Hello again, everyone. Well, with one Hero officially marking the first casualty of this desperate mission to stop Pietro from escaping to Sakhalin Island, and after such a devastating diversionary attack to keep our Heroes off his tail, time is running out as the Hokkaido Arc's climactic final battle continues on. I hope you've all been getting plenty of excitement out of this arc, especially this last handful of chapters. If so, please share your feedback or opinions through an honest review. This past week has been unfortunately slow for me in terms of writing speed, but I'm hoping to pick up the pace again in the coming weeks as I write out the remainder of this arc, especially in preparation for the future arcs to come.

I'd like to once more express thanks to my beta readers Mizu and Jonny, as well as my current roster of contributing artists through DA: Syyndev, Akane Kahomi and Suki-Chan2509. If all goes well, that number will only proceed to slowly but surely grow, alongside the audience of readers this story has already accrued. I of course also wish to thank each and every last one of you for your continued readership over this past year and a half. Here's to a successful and enjoyable indeterminate future that the rest of this story will take, for us all to experience together.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters and the original events surrounding them.

A/N: [[]] indicates that characters are contextually speaking Russian.

Chapter 83

Interception

(Перехват)

The air was suffocating, thick with the acrid stench of smoke and dust as Tenya, Tetsutetsu and Maja all tried to fight through the all-encompassing pains throughout their bodies (especially thanks to the damage Tenya had already suffered to his armor beforehand), and the unbearable ringing in their heads while trying to get back on their feet.

Their vision was all muddled, but it didn't take long for them to realize that they were now lying amid the half-destroyed woods that had previously stood just opposite the old Gagaringrad hospital. Half of their surroundings now lay completely flattened, but their momentary delirium gave way to the worst kind of clarity once the three teens had looked ahead, and found that very same hospital now reduced to a colossal pile of flaming rubble.

[[SENSEI!]] Tenya and Tetsutetsu simultaneously cried out once the ringing in their heads had stopped; both boys rushing out of the demolished forest and to the edge of the rubble, looking upon it all in temporary helplessness. All at once had the memories of just what exactly had happened that landed them in the woods to begin with come rushing back; particularly of Knightfall's final action to save them all just before that naval artillery strike had landed.

With the sheer scale of the destruction that had been wrought, Tetsutetsu's voice was already starting to crack as he finally spoke: [[Iida…you didn't see Sensei sweep himself up off the roof with us at the last second…did you?]]

Tenya was likewise clutching his hands into trembling white-knuckled fists as his head hung in miserable regret; the destroyed portion of his mask fortunately facing away from his fellow intern so that he couldn't see the anguish reflected in his eyes. [[No…I didn't.]]

The resilience both boys were exercising to keep from breaking down into agonizing tears was admirable, but even from where she stood behind them while looking upon the wreckage, Maja could just feel the sadness between them. How could she have possibly blamed them? Their mentor, Hokkaido's Asteroid Hero Knightfall, had used the very last of his strength to save the three of them, even when he knew that doing so would leave him open and ultimately get him killed. Such selflessness was a textbook Heroic action, nobody in their right mind would be able to argue against that.

But it didn't make the pain of Tenya and Tetsutetsu's loss any less poignant. They both knew that if Pony and Yui had been here to witness this, they undoubtedly wouldn't have been able to fight the instinctive urge to let all their pain out for all to see and hear, any more than the two boys could.

"Hello?! Someone?! Knightfall-san, anyone! We need help! We're stuck in here! It's getting harder to breathe!"

The forlorn silence between the three was suddenly broken by the muffled yet distinct sound of other voices emanating from deep within the mountains of rubble. This thankfully managed to snap Tenya and Tetsutetsu both to full attention, as they came rushing onto the scene, looking about everywhere for the first sign of a person, while Maja quickly followed after them, her hands already beginning to run with her Wax as she called out into the first opening amid the steel and concrete: "Keep calling out, let us follow your voices, please! We'll help you!"

"Make sure nothing we lift is load-bearing, we don't want to put them at any greater risk!" Tenya reminded his fellows as they ventured further, listening closely for the nearest voices within the rubble. Thankfully they all sounded to be clustered close together, making it thankfully quick for the three to pinpoint where to start digging, with Tetsutetsu's Iron skin adding to his strength in lifting up entire piles of concrete, while Maja hurriedly bound each one together with her Wax to keep it all from coming back down.

Finally uncovered was a small handful of dirtied and bloodied police officers, all of them instinctively shielding their eyes from the sudden sunlight before taking the hands of the three teens and finally getting pulled out onto their feet again. What was more, was that further inside the pile, likewise trying to dig their way out into the open, were the two blonde-haired adults that Maja recognized as Valera's parents; both looking similarly roughed up, but thankfully not too terribly hurt by some god-given miracle.

[[Is there anybody else trapped down there?]] Tenya immediately asked while Maja hurriedly did the same for the sake of the police, but thankfully the officers all adamantly shook their heads. "Thankfully, no. We'd gotten the rest of the adults from the basement, that large young Villain with the missing arms the older man in the wheelchair and the rest of our fellow officers through that doorway into the Arakisu hospital just before this one got hit."

[[And what about you two? It couldn't possibly have taken so long for you to get evacuated with the others before the whole building collapsed.]] Maja proceeded to ask Valera's parents, only for Alexei to immediately step forward with considerable aggression.

[[How could you expect us to just leave when our son is still out there with that psychopath?]] The frantic volume of his tone naturally spurred Tenya to step in and try to pacify the tension (even though the police were similarly trying to intervene and tell the two adults of just how dangerous it was for them to still be here), before a moment of silence finally made him realize something: [[Wait…do you all hear that?]]

Tetsutetsu, Maja and the rest of the police were instinctively bracing themselves for another whistling of incoming artillery at his words…but after a few precious moments, what had gotten his attention so thoroughly had now gained theirs as well, as Tetsutetsu muttered softly: [[That roar of water…it's gone.]]

"Could this mean…?" The moment the first of the police officers asked this to their fellows, just as they were finally being rejoined by their fellow officers from the woods, the three teens hurriedly over to the spot that had the best overlooking view of Gagaringrad, just to at least confirm they weren't simply still dealing with the persistent ringing in their ears.

However, what they were met with dwarfed whatever shock they could have felt upon seeing that the whitewater wall had finally collapsed, for the entire expanse of the town had now been reduced to a waterlogged ruin, as though it had been literally erased off the face of the large cove by a tidal wave.

Tenya was already taking off like a human bullet before the sensation of frigid dread could freefall into the pit of his stomach, with Tetsutetsu and Maja following after him just as quickly as they both could; their hearts and minds beyond frantic for the well-being of their friends down below.

The frigid cold and weightlessness within the complete blackness didn't register to Nikolay until his brain had finally started to process that he was suddenly unable to breathe, wherever he was. He couldn't even allow himself to acknowledge the realization that he was officially underwater, as he couldn't even figure which direction was up and which was down. Right now he simply needed to try and find his way out, as he could feel the burning sensation in his lungs already starting to build. He was mere seconds from blacking out and drowning.

Focusing as much of his Quirk's stored power as he could on such short notice, Nikolay tried to channel it all into a full-body refraction, all the while hoping it would be able to make a difference when completely submerged like he was. Thankfully his body didn't feel to be pinned under anything, so he at least had that advantage in terms of moving around.

BWOOM!

With an all-surrounding seismic burst from out of his body and costume, Nikolay was able to create a expanding and momentary bubble of air for himself, as the water and all debris surrounding him got blown outward from his desperate move, finally granting him the benefit of daylight and an idea of just where he now was, in the now-cleared wreckage of a multitude of collapsed houses that had ultimately all laid out on top of him.

Breathing in deep, Nikolay's eyes took several seconds to readjust to the light, before finally beholding the flattened and flooded expanse of what had once been Gagaringrad, with waterlogged vehicles and the shells of the few buildings still standing, amid the countless others that were now simply floating pieces of wood and steel as far as his eyes could see.

[[Kolya-san! Over here!]] [[Kolya-kun, are you okay?!]]

The distant voices of Kyouka and Mina respectively calling out from his right drew Nikolay's attention immediately, overwhelmed with relief to see the two girls still in one piece, albeit just as thoroughly soaked to the bone as he was, while they were both struggling with their trudging through all the debris to rejoin him.

Nikolay immediately came rushing up to them with just as much anxiousness, almost immediately meeting them both with an immensely relieved hug, just like Mina herself immediately met him with before they could come crashing into one another. Amid all of it, Nikolay could barely keep his voice from cracking as he finally spoke: [[Thank God you're both okay! Are either of you hurt? Where are the others?]]

Thankfully, it didn't take long for him to get his answer, as they could soon hear the sound of other pieces of debris getting blown away. Scattered all around them were the similarly rising forms of Monoma, Whiteout, Yui and Reiko popping out from the water and ruins; many of them similarly looking to be in one piece, albeit some more visibly bruised up than others. Thankfully they didn't take long to notice the trio of Class A students, and thus hurried to catch up to them, with Whiteout immediately taking charge: [[You three aren't badly hurt, are you? Have you seen any sign of High Noon-san, De-Condenser san or Tsunotori-chan, have you?]]

[[I only just got out of the water myself. Mina, Kyouka-san, did either of you see any sign of them?]] As Nikolay asked this, figuring that since he'd seen them standing closer to the edge of the woods, that meant they would have been able to avoid getting buried under the rubble, and therefore would have gotten out and searched the area much sooner; the looks of similar cluelessness and worry on both girls' faces left none of the Heroes feeling particularly encouraged.

