AN ASURA IS BORN

CHAPTER #7:

FIGHTER WITHIN


Baki, Kengan Ashura and My Hero Academia belong to their respective authors and publishers.


-Nuke's Room-

"Mmmnngh...~"

Karla moaned as she stretched her back by doing toe touches. After that, she did a couple of high jumps into the air, rolled her neck and shoulders, and finally-

*slap!* *slap!*

-gave herself two light slaps on her cheeks.

"Mhm! I'm good to go!"

She cheerfully exclaimed, then turned to her teammate, Toru. The invisible girl was fidgeting in place while slightly bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"You okay there, Toru-chan?"

The question broke the latter out of her reverie. Shaking her gloved fists up and down, she nodded.

Or at least, a gesture that Karla thought could be interpreted as a nodding movement...?

"Sure am! I'm kinda excited for the upcoming fight! But I'd lie if I said I wasn't a little worried... I mean..."

She began swaying from side to side. Karla tilted her head.

"Huh... maybe she's so showy with her body language to make up for her invisibility...?"

Putting that thought aside, she let her companion finish what she was saying.

"Who we're about to face are no pushovers! Todoroki-kun, especially!"

Karla began pattying Toru's head.

"There, there, Toru-chan."

She cooed.

"Our opponents are tough, yes. But it's nothing we can't overcome. We're quite the formidable duo ourselves, y'know?"

She smiled before sticking her tongue out. Tooru, despite enjoying the headpat and Karla's soothing words, was still not entirely convinced.

"You are formidable, Karla-chan. Your Quirk alone nearly puts to Hanma-kun's level, and he's a complete monster in terms or raw power and strength! All I have are my invisibility and light-refracting abilities..."

Karla swore she could almost see Toru's pout. She giggled.

"And that is exactly why this match is already ours."

"Huh...?"

The violette grinned.

"Here's what we're gonna do."

She inched closer to Toru's ear (or what she hoped was her ear) and began explaining the details of the plan.

The invisible girl was listening intently, sporadically letting out humming sounds of approval.

And then-

"BEGIN!"

All Might's booming voice started the exercise.

The two nodded at each other and began moving to their respective directions-

*SWOOOOOOSH!*

-until what appeared to be a huge wave of ice bursted its way into the room, moving inexorably towards them and the nuke.

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"You sure don't wast time, Todoroki..."

*snikt*

Large and thick veins bulged and began spreading onto the girl's eyes and upper body.

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"Let's dance."


Earlier

-Ground Beta-

"... and that sums up the plan. What do you think?"

Mezo questioned his teammate, but he realized it was a futile effort to even try to discuss any strategy with him.

Why?

Well, because Shoto was showing no interest whatsoever to the words he just said.

The masked boy sighed.

"Todoroki, talk to me. Your role is essential for the success of the pla-"

"It doesn't matter."

"What...?"

"It'll all be over in an instant."

"What do yo-"

"BEGIN!"

*slam!*

A few seconds after the start of the exercise, Shoto brought his right foot onto the ground.

*FWOOOSH!*

And just like that, a wave of ice engulfed the building, freezing it all over from the outside. A female voice cried in what apperead to be surprise, and that was enough for the heterochromatic boy.

"You stay here, otherwise you would end up being trapped by the ice. I'm going in."

Mezo was left gobsmacked at Shoto's display of power, with one of his tentacled mouth being left wide open at what had just transpired.

Shoto strolled inside, walking past the utterly frozen rooms and corridors, trying to locate the objective. Eventually, he found himself in the largest room, which was the equivalent of the same space where Izuku and Katsuki faced off. Glancing around, he found the nuke, but then stopped.

"Huh...?"

The bomb was placed in the farthest part of the room, nearly against the wall. But unlike the rest of the building, it wasn't frozen solid. Instead, the object itself and a small area around it was completely free from the ice that Shoto unleashed shortly before. Several cracks and upturned pieces of the floor could be seen around it.

"No matter. I just have to-"

"On your left."

"...!"

Turning abruptly, the last thing Shoto saw was two fingers aimed directly at his eyes.

*jab!*

"Gah!"

Recoiling from having his eyes poked, he stepped back. Karla immediately followed with a kick at the base of his sternum.

*wham!*

Losing his breath, Shoto tried to counterattack by using his left arm, but the girl was faster. With a well placed nukite, she hit his left shoulder-

*jab!*

-straight into the brachial plexus. That was enough to stop the boy's attack. After that, Karla delivered a quick hiraken at Shoto's jugular.

*thud!*

"Urgh!"

Not giving up, the heterochromatic boy made a sweeping motion with his right arm, sending a small, yet powerful wave of ice in front of him.

*SWOSH!*

Then he jumped back, trying to make space between himself and his opponent-

*BOOOM!*

-but it was completely useless, as Karla obliterated the block of ice that had formed between the two. Still holding the stance she used when she performed a teisoku to break the ice, she abandoned her pose and sprinted forward. Fast.

Fast enough that Shoto didn't even notice the piece of ice the girl had picked up.

"Tsk!"

Annoyed, and having recovered his eyesight well enough, the bi-colored boy tried to power up as much as he could with his right side before the violette could land another hit.

Unfortunately, Karla had another plan in her mind.

*fwhip*

"...?"

Tossing the small piece of ice she picked up moments ago into the air, Shoto's gaze was instinctively drawn to it.

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Big mistake.

With a frighteningly fast haisoku, Karla shattered the aforementioned object, sending small shards of it towards Shoto's face, who blinked and used his arms to shield himself. He scoffed.

"Trying to blind me again...? Have you ever heard that a surprise attack is really effective when used only once?"

"Have you?"

Shoto heard once again Karla's voice, but this time behind him. Unfortunately he didn't have time to react-

*wham!*

-since the girl violently struck his left poplite, causing him to fall to one knee-

*pow!*

-and allowing Karla to deliver an ipponken to his mastoid process.

"G-Guh..."

Shoto groaned feebly, as he raised his left hand in a last ditch effort to grab his opponent and freeze her, but-

*swhip!*

-at that point, Karla took advantage of his weakened and dizzled state to roll the capture tape around his left wrist.

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"SHOTO TODOROKI HAS BEEN NEUTRALIZED!"

All Might declared, and that was enought to make the heterochromatic boy slump onto the floor while holding his head.

"D-Damn it...!"

He hissed in frustration.

Karla just stared at him for a few moments before looking away. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply and-

*pheeewww*

-sighed just as long. The veins that covered most of her body disappeared. Karla took another couple of seconds to breathe deeply, only to reappear as perky as ever.

"Right! Now, back to Toru-chan!"

She darted off to her teammate's location to put the last part of their plan into motion.


Meanwhile

-Observation Room-

"Mon dieu!"

Exclaimed an ever sparkling Yuga as he pointed at the screen that just displayed Karla's and Shoto's fight.

"It really is true that the most beautiful roses are those with the most pungent thorns. Am I right, mes amies?"

His classmates found themselves agreeing with what he just said as they witnessed Karla dominate Shoto Todoroki who, along with Baki, was considered the residential powerhouse of Class 1-A.

The four stooges, in particular, were in their own world as they analized what had basically been a one-sided fight.

"Yeah, no doubt about it. I already had a suspect when I saw her healing Izuku's shoulder. Kure-san is clearly knowledgeable when it comes to acupressure. She flawlessly targeted Todoroki-kun's pain points to either stop his attacks or subdue him..."

Cosmo thought as he narrowed his eyes.

"Her Quirk... 'Removal', was it? It's frighteningly similar to that technique I learned from dad when we were in Gakigahara Forest, both in aesthetics and power. Although in her case, the strength she displayed was even higher than mine...!"

Izuku mentally assessed.

"She's small, but she hits like a damn sledgehammer! That speed and power combo is a deadly combination for sure!"

Ichiro exclaimed in his own head.

Baki was still watching the screen with rapt attention, while a single thought was fixed in his own mind, begging for an answer.

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"If i punch myself and it hurts, am I weak for feeling pain or strong because I managed to hurt myself?"

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Moving on...


-Ground Beta-

"Damn, they managed to eliminate someone like Todoroki...!"

A somewhat alarmed Mezo thought while his mind was racing in order to come up with a backup plan.

While he was brainstorming, one of his tentacled ear twitched, and the masked boy swiftly turned to the source of the sound. Not taking any chances, he widely swept his left arms to the side, and indeed, he ended up ensnaring a certain invisible girl.

"Ah!"

She exclaimed as she felt Mezo's webbed arms trapping her.

"Caught you. While stealth might be your specialty, Hagakure, mine is detecting incoming or surprise attacks. Bad match up."

He said matter-of-factly, while Toru began squirming in his hold of.

"Nnnggh! You brute! You do realize that I'm completely naked, right?!"

"I do."

"Kyaaah! You perv!"

"Only because the circumstances made me one. Sorry, nothing personal."

"Nothing personal, either."

"Hu-"

*rustle*

"MEZO SHOJI HAS BEEN NEUTRALIZED!

THE VILLAIN TEAM WINS!"

"..."

The masked giant was left speechless as he looked at his right hand, which was covered by the capture tape that Karla used to eliminate him.

The latter was there, standing on his right side with her impish grin as she playfully stuck her tongue out.

"Too bad, Shoji-kun! But the win is ours!"

She giggled, while he sighed dejectedly.

"I guess so..."

Mezo put down Toru, who wasted no time in running towards her teammate and began celebrating their victory.

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"How in the world did I not hear her coming? No... I didn't feel any presence whatsoever...!"

With his head filled with questions and doubts, Mezo joined the two cheering girls as they began trekking back to their classmates.


-Observation Room-

With the final combat training exercise concluded, class 1-A was once again gathered in the observation room to discuss the clash between teams B and I.

Specifically, the girls were crowded around Karla, and the small group seemed to be in the midst of a heated argument, judging by the exaggerated movements of one of them.

"-and then you went all *pwushhh*! *wham*! *sbam*!"

"What she said, kero."

"You kicked some serious ass out there, Karla."

"Right?! You single handedly defeated one of Class 1-A top students!"

"Most impressive, indeed."

"She totally carried the exercise by herself!"

Karla was shuffling awkwardly while her female classmates showered her with praises. Pink dusted her cheeks as she was becoming increasingly embarassed by the situation.

"C-Come on, girls. You're kinda overreacting..."

"Ah, the teaser turns into the teased. How the tables have turned, huh?"

Izuku said smugly, earning a flustered pout by Karla.

*clap!*

With a light clap of his hands, All Might caught his students' attention, bringing their focus back to the lesson.

"Now, it's time for the battle's review! What did they do right and wrong?"

To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Momo raised her hand. All Might chuckled.

"I appreciate your enthusiasm, Young Yaoyorozu, but I'd rather leave the analysis of the last exercise to someone else, if you don't mind?"

"O-Oh, my apologies..."

The ravenette sheepishly lowered her hand, earning giggles from her friends. Izuku raised his hand after her. All Might nodded.

"Yes, go ahead, Young Tokita."

"Well..."

He shrugged.

"Not much to say. Karla-san pretty much dominated the whole exercise. Her technique, performance and general prowess were astounding. Her idea of using Hagakure-san's invisibility to distract Shoji was also well planned."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"As for what went wrong? Todoroki-kun's whole approach to the battle training was extremely narrow minded, reckless and too self-centered."

The bi-colored boy approached Izuku with narrowed eyes.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The greenette turned to him, his expression unchanging.

"Exactly what I said."

He crossed his arms.

"Freezing the entire building? Seriously? If it wasn't a training exercise but a real danger situation, you could have trapped or injured a civilian. Even worse, the bomb could've been triggered. Have you thought about that while you were strolling leisurely inside the building?"

"My Quirk was enough to win the exercise."

Shoto argued back. Izuku raised an eyebrow, as the added emphasis on the word 'Quirk' did not go unnoticed by him.

"Yet you've lost. How do you explain that, Todoroki-kun?"

"..."

Not receiving a reply from the heterochromatic boy, Izuku returned his focus to their teacher.

"That's it."

All Might, sensing the tense atmosphere that was beginning to form among the two students, gave his own input.

"Being confident is not a mistake in itself, Young Todoroki."

He began.

"But unfortunately, it can become a double-edged sword. You mustn't let it lead to arrogance. True, your Quirk is a powerful and remarkable one, but as you have seen, it was easily countered by Young Kure."

