Kaylatheurge couldn't mask the shock that rippled through her as she stared at Arthur. Despite being taken aback by how effortlessly she had snapped Jamie's neck—especially considering he was a High Tier Deity—and how swiftly he had healed, Arthur managed to remain composed as he asked.
"…Isn't 'who' the word you're looking for in monts like this?"
While Kaylatheurge ignored Arthur's remark and turned her incredulous gaze toward Jamie, Evan silently observed the woman before him.
'No difference at all. I suppose that's not surprising, given she doesn't age anymore.
Co to think of it, do Spirits have eternal life? Or is their longevity just so long it might as well be eternal? I don't actually know.'
Random thoughts began to flood his mind, but he quickly snapped himself back to the main topic.
'I already knew, but seeing it in person is sothing else.'
The 'it' he was referring to was Kaylatheurge's power.
Though Arthur had (barely) managed to keep his composure, he was still plenty stunned by how easily Kaylatheurge had snapped Jamie's neck.
Jamie was a High-Tier Deity with the durability to match, and as an Irregular, he was far above average.
'Yet, in a split-second, she tore through all of that durability and broke his neck with a single strike…'
Even though Jamie wasn't actively defending himself, and Kaylatheurge hadn't relied on pure physical strength, the fact that she managed to pull that off such in an instant—while still maintaining enough control to prevent the shockwaves from erasing the entire RVE—was absurd.
'Why didn't Prisma just ask her to deal with the Kyrexi?'
A quick flip through his 'Prisma' Book answered that question.
'Oh, she was busy dealing with their allied Race Kings. Of course, she was. In a situation like that, I'd definitely assign soone with that level of power to stop the Kyrexi from getting reinforcents.'
His thoughts began to wander again, though this ti it ca with a slight hiccup.
Evan pressed a finger to his forehead and took a deep breath, silently nodding to himself.
'The 'Prisma' Book is ssing with . The mories I skim through whenever I open it are sticking in my head…'
Just as Evan thought that, he felt Kayla's gaze on him and looked up to et the wide-eyed Spirit Empress.
"What's wrong, Kayla—Oh."
Jamie, who'd been about to ask why she'd suddenly gone quiet, stopped mid-sentence as realization dawned in his eyes.
"Why did you both go—Oh."
Arthur, equally confused at first, also ca to the sa realisation as Jamie and fell silent.
That left Evan as the only one still completely in the dark.
"Um…is this the part where I'm supposed to start talking then suddenly go silent halfway as well?"
He glanced between the three of them, clearly confused, until Kaylatheurge finally spoke.
"How is this possible…?"
"How is what possible?"
Evan asked, hoping for so clarity, but Kaylatheurge only narrowed her eyes as she stared at him and replied with a question of her own.
"Do we know each other?"
"…"
The Rogue Hero blinked, then answered a mont later.
"I believe this should be the first ti we're eting, no?"
At that, Kaylatheurge shifted her gaze downward to Evan's chest, then glanced across the table toward herself, then back at Evan, repeating the movent.
It was as if she were tracing sothing unseen in the space between them, sothing only she, Jamie, and Arthur could perceive.
"Hold on, Kayla. He can't see it so he doesn't understand where your question is coming from," Jamie said, placing his right hand on Evan's shoulder and channelling power into his body.
"This might conflict a bit as you already possess an optical ability, but bear with it for a few seconds."
As Jamie's words sank in, Evan's vision changed. His eyes widened as the world around him transford, and he now saw through the perspective of soone who held Authority over a Universal Law.
He could perceive how the various Laws wove together and interacted with the space around him.
Jamie had expected Evan to be overwheld, but he remained composed, only mildly surprised by the sudden shift in perception.
Which, of course, made sense. While Evan didn't have all of his mories from his ti as 'Prisma', he still retained fragnts. He already knew what the world looked like through the eyes of soone with Authority, so it was only the sudden transition that caught him off guard.
Looking down at his chest and mirroring the sa motion Kaylatheurge had made earlier, Evan's eyes widened as he saw it.
A golden line, like a rope woven from strands of Law energy, extended from his chest and reached across the table toward Kaylatheurge.
The end of the rope appeared frayed, as if it had been severed roughly. That frayed edge now hovered gently against her chest, seemingly trying to reconnect.