[[Hey, hey! We ain't gone yet! Just wet!]] With no warning, Pony's naturally loud and bubbly voice suddenly came calling out from within the woods, catching all the others by complete pleasant surprise, as the wide-eyed horned young girl came stomping out into the open, struggling to get a couple small sticks and leaves out of her blonde hair, just before she found herself being crowded by all her allies, who were all the picture of relief to see she didn't look to be hurt beyond a couple bruises and scratches on her face.

[[Hey, all you out there! Hurry over here! We need help!]] Just as immediately did the sound of High Noon's voice come echoing out from further in the woods, and there was no mistaking the edge in her echoing voice to be nothing short of immense worry.

Like a shot did all they all come running through the sunken brush, and with just as much urgency as High Noon herself was voicing, did they come bursting out into the clearing she was calling out from, only to be stricken by the awful sight of High Noon, visibly bloodied and beaten up, kneeling and tending to an even worse-injured and unconscious De-Condenser.

The Density Hero had already looked like he was halfway dead thanks to the wound to his left hand that had long since completely engulfed his arm. But now, having been tossed about by the tidal wave like he was nothing, he had since gone into shock from all the pain of his compounded injuries, which included but weren't limited to a number of open lacerations and punctures all over his body, his right arm visibly broken in multiple places, and his left calf having been completely impaled clean through by a large tree branch that had been broken off in the force and speed of the wave.

[[I've been trying to tend to his wounds as best I can, but there's only so much I can do for him here,]] High Noon tried to explain once she saw the devastated looks on all the interns' faces. It didn't take any of the young Hero students being licensed doctors to know that De-Condenser was officially out for the count; a cementing of their current situation that left Nikolay, Mina and Kyouka trembling with pressure, fear and sadness all at once.

Taking in all of their accumulated injuries, how many of them were actually still standing, and then just the sheer scale of the damage that had been wrought upon Gagaringrad, Kyouka couldn't help but let out a sigh of shaky relief. [[I hate to say it now of all times…but with how fast that wave came in, it's a miracle we managed to get all the emergency forces and evacuation vehicles out of here in time.]]

[[Jirou-san is right. This had the potential to be far more disastrous than it already is.]] Reiko suddenly mumbled in full agreement, with Yui similarly nodding alongside her; earning an instinctive look of indignant betrayal from Monoma, although even he couldn't maintain that front for long when realistically thinking about the resources and time they'd even had to act.

[[EVERYONE! CAN ANY OF YOU HEAR ME?! IS ANYONE HURT?!]]

At that moment, the echoing power of Tenya's authoritative voice came echoing from across the flooded expanse, sending nearly all the Heroes running back out into the open, just in time to see the Class A president dashing over their way, with Tetsutetsu and, to all of their surprise, Maja rushing right after him; their faces showing just as much relief as they themselves felt, knowing the two boys were still on their feet.

[[It's a relief to see you here, you guys. We were all so worried when we saw what happened to the hospital.]] Nikolay immediately greeted them, while still taking in the heavily damaged state of Tenya's armor, and the extensive bruising and lacerations now adorning Tetsutetsu's skin.

[[What about you, Maja-chan? How did you even get here?]] Mina immediately asked the moment she had a chance, drawing everyone else's curious gazes to the young polish girl as well, who was still hunched over while trying to catch her breath.

[[It's a long story…but Pietro actually tried to send Jozef and another of our locals; someone with a Doorway-Making Quirk, to sneak into the hospital back in the city to kill me, Linguist and those two soldiers. I chased them back through the way they came and knocked them out before they could close it, which actually left a doorway for the police to come through.]]

As soon as she finished giving her explanation of what had nearly happened to her, Tetsutetsu similarly chimed in: [[Yeah, it was a damn lucky coincidence. Once I took out that guy with the Blackout Quirk, the police were able to get nearly all the adults from those basement cells through, so they're all safe. Same goes for that…third soldier you mentioned before, and that Konstantin guy those soldiers talked about as well. Unfortunately, not all the officers were able to get back through before that Pietro psycho bombed the hospital.]]

[[Yes, same goes for Valera-kun's parents, as well. They're all ultimately still okay, but the fact they're anywhere near this scene still is cause for concern.]] Tenya finally capped the whole retelling of their situation off, leaving all their fellow interns visibly shaken with just how much had been going on while they had been so similarly occupied.

[[The good news, though, is that we finally took care of that Grenade Launcher or Mortar Quirk bastard, too. Maja-san here really came through for us in the nick of time for that.]] Tetsutetsu tried to even slightly lighten the mood, nudging a surprised Maja in the arm with his elbow, before she then found herself being approached by the rest once again, with many of them showing visibly grateful expressions on their faces, with Nikolay and Mina of course being the most verbal about it: [[Thank you so much, Maja-san!]] [[Yeah, we all owe you big time, and that's a promise! You're our bestie for life for this!]]

[[So if there are still at least two civilians on the scene alongside the police, am I to understand that Knightfall-san is organizing things up there? With the water wall down, we can finally start having anyone who's left moved back to Arakisu City, and to safety.]] Whiteout finally asked upon pointing out the Asteroid Hero's absence.

However, what light was in the air among the Heroes instantly plummeted once they saw how the three returned teens' eyes fell to the ground with unmistakable regret and sorrow. So too did all the interns feel their hearts plummet and their blood go cold. This wasn't like the instance they had witnessed Best Jeanist nearly get killed back in the Kamino Ward months ago. This was an undeniable fact: a genuine seasoned Pro Hero they all knew, even the slightest bit well, was officially dead and gone forever. Even when Tenya tried to pull some inspiration from it all by explaining how he had acted as a true Hero to the very end by saving their lives, it did nothing to lessen any of their sadness and pain, especially his own.

Surprisingly, it was Maja who ended up being the first one to start breaking out into barely restrained choking sobs, drawing the worried gazes of all her fellows. She knew she couldn't possibly keep the truth to herself, and thus finally admitted: [[It's not just Knightfall-san, either. At one point while I was chasing Jozef back where he'd come from at the hospital, I tried to talk him down, and for a bit I thought it was working. But…b-but Linguist, he tried to get the drop on him to knock him out. I didn't want him to risk it, or send Jozef running again, so I-I told him to stop, and…and Jozef panicked and…a-and he ended up shooting Linguist right in the chest. I couldn't let them both get away, so I had no choice but to leave him to the police and the doctors, and I-I don't even know if there's anything even they could do for him in the state I last saw him in.]]

Much like Knightfall, the idea of the kindly old man that had proven such a massive help to them in carrying out this mission being potentially killed had left all the Heroes visibly wracked with emotion once more, with Mina, Momo and Pony both shedding worried tears much like Maja was.

However, out of all of them, Nikolay was the first one to regain an inspired look in his eyes as he met the gazes of each of his schoolmates and friends. [[He may be in better hands than you think, though, Maja-san. He applied his Quirk on everyone here except us in order to still communicate with each other and the people living here who didn't speak any Japanese.]]

The moment Nikolay mentioned this, one by one, his fellow interns all gained the same illuminated look of realization on their faces as he continued: [[Yeah, you all realize it too, don't you? If you're all still speaking Russian as fluidly as me and Maja-san are, then that means his Quirk's effect hasn't worn off, which must mean he's still alive back at the hospital. We need to take that and hold onto it for all we're worth, agreed?]]

Everyone else couldn't have voiced their agreement more clearly and loudly, which left a deeply relieved smile on all their faces at Nikolay's trying to maintain their spirits. Following on the tail end of that, High Noon's footsteps could be heard trudging through the water and mud of the woods behind them, and they all turned to find her standing with the unconscious De-Condenser's non-necrotic arm slung over her shoulders, while her eyes were similarly focused just behind the gathering of Heroes, to the distant but approaching sight of the several police officers rescued from the hospital ruins, with Valera's parents in tow. [[It sounds to me like you're all still going full-in on stopping Pietro, right? Good. Unfortunately, it hurts to even move just this much for me…and I can't leave Mitsudo-san out here like this. Those officers and civilians over there will still need protection on the way back into the city as well...but I can at least provide that much for them myself.]]

[[So then that leaves me as your sole Pro assistance then.]] Whiteout finally stated in determined finality as she looked all of the Hero interns and Maja over; a swelling of pride and inspiration building in her chest, which she could already start to see sparking within them as well as they came to the same realization. [[Very well. I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you all safe, and we can finally put an end to all of this together, young Heroes!]]

Emboldened by their remaining Pro Hero's faith in them, the students all looked back across the waterlogged expanse that was once Gagaringrad; the clear summer skies and late morning sunlight making the distant forms of Pietro's commandeered gunboat and submarine in the far distance both stand out like a sore thumb.

[[Alright, at this point, we've managed to remove the majority of Pietro's forces and nearly all of his closest soldiers. We've taken most of his advantages in a fight, other than his Quirk, Valera-kun, Giver-san…and Volga, as well as what townspeople he has left with him, and the crew of the gunboat. Either way, we can't let them get away—GAHH!]]

Nikolay's attempt at an inspiring speech was immediately cut off as a horrible pain suddenly flared all across his body from his right shoulder. Looking over, he and his friends quickly noticed how even under his costume, his shoulder was visibly misshapen, but it didn't feel as though it were broken. It was actually dislocated, and it was only now that his adrenaline had started to wane, that he was finally starting to feel it.

Fortunately, Mina and Momo were both quick to step in, with the former swiftly yet carefully jerking his shoulder back into place with a defined popping sound and a whole other torrent of agonizing pain; and the latter immediately following up by creating a small ice pack and a roll of gauze from out her own shoulders, hurriedly applying them both nice and tight.

