Nagant panted as she shot herself across the ground, only dropping her feet to keep her path straight. Thankfully, John had taken care of Thirteen, the sniper certain that neither she nor any of the students could keep the wounded hero safe while also protecting themselves. She hadn't expected him to send the Space Hero after her as a form of summons, but the heroine had informed Nagant that she was going to try sneaking around towards the control room of the building. That would help a lot.
She made it out of the brush, and she finally was able to have a clear view of the building again. Of course, being at ground level, it wasn't that clear of a view, but it was a lot better than being surrounded by forest. The pink and blue haired woman locked onto the Central Plaza, and fired a few more shots to reach the location.
She managed to get close enough to have an idea what had happened in her absence just in time to see a black blur streak straight for John. Stiff concern closed up her throat, only to watch as the teacher waved his hand dismissively. His hand barely connected with the blur, and it disappeared with a powerful boom. The Hand Villain stiffened just as Nagant fired one last shot and landed next to the brunet.
"There's been a change of plans." The man announced. Her eyes snapped to him. "We're now going to have a flawless victory." Purple orbs widened. "The students are scattered throughout the facility. I'm going to give you a vantage point, and you will ensure the students are unharmed from this point on while the main force is dealt with."
"Reinforcements aren't coming, we can't get a signal out."
"We don't need them." One of his hands came up to her back, fisting the fabric of her dress. "Hold still." The sniper barely had enough time to suck in a breath before she was hurtling through the air. Her surroundings were moving so quickly before her eyes, she couldn't keep track at first, just able to recognize blurs of brown, grey, blue, and green. As her brain began to process, she realized she was high in the air, soaring across the facility towards the Ruins Zone. Panic jumped through her, but she bit her lip to keep herself from moving. Her momentum began to slow, the wind no longer bashing at her ears, and she felt her hair float a little as gravity struggled to acquire a hold on her. With careful turns of her head, she saw she was aimed at the tallest building inside the facility, an eight floor tower with a flat roof.
As she came closer to the building, and her momentum slowed even further, fear began to creep in, not quite certain she would be able to make it. As the wind had less and less impact until it was practically nonexistent, she struggled even harder to not flail around in a desperate attempt to grab at the ledge. The concern that she would smack into the face of the building and fall to her death grew as gravity began to drag her down more and more. She slammed her eyes shut and prayed, keeping her body as still as she could. Then her boots gently touched upon the roof.
The sniper blinked, looking down to see she was just a few centimeters away from the edge. She was reminded of John's display at pool, and his ridiculously insane geometrical ability. Nagant shook her head and once more extended the barrel of her Rifle as she traveled around the roof, her head swiveling around as she looked over angles and blind spots, marking the quality of the vantage point she had literally been thrown at.
"How is it?" John's voice asked into her ear. Her eyes widened and she snapped around, her fear and confusion building as she kept looking around, seeing that no one was upon the roof outside of her. "I'll explain how I'm communicating after. Is that spot good enough?" She tested her jaw, casting her gaze around once more.
"Sightlines are good. Not perfect, but I've got the practice that it's a nonissue. Only problem is the Downpour Zone, I can't see inside the dome."
"Understood. Time to put on a show."
"Ti-what are you-" Her own words were cut off by noise. It shook her to her core, feeling her bones vibrate and her nerves shudder as her muscles trembled. Her heartrate spiked, nearly inciting a panic attack as her knees buckled from the sound. It was quick and sharp, lasting less than an instant but reverberating around the space to drape its presence and inform all that heard it that they could not merely imagine something so devastating. Her throat locked up as her lungs clenched. The sound had been deep and powerful, having filled the entire space of the facility in the half-second it had sounded to such an extent it was impossible to tell where it had come from. It was a rumble like an earthquake powerful enough to end the world. A deep and violent strike as though something had been utterly eradicated into nonexistence. A domineering pound like the wrath of a deity.
Along with the sound, there was a flash. It was not a flare like a flame coming into existence, nor a burst like an eruption, but an all-encompassing eclipse where everything within her vision turned white. Like the hammering pound of noise, it lasted for only a brief quarter-instant, but the afterimage of white hot everything was burned into the back of her eyes, searing still despite closed eyes and sinking into her vision like a warning to not forget it's sheer scale. Some part of her knew that the flash did not restrain itself to merely her range of vision, but had momentarily consumed the entire facility with its power just like the rumble had.
