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Chapter 595: Backup
🕑 Added 2025-08-19 23:45:01 +0000 UTCChapter 595: Backup
The blades disappeared from Derek’s sight, and as they did, so too did the heat on the back of his neck and the sword that was being driven in. He also saw a telltale bright light flash, indicating that someone had been saved by the system. That someone was obviously Kelvin.
“That looks dangerous!” Jace said as he looked around Derek and at the beam landing on his arms. The man reached out and touched it, then pulled his hand back like a kid who had just touched a hot skillet. “Feels dangerous, too. Why are you just… standing there?”
“Trischa… was able to take space and void away,” Derek replied.
“And?”
“And I didn’t want to beat them all before you got here,” Derek said. “What kind of friend do you think I am?”
“A very good one, if that is the case,” Jace replied.
“J-Jace?!” Amelia asked with wide eyes. Her confusion was so great that Derek even felt the force acting on his body lessen for a moment. “You’re here too…” Her head then shot to the left, and she looked off in the distance.
“Hey, Amelia!” Jace waved at the red woman, getting her attention back. “I see you met my best friend finally, and you didn’t even run away this time.”
“B-best… f… friend?” the woman muttered. “You…” Her eyes moved back and forth between Derek, who was still being pummeled by the beam, and Jace, who was grinning from ear to ear. “And… him? Best friends? Not just… acquaintances or casual friends?”
“That’s right!” Jace said as he slapped Derek on the back, causing him to move slightly forward and allowing some of the beam to slip through and hit his face.
“Ouch!” Derek yelled. “Don’t do that… actually… now that backup is here, I’m through taking this.” He looked up at Darvin, who, even with Jace’s interruption, was still focusing all his might on controlling and hitting Derek with the combination energy blast.
“You either stop now,” he said. “Or… I fight back, and I’m not sure exactly what will happen to you if I do. If I recall correctly, you are not a Champion, so the system will not save you.”
“Silence!” Darvin gritted his teeth, and his blue color began to pale. The small floating man pushed, and the beam’s power increased even more. Whatever he was doing, it looked like he was trading some of his own power to increase its strength.
That… actually really hurts, Derek thought as he winced. “I gave you your chance,” he said to Darvin. “If this is the end of you… then no hard feelings. You can blame your own stubbornness.” Derek was truly tired of being hit by the attack—especially now that it really was eating through everything. If the man had started with it like that… well… it would have most likely worked out the same because of Void’s Embrace’s armor skill.
Still, he’d had enough, and it wasn’t like he was really using the mana that was being held by his armor, which was glowing wildly with purple runes and etchings. So, Derek took a breath, pushed against Amelia’s force to stand tall, then opened his arms.
Seeing Derek make a move, Jace backhanded Briya away from him, then jumped back himself. The next moment, Derek activated the second part of the Expel armor skill. I’m glad he’s floating, Derek thought as pure mana exploded from the chest of his armor.
Since he let it all out at once, the pure mana that exploded out from him engulfed the combined powers of many of the Champions. It didn’t completely destroy it, but, in the battle between the two powers, the single mass of energy that exploded from Void’s Embrace dominated. It took all of a second to reach where the small blue System Watcher was floating, then… there was nothing.
There wasn’t a scream, there were no clothing or spatial rings falling from the sky. There was nothing. Absolutely nothing was left of the small figure. All that could be seen was a massive burst of pure energy continuing its way into the sky, and soon, into space.
“D-Darvin…” Amelia muttered as all the force disappeared from Derek’s body.
“I gave him plenty of chances,” Derek said as he slashed Harbinger down at the weird bugs that were holding his legs in place. With a disgusted look on his face, he stepped out of their lifeless maws, then shrugged. “He didn’t even try to dodge.”
“He couldn’t!” Amelia spat at Derek. “Not while using that skill.”
“Still not my fault,” Derek said. “Either of you could have used your words. I didn’t know the guy very well, but from what I could tell in the short time I got to know him, and from what I heard from your little chats with Jace… I’m not going to lose any sleep over him.”
“That guy was as much a pompous asshole as I am,” Jace said.
Derek looked at Jace and rolled his eyes.
“Well… it was really close,” Jace said. “But the difference was that he did things the coward’s way. I have the power to back it up… against most people.” The man turned his head a bit so as not to look Derek in the eyes. “As far as I know, he did nothing but use people. He was a pencil pusher who thought he was a leader.”
“Shut up!” Amelia shouted.
Jace cracked his neck, then drew the blades that he’d put away after taking care of Kelvin, from his back. “Make me!” he shouted back with a grin.
