Alright, second chapter is here.
I hope you like it, reviews are welcome! Enjoy!
A few seconds felt like an Eternity.
On one hand, Izuku wanted to thank the teenager who had just stepped in to save him and his friends.
On the other, he was in awe upon seeing such a powerful attack dismissed with absolute ease.
'That… that was really cool how he just slipped in like that…!' Izuku thought to himself.
'Crap… more people are getting involved…! And it's three of those guys in that stupid competition Tsuchimikado got me thrown into too!?' Touma mentally panicked. 'Such Misfortune!'
"You are such a fool." The man who threw the golden flames clanged his staff against the cement walls. "If you had let my attack pass, you could have snuck on me and dispatched me quite easily… your heroic bravado is why you can't stand a chance against me!" He beat the walls with his staff again.
"You make it sound like ignoring someone is trouble is easy to do." Touma replied. "I can't turn away someone who needs help."
"And that is why you will fall before me… you save foolish souls who would be worth so much more in MY possession! You stand before recreation of the world!" The man shouted with violent conviction. "You let the corruption of this world torment and destroy it! Stand aside and let me burn it away!"
"A goal that forces innocent people to give up their lives against their will isn't something I can stand behind."
"Silence! They need not to consent; it is for the greater good! You stand in the way of Gregory Augustine!" He aimed his staff forward. "May you find solace in the afterlife, a destination you will be sent to by the Millennial Phoenix's flames!" The eyes on the staff started to shine, something was coming.
'…I can't just stand here…!' Izuku thought to himself, as he suddenly sped forward with great speed, his entire body glowing. "One for All Full Cowl!" Izuku suddenly appeared below Gregory's body and kicked him in the stomach, sending him skyward.
'Holy crap… he's fast!' Touma thought to himself.
"You little..!" Gregory could only hold his stomach as he ascended into the air.
"Iida!" Izuku shouted.
"Right!" Tenya took a bracing stance as engine pipes popped out of the back of his calves. With a sudden quick burst of speed, Tenya outright ran across the wall up to where he predicted Gregory would be.
"Millennial Burst!" Gregory held out his hand downward and an explosion triggered, launching him further into the air, then aimed behind him and used the same attack, propelling him at an angle. With his staff aimed like a spear, his body rushed forward, aiming right for Ochako.
Ochako's brow furrowed. Despite the sudden attack, she was able to smoothly shift to the side to dodge, and not only that was able to grab one of Gregory's arms and throw him to the ground with a spin, landing on his stomach. She then quickly pressured his back with one knee and restrained one of his arms behind his back.
"Don't move." She pressured the restrained arm, the threat was subtle; don't move or I'll snap your arm.
"…I'm starting to think that you guys didn't need my help after all…" Touma mused out-loud.
"It's fine. You were after him anyway, were you not?" Tenya replied, pushing up his glasses.
"Y-yeah, I guess so… though not for me…" Touma rubbed the back of his head.
"Assisting a hero who was after this villain?" Tenya asked. Touma blinked.
'That's right…' Touma thought. 'These guys are supposed to be heroes in training, right? It'll probably be best if they just think this guy is just a villain a hero was after… yeah that'll work! It's best they don't get to heavy into the world of magic.'
"Yeah!" Touma said. "This guy jumped me when I was on my way home, when the hero who was chasing him saw me destroy his attack, he asked me for my help!" Touma lied.
"Hrm… this person must have been giving him or her trouble to ask for an Esper to help… but it seems this Gregory Augustine wasn't prepared for multiple opponents…" Tenya concluded.
"Yeah! Uraraka, that was amazing! Your combat training must have been really amazing to take him down like that!" Izuku cheered.
"Y-You really think so?" Ochako turned around, blushing red with a smile, but that quickly faded when she saw something behind the group. "Everyone, get down!" she shouted as she dive-bombed towards the group.
The group of three hit the ground just in time; a large scythe, with a strong brown stalk with skull-like designs and a thick black blade, tore the wind asunder as it soared over the group, just narrowly avoiding everyone, before flying back toward its origin point, being caught in the air by someone hanging off one of the walls.
