Wheel 1: Junior High arc — Rebel 7: The will for save her
'I hope Nejire is safe—'
"SHIT—" Naoto was cursing his current body as he panted, turning right into an alley as he bowed his head, letting a sword get stuck against the wall next to him. "I don't have the Azure with me, you idiot!"
"Ahahahah! This is so fun, Azure!" The voice of Tau-19, the Prime Field, echoed behind him as more swords followed. "Let's continue until you become mine!"
"Tch, her mind is just like Nu's at that time!" Clicking his tongue, Naoto suddenly stopped as he moved his right hand, releasing a small wave of blood before it took the shape of a wall-ish object thanks to his Drive. Although it wasn't the same quantity he usually uses, Naoto knew it was enough—
Crack
The wall broke before him as a sword flew past his face, brushing his left cheek and causing a small cut before more swords followed the first one. "Oh come on!" Naoto created a blade with his blood as he started to parry the summoned swords close to his vital organs.
"Azuuuure~! Come to me~!" Tau said as she landed before the boy. With a cruel smile, the mecha-like girl raised her hands towards him. "Come to Tau~"
"Sorry, but the answer's a no, okay?!" Spitting at the ground, Naoto glanced at the girl. "How many times do I have to say it? I don't have the Azure! Hell, I'm searching for it too!"
"Aaaw…"The girl…pouted, until her face assumed a cruel expression once again."Then, the people here will become wonderful toys to play~"
"What the hell do you mean?!" Naoto stepped a little towards the girl. Holding his blade of blood towards the girl, the Bloodedge Drive user glared at her.
"Oh, but it is so simple, Azure" With a snap of her fingers, countless swords appeared in the sky. "I will let the swords rain down against every single civilian…like this!" Suddenly, one of the swords fell from the sky, followed by a scream of pain that slowly faded away, shocking Naoto as Tau laughed.
"Are you crazy?!" Naoto shouted at the Prime Field, which started to slowly become red on her face. "Why're you doing all of this?!"
"Because I want you, Azure! I want to embrace you, become one with you, devour you!" As she spoke, the white energy busted out from Tau's body. "I want you to realize my dream!"
'She's lost…the effects of the Prime Fields are so abominable' Naoto stepped back a little as he gritted his teeth. Whoever made her is just a psycho son of a bitch. "Your dream…?"
"Now, come to me, Azure!" Deploying the blades placed on her arms, Tau smiled as she flew towards Naoto, with the latter raising his blade. "Let's become one!"
Clashing her blades with his one, Naoto kicked the girl before he jumped, creating distance between the two.
"Ahahhahahah!" The Prime Field bolted towards Naoto, reminiscently cracking pavement as she closed the distance, blades raised to rend the foe asunder as she kept laughing. "The winner will be Tau!"
What the hell is this for her?! A game?!
Naoto weaved to the side and swiped with his blade, hoping to cleave through his foe. However, Tau inhumanly reacted once more, quickly spinning and bringing up her armored left heel.
Naoto hastily stopped his swing and ducked as the left heel shot past where his head was like a bullet. He had nearly lost his head from a hasty decision, one that Rumi would have berated him for. As Tau was going to resume her assault, Naoto glanced at his right, noticing plumbing on the wall. A plan was already created in his mind—
Hope this work!
Naoto wielded his blade in a reverse grip before he thrusted the sword inside the plumbing, releasing a burst of hot steam and water.
Stopping suddenly, Tau's eye visor moved everywhere. Just like a machine, her face turned cold as she started to speak. "Azure: Lost. Azure: Lost. Approved utilize of brute force for find the Azure"
"Brute force?! So you weren't going heavy with me before?!"
From her figure, a strange white energy crest depicting some kind of creature appeared under her feet until, from it, seven beacons of light bursted out.
"Sword of Calamity: Approved"
Those words were the words that caused the incident that will be remembered as "Hell of Atami incident" in the future, one of the biggest Villain's attacks during the Peace Era inaugurated by All Might. A living hell that wasn't in the plans. Naoto mentally admitted it as he created two blades in order to clash them against Tau's blades.
The smell of smoke was unbearable for Naoto as the boy cocked his head to the side just in time to see a summoned sword brush against him.
His senses were the same as his original body again, but the problem was that this body was too slow for his reflexes. Naoto constantly weaved and bolted away from Tau's attacks as if just a single one of them could easily do him in.
Honestly he was right to believe in that as the concrete to the left of his head shattered upon contact with Tau's left hook burying itself within.
