Luke had been interpreting Misaki Saionji's sketches for over a week now.
It was excellent training for his Spirit Vision, letting him grasp the timing of its activation and canceling to minimize its impact.
Coupled with his advancing hold on Cogitation, Luke could keep Spirit Vision active for over 10 seconds now without losing his bearings.
However, this training wasn't the prime reason for which Luke had begun working with a woman who hated him deeply.
It was to act as a Seer.
Interpreting Misaki's sketches, and getting real-time feedback after seeing them coming true, was only one facet of this acting method.
As Miss Justice had pointed out — Acting Method meant that he must act as Seer, imbuing it in his lifestyle, while constantly keeping the fact that he was only acting in the back of his mind.
So, Luke decided to dive more into being a Seer.
As others didn't even know what a Beyonder meant, he didn't mind others seeing him doing odd things. At the end of the day, he could blame it all on Bioalchemy.
Even the world-class scientists had yet to figure out how ridiculous this Quirk was. Much less needed to be said about the likes of Sand and other Pro Heroes and Villains.
"Is it him?" Luke asked, standing on the roof next to Sand.
They were looking at a man sitting idly on a long sofa in a room with an open window. He had a handsome face with sleek, black hair and glasses on his face. He was smoking a cigarette, holding a stack of documents in his other hand.
Sand's eyes had lost a touch of aloofness he possessed near Luke.
He was looking at the man as if the target was already dead. "Yes," he nodded. "Tell me how would you kill him if you were alone…"
Luke had a plan. But to kill… He felt like he could do it, but to say that he was sure of it would be a lie.
If he was being honest with himself, then the number of lifeforms he had killed could very well be greater than Sand.
Still, it was one thing to explode animals and plants willingly or unwillingly, and it was another thing entirely to kill humans.
Regardless of his inner struggle, Luke shared his plan with Sand, Nyx silently listening to it as well.
Just as he finished, Sand stared at Luke with the same dead expression.
"Did you know about the mission beforehand?" After asking, Sand then looked at Nyx. "Can you bestow a Soothsayer-like Quirk to her?"
Luke's heart skipped a beat. He could bestow her such a Quirk, but its complexity could very well turn out to be Plus Ultra. Still, that wasn't something he wanted others to know.
"No." Luke flatly rejected.
"Hmm…" Sand's grunt didn't show if he accepted the refusal. "That's a solid plan, Luke… It feels like… you are natural at this sort of stuff. The killing, I mean."
Luke averted his gaze.
Sand let out a small smile. "For now, you two watch me."
Something triggered Luke's spirituality, making him look down.
A trail of sand was crawling down the wall of the building. The line of sand was so thin that if it wasn't for his Danger Intuition, he might have completely missed it.
In a matter of seconds, the trail of sand crossed the alley between the two buildings, crawled up, and entered the target's room through the open window silently.
Luke and Nyx exchanged a glance.
This… They thought they could handle anyone with Bioalchemy. But, if Sand one day decided to kill him, then they wouldn't even hear him coming…
What happened next happened so fast that Luke couldn't even process it.
At one moment, the Brain Thief was still smoking. In the next moment, the trail of sand left the floor, pulled back its head like a snake, and then snapped forward with a sizzling sound.
By the time it was over, blood was pouring out from the hole in the spy's head.
Whoa… Luke looked at the assassination, transfixed. That was… Huh?
"Mother of Darkness!" Nyx cursed. "That bitch was a clone?!"
Yes. In front of their shocked eyes, the spy just… melted in a sticky, muddy substance.
Standing next to him, Sand's eyes had gone wide. It was clear that even he didn't know that the target was a clone, or someone was helping him.
Crack!
Suddenly, the window of the adjacent room shattered.
From it, two other, similar-looking men jumped out in the alley and began running in the opposite direction.
Struck by a momentous inspiration, Luke activated Spirit Vision.
The one running toward the right had spirit particles condensed around his brain. That was it! This one was the original!
Smiling, Luke looked to his left and the scene wiped the smile off his face.
This one too had the same pattern as the one on the right.
This is… impossible… Luke thought, stunned.
Sand put a hand on Luke's shoulder. "We can't let him go!" he said, already jumping to the right. "Don't engage. Just keep an eye on him. I will be back soon!"
Before Luke could warn Sand, the man had already disappeared, a wave of sand carrying him down the alley to the right.
Luke again looked toward the left, but the spy, or clone, had already disappeared.
"What are you doing?!" Nyx hissed. "Let's go!"
She was about to fly away when Luke narrowed his eyes. "Wait… There's… no need to rush…"
Nyx stared at Luke, dumbfounded. Then her red pupils widened. "Oh…"
"Guard me," Luke said, sitting down and taking a deep breath. Miss Justice, can I learn the target's exact location using Dream Divination?
…
[Thɪs updatᴇd by ɴo(v)elFɪre.ɴet
If he looks the same, then you can try.
But, see if there's no danger with Dream Divination… I am very concerned about that supermassive black hole from your father's dream.
]
…
That is wise… Luke noted.
So, he first used Spirit Pendulum Dowsing to confirm if Dream Divination was safe or not. When he received a positive answer, he repeated the question about Brain Thief's location seven times in his mind, focusing on his appearance.
Then, he entered a state of Cogitation.
Luke felt as if he was half-asleep with blackness surrounding him.
Suddenly, he heard steps before the entire scene presented itself to him.
The spy was running in an entirely different alley, constantly looking back over his shoulder.
In the divination, Luke suddenly realized that both men who had jumped out of the window were clones.
Meanwhile, the original spy had already run away in a different direction.
Using his almost perfect memory, Luke remembered the sign boards he was seeing in the alley within the divination.
The spy stopped at a bar with a red neon light flashing over it.
He opened the door and was about to step in. Simultaneously, Luke felt like his spirituality was drying up. As he had already confirmed the real target and his location, he gave a mental tug to cancel the divination.
It happened then.
The spy suddenly spun around and grabbed Luke's throat.
It was Luke's first time using Dream Divination. He didn't even know if he had a real body in this dream or not. But the grip on his throat not only felt real, but murderous.
Luke let out a painful grunt, his throat getting squeezed.
Through the blurry darkness, Luke looked at the man.
He still had sleek, black hair, but, behind the glasses, his eyes were glowing red.
As Luke's spirituality finally emptied, canceling the divination on its own, the red glow in the spy's eyes intensified.
[Is that you —] The voice penetrated Luke's soul. [ — Sister?]
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AN: Image of the Dream Divination-related to incident is available
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