Author's Note: For those who didn't get the title of the last chapter, the name that the creator of JJBA initially gave Stands was 'Yūhamon/Ghostly Ripple', possibly to link it to the old Hamon abilities, with furigana changing it to read 'Sutando'. Just a bit of JJBA trivia for you.
"Kacchan!" - Speech
'Deku!' - Thoughts
"I AM HERE!" - All Might Speech
"Detroit Smash!" - Special Technique Usage
Beta'd by BigCC
Chapter 4: Stand Off
Same Time
Unknown Location
A man stepped into a room.
The room itself was almost pristine in appearance, every surface looking like it had been religiously scrubbed and cleaned mere moments ago. However, aside from a single dentist's chair installed in the centre of it, the room was also completely empty of any furniture or decorations. All-in-all, the combination gave the room a very spartan air. One of the man's associates had even referred to it as 'barren.'
The man himself was actually quite similar to the room: impeccable but also largely unremarkable. His clothing was all perfectly clean and fitted but otherwise average in appearance, his hair was immaculately trimmed and well-cared-for but was cut in a fashion that looked like it was taken from a stock photo and his face was clean but easily forgettable. Even his expression was bland and mostly vacant. The man seemed the very definition of a 'face that could get lost in the crowd,' the type of person that seemed to blend into the background wherever he went.
He currently had a cellphone in one held, pressed firmly against his ear as he spoke.
"…yes sir. Sadly, the current test subject was only a…moderate success. She was able to survive the process without any physical degradation, but I'm afraid her mind was far more fragile than anticipated." he offered with a thin, reedy voice. "As a result, she quickly began to devolve into a state of borderline psychosis and eventually became a serial killer. Hmm…no sir, I believe the main issue with our current subject was her age. She had accumulated far more resentment than we'd anticipated when we initially selected her and that, combined with her lack of mental flexibility, is what resulted in her rapid degradation. By focusing our efforts on subjects in their mid-to-late teens, I believe we'll be able to create a far more stable product. That age range should still retain enough mental malleability to survive the process with minimal mental degradation while also being mature and resilient enough to resist the physical deformation that was common among younger test subjects."
He paused to listen for a moment. "No sir, I don't believe acquiring further test subjects will be an issue. Despite the decreasing amount of Quirkless being born with each successive generation, they still make up a solid eight percent of the targeted population. Even with the increasing suicide rates among the younger generation, that should still leave us with a more-than-adequate pool of potential test subjects. If anything, the mental resilience of those that survive to the testing age will only increase our chances of success. Hm…yes, that is my opinion as well. The increasing resentment of the Quirkless population born by the current society's focus on Quirks and their own desire for power all aid in making them a perfect demographic for our procedure; the fact that targeting younger subjects will mean they have less time to build up resentment to the dangerous level of our previous test subject is also a benefit of decreasing the targeted age-range."
Another pause, followed by a sharp nod. "Very good sir, I shall contact you once I have finished relocating my facilities and have gathered a sufficient number of test subject for approval to recommence. For the Circle of DIO."
Hanging up his phone and returning it to his pocket, the unremarkable-looking man sighed as he brought his newly freed hand up to massage his nose. "Honesty, now I have to go through all the trouble of relocating everything once again? That worthless test subject is proving to be nothing but a hassle. Even the Stand she produced turned out to be nothing more than an utter disappointment, a complete waste of materials and efforts. Oh well, the data we gathered from her and her deterioration helped greatly refine the process and she at least proved my theory accurately enough in the eyes of my superiors. Together, that should at least cover the cost of everything I was forced to waste on her. And I suppose even a dismal failure like Amagasaki can provide a useful foundation for future successes."
Raising his voice a bit, the man called out the door behind him. "Inugami! Get in here!"
Another man quickly came through the door. This one was tall and handsome, wearing what had to be a designer suit and a bright and eager expression on his face. "You called, Hyōmen-sama? What can I do for you?" he asked eagerly, his voice warm and velvety.
"We're relocating to Site K." the man (now identified as Hyōmen) stated simply. "The last test subject has drawn far too much attention to this area for the moment. Arrange things with your subordinates to handle everything as per usual."
"As you command." Inugami agreed with a quick bow, both hands in front of his chest as he wrung them together eagerly. "Should I also arrange for the disposal of the worthless bitch while I'm at it?"
"No, she's not worth wasting any further resources on. At her current rate of deterioration, she'll likely overreach herself soon enough and end up biting off far more than she can chew." the forgettable man stated clinically, a small, nasty smirk appearing on his lips. "If nothing else, she'll at least continue to provide us with valuable data as her kill count continues to rise. Why throw away an asset while we can still reap some small benefit from it?"
"As you say Hyōmen-sama." the handsome man agreed, his face still a mask of eager excitement. "And The Item?"