Why can every single Prime Field I fought can kill me with one hit?! Naoto panicked mentally as he stepped in when he saw the Prime Field's arm was still stuck within the concrete. Gritting the teeth, the Prime Field deployed all the blades behind her back, controlling them as she swung them against Naoto. "Not so easy!" Fusing the two blades into a double edged long axe, the boy swung the weapon with all of his current strength, sending them away. That's it, Tau is without the main swords.
By definition it was an opening.
An opening he wouldn't waste.
Shaping the axe into a nodachi, Naoto swung it, the wind sang as the blood-made sword cleaved its way towards her, but yet again Tau had displayed her inhumane nature and reacted.
She leaped up and used her engraved arm as a pivot, throwing both of her legs out under him and slamming the nodachi onto the floor, trapping it. A sinister smile of glee made its way on Tau's eyes…
…But Naoto still had the ability to create another blade, so he let go of the disposable blade as he created another blade and swung with all his might.
Flesh had been cut and first blood had been drawn as Tau created distance, glaring at Naoto with rage and indignant agony…but she continued to smile. "Is this your ability, Azure?"
Naoto was caught off guard as he was harshly kicked away. He coughed blood as the force of the kick had shattered at least a…no, two couples of ribbles as he rolled on the ground.
"The game is not over, not yet, Azure!"
"Gh…I'm sick of being called Azure!" The boy winced as he leaped onto his feet, swiftly creating other blades and dissipating the last blade under Tau's foot, causing her to stumble at the sudden loss of footing. As he took advantage of that and threw both of his blades at her, Naoto shouted. "I'M NAOTO KUROGANE, DAMNIT!"
The Prime Field saw the blades coming and turned her body sideways, allowing the blades to fly by her in paper thin accuracy. Unfortunately, Tau didn't account for Naoto's sheer tenacity whilst being injured, as the young boy had already created two more blades, albeit smaller than usual due to slowly blood quantity left before anemia, ready to shear through her body like a claymore.
Victory, this was the end—
Thoughts cut short as a flash of light coming from the girl's visible skin took Naoto's vision, causing him to reacting by closing his eyes involuntarily—
Save me!
(Play "Awakening the Chaos II [LA Vocal mix]")
—Opening his eyes, the boy sensed the danger as he leaped away in caution of whatever Tau was attempting. As he landed, the boy's mind was full of scenes he "lived", yet they never happened.
What happened? He thought. It was that…a Quirk?!
"Naoto!" Two familiar female voices called him. Glancing for a second at them, Naoto cursed when he saw that Rumi-san and Nejire were trying to approach him.
'Don't come closer!' Naoto felt something sheer into his skin, but it was just a minor graze… Although if he had continued his normal decision of cleaving the cornered Prime Field Unit, then he would have been a disembodied body, flying over Rumi and Nejire…but suddenly a barrier of transparent energy surrounded the two females.
"Nejire! Rumi-san!" Naoto tried to run towards them, but one of Tau's blades stopped him from moving more.
"Eyes only on me, Azure!" Tau shouted back. As the blades returned to Tau, Naoto started to see her in a different way than before—
Save me!
—Deep in his soul, Naoto acknowledges what happened during the flash. The Soul…
"Let's continue this, Azure! Let's kill each other!" The girl taunted as she deployed her gauntlet blades before she leaped towards Naoto. "Let's start the game! AHAH!"
"...No, we're not starting this!" Shaping his blood once more to form a two edged sword, Naoto dashed towards the girl as he started to clash his sword with her blades, provoking sparks between the blades at each clash. "I'm going to end this by saving you!"
"Interesting…" Sitting on the armchair, a young green-haired man wearing a black suit and tie was observing the scene thanks to a monitor. With his foot on the small table, he was holding a balisong knife in his left hand, keeping it rotate. "Yes…indeed, this is really interesting…"
Yes. It was interesting…Humanity was interesting.
Humanity
The term used by human beings to refer to their species as a whole. Speaking of their race as paragons of the right, entities of infinite possibilities, and the beings of resilience.
But it's only thanks to "that" man if humanity carries the possibilities inside them.
To him, humanity was the name of a species that self-righteously walked its own self-forged path of destruction and labels it as progress.
They created a machine, with the presumption of calling that creation a "God", and that led humanity to its destruction.
Humanity is the name of a beast that feasts on the world and flaunts its hypocrisy. That was what he learned, and what that man taught.
His golden snake-like eyes were observing the destruction caused by a certain girl. "Mh…I guess Tau almost possess the same strength of a Murakumo without actually being a Murakumo itself. Could it be for the "Reason" of this world? What if I'll recreate a proper Murakumo only for a test on its psyche as well~?"
