˜*°• Turning Point 2 •°*˜

(RUDEUS GREYRAT POV)

In the depths of the Red Dragon's Lower Jaw, a secluded valley unfurled before me, a solitary path winding through its heart like a thread of fate. Unlike the straight, majestic expanse of the Holy Sword Highway, this road meandered through the rugged landscape, guiding travelers with its scary yet alluring charm. 

A lone route with no divergent trails, it transcended national borders, nestled within a forgotten territory that belonged to no specific country. Soon, it would lead us into the Asura Kingdom, where a long-awaited encounter awaited.

Approaching from the opposite side of the road was an enigmatic figure, an enchanter of curiosity and fear. 

His silver hair cascaded like a moonlit waterfall, accentuating his penetrating golden eyes, bereft of any identifiable adornment. Wrapped in a modest, ivory-hued coat fashioned from an unknown fur, he appeared unremarkable at first glance. 

Yet, there was an unsettling air about him, an aura of foreboding that prickled the skin.

Beside him walked a young girl with raven-black tresses, whose face seemed oddly familiar, though I struggled to recall where we might have crossed paths. 

Black-haired individuals were a rarity in this world, and her inky locks were as dark as midnight's embrace. Strangely, my memory betrayed me, unable to pin down the source of this familiarity. 

Despite the distance between us, I could smell the scent of shampoo from her. Shea butter. It made me feel quite nostalgic. 

Besides that, what truly caught my attention was the young girl's mask—its visage an enigma within an enigma. Pure and unblemished, this immaculate white mask bore no markings or ornamentation, reminiscent of the eerie masks that graced the stage in a play titled "Dirty Mask." 

Its peculiarity stood out starkly, as I had never encountered anyone in this world donning such a weird face-covering. It defied the conventions of fashion, and its purpose remained shrouded in mystery.

As the distance between us and the silver-haired man dwindled, I noticed the unsettling effect he had on our companions. 

Ruijerd---once stalwart and confident warrior, now sported a face stricken with morbid terror. His complexion, once bronzed and robust, now paled like a moonbeam against the night sky. Cold beads of sweat marred his determined brow, his hands trembling as they clung to the haft of his spear. 

This profound transformation was hauntingly familiar, evoking memories of dreadful encounters long past.

My girlfriend----Eris, too, exhibited a mix of anxiety and aggression, her body betraying her inner turmoil. The grip on her sword's hilt strained to the point of bleaching her knuckles white. Clearly, she seemed recognized the figure before us, and her reaction hinted at a history that I was yet to comprehend.

The silver-haired man broke the silence, addressing Ruijerd with an air of nonchalance that belied the tension in the air. His voice was like a melody of nostalgia. His words hinted at a shared past with Ruijerd, but his awareness of the Superd race's attributes defied explanation. "We meet again. Ruijerd Superdia...." he paused before looking at Eris, "Eris Boreas Greyrat." 

Lastly, his falcon like predatory eyes met mine and a suppressed smirk formed on his face. "Rudeus Greyrat." 

As I sensed the rising tension and fear emanating from Ruijerd and Eris, I decided to rely on my new ability—the demon eye—to peer into the future. With an air of detachment, I unlocked the power concealed within my gaze, ready to glean any signs of impending danger.

However, to my astonishment, the man's figure morphed into an incomprehensible frenzy of movement, fragmenting into countless blurs that enveloped him like a swarm of phantoms. The blurriness was so profound that my keen perception could no longer discern the outlines of his form. It was as though he had transformed into a myriad of fleeting shadows, dancing in a chaotic symphony.

This perplexing spectacle defied any logical explanation, surpassing the boundaries of my understanding. I had witnessed countless occurrences, but this one surpassed them all. My demon eye, which had proven to be a reliable source of insight, faltered in the face of this mysterious display.

Startled by the stranger's presence, I mustered the courage to inquire, "Excuse me, who are you? And how is it that you know our names?" My tone remained as respectful as possible, despite the confusion swirling in my mind.

