Where the hell was I?
The black mist villain obviously had some form of teleportation quirk, based on his title and the sudden appearance of nearly two hundred thugs. But what was still unknown was just how far he could send someone. For all I knew, he could have sent me to the other side of the world.
A quick look around confirmed my suspicions that I was alone, at least as far as I could see. None of my classmates had been placed nearby to where I was. But across an entire city, there were dozens of places someone could be placed where I couldn't see them.
It was a bit odd that there was no sign of life nearby, but I could have been put in one of the many cities that were completely vacated for some reason during the years of conflict after the rise of quirks. The buildings were even in disrepair, further supporting that theory.
If we were all in an abandoned city, the first step would be to locate the others, and then figure out where we were. Survival would be easier with more people. But how to locate them? I couldn't just loudly announce my location, there were probably enemies planted here. The mist man did say we would be scattered, tortured, and killed. So, I needed a way to locate others subtly.
Of course! I created five tentacles, and immediately was able to sense nearby quirks.
15 in total, not including myself. And one of them was right behind me.
I threw myself to the floor, almost instinctively. A throwing knife flew by right where my head had been.
15 nearby people, and who knows how many are hostile. I shot back a tentacle out my sleeve to attack where the knife had come from, but no one was there. There was, however, fourteen other people with savage grins emerging from side-streets and alleyways. I immediately ran a finger from forehead to chin and opened a portal on my face to serve as a mask
"Well, well. What do we have here?" a giant man with rocks growing out of his flesh sneered. "A little hero all alone just for us. Honestly, it's like that Shigaraki is insulting us, giving us such an easy job."
I eyed them all. They had formed a loose circle around me, fourteen in total. There was a mixture of quirks. Most I couldn't tell just by looking, but there were a fair few with obvious mutations. The street was a two lane road with a sidewalk on both sides, coming to about 15 metres in length.
And although there were fourteen people around me, I could feel a fifteenth somewhere nearby. But for whatever reason, I couldn't tell where exactly they were. So safe to say a full fifteen enemies, and little to no chance of help coming.
I took a breath and sighed. "Surrender now and you might get off lightly," I ordered.
I only got laughs and jeers in response. "Aww, is little hero going to beat all the bad guys?" the guy with rocks coming out of him mocked. "Nice try, kid. But that only works if you're actually a threat. If you were All Might, or even Endeavour, it might have been worth listening to."
I shrugged. "Well I figured it was worth a shot considering you all have been too afraid to attack me even in my blind spot this whole time."
That got the intended reaction. The snickering stopped immediately and they all started shuffling, waiting for someone to make the first move. I was an unknown to them, they had no idea what my quirk was or how strong I was, so no one wanted to be the first to attack and go down.
There was a splash to my back left as one of the thugs ran towards me. I turned side on to him and raised a hand letting one of the tentacles that had been writhing underneath my sleeve shoot out, end curled up, to essentially punch him in the stomach.
The man staggered back, winded. The tentacle I had used was one the largest I could use on my arms, being almost as thick as my leg. I had to make sure to curl the ends of the tentacles when going for a straight strike, as I couldn't be quite sure how sharp the tip was, and there was enough force behind each one to pierce concrete.
The man's charge was enough to break the figurative dam wall, and the other thirteen all charged at the same time. The first few that reached me were easily repelled. Block the lead pipe with a tentacle, dodge under a right hook, hit that one with a tentacle, drive my knee into another at the same time. Those guys didn't seem to have quirks suited for combat, they were more like cannon fodder, distractions so the real threats can do their work.
I jumped back as a massive stone hand rose from the road. Finally, someone was using their quirk. There was one guy in the back of the group with his arm stuck into the pavement, obviously the hand was his doing. The one with the rocks in him flexed his muscles and a hail of sharp stones shot out, forcing me to cover myself using both the tentacles I had out at the time.
Thankfully, I had left more gates open and just didn't pull a tentacle from them yet, as while I was blocking a woman suddenly appeared behind me, knife in hand. She swung down to dig into my neck, but a third tentacle ripped through my cloak, emerging from my shoulder and taking the hit for me. Black smoke rose out of the "wound" and The Living Liquid jumped back, landing in a puddle and promptly turning into water and splashing against the road.
She must have been the one to throw that knife earlier. The Living Liquid obviously had some ability to turn into water, and possibly move between pools, effectively teleporting between water sources. And since it was still heavily raining, there were puddles everywhere for her to go to.
