I hummed in thought about what was in my mind after the Heaven System, now Apocalypse System, was showing me.
'Well, I went through all the trouble of corrupting it so might as well. Even if this wasn't exactly what I was expecting.'
With a shrug, I mentally clicked on the [Manage Dimension].
~ Manage Dimension ~
[Floors]
[Default Entrance Requirements]
[Populace]
[Laws]
With another thought, I opened up [Floors].
~ Floors ~
[Add]
[Remove]
[Merge]
[Manage Floor #?]
'This kind of reminds me of some dungeon manager UI's I've seen back when I was human…'
Selecting on Merge, a warning came up.
~ Error ~
Can not merge. Several floors have sentient entities on them. All floors must be empty to merge.
Floors with entities: 1/2/4/5/6.
Frowning, I focused on my Black Water to see what was happening on floor 6. It didn't take long to see that the Remnant girls were still having some fun with the angels. Not wanting to spoil it for them, I instead clicked on [Manage floor #?] and selected 1.
~ Floor 1 ~
Notice: weak enemy units detected on floor: 1,295. Purge?
A cruel smile crept on my face, which was quickly replaced with a small pout.
Artoria: "I want to watch this happen, but I have no… Oh. Excellent."
Halfway in my lament, suddenly a large viewing screen showed up in front of me that displayed an aerial view of floor one. Looking around, this floor was much the same as the others I've seen so far. That is to say, white, cloudy, full of annoyances.
Zooming in on a random location, I was able to see several 1 pair winged angels going about their business. With the cruel smile back on my face in full force, I activated the purge.
The angels all noticed something was wrong immediately, as all of their heads shot up towards the "sky." Followed by them all suddenly getting pale and running around trying to hide from something. Sadly for them, they only managed to make it a few steps before they all looked like they were screaming as black light was erupting from their eyes and mouths.
Artoria: "Need to find a way to add sound…"
Still, even without hearing what was going on, I was not overly disappointed though. What I was seeing was making up for it 10 fold. A few seconds after the black light had erupted from them, they all fell to their knees. And a few more seconds after that, they all started to just simply fade away as if they were snapped out of existence.
'Well, that was great. That looks horribly painful too.'
After the last angel was "purged" the display in my head changed, and the one in front of me disappeared.
~ Purge complete. Displaying Floor. ~
Floor 1
[Facilities]
[Units]
[Remove Floor]
[Entrance Permissions/Requirements]
[Features/Decorations/Miscellaneous settings]
When I tried to go into the [Facilities] and [Units] menu, it was sadly empty. And it gave no indication on how I could fill it. With a mental shrug, I opened [Entrance Permissions/Requirements] instead.
~ Entrance Permissions/Requirements ~
Open to public: Yes
Locked to hostile entities: Yes
Divine Requirements: None
Corrupted Level Requirements: None
Accepted Units: N/A (Open to public is set to YES)
Action if breached by hostiles: Alarm
'Hmm, these all look pretty standard for the most part. Divine Requirements is odd though. I guess it's to make a floor where only something with a strong Divinity can go too?'
When I went to modify the settings for Corrupted Level, it only gave me three options: None/Normal/Grimm(Servant).
'Interesting. So I can deny access to entities who were only just basically converted by my waters then. I wonder if my 'Grimm' level of corruption is comparable to what Gilgamesh is doing. The Remnant girls are different, but their personalities are also not drastically changed.
I mean sure, they seem to worship me, and are Evil. Some may even say monstrous. But their core personality seems to have been kept intact… right?'
I just gave a shrug at the thought, and dropped it after a few seconds.
'Not like I care really. They are having fun, and I honestly think they have a better life now compared to the shit storm they'd have to go through otherwise.'
Returning back to the main menu of Floor 1, I clicked on [Features/Decorations/Miscellaneous settings].
In this menu I was able to change how the floor looked, what kind of flair it had, and even the time of day or weather simulated. I could quite literally treat it as a canvas and shape it to how I desired down to the fluffy clouds.
