Interlude 2: Assessing the threat

Norma sat in an armchair, slowly sipping some tea. She was reading a book resting on her legs. It's not like she couldn't look into the future to know the book, but she didn't like to do that. She enjoyed simply reading. She liked the joy of doing simple, mundane things. Yes, ever since things stopped being so mundane for her, she liked to escape this reality, even if just for a little bit. Suddenly, the door to her room opened. Norma didn't even look up; she knew who it was.

A figure walked into the room. It was wearing large clothes suited for assassins of Reaper Guild (but a few sizes too large), covering it from head to toes in gray-black mix. The howl was fixed on its head, hiding it from the world. However, what was very strange, was that inside of the howl was pitch black. Actually, the entire figure was coated in perfect darkness, and try as one might, it was basically impossible to make out the basic features. It was definitely a human, but nobody could say a thing more.

"I was expecting you." Said Norma, not lifting her head up to greet the person. "How have you been doing, Aliki?"

"That's not how I'm known, Norma." A beautiful voice of a woman came from the cowl.

"Shadow." The sitting woman put her book aside and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. We're alone, so it doesn't matter."

"You know what I'm here for."

"Let's wait for 3 minutes. Mobius will come in a while. He has some interesting information as well."

"...you've become brazen." The woman lowered her voice ever so slightly, but there was a glint of hostility.

"And you've forgotten who I am." Replied Norma with a cut tongue. "Again." She looked at Aliki meaningfully. "Besides, the situation changed."

A little startled, Shadow slowly sat down in her own armchair. She shifted a little, soon finding a position comfortable enough for her. Looking at Norma, she saw how completely unfazed she was by her. She traced back her memories. This was not the same woman who she met 6 years ago. Indeed, she couldn't treat her like a scared kid anymore. Aliki made a mental note to be mindful of her relation with Norma in the future.

"Why won't you let your shadows down?" Asked Norma, taking a large sip of her tea. "They will behave." She said with confidence.

"..."

"You will run out of mana very soon anyway. Better do it now before they change their mind." Added Clairvoyant.

"..." Reluctantly, Aliki put down her cowl. Her head, embedded in the shadows, suddenly became visible as she released the magic.

Suddenly, all the shadows that she was bathed in concentrated in one point, and then ventured to her head and down her hair. Quickly expanding, they lengthened them considerably, making them nearly 3 metres long, laid on the floor, raven-black in color.

She fixed her hair with a hand, revealing a bit more of her silken-white skin which had rarely seen any sun for past years. She had a small nose and lips, and her green eyes stared at Norma with a bit of curiosity. Small ears were hugging her skull, giving her a very slender look. She looked underweight (mostly due to her height of almost 190 cm), but that didn't stop her from having a solid E-cup and wide hips.

Aliki relaxed a little bit, feeling her magic slowly regenerate. Indeed, she could keep her shadows up for days, but eventually she had to recover the magic, and thus was **** to release them. Then, she suffered the consequences. However, just as Norma said, this time it was manageable.

"See?" Asked Clairvoyant, smiling warmly. "Now you're like Rapunzel for a few hours. And to be honest, you don't look bad as yourself, either."

"..." Aliki didn't respond. Seriously, did that girl really predict all she wanted to say?

Norma returned to her book, seemingly ignoring Aliki for the time being. Somewhat surprised by her weird attitude, the woman decided she'd simply wait. Powerful as she was, she owed Norma all she had, and didn't intend on being a disrespectful guest.

A full minute passed by, then a second one, and suddenly, the door opened again. Quickly making his way inside, Mobius closed the door and walked up to the two. He bowed his head towards Aliki, saying:

"Ma'am." He then turned to Norma and did the same. "Clairvoyant." Simple greetings, but this was the way he did them. He didn't like to prolong unnecessary formalities.

"Where have you been?" Asked Aliki.

"He did something I asked of him." Answered Clairvoyant.

"???" The woman tilted her head a little. "And you didn't think about informing me?"

"We didn't have much time. This was a matter that came up suddenly."

"Suddenly?" Aliki frowned as she clenched her fists momentarily. "You are the Clairvoyant. Why would anything be sudden to you?"

"You weren't filled in yet, but I suppose it's time." Replied Norma nonchalantly. Seriously, didn't she care for her life, to be speaking in such manner towards her? "As you know, killing the Tinkerer failed."

"And who are we to thank for that?" She asked in a meaningful tone.

"It wasn't my fault. It was doing of this man." She fired up her phone and passed it towards Aliki. "This is Youngwoo Lee."

Aliki looked at the phone, where there was a file on the man. She expected him to be some kind of a war veteran or a supreme magician, anything significant, but... he was disappointing. He was from Korea, came to the Tower before the signing system was established (and didn't sign since), had an unknown skill to resist **** temperatures. Other than that, no, including that, he was a nobody. However, as she looked up from the phone and scanned Norma and Mobius' expressions, she noticed tension. Wait, what?

