DxD: THE LEGENDARY TRAVELER WITH SYSTEM

[+4 AP]

Killing a simple monster from the first stage earned him 4 AP. It wasn't an exaggerated amount, but it made him wonder how much he would gain if he did the same with a higher-ranked monster.

By the way, Zaydas tried to probe the monsters' minds with telepathy. He succeeded, but the only response he got was… Hunger, immense hunger, and a desire to destroy things. It didn't matter what. It was a primitive instinct that drove them to destroy and an insatiable hunger.

The worst part was that he "saw" that, to the monsters, intelligent beings seemed more appetizing.

As for the reason, Zaydas could come up with some theories, but he set that aside for now.

Seeing a building on the verge of collapsing and Supergirl rescuing people from it, Zaydas thought for a moment before creating multiple red magic circles in the sky.

There were so many that they exceeded 100 magic circles.

"What is this guy doing now?" Supergirl, who had just come out with the last person from the building, murmured quietly.

However, even though she spoke softly, Zaydas heard her. He simply smiled and waited until Supergirl placed the elderly woman on the ground, then activated the magic circles.

The instant he did, the sky darkened, and the civilians disappeared.

"What did you do!?" Supergirl flew to him, full of rage, grabbing him by the collar.

"First, let me go." Zaydas removed her hand. "Second, can't you tell that I just did something to prevent innocent people from being dragged into this fight?"

Somewhat stunned, even embarrassed, she asked, "Really? You did that, but how?"

Zaydas explained, "I'm creating a barrier that separates the real world from the supernatural. Imagine as if we were entering a mirror. Now, we are inside it, and everything that happens here won't impact the outside world, even after we leave. Got it?"

"That's amazing!"

"Yeah, sure." Zaydas warned, "And next time, think before you act. Don't go around treating everyone like villains just because they did something you don't understand. Otherwise, don't blame people if they treat you the same way because of your powers."

"I..." She seemed regretful. "You're right, I was prejudiced against you, I'm sorry."

[+9 AP]

"..." Zaydas was speechless.

Seeing him silent, Supergirl felt uncomfortable. Coughing to mask her embarrassment, she said, "Anyway, I'll trust you. Now, we have to deal with them, right? And please, if possible, don't kill them."

"I'll try," Zaydas didn't promise.

"That's all I ask." Then, she left.

As soon as she left, Zaydas remained in the same spot for a few seconds.

Not kill? Is it worth it?

If he kills, he gains some AP, even if only a few, but if he captures, it's not even worth being recorded. Possibly, things would just play out as they were supposed to. In other words, from the beginning, the creature would be captured by Supergirl or another super, so it's not even worth registering. Only by doing something that wasn't predetermined is it worth being recorded.

Or at least that's how he understood it.

So, does fate exist?

In Zaydas' theory, the answer to that question is both yes and no.

It's not exactly fate, but rather something predestined. That is, if nothing happens to cause a change, everything will occur as it should. But interference is acceptable.

Why is it acceptable?

If it weren't, he felt that his mark would be erased from X dimension and that he would no longer have access to it.

Which could also suggest that if he did something extreme, like trying to destroy a planet… It's very likely he would lose permission to enter X dimension.

What led him to this understanding? It was when he had to "bribe" his way into Rimuru's dimension.

Basically, he "bought" his entry with AP.

Maybe he was wrong, and it wasn't like that at all, but everything pointed to things working this way, and until proven otherwise, he would think this way.

"Boom!"

The loud sound of something colliding with the ground snapped him out of his thoughts.

Right ahead, Supergirl had casually slapped a bat-bee, sending it crashing to the ground, and immediately followed up with her freezing breath.

The way she acted made Zaydas smile a little.

'So, she's starting to see the advantages of the freezing breath…'

From the records he had gathered about Supergirl while trying to better understand this world, he had mainly analyzed the way supers fought.

Harley Quinn was basically as he expected—someone who placed fun above duty most of the time and didn't mind killing if the situation demanded it.

Meanwhile, Supergirl could be described as having a strong sense of justice mixed with self-awareness that she wasn't a human from Earth.

To Zaydas, she seemed to fear not being accepted—like a child seeking their parents' approval. Precisely because of that, she refused to kill, no matter who it was. Even if it was some degenerate lunatic threatening an entire city and putting thousands of lives at risk.

Seriously, it seemed contradictory, but Zaydas didn't deny that if she started killing, even if only criminals, many would begin to harshly criticize her.

Why did he think that? Simply because humans are fools.

A clear example of this is what happens with most superheroes. Even after saving thousands of people, there will always be those who criticize them for what they didn't do or for what they could have done better. Even those who were saved might end up thinking something like: "She saved me, but if she had been a little faster, I wouldn't have broken my arm."

The media itself constantly criticizes superheroes, yet they have defended criminals before. Where is the logic in that?

There is a quote he really likes from Charles Chaplin: "Life is a tragedy when seen up close, but a comedy when seen from afar."

In other words: Those who defend criminals and complain about superheroes for hurting them—even slightly—have never been close enough to see things differently. So, for them, it's easy to talk nonsense.

Although it may seem like he's going in circles, everything boils down to this: the moment Supergirl kills, the repercussions could make it impossible for her to continue being a superhero.

However, if she ends up killing irrational monsters, will the result be the same?

Unfortunately, yes. If there are people who defend criminals that do far worse things than just stealing, there are also those who see even monsters as "victims" who don't know what they're doing, believing there's a better way to deal with them.

'Thinking like this, I was wrong to try and push Supergirl into killing…' Zaydas reflected, evaluating his own stance.

From his perspective, he believed he was right—just like many people on that day with the False Santa Claus, who clamored for Supergirl to kill him.

Approaching a first-stage monster, he froze it with a touch of his hand.

In an instant, a prehistoric mammoth was encased in a giant block of ice.

'Am I being influenced?' He thought, then denied it. 'No, I simply don't feel the need to kill some shrimps.'

He could choose to leave the first-stage ones alive, since freezing them was easy and didn't require much of his power, but he would still choose to kill the second- and third-stage ones.

In his hand, the power of destruction manifested as a sphere.

Teleporting, he appeared before a crab-man. His hand struck the chest of the Second-Stage crab-man, obliterating it into nothingness.

It was as if it had never existed in the first place.

[+17 AP]

Supergirl, who had been pleased at first when she saw Zaydas choose to freeze the beast instead of killing it, sighed at the next scene…

'In the end, he's still going to kill…' She lamented.

*****

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