Chapter 130 - But Now I'm Found
Without a second to hesitate, Azuru drew her right sword horizontally while Hiroshi swung with a blade jutting from her left gauntlet, both aiming to decapitate the Baron from two directions. He didn't even flinch as the sound of metal clanged in the air, startling them both when two additional arms spawned from his sides, drawing blades to cover his neck, the 'Yuki' copy's face twisted with malice. "Hehehe, do you think I'd lose my head to the likes of you? Not on your life..."
"Hiroshi!" Behind the girl, Shoto focused the trajectory of his ice, creating a narrow line to thrust toward the fake version. Hearing the snap and pull of frost, Fragment twisted his head completely around, catching the blade of ice between his teeth, much to their horror. "He twisted his whole head around!?"
"What a freakshow..." Hiroshi grimaced as his skin started to change, dark green spots forming as they started to glow with a sickly scent.
"Everyone evade now!" Azuru screamed, pulling her blade back as Hiroshi did the same, seeing the venom spurt from the green stains.
"Venomous Cutting Cage!" Stray arcs of poison swept the area, most of which missed or were deflected before any serious damage could be applied. Now, one of the fake Yuki's eyes were lime green, grinning as he lunged for Azuru, locking a cutlass with her swords. "Let's have some privacy, hm?"
Expanding his upper arms, a large circular wall of hardlight caged him, the two Yukis, Shoto, Kirishima, and Izuku from the rest of the world duking it out with the endless flood of new Splicers. He stared into their eyes, body a mutation of Yuki and Hansuke as he raised a claw, watching them with vengeful eyes. "I won't bore you on my reasons, I don't care for revenge or justice, I couldn't care less who is weak or strong, I hate everything, this world and all others like it are rotten and make my skin crawl! You're all insects that buzz in my ears and make me want to puke!"
His veins bulged, a smile tight and dripping with malice. "Mark my words, for the glory of my Kell, I will drain the blood from your bodies and accumulate your wasted strength for his will. I am the Will of the Kell of Kells!"
Behind Hiroshi, Izuku was trembling, "Unbelievable bloodlust! I'm feeling chills from every inch of my body!" He steadily found his grip, holding the monster's gaze. "Of course, you're afraid, this thing's not human! Get a grip, Izuku!" He looked around briefly. "Think, how can you help them? Whoever that girl in the black armour is knows Fragment so she'll be able to determine his moves, but what else can you and the others do to mitigate its powers?"
It was so sudden that Izuku didn't find his strength to react, two blades closed in on his chest and throat, inch by inch, Fragment was about to impale him and his muscles locked up. "Bend backward, hurry, evade it-!"
"Midoriya!" Kirishima yanked the greenette by the scruff of his hood, and the two avoiding the plunging blades as Hiroshi fired two plasma blasts to force Fragment away, using a grapple function to pull herself at blinding speeds, cracking her right leg against the Baron's hip where he blocked Azuru's Whirlwind Blade, the damage already patched up. "That was close, you alright!?"
"T-Thank you, Kirishima!" He sighed, biting his cheek at how fearful he was to even move. The two Yukis fought, their attacks barely making a dent while Shoto used his fire to evaporate the venom blades snaking around the sky periodically. "We need to help them,"
"I hear ya," Kirishima hardened his chest and arms, picking Izuku up as bolts of lightning singed the ground.
Outside the barrier, the rest of Class A were struggling. After melting down another Dreg, two more emerged from the forest, much to Ashido's dismay. "Gah, why's there no end to these guys!?"
"Just keep calm, we only need to break through to the exit!" Yaoyorozu commented, creating barriers as quickly as possible for the others to retreat behind when Vandals took shots at them. "Mr. Aizawa and Miss. Midnight are doing their best to clear the way!"
"But even they're struggling, these guys don't even flinch when we destroy one of them!" Sero huffed, wrapping up two more for Sato to grab and toss into the blade-wielding Vandals that drew too close, knocking them down.
Then the yellow-clad teen sweat dropped at another explosion. "Atleast we got a good distraction..."
"Out of the way!" Katsuki howled, blasting four more Splicers into scrap, ignoring the stinging in his arms from the stray bolts from the Dregs below, they quickly were erased by another volley of blasts. "Those two nerds, Icy-Hot, Shitty-hair, and some camo-wearing chick are behind that wall, if they can't beat this guy there'll be no end to this!" He had half the mind to storm over there and blast through the wall but something told him not to engage, it was strange, unlike with the Nomu All Might fought, this thing gave him the creeps. Then his red eyes shot wide. "Hey, watch it!"
Below, Hagakure was knocked on her backside with Ojiro taking another swipe at the Vandals with his tail, they side-stepped, hissing back at him. Both teens were clearly worn out and being cut off from the others. "Hagakure, just stick close to me, alright?"
"Got it!" She yelped, avoiding another bolt of lightning from the forest. Her invisibility didn't matter to the Splicers if they could see her floating clothing.
Just when the Fallen closed in to finish the teens off, a great boom resounded from the USJ's ceiling, from above, a large wave of golden flames expanded around Ojiro's and Hagakure's feet. The pair immediately recoiled only to feel warm and... were there injuries healing? The embers didn't give the Splicers the same curtesy, their arms flailed in agony as their bodies were melted down and incinerated into dead nanites. A body landed in the middle, clutching a molten hammer that burned with the fury of the sun.
