System Change

Before, the soldiers all wore stern, battle-ready faces. Now, each and every one of them looked scared out of their minds. That was for good reason. In the time it took for Wri to crawl over to his severed leg and yell for help from the healer, the healer had already lost his life. There was no Dying State when you were split vertically down the middle, after all.

Jace, in his frenzy, didn’t pull any punches this time. Even during his fight with the Guardians and the Stronghold’s soldiers, only one Guardian and maybe a couple of the soldiers had lost their lives. The same couldn’t be said of the soldiers this time. Pushing him to this state meant that there were going to be consequences—whether he liked them or not.

This time, limbs didn’t fly, and people didn’t get knocked unconscious or unable to continue. No, heads flew and whole bodies were severed. Once Surge of War was activated, everyone other than Jace and Wri was dead. Finally, Jace walked over to the lizardman—his eyes bloodshot with Battlelust and his breathing heavy.

“Wait! Wait!” Wri flipped to his back and struggled to push himself away from the looming Jace while only having one leg. “Wh-what was it? I… I… Gi—” he tried to speak, but the next instant, a kukri split the lizardman’s skull, and all movement other than some twitching ceased.

With Wri dead, Jace looked around, then, seeing that nobody was left, struggled to overpower his Battle Instinct and released Surge of War. Instantly, almost all power drained from him, and he fell to the ground. Jace sat in the middle of a massacre, breathing heavily. The world was spinning, and it was all he could do to keep himself from falling over.

In his weakened state, he couldn’t afford to pass out. Surge of War was also on a long cooldown of two days, so he’d have to be careful for the time being. Fortunately, even though the mental drain of the skill was out of this world, he still had full health and stamina.

The biggest downside to the skill was the immediate aftereffects and the fact that his Battlelust would only build up at half the speed for at least twenty-four hours. That’s a price I’d gladly pay for a good battle with a good ending—especially against such a jackass, Jace thought as his eyes fixed on the now-dead body of the lizard.

After a few minutes, the world stopped spinning, and Jace gingerly pushed himself to his feet. He walked over to Wri, and with the back of his kukri, tapped on the body. A light metallic clang rang out as the blade made contact with the scales. Jace nodded. I bet those scales would fetch a good price… may be worth looking into making some real armor, too.

He placed the blade on the tail and then pushed. Even dead, the scales put up a surprising amount of resistance before he was able to cut into them. And that was with the ability effects of his kukri still active. Will definitely make for some good armor. Soon, he sliced all the way through the tail and stored it inside his bracelet. “I told you I was going to make steaks out of your tail,” he muttered.

He didn’t exactly like the idea of eating the steaks, but he figured that they would make for some good pet food, or something at least. He was just carrying out his promise—being a man of his word and all that. Jace went ahead and placed his hand on the body and severed leg, and stored those as well. The body went into the bracelet, but when he looked, something else remained.“Ah… yeah,” he thought as he looked at Wri’s own storage bracelet. He couldn’t store it inside his bracelet. “I wonder…” he muttered as he took the ring he’d looted out of his bracelet and placed it on his finger. After that, he reached out, and with a slight struggle due to his mental fatigue, commanded the bracelet to be stored inside the ring. “Oh… cool.”

After that, he looked over the battlefield and sighed. He really didn’t feel like looting all the bodies, and he didn’t feel like carrying a storage device full of humans and aliens around. One Wri was more than enough. So, Jace painstakingly went over and gathered only the easily visible storage devices, then left the bodies for someone or something else to deal with.

Next, he looked over his notifications and saw that there was one waiting. It was a bit different from the one he received after killing a Guardian, and it mentioned something about taking out one of his own. Jace really didn’t care much about it, so he dismissed it after a quick scan. It wasn’t that important. It didn’t punish him, it only chose not to reward him. That was fine. The fight and getting rid of the reptile was reward enough.

With a yawn, Jace stretched, then looked around for the teleportation array. After searching for just a second, he saw the telltale blue mana barrier indicating an array. With a deep sigh, he took a step and continued on his journey toward sleep and relaxation.

***

During the fight…

“Sir Darvin!” Jerrett shouted from outside the door.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Enter!” Darvin said from inside the room. It had only been a few hours since they arrived at Virendell, and he had already selected a fine residence in the city center as their base of operations. The former residents were relocated. To where? He didn’t know. He didn’t actually care. They weren’t able to intentionally harm them, but that didn’t mean that he needed to learn anything about them.

Jerrett opened the door and stepped inside. Inside sat Darvin behind a desk with Amelia standing over his shoulder and Trischa and Holcom seated on a rather decorative couch.

“What is it?” Darvin asked the man.

“Wri is currently in battle,” Jerrett said. Ever since his slight contribution, he’d been tasked with monitoring the Invasion Status so the higher-ups could work without worry.

“So he is,” Darvin said, then looked at Amelia. “Can you reach him?”