He nodded to the aforementioned student.

"You could've at least made sure that Young Hagakure and Young Kure were unable to free themselves by using your capture tape to eliminate them. Never assume that your opponent is out of the game. You must be absolutely scrupulous about it, understood? As Young Tokita just said, if this was a real life situation, I can assure you that the collateral damage would have been terrible."

Those last words were enough to give shot Shoto pause. Looking down, he adopted a downtrotten expression for a moment. After that, he raised his head and looked at his teacher straight into his eyes.

"I undestand, All Might. I'll do better next time. I promise."

The Pro Hero nodded with a smile.

"That's all I can ask of you."

After tapping his tablet a couple more times, he called out his students one last time.

"For today, let's end it here. Despite being your first time with battle training, you all did great. Sure, some did better than the others, but don't let it discourage you! As long as you acknowledge your shortcomings, you can always improve and overcome them! Go Beyond...!"

"... Plus Ultra!"

The class, save for one, exclaimed cheerfully.


Later

-Boys' Changing Room-

"... there."

Izuku nodded after he was done putting away all of his stuff and what remained of his costume. Wearing only his own underwear, he began putting his uniform on.

"Hey, man, you doin' okay?"

Ichiro asked, pointing towards the arm that was slightly burned from the large explosion that Katsuki unleashed during the exercise. Izuku shrugged said limb.

"Eh, it's fine. Nothing that Recovery Girl and some rest won't be able to he-"

*SLAM!*

Izuku couldn't finish the sentence, as a certain explosive blonde slammed his locker shut, making everyone in the room jump. Without waiting to witness the reaction of the others, Katsuki grabbed his stuff and stomped out of the room.

Ichiro rolled his eyes.

"Butthurt, much?"

He scoffed, earning a mirthless chuckle from Izuku.

"Let's hope this defeat will help him get off the pedestal he's been putting himself on since he got his Quirk."

Izuku gathered his belongings and turned towards the exit, until someone caught his eyes.

"Hey Cos, you alright?"

The greenette asked with concern as he saw his blonde friend still looking a bit dizzy after his fight. The latter merely smirked at him.

"Ah, I'm good, thanks! Still, the move that Baki pulled out on me really was something else, am I right? What was it called, again? 'Dress'?"

At this, Eijiro joined the conversation.

"Yeah! The way you spinned Imai around as if he were a feather was insane! He looked like a ragdoll!"

"Yeah, I'm standing right here, thanks..."

Cosmo deadpanned, as the other boys chuckled. Baki, however, was done dressing himself in complete silence. An almost absent look on his face, as if he was deep in thought.

"Yo, Hanma?"

Eijiro waved a hand in front of him to catch his attention, and just like that, Baki snapped out of it.

"Oh? Sorry, did you say something?"

"I was complimenting your technique-thingy, but... everything's good? You were lost in your own world just a moment ago."

Baki scratched his head as he looked to the side with a pensive expression.

"Ah, I was just thinking about the last match. Our classmate, the girl... Huh, Kure-san, was it? The way she fought was... intense..."

"Right?! She She was so manly!"


"H-Huh? What's wrong, Karla-chan? You have a really scary frown on your face..."

"I dunno, Chaco... but I feel like punching someone for some reason..."


"'Manly', huh... 'deadly', more like..."

Baki muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

Questioned Eijiro with a tilt of his head. Baki shook his head with a smile.

"Nothing, just thinking out loudly."

After chatting a little longer between themselves and about the other matches, the boys exited their changing room and went back to their classroom.


Afterschool

-U.A. Gates-

After All Might's lessons ended, Class 1-A was pretty much done for the day. So, Izuku and his friends were headed to the station as per usual, and yet again Karla had excused herself from the group, much to their displeasure.

She was humming an upbeat tune as she walked home, happy with the events of the day. She donned her Hero costume for the first time, and it looked great. Even her friends liked it! She also witnessed some interesting matches and had the opportunity to see the Quirks of her classmates!

An awkward chuckle escaped her lips as she recalled all of the praise and awe she received after her match.

Yes. All in all, a very good day.

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Or so she hoped...

"Come on out. Now."

Karla said in a flat voice. The cheeriness she had a moment ago all but gone.

Hearing footsteps approaching her from behind, she turned around to take a good look of who was following her and-

"Really? You're the last person I was expecting to see..."

-she found herself facing her redhead classmate, Baki. The boy's expression, surprisingly, was also sporting a more stern vibe.

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"Why are you here, Kure?"

He asked, his tone serious. In return, Karla narrowed her eyes.

"Straight to the point, huh..."

She thought bitterly.

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"I could ask you the same thing, Son of Ogre."

She spat.

Baki frowned heavily.

"..."

"..."

Sparkles seemed to dance between the two teens' eyes, until the redhead sighed and raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Calm down, I'm not here to start anything."

"You'll forgive me if I'm not particularly inclined to believe you."

"Believe what you want, then. I'm just curious what someone like you is doing at U.A."

With a loud "tch" Karla averted her dark eyes from the boy and looked to the side. An extremely sour look on her face.

"I really can't see how it's any of your busin-"

"It is."

Registering Baki's voice much more closer that before, Karla swiftly turned her head back to the redhead's direction.

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Her breath hitched, as she saw the boy standing mere centimeters from her.

"...!"

Karla felt as if a huge and invisible force was crushing her. She instinctively felt her hands contract and her posture stiffen. Baki's glowering visage and eyes were like thousands of sharp blades piercing her at the same time.

He moved his mouth to speak.

"Right now, someone very dear to me is attending U.A. . Before you ask, no, she's not one of our classmates."

He growled.

"So, Karla Kure, I'll be very clear."

He got closer to her, his malevolent expression never changing.

"I don't give a shit about why you decided to crawl out of the shadows and become a student at U.A. . However, if you as much as lay a finger on this person, or heck, if you even look at her in a way I don't like... well..."

Baki leaned back, making space between him and Karla. His face now relaxed and more lax-looking.

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"You're not the only one hailing from a family of monsters. You'd better remember that."

Having said his piece, Baki turned and walked away. Karla stood still, watching the boy's figure move away until it vanished completely.

"..."

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*CRASH!*

Suddenly, Karla slammed her left fist into the wall that was right next to her.

Her jaw clenched, she squeezed her eyes shut and took a couple of breaths in order to calm herself. Once that was done, she rubbed the hand she just used to demolish the wall with a forlorn look on her face.

"..."

Wordlessly, she trudged back home. The atmosphere around the girl being a stark contrast than before.

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"You know nothing about me..."

With those quiet words, Karla kept on walking in complete silence.


Several Days Later

Following the combat training, things proceeded as smoothly as they could for Class 1-A.

Despite the boredom and redundancy of the more normal lessons that U.A. had, the aspiring Heroes spent several days settling into the school atmosphere while training in their Hero classes. One day, after some of the kids got pestered outside the school's gates by a flock of vultures, otherwise known as journalists and paparazzi, their sleep-deprived homeroom teacher asked his students to pick a class president among them. After a heated discussion in which the teens became increasingly convinced of Tenya's robotic nature, it was the latter who was elected as president, with Momo as vice-president.

When it came to the battle training lessons, some had to approach for the first time situations in which it was necessary to put into practice their fighting and tactical acumen, while others like Izuku, Cosmo, Ichiro and apparently also Baki and Karla, were not exactly new to these kind of stuff. Indeed, some of their classmates expressed curiosity in their combat prowess that seemed to come so naturally to them despite being only teenagers.

You can imagine their surprise when they discovered that Izuku, Cosmo and Ichiro were affiliated fighters working for well-known (or nearly so) companies.

Reason why, during lunch break, Class 1-A was gathered together to discuss this new piece of info.

"WHAT!"

A loud voice yelled, earning a few confused and annoyed look from the other students in the cafeteria. Kyoka was standing upright, her hands firmly planted on the flat surface of the table she was sitting at, as she stared with wide eyes and flailing jacks at Izuku.

"You met Yoshiko Togawa in person?! The Yoshiko Togawa?! The CEO of Murder Music?! That Yoshiko Togawa?!"

The greenette stared at his classmate for a moment, before chuckling wholeheartedly.

"The one and only, yes. After I was chosen as the fighter for Yamashita Trading Co., Yasuo-san and his wife were kind enough to invite me to an official reception, and there I got to know some members of the Kengan Association. Togawa-san was among them."

He smiled.

"It still baffles me how someone as young as her managed to earn such an upstanding position."

Kyoka, on her part, was this close from fainting.

"I c-can't believe it...! I own pretty much everything that has her company's logo. I've followed her career ever since she started as a guitarist in her own band! And you met her! Talked to her, even!"

The rocker girl's classmates were floored by her adorable bounciness, and Mina wasted no time.

"Awww, look at you, Kyoka-chan! I would've never pegged you as a music nerd!"

That was enough to make Kyoka stop her fangirling, as well as making her blush a fierce red as she realized she showed her friends her "nerd side", as Mina put it. Hiding her face into her arms, her jacks flailed even more wildly as she muttered a quiet "please, kill me now" while the others laughed at the scene.

Just when they were about to inquiry even more about the three Kengan fighters, another loud yell interrupted them.

"BAKI HANMA!"

A loud, feminine voice screeched.

Turning their head to its source, Class 1-A saw a pretty girl of short stature, with brown eyes and long, braided hair of the same color. She was wearing the standard U.A. uniform, sans its blazer.

And judging by the scowl on her face, the mysterious girl was pissed.

A brief silence followed her appearance, and Eijiro turned his head to his left, where Baki was seated...

"Uh... dude, do you know who this i-"

... or so he thought.

Indeed, Baki was nowhere to be found. His classmates began looking around, wondering how in the world a guy of his size could vanish into thin air.

The girl that approached the table of aspiring Heroes narrowed her eyes before speaking.

"I know you're hiding under the table. I can sense the idiocy oozing from there."

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"Huh?"

Izuku and the others thought simultaneously. Then they bent down to look under their table, and true enough, the curly redhead was there, but...

"B-Baki-kun?"

Izuku stared at the cowering form of his classmate. He was curled up on the floor, hugging his knees close to his chest while sweating profusely. He looked at the greenete with a frightened look in his eyes.

"Tell her I'm not here."

"Er..."

He raised his head to meet the mysterious girl's face, who was this close from murdering someone if the look on her face wasn't such a dead giveaway.

"Baki Hanma, I'll count to three, and if you don't come out by then, I'll kick Musashi out of the house."

That was enough to make the redhead jump out of his hiding spot while looking distraught.

"You would not dare!"

He exclaimed. The girl allowed herself a self-satisfied smirk for a moment, before walking around the table to get close to the boy, grabbing on of the school's lunch tray in the process. Once she was mere centimeters apart from Baki, she raised it up above her head and-

*THWACK!*

"You idiot!"

-smacked his head with it.

*SLAM!*

"You moron!"

Then she did it again.

*THUD*

"You fool!"

And again.

*CRASH!*

"You cretin!"

And again, until finally someone spoke up.

"You! Cease such violent behavior at once!"

Tenya chastised the girl while standing up and doing his trademark chops.

"That aggression against Hanma-kun's skull was completely uncalled for!"

The girl turned her head to the indigo-haired boy with a glare.

"Shut it, four-eyes! This has nothing to do with you!"

"Four-eyes...?!"

Tenya recoiled with shock of being insulted so blatantly. His classmates were either giggling at the spectacle unfolding or watching with confusion etched on their faces.

Baki, for his part, remained impassive while his head was being bashed with the lunch tray. The girl turned her attention back to him.

"Honestly, I can't believe you! First you ghost me for weeks, not even bothering to answer my calls or messages! Then, you ignore my warnings and decided to apply for U.A.! And finally you also managed by some godsend to pass the written portion of the exam!"

Baki shrugged.

"All nighters do work, sometimes."

"Don't act sassy with me! And then there's the whole thing with the zero-pointer! I mean, seriously?! You lifted and slammed a robot the size of a kaiju onto the other buildings! What were you thinking back then?! What if the other examinees got hurt because of your stunt! What if you got hurt! Did you think about how I would've felt?!"

The redhead tilted his head with a raised eyebrow.

"Sorry...?"

*siiigh*

Sighing heavily, the girl now leveled a calmer glare to the boy, and crossed her arms.

"Do you have anything to say in your defense? Anything at all?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"You look prettier than usual, today."