The woman rose to her feet, coating in rich golden flames that burned away NARA at her feet. She stepped forward, drawing the attention of the Splicers from the Pros as she swung her hammer by the leather strap, turning it into a halo of flames at her right side. "Sorry for being late, good news, reinforcements will be here shortly; bad news?" Ceres spun her hammer faster, glowering beneath her helmet. "I'm the reinforcements."
Bringing her hammer down on the earth with an upswing, a molten cascade of flames and shrapnel shredded down the lane, scorching any too close to the shockwave, and incinerating the Splicers caught in the epicenter. The Fallen all diverted their attention to the Guardian, her shields taking the blows as she summoned a new hammer. "I'll distract them, you get the children out of here!"
"Very well, you heard her, move!" Midnight declared, silently thanking the flaming woman who charged straight at the Fallen without hesitation, bringing her hammer down at her feet, blowing the Vandals away while furthering her flames' temperature to unseen heights.
"The Kell Slayer too...?" Fragment noted, feeling a little hot under the collar as his right arms were torn from their sockets, only to regrow and slam into Hiroshi's chest, knocking the wind from her body as two venom slashes tore toward her. In seconds, Kirishima slammed his body into them, dispelling the poison without a scratch. "Huh!?"
"Okay, that seriously hurt!" He winced, seeing the gashes in his arms but feeling nothing change about his health. He gave a sharp smile. "Midoriya's right, they look tough but those attacks aren't all that powerful!"
"Is that so...?" Fragment deflecting another series of strikes from Azuru, knocking her away with the hardlight shield. Warping away from Shoto's flames, his hands gathering heat and pressure. "Devil's Ruin!" He bellowed, releasing two devastating beams of hot plasma to strip through his ice and nearly take his left arm with it had Azuru not intervened, tackling him aside. "How about - Perfected Burst!" A volley of blasts intercepted the pair, and with a small wall of ice, Shoto turned the ground to rime while Azuru pushed them down the ramp to escape. "Run, run little rodents! Hahahaha!"
After unleashing a wide sweep of Devil's Ruin to hold the others at bay, his aim was off, seeing Hiroshi and Kirishima using the remaining ice to flank him. Fragment's body cracked and sounded like bones and metal were splintered and torn. With a haze of red his body underwent a new form, and before Hiroshi could land two reinforced fists to the mutating body alongside Kirishima, both felt their body's shiver when two emerald eyes greeted them. "You guys...?" He spoke in Izuku's tone, looking at them pleadingly.
That momentary flicker of resistance, that was all he needed to smile mockingly, drawing his cutlasses from the void to carve across Kirishima's chest, taking the air from his lungs with a follow-up punch that let out a compressed shockwave of air pressure, slamming his heavy form into Hiroshi's torso, thankfully, he stopped using his quirk before that happened. Downside, he was knocked out in the process.
"Hahahaha, you humans are so pathetic, you'd fall for the obvious that easily!?" Fragment giggled, he turned to the one still standing, Izuku Midoriya, his body charged with One For All. "You were my prize, Midoriya, this power of yours, the one thing not even He could touch," Hearing this tone and the way he looked at the boy made Izuku's stomach twist and his face break out in a cold sweat. "How does it go again...?" He flicked his head up, coming to that realization. "That's it..."
Clenching his fists, Fragment released a burst of tremendous power, red bolts of unstable energy whipped into the air around him as his eyes took on a crimson sheen, his muscles flooded with NARA and a weak variant of One For All. "Full Cowling!" He then brought back his right arm, pressure winding up in his fist. "Delaware Smash - Air Force!"
"Izuku!" The two Yukis cried out as the air pressure barrelled toward him. But the teen didn't budge.
"It's blood... his power involves people's blood...!" It dawned on him there and then why Fragment was so obsessed, his words travelled to Azuru's ears, and she watched in awe as he clenched his fists, bumping OFA higher than it was, the ground breaking beneath his feet. "Sorry, All Might, but I've got no other choice - Full Cowling, Twenty Percent!" Reeling back his fist, he swung with the same force as Fragment. "Air Force!"
The two cones of wind pressure collided, much to no one's surprise, Izuku's couldn't compete with Fragment's, that's what he was hoping for. The two blasts cancelled each other out, whipping ice and dust around them. Fragment narrowed his gaze only to recoil when a leg slammed into his crossed arms from above, clearing the dust as the ground splintered. "Manchester-" With another burst of energy, Izuku's leg swept down, severing the arms. "-Smash!"
"Is that all you got?" He gasped, feeling two arms clamp around his arms, two new ones regrowing in seconds as Fragment clenched tighter, glowering at the boy. Then came the discomfort as his skin started to burn under the Baron's grip. "You're good, Ninth, but you've barely begun to tap into your true power, you can't even do THIS!" His doubleganger's eyes glowed under dark shadows, and from his back, six onyx tendrils sprung from his spine like mandibles, twisting their jagged forms with a haze of red around them. "I'll enjoy ripping your limbs apart before taking the rest of your strength. His power was wasted on a runt like you,"
The words made Izuku wince, unable to move, but most of all, he saw that those words held a flicker of regret. What did this Baron have to regret? He wondered, but now wasn't the time to analyse his enemy, he struggled, even Shoto's ice as it anchored the Fallen didn't dissuade Fragment into letting go, enjoying how Izuku gasped and yelped, his arms and legs twisting slowly under Blackwhip's control.
