It was afternoon.
Jace was running through the smoky, soot-stained streets of the East Borough, not far from the Backlund Bridge.
He was in hot pursuit of a man in a trench coat and a hat. Jace was just about to throw the cards in his hands when the man suddenly whirled around.
The man, who looked to be in his fifties, raised a hand toward Jace and bellowed, "Imprison!"
Jace froze.
The space around him instantly solidified into an invisible cage of iron.
Seeing that his power had successfully caught his pursuer, the man turned back around and continued his desperate flight.
However, Jace's body suddenly dissolved into white smoke, revealing a flat paper figurine fluttering to the cobblestones.
The real Jace appeared near a brick wall several feet away.
Just before the Judge had used 'Imprison,' Jace's spiritual premonition had flared; he had thrown the paper figurine to the side a split second before the solidification took hold.
Jace immediately resumed the chase, flicking several cards toward the Judge's retreating back.
Just as one of the cards reached the man, it burst into a brilliant flare of scarlet flames with a sharp snap of Jace's fingers.
In a blur of heat, Jace jumped through the flames, reappearing directly behind the Judge.
As he materialized, Jace outstretched his palm and slammed it into the Judge's back, his voice echoing in Ancient Hermes: "Exile!"
It was an imitated power channeled through the Polymath Ring.
The Judge was caught completely off guard; he had no time to react before the force hit him. His body was flung forward by the impact, slamming hard onto the uneven ground.
He scrambled to his knees, but before he could stand, two Flame Ravens streaked through the air and slammed into his chest with a heavy 'boom!'.
His body was instantly engulfed in a violent blaze.
"Argghhaaa!" the man screamed, thrashing in the fire.
Jace looked at the burning figure with a flicker of pity in his heart.
He looked up to see Natalie standing on the other side of the dying man. She was the one who had sent the ravens.
Raising his hand, Jace pointed his index and middle fingers at the burning Judge, mimicking the shape of a revolver. He made the sound of gunshots with his mouth.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The air bullets struck the man squarely in the head, and his thrashing finally ceased. He lay still, his body continuing to burn.
Using his fire control ability, Jace extinguished the remaining flames to avoid drawing too much attention.
The street had been empty—the only reason Jace and Natalie had dared to use their Beyonder powers so openly—but the noise was already drawing curious residents from the nearby tenements.
They had no reason to run, however; they were on official business for MI9.
The Judge had discovered secrets he wasn't supposed to know, and a hit had been ordered.
Jace and Natalie were always happy to collect a bounty for a Sequence 6 target—1,500 pounds each was a handsome sum—though they were required to hand over the Beyonder characteristic to the MI9 officers.
Soon, they were joined by the local police, where Natalie took charge and smoothed over the legal consequences.
——
A few hours later, evening had fallen.
Jace and Natalie were sitting in a local hotel, eating dinner. They were famished, having missed their lunch during the hunt.
It had been four days since they arrived in the East Borough, and in that time, they had already neutralized one Sequence 7 and one Sequence 6 for MI9.
Finding the targets had been remarkably easy thanks to Natalie's tracking skills as a Hunter and Jace's divinations; otherwise, the task would have taken weeks.
Speaking of Natalie, Jace looked up at the woman sitting across from him with a slightly pouted, annoyed expression.
Sensing his gaze, Natalie sighed and set down her fork. "I'll buy the Sequence 5 formula from you eventually, okay? Now just eat."
As it turned out, Natalie had advanced to Sequence 6, 'Conspirer,' about a week ago.
To Jace's disappointment, she hadn't bought the formula from him—he had been looking forward to the profit.
She explained that she had obtained both the formula and the ingredients through Catherine.
Natalie was now a true menace. As a Conspirer, her mental faculties were vastly enhanced, giving her the ability to trick and weave complex plots against her people she wanted to conspire against.
Along with the boost to her previous Hunter abilities—especially her pyrokinesis—she was a formidable force.
"Hmph!" Jace turned his head away and stuffed his mouth with a piece of meat, acting annoyed.
Natalie smiled amusedly at his playfulness and continued her meal.
Later, they retreated to their room in the hotel.
They were sharing a room to save costs, though it was a twin bedroom, and they slept in separate beds.
Natalie began gathering her things into a leather bag. Their work here was done, and since it wasn't too late, it was time to depart.
However, Jace simply sat on his bed, making no move to pack. Natalie looked at him curiously. "Why aren't you packing?"
"... I'll stay here for a day or two. I have something left to do," Jace replied vaguely.
"Okay," Natalie said simply. She finished packing and left the room a short while later.
Once he was alone, Jace got up and packed his own belongings into his leather bag, slinging the strap over his shoulder.
From his pocket, he removed the Polymath Ring—which he had tucked away after the fight—slid it onto his finger, and activated a particular imitated power.
His body turned transparent, fading from existence as he stepped into the Spirit World.
His vision was instantly overlaid with shifting, vibrant colors and a slight pressure as he transitioned.
Without wasting a moment, he visualized his apartment in the Cherwood Borough and began moving at an fast speed.
From what Jace had read in the original novel, he knew the Spirit World was a bizarre place, but seeing it in person was a different matter entirely.
It was like a giant, shifting kaleidoscope where layers of reality stacked and overlapped in impossible colors.
There was no sense of gravity, so the direction of 'up' and 'down' was meaningless.
The distance ratio between the real world and the Spirit World was also bizarrely different; a few steps in the Spirit World could equate to a hundred kilometers or more in the physical world, as the Spirit World was vast beyond compare.
While moving, he saw the colorful figures of various creatures—no, 'denizens' of the Spirit World—looking at him with alien curiosity.
Ultimately, they didn't bother him, and he continued his journey. After a few mimutes of disorientation, he materialized back in his familiar apartment.
Jace removed the ring from his finger, dropped the bag on the floor, and slumped onto the couch.
"Haaa..." he heaved a heavy sigh of relief as he closed his eyes.
Ever since he got the Polymath Ring, Jace had been trying to imitate the power of "Traveling," and he had finally succeeded.
It had taken a great deal of time, many headaches, and several terrifying failures—like the time he tried it only to end up stranded in the Spirit World. He had been scared out of his wits then, but he had placated himself and used the power again to reappear in the real world, though in a completely different location.
Despite the failures, he had kept at it and finally found a way. But there were many limitations
He could not easily use this to escape a Beyonder battle because it took several seconds to fully fade into the Spirit World.
If he used it during a fight, an enemy could strike him before he finished the transition.
His traveling was significantly slower than the real deal.
The distance between Cherwood and the East Borough is not that large, yet it took Jace few minutes to get there.
If it were a real 'Traveler,' it would have taken only a few seconds.
This slowness also made it more dangerous, as Spirit World creatures had more time to notice and attack him.
Real Travelers intuitively knew their own coordinates and the different locations of the world, so it made it easier for them to travel to new and different places without much trouble.
Jace, as an imitator, knew nothing about coordinates or how to apply them, so his teleportation was strictly limited to places he had personally visited and could visualize.
Since his spirituality was only at a Sequence 7 level, he could only use 'Travel' about four times before being completely exhausted.
So yeah, it was great but then again not really.