How Does One Fight A Disaster?
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Hailstorm Vol. 2! We got the tide turning in multiple directions in this chapter so there's gonna be plenty of entertainment to be had! And, of course, for those who haven't gotten my little announcement yet the next chapter of Armory of the Forgotten Hero is going to be the last one before a little bit of a hiatus to let the manga catch up. Also, do check out my book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! Now then, with no review questions this week, let's dive on in!
Daytime: Jaku City
It was like they were staring at a completely different individual. Before, Tomura Shigaraki was a notable threat but neither Clay nor most of the other hero course students would've considered him more dangerous than someone like Stain or Overhaul. Now, however, it was obvious he'd tear those two villains and more apart. Even though his body appeared somewhat injured and all he had on was blue torn pants and a red cape, it did nothing to diminish his presence as he reached towards Midoriya.
For several frightening moments, none of them could move. The image before them was one that promised death if any of them so much as twitched wrong. Even if Clay hadn't been frozen, it's possible he wouldn't reach them in time in his current position. Thankfully, the spell was broken as a streak of yellow rocketed in and snatched both Midoriya and Bakugou out of the way of danger.
Clay realized what happened and sped away himself, moving at top speed to keep up with the new arrival as they left Shigaraki in the dust, for the moment anyway. "Gran Torino!" Midoriya exclaimed in surprise as both he and Bakugou were being drug along by the old hero.
"I had a bad feeling when I heard 'One for All' over the radio," he explained, "were you three really planning on trying to fight that on your own? I don't have to remind you that Shigaraki's decay quirk destroys everything it touches and now it's evolved to where you'll die just by being in contact with the debris. He's not someone even the three of you working together could take on!"
"But-," Midoriya tried to protest but was quickly cut off.
"The heroes aren't dead yet," he informed, "everyone left will work to bring that monster down together!" As he said this, Endeavor and Ryukyu came flying in and they also caught a glimpse of Aizawa being supported by Rock Lock and his eyes watered by Manual. Gran Torino stopped then and dropped the two U.A. students while Clay landed. "Will you be okay right here?"
"Gran Torino, just now, did Aizawa sensei-," Izuku began to ask.
"Yeah," Gran Torino confirmed, "he's sealed off Shigaraki's quirk for the time being."
"Still, shouldn't we be further away, gramps," Bakugou surprisingly asked.
"Both he and Clay know about the secret, right? That's what Toshinori told me." The old hero said to Midoriya, "this area's the limit. Even with his quirk sealed his enhanced body is moving faster than expected and we don't have many who can follow him. Since communications are down, us getting too far would be like setting him free. You stopped him temporarily, got him away from the civilians, and put him within Eraser's field of vision. You've already accomplished a lot."
"Only one of those was actually intentional," Clay pointed out, "what's the plan from here on out?"
"I need to go back and be Eraser's legs," Torino answered, "and before you argue this is the situation Present Mic informed us of: Shigaraki has had All For One's quirk's implanted into his body. In the unlikely event that One For All is stolen, think about the worst that could happen. Besides, the enemy is only one person. If we can't take him down then what's the point of this oversaturation of heroes?" As he said this, the sight of Burnin' and numerous other heroes arriving on the scene greeted them. Under any other circumstance, this would've been a sign of hope.
"There's a problem with that," Clay informed as he lifted himself into the air to get a better view. An odd sound had greeted their ears just a moment ago and it didn't sound like it was good news. "It ain't just one guy we're fighting anymore." The noise, as it turned out, was the sound of the ground exploding, releasing numerous deformed figures out into the open: nomu, and lots of them.
"How are they alright," Torino asked as shock crossed his face along with Midoriya and Bakugou's, "the whole lab should've fallen under decay!"
"It's possible Shigaraki's quirk has advanced to the point that he can pick and choose what falls under decay," Clay surmised while dropping back to the ground with the rest of them, "you sure you guys got this?"
"The situation isn't untenable," the old hero answered, "Endeavor and Ryukyu are still fighting and I'm sure we'll still get some help even with the nomus here. I'll go protect Eraser so in the meantime," he took off through the air then, "you three hide yourselves!" Whether he knew it or not, he was asking quite a bit of them.
"Man this fucking blows!" Bakugou exclaimed, "he really expects us to just sit here and do nothing?!"
