Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 6) - Chapter 40 - What Else Have You Become?

Floating beside another version of himself in the vacuum of space above Earth, the blue and green planet looming large behind him, Xavier looked at the pointy-eared, horned man outside the time dilation field.

Other Xavier: [That is the entity. In a sense. It is a Soul Amalgamation, a spell the World Destroyer cast.]

Xavier: [The World Destroyer?]

Xavier stared anew at the man. The Soul Amalgamation. He had the ability to create soul apparitions or summon spirits from the Otherworld, but he had never heard of a Soul Amalgamation. What he was looking at looked far more real than any summon he’d seen in the past.

[That is what we call it. That is what it has been called for many years outside this sector. I have learnt as much as I can about the World Destroyer, though information on it is scarce, as everything it encounters…]

[It destroys.]

[Indeed. The World Destroyer has unimaginable power on its own, but it fights through the Soul Amalgamation. I don’t understand why, it is simply what I have observed. While the World Destroyer seems to lack any type of personality, the Soul Amalgamation…] The other Xavier shook his head. [It clearly takes pleasure from combat.] He gritted his teeth. [That’s the only reason I’m still alive. It’s toying with me. It could kill me, but it chooses not to. Not yet. I’m using that to my advantage—to get everyone out. At least, get them off Earth. I don’t know what your appearance here will do. How it will affect the Soul Amalgamation’s behaviour.]

The anger, though it had mostly bled out of the man, was still there. What Xavier was curious about however was that this man felt no fear. With the full force of the World Destroyer’s aura unleashed upon him…

He felt no fear whatsoever.

Xavier himself was feeling afraid right now, something he had no trouble admitting. Looking over at the Soul Amalgamation, he could see that despite the time dilation field slowing down time outside of it more than it ever had before, the man was moving.

Not only that, the pressure and influence of the World Destroyer on the field was increasing as the minutes passed.

Xavier had experienced something similar before. He had known other enemies that had been able to manipulate his time dilation field.

They were the worst kinds to face.

He thought, for a moment, about all his advantages. For the first time since he’d come up here, he was beginning to wonder if it was a good idea. If those advantages would even do a damned thing against this.

The other version of me isn’t feeling fear because he doesn’t care anymore. He doesn’t care if he dies up here. He’s given up. Truly and wholeheartedly.

He shook his head. Where had these utter feelings of defeat come from?

There was much that he could do here—there had to be. He couldn’t yet summon the Spirit of Time. There was still over a month until that option became available to him once more. But there were other things that he could do.

He could summon the Spirit of Vengeance. He didn’t know what spirit would appear, but they must be able to do something against this enemy. He could use Soul Sacrifice and open a bridge to the Otherworld. The spirits that came forth would be able to distract the enemy, surely. And he could do all of that while still remaining within the time dilation field.

And he could cast Soul Strike, using every single one of the souls in his soulkeeping reserve.

He could send every single thing he had at the Soul Amalgamation—at the World Destroyer itself—without ever having to move from this spot.

And what of his portal spell? He had used that to his advantage countless times, able to throw an enemy’s attack back on them. Maybe there was even something else he could do—maybe he could divert the World Destroyer.

Send it…. Away, even if that was only temporary.

Biting his lip, Xavier found that he had put himself into a position he wasn’t ready for. All the options that came to him would mean nothing if he couldn’t do true damage to this enemy.

He flew to the edge of the time dilation field so he could face his enemy. The Soul Amalgamation’s gaze flicked to his. It must have moved lightning fast. The shock of it made Xavier pull back.

The hell…

Xavier tried to use Identify on the Soul Amalgamation, but nothing happened. It wasn’t a Denizen, or a beast, really, but he still should have been able to Identify it.

He tried the same thing on the World Destroyer.

…

Xavier blinked. All that appeared in front of him was dot, dot, dot…

He was feeling… Helpless. Like there was nothing he could do for this other version of him—nothing he could do to help in this fight.