I stepped back, slightly out of breath. My opponents were in worse shape than I, but they were all still standing. The ones I had hit particularly hard were barely able to stay upright, hunched over, and one was even clutching his stomach.
I straightened up. "Just want to confirm something. You attacked first, right?"
"What?" a woman asked. "Are you slow? Yes, we attacked first."
"Just wanted to confirm," I replied and immediately launched two tentacles into the middle of the road, forming a V. I jumped, kicking off the wall behind me and wrenched my body forwards, launching at high speed towards the group.
I shot feet first towards one of the more tired villains, striking him right in the chest. He flew back and slammed into the building behind him, slumping over.
"One," I declared, smile hidden under my face portal.
I used the tentacle on my shoulder to prop myself up and stop my fall. I ripped off the cloak to reveal the underlayer to my costume, throwing the discarded fabric at another's head, blinding him, and then punched him in the throat. He too went down and didn't get back up.
"Two."
We summoned another tentacle, this time on the left shoulder to match the other and grabbed the knife that we had blocked earlier. We ripped it out of the shadowy shape, inky black smoke flowing out of the wound like blood in water. The One With Stone Spikes charged towards us.
We used a single tentacle to block his strike, but the fist tore straight through whatever substance it was made of, rocks grown on his knuckles shredding through any obstacle. The fist collided with our face, despite the portal in the way, and we could feel a crunch as bones shattered.
We reeled back, blind with pain, only managing to recover just in time to avoid another stone hand shooting out of the ground courtesy of The Moulder of Rock. We rolled to the side and were immediately put under fire by a combined barrage from The One With Stone Spikes and the woman who spoke earlier, The Prismatic Launcher.
We were able to hold off most of the damage through deflection with four tentacles working in tandem, but a few shots made it through, the stones tearing fabric and grazing skin, and rainbow crystals singing and burning. We couldn't keep up for long, so we had to use our final prepared gate, this one on our lower back.
As soon as the fifth tentacle sprouted, we could sense the quirks around us, and once again there was one behind us. Our left shoulder tendril bent back, knife in hand, to deflect the swing that was no doubt coming. The brief moment it took for the back tentacle to replace it allowed multiple stones to make it past our defences, and a particularly large one struck our left arm and pierced into it. That arm was going to be useless for now.
The left shoulder tendril intercepted a horizontal knife swing from behind, just as we had predicted. We heard a European-accented — French, perhaps? — swear before a splash signified The Living Liquid had gone back into hiding.
The barrage came to a stop, the two villains either giving up or running out of whatever their fuel source was for their attacks. We weren't given a moments reprieve, however, as right as they stopped The Moulder of Rock attacked once again. He seemed to have abandoned his original plan of catching us from below, and instead rose a hand out of the ground a few feet away and swung the arm down to crush us. Luckily, the attack was slow, and he didn't seem to be able to attack often, with a long delay between each attempt.
We easily sidestepped the massive stone arm, and were face to face with the one with the lead pipe. He took another swing, but it was useless as a single tendril could counter it easily. We ripped the improvised weapon from his hands kneed his stomach, following up with a uppercut with our remaining good arm.
"Three."
Once again, we started to get dogpiled, any usage of quirks forgotten in lieu of force in numbers. We swiped left with the tentacle holding the knife, slashing one woman in the thigh. She dropped; her leg not able to support her weight anymore.
"Four," I announced, smile growing larger. This is what a fight really is. We barely came to blows in training, but this? This was taking out all my hatred on acceptable targets, and there was no better a feeling.
We whipped the knife around again, throwing it into the flesh between the chest and arm of another thug. He too dropped, a scream tearing out of his lips.
"Five." That was a third of them down.
A space had cleared out for some reason. We found out why when the ground opposite it rose up once more. It swung down in the place where no other villains were. We quickly launched ourselves forwards and up, planting our feet on the shoulders of one man who had been trying to trap us in the ropes created by his quirk. We jumped off him, kicking him back into the path of the descending arm. The stone crashed down on him, pinning him to the ground.
"Six."
Using the momentum off our jump from The Rope Spinner's shoulders, we kicked another villain in the face, instantly knocking him out.
"Seven."
