AT THE SAME TIME

ALEXANDER

The spider lily world shattered like glass, not slowly, not gracefully. It broke.

"AURON-"I gasped.

The entire realm flickered as if reality itself had lost signal.

"What?"I heard his voice.

That was all I managed before the sky cracked open.

"DING." The system screamed. Not its usual calm interface, this was distorted. Multiple windows appeared at once, stacking over each other like broken mirrors. "DING! DING! DING! ERROR! ERROR! ENTITY CONFLICT DETECTED!" ENTITY CONFLICT DETECTED!"

The red spider lilies below us began to loop, blooming and dying repeatedly in a single second. Auron paused mid step, his expression changed. For the first time confusion.

"That shouldn’t be happening."He said.

"WARNING."The system exploded again. "WARNING. UNKNOWN ENTITY REGISTERED. CLASSIFICATION FAILURE. RECALCULATING REALITY LAYERS."

"Can someone explain-"My head hurt instantly.

Before I finished the world snapped and I was back. The bridge and the goblin battlefield. The broken altar. Everything slammed into existence at once.

"GAH-" I collapsed onto the ground, gasping.

"Master!"Scarlet grabbed me instantly.

Noa was already scanning the surroundings. Rosalia aimed at nothing.

"I SAID DO NOT LOSE CONSCIOUSNESS INTO UNKNOWN DIMENSIONS!"Michael was shouting.

"That was not my choice!" I groaned.

Then the air tore open again. A sound like reality ripping fabric.

"WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! ANOMALY DETECTED. LEGENDARY ENTITY RETURNING."

Everyone froze.

"A...what now?"Victor whispered.

Then the spider lilies appeared near the bridge and it was impossible. They grew out of the stone, through the air. Red petals falling where there should be no flowers and then Auron stepped out. Completely casually, like walking through a door instead of breaking reality.

"Ah." He looked around. "This place is worse than I remember."

"No."Michael slowly pointed.

"No?"Auron blinked.

"No." Michael pointed harder. "You do NOT get to casually walk out of dimensional collapse."

"I did not choose the collapse."Auron looked mildly offended.

"ENTITY IDENTIFIED. ERROR: SYSTEM PRIOR RECORD MATCH FOUND. ACCESSING FORBIDDEN ARCHIVE."The system reacted again.

The screen flickered violently, half the text was missing. Half was duplicated and then a line appeared. Like the system was afraid of saying it.

"Designation: AURON. STATUS: ADMINISTRATOR CLASS (DEPRECATED)"The system said.

"Administrator?"Michael dropped his clipboard.

"For the system?"Aiko adjusted his glasses.

"CLARIFICATION REQUIRED. CLARIFICATION REQUIRED."The system glitched harder.

"Still unstable."Auron sighed. "You really are using a broken version."

"Why does everyone keep saying that?!"I sighed.

Before anyone could react Auron turned slightly and his eyes landed on Iris. Instant silence, not even Iris spoke, which was terrifying in itself. Auron stared for a long moment.

"Oh."A small smile formed. "So you are still active."

"You."Iris blinked.

"Yes."Auron nodded politely. "I see you ended up with him."

"Excuse me?!"I nearly choked.

No misunderstanding. I simply did not expect you to attach yourself so quickly."Auron waved a hand. "

Rosalia immediately narrowed her eyes, Noa’s hand moved slightly toward her blade, Scarlet looked confused and Michael looked like he wanted to retire mid air.

"I like him."Iris tilted her head then smiled.

"Yes. That was predictable."Auron nodded.

"Wait-" I started.

"You were originally my first summoned unit."Auron continued like I wasn’t suffering.

"WHAT?!" Everyone gasped at once.

"I really should have documented my system better."Auron rubbed his temple.

"First summoner?"Iris tilted her head again.

"I created the prototype system. You were its earliest successful manifestation."Auron nodded. "I left you behind because the system required a stable anchor."

I saw how Iris smiled dangerously sweetly.

"You abandoned me."She said.

"Technically, yes."Auron thought for a second.

"Good."Iris took one step forward.

"You adapted well."Auron looked impressed. "And you inherited the unstable version."

"Why is my life like this?!"I groaned.

"WARNING"The system suddenly exploded again. "WARNING. ADMIN AUTHORITY DETECTED. SUBJECT INTERACTION UNAUTHORIZED."

"WHY IS THE SYSTEM WORSE WHEN HE IS HERE?!"Michael grabbed his head.

"Because I never programmed it to handle me returning."Auron sighed. "But this is fine."

That was the worst sentence he could have said, because the moment he said it the system responded.

"WELCOME HOME, KING AURON."The system said.

The words hung in the air like a curse that forgot how to end.

"No."Michael’s face slowly drained of color.

"No what?"Reynold turned sharply.

"No. Absolutely no. I refuse this reality."Michael pointed at Auron.

"REALITY STATUS: UNINTERESTED IN YOUR REFUSAL."The system immediately replied.

A loud BZZZT ripped through the air as every status window on everyone’s vision duplicated twice, then three times, then began arguing with itself.

"ERROR ERROR ERROR ERROR. ADMIN PRIORITY OVERRIDE DETECTED. CASTLE CORE ONLINE."The system said.

"It really is unstable."Auron sighed.

"You keep saying that like this is normal!"Michael grabbed his head.

"It is normal."Auron glanced at him.

"No it is NOT!"Michael said angrily.

"Guild master."Reynold slowly turned toward Michael.

"What."Michael said.

"I believe we are standing in front of a historical catastrophe."Reynold said.

"Yes."Michael nodded.

"And you are arguing with it."Reynold contunied.

"YES."Michael said again.

"Respect."That actually made Reynold pause.

Meanwhile the system kept melting down.

"IDENTITY RESOLUTION FAILURE. ADMIN AURON DETECTED. ROOT ACCESS RESTORED. CASTLE NETWORK RECONNECTING"The system said and a new line appeared. "ORIGIN FILE FOUND."

Auron looked at me and for the first time, his expression softened completely.

"Alexander."He said.

"What?"I flinched slightly.

He stepped closer. Spider lilies briefly flickered around his feet again, even though we were nowhere near that place anymore.

"You were never supposed to get a normal system."Auron said.

"What?"Michael froze.

Auron didn’t look at him, only at me.

"You didn’t randomly receive it."Auron raised one hand slightly and the system froze mid-glitch. "I left it for you."

That hit harder than anything else so far.

"You what?"I asked.

"My system."Auron nodded. "Your Gacha summoner system is a fragment of it."

"EXCUSE ME?!"Michael made a choking sound.

"Guild master, I think I need to sit down for this one."Reynold grabbed his coat.

"You think?!"Michael gasped.

"As I said."Auron finally turned slightly toward them. "I built the original system to create a successor."

"PRIMARY OBJECTIVE CONFIRMED"The system flickered again, weaker now. "SUCCESSOR SELECTION ACTIVE."

"Master?"Scarlet tightened her grip on her staff.

"So everything he did..."Noa narrowed her eyes.

"Was planned?"Rosalia exhaled slowly.

"No."Auron shook his head slightly. "I didn’t plan you specifically. I planned a bloodline that could inherit it."

"So you’re saying..."Michael pointed weakly.

"Yes."Auron nodded.

"Alexander is my descendant, which is why the system recognized him."Then he smiled faintly. "And why it keeps trying to stabilize around him."

"CONFIRMATION: TRUE LINEAGE DETECTED. PRIORITY SHIFT: USER IS PARTIAL ROOT OWNER."The system immediately reacted.

"WHAT?" I shouted.

"It means the system is yours too."Auron tilted his head.

That was the worst sentence so far. Michael slowly sat down and Reynold followed immediately.

"Oh."Iris smiled.

"You understand."Auron looked at her.

"He is the anchor."Iris nodded.

"Correct."Auron nodded back. Then he finally added, like it was the most normal thing in the world. "And if he stabilizes fully..." He looked at the shattered sky of the system windows. "He will inherit everything I left behind."

"No one say anything else."Michael whispered.

"Agreed."Reynold nodded.

Auron, however, simply smiled at me.

"So you’re doing better than I expected."Auron said. Then he leaned slightly closer. "But try not to break the system further. "It breaks itself sometimes."

"OFFENDED."The system immediately replied, and everything exploded into glitches again.

It seems that Auron’s appearance made things even more complicated than they were before.