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

Kairos grit his teeth and continued pushing his claw in, defending against the man's dangerously glowing punch with his arm. He saw in the future how hard the hit would be, and was nearly put in a daze just seeing how painful it would be in the future.

However, even if he wanted to back out now, it was too late. Kairos braced himself both physically and mentally before the strike hit.

A sharp crack rang out.

While he was feeling incredibly numb, it wasn't hard for him to tell that his arm had been broken. Along with the pain, the heat it began releasing had flared up several times over, making it feel as though it was burning even if there were no flames.

In the midst of enduring the pain, Kairos dug the claw deeper into the man's body.

From the looks of things, his suicidal exchange of blows wasn't something that the strange man expected. He frowned before grabbing onto Kairos' wrist, forcefully dragging the claw out of his body.

Immediately, Kairos' other hand began heating up violently just from being in direct contact. While this was not the outcome he preferred, there was little he could do about it as the difference in strength was too large.

Still, it showed that the man was actually relatively weak in terms of durability.

While it had been a very long time ago, Kairos still remembered the last time that he had fought against a giant skeleton that appeared nearly impervious to all his attacks. Only his full-powered pulse spell was able to leave a small crack. And in the downtime, he was tossed around like a doll.

While the man in front of him had considerably more threatening attacks, he was very clearly not invincible. As Kairos was thinking of that, another palm was sent into his chest, blowing him back and even causing some steam to rise from the hit.

Unfortunately, being able to see the future didn't always mean being able to change it.

Despite feeling like he was losing grasp over his consciousness, he still brought back the giant hammer head, using its still somewhat good side to strike. Yet, a moment later, it was blasted into pieces of flesh.

Blood began overflowing from the man's mouth, and similarly so from his abdomen. Though the strange thing was that given his wounds, he should've been bleeding far more.

The amount of actual blood that made it out of his body made it seem like he only received a gash, and not that his insides were ripped out. Not to mention, it also began to glow, like the other wounds.

While there was some uncertainty before, Kairos was now pretty sure that the man was like a warlock of some kind, turning his own blood into power.

It set a scary precedent considering how injured he was now.

Kairos truly felt like he was at the end of his rope at this point. He took a look at the artifacts, seeing how much energy they still had. Though his hopes were definitely not high.

[ID: 1/10]

[Energy: 1500/1500]

[ID: 2/10]

[Energy: 1500/1500]

Yet, against all expectations they were both full. The dots quickly connected, letting him come to the conclusion that the warlock-like man's attacks were infused with evolution energy, and a lot of it.

Although it was good news that he was essentially free to use the artifacts as much as possible, a small concern budded as well. He opened up his status.

[Rank: 13767/15000 Evolution Energy]

As Kairos' eyes honed into that specific line, he couldn't help but feel an extreme sense of danger. Considering how much energy he normally needed to ascend in rank, it should've been difficult to acquire so much.

Yet, this was the situation he found himself in. And that was also with the consideration that his capacity for energy was higher than a normal person's. If it wasn't for that, he would've already become a monster.

Focusing on the pain he felt, Kairos was able to come to the conclusion that the parts of his body that were injured by the warlock were diffusing an incredibly large amount of evolution energy in his system slowly, like a poison.

While he thought about cutting away the parts that were affected, it was already too late for that.

Kairos internally cursed himself for underestimating how dangerous one of the members of the church really was. After reevaluating the options, the only two that seemed plausible and ones he could think of in a flash were ending the fight in one or two more hits, or running away.

Frankly, while it was nice to say, there wasn't anything he could think of that would end the fight soon enough. He wasn't one that ever prioritized running if it could be helped. However, it seemed that this was one of those situations that couldn't be helped.

Yet, right as he set his mind to running, a spasm of pain ran through his head.

Brief visions flashed through his mind in a familiar fashion.

At first, it was just him along with Nyoka and the others running away, before it shifted.

Then, while still running at his full speed, the man would show off something completely new, creating a wave of energy up ahead that would cut him off, and similarly from the other directions, leaving no option for him or Nyoka and the others.

The next vision was of him clutching his head in pain, unable to do anything else as the warlock approached, and his body was smashed into a paste.

It had been a while since he had seen one of these visions that predicted his death. Though it wasn't exactly a happy reunion. Kairos stared at the warlock intently, and conjured more weapons using the artifacts to throw since it appeared that he would prioritize getting rid of the weapons coming towards him before anything else.

And the man did, fending them off.

He decided to use this precious time to go back to the drawing board.

Then it occurred to him why this fight was even happening in the first place.

The artifacts.

While he didn't think the chance was high, perhaps if he handed them over, then this conflict would be resolved. Yet, right as he was trying to think of a way to deceive the warlock into thinking it was a show of respect rather than fear, visions in his head appeared once more, and with even more pain.

The warlock would pretend to agree, but the moment he got his hands on the artifacts, he would release their powers against him, ultimately skewering him in countless spikes made of living stone.

Peace was no longer an option. Or perhaps it was never one in the first place.

That meant his only chance at survival was somehow fighting his way out.

Kairos did not have enough mana to launch a real attack that could actually suit his needs. At best, it could support some other idea. With this in mind, he tried exploring both new and old options he hadn't considered.

It was then he remembered the new screech skill he acquired. Although part of the description was that it harmed the user, considering the warlock also had his eyes closed like a monk, it might've meant his hearing was particularly strong.

Kairos immediately ate one of the few remaining green orbs he had to heal his injuries, and also supply himself with blood. After converting a substantial amount to black blood, he recklessly activated the skill, despite not knowing how strong the backlash really was.

The idea of the green orb also reminded him of the item that Kai gave him, a seed to be planted should he ever get in trouble. Though there was no soil here, and whether or not Kai could even reach out to help in this strange place was a whole other question as well.

While Kairos felt it was likely a waste, he wasn't planning on saving anything after seeing his death so clearly twice.

He dropped the seed into one of the piles of flesh, hoping that was close enough to the soil. Even just doing the action made it feel as though his actions were just that of a beached fish, uselessly flapping about until it suffocated. 

However, with the consideration that he was no longer seeing those visions, it was a good sign.

The seed showed no apparent reaction, though Kairos didn't exactly have high hopes for it. At the same time, faint gray circles appeared across his body and began vibrating. He could feel the black blood within him compressing, and that pressure was also pushing hard against his body, already causing him substantial pain.

Right when the warlock destroyed another one of the hammer heads, Kairos released it.