"I will personally be taking it to the new location, at once." Hyōmen responded with a sigh. "Oyakata-sama was very firm in stressing that it was to never be more than ten meters from me until it was properly secured in our new base. As such, I will be leaving immediately. I leave the rest of the matter in your capable hands."
"I will begin making arrangements at once, sir." Inugami agreed with a nod before quickly turning and departing from the room.
Hyōmen watched him leave before quickly turning and making his way toward the dentist's chair. Placing one hand on the opposite armrest, he squeezed down on a specific trigger before kicking the chair's underside on a specific spot. A mechanical click echoed across the room as the chair's seat opened up, revealing a secret, reinforced chamber in the chair's base.
Quickly reaching in, the bland man quickly removed a secure briefcase and a set of handcuffs. With a quick, practised motion, he undid the briefcase's combination lock and opened it before leaving it to rest. Then, with immense care, he reached into the chamber again. Gently, almost reverently, he pulled out the last item in the hidden compartment.
It was an ornate box, carved from redwood and with a strange symbol emblazoned on its centre. A golden heart with a section removed from its centre resembling the card suit of clubs.
With deliberate care, Hyōmen secured the box inside the briefcase before re-closing it and securing the lock once more before handcuffing the briefcase to his own wrist. With that done he quickly used his free hand to reseal the compartment before departing the building, intending to grab a taxi to the nearest train station.
Kantō was simply too hot for the moment, so a relocation to Kansai was definitely in order.
In all honestly, Hyōmen had never been happy about working so close to U.A.. Not with that mutated abomination Nezu ruling there, constantly sniffing about for any threats to his precious school. Even if the Quirked Animal had no idea about the existence of Stands, as his superiors believed, no one in their organization wanted to risk that situation changing. It was one reason their organization made sure than any information specifically regarding Stands or their users was disseminated orally only, leaving no written or electronic records for the rat to find.
Now that stupid Amagasaki woman had kicked up the hornet's nest and Nezu would undoubtedly use the opportunity to poke its nose everywhere it didn't belong. It was enough of a risk that his superiors had decided that they needed to evacuate the entire facility immediately.
It would save him some stress in the long-run but having to relocate so suddenly was still an annoyance.
By the time Hyōmen Hikaeme was snoring away on the Shinkansen to Kyoto, the battle back in Musutafu would be over, and he wouldn't hear of it until much later. Something he would be cursing himself blind for a few years down the line.
Abandoned Gated Community, Musutafu
"Amanojaku Judgement!" Amagasaki Chigusa shrieked, sending her Stand forward to attack Izuku once more, who merely raised a sceptical eyebrow.
"That didn't work before I revealed my Stand, what makes you think it'll work now that Hierophant Emerald is in play? Emerald Splash!" he ordered, his Stand already moving to obey. Floating in front of its Master, it clapped its hands together before quickly drawing them apart and unleashing a withering barrage of emeralds at the onrushing, white-armoured Stand. Compared to Izuku's Quirk version, his Stand's Emerald Splash was on an entirely different order of magnitude. Faster, stronger, more numerous, and from what the Quirkologist who'd examined samples of both emerald types before they dissolved had said, the gems produced by his Stand were even harder and denser than the ones his Quirk produced, making them a far more effective projectile.
As the pink-haired woman's Stand was forced to frantically dodge, duck and weave to avoid the barrage of flying jewels; Izuku was mentally frowning in thought. In his case, gaining a Stand had also given him (or perhaps simply awakened?) his own Quirk, and from the Bloody Ripper's earlier ranting, the same seemed to be true for her as well. The question currently scratching curiously at his mind now was if Amagasaki Chigusa's Quirk worked like his and copied some aspect of her Stand's abilities, or had it triggered the awakening of some latent Quirk Factor lying dormant in her.
'Then again, I haven't witnessed any of her Stand's abilities yet either.' he mentally groused. 'From what I've seen so far, it seems to be a mid-range type, since it's been able to move at least 5 meters from her in order to attack me, but it hasn't shown any form of unique ability just yet. Perhaps I can provoke her into doing something a bit reckless. She seems even more self-absorbed than Bakugō, so the best way to do that would be…'
"Is this all that you're capable of?" he asked aloud. "I must admit, I was honestly hoping for far more than a simple close-combat type with only brute force on its side."
"Shut up, brat!" Amagasaki shrieked back.
"I mean really, if this is all you are capable of then I don't see why I am even wasting my time with you." Izuku continued, doing his best to mimic Bakugō's arrogance and mix it with calm, stoic decorum he'd learned from Kakyōin-sempai. "I might not look it, but I have quite a bit on my plate. If you're going to keep wasting my time with this farce, then I might as well just end it here and now."
