System Change

Sheen didn’t have to tell Derek twice. The instant he saw the two Grimshaw people, he knew that he would be useless as soon as any fighting started. So, not a moment after Sheen told him to go, Derek grabbed Alex by the arm and activated Powerstride in the direction they needed to go to get to the next city.

”Oh no, you don’t!” one of the Grimshaw Elders yelled, and suddenly, Derek’s skill canceled, and it felt like he’d been hit by a freight train.

The sudden stop nearly gave him whiplash as a thick wall of darkness stifled his movement. Derek coughed up a mouthful of blood, then the darkness started to close in around him.

”That’s enough of that,” a calm voice sounded from behind, and then the darkness around Derek and Alex was cut away. ”Go on now,” Sheen said. ”They won’t be doing that again.”

Derek nodded, then reactivated Powerstride. It was harder to use right after it was forcefully stopped, but he pushed through the physical discomfort. This time, Sheen was correct. Derek was able to get to the end of the skill and then activate it again.

He continued doing so—not even breaking for a second to look behind. At one point, he was thrown off course by a staggering amount of force being kicked up, and he almost fell from the unexpected weight of aura that hit him. That time, he did glance behind him.

The three elders were completely out of sight—there was no telling how far away from Derek they were. This is insane. This is nothing like the spar that Sheen and the vice patriarch had before. It’s like the final move that the vice patriarch used, but over and over again . With one hand around Alex, Derek clenched his other fist hard. That old man better not lose, he thought. He also vowed that as soon as he got things figured out in Origin City, he would focus on himself again.

If there was one thing that Derek couldn’t stand, it was the current sense of helplessness that he was feeling. But he didn’t have time to dwell on that, so he activated his skill again and kept going.

However, the next time he stopped, he looked out into the distance, and his stomach dropped. A handful of figures appeared to be standing still, as if waiting. They can’t be… right? Derek thought. This is just a coincidence. There’s no way it’s all Grimshaw people.

”This isn’t good,” Alex suddenly said.

”Do you think…” Derek started, but stopped when Alex nodded.

”They knew that I was being escorted by an Ascendant, just not that it was by Ancestor Sheen,” Alex said. ”It seems they prepared for the chance that I was able to run away during a fight.”

”Dammit…” Derek said. ”I was hoping that wasn’t the case.” As they talked, one of the figures spotted them, and then all of them began to rush their way. ”They… aren’t moving super fast,” Derek said.

”Sending two Ascendant Elders is already using a lot of resources,” Alex said. ”They wouldn’t need more of them to subdue me if that is what they want. Some higher-level epic-rarity members would be enough.”

”Let’s hope that’s the case,” Derek said. He checked and made sure he was ready for a fight. He had his armor on, and he’d put his Starfury Boots that Alex had removed from the amber gunk back on. He mentally checked for Harbinger and found his glaive ready. Then, he channeled his new flame into his hands and back.

If he was going to have to fight and go out, it meant that he was going to have to get rid of any evidence as well. If the figures rushing toward them really were members of the Grimshaw clan, then either he was dead, or they were.

”The elders were right!” a shout suddenly came from the small group as they grew close. ”That really is Alex Loomis.” The one who spoke seemed to be the leader as they approached. The man saw Derek, then said, ”I don’t know who you are, but Alex Loomis has committed sins against House Grimshaw, so hand him over, and you can be on your way.”

”I don’t think I will,” Derek said.

”Oh, no?” The man stepped forward and looked Derek up and down. ”You’re barely over level 250. How do you plan on stopping us from taking him and killing you?”

Derek used his own inspection skill on the group in front of him. Once he read over the results, he both tensed and felt a bit of relief. He couldn’t tell their class rarity, but the high-level one was level 350—with the lowest leveled one being level 270. The figures in the group all seemed a bit on the older side, which meant that they had spent quite some time in the lower levels.

This also likely meant that none of them had much in the way of a high-affinity class. I may be able to deal with this level gap, Derek thought. He just hoped that his hypothesis was right. If one of them was actually Mythical rarity at over level 300, then he’d be looking at a fight harder than the one against Nikolai from before.

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”Alex,” Derek said, causing the young man to take his eyes off the group of enemies and glance at Derek.

”Yeah?”

Derek reached out and grabbed the space beside him without ever taking his eyes off those in front. Seeing Derek’s sudden move, the group hesitated. Good, Derek thought. The space to his Time Prison opened, and he pushed open the door. ”Get inside. Now,” he said.

”But… Ancestor Sheen said…” Alex started.

”Go!” Derek didn’t have time for any arguments. He looked at Alex. ”Now!” He knew that Sheen had told him not to put Alex in the space. However, looking at the people in front of him, none were overly powerful, so everyone inside the space would be safe if he quickly opened and closed it—especially with the hesitation they showed when he pulled the space apart.

