Dreaming of Stars

by Gushy48

Sanji Inochi, a selfless man who is unable to use his Quirk—Dreams, being considered Quirkless. Through luck and seemingly-impossible odds, he finds his way to U.A. High School in Class 1-B. With what Life brings to 1-B, the society that they live in—the Hero Society—will forever be altered. (x-posted on AO3 and Quotev/bi-weekly schedule)

48. Hero Force Army

Beginning - Location: Behind the Gemini Hotels Near Mercer Beach

"Hey Shangdi, remember that you'll be by yourself here. It's guaranteed that you'll complete your objective with barely any scratches on that golden body of yours, even with being outnumbered about fifty to one. But there's a problem in our hands. We—"

"—We need to attract a few specific individuals, don't we, darling?" Lian replied, finishing what Hakan was about to say. "The Top Executives are the bulk of their fighting force. If we find a circus of those ruffians, then there'll surely be a ringleader. You're proposing that we're rigging who we'll meet, yes?"

With a smile, Hakan nodded. "That's right. I already picked out a location for you. You'll be waiting at the back of the hotel near Mercer Beach. Geten has an Ice Manipulation Quirk, and from what the lizard girl said, he's able to control the temperature of water. He can't ignore an infinite water supply just begging to be used."

Lian let out a small laugh, his eyes wandering towards his brother and the rest of the people he swore to protect. "It'll guarantee that Geten—that pretty boy—will come out and fight me. But what about Re-Destro? He's the Grand Commander for a reason, darling."

"I know, and stop calling me that," Hakan replied with a frown, "I'm not gonna say that he's an idiot, at least when it comes to battle theory. He'll know that you're a distraction, so he'll focus his attention elsewhere."

"In that case, it's just a simple matter of taking down these pesky little soldiers and hurrying to fight Re-Destro."

"Took the words outta my mouth. You're our biggest asset here, Shangdi. Without you, then damn, our odds wouldn't look so great."

"Why thank you. It means a lot from a stooge of the U.H.N. Anyway, since we have my location figured out already, let's talk about your team for a second, Aldemir. Why do you have three Pro Heroes with you and that Ishtar lady?"

"Well, what can I say? I like being protected…"

A vein bulged from Lian's head. He exhaled, trying to calm himself down before he did anything he'd regret.

Then, he inhales, transferring his mind back to the present.

"He's just...sitting there..."
"Is he meditating?"

"What do you think he's doing?"

"Don't be swayed by what he's doing. It's just a ploy to intimidate you. Shangdi might be a powerful Hero, but each of you are well-trained and well-organized. Our numbers are in our favor," Stalwart says, standing side-by-side with Geten alongside 40 Meta Liberation Army soldiers behind them. Compared to the average Japanese citizen, they're trained to use their Quirks. Some can say that each is capable of beating the average Japanese Hero. Even more so, they have two of their commanders with them. They have a stubborn woman that can be mistaken as an immovable object, and they have a man who's an unstoppable force.

They have 42 soldiers against one man.

Against one man who's currently sitting there, menacingly. Lian Fei-Long, Shangdi, sits on the asphalt in a typical position you would see a monk in. He isn't wearing much, just black sweatpants and that's it. His eyes are closed shut and his posture is relaxed, somehow being at peace despite the reckoning that's about to be reckoned. His body is completely still; the only thing that's moving is his long, flowing golden hair drifting in the wind.

It's only a few hours before midnight. The moon's standing right above their heads shining its spotlight on the stage. You can almost see the bits of dust hovering in the air, reflecting the moonlight.

Much like how the Spanish Civil War was just a "dress rehearsal" for World War II, this battle serves the exact same purpose; this will be a testing ground to measure the strength of Class 1-B against the strength of the Meta Liberation Army. One can argue that Class 1-B doesn't make up the whole of heroism, and they would be correct. They have barely any practical experience in their bones. The only weapon they possessed is their minds, and in that mind manufactured theories from their time in class. Yet against the Meta Liberation Army? Who has both practical and theoretical experience?

Class 1-B would lose if they didn't have the might of Lian, or the brains of Grandmaster, or any of the other Pro Heroes there.

Is this truly a snapshot for what's about to come? A loss for heroism?

Only the promised future holds the truth. What's certain is this: when cherry blossoms bloom, Class 1-B—alongside the strength of Class 1-A—will find themselves at the forefront of a new day.

Standing there as a witness to the testament of villainy, heroism watches and watches as it all comes crumbling down.

So maybe this battle does in fact foreshadow future events. Izuku Midoriya may be fighting against Wolfram, a man seduced by power, yet Wolfram pales in comparison to an organization who allured thousands with ideology.

The only question is: Where does Sanji Inochi stand?

Lian Fei-Long opens his eyes, acknowledging the soldiers in front of them, each poised to strike yet none are courageous enough to follow through. They dare not to go against the command of the Top Executives. They look towards Geten. He raises his hand, doing a circle motion with his finger. Upon his order, they do exactly that: surround Lian and cut off any chances to escape. Although, it's naive to think that Lian has any intentions of escaping. It's almost insulting to think that Lian would flee; that would go against everything he stands for. Well, he isn't exactly standing right now. That's why he stands up from his sitting position, stretching his arms and legs casually, creating a juxtaposition compared to the serious faces the soldiers are wearing. t. Addressing the commanders of this group, he throws out his arms and bows in an exaggerated fashion. "Geten and Stalwart, you darlings only brought 40 soldiers with you? I'm flattered. I never knew you valued me so much. It makes a man blush, and let me fill you in on a little secret: I'm positively glowing."

He sighs, remembering that he has to report this to the others. Taking out his walkie-talkie, he says, "Darlings, this is Delta. For your information, I'm facing 40 soldiers and two of their commanders. The pretty boy's here and so is the pretty woman who is not Curious. Wish me luck!" He puts it inside his sweatpants, facing the two commanders. You were right, Aldemir. Despite my feelings about the United Hero Nations, you're actually competent at your job.

Stalwart narrows her eyes at Lian. She's one of the smartest Top Executives, a master at battle theory. She can deduce a man's weakness just from a glance alone. However, as much as she's trying to analyze Lian, she finds nothing. He's seemingly a man without weakness. "Reporting our numbers to the others? I suspected that you purposely divided your forces so we could divide ours.

Lian nods, confirming what she said. "Mhm. It's only natural that we try and divy you up, you beautifully disgusting soldiers. After all, you have the numbers. In a straightforward battle, we would lose."

"That's surprising considering you're one of the most powerful Heroes in the world, Shangdi. Moving on though… Tell me something, the group trying to escape right now… Do they actually have the flash drive or are they bluffing?" she asks, and Lian shrugs.

"You'll have to wait until one of your own finds out," he answers, but curiously enough, Stalwart smirks. That's a smirk of someone who knows they're about to win; that's a smirk of someone enjoying another's ignorance. Sighing, Lian scratches his neck, keeping a note of it for later. He looks over at Geten and gives him a wide smile. "Anyhow, I'm glad to see this pretty little darling here. How are you—?"

"Don't call me that," Geten spits, his voice being sharp and curt, "I thought with the amount of academically gifted students in your care, you wouldn't pick the only place where I have a natural advantage. Is it me, or is their stupidity is starting to reach levels of absurdity? They say that our cause—"

"Oh darling!" Lian exclaims, intentionally riling up Geten more than he reasonably should. "Our cause this, our cause that, you're like a broken record stuck on repeat. We know what kind of people you are. My young, aspiring Heroes are smarter than what you take them for, both in the books and on the street."

"Really?" Geten asks. "That's two bold claims you're making. I wonder what you think about us, Shangdi. A Chinese man telling a Japanese man what they think, how arrogant."

Lian puts a hand on his hip, pacing back and forth looking around at everyone here. "Wow darling, I like to think I'm honorary Japanese, first of all. And second of all, this cause of yours is riddled with hypocrisy. I read your Meta Liberation War written by the first Grand Commander. Chikara Yotsubashi proclaims that free Quirk use is a basic human right, and to fight for that right, he becomes a terrorist—"

"He wasn't a terrorist, you dog!" Geten shouts daggers into Lian. Immediately, the rest of the soldiers are put on edge, glaring at Lian for slandering their founder. To think that Chikara Yotsubashi, their glorious Grand Commander fighting for liberation, is a terrorist? That's far from the truth. It's far from their truth. "He was fighting for liberation against the restrictive regimes of governments all around the world! He believed that no one should be held in chains just for the Meta Ability they were born with! He was a fighter for true freedom!"

"That's right! We're fighting to be free!"

"We don't need fuckers like you around!"

"You Hero scum are the real villains here!"

"Hero piece of shit!"

"We aren't meant to be slaves to the system!"

Hearing the harsh words coming from the soldiers, Lian blows air out of his mouth, clearly annoyed by this. "Haha, I understand darlings, but his book is philosophical garbage. After all, a man's philosophy is a window into his character, so am I calling your precious leader 'garbage?' Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. He proclaims himself a victim of government oppression, and clearly, you all believe that you're victims too. Chikara believes that the entirety of a person's worth is their Quirk, so if the government restricts that, then naturally they're oppressing the people. I—"

"—What's your point here?" Stalwart asks. "They are oppressing the natural rights of the people. We were given Meta Abilities for a reason, and for the stooges sitting at the top to say 'Go to hell' for what?! Just so they can give that right to their brainwashed idiots who do everything they say without question?! The same idiots who propagate the same propaganda to create more of the useful idiots to uphold a failed society?! Pro Heroes are just tools used by the government because they know they're weak! They built a house of cards that's ready to topple at any moment!"

"Fuck Heroes!"

"They're upholding a society that's bound to fail!"

"They're creating their own freaking Villains!"

"Why should we have to listen to a Chinese schmuck about this?!"

"Yeah, they have no right to criticize us. China has it worse!"

Lian puts a hand on his neck. This conversation is getting more hostile by the second. "Ah, the hypocrisy, the hypocrisy… Telling the world that they're the victims, then in their terrorist attacks, they create victims. They ignited fires so the people can hear their voices, yet all anyone could hear was the fire—"

—The dragon tattoo on Lian's body begins to glow with the same shimmer as the shining sun: golden and fierce. "He was obsessed with the concept of 'Meta Ability', seduced by the possibility of strength. He had the word inked in each and every page. From his words, he was inspired by Sauer's ideals and sought after a world where your Meta Ability and your Meta Ability only will determine your place in the world—that's Quirk supremacy. You are not fighting for freedom, you are not fighting against oppression, and you are not victims. Your founder is just a man who was upset that he wasn't the oppressor. Your entire movement is built on deceit and hypocrisy, saying that you fight for freedom while you fight to take away just that to the whims of the strong—"

WHOOSH!

A gust of wind rushes throughout the battlefield from the activation of Lian's Quirk—Astral—prompting yelps and swears from the soldiers around him. He has his right hand extended to the side practically beaming with pure, concentrated power. With his piercing gaze, he sets his eyes upon Geten and Stalwart.

"—A world where the strong preys upon the weak is a world I'm willing to incite destruction in—"

GOLDEN ASTRAL FIVE: SHINING LIMBS - REED-CUTTING BLADE!

With 5% of his power, Lian slashes the air with his right arm, emitting a sweeping ten meter long golden blade that charges forward faster than the average man can think. No, that isn't true. It's faster than the average Hero can think, something so fast that only the Top Hundred of Heroes could even have a chance to react. The power of his attack seems to tear through the air, creating an ominous and callous sound that rattles the ears of the soldiers witnessing this rather simple display of power. Not only will Geten and Stalwart are caught in its range, but so are a few of their soldiers.

"—Stalwart!" Geten shouts for his ally, stepping back with a tsunami of ice already encroaching on the battlefield all the way from Mercer Beach. However, Lian's attack will attack them first.

Stalwart replies, "—Right—!"

FWOOM!

Stalwart activates her Quirk, throwing her arms out and emitting a blue barrier in a hexagonal pattern composed of ten "plates". The barrier spans the length of Lian's Reed-Cutting Blade, enlarging itself to take the impact of the rushing attack.

WA-CRACK!

The energy attack collides with the barrier with a crack that almost sounds like the world is tearing by the seams. Plate after plate, it shatters like feeble glass. Stalwart underestimated just how strong Lian's attack was, but luck is on her side. The attack didn't push through the barrier, so everyone behind the line is safe—for now that is. Lian smirks, seeing Stalwart's Quirk in action—Bulwark. He taunts, "There's your Quirk, darling! A Barrier-type in action, absolutely breathtaking!"

Bulwark is a Psionic Barrier-type Quirk, meaning the barrier that Stalwart creates is telekinetic in nature. Unlike other Psionic Barrier-type Quirks, Bulwark creates "Bulwark Plates", which are the blue hexagons as described before. They aren't a single shield restricted to a certain shape, like a dome, but rather "jigsaw pieces" that can come together and form a suitable wall for each occasion. With each plate, she can control the area of the plate; she can even move her Bulwark Plates around the battlefield using telekinesis within a twenty meter radius. Any more than that and the Bulwark Plate will disappear. Due to Stalwart's training—after all, she's a Top Executive in the Meta Liberation Army—her Bulwark Plates can be as hard as striking graphene—the strongest material on Earth; although, she can't maintain this level of hardness for very long. She can have up to fifty Bulwark Plates at one time. However, her greatest limit is her mind. Her mind can only take so much before it will be strained.

I have to give my respect to the pretty lady. Out of all of the Barrier Quirks I face, hers have the possibility to withstand my stronger attacks. If only she wasn't a Villain, I might just fall in love with her, Lian thinks to himself, smirking as Stalwart's Bulwark Plates fly around the battlefield in unpredictable motions.

Behind Lian, Geten's tsunami of ice reaches the field, casting a large shadow over everyone. Lian turns his head slightly to the side, then frowning, completely unimpressed with his attempt. A sphere no larger than a tennis ball—a "Bauble"—of golden energy externally manifests behind Lian's head about 7% of his total power, and within an instant, it launches itself in the form of a long golden bolt that collides with the tsunami with an ice-shattering crash, both literally and figuratively. All of Geten's ice shatters and is wholly destroyed, and all that's left is an icy mist that escapes from the collision, spreading throughout the field like fog, limiting the vision of everyone inside.

The sounds of ice clouds the rest of the other sounds. At first, the sounds are in front of Lian, then they're right beside him, above him, behind, and before he knows it, he hears ice forming in every single direction.

—PSSSSH!

PSSSSH—!

—PSSSSH—!

Around his body, ten Baubles manifest themselves at 5% power each, ready to be fired at a moment's notice. They revolve around him almost like a large halo around his body. This is an example of his Quality of Astral—the quirk of his Quirk—External Manifestation. He can discharge energy attacks from his body, but with External Manifestation, he isn't limited to only his body, but has an additional two meters in radius around him. His physical body is the "primary energy emitter", and with External Manifestation, anything created in a two meter radius is a "secondary energy emitter"; this would be his Baubles. The attacks made by his Baubles are weaker compared to attacks emitted by his body. With his Baubles, he can move them around within his range, but as soon as he activates them, he no longer has control. And now, Lian is simply waiting for a reason to trigger them.

And just after that thought, as soon as the icy mist starts to dissipate back into the cold, night air, the problem makes itself readily apparent: Geten has his ice approaching Lian from all angles. Just like before, it's akin to a tsunami strong enough to take down a building. The Baubles stop revolving behind Lian's back, instead expanding outwards into a dome that covers Lian and Lian alone. Then—!

—GOLDEN ASTRAL FIVE: DIVINE SHIELD - DRAGON'S DEFENSE!

The same move he used to clear out the Shadow Villain's Quirk, the dome rapidly expands outwards, clearing out Geten's wave of ice all around Lian. The asphalt beneath everyone's feet cracks, and even the ground itself begins to break and tear apart. With his body angled towards Geten's direction, from the soles of his feet—!

LAUNCH!

Lian launches himself forward and takes chunks out of the asphalt, propelling himself using his Quirk while his dome is expanding. No one on the outside can see him charging forward; all they can see is his dome growing and growing. One would think that Lian will run into his own attack, yet they'd be wrong. Lian knows the duration of each of his attacks by heart, even accounting for how much of his total power he used. When Dragon's Defense dissipates, it'll be just before he collides into it. By then, it'd be almost impossible to react because he'll be mere moments away from reaching Geten.

That's what he's counting on.

"Oh darling—!" he says in a laughing voice with his right arm held back. His dome disappears just before he runs into it, and Geten is standing right on the other side.

Geten stammers, "—H-How did you—?!"

—GOLDEN ASTRAL FIVE: GOLDEN HAND—

"—Wave!" Thrusting his right palm forward, he aims his strike right in the center of Geten's chest. Wave differs from Palm of the Emperor, where the latter emits a hand-shaped energy attack from a range. With Wave, Lian discharges energy right before the moment of impact with his palm strike, letting Astral power his palm strike instead of being the attack itself.

Cruising through the air—

WA-CRACK!

WHOOSH!

—His palm strike hits a Bulwark Plate encompassing a large area, creating a crack right down the middle but not shattering it. Just barely, Stalwart protected Geten. Any moment too late, Geten would have his ribs broken. Lian grits his teeth, a little disappointed that his attack didn't hit its mark. Well then, that pretty little lady can react fast enough to block my attack? To protect her pretty little partner? Let's experiment whether or not she has the strength to do such a thing!

From the wind and energy generated from Wave, it momentarily staggers everyone around Lian, including Geten and Stalwart if they aren't already staggered enough by his Super Move. Before anyone can react, Lian spins around and lifts his left leg up, his feet pointed downwards like a blade—

—GOLDEN ASTRAL TEN: SHINING LIMBS - GILDED SCYTHE!

Lian does a downwards kick right onto the cracked Bulwark Plate protecting Geten. The plate isn't at its toughest point since a 5% attack cracked it, so with a more powerful strike like Gilded Scythe at 10%, Lian easily cleaves through the plate and shatters it whole. The momentum drags his leg downwards with the front of his foot crashing into the ground first. From the arc of his kick however, a golden crescent is emitted from his left leg.

FWOOM!