The girl turned red from his seemingly out of nowhere compliment.

"D-Don't change the subject, you dolt!"

That was when Izuku decided to put an end to whatever was happening.

"Guys, care to let us in... whatever this is...?"

Baki nodded at the greenette's suggestion, and fully turned to face his classmates as he put an hand around the girl's shoulder to bring her closer to him, earning a small squeak from her.

"Sorry for the scene, everyone."

He began.

"This lovely maiden right here is Kozue Matsumoto, my girlfriend. Ain't she the most beautiful thing you've laid your eyes upon?"

He asked with a wide grin, while the girl, Kozue, blushed fiercely. Mina and Toru squealed at this new piece of info.

Kozue gently pushed herself away from her boyfriend, muttering a low "idiot" in the process.

Chuckling, Baki kept going.

"She's a student here in the General Education department. Top of the class, at that. Ain't she amazing?"

Ichiro chortled.

"Way to flex your woman to us lowly mortals, dude."

This earned another round of laughter across the table, with Kozue joining in. With another sigh, she bowed to the students of Class 1-A.

"As you've just heard, my name is Kozue Matsumoto. I'm the girlfriend of this suicidial meathead, so I'd really appreciate if you could look out for him so that he doesn't end up killing himself before becoming an actual Hero, thank you."

"Jeez, thanks, mom."

Baki muttered, earning another not-so-kind glare from Kozue.

While the others were busy watching yet another display of the girl tearing into her boyfriend, Izuku felt like someone was particularly absent from their group dynamic. he looked to his left, where Karla was seated.

The black-eyed girl was absentmindedly picking at her food with her chopsti-

"...!"

Izuku's eyes widened as he stared at the girl's plate.

"Er... Karla-san...?"

Hearing her name being called, the dark-eyed girl snapped out from her thoughts and turned to face her classmate with a smile.

"Hey, Zuku-kun. 'sup?"

With his emerald orbs still fixated on her food, Izuku pointed at them with his own chopsticks.

"What. Is. That."

He asked while trying not to sound too much shocked. With a tilt of her head, Karla looked down at her plate. Then with a raised eyebrow she replied to her seatmate.

"Well, duh, it's my lunch."

"I can see that, thank you very much! Where in the world did you get that... that... I don't think the word 'food' would be appropriate..."

At this, she pouted.

"Mmmuuu! I'll have you know that this is the lunch I cooked by myself!"

Now Izuku was even more worried.

"You didn't happen to put everything you had in the fridge into a pot and cook it until it became a gray uniform mushy mass, right...?"

"Wha-! It's not that bad! It's just natto and frozen fried rice topped with frozen fried chicken and sausages!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"I think I'm done here."

Izuku relented as he pushed away his empty tray aside while looking queasy. Karla giggled at the sight.

"I'd have never thought you were a picky eater, Zuku-kun."

"Oh, I ain't picky, but believe me when I say that not even Cos would put that into his stomach. How did you manage not to get sick...?"

"Ah, my family always cooked for me when I was still living with them. But since I'm alone now, I thought I could try my hand on cooking myself..."

Looking down once again, she chuckled sheepishly.

"... buuut I guess it didn't turn out too good, right?"

She stuck out her tongue. Izuku rolled his eyes with a smile, before grabbing his bag and fishing out a neatly packaged sweet bread roll.

"To put it lightly. Here, have this. Can't have you attending classes on an empty stomach, or a belly filled with that stuff."

Widening her eyes slightly, Karla eyed the offered treat for a couple of seconds.

"You sure?"

He nodded. He then got closer to the girl and motioned her with his hand to do the same, and she did.

"Actually, I usually bring some extra snacks in my bag. You know, in case Cos gets a sudden attack of hunger."

He whispered as his face got serious all of a sudden. A small trace of fear could be seen in his eyes.

"You don't want to see him when he's truly hungry. Believe me."

*pfft!*

Karla covered her mouth in order to stifle a laugh.

"Y-You're such a dork...!"

Izuku grinned.

"I aim to please."

Wiping away a small tear at the corner of one her eyes, Karla gratefully accepted the greenette's bread and wasted no time into savoring it.

Now that Izuku pointed that out, she was feeling kinda hungry. Karla's eyes lit up in realization.

"Say, Zuku-kun. Your family runs a restaurant, if I remember correctly...?"

"Yup. My dad owns it, and I occasionally help around when there are too many customers. Which is most of the times, actually..."

Karla hummed as she munched on the bread.

"Then, would it be okay if I stop by for dinner sometimes? I don't think I trust myself anymore with my own concoctions..."

"Sure, you can stop by anytime. Dad's been pestering me about introducing some of my classmates to him, anyway. I might as well teach you how to make simple dishes while we're at it."

Sending him a grateful smile, the dark-eyed girl opened her mouth to thank him, but-

*DRIIIIIING!*

-a loud bell, followed by equally noisy sirens, could be heard blasting at full volume inside the cafeteria.

An announcement rang over the speakers.

"Security Level Three has been breached.

Students, please promptly evacuate in an orderly fashion."

Tenya's head jerked towards one of the already panicking upperclassmen.

"What's going on?! What's 'Security Level Three'?"

"It means someone's infiltrated the school's grounds! This never happened in three years! We have to get out of here!"

The whole cafeteria immediately became a scene of mass hysteria as students scrambled to get out. Izuku knew there'd be no getting out if they got swept into that crowd, so he stood from his seat and jumped onto the table to get a better look around. His eyes locked onto the windows nearby, spotting Present Mic and Aizawa standing outside. They were facing a crowd of reporters, who were clamoring at the pair for All Might.

Izuku blinked in disbelief at the sight.

"The press got into the school? How did they even...? Nevermind."

He spun around, trying to figure out how to settle the panicking students. If it was just the press, then this whole mass hysteria thing wasn't worth it and would only get someone hurt. Izuku tried to speak up, but his voice was completely snuffed out by the crowd's ruckus.

No one heard him, not even his classmates, who had taken a point from him and were standing on their seats. Tenya was snapping at the other students to form an orderly line, but it was futile. Everyone was panicking.

"No good… how the hell do I get their attention...?!"

Izuku thought frantically. He eyed his friends in an attempt to come up with some ideas, until his gaze fell on Ichiro.

His eyes widened as he came up with a plan.

He walked in front of Momo, getting her attention.

"Yaoyorozu, quick! Can you make a megaphone with your Quirk?"

Widening her eyes at the boy's request, she nodded.

"I t-think so, I... Give me a moment...!"

Taking a few seconds for herself to think, Momo crafted the aforementioned device and hand it over to Izuku, who smiled thankfully.

He immediately turned to Ichiro, and after catching his attention with a wave, he tossed the megaphone to him. The blonde caught it by reflex, and looked at it with a puzzled expression before glancing back at Izuku, as if to ask what he heck was he thinking.

For his part, the greenette flexed his fingers a few times, making a clawing motion with them.

.

.

.

.

.

A huge grin split Ichiro's face as he caught onto Izuku's plan.

"Yo, Cos. Hold this for me, would ya!"

"Huh, what are yo-*oof!*"

The snake boy barely had time to catch the megaphone that was thrusted intro his hands rather abruptly.

*schnik!*

Ichiro used his Quirk to generate claws on his left hand and a single, large blade from his right forearm. He moved the two body parts close to the megaphone.

Cosmo widened his eyes, as realization finally hit him.

"Ichiro, no!"

"ICHIRO, YES!"

That was the last thing the two blondies said, as the Razor's Edge user used the tip of his claws-

*SCREEEEEEAAAAAACH!*

-to grate against the other blade. The already awful and ear-piercing sound was furtherly enhanced by the megaphone, causing everyone, and I mean everyone, inside the cafeteria to hear it much to their dismay.

Once the agonizing noise was finished, the other students turned their head to its source. Ichiro was still grinning madly, while Cosmo was on the verge of bashing his friend's skull with the megaphone.

Izuku wasted no time.

"Everyone, calm down! It's just the damn press! Look outside!"

He pointed at the window, prompting the rest of the students to look over and confirm for themselves that he was right. The moment they all started figuring it out, Izuku jumped off the table and rejoined his classmates.

"That was... not exactly what I'd call a proper way of getting everyone's attention, but... good job, I guess...?"

Tenya said.

"Heh, I have my moments, thank you very much."

Replied a smug Ichiro. Cosmo was not pleased.

"I'm so going to choke the life out of you as soon as I get the chance..."

He said through gritted teeth as he rubbed his sore ears.

"Y-You have interesting classmates, Baki-kun..."

A gobsmacked Kozue said while her boyfriend was still covering her ears. He chuckled wholeheartedly.

"Yup. Although I think Izuku's stunt broke Jiro..."

"Huh...?"

At the redhead's words, the others turned to where Kyoka was seated and-

"J-Jiro?!"

"Kyoka-chan!"

-they found her sprawled onto the ground with a blank look on her face and foam on her mouth, the color of her skin being a ghastly pale.

Izuku hissed as he looked at his classmate.

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.

"Oops."


The Next Day

Once they got past the journalist menace, Class 1-A went through the day normally, or what one might define "normal" for a class of aspiring heroes.

Today, as Aizawa had anticipated, Class 1-A was going to participate in a rescue simulation outside the school. The hero course students, clad in their costumes, were now riding the bus that would've taken them to the designated training grounds.

Some were passing the time either by talking to each other, fiddling with their phones, gazing out of the windows or by taking a short nap. The four stooges were seated next to each other, with Karla, Ochaco, Tsuyu and Tenya sitting in front of them.

"Tokita-chan?"

"Please, Asu-"

"Call me 'Tsu', kero."

"Right."

He chuckled.

"Please, Tsu-san, 'Izuku' is more than fine."

Tsuyu hummed with a smile as she put a finger to her chin.

"Izuku-chan, you know I always say what's on my mind, no matter what it is, yes?"

Izuku nodded.

"I never got to see what you were capable of, but you were impressive during combat training."

She said with a small smile on her face, making Izuku grin.

"Thanks, though it was tough reaching my current level of skill. And I'm worlds apart from reaching my full potential, even more so surpassing my dad."

Izuku said while rubbing the back of his head. Tsuyu tilted her head.

"Your dad, kero?"

He nodded.

"Yup, he's an accomplished martial artist. He taught me everything I know, alongside Cos' sensei."

The aforementioned blonde perked up.

"He's also an awesome cook. His cuisine is just legendary!"

"I second that!"

Ichiro added with a smirk. Izuku pouted.

"My cooking is just as good..."

That earned a good laugh from the others.

"But still, it's amazing how you were able to do all of that despite being Quirkless! It was super manly!"

Eijiro said with a toothy grin as he joined the conversation.

"I'm kinda jealous, tough! My Hardening is great and all for brawls, but it's not all that flashy..."

He emphasized his words by hardening his right forearm. Izuku raised an eyebrow at the spiky redhead.

"If a Pro favors flashiness over the effective usefulness and practicality of a Quirk, they shouldn't be Pros in the first place."

He nodded towards Eijirou's hardened limb.

"Your Quirk is a perfect mix of offense and defense, so if someone can't see how helpful it can be, hey, it's their loss. Not to mention the hundreds of applications it could have in several scenarios, be them combat-related or not, and even then *mutter* *mutter* *mutter*"

Cosmo groaned.

"Way to go, Kirshima. You've awakened the muttering beast!"

The spiky redhead blinked.

"The what."

Cosmo laughed.

"Izuku is a Quirk nerd through hand through, remember? Don't breach that topic in a conversation or he won't stop talking about it for... well... a lot."

Eijirou raised his hands in mock surrender.

"Duly noted."

He smirked. Cosmo picked up where Izuku stopped before starting the muttering storm.

"Anyway, what Izuku was trying to say is that your Quirk is definitely Pro material."

Eijirou shrugged, but he was still smirking.

"Hah, thanks! But Heroes are also rated by their popularity, y'know? Flashy Quirks tend to do better with that kind of stuff."

Ichiro added his own two cents.

"I mean, Hanma's Quirk is not that flashy, yet he managed to flip over a the zero-pointer in the entrance exam and even snatched first place, so..."

"Right!"

Eijiro turned to Baki, who was in the middle of a mental dilemma.

.

.

.

.

.

"Can cereals with milk be considered a soup?"

.

.

.

.

.

