For a while, there was silence in the room as Raven contemplated the question he could ask.
There were so many things he could ask, but there was only one free question.
He could pay and get the answer to his questions, but Tia had already warned him that the price would be astronomical.
It was sothing when it ca from Tia, who had scanned his head and knew almost everything about him.
He had so questions that could be rated as the top priority ones. One of the questions was why characters had randomly disappeared from the plot of Raven Tale.
He wanted to know if it was the demons, similar to his conclusion, or if it was sothing else—sothing or soone he still didn’t know anything about.
After all, unlike how it was happening in reality, the people started disappearing quite late in the story.
At that point, they were all at least level seven entities. Even if they were to face a powerful demon, they wouldn’t lose so quickly that people couldn’t even notice it—especially so exceptional people like Graye.
Graye was a character so broken that if one didn’t know her tales, they wouldn’t be able to defeat her even if they were way stronger than her.
So, Raven had a feeling that he was inching closer to the truth while drifting away simultaneously.
The question he was going to ask, however, was about none of them, as recently, a new doubt had begun corroding his mind.
This one was sothing that could cause severe losses for him, so he needed an answer for this.
He turned back at the glowing assistant orb with all the weary suspicion of a man who had just realized his magical smart assistant might also be a sarcastic surveillance drone.
"Alright, Tia," he said cautiously, sitting up and letting his feet dangle off the bed like a man preparing to step into a taphorical moral minefield. "I want to use my Question of the Month™."
The orb sparkled. "Ooooh. We’re getting spicy. Lay it on , cryptid boy."
Omni’s tattoo twisted upward like a periscope. "Careful, my guy. You ask sothin’ dumb like ’what’s the aning of life,’ and next thing you know, she’s answerin’ in interpretive dance and vanishing like a dad on payday."
Raven ignored him and focused. "Here’s my question. Is there anyone else in this world who has reincarnated or knows the plot—like ?"
The air changed. The cheeky divine assistant stopped spinning. Her glow dimd for the first ti.
Tia went quiet.
Dead quiet.
"...Tia?" Raven blinked.
Omni whispered, "Yo. Why’d the orb go ghost mode?"
The sword wasn’t surprised by Raven’s question because it had always known about Raven’s reincarnation.
The mont they had bonded, Raven’s reincarnation was the first thing Omni knew about.
But they never talked about it since Raven didn’t seem to care about it anymore.
From what Omni could tell, Raven wouldn’t even rember his reincarnation if not for the plot, as the plot knowledge reminded him of his past life.
Tia finally responded, voice smoother than silk and colder than logic. "One mont. That is quite a low-level ta-query. I need to look deep into this world’s data. Cross-checking all tilines, soul registries, divine contract backdoors, and narrative anomalies. This may take a few minutes."
As if she only ca to tell him that, she pinged out of existence the mont she finished speaking.
Raven blinked at the empty space.
"...Did I just blue-screen GodGPT?"
Omni whistled. "Bro hit her with a question so hard, she Ctrl Alt Deleted herself."
There was a long beat of silence.
Raven stood up and began pacing the room like a student waiting for final exam results, except instead of grades, there was the possibility that another person with cheat-code mories might be sowhere out there... eating cake and ruining fate.
Omni spoke up. "So. Hypothetically. If there was another plot-knower out there, what would you do? Recruit? Eliminate? Challenge to a Yu-Gi-Oh duel?"
Raven paused, rubbing his chin. "If they were in the human realm, then there was a chance that I would’ve tried to recruit them, as it would’ve helped both of us."
Then, he looked out of the window, staring into the horizon, only to see a squirrel twerking on the tree close to his room.
"Hah..." He sighed, shaking his head before he continued. "The fact that this reincarnated person could be related to the disappearance of many people ans that they aren’t going to be my friend."
Raven clenched his fists, his eyes cold. "If they aren’t a friend, then leaving them alive would be akin to inviting trouble for myself and those around ."
Omni, for a while, said nothing before he chuckled. "Damn, I guess it’s plot versus plot. Destiny Royale. Last cheat-user standing."
Raven sighed as all of the seriousness was broken by a single comnt from Omni. "Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if so bastard was out there giving spoilers to the demon sovereign while disguising them as prophesies."
Suddenly, DING!
Tia reappeared in a flare of divine light and passive aggression.
Tia: "Apologies for the delay. I had to consult four divine archivists, three eldritch librarians, and a ti-stuttering squirrel nad Harold."
