"What’s the connection between Xipher and the serial killers? Does he plan on using them to increase his prestige on the Ranking Boards? It does fall in line with his character…and if he truly did fake Sheffield’s death and take control of the man, that would mean his strength is growing rapidly." Inspector Slater continued speaking in a hurried yet hushed whisper as he scribbled away in his notebook.
’Hoh, he’s actually getting somewhere, but I shouldn’t be surprised; the guy was always pretty sharp-witted, never more than two steps behind me during our interactions.’
’Hold up, how long was I supposed to be unconscious for again….uh, most people I did that little trick to were killed in the early days as they followed my command to execute themselves, but later on, Slater and his men got smart and started stopping my victims from following through, causing them to pass out as the order wore off.’
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’If I remember correctly, 15-20 minutes was the average window for when they would wake up, ok then.’
"I’ll need to get back to my team and speak with the others to try and come up with a semi-comprehensive list of all the known Serial Killers that were caught between 1997 and 2028…I did learn something important from what the boy said, though."
Laying on my side with my neck at an awkward angle, thanks to the way I fell, I could feel Inspector Slater’s eyes boring holes into my face.
"He said that Xipher appeared to be only a couple of years older than him…" After he spoke, I felt my body get readjusted to lie on my back comfortably, and I could hear the Inspector rummaging through my backpack before stopping and ending up back in his seat.
"According to his passport, his name is Calvin Ackland Jetson, and his date of birth is April 2nd, 1992; that puts him at just a little under five years old, and if Xipher was a few years older than him…then that means he was probably born between 1985 and 1990."
’Ah, so he went for my papers; it makes sense; it’s adorable that he’s putting so much thought into this,’ I thought while lying perfectly still.
"The problem I am facing, though, is I have no idea where Xipher came from; if he was homegrown here in England, then that could mean he was born in the 90s, but still, with that Mind Control Talent of his, he could literally go anywhere and do anything with a little effort, so I can’t fully trust my theory about his age."
"The only thing I can do is try and gather as much information from Calvin here as possible…but even then, I can’t wholly trust what he says since Xipher had a habit of messing with people’s minds when it came to his appearance."
For a little over 15 minutes, I played dead while eavesdropping on my technical nemesis until I felt enough time had passed and began stirring.
First, I twitched a couple of fingers, then shook my foot, and eventually, I sat up while holding my head and acting groggy.
Massaging my temples with both hands and looking around the cabin, my eyes fell on Inspector Slater before opening my mouth to say something, only to be cut off by the man holding up his hand.
"You had it rough, kid; from what I know, anyone who meets that man has an extremely low chance of making it out alive, and those who do generally have some form of mind control applied to them so they will be able to pass along his messages as if speaking the gospel." Flicking his wrist, Inspector Slater tossed me a sports drink, which I bumbled about trying to catch before opening and taking a few sips.
"We’ve found that consuming electrolytes is a quick way to curb that headache brought on by his Talent, so drink the whole bottle, and you should be feeling better in no time." When the Inspector finished speaking, he held up my passport.
"I am going to ignore the fact that you acted like you had no idea as to why I was on your trail in the first place because of HIS interference, but I still have a few questions for you."
Nodding my head, I finished off the drink before speaking.
"Ask away, Inspector; I have nothing to hide, as I did nothing wrong."
"For starters, I need your Guild Affiliation, Talent, and Peak Rank in the future. While I may not be able to verify your Affiliation right now, I don’t doubt that at some point, others from your guild may show up, and if what you told me about you joining the NCA is true, then I have a few people in mind that could corroborate your story." Flipping to a fresh page in his notebook, Inspector Slater first handed me my passport and then waited for my answers.
"Well, I guess you already know my name and personal information from this, but in the Origin Timeline…oh yeah, that’s what I’ve been calling the future; it sounds less…stupid, and more realistic, anyway in the Origin Timeline, I was a High Gamma Ranker, and my Talent is Geomancy…here I can show you." Reaching into my inventory, I withdrew a jar of dirt, uncapped the lid, and focused on manipulating the top of the dirt before forming it into a rudimentary bullet.
"Right now, the only skill I have access to is Geo-Bullet, and until Beta Rank, my Talent will be fairly weak."
"As for my guild…." Allowing the dirt to fall back into the jar, I put on a downtrodden expression for a moment before looking up at the Inspector with apparent sadness in my eyes.
"I was part of Terra Trivium…before it collapsed." Saying that Terra Trivium collapsed was a bit of an understatement on my part, as they were one of the many guilds that I had a hand in personally destroying.
Sure, some of the members slipped through my clutches thanks to being out on assignment or in an Instance, but the fact remains that it would be nearly impossible to verify my claim about being a member of the defunct guild that Xipher had gone after.