"Y-You…You…YOU!" the serial killer was grinding her teeth so hard that Izuku was sure he heard one crack. Then again it might just have been some last vestige of her sanity. "YOU ARROGANT, LITTLE SHIT-STAIN! Fine! I'll give you the taste of hell you've been begging for! Amanojaku Judgement, Hell's Judgement!"
Responding to its master's command, the white-armoured Stand reared back, head falling back in a silent howl as it flexed its entire body. As it did, its form seemed to rapidly expand, every muscle bulging and growing until it practically doubled in size, looming over the two humans and Hierophant Emerald. The white armour covering its body seemed to split down the seams as it grew, withdrawing back until it looked like nothing more than a number of thin metallic bands and revealing a massive apish form completely covered in bright crimson red fur, the vestigial wings receding even further into its back. However, the freakiest part had to be its head, the beatific faceplate receding and revealing a snarling demonic visage with no nose and slitted, snake-like eyes. It was indeed a face worthy of a demon from the depths of Hell.
'Hooooh? So, I take it that the previous form represents 'heaven' while this new form represents 'hell.' That explains at least part of the name Amanojaku, a creature of both and heaven and hell.' Izuku pondered as he studied the transformation. 'Still, something isn't quite adding up just yet…'
"A power up into an even bigger beat-stick? Is that supposed to be impressive?" he offered aloud, once again forcing as much contempt as he could muster into each word.
With a wordless shriek of rage, the serial killer sent her Stand forward at him once again, one of its arms already drawn back for a devastating punch.
Really, could this woman be any more thin-skinned? He'd have thought that being Quirkless for thirty-odd years would have made someone develop a bit more resilience against that kind of thing.
Then again…crazy serial killer.
Without a single word or motion, Izuku had Hierophant Emerald unleash another burst of Emerald Splash at the onrushing Stand. During their tri-annual meetings, Kakyōin-sempai had done his best to educate him on Stands as well as all their other discussions, and he'd recounted what he could of a number of the ones he'd encounter while alive. One fact that had stood out was that those that had armoured forms tended to use that armour much like its more mundane counterparts, to reduce damage done to itself and its User. Those that could then shed such armour for boosts (primarily in speed with Kakyōin's favoured example) also lost that damage reduction when they lost their armour. Considering that Amanojaku Judgement's armour had been reduced to a mere accessory, Izuku was willing to bet that it had sacrificed that same defensive strength in exchange for raw power.
The barrage of emeralds flew fast and true, slamming into the charging Stand…and seemed to shatter harmlessly on impact with no visible effect on either the Stand or its User.
'How unusual. Wait…did its eyes start glowing just then?' Izuku pondered briefly before he was forced to react to the massive monster barrelling towards him.
With a though, Hierophant Emerald vanished and reappeared, overlaying itself with Izuku's own body. The verdette then kicked down, using the boost of his Stand's mimicry to launch himself into the air and over the berserk Stand's rush, allowing Amanojaku Judgement's monstrous fist to smash into the remains of the gazebo, reducing it to kindling.
This wasn't one of Kakyōin-sempai's own techniques, rather one he'd learned from watching his friend, Kūjō Jōtarō. It was more suitable for a close-combat Stand, but even a Stand of moderate physical strength like Hierophant Emerald could make good use of it.
"What the fucking hell!?" Chigusa was gaping at him, her monstrous Stand returning obediently to her side. "How the fuck did you manage that!?"
"I sincerely doubt that you have had your Stand for more than a year, and in that time, you have done little more than use it as a tool for murder." Izuku stated dispassionately as he landed lightly on his feet a good distance away. "I, on the other hand, have had mine since I was eight, and have made great efforts in understanding everything that it is capable of. Now then, was that all your Stand has to offer? A power-up and short-term invulnerability buff?"
Seeing one eyebrow twitch angrily, Izuku guessed that he was at least partially correct; however, the slight twitching of her lips, like she was resisting snapping back about something, probably meant she had at least one ace in reserve. Opening his mouth, Izuku was about to announce that he was going to have Hierophant Emerald attack her so he could test her invulnerability's duration before he suddenly clicked his mouth closed again. Why the hell was he going to announce his strategy like some idiot protagonist?
'Wait…are her eyes glowing as well?' the greenette suddenly noticed that both the woman's heterochromatic eyes (one a pit of pure black the other pure white) were glowing faintly in the dim light of the early evening. Everything seemed to snap into place in that moment. 'Shit, her Quirk! I was so wrapped up in her Stand that I forgot about it. Me, the Quirk Nerd extraordinaire, forgetting about a Quirk! Bakugō must never learn of this, or he will give me unending hell over it!'
(Elsewhere, Bakugō Katsuki abruptly sneezed into his hand before glaring around and demanding to know who was talking shit about him behind his back!)
