Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 6) - Chapter 32 - What Would Xavier Do?

Xavier arrived in the hallway just outside of his quarters. It felt a little strange, being back here, after all he’d done while he was gone. It felt like he’d been away from the Tower of Champions for far longer than four months—and he supposed, as he used his time dilation field so heavily, that was the truth of things.

As he looked down the hallway, he couldn’t help but smile remembering the time he’d been using a vending machine to do strength exercises. He shook his head with a chuckle.

He had come a long way since then.

Xavier didn’t bother entering his quarters. Instead, he walked through the hall then stepped down the spiralling steps and made his way to the tavern.

When he opened the door, a smile blossomed onto his face as he saw who was there.

Howard, Siobhan, and Justin were sitting at their usual table. Steaming hot meals sat in front of each of them, and they were talking rather heatedly about something. Howard had his back to the wall, his gaze able to see everything within the tavern. He was the first one to spot Xavier.

The big man stood in surprise. “Xavier!”

The others saw him. Eyes widened and mouths gaped as they stood. Siobhan strode over and gave him a hug. Justin smiled. Howard slapped him on the back.

“Where the hell have you been?” Siobhan asked, hands on hips. “We haven’t been able to contact you in ages. We knew you weren’t on a tower floor because you had that break from the tower. Our Communication Stones haven’t been working, but they’re sector-wide. Even if you left Earth…” She trailed off, at a loss, and sighed. “It’s good to see you’re okay.”

Xavier rested a hand on the pommel of his sword. He didn’t place The Lost Bone of a Dead God into his inventory anymore. Instead, he had it appear as a sword and kept it in a scabbard at all times. It was the only way for him to feel whole since what he’d done.

“I’ll tell you where I’ve been,” Xavier said. “But first, I want to hear what the three of you have been up to while I’ve been gone.”

He hadn’t expected them to worry so much at his absence. Perhaps he should have arranged a message to them. He could have had Adranial talk to them, but he’d not even spoken to her—even though he’d intended to.

I really am a bit anti-social, aren’t I?

A bit? the Lost Bone of a Dead God replied. That’s quite the understatement. He hadn’t even intended to think the thought at the soul bound weapon, but apparently he had.

They sat back at the table. There was space for him, a fourth chair already sitting there. Sam came round and placed a mug of coffee in front of Xavier without him having to order, and without charging him.

“So.” Howard leant in. “How did it go?”

Xavier glanced about the tavern, but found he wasn’t worried about others overhearing. Everyone in this place was a Champion of Earth. While he might not know all of them, he wasn’t worried about them learning his secrets.

Xavier’s forehead creased, remembering what the others had said. “So, wait, you haven’t been back to Earth at all?” He raised his eyebrows.

He always felt as though the System worked quite strangely. Earth, right now at least, was safe. Their presence wouldn’t change that. But if it had been any other newly integrated world, it didn’t seem fair to pluck the Champions away and keep them gone for months on end.

Though he realised most Champions wouldn’t stand a chance against a true invasion force from another world. Seeing the universe as it really was, it didn’t seem as though there was any hope for a new world to come out of their five-year restriction and be strong enough to remain independent.

His world might just be the exception.

Justin sighed. “No. There’s a lot to do. The tower floors have been getting progressively harder, and there hasn’t been a break yet.”

“What floor have you all reached?” Xavier asked.

They exchanged glances.

“Floor thirty,” Siobhan said.

Howard grunted. “Floor thirty-one.”

“Floor thirty-two.” Justin grinned.

Xavier’s forehead only creased more as he looked at the three of them. “You’re… Not in the same party anymore?”

“We are,” Howard replied. “We’ve just been gaining solo titles.”

Xavier leant back in his chair. He almost said, “Even Siobhan?” but kept that thought to himself—the healer had some offensive abilities and clearly, she must have developed more recently if she was soloing tower floors.

The choice for him to solo floors had been an easy one. He’d always been what people might consider a loner, and he’d started off more powerful than any of the other Champions, being a Progenitor. But these three had formed an incredibly strong bond since they’d been partied up together, and none of them seemed the type to go and do things alone.

Honestly, more than anything, he was proud of the three of them for taking that initiative. It must have been a really difficult decision.

“After you left the party, we started out training together, clearing the floors as a group—we still do, for the most part.” Siobhan sipped her drink. “We were grinding floors, learning everything we could about them as a party before each soloing the floor.” She hiked a thumb at Justin. “Then this one just kept going.”

“It seemed like the right choice at the time,” Justin said, a little shyly. “Like… Like something you would do.” He stared at Xavier.

Xavier grunted. “Yeah, I suppose that does sound like what I would do.”

He wasn’t sure thinking, What Would Xavier Do? was the best idea for just about 99.99 percent of people.

Though there was a part of him that preferred the idea of these three keeping each other safe, that they were each able to solo the floors… Well, it said a lot about how much stronger and confident they’d become. Apart from him, Xavier had to imagine they were the strongest Champions from Earth.

Unless, of course, one counted Adranial and her party—even though they weren’t actually from Earth to begin with.

