A few minutes before,
The shaking of the tower had quietened, but the top floors were already tilting on one side.
Through the slanted corridors, Dr. Blessed and Pop*Step rushed toward the roof, both tired and injured, taking deep breaths.
Suddenly, Luke's eyes fell on Nyx, who was resting at a corner, perched on a broken pot.
A loud pop resounded behind Kazuho, making her stop and look over her shoulder in shock.
Taking advantage of the distraction, Luke cast an illusion in front of him, hiding the incoming Nyx, while simultaneously activating the Body Manipulation Quirk within her.
By the time Pop*Stop looked ahead and rubbed her eye to clear the sudden blurriness, Nyx had already replaced the mask on Luke's face.
"… Did you hear that?!" Kazuho asked.
"It was me," Dr. Blessed said, his voice carrying humor. "Needed to distract you for a moment… Haha!"
Kazuho's lips twitched as they began running for the roof again.
I am so glad I didn't choose the Seer Potion, she thought, letting out a sigh inwardly. This Clown thing seems nothing but a huge pain in the ass to me… Phew!
Meanwhile, panting herself, Nyx filled Luke in about the happenings upstairs.
"… You didn't see the other guy at all?!" Luke whispered in shock, a queer nervousness settling in his heart.
And, for a Magician with as high Spirituality as his, such feelings didn't stem from out of nowhere.
Something had gone wrong, Luke knew.
Something had gone terribly wrong.
"Ms. Pop*Step…" Dr. Blessed said, stopping altogether. "Let's part ways here."
Kazuho's pupil widened. "What about the task?!" she asked. "We needed to put up a performance…"
"That's not needed anymore," Dr. Blessed shook his head.
Kazuho gasped. "You digested the Potion, Leader?!" she asked, smiling, almost jumping a little. "Wow!"
"… Thanks to you," Dr. Blessed nodded. "It seems we must explore the nature of feedback again. I'd thought putting up a performance in front of All Might would be sufficient to push us to completely digest our potions. But… a simple surgery also did the trick — for both of us…"
Pop*Step blushed, her face still holding the smile. In the heat of the moment, acting as Dr. Blessed's assistant as he operated on Sam, had also worked mystically for her, digesting her potion completely.
Now, she was a true Apprentice — ready to become a Trickmaster.
But being an Apprentice wasn't enough to tackle the danger Luke was sensing through his trembling Spirituality right now.
"The Security System has already rebooted," he told her, turning around. "Find your way out of the tower and hide yourself among the people. Also… dye your hair next time…"
Then, saying nothing else, Luke rushed toward the roof's entrance.
Behind him, frowning, Pop*Step turned around in the opposite direction as well, holding her pink hair and thinking… What's wrong with my hair?!
…
Luke and Nyx reached the roof and found everything destroyed.
Mounds of metal debris were strewn all around, with no hint of any intact structure visible to the naked eye.
Despite not being visible, Luke could hear the children's shouts as they cheered for All Might and Midoriya.
It should have relaxed him if his Danger Intuition hadn't just skyrocketed right now.
"… What is it?" Nyx mumbled on his face, shaking a little. "I have never felt so much danger before…"
Luke rushed to the top of a mound to have a better look.
His heart was thumping loudly against his chest, as if something terrifying could happen at any moment.
And the moment Luke reached the tip of a small metallic hill, it happened.
Bright blue flames shot up toward the sky, painting the entire dawning sky with a fiery blue as well.
There was so much heat in the atmosphere that even Luke, standing hundreds of meters away from the origin, could feel it, his lips cracking because of the dryness.
"That's…" Luke mumbled, recognizing those flames. "… Dabi… No… Why… Why's the Device still intact?!"
Luke didn't know all the details about the I-Island incident from his previous life.
But certain crucial details were as clear as day to him. Like Wolfram having two Quirks — All Might and Midoriya combining their strengths to defeat the overpowered Villain, and — the destroyed Quirk Amplification Device by the end of it.
"Luke…" Nyx's caw felt small… scared.
Using Descorrer to bring out an animal, grant him a Quirk, and then use it to fight against Dabi — backed by the Device — would take nearly a minute.
A minute… seemed like an eternity at this moment to Luke and Nyx.
As if these thoughts weren't enough, they heard a raging scream from all the children. "ALL MIGHT!!"
It was like the ring of a death knell.
In one scream, they confirmed that All Might was too injured to save himself. Much less was needed to be said about saving others.
For the first time, Luke found himself utterly helpless.
He only had Nyx to grant a Quirk to. Body Manipulation already consumed 110 Spirit Points.
Also, even if he deactivated Body Manipulation, she was just too tired to hold another Super Complexity Quirk.
Moreover, based on his trembling Spirituality, it didn't seem even a Super Quirk would be enough against Dabi.
And… going beyond meant death — Nyx exploding into a mass of flesh and filth… just like other animals.
That had always remained the fate of those to whom Luke granted a Quirk, occupying a much larger number of Spirit Points than their own.
Even if Nyx was much more compatible with Bioalchemy, she didn't have enough…
Luke's eyes suddenly widened, his Spirit Vision activating instantly.
"Nyx…" Luke mumbled, putting his hand on the mask.
"Yeah…"
"Did you digest the Clown potion right after drinking it?"
"… Yeah."
"How many Spirit Points?"
Miss Justice didn't wait for a reply.
…
[
Nyx's Stats:
— Spirit 200
— Stamina 30
]
…
"… Enough…" Nyx replied.
"Can you handle it?" Luke asked.
Through the mask, Nyx stared at the flaming horror flying up before stopping midair. "… I guess… we will soon find out… Haha!"
Luke broke out into a run, blurring over the metal debris. "Hahahaha!"
From the sky, a blinding white light erupted as Dabi fired the flaming punch, burning the atmosphere itself.
There was so much heat in the air that the moment Luke's blurry figure reached into the range, he snapped his fingers, disappearing into a mass of flames.
Then, under the shocked and terrified gazes of all students and All Might, he walked out of the flames midair…
… right under the dozens of meters thick pillar of burning death.
******************
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