"And so, you turn to your oh-so-despised Quirk." Izuku stated aloud, smirking slightly as he noticed the glow in her eyes vanish as her face momentarily morphed into an expression of shock. "Some form of Mental Emitter-type if I'm not very much mistaken, and I bet I can even guess what you named it. You seem to be able to compel your target to speak their intentions aloud to you, and I'm willing to bet that afterwards you can activate some form of secondary effect, issuing a counter order that forces them to perform an opposite action. Yes, [Amanojaku] is definitely a most suitable name for such a Quirk, albeit one that makes it rather easy to decipher if your opponent is well-versed in traditional folklore."
The Amanojaku, the so-called 'Heavenly Evil Spirit', a Yōkai from Japanese mythology which had an extremely contrary nature and would always perform the exact opposite action of any order it was given. Izuku himself was rather well-versed in such stories thanks in no small part to Bakugō Masaru, who had a fascination with such old tales. His interest had been sparked as a youth because the only times that Katsuki had cried when they were kids was when Masaru would indulge in his love of spooky stories and share them during their occasional sleepover.
Heh. Anything that could make the 'Great' Katsuki cry like a scared toddler was well worth spending some time studying.
(Elsewhere, Bakugō felt his ears burning and started to rage about people talking smack about him behind his back, before his mother whapped him across the head and told him to shut the fuck up and start eating instead of acting like an idiot, ranting out of nowhere like that.)
"How the hell do you keep doing this you fucking son of a bitch?" Chigusa snarled out, clawing at her hair in frustration. How in the name of hell was this damnable brat reading her like this!?
"I like to consider myself a fairly disciplined and intelligent individual, so the sudden urge to start shouting my plans like a moron was quite noticeable. Your Quirk seems to have two rather glaring weaknesses: it is most unsubtle, and the compulsion to obey the initial urge is quite weak. In order to use it against someone effectively you have to be sure they are either weak-willed enough to comply, arrogant enough to not notice the compulsion, or simply too distracted to resist." the more experienced Stand User replied dryly. He decidedly did not mention that one or even both weaknesses was most likely due to the fact that her Quirk was still very immature, having only awakened less than a year ago and that she had likely spent little to no time training or practising with it.
"Let me see if I can guess your modus operandi, Miss 'Bloody Reaper.'" Izuku continued disdainfully. "You first start by 'poltergeisting' your victims with your Stand, scaring and distracting them enough that they can't resist when you activate your Quirk and prevent them from trying to resist or escape. Then you use your Stand once more to…perform your signature finisher. My guess is that Katame-san wasn't so easily spooked, and instead he lashed out and met your Stand for his trouble. It was only after he broke his fist against Amanojaku Judgement that he was distracted enough for you to use your Quirk on him."
With every correct deduction, Amagasaki Chigusa felt her already boiling rage grow hotter and hotter. Her face grew redder, her scowl deepened, her eyes began to twitch, and her already tenuous hold on her sanity grew looser and looser. In the end everything. Just. Snapped. "SHUT UP! SHUT THE FUCK UP ALREADY YOU LITTLE BASTARD! JUST DIE ALREADY! DIE! FUCKING DIE!"
Okay…maybe he'd pushed a bit too hard there.
"CRUSH HIM!" the serial killer shrieked, her Stand launching itself toward Izuku once more.
'Standard Emerald Splash attacks won't work as long as this form can keep its' invulnerability active.' Izuku pondered with a frown as he once again used Hierophant's leg strength to enhance his own in order to avoid the hulk-like Stand's lumbering attacks. Luckily, it seemed to have traded most of its speed for sheer power in this form. 'Still, all Stand abilities have their limits, whether it is the power to stop time or invulnerability to damage. There has to be some limit to its invulnerability. Perhaps a time limit or some limit to the amount of damage it can negate? Let's test that.'
"Emerald Splash: Fusillade!" he ordered aloud as he landed once more. His Stand responded immediately, demerging from him and bringing its hands together. Spreading them apart, rather than launching a quick spread of emeralds, what instead emerged was an unrelenting, focused stream of gemstones.
The hulking behemoth of a Stand continued to charge forward and at first it seemed to ignore the onslaught, ploughing through it like a train, but after several seconds (that Izuku was counting in his head) the Stand began to slow down as the emeralds, rather than shattering against its skin, began to impact with actual force and began to deal damage; welts and cuts starting to cover the monster's massive torso in an instant.
"Sh-Shit! Fall Back!" Chigusa spat out in pained anger as echoes of those same injuries began to cover her own body. Izuku could already see bloodstains starting to darken small patches of her clothes.
"Five seconds." he concluded simply as the massive Stand leapt away and Izuku had Hierophant cut off the attack. Fusillade simply wasn't a very manoeuvrable attack, it required to much focus to keep up to be able to move it much after starting it. It was a power-based attack designed to quickly whittle down slower and more durable enemies.
