"I'm sorry."

"I have some comfort in knowing that I'm helping prevent the Shadows from doing this to more people."

"How?"

"To date, I have destroyed over seven thousand shadows. It is difficult for them to summon people when they are dead."

"... Can I do that too?"

"Quite possibly! What abilities do you have? They seem to be different for all of us."

"I picked..."

She closes her eyes in concentration, to better remember her exact words.

"The Hermit with the closest possible appearance to my own, body specializations of agility and learning ability, a Gymnastics talent in parkour, one-eighth of my aging rate; the Spectral Lotus aura manifestation with the Lilting Lotus's second power of health and sickness-banishing and the Brilliant Lotus's first power of unbounded lifespan and the Jade Lotus's fifth power of making myself faster and the Hidden Lotus's second power of invisibility; and the five aura etchings of safe mind, hidden aura, aura reading, levitation, and grace-and-safe-falling."

The girl raises an eyebrow.

"That's a really accurate list. Unfortunately, you don't really have any offensive powers..."

"I didn't want any."

She pauses. She gazes thoughtfully at the girl.

"What offensive powers do you have?"

"In terms of things I got from the cards? I have my body, which is amorphous and strong - and I have my bodyguard, who is more effective than me at combat. Aside from that... Well, I have been busy during the last seven hundred years."

"I don't think I want to have a body like your body," she says. "What else do you have?"

"I have an armory of interesting weaponry. We can probably find something suitable. You said you knew parkour and were able to make yourself faster?"

"Yes. What interesting weaponry?"

"Various enchanted swords, guns, tomes, and so on. Undoubtably we'll be able to find something that suits you."

"What are all your new things from the cards? I'm trying to understand them, but the paintbrush one is so very odd it makes it harder to understand the rest."

"I have demonic blood: I'm a Lilim. I don't age, and have a ten thousand year lifespan. I also have high status in this world. Though I was originally an Umber demon, I sacrificed the innate power in my blood in exchange for the Tome of the Gate's capabilities. My other augments allow me to summon demonic defenses and see the futures, pasts, and auras of other people - though your aura is very difficult for me to perceive. It seems fragmented somehow."

"I chose the hidden aura," she says. "You're all over everywhere, like a paintbrush. Which thing is that? I don't want it, but it's interesting."

"That's most likely the Tome of the Gate. It lets me teleport to anywhere I've previously been in this city - and I've been to a very large number of places."

"I don't want to be a paintbrush person. But I want to get rid of all the shadows."

"I can definitely help you with that. Allies?"

She extends a hand to Riya.

"Okay," says Riya, nodding. She does not do anything in response to the hand.

A deck of cards falls into Ishmerai's outstretched hand.

"... With your permission, there's a reading I'd like to do for you."

"What reading?"

"The first reading I ever did for myself. To see your future. To see if you can ever return home."