Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 6) - Chapter 37 - Trust in the System

For a time, Xavier simply watched the people stream through the mass portals, heading for a safer world. Though Xavier knew they wouldn’t be able to run forever. He wondered how long it would take for the entity to consume the entire galaxy… That was how big the Silver River sector was, after all.

How long has it been in the Silver River sector? Xavier wondered.

It may have been twenty years since this Earth had been integrated into the System, but that didn’t mean the entity had only begun its destruction of the sector—it could have been here for years already.

Xavier shifted his weight from foot to foot. At some point, a notification popped up in his vision saying 10,000 people had been saved. He could step through the exit to the Staging Room at any time, and he would have completed this floor.

He didn’t do that, of course. There were still so many more people he wanted to evacuate.

Terrence Carter was standing next to him, just watching as the people came through the portals. “Thank you,” the man whispered. Xavier wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he’d finally spoken. “Thank you for doing this.”

“It isn’t enough,” Xavier replied. “You can’t all escape the sector, can you?”

Terrence shook his head. “I…” He pulled something from his Storage Ring. “There is a portal, in the capital of Empress Larona’s empire, Laracon.”

The item he had in his hand looked similar to a train ticket—on old-style one, on printed card. There were runes on the card as well, and Xavier could sense power in them.

“I… secured a pass. For me and my family. Spent every last piece of gold I had.” He glanced about, and the pass disappeared back into his inventory. “God, but I feel damned guilty using it.” He waved a hand at all the people getting into the portal. “There are so many who won’t make it out.”

“She’s charging people to escape?” Xavier asked.

It wasn’t as though he knew Empress Larona very well. He’d had a single conversation with the woman. Still, this wasn’t what he would have expected from her.

The man shook his head. “No. There’s a lottery. Set up through the System Shop. I didn’t win a ticket. This… This one I bought from a scalper. They—” Terrence swallowed, a look of shame on his face. “They killed the previous owner and sold it through the store. It’s happening all over. There are trillions of people in this galaxy. There simply aren’t enough portals available to get everyone out in time. The truly rich are able to make their own way. They don’t need tickets like these.”

No wonder he feels guilty.

Xavier shut his eyes, anger swelling within him once more.

Empress Larona had known about this threat for centuries, as far as he could tell. The damned woman could see the future, and yet she didn’t have a plan to get everyone out?

He released a sigh, letting go of much of his anger as he did. It wasn’t her fault, he knew. Perhaps there simply wasn’t a good way to evacuate an entire sector—and where, exactly, were they going to go? What kind of deals would they have to make with powerful Denizens in different sectors to be taken in? Who could even take on that many refugees?

And in a universe as tumultuous and violent as this one, who would even want to?

Xavier didn’t have the answers to any of these things. And honestly, he didn’t want them. He didn’t need them. He wasn’t going to let this happen back in his universe, so those details were irrelevant to him.

“Do you have a way of contacting Xavier Collins?” Xavier asked.

Terrence blinked. He looked as though he’d been lost in his own little world there, still staring at his hands where he’d been holding the ticket to another sector. “I…” He frowned. “I don’t. But I know who does. The Empress herself.”

Xavier shut his eyes.

Getting to Empress Larona right now, given what was happening… He had no idea how he’d be able to manage that. There was a part of him that thought the woman should be up there, fighting alongside the other version of himself.

But she wouldn’t be there. She had worked for years to find a solution to this problem, and it was clear she never believed she was the solution. She wanted to find someone else to fight her battles.

If only she’d spent that time training, becoming stronger, maybe then she would have been able to protect the Silver River sector all by herself.

He didn’t know whether that could be true or not. Empress Larona—the one from his universe, at least—was powerful enough to take down some B Grades. She was strong in her own right.

But she could be stronger… Couldn’t she?

Xavier thought about his options. He’d already accomplished the goal of the floor—get 10,000 people through the portals and off this world. But there was a higher goal he had in mind, and that wasn’t simply save more people.

He needed to think outside the box. Needed to do something no one else ever had. Needed to learn as much as he could about the entity he was to fight.

And maybe… Maybe he could even help somehow. Help more than simply getting people off this world, to be in danger on another one. Though he wasn’t sure how that could be possible.

Xavier slowed time outside the field once more as he contemplated what he needed to do next.

Tapping his foot on the concrete, he took a few deep breaths. The only places he’d spoken to Empress Larona were in the bookstore where she’d pretended to be the owner, Elitsa Flian, and in the Empress’s own personal space.

This was a different universe, but things… Things were similar enough, weren’t they?

He pulled the Sector Travel Key out of his inventory and turned it around in his hand, a frown furrowing his brow as he thought about what he needed to do next.

