04.09.2023
It is I, the Absolute Madman and I can't believe I'm saying this but I actually have a comments to respond to!:
miholca - Yup. 'This the Black Blade itself!
Alright, I got my fix, now's your turn!:
"How does it feel to be on my side of the fence for once?" The daemon asked, the shit-eating grin audible in its voice.
"This is a training exercise." Izuku countered right away. "Don't get any ideas." He added, hoping to convey that he wasn't very keen on hearing any more from his tenant.
"I wouldn't dare do such a thing." The daemon mocked in response, trying to sound offended though the attempt was a really poor one.
Izuku tuned the daemon out - as much as he could anyhow - and chose to focus on the training exercise instead. As they entered the hideout and started looking for an easily defendable position, both Izuku and Yaoyorozu started weighing their chances at victory.
The previous matches brought some insight on the nature of the exercise and the various approaches they got to observe up till now could be used for reference. Unfortunately, with how diverse their classmates' quirks and individual skills were, the knowledge - while undeniably useful - was mostly just a rough framework upon which they'd need to build their strategy from scratch.
Izuku was confident about being able to dominate a brawl with his superior strength and technique that was honed in the heat of an actual crisis. Yaoyorozu was by far the smartest person in their class so he knew for sure she'd be able to take care of herself well enough. All he needed to do was buy enough time for her to come up with a suitable strategy and they'd surely blitz through the exercise with flying colors.
Or at least they'd be able to if it weren't for their opponents.
Sero, while generally a goofball with a pretty average academic record, had seen some seriously explosive growth in the last couple of weeks. Apparently he had reached some sort of enlightenment during his internship with Arachnid-Girl and was able to completely overhaul the way in which he used his quirk. When before he was pretty content with mimicking Eraserhead's capture tape to bind his opponents and restrain them, now he leaned heavily into a very mobile combat style - one that was without a doubt suggested and later refined by Arachnid-Girl herself. Swinging around everywhere and flanking maneuvers quickly became Sero's bread and butter and needed to be respected for sure.
Bakugo on the other hand, while not nearly as affected by the internships as his partner, was a natural fighter with good instincts and a combat oriented quirk to boot. It wasn't the quirk that made him a formidable opponent however, but the versatile moveset that he had at his disposal. His hand-to-hand skills were not something to treat lightly and the threat of an explosive going off in your face made for a really dangerous combination and Bakugo was more than aware of this fact.
To summarize both teams, Izuku and Yaoyorozu had clearly defined roles to fill - with Izuku taking up the entire frontline all by himself and Yaoyorozu bringing up the rear with support and damage dealing. Bakugo and Sero on the other hand could both act completely independently from each other due to their well-rounded skill sets. Fortunately Bakugo was still his assholey self so the risk of the two of them actually coordinating their attacks was miniscule if not straight up nonexistent.
"I think we should hole up here." Yaoyorozu stated as they entered yet another barren office.
Izuku inspected the room, noting that it was in a truly raw condition with concrete surrounding them on all sides. Furnishing the insides of a building that was destined to go up in flames during a training exercise sounded like a bad idea, but it'd definitely help them get into the mindset a bit more.
"Perhaps Martin would be able to come up with something that could actually withstand the out-of-control powers of hero course students?" Izuku thought to himself before glancing at his left gauntlet. "I mean, he made this of all things so he shouldn't have much trouble with making durable furniture, right?" As soon as the man's name crossed Izuku's mind, he could feel the daemon furrow its brow with evident hostility.
The reaction, whilst most definitely curious and surprising as the daemon was mostly apathetic towards anyone and anything other than Izuku himself, would have to be left by the wayside for now. The exercise would be starting any minute now and they still needed to find a good place to hold their ground.
They scouted a few rooms already, but all of them were on the more spacious side and when facing someone as mobile as the new Sero, space was something they'd like to limit as much as possible. Without furniture to move around however there was little they could do besides looking for a room that would suit their needs even in its raw state.