"W-What" the woman choked out, heterochromatic eyes wide and wild.
"Your Stand's little invulnerability trick…it lasts for no longer than five seconds each time, from start to finish. Afterward, I bet it requires some form of recharge time before it can activate again." Izuku stated confidently. "More than that, it doesn't seem to be a skill you consciously activate. Instead, it is an autonomous skill that activates independently whenever a certain condition is met, likely 'the Stand is attacked by another Stand.'"
"H-How…What the hell are you!? How the fuck are you figuring all this out so fucking fast!?" the female Stand User shrieked in outrage, her entire visage pale with shock and a mounting panic.
"Because its eyes started to glow red the instant one of my Hierophant's emeralds touched its skin, with the light fading as time went on." Izuku replied dully. "The kind of split-second activation would require either reflexes well beyond anything you've shown, or an autonomous skill of your Stand. I am willing to bet that you never even noticed the glow that accompanies it activating that particular ability, since it would only be visible if you were facing your Stand when it activated. Unless you've trained with another Stand User and they mentioned that tell, there was simply no way for you to notice it."
Really, Kakyōin-sempai's training gave him an almost unfair advantage against regular Stand Users, let alone someone like Amagasaki Chigusa who seemed to rely on the most obvious uses of her Stand and had ignored everything else.
"Fucking smart-ass brat!" the pink-haired serial killer growled out. "I know a thing or two about Stands too, and that damned glow-stick of yours is obviously a long-range type! That means its next to worthless in close quarters, the second my Amanojaku gets its hands on it you're both as good as dead!"
"I think 'if' your Stand manages to get its hands on my Stand is a better way of putting it." Izuku returned with a scoff. "Your Stand right now might be an excellent tank, but it is simply too slow to reach me before me before my Hierophant can overcome its invulnerability; even returning to its previous form won't make it fast enough."
Chigusa's face split in a blood-thirsty smile. "Amanojaku Judgement! Hell to Heaven!"
The Stand once more threw its head back in a silent roar. This time however, it began to shrink, the armour plates expanding once more to cover its flesh. However, the process continued even after Amanojaku Judgement returned to its base state. The fur that previous stuck out of the seams of its armour drew back into its armour, its limbs continuing to extend to an inhuman length, and the vestigial wings along its back grew and spread outward before they too were covered in white armour. When the transformation finished, the Stand had completely transformed once again, leaving a thin, almost skeletal being in its place; inhumanly long arms and legs scraping the ground as a pair of metal wings seemingly holding it aloft.
It looked like some twisted mockery of a Western angel, or even the tennyo of Japanese mythology.
"Ah, so rather than a standard transformation type, it is a Stat Redistribution Stand." Izuku hummed in realization. "The first form would be the 'balanced' or 'neutral' state, while the 'Hell' form is optimized for raw power. I'm guessing that this 'Heaven' form is likely optimized for speed and agility, then."
"You'll find out soon enough, brat!" the serial growled out, biting down on her cheek in frustration. She just couldn't understand how the hell was this kid figuring everything out so quickly. This kind of analytical ability was something that she'd expect out of some kind of veteran Pro Hero, not a brat that still reeked of mother's milk!
"Crush that toy, Amanojaku Judgement!" she ordered aloud, pushing away her doubts for now.
Then Amanojaku Judgement vanished.
Izuku barely managed to catch sight of a white blur slamming into Hierophant Emerald, the impact sending the green and white Stand flying backward. Izuku felt a sudden jolt of pain, like someone had just rabbit-punched him square in the chest. Still, it proved what he'd suspected. Amanojaku Judgement's most recent transformation had sacrificed most of its strength in exchange for speed. He was willing to bet that the vast majority of the impact that had sent Hierophant Emerald flying had been due to the mass of opposing Stand being slammed into it at high speed.
"Well, I'll admit it; that stung a bit." Izuku offered offhandedly, one hand absently rubbing at his chest to relieve the phantom pain. "But honestly, your Stand has simply traded one overspecialization for another. And given how long its transformations take, there's simply no way for it to overcome me at this level."
The fact that he'd casually dismissed her first good hit of the fight like it was nothing seemed to trigger the psychotic woman once again. "STOP LOOKING DOWN ON ME YOU DAMNED BRAT!" with another rage-fuelled shriek she sent her Stand charging directly at him this time.
"Emerald Splash." Izuku declared calmly, clapping his own hands together. "Flechette Blast!" Ripping his hands apart, he revealed the aqua green liquid flowing between his palms before his own emeralds burst forth. Unlike his normal Emerald Splash, which fired a relatively clustered burst of a couple dozen egg-shaped and apple-sized emeralds, this attack was far different. First, the burst was far more widespread. Second, the emeralds were only about the size of a walnut, and each was shaped into a small spike. Third, the number of projectiles was multiplied several times over to close to a hundred projectiles being fired in each blast.
