Once again, a version of Xavier defeated the Skeletal Dragon.

  Once again, he became trapped by the Elemental Dragon’s iceberg spell.

  He’d tried to avoid it, this time knowing it was coming, but he simply wasn’t fast enough.

  He cast Time Alteration the instant he was trapped within the iceberg—he’d tried to cast the spell first, so that he wouldn’t be trapped by it at all, but that wasn’t something he’d been fast enough to do after the death of the Skeletal Dragon.

  The Elemental Dragon was faster.

  And so once again Xavier hovered in the air trapped by ice.

  Xavier had no control over this version of him, or the actions he took, but he knew that back in that frozen pocket of time, this version of him had shared his thoughts, because this version of him had been him then.

  So he knew exactly the plan Xavier wished to use.

  While trapped in the ice, Xavier cast Portal.

  The last version of Xavier to be stuck in this ice had cast Time Alteration, but it hadn’t done any good. For weeks, he’d pushed the time dilation field, trying to come up with a way out.

  But that version of Xavier hadn’t been able to use the majority of his spells, as most of them had been stuck in cooldown.

  He also hadn’t been able to speak. The two Xavier’s—the one stuck in the ice, and the one stuck in that man’s head, able to do nothing but observe—were unable to communicate in any way.

  It was torturous, even though he survived it.

  This, however, was a different situation. Things didn’t feel as futile.

  At least, Xavier hoped they wouldn’t be. The last thing he wanted was to see another version of himself defeated by this damned Elemental Dragon.

  And he needed to push past this. Needed to figure out how he could actually fight this thing, not merely survive it.

  The portal hovered just in front of him, its twin was outside of the time dilation field—though not enough time had passed for it to actual materialise outside of it.

  Things, however, could still pass through the portal in front of him. This was something he had experimented with, but seldom found a use for.

  God, I hope this bloody well works.

  Xavier watched as the other version of him pushed the portal through the air. This was something he had only done a few times. Moving a portal from its fixed position was an incredibly difficult thing, but Xavier wished to one day use the portals as though they were floating shields.

  He just hadn’t gotten that far yet.

  That wasn’t what he intended to use this particular portal for, however.

  At first, the portal moved with incredibly slowness. Xavier could feel how much the other version of him strained.

  Then the Portal spell would gain another rank, and Xavier would be able to move the portal that much more easily, and that much faster.

  This went on for days.

  It was perhaps the most tedious thing Xavier had ever experienced in his entire life. Perhaps it didn’t feel that way to the other version of him, as that man was currently fighting for his very life.

  He could have fled this fight, during the battle with the Skeletal Dragon—he’d known what was coming for him at the end of that.

  But that hadn’t happened. He had remained. He had fought.

  And it all came down to this.

  Inch by inch the portal moved, devouring the ice that trapped Xavier. Whole chunks of the stuff disappeared through the portal. At first, this did nothing. Xavier still wasn’t actually able to move. He lamented not being able to breathe fire, or use fire at all.

  Once, just after he had chosen the Basic Mage class, he’d had the ability to cast a fire spell, and he’d just thrown it away. Now, for the first time since he’d done that, he wished he still had that.

  Considering he was dragonkin, you would think that was something he should be capable of…

  Alas, he had no ability to melt this stuff—cycling Celestial Energy, or even Soul Energy, through him did nothing to help, either. He could make a part of him explode or melt—the first version of Xavier to experience this had done something like that—but it hadn’t freed him from the trap.

  Slowly, the ice was shorn away by the portal.

  The portal had to be moved incredibly accurately the closer it came to Xavier’s body, but he was starting to see a change—the trap was weakening. Slowly, he was able to move, as less and less of the ice was there to push against and crush him.

  It was as though he had turned a ten-foot-thick wall of steel into something paper thin.

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  After what must have been a week, Xavier burst free of the iceberg trap. Finally, he was able to move.

  He flew around the time dilation field. The freedom of that movement was bliss itself.

  But there was still the little matter of the Elemental Dragon.

  How was he to defeat a monster like this? And if the beast had trapped him once, what was to stop it from trapping him a second time?

  The other version of Xavier stopped in midair and stared at the portal he had been controlling these past weeks. Xavier had become powerful enough with the spell that he was able to hold a portal open almost indefinitely, though it was rare that he actually had a reason too.

  Using portals against C Grades still wasn’t anywhere near as effective as it was using them against D Grades. A beast as powerful as the Elemental Dragon… he wouldn’t simply be able to cut its head off with the portal.

  But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t be able to use the portal at all.

  Xavier wasn’t able to read his own thoughts, but somehow he guessed exactly what the other version of him was to do.

  The Elemental Dragon is stronger within its own territory… That was what the description of the beast had said.

  I need to get this thing out of here.

  He didn’t know how much stronger the Elemental Dragon became when it was near its den, but something told Xavier it was a significant amount.

  He had never dreamed the Elemental Dragon would be this powerful.

  Maybe there is another spell I could have gained with those Spell Credits… Something that would have allowed me to defeat this beast…

  Xavier frowned, pushing that thought away. While new spells and abilities were always helpful, they weren’t actually what got the job done.