When she was finally returned her ability to see, that was when she most desired to simply fall to her knees. Her mouth dropped, dread, fear, and shock curling into her stomach as what sat inside threatened to escape her body from sheer overwhelming terror. The dome to the Downpour Zone no longer existed. It was not blown apart. It was not split away from the rest of the building. Its remains were nowhere to be found, one could easily be mistaken that there never had been a dome atop the building, had they not looked at the edges of the walls. They were charred, a black so dark they could be likened to an empty void, removed of anything and everything. As though seared away by a god.
Lady Nagant's eyes slowly slipped down, pulling away from the aftermath of such thorough annihilation and towards the source. In the Center Plaza, the Hand Villain looked exactly like the ex-heroine felt, absolutely terrified and only incapable of denying what sat before him because he couldn't look away. John stood across from him, staring blankly at the villain, with his right arm pointed directly at the Downpour Zone, his fingers pointed outward. Menacing, white-hot, hissing and dancing arcs of lightning flashed out from the arm.
"Subdue as many villains as you can." The woman could do nothing but stare, watching his lips move perfectly in time with the words that whispered in her ears. "Nonlethal shots only. If you need assistance, simply speak it." Her body moved, possessed by her terror as it screamed what he had done to that building would be replicated upon her if she failed to act, even though he had long ago made it clear he plans to keep her at his side.
"…what…the fuck…was that?" The Hand Villain muttered.
"I told you your earlier words were half-right. I did not specify which half." Bottomless pits of murder remained inhumanly unmoving from the still circles of burgundy. "I did indeed cause any projectile that was thrown at me to disappear, though a more accurate word would be 'incinerate'."
"But…my Nomu…"
"Oh, it's just fine." His words did not in any way soothe the blue haired man. "I can see it from here. How curious, it regenerated from the damage I dealt to it, yet it seems content to simply sit in its crater." At the information, the villain twitched, turning around to see the beast staring blankly as it laid in the shattered mess that had once been the fountain in the middle of the Plaza.
"I ordered it to-" Wine-Red eyes widened. "You knocked it out?!"
"Ah," the teacher hummed, "that explains it. It has no independence, a mindless machine. Without any orders, it cannot act." Furious crimson snapped back around to meet unflinching blood-red. "Go ahead, then. Order it, again, to kill me." Infuriated by the comment, the villain's jaw nearly unhinged as he screamed.
"NOMU, KILL THAT FUCKING TEACHER!" Another bestial bellow, and it lunged at the brunet. A blast of wind sent the Hand Villain soaring back, the man regaining control while in the air to land in a crouch, several dozen feet away. Crimson eyes refocused, searching for the paste the man must'vebeen-
The man's expression remained flawlessly calm, his head tilted upwards, but his gaze clearly describing that both the creature and its master were beneath him. Not in arrogance, as though he was above them, but as though they should never be compared to him. As though they lived on different planes of existence, and that he could see them completely while they could never fully comprehend him. Not like it was insulting for them to try to reach his level, but instead an event that just was never going to occur. He carried this expression, while his right hand was in front of him, his palm up in the universal sign for 'stop'. Against his palm, the Nomu's fist was splintered against it, muscles torn and bone shattered, skin ripped and blood dripping from the multiple wounds. The beast's arm trembled, not in pain, as the creature possessed no pain receptors, but from the sheer amount of force it was trying to push in the teacher's direction. In such violent opposition that it disturbed the Hand Villain's brain, the well-dressed man's arm was relaxed and as still as stone, as if the pressure the mutant applied was so insignificant, it might as well not exist to the man.
"I'll try to refrain from knocking it out this time." The man spoke, before the Nomu disappeared with a powerful boom once more. The ruby eyed villain heard several distant splashes, each further away than the previous, before there was the deep crash of the Nomu undoubtedly colliding into a wall. The teacher's head tilted the slightest amount, before angling itself to look at something to the Hand Villain's right.
"Understood." Once more, the burning, hissing snakes of destruction flickered out from John's left arm.
Momo was grateful that whatever that had been had affected the villains around them just as much. That deafening crack with the accompanying blinding burst had stopped her heart for what felt like a full minute, though that could have been her entire body growing numb from the terror.
Though she now could see the tremors that plagued the villain that had taken Kaminari hostage, which helped the slightest amount. Surprisingly, gratefully, Jiro did not appear to have been worse off from the bone-rattlingly loud noise, only affected as much as everyone else. So she did not have to both figure out how to resolve the hostage situation and care for a potentially unconscious Jiro.