With that momentary interruption having been dealt with, Nikolay's summation of their chances had been clear, but it and his recent injury both did little to quell the still-lingering uncertainty on the faces of some of his fellow students; namely Kyouka, Pony, Momo and Monoma, whom was the one to naturally answer the Russian boy's declaration:

[[Don't be so arrogant as to make it sound so easy, Class A! Don't forget that this Volga person, from what you described his Quirk as, just managed to flatten the entire town and nearly kill all of us! Even in his prime, I doubt he was powerful enough to do that! Who knows what else Giver-san's Quirk could make him capable of doing?]]

Momo's expression was one of unmistakable regret as she followed up: [[Monoma-san has a point, Bezpalov-san. You're right that we can't let them get away when we've come this far, but that attack has effectively removed De-Condenser-sensei and High Noon-sensei from our side, and we're all clearly not at our physical best anymore, either. You've ultimately proven that just now. We need to really think about how we're going to be able to approach the rest of this mission without needlessly injuring ourselves to the point we can't do anything further at the least opportune time.]]

Nikolay had to fight the natural urge to roll his shoulder to make sure it really had been popped back into place, while Mina was closely watching him, ready to jump in the instant she saw him wince in pain again. All the while, he had to take Momo's worries into consideration as he really looked over all of his fellow students. By now they all had their extensive shares of cuts and bruises, more than a few bleeding even now, at least until Mina was taking it upon herself to apply her salve where she could.

Nevertheless, it was true that they were far from the tip-top shape they had started this mission in, and that was more than enough of a reason for things to get even worse if they all went charging in, and the all-too-plausible worst case result was something Nikolay couldn't bring himself to justify, and that was but one reason for the first answer that came to mind:

[[The way things are now, it looks like me and Whiteout-sensei are the ones least injured right now…so if need be, we can cross that distance together while you all head back into Arakisu City, make sure everyone—

[[No! I'm not gonna just leave you to take them on by yourself, Kolya-kun, are you crazy?! None of us are!]] Mina immediately interjected, borderline screaming in disbelief and protest; Tenya and Kyouka just as quickly mirroring her intensity even a little bit:

[[Ashido-san is right; you're hardly in any better shape than the rest of us! Why on earth are you suddenly trying to sideline us?! Knightfall-sensei gave his life to save us, so that we could all be able to finally save the rest of the citizens of this town, and countless others from that madman's plot; you can't honestly expect us to just step back and let his sacrifice be for nothing, can you?]] [[Yeah, are you sure you didn't get your head rattled even worse than we thought by that wave! You try taking an attack like that on again, just the two of you, you could get yourselves killed!]]

With nearly all of Class A present protesting Nikolay's ill-thought out plan so vehemently, Tetsutetsu similarly came marching in, Maja quickly following suit: [[We all agreed we're gonna see this Villain brought to justice as a team, and that's final, Bezpalov! You ain't getting' rid of us by a long shot, especially not when we're finally at the home stretch! If we don't work together now, he's gonna get to that island, and you said it yourself: it's game over for everyone from there!]] [[Damn straight, there's no way in hell I'm falling back after everything that Pietro's done to us! So you can just throw all that last-second loner bullshit right out the window, you hear?!]]

Nikolay was already mentally kicking himself, wondering why in the hell he'd even thought such a weak-ass explanation or idea would have ever worked on his friends and schoolmates here. Even for as beaten up as they looked; even Monoma, Pony, Yui and Reiko looked equally as determined to stick the rest of this mission out as the rest of them. He couldn't have possibly expected any different, that's what made them all the Heroes they now were today to begin with. As inspiring a thought as that was, however; it still did nothing to ease his overlying concerns.

Sensing this unease in Nikolay's expression, Whiteout crossed her arms resolutely as she too chimed in: [[High Noon-san and De-Condenser-san have both gone through more than their fair shares of suffering over the course of this mission in order to help you all unlock your true potential as Heroes as well. Not only as students, but as future bearers of the torch of justice, you all have an inherent responsibility to see to it that their battle scars for the sake of all go on to mean something, too, just as much as your own; all of you.]]

With her point having been made, it seemed just about set in stone that they were all going out there, whether Nikolay was comfortable with it or not. A momentary clearing of the throat from Monoma suddenly stirred the attention of the rest of the group, and when they saw the flicker of uncertainty in his blue eyes, it even had his fellow Class B students looking visibly surprised.

Picking up on this, the blonde-haired young Hero anxiously swept a lock of his hair from his face, once more adorning that snarky wide grin on his face: [[Don't get the wrong idea, all you Class A insects: our classes will never truly be friends. I just don't want to give you all the satisfaction of gaining another easy win over Class B. This is a perfect opportunity for us to strike and earn our well-deserved place over you all when we bring this mission to a close with our own Quirks and capabilities, just you wait!]]

Not even his own classmates bought a word of his bravado at face value; many of them and the rest of the Class A students easily figuring it was just Monoma's natural way of hyping himself up and packing his lingering nervousness down. If it was able to fire up anyone else's spirit enough to carry them all the way through the last of the battles to come, then that was good enough.

However, while that whole revelation was going on, Mina chanced another glance to see the conflicted look in Nikolay's eye. However, with everyone having already voiced their dedication to sticking together as a team in the face of his fears, it was clear for her that this wasn't what was on his mind. And considering just who they all still had to contend with out there, it didn't take much for her to figure it out, as she cautiously stepped forward and gently tugged on the sleeve of his right arm.

[[You're thinking about that man: Volga, aren't you, Kolya-kun?]]

Nikolay somehow managed to look surprised, and utterly expectant of Mina having figured this out all in one, hence why she had no trouble continuing: [[That's why you just tried to have us all hang back, isn't it? Do you seriously wanna try going up against that one-on-one in the shape you're in?]]

Nikolay couldn't bring himself to directly answer his pink best friend's questions, and the fact he couldn't even look her in the eye, and showcased no physically aggressive body language at the mention of the former Pro Hero, caused two synapses in her brain to spark together, and make her come to a different, and ultimately worse realization: [[No…Kolya-kun, you can't seriously mean you don't even wanna fight him, but actually try and talk to him, can you?]]

Nikolay met Mina's own anxious gaze with one of utter imploring as he answered: [[I can't just forget who he used to be just like that, Mina. There has to be a part of that Pro Hero still buried deep down inside. Why would he have hesitated from killing me back at the Agency otherwise? He recognized me; I reached deep down enough into him to strike something no attack ever could. If there's any way I can end a possible battle with him that doesn't put any more of you at greater risk than we're already facing, then I have to take it, don't I?]]

Mina could easily relate to the sentimentality lining Nikolay's own conflicted-sounding words. With considerable regret, she sucked in a breath through her teeth. [[Look, I get that you have a lot of nostalgia about that guy; Kolya-kun. I wish it were possible for you to talk him back to the side of a Hero, I really do! But he just showed us how dangerous he is, and whose side he's really on! If you really believe you can reach out to him like that again, then you know I can't let you put yourself at that kind of risk without backup!]]

Nikolay's resultant sigh sounded like it carried the weight of the entire world with it. After everything they had all gone through together on this day alone, Nikolay couldn't believe he'd even once thought he could get them to step back and let him take what could have easily been a suicide mission entirely on his own. It was past the point of selflessness, it was downright foolish.

With his heart beating strong and steady with acceptance, especially when seeing the similarly determined and loyal looks on his fellow Hero interns' faces, echoing their previous declarations of sticking loyally together by his side once more; Nikolay looked back across the flooded ruins to the two sea craft ahead. They were all in this together to the very end, risks and all, and it was going to fall upon all their shoulders to ensure they all kept each other safe against the incredible dangers that still lay ahead.

[[I know.]] That was all he needed to say to tell Mina that he was accepting all of their help in this, their gravest moment yet; a sign that left her sighing with the greatest relief, instinctively reaching up to wipe the beginnings of worried and frightened tears from her eyes.

Over the course of but a minute, the gathering of Heroes finally managed to put together (in every sense of the term) their means of crossing the distance between themselves and the gunboat in the distance, knowing it had to be their first target before going after Pietro on the submarine, which they could only assume was his location to begin with.

Focusing their Quirks together, Yui systematically shrank down all the pieces of flat and curved debris that could float she was able to get her hands on, while Reiko brought them all together into the shape of a large multi-person sled, with Maja using her Wax to stick it all together. Once the craft itself had been built, Whiteout immediately proceeded to place herself at the forefront of it, emanating a sub-zero front from her hands to freeze the water and other wreckage before them solid, thus creating a sizeable trail of ice across the water out onto the open ocean beyond the cove, and to the gunboat.

Knowing all their respective strengths in the charge to come, Nikolay, Mina and Tenya all took their places at the rear side of the sled, their plan involving using his Kinetic Boosts, her Acid Slide and Tenya's natural speed to push the massive sled along while Whiteout continued laying down the ice road ahead for them.

All the while, Momo, Reiko, Yui, Pony and Monoma (Copying Momo's Quirk once more) stood in formation in the center; all knowing their role was to be focusing on any further artillery attacks the gunboat would send their way once realizing they were approaching, still in one piece. As much as they could all only hope they would be able to close this distance before getting fired upon, they were all still bracing themselves to fight back to knock any projectiles out of the sky to keep their momentum going.

As soon as the craft was ready and everyone was in position, they could all feel the weight of finality fall upon their shoulders: this was it, there was no turning back or time to think any more. This was the time to begin the final stretch of their mission, against the strongest of Pietro's soldiers and the man himself with the rest of his brainwashed soldiers to boot. There were so many different ways this plan could go indescribably wrong, and they all knew it, just as much as they knew they were the only ones that could do this to begin with.