"Geh—uh—?!" Geten lets out a pained moan, his body being launched back at least twenty meters. He stops himself by placing an ice wall behind him, panting heavily with his parka split open revealing a heavy shirt underneath. Gilded Scythe, much like Reed-Cutting Blade, emits an energy attack in the shape of the arc of his physical actions.

Stalwart shouts, "Geten—Ah?!"

—SLAM!

THUD—!

Lian doesn't give Stalwart any time to think; he attempts to slam his palm into the side of Stalwart's head, but like before, she protects her own head by forming a Bulwark Plate there. Any blow that she takes from Lian, it'd mean her defeat right then and there. Her Quirk might be the epitome of durability and defense, but her physical body is anything but that. Yelling at the top of her lungs, she exclaims, "—Why don't you back off—?!"

PUSH!

Controlling a Bulwark Plate right in front of her, she telekinetically controls it and slams the plate right into Lian's chest, forcing him back. Her eyes frantically glance around to the frightened soldiers around her who're standing around terrified at Lian's strength. "Why are you just standing there?! Kill him!"

"R-Right! C'mon, we need to show our strength!"

"Your commands are absolute!"

"You never should've challenged us!"

Seems like the small fries are finally joining the game now. I almost feel sorry for them, Lian thinks just as he breaks the Bulwark Plate pushing him back by just simply punching it a few times. He takes a few steps back and finds himself being the target of 40 soldiers, all with their own unique Quirks.

Some of their Quirks are close-ranged, some are ranged, some are Mutations, some are Emitters, and so on. To try and deduce each and every Quirk would take forever. There's no time to figure out each and every Quirk, let alone having enough clues to do so at first glance. However, these are just grunts in the Meta Liberation Army. Compared to him, they're ants.

That's why, from the very beginning, they never stood a chance.

—KRRRRR!

—CHH! —CHH!

FWWSH—! FWWSH—!

The area gets adorned with golden light and the sounds of battle. The arrogant soldiers belonging to the Meta Liberation Army get flung into the air, get pushed back, get embedded into the asphalt, and everything else Lian puts them through. He can simultaneously fire bolt-like attacks from his Baubles and fight elegantly with martial arts, kicking a soldier in the chest in one move and firing a bolt into a soldier in another.

Even then, he's holding himself back. His Quirk causes too much collateral damage. He'd prefer to end this fight with a single move but that would result in destroying a large part of the area. Yet here, he already destroyed it. In just a few minutes, you wouldn't be able to recognize that this place is a backlot. All across the lot, there are tears that rip the ground apart like a literal god descended from heaven.

But yet, despite the overwhelming odds, the Meta Liberation Army are too stubborn to admit defeat. Stalwart is constantly shielding her soldiers from harm, flying her Bulwark Plates all over the battlefield; it's amazing how she's even able to keep up with the sheer volume of attacks and react to them accordingly. She lifts her ranged fighters into the sky, making them ride on top of her plates. They fly around circling Lian like vultures, firing a myriad of projectiles after projectiles with a constantly changing flight path to make themselves unpredictable. They force Lian to constantly be on the move, propelling himself into the air with them and achieving pseudo-flight. He fires back at the ranged attackers with Astral, vibrating the air with each emission and discharge.

However, Lian isn't hit once in this chaos.

That's when Geten makes his mark. From the sidelines, he's been resting after getting struck by Gilded Scythe. With his Ice Manipulation Quirk in hand, he storms forth and gathers ice from Mercer Beach, his eyes having the same light as a roaring fire. "—Shangdi—!"

Using the ice, just like how Stalwart elevated her soldiers using Bulwark Plates, Geten lifts himself in the air, standing on a floating platform of ice while a massive, absolutely gigantic sea of ice behind him about the same size of a city-wide block. Despite the sheer size of the thing, it's chaotic and unshaped as if it's a personification of Geten's rage.

—CRACK!

CRACK—!

—CRACK—!

The ice even finds its way underground, breaking through the soil, through the asphalt, and emerging as ice spikes from below. Because of his actions, Stalwart sends her plates to everyone still on the ground, which are mainly close-combat fighters, and sends them away as Geten creates his magnum opus right before everyone's eyes.

Everyone stops and witnesses his creation, in awe of what he built. The gargantuan sea of ice is no longer a chaotic swirl of inelegant ice, but rather an art piece deserving to be put on display. It's about the same size of one of the twins in the Gemini Hotels—the size of a 60-floor building. But what is the creation exactly? Before, that was Geten's uncontrolled anger towards Lian. Now… His creation still embodies anger, yet it's controlled—driven for a single purpose and a single purpose only, like a determined apex predator aiming to catch its prey.

And that… And his creation, standing right in front of Lian's eyes, is a dragon. This dragon is Geten's—

LIBERATION OF OKAMI!

It's almost mocking, honestly. Lian has a dragon tattoo on his body, and here's Geten, creating an ice dragon the size of a building. Still soaring through the air, he claps, impressed with Geten's fine degree of control over his Quirk. "Darling, you finally joined the fight. I was dying to see what you could really do with an infinite supply of water."

Despite Lian's cheery voice, there's worry dwelling in his chest. That's a big hassle to take down. I'll definitely be able to destroy Geten's dragon before it can do any harm, but what happens afterwards? I'll have to deal with him and everyone else at the same time; it'll be more chaotic than before. I'm trying my best to reserve my strength before I'm forced to chase down Re-Destro and a couple of other problems. In any case, the faster I defeat these ill-sighted goons, the better.

Geten smiles underneath his hood with his beast behind him, ready to strike. "That was your biggest mistake, even if it was intentional. You underestimated just how skilled I am with my Meta Ability. We in the Meta Liberation Army strive to attain this level, and allow me to demonstrate exactly why we will take down Japan by its foundations."

Pointing forward, the dragon charges at Lian, opening its mouth like it's actually alive. The rest of the soldiers, including Stalwart, can only stare and watch as the dragon comes for Lian; this image seems like it's been ripped out from a myth where the grand warrior is slaying the evil dragon.

Lian, the grand warrior, smiles. There's no doubt in his muscles, no anxiety in his bones. The only thing he has is courage and certainty that he'll destroy Geten's beast right here in front of the other soldiers' eyes.

—RRRRRRR!

LAUNCH—!

Lian dashes towards the dragon before pulling his body back. Just about five seconds before the dragon reaches him, he thrusts his arms forward. His entire body glows and lights up with an indomitable spirit. Seemingly levitating in the air, he stands himself upright, his eyes focused against his enemy, charging a powerful attack.

What a foul beast, made from ice mimicking life. I should be insulted that you dirtied the image of a ferocious dragon, using it as a symbol of your liberation, Geten. A dragon the size of a building, a dragon with the might of an army, and a dragon who isn't nearly as arrogant as you are.

"—Golden Astral Fifty—"

Liberation, liberation… You Villains are all the same. Fighting for a righteous cause and using it as an excuse to tear down society as a whole. How despicable. To tell you the truth, I wasn't born with this wisdom. I was created just to be the strongest Pro Hero; my birth was constructed with ulterior motives other than to enrich this world.

"—Enlightened Domain—"

In a way, I'm slightly envious of you. Re-Destro is clearly your mentor who influenced your body and mind. I was taught the ways of the world with books written thousands of years ago in a different world so I could be wise, but how? I'd be a scholar of old, not a scholar of the present. But once I stepped foot into the reality, that's when I taught myself where the wind blows. If I was created—created like a marionette doll—to be a Pro Hero, then dammit all, I'd rather be a marionette with a sharp mind than go without.

You say you want liberation, then I'll kindly show you exactly that. I'll give you liberation from your arrogance, liberation from your evils, and better yet, liberation from your own wickedness!

Before the gods, before Buddha, I stand—!

"—Twin Dragons—!"

—RRRRRRRR!

FWRRRRR—!

—CRASH—!

Twin golden dragons emerge from Lian's body, quickly growing to match the size of Geten's own disastrous monster. They swirl around each other like a spiral, shaking the air, the earth, all aspects of the world around them with a roar. Everyone watches as the three beasts—two born from spirit and one born from ice—collide in the air with indescribable sounds that none have witnessed before.

The sight of such a massive collision and the shockwaves that come with forces everyone back except for Lian, who's perfectly used to the shockwaves that accompany his Quirk. He watches as his own creations who, just like him, were created out for his love for heroism and the world.

So of course…

So of course his dragons triumph over Geten's. In the battle of pure virtue clashing against arrogance disguised as righteousness? It's only natural that Lian would win. It isn't even a close battle. Compared to the beast, Lian is an ant who doesn't have the spirit of a giant, but rather the spirit of a planet itself.

Geten gasps, shocked that one of his most powerful Super Moves were destroyed so easily using just 50% of Lian's total power. And with the look on Lian's face, he doesn't seem too exhausted by the fact either. For the entire fight, he never went above 10% except in this moment. "You—?!"

"Hush now, darling. You made me use 50% of my Quirk to destroy that dragon of yours into a fine mist. Any less and I would have ice shards flying all over the place, and that's a little too messy for my taste." He frowns. "I'm sorry about all of this, but you're in the way of my brother's journey. You're in the way of his friends' journey. And that…"

"That is unacceptable."

When his battle is over, he would defeat all 40 soldiers alongside their commanders, Stalwart and Geten, without going over 25% of his total power.

---

Setsuna Tokage - Location: Entrance

"Here they are, Lizardry. This is honestly somewhat exhilarating. To think that a class of Hero Students, plus a few Japanese Pro Heroes, a powerful Chinese Hero, and an official from the United Hero Nations would team up to battle against the second coming of the Meta Liberation Army. This is just as exciting as a movie, if I am frank."

"No, you aren't frank, you're Okichi Tokugawa," I reply, being my beautiful, snarky self. I know it's a terrible joke, but I too have my flaws. Sometimes my jokes don't stick, and y'know what? That's perfectly fine. Anyway, I need to report this to Hakan and the others. Taking out my kinda-bulky walkie-talkie, I speak into it, "Hey hey my beautiful people, this is your queen, Lizardry. Our friends are approaching the entrance to the hotel as we speak. The commanders present are Curious, Indignation, and Trumpet. From eyeballing their soldiers, I'd say there's 65."

Three commanders in charge of 65 soldiers. Hoo boy, this will be a rough battle for sure, especially since it's just the two of us. Honenuki and Togaru are nowhere to be seen, they deserted us—ah that's a lie, hehe. They're in their positions ready to strike when the time comes. Me and Okichi are just the M.L.A.'s welcoming party. In fact, Team Lizardry is the welcoming party. Team Hayami is their appetizer and Team Phantom Thief is their main course. We're taking them out bit by bit by bit. A full-on battle is stupid. There's only a few people who're powerhouses, like Lian. Fighting 125 soldiers—me and Okichi spied on them earlier using our Quirks and got their exact numbers—alongside seven commanders, including Re-Destro, would be hard even for him.

Almost immediately, Aldemir responds, "Roger that, Lizardry. Is everything ready on your end? You're not in contact with Jack Mantis and Mudman."

I nod, but he can't see that so I don't know why I even nodded in the first place. "Yup and yup. Don't worry, they know when it's showtime. I planned this myself, Mister Aldemir. You're just witnessing my genius."

"...Uh huh. Don't get too cocky. You know when you need to retreat. Is everyone else on Alpha hearing this?" he asks.

Momma Kendo speaks up, "Loud and clear. Everything's ready for us."

Then Monoma chimes in, "Mhm. We are prepared to face our enemies, Mister Aldemir! But I'm worried though. We don't know the location of Vainglory and Re-Destro along with twenty soldiers." Yeah, just earlier, Lian told us that he's fighting forty soldiers, Stalwart, and Geten. I honestly expected that Re-Destro would show up and be a part of the main fighting voice. Since he's not… I'm worried.

I ask Aldemir, "Hey Aldemir, did Battle Fist report her numbers yet?"

He sighs. "Not yet. She's gone silent ever since she went out. Don't worry about her though. Focus on your mission and everything will fall into place."

"Got it. Lizardry signing off. See you guys on the other side," I say, turning off my walkie-talkie and giving it to Okichi. Dammit Itsuka, you better give us a report soon. We need you almost as much as Sanji needs you; we all know how much you two deserve each other. Your romance can't end here!

Operation Hero Force Army, as much as I wanna say that it's a masterpiece, was kinda rushed. The deal we made gave us a 45-minute grace period, and we spent most of the time planning and setting up. Out of my friends, I'm the only one who's actually wearing my Hero Costume. I can fight without it, but uh, I'd be fighting naked and I don't wanna do that. I draw the line at fighting nude. I'm not Mirio Togata.

Okichi clears his throat, letting me know that I should focus on the immediate issue of Villains-who-wanna-liberate-us-from-living. The Meta Liberation Army stops a fair bit away. At the entrance of the Gemini Hotels, there's a roundabout for some reason. In the center is a beautiful flower garden. My team moved some metal barricades and blocked off the roundabout, pretty much making a perimeter and marking our territory. Don't worry, these barricades are inscribed with Nordic runes that can freeze any outside forces. They totally aren't just normal metal barricades that will do jack all, and only guys who're afraid of metal barricades will get stopped by them.

Stepping up just a little bit, I give the commanders up front a nice little wave. They're actually kinda far away so I need to speak louder. "Looks like you brought a party to this shindig! I'm impressed that you have such numbers to take back a small little flash drive!"

Trumpet, being the guy to speak to, steps up to the barricade in front of him with his hands behind his back like he's prepared to give a speech. "You children who don't know the ways of this world, we gave you a chance to surrender yourselves peacefully and now you forced our hand! Worry not, my good men and women, we shall liberate you of your naivete and ignorance by introducing our wisdom to your still-growing minds! With our numbers, we will lay siege to your precious hotel and retrieve what is rightfully ours. If what is ours is in your possession that is, or in the arms of a certain few of you are fleeing away draped in cloaks."

I shrug. Koku Hanabata has a penchant for dramatic flair. No wonder he's a politician. He can sing sweet words into your ear with a dagger behind his back. I don't think there's a virtuous heart in him at all. "Who knows? We could have decoys, Trumpet. In this world filled with more information than there are ants, it's not a bad idea to carry flash drives around. Who's to say that there aren't at least five flash drives in our possession right now including the one you want? That's something you need to find out, my good sir."

I glance at Okichi, who's listening into the conversations on their end. He shakes his head. Just like we expected. They're communicating without words, signals, nor gestures. All of them, soldiers and commanders alike, are staring at us with dangerous intent, almost like they're about to reenact the Salem Witch Trials.

Our glorious little conniving politician frowns at my comments, clearly displeased at how difficult I am. "Well then, we'll find out one way or another, won't we, Setsuna Tokage? Us followers of the Meta Liberation Army will defeat you in the name of our inspiring commander, weakening the foundations of Hero Society until we collapse it altogether. Tell me, what kind of traps have you laid out for us? You're surely not the only two we will be fighting against."

Okichi nods. "Your intuition is correct, Trumpet. You have the same kind of deductive reasoning as the average person; congratulations, you figured out what most people would've with just a single glance. I applaud you and your efforts. Your mission is complete, you might as well go home and live out the rest of your days as an imbecile who thinks himself as an intellectual."

I won't lie, sometimes Okichi comes up with the most pretentious, but oddly fitting insults.

Anyway, I should address Trumpet's concern for traps, because he's right. We made a bunch of traps. "Unless you can force an answer out of us, we won't be telling you about our traps. Like for example, the metal barricades in front of you are specifically made to electrocute you when you touch them."

Trumpet laughs. "Really?"

"Yup. They'll also force you to spit out your credit card number," I sarcastically say. "Like we need more money than we already have, heh. But really, I dare you to pass the barrier. Who knows what will happen? Maybe you'll be crushed by Buddha's palm from above?"

Before Trumpet can reply, Indignation shoves him out of the way, his teeth seething with anger. The soldiers react the same way. They are trying their best to not let anger overcome them. Even Curious is affected by it. Indignation reprimands us, "Stop acting like such a brat, little girl! Someone oughta put you in your place, and that's us! There's no way in hell that a class of inexperienced kids brainwashed from birth will ever come close to the Meta Liberation Army! Our Meta Abilities put you in the dust!"

Indignation turns towards his soldiers and yells, "Come on! Give 'em no quarter! They can't do anything to hurt us!"

"Don't act too rash, Indignation—!" Too bad Trumpet and Curious can't stop their impulsive friend, because already, their soldiers are running at the barricade and going over them, charging into the roundabout. Some soldiers, about three of them, are able to fly. One of them is flying with some sort of air-based Quirk, one is a Flying Squirrel, and there's a cloud of Mist coming at me. Well then, those are some interesting Quirks.

Especially Indignation. Do you wanna know why Okichi heard no communication between the soldiers? Why did everyone look angry when he was angry? That was his Quirk! His Quirk is Hivemind! He can telepathically connect all of his allies' minds, making them share a single mind as a collective, and Indignation is the king! They can telepathically share information with one another. But also, everyone feels the same emotions. Though, the effect varies on the person. Henchmen don't have a dramatic effect on the Hivemind, but strong-willed individuals like Curious and Trumpet can; of course, the one who has the biggest effect on them all is Indignation himself. The only way to break the Hivemind is to break the man who has the Quirk. On the Quirk Registry List of Japan, they say that his telepathy limit is kinda small, but that isn't true. He increased that limit, and we have no idea where his limits are.

My oh my, how can we ever fight this off? We got soldiers with amazing Quirks coming at us being led by commanders with even more amazing Quirks! We don't have the experience fighting Villains; all we have is our books. I'm totally not being sarcastic right now!

Because I get a little reminder of what Honenuki said. "Here's the thing, Tokage… These guys at the Meta Liberation Army? They might boast that each soldier has the same fighting capacity as a single Hero, but that's worthless. We're at U.A., both of us are Recommendations Students. Even though we barely have a lick of experience, we're already as strong as ten Heroes each. These guys have average Quirks, but we're above average. Heck, one can even say that we're gifted.

"So, how about we prove that to 'em?"

Thanks Honenuki. You'll definitely do that. You might be a goofy guy who makes terrible jokes, completely incapable of reading the room, and can be incredibly random at times, but you're dependable when we need you the most.

Because, we anticipated that they would blindly charge into the roundabout. That's where your trap is, Mudman. That's where it is! Your—!