Derek took a small step to the side as a massive red blur shot past him. It was clear that Jace had made his move at the same time as Amelia. If not for Derek’s own stats, he would have been pushed back when the two collided.
“Ugh!” A deep roar of agony sounded out from the other side, and Derek quickly looked that way. Standing and looking utterly defeated was the four… no… zero-armed scaled man known as Cuthos. In front of the man floated one of his arms that was wearing his storage bracelet, and in front of the arm was just a very small ball of what looked like wind.
“Holy…” Derek muttered as the small tornado slowed, showing four cleavers and his companion inside. “Just how much have you practiced doing that?” he asked but didn’t expect an answer.
“Taxi’ing is boring,” Silvi’s childlike voice sounded. “Mount… uh… Thomas is much better at it.” Derek stared at his companion, speechless, but didn’t say anything else. “Kill?” Silvi asked with a tilted head. Her four cleavers stopped spinning, and all pointed at Cuthos.
“I am of no use here,” the formerly four-armed man said. “Allow me my arms, and I will leave.”
“Hmph,” Silvi snorted, but then nodded at the ground. The man bent down and held himself close to one of the arms. It soon attached enough for him to use it, then he picked the other two off the ground, all the while glancing at Derek, Silvi, and the battle starting behind them. With two arms in hand and the other working on healing, he looked longingly at the fourth, which was floating in front of him. A moment later, the storage bracelet slipped off the wrist, and the rest of the arm was thrown into the man’s chest.
“Die!” a feminine voice sounded, and the cat-like woman appeared next to Silvi with a small blade in her only hand. Derek thought of moving to intercept, then thought better of it.
Expecting the woman to fall into a million pieces after being finely diced by all four cleavers, Derek was surprised when she was covered in sand all the way up to her head. “Assassins aren’t very strong when they cannot move,” Marrick said as he floated towards the ground with a hand stretched out at Briya.
The cat woman struggled for a few seconds, then snarled, “I give up!” she half-shouted through gritted teeth, then disappeared.
“Thank you for my arms back,” the now two-armed man said with a slight bow to Silvi. “The storage bracelet is my loss for such poor performance. You have my respect. I will take my leave.” The man looked at Derek and clenched his two fists. Then he looked at the rampaging battle, sighed, and said, “Please… do not harm Trischa. She is needed.” He looked over his shoulder, then sighed again. “I give up.”
“Why you do that!?” Silvi shouted at Marrick.
“Stop her? From attacking you?”
“Yes!” Silvi shouted again. “Why you do that?”
“Because she was attacking you, and I was here,” Marrick said.
“I was going to get her bracelet.” Silvi turned her nose up at Marrick. “Now she kept it. Probably had best ingredients. Now gone…”
“Nah,” Derek said. “Did you see her? Skin and bone. I bet she only lived on rations and potions. She probably didn’t have a single ingredient in her storage device… just poison, weapons, and potions.”
“Mhm…” Silvi thought about it for a minute, then nodded. “She was skinny,” Silvi said, knowing full well that it was the cat-like assassin’s stat layout that actually caused such a thing.
I bet her race’s bloodline probably has something to do with it too, actually, Derek thought. Then, he thought about Ogre, who could probably put all his stat points into dexterity yet still be huge because of his Giant lineage. He then shrugged the thoughts away and looked at Marrick.
“There’s not much left,” Derek said.
“I can see… what do we do about the young woman over there?” Marrick asked as he nodded toward Trischa, who was still struggling with her hands up. Though now, she was seated motionlessly on the ground in front of Silvi because she’d been behind the four-armed man before he left.
Derek walked over and placed his hand on the blue woman’s head. “I think…” he muttered. “She’s out cold… but the system hasn’t taken her away.”
“Most likely because the reason for that was not done by an enemy. She pushed herself to such a state. If I…” Marrick said, then directed some sand her way. The sand wrapped around the woman’s face, and then, a few moments later, she was taken by the system.
“No!” Silvi shouted. “Old Goblin! The ingredients!”
“It’s fine,” Marrick replied as a bracelet floated on a cloud of sand and to Silvi.
“Good job!” Silvi praised.
As soon as the blue woman disappeared, Derek felt his body and energies rush to become normal again. He took a deep breath of relief as the emptiness inside him left by the void was once again filled. With that weight off his chest, he looked around. “Wait… where did the bugs go?”
“Bugs?” Marrick asked. “What bugs?”
“The Ul’oc guy…” Derek said with a sigh. “He’s like a beetle, and he controls a bunch of different bugs. I think it’s a summon ability, but they all came from the ground, so I don’t know.” He shrugged. “It looks like he escaped.”
“Or… he thought he did?” Marrick asked.