We had to dodge as a blast came from The Prismatic Launcher. The rainbow-coloured gems shattered against the concrete building, leaving scorch marks. We then had to duck under a swing from The Living Liquid who tried a leaping strike from the side this time. As we were doing so, however, a kick from The One With Stone Spikes sent us reeling back, slamming painfully against a light post. There was an audible crack as our ribs were bent in ways they weren't meant to.
It was getting hard to breathe. A shattered nose, who knows how many cracked or broken ribs, a bit of blood loss, and non-stop movement was beginning to catch up. Half of our opponents were down now, with a further half of the remaining on their last legs. One had even given up entirely.
The villains were beginning to close in, even The Living Liquid had stayed out of her hiding place to saunter over. We would struggle to run now, and there were still far too many to deal with. We had to even the playing field more. Reaching our right arm to our back, we drew another line along the skin, and summoned a sixth tentacle. We were told to limit ourselves to only five, but these were extenuating circumstances.
Now with six tendrils, we could try and replicate one of our first feats with this quirk. Each one reaching back behind us to grab the light pole, they coiled around it, covering the base in complete darkness.
We began to lift, the bolts fastening the fixture to the pavement groaning from stress. The group stopped their advance, watching us and wondering what we were planning.
Finally, the bolts gave way, and the ten metre long pole was now free to move in our grasp. The villains stood in shock, watching as the metal beam tilted in our grip until it was horizontal.
"DODGE!" The One With Stone Spikes yelled, seeing what was coming.
We swung the pole, faster than anyone was expecting. A whooshing sound was audible as it approached the group who had placed themselves in a line. The first was The Living Liquid, who's eyes widened before she turned to water again, joining the puddle at her feet. The next man was not so lucky. He coughed as the metal collided hard with his side. Same with the next one. The One With Stone Spikes, in an impressive display of acrobatics for someone his size, managed to jump and lift his legs high enough to avoid being hit.
The woman to his right was not so lucky. She was ducking when the weapon came to her, and her shoulder didn't get out of the way in time, clipping her and sending her sprawling. Last was The Prismatic Launcher, who had the most time to dodge and escape unharmed.
"11," we said with a smile. That left only The One With Stone Spikes, The Prismatic Launcher, The Moulder Of Rock, and The Living Liquid.
"Bastard," The One With Stone Spikes spat.
Discarding the light pole, we used the two tentacles coming out of our back to raise us up off the ground, allowing for mobility without needing to move our body. We took a large step towards the currently prone form of The Prismatic Launcher. She noticed our approach and raised her hands, palms against each other to use her quirk.
We stabbed the road in front of her, piercing through the bitumen with ease. "Cease," we commanded.
The Prismatic Launcher placed her hands on the ground and made no effort to stand up, trembling as she stared at the hole we had created. A single strike to the back of the head, slamming it to the ground, was all that was needed to send her into unconsciousness.
"12."
Another volley of stones came our way, and we easily blocked them all. Without the help of The Prismatic Launcher, the attacks from The One With Stone Spikes were of little issue now. Not only that, but the rocks themselves weren't as sharp and flew much slower than before.
As we expected, another hand began to rise out of the ground. The Moulder Of Rock was attacking whenever he could, so each attempt was evenly spaced out. The hand went vertical, then bent 90 degrees, aiming directly for our chest. We simply dropped down below, completely avoiding it. From the corner of our vision, we could see The Moulder Of Rock grimace and slowly try to move his arm out of the road where it was currently elbow deep.
We ducked under the wide swing from The One With Stone Spikes, ribs screaming in protest. In fact, everywhere was protesting. Just like the entrance exam, every muscle in our body felt strained, and an uncomfortable feeling began to surface in the back of our mind. We were running out of time. Despite fighting for a shorter period than in the entrance exam, we had six tentacles out almost constantly, and we still couldn't handle that stress.
Using four tentacles, we scuttled across the ground at high speed to where The Moulder Of Rock had been kneeling for the entire fight. He had made some progress in removing his arm, now half of his forearm was free.
He saw our approach and his eyes widened.
"No, please! No!" he pleaded, raising his free hand in a feeble attempt to stop us.
We coiled a tentacle around his arm and lifted. His body was quite light, and it took no effort to move him so he was suspended on his side, one arm in the ground and one outstretched to the air.
Then with no remorse, we kicked just below his elbow, gaining a bit of extra momentum using the other tendrils. The Moulder Of Rock let out a guttural scream as the bone snapped, unable to do anything to move out of the way.
"Lucky number 13."
