Luke appeared at the HQ's Conference Hall and let the Monocle's body fall on the long table.
Shield and Mushroom came running inside soon as well. The cyborg was still alright, but Melissa couldn't take her eyes off the corpse and its… detestable state.
Even before dying, the Monocle had been a sight to behold, with butchered genitals and some corruption coursing through his veins, turning his body black.
Melissa gagged.
Mushroom instantly sprouted a mushroom in their palm in the shape of a cup.
"…" Luke.
"…" Melissa. Then, when she couldn't control it any longer, she plucked that cup out and vomited… several times.
Letting out a sigh, Luke took off his mask, revealing his aged look.
"Raven," he said, looking at Nyx. "See if you can find out where the Wraith is. Don't divine anything related to the boy…"
Knowing how serious the matter was, the Magician nodded.
"Don't worry," she said, narrowing her eyes as she flew away to an empty room. "No matter where the red-haired bitch goes, this Empress will find her!"
When she was gone, Mushroom walked forward, towering like a giant next to Luke.
The cyborg looked at the corpse and squinted their cyan eyes. "It smells," they pointed out. "Not of urine or…"
"Alright. I get it," Luke said, making the cyborg pause. "What about Iron Mentor and Trick*Step?"
Melissa came forward, then, clearing her face and trying her best not to look at the corpse.
"Just got their reply, Leader," she reported. "They are both safe, and the drug vials are secured as well. As per your orders, they are lying low, ready to pray to Mr. Fool the moment they sense something amiss."
Luke nodded.
He had taken many precautions.
However, it was still hard to tell if the Wraith had just followed one of them, ignoring the fellow Monocle's corpse.
Luke still remembered how the red-haired woman had bolted toward Trick*Step right after possessing the dead Unwinged Angel.
No matter how he decrypted that act, he couldn't find a sensible reason behind that action. And that… was a worrying matter, making the Wraith unpredictable. Combined with her lack of experience, this made her the greatest danger to society at that moment, even surpassing villains like Shigaraki.
I need to alert the Heroes… Luke contemplated. Or… she can do some serious damage…
"I don't understand," Melissa said, sounding utterly terrified. She hadn't been with the three Apostles, but she had seen everything happening right until the moment Iron Mentor and Trick*Step had run away. "How… Those abilities… they don't belong to the three Pathways, right?"
Luke nodded, making her face pale even more.
He had discussed the matter of three Pathways, and Amon being an Angel of the Marauder Pathway, in detail.
They had already concluded that even if Amon somehow found a way to create alien ingredients before imbuing them with corruption and brewing a proper Beyonder Potion through them, He could still only create more Beyonders of the Marauder Pathway.
But, in one night, in only a few hours, that theory had toppled on itself.
Instead, it was Trick*Step's wildest and most horrific imagination that had won today, with not one, not two, but three Beyonders revealing themselves… all of different Pathways!
"I…" Luke was about to tell her that even he didn't know, when his body suddenly jerked.
Mushroom-nimi had grabbed his collar, pulling him away and simultaneously pushing Melissa away using their long reach.
Shocked, before either Luke or Melissa could ask the reason for this sudden, nonsensical act, a squirming sound entered their ears.
Together, the Apostles' eyes fell, landing on the Monocle.
Under the blood-drenched black head cover, something was stirring, like the fingers of a little fetus trying to rip open the womb to come out.
"It's alive!" Melissa shrieked, taking out several tarot cards to flick them toward the head with one hand, the box containing Peaceful Hair Strands appearing in the other.
Even Luke had a chill running down his spine, but for an entirely different reason.
He knew that the Monocle couldn't be alive, as he had already confirmed it using Spirit Vision. Moreover, Amon wasn't parasitizing the naked guy either, as the System or Mr. Fool would have easily picked up on that.
Luke, in pure amazement and… carrying a touch of terror, reached a far-fetched conclusion.
"Impossible…" he worded, his eyes widening to the extreme. "This… can't be…"
In his mind, even Miss Justice had gone utterly silent, watching the event playing out, knowing its far-reaching, terrifying implications.
"Open the head cover, Mushroom-nimi," Luke said.
"What?!" Melissa screamed, taking another step back. "Leader… This thing…"
"It's alright, Ms. Shield," Luke replied, staring dead at the squirming thing under the head cover. "It's… alright."
"…" Melissa had a weird feeling that Leader was saying those words to himself. Still, trusting Leader, she put down her hands, but dared not approach the table as the cyborg carefully untied the rope and… pulled the head cover away.
Melissa let out a gasp, her pupils stirring at the sight.
Luke, who had prepared himself, was also left amazed by the same.
On top of the bloody mush that was the Monocle's head, after being punched by Judge Button-backed Gehrman Sparrow, a blob of black blood was hovering, radiating blackness. From that blob, tiny arms were sprouting, with even tinier fingers, as if they wanted to rip open the outer layer of that blob… that prison.
[Beyonder Characteristic…] Miss Justice said in disbelief. [A Sequence 8 Unwinged Angel's Beyonder Characteristic… This… This can change everything!]
For better or for worse…
That, she left unsaid, but the words rang clearly in Luke's mind.
Unlike the other Apostles, who knew only one Law of Beyonder Characteristics, Luke knew all three of them.
So, the moment the System named that the blob of blackness, he knew what kind of phenomenon he was looking at.
"The Law of Beyonder Characteristics Conservation…" Luke said, stepping closer.
Then, before Melissa and Mushroom could ask more, Nyx flew in, coming to a dead stop midair, her beak opening wide as she looked at the corpse and Beyonder Characteristic.
"What the…" she cursed, letting out a caw. "I was literally gone for a few moments! Fucking every time!!!"
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