Fooling a Sequence 5 Beyonder wasn't a feat that could be repeated twice.
Nor was a Wraith of the Chained Pathway a Beyonder that Gehrman could take down without heavy preparations.
The Judge Button had already dissipated in motes of light.
The red-haired woman must have advanced to Sequence 5 recently, on the ship itself, perhaps; otherwise, she would have been able to see through the illusion easily.
Not only that, she might not even be confident in her abilities.
Because if she had such confidence, then, as a Wraith, she could have taken down everyone on the shipyard… by herself!
Of course, Gehrman had full confidence that Dr. Blessed might have shown up in that case.
However, to force that guy to reveal himself would have already been equivalent to the Apostles being pushed toward the defeated end.
Regardless of what had happened and what could have happened, the situation was clear.
The use of two Shrieks, back to back, had already incapacitated everyone.
Even Trick*Step and Iron Mentor were down… momentarily.
Less needed to be said about the Pros, with Nejire Chan lying unconscious on the concrete floor and Suneater barely managing to stand up, holding his head. The Yakuza members and the robed figures from the ship were also out cold.
So, if there was a chance to run away with the prize, then it was now.
It was just… Gehrman had one tiny problem to deal with before that, he knew.
Gritting his teeth against the Spiritual pain, the Crazy Adventurer suddenly spun to his left, a fist passing by his head.
It was Comedy Hero: Lemillion.
From his pale complexion, it became clear that he hadn't survived the Wraith's Shriek just because he had been in the Permeation state, as that ability attacked the Spirit Body directly.
Even then, Lemillion had surpassed the Apostles, including Iron Mentor, in tanking the back-to-back Shrieks, it seemed, going as far as to change his target from the woman to Gehrman.
Chasing an invisible woman off the shipyard was a futile task anyway.
Lemillion was here to capture the villains and confiscate the drug shipments.
So, it was natural for the Pro to come after the only standing Villain on the shipyard.
Sadly, instead of his fist connecting to Gehrman's head, despite taking all measures to hide his presence, all Lemillion found was a gun to his head.
Bang!
The bullet went right through Lemillion's head.
However, a chill ran down his spine, his eyes narrowing.
Somewhere, deep within his heart, he had thought that this new… Apostle wasn't a Villain, just like All Might claimed Dr. Blessed not to be one.
Now that he looked in those dark eyes behind the golden shades, though, Lemillion knew what he was looking at.
A cold-blooded killer!
"Tamaki!" Lemillion shouted at the top of his lungs, lunging toward Gehrman. "Do it!!"
After experiencing the Shrieks, the Pro knew that Nejire was only unconscious, not in serious danger. So, it was best to take advantage of the situation when two Apostles were down, along with all the Villains.
Moreover, there was a constant threat of the red-haired woman returning, as the drug shipments were still here.
The faster Lemillion cleared up the field, the better it would be for all of them.
It was time… to get serious.
And Lemillion fell, disappearing into the concrete once again.
This time, when he appeared, it felt like he had cloned himself, his figure leaving afterimages as he shot in and out of the ground around the Villain.
Gehrman nudged his glasses with the muzzle, narrowing his eyes.
His Danger Intuition was ringing bells loud from literally… everywhere.
The Pro Hero was so fast that he could attack from just about anywhere.
But the true attack came from somewhere else entirely, a curved dagger shooting out of the darkness and landing right into Gehrman's chest… its tip going in.
It was a stinger… a scorpion's stinger.
The dark stinger was attached to a segmented tail, dozens of meters long, extending out of Suneater's back.
Almost simultaneously, just as the stinger landed and injected venom into the Villain, Lemillion attacked the back of his head.
But even before the Pro's fist made contact, the Villain… cracked, becoming a paper figurine.
Gehrman Sparrow walked out of thin air between Lemillion and Suneater, carrying the black-skinned Villain on his shoulder.
Then, looking at both the Pros, Gehrman took off his hat, put it against his chest, and… bowed.
"…"
"…"
Lemillion's eyes widened.
His head spun, but the Apostle, who had been lying listlessly on the ground just moments ago, was now jumping off the dock. From the corner of his eyes, the second Apostle couldn't even be seen anywhere, either.
Instantly, both Lemillion and Suneater realized that they… had been tricked.
From the start, the Apostles had made it seem that they were here to grab the shipments for themselves. However, what they had been truly after was… to destroy the drugs after collecting samples for their personal use.
If that thought seemed far-fetched, then what happened next made it extremely clear.
Loud BOOMS rang across the shipyard, explosions tearing through the containers, annihilating everything, the shockwaves sending figures rolling left and right.
Lemillion, still determined, rushed to capture the Villain as he put his hat back on his head.
Their eyes matched.
Then, in the blink of an eye, the Villain disappeared into a mass of blackness.
Surrounded by ash and fire, stunned, Lemillion came to a halt, his red cape flapping mightily behind him.
He looked around, then.
Figures were lying everywhere, half-burnt and half-bloodied.
Where the drug crates were, multicolored fire was burning as if several chemicals were reacting together, putting up a display of firecrackers.
Lemillion looked forward and saw Suneater protecting Nejire Chan with his body, his back covered with clams.
Beyond the two Pros, one figure lay, covered in blood, the Yakuza member who had almost paralyzed Lemillion even when he was meters deep into the ground.
All was not lost, the Pro remembered.
He must gather the three Yakuzas and leave this place with Tamaki and Nejire before the red woman returned.
Thinking like that, Lemillion had just taken a step forward when…
… a long strand of arrow-tipped, white hair came out of nowhere and struck him, stopping time!