What!?

"What!?"

That was the only word that could explain their parents' reactions.

"What?" they asked again, dumbfounded.

Not knowing what to say, Erick pushed the matter into his older brother.

"Well, the world will not actually end…. it will just turn in some really bad sh*t! Right, brother?" His gaze shifted quickly between his older brother and his parents. Erick looked at Nikolas with a slight shrug as if saying: You are the older brother, deal with it!

[Don't throw this mess on me, damn it!] Nikolas could only sigh at his bad luck.

Now, Reginald was breathing heavily, his face was red, he was trying to control his anger. That's an even worse sign!

"Son… explain it!" Now he wasn't asking anymore, it was an order!

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you… it's complicated!" At that moment, Nikolas' mind was racing trying to think of how to tell his parents the truth. However, Nikolas could not find any rational explanation for the problem.

"Son, is this something you found on the internet? You know you shouldn't believe everything you read there, boy." His mother warmly intervened and tried to calm Reginald down.

"It's actually quite simple: he came back from the future, tell them the truth brother!"

Their father really scared them and Erick always spilled the beans for fear of being punished.

"WHAT!?" Now both of them looked at Erick as if he was dumb. He couldn't believe such a blatantly lie, right?

[Here we go again…] Nikolas sighed.

"I wish it was just an internet lie, mom. Unfortunately it's true, I've lived more than ten years in the future and I know that a great disaster will befall Earth in two weeks!" Nikolas looked deep into his parents' eyes and spoke firmly to show conviction. He knew it wouldn't be easy to persuade them of the truth, as there was no way to prove it like he did with Master Yuemura. But, if he couldn't appeal to reason, then why not use the emotional side?

Before they could oppose him, he continued.

"I know it's the craziest thing you've ever heard, but would it be so hard to trust me for two whole weeks? If nothing happens I will be the happiest person in the world! If possible, I wouldn't choose to go through ALL THAT SHIT AGAIN!" He shouted the last few words. In fact, he wasn't lying, Nikolas went through a lot of difficulties in those ten years, lost his family and almost his life a hundred times. Suicide was a constant thought at the beginning of the apocalypse.

His parents stood there, unresponsive. They had never seen him act like that, most of the time Nikolas was a calm boy, sometimes even a little antisocial. After long seconds, Emilia was the first one to sigh.

"H- How is that possible?" She looked deeply into his oldest son's eyes and asked, confused. "You know that is not an easy thing to believe, right?"

"I know it's hard to believe, even I don't quite understand why I'm back, but I know it was real!" In fact, Nikolas had not stopped to think about why he had returned, and even if he had, he wouldn't come to any conclusion. In the end, he realized it must have something to do with the system, but he was just as in the dark about it as his mother.

"That does not make sense, son." Reginald shook his head, thankfully his anger was gone, but now he looked at his children in disbelief.

"But Master Yuemura believed!" Erick decided to give his brother a hand after causing all the trouble.

"Hm." Nikolas nodded. "I've only told master Yuemura first because I had a way to prove it. He became my master at that time and I knew a lot about him."

"You should have seen them fight, Dad. I dare to say that brother almost won that swordfight!" Erick said, smiling. He had never felt so proud of his older brother.

Reginald looked at them and sighed. Either the two were pulling a prank that was going too far, or they were actually speaking the truth and they believed it. Even so, somewhat skeptical, Reginald tended to believe only what he saw or could be proven.

"I think we should believe him, dear, he never lied to us after all..." Emilia said slowly. She trusted her son and knew he would never make such a joke. Moreover, all the changes she'd seen in him over the last few weeks somehow proved that he wasn't the same as before, he was more mature and composed. Perhaps it was just a mother's thing, but she felt he wasn't lying.

Reginald was sensitive to his wife's thoughts and nodded.

"Is that why you were acting so weird? I even had hopes that it might be because of a girl..."

"Yes! Everything I've done these last few weeks has been thinking about it, even the diet! There's no such thing as a girl!" Nikolas couldn't help but give a slight smile.

"That is so unfortunate, right father!" Erick added, trying to sooth the mood even more.

Reginald nodded dejectedly.

[Now you are siding with him!? Traitor!] Nikolas glared at his brother, frowning, faking disapproval.

"Is that Master Yuemura the only one who knows about this?" Reginald asked seriously, he had to know what they were getting into.