From either side, two ramparts of ice formed a half-pipe, and with the Baron so fixated on Izuku he didn't see the twin bluettes sweep in from both directions. With a sword in each hand, the pair slid low, amputating both arms and tendrils that clutched their friend's form. He fell back while Fragment recoiled. But Izuku wasn't done yet, elbowing the earth to lunge his strained body up at twenty percent still, he drew his right arm across, digging his nails into the hidden breastplate, stripping a large chunk from the Fallen's body as he threw himself backward, tumbling toward Azuru and Shoto.
"Grah, hah... give... that... BACK!" Fragment wheezed, his imitation of Izuku broken by the large sparking hole in his chest, an internal layer of armour forming to cover up the core but it wasn't enough, the piece Izuku held was what kept the Detainment safe, and NARA couldn't repair it without tampering with the frequency. "That brat, how did he figure it out? When did they discuss-" Then he saw it, the small ear piece laying at his feet, it had fallen from their scuffle. Hiroshi had given them all a comms piece. "Someone communicated..." His resentful eyes locked with Azuru, herself standing guard while the others helped Izuku who overexerted his body.
Instead of using long-ranged attacks, Fragment watched as Hiroshi tended to Izuku, the same love and affection he had implanted in his mind by Kovik, to use what his master saw through the Thief's eyes against them. A cunning smile appeared, and with a shift, he vanished, appearing a foot away from the pair. He closed his fist, pumping One For All and NARA into one deadly blow to the greenette's face.
Time crawled, Hiroshi was pushed aside by Izuku who turned to look at his killer, Shoto's ice slowly expanded from his foot, flames gathering at his left while Hiroshi drew her right gauntlet high, a small ball of light forming in her palm. His fist closed in toward Izuku but something else intervened, blocking with just their arms. The force brought time back to full, fragments of Azuru's armour trickling down around them as she was sent flying into the wall, bringing the large barrier down around them.
"AZURU!" Hiroshi gaped, twirling her head around to blast Fragment who caught her hand, NARA tearing her whole right gauntlet apart before kicking the girl into the dirt next to Izuku. He levelled his right arms, blocking the ice with a barrier before blasting Shoto with a flick of his fingers, creating enough air force to pummel the teen aside.
"Hmph, is this all you've accomplished?" Fragment marvelled at how a powerless Yuki had managed to create something of a prototype to SIVA's armour, if only a poor imitation. "Still, while clearly inferior the work is commendable at best, a shame you weren't born a Splicer,"
"You sure don't look like one to me," She rasped, flinching when a blackwhip snapped at the ground next to her. But she bit her cheek and swallowed the lump in her throat. "All you do is steal others' powers, nothing about you is original, you can call us weak, but atleast we're not just stealing power we wish we had," She propped herself up by her hands, leaning against Izuku's side. "If we're gonna die, atleast we'll die leagues better than a scumbag like you,"
"The way you use my power..." Izuku too found himself talking without meaning to, staring back into his fake's leer. "...is an insult to its history, you pretender."
Fragment didn't rise to their threats, so instead, his body made those awful noises, his body bulged and shifted. The young pair stared up with green faces, their eyes lingering with shock and disgust, to the side, Shoto couldn't breathe when the body of Fragment underwent a twisted evolution. His body was larger, standing nearly as tall as All Might, his body was an awful infusion of metal, wire, and flesh in certain points of his skin. He wore his Splicer armour for the most part, four arms, the lower two just like Yuki's with the upper two clearly Izuku's.
His hair was chin-length, a mixture of Izuku's green curls with gradients of Shigaraki's snow-white pigment and blue from Yuki's. Green tattoos snaked down his arms, and metallic wings sprung from his shoulder blades, the vents expelling red energy as the silver scales looked deformed and weathered. His face was concealed by a broken mask, leaving the right side of his mouth visible with a row of sharp teeth, his left eye and forehead visible with an iris of multiple colours. Lastly, two large, black horns curled from his temples, facing forward.
"ThEn I wIlL cRuSh YoU bOtH wItH aLl My RiGhTfUl PoWeR, yOu HuMaN rAtS!" His voice was unrecognizable, a mesh of various vocal ranges that couldn't even be considered human anymore. "WiTh ThIs I wIlL bE eVeN sTrOnGeR tHaN kOvIk HiMsElF!"
His right hand reached for Izuku, glowing dark red with the sheer density of NARA peeling at his flesh and steel.
...
The hand closed in but neither teen looked to Fragment in fear.
...
Together, they joined hands, her left and his right, lifting it as the sparks of One For All reinvigorated A.R.C's core functions, another blast of plasma forming at their knuckles.
...
A glint of amethyst descended from the heavens. The whiplash forced out a scream from Fragment, warping back to find another gash inches from his Core. He hissed so sharply drool dribbled down his visible chin, shakily glaring at the one that stood in his way again, of all the things he hated about his power, it was the added burden of knowing that despite every adversity thrown in her way. Yuki Azuru would never so much as give an inch toward defeat.
Azuru stood before them once more, her helmet was shattered entirely, and her chest, forearms, and parts of her legs were cracked and flaking, blood trickled down from her forehead but her one eye pierced through that pain, clutching her swords tightly. "Don't lay a finger on Izuku-" For the briefest of moment, terror struck any that heard her tone, the sheer ferocity behind her eye was inhuman. "-if you do I swear to you that you will pay, and it's gonna hurt."
"Your threats are pointless, you quirkless Thief," Fragment sneered but she didn't rise to it, her mind was too busy recalling a day she could refer to as her lowest in years.
