Luke looked on as Mirko began jumping on the balls of her feet, grinning from ear to ear at him.
Nyx was still breathing down his neck, fuming as she stared back, her claws digging into his flesh as if she were out for blood.
Why do I always find myself surrounded by crazy women?! Luke lamented, forcing himself to stretch. I knew it was a mistake coming here… Divination is not all-powerful anyway… Definitely should have stuck to the principles I'd figured out instead of blindly falling into its trap. Tch!
If it hadn't been for the urgency regarding Sand, then he would have done exactly that.
Nevertheless, somewhere deep down, Luke knew Mirko was right about one thing—she was not only the best candidate for internship, but also the most suitable partner.
The woman was, without a doubt, crazy.
Her fighting style was the polar opposite of Luke's as a Beyonder.
Not so surprisingly, these polar-opposite styles could fill the gaps in their strategies quite perfectly.
Then there were three more reasons to go for Mirko, despite her personality.
First, she was the No. 5 Hero and was involved in the thick of the events surrounding people and organizations Luke was interested in.
Second, Mirko liked to work alone and didn't adhere to the general rules and restrictions that the Commission forced upon Pros.
Third, she was strong—extremely strong.
This meant that if there was no option but to become her Sidekick, then… it wouldn't be bad at all.
"Ready?" Mirko asked.
"I was born ready," Nyx cawed.
And Mirko blurred out of existence right before their eyes.
Huh?! Luke's Danger Intuition went haywire, with Nyx's feathers standing on end as well.
Ever since he had become a Faceless, the Cooldown Timer to switch between different Pathways had increased to five seconds. Before, it had been only two seconds for Sequence 8, followed by three seconds for Sequence 7.
Two seconds was still alright, as Luke had come nowhere near contact with the world's great evil Villains by then.
However, even when the Cooldown Timer was three seconds, he had begun feeling the pinch because of it.
Now, with the Timer jumping by two seconds, and given the kind of events he was involved in—or was bound to be involved in—it wasn't something he could ignore anymore.
Five seconds was enough to decide life and death; enough to decide fate.
Five seconds could become the difference between heaven and earth when they actually mattered, leaving Luke forever regretting the choices these seconds forced him to make in a fraction of a second.
That was why not only had Luke decided to incorporate more of his Beyonder Abilities into his Hero persona, but he had also decided to become even more strategic in how he went about handling things.
Coming up with another Quirk was a horrible idea anyway, he believed.
The world was already going nuts about his Quirk to grant Quirks, with even foreign Hero Agencies and Villains becoming interested in him.
The only reason they hadn't outright left their nations and stormed Japan was that Luke was still a student and his Quirk, Raven, was inherently limited to a freaking bird.
However, if these people learned that Raven was hoarding more and more Quirks as time went on, who knew what they would end up doing?
Luke couldn't afford such a distraction presently.
His hands were already full with the Claws of Conformity, the Shie Hassaikai, and the Monocles, especially the Sequence 5 Wraith.
It was best to depend upon his natural abilities a touch more, instead of coming up with another Quirk.
No one in the entire world would find it suspicious that Raven wasn't getting another Quirk.
In fact, not getting more Quirks anytime soon would only work in his favor, as Raven already held seven Quirks.
So, Luke wasn't in a hurry to add another Quirk to show signs of improvement.
As long as he began showing improvements in how he handled things, proving himself with results, he was all set until the Final War.
But… in all this… Luke had overlooked one thing.
This wasn't the same world where everything had almost ended in UA's first year.
UA students weren't the only ones who were improving by leaps and bounds, as the inevitable War kept getting delayed, facing one hardship after another.
If even students were experiencing tremendous growth as time went on, then… even less needed to be said about Pros like Mirko, who had never stopped, and would never stop, training and getting stronger… day after day!
So, when the kick came for him, Luke had to bite down on his tongue to prevent himself from using Flaming Jump or Paper Substitution.
Because only those two abilities could have actually worked when he wasn't using any Quirk stored within Nyx.
Even his enhanced physicality paled in comparison to how fast Mirko's foot had come for his side.
She was fast.
She was blindingly fast!
A CRACK rang out as Luke's ribs broke, and all the air was kicked out of his lungs as he was sent flying like a rag doll.
He crashed into a punching bag, then another, and then another… before finally falling onto the unusually hard mat and rolling across it for another few meters.
Nyx, who had also failed to fly away fast enough, had been struck by Luke and was lying somewhere between Mirko and him, her legs and wings twitching.
"Damn!" Mirko walked up to Luke, who was lying face-down on the floor, squealing like a pig about to be butchered. "What the hell is wrong with ya?! Getting soft?!"
She didn't even crouch.
Mirko slid her toes under Luke's face, hooked them under his chin, and tilted his head up, her grinning eyes matching his shaky ones.
"Well, whatcha waiting for?" the Rabbit Hero asked, licking her lips. "Use that Quirk of yours… Spot Heal, eh? Get back to health and let's do it again. Let's do it until I pound into the thick skulls of you and your bird that…
"… it will be you two working for me as Sidekicks, not the other way around."
***************
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]