"We have met before. But not yet," he replied, resting his chin thoughtfully upon his fingers. The remark only deepened the mystery surrounding him, and I found myself hanging onto every word he spoke.

"Though it may seem foolish to ask, I shall do so nevertheless," he continued, his gaze fixed upon me with an intense focus. "Does the term 'Man-God' hold any significance to you?"

Ah! He was aware of it too, the secret I have guarded so closely!

Before I could offer a complete response, the stranger's movements defied comprehension. In an instant, he lunged forward, but just as swiftly, Ruijerd reacted, pulling me back and intercepting the stranger's attack with a spear of his own. 

The collision between their weapons sent fiery sparks showering around us, leaving me dazed and awestruck. No.... the bubbling feeling wasn't awe. 

It was fear. 

  "Huh? What's happening?" I murmured to myself, my mind racing to comprehend what was happening. 

"Rudeus, run away!" Ruijerd shouted.

I found myself paralyzed, unable to move as the intense confrontation unfolded before my eyes. The thought of fleeing never even crossed my mind; there simply wasn't enough time, and my body seemed to betray me with every passing second. 

My eyes were fixated on the battle between Ruijerd and the weirdo, whose name he called Orsted.

Ruijerd had faced countless opponents in his five hundred years of combat experience. Still, Eris had never been able to land a single solid blow on him throughout our journey together. It was evident that Ruijerd was a force to be reckoned with, even said to be above the King Class in terms of strength. 

However, as the battle progressed, it became apparent that Orsted had the upper hand.

Despite Ruijerd's masterful technique and skillful attacks, Orsted's movements were incomprehensibly precise and efficient. With each exchange, Ruijerd's advantage slowly eroded, and it became clear that Orsted was outclassing him. 

"We've gone through this before. It is futile." Orsted seemed to effortlessly anticipate Ruijerd's every move, positioning himself just beyond the reach of Ruijerd's spears and quickly turning the tide in his favor.

Orsted's technique was mesmerizing to witness. His minimal and calculated movements rendered Ruijerd powerless, leaving him staggered and vulnerable to attacks he couldn't defend against. 

It was as if Orsted had seen through Ruijerd's every move and was toying with him, exploiting gaps in his defense and guarding against any counterattacks.

It almost felt like.......Julian's.

A highly efficient way of battling. 

The depth of Orsted's ability was undeniable; he could have easily ended Ruijerd's life if he had chosen to do so. Instead, he opted to incapacitate him, landing a series of precise blows that rendered Ruijerd unconscious. 

It was a display of unparalleled skill and control, leaving no doubt about Orsted's dominance in the battle.

My voice caught in my throat as Eris, full of determination, stepped forward to confront Orsted. With a swift and powerful slash, she unleashed her Hidden Technique, [Streaming Current], aimed at her opponent. 

But even her best attack seemed futile against Orsted's prowess. He deftly caught her sword in his hand, and with seemingly little effort, sent her spinning away like a tornado.

Eris's relentless attack was met with an equally relentless defense, as Orsted effortlessly countered her assault, redirecting the energy of her strike back towards her. 

It was reminiscent of a technique I had seen before, a move from the Water God style, but refined to an even higher level of precision.

Eris crashed into a stone wall, the impact sending rocks scattering in all directions. I could only hope that her training had prepared her for such a blow, but the fear of serious injury loomed in my mind.

As the dust settled, I felt a sense of dread in witnessing Orsted's unparalleled skills. The encounter had left me with more questions than answers, and I couldn't shake the feeling that we were.... FUCKED! 

"Eris Boreas Greyrat. Your skill has degraded. What happened?" He asked, almost like a disappointed parent. Cocking his head to the side, he went deep in thought. "What could've changed?" 

Eris was trying to get up while letting out a groan. If it was the usual me, I think I would have quickly tried to use healing magic on her. However, I had other things to worry about than that. His eyes were aimed at me.

In the blink of an eye, Ruijerd and Eris were left defeated and utterly powerless. I had always kept my demon eye open, granting me the ability to perceive events one second ahead of time. But even with this advantage, what lay before me was nothing but despair.

