Rushing in would obviously be a bad idea, so the first thing the three otherworlders wanted to do was report back to Mylhart, he was the one at the origin of this whole operation after all, if they told him the location of the mastermind, he should send some backup as well.
Before doing that, they simply swung by the location in question to make sure of its position and leaves some marks that is was here, forgetting where it was would be worse than embarassing.
"Alright, that should do it" remarked Jake before the three of them walked away, they walked and walked but something seemed off.
Aiden stared at a tree they had marked ahead of them and couldn't help but notice that they weren't getting any closer to it.
He pointed this fact out and in response, Grayson threw a coin he had on his person in the distance, the coin was able to reach the tree without any problem but the instant they themselves tried to move, they simply didn't go forward.
The same thing happened regardless of the direction they were heading toward, they were seemingly locked in place in spite of being free of their movements.
The only direction they found wasn't blocked off was the one that led to the inside of this strange building.
They doubted that it had always been there as it ressembled a cathedral of pure white, standing much higher than the surrounding trees.
Grayson tried to reset before they got caught up in this invisible trap but his ability didn't see any danger and thus, didn't see fit to bring him before that event, he had spent too long in that seemingly harmless area and he was here whether he wanted to or not.
With not much choice left, they headed inside of the cathedral, the very second they entered inside, the building vanished completely, as if it had never even been here.
With the entrance they walked through no longer present, the three of them found themselves inside of the hallway Laura had seen in her vision.
"You must be wondering what that was all about" spoke a deep and enchanting voice from in front of them, a man which had definitely just appeared stood there, sticking out like a sore thumb in the utter whiteness of the hallway.
Dressed in all black with a worn out cloak, long messy dark hair and deep purple eyes, his smile was full of sharp teeth, he was simultaneously threatening and welcoming.
He extended his arms widely as he spoke.
"I casted you three into a paradox, I really enjoy this one, Zeno called it the dichotomy paradox, I did a few tweeks here and there but it really is the same idea, within the paradox, all movement is illusion and you thus can't go anywhere, normally it would encompass all movement but I thought it would be a bit much"
"Does the name Zeno ring any bell? I have met quite a number of unwanteds in my life and I came to notice that many things were named the same between our two worlds and that the languages attributed to the system were present in your world, n'est-ce pas fascinant?"
"Oh yes, I was also told multiple times that my Patois was similar to your world's french-"
"What do you want?!" Jake rudely interrupted his talk.
"Oh Jakey... We already met didn't we? Now, what I want? That is an incredibly simple and easy question for me to answer, I want everything and nothing" he revealed as he crossed his arms.
"Don't look at me like that, that's a big part of what my philosophy is all about, contradiction! I would love to speak about it but I am a busy man and I have already decided what to do with you three, your abilities are powerful, as expected of unwanteds, but under the form of skills, I have nothing to learn about them, especially when your versions are so unrefined and caged in certain regulations..."
"I have already learned all about them, they will never evolve for you aren't cut out of the same rock as that Laura, Gregory, Jason and Sophie, you people cannot acclimate without severe intervention..."
As he spoke in length, Aiden strained his ability and eyes in an attempt to learn somethin about the man before them but nothing happened.
The mastermind stared right at him and allowed him to peek at a single thing in his status, though Aiden didn't know he had been authorised such action.
Before Aiden could reveal his finding, time came to a stop, if Jake could just, get to the mastermind, he could end surely end before he actually chose to attack.
As he pushed himself through the stopped time, he looked at the mastermind's face, seeing his eyes moved to stare right at him.
"What..?" he spoke out loud, surprised that he managed to speak as he realised he was moving at normal speed all of a sudden, despite the time remaining stopped.
"What did I say Jakey? Your time stop is crude and basic, you can't even do any single tweek to your ability and it is feeble, I doesn't even need time stop protection to not be affected, it simply can't get to me" remarked the mastermind as he suddenly appeared in front of Jake, had he moved at a great speed or had he teleported? Jake couldn't tell.
"Time is a difficult domain and you haven't even scratched the surface, you can't output me in that regard" he demonstrated this by rewinding time before Jake had tried to stop time but leaving his own memory intact.
"He has an aspect! He can't use anything other than physical attacks to deal direct damage!" he shouted out.
"Indeed, as a trade-off, all types of attacks that aren't directly offensive are greatly boosted, amongst other things, it's a long aspect, it's understandable that you weren't able to read everything in a moment" spoke the mastermind, placing his hands on his hips as Aiden and Jake were flung away, a wall separated them from Grayson, leaving him alone with the mastermind.
"Now Grayson, return by death is a powerful ability, it affects the whole world too but honestly, couldn't you have had a better version of it? It can't erase my memories, I know I am a superior breed but I am yet to be at my goal, what a shame! Quelle décadence!"
"But anyways, I have decided to kill you, so let me explain a little something to you..."
"One million, can you imagine that number? Well, you don't know it yourself but your ability actually needs your input to activate, it requires you to want to live, easy since it is the goal of all that is alive and sometimes, even of somethings that aren't" started the mastermind.
"How is one supposed to make you stop wanting to live? Such a deep survival instinct is beyond your own control, you won't want to stop living even you yearn for it but think about this, unwanteds like you are guarranted reincarnation in another world after death..."
"I will kill you up to one million time and if you haven't accepted death by then... Well, I will erase you completely and you can say au revoir to reincarnation!" the mastermind tapped his temple his his index finger as he grinned at Grayson.
"Think about it, oh and by the way, I am Ithelisemou, you wanted to learn my name didn't you?" mocked the mastermind as he started nonchalantly walking toward the otherworlder.
"Surprise me Grayson!"