Chapter 37: Chapter 037
Alvin made his way to the centre of the room, which had no shadows. He then fired his gun at a few of the larger shadows in the house. He got no reaction. He worked again, with no results.
"I know you are still in here. All the doors and windows to and from this room are closed. And I can confirm that you can't jump from shadow to shadow, just blend into existing ones" said Alvin loudly.
There was no reply, as the room stayed silent.
"Any moment now, someone will arrive to check the gas leakage. He will see me here appearing to be in a standoff with a gun, and report to the police. They will in turn bring some official Beyonders" said Alvin.
The room still stayed silent. Alvin further prodded, "Did I mention that I am an informant for official Beyonders? They will surely commend me for this. After all, I have badly injured and cornered a Shadow Ascetic from the Aurora Order. I am sure that I will be handsomely rewarded, yes?" asked Alvin.
Alvin figured out that the man was from the Hanged Man pathway. He remembered that the Sequence 9 of this Pathway was called the Secrets Supplicant. Not a lot was known about this Sequence as no major character belonged to this Sequence, but Alvin figured the weird ability that compelled him to keep a secret was part of its abilities. His enhanced hearing could be because he had passed the Sequence 8 Listener stage. The Sequence 7 was Shadow Ascetic. Obviously, its abilities were shuttling through shadows and manipulating shadows to form daggers and arms to attack foes.
The only organisation that controlled the Secret Supplicant Pathway was the Aurora Order, as those who didn't believe in the True Creator would be done in the Sequence 8.
While the members of the Aurora Order were all lunatics, there could outwardly appear to be rational and even make deals.
Alvin did not want to kill the man, as he didn't want to offend the lunatics of the Aurora Order, but he did want to try to make him suffer a bit, to prevent him from getting the impression that he was a pushover and coming after him again.
Sure enough, after hearing about official Beyonders, the man chose to compromise.
"We should talk" he said, openly walking out of the small pocket of shadows he was hiding in. He now didn't seem bothered by the revolvers in Alvin's hands, as he walked right past him, sat down on the couch, and started pulling out the bullets lodged in his skin.
"I got nothing to say. But I am listening" said Alvin.
The man gave a creepy smile, looked around at the badly thrashed place around him, and said, "You did quite a number on this place huh? You are clearly a Beyonder, with outstanding intuition, clever use of the surrounding, and setting up traps on the fly. But you didn't show any provocative powers. You are a Hunter, aren't you?" asked the man smiling.
Alvin raised an eyebrow, but stayed silent.
"Figured as much. You stay silent about what happened here, and doesn't get the official Beyonder's involved in this, and you get the Provoker potion formula, right now. How does that sound?" asked the man.
"Wow. The Rosiers must be very important to you, seeing how badly you want to keep the official Beyonders out of this" said Alvin sarcastically.
"Like it or not, that's the only deal you are getting. Trust me. You did not want to make us your enemy over this" said the man, as he grabbed a piece of paper and scribbled on it. He then held it out and said, "This in exchange for you returning that bottle of blood you have, and agreeing to keep this matter a secret. So do we have a deal?" asked the man.
Alvin was inclined to agree. He could digest the Hunter potion in probably a week. If he knew the formula right away, he could try to collect the ingredient and keep them ready. Just in case, he used the Coin of Wonders to check if the formula was real, and that the paper or the deal did not have any malicious curses.
Alvin tossed over a bottle of blood. The man crushed the bottle and tossed it into a shadow, where it immediately dissolved into blackish gases. But he still held onto the note containing the Provoker formula, and asked again, "This matter stays quiet. Do we have a deal?"
Alvin figured just like last time, if he verbally agreed to their deal, he would be unable to speak of the events that happened here just like when he was unable to tell Soest about the previous incident. But knowing that he was immune to the influence of whatever affected him inside the Red Castle, he felt secure enough to make the deal.
"For sure" said Alvin, hearing which the man let go of the paper contain the Provoker formula. Alvin took it, and after a brief glance, pocketed it without saying a word.
Then he too sat down on a chair, and waited for the man opposite to him to speak.
They just stared at each other in silence, until the doorbell rang, and the person announced that he was from the gas company, wanting to check the leakage.
The man opposite to Alvin frowned, and walked out of the living room, saying "I will be in the study. Quickly get rid of the interference, and bring that boy in to see me. I was to tell him after he discovered and confronted me, but I guess him calling you works just as well. I will leave in half an hour, so you better make it fast"
Alvin looked at the leaving man, and after considering, shook his head.
He then walked upstairs to call Evan Rosier, and sort out the mess that would follow.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone