperor's Time], every skill he had at his disposal was of no use to Zeke and, this was when he decided to turn back time. Back to before he ascended and back to when Zeke has not yet reached that form.

However as he did this, he was stuck at the beginning of the realm being generated. Zeke was, of course back to his normal form but, his memories of what had happened was retained.

"You seme to be confused, do you need any form of enlightenment?"

"What have you done to me?" Vardus resorted to trying to kill Zeke multiple times over.

In fact, his plan at that point was typo simply give Zeke a taste of painful and excoriating death each and every time. He would kill the gamer and as Zeke transformed into his final form, Vardus would rewind time and proceed to doing the same.

"You will break. Just like any mortal, you have a breaking point and once that is reached you will simply retreat." Vardus mentioned, already gaining back around 40% of his personality. A lot of things were still hazy to him but, that did not matter. He was already preoccupied with the enemy in front of him.

"I will break? That's a funny thing to say." Zeke was feeling the pain of course. After all, he didn't have [Gamer's Body] anymore. But this did not mean that he was going to give up any time soon nor was this a possibility.

With the alterative of [Gamer's Mind], Zeke simply place it on [Autopilot]. Allowing his real self to stay in the subconscious while [Gamer's Mind] received all the beating. Hence, even with the one thousand rewinds done by Vardus, Zeke was still in once piece.

"You. What are you?" Vardus was at 60% this time around. Nearly accomplishing what Zeke wanted.

"Oh me? I'm a human of course."

"A human and yet you have his form? You dare ridicule me!" Vardus continued chopping and dicing Zeke multiple times over. Zeke's bones were crushed. His muscles and tissues were torn. His brain was scooped out of his head and so were his eyes.

It took a thousand more tries before Vask finally realized the truth. That for whatever reason, his opponent did not have a breaking point.

"You must be wondering how I'm still alright even at this point." Zeke mentioned.

The Grand Monarch was no fool. Nobody could deceive him when it came to emotions, especially fear. After all, this was the most dominant among the emotions of the enemies he has faced. Yet Zeke showed no signs of this. No shaky voice that tried to conceal a coward. No hands or legs that seemed to give away at any moment. Not even the slightest hint of it could be seen on Zeke's face and, in fact, all he had was a triumphant smile.

"You must be thinking that you are above me, don't you?" It was Vardus who began showing these signs. Beginning with his voice that trembled as he spoke.

"Oh far from it. I believe that you aren't even worth my attention." Zeke smirked at his opponent as he took away the halberd and summoned swords that floated all around the subspace.

It was still dark and cold but there was a different level to it when Zeke finally decided to direct his killing intent at the Monarch.

"You cannot defeat me!"

Over and over again the fights repeated. Stopping at Zeke's death and starting all over again at the point before it. Vardus didn't give up. He refused to give up thinking that he would win sooner or later. Yet, there was no hope for him.

Zeke survived every blow he made. And what made things worse was the fact that, not once did the gamer show any signs of fear. In fact, he was enjoying it.

Like a true gamer, he viewed the fight from a third person's point of view. Like he was holding a console in his room as he tried looking for that one single spot where his attacks could create damage. This accumulated throughout the time repetitions and, at rewind number 4,000 Vardus finally broke.

"NOOO! SPARE ME! PLEASE!"

"That's funny. I thought you were going to break me." Zeke calmly said, watching his pitiful opponent.

"PLEASE, I'LL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK. PLEASE!"

"Oh? Fine then. Listen to what I've got to say."