Chapter 284: Same but Different Dream 16
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“Are you mad?!” Mizuki hissed. “You literally asked for my daughter directly in front of me. Are you serious about that?!”
“I am serious,” Avos answered with a dull expression. His muscle didn’t even move a little, making Mizuki a bit uncomfortable as that was a sign that the white-haired man was serious about his request.
“Don’t joke with me…” Mizuki gritted her teeth.
Obviously, she couldn’t agree to his request. Even if Avos offered something greater than stopping the war, she couldn’t hand Naomi over to them.
She knew what would happen.
From the Esper Association’s movement as of late, she could indirectly guess what would happen to Naomi if she handed her over to Avos.
“You’re obviously asking me to give my daughter to you so you can take her ability to yourself. Are you mad, Avos?”
Also, giving Naomi was out of the question from the start. That girl was the strongest Esper, their only hope to stop Avos and the Esper Association. She was also the only reason why the Esper Association didn’t attack them directly.
Their other hope was already kidnapped and put somewhere in an unknown location.
Who knew what would happen if Naomi was gone? The situation couldn’t have been predicted if the two of the strongest Espers were out of the frame.
Avos, being called mad by Mizuki, wasn’t even slightly offended. Instead, his lips curled up into a sad smile.
“You could say that I am mad, indeed.”
Queen Elizabeth and Mizuki were surprised by his statement. No leader would not be surprised by his statement.
That practically announced that he had no real leadership. A madman would never be followed by their followers because his decision would be random. So they were surprised that Avos would make such a statement so easily.
But then, seeing that most of Avos’ followers were his friends in the past, it wasn’t strange that they were loyal to him even when he went mad. His situation might be the closest to Naomi's.
Even when the girl was inexperienced, due to her charisma, many people still followed her and were loyal to her. She even managed to make one of the biggest troublemakers in the world follow her.
However, even so, she had never made such a bold statement.
“I am so mad and crazy that I can only focus on one goal. Of course, I don’t mind anything else and will do everything to reach my goal. Now then, you must be wondering why I am telling you all of this, right?”
Indeed.
Avos surely had a reason for telling them this before the war started.
No. Maybe the war had already started outside without Mizuki’s knowledge. After all, they had been kept in this mansion since last night. Something could change in just a night; her daughter herself was the proof.
If Naomi wanted to, she could destroy the Moon or Earth in a span of a night. Talking about the Moon…
“Is it because of the existence that you talked about last night? The Lady of the Moon?” Mizuki asked Avos carefully, trying to judge his reaction.
Last night, before he put Melaine away, he mentioned a girl that he held on the Moon. That caused Melaine to go berserk and forced Avos to teleport her somewhere with his Ability.
Hotaru also tried to escape, but she was too late. Her time was stopped, and she was also teleported away by Avos.
The conversation stopped after that, and Mizuki only managed to send a word Moon to her daughter through Melaine’s holo phone that she held at that time.
‘This Lady of the Moon is surely related to Avos and Melaine. Is she the friend that Melaine talked about in the meeting, the one called Darika who can see the future?’ Mizuki guessed.
“You’re correct,” Avos affirmed with a nod. “And yes, that’s where my home is located too, the moon. I guess the Moon of Akasha already knows about that? Seeing that there is the word Moon in Akasa Naomi’s organization’s name.”
Avos paused a little, resting his head against his hand, then continued, “It made me wonder what kind of Ability and intellect Akasa Naomi has. So I investigated it directly and found something rather interesting.” He smiled widely, sending a shiver down Mizuki’s spine.
Naomi’s ability. That was something Mizuki didn’t understand fully either.
When she tested Naomi’s body under the excuse of checking whether she was healthy or not, she also checked her daughter’s power level.
‘Did he find out about it? About Naomi’s test.’
Usually, some numbers would pop up on the monitor screen alongside her Esper rank. But when she did that, the result returned 0. Meaning Naomi was actually powerless.
No, powerlessness didn't cut it out. Her power level was 0, below an average human of around 10. It was something strange, but Melaine smiled for some reason. The twin-tailed girl said that Naomi was a natural.
Only two people shared this secret. So the possibility of it being leaked out was close to 0.
“Look at your expression, turned serious all of a sudden.” Avos calmly remarked, causing Mizuki’s body to jolt.
She made a beginner's mistake, showing her emotion to the other party because she was impatient. The Queen stayed silent all this time. She only observed the situation because she knew almost close to nothing about Akasa Naomi.
But then, she suddenly turned around in the direction of England’s capital, London.
“Ara.” She let out a happy voice, getting the attention of both Avos and Mizuki at the same time. She turned to Avos and said. “What you found out didn’t interest me a bit, Avos. Akasa Naomi’s ability? Isn’t it clear from the start?” The Queen mused as she pushed her chair back, standing up with grace.
“What do you mean, Your Majesty?” Avos asked, clearly interested in the Queen’s words. How could he not? He knew the Queen’s Ability. “If someone like you, who knows the secret behind an Esper’s ability, said something like that, surely you understand the extent of Akasa Naomi’s Ability, isn’t that so?”
“Obviously. I would never be interested in fighting against the Esper Association if I didn’t know about it.” The Queen smiled, then she approached Mizuki, propping her up her chair. “I know that even investigating Akasa Naomi’s ability only led you to something else. Then, allow me to tell you about her Ability.”
Mizuki looked at the Queen with a questioning gaze, while Avos seemed interested in hearing it. Finally, disregarding Mizuki’s questioning gaze, the Queen smiled warmly and said.
“Akasa Naomi’s ability is…”
Boom! Swoosh! Crash!
At that moment, a loud explosion rang in the distance, followed by a big shock wave that destroyed the glass window on the side.
The Queen kicked the table to protect themselves from the glass shard and pushed Mizuki down while Avos still sat silently. The glass shards couldn’t even hurt him as he always had his Ability active and covered his body 24/7.
Slowly, he turned around and saw a tall cloud of black smoke looming around the edge of the island. His smile fell from his face, then without looking at the Queen, he asked.
“So, what’s the ability of someone who dares to attack this place while knowing that I am still here? Tell me, oh Mind Reader.”
The Queen stood up, dusting her dress, and continued.
“It is as you have deducted and found. She’s the second Natural Esper who was born in this world. You will not be able to touch her, and she will be able to defeat you. If I need to give it a name, then she’s the Dreamer. Someone who can do anything that she imagined it to be. Her only limit is her imagination.”
“I see…” Avos stood up from his chair for the first time ever in their conversation and frowned. “Then I need to eliminate her. There is no need for two people who dreamed of being a Hero. Even more so if the world they want to protect differs from each other.”