"I believe that's basically what he just said," Clay commented while crossing his arms, "Shigaraki's quirk is sealed right now so in theory not only should he not be able to use decay but also his quirk stealing ability. We could engage him right now as he is but not without some kind of plan."
"But Shigaraki has to know that too," Midoriya pointed out, "if he spots Aizawa before Torino gets there then-."
"Let's hope he doesn't then," the cloud wielder replied as he tried to hide his clenching fists.
"The worst case scenario, the real worst case scenario," Deku started to say as their fears were almost instantly realized when Shigaraki slammed both Endeavor and Ryukyu into the ground before rocketing towards Eraser Head. Native and Rock Lock moved forward to try and stop him but he zoomed by them with practically no effort thanks to his newfound, incredible speed. He stretched out his hand then, the sheer strength in it more than enough to take out Aizawa's eyes. The U.A. teacher attempted to pull his knife but it likely wouldn't be enough as time seemed to slow before him. It resumed when a green blur slammed into Tomura, bringing his charge to a complete halt.
"What, why are you all here," Gran Torino asked as he stopped in front of Aizawa. Several cloud tendrils wrapped around and stabbed themselves into Shigaraki as Clay also arrived to hold him.
"The real worst case scenario," the cloud user replied, "would be for sensei to get taken out. He's the only one stopping the decay quirk right now!"
"And so long as his quirk is sealed, we should be able to fight him too!" Midoriya exclaimed as he continued to push against the surprised Tomura, "because of the Nomus we don't have enough people right now and sensei's protected us all this time!"
"So this time," Bakugou yelled as he came down from above, "it's our turn to protect you!" Deku flipped over their enemy then, unleashing his Black Whip quirk so that both he and Clay were restraining the villain. "Now let's do this rationally! Armor Piercing Machine Gun!" Like its name suggested, the explosion quirk user bombarded Shigaraki with countless miniature explosions like a machine gun. Alone one of those explosions wouldn't hurt too bad but a multitude would be felt, ordinarily.
"Are you setting off fireworks or something," Shigaraki quipped before yanking both Clay and Midoriya forward by their quirks, tossing them into the air. He moved forward then, intent on passing right by Bakugou. "Sorry, I'm not interested in you anymore." 'Crap, I don't have enough time,' the cloud user thought as he produced one in the air while righting himself. Thankfully, the timely arrival of the number one hero saved them this time as Endeavor charged in with a flame-powered punch that pushed Shigaraki back even when he blocked with his forearm.
As he went tumbling away several feet, the pro hero turned to them. "Where's Shoto?!" He asked.
"He didn't come, it's just the three of us," Izuku quickly replied as Tomura landed on his feet and stopped his momentum.
"Fine," Endeavor said, "Deku, Clay, Bakugou, there's nothing we can do about the three of you being here now and I won't ask why you came here in the first place. So Clay, you and Midoriya support Eraser! Bakugou, protect Midoriya!" 'Shit, the one downside we forgot to think of,' the cloud wielder realized, 'he can just grab Izuku and run!' A realization that Shigaraki clearly made as he charged forward.
"One For All," he said with a sadistic smile on his face, "become mine, little brother!" Shock ran through all three of the U.A. student's systems at that statement as Endeavor attacked with multiple flaming tendrils, his Hell Spider move! Tomura skillfully dodged around the scorching appendages before Gran Torino slammed into him. He flexed the muscles in his arm and made to look like he was about to punch the villain but he saw through the ruse, looking beyond to see Endeavor preparing another attack.
He sidestepped the attack then and leapt off the ground with enough force to shatter it, battering Torino with rubble while aiming a kick at Endeavor that stunned him. Shigaraki turned in the air then, setting his sights on Midoriya. That is until he felt his hair stand on end and shade suddenly fall over him. "Not so fast you rotting bastard!" Clay yelled as lightning erupted from the cloud he had hanging in the air.
Tomura flapped his arm to spin around in the air and dodge the lightning, but the bolt arced and struck him anyway. 'The fuck, I should've moved far enough,' he thought as another bolt struck him, locking up his muscles too much for him to land properly and instead slam into the ground back first. "How do you like my new move: Lightning Hound! It's one of my more accurate attacks!"
