Inside the mausoleum, in the Deathly Dungeon, with undead breaking out of their crypts all around Xaiver, the young dragon Volkarin burst from the Companion Cube.

  The dragon expanded his wings and sniffed the air.

  “Where are your enemies? What happened?” Volkarin hadn’t been summoned since before Xavier had been about to face the C Grade Elite Hunt Squad. The young dragon’s eyes were wide as he looked around the mausoleum, then Volkarin relaxed. “Level 60 undead minions?” The dragon looked at Xavier with an expression that seemed to say, This is what you woke me from my slumber for?

  The undead minions were fast approaching. “I thought you might like to have some fun,” Xavier said. “You know, rip, tear, shred.” He said the last three words in a deep, growly voice, an imitation of the dragon in front of him. “As for the enemies back in the hunting grounds… They’ve been dealt with.”

  He didn’t feel like giving the dragon the whole story. He knew Volkarin would be better off training by his lonesome somewhere, as was originally planned, but Xavier was beginning to worry that was a bad idea.

  What if The Collector knew about his connection with the dragon? What if he captured Volkarin, and used the dragon against him?

  Xavier didn’t want to see the dragon dead because he refused to sign a contract.

  The dragon looked at the undead minions again. “The undead taste fowl.” Volkarin dipped his head. “But I am hungry.”

  Volkarin made quick work of the undead within the mausoleum. They weren’t the only enemies here. The dragon tore through everyone as they made their way to the throne room where the Great Romalda resided.

  She sat on her throne, somewhat lazily, resting a chin on her hand. She looked… Well, bored. When Xavier and the dragon entered the hall, she glanced over, then blinked and shot to her feet.

  “Xavier? What are you doing here?” She waved a hand, dismissing the skeleton army that was shrouded nearby, not yet visible to even Xavier’s eye. “And is that… Is that a dragon?”

  Volkarin released a puff of smoke from her nostril. “You wish me to kill this one?” the dragon asked.

  Xavier shook his head. “No.” He took some meat from his Storage Ring, some that he’d set aside especially for the dragon, and tossed it in front of him. “In case you’re still hungry.”

  The dragon’s started ripping at the meat in an instant, apparently never satiated.

  Romalda raised her arms, as though to encompass the entire dungeon. “Xavier Collins. What brings you to my fine prison on this miserable day?”

  Xavier took a few steps toward the dais the throne was upon, then thought there wouldn’t be anything wrong with a little bit of theatrics. His wings, which hadn’t been visible behind his back, expanded. He leapt into the air and glided over to the necromancer, landing lightly a few feet in front of her.

  He was reminded of the fact that he didn’t actually have a contract with this woman. The dungeon-dwelling necromancer wasn’t allowed to sign contracts until she’d freed herself from the dungeon—and it wasn’t as though he would know the exact moment that happened, unless he wanted to have someone watching the dungeon round the clock.

  He wanted to give her a reason to stay. She could very well run when she was released from this place. If she saw but a hint of what he was capable of, perhaps that respect would be the reason.

  Xavier couldn’t help but think about what the elf spirit, Rhaalir, had told him. About contracts, and loyalty. And the difference between them.

  He had told this woman he wanted her to sign a contract the moment she freed herself from the dungeon. That was part of the deal. He would feed her people so she could get progressively stronger, until she was finally strong enough to break free from this place.

  Something she likely would never be able to do on her own.

  But what if he didn’t need a contract to gain her loyalty?

  That, however, wasn’t what he’d come here to talk to her about.

  “I have a plan. Thought I’d warn you before I performed it.”

  The Great Romalda was clearly hiding her shock at the display of his wings. The woman had surely seen many Denizens with wings in her former life, but Xavier imagined that felt like an eternity away from where she was right now.

  “I was beginning to think you’d abandoned our little arrangement. You haven’t sent me anything in some time,” the necromancer said in a steady voice. “What is it I can help you with?”

  “I’m bored,” Volkarin called in a growl from far behind them, the dragon’s voice echoing in the large hall. His muzzle was covered in the blood and gore of the meat he’d just devoured. His tail gently swayed back and forth as he cleaned one of his claws.

