Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 6) - Chapter 39 - Hope Is for Fools and Disney Movies

Xavier floated in the middle of space, inside his time dilation field. Not far from him, another version of himself was slowly turning around after realising where he was.

Outside of the time dilation field were two entities. One looked to be a powerful Denizen—the Denizen the other version of himself had been fighting—while the other was the sector-destroying entity itself, who looked like nothing more than an asteroid.

Xavier wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting, but this wasn’t it.

Other Xavier: [You… You have the ability to stop time?]

Xavier: [I gained the spell when I uncovered my Speed Core. You don’t have it?]

The only other version of himself that Xavier had met, the old man back on the nineteenth floor, had been able to stop time. But this version of himself seemed a lot different to that one.

Other Xavier: [I have yet to unlock that core.] He paused. [You are only D Grade? No… A Class Graft. From the empress, no doubt. I possess something similar.]

Xavier was still a little in shock at talking to himself. Still a little unsure of how to do it. Instead of second guessing himself, he ploughed on. [Twenty years… It wasn’t long enough?]

[No. Not near enough.] The man’s voice shook. His right fist was clenched around the shaft of his scythe-staff, while his left… Blood was dripping from his fist. He must have been digging his nails into his palm.

[You intend to die here, don’t you? Why don’t you escape? You must be powerful enough to find a way.]

Xavier had already been to other sectors. He couldn’t believe that in twenty years this other version of himself couldn’t do something like that. He understood sacrifice, saving others, but doing it this way was incredibly flawed when those people who would escape down on Earth wouldn’t have far to go before the threat caught up to them again.

My efforts down there, getting people through the portals… How is that worth it unless the threat is eliminated? Did I do it all for another Tower of Champions floor title?

The other version of him dipped his head. [I don’t intend to escape because I failed. I don’t deserve to escape. I should have been strong enough to stop this!] The man shut his eyes. [Empress Larona—she told me it was possible! And yet…]

Xavier released a breath, glad for the oxygen provided by the Force-Shield Armour. Though he was curious to understand how the other version of him was breathing right now.

Maybe he wasn’t.

Another thing he was curious about was how this man was able to move through the void. He cocked his head to the side briefly and watched as the other Xavier turned to face the asteroid outside the time dilation field.

Little puffs of energy shot from the man’s very pores, bursts of force that pushed him in the opposite direction to where they went, letting him rotate slowly until another burst on the other side steadied him. The precision of those puffs of energy was a thing of beauty. He wondered if it was a spell, or more likely a skill.

I should be able to manage something like that, with practice…

It made him wonder if such a thing would be possible down in full gravity, even if it wouldn’t have the same effect. If he could use bursts of Celestial Energy, with the aid of Body Cultivation, maybe he could move even more efficiently and precisely in the air than before.

It could have a similar effect to Hover Dodge.

Xavier drew his gaze back to the man’s eyes, knocking himself out of his reverie. He didn’t like the way this version of him was speaking. He sounded so… Defeated. The man wore a sad, solemn expression on his face.

He didn’t see a victory as being possible. There wasn’t a single glimmer of hope in the man’s eyes. Yet he still fought. As punishment. It made little sense.

Xavier: [Empress Larona sent me here because she saw that there was a chance I could help—that there was a chance I could change things.]

The other version of him raised an eyebrow. For the first time, he really looked at Xavier, taking in the wings, the armour, the claws. [How many years has it been since you were integrated?] There was curiosity in the man’s voice. That, and a hint of longing. [And please don’t tell me you’re actually D Grade like the Class Graft says, though the fact you have to use Force-Shield Armour is rather telling. Enlighten me, have you already faced this threat in your own world?]

Xavier ran a hand through his hair. He cleared his throat and couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed by his forthcoming answers. He decided to answer them out of order. [No. I haven’t yet faced this threat in my universe.] He sighed. [I am D Grade, and it has been roughly a year since the System integrated Earth.]

This last part was what gave the other man pause. Throughout all Xavier had said, it almost seemed like the other version of him was growing angrier. Until his eyes flashed wider.

Other Xavier: [It’s been… It’s been only a year?] He shook his head. [You have accomplished much, if you are already D Grade in that time. But I don’t see how you can change the tide of this fight.] He nodded toward the man outside of the time dilation field. [This field is strong, but I can see him resisting. Can you feel the pressure on your mind? Somehow, the entity is able to interfere with this field.]

Xavier blinked. He took a moment to focus, trying to discern what the other version of him had said. It didn’t take him long to feel the subtle touch the enemy was using.

So subtle I hadn’t even noticed it without searching.

Xavier flapped his wings, floating forward toward the other man. [I believe I’m here for a reason. That the System wanted me to be here. I can help.]