It was the end of another day of horrendous torture under Vosik's thumb, Yuki couldn't move, rather, she did everything in her power not to aggravate her injuries, ever inch of her body screamed but she sat there, unable to do much more than lift her head. Katsuki had fallen asleep from sheer exhaustion a few minutes ago, it was the only time he would rest. She felt so sorry for him, having to endure watching her own faults lead to the worst form of punishment imaginable. They needed to escape and fast, but without SIVA, Yuki was utterly useless. Her mind was filled with only one thought. I want to go home.
"Oh, are you awake?" And her day just got worse, or night, she wasn't sure anymore. Lifting her head slightly, Yuki came face to face with a girl sporting a child-like grin with wild, almost sadistic eyes as she skipped up to Yuki to crouch down. "Woah, he really doesn't hold back," Her cold hand caressed Yuki's sore cheek, running a thumb over her cuts, but by now her face was numb. "Your blood, he won't let me have any of it, stupid machine, but I just can't help myself, I've wanted to know what yours and Izuku's tastes like, but..."
Before Yuki could glower at the girl, she saw her watch Yuki's eyes with... shame. "I'm so-so sorry for calling you all those names, I was so jealous of you and Izuku being so close, but when I saw you like this, I thought, 'huh, she looks alot like me when I was in a shitty place', so I thought why not share?" She beamed with that blush on her face intensifying. "See, we can all be together, you, me, Izuku, even Ochaco, I love her too!" Toga cooed, with Yuki struggling to follow what went on in this girl's head. "You were quirkless the whole time but found a way to resent the world with that machine power of yours, I think that's awesome! People like us always got the shit end of the stick but we survived much to everyone's disgust, isn't that thrilling? It's like we're saying 'fuck you' to this world, y'know?"
Toga sat back, and her eyes were a little calmer, rubbing her blood-stained fingers together. "You might hate me 'cause of what I've done and stuff but I hope we can be friends when this is over, 'cause you get us, right?" As much as Yuki despised the League, parts of their ideology past Shigaraki's childish attitude made sense. These people were victims of the same world she grew up to accept, only when she lost her family did that crushing weight that no one cared for a quirkless child finally sink in. "Oh, since I know your power, here's mine! I can consume the blood people and take on their appearance and voice, but not their clothing which can be a drag, and the more blood I consume the longer I can maintain that form - boom, now we know each other's powers!"
"Toga, what the hell are you doing in here?" Over by the door, the burnt-looking man with raven hair stared dully at the peppy blonde. "You want to bring that big guy down on our necks again? Get lost, let the runt wallow for all I care."
"Hey, she and I our best friends now, bleh!" She stuck her tongue out at Dabi who rolled his eyes and left the room. Then, to Yuki's complete surprise, she found a sweet-tasting item in her chalky lips. "Here, think you'll need it," Toga winked and quickly scampered off with a hum. Yuki chewed the sweet in her mouth, the first actual bit of food that didn't make her want to hurl.
As unbelievable as it sounds, Toga had given Yuki a small slither of hope during the rest of her time in hell.
"Because of you, Toga, I have a read on how to beat this guy," Azuru thanked the odd villain for her kindness that day, it was a secret she'd keep with her and SIVA until the day she could repay that debt. That day, Azuru understood one lesson that she too had learned long ago. This world is not black and white, "Siva, his power, it needs blood to function, NARA's burning up his reserves, even his form now looks completely eroded, that's why he's been trying to find a parallel of our world, to bolster his blood reserves,"
Yes, I see it | Himiko Toga has granted us a window into her stolen power | It appears this Baron is more of a 'Thief' than you and I
Whips and plasma barrelled toward Azuru, she took in a breath, and leaned forward, her eye concentrated, the shades of red and blue shimmering with starlight. But it was something else Azuru had noticed. When she defended Izuku and Hiroshi, the way Fragment's attacks moved, she could see this flowing river of red surround every attack, it was invisible to the naked eye, but even now, the Blackwhips were moving in the direction of the red currents. They followed the flow of NARA...
When the strikes came in too close, Azuru swatted them away, just like back on Venus, her eye could 'see' the attacks trajectory, it wasn't slowed down but it gave her an idea on where the attacks were going to move, like prediction lines. Her eye widened, cutting away the last energy blasts, sweeping through the smoke with her swords glowing violet. "I... can see the technology in the air!" She could see it all!
"Don't make me laugh!" Fragment touched the ground with is lower left, attempting to decay the world in front of him, but he flinched when that same hand was severed with a wide sweep, the right blade nicking his throat as the wings inverted, blasting the area in front of him. Azuru ducked low, taking his feet out from under him with Whirlwind Blade, amputating below the knees. Using a copy of Valstrax's wings, Fragment flew backward, unleashing two beams of red plasma while punching the air, blasting the ground with air force.
"How is this possible... h-how can I lose with so much power!?" Fragment couldn't fathom what was happening, Azuru kept herself moving, striking through his attacks with relentless grit. Her eye never left his gaze, tempered with experience that was unlike any human being. "What happened? 'Can see the technology'? What did she do!?" "Burn, you wretched human!"
He launched himself down, breaking apart the red ground around him as a blade slit across his stomach and forearm, managing to block her attempts to go for the Core. Azuru roared, bringing her swords up in a wild flurry of slashes, deflecting his Perfected Burst, splitting his right arm in half while twirling to deliver a bone-breaking kick to his jaw, twisting his upper body into a spin toward the right.
