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

Kairos naturally saw the sudden attack coming and had a full four seconds to prepare. Though he was being worn down both mentally and physically. Maintaining this state meant he wouldn't be able to focus reliably, thus he brought it down to two seconds instead.

In a flash, he saw the screen of blood disappear and the palm approach. He went with what he would've most naturally, redirecting his spear towards the attack in an attempt to skewer the hand directly.

However, he saw that the man easily changed the trajectory, sliding past the side of his spear and slamming into his fingers, splattering them. Kairos quickly shifted his strategy, deciding to swipe with his spear.

As his future vision distorted, he witnessed the man slapping down the spear before his eyes while the other palm came straight for him. Kairos couldn't help but feel cold sweat forming on his back, even though that wasn't actually happening.

Through the use of his future vision, he was always able to stay at least one step ahead. However, at the end of the day, his combat experience wasn't very high, especially when compared to professionals.

Unfortunately, it appeared being several steps ahead didn't matter, because the man appeared to be able to react to whatever Kairos could think of.

In the end, there was only one option he could truly think of.

As the man's glowing red palm rapidly approached, Kairos didn't bother, as though it wasn't there in the first place, instead opting to thrust his spear into him.

A resounding boom echoed throughout the hallway.

Kairos was able to draw blood, but the palm that hit him directly shattered the black shell over his chest and fractured several of his ribs. Despite holding his ground well, he was still blown back several meters, sliding on his feet.

Out of reflex, he began coughing rather hoarsely.

Though it was at this point that the man's expression changed slightly.

"You have them."

His stance changed from there. His originally stationary legs shifted, lifting one knee high up while his hands were held up higher, and the red glow from them was far more violent. Kairos realized that he had been found out. Although he wasn't sure how, that didn't really matter right now.

And because he was found out, he decided that there was no point in holding back with the so-called artifacts anymore.

Kairos made dozens of spears made out of the living stone rise out of the ground and then commanded them to force themselves out. He made sure to pay attention closely to their energy meters.

Though momentarily confused by the load that it put on his brain, he was easily able to regather his bearings and control them all to fly towards the man at different angles. The red light coming from the man's palms had receded.

But that wasn't because it had become duller. Instead, it grew brighter, becoming more condensed.

He actively took a step forward towards one of them, grabbing it before Kairos could redirect it, prompting the spear to suddenly glow brightly. The red veins within the spear suddenly flared up, before muscle tissue began rapidly growing out from inside, turning into some strange amalgamation of flesh that looked like popcorn, except they were still all attached to the corn cob.

Right after, he slammed another palm into it, exploding it into a fleshy paste.

Kairos was shocked by this, not imagining that this was also a possible way to destroy the stone. He attempted to use his future vision to redirect the spears in ways that the man could not stop. However, he was thwarted each and every time, sometimes caught easily, and other times stomped on by a foot.

In the end, they were all destroyed, painting the walls in paste that began to slowly disappear.

Kairos stared at how much energy remained.

[ID: 1/10]

[Energy: 1420/1500]

[ID: 2/10]

[Energy: 1472/1500]

The first one was responsible for creating the stone, while the second one was responsible for moving it. Although it appeared that the first needed less, Kairos had only moved the spears for a few moments.

Though in a situation where they could be destroyed so easily, the energy of the first became more valuable.

Since the spears were all so easily destroyed, seemingly overloaded by energy and imploding on themselves, Kairos decided to go with the opposite approach, instead making a giant double-sided hammer head out of the living stone, just a bit over half the size of the hallway itself.

[ID: 1/10]

[Energy: 987/1500]

The energy cost was massive, but he believed that this was the best way to utilize it. He promptly commanded the giant thing to throw itself at the man as fast as possible. Instead of failing to rely on technique, to try and beat technique, he was going to use brute force.

Kairos couldn't see the man's figure, simply because the giant stone had covered it. He wondered if his foe was nervous, or perhaps still as calm as ever. His question was soon answered.

A thunderous bang shook the air, disorienting both Kairos and the others.

The hammer head was blown backwards, its front consisting of a large amount of exposed muscle tissue. It almost appeared as though an infestation of fungi had spread overtop of it.

As for the man, he remained with his bare foot outstretched in a kicking posture, a bright red line of blood down the center.

Kairos ended up using the second artifact in order to just barely hold back the hammer head from swinging back over into him. He couldn't help but feel that he was running up against a wall.

But he did see the incredibly small injury on the man's abdomen. One left by his spear.

Though brief, he could remember hitting tough, but not invincible skin. While Kairos felt that the quote was stupid, he couldn't help but think, 'If it bleeds, then we can kill it.' Despite the damaged state of the hammer head, he decided to try and salvage its use, given how much energy was needed to create it in the first place.

But this time, he didn't stay back while commanding the objects. This time, he planned on fighting face to face with them.

At the very least, it appeared oppressive enough to stop the man from using his more ranged options. Perhaps together with his melee, he would be able to do something. Though remembering what happened to the previous spears, he instead added to his spear, turning it into a large hammer, though smaller than the giant hammer head.

Kairos rushed forward, while commanding the giant hammerhead to loop back around and attack the man from the back.

After blazing on ahead, he brought the hammer back like a bat before swinging it as the hammer head came to the back of the other. Somehow, the man was able to push back on both ends easily without even looking. Granted, his eyes were closed, but the point still stands.

Despite shifting his strategy twice based on what he saw, the man was able to repel both of the hammers as easily as the first time. However, when put into action, the man wasn't able to mount a quick counterattack like usual, since the load of two big threats at once was too much for him.

Nyoka and the others were watching awkwardly from a distance, though Jeff was more focused on the pain in his body.

It wasn't as though they did not want to help, but at this rate they would only get in the way rather than anything else. Not to mention, from how Jeff ended up, it didn't look like a fight they could partake in without great risk.

Both the original hammer head, and the hammer Kairos was wielding appeared to be blooming, in a sense. Though it wasn't as bad as the first time, seemingly because the man had to split his power.

Kairos decided to use both of them one last time, while greeting substitutes for them.

Once again, the man deflected both of them, rendering them useless as they had simply become fleshy paste. The hammer head in particular was crushed, exploding into a mass of still twitching muscle tissue, and the same fate came to the hammer in his hand, as the man grabbed it and burst it.

Ignoring the energy costs, Kairos simply used the premade recreations of both things and relentlessly continued on. Though painfully aware of the energy costs, he did not stop, deciding that things were best if he continued on with this momentum.

Despite seeing how the man moved so many times, Kairos still had great difficulty predicting how he would move in reaction to his attack without seeing it directly. Still, he decided to continue on regardless.

The hallway shook as both the giant hammer head was blasted backwards along Kairos' weapon. He just barely kept it within his grasp with the help of the artifact supporting his pull on it.

After another attack, the hammer Kairos was wielding was rendered useless once more, with the man crushing it. At this point, the energy left was very unlikely enough to create another hammer, prompting him to take advantage of the man crushing his hammer, digging his claw deep into the man's underbelly.

Surprisingly, he didn't even need to see the future to land this attack, as it worked on his first attempt.

Immediately, he attempted to dig upwards with the claws, past the ribcage, in an attempt to injure more vital organs. However, the man's entire body began glowing far more than normal as he did so.

Unfortunately, it was already the point of no return.