Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 8) - Chapter 9 - Most Gods Don’t Die

Palini snapped to attention in a way Xavier hadn’t yet seen. He stood sharply, staring at the hologram—the sparks of energy had frozen the moment Xavier had placed his more powerful time dilation field around the space—and spoke rapidly. “I’ve deployed half the assets in this room, including the two time mages, to the most effected worlds.” He waved his hand. The hologram shifted. Instead of showing one world, it several dozen. “The harshest conflicts on these worlds are being pacified, but it’s a drop in the ocean. We don’t have enough personnel or power to prevent the mass conflict.”

Xavier gritted his teeth, staring at the holograms. “Why do so many remain here?”

Palini blinked. “The runes you altered are preventing portals from being created within the city limits, which means the city’s portal—the only interplanetary travel hub on this rock—has shut down.” He waved another hand. The hologram shifted, showing a wide, expansive hall filled with fighting Denizens—currently frozen in time—and signs and different kiosks. The area looked like a portal hub, but there were no portals. “Observation is limited, but this is a still image we gained from one of Ventorin’s largest worlds. They had the second biggest portal hub in the sector, but it was the first thing that was hit. You see that fireball? We lost visual right after it slammed into the Observation Crystal.”

The fireball had been sent by a mage in a guard uniform. Xavier had seen identical uniforms worn by Denizens in this very city as he and Palini had scouted the area before infiltrating the castle.

When Xavier and the others had been training in the time dilation field, he’d learnt a great deal about how the Ventorin sector operated. Palini, having been in security, knew all the right questions to ask, probing the Denizens from the dead Collector’s inner circle on dozens of aspects Xavier had been ignorant of.

The Collector, despite already controlling the citizens of every world in the sector with iron-clad contracts, had been fearful in everything. That fear sparked an unhealthy amount of paranoia. Paranoia that had him install Observation Crystals into almost every nook and cranny of his society. These crystals were like London’s CCTV cameras on steroids. Palini seemed familiar with the type of technology and admitted that similar surveillance tactics were used within the Orin sector.

That was how he’d spotted Xavier in the first place.

Every citizen was, of course, aware of these Observation Crystals. But as per their contracts, they weren’t allowed to do anything about them—even if they wanted to. Now, every Denizen on every world in the Ventorin sector had been set free of their shackles. Xavier had expected chaos. He’d planned for chaos. In the grand scheme of things, he’d balanced the costs against the benefits, not only here and now, but for the future.

Billions of people had already died in the short span of time since their contracts had been broken by The Collector’s death, a toll that wrenched something in Xavier’s heart. He was responsible for the chaos on every one of these worlds. But to him, in the end, it would all balance out. All he’d done was give these people freewill—something the vast majority of them would never have had over their entire life. It was their choice what they did with it.

But that didn’t mean he was going to let them keep killing each other. He wanted to spare as many lives as he could. Every death was so needless. He knew there would be power vacuums to be filled. Knew there would be mass violence as society as they knew it would break down.

Despite all he knew, it was hard to contemplate the level of devastation going on right now.

Entire cities lie in ruin. Cities on countless worlds…

“They’re destroying every Observation Crystal they can,” Palini said. “They have no idea who killed The Collector, but most Denizens appear to be trying to prise control of their own lives back as swiftly as they can. And not just of their own lives. Without The Collector’s shackles on them, the powerful are doing their best to assert their influence on those around them. It’s the only thing they’ve ever known, and it’s all they know how to do.”

“Then there are the loyalists,” one of the C Grades, Malu, said. The man had a shaved head and monk’s robes. As Xavier and Palini had spoken to every one of the Denizens before gaining their loyalty and then had spent so much time all training together in the time dilation field, Xavier was familiar with Palu’s history. He, like at least half of the Denizens who’d pledged their loyalty, wasn’t originally from this sector. He’d was a promising warrior monk, a genius of the spear, who’d been snatched from a relatively peaceful planet.

“Loyalists?” Xavier cocked his head. “To… The Collector? They know he’s dead, right?”

“These Denizens have known nothing in their lives but the rule of The Collector. Much information about the wider universe has been hidden from them. They don’t know anything but enslavement at his hands. The man ruled through fear, but fear something all your life and you don’t know another way to live. To the average Denizen out there The Collector wasn’t merely their ruler and certainly wasn’t seen as a tyrant—tyrant isn’t even a word in their vocabulary.”

Xavier inclined his head. “He was seen as their god.”

“As someone from a culture like yours, it must be hard to imagine the psychological effects of growing up in such an environment. Most of them aren’t even aware other sectors exist, that there are people out there who walk free. I believe they must think the System notification a fabrication. A lie The Collectors’ enemies made.”

“They don’t believe he’s dead…”

“Why would they? Most gods don’t die.”

Most gods…

Malu spoke as though there were actual gods alive out there. Then again, Xavier had encountered that belief enough times to know plenty of Denizens thought as such. Some believed the gods were within the universe; some believed they were without—still others believed the System itself was a god, or multiple gods working in concert.