MUD WHIRLPOOL!

From the very moment the first soldier steps foot onto our trap, that's when it activates. Immediately, the roundabout loses its solidity, revealing that it was affected by Softening the entire time! But the soldiers can't stop themselves. They're running right at us, and none of them can stop before they fall into the mud. That's how fifteen Meta Liberation Army soldiers fall to our trap. The rest of them are far away enough where they stop before they fall inside with the rest of their buddies, but they can only watch in horror as they get sucked into the middle.

"What is this?!"

"The ground looked solid before! What's going on?!"
"It's one of the fucking brats' Quirks!"

"They're coming towards the middle though!"
"What the hell is this…?!"

Hehe, this Mud Whirlpool has a gaping hole right in the center. I mean, it's a whirlpool after all. The whirlpool is sucking every poor man and woman inside, dragging them to the middle against their will. "Setsuna Tokage!" you might ask, "how can this trap work?" Simple, really. This Super Move is solely Honenuki.

Softening allows Honenuki to soften anything he touches, right? Except for living beings of course. He has a limit though: his range. He can't soften anything beyond fifty meters in all directions, which includes depth. However, he can control how much gets softened and how much remains solid. With Mud Whirlpool, he manipulates this perfectly. On the outer edge of the roundabout, he told me that he softened the ground down to about twenty meters deep. However, as you get closer and closer to the center, the depth increases from twenty to twenty-five, to thirty, to thirty-five, and so on, until we reach the deepest part: the center. Normally, you'd need some sort of outside force to drag people to the eye of the storm, but the hotel already gives us this.

Because about fifty meters below us is the parking lot in the basement levels. Meaning, Honenuki literally made a sinkhole that's gonna drag everyone down to the basement. Too bad that I'm not gonna stink around to see that because the guys flying towards us won't stop flying just because their friends are getting dragged into the depths of Hell. I tap Okichi's shoulder, gesturing that we should get the heck outta here. He nods and says, "Right! I'd rather not be stuck outside!"

I hear Curious yelling, "You soldiers apprehend those kids! Don't worry, we'll find a way around the sinkhole!" Yup, these three guys will be hot on our tail! Let's hope Honenuki and Togaru will be able to handle their gift when they arrive! But for now, we gotta worry about not getting our butts whooped by these guys!

Me and Okichi run back inside the hotel. There, now we're in our safe haven! I yell at Okichi, "Go lower the gate!"

What Ishtar told us earlier… "The Gemini Hotels naturally come with security. Who wouldn't have security measures especially with a hotel filled with wealthy businessmen? There's a security office in the lobby, and in there, you can manually lower the gate. It's strong and can resist against the average threat, but I don't think it'll stop the Meta Liberation Army. It'll buy you some time, though."

Okichi nods, immediately running towards the security room. A smarter idea was to stay inside and already have the gate down, but I just wanted to taunt the M.L.A. a little bit. They're already a bit demoralized, so might as well demoralize them more. In all seriousness, confronting them is a good idea. We could confirm their numbers, their Quirks, and stuff like that. And we'd buy a little more time for the others by having a small conversation with them.

I anticipated that there might be a few soldiers who can fly, and unfortunately, I was right. Just from the fact that two of the flying soldiers, whose Quirks don't innately allow them to fly, they trained enough where they're able to achieve flight. It's crazy thinking how much training these guys got, and they're only civilians back in Japan…

Ah! No time to think about that right now! They're flying towards the entrance, and Okichi hasn't closed the gate yet! "Uhm, they're coming at us pretty fast, Okichi! When are you gonna close the gate?!"

"In just a few moments!" he replies back who-knows-where! I don't think he'll close the gate in time before they bust in. In that case, I might just have to fight! Do I want to? Not really, but it's not like we have a say in the matter!

A few seconds pass and the gate isn't down yet. The three musketeers fly beyond the Mud Whirlpool and before I know it—!

CRASH!

What the hell?! They just crashed through the door! Literally! Flying Squirrel literally just crashed through the glass door! Well specifically, she used her feet to shatter the glass, but I'm surprised she was strong enough to do it! And to come out of it unscathed as well! Flying Squirrel drops down on the ground with Mist and Air Manipulation behind them; two girls—Flying Squirrel and Mist—and one guy—Air Manipulation.

Flying Squirrel, which should come to no surprise, has animal mutations just like a flying squirrel. She's actually a bit busty too; I know a few guys who have fetishes for both of those combined. "Setsuna Tokage, I—?"

RrrRrrRrr!

That's the gate. Of course Okichi closed it just after these three guys came in. The security gate is a lot more durable than one might expect. It's steel bars packed pretty closely together. You'd need something really strong to break through or have something to melt it. I hear Okichi running back to me, and I immediately snap, "We got some soldiers here! Stay back, Okichi! I can handle them by myself!"

Air Manipulation laughs like I told a funny joke. Sorry, I crack jokes a lot but that isn't one of them. He steps in front of Flying Squirrel, putting a hand on his chest like a pretentious jerk. "You think you can really beat all three of us on your—?!"

—LIZARDRY MACHINE GUN PUNCH!

"Guh—ah—!"

THUD!

"Yes. Yes I can." That was my beautiful Super Move called Lizardry Machine Gun Punch. It's not "punching", but close to it. With my right arm, I split it into fifty different parts and barrage Air Manipulation with each of them rapidly, bringing my pieces back and slamming them into his face over and over and over. You have no idea just how fast I'm hitting him. It's actually comparable to the speed of bullets of all things. On their own though, it doesn't hurt that much. However, getting hit repeatedly with them with the same force as bullets? Yeah, it's practically an instant knockout. Within just a second, I "punched" him at least a few hundred times.

As Air Manipulation falls completely flat on his back, my right arm reforms itself. It's a little sore from punching him a few hundred times, but it's not like I'm gonna cry about it. Since I created this Super Move, it's only natural that I train using it, and I gotta say, I'm pretty used to it by now.

Mist and Flying Squirrel look down at their fallen friend before glancing at me in shock. I give them a cute wave. Instead of giving a wave back, they charge at me. Mist yells, "You're gonna pay for that—!"

WHISH!

Mist pulls her left hand back and tries to punch me, but she dissipates her body into Mist. I can feel a rush of cold air behind me, so she's right there. The other lady, Flying Squirrel, is about to claw my face off. I can knock out two birds with one stone.

SPLIT!

I split myself up, flying behind Flying Squirrel and reforming myself. I give her a good ol' elbow in the back, causing her to jerk forward and—!

BAM!

—She gets hit by her own friend. Flying Squirrel is staggered, so I crouch down and sweep the legs, knocking her butt on the floor. Mist sees me, I hop back, she jumps forward, I hop back more.

"You scared?" Mist asks.

"The only thing I'm scared of is fighting naked, and I'm not naked now, am I?" I snark, stepping forward preparing to pull another one of my Lizardry Machine Gun Punches—!

WHIFF!

And I miss. I knew that. My punch was obvious and telegraphed. There was no way that Mist wouldn't see it coming. Like before, her body turns into mist and I feel cold air beside me. That's what I anticipated. She used her Quirk to gain a better position, but is it really though? I predicted that would happen. While she's off the ground, she has her right hand back ready to punch me. Poor thing. "—Take this!"

—She sends her fist forward.

I lift up my right leg—

LIZARDRY MACHINE GUN KICK!

"Fwuh—?! Ah—"

THUD!

Sorry, but I'm faster. Lizardy Machine Gun Kick is pretty much the same thing as Machine Gun Punch, except for y'know, kicks instead of punches. Just like Air Manipulation, my "kicks" nail Mist in the head. She falls down right beside him, practically on the verge of unconsciousness. Again, it's really hard to stay conscious when you're getting hit a few hundred times in the head.

"Guh… You brat…" What is up with these guys calling us "brats" all the time?! If anything, I'm the only brat here. I wouldn't call Sanji that whatsoever; he's the exact opposite of that. Anyway, Flying Squirrel stands up, wiping her lips. "I'll make you—"

"There's someone behind you," I tell her.

"Huh—?!"

—BONK!

Okichi snuck behind her and whacked her over the head with a fire extinguisher. She falls down flat on her face. To Okichi, I say, "Y'know I could've handled her myself. I'm training to be a Hero after all, and I didn't need saving."

He sighs, throwing his fire extinguisher on the ground. "I know, but we need to hurry to Monoma and the others. The M.L.A. are getting past our trap as we speak. Let's encase these three in glue before we leave."

From his pocket, he pulls out a Bondo Grenade. Hehe, a Bondo Grenade… Hayami made a whole lot of these. She's a master support scientist. "I figured you guys need some way of restraining the soldiers as fast as possible. I'd use that sweetheart, Shiozaki, to cut some of her hair to make it into rope, but it's night. She won't be able to regrow her hair back. That's why I brought Bondo over. His Quirk is perfect for this. I call my newest invention 'Bondo Grenades!' These wonderful things are filled with his Cedemine. If you throw it hard enough, it'll burst open and spread his Cedemine over anyone you throw it at. Without Bondo, we would have a lot of trouble trying to restrain these guys."

I smile. "Go ahead, Okichi."

"If my sweetheart demands," he says, smiling back. He throws the Bondo Grenade onto the three soldiers as hard as he can.

POP!

SPLURGE!

And they're now glued to the floor. If the M.L.A. wants to recover them, they'd need to spend a lot of time trying to unglue their soldiers, and time is kinda precious here. They'll be forced to leave them behind and chase after us. That's three soldiers down, sixty-two left. Well, if you count the fifteen in the Mud Whirlpool, we have forty-seven left.

Alright, now that's done, we take off. Me and Okichi head towards the stairs, running up to where Team Monoma is at. The next trap lies there. As we run upstairs, I take out my walkie-talkie and report our developments, "Lizardry here! We confirmed that the soldiers are under a Hivemind by Indignation. Luckily, our trap worked! Me and Okichi did have to fight three soldiers who flew right above it, but I made quick work of them. If Jack Mantis and Mudman do their jobs, we'll only have to deal with forty-seven soldiers and the three commanders. We're counting on them to pull their weight!"

C'mon you two, you guys better do your job!

---

Togaru Kamakiri - Location: Basement Parking Lot

"Bony."

"Yo."

"Think this'll actually work?"

"Of course it will," he says, starin' up at the ceilin' like there are stars splattered on it. Least his mind ain't in the stars like Inochi. Now that guy? Fuckin' hell, if ya catch him all relaxed an' stuff, it makes it very easy to mess with him. Though last time, Awase did that an' he almost got punched in the face. Anyway, we have better things to worry 'bout. Like for example, stabbin' the asses of the Meta Liberation Army.

We read 'bout 'em in Hero History, an' goddamn, these guys were lunatics. Just 'cause the government limited Quirk use 'round the world, they thought it was a reason to launch Villain attacks. A lot of innocent people, who didn't do jack shit to 'em, were killed in the process. Anyone with a mind could tell ya that free Quirk use is a slippery slope. An' yeah, I know that's some kind of fallacy or some shit, but really, c'mon? Free Quirk use will fuckin' let the assholes, who have strong Quirks, kick the weak in the balls an' make 'em submit. We already have a lil' bit of that right now. So if a "basic human right" allows jackasses to stomp on the less fortunate more easily, then how is that a fuckin' human right? C'mon, tell me, you assholes. You're only fightin' to dominate the rest of us poor bastards. You ain't fightin' for freedom at all. You're just like the rest of 'em.

"Heh," I chuckle somethin' outta my mouth. That was really fuckin' weird, I ain't doin' that again. I sound like Inochi, fuck. "Y'know, this was the last thing I was expectin', Honenuki."

"Oh my God," he exclaims like he found the cure to cancer.

"What?" I ask, ready to stab him in the gut.

Honenuki points at me. "You said my last name! You didn't give me a demeaning nickname this time! Heck yeah! I knew you actually liked me!"

"I'll gut you."

"Guess I'm just bugging you, eh? Eh? Kehehe!" Honenuki laughs his goddamn annoyin' laugh. What the fuck is it anyway? It's like a woodpecker peckin' a chalkboard or somethin', damn… "Not gonna lie, with those threats of violence, you remind me a little bit of Bakugo."

I scoff. "Don't fuckin' compare me to 'im. Bakugo, that asshole, is only tryna be a Hero 'cuz he wanna win. Sure, I ain't gonna judge him just for that, but he fuckin' pushed Quirkless up against a wall 'cuz he n'Fists beat All Might, not 'im n'Midoriya. If ya ask me, if he was willin' to pull that kind of stunt in front of what? Four No.1 Pros? Imagine what he'll do if he's more pissed off an' without any eyes watchin' 'im?"

"I hear ya," he replies, goin' back to starin' up at the ceilin'. We're just waitin' for those bastards to fall through the damned trap. "I'm not gonna rant about Bakugo though. We have bigger fish to fry. Besides, I gotta say, you've changed a lot, Kamakiri. One day, you wanted to drop out of U.A. because you thought everyone was against you. Now look at you, fighting against the M.L.A. ready to stab some baddies. How do you feel?"

"Like you should stop yammerin', honestly," I answer, but damn, kinda crazy how a few months with these idiots changed me. These guys are a lot more acceptin' towards a kid of a Villain, but more importantly, an asshole. "Don't remind me 'bout that though, else I'll really gut ya. 'Specially 'bout Horns. Aw fuck, hope she's doin' okay in Vines's team. Quirkless n'Scales better do their job right else I'm killin' 'em first before these bastards do."

"How barbaric, Kamakiri!" he cackles again. Next time he does that, I'm gonna rip his stupid teeth out. "You're so protective over your crush, kehehe."

...My face gets a lil' hot. "Fuck off. I am not havin' this talk with a perverted creep like you are, Bony! I remember how you went on an' on 'bout Yuki-onna an' her nice body!"

He defends 'imself, "Look Kamakiri, she's No.6 on the 'Most Beautiful Female Heroes' for a reason! She's not only beautiful, but also has a body that has perfect geometric curves! Literally geometry tells us that she's a very attractive woman, and that's an objective fact."

"Ugh, I feel like we can categorize you an' Headbands an' Airhead an' prolly Spinny in a basket of 'pathetic perverts', but at least one of y'all ain't single. You ain't that one. You're gonna be single for the rest of your life."

"Not planning on it. I rather not die a hopeless virgin," he admits before lettin' out a hopeless sigh, bein' the hopeless pervert, an' bein' a hopeless moron who can't tell left from right. "And I rather not die here. The Meta Liberation Army is filled with guys who wanna do terrible things to us. They keep claiming that we're brainwashed or whatever, but they're kinda projecting, don't you think?"

He sounds a lil' serious, so I prolly should take this serious too. "We can think 'bout a hundred reasons why we should hate 'em, but the most important of 'em all is, they wanna kill us. Simple as that. I hate 'em 'cuz they wanna take the piss outta us, beat us down while we're on our knees, an' more crap like that. You don't need to be a genius to hate people like that. No need to dive deep into asshats like them."

FWOOP!

Just 'bout a fair bit away, a hole opens up. We hear yellin' from a ton of different people, exclaimin' 'bout how there's a random hole in the ground an' it's suckin' everyone in like a whirlpool. Looks like the trap worked, thank God. Setsuna n'Okichi better get their asses to safety; don't know why they decided to talk to the M.L.A. personally, that was stupid. Honenuki yells, "Right now, the only one's diving deep is them! C'mon, let's be their welcoming party! You got your Bondo Grenades ready?"

"Yeah, still got all five on me! Let's go kick some ass!" We run up. Some of the softened shit drips down like water from a leaky faucet, but if the water had the same consistency of mud an' tasted like literal shit. The yellin' gets a lot louder as a few assholes drop down 'bout, uh, rough estimate 'ere… Thirty meters? Yeah, I'd say thirty meters give or take. Luckily enough, these guys are lucky. They're fallin' down right on the softened pile of shit, cushionin' their fall.

Though, not everyone wants to fall down the same.

Some of 'em, who're tryin' to escape the whirlpool, ended up falling in weird angles where they ain't gonna fall directly onto the pile of mud. As a result of that dumbassery—

CRASH!

Yeah, 'bout three of these idiots fell on top of some really nice cars, completely ruinin' the tops of 'em. Don't think cars are a good cushion, but y'know what, not my business. If they wanna crash on top of some rich people's cars, they can. For us though, it means they ain't gonna be a problem.

One by one, these assholes drop like flies. Fifteen of 'em drop in total before no one else comes down for a few seconds. That's everyone, prolly. I tell Honenuki, "Think that's all of 'em. Re-solidify the thing so no one else comes down 'ere." This trap was meant to be a surprise, but if we keep it open for too long, then someone would just drop in an' surprise us with a counterattack. Can't have that 'round. We still gotta head up to Momma Kendo an' the others.

"Got it. Solidifying the Mud Whirlpool," he tells me, placin' one of his hands on a pillar before the trap re-solidifies right back up, sealin' the hole in the ceiling. Frankly, I'm surprised that the hole didn't just stay there. We're pretty damn lucky that's the case. Smirkin' at me, Honenuki says, "Let's hurry up before they can recover. I'm gonna get the guys who fell on the cars, you get the main group."

"Roger. Make sure you spit on one of 'em for me." I walk up to the fallen soldiers who are grovelin' on the ground like lil' cockroaches. They're still covered in that weird mud made from Softenin'.

"Where are we…?"

"Fuck, we should've known that there was a trap…"

"These stupid kids…"

These fuckers. There're eleven soldiers on the ground in front of me. Four guys are on top of cars—one soldier came in at the very end and joined the other three idiots—so Honenuki's handlin' those asshats. I got five Bondo Grenades that Momma Kendo made for me. I'd say I can capture 'bout five of 'em in one blast if I toss the thing in the right place.

Takin' one out, I smirk. "Sorry assholes, this is as far as you fuckers can go."

TOSS—POP!

—SPLURGE!

With one well-placed grenade, five soldiers are glued together like it's one massive get-along shirt. An' well, one of their buddies is also the concrete—and the softened mud—they're layin' on right now. Concrete is a cold friend, I gotta say. They holler insults an' curses at me, but I just don't give a damn. I heard all of 'em before, an' frankly, I said a lot worse. These chumps are just grunts.