If another Ascendant had chosen to show up, then Derek wouldn’t have done it. But with everyone level 350 or lower, and hopefully nobody with a class rarity higher than legendary, he figured stowing Alex away would be the best choice. I should have put him inside once we got a small distance away, Derek thought. They wouldn’t have even known then…

”O-okay…” Alex finally muttered, then walked inside. He gave Derek a quick glance and said, ”Be careful,” before turning back around and moving deeper into the space.

Derek then sent a quick telepathic message, shut the door behind Alex, then closed the space.

”Where did he go?” the leader of the group shouted. ”What did you do with the boy who killed my younger brother!?”

”What did I do?” Derek asked rhetorically. Just as he did, a wave of force brushed over him and nearly took his breath away. He couldn’t help but glance back in the direction of where Sheen was once again. In front, a couple of the enemies staggered back. The one in front winced. Good to see that they are all at least affected by the battle going on back there, Derek thought before speaking. Then he said, ”That’s the perk of a spatial affinity. You can send someone away so they don’t get in the way of a good fight.”

”You!” the guy shouted. ”Bring him back here this instant, and we can forget that any of this ever happened.”

”I don’t think I will,” Derek said as they moved even closer. In total, there were eight people—all at a higher level than he was, but also likely at a much lower class rarity.

”If he’s stored them in a spatial affinity dimensional space…” one of the older-looking women started. ”Then all we have to do is kill him, and the Loomis brat will be a sitting duck.”

”Then we will do just that,” the leader said. ”For my brother. He was the hope of our family. He was going to help pull us up with him in the clan. Now… he’s dead. If I don’t capture that brat and make him pay, then I won’t be able to face the rest of the clan again.”

Finally, those in the group with weapons drew them, and the others took up their battle stances. From what Derek could tell, only the leader and the woman who had just spoken used some kind of darkness affinity—the rest seemed to have more basic ones. Probably two clan members and a handful of guards, then, Derek thought as he prepared himself.

He held his arm out and willed Harbinger into his hand. He rested the haft on his shoulder, then cracked his neck. He dug his feet into the ground and waited.

”Everyone!” the man shouted, and the group readied to make their moves.

However, before they could do anything, Derek made his first move. ’Leave none alive,’ he sent, then the chest of one of the members in the back of the group exploded as Silvi burst through it.

The group of seven remaining people instantly went into a panic, but Silvi had already shifted away. With them all distracted, Derek channeled his newly learned draconic void flame into Harbinger, then, with Sweeping Slash, sent an attack out.

Unfortunately, the enemies regained their bearings before his attack landed, and it was a new form of attack for him, so he wasn’t too used to it. Five of the remaining seven were able to dodge. The other two brought their weapons up and blocked the crescent blade of energy. Soon after, however, those two started panting and frowning.

Rapidly, in front of everyone’s eyes, the two began making pained groans. Their eyes slowly began burning a deep purple. ”What was that attack?! What did you do?” the leader of the group shouted.

”You started it,” Derek said, hiding his shock at the state of the two guards. ”I’m just finishing it.”

Another member hurried and cast a healing spell on the two guards, but their faces went pale not long after the skill landed. ”It… it’s not working!” the healer cried out. ”Whatever it is… it ate my mana and negated the healing.” The healer then rushed over and dumped healing and mana potions into the guards’ mouths.

The guards seemed to get better for a moment before falling back into the same state. ”It’s draining them!” the healer shouted. ”The potions fight it, but it keeps going.”

Derek was impressed with his skill. Yes, the two members of the enemy party were the lowest level of the bunch, but to hit them and take them out of the fight showed that he had something special. It was also a complete shot in the dark to see if he could launch the skill with Sweeping Slash like he could with the regular imbued void energy, so the fact that it traveled there with the skill brightened Derek’s mood and gave him more hope—even if it was taking a while to move through their systems.

”It’s mana backlash!” the healer suddenly shouted as the burning sped up and their bodies began to shrivel. ”Their bodies are being completely drained. Their vitality seems to be okay for now, but they won’t be able to do anything with their mana channels collapsing and draining like this.”

Good to know, Derek thought as he listened to the healer’s diagnosis. The more he learned about his new skill, the better he would be able to use it in the future.

”Leave them!” the leader suddenly shouted. ”They are weak anyway,” he said. ”It’s just one person, and he’s at a lower level than all of us. Spread out to trap him so he can’t hit us all at once. That has to be his trump card! He can’t take all of us alone at the same time.”

Derek thought back to how cool he thought Sheen was when confronted by the enemy. The old man’s confidence had left an impression on the enemies and made them unsure of themselves by the looks on their faces. For the first time during the encounter, Derek cracked a smile. Confidently, he said, ”Who said there was only me? It’s all of you who are trapped.”