With that grim resignation taking hold, and with her hands gripping the rim of the sled in a trembling hold, Mina had to bite her lower lip in order to steel herself, before finally glancing to Nikolay at her right; his own goggled eyes focusing intensely on the path ahead.

She hurriedly shook her head, knowing just as well as the others did, that she needed to keep her head focused on the task at hand. However, there was still no way she could just keep what was burning painfully in her head to herself for a moment longer, on the chance this all went terribly wrong. And so, with her arms now shaking entirely all the way up to her shoulders, Mina looked to Nikolay again.

[[Kolya-kun…I just want you to know that…that when we get everyone back to safety, out of Pietro's control, and we save the day; after all that, there's something super duper important I have to tell you.]]

This managed to break Nikolay's near trance-like focus as he glanced her way with momentary hopeless confusion. However, when he saw just how focused Mina now looked, it clicked in his head just what this ultimately was, what she was doing by telling him this:

This was Mina's way of assuring him, of assuring herself and all of them at once, that she was going to do everything in her power to keep them all safe once things got ugly. That was exactly the kind of encouragement they all were most in need of right now before they came charging in, and Nikolay was more than willing to voice it himself, as he too gripped the rim of the sled with white knuckles.

[[I have something really important to tell you too, Mina…and I will when this is all over, I promise.]]

Mina had to physically fight back the instinctive swell of excitement rushing up her throat at what she could only hope he was insinuating, just like the boy himself had to do upon hearing her initial words as well. Now was the time for action more than anything else; and so with their hearts all ablaze, the trio of Nikolay, Mina and Tenya finally took off through their respective Quirks, pushing the giant sled forward across the ice path Whiteout kept laying down at the front; the ice thankfully being thick and sturdy enough to support all their combined weight.

Within seconds, they had finally managed to cross the flooded Gagaringrad ruins and make it out onto what was to be considered open water…all the while, none of the Heroes ever being aware of a single lost pair of Mei Hatsume's provided tiny protective ear-buds floating listlessly in the water in their wake, having long since been lost and forgotten in the wake of the tidal wave.

Even as the waters beneath the submarine continued to rock and churn with the kind of force to actually tilt the colossal steel behemoth even the slightest bit in the aftermath of Volga's tidal wave attack, Pietro Granin was still riding an utter emotional high as he breathed deep of the ocean air. Yes, the loss of many of his oldest soldiers and such a good portion of his new recruits was regrettable, but now that all those pesky Heroes had been taken care of, the man was just about ready to finally lay eyes on the shores of Sakhalin Island again, and finally start truly rebuilding his army for good.

However, that was all before his ears were able to pick up the faintest out of place bursting of bass amid the ocean's roar, specifically coming from the shoreline. When he turned back to see most of the Heroes still in one piece, and now crossing the water on an expanding road of ice, his infuriated roar nearly sounded like it would tear his throat asunder. Without hesitation, he was already nearly smacking away at his earpiece: [[Comrade Kuznetsov, Comrade Volga, you have hostiles approaching your position from your 8 o'clock! Intercept with deadly force now!]]

[[They still haven't started trying to attack! Do you think they haven't noticed our approach yet, Sensei?]] Monoma asked once they had been traversing across the open water for nearly half a minute without getting further artillery fire rained down upon their heads. It was a pleasant thought, but given just who they were up against, and how tough things had been fro m the very start, nobody was willing to bet on it, as Whiteout explained while continuing to lay down a frozen path:

[[Not a chance. They're likely just waiting for us to get in range to where they won't be as likely to miss. All of you keep your eyes and ears open and do exactly what I say when I say it, understand? This is do or die time for all of us.]]

BKOO-BKOO-BKOO-BKOOM!

Right on the worst kind of cue, the air was punctuated by the rhythmic deafening roar of cannon fire, with the descending whistles piercing through the cacophony almost immediately after, as numerous devastating rounds came free falling for where their ice road was about to take them.

[[BRACE YOURSELVES, EVERYONE, I'M DIVERTING COURSE! KEEP YOUR QUIRKS READY FOR COUNTER-FIRE! STEERAGE, RIGHT!]]

At Whiteout's command, the trio ultimately driving the sled diverted the aim of their Quirks and their body weight to the right, while the Blizzard Hero just as quickly turned her arctic flurry in the same direction, allowing them to swing wide around the focused section of the ice that got hammered down upon in a fiery explosive torrent just behind them.

[[LEFT!]] Just as quickly did they find themselves turning back, just as another concentration of cannon fire let out its own deafening rapport in another attempt to blast them all right out of the water. It was getting especially close; they could all feel the heat of the explosions right beside them, but they couldn't let that mounting fear break their momentum, otherwise it would all be over.

With the third round of artillery, Whiteout gave no command to turn around, thus instead allowing all the other capable young Heroes waiting behind her to focus on the incoming projectiles, and ultimately start utilizing their Quirks together to blast them all out of the sky before they could make impact, with Yui throwing several more bolts from her pouches for Reiko to guide before she would grow them much bigger, thus causing half the rounds to impact against them and explode in mid-air; all while Momo and Monoma together used some slingshots they created to fire other disrupting small objects for the others, and Maja hurriedly erected some large Wax shields to hold over their heads to protect them from any shrapnel or heat. It was getting insanely close, but there was no denying that it was working, as they were getting closer and closer to the gunboat.

However, that was when the once flat and sturdy ice road beng laid out before them started to rock, dip and rise, earning several surprised shouts from the students as they felt the full brunt of this shift in terrain. Tetsutetsu in particular already looked like he was about to be sick. [[Whoa! Hey, what gives, Sensei? Aren't things intense enough without taking us for a thrill ride?]]

[[It's not me doing this, Real Steel-kun1 Look at the waters around us!]] Whiteout warned. Upon looking, the students were all met with the sight of the sea water all around them churning and growing in height and depths, as though a multitude of stormy waves were being conjured up from right under their feet; the threat of their ice road breaking apart from under their feet growing by the second.

[[It's Volga! He's gotta be trying to throw us off!]] Nikolay exclaimed in realization, just as they reached the biggest dip in the ocean surface yet, nearly sending them sliding down the resulting icy slope in freefall, before just as quickly reaching the bottom and having their momentum, alongside Nikolay's boosts, Tenya's Engines and Mina's slide, send them speedily ascending the face of another near colossal tidal wave.

Unfortunately, just from the sheer height of the water they were still sliding upon, it was already clear it would take astronomical luck for them to reach the top of it and avoid getting swallowed up by the water. And this wasn't any clearer for anyone but Kyouka and Monoma, who both went by sheer gut instinct as to what to do to save their whole team. As she hurriedly planted her Earphone Jacks into Nikolay's hands, Monoma similarly took that chance to nearly legit smack him on the shoulder, before then focusing on the path directly above, aiming his hands back, just like the young Slav himself often did.

[[EVERYONE WHO CAN ADD TO SPEED, FIRE OFF WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!]] Kyouka shouted as she already began sending multiple powerful pulses down into Nikolay's body through her jacks in his hands, and Maja began applying a coating of her Wax to the feet and hands of nearly everyone inside, in order to keep them from getting tossed off the sled and into the abyss.

With Tenya starting them off with another [[RECIPRO BURST]], Nikolay began firing off through his feet with everything he had, both their added speed and power sending them well past the speed of sound, but Monoma's added Kinetic Blasts from his hands gave them that much more of an edge, to finally come shooting right up over the peak of the wave, momentarily sending the whole Hero team and their makeshift sled airborne and arcing just to the airspace directly above the gunboat; the waters below already calming as soon as they had cleared it all.

As miraculous as their escape from the sudden storming waters had been, it still did nothing to lessen the sheer impact of their sled finally landing upon the deck of the boat, even with Whiteout and Maja alike trying to create some kind of structure to break their fall. The sled still ultimately came to pieces, leaving the whole bunch of Heroes momentarily disoriented from their forceful landing, even though they all knew they should have been relieved to have made it to the gunboat.

KA-CHIK! KA-CHIK! KA-CHIK!

[[C'mon men, don't give them an inch of ground! Kill 'em all!]]

The sudden sound of multiple rifles being cocked, and the aggressive Russian voices to go with them, instinctively sent Maja and Mina's defensive actions into auto-pilot, as she hurriedly swung her whole body upon the deck, sending a large quick-drying wall of Wax from her arms and legs to serve as a last second shield for the rapport of gunfire that followed, shattering through it just in time for Mina to subsequently throw up an Acid Veil to melt down the rest.

The Heroes all quickly spread out in preparation to act, with Momo and Monoma already in the process of making more sleeping gas bombs like they had before, only to quickly notice that the sailors that had revealed themselves through the shattered windows of the cabin and the door down below, had all taken the preemptive action of donning gas masks like theirs.

A timely Kinetic-accelerated throw of Nikolay's two tied-together large tuning forks, managed to systematically destroy the rifles of the sailors actually on the deck, thus buying the two creating Heroes to get behind cover before the people in the cabin could open fire again, while Nikolay himself had to desperately sprint for the side of the cabin itself in order to get out of the open with the others.

[[With those gas masks, we're going to have to neutralize them much more manually to free them from Pietro's influence.]] Whiteout realized, which spurred Tetsutetsu to step forward alongside a similarly inspired-looking Pony, who was in the middle of popping off yet another set of her horns.

[[Then we'll just need to keep them confined so they can't keep moving around everywhere. Hey, Yanagi-san! Let's try to drive them back inside!]] Tetsutetsu's command echoed across the deck to Reiko, currently hiding behind one of the anti-aircraft guns lining the deck. She thankfully not only seemed to understand what her classmate was suggesting, but also had plenty of tools to work with, not just because of Yui right across the deck from her with Monoma and Momo.

