"...Can you please listen when I'm talking to you? Not to mention that our topic of conversation concerns the very fate of the human race."

The silver-haired guardian of time with a hood draped over her head made an irritated face as Kai didn't listen to any of her explanations about the events happening in the continent.

"Huh? Oh, right. So, what was that about the heroes?"

Kai snapped out of his daze temporarily.

"So you didn't listen starting from the topic about the heroes, huh... Unbelievable. I've already gone past that topic half an hour ago."

She turned around and began muttering to herself something along the lines of 'Calm down...', 'The fate of the continent is at stake here', 'I'll only have to deal with him until then...', so on and so forth.

After finishing with her mutterings to nobody in particular, she turned back around with a calm expression. Even Kai felt embarrassed at that one.

"Alright, I'll properly listen."

Looking at his face, the woman began to talk about her explanations faster.

"About the heroes, they've apparently split into different groups because of some disagreements. My comrades have been dispatched to assist them so we have no problems over there."

She then began to explain how the group was split.

"Next," she paused and placed the crystal sphere in front of Kai.

"This is the magic circle we acquired from the remains of Auparith Kingdom's castle."

Kai looked into the crystal ball and using his impeccable memory, memorized all the details he needed. Although part of the circle was damaged, he could most likely fix it once he did some research.

Not like I've slept in the past weeks.

His nightmares were still occurring but maybe because he was a vampire, he felt that he needed less sleep than normal which allowed him to stay up this long.

"Reo."

"I've already compared it to the other magic circle. This one looks to be an inferior version but... it's optimized for summoning all six at once so it should just be more complex. But, how did they manage to make a circle such as this?"

The woman wasn't at all surprised at Reo suddenly appearing, she had long since been used to the sight of the spirit.

"Kai, I've also realized why the anomaly appeared in Soaring Eagle only now."

Kai raised his head to look into her eyes.

"You have?"

The woman nodded.

"The anomaly wasn't the sudden monster surge, it was the absence of a man who was supposed to be there."

Kai furrowed his brows. The absence of a man?

Many memories flashed through Kai's mind as he closed his eyes and only after a while did his eyes shot open.

"Kuroshi Tatsuo!"

He shouted.

"That's right. Kuroshi Tatsuo was originally traveling and arrived at the Auparith Kingdom just a couple of days before the monsters attacked and managed to prevent most of it from collapsing. This should've happened but his course was altered once he learned about Fate at Central. Starting from Central, he passed through the Auparith Kingdom a lot faster than originally planned."

At the other timeline, Fate's appearance was a surprise to everyone and many lives in Central were lost but to think that preparing for Fate would backfire and make them lose another kingdom, this was something that Kai didn't plan for.

This meant that the destruction of the kingdom was part of Kai's responsibility, or at least he thought so.

Kai clenched his fist so hard that his palm began to bleed.

"I returned from the future to save lives but I've already lost a kingdom before the war even started!"

Because he was partially a vampire now, smoke began to rise up from his palm as his body rapidly healed itself.

"It's not your fault. In the original timeline, a kingdom was destroyed, you've simply failed to diverge from the path the world originally took. Should I say that it's a correcting force?"

The world itself interfered, that was what she implied.

"Are you saying that although I can change events, I can't change them from happening completely?"

"Nn. As one of the guardians of time, I am very well aware of the natural laws that can't be changed unless a major event is to be used. To put it in simpler terms, the appearance of an army to fight against the Immortal is only a change in the 'preparation' and not part of the actual event. In the end, the Immortal's defeat was set in stone, only the means used were different."

She made two lines with dots at several points to emphasize the changes in the timelines.

"...Do you mean that since Fate would still be defeated, no matter the change, everything else will still go its course?"

(A/N: I was making a timeline for myself and I just decided to share it.)

Tatsuo was the variable to save Auparith but since that variable was occupied by another event, a future would-be event was changed.

Just thinking of things like that, Kai's head began to hurt. That meant that he had a lot of restrictions before he could actually make a move to change the future. He was lucky that there was barely anything that happened to him before now.

"That means that I have to recall every event, no matter how minor before interfering with a major event."

His plans against Fate could've been considered perfect but he didn't take into account the Soul Thief interfering with the battle.

Making Anne fall for him was an event that never would have happened nor would it have any huge impact on the future. But, if he could change her mindset and the way she looks at human lives, then it might just create a huge ripple in the future.

Superbia expanding was also quite minor compared to the big picture but in the end, it was to make things easier in the beginning phases of the war. When humanity was nearly extinct, the concept of barter, trade, and the equivalent exchange of goods was all but lost.