"-nma! Yo, Hanma, can you hear me?"

Shaking his head out of his thoughts, Baki addressed the voice calling him.

"Huh? Oh, hey, Eijiro. What were you saying...?"

The latter nodded.

"Where did you learn to fight? We know that Tokita, Nakata and Imai are affiliated fighters for some organization. What about you? Or even Kure, for that matter!"

Karla jumped ever so slightly at being addressed in the current conversation. Baki shrugged.

"Oh, that? That's Total Fighting."

Eijiro, as well as the others, showed confusion at Baki's word. He continued.

"I've been training in mixed martial arts for as long as I remember. Karate, wrestling, jujutsu, judo and kenpo. I merged all of that into my own style, called 'Total Fighting'. I'd like to think I did a decent job at it."

"We can see that very much! If you dye your hair blonde, you could pass for a miniature version of All Might!"

Ochaco chimed in, but Izuku shuddered.

"Please, Uraraka-san, don't give him any ideas... I already have enough blondes in my life with these two dolts..."

He jabbed his thumbs to his sides, indicating Ichiro and Cosmo, who snickered at his remark. Out of nowhere, Yuga appeared.

"Mon dieu! You forgot about yours truly!"

He said as he flipped his blonde locks behind him.

"And since we're talking about our powers, my Naval Laser is Pro material in both power and flashiness!"

Mina, who was sitting next to him, grinned and put a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"A shame that you get a stomachache whenever you use it too much, though."

That sentence was enough to shot the sparkling boy down. Eijirou meanwhile gestured towards the students sitting at the front of the bus.

"If we're talking about power and flashiness, then you can't forget Bakugou and Todoroki!"

Shoto ignored that, but Katsuki spared them a brief glare and huffed before looking out the window.

"Sure, but Bakugou's always angry and he's mean."

Tsuyu said bluntly.

"So he'll never be that popular."

Katsuki was on his feet instantly, ready to vault himself at the frog girl.

"What'd you say?! You wanna fuckin' go?!"

Tsuyu hummed and pointed at him.

"See?"

Denki smirked at the sandy blonde teen.

"Y'know, we basically just met you, so it kinda says something that we already know how shitty your personality is."

"You're gonna regret the day you applied to this school, you Pikachu rip-off!"

Katsuki barked at him.

"Huh... Bakugou being teased and made fun of. I guess there's a first for everything..."

Cosmo though, before lightly elbowing Izuku to stop him from his mutterings. At the right moment too, since Aizawa just got up from his seat.

"Everyone, quiet down."

Aizawa called his students to attention.

"We're almost there."


Soon, the class arrived at their destination, getting off the bus and getting a good look at the building. From the outside, it looked like a giant dome, but once they were inside, they saw a number of disaster zones ranging from shipwrecks to widespread fires.

"Damn... It looks like Universal Studios Japan..."

Ichiro whistled, looking all around the building.

Once inside, their class saw someone waiting for them. A short figure who was wearing what appeared to be a white space suit, complete with a black helmet with white eyes, and a pair of yellow boots.

Izuku immediately recognized the stranger, and began his trademark fanboying.

"That's the Space Heroine: Thirteen! She has rescued tons of people from natural disasters with her Quirk, Black Hole!"

"Oh, I love Thirteen!"

Exclaimed Ochako, excitingly shaking both Karla and Tsuyu.

The Heroine gestured towards the area that sprawled behind them.

"A shipwreck, a landslide, a fire, a windstorm and a mountain."

She then opened her arms.

"All of this is a training ground conceived and designed by me to better prepare myself in many different types of natural disasters and accidents! It is called the Unforeseen Simulations Joint!"

She raised a finger up.

"Or 'U.S.J.' for short!"

Aizawa approached the Space Hero and quietly talked to her.

"Thirteen, where's All Might?"

"Well, you see..."

She motioned Aizawa to get closer and whispered to him.

"It seems that he did a lot of Hero work on the way and burned himself out..."

Aizawa sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I can't believe that guy..."

Shaking his head, he turned to his students.

"Everyone, All Might won't be joining us today. Unfortunately, a last-minute issue held him back. For now, let's get started."

He nodded at Thirteen.

"Alright, so first off, let me explain my Quirk."

The Heroine raised up her arm.

"I'm sure that many of you are aware of my Black Hole, but let me explain it to those who don't know. I can suck up everything and turn it to dust."

"That's why you're the natural disaster expert! You can use your Quirk to save anyone from rubble or other natural objects."

Ochaco commented. Thirteen nodded.

"Yes, but alas, it is also a power that can kill easily."

She put her arm down.

"I'm sure some of you know that you have Quirks that can easily take a person's life."

At the Heroine's word, the whole class fell silent. Thirteen carried on.

"Many of you may not think of this, but even though this superhuman society gets a good hold on their Quirks or don't use them at all, there are many powers out there that can easily maim at best or outright kill at worst. You are all here so that you can learn to use your Quirks for saving people, so I hope you leave here with at least some experience of using them to help others."

Thirteen then bowed.

"That is all."

Many of the class cheered at her speech, with some of them even clapping. Aizawa took it from there.

"Now that the introductions are out of the way, we can-"

*bzzzt!*

Before the teacher could finish his explanation, sparks started flying through the lights surrounding the room, slightly darkening the entire area. The fountain in the middle of the room suddenly stopped spraying water and appeared distorted. A black, purplish portal swirled right at the fountain and grow in circumference. From it, a single figure emerged.

He was a slim young man completely clad in black. He had pale skin and messy grayish-blue hair. Aside from that, not much could be seen, since his face and some parts of his entire body were covered by what seemed to be severed hands.

Immediately after him, a flood of other people of the most disparate appearances emerged from the portal. To say they didn't have a particularly recommendable air would've been an understatement...

Aizawa wasted no time.

"Everyone! Regroup and don't move! Thirteen, protect the students!"

The man instructed.

Kirishima and the others saw the intruders emerge and only looked curious about the situation.

"Cool! You also have fake Villains!"

"No, damn it! Stay put!"

Aizawa then put on his goggles.

"Those people down there are real Villains."

His words were enough for everyone to recoil in shock. To hear that Villains, real Villains, were there suddenly made their bodies shiver from the thought of the danger they were about to face.

Karla narrowed her eyes. Her hands twitched.

"So much for rescue training..."

Dozens upon dozens of Villains emerged from the portal, glancing around at the area they were in. The last to come out of the portal was a large, black humanoid monster with a very muscular and scarred body. His brain was exposed on the top of his head, while his large eyes were around it. He was also sporting a beaked mouth with rows of jagged teeth, while wearing a pair of beige pants and metal knee-pads adorned with skulls.

Out of nowhere, a voice was heard among the portal.

"Thirteen and Eraserhead head, huh? The teacher's schedule we snatched the other day said that All Might was supposed to be here."

The mist-like portal said as it shrunk smaller. The students were now panicking.

"How did they even manage to get in here?!"

Denki exclaimed.

"Sensei! What about the trespasser alarms?!"

Momo asked.

"We have them on of course, but..."

Thirteen said.

"That must mean someone has a Quirk capable of interfering with communications. We are completely isolated from the main campus."

Finalized Shoto.

Cosmo clenched his fists as his pupils constricted into the thinnest slits. He stood next to Izuku, whispering to him.

"How strong do you think they are?"

"Not much."

Izuku replied without missing a beat.

"Cannon fodder at worst, small fries at best. They've been coerced or forced to come here. The leader is no doubt that blue-haired guy in the middle."

He looked down in the back of all the villains and saw the leader standing next to the humanoid monster. He glanced at the latter.

"That one is clearly different than any other Villain here, so it may be the most powerful. Do not let your guard down around that thing for even a second."

Cosmo took a look at the beaked monster and frowned.

"He looks as big as All Might..."

"Exactly."

Izuku said.

"That's probably their trump card..."

Aizawa muttered, taking hold of his capture scarf.

"I will engage them. Thirteen! I'm counting on you to protect my students! Get them out of here and alert the others!"

Thirteen nodded.

"Be careful. This isn't some random ambush. To show up when they did, where they did… this was definitely planned. There's something major behind this."

Aizawa dove towards the oncoming crowd of Villains and began to wreak havoc amongst their ranks. Izuku could see Aizawa using his Quirk to shut down the villains as he went and stun them in groups.

"Green!"

He jerked back to attention as Ichiro grabbed his shoulder.

"We need to go, now!"

Izuku remained motionless, much to the boy's dismay. Ichiro tried to stop him from doing anything reckless, but...

*SWOOOSH!*

As the rest of the class made their way for the door, they stopped dead when black mist materialized in front of them, blocking the exit. In mere moments, the same Villain who had let the others in the facility was in their way. Thirteen got in front of the class to shield them from whatever harm may come their way.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to leave."

A pair of glowing, slit-shaped eyes formed in the fog above a metal plate of some kind and glowered down at them. His voice just seemed to emanate from the fog.

"Greetings. We are the League of Villains. I apologize for the intrusion, but we took it upon ourselves to invade U.A. and fight All Might. We have come so that the Symbol of Peace may draw his last breath."

The glowing eyes studied the students below him, some quivering in fear, others in rage.

"I was under the impression that All Might was supposed to attend this class, was he not? Did something hap-"

*FWHOOOOOOSH!*

Suddenly, a vortex of all-consuming suction began to tear at the mass of fog, sucking it and anything else into the oblivion of Thirteen's Black Hole.

"Ngh!"

The villain's eyes narrowed again as he tried to resist the pull, but then his voice rumbled low and deep.

"I think not!"

A gate opened up directly behind Thirteen, causing the suction of the Black Hole to tear apart her back. The Heroine cried out in pain and stopped her Quirk before she destroyed herself.

"Thirteen!"

Mina yelled, panicking.

"Quite the formidable Quirk..."

The Villain muttered.

"But now that it's out of the way, I can do my duty. That is… to scatter and torture you all to death."

The fog was suddenly covering everything and everyone, drawing them into a twisting void that threw off all sense of balance and turned space into a black abyss. Izuku didn't have time to call out for his friends or screaming classmates, as he was too far away from the main group.

.

.

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.

Darkness soon engulfed them, as they began falling.


-Downpour Zone-

Karla's eyes widened as she saw a street drawing ever closer, and a quick glance made her realize she'd been teleported into the Downpour Zone. The heavy and incessant rain was accompanied by violent blasts of wind. She twisted so that she'd land on her feet and once she did, she took a moment to assess the situation, while her mind began racing.

"How did they get in here?! And they want to kill All Might? That should be impossible… unless…"

Something awful began rising within her. She frowned at the though. It sounded crazy when one considered that All Might was literally the strongest Hero in Japan, but even then...

She had to give it to them, these villains were clever. They knew that All Might was supposed to be here. Suddenly, she wondered if the press invasion the day before had something to do with this. Had the Villains provided the news with a chance to get inside and taken advantage of the chaos to get their hands on a class schedule or something?

Assuming they'd gone to all that trouble, it only made sense that they'd plan for a way to deal with All Might's and his legendary prowess.

"Oh, look what we got here, guys!"

Karla was interrupted as she heard an unknown voice. She jerked her head up to look further down the street and realized that there were Villains closing in around her. She looked over her shoulder and narrowed her eyes. They were behind her, too.

"Huh, it's just some wannabe Hero..."

One of the villains exclaimed.

"Oh well, she can warm us up until we get a shot at killing All Might. Although..."

One of them gave Karla a look that almost made her want to throw up.

"... maybe we could've some fun with her first, yeah?"

He sneered. His companions either laughed creepily or cheered at his proposal. Karla remained impassive.

She eyed the group of goons in front of her, then she moved her gaze to her surroundings.

"Say, this is the Downpour Zone, yes?"

The Villains looked puzzled. One of them spoke, his tone heavily laced with sarcasm.

"No way, really? What gave it away...?"

The others either laughed or mocked the dark-eyed girl.

"Mhm..."

She hummed as she stretched her fingers.

"Are we far from wherever my classmates ended up?"

"How the fuck would I know?! We were just paid to take care of whatever brats ended up here!"

"Mhm... I guess the others would be too busy with whatever you idiots are planning. Plus, with all the noise generated by the rain and the wind, I doubt they would hear anything..."

One of the Villains began stomping towards the girl, clearly fed up with all of the talking.

"The only thing that will be heard across this place will be your-"

*CRACK!*

"-squeals once me and my boy-"

*thud!*

"Huh...?"