No matter when or how I reacted, my actions were futile. The vision that unfolded before me depicted my vital points being crushed one after the other – head, throat, heart, lung, each falling victim to the merciless assailant. 

Incredibly, I even saw multiple visions of that same assailant, as if he were simultaneously present in multiple places, one second later.

Frozen in place, I helplessly watched as Orsted closed in on me, his hand poised for an attack. 

But just as his strike seemed imminent, a sudden commotion erupted. 

Brilliant sparks flew as a figure with white hair and donning a long black robe appeared, swiftly interposing himself between me and the attacker. With his sword still sheathed, he managed to block Orsted's assault. 

Quickly spinning on his feet, he retaliated with a powerful kick that sent Orsted several yards away.

"Ju-Kiyotaka? What are you doing here?" The raven-haired girl, who seemed to know the newcomer, spoke with a hint of anxiety in her voice.

He didn't spare her a glance, his intense gaze remaining fixed on Orsted. "What is the meaning of this?" Orsted inquired calmly, displaying an unexpected lack of anger despite being thwarted.

Maintaining an emotionless demeanor, the boy responded with a question of his own. "Yeah, what is the meaning of this?" His voice sounded almost robotic, devoid of any emotional inflection.

Orsted seemed undeterred by the challenge, explaining, "Meaning? I'm steering everything towards the ideal future. Step aside."

"What if I don't?" His demeanor was somewhat mocking, and he cocked his head in a provocative manner, challenging Orsted's intentions.

"I do not want to fight you. But what if I tell you that it is necessary to happen? Will you step to the side?" Orsted asked. 

"No." He replied. 

"Why? What is the reason? You carry no empathy." Orsted spoke, his voice carrying an odd cadence of mockery. 

"How about an exchange?" The boy spoke. 

"Hm?" Orsted raised a brow. 

"Darius." He replied. 

Orsted's eyes widened and suddenly his shoulders slumped. "How about you do it? Even if you did that, Rudeus Greyrat needs to experience death." 

Wait what........... why do I have to experience death? I just got a girlfriend man. I haven't even lost my virginity. I don't want to die.....

"Hmmm. That seems about right." The boy answered and walked away from me. "Stand up, Rudeus." He spoke as he looked down at me and cracked his neck. 

"I told you not to crack your neck like that. One of these days your neck is going to snap in half." The girl whispered from behind him. 

"Can you stay silent for a moment?" He rebuked in a neutral tone, looking back as the girl just crossed her arms looked the other way with a 'hmph.'

Are they seriously flirting? 

I slowly rose up to my feet, my staff in my hand. There was something in the boy's voice that oddly calmed my nerves. Although, his mask was quite scary. It was just like the girl's but had blood tears running down its eyes. 

"Try to stay alive, alright?" The boy asked with an odd amount of consideration. 

Activating my demon eye, I peered into the future. 

Huh? 

I can't see anything. 

There is no future. I can't see anything that he's going to do. 

How is that possibl-----, no wait. There are many futures. 

Too many. My brain can't keep track of all of these possible scenarios. He's moving way slow....almost as if trying to give me space to escape. Alright, I will look into the most plausible future and avoi--

I felt a fist come close to my face. Huh? Was that a feint? How come he got so fast in this small space? What's with this unreal acceleration? 

[Stone Canon]

Firing off a spell in the last instant, I pushed myself back with Wind Magic. However, the boy obliterated the spell with his bare hand. The white glove he was wearing came off as he looked at it. "This cost me a lot." He spoke to himself. 

>He will close the distance once again and throw a feint at my left leg while actually aiming for my arm<

Despite the possible futures being reduced to a single one and was now easy for me to counter, I was still skeptical. I felt as if I did a single misstep, I'll end up being dead. Just as I had seen with my [Eye of Forsight], he threw a feint towards my leg. 

Without defending it, I gripped my staff tightly.

[Icicle Crash.]