Tau-19…or Nanko Sakaguchi, to be honest, is indeed a great experiment. When he first saw that pair of kids, the man knew what he had to do to gain the respect and attention of "All for One".
If that man started to train the older brother, then he had to "train" the girl. It was…amusing to see how that little girl reacted as she experienced the same experiments and feelings of his favorite toy…"Saya".
With a cruel smile, the man remained silent until he noticed that the feed video showed a certain boy. "That boy…ah…ahah…ahahahahahahahahaha! I can't believe this!" With his free hand placed on his face, the man laughed with all of his heart…if only he had one. "That's an outcome I never thought could happen, ahahahahah!" Exhaling with satisfaction, he touched his chin as his eyes were focused only on the boy. "It has been years since our last meeting…Kurogane Naoto. At least for me"
As he smirked, the man turned his head as he heard the door of the room be opened by a young teenager. "Oh my oh my, look who's here~"
"Save that fake smile for someone else, you snake" With parts of his body held by various zombie-like hands, the messy grayish-blue haired teenager glared at the man as he spitted those words. "Where is Sensei?"
"Our friend is…currently not available" The man said as he returned to watch the monitor when suddenly four fingers were touching his neck. "Oh my, I'm soooo scaaared to become dust" Raising his hands, the man pretended to be afraid, although he already tried the boy's powers over himself without being harmed at all.
"Stop to pretend you have emotions" The boy was starting to see red as he kept one finger away from the man's neck. "Don't. Make. Me. Repeat. Where is Sensei?"
"Sigh, surely you are a party pooper" The man sighed before he glanced at the boy, casually shrugging. "Right now, your dear 'Sensei' is fighting All Might"
"!" Retreating his fingers from the man's neck, the boy started to run towards the door until, from the ground, various green chains rose in order to prevent the boy from walking away. "Why're you stopping me?!" The boy shouted to the man, who started to rise from the armchair.
"Sorry little boy, but I can't let you go to him" The man stood before the boy as the same chains were moving around the man, like they were alive. "It is my job to keep you here"
"But Sensei needs help!" The boy stepped towards the man. "Why are you keeping me here?!"
"Because I need you here when it—" Before he could conclude his phrase, the man had to move a hand to stop the boy's attack.
"Don't dare to call her like a machine! She's not a creation! She's like me, a human!" The boy shouted at the man. "She is Nanko!"
"Human? Heheh…don't make me laugh, 'young master'. That girl, Tau-19, is everything but not a human now" The man held his laugh as he released the boy. He noticed the glare he was receiving. "Aw, don't make that face. I know what you desire right now, but you can't and will not kill me~"
"Kh…" The boy lowered his head, clenching his fists.
"But now relax, 'young master'. Whaddaya say? Sit down with me and let's eat some popcorn, because we're going to see a wonderful movie~!" The man laughed as he walked back to his armchair.
"I hate you…"
"I knoooow~"
Naoto rolled out of the way, under the overhead swing of the left gauntlet blade, and slid roughly on the pavement, wincing slightly when the pain in his ribs shot through him as he grazed his knee through the thin fabric of his trousers.
He studied the Prime Field very closely, watching as her breath, as Tau's very movements changed completely.
No longer was she fighting like a machine… If Naoto could describe it, the very aura around her had changed…
…transforming her into a beast lost in her bloodlust.
"AHAHAHAHAH! AAAZUUUREEE~!" The Prime Field Unit shouted at Naoto, her visor glowing red as she started to use the gauntlet blades only to fight offensively, never battling to not lose, only to win…
Naoto was cut from his thoughts as he raised his left blade to block a swing from Tau using the left gauntlet blade, struggling as steel grind against blood steel.
Naoto could only watch as Tau shifted her elbow, causing the gauntlet blade to force its way towards him and cracking the blade. Gritting his teeth, Naoto kicked away with his child legs, only annoying Tau slightly and causing almost no damage, leaving the near shattered blood sword behind.
"Come on, Azure, this game is starting to get boring…" Tau started with a sad smile.
Naoto grimaced as he changed the shape of his remaining blade into a western sword, feeling his heartbeats slowing irritatingly, telling him he was low on blood. At the present moment, he truly wished he had Raquel with him to use his dhampir body instead of the human body he had active. He tensed once more, fighting off the rib pain and the sweat that threatened to fall over his brow.
Seeing that her foe wasn't fighting with the intention or kill— or become one with her for her prospective— Tau lowered her head as her tone of voice changed, becoming robotic once again as she started a chant. "Deploying the dimensional interferencing imaginary magic circle. In the place where our soul comes back reborn as a sword, I call upon the blade that will return everything to nothing"
Naoto widened his eyes as he recognized the chant. This situation just got a whole lot more complicated. He was physically in pain, severely low on blood and stamina, and the enemy was going to release her real power.
