The first step to stealing a Beyonder's power as a 'Prometheus' was to decrypt and analyze the target.
So, that is exactly what Jace did. He peeked out from behind the concrete pillar and used his imitated 'Decryption' power on the 'Briber' who was currently locked in combat with Natalie.
From the tense position of the man's body to the minutest details of his fleeting facial expressions, everything flashed before Jace's eyes within a single second as he began decrypting the 'Briber'.
The next step was to decrypt the 'Briber's' pathway, sequence, and beyonder powers, which was significantly easy for him to accomplish since he already knew almost all there was to know about the Lawyer pathway's sequences and abilities.
That is when it happened. Combined with the imitated 'Decryption' and his own Spirit Vision—which he had turned on the moment the ambush began—he saw exactly what he had been anticipating.
Within the body of the Briber, Jace saw multiple swirling, glowing colors; they were the distinct colors of the spiritual powers the 'Briber' possessed!
In the hand-to-hand combat, Natalie seemed to be coming out on top.
Her hands were constantly lit with bright flames while she threw her punches.
For someone who was completely ignorant about a Pyromaniac's true power, they might think she was just punching with her fiery fists.
But Jace wasn't ignorant; he knew that while punching, Natalie was actively infusing her compressed fire into the Briber's body.
This was one of the signature Pyromaniac's abilities: 'Fire Infusion!' Now that she had successfully advanced to Sequence 6, the ability had only gotten significantly stronger and more destructive.
The Briber, however, noticed that something was terribly odd while defending himself.
So, while blocking her fiery fists, he reached into his vest and pulled out his pocket watch.
His urgent intention was to use his power of bribing to make her stop attacking him for a moment so he could escape this lethal predicament.
Meanwhile, Jace was watching the exchange closely. He noticed that while looking at the colors within the Briber, one of them began to swirl erratically.
Jace instantly realized that the man was activating his power.
A 'Briber' mainly has four types of bribing powers: one was the 'Weakening Bribe,' which he had used right when the fight started; another one was the 'Charm Bribe,' which would make the enemy think, 'Wait, why am I even attacking him? This is a good guy.'
The other two were 'Connection' and 'Corrosion,' used for creating connections and corrupting people respectively.
Only the 'Weakening' and 'Charm' bribes could be effectively used in a fast-paced physical fight.
The Briber had already deployed his 'Weakening' bribe earlier, so it was completely obvious to Jace that the erratic color signified the 'Charm' bribe.
So, he did what he had been waiting to do. He flicked his hand while focusing his mind entirely on that particular moving color within the Briber's body.
"Theft!"
The Briber was startled for a critical moment; he suddenly couldn't use his power at all!
That single moment of hesitation was more than enough for Natalie. She slammed her burning fist squarely into the man's exposed chest.
While she was at it, she also triggered the destination of volatile fire she had previously infused within him.
So, just as the heavy punch hit him, the man was not only thrown backward violently, but he also exploded with concentrated fire from within his own body.
Boom!
The body burned intensely, laying entirely limp on the concrete ground and brightly lighting up the dark floor of the ruined building.
Now that the fight was finally over, Natalie straightened up, dusted her clothes off, and stood quietly in wait for the Beyonder characteristic to form.
Tap, tap, tap.
Hearing the sudden sounds of footsteps echoing in the silence, she turned her head to look behind her.
Jace came walking out from the shadows and stood right beside Natalie.
Natalie, looking at him knowingly, asked, "Did you get what you came here for?"
Jace turned his head away from the smoldering body toward Natalie. "Yes," he replied with a small, satisfied smile.
The experiment was an absolute success.
He had successfully used 'Decryption' and 'Power Theft' together. He had successfully stolen the power of the 'Charm Bribe.'
It was, of course, entirely useless to him in the grand scheme of things, but this was merely a safe test of his limits.
The truly interesting thing was the fact that he could still use it—even after completely removing the Polymath Ring from his finger.
This was because he had stolen the power with the help of the ring by imitating 'Theft', but the stolen power itself was currently stored within his own spiritual body.
However, his limit was only a brief four minutes; after that, it would disappear completely as if it had never been there.
A real 'Prometheus' would be able to easily store and use a stolen power for about ten minutes or even more.
But Jace was, after all, just an imitator.
Looking at Natalie's still slightly haggard, exhausted state, he said, "Let's go to my bungalow."
Without waiting for her reply, he turned around on his heel and started walking out of the abandoned building.
Natalie started following him slowly, but she couldn't help but wonder why Jace called the dead psychopath's bungalow his own.
——
Several minutes later, they entered the quiet drawing room of the bungalow.
Jace took Natalie's coat and hung it up on the rack alongside his own.
"The washroom is that way," he said while pointing down the hall. Natalie followed the direction of his finger to clean the soot and dirt from her face and hands.
When she came back into the room, Jace was sitting on the luxurious couch leisurely.
On the low table before him were a few clean glasses and several bottles of fine alcohol. Natalie walked over, sat down right beside him, and relaxed her tired muscles.
Jace poured her a generous glass of whiskey and handed it to her. Natalie silently took the glass and took a slow, appreciative sip.
Jace had tried whiskey before, but it really wasn't his drink of choice. Wine, on the other hand, agreed with his tastes perfectly.
So, in a crystal wine glass, he poured himself a serving of deep red wine, took a small sip, and nodded in quiet appreciation of the vintage.
"Aren't you too young to be drinking alcohol?" Natalie asked while looking at him with an amused eyebrow raised.
Jace simply smiled but didn't offer a direct answer, continuing to sip his red wine elegantly.
Natalie didn't pursue the question further and looked around the spacious, quiet room. Turning back to look at him, she asked in a curious tone, "Doesn't it bother you?"
Jace looked at Natalie with a questioning gaze, but his eyes relaxed as he realized exactly what she meant to ask.
She was asking if it bothered him that he had made his comfortable home inside a psychopath's house.
Jace thought about it for a quiet moment and explained, "Well, the guy that lived here before didn't want people bothering him at all, so he paid his taxes and household bills far in advance. No one ever comes here, so the place is incredibly convenient. And besides, within a month or two, I'll be taking over his identity entirely."
Natalie listened to Jace's explanation while pouring herself another drink from the bottle. She would have liked to pull out a cigarette to relax further, but she knew Jace wouldn't let her smoke in his presence.
After a small pause, Jace added, "...As for your question, 'Does it bother me?'... No, not really. It's just a physical place. In fact, I find it rather amusing—living in a psychopath's house." He chuckled softly.
Natalie smiled in genuine amusement at his attitude.
After a few more drinks, Natalie looked closely at Jace's sharp side profile.
He was wearing black slacks and a loose white shirt with the top two buttons undone.
In his right hand was the glass of red wine, which he took another small sip from with natural elegance.
She had to admit to herself, he looked pretty good.
Looking at him closely now, she fully understood why her lover, Sarah, found Jace so attractive; she could see the appeal.
'I guess now's as good a time as any,' she thought to herself. She set the heavy glass in her hand down on the table and shifted her weight closer to him on the couch, until her knee pressed directly against his.
Before Jace could even react to Natalie moving so closely into his space, his chin was firmly grabbed by Natalie's right hand.
She smoothly turned his face so his eyes met hers directly.
Jace had a confused look on his face, but Natalie didn't give him any time to think too much about it.
She placed her left arm tightly around his waist, pulling his body flush against her own, and kissed him.