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

Kairos rolled over to try and get behind Nyoka. However, he was quite far behind him due to being knocked back by the initial blast. Sara did the same, getting into cover.

From there, Jeff took two direct impacts one after another. This time, his footing was actually broken by the second and he slammed back into Nyoka. As for the red waves that continued on, while greatly mitigated, still came for Kairos.

He grit his teeth, closing his eyes, and slammed down his spear into the ground. His weapon and arms were the guards that he had in front of him.

All of his thoughts concentrated on the darkness spell he was attempting to cast. After all, he didn't want to lose focus and possibly rebound the mana. That would not only waste the spell but cause him to be hindered in a time he couldn't afford to be.

The two waves buffeted into Kairos, one of his hands lost grip over the spear after the first hit, and the second pushed him back slightly, dragging the spear through the ground. Thankfully, his other hand was guarded by the claw, allowing him to keep a firm grip regardless.

After gathering himself in the short moment of respite, Kairos noticed that something was wrong. Nyoka had a very deep frown on his face as he looked at Jeff. When Kairos paid closer attention, he noticed that red veins that appeared to be glowing ever so slightly appeared on Jeff's body.

As for Jeff himself, he was unmoving. His arms were at his sides limp as he was in a daze, looking up into the sky. It was almost as though Jeff had suddenly been enlightened for whatever reason.

While it wasn't like he was a particularly active or energetic kind of person, it was still awfully strange.

Though before worrying about any of that, Kairos simply threw the darkness spell which had grown to the size of a beach ball. While he could've made it stronger, he simply did not believe he could continue concentrating on it any longer.

Not if the strange man had any more of those energy waves.

Despite having his eyes closed, the man suddenly shifted his gaze towards the spell. Instead of clapping, he separated his hands but kept them in the same position. Then, he spun one hand clockwise, almost like he was turning a wheel.

Suddenly, the smile on the ball of darkness shifted to a frown as it was violently thrown into the wall, dissipating rapidly after.

Kairos' eyelid twitched witnessing this. He was starting to feel that things were simply getting far too ridiculous at this point. The reliable options he could think of were rapidly dwindling, especially with the unknowns of how long the man could keep that state up, along with what was happening to Jeff.

In the middle of everything, Nyoka suddenly decided to give Jeff a thunderous slap. One that used all of his strength, the crisp sound echoing down the hallway. Jeff himself only tilted his head to the side, though it did seem to have the effect of snapping him out of it.

Jeff blinked a few times, but immediately fell to his knees. He clutched his chest while taking hoarse breaths.

Nyoka's eyes widened considerably.

"What happened?"

At this point, Kairos assessed his own condition and could feel a familiar energy within him. It was the evolution energy. The thing that was required in order to advance to the next rank, but also what turned people into monsters.

Whatever this attack was, it was imbuing those hit with that energy.

It hardly affected Kairos, since at his rank, he already had a large tolerance for it. However, the same couldn't be said for Jeff, who was normally unmoved by the attacks thrown at him, just like a mountain.

While sucking in a cold breath, Jeff slammed his head into the ground, causing cracks to appear.

"It... feels like I'm alive."

Normally, that would've been said when someone was feeling particularly vigorous, or satisfied for whatever reason. However, under normal circumstances, the kinds of people here were just a few steps away from being dead, just like a zombie. In fact, they could be seen as a kind of zombie.

As such, feeling alive despite normally being close to death was not good for him. Suddenly feeling the urge to breathe, while the heart attempts to beat was both a foreign and painful sensation.

The strange man lifted his other hand, pointing his bloodied palm towards Jeff. At the same time, he brought up his legs to sit cross-legged and was now floating in the middle of the air.

"In your name, I ask you to grace these sheep with your blessing."

Nyoka immediately picked up Jeff, though from how his knees buckled, it was clear that the weight was taking a toll on him. He grit his teeth and attempted to run away. Sara did the same thing, and Kairos had the same urge to do so.

However, he recalled how the attacks appeared to have an effect of evolution energy.

Realistically speaking, the actual attacks themselves would have far less of an effect on him compared to the others. Or at least, the aftereffects of the attacks. Kairos decided to take a gamble, one that could very well cost his life.

However, he was fairly certain that being reckless here simply had the highest chance of survival.

Kairos decided not to hold back, extending his future vision to four seconds. Ignoring the strain that it put on him, he rushed forward, preemptively using most of the black blood he had to use the harden skill, causing a thick layer of a black shell to form on top of his body.

At this distance, there was no realistic way for him to get out of range, even if he did see in the upcoming four seconds that he wouldn't be able to hold it back. But at the same time, Kairos doubted that the strange man was just a short fuse that would run out of power so soon. Running away would only make it easier for him to use those ranged attacks to finish them off.

And with his mana reserves now less than half of their maximum, his ranged options were quickly becoming severely limited.

The blood that came from the man's palm almost seemed to have a life of its own as it began to bubble, splattering blood further, nearly coating the entire hand. It was then that Kairos saw what came four seconds in the future.

A direct and more violent wave of red energy would spew out.

Kairos still moved on ahead.

After a second passed, he saw that it wasn't actually a wave, but a constant stream. When it hit him, he was immediately blown away.

He shifted his strategy, deciding instead to try and stand his ground.

As his vision distorted, another second passed, and he saw himself holding his ground for a while, but being blown away regardless.

Then, he thought of holding his spear out in front of him while doing his best to retain his position.

The third second came, and this time, he saw himself actually pushing through the wave of energy. However, he was being slightly pushed back.

At this point, he no longer had the time to shift his strategy. Holding out his spear in front of him, he saw the blood coming from the man suddenly shine and burst out into a violent red stream.

Holding his spear out in front of him, the brunt of the attack was diverted away from him, like it was a fluid. Unfortunately, it only did so much.

Despite keeping his head down, the energy struck the top of his head hard, causing it to crack. The protection around his elbows and legs especially was directly ripped off, leaving the flesh to get torn apart.

Kairos didn't think he could last much longer. To his dismay, he saw that this onslaught had continued on in the future four seconds. In other words, he was not going to escape in the new future simply by holding out.

He thought about trying to retreat, and maybe get out of the range.

However, he then remembered why he wanted to get close in the first place. Should the man not be anywhere near his limit, then Kairos would be a sitting duck. The only chance he had was if he pushed on.

So he moved forward. Using the feet with no toes, since all of them had already been torn off.

By sheer force of will, Kairos took a step forward. His grip on his spear had become unsteady with that step, but was able to keep it in check since he saw it coming.

Then, he took another step forward. Kairos began fusing his red blood into black blood for the simple purpose of fueling it into the harden spell so that he could mitigate the damage.

And then, he took another step forward.

As his red blood began draining, he couldn't help but want to use one of the green orbs. However, despite being a monster he didn't know how to make a third limb grow out. And if he relented at all with his grip on the spear, he would be blown away in an instant.

And so, while feeling the effects of blood loss, he took another step forward.

Then another.

And another.

Before suddenly, the wave of energy had disappeared.

However, Kairos simply saw that he was next to the man, who pulled back a glowing red palm.