The Skeletal Dragon’s skull exploded.

  Shards of bone shot in every direction like shrapnel from a dirty bomb.

  The shards were as sharp as a C Grade’s sword, but Xavier had been expecting this. It would be impossible for even someone as fast as him to dodge that many shards of bones shooting outward at him, but in the instant he struck he cast Soul Block, infusing enough souls into the spell to eat up the damage he would have taken, leaving him unscathed.

  A kill notification appeared, along with a few other notifications—his melee skills had ranked up considerably during this fight, and he got another three ranks in [x, y, z] skills for the kill he’d just gotten.

  But no titles came. Something he was a little frustrated by. He had known he wouldn’t gain any titles from killing the Skeletal Dragon—he’d seen this beast’s death at his hand many times before, after all. It was still incredibly frustrating, however.

  You would think a D Grade killing a beast this powerful would earn them something for their efforts.

  Though he supposed he had gained plenty from the very act of learning how to kill the beast in the first place, and managing to accomplish it. All the ranks in his spells and skills, and his prowess in Body Cultivation, Chronomantic Mindforge, Willpower Infusion, and even Portal…

  I suppose I’ve gained quite a lot… But I’ll always crave more. I don’t know if it will ever be enough.

  Now, it was time for the real work.

  He had struck the Skeletal Dragon as it had still been in the air, its jaws wrapped around the neck of the Elemental Dragon. Both dragons were swiftly falling to the ground below. The shrapnel from the beast’s exploding skull hadn’t just come for Xavier; he could see many of those shards embedded in the Elemental Dragon’s skin.

  And already those shards were being ejected and the wounds inflicted were healing.

  Xavier, hovering in the air, watched the two massive forms, one dead, one lacking its spirit, tumble downward.

  This was the part of the fight he was the least sure of. So far, his plan had gone perfectly.

  But there was still time for everything to go wrong.

  He wished he were able to see the spirit of the Elemental Dragon. That would solve a lot of his problems right now. He glanced around, looking in the direction of the Elemental Dragon’s mountain. He couldn’t see it from this far away, even with his powerful eyesight. It was obscured by the mist that kept the place hidden from the naked eye.

  Xavier could have used Soul Sacrifice to bring souls from the Otherworld into the Mortal Realm. There was a good chance that those spirits would be able to see this one.

  Which made him wonder…

  Rhaalir? he thought. Are you still around?

  He hadn’t seen the elf spirit in some time. Not since they had spoken of Body Cultivation.

  If Rhaalir were here, there was a good chance the spirit would be able to see the other spirit. If so, that meant Xavier would at least have a warning when the Elemental Dragon’s spirit was nearing.

  Xavier’s mind turned. He felt the stresses of the fight entering him now there was a moment where he wasn’t moving—a moment where he wasn’t sure what he needed to do.

  He couldn’t let that pressure get to him. This chance, the Elemental Dragon lacking its spirit, was a once in a lifetime thing. There were no more do-overs.

  This was it.

  Xavier looked down once more at the Elemental Dragon as it tumbled through the air. An idea came to him. Right now, he couldn’t use Time Alteration. Even though the cooldown on that spell had gone down a significant amount, he wouldn’t be able to use it again before the spirit returned to its body—otherwise this situation would have an easy solve.

  But he needed every single second that he could get. Even with how fast his mind moved, frozen up there, staring at the tumbling dragons, his mind wasn’t moving fast enough.

  This isn’t the time to freeze up, Xavier. You have to do something.

  And so he did.

  He soared down to where the Elemental Dragon was and cast Chronomantic Mindforge. He had used this spell on the Elemental Dragon before, and knew it would work, though it wasn’t as though he could steal a great deal of the beast’s energy. Unlike with the Skeletal Dragon, Xavier hadn’t had a chance to work on this dragon in the same way—he had only mere glimpses of this thing’s mind and mental defences.

  Time froze, but Xavier’s mind kept moving. He went through the motions of the spell, bringing in energy from his enemy into his body. But that wasn’t the main reason he had cast this spell—he’d cast this spell so he would be given a moment to think in the middle of all this.

  I need to keep that spirit from entering the dragon’s body. It could be that I need to do absolutely nothing from this moment on, and in five minutes that dragon will simply… Die. Or, it could be that I need to keep creating portals and sending the dragon through them.

