Sagres had only just turned around, his wand not even fully raised.
"Immobulus!"
The familiar voice rang out again.
Sagres froze instantly, like an insect trapped in amber.
It was not only his body that had been immobilised. He could feel his thoughts, his magic, even his perception of time itself being forcibly frozen in that moment, leaving only his consciousness struggling uselessly within an endless stillness.
He had always considered himself to stand at the pinnacle of the magical world, with very few capable of matching him.
Yet in front of the person now sitting in his chair, he felt as powerless as a newborn infant.
Sagres stared at the faint smile on the man's face, and a bone-chilling cold shot from his spine straight into his skull, as though even his already frozen blood had turned solid.
That face...
It was his own.
This was not a disguise, nor was it Polyjuice Potion.
It was a resonance, a confirmation that came from the soul itself.
The person sitting there was another Sagres.
The same familiar depth was present in his eyes, but there was also a trace of playfulness Sagres could not understand.
The seated Sagres clicked his tongue softly, seemingly dissatisfied with the stiff posture of the other version of himself standing before him.
He casually snapped his fingers.
Pop.
The frozen state vanished instantly.
Sagres drew in a sharp breath as control returned to his body, but he did not act rashly.
He simply stared intently at the other man.
At the same time, he felt a subtle movement in the muscles of his face.
The Samdron disguise he had maintained for so long receded like a tide, and in an instant, he returned to his original appearance.
"My own face still looks better."
The seated Sagres shifted into a more comfortable position, leaning casually against the back of the chair as he continued to study this newly restored version of himself with great interest, as though admiring an unusual work of art.
Sagres's thoughts raced.
Almost instinctively, he considered using Legilimency to seize even the smallest scrap of information.
"Trying to use Legilimency on me?"
The future Sagres chuckled, a hint of teasing in his smile.
"Good idea, but I wouldn't recommend it..."
Before he could finish speaking, Sagres suddenly felt his hand grow light.
The Everlasting Flower Wood wand flew from his grasp without warning and landed lightly in the other Sagres's hand.
The future Sagres casually toyed with it as though it were nothing more than an ordinary trinket, then raised his eyes and looked back at Sagres, whose expression had become extremely grim.
"We need to talk."
He restrained his smile slightly, though his posture remained casual.
"About you. Or rather, about me."
His gaze was like a sharp blade, dissecting the grim-faced Sagres standing before him inch by inch.
"I came here to verify an answer. A question that has troubled me... or rather, troubled us, for a very long time."
The standing Sagres's pupils contracted slightly.
Almost instantly, a chilling thought slithered into his mind like a venomous snake.
"Ah. Looks like you've guessed it."
The future Sagres spoke calmly.
"That's right. I'm going to try it."
He paused.
"Try to see whether I can... kill you."
A long silence followed.
"Why?" Sagres asked, his voice slightly hoarse.
"Why? There are many reasons," the future Sagres said. "But mainly, I want to know whether killing my past self would actually affect the me in the future."
Sagres thought, So that's it.
His mind raced as he searched frantically for a countermeasure, but then his heart sank.
According to what he had observed through Noctis's eyes, his actions in this timeline did not seem to affect the future he knew.
That meant if the other Sagres killed him here, he might not suffer any consequences at all.
The future Sagres seemed to see straight through his thoughts. He smiled and shook his head, a trace of pity in his eyes.
"You're still too young."
He spoke lazily.
"You think nothing you do in this timeline will affect the future? Wrong. Completely wrong."
His tone became slightly more serious.
"The influence exists, but it doesn't take effect in real time. The changes accumulate like hidden undercurrents until you, this anomalous variable, completely leave this timeline. Only then will all those changes break loose like a collapsing dam and reshape the timeline after your departure all at once."
"In other words, before you leave this era, the consequences of everything you do remain in a suspended, superimposed state. And once you leave..."
He did not finish the sentence.
Instead, he looked directly into Sagres's eyes and chuckled.
Hearing this, the standing Sagres felt his taut nerves loosen slightly.
If that was true, then the other man could not kill him so easily.
Because once he acted, before Sagres left this era, the resulting consequences would be unpredictable and might very well rebound on the future Sagres himself.
The future Sagres caught the subtle change in his emotions, and the playful smile on his lips widened, even taking on a faint hint of excitement.
"Feeling relieved?"
He lightly stroked Sagres's wand in his hand.
"Do you feel as though you've found yourself a protective charm?"
His tone suddenly changed.
His gaze sharpened and fell upon Sagres's left hand.
The Ouroboros and Möbius strip runes symbolising time travel were hidden beneath the skin, yet he seemed able to perceive them clearly.
"But, me..."
The future Sagres deliberately drew out the words, his voice full of mockery.
"That pretty little thing on the back of your hand, that spatiotemporal coordinate we just created... it might make you an exception."
"An exception not protected by this rule."
By now, the standing Sagres had calmed down and immediately caught the uncertainty in the other man's words.
He met the gaze of his future self, his voice returning to its usual steadiness.
"You wouldn't dare."
"Oh?"
"You're not certain that I'm truly an exception."
Sagres spoke calmly.
"It's only a possibility. A conjecture. And you wouldn't gamble on something so uncertain. If you're wrong, the price could be our existence being erased completely, or us falling into something even worse than death. You can't afford that risk."
The future Sagres did not become angry.
Instead, the smile on his face deepened.
"Very perceptive. And entirely correct. I really don't like gambling on uncertain things."
He nodded approvingly.
Then his tone changed.
"So I need to test it first."
___
o(*≧▽≦)ツ💫 Read up to 12+ chapters in advance on Patreon/DarkDevil1