Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 6) - Chapter 43 - Still Alive

Other Xavier: [I’m still alive.]

The other version of him looked like absolute crap, and that was putting it lightly. But the wounds the Soul Amalgamation had inflicted on him were finally starting to heal.

Xavier: [You sound surprised.]

Other Xavier: [Honestly, I am. Though I’m more surprised by you.] The man looked around, gaining his bearings. He pulled a health potion from his Storage Ring and somehow poured the liquid out of it. It floated in a sphere in front of him, and he brought his lips to it, drinking straight from it.

C Grades just survive out in the void fine, I guess…

Other Xavier: [Have you cast the spell yet?]

Xavier shook his head. [No. I was waiting for you to wake—waiting for you to heal. No point casting it early.]

Xavier hadn’t mentioned that the last time he’d summoned the Spirit of Time it had caused a small crack in the fabric of the universe, a crack that had allowed a Void Being to come through.

That had been a right mess.

Though he hadn’t voiced it, he had been worrying about it. Something told him he would soon need to use a vast number of unfoldings to figure out a way out of this mess.

If there even is a way…

Other Xavier: [You shouldn’t risk your life here.]

Xavier stared at him. [Is this about you hating hope?]

The man looked at him, seemingly impassive. [I don’t hate hope. I think you, of all people, know that. And I haven’t given up. I’m simply doing the only thing that makes sense to me.]

Xavier paused a long moment before replying. [You don’t have to keep fighting. Two months have passed back on Earth. I can create a portal that will get us down to the surface. You can make your way off this planet. You can survive. I don’t need to summon the Spirit of Time at all. You’ve done all you can. You’ve held this thing off from reaching Earth.]

Saying that felt like failing. Xavier had pushed to be up here. Pushed to fight by his own side against this threat. Now he was telling the other version of him to turn tail and run?

But the threat…

It turned out to be more than he could handle, more than two of him could handle.

The other Xavier seemed to consider this for a long moment. [No. I will keep fighting. And don’t you look at me like I’m some fool. I’m not doing this for me anymore. Or my people. I know I can’t kill this thing. I know I’m not strong enough. But I want you to watch. I want you to watch and see everything this damned World Destroyer is capable of. I want you to see it. To see what its strengths are—to see if it has any weaknesses. You have to watch me fight this thing, and you have to watch me die. As many times as that spell of yours lets you.]

Xavier couldn’t help but continue to stare at the man like he was a fool. [Why in the hell would you want to do that? And why do I have to watch?]

[I want you to watch me fail because it will help you succeed. And if it doesn’t help you succeed, maybe it will help you make a better choice. I can’t save the Silver River sector, and I can’t save the people of Earth. Some of them will get the hell out of this sector, but the vast majority will be dead before the World Destroyer leaves Silver River. You of all people know that even though we can’t save everyone, especially those in alternate universes… That doesn’t mean we don’t care. Doesn’t mean we don’t try. You, I’m sure like me, have put your life on the line to save someone on a Tower of Champions floor. You’re doing it right now. That’s all I’m doing. If what you watch happen here helps you save your version of Earth, helps you save Silver River, then maybe I haven’t failed. Maybe my life will have actually been worth something.]

Xavier wasn’t at all sure how to respond. There was a part of him that wanted to argue with this man. He couldn’t help but think the words were a cop out. A damned excuse for giving up.

He could leave the sector. He could grow strong enough to take his revenge on the World Destroyer. He might not be able to save the Earth, but as a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist once said, he could avenge it.

But something told him his argument wouldn’t hold water to this man. Xavier was familiar with his own attitude. Once he decided to do something, it was difficult to throw him off that course of action.

Besides, maybe what the man was saying was true. Maybe something could be gained from all of this, even if he lost. Wasn’t that why Xavier had come up here in the first place? He hadn’t known if his help would actually matter in the grand scheme—but he had known getting eyes on the threat to his sector would be important.

He doubted the System had sent him here—if indeed, that was what it had done—with the intention of defeating the threat. Xavier wasn’t ready.

That much had been clear since he’d come up here. Hell, it had been clear before he’d come up here.

This wasn’t a fight that could be won, but that didn’t mean it had no meaning. That didn’t mean it shouldn’t be fought.

Can I let this man die for me?

He sighed inwardly—that wasn’t his decision to make.

Wouldn’t be the first person to die for me… not to say that makes it any better.

Xavier inclined his head in a slow, sad nod, a look of determination creeping over his features. [Okay.] He finally replied through the Communication Stone. [We do this your way.]

Xavier couldn’t cast the spell immediately. He wanted to wait until his companion was fully healed. A silence followed the decision that had been made, one he wasn’t sure how to pierce.

Until the other version of him spoke.