Xavier raised his head. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists, letting the rage, the defiance, he’d felt when he’d first realised what this floor was, flood back into him. He didn’t know where this feeling of weakness, this feeling of hopelessness, had come from—maybe it was contagious, the other version of him giving it to him.

Maybe it was the all-encompassing aura of their enemy constantly bearing down on him, the pressure and pain it was causing his mind.

He didn’t know. Honestly, he didn’t care.

This wasn’t him. He wasn’t one to give up—especially not before he’d even begun.

He’d taken a step back from the Fiftieth Descent back on the Hell Moon Thazamar because that had been the right thing to do in that situation. Taking a step back now?

That didn’t feel like the right thing.

Are you really going to fight the World Destroyer? the Lost Bone of a Dead God asked within his mind.

Xavier set his jaw. I’m going to try. Don’t worry. I have an escape plan if things go south.

And if it kills you before you get a chance to execute that plan?

It was a fair question, but Xavier didn’t want to answer it.

Xavier turned in the void to face the other version of himself. [I am going to fight alongside you. We are going to do whatever it takes. We are going to throw everything we have at the World Destroyer.]

The other man shook his head. Shut his eyes. [I always was stubborn. That’s why I’m still here. But there is something you need to know—you cannot lay a hand on the Soul Amalgamation or the World Destroyer itself. To do so would allow them to consume you in full.]

That meant his Time Prison spell would be out of the question. It also meant if it came to a melee fight with that Soul Amalgamation, he didn’t want to resort to using his claws—that would have him up far too close.

Xavier, holding The Lost Bone of a Dead God in his hand as a sword, transformed it into a bow and summoned a runed bone arrow from his Storage Ring.

The other Xavier blinked. [You’re… an archer?]

Xavier smiled. [I’m a lot of things, really.]

He released a long breath, wondering exactly what his strategy would be. Wondering if his arrows would even harm these things. He had many thousands of arrows at this point, but if a single one of those arrows didn’t harm his enemy, it would be a waste to use them all.

Xavier: [Can you see its health?]

He’d tried to look, but just as he hadn’t been able to scan or use Identify, he wasn’t able to use Health Seer either, even though Health Seer was Rank 150.

Other Xavier: [No. I can’t. I have an item that lets me peek at another’s health every five minutes, but it doesn’t work on this beast. It’s simply too powerful. Hell, I can’t even tell what grade it is, though I can only imagine it must be B Grade.]

Xavier inclined his head.

There was nothing left to do but try.

He nocked his arrow, raised his bow, and took aim.

Xavier decided it didn’t matter if he “wasted” his arrows. The cause before him was an honourable one. And he could always make more. It wouldn’t take much grinding on a floor for him to gather the requisite bones.

The problem of loosing so many arrows in quick succession in a limited amount of space was that they all clumped together. He was slowly running out of space just outside of the time dilation field. He loosed the arrows from as many different angles as he could without expanding the field.

It was strange, loosing arrows in the vacuum of space, not having to worry about arrow-drop or wind resistance. The arrows flew truer than any he’d ever used within gravity.

When Xavier ran out of room before he ran out of arrows, he found himself hesitant to expand the time dilation field. The pressure that was being applied to it… It was weakening it, just as the other man had said. He could feel that affecting his ability to control it, though he wasn’t yet sure of the extent, he didn’t wish to test that.

Not yet.

Other Xavier: [While that is impressive, I do not imagine these will harm your enemies as much as you wish.]

Xavier had sent roughly two thousand arrows toward the Soul Amalgamation, and a further five thousand arrows toward the asteroid that was the World Destroyer.

Despite his strength, despite Bow Mastery being Rank 150, Xavier feared the other man was right.

Xavier: [Don’t worry, I have more up my sleeve than simple arrows.]

He cast Soul Sacrifice. There was a part of him that hesitated doing this. The spirits that came through an Otherworld bridge would never harm him, but they were known to cause chaos once they were let loose.

His main concern was that they would attack the other version of him, but even as he thought this, something in the back of his mind was telling him that couldn’t happen.

