Standing in the middle of a battlefield, surrounded by the corpses of his enemies, Xavier pinpointed the exact position of the remaining enemy.

A dozen mini portals hovered around him, arrows whistling through them. As best he could, he’d been ignoring these attacks, even as the arrowheads pierced through his robes and dug into his skin. Some of these arrows had interesting effects. Poison. Explosive. And numbing.

His health had dipped down as he concentrated, and both his legs were numb, but he knew that numbness wouldn’t last long.

The moment he was free of it, he moved. He sprinted across the field where his enemies lay dead. This was just one of countless worlds that had invaded Earth. One of countless that had surrounded a Safe Zone that had been filled with innocents—men, women, and most importantly children—who lacked the ability to fight altogether.

When Xavier thought of the horrors that could be inflicted upon his people that he’d been unable to prevent, like the massacre of John Hammond’s tutorial and the enslavement of those who’d survived, the horrors that were still happening, and the horrors that would happen if he didn’t do something drastic, he found an anger welling up in his chest.

The same anger that he’d felt when he’d found thousands and thousands of enemy invaders surrounding the Safe Zone city that held Howard’s children.

The dead around him weren’t enough. Each of these fortresses could hold another portal to earth, representing another invasion force—one he had yet to destroy.

I won’t let this go on.

As he ran, bounding over bodies, making a straight line toward the fortress he’d heard the enemies still attacking him through those small portals coming from, he yanked the arrows embedded in his body out, throwing them to the ground. Only then were his wounds able to heal. Despite his immensely high Toughness attribute, these things still brought him pain.

But Xavier had become accustomed to pain. It was a normal part of being in the Greater Universe.

Physical Resistance has reached Rank 70!

He grinned. Besides, enduring pain had its benefits in this new reality.

Now he was running, he was able to evade the arrows. It felt almost as though he could sense them coming.

A puff of air to his left let him know a portal had opened, and so he ducked his head and an arrow whistled over it. He slipped to the right as an arrow came from straight in front of him, passing through a portal the instant it materialised. He leapt slightly higher on his next bounding step, and an arrow passed where his foot would have been.

Does this skill lend me some sort of… premonition ability?

The very idea of that sounded rather absurd, but he supposed anything was possible now.

When he neared the fortress, he jumped as high into the air as he could, wishing there was a soul he could teleport up there to.

These fortresses were taller than the airships he’d faced on the home world of the Endless Horde had been flying in the sky. Even so, he probably could have leapt straight over them—but he didn’t want to miss his landing.

So instead, he ran up the wall. He could only manage a few steps—he couldn’t quite defy gravity, not yet, and the walls were sheer stone—but those few steps took him higher than he’d expected. The last one launched up upward.

He reached as high as he could with his free hand and grasped the ledge with the tip of his fingers. Then, more smoothly than the most skilled traceur—a parkour practitioner—to ever exist pre-integration back on Earth, he pulled himself up so hard he was launched over the ledge and landed on the roof beyond it.

Ten Denizens stood in a circle, each of them wielding bows, arrows in their hands, strings pulled taut. A woman stood in the middle of the archers. Her eyes were wide open, but they were completely white.

Some sort of far-sight spell? Was that how she was able to see me out there, and know where to materialise the portals?

The archers all looked surprised by his sudden appearance. Shock lit up on their faces, and they turned their bows on him.

Xavier simply stood there. When the arrows were loosed, he activated Heavy Telekinesis. As best as he could, he focused the spell. It had never been designed for accuracy, but he’d learnt a thing or two since he’d gained it.

Every single one of the arrows flipped around, changing trajectories by a hundred and eighty degrees.

The arrows were launched back at the archers faster than each of them could blink. Faster than a beat of their heart.

There was a series of thunks as the arrows impacted them. They didn’t kill them, but they injured each and every one of them.

The portal-maker’s eyes shifted. Colour poured back into them and her gaze turned to him. She raised the staff in her hand, and it attained a purple glow.

Xavier cast Core Burn on the archer on the far left. The man’s face reddened. He dropped his bow and clutched his stomach. A sheer look of determination filled the man’s face, but it wasn’t enough to stave off the effects of the spell.

The man sunk to his knees before all the fight—then all the life—left him.

Core Burn has taken a step forward on the path!