  He had brought himself to new levels of strength through mastering the spells and abilities he already had access to before gaining new ones.

  Breakthroughs were important. Learning new things was important—but so was working with what he had.

  The other version of Xavier expanded the size of the portal within the time dilation field. The other portal wasn’t far away—it was just outside of the field. Xavier knew what the other man was trying to do, but he wasn’t sure if it would work.

  He’s creating a shield…

  The other version of him collapsed the time dilation field.

  The Elemental Dragon was able to move again.

  ~

  Xavier opened his eyes. The Spirit of Time was staring over at him. There was a look of wonder on her face, and a slight smile curving up the sides of her lips.

  Ten more versions of Xavier had fought the Elemental Dragon after learning how to break through the ice. Xavier was losing track of just how many versions of himself had experienced this fight.

  But he finally had a solution. That last fight… It had been close.

  So very close.

  I know what to do now. One more, Xavier said. One more, and I can win this.

  There is a limit, Xavier Collins.

  Xavier blinked, staring at the woman. A limit?

  The Spirit of Time opened her arms. One cannot simply keep altering time forever.

  Why haven’t you spoken of this limit? You’ve said… You’ve said people have gone mad pursuing an outcome. I thought the unfoldings were infinite?

  The Spirit of Time shook her head. Infinite? No. They are not Infinite, Xavier Collins. You cannot simply keep creating new alternate dimensions until the right answer appears. The limit, however, is variable. She reached out, as though to touch something. This spell, causing these unfoldings, it causes a crack in the universe.

  Xavier looked past the woman and over at the Skeletal Dragon. The beast he had defeated so many times in other universes was, of course, still alive in his own timeline.

  A crack?

  The Spirit of Time inclined her head.

  I can keep pushing, but if I do… The crack will splinter. The wall that keeps the Darkness at bay will be broken, and this universe will become vulnerable.

  Xavier had only been thinking about the fight. About the consequences of not being able to see the next unfolding.

  Now, however, his attention was fully on the woman. Vulnerable? From what?

  The Spirit of Time shook her head. She closed her hand and lowered it until it rested at her side. I have already said too much. There are things out there, Xavier Collins. Things that would make even someone as brave as you feel unending terror. Suffice to say, you do not wish me to keep pushing this spell.

  Xavier inclined his head.

  Unending terror certainly didn’t sound like something he would want, but he hadn’t yet defeated the Elemental Dragon in one of the unfoldings. He’d gotten close—damned close.

  But as confident as he was, if he truly admitted it to himself… He wasn’t 100 percent sure that he could do this.

  No more unfoldings… He looked at the woman. There’s no way for me to do just one more?

  The Spirit of Time tilted her head to one side. I can easily do as you ask, Xavier Collins. However, you may not survive the consequences.

  Xavier wondered about those so-called consequences. The unending terror. Making this universe… Vulnerable.

  And the chance that he wouldn’t survive it…

  What is this darkness that she speaks of? he thought to himself.

  This… This was something new. Something he hadn’t heard of before. He knew that the Otherworld sat between universes—even if he didn’t understand how such a thing could be possible.

  He also knew that one could pass between different universes, though he wasn’t sure if that was something he would be able to do without the System’s help—the older version of him had needed to use the Tower of Champions to contact him, after all.

  But it was possible there could be a way…

  This darkness the woman spoke if, it suggested that there were other things between universes.

  Things out there in the dark that he did not wish to gain the attention of.

  He closed his eyes and contemplated this.

  A vulnerable universe…

  Could this have something to do with what was to one day befall his own universe? He had the knowledge that one day, his universe would fall, and that the same thing had happened to many universes in the past.

  This was a knowledge that not only he possessed, but one that many in the Greater Universe were aware of. The spirits from the Otherworld knew well and good that things like this would happen. That universes eventually died—many of those spirits had experienced it, though none would speak to him of it.

  Not yet.

  The System, of course, knew as well—something told Xavier the System knew almost everything there was to know.

  Almost, he thought to himself. If it knew everything, then it would be able to tell me what I needed to do to defeat whatever the threat to the universe is. That was the whole reason the System was created in the first place, after all.

  He remained there, in that frozen pocket of time, for a good long while, contemplating this.

  The darkness that the Spirit of Time spoke of could very well be what would end up destroying his universe in the future. That meant… That meant there was a way to learn more about whatever they were.

  He opened his eyes and stared out at random point beyond the pocket of frozen time, imagining that was where the crack in the universe was. He wished to reach out and touch it. To see what was on the other side.

  But that was something far beyond him.

  Besides, there was every possibility that he was reading far too much into the Spirit of Time’s words. Perhaps there were things in the void between universes, but that didn’t mean they were the thing that ended universes—or that whatever ended universes was the only being in the void.

  There could be others.

  I need to learn more about this. A lot more. But today isn’t the day I do that.

  Xavier ordered his mind, putting all the thoughts he had about this in their proper place.

  Right now, he had a fight he needed to focus on.

  Accidental Champion!

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