Chapter 589 - Economy Class (1/2)
”Hello, my name is Nik,” opening the door to the front seat, the apostle sat down and extended his hand towards a brown-haired, well-built man with slightly somber brown eyes but a jovial and an easygoing smile on his face. Taking his hand, the man in the plain black suit replied, ”Phillip Coulson but please call me Phil. And you really don't have to sit with me. I won't feel embarrassed if you take the back seat.” He advised only for Nik to strap on the seatbelt. ”Have you seen her glare? She would rip me apart, and not in a good way,” Nik stated while pointing at the slightly growling Ava. Why she was so angry, Nik didn't know. Maybe she had to keep her name up as White Tiger but... thinking of Moon, who was also white and a feline delight, Nik felt the anger misplaced. Tigers might just be peaceful, too, when they aren't hungry.
Gearing the car and pulling out, Phil remarked, ”Is there a good way to be torn apart?” His curiosity now piqued. He had heard about the quirky nature and an unnerving lack of fear when it came to Nik Minion. According to the reports, he crushed the orientation chip and even walked out on a gathered group of heroes while staying with an Ex-Agent of the organization whose ex-husband was disgraced as a traitor. So in the department, a certain bias was already set against the possible member of the team. ”Think about it for a moment. You meet this amazing girl who can change you completely. Or a strict parent that found out you're doing drugs and beat you into giving them up. You could say that they tore you anew.” There was a sincere lack of response to this particular statement as Nik thought for a moment. 'This kind of humor would break apart people from the traditional era...' His point being proven by the giggling Pure.
”I was assigned to 'you' after you accepted the mission,” Ava snorted, ”Agent Coulson is our handler for the duration and I am your 'bodyguard' since you clearly have no form of self-awareness to even accept such a dangerous mission. I would have asked someone else to take care of this but...”
”Ava was the only one free. She usually patrols the north of the city but the incident with the local PD has finally tensed the situation. Any person who looks suspicious is facing trouble as we speak.” Phil continued to drive with careful attention as Nik leaned back and took his smartphone out. ”You guys seem to know who massacred the precincts. Do I have to purchase a membership to learn about the situation?” Nik inquired further while opening his social media. It was fun, seeing so many people liking the pictures of cute pets. This had been his original motivation in the first place.
”Ava, can you show it to Nik?—” Before Ava could refuse and reveal her fangs once again for some reason, Phil continued, ”I'm driving and it would be good to have both of you guys occupied till we reach the airport. Then, you guys can be on your separate seats—”
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”I hate this,” Ava muttered with her arms crossed, her seatbelt strapped and the slider of the window open, revealing the bright sky and a layer of greyish cloud underneath their level of view. A little ahead of them, Nik could see Phil sleeping with a peaceful expression and this brought the most important question in Nik's mind. ”Why economy?” He whispered as he sat beside Ava, who turned to him and answered out of reflex. She had been doing so regarding the monster that attacked the precincts. ”This is government expenditure. Did you really think we'll have ourselves a personal jet?”
”To be honest,” Nik looked at her with a downcast expression, ”Yeah.” He didn't want to own a personal jet but ride it at least once. Just for the novelty. Jets were costly, easily destructible, and not really a great medium of transportation. Shifting through space was far better an option. ”Anyway, it's good what you did for Cindy. I never actually got around to thank you.”
”Why would you thank me?” Ava inquired, suppressing her irritation slightly. ”Why would anyone thank someone else?” Nik inquired. ”I just think that Cindy needed that sort of training. Didn't you look at her singing the most ridiculous tune yesterday? With a smile?!” He shook his head as the passenger sitting in front of him tilted his seat back, making Nik's expression bleak. 'Don't ruin my first experience in an airplane...' for a moment, Nik was tempted to control the guy's mind but he refrained while Ava turned her head towards the window silently. ”Yeah, she looked ridiculous yesterday,” Ava finally mumbled.
'Hmm? Did she control her emotions finally? Well... can't use my other abilities aside from daily life and s.e.x so... Sorry, Ava, for getting you a mission on 'that' day,' Mentally leaving a note of apology, Nik closed his eyes and spread his awareness alongside the tiny bit of Spatial energy. Finally, his mind had already processed how to build an airplane through the use of [Psychic Aptitude: S-]... a nifty skill if Nik might add. He could now build cars, houses, furniture, guns, and so many things. He did know all about their structure after all. 'Eh, who cares. It's not like I am just going to leave everything and build things now... well, not until I actually receive such a Karma in any of my travels.' Thinking for a moment, Nik decided to call for the air hostess. Ava, clearly, wasn't in the mood for a chat and her silence was already precious enough.
Sky, Lilith, Asmodeus, Pure, and Lola clearly had run out of things to discuss and would appear every now and then. Lola had completed her research on the spider and Nik's body. Currently, there was no way Nik could absorb the spirit bones without a large amount of spirit energy and even if Nik does gain that much of reserves in this life, all of it would be cut off by a large margin once Nik gets his real body back. This was merely a phantom physique with the only purpose to achieve the completion of Karma. During this time, Nik had begun another project. The fusion of a great number of items and weapons. Aside from a few items that held sentimental value to Nik such as the War Gauntlet that Shigure forged for him, Nik had started to fuse a lot of weaponry again and again.
[Nightmare Demon Pot (Incomplete): S-
Use: A pot infused with the insight of 'evolution' and 'fusion.' Two, or more items of similar origin can be fused with enough energy as a catalyst. Failure or success depends on the peculiarities of the items themselves.]
Now, Nik had a total of three products of the greatest value—
[Soul Ruler: A
An Item that is nurtured by the user's soul and its peculiarities. The size and weight of the ruler can be changed at will and only the user with their soul bonded with the Ruler can wield it.]
Instead of guns, despite Nik's affection, the apostle decided to beat enemies with an overpowered stick. The second item—
[Nine Blocks Potion: B+