Chapter 337 337: Meeting of Apostles - Enter Raven!
Headquarters,
The Apostles of Mr. Fool
Dr. Blessed sat at the head of the table.
To his right were Trick*Step and Shield.
To his left were Iron Mentor and Mushroom-nimi.
The cyborg was seated on the floor to Iwao's left, but, even then, he towered many heads taller than his fellow Apostle.
But these weren't the only figures in the Conference Hall, which was surrounded by a Spiritual Wall.
On Dr. Blessed's shoulder, there was a bird.
It was a raven.
It was… Nyx.
As if her presence wasn't shocking enough, none of the Apostles were wearing their usual black, clownish masks.
Not even Dr. Blessed.
However, the face that had revealed itself to everyone this time wasn't that of a black-haired Luke with tiny deformations using acute muscle control like the previous time.
This time, Dr. Blessed donned his original blond hair and blue eyes.
But… he wasn't Luke.
Well, not the Luke that the rest of the Apostles knew him as.
Using Faceless' abilities, Luke had assumed his 24-year-old appearance, looking like a proper, grown man.
"First," Dr. Blessed said, his voice echoing with a slight touch of aged heaviness. "Let me introduce our newest… well, oldest member of the Apostles of Mr. Fool — Raven."
Nyx had her eyes closed.
Her beak was pointed a little up.
When Luke called out her Code Name, the Sequence 7 Magician opened her eyes and looked at them all.
Then, saying nothing else, she closed her eyes again.
"…"
Luke found it extremely easy to prevent his mouth from twitching.
Melissa, who had recently advanced to become a Sequence 8 Clown, tried, but wasn't experienced enough to hide it properly.
Kazuho, who had become a Sequence 7 Astrologer, smiled wryly.
Iwao, the newly advanced Sequence 7 Cryptologist, maintained a stoic expression, but kept looking at Dr. Blessed's face from the corner of his eyes.
Mushroom-nimi's case was much simpler.
"… Raven? But she looks like a crow," they said.
…
After a while, Luke separated Nyx from Mushroom, her claws drawing a trail of fire over the large, bio-metallic mushroom cap.
Her curses were so filthy that both girls had put their hands over their ears, their eyes popping out of their skulls. Even Iwao, who had heard and seen whatnot during his Vigilante days, frowned, almost wincing.
Luke made Nyx return to his shoulder and cleared the feathers off the table with a thought.
"Cough!" He cleared his throat and eyed everyone. "… Let's continue. Second, I need to tell you about a… threat."
All faces suddenly gained a hard look.
Was Luke an alias of this older Dr. Blessed?
Was Luke a shell housing the real Dr. Blessed?
Was this older-looking Luke the true Dr. Blessed, something like the younger All Might, who had become a sensation in the last week across the world?
These were the questions that the Apostles were most curious about.
However, just like the masks had come down over time, all answers would also reveal themselves, they knew.
For now, a few things remained certain, requiring no further explanation.
Dr. Blessed was the leader of the Apostles of Mr. Fool.
He held enough power to create miracles.
And… he was not a Villain.
They all had accepted following him for their own reasons.
At first, spreading Mr. Fool's faith had remained a singular goal of the leader only.
However, the more they learned about Conformity and Singularity and saw the consequences of Their actions, the more they believed that Mr. Fool was, by far, the best thing that could happen to their world.
That it was Him who allowed them to stand up against Villains, despite being Quirkless, was also a matter of eternal gratitude.
So, no matter what mysterious past Dr. Blessed had, they all had truly accepted their roles as the Apostles of Mr. Fool.
It was this acceptance that made their faces lose all color when the leader mentioned the threat.
Dr. Blessed rarely used that word.
He had used it for Conformity and Singularity.
Then, he had used it to describe Stain and All For One.
Now, he was using it again, meaning… he was going to talk about someone else entirely.
Of course, it was only Iwao who came to that conclusion, decrypting the leader's words methodically.
"You already know about the Boundary," Dr. Blessed began. "It protects our world from external threats. Imagine entities like Mr. Fool, but with a nefarious purpose."
The pale faces of Apostles suddenly whitened.
Even the hearts of Kazuho and Melissa skipped a beat, finally realizing where it was going.
"There's someone like that… outside the Boundary… right now," Dr. Blessed said, not trying to hide the apprehension in his voice at all. "He is an Angel. His name is — Amon."
Forget about the people; even Mushroom-nimi reacted to that, all the tiny mushrooms on the cyborg's body pulsating rhythmically in nervousness.
That was only the beginning, though.
Hiding the matter of the Tarot Club and Gray Castle, Luke told them everything about Amon and how the Angel had infiltrated their world with a Sequence 4 Avatar.
He told them about the call he had received after the USA incident, supposedly from Dr. Sam, whom Amon had kidnapped.
He also told them about the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Convergence, making Iwao stand up in shock and dread.
The matter of Amon parasitizing him, before Mr. Fool had purged the parasite off him, made the rest of the Apostles stand up as well.
Slowly, Luke stood up, motioning Mushroom-nimi to keep seated.
"If you want to blame me for Amon's presence, then I will not stop you," Dr. Blessed said.
"What's the point…" Iwao scoffed, taking out a cigar with shaking hands. Mushroom-nimi lit the cigar for him, and the old man let out a puff of smoke, finally gaining some courage. "If not Amon, then someone else would have come in His place, right? That's how fate works anyway…"
Kazuho and Melissa nodded at the leader as well.
Luke smiled. "The Claws of Conformity will not stop gaining strength," he pointed out. "Both Stain and All For One are imprisoned, but we know that will not remain the case forever. Amon is the wildest element in all this. So, we must prepare for unseen, unpredictable scenarios as well."
The more he listed out their problems, the more he saw the joy of advancing wash off the Apostles' faces.
"And for that…"
Dr. Blessed, taking out a small, ethereal button that glowed golden, triggering all spiritualities.
"… Mr. Fool has deemed us worthy — to hold greater power!"
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