Gods…

Even on Earth, there had been more than one tyrant who’d fashioned themselves as a god, but with the power Denizens wielded allowed them to be far more convincing about it.

He pushed thoughts of such things away listened to them continue their report. The Denizens who’d left this world had used personal travel devices such as Sector Travel Keys or had drawn spell patterns to create portals outside the influence of the runes he’d altered—the two B Grade time mages were outside the city right now as more spell patterns were swiftly being drawn.

“I knew you’d return soon,” Palini said. “So, I didn’t allocate more of our forces to the different worlds. Even if every one of us was out there…”

“It’s like throwing a bucket of water over a forest fire,” Xavier muttered. “It isn’t enough.”

“An odd analogy, but an apt one.” Palini peered at him. “So, what are you going to do? What are your orders? You said you had a plan”—he waved his hand at the hologram—“for all this.”

Xavier had said that. And he did have a plan. He’d even practiced it in the simulations of his mind. The only problem was he had no idea if the plan would actually work. Not only that, the people on these worlds were having a far more visceral—and violent—reaction than he’d anticipated.

It was one thing to study how other Denizens had taken over sectors; it was another thing entirely to actually do it.

He knew exactly how much power he possessed. He knew he was capable of performing the aspects of the plan that were riding on his abilities. What he didn’t know was whether it would have the impact on the populace he needed it to. He knew his power—he did not, however, fully know their psychology.

These people had lived their lives knowing nothing more than the fear of The Collector. As much as he despised how The Collector had taken power, he knew that when there was such a distance between a ruler and their people, and when one was usurping a throne—for whatever Xavier thought of himself as doing, he was a usurper—there needed to be proof that he could actually lead.

He also knew, at least from his studies, the vast majority of citizens in the sector would welcome stable governance. There were very few Denizens who, when choosing a path, opted the path of chaos. Some chose to fight for themselves, others chose to fight for their world.

But chaos? The people who chose that… They were not the type of people who would find unity in his universe.

Not unless I’m able to change them, to heal their minds somehow… Though I doubt that would have worked on Alistair Reed.

But he didn’t believe for a moment that the chaos on these planets had come from people like Alistair. Not the vast majority of the havoc that had been wreaked, at least.

“These people have known nothing but fear,” Xavier muttered with a sigh. “It’s time I use that to my advantage.”

Palini raised his chin. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”

Xavier rested a hand on his shoulder. “Some things must be done.” He dropped his hand and spoke in a commanding voice to the Denizens standing around the hologram. “This chaos will all be over soon.”

The Denizens looked at him with hope, but they’d each been with him for some time now, so there was doubt mixed in with that hope. They might have come to believe in his ideals, and they certainly believed in his power, but like Palini they couldn’t help but see how young and inexperienced he was.

For a moment, Xavier saw himself with their eyes and wondered if he was being too ambitious, pushing too far too fast. He could have taken his time, couldn’t he? He didn’t have to start his first expansion by taking over an entire damned sector…

But whatever doubts he had in his heart had to remain there. He might have dominion over some aspects of time, but he didn’t have the ability to turn back the clock.

Not that he would if he could. He certainly wouldn’t undo killing that bastard, The Collector.

He’d studied, thoroughly, a map of the sector—the galaxy. It was insanely huge. His own galaxy was just as large, but the entire galaxy had not yet become integrated into the System as this one had. Either way, the sheer number of worlds he needed to corral from chaos to order…

It was a staggeringly difficult feat.

In theory, it would be far more easily done if he simply claimed the entire sector for himself now, but there was a problem with that path—he wouldn’t be here to enforce his rule. He’d be pulled right back to the Tower of Champions, leaving the sector under new leadership without even knowing who their new ruler actually was.

Not every world in the galaxy was inhabited or even had the ability to sustain life. There were plenty of worlds out there like the ones in his own solar system. Worlds where life had never evolved, or if it had evolved the conditions had changed so dramatically that that life hadn’t lasted.

But even so, there were over ten billion different inhabited worlds in this sector alone. A staggering number that was almost impossible for a mind born on pre-integration Earth to even fathom.

And that was only the number of worlds. When adding up every Denizen who lived on those worlds…

Before stepping through the portal, Xavier wrapped his time dilation field around only himself. He didn’t want Palini or the others to see the doubt that had suddenly seized him.

You’re just a kid from Earth who wanted to be a writer. You’d be long dead if not for Julian Myers. What the hell are you doing out here trying to rule an entire damned galaxy?

He shut his eyes. As he did, everything he’d ever accomplished flashed through his mind. Things that should have bolstered his confidence but instead made him see that what he was best at wasn’t bringing things together.

It was breaking them apart.

That can change.

