System Change

“I wouldn’t do that,” Derek said as he looked down at the red hand clenching his wrist.

“I would rather not, as well,” Kelvin said. “But I was sent down here with a mission, and with my current position, I have been ordered to eliminate the threat.” He glanced at the bracelet on his hand, which Derek saw was flashing.

“This won’t end well for you,” Derek said. “And honestly, I was kind of starting to like you.” He shook his head.

“You don’t seem so bad yourself,” Kelvin said, then flicked his free wrist—causing a sword to appear in his hand. A moment later, the sword glowed red-hot, then even turned white, then blue with the heat. The same was true for the hand gripping Derek’s wrist.

Derek could feel the heat eating through his skin and even starting to affect his muscles. He shook his head as he saw the steam rising. “You really don’t want to do that,” Derek said. “I didn’t want to create any problems coming here. Just visiting an old friend.”

“You’d have to tell that to Darvin,” Kelvin said with a sigh. “I already tried while we were speaking. Seems like he thinks you are a problem.”

“I have no clue who that is,” Derek said. “But it seems that he wants you to die.” He grinned, showing his teeth. “Have you done anything to piss that person off lately?”

Kelvin didn’t speak. Instead, he was concentrating intensely on Derek’s wrist. The longer things went, the more furrowed the man’s brow became.

“Not burning as well as you would like?” Derek asked with a chuckle. Instead of answering, Kelvin whipped the arm holding the sword back and stabbed it forward.

Derek had just enough time to enter Void Shift. He kicked slightly off a ripple, turning his body perfectly before the sword reached him, then ended the shift. One thing he could say was that Kelvin’s grip was out of this world. Even when shifted, Derek wasn’t able to pull himself away. Though he preferred the intense heat over the frozen grip that the King of Astrus had previously.Neither exactly felt good, but the heat didn’t have the stiffness that came with the cold. Though… he may actually be stronger than that man, Derek thought. King Tevarian was very strong—one of the few who could actually change his entire body to his element, and Derek would have had trouble if Silvi hadn’t been there to turn him into a puddle.

Though Derek was even stronger now than he was back then, and there was a chance that Kelvin wouldn’t be able to turn his body into lava or fire, or whatever his element was. At best, he has a legendary class, but most likely, he is like Avery was with his epic class. Derek had no idea what kind of permanent stat increases the man could have in the Universal System.

“I’m telling you…” Derek said. “It won’t end well.” Really, he was afraid of any consequences that Earth Silvi might end up with if he really fought back against Kelvin. At the same time, he was also sort of happy that Kelvin made a move. He wanted to see what the power level of someone on the ‘council’ was before everything else went down, but he wasn’t going to make the first move.

“You…” Kelvin said as his eyes shot up and he looked from the position that Derek’s body had just been in to the one it was in now. Derek hadn’t used Void Shift like that since he sparred with Shae back when he had much less strength.

Derek glanced behind him and saw that Earth Silvi was sweating profusely, and the same was true for Gerard. In fact, Silvi’s near porcelain skin was beginning to turn the same shade of red as Kelvin’s own.

“If we’re going to do this,” Derek said calmly, which disturbed Kelvin even more. “We should take this outside… far away from the city. I’d rather not unintentionally hurt more people than needed. Unless, of course, you don’t care about innocent bystanders. You did, after all, come to make sure the city wasn’t destroyed, right? I’d hate for you to be the cause of it actually happening.”

Kelvin stared deeply into Derek’s eyes, then looked at Silvi and Gerard. He also glanced behind him as the door he had come in through opened, and the twins were standing there, staring in shock. “Fine! Do you swear you won’t run?” Kelvin looked down at Derek’s wrist again.

“You don’t have to worry about me running,” Derek said with a chuckle.

“Okay…” Kelvin let go of Derek’s wrist but didn’t let his guard down.

“Lead the way,” Derek said, and Kelvin turned to walk out.

When he reached the door, Kelvin shouted, “Move!” and the twins from Silvi’s team quickly got out of the way.

“It was nice seeing you again,” Derek said after turning to see the panting Silvi and struggling Gerard. “You all take care.”

“Bye… Derek,” Silvi said. “Be careful. He’s strong.”

“If you say so,” Derek replied, then walked out, passing the twins and giving them a nod in the process.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

A couple of minutes later, Derek found himself and Silvi standing in the middle of an open field just outside the city of Charlotte with Kelvin. No sneak attacks again or anything, Derek thought.

“You know,” Derek said to the man, “I can give you one more chance. You can just say you tried, but we escaped. No harm, no foul.”

“If only it were that easy,” Kelvin said and glanced down at his bracelet again, then gave Silvi, who was still on Derek’s shoulder, a hesitant glance. “I’d rather not lose my position on the council. I like having it, but I doubt Darvin would think twice about stripping it from me if I don’t at least try.”

“So you really did piss the guy off!” Derek said with a smile.

“Yes,” he admitted. “All because of that damned Jace Whitaker.”

“I’d like to hear that story,” Derek said.

“No,” Kelvin replied. “We’ve wasted enough time.”

“Suit yourself,” Derek said with a shrug. Then, “Silvi, leave this to me.”

“Kay!” his companion said, then hopped off his shoulder and onto a pot lid to float around. “When finished… can I coo…”

“No!”

“Just kidding!” Silvi’s childlike voice rang out as she began zooming around the field. Kelvin’s eyes followed the bunny, but he didn’t say anything. However, Derek could tell that the man was very wary.

“She won’t interfere,” Derek said. “You have my word.”

