CYA: What Defines A Hero: Bad Path

by lumpeistbark3

this story revolves around the Entirety of Class 1A being isekai'd into the one-punch man world. The story contains light spoilers post-season 6. The story goes up until right after the psycho sister's arc so I guess spoilers for one punch season 3 as well. the alternative path on A03 is to be uploaded later here.

38. Month 5: Week 1: The War Part II

Note: I fixed the link in my profile for the next story voting, be sure to cast your vote just get rid of the (-), so far CAMA is in the lead with 2, WDF: B-Plot at 1, WDF: Neutral Path at 1 as well. Were closing in on the end of the path which could end as early as the end of this year or at the very most the beginning of next year, after that the story will reset back to chp 30 where the good path will start to pick up. I'll like change the name to simulate the current path being uploaded.

Hope you all enjoy the Chapter and See you all next month!

The Hostage: The Mutants, Neo Leaders, Bang, Bomb, Fubuki, G-Units

With bakugo leading the charge the group of heroes quickly made their way into the association propper, he was on the very last barrier between the outside world and the monsterization before he signaled that he was ready, momo had been busy advising everyone else on the pulley system and how it operates before the operation truly begins, the whole bakugo created was uneven and jaggy so mina was used to smooth everything out and create a wide enough space for two people to be pulled upwards at a time without issues, their plan was fairly straight it was a blitzkrieg straight to the child prison room while securing all of the floors above to the best of their ability, momo would have to stay upstairs and monitor the system and ensure nothing malfunctions taking her place would be the large 5 meters tall G4 machine that she created once everything was prepared the mission was a go. Bakugo blew open the ceiling to the association to the absolute absence of life, the only "living" thing on the floor was another machine momo commented over the coms that G5, G-fire, and G-wind have already secured the first three levels they would have gone through but after that, they should be prepared for combat against the monsters, everyone understood and bakugo continued to make two additional holes into the ground before stopping and waiting for the others to come down alongside him, there was only a brief conversation that followed with the neo-leaders all of wanted to take point in the push to the next floors and none of the teens argued the point and just hoped they knew what they were getting into before bakugo used his bracers to open up another large hole and this time he could hear the reactions from below as some of the monsters yelled in surprise which soon turned into agony once the neo leaders jumped down to join the mix.

The initial fight was short lived the neo-hunter brothers Axel and Accel worked speedily together carving down monsters with their hatchets and gliding along the ground with their skates, it was beneficial that a majority of the monster association base walkways were composed of smooth surfaces allowing incredible ease of movement especially with their specialized exo-suit which offered even better traction slaying the monsters were never easier. Raiden charged head first into a horde of monsters on the floor killing each of them with a single palm strike, exploding them into gore pieces that scattered the walls and floors, blue had taken a separate group of monsters using his gloves and charging up a large blast that incarcerated 20 of the monsters of any kind, suiryu sat back and relaxed next to lin lin, the two martial artists didn't have to much of anything and decided to conserve their strength although in lin lin case she was still a bit freighted of the monsters but seeing how her compatriots were dispatching of them so easily had her gain more and more courage as she watched, it only took three minutes for the closed to be clear and bakugo came down to continue to the next floor, this time it would be the teens turn to clear the area before proceeding down. In the midst of saving time, the large scale attackers were sent ahead namely todoroki all by himself he chanel his suits functions and went into his phosphorus white form, his suit would rapidly heat up his body to compensate for the form he thrusted both of his hands outwards and waited as the monsters closed in on him from both directions before unleashing a massive wave of ice that completely encapsulated all of the monster present freezing them solid before he exhaled a breath of frost, the entire floor was encapsulated in ice as the monsters were frozen, most of them were dead immediately but others could be alive so that's when jiro came in using her ear-blade function she jabbed both of her earacks into both sides of where the ice laid and exerted her maximum vibrations into them, the ice started to splinter and then fractured into dozens of small pieces…despite the situation Jiro still felt somewhat sympathetic to the monster especially as a scattered frozen eye ball had pranced in front of her which she quickly kicked aside out of her sight nearly gaging the only plus side was unlike the floor above them their was very little in terms of smell, thanks to todoroki's ice.

Everyone proceeded to make their way down into the lower chamber the G4 machine taking security on the floor above them, they continued down to the next floor this one being taken care of by both bang and bomb in record timing allowing them to proceed almost unimpeded, this continued for the rest of the floors until finally it was time for them to breach the prison center at least they hoped for it to be the prison center and they haven't moved the kid yet unlike previously where bakugo was leading the charge given the potential danger the hostage could be in instead the one leading the way was mina, Kirishima, and blue.

---

Prisoner cell

"Be sure to be okay out there, alright?" raptora remarked to her older sister which gained her a head rub instead.

"Come on now, I'll be fine…Just don't get too bored in here without me alright? " reptera replied simply

"Well you are going up against an S-class hero..so" Raptora said, still hesitant, moving her injured shoulder a bit to remind her of the danger of even a non-S-class hero, her sister's features for a moment faltering from her confidence demeanor into something sour but the confidence came right back as soon as it left as he gave her a comforting smile and hug.

"It's going to be alright, Gyoro-Gyoro plans things out really well, remember? things worked out really well during their invasion if so it should work out now right?...I'll be back as soon as we're done and then we can go and get revenge on those bra-" as Raptora was speaking, suddenly the roof in the room of the prisoner collapsed down.

The other two monsters responded instantly opening up the cage and rushing inside the dark cell there was a brief flash of light purple light that illuminated the space and realization instantly dawned on the two girls' faces as they recognized who was inside the cell, they noticed the third person but they didn't care about him as their sights hyper-focused on the twin "horn buddies" from that night of the invasion, the two monsters a small chimp and a humanoid walrus type monster with three horn that had entered the cell had unceremoniously been cut down by the girl out of her left hand extended a long blade of what seemed like heat that bisected them along with the cage gate. Three of their gators had heard the scuffle and ran inside the holding area two of them had turned humanoid in size and carried impromptu weapons like large axes and one carried a large spread on end, upon looking at the human rescuing the prisoner they instantly charged full steam ahead at the two assailants, it was a very short battle two of them slammed their hands down on the one with red hair and were shocked when their weapons shattered upon contact with him but the girls were absolutely shocked with the rebuttal of the redhead teen both monsters still stuck in their surprised from their weapons breaking were gored between the face of the redhead teens hands the strikes were lighting quick piercing out and through the back of their skull before quickly retracting backward and they watched as their bodies dropped to the floor, the other alligator monsters blade was completely cut through with the flame weapon cutting the creature in half as well during the incursion.

Which only left the four of them in the small cell area, the two teens made no moves to engage them while the third individual picked the child up and soon enough a rope of some kind was also brought down into the hole which he was hooking up to, there was a mild panic that flooded both sister and even when the girl spoke out and even the pink girl telling them that they "didn't have to fight and they were just going to take the kid and go." didn't make up for it, her little sister job was to protect the prisoner even if they did leave it here that only meant Gyoro-Gyoro would kill them for being a coward and to make matter worst another monster came inside this one was one of the stronger tigers sludge jellyfish, which left them with only one choice they had to fight now as both of the sister shared a knowing glance and nodded at each other before brandishing their own weapons she favored her own custom made machete from when they were humans while her smaller sister horns were actually removable for her which she could use to strike and stab her opponents.

They both covered their blades with thick venom from their mouths, before charging forwards with a scream they heard the pink girl remark about how they warned her before she cast a glance at the hole, the third person and the kid had just been reeled up upwards and out of the room before the girl turned her attention to her proper, they saw how the redhead had grabbed her hand and knew that meant that they would be hardened to penetrate but their weapons were different from the rank and file of the other monsters which simply scavenged what they could find on the surface above it should be able to break the skin at least in one of the more vulnerable parts of the area which they were aiming for, they waited for this rematch and thought of strategies to beat them when the time came and now they were going to implement it. As the two jumped at them, the light that was shining inside of the cell the girl's horns quickly vanished leaving only the lighting that the hole produced, but they were shocked when the out of the cell suddenly emerged a cloud of purple mist was too large and late to avoid the attack so it engulfed them, all of their energy collapsed instantly upon the thick cloud touching their skin began to sizzle and dissolve they watched as the sludge monster almost instantly evaporated upon entering into the hazardous cloud letting away as it's momentum carried it to the very center in one leap but stopping short of reaching the two individuals as it burned away. both sisters collapsed and convulsed as the acid cloud continue to whittle away at their bodies, their throats and entire bodies began to burn with pain as they broke down….they could only watch as the two horn buddies left up the rope before their eyes were completely dissolved and soon later the rest of their body.

The class began to travel back up through the multiple floors a lot of the floors had been under attack by the constant stream of monsters but everyone had been able to hold them off well, as the child hostage made it past them it was the only sign for the team to pull back or to go off on their own adventures. Bang and bomb had gone off with G5 to Go and retrieve Garou, while Gflame, fubuki, and Tokoyami had gone to help the esper get her revenge against DO-S, and bakugo who had attempted to go off on his own was secretly tailed by Gwind while everyone knew where he was likely going they didn't think regardless of who it was being wise for anyone of them S-class or not to venture through the base by themselves.

As for everyone else, they made it up and out of the monster association back to the surface. They immediately went about checking up on the child, he was slightly malnourished but he seemed ok for the most part, they went about waking the boy up and despite his condition, he clung to blue with a hard grip.

"Wh-what …took you so long ... .wait who are you? Where are the other S-class heroes" the boy said with a whimper before he continued to look at him and then around to the rest of them.

"A lot of things are happening right now, the other heroes are currently dealing with the monsters alright? Are you hurt or is anything bothering you?" Momo Asked gently and the boy turned to her.

"I'm hungry." the boy stated like he was ordering a maid or servant and completely disregarding his situation, the teens noticeably grimaced at his attitude but they still complied with the request, momo had made a few ration packs along with a couple of bottles of water for him to drink and snack on however the boy seemed disappointed and wanting something else with "taste" and at least "juice." Momo could tell from just the interaction how his father was neglecting to teach him proper etiquette when interacting with others. He reeked of everything her parents said that she avoided doing with others, especially those of lesser economic status. She powered through it regardless by ignoring his request to make tastier food as long as he was fine was all that mattered.

"Were there any other kids or captives down there?" Midoriya asked, the boy paused in hesitation for a moment whether that was because he was thinking or he was just taking time eating his food they didn't know but eventually he nodded.

"Th-there was another kid down there…but ... .but a monster had taken him in the morning." the boy remarked weakly. All of the teens had looked to each with a surprised expression but Momo turned to the G4 machine on her left.

"Is what he's saying true? Do we know if the boy is still alive?" she questioned, there was a pause before the machine replied.

"Inconclusive, reports from monsters indicate that garou had infiltrated the monster association base yesterday and had killed royal Ripper. This same monster was the one that had brought in the other child from the outside, indicating wanting to "save him" for the morning, however, whether he succeeded in killing the boy before his death to garou is unknown. He could have been freed but with garou's capture could have been killed by other roaming monsters as he wandered aimlessly through the halls of the monster association." G4 replied, both toru and ojiro grimaced at the thought, shamed by their inaction to save the boy in the first place.

