System Change

Derek moved quickly through the void, gradually getting more and more of a lead on Edgar. He was shocked at how fast the prince moved as lightning. Derek was still faster, though, even if he had to drink thousands, if not tens of thousands, of gold worth of potions. It didn’t matter to him… Still faster. He thought, smugly.

Soon, Derek arrived a good distance away from what seemed to be a giant black dome around an area. That looks like the perfect place for some showdown between good and evil. If he was a betting man, which he was depending on the circumstances, he would say that was where Gerald was.

As he got closer, he realized that he really couldn’t see through it. It was just… black. Currently, there were a bunch of gathered a good distance away from the dome, watching it closely. Nobody seemed keen on getting any closer.

Derek didn’t mind them as he exited Void Shift and landed just in front of the dome. He waited for a handful of seconds until a ball of lightning hit the ground beside him, then turned into a man.

“Must be the Shadow Witch.” Edgar said as he drank a Mana Potion.

“Yup.” Derek said as he uncorked another Mana Potion and drained it. He turned his head toward Edgar and smiled. “I won.”

“What?”

“You said you weren’t going to wait for me, but I beat you here. I won.” Derek said.

Edgar rolled his eyes. “How was I supposed to know you had some weird fucking teleportation type of ability?”

Derek shrugged and looked back at the dark dome. “Should we make our entrance?”

Edgar nodded.

“Okay.” Derek placed his hand on the dome, but nothing happened. The dome was physical, and it moved with his hand, but he couldn’t push through it. He punched it a couple of times, but nothing happened. Just when he was getting ready to move through the void and just appear on the other side, Edgar spoke up.

“Let me.”

The prince stepped forward and placed his palm on the dome. From there, he closed his eyes and began channeling his aura. It was damn near the strongest aura Derek had ever felt. Derek couldn’t help but be impressed by the prince over and over.

Soon, the prince’s white hair fluttered and rose into the air. His body began projecting sparks of electricity. Then, all the lightning flowing through the man’s body converged onto the palm of the hand touching the dome.

The electricity poured out of his hand and into the dome, eating away at it as it passed through. A small hole opened up before becoming bigger and bigger. Soon after, it was big enough for the duo to step through and see what was inside.

The two walked forward, and the electricity faded out of existence, allowing the dome to close behind them. Derek inspected the scene before him to get a good idea of what had happened.

The first person he saw was the Crown Prince lying on the ground with blood flowing from where his arms used to be. He was in bad shape, but Derek knew if he had enough Vitality, he would survive the current blood loss.

Then, in the distance, was a group of five people. There was a pale woman in a black robe standing while clutching her abdomen while some blood was rolling down her chin. Then, there was a figure standing in some of the most ridiculously gaudy armor that Derek had ever seen.

In front of the armored person, who Derek could only assume was Gerald because he seemed to have the same taste in armor as Clay had, was a man wrapped from the waist down in vines and from the waist to his shoulders in some black substance, which Derek guessed was shadows considering they were going against someone called the Shadow Witch.

The man was dressed in a loose fitting tunic and pants, and had a medium length brown hair that was a mess. His clothing was the same colors as the Crown Restaurant’s. The man’s nose had a slight break to it, but otherwise, he could only be described as handsome. Derek instantly thought of Avery.

Then, looking on at the scene, were two more people. One, a half elf controlling the vines that wrapped around Avery, and another, a near giant of a man, also wearing heavy plate armor, but was nowhere near as flashy as what Gerald was wearing.

“So…” Derek said to Edgar. “What’s the plan?”

Edgar didn’t answer him, though. He was busy staring at his brother lying on the ground. Edgar instantly shot forward like a bolt of lightning and was next to Edward. He kneeled down and grasped Edward in his arms. Derek ran forward to catch up.

“Who did this?” Derek heard Edgar ask as he made his way to the brothers.

“The Shadow Witch.” Edward replied and nodded his head toward the pale woman in the black robe. “But she’s strong… really strong.”

