"Run!" I heard as I walked into the Guild Master's office.

"Master, I've brought Vernon for a meeting." Jason said to Alexander who was half asleep leaning back in his office chair.

"Hm- Ah, Jason I told you to stop calling me master." He said groggily. "Sup, Vernon. Remember me? We only met for a brief moment after all." he stated.

"Y-yes. I remember meeting you." I told him.

"So, let's get to the point. I'm sure you know what I'm about to ask. I see your potential, and I need your power. Will you join the Lyon Guild? he asked.

After a few long drawn out seconds I began to answer. "I- Ah?" I yelped as a pain overcame my forehead. Suddenly, my System skill activated on it's own. On the screen floating in front of me I saw these words. "You have to run! That man, he's hunted countless humans!".

"H-hey, Vernon are you okay?" Jason asked.

"Ah...I-I don't know." I said grasping my head with both hands. After a few minutes I calmed down. I then looked Alexander directly in the eyes. He was looking at me as if he were bored. I then regained my composure and replied, "I'm sorry, I don't think I can join you right now." I told him.

"I see. That's too bad, we can change this world together you know?" he said.

"Something tells me our visions of changing the world differ." I replied sternly.

"Is that so?" he replied as an unbearable pressure approached me. In the blink of an eye Alexander was in front of me, he pulled me up by the collar and looked at me directly in the eyes. "Hmph." he made a noise as he let go of me. "That's fine, I didn't expect a tiger to hold hands with a lion. Just promise me one thing." he said as he turned back around and walked towards his desk. "Whatever you do, don't betray humanity." he stated. I was then escorted out of the office by Jason.

"Sorry about that, he can be a bit whimsical at times." Jason told me. "I also didn't expect you to deny our offer so quickly. By the way, what was that? Are you okay?" he asked worried.

"Ah, I just had a sudden headache, it went away after a few minutes. Don't worry!" I stated. "Well, I'm going to head back home now to rest. Have a good night Jason." I told him as I waved goodbye and walked away.

"Yeah...night." Jason replied.

***

[Jason's POV]

"Are you sure it's okay to let him go that easily?" I asked Alexander.

"Yeah, it should be fine. The kid seems to have a lot of heart, I could also sense something inside of him that was different." he said.

"Different?" I replied.

"Yeah, he may be like us, or at least something close." he replied.

"You mean he's truly awakened?" I replied.

"That, or he's close to it. Either way it's fine." he replied.

"Even more reason that we should have convinced him, we'll need him? And you know what will happen if he's not on our side?" I replied.

"Like I said, don't worry. He wouldn't understand or agree with our methods anyways, it would just be a hinderance. Remember, Jason. He doesn't know much about this world besides what he's been told." Alexander stated. "He'll have to learn on his own, the hard way unfortunately." he said.

"I see, that's truly unfortunate. Well, it seems all the preparations are underway. What about Adira?" I asked.

"Well, she agreed. Only under a few conditions. But they're manageable conditions so it'll be okay." he replied.

"Then I'll leave you to it, sir." I replied as I left the office. "Is this truly the only way." I thought to myself.

"Things are going to be interesting from here on out." Alexander muttered to himself.

***

[Vernon POV]

"Today was hectic." I thought to myself. "Now let me see what Gaia is on about." I continued as I opened up my System skill. "Gaia, can you hear me? What was this message about?" I asked them. "You took to long, I am almost out of time. You need to get away from Lyons, something's wrong. Not. Safe...run..." The screen said for a few seconds until it transitioned back to the normal status screen. "I need to get away from Lyons? But where would I even go, it's the last human safe haven!" I shouted at them. There was no response. "Something's off, maybe it's just the lack of sleep and I'm seeing things." I thought. I got to my room at the F.C.F. and considered everything that's going on. "How can I just leave? I wonder if I should contact Adira or Gerard." I thought. It was late in the evening as I was considering my options, I decided to make some coffee and get my things in order, just in case. I put the coffee pot on the stove and laid in my bed thinking, I slowly faded to sleep without realizing.

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"Yo~" I heard a voice as I entered a completely blank space.

"Huh? Did I fall asleep. What are you doing here I thought you were out of time, Gaia?" I asked.

"Eh? Well, obviously that's cause I'm not Gaia!" they responded.

"Wait...what? Then who are you, and why do you look just like them?" I asked.

"Hm? Man, you're a bit slow for a smart guy." the person replied.

"Gaia is just a personification of 'the earth' or whatever." they said sarcastically as they made quotes with their fingers. "They just take whatever form they're comfortable with, same as me!" they said. "Hey, who do you think I look like?" they asked.