"That means there is a chance that he's still alive somewhere down there right?" Midoriya remarked.

"A possibility but an unlikely one, the odds are likely-"

"I'll take the chance," Midoriya remarked by simply cutting the machine off before making his way back towards the hole and dropping back down into the monster association, uraraka intercepted him.

"Be careful alright." the girl said simply, knowing that it would be foolish to even consider talking him out of it or suggesting that she tag along with him, todoroki was going to do so instead however when it became apparent from the entitled child that he didn't want to leave with these "nobodies" referring to the neo-leader and demanded an S-class escort their hands were tied as todoroki would escort them away from the zone instead but come right back as quickly as possible.

"I will." Midoirya replied simply as he kissed the girl on the forehead before dropping down the hole and dashing off, using his danger sense to search for this missing kid.

Uraraka lightened both todoroki and the rest of the neo-leaders as they prepared to leave. There were some minor discussions amongst the groups before they parted ways skating off Todoroki's ice high up into the sky and away towards Neoleader headquarters. Mina, Tsu, and Toru had a short discussion revolving around lin lin and how she was barking up the wrong tree in reference to bakugo given where he was headed, Mina suggested that she would be curious about a love triangle while toru expressed a more somber note of the potential was their as a fall back option given what's happening with silver chain at the moment. Once Todoroki and the neo-leaders were out of sight and confirmed away, Momo used the Comms system to radio in with the S-class heroes and update them on the child's safety along with the potential of another child being lost down there instead

---

Speed: Flash, Silver chain, Gale wind, Hellfire Flame, Bakugo, Asterius

Flash proceeded down the hallways of the monster association so far he hasn't come up against any substantial resistance, were the monster attempting to tire them out before sending in their stronger units? It would make the most sense but they would likely need hundreds, no, thousands of more monsters to ever hope to achieve such a thing against him and this plot of theirs actually work even better for him now there would be no need for any cleanup, that was if the monsters were as fearless as they have been so far even mindless beast could know when they are beaten and outmatched if enough of them were killed off but maybe it was the false comfort of these so-called cadres that motivated them? That could also be a reason why the cadre was being reserved instead of attacking them directly to keep morale high amongst their forest like a legendary general that while mighty stay from the fighting to give his subordinates the illusion of victory as long as he still stands, in that event once he disposed of the cadre should he take something of their as a trophy to break the will of the others monsters he faces? It likely wouldn't matter as long as this monster king orochi continued to exist so it was a rather useless train of thought he felt as he continued down his pathway, several monsters attempted to "ambush" him but it was too sloppy made or to clean off a cut not to mention their excitement and killing intent gave themselves to the point he believed their hiding spots were just trying to mask their hideous appearance from him and that none of them were worthy enough to grace his presence and if that were the reason he would have actually held a modicum of respect for the monsters instead of the joke their true intentions were.

When He was finished clearing up his next room and started to begin his journey deeper into the base he stopped for a moment to listen to the message that came over the comm feed it was from neith and the rest of the mutants they have claimed to have rescued the child, that was rather fast he believed but they did supposedly know exactly where to go and they went with a straight forwards approach, he had no side to stand on when it came to them; if the teens were found to be traitors he would kill them if not than they would have spared him the effort of rescuing the child and he could focus on fighting instead of babysitting some child but speaking of such an incident they spoke of another child that may be lurking in the association someplace that was the more suspicious of a call out as a random child being here in the monster association base would add no further benefit to them, then the child of the sponsor which brought them there in the first place. The only reason he chose to actually believe such a story was that they didn't give an exact location of the child's whereabouts, as if they did it would make no sense for them to know of his location if this was unforeseen circumstance and this would have inadvertently labeled them as traitors and the location they gave a likely trap set up for them so he chose to believe that they were legit at least for now, either way, child emperor said he would go double check their supposed prisoner spot so he likely didn't need to bother with such activities himself.

Once the communication ended, there was some brief discussion between which was quickly followed by yelling from sweet mask but he cut the radio out once the star hero started to get going besides out of the corner of his eye he found something more interesting it seemed that one of the cadres has finally come out to fight although it wasn't her it was one of her silver clones, he was moderately curious in her, the village mainly because comparing her tech level with that of the other one outside seemed to scream a night and day difference between the two. Was it possibly some illegal modification she made to herself and their clan simply allowed them to empower themselves individually or was it something more and the other ninja lacked something to gain technology of a similar level? His village never would allow such things and almost were technophobic in their belief everything you had you either made yourself or gathered from the natural elements however given what they were it could make sense, their strength no matter how hard they tried would be inferior so increasing technical level would likely be needed to keep up. To someone like himself though it didn't matter, the clone and he locked eyes but instead of attacking like he expected it fell back and went down a pathway to the left, he guessed this battlefield wasn't to her liking. Oh well, he would go, he had nothing else to do now that the child was saved, and walking around aimlessly in search of another sounded pointless as long as he kept moving it didn't matter where he searched and perhaps one of the three would know where the monster king was he thought as he continued to travel and follow the clone along.

"Yo, aren't you that super-fast hero flash?" a monster spoke as Flash was looking over his communicator and his map layout of the people inside, he looked up and saw three monsters, not the ones he was expecting but more fodder, despite following along the tails of the girl's clone there had been a handful of fodder creatures in the way, some she would even kill herself which signaled to him that she was getting impatient by him taking so long and being distracted so, of course, he took his time even more, she attacked him directly of course but she knew her fake clones were not capable of doing much of anything to him so that really only delayed him longer, so instead she just left him to his own devices.

"We've been waiting for you for a very long time, we were told that you have been taking this route, we're curious could you use that speed you're so proud of in these tight corridors? HAHAHA!" The monster spoke before his laugh was cut off as the three of them went down each with a blade directly through their skull, in case they were still alive, flash did give them a response.

"I've never boasted about my speed, that's what sidekicks do. Although truth be told, many have said that my battles are over before they even begin." flash said simply as he moved past the blood started to spurt from the wounds and the three bodies collapsed to the floor.

He was brought out of the moment with the sound of clapping as he turned his head to stare down a dark corridor, the flames emerged from one individual's sword casting light for him to see, there were two of them the one with the flame on his sword twirled it as the fire came of the sword and landed in the torches on both sides of the hallway.

"Splendid work flashy flash." the one with blonde hair remarked.

"Flashy flash, the traitor who caused the "44th graduation class- the end" the brunette remarked and Flash was partially surprised at that, he knew that some others of the monster association were after him going by his eavesdropping after his battle with the girl but to expect they were someone that knew about his past but speaking of girl.

"Where is the third one? Is she also from the village?" flash throughout, it was a bait question, he wanted to garner if they truly were from his village or were they just informed of him by the girl herself.

"Tch, a girl a part of the village? You insult its very name with your question." the brunette remarked agitated.

"You didn't answer my first question," Flash remarked simply as he started to toy around with his cuffs, the ninja duo was annoyed that the man had the audacity to take his eyes off him.

"This battle is between us and you, we are from the 37th graduation class-the golden, hellfire flame." hellfire stated.

"Gale wind. We will be your slayers!" the blonde remarked but Flash wasn't paying attention to them as he finally stopped fishing into his gauntlets he was surprised by how embedded that thing managed to latch itself into but he finally managed to get it, it was a very small black ball likely a locator.

"Yes, Yes as I haven't heard that before the countless assassins sent to kill me however we won't be alone very soon and this third party may be interested in who it is. If you are alone like you claim then, you can kill him and we can get on with our duel but…you both are horrible liars." flash said with confidence before raising both hands and starting a countdown of 10.

"And here I thought all of you S-class were full of bravado attacking us individually as you are. are you calling for help?" gale wind remarked

"It won't matter, they will just die right along with you, but it does save us some time in hunting them down" hellfire flame added on, despite saying that both ninjas remained frozen in their spot and looked to each other before on a plan of action. Should they wait for these supposed reinforcements or should they attempt to take flash now? The man seemed to be totally off guard but it seemed he didn't care about his supposed reinforcement very much or that could have been a bluff to buy time but as his last finger went down to signify the end the two ninjas got ready both of them didn't know what to expect so they instantly monsterized and prepared for the battle they heard it before they could see him and they definitely didn't expect the person to come crashing through the ceiling not only collapsing the roof but also the wires in the process, flash actually smirked at that he was to focus on the individuals from his village that he forgot to take a view of his environment well in this kids last moments at least he was useful to him at least in part.

He could see it clearly, gale wind was about to pull his other wires tight which would entwine and cut the teen's body to ribbons however he was wearing armor so there was a chance that he could survive he didn't know what those suits were made of but- flash thoughts were put on hold as something fast came through the shadows behind the duo, slicing through the wires and grabbing the boy out of thin air and carrying him off directly past him his body reacted immediately as the blur attempted to kick him on its pass through but the attack was easily dodged by himself as the white streak blurred past him, he ignored that for now as he turned his attention back to the ninja duo.

"Now …let us-" flash stopped his sentence short as he blitz forwards hopping to skewer gale wind in one blow but the monster was faster than he anticipated as he avoided the blow by escaping to the ceiling, hellfire flame reacted also nearly instantly slashing at him with his sword flash raised his to parry and come back with an attack of his own, the monster ninja reciprocate in kind, they clashed multiple times creating a small vortex of flame and light.

"So your target was me the entire time?" flash asked

"Of course, you're the only threat to us, I could hardly wait to meet you." hellfire replied during the clash.

"It will be interesting how the former number one of the 44th handles a battle between the top two of the strongest graduating class the 37th but there's one more thing flash." gale wind spoke as the two of them were fighting. Flash parried his sword downwards once more before he started to rise up quickly with a wind blade kick the monster dodged it but the gust it kicked up wiped out several of the fire torched around clouding the place in even more darkness, despite that due to hellfire's flames he could still spot a very similar kick aiming for him, he attempted to avoid it by evading to the air but he was shocked when his foot was firmly rooted to the ground he couldn't spare the time to look down instead focusing completely on blocking the flame kick headed his way, the blow managed it but it back him into the side of the wall, he looked down at the thing that held his hand seeing that they were large hands instead he was going to cut them off but he hurriedly looked up as gale wind came down from the rooftop like a spider with both of his weapons Dual Kukri that he wanted to bring down on flash head but the hero raised his sword blocking the downward thrusting stabs and holding it up.

"You were right, flash, we weren't alone and I don't know how you did it but your little ploy failed since you didn't know about her power." gale wind remarked before him, and hellfire flames both kicked the hero down through the floor, was it a trap floor he thought? As he dropped down he finally saw the being that was holding onto his legs. It was that girl again likely in her new monster form.