"You should really just stay out of my way," Shigaraki stated as he got back to his feet, "I've got no interest in you or anyone else here."
"Yeah we know," Clay remarked, "that's why Midoriya gets to be the bait in this scenario."
"And you get to be fried!" Bakugou exclaimed as he dropped in from above, pulling the pin on his gauntlet and releasing his stored explosion attack that burned Shigaraki's entire body while also cratering the ground. Midoriya leapt into action then, kicking the stunned villain back into the air where Endeavor was waiting for him. This time he had wings of flame coming out of his back as he used another flame engulfing technique on the All For One holder, Vanishing Fist! A pillar of flame lit up the air that was visible for quite a distance as other surrounding heroes looked on.
At About the Same Time: Forest Outside of Gunga Mountain Villa
"Take this!" Kirishima exclaimed as he threw a couple of punches then a kick, all of which missed Chimera by mere inches before he whirled around and knocked him into a tree with his scorpion tail. Tetsu Tetsu and Sato both came in from above with their fists raised but where stopped by flesh lion heads catching their arms and tossing them away. The cannibal villain leapt up then, avoiding Aoyama's naval laser while Kendo followed him with some assistance from Shoji and swung her enlarged hand at the airborne villain.
Chimera crossed his arms, still taking a good bit of the hit as he went flying several feet but righted himself by sprouting wings from his back and stopping his momentum. "Oh come on, he can fly too!" Mineta exclaimed in disbelief.
"I learned to do lots of things with my quirk," the cannibal commented as he avoided a flock of birds sent at him by Koda, "and those weren't the only skills I picked up." He dodged another blast from Aoyama before diving back into the trees, retracting his wings while forming his arms into spiked tendrils. He jumped off of one tree after another then, his powerful legs propelling him through the air fast enough that he didn't even need to touch the ground. Sero came flying in from the side but Chimera bounced off another tree and cut the tape he was swinging on, dropping him to the ground.
Ojiro and Kaibara came leaping at him next but he swatted away the tailed student before leaping over the rotation quirk user and kicking him in the back. Mina came in next using her Acid Shot move to rain down lethal corrosive drops. Some of them managed to land on Chimera's arms and back despite him moving out of the way. "Acid, that certainly doesn't feel great," he commented while shifting his arms back to normal, dropping off the corrosive substance.
A mass of sticks controlled by Reiko along with a sonic blast from Jirou came at him next as he sprouted wings again and wrapped them around his body to weather the combination attack. It was enough to send him flying back but not enough to grealy injure him as he landed on his feet and dispersed the dust around him by opening his wings. "Not bad, adding force to controlled projectiles," he complimented as bits of Setsuna's body surrounded him next. Their force was also increased with help from Shoda's Twin Impact quirk.
Unfortunately, Chimera countered by producing several small flesh lion heads along with other toothy mouths on his body, catching all of Tokage's detached body parts and ingesting them. "Oh I love it when a woman feeds me," he said with a sadistic grin, "how much of your body do you need to stay alive and how long does it take to regenerate?"
"Like I'd tell a freak like you!" Setsuna yelled back wanting very much to be as far from the cannibal as possible at that moment. Fortunately for her, Shoji appeared from some foliage with his Octoblow attack.
"Guess that means you're next," Chimera responded while quickly altering his tendrils into spike limbs and battering them against the dupli-arms quirk user. Shoji stepped back, grunting in pain as he examined his bloodied and damaged arms. "And it's best you not tangle with someone who can tear apart limbs with ease."
"What about these," Momo exclaimed as she tossed several flash grenades at Chimera. The cannibal quickly shielded his eyes while keepings his other senses open for any sign of attack. Turned out, the attack was the ground he was standing on as Honenuki softened the soil and caused his feet to sink.
"Now Kendo!" Slade exclaimed, prompting the big fist girl to throw him like a baseball at their foe. He kept his density high enough to maintain his course against any sudden gusts of wind before increasing it as high as he could at the moment of impact. Chimera turned both of his arms into flesh lion heads to block but the strike carried more than enough weight to send him flying through a couple of trees. "High Density Cannonball, successful."
"Indeed," Chimera complimented as he got back to his feet, "I can see why the league has had so much trouble with all of you up to this point. I usually would've eaten someone by now." He wouldn't mention the possible bruising on his arms as he switched them back to normal.