Focusing her sight on the numerous fragments of shattered guns and Maja's Wax, Reiko began to pull them all her way en masse, only for the sailors in the cabin to immediately start hammering her position with gunfire the moment they saw where it was all collecting.

FLOOSH!

Within seconds, Reiko found that while the gunfire didn't stop, the sparks of lead against her cover indeed had. Chancing only the briefest peak, she found there was now a large glob of thick and hardened wax thrown over her cover, serving as a temporary wall, especially since she could hear it breaking apart piece by piece as the bullets continued to fly. However, this didn't discourage her, as she instead focused on collecting those pieces together with her as well, looking back and giving Maja a grateful nod all the while.

As soon as she knew she had enough, she began cautiously making her way across the deck toward Yui, prompting Maja to continue throwing one heavy and expanding glob of her Wax after another, soon forming a temporary barricade spanning the width of the deck, allowing herself and Reiko to reach Yui's position, with the grey-haired girl's collecting of small debris still in tow.

While they proceeded to work out whatever plan they had between them, Tetsutetsu, Pony, Mina, Kyouka, Tenya and Nikolay had likewise proceeded to start working together to try and neutralize the soldiers on deck and in the cabin; with Tetsutetsu throwing himself out into the open as a distraction and cover while Nikolay and Kyouka using their respective Quirks to channel their power through the hull and sending major bursts of sound and concussive blasts out from the floors and walls of the cabin, driving the sailors and their guns away from the windows.

At the same time, Pony and Mina were both being darted from one spot to the next by Tenya; the former firing her horns to try and pin whichever of the sailors in the open she could to the walls to keep them from carrying on the fight; and the latter throwing up one Acid Veil after another to protect all of them from any bullets able to still be fired their way.

As soon as the wax wall cutting off the deck finally crumbled to bits from the last barrage of gunfire, Momo urgently called out from her cover: [[EVERYONE DUCK!]]

The rest of the students immediately did as they were told, and with that, Momo, Monoma and Reiko all proceeded to throw a number of what looked like cylindrical handheld canisters across the deck towards the cabin windows and the door through which the remaining sailors on deck were thankfully starting to back away.

BOOM! BOOM!

With a series of restrained bursts, the canisters all exploded in mid-air to release a near cloud of what looked like tiny bits of gun debris and wax crumbles, which upon Yui acting on her assigned cue, all proceeded to suddenly start growing in mid-air, forcing the sailors back through the door, and simultaneously growing enough to completely block up the busted out windows of the cabin as well. It was definitely not the smoothest of plans to buy themselves some breathing room, but it was a start, and that was all Whiteout needed from them, before finally capitalizing on the cease in gunfire by expelling another blizzard wind from her hands, completely freezing the collective masses of wax and debris together to the hull of the boat, encasing both the sailors' viewpoints and exits in ice; taking the care to do the same for the nearby door to the cabin itself.

[[That's not going to hold them for very long. We need to try and remove their masks so we can use Yaoyorozu-san's sleeping gas grenades again.]] Tenya noted with no less urgency than before, the rest of the students clearly looking to be of the same mind, before Maja snapped her fingers in realization.

[[I took the time to memorize the layout of this boat when we first took it. There's some emergency exit hatches to the deck from the engine room below out feet. That's undoubtedly where all the sailors behind the deck door would be heading right now. Yanagi-san, do you have to make eye contact with whatever you try to move with your Quirk in order for it to do anything?]]

The moment Reiko shook her head in denial, that only seemed to make Maja's smile that much more confident. [[Then this could be our one shot to take care of at least the sailors down below. I think I remember Ljubomir saying the crew was about thirty people-strong, and there were about six I could see up in the cabin, so that would mean twenty-four masks are what Yanagi-san will need to focus on removing for this to work.]]

Considering the different emergency hatches protruding at four different points on the corners of the deck, Mina suddenly lit up with an idea of her own. [[Hey, hey, what if I could melt just a little hole in the deck, and Rei-chan could pull all their gas masks up and away through that? Then Maja-chan could block it off, and the rest of you guys could throw Yaomomo's sleeping gas through the hatches then? We could be able to handle that super quick, and then do the same thing with the cabin, right?]]

Mina could feel her heart start racing with excitement when she saw that even Momo and Tenya looked fairly impressed by her train of thought with this plan alongside Maja's. Nikolay and Whiteout likewise didn't seem to find any inherent flaws in it, considering their circumstances…although there was still a considerable look of worry evident in the Russian's eyes.

[[It's a good plan, especially since it doesn't involve any clear risk t the sailors' safety if we pull it off quick enough. The only thing that bothers me is that there hasn't been any sign of Volga anywhere out here. If Pietro is managing the battlefield from the submarine, it would only make sense that he would want his strongest soldier managing his primary means of infiltrating Sakhalin Island, wouldn't it?]]

GRRRRRRRRRROAN!

Before even one of his partners could answer, the entire gunboat began to tilt to its starboard side, nearly sending several of them stumbling off their feet and over the edge into the sea. In fact, the ship was actually continuing to be pulled forward even as its slant never lessened. With their hearts and confusion all at a peak, the Heroes all turned to the starboard edge, and what they saw had left them all but momentarily speechless, before Monoma finally exclaimed: [[IT'S A DAMN MAELSTROM!]]

Just beyond the gunboat's rail, the waters had all begin to start swirling clockwise into itself with quickly growing area and speed, pulling the boat along with its current, completely helpless.

But they wouldn't let it stay so for long, as Whiteout, Momo and Monoma quickly jumped into action, with the Blizzard Hero firing another sub-zero wind from her hands reaching all the way out to her sides, rapidly freezing the swirling waters around them and the expanse of the maelstrom into ice. At the same time, the two students were hurriedly trying to create as many bombs of liquid nitrogen as they could, and throwing them into the current just as fast, creating more and more frigid mist and ice with every burst that followed.

Unfortunately, the strength of the maelstrom's current was too much even for Whiteout's Quirk, as the ice continued to break apart into fast flowing little icebergs just as fast as it could be made to begin with. The rest of the Heroes could quickly recognize the futility of this preemptive action, especially Nikolay, as his eyes frantically searched the swirling slopes of water for the first sign of Volga; he could just feel in his gut that there was no way in hell he couldn't have been the one doing this.

[[He's gotta be in there somewhere! If we don't stop him soon, he'll bring all this water right down on us all!]] Nikolay warned his partners as soon as he could see just how far into the depths they had already been pulled in. This was their last possible chance before they would be completely consumed in his trap.

All time for reason and pre-planning went right out of Nikolay's head the moment he was able to see the vaguest human shape within the maelstrom, as he immediately acted upon it once he did; launching himself up and over from the deck, flying at high speed across the maelstrom towards the figure, the surprised cries of his partners drowned out by the oceanic roar.

Nikolay fought through the frigid air biting at his face, as he began to repeatedly springboard himself off of every iceberg his feet or hands could meet, ricocheting himself all around the maelstrom in pursuit, as he could see Volga's form hastily swim with the current away from him, forcing the young Russian Hero to continuously give chase, boosting himself to go faster and faster with every landing, before finally landing his trajectory for the spot Volga was just about to reach, firing at full blast from his hands and feet aiming in front and behind himself, in order to keep himself moving forward, and blast apart the water ahead just enough that he could slam into his opponent without the water breaking his momentum.

WHAM!

Timing decided to be merciful, as Volga actually failed at stopping himself in time, thus causing Nikolay to drive straight into his center mass at full force, sending them both flying through the now engulfing frigid oceanic depths like a pair of human torpedoes; thankfully breaking Volga's concentration enough to dispel his maelstrom, causing the water to all come flowing back in and leveling out, while thankfully managing to not end up flipping the gunboat over in its entirety in the process, by nothing more than a miracle.

The moment the initial shock had worn off, Volga was already proceeding to bind his hands together into one balled up fist, repeatedly slamming them down on Nikolay's upper back as he continued to repeatedly fire out his feet to keep them moving. In his growing frustration, Volga soon began to focus his Quirk, condensing all the water around them onto their exact spot, bringing all of that liquid weight bearing down on them. He knew his reinforced suit would be able to handle the pressure, but Nikolay would ultimately end up getting crushed under it where he now floated.

However, even if the boy had no true understanding of what Volga was trying to do, his Quirk was bristling and growing in power all over his body as some kind of natural warning sign of just what kind of threat was coming his way. And that's what triggered the memories of his camp training to come rushing right back. It had all been about using his Quirk to keep himself mobile even against tremendous environmental weight, and there wasn't a more clear cut example of such a threat as this very moment.

Against his reasoning, Nikolay, just for a moment, released his grip on Volga while the former Hero had his back to the surface. Before he could proceed to act on crushing the boy under all the pressure, however; Nikolay then proceeded to fire a rapid series of Kinetic boosts from his hands and feet all aiming downward, propelling himself upward like a rocket straight into Volga once more; the burning in his extremities driving him to only continue firing against the weight for everything he was worth, until they both finally breached high into the air, finally allowing Nikolay to breathe deep, free of the burning sensation in his lungs.

Unfortunately, Volga wasn't about to let Nikolay get away with his escape, as he hurriedly redirected all the water flying around them from their breach, sending them all flying like highly concentrated liquid bullets for Nikolay's form; the boy's instinctive Kinetic Refraction ability fortunately being amplified through the stored kinetic energy in his costume, and allowing him to remove the majority of the potential damage Volga's projectiles brought with them, even though they still ultimately hit like some serious punches all over his body, knocking him off any kind of intended trajectory in mid-air.