One asshole starts to stand up. "Dammit, we can't let these kids trap us! We—!"

"—Sit down an' shut the hell up."

TOSS—POP!

—SPLURGE!

I cover four soldiers with my second grenade; they're just as drenched in Cemedine like the other five. There's no way that these assholes can escape. All they can do is struggle an' throw 'round some swears 'ere n'there, cursin' me off like they're a bunch of immature middle schoolers who didn't get what they want. Why is that the only thing they can do? Cussin' us out like that. An' this is comin' from me of all guys!

STEP!

"Kamakiri, to your left!"

—PUNCH!

DUCK—!

"Fuckin' hell, guess I wasn't fast enough, eh?!"

I smile just a lil', steppin' back after I just ducked under one of the soldier's punches. This guy, his body is covered in tree bark. There's another goon behind 'im too, whose arms have sickles stickin' out of 'em. Hey, I know those two assholes! They were apart of the original gang who captured us! Inochi beat up Tree Bark pretty badly, an' Kendo punched the fuck outta the other guy, Sickle Arms. Guess they wanna raid the Gemini Hotels. Unfortunately for 'em, they ain't at the top of their game. Even with what lil' light we have, I can still recognize the bruises on their faces.

Tree Bark crashes his fists together like he tryna intimidate me or somethin'. "We won't let you two outta here in one piece."

Sickle Arms nod. He thrusts his arms out forward, an' his blades grow a bit larger in size. "You and your lipless friend of yours."

I hear Honenuki groanin' behind me. Glancin' behind my back, a couple of soldiers manage to stand up from their car-beds. Honenuki asks, "Think you can take care of them yourself, Kamakiri? I got a couple of soldiers for me to deal with. Shouldn't take too long."

"Tch, who d'ya think I am? Just 'cuz I ain't Quirkless or Fists, doesn't mean I'm weak as shit. I can take care of these assholes before you take care of yours," I tell 'im. From my boastin', Tree Bark an' Sickle Arms don't take too kindly to it. They think I'm just a bratty lil' arrogant shit; it's written all over their faces—just like their bruises. How 'bout I give 'em a few more? Paint 'em black n'blue?

Sickle Arms scoffs at me, clearly tired of my arrogance. Heh, that's like a pot callin' the kettle black. "I wouldn't underestimate us, kid—!"

—He lunges forward an' takes a wide swipe at me with those sickles of his.

DUCK!

I duck underneath his swipe—too fuckin' obvious honestly—an' grow a hook outta my right arm. Steppin' a lil' bit forward, I latch the hook onto his ankle an' take the bastard down right on his ass. His back hits the ground first with a pretty nasty thud; too bad I didn't break his back or anything, that would've been satisfyin' as hell.

"Hold up, you damned bug!" Tree Bark yells at me, an' frankly, I don't take too kindly to bein' called a "bug"! This asshole runs up with his feet nearly shakin' the entire parking lot from how heavy this ugly bastard is, pullin' his right fist back like he's 'bout to send a good right hook into my jaw.

These bastards keep telegraphin' their attacks. Not only that, they ain't as fast as me. As soon as Tree Bark gets just a lil' close to me, I'm already behind this fucker. I say, "Too slow, twig. You ain't hot shit."

I dig my hook into the bark of this bastard's Quirk, usin' my other arm to grab his collar. Right after that, I toss his ass right over me!

—THROW!

THUD—!

I toss Tree Bark over my shoulder, lettin' his dumb ass crash into a pillar head-first with a loud smack, a small crack, an' a big "Fuck you" from me. I feel sorry for 'im; he prolly has a ton of head injuries right 'bout now. It's the only way to land a good hit in if I don't wanna cut into his Hardenin'-shit. If I do that, then I'd prolly cut 'im up real good, but then I might kill 'im, which ain't a good idea in the slightest. If I kill 'im, then all bets are off. Gotta be careful with my Quirk.

"Rrraaah—!" Oh, Sickle Arms is chargin' at me. He made it obvious. He's bent real low to the ground, prolly tryin' to take out my knee or somethin'.

Out from my other arm, my left, I grow a long an' slick blade. From the range of our blades, I'm hittin' his ass first. His Quirk ain't that long; he needs to be real up close in order to do any solid damage. So basically, outta the two of us, I have the superior Quirk.

SLASH!

WHISH!

I tried slashin' upwards, cuttin' deep into the concrete an' flingin' it right into his face, but he just dodges to my right. Well damn, that sucks. Sickle Arms shouts, "You're not getting past me!"

"Shut up, would ya?!"

CLING!

CLASH!

BAM!

We have a small lil' exchange of blows, but none of us deal any real damage to the other. After he dodged, he tried to cut my stomach open, but I use my hook to redirect his shitty sickle elsewhere. Didn't stop him from turnin' 'round an' aimin' for my face instead, so I had to duck underneath that shit. With my left arm, I kept wailin' on his arms, forcin' him to keep defendin' 'imself or else he'll get cut up like a butcher with a carcass. To take some revenge, he dragged his right arm into an upwards slash. I backed away in time, but now we're back to where we were before.

Fuckin' great. I need to take this asshole down. Can't waste my time foolin' 'round while the others are prolly fightin' the rest of the Army.

Takin' the initiative, Sickle Arms rushes forward with his right arm back, plannin' to slice me open again like before. I retract the hook comin' out of my right, an' instead of that, I grow tiny "teeth" outta my forearm. Right as the bastard approaches me, he takes a nice slash, yet unfortunately for that bastard—!

CATCH!

My forearm catches his blade. His eyes go wide from how shocked he is. Man, if this bastard's shocked that someone could catch his sickles like that, then I can't imagine how shocked he'd be when I do shit like this!

SWORD BREAKER—!

—SHATTER!

"Guh—?! —Gah!" Using my forearm as leverage, I shatter his right Sickle Arm like it's made of paper. Not kiddin', I broke his mutation like it's fuckin' nothing. That's another Super Move I came up with. Ya see, in Europe, 'round the Renaissance, there was this parrying dagger that had teeth made for catching swords. Now, that shit wasn't sturdy enough to actually break swords, but I can. Razor Sharp makes my blades strong as shit. It's prolly tougher than most metal, and Sickle Arms? His sickles are made of metal.

As soon as I break his right sickle, he falls to the ground clutchin' his right arm, moanin' an' screamin' in pain from how much it hurts. Yeah, figured he'd do that. When you have a Mutant-type Quirk, your mutations are basically another limb. Havin' that injured in any way would make you feel as much pain just like havin' your arm cut by a knife or somethin'. What I did was the equivalent of breakin' an arm. It'll prolly grow back.

Even if it doesn't, can't say I feel bad 'bout it. These fuckers value hurtin' us more than they value their own lives, so fuck 'em. They get whatever they deserve.

That's one asshole down, another to go. I turn 'round an' face Tree Bark, who's still recoverin' from getting thrown into a pillar. I gotta thank Inochi for that. From all of the blows he dealt to that son of a bitch's head, it makes mine pack a better punch than before. Though, Tree Bark shakes his head outta it, raisin' his fists. "...Ugh, you little bastards are so annoying."

"I can say the same 'bout you," I reply. Beatin' Tree Bark should be easy. I can cut through his bark like butter, but the hard part is makin' sure I ain't killin' 'im—well, not dealin' any serious injuries anyway.

I got an idea how to deal with 'im.

Me n'Tree Bark size each other up like a couple of dogs. He has his arms raised, takin' a typical position like a boxer. Here's the thing though. That defense is pretty good in a fist fight, but when your opponent has a Quirk that can create blades? I can cut right through that shit, but I ain't gonna cut anythin' 'ere.

Retractin' the Sword Breaker from my forearm, I grow the head of an axe outta the end of my arm. Razor Sharp ain't limited to just creating swords, y'know. From how versatile it is, I can make spearheads, spikes, shit like that. To take Tree Bark on, I need somethin' just for 'im—an axe. Gotta cut 'im down somehow.

Tree Bark, decidin' that he ain't gonna wait 'round for me to move—'cuz he already saw that I'm makin' an axe just for 'im—runs forward with his arms still up. Just to make sure that he ain't gonna try anythin' stupid, I meet 'im in the middle, pullin' my right arm back. That's a feint, unfortunately for this bastard. He thinks that I'm gonna split his Quirk wide open—that's true—but that's later.

SKID!

He stops in his tracks, bracin' 'imself for my axe. But it doesn't come. I move to the side, turnin' myself an' liftin' my left leg up!

SLAM!

I drive my left leg down onto the gap 'tween his arms an' his chest, forcin' his arms down. 'Cuz of that, I break his guard. He's in a terrible position to do shit. He can't grab my leg 'cuz it's kinda impossible, so the only thing he can do is move. If he can even react to what I'm doin', anyway. I'm the fastest guy in the class for a reason.

"—What the?!" he exclaims right as when my foot hits the ground. Right after that, I spin 'round, an' this time, I'm usin' the axe.

BAM!

My axe slams into Tree Bark's chest, diggin' into the flesh of his Hardenin' Quirk. Normally, Hardenin' Quirks transform your skin. Tetsutetsu's an example of that, 'cuz his skin turns into steel. But for this bastard, his skin grows a layer of bark 'stead of his skin transforming into the bark itself. It's perfectly fine for me to chop 'im up 'cuz I can control how deep I can go. Otherwise, I'd basically be cuttin' into his flesh. Mister Kan makes it a big deal that I need to control how I use my Quirk; he's right. I mean, I'm not the kind of asshole who's gonna argue with him. If I mess up, then I'mma mess up really fuckin' bad. Least I'm not fuckin' Bakugo, who uses his Quirk willy-nilly.

Anyway, I got better shit to focus on, like Tree Bark. He grunts, grittin' his teeth as I force 'im back into a pillar where he was just restin' against before. The blade of my axe digs further into his bark—just a few more centimeters before I reach human flesh.

Tree Bark tries to struggle against me, but I ain't budgin'. He fuckin' knows that I can kill 'im right here if I wanted to. He says, "Ugh, you brats… One of these days, you're gonna regret—"

"Don't fuckin' care."

HEADBUTT!

"Geh—" Tree Bark groans right after I headbutt his ugly head. Takin' my axe out, I throw 'im again right next to his buddy, Sickle Arms; poor bastard's still mumblin' in pain after what I did. Before Tree Bark can recover, I take out my third Bondo Grenade an' toss it towards 'em.

—POP!

SPLURGE—!

An' with that, the last two bastards are glued together. They ain't comin' out of that any time soon. I had the pleasure of gettin' stuck by Cemedine myself, an' it was fuckin' terrible. Remind me to never make Bondo angry, 'cuz I swear to God, I'mma get my ass glued to the ceilin' until I die.

Lookin' back at where Honenuki was at, he's just wrappin' up his side of things. His four are glued together an' they ain't escapin'. Wipin' his hands like he actually got 'em dirty—smug bastard—he turns to me an' gives me a thumbs-up. "Fifteen down, Kamakiri! Glad to see that you're able to take care of two measly soldiers."

"Wasn't too hard. Inochi already softened 'em up," I say, but then I smirk. "Told ya ass that I'd beat my two before you did. Ya owe me some money."

Honenuki throws his hands up. "Woah, hold on! We didn't bet anything! Just bragging rights or whatever! We didn't sign anything!"

"Oh shut up, don't turn into a pretentious lawyer that I wanna cut open. C'mon, enough talkin', let's head up to the rest of the idiots. Hopefully, the M.L.A. didn't ruin our plans." I start runnin' towards the stairs with Honenuki behind me. Ugh, everyone's a slow runner compared to me.

"They won't! They're underestimating us too much for that!" he exclaims before I hear his ass cacklin' like some kind of evil villain—he's failin' in that front; he sounds like a dyin' bird that's chokin' on mucus. "With the trap that Kendo's mom set up? With Komori in the center? They don't stand a chance against us."

"Hopefully, you ain't lyin'. If ya are, then I'm killin' ya."

"Thank you. I always wanted to be killed by a friend, not an enemy."

"Shut the hell up."

---

Kinoko Komori - Location: Hallway of Floor 17

Hehe, I bet you never saw this coming, did you? Stupid M.L.A.! Why did they have to ruin this perfectly good night that could've been spent singing and dancing until the sun swims up into the skies like a star in the sea? Well, I can't see us ever losing to them! I might be incredibly stupid, incredibly self-centered, and incredibly selfish, but most importantly of all, I'm incredibly stubborn as all heck! I'm not gonna sit down and accept defeat! Gunning for gold, that's what I'm shooting for!

Us 1-Bers, or whatever the heck everyone else calls us—pretty much on the lines of "good-for-nothing tryhards who'll amount to jack squat!"—are destined to be at the top of the leaderboards! We're gonna give it every ounce of shrooms we have to make it work! Yes, very mush!

Which is why I am here! Not to rip off All Might's catchphrase or anything, hehe. I might be a lotta things, but I'm not a plagiarist! I am one hundred percent original! The only thing that isn't original is the genes that I got from my mom and dad! Even then, my genes are scrambled just like eggs with a side of steamy hot rice! Man, this reminds me that I need to come up with something catchy when I take down some stinkcap-stinking Villains! Still! Still, I gotta focus! Gotta focus, that's right, gotta focus! Can't lose my thought train, else it'll go choo-choo right outta my empty head and I dunno where I'd end up! Probably in Luxembourg, wherever that is!

Everyone's counting on me to bring the beatdown on these jerks! Give 'em a wild haymaker just like how Itsuka does it! I'm standing right outside the arcade for this reason! Not to beat these guys up, because I'm just a frail girl who loves mushrooms way too much, but to use my passion against these them and turn this place into a shroomtastic wonderland! I mean, who wouldn't like that? (Yeah, Kamakiri wouldn't. He wouldn't like that at all, that bitter shroomhead!)

If only I didn't have to wear this clunky and really unattractive gas mask, hmph. It's all black and gray and plain, it just sucks! It doesn't match my outfit at all, like an unattractive shroom in a field that has plenty of pretty and precious flowers all bundled and bunched and beautiful! But of course, I need this stupid tacky thing! Useful, but it's a completely sour eye candy. I can't believe I didn't think about this earlier!

"Hey Komori, I heard about your Quirk from Setsuna and my two little knuckleheads. You can grow mushrooms 'cause your body emits spores right? But you can't control 'em? That means you'll be affected by your own Quirk when you activate it, so I found a quick solution! This gas mask right here. If you're asking where I got it, I brought along some equipment that's supposed to be made for the Police Force; I wanted to work on their commission while I'm here. Luckily enough, or unluckily enough, we have a way to test my beautiful masterpieces. Hehe, this guy is a lucky bastard to be worn by an even more beautiful masterpiece."

Thank you, Momma Kendo! You're one of the coolest moms out there! Because of you, you make Operation Hero Force Army be a complete success! But I gotta do my part! And this time, I'm able to remember it!

Setsuna and Tokugawa—ugh, don't like him—are the welcoming party down at the lobby! Honenuki set up a really cool trap for them to fall into down in the basement levels! Him and Kamakiri are gonna throw some Bondo Grenades at 'em and that's that! After the four of them are done, they're heading up to meet with Monoma.

Honenuki's trap will make them rethink their entry into Pollux. They don't wanna waste time trying to figure out how all of them can get in at once, so they're gonna split up their forces into little bits! That's what Setsuna says at least! It means I'm not gonna face the entire army right in this hallway! Just a small chunk of it! I really hope that's the case 'cause if not, I'm screwed just like whenever I'm taking a test I didn't study for!

Hnng, calm down Kinoko, you're better than this! You're more than better than this! After you take care of these guys, you can go up to Monoma and take down the rest of the M.L.A. there! After that, everyone else will take care of their end of the plan and we can go home and take a break, because God, we need a vacation from this vacation! Maybe we can best 1-A because we're not less than 'em! Okay look, I do envy 1-A and their many opportunities to defeat Villains, but these guys are in a community of lunacy! I'm ready to regret my envy! But dammit all, with our opportunity in hand, they're gonna see our unity and ingenuity!

"How many stairs are there?! God! Why didn't we take the elevator?!"
"Not all of us can fit inside, you idiot!"

"Stop complaining! If you think this is bad, then you won't be able to take these kids down!"

"I hope the others are finding their way through that stupid trap."
"They are. When we finally meet where the rest of the brats are stationed, they'll be our reinforcements."

They're here! They're split up exactly like what Setsuna said, that prophet! They're ready to make a profit out of our suffering! I can hear them coming up the stairs like buncha ransacking rats! Oh crap oh crap, that's a lot of footsteps! Okay, it's showtime, Kinoko! You can do this! They're that ratty old, worn-out, no-good, stinky shirt that's been hiding in your dresser than you should probably throw out because it's literally growing mold!

"This is it! Ladies and gents, this is the moment you've been waiting for!" I exclaim to myself. I mutter obviously. I might be dumb, but I'm not dumb enough to scream and lose the element of surprise!

Thumpthumpthumpthump!

They're here! They're on my floor, Floor 17! Man, my heart is beating like a drum going a mile a minute and won't quit it! I just hope they like the gift I left on the stairs! A wonder-shroom straight from my dreams! And I can hear their voices now!

"What the hell is this?!"
"The stairs are covered in mushrooms!"

"This has to be a Quirk! It's written all over it!"
"Wait, doesn't this mean that someone is here?"

"So these kids really have traps laid out for us." Oh shrooms, that's Curious's voice! "First, we had the whirlpool, and now we have whatever this is. This is probably a warning, or a calling sign that we have our next enemy to face. Is that right, Kinoko Komori?"

Oh shrooms—yes, I'm saying that again! Curious knows my name! I mean, I kinda figured she would, but I didn't think she would call me out directly! Alright, I've been rehearsing for this! I take my gas mask off—it's really easy actually 'cause once you put it on, the strands automatically secure it to your face; I love technology! Taking a deep breath in, I make my introduction, "That's me! I'm the mushroom gal of 1-B, Kinoko Komori! Why don't you guys come on out and show your faces?"