"Like we said before," Slade replied, "you're outnumbered. Since your crimes aren't well known you probably won't get too long in the slammer if you surrender now."
"And spoil the fun," the villain asked with a smirk, "we're just getting to know each other. I can't go without leaving an impression at the very-." He stopped as a beeping noise in his earpiece alerted him. "Hold on. Curious, what's the situation?"
"That beast, Gigantomachia, just erupted from below ground," the Liberation Lieutenant informed, "do you know why he's moving?"
"Hmm, it's supposed to be too early," Chimera replied, "but the only explanation is that Shigaraki is awake, which means Gigantomachia is going to be heading in one certain direction." He sprouted his wings then, "I'm heading that way now. Keep the other heroes off of Machia the best you can." The cannibal turned his attention to the students then. "Sorry, it looks like we'll be cutting this first meeting short, the boss is calling."
"Hey wait!" Momo and the others exclaimed as he took to the air and flew back towards the villa.
"What do you think he meant by that," Kendo asked as they watched their enemy retreat.
"Really bad news," Jirou informed as she plugged her jack into the ground, "something huge is moving at the villa and it isn't Mt. Lady. Actually, whatever's there is what's moving Mt. Lady."
"As in, pushing her back," Mineta asked nervously, "what in the world could push her back?"
"I see something moving," Shoji informed as he grew an eyestalk and raised it as high as he could, "it's tearing through everything even with Lady right in front of it."
"Which direction is it heading?" Slade asked, already dreading the answer. If one went in a straight line from the villa, Jaku hospital would be-.
"It's headed this way," the dupli-arms student replied, confirming everyone's worst fears.
"Then shouldn't we be running," Kaminari asked as the distant sounds of the rampaging monster, Machia, were starting to be heard even by those without enhanced hearing.
"Our job is to be the rearguard," Kendo reminded him, "that means we're supposed to stop anyone that gets past the other heroes."
"And just how do you plan on stopping something that's moving Mt. Lady?!" Sero asked in exasperation.
"It's worse," Shoji updated them, his calm demeanor betraying none of the fear he was likely feeling at the moment, "he just tossed Mt. Lady aside."
"WE'RE SO DOOOOOOMMMMED!" Mineta yelled as he tried to run before Slade grabbed him and held him up by his leg.
"Not yet," he said, "Momo, are you getting anyone on the comms right now?"
"I think I, hello, Ms. Midnight, is that you," the creation quirk user asked. Their teacher's voice came through somewhat garbled, either because of some interference or the fact that she seemed to be struggling to speak. But the message she gave was clear enough: create anesthetics and give them to the heroes, or evacuate. She ended by saying it was up to Momo's judgement.
"She wants that monster put to sleep," Mineta said as a potentially horrid realization came to him, "why can't…she do it?"
"Momo, what should we do," Kaminari asked the question that was on everyone's mind. Slade looked at his girlfriend, already knowing the conflict going on inside of her right now. Her face was strained as she tried to make a decision. Midnight's technical orders were for them to give the anesthetics to the heroes but they were all either gone or had been killed by Chimera.
That meant it wasn't in the realm of possibility to get them to any heroes in time before Machia arrived, meaning they should evacuate. The problem with that was, if they left and did nothing then the entire city behind them would be in danger. Momo remembered that Midnight was leaving it to her judgement and that what was being asked of her was technically against the law, but under the circumstances. "Jirou, Shoji," she finally said, "use your quirks to give me a rough estimate of the giant's size and how long we have before it arrives. Juzo, we'll need your help too. Now everyone, prepare to move!"
And they had to move fast. Jirou determined they'd have about a minute to set everything up and Shoji informed them that machia was taller even than Mt. Lady. Momo got to work making the anesthetics, producing several jars that she passed out to everyone. It was assumed that Machia's skin was too tough so the idea was simple: slow the giant down long enough to throw one of the jars into his mouth. Then came the preparations for actually slowing him down.
A pit was created using Juzo's ability and a few surprises were set up in case things didn't go entirely according to plan. "Finish up guys," Setsuna's floating torso and mouth announced as her eyes and upper part of her head floated above the trees, "that thing is here!" Everyone moved out of the way then as Machia burst through the trees. As advertised he was huge with rock brown skin that formed spikes on his back and long, pointy brown hair.