The Villains stopped as he fell to his knees. He was feeling fine just a moment ago, yet now he couldn't even muster the strength to get back on his feet.

"Wait... why am I looking at the others...?"

He thought weakly as he stared at his allies, whose faces were contorted with both shock and fear.

"I was in the middle of walking towards that little... that... t-tha-"

The thoughts in his head became increasingly confused and difficult to articulate. Until finally...

*thud!*

... the Villain fell forward. His head staring into the ceiling of the massive dome of the U.S.J. .

.

.

.

.

.

The same head that was now twisted backward into a 180° angle.

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"'My squeals'? I beg to differ."

A grim voice said, and the rain, as well as the wind, suddenly began feeling colder.

Karla walked forward, stepping onto the Villain's body as she did so, and set her piercing dark glare onto the others.

"I was already in a bad mood because of that redheaded idiot, and I was hoping to spend the incoming days in peace, but nooo..."

*snikt*

Large veins began bulging and surfacing on Karla's body.

"... you assholes had to crawl out of whatever shithole you live under and come here to ruin my and everyone else's day."

The sheer animosity that she was emanating was enough to make the Villains step back in fear.

"The only thing that you will hear..."

*crack!* *crock!*

She flexed her fingers.

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.

.

.

.

"... will be your own pain-filled screams."


Meanwhile

-Ruins Zone-

"RAAAAAAH!"

Ichiro screamed as he hurled a Villain he had previously grabbed by the face at one of the buildings.

With a loud thud, the blonde's victim was out of commission due to the violent impact. Unfortunately, there still seemed to be no end to the horde of grunts that was surrounding Ichiro and Cosmo as soon as they ended up in this very part of the U.S.J. .

The serpentine boy was in the middle of dealing with three thugs simultaneously.

"Come on, lads! All together!"

Hearing the command, the three men rushed towards Cosmo, whose eyes narrowed for but a moment before snapping open. Dashing at the Villain that was right in front of him, he jumped forward. Trapping the man's head with his legs, Cosmo quickly repositioned himself behind him and threw himself backwards. The two ended up on the ground, but whereas the Villain hit the back of his head against the concrete floor, Cosmo cushioned the fall with a somersault.

He wasted no time.

He surged forward and-

*WHAM!*

-hit the downed Villain with an elbow strike, knocking him out.

He noticed the other two approaching. With his knee still planted into his first victim's face-

*fhwip!*

-Cosmo sweeped his free leg in a wide arc in front of him, making them lose their balance.

While Cosmo was busy dishing punishment to the downed Villains, Ichiro was in the middle of unleashing his Quirk onto yet another group.

One guy armed with what appeared to be a baton charged forward. All Ichiro had to do-

*slash!*

-was use his claws to slice the weapon into bits. Then he grabbed the still extended arm of the Villain, and pulled towards himself-

*SBAM!*

-to smash the thug's face with a hard headbutt.

He wasn't done, however.

Grabbing him by the fabric of his shirt with both of his hands, Ichiro lifted him up in front of him as if he were a shield-

"GRAAAH!"

-and sprinted forwards to the main group of Villains.

"Holy shit!"

"Watch out!"

"W-What the fuck is this kid's problem?!"

Using the Villain he knocked out as a makeshift battering ram, Ichiro wreaked havoc among them.

"Huh, a crude strategy, but still..."

Murmured Cosmo as he was just done choking one of the Villains. At the right time, too, as Ichiro was also finished.

Panting heavily, the Razor's Edge user dropped his meat shield to the ground and looked around himself.

"I... *huff* think that... *anf* was all of them..."

He said. Cosmo nodded as he dusted himself off and wiped his forehead.

"For now, that is..."

"My thoughts, exactly..."

Ichiro replied with a shake of his head.

A few seconds of silence passed between the two blondies, then Cosmo spoke once more.

"So, what's the plan? Should we try to regroup with whoever's left at the entrance? Or maybe try looking for our classmates...?"

Ichiro pondered the two options for a moment.

"I... really wouldn't know... this place is huge, who knows how long it'd take for us to find and help everyone..."

"Right..."

Cosmo narrowed his eyes.

"Then there was that beaked freak at the plaza..."

"Yeah, don't remind me..."

A frustrated groan escaped Ichiro's lips. Then he made up his mind.

"Let's split up. Let's try to look for the others."

Cosmo raised both of his eyebrows.

"You sure...?"

Worry laced his tone. Ichiro sighed.

"Fuck no. But for now that's the best we can do. If we're lucky, one of our classmates managed to escape that foggish bastard's Quirk and is on his way to call for reinforcements... if not, well..."

*schiik!*

Blades sprung out from Ichiro's arms.

"I sure as hell not going to make it easier for those sons of bitches. Let's move."

Cosmo grinned as his pupils constricted into slits.

"You don't have to tell me twice!"

The two bumped their elbows with smiles on their faces and went their separate ways.


Meanwhile

-Conflagration Zone-

*SBAM!*

*CRACK!*

"Graaaaaah!"

A Villain howled in pain as his left kneecap was completely destroyed. Courtesy of a kick from none other than Izuku.

The greenette, after Class 1-A was scattered throughout the U.S.J., ended up alone in the middle of the conflagration zone. The area he was in was suppoused to simulate an urban environment that was constantly on fire.

Indeed, part of his costume was slightly burned, exposing patches of skin here and there. His face, as well as his now free-flowing hair, were lightly caked with soot and ashes.

Izuku's face was steeled into the determined and unbreakable expression he always had when fighting or training. His emerald eyes darted back and forth to the endless thugs and criminals that rushed at him the moment they realized who he was. Luckily, these goons weren't much of a threat, just as he had imagined.

Hearing someone moving behind him, Izuku side-stepped to avoid a slash from a knife-wielding Villain. The latter, however, quickly turned around and charged once again, this time holding the weapon with both hands and lunged forward.

Izuku stood his ground, and just when the tip of the knife was about to pierce him, he shifted ever so slightly to the side and lowered his right arm, trapping his assailant.


NIKO STYLE

WATER KATA

Seagrass Hold:

A technique used to evade and then lock a thrusting movement.

The user quickly dodges a thrusting weapon (such as a spear) or a thrusting attack (such as a punch or nukite) and grabs and locks the offending weapon/limb under their armpit in one fluid motion.


Now into striking range, Izuku followed with an empi to the Villain's throat.

"Ack!"

Then he moved the same arm he used to strike, and grabbed the right side of his face. Right after that, he kicked at his left ankle, making him lose his balance-

*thud!*

"Argh!"

-and fall to the ground. Izuku released his trapped arms, jumped and-

*WHAM!*

-he ended him once and for all with a flying knee strike to the base of his sternum, causing the downed Villain to cough up blood and pass out.

*cling*

Hearing the unmistakable metallic sound, Izuku whipped around and with an uppercut-

*THUD!*

-striked another Villain's groin.

.

.

.

.

.

Toasty!

.

.

.

.

.

The man ended up gasping for breath from the unspeakable pain that was transmitted throughout his body. He had tried to take the green-haired teen by surprise with the same knife one of his men used to attack the kid, but it ended up failing miserably.

And things were about to get worse. By a lot.

Izuku grabbed the still extended arm that was holding onto the knife by the wrist, and palm-striked the elbow-

*CRACK!*

-snapping the limb and making the Villain drop the knife.

*fwhip!*

Izuku crouched down and caught the knife while it was still falling-

*slice!*

-and jabbed it right into the Villain's leg.

"AAARGH! YOOOUUU...!"

Having finally found his own voice, the criminal screeched at the amount of pain he felt at the moment, but all Izuku did was narrow his eyes-

*SBAM!*

-before kicking the knife, plunging it even further into the man's leg.

Falling to the ground and wailing in despair, the Villain clutched his agonizing limb. Izuku merely stared at him, before kneeling down at his level. Then he spoke.

"I severed the femoral artery. You'll slip into unconsciousness and die within a few minutes. If you use a tourniquet, you might last until the Heroes and the police arrive. If not, well..."

He shrugged, then he turned around and began walking out of the conflagration zone.


-Central Plaza-

"Argh...!"

Aizawa grunted in pain as the hulking beast that invaded the plaza earlier slammed him into the hard, concrete ground.

It didn't take long for the Erasure Hero to deal with the weaker punks that made up the larger forces of the Villains. After a very close encounter with their leader, from which he had the bad luck of being on the receiving end of his Quirk, Decay, Aizawa was quickly overwhelmed by the brute that was now pinning him to the ground.

"Let me tell you a little something before you die, Eraser Head. This one is the Anti-Symbol of Peace, the one that will kill All Might today!"

He waved a hand to said monster.

"The bioengineered Nomu!"

The beast let out an inhuman cry as he turned Aizawa's arm and snapped it like a twig, twisting it and causing it to bleed horribly. Aizawa let out a cry of pain the second his arm was broken, but managed to muster enough strength to turn his head and activate his quirk on Nomu, but he just seemed to ignore it as he raised his other arm and slammed it onto Aizawa's other elbow, crushing it.

"That's it? What a let down..."

The blue-haired villain scoffed. Nomu grabbed Aizawa by the back of the head, forcing it up before immediately slamming it down, more blood splattering and creating enough force to crack the ground.

"How boring..."

The young Villain drawled.

"Just kill him and let's be done with it... We'll save your strength for when All Might comes."

A wicked chuckle made its way out of his mouth.

"Just thinking at the Symbol Of Peace's expression as soon as he enters only to find-"

*tap* *tap*

"Huh?"

The Villain felt someone tapping his shoulder, and turned reflexively to whoever it was.

"What i-"

*POW!*

The last thing he saw was a fist coming right at him, slugging him with a force he never felt before. The Villain was launched into the air as if he was a ragdoll, eventually falling to the ground and skidding through the pavement for a few meters.

.

.

.

.

.

"Sorry to spoil your fun, buddy. But I'd like my sensei back, if you'd be so kind."

That was all Baki said, before retreating the arm he just used to sucker punch the blue-haired Villain. The latter was recovering from the blow he received as he staggered while trying to stand up.

*SWOOOSH!*

Out of nowhere, the same misty Villain with the Warp Gate Quirk appeared next to his leader.

"Shigaraki, I'm deeply sorry, but there have been some complications."

He spoke with a low tone, but the other one, Shigaraki, merely waved him off as he finally managed to stand upright.

"Yes, I'm aware, Kurogiri. One of them is right in front of me, and he nearly caved my skull in!"

He screeched, before he began scratching his neck, irritated. He glared at Baki.

"NOMU!"

Then, suddenly, he roared.

"...?"

Baki tilted his head in confusion, but-

"...!"

-that was swiftly replace by a last minute realization. At the very last moment, he turned sideway and cross-guarded with his arms-

*SLAM!*

-as Nomu hit him with a massive fist.

"Kuh!"

For the brief moment the beast's punch made contact, Baki's whole body shook with pain due to the force of impact.

Just as happened to Shigaraki earlier, Baki was launched away. This time much further away-

*CRASH!*

-ending up crashing into the staircase that led to the U.S.J. entrance. Aizawa, who was barely hanging onto consciousness, helplessly wintessed the whole scene.

"H-Hanma..."

He croaked out, before finally passing out due to his own injuries.

"Did you see that? He was nothing more than just a push over!"

Shigaraki gloated. Kurogiri glanced at the downed Aizawa for a moment before addressing his boss.

"Shigaraki, we're out of time. One of the students managed to escape and he's on his way to alert the Heroes of what transpired here."

The blue-haired Villain intensified his scratching at this.

"You're lucky you're our only way out, Kurogiri. Otherwise, you'd be nothing but dust right now!"

"I'm mortified, but we have to withdraw, otherwise Sens-"

*rustle*

"Huh?"

"What now?!"

The two Villains turned to the source of the sound, as they stared at the bottom of the staircase where Baki crashed into.

The redhead was stuck into the concrete, a nasty and visible bruise could be seen on his chest, despite using his arms to guard. Blood leaked out of his mouth and nostrils.

"N-Nghh..."

He moaned in pain, then began squirming in place, trying to free himself.

"G-Graaah..."

In the end, he managed to get out, ending up on all fours onto the ground.

*cough* *urgh* *cough*

He began coughing as blood poured out of his mouth.

Eventually, Baki managed to control his breathing and calm himself down enough to stand.