I don't hear a response, just some gruntled voices grumbling from some grunts. Slowly, carefully like they're trying to sneak downstairs to grab a midnight snack, they step into the hallway right in front of me. Holy shrooms, they look a lot scarier than I thought! They surely put on their scowls tonight, dang! Honestly, it's like I'm being challenged by a music studio to see who's a better singer! And Curious is the one challenging me! To that, I gotta say "Nope! Not happening! Not in shroom hell, not in shroom heaven!"

Speaking of Curious, a few of her backup singers move out of the way to reveal her standing right in the middle of the pack! Dang, she has a pretty black dress on. Her curves are impressive, but this is not the time to be envious of other women, especially Villains! Leaning forward slightly, she holds her chin in-between her thumb and pointer finger, giving me an evil smirk straight out of a movie. "You look cute today, Kinoko Komori. I'm shocked that your master plan involves you alone against all of us."

All of them? That reminds me that I should count! There's the guy with scary eyebrows, scary mouth, okay that guy is just scary everything, that blue-haired girl looks kinda emo, oh my shrooms, there are so many people here! And none of them look like Generic Henchman #21 or Generic Woman #3! Actually wait, the man on the far right looks pretty generic, I take that back. He's Generic Henchman #1. "Uhhh… That's five…"

Curious raises an eyebrow. "Are you really mumbling to yourself? Did you realize how stupid an idea this was, leaving you alone like this? My my, this has been an interesting development!"

I shake my head. "Oh don't choke on that bitter shroom you have in your mouth, I'm trying to count, dangit! But because you interrupted me, I lost where I was at! Was it seven? Seventeen? I don't know, maybe seven hundred?"

"We don't have seven hundred—! That isn't the point. In any case—"

"—One, two, three, four, five…"

Curious shouts, "Stop counting!"

I shout back, "Don't yell at me, you toxic blue shroomhead! I need to count how many are in my audience right now! I can prove to you that I can count! I'm not stupid! Gimme some time, you slime!"

She goes quiet for a little bit, glancing at her henchmen—and henchwomen—who just give her weird looks and shrugs. Inhaling pretty shrooming hard, she says, "Who do you think I am? I won't give you time to count our numbers."

Shroomcrap, guess I'm not gonna count how many soldiers there are! I know that there are at least ten! At most, maybe thirty? Twenty-five? Aw shroom, it might be twenty-seven-point-five for all I know! Either way, it's time to duke it out! Putting my gas mask back on, I give them a pearly white smile! They…! Right, they can't even see my smile because I have a mask on! "Shroomheck, alright, you snappy sour shrooms! I just wanted to know how many people I'll be performing for tonight! But fine, have it your way!" I clap my hands, "Prepare to be serenaded by the future idol who can rhyme on a dime, the mad madonna who has a mystique musicality made in maddening madness! That's right, it's me, a future Idol Hero in the works, Shemage!"

One of the henchmen says, "She...cage?" What the shroom?! Where did he get that from?!

"No, you dorky dolt! Don't drop your head in the dirt!" I point at the empty shroomhead who has nothing but spores inside his skull! "Mage! M-A-G-E, put it together what do you get? 'Mage', that's the word! Like 'Merlin, the sage' just so we're on the same page! If not, then I'll be enraged!"

Curious scrunches up her face like she ate something sour. "Enough with the rhymes and alliterations! I'm reclaiming my time, so how about I take back the flow of this conversation? I would ask you a lot of questions, letting them shred your seemingly confident visage apart, but I'm on a time constraint."

Digging into her pocket, she suddenly throws out a ton of marbles?! Oh shroom, that's her Quirk! It's named "Landmine"; she can make anything she touches explode! She can even detonate her bombs at will! Her Quirk is really dangerous! I can't let her touch me, because she can make actual people go ka-boom like suicide bombers!

I can do this though! What I lack in agility, physical strength, dexterity, endurance—! Wow, I am terrible at everything! My Quirk is literally the only thing going for me! I'm not strong, but I'm nimble! Like jack-be-nimble jack-be-quick! Seeing Curious's marbles flying at me, little tiny bombs absolutely be smitten with me so they wanna blow me into smithereens, I start leaping back like a leopard, spreading my spores around the hallway! Unfortunately, this hallway isn't as humid as I wanted it to be. The ventilation system is on, and that stupid, unhelpful stuff is constantly taking out humidity from the air—that's, like, the purpose of the shrooming system! I hate you!

BOOM BOOM BOOM!

The marbles explode, but I'm not dead! Those marbles blew up while I was just a little bit away from them! Some of my spores definitely got destroyed, but I can still make more of them! I have to! Because from the moment they stepped into my domain, they lost!

"Kinoko, my cute and adorable mushroom gal, you're one of our strongest fighters. I genuinely mean that; take my word for it, 'cause y'know, I'm the prodigal genius of 1-B after all—and the queen too, but that's kinda unrelated. Look, your Quirk is amazing. I watched what you did to Present Mic, and as much as it pains me to say this, you need to do the same to the Meta Liberation Army. Discriminate against nobody. They'll find their own way to get rid of the mushrooms lodged in their throats; that's their problem, not ours.

"I'm so morally corrupt that I believe fair fights are outdated. Because lemme tell you something, if you ever get into a fair fight with someone, then your plan is awful. A coin shouldn't decide if you live or die."

I jump back and back and back! Curious gestures to some of her henchmen and women, only getting five of them to catch me. That's such a stinking insult, smelly as the smelliest shroom!

She thinks that I'm not good enough to have the rest of her underlings to fight me? Aw shrooms, I'm not as intimidating as Kamakiri, I guess. Oh well! To be an idol, you have to be lovable, not scary!

Too bad they're gonna see my scary side! As the six bumbling buffoons make their way closer to me, I throw my small arms up in the air! "Horse mushrooms, orange milkcap, and velvet shank! Ox tongue, shaggy inkcap, and lawyer's wig! Come out and bring your biting buddies! Come cover the carpets and cover the coveted walls! Make this place magnificent and shroomtastic!"

MUSHROOM!

In a blink of an eye, the mushrooms gods heard my ballad and sprouts mushrooms all over the place! Walls, ceilings, the carpet, everywhere! Right under the soldiers' feet, over their heads, right beside them, everywhere! Everywhere? Yes, that's right! Everywhere! I'm not discriminating against anything! Everything in my sight is getting the sweet, bitter, and sour touch of my mushrooms! These are my babies and they will cherish and hold them whether they like it or not! And I hear my adoring fans absolutely admiring my artwork!

"God, what the hell?! I didn't expect her to grow this many mushrooms!"

"Wait, it's growing on my arm!"

"Fuck, my legs! They're on my legs!"

That's not what I wanted to hear! I wanted to hear "Oh Shemage, you're such a beautiful woman! Just as pretty as the world's greatest shroom!" or "Hey hey, please cover me with your mushrooms! I need it!", or even "I will lay down and become fertilizer just for you, Shemage!". I want something like that! Not some cranky soldiers being angry while amply being shroomed! I handsome men, not ugly bastards!

Curious turns around and sees her men and women stepping on my beautiful shrooms, being stopped in their place. Their bodies become the hosts to my children! It's a scene straight out of a horror movie and I'm the antagonist! Actually wait, that sounds horrible! Absolutely deplorable! I'm not the bad guy here, I'm the protagonist—I'm unstoppable and adorable! They're the villains!

And that's why I gotta do it! I haven't stopped spreading my spores just for a single second! I yell, "Sorry Meta Liberation Army, but you're not the star of this show! I am! You're poisonous just like a death cap!"

Curious replies, "Don't make such bold accusations like that, Kinoko Komori! The only poisonous thing about me is my drive to catch a good story! And right now, it's impossible to fight a story about this, isn't it? So how about—Hak?!"

She shouldn't have talked so much. From blabbering on and on about herself relentlessly, she swallowed my delicious spores carelessly. I kinda pity her, not gonna lie. She seems too zealous 'bout her work that she lost her sense of danger!

As soon as Curious starts choking on my shrooms—they're lodged inside her throat and lungs, she falls to her knees, clutching her throat. One by one, her soldiers begin to follow her lead, making the hallway erupt in an orchestra of nothing but hacks and coughs! Everyone is down! Some of them are bawling from having their airway obstructed, crying from what I constructed! Others have their head down, and a certain few are trying to curse at me with what little air they have left! Shroomtastic! Shroomificient! I only had to jump backwards and that's it! The fight is over!

I stop producing my spores, facing my adoring crowd of Villains who're on their hands and knees like loyal followers at a cult! Giggling oh-so-sweet to myself, I take off my gas mask and throw it to the side. I don't need that junk anymore! I say, "That's the last note!" Is that a good catchphrase to end a fight? That sounds like a good catchphrase to end the fight. Well, is it? It could use some fine-tuning and stuff like that!

"Ghrk—! Hak—!" Curious coughs and chokes.

"Hak—! Hak—!" so are the soldiers behind her.

I step right in front of Curious, facing the rest of the soldiers. This is a good time to count them! "One...two...three...four…" And the rest of them… "Twenty-six! Twenty-six total! Twenty-five goons and one journalist singing their tunes! What did you think about my catchphrase? Is it catchy? Will my future fans put that on t-shirts? Maybe have it tattooed on their arms? C'mon, give it to me rough! I can take it!"

Curious glances up at me. "Grk—! Hakhakhak—!"

"Oh right, I kinda forgot you kinda have my sweet shrooms lodged in your throat and lungs! I won't lie, I'm a little jealous! But c'mon Curious, you're a writer, aren't you?. You can make catchy, click-baity, headlines that grab the eyes of anyone who reads it, right? Think 'That's the last note!' is catchy enough? I, Shemage, need to work on my future image!"

Mustering the rest of the strength she has, she lifts herself just off of the ground and raises her right arm. What is she trying to pull here? "What are you—?!"

—She grabs my belt. Everyone on Alpha has some wonderfully-crafted Bondo Grenades made by Momma Kendo. Curious touches one of them.

Oh shrooms.

I jump back before she can pull any other tricks! I grab the infected, tainted Bondo Grenade from my belt and—!

BOOM!

SPLURGE!

"—Ah! It's hot—!" Oh shrooms! Oh shrooms and mushroom gods above! It's too hot! Stupid stupid Curious! Stupid stupid stupid stupid! The grenade exploded in my hand! I'm covered in Cemedine! 'Cause it exploded, it made Bondo's glue so-so-so-so hot! It's burning my skin! Not my face! I need it! I'm too cute to get scarred!

THUD!

"Nnnn—! Why is it burning so much?!" I hate it I hate it! Why isn't it cooling down?! Why is it still so freaking hot! I'm practically screaming here! I can't even roll on the floor! I'm stuck to it! My back's glued to the carpet; I can't get out!

"Hak—! Hrrrk—!"

SPIT!

Something soft falls on the ground. It's a bunch of small, bloody mushrooms. "Goodness, that was incredibly unpleasant, Kinoko Komori. You are a scary little woman, aren't you? I wonder what's going on inside that cute mind of yours, but that needs to wait, doesn't it?"

Click! Clack! Click!

She's getting closer… "This would make a great headline if I was able to publish a story about this. 'Young, aspiring Idol Hero falls from her own arrogance and stupidity — A Timeless Tale by Chitose Kizuki'. Now, you're glued by your own creation. Actually no, you're too dumb to create something like this. It's that woman, isn't it? Hayami Kendo? Where is she now?"

"Right here, Curious."

BANG!

"Curious—!" A random henchman jumps up and extends his hand forward. He creates an itty bitty barrier from his hand that blocks the bullet. Wow, that was going straight for her head…

I barely get to see my saviors. The glue is finally cool enough where I'm not burning anymore… "What in the shrooms took you two so long…?"

I hear iron fists smacking together. "We ran into Team Lizardry on the way here, sorry 'bout that, Komori! Don't ya worry though, 'cuz me and Momma Kendo will knock the brains outta these bastards! No one hurts my friends! It makes me absolutely pissed! I'm furious right now, can'tcha tell?!"

Momma Kendo sighs. "And my gorgeous inventions took a little longer than expected. I'm really sorry, sweetheart, but don't worry, we'll take care of the rest from here."

---

Hayami Kendo

"So how are we doing this, Curious?" I ask this rotten bitch. My poor baby, Kinoko, is glued to the ground because of her. She looks like she's in pain. I wager that because of Curious's Quirk, Landmine, it heated up Bondo's Cemedine. It cooled down at this point, thank God. Dammit all, I really took too long with my contraption for Aldemir's plan, if it ever happens. Just gotta focus on this. Kinoko won't be able to continue fighting until she gets that glue off of her, but when will we find the time to do that?

I look over at my strong, hard man—innuendo not intended, goodness no—who's ready to punch some faces in; maybe he'll break some noses too. Can't believe I have my own team. God, I'm supposed to be a support scientist, not an actual Pro Hero, but what can you do? In times like these, everyone has to fight no matter who they are. And that's why I have a gun. It's one of two pistols I'm testing out for the Police Force back in Musutafu—Sanji's testing out the other one. Don't worry, I have rubber bullets. It'll just hurt a lot instead of killing someone.

Curious wipes the blood and saliva from her lips; she must've hacked Kinoko's mushrooms out of her mouth. Must've been painful—good. The man who blocked my shot—twenty left by the way—lowers his hands and drops his barrier. Looks like Bastion isn't the only one with a Barrier-type Quirk. This man, let's call him "Shield Hands" for brevity, can emit barriers from the palms of his hands just about the diameter of three meters. He has mushrooms growing all over his nice gray suit, but that's it. Curious, glaring at Tetsutetsu and I, takes out a single marble from her pocket. Well, on second thought, it's the size of a baseball. I don't know how I messed that up; guess I'm getting too old.

"Hayami Kendo," says Curious with a smug oh-so-ready-to-be-shot-at, "you must be really desperate to use support scientists as able-bodied fighters. I told Vainglory that your company would be a nuisance that needs to be snipped early, and here you are, ready to give me the evidence to my argument. I'm ready to compile a portfolio just for you, Hayami Kendo."

I snark, "Chitose Kizuki, do you like using full names a lot, Chitose Kizuki? Sorry, I couldn't hear what you said from the vile sounds your little plastic soldiers are making." I still hear her soldiers trying to hack Kinoko's mushrooms out of their throats. Some might do it earlier, some might do it later, either way, the numbers will be stacked against us. And as I say that, a short-haired man with red hair comes to Curious's side.

Tetsutetsu asks him, "Hey redhead, don'tcha give me that glare! I'mma punch that look outta your eyes, just ya watch!"

"Quiet tinhead," Redhead snaps, "I was right to hold my breath. Your stupid broad had a gas mask on. That basically tells us, 'Don't breathe in her Quirk.' Too bad most of us here didn't get the memo."

Ah, that's actually really important information. Indignation's Quirk, Hivemind, isn't in effect. They must be out-of-range—least, that's the most probable explanation. If one person knew not to breathe in Kinoko's Quirk, then the rest of them would know to do that. But since he's the exception, it means they aren't sharing a single mind.

Kinoko, who's still glued to the ground and very much conscious—that poor thing—exclaims, "If I wasn't glued, I'd totally shroom you to shroomhell and back!" As much as I wanna see that, I don't expect her to be a good help. Her spores will more or less get stuck on the glue.

Curious tightly grips her baseball-sized contraption. "Such empty, hollow threats. Hush now, Kinoko Komori. A juicer person of interest has caught my eye! I wonder if you know how to fight, Miss Kendo!"

Just before Curious acts, I yell, "Tetsutetsu!"

"Right!" He charges in with his right hand pulled back, his body clad with hardened, gray steel, raging towards the three of them. There's ten meters between us and the insane idiots, but he won't get there before Curious throws whatever she's holding. He's not fast enough to cross ten meters, let alone trying to make sure he doesn't trip over Kinoko's mushrooms. The environment is as much as an advantage and a disadvantage—that goes both ways.

With my pistol raised, I'm aimed towards Curious. She, with quite an irritating smile on her blue face, hurls her contraption towards Tetsutetsu. He slows down as the ball reaches him, and it opens up to reveal at least fifty tiny little balls the size of my fingernail. Well shit, that's what that is.

CURIOUS SPLITTER GRENADE!

Right in front of Tetsutetsu, each and every ball explodes. They're not massive explosions; they wouldn't kill a beetle, but each explosion produces smoke and quick flashes of light that can definitely disorientate someone. Tetsutetsu stops in his tracks, pulling his arms up to guard himself from the little pops. A cloud of smoke separates him from Curious and her gang. He yelps, "What the—?!"

BANG!

I shoot right in front of Tetsutetsu—nineteen left. Out from the smoke, Curious leaps towards the side with a frown on her face, just a meter away from my boy. Called it. She used her device as a distraction to bridge the gap between her and Tetsutetsu. I'm not a Hero, but I'm also not an idiot. I shout at Tetsutetsu, "Don't let Curious touch you! Her Quirk can affect people too!"

Tetsutetsu nods, stepping towards Curious with his right fist back again. "Yeah, thanks, Momma Kendo! C'mon Curious, eat some steel—?!"

—BELLOW!

A wave of fire separates Curious and Tetsutetsu, preventing him from giving her a well-deserved knock on the head. However, as soon as the fire disappears, the sprinkler system turns on. Well, at least we know that it works. Though, it's raining down more than enough water to make us uncomfortable. That fire didn't come from nowhere; it came from the Redhead. He coughs up a small breath of fire, swearing under his breath as his clothes get soaked. His Quirk is Fire Breath. He can breathe fire, simple as that.

Shield Hands says, "You're at a disadvantage, Hinokokyu! Your flames will be put out almost instantly with the sprinklers! Stay back!" Ah, so Hinokokyu is his codename. It's quite on-the-nose, but so are a lot of things, like "fireplace".

Anyway, Shield Hands runs up to Tetsutetsu and engages in a fist-to-fist combat with him. Tetsutetsu focuses on him instead of Curious, who has her eyes turned to me. Hinokokyu shouts, "The sprinklers won't last forever!" Damn, we can expect something big will happen when the sprinklers stop.

I can't focus on that. I have to trust that Tetsutetsu can beat Shield Hands on his own. Curious is just under seven meters away from me, holding onto her chain wristband on her right arm. Just barely, I hear her saying, "I wonder how it feels to be fighting just like a Hero! Just like your late husband!"

