I Hate Systems - Chapter 998: Peddler’s Pent-Up Rage
The Aggressor came with innate powers—that he had obtained moments before his death.
Once he became an Avatar, Compass Carburettor was able to employ the powers of the Aggressor, but only in that state though. But thanks to the Aggressor, he became able to bestow blessings to the Aggressors that were from the Aggressor Avatar.
‘This would rapidly raise the preparation time of the Aggressors in their fight against the injustices of the world.’ He thought, smiling in response.
Currently, thanks to the actions of Invaderon and Essencer, there was a lot of chaos happening in the rapidly developing human cities. This led to the emergence of terrifying serial killers who were rapidly making a name for themselves.
And by harnessing enough fear, some of them even became Devils. And with the appearance of every Devil came the rise of a damnable cult that it operated, causing the underground society to become more and more vicious and expand in development.
This caused a spike in victims. And the largest strike force resisting them, having survived among the victims to now exact vengeance were the Aggressors.
Equipped with their futuristic gadgets, they were able to track down the cult members and deal with them. If not for them, human society as a whole would have weakened, causing the faith streams generated by the people to wane in response.
When fear reigned, faith plummeted. And that seemed to be the focal point of these cults.
After all, Compass Carburettor had already obtained a general gist of things regarding the plans of his enemies.
Martial had submitted to Arnark and was focused on animals and birds instead. So, despite being part of the Deity line, their focus lay away from humanity.
Waning Essence and Invader had become Devils, so their primary attack target was humans.
As for himself, he was the God of Humanity, literally gaining strength with the progression of human society. So, the opposition was clear.
He would lose when the humans lost their hope. As for the human Deities, they were growing in strength with the passage of every year, but they were terrain locked, unable to take action beyond the domains where their influence stopped.
Moreover, it was easy to destroy than to create and maintain something. So, the Deities were busy keeping their lands safe and were unable to curb stomp the growing cults.
The frontline keeping these cults in check were the Aggressors. And hence, Compass Carburettor placed a lot of importance on their work and didn’t stinge on their blessings.
He left the shack immediately after, having prevented it from being destroyed. He then closed his eyes, imparting a set of memories to a believer.
A couple of days later, a new Aggressor arrived at the city and took up residence within the shack, making his plans by studying his predecessor.
‘Arnark is about to take action.’ He thought, muttering, “All the players are already in position. Seems only the initiative is lacking.”
He left the land protected by the God of Rain and entered another domain, arriving at a store as he smiled, “I want to buy your second most expensive item.”
“Please come in.” The shopkeeper eyed his surroundings before motioning for Pnolli to enter, hugging the latter when they entered a private room.
The door to the alternate space opened as Pnolli calmly entered it, maintaining consciousness, unlike the others.
He stared at the potted plant immediately upon arrival, saying, “Tell him to come here.”
“Who?” The potted plant tilted its flower head in response.
“Who else?” Pnolli smiled and didn’t say anything else. The two stared at each other for a few minutes before a weighing scale appeared in the place.
On one side was a pile of gold, enough to buy a hundred towns easily. The other side was empty as the potted plant pointed at it, “If you’re truly who you claim, stand on it. If your value exceeds this pile of gold, you may see our Deity.”
“If your value is less, I’ll absorb your everything.” The potted plant grinned, “You dare wager this?”
“I need to value myself?” Pnolli raised an eyebrow as he plucked a strand of hair and placed it on the weighing scale, “This alone is enough.”
“As if a mere strand of hair…” The potted plant stopped speaking midway, flinching in shock when the scale tipped in the side of the strand of hair. Moreover, it slammed into the ground with enough force to send the pile of gold on the other side flying like bullets.
“Kyak!” The potted plant feared for life, for the projectiles slammed everywhere in the space, about to rupture everything, including it. Just as it hugged its flower head with its pair of large leaves, the gold projectiles stopped.
Following that, they streamed into a pouch and vanished.
“You seriously are greedy.” Pnolli let out a smile upon seeing the entity that had appeared before the potted plant.
“Compass…” The entity spoke slowly, “Is it time to fight?”
“Yeah,” Pnolli nodded, “Call me Pnolli when I’m like this.”
“Fine, Pnolli.” The entity sighed and snapped its finger, causing a bunch of coins to fall into a weighing scale as he placed the potted plant on the other side, watching it disappear when both seemed equal.
The coins turned into dust in response while the potted plant seemed to have been transported somewhere else.
“So you indeed have the means to leave your domain.” Pnolli smiled.
“Call me Peddler.” The entity said, “I’m neither Secondary nor Adventure here. Just a mere Devil called Peddler.”
Peddler’s appearance resembled a human on the roadside that sold old newspapers in the bulk, based on weight. His characteristic as a Devil too was weak. There were just two miniature horns on his forehead that were covered by his hair.
Other than that, he just looked human.
“Are you on my side?” Pnolli asked, intending to make sure.
“Yeah,” Peddler nodded, “It might have been for my own survival, but I’m the one that groomed you for twenty years. I know everything you’re capable of.”
“That’s it?” Pnolli asked, “You don’t need any other guarantees?”
“That won’t be necessary.” Peddler revealed a tinge of killing intent, “I just have a lot of pent-up rage against Arnark. I want to see Zaira’s reaction when I make a pendant out of his head and flash it before her.”