There were a fair few things he’d learnt from Rhaalir about the Otherworld. One of those things was that spirits recognised each other because of a particular, unique signature they produced—almost like an aura, like core’s produced if one didn’t have them under control.

This signature was how the spirits he summoned recognised him. They didn’t look at his face—they looked at his soul, and that was why they didn’t attack.

Xavier and the other version of him, though they were not identical in how they looked, in their class, or in their spells and skills, would be identical in other aspects.

Just as their DNA would match, so would their souls.

The spirits from the Otherworld would not attack either of them, he was sure of it.

The other version of him widened his eyes as the spirits appeared from the Otherworld.

Xavier had found that when he cast this spell, there were always a few spirits that he recognised, but the majority of them he had never seen before. He had used two thousand souls in this Soul Sacrifice spell, his Spirit attribute was absolutely massive, and the spell—while nowhere near being his highest ranked—was at Rank 100.

Hundreds of spirits flowed through the bridge into the vacuum of space above Earth. Fortunately for them, spirits didn’t need to breathe. They flew toward the enemy. Xavier recognised a few beast-types and sentient races, even if he didn’t know the specific spirits. But mostly they just looked like an odd amalgamation of beasts and Denizens. Elves and dwarfs. Wolven and wyvern. Trolls, bear-like beasts, winged rhinoceros, serpentine spiders, giant jellyfish—and all manner of other strange creatures.

Xavier decided he didn’t need to know what came through. He turned his focus back on what he was doing as the spirits became frozen just outside the edge of the time dilation field, heading toward their target.

Other Xavier: [Those… Those aren’t soul apparitions, are they?] The man sounded a little hesitant as he spoke.

[They are spirits form the Otherworld.]

[Time manipulation, archer, summoner… What else have you become?]

Xavier’s lips quirked at the sides.

He had to make a decision, now. Had to decide what path to take with Summon Otherworldly Spirit. The Spirit of Vengeance would bring raw power, and Xavier felt more than enough vengefulness in order to summon it.

But the Spirit of Protection could mean the difference between Xavier getting out of here or not. It could end up being the only thing standing between him and death.

He hadn’t summoned a Spirit of Vengeance in some time. The Spirit of Protection was the one Xavier had been using the most lately, and the Spirit of Time was one he used whenever he got the opportunity.

But the Spirit of Vengeance? He hadn’t summoned that since he’d brought Volkarin back to the land of the living.

Xavier flapped his things in silent contemplation.

Other Xavier: [Is this truly how you fight, waiting inside your time dilation field, deep in thought?]

Xavier’s quirked lips turned into a full-blown smile. [It is one of many ways I fight.]

The other man lifted his chin. His fists were tightly clenched once more. A muscle in his cheek was flaring. [I can’t stand it. The idleness. The waiting. I have to move.]

Xavier knew how the other man felt, but when he’d trained with Liana, she’d helped him cultivate patience. Helped him stay in a time dilation field and do almost nothing for hours, days, on end.

He still felt antsy, especially in situations like this, but he had long learned how to control it.

When thinking about which path to take with Summon Otherworldly Spirit, his mind kept turning to the one spirit he was sure would make all of the difference—the one spirit that made the most sense to use in this situation.

The Spirit of Time.

God, what he would do to be able to summon her right now…

But it hadn’t been six months since he had used it. It had been a little over four months.

Which meant it would be many days until he could summon her again and utilise her unique abilities.

Less than sixty days…

He could still see the entity outside the time dilation field moving. The Soul Amalgamation’s eyes were locked on Xavier—not the other version of him, but him. There was something in those eyes. Something powerful and sinister.

The Soul Amalgamation didn’t give off an aura like the World Destroyer did. And if what the other version of him had said was correct, it wasn’t even really real, but rather a soul-construct simply summoned to fight.

And yet it felt more real than the World Destroyer itself.

This is what I will have to fight. I need to learn everything I can. I need to see everything it can do—and I can’t do that if I’m risking my life.

Summoning the Spirit of Time was the only thing that made any sense.

Xavier released a breath.

He knew exactly what he needed to do. He just hoped it was worth it.