His quick thinking had been for the sake of saving his friends and partners, however, and Nikolay wasn't prepared to let any clever moves Volga could throw his way stop him from being able to keep them protected from the man. As such, even as he began to freefall, he once again timed another firing of his Quirk from his extremities, re-stabilizing himself just in time to meet the ocean's surface with his feet, and firing from them just before he could actually plunge back in, thus keeping himself above the surface, and currently rushing in a heavy-footed but determined on-water sprint and dash from his hands, just as Volga was likewise landing on the surface as though it were an actual floor; the flow from the water sluices all over his costume allowing him to stay upright and on his feet.

Nikolay had to continuously fight the pain still flaring all over his body as he continued to step across the water in his mad dash; his momentum driving the rushing motion of his legs while he kept his eyes focused on the first move Volga was to try throwing his way. Thankfully he didn't have to wait long, as he soon saw the water in his immediate path start to either dip down or spike up, forcing Nikolay to launch himself from side to side, barely avoiding the identical kind of traps Volga began producing from all across the water.

They quickly grew so expansive in number and speed everywhere Nikolay tried to move to; ultimately forcing him to launch straight up and over, thus leaving himself completely wide open for all of the water tendrils Volga had been preparing for the last several seconds, sending them all shooting straight up his way to turn him into a pin cushion.

BWOOM!

Nikolay immediately acted upon realizing the trap he'd let himself get caught in, firing himself straight down toward Volga in a spinning corkscrew motion; his right arm and side getting slashed from the incredible water pressure of the nearest tendrils, as he came down hard upon Volga, firing one of his smaller tuning forks from his hand amid the chaos, thus giving his opponent no time to counter or dodge before the small tool came slamming into one of the sluices on the torso of his armor, busting it and causing Volga to momentarily stumble, enough to come plunging back into the water, with Nikolay failing to fire from his hands enough to avoid the same thing happening to himself.

Of course, Volga was quick to react, propelling himself and Nikolay back out into the open with a geyser burst, stabilizing himself on the surface again, and immediately afterward turning that geyser into a multitude of razor sharp high-pressure water walls flying straight for Nikolay once he reached his peak.

Sheer determination and luck was the only thing keeping Nikolay from getting cut to pieces by these walls, as he hurriedly fired himself into a mid-air roll, just making it past the one nearest Volga, and stabilizing his body enough to where he essentially came sliding down the face of it towards his opponent on the soles of his boots and the palm of his right glove.

The moment he got even remotely close enough, Nikolay launched himself forward from the face of the wall, preemptively firing from his left hand the moment he saw all the water vapor in the air started to form up in front of Volga to fire his way, causing it all to scatter and leaving Volga open for a single precise Kinetic-aided kick from his right leg straight into the arm he brought up to defend himself.

The power of the hit was enough to send Volga skidding across the ocean surface by his feet, with Nikolay quickly sprinting after him in pursuit, and the fallen Hero sliding to and fro like an ice skater across the water, almost like a sick mockery of Mina's own grace and control with her Acid Slide.

[[You persistent little brat, Kolya; why did you have to force my hand like this?!]] Volga finally exclaimed in clear frustration as he started bringing up walls, tendrils, spouts, geysers and vapor bullets with every move he made, more than half of them striking clean against Nikolay; his refraction instinct being the only thing keeping him from getting torn asunder in the process.

Even under his thick goggles, Volga could clearly see the unbelievable amount of focus and intensity in Nikolay's green eyes, as the boy kept launching himself faster and faster to not only keep up with his evasive maneuvers, but actually try to close the distance between them.

[[That's what I should be asking you, Uncle Volga! Why would you do this?! Why would you join that Pietro person?! An invasion, a full-blown nuclear war?! You were a real Hero, why would you help him do something that'll destroy so many people's lives everywhere?! Why?! Real Heroes would never participate in something so evil!]]

There was no denying the clear emotional anguish in Nikolay's voice as he finally launched himself fast enough to close the last of the distance, meeting Volga with a backwards spinning heel kick to his right shoulder; only for the former River Hero to re-stabilize himself back onto his feet with a twirl. In perfect tandem, Nikolay somehow managed to likewise keep himself stabilized on his hands and feet upon landing from his kick, with a near continuous kinetic release from all four to reverberate across the surface, before once again launching himself forward into another sliding sprint.

Even through the sudden difficulty Volga was having with his right shoulder as a result of that previous hit, he could once more just feel the memories Pietro had written into his head playing before his eyes as clear as day as Nikolay's words echoed alongside them. This re-ignited the fire in his blood as he hurriedly lifted another wall of water to absorb the brunt of Nikolay's incoming palms, exploding outward in a shockwave the moment the young Hero fired, and allowing Volga to reach through, grab him by the collar of his costume, and proceed to drag him on his back across the water at breakneck speed, progressively pushing Nikolay in further and further as he grit his teeth in rage.

[[Don't feel like you or your friends can talk so self-righteously to me, Kolya! None of you have the right to call yourselves real Heroes any more than I do, not anymore! The days of real Heroes have long since come and gone, you understand?! They died the day your father ignored my pleas to wait, and ended up getting so many people killed with his arrogance and recklessness! We're just trying to deliver the justice deserved of those that have made so many of us suffer because of Tunguska's need for glory! It's the only real kind of justice that exists anymore!]]

As Volga continued to angrily proclaim this twisted transformation of any Hero's philosophy, Nikolay knew he couldn't hope to escape this gradual grinding and drowning he was being forced into, at least not with his typical counter-attacking method. That's when his eyes fell upon the special knuckle attachments that Mei had crafted for his gloves before. If they could channel his Kinetics through punches just as well as his regular palm strikes, then perhaps it would be enough. It needed to be if he was to have any hope of surviving this.

With his mind screaming for his Quirk to fire with all its strength, Nikolay hurriedly swung his right fist straight for the elbow of Volga's arm pushing him down. The level of vibration power that came ripping up his arm from the release through his knuckle speakers was enough to not only nearly destroy Volga's right arm entirely (as several plates and screws came flying out as a result), but to also send Nikolay himself spinning and flipping back from it, unable to realign himself before once again plunging below the surface…with an especially infuriated Volga quickly diving in after him.

This time, however, Nikolay was already preparing himself, as he once again launched himself upward out of Volga's trajectory, bursting back out and high into the air, just in time for Volga to do the same with another massive spout of water propelling him upward after the boy.

Nikolay was all but counting on the former River Hero doing this, however, as upon reaching once again the peak of his launch, he proceeded to fire his whole body into a backwards descending flip, straight for Volga himself. [[RESONATING WHEEL!]]

With near surgical precision, Nikolay finally delivered a pulse-pounding vibration shockwave from the sole of his left boot the moment the reinforced toes came crashing into Volga's crossed arms; scattering all the water lifting the dome-headed soldier up, and once again cracking away at the armor for his arms on his way back down to the surface, with Nikolay in hot pursuit; both of them just as quickly gliding across the water once more.

All this time, Nikolay kept replaying the insane words Volga had been all but roaring in his face mere moments ago; the driven intensity on his face doing nothing to hide the utter confusion in his eyes. [[Uncle Volga, what are you talking about, Dad ignoring you? He's told me the story of that battle in Siberia where the Flash happened so many times over all these years, you have no idea! Every single time, he's told me how you told him yourself: you had no way of getting to that cavern to stop those Villains from lowering their warheads! You told him to do what needed to be done, just like the rest of the New Bogatyrs did; I could never forget that part if I tried! How can you not remember this?!]]

This complete contradiction of how Volga remembered that day, only served to make his violent rage that much greater, as he suddenly pulled the water at Nikolay's heels up and forward, ultimately propelling Nikolay closer faster than he expected, throwing his focus off just enough for Volga to clutch him tight around the throat, and proceed to lift him up in his hand to choke slam him straight into the water. [[LIAR!]]

The force behind Volga's arm as he slammed Nikolay straight into the water was enough to leave the boy's head ringing and knock the air out of his lungs; a most horrifying realization once he could feel them both start to rapidly descend into the depths again.

[[What could you ever possibly know about what happened that day? You were nothing more than a baby back then! But of course you would try and fight and lie to protect the image of that man that has clearly festered in your head for all these years, regardless of all the suffering and degradation he allowed our motherland to fall to while he ran off like a goddamned coward, abandoning his comrades and friends like me when we needed each other the most! What other falsehoods of himself has that arrogant bastard filled your head with over all this time, Kolya?!]]

Even underwater, Volga's enraged voice was coming in loud and clear, just as his grip on Nikolay's neck grew tighter, well past the point where the slightest application of pressure in the right spot could break the boy's neck like a twig. Despite this fact, however, Nikolay wasn't about to let himself black out or go without continuing to fight back, as he once again started to rapidly fire from his downward-aiming hands and feet, gradually slowing Volga's speed until they ultimately came to a complete stop, just at the right moment for Nikolay to follow up with a Kinetic-boosted knee being launched into his opponent's sternum, forcing him to release his grip.

Even under his dome helmet, Nikolay could hear the pained grunt Volga let out from the impact, but he couldn't let himself stay down here to listen to any more, as he hurriedly shot himself further and further up, just barely managing to even get his head above the surface in time before losing consciousness, hacking, coughing and gasping for air as much as he could while trying to keep himself afloat.

BWOOSH!

Another sudden explosive release of air from down in the depths created another massive geyser burst from underneath Nikolay's position, propelling him listlessly through the air for a good several seconds before finally regaining his bearings and stabilizing himself with several bursts; just in time to find Volga flying up his way through several high powered streams from the remaining sluices across his costume.