He quickly pulled his sword and slashed at her body. She reacted predictably, removing her hands from his feet and defending herself by drawing her own blade that clashed with his. She used her leverage that she held to throw a kick his way which he avoided as he began to fall down into the large cavern below he noted the water fall and the large bridge before he turned his sights back towards the ninja trio the two of them launched off the former floor now ceiling at him shattering the rest of it into crumbling rock, gale wind shot out six strands of wire from his hands but flash was able to easily weave through them, slowing his descent and letting the ninja catch up to his fall they came down at him attempting to perform a combo attack tempest blade kick but flash had we'ved himself closer to the walls of the cavern allowing himself to doge the attack by jumping up wards which launched him horizontally about the room but he had no time for breaks as the girl came crashing down on him with a leg drop using that metal of her to clad her feet in a sharpy spike he blocked with his sword but the impact and lack of surface anything to stop himself he was sent flying downwards towards the bridge. He managed to get his feet under him and brace for the landing..the two other ninja monsters were next to the bridge on the waterfall while the girl had landed directly on the bridge.

"Why did you allow him to track you here..you probably knew about the tracker." the girl spoke to him, flash merely shrugged his shoulders.

"You're a monster now, right? What does it matter to you? Did you kill him?" flash asked

"I doubt that you care." silver chain replied

"You're correct I don't, I thought that it would offer up a good distraction for you but it seems that your artificial clones have turned into real ones….you do know that those two are also a part of the clan that slayed your family." flashed remarked before shifting his gaze to the two monster ninja.

"You were the executioner and that's all that matters you even stoop so low into betraying the very clan that raised you." silver chain shot back, and at that flash actually chuckled.

"What is it that those teens say.." the pot calling the kettle black?" I believe…aren't you betraying your very clan by becoming a monster yourself?" flash stated

"I became a monster to kill you and that alone, I may have gone against my order by I'm no traitor." silver chain spoke.

"Hehe I would believe her flash, after we dispose of you she's going to off herself as repentance for her following the bait that they laid out to her, you could learn a thing or two about respect from her." gale wind remarked

"Shame too, I wouldn't mind her joining us on our journey of world domination." hellfire added on.

"World domination is your goal so why are you bothering me?" flash questioned

"More So than the heroes, it's other powerful individuals from our village who are standing in our way after all ninjutsu is quite troublesome" gale wind replied

"Yet there seems to be other ninja from outside the village that holds potential as well." Flash responded looking directly towards the girl in front of them.

"It likely won't matter either way, given we know of a person no one can defeat, not even you." silver chain remarked simply.

"Who? Is it this monster king orochi?" flash questioned but silver chain shook her head.

"No someone that's even more powerful but you will not live to meet him." silver chain remarked as suddenly something dashed past her flash reacted almost instantly, putting up an arm to block the attack that came at him, he slid backward a couple of feet from the impact but he remained standing.

"It took its time returning now didn't it?" flash remarked with a smirk.

"Oh are you insinuating that you were waiting for the clone to come back?" gale wind asked

"Of course why else would I waste my time talking to you three." flash replied simply

"Yare Yare…you're still that cocky?" gale wind replied his hand balling into fist

"What an annoying fellow, don't underestimate your elders." hellfire flame added on.

"That's my line , allow me to teach you arrogant fools a lesson on how you'll never be able to surpass me by merely being monsters." flash said, brandishing his swords toward the four of them.

"Enough talk, let's see how strong you really are." the second silver chain stated before the two of them rushed flashed both at once he was surprised again by the speed the two showed being barely able to block both attacks at a similar time but the force again blowing him back allowing for the other two to come at him, he quickly turned around striking out with a kick that hit hellfire flame in the chin, he used his sword to block the Dual Kukri of gale wind at the same time. He and gale clashed against each other again and again, gale was unable to get through while Flash was attempting not to get tunneled vision on a single target, he was suddenly taken off guard when a shot that he blocked held much more power than it originally had during their exchange he could faintly see the wind circle around his opponent's weapons before they lashed out against him the last time sending him skidding backward licks of flame blew passed him as hellfire fire met him at his destination he quickly spun in mid-air and blocked the flaming sword strike with his own.

Fire release blazing scattering strike flame let off with a flurry of sword flaming sword slashes but he was surprised when the hero still remained there almost entirely unphased by it all, that moment's hesitation in his movement allowed flash turn to attack heavy flashy- flash stopped his move cold as he felt the blood lust coming from his upper right he immediately leapt away from the sword swing by kicking off the bridge with extreme speed, he kept his eyes on all three of the indivdua- as soon as he only spotted the three he immediately checked forwards again from where he jumped towards but it was to late the clone landed a punch directly across his face sending him skyrocketing downwards despite the blow he still reacted instantly to the stablazing himself to block and the two village ninja as they continued to attack him but again the girl came from a different angle and struck him in the back forcing allowing gale to get a proper kick into his gut sending him flying back towards the bridge.

Flash again stabilized and prepared himself for the two ninjas diving down at him, the girl was using her metal clones as footstools to jump off of and allowing her and the other two to change course and move around in mid-air while he would be relocated to the walls, he quickly jumped up as the girl and her clone dived down at him, he understood the method at this point as he thrusts his sword upwards during ihs dash heavy flashy slash, gale wind dual kukri that he was going to use to attempt to stab him with were both shattered by his attack as it passed through but he was, unfortunately, able to score a killing blow only scoring a slash along the man's shoulder, hellfire flame came in from behind him attempting to stab him through, using his sword that was now stuck into the ceiling as leverage he pulled his body up and avoided the attack the man had even to pull back his strike before he ended up stabbing his compatriot instead. Flash quickly took advantage of the momentary dismay as he kicked both of the two down to the waters below and just in time as the girl came right back up at him he blocked both of her strikes with each hand.

he craters into the wall at the force of the impact but he managed to stop them both cold before snapping out with a kick which was blocked as he raised his other leg to block the attack from the girl's clone but understanding the disadvantage of being in that position flash quickly withdrew his leg back faster then the girl could strike and pushed off the wall hard cratering it and flying off into the direction of the opposite wall of the cavern, gale wind and hellfire flame went to intercept him, launching next to him and striking out with numerous punches and kicks, which he blocked, parried, and returned with some attack of his own, they clashed along the wall before taking it across the waterfall. Once on the water's surface each of them was as light as a feather as they fought along the water, he saw in the reflection of the raindrops of the water splashing that the girl was coming down from over the top of him but not only that due to the shadow under his feet something was coming upwards from the water surface likely the metal clones he quired.

They had cornered him or so they thought as they all struck from each possible angle, flash curled himself into a ball wrapping his misty mantle around himself as the four targets engaged as they struck out against it nothing was their earning a flash of surprise from the two ninjas, the girl struck nothing as she dived into the waterfall proper crashing into the wall, flash performed a spinning top slide allowing him to maneuver around the first target that touched his cape giving the illusion of hitting nothing, Flashy Flash rotated his hands at an incredible rate as he thrusts them forward at each of the ninja Falling Moon Palm the attack was effective stunning both village ninja and allowing him the perfect opportunity to kill at the same time he pulled out his sword and dash forwards flashy slash he scored a hit but something was wrong, he only felt a single target, he turned and looked it was the girl but most likely the clone so she pushed them out of the way huh? Interesting he thought as he blocked another strike from the women. The two of them dashed over the entirety of the landscape clashing with one another blades, fist, and kicks each striking with tremendous force that shattered the environment, flash reeled back as gale wind came back. He was correct in the time it would take them to recover he thought as he used the girl herself as a stepping stone while delivering a hard kick to her gut he launched forwards at the village member they were easier targets than the girl. He was marginally surprised when gale wind launched off what appeared like nothing but was likely the girls metal clones and hellfire flame took his place but that didn't matter to Flash as he racked both of his fists back and threw them forwards flash fist hellfire flame was overwhelmed by a barrage of punches and his painful gasp were quickly cut off by slash of flash's sword, predictable the other member of the village attempted to avenge his fallen compatriot much to the girl's annoyance she attempted to protect him but she was to slow this time around and the others head went flying as well.

he reacted in time to block the girl downward but was surprised when it almost appeared her leg became like a liquid from his perspective and went around his guard, the bladder foot struck out at his head but he turned his head enough to avoid decapitation only gained a scar along his cheek. Her other leg flew out and struck him and he went flying downwards towards the exit of the cavern. it was there where the two of them locked gazes. It was only her left what would she do now would she run away or attack him? He already knew the answer as the girl charged forth her anger was leading her there were no tricks just a frontal assault, a suicidal charge the two launched out at each other faster doing hundreds of clashes within mere seconds of the other but eventually, flowing shadow flash accelerated to an even faster speed as the girl approached him the two slashed out with their weapons and then there was nothing but the sounds of the exploding environment catching up with them, both combatants turned around to stare at each other but it was the girl that fell as her legs from the kneecaps down fell to the wayside.

Despite that she fell without a word or grunt of pain, flash sheathed his sword walking towards the exit, he was about to walk past the girl that had her hands on the ground, but as he walked by he found a hand caught his ankle.

"Finish it." the girl said simply.

"You do not value your life?" flash remarked he was going to let her go based on her being the likely informant for the child and her somewhat just hatred against him. The girl shook her head.

"This was my choice, this is my consequence." silver chain said, she moved her body into a seiza stance as blood poured out of her leg stomps. Flash unsheathed his sword and took the position of a kaishakunin.

"That was the same thing he said as well." flash remarked simply, and the girl let out a small chuckle at that, flash noticed something popping out of the girl's head, it was another clone but he did not move as it split from her and dashed away somewhere higher up back from the way he fell.

"I'm ready." silver chain spoke simply.

"If it brings you any comfort, I had finally decided to go through with killing my clan after my assassination mission to kill your parents." flash remarked as he raised his sword.

"It does," Sylvia replied simply and the only thing she could hear were the footsteps of the man walking away, she willed her monsters cells to remain for a moment longer before she simply felt powerless and her head fell along with the rest of her body as not only that was cut but the bridge itself as it fell into the waters below.

Flash continued down his path, reminiscing about his past, the village and likely ninja clans in general were always restrictive and indoctrinating, they treated them like tools to be used and exploited and most importantly discarded if the need arises, he believed that there was more to life than that..something better. Those that continually subject themselves to others will only ever be seen as tools, she likely could have seen that too if circumstances were different but that is not for him to decide as he continued to move on, he staggered for a brief moment as he propped himself up on a wall one of his vambraces completely shattered, he looked at it for a moment before correcting himself and continuing to walk forwards. He stopped in his tracks he thought to check for his position but he lost his communicator during the fighting. There was no point searching for it, he thought as he looked back to the now barren room, he could find his way back to that room if it was needed and from there retrace his steps.

---

Bakugo vs Asterius

Bakugo was quickly coming down through wall after wall, not letting himself be distracted by the small fry monsters that had attempted to get in his way none of them seemed to be much of a threat to him, and anyone that actually managed to stop him on his travels was quickly dealt with permanently but every time he was he had a moment to think about what he was doing? Was he going to achieve anything by going there, hell what would he even say? Or did he just want to watch the fight unfold between the two assassins? She made her choice and he should have just accepted it right? Moved on with his life instead of risking it getting killed doing who knows what but..something told him that he should at least try one more time..maybe it was him being guilty over the fact that if she did manage to kill the S-class hero it would almost directly be his fault for the major pillar of protector in this world, it would be like all might all over again, this world wouldn't be as severe as theirs, of course, they had other powerful heroes but this world was also more dangerous and getting worse by the second not to mention that god creature who could show up at any time and out pops a dragon monster.

