System Change

The countdown struck zero, and all the arrays throughout the kingdom brightened so much that even Derek wanted to take his eyes away from the sight. He didn’t, however, take his eyes off the arrays. He wanted to see if he could learn anything about them at all.

Surprisingly, he did. One of the arrays didn’t light up as much as the others. I bet that fewer people were sent to that one, he thought. I wonder if that is just a coincidence or if it means that stronger people were sent to that one instead… probably just a coincidence, he finally thought after thinking about it for a bit. If the brightness was based on the number of people that arrived, then that could be bad.

That was a hell of a lot of people just at the very start, he thought. He also saw that once the bright light disappeared, small flashes throughout the arrays continued—most likely due to those hesitant or late to accept the teleportation. The notifications didn’t say anything about how long they would have to come.

About that time, a notification appeared in front of Derek’s eyes.

The Invasion Has Begun!

Good Luck!

I guess that’s it, he thought.

“So it begins,” Avery said as he walked to the top of the wall with Derek.

“Looks like it,” Derek replied.“What’s the plan?” Avery asked. “We still defending until we know some things?”

“Sort of,” Derek said. “There’s a theory that I want to check out real quick. After that, I’ll be right back. But it will be fine,” he continued. “Silvi is staying here right now, and we have you and Braxi.”

“You’re the boss,” Avery replied. “You can go do what you want to do.”

“In that case,” Derek said. “I’ll see you soon.” With that, Derek jumped off the wall and into the sky. With Void Steps active, he used Powerstride while in the air and made a beeline to the array that had been ever so slightly dimmer than the others.

***

“Dammit!” Darvin yelled as Amelia explained the notification that she’d gotten as a Champion to him. “So, the Champions can’t stay inside the safe zone? They only have twenty minutes to leave it until they are forcefully kicked out?”

“That is the gist of it, yes,” Amelia said.

“But it is fine with the other non-Champions?” Darvin asked.

“I do not know,” Amelia said. “I only received the notification as a Champion. But I imagine that if there was such a thing for the others, you would have gotten a notification about it since you are not a Champion.”

“True,” Darvin replied. The teleportation for the Champions had also been forceful. As soon as the countdown struck zero, they had all disappeared. Seeing that, Darvin had accepted his own prompt.

He’d gotten lucky in the fact that when he appeared on the new planet, Amelia was also there. Out of all his Champions, she was the easiest to deal with and the strongest. Darvin took a breath, then tried to send a message to all of his other Champions through his bracelet.

“That will not work,” Amelia said when she noticed what the man was trying to do. “Either communications are completely scrambled, or we must exit this safe zone before the systems will allow it. I suspect that it is the latter.”

“We’ll see,” Darvin said. “How long do you have?”

“Six minutes before I’m forcefully removed from the safe zone,” Amelia said. “And I would rather not be forcefully removed, so I’m going to go.”

“Right behind you,” Darvin said, and they, along with many others who were strong and recognized the two, marched towards the edge of the mana circle, then outside of it.

As soon as Darvin stepped out, he checked his bracelet and was flooded with a sense of relief. “It works,” he said. “You were correct.” At that moment, he began rapidly sending messages to all the Champions. They would need to take over a fortified structure or city—maybe even one of the Strongholds if they wanted to chance it. After that, they would be able to wait and see how the battle plays out with everyone else.

***

As Derek drew closer to the array that had been dimmer than the others, he slowed in his approach. He didn’t want to overshoot it with Powerstride, so he continued on using only Void Steps. Soon enough, he was close enough to see people slowly moving outside it. He stopped.

It looks like they are forming groups, he thought. There’s not too much organization, so most of them must be adventurers or something. From his position, he kicked the void and moved higher and higher into the air so he wouldn’t be seen.

From such a height, he was able to get a better read on the situation. However, he’d forgotten one thing about the rule of the invasion. All Guardians could be sensed by everyone. Though probably not more than a dot in the sky, he saw multiple people tilt their heads up in confusion. With his stats, there was no doubt that he could see better than anyone other than those with Eagle Eye-type abilities—like hunters and scouts.

Still, a handful of people were looking straight at him. Some were even pointing. Derek clicked his tongue. Whoops, he thought. Then, he used Void Shift and pulled himself to the other side. The same thing played out a few times until a man grew enough courage and flew into the air toward him. Instead of shifting again, Derek waited for him to arrive.

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“So, you are one of these Guardians?” the scrawny man asked.

Derek quickly Identified him and saw that he wasn’t a Champion, so he wasn’t someone he needed to speak to. Instead, he quickly used Silvi’s Active Void Shift, appeared directly in front of the surprised man, and then hit him in the stomach with a void-covered fist.

The man let out a gasp of breath and began to fall. Derek winced as he’d fallen just from the punch. It’s going to suck for him when the… oh… there it is. The hit from the void finally kicked in, and the falling man now let out a bright crimson trail as he fell. “At least the gravity is the same and hitting the ground at terminal velocity won’t kill you!” Derek shouted at him as he fell. “Probably…”

Hmm… Derek frowned as he moved around the array. Maybe there isn’t a Champion around here? After the man crashed to the ground, nobody else tried to fly up to Derek. A few spells and arrows were shot at him, but they were easy enough to dodge without wasting any energy. This allowed Derek to get closer and begin using Identify on one person after another—looking for a Champion.