Wow, this bitch really wants to piss me off, huh? Ugh! Calm down, I can't let this journalistic scrooge get under my skin. Let's just muster the spirits of every single Hero in your forsaken family: Kaito's idiocy, Mom's heart, whatever Uncle Sora and Aunt Nana has, and Dad. I hope you're safe up there. You have the hardest job out of all of us, especially in Operation Hero Force Army or whatever it's called. Right….

"Working hard, sweetheart?"

"Well, not all of us are protecting a U.H.N. official, where said official is conveniently situated away from all of the fighting."

"You definitely inherited sarcasm from me. Really though, I'm here to talk about what's gonna happen. You're gonna fight these assholes just like a Hero would."

"Is this your 'I'm worried about you, my sweet daughter' speech? I'll be fine—"

"I know that. I'm here to give you some encouragement. These scummy punks would underestimate a support scientist like you, Hayami. Use that to your advantage 'cause they don't know that you have the fighting power of a Pro. Better than the average Pro, I'd say. After all, I'm your dad. You can resent me all you want tomorrow, but this is something I prepared you for when worse comes to worst.

"Go put a couple of holes in 'em, sweetie."

Yeah, you really did prepare me when worse comes to worst. "Shut up, Curious."

She rushes in—

—I'm locked in.

DASH—!

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

It's hard to aim when the sprinklers are trying their damn best to blind you, especially whenever you move your feet, you hit at least ten mushrooms with each of them being a different species. Curious has a hard time moving too, but thanks to the conditions we're fighting in, I miss all of my shots—all five of them. Fourteen left. Curious nearly stumbles, but she recovers and lunges at me. She presses something on her wristband and—?!

"—The hell?!"

CHAIN RING CURIOUS FLATTENER!

Her right hand suddenly gets enveloped with some kind of box! Did Deternat make that?! Shit, they're already going into Hero Support! That explains the crap she threw earlier! Curious plants her feet and sends whatever-that-is forward, aiming right towards my face!

BOOM!

"Geh, ha—!" I get a face-full of an explosion. The impact sends me backwards a few meters, making me tumble onto a bed of Kinoko's mushrooms. I barely hold onto my pistol. My face stings, but it's not the worst thing in the world. I roll back onto my feet as Curious playfully shows off her toy.

"Did you like my Curious Flattener, Miss Kendo? It was produced with the engineers of Deternat and Ronin. It's an excellent support equipment that goes hand-in-hand with my Meta Ability. There are some—!"

—BANG!

CLING—!

"Fuck." I tried. Right in the middle of her monologue, I tried to put a dent in her skull, but she blocked my bullet with her Curious Flattener. Thirteen left.

Seeing my cowardly display, she just laughs. "Goodness, you're such a shameful woman, Miss Kendo! You tried to attack me during my little spiel! That's incredibly dishonorable, especially for us Japanese. Our ancestors pride ourselves on honor—!"

—BANG!

CLING—!

"Goddammit." Tried shooting her again; it didn't work. Same thing happened. Twelve shots left in the magazine.

Curious clearly listens to my message. I didn't say what it was, but she can read the bullets I sent her. They told her everything I wanted to say. Without going on a monologue again, she runs forward.

BANG BANG BANG!

I shoot her three times, but she uses her Curious Flattener as a shield. The bullets bounce off, leaving dents into her equipment; unfortunately, it's not enough damage to destroy it completely. She thrusts her Flattener right into my face but I jerk myself to the side, dodging a blast to the face. We're too close where I can just shoot her point blank, so this will have to do!

KICK!

"Geh!" I slam my shin against her hip and leap back, shooting her at the same time—eight bullets left. Curious blocks it like usual, spinning around and tossing another one of those big balls at me. It pops open and explodes just like the one she threw at Tetsutetsu, creating a cloud of smoke and light in front of me.

That means she's trying to charge forward. How about I do the same thing? As soon as the cloud appears, I make my move!

—SLIDE!

I slide on the soaked, mushroom-covered carpet, diving low into the cloud. I hear Curious jumping above me, and just when the cloud disperses, she slams her Curious Flattener forward—!

BOMB!

But all she blows up is air. "What the—?!"

—BANG!

CRACK—!

I nail her right on the head. A most-satisfying crack is heard, the sound of rubber hitting skull, and a pained yelp following right after it. Seven rounds left.

She spins around, following the momentum of the bullet. I can't get a good shot on her, so I need to move closer!

I dash forward—?!

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

"—Gah!" Below me! The mushrooms I stepped on just exploded! The explosions rattle my feet, nearly taking my legs out from under me. Dammit, she really used Landmine on Kinoko's mushrooms?!

As I stand there staggered, Curious runs up to me just before I can raise my pistol. Her head is leaking blood. "You don't need this, Miss Kendo!"

WHACK!

She knocks my pistol out of my hand. Using her Curious Flattener, she slams the end against my chest and—!

BOOM!

LAUNCH!

I get hit by another explosion. My stomach feels like it'll turn inside out that time. I'm launched back into the wall, my head smacking hard against it—not even the mushrooms could cushion the impact. I bounce off of it, getting down on one knee. I can feel blood running down my head now, that's not good at all. This is why I'm not a Hero. I don't like pain; I'm not a masochist like Sanji.

Curious gives me her standard evil villain laugh. She claps, but since her right hand is currently holding her launcher, she's just banging against steel. "I didn't think a support scientist like you could give me such a hard time. You're quite an interesting engineer, aren't you?"

"One of the best," I say, grinding my teeth. I stand up as the sprinklers are still pouring water over our clothes, washing away the blood that's running down our heads. I snap my arms out. It's time to bring out my trump card.

WRAP!

A special kind of cloth suddenly wraps across both of my arms, forming dark-colored sleeves that cover everything from my hands to my shoulders. It's made out of carbon fibers and a metal alloy I made myself. At my fists, they're practically covered with the alloy, acting like metal gauntlets.

These are my Battle Fist Knuckle Dusters. Yeah, these are meant to be used by Itsuka, but they're not finished yet. That's why I'm using them. The bindings are meant to fulfill three purposes. One: provide further support for her arms; two: more stopping power with her punches; three: absorb more force since she awakened to Dad's Quirk. The cloth provides the first, while the metal alloy provides the latter two. I'm trying to ensure that her Knuckle Dusters will morph and de-morph depending if Big Fists are activated.

For now, I'm testing 'em out in normal mode.

Curious sees my newest invention and smirks. "Care to explain to me what those do?"

"No."

"I'll give you monetary compensation."

"I have enough money already."

"Hmph." She digs into her pocket and throws out a few more marbles. They explode; I duck outta the way. Curious reaches me and tries to push the Flattener into my head again, but I jump past her. We play this game for a little while: she attacks, I dodge; she attacks again, I dodge again, and so on. She uses the mushroom around us to catch me off-guard, but because she did that before, I'm used to her tricks. They won't put me in a bad spot. I'm just barely able to prevent her from touching me or any of my things. If that happens, I lose.

So eventually, mustering enough courage to charge at me again, I can finally counter her and give Curious some pain for once. Curious leaps forward, and so do I. "Who taught you how to move so well even in these conditions, Miss Kendo?!"

"Who do you think?" I reply, just as her Curious Flattener reaches me.

—At the same time, I send my left arm forward. I'm faster. My fist presses against the opening of her Curious Flattener like putting a cork in a wine bottle. Before Curious realizes what happens, she activates Landmine.

BOOM—!

—BURST!

Curious's, well, Curious Flattener explodes from within, completely destroying her incredibly annoying and ugly toy. And me? Thanks to my Knuckle Dusters, I came out of it completely unscathed. These things can act as protection too, thank God. Curious though? She feels the brunt of the explosion. Her right hand gets burned, and thanks to the force directing inwards, I wouldn't be surprised if she has a few broken fingers too. She lets out a pathetic moan of pain, stepping back holding her right hand. Honestly, it looks prettier with those wounds.

"Damn you, Hayami Kendo!" she shouts. "That's not everything I have!" With her good hand, her left, she pulls out a small handle. Flicking her wrist, that handle suddenly expands into a whip. Oh great, she has a whip too. Lemme guess, it's called "Curious Whip" and at the end, it can explode. Well, it makes sense that she has all means of attacking: range, medium range, and close. If only she wasn't so annoying...

Waving her whip around, she sends it towards my right. If that hits, it'll be painful even with my Knuckle Dusters. But I have good enough reflexes.

...And I just realized that I have something that I could've used all this time: my Quirk. Mom's Quirk was Transmutation: she can transform her skin to the composition of something she was touching. For example, if she was touching concrete, her skin transforms into concrete. Mine is Object Transmutation. Same thing, but with two objects. One is the object with the composition I wanna transform, the other is the object with the composition I want. I don't really use my Quirk much, but I definitely can here.

As soon as her whip comes around, I grab the chain. Her eyes go wide. "Huh—?!"

—And it transforms into water. Her Curious Whip transforms completely into water just like that. My entire body is touching water, so if I just grab her whip, I can destroy it. And so it does. It falls right outta her hands and onto the mushroom and water-soaked carpet. Looks like I destroyed her toys.

I start walking towards her. Behind Curious, I see Tetsutetsu yelling his lungs out. He's letting out an onslaught of punches onto Shield Hand's barrier. Curious, holding her injured right hand, starts talking, "I almost forgot about your Quirk, Miss Kendo. I overlooked it, I'll admit that. But the last thing I'll admit is defeat, you know!"

"Stop talking. I can't stand an annoying bitch like you," I shut her up, and I'll shut her up again with my fist. I—

—She thrusts her left hand forward but I catch it. Nice try. "Hayami Kendo—!"

UPPERCUT!

"Why can't you shut up?"

She stumbles backwards, stunned.

BAM! WHAM! PUNCH!

"You're one of the worst people in Japan. You harass my kids and paint them as useless little brats who can't do shit!"

BLAM! BLOW! SLAM!

"You act like you're innocent, acting like you're fighting for the people, but you're just fighting for yourselves! You're just glorified con artists!"

KABLAM! WAPOW! BASH!

"So sit down and get off our backs."

Curious falls flat on her back, her face bloody and bruised. She's on the verge of unconsciousness, shambling about in pain and misery. Good. That's what she deserves. For a Top Executive in the M.L.A., she got defeated by a measly support scientist. She trained so hard with her Quirk, having all kinds of support equipment just for her. And I shattered her hopes and dreams like it was nothing.

It's almost like she forgot who my father is. Dad, being the protective bastard he is, wanted to make sure I'd be safe whenever I was in public. So naturally, he taught me martial arts. Turns out, you can beat up a lot of people using just that and nothing else. But would ya look at that? If I actually wanted to be a Hero, I might've been a good one. Screw that alternate universe though. Heroism doesn't do me any good.

SHATTER!

"Rrraaaaaah—!"

CRASH!

"—Ugh, guh…"

THUD!

Tetsutetsu's done with his fight. I saw him punching through the man's barrier and nailing him in the jaw. Shield Hands falls onto the incredibly comfortable carpet; he's down for the count. Heaving heavily, he looks at Hinokokyu who's just watching us with his cheeks puffed up. What the hell is he doing? Quickly, I run up to Tetsutetsu before he does anything impulsive and rash. "Hold on, Tetsutetsu! Let's wait—!"

—The sprinklers finally turn off.

Well shit.

Hinokokyu leans forward and opens his mouth, releasing the breath he's holding. And damn, it's massive. A large pillar of fire erupts from his mouth with the same intensity as Endeavor's flames, I'd say. The strength of his Quirk might be dependent on how long he can hold his breath for; it explains why he's able to hold his breath against Kinoko's Quirk.

My legs are frozen in place as Hinokokyu's fire reaches us, but before I know it, Tetsutetsu grabs me. He throws me behind him and takes the brunt of the flames, acting as a shield just for me. "Tetsutetsu!" I yell. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Tetsutetsu spreads his body out as much as he can, groaning as the joints in his body buckles like steel scratching against steel. "What d'ya think?! I'm Real Steel, dammit! I gotta be a man; more importantly, a freaking Pro! There's nothing more heroic than being a shield, 'specially for a woman!"

FOOOSH!

The fire gets stronger. Hell, I can hear it roaring as if the fire has a beating heart and all that. That idiot child though…. He reminds me of Kaito's straightforwardness so much… They're the type of guys who would act first and think second.

"Grah—haah! So friggin' hot, dammit! My Steel's practically melting!" Tetsutetsu shouts, slumping his back over from the intense heat he's experiencing. Slowly, step by step, he marches forward towards the source, trying his damn best to not fall down. "Don't you look down at me, you crappy Fire Quirk user! I'mma prove that us 1-Bers aren't second-rate! We're friggin' badasses!"

ROAR!

Somehow, Hinokokyu's fire is getting even stronger than before, but Tetsutetsu isn't willing to stand and let himself melt. Mustering every ounce of strength he has remaining, he claws through the fire, stomping through Kinoko's mushrooms and meeting the man himself. He shouts, "Rrraaaah—! Eat a fistful of hot iron—!"

—TETSUTETSU FIST!

BAM—!

Tetsutetsu slams his steel fist into Hinokokyu's stomach, silencing the flames sprouting from his mouth. With a bit of a cruel rattle from his throat, Hinokokyu is pushed back with the rest of his friends, who are still on the ground. I guess mushrooms and sprinklers make for a very terrible day at work.

"Ugh… I'm spent… Sorry guys…" Tetsutetsu's Quirk drops, revealing that his entire body is practically covered in burns. Then, he falls down flat on his back, staring at the ceiling. Shit, some of them look pretty serious!

I run over to Tetsutetsu. He has second-degree burns over his body; his clothes are burnt to a crisp. Okay, that's something to worry about! Alright, I need to take him up to Monoma and the others. But I can't let these soldiers follow us when they eventually recover.

To solve that, I throw some of the Bondo Grenades I have, covering most of the soldiers except for Curious. I hoist Tetsutetsu's arm over my shoulder and lift him up. And luckily for me, Kinoko's already on her feet. Some bits of glue are stuck to her clothes, but she looks perfectly fine. She took care of Curious already. Curious is covered in both glue and mushrooms. Also, Kinoko's holding my gun. "I'm finally free, freaking shroomheck! S-Sorry, Momma Kendo… I couldn't help you and Tetsu fight!"

"It's fine, don't worry about it! We need to get upstairs fast! Tetsutetsu's too injured to fight!" I say, leading the way up after taking my pistol from her.

"Nah, I can totally make these assholes eat my fists…" Tetsu says with his voice woozy. Yeah, I don't believe him.

Taking out my walkie-talkie, I call in, "Team Hayami here. We're done with our part. Twenty-five M.L.A. soldiers are glued up and one commander, Curious. Tetsutetsu is heavily injured during the fight. We're coming up to you guys as we speak."

I get an immediate response. "Phantom Thief speaking. We'll take care of Tetsutetsu, don't you worry, Miss Kendo! The rest of the goons haven't arrived yet, so we're simply biding our time until they make their grand appearance. As for the status of the rest of our teams, we received no answer from Battle Fist. Shangdi is still dominating his fight, we're watching him as we speak. As for Bravo, Armory and Maria are still in Castor. I have a feeling that Armory will be just fine, especially considering he has Dragon Shroud with him."

...No answer from Itsuka. Fuck, you better be alright, sweetheart. "Dammit okay. What about Dad? Did something happen to them?"

"Why would they? I doubt that any harm will come to them."

"...Yeah. Hope so, but you never know. Anyway, we'll talk more once we arrive at your position. Stay safe."

"Et tu."

Itsuka's gone silent, and Sanji's still doing his thing. I'm not a religious woman, but I think this is a good time to pray to God, for both of their safeties…

---

Sanji Inochi - Location: Castor, Service Elevator

Deep breath in, deep breath out.

Ding!

I'm on Floor 30, going up by the second. Destination: Floor 53. Floor 53 to 55 make up an atrium that's supposed to mimic a mall. Once I step out of the elevator, I'll be greeted with a hallway leading into the large space. In that hallway, I'm expecting company. Thank goodness that Ishtar gave me the key to this service elevator. No one will know that I'm coming because they don't know that we have access to it. Ibara and the others are down at the basement with their part of the plan. And Rin? Well, he's entering the atrium in another way and we'll meet up in the middle. We're tackling this place from two angles instead of one.

Our mission is simple: Find Setsuna's missing flash drive and retrieve it before the M.L.A. can. It's on this floor—well, floors. A Top Executive is most likely leading the search. Lian is fighting Geten and Stalwart; Indignation, Curious, and Trumpet are sieging Pollux. That leaves Vainglory and Re-Destro. I don't think Re-Destro will try and find a small flash drive, so I'll probably meet Vainglory.

That means Re-Destro… He's…

Ba-thump!

I put my hand over my heart. "Oh, be still my beating heart… Please be safe, Itsuka…"

"Itsuka, I finally got a chance to talk. I, uhm, well—"

"I know what you're gonna say already. You don't have to awkwardly force the words outta your mouth. However, I'm more concerned about you, Mister I-Get-Mortally-Injured-Anytime-I-Fight? I'm joking, but there's some semblance of truth in that, you airhead. How about this? Let's have a mutual agreement that we'll try our best to not get so injured that the other will cry."

"You know that my anxiety won't go away with that, right? You're a smart person..."

"Yeah yeah, at least I don't have the IQ of Monoma, Sanji—"

"—Okay, Monoma is smarter than you give him credit for. He helped me with calculus before our Final Exam, and I actually felt confident about my answers."

"Alright alright, you told me before, you don't have to repeat it. We don't have the time to argue over something silly like that, heh. Back on topic, of course I know that. I'm anxious as hell too, don't get me wrong. Funny thing about that… I'm a lot more worried about you than I'm worried about myself."

"Guess we have that in common. Everyone is trying to predict which Top Executive will fight who. Even though we know their Quirks, this'll be our hardest fight yet. These guys, they're not All Might. Sure, we beat All Might, but that's only because he had weights on and he was holding back to a reasonable extent. Sorry that I'm rambling, but you get my point right?"

"Yeah, and you weren't rambling that much. I, well, damn… How do I put this? Right, we kick their asses. They tried kicking ours and they failed miserably. Have some confidence, Sanji. I'm not asking you to be just as confident as Bakugo or even Suzuki. Just have confidence in healthy doses. Before you know it, we'll be on the first flight back home explaining what happened to Mister Kan and the Hero Public Safety Commission."

