As I kept my eyes closed I could feel regret swelling up and many thoughts flashed in my mind


    ''Did I have to go through all that just to die here? To face death twice and survive just to die at the hands of a god.''


    ''I hate this, why did I have to start my new life like this? First I get attacked and lose my parents and now I will be killed by a god. this sucks''


    ''I guess having an increase in power from birth would have been good but the risk was too high. I don''t regret that decision but still why like this.''


    ''I don''t want to give up and die but what else can I do? Brakos is the strongest of us and he couldn''t do anything I just have to accept my death.''


    As these thoughts flooded my brain I waited for the strike.


    [Soul Art: Break the System]


    I felt a gust of wind blow into my face but the hit didn''t come.


    ...


    ...


    ...


    After a few seconds, I got confused. I knew the feeling of dying and what I should have felt but nothing happened, so I opened an eye and what I saw shocked me.


    Metsys was frozen standing still with her spear less than an inch from my face. Her face was contorted in... pain. Confusion? Anger? I couldn''t tell but she wasn''t happy.


    As I looked around I could see that time didn''t freeze as I first thought, Brakos and Volt were able to move and the wind still blew.


    "What is going on?" I asked,


    "What in the world?!" Brakos said while looking towards Metsys.


    I turned back and saw something I never expected.


    Code.


    Lines of Code were floating and being written in front of Metsys, almost like I was watching a computer screen.


    The code was beyond my understanding and moved so fast that I couldn''t see anything clearly but at the top, I noticed a Title or something like it, that says.


    [Break the System]


    "Are we in a simulation or something?" I had to ask


    As I looked around I could see Brakos staring at the whole scene with fascination. "Impossible [Technomancy] doesn''t exist! Not for several thousand years at least in the multiverse!"


    "<You''re right. It doesn''t>" a voice with subtitles appeared before us shocking us all.


    "<Before you all ask questions let me deal with her first. Thx>"


    As I heard the voice I could recognize it as an AI text-to-speech voice and not an actual person''s voice.


    As we stayed silent and watched we saw lines of Binary Code appear vertically and start wrapping around Metsys holding her in place as she regains (or is given back) her ability to move.


    Then she looked at the main lines of code and asked "Who are you and how are you doing this?"


    "<There is no point in telling you as you will be Banned from this Dimentoinal Branch and will be unable to remember a thing about me, this event, or Jackson. All I will say is that this is your fault. You are a god who abuses their power over others and forces innocent people into servitude.>"


    All of our mouths (aside from Metsys) hung open at the audacity(or confidence) of this person, but none of us protested in any way.


    Metsys on the other hand was furious and shouted "You may have abilities unknown to me but Mortal beings cannot stand up to divinity!"


    "<Yeah Yeah. I know you old Gods like to say that but I don''t care what you say. You are a system, a program meaning you are in my [Domain]. And even if you weren''t one I have ways to circumvent that rule.>" He said and Metsys growled in frustration.


    The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.


    After building up the courage to speak Brakos asked "How are you doing..."


    "<[Origin Code]>" he replied not waiting for Brakos to finish.


    Brakos and Metsys paled when they heard those words and I could see Brakos tremble in fear.


    Hearing him say [Domain] made me think this guy was powerful but I didn''t know what the [Origin Code] was.


    But seeing both Brakos and Metsys flinch with fear washing over their faces when he said it made me understand one thing. It was dangerous.


    After he said that I saw a large spike of purple and red code start to form floating a few feet above Metsys.


    "<A mix between a Curse and a Virus. Works great on program-like beings wouldn''t you say Jackson *%^#>" he said to me.


    When I heard him say my old last name, it caught me off guard but made one thing clear, he knew who I was.


    When the spike finished forming, it quickly shot down and pierced Metsys where her heart was. The spike quickly got absorbed by Metsys and when it finished I saw a portal open and she was banished from this world.


    Once she disappeared I could see the code start to run again but this time it said:


    [Begin reconstruction]


    As it said that code flew all around us and the environment that was destroyed from our fight was slowly being repaired.


    Me, Volt and Brakos all looked around in wonder but we had questions so we turned to ask them.