“Very well,” Kelvin replied, then re-summoned his sword.

Derek held his arm out and nodded to his wrist. “Should we continue where we left off?”

“You…” Kelvin shook his head. “No, go ahead and prepare.”

“If you say so,” Derek said, then with a thought, he summoned his wyvern armor onto himself, and Harbinger appeared in his right hand. Once again, Kelvin’s eyes widened in shock. “What?” Derek asked. “Never killed dragons before?”

“Dragons?” Kelvin shook his head. “No… but drakes and wyverns… yes.”

“Solo?” Derek asked, but Kelvin didn’t answer.

“Just… where…” Kelvin muttered, but stopped mid-sentence. Instead of continuing, the same burning aura appeared around him, and his sword changed back to a searing blue. “Come on.” The man took a fighting stance.

“One second,” Derek said, causing the crimson man to falter. “When I beat you, nothing is going to happen to my acquaintances back there, right?”

“No,” Kelvin said. “You do not need to worry about them. They are insignificant, and Darvin will not hurt others to get back at you. He is… honorable.”

“Good,” Derek said. “Now, go ahead. Show me what you’ve got.”

Without another word, Kelvin swiped forward, and an arc of molten lava shot out of his sword, with the man following directly behind it. Derek smiled and quickly summoned Absolute Nullify to block the attack, then dismissed it as soon as it hit.

With a smirk, Derek stepped forward and blocked Kelvin’s first attack with the staff of his glaive. “Nice,” Derek said. Not to the attack, but to Harbinger. It lost a little durability in the clash with the molten weapon, but less than Derek expected.

Kelvin drew his sword back, then sliced out again and again. Soon, the two fell into a pattern of attacks and blocks. Derek seemed to be intently focused on the battle, but in reality, he was watching his surroundings too, and it didn’t go unnoticed that small heat pockets were forming around the two.

Suddenly, Kelvin jumped back, and the pockets came to life. They opened almost like a spatial attack, and blue jets of fire streamed out towards Derek. Derek smiled and activated Absolute Nullify again. Just as the jets of fire reached him, they curved as if magnetized and were absorbed by his skill… much to Kelvin’s dismay.

“Just a note,” Derek said with a grin. “Ranged magic… doesn’t work… will never work.” With that, Derek finally summoned his aura. The whites of his eyes turned the deep purple of the void, and even his already purple-tinted hair took on a deeper color. “I am the void,” Derek said as he licked his lips.

Kelvin’s eyes bugged out of his head, and in a whisper, he muttered, “Monster…” Then, his eyes fell on the wall created by Derek’s nullify skill, and he said, “Just like Trischa.”

“What was that?” Derek asked. “Trischa?”

“No—nothing…” Kelvin said. “You have… quite the aura.”

“It’s passable,” Derek said with a shrug, then he nodded at Silvi. “Her aura is just as strong, in case you were wondering.”

Kelvin took a moment to glance at Derek’s companion—who was still floating on her pot lid, but now had a dish of food in front of her that she was feeding to herself with her Mage Hand. The crimson-colored human gulped.

“So… what do you think?” Derek asked rhetorically. “My turn?” His eyes glimmered as he didn’t wait for an answer. In less than a second, he stored Harbinger—the weapon was overkill in their fight—and one of his throwaway daggers appeared in his hand. With a quick slash into the air, a small space opened behind the man.

His skill with the attack was much better than before, and the space opened with next to no distance between it and Kelvin. This meant that the attack barely had to travel before landing—nearly undetected—on the man’s back.

Kelvin cried out as the full force of Spatial Rend landed in the center of his back—creating a terrible wound. What was worse was that Derek knew the wound created by Spatial Rend was not one that could be healed easily—at least if Kelvin’s body was anything like the others who had taken the attack.

Next, Derek waved his hand and winced. Kelvin was too distracted to notice the Spatial Collapse appearing around his lower leg. I hope they can grow things back, Derek thought as he watched the skill activate and separate the man’s shin from his ankle. Again, Kelvin cried out, then, with Active Void Shift, Derek disappeared.

Reappearing in front of the agonizing man once again, Derek encased his fist in void energy. He opted not to use Multi-Strike this time when he punched out. Derek’s fist hit the man directly in the solar plexus, then he pulled back. As always, the attack didn’t seem to do much—though his strength was now more than enough to cause the man to double over in pain.

Then, Kelvin looked up at Derek and opened his mouth to speak. Instead, Derek shook his head and raised three fingers. Then, to Kelvin’s confusion, he lowered one, then another. Finally, his last finger went down, and Kelvin’s eyes widened in horror. A jet of blood exploded from the man’s mouth, and he fell over.

With everything he could muster, Kelvin managed to roll over onto his back. Derek took a step forward and looked at the defeated man. “I told you,” Derek said. “You really didn’t want to do that.”

Derek watched as a potion that brought back memories appeared in the crimson man’s hand. It was the same Resurrection Potion that he was all too familiar with. The man struggled to bring the potion to his lips, but before he could, Derek placed a foot on his arm—pinning it to the ground.

“Should I really let you do that?” Derek asked.

Kelvin looked at him and opened his mouth, but didn’t speak. Derek wasn’t sure if he didn’t speak because he couldn’t or because he refused. Instead, Kelvin drew in a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes.

Derek said, “Remember what you said.” Then he reached down and grabbed the potion out of the man’s hand. “No harm will come to Silvi or the others. If I find out any did, neither you nor anyone else on your council will be safe.” Derek brought the potion to Kelvin’s mouth and then poured it in. “And trust me, I will find out.”