The baldy was invincible at least in everything he's seen so far but he was an idiot and didn't take anything seriously he would beat the threat but not without it being too late to save all the people he could have, he even disappeared in a time like this one. Through all his thoughts, however, he came up with to rationalize his current action bakugo knew the truth. he had liked the girl and didn't want to see her die whether by Flash or killing herself it was simple as that, he checked his forearm utility a couple more times and saw how Flash had stopped moving for a longer period of time than normal which could only mean the two of them met, so he charged forwards even faster to get there before the fighting even began. He eventually arrived crashing through the wall he took notice of Flash and turned his head to look at the person across and was surprised to not find the girl there at all but two other people instead, she did say that there were two others she was working with right? This must be them and going by their faces they definitely didn't have a problem with attacking him ….was he going to die? He was sure as shit Flash wasn't going to protect him going off how he treated Iida but his thoughts were soon clouded by darkness and flashing lights as his scenery completely changed he felt weightless but he knew he was being carried by someone or something as he felt soft thuds regurgitate off his back as his battle suit reduced the impacts, he was being used as a ram to shatter through multiple walls before coming to a stop and being tossed haphazardly into a large empty room, he took note of his environment for a moment before looking back at the person who took him here, it was her. She was clearly different now, he guessed he was seeing what her monster form looked like, but he didn't know how to describe it.

she was definitely similar to the other monster ninja past being somewhat more animal-like but maintaining the majority of her human characteristics thick tuff of gray and black fur was on her shoulders and lower arms including her hands which came down with rapid sharp claws, her body was still covered mostly by her suit so he couldn't tell much of anything else, she wore but along the shins, he could also see black and gray fur rising upwards before he rose his eyes up to look at her eyes, he never told anyone including her but her eyes were one of the key things that drew him towards her, almost glowing like silver light and even now they had hardly changed but now they have had a silver of blue to them, which he didn't know if it made it worst or better to him.

"Why did you follow him down here?" silver chained asked, bakugo opened his mouth and closed it several times, he still didn't know exactly why, if he said to her that he came to stop her from making a mistake or something dumb like that he would feel like he was invalidating her entirely and not to mention it was already too late for that given what's she become and it wasn't like he had any kind of power to stop her, himself.

"I guess you could say, I just wanted to see you again before the final battle." bakugo remarked

"I didn't take you for the sentimental type dynamite." silver chain replied simply, bakugo didn't know why he was agitated by her saying his hero name but he squashed that for now.

"You say sentimental, I say I'm just doing my job, I still think what you're doing is stupid and it's a hero's duty to stop people from doing stupid things, while this is cliche to say…revenge won't bring them back you know and I don't think they would want you to give your life for this." bakugo remarked, he didn't want to directly tell her to just quit with getting revenge, so he tried to phrase it another way although with that he felt that he sounded a bit too preachy, he knew nothing of her parents so he didn't really have a right to speak on what they would have thought about her actions but given her lack of reaction, she thankfully didn't take it the wrong way.

"Heh, what I'm doing would be considered stupid, yes multiple people would have told me so before my transformation but sometimes people need to do stupid things to find themselves." silver chains replied and bakugo nodded at that.

"Finding yourself is pointless if you're just going to die afterward." bakugo grumbled in retort, the girl gave out a half-hearted chuckle.

"Well that is true as well but, I dedicated my entire life to this goal now that it is within my grasp I can't let it slip." silver chain replied simply as she turned to walk away. Back through the hole she made with his freaking body.

"I know…" bakugo replied in a murmur looking away, the girl's new additional ears twitched as she heard him say that but she continued forwards

"Oh and I'm not the only one with a vendetta to pick, asterius wanted his last match with you as well…So I wish you the best." silver chain remarked before she made her way back out of the wall, bakugo confused was about to ask the girl what she meant by that but by the time he shifted his sights back to where the hole in the wall was but his eyes immediately drifted towards his feet as he felt himself start to get dragged downwards, he used his explosions to blow up the ground that wanted to take him, it continued to consume him even more quickly than before he let out more explosion before flying upwards into the air.

The ground began to follow him but an ap shot completely destroyed it and there was a brief silence before he could hear the ground start to shake and move 15 meters away a stone column rose up from the ground from out of that stone column emerged, asterius the large black minotaur creature faced him, he could see that it now sported two swords on his back instead of the one and the earth bending was definitely new.

"Cheap tricks.." bakugo remarked simply.

"The powers granted to me by Naga, I have grown stronger since our first battle bakugo katsuki ...this battle will be our last. There will be no more holding back ..may the victor be the last one standing." Asterius remarked pulling out one of his swords from behind his back and pointing it at him in threat.

"I haven't slacked off since the last time I kicked your ass, so I hope you know what you're signing yourself up for….. where is the other one, the cub." bakugo remarked before thinking more on it and taking Koda's thoughts into consideration, the minotaur plunged his sword into the ground.

"Aikiando is somewhere in the base on a reserve team for the heroes on the surface..she may have already been deployed and killed who knows….ready yourself warrior, the time for talk is over…this is a battle between hero and monster." asterius stated before picking up his sword again.

"Fine by me, I already gave you a warning so if you attack me now, I will kill you." bakugo remarked honestly, pointing his gauntlet straight at the minotaur.

"Then it will have been a good death." asterius replied simply as he unsheathed his second sword from behind his back and charged at him.

Bakugo responded instantly to the charge and given his gauntlets were already in place he let off with an single-handed AP-Shot: Auto-Cannon he was surprised that despite the onslaught of explosive orbs the minotaur slashed through them with surprising speed and kept his entire momentum in his charge bakugo noted a it got closer that the blades were growing a bright orange in fact flames licked along the blades edges as the minotaur slammed the both sword down over his head, he didn't want to find out of his armor could take the blow so he opted to avoid shooting off an explosion with his other hand below him at an angle which shot him backwards and away from the slash but the minotaur continued to attack him as he went he raised his swords back up into the air a barrage of heated stone was sent his way, he quickly used his explosions to shield himself from the magma like attack. Bakugo returned with some projectiles of his own he sent out a cluster of C4 explosive cubes and scattered them along the ground before setting them off creating a line of explosives directly toward the minotaur however the earth rose up creating a makeshift bunker to protect itself, bakugo gathered up a large amount of sweat from his gauntlets and chucked a claymore type explosive to the bunker hoping to break it entirely and knock the minotaur backward his plan was a success and the minotaur was skidding back along the floor from the large detonation and he thrust forwards in hopes of taking advantage of the situation.

As he moved forwards however he noticed a shadow was suddenly cast over his head, he looked up to see a cloud hovering above his head but he was too late to react to the attack the sprang from it as a lightning bolt struck him dead center he flinched as the electricity coursed through his veins causing his hands to momentarily clam up slowing him down and dropping him from the sky but the minotaur wasn't finished there as he was falling towards the earth it rushed upwards to greet him shaped into the form of a fist, that also struck him luckily in center mass ad this was again followed up by another fist from the ceiling pancaking him in the center luckily they struck the battle armor and not his head but he could feel the two structures continued to push down on him essentially trapping him there as he watched the minotaur get up from his feigned down position.

The minotaur seemed to have been concentrating heavily as he continued bakugo noticed down below and above his head were rotating stalactites, they were winding up against him and preparing to stab him through he head white he was trapped even with the assistance of the battle suit he wasn't strong enough to escape the hold so with no other option he said one word explosion with this simple phrase his new gauntlet shifted and let off a powerful plasma blast upwards and downwards completely vaporizing the large stone columns freeing him, he immediately through his hands backwards using his explosive speed turbo enhanced with cluster to move incredibly quickly behind the bull creature he attempted to come around at him with a punch but bakugo was faster using a dual explosive punch directly to the creature face combined with the battle suit power amplification the minotaur was completely thrown off his feet and blood spurted from his mouth, asterius quickly raised his hand and earth rose to stop his fall, bakugo sprayed him with his time bomb attack but the attack was blocked by a lighting strike from above again setting it off prematurely as the nitroglycerin streams simply exploded in mid air and in his face but he quickly rushed through it attacking thorough the smoke with more AP-shots but before he could close the distance to much he rose his both of his hands to block a large blade that had been thrown his way the battel suit protected him from the brunt of the damage and he was able to throw the sword clear of himself before diving back down but he felt something wasn't completely right about the situation so he didn't wholly take his eyes of the sword as it was discarded away.

He was correct of course as suddenly a whirlwind appeared under it and tossed it back in his direction he avoided it this time before turning his attention back towards his target just in time to duck as the minotaur met him in the air, itself hovering over the ground in the center of a whirlwind. It grabbed the sword he dodged and struck back at him with it, bakugo quickly raised his gauntlet to block the attack while returning with an explosion of his own but his attack was blocked by the minotaur's other sword, but he didn't know about bakugo new equipment as he launched out with an explosive kick the fast explosive powered kick struck true against the monster jaw knocking him off balance form a moment but just when bakugo was going to follow up with a follow up attack, lighting again struck him from above making him falter, the minotaur return his kick with one of his own striking him in the gut before using both of his hands to slam down overtop of bakugo head but bakugo raised his hands to deflect the attack away, he used a stun grenade to blind the minotaur and shooting a large explosion upwards to disperse the makeshift clouds above them, no more lighting for him he thought as he rose higher into the air as he avoided a blind strike from asterious as he still attempted to clear his vision bakugo came back down with another kick cluster explosive speed: explosive kick the downwards kick struck asterius hard on the head sending him careeing down to the the bull monster recovered quickly over as the storm beneath him briefly flashed higher stopping his descent before rising him back up towards bakugowith extreme speed.

The two clashed while in mid-air over and over again, bakugo had the clear advantage in the scuffles, the long-range capabilities of the monsters were limited, and the lighting he could produce had to come from the clouds that would somewhere in the general facility but this lied its weakness all bakugo had to do was dispel the small clouds before they could get a shot off, but this had the side effect of him having to case the room and take his eyes off his target which allowed asterius some advantages during their mid-air brawl. There were also four perpetual winds that had been constantly in rotation in the four corners of the room he didn't know what they were exactly four as they hadn't done anything the entire time but he just decided to focus on ending the fight as quickly as possible despite what he said, he did feel some conflict with killing asterius.

he could tell that the monster could have killed him back in the forest and he did save him during the monster invasions this was on top of what it would mean to koda for him to capture him instead of killing him but it was clear as day that the monster didn't have any such calms about him as he avoided a duel sword swing that attempted to decapitate him before using both his feet equipment to launched two explosions directly into the creature's chest sending both of them flying in the opposite direction. Bakugo recovered faster firing off a barrage of AP- Machine Gun the large explosions closed in but were blocked as the ceiling came down to defend the monster but something wasn't right bakugo noticed the ground seemed to be covered in ice. Before he could think more he was taken by surprise as a whirlwind exploded from the clouds of dirt that his explosion kicked up, the attack had him and the first thing he noticed was how the attack was cold the tornado of air-forced him downwards and attempted to slam him hard into the ground but using his C4 bombs he easily dispelled the attack but succeeded in landing him back on the ground which was also covered in ice?…so that was what the four hurricanes in the corner was for huh?