  If he kept changing where the Elemental Dragon was, then it would be impossible for the beast’s spirit to return to its body.

  Wouldn’t it?

  There was also the possibility that he couldn’t do a damned thing to prevent the Elemental Dragon’s spirit from returning to its body, in which case he would need to inflict as much damage to the beast as he possibly could in the time before it came back.

  Killing this beast wasn’t something he had managed in any of the past iterations, so he had no idea just how much health this thing had.

  Either way, he needed knowledge.

  Rhaalir. How do I summon Rhaalir?

  That was when something came to him. Soul Energy. That was what Rhaalir had told him he needed from the contract. Wasn’t that what helped keep him in the Mortal Realm? There was something strained in the contract—something keeping him from being here. Neither Xavier nor Rhaalir knew what that was.

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  But maybe…

  With Chronomantic Mindforge still active, Xavier went through what he would need to do the moment time started flowing at the right speeds again. The Celestial Energy that was entering his body from the Elemental Dragon wouldn’t be enough for what he was about to do.

  Right now, with only his mind moving, he couldn’t yet do what he needed to do. But he could feel the contract in his mind, the binding nature of it. He sought it out, pinpointed it. He wasn’t sure how he could feel it, he just could.

  The contract was attached to his soul.

  Xavier prepared himself for what he needed to do next.

  The instant the Chronomantic Mindforge spell deactivated and time began to move forward normally, Xavier harnessed Soul Energy using his Soul Born skill.

  He was taking a risk, here. Soul Energy was an incredibly important and finite resource for him. If he used too much of it, he knew the consequences were dire. And if what he was about to try didn’t work, it would mean he wouldn’t have enough to use against the Elemental Dragon.

  The amount of Soul Energy he was using right now could potentially be the difference between him defeating the Elemental Dragon or not.

  But sometimes you just had to pick a course of action and go for it.

  Xavier made the Soul Energy flow into the contract. At the same time, he called out for Rhaalir, the elf spirit, within his mind. He had thought the spirit would become a more permanent fixture in his life, but that hadn’t been the case for some time.

  Maybe I can change that.

  As disagreeable as Rhaalir could sometimes be, the elf had helped him a great deal. Just as Xavier wouldn’t have gotten this far without Liana, he was sure he wouldn’t have gotten this far without Rhaalir too.

  Come on, you bastard. Return to this realm!

  Something shifted within him. The contract seemed to… Light up. As though until that moment it had been lying dormant within him, and now it was active once more.

  Why would the contract have become dormant in the first place? Because I didn’t choose a class specific to the Otherworld?

  He still used Otherworldly spells. They were an incredibly important part of his spellset.

  As the contract flickered back on, so too did Rhaalir flicker back into existence, hovering in the air nearby.

  Rhaalir blinked. The elf spirit looked down at himself. He was more solid than the last time he’d been here. In fact, as far as Xavier could tell, he was more solid than he had ever been.

  I’m… I’m back. Rhaalir put a hand to his head, as though it were in pain. I’ve been trying to get back here. I’ve been… stuck. Between…

  The elf spirit looked, well… haunted. Xavier wasn’t sure of a better way to put it than that.

  That piqued Xavier’s curiosity, but he didn’t have time to go into it.

  I need your help, Rhaalir. Can you see other spirits in this realm?

  The elf spirit looked at him with bleary eyes. Spirits? From the Otherworld? Usually, but not always.

  No. Not from the Otherworld. From this world.

  Xavier explained, as swiftly as he could, the situation that he was currently in. A moment after he did two loud thuds sounded as the dragons finally crashed into the ground, creating a large crater in the forest and a shockwave that knocked down thousands of trees around them.

  Yes, Rhaalir replied when he knew what was required of him. I can see those spirits.

  He looked in the direction Xavier pointed, in the direction the Elemental Dragon would be coming from. The elf spirit’s eyes narrowed, then widened. It is far away, but… I can see it. It is huge and coming fast. Whatever it is you need to do, you must do it now, Xavier Collins. When this fight is over—if you survive it—then we can talk.

  If you survive it. That was the second time a spirit from the Otherworld had said those words to him about this fight. If only they had as much confidence in me as I did, he thought to himself.

  How quickly does it approach? Xavier asked.

  Rhaalir narrowed his eyes again as he stared in the direction of the Elemental Dragon’s spirit. I am not sure. A minute. Perhaps two. Not very long.

