Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 6) - Chapter 56 - A Little Grandiose

The pattern glowed with an intensity the previous patterns hadn’t possessed. If Xavier’s vision had been weaker, he would have needed to shield his eyes from the sight. The glow was brighter than the four blaring suns above the world he stood upon.

The glow had reached the far corners of the pattern, lighting up every single one of the thousands of painstakingly drawn runes within it.

Xavier felt something, then. The pulling that was still happening. Except it was different now the pattern had been fully activated.

The pain ceased. His body, mind, and soul no longer tearing apart from the seams. The tension no longer bearing down like gravity had been shot up a thousand times over.

It was a subtle pull, and he could see it. A faint line of energy stretching from his chest, connecting him to the pattern of runes.

A moment passed until he realised what that line of energy meant; it gave him the ability to influence the pattern, just as he might influence a spell he cast.

It wasn’t only the brightness of the rune that was more intense, either. The connection to the universe that had opened was massive. The power coursing through it was something he couldn’t put to words.

The rune was active, but it was yet to do anything—it needed his command.

Xavier landed on Aethisa’s battlements. The world around him came into focus. The Bright City’s dwarven defenders all along the wall, casting spells, firing bolts from large ballistae at the Phoexian flight above. He was reminded that he’d yet to choose a side to fight for, this being the fifteenth time he’d set foot on the hundred-and-twenty-first floor.

He’d been so utterly focused on the pattern that during the process he barely even realised where he was.

Now it all came back to him. He still needed to make a decision. Still needed to figure out what he wanted to do on this floor. What his out-of-the-box thinking could achieve.

The glowing pattern loomed before him. His focus returned to it. Examining the pattern, he felt its sheer power.

Something he’d noticed the many times he’d learnt the Untethered spell with the use of Recursive Analysis, as the runes in the pattern had become more and more clear, was that the pattern never changed. He’d wondered, many times, at the consequences of that.

The pattern hadn’t once changed, despite the level of the temporary spell having changed each time he’d learnt it as the rank of Recursive Analysis rose.

Xavier tapped his boot on the hot stones, deep thoughts furrowing his brow.

He closed his eyes and drew on his memory, thinking of all the patterns of runes from his own spells he’d examined.

Had those patterns changed as he’d gained ranks? Or had they remained the same as on his first observation?

He conjured up memories of each pattern, his memory perfect enough to do such a thing, especially given how much Intelligence he possessed.

It quickly became clear that his theory was correct. That the patterns didn’t shift or change or get added to despite the different spells’ ranks rising.

If he was right, that meant the pattern held the full potential power of a spell. A spell’s potential power was always influenced by two things—the rank of the spell, and the strength of the attributes related to said spell, along with their attunements.

Xavier started pacing along the battlements, alongside the pattern. He wasn’t worried about the pattern flickering into nothing. He knew it would remain there until he used it.

As he’d drawn the pattern of runes fifteen separate times, his Inscribing spell had reached Rank 150. He couldn’t push it any farther than that until his next grade.

But the realisation about the different patterns not changing made him think the strength of this pattern wouldn’t be limited to the rank of the spell he’d learnt it from—that being the Rank 135 Untethered spell the dwarven gravity mage possessed.

Which meant that this pattern of runes, assuming his theory was correct, should provide him with a spell of equivalent rank to his Inscribing spell.

Only one way to find out.

Xavier asserted his intentions for the pattern of runes before him, knowing exactly what he wanted the spell to do, and how to control it—as he’d used the Untethered spell many times now.

He commanded the brightly glowing pattern to activate. Simultaneously, he adjusted the flow of time within his time dilation field, making the outside world move roughly a tenth of the speed he moved at so he could observe the spell’s effect.

He targeted an entire area with the spell rather than a specific target. He wasn’t sure how far he could stretch that area. Hell, he wasn’t sure this would even work, though he was pretty damned confident.

The pattern of runes flashed even brighter. The Untethered spell came into effect. He couldn’t feel it in the same way he felt other spells he controlled, as the spell wasn’t flowing through him—it was flowing out of the runes.

But he could observe the effect it was having. And he could feel it, too, as it appeared he wasn’t immune to it.

Well, that’s a good thing to know in the future.

In his experiments with Untethered, he’d stood within an area he’d affected with the spell before, and he’d been immune then.

It looked like the pattern of runes worked differently.

Unfortunately, now the runes were active, he couldn’t simply make himself immune. If the pattern possessed such a mechanism, he wasn’t aware of it.