"Hey hey hey! Greg, you letting yourself get caught!? That isn't part of the plan!" The person held onto part of the roof of the building with one hand, and caught the scythe with the other. He wore blue jeans and an open black coat with a purple shirt; his entire outfit appearing damaged and torn. He had bright red eyes and messy teal hair. His grin was wide; his teeth appeared to be sharp. In an instant, and without a sound, he was gone however. He suddenly appeared in front of Gregory, his scythe leaning over his shoulder with the blade aimed backwards.
"A Teleporter… huh..." Touma said simply.
"For the one-thousandth time, my name is Gregory…!" He slowly got to his feet.
"Right right… So! Since we've agreed that you getting caught by a bunch of little shits isn't a good idea… what exactly is the plan? Can I cut them!?" The teal-haired male turned back toward Gregory, his grin still wide.
"…If you are here Prometheus… then Pandora must have it, yes?" Gregory questioned.
"And no-one was left to tell it was us…!" The male who was addressed as Prometheus responded.
"…Then it is time to retreat. We cannot waste time." Gregory stood tall.
"Well shit… I guess we're off then." Prometheus grabbed ahold of Gregory with his free hand.
"Hey, wait!" Izuku ran forward. "Who are you!? What did you take!? And why are you doing this!?"
"Questions questions questions! Why do this? Why do that? Why did I get up this morning? Why did I have sausage instead of bacon… why did I carve out their hearts instead of their eyes…? Let's just make it easier on both of us and say it's cause I fucking feel like it!?" Prometheus' grin somehow widened even more.
"Why you…!" Izuku bust forward running with One for All Full Cowl active.
"Don't worry! You'll see the show soon… then we can get much more acquainted!" In the blink of an eye, Prometheus and Gregory Augustine were gone. Silently. Izuku almost didn't notice they had vanished at first, and he grinded to a halt.
"Damn it…!" Izuku cursed.
"Stiyl is not going to be happy…" Touma sighed.
"Stiyl? Is that the name of the Hero you were helping?" Tenya questioned.
"…Yeah." Touma pulled out his cell-phone. "I'll have to call him and tell him it's a bust… If that guy is with a teleporter, they could be half-way across the city by now…"
"Teleporter?" Ochako questioned.
"An Esper ability, lets the user… well… teleport things from objects all the way to multiple people… including themselves. Though it's weird… teleports usually make a sound when the trigger, that guy's was completely silent…" Touma clicked away on his cell. "Ah crap… no phone service… you've got to be kidding me!? Such Misfortune…!"
"The fire must of altered some of the surrounding materials… some of the metals might be absorbing the waveforms that cellphones operate on." Tenya examined some of the metal objects in the area, finding most of them melted. "It could also be related to his unusual golden fire. If that person has been doing this all over section of the city, who knows how many other dead-zones there are."
"He could have just said screw it and knocked over a cell tower too… we were chasing him all over the city… I'll have to call Stiyl when I get home…" Touma sighed, putting his phone away.
"Where do you live?" Tenya questioned further.
"District Seven…" Touma replied.
"And we're in… District… Three…" Tenya commented.
"I know."
"That's across the city…"
"Yup…"
"…You're going to walk there?"
"Busses don't operate at night…" Touma sighed.
"I wish we could help… we're about to hit the curfew soon ourselves… will you be alright?"
"Yeah… seems like me being stuck out here in the middle of the night is becoming the norm… my room-mate is going to kill me…" Touma lamented. Slowly Izuku approached the group.
"…Hey, do you think those two will be back?" He questioned. Touma shrugged.
"No idea… I hope not. With that competition tomorrow there will already be enough chaos around town. I don't need a couple of psychos making it worse…"
"That's true… a lot of people will be around starting tomorrow…" Izuku trailed off. His eyes glanced over at Touma's right arm, the same one he had used to block Gregory's first attack.
Despite coming into contact with fierce flames like that, it was completely unharmed. Not even the slightest trace of a burn.
"You blocked that first attack with your right arm… how did you do that?" Izuku asked, curious. Stopping the fire he bought, but being completely unmarked by them was more than a little hard to believe.