*anf* *huff* *anf* *huff*

He slowly raised his head.

"Haha..."

A hollow chuckle could be heard from the redhead, as he finally stood upright. The blood showed no sign of stopping.

"That's it...?"

He questioned. His gaze still blank. He placed both of his hands on the sides of his nasal bone, applying some pressure on it. Then-

*huff!* *splat!*

-he forced air out of his nostrils, ejecting some blood in the process. He arched his head back, and sniffed loudly-

*ptoo!*

-only to spit more blood out of his mouth.

Now fully recovered, Baki turned his attention to the two Villains, Shigaraki and Kurogiri, who were staring at the teen with varying degrees of astonishment.

.

.

.

.

.

"Nii-san hits way harder than that."

He said with a flat voice. Whatever pretense of polite kindness he was showing earlier, now it was completely gone.

He used his forearm to wipe away as much blood as possible. When he was done and lowered the limb, the two Villains were not ready for the fierce glare that hit them.

"Do you really think you can defeat All Might with that kind of strength? What a fucking joke."

He spat.

Shigaraki saw red.

"NOMU! FINISH THAT BRAT!"

He screeched, and just like that, Nomu charged at a frightening speed towards Baki with a raised fist.

The latter did not move.

He remained still, even as the punch was about to hit him.

When it was dangerously close to his face, however-

*fwhip*

Baki side-stepped, evading the punch. Nomu ended up hitting the ground, upturning a large chunk of concrete in the process. The redhead wasted no time as he climbed onto the Villain's back and-

*thud!*

-locked his right leg around Nomu's neck. Then with his other leg-

*WHAM!*

-he violently kicked Nomu's chin (or the equivalent of the chin, considered the beak-thingy he had), forcing his head upwards and dazzling him. Taking advantage of this, Baki shifted position, bringing his right shin right onto Nomu's back neck-

*SLAM!*

-forcing him onto the ground. He then positioned his left leg, planting it firmly on the pavement. Finally, he grabbed the beast's still outstretched limb with both arms and-

*CRACK!*

-twisted it hard, locking it in place.

Nomu was completely immobilized.


TOTAL FIGHTING

Tiger King:

A techinque where the user lets their opponent punch first.

After avoiding the attack, he climbs on top of them, placing one leg on their opponent's back, and kicking their chin with the other leg.

Then the user sets up an armlock, rendering the opponent completely helpless.


As a preventative measure, Baki activated his own Quirk. His muscles began glowing as they enlarged, forcing the now restrained Nomu onto the ground even further.

The latter tried in vain to wriggle his way out, or at least create enough space to counterattack, but the iron grip to which Baki was subjecting him was inescapable.

*scratch!* *scratch!* *scratch!* *scratch!*

Shigaraki resumed his nervous tick, starting to scratch his neck as he saw Nomu being overwhelmed by a mere boy.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING, NOMU?! Why is it so hard to crush that little Hero wanna-"

*tap* *tap*

"Huh?"

The Villain felt someone tapping his shoulder once again.

"What is it this ti-"

*KA-POW!*

And yet again, Shigaraki's face met a massive punch.

Not as strong as Baki's, mind you, but still enough to send him skidding along the ground for the second time.

"Shigaraki!"

Kurogiri yelled, but before he could move to help his leader-

"RAAAAAAH!"

*CLANG*

"G-Guh...!"

-a wild Ichiro appears!

With his claws, he pierced what appeared to be a metal bracer that was hidden amidst Kurogiri's foggish body. Noting that the warp-user couldn't move, the blondie grinned.

"Hah! So Green was right! A part of your real body must be present at all times in order to release the fog in the first place. If it gets immobilized, even you will be unable to move by proxy!"

"Damn you...!"

The black fog withered around them, but Ichiro simply applied more pressure onto the bracer.

"Don't even think about it, man! I'd like to avoid slicing you into bits, but I fuckin' will if I have to!"

He warned him with a glare. Kurogiri's glowing eyes narrowed into slits in frustration.

As for the one who punished Shigaraki's skull for the second time...

"Way to go, Ichiro. With that we cut off their only escape route."

Izuku said while cracking his knuckles and rolling his neck from side. Beside him was Cosmo, carrying a heavily wounded and unconscious Aizawa on his back. He spoke.

"I guess we're all set, then. Let's take Aizawa-sensei out of here and then we can-"

*SNAP!*

A loud snapping noise was heard, and the three boys turned to its source-

*FHWOOOM!*

*CRASH!*

-only to see Baki being thrown their way and crushing onto the ground, again.

"Wha-BAKI-KUN!"

"Dude!"

Izuku and Ichiro exclaimed, confusion and worry etched on their face. Cosmo was just about to call out for his friend, too, when suddenly...

"...!"

... every single hair on his body began to raise while his animal instinct went haywire.

Still carrying his teacher on his back, Cosmo lowered himself to a crouch-

*SWOOOSH!*

-just in time to barely dodge a fist that grazed the tip of his air. He pushed Aizawa away from him with all of his strength and turned around to look at his aggressor

"W-What the...!"

Cosmo found himself in front of the Nomu himself, his right arm raised and clenched into a fist, while the left one...

"You've got to be kidding me...!"

... was hanging limply to its side. Cosmo connected the dots.

"He dislocated his own arm to escape Baki's hold?!"

The redhead in question stood on his feet and began dusting himself off.

"Bullseye..."

He rolled his shoulders, locking his gaze on the Nomu.

"Well, his loss. He might be the biothingy made to kill All Might, but even he can't stand a chance against all of us with just an arm, so he'll go down easil-"

*crack!*

The Nomu's body began twitching, while cracking noises came from his dislocated arm. The jerking movements intensified, until-

*CROCK!*

-as if pushed by an invisible force, the damaged limb realigned itself into its socket, much to the three teens' astonishment.

"Or maybe not..."

Baki muttered.

"Hehehahahahahaha..."

A weak laugh cackled as Shigaraki, still laying onto the ground, readjusted his face with the severed hand that went flying after Izuku punched him.

"You wish it were that easy, wouldn't you..."

He rose to a sitting position.

"I told you, didn't I? Nomu was made for a single purpouse, and that is to kill All Might!"

He stood up.

"He not only does he have massive strength, but he is also able to regenerate! And on top of that, he can absorb the shock of any attack he receive!"

He raised his hands mockingly.

"So no matter how much you damage him, he'll recover from it no matter what!"

He lowered them. Baki's eyes widened.

"ICHIRO, MOVE!"

"Nomu."

Shigaraki said, coolly.

And just like before, at his master command, the beast lunged forward at an incredible speed-

*SLAP!*

-and with a wide arm swipe, he knocked Ichiro off Kurogiri.

"Ngh!"

Thankfully, the blonde heeded his classmate's warning and managed to mitigate the blow's damage by jumping backward.

Now, Baki, Cosmo, Ichiro and Izuku were standing in front of the three Villains, squaring off each other.

The first to break the silence was Izuku.

"Baki-kun."

"Yeah?"

"What's the blue-haired guy's Quirk?"

The redhead scrunched his face in thought, trying to remember, before replying.

"Can't really say... I only caught a glimpse of his fight against Aizawa-sensei, but..."

He looked over his shoulder at the Pro Hero's unconscious form.

"Do you see his elbow? That's where the Villain grabbed him, so I'm pretty sure his Quirk is touch-triggered, just like Uraraka's."

Izuku nodded.

"That's plenty of information, thank you."

"Come on, Green..."

Ichiro chimed in.

"It's time for you to work your magic."

Izuku hummend, then he narrowed his eyes at the three Villains.


There are four of us, including me.

Baki. Enhancer. Close-range combat. Striker.

Cosmo. Mutant. Close-range combat. Grappler.

Ichiro. Transformation. Close-range combat. Mixed.

There are three of them.

Kurogiri. Emitter. Close and long-range combat. Highly dangerous.

Nomu. Mutant, Transformation and maybe others. Close-range combat. His physical strength is no joke, equal to that of an Enhancer-type Quirk. Extremely dangerous.

Shigaraki. Emitter. Close-range combat. Highly dangerous.

What to do?

Do we try to overwhelm them with the advantage of numbers on our own?

No, it's not feasible. Nomu's prowess alone can easily tear into us.

Nomu.

Whenever Shigaraki called him, he instantly obeyed his orders. Could it be that he responds only to his commands?

If that's the case, we must cripple him by taking Shigaraki out of the picture.

Another problem is Kurogiri. He can easily outmaneuver us with his Quirk. Even if we manage to get close to either Nomu or Shigaraki, it's pointless if we get warped elsewhere.

Solution?

Distract Kurogiri.

Incapacitate Shigaraki.

Then Kurogiri.

Finally, Nomu.

That could work.


Izuku blinked, and grabbed his shirt with his right arm.

*riiippp!*

With a sudden jerk, he tore the shirt off his chest, tossing it to the ground.

Before his allies could question him, he spoke.

"Ichiro."

The blonde in question perked up.

"Just like before, you deal with the Warp Gate user."

He inhaled.

"Cos and Baki. You deal with Nomu. Try to stall him with everything you've got."

He brought his left hand to his sternum.

"I'll focus onto their leader. Then I'll help you out with Nomu over there."

He squeezed his chest.

.

.

.

.

.

*ba-dump!*

And just like that day, during the Quirk Apprehension Test, Izuku's heart began beating like a jackhammer. He inhaled and exhaled, while his skin began to change color to the same pinkish-red hue he displayed that time. Veins all across his torso and face began bulging.

Cosmo looked at his best friend with an expression between incredulous and concerned.

"You sure about using whatever that is? Last time you did-"

"I know what I'm doing, Cos."

Izuku replied, his tone a little forceful.

"We just need to finish them quickly and thoroughly."

He took his stance, as did the other three.

Cosmo's pupils constricted into the thinnest slits. He bent his knees, tucking his elbow in and straightening his back.

Ichiro mimicked his stance, but lowered his arms and opened his hands, ready to unleash his Quirk.

Baki, instead...

.

.

.

.

.

"Placing your center of gravity on your toes..."

... he shifted his feet...

"... making use of the natural pose of keeping one leg in front of the other..."

... he positioned his legs...

"... slightly twisting your upper body..."

... he moved his torso...

"... and keeping it behind your arm to minimize the area where you can be attacked..."

... he slightly raised his left shoulder...

"... the front shoulder act as a cover for the chin, making it a clear obstacle for whoever is it you're facing..."

... he raised his right fist...

"... you also keep one fist next to the chin, and to make sure it's ready for action, your grip has to stay loose..."

... whereas his left hand...

"... the front hand is the one to challenge. Leave it open to respond to any kind of situation."

He tightened his form.

"This is it..."

.

.

.

.

.

"... Total Fighting."

The four fighters were ready to rumble at a moment's notice.

Shigaraki, instead, was glaring at the four through the hand covering his face.

*scratch!* *scratch!* *scratch!* *scratch!*

His scratching intensified to the point where he began drawing blood from the irritated skin on his neck.

"You brats...! You're seriously getting on my nerves...!"

He hissed. His fingers twitching.

Izuku narrowed his eyes.

"Any moment, now..."

Shigaraki inhaled, as if getting ready to speak.

*ccrk*

Izuku dug his feet onto the ground as much as he could.

And then...

"N-"

*CRACK!*

*SWOOOSH!*

*KA-POW!*

Just when the blue-haired Villain was about to call for Nomu, Izuku used Raging Fire to sprint towards the former and punch him in the stomach.

"Urgh!"

The insane force to which he was subjected lift Shigaraki into the air, who in the meantime was gasping for breath.

Izuku immediately followed up by grabbing his right arm-

*SLAM!*

-and by placing his hands respectively under the Villain's wrist and beyond the elbow, he forced him onto the ground.

"Ngh!"

Izuku appeared to have deployed a flawless ikkyo, but then moved his hand from the elbow to where the humerus was. Then tightening his grip on the wrist, he levered with the other hand-

*CRACK!*

"GYAAAAAARGH!"

-and completely broke Shigaraki's arm.

The latter tried to grab Izuku with the only arm he had left, but in the prone position in which he was, he did not have enough room to maneuver in order to reach him.

This didn't stop Izuku, however.

Grabbing the other limb as well, Izuku rotated it so that he was facing the elbow directly. He hardened his right fist-

*SBAM!*

*CROCK!*

-and delivered an Ironbreaker punch straight onto the elbow, snapping it.