Core Burn is now a Rank 12 spell.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

He’d been meaning to rank up this spell for some time. This seemed like the perfect way to do it.

A portal materialised directly in front of his face. Nine others materialised around the archers.

Does she really think this is going to work?

Seven out of the nine archers who remained alive were able to nock and loose another arrow, but Xavier was already out of the way. He wasn’t intending to toy with these people, he just wanted to push forward his spells.

Evasion has reached Rank 11!

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Another step forward.

Xavier cast Soul Puppet on the deceased archer. It was a spell he’d been neglecting. If he were honest, he rarely saw the utility in it. But he was sure it would be good for something. The corpse rose up. Xavier had placed a harvested soul within it. According to the spell’s description, it wasn’t true necromancy, though Xavier, admittedly, didn’t understand the distinction.

It certainly felt like necromancy to him.

Soul Puppet has taken a step forward on the path!

Soul Puppet is now a Rank 3 spell.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

He cast Core Burn again. The cooldown on the spell was only a couple of seconds, but in a fight that moved this fast, and with the amount of Speed he had, two seconds felt like a very long time.

The archer on the far right keeled over, and Core Burn received another rank.

At the same time, he commanded his new soul puppet to attack one of the other archers. The corpse’s movements were jerky and stiff, but it was able to rise and attack.

The portal-maker whirled around, facing Xavier in his new location. A look of horror and rage warred upon her face, each expression fighting for dominance, making her look twisted. “You don’t belong here!”

She angled her staff forward, toward him. He felt some air behind him—another portal opening. And he felt a pressure, too. As though he were being pulled into the portal.

This took him by surprise.

Suddenly, the ground beneath him was no longer the ground, but rather a wall.

The direction of gravity had shifted.

His boots slid along the stone. He didn’t panic, though a part of his mind definitely wanted him to. He had two options: slam the blade of his scythe-staff into the stone and hold on, dangling off the haft, or… simply Soul Step to the second archer he’d just killed.

Time to finish this.

He chose the latter. He swung Charon’s Scythe the moment he materialised. Three heads fell to the ground, the bodies of their owners following swiftly afterward.

Core Burn!

Another archer died, this one even more swiftly than the last he’d used the spell on. Another rank gained. The gravity had only shifted in front of the portal that the mage had created, so it was no longer affecting him where he was.

Xavier tore through the remaining archers in seconds, leaving only his soul puppet and the portal-maker standing. He wasn’t sure why he was leaving the portal-maker till last. Perhaps he needed someone to hear what he had to say.

When all the archers lay dead, Xavier stood in front of the woman, his blade at her neck.

“These fortresses, do each have a portal open to another world that your people are invading?”

The woman swallowed. The movement made her skin push into the blade by a millimetre, but that was enough. A drop of blood dripped down her neck.

“Yes.”

Xavier cast Soul Puppet again, if for no reason than to intimidate this woman, and to gain another rank.

Soul Puppet has taken a step forward on the path!

Soul Puppet is now a Rank 4 spell.

One cannot walk backward on the path.

Another archer rose from the dead. A bead of sweat formed on the woman’s forehead.

“What planets are you invading?” Xavier asked. Even as he asked these questions, he recognised what he was doing was akin to torture, but he wasn’t sure how else he was going to get these answers right now—he certainly didn’t want to make a contract with this woman.

She didn’t deserve anything in return for telling the truth.

Do I so easily break my ideals?

“Carnutar. Gralv. Urik. And Earth,” the woman said.

Xavier looked at the fortresses. There were ten of them. All of the soldiers he’d seen here had been E Grade, which meant they must be preparing for battle against a different world, as they wouldn’t be able to come to Earth. “How many are open to Earth?”

The woman bit her lip. She did not look as though she wanted to answer his question.

“Five. Earth is a new resource—”

“Recall your troops. All of them. Now.”

The woman swallowed again. Another few drops of blood dripped down her skin. She shut her eyes.

“I don’t have that authority. Besides, you’re going to kill me either way. At least I’ll die not betraying my world.”

Xavier sighed. He supposed a part of him admired her loyalty, but as it got in his way, it frustrated him more than anything else.

Should I leave her alive? She could give demands to whoever does have the authority to do this…

“Very good. It’s nice to know our soldiers are loyal.”

The voice came from behind Xavier, surprising him. He hadn’t sensed anyone back there—he would have heard someone approaching, wouldn’t he?