"I...don't know? I've never seen you before." I said.

"Pffft!" they snorted as they grasped their stomach. "Ahh, that's hilarious. I should look very familiar, after all. We're the same person!" they said as they started laughing.

"W-what? You don't look anything like me?" I said.

"Well obviously, because you changed, a lot. I look like you from forty years ago." they said as a matter of fact.

"I..." I thought to myself confused. "I don't know what you're saying or who you are, but let me wake up. I need to leave." I said.

"You need to think." they said. "Just remember this, everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, is looking out for their own interests. You need to think about what's best for you before it's too late. Well, it might already be too late. Either way, come here for a second." they said. Within a moment they were right in front of me touching my forehead. "I'm sure with this, and with time, you'll come to trust yourself over everything. You can see it using that Gaia System that weirdo gave you. After all, I did say I'd give you some of my power." they explained.

"I-Huh?" the next second I was awakened to the smell of something burning. "Ah, the coffee." I said as I ran to put out a small fire that had started. "Whew, that was close. I can't imagine what I'd have to do if I burned down the F.C.F.'s dor-"

BOOM

Before I could even finish my thought I was thrown against the wall from the force of an explosion as the walls around me started to cave in.

"Ah? Just what is going on?" I said with rubble falling around me and grabbing my head. Thanks to my mana-enforced body and overall strength I was relatively okay. I quickly got up and grabbed my pack that I prepared a couple of hours earlier. "This isn't right. Is Lyons under attack." I thought as I rushed out of the nearest opening.

I exited the building that was crumbling under itself and was met with a shocking surprise. In the distance I could see all the F.C.F. building's, offices, training fields, all burning to the ground. What was more shocking was the man floating in the sky. I could feel strong mana emanating from the man. The man hovering in the sky had fire and light mana encompassing him as he stared towards the rubble of the F.C.F.'s main building.

"Did it really have to come to this?" a man's voice could be heard coming from the rubble.

"Did it have to? Probably not. Yet here we are." Alexander said softly while looking towards the sky.

"Do you realize how many more people will die?" the man's voice could be heard again.

"Only as many as it takes, isn't that right Gerard?" Alexander said.

"I guess...I guess you're right. As many as it takes." Gerard said as he lunged towards Alexander with mana coating his entire body. Gerard let out a thundering scream as he clashed head-on with Alexander. What happened next was astonishing. Within a few seconds of clashing, the man who was meant to be Alexander's equal had a gaping hole in his chest.

"Ah..." he said while looking down towards his chest. "So this is how it ends..." he coughed out. "You know...Alex, I always felt like I was following right behind you...as your equal. I never... realized how far...the chasm between us became." he said as blood poured from his orifices'.

"It never occurred to me." Alexander said coldly.

"Of course it didn't...That's how you always...were..." Gerard said as the light left his eyes.

"Goodbye, Gerard. I wish things could be different...But we've all made our choices." he stated as Gerard's body hit the ground. "NO!" Alexander could hear a scream in the distance. In the next instance there was a man a little shorter than him, with dark black hair, and golden eyes swing a sword towards him. Alexander swiftly disarmed him, punched him in the stomach, then grabbed him by the throat. "Go to sleep, I'd hate for you to end up like him." Alexander said coldly.

"I'll...kill...y-you" I said as my consciousness faded. In the corner of my eyes, I could see two people. The first one was a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes staring directly at me. The other was a young woman with tears in her dark-green eyes. "H-how..." I uttered as I passed out.

"You didn't have to go so far!" Adira yelled at Alexander with tears in her eyes.

"This is the only way, I'm sorry. I didn't kill him at least." Alexander said as he pointed towards Vernon.

"That's not the point! He doesn't understand anything!" she shouted.

"He will someday." Jason stated coldly. "It's not our job to teach him everything, some answers you have to find on your own or they don't hold any meaning." he said.

"He's right, probably. It's a shame about Gerard, I truly loved him like a brother." Alexander said. "Take him to the infirmary and then meet us at the outskirts. I'd rather not hold an all out war here." he said while throwing Vernon's limp body at her.

"Okay..." Adira stated as she grabbed Vernon and left.

"Let's hurry. If we don't begin quickly it'll be too late. We have to attack before they notice." Alexander stated.

"Right. Let's go!" Jason shouted. In the next moment a small group of elite guardians emerged from the nearby rubble and buildings. They all followed Alexander and Jason to the outskirts of Lyons. This day would become known throughout the human realm as The Great Betrayal. The day the great hero Alexander betrayed humanity.