Xavier opened his eyes. He drew his soul bound weapon from its scabbard, holding the sword’s hilt loosely in his fingers as it shifted into a stylus. He turned away from the now frozen Denizens who still stood in a circle around the hologram. He needed each and every one of them to help rule this sector, but he didn’t need them for what he was about to do.

He pushed Celestial Energy into the stylus, readying it to draw something. Through all his doubts the mental construct within his mind had remained silent. Xavier was glad for this—he wasn’t sure he could handle the dead Wanderers doubts on top of his own. He set all of that aside. He didn’t split his mind for this task. Instead, he brought every disparate part back together. Every faculty of his vast, interconnected brain was focused upon this one task before him.

When Xavier had left his found family after over a decade training with them in the Roving Seed Base, killing The Collector and taking over the Ventorin sector had always been the plan. He’d been contemplating this moment for a long time, discussing with the others just what it was he could do to solidify his rule, and how it might be possible.

Every single one of the people in the Roving Seed Base helped him toward this goal. As much as Xavier had learnt, as fast as his mind could work, he was still only one person, seeing the world, the universe, from his own perspective. Perhaps that perspective wasn’t as limited as it once was, but he would be a fool to say that it wasn’t limited at all.

He had his limitations proved to him every single day.

The ideas that sprang forth when he worked with his found family on the issue and the solution were things he likely never would have come up with in isolation. Or if he had, it would have taken him much, much longer to figure out.

Xavier opened his massive black wings and rose until he was halfway up toward the giant, domed ceiling of the grand throne room. He moved his stylus forward and started drawing what would be the first of many runes.

Rebecca and Miranda’s brainstorming and experimentation with runes had been essential in the crafting of the spell patterns he was about to draw.

The stylus moved through the air with a grace and swiftness borne from thousands of simulated practice sessions. Roln had then reinforced all the different neural connections those practice sessions had put into place so that when Xavier drew the different patterns in the air it felt as natural to him as breathing. And, like breathing, if he wished he could have done it in his sleep.

Instead, he remained in full control, observing every line, feeling every muscle in his body as it tensed and untensed, feeling every movement. Energy flowed through his channels and into the stylus at a steady rate as one by one the runes appeared in the air before him.

Howard and Kelly had helped him with other parts of this plan. They had knowledge he lacked, and they had been expanding their knowledge every day within the confines of the Roving Seed Base. They theorised exactly what the balance of strength and kindness he would need to display to each and every world in this sector would need to be for his plan to work, for the people on those worlds to be swayed toward not only seeing Xavier as their new ruler but welcoming him as it.

Siobhan had helped him develop his mind simulations, expanding them and creating them with the relevant details. She trawled through the System Shop and found as many examples of what he was to do as she could, examples that had been turned into purchasable memories—into simulations themselves. She fed all of that data into his mind. It wasn’t a perfect simulation of this sector, but it was more than he would have had without her help.

Justin and Michael helped in their own ways, sounding boards for the different ideas the others had. Xavier had further refined this plan in discussion with Palini and all the Denizens who’d become loyal to him in this sector since his killing The Collector.

But Palini and the others didn’t know the specifics.

Intricate runes filled the air above their heads. Though he didn’t feel like he was drawing them at speed, they appeared before his eyes one after the other faster than any other runes he’d drawn. They were crafted into an intricate web that stretched from one end of the grand hall to the other. It wasn’t merely one spell pattern that he’d drawn into the web, it was a hundred different ones. In the simulations before he’d taken on the vast amounts of foreign Soul Energy that should have spelled his demise, and before he’d finally taken another step in his Denizen advancements and become C Grade, he’d had only a fraction of the power he wielded in this moment.

In those past simulations he’d had enough power to perform this spell, but it would have bled him dry of every ounce of his Reality Energy—something that would have been very risky to perform.

Now, he wouldn’t have to use nearly as much.

When Xavier had drawn the last line of the final rune in the vast web, he flapped his wings to create some distance between himself and the work of art he’d created. He had tested every individual spell pattern in the web of different spell patterns, but he’d never put them all together in reality. This wasn’t something he’d actually done before. Looking at the vast web in his mind, as real as it had felt, was completely different to looking at it in reality.

Roln appeared beside him. The mental construct hovered in the air without the need of wings. “Remarkable.”

“I’m sure you’ve seen its like before,” Xavier said.

The dead Wanderer tilted his head to the side. “You would be surprised. I have seen many things, and I have seen constructs rather similar to what you have created here, and I’ve of course encountered those with abilities to do what you are about to do. But exactly in this way? No, my friend—this is unique. You should be proud of what you’ve created.”

“I had help. Without them, this wouldn’t be possible.”

“Indeed. But without you, this also wouldn’t be possible.” Roln looked at him. “Are you ready?”

Xavier smiled. “You know I’m not. But that doesn’t matter. This must be done.” Trillions of lives were riding on his next move. Billions had already died in the short time since The Collector’s death.

He needed that chaos to end.

“It’s time.” Xavier activated every single spell pattern he’d just drawn in the air.