"Low ceilings, rather tight quarters and nothing to hide behind." Izuku thought to himself as he scanned their surroundings. "It's not bad, but I'd have preferred something with a better line of sight. We'd be standing right next to the doors once they found us."
"W-We can try searching for a different room if this one doesn't seem alright!" Yaoyorozu said hurriedly, her insecurities rearing their ugly head. "I'm sure we have enough time to check out a few more options." She added, already turned and heading towards the doors.
"No, the heroes can arrive at any moment." Izuku stated, slowly adjusting to playing the villain part of the exercise. He wasn't planning to go overboard like Iida, but some role playing was in order. "Besides, this room will do just fine." He said confidently before heading for the wall on the opposite end of the room.
"But aren't we standing too close to the entrance? If Bakugo decided to blast the doors we'd surely get caught in the line of fire!" Yaoyorozu said, listing out the points that Izuku also was thinking of.
"Then we just have to step back a bit." Izuku responded and channeled his quirk into his gauntlet, the claws unfolding in the blink of an eye and ready for action.
Izuku then swung his Lightning Claw at the concrete in front of him, the infused claws sinking into the solid wall as if it was made of cotton candy and cleaving through it with ease. With the damage evident, Izuku swung again and then once again. A couple of swipes was all it took to weaken the wall to the brink of collapsing and one last shove was all it took for an entrance to form.
As Izuku sheathed the claws back into the gauntlet, their glow fading out and the dust obscuring parts of his visage, Yaoyorozu stared in surprise, immediately catching onto his plan of action. She also stared because the sight of a giant man clad in a suit of armor, with the familiar golden glow of his quirk reflecting off of the particles and debris was quite majestic.
Izuku turned around and pointed at the robots that were supposed to act as the hostages they needed to guard, the pose he assumed beaming with authority and his voice leaving no place for objections.
"Sit in the far corner and don't make a sound." He commanded darkly and the bots immediately complied. Then his whole demeanor made a drastic change and he smiled gently at Yaoyorozu before speaking up. "Shall we?" He asked courtly as he gestured towards the newly created entrance.
Yaoyorozu had a hard time keeping her composure and stopping herself from rubbing her thighs together because Izuku demolishing a wall, ordering some faux hostages around and then acting as if nothing happened, checked off boxes that she didn't even know she had.
"I'm in danger." She thought to herself and she wasn't talking about Bakugo blowing both of them to bits.
The room that Izuku ended up breaking into turned out to be more or less an exact copy of the one they were in just a moment ago which worked in their favor. Now with an additional chokepoint to hold and more room to maneuver around in, they were more confident than ever. They could easily try holding in the first room and retreat to the second one if things took a turn for the worse and the rather tight hole that connected the two ensured that Sero wouldn't be able to use all of his mobility.
Yaoyorozu quickly got to work reinforcing their fallback point, barricading the door to seal the room from the corridor and placing bars in the windows to hopefully deter the heroes from coming in that way.
With the room fortified, the hostages seated in the corner and their bases mostly covered, all they could do now was wait.
Soon enough to siren signaling the start of the exercise sounded and the waiting game began. Izuku and Yaoyorozu opted to stay mostly quiet to limit the chances of being discovered quickly and minimize the risks. They could probably hold their ground against both Bakugo and Sero for some time, but it'd only take a single mistake for either of them - most likely Sero - to sneak past them, grab the hostages and gtfo.
Avoiding the confrontation wasn't the most heroic thing to do, but they weren't meant to act as heroes right now. They were playing the part of the villains now so it only made sense to act as them. Why fight the heroes if they could try to run out the clock?
Their logic was sound and the plan itself pretty solid. It even seemed to work as well, as minutes slowly went by and they had yet to catch a glimpse of the heroes. This wasn't meant to last unfortunately as soon enough Bakugo's explosions started ringing out in the distance, carried throughout the building via the empty corridors. His explosions were soon followed by a string of curses and threats that didn't sound good coming from a hero.
"Come and fight me you cowards!" They could hear him roar eventually.