"Oh that? It's just my right arm." Touma simply stated. "Had this weird power in it for as long as I can remember… if it touches something supernatural, something that shouldn't exist basically, it will completely negate it."
"Does… that works on Esper abilities?" Izuku questioned further.
"Yeah… it's kind of how I've been surviving around town… a certain someone keeps trying to electrocute me…"
"That's terrible…" Ochako replied.
"It's fine… she means well, it's just that if she gets riled up… she… can take down power for about twelve blocks… heh…" Touma rubbed the back of his head.
"She must be really powerful…" Izuku pondered what a person with that kind of damage potential could look like.
"Uraraka! Midoriya! Bad news, we only have about seven minutes left to get back!" Tenya shouted.
"Uwah! S-Sorry! We have to go!" Ochako sounded just as concerned.
"Y-yeah! We got to go! We will see each other tomorrow! Bye!" Izuku joined the group and they quickly sped off, eager to get back before curfew hits.
"That's right… they are in the competition too… they seemed like good people though." Touma smiled… and shortly after, his smile faded. "…Nice people who you're going to be fighting against and you just told exactly how your special ability works to…" Touma slowly slumped to his knees and fell forward, holding himself up with his arms, and uttered one single phrase.
"Such Misfortune."
-Unknown Location, Academy City-
"So you got shown up bad huh? You may be strong, but four-on-one definitely isn't your style, Greg." Prometheus chuckled.
"Gregory. That is my name. Learn it." Gregory corrected as they walked through the halls of an abandoned building. "You said you both found it, right?"
"Yeah, had some fancy guards though… but you know how that story ends…" Prometheus smirked.
"Pandora has it with her, correct?"
"Yeah. We didn't open it, as you requested."
"Good… I want to be the first to see it with my own eyes." Gregory and Prometheus stepped into a large storage room. Old crates stacked and long discarded. On top of one sat a girl with red eyes and long teal-colored hair, similar to Prometheus but with noticeably darker shades of color. She wore dark blue pants with a blue jacket, and a white shirt underneath, and had white earrings.
"Welcome Gregory. Brother." She greeted the two as they approached her.
"Nice place you found us sis… nice and secluded…" Prometheus kicked one of the crates. "Lots of places to hide an ambush if someone sticks their head where they shouldn't…"
"Pandora, the book, if you please." Gregory asked. Slowly Pandora seemed to levitate off her seat and gently float down to be on equal ground with the other two. She held up her hand and a rift formed; she reached inside and pulled out a black tome; gruesomely designed, and handed to Gregory.
"Necronomicon. Book of the Dead. I hope it lives up to your expectations; they fought with their lives to protect it." Pandora stated.
"Yes… yes it will do perfectly… this tome can hold the souls we require for the Fire-Borne Ritual…" Gregory grinned. "Master Japhet… Oh how long has it been? You gave your life for mine and soon I shall pay that debt by returning your sacrifice…!"
"So… that book revives the dead, huh?" Prometheus questioned.
"Oh it can do so much more… the ritual requires souls to work, and in addition to holding the souls we need… it can also call forth souls of the tormented and regretful dead! Vengeful spirits that reluctantly walk this earth! And once enough are contained… the Fire-Borne Ritual shall commence and Master Japhet will walk the world again! Oh… how I've longed for the day I get to see you again, my lord, and it will only be a few more…!"
"And… what happens next?' Prometheus asked.
"Then… we sacrifice this sinful city to summon forth the Millennial Phoenix! We will burn this city… no… this world down to ashes! Then from those ashes, we rebuild it better than before, and reign as kings- no… Gods!" Gregory laughed. Finally; after years of failure, something would succeed. It had to.
"You heard him… Gods… heh" Prometheus smirked. "This guy's out of his mind…"
"Yet we humor him…" Pandora commented.
"If it fails… we take our shares and cut our losses… and if it works… well… Godhood I guess?" Prometheus shrugged. "I really don't care either way."
"Gregory is dedicated. Mad or not, he speaks with true conviction." Pandora stated plainly.