"Hoping to weaken me huh? Thought you wanted a true battle fight!" bakugo taunted while pointing at the minotaur.

"Yes, and using anything in your arsenal to win is a part of that. Only a fool would not do so and I would be holding back to boot which, it was you who told me of your weakness after all…you can not cry foul now." asterius remarked as he stepped out of the wind on walked along the icy ground and bakugo simply laughed.

"I'm not crying anything, it's good you're not holding back; fire, lightning, earth, and wind? What no water powers in your arsenal?" bakugo taunted but the monster simply shook his head.

"This is everything I have as a warrior." asterius remarked simply

"Well, I suggest giving up because I'm still just getting started ...as I said before I'm stronger than I was before" bakugo replied before his suit began to heat up and steam poured out from the back of it the monster while surprised did not have any intentions of backing down as he swiped both of his swords along the ground and bring up rough frozen shards of the earth to attack him, however, bakugo was already gone using his Blasting Speed Turbo: Cluster blitzing out across the room and striking out with an explosive punch the force of which sent the bull creature flying across the room but he quickly caught up to it and kicked out with an explosive kick sending asterius skywards bakugo continued this unrelenting barrage of attacks before dousing the creature in his time bomb and sending him scattering into the ground with several C4 explosions.

The beast plummeted into the ground and bakugo notices how it shifted again to soften the fall but it didn't help much as the crater plumed upwards as high as the now nonexistent ceiling the dirt and clouds quickly receded backward and created a large hurricane, which condensed downwards back to the ground it was there that bakugo saw asterius heavily injured but still standing as he condensed all of his powers around both of his sword flames licked the swords and mixed with the hurricanes that surrounded it which was surrounded by lighting that bounced along the rocks Stirling in the mix, bakugo accepted the challenge and dashed forwards charging down at the monster spinning in his signature wind up for his howitzer impact, the two attacks clashed against each other and their was massive explosion shaking the several rooms within kilometer of the clash.

Bakugo rose up from out of the large crater, the minotaur seemed buried in the ground he didn't know if it was alive or not but he was more worried about himself at the moment, he checked himself over and he was mostly alright with his battle armor was damaged along the right shoulder where the blade had struck him sticking into it he attempted to remove the blade from his shoulder but the pain told him that he shouldn't do that at least not yet, he could still move his arm but it was a bit stiffer and a shallow pain was they're the entire meanwhile.

"I had figured you would win." bakugo heard and his head immediately jolted upwards to the sound it was her, he didn't know how to feel about that rather relieved or disgusted by what that signaled.

"Is it done?" bakugo questioned

"Yes..it is." silver chain said and bakugo didn't really know what to say to that, but he was shocked when the girl's legs seemingly slid out from under her and he hurriedly rushed to catch her from falling towards the ground. Once he did he was surprised to find that there was no blood pouring out of her stump for legs, just silver dust. Instead, was this a clone and not her real body, or was this just how her body bled now, just in case he cased the surrounding area to search for any threat that could have done that the girl's chuckle caught him off guard and he turned his sights back to her.

"Flash…he's truly a monster of a hero." the girl said in compliment and bakugo mind started to put the pieces together.

"You lost." bakugo stated simply

"Yes and the sad part is I felt that he still had strength to spare…truly attacking him was indeed foolish…but I wanted to ensure that you were ok before I left." silver chain stated, raising a hand up to caress his cheek before bakugo was stunned as her head left her body and rolled onto him he quickly pushed it off before standing up the body slowly deteriorated…bakugo looked at her leg and thought about what flash said and anger coerced through his body for a moment and that didn't leave him as he heard the crunching of ground behind him, asterius climbed out of the crater they made using his two large blades as crutches he could tell the top of the broken one as he turned around to look at him before taking a glance at the pile of silver dust on the floor.

"It seems even though I lost, I still managed to complete my mission in the end….she knew you would come and I was merely here to distract you so you wouldn't get in her way." asterius stated and bakugo's temper flared even more at that, as he moved forwards, there was clanking on the floor as asterius through his swords on the ground, he could feel the anger coming off of the teen, his time had come to an end, he did, however, ask the boy of one thing before he killed him and with that he watched as the boy's gauntleted hands appeared in his face before he said one word explosion a bright flash later and his world turned dark...Bakugo didn't feel too much better after he killed the monster but he didn't want to think about much of anything for the moment besides his friends apparently needed help so he needed to get back up top pronto, he pushed both of his hands to the ceiling and yelled super explosion his new gauntlets charged for a moment firing a large blast of plasma upwards just enough for him to see the sky, he took the monsters body before looking over and scooping up the two swords as well add flying out of the hole he just created, ignoring the looks from monsters he received in the meanwhile.

---

Child Emperor and Phoenix King: Child emperor, Phoenix man

Child proceeded through the monster association base keeping a constant look at his watch, which displayed the motions of all the S-class so everyone had correctly entered into their correct locations well enough, well all except for king, the man's tracker seemed to have malfunctioned as he was listed much further away than where he was supposed to be located could it possibly be a monster or jammer of some sort? He queried as he checked for any interference of some kind but he found none, there was a possibility of King having found a separate location that his satellite hadn't picked up and he was investigating that hole but it wouldn't explain why he was stationary. Unless he was engaged with monsters at that location. He decided to forget it for now as he continued along and worried chiefly about himself, the monster he encounters weren't much more difficult than the ones that had been on the surface, and his battle-pack was able to clear the way of most of the fodder creatures using the saws and blades at the end of the spider legs that extended from it and this continued for some time until from over the radio he had received a message from the mutants, it was neith and they had confirmed that they have rescued the child, he checked on his watch again and looked at another tracker this one was also outside the base but closer than he was in comparison to where king supposedly was.

He likely couldn't get a solid grasp of the situation since he had only given them one of the spare communicators so he didn't know what the others were doing they could be in the base at that moment and he wouldn't know about it or run into one of them, so he questioned what the others were doing and what were their next steps, neith responded simply enough that a majority of their party would remain on the surface but some others would spend more time inside the base but he was careful to note that she did not give any explanation of what they were doing which was suspicious but he let it slide for now, he told them to deliver the child to sekingar but they had actually refused said offer and remarked that they would be taking the child to his father themself this also drew more red flag from the child hero and even with vocal and video proof being sent to him by neith on an open channel of the boy being ok he still wasn't so convinced they knew that. monsters could shapeshift or some could implant themselves into others so he believed the child should be quarantined or something before being taken directly to the father proper but apparently as he voiced those concerns to them, they had already acted on top of that coincidently there is also another child that was supposedly in the monster association base but they didn't list any source of that other than the child that they rescued stating so, child emperor was still suspect of the entire situation and their loyalty he pings sekingar about the situation and told him to let him know if the boy father informs them of being received

He continued in the association mostly just walking around aimlessly, well not aimlessly he was following a small electronic signal he'd been picking up so he was heading in that direction, he stopped for a brief moment to look at his read out again as it screamed warning at him apparently one of his trackers were moving at extreme speed but it seemed to have settled but as he continued to move and the beacon didn't move for some time he began to fear that maybe flash had been defeated or was he just injured? If he were to believe the data and Flash's own words he would have been taking on three dragon-level monsters at once even for someone like him that could be a tough time but maybe he was giving the monster too much credit flash was plenty strong on his own along with the rest of the S-class, the rest of which seemed to proceed along normally enough, he trusted in all of them enough to take care of themselves and they could always send an SOS emergency if they were really in trouble and given that flash hadn't sent one out meant he was ok right? Or maybe that was what he was just telling himself so that he could forgive himself if someone was lost so soon into the invasion.

Child emperor decided to air on the side of positivity and believe that it was just a malfunction or that he simply dropped it during his fighting as he continued on his path following the small electrical signal as he did so, he wasn't going to worry about the others his main objective was to secure the child so that the rest of them can let loose without restraint but if it turns out there was another kid along then that added even more problem on his plate as even the mutants didn't know about them with their inner intelligence which he found suspect even if it were true, he heard the sounds of the fire ring out from behind him as his octo drone shot at and killed some pig like monster trying to sneak up behind him.

He continued following the signature until he was met with a large room, it seemed to be a computer room if he has ever seen one, he proceeded inside, and on a large table was staggering sight it was the metal knight drone but completely undone but what frightened him was the damage the machine sustained, he was told that the monster king orochi did it but inflicting that amount of damage in one strike seemed absurd. He hoped that he wouldn't have to fight it, leaving it to tatsumaki seemed like a good choice after all. Well, since he was there he decided on getting as much information as he could from the machine he knew the metal knight had likely numerous scanners and listening systems; detailed floor plans, and monster conversations, but all he really needed was the location of the hostage, he looked to the side as his systems fought against bofoi firewalls and blocks, there had been an arrangement of parts all neatly and laid out which seemed to be from disassembly as they were in mint condition. So they did have someone specialized in robotics here so his information about the possible weaknesses of machines created from the specs of the knight could be put to use. His system finally worked and his momentary happiness turned immediately sour as it became apparent that metal knight knew the entire time where the hostage was and didn't locate him this morphed into shock when he checked his watch again bringing up his data, bofoi, and the teens which he layered on top of each other….they were telling the truth.

He felt conflicted to know that. was metal knight was the one feeding them information? But he also didn't seem to trust neith so that seemed unlikely..they had a mole in the monster association somewhere but where? Could it have been the girl? She was supposedly a carde so she would likely have information, he ruffled his hair before continuing forwards outside if they were telling the truth that meant he didn't have to bother with traveling down that direction but this also meant that there was a possibility of another child out there somewhere he went over the comms and told everyone the news and his newfound trust in the mutants information before proceeding forwards now he did need to wander around the base aimlessly as he turned the corner he heard the shots of his turret ring out several times, he had expected the thing to be dead but instead he came forwards to an intimidating sight, if he was remembering that list of people the teens gave was right this was a cadre.

"You know if you keep creating machines with such a childish design, no one is going to see you as anything more than a child." phoenix man remarked, child emperor's agitation grew as he took out a lollipop and unwrapped it taking out a bite.

"But this is good, really good that I ran into you first, I can use you to get to the rest of the S-class heroes. In comparison to them, you don't seem like much at all, nothing without your toys. The monster association was supposed to be nothing but a stepping stone for me, I was going to take the crown of monster king and when I first evolved into what I am now I thought it was just my birthright the world was showing me signs of it but now I have a different plan but unfortunately that still requires you to die but don't worry I will revive you as my pawn." phoenix said finishing his monologue just as child emperor finished up his lollipop.