"Fucking Shit!" Chigusa shrieked in shock as she was forced to throw herself to the ground in order to avoid the incoming hail of spikes, even as several managed to slam into her Amanojaku Judgement. Falling onto the now-angelic Stand like a hailstorm, and instantly the small, spike-like projectiles began to deal damage, proving that Amanojaku Judgement's automatic defence did not activate against Izuku's Quirk. That made sense, as if Izuku's deductions were accurate, Amanojaku's automatic defence was designed to protect itself from other Stands, which should have been the only thing that could truly harm it. Since Izuku's Quirk seemed to straddle the line between a Quirk and a Stand, then it made a certain amount of sense that abilities that activated automatically against Stands would fail to activate against his Quirk.
So, the storm of miniature stakes began to hit immediately, starting to deal damage right from the start of Izuku's barrage.
Not much damage, it had to be said. Part of that was due to the fact that overly agile Stand was still darting about like a fly to avoid the worst concentrations of the blast. The other part was because the armour that now completely covered its form was strong enough to resist the flechette rounds at its strongest points. However, damage was still being done, small flechette rounds piercing through the armour at its various joints and other weak points. Chigusa shrieked as she writhed on the ground, feeling like someone was repeatedly shooting her with a nail-gun. Small wounds were opening up all across her body, weeping blood and further staining her beige work-suit red.
'I…I can't even get close to him…!' Chigusa realized as she slowly pushed herself back to her feet; rage finally breaking as panic began to overtake her. For the first time since she'd gained her 'power', she was confronted with an enemy who completely overshadowed her. And in her heart of hearts, Amagasaki Chigusa was a coward, a bully happily lashing out against those weaker than her now that she had the power to do so. One that would only fight when she was sure that she could win.
But every trick and technique that she'd learned since she'd gained her Stand was proving utterly useless against this monstrous little brat. Every attack or trick she used only ended with her getting hurt instead. Her entire front was now covered in a myriad of wounds, while the worst she'd been able to give the brat was a bruise that he barely seemed to notice. This kid…no, this monster was simply on an entirely different level than her.
She needed to get away! She needed to think, to plan, to hire a damn sniper to kill this fucking demon from a distance!
A sudden throb of pain went through Chigusa's head and managed to cut through her mounting panic, reminding her that her time limit for maintaining Heaven Mode was drawing close. She could only have Amanojaku Judgement maintain either of its two different power modes for up to three minutes each; five if she was willing to endure a throbbing headache for the rest of the day.
Not important right now. Her priorities were crystal clear; get out and lie low for a while, then hunt down the little bastard's friends and family before sniping him in the fucking head and pissing on his corpse.
But first, she had to get out of this situation.
Putting such thoughts into actions, the pink-haired serial killer quickly turned on her heels and booked it back towards the entrance to the abandoned gated community that had been their battleground. Running in heels wasn't usually a well-advised option, but it was a skill that Chigusa had long mastered thanks to her asshole of a boss being such a demanding prick.
"And so, you show your true colours at last." That Little Bastard offered from behind her, amusement clear in his tone. "But who said you could just leave?"
Then another of those damned emeralds the fucker and his Stand liked to fire off flew at her. Only this time it seemed to emerge out of nowhere directly in front of her. It was sheer dumb luck that she was able to throw herself out of the way, not realizing that Izuku had deliberately fired it slow enough to act as a warning shot.
"Fuck! Where the hell did that come from!?" the female Stand user demanded in panic.
"Take a good hard look around you." Izuku replied dully, gesturing around them.
Chigusa did just that, and her eyes immediately bugged out in disbelief when she finally noticed.
Long, linked strands of white and emerald-green material now interlaced over every inch of the inner walls that surrounded the gated community's courtyard, as well as the pavestones that covered the ground. Hell, there were even several criss-crossing across the entranceway and stretching into the small tunnel beyond!
"What…what the hell is this shit!?" Chigusa shrieked out.
"Hierophant Emerald isn't a humanoid Stand by default." the green-haired boy shrugged carelessly. "What you see around you is his natural form, or part of it, at least."
It was then that Chigusa peeked over her shoulder to finally take a look at her tormentor, and saw his Stand had returned to his side, floating slightly behind him. It's 'cape' was gone, and several tendrils of green and white flowed down its back and into the ground below.
"When the hell did you pull this off?!"
"Hmm? Oh, I had my Hierophant start setting the stage for the grand finale of our little show once you showed your last trump card." the verdette replied absently. "I drew your attention back onto me with a bit of taunting so Hierophant Emerald could be free to spread his web for when your courage finally broke. And just like I thought, like every other bully in the world, when confronted with someone stronger you turn heels and run. Sadly for you, now that my Emerald Barrier is erected, there is no escape. Any and all movements within it will be detected and will result in a barrage of Emerald Splash on your location from 360 degrees around you. You might wish to surrender, but I'm afraid I'm well past being willing to accept it."
