[Author note: Bonus Chapter]

  Xavier hovered in the air inside of his time dilation field, one dead enemy at his feet. It had taken him longer than he’d imagined to kill the Walking Shield, something he should have anticipated, but he’d whittled the man’s health down, slowly, methodically, after he’d broken through the tank’s barrier spells.

  He hadn’t cast a single spell on the tank. He’d not wanted to waste any, as he had no cooldowns at his disposal.

  Xavier couldn’t help but be a little disappointed with how the fight had gone. He’d thought that Walking Shield would have been more of a challenge, but that was the problem with relying on fighting within party dynamics.

  Once you were cut off from that party, cut off from your spells cooling down, cut off from your healer, cut off from your damage dealer…

  Well, that was when one had to stand on their own two feet.

  Once he’d defeated the Walking Shield, he’d simply hovered in the air for a moment and stared down at himself.

  His idea had worked.

  When he’d portalled to this location, escaping the C Grade Elite Hunt Squad that had disabled three of his limbs and one of his wings, there’d been a moment where he’d considered running farther, even though he’d been marked by that Archer of Fortune.

  But Xavier had never been one to run from a fight.

  Instead, Xavier had forced his body into a sitting position, using his one remaining good limb, and fallen into a meditative state. He’d split his mind, one part constantly focused on the world around him, awaiting the threat he knew would be on him at any moment.

  The rest of his mind worked toward the goal of getting him moving again.

  He’d only scratched the surface with what his Body Cultivation spell could do, despite all the practice he’d had with it. It appeared as though the spell was only as limited as his training in it, and his imagination.

  He’d circulated the Celestial Energy around his body, into the limbs that had been immobilised. He’d cycled that energy through his muscles. He’d hoped that he could heal whatever damage had been done to him, but the status effect wasn’t damage. Not exactly. It was more like it had frozen his muscles, stopping them from working. Those arrows had left something behind, stuck inside of him. A foreign toxin that he needed to excrete.

  He’d worked all of his energy into extracting that toxin and ridding it from his body. Cycling his Celestial Energy with his Body Cultivation spell, he’d managed to push the toxin down his energy channels until he finally ejected it from his body through the pores in his skin.

  A foul stench had met his nose as that had happened. The stench lingered in the air.

  But he’d managed it in time.

  Then, as the Elite Hunt Squad had found him, and as the Walking Shield—running faster than the other party member running toward him—had come close, Xavier had activated Time Alteration, trapping the tank within the bubble of time with him.

  His Body Cultivation spell didn’t have a cooldown. That made his ability to use it while inside of his time dilation field a massive advantage over his enemies.

  There were yet more things that he could do with this spell. Initially, he’d used it to reinforce his attacks and to stop the Nightmare from seeping into his skin and taking him over. But more and more, he was learning how to use it to reinforce his body—his muscles, sinew, bones. His speed, his strength, everything.

  And now, he was learning how to use it to cleanse his body. To heal it.

  It made him wonder how such a spell could have ever been abandoned, considering how powerful it was. He had gained a title for being the first to use it in more years than he could fathom.

  They must have had great power, these people who existed before the very System itself, and yet they failed to save their own universes.

  I need to be better. I need to take on the power that the System offers and connect it to the powers that have been forgotten—the powers that have been lost. I need to learn how to combine them.

  All these thoughts had whirled around his mind after he’d defeated the Walking Shield. Inside the time dilation field, he could have let his mind wander for hours. Days. But he didn’t want that. His blood was up. The thrill of the battle had taken him over as he’d faced the C Grade Waling Shield. The tank, alone, had been weak when all was said and done. He hadn’t been a real threat to Xavier.

  Xavier had been hoping for a challenge.

  Perhaps he would find it in the man that stood beneath him now, gaping at his fellow party member’s corpse lying in the middle of the clearing. Xavier had just expanded his time dilation field to include the Chains that Bind.

  The binding specialist’s chains had rattled as they’d whipped through the air and hit… Nothing. There was a pause as the man realised what was going on.

  Xavier could have taken advantage of that. He could have attacked, taken this man unawares. The primal battle lust he felt certainly pushed him toward doing that end.

  Instead, he took a moment to remember that this man was contracted just as Alexic had been—worse, this man likely had a death contract with his B Grade master. Xavier had long come to terms with fighting those that weren’t before him by their own choice—those that were following orders.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  When he was able—when he was strong enough—he would go after their master. He would take the B Grade down. He would sever all of the contracts the man had “collected.”

  Until then, he felt no guilt in fighting and killing those who would do him harm.

  Still, perhaps it was worth seeing if this man had the choice to surrender, even though he severely doubted it.

  “You don’t have to fight me.” Xavier gestured toward the edges of the time dilation field. This man, being C Grade, would be able to see it easily enough. “I am willing to let you leave with your life.”

  The Chains that Bind looked down at his fallen comrade. The man hung his head and shut his eyes. “I don’t know how you defeated Bolde.” He opened his eyes, glanced around. “Though I daresay this time dilation field had something to do with it. Maybe you will kill me, maybe you won’t. You’re certainly more powerful than we were led to believe. I can’t turn back. I can’t surrender to you—doing so would only ensure my death. Fighting you, however, at least gives me a chance at survival.” He raised his chin, locking gazes with Xavier. “I can’t surrender, but you can. We weren’t sent to kill you. Your surrender would not mean your death as mine would my own.”

  “I won’t sign your master’s contract,” Xavier said. “I never will.”