"Just stand there like you are and I will give you a painless instant death." the phoenix remarked as the opened bird mouth on his head closed and flew forwards child emperor had layered six invisible film layed on top of each other and was hoping to stop him or slow him down enough to where he could focus on that singular point and kill it but the monster showed incredibly strength as it sped towards him and ripped right through the barrier like it wasn't even their, he had only enough time to pull out his shield and brace for the impact but he was still sent flying backwards straight into the wall, his back exploded in pain but he managed to recover as the monster walked towards him, from that attack he knew he needed to use his trump card it was a shame to as it was happening so early but if he could at least take down one of the cadre it would have been worth it so he deployed three of his watchdog men to slow the monsters down they had all combined into undergo cerberus bit he didn't stop with just that.

he continued with two autonomous tank drones each provided the tanks let loose with two barrages of large lime shots as underdog Cerbus charged at it with his Vicious digging doggy spinning punches attack as child emperor held up a hand and called in his trump card brave giant. He wasn't surprised when all three of his machines were wiped out with one swing of the monster's wings the wave of heat melted the tanks down into slag and while his Cerberus managed to brave through it was completely ripped in half as the monster grabbed both of his spinning arms with his own and pulled it apart, but it's lollygagging was all child emperor needed as the hallway started to shake around them, the five parts crashed in through the ceiling and walls and child emperor prepared himself to suit up.

Phoenix man was surprised by the dust kicked up and was more surprised when a large hand swooped from inside of it and completely smacked him, the force of the blow completely through him through the wall into the next room, it was a simple gathering hall filled with large pillars and not much else but meant for just gathering the weak monster up from meetings and delegations.

"So you're going to resist me after all? Hmph well that's ok and look at that you had a costume of your own to share, I must say that I'm flattered" Phoenix remarked.

"Hah costume? B.G is my battle robot consisting of the best of my scientific knowledge, don't compare it to the likes of you." child emperor remarked simply.

"It makes no difference." the phoenix man spoke before he thrust two fingers into the air near his head and slammed them both down and aimed directly at the large robot. Child Emperor was stunned when suddenly he wasn't in brave giant anymore he was now in a weird landscape meadow of some kind with nothing but the cadre in front of him, he panicked as the monster was talking but as he calmed down enough to recognize what the monster was saying he remarked that this was a "mental space" that he termed "phoenix space".

The monster continued to talk to him and talked about how it wanted to scout him to become a costume monster similar to himself but his pitch could definitely use a few tweaks at first attempting to appeal to his inner darkness believing that he was somehow darker than the rest of the S-class when that included people like assassin, prison escapees, and killer robots. His next tool was different. He approached him and poked him but instead of making contact his finger simply went through his head, he started to speak a little more sense now. Did he just probe his mind? He spoke about how he wanted true companionship and people that he could trust, creating a new organization free of corruption and suspicions but he lost him entirely when he wanted this new large organization to be made up entirely of costume monsters these monsters could communicate with their very spirits and the organization would be spiritually united as whole but the goals was the same he wanted to wipe out both human and monster to make this so-called perfect world a reality.

But despite all that nonsense when the bird monster remarked that he needed him, he didn't know why but he was somewhat happy to hear that, but this had an adverse effect it seemed as if the monster was now able to physically hold up his hand, stating that their resonance had grown stronger allowing it to happen he saw the veins grow upon his arm and for a moment his mind panic and this lowered his defenses even more as the veins proceeded up his body along his face, but what truly helped completely block the monster out was the stupid name that had came from it which he would have been called by "brave giant man?" and the space even envisioned what he would look like, which was a fleshy version of the brave giant with his head sticking out of the center. He completely withdrew from the mental scape as he slammed brave giant armored fist down onto the small bird monster.

"So lame!" child emperor remarked

"Ow, ow, ow, wait if you don't like the name then we can talk about it." phoenix man stated

"There are many things I didn't like." child emperor replied simply before increasing the force he applied on his fist, phoenix man quickly swapped into his prominence hawk mode and lifted and pushed the robot back before lashing out with a kick that sent the robot careening backward slamming into several pillars.

"It should be impossible to escape the phoenix space through sheer will but it doesn't matter I will just get you to submit with force." the phoenix man remarked, slamming a fist into his palm. He wasted no time as child emperor stood up with his machine he was surprised that despite how it felt only three seconds passed in that world of his now he only had 3 minutes and 57 seconds remaining for his brave giant mech he hoped would be enough time to finish this thing off.

Child emperor was shocked as the being floating above him suddenly disappeared from his sight and multiple strikes were noted along brave giants hull, he instinctively curled up into a ball to protect his vital spots as the monster stopped to gloat at him, he had switch again into something he called phoenix fire falcon mode, he took on a more organic shape and his costume as the name implied resembled that of a falcon. He circled around his machine at incredibly fast speeds creating a small whirlwind around the mech was clocking the wind speed at one million kilometers per hour but child emperor was confident that he knew how to stop it this form while fast was much weaker than the previous one, he fought through the wind and out of his robots hands freed and electrified rope 200,000 fold rope skip grinder. The rapid spread of the rope went backward and forwards and offered up as a direct counter to the monster's increased speed; it completely blew it back into the upper power of a column cracking its surface slightly as he impacted. Child emperor used his rear thruster to raise the 10-meter machine up high into the air ad the rope compensated now encompassing the entirety of the device instead of just above him, he flew directly at the monster hopping to shave him down like a pencil sharpener would a pencil but the monster started to run away, he chased it even as it left the room and continued to fly about he stayed on it the entire time as soon as he crashed through another wall into another large alleyway, child emperor was blindsided and burned as phoenix man turned and attacked with his Phoenix flare two beams of energy emerged from his hands and struck clear at both of his armored gauntlets burning him and halting his progress and stopping his attack.

The phoenix took the bait hook line and sinker he thought as it rushed back at him but he had another trick up his sleeve just like the invisible net but this time with an electric property to it sprung up in between them he called it his electromagnetic irritating shield he scattered them about while flying and hoped that he would circle back into one of them to spring the trap but setting up bait seemed to be a quicker method which worked as he about to slam his fist back into the trapped monster but he hesitated for one moment as the monster again asked if he wanted to kill someone that he could consider a trustworthy friend, but regardless of that he carried through with the attack however his moment's hesitation allowed the monster to turn around and attempt to catch his fist, he had switched his form again back to prominence hawk mode the strength increased but along with that the heat as well 100,000 degrees celsius, due to the neural interface he also expericened the pain from the heat as his knuckles started to melt away from the strain but despite that he didn't want to let the monster up again, his suit quickly scanned the evenviorment and located a body of water 500 meters below where they currently was so he pushed through the pain and released the limiters along his arms and forced himself along with the monster down into the depths of the associaiton. They buried deep, further down and down until they finally touched the water instantly creating a large gap of steam as the two of them landed the water cooled them down evaporating most of it instantly leaving only small puddles behind.

They continued to drop down and it was their breaking into a separate cavern that the monster decided to act, he switched forms again this time into a penguin-type monster which slipped out of his fist and despite being supposed to be a flightless bird flew into the sky unlike his previous forms attacks was apparently ice based as the penguin monster rose both of his hands into the sky and forms a large ice ball phoenix antarctica iceberg attack the attacked slammed down planting him into the pavement but compared to his previous moves it wasn't all that strong, he landed as the monster lay down on his head, there was a large blank canvas in front of them and the monster above him explained that initially, this place was a monster graveyard, filled of the indigenous inhabitants known as the subterreners they were in the midst of a civil war which weakened them and allowed the monster association to take their base almost entirely without resistance. He swiped at the creature on top of his head with an energy blade but the attack missed and the penguin's face started to light up with power and child emperor instantly reacted shooting out a blast of energy to counter it with both of his hands, this attack was supposed to be stronger but he just didn't have enough time to complete it, so instead of millennium emperor nova he simply called it nova and left it at that, the two attacks clashed and canceled each other out.

Child emperor immediately continued to attack the monster as on his robot's forehead sprouted a large turret that fired at the monster while he was in the air but just when he was about to nail him, he suddenly found himself in the phoenix space again.

"You should just cut it out, you're smart enough to see the difference between you and me right now. The subterranean unity was broken and the hero association and especially the monster association unity are tenuous at best" phoenix man remarked

"What are you trying to get at?" child emperor asked

"For us, costume monsters can share the same spirit, so we can understand each other even without speaking." phoenix man stated and child emperor momentarily froze as he started to get memories. No thoughts and information directly into his head but he wasn't too phased.

"You didn't think I knew about the association's dirty laundry? You're going to need more than that to get to me." child emperor stated confidently.

"Hmph so you willingly work with criminals and scum like that? What separates them from me then?" phoenix man replied, a little surprised himself by the lack of response.

"You're a monster bent on killing people, the hero association is bad I know and have come to terms with it but they are the only organization taking a stand to protect humanity without them it would be everyone for themselves." child emperor stated.

"You misunderstand monsters, becoming a monster saved me. I was unceremoniously laid off from my job without cause, I had been playing and dedicated my life to playing the bird brain character and I thought it was unfair to remove me from the costume and then it happened I couldn't remove the costume and right then and there I felt freedom. Does being a hero do that for you? Are you free? Have you been appreciated?" child emperor stopped for a moment to actually think about that, his time as a hero, the constant doubt people would plague him with and underestimate him despite his success but there were those that trusted him, those that believed in his skills, his thoughts drifted to zombieman who despite believing the mutants still went with his plans anyways and didn't question him, sekingar who also trusted him enough to join and consider his thoughts when they were planning the assault, he wouldn't turn them down now to join a simple monster and for the second time child emperor freed himself from the mental landscape just in time to hear zomebieman over the radio, he had just got done beating a couple of robots from the monster association and was thanking him for the advice on possible weak points. He even said that he was glad that he was there fighting alongside them which nearly brought a tear to his eyes and renewed his fighting spirit to press on during this conflict he still had three minutes left in his suit he could do this.

As soon as he felt that a brilliant light shined within the room, his robot was suddenly rocked completely on it's side before being rocked again by the other side as well by two more impacts, his sensor couldn't even follow what was happening to him but, when the shaking finally stopped then he could see what was there in front of him was not only the cadre he was fighting but three other cadres along with him, he was stunned did that mean flash lost his fight against them?

"Do you see child emperor? Do you see what my power can do? So you don't like me killing all the humans right? Well, I can just revive them with my power completely under my control. With this, there will also be no corruption or conflict they can all live under our banner! What do you say? These aren't the only cadres under my control either. This makes five of them. Nyan and goketsu are both also under my control. If you join me I can get them to stand down and maybe even fight alongside the heroes" phoenix man attempted again and the child emperor froze for a moment. Was he telling the truth or was he just trying to play mind games again?

"And why should I trust, you don't think we can beat you guys on our own? Flash has already killed them before he can do it again." child emperor stated he was actually relieved to hear that he revived them, which meant Flash was still alive somewhere and he activated his beacon in hopes someone can get here in time to help because this looked like to be too much even for brave giant.

"Because you lost your trump card while we still have orochi, even I must admit that facing him would be a harrowing fight but that's why I need you together we could become a god-level threat and crush that bald banana and assure an entirely new world!" phoenix man remarked, child emperor was confused who this person was he talking about originally he believed it was king and that would explain the tracker's location but the description "bald banana?" now he had no idea but judging by his lack of response from the other S-class heroes it looked like he was on his own well he had one last option

"Fine! How about if you can break in here and get me out then sure I'll join you." child emperor said in taunt.

