System Change

“You seem awfully fond of Jace,” Derek said. “At least… you seem more interested in him than I’ve seen you before—other than your interest in Brandi, of course.”

“I’ve known my fair share of Jaces in my long life,” Marrick replied with a shrug. “They are dependable because you know exactly what they want. They are the type that you rarely have to worry about betraying you. Those like that man… those who crave battle and thus, friendship through battle… they are good allies to have. Unfortunately, they tend to get in over their heads and lose their lives. I have never seen someone like him make it to the top before dying, but he may be an exception.

“The man is battle-crazed, but even with such abilities, he is not suicidal. That is rarer than you know,” Marrick explained. “Most like him will rush in with no strategy and thus, no hope of winning, but he goes in looking for a good fight. And to him, a good fight doesn’t happen if he is significantly underpowered compared to his opponent. Of course, it seems that you are an exception because you enjoy the fight, too—to the point where you remove armor and hold back just to feel it.” Marrick shook his head. “Don’t think I didn’t see the joy on your face during the times that he made you bleed and even pushed you to use that movement skill of yours.”

“So, you think he can make it to the top? Whatever that is?”

“Maybe,” Marrick replied. “If his berserker abilities don’t get too far out of hand, and he keeps his somewhat strategic mind, it could be possible. Though I do not know what it would look like for someone like him to be in such a position. Perhaps they would die of boredom once nobody is able to harm them any longer.”

“You think?” Derek asked.

“I believe that is why he is drawn to you,” Marrick said. “Because there is a good chance that even if he makes it to the top, you could already be there. From what I have learned in the days that I’ve spoken with him, even though your positions were reversed back when you were in the same place as him, you never gave up, and you always fought. Now he is in the position to chase, and I believe he finds that a fun, new change of pace.”

“I… guess,” Derek replied with a shrug. “I never thought about what we were doing like that. He mostly just came in, kicked my ass, made fun of me for losing, then left. But now that you mention it, our fights were closer than they should have been a few times.”

“You were a constant that he could fall back on when he couldn’t satiate his lust for battle,” Marrick said. “Now you have become his constant again, but the roles are reversed. It is no wonder that someone like him would consider you his best friend.” Marrick placed his hands behind his back, then looked to the ceiling. The man looked serene as he let out a longing sigh, then finally said, “The two of you are both idiots of epic proportions.”

After that, Marrick turned and left. Just as he was about to say something back, he heard Marrick’s voice again. “You definitely weren’t hearing things this time.” Finally, the door closed behind the Old Goblin, and Derek was left in the room with only David remaining.

“I don’t know what to say about that…” Derek muttered as he turned his head and found the other old man looking at him with a bemused expression.

“No comment,” David said, and then also left, leaving Derek all alone.

“Those bastards,” Derek clicked his tongue. “Teaming up on me like that…” Derek huffed, then rolled his eyes. I don’t know if that put me in a good mood or a bad mood, he thought. Either way… there is one thing I need to do that will definitely give me some joy. He reached out and used Void Travel to rip a tear in space. After covering his storage devices with a void shield, he stepped inside, found his target, and took a step toward it.

Soon after, Derek was standing above his target’s aura. This trip is much easier than it was the last time I did this, he thought as he reached out, tore an exit into the void, and jumped out. Multiple figures looked at Derek as his feet landed on the ground.

“Der…” one of the figures started to say something, but Derek was moving quickly. He placed his hand on a shoulder, covered a figure in the void, then made to jump back into the void.

“We’ll be back later!” he called out just as he closed the tear in space. Not long after, he was closing the entrance he’d created before, and an elf stood in front of him with a flabbergasted expression on his face.

“Why me? Why again?” the man cried out.

“This time was purely strategic,” Derek replied. I do see why Dave might find kidnaping me amusing, though, he thought. “Your brother actually couldn’t help this time because he is a Guardian, so you really are the best option this time. Aren’t you lucky?”

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“What is this duke supposed to do this time?” Ryven asked in an exasperated tone.

“Well… you remember when you attacked Savannah?”

“Uh… yes…” Ryven looked down at his shoes, with some shame appearing on his face.

“Well, Alanah told me all about that,” Derek said. “You were able to cut off teleportation and communications and stuff with your barriers, right?”

“I… can,” Ryven replied. “It requires a bit of setup, but I am better at that part than even my brother.”

“Great!” Derek said. “Looks like I really did pick the right elf again. I’m two for two when it comes to choosing the right elf for the job.” He then told Ryven about his part in the plan. He didn’t bother with any of the other details, as the man didn’t need to know them. He had one job and wouldn’t have to bother with anything else.