Edgar seemed to not care about Edward’s words as he force fed him a Health Potion and laid him back down. He stood up and glared daggers at the Vice Leader of the Assassin’s Guild. At that time, Derek arrived by his side.

“So, what’s the plan?” Derek asked again.

“I’m going to take out the Shadow Bitch.” Edgar pointed at the woman, then said in a low tone, “Don’t kill Gerald or Cliff. I don’t care about the other one.”

Derek stared at Edgar. “Shadow Bitch? Really? You can do better than that.” He shook his head. “Fine, I guess we can make this fight an even three on three.”

Edgar frowned. “What?”

Derek didn’t answer. Only a few people other than Edgar had ever seen him use Void Shift. At that moment, he revealed it to everyone under the dome, and that wasn’t all he planned to reveal. His priority one was to not let Gerald Torith escape. If he could catch him now, he wouldn’t have to worry about looking over his shoulder because of the man. Plus, he could rest easy, knowing his group would also be safe.

Immediately, Derek moved toward Gerald while in the void. His enemies were all near frozen, all displaying various emotions as they looked on and listened to Derek and Edgar. But the Shadow Witch was quick.

As Derek moved through the void, her eyes tracked him, and her body moved too. Not as fast as Edgar or as easily as Alanah, but she was the real deal. It didn’t matter to Derek, though. Edgar said he would deal with the woman, and after feeling his aura earlier, he had faith in the man. Edgar must have noticed what was happening too, because as soon as the woman began moving, he moved as well.

Derek shifted out of the void the moment he was between Avery and Gerald. As soon as he had full control of his body again, he channeled the void into his fist and used Multi-Strike as he threw a short, compact punch right into Gerald’s armor covered gut.

His fist landed on the armor and a dull ring sounded out. Everyone looked down at Derek’s fist. Nothing happened. Gerald even cracked a smile.

“Is that it?” The man taunted.

Derek just grinned. His void punch seemed to have that same delayed effect on everything he hit with it. Derek only hoped that using Multi-Strike with it this time wasn’t going to be too much for the former advisor to live through. They said he had a ton of Vitality, so he should be fine… he hoped.

Then, after a couple of seconds, Gerald doubled over and it seemed that a waterfall of crimson flooded out of his mouth. The man then fell to his knees and continued vomiting.

While everyone was stunned, Derek showed off his next trick. Faster than ever before, he ripped the void to the side of him open and pushed open a door. He grabbed the injured Gerald by the back of his neck and tossed him inside. Quickly, he pulled the door shut and closed the void. It was almost like there was never anything there.

Derek looked around. “What? I told you all that this was going to be a fair fight. Three on three… that’s what I said.”

He looked over his shoulder at Edgar, who was one of the only two who hadn’t been shocked silent. The man had triggered his movement ability just behind Derek and moved between him and the Shadow Witch, blocking her from stopping whatever Derek planned on doing.

The two remaining enemies chose that moment to react. Vines shot up and wrapped around Derek’s lower body, and sharp spikes of stones hurled through the air at him. Derek knew making his move would leave him wide open to attacks, but he trusted in his Endurance and Vitality.

However, Derek was not strong enough to break the grasp of the vines yet. He made a mental note to work on that, and to watch out for crowd control skills in future battles.

He wasn’t worried, though, because the instant that Edgar began his battle with the Shadow Witch, she had to break her hold on Avery. The man may have had trouble with the shadows holding him in place, but as soon as they were gone, his daggers made short work of the vines.

Derek allowed the spikes to hit him, choosing only to cover his face and chest with his arms. He wanted to protect his vitals, just in case the attack was stronger than it seemed. It wasn’t.

In a flash, Avery was in front of Derek and the vines holding him in place were destroyed. Derek smiled at Avery and nodded. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” The man said. “I’ll take care of the half elf.” He flashed away and began his assault on the plant user.

Derek nodded and focused on the earth user. “Looks like it’s you and me, big guy.”