System Change

“Are you sure you should have been so antagonistic?” Derek asked Jace once everything was over.

“Darvin would think something was off if I was suddenly nice,” Jace said with a shrug. “That was post-battle, tired Jace, who just lost. He’s used to pissed-off, don’t-talk-to-me Jace.”

“And now you’re talking about yourself in the third person?” Derek rolled his eyes.

“Whatever,” Jace said. “Now, come over here and take a look at this.” The painfully exhausted-looking bald-headed man motioned for Derek.

Derek shrugged and walked over. When he was standing beside the bed, he saw what Jace wanted him to see. Apparently, Jace had snapped a screenshot of everyone he had just been speaking with. There were more people there than Derek had thought. It seemed that only a couple of them spoke during the call.

“As you can see, there are only three Champions that aren’t here right now…” Jace said. “Holcom, Kelvin, and Xephos.” He then pointed to and introduced each Champion that was there, and Darvin.

“So, the blue human is Trischa?” Derek asked to confirm.

“Yes,” Jace said. “That is the one you have to watch out for if she’s with Amelia. I honestly can’t say that you would have to worry about any of the others, even if Trischa was with them. How is your mind defense?”

“Solid,” Derek said. “My… uh… friend had such a powerful mind skill that she couldn’t turn it off until she reached a certain skill level. It wasn’t exactly mind control in the usual sense but acted more through sound. But I have another friend—a dragonkin—who has some very powerful mind abilities and attacks, and I’ve practiced with her quite a bit, too. So, I don’t think I’ll have any problem with mind attacks. Besides, my wisdom is almost 1,700 points.”

“I…” Jace started, then his eyes flashed, and he tilted his head. “1,700? No weird question marks? You didn’t tell me about that earlier. How did that happen?”

“I…” Derek paused. “You know, I’m actually surprised that the systems allowed that to slip through. Maybe it’s because you’ve met one of the requirements for advancement or something. But I definitely feel that I can’t go into any detail about it with you.”

“Interesting… I want my stats to break that damn 1,500 cap,” Jace said with a pout.

“You’ll get there eventually,” Derek said. “Honestly, probably sooner than later.”

***

Meanwhile, Amelia was still sitting at Darvin’s desk, and everyone else had gone and taken their places around the room. Darvin even found a spot on a couch and said nothing to Amelia. He could tell the chat with Jace had gotten under her skin, and she was doing everything she could to calm down. Nobody had ever called her a coward before, and Jace had done it multiple times in a single call.

“What do you all think?” Amelia finally asked after a few minutes of silence.

“I think I should have listened to Kelvin and found a way around the system that granted rewards to get rid of that bastard,” Darvin said. “He’s a cocky, psychotic asshole, and that’s all he’s ever been since the first time I made contact with him. And, as far as I know, that’s all he ever was with Kelvin, too.”

“He has every right to be cocky,” Amelia said. “That was my first time speaking with him, and I could see the light in his eyes when he spoke of battle. Also, I don’t think he’s psychotic. Reckless? Sure. But psychotic? No, I’ve met others like him… others with that same spark. They never lived long, but they all had the same hunger for a good battle that he has. Besides, you heard about what he did at the teleportation arrays. While charging his rage, he could have wiped everyone out, but he didn’t. In fact, there were many who were happy about their growth after his sudden attack.

“The same is true for the defenders of this Stronghold. He only killed the one Guardian, and the few guards that died were only indirectly killed during the battle. Jace Whitaker does not go out of his way to murder. He just has no qualms if someone happens to die,” Amelia explained. “And… he didn’t shy away from Derek Hunt, but I did.” She clenched her fists.

“But you are a leader,” Darvin said. “You have a responsibility to others as well. You can’t be selfish. By retreating, you were only doing what you should as a leader.” Darvin took in a breath, then released it. “And even if he doesn’t get pleasure through killing, he still gets it through battling, and that is almost the same thing. The man is a maniac who listens to no one.”

“He is a strong maniac,” the four-armed Cuthos said from his place in the room. “He is worthy of our respect.”

“Cuthos is correct,” Amelia said.