“So, what did you get up to?” Howard asked. “The last we heard…”

“I completed the hundredth floor,” Xavier said. “Then the System gave me a six-month break from the tower.” He sighed. “Except it changed the rules on me.”

Howard frowned. “It… Changed the rules on you? Again? How?” He blinked. “It hasn’t been six months. How are you back?”

Xavier told them. Everything.

He explained what had happened with The Collector, the B Grade sending a C Grade Hunt Squad to take him down. He even told them about his meeting with the Empress Larona. He couldn’t help but see Sam, back at the bar, widen his eyes. The barkeep was slowly polishing a mug that had been long clean, standing idly as he eavesdropped on the conversation.

Xavier didn’t mind. Honestly, he’d expected it. That was why he hadn’t bothered obscuring the conversation—he could have done it easily enough with a time dilation field.

The barkeep wasn’t the only one in the tavern listening in. The conversations at other tables had become suspiciously quiet as he told his tale.

“Three years…” Howard sunk back in his chair. The big man had a forlorn look on his face. “Three… Years.”

Xavier could see the wheels turning in the man’s mind, no doubt thinking about his family, and what he could do to ensure their survival if things truly went south. Xavier wouldn’t blame him for a second if he took them out of the sector.

But he wasn’t going to let it come to that.

Siobhan and Justin looked as equally shocked as Howard. Their faces had gone pale, their mouths parting, falling open slightly.

Xavier continued on. He figured it was important to tell them the next part—what he’d done at the Hell Moon Thazamar, and just how much more powerful he’d become.

“It was when I was hoarding titles at the second Hell Moon, Areildon, that the System pulled me back here,” Xavier explained.

Howard slammed his fist on the table. “Meddlesome thing.” He looked up at the ceiling. “It’s like it wants you to fail, the way it keeps throwing things at you, changing things on you.”

Xavier frowned. “No. That’s not it. The System is intervening but… It doesn’t want me dead.”

That doesn’t mean it won’t get you dead, the lost Bone of a Dead God said in his mind.

Hush, you. I don’t remember inviting you to this conversation.

Xavier heard a distinct grumbling sound in his mind. The soul bound weapon clearly didn’t appreciate being told to be quiet.

When Xavier had caught them up on what he’d been doing, he ordered another coffee and a warm meal, taking the time to hear about what the others had been up to. He didn’t know anything about the floors they’d been clearing, as the System had pulled him out and made him skip them.

“One of the floors is a tournament!” Justin said.

Xavier raised an eyebrow. “A tournament?”

Justin nodded enthusiastically. “It’s like, the Colosseum, except maybe fifteen times larger. The people who summoned a Champion there literally need a champion to fight for them.”

“This is the thirtieth floor,” Siobhan said. “I’m on that one now. It has twenty different royal families all vying for the same throne. Only one of the families can survive. The losers get executed.” She shrugged. “Honestly, it’s a barbaric practice—I wouldn’t want any of them ruling.”

Howard grunted. He looked over a Justin. “You’re also pitted against Champions from all over the Greater Universe.”

Xavier leant back in his chair. “You have to kill other Champions?” It wasn’t the first time there had been a fight like that—the tenth floor, for instance, had been like that.

The former cop shook his head. “Nah. It’s not like that. There’s a chance to surrender, but doing so increases the number of Champions you have to fight the next time you step onto the floor.”

“They’re individual fights,” Justin said. “A solo floor—like the tenth was.”

“People do die, though,” Siobhan muttered, a dark look on her face.

“That’s the floor you’re still on.” The others were a floor or two ahead of her—she must have been struggling.

He tapped his foot on the wooden floor of the tavern, wondering if there was anything he might be able to do to help. An idea occurred to him, and he smiled. It was a total cheat, but if it worked… It would definitely get her through the floor.

Xavier opened his mouth, about to offer his assistance, then he stopped himself.

She hasn’t asked for my help. Stepping in like that without even asking…

He shouldn’t just barge back into their lives and solve their problems for them. Clearing floors for the party had been something he’d done for a good little while, before he’d split from them. Old habits died hard, he supposed.

His idea had been to lend the Spirit Golem, with Rhaalir piloting, to Siobhan. Rhaalir had explicitly told him it was an item that could be taken into the tower. Xavier still didn’t see how that was exactly “fair.”

But, as he thought about it, he wondered if it would even do the woman any good. Rhaalir was able to pilot the Spirit Golem because Xavier had summoned the spirit into it.

That’s not something she’s able to do, is it?

Right now, Rhaalir was locked to the Spirit Golem. But if Xavier gave the item to someone else, he was pretty sure that would knock him out of it.

The woman could summon people, but summoning spirits? That was something else altogether.

He sighed inwardly. He wasn’t any help even if he wanted to be. His old party was on their own.

The four of them talked for a good long while. Sam came around with more drinks and took a food order from Xavier. He indulged. He always liked the food in this place.

For a time, things felt like they had when he’d first been exploring the floors of the tower. Chatting with these three was a familiar comfort. They’d been with him since the first floor.

But inevitably, he had to part ways with them.

There was something he wanted to do before he stepped onto the next floor. Something he’d been putting off while he’d been training back on the Hell Moons.

Xavier had another core to unlock.