"If he wasn't, this wouldn't be interesting." Prometheus grinned. "I just want to see where this road in the lives of sinners ends…" Soon, these forces would mobilize to collect the souls of both the living and the dead.
To resurrect a man to burn the world.
Japhet, First Descendent of the Millennial Phoenix.
-Next Day, District 20-
"Before we begin, I would like to give thanks to the various schools in the area, go offered their arenas for use in this competition!" An announcer blared over-head. A make-shift sports center has been transformed into an arena, and it was filled to the brim with people in the stands.
"Now, I would like to officially welcome you all to the first joint competition between the U.A. High Hero Academy and Academy City's Power-Development Curriculum! Both aimed at inspiring boys and girls of all ages to follow their dreams, be it heroic action of scientific study, or, who knows, maybe both!?" The announcer spoke again. The Audience seemed to cheer.
"Today will be the first round of the competition! And this time around, it is a direct-battle contest! Before we begin I'd like to recite all of the rules! If you're ready, let's go!" He then read off the following in order:
This is a 16 entry-tournament! The first round will consist of 8 matches of one verses one combat!
Single elimination, so no second chances!
Participants can bring whatever equipment they desire into the battlefield, but they can only combat alone! Any evidence of outside tampering or assistance will result in an instant disqualification!
Killing is explicitly forbidden! Any fatalities as a result of a participant's action will not only disqualify them, but will land themselves into police custody!
Matches shall be randomized and be re-selected each round to keep things fresh and un-predictable! There are four rounds, including the semi-final and the final round!
And finally, elimination will be triggered by technical knock-out, willful surrender, or by exiting the circular ring. If an entire faction's participants are eliminated, the remaining faction is automatically the winner and the competition is over!
"Everyone got that!? If so, let's move on to introducing our contestants!" The crowd cheered. "Now, to be gracious hosts, we will introduce the heroes-in-training first! As your name is called, please step into the ring so everyone can see your wonderful faces!"
"This… is feeling really intense…!" Izuku shivered a bit. Something about this seemed like a real step-up form the sports festival.
"You scared, Deku?" Katsuki mocked.
"No way, it's just a lot to take in… that's all." Izuku replied.
"Remember; we're on a team. We may be separated but we must do our best to support each other." Fumikage warned. Katsuki clicked his teeth in response.
The callings came in, and slowly, one by one, the heroes entered the battle field as they were announced.
Midoriya Izuku. Hero Name: Deku
Izuku stepped out into the open in his hero costume; a dark green full-body unitard with a red belt, elbow pads, knee pads, gloves, and red boots. In addition, the arms have braces and the legs are iron armor soles.
Bakugou Katsuki. Hero Name: King of Explodo-Kills
Katsuki stepped out in his own costume, a fitted black sleeveless V-neck tank top with an orange X with the top half borders his shirt collar, a metallic neck brace, and large grenade-like gauntlets.
"They… let you keep that name…?" Izuku gave a suspicious look.
"Shut up!" Katsuki shouted back. The call-outs resumed.
Uraraka Ochako. Hero Name: Uravity
"My turn… yahoo!" She ran out full speed. Her suit consisted of a black and pink skin-tight suit with detached sleeves, knee-high boots, belt, helmet, collar, and thick, round bracers with handles attached to them.
Iida Tenya. Hero Name: Ingenium
Tenya walked out rigidly, almost marching. His outfit consisted of a black one-piece suit with a high collar, over which he wore various pieces of armor, including a helmet, a metal collar around his neck, a breastplate, decorative mufflers, and metal vambraces that extend past his elbows. The costume includes specialized metal boots, extending up past his knees. He walked forward without saying a word.
Todoroki Shouto. Hero Name: Shouto
Shouto walked out calmly, looking around to take in the space they would be competing. His outfit was simple; a dark blue jacket, dark blue pants, a silver-colored combat vest, and white boots.
"Guess this is the talk of the town… huh."
Tokoyami Fumikage. Hero Name: Tsukuyomi
He walked out slowly. Numerous people form the crowd made note of his bird-like appearance, but he paid no attention to them. His outfit was also simple; a dark cape and dark clothes that cover his whole body.
