When The System Spoils You For No Reason-Chapter 44 - Fourty Four

"Fortune favors the bold."

— Virgil

...

"So you’re saying you’re Jude’s lost brother, and a regressor, and you—you’re fucking immortal?" Kai asked, his voice climbing with each revelation as they settled in the lee of the massive, idling truck.

"Not a long-lost brother," Anton answered, unhurried, leaning against a smooth crystal outcropping with his arms folded. "I was never missing. We haven’t even met before now." He gestured toward Zeke with his chin. "And as for him—immortality isn’t even that shocking. It’s a basic-ass trait inside the Tower. You’ll see bastards like him everywhere. Cockroaches."

"And you know this because you’re a regressor?" Jude asked. His gaze was analytical, moving across Anton’s face as if searching for something familiar.

"So that’s how you knew I was immortal." Zeke clicked his tongue softly. "I knew you must’ve seen it before. But—basic?" He theatrically wiped a nonexistent tear from the corner of his eye. "Wow. My ego is devastated."

"That’s not the main issue here," Aaron said. His deep voice cut cleanly through the noise, his expression one of genuine, unembellished bewilderment.

"Right." Kai latched onto that immediately. "Explain yourself. All of it—the regressor business, why you came back. Even if you’ve lived before, why come specifically to meet Jude?"

"Because of him." Anton’s finger pointed without hesitation at Zeke.

Kai blinked. "Really? He’s that special?"

"Of course." Zeke flipped his silver-streaked hair with practiced ease. "I’m handsome. That’s a certified perk."

"He’s not special. He’s an anomaly." Anton’s tone was flat, factual. "He was not present in my past life, and none of you were anywhere near this strong." His gaze swept over them and snagged on Kai with a flicker of something between appraisal and dismissal. "Especially you."

"I don’t like this guy." Kai’s jaw tightened. He took half a step forward, heat rising in his face.

"Sit down." Jude’s voice was quiet. It stopped Kai anyway. "You’ll lose. You already know that." He turned his full attention to Anton, posture straight. "But now it’s my turn. You came because of Zeke—just because he wasn’t there? Is your memory that precise? How old were you when you died?"

"Four thousand and some years. That doesn’t matter." Anton waved it off. "What matters is that in your story, you didn’t have someone of his strength at your side—and certainly not an immortal. They get overlooked in the Tower, but outside of it? There’s barely any. And anything short of a true powerhouse can’t touch them."

"So my importance extends beyond brotherhood," Jude noted, dry.

"Of course. But—"

"Enough." Zeke’s easy manner dropped clean away, replaced by something sharper and impatient. "We’re not here for a Q&A. Stop letting them pull the thread. Start talking. What role does Jude play in the Tower that made a four-thousand-year-old man throw his whole plan sideways? What made you risk showing up in front of me?"

"His innate ability."

"Heh." Zeke’s aura pulsed—brief but tangible, a press of invisible weight that sent crystalline dust skittering along the ground. "Just that? Doesn’t sound like much. Keep going."

"That doesn’t work on me, boy." Anton held perfectly still, his own presence dense and settled. "I’ve faced worse. I may be diminished now, but I can handle an S-Rank." He held Zeke’s gaze a beat longer before continuing. "Jude is someone of significant fate to this world. His existence benefits those of us in the Tower. Him and a handful of other young talents."

"I’d like to hear more about that," Aaron said, leaning in slightly.

"So that’s why you thought I was a threat to him." Zeke’s pressure receded as quickly as it had come. He tilted his head, something quieter settling behind his eyes. "I don’t have memories of my life before the day I met these guys. That’s genuinely suspicious, don’t you think?" He fixed Anton with a level look. "Nothing about me in your past life. Nothing at all?"

"Like I said. Jude’s story didn’t include a regenerating fool."

"What was his story?" Zeke asked, jerking a thumb at Jude.

"The classic zero-to-hero arc."

"Oh. You read."

"Of course." Anton’s chin lifted slightly. "In the Tower, people from countless worlds gather. Their fiction puts this place to shame. And regression isn’t uncommon there—neither is reincarnation."

"Eh, really?"

"Really." He shook his head like a professor explaining something elementary. "But unlike in stories, they can only reincarnate into the Tower, and only from worlds where the Tower doesn’t already exist. So put that thought away."

"You’re not a reincarnated hero, and wouldn’t you be aware of your reincarnation?"

Anton shot Zeke a look of disdain.

Anton’s brow furrowed. "Hold on. How do you even know about those genres?"

