[u][b]Lucas Schwarz -- Flabbergasted[/b][/u]

[i]What [/i]did she just say?

[b]"P-"

"[i]Punch[/i] you?!"[/b] he repeated dumbfoundedly, skidding to a halt not halfway from Morgan. Looking at his teammate as though she'd grown three heads, he turned halfway towards her, keeping the enemy still in his peripheral vision.

[b]"Are you sure?"[/b] He asked, preemptively deactivating one of his gauntlets. Didn't he have a Lieutenant to be punching instead? What could [i]possibly--[/i]

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e15VUsxqtbY]Wait.[/url]

It all dawned on him at once, and his eyebrows shot up in surprise. The simple beauty of Ciel's plan! An actual masterstroke, even under such confusing trials! And yet also so simple, he was kicking himself for not thinking of it already.

The order relied on exploiting the key differences in the illusions she was perceiving, and reality. What the illusion was causing her to perceive was that he was dead, which was simple enough. The Caster herself had clued him into that. However, that perception was brought into question by his own outburst moments later, a direct contradiction to Morgan's intentions. What she had perceived as reality had suddenly turned into one big question mark. 

Now, ordering his "dead" body to move-- what would in normal circumstances be a sad display of an unwillingness to accept his death would actually serve as the turning point as to whether or not they broke through the tinted lens placed over Ciel's eyes. 

That is, it put Morgan into a lose-lose situation. Illusions were only that. Illusions. They had no weight nor mass behind them, so if his "stand-in" complied with the order, she would be punched by nothing but air, especially something that had just been assumedly [i]shown[/i] to be dead.

[i]Enough for anyone to catch on. Now, if I myself were to run in and punch her, whatever I appear to be is now speaking with my voice and is following orders directed at me flawlessly. It can also punch her just like I can, thus proving that the illusory me is in fact, neither dead nor real, along with adding a jolt of pain to her nervous system. Proving the illusion wrong and adding a jolting, sudden stimulus to the nervous system, forcing it to break concentration. A combination that will always shatter a misguided perception of reality.

In other words, the jig is up no matter what happens.[/i]

[b]"All right. Sorry, but you asked for it, Ciel! [i]Here I come[/i]!"[/b] he shouted, sprinting towards her as if she'd taken his lunch money. Cocking that same unarmored fist back, he thanked her for placing such trust in him during desperate times...

And uncorked a half-powered punch straight into her bellybutton. Not hard enough to severely hurt her, but just enough for her to feel it, without any doubt.

He grimaced as he felt it connect. 

Again, she asked for it. But that didn't make having to "turn on" a teammate the most enjoyable of prospects.

[i]Sorry.[/i]