As I stand in the dimly lit hall, my adversary hesitates to approach, his eyes wary of the curse I wield. The statues surrounding us chant on my command their droning growing louder with each passing moment. The air around us is thick with magic, and I can feel the power pulsing through my veins.

"I trusted you," he says, his red gaze piercing through me. The statues look towards him, intensifying their prayer and fixating on his every move.

He reaches for the seal and summons his System, but I interrupt him with a cruel laugh. "It's too late," I say, relishing in his desperation. "Anti-summon has already filled the wasteland. Your efforts are futile."

He coughs up blood, his body collapsing to the floor. "Have you given up so easily?" he asks weakly, his words barely audible. "Or are you too weak to use your curse?"

In one swift motion, I cut his tendons, savoring the twisted pleasure of watching him writhe in agony. "A hot-blooded knight should die by the sword, don't you think?" I taunt him.

"Now give me the System," I demand. "You said it yourself, you are not worthy."

He begins to whisper, and I watch in fascination as magic circles form and shatter around him, casting shards of magic across the floor. "Pointlessly wasting mana?" I ask, intrigued by his last-ditch effort. "The outcome is the same. Either I take the System from your cold, lifeless body or from one that begs for my mercy."

"You were never the smartest," he says, his voice barely a whisper. "Nor were you the strongest."

"But that frigid desire to become the strongest," he pauses, a flicker of fear in his eyes, "that's what scared me the most."

As the shattered mana begins to crystallize, I can see the System's interface forming in a language unknown to me. He was using the shards to split off the System into mana, allowing for remote use. Realizing this, I surge mana into his soul, shattering it. After all, what good is the System if you are already dead?

I instruct the statues to start a teleportation spell to salvage the System and move it back to our realm. But as I turn to leave, the System's interface remains on, glowing brighter with each passing moment. Threads of mana reach out from the charged mana, latching onto me and draining my power away.

I frantically slice the threads and freeze-shatter his body with my curse, rendering his flesh redundant and preventing any form of necromancy. But something is not right. Anti-Summon should have prevented any attempt at necromancy, and yet the System's interface persists.

As I investigate the interface, I can sense strange energy emanating from it. I reach out and touch the projection-based interface, and suddenly, it starts vibrating, the mana activating and its threads latching onto me with renewed vigor. The System starts floating upward, and I can see that the statues also have threads attached to them.

The interface begins displaying an odd collection of symbols, and I realize that it is counting down. I struggle against the threads, but they are too strong. The first two digits remain unchanging, and I can sense that the countdown is almost over. In desperation, I gather the mana from the anti-summon and summon a blade of mana. I drive it into the countdown, hoping to stop it before it is too late.

To my shock, the blade passes through the screen, but it shatters against something unseen. The countdown finishes, and the System disappears, leaving me with more questions than answers.

Where has it gone, and what is its true purpose?