Raven blinked. "Harold?"
Tia: "Don’t ask. He’s got seventeen eyes and a very judgntal tail."
Omni muttered, "That squirrel got trauma."
Raven sat back down. "So... What’s the answer?"
Tia hovered ominously close, voice back to that silky sass. "Short answer: No. There are no confird reincarnates, transmigrators, summoned beings with plot awareness, or soul-hitchhikers currently active in this realm besides you."
Raven let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. "That’s... reassuring?"
Tia added, "However..."
Raven’s eye twitched. "There’s always a however."
Tia: "There are anomalies. I found so signatures in this world that definitely aren’t native to this world."
Raven’s heart skipped. "Who?"
Tia’s glow dimd again. "...Unknown. The divine veil scrambled the trace. Soone—or sothing—is blocking a full scan. Which, frankly, is illegal and sexy."
Omni coughed. "Did she just say illegal and sexy?"
Raven narrowed his eyes. "So there might be soone?"
Tia: "Might. Possibly. Maybe. The trace was so faint it could’ve been soone having a weird dream after eating prophetic cheese and then summoning sothing—or soone—only to fail. Or... it could be a failed reincarnation. Soone who should’ve rembered but didn’t."
Omni sighed, "This is getting more complicated than this guy’s love life."
Tia humd. "Anyway. Officially? You’re still the only confird plot-knower. Unofficially? There are anomalies. However, even those anomalies aren’t plot-knowers. Above all, they haven’t stepped foot in this world."
Omni cracked his knuckles. "You hear that? We’ve got invaders. Maybe aliens. Perhaps you and I will have to slay so aliens."
Raven leaned back, hand over his face. "...Great. That’s just what I needed. A plotline shadowboxing in the dark."
Tia sparkled again. "Don’t worry, Raven. You’ve got ."
Raven squinted. "That doesn’t make feel better."
Omni snickered. "It shouldn’t. She’s chaos with a user manual."
Tia chirped, "Page one: Don’t be boring. Page two: If you die, I’m deleting myself out of spite."
Raven groaned. "Why is every divine system in my life just aggressively unhinged?"
Tia spun gleefully. "I don’t know. My personality changes based on the user’s lifestyle. So, whatever I am is because of you. Maybe you attract unhinged beings. Like a drama magnet. Or a hot ss beacon."
Omni added, "Nah, fam. You’re a trauma lighthouse. Shine bright, lil diamond."
With that, Raven slumped back into bed, the divine orb hovering near his head like a smug celestial Siri.
Sowhere out there, maybe soone else knew the truth.
But for now, one of his worries was over.
’At least there’s no one with plot knowledge,’ he thought, more relieved than he believed he would be.
There was still the problem with the anomalies, but since they hadn’t stepped on this planet, it was fine for now.
"Well, that’s for to worry about when the ti cos."
Tia, who heard those words, was about to make another sassy comnt, but before she could, Raven switched off the AI.
"Man," Omni clicked his imaginary tongue. "You could’ve at least heard her."
Raven rely shrugged. "I an, I got the answer I wanted, so there’s no need for to bear with her sassy attitude any longer, is there?"
Omni stayed quiet for a long second, the kind of silence that scread, "You’re screwed."
Then he muttered, "Let’s just say... hypothetically, she’s like a normal AI you rember. That ans, maybe—maybe—she forgets this whole lil’ chat next ti. Cool, right? Wipe the slate clean. No beef."
He paused, voice dropping lower.
"But that’s if she is an AI like you thought she was. There’s a real chance she ain’t your everyday glitchy scroll-brain. She might rember everything. Worse—"
He let out a long exhale.
"—you do rember she scans your thoughts, yeah? Every little thing. So even if you keep your mouth shut, the mont she peeks inside and sees what you really think of her...?"
A beat.
"Yeah, homie. I’d start writing your will in smoke signals."
Raven paused, his expression shifting as he instantly regretted his decision, but then he sighed.
"I won’t be using her for a month, so at least I won’t have to worry about it until then," he stretched while lying on the bed. "I’ll see what I must do when the ti cos. After all, I can’t Ctrl Alt Del my actions."
However, as he lay on the bed, he noticed sothing strange.
"Why is it suddenly so quiet outside?" He muttered, glancing toward the window.
Wherever his group was, there was never any silence.
So, the silence outside was more concerning than the aliens who were ready to invade his planet.
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