  Xavier blinked. A minute or two…

  He looked at the Elemental Dragon, lying on the ground where it had fallen, its chest still rising and falling, rising and falling.

  His entire body relaxed.

  That… That would be plenty of time. More than enough, in fact.

  He threw his head back and laughed.

  Ah, Xavier, why are you laughing?

  Xavier grinned at Rhaalir. Because, Rhaalir, if you’re right, then I’ve already won.

  Okay, so his proclamation might have been a bit premature, but Xavier was feeling more confident about this fight than he ever had. All the stress and pressure that he’d been feeling up until that moment dissipated, fleeing into the air.

  He knew exactly what he needed to do to take down this beast. As long as nothing changed.

  Xavier got to work.

  He considered launching his strongest attack at the Elemental Dragon first—Soul Strike, infused with every single soul he had left in his soulkeeping reserve. An attack like that, he knew, could be incredibly devastating, and he was eager to use Soul Strike after fighting the Skeletal Dragon and not being able to for so damned long.

  But he kept that attack in his back pocket. Just in case.

  There were other ways for him to inflict damage, after all.

  Xavier soared downward. He cast Portal and moved through it so he would appear directly in front of the defenceless Elemental Dragon.

  Then he attacked it with everything he had.

  His Lost Bone of a Dead God soul bound weapon shifted, reinforcing his arm and his claws. It had gained several ranks after he’d defeated the Skeletal Dragon. The soul bound weapon was becoming more and more powerful. With each rank it gained, it offered him more attribute points.

  It was already far stronger than the last weapon he wielded.

  Finally, a weapon that can grow in power alongside me.

  Xavier’s claws rent through the Elemental Dragon’s flesh. The dragon’s scales were incredibly tough, but his attacks—reinforced as they were by Body Cultivation—were just strong enough to do the damage that he needed them to do.

  Xavier threw everything he had at the dragon. He could see the wounds he wrought being healed, but without the dragon able to defend itself or fight back, Xavier was able to inflict wounds faster than the dragon could heal them.

  Especially now that the dragon was outside of its territory.

  Xavier didn’t simply use his melee attacks, either. Every time he could he cast Chronomantic Mindforge and bled the dragon of its core energies, then directly afterward he would strike it with Core Burn—somehow, even though the dragon didn’t have its spirit within its body, its mind was still able to bring up a strong mental defence.

  One that Xavier was unable to break through with Willpower Infusion, so unfortunately that spell was off the table.

  Bit by bit, Xavier made the beast burn through all of its cores. While at the same time he slashed and struck and clawed, inflicting as much physical damage as possible.

  It nears, Xavier. You do not have enough time. Twenty seconds out.

  Xavier grinned. Oh, he had enough time all right. He didn’t need to kill the beast within those five minutes.

  He just had to keep its spirit from its body.

  Xavier cast Portal. He altered the portal, making it large enough, then he brought it down over the dragon just as he had before. Once the dragon was through, he entered himself and shut the portal down on the other side.

  He had travelled another hundred miles in the other direction. The dragon would have to turn around. It would be another minute and a half, perhaps, before it reached him.

  I just need to do this a few more times.

  In the meantime, in case something went wrong, Xavier continued to attack the beast.

  Again and again, he attacked, then moved the dragon through a portal when its spirit neared, then repeated.

  The Elemental Dragon was bloodied and beaten. Its core was not fully depleted, but it was getting there fast.

  I can do this. I am doing this.

  Then he felt something strange. Something familiar, though it didn’t make any sense.

  Xavier! Xavier, something is happening! Rhaalir called out in his mind, panic in his voice.

  It seemed as though Rhaalir felt the very same thing.

  A connection to the Otherworld had been established, but it wasn’t one that Xavier had initiated. And… there was something strange about the connection. Something he didn’t understand.

  Rhaalir? What’s happening?

  Rhaalir didn’t have time to respond before a spirit came through whatever connection had been made. Xavier could see it clearly. It was a translucent dragon, though not one he recognised—not Volkarin, and not the Elemental Dragon’s spirit, either.

  “What the hell?” Xavier blurted.

  Before Xavier could even realise what was happening, the spirit entered the Elemental Dragon’s body.

  And the dragon’s eyes flicked open.

  Accidental Champion!

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