System Change

“So…” Derek started. “Would you mind telling us everything you know about the Champions and their current situation?”

“You would want me to betray and turn on my own allies?” Jace looked at Derek with mock shock in his eyes.

Derek snorted. “Says the guy who killed a lizard—which I can only assume was the Champion called Wri—then tried to get my bonded companion to cook his tail…”

“Well… if you put it that way…” Jace shrugged. “What do you want to know?”

“Well…” Derek rolled his eyes. “What do you know about the remaining Champions?”

“Hmm… let me pull up the list…” Jace said. “Let’s see… I don’t know anything in depth about most of them, but I do know some basics that I’ve overheard, I guess.”

“Let’s hear them.”

“Well… Amelia is the strongest, obviously. As far as I know, she can control gravity in a number of different ways. I want to fight her the most, but I’m not sure if I can beat her…” Jace licked his lips. “But I don’t think you would have a problem. If you can survive all the force that her skill uses, then you have a chance. But she can also use it to manipulate her own body and move very quickly… at least, that’s what I hear. And she is the Champion that I know most about because I want to fight her one day.”

“That’s just about what I gathered when I talked to The Queen’s guards,” Derek said. What Jace told him only confirmed his suspicions. “What about the Great Ul’oc?” he asked.

“He’s a bug,” Jace said. “Ul’oc is an insect race. His name is Xephos. I think he’s a summoner.”

“A summoner?”

“Yeah… but that’s all I know,” Jace replied. “I did know a bit about Jakis, but it doesn’t look like any of that matters. Silent Night is a cat-person whose name is Briya. Fast, glass-cannon assassin as far as I know.”

“That checks out,” Derek replied. “A couple of our Guardians had a run-in with her. She didn’t fare well in the exchange.”

“Oh, really?” Jace asked with interest. “Are they strong? The Guardians? Would they be a fun fight?”

“I think they would,” Derek said. “If you don’t cheat and build up that Battlelust before you go in, Avery would definitely be down for a fun spar. Braxton… I have actually never seen him go all out. There’s a chance that he’s as strong as Amelia.”

“Sounds fun!”

“Yeah… but later,” Derek replied. “What about Holcom?”

“He’s a little blue guy like Darvin,” Jace said. “Darvin is like… the overseer of the system and council or something along those lines. Holcom is probably the system’s best psionic. He does all that telekinetic stuff and mind-damaging things. He is the one who’s been fixing the communication and teleporters and things like that for the invaders.”

“I see,” Derek said. “What else?”

“Wri was a pretty balanced lizard, all things considered,” Jace said. “His scales were actually a lot tougher than I thought they were going to be.” He paused for a moment, then continued, “It looks like you already took care of the horse guy.”

“Yeah,” Derek replied. “Pretty tanky. I was not a good match for him.”

“I think that the Shield guy is Cuthos… big, four-armed fellow. Tough and strong, probably on par with the centaur,” Jace said. “Azureblade… not sure. Dumb name. Probably Kelvin. His fire glows blue when he gets really hot. I’m sure you already know that you don’t need to worry about him. Besides, you said you already have a lock on him.”

“Yup,” Derek said.

“Now…” Jace actually got serious for a moment. “Trischa is the one you have to worry about. She is one of the main reasons that I don’t try to fight the council.”

“Why? What’s so special about her?” Derek asked.

“Her power is null,” Jace said. “She is weak as hell, and I could probably beat her as I am now if it were one-on-one. But she’s a support specialist. She can nullify powers. That means that if she’s around and I build up my Bloodlust… she can just strip it and any skills that require it away. Which means that my recovery would be gone, and I’d be dead.”

“That… sounds overpowered,” Derek said.

“Says the guy who wiped the floor with me while I was in my strongest state…” Jace snorted. “But no… she requires someone strong to be with her. Someone has to protect her while she nullifies the area.”

“The area?” Derek asked. “What do you mean?”

“Her power isn’t single target,” Jace said. “I actually did some research on her because… well… I already told you… she makes it hard to have a good fight. But what I found out was that she… targets a power. So… if you use a void skill, then she can make the entire area incapable of supporting the void. She is absolutely a beast on the Planetary Battlefields.”

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Why is that?”

“Because, just like dungeons, most of the battlefield beasts have a particular power set,” Jace explained. “The planets are usually taken over by just a few strong beast species who conquer all the other lowly beasts. Therefore, you’ll run into a den of wind wolves with an alpha wind wolf or a hive of giant stinging lightning bees. Stuff like that. She can just go in, use her powers, then her soldiers can go in and clean up safely.”

“I see…” Derek replied. “How many affinities… err… powers… can she nullify at once?”

“Not sure,” Jace replied. “I wasn’t able to get that info. One is all that I’ve ever heard of, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see that she can completely nullify two. I would really doubt that she could do three at once, though.”

“What about cold hard stats?” Derek asked. “Can she nullify my strength stat? Or my endurance?”

“No, I don’t believe her skills work on natural strength or recovery,” Jace said with a shake of his head. “But if someone is a pure strength build and all his skills use specifically their strength stat, I think she can take away all strength-based skills.”