“No, but there is a scout within range of both me and him, so I will contact him,” Amelia said. A few moments later, she said, “The scout can’t get in touch with Wri right now, and he hasn’t yet received communication information from the soldiers he is traveling with.”

“He’s not fighting a Guardian, so what are you worried about?” Holcom asked.

“The two Guardians weren’t fighting Champions, yet they either died or lost,” Darvin replied.

“Just because it happened on their side doesn’t mean it will happen to us,” Holcom responded. “Besides, Wri has an insane amount of defense, health, and stamina. He’s the person you should be the least worried about.”

“Unless he runs into someone like you,” Amelia said. “Your psionic powers are the worst matchup for him. So, them having someone like you is not out of the realm of possibilities. There is always a counter.”

“That is true,” Holcom said. “But it would still take a very strong psionic to cause any concern. And I’m sure that any psionic powerful enough to push Wri would have been selected as a Guardian, no?”

“Maybe…” Amelia shrugged. She still had a weird feeling about everything. She just didn’t have any evidence or reason for it.

“Well, anyway,” Darvin said. “Amelia, you monitor the situation and get in touch with Wri as soon as possible.”

“Very well,” she said.

It wasn’t long after that when Jerrett let out a gasp and Amelia let out a sigh.

“What?” Darvin asked, then said, “Oh… You have got to be kidding me.” Sure enough, he checked the status screen and saw that not only had Wri been defeated, but he was dead.

“How do you even kill Wri without the system deciding that he’s been defeated and pulling him out?” Holcom asked. “That doesn’t even make any sense. Not even against a strong psionic.”

“One would have to land a critical strike and kill him instantly,” Amelia replied.

“And do you know anyone who could do that?” Holcom asked. Darvin was still sitting silently behind his desk.

“I could… perhaps,” Amelia said. “With the correct preparations.” She paused and thought for a moment. “Maybe Briya, if Wri had absolutely no time to prepare and didn’t see her coming. Xephos could beat him, but not instantly. If Wri was stubborn, then Jakis could quite possibly kill him after wearing him down, but before the system acted. But this is all just speculation. I have not yet fought here, so there is no way I could know how quickly this third-party system will react to critical danger.”

“There is one thing for certain,” Darvin finally spoke. “We must gather all the Champions as quickly as possible.” He shifted his gaze to his fellow Malaxi. “Holcom, how are the signal boosters coming along?”

“They will be programmed to work inside this current system within the hour,” the man replied. “After that, we will send people through the arrays and begin placing them. We’ve tested it, and you can travel to a random array from your current array every 48 hours.”

“Good, good,” Darvin said. “Perhaps we will have full communication back within the day.”

“That is the plan,” Holcom replied. “From the intelligence I’ve gathered, there is one other continent on this planet, and it is likely just as big as the one we are currently on. A massive, unsafe ocean separates the two on all sides. However, I am hopeful that the signal boosters will be able to reach once they are placed. I planned for possible problems, so I have brought multiple times more boosters than we will likely need, just in case.”

“Great,” Darvin replied. “And what about everything else?”

“The recall station has already been completed,” Holcom answered. “I am waiting for proper communication to be restored, then I will head out and gather the remaining Champions. With the signals up, we will be able to obtain locations and direct the Champions to proper gathering spots—where I will be able to gather and bring them here.”

“That is very good,” Darvin said again. “Just let me know before you leave. And if you run into any problems, recall immediately.”

“Don’t worry,” Holcom replied. “I will recall the second I sense any danger.”

“Amelia.” Darvin looked over his shoulder at the woman.

“Yes?”

“It seems that, in the opposite direction of where Wri was, there is a lone Guardian. From the information we have gathered here, Derek Hunt is unknown,” Darvin explained. “Therefore, it is almost certain that he either is not on this planet, or he is part of the other continent. Most of the residents in this city know of the heavy hitters on this continent, and his name was not mentioned.”

“I agree,” Amelia said.

“It is likely that the lone Guardian is a queen of the elven country,” Darvin said. “The other Stronghold is likely being protected by two Guardians—one of whom is supposedly a legendary warrior known as David Brandt, which is obviously Sir Brandt on the Guardian list. Many names have been tossed around regarding who the second Champion is, but none of them have stood out. The only name that seems familiar at all is the Siren’s Second. There is a legend of a siren roaming this continent from long ago, so it is possible that this Guardian is related to her and is beside Brandt.”

“It is,” Amelia replied. “But that could just be a coincidence. It seems that it has been over a century since the last time anyone here heard mention of the siren.”

“Yes, but none of that is of concern at this moment,” Darvin replied. “The lone Guardian is absolutely the Guardian called The Queen, and she is at the bottom of the list. I trust you alone, so I would like you to travel as quickly as you can and deal with her. Learn any information that you can, then return quickly. I want you back within 48 hours.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Amelia replied—cracking her neck and stretching.

“Great,” Darvin replied. “In that case, you will leave once the boosters are complete. You will take at least three with you and place them as you go. One of our Champions has been defeated today. It is time to do away with another Guardian.”