Nikolay barely managed to launch himself aside to get out of the way of Volga's charge, but refused to take his eyes off the man as his mind went racing back to that very same recounting story Tunguska had called back upon so many times in the past, just as he let himself once more land on his vibration-emitting boots on the water; his Quirk completely taking the reins of control over his body.

The words that immediately came to mind just filled Nikolay's chest with a sense of pure acceptance, as though he instinctually just knew this, more than anything else, would be able to prove his truth to his father's old friend: [["Now go, Tunguska! Exhibit the strength of the New Bogatyrs, of the Russian people, and do what you know must be done so that the innocent can face the new dawn with hope!" I could never forget those words you all told him in the end for as long as I live!

[[You must remember that, Uncle Volga! You must know it's the truth! Anything Pietro may have told you otherwise, you must know deep down that it isn't real! Every time my father told me about that day, he could never bring up all of you and your words without having to fight back tears! You must know he never would have done what he did if he'd had even the slightest hint of another choice from every single one of you!]]

With Volga still at the uppermost height of his last leap, he turned in midair to look down upon the tiny speck on the water that was his young enemy, and with a furious echoing battle cry and a downward swing of both his open hands, he proceeded to send every single water droplet in the air with him raining downward on Nikolay's position like an artillery strike, even taking the extra step of bringing the water all around him shooting upwards towards him from all around at the same time, giving Nikolay next to no means of escape.

It instead forced him to send himself into a self-propelled spin on his feet, firing from his hands and every other inch of his body with Kinetic Refraction all at once as quickly as he could on such short notice and with rapid continuity, forcing the boy to ultimately distract himself from Volga's personal approach from above, even as the water systematically began to strike and slash away at the boy.

WRAAM!

Just before Volga could bring both his raised fists down on Nikolay's head, he felt himself getting slammed hard by something plowing into his armored back with a heavy metallic ring, knocking him off balance and plunging down into the water once again. At the same moment, all of the former River Hero's Quirk attacks simultaneously came to a stop, only for Nikolay to suddenly find himself getting pulled off his feet before his momentary surprise and lack of focus would cause him to fall in as well.

[[Are you okay, Kolya-kun?!]] [[We can't lose focus with questions, Ashido-san! We don't have much farther to go!]]

Nikolay's split-second surprise was dashed away the moment he heard Mina's relieved-sounding voice, quickly followed by Tenya's commanding shout after. Taking in his surroundings as the wind whipped at his face, Nikolay found he was being pulled along by the Class A president's hand around his right wrist, while he was similarly pulling Mina along with the other, keeping all three of them afloat with the power of another Recipro Burst.

Looking to the other side, he was likewise met by the sight of Tetsutetsu flying right alongside them, being propelled by two of Pony's horns in his hands, pulling him along like a human Iron wrecking ball, while at the farther end was Monoma, keeping himself flying in tandem right alongside them on what looked like a giant metal nut, clearly having Copied Reiko's Quirk in order to stay on the scene with the rest of them.

[[Where are all the others?]] Nikolay finally brought himself to ask as soon as the surprise and relief gave way, while Tenya kept his eyes focused on the ever-approaching submarine ahead.

[[Our plan on how to get the sailors to all fall asleep went off really well, Kolya-kun! Whiteout-sensei, Yaomomo and the others are trying to take back control of the boat before they come after us!]] Mina explained; Nikolay soon mirroring her own smile of immense relief at the news that they'd managed to gain control of the boat.

[[Hey, how about you save all the pats on the back for once we actually finish this thing, Class A!]] Monoma shouted from all the way at the end of the advancing line, forcing Nikolay and Mina both to look and realize they were just about to reach the submarine's hull at long last, all of them bracing themselves for whatever new obstacles Pietro would try to throw in their way once they got there.

BWOOOOSH!

Just before they could finally land, the water beneath all of them suddenly exploded skyward like an undersea volcanic eruption; an inhuman roar of uncontainable rage echoing across the skies with it, as Volga burst out from the darkened depths below. The force of his return proved enough to knock every one of the young Heroes off balance, as they were all sent tumbling through the air, before ultimately (and fortunately) landing and rolling upon the frigid steel of the submarine below, and finally coming to a stop. Not a moment afterward did Volga himself land upon the surface before them with a resounding metallic clang; the force behind his prosthetic legs giving a ring akin to a funeral bell. His eyes burned with fury beneath his helmet, looking upon all the Hero students now laid out before him, struggling back onto their feet together.

[[You…all of you…you're all a bunch of goddamn young FOOLS! You don't even know what it is you're ultimately fighting for, do you?! You think such blanket terms as 'justice' and 'peace' are enough?! You really think that can carry you all through everything the world will throw at you once you become so-called Pro Heroes?! Do you?! Not a single one of you will ever be able to reach the kind of level the New Bogatyrs or someone like All Might did! The world doesn't want real Heroes like that anymore; you're all just too blind to see it!

[[You all think the praise of society and team loyalty will help you to win every battle, but you all mark my words: even if you were lucky enough to survive this day, you'll eventually find yourselves in the very same position we did. You'll have to make the ultimate kind of sacrifice for the people who claim to love and admire you for everything you give for them…and the world will either take it away from you, or they'll simply turn on you, themselves.]]

Finally, Volga's cold and unforgiving gaze fell upon Nikolay himself, just as the boy finally finished helping Mina and Tenya to their feet, with Tetsutetsu and Monoma already standing tall and bracing themselves as well. [[Hell…with your stubbornness and ignorance, Kolya; you might as well already be on the fast track to following in Tunguska's footsteps. You say he wept for us…but crocodiles give the impression of weeping for their prey, too! You've only ever been lied to, and it's poisoned you, just as it poisons the rest of you naïve little brats!

[[That man…I loved him like a brother, called him such and comrade for years…and his own ego took away everything I had, that all of us and so many more had…and he ran away from his responsibility the moment it became even a little hard for him because of that! He not only betrayed me and the rest of our team…he betrayed everything a real Hero is supposed to stand for! Such a betrayal is unforgivable! What would it be like for you if the day came that you let your own confidence blind you to every other option you could have, and your precious friends would have to pay that same price for it? Killing you all now might as well be a mercy!]]

With that unmistakable declaration made, Volga proceeded to bring all the water surrounding the submarine's hull come rising up like a veritable wall of tendrils, shooting their vapor and droplets like bullets upon the Heroes, forcing Tetsutetsu and Monoma to both adopt Iron skin in order to withstand the barrage, only for the tendrils to start whipping after them at the exact same time, putting their respective durability to the test.

At the same time, Tenya, Nikolay and Mina all took off into mad sprints alongside each other to avoid getting caught up in an overwhelming trap from Volga's environmental onslaught; with Tenya specifically making a dash for Volga himself, ready to meet him with a precise kick to disorient him.

Unfortunately, Volga's special awareness was at its highest, as he immediately began to fire precise and hard-hitting spouts of water from the numerous sluices on his costume, knocking Tenya off balance hard, and sweeping his feet out from under him, only for Nikolay to come flying in, in order to buy his bespectacled friend time to regain his bearings. However, Volga was now officially counting on the boy acting so foolhardy, as the water emitting from his sluices began to curl and slither all across his armor before turning into high-speed spinning ringlets around his arms and legs, so that when he brought an arm up to meet the punch Nikolay threw, the friction cut through the material of the boy's gloves and into his hands like a buzz saw, forcing Nikolay to go tumbling back with a surprised and pained shout.

This sudden hydro-protection encompassing Volga's suit even managed to ultimately splash back any Acid Shots Mina tried to throw his way, but Tenya thankfully managed to pull her out of the way with another dash before the ex-Hero pulled several water tendrils out from behind her back, having been ready to impale her where she stood otherwise.

Observing just what difficulty even this much action on his part was giving the young Heroes present, Volga cried out with just as much vitriol and rage: [[None of you have the right to even pretend to call yourselves Heroes! Heroes are supposed to represent the enacting of justice for all, remember? We're simply trying to enact the only justice left for all those who have died in our Motherland! How can any of you call yourselves Heroes, real or otherwise, if you're all trying to make their suffering and sacrifices for their loved ones mean nothing?!]]

With his two present classmates and Class B allies continuously on the move and trying to throw whatever projectiles they could to keep Volga distracted (with Monoma using what time he had left to Copy Reiko's Quirk, to throw the large steel nut he'd flown in on right at the helmet-wearing man, only for several timely concentrated jet streams emanating from Volga's arms to cut it down into multiple tiny pieces before impact could be made), Nikolay grit his teeth to try and fight through the pain and warm wetness now coating his hands.

His gloves had already been reduced to bloody tatters, and his hands were covered in a multitude of fine cuts, but he couldn't allow himself to dwell on that. As long as Volga had this much control over the battlefield, his friends were continuously going to be in danger. And so, with the pain throbbing up and down his arms alongside his Kinetics building up, Nikolay finally launched himself forward again, springing himself up and over Volga's head the moment he tried to pull in a sheet of water over the submarine hull to try and trip him up. The boy's expectations of what his opponent would do next had become like a second nature, as he just as hurriedly fired out from both his hands at his sides to send himself into a spin, while also deflecting the numerous droplet bullets that had already been building up in the air for just this moment.

The second Nikolay felt his feet land on solid ground again, he once more dashed forward with another deafening blast from his feet, only for the Villain to once again block his approach with his prosthetic right arm…only this time, Nikolay instead swung one of his larger tuning forks upwards from his right below, gripping tight onto the other with his left, as they were both still tied together with one of his Capturing cords. The moment the first of the weapons swung in a complete loop around Volga's arm; Nikolay grabbed it once more with his right and fired forward through his feet with as much strength as he could, launching himself back, and wrangling Volga with him off his feet by his arm.