The other version of him laughed, though there was no genuine humour in it. [The System wanted you to be here…]

Xavier had to admit, it sounded ludicrous. It wasn’t as though he actually trusted the System. He knew, without a doubt, that he was a test subject to it—like an infinite number of Xaviers that were out there.

Like the Xavier that was right in front of him.

But he had conquered everything he’d faced. He knew it was possible, and he truly didn’t doubt that he would be able to defeat the threat to the Silver River sector back in his own universe when the time came, even if that time was less than three years from now.

Other Xavier: [Do you know how foolish you sound? God, was I ever truly this young and naïve to believe the System gives a damn about me? Less than a year and your head has ballooned your ego is so big. My advice: Get the hell out of here, kid, before you get yourself killed. Maybe you do have more potential than me, I don’t damned well know. You certainly walked a different path. But you’re not going to live up to that potential if you fight here and die by my side. Death. That isn’t how you protect your people. You should be avoiding taking unnecessary risks, not throwing yourself to the wolves on the off chance they won’t eat you. As for Empress Larona’s vision that you might be able to help? She said I could defeat this thing, and yet here I am, ready to die. The all-powerful seer is wrong more than she is right. You’ll come to find that yourself, if you live long enough.]

Xavier just stared at the other version of him with a look of disappointment so deep he was sure the other man could feel it even though his gaze wasn’t on him. [No wonder you’re going to lose.]

Anger flared in the other Xavier’s eyes as he whirled. [Excuse me?]

[You’ve given up hope.]

[Hope is for fools and Disney movies. The Greater Universe has no room for hope. If I can teach you anything, maybe I can teach you that. Before you think you’re capable of something you’re not. Before you throw your life away on some impossible goal instead of accepting your limitations. Maybe if I’d done that, I would have been able to find a way to get Earth’s people out of the sector… Maybe I could have truly saved them.]

Xavier was struggling to believe what he was hearing. The way this man talked—he must have given up a long time ago.

Xavier: [You think I would take advice from you?] The words came out more harshly than he’d expected them to. He was seething, and he didn’t even realise it. He wanted to pound his fists into the man’s head.

Never before had he met someone who made him so angry. Funny that it happened to be himself.

The man before him was C Grade. Twenty years to reaching C Grade made for an incredibly quick rise, especially without the ability to freeze time. Xavier didn’t doubt for a moment that this other version was stronger than him—that he was a True C Grade, rather than the C Grades Xavier had defeated in the past.

He wouldn’t still be alive if that wasn’t true. He would have perished the first time he’d encountered this enemy.

But even though he’d accomplished so much, Xavier couldn’t help but think this man was the worst version of himself. That in the last twenty years, somewhere, he’d given up and he hadn’t even noticed—or maybe he hadn’t even cared. He’d reached amazing heights, was stronger than Empress Larona, who’d gotten where she was in a thousand years…

And yet, he was weak. If not in body, then in mind.

Was this what the System wanted him to see? What it looked like when he gave up? Maybe the System didn’t want him to see anything—maybe he was reading too much into being able to do the floors it had made him skip in the past.

Either way, he knew he needed to learn something from all this. Knew he had to take advantage of where he was.

Xavier: [I’m not leaving. Not unless I have to.] He took a moment to examine the time dilation field. The other man was right—the entity was influencing it. The time dilation field wouldn’t last as long as it should have, and he could feel his ability to manipulate it being deeply affected.

But it was stable in its current condition. There was enough time for them to talk, if nothing else.

Without it, however… He wasn’t sure how long he’d last here, which made him wonder if Empress Larona had truly seen what she’d said she’d seen.

Why would she lie?

He nodded at the man outside of the field. [Who is that?] He’d been confused by the appearance of the man ever since he’d seen the two of them fighting. Why would a Denizen be fighting alongside the entity—the asteroid—what could possibly be gained by such a thing?

The other version of him shut his eyes, anger still evident in the way he held himself. The tension in his shoulders. The grip he had on his scythe-staff. The blood dripping from his fist. But in that moment, much of it seemed to bleed out of him, though it looked as though it took a great amount of will.

He released a sigh; one Xavier couldn’t hear in the vacuum of space. [Maybe if you know more about what you’re up against, you’ll start listening to me.] The other Xavier nodded at the man outside the time dilation field.

Xavier stared through the field and got a proper look at the man, quickly realising he wasn’t human. The man wore a white suit of armour that gleamed even in space. There was a glow about him. Xavier couldn’t discern the colour—it was a mix of blue, green, and red. Different active spells, no doubt. He had pointed ears, and horns on either side of his head, though he looked like no elf nor demonkin he’d ever seen before.

This was something else altogether.