  “First, you may as well send that skeletal army you’re hiding against the dragon here. Keep him busy.”

  Romalda raised an eyebrow but complied with his request.

  Then, Xavier told the woman his plan.

  ~

  Several days passed before Xavier executed his plan. He’d needed to get a few things in order, and give the Tri-World Imperial Army and the Bellaran Federation some time to put together a suitable force to send against him.

  The last time they’d sent a squad of D Grades at him, he’d summoned the Spirit of Vengeance to help deal with them. That had been the first time he’d summoned the dragon.

  Xavier was sure that they would have learnt from their mistakes. Sure that they wouldn’t merely send a squad, but an army.

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  He couldn’t help but smile, thinking about his plan.

  Xavier stood on a strange planet. It was an ice planet. So cold it felt like it would freeze the blood in the veins of an unintegrated human.

  Massive, polar bear-like creatures lumbered around the landscape. They were three times the size of a normal polar bear, and they had strange, almost human faces. They weren’t called bears at all, either. On closer inspection, he found they were called Frozen Yetis.

  He wasn’t here for those.

  An army was about to appear here at any minute.

  Xavier had chosen these hunting grounds specifically because they weren’t governed by any particular entity. They were called Free Hunting Grounds, which meant his enemies wouldn’t second guess coming here in case they offended another, equally powerful—or more powerful—ruling entity.

  Famarial had consulted Kylina not just about setting this up, but about whether or not there was any more information about Xavier floating around in the Silver River sector. His exploits on the hundredth floor of the Tower of Champions, Xavier was sure, would soon enough become common knowledge around these parts.

  If they already had, there would be no way for him to do what he needed to do.

  But—as far as the gnome was concerned—no one knew anything more about Xavier Collins. Not since that information packet had gone out.

  It didn’t take long for the portals to appear. Xavier had only been here ten minutes when he saw the first.

  There ended up being ten portals in total. He wasn’t sure whose forces came out of each of them, but they hustled out of those portals with incredible speed—at least, incredible for D Grades.

  That was interesting. Xavier tilted his head to the side as he watched them flow through. They were definitely from two different forces, but it looked as though they’d coordinated their efforts. He didn’t know the Tri-World Imperial Army and the Bellaran Federation were so closely linked.

  The moment they all made it through, a notification informed him that a two-hour portal block was in effect on this world.

  Only two hours?

  The Denizens formed in two distinct groups. One person from each stepped forward. They each paused, looking over at one another across the frozen tundra. The Denizen from the left was a man—a swordsman. He gestured for the other person, a female mage, to speak.

  The woman nodded. She took a few steps forward but was still thirty feet away from Xavier when she stopped. She called out in a clearly enhanced voice. “Xavier Collins of Earth. The Tri-World Imperial Army and the Bellaran Confederation wish to negotiate the terms of your surrender, and the terms of Earth’s surrender along with you. If you do not wish to negotiate with us, then we will be forced to attack. Know that our orders are not to keep you alive if you resist, and know that your world will suffer for your insolence without you there to protect it.”

  Xavier raised his eyebrows. “Surrender?” He grinned. Shook his head. “You want me to surrender… to you?”

  “It’s the wise choice,” the swordsman called out. “You are outnumbered. Outmanoeuvred. You should never have left your planet while you were still weak. The threat you made against this sector attacking your world only holds true if you grow strong enough to actually be a threat. Perhaps in five years, as a True Progenitor of your strength, you would have been. But you’ve made a grave mistake, stepping off Earth again.”

  “Surrender,” Xavier muttered, though his voice was still loud enough for the word to be heard. “I suppose it would only be right for me to offer the same thing in return.” He raised his chin, staring over at the swordsman and the mage, both leaders of their respective forces. “Unless you all lay down your arms and surrender to me, I will be forced to wipe out every single one of you. Know that I will only give you two chances for this. If you surrender now, all of you will live. If I have to prove my strength… Most of you will already be dead.”