Burying his hands into the dirt, his upper arms mutated again, transforming into bulging fleshing dark pink arms with black lines down the rough skin, the earth underneath broke down and transformed into rows upon rows of spikes. "Impossible! No one can do this to me!" With Overhaul's might, he ushered the serrated wave toward the approaching bluette, she jumped, avoiding a wide coverage of frost from Shoto, his ice freezing the spikes, giving her ample time to hop across the jagged land, thrusting both swords forward to pierce the barrier between her and Fragment.
But they flickered and quickly shattered. Using his chest as a stepping stone, Yuki spun and rotated with her Quickfangs' augment, a cyclone of Void energy tearing through his wings that took the brunt of the attack. "I'm not hesitating again, I will defeat you!" She swore, slamming her blades down on his neck but two blackwhips sprang from his open wounds, pummelling her in the stomach and into another barrage of spikes.
Thinking fast, Yuki swung her left arm down, using the momentum from Whirlwind Blade to fling herself out of his range, sliding on her knees to dive into a bombardment of plasma spheres. "Unfortunately, you don't have what it takes to defeat me!" He cackled, unleashing his hail storm upon her. She could only focus on defending herself, giving him time to warp behind the bluette, intending to break her body down with a combination of Decay and Overhaul.
He smiled only to feel the fragments of his mask chip away, her elbow smashed against his cheekbone before twirling over his shoulders, grinding her swords through his stomach and through the chest but his arm quickly grasped the Quickfang and forced it to tear through his left shoulder. Fragment heaved a growl, grabbing her with Blackwhip to sling her through the air, but his connection weakened, and his whips dissolved. The characteristics of Izuku were gone, he was losing his power!
"You won't get away from me this time!" Yuki pushed through the haze of burning plasma, shattering the wall between them with her left sword, seeing it bounce off in the opposite direction after throwing it. With her right arm back, the edge of the nimble blade was coated in violet. "This is your end, Fragment!"
"Graaaaaaaaah!" With untapped potential, his body whipped out a flurry of venom slashes, two of which curved, severing Yuki's cybernetic hand and leg in a flash, and her vision fell, tumbling across the ground with her sword embedded by the tip a few feet away.
Coughing, she saw the Baron shuffling away toward... a Vex Gate!? "N-No, GET BACK HERE!" She screamed, clawing at the mud in an effort to pull herself forward, wheezing from holding in her breath this whole time. She could only stare at the inevitable, he was closing in on his escape, if he vanished now, he would never show himself again. They would never return to their world.
"This was a wasted effort, I need to fall back!" The gate wasn't far now, the Pros had all fled the battle once the Guardian arrived, this was Fragment's best chance to escape with his life. He underestimated how much fight the Thief had left in her, and if she could predict his attacks he couldn't prolong the fight to counter her now. "I have to find sanctuary in the Nexus!" He lost Izuku's blood, and Valstrax's was close to fading, as well as that maniac Halimaka's.
He was so close now that his left arm reached out to be wrapped in the embrace of the Vex's directive, to be whisked away to a world beyond the Corridors of Time. But something snagged in his joint, and with a vicious tug that broke a few pieces of armour plating, he found two lines of white tape coiled tenderly to his shoulder and bicep. Fragment released a hellish noise only a demon could accumulate from his throat.
"Hold him back!" Sero rallied, Sato and Shoji gripping the boy's lines of tape to keep Fragment still. The ravenette smirked. "Can't sit around letting these guys do all the heavy lifting, now can we!?"
"Shove it up your ass!" Fragment grabbed his own arm, bringing his bladed fingers down on the joint before twisting, plucking wires as blackish-purple fluid spurted to the ground, with a roar, he tore free from his own arm, stumbling toward the gateway desperately only to find his right foot stuck on some strange, purple ball, tethering him in place. "What's this!?"
"Good luck getting out my sticky balls you disgusting villain!" A strange, short boy in a pretty odd hero costume remarked smugly, tossing more of the balls from his head at the ground around Fragment's feet.
NARA, however, ate away at their mass, prying himself free when several dark hands sunk their claws into his flesh, dragging him down on his hands and knees in urgency. Kyoka felt herself stumble when someone appeared behind her, binding the Baron in place with a black glyph wrapped around his arm, expanding to several more. "Sorry, but..." Akio smiled deviously, pulling his arm back tightly while drawing a grey glyph in his right arm. "We're going home, and you won't stop us!"
"Ak...io?" Azuru muttered, prying her sword from the ground as she collapsed again, without her leg, she could only use her sword to try and prop herself up. She needed to move, while everyone bought her a chance to end this fight. "Keep moving, don't stop, you can't rest until they're free to return home!"
"From a talented musician you walking pile of scrap!" Akio challenged, lunging his right arm forward as another grey seal wrapped around his knuckle. "Heartbeat Distortion - Leap!" Punching the air, the sonic blast tore away at Fragment's lower left arm before it could produce another Devil's Ruin. Kyoka stared at the strange brunette, how did he know her own attack? And whatever he did to it made it stronger? He giggled to himself. "Always wanted to try- yah!" He slipped, grabbing his left as the Baron fought against the restraints.
"Hey, focus, you idiot!" Kyoka wrapped her arms under his shoulder, helping to act as a counterweight, Akio stared at her, and smiled, returning his focus to Gloom Grip. "We've got him, now pull!"
