"The Kobar Empire?" Luca guessed.

Micah sighed. "Yes and no."

While the knowledge of the future that Luca had lived through was in and of itself intriguing, several alarming peculiarities came up from his conversation. The first was the Kobar Empire's attacks and the start of the Game.

"Luca, don't you find it odd that your enemy, the Kobar Empire, responsible for taking down Adovoria in the future, today has no known army? None whatsoever."

His brother furrowed his brows together. "Yes, it did seem odd."

"Today, the Kobar Empire is an "empire" in name only—a relic of its past, eaten away by greed and corruption until it rotted from the inside out," Micah explained and walked over to the wall with the mural of the world map.

His gaze shifted toward the enormous stretch of land far to the north of their continent.

It was once a great empire—but that was a long, long time ago. Its downfall began centuries ago when its mana stone mines within the Kobar Mountain Range were stripped bare. Today, it was a blackened wasteland whose land was worse than worthless. Not even the warmongering Queen Yadana Daylan bothered a glance toward the lands. Rumor had it that the continent's first infection of the land began there.

"How did this feeble entity metamorphose into a conqueror in under four years?" Micah asked, turning toward his brother.

Luca shook his head. "I don't know."

"Exactly, it's inexplicable," Micah said. "You should have learned in your lessons that the Arkangul family has maintained its ear to the ground, monitoring all potential uprisings or political changes across the continent."

"I did," Luca said.

"And yet, there hasn't been even a peek from the Kobar region to date," Micah said, taping the wall. "That means that somehow, they were able to grow into a major powerhouse in just a handful of years after our family's fall, without garnering suspicion from any other nation."

"Then there's the seemingly impossible difficulty of the Game," Micah continued. "According to your System, 42,007 Players attempted to clear Adovoria's Fall. Some gave up after the first round, but many persisted. Most notably, one Player tried to win against the Kobar Empire 67 times."

His younger brother poured himself a new cup of tea, albeit it was likely entirely cold and bitter by now.

"But here we are today," Micah said. "The fate of Adovoria is now in your hands."

"Perhaps Jarvis's research can help—if we heal the land of its infection, the Kobar Empire would not face starvation and thus have no need to attack its neighbors," Luca naively proposed. "He died before the Game started, so the land wasn't cured.

Micah crossed his arms.

In another scenario, that might have sufficed. However, Micah had trouble imagining that all of these ancient Players, who had played and cleared hundreds and thousands of other Games, did not consider and attempt such a simple strategy.

"Ask the System if any of the other Players have attempted a strategy of feeding the Kobar Empire to prevent starvation and the consequent war," Micah requested.

He watched his brother interact with the System, his golden eyes perusing the empty space before him.

By Luca's expression alone, Micah had his answer.

"Some Players had," Luca replied. His voice had a note of dejection. "And yet, the war still broke out, and Adovoria fell."

Micah nodded.

"If not the threat of starvation, what helped mobilize their forces and strike with such an overwhelming degree?" he asked.

Luca took his question literally and posed it back to the System.

However, he didn't get a satisfactory answer even then.

"The System doesn't know," Luca replied.

"What about Kobar's leader?" Micah inquired. "Understanding your opponent is the first and most important key to winning any battle."

Unfortunately, the System's insights were shaky; the leader wasn't identifiable, seemingly changing between the rounds.

That can only suggest that whoever is pulling the strings is doing so from the shadows.

"If the System doesn't know, then that is something we'll have to figure out ourselves," Micah stated, walking back to the desk and tapping the large blob. "And after figuring out the enemy's identity, we'll need to understand their motivation."

Luca nodded along; however, Micah suspected his brother was underestimating the difficulty of this task. Luca was still figuring out all the plots against their family. His insights had helped bring the Selvine family head to trial, allowed Micah to take precautions against the Mentisun family's meddling, and brought attention to the Guardians of Luminal's conspiracy. However, the danger posed to their family was far from over, and fighting off this one adversary that even ancient Players could not beat was well beyond Luca's current abilities.

Moreover, the difficulty of the Game had evidently increased with every round.

Tactics and insights from previous rounds were rendered useless. Strategies attempted were predicted and thwarted by the enemy months ahead of implementation. With Luca's insight into individuals such as Chase Daylan and Claude Noire, Micah suspected that whoever was leading the charge from Kobar's side could take advantage of the loops either through first-hand knowledge or through second-hand means.

"Whomever your adversary is, they are most likely aware of the rounds, like you. However, unlike you, they appear to have been aware of every round," Micah explained, highlighting the timeline in a deep black. "That's why the difficulty has only increased the more a Player tried their luck."

"That blob is an awakened?" Luca's eyes widened.

"It's very possible." Micah nodded. "If you're lucky, whoever it is, they do not currently exist in the same capacity that they will four years from now."

"And if I'm not lucky?" Luca asked.

"Then, they get an extra four years head-start, just like you. Except they have the knowledge and experience of the previous 67 and these recent couple of brief rounds."

