The Guide is Actually a Body-Switching Esper [BL]-Chapter 76: Toxic Ooze

Lane woke up with a gasp, instantly jumping out of the bed. His stomach grumbled, as always when returning from possession, but he had no time to satisfy his hunger. The clock on the bedside table displayed 1:03. He was already late.

He quickly grabbed a pair of shoes, activating his cloaking ability as he slid them on, and rushed out through the balcony, charging toward Northwall Park with his Sky Step.

The park was quiet and dark, with no lamps to brighten the empty paths. Only some critters and the trees rustling could be heard. A peaceful and serene atmosphere.

Lane circled above the park, activating Mana Scan just so that he could spot Xavier more easily. As expected, the young man was there. A few minutes were not enough for him to leave the place...

But were enough for the hypnosis to wear off. The man had arrived, but now was no longer under the spell, looking around in confusion.

Well, it didn’t matter. As long as he was in the park, alone, things should still go just fine according to Lane’s plans.

Lane landed some distance away, out of Xavier’s line of sight, and deactivated the cloaking ability. Hypnosis required the target to look straight into his eyes, and that would be impossible when Lane was invisible. He approached the man...

"Who is it?!" At the sound of the soft footsteps, Xavier turned around, all alarmed.

"H-huh?" Lane paused in his steps, as if taken aback. "Uh... I guess I could ask you the same?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Um... Going for a walk? I couldn’t sleep, so... Wait, why am I even explaining myself?" Lane furrowed his brows. "What’s up with you?"

"Are you the one who brought me here?" Xavier asked, his voice carrying a note of anxiety. His body was all tense, standing with legs set a bit apart, and his knees lightly bent, ready to attack or defend himself at any moment.

So he realized. Well, it would be stranger not to notice that something was off, when he suddenly regained consciousness appearing in the park seemingly out of nowhere. It normally wouldn’t matter to Lane...

The problem was, Xavier was quite knowledgeable. He was avoiding Lane’s eyes, looking only at his lower body, and covering up his nose, therefore blocking two potential ways he could get hypnotized.

"...What? What do you mean?" Lane continued to play dumb. "I have no idea what you’re talking about. Are you... on drugs or something?"

"Yeah, right. I suddenly get dragged into an empty park in the middle of the night, and someone just HAPPENS to be passing by?" Xavier was not buying it.

"Hmm." Lane paused for a moment, scrutinizing the man with narrowed eyes. It wouldn’t be easy to convince him that he was innocent... So was there even a point trying?

Instead of engaging in any more pointless chatter, he stepped forward, approaching Xavier.

"Don’t get any closer!" Xavier yelled, raising his hand. It was covered in dark goo, sparkling with a yellowish-green glow. His ability, Toxic Ooze.

"...You know it’s illegal to use your abilities without authorization?" Lane pointed out calmly.

"Yh..." There was a brief hesitation, as Xavier withdrew his ability a bit... But as Lane continued to approach him, he reactivated it again. "S-so what! Aren’t you going to use your ability on me as well? So it’s self-defense!"

"I haven’t done anything."

"But you’re going to!" Xavier finally couldn’t take it any longer, and swung his hand, tossing the glowing ooze at Lane. Lane stepped away, making it pass right next to him, landing on the grass instead. The whole patch of grass instantly melted, leaving nothing but blackened soil behind.

"Hmm. Not bad." Lane nodded his head, the corners of his lips rising up a bit.

Xavier was in shock, at first. He wasn’t expecting himself to lose his cool, and use his ability against a person, and someone who potentially could be a civilian, despite the suspicious circumstances! However, seeing Lane dodge the sludge he threw, despite the short distance that separated them, only confirmed his suspicions.

No regular person could possibly move that fast.

"I knew it!" he yelled, attacking again. This time, sending a whole wave of sparkling goo Lane’s way.

"Eh..." Lane sighed, jumping up, so that the ooze passed underneath him. Then, activating Sky Step, he kicked off the air, to avoid another wave aimed at him. He sped up, making a flip in the air, and landed behind Xavier. He grabbed the man by the wrists, flipped him around, and threw him on the ground, straddling him.

"Ah! What the hell do you want!" Xavier wriggled around, trying to free himself, his eyes squeezed shut. Toxic Ooze continued to seep from his hands, flowing down onto the ground... and onto Lane’s hands, locked on the man’s wrist.

Lane couldn’t help but hiss in pain. Although the ooze wasn’t strong enough to melt a high-ranking Esper, it could still do some damage. His skin was all red and raw, blood seeping in through his damaged blood vessels. He had high fire resistance, and resistance to some toxic substances... But it seemed that Toxic Ooze was not one of them.

Not yet.

"Would you just open your fucking eyes already?" he muttered through clenched teeth, squeezing Xavier’s wrists tighter.

"No! You’re going to hypnotize me when I do, won’t you?!"

"Of course I won’t."

"Liar! Then what are you trying to do now?!"

Lane clicked his tongue. He couldn’t let this go on any longer. Although the park was empty, and it was late at night, it was still a public space. There was no telling when someone might actually appear, accidentally stumbling upon this scene...

"Fine. Then we’ll have to do it the hard way."

"Wha- Ah!" Xavier yelled, as electric current circled through his body. A moment later, his whole body turned limp, his muscles spasming lightly from time to time, and foam forming at his mouth...

"There. I should have done it from the start. What a drama queen..." Lane muttered, slowly getting up from the man. His hands were still in pain, but he ignored it for now, sweeping his eyes around the place.

There were traces of Toxic Ooze around the place. Later on, once it was discovered, the Association might connect it with Xavier...

Which would be troublesome. Lane couldn’t allow Xavier to get in trouble. Not when he was about to become ’Xavier’ himself.

He lifted his hand with a heavy sigh, activating his fire ability, and burning all the grass down. Fire was less of a unique ability, there were plenty of Espers who could use some variations of it. And most importantly, it couldn’t be connected to either Lane or Xavier in any way.

Once he was done with the cleanup, he threw Xavier over his shoulder, returning to his apartment. Since he left in a hurry, he had absolutely nothing on him, no Recovery Pill, no rope or handcuffs that could immobilize a B-ranker...

And above all, he was starving. He really wanted to at least grab a quick bite to eat before finishing up all of his business with Xavier.