"...I don't look forward to the last part."

"I don't either. Anyway, all in all, just fight. Do your part and I'll do mine, then we meet in the middle. I'm counting on you just as much as you're counting on me."

"Heh, now that's a deal I'm willing to make. But for argument's sake, I'm pretty sure I count on you more than you count on me. The gap between us? Yeah, it's not a quantifiable distance."

"Oh shut up, don't make me pinch you."

Ding!

Floor 45. Eight more floors to go. I gotta do this as fast as possible. Ibara and the others are our escape route, and will also mop up the remaining soldiers too. Let's hope I don't fight Vainglory right off the bat. Or if Rin has to fight him alone. Both are equally bad scenarios. That's probably why Hayami gave me a gun.

An actual pistol. I'm pretty sure I'm not legally allowed to use a pistol even if I'm using rubber bullets—even then, rubber bullets are less lethal but still lethal nonetheless—but this situation warrants self-defense. If I do get arrested—not sure how that will happen—there'll be a strong case for me. It's a pretty light pistol with twenty-one rounds; the magazine has a capacity for twenty plus one in the chamber. Unfortunately, I didn't bring all of my support equipment with me. There was no time between explaining what was happening, coming up with a gameplan, then planning for said gameplan, and finally getting ready all within less than an hour. I only brought my katana and that's it. Anyhow, all of those American action movies will pay off.

"Why are you giving me a pistol? I understand that you're using one too, Hayami, but uh… It's just not… How do I say it?"

"Your style? Your method of fighting? Yeah, completely understandable. Not all of us are Snipe, but you need to use this. First of all, you're Quirkless. You know how strict Japan is with gun laws; we're not America. Despite that, about 85% of gun owners are Quirkless from a study done a couple of years ago. Secondly, or second of all I dunno, you'll be fighting the average knuckleheads, whose Quirks are unknown variables if I might add. You don't have time to play with them, so you need to down these idiots as fast as possible. You need to hit them before they can use their Quirks on you."

"Alright… I don't think I can argue with you, can I?"

"Not tonight, no. At the very least, you can finally fire a gun for the first time. It's pretty fun."

"Yeah, but you'd be shooting at paper targets. My targets happen to be made out of flesh and blood."

"Eh. Tomayto, tomahto."

Ding!

Floor 50. The sounds of the elevator creaking its way up slowly dims down, slowing as I approach my destination.

Ding!

Floor 51. Slower and slower…

Ding!

Floor 52. I take a deep breath. Just gotta stay calm. It's not like you're about to head face-first into a crowd of hungry, brain-eating zombies… You're just heading into a crowd of angry soldiers who wanna tear your eyes out of your sockets… Yup, that's it.

Ding! Crrrr!

Floor 53. The elevator door opens to a fairly well-lit hallway. It doesn't look nearly as pretty or clean as the rest of the hotel, but this is a service hallway, I'm assuming. The only thing here is… Uh… Actually, I have no idea what's even in here in the first place. All I know, and all I need to know, is follow the signs in order to head towards the main hallways towards the altrium.

Luckily for me, there's no unwanted visitors here. I'm perfectly in the clear to make my careful entrance. I step out of the elevator, stepping into the hallway, and following the signs with small, methodical footsteps like I'm a thief trying to make way with precious jewelry in tow. Guess my precious jewelry is my heart, since I kinda need that in one piece.

Murmur murmur…

Voices. They're too faint for me to make out what they're exactly saying, but they're straight ahead in the direction I need to go. I slow my pace down to a walk, stepping lightly one foot after the other, just creeping up, just creeping and creeping like I'm a crazy stalker, until I reach the corner. I quickly take a glance at the hallway. It's bigger than the hallways with the hotel rooms; these are meant to have large groups of people walking to and from the altrium up ahead. It has a bunch of various stuff around like potted plants, benches, vending machines, a bunch of rooms off to the side like bathrooms and janitor closets, and some other things. Off to my right, there's a massive window showcasing the view outside towards the glistening Central Tower that's currently under attack. Right now, the blinds are closed.

That's just the surroundings though. For the people I'm worried about? There's quite a bit of them, but not enough where I panic. The voices I heard earlier, they belong to two men who're just standing around. I spotted a woman ducking into a janitor's closet, a couple of other men at the bathrooms, a woman just further down the hall from the two men, and I think I can see another figure at the end of the hall. That's seven soldiers and none of them spotted me, thank God for that.

"Where the hell is this flash drive?" says the first man with hair all over his body like Shishida. "I haven't heard anything from Vainglory yet."

So Vainglory is here… The other man, who looks like the average Japanese man, replies, "It's like finding a needle in a haystack. Look at this place. Geten didn't give us good information, and now we're stuck on our hands and knees looking through every nook and cranny."

From down the hall, the woman speaks up, "Well I don't see you two doing any work! We need to find this thing as fast as possible and regroup with the others!"

The hairy man snaps in return, "We've been looking ever since we made a deal with those brats, and we found squat! Why the hell did Geten even give that bitch a chance to run off anyway?"

"Do you ever stop complaining for once?" the woman replies. "I thought that's why you joined our cause, so you, y'know, stop talking your friends' ears off and actually try and reform this God-forsaken world of ours?"

From down the hall, a man yells, "Would all of you stop talking and find this flash drive?! We don't need you arguing!"

The average-looking man sighs, rubbing his lips. "Alright alright, he's right. Arguing won't get us anywhere. We're wasting valuable time."

The woman rolls her eyes and heads back into the closet. She has the door open, so I'd better keep note of that. Well, glad to see that the M.L.A. isn't a collective hivemind of like-minded individuals. There's one thing that radicals hate more than the average folk: other radicals. The rest of the soldiers, other than the two men, go back to whatever they were doing before.

And the two men? They have their backs turned to me, finally deciding to do their job. Alright, guess I need to get a move on. I step out from the corner, my footsteps as quiet as I possibly can make them. Twenty rounds in the magazine plus one in the chamber, my katana's fitted snugly in its sheath, everything is good to go.

I approach them; they're completely unaware of my presence. They don't look all that durable, thankfully. So this should be easy. What happens after this though… I just need to improvise.

BAM!

I squeezed between them like a small, kinda bratty kid trying to hurry to someplace. The moment they glanced at me, I drove my left fist into the side of the jaw of the hairy man. His body crumples from the sudden attack, automating itself to take the man back a few steps. The man's body might be moving, but there's no light in the oven. He'll recover in a few seconds though.

"Wh—?!"

—POW!

I perform a hook kick into the average-looking man's face, keeping my foot pressed against it. Because I'm so close to him, I twist my hip and use the momentum to take him down. His head crashes against the tiled floor first, echoing a loud crack—that's the tiled floor not his skull, I hope. He'll stay down for a while.

The hairy man regains consciousness after nearly falling over, just a few meters from a conveniently-placed pillar decorated with some pretty stone. Before he can react, I dash up and do a spinning side kick into the center of his chest. He gets kicked back into the pillar. Huffing, we both make a move: I approach him while he takes a step forward.

He lets out a cry, swinging forward with a wide right hook. I weave right underneath it, my hair just barely touching the skin of his arm.

I loudly exhale, and I throw my own.

"Inochi, from the state you brought those soldiers in, they not only look physically abysmal, but mentally as well. I'm almost certain about this assumption, and that is, you intimidated them, which the word 'intimidated' is an understatement. They fear you, and that fear will spread to the rest of their comrades. I don't know how you conditioned yourself to be so brutal with your attacks—as a Hero, I ought to be reprimanding you for your 'unheroic' fighting style, perceived as such by orthodox Heroes—yet for the sake of your safety, and the safety for your friends, keep fighting like that."

—BLAM!

CRASH—!

"Ghrr—ah—!" My left fist crashed into his cheek, forcing a groan tear through his throat. I step forward and bring his entire body with me. Just like his friend who got his head smashed into the floor, the hairy man—thanks to my trusty fist—gets his head slammed into the pillar with a loud crash that echoes throughout the entire hall. The pillar cracks, bits of stone crumbles to the ground. Judging from that, I'm pretty sure he doesn't feel like moving.

The woman in the janitor's closet hears the commotion and runs out. She shouts, "What the hell is going on—?!"

From my jacket, I pull out a Bondo Grenade that Hayami made me. I have three of these, and I have to make them count. It's worth it to disable just one person.

THROW!

On my right hip is my holstered pistol. I unholster it with my left hand, and right as the grenade reaches her, I shoot.

BANG!

POP!

The Bondo Grenade explodes before it makes contact with her, breaking it open and spewing his Cedemine all over her. The woman instinctively leans back, but because of her momentum, she ends up falling on her back glued to the ground with a thud signaling her fall. Three down, twenty bullets left.

The other three M.L.A. members hear me. I mean, I'd be worried if they didn't hear me, because holy crap, they have to be either deaf or incredibly inept at their job to not even notice my presence. Alright, the two men at the bathrooms are running towards me and the other woman is running behind them.

Slide…

Oh, the hairy guy is sliding to a sitting position. Yeah, he doesn't look like he wants to move. Alright, three versus one, I dealt with worse! Just remember, I can't let them use their Quirk!

First, I need to isolate one and distract the rest!

SPRINT!

I sprint forward. Just a meter ahead of me is a potted plant sitting comfortably next to his friend, the bench. Sorry Mister Plant, I have to separate you with your best friend.

GRAB!

With my right hand, I grab the potted plant by the rim of the pot, barely able to hold onto it due to it being a, uh, potted plant. It's like trying to carry a big cardboard box—light, but hard to carry due to its size.

Anyway, it's not going to hinder me too much. I'll reach the first man within three seconds, the second man in about five, and the woman in seven or eight. They yell profanities at me, berating me and calling me demeaning names—names that I heard before.

I raise my pistol, causing all of them to momentarily slow down, hesitating. That's the natural reaction when you have a gun raised at you regardless if it's packing rubber bullets or actual bullets. But this… This raises an interesting question: Are they normal people? Are they the average joes and whatever the female equivalent is for "joes"? Only normal people would have that brief moment of hesitation when confronted with a firearm. I'm supposed to be trained to remove that hesitation along with other things; that's in the job description of a Pro Hero.

So are they "soldiers" at all? Or did they call themselves that to further drive the point that they're revolutionaries fighting a war against the oppressive government?

Either way, soldiers or not, I'm treating them as much.

BANG!

"Gah—!"

THUD!

I refuse to hesitate. My safety's on the line. The safety of my friends are on the line. Everyone I love and adore, their lives are resting on my shoulders. I refuse.

The woman in the back, I targeted her first. She's furthest from me, so when I eventually deal with the two men, I'll have a tough time trying to adapt to her, which gives her ample time to use her Quirk. So I nail her on the top left corner of her forehead, drawing blood. She falls down from the impact, rolling on the pristine floors of the Gemini Hotels. Rubber bullets really hurt; nineteen left.

The two men look back and see their fallen comrade tumble to the ground like a graceful dancer on stage—if you think hitting the ground like a meteor is "graceful" that is. For a brief second, they take their eyes off of me. That's a mistake that they can't afford to make, honestly. Taking your eyes away from your enemy just means they have an extra second to do what they want, and since I have that second, it might as well seal their fate.

Just as the first man turns back to face me, I'm already in front of him with the potted plant raised. He tries to raise his arms up to guard his head, but I'm not trying to aim for his head. Besides, I'm fast enough where he wouldn't even be able to fully guard before I attack.

BAM!

"Fweh—?!"

His foot—that's my real target. I slammed the potted plant onto his right foot; the pot shatters completely, the ceramic scattering all over the floor like ants. There's a pressure point on your feet. Target it and you have a good way of gaining the upper hand, just like in this situation. He's stunned in his place, his body seizing up from the pain. The second guy barely processed what just happened, let alone trying to come up with a suitable course of action. That's the shock of my attack, so I need to spend this valuable second as wisely as I can.

KNEE!

"—Guh!" I raise my right knee and jump up, slamming it into the man's chin, snapping his head upwards and forcing him to look up at the ceiling.

BAM!

Last but not least, I turn on my left leg and give him a side kick right in the chest. He gets thrown back from my kick right towards his partner. It doesn't matter what his friend planned for me. I'm making him do what I want him to do—

PUSH!

"—Dammit!"

And that's exactly it: pushing his friend to the side. He looks ahead and sees me, a wizard who somehow teleported in front of him within a second.

WHACK!

With the butt of my pistol, I slam it on top of the man's head. You could hear the whack echoing in the hallway, then being followed by a grunt and a whimper. But he's still standing.

I grab the man's tie with my right hand and raise my right knee.

POW!

I did two motions: yanking the man's head down with his tie and raising my knee up so fast that it briefly became a blur. They meet in the middle like a handshake, but replacing that handshake is my knee smacking right into his face. I can feel a few splatters of blood staining my dress pants.

POW!

I do it again to be safe. It might be brutal of me to do this, but I can't afford to take any chances with these guys.

"Guh… Gah…." the man whimpers in pain. His head suffered a ton of trauma, but he's still not done. To my right, there's a pair of vending machines. One has snacks and the other has drinks. This should do him in.

THROW!

While I was still holding onto his tie, I threw him against the vending machine with the drinks. His back hits the vending machine first, smacking it against the wall behind them. It wobbles back and forth, the soda bottles inside doing the same dance. The soldier rests against the machine with blood dripping from his mouth, doing his best to look up at me.

"You damned—?!"

"—Shut up."

POW!

I perform a jumping side kick into his chest. I kicked him so hard that the vending machine basically breaks, spilling out bottles of soda onto the hotel floor. The man spits out more blood and stains what used to be my pristine outfit. Fortunately though, he's out of commission. He isn't fighting back any time soon.

"Stupid kid—!" a woman yells. It's the woman that I shot in the head earlier. She recovered faster than I thought, but she's running straight at me with reckless abandon so she probably suffered some brain damage. Well, if you look up "brain damage" in a medical dictionary, the M.L.A. is the example that the book gives you, but I digress. I ought to make use of what I got right at my feet.

KICK!

Using one of the fallen-from-grace soda bottles, I channel my inner soccer player and kick it right into the woman's head. Just like before when I shot her, she stumbles from the sudden impact and tumbles right back down. Stumble and tumble, that's how it goes.

Click clack!

Behind me. I haven't turned around yet, but I know who it is: the first man. He isn't nearly as injured like the rest of them, but he definitely watched me. And now, he's making a move.

"Hey—"

—BANG!

Eighteen. I aimed for his knee. I tell him, "Stay down or the next one will ricochet off your skull."

Surprisingly, the man listens. He just falls down and leans against the wall, clutching the knee that I just shot. He doesn't taunt me; he doesn't say anything for that matter. The only thing he gives me are the eyes filled with more fury than you can imagine. There's no words that he can say to describe it.

I walk down the hallway until I encounter the woman that I both shot and kicked a soda bottle into. She's laying on the ground staring up at me. We exchange nothing more than eye contact, but she doesn't attempt to attack me. I think she knows that if she tries anything, it won't matter; I'm just faster.

That means six soldiers are down. There's one left; it's the figure that I swore I saw at the end of the hallway. But I don't see them, so hopefully—

Thump! Thump!

So hopefully, I won't encounter them. That's what I would've said if I didn't encounter them, but from the sounds of those footsteps, someone big is coming. Their footsteps are like a giant's. I can practically feel the hotel shaking from the weight of those feet.

Click click!

...That's the sound of a gun. Alright, I'm pretty sure that isn't me. One: I'm a responsible gun owner—least that's what I tell myself; two: pistols don't make that clicking sound. It sounds just like a...machine gun…

"Oh crap."

Juggernaut makes his appearance, holding his military-grade machine gun. I can't tell how much ammo he has in his magazine, but I'm sure it's somewhere around one hundred. "Hey kid. Nice to meet the best damned Quirkless in the world."

"Uhh…" I mumble. I think I should…

—DIVE!

RATATATATATATA—!

What the hell?! Those are real bullets! Is he trying to kill me here?! Crap, I barely just managed to use a pillar for cover, but even then, I'm barely small enough where I have full cover! And he's taking bits of it out!

Bullets are shattering everything it comes across. The sound of machine gun fire is the only thing I can hear. It's a constant, deafening noise that erupts in my ears, accompanied with the sight of seeing everything around me being destroyed as if they're glass. I can feel the vibrations of the bullet in the pillar; some of them make contact directly on it. Thank God that this pillar is thick enough where these bullets can't penetrate through it.

I shout at the top of my lungs, "Aren't you worried that your friends are in the line of fire?!"

I hear him shouting back, "They can handle themselves! It's you I'm worried about!" I focus my attention onto the other soldiers. He's right to an extent. A couple of them got up; they're trying to drag their friends away from the line of fire. They're in no state to fight, let alone trying to fight when there's bullets flying right at them.

RATATATATATATA!

God, that sound will be the death of me. I'm just able to hear myself think. I heard that soldiers, back in the day when Quirks weren't around, would be utterly shell-shocked from the sound of bullets whizzing past their ears like killer bees, especially when it came from a machine gun. Even the most battle-hardened soldiers would be traumatized just from the experience alone. At times like these, I'm almost scared at how calm I am.

Think, try and remember what Master Kendo told you…

"That Juggernaut is a real piece of shit. I could never beat guys like him for two reasons: the asshole has an automatic rifle and he's wearing armor made to stop tanks. Now, the military has definitely progressed in the past few decades, so I bet that his armor can withstand just about everything besides from big explosions or a .50 cal. Rubber bullets won't work on him—obviously—and he can resist cuts. That leaves you with two things. One of them is attacking in the gaps of his armor, but that'll be hard even for a prodigy like you. The other is stabbing him. That armor can resist slashes, but I bet it's not pierce-resistant. Worst part about it: we don't even know his Quirk. Basically Sanji, you need to find a way to close the distance. Otherwise, you'll be turned into swiss cheese."

This is probably one of my toughest opponents yet. I'm pinned down. If only I had Full Cowling like Deku, then I could probably avoid the barrage of bullets through various leaps. But I'm just regular old me, carrying a pistol and a katana like I'm the protagonist of an action movie. Now, if I want to live through this, I need a way to distract him.

