Chapter Six

Battle (½)

"Okay...I-I'm done making the acid you need," Mina said as she winced from the pain she felt from her skin. "This is something I don't think I'll be doing anytime soon. Lucky for us, this place has barrels off to the side for me to put this stuff in."

"Thanks, I'll pay you back once this is over," Lily said before reaching into her tail and pulling out a green gemstone. She soon placed it in Mina's hand as it sank into her skin. The moment it did that, a green aura developed around her body as the pain she felt vanished.

"The pain, it's gone. What did you just do?"

"A healing gemstone. I can make gemstones that can heal, protect, or damage people." She said before turning her attention onto a pile of metal. She soon drops it into the barrels full of acid as she dips her hands into it. "Now, time to get to work."

"What are you doing!?" Mina yelled as she quickly rushed over to the pseudo servant and tried to pull her hands out of the acid. Upon trying to pull her hands out, she noticed the magic circuits in Lily's arms began to glow as the barrels began to shake.

"Fervor, mei sanguis."

"What are you-" Before Mina could ask her question, the metal within the barrels slowly began to take over the acid and move on its own as it formed into humanoid knights with bunny ears, cottontails, and adorable cartoon-like faces on them. "What on earth did you just do!?"

"Oh, um...just something I can do thanks to my quirk?" Lily said, trying to play it off like it was nothing. She wasn't much of a fan of lying, but how can you explain that you have someone living inside you that taught you magecraft in a world that has never seen or used magecraft before. Once the liquid metal took form, she took a few steps back and looked over at Mina. "Listen up you two. You will follow Mina's orders until I give the order, Hydrargyrum. Also, no killing. Just capture the enemy that'll try and hurt Mina or get the bomb. Got it?" She asked as the knights nodded. "Good, that's what I like to hear."

"Wait, you're giving me control over these...things?"

"Yep. Tell them what to do and they'll follow it."

"A-Are you sure about this? I mean, isn't this...well your quirk to command. Why would you give me something like this when you can just do it yourself?"

"This is a team training session. We work together to reach the objective. I'm giving you my friends just in case Iida or Bakugo will ignore me, and go after the bomb we're protecting." Lily said as she grins. "Win or lose, I have faith in you." Mina blinked upon hearing Lily's answer as an emotion of both pride and embarrassment started to well up into her chest as a blush appeared on her face. "You okay?"

"Y-Yes, I'm okay," Mina said while trying to recover from the compliment she was given. "S-So all I have to do is just give them an order and they'll do it?"

"Yep! It's as simple as riding a bike. While you do that, I'm going to see if I can stop Bakugo or Iida." The pseudo servant said before walking off.

"W-Wait, don't you need a weapon of some kind?"

"Already go one!" Lily said while raising her fist into the air before leaving. Mina blinked upon seeing her doing that as her mind began to wonder.

"Lily Lilac...just who are you and what are you hiding?" She thought before turning her attention onto the automata metal slime bunnies. "Okay...um...As your um...current owner. I order you two to defend the bomb from anyone that tries to touch it besides Lily and me, understood?" she ordered as they both formed into a pool of liquid underneath the bomb as it waited. "...This is very weird." While Mina was busy trying to figure out how the knights worked, Class-1A along with All Might were taken by surprise by what was going on on Lily and Mina's side.

"Okay, I didn't know she could do something like that?" Kaminari said as he looked over at All Might. "Is what she is doing even allowed?"

"W-Well, technically she's on the villain side so it shouldn't be a surprise that she would do something like this. Though it does show some quick thinking on Lily's part."

"Makes you wonder what else she had hidden inside that tail of hers." Tsuyu said, which made All Might make a mental note to confront Lily to see if she's carrying anything dangerous.

"What I'm curious about is how Lily's able to make those weird metal rabbit things out of that liquid stuff," Midoriya said as he began writing down some notes. "Is her quirk matter manipulation?"

"What is her quirk anyway?" Kirishima asked. "She didn't give much on who she was other than what she said this morning."

"I'll be sure to stop the match if anything goes wrong. Until then, watch and take notes. Because after they're done, another team will be up next for both hero and villain teams." All Might said before he and the students turned their attention onto the screen as Lily was making her way towards team Bakugo and Iida

"Got a fix on where they are, Artoira?" Lily asked while making her way on top of a tall structure of pipes as she scanned the area.

"Look down. They're a few feet away from where you're looking." The Grand Servant said as Lily grinned. "You have a plan, right?"

"For the most part. I'm planning on taking out Bakugo. Mina and the knights can handle Iida if she orders them to stay near the bomb."

"Not a good plan, but it's up to you how this plays out." She said as she watched Lily jump off of the structure she was on and land in front of Iida and Bakugo. Iida was taken by surprise by Lily's sudden appearance, though Bakugo was unfazed by her grand entrance as he glared at her.

"Never thought I'd be facing you two punks. Guess fate really must be on my side to get the chance to kick your asses." She said while cracking her knuckles.

"You, kick my ass?" Bakugo said as he scoffed at her claim. "If anyone who's going to get their asses kicked, it's going to be yours." He said before looking over at Iida. "Get out of here four-eyes. This one's mine."

"You can't be serious? We're supposed to work together during this exercise." Iida said as it caused Bakugo to glare at him.

"I said I don't need your help!" Bakugo yelled as it caused Iida to flinch from Bakugo's yelling. He then turned his attention onto Lily for a moment before looking back at Bakugo with an annoyed sigh and leaving to take care of the bomb.

"Big mistake on your part. Had you let him fight alongside you, you might be able to take me down."

"Like I need an extra to take down a villain like you. You're looking at the next number one hero who's going to be bigger and more famous than All Might!" He yelled before bringing his hands back and launching himself forward towards Lily with the help of his explosion quirk. Once he was close, he brought his right arm up to perform a haymaker towards her face.

Lily moved her body to the side to avoid his attack. She soon counters by grabbing his arm, turning herself around, and quickly slams him onto the ground on his back as he lets out a gasp of air from having the wind knocked out of him.

"Bit of a heads up. Never start your move out with a haymaker. Leave you open for someone to counter your move like what I just did." She said before backing away from the body and getting into a fighting stance. Bakugo quickly pulls himself up from the ground and charges at her. Once he was close again, he delivered a strong kick to her head. The magic circuits in the pseudo servant's arms lit up as she quickly brought her arm up to block the kick. She soon turned her attention onto Bakugo's upper body to see that he was about to deliver a point-blank explosion to her face. She quickly backed away from Bakugo as his attack missed, which in turn gave Lily the opening to lunge herself towards Bakugo. The circuit lines in her legs lit up as she delivered a strong kick to his stomach. Bakugo lets out another gasp of air from the kick as he was sent flying backward for a moment before tumbling onto the ground.

"Nice job on holding back your strength. But wouldn't it be better if you take him out in one shot?" Artoria asked as Lily shook her head.

"Not yet. He hasn't done anything that would warrant me to take him out in one go." Lily said as she watched Bakugo stagger to his feet. "Combat wise, he's good. Not to mention having an explosion quirk is pretty cool. But I want to see how far he'll go in this fight."

"So you're going to get him to use his trump card, block it, and then use a better move to show that he's nothing special?" Artoria asked as Lily nodded. "Bold move on your part, but doing this might backfire on you later on down the road."

"I'll just say it's part of my quirk or something. These heroes will believe almost anything." She said before turning her attention onto Bakugo. "What's the matter mister soon to be number one hero? I thought you were stronger than that or were you all talk and no bark little a puppy~"

"Don't you dare mock me, villain!" He yelled before launching himself towards Lily. Just as she was about to deliver a punch to his face, he quickly brought his hand in front of him to create a smokescreen with his quirk. Lily closed her eyes from the smokescreen, hitting her face as he went over the bunny girl, landed behind her, and delivered a rapid-fire attack from behind with his explosions. Lily gritted her teeth from the pain she felt on her back as she quickly turned around to deliver a backhand to his face. Bakugo quickly ducks underneath the backhand attack as he continues to deliver explosions upon explosions. Lily brought her arms up in an attempt to protect herself from the bombardment of explosions, but as she did this, she felt pieces of her clothes coming off her.

"Your clothes are coming apart," Artoria said as Lily snorted in annoyance at this, but couldn't do much about it due to the ongoing assault from Bakugo at the time. The circuit lines in her legs lit up once again as she pushed herself back to get some distance from Bakugo, but that was short-lived as Bakugo closed the distance between them as he continued his relentless attack upon her.

"Is that the best you got, villain!?" Bakugo yelled. "Weren't you going to kick my ass! Or was that just all talk!?" He asked before unleashing a powerful explosion that caused Lily to stagger back onto the ground. Her ears soon heard a ding sound within the area she was in. She slowly looked around to see where it was coming from as she saw one of Bakugo's gauntlets glowing red. "Thanks to you, I'm all charged up."

"Get up, he's about to unleash a large explosion," Artoria warned as the pseudo-servant slowly staggered to her feet, still trying to recover from the surprise explosion attack from before.

"You got a lot of nerve coming to this school villain," Bakugo said as he aimed his gauntlet at Lily. "You think someone like you can change and turn over a new leaf? Once a villain, always a villain. And I'm going to give you a reality check!" The hand part of his grenade-like gauntlet slid back a bit as a pin appeared from the side of it. "These gauntlets aren't just for show, you know? They help collect sweat so that I can unleash a powerful explosion without me having to put my body on the line."

"Shit." She said as the magic circuits lit up her entire body as she quickly braced herself for the oncoming attack.

"You better get the hell out of the way! Otherwise, you're as good as dead!" Bakugo yelled as he pulled the pin off his gauntlet as he unleashed a large beam-like explosion as it quickly engulfed her along with destroying parts of her surroundings. Once the explosion settled, there was a thick cloud of smoke surrounding the area as Bakugo grins at his work. "Bet you didn't see that coming!"

"I'll give you credit for that little trick," Lily said as the cloud of smoke started to fade away. Once it was gone, it would reveal that she was still standing, but more of her uniform that was already torn received even more damage as it revealed parts of her body, specifically her shirt and skirt were hanging on threads. "That would've worked for someone who has no combat awareness or means of defending themselves." She said as the circuit lines on her body continued to glow before vanishing. "But sadly I'm not like most people nowadays. I've been fighting to survive the slums of Musutafu for the past ten years of my life. Learning how to fight on my own, surviving by eating nothing by rats and wild dogs, and killing villains that would do horrible unspeakable things to me! And you, a punk-ass who lived an easy life who thinks he can become a hero to gain fame and money! Don't make me laugh. You don't deserve to be called a hero!"

"S-Shut up! Like I give a damn about where you come from. You're just a stupid extra who's in my way." He said as Lily noticed the other gauntlet glowed red for a second as he grins. "You think you know me just like that? You don't know anything about me, you damn villain!" Bakugo brought the other gauntlet up. Just like before, the handle part of it slid back to reveal a pin. "All I see is some gutter trash getting in my way. Now get lost and die!" He yelled before pulling the pin and unleashing another giant explosion at her.

Lily glared at the oncoming explosion heading towards her before closing her eyes. She soon raised her hand in front of her as a gold and blue color scabbard appeared in front of her. As it made contact with Bakugo's attack, a burst of sickly purplish-dark light erupted from it as it caused said explosion to quickly vanish. Bakugo's eyes widened upon seeing his attack push away like it was nothing more than a leaf in the wind. His eyes soon locked onto another source of the same color light that was appearing in the bunny girl's hands as it took the form of a sword.

"This sword is the sword of those who've fallen. Their cries, their anguish, their please filled this sword with prayers of a promised victory." Lily said as particles of magic gathered from around them and into the sword. "This sword's light may be tainted, but its values remain the same!" She yelled before launching herself at Bakugo at blinding speed. The young man snapped out of his sudden shock, as he quickly fired off short bursts of explosion in an attempt to stop her and to get some distance from her. The pseudo-servant zigzagged her way towards Bakugo as she avoided the burst of the explosion being sent her way. "Now fall! Excalibur!"

Once she was close, she delivered an upwards horizontal strike to his chest. Nothing happened within the time frame of a couple of seconds before a burst of light erupted from the area Lily struck as Bakugo let out a cry of pain as he hit the ground. Within a matter of seconds, he pulled his head up to stare at the girl in a mixture of shock and anger.

"H-How the hell are you still standing?" Bakugo asked while struggling to keep himself from passing out. "T-That blast s-should've knocked you out."

"I told you before. I've been fighting and training for the past ten years on the streets of Musutafu. Through pain, effort, and determination. I've pushed myself to the point of almost killing myself to be this strong." She said before sheathing her sword into Avalon. "You're strong, I'll give you that, but your pride and thinking that you're better than anyone else will get you and the people you want to save, killed. Had you used those gauntlets of yours at close range, then you would've won this fight. But seeing how I was a couple of feet away from you, I had time to think of a countermeasure to protect myself."

"D-Dammit! D-Don't think that I'm going to g-give up!" He said before trying to stagger to his feet, only to fall back down after feeling blood bursting from the wound Lily inflicted.

"Don't be an idiot. The wound I inflicted isn't deep, but if you keep moving like that, then you'll bleed to death." Lily said before staggering past him. "Let me give you some advice. Never underestimate your opponents. Otherwise, something like this will happen to you again." Upon finishing, the magic circuits in her body lit up as she quickly bolted back to where Mina and the bomb were, leaving Bakugo on the ground to stew in his anger and frustration.