His lower jaw was armored and his mouth was full of giant, pointed teeth that were very easy to see as he let out a roar. He continued to charge forward, dragging Mt. Lady behind him on his left leg as though she was more of an annoyance than an actual threat. Funny thing about that, annoyances could become very credible threats if used correctly. Case in point, the softened section of ground that Machia stepped on, causing the massive beast to actually stumble.
Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods released their grip on the villain as he collapsed forward, landing on the part of softened ground they'd prepared while his chin landed on yellow ropes covered in Mineta's sticky balls. Machia attempted to get up but found it was a lot more difficult when his hands sank into the ground whenever he put weight on them. "PULL U.A.!" Sato exclaimed as he, Kendo and the beast student, Jurota, strained with all of their might to pull open the giant's mouth.
Sero and Ibara wrapped both tape and vines around Machia's neck in an attempt to hold him down, hoping to aid the efforts of the others. Though it proved to be futile, it bought enough time for Slade to fire his grappling gauntlet into the creature's teeth and reel up to it. "Let's see what those chompers look like," Slade commented as he latched onto Machia's lower jaw and increased his density to its absolute maximum. The more he tried to get up the more his lower jaw was pulled.
The plan appeared to be working, if Machia had been their only problem. "Well this is annoying," Chimera commented as he landed on the giant's head with his wings out, "I didn't think you guys could set up a trap this quickly, it's honestly impressive."
"If you think I'm surprised to see you and the league on this thing's back, you'll be disappointed," Slade replied with a smirk despite his position, "we planned for you too!" As he said this, other U.A. students were scaling Machia's back to engage the villains. Shoji and Aoyama worked together to let the sparkling boy fire off his lasers and scatter the enemy. Jirou's attempted attack was repelled by Dabi's flames while Kaminari rained his discs on the league.
As he was about to fire, though, Compress fired several beads that exploded to reveal the rubble stored inside of them, knocking the electric quirk user back into possible unconsciousness. Even so the other students continued to pull, slowly opening Machia's mouth. "Ya know what, go ahead and try," Chimera said with a smirk as Slade readied his jar while everyone else threw theirs, "if Gigantomachia could be taken down so easily, he wouldn't be All For One's bodyguard." As if to illustrate this point, Machia breathed out a gale force wind from his mouth, easily blowing all of the jars away and nearly blowing the students away with it.
Slade's high density was the only thing that saved him from also being blown away but that wouldn't last as Dabi came up on Machia's shoulder and added his flames to the mix. The density shifter ducked his head as best he could, fighting back a howl as the flames licked at his arms. It was one of the few times in his life he was truly glad to have practically no hair on his head. And even without looking he could tell that the blast of flame had been amplified and set much of the forest in front of Machia on fire.
'Shit, is everyone else okay,' he thought, trying to glance back but finding it difficult due to his precarious position on the giant's lower lip. A position he wouldn't be in much longer given that their foe's giant hand was reaching up towards him now. Or rather it had been before several explosions erupted beneath Machia's feet, causing him to stumble forward onto his hands and feet once again. "Damn I love that woman," Slade commented, remembering who it was that planted the explosives, "I owe you a date after this, Momo Yaoyorozu."
Fortune turned in their favor even further as the heroes who'd been in pursuit of Machia caught up, forcing the league of villain's attention away from them. "Ah, the one time we didn't need a meal coming to us," Chimera commented as he flew off to deal with the other pros before veering off at the sudden reappearance of Mt. Lady who pounced on the giant and worked to yank his mouth open. A figure leapt from the flames then, their shape seeming a bit odd until they fully emerged. It was Mina, covered head to toe in a massive glob of her acid that looked like some kind of odd amoeba.
It was her new move, Acidman, and it served quite well to dull the flames biting at her as she leapt upwards, arm outstretched with a jar in her right hand. The acid fell away as she did so, no longer needed now that she was past the flames. Her goal was in sight and Machia's mouth was being held open by Mt. Lady. It was more than wide enough for a jar to go in.
Machia realized this too as his eyes suddenly flashed with intelligence. "The shortest route to master," he said, "is to prevent these flies from swarming me again. Everything is for my master." Mina's mind froze as an old memory was stirred.
