Crazy Awakening: My luck can copy Talents.

"I’m playing with you, darling. Focus. The illusion isn’t just visual. It’s sensory. You’re going to hear footsteps that aren’t real. You’re going to smell things that aren’t there. You’re going to feel presences where there’s nothing."

Lira’s voice seemed to drift through the forest.

"And at some point, I’m going to attack you for real."

A pause.

"And you’re going to have to figure out what’s an illusion and what isn’t."

Adrián breathed in.

"Okay. Mask. Now."

He exhaled.

The Mask materialized above his head with the same natural ease he had learned the previous afternoon.

The black gloves fitted themselves around his hands.

His enhanced senses activated—

smell,

hearing,

the feeling of air moving against his skin.

And with those enhanced senses, the illusion became even denser.

Adrián smelled wet earth.

Decaying leaves.

And, very faintly, Lira’s jasmine perfume.

But the perfume was coming from three different directions at once.

He couldn’t triangulate her position.

Footsteps.

To the left.

He turned.

"Not here, darling~" Lira whispered into Adrián’s right ear.

Adrián snapped his head to the right.

Nobody.

"Not here either, darling."

Her voice came from above.

Adrián looked up.

And for half a second, he saw a feminine silhouette descending from the crown of a violet tree.

Long black hair flowing freely.

An expression of pure delight.

Both hands reaching toward him like a cat dropping onto a mouse.

Adrián raised his arms on instinct.

The figure passed straight through them.

No impact.

No sensation.

"An illusion, darling."

The real attack came from behind.

Low.

A kick to his right ankle that swept his balance out from under him and sent him pitching forward.

Adrián hit his knees in the mist.

He got back up quickly.

Turned.

Lira stood six feet away.

Serene smile.

Left hand resting on her hip.

Right index finger raised like a teacher giving a lesson.

"Darling. Rule number one when fighting an illusion manipulator."

Her smile deepened.

"Don’t trust your eyes."

She tapped her temple.

"Trust weight."

"..."

"Close your eyes."

Adrián hesitated.

"Close them."

He did.

And without sight, with the Mask enhancing his other senses, he began to notice things.

Lira’s perfume came from only one direction now.

Straight ahead.

The footsteps he had been hearing dissolved.

The air vibrated differently around her than it did throughout the rest of the room.

Adrián could feel—

very clearly—

exactly where she was.

"Good," Lira said. "Can you feel where I am?"

"Yes."

"Without opening your eyes..."

Her voice sharpened slightly.

"Hit me."

Adrián threw a right-handed punch directly toward the point where he sensed Lira.

His fist struck something soft.

Lira’s open palm.

"Good, darling."

Her fingers closed slightly around his fist.

"Very good."

She released him.

"Now open your eyes."

Adrián did.

The forest illusion was still there.

If anything, it seemed even more intense now that he could see it again.

But he knew exactly where Lira was.

"Darling, that’s the first lesson."

She smiled.

"Illusions fail against trained senses."

Then her expression became slightly more serious.

"Now we move to the second part."

"I’m going to attack you again."

"You’re going to try to counterattack."

"With Fool’s Luck."

She raised one finger.

"Push the outcome in your favor."

"Okay."

"Begin."

Lira disappeared.

Or at least the visible Lira did.

Adrián immediately closed his eyes again.

He searched for the perfume.

The vibration.

The weight in the air.

Nothing.

Lira had suppressed her sensory signature.

The illusion had spread to his other senses too.

"..."

"Adapt, darling~"

Her voice came from everywhere.

Adrián breathed.

"Luck."

"Fool’s Luck."

"I want."

"I want to find her."

"I want her to appear somewhere I can hit her."

"I want."

Nothing.

"I want."

An attack came from his right.

A kick to the ribs.

Fast.

Precise.

Adrián didn’t see it.

He only sensed it half a second before impact, when the pressure in the air changed.

He raised his arm on instinct.

Blocked half the kick.

The other half slammed into his ribs.

Adrián flew six feet backward.

Hit the mist-covered ground.

Rolled.

Got back to his feet.

It hurt to breathe.

"Darling. You can do better."

"...Okay."

"Fool’s Luck, Vega. Focus."

Lira’s voice surrounded him.

"Luck isn’t ’I want to find her.’"

A pause.

"Luck is ’I want to survive this.’"

Her tone turned almost instructional.

"Broaden your intent."

Adrián breathed.

Clenched his fists.

"I want to survive."

"I want to last the full three minutes."

"I want."

And something happened.

Nothing dramatic.

No explosion.

No flash of light.

Just a tiny shift.

Almost imperceptible.

A slight change in the temperature of the room.

A faint vibration in his left wrist—

exactly where he had worn Kenji’s bracelet before it had been consumed during Sariel’s attack.

And suddenly—

Adrián knew.

With a certainty that didn’t entirely belong to him.

Lira was on his left.

Not in front of him.

Not behind him.

Left.

Preparing her next attack.

Adrián turned at the exact right moment.

Threw out his left hand.

And Lira’s hand, hidden behind an illusion, slammed directly into Adrián’s open palm.

Silence.

The forest illusion flickered once.

Lira stood there with her hand pressed against Adrián’s palm.

She tilted her head.

Smiled.

"Darling~"

Her violet eyes gleamed.

"Did you feel that?"

"...I felt it."

"What did you feel?"

"I knew you were there."

"Good."

Lira pulled her hand away.

"That’s active Luck."

She raised one finger.

"Luck doesn’t tell you what’s going to happen."

"It pushes you toward the outcome you want."

"You wanted to survive."

Her smile widened.

"So Luck moved your arm at exactly the right moment."

Adrián looked at his hand.

"Now do it again."

Lira stepped backward.

"But this time, along with Luck, I want you to use your Fragment of the Moon."

"Create a defensive illusion."

"Anything."

"Distract me."

"...Okay."

"Begin."

Lira disappeared again.

And this time—

the room exploded with sound.

Wolves howling.

Footsteps racing across dead leaves.

The distant shriek of a nocturnal bird.

The wet breathing of some enormous animal.

Everything layered together.

Everything saturating Adrián’s enhanced senses at once.

He brought both hands to his temples on instinct.

"..."

"Okay."

"Focus."

"Luck. Illusion. Mask."

"All at the same time."

"I want."

He extended his right hand.

Focused on the little violet bird.

On the Fragment of the Moon he had copied.

"Appear."

Nothing.

"Please. Appear."

Nothing.

And at that exact moment—

Lira’s attack came from above.

From the ceiling.

Both hands open.

Aimed directly at Adrián’s chest.

Adrián raised his arms on instinct.

And in that instant of absolute panic—

the instant when his brain was processing only one coherent thought—

"This is going to hurt like hell."

—something inside him opened.

Something that hadn’t been open before.

And then something happened.

Something none of the four people in that room had expected.

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