Izuku was very angry right now, in fact his anger had only been growing steadily since this fight began. Twenty-six innocent people were dead, including Officer Yamada; all murdered just to feed this angry, petty woman's jealousy and spite. Instead of trying to do something good with the power she'd gained, she had instead used it to become the worst sort of bully imaginable; brutalizing, tormenting and murdering others just to satiate her hatred and appease her own sense of superiority. All the while acting like she was the victim of some grand tragedy.
'All men are not created equal,' it sucked, and it was painful, but even at four years old Izuku had been able to realize that. To see a woman twice his age unwilling to accept that fact, using it as a excuse to justify misusing her newfound gifts to satiate her own bloodlust, was utterly unforgivable to the young Stand User.
More than that, even if he did simply capture her and leave her for the police to arrest, modern Quirk Suppressing Technology was worthless against Stands. Even Tartarus, the infamous impregnable jail, likely wouldn't be able to contain a Stand User simply because they had no idea that Stands existed or that they operated on a fundamentally different level than Quirks.
The cold rage brewing in his stomach mixed with the logical conclusion that capturing her would only lead to further deaths all lead to a single inevitable ending to this night.
Amagasaki Chigusa was not going to leave this place alive.
"Fuck you! You're just a fucking kid!" Chigusa hissed back, panic lacing her voice, whirling around to glare at him. "There's no fucking way that you have the balls to kill me!"
No sooner had she said that four more emeralds burst from the surrounding strands, perfectly framing her head between them. She froze in shock and terror, if those had been even a millimetre closer, her head would have been pulped.
"I admit, I certainly don't want to." Izuku stated steadily, emerald eyes cold. "I want to be a hero, and heroes only ever use lethal force as a last resort. However, you are simply too dangerous to try and capture alive. Not only do you know my face and my Stand, but modern measures to contain Quirks don't work on Stands. Even if you were sent to Tartarus, there is a possibility that you could manage to escape. I simply cannot afford to take that risk."
"Fuck you! Like hell I'm dying tonight, not to some BRAT!" Chigusa barked out in defiance. "Amanojaku Judgement!"
Her Stand, long reverted back to its base form, reappeared at her side, instantly moving to rip a large paving stone out of the ground and hurl it at her hated enemy like a discus. As it did, the serial killer turned heel again and ran toward the exit, her eyes locked onto her target. If she could reach it, she could escape. She was sure of that.
"I'm afraid it's not your choice." Izuku responded dryly as Hierophant Emerald blasted the slab of stone into pebbles before aiming toward Chigusa with his next salvo. "Emerald Splash!"
Somehow sensing that this barrage was seriously aiming to end her life, Chigusa managed to throw herself forward to avoid the first barrage. The second wave would have still struck, but her Stand interposed itself and managed to weather the small squall of emeralds, its five seconds of invulnerability allowing it to weather the second burst mostly unharmed.
Izuku could feel his own resolve starting to shake. It had taken the entire fight to build himself up to the level that he was willing to make this final push, and it was becoming all that much harder to keep hold of it.
"Emerald Splash Storm!" he bit out. He needed to end this now, and permanently!
From every angle around her, a barrage of emeralds was fired near simultaneously, there were only two holes in the coverage; the arch of the entryway ahead of her and the small silhouette around Izuku's form. All in all, seeing the dozens upon dozens of emeralds flying through the air towards Chigusa, who gawped in disbelief at the sheer scale of the attack for a moment before scrambling to think of a way to avoid it, was both awe-inspiring and beautiful.
It was an attack designed to be all but unavoidable. An englobement attack that struck at the enemy almost simultaneously for an almost complete 360 degrees around them. Even if she ordered her Stand to block some of the ballistic emeralds, Chigusa could block, at most, a very small part of the attack. Even running and dodging in addition to that wouldn't help much, as there were so many emeralds being fired from so many different angles that it was difficulty for even Izuku to keep track of all of them, let alone a panicking coward like Amagasaki Chigusa, who had no combat training and no ability to enforce calm on herself, to even try and track so many moving targets.
Izuku had developed it over the last year as a way to make use of Kakyōin-sempai's 20 Meter Radius Emerald Splash attack. Ordinarily, his mentor paired it with a sensory barrier that allowed him to track and shoot at any movement that occurred within said barrier, but Izuku had yet to reach the same level of skill with his own Hierophant as Kakyōin-sempai had with his, not yet anyway. At his current level it was limited to an either/or; it was either using it as a sensory barrier or activating an Emerald Splash barrage on a single point within his Stand's entrapped area.