"He recently became E-rank in the Tower." Explained Norma. "However, there's something worrying about him."

"'Worrying' how?"

"He completely escapes bounds of my predictions. It started on the day the Tinkerer was supposed to die. He appeared in the park and beat the people you sent."

"He's that intruder my men spoke of?" Aliki raised an eyebrow. "The one dancing with a sword?"

Norma nodded.

"Yes. But it doesn't stop there. He was very adamant about getting to 13th floor. He teamed up with Dragon Witch, Tinkerer's sister, to clear floors 11 and 12. However, every time he was supposed to die the next day, he went about his plan differently."

"What? Explain."

"On floor 12, he was supposed to die to bandit leader. However, about 24 hours before he would've, he drastically changed how he approached the quest, and managed to clear it. Similarly, yesterday, I predicted that he'd die from Tinkerer's hands in 6 hours from now. However, today, this changed. He didn't even go to 13th floor today. It's like it suddenly stopped mattering to him."

"So what does that mean?"

"I believe he's a Clairvoyant, a far more powerful one than me at it. He knew what would happen if Tinkerer was to die, and averted that future. And just to prove his point, he changes the future just when he is about to die himself. I think he's toying around with us all. He won't even confront us. He sees us as unworthy of his time."

"..."

"He's dangerous." Said Mobius. "Extremely dangerous. He's clearly hiding his real skills. Presence of his magic is so strong that he can't even conceal it. And he's got the highest kill count I've ever witnessed."

"How many?" Aliki turned towards him.

"1192. He killed nearly twelve hundred people, and he's not even 22 yet. He's a true monster that arrived in the Tower. I can only imagine that by the time he is 30, that number could skyrocket to ten thousand."

"And that's also a weird thing." Added Norma. "That kill count appeared out of thin air. In his past, I cannot see a single person he's killed. No, if anything, he's been avoiding hurting people too much."

"..." Aliki didn't respond so far, instead listening diligently. But there was a single question she just had to ask. "So what are you saying?"

"He not only sees further in the future than me, but he can even alter how I, with S-rank prediction talent, see the past. This is a ridiculous amount of power that he has, SS-rank no doubt. And it's likely he's hiding another few skills, too."

"...you're saying we can't touch him?"

"We can't." Clairvoyant nodded. "If he wanted to, he could barge through this door at any moment, and I would have no way of predicting that. If we tried to attack him, he'd just avoid it. Hell, I'm pretty sure that if he wanted to, he could destroy the organisation in 2 days at most."

"So what do you propose?"

"So far, he's not shown any significant aggression towards us. He's clearly aware of us and our doings, but he's not stopping us unless it's something big, like that Tinkerer. So, it means that so long we play along with him, he'll leave us to our own devices. But to know how what he truly wants, we need to reach out to him, as peacefully as possible."

"So you're saying we need to send an envoy?"

"Yes." Norma nodded. "We need to ensure we can establish a peaceful relation with him. I believe it should be you, Aliki."

"What?" The woman looked at her with surprised expression. "Why me? It's you who created this organisation."

"But you're its commander. I don't know if he'd like to even speak with me in the first place. I am a competition to him, I tried to shape the future against what he wanted. It might've been by mistake, but I don't know how he'll react. He seems like a nice person, but I can't guarantee he'll be like that to me."

"I agree." Said Mobius. "Sending the one highest in the chain to meet him will be a sign of us acknowledging his ability. I'm sure that such gesture would be a point to get on his good side."

"Unless he already knows that and he'll want to kill me, instead." Aliki frowned as she felt some anger seep from her. No, why were those 2 against her now?

"If he wanted you dead, we wouldn't even know when you died." Replied Norma. "If he thought you were a threat, he'd have eliminated you long ago. No, he doesn't get involved with us strictly because we can't do anything to him, so he doesn't even bother."

"Can't we just leave him alone then?"

"That would be the worst thing to do. If we don't know what future he wants, we won't be able to act properly. Imagine if somebody new like Tinkerer came up, and we decided it would be best if they were removed, but he decided otherwise? How would he react then? He could annihilate half our organisation just as a warning, and we wouldn't see it coming. We have to ensure that we can work something out with him."

"...so you're saying he's a dangerous, unpredictable individual with a power on level of Michel Collen, and we have to coax him because we can't fight him?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying." Norma nodded affirmatively.

"Can't Mobius go?"

"Mobius is second in command. It'd be disrespectful towards Lee to send him. Do remember Lee was raised in Korea. They value courtesy. Mobius only went to meet him to measure his kill count and fighting ability with his own eyes."

"..." Aliki took a few breaths. She wanted to oppose Norma's plan, but she knew that Clairvoyant was right. It couldn't be Mobius, because he was 'only' second in command. If anyone needed to go, it was her. "...I'll need to prepare."

[A/N: From this point onwards, some things about story are prone to change.]