Xavier stared blankly at the notification in front of him.

Congratulations! You have cleared the Eleventh Floor of the Tower of Champions.

Party Member Contribution:

Xavier: 0/0 Kills.

Howard: 0/0 Kills.

Justin: 0/0 Kills.

Siobhan: 0/0 Kills.

Attributions will be shared equally on this floor.

Title Unlocked!

Eleventh Floor Climber: This title has been upgraded. You have cleared the Eleventh Floor of the Tower of Champions, and shall be rewarded.

You have received +26 to all stats!

On the first ten floors of the tower, this title would have given you +2 to all stats for each floor. From the eleventh floor, this will now be +6 points for each floor.

Note: the title “Tenth Floor Climber” has been stricken from your soul.

Title Unlocked!

1st Eleventh Floor Climber: Out of Champions from five competing worlds, your party is the first to clear the Eleventh Floor of the Tower of Champions within your instance.

You have received +60 to all stats!

On the first ten floors of the tower, this title would have given you +5 to all stats for each floor. From the eleventh floor, this will now be +10 points for each floor.

Note: As you have a similar title, “1st Tenth Floor Climber” has been combined with this title and shares its stats.

Title Unlocked!

Eleventh Floor Ranked 1 – RECORD HOLDER (Completion Time – minus 5 min 38 sec): Out of all the Champions from all the worlds in the Greater Universe who have completed the Eleventh Floor of the Tower of Champions in every possible instance, your party have completed this floor in the fastest time.

This title is a Temporary Title. If your record is edged out of first place, your title will be turned into a normal top 100 title.

If your record is edged out of the top 100, your title will be lost.

You have received +240 to all stats!

On the first ten floors of the tower, a Ranked 1 RECORD HOLDER title would have given you +20 to all stats. From the eleventh floor, this will now be +100 points for each floor this record is gained after ten.

Note: As you have similar titles, each has been combined with this title and shares their stats. You may still view the previous titles and your standing on the leaderboards, if you will it.

In 10 minutes, you and your party will be returned to the Staging Room.

Xavier shut his eyes. Clenched his fists.

Things had not gone to plan.

How could this be possible? How could they have cleared the floor already? He wouldn’t have another chance to do this—he couldn’t go backward and try the floor again.

They only ever got one chance to clear a floor.

He released a breath. Opened his eyes. It wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, considering they got the record clear…

He leapt down from the high wall, landing neatly on the ground in the town square where Howard and Siobhan had gathered. The townsfolk were gone. Justin was on his way back—Xavier could already see his wings growing bigger as he neared.

“What the hell happened?” Howard asked.

“We… cleared the floor,” Siobhan said.

Howard grunted. “Well, that much is clear. But how?”

Three thuds sounded on the heavy wooden gate. Metal on metal. Xavier turned, his gaze on the door. He frowned, forehead creasing. Was that one of the zombies? Except the zombies had all frozen a fair distance from the wall. With the speed he’d seen them move at, he doubted one had made it to the gate already.

For a moment, he wondered if he might have left one of the townsfolk here. But they wouldn’t be outside the walls, and he was able to see their auras.

Xavier walked over to the gate.

“What are you doing?” Howard asked.

“Seeing who’s on the other side.”

Justin swooped down and landed in the square. He shook his wings, then retracted them. “That notification… we cleared the floor? We didn’t even get any kills in.”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Xavier opened the gate. He used his telekinesis. Turned out the powerful wall wasn’t protected from the inside. Whoever had designed this wall… Xavier was surprised it had protected these people for so long.

A woman stood on the other side. She wore dark robes that were awfully similar to the ones Xavier had on. He supposed he could see how someone might mistake him for a necromancer.

The woman also held a staff with a skull at its head, two glowing gemstones stuck in the eye sockets. One green, one blue, as though the skull had heterochromia.

Xavier couldn’t help but widen his eyes at the sight of the woman. He took a step back in his shock. He recognised her. The woman had pale skin. She wasn’t scarred… but one day she would be.

How could this be?

“Romalda Heralda,” Xavier said.

The woman raised an eyebrow. “You know who I am?”

Xavier looked her up and down. He was confused. But his mind worked fast enough.

This is an alternate reality. A different universe to our own. This woman isn’t the Romalda I know. Isn’t the one who died and ended up reincarnated in a dungeon. This is someone else—someone who took a different path.

“It’s complicated,” Xavier muttered.

Romalda looked him up and down, then looked past him at Howard, Siobhan, and Justin. “Very interesting,” she said. “You’re Champions. Did these people summon Champions to face my army?” She cackled. The cackle was familiar, though not as… ancient sounding as when he’d last heard it. This one was youthful, free.

This all felt very strange to Xavier. Like characters in a book breaking the fourth wall. It was one thing for Connor Drier and the other townsfolk to know about Champions and the tower—they’d been the one to summon them—but this woman…

Romalda ran a hand through her hair. “Thank you for clearing the town. I was hoping to create more workers, but this”—she flicked her thin fingers at the empty square, shrugged—”will do nicely.” She raised her chin. “Now, you may leave.”

Her eyes glazed over momentarily. She couldn’t scan Xavier, or the others for that matter—they had items to block scans too. It only seemed prudent. The woman’s jaw stiffened as her eyes refocused. She may not have been able to scan them, but something told Xavier she was able to sense they were more powerful than her.

“I have no problem with you or your party,” the young Romalda said.

Xavier gripped his scythe-staff. He looked past the woman at the zombies amassed outside the walls. There were more than he’d thought. From this vantage point, he could better see through the trees.

