Despite the bodies of his comrades lying unconscious all around him, not even a speck of trouble flickered in Kai's eyes.
From the beginning, he had been keenly observing Lucas, watching him effortlessly defeat members of his clique one after another.
Kai was sure that Lucas' skills had far surpassed that of the first-year cadets by now. He could even rival some of the top second-year cadets.
Well, that was to be expected, considering his rank was up in the top 200.
However, the more Kai watched Lucas, gracefully twirling his spear amidst a blaze of scarlet red flames, the more he noticed something peculiar.
He began to see striking similarities between Lucas and one of the prophetic heroes mentioned in his Book of Prophecy.
'Could he truly be the Spearman at the World's Edge?' Kai pondered to himself in his mind.
After all, the prophecy did foretell that he would find all three heroes at the Global Academy.
One of them was undoubtedly Nero – the Swordsman of Wrath.
There were two more heroes left for him to find – the Martial Queen of Sorrow and the Spearman at the World's Edge.
Could Lucas be that Spearman?
Silver locks of hair, a captivating face, unparalleled mastery of the spear that would awe anyone, and brilliant flames surrounding him like a phoenix – Lucas undeniably matched the description.
However, Kai shook his head, clearing his mind, and decided to confront Lucas first, asking him the questions he wanted to ask him from the start.
After all, it was still too early to draw any conclusions.
"You... you're strong," Kai remarked as Lucas approached him after knocking out Grace.
"You're not supposed to be this powerful in this or any other timeline. And you shouldn't even be aware of the future, yet here you are. And that armor, was that the Phoenix's Embrace?" he added.
"You know about it?" Lucas inquired, before honestly confirming as he met Kai's gaze. "Yeah, it is."
As Lucas came to a halt a few steps in front of Kai, the latter couldn't help but raise a question.
"Do you know who was supposed to get that armor in this timeline?" Kai asked, a look of irritation on his face.
"I know," Lucas nodded in response. "It was supposed to be Nero, wasn't it?"
"Yes!" Kai exclaimed. "If you know that, then how could you so carelessly take that armor for yourself?! Do you even fathom the magnitude of ripples this action of yours will cause through the timeline?"
"Oh? You are one to talk!" Lucas let out a scoff. "You think I wouldn't recognize the sword you've been using? It is the Black Orb, isn't it?"
Kai maintained silence in response to Lucas' words, while the silver-haired youth subtly pointed his chin towards Quinn, who was still lying unconscious on the ground.
"Quinn was supposed to find that Black Orb," Lucas stated matter-of-factly. "But you took it for yourself."
"I would have given him The Orb when it was his time to find it! But since you've donned that armor, it has become inseparable from your body! Now because of you, Nero will not be able to use Embrace Discard in the future!" Kai emphasized, pressing his fingers to his forehead to calm down his nerves as he explained.
"And now that I've exposed myself, our actions have already caused significant ripples in the timeline," Kai let out a deep sigh.
"True," Lucas nodded. "You weren't meant to possess this level of strength either, you know?"
"Yeah, I know! That's why I remained in the shadows, faithfully playing my part in the world! But then you appeared out of nowhere and fucked everything!" Kai snapped.
"The Mock War was never meant to unfold how it did! You nearly altered the entire course of that event! Your class was on the verge of victory even when Nero hadn't used his Gift! And if that wasn't enough already, you also changed the outcome of the Silveserine City massacre!" He added, frustration evident in his tone.
"Do you have any idea how many years I've sacrificed, meticulously setting everything up, moving the pieces from the shadows? I've forsaken everything in my life to serve this timeline! But then you came along and overturned everything by deviating from your Destiny! I had no choice but to confront you directly, before you create countless more butterfly effects!" Kai continued passionately.
"Okay, dude, just calm down!" Lucas chipped in as soon as he got an opening. "I don't understand what you mean by all that, but if you know so much about this timeline then you should know how this world ends, right?!
"This world is destined for doom! The vampires will ravage more than half of the world before the final war even begins. If you were to simply follow the timeline as it's meant to unfold, you'd arrive at the same outcome! You won't be able to change anything and we'll die!"
Kai couldn't help but facepalm in response to Lucas' words, almost as if he had said something profoundly stupid.
"You're an idiot!" Kai yelled. "I concurred that you didn't know everything based on some of your actions, but it seems like you are even more clueless than I originally thought."
In response to Kai's words, Lucas arched an eyebrow. He had no idea how to even reply to what Kai said.
However, after a few minutes, Lucas did manage to find some words and form a response.
"What?! Okay, then, explain to me what I did wrong by trying to change the fate of this world?!" He asked.
Kai took a deep breath as if readying himself before answering. "You know what? Fine, I'll tell you what you did wrong. But first, you tell me how you came to possess knowledge about the future?"
"Yeah, buddy, that's not happening," Lucas shook his head. "I'm not telling you anything before you tell me about yourself. After you do that, I might – and I mean, I just might – consider answering your questions."
Kai facepalmed again in response but this time, after he was done, he summoned his greatsword and spoke, "Then you've made the wrong choice."