It was hard to guess how far from their hideout he was due to the overlapping echoes, but it was quite clear that he was getting closer and closer. Soon enough their ears started picking up the sounds of creaking hinges and caving metal accompanied by the thunderous boom of cannon fire. Now Izuku and Yaoyorozu were very glad that they didn't stay in that tight room. The pressure difference caused by Bakugo's explosions would've done a number on them if they were caught in the opening blast. Physics really wasn't anyone's friend.
"I wonder how come he's not deaf yet." Izuku thought to himself idly as he prepared for the inevitable fight. "My ears are already ringing and he has yet to find us."
"If you think this is bad then you wouldn't last an hour on Cadia. That firecracker is nothing in comparison to their artillery drills." The daemon commented, once again sharing a piece of trivia that Izuku will try - and most likely fail - to research in his spare time.
"At least now I know that Cadia feels like a place and not a person, so I have a rough idea what to look for." Izuku thought, deciphering the daemon's emotions associated with the word.
Cadia would need to remain a mystery for now however as Bakugo could stumble upon their location any second now. The sound of twisting metal and doors being ripped off their hinges was more pronounced and volatile now and so the confrontations seemed completely inevitable at this point.
Yaoyorozu and Izuku took cover behind the wall that separated their two rooms to shelter themselves from the shrapnel that Bakugo was sure to send flying everywhere as soon as he blasts the doors in. They could wait in relative safety for the initial blast to thin out before rushing into the room and taking the fight to the heroes. Thankfully it didn't seem like he had his partner with him so they had a perfect chance to gang up on Bakugo and hopefully eliminate him before his backup arrived.
Still, even if outnumbered Bakugo was a dangerous opponent and they'd need to keep their guards up at all times or they'll end up throwing their chances for victory away.
As the footsteps finally reached their doors, Izuku and Yaoyorozu braced for the inevitable shockwave. Without even as much as a word of warning, the doors were blasted off of the frame, flying across the room and shattering into splinters against the wall on the other side.
"Where the fuck are you?!" Bakugo roared as he entered the room, the dust cloud that he kicked up making it hard to pinpoint his location.
Still, there was no better time to strike than now so Izuku went for it. Leaving his case floating around the corner as his sword was a tad bit too large to be of use in the tight room, Izuku rushed into the dust, barrelling towards the doors and hoping to catch Bakugo off-guard to get the upper hand right from the start.
Bakugo was no fool however and even though he appeared to be relaxed, his instinct was sharp as ever. As soon as his ears picked up the rustling sound of Izuku's bulky armor, he entered his battle mode and immediately shifted around to face the incoming enemy.
Izuku charged in with a straight punch, the fist already pulled back as he rushed through the dust. Bakugo was prepared to receive him however and managed to dodge the surprise attack, exploding the soles of his boots to propel himself backwards and out of Izuku's reach.
The first strike was unsuccessful, but Izuku still had the initiative. As he let the momentum carry the weight of his body forward, he pulled his left fist again and swung it in a powerful hook. Bakugo knew he was out of range for this one and instead shifted his weight forward, posing to counter as soon as Izuku's wide swing passed by. Izuku expected it to happen however and even counted on it. As his tightened fist flew just shy of Bakugo's right cheek and a smirk started curling the blonde's lips up, Izuku channeled his quirk once again, the golden glow tearing through the shadows of the dust around them as the claws extended to their full length.
Bakugo was caught off-guard by the move and forced to dodge to the side, throwing his entire body to the left with an explosion and putting some distance between the two of them.
Izuku dug his left leg into the rubble-covered floor to stop himself and immediately shifted to face Bakugo once again. With the ambush part of the engagement concluded, the roles were about to be reversed as Izuku's defense-oriented fighting style was not suited for commandeering the course of battle.
"So this is where you were holed up!" Bakugo roared triumphantly. "You should've just given up right in the beginning instead of wasting my time!" He yelled and propelled himself forwards by unleashing explosions behind him.
Izuku effortlessly blocked the explosion-powered strike as the weight of his armor made it quite hard to move him once he was set up. Its size however made it quite hard to move around in and whilst Izuku wasn't exactly slow, he had trouble keeping up with Bakugo.
Thankfully the blonde's attacks weren't doing that much damage since most of his strikes were either blocked by the Lightning Claw gauntlet or otherwise absorbed by the armored suit.
"Close your eyes!" Izuku heard the command and obeyed immediately, his vision going white even with his eyelids sealed shut.
Yaoyorozu created a flashbag and threw it into the room to support Izuku from the sidelines. The idea was good and it even caught Bakugo off-guard, stunning him briefly and leaving him in a vulnerable position. He was used to explosions however and so Izuku needed to act quickly if he wanted to cash in this golden opportunity.
His eyes barely creaked open, Izuku was already swinging, making adjustments at the last second to ensure that he could land a clean punch and - hopefully - knock Bakugo out outright or at least prolong his exposed status for a little longer. The punch was aimed square on the blonde's chin and it was sure to do some serious damage. However, just as Izuku's gauntlet was about to rock the blonde's world, another hero entered the mix and saved his teammate from being eliminated.
"That's why I said we should work together, you dumbass!" Sero shouted, clearly irked by his partner's behavior and attitude. "You were talking a lot of shit for someone who can't even hold their own."
"Can it Tinfoil! Go take care of High Class!" Bakugo ordered and immediately rushed into battle once again.
"'Thanks for the save partner.' No problem man. 'Let's get this bread now.' Yeah, let's do this." Sero mocked from the sidelines before groaning to get his spirits up and turning towards Yaoyorozu. "Give up Evildoer! I, Pro Hero Cellophane, will now carry out your arrest! Anything you say will be used against you!" He shouted in an overly dramatic fashion before dashing through the hole to engage Yaoyorozu.
"Let's see how you fare without High Class covering your sorry ass!" Bakugo taunted as he began his relentless assault with renewed vigor.
Izuku was in his element, but so was Bakugo and the attacker usually had an advantage in the clinch. Their main plan had failed as Sero arrived earlier than they hoped and so now they'd need to figure something out on the fly. Izuku was fairly confident that he could fight Bakugo to a standstill, but Yaoyorozu might not be able to take out Sero and if she herself gets eliminated then Izuku would surely follow suit minutes later. The ball was in their court, but doing something with it was proving more tricky than one might think.
Bakugo's assault was relentless and the blonde had no intentions of slowing down. The explosions did little to no damage, but forced Izuku to focus all his attention on the defense and prevented him from coming up with a strategy. He tried using his barrier to block Bakugo's attacks mid-flight, but the blonde was simply too powerful to be stopped by the meek shields.
"Is that all you can do?!" Bakugo taunted with a sick grin. "If so then you might as well roll over and die already!" He roared, the words somehow amplifying his explosions and actually knocking Izuku slightly off-balance.
He managed to keep himself standing however and used the extra space to stage a counterattack, lashing out with the Lightning Claw and hoping to gain the upper hand in the engagement. Bakugo was having none of it however and swiftly dodged in between the powerful swipes, deciphering Izuku's moves on the fly and reacting accordingly.
"You're starting to annoy me with all that fucking armor!" Bakugo growled as he sent an explosive kick at Izuku, the force slowing down Izuku's advance, but doing no damage otherwise.
The sounds of scuffle from the next room begged for Izuku's attention, but he knew better than to take his eyes off of Bakugo. The second he did so the blonde would charge straight at him and most likely attack his only vulnerable spot - his head. His armor could withstand those explosions, but he questioned the durability of his own flesh.
"See if that technophile can't hook you up with a better body." The daemon scoffed with disdain dripping off of its words.
"Shut up, I'm kind of busy right now." Izuku responded with a scowl.
"Take that fucking thing off so that I can beat you to a pulp!" Bakugo demanded, sweat dripping from his body and his breath slightly labored.
"Are you going to ask real villains to go easy on you as well?" Izuku decided to prod the blonde anger issue and watched as a sudden realization struck him.
"I see now… You're a villain." Bakugo said out of the blue as if he only just realized what the exercise was about. Actually, given his usual disregard for the faculty it could be true.
"Something's off." The daemon commented and Izuku found himself nodding in confirmation.
A really unsettling grin threatened to split Bakugo's face in two and he looked to be on the verge of exploding - pun fully intended - with laughter. The maniacal grin somehow grew in volume as Bakugo raised his right arm and pointed his open palm in Izuku's direction.
"Since you're a villain there's no need for me to hold back." Bakugo stated as he grasped the pin on the side of his right bracer. "I just need to win!" He yelled as he pulled the pin.
Izuku didn't know how it happened, but time seemed to slow down around him. What should've happened in an instant was being stretched in time. He saw the pin leave its spot and he watched the torrent of flames slowly erupt from the nozzles of Bakugo's bracer, fanning out and rushing directly towards him in slow-motion.
"I won't be able to dodge this." Izuku realized right away. There was simply not enough room to duck out of the way of the giant explosion. "Besides, even if I manage to escape, those two won't." He thought to himself as he noticed that he was standing directly next to the hole that connected the two rooms.
Yaoyorozu and Sero were locked in their own battle, focused on each other and completely oblivious of the doom headed their way.
"I can try plugging the gap, but there's no way this wall is going to stop the shockwave. Everything around us will be torn to shreds and used as shrapnel and the heat that follows will burn everything that's left." Izuku analyzed the situation before turning back to face the incoming blast.
It was slowly inching towards him, an unavoidable wave of pressure and flames. Izuku looked past the explosion to look at the blonde. The manic grin on his face painted a very clear picture, one that they should've realized earlier - Bakugo is no hero. Izuku thought that the blonde could become someone like Endeavor - abrasive and violent but a hero nonetheless. The man that just signed the death warrant on three fellow classmates could never become a hero.
"I'm glad that you've finally put two and two together, but I think it's time you actually did something about it." The daemon interrupted Izuku's musings. "You have a plan on how to deal with this yet?"
"Just one." Izuku responded and stretched both his arms towards the incoming explosion. "Let's hope this works." He cleared his head, anchoring himself both physically and mentally and reaching deep into himself, searching for the core of his quirk that he always called upon.
Just calling upon his power won't be enough this time however and that's why he needed to reach the very source. He'd draw everything he could and channel it into this desperate attempt. As he tapped into the raw energy and forced it into the open, his entire body was enveloped by a golden glow that permeated his armor and surrounded him like a cloak. His eyes lit up with the very same shimmer and then exploded with golden light, painting the room yellow and easily eclipsing the explosion in front of him.
As The Warp reacted to being tamed so forcefully and ripples formed all over the Immaterium, people close by and far away felt goosebumps roll over their skin as the enigmatic inventor and a certain female connoisseur of horror and all things occult paused mid-step, a strange eerie feeling crawling just beneath the surface and filling their minds with pure confusion.
As Izuku braced himself for the inevitable impact that was still far away, but about to hit at the same time and his golden light flooded the room, he focused all of his energy into his barrier, throwing aside everything that Monk'ai taught him and making the barrier as wide and tall as he could, essentially creating a second wall in front of the concrete one.
As the light hardened and formed a see-through pane in front of Izuku, he could slowly feel the flow of time returning to normal. The torrent of flames started speeding up and once it made contact with the barrier, chaos ensued.
Bakugo with a boom-bracer what will he do- *dies in an explosion*
Yeah, kinda nuts, kinda nuts. Can we talk about the Big E though? Or should I say Big I actually... Well, whatever the name, this manz just figured out how to reach deep within and seize some serious power, I'm sure it won't have a serious drawback that will render this power too pricey, right? ... Right?
Also, who's reacting to the Immaterium doing its thing? I know the crazy slav guy, but who's the girl? Any ideas?
Well, I actually have an idea - The girl is actually me who wants to wish you to-
Have a great day and I'll catch y'all in the next update!