"Ahhh!"

A man holding a sword screamed as he was cut diagonally from the shoulder. He was alive but he had lost consciousness. Kai looked at his opponent apathetically and turned.

"Participant seventeen wins by a knockout!"

At this point, the tournament was in its quarterfinals. In the winner's bracket, there were only six people left, Kai, Erina, the Blind Swordsman, and three random participants.

Yoko and the others had lost their matches and moved to the loser's bracket. The Blind Swordsman faced both Yoko and Iori and defeated them. Arata, Kei, and Date were defeated by the other participants, it was unexpected, to say the least.

The loser's bracket had twenty-four people and half of them would drop out of the tournament today but the loser's bracket matches were held after the winner bracket's. The quarterfinals and the semifinals of the winner's bracket were held with a gap of one day.

Tomorrow, the quarterfinals of the winner's bracket will be held then they'd have another day of rest. On the other hand, the loser's bracket would continue every day until the semifinals which will be held on the sixth day if things were to go according to schedule.

The seventh and eighth day would only have one match, the winner's bracket finals, and the loser's bracket finals respectively. The last day, the ninth day would have the grand finals.

Normally, they would all stay behind to watch the remaining matches of the people in their group but immediately after the winner's bracket matches were over, Erina went back to the inn.

There, Amelia and Sachiko were waiting for Erina.

"Hey, you're going to train in the illusion world or whatever today, right?"

Sachiko asked the other two.

"Nn. Erina is far from being able to defeat Kai and we need more time so starting now, including tomorrow, me and Erina will stay in the illusion world," Amelia answered.

In the past, the illusion world didn't allow physical abilities to increase but after Kai had completed all the levels and rescued Amelia—it became a pocket world rather than an illusion world. It still had quite a few limitations but it was the perfect training device.

"Mind if I come? I heard that you can create beasts in there, I want to practice my innate ability."

Amelia glanced at Erina then back at Sachiko.

"I don't mind. Let's go."

Amelia said while holding onto both Erina and Sachiko's hands before being covered by light and then vanishing.

It was only a little past noon and if they were to stay in the illusion world from now until midnight tomorrow, then they'd have thirty-six hours—two hundred and sixteen hours which equate to nine days. Amelia and Erina had their hopes in that nine days to devise a plan and hone Erina's skills in order to defeat Kai.

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After the second day of the tournament had passed, the matchups for the winner's quarterfinals were decided.

The first match, the Blind Swordsman versus participant nineteen.

The second match, participant thirty-two versus participant twenty-three.

And the third match, Kai versus Erina.

Nobody had pulled the strings, it was as if it was fated that Erina and Kai were to fight.

Kai and the others had arrived at the inn only to be greeted by empty rooms. Kai already knew that Erina and Amelia were going to use the illusion world beforehand and explained it to the rest.

He took a seat in his room with a desk in front of him and took out a notebook, the one he always used.

"Reo," Kai called out, "what are the chances that there's a spirit helping the Soul Thief?"

Reo appeared by the side accompanied by purple smoke.

"You're asking me? You're the one with knowledge of the future."

Kai shook his head.

"No, I've never caught the Soul Thief before. I assume he died sometime before the war and if not, he died during the war."

Hearing that, Reo sunk into deep thought, it was only till a few minutes later did he began to speak again.

"The possibility is minuscule but... it isn't zero. Spirits are attributed to the elements but since we're in non-corporeal form, we also have knowledge of souls. Spirits can be used for both good and evil, it just depends on the contractor and spirit."

In the present day, it was nearly impossible to find forbidden magic related to souls. Even the ones that Kai had, Soul Aura and Soul Call were taught to him by Reo. Even in the future, he barely found anyone capable of manipulating souls but unlike the Soul Thief, those people didn't prey on the souls of the living.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

That's why if Kai had to name one area that he only had superficial knowledge in, it would be in manipulating souls.

"You told me that the angel with the Soul Thief had a familiar feeling to you but for some reason, it felt as if it had undergone a change, right?"

Kai nodded.

"I've thought of several possibilities, it may just be that I've felt similar waves with grandma and Erina, or maybe someone I know from the past would be mixed in there but... the familiar feeling it gave me was different. It isn't that I only encountered the soul once or twice, it felt as if I knew it from top to bottom."

Kai was lost in his thoughts as he remembered the feeling that the soul had given him. If he expanded his Soul Call, he would be able to sense Aubrey Academy but every time he did so, he only found the Soul Thief's soul. The angel was nowhere in the capital, or if she was, then the Soul Thief managed to find a way to hide her soul's fluctuations.

"Could it be someone you know in the future?"

Hearing Reo's speculation, Kai furrowed his brows.

"That's possible. I've met countless people in the future and I've memorized their souls. If somehow, one of them died in the present because of my change in actions, then that'd explain the possibility."

—but it was different, the familiar feeling the soul gave me wasn't near any of those people.

Kai had confidence in his memory and even if he had doubts about it, his left eye was also capable of storing memories, even magic circles can be remembered in fine detail. And, souls differentiated not by the looks, but by the feeling that they produced so having a soul like the one inside the angel, mixed with multiple souls was a frightening thing.