"This ends here, Azure…everything will disappear" Raising her left hand, Tau's visor glowed as a portal appeared behind her, which started to shoot countless swords.
"Dammit! Damn It all!" Mirko shouted, kicking the barrier with everything she got, but nothing worked. Gritting her teeth, Mirko glanced at Naoto. That kid was going to die if someone did not help him— "Oh god! NAOTO!" She widened her eyes when the portal appeared.
"Dodge!" Nejire cried out once more as she tried to fire her shockwaves, but the barrier was preventing their incursions.
As the storm of blades was approaching him, Naoto gritted his teeth as he decides to do the only stupid thing he could do: He ran towards the storm, shocking Rumi and Nejire.
"NO, NAOTO!" The Pro Hero and the classmate shouted until they saw something that couldn't be possible…
Raising his blood-made sword, Naoto bent his blade just enough that the bullet flew off to his side, deflected. If he had used a regular sword then they would have bent from the force of the sword – or shattered if enough bullets managed to hit it – but his blades were made with a Drive, something connected to the omnipotent Azure, so he had faith that his blades were strong enough to withstand such power.
Although, his arm shook slightly from taking the recoil of the sword, which was honestly expected. Ignoring the small recoil Naoto proceeded to focus on the next sword that would have hindered his charge.
He didn't even register the shock on Tau's face as he created and used a smaller blade to deflect another that came his way, and another, and another, and another.
In a flurry – a magnificent display of both skill and agility – Naoto weaved through the hail of bullets, his eyes solely focusing on her form and where her visor were directed.
That success didn't last for long since a few swords scraped his body, leaving ugly cut marks, and more swords pierced various parts of his body. Coughing blood, Naoto continued his rush towards Tau, not minding the pain of having a shoulder, hip, and other parts of the body punctured as trails of blood coming out from the wounds.
He ignored the pain as he deflected another which would have hit his kneecaps, another which would have injured his collarbone, and another that would have injured his eye.
"I-Impossible!" Tau blurted out in surprise as she stared in confusion. No one could do something like that! Gritting her teeth, Tau summoned a second portal. And a third. And a fourth. "Die die die die die die die die! Die, Azure!"
Naoto was still a few meters away, but when she shouted, he noticed it. Tau lost her mind to the bloodlust and the Prime Field effects.
Discharging the blades, Naoto raised his young right arm, holding it with his left hand. With a sudden shout, the boy bursted all the possible blood he could use from the limb, creating a tower shield of blood as he continued to run, blocking the assault of swords when he finally reached Tau, reabsorbing the shield's blood inside himself as he created one more blade.
The Prime Field was indeed shocked, but her machine side won as the girl raised her left blade, slashing downwards the boy.
There was not enough Blood or time to create a weapon to block, so he did the next best thing.
He used his left young hand to intercept the blade, denying it the chance of cleaving through him but allowing the fact of it piercing Naoto's palm, sending echoes of pain across his body.
It wasn't her original aim but Tau saw a chance. She pulled the other gauntlet blade to the side, revealing the boy's unguarded side, and struck out with her armored leg.
Naoto gasped as he felt the limb bash into his ribs, cracking and irritating them further.
As he saw Tau draw back her leg for another kick, Naoto knew he had to somehow block it. He could not take another hit like that, his ribs would shatter from the force and he would black out from the pain.
Using his sword was not an option, still keeping Tau's gauntlet blade in place. If he had dragged the blade to intercept the kick, Tau would use that opportunity to drive the blade into Naoto, effectively killing him. In fact, the Prime Field drove another kick home, and subsequently Naoto kneel as he coughed blood.
Yes, the attack ended him. It broke the ribs which had pierced his lungs and heart. Yet death did not came for him.
(End "Awakening the Chaos II [LA Vocal mix]")
The only factor keeping Naoto awake was a feeling he never felt.
A blue heartbeat appeared before him, covering his sight.
And a scenario he never saw.
A deep azure filled the world around him.
Atami disappeared.
There's only the azure around him, and a man before him. The moonlit light above them illuminated the man.
The man, with red clothes and white hair, was standing before him. Held in the left hand, there was a large sword, the sword of the Grim Reaper…
Dark energy and azure energy were bursting out from the right arm of the man. An inhuman arm, carrying the name of the "Azure" and a conduit of its power.