"ARGH! YOU F-FUCKER!"

Shigaraki howled, and that was enough for Izuku to realize that he could speak again.

Which meant he could issue other orders to Nomu.

Gripping his shoulder, Izuku roughly turned him over. He raised his right hand and formed a nukite.

And just when it looked like Shigaraki was about to speak again...

*jab!*

"Grrgh!"

Izuku striked his hyoid bone with his nukite, reinforced with Iron Fingers, crippling his speaking ability.

Now that the leader was out of action, the greenette stood up, ready to join his friends into the fray.


Ichiro's Fight

While Izuku was busy dealing with Shigaraki, Ichiro was trying to land a strike on Kurogiri.

Unfortunately, because he longer had the element of surprise, he was facing some problems. The Warp Gate user was in constant motion, his incorporeal mass allowed him to dodge Ichiro's attacks with extreme ease.

"Stay still, damn it!"

The blonde yelled in frustration as he missed another blow. Kurogiri's eyes narrowed.

"I don't think I will."

The foggish Villain swirled around Ichiro in circle, trying to disorient him. The latter's eyes darted at every direction, while coming up with a strategy to take down his opponent.

He retracted his claws, and then looked down at his hands. He closed his eyes and sighed.

.

.

.

.

.

"Okay... I have no other choice..."

He looked up at the still swirling fog around him.

"I haven't used it yet, but hey, no time like the present, right...?"

Putting his arms in a cross guard-

*SCHIIK!*

-Ichiro turned them into blades. Then he reared them back, lowering himself on one knee-

*CRASH!*

-and stabbing the ground with them.

"Please, work..."

Ichiro thought as his body began tensing. Veins bulged on his arms as sweat began accumulating on his body.

*rrrumble*

The ground began shaking ever so slightly. Kurogiri took notice of it.

"That's it? All that show for just a slight tremor? Talk about underwhelming..."

The Villain mocked, but he elicited no reaction from Ichiro, aside from him rising his head...

.

.

.

.

.

... and sporting a wide grin on his face.

"...!"

Kurogiri's eyes widened among the fog, but it was too late.

Ichiro dug his arms even deeper into the ground. Then he spoke.

.

.

.

.

.

"Judgment."

*CRASH!*

And then, out of nowhere, a dozen sharp spikes erupted from the ground. They circled around Ichiro, forming a barrier of sorts. They ended up piercing through Kurogiri's foggish body one by one, until-

*CLANG!*

"Gah!"

-one of them pierced right through the Villain's metal brace.


ICHIRO NAKATA

RAZOR'S EDGE

Judgment:

Ichiro stabs the ground with his Quirk, then shifts his blades into an array of razor-sharp spikes that erupts beneath his target.

The further away his opponent is, the less accurate the attack becomes.


Ichiro hummed in approval, before removing his arms from from their position and retracting the blades into his body. This caused the spike to disappear, but that was enough for him.

With his "body" damaged, surely Kurogiri was going to have a hard time dodging his attacks.

Ichiro began moving towards the Villain, but he staggered slightly.

"Fuck... that took more out of me than I'd imagined..."

He hissed, but he kept on going. He couldn't let Izuku and the others down right now. He absolutely had to-

"Out of my way, extras!"

A loud and rage-filled voice screamed, as an airborne Katsuki blasted his way towards Ichiro and Kurogiri, ending up stomping onto the latter with his foot. His weight, combined with the inertia of his flight, made the Villain grunt in pain once again.

"You asshole..."

Katsuki growled.

"You thought you were so smart, huh?! Teleporting me to the other side of this fucking place right in the middle of fucking nowhere so your pals could gang up on me, huh?! Well too bad for you! Those small fries couldn't even lay a finger on me!"

The sand-blonde teen raved, while applying pressure with his foot onto the brace.

"N-Ngh..."

Kurogiri moaned in pain. Ichiro raised both eyebrows at Katsuki's arrival.

"Can't say I'm happy to see him, but beggars can't be choosers..."

He thought as he tried to regain his strength, while enduring Katsuki's loud screams.


Baki's & Cosmo's Fight

Nomu was staring at the two teens in front of him with his fish-like, lifeless eyes.

After a few seconds of intense and silent staring, he lowered his head-

"GRAAAUUURGH!"

-before raising it high and letting out a roar that could not be called anything other than animalistic.

Baki and Cosmo glanced at each other, and nodded.

As soon as Nomu launched himselft towards the pair, the redhead was the one who went in to intercept him.

*SLAM!*

The two collided against one another, locking their hands in an attempt to overpower each other.

Baki buffed himself with his own Quirk, but Nomu's base strength was no less. The two were blocked in a stalemate of pure brute force.

As for Cosmo?

He was in the same spot as before, but instead of standing still...

*rustle*

... he looked like he was waving and wobbling into place, like he was doing some kind of silly dance.

Still, his reptilian eyes were as focused as ever, never losing sight of what was happening in front of him.

"Not yet..."

He said in his mind.

"Not yet..."

He repeated.

"Not soft enough..."

His weird movements never ceased, until they started to get looser and more fluid.

"I'm ready..."

He looked at his companion.

"Now or never, Baki!"

As soon as he heard the blonde's voice, the redhead gritted his teeth and tightened his hold onto Nomu's hands-

"HYAAA!"

*SLAM!*

-before moving to the side with a loud stomp and launching the beast forward, making him stumble right towards Cosmo.

If Nomu was bewildered or confused by what had happened, he didn't show it, merely proceeding to fall forward.

Cosmo narrowed his eyes at the approaching Villain, as his wobbling intensified.

Nomu was getting closer and closer, and it looked like he was going to crash into him-

*SWHIP!*

-until he suddenly stopped.

Baki merely observed, confusion clear on his face. Cosmo had one arm raised with a nukite formed on his right hand.

"...?"

He also noticed some blood on the tips of the blonde's fingers.

"U-Uuuh..."

Surprisingly, what seemed to be a moan of pain escaped Nomu's mouth as he raised a hand to his face.

*gshht!*

Out of nowhere, a large gash erupted across his eyes, blood spraying out of it. Reaching for his eyes, Nomu's wound began healing on its own, but Cosmo was not going to let him recover.

Stepping even closer, he lowered his raised arm and began once more his weird movements.

Then he attacked.

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"The Snake Awakens."

*SWHIP!*

*SLASH!*

*SSSHK!*

Cosmo unleashed a flurry of whip-like strikes, slashing and cleaving Nomu's upper body all over.


COSMO IMAI

SERPENT

The Snake Awakens:

Cosmo proceed to make his body as loose and fluid as possible, allowing him to use his arms like whips, slashing anything that comes in contact with them.


Blood splattered all over the place as Nomu was being cut to shreds, but Cosmo did not waver in the slightest.

When he had done enough damage, he called for his ally once more.

"BAKI!"

Immediately, the redhead sprinted towards the two, and jumped onto Nomu's back-

*fwhip*

-to propel himself with one foot and jump a second time. As gravity brought him down, close to the Villain's mangled face-

"Enzuigiri."

*WHAM!*

-Baki striked the back of his head with a flying kick, forcing him to the ground.


TOTAL FIGHTING

Enzuigiri:

A Pro Wrestling technique.

Baki jumps and deliver a vicious kick to the back of the opponent's head.


As soon as Nomu was downed, Cosmo rushed at him and put him into a Rear Naked Choke Hold and began strangling him. Baki followed up by immobilizing the Villain's left arm.

"Don't forget about me!"

Yelled Ichiro as he too joined the fight, and mimicked Baki by locking Nomu's other arm into place. Cosmo, through gritted teeth, raised his head and screamed.

"NOW, IZUKU!"

Not wasting the chance his friends gave him, the greenette quickly closed the distance between him and the now trapped Nomu.

*BA-DUMP!* *BA-DUMP!*

His heartbeat began to increase in intensity as he got closer to his target. Izuku grit his teeth as he tried to endure the strain on his body as much as possible.

"That thing has Super Regeneration and Shock Absorption. Even if we were to hurt him, his wounds would heal. I guess the only thing he can't heal from is a wound to what controls both of his Quirks..."

He eyed Nomu's exposed brain.

"..."

He was in place.

He inhaled.

"Sorry, Nomu... if that's even your real name..."

*SLAM!*

He stomped onto the ground and reared both of his hands back.

"... but I cannot defeat you without killing you."

He launched his attack.

"RAAAAAAAAAH!"

Izuku unleashed a barrage of blows against Nomu's head, making sure to hit his brain as hard as possible.

And it was working.

He began twitching at every blow with varying degrees of intensity, signaling that Izuku's heavy strikes were taking effect.

This prompted the boy to continue.


NIKO STYLE

ADAMANTINE KATA

Ironbreaker - Chain:

A different application of Ironbreaker.

As the name implies, it is a continuous barrage of Ironbreaker-enhanced strikes.


"HYAAAAAAH!"

Izuku kept on dishing punches, to the point where even his friends, who were restraining his target, began to feel the power behind his fists through the vibration of Nomu's body.

Cosmo, who was still ensnared around the Villain's body, widened his eyes.

"What the heck is with those punches?! That's nothing like the Niko Style I've seen so far...! What did Niko-san teach you, Izuku...?"

Even Katsuki, despite being quite distant from what was happening at Nomu, couldn't hide his bewilderment.

"W-What the fuck... is the nerd really Quirkless?! There's no way someone could dish out that much damage without any kind of power...!"

*BA-DUMP!* *BA-DUMP!* *BA-DUMP!* *BA-DUMP!*

Izuku's vision began to tremble, as the stress on his heart was only increasing, but he did not let up. He kept on punching.

*SBAM!*

And punching.

*SLAM!*

And punching.

*plitch!*

A blood vessel bursted on Izuku's right eye, and it began bleeding slightly from it. Coupled with the fierce glare on his face, the pinkish-red color of his skin, the large veins bulging on his body and the trembling, yet at the same time laser-focused look in his eyes, the boy was fighting with the ferocity of an animal...

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... as if he were possessed.


NIKO STYLE

FORBIDDEN TECHNIQUE

Possessing Spirit:

A forbidden move, the use of which is considered a taboo by all practitioners of the Niko Style.

Possessing Spirit involves overclocking the heart's cardiovascular output to rapidly boost the metabolic rate.

The result increases the velocity, acceleration, torque and, consequently, the damage output.

To this very reason, it is usually used as a trump card.

However, the price to pay is as great as the boost.

Because how the Possessing Spirit works, the technique has serious flaws that become more prominent with overuse.


"A little more... just a little more...!"

Izuku's pace began to slow down, and that was enough for the Nomu to begin adapting to his attacks.

*twitch*

"H-Huh?"

Cosmo flinched as he began to feel his grip straining against the Nomu's sudden movements.

"Shit, he's recovering his strength!"

Baki and Ichiro also began to struggle to hold the Villain still.

"Fuckin' dammit... He's gonna break free any moment, now...! We ca-"

"Guys!"

A familiar voice yelled, catching everyone's attention.

Coming from the Mountain Zone and the Flood Zone respectively, Eijiro and Shoto were running towards their classmates. As soon as they saw what was happening, they both froze in shock.

Baki, who was at his limit with his Quirk, began to unintentionally loosening his hold, muttering curses after curses under his breath and through gritted teeth.

His eyes then moved towards the new arrivals on the scene, and stopped on Shoto.

Baki raised both eyebrows.

"Wait a sec... this bastard has Super Regeneration, right? That means he can knit himself back together if he gets hurt... however..."

His eyes widened.

"... burnt wounds cannot regenerate because of the destroyed and irreparable cells!"

"TODOROKI!"

He immediately yelled, catching the attention of said boy.

"USE YOUR FIRE AGAINST THIS GUY! HE CAN'T HEAL HIMSELF IF HE'S BURNED INTO A CRISP!"

Now it was Shoto's turn to widen his eyes. The redhead's words registered late into his brain, but when they did, he moved forward.

Raising his left arm, he aimed it at Nomu and then...

.

.

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.

.

... nothing happened.

Shoto was there, his arm still up and zeroed onto the Villain, ready to incinerate him.

But nothing happened.

"*grrrgh* TODOROKI! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR ?! DO IT!"

Baki yelled, but Shoto was still there, not budging an inch. He gritted his teeth, and lowered his head with a quiet "tch!".