"Well I wouldn't want to hurt your costume but if you insist." the monster taunted before transforming back into his Falcon mode and dashing forwards at an extreme speed the child emperor shot missiles out of the back salo but the monster was too fast to hit but he knew that already he just wanted to make it seem like he was trying he immediately opens up the gut of brave giant and allowed the monster inside as he went out holding his umbrella and just as the robot closed he detonated it giga-volt smash the robot self-destructed in a blinding flash of electricity that combed over the area around him as he hid inside of his umbrella shield for safety he was swept away by the current but once he rose up everything seemed clear.

He was wrong however as the dust began to settle and phoenix man emerged unscathed from the explosion and he quickly dusted himself off.

"Cheap trick hero but it seems it didn't work. Hehe. now it's time for you to fulfill your end of the deal" he remarked approaching himself slowly chuckling to himself, child emperor was frightened he didn't have much left and no one was still responding to his sos beacon were they also having their handful with the cadres? He looked to his left and was shocked to see that there was one of the beacons there on the ground…was that Flash? Was that the reason he stopped moving? Child emperor quickly turned his attention back to the monster at hand before typing on his watch he hadn't use these yet since there was no opportunity to but they would at least be useful to buy more time, suddenly nine small mechanical robots came screaming down from the hole he created his mini braves their attack power wasn't much and he doubt it would be much of distraction but he just needed to buy more time for now, the robots had mini blasters that surrounded the slow chuckling monster and fires but the the monster protected itself with its wings and continued to walk forwards unimpeded and to make matters even worst soon after the other cadre seemed to be just fine as well as the nine robots were completely obliterated with a surprising show of speed and power, child emperor attempted to use his helicopter function of his battlepack to lift up and away from them but it seemed phoenix man had enough of wasting around as he switched into his phoenix fire falcon mode and quickly sped over and hoisted him up by his shirt, he sliced his battle pack off and quickly threw it away somewhere else.

"Hahahaha, it is unfortunate that you couldn't evolve into the costume monster that I had hoped for you to achieve but you can still join..hehe. With you..hehe…I can get to the others and everyone else even that bald guy…hehe…this will only hurt for a moment..hehe" Phoenix man said before he quickly drew his arm back and trusted it forwards, child emperor felt it as the hand entered his body and exited through the other side he coughed up blood and all he could hear as his word slowly and painfully went to black was the laughter of the monster he was fighting.

"Hahaha! Yes! Welcome the first of many S-class heroes to join me!" phoenix man remarked excitedly as he withdrew his hand and lit up his light in the very next moment before placing the now reformed child emperor on the ground, he did it he succeeded and now for the others, he remarked with even more laughter… but something was wrong he continued to laugh, it just felt wrong..he didn't know what was happening to him it wasn't that funny or joyus of a moment but he just couldn't help himself to continue laughing could it have been something he has done to him?

"Haha!. Child …Explain …Why…haha!..hehe!.. Why am I laughing so much." phoenix man

said, now paralyzed with laughter as he got down and bellowed.

"Tickle bug number 3, I had slipped into the gap between your face and beak," child emperor replied simply.

"De-hahaha-hahaha! Deactivate it quickly!' phoenix man demanded and child emperor looked around and searched for his backpack while phoenix man watched. He ordered the others to help him find it but just as one of the ninjas picked it up, he felt his body breaking and falling apart. Was this truly how he would die? Falling prey to some silly gimmicky and childish tool but he was so close, so close he swapped into his prominence hawk mode to stop it but it didn't matter he could still feel himself falling apart but he felt something was beckoning him far away from here and he suddenly felt comfort and relaxed and allowed his body to fall apart. This was not his end. Was phoenix man final thought before his body poofed into a dazzling ray of light that had shot forth upwards out of the tunnels above the ground soaring outwards and away from Z-city to the confusing sights of many of the heroes on the surface.

As the dazzling light left, the four people below slowly started to regain their minds and bodies along with those happening elsewhere. Child emperor felt a wave of exhaustion take him and he fell backward he doesn't really remember everything that happened there at the end but it seemed the tickle bot worked out in the end as his back hit the hard ground he just wanted to relax for a moment but he also had to stop his SOS and confirm to the others that he was alright and that he managed to take down one of the cadre but he instantly froze when he heard voices around him.

"Where are we? Weren't we supposed to be fighting Flash? Now we're here…" gale wind spoke

"So he ran away…where is? Oh?" hellfire flame remarked before laying his eyes on the child hero.

"Is that the S-class hero, child emperor? He looks worn out." gale wind spoke.

"Perfect! We'll use him to lure Flash back out!" hellfire flame remarked

As the both of them sped his way child Emperor could brace himself but after several seconds nothing happened, he did a hesitant check to see what happened and was shocked when both ninjas in front of him paused but they weren't looking at him but someone above him and behind him.

"Yo-.." hellfire remarked

"trai-or" gale wind remarked

As the two ninjas were cut in half right in front of him, child emperor turned around to see that his unlikely savior was none other than the other cadre…he hurriedly scurried away clambering over the two ninja bodies and backing away, he was worried that she would have killed him next but he recovered enough sense to remember that she had just protected him but also more than that she was likely the person on the inside which supplied the mutants with information.

"Ugh…umm…silver chain?" child emperor asked a bit hesitant, he jumped a little when the girl whipped around his way.

"Is baku-...where is dynamite? Is he safe?" silver chain asked, child emperor hesitated for a moment as he racked his brain about who that was and he remembered it was that one mutant member with the explosions.

"I don't really know...but I can find out …for you, just ugh give me a moment." Child emperor said as he tapped on his communicator and set up a direct line to neith but she didn't respond. Could they also be fighting up above as well?

"Ugh…it seems that their busy but I'm sure they're fi-." child emperor said as he began to get more relaxed and calmed down from his flight or fight mindstate, he actually took a glance at the girl and flushed massively before turning away she was ultimately news from the neck down only having a mask on while in his panic spin he noticed a hole in his shirt, he examined it and felt along his chest and found an alarmingly large scar there, he looked towards the two dead ninja and then turned back around to look at the girl and their he found similar scarring along her neck and legs…did that mean that he…died during that battle.

"You are correct…you were killed and resurrected like the three of us were." silver chain remarked simply before moving again despite not showing any outward hostility he still didn't trust her since she was a monster but her words struck him harder then he imagined as his breath quickened slightly he quickly found his backpack and got another lollipop to calm himself down and it seemed to be the case that the girl was having herself as a snack as well …he looked away as the girl seemingly unhinged her jaw so wide that she completely consumed the to ninja on the ground after cutting theme into 8 still large pieces, he should have been more freaked out by that then he was but maybe seeing pig god in action kinda numbed that effect. Once the girl was done umm…digesting them, he didn't really know where to start, he was almost all out of tools, and his battle-pack was mostly broken so he needed help getting out of there and she was the only one capable of doing that without hampering the others into his location.

"So what are you going to do now?" Child emperor asked, the girl took a moment to respond, as she sat there in a crisscrossed form.

"I do not know." she remarked simply, as she simply sat down.

"Look I don't know why, you did what you did but I know that you were supplying the mutants with information so that must mean you don't want the monster to win right? So help us right now during the fighting. It would be a massive help to all of us and we can sweep this incident under the rug." Child emperor tried to bargain by giving the girl out.

"I'm not helping a side with Flash on it." the girl remarked simply with a fit of repressed anger, so Flash was right, those three did target him and he beat all three of them? Hmph he guessed he wasn't ranked among the top fighters in the S-class for nothing.

"I guess I can understand you wanting to be neutral but in that case can you help me out a little bit? I need to get back to the surface again and I'm kinda all out of tools here."

child emperor asked, the girl didn't respond but he did take a step back as out of the girl's head emerged an exact duplicate of her still nude and all which made him blush.

"That is agreeable. Where do you want me to take you." silver chain remarked and child emperor would take that as he continued to show her his original escape point. She nodded and then picked him up and then they were gone, he was a bit taken back by the speed that she was traveling he couldn't really see anything of the landscape as it blurred past them as he moved before it suddenly stopped, now that he was stopped he fully realized what was touching his back the entire time of the travel and quickly squirmed to get free of the girl and continue up to the surface but before so he asked one more time to see if the girl was going to join him but she once again refused before disappearing from sight likely back down to where she once was, child emperor merely sighed as he pushed the lid up and headed back up to the surface.

---

Group four: Blue Fire, Gearsper, double hole, Smell Master, Gabriel(shining Prodigy), Trap Tengu, Raiku(shining Prodigy), Aikon(shining prodigy), crescent eyebroll, Doll Master

The monsters still continued to come in force long after the S-class had started their infiltration into the base proper monsters lacking the traditional tunnels systems had started to begin to dig their own and rose up from the ground to attack, this was a blessing and a curse for their attempts however as while they could attack them anywhere at any given time they crunching and rapid push of the concrete completely give them away allowing them to be killed rather easily as they struggled to break through. Their tactics were improving however originally they attempted to storm their position with numbers however child emperor's octo drones had proven incredibly efficient in repelling their assaults at least for the most part resulting in some of them falling back. The next assault was a targeted assault against the turret themselves several of the positions were blown up by large explosions from the ground shaking the landscape and causing some of the ruined buildings to lose even more structure and break apart and rained down upon the heroes present the rain of debris scattered them allowing the monster to rise up from group unimpeded and engaged the scatter heroes.

Despite the scatteredness of the heroes present they still put up a more than good enough of a fight against the monster blue flame created several even before they could even finish rising out of the ground before, crescent eyebroll worked alongside doll master to continue to slash away at the monster numbers with their weapons, double hole and smell master combined to blow a harmful toxic gas down an alleyway of monsters that had nearly severely crumpled them allowing the two shining prodigies now equipped with gas mask to engaged the handicapped monster and crushed their heads with hard kicks to the ground or crushing them with their grip, trap tengu and gearspur were trapped by themselves with monster closing in, the master trappers traps had all been nearly exhausted in the battles and they wouldn't be able to hold off the horde of 20 monster for long but digging deep gearspur channeled his power to pick up a piece of the building that had been separating them from the others and allowed them to escape while also killing the monster pursuing them as he let it fall back down to the ground, as they attempted to past under, tengu thanked him for his support and helped the small boy to his feet as the strain from the feat seemed to have tired him out. Gabriel had been assigned to protecting sekingar and while he was successful for the most part had been injured during the scrambled incident a chunk of his side was bitten off as a monster had gotten too close without him knowing but he assured the group as they got back together that he could still carry out his mission and the bite only proved that he didn't refine his muscles enough.

The group was just done fighting when child emperor announced his arrival, gaining all of the group's attention. Child emperor quickly made a pitstop at the recovery station to re-equip and re-arm himself for more battle as he planned to head back down into the association proper to look for the lost child sekingar has informed him of the news that Wagamama has successfully made it back to his father as well making him slow down for a moment in contemplation as he put a hand over the whole in his chest maybe he should have had more faith in them he thought before he got a hold of himself he needed to tell everyone so instead of just telling the group he was with he elected to speak overall frequency of the mic to let the other S-class and leaders of the other squads along with the mutants what has transpired.