"AMANOJAKU JUDGEMENT!" Chigusa shrieked desperately as she ran for the exit, her Stand once again interposing itself between her and the larger number of incoming emeralds, only this time its invulnerability had already been spent. The semi-armoured Stand tried to punch the emeralds away, but it was pointless; not only was it not fast enough to hit nearly enough of the projectiles to make a difference, it also wasn't anywhere close to being strong or tough enough to counter Emerald Splash directly without taking serious damage.
So, when the Stand punched out and struck an emerald head-on, Izuku wasn't surprised to hear the sound of breaking bones from the hand of both Amanojaku Judgement and Amagasaki Chigusa. The pink-haired woman screamed in agony as her left hand deformed and spurted blood seemingly of its own accord.
'So that is what Stand Backlash look like at its worst.' Izuku noted with a grimace. He had known that damage dealt to Hierophant Emerald would be reflected back onto him and vice-versa and had even felt it occur just moments ago. But to see it occur for such a grievous injury, it was something very different indeed.
Chigusa herself was crying from the pain of her hand being crushed, but she used it spur herself even faster, one arm desperately extending toward her target. If she could just reach-!
A ballistic emerald shot in and slammed into her arm, just beneath the elbow, ripping the limb off in an explosion of blood and gore, and making the serial killer scream in agony again. Clutching the stump of her limb with her only remaining hand, she collapsed forward and rolled, but she still managed to reach her target.
She passed through the entranceway and into the tunnel beyond.
"Amanojaku Judgement, Hell Mode!"
Fuelled by its master's desperation, the Stand, now one-armed as well, shifted into its muscular form far faster than Izuku had previously seen it and punched upwards, smashing the tunnel's ceiling and causing it to collapse as it and its master fled, leaving the bleeding form of Amagasaki Chigusa's arm twitching in front of the collapsed tunnel.
"Damnit!" Izuku cursed, mentally commanding Hierophant Emerald to retract all of the strands laid out across the courtyard, quickly. He scowled at the rubble-filled tunnel and quickly deduced that the structural damage to it caused by the previous villain fight must have been far worse than he'd initially assumed. Stupid villains, causing problems even after being locked away in Tartarus.
Once his Stand was once more collected in a single form, Izuku used its physical enhancement overlay to hop from the ground and leap up the balconies until he reached the nearest rooftop. Looking around, Izuku let out a groan. Given how many side-streets and the like there were in Musutafu, there was almost no chance he could track down the Bloody Ripper now! Even if she had let her blood drip on the ground like a trail of breadcrumbs, she'd likely have her Stand carrying her away by now. She could be anywhere in Musutafu at this point!
'There's nothing more I can do now.' Izuku thought with a scowl, cursing his own hesitation for allowing her to escape. 'Best case scenario, she'll bleed out before she can find some underground doctor willing to see to her wounds. At worst, she's been weakened and won't be able to hurt anyone else until her arm can heal. At the very least she'll be forced to flee the area in an attempt to recuperate, with the heroes and police nipping at her heels. With her weakened state and her face likely soon to be plastered across the country, she shouldn't be a threat to anyone for a good long while. With any luck, the heroes and police will find her soon enough and finish the job; god knows she's shown herself to be the type that would refuse to let anyone capture her alive out of sheer spite. That'll have to be enough.'
His sharp ears suddenly detected sirens drawing closer and cursed again. Their little clash had caused more of a ruckus than Izuku had anticipated. As he REALLY didn't want to explain anything about this situation, he decided that discretion was the better part of valour and used his Hierophant to quickly carry himself a good distance away before starting to take a long winding route home, so he had a chance to smooth out his uniform and remove any hints that he had been in a fight.
He didn't want to worry his mother, after all.
On that night, three things happened, only one of which Izuku was aware of. First, the police and heroes discovered Amagasaki Chigusa's severed arm in the ruins of the gated community, with a warrant being issued for her arrest within the day.
Second, Amagasaki Chigusa, and thus the Bloody Ripper, had fled Musutafu and the Kantō area of Japan, taking refuge in Hokkaido. Fear and hatred of Izuku and his Stand had been carved into her mind and body, which kept her from committing any more murders due to her fear. She also started seriously training with her Stand and Quirk in order to eventually take revenge on the bastard who had stolen her arm.
And finally, the Circle of DIO agents in Japan took notice that someone had defeated one of their experimental test subjects, weak as she might have been. Their interest was piqued, and they upped their interest in the Musutafu area of Kantō as a result. Izuku was blissfully unaware of this, but he had luckily stopped casually summoning his Stand in the streets as a result of discovering that he was no longer the only Stand User in Japan, so they couldn't find him.
The gears of fate continued to move as the future came closer with every passing day.
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Next Chapter: A Bizarre Day at UA
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