Then there was another eruption of noise that nearly made her vomit from how powerfully it pulsated through her body. There was another blare of light that left something white hot and unnatural enveloping her vision. Then there was a comparatively much softer thud. Blinking away the vision of otherworldliness, Momo's eyes widened when she saw Kaminari, petrified, with the man that took him hostage halfway across the plateau on the ground. The villain's body was smoking, his mask charred a nauseating obsidian that almost seemed to devour her vision as she looked into it. Before anyone could react, there was a series of much more familiar gunshots, and one of the villains fell to the ground from nonlethal strikes with each consecutive bang.
She and Jiro immediately shared a glance, before the two of them screamed with newfound confidence and turned to attack the closest villains to them. A few steps away, the Electrification-User did the same.
The Hand Villain could do nothing but stare in horrified shock as John dealt with the Nomu as though it was a particularly small child throwing a tantrum over something incredibly stupid. It swiped at the man with one of its enormous arms, only for him to calmly grab its wrist, twist the limb, and place his other palm at its shoulder before pulling it straight from its socket. The bio-weapon wasn't given enough time for its instant-regeneration to even start before it was smacked hundreds of meters away by its own removed limb.
The creature returned, crashing into the ground the man stood, only for it to be revealed an instant later that he was at its side while he was in the middle of kicking its chest with such force that its ribs pierced outward through its skin. The blue haired man couldn't help but snarl hatefully as his hands scratched at his neck, feeling blood begin to drip and ignoring it completely. His awareness twitched, and he caught a trio of students lift their heads from the edge of the nearby lake. Behind the hand upon his face, the villain's cracked lips pulled into a wild smile, and he darted forward at his fastest, hands splayed out with the intention to murder all three.
With a gleeful shriek, his hands snapped forward, grasping onto cloth and holding on tightly. Only to realize the cloth he was grabbing was white and silken. Burgundy eyes blinked, trailing up the form in front of him to see it was the teacher, having maneuvered around the Nomu and instantly gotten in front of the Hand Villain. His mad grin widened even further, and he pressed his fingertips even more firmly into the fabric, maintaining eye contact to watch the pain fill the blood-red orbs. He felt the shirt Decay away under his touch, and his hands come upon vulnerable, unprotected flesh. A psychotic giggle began to slip out from his throat eagerly, as he remained locked onto the teacher's face. Unflinching. Unwavering. Uncaring.
Maroon pools widened before dragging down, gazing upon his two hands, all ten of his fingertips solidly against the teacher's stomach, with the white shirt having been consumed by his Quirk entirely. And light colored flesh unaffected by the devouring power of his Decay. Madly, the villain slid his hands around the teacher's torso, slapping the man's skin at all different angles. To his growing terror, the brunet let him, not bothering to move. Remaining inhumanly still.
With a raspy cry of frustration, the villain attempted to weave around for the children, only for a hand to enclose around his neck and throw him into the sky. Black enveloped his vision for a moment, and he stumbled onto his hands and knees as he was warped back onto the ground.
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!" He screeched. "WHY DID MY QUIRK NOT WORK ON YOU?!" Wine hunted around before reconnecting with Blood. Frothing madness peered into something understanding, that could not be understood. A peasant with a stick demanding to know why he could not harm an omnipotent deity.
The slightest shift, and psychotic rage had to scramble away from an all-encompassing death.
John's head inched once more.
"Midoriya-san, Tsu-chan, Mineta-san, please go to the front doors of the building. You will make it there safely." The teacher made that announcement while raising an arm, golden erasure crackling upon his now bare skin. Once more, there was the noise of something being removed, the light that could only be described as unholy. A spear of burning light struck a building that was about to fall onto a boy with red hair and another with blonde, hundreds of meters away. The spear reminded the building that it was never there. "Nagant and I will have the rest of the class evacuate to the same location, wait for us there." The trio left immediately.
There was another bestial roar, and the Nomu came up from behind the Hand Villain straight for the brunet. The crimson eyed man witnessed a hand erupt from the creature's spine, before John swiped his arm, throwing the bio-engineered mutant into and through one of the mountains inside the facility.
"You…" Desperate triumph filled the villain's voice. "Even if you have higher stats, my Nomu has instant regeneration and infinite stamina. He'll outlast you!" Blood-red remained, unmoving, unblinking.