The molecules between the droplets of water compacted as they took shape of razor-sharp icicles. With a snap of my finger, I directed their trajectory towards him. His pale blue eyes under his mask widened for a fraction of a second as he jerked his head to the side. 

Good. All according to the plan. Now I just need to---huh!?!

>He will lower his back and tackle me into my torso<

The future I was seeing vanished in a near instant and was replaced by another. I tried to react in time, but his shoulder crashed in my guts. My whole body caved in and the food I had eaten rose up in the form of nausea as I clenched my teeth and shut my mouth to not let it out. 

The tackle made me ride on his shoulder as he plunged me into a wall. My back felt like it would almost snap as I gurgled out blood. He took a step back before launching a punch at my face. However, I had already seen this. 

I rolled out of the way. He tried to stomp my head, but I avoided it. Using Wind Mana to create a huge amount of distance between us, I finally managed to be able to slip inside the range where I could conjure spells without the danger of getting insta-killed.

I thought I could have some time to catch my breath, but he was already upon me. 

[Quagmire]

The ground beneath him softened from my spell, throwing him off-balance. For the first time, I saw him reach out for his sword. The next moment, the whole ground beneath him was crushed, replaced by a building sized crater. 

Woah, woah, woah. Holy shit! Did he do that with a sword? I mean, I can do it too with magic but a frickin' sword? Also, I couldn't see him sheathe and unsheathe his sword. 

"Why are you doing this? Why do you want to kill us?" I spoke out loud as he stopped. 

Ah good. At least this one hears. 

"Hmm. I do not know. Maybe it's your face." The boy replied. Although it was a rude comment, it somehow made me feel warm. Sounds like a very Julian like reply. Damn it! This is not the time to be reminiscing. 

"What have I done to get on your bad side?!" I asked again. 

"You aren't on anyone's bad side. Blame the Man-God." He spoke and I felt his voice trail off. His voice was oddly soothing, despite how cracked and coarse it seemed. 

"But I--"

"Enough chitter ch, atter. Show me how much you've improved." He almost seemed ecstatic. Letting his arms dangle to the side, he waited for me.

Huh? 

"Hit me with your strongest spell." He said as he cocked his head to the side, his eyes focused on me. I didn't wait. I didn't have to. I could see it all with my demon eye. He was going to wait for me to complete my spell. 

[Stone Canon. Max Power. Max Spin.]

I poured all of my mana into it. As much as I could. My vision double as I reduced the size and made its destructive power as compact as I could. My spars with Julian came into mind. When facing a single individual, I needed to compact the power into a small surface area since I only had one opponent. 

Just as I was about to launch it, I felt a chill down my spine. 

>He stabs my heart with his sword<

Damn it. How is he tricking the future? It isn't making sense. It shouldn't be possible.

I was still in the middle of conjuring it. This is the moment a mage is at his weakest. Damn it all! I was depending on the [Eye of Forsight] way too much. The next instant his face was next to me. I could almost smell the same scent from him as I did from the girl before.

"You know, future is fluid. Change the container and it'd mould itself to better fit the vessel..." I felt my eyes widen and goosebumps rise in my body as I felt his face right next to me, "......you can see the future, yes? Hm? A demon eye perhaps?" He kept talking as I stood petrified in place, my spell still on standby. 

"Got ya!" I yelled, removing the scared look from my face and launched all the "Max Power" stone canons I was secretly chanting. The result was devastating. The recoil from the stone canons hitting the target sent me tumbling many yards away. A huge pillar of smoke rose up, obscuring everything----field of vision remaining solely to a hand's reach.

I tried running towards Eris, but a gust of wind cleared all the smoke. The boy---Kiyotaka was standing, however his back was hunched. There seemed to be a few cuts and bruises followed by a few patches of red but other than that he seemed unscathed. The most damage done was to his mask. The left side was blown away, revealing his pale skin beneath. 

If it wasn't for the maturing voice, I would've mistaken him for a girl. 

