A meeting with an enigmatic person

"Lee Youngwoo. In the name of the Shadow Cult, I want to greet you." He heard her speak in a beautiful voice. In fact, her voice was clearer than Hilda's. Was it a skill? He couldn't tell, not yet at least.

Youngwoo stared at Shadow who was standing in front of him, about 4 metres between them two. Long hair, comparable to Iris' in length and complete inverse in color, were tied in a braid. Her black top and jeans blended in nicely, somewhat emphasizing her silky-white skin and green eyes.

Before, when Iris had told him that there was a woman in the tree nearby, he knew it was Shadow. It had to be her. He sent a quick message to Ieva, and she called her sister, giving him space and time to talk freely with Shadow Cult's envoy.

"She's clearly a rogue-type." Said Iris, floating around Shadow a little and examining her. "But all her weapons are in the backpack."

He didn't react to white-headed woman's words. Well, he promised himself not to. This talk was very, very important, and he didn't intend on retrying it. In all honesty, he wasn't expecting it to happen so soon. It was like Ieva said: they wanted to reach to him very soon after measuring his power level.

All in all, he already knew how to go about this talk. To be honest, he had spent over 12 hours with Ieva in previous regression. They had planned everything down to the last detail. He took a small step forward, and formed a small smirk. He needed to show her that he was in control of the talk. For that, he would need to step down from his usual way of talking.

"I was wondering if you'd come around. Good to see that Norma has some oil in her head." He almost chuckled. "But, shouldn't you introduce yourself?"

"...?" She looked at him, a mix of wariness and puzzled expression alike. "Don't you know my name?"

"Of course I do." He shook his head a little. "But, you know, a bit of etiquette would be nice to have, wouldn't it? Haven't you let let your shadows down beforehand because of it?" He asked a little rhetorical question.

"...yes, I understand. I am-"

"I'm not asking about your stage name, 'Shadow'." He made sure to put emphasis on her alias. "You didn't call me a swordsman, did you?"

"..." She seemed hesitant.

"Let me begin, then. I'm Youngwoo Lee." He said calmly, but he shifted on his legs a little, as if impatiently.

His gesture seemed to work quickly, as Shadow's eyes ventured left and right, checking if they were in fact alone. She let out an unheard sigh as she realized that there were no people in nearby vicinity. In fact, not a single soul in view, even.

"I'm... Aliki Spyros." She said quickly. Was she afraid of speaking her name loudly?

Youngwoo nodded at her words, but decided not to speak a word of response. No, he needed her to speak first now. Few seconds passed, and Aliki didn't seem eager to continue the talk. No, if anything, she looked like she wanted to go away as soon as she could. Her hands shook a little as she understood the situation. Slowly, she parted her lips, and some words came out:

"You already know that, but... we don't want to make you our enemy, mister Lee." She straightened her position a little. "So, we wish to form a pact with you."

"...go on." He raised an eyebrow a little, visibly interested in her words... wait, but... didn't he see this talk already? Or did he choose not to? No, don't get distracted!

"We know that we went against you, but it wasn't our intention. We don't want to spill more blood than we need to climb the Tower, and we believe you think the same."

"..." He didn't reply, but Aliki noticed how his eyebrow twitched momentarily.

Feeling her heartbeat reverberate in her head, she continued:

"That is why w-we want to form a pact of nonaggression with you. We can negotiate the price."

"..." He still remained silent. However, Aliki clearly saw that he was thinking about her words.

Silence ensued again. Aliki felt her heart racing and palms of her hands sweating while she locked her green eyes with Youngwoo's brown ones. Hair on back of her head wanted to stand up when she recognized the feeling he was emanating. This wasn't open hostility, but... it was pretty close.

Youngwoo, on the other hand, was listening to Iris' words.

