Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 8) - Chapter 18 - Notification Amendment

Xavier materialised back in the throne room. The System teleport hadn’t broken his Time Alteration spell, so his field was still active around him. The second he arrived in The Collector’s former throne room—into his throne room—a notification appeared.

You will be teleported to the Tower of Champions in 1 minute.

Xavier altered his time dilation field in an instant. He was going to stretch that minute for as much as it was worth.

Another notification appeared.

Notification Amendment: You will be teleported to the Tower of Champion in 1 minute. If you attempt to leave this room, you will be taken to the tower immediately.

Xavier blinked, staring at the words that had so swiftly flashed into his vision.

Notification Amendment? I’ve never seen that one before…

Clearly, the System—having long ago taken a personal interest in him—was getting tired of his ability to prolong things with Time Alteration.

“Well, that doesn’t seem fair,” he whispered under his breath.

Roln appeared beside him and crossed his arms. He leant in as though he were reading the text over Xavier’s shoulder—though such a thing wasn’t necessary. He would have known what it said the instant Xavier did. “I have to say, I’ve never encountered a System quite like this one.”

Xavier gritted his teeth. He hadn’t extended the time dilation field beyond himself yet, so none of the others in the throne room could hear his talking to the mental construct. “The System has changed the rules on me enough times that I find it utterly unpredictable now.”

Roln raised an eyebrow. “I suppose that keeps things interesting,” he muttered. “I’ve encountered adaptable Systems in the past, but usually they adapt on a much longer time scale.”

Xavier allowed himself a moment to grieve for what he would have been able to do in that lost minute had the System let him leave the throne room, then he pushed the time dilation field outward so it encompassed the other Denizens in the room. Palini was the first to turn his gaze toward him. They were all still surrounding the hologram at the centre of the room.

“Xavier.” Palini smiled. His eyes glazed over—all the Denizen’s eyes glazed over. A notification must have gone out to the entire sector about his claim being fulfilled. The man gave a nod. “I guess it’s official. You’re now the new ruler of the Ventorin sector.” Palini did a small bow. “Congratulations, Xavier Collins.”

The other Denizens, all the ones who’d sworn their loyalty to him after The Collector’s death, gathered around and started dropping to their knees.

Xavier held up his hands. “Stop.” He shook his head. “We’ve been through.” He looked each one of them in the eye. “You will not kneel to me.” He raised his chin. “You will not kneel to anyone ever again.”

The Denizens rose back to their feet. Palini gave Xavier a grin then started to clap and cheer. “To the new ruler of the Ventorin sector!”

The others started clapping, cheering, and whistling along with him. Xavier blinked. He wasn’t sure how to take the raucous applause. He almost asked them to stop, but he knew that wouldn’t be the right thing to do. They weren’t only applauding for him—they were applauding the death of the old regime and the birth of a new one. They were applauding a new way of life for them in their people.

For billions of people all around the Ventorin sector.

This was their victory, too, even if it had been him doing the fighting. He wanted to let them have that.

So Xavier stood there, trying not to look awkward, until what felt like an appropriate amount of time had passed. Then, when he couldn’t handle any more applause, he raised his hands for them to stop.

When the applause ended, Xavier’s face fell as he stared at Palini.

“There’s something I need to talk to you about before the System takes me to the Tower of Champions.”

The man frowned but nodded, stepping over to him. Xavier retracted the time dilation field, so it was only around the two of them.

“Something you don’t want the others to know?” Palini raised an eyebrow.

“It’s not that.” Xavier pursed his lips. He wasn’t sure how to tell the man.

“I can see whatever it is, it’s serious. Who did you fight in that arena?” He looked him up and down. “Are you injured? If so, you don’t like it.”

“I fought…” Xavier ran a hand through his hair. “Someone you know rather well.”

“Someone I know well?” Palini sighed. “Just tell me. I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think…” His eyes widened. “Wait, you can’t be talking about—”

“The sovereign. It was Rewke Fouran, Palini. He was the final challenger.”

Palini took a stumbling step back, face paling at the news. “The sovereign…” He blinked. “Something tells me the man didn’t surrender. You… you killed him?”

“Yes.”

“The Orin sector. My family…” Suddenly, Palini looked to be lightyears away, in another galaxy. He shook his head, looked at Xavier. “You have a claim?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Xavier explained the exact circumstances of the fight and the wording of the notifications he’d received from the System. He also told the man about the notification he’d just received—the amended one.

“I was about to suggest you go to the Orin sector before the tower. But of course the System wouldn’t allow such a thing.”

“What are you going to do?” Xavier asked. “I’m sorry, Palini. I don’t have a plan for this. I didn’t intend to move on the Orin sector for a while yet. And now…”

“Now you won’t bloody well be here.” The man stared daggers at Xavier. “You couldn’t have surrendered? My sector will be in disarray! You saw what happened in the Ventorin sector. What do you think will happen to Orin?”