  “Many have said that, some have even meant it. Trust me when I say he will find a way to make you sign. He’s impulsive, but patient when he wants to be—no one becomes B Grade without at least a modicum of patience. Trust me when I say it is better to give in, than to fight until he takes everything away from you that you hold dear. Defeating us doesn’t matter. He wants you. In fact, defeating us will only make him go after you all the more.”

  Xavier felt a pang of sympathy for this man. He spoke calmly, his voice surprisingly gentle, and it was clear—at his core—that he had given up. Xavier didn’t know when. Maybe a year ago. Maybe a hundred years, or a thousand years. He could hear it in his voice. He hadn’t been afraid when he’d seen the Walking Shield dead on the ground—even in a C Grade, Xavier would be able to sense his fear. He’d sensed it in the Walking Shield as the fight had progressed.

  But this man wasn’t afraid. He knew he might die, and he showed no fear. There was a hint of something else in his voice, however—need.

  Xavier didn’t know what that need was for, but he was beginning to think there was more holding these people to their master than simply a death contract.

  The young dragonkin lowered himself to the ground and landed softly on the grass, retracting his wings slightly behind him. He stared at his opponent with a deep curiosity.

  The Chains that Bind was right, of course. Xavier knew that the man who was after him wouldn’t simply stop. Alexic had failed in his mission, and that hadn’t stopped him. When this Elite Hunt Squad failed, that wouldn’t stop him either.

  The next time he was able to locate Xavier, he would send someone else. Someone worse. And if he kept failing? Eventually, the B Grade would come after Xavier himself.

  But right now, none of that mattered. It didn’t change what he needed to do.

  It didn’t change that he needed to kill the man before him.

  “I’m sorry,” Xavier said. “If I could let you live, I would.”

  Jorgen smirked. “You are an interesting man, Xavier Collins. If you do defeat us, then you should heed my advice. If you wish to live free of my master’s control, then run—run as far and as fast as you can. Abandon everyone and everything you know. Do not show care for your home world, for he will destroy it if he knows that you care about it.”

  Xavier thought on the man’s words, though he didn’t think on them long. While he didn’t like the idea of a B Grade coming after him and Earth, he knew that when the restrictions finally came off his home world, he would be an entirely different person.

  Five years might not be a long time for most people in the Greater Universe, but he was proving that a lot could be accomplished in a short period, to the point where he doubted anyone in the Greater Universe had become as powerful as he was as swiftly as he had.

  He wouldn’t have been noticed by the System otherwise.

  “I’m not afraid of your master. But I promise you this. When I defeat you—and I will defeat you—I’ll be sure to make your death mean something. You won’t die in vain, for your death will mean my survival. And my survival means that one day, your master will perish.”

  The binding specialist lowered his head once more, a frown creasing his forehead. “You truly believe that.” He released a sigh. “Well, I think the time for talk is done.”

  His chains had been wrapped around his arms after he’d whipped them out and hit nothing. Now, he unfurled them in a flourish.

  Xavier didn’t feel the same thrill of the fight he’d felt mere moments before, not after talking to this man. He would fight him. He would kill him. But he would not take enjoyment.

  He was, however, glad for the challenge.

  Chains whipped out at him as he dodged to the left. Xavier couldn’t use his Portal spell in here—well, he could, but he only had a single use left, and he didn’t want to spend that unless he absolutely had to.

  He flew through the air and heard the chains rattling as they were thrown after him. The chain whip was so powerful that each time the Chains that Bind attacked it caused a massive gust of wind.

  The Chains that Bind was far faster than his dead party member, the Walking Shield. He could whip out with both his chains with amazing speed, and he seemed to be able to adjust the length of the chains beyond reason, as though they had the ability to extend—like young Goku’s staff in Dragon Ball.

  Xavier felt as though he was instantly put on the defensive. The Walking Shield had been fast on his feet, but he hadn’t been as fast as Xavier.

  This man didn’t move from where he stood. His feet were flat on the ground, rooted in one spot, as his chains whipped around. He could easily cover the entire radius of the time dilation field. Xavier considered carving the field out farther, but that would mean the shield lasted for less time. He was confident he would be able to, one by one, defeat the members of the C Grade Elite Hunt Squad, but he’d rather have more time to do it than less.

  Xavier tested a slash against the chains with his Celestial Energy reinforced claws. He could cut through most anything he’d encountered, even that tank’s C Grade armour, doing it this way.

  The slash had been a mistake. The moment he’d done it, cutting into the chain, it had backfired. Touching the chains had caused whatever spell the Chains that Bind was using to affect him.

  Xavier hadn’t even realised the binding specialist was using a spell. He could only cast a spell a single time within the time dilation field, and he’d struck out with those chains over a dozen times since the fight began.

  As Xavier’s claws came into contact, trying to sever one of the chain links, the metal rapidly melted then cooled just as swiftly until it was fused to Xavier’s talon.

  That wasn’t all, either—his entire body seized up, as though every single one of his muscles was contracting and cramping, making it impossible for him to move.

  The binding specialist grinned up at him, and yanked, pulling Xavier in close.

  The man’s hands were glowing—another spell. Xavier didn’t know what it was, but he knew he didn’t want the man to lay his hands on him.

  He circulated Celestial Energy through his body, trying to make his muscles move, but this spell was different to the last one that had immobilised him, and it felt as though he was starting from scratch.

  Xavier tumbled down toward his enemy.

  When he reached the ground with a mighty thud, the binding specialist laid his hands on Xavier’s head.

  Xavier’s ability to use energy was taken away. He felt it within him—every single one of his cores was greyed out, and he could no longer push his Celestial Energy through his body.

  The binding specialist looked down at him. “I’m sorry it had to end like this.”

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