“That should be doable,” Ryven replied with a shrug. “In fact… it shouldn’t be too hard at all. As long as I’m not interrupted, I can disrupt communications for as long as you want. Teleportation is harder and takes a lot more out of me, but I could do that too.”

“I don’t think I’ll need you to block any teleportation,” Derek said. “Besides, I don’t want my traveling ability to interfere with anything.”

“It doesn’t…” Ryven replied. “You’ve just appeared multiple times while we’ve had teleportation blocking barriers in place. You don’t interfere with them, and they don’t interfere with you… apparently. Unless you have noticed something that I have not.”

“Oh… nope,” Derek replied with a shrug. “Still don’t think we’ll need it. As long as I do everything right, we won’t have to worry about anyone teleporting out. In fact, if they do teleport out… then that won’t be a problem, either.”

“I see,” Ryven said. “So… you are planning on ending this invasion soon.”

“Oh… very… very soon,” Derek said.

“That’s good,” the duke said with a nod. “But… uh… do you need me to stay here? I think my brother and the others are going to wonder what’s going on.”

“Eh… let them wonder.” Derek smiled. “I don’t want too many people knowing. There are still Champions out there, after all. And I would rather you be here and be ready. This is something that we’re going to act fast on, so I don’t want to have to waste time by going and getting you.”

“Okay…” Ryven sighed. “Is there a place for me to stay?”

“I’m sure Marrick can help you with that.”

Over the next few days, a lot of things happened. They received word from Ashley, and Silvi went and met up with her a few times. After the final time, Silvi stayed in Ashgarde for the same reason that Ryven did. She would need to act quickly, as well. Derek figured that there would be plenty of room for error on the timing—perhaps even days—but why would he risk it?

Midway through the second day, Ashley was back in Ashgarde, safe and sound. David was finally able to let out a sigh of relief at the return of his granddaughter—even if her part in the plan wasn’t finished. At least he didn’t have to worry about her for the time being.

Also, over those days, Jace recovered to one hundred percent. He kept up the act with the Champions when they called, but he did abandon the room that had been built for his stay. One of the reasons was that he’d led the Champions to believe that he’d promised to leave once he got better, but the other, and main reason, was that Ashley was out, and it would be bad if they decided that they wanted to see the woman again.

So, for further calls to him, they were done in a forested area not far away from the ‘village’ where he’d been staying. Amelia had asked Jace if he wanted to come to Virendell with the Champions, but he had declined. That in itself hadn’t been suspicious at all. He’d never been one to gather like that, anyway. Plus, his part of their plan was for him to lead Derek to them, so it was better for him to stay close to Ashgarde, anyway.

As far as Derek and Jace could tell, even though they weren’t necessarily suspicious about where Jace chose to stay, the Champions were suspicious in general. They did seem to believe Jace for the most part. Most of the reason that Derek and Jace thought they were suspicious was that they could tell the Champions were definitely holding some things back—particularly their battle strategy. However, that was the last thing that Derek cared about. He wouldn’t be letting them use any battle strategy they came up with, anyway.

Their suspicions waned as they kept in touch with Jace, and Jace never asked about their plan in any way. It really made them feel like he didn’t care one way or another what they did… and he really didn’t. There was only one thing that he actually cared to know, and that was when all Champions had been brought back.

He didn’t even need to ask about any of that, as they let him know every time another one was sent back by Holcom. There was one possible problem that would make Derek have to adjust his plan, and that was if they decided that they didn’t need to wait for Kelvin. However, that didn’t happen. Kelvin had been sent to Virendell before the final Champion, Xephos, was found.

That was a call during which Derek had a hard time not laughing. He actually had to Void Shift away for a moment to gather himself as the man threw a fit upon learning that Jace had been the one selected to become a Champion, and Kelvin hadn’t. If that wasn’t already bad enough for the man’s psyche, Jace made sure to drill in the fact that even the system thought Kelvin was worthless.

By the end of that call, Kelvin had fumed and barged out of the room before they finished all the discussions. By Amelia’s tone, she was not happy with the man, but Darvin looked like he could empathize with him after all the calls with Jace. Also, Briya had been absent from the screen for every call after her first one, but she had yelled from the background when Jace said something about her chasing a laser.

The calls had really been fun for both Jace and Derek. It didn’t feel like the state of the invasion rested on their shoulders at any point during them. However, everything changed when Jace received the final communication and saw both Xephos and Holcom on the screen. Once he closed the communication with them, he turned to Derek with a savage grin on his face and said, “They are all there.”