The man smiled and answered, "My name is Max Osbourne. From The Order."
The last part of his introduction caught his attention. He furrowed his brows to recall if he had ever heard of something like that but came empty.
"You don't know about us, we know of you, Alexander Gray…" His knowing smile robbed Alex the wrong way. He was missing a lot of information. What should have been a simple chase had turned into something complicated.
'This was never about my sister in the first place.' This thought confused him. From what he said, he belonged to an organization he had never heard of before, and they wanted something from him.
"Why did you go after my sister? From what I deduced from your words; your intention was to draw me out. You could have approached me directly, so why the elaborate scheme?"
The smile on Max's face didn't fade, it only got wider. It looked like he was enjoying himself.
"Indeed…" He nodded, acknowledging his words.
"The target was always you. And as you said, we could have approached you, but we had our reasons; something I'll be disclosing soon.
"But before that, let's talk about a question that is bound to follow soon enough. You're curious about The Order, aren't you?"
"…" He remained silent. Since Max decided to talk on his own, he waited for him to continue. He needed all the information he could get. Too bad though, Xex was offline.
'How did that even happen?'
"Cosmic Mana Wave. Sounds familiar?" Max began with a question Alex did not expect to hear. However, from his tone, he knew there was something he was hinting at.
'My survival…'
He quickly deduced.
"Looks like you've figured it out. The Order has been around for a long time, Alex. But we've been in the shadows all this time. Its purpose for existing is simple; saving our universe. Every action taken since its inception was focused on that one goal."
Alex was mildly surprised. While humanity had been fighting for its survival, the goal was not to save the universe. Of course, the Universal Calamity plunged the universe into chaos, but that chaos subsided after years, only happening in specific regions of the universe.
And while there were the occasional cosmic mana waves that displaced people and matter, it wasn't that bad. But there were still a few holes to fill.
"If that is the case, why stay in the shadows? Your goal is as righteous as it can be." Alex questioned. However, he also knew that if he hadn't experienced what he did, he wouldn't have thought about it and just focused on being a strong hunter to make a name for himself and improve his family's living conditions.
"Good question." He replied. He placed his hand on his chin as if in thought. While he was doing his own thing, Alex was subtly looking for an opportunity to leave. Max had already established that he was faster, which also translated to stronger. He also didn't know the kind of ability he had, making him cautious.
"We don't see eye to eye with the council. I guess that's as good a reason as any. Of course, there is more, but that should be sufficient." He finally said with a shrug.
"Now, let's get to the reason why we're here and why we came up with the 'elaborate' scheme."
Alex focused his attention on him, it was finally time to get the answers he needed.
"By stalking your sister, we gain control and power over the situation as well as observe your reaction when someone close to you is threatened. Secondly, by creating a sense of vulnerability and fear, you became more susceptible to our influence." Getting to that point, he gestured as if stating the obvious.
"Your actions became very predictable. The presence of your friends, that butler…"
Alex's eyes widened slightly upon hearing the last part. 'So, they know about him too. Just how long have they been studying me?' His mind raced with the implications of his words.
"Don't worry though. Because you followed the script to the latter, you passed."
'Huh? What's he on about?' Once again, Max's words perplexed him.
"It was the easiest way of understanding the kind of person you are. Do understand that we meant no harm to your family at all, and if we caused her trouble, we apologize." He bowed slightly in a show of his sincerity.
It's been one weird action after the other. There was no sense in the way this group did things. But there lies in how they were able to stay off the radar for so long. No one could predict exactly what they were doing. Common sense barely followed their actions.
Alex had been speechless for most of the conversation they were having. However, he took a deep breath to calm his mind and asked another question.
"Now that you have my attention, what's next? Take me out on a date?"
Max chuckled at his words. If they were all about not making sense, perhaps, that may be their next action.
"I mentioned what our goal is, correct?"
Alex didn't respond. But Max took it as his queue to continue. "We have known for a long time that our universe is on the path of destruction, and we have been seeking a way to save it since. But we couldn't come up with anything concrete.
"However, we got a clue a decade back. The birth of something that could potentially save our universe."
Alex's heart began to race slightly after hearing the words of Max. Even he didn't know anything until he experienced that vision. Now someone was also saying something similar.
"We didn't know exactly what and how that would come about, but we searched." He paused for a bit, noticing how it was already getting dark and watching Alex take it in.
"Why are you telling me all this?" Alex finally regained his composure and inquired.
"Because…" He paused for dramatic effect, gesturing to Alex.
"…you might be the 'something' we have been waiting for!"
Naturally, even with his words, he didn't know everything. The reason his superiors made a move on Alex now was something they learned a few weeks back.