Alexander Becking—the Radiant of Gravity—stood in a derelict alley in Downtown Manhattan, questioning the choices he had made in his life that had led him here.
Then, confirming that he didn't regret making those choices, he pulled out his mobile.
Noting the GPS coordinates of his location precisely, he sent them to a particular number, and… waited.
A few seconds passed, but nothing happened.
Then, a full minute passed, followed by two—three—four…
By the time the fifth minute was about to end, Alex's patience was already running thin.
Fortunately, it was then that a figure blurred into existence next to him, donning a Bounty Hunter get-up.
"Not you!" Alexander instantly growled.
Before he could say more, his eyes narrowed at one of the gloves Gehrman Sparrow wore.
The white glove on his right hand was still fine, but the black glove he wore on his left hand was… changing.
In only a few moments, Alexander saw the glove hardening into a wood-like substance as Gehrman took it off. Then, as the Apostle tossed it aside, the hardened glove began oozing a strange smell, along with pus and other liquids.
What the… Alexander was visibly repulsed.
In his life, what kind of repulsive acts hadn't he seen?
But this? Compared to this, only the sight of Rampagers at ORIGIN had elicited such a reaction from him, Alexander remembered.
He looked away from the black piece of repulsive wood as it caught fire, burning to ashes.
When his eyes landed on Gehrman, he was already wearing another black glove on his left hand. "…?"
Gehrman nudged his glasses as he looked up towards him. "You have two minutes."
"…?" Motherfucker! Alexander stiffened, cursing inwardly. What's wrong with this psycho?!
After returning to Earth, he had made exhaustive inquiries about an Apostle named Gehrman Sparrow.
And what he had found had angered and impressed him the most.
Gehrman Sparrow was the least active Apostle in Japan, with absolutely zero sightings.
The places where he did appear were either inconsequential small coastal towns or, of course, places of extreme importance, like ORIGIN.
But the most striking thing about Gehrman Sparrow was that among all the Apostles, only he… was known to kill; not only kill, but kill with extreme effectiveness.
Strangely, Gehrman Sparrow turning out to be a killer had surprised Alex the least.
He hadn't spent much time with the Apostle on the space station, but the little time he had spent had been enough for him to know the man as a cold-blooded killer.
Confirming his earlier intuition hadn't bothered Alex much, though.
Compared to Gehrman Sparrow's known kills, he himself had killed hundreds, if not thousands.
The only thing that had unnerved Alex wasn't that the guy was a killer, but that he was an Apostle.
Because, by then, he had believed the Apostles to be Vigilantes, influenced by a foreign, extremely dangerous existence, but not an evil one; hopefully.
Nothing Dr. Blessed and the other Apostles had done had indicated that they were killers.
Alex had found no reports, public or secret, that had claimed the Apostles' actions resulted in direct casualties.
In fact, to this day, they had only saved lives—in the hundreds—including that of All Might, if the claims of Dr. Blessed performing a miracle were true.
Gehrman Sparrow… just didn't fit into the same equation.
And that was what made the man an enigma—a dangerous one at that.
Gehrman Sparrow pulled back the sleeve on his left wrist and looked at his watch. "… 90 seconds."
Fuck! Alexander cursed again. Why him?! Why had Singularity chosen him to interact with this guy?! He was not much of a talkative type anyway. The Radiant of Dreams was more suitable for something like this. Tch!
"Star is making a move against the Monocles," Alex said. "And the person behind the Compound's creation—Klein Moretti. She has zeroed in on an abandoned factory in Florida. She plans to raid it tonight—and heavily. She is pissed."
Gehrman Sparrow nudged his glasses again.
Then… silence.
Despite not using his Quirk, Alexander instantly gained a few wrinkles on his aged face.
To make matters worse, Gehrman again pulled back his sleeve and looked at his watch.
Alex felt like punching the man in the face and flattening those glasses. With the difference between their statures, only one of his fingers would cover the guy's entire face, anyway. Perhaps he wouldn't even need one finger, but only a flick. This wasn't ORIGIN. He only needed to think, and Gravity would take care of the rest.
Alex sighed.
"Do we need to worry about something?" he asked. "An unknown factor?"
"Is that you asking the question or Her?" Gehrman asked.
"What does it matter?" Alex frowned.
"The fee will be different."
"…" Alex clenched his fingers into fists. Lives were at stake, and this guy was thinking of fees depending on who was asking the question?! "… She is."
Gehrman nodded. "Is She turning Skycrawler into a Radiant?"
Alex, going against the entire wise and terrifying persona he had cultivated over the last decade, gaped at Gehrman.
Was he… Was he demanding the payment upfront?!
[Answer him…]
Alex licked his lips.
Gehrman again looked at his watch.
Gritting back, Alex nodded.
Gehrman nodded back. "If Star makes contact with Klein Moretti," he said, already blurring, "then other than her, everyone will die."
Alex looked at the space left behind by Gehrman Sparrow, a terror settling in his heart.
He had asked for a variable, not a prophecy.
Yet…
"Can we even trust him?" Alex asked.
[Between Mr. Fool and this Evil God…] Singularity said, instead of answering him. [… you know who the Greater Evil is.]
Yes.
Yes, Alex knew.
Because it was written in the fucking name!
…
Luke slumped down in his bed, burning the filthy Point Glove.
And the moment he closed his eyes to go back to sleep, his mobile buzzed again.
"Dammit!" Nyx cursed. "I told you I won't be able to go back to sleep after two minutes! Tell him to fuck off! It's fucking midnight here!!"
Luke, grumbling as well, looked at his mobile screen… and instantly sat up.
"… What?" Nyx asked, her drowsiness vanishing completely. "Who is it?"
"It's…" Luke looked toward Nyx. "… It's All Might."
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