"No, it won't." It was not a declaration, but announcement of fact. There was hysterical laughter from the Decay-Wielder.
"You say that, but I've been watching you rip him apart, with him getting back up every time! YOU CAN'T KILL MY NOMU!" Another inhuman tilt, from impossible muscular control, individual fibers pushing and pulling his head to the side.
"Did you think I've been trying to kill it this entire time?" The villain's breath hitched.
"No, no, we checked, long before we came over here! It won't die to anything! Crush its heart, split it in two, snap its neck, NOTHING CAN KILL IT!" This time, there was no roar. The Nomu appeared over John's right shoulder, and was on the ground under his foot far too quickly for the villain to understand how. Cold, unending chasms of blood remained upon maroon disks as the brunet reached down and grasped the top of the beaked monster's head, before lifting up. Appearing to not struggle whatsoever, the man pulled the head of the bioweapon off, instantly bringing its movement to a halt.
The man continued to watch the villain, as the villain glared at the head in his hands. One itched to be proven right, fingers flexing with furious need to destroy something. The other waited patiently, aware the outcome had already been determined. Seconds passed, far too many for any party to ignore. The body underneath the teacher's heel remained unmoving. The head in his hands too limp to be mistaken as waiting instruction. The blue haired villain shook with rage he could not properly vent.
"I will allow you one opportunity to leave." John announced. "You came here through a portal created by that Fog Villain at your side. Leave through that same means." Both villains straightened.
"What?" The Hand Villain seethed.
"Do not claim any of the others. Just the two of you."
"…Tomura, we should-"
"Shut up, Kurogiri!" Interest danced in blood filled eyes. "Why, do you want us to leave?" The villain tested his jaw. "I'm underleveled, I get that now. Why is this not Game Over?"
"Multiple reasons." The teacher elaborated. "First and foremost, you are confused. You aren't 'underleveled', I am not your opponent. I am a mentor, a guide. Those you are to fight are my students. I interfered today because you introduced yourself too early. It is they, who are too 'underleveled' for you."
"You…want me to kill your students?"
"I want you to be their goal. The 'final boss' so to speak. Become the threat they grow stronger to combat. I can see it in your eyes. You desire destruction, nothing more and nothing less. A perfect antithesis for any hero."
"…You want me to be their Demon King."
"If that's the title you wish to give yourself."
"…What else?"
"As I said earlier, establishment. This," the man lifted the head still clasped in his grip a slight amount, "has been praised as being capable of killing All Might. Spread the word how well our fight turned out. Have them whisper in between the cracks of society of what my lightning can do. Those I am raising now understand what I can do, to an extent. Those I will oppose should understand the same."
"Building a rep. I get it. Fine. I'll tell them what you did to my Nomu. As long as you make sure to not interfere anymore."
"I will interfere when necessary, you are not in a position to make demands of me." Tomura spat angrily.
"Kurogiri, warp us back."
"Of course, Tomura Shigaraki." The named Kurogiri formed a portal, Shigaraki stomping through. The yellow eyes of the gaseous being peered towards the teacher.
"Tell your 'Sensei':" Blood-red eyes narrowed as his hand slowly turned upward for the villain to watch his movements. "I will be having another talk with him." Gently, he tossed the head towards the portal. It remained open, swallowing the item. The gaseous being nodded its head silently, before it collapsed into itself, leaving the area.
The front doors to the facility opened, the entire class, Thirteen, and Lady Nagant turning to it to see it was Grand-sensei.
"Has someone called to have the villains arrested?" He asked.
"Yeah, I told them everything is already over, so they're making sure they have everything they need." The Space Hero nodded as Yaoyorozu kneeled behind her, tending to her back.
"That's good. The Hand Villain and the Fog Villain escaped me while I was distracted by their Nomu. Before they left, I caught that their names were Tomura Shigaraki and Kurogiri respectively."
"So they're still out there…" Midoriya's gaze fell.
"I'm certain they won't be an issue anytime soon, they have more wounds to lick than we." The man glanced around, before his gaze fell upon the heiress. "Yaoyorozu, do you mind Creating a quilt?" The girl blinked in confusion, before actually taking notice that the teacher was shirtless.