Luca stared silently into his cup of cold, dark tea.

"Micah, what do I do?" he whispered. The weight of the task seemed to have finally begun to settle upon him. "How do I beat this Game?"

Micah flashed a bright smile at his younger brother.

"Coming to me was the smartest thing you did to date—I will help you form a plan on how to beat this Game," Micah promised.

Luca looked up at him with puppy dog eyes.

What Micah didn't bother mentioning was that beating this Game was Luca's one and only choice.

* * *

Micah had known for about a decade that Luca's fate was a great misfortune. However, he invariably considered that his brother's ability to relive his life over and over again held a far more overwhelming advantage than any misfortune could bring about. It was an ability to utilize knowledge of the future and shape his fate as he saw fit.

Micah was aware that others, like his brother, could recall past rounds when a summoning took place. However, he assumed that by taking the necessary precautions, he would be able to help his brother negate these individuals while obtaining the future that he sought.

What Micah had terribly miscalculated was Luca's role in this summoning.

I never expected him to be the center of it. Nor for the summoning to be so unprecedented.

Micah grazed his fingers over the black king piece on the chess board. It was the most important and yet, the weakest piece on the board; an accurate representation of his brother.

Luca was dealt a uniquely cursed hand of cards, and he had yet to realize himself just how bad it was. Micah considered informing Luca but decided that perhaps ignorance was a kinder state of mind. The 42,007 Players that came before him had the option to give up. And they did. Luca did not have this luxury. The System even confirmed that the Game would end and life resume only once Luca beat this impossible Game.

Essentially, Luca was given but one option: try and try again until he finally won.

The trouble was that, while Luca had the benefit of remaining anonymous through the first 67 rounds, he was unconscious and retained no knowledge of what had taken course. Others had far greater time to prepare themselves than Luca. Moreover, his advantage of anonymity was quickly evaporating. Luca had already attracted the attention of two awakened phoenix-eyed individuals: Chase Daylan and Sedna Ozeryn. Then there were those who didn't remember past rounds but could pass on information, like Claude Noire of the Spiders Syndicate—and Claude was a particular case who appeared to know the first Game round. Finally, there was the biggest hurdle of all: the opponent that had managed to evade detention for all past rounds and obliterate all previous Players.

Luca is guaranteed to lose his mind at this rate.

His brother's two advantages were his connection to the System and the ability to enforce when the next round began.

Rather than the king, he is perhaps he is more of a pawn.

Micah moved one of the black pawns forward.

The pawn was a weak and easily sacrificable piece. Yet, because of this, it was often overlooked. 

But if it can reach the end, it can evolve into a potent piece.

Micah gazed over the giant world map mural that stretched across one of the walls of his study. He intended to reshape the map to his liking, utilizing Luca's insights about the future.

But that will have to take second place to figure out just what sort of monster my brother is up against and preparing a proper strategy to thwart them. Having Luca go through too many Rounds and lose his mind is not my intention either.

Click.

Micah opened up his looking glass.

"Yes, master?" Seymour's raspy voice sounded.

"We're going hunting," Micah said.

"And who might the prey be, may I ask?" Seymour asked.

"Claude Noire," Micah replied.

"..."

Seymour's hooded figure remained silent on the other end before speaking.

"Master… you know what happened the last time one of the other syndicates tried to take him out? And did you not state then that his absence would spell far more trouble than his presence as head of the Spiders?"

"I did," Micah replied.

Micah cared little for Claude Noire, but him being head of the Spider Syndicate was preferable to some of the other trash that sought control of the organization.

"We'll require all of Ridley's mages to be mobilized," Seymour added.

"Of course." Micah nodded.

"They'll all likely die. Ridley won't think too kindly of that."

"I know," Micah replied.

"Master… we'll lose our own foothold and position as well by launching such an attack," Seymour said. "It's a suicidal mission."

"I know." Micah gazed back at Seymour, his expression unchanged.

It was a shame, and the sacrifice would be extraordinary. It was the equivalent of cutting off his own two arms. However, given everything that Micah knew, it was a needed sacrifice in this round.

"Very well, I understand," Seymour sighed. "I'll have scouts set up and put things into motion."

Claude had always been a thorn in Micah's side that he could mostly ignore. However, Luca's insight suddenly put the troublesome man in a whole new light. It was as if Micah's birthday had come early.

If I can decipher his tattoos, there's likely insight that even Luca's System doesn't have relating to Luca's opposition. And perhaps I can find a way to reverse-engineer how Claude had such a runic tattoo implemented in the first place so I can have a place on the playing board.

Micah clicked the looking glass closed and rolled out his neck.

It was a shame to sacrifice so much in this round, but sometimes, sacrifices were necessary in the bigger scheme of things.

Especially when the mysterious portal was kind enough to lend me this for the next five days.

Micah pulled out from his pocket and tossed a charred black coin in the air.