"Yes, I trust him with my life!" Nikolas answered with conviction.

"Hmm." Emilia nodded. "But… shouldn't we tell the authorities?"

"And make a joke of myself? No way!" Nikolas shook his head, he could already imagine what would happen if they told the authorities: At best it would be considered a conspiracy theory, and at worst, he would be committed to a psychiatric hospital.

"But won't many people die if we do nothing? At least if we could warn them..." Reginald stood by his wife, as a cop, he couldn't just let that happen.

"Not now, father! They just won't believe it. How many people are there saying that the world is going to end over and over again? And how many of them did we listen to? Besides, this will only put our family at risk..." Nikolas tried to reason with them. In fact, he was a little surprised that they accepted the situation so quickly. "Don't worry, I already have a plan to warn the world, just trust me!"

"You are right, son." Reginald studied his son from head to toe. The boy really had changed, even his behavior wasn't the same. Fortunately it changed for the better, he had become a real man! "I'm going to trust you for these two weeks, until then, what can we do to help you?"

"While I know what's coming, I can't predict everything. The order of society will crumble, and therefore we need to become stronger! In the near future the mightiest fist will dictate the rules!" Nikolas answered passionately, planning ahead would be way easier with his family support. "Unfortunately, I think your time of retirement will be suspended, Father. The things you hate the most will become commonplace and there will be no room for justice!"

Sigh.

"If justice will be dictated by those with strength, I will have to be even stronger!" Reginald clenched his fists tightly and Nikolas could see the fire burning in his eyes. "Are politicians going to meddle in this matter?"

That was his father! A man who never backed down from difficulties, a man who was used to dealing with dangerous situations.

"In the beginning, yes, but you know how most are mostly weak-minded and cowardly by nature… they won't survive long!" Nikolas smiled and encouraged his father. "Ah, before I forget: firearms won't be enough. In fact, they will become useless once humans get stronger!"

"W-wait, I thought you were speaking figuratively. Will humans become stronger like what? Superman?" That was his favorite movie.

"I guess that's also a good way of thinking..." Erick thought aloud. He had seen what his brother was capable of and truly believed his stories.

"Awesome!" Now Nikolas saw passion in Reginald's eyes. The man desired it!

"Men…" Emilia laughed.

Reginald and Emilia then helped the siblings put away the items they bought. Then, they sat down in the kitchen to have dinner and discuss the future.

The planning took longer than Nikolas expected and after a few hours they decided many things. One of them was that Reginald would also go to the dojo to learn martial arts with his sons. However, as he wasn't a big fan of samurai stuff, he chose a more medieval approach: between the weapons the sibling bought just today, Reginald found a rusty sword and armor and decided to use it.

It was late at night but Reginald decided to not sleep and worked on the items. He removed the dust and polished the rusty parts. The metal gleamed, small red lines could be seen on the armor and the groove of the sword.

Hours later, deep in the night, the armor appeared new. Although the steel armor was somewhat gray, as the moonlight flashed through the window and reached the metal, it shone brightly.

As Nikolas looked at that beautiful armor, a name came to his mind.

[Balfur… Shiny armor… Dammit! How could I forget about the Shiny Knight Balfur!?]

The Shiny Knight Balfur was said to be one of the strongest humans on Santa Catarina in the early years of the apocalypse. However, the man was not famous because of his strength, but because of his attitude! It was said that he was a kind man with shiny white medieval armor that saved thousands of people! No one ever saw his face, which was covered by the helmet but his figure was spread across the state. Eventually, he died during a C-grade spawn protecting hundreds of people.

Nikolas had seen that glorious figure from afar, and for that very reason it was hard to connect such a brave figure with the humble old man in the shop. Not just because he didn't know his face, but also because his behavior was miles away! Just like the sun and the moon: One was gallant and aimed to save the world, the other had a weak frame and tender eyes!

[Wait, did I buy his weapons?] Suddenly, a disturbing thought crossed his mind. What if his actions ended up unintentionally killing the old man? Nikolas tried to remember what the Knight Balfur used and looked at the items he bought. [Hm, looks like your white armor is not the same as this one. Maybe he didn't display all of his items in the shop? Smart old man!]

"Smart old man… You'll be part of my group for sure…" Nikolas muttered to himself, but Erick, who was still beside him, heard.

"Who?"

"Balfur… That old silly man!"