Beyond The System
Chapter 197: My Opponent

I opened my eyes at that moment, locking gazes with the most important person in my life whose eyes were full of expectation and waiting.

Instead of answering her silent question, I looked away, letting my attention drift to the small slime nestled contentedly in her lap. It really did seem to have bonded with her, and she looked more than willing to treat it like a pet of her own.

Hmm. I wonder if it could cultivate. Could I inject my mind into it, override its will, and guide it through experience? Maybe but something in its odd, shifting presence told me it didn’t work like that.

Even if I could, it felt wrong. Like forcing something meant to grow wild into a shape of my choosing. Sculpting it in my own image. Maybe that wasn’t fair. Maybe it was cruel.

It was already too late for Bristle, but considering how those dogs used Will, it didn't seem like it was a bad idea. But I didn’t want to become someone like the Great Ancestor. Someone focused on total control, molding growth with an iron fist. The more I leaned into this ability, the more it felt like I was toeing some invisible line. A line that might twist me before I even knew I’d crossed it.

Even the snake—I’d trapped it within my mind while it was still weak, sealed it in a hollow void where it couldn’t lash out. If I had willed it in that moment, if I had asked the others, it could’ve been slain without a struggle. No resistance.

How far could I push the influence I had over other beings?

The thought sat heavy in my chest. It just didn’t feel right. I’d not appreciated it when Luna had hijacked my mind. The violation, the loss of self. No, the slime deserved to be its own thing.

Let it be a slime.

“Come oooon, Peter,” Thea groaned, already catching on that I wasn’t going to offer up answers unprompted. “How’d it go?”

Instead of responding, I gave the slime a couple of gentle pats, and it leaned into my hand with surprising eagerness. It felt firmer now. Denser, more solid. Maybe it did have its own path to growth. I was confident Thea and Griffith would figure it out. They always did.

“Peter, wha—Mm. Hey, wait—Mmm!”

She didn’t get to finish her question, her voice cut off by lips, not words.

“Seriously?” she murmured against my mouth, her breath catching in a way that blurred laughter and surprise. “You’re impossible.”

Once, those words had carried frustration, spoken when trust was fragile and understanding came slow. Now they felt like an old joke, a warm reminder of how far we’d come. “When’s the last time you said that to me?”

She was about to answer, but instead made a startled sound—cut off again, then laughed softly, caught somewhere between surprise and amusement.

I figured the best response to her was celebration. Not going to lie, though, sleeping on hard-packed earth was getting old fast. Even the sea had been better. Cooler. Softer. Buoyant. Not that I was complaining about the ocean. It had its own... charms.

Eventually, Thea curled against me with a quiet hum, her skin still warm where it met mine, the heat of recent closeness still clinging to her. “You still didn’t answer me, you know,” she murmured, voice low and thick with sleep.

“I think I did,” I said, keeping my eyes shut.

“Ah!” A short, startled yelp. It wasn't Thea’s voice, and definitely no one else from our group. Unfortunately, it was one I recognized.

My hand shot over with Thea’s, and we both grabbed the nearest cloth to cover ourselves partially. My eyes snapped to the source of the interruption. Serith, already shielding her gaze with one hand, having stepped through her shimmering doorway in complete silence.

“It hasn’t been two weeks yet, right?! Why—why now?!”

“JUST GET DRESSED!” she shrieked, embarrassed.

It didn’t take long for the poor slime to start trembling from all the sudden noise and movement, its amorphous body quivering in visible confusion. Thea sat up beside me, calmly, with a surprising lack of embarrassment. She didn’t drag her feet, didn’t make a show of anything, but what struck me most was the complete absence of a blush.

I, on the other hand, could feel the heat burning up the sides of my face, all the way to my ears. Yeah. Definitely red.

After a few moments of hasty, half-dressed fumbling and awkward, semi-covered breaths, Serith and I finally found the nerve to meet each other’s eyes. I broke the silence first. “So… yeah. It hasn’t already been two weeks, has it?”

She didn’t answer immediately, standing there stiff and silent, the tension in her posture still there. Strange considering her age, which by my guess, pretty old given her history. One where the Shattered Expanse was, well, un-shattered.

And the way she talked about her boyfriend’s journal? She seemed pretty shy, and didn't exactly seem fake.

Eventually, she exhaled and looked down, her gaze drifting to a pebble at her feet. She began to nudge it absently with her bare toes, rolling it in slow circles. “No. You still have three days.”

I tilted my head. “I figured you couldn’t come. Why now, with three days left?”

Serith wasn’t wearing her usual regalia. Instead, a simpler gown clung to her, still flashy by this world's standards, catching and scattering sunlight in subtle sparkles of soft, leaf-green. She smoothed the hems with care, straightening them as if the act itself gave her something to hold onto.

“Three days isn’t long for most creatures,” she said finally. “We’re permitted to offer notice. So, you’re not wrong… mostly.”

“Mostly?” I echoed, raising a brow.

She sighed, the kind of sound that carried weight well beyond words. “I’ve been watched. Every second of every day. Most of us—Guardians, as your ‘big guy’ put it—are allowed to visit our Champions, so long as we don’t interfere with the trials. But not me.”