The moment this happened, Nikolay immediately followed through by firing another powerful blast through his feet, launching himself upwards while maintaining his grip on both tuning forks, and with another concentrated Kinetic Boost, drove his right foot straight into the face of Volga's dome helmet, and then firing another Kinetic blast from that foot at the moment of impact at point blank range.

BWOOM!

The volume of that much bass power at such close range was near to deafening even with the helmet's protection. However, the force right up against that same material ultimately proved too much, as the vibrations all around only grew more and more intense and concentrated, before with a deafening crash, the helmet exploded into countless pieces; Volga's resultant pained and surprised shout finally coming out without that electronic filter again, as he stumbled back from the resultant shockwave, allowing Nikolay to land on his feet again and re-sheathe his large tuning fork weapons. This momentarily caused all of Volga's water attacks to dissipate, including his razor sharp water rings around his limbs, granting the rest of his fellow interns a chance to breathe.

However, even with the momentary cease in Volga's attacks, Tetsutetsu, Monoma, Mina and Tenya both could still hear his biting words loud and clear in their heads, as they all began to charge in on him; their own respective Heroic drives burning strong within their hearts, as the Iron-skinned boy suddenly answered: [[Heroes aren't supposed to just represent taking action for justice, though! They're supposed to keep people out of danger before anything else! You're the one helping a Villain put hundreds of millions of people in the worst kind of danger there is, you bastard!]]

Tetsutetsu dove into a baseball player-style slide across the submarine's hull, before springing himself back up and driving a sharp elbow into one of the sluice openings on Volga's stomach; only for the Villain to quickly counteract before the boy could do it again, shooting another highly pressurized blast from the one opposite it, hitting with such force that it let out a piercing metallic ring against Tetsutetsu's Iron head, leaving him visibly disoriented before getting blasted back several feet by another blast from the opening at Volga's left shoulder.

While he was distracted by this, however, Tenya just as quickly came sprinting in, spinning himself around the moment he managed to slip past Volga's right side, and driving a spinning kick straight into the other sluice opening at the stomach level, smashing it inward and earning another pained shout from Volga, while he too followed up in answering: [[That's right; you go on about how Tunguska-sensei betrayed what it means to be a real Hero, but he never turned towards enacting lethal action against the innocent standing in the crossfire! In that regard, you're the one who betrayed what all Heroes are supposed to represent! It's not even simply justice and safety they're supposed to represent in the end, after all!]]

Volga quickly reconstituted the fast-spinning jet stream rings around his extremities, bringing both arms up to deflect the next kick Tenya was in the process of throwing for his head; resulting in the rings shattering the armor around the bespectacled boy's right shin in a matter of seconds, just starting to cut into the skin before he hurriedly kicked himself back and away with a pained grunt.

PSSSHT!

Before Volga could proceed to go after Tenya further, he suddenly felt something impact against his shoulders, immediately followed by an overwhelming hissing sound ringing in his ears. Looking to his sides, he was met with the sight of Mina and Monoma both charging from both directions, the latter having Copied the former's Quirk so that they could try and double team him; the pink young Hero exclaiming after her two fellows with equal impassioned emotion: [[Yeah, Heroes are supposed to give people hope more than anything! You're trying to hurt people trying to find hope in a place where everyone is so sad, afraid and angry all the time! Couldn't you and all the people in Gagaringrad try and become the Heroes that could give them that hope again instead; show them that they don't have to be afraid of people with Quirks anymore?! You were one of their most loved Pro Heroes before already, they could totally fall behind you if you did!]]

[[Instead, you all just blindly follow a Villain who's going to turn you all into genocidal killers and human shields for his own delusions! That's just a pathetic substitute!]] Monoma declared the moment he was about to throw a fist of Iron and another coated in Acid for Volga's left leg, while Mina was similarly getting ready to roll into another low break-dance spin with an Acid Shot to take out the other.

Unfortunately, having already seen what Mina could specifically do to his prosthetic limbs before, especially now that she and Monoma had already started to melt through the armor encasing his newer ones; Volga wasn't about to let the two students get any closer, instead focusing his Quirk and drawing the water coating the steel around him into a high-extending cyclone that officially cut them both off from getting any closer, even deflecting the Acid Shot Monoma had already thrown, dispersing it into nothing.

As soon as he knew he'd cut off their momentum, Volga was preparing to send numerous spikes and jet stream shots from out his protective cyclone, ready to tear them both asunder where they stood, with the rest of their friends quick to follow.

BWOOM!

The sudden sound of another of Nikolay's Kinetic Blasts managed to reach Volga's ears through the cyclone, forcing his eyes to go skyward, just in time to find the young Russian shooting down from the top like a comet, both large tuning forks raised high above his head for a double downward strike, as his green eyes burned with a righteous determination.

Volga instinctively tried to close the top half of the cyclone around the boy, but Nikolay's quick thinking was already a step ahead, as he rolled his body forward so he was now descending head first, and firing another boosting shockwave from his feet, flying down to meet Volga with his tuning forks at the forefront even faster than before, forcing the older Russian to bring his jet stream-encircled arms up in defense just a fraction of a second before impact, but not counting on Nikolay having built up the Kinetic power through his arms into his tools in preparation for this very moment.

BWOOOM!

The Vibration wave that channeled through the tuning forks in Nikolay's hands and into Volga's prosthetic arms was far more powerful than he had braced himself for, as the mechanics to his prosthetic arms already began to crack, bend, and ultimately crumple underneath such power at such an inhuman vibration frequency, causing a shockwave that burst his protective cyclone out all across the deck of the submarine, and forcing Volga to bend down onto one knee under the pressure, before Nikolay just as quickly rebound off of him and landed clumsily on his feet, never taking his eyes off the veteran before him.

Volga was already trying to get back onto his feet; the sight of his heavily damaged prosthetic arms doing nothing to ease the tension and alertness of the rest of the young Heroes surrounding him. However, it didn't stop Nikolay from thinking about what the man had been saying all throughout this fight, as well as the defiant words of his friends and allies here as well. If only they had been acting under such different circumstances, there was so much he still wanted to try and tell Volga in the hopes of being able to repair the connection between themselves and Tunguska that had been so thoroughly destroyed already.

Even with his battle-ready stance and body language, the fire in Nikolay's eyes had started to soften as he finally took the chance to speak up on the tail ends of everyone else's philosophies in relation to Volga's: [[What happened to you over all these years, Uncle Volga? We both believed you had died with the rest of the New Bogatyrs that day. That was the only reason Dad never took the chance to look for you…before everything back home changed for everyone.]]

Volga's eyes reflected the same kind of furious light that Nikolay had just had as well, but the young Hero refused to let that intimidate him, as his face began to tremble and wrench with quickly returning and long-restrained emotion since finding out the man's identity: [[Dad always used to tell me how much he admired you among the rest of his comrades, how you embodied a real Hero most of the time even more than he did, himself! He told me a long time ago, that that was why he'd chosen you, above anyone else, to be my godfather the day I was born! What could have happened that would allow someone like Pietro to turn you into…this? Surely you can't truly believe that real Heroes can't exist anymore, can you? There must still be even the smallest piece of the River Hero inside you somewhere, surely! I believe there is! You can't tell me there truly isn't anymore! Please, don't let that man destroy the last trace of who you once were, Uncle Volga! You were once a truly great Hero; there must be a chance that you could be again, isn't there?!]]

Even despite the impassioned plea and the pained tears welling in his eyes through the broken lenses of his goggles; Nikolay was still physically bracing himself with every word, for Volga's temper to reach its fever pitch, and he would launch a massive attack against all of them at once. He could see the others were all clearly bracing themselves for it as well.

And yet, that explosion of Quirk-driven rage never came. The fury never left Volga's eyes, and neither did the aggression in his body language. But his scarred face was beginning to give one unintentional psychologically-driven twitch after another. Nikolay and his partners never could begin to understand just what kind of internal fracturing his pleas had started in the depths of Volga's mind and heart.

Yes, that anger and bloodlust to destroy those he was told were his enemies was indeed still there, but now so too was the deafening and echoing sound of Nikolay's desperate and sentimental words, clawing through his armor and scar tissue down to the core of his heart.

And with that, soon Volga could also start seeing clearly the memories that had once been so thoroughly buried underneath so much pain and suffering, they felt then like windows into a life that had never once been his. But now they felt so much clearer, so much more…penetrating in a way. Volga could remember back to the days of his and Tunguska's youth, their days of working their ways up the ranks of Pro Heroics, the day they officially had become the New Bogatyrs, and just the nostalgic happiness those memories had once given him so very long ago.

'How did this happen? Why am I here, living this life, fighting against my own godson? I was the River Hero, a paragon of hope, peace and justice for an entire nation and its people. Now I'm nothing more than a mercenary and a shell. When was the last time I'd even felt anything other than pain, anger and sadness? How? How did this all go so wrong after it seemed like nothing could get any worse?'

And there it is, everyone, the long-awaited showdown between Kolya, his friends and allies, and the long-lost former River Hero Volga has finally come upon us. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter as much as I did writing it. I'm really trying to go all out with the stakes and close fighting with these last few chapters for this arc, so I'd really appreciate some genuine feedback letting me know what you think in terms of how the arc is coming along and how these fights are reading for you.

I hope you all have a great rest of your week, enjoy the ongoing summer, and I will see you all with the next deep-diving chapter on 07/02!