Chapter 393: _Thinking Ahead

"So first we’ve got the guy at the hotel." Ambrose and Loki moved to a corner to discuss more details about what they and Kali saw. "His mouth just disappeared. And he’s been unable to describe what happened to him?"

Loki shook their head. "Some Hunters from the Federation have him in custody. But from what we heard, there was blood in the last suite he visited."

"... Blood?"

"Yeah, enough of it to make investigators think whoever lost that much should be dead by now. Oh, and there was also a murder weapon. A screwdriver of all things."

Orion stirred in Ambrose’s arms before he could ask more questions.

The boy blinked, eyes roaming around the church and the gradually receding crowd.

"Wait. Daddy, where’s the cake?"

Ambrose patted his back, giving Loki a look that signalled they put a halt to the talks. "Hey, buddy." Pushing his head back enough to see his son’s face, he went on. "Papa and Uncle Viktor should be able to get you some cake. Just head to the reception hall, okay?"

Orion frowned. "The what?"

Kali, who was fortunately still lingering around, walked to the duo with a knowing smile. "I’ll take him there. Come on."

With a grateful nod, Ambrose lowered the boy, who was surprisingly quick to hold the SSS-Rank’s hand.

"Whoa." She grinned. "You’ve got a strong grip there, little one."

"That’s what my teacher said!"

As Kali left with Orion, Ambrose brought his gaze back to Loki.

"What about the incident at the club?"

Loki’s eyes lit up. "That one is surrounded by even more mystery. The guy who was killed was a human. One second he was standing by the bar, the next... boom." They made an exploding motion close to their head. "His head popped like a gooey balloon. Police uncovered a gun from him, but that’s obviously not what killed him."

"A couple of eyewitnesses said they saw him talking to a woman before he died. But you know clubs. No one’s exactly paying much attention when they’re there to get wasted and have spontaneous orgies."

Two elderly women lumbered past them, both seeming like they aged an extra decade hearing all that.

Ambrose flashed them an awkward smile before he grabbed Loki by the shoulder, pulling them close.

"I’ve got a feeling that ’woman’ might be our Archon."

The lord of chaos arched a brow. "As... wild as that sounds, it also sounds plausible. I kinda imagined if they were appearing, they’d come with blazing fury or something." A pause. "But if that’s the case, why would she bother herself with killing one regular human thug?"

Ambrose brushed his fingers through his hair. "Maybe... maybe the guy threatened her somehow. She acted in self-defence."

"... Okayyyy. Then the hotel guy?"

"Fuck, I don’t know." Ambrose exhaled through his mouth. "This isn’t an episode of CSI or Lucifer. The main point here is that this Archon is still out there somewhere, and we don’t know what she plans to do next."

He folded his arms, his gaze lingering on the reception hall where guests continued chatting as though the world beyond the church walls hadn’t quietly become far more dangerous.

None of them knew.

Children laughed while chasing one another between the tables. Elderly relatives compared old photographs. Someone had already begun arguing over who deserved the first slice of cake.

It all looked... painfully normal.

His thoughts drifted elsewhere.

This isn’t how they behaved.

The Archons he remembered from future Ambrose’s descriptions hadn’t cared for subtlety. They descended upon cities like natural disasters, reducing entire countries to ash before humanity could even understand what it was fighting.

They conquered, erased and ruled when humanity refused to cooperate.

Which meant one of two things.

Either this Archon was fundamentally different from the ones he’d encountered... or they’d all begun changing their tactics.

Neither possibility sat well with him.

’Aura.’

The system answered almost immediately.

[Yes, sweetheart?]

’Compare everything we know about this Archon with the records from future Ambrose’s timeline.’

A brief pause followed.

[Comparison complete.]

[Current behavioural patterns share less than eight per cent similarity with recorded Archon activity from the alternate future timeline.]

Ambrose’s expression darkened. ’Eight per cent...?’

[Insufficient data to determine whether this deviation is unique to the current target or a consequence of changes to the timeline.]

He quietly clicked his tongue.

That was about as helpful as asking a Magic 8 Ball for military advice.

Soon enough, Kali returned, already observing him before joining them.

"I know that look."

Ambrose glanced at her.

"You’re thinking."

"I usually try to."

"I mean, you’re connecting pieces." She looked toward the bustling reception hall, her calm voice remaining low enough that only the three of them could hear. "Whatever this being is, it isn’t acting like something driven purely by instinct. It chooses where to appear. It chooses when to kill. It chooses when not to."

Loki’s expression became grim.

"So," they murmured. "It’s thinking ahead."

"It has to be." Kali folded her arms. "And that concerns me far more than overwhelming strength ever could."

Silence settled between the three.

Strength could be measured. Speed could be matched. Power could eventually be overcome.

Patience... Patience was much harder to fight.

Ambrose finally reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.

"I’ll call Magnus once we’re done here."

Loki tilted their head. "What are you going to tell him?"

"The truth." His thumb hovered over the screen. "We’ll need to increase surveillance across every major city quietly. Tell the IHC to flag any incident involving impossible deaths, unexplained disappearances or phenomena that don’t resemble Esper abilities or Rift creatures without alerting the public. If this thing is trying to stay hidden, then the last thing we should do is let it know we’ve already caught onto its existence."

Kali gave a faint nod of approval. "A sensible decision."

Ambrose looked past them, his eyes following the stained-glass windows that bathed the cathedral in shifting colours.

"Something tells me it’s trying to figure us out just as much as we are right now..."