System Change

For several seconds, Derek was blinded by a bright, bluish-white light. He was also blown back solely by the force created when the shield bent. He couldn’t imagine what kind of force hit the outside of the shield if it was enough to cause all of that. One thing that the shield didn’t protect against, though, was the sound of the explosion.

Derek had failed to even try to cover his ears, as he was so enthralled by what was going on above him. Whatever had happened had left his ears bloody and ringing. When the light finally calmed, Derek managed to touch his ears and see both hands come away covered in blood—confirming what he already knew.

He looked over to the man who had shielded them all and saw him move his lips. However, at that time, Derek couldn’t hear anything at all. Instead of shouting or trying to speak, once the man saw that he didn’t reply and looked over, Derek touched his ear, then showed him the blood. The man nodded in understanding, then Derek cast Rejuvenation on himself to give his recovery a little extra help. Soon after, his hearing returned.

”What was that?” he asked as soon as he was sure he’d be able to hear the response.

”That?” The stoic shield man repeated. ”That was our resident lunatic forcing our cautious vice patriarch to actually throw caution out the window.”

”What do you mean?” Derek asked.

”I mean that Bastian realized that Sheen was only growing stronger and sharper as the battle went on, and that he was also fighting with intelligence that he never used to before,” the man explained. ”So, before Sheen got rid of all the rust, Bastian tried to end it with one massive soul attack.”

”That was a soul attack?” Derek asked with a gulp. ”The vice patriarch has a soul affinity?”

”It was, and he does,” the man replied. ”It isn’t a secret. Most known Ascendants and Transcendents have been around so long that their affinities are no longer secrets.”

”Then... is Sheen?” Derek swallowed. He actually felt a pit in his stomach as he thought about Sheen somehow dying over a dispute between him and Garrett.

”Let’s go see for ourselves,” the man said instead of answering.

Suddenly, with no say in the matter and everything completely out of his control, Derek started floating. It was surreal. He wasn’t able to feel anything that was helping him float, but there he was, rising in the sky. To make it even weirder, he was able to walk around and move as he wished. He just couldn’t keep himself from rising.

Around him, everyone else started to rise—including Garrett, who let out a muffled cry as his body left the ground. The man who had been speaking to Derek didn’t seem to be in much of a rush, as nobody rose into the sky at a particularly fast speed. Still, around halfway up, Derek was able to start making out the figures above, and what he was seeing was shocking—especially after the last attack.

He waited until he was even closer to confirm, but when he did, he let out a sigh of relief. The hall master was standing in the sky, running his fingers through his beard. The aura around him that was always so strong was flickering, and Derek couldn’t help but notice the dullness that had appeared in his eyes. Still, he was standing there nonchalantly and, other than those two things, he didn’t seem much worse for wear.

The vice patriarch, however, was a different story. The man was vertical, so Derek thought he was also standing when he first saw him, but he couldn’t have been further off. No, each of Bastian’s limbs was wrapped up in nearly invisible threads and pulled out. He was being held in a starfish position by the threads, with his head slumped and likely unconscious.

The only remaining modesty of the vice patriarch was the thread that was woven around his waist by Sheen to leave him with some dignity. Other than that, the man was naked from head to toe with only a couple of rings and a bracelet left on his person. It was also then that Derek noticed that some of the threads wrapping his arms and legs were so tight that they were embedded in his skin and muscles—it even looked like the vice patriarch’s regeneration had kicked in and regenerated his flesh over some of the threads.

Derek winced at the thought. What would happen if Sheen decided to take the threads out and wasn’t gentle about it? Would he just rip all the flesh off his clanmate’s bones? A chill ran down Derek’s spine as he shifted his gaze to Sheen and was met by a tired but grinning face.

”Go wake him up,” the stoic man said once everyone stopped moving. Quickly, one of the clan members who was with them moved over and poured a potion on Bastian’s face and in his mouth. Almost instantly, the man coughed and opened his eyes.

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Bastian looked around at everyone, then at Sheen. ”You won... again,” he muttered. ”Even after all this time and all this training while you were stagnating, you still won. This universe just isn’t fair.”

”Of course, this universe isn’t fair,” Sheen said. ”It never has been and never will be. We are not the same. We will never be the same. You are a pillar of this clan who will protect it and lead it into battle. I am simply nothing but a sword. A sword with some new ideas, but a sword nonetheless. Something would be wrong if you could beat me.”

”Does this mean the two of you are finished throwing tantrums?” the stoic man finally cut in.

”It was an official duel with stakes, Logan,” Sheen replied. ”There was no tantrum... other than when Bastian here decided to attack with a skill that shouldn’t be used in a standard duel between Ascendants or higher. But we both saw when you arrived, so you can’t blame him for that. If I were fighting me, I’d want to give it my all, too.”

