He exhaled and placed both palms on his chest. He paused for a mont to choose his words, then finally began.
"Stars..." he murmured, looking up at the sky. "I still don’t understand why you show such favor, but... I hope you’ll stand with tonight."
Closing his eyes, he began to gesture with his fingers and traced a symbol before his chest — a six-pointed star.
This symbol was a six-pointed star.
When he finished, with his eyes still closed, he whispered.
"I pray... Beco my light once more."
With that, the ritual was complete, and he began to wait... but it wasn’t even necessary.
The result was instantaneous.
"Haa...!" Feeling the warmth growing in his chest, he exhaled excitedly and opened his eyes slightly.
A pale celestial light blood from the mark of the Champion on his chest. Gradually, the pale blue glow took on a tiny shape.
"..." Looking up, he saw that one of the stars in the sky had beco brighter. It seed as if it was shining directly on him. "Unbelievable..." he whispered.
No matter how many tis he witnessed it was too wonderful to be true. Every ti, it felt no less miraculous than the first.
The rush of emotion made him want to pinch himself, but...
"Ow...!" he exclaid, perhaps a little too dramatically.
A hot sensation spread across his cheek. It wasn’t painful, quite the opposite... The feeling was like a light, playful tickle and brought with it a feeling of warmth. It seed that if he allowed it, this warmth could even warm his dark soul.
"..." The reason was right in front of him.
A tiny star flew next to him, very similar to those he was used to seeing in the night sky. It had no visible face, no body — and yet it possessed a will of its own.
"..." It flew around his face, leaving a pale sparkling trail behind it and touching his cheek every now and then.
"Hey, co on, stop it..." he replied, trying not to be too rude.
It wasn’t that he was embarrassed... More like a little uncomfortable. He was soone who was used to burying most of his attachnts in the bud and avoiding intimacy altogether.
He didn’t know the nature of this phenonon. It was unlikely that this phenonon could even be called alive. And although the sensations were very pleasant, he would rather avoid closeness with sothing that even seed alive and conscious.
"..." The tiny star stopped at his face and began to simply pulsate in the air.
"Can I ask you for help?" he asked with an embarrassed smile.
At his request, the little star flared brighter and began to circle around his head. It seed this was its way of expressing joy.
"I’ll take that as a ’yes’..."
"..." The little star gave sothing like a nod and waited for instructions.
He briefly explained the thief contract.
"There are at least a hundred Dirty Baals at this base. They can recognize their own kind by sll and by face, so it’s impossible to sneak in or play ’double agent’... And fighting against a hundred of them will just lead to a stupid death." He scratched his cheek awkwardly. "We need another way," he said awkwardly. "That’s what I’m asking your help with."
"..." The tiny star pulsed softly — as if in understanding and circled around his face once more. It pressed against his cheek again, despite his objections, and then...
It flew straight to the Scavengers’ base, leaving a trail of pale celestial light in its wake.
...
"Phew..." He exhaled heavily and sat down on the ground.
Perhaps from the outside, the way he interacted with his ability might have looked almost cute... but he was certain his stress levels had spiked.
Taking advantage of the fact that the star had not yet returned, he lit a cigarette and gazed at the celestial objects in the sky. There was always sothing to look at.
Countless stars... A black hole called Doomsday, the Abode of Dreams, known as the Celestial continent, and... sothing else that couldn’t be seen in daylight. Sothing located directly above Concord.
"..." But his thoughts kept returning to the recent ritual, the star, and his own ability.
In general, the ritual itself wasn’t fixed. Although he used this power extrely rarely, the thod of activation beca clear even without practice.
Two things mattered: the gesture and the intent.
As he understood it, the gesture was intended as a call and, simply put, was necessary for the stars to be able to see him. He traced a six-pointed star outward from his chest.
The intention was much easier. It ca from his soul; all he had to do was give it words. For this, he resorted to a kind of prayer.
The last point was that the gesture and the intention had to be combined. Separately, they would not work.
As for what this ability could do... That was a little more complicated.
"Haa..." He exhaled smoke and, seeing the distant glimrs of starlight, stamped out his half-smoked cigarette.
He could count the number of tis he had used this power on the fingers of two hands. During that ti, he realized that there were only two ways to use this power.
The first was to resort to the help of a star, which he was using now.
In this case, the star would show him the path. He called this part of the ability the Guiding Star.
The second was to resort to the help of constellations. This option was radically different from the first and did not have the sa spirituality, taphoricality, and atmosphere. Its manifestation was tangible.
He had used this power only once and did not have a clear understanding of it. But repeating the words of his Peak, he could use the starlight.
He had not yet co up with a na for this part of his ability.
"A-are you done?" The sudden appearance of the little star before his face snapped him out of his thoughts about the mysterious nature of his power.
"..." The star almost drifted right up to his nose.
"Well, then..." He wanted to step back and cover his eyes from the intense glow...
But he was not allowed to do so.
"..." In the next instant, the star shone and flew straight into his head.
It felt like sudden enlightennt.
He wanted to exclaim, ’How did I not see this before!’
He saw the star path laid out by his Guiding Star.
...
Five minutes later.
Everything beca simpler once the path lay open before him.
The plan was ready.
"Paymax," he called.
"Yes, Mr. Nobody?"
"Get ready for Plan I", he said, climbing back on his bike. "We’re leaving at dawn."
"The ’Interception’ tactic has been put into action. If you’ll excuse ..."
"Anything else?"
"May I leave a comnt regarding our future actions? I apologize in advance if you find it inappropriate."
"Well... go ahead."
The hologram of the planet erged from the bracelet and, flaring crimson, shouted.
"Let’s ambush those dirty bic...!"
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