The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Otto and Glanes walked for fifteen minutes through the winding hallways.

They moved in silence.

The Syndicate of the Eternal was a name Otto had never heard before.

Honestly, the more he contemplated, the more it seemed like some extremely shadowy organization working behind the scenes to achieve some grand, unknown purpose.

Well, frankly speaking, Otto still knew very little about the organization as a whole.

Heh.

Perhaps he was about to find out.

Glanes abruptly stopped walking near the end of the hallway.

He knocked on a plain looking wooden door.

"Madam, I've brought him to you."

There was no response, but the door opened inward, implicitly bidding them entrance.

Otto walked in casually with his hands swinging gently by his sides.

But while it may look casual, his stance was without a single opening.

His muscles were taut with tension.

Otto was prepared to fight or flee at any moment.

Otto didn't actually believe he would be ambushed here.

What was the point to inviting him to this gathering if they wanted to get rid of him so easily, after all?

It was just that the woman inside gave him that much pressure.

The room resembled a conference room out of a science fiction film.

Glass windows covered three walls that looked down onto the vast expanse of an alien city below.

Ten floating white cushions surrounded a white table in the shape of a semicircle.

Opposite to the semicircular table was a larger floating cushion, seated slightly higher up.

The woman sitting on the cushion snapped her fingers casually.

Nine of the ten cushions on the other side disappeared, leaving a single cushion.

Verasha still did not speak.

She elegantly waved her hand lightly at the remaining seat, then nodded at Glanes, who promptly took his leave.

For a few seconds, the room was silent.

Otto perspired slightly at the tension he felt, though his expression remained calm.

There was not the slightest ripple in his gaze.

Verasha suddenly smiled at him through her mask. She snapped her fingers, and a drink appeared in Otto's hands.

He inspected it with the universal inspection skill.

[Fruit Serum]

Rare serum that clears the mind.

On a whim, he also [Analyzed] it.

[Goronya Fruit Serum]

A delicacy found only in the far reaches of the [Tutorial] floor world.

Promotes a clear mind.

Slightly enhances mental power and mana control for 24 hours after consumption.

Otto raised his brows and took a sip. It was cool and tart.

His tension eased.

Verasha turned around to look through the windows, out past the skyline.

Her lips moved.

"It's beautiful, isn't it? The skyline?"

"..."

Otto didn't respond. Verasha didn't expect one, either.

After a second of silence, she spoke once more, on a seemingly unrelated note.

"Back on my home world, my father carried a bottle of fruit polish and food dye in his hands when he went to work selling fruits."

Cutting pain flashed through her eyes for a mere split second, but was not missed by Otto.

He continued to listen to the narration.

"I always saw him polishing up his fruits at the stall, a smile on his face as he made them look immaculate."

"I'd feel so proud of him whenever customers would hand him money with a smile."

She paused.

"It wasn't until much later that I learned the truth."

"They needed to be beautiful."

Her voice abruptly sharpened,

"To cover up the rot within."

Otto's eyes glinted as thoughts passed through his mind.

Was she referring to the rot in Area 1?

If so, there was definitely an agenda here.

Still, he did not speak.

Verasha calmly watched his reaction before she remarked,

"Your composure is astonishing."

"Especially, as you seem to know that,"

She flashed in front of him, her sharp nails placed directly onto Otto's neck.

It took every fiber of his being to prevent himself from reflexively drawing back.

"It would be a matter of seconds for me to kill you."

Otto lightly raised a brow in question,

"Yes, dear Otto. You may be hiding your power."

"At least, what you showed was not enough to pass a [Titled] difficulty mission."

"But no matter how many spells you're hiding,"

She looked him in the eye,

"It will amount to little in comparison."

Her tone was matter-of-fact, containing not an ounce of superiority or condescension.

Somehow, that only made it worse.

Otto's fists clenched lightly.

Shame at his own weakness welled up within despite his normally impeccable self control.

Had he been getting too confident? It was true that not long ago, he'd believed himself unmatched in the entire Area.

Otto sighed inwardly, and relaxed. Why was he having such reactions at so great an age, anyway? Of course there would always be people stronger than him!

He looked her in the eye and smiled lightly.

Meanwhile, Verasha returned to her seat, her eyes also carrying a hint of amusement. She felt this kid was pretending to be wiser than he really was.

Another snap of her fingers and Otto's disguise was immediately broken, revealing his original self.

His tan skin glowed in the white room.

Otto spoke for the first time, voice low and tone aloof.

"If we are discussing business, please address me as Toto."

Verasha stared at him before she nodded lightly.

"Very well, Toto it is."

Her voice took on a professional, authoritative tone, as if the previous playfulness was a lie.

Otto's mind whirred again.

This was a woman of many faces.

"Toto, do you know why I've called you here?"

"Do you wish to invite me to join the Syndicate of the Eternal?"

Verasha laughed, short and deep, and the playfulness abruptly returned.

"Do you think it is so easy to join our organization?"

"No, my dear."

"You can consider this a pre-screening interview."

Otto's brow furrowed, but Verasha ignored him.