“Well… yes,” Derek replied, then he finally turned to the battle between Jace and Amelia. He was very interested in seeing how it would play out. Amelia was the other system’s him… or at least Braxton, and Derek was unsure how a buffed Jace would compare. So, he watched… as Jace got utterly thrashed… all with a huge grin on his face.
First, Amelia was absolutely the worst opponent for Derek’s friend. She was hovering around ten feet off the ground, all the while one hand slowed Jace’s movements. The other hand… pulled Jace into the air… then pulled Jace’s face into her fist… over and over again.
She was a hammer, and Jace was a nail… a very, very durable nail.
“See,” Marrick said. “When someone isn’t standing still like an idiot letting that man’s Battlelust build up, he’s not as troublesome.”
“Does she look like she’s having an easy time?” Derek asked as he nodded at Amelia. The look on her face was more one of frustration than anything else. “His regeneration at this point is insane. And the one-sided beating that he’s taking? His Battlelust has to be building up with a fury.”
“But it isn’t high enough yet. It seems that he needed to clear one more teleportation array, at least, to be on her level,” Marrick replied. “And she isn’t frustrated because of his regeneration… well, not just due to that. She’s frustrated because she’s already figured out the way to beat him.”
“Which is?”
“At his current regeneration speed? It’s the same method I thought of, of course,” Marrick replied with a sigh. “He can’t be knocked unconscious by normal means, and she can’t hope to run him out of steam like you did.” The Old Goblin shook his head. “To win, she would have to kill him in one move. And if that is something she chooses, she must do so soon.”
“Well… that’s not going to happen with me here,” Derek snorted.
“And there lies the frustration…”
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A/N: Hey all! The next few weeks I probably won't be in the comments much. I have to focus on finally preparing this manuscript for editors so I can have it ready for release and ready to be sent to Adam to record.
I've noticed that going through comments like I do on Patreon--even as great as the overwhelming majority of them are--taxes my brain. I've actually already been limiting myself on how often I look at them, and how often I'm on Discord, and I feel like it has been one of the things that have been helping me over the last few weeks. (I'm still constantly trying different things to help with all that stuff.)
It was funny, I was speaking with a few other authors about it, and they all basically said the exact same thing, so I guess I'm not THAT broken. I'll still be in and out, but the time I spend going through and replying and whatnot will likely be reduced by quite a bit until I finish with my manuscript.
One day, I'm going to create a manuscript as I go instead of saving each chapter in its own separate document. Then again, that may make it harder to cut and splice and stuff... anyway... I'm rambling... enjoy the chapter! We are closing in on the end of book 8 after 235,000 words... (Side note: My publisher is going to kill me.)
Comments
ABTelford
This whole battle is…weird. It doesn’t have the face pace and intensity I was expecting of the big final battle so I’m feeling disappointed. It’s written well though so I’m confused…maybe you could change how it’s written to feel more intense, more…action packed or something? I dunno… I’m loving the story! So this dissonance is really bothering me. Best of luck making it pop more for the final draft!!
Chloe
Tyftc
Havics Child
All the publishers need is for Derek to finish his time on this planet and they can cut the story off and leave it open. It's a too common scumbag way to end stories but they do that kind of thing all the time all over the world.
Havics Child
Jace needs to stop hitting her fist with his face.
Khal Lee
Thanks for another round of fun and tumble. Good luck on the whole organizing for editor(s) or whatever. Hate to rain on your parade, but every little thing seems to become taxing as one ages. Good luck! @--',---- for condolences in the taxing thing... just wait until it starts feeling like its an ever growing pothole!!! Yay! *ouch*
SmokeJam
Tftc
Tucker Glick
You’re safe the publisher can’t kill you… how would you ever get the manuscript done?
Shawn Treants
Comments in general should definitely be ignored by creators. Highly support that decision. Keep on making awesome stories! Tftc
Jacob
I kind of hope Derek can figure out a way to help Amelia with her second requirement. She would be a good romance match for Jace, and she has seemed like a good character.
JW Saxby
😄 excellent chapter, thanks CV for the drop, and you do whatever you gotta do to get this story out and I’ll keep absolutely devouring every word lol have a good one and good luck with everything 🍻
Roro
I hope Marrick earns the second requirement from helping with this invasion and ascends instead of dying. He is a funny character!
Samuel Strode
CV I tried writing a book in word did like 200 pages and it took a long time to load word has a way to link documents each chapter can be on it’s own
John
This is my favorite series by far. I got on patreon just to get my fix in. Do whatever you need to do to continue this series . It's book Crack the first one was free now I am hooked ....lol . Great chapter.
Arieh Sochaczevski
Thanks for the chapter!
