Smoke rose into the air; obscuring the battlefield. Deafening sounds occurred elsewhere, shouting, screaming dying men scattered across the field.
All in fear of the being in front of them, it was a boy levitating with a calm expression as he defied logic and disregarded the laws of physics itself.
But in reality he was afraid and terrified by what he saw, but for an unusual reason he felt calmer than ever.
He willed it and saw a blue screen in front of him with the words, [Skill {Composure} has been activated].
'What does the skill {Composure} do?' Niko reluctantly asked the system, 'The skill {Composure} allows its user to enter a state of tranquility and remove anything that limits it such as fear and trauma.'
The system replied in its monotonous voice, happily answering its master's question. 'Then how should I destroy this world then?'
He gazed down and saw that the soldiers from both sides were all focusing fire on him, but to no avail as a translucent force field repelled all that hit it.
Niko knew that it was the work of the system, but he couldn't help but frown as he gazed at interface showing his mission.
[Mission: Destroy Or Save Planet XE-5S; aptly named as Aresia. System requires that Host destroys and or save this exoplanet in an alternate universe with his newfound powers.
Requirements: Destroy the world in one shot. Kill all participating soldiers. Destroy the nations and preserve the planet or create and convert the participating soldiers into a religion based around you.
Rewards: First Option: Gain Low Level Evolution and a chance to gain Annihilation based ability.
Second Option: Gain Low Level Evolution and a chance to gain Death based ability.
Third Option: Gain Low Level Evolution and a chance to gain Conservation based ability.
Fourth Option: Gain Low Level Evolution and a chance to gain Persuasion based ability.
Punishment: Self deletion of the System and a new Host shall be chosen. Current Host shall then have their memories erased and transformed into a new System].
Niko rubbed his forehead, at first he was happy when he first got a System but a few seconds later he was thrown here in the middle of a freaking war.
In the novels he read the Systems there gave their Hosts simple tasks such as saving girls from gangsters or cooking food for others.
But to hold the fate of all beings on another world was just too much! His System was too unreasonable giving such a complicated task for him to handle.
Niko sighed, lamenting the fact that he ever thought that this System of his would turn his life around.
'Okay System, I obviously can't one shot a planet with my current self and I definitely cannot kill everyone here, so I'll take the fourth option.' He contemplated for a bit before finally picking an option.
He coughed, "Silence! Cease your actions or I shall set to destroy this world!" With the sound amplifiers supplied by the System, his voice resounded and caused a massive shockwave that pushed away the surrounding soldiers back a few meters.
They all fell down and broke down in tears, praying to whatever deity they believed in. Niko was confused and realised that his words were incomprehensible to them.
Knowing this he then had an exchange with the System and henceforth gained an ever growing Language Comprehension and Translation ability.
Now language was not an obstacle to him and he surpassed this barrier, listening closely to their fervent prayers he then caught on to their words and repeatedly memorised them.
In a few seconds he gained the ability to speak their language, which he could not understand how he did it at all.
"Ahem, hark, thou mortals and listen to my decree." Niko used an archaic form of speaking with similarities to the English language back home.
"Your actions has angered me, has this world gone mad? This petty war of yours has killed many innocents and has incurred my wrath."
Thunder and lightning flashed above him, dark clouds looming over the entire country. Collective gasps sounded out soon after.
"Who are you?!" A soldier asked, he was unsure of whom it was under the dark sky but he was thankful.
"Who am I? You tell me, I am the one who preserves nature and governs over dreams. I hid away in the Palace of Night when Hypnos and Morpheus chased me down in the underworld." Niko shouted at the top of his lungs retelling an epic tale.
"I stole away the embers that Hephaestus once used to create Pandora. I tampered with Mjolnir and doused the eternal flames of Helheim for a hundred years." Lightning flashed once more, creating a convincing dramatic effect.
The soldiers were now captivated by his story and kneeled down under him to hear more of his many deeds.
"As of now I have no name, but I ask of you to cease this fighting. My body cannot bear it any longer." Niko held his arms together and shivered as his body entered into an incorporeal form, glitching in and out of existence.
"Your body?" An inquisitive soldier asked, curious on how his body had anything to do with the war.
"Yes, my true form resides within nature itself, every flora and the soil beneath it, in fact I am this entire country itself." And unsurprisingly the soldiers were shocked which was exactly what Niko wanted.
"This country used to be part of a massive landmass, excluding the ones that rose from the earth of course. It once bore resemblance to an infant in a fetal position which was what I looked like when I was younger." He smiled as if reminiscing of the old days, making the soldiers hearts melt seeing this.
"But wait weren't Gods a myth? I mean what we're seeing right now is pretty unrealistic but we can't expect to believe that you were here forever do you?" Another curious soldier voiced his opinion, this one believed in science.
"I am a God, but not as powerful as you think I am. I belong to a lower part of the hierarchy and can be considered extremely young only being 540 billion years old." Niko faked his age based on the actual age of the continents given by the System.
"And magic is real by the way, but again not what you're expecting, it's similar to science but is much more powerful in regards of all aspects and at its peak can even alter reality itself." He wasn't lying about this as even the System confirmed its existence in other worlds.
And among all the realities, his one had no trace of it at all, at least that's what he believed.
"Since you have no name, what should we call you then?" Niko shrugged and merely asked them to call him whatever they wanted him to be.