"Told you. It has a lot of flaws." Orsted commented from behind as I saw a veil of invisible barrier blocking 2 out of the 5 stone cannons that I had launched at him. 3 of the others seemed to bypass whatever barrier he had put up and had dealt significant damage to him.

"Hmmmm." The boy hummed, nodding in affirmation. 

His reaction time is unreal. I had fired that at point-blank range. This doesn't make sense, unless he has something that lets him detect the flow of mana, blocking at that range should be impossible. To be honest, it felt more surreal than a mean koala. 

His form branched in my eye of foresight but this time, I didn't have the time to react. I felt like someone had stabbed me with a needle. However, looking down I saw a huge gaping hole in my chest. Before I knew it, I fell on the ground, gurgling heavy amounts of blood. 

"You're strong. A lot. But not enough." He spoke and I almost felt a feeling of disappointment in his voice. He got on his knees and slipped his finger under my chin. "Do you have any family that is still alive?" He asked and from the corner of my hazy vision, I saw Orsted's face contort into a rather sour look. 

"My sisters......." I shouldn't be talking about them. However, I did. I don't know why. "They're alive. And my... father......" The words came out in ragged gasps and from the half-blown mask I saw his expressions stiffen. After that he just stood up and turned around. 

"Rudeuuuuuuus......" Eris' groan was pained as the boy started to move towards her. She looked up at him with hatred in her eyes. He cast one look at her before moving towards Orsted. 

"Satisfied?" Orsted asked with a sour look. 

"Hm. Yeah. No." He replied. 

"You only know how to pick on the weak, don't you?" The girl commented as she got close to him. 

I fell on my knees as my vision distorted. I extended my hand and tried to reach for Eris.  She was right there. 

Crawling in my direction. 

I tried my best too. But I couldn't. 

I couldn't feel my legs. As I looked back, I had lost one leg. 

When did that happen? Huh? 

I suddenly started feeling cold. I was losing too much blood. 

Eris reached to me and held my hand. I could see her other arm, mangled at a weird angle. She had tears in her eyes but her cheeks were red from anger. "D-Don't worry, Rudeus." She spoke with a glint in her eyes. 

Ah......

How pathetic do I have to be? 

Being saved by a little girl.....

I extended my hand at the boy. 

I was going to kill one of them at least. 

I conjured all of the mana I had inside my body and fired the most powerful, compressed fire spell at the boy named Kiyotaka. 

He tilted his head, looked over his shoulder and took his sword out. 

The next instant, he had cut the ball of flames in half. However, he was sent a few yards back and crashed into a wall. The wall behind him cracked. However, he brushed it off and landed on his feet like nothing happened. "Guess I deserve this one." He spoke. 

The damage I was able to do was negligible. 

How pathetic.

I hate myself. 

At least.....at least.....if only I could save Eris. 

All of this is my fault. 

I am too weak.......

I am sorry, Eris, Ruijerd........Julian. 

I think this is the end for me. 

With that thought, darkness overtook me. 

---------------------------------------------

???? POV

In the DISTANT FUTURE

It was a warm day when I received two letters. 

One was a summon. A summon from someone who I couldn't turn down. 

Another was about the death of someone I owed my life. 

It was a perplexing situation.

  I was enraged. I wanted to commit murder. An eye for an eye. 

And exactly, due to that reason, I decided to answer the summon first. 

However, my conviction doesn't change. 

The unidentified North Emperor. I will hunt you down. 

Yare, yare, these old bones of mine would snap one day. 

???? POV

"Tch, so now it's a quest to avenge that pig? Ah well, never mind, it pays good so who cares!" 

???? POV

"Minister Darius is dead. It seems to be the work of second prince, my lord." 

"So, the thing about not being interested in crown was all a farce? Well played, brother, well played." The man spoke, his voice an alchemy of rage and admiration.

???? POV

"Ahn~ that dominating style. I can't get it out of my head. I think I might wet myself. But why was I getting Deja vu from seeing it?" 

???? POV

"My lord, I am back." 

"Sigh, welcome back, Ghislaine."