"Of course." She nodded, the item appearing from her back. Jiro, who had been next to Yaoyorozu, handed it to the brunet. To the class's surprise, however, he instead held it in his hands while he moved through the group. They all watched as he took several steps, stopping seemingly randomly, then brought the ends forward. Everyone stared in surprise as the action revealed where Hagakure had been standing, the girl missing her gloves and leaving only her shoes as an indicator for her presence. They were all further surprised when the man took the wrapped up girl, picked her up, walked over to the outer wall where several of the teens were already sitting, and took his own seat, placing the girl between his raised knees. He leaned her back against his chest, and wrapped his arms loosely around her bundled form. No one moved, silence ringing through the air as they all stared at the sight.
"…Grand-sensei?" There was a hopeful tone to the invisible girl's voice, though they could all see she was stiff underneath the quilt.
"Ask it." He looked straight ahead, allowing her to verbalize the question for the rest of the class.
"…You can see me, can't you?"
"Yes." The other students and Thirteen all watched, open mouthed.
"That's why you looked so mad when you saw my costume, and how you always look me in the eyes, huh?"
"It is already scheduled in the lesson plan to go over each of your costumes for improvements. For you in particular, I have learned through a third-year there exists a fabric that can be made from your hair which is compatible with one's Quirk." The girl snuggled into the teacher's form.
"Thank you."
"…Wait, why did you give her a quilt?" Mineta asked. Several of the students glared at the boy.
"She was warped to the Landslide Zone with Todoroki, and I believe you can imagine how little protection her gloves and shoes provided her for the cold." The split hair boy straightened in shock, guilt flashing over his face.
"How did you know where she ended up?" Uraraka wondered. Grand-sensei's gaze floated casually over to a particular blonde.
"I know where each of you ended up." The boy stiffened under the knowing gaze.
"Grand-sensei, you never told us your Quirk." Midoriya raised his head, his eyes firm. "I don't think anyone even noticed, but during introductions, neither of you mentioned what your Quirks are. We already were shown what Lady Nagant-sensei's Quirk was from the Apprehension Test, but you don't have that excuse."
"I'm not going to avoid the question, but I will say that the reason I didn't mention what my Quirk was is because I feel everyone in this world overvalues Quirks. I was quietly trying to show you all that Quirks are not fundamental to your character."
"Appreciated." The verdet nodded. "What is your Quirk?" The brunet leaned his head back, his gaze casting straight.
"I assure I am not being insulting when I say my power is difficult to grasp in its entirety." He announced. "I call it 'The Storm', as that is quite an accurate description of it. Annihilative, supernatural, it has been likened as 'The Wrath of God'. The easiest ways to see how it manifests is through my strength, speed, and as you all saw today, my lightning. Before you go assuming, I repeat that I practice what I preach. Any skillful feats you witness me perform is through practice, not power."
"What about you being able to see me?" The invisible girl questioned.
"As I said, it is difficult to grasp in its entirety. You wouldn't be able to understand how, but part of my power is that I see through anything that would mean to trick my eyes. Invisibility, illusions, certain forms of shapeshifting."
"…During the Apprehension Test, you reasoned to Lady Nagant it would be unfair if you participated. We simply assumed incorrectly in what way that meant, didn't we?" Yaoyorozu looked crestfallen.
"Don't lament such things. I phrase my words intentionally to incite such ways of thought."
"…I can't hear you." Jiro announced. "With my Quirk. The girls already know, but I don't hear you breathe, walk, or your heartbeat."
"Soundless walking is practice." He hummed. "I neither breathe nor have a heartbeat." All except Lady Nagant stared in disbelief. "I further don't need to eat, drink, or sleep, and do so recreationally. Finally, I cannot become neither intoxicated, nor any form of high."
"…Are you immortal?" Kaminari blurted.
"I don't know." The man answered.
"How did you paralyze me, on the first day?" Bakugo's voice was quiet.
"'The Storm' allows me to manipulate electricity at my leisure. I've practiced it to take control of the human nervous system, a technique I call 'Puppeteer'."
"When the villains shot at you," Midoriya frowned in thought, "their projectiles disappeared when they got close. That was you manipulating the heat of your lightning to incinerate them, wasn't it?"
"Quite right."
"…And…those…" Yaoyorozu wet her lips nervously. "Strikes. Those were you?"
"I applied more power than necessary, but yes."
"Why so strong?" Thirteen demanded.
"This way, the villains know that, if they desire to attack my students, I will be waiting." The teens all smiled at the answer.
Next Chapter: Mastermind