"Then shall we call you- Proslos. It is the corrupted version of the word 'proslorâ' which means life in the extinct Malios language." Niko was impressed, being called life in another language was somewhat cool.
"Interesting. Very well, from now on I am Proslos." Hearing this the soldiers were all ecstatic and bowed down.
"We will serve you for as long as we live!" Both armies spoke simultaneously, increasing his impression of them even more.
"Very good. Well then as I am here I may as well do a Bestowal before I go to sleep." It was almost time to finish this so he wanted to end this show with a bang.
"Bestowal?" Hearing this Niko smiled and proceeded to consult with the System, 'System is is possible to bestow powers on these soldiers?'
What he wished to do was cement his influence as a true God and show them what he could do.
And in his mind giving powers to over a hundred soldiers was something of a miracle and is all he needed to prove his 'identity.'
Of course he realised the massive repercussions of doing so such as the people going power hungry or the countries they serve will capture and research them, but he had a safeguard for all that just in case.
And all he had to do was ask the System. 'There is a way, however to grant these people powers will result in a massive change in their karmic destinies. Are you sure you want to proceed with the Bestowal?'
Niko knew what the System was referring to, once he did this their lives shall never be the same again.
In fact one of these soldiers could awaken to become something that could bend the laws of the universe, 'Begin the operation.'
The soldiers stood still waiting for something to happen, and then Niko began to move, making swift and indecipherable hand signs.
Then touching his forehead his eyes began to glow. An ethereal white apparition beamed out of his eyes and hit several soldiers at once.
"Do not resist. This is necessary for you to evolve and grow." Hearing this the soldiers' eyes lit up and embraced the process.
....
Meanwhile at a secluded area.
"Mr. President, the other World Leaders are on the line right now. They are asking about the current situation on the battlefield." The President of Carmeia stood nonchalantly with his back towards his secretary.
"Communications are down on our side, but NASA has gleaned some new images through their satellites. Take a look at this." She passed them down on his desk which he threw a glance at before looking askance at his secretary.
It was somewhat blurry, but it was undoubtedly a picture of a boy levitating in the air. The boy in the photo of course, was Niko.
"Is this real?" His secretary nodded, seeing this he frowned solemnly, "What if it's just an illusion? This can't actually be happening."
The president was firm in his stance to which his secretary replied with a deep sigh, opening her tablet she showed him a video from a drone that was in the area.
Again it was of the same boy standing on air and defying gravity. But it was in a much clearer view.
He was like a normal human, but humans generally couldn't deflect high speed bullets with a force field.
"Wait, a force field?! What kind of bullc*rap is this?!" The President had an incredulous expression, he had never seen such an impossible feat before.
From what the scientists analysed from the video, light was seemingly bent around him and the molecules were heavily compressed to create a sort of translucent shield that deflects and or melted any objects flung onto it.
Even the researchers exclaimed that it was an illogical feat as it would take an enormous amounts of energy to do so, even if humans could theoretically use such powers.
Later on in the video when the thunder and lightning came around he was even more astounded; the meteorologists confirmed that the sudden changes in the atmosphere was abnormal and nothing like this was indicated the day before.
The likelihood of lightning occurring on this particular day was near to null as it was such a calm day.
But that all changed when the boy came around. As the video progressed the researchers found it strange as they saw that the boy was looking directly at the drone despite all the soldiers not knowing it.
This freaked them out and urged the drone to return but was struck by lightning midway. A few minutes later their mainframe was hacked into and a huge amount of data was stolen and many confidential information were copied.
This resulted in a mass panic among the countries as they realised that the same exact thing happened to them.
However, the only message the hacker left was, 'Cease your trivial war or I shall unleash all of the secrets you have harboured, out into public and cause mass destruction upon your nations.'
This was fear mongering and they knew it, but they had no choice but to go along with their wishes.
After all no one wanted to die, and in face of true power they were weak and vulnerable. The President trembled and quietly requested his secretary, "No need to put them on hold. We're going to meet with all of them ourselves, arrange the meeting to two hours from now."
It was a global crisis unlike any other, and they had no chance of survival if they fought.
....
'Hm, looks like all of them are planning on how to get rid of me and stop me from exposing all their secrets.' The countries weren't the only ones with surveillance on their enemies.
Niko knew that the governments would not stand for this and would try to bring him down or outright control him.
But if they no longer had any armies then that wouldn't be a problem for him. "Once I concert them all into my faith I shall dominate the world!" He murmured softly, laughing villainously inside his head.
'Damn, {Composure} is really messing with my ambitious side.' He thought as he tried to regain his conscience and morality.
Exhaling deeply, a notification popped up on his interface.
[Warning! High-Level Evolution occurring. Abnormal Energy signatures has affected all surrounding flora and fauna.
Warning! All those undergoing Bestowal are now in the process of High-Level Evolution. Force Field has been breached.
Abnormal Energy radiation and a genophage has caused severe damage to your body. Attempting to use Self-Bestowal on Host to achieve High-Level Evolution.
Operation at 1%, 16%, 35%, 43%, 56%, 74%, 80%, 97%, 98%, 99%... 100%. Self-Bestowal complete. Please standby].
"What the fu-" Before he could finish his sentence he was then enveloped in a sticky opaque substance that felt warm and similar to an egg white.
His words were muffled by the sweet tasting liquid with a bitter aftertaste and subsequently fell asleep.