Cold sweat drenched Luke's forehead as he ran out of the Takoba National Stadium, forgetting everything about the ongoing second stage of the License Exam and the Pros and Police's investigation.
He had gone so far as to use Thoughts Misdirection, taking a risk to fool Erasure Head and Detective Tsukauchi.
Family emergency.
Old, but proven excuse.
With Luke no longer needed at the stadium, the Pro and the Detective had failed to find a single reason to keep him there as well. Moreover, he had arrived to witness his classmates attempt the Exam voluntarily on his off day, to begin with.
The primary reason for his arrival was to neutralize a sporadic revenge attempt by Shie Hassaikai across the various stadiums where the License Exam was taking place. That's why he had sent the other Apostles, including Nyx, to those locations to keep an eye on the events.
Luke had never imagined that it would be the Claws of Conformity who would make a move first.
If he had known, then he would have acted well before they could have kidnapped or trapped the real Camie.
But all that would come later.
Melissa hadn't just sent him the sweat-inducing news.
She had also found where the Claws had put the real Camie.
Luke had directed Melissa to send this location to Detective Tsukauchi, giving up on the chance to find a lead on the missing knife with who knew how many students' blood in it.
Because, presently, he needed to deal with the worst-case scenario playing out… in space.
Nyx came flying like a bullet, and the moment she landed on Luke's shoulder, they both blurred out of existence using Star Shift.
…
After only a few minutes, a stunned group of Apostles found themselves seated in the Conference Room as Dr. Blessed gathered them for an emergency meeting.
"Mushroom-nimi and I were hacking into the USA's Hero Commission's servers to find Alexander Becking's current location and contact info," Shield hurriedly told them. "It was then we found…"
Melissa paused.
Dr. Blessed looked at her and nodded, maintaining his faux calm as he controlled his heart before it could pound itself out of his chest.
"They are sending Alexander on a retrieval mission," Shield said, gulping, "to space."
Kazuho and Iwao instantly straightened their spines, their faces paling.
"For… For… what?!" Trick*Step asked, stuttering.
"Retrieval?!" Iron Mentor pressed as well.
Shield licked her lips. "A few weeks ago," she told them, "the Americans sent a manned ship to space. Something went wrong with that ship two days ago. All contact with the ship came to a sudden halt."
"A ship to space for what?!" Iwao asked, barely managing to control the shakiness of his voice. "Manned? Who were among the crew? Pros? What was their objective?"
Melissa… shook her head.
"Everything about that mission is hidden behind a separate firewall," Mushroom said. "We couldn't have accessed the information without revealing our location… If you want, Leader, then we can try…"
Dr. Blessed shook his head.
"It was definitely related to…" he said, wording everyone's worst fear. "… The Boundary."
Iron Mentor slammed his fist on the table, shooting to his feet, his chest rising higher and higher with every breath. Opposite him, Kazuho's mouth dried up, fear making her pupils shake. Melissa, who already knew of this, experienced the same emotions all over again, feeling needles in her throat.
It wasn't them alone.
Nyx, seated on Luke's shoulders, kept licking her beak, her claws digging deep into him.
A mission related to The Boundary…
Something went wrong with the ship, and they lost all contact with it…
Now, they were sending a mission with another Pro leading it to bring the stuck crew back…
Could there be any worse news for them?
Well, there could be.
The moment he decided to tell them about the Evil God resting on the Moon, along with the Angel, ground would cease to exist beneath their feet, Luke believed.
No, he didn't need to believe that.
He knew it… because the same had happened to him.
"Isn't he a Radiant?!" Iwao asked, looking at Dr. Blessed. "Doesn't it mean that She knew about the first mission? Why would She let…"
Even as the Cryptologist was asking those questions, he found the answer.
Luke, however, relayed what Iwao had figured out to the others, making the big guy close his mouth and grit his teeth.
"She let it happen because She had let it happen many times before," Dr. Blessed told them. "I think the American Government knows about The Boundary, even if they don't know of its true significance. So, they must have already sent such missions to explore The Boundary across the last few decades. She… and He… let it happen because these missions couldn't have accomplished anything, other than finding the fact that The Boundary was thinning. In a way, in Their opinion, these missions were…"
"… harmless," Iwao concluded, resuming his seat, holding his head.
Dr. Blessed nodded. "They had been harmless before," he continued. "With the Angel plaguing the Moon… lurking to find any opportunity to come past The Boundary… not so much now. That's why She sent the Radiant of Gravity to get a good measure of what happened, while bringing the stuck crew back to the planet."
And there lay the greatest threat.
Because, unlike the Apostles, neither Singularity nor Conformity knew of Amon's Avatar or His true body — an Angel — that was on the Moon.
Because, unlike Dr. Blessed, neither of Them knew of the Evil God who must have brought Amon to the Moon.
Because it was possible that… the people the Radiant of Gravity would bring back with him… might not be the same people that had gone to space.
"We need to stop him…" Iron Mentor said, knowing well that they couldn't just announce Amon to Singularity and Conformity without risking millions of lives. "We need to find what's happening on the spaceship before he reaches them…"
All the Apostles looked toward the leader together.
Dr. Blessed, on the other hand, met only one Apostle's stare —
— his eyes meeting Mushroom-nimi's, the Cyborg smiling widely in excitement!
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