With heavy steps, the pair managed to find their footing, Sero returning to bind another section of Fragment while Eraserhead, who couldn't argue with his students' stubbornness, bound the waist with his scarf. The likes of Kirishima, who had recovered, ran with Shoji, Ojiro, and Sato to help the others stand their ground.
Ashido spat acid at the monster's feet, breaking down NARA's insane recovery further, same for Kaminari, who dropped his wattage and fried the lower right arm before it could regenerate, the limb seizing up from the overload. Yaoyorozu, with a great deal of effort, constructed a cannon to fire glue pods at the ground while Shoto coated them with ice, locking the Splicer who continuously tore away from the restrains, rebuilding his legs piece by piece with a bloodied pigment dripping like blood from his wounds.
"Just how strong is this guy's quirk!?" Ashido gaped.
"We'll just have to break 'em down faster than he can regenerate, just like All Might!" Kirishima declared, rousing a warcry from his Class.
Over on the ground, a pair of hands helped to lift Azuru from the dirt, wrapping her good arm over their shoulders. "Come on-" Azuru stared back into Hiroshi's kind eyes burning with determination. "-let's finish this bastard off, quirkless style."
"Right..." Azuru mirrored her expression, hobbling in the direction of the Splicer who shook off Katsuki's hail of blasts with a weak shield stretched overhead, Ochaco releasing rubble into his line of fire, creating molten shrapnel to puncture the shield and batter the already collapsing abomination.
"Why won't they lie down and die already!? Why are they so damn determined... TO KILL ME!?" Fragment screamed, tearing his arms and legs apart down to the bone, NARA's efforts to recover the lost limbs was starting to overclock his Core, the nanomachines becoming denser, dripping molten red slag onto the ground and over his body.
SIVA nanites struck his head, breaking off the horns as Ceres pelted his body with Outbreak, burying the inferior nanotech into his flesh to eat away at NARA's directive. But their combined efforts were failing, gradually, Fragment was closing in on the gateway, he was going to break free and escape! "Midoriya!" The greenette spun around to Ceres who reloaded only to continuously fire again. "I'll give you an opening, when you're close, hit him with as much strength as you can with this!" She tossed him a silver sphere, roughly the size of a tennis ball. "We're counting on you!"
"R-right!" He left immediately, sprinting with only a good fifteen percent active on his burning limbs, he clutching the oddly hot ball tightly, launching himself into the air above the restrains and plasma fired back at his class. Sero's tape was snapped, and the black arms holding Fragment down were beginning to fade. They wouldn't last forever. "Don't be useless Deku anymore! Help them win, whatever it takes!" Gritting his teeth, he twisted his body to angle his decent, swinging his left arm across Fragment's shoulder, tumbling past as he felt several gashes open up along his side from being too close to the rampant Baron, but the orb stuck, glowing like a miniature sun.
Fragment couldn't aim for Izuku as several red bullets peppered his mask, digging the weaker nanotechnology into his sockets and skull like buzzing insects. Then came the blast of flames, shredding his left arm down to wires and burning slag as his side slumped, "Y-y-you little rat!" He brought his arm down on where he believed Izuku was laying only for something sharp and fast to impale him through his abdomen, rising from the groin. His eyes convulsed in dread, feeling the burning, twisting strength of space rip through his chassis. He could only stare down as the blade wedged through his body by both Azuru and Hiroshi. "W-why is... Always YOU!?"
He howled in pain, trying to wriggle free from the blade's gravity. "You wouldn't get being weak, being surrounded by those lucky enough to be gifted with power! You drug yourself on the idea that nothing is above you, that you have the right to twist people in the ways you want!" Hiroshi barked, her temple pressed against Azuru's. "You wouldn't understand the years spent struggling to live in a world as unfair and as cruel as our own, to find your place when it feels like everything is pitted against you!"
"But we will carve out our own path, kicking and screaming against fate!" Azuru gripped with her left hand so tightly the blade could've snapped in two. "The paths we've chosen to walk, no matter how thorny they become! We'll endure!"
"BECAUSE WE DID IT OUR WAY!" The pair drew their arms together, dragging the clean amethyst edge through Fragment's chest, through his collarbone and straight through his frantic, petrified scowl as he gawked at the sight of the blade peeling through his skull.
"This... This can't be... pOsSiBlE!" Whatever defiance he had left was split in two by Whirlwind Blade sawing a wide, ethereal crescent through his midsection, breaking down his body until is shattered in millions of red sparks, leaving only a hand-sized cluster to clatter to the ground, the Vex Gate closing with a suction ahead of the girls holding Quickfang high above their heads.
The rumbling in the air slowly subsided, and Azuru stumbled back in pain as she coughed up blood and other fluids. "Azuru!" She cried out, the situation wasn't over yet.
Hiroshi tried to approach her but her hand recoiled, feeling as though she just touched a boiling pot. Azuru's breath laboured, the skin around her arms, hands, and cheeks peeling, her scales were more visible, larger in size as her body didn't topple over at all, in fact, blue light reconnected her lost leg to a new, shiny prosthetic, using the remnants of Fragment to rebuild the lost limb. Her right hand quickly followed while her body's broken armour knitted together with dozens of thin blue lines, marking out a new design that cobbled together from the matter around her.
The suit was replaced and morphed into an advanced version of Hiroshi's A.R.C Mrk III, only, her eyes burrowed into every fine detail like a scan, it was exactly how she envisioned her final suit to look like. Sleek, sturdy, and powerful. The mask over Azuru's face flashed with white eyes, and with a small shimmer of blue nanomachines, two reddish-blue eyes stared back in awe at the gentle fall of blue sparks in the air.