”Can’t blame him?” the man, Logan, raised his brow. ”I most certainly can blame him. And, since I am blaming him, the vice patriarch here is going to go around cleaning up and apologizing for any harm or destruction he caused by using a non-permitted skill during a duel and putting members of his own clan in harm’s way.” The man then turned and looked at Bastian. ”Do I make myself clear?”

”Yes, Patriarch,” Bastian muttered as he bowed his head—the only thing that was not tied up by Sheen’s threads. ”I regret my actions, and they will not happen again.”

Patriarch? Derek thought as he slowly turned his head and looked at the man in a new light. With the barrier that he created, I knew he was strong, but I didn’t think he was the patriarch. Does that mean he’s from the House Shield that Tanya mentioned? No wonder there hasn’t been any hesitation on his face this whole time.

Derek also felt a little bad for Bastian. While he was being floated into the sky, Derek glanced around and saw that, though there weren’t any injured people, there were plenty of buildings and objects that had been affected by the battle. That’s going to take a long time to clean up if he has to do it all by himself, Derek thought, but then, after giving it some more thought, he shook his head. No, at his level, he’s probably going to get it done in a flash.

”Now, this young friend of ours has filled me in on the reasons that this duel occurred,” Logan said as he pointed at Derek. ”Sheen, do you still wish to banish this talented young man from the clan for twenty years? And are you sure about ending your punishment early?”

Hall Master Sheen looked the floating Garrett up and down for a moment, then turned to Derek. ”Young friend, you have ten years to spend in Origin City with House Gravenholt, do you not?” Sheen asked, and it didn’t seem to surprise anyone other than Garrett. Apparently, the higher-ups in House Loomis either already knew about Derek’s pass to Origin City, given to him by Dave, or they didn’t care. Derek would assume the former.

”Uh... yes,” Derek replied. ”It is for one decade.”

”In that case, Logan,” Sheen said to the patriarch. ”We will cut ties and banish the young man for one decade. Perhaps by then, we can convince young Derek here to come back and judge the growth of young Garrett for us. It is, after all, Garrett’s slight against Derek that has gotten him into this situation.”

”That is not a bad idea,” the patriarch said. ”And a decade fending for himself may be just what the boy needs. Derek may evaluate him then if he so chooses. If not, it will be up to you.” The man then turned to the staring Garrett. ”Did you hear that, boy? Elder Sheen is being generous by reducing your sentence and giving you a proper chance to grow into a man worthy of our house. You should be grateful.”

”Y-yes!” Garrett tried to pick himself up, but in the end, all the wounds from being made into deli meat had yet to heal. Seeing this, one of the other people around flicked their wrist, and a blue glow fell over the young man. Soon, all the wounds healed, and the stitching that Sheen had hastily done to keep the young man from bleeding out fell apart. Garrett, while floating, picked himself up, then bowed deeply to Sheen. ”Thank you, Hall Master Sheen, for your generosity. I swear that I will not let you down again.”

”That is good to hear, but I am no longer a hall master,” Sheen said with a nod.

”That is true,” the patriarch said.

”Just like that?” Bastian asked the patriarch. ”His punishment is over, just like that?”

”His punishment?” the patriarch repeated. ”His punishment was over long ago. He just didn’t believe it should have been. He felt he embarrassed the clan, which he did not, so he chose to stay longer than he was sentenced. Sheen may do as he wished.” Logan then turned to Sheen. ”And Elder Sheen, what is it that you wish to do?”

”First, I need to help my young friend get to Origin City. I already promised him as much, so I will see to it that it is done,” the former hall master answered. ”Then, I think it’s time for a shake-up in House Warp. I will use my role as ancestor to the house as it should be. I will oversee the branch and see to it that we stop producing spoiled brats and start producing capable young system users.”

”Do you plan on challenging Gunther for Head of House Warp?” Logan asked.

”No, that’s too much work,” Sheen said. ”I will just beat his ass if he doesn’t listen to my suggestions. And once we have the house in order, I think I may take a long-awaited vacation through the System Universe again. It has been some time since I went on an adventure.”

”Very well,” Logan replied. ”It is good to see that you have regained the spark that you lost all those years ago. Perhaps you will grow once again, and by the time I reach Transcendence, our house will have a sword worthy of a Transcendent house.”

”I look forward to it, Logan,” Sheen said with a big grin.

”And once I reach Transcendent, you will do something for me,” Logan replied. Derek was still shocked about how confident the patriarch of the house seemed in becoming a Transcendent. Though he did look very young compared to Sheen and Bastian, so it was possible that he was confident.

”And what is that?”

”You will finally call me Patriarch!”