Chapter 2502: Odd

Alex grimaced at the memory of his talk with the Duchess.

He had actually spent quite a bit of time talking with the Duchess during the 3 years Sylas had been in seclusion. It was the first time he’d ever been able to talk so freely with another Demon, let alone one with such a high standing in the Demon World. How could he possibly let a chance like that slip by?

Of course, it didn’t hurt that the Duchess was gorgeous, either.

Alex still couldn’t figure out how Sylas had such absurd luck with women. Not only had the bastard landed a wife who was practically flawless in the looks department, she was an S-tier on top of that. How the hell was anyone supposed to compete with that?

Unfortunately, the Duchess hadn’t been all that interested in his attempts at flirting, not that he dared, anyway. However, she had been willing to talk about her time as the Demon Queen.

It was through those conversations that Alex learned just how restrictive the System’s challenges could get. In fact, that was exactly what had sparked the idea for this entire operation.

At first, he had only been looking for a way to avoid getting trapped by the same restrictions the Duchess had suffered under. But, the more he dug into the underlying mechanics, the more he realized that the System’s way of identifying participants might have a weakness he could exploit.

Considering the current state of Sylas’ family, accidentally trapping them inside a Summoned World was probably the fastest way he could think of to get himself killed. Fortunately, he had spent quite a bit of time preparing for exactly that.

The floor beneath the central console opened, and an enormous circular machine rose up from the compartment below.

Several metal rings rotated around a dense central core. Thousands of thin wires connected their surfaces, forming an incredibly complicated network of circuits.

Electricity began running through the structure, gathering into a brilliant arc that kept expanding until it wrapped around most of the Hollow Ship.

Nathan stared at it. "Is that a Rune formation?"

"Not a single Rune in the entire thing. I actually tried adding a few at first, but the moment I did, the System started paying too much attention."

Alex adjusted several controls, and the frequency of the electricity running through the rings changed.

"The System doesn’t register you just because it notices something entered a Gate. It needs to establish a relationship between your physical existence, your Genes, and your Will before it can assign you a role in the challenge."

The circuit was built to interrupt that process.

Using principles taken from the Omnimous, Alex had made a mechanism that forced the particles inside a limited region to hold their relationships according to an independent reference field.

The System would still be able to detect matter inside that region. However, the information it got back wouldn’t line up cleanly with the identities it was trying to register.

It wasn’t true concealment. Alex doubted the circuit could hold up under the System’s direct attention for more than a few moments. But, it didn’t need to.

"The trick is timing. We have to let the System recognize the Gate as a legitimate challenge, wait until it commits to opening the passage, and then activate the circuit before it finishes registering us as participants."

Nathan looked over the enormous machine, getting more and more worried as he noticed the fluctuations already spreading through its components.

"And you’re sure this will work?"

"Sure? Of course not. But I’ve tested every individual component, and unless the System decides to invent an entirely new law of physics just to spite me, we should have enough time."

At that moment, the projection changed. A crimson pillar appeared on the surface of the hidden world.

Alex’s expression sharpened.

The System had accepted the challenge.

He immediately pushed the Hollow Ship forward, bringing it toward the newly formed Gate as the enormous circuit spun faster.

The electricity around the vessel grew stronger. For a brief instant, Nathan felt an overwhelming pressure come down on them as the System’s authority tried to establish their identities.

Alex’s fingers moved across the console, adjusting the circuit’s frequencies as several warning signals popped up.

The reference field stabilized just as the registration process began.

The System kept probing the vessel. However, the information it was getting no longer matched the physical existences inside it.

"Come on, you bastard. You’ve already opened the door, so don’t start getting picky about the guests."

The enormous arc shook as the Hollow Ship approached the Gate. Several wires melted under the pressure, and the central core struggled to hold the necessary frequency.

Alex ignored the damage. He pulled power from the outermost circuits and pushed it into the remaining rings as the crimson passage widened in front of them.

He had never expected the machine to survive the crossing. Even so, after all the effort he’d put into building it, watching the circuits burn away was a bit painful.

But, when the Hollow Ship finally reached the entrance, the reference field was still holding.

Alex grinned. "Now that’s what I call good engineering."

The vessel plunged through the Demon Gate.

As the space around it folded, the enormous circuit finally collapsed under all the pressure it had taken. However, by the time the System finished trying to identify the invading participants, the Hollow Ship had already left the boundaries of the Summoned World behind, disappearing into the passage that led to the Demon World.

Just as Alex was about to celebrate, though, something strange caught his attention.

On the other side of the Gate, dozens of Demons were marching toward the passage that led into the Summoned World.

Their movements were stiff and their eyes were empty. They came from different Races, but every one of them walked forward with the exact same rhythm.

It was an unsettling sight, especially considering what the Duchess had told him about the Demon World.

Demons weren’t always the brightest bulbs in the drawer. Still, they usually had quite a bit of freedom when taking part in the System’s challenges. They might be bound by the roles assigned to them, but their thoughts and actions were still their own. Even the most obedient of them wouldn’t normally act like this.

These Demons, on the other hand, were practically zombies. There wasn’t the slightest sign of individual thought in the way they moved, as though the System had already taken over their minds and was forcing them to do its bidding.

Alex’s grin slowly faded.

This wasn’t right.