"Siva... are... are you...?" She couldn't find the words, with a small flash, a tiny entity made of blue hardlight appeared before her face, nodding once.
"|SIVA is active once more | We're whole again | And I feel our strength has increased as a result|," He explained, disappearing a second later.
Three long months without SIVA running through her veins felt so alien and wrong. Everyday she would worry over the loss of her strength, of how she would face Kovik again. Many nights she blamed herself for her faults, feeling as though it were karma for daring to use SIVA for her own gain just as Aksis once did. And now, it was as if a veil over her life had been lifted without knowing it existed. Her world, the people around her all looked so bright and vibrant again. Her dull outlook burned with a new array of colours.
Tears steadily fell from Azuru's soft gaze. Her arms wrapping around herself with a hitched sob. "...thank you... all of you..." She bowed her head, tears staining the ground as she wore the biggest smile the Class had ever seen. Hiroshi wiped a few from her own eyes, moving to pat her lookalike on the back.
Later, the incident was handled by the staff at UA, with Ceres and Azuru explaining that this was an unrelated attack compared to the USJ, and that it only occurred due to their conflict with Fragment, thus, nothing would hopefully come of the incident as it was truly out of UA's control. Of course, the pair were reprehended by Eraserhead for the ordeal, both of which apologized profusely with Ghost keeping himself unknown to avoid any other complications. Or because he didn't want the scary man with clear signs of sleep deprivation to ensnare him as he did his Guardian and friend.
Despite the many questions the Class had on the duplicate Yuki, Azuru had to raise her hand to silence them while they spoke just outside the USJ. "Look, I really do want to stay to chat, I'm honest, but..."
"Actually," Akio interjected, juggling the cracked NARA core in his hands. "With this little trinket, we can use my magic and SIVA to open a gate back to Ceres' world, well, that's the idea anyway, it'll be a one-way trip but so long as we keep this core, we have time to spare," Akio had felt it after the battle, the way Azuru looked at her counterpart with that forlorn glint in her eyes. He knew... and that thought wasn't private. "Go on, I've been around long enough to be patient, and given everything, well... you deserve it, buddy,"
In a flash, the boy found himself wrapped in Azuru's arms, he smiled, patting her head. "Thanks, Akio."
"Anytime, Yuyu!" He beamed, then blinked over at Hiroshi. "So weird seeing two of you..."
"Though, I have a question, Hiroshi," Azuru spun around to narrow her eyes at a pair of idiots off to the side. One of which she recognized at the living phone-charger, Kaminari, but the other, shorter one next to him was a mystery. "Who's the dwarf?"
"Huh?" She followed Azuru's stare, then grimaced. "That's Mineta, resident perv, and why he made it into the hero course to this day astounds me."
"Yuki..." Izuku whispered, unable to stop her from verbally lashing at the boy. Though he agreed, his and Kaminari's antics were too much at times.
Over by the pair, they both stood blissfully unaware of the death stare thrown their way. "-not to mention that other suit really hugged her hourglass body perfectly," Mineta commented.
"Well, yeah? It is Hiroshi's double from another world," Kaminari was more restrained on his comments from 'other' incidents. "Look, let's just drop this, man, I don't want to piss her off too."
"What's with the cold feet? You're tellin' me you haven't thought of the man ways having two of the same hot chick around isn't sexy?" Mineta, as dumb as he was, really didn't catch the memo.
Kaminari's face paled, waving his hands. "Nope, not digging this grave,"
"Hm, he's right, y'know," Azuru stood right behind Mineta. Her glare and pleasant smile unnerving the short boy. "I can already tell we'd get along well if you existed in my world, so hey, let's be friends. My name is Yuki Hiroshi Azuru, oh, and did you meet Siva? He's my partner and basically family to me, say 'Hi' Siva," She cooed as a blue flash appeared behind her.
Mineta was trembling when a towering projection of a Fallen stood over Azuru. His mismatched helmet glaring down at the boy. "|Greetings Mineta | I sure hope you refrain from inappropriate comments about Yuki around me |I may side with humanity, but one more corpse under my belt is no skin off my nose|," He leaned down until the boy was white as a ghost. "|Do I make myself clear?|,"
Mineta passed out after that, and SIVA vanished back into Azuru's body. This earned a round of applause from the girls, and a cold sweat of fear from the guys. "YOU'RE THE BEST!/LET'S NOT EVER PISS HER OFF..."
"Huh, a nano projection, gotta jot that down..." Hiroshi scribbled into her own notebook, which looked exactly like Izuku's Hero Analysis books. The greenette just smiled with a sigh, closing his eyes.
"They really aren't all the different, huh?" It was oddly funny and terrifying.
With Akio's reassurance they could spend a short amount of time in Hiroshi's world, the aforementioned girl had a suggestion. One, that now that Azuru considered it, was getting cold feet about.
She stood off to the side of UA's gate, tapping her right foot rapidly to the tempo of her heartbeat, attempting to breathe slowly to keep from suffering from a panic attack, but with SIVA back together, that would be unlikely. Ahead of her by the road, Hiroshi waved to the people approaching from the pathway. The second she heard the words leave Hiroshi's lips, Azuru felt her whole body seize up.
"Mom, Dad, hey!" Hiroshi grinned as she was suddenly assaulted by a the hand smacked across the side of her head. "Ow! Why!?"