'I can't design for shit though, so skip.'
I was about to start purging the last few floors so I could merge everything into one large dimension when I got a message from Ruby.
Ruby: 'We're done, Lady Artoria!'
Turning so the Apocalypse System was behind me, I created a throne from my Black Water. I had mostly drained this floor of water till there was only a thin layer of it on the "ground" left while I was messing with floor 1.
Sitting down, I told Ruby to have all them come to me. A few seconds later, all of the Remnant girls rose out of the water in a kneeling position with their heads bowed down.
Girls: "We greet you, Lady Artoria!"
Artoria: "Welcome back, girls. You may stand, and relax. Did you all have fun?"
As they all stood up, Yang immediately gave me a thumbs up and a nod with a smile.
Yang: "Sure did, Lady Artoria! While most of them were total weakling, it was still fun thrashing them!"
All the girls nodded at that, even Salem and Raven.
Salem: "Yes, it was quite the relaxing experience. These bodies… Avatars you created for us are wonderful, My Lady. They are honestly quite a bit more durable than our normal ones."
Raven gave a nod at that and said, "That is true. Not having to worry about dodging their spells was nice. And the looks on their faces when they hit us, and nothing happened? Delicious."
Weiss: "Quite. It was also good practice. I was able to fight several angels that had a good grasp of swordplay. It was a nice boon for myself. Thank you, Lady Artoria."
Artoria: "You're welcome, Weiss. I am glad you all had fun. So, Salem. How is life on Remnant? Are you happy over all that you took up my proposal in the end? How is Ozpin?"
Salem smiled at me, while nodding her head.
Salem: "Life is good, My Lady. I would say almost 100% of the world is now fully converted by you. With a few outliers here and there. But with very few precious pure water resources left, it's only a matter of time.
As for Ozpin, he is doing great. That is to say, he is absolutely miserable. I have him under constant watch if he's not near me. We've had a few 'incursions' of Light over the course of the year since you've left, My Lady. And I don't want to risk him getting that garbage in him."
Nodding my head I say, "That is a good plan. Are you ever going to convert him, or torment till the Light eventually tries to take him?"
While Salem and I were conversing, I was purging the rest of the floors of any angel remnants.
Salem: "No, I don't think he deserves to be embraced by your power, My Lady. So, I'll keep him as a pet to torment till the Light makes a move for him. And when that happens, I'll personally dunk him into the Black Waters. It's amusing watching those corrupted by the Light scream in agony as they melt and flake away."
Nodding my head, I had to agree with her. It was rather amusing to watch that.
Artoria: "Well, that is everything for now girls. I will most likely summon you all again, and soon. I just took over this dimension, and am doing some housekeeping. But when I attack the Agent of Light, I'll bring you back to deal with her followers. I can tell you all, even you Salem and Raven, like fighting as much as I do."
Team RWBY giggled as they looked at the two adults who shied away from my gaze.
Yang: "I can't wait, Lady Artoria! Don't ever hesitate to summon me like this for fighting. It's a BLAST!"
As she said that, she clanged her gauntlets together and had them shoot.
I smirked at the pun, and gave her a nod while everyone else just groaned. They all bowed deeply before their forms lost coherence and splashed down.
'Such a lively group. I do enjoy their attitudes though. I should make an effort to summon them more often.'
With that note, I focused again on the Apocalypse System and had selected merge once again.
~ Floors ~
Notice: Merging all floors (Excluding current floor) will cause the removal of all Units/Facilities/settings. Continue?
When I selected yes, it gave me a one minute countdown till it was finished. While I was waiting, I brought up the main menu again.
~ Welcome, Mistress. Apocalypse System Online! ~
[Manage Dimension] (47s till merge is done)
[Sacred Gear Management]
[Dark Corruption Distribution]
[Black Water Management and Creation]
Resisting the [Sacred Gear Management] for now, I went to the Black Water section.
~ Black Water Management and Creation ~
Notice: A permanent connection to the Core of the Mistress is needed for further action. Continue?
