I See One Second Into The Future: Loner In The Apocalypse

The man was here to take the strange red prisms that Kairos had on him. That was something he knew pretty confidently, while Nyoka and the others were simply quite confused.

With his current mood, Kairos recognized that one of his options was to just give up the artifacts and hand them over. It was normally an option he wouldn't even think to consider, but in his pursuit to change himself, this suddenly became quite clear.

He could probably end the conflict before it began if he just handed them over.

And it definitely was a tempting decision to make.

Yet, just as he was leaning towards making that decision, he woke up slightly. He came to realize that he wasn't a person that would just let go of things so easily, for better or for worse.

Perhaps it may have been the right decision to let go of the red prisms he didn't even really understand. Fighting a battle with a force he didn't even really know. It wasn't like the end of the world if he suddenly lost them. And most importantly, he didn't have a strong reliance on them in the first place, especially now with how much power came from other things.

Realistically, logic became a bit looser in this area. Kairos was unwilling to let go of an advantage he had, even if overall, it might've not been the best choice.

He noted that down as something about himself, and that it was something he only understood by questioning things he wouldn't normally.

"Sorry, there are no artifacts or anything here. You're going to have to look somewhere else."

Kairos said it with an unusual calm and directness. It was a normal way of speaking, but was so normal that it became creepy. As for the man across from him, he held out a palm, like some weird form of body language only he understood.

"No, they are definitely here. I can sense them. They are close."

Kairos raised an eyebrow, pretending to be suspicious of him.

"Ok fine. So if we leave this place and let you search it, you won't follow after us?"

The man slowly put a hand to his chest, keeping his fingers tightly together, almost as though he was swearing an oath.

"I simply go where I can sense the artifacts are. Whether or not I end up following someone is unrelated to my movements."

Kairos was thinking fairly rapidly. Despite what he was saying, he didn't actually intend on deceiving the unknown man. In reality, he highly doubted that he would be able to get out of a fight while holding onto the so-called artifacts.

The problem that came was whether or not Nyoka and the others were willing to help him, or at the very least not interfere to his detriment. While they had been together for some time, at the end of the day, they were more or less strangers.

He was essentially trying to convince them that he wasn't guilty of starting the fight, and that they had no choice in the matter. Though Sara was looking at him rather strangely, as though she fully understood everything.

Regardless, Kairos pretended that he didn't notice and cleared his throat.

"Well, you have to understand a person can only give you so much benefit of the doubt. In good faith, we could leave, but if you follow you have to understand that we can't take the risk you just so happen to be coming along."

The man remained silent for a moment, tilting his head ever so slightly. He slowly extended out one hand, bent his knees and raised one hand behind them.

"Perhaps it would be simpler if I proved I could defeat all of you."

Nyoka took a step forward and narrowed his eyes.

"Seems like someone is a little cocky."

Jeff cracked his neck and stepped up as well.

Currently, Nyoka and the others, and Kairos for that matter, were definitely not in their best state. After all, they had wanted to take a rest for the sake of letting their avatars heal.

And the avatars were naturally a huge portion of their power.

However, Nyoka didn't seem all that concerned despite the fact the strange man had suddenly become hostile. That made Kairos wonder if he had some sort of backup plan. Though he wasn't planning on relying on someone else.

He held his spear up, slightly concerned that the man would notice it, but decided it didn't matter anymore. His other hand had his claw on, opting to put the spear in the middle of the blades to hold the spear into place.

Kairos was rather reluctant to use mana, since it was incredibly difficult to gather in this place. In fact, he found it even harder to do while in the dungeon. However, he doubted he had much of a choice.

The man seemed to be from The Church of Evolution, or at the very least related in some way. From his experience, not a single one of them was a pushover. In fact, most of them were too difficult for him to even have a chance at, even with the help of others.

Kairos immediately began channeling the darkness spell. Though it didn't seem like the man would simply stand by and watch.

He continually lunged forward, keeping one leg bent, in front of him, and another behind to push him forward. Despite only periodically moving forward over a second, the amount of ground he covered in a split second made it feel like he was traveling in an instant.

If Kairos couldn't see a second ahead of time, then it would've caught him off guard. He thrust his spear forth as the man got close. Kairos saw him dodge it by side-stepping and attempted to redirect, but the man simply moved a bit differently and evaded anyway.

The man slammed a palm into the side of Kairos' spear, throwing it off. In response, he kept the spear trapped between the claws, but it only partially mitigated the push. Right after, another weighty palm went straight for his chest.

Yet right before it could reach him, Nyoka thrust a black fang forward over Kairos' shoulder, protecting him. The man was able to avoid it, suddenly changing directions. However, he did have to give up on pushing forward on that attack, taking several steps back.

At the same time, Jeff lowered his body, keeping his center of gravity low before recklessly rushing forward, crossing his arms in front of him.

The man waited for Jeff to come close and pulled his arm back before throwing the other forward. A loud thud resounded once the man slammed his hand into Jeff's arms. Jeff, who normally didn't react, visibly widened his eyes.

He was stopped in his tracks, sliding backwards slightly.

Though what was perhaps more shocking was that the man was forced back several meters. Kairos couldn't help but wonder how heavy Jeff must've been, but pushed those thoughts aside to focus on the fight.

The man that was pushed back took a deep breath, like a monk that was meditating. He held out both his palms, with his fingers pointing down.

"It appears I must preach to reach those that don't understand the origin of their power."

Suddenly, his palm ripped apart, a bright red bloody line forming on it. It was as though a serrated knife had suddenly pierced into him and was pulled down, going all the way down to the tip of his middle finger.

The man suddenly twisted his hands around and began humming some strange unintelligible syllables.

Kairos' eyelid twitched as he got down.

"Be careful!"

He held his spear and claw in front of him as he curled up in a ball as much as possible. Jeff caught that out of the corner of his eye and stood in front of Nyoka. The man held his hands in a clapping position, before suddenly slamming them together.

A giant red wave of energy suddenly rushed over. It slammed into Jeff first, making him take a step back, while his skin reddened from its usual pale white. As for Kairos, he held strong onto the spear while the claw mainly protected his head.

The wave slammed into his spear, nearly knocking it out of his hands. Thankfully, it split apart and the brunt of the attack missed him. Unfortunately, the same could not be said about his arms.

The black flesh was stripped off like it was a wrapper being ripped off.

Nyoka and Sara were unharmed, because Jeff stood in front of Nyoka, while Sara decided to stand behind Kairos. However, it wasn't done there.

Trails of blood leaked down the side of the man's arms, but he didn't seem concerned. Instead, his chanting steadily grew louder, despite his intonation not changing. He then clapped his hands twice, emitting two waves of red energy one after another.

Kairos narrowed his eyes intensely.