"Don't 'why' me! You were in a villain attack, again!?" Her mother, Mira Hiroshi, scolded her eldest daughter, yanking her shoulders back and forth. "Are you trying to give us a heart attack, you little... grah, I'm mad I can't even think of a proper sentence!"
Then, just as quickly, Mira wrapped her daughter into a tight hug. "I'm freakin' proud of you, but Jesus Christ, please stop trying to get yourself killed! ...quirk or not, we hate hearing about this,"
Hiroshi smiled fondly, hugging her Mom back. "Sorry, but if it makes it any better, it wasn't really in the school's control this time," She replied as her Dad, Fuyuki Hiroshi, ruffled her hair, his face was much more calm but he was worried to say the least.
"As long as you're safe and you understand, okay?" Hiroshi nodded, hugging her Dad too.
For a time, Azuru kept her head down, she couldn't look, this didn't concern her. This wasn't her place, she should just go back home with Akio now, they had an important job to do after all, pleasantries were after the war, not during. She didn't-
|It's okay to be afraid|
Again, Siva read her like a book, and her legs refused to cooperate. With Hiroshi, she explained the situation as delicately as possible to her obviously worried and confused parents. She held her hands out to keep her Mom from exploding with questions. "-it's very complicated, but she's 'Me' from another world to be as simple as possible, so alternate worlds do exist but considering the world we live in that shouldn't be a surprise, but I, huh...?" Her father patted her shoulder, glancing over to Mira who stared at Azuru who kept herself as small as possible in the shadow of UA's archway.
Mira approached Azuru, keeping her lips pulled into a thin line, critiquing the girl's appearance head to toe. Azuru's body tensed up, head low as she forced herself to meet the woman's intense silver eyes. Azuru's mother was everything she remembered her to look like. Those silver irises locked into a permanent glare, akin to Kyoka's. The long, silky deep blue hair that fell to her lower back, the gentle features with a touch of sharpness, a mixture of beauty and the delinquent lifestyle she once had. It was her mother in every aspect, there was no imperfections.
"S-s-sorry, for this, a-and if m-must be confusing a-a-and a l-little hard t-to believe," Azuru was a sputtering mess, playing with her bangs, a faint blush rising to her face. "I-I d-don't look l-l-like I should an-and if i-it's too much I-I can g-go, have stuff t-to do and-and I..." Her words froze up, a tender hand rubbing the blemish on her left cheek. Silver met reddish-blue.
Mira's fierce stare never once broke, but a tiny smile crossed her lips, satisfied with her prodding of the child before her. "Scales are new, same for the eyes and scars, God... you're probably more reckless..." Shaking her head, she patted Azuru's cheek, staring into those big, startled eyes. "A bit different, but you're definitely my daughter, no mistake there,"
"I-I-I..." Years of questions Azuru never got round to asking her Mother, about her future, of high-school, crushes and romance. The memories she never got to share with her, days out together as Mother and Daughter, the teasing she would've endured about Izuku or the rants about Katsuki's attitude. The times she could say she loved her to her face, and her Mother would snort a laugh, ruffling her hair as she said it back in her own, tomboyish way. "...m-*hic*-mom..." Tears trickled down her face, hiccupping.
Those years building up a wall came crashing down as she pushed her head against her Mom's chest, sobbing loudly into her arms as she collapsed to her knees, crying out the years of loss and grief. Mira was taken back by the reaction, but from what her daughter told her, she understood enough that this child had been through enough. Wrapping her arms around Azuru, she let the bluette bawl her eyes out.
Hiroshi smiled, then sharply jabbed her father's side, cocking her head at them, she knew him well enough to see he wasn't sure if he should do the same. "She won't get this chance again," Was all Hiroshi said, and soon, Fuyuki had settled on patting the top of Azuru's head like he always did, letting the girl scream out her anguish in their embrace. Hiroshi moved to lean against the wall, content to let them be for as long as it takes.
To the outside world, under a golden afternoon sun, Azuru wept into the arms of the loving mother who combed her hair with her fingers while her father rubbed her bad in slow circles. And sitting on the young girl's shoulder, Siva leaned his back against her neck, hands resting on her shoulder with a proudly feeling in his eyes.
To Be Continued...
This was alot more tricky to write than any other scenario thus far. Getting around the whole fact there were Two Yukis was easy, but then there's the aftermath, and while I could've done a bunch with Hiroshi's friends comparing the two, I just decided on the Mineta bashing instead, worth it. And that last scene I had thought of it when creating this arc, and I loved it, something I think Azuru needed in her life since the opportunity presented itself.
This rollercoaster of emotions is nearly over, but what else is in store for Yuki? I hope you enjoyed, appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Guardians!
Next Chapter Intermission: A Pact Unbroken
Azuru stood with her hands joined with Hiroshi's. "I'm gonna miss you, the one woman who understands me!"
"I know right!? I have so many questions for Siva!" Hiroshi wept tears at the misfortune. "But duty calls..."
"Just remember-" Azuru stated.
"You're awesome without a quirk - oh hey, jinx - crap..." The pair sighed together while SIVA stood nearby, staring at the screen while the pair continued to copy each others' sentences.
"Well, while they handle this, the final chapter for this arc is next, A Pact Unbroken," He stared at the images behind him of the Tower, UA, and the two Yukis. "It's time to say goodbye, Continue On-" Both Yukis tackled themselves atop his frame, throwing up peace signs.
"-TOWARDS THE LIGHT! JINX AGAIN - DAMMIT!"