“You know I couldn’t surrender, Palini. And do you really think I should have? The Orin sector is nothing like the Ventorin sector. The people haven’t been held down by forced contracts their entire lives, and the sovereign wasn’t the only one with power. He has armies, generals, doesn’t he? A system of government beyond himself? Surely the chaos won’t be so acute.”

Palini shut his eyes. “No. But…”

“War is coming. I know.” He placed a hand on the man’s shoulders. “I won’t be as long in the tower as you think, and I’m not the only one who has control over time now, hmm?”

“You want me to return to Orin,” Palini said. Not a question.

“Want doesn’t really come into it,” Xavier replied, shutting his eyes. He released a long sigh. “There are so many things going on, so many things colliding, all in such a short time.”

“I was supposed to lead here while you were gone.” Palini’s voice was weak.

“I know.”

“Going back… The Ventorin sector isn’t ready to be without a strong leader.”

Xavier inclined his head. Then he looked over at the other Denizens and thought of the ones that weren’t here—the B Grades who’d been sent to other worlds, to prevent the chaos that had been happening in Xavier’s brief absence during the previous arena fight. “They won’t be without leaders.”

Palini glanced at the others but didn’t really see them. “I wasn’t one of his generals, Xavier. I no longer have a place in the Ventorin sector—not in its ruling class. I merely retained my citizenship. No one will listen to me.”

Xavier raised an eyebrow. “Think of where you were when we first fought, then think of where you are now. You have come a long way in a short time, and you know many things that those back in your sector do not. They will listen to you because you will make them listen.”

“I serve the one who killed Rewke Fouran. That isn’t exactly going to go down well.”

Xavier considered that for a moment. This sector was a hell of a lot different than the Orin sector. The Ventorin sector had been ruled by one of the most terrible people Xavier had had the misfortune of encountering. His death wasn’t mourned by the people—not by many of them, anyway, though there were a few who stubbornly felt some loyalty to a man they’d thought of was a god, that loyalty must have been driven by nothing more than fear and fanaticism.

Sovereign Rewke Fouran was an entirely different kind of ruler. He’d been, for the most part, good to his people. The side he’d shown to Palini was never seen by the public—and even that side paled in comparison to the horrors The Collector committed.

Rewke Fouran had been loved, and as far as Xavier was concerned, he’d been loved for a good reason. He had done well by his people, even if the core of his being had been simply pragmatic and even cruel, at least he’d steered things in a good direction.

And Xavier had just killed that man.

“He shouldn’t have challenged me,” Xavier said. “He risked everything by coming here. Risked everything with his arrogance and greed, thinking he could defeat me and rule two sectors. He did his people a disservice by risking his life for nothing more than more power.”

Xavier knew he was being hypocritical in the way he spoke. He wanted to unite the entire universe and believed he could actually do it. If that wasn’t arrogance, he didn’t know what was.

And as for risking his life for more power? He practically did that on a daily basis.

But he wasn’t doing it out of greed.

Xavier placed a hand on Palini’s shoulder. “Go home, Palini Damascus. Take your family somewhere safe. Do what you can for your sector. Take advantage of the things I taught you. I will be back as soon as I can.”

Palini’s head was down as he listened to Xavier’s words. Eventually, he gave a small nod. “You are right. It is what must be done.” He released a long breath. “I’m sorry for my anger, before, asking you to surrender—that wasn’t fair of me.”

“I understand,” Xavier said. “I might have even felt similar, were I in your shoes.”

Palini laughed, that laugh alone released a lot of the tension. “Oh, I doubt that very much. You don’t think the way normal people think, Xavier. But that is a good thing.” Palini placed his hand on Xavier’s shoulder, returning the gesture. “Be careful in the tower. The control the System has given you—will give everyone—over picking the different floors… Don’t go jumping straight to floor one thousand, you hear?”

Xavier grinned. “What, you think that’s a bad idea?” He scratched his head. “But that was exactly what I was going to do!”

Palini looked at him as though he wasn’t sure if he was being serious or not. “How can my confidence in you shoot up in one moment then drift away in the next?” His face was blank as he spoke, then he slowly gave a small smile. “Be safe.”

“And you.” Xavier looked to the other Denizens in the room. “I should speak with them before I go, before you do too.”

Xavier snapped the time dilation field outward, so it encompassed everyone in the room once more. Even though the System wasn’t allowing him to leave this room, there was a lot he could do in the passing of a single minute while inside a time dilation field as strong as the one he controlled. Even so, he didn’t intend to linger here. For now, he had done all he could for these people. Knowing there was nothing more he could do to personally change what was happening in both the Ventorin and the Orin sectors made him turn his focus toward the next goal.

So when he’d finished speaking with everyone in that room, he cancelled the Time Alteration spell and waited for the System to pull him back to where his journey toward true power had first started:

The Tower of Champions.