A few moments ago,
Luke cast the Peaceful Hair Strands toward both Star and Skycrawler, the faux Sealed Artifact instantly devouring his Spirit Points.
Nyx sat on his shoulder, ready to use Return the moment his Spirit Points reached an end and before his empty Spirituality mutated him.
Beneath his feet, ORIGIN shook.
Despite the Control Room's shut doors, they could hear the growls, roars, and screams of scores of Rampagers, most with unfathomable, uncontrollable abilities.
Luke also knew that the only reason the space station hadn't succumbed to these Rampagers was that they weren't actively trying to destroy it, either.
From the several Rampagers he and the Radiant of Gravity had taken down while reaching the Control Room, Luke had already confirmed that a Rampager would only use the fullest extent of its ability if confronted.
That had seemed the best news for the mission as they had already decided to avoid the Rampagers using Mushroom-nimi's surveillance system.
Now, with all of those Rampagers converging toward the Control Room…
Luke knew that he would literally be fighting for every single moment.
Because once the Rampagers reached here and attacked, he had no way to save either Alexander or Star from the resulting chaos.
Worse, he had no control over it as well, as the entire outcome depended on Star and her Quirk.
[Things are taking a serious turn sooner than I'd anticipated,] Miss Justice said, sounding uncharacteristically serious. [Once this is over, I will teach Nyx a few abilities from the real Miss Justice, which she can replicate on the field using Bioalchemy. Helping individuals like Star from getting corrupted should be our topmost priority.]
As Luke let the Peaceful Hair Strands calm Star and Skycrawler, he remembered Miss Justice of the Tarot Club.
The System had told him about the various Pathways from Mr. Fool's world.
Miss Justice's Pathway was of particular importance, the System had said, as it belonged to the field of minds.
With the addition of Monocles, Amon, and the Evil God, Luke also found it indispensable to have a solid, fast, and dependable way to neutralize the corruption caused by them, especially if that corruption affected powerful users of Quirks.
Spectator Pathway… Luke thought, gritting his teeth, feeling drained of Spirituality. Yes. It will be best…
Before he could think more, suddenly, he noticed a change.
Star's eyelids had just fluttered.
"She's waking up!" Nyx cawed. "It's working!"
Luke took a deep breath, focusing.
He still had no idea how Star had restricted the corruption from spreading further, while simultaneously pausing the flow of time around the two of them.
If he had to take a guess, then she must have blown the attraction and repulsion concepts of Skycrawler's Quirk out of proportion, using both of her rules on it.
Still, Luke could tell that the fact that it worked could be called nothing but a miracle.
Star must have been utterly desperate for her to use New Order like this.
It was especially so, given that she didn't know what corruption was or what kind of changes she and Skycrawler would be fighting against.
"New Order has its… limits as well," Luke thought aloud, struggling to keep supplying his Spirit Points. "No way it would have… maintained the status quo of these two pros… if we hadn't come here in time."
"Look…" Nyx pressed her claws deeper, clearly filled with the same anxiety as him.
Star's body was covered in hundreds of bloody slits, with a vertical, pupilless eye resting in the middle of her forehead.
Slowly, starting with the open eye, those slits began closing up.
Not only that, even the blackish veins crawling over Skycrawler's body were receding.
"Argh…" Luke stumbled.
Deep lacerations appeared all over his body as his Spirit Points suddenly fell below twenty.
Using Bioalchemy to bestow Quirks upon lifeforms locked a great chunk of his Spirit Points, even though those Spirit Points weren't consumed as long as he didn't activate a Quirk.
Still, the only way to use those locked Spirit Points was to cancel a bestowed Quirk first.
Luke couldn't afford to do that, though.
He had already bestowed two Super Quirks upon Nyx, in addition to a Simple one.
One of them he had already activated, which ultimately ended up saving Alexander from becoming a walking doom.
The other one they needed to get the hell out of this place.
So, instead of canceling Star Shift, Luke gritted his teeth as Nyx used Return on him.
The Super Complexity Quirk instantly returned Luke to a state before experiencing mutation, but it failed to even nudge his dwindling Spirit Points.
Thankfully, just as it seemed he would have to let go of the Peaceful Hair Strands, all signs of corruption vanished from Star and Skycrawler.
Snatching the faux Sealed Artifact, Luke instantly sealed it within the box before falling, his knees striking the floor with an audible thud.
Simultaneously, another thud rang out as Star and Skycrawler fell.
Surprisingly, there was a third thud as well.
It came from the direction of the Control Room's door.
And the moment that thud rang, it was followed by a boom, the metallic door of the Control Room bursting inward.
ROARS deafened the ears as four Rampagers fought each other to come inside.
Luke's heart skipped a beat.
He could leave with Nyx using Star Shift, but…
Star and Skycrawler were still out cold, even after they weren't suffering from corruption.
Behind him, Alexander Becking was out cold as well, showing no sign of getting up anytime soon.
Then, just as Luke decided to take an extreme step, something happened that shocked the living breath out of him and Nyx.
One after another, Alexander and Star… collapsed into nothingness and disappeared.
Almost simultaneously, a figure appeared in the Control Room, standing over Skycrawler, its face hidden behind a black mask, a black cape fluttering on its shoulders.
"RUN!" the figure shouted before disappearing along with Skycrawler.
Luke, trying his best not to Decrypt that voice, snapped his fingers instinctively, activating Star Shift.
The moment Nyx sensed Star Shift, Quick Reaction let her act on her thoughts instantly.
Sadly, that instant was stretched to infinity as…
… the entire space station exploded with a deafening BOOM!