  Xavier had considered what he planned to do to these people. A part of him had wondered if he was being too harsh. Wondered if, perhaps, he was going over some line…

  Many of these soldiers would be contracted to their leaders, just as the C Grades from the Elite Hunt Squad he’d faced had been a few days ago.

  And he had spared two of their number because of it.

  What did his personal sense of morality say about killing all of these people when he could easily spare them? When they were not a threat to him?

  He didn’t know. Perhaps it made him hypocrite.

  Still, he had least wished to give them a chance to surrender.

  The mage frowned. The swordsman laughed. It was the latter who spoke. “You wish us to surrender to you?” He laughed so much he had to wipe a tear from his eye. “You put on quite the display when you attacked that base. Trust me when I say we have learnt from our mistakes. You do not face a handful of D Grades.” He looked back at the hundreds—roughly six hundred, by Xavier’s cursory count—D Grades behind him. “You face an army of them!”

  The man drew his sword from his sheath.

  Class grafting. A swordsman. Looks like I’ve found my mark.

  And he wouldn’t even feel guilty about taking this man’s life, not after how needlessly arrogant he’d acted. The mage merely raised her staff, and it took on a red glow.

  The swordsman raised his arm, the point of his sword facing the air like some sort of medieval lord about to start the call of battle.

  The D Grade army charged toward him. At least, some of them did. They split off into different units and groups. The ranged fighters among them were teleported to Xavier’s flanks, while half of the melee fighters were teleported behind him. The manoeuvre meant that in a mere moment, the young dragonkin was surrounded on all sides.

  It was a breathtakingly powerful move for the army to make. Xavier had faced armies on the battlefield before, but he’d never faced armies of this grade.

  He’d expected the enemy to field a lot more Denizens than last time, but he hadn’t expected quite this many. He did wonder if he was being a little arrogant himself, taking on this many D Grades when not so long ago he’d struggled to take down a small group of D Grade Wolven.

  But he’d come a long, long way since then.

  Xavier hadn’t planned out the fight beyond this moment. Not really. He hadn’t seen the need.

  He waited. Calm, still. The attacks came his way.

  In the days he had been planning this, he had been anything but idol. Instead, he’d been working on something—the betterment of his Body Cultivation spell.

  There were a myriad of things the spell was capable of. Xavier didn’t even feel as though calling Body Cultivation simply a spell was giving it enough credit.

  But that was beside the point.

  What he’d been working on the most was Body Cultivation’s defensive capabilities. The thing that had put him most at risk in his fight with the C Grade Hunt Squad hadn’t been that he’d taken a lot of damage—the enemy weren’t trying to kill him, after all.

  No, what had put him in danger was the status effects he’d kept getting hit with. Twice, he had been immobilised by the enemy. The second time, he’d lost his ability to do just about anything. After some reflection, he knew that it had only been dumb luck that had saved him. If not for the fact that he’d had his Time Alteration spell active, he wouldn’t have been able to pull off the stunt of pushing time forward to get free.

  If the enemy had wanted him dead? Well, then he probably would have died after the binding specialist had immobilised him.

  The D Grades before him wouldn’t be capable of doing such a thing to him, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t wise to be wary. The compounding effect of that many D Grades attacking him could easily take its toll if he wasn’t careful, and his plan didn’t include simply wiping them all out with a massive soul-infused Soul Strike.

  He had a whole different plan up his sleeve—one that had necessitated sending one of his E Grades to the hunting grounds on that moon to recover his sector-wide Portal Stone, which was sitting safely back inside of his Storage Ring.

  John Hammond had been absolutely thrilled to get a chance to step off world, and had eagerly volunteered for the task.

  Xavier cycled Celestial Energy throughout his body, strengthening every one of his energy pathways. Strengthening his skin, his muscle, his bone. He used it to reinforce his body from taking damage.

  This army didn’t care to take him alive, after all.

  Though this was the spell he’d been strengthening over the last few days, he didn’t think he would truly need the added defence.

  As the first of the ranged attacks were almost on him, Xavier grinned and cast Portal.

  Accidental Champion!

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