“We should cut his head off,” Briya finally spoke up. Everyone looked at her, but nobody said anything. Instead, they just ignored her and continued with their conversation.

“But what do you all think about the conversation?” Amelia asked. “Do you trust him, Darvin?” Amelia nodded to the System Watcher. “You are the only one of us who has had any proper interactions with the man. Did he seem different? Or was he the same as usual?”

“I… don’t know,” Darvin admitted. “He’s always been crass, and… he has ended communications while I was still speaking… every time we have spoken. The same was true today. The difference is that I have never seen him hurt like he was, and I believe he may have been irritated from losing, so he was taking that irritation out on us even more than usual.”

“So, do we believe everything that he’s spoken about?”

“He has basically confirmed all the information that Kelvin has been able to gather and expanded upon it,” Darvin said. “It seems that his spatial abilities may truly be more dangerous than his void abilities, but if it is like Jace said, that would only be true for those who could survive his void abilities. What I am most concerned about is how we are going to get him alone for an ambush.”

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“If we all agree that Jace can be trusted,” Amelia said. “Then I believe there could be a way since they have some relationship remaining from their time during their tutorial together. You all heard… Derek chose not to kill or even pursue the man.”

“But will Jace agree to an ambush?” Darvin asked. “That relationship goes both ways.”

“That is what we must find out,” Amelia said. “And we need to find Kelvin so he can confirm Jace’s actions. He has spent the most time with the man, after all. No matter what we do, we will keep our suspicions.” Finally, she placed her hands on the desk and said, “For now, we will wait three hours, then make contact once again. The two of them fought for a very long time. We will see if there is anything else that Jace hasn’t told us about.”

***

“Want me to freshen that wound up?” Derek asked Jace. Since the wound he’d inflicted with Spatial Rend was so shallow, even with Jace’s limited regeneration, it was healing relatively quickly. Jace had done a good job when speaking about it, so they wouldn’t suspect anything if it was fully healed soon, but Derek didn’t want it to be healed that soon. Besides, it’s not… not fun taking a swipe at the guy.

“Go ahead,” Jace said as he took a bite of a sandwich and a sip of beer.

Derek took a dagger out, then activated Spatial Rend—this time causing a wound that was much lighter than before, but still more healed than it had been after his chat with Amelia and the others.

Jace looked down at the wound, then back up at Derek and nodded. “Looks good to me.”

“That should get you through the next call, and they won’t have any suspicions if it’s finally healed in a day or two,” Derek said. “We shouldn’t have to worry about cutting you up again.” Finally, he put the dagger away, then went and stood back in his corner. “It’s been a bit over three hours,” he said. “They should be reaching out soon.”

Sure enough, no more than ten minutes later, Jace’s bracelet began to vibrate again. Derek looked at the man, then nodded. Jace picked up the video call once more.

“It hasn’t been three hours,” Jace answered with narrowed eyes.

“I assure you,” Amelia said. “It has been three hours and fourteen minutes.”

“I’ll believe you for now,” Jace said. “Now, what do you want? Did you have a nice little chat with your little group of Champions?” He snorted. “I’m happy I turned down that job offer.”

“We did,” Amelia said. In the feed, only Amelia and Darvin appeared. All the others were no longer in the background, so they either weren’t there, or were just somewhere else in the room, like Derek. “But first, I would like you to do something for me.”

“What?”

“Would you please turn the feed so we can get a view of your room?”

“Okay…” Jace said with a shrug, then began moving his arm that had the bracelet on it. As soon as Derek had heard the request, he had disappeared—leaving no trace behind. Soon enough, Jace allowed the woman to have a full scan of the room. “Happy?” he asked.

“I am,” Amelia said. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

“Yeah… whatever,” Jace said. “Can we make this quick? A bit more Meditation, then I think I can finish healing this damn wound.”

“Of course,” Amelia replied. “We wouldn’t want to slow your recovery…”

“Any more than you already have?” Jace said.

“Well… yes,” Amelia said. “Now… I do not believe you will like or agree with this action, but based on what we know of Derek Hunt, he is going to be trouble for the invasion. We have been hoping to find a way to get him alone and fight him together.”