Even if they manage to win in this war, then there would undoubtedly be many destroyed countries. After the war, the concept of money would remain strong and people will begin to look for financial support, that's where Superbia would come in. Not only would it have the most money by the end of the war due to the knowledge of the future and it will also gain the trust of all its customers.

Needless to say, Kai wasn't the only one who planned this out. Everyone still alive in the future knew of his plans to time travel and he asked them for help.

The only reason the guardians of time were assisting him was because of the hero of the past. He had apparently tampered with the laws of time and needed to be subjugated.

"Nn. I've come here to warn you about that. If you ever get the chance to interact with any of the heroes, please exercise extreme caution before doing anything. Even a single word can change something, these are different heroes after all."

If the heroes were discouraged by Kai's words, that meant that they wouldn't be of much help in the future but their power was undoubtedly the real deal. Heroes had certain qualifications to be considered as such. They hold power close to the Gods that Kai can't replicate even if he wanted to.

If he had to call it something, he'd call it the 'Hero's Element'. When desperately protecting someone, their power shoots up, their luck in certain situations is heaven-defying, and they unknowingly invite disaster upon themselves. All of the heroes that Kai met have at least one of these qualities.

The last hero that survived, the crippled hero used everything in his power to protect a group of refugees, he used a power that his body wasn't able to hold and became crippled. Another hero, found part of an Ancient Gear, the sheath of Excalibur. And, all of the heroes with no exception, have faced trouble whenever they switched places. Just a hero traveling the safest route to the next town increases the chances of bandits appearing on the path by tenfold.

They were troublesome yet necessary existences. They even have their innate abilities unlocked the moment they stepped into the world, it was just a matter of training it.

"There was even that hero with eyes that could control space itself... God, he was troublesome."

"...? Where did this topic come from? Why are you talking about the former heroes? As I recall, that was the hero of darkness. His innate ability was called 『Sector』, it allowed him to control space surrounding him and his owned territory. I heard he even managed to teleport from the demon continent back to his home by tearing apart space and stepping through."

Kai nodded.

"That's right. Defending was useless against someone like him because he just tore apart space in armor temporarily and attacked through. He would've been a valuable asset if he wasn't an absolute idiot. He kept on attacking me saying that he was the hero of darkness, and not me. I wasn't even a hero of darkness! I used multiple elements for the love of..."

Kai managed to stop himself while rubbing his temples.

"...I'm sorry that I brought up such unpleasant memories?"

Kai waved his hands and told her not to mind it.

"Anyway, I've heard your warnings, I'll be careful when encountering the heroes. I have to get back to class soon."

As Kai stood up and turned to leave, the woman grabbed him by the sleeve.

"Ah, wait. I've information about the Vampire Princess and the Ice Queen as well."

Kai faced her with lightning-fast movements.

"What is it?"

"They've undertaken movements they've never taken, even in the other timeline. It doesn't seem to be an outside force but... I'll just tell you this as both a woman and a guardian, you should patch things up with them soon, or you'll regret it."

Just as she finished her words, she turned around and left. Kai was left staring at her departing back blankly.

Undertaken movements they've never taken... flirting with other men, perhaps?

Once Kai imagined that possibility, a shiver crawled up his spine.

No, that can't be, right?

If it was the Erina and Amelia before they fought, then Kai was sure that they wouldn't but now, even he wasn't so sure.

"Hey, guys."

Kei called out to the others listlessly.

"What is it?"

Arata was the first to ask.

"Don't you think that it's strange for Miss Erina to fight with Kai? I mean, they're insanely lovey-dovey that even I get sick from looking at them."

Kei asked.

"No, it's even stranger for Miss Amelia, she acts like Kai is her whole world so what could he be doing that made her ignore him? Even when he flirted with girls, she was insanely tolerant..."

Date cut in.

"...I think it's best if you just ignore them unless you want to be caught up in their strife that is."

Yoko commented.

"Oh, Yoko, don't you think this is a good chance to assert yourself?"

Sachiko suddenly appeared from behind.

"What do you mean?"

"What do I mean? Well, I'm sure everybody's noticed by now but the eyes you use to look at Kai have changed. They were part hostile, part conflicted, and part trusting in the past but now... it's half conflicted and half affection."

Yoko flinched and glared at Sachiko.

"What might you be saying?"

Sachiko covered her mouth with her fan and laughed.

"I wonder, what am I talking about?"

Facing the atmosphere between the two, Kei, Arata, and Date began trembling slightly.

Day XX, Month 05, Year XX

Kenji has given me flowers every day without fail and a week has already passed. He has to leave soon, doesn't he? That means I'll finally be rid of his presence! Good riddance! I definitely won't miss him at all, it's just that it's sad that I won't have anyone give me free flowers anymore! I'm not sad because of his departure or anything...

-Anne