"Say, dad, Why can't there be two kings at the same time?... Why do we have to eliminate the other one when there could be two kings?"
A 3-years old boy sat on the floor of their balcony, watching his father and uncle playing the game Dhess. They were at a standstill and both looking for ways to trick each other to win.
"It's not that there could not be two kings, but rather, it's on people. People can't follow two kings at the same time, can they?", the dad answered, looking at the curious eyes of the child.
The answer however made the child's brows knit more. He got more confused as to what his father's words meant. Questions arise more in his head.
"But… can't people just divide themselves? Like… people in the north will have its king then the south will have another king. Won't the world be handled more efficiently that way?", the child asked further.
At this moment, the father didn't look at the child, instead, he continued with his thoughts, planning to make a move. The child understood that his father needed to concentrate and break the standstill. He looked at his father's hand which eventually held a General dhess piece, lifting it from its position.
His father moved the General sideways, tracing its trajectory, it was about to cross two squares forward then another square on the left side.
The boy just looked perplexed at his father's move, wondering what he was planning to do. Keeping his eyes on the General piece, he saw it tracing a path, and at the end of this path stood a majestic King.
The General eventually kicked the king out of his position as the father flicked his finger. The king got thrown off his spot, swallowed completely by the other sides' General.
*tick*
"Shittt!! I know you're gonna see that", the uncle frowned as he witnessed this scene. It was his 20th loss today and certainly, he had to pay for the 20th time.
"Since you beat me again, here's the bet as promised"
The uncle took a glance at his watch. It was black and didn't reflect any time. It just shows a blank slate. However, to the uncle's vision, he could see 50 item slots on the screen, with 31 items in it, and another 19 empty item slots which he just lost at this game.
The uncle pondered for a moment before with just a single thought, took out a long sword from the watch.
"Darn, here is an S-grade sword I long treasured. You can have it now"
"Wow, uncle, I don't know you have such an amazing sword!", the child uttered excitedly upon seeing the majesty of the sword.
A dragon carving was engraved on its handle with its blade encrypted with runes, dazzling with blue lights. These blue lights seemed to release an enchantment that any weak-minded person like the child couldn't escape from.
The child couldn't help but reach out his arms, trying to take a grip on the sword. His eyes twinkled with excitement since it was his first time seeing an inherently scarce S-grade item.
He was about to touch the sword when at this moment, his father stood from his seat hastily and shouted.
"Go away from that sword Alab!", his father shouted towards the child, Alab.
However, the father was seemingly too late as Alab's hands were only inches away from the tip of the sword.
"Fuck!... 11th General, Renegade, Summon!"
As the words escaped the father's mouth, a silhouette of a big guy immediately formed in front of Alab, just right between Alab's hand and the tip of the longsword.
The momentum of the longsword however did not stop, leaving a needle-size hole in the thick armor of the Summoned General. The General wasn't given a chance to heal as the small hole started to swirl hastily as it became bigger and bigger, forming a vertex that continuously devoured the entire body of the Summoned General.
The process took only a minute before the General died without retaliation. Seeing this scene, the father's face turned into madness as he lost one of his treasured generals.
[Ding!]
[Your 11th General "Renegade" has died]
[Due to the mysterious power of the SS-Grade "Greedy Sword Angus", the deceased General couldn't be resurrected]
"Timothy! Just what have you done!"
The father got enraged by the death of his general and could feel his insides swirling with anger. Still, he held himself back, trying to figure out his sibling's reason for the dramatic turn of events.
"Ho, ho. I didn't think that you would be able to stop that attack, my older brother. I was originally planning on killing your son to see your collapsed state but who would have thought that your General would sacrifice its life for your child's stead.", Timothy snickered before circling Alab and the father.
He circled the two whilst looking at the disdainful eyes of the father.
He long longed for this sight.
Seeing the expression of his 'perfect' brother becoming uglier from guilt and disdain, he felt his insides filled with endless elation.
"My reason for doing this? It's simple… I want your head, your power, your overpowered generals. I want them all!", Timothy added then laughed maniacally like a madman.
"You have gone insane, Timothy!"
The father's face turned more dreadful at his little brother's becoming. He had encountered people who wished his head out of huge envy. However, he didn't expect his brother to feel the same.
At this point in time, he knew that fighting his brother would be inevitable, thus, he had to get his son, Alab, out of this place first.
"5th General 'Lumia' Summon!"
As the father said so, an old lady appeared out of thin air then immediately, crossed her arm whilst uttering her spell.
"Luminous Entratus"
An enchanting circle appeared on Alab's foot, enveloping the entire child. Alab could only feel his body turning into white mist and his consciousness turning dimmer and dimmer.
"Fa… father!", Alab uttered as he saw a huge deadly spear descending on his father. Just from the sight alone, he knew that a single scratch from this spear would spell imminent death. However, with his little body, Alab could do nothing but succumb to the spell released by his father's general.
His whole body finally turned into mist, being blown away by the air that swept through.
The moment after that was vague in his memory.
------
"Father!!!!!"
A young man woke up from his deep sleep with a deafening shout that alarmed the entire dormitory. Sweat continuously fell from his head due to the dream that he had been having for the entire week now.
"Aghhhh, why do I have to dream of that event again?!"
Wiping the sweats out of his head, he got up from his wooden bed that was already being housed by small insects.
Flies and mosquitoes continued to linger in his small dormitory as well before they entered their own man-made dormitories made out of the untidy pile of trash.
The sight was indeed unpleasing to the eye but the young man couldn't do more as he had more things to mind. He barely made ends meet and this small house was of little concern for him.
Besides, he only went here to get a nap every night before entering school. After school, he would go to his part-time job which would drain his little energy left from the tiring day.
That was his daily routine and today, of course, was the same as usual. Or so what he thought…
"Ehhh? What's this little thing?"
A 1×1 panel was floating in his eyesight. He tilted his head then turned to the left and right but still, the panel was there, seemingly attached to his eyesight.
He was in the dark for a moment when finally after a second, a shocking thought came into his head.
"This… is this a system?!", he uttered whilst looking at the panel that displayed a countdown…
[ Countdown before the assimilation of the 'Celestial System (Celestial-Grade)' ]
[ Countdown: 23 hrs: 59 mins: 59 sec ]