He could get to the woman’s Personal Space. He figured if he did, there would be a way to talk to her. But then how would he get back to Earth? He had the ability to create portals, but he’d never been able to create a portal to a different world before. Not with merely the use of his Portal spell.

And if he did become stranded there, how in the world was he supposed to make it back to the Staging Room door and get off this floor? This was a floor where he had to actively leave; he couldn’t rely on the System teleporting him out when it “ended” as there was no defined end.

Was this risk even worth taking?

Trust in the System. It sent me here for a reason.

He scoffed out a laugh and shook his head. That reason could easily get him killed, and he was well aware of that.

Still tapping his foot, Xavier made a decision. The Sector Travel Key wouldn’t allow him to travel back to Earth, not for months.

But that wasn’t going to stop him from using it—he would just have to find another way back home.

Xavier, carving his time dilation field as he walked, stepped over to the nearest door that wasn’t the Staging Room door. He inserted the key into the lock and thought of the place he wished to be taken.

Empress Larona’s Personal Space.

He stepped through the portal that materialised.

On the other side, Xavier found himself exactly where he’d expected to be. He released a sigh of relief. There was a part of him that had worried this wouldn’t work. This was a different universe. What if her Personal Space had been in a different place? Would the System simply have sent him to the vacuum of space? Or would the portal not have opened at all?

He was glad he hadn’t hesitated—glad he hadn’t spent more than a second worrying about the first eventuality.

This office looked exactly as it had in his own universe. Looking around, he couldn’t for the life of him see anything different about it. There was the plush chair, the portrait on the wall which, when removed, would reveal a window to space. There was the desk, the shelf of books.

And there was the Empress Larona, sitting behind her desk, her head in her hands, clearly deep in thought.

Her head didn’t snap up when he stepped into the room through the portal. She rose it slowly and looked at him without any surprise.

I should’ve known she wouldn’t be surprised. She can see the future, after all.

“Hello, Xavier Collins.” Empress Larona tilted her head to one side as she saw his wings. “Though not my Xavier Collins.”

“I don’t think I could ever be considered yours.”

The woman smiled. It was weak. “No, I suppose that is the wrong way to say it. You are not the Xavier I know. Not the one from this universe.”

“Clearly.” Xavier had no time nor patience for pleasantries. He sat in the plush chair without asking leave. It didn’t feel any different.

“Why are you here? I saw… I saw you coming here. Just one possibility out of trillions. I never expected to witness it. How did you make it to this universe?”

“So you can’t see everything?”

“No. I can’t. But I think you already know that.”

Xavier lowered his head in a nod. “I came here through the Tower of Champions.”

“Ah. I thought that must be it.”

“The eightieth floor.” Xavier told the woman the floor’s objective.

She released a sigh. “Then you aren’t here to destroy the entity itself.”

“No. I’m not sure the tower would allow a Champion summoning of that sort.”

“It has been known to happen. In this universe, at least… Though it is rare.” Empress Larona steepled her fingers on her desk. “Though that doesn’t answer why you’ve come to me, and using a Sector Travel Key?” She raised an eyebrow. “Tell me, do you have a way of getting back?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so.” He was willing to try to use his Portal spell—there was a chance it would work. His attributes could have progressed enough to make it possible. “And I’m here because the version of me from this universe is failing. He’s not going to be able to defeat the entity.”

“No. He is not,” Empress Larona said flatly.

“I need to contact him.”

She raised an eyebrow. Her eyes glazed over. “You are… No. That is not you. That is a Class Graft.” A small smile tweaked her lips. “One of my own, if I’m not mistaken.”

“You aren’t.”

“What grade are you?”

“D Grade. Level 280.” He saw no reason to hide that.

“And you expect to, what, be of help? Because if you can’t help him, all you will be is a distraction. I don’t think that is something he would tolerate right now, not when he is doing everything to delay the entity reaching his world. Your world.”

Xavier gritted his teeth. “I can help,” he said, though he wasn’t entirely sure of it. He certainly wasn’t ready to face the entity alone. But with himself by his side, as a C Grade no less… Could it be possible?

Me being C Grade on my own clearly isn’t enough…

“Let me see about that.” The Empress’s eyes glazed over, turning white.

For a time, she seemed to fall into some kind of trance.

She’s looking into the future, testing the different possibilities…

After a moment, the woman’s eyes snapped wide. Her hazed over gaze flicked left and right in quick succession. Then she let out a little gasp and fell forward, catching herself on her desk with both hands, breathing hard.

When she lifted her head, tucking strands of hair that had fallen onto her face behind her ear, her eyes were no longer white. The look she gave Xavier was one of awe mixed with fear, and he could feel that fear in the very air.

“What are you?” the woman whispered.