“I think I understand,” Derek replied. “She could definitely be a problem…” He rubbed his chin in thought. If he attacked the Stronghold by himself, and Trischa was there, she could nullify his void powers. That would limit his firepower immensely. He would lose his ability to channel the void into his attacks, and he would also lose skills like Void Shift, Void Steps, and even Void Travel. I wonder if she can shut the portal created by Void Travel, or if I could leave it open as an escape route.

If she can’t close the tear in space herself, then, if, say… Kelvin made it back to the Stronghold, I could travel in, get a good look at everyone, then leave. That way, I would have the ability to attack any Champion at any time. But if she is able to close it as soon as I step through… Also, that… I don’t think I would want Silvi to come try to help. She would lose most of her abilities other than her dragon fire.

What else could I do? I could bring Marrick, but if Trischa can really target more than just one affinity to nullify… he’d be a sitting duck as soon as his sand is gone. The same is true for most people… But I do still have my massive stat advantage against anyone, and I happen to have a lot of skills that don’t use void. Wait… I think…

“What are you thinking?” Marrick asked.

“I was thinking about the best plan of action… the way to win with the least amount of casualties…” Derek said, then turned to Jace. “How well do you think they would all hold up against my spatial attacks?”

“The box that disappears organs and the big slice that comes from behind? The one that is a bitch to heal even with my full regeneration?”

“Those are the ones,” Derek said.

“I don’t think anyone would want to deal with them,” Jace replied. “Spatial attacks are rare… because those two are the only ones I’ve ever seen.”

“I see…” Derek said. Then… if I keep Greater Meditation on, I shouldn’t have a problem surviving… hopefully. If she takes away my void… then takes away spatial attacks… I still have a lot of brute force. Also, if I can get her to use all her abilities on void and space… then I could bring in some backup.

“You know…” Jace said, catching Derek’s attention. “If you plan to hit them all at once, I’m coming, right? I’ve been itching to get my hands on the council for a long time now. Also, you don’t have to think of the perfect plan right this instant.”

“Why is that?”

“Because I’m sure there’s still time until Holcom has all the Champions gathered. You wouldn’t want to attack before then, would you? I can only imagine the pain in the ass it would be if I had to try to find a single Champion hiding on this planet.”

“That… is true,” Derek replied.

“Then it’s settled,” David clapped his hands and leaned forward. “We will take all the information we have and work out a plan while we wait.”

“But how will we know when they have all gathered?” Marrick asked.

“I could always answer one of the thousand calls and messages to me,” Jace replied, pointing to the bracelet on his wrist that was actually buzzing at that very moment. “We could also have a little fun with it, too,” he said.

“Fun, how?” Derek asked.

“They seem to be very adamant about bringing me in to help them,” Jace said. “I could always feed them some bad information.”

“How would that help?” Derek asked.

“Well…” Jace muttered. “It probably wouldn’t. But it would be fun fucking with Darvin. I think I may tell him all about the Ascending Monarch’s abilities so they can prepare.”

“So they don’t know it’s me?” Derek asked.

“I’m sure they suspect,” Jace said with a shrug. “But…” he turned to David and said, “If your granddaughter and her team took out the scouts before Derek appeared, then I doubt they know for sure. And I have firsthand fought the Ascending Monarch. And I lost.”

“They have assured me that they took in the captive invaders well before the fight,” David said.

“I chased Amelia, though,” Derek said.

“But did you catch her?” Jace asked. “And if you didn’t, did she ever see you?”

“No, but that stupid ‘pull’ or whatever definitely showed her that I could travel through space,” Derek replied. “And Kelvin and Darvin both know that I am able to do that.” Derek scratched his chin again. “Not to mention that multiple invaders from the other continent have already seen me. If they have been able to communicate with them at all, then they will know.”

“That… could be a problem, then,” Jace said. “How many saw you, and were they high up?”

“I don’t know,” Derek answered. “Not too many, but I did stop and talk to a few while looking for Jakis. There were also those that I sent packing after fighting the centaur.”

“Well…” Jace muttered. “We could just tell them that it was you. I could make it seem like you were weaker than you are—that it took all three of you to beat me, but I was still able to escape. I could act like I really need to fight you again.”

“Do you really think they would believe you? Kelvin knows I’m strong.”

“Look at me.” Jace motioned to his ghoulish figure. He still looked like he was going to fall over dead at any moment. “How could they not believe that I’m pissed off and want to fight you? I’m always pissed off and wanting to fight. And Kelvin is a weak idiot. Weak idiots can’t actually gauge the strength of someone strong. They can only compare them to themselves. And Darvin and the others now know that I’m very strong. They have the Stronghold and one less lizard as proof.”

“That… is also true,” Derek said with a snort.

“But,” Jace continued. “Most of all, if I give them information while ‘healing my wounds somewhere far away,’ then they will be more likely to let me know when all the Champions are in the same place. Then we can do whatever plan you guys cook up. It’s a win-win, and I can’t wait to see the look on everyone’s faces when I show up and they realize I’m on the wrong side.”

“Actually…” Derek said. “I may have some ideas about how to help sell it. How would you feel about taking a Spatial Rend to the chest?”

“In my current state?” Jace asked. “It would probably feel pretty damn bad. But if I get to prank call Darvin… it would be totally worth it.”