The other three turned to look at Zeke—the obvious source of their entire literary supply.

"What? I have an overpowered AI."

"Yeah, he does," Kai confirmed.

"Where is he?" Jude asked.

"Did you leave him behind? Can he even function out here?" Aaron added.

{Hello, young ones.}

Zero’s voice resonated from the truck itself, threading through the vehicle’s systems to reach them.

"Ahhh!" Anton lurched backward, a genuine yelp punched out of him.

"Ahh, he’s here!" Kai crowed, doubling forward with laughter.

"Hello, Mr. Zero," Jude said with a small nod.

"Tch. What ’mister’?" Zeke muttered.

{Jealous?}

"Wait—wait, we’re getting sidetracked!" Anton snapped, composure reassembling itself with visible effort. "Why the hell do you have an AI of this caliber? What’s your full name?"

"Zeke Vaughn."

Anton went still. "Vaughn," he repeated quietly, the word turned inward, like a key being tried against an old lock. "Vaughn..."

"What—is it the name of a powerhouse or something?" Zeke asked, not really expecting an answer.

"Maybe the name means something," Jude offered.

"It sounds rich. Suave," Kai added, grinning.

"Powerful. Ancient. Mysterious," Aaron continued.

"Grand," Jude finished. The three of them delivered the words with synchronized, theatrical weight.

’I don’t have any family left, do I? This body’s parents—they’re dead.’

{Indeed.}

"Aha." Anton snapped his fingers, sharp as a crack of flint. He wheeled from Zeke to Kai and jabbed a finger at him. "First his sister beats the hell out of me, and now your relative turns out to be another powerhouse? Fuck me sideways."

"That’s why you don’t like me?!" Kai nearly collapsed, one hand braced on his knee. "My sister beat you? That is priceless—"

"A relative?" Zeke’s amusement sharpened into something more alert. "A powerhouse? I didn’t know about this."

"She was strong, and mysterious." Anton admitted, something reluctant and honest in his voice. "She was the one who helped me confirm Jude was my brother. Half-brother."

"Half-brother." Kai recovered just enough to elbow Jude. "So you’ve only got half this guy’s genes. You’re half a bitch."

"What does ’half’ mean in this context?" Jude asked, looking past Kai entirely.

"Same father. My mother was from House Aurelius."

"So." Zeke ticked it off. "Regressor. Half-brother. Unknown powerful relative." His grin was back, easy and sharp. "Any other bombshell?."

"A lot of people will die tomorrow," Anton said, his tone shifting like a door swinging closed, "but the reward makes it worth it."

"That’s why you came." Zeke’s eyes narrowed slightly, the smile staying put. "Sly fox."

"In my last life, Enel had to use an artifact from the main house just to buy time until The Expanse released us. He never got to finish the monster himself."

"It was that strong?"

"Yes. But you beat Enel. And with your immortality—" Anton’s gaze moved over Zeke with the measured calculation of someone pricing a weapon. "We could kill that monster and take everything."

"If The Expanse expelled you, how do you know what the loot even is?" Jude pressed.

"Enel’s artifact shielded us while he used its effect to kill it. At that point he was roughly SSS-rank strength—and bedridden for two years afterward. I didn’t hear of him again until I entered the Tower, and by then he’d become something worse."

"Bedridden for two years and still catching up to those that had passed him, you would see how much growth he gained from the loot"

"Steep price." Zeke’s grin widened just slightly, something anticipatory flickering behind it. "I like it."

"That’s why he didn’t use it," Kai said, more to himself than anyone. "During your fight—he would’ve won if he had."

"You want me to lose?" Zeke asked, flat.

"Can I say yes?"

"But it still doesn’t mean the loot made him that strong, you mentioned he had reached SSS Rank, he could have retained the power level the artifact brought to him"

Jude said.

"That would not work, wouldn’t he have used it other wise, it’s just two years of being bedridden, wouldn’t you sacrifice it of power?"

Kai said as he tapped Jude’s shoulder.

"You don’t seem to trust Anton, but it’s logical that a monster that requires an amped Enel to kill would have a hoard of treasures"

Aaron added.

"And it’s normal for arcs like this to close up with super strong monsters and major loot"

Zeke grinned.

{You know this is not a story right?}

’Who cares?’

"Ahem." Anton clapped his hands once. "Monster. Loot. The Mad Dog isn’t going to sit out a pile of unclaimed rewards, is he?"

Zeke’s smirk was answer enough. "You can never fully trust a four-thousand-year-old regressor."