"Those fuckers..." She said, circling Aliki. "Che. Spilling blood of innocent people just because they would become too powerful to be dependent on them." She gritted her teeth as her eyes became bloodshot. It seemed that she really, really wanted to get her hands on Shadow's neck. "Decapitate her arms. Show her what we think of their doings." She looked at Youngwoo.

'Whoa, where the fuck is THAT coming from?!' He stole a glance at Iris, but didn't say his thought out loud. He expected her to be somewhat negative towards Aliki, just like he was, but she was outright hostile, and even aggressive. Very aggressive at it.

He looked back in Aliki's eyes, and saw her twitch as she took a little step back. Was she afraid? Possibly, but he was certain that she was simply stressed, not knowing how he'd react. But, she didn't know what he knew.

"Che." He made a sound akin to Iris'. "And who exactly is this 'pact' protecting?" He tilted his head a little, but his tone made it seem like he wasn't interested in hearing her answer.

"...it's a pact of mutual unders-"

"Bullshit." He cut her off. "If that were the case, you'd have made a similar pact with Tinkerer, wouldn't you?"

He heard something Iris was saying, as if complementing his own words. Realizing what she meant, he continued his thought:

"Let's be real here. The only reason you reached out to me instead of trying to kill me like Ieva is because you know you can't kill me. And because I'm not playing along Norma's way, you decided you need to coax me so that you would have a justification for any of your actions. This isn't a mutual pact. This is you trying to bribe me into ignoring your actions."

"..." Aliki shook on spot. She didn't want to admit to it, but... she knew he was right. That was exactly how she saw it. Coaxing a beast into ignoring them, because they couldn't fight it. Cold sweat made its way down her back as she looked at the ground.

"As much as I'd like to let this all slip, you trying to kill Tinkerer crossed the line." He said coldly. "All she'd done is refuse to work exclusively for you, and you wanted her gone. Detestable, rotten people."

"..." Shadow couldn't **** herself to say a word.

"You want to climb the Tower? Don't make me laugh." He continued. "You know it's not true. All you want is to be safe and sound, hidden away from the world. With Norma's clairvoyance, you all could be at floor 30 by now, so why not? That's the reason. You don't want to leave. You don't want to conquer the Tower, because in this place, you can be someone."

"..." She clenched her fists, clearly angry. She looked like she wanted to say something, but was forcing herself not to.

"...I'm not going to judge your choices." He closed his eyes momentarily and let his head down ever so much. "But I believe you should."

"...I don't regret a thing I've done." She replied quietly. "To have functioning body... I'd kill again."

'...functioning body?' He momentarily formed a questioning expression, but relaxed it before she looked at him. He saw fires in her eyes. She was mad, but still collected as she said:

"And you of all people should not be questioning my morals. Compared to you, I'm a docile sheep."

"...?" He tilted his head a little.

"Don't test me! You know what I'm talking about!" She gritted her teeth, looking at him fiercely. "1200 people. How can you be judging my motifs when you have blood of hundreds on your hands?"

It seemed that the docile, afraid woman was gone. Now, she was agitated, and it looked like she was ready to throw a punch at him at any moment. However, there was something Youngwoo didn't get in here.

'1200 people? Blood on my hands?' No, this didn't make sense. Not even in the future he'd averted, did he ever take a life. Sure enough, he did hurt his enemies, however, be it NPC or another Hunter, he never once took their lives. He couldn't imagine himself doing that, so... what did she mean?

"I... I have no idea what you're talking about." He shook his head a little.

"Why do you keep on testing my patience?!" She rose her voice a little again. Why, why did she feel like he was telling her truth? Her hand went for her backpack slowly as she stared him down. However, she noticed his puzzled expression.

Youngwoo couldn't wrap his head around this situation now. It was supposed to simply be a talk where he'd reject Aliki's offer, so why was his hand going for his sword now?! And why did Iris look like she was about to bring out popcorn?!!

"Alright, stop!" He yelled a little, taking his hand away from his sword's handle.