We turned to the last visible opponent. The One With Stone Spikes was right where we had left him. He was also on his last legs, blood pouring out of the places where rocks had once grown. He had overtaxed his own quirk, like we were.
"What the hell are you!" he yelled, swaying as he spoke. The blood loss obviously was getting to him. "This was meant to be an easy job. Just kill some helpless scared hero students while the others kill the Symbol of Peace. So just what the fuck are you?"
I had no choice but to drop all the tendrils. The presence in the back of my head had grown to a thunderous roar, and it felt as if a connection was being forced between us. This was as far as I could go for now.
I said nothing to the thug as I stumbled towards him, muscles aching, ribs burning, left arm completely limp. The villain also started to shuffle forwards. We met in the middle of the street, standing face to face for a moment.
"Just remember I gave you the option to surrender. You were the one to attack first. This is all your own fault."
The larger man's eyes flashed with anger and he sluggishly swung for my head. Hissing in pain, I managed to duck under the attack and land a punch on his stomach. He stumbled back. I ran a finger along my chest and created a new tentacle which I used to punch him in the face. Another step back. A right hook. Then another tentacle strike. Then an elbow to the chest.
Slowly I beat him until his back was against the wall. Then I wrapped the tentacle around his neck.
"This is for my nose," I told him before slamming his face into the wall.
"This one is for my ribs." Slammed again.
"This is for even thinking of trying to kill me."
"And this," I looked him in the eyes. He was barely conscious, face a mess and eyes unfocused. I smiled, "this is because I feel like it."
With one final slam, the villain slumped over, fully unconscious.
I heard clapping from behind me. The woman who kept turning into water was standing in a pool of water in the middle of the road. She had been absent for a while, not interfering at all since she dodged away from my attack using the light pole.
"Bravo," she congratulated. "I must say, I'm pleasantly surprised at the sheer brutality you showed. And here I was thinking all hero students wanted to be the next All Might; a paragon of righteousness."
She began to walk forwards, knife in hand. I still needed to recover a bit before I could properly move, so I couldn't run. "While I would love to play with you a bit, I was told to kill any hero student I came across," she was now only a few steps away. "So goodbye, little hero."
She raised her knife arm, poised to throw it at my head. Her smile grew as her arm moved forward.
Now!
A tentacle shot out of my face portal and wrapped around her neck at just the moment her guard was fully down. I lifted her up off the ground and her aim went wide. The knife clattered harmlessly against the wall. She didn't turn to water.
"Heh," she coughed out, voice quite literally strangled. "How'd you figure it out?"
"The one time you leapt to attack me, you didn't immediately hide again, instead you only turned to water while standing in a puddle and I attacked afterwards. And just now you walked forwards, but stopped just four paces from me and threw the knife instead of coming right up to me and stabbing. You just happened to stop right in the nearest puddle. You need contact with a body of water to use your quirk, don't you?"
She hacked out a weak laugh. "Looks like I've been had. Mind if I ask you a question before you brutalise me like the last guy? You almost killed multiple of us, and you were enjoying every second of it. Aren't you guys meant to be the good guys?"
I tilted my head, thinking. "I'm simply not a good person. I'm fully aware of that. I don't need to be a good person to do good things. So what if I hate everyone around me? So what if I take pleasure in hurting others? If I feel like being a hero, I will be. That's all that matters."
She started to laugh hysterically. "It's a shame that monster Shigaraki brought is going to kill you all. I would have loved to kill you myself."
I tightened my grip around her neck, blocking the arteries on either side. Within ten seconds she had gone limp, not trying even once to escape. I dumped her body on the ground and began gathering rope. One of the villains had a rope quirk, though he wasn't very good at using it and never came close to hitting me.
I made sure to tie up all the villains — sans the one guy who was still pinned under a stone hand — and move them into a bunch away from any puddles. Once done, I very quickly brought out five tentacles to count the nearby quirks.
Yep all thirteen I could sense were right in front of me, except of course the one under the hand.
I looked up at the sky. Come to think of it, where exactly was I? I initially thought it to be an abandoned city, but that woman said I'd be killed by the monster… Shimadari? brought. So I must still be at the USJ. Looking closely, I could just make out black lines through the clouds. I was in one of the rescue zones. Likely every student was.
I had mentally recovered enough by now to use two tentacles simultaneously, and using them to prop myself up, I walked towards where the edge of the dome would be.