Luke and Nyx materialized within the Conference Hall of the Apostles of Mr. Fool's HQ, surrounded by fire.
In the hall, Iwao, Kazuho, and Melissa had already been waiting, seated on the edges of their seats to hear just about anything from their leader.
Anything could go wrong spontaneously, they had known.
At any moment, they might hear from Dr. Blessed that he, Raven, and Mushroom-nimi had not only failed to save Star and others from Amon's Corruption, but had also failed to prevent the Radiant of Gravity from bringing the corrupt individuals back to Earth.
This ugly thought had kept them on constant alert ever since the three Apostles had taken New Moon on a fate-dictating adventure to space.
Moreover, Dr. Blessed had shared his strategy with them in detail before leaving.
He had told them the nature of the Quirks he had decided to bestow upon Raven for the particular task. He had told them about his decision to use Return on him, while using the Fate Siphon Charm — a power that directly came from Mr. Fool — to save an individual on the verge of corruption, if he had to. He had also shared his willingness to try to save Star first before… considering another, extreme path.
In addition to all that, Dr. Blessed had also told them that if they had to run away from the Space Station at a moment's notice, then they would most definitely use Star Shift, instead of making their way to New Moon first.
So, when Iron Mentor, Trick*Step, and Shield saw two blurry figures, surrounded by fire, shaping themselves in the conference hall, they acted instantly.
Thankfully, that instant reaction helped them see past the flames that surrounded Dr. Blessed and Raven.
Neither the Leader nor the bird had their eyes open.
Kazuho and Melissa couldn't infer that sight at a moment's notice.
Iwao, being a Cryptologist himself, decrypted what could have led to the Leader and Raven's listless state, especially with burn marks on their exposed skin.
Those burn marks clearly told Iwao that neither of the two had been using any fire-based ability like Flaming Jump or Flame Controlling before using Star Shift. Which, in turn, suggested that the fire surrounding them was not a part of their abilities, either. Instead, those flames had been inadvertently caught in the act of teleportation.
The mere fact that Star Shift didn't go wrong was a miracle in itself.
But Iwao knew that the moment Dr. Blessed and Raven fully became solid, the fire would only end up scorching them even faster.
An explosion… Iwao's heart thumped, decrypting all this instantly.
So, as he sensed the heat, all he could do was face the Sequence 7 Astrologer and shout, "Freezing!"
Kazuho, sensing the heat herself and having worked under Iwao during her Vigilante days, acted on her instincts, using Freezing.
The temperature within the Conference Hall lowered instantly.
A layer of thin ice covered everything, including the people, quenching every spark of fire.
With a thud, the frosty figures of Dr. Blessed and Nyx fell, cracking the layer of ice on the floor.
…
Luke woke up with a searing headache, needles banging inside his skull.
Which could only mean that…
[Stop,] Miss Justice interrupted his thoughts. [Don't think. Just hear me as I placate you. You have been out for 60 minutes. The bestowed Quirks deactivated naturally, unlocking two Super Complexity Quirks' worth of Spirit Points. Still, the sudden drop of that much Spirituality had sent your body into shock. It's a miracle that you didn't instantly mutate. With Nyx passed out, no one could have saved you, then. Also… Congratulations on digesting Faceless.]
Luke's blurry vision cleared with Miss Justice's every word.
While acting both as Gehrman and himself, he had already accepted that no matter how many personas he assumed, one after another or simultaneously, he would ultimately be himself.
But it was the moment of him putting that realization to the test that had done the trick.
Not only had Luke divided his mind, but he had also restricted one mind to being a Faceless, keeping the other one behaving like a Beyonder of three Pathways.
Simultaneously, both minds had recognized that they belonged to only one man.
This had been more than sufficient to digest Faceless over time.
But when Singularity appeared to Luke, and he confirmed that She knew Gehrman was none other than Dr. Blessed, it instantly completed the process, getting a massive feedback.
If it hadn't been for his current situation, Luke would have certainly accepted Miss Justice's congratulations.
For now, he let Iwao help him up as Kazuho and Melissa stared at him, all three carrying a paleness on their faces.
He couldn't blame them, though.
All they wanted was to hear that everything was alright; that he had successfully averted the dangerous fate they had been dreading all this while.
That would be a lie, though.
Luke knew that… another Radiant with the ability to teleport through unknown means had saved Alexander, Star, and Skycrawler, while simultaneously forcing him and Nyx to use Star Shift.
He didn't know the reason behind ORIGIN's explosion.
He didn't know what happened to all the Rampagers that they hadn't killed.
He didn't know if a few of those Rampagers had survived the explosion and were now hanging in the emptiness of space… just waiting for a greedy corporation to bring them to Earth for experiments.
Worse, he didn't know what happened to the third member of the Apostles of Mr. Fool who had gone with him and Nyx on the mission.
"Mushroom-nimi can survive both an explosion and space," Luke said, prioritizing that before suddenly lampooning with a wry chuckle, "… I wish I could say the same for New Moon, Ms. Shield."
A clownish smile bloomed on Melissa's face, Kazuho and Iwao's shoulders relaxing ever so slightly as well. Because, as per them, for the Leader to still crack jokes meant that the worst couldn't have played out.
Luke looked toward Nyx, who was snoring on the bed next to him, and sighed within.
He couldn't keep hiding the presence of the Evil God on the Moon, along with Amon, from the Apostles anymore.
Sooner or later, they were bound to figure it out, especially now that Singularity knew what had led to the disaster.
"Let's go to the Conference Hall…" Luke said, taking a deep breath. "I… need to tell you what happened at ORIGIN."
***************
AN: With the lowest tier, you can access 5 Chapters ahead of Webnovel + 3 Backlog Chapters + ALL original images compiled according to the Volumes.
If you are liking the work and would like to support it, consider checking it out. [Links available in my Webnovel Profile]