    "<My Code-Name is Phantom. No, I will not tell you my real name. I am known as the Dimensional Hacker, I can hack past the barriers of time and space. Hence why I could use [Technomancy] long before its discovery. My reason for helping you is my own alongside another but I can''t reveal either.>"


    ''He anticipated most of our questions!'' both me and Brakos thought.


    "As for what the [Origin Code] is. It is an equation or factor I can incorporate into my magic that very few know about. It will empower someone''s magic to an insane degree and it is partially how I can hack past time and space. As to how I learned it Brakos, I did so on accident."


    I looked at the lines of Code (Phantom) with shock and awe. A simple magic factor can empower yourself to that insane degree "How does one learn it" I was about to ask but Brakos beat me to it.


    "What do you mean you learned it on accident, it would have killed you if you learned even a fraction of it!?" Brakos yelled


    "<I didn''t read a fraction of it, I learned different bits of knowledge and made the connection myself and gained the [Origin Code] on my own. It doesn''t kill you if you %#*!&*^.>" Phantom explained but the last part was in a language I couldn''t understand.


    Brakos stepped back and slumped onto the ground, tired from the last hour or crazy stuff but I had to ask.


    "What do you mean it would have killed him?" I asked Brakos


    He looked up at me and sighed "The [Origin Code] is a piece of knowledge not even the library can contain as anyone who learns even a fraction of it will die. The only known way to survive would be to learn it all in the same instant or I guess do what Phantom did."


    "<No, I will not tell you how to do it.>" Phantom said before I could ask.


    I pouted a bit but didn''t complain and went to check on Volt.


    He was confused but didn''t add to the pile of stuff and just focused on healing fully from Metsy''s attack. As I checked on him I said "Thank you for trying. Even if we didn''t hurt her we still did something amazing. If you are willing can we do it again" I asked


    Volt didn''t say anything but nodded, reassuring me that they still trusted me.


    As I sat down with Volt I asked Phantom "Why did she attack me and what did she want?"


    "<As the God of Systems she circumvented Brakos and gave you the [Otherworlder] and [Hero''s Will] skills. She did this to use you as a vessel and enter this world to gain more power. As [Hero''s Will] is a skill given by a god you had a connection to her and thought that she could possess your body and spread her religion.>"


    "That''s how Gods gain power?" I asked.


    "<Sort of, their power is limited by how many followers they have in the world they are in. As they have no followers in this world they gain no power but if they were in a world where she is worshiped she would be stronger.>"


    "How do you know so much about me," I asked.


    "<Like Brakos I enjoy stories and I learned of your story a long time ago. Plus I am technically from the future, I know what happens to you and what path you will take. Plus you don''t have to worry about changing the future, your power changes the most likely fate to another but not what actually happens.>" Phantom said.


    I nodded as I understood it, didn''t mean I liked people watching me like that but as they already did it can''t be helped.


    "last question. What was it that you used the the beginning, I think I heard [Soul Art: Break the System]?"


    Brakos looked over when he heard me say that and waited for an answer.


    "<A [Soul Art] is a truly unique technique that very few people have. Mine allows be to break past any defence and cause chaos in what was previously an organized and/or functional system. Every soul has their own [Soul Art] and no 2 people can have the same one.>"


    I nodded after hearing about another powerful ability I would need to look into.


    As I looked around I saw all the damage had been repaired and no signs of the fight were left. Looking at the 3 of us we all seemed to be doing fine. Volt and Brakos as spirits could heal on their own and the worst injury I got was a few bruises.


    "<My job here is done. I must log off for now. I doubt we will meet again so I will say this now. It was an honour to meet you, Ancestor. Aom mcif Dohv, Tczzck mcif Vsofh.>" Phantom said and all the code disappeared.


    I nearly fell over from hearing him call me that. ''Ancestor!? Does that make him one of my descendants? Did he come back in time to save me as we are family? Does this mean I live long enough to have descendants? What was that bit at the end, did he just slam his hands on the keyboard?!'' and hundreds of similar thoughts flooded my brain and I was freaking out.


    After a few minutes, I could feel myself growing tired and decided to lie down. Volt and Brakos were already doing so and I just joined them as we all reflected on the crazy events of the past 10 minutes.