Kirishima Eijirou. Hero Name: Red Riot
He practically ran out in excitement. he wore a vest that consisted of two shoulder pads that are shaped like gears that wrapped around his shoulders while his chest is left uncovered, and wears a skirt with a ripped pattern over pants with a belt with an "R" for a belt buckle, and black baggy pants and boots, and also wore a kind of mask over the lower portion of his face, but exposed his mouth.
"So many people! This is going to be awesome, I know it!"
Yaoyorozu Momo. Hero Name: Creatie
"Honestly… what's with all the excitement? It's just the opening ceremony…"
She walked out with her arms crossed. Her outfit was simple but revealing; simple red, skin-tight outfit that exposes most of the center of her torso, arms and legs, with a large belt.
"And that is our Team of Heroes ladies and gentlemen! Give them a round of applause as we prepare the next set!"
It wasn't long before the call-outs resumed.
The Accelerator, Level 5.
A Male with white hair and red eyes stepped out wearing dark clothing, appearing irritated. He moved slowly, leaning on a walking cane of sorts as he marched toward the ring. Another oddity is that in addition to the cane, he had some kind of electrode attached to a croaker on his neck, with wires seemingly connected to somewhere on his head.
"That shitty brat better enjoy this… fucking hell."
Misaka Mikoto the Railgun, Level 5.
A girl with brown hair and eyes stepped forward, in the official uniform of her school.
"I guess representing Academy City has its downsides, especially with events like this… but why did that idiot have to enter too…!?"
Shokuhou Misaki, the Mental Out, Level 5.
A curvaceous girl with long blond hair, carrying a handbag stepped forward, in the same uniform is Mikoto; her star-like eyes seemed to shine.
"Hehe, it's going to be fun to show off our Esper-power in front of a crowd, right Misaka-san~? Hmm?"
"Shut up, you fake-middle schooler!"
"Aww, looks like someone's jealous again~"
"Why you…!" Mikoto grumbled, and Misaki giggled in response.
Sogita Gunha, the Attack Crash, Level 5.
A teenager with black hair and eyes stepped forward, wearing white headband, white pants, and a shirt that depicted a rising sun in Japanese style. A white coat was draped over his shoulders.
"Alright! Let's have an explosive display of Guts!
Shirai Kuroko, Level 4.
A girl with long pig-tails stepped out, also sharing the same uniform as Mikoto and Misaki.
"I'm only here to protect my onee-sama! You all better stear clear of her, understood!?"
Tsuchimikado Motoharu, level 0.
A male with blond-hair and sunglasses stepped out, wearing shorts, a green Hawaiian shirt, and a gold chain around his neck.
"Nya! Let's have some fun!"
Aogami Peirce, level unknown.
A teenager in black pants and a white over-shirt stepped forward. His hair was blue, ears pierced, and eyes closed.
"Oh wow… so many new girls here! No my arch-types… not even Kami-yan can tame this many, right!?"
And finally…
Kamijou Touma, level 0.
The very same male from the night before, in a seemingly similar outfit, stepped forward last.
"Hey Aogami… what kind of weirdness is coming out of your mouth now?"
"Kami-yan! You know what I'm talking about! Your invincible kami-yan disease of lege-" Aogami was suddenly silenced by a swift smack upside the head. "Ow! Kami-yan!"
"Be quiet will you!?" Touma said in an irritated tone.
"Nya, Aogami. Kami-yan won't accept it no matter how many times you mention it!" Tsuchimikado added to the conversation, irritating Touma more.
"You stop it two! I already have to put up with this in class! And you two are the entire reason that I'm here!" Touma shouted.
"I have no idea what you're talking about Kami-yan." Both Aogami and Tsuchimikado spoke simultaneously.
"Liars! Both of you!" Touma shouted.
"Hah… Kamijou's friends seem... interesting…" Izuku said, watching the scene unfold before him.
"Fucking idiots…" Katsuki huffed out.
"Alright! The opponents officially know who they are squaring off against! Now there is just one thing left to settle…"
And that thing is, quite simply…
"…Who is going to be fight who in the first round!"