He would have been able to wipe them all out easily enough. A single swipe of Charon’s Scythe would take out Romalda, too.

But that didn’t seem necessary anymore. The threat was gone. The floor cleared—even if it hadn’t been how he planned. He noticed he hadn’t gotten the solo title for this one, either. He supposed he hadn’t done anything to deserve it, so that made sense.

Looking at the woman, at what she’d been about to do, Xavier wondered if he was making the right choice back on Earth. He’d been feeding Denizens into her dungeon in order to strengthen this very woman—or her alternate universe counterpart, at any rate—to become strong enough to break out.

But it wasn’t as though he’d been totally ignorant of her past, and what that past would mean she was capable of.

Xavier stood there for a long moment. He checked the timer. Not much time had passed since they’d “completed” the floor.

It was hard for him to imagine that there hadn’t been a single Champion in all the different iterations of the tower that hadn’t decided to simply evacuate the town. It was an unorthodox way of completing the floor, he had to admit, and he hadn’t even been intending to do it—but their record time… it was in the negative.

How amazing was that?

Eight minutes, ten seconds until we’re returned to the tower.

He wondered if there was anything he could learn from this woman. But right now, she was only F Grade. This woman was early on in her story. Years away from being the person he’d met in that dungeon.

If anything, he might have advice for her, not that he wished to give her any.

“Why are you staring at me like that?” Romalda said.

“I know you. In another life.” He tilted his head to the side.

Xavier realised that being honest with this woman would bring no consequences to him, or to Earth—or to anyone in his universe. “It’s making me wonder. About the Tower of Champions. About who else I might meet on its floors.”

The woman crossed her arms. “What floor did I make?”

“Eleven.”

She nodded. “Not bad.” She shook her head. “You really know me? The dark robes… are you a necromancer too?”

“I’m a reaper.”

The woman took a step back. Xavier suppressed a smile.

“Reaper. Terrifying.” She raised her chin. “Am I younger, or older, when you meet me? What grade am I?”

Xavier told her. Everything. That she had been B Grade once. That she had died. Been reincarnated into a dungeon. About the deal they’d made together. The woman didn’t seem afraid. In fact, her face lit up with glee.

“B Grade…” She smiled wide. “Better than I could have hoped for! Though I certainly won’t be letting myself get killed in this reality, that’s for sure.”

Xavier rubbed the back of his neck. This was all still doing his head in. He often forgot how strange the Tower of Champions really was. It made him wonder who else he might meet on its floors—or if he’d meet people he’d already encountered in the tower out there in the Greater Universe.

It also made him wonder how different these people might be.

Did all the different alternate universes start from the exact same place? How does it all work? And why did the System create the tower in the first place?

There must be a reason. Perhaps it was one he would one day discover.

That’s when he had a thought—he’d been avoiding using his otherworldly spells, despite how powerful they were.

He was worried about how they might injure his soul. The Spirit of Vengeance had really made him afraid. But fear wasn’t something that he should let rule him. Xavier had been hardening his soul from the moment he’d been able, and he’d never stopped, even when the spell plateaued and gaining ranks in it became tiresome and difficult. Even when he didn’t see any obvious rewards from it. It was simply what he did.

Would the System really give him spells that might ultimately cause him harm? Maybe. Should he let that stop him from using them to get answers? Definitely not.

“Strange as this might sound, it’s been good to see you, the Great Romalda Heralda.”

The woman smirked. “The Great Romalda? Well, that has a rather nice ring to it, doesn’t it? And yes, this has been nice. The insights you have given me… I have to say they have been enlightening. Though I hope to never meet you in my future—for that would mean I will have died. Say hello to Romalda for me.”

Xavier chuckled. He hadn’t even thought of how odd it might be for the Romalda he knew to learn of this. Then again… she might already know.

I doubt that. No one had ever faced the necromancer up close, nor killed them. Adranial said it was impossible.

According to Adranial, the necromancer on this floor had always lurked in the shadows. This was the first time they’d been brought into the light. Like the Lord of the Endless Horde—Xavier was probably the only one to have ever encountered him on the fifth floor.

Xavier walked back over to the others. Howard had a blank look on his face. Justin was avoiding his gaze, looking sheepish. And Siobhan looked… worried?

“What’s the matter with you three?” Xavier asked.

Justin scratched the back of his neck. “We were just wondering whether you wanted to keep us with you on the next floor.”

Xavier blinked. “What do you mean?”

Siobhan tucked a lock of red hair behind her ear. “This is the first time we’ve gotten a record holder title, and you can’t get your solo title. Seems like having us with you might be too much of a risk.”

Xavier shook his head. “That’s nonsense. The solo title is helpful… but missing out on one? It isn’t going to change much in the grand scheme. Besides, it isn’t like this was done on purpose. Hell, I was the one giving the orders. If anything, this is my fault.” He shrugged. “We’ve discovered a new way to clear this floor, and we’ve done it faster than anyone else would ever think was possible. I think that’s an amazing achievement. Certainly not something anyone needs to be sorry for.”

Justin relaxed. Howard’s shoulders became less stiff. Siobhan smiled warmly.

“Now, let’s see what our loot boxes have to offer,” Xavier said. “And there’s something else I’d like to do when we’re back in the Staging Room as well.”

In the time he’d been talking to Romalda, the countdown timer had continued ticking away. Now, it was seconds from reaching zero.

When it did, they were teleported out of the eleventh floor.