“Oh, you want to ambush and fight him like cowards?” Jace nodded. “I can see how that would be a strategy that you would come up with based on what I’ve seen.”

“Winning this invasion is worth much more than our pride,” Amelia said.

“How do you know?” Jace asked. “Do you know what the rewards are? Are they worth losing respect?”

“We believe that they will be,” Darvin answered. “Now, will you help us or not?”

“Darvin!” Amelia clicked her tongue at the man.

“I don’t know,” Jace said. “But… I don’t think he would be upset if he had to fight five on one. After all, he is no coward, and he very much enjoys fighting.” Jace acted as if he was lost in thought, and at the same time, Derek reappeared inside the room. “He did technically fight me with a three-on-one advantage…”

“There are eight of us,” Darvin said, drawing Jace’s attention back.

“No… Kelvin doesn’t count as a fighter… he’s too weak. And Briya is… not quite whole at the moment. And what are you going to do? Drown him in paperwork?” Jace shook his head. “It’s five on one. And that’s only because I’m counting Trischa, which I’m not even sure I should, considering she is only support.”

“What about you?” Amelia asked.

“Me?” Jace tilted his head. “If I’m going to do something like this, I’m going to fight him one-on-one first before anything else.”

“It would be better if you joined…”

“No,” Jace said. “What happens after our fight is none of my business, but if you even think about joining in before my fight with him is finished, then you’ll have to worry about me.”

Amelia and Darvin looked at each other and both hesitated for some time before they nodded. “Very well,” Amelia said. “Once we find a way to get him alone, you may fight him first.”

“Getting him alone sure would have been easy if you all hadn’t been cowardly idiots,” Jace said with a look of disdain.

“And how is that?” Darvin asked, masked frustration on his face.

“Simple,” Jace said. “You’ve noticed how he rushes over whenever one of their Guardians is in a fight, right?”

“Yes…”

“Well… if you hadn’t gone and taken out the weakest Guardian, who was also alone, then you could have just attacked her and waited. I assume that it didn’t take much to defeat her, did it?”

“It… did not,” Amelia answered.

“See, if she were still around, getting him alone would have been a piece of cake. But now, there aren’t any Guardians out there who could be that kind of bait anymore,” Jace replied with a shrug.

“What about Osian?” Darvin asked.

“That guy is apparently on another continent,” Jace said. “And honestly, Derek didn’t seem too concerned about any of the remaining Strongholds, so I’m sure that Stronghold has some crazy defenses in place. I doubt you’d want to fight Derek with things like that.” Jace shrugged and winced. “You already know that going to Ashgarde is out of the question. The two Guardians there could at least distract you long enough for Derek to arrive, then work together with them. And the last place… Savannah… that is Derek’s home, and is protected by a guy who even he seemed to respect.”

“You know an awful lot about all that, don’t you?” Amelia narrowed her eyes.

“We had a very long fight,” Jace said. “And… Derek really likes to talk while fighting and winning. He’s like one of those villains who spout out their plans because they think there is no way that they can lose. But in his case… it’s kind of true.”

In the background, Derek frowned and furrowed his brow. The man seemed to be deep in thought. Jace ignored him, as he didn’t want to make it seem like he was focusing on anything other than the feed.

“But,” Jace continued. “None of that matters,” he said. “Derek is like me. If I just show up and challenge him, and then take the fight somewhere else, he will follow. And if it’s only me, then he’ll have the other Guardians stay there in case of an attack by the Champions. It’s not rocket science.”

“That… could work,” Amelia said.

“Of course it would work.” Jace rolled his eyes. “Now, I’m going to hang up. I need sleep. I’ll be recovered in…” he looked down at the wound on his chest. “I’ll be good in two to three days. The backlash of my skill is almost over, and it will be smooth sailing from there.” Without letting the others answer, Jace hung up.

“An ambush, huh?” Derek asked. “That’s how they think they’re going to win?” He shook his head. “I don’t think they’ll get the chance. I think… I already know what we’re going to do.”