"???" Aliki suddenly looked at him, a little startled. Suddenly, she realized where her hand was, and retreated it slightly, but not entirely. She was prepared to get her hand in and out with a weapon in a second.

"Okay, look." He rose his hands a little. "I don't know who or what told you, but I never killed a person."

"Don't throw bullshit at me!" She growled menacingly, and as she flailed her head a little, her braid swiped like a pendulum.

"It's you who's bullshitting yourself." He replied. "Why do you always believe what Norma is saying?"

"..." She stopped herself before she'd said anything in response. His question was... quite startling, but at the same time... it was weirdly on point. "...what?"

"Answer yourself this. Who created Shadow Cult? Who runs it? Who has hidden away from the world for years? And, lastly, who REALLY benefits the most from this pact you want to sign?" He asked a few questions, and his face suddenly looked much more... relaxed. Just what was he planning?

"..." Aliki wasn't sure how to respond. This talk went from peaceful, to them almost fighting, back to peaceful, and now he was accusing her benefactor of... what exactly? Could she call it selfishness? Yeah, in a way, everything Clairvoyant did was selfish and for her own gain, but then again, she had been through a lot, hasn't she? Wasn't this a justification, or at least a bit of it, for her actions so far?

"I don't want to leave the issue hanging, so I'll say it like this. I will neither accept nor deny your offer. I don't want to sign a pact with Shadow Cult. Any pact. We'll keep the things the way they are now, and that's a final."

"...what do you want, then?!"

"...come again?"

"How can we know that you won't strike at us when we least expect it? Norma can't predict you, and you know it."

"..." He put a hand on his chin. 'What do I want...?' "A change."

"What... do you mean?"

"It's simple, really. Do you know how many lives were lost because of Shadow Cult's doings? A lot. Left and right, you lose people and replace them with newcomers. The Tower? Who of you even care about climbing it? I'm sure they can be counted on one hand." He rose a hand and stretched all his fingers, as if to emphasize his point. "I only wish that you changed your ways. We all are in the same boat. Be it a solo Hunter, a group, or entire guild. We all have the same goal in this place, and that's to conquer it."

"..."

"What I'm saying is, there is no need for you to be hostile to everyone. Hunters should help each other, not fight among themselves. Every Hunter is given abilities that can be used to conquer the Tower, but they are best used together. Our real opponent is the Tower itself." He said. "Don't mess your own life up just because you want to impress Norma."

"..." She took a knife from her backpack. Youngwoo immediately placed a hand on his sword in return.

For a few seconds, the two of them started at each other, tension building up in the air. Youngwoo stole a glance at Iris just beside Aliki. The white-haired woman nodded at him with a smile. It seemed she wanted this confrontation.

"So..." Said Aliki slowly. "What you mean is we either cooperate, or die?"

"Actually, yeah, that's kinda accurate." He shrugged.

She frowned and fixed grip on the dagger she held.

"..." She wanted to say something, but decided against it, instead making a bit of distance from Youngwoo.

"..." He said nothing at her going away. He almost felt like he should tell her to consider his words, but since Iris didn't say a thing, neither did he. Yes, that was true. It wasn't him, per say, who was participating in the talk with Aliki. Nearly entire talk was Iris telling him what to say.

He looked at Iris, and noticed how she was frowning. Noticing his gaze, she put on a pout.

"Che." She crossed her arms. "I hoped you two would fight."

"Also eager to test this skill out?"

"As if. I want to see her react to you when she can't fight back." She turned her head away from him.

"I'm sure we will meet her again." He replied. "Now, let's go to Hilda. I want to try it out."

What he was referring to was, in fact, a notification that came up just before his talk with Aliki. It was a notification from Giordi himself.

["Mortal, as promised, I am keeping my end of bargain."]

[You have showed dazzling swordsmanship techniques that even piqued attention of Tower's Master. With their approval, the Tower wishes to reward you. Would you like to accept?]