All around him, the dwarves gently floated into the air. They flailed their limbs, looks of confusion marring their faces. The gravity mage nearby was the one who looked the most confused and panicked. She’d only cast the Untethered spell a moment ago. It must have felt like it was backfiring—such a thing shouldn’t have been possible.

The Phoexian flights high above were also affected by the spell. And it wasn’t just the ones above the city, either.

The spell spread ever outward, until it reached every single one of the Phoexian flights that had been soaring toward the Bright City of Aethisa. It spread into the city, as well, picking up every defender across the battlements, along with the defenders amassed inside the city, or within towers, or at the tops of buildings behind their large ballistae.

It moved downward to the subterranean levels, picking up all the dwarves within.

And it took hold of that large crystal, the one the dwarves used to power their defences—the one that took power from the caged Phoexians wired up to it. The dwarf nearby the crystal was separated from it. In less than a minute, they would have sent a force field pulse outward, like they always did around this time of the floor. Now, they wouldn’t be able to.

Xavier saw all this with the power of his Farscope ability as he too gently floated in the air. The spell had the power to reach every attacker, every defender, getting all of their attention at once, interrupting everything they were doing.

Xavier was a little annoyed that he was affected by the spell, but then something occurred to him. He grinned to himself and used one of his ten temporary Untethered casts, aiming for it to effect himself.

Suddenly, he could control the pull gravity had on him. It wasn’t the same as being able to fly—it required a different type of focus—but it allowed him to do exactly what he needed.

He floated up to a place high above the Bright City of Aethisa. Now that he’d seen the results of the pattern of runes—a result that he hadn’t expected—he matched the speed of his time dilation field to that of the world around him.

Then, in a booming voice, he addressed everyone in the area. Xavier knew that as one moved up in grades and developed more Strength, they could project the power of their voice to a startling degree. Even so, it had never been something he’d tried, only something he’d read about it.

Funnily enough, it had been in the serial He Who Fights With Beasts by Pantaloon where he’d read about voice-projection. The main character in that series of novels had used it to great effect on many occasions—though they were quite a chatterbox, so it was often to the annoyance of those around them.

While he doubted much of what happened in the story was factually based, he happened to know the author prided himself on only ever writing things that were possible within the System’s parameters—at least, that was what the author notes said.

He’d gotten more than one idea from reading through those stories. There were things about the Greater Universe that were commonplace, considered ordinary, to those who were born within it. Things like attuning attributes—something he’d never heard about until he’d spoken to Liana.

There were more gaps in his knowledge, and he was slowly starting to fill them.

“People of the Phoenix Empire, people of the Bright City of Aethisa, you may notice you no longer have control of your own means of movement. That is by my design.”

Xavier’s voice boomed so loud it was like thunder cracking over the city, echoing across the dry desert beyond. Every single Denizen in the entire area abruptly turned their attention toward him—at least, those who were able to. Those who couldn’t turn around, or who were down in the subterranean levels, cocked their heads, clearly listening to his words.

Xavier stopped himself from clearing his throat. He didn’t want to appear unsure of himself. If he were honest, this plan wasn’t fully formed. In fact, he hadn’t thought further than getting the attention of both sides of this conflict.

He wasn’t going to waste the opportunity, however.

Addressing large crowds wasn’t something he was usually very good at. He suppressed his anxieties and pushed on. This wasn’t the first time he’d had so many Denizens focusing on him, and it wouldn’t be the last.

Though usually they’re focused on killing me, not listening to me… That, I can handle just fine.

“I am the Champion who was summoned to this world to fight for you—but as you both summoned a Champion, instead of sending a party to fight for each side, the System decided to send a single party—or in this case, a single Champion. Me.”

Xavier raised his chin.

“The System has given me a choice—to fight for the Phoenix Empire, or to fight for the Bright City of Aethisa. I do not know your history. And frankly, I do not care to learn it. From my vantage point, neither of you are wholly innocent. However, you must know that I could tip the balance of this fight in an instant with a mere wave of my hand.”

That sounds a little grandiose, don’t you think? the Lost Bone of a Dead God said within his mind.

Xavier withheld a smirk and replied, I suppose. Technically, it would be a wave of my scythe-staff, but the fact remains.

As he spoke, he’d half expected spells and ballistae bolts to fire toward him from the Bright City—a few of the dwarven engineers had managed to hold onto something before they floated away, and the mages weren’t exactly prevented from casting their spells at him.

He wouldn’t have been surprised to have the Phoexians nearby launch Fire Streams at him, either—assuming any had the requisite range to reach him.

