Tier 3+ - Accidental Champion (Book 10) - Chapter 9 - It Would Take a Monster to Destroy Another Monster

No one in the universe was watching what the two thousand Xaviers were doing to Jhanku. The Old Man, still on his spaceship, still slowly heading toward the Silver River sector, was blissfully unaware of how far Xavier had come. The other top ten Denizens in the universe were also unaware of what was happening, though most of them had Xavier Collins on their radar, they didn’t realise he’d become a threat, even if they wanted the secrets that were hidden in his mind.

In theory, it would have been easy for one of those beings to pop into one of the ten sectors Xavier ruled and snatch one of his citizens to extract secrets from them—even if it wouldn’t give them everything Xavier was capable of, it would give them the ability to manifest spell patterns, and it would give them another path of advancement via a Reality Core.

But the time dilation fields and the block Xavier had placed around the sectors to prevent beings from detecting what was happening within stopped such a thing from happening, even though there were millions of agents sent from all corners of the universe toward his empire to investigate matters.

They would simply never reach the empire in time.

And those who, somehow, did gain entrance to the empire would find their skills were not up to the task by the time they reached it. The ruling Denizens who sent their agents didn’t send their best. They sent C Grades and B Grades—though a few sent A Grades, thinking that would be more than overkill. But even the A Grades wouldn’t be enough anymore.

They’d be detected, and while the average citizen of Xavier’s empire wasn’t strong enough to take down an A Grade, many of them were. Besides, they didn’t need to be strong enough on their own—they were trained to fight in unison, after all.

Xavier’s use of time dilation fields to not only grow his power but to expand his universe and grow the power of everyone within was… unprecedented.

At least, it was unprecedented in this universe. The woman watching from outside the universe had seen similar before. More than once. It wasn’t an entirely unique idea—nothing was in the vastness of the multiverse. But even though she’d seen it done, she’d never seen another do it as effectively as Xavier Collins had.

Though the woman—the Wanderer, and the head of a whole faction of them—had been observing this version of Xavier Collins for some time, she was still amazed by what he had grown capable of. In just a few short years by the standards of his universe’s time—for it had still been less than four years since he’d been integrated into the System—he’d become strong enough to do this, even if he used the help of other versions of him to do it.

The time dilated expansion of an empire might not have been unique, even the conjoining of different universes wasn’t wholly unique—she’d seen a hell of a lot out there in the vastness of reality, there were empires that spanned multiple universes, even those that abandoned one universe for another when the end finally came.

These multiversal empires weren’t as powerful as Wanderers as a whole—though some of them were even led by former Wanderers—but they were powerful entities in their own right. Most Wanderers, if on their own, wouldn’t stand a chance if they got on the wrong side of one of them.

But even so, these empires didn’t join their powers in the same way Xavier did.

Of all the things he’d done, the psychic link between him and the almost identical other versions of himself was considered unprecedented even by her. And the drawing of power from all the sectors he ruled… this idea of unity in a way that would bring not only power but peace…

The Wanderer watching couldn’t help but constantly be amazed.

Compared to the Wanderer, Xavier Collins was still considered “weak.” She could squash him like a bug, if she wished. She could reach out and eliminate all two thousand Xaviers from existence completely was nothing more than a thought. And though she was one of the more ancient and powerful Wanderers out there, she knew even the weakest Wanderer would still be able to defeat this conjoined entity.

But she didn’t think that would be the case for very long, not with how fast he was pushing forward his power.

He is going to change the game. He is going to change everything.

The Wanderer tilted her chin up as she watched the Xaviers invade Jhanku’s mind with incredible ease, stumbling through it and scraping it for as much information as they could. She was far, far away, though distance was a strange thing between universes. She sat within her library on her personal planet in a universe that had only recently been born—about a billion years ago—this was one of the universes left unprotected by her faction, a universe where they allowed outside intervention, and so many of the Wanderers within her faction had places of residence within it.

As she sat there, watching, she wondered what might happen if this human-turned-dragonkin actually succeeded. At the rate he was going, it was easy to imagine him eclipsing even her in power soon—and not only with the help of other versions of himself, but simply as himself. Such a thing made her shudder, for if Jhanku was one of the top ten most powerful beings in his universe, then she was one of the top ten most powerful beings in the multiverse.

A much harder position to gain.

She tapped a finger on the armrest of her chair. She wasn’t only one of the most powerful beings in the multiverse, she was also one of the oldest. And she, among very few others, was aware of the real origin of the Interdimensional Dragon. That knowledge had made her wary of every single version of Xavier Collins she’d ever come across, even though as a Wanderer she knew better than to hold onto such prejudices. She knew as well as any that enemies from one universe could easily be friends in another.

And yet, as she watched this version of Xavier Collins and all he’d accomplished in such a short time—another thing that was unprecedented about him—she couldn’t help but feel afraid. She knew better than anyone what power can do to someone. What ultimate power brings. When one rules a town, there are hundreds of temptations. When one rules a city, thousands. A Planet, a sector, a universe, multiple universes…

Those temptations only grew exponentially.

One day, one of those temptations would be the exact match for Xavier Collins.

Not only that, he may be gaining power to use it with good intentions now, but once those intentions had been fulfilled—well, what then?

The ancient Wanderer gripped the armrests of her chair, her fingernails digging through the self-regenerating fabric. She shut her eyes and pushed away her doubts.

The Interdimensional Dragon was a monster.

She’d always known it would take a monster to destroy another monster.

This is what has to be done.

Her faction was founded for one end—to allow as many universes as they could manage to evolve naturally until the one could be found. Intervention was against her rules for her faction members, and yet she had always intended to intervene personally when the right candidate came along.

Indeed, she already had intervened when she’d placed Roln inside Xavier Collins’s head.

Since then, Xavier had thrown away the shackles of not only his own universe, but the System that governed it. He had connected multiple universes together, something that the System which governed this specific corner of the multiverse had no previous experience with. He may not have stepped so far into the multiverse to be considered a Wanderer, but he was most certainly considered a universe hopper.

She wondered, then, if it would soon be time to step into the next phase of her intended interventions.

Was Xavier Collins ready to be introduced into the wider multiverse? Or was there still more work to be done? It went against the edicts of her faction, the edicts she’d written, but it had always been her plan. She knew that whenever the one emerged, they would eventually need to go further than their own universe to accomplish the task of saving it. It was something she hoped would happen naturally, and there had been some other candidates across the many trillions of years she’d been doing this who’d become close.

But none had come close as this.

Roln was doing an admirable job of helping with the boy’s progression, but the wider multiverse was a far harsher playground than that of any single, naturally evolving universe. Very soon, Xavier would run out of challenges to face inside his own universe, but the divide between him—and the power he could wield through his multiversal connections—and the Interdimensional Dragon would still be incredibly large.

Too large.

The challenges in his own universe wouldn’t be enough to help him grow any longer. He would need to step out.

And if he was to survive, he would need a guide—a Wanderer. One who, unlike Roln, was still alive.

He would need her.