The man began to tell Xavier about his life. Their life matched up just about perfectly right up until the System came—that was when things started to diverge a little, small things that rippled outward. Little decisions here or there, different people he met, people who died, people he never knew.

It was strange, hearing the man talk about his childhood, about his mother, about his time at university.

It made something inside Xavier shrink away. Made something inside him feel suddenly… small.

His history was his history. He was his own person—a unique individual. Everything that had happened to him up until this point was something that made him who he was.

His decisions were his decisions.

And yet, right across from him in the void of space above a planet that looked identical to his own, another man who had the exact same upbringing floated. Someone who had made all the same decisions pre-System integration that he had.

It was different when he met the older version of himself. They didn’t look as alike. Time had created significantly more distance between the two of them.

That was not the case here.

Xavier couldn’t help but have a small, existential crises about the meaning of identity. Alternate universes… An infinite number of people out there who were just like him. He’d known this was the case for a long while—well before he’d met Old Xavier.

He’d even watched different versions of himself die in the unfoldings he observed with the Spirit of Time’s abilities.

It was all hitting him harder right now, however. Harder than he imagined it would. Perhaps because he’d never actually talked to those versions of himself. He’d been warned by the Old Xavier. He’d watched other Xaviers die.

But he’d never just talked.

Xavier had to split his mind, quarantine that part of him in a different space, so he could focus on the present.

It was interesting to find out what spells the man had chosen to focus on. He had fully embraced the path of the Soul Reaper, as Xavier had assumed, and that—in this case, against the World Destroyer—had not worked to his advantage.

This man was powerful, but he wasn’t versatile. Not as versatile as Xavier himself.

I’ll be far more powerful than him with the same years passing.

Though Xavier knew that wasn’t fair—he’d already passed several years inside of the time dilation fields. He couldn’t help but notice his status window had said he was now 26 years old.

He’d been 24 when he’d reached D Grade. Hell, he’d been 21 when the System had come down. Already, so much more time had passed than he’d expected.

Less than a single year of real time in his universe had passed, yet five years had passed for him.

He’d already been much stronger than his peers—and that was putting it incredibly lightly—he couldn’t underestimate just how much he’d gained by the use of his Time Alteration spell.

And he was gaining this, right now. He wouldn’t have the opportunity to talk to himself like this if he didn’t possess the ability to practically freeze time.

When Other Xavier had finished talking about everything he’d done in his life—and there was a lot, as one thing he’d done that Xavier hadn’t expected was have a child—he announced he was fully healed.

Though the other version of him simply smiled and winked when Xavier asked him who he had that child with, saying: [There are some things I think it’s best to keep to myself. Our stories may have diverged long ago, but there are certain things I don’t want to influence. What will be will be.]

Xavier had, on occasion, thought about what it might be like to find someone. To start a family. He’d also considered what that might be like over the hundreds, thousands, millions of and even billions of years he intended to live.

He would have his own Dynasty. His descendants could help him rule a thousand sectors…

Not that he really knew if he ever intended to rule.

But those thoughts were so far in the back of his mind that they barely ever reached the surface. He couldn’t imagine taking the time right now—or any time between now and when the World Destroyer reached the Silver River sector—to start a relationship.

Let alone have a kid.

That kind of responsibility felt like it was way more than he wanted right now. Which was funny, when the fate of so many lives already rested on his shoulders…

But that, he thought, was rather different.

Other Xavier: [Do any preparations you need, Xavier Collins, then cast your spell.]

Xavier nodded.

The portal he’d summoned to block one of the Soul Amalgamation’s attacks was still active, though that portal was now outside of the time dilation field. Xavier was able to keep the portal active easily enough—he’d come a long way in that department.

He was fortunate that his Portal spell cooldown meant that the second he cast Portal, it started to cooldown—rather than cooling down when he cancelled out the portal itself.

That meant he had another use of the spell ready to go.

That single use would be his escape plan. Which meant he only had one portal to use in this fight—the one already active.

His wings flapped idly. He’d managed to learn how to flap them in such a way that he could keep his place in the middle of the time dilation field in the zero G easily enough. He always needed movement to help himself think, that was why he was constantly tapping his foot when on the ground.

As there wasn’t anything for him to prepare, Xavier released a breath, and cast Summon Otherworldly Spirit. The same thing happened as every other time he’d cast this spell. Three different options came before him.

You have successfully connected to the Otherworld.

What kind of Spirit do you wish to summon?

1.      Spirit of Protection

2.     Spirit of Vengeance

3.     Spirit of Time

The cooldown for this spell varies significantly depending upon the spirit you summon.

Xavier didn’t hesitate. He’d been waiting what felt like a long time for this moment.

He summoned the Spirit of Time.