But none of that happened. Some of their eyes were glazing over. Xavier didn’t know what they were seeing, but he wouldn’t be surprised if each force possessed a form of mass communication with their own people, and some no doubt were scanning him, baffled by the appearance of his level, and the fact that his class said he was a mere swordsman.

No one attacked.

Instead, fear wafted off all of them. Xavier hadn’t even used his Fear Dominion spell. It wasn’t necessary. Their fear was inflamed by the previous spell he’d cast—or, rather, the pattern of runes he’d activated. To be able to pick every one of them up all at once like that…

They knew how powerful he was.

But perhaps they could still use a little extra push…

Xavier chose that moment to unleash his aura. It required a shift in his mindset, for him to stop cultivating in a perfect balance that prevented his cores’ energies from leaking out of his body.

Instead, he flared those energies. Something he hadn’t done for a long time. Something he’d always stopped himself from doing.

The effect was instantaneous.

The fear he’d felt wafting off all the Denizens increased tenfold. Where confusion and panic had been written on their faces a moment ago, agony now reigned.

Xavier had felt a powerful aura before. The most powerful aura he’d experienced was that of the World Destroyer. He’d seen how that had affected the entirety of his planet, but he’d been able to block his mind to much of its effects—even as close as he’d come to the enemy, up in space above his home world.

He didn’t think his own aura would have such an effect on these people—on Denizens that were the same grade as him, even if they were significantly weaker.

Are they in physical pain? Xavier asked the Lost Bone of a Dead God, knowing the soul bound weapon would have far more experience with such things.

Their mental anguish makes it feel as though they are. Perhaps you should ease your aura off, if you wish for them to think clearly.

Xavier did as the soul bound weapon recommended. The looks of agony didn’t disappear, the tension in all of their bodies remained, but it was reduced. Somewhat.

Xavier couldn’t help but notice a dwarf, down on the first basement level of the subterranean complex, that appeared significantly less affected by his aura. Though Xavier could see the dwarf clearly with his Farscope, he did not have the ability to scan a target that wasn’t within the field of his natural vision—he hoped that would change once he pushed Identify higher when he reached the next grade.

At first glance, this dwarf looked no different to the others around them. They were a female dwarven tank of some sort, if their full-plate armour was anything to go by. They had a shield in their left, strapped to their arm, that was taller than them. They carried a warhammer with a head that ten unenhanced being would never be able to lift.

Xavier had seen several dwarven tanks with equipment like this.

It was in the details where this dwarf differed. There were runes worked into all of the dwarven shields, but there were more on this woman’s, and they were worked in gold. There were crystals embedded into the sides of the shield, ones that framed the entirety of it.

Xavier would have thought that spot would be a poor choice to place crystals, given they would be knocked out of their settings in the midst of a melee, but something told him that wouldn’t be a problem in this case.

The warhammer, too, was different. The head of the hammer was made from a black substance so dark it seemed to create an aura of shadow around it.

Her armour, too, was slightly different. There were marks atop her pauldrons that he assumed denoted some superior rank.

It wasn’t just the aura she appeared minimally effected by—as Xavier watched, she dropped to the floor after having floated there for less than a minute, while every other Denizen in the area was still affected by the spell.

The dwarf raised her chin and made her way of the spiral stairs from the first level, to another set of stairs that would take her to the top of the battlements.

Then, behind him, near the mountains where the Phoexian flights had come from, a great shriek sounded. This shriek was much the same noise as he’d experienced other Phoexians make as they fought—only, it was about a hundred times louder, making not only the dwarves below block their ears, but the burning, flying creatures above as well.

Xavier turned, for his Farscope didn’t stretch far enough to reach where that shriek had originated from.

In the distance he saw a figure rise into the sky above the mountains, one he could only make out because of his superior vision. Though this far away, he couldn’t see them in much detail.

The Phoexian flew toward the Bright City of Aethisa, moving three times as fast as he’d observed the other flights fly. As he neared, Xavier was able to make the Phoexian out better.

Where the other Phoexians had lacked armour—something strange in Denizens he’d rarely seen, except when it came to the dragons he’d encountered that were also considered Denizens—this Phoexian were a robe of pure red, a robe that was constantly on fire. And he carried a gnarled staff with a ruby crystal at its head.

Fear could be sensed from this Phoexian, but it was minimal compared to the others. Instead, the emotion Xavier saw the most in the creature’s eyes was an intense, burning hatred.

His gaze was locked in Xavier.

The leaders of the Bright City of Aethisa and the Phoenix Empire were about to make their presence known.