Dark feathers were coming out from the man's left side, yet they turned white when they left the man's back. Dwelling within half of his body is the incarnation of calamity. That is the origin of the beast's power, ruled by extra-logical chaos.
Naoto knows who the man is.
The pair of mirrored figures exist between different worlds.
In a way he "hates" him. He denies his existence, but he accepts and embraces the existence of the man at the same time, a literal paradox. Yet…
They do not touch, nor do they pull apart.
He never noticed how big his shoulders were.
They walk their own liminal paths….
The shoulders which carried the possibilities of everyone.
(Play "Chronorise")
"You wanted to "save her"? Tch, you're barking the same as always, you punk"
Naoto tried to speak to the man, but no single word came from him. There's no mouth were it should've be there. In fact, his body wasn't even in that place. It was just like he was dreaming.
"Don't use that word without knowing its true meaning. When I used it, I always knew its meaning…and now it's time you understand it. Don't hesitate, just walk forward damnit! Show to everyone that, no matter who it is that stands in the way, there will be no mercy if they want to stop you!"
Naoto's eyes widened when the man turned his head to him. Showing a grin, the man glanced at Naoto with his green and red eyes. The infamy of holding the highest bounty in history is not just sophistry.
"Show them your power, brat"
Now Naoto understood where he was, what he was seeing. How stupid he was.
"Show them the Fear"
That wasn't a moon.
"Show them there's no Hell for our enemies, only the Void"
The moon doesn't exist in the Boundary after all.
"Show them that this is the power of the Azure"
Only the Azure
With no warnings, Atami took back the place instead of the azure filled world. Before him, Tau took the place of that man. But she's not moving to end Naoto's life. No, she was too shocked to move. After all, who could've move? All Naoto's wounds had stopped bleeding—No, almost all the boy's blood was returning to the body.
He felt his pierced lungs seal the holes made by his ribs.
His heart resumed to beat.
The Will for Save is still there.
I WILL SAVE YOU
Naoto was seeing red. But he wasn't enraged. No…his eyes turned red, and his hair turned white. His Drive finally awoke once again.
Bloodedge
The image of an azure cube shattering in thousand pieces appeared in his mind. The familiar feeling of the Seithr bursting out from his body mixed with the blood he lost was coming out from his right arm, forming a weapon he never used, yet so much familiar. A large sword, unknown for his hands yet familiar for his Soul. How could you forget that particular sword's name? After all, it is the signature of a Grim Reaper.
Aramasa.
…connected by their paired blades of blood.
Grabbing the blood-made version of Aramasa in a reverse grip just like that man, Naoto just followed his instinct, what his Soul was shouting to do in that moment was only one. "Divine…"
Tau couldn't see the uppercut reverse grip slash hitting her, tearing her armor and flesh, spurting blood from the wound. She couldn't see it, because her lost mind was focusing on one thing: the darkness and blood that was coming out from the boy before her, taking the form of a Black Beast behind him.
Yet, the eyes of the boy weren't eyes filled with rage. They're filled with sadness—
"...TWIN SCISSORS!" Naoto held the sword with both hands as he swung the blood blade with all of his might, slashing Tau once more forming a cross slash wound on her chest. Suddenly, two crossing spikes of blood bursted out from the ground and from the blood came from the wound, stabbing the girl with four spikes that held so much power behind them, sending her against a destroyed building.
Dropping the blood version of Aramasa on the ground, Naoto panted as the blade disappeared into nothingness. His eyes and hair returned normal as he finally felt pain. Pain. He was at his utmost weakest, damage too high for him to stay standing properly alone.
It was the end-
(End "Chronorise")
"Naoto!"
Life returned to his eyes despite the soul crushing amount of pain he felt.
Rumi…? Nejire…?
Buildings crumbled around them as the pavement cracked and shattered thanks to his and Tau's battle as Rumi, in her hero costume, uncaring of the buildings around her, had used her agility to run towards Naoto while Nejire, thanks to her Quirk's ability, flew towards him.
"Are you alright!?" Both Nejire and Rumi asked. Naoto could not help but smile in gratitude at her as he felt the concern dropping off their voices like a river.
If they had been just a second too late then he would have died right then and there…
The Heroes had arrived…
The Villain had been defeated…
People's lives were saved…
Naoto didn't properly respond to the girls' initial question. Actually he couldn't do so anyway, seeing as his voice box was so sore that it hurt merely humming and his body battered beyond belief, even if his blood returned before it didn't properly fixed the damages.
Instead, he opted for the easier option and chose to let his body drop like a leaf, and his conscience be enveloped by the darkness…
The Wheel of Fate is Turning…