Kai didn't give voice to his thoughts but Reo could sense the solemn atmosphere that Kai was emitting.

"It's about time I focused on breaking everyone out of S-class."

In the future, Kai, Memento Mori, and a few others reached SS-class because of the war but that was their limit. None of them were able to reach SSS-class, the peak of humanity. Kai skipped that step and became a faux God with the help of his grandmother but in the end, that power was temporary.

Kai stared at his pendant for a few seconds, seemingly lost in thought.

"...once I go to the demon and angel continent, I'll make my decision then."

He was only on the third continent, the second continent with an anomaly. First, there were Ethereal Moon's vampires finding the corpse of the Primogenitor. Now, the Blind Swordsman descended to Gaia with the seal on him still in place. In truth, the person supposed to descend into Gaia is someone at SS-class but compared to Fate who was above that power, he was easily taken care of by the combined power of Gaia's S-class.

Individual strength is important, but a single person can't fight a war.

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Illusion World

"Haa..."

Erina, with bated breath, held her rapier in excitement.

"This should be enough..."

Amelia muttered. They had only passed half the time but they had already managed to make a technique capable of letting them win the match.

"There are some more things but... ugh."

Amelia covered her mouth with her hand and groaned.

"Another one?"

Erina asked.

"Yeah... I've been feeling sick lately. Let's go rest."

Erina and Amelia walked over to a house, there, Sachiko was in the backyard testing out her innate ability on some beasts.

"Make any progress?"

Amelia asked Sachiko.

"No, I just can't seem to get it... Yoko was able to use different moves but how come I'm stuck with one?"

Sachiko's innate ability, 『Melody』 was one that made enemies and phenomena dance to her tune. She could use it for a variety of uses and its practicality was one that it can even be used outside battle.

"Maybe that's how you're innate ability works..."

Yoko's innate ability, 『Celerity』 dealt with speed and so, had many modes or so Erina thought.

"No use brooding about it, let's eat."

Sachiko sighed and left the beasts on standby before going to get some food.

"Are you sure this food isn't an illusion? We won't be skin and bones when we come out, right?"

Sachiko asked. Everything else was an illusion after all.

"It's not that I don't trust you all. I just care a lot about my skin, you know?"

Amelia sighed at Sachiko's question, she had asked the same one over the days that they had been in the illusion. Nine days—five of which had already passed.

"As I said, these are our real physical bodies. The food is something we've stored in here from the real world."

Amelia answered with a fed-up tone. She was about to take a bite of the food set on the table but stopped herself.

Sachiko saw that and exclaimed, "I knew it was fake!"

Erina ignored her and looked at Amelia worriedly, "are you okay?" she asked.

"I'm fine..."

Amelia took out some red pellets from a container and put one in her mouth but she quickly spat it out.

"Eh?"

Amelia's eyes widened. As far as she knew, her body never rejected Kai's blood.

Sachiko was looking at her while eating a piece of vegetable with a fork, "she isn't pregnant, is she?"

When she asked that question, the whole world seemed to have frozen. Erina and Amelia were struck silent and thought back, the symptoms that Amelia's showing is definitely that of pregnancy.

First, she rested more often. Second, she had unusual cravings and was eating food for the past few days rather than blood. Third, she randomly lost her appetite. And lastly, she had been vomiting for the past few days.

"Could it really be...?"

Erina muttered while Amelia was still in a daze.

"No, that can't be... We made sure to use contraception."

Amelia fell into deep thought.

"Eh... Shouldn't you be happy? Why do both of you have such dark expressions?"

Amelia and Erina looked at each other and smiled wryly at Sachiko's questions.

"It's not that we aren't happy, it's just that right now, Kai is burdened. If Amelia really is pregnant, then the weight on his shoulders will double," Erina answered first.

Kai adopted Aya but she was already a child. He hadn't truly experienced having Amelia give birth.

"And... there's the matter with my bloodline. It would be fine if the child is a boy but if it's a girl, then I'm afraid there won't be just one problem."

Amelia had the blood of a primogenitor, her child would become a progenitor at the least but with their conflicts with the vampires in Ethereal Moon, they may even be the target of assassination.

Vampires could sense blood, they'd know if Amelia's child would be their blood ancestor and that would cause many problems.

The vampires are strong, far stronger than what Kai and the others can deal with.

"Until we can confirm this, let's keep it a secret," Amelia informed the two who nodded in response.

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The days inside the illusion passed but for the outside world, only one day had come and gone.

Now, it was time for Erina and Kai's duel. The first two matches ended with the Blind Swordsman and a participant who was flaunting his status as a noble.

After this day, there would only be three people left in the winner's bracket.

Erina faced Kai on the stage without any other movements.

"I haven't seen you for a day but you probably haven't seen me for more than a week. I missed you."

Erina didn't respond and continued to stare at him through her mask. Kai sighed, Erina was really serious now.

"Your winning condition is to make me bleed."

Kai was a vampire and his wounds will heal as long as there's mana. This tournament didn't have any rules preventing vampires but that was only because vampires are known to be extinct.

But, Kai was the boy of the prophecy, he was destined to sever the heavens, how much of a chance did Erina have to win?

Therefore, this bet... is an impossible bet.