Saionji Mansion,
Japan
Covered in tiny cyan-colored bolts of lightning, Luke blurred in an underground training facility.
He was so fast that, other than his afterimages, trailed by crackles, nothing could be seen.
In the middle of the white-floored and white-walled empty hall, Sand coolly eyed the grown-up boy with fascination.
Suddenly, a fist blurred into existence just behind him.
A muffled boom echoed as Luke's fist, using Reinforcement, met a wall of sand.
Many punches followed the first one, and his presence was only felt by the walls of sand popping up around Sand.
Suddenly, Sand's brows twitched.
A thin string of sand, barely visible even on the white floor, tightened, coiling around Luke's feet just as he stepped on it.
Luke's brows shot up, Danger Intuition going haywire.
But, contrary to Sand's expectation, instead of snatching his leg away, Luke deactivated Reinforcement, letting the string of sand tighten itself around his ankle, drawing blood.
Simultaneously, Nyx's head snapped toward the assassin, her red pupils reflecting his figure.
Oh, shit! Sand cursed, instantly creating a huge, spherical shell of sand around him, preventing himself from falling under the effect of Delay.
Hiding himself from Nyx's vision wouldn't affect his control over the string of sand holding onto Luke's leg, anyway. So, making sure that Nyx could neither use Delay nor Exchange Positions on him, Sand tightened the sand-string even more.
With Nyx having Spot Heal as a Quirk, they could ignore light injuries.
Using the sand-string, Sand could tell that Luke was still there. "Give up!" he shouted, with a touch of sneer on his face. "I…"
BOOM!
It was like a meteor slammed onto the sand shell.
The blast sent all the sand flying, a massive blackness replacing the whiteness of floors and walls in Sand's eyes.
"Forget this Empress' true power, you mongrel?!" Nyx's voice boomed like a wyvern's growl.
It was true.
With the sheer number of Quirks at Luke and Nyx's disposal, Sand had almost forgotten that Nyx's original Quirk, Gigantification, was still there, her mastery over it the greatest.
Not to mention, with Reinforcement needing Nyx to maintain contact with Luke's body, it made the least sense for her to act on her own.
Or, so Sand had analyzed.
But Luke and Nyx never stopped surprising him with their unconventional and unpredictable fighting style. And it was all because of one fact — they both could think and act independently.
Grinning with a victorious smile and lifting her massive paw, she slammed it at the chest of a shocked Sand.
In the next moment, the entire man… disintegrated.
Luke and Nyx's Danger Intuitions triggered once again, with an even greater intensity than before.
From the space between them, the white floor gave in.
With blatant shock on his face, Luke realized that the sinking floor wasn't solid, but made of sand… white sand.
And all that became the tallest and pointiest spike as it lunged at Luke.
A drop of sweat dripped from Luke's chin, landing on the white spike's tip that had come to stop mere inches away from his throat.
Sand climbed up from the little hole and stretched his limbs, cracking his neck.
"… White sand?" Luke asked, canceling Gigantification as Nyx cursed.
The sand-spike disintegrated, the string of sand around his ankle letting him go as well. Both of course ignored Nyx's curses echoing against the white walls.
"Got it custom-made," Sand replied, drinking water. "Thanks to your father. Can change color, too."
Luke saw that the white sand wasn't much.
In the next moment, it changed to red before becoming yellow, green, and all the shades in between. It could only assume one color at a time, though. Still, for someone like Sand, who was a master of subterfuge, this could become the greatest trump card.
"What about the hole?" Luke asked, ignoring the stinging pain in his leg.
"Does it matter?" Sand asked, smiling.
"We were at the Blue Site yesterday," Luke clarified. "I asked you for a match just before returning to the Mansion, but only this morning did I decide on the site of the match. You couldn't have…"
"I meant…" Sand said, cutting Luke off and also clarifying. "Does it matter to a dead person?"
Luke's mouth flattened into a thin line.
Sand threw the water bottle toward Luke.
"Preparation is the key, Luke," he said. "Neither your enemy nor your friends would matter, as long as you have considered all possibilities. This hole… that killed you… It is everywhere, figuratively and literally.
"No one is sitting on their haunches, waiting for you to get them. Heroes, Villains, and all the goons in between are improving themselves constantly. It's your job to make sure that you have thought of their improvements — It's your job to survive. That's what you should be focusing on. Not playing the part of a kid…"
Luke sighed.
He knew Sand and his father disliked the idea of the upcoming Training Camp, which was only one week away now.
Luke couldn't find fault with them in this, though.
They were like those parents who thought their child was too perfect academically to be among mediocre students.
For them, the Training Camp was nothing but a sad excuse that would only hold Luke back.
Much better results could be obtained if UA would let Sand take Luke away on personal training… a proposal that Aizawa and All Might rejected right after hearing it.
"Well, not bad, I guess," Sand said, looking at Luke up and down. "I know you were holding back, but… It's alright. We will continue at the camp."
"You are coming, too?!" Luke asked, shocked.
Sand nodded. "Not only me," he said. "There will be other Pros as well. You must have heard what happened in the USA."
Luke nodded.
"Well…" Sand walked up to Luke, patted his shoulder, and walked toward the exit. "Let's hope the Villains attack you guys this time…"
Luke couldn't see Sand's face.
But, even then, he could see the assassin smiling…
… the same smile that Sand had shown just before beheading Brain Thief.
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