A few years ago she'd put herself between her friends and a horribly scary man. But it was all she could do to keep herself from shaking at the sight of him and the sound of his gravelly voice, the same one the giant was using now. For an instant she was back there, just a regular school girl facing a monster with fear radiating throughout her entire body. She loosened her grip unintentionally and when she tried to throw her jar it slipped out of her fingers.
The mistake nearly cost her everything as she tried to catch the jar in midair while Machia reached up and pulled Mt. Lady off of him with one arm, throwing her to the ground with a crash. He set his sights on the acid girl next, swinging his other massive hand towards her with the intention of swatting her like a fly. Because she was still airborne there was nothing Mina could do to avoid the attack as fear continued to grip her. 'Is this it,' she thought frantically, 'is this how I-?'
Her thought was left unfinished, though, as Kirishima suddenly came up into the air next to her and pushed her out of the way. The result, however, was he wound up getting slammed into the dirt instead of her. Mina landed on the ground and rolled a couple times before popping back up, terrified of what she'd just seen. "KIRISHIMA!" She exclaimed while trying to get up and run towards him.
Tetsu Tetsu grabbed her from behind and restrained her before she could get too far. "We need to go, Ashido," he said while trying to pull her away, "Mudman's putting out the fire so we need to get back to everyone else."
"But Kirisihima is," the pink girl tried to protest before being interrupted.
"I know," he replied, "that bastard ran in ahead of me because he doesn't burn. But there's nothing we can do for him now!" As he said this, Machia was getting to his feet, the other heroes falling off of his back as he caught the league members in his right hand.
"I've driven off the flies," he said, "hold tight comrades. We must get to-huh?" The giant had been about to reach up and pull Slade off of his mouth but noticed something or rather someone was crawling up his arm.
"I'm RED RIOT!" Kirishima exclaimed as he clawed his way up Machia's left arm using the claws from his unbreakable form, "I won't let blood flow behind me!" He jumped off Machia's arm and readied his jar to throw but Toga was faster and threw a knife that shattered it. Fortunately, Kirishma had managed to catch Ashido's when he pushed her out of the way and that was the one he pulled out now. Gigantomachia made to close his mouth but a sudden pain up his nose caused him to crinkle it, opening his mouth just enough for the jar to enter and break, dosing the inside of his throat with its contents.
"He's taken the dose!" Slade announced as he reeled his grappling line back into his gauntlet. 'And I am gonna need to clean this thing later. It's not every day you shoot a line up a giant's nose.' Of course, the anesthetics weren't immediately effective and Machia went to swat both him and Kirishima but sudden cannon fire distracted him. It was from artillery guns that Momo had made along with the shells. She'd decided that it was best to go all out against this foe even if it cost the majority of her lipids.
And even if the cannons weren't completely penetrating his hide, they still served as enough of a distraction for Setsuna to drag Kirishima away with her floating hands while Slade leapt down and grabbed a floating rock that Reiko sent up. He lowered his density more than enough for her to steer him away from the monster as Momo contacted them with good news. "The more he moves the faster the anethestic will work," she informed, "Majestic, it's up to you now!"
"Roger that," the magician hero replied over their earpieces, "good work Momo, I knew we could count on you. Come on, let's not leave everything to the work study students!" The pro flew in, propelled by the multi-colored rings of his quirk. Behind him, also being propelled by his quirk, were close to a dozen other heroes and Amajiki.
"There's no end to these gnats," Machia growled, "but driving them off is the fastest route." Something happened then. His lower jaw unhinged and moved up to cover his face like a visor, revealing enlarged canine teeth that resembled tusks. His body changed then, with his spikes growing longer and even more curvy and his claws extended.
"You can't fucking be serious right now," Slade said as he took in the sight of the monster's new battle mode. The fight continued from there, but it didn't go in their favor.
At the Same Time: Jaku City
"You can't fucking be serious right now," Bakugou grunted, "that bastard's still alive after all that?" Hard as it was to believe, the leader of the League of Villains had managed to survive the assault on him and even now was struggling to get to his feet.
"It's over, Tomura Shigaraki," Endeavor declared as he approached the downed villain, "you have to realize, no matter how powerful you get, we will not yield to a destruction without conviction."
"You…