I raised an eyebrow at that, and went into thought for a few minutes. It didn't take me long however, as I was already liking what I was seeing with this System. I selected yes.
As soon as I did, I felt something latch on to the very essence of what and who I was. Much like how I could feel my sword and scabbard, I could now feel the Apocalypse System.
~ Black Water Management and Creation ~
Connection Successful. Notice: Infinite Corruption Mana detected. Lifting all safeties from all sections of the Apocalypse System… Done.
Scanning for all sources of Black Water connected to Mistress… Done.
Connecting all sources of Black Water to the Apocalypse System… Done.
Updating all sources of Black Water to current level… Done.
Resetting all Black Water sources to their original settings... Done.
As the system was doing its thing, I suddenly felt a connection to all the Black Water I had created in all the worlds I visited.
'No, that's wrong. It's not a sudden reconnect… it's just I can actually sense the connections now. I never lost the connection like I thought I did.'
~ All tasks and Updates done to all sources of Black Water. Displaying menu. ~
//////////\\\\\\\\\\
~ Black Water Management and Creation ~
[Worlds]
[Default Properties]
When I opened [Worlds] it had a small list of the worlds I created some Black Water in. And clicking on such a word, would bring up another menu about how I wanted the water to act.
Things like propagation, what type of corruption I wanted and things like that. An interesting thing I took note of though, was the ability to "copy" whatever I had corrupted with my waters to use as a "unit" in my dimension.
Curiosity got the better of me, and so I went to the MHA world and looked at the list of who I could copy.
'Wow, they've been busy. There are millions of names here!'
While I was wondering just how much time had passed in that world since I was there, I searched for All Might's name. Luckily, the system obliged with my will, and his name popped up a second later.
Selecting him as a copy, I then had the system summon him as a unit next to me. An orb of Black Water appeared in front of me before it took the form of All Might. I made note however, that he had a Grimm Mask.
'I guess that means "Units" will not be sentient, but just mindless monsters. This really is like a dungeon manager in some ways, heh.'
But to make sure, I went through the same steps and copied a Ruby. Moments later, she also appeared next to All Might. But just like him she had a Grimm Mask, and was mindless.
With a thought, I dissolved both of the units, as I had no need for them at the moment. When I was selecting Ruby for a unit, I noticed that there was an extra option for the Remnant world than there was for the MHW one. And that was [Communicate].
Going back to that option, when I selected it a list of names was displayed. Deciding I had no reason to not test this as well, I selected Salem. Moments later, I heard her voice in my mind.
Salem: 'I answer your call, My Lady. How may I serve?'
Artoria: 'I am just testing some features of the new Apocalypse System I got my hands on. Do you remember the summoning's I did with you and the others by chance?'
Salem: 'I see. And I do, My Lady. We all remembered being summoned a few days ago. I will be honest, I was worried what might have happened to our bodies while we were in your service. But when we returned, absolutely no time at all had passed, which was a nice and pleasant surprise. As expected of you, My Lady.'
Artoria: 'Wonderful. I'll let you be Salem. The flow of time is different however, as while it's been a few days since you have been summoned, for me it's been minutes. So, while I expect to summon you in a day or two, it seems it might be a month or more for you. Just a heads up, but it doesn't really matter in the end since you confirmed no time passes for you when you're summoned.'
Salem: 'As you say, My Lady. It is always a pleasure to speak to you, and I look forward to being summoned again. Killing those angels is a great stress reliever, even if I am not under any currently. Good day, Lady Artoria.'
And with that, I cut the connection to her.
'Well, I can now converse with those across realities as long as they are "Grimm" levels of corruption. This opens more shenanigans for myself, and the fact that I can summon them as mindless units as well, is a huge boon.'
I had my doubts about the usefulness of this system at the start. But from the few settings I have messed with so far, it'll be a great boon to myself.
'Now, let's get back at it.'
[author] And here be Chapter 40 for everyone~. Hope you enjoyed it, and got an understanding of what kind of System this will be so far~.[/author]