Chapter 70: It’s A Fake!
Zaran looked down at the Key in his hand with an accomplished look in his eyes! It had been more than seventy years since he began putting this plan together! Years of moving across time and searching various worlds just to gather everything that he needed, and it all came together into this one moment. This moment in time where he would be able to save his people from dying at the hands of a mad man!
’All we need is one chance. If my people know what’s coming, then there is no way history will repeat itself!’
Zaran had absolute confidence in his plan, and he felt his heart racing as he brought up his Lock and began putting it together with the Key.
Crash!
"Ow!"
A loud sound echoed from in front of Zaran, and Zaran looked up quickly to see two people appearing from a white door. One of them was a young cat-eared woman who was wearing a military uniform, and the other person was a man with a look of disinterest on his face! The woman had fallen to the ground, and she was rubbing her bottom while glaring up at the taller man, but Zaran’s eyes were completely fixed on the man’s face as he felt a strange feeling begin to creep into his heart!
Zaran knew this man! There was no way he could ever forget this face in his life! Zaran’s hands were shaking from fear and anger, and he narrowed his eyes into a glare that could kill!
"You! Verati! I should’ve known you would come to stop me!"
Zaran spoke up loudly, and Percy looked away from Viva’s scowling face and turned towards Zaran calmly. Percy noticed Zaran’s stance and how he was already prepared to join the two halves of the medallion together, and Percy spoke up.
"Are you sure you want to do that, Zaran? It won’t change anything."
Zaran’s lips widened into a mocking smile!
"Yes, it will! Once I change the future, you won’t have the advantage you did before! You think you can kill my people and get away with it!? This will be our victory!"
Zaran laughed mockingly as he watched Percy’s expression! Zaran expected Percy to show some sort of worry about what would come next, but Zaran was confused when Percy didn’t seem to react to his taunts at all! Instead, Percy reached down and grabbed Viva by the back of her dress before lifting her to her feet like a stray cat. Viva hissed at Percy angrily, and Percy just smiled at her.
’He’s mocking me!’
Zaran immediately realized that Percy was pretending as if none of this mattered at all! Percy was acting like nothing Zaran did would change anything! Zaran felt an intense anger filling his body at that moment, and he decided that he was going to show him! Percy would regret ever crossing paths with the Horox after they were done with him today! Zaran gripped the Key and Lock tighter in his hands, and he immediately brought them both together into a perfect fit!
Clink!
A metallic chime echoed through the region, and Zaran’s smile widened as he prepared for something to happen, but he blinked when he didn’t feel any magical reaction. Zaran brought the two halves together again with another metallic ’clink!’ and he was shocked when nothing happened again! What? What in the world was going on here!?
"When I said doing that wasn’t going to change anything, I meant it literally wasn’t going to change anything."
Percy spoke up calmly, and Zaran looked up at him with a hard gaze! Percy held up a golden object in his hand, and Zaran felt his eyes widen when he realized that it was another identical Key! Zaran couldn’t believe it!? This shouldn’t be possible! How can there be another Key when there could only be one Key in existence!? Then does that mean...?
Zaran looked down at the key in his hand again, and he was even more shocked when his Key suddenly began to disintegrate right in front of his eyes until it turned into a pile of fine golden dust! It was fake!
Zaran looked up at Percy with wide eyes, and Percy smiled at him.
"I knew the Key was the only thing that would draw you out, so creating a fake to fool you wasn’t that difficult."
Zaran was in absolute disbelief! How in the world was Percy able to do this! The Key had felt so real in his hand! It felt like he was really holding a time artefact! Even the magic that the Key gave off felt like it was true Time Magic!
But even though Zaran was truly confused, the person who felt the most confusion at that moment was Viva! When in the world did Percy create a fake!? Viva had been with Percy all this time, and she never once believed that the Key was fake! Viva didn’t even see Percy exchanging the Key at all! All this time, Viva thought that the Key Zaran was holding was actually real, and she just believed Percy had some sort of plan to get it back before he could use it!
Zaran’s hand tightened into fists as he felt his entire body shaking, and a surge of mana suddenly enveloped the region as Zaran’s magic began to flow out from his body! All that work! All that effort to get the Key and Lock, and Percy dared to take it from him!? He dared to ruin his plans when he was right on the edge of victory!? Zaran looked at Percy with bloodshot eyes and screamed!
"YOU MONSTER!"
Zaran created a sword of blood in his right hand and charged straight for Percy, but Percy didn’t bother trying to defend the attack! Instead, Percy grabbed Viva by the collar and lifted her off her feet like a cat before stepping out of the way to avoid the slash! Zaran was thrown to the ground by the expert movement, and he turned around sharply to try and launch another attack! But Zaran suddenly stopped as he felt something missing around his neck!
Zaran looked down at his chest, and his eyes widened when he saw that the pendant he had been wearing was gone! The golden pendant was hanging from Percival’s right hand, and Zaran realized that Percival had grabbed it when he avoided him just now! No! This can’t be! Zaran’s face paled, and his breath quickened as a sense of panic came over him, and he quickly began running towards Percy!
"Give it back! Please, give it back! Give it back!"
Zaran begged in terror as a desperate look appeared in his eyes, and Viva couldn’t help but wonder what in the world was making him look like that! It was just a pendant that they took from him! Even if the pendant was gone, couldn’t he just find another pendant to go through time!? But all of Viva’s curiosity would be answered in the next moment as the entire world seemed to stop!
Percy waved his hand in a small circle around him, and Viva felt every hair on her body stand on edge as a curtain of mana fell over her like a protective blanket! The world outside this protective curtain had frozen in time, and the world seemed to dim into a dull grey color! The only things that could still move were Viva, Percy, and Zaran! Zaran stumbled before he could reach Percy and Viva, sending him to the ground! Zaran quickly tried to get up, but before Zaran could get back to his feet, a magical circle ripped open in the space right behind him, and a pale, bony hand reached out of the tear and grabbed Zaran by the foot!