Kaylatheurge slowly raised her hand and grasped the seemingly intangible rope, and the mont she did, a familiar sensation was transmitted back to Evan.
In an instant, he understood what Law composed the rope, and what exactly it was.
"Spirit Contract…"
As Evan muttered those words, Jamie released his shoulder, and his vision returned to normal.
"Again, I ask. Do we know each other?"
Kaylatheurge repeated her earlier question. Only this ti, it made perfect sense.
What Evan had just seen was the visual manifestation of his Spirit Contract with Kayla, a contract that had been broken when Evan was sent through ti. That was why the link appeared frayed.
Spirit Contracts didn't transcend ti, so the severance occurred when he left the future.
'It's almost funny that the contract tried to reconnect with this version of her… but of course, it was dood to fail. The one I contracted with was 'Kayla', not 'Kaylatheurge'.'
A quick reminder—Kayla from the future was a multifaceted existence. There were literally two sides to her—the 'Great Spirit of Lightning, Kayla' and the 'Spirit Empress, Kaylatheurge'.
Evan was contracted with the forr, so even if the other half of the severed link (which didn't exist in this tiline) was here, it wouldn't reconnect, and continue blindly prod at her like it was doing now.
"Well, I certainly didn't expect this at all."
Evan exhaled, rubbing his temple before turning to face Kaylatheurge once more.
"To put it simply: I'm from the future, and in that future, you're my contractor. However, due to certain circumstances, I was sent back in ti against my will, and all my contracts were severed forcefully."
Those two lines were all Kaylatheurge needed to understand what had happened.
"I was contracted with you in the future you ca from…"
Her gaze shifted to Jamie, who gave a confirming nod. He then gently tapped her shoulder and transmitted a stream of information directly into her mind using telepathy, giving her a quick overview of Evan's situation.
She closed her eyes for a mont to process the influx of information, then leaned forward slightly and locked eyes with Evan.
"I have questions."
"It would be in your best interest not to ask them," Evan shot back imdiately.
His lips curled into a small smile as he continued before she could even ask 'Why?'.
"You'll leave with more questions than answers."
"…"
Kaylatheurge went silent at his words, while Jamie just chuckled lightly.
She shot the man a look that made him turn away, pretending to whistle, before turning back to Evan with furrowed brows.
Her mannerisms were the sa as Evan rembered, so with just one glance, he could tell what she was feeling at the mont.
'Annoyance. She's very annoyed. There's a bit of confusion too.'
And he was right. While Kaylatheurge was clearly confused, the stronger emotion bubbling to the surface was annoyance, and it showed in the next words that left her mouth.
"You're telling that in so version of the future, I apparently chose to tie my existence to yours, and then you say I shouldn't ask questions about it?
Evan tilted his head slightly, then answered in a tone that wasn't quite defensive, but wasn't apologetic either.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it. That version of you made that choice for a reason, so I don't know… maybe try respecting her choice? Even if you're not her. Not yet, anyway."
That last line made her blink in confusion.
"What's that supposed to an?"
"That," Evan replied with a sigh, "is part of the you'll-leave-with-more-questions package."
No way Evan was going to explain the whole multifaceted situation. He barely understood how she pulled it off himself—and he was supposedly the one who helped her do it.
Still, his response made Kaylatheurge's brow twitch, and it was obvious to anyone watching that she was on the verge of losing her patience.
Even Jamie looked a little surprised at this since he hadn't known Kaylatheurge to have such a short fuse. After all, she had put up with his bullshit for so long, so he was well aware of that.
Then again, it wasn't all that surprising if one understood her situation.
Evan took a mont to sort through what he knew, combining the bits from his own understanding with mories from his 'Prisma Book', and ca to a conclusion.
'It's fear…and wariness. But mostly wariness, I think.'
To understand why he reached this conclusion, one had to recall a few things about the Spirit race.
Spirits were a race closely tied to 'Nature' as a concept, and they naturally possessed the ability to switch between tangible physical bodies and spiritual ones.
In exchange for their exceptional elental abilities, Spirits suffered from a slower-than-normal growth rate. However, forming a contract with an individual nullified that drawback, boosting their strength and growth speed by nearly double, which let them reach their full potential much faster.
These Spirit Contracts were the Progenitor Spirit's solution to their race's natural limitation.
But Kaylatheurge was built different.
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