Jordan
This week is gonna be awesome.
jobe matula
great chap!
Cody Cahill
While I don’t think joe Rogan has good takes on a lot of things one of the major insights he preaches is to never read your comments. He never reads his for the exact reason you’re having issues. He doesn’t want it to get into his head because many people just say stupid things to attempt to enrage and discourage you. Anything that’s public you should probably avoid reading comments. I have seen a couple on Patreon a while back but overall i haven’t seen any super hateful stuff on here. But, we’re here because we support you and your writing style. It’s your world, im just enjoying living in it a little every week.
SunriseCV
Oh… it’s because at a certain point, it will break the spine of a paperback as soon as it’s opened. Lol
joel southard
Thank you for the chapter
Toni
Love it thank you!
Corwin Amber
thanks for the chapter
SUBLIME SMITER
I didn't count, but I am guessing around 235k words.
Stephen
Extra points for the alliterations
SUBLIME SMITER
That Void Embrace's Expel so brought back memories of Guyver's Mega Smasher or to be more accurate, Guyver Gigantic's Gigasmasher.
SunriseCV
It’s a number of things. Like, a single hateful comment can get in my head for weeks. I still have one rattling around in there from RoyalRoad a couple months ago. Comments are a sink in far as how much time I spend ruminating on things when I could/SHOULD be doing something else. As I was telling an author friend of mine earlier today, we’re over a million words into our series’s, what we’re writing is pretty much set in stone. We shouldn’t let criticism of any kind affect us—especially with the success that our stories have had—but it does, and we can’t turn it off. I was surprised when I asked and realized how many authors avoid all comments. I have the litrpg and progfantasy subreddits muted right now so tier lists don’t pop up in my feed. Lmao. Just so many little things adding up that shouldn’t. But, I am apparently not alone in my way of braining. I also know a number of authors who had to hiatus popular stories because it got to them. And I understand them. It’s super hard not to look at comments when you have instant feedback waiting for you after posting,
Onyxfrost
For comparison how many words was book 8? Tyftc ♥️
Raymond Mouton
Thanks for the chapter.
SUBLIME SMITER
@Sunrise, "I just wish I could make my brain weigh all the positive ones as much as the negative ones weigh on me."- I got you, boss. Negative reviews weighing brain more than positive ones = Inanity + Insanity. Positive reviews flooding brain more than negative ones = Perspicacity + Perspicuity. Ta-da! Simple.
Corac
Is the comments a problem because of poor feedback/hateful comments? Or simply because of it being a time sink? Either way still here to support you even with limited interactions. Great fight by the way. The line last chapter about the laser still has me laughing.
SunriseCV
I’ll still be here, but I’m going to try my best to break the habit of just sitting on my phone for hours refreshing the comment page. I love chatting with readers, so I doubt I ever completely stop. I just need to control the urge to refresh so much.
SunriseCV
They’ve been friends for a long time. A couple times I think Darvin mentioned her being his only real and reliable friend on the council and stuff like that. So it’s really nothing more than a long time friend dying, then wanting to punch something… and Jace is very punchable.
SunriseCV
Haha. Yeah. It’s so weird. It’s like an obsession that can only harm. Because I go to comment sections holding my breath—hoping there won’t be any wildly negative comments. Then, there usually aren’t, and most are very positive. I just wish I could make my brain weigh all the positive ones as much as the negative ones weigh on me.
Bakerbob
Hey, if Sunrise doesnt read comments, it's time to talk trash!!! Oh Yeah!! Who's first? I got nothing
Undead PettinZoo
Love it
Jaroslav Zapadlo
Re comments: i own a few gyms, and it's horrible, constant feedback, cheers and/or hates. Other authors do not read those, that is true, and it is mainly to not get disturbed; you got this. Comments are irrelevant. You write this story. So fuck off the comment section
Evan Van Dyke
I’m kind of curious why Amelia is so upset at darvin being taken out
Evan Van Dyke
Great chapter! And I’m always surprised how much you respond to comments. Totally fine to do whatever you need as the author.
John
Poor Darvin
Spencer Needler
Tftc
SUBLIME SMITER
The sun has set so it's time for Sunrise... 120 hours counted out...48 hour countdown begins.. getting my fingers ready to hang off those tormentous cliffs. TYFTC... I only wish I could always put an 's' at the end of the TYFTC everytime. You do you, boss. 235k huh? seems like only 235 given how many times I have reread book 8..I lost count after 15. And logically, the only reason your publisher might contemplate violence against you is because it is ONLY 235k words. Insolence aside, can't say I would blame him.
Jaroslav Zapadlo
I dont usually stay up late. But when I do, it's sunrise time!
jobe matula
yessss!