Thea let out a dry laugh, not even trying to mask the sarcasm. “Can’t say I see any problems with those visits. You're telling me everyone follows the rules?”

Serith turned away, waving a hand in dismissal as she began to walk. “Glad you can see the issue. Honestly, it’s not a problem for the top-tier Champions. Their purpose is singular. Their growth has to happen alone.”

She moved like a ghost, gliding her feet, hidden beneath the folds of her dress. Either her posture was unnaturally perfect, or she was, once again, leaning into drama. Floating, quite literally.

My mind turned to the Dragon Vein and what I’d seen there. “A blessing evolution?”

She froze.

In an instant, she spun to face me, her expression hardening. “Where did you hear that?” The words weren’t shouted, but the chill in her voice was worse than anger. It crawled along my spine like icewater.

But Thea’s tone became even colder. “Don’t talk to him like that. We’ve helped you again and again and gotten nothing back. And—”

The world quieted.

Serith’s gaze shifted, her orange eyes igniting like coals, their light beginning to pulse with an unnatural glow. The wind around us stilled, like it had forgotten how to move. And Thea went utterly still, her words silenced mid-breath.

Maybe it was because Serith hadn’t shown this side the last time. Or maybe it was the contrast, how easily she concealed her strength under calm civility. But as lines of shimmering energy traced behind her eyes, radiant like cracks in a divine mask, I remembered just how far beyond us she truly was.

This wasn’t just a powerful ally.

This was a Guardian.

And in that moment, it was like the entire world held its breath. Every leaf hung motionless on its branch. Every speck of dust hovered in place. The air itself, caught in suspended reverence. My heart hammered in my chest, painfully loud in the stillness.

Then she inhaled.

The tension loosened with that single breath, her expression softening, her stance less rigid. “There are too many forces working against me, Peter. Too many working against this world.” Her voice remained firm, but the frost had melted. “Tell me. Now.”

“It—You didn’t look at the Dragon Vein?”

Her eyes widened, shock flickering across her otherwise unreadable face. “What do you mean? He never made more than—”

I cut her off, realization striking mid-sentence. Serith hadn’t even considered that these relics could store memories, whether left there intentionally or not. The last recording seemed perfectly on-purpose.

“I’m sure it’ll mean more to you than it did to me,” I said. “But that’s where I heard it. Jerim said you were undergoing some kind of… evolution.”

“Jerim…” she repeated, voice softening. “I see.” Her expression shifted, regret slipping through the cracks of her composed mask. “I’m sorry. Perhaps I’ve been too detached from the world for too long,” she admitted, shaking her head as she drifted back to where she’d stood earlier. “Whether I’m allowed to interfere or not, ignoring this place for so long… it’s frayed something in me.”

I shrugged, not unkindly. “It’s fine. Honestly, if I had your kind of power, I’d probably forget how to act around people too. God-like abilities and all. Seriously—”

Her voice snapped across mine, cutting it short. “I’m no god, Peter. Just a manager. That’s all.”

With that, she snapped her fingers.

“—now you’re interrogating him?!” Thea finished, picking up the sentence she’d been frozen mid-delivery. Her slime had oozed up to her shin and gave a nudge. She bent down with a small breath and scooped it up.

“You’re right. I apologize,” Serith said again, this time for Thea to hear. “I’d like to visit the Dragon Vein here. We can talk there. I believe your friends will want to hear the one piece of news I’m permitted to share even under surveillance.”

"Oh," Thea said, taking a surprised step back. "Yeah. Um. Thanks. Sorry for snapping..."

As we started walking, I glanced around. “We’re being watched?”

“I am. Not you,” she replied, voice neutral.

We picked up speed, the urgency growing beneath her calm exterior. Within just a few minutes, we reached the camp.

Elric stood as soon as he saw us, eyes narrowing. Griffith remained seated, eyes closed, meditating or resting deeply.

The snake hadn’t moved, still curled where it had been before. Serith didn’t spare it even a glance.

Elric gave Serith a scowl but held his tongue, instead turning and shaking Griffith with enough force to snap him awake. When he spotted Serith, Griffith’s reaction was layered. A flicker of reverence passed across his face before he wiped it clean, like brushing away a reflex.

Maybe he was trying to stay neutral, to avoid stirring anything on my behalf. I appreciated the effort, but it didn’t matter much. If anyone here could offer real insight, it was Serith. She knew things none of us could. She also knew about my Voidseed, and I was almost certain she carried one herself.

Still, something in me resisted asking. I wasn’t sure why, but there was a strong pull keeping me quiet. It wouldn't hurt… but unfortunately, it wouldn’t help either.

Serith stepped forward, raising a hand with slow, deliberate grace. In a flash of theatrical brilliance, a chair materialized in midair—crafted from what looked like pure crystal, refracting light into brilliant ribbons of color. It bent the sunlight around it in shimmering arcs, as though the sun itself was humoring her style.

She sat with regal ease, brushing her silver hair behind one ear, revealing her radiant, jewel-like skin.

We waited, already used to her flair for the dramatic by now.

Then she spoke.

“I know who your opponent will be.”