I look around.

There's a fire extinguisher encased in glass on the far left end of the wall. I can shoot it out, but I would need to shoot a few times.

To my right, there's a hallway that I can dive into. It leads to a back room, but I shouldn't rely on it to give me what I need. However, if I do dive in there, then the Juggernaut can effectively trap me. No good.

Below…! Nothing. I can't dig my way out. Okay, above! There's a few sprinkler heads. I can shoot them from where I'm standing. It'll definitely distract the Juggernaut for just a moment; that's all I need.

Okay, part one of my master plan is complete. What happens afterwards? I have two Bondo Grenades, eighteen rounds, my katana, and my wit. One of them is useless.

RATATATATATA—!

He stopped firing. Instinctively, I stick my head out. I see him gripping onto his large magazine drum. The drum glows a faint blue, and then—?!

COCK!

—RATATATATATA!

I almost got my head shot off! How can he keep firing?! He didn't even change his magazine! I thought it was empty, but now he's firing again as if it's full! That blue glow… Don't tell me that's his Quirk? His magazine drum was empty; the cocking of his rifle was evidence that he chambered a round. So if his drum was empty but now it's full…

That's his Quirk. I'd call it "Replenish". He can replenish any empty container, but I don't know how he can specifically replenish his magazine with bullets and not anything else. But at least I know his Quirk. Downside: it means he has effectively unlimited ammo. He's basically cheating in real life.

Alright, now that's done and over with, I need to act. I aim my pistol at the sprinkler just a few tiles to my left.

BANG!

SPURT!

Seventeen. Juggernaut stops firing for a moment, watching as water begins to pour down in the gap between us. With no doubt in my body, I jump out of cover and throw one of my Bondo Grenades at him.

BANG!

Sixteen. I shot the Bondo Grenade while it was still in the air. It explodes and creates a temporary wall of Cedemine that separates the two of us. Juggernaut just lost sight of me. The most logical course of action is to spray and pray. My next move needs to distract him again, so I unsheathe my katana and toss it in the air.

LEAP—!

—RATATATATA!

Just before the barrage began, I leapt into the air above the wall of Cedemine, and above me is my katana. The bullets penetrate the wall but the only thing they hit is air. The world is upside down from my perspective. Time slows down, and I see the Juggernaut turning his head up to see just what the heck I'm doing.

He gets his answer once my right foot collides with the hilt of my blade.

LAUNCH!

Using my foot, I flipped backwards, using both the momentum of the flip and the kick to launch my katana like a projectile towards Juggernaut. It's not a perfect kick, but it does the job. I don't hear any more gunfire. As soon as I land, the Cedemine is spread out on the floor in front of me, and Juggernaut deflects my katana with his machine gun at the last second.

Dammit, it's now or never!

DASH!

I leap over the puddle of Cedemine and dash straight ahead! He aims his machine gun and fires!

RATATATATA—!

—WEAVE!

I make my sprint unpredictable, moving in odd angles and weaving through the hailstorm of lead. A bullet narrowly grazes me, leaving a small cut on my cheek. I drop my head low, lower than low.

Somehow, either by luck or pure skill, I'm here. Before Juggernaut can react, I grab onto the handguard of his rifle and push it upwards towards the ceiling.

RATATA!

He fired a couple of times but only made a few bits of concrete rain from the sky. Holding onto his gun, I spin on my left foot and perform a heel kick right into his gun hand!

WHAM!

I knock his rifle out of his hands, just to our left! My katana's just behind me, but I can't reach it before he can react. I can see the gaps between his armor though! I need to exploit that and get the upper hand!

I aim my pistol and—!

"Not so fast, kid!"

BANG!

THUMP!

Shit! He shoved his right hand against the barrel of the gun! He literally blocked the bullet with the palm of his hand! I—?!

—POW!

"Guh—" He threw a left straight into my gut. My insides feel like they're spilling out of my throat.

LIFT!

Oh crap.

SLAM!

"—Fwuh—" He picked me up and slammed me onto the ground.

KICK!

Then he kicked my stomach, causing me to slide across the cold floor. I don't know when I let go of my pistol nor do I know where the hell is it. My brain's flashing my body with pain, but I need to fight…

I try my best to look up and I see Juggernaut walking over to pick up his rifle. He's… Shit!

CRAWL!

Crap! I crawl back as fast as I can, using every part of my body to inch myself towards my weapon! Shit, it might've been a better idea to stop him from grabbing his gun, but my body just moved on its own! I'm stuck with this!

Turning around, I reach out and grab my katana, but I already hear him turning around. "Sorry, kiddo."

I swing my katana—?!

THUMP!

"—Huh—?!"

He just...fell… His rifle drops and slides over to my feet. How did he…?

"Sorry that I took so long, Inochi." Rin!

"How did you—?!"

"I did what Kendo did: karate chop," Rin answers with a smile, doing an exaggerated motion for me. His palms are adorned with jade scales. They must be really hard. "I slid my hand into the gaps of his armor, specifically the space between his helmet and his neck guard. One well-placed strike to the neck can incapacitate anyone if you hit it hard enough, but I'm sure you already know that."

Rin helps me back up and hands my pistol back. Sixteen rounds left in my magazine, I think. After putting everything back where it belongs, we quickly start heading down the hall towards the main area. I ask him, "How's your end of the fight? You look pretty good."

"So do you, considering you had to handle Juggernaut. Counting him, I dealt with nine soldiers. They came in batches though, not all at once," he says with a small smile on his face.

I sigh, scratching the back of my head. "Guess you won. I took out six soldiers."

He frowns. "This isn't a competition, Inochi. Our lives are literally at stake here whether or not they say that they'll spare us."

I do some over-the-top hand motions. "I know I know! I'm just trying to lighten the mood. In my defense, we've been thrown into this mess with barely any time to adapt. Thank God that Grandmaster was able to bluff so well, Lian gave us his strength, and Mister Aldemir for leading us in Operation Hero Force Army. Without them, only the stars know what'd be in store for us."

"Yeah, at least you can keep a positive head on you," he says, looking around the main area. "Despite being covered in blood of our enemies, you still have the remnants of a smile on your face."

I look at my suit. Okay, I'm not that covered in blood. "You make it sound like I'm literally bathing in blood. Ugh, it's not my fault. The moment these bastards decide that killing me is worth its weight in gold, it's the same moment when I decide to say 'To hell with it'."

Rin stops, staring at the large window to our right. You can see the rest of I-Island with that gorgeous view. Guess that's the perks of being so high up.

Jeez…

Think, Sanji.

In the main area, it's shaped like a circular atrium like I stated before. There's open floors above us lined with rows of stores ranging from jewelry to clothes to technology, everything. If we had an apocalypse, this place would be amazing to gather literally everything you need, and literally everything you could ever want. But that's not our focus right now.

We're standing on the main floor; this is where the food court is at. It's split in half, separated by an open, partitioned walkway where people can easily traverse this place. On both sides, there are armies of white tables and chairs pristine as pristine can be. Along the far walls of the altrium are the various restaurants and fast food chains. They have food from every culture you can imagine. But none of them are open. The shutters are shut with a solid metal gate.

If we somehow move all of these tables and chairs, we could make a more open space to fight in.

Look at the pillars. They're solid, sturdy, and stone—the amazing three S's. However, they're near the walls because they obviously need to support the upper floors otherwise that's just poor engineering. Moving on, the pillars are double my height, but I'm pretty sure I can use them to climb onto the floor above me if need be. It'll take a lot of time and energy though.

Dang, this place is as much as an advantage as a disadvantage. I have to be reliant on my skill this time around. I—

SHAKE!

"Inochi, you're zoning out again." Rin shakes me out of my head with one hand. In the other, he's waving the flash drive at me. "I've been telling you that I found the flash drive. Well, I technically found it. One of the soldiers found it before me but I took it off of him. I—"

I sigh, looking around with intent. "I figured. If you haven't found the flash drive yet, you would've told me first thing. We would've ran here and flipped practically everything over. I was just analyzing this, uh, mall? I guess that's what you can kinda call it. That's besides the point though, excuse my rambling! Anyway, Setsuna predicted this. Our exit isn't smooth as much as we want it to be."

Rin grimances. "Re-Destro?"

I hesitate. I'm not afraid of that name, but I'm afraid for Itsuka. "N-No… It's—"

"Vainglory. I'm happy that you knew I was here," he says, stepping out from shadows casted from the floors above. A fairly put-together man in his late thirties, dressed in a black and red suit resembling a stereotypical professional assassin in action movies. His black hair is swept with red streaks, gelled and combed back. His hair is long enough where it hangs from the back of his head. Overall, he's a fairly handsome man with facial structure that women would fawn over; he's right in the perfect age range for looks, if you happen to like older men anyway.

At his side though, he has a katana like I do, attached to his side. Dark sheath edged with silver, moving around with every step he takes. The hilt of his blade is wrapped in black linen with the wood underneath stained red. The guard is gold; it has etchings in it but I can't make it out from where I'm standing.

Just like me, he practices kenjutsu. But unlike me, he's a skilled fighter, a Top Executive.

This really is a terrible match-up.

Wearing a bold smile on his face, he addresses us with his eyes first as if he wants us to acknowledge him more than we already have. "Sanji Inochi and Hiryu Rin."

Gajin Nobuto, the CEO of Ronin. His company is famous for bullying other Hero support companies out of business. They pick on the little guys, and he? "I wasn't sure if I would meet you—well, Inochi in particular—but I'm ecstatic to see that's the case."

Vainglory, one of the main leaders—one of the Top Executives—of the entire damned organization? The same one who claims that their rights are being oppressed by the government? Instead of blood flowing through his veins, it's hypocrisy. Every breath he takes, you could practically choke from a single molecule of his toxicity. "I believe you have something in which I'm the rightful owner of. I would ask politely, but nowadays, children like you seem to forget what manners are."

He puts a hand on his hilt. Vainglory glances at Rin before looking at me specifically. "You. I'm challenging you."

Rin tries to speak but I raise my hand just enough where he gets the signal. Stepping forward, I reply, "And if I refuse like the impolite, ill-mannered kid I am?"

"Then you'll find your head separated from your body. You and your friend," he threatens, but who's to say that he won't do that anyway? If I think about this logically, then it's a good opportunity to have the first strike. But his Quirk…

Vainglory gives me a smug smile. His Quirk is called "Projection". He can project a solid blue image of his body. As far as I know, that's it. I don't know how he can use it in combat, but I'm about to find out.

Answering without words, I put a hand on my hilt as well. I accept his challenge. This pleases Vainglory. He unsheathes his blade; it has the same color as the moon almost. Stepping forward, he gets into the proper position, the tip pointed towards the ceiling.

I reply in kind. Rin doesn't intervene or tries to stop me. He accepted that this duel is something that I have to do alone. Honestly, I'm not dueling for honor or testing my strength. I'm just here to survive.

I'm not a swordsman like Miyamoto Musashi who founded the school of Niten Ichi-ryu.

Click clack!

Trust me, I'm not some fearsome beast like the Dragon of Echigo, Uesugi Kenshin.

Click clack!

I'm not one of the Heavenly Kings like Honda Tadakatsu or Sakai Tadatsugu.

Click clack!

Or a sword saint, unlike Tsukahara Bokuden, one of the most famous saints there are.

Click clack!

I'm just me.

Just Armory, being taught under a great martial artist who didn't feel like coming up with a name for his techniques because he "isn't creative enough or has the energy to do said things".

I inhale.

Me and Vainglory stare each other down as we're less than two meters apart. Just a single step forward and our blades will reach one another. Advance, and our swords will clash; move forth, and someone's blood will be spilled.

Yet who will make the first strike?

Prediction. That's the name of the game. Simulate countless fights. In order to win, you have to know your opponent in and out, imagining what they will do next and counter it.

If I do a downwards slash into his shoulder, the attack itself is fairly obvious so he has time to parry and/or dodge it and move into my blind spot. No good.

If I just straight up stab him, he can deflect my sword away and I'm in a terrible position. That's out.

If I bend low and do an upwards slash, he can lock me into a clinch. I'm in a compromising position as my knees are bent. He can easily use his weight against me, and that's it. Game over.

I exhale.

I simulate four more possibilities within a second. All of them are failures. I have to assume that he has the intent to kill me, and that's what he'll do: a killing blow. Our Quirks aren't inherently combat-based—at least I don't know with mine—so we must rely on our own bodies given by God.

Simulation eight… I inhale.

"Are you alright, Inochi? You're sweating," Vainglory points out as we're still locked together. It's only been three seconds since we reached this position. Now it's four seconds, then five…

Heh, I didn't even notice the beads of sweat dripping from my knuckles.

STEP!

I exhale. It's a straightforward upwards slash aiming towards the center of mass. Vainglory raises his blade to guard.

TURN!

My attack is a feint. I flick my wrists and raise my blade, transforming the direction from upwards to downwards, attempting to sink my katana into his right shoulder.

"Ah—" Vainglory says, noticing the feint.

CLANG!

SHHHHG!

He's barely able to guard my attack, leaning his sword downwards into a slope to let mine simply slide off. Right after the guard, I step back to prevent him from countering right away.

"Here I come." Vainglory takes a small hop forward, bringing his arms back to his left side, his sword gathering power for this strike. The attack is obviously telegraphed; he's trying to aim for my right side. I can parry this and deflect his blade elsewhere.

So I promptly guard for it.

I stand my ground preparing myself to deflect this powerful strike. Before I see his blade fly towards me like a sparrow, he has a grin plagued on his lips. That's just arrogance—?!

VAINFUL RIVER - SLASHING CURRENTS!

"—Guh—"

"Pitiful."

Three attacks.

Three simultaneous attacks.

That's… That's what Projection does… Not only did he project himself and his blade twice… His projections replicated his actions perfectly, somehow being...displaced from a small distance...away from his body…

As soon as I saw it, I dropped...my guard...

He struck in three different places… Stomach, upper chest, right hip… All of them...landed…

CLANG!

That's the sound of...my katana hitting the floor… "Gah—Hah—"

Slowly, I try my best to turn around—

—SLASH!

"Gah—!" My...back…

"You're a lot worse than I thought, Inochi. Why did I bother wasting my time on you?"

KICK!

THUD!

"Now Hiryu Rin, I hope you can provide a better fight than that trash laying on the ground."

---

Yo. I return after not posting anything for like 2 and a half months. Sorry y'all, my motivation hit a low. My productivity sank due to COVID so I decided to take that time off as a break. Now, I have school like most people my age. Hopefully, I can be more productive in the coming weeks because I can't afford to be unproductive when I have high school to worry about. There's nothing much for me to say other than this. Anyway, I hope I can get back into the swing of things. This chapter is the longest yet at 28k words, and honestly, with how small the amount of chapters there are in this arc, the chapters here will be much longer than average. (And my average is too stupidly high wtf)
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Post-Chapter Discussion:

Lian Fei-Long: Lian up against a ton of soldiers, pretty damn cool. I couldn't describe his fight as much as I wanted to, but it's my first time writing him in a fight. However, I hope you understand how powerful he is to solo not only 40 soldiers, but Stalwart and Geten as well. In terms of combat ability, he's capable of unleashing 100% power with little drain of his stamina, and he only used 50% to nullify Geten's Liberation of Okami. It's implied that he didn't even need 50% to destroy it, but 50% to turn it *into mist*. If the average Hero is an ant, Lian would not be a giant or even a mountain; he would be a planet.

Pollux Crew: I wanted everyone to have their own moment in this arc, but yknow, that's kinda hard because there's 20+ characters to deal with. But goddamit I'm doing my best. Some characters will definitely have smaller moments compared to others, but that's the price to pay when you prioritize some characters over others. Like for example, one of the characters most affected by this is Vlad King. You don't see him pop up much in this fanfic because I haven't done anything with him that I can easily fit into what I have planned. I know he's the teacher of 1-B and all but I have so many other things to write, so he ends up suffering from a lack of development. It's a sacrifice that I have to make right now to get everything I want done. Anyway, lemme give you some notable character moments that I think would define them for this arc...

Togaru Kamakiri: His scene in general
Juzo Honenuki: Mud Whirlpool
Setsuna Tokage: ...She's the reason why everyone is in this mess.
Okichi Tokugawa: Uhhhhh
Kinoko Komori: Her scene (btw, she's a blast to write. I made her narrate with bits of alliteration and rhyming mixed in. She's trying to be a pop star, yo.)
Hayami Kendo: Her scene + Beating up Curious (For her fight scene, she could legitmately be a good Pro Hero. She has martial arts training from her dad and a Quirk that can basically destroy anything if she gets her hands on the right stuff.)
Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu: Flame shield

Sanji's Scene: Oh boy, Sanji's fucking dead again. He already died once, he needs to stop dying. I'm joking, but seriously, he can't catch a break. He really meant it when Vainglory was a terrible matchup because he literally has a Quirk that can duplicate his actions in different angles. No wonder Sanji got owned hard. He couldn't anticipate Vainglory's Quirk, ended up taking the bait, and ended up getting honorably injured because of it. Now Rin has to pick up where he left off in the next chapter! Anyway, the main meat of Sanji's scene is him plowing through six soldiers. His fighting style, in this instance, is simply distraction-attack-distraction-attack-distraction-attack. He made use of the MLA soldiers making mistakes during their fight. Though yknow, that changed as soon as he met Vainglory.

Other Teams: Now, we haven't gotten through *all* of our teams yet. We still have Itsuka's team and Monoma's too. At the end, you figure out that Itsuka has to deal with Re-Destro, and as the author of this fic... Yeah, yeah... At least we got Monoma! He'll make up for it, right? And what about Hakan's team up at the top floor? What can they do in this mess? Who knows? Maybe there'll be a giant kaiju that destroys everything? You'll find out in the next chapter.

Fic Schedule: Speaking of which, I'll try my best to update on a bi-weekly basis, but no guarantees. I'm trying my best to churn through this massive arc so we can head into the next one, Fireworks Festival, with relative ease because *that* will be waaaaaaaaay shorter. Please I need it.

Anyway, that's about it. I'm sorry this seems a little shorter, but at least I returned.

Prepare for Chapter 49: The Nightingale Swordsman