But now that he’d heard the voice… it sounded deep, strong. There was a sense of power, seeping through that voice. Not like the one he’d heard through the Communication Stone when he’d been speaking to Ramith Sain’s father, fortunately. But strong, nonetheless.

Xavier didn’t want to pull the blade from the woman’s throat. If whoever had arrived turned out to be stronger than him, he would need whatever leverage he could find. Instead, he slipped behind her, the blade of Charon’s Scythe still at her neck, and faced the new arrival.

Make that arrivals.

Four Denizens stood at the other side of the roof, between Xavier, the portal-maker mage, the two soul puppets he’d raised, and the dead archers.

Xavier took them in as swiftly as he could, scanning them as he did.

A man stood in front of the other three. He wore silver robes and carried a staff that appeared to be made from metal. At the tip of the staff was a silver crystal that had a subtle white glow. The man’s face was surprisingly serene, seemingly unbothered by the massacre that had happened down below, and the smaller one that had happened on the rooftop.

{Human – Level 220}

D Grade, and much higher level than the Lord of the Endless Horde was.

Xavier looked at the one Denizen standing at the man’s right. A woman, wielding a bow. She was dressed similarly to some of the archers he’d just slain—light leathers, an arm brace, and finger guards for where she held the string. Strange that she would need those, considering how durable her body must be. Unlike the silver-robed man, this woman had a look of naked rage etched into her face.

{Human – Level 215}

The other two, standing at the silver-robed man’s left, both looked like warriors. One, a heavy warrior in full-plate, carried a tower shield much like the one Howard carried, but instead of a double-bearded axe, this man had a large warhammer.

{Human – Level 210}

The other was a woman wearing ringmail armour. She had a smaller shield and a short sword. She almost looked like what Xavier thought a gladiator in ancient Rome must have looked like. Her long hair was tied up in a tight braid.

{Human – Level 205}

Xavier swallowed. Couldn’t help himself. He’d been expecting resistance when he’d come through, of course, but he didn’t know this was what it would look like.

He’d been hoping to get the hell out of dodge before anyone stronger than E Grade showed up. Apparently, he’d taken a little too long dealing with the enemies on the rooftop.

I should have killed them swift and been done with it.

Every single Denizen standing before him was stronger than the Lord of the Endless Horde he’d faced. All four of them D Grade. The Lord of the Endless Horde had been Level 201.

Xavier was actually surprised he was even able to identify these D Grades at all. He certainly couldn’t feel even a hint of their auras, which would have given him a better idea of just how powerful they were.

Maybe they’re letting me identify them, to put even more fear into me.

The silver-robed man, the leader of the D grade party, tilted his head to the side. Though his expression was serene, even slightly bored, his eyes seemed to pierce Xavier’s soul.

“I’ve been hearing tales, of a True Progenitor come from a baby world to teach us a lesson.” The man shuddered exaggeratedly, then smiled. “You…” He looked Xavier up and down dispassionately. “Were not what I was expecting.”

“He slaughtered everyone here,” the archer said through gritted teeth. The woman looked at the dead soldiers on the roof. “He killed my archers!”

“Hush, Lilah darling,” the silver-robed man said. “He will be dealt with.” The man tipped his head back. “There’s no way His Imperial Highness would allow someone who has caused this much harm upon our people to live. Such an insult must be punished.” The man took a step forward, his once serene face taking on a hint of menace. “Nor would he let a True Progenitor live if they were still weak enough to be snuffed out. Can’t have power like that left to fester. Not in a sector this volatile.”

Xavier fingers twitched. Facing D Grades, though he knew it had been a possibility, certainly hadn’t been a part of the plan.

He assessed his options.

­I could run. Create a portal with the Portal Stone. Head back. They wouldn’t be able to follow without dying on the other side. I’d lose out on a Portal Stone, but then I’d be safe…

He paused that thought. He’d come here to make a statement. To show the sector that they should make a move on Earth.

He’d also been looking for a challenge, and it wasn’t as though he hadn’t killed a D Grade Denizen before…

Xavier smiled back at the silver-robed man, the man’s forehead creased for just a fraction of a second, perhaps surprised by his response.

He still held his blade at the portal-maker’s throat, but it didn’t seem as though these people cared about that.

“I take it you’re not going to heed my warning, then?” Xavier asked.