Luke sat alone in the lab with Nyx after sending away a devastated Melissa.
In only an hour, the girl had learned just too many secrets, while simultaneously draining her Spirituality.
Luke had found it best not to test her further.
For a Sequence 8 Clown like her, maintaining a hold on herself while lingering on the brink of losing control was still new and dangerous.
Well, it was dangerous for him even now.
But, more often than not, Luke kept finding himself in situations where he had no choice but to walk on that thin line.
"Why did you tell her about Bioalchemy?" Nyx asked.
Like Melissa, she had been caught off guard by Luke's sudden urge to reveal secrets related to Bioalchemy.
Melissa must have clearly thought that he told her about Bioalchemy not only to show his trust, but also so that she could understand Compound Monocle better.
However, Nyx knew Luke could have easily explained Compound Monocle without revealing a single thing about his Quirk.
But the biggest surprise that came to Nyx was Luke telling Melissa about Momo's role in all this.
Luke, slumped into the chair, looking at the dead Nomu, shifted his eyes toward Nyx, who was perched on the table next to him.
For a moment, he kept quiet.
When he opened his mouth, he answered with a question, "To whom do you think Compound Monocle is sacrificing the host's Spirit Body?"
Nyx tsked. "Isn't that obvious?" she jeered. "To that monocle fucker!"
Luke shook his head. "I am not so sure…" he admitted, making Nyx open her beak in shock. "Amon… might just be a medium Himself."
Silence.
"… you don't know that," Nyx said after taking a deep breath. "Nothing can cross The Boundary."
Luke, in complete irony, smiled. "… you don't know that."
"Oh… my… god…" Nyx rolled her eyes. "Still doesn't explain why you told Melissa about Bioalchemy."
"Remember the drawback of using the Quirk Amplification Device?" Luke asked.
Nyx, for a moment, couldn't recall at all.
Then, out of nowhere, her pupils widened to the extreme.
Yes.
She remembered it now.
Luke had clearly explained it to Melissa on I-Island.
And the thing was that these drawbacks had nothing to do with the Quirk Amplification Device being real, as the one Dabi had ended up using, or a fake, the one the Claws of Conformity had presently.
"Using the Quirk Amplification Device causes permanent, irreversible mutations in Spirit Particles," Luke said. "Or… in the Spirit Body at large. Imagine Amon had Bioalchemy instead of me. Imagine Him using the Quirk Amplification Device. Can you guess what the outcome of such possibilities would be?"
Nyx licked her beak. "Compound Monocle?"
Luke grinned with a nod. "That's how I know for a fact that if I were to use the Quirk Amplification Device," he said, "then, almost certainly, I can bestow permanent Quirks to lifeforms. However, using the device would also cause my Spirit Body to deteriorate over time. It doesn't even matter how vast a Spirituality I have, or how much it can grow over time with further Potions. The cancer-like effect would be permanent and irreversible even then."
"… so…" Nyx, stuttering, said, "… Melissa is a backup?"
Luke looked up toward the ceiling. "Not a backup," he said. "But, if the worst came to play out somewhere down the line, I would need someone else who understands what's happening to me."
Nyx glared at Luke. "That's why you have me!"
Luke looked back at the bird. "Come on, now," he said, mockingly. "If something happened to me, do you think you would remain in one piece?"
"…" Nyx nodded. "Point taken."
[Anyway…] Miss Justice finally chimed in as Luke sorted it out with Nyx. [We finally know how we got ourselves a Sequence 5 Wraith so soon.]
"We do?" Nyx cawed. "I didn't get it. How?"
"What is keeping you from advancing?" Luke simply asked.
"You." Nyx hissed.
Luke laughed wryly. "Other than me, I mean."
"Digestion."
Luke nodded. "Digestion is not just about assimilating the Potion," he said. "It is also about getting to know the various abilities and mystical knowledge that the Potion grants you. In a way, Digestion gives a Beyonder a much-needed learning curve, even though he might not know of it himself. But… have you ever faced such a learning curve when I give you a Quirk?"
A chill ran down Nyx's spine. "You don't mean…"
"I wasn't lying when I said Amon copied Bioalchemy," Luke admitted helplessly. "Compound Monocle is like a pre-digested Potion. The moment you drink it, you are a full-fledged Beyonder. Of course… losing your Spirit Body comes hand-in-hand with that convenience."
"… even then…" Nyx contemplated. "There must be more restrictions, right?"
Luke nodded. "Only a guess," he said, "but I think, for these Monocles, there must be a Digestion period as well. The evil Spirit Particles' matrix takes significant time to assimilate itself with the Spirit Body, despite granting the relevant abilities instantly. Not only that, the lower the Sequence Compound Monocle held, the less it can sacrifice the Spirit Body. So, it would also give the Monocles a similar version of Advancement.
"How much Spirituality a particular Compound Monocle consumed would depend directly on the Monocle. So, some of the Monocles might experience significant mutation even at Sequence 8 or 7."
"That Unwinged Angel!" Nyx blurted, remembering the inhumane, beast-like Monocle Gehrman Sparrow had faced only recently.
"Bingo!" Luke snapped his fingers. "Also remember our theory that Amon might be handpicking Monocles?"
Nyx nodded.
"These people must have an extremely strong Spirit Body," Luke guessed. "So, not only can He advance them faster without them ending up becoming Rampagers, but He can also use them to act on His behalf all across the globe, avoiding the threat of coming across Singularity and Conformity."
This time, it was the red-haired Wraith who appeared in Nyx's mind.
All the pieces of the puzzle that had troubled them so far were finally falling into their places.
"What a scheme…" Nyx hissed, unable to hide the slight terror in her voice. "How do we fight such a monster, Luke? How…"
"How else?" Luke left the chair with resolve flashing in his blue eyes. "We must become… monsters ourselves."