Derek clicked his tongue and prepared to go back to Savannah. However, just as he was about to leave, he saw another group of people walk out of the circle. First, five rows of heavily armored level 250 soldier-looking figures marched out in file. He thought of them as soldier-looking figures, as there were multiple races within the group—just as there had been around the array. There were bugs, animal-looking men, giants that would give Ogre a run for his money, and many others. As he saw them, Derek’s mouth curved up into a grin. None of them are Champions, but… don’t generals lead from the back?

Sure enough, after the fourth row of soldiers walked out, a single figure strolled out behind them. Now that’s a champion if I’ve ever seen one. The man had to have been the size of one of the Ogre-like giants. But instead of being a giant, he had four legs and four arms. That’s… what were those called again? A… satyr… right?

Derek couldn’t quite remember what they were called. He remembered that some had the body of horses, and some had the body of goats. Doesn’t really matter, Derek thought as he saw the figure’s head turn towards him and smile. Derek quickly identified the figure.

Male Centaur (Champion)

No other information can be provided due to the creature being a user of another system.

Ah! Derek thought. That’s right! It’s a centaur. I wonder if he would be mad if I called him a goat… As those thoughts ran through Derek’s head, the smile on his face grew wider and wider. He waited a bit longer as he watched the soldiers form up around the centaur. At least I know exactly what it looks like to see a Champion, he thought. He sighed. I hope he won’t be able to run back into the mana circle. The notifications said that I won’t be able to chase him inside if he does… oh well… let’s see if we can’t start this thing with just nine Champions remaining.

Derek took a deep breath in, summoned Harbinger, then shifted into the void.

***

Avery was standing atop the wall, just as Derek had been earlier. He was watching out into the distance—making sure that no enemies were approaching. With his eyes, there was no doubt that he was the best person in the entire kingdom for the job. So far, nobody had come close enough for him to see them. He even shot into the sky occasionally and checked in each direction, even though other archers and hunters were also scouting.

I wonder what Derek is doing, he thought to himself.

Minutes after that thought crossed his mind, he felt an odd need to check the invasion status. With that feeling, he pulled it up.

Invasion Status

Strongholds

Savannah

Ashgarde

Virendell

Eloria

Active

Active

Under Attack

Active

Guardians

Champions

Ascending Monarch

Braxi

Old Goblin

Sir Brandt

Vendra

Aria

Big Sparky

Osian

Siren’s Second

The Queen

In Battle

Active

Active

Active

In Battle

In Battle

Active

Active

Active

Active

Amelia

Great Ul’oc

Jakis

Silent Night

Holcom

Wri

The Indomitable

Shield

Azureblade

Trischa

Active

Active

Active

Active

Active

Active

In Battle

Active

Active

Active

Invasion Time Remaining: 89 Days 23 Hours 42 Minutes

Oh, wow… Avery thought with a gulp. That is much more information than I thought it was going to give me. He’d seen that all the Strongholds and Chosen had the word ‘Active’ next to their names before and wondered about it. I thought that it was just going to show whether we were still in the fight or not. Active or Inactive. But… it shows when people are in battle or when Strongholds are under attack? This… I think this is better for us than it is for the other side. We’ll know where to go to support people at least.

He scanned the status again and frowned. Who is Derek fighting? Is it The Indomitable? He’s the only Champion in battle right now. That Vendra and Aria are both in battle, but it doesn’t seem to be against any Champion. Are those two defending Virendell since it’s under attack? Avery had so many questions, but none of them could currently be answered.

“I can’t believe he ran off and picked himself a fight after telling us that we were going to be defending,” Braxton’s voice sounded out from behind Avery. “What a hypocrite.”

“He saw something and wanted to go check it out,” Avery said. “And if it’s him fighting one of their Champions, then things might just get ten percent easier for us real soon.”

“Yeah, yeah… whatever,” Braxton took a drink of his brew. “They need to hurry up and attack us. I really want to defend.” The dwarf hiccuped, then held his jar out to Avery. “You want a drink?” He drew in closer and motioned for Avery to bring his head down into whispering range. “This is the King’s Brew. You ain’t getting another chance.”

“I’m not much of a drinker,” Avery said. “But… if it is the King’s Brew…”

***

Ten minutes ago…

Virendell

“This is great!” Aria licked her lips and smiled. “First, everyone was scared of us and we couldn’t even show our faces inside the cities. Now we are Guardians and heroes. Vendra and Aria! The saviors of Vorandell. Sounds a lot better than the Killer Twins, Murdering Maniacs, and all that other shit people used to call us.”

“They want us to kill now,” Vendra snorted. “Anything to save themselves. Once this is finished, we’ll show them…”

“But look!” Aria motioned behind her at the small Vorandell army that had been sent to support them. “We get to lead people! At least it’s not boring like usual anymore.”

“Whatever,” Vendra said. “When are these Champions going to come attack?”

“What about him?” Aria asked as she pointed into the distance at a lone figure. “Is he a Champion?”

“I dunno,” Vendra said before identifying the figure. “Nope. Just a human from the other system.”

“He’s from the other system?” Aria asked. “Can we catch him? I love information gathering.”

“Of course we can,” Vendra said as she watched the man break off into a run. He had an odd crimson glow around him, and he drew two blades from his back. “Oh look! He’s attacking both of us and an army. What an idio—” The man disappeared and reappeared instantly, standing only a couple of inches in front of Vendra’s face. The heat radiating off his body was extremely uncomfortable, and some of the soldiers behind them fell to the ground from his aura.

“You two are Champions?” the man asked with a grin that would put Aria’s to shame. “Tell me… where is Derek Hunt? I have something for him.”