She put her hand on her chin for a second, then declared sternly.

"What is your goal?"

Otto was slightly taken aback. Still, he answered; this was no secret.

"To reach the top of the [Tower]."

"To what end?"

"Excuse me?"

"To what end?"

Otto pondered for a moment.

Memories replayed themselves in his brain.

His gaze shot down to the spotless white floor.

Half-lidded eyes concealed his expression.

When Otto looked up, his face was once again neutral.

Inscrutable.

He spoke with renewed assurance.

"To gain my freedom."

Verasha's eyes widened ever so slightly. But other than the faintest tremble of her hands, she gave nothing away.

"Gain? Not regain?"

Otto nodded.

"The [Tower] is a shackle but it is also an opportunity."

He smirked lightly.

"An opportunity I intend to pursue to the end."

Verasha nodded,

"And what of others?"

"Others?"

"Yes. What do you make of the pursuits of others?"

Otto shrugged.

"Those who would bar my path will die."

He took another sip of the fruit serum and casually continued,

"As for others, their pursuits are entirely unrelated to myself. I don't, excuse my language, give a shit about what they do or do not."

Verasha nodded once more.

"What about your morals?"

"Please specify."

"Are there moral lines you refuse to cross? Are there moral lines that you cannot abide others crossing? If so, what?"

Though Otto was slightly confused about this line of questioning, he also knew that this woman was much stronger than him.

Plus, none of these answers contained information Otto was unwilling to share.

"Moral lines I refuse to cross…there are, truthfully, very few."

"I will not betray my own race. I will not harm others for sport."

"I will not rape, or kill for no reason."

Otto scratched the back of his head and quietly amended,

"Well, I consider my own benefit to be a valid reason."

"I have no trouble lying, deceiving, manipulating or scheming to my benefit. I tend not to help others unless it is to my benefit, though I suppose there are always exceptions."

"As for others, there is virtually nothing I 'can't abide' so long as they do not stand in my way. Of course, the instant they do, I will take action."

"I do not believe I have the right to judge others. However, if I have the capability and the intention, I take no issue with doing so regardless."

As he spoke, Otto heard his own words in his head, and believed he was sounding more and more like a villain.

He suddenly felt a bit amused.

Verasha quietly spoke a few words that Otto initially couldn't understand.

It took a second for his translator to properly capture the meaning of her words, after which he heard,

"True neutral."

Then, Verasha continued to question him about his opinions, thoughts, and beliefs, covering every possible thing Otto could think of.

Otto had a surreal feeling as the questions continued.

He was seriously sitting here being interviewed by this woman?

Moreover, none of the questions she asked had anything to do with the information he wanted to keep secret, such as his powers, or his teammates, at all.

He vaguely felt like the questions had a point, but it was as if the point was covered in a dense smog.

Otto couldn't see through it at all.

He continually reminded himself that Verasha was indeed much stronger than him. Otto wholeheartedly felt that the best choice was to cooperate.

It took another two hours or so for the questions to come to an end.

By this time, Otto had long grasped the 'point' of the questions.

Verasha closed her eyes, looking deep in thought.

A long moment passed, before she raised her gaze and locked eyes with him.

She asked,

"Do you wish to join Eternal?"

Otto stared blankly at her.

The painstaking interview had relaxed his guard slightly against this woman.

But he couldn't forget.

That she was incredibly dangerous.

All the tension that had eased returned to his body, even as he kept his expression carefully neutral.

He secretly activated the teleportation function of his boots, and prepared a cast of [Blink] for good measure.

His response was diplomatic.

"The benefits revealed to me in the Golden Club were not enough to tempt me."

It was a polite refusal.

But contrary to his expectations, Verasha didn't make a single move against him.

She smirked as she looked at him.

"Bold of you to turn me down."

"Well, my dear Toto, there's no rush."

"Although,"

Suddenly, a terrible killing intent filled the room.

It was an intent strong enough to suck all the oxygen out of the very air itself.

Otto could only stand there, unable to breathe, as visions of myriad gruesome deaths, most his own, filled his mind.

Yet not once did his expression change.

He did not retaliate at all, or pressure her with his killing intent in return.

Otto's mind spun again as he realized that Verasha was probably hundreds of years old, a centennial monster in human skin.

Who knew what was hiding under that mask?

"I will never ask more than twice. Should you turn down my next offer,"

As quickly as it came, the pressure vanished, leaving Otto silently gasping for air.

Verasha's next words were cryptic.

"I will ask again in eight months."

Otto left the room quietly.

It wasn't until he returned to the ballroom that his expression uncontrollably sank.

Verasha probably hadn't known it, but she had inadvertently revealed quite a few clues in their conversation.

Clues that may only be recognized as such by a savvy time-traveler who had once experienced events that were now in the future.

See, Otto had a theory.

A theory he had previously dismissed as utterly impossible.

That the fall of the safe zones in seven months.

The mass murder of billions of lives by Kinetice invaders.

The devastation of a world theretofore at peace.

Came not at the hands of the [Tower].

But was engineered by man.