"Attention this is child emperor, I successfully made it back to the surface…I can confirm the information that the mutants provided were true, sekingar has confirmed that waganma has been successfully rescued and given back to his father. Along with this I can confirm that the list of cadres was also likely correct and I have eliminated the one with the revving ability phoenix man along with that I can confirm the deaths of two other cadres and a fourth is indisposed of if you run into silver chain don't attack her unless provoked to she is not an active threat. There is likely still a child down there so please be on the lookout!" child emperor stated in the comms unit.

"This is zombieman, well done child emperor."

"Sweet mask here, I understand the hostage situation, these monsters are no big deal, I will continue to carry out justice."

"You took out four cadres by yourself? Mad props child emperor!' metal bat yelled over the comm unit.

"Child- …this is-...nothing ordinary…sorr…currently digesting" Child emperor was curious about who that person was but he guessed with that he now knew that it was just pig god.

"Uhmm, I can't claim credit for beating four of them, Flash was the one to take down the other three. Which by the way flash is missing his comms unit so he is off the grid be careful of large area attacks." child emperor added on.

"Alright atomic samurai here, I'm kind of busy right now! It found a child down here near the bottom floor at first I thought it was just a shapeshifting monster but with you saying that there's another child down here along with him being chased by a small black monster of some kind, I think if I'm remembering right it's one of the cadres so he's probably legit. As for the locations? Ugh where am I again?...um ...whatever I'm going after him, can't let you and Flash show me up here. Whoever kills the most cadre gets to pick the next vacation spot." atomic samurai responded in jest.

"Please be careful, wait, try to tell us what the child looks like before you engage!" child emperor yelled into the mic but he received no response back as it was cut off. He mentally sighed maybe he could go and ask silver chain for answers if she new about the child or better yet he should head over to the mutants whereabouts he could feel the several vibrations from here which suggested fighting was still commencing, he told sekingar that he would go and discuss matters with the mutants before he headed back down into the monster association to see if he could help matters he told them that they could leave if they want since the coast seemed clear for now and the boy was successfully evacuated they could leave themselves and leave however the squad was adamant in staying as long as he did but they would get the wounded to safety and support the other groups who needed it, sekingar wanted to stay but the others found his presence to be more of a burden than he was worth and told him to just go back towards the back line they had set up and wait their instead and while offended he conceded to the point to them and left back towards the safety of the perimeter along with a escort as he could also being looked at by medic as grabiel wound was only hastily worked on and was bleeding more, the two of them left as child emperor flew in the direction of the mutants hopefully they were ok, none of them had said anything over the comm system in some time now.

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Zombieman

Zombieman was making his way through the monster association killing and butchering everyone monster that he could come across or more like killing all the monsters that continued to recklessly charge at him, these monster however were just like the ones on top weakling they never stood a chance against him and his axe as he made his way through them. He didn't have much direction he was going he trusted the teen's information more than child emperor's and believed that they would be able to save the kid pretty easily so he simply focused on killing monsters the best way he knew how while fun for the first 10 to 30 or so minutes with all the blood it did start to get a bit draining on him, as he predicted the mutants were able to successfully save the child in record time going off their intelligence but the news of the potential of another child was pretty annoying which meant that now he had to keep an eye out along with the killing.

He began to search individual rooms and closed doors finding monsters actually begging to hide away inside of them of course upon seeing him they would immediately attack which lead to their demise but if he thought about it even if they didn't attack him he didn't really know if he would let them live or not some small part of him felt somewhat bad as he kicked in the door and the reaction of the monster mostly ranged from scared, surprised, or anger each time but follow up was predictable each time however they would attack him, he would kill them rinse and repeat he felt like the grim reaper "knocking" on the door before killing them. As he continued through however something seemed suspect, he definitely felt like he killed over 60 monsters, he wasn't keeping count but it was seriously ridiculous.

Did the child emperor know this route would be jam-packed with monsters to overburden him on purpose? He told them that they separated to split the monster forces but this was simply getting out of hand. He thought as he threw a bandolier of tnt at a group of monsters at a crossroads and then fired a shot and blew the thing up in midair, he had to thank ground zero for the resources, he couldn't afford to waste all of his bullets too soon. He wondered if he could go and ask neith for some spare ammo once he got back to the surface; his momentary lapse in judgment allowed a monster to surprise him as it exploded out of the wall. Multiple tentacles skewered him along the arms, legs, and body but it was nothing he couldn't handle as he simply switched his gun around and shot the creature in the head a couple of times for good measure before pulling the rest of it out of the wall and ripping the tentacles out of the himself before continuing forwards.

He heard the rapid shuffle of feet coming and he quickly turned to face the threat, it was another horde of monsters that believed that they would be the lucky ones to put him down but he would take on the challenge as he tore through them again with his axe no problem. As he entered into the next elaborate room he was surprised to find another large group of monsters however none of these seemed like they were going to go and attack him. A large yeti monster with some sort of T-city mask ask him to follow him and that maybe with his strong vitality, he may be able to kill "it" he didn't know what "it" was but he guessed he had nothing to lose besides if something could inspire this kind of reaction from monster then it must be some hell of a demon on the other side of the door as he opened it up.

"It's been a long wait hero." something said as zombieman followed the sound up until it looked like a bat. The monster unfurled his large cape before landing down onto the floor, the lights in the room suddenly came on allowing him to see the cellar-like room. The monster locked the door behind him before continuing to talk about how they wanted the two of them to fight each other to the death. Zomebieman questioned what the vampire did to piss them off so much but judging from its arrogant holier than-thou reply he could already tell why it was happening and some of the color commentary even suggested that he ate other monsters to boot. The monster wanted to know his name and zomebieman would be glad to tell him after his face was full of holes as he shot his dual pistols in the direction of the supposed vampire but they were surprised when they missed, he felt a chunk get bitten out of his neck before he was hastily thrown away. The vampire bemoaned about how disgusting his blood was but zombieman didn't really care about any of that as he rose to his feet, the vampire believed that he was supposedly on his last legs guess he didn't know who he was that wasn't something he would even call a flesh wound as he rose up back from his feet but something it said did get on his nerves when it called himself a "phony-human" he had thought he was past it but maybe helping Tsukuyomi and finding his creator dr. genus drug those starter years back up.

He quickly switched to his demon-piercing bullets, even he was surprised when the vampire was able to intercept them and return them back to him, he guessed this thing wasn't just your average everyday monster after all, not even an average demon. Guessed he would have to try a different tactic he pulled out his blades and charged forth at the monster he wasn't as proficient with them as he was with his axe but they offered greater speed and maneuverability which he needed against such a fast opponent, he squinted at the creature but it seemed to dance along the edge of his blade strike each time while taunting the other monsters, the vampire seemed to have its own blade as well as it extended out of his forearm blending into his cloak. Zobieman stopped the attack cold with both of his own blades and attempted to slide it down the length of the vampire to strike at its neck but again a miss.

he suddenly turned his head to follow where the vampire was going but a kick to the face quickly swiveled it back the other way it made a crucial mistake now that it was in mid-air it couldn't dodge his next shot as he dropped his weapons and equipped his pistol from within his sleeve and fires off a shot, striking true as he heard the vampire grunt from the pain. He quickly turned his head around back on straight as he witnessed the vampire tear apart another monster over top of its body and drench it in blood, the blood sucked into its very being and his wound started to heal itself. It taunted again about how superior he was to him and how even he could regenerate before attacking him again this time forming into a mist of bats and swarming towards him he felt each bat rip gouges out of his body on the past through but that was merely cosmetic damage at best, the vampire continued through not only him but other monsters as well sucking to drier before being ready to fight him.

Zombieman would tell the monster to just leave if that was how his regeneration worked but he didn't want to have to work all the harder to chase him down. He sighed to himself it would be a drag but that meant that he would have to kill him so quickly that he wouldn't have the time to suck up the other monster's blood.

"Yo vampire, get ready for a battle of attrition"

30 minutes later

The battle was finally done, zombieman had managed to get use all the rest of his bandoliers of tnt to blow the vampire up, it took about five of them placed along its body, the problem with shapeshifting into a form of swarming bats and attacking him was that he was especially vulnerable in that form and implanting tnt into the monster he was going to eat proved to be his for the knockout blow as his entire body was reduced to pieces although to be fair to the "true" monster he was the strongest monster he fought in quite some time and he had managed to "kill" him 200 hundred times before he was able to trick him but he guessed that was just the difference between his regeneration and its, he needed other people around while he only needed himself but still it was a taxiing journey but it wasn't over yet as he made his way to the door, and crushed the metal rebar that was in the lock to fully ensure the 30 or so monster inside didn't escape, he turned around and awaited their challenge to kill him now that he was supposedly weak.

5 minutes later

Zombieman had emerged from the chambers and while his body was a bit dissolved in front the whole ordeal he was fine to keep going, now he knew definitely that had encountered more monsters than 60 with that stunt, his arm had fallen off and he used it as an excuse to take a small break as it would take a couple of minutes for it to heal back up to full strength but just s it was about to do so, two large robots came marching down the hallway and he was just lamented having to sweat so much as well that's unfortunate.

The clash between the machines was more simple than against the vampire given their large frames and the comparatively small hallway they did have much room to swing their arms or legs which made it even easier as he already knew their weak spot, he continued to challenge thrust into actions swiping low under the first one's feet, before climbing up above it and slashing cutting the head off in short order, he dodged out of the way of the second's chains saw as it brought it down on top of the first hoping to bisect both of them, zombieman used the opportunity to fire two shots into the robots wrist holding said chainsaw allowing him to completely blow the thing off he ducked a punch while continuing to fire at the robot's knees dropping it to the floor and allowing him to get behind it and slash at the nape of its neck completely shutting it down.

He couldn't help but laugh at how easy it was but he guessed he had child emperor to thank for that and that's what he will do. He radioed the comms unit and told him about how thankful he and the rest of the S-class were for his help in doing practically everything, the boy sounded highly grateful for it as well which he was happy to hear. He couldn't get a hold of him for a sec there and got worried before putting on his jacket and moving forwards he had gotten a ping on his comm unit for a SOS and saw that it was from him again sometime later but it soon went dark and a short time later he explained that he was alright and that he even made it to the surface.

Zombieman guessed that Flash had come and helped and that's why he was able to get there so fast from being so far low the last time he spoke to him, and the news of four of the cadre dead was also a relief to hear, it meant that he wasn't the only one taking things seriously but judging from pig god and atomic replied some were definitely taking it easier than others oh well, it didn't matter now atomic found the child and if Flash was able to beat three cadres by himself along with child emperor beating a fourth atomic samurai could take the fifth and rescue the kid which just left all for him to do was go on another rampage.

Note: Revelation, Revelations: there is one major monster death that occurs here that has some definite ramifications for the future of the arc. While we mainly maintained the cannon version of the phoenix-man fight, I changed the dialogue to represent how a webcomic child emperor would react, I personally dislike the manga part it makes the child Emperor seems dumb and has a particularly eh character flaw for some reason NEEDING validation from others(which probably won't be mentioned again at all) and think other don't recognize him while simultaneously he was the one that they assigned to handle the ENTIRE PLAN in the first place, it doesn't make sense to feel that way at all. realistically it only really served to hint at the wrongdoings of the hero association and set up the neo-heroes arc but as you can tell by this story there is no need to do at all.