"TODOROKI, PLEASE!"

Cosmo all but begged, his arms were weakening by the seconds.

"D-Dude, hurry...!"

Ichiro was on the verge of collapsing right there on the spot.

"THE FUCK ARE YOU WAITING FOR, ICYHOT?! TURN THAT MOTHERFUCKER INTO CINDERS!"

Katsuki was getting riled up by the heterochromatic boy's hesitation. He wish he could've went right there and deal with Nomu by himself, but he couldn't let go of Kurogiri, unless he wanted to make things even more difficult for everyone.

*pomf!*

Finally, Izuku's energy were spent completely. His last punch was merely a light jab that lacked any real power behind it. His appearance had returned to normal, but his breathing was heavy and erratic.

*thud!*

He fell to his knees, and began gasping for air, desperately trying to regain strength to counterattack.

But it was too late now.

"GRAAAUUUUUURGH!"

The Nomu howled, and broke free of his restraints.

"Shit!"

"Woah!"

"Son of a-!"

His first target was Izuku.

*clutch!*

He grabbed the still gaping greenette by his face-

*swooosh!*

*SLAM!*

-and slammed him against Cosmo.

"Argh!"

The latter cried in pain before being sent flying due to the blow just received. Turning around, Nomu tossed Izuku into air-

*fwosh!*

-and reared one of his fists back.

"NO YOU DON'T!"

Just when the Villain's attack was about to reach Izuku, Eijiro jumped in between with both his arms and chest hardened, and intercepted the fist in his classamte's stead.

*WHAM!*

"Ngh!"

Even with his Quirk, the attack was devastating, and the two went flying right into the same crater that Baki had formed earlier.

*CRASH!*

Nomu turned his attention to Ichiro, who in a last ditch effort had pushed Razor's Edge to the limit. But all he could muster was a single blade of the size of a knife.

He still swinged his bladed arm towards Nomu.

*thud*

But the latter easily caught it-

*CRACK!*

"Gah!"

-and snapped it.

Then he clutched the blondie's hair-

*SLAM!*

-and slammed his face onto the ground, cracking the concrete in the process. After releasing his hair, he raised the same hand-

*SLAP!*

-and viciously backhanded Baki, sending him skidding along the ground.

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"Rrraaauuu..."

Growling, Nomu turned towards the remaining two aspiring Heroes, Katsuki and Shoto.

The former glared at the Villain with as much ferocity as he could, but still failed to suppress the uneasiness and fear creeping into him. The latter, instead, cast a glance at his fallen classmate with an almost pained expression on his face.

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"Hehe... *cough*... I told you... *ack*... already... *wheeze*... there's nothing you can do..."

Just then, Shigaraki had recovered from Izuku's brutal beating. His broken arms were dangling limply at his sides. His voice was raspy and he clearly had problems speaking.

"You've all wasted your... *ugh*... time... but I applaud you for... *wheeze*... lasting this long against... *ow*... Nomu..."

Katsuki and Shoto directed their glares to the now standing Shigaraki. Things were not looking good for them.

Not that they were good to begin with...

"We've wasted enough time here... just... *cough*... kill these two and let's leave... we'll try to kill All Might... *anf*... another ti-"

*BOOOOOOM!*

"...?!"

"...!"

"...?"

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Suddenly, the two giant doors that gave access to the U.S.J. swung open violently, as if something had hit them with the force of a battering ram.

Amidst the dust that arose, a person's silhouette could be seen.

He started walking towards the top of the staircase.

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"I can't believe it, kid."

A male voice said.

"Not even two weeks into the school year, and you end up being attacked by Villains?"

A sigh followed his words.

The figure emerged from the dust-

"Well, no matter. I'll leave the spanking to Shunka and Nemu..."

-revealing a cloak-clad Niko.

The man was grinning widely as the cloak fluttered lightly due to the gust of wind that was brought inside the building by the now open doors.

"Oh man, that entrance was so cool. I totally nailed it!"

He did a fist pump with his right arm, while the others still standing were looking at him with blank faces.

Except Nomu, for obvious reasons...

Still grinning, Niko lowered his gaze towards the plaza. He took notice of the destruction and the injured students, until...

"..."

... he looked straight at Izuku's broken body.

The smile he had on his face vanished completely.

Wordlessly, he walked back towards the entrance. Then he turned again towards the staircase, and-

*tap!* *tap!* *tap!* *tap!* *tap!* *tap!*

-broke into a sprint.

When he reached the first step-

*slam!*

-he jumped.

Niko soared through the air as he skipped the entire staircase that led into the plaza with a single leap.

*thud!*

With almost feline grace, the man landed next to his son and a wounded Eijiro.

The spiky redhead looked at the man in disbelief, before weakly raising his fists.

"W-Who are you? Another Villain?

Niko looked at Eijiro with a neutral expression. Then he spoke.

"Relax, I ain't no Villain. One of your classmates... uuuh... what was his name again...?"

He narrowed his eyes in thought.

"Tall? Square glasses? Indigo hair? Fully clad into an armor that made him look like a discount version of Ingenium?"

Eijiro's eyes lit up.

"Yeah! That's our classmate! Our class president, Tenya!"

"That one!"

Niko snapped his fingers in recognition.

"He managed to escape and run like never before to call for reinforcements, which should be arriving shortly, by the way."

He crossed his arms.

"On his way to U.A. he nearly crashed into me, and... well, you can figure out the rest on your own. Oh, I'm Izuku's father by the way. Niko Tokita, nice to meet you. All of you."

He nodded his head.

"Although I would have preferred to meet my son's classmates under better circumstances..."

He added, his tone mirthless. Then he approached Izuku, who was still conscious, although barely. Niko kneeled down next to him, and with one hand he began to tenderly rub his now dirty hair.

"Hey, kid."

Izuku's eyes were twitching, due from the pain and shock his body was going through, and also because of the lights he was forced to face in his current position. He tried to open his mouth to speak, but no sound came out except for rasped breaths.

"Don't talk. You've went through one hell of a beating, I can see that. Stay still and try to recover as much as possible, help is on the way."

He moved his hand from his hair to his forehead, poking it.

"You did good, Izuku. Now leave it to me."

He removed his cloak and gently placed it on top of Izuku. Then he stood up and faced for the very first time Shigaraki and Nomu.

The former spoke.

"And... who the hell... are you supposed to... be?"

Shigaraki questioned, his voice beginning to sound like normal. Niko shrugged and smiled.

"No one important. Just an almost middle-aged man who runs a restaurant. A very good restaurant, just so you know."

He began walking towards Nomu.

"So, this big guy over here is the one I have to thank for nearly killing my son and his buddies, right? Wow, you sure are big... You could give Jun a run for his money..."

"What a buffoon... heh, no matter..."

Shigaraki snidely thought.

"That's right... those brats thought they could stand a chance... against Nomu... when he was created with the sole goal of killing All Might..."

Niko whistled as he now stood in front of said creature.

"No shit. You bad boys like to think big, I see. I respect that in a person, criminal or not."

He scratched his beard, before addressing the Villain in front of him.

"Well... I'm sorry, Nomu-san, but All Might's not in right now. As a replacement or something, how about playing with me instead?"

Those words almost made Katsuki, Shoto and Eijiro faint right then and there. Shigaraki broke into a cackle.

"Hahahahahaha! Oh wow! You're a riot! A shame you're going to die in a few seconds!"

Catching his breath, Shigaraki nodded at his trump card.

"Just kill him quickly, Nomu."

He turned away.

"Then take out the two brats and get Kurogiri. I'm sick of this place. At least I got a good laugh before getting-

*BOOOM!*

*SWOOOOOOSH!*

-out of he-Huh?"

Shigaraki felt a gust of wind and something flying beside him, which ended up crashing right in front of him by a few meters.

He turned around, annoyance in his voice.

"Hey, watch it, you lobotomized freak! You almost hit me wi-!"

Shigaraki's next words died in his mouth, since the one he was facing was not Nomu...

.

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"W-What t-the..."

... but Niko.

He was there, with right his fist extended. His legs were firmly planted onto the ground, with his right leg planted forward and the left backwards. His right arm was close to his chest. He seemed to have just performed an oi zuki.

Shigaraki looked back behind his shoulder, and true enough, Nomu was laying on the ground. His body twitching as it tried to heal the wound on his sternum that looked like a gaping hole.

"..."

Shigaraki was left speechless, as were the others.

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"You don't seem to understand..."

*ruuumble*

The Villain, and the U.A. students began feeling an odd atmosphere all around them.

As if some malevolent presence was trying to crush them with an unseen pressure.

Everyone directed their gaze towards Niko, and the blood in their veins ran cold.

"... I am not trapped in here with you..."

Niko, who was now sporting such a deadly, vicious and unadulterated glare, that even Shigaraki recoiled in sheer terror, said. Then he kicked his sandals off his feet.

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"... You are trapped in here with me."

He took his stance.


Next Chapter:

A Father's Rage


MARTIAL ARTS TERMINOLOGY

Nukite:

A karate technique. The user uses his hand, excluding their thumbs, to thrust into the opponent's body like a spear.

Hiraken:

A karate technique. A punch thrown that focuses on the hand's middle knuckles.

Teisoku:

A karate technique. A kick that focuses on the foot's sole.

Haisoku:

A karate technique. A kick that focuses on the foot's dorsal.

Ipponken:

A karate technique. The user extends the knuckle of the middle or index finger in order to strike a target. Very effective when aiming to attack specific point of the opponent's body.

Empi:

A karate technique. A common elbow strike.

Ikkyo:

An aikido technique. The most basic move of aikido, which involves a pinning technique by using the opponent's elbow as leverage.

Oi Zuki:

A karate and jujitsu technique. An equal-sided punch.


A/N:

Hello, fellow My Hero Academia, Baki and Kengan Ashura lovers! guess who is back with a new chapter?

Yes, I'm two days late.

Please don't be mad... Q_Q

The story was ready to be published yesterday, but I decide to wait. When I did the final check for any typos and whatnot, I had just got out of work and was tired as heck. I was sure I skipped something, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, I did. So here we are.

Anyway!

It's been a long time since the last chapter of An Asura Is Born, and I'll be honest, it's mostly due to my procrastinating on writing.

Aaaaaaaaand, I may have spent more time than I should have been playing Elden Ring instead of writing...

(Seriously, fuck Mohg. All of my homies hate Mohg. That blood-crazed simp gave me more cerebral damage than Malenia did! Uuuggghhh ...)

Also, as many of you know, I am currently following the Kengan Omega manga through the weekly chapters.

Now, I'm not going to spoil anyone who's following it or who's planning to do so, but Omega's story is getting more and more serious. A lot of things have been revealed, as well as many new characters have been introduced.

Since An Asura Is Born also includes the Kengan universe within it, I had to take a moment to understand where I would like to take the story, its characters and their development.

Am I appreciating how things are going in Kengan Omega? Eh, 50/50.

I just hope to succeed in my intent to follow what I had set for the plot of An Asura Is Born, without upsetting the whole thing too much.

But now, let's get to the meat!

Karla:

#ibelieveinkarlasupremacy

The dark-eyed maiden finally shows her skill against Shoto, quickly dispatching him with her quick moves and laser-like precision. We also caught a glimpse of her past when Baki decided to confront her about her family as sparks went flying between the two!

Baki's Total Fighting:

Baki's own fighting style! I'm making a stark difference between this one and the Hanma Bloodline Style. The latter will be more focused on technique that Baki will deploy when using his Quirk, such as Dress when he fought Cosmo, while Total Fighting consists of the more "normal" techniques.

Possessing Spirit:

Ah, good ol' Advance, am I right? The technique that was originally a secret move, I decided to turn it into a forbidden move. I wanted to emphasize the dangers and the dark past behind this technique. For this reason, I initially had in mind to write the conception of the technique within its description, but I decided to let it go. Everything will be explored later in detail.

Niko:

*Izuku gets almost killed by Villains*

*Niko appears*

Shigaraki: "Why do I hear boss music?"

And that's all for this chapter!

Before I resume writing, I need to go back and fix some stuff and format problems on the other chapter. Then it's back to Embers!

Thank you again for your patience, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I also hope you all have a good start to the week, and I'll see you in the next chapter! ^_^

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No, okay, just kidding. It was all because of Elden Rin-*gets his kneecaps destroyed by Rei*