Everyone Else Has a System

Avalon, the name given to the Kingdom of Gods by the residents of planet Vermillion, and that was because the place has artefacts and magic that could possibly only exist in the realm of Gods. For starters, it had an altar that allowed you to change your System in exchange for something precious related to your life… a sacrifice of sorts.

There are some ways that could increase your potential that was predetermined since birth… However, the catch is also equally big. While the gate allowed multiple people to enter and try their luck, however only a couple of beings are known who had succeeded in getting the rewards they desired. The fact that you can take on only one challenge and that too just once in your entire life added another layer of complexity to it.

Well… I had never got the chance to use the Gates of Avalon because by the time I knew about their existence, they were far away from my reach, with each gate being kept in the securest of places of the strongest clans.

I was lucky enough to find the gate of Avalon out of nowhere…. However, that thing is more troublesome than one can imagine. Only after I get strong enough to defend myself against it, should I bring this gate in front of the world. Using it now would make a big spark in the sky, signing that the gate has been unlocked for everyone to enter…

......….

"I have seen something similar before… though it isn't within my capabilities to break the barrier," Zero answered as he looked at Bernette, who was a bit surprised before she became disappointed as she heard Zero's sentence.

Zero then sighed before speaking again,"Well, I can feel a certain energy emitting from it which indicates that it has far more power than what it seems like. Ummm… there is one thing I still wanna ask though, why show it to me?" He looked curiously at Bernette, who pondered a bit before speaking.

"Well, it was worth a try. Actually, this thing, as written in the notes I read, has been here since time immemorial and as to sate your curiosity, I don't think I will have any problem regarding showing it to you," she spoke as she began walking towards her bed and Zero couldn't help but ask,"why so?"

"Because there is a curse placed on that seal that anyone who walks out of this castle will forget about the existence of this seal or something like that… well not exactly the castle but about a few kilometres away from it," she speaks again as she rests her body on her comfy bed before looking at Zero who was deep in thought,' So that is why she has no problem asking for my help? Because I will forget about it as soon as I walk away from it, huh? Well… surprisingly I could see the logic behind her actions…'

Zero then pushed the wardrobe back to its original position and then began walking out of the room as he spoke while yawning,"good night, princess."

Bernette simply chose to sleep at that point because the small journey had already made her tired enough and her body didn't have any more energy to carry on. Zero too was a bit tired, so he went directly to bed.

He didn't even have time to look at his room as he dozed off as soon as his body touched the bed, without even changing.

.......

"Good morning, young lad," an aged voice came from the surroundings as Zero wakes up in an unfamiliar environment and looked around him, only to find complete darkness as far as he could see.

The only things visible were a street side bench with a yellow night lamp and a bunch of pink and blue flower bushes around that bench. Also, there was a cherry blossom tree whose branches were swaying above the bench.

Although the scene looked iconic, it felt eerie to me, as I couldn't sense anything here at all.

"Don't be scared, come sit with me," The same aged voice came again as I looked in front and there I found a man becoming more and more visible as I focused at that area. He was hitting on that bench which looked empty before and his facial features were a bit 'not human' to say the least.

He had elf-like years, a pointed nose with complete white eyeballs and the head was more like a bulge than a rounded top. The fact that I couldn't use my mana sense wasn't making things better for me either, and looking at how things are, I believe my ticket back to the real world is that guy.

After calculating all the things I could do, I cautiously moved closer towards that man and looked at him carefully before I spoke,"where am I?"

Hearing my question, that aged man smiled a bit before speaking,"You are in the empty world of dreams. Though, not exactly the same as you are thinking, but more like, I have brought you into my dream rather than me getting into yours."

"And who are you?" I asked again and his smile widened as he answered,"that is not for you to know… but I like how you don't bombard me with multiple questions at once but only one at a time." I looked at him grinning from ear to ear as he spoke again,"I suppose it would be better if I tell you why you have been brought here and send you back thereafter. That will save time for the both of us," and then the scenery changed completely and what came in my vision was the Gates of Avalon.

"Do you know, young lad, what that is?" He asked me with an eerily bright smile and I spoke,"I know a little about it. Though, I can't open it right now." and he nodded at my words.

'While I can't open it right now… doesn't really mean I can't in the future as well… thought let's not go into details with that one,' I thought as I paid attention to that gate.

"It's a dimensional gate to the prison of fallen Gods," he spoke and I almost lost my composure. The heck?! Prison? Fallen Gods? Bro, are you for real? Or wait… all those things I heard in my previous timeline, were those lies? Aaaah!! It's all so confusing right now… let's wait and see…

"So this thing holds a fallen God?" I spoke with an 'amazed' face as I hid my complex and confused expression and that aged man chuckled a bit as he observed me.

'Is my acting even working, or he is just playing with me? I guess I should just play along for now,' I thought as I continued paying attention to his words,

"Nope, the fallen Gods are long dead. What that place holds now are the memories of the fallen Gods. If I tell you any more, 'they' will sense us and we can't have that now, can we? So I shall get directly to the point, young lad. There is a key hidden deep in the basement of this castle in which you have just entered. Retrieve that key and use it to enter Avalon through that gate. Once you have done that… let's meet face to face…"

He stopped there, and I looked at his gaze focused on me while I sighed before asking,"And what do I get in return?" there is no free-

"The other twin of Black Slasher," he spoke and

-Hah!

I woke up immediately as I began sweating all over my body. I literally felt goosebumps as I checked my whole body for any anomaly present in it, though after checking it over and over again, I finally breathed out in relief. Then I took a deep breath and recalled the whole conversation with that guy… each and every detail… .

'He knew me… or more like he knew everything about me,' I thought with a deep gaze. The fact he knew about my past self must mean that he is someone at the level of Amon… I need to talk with Amon. Wait, a sec?! How come I haven't visited the white dimension for these many hours?

The more I thought about it, the more grave my expression turned… though the only thing that changed in my current plan was… the additional task of finding the key to the gate of Avalon.

"The twin blades of Black Slasher… to think I would get the opportunity to actually make that blade mine… this is really amazing, isn't it?" I spoke out excitedly, as I couldn't contain the joy on my face.

Black Slasher was alone worthy enough to be one of the top 100 strongest blades of this world… and along with its twin… it had the potential to reach top 10 if not top 3. Sadly in my previous life I never found out where the counterpart of Black Slasher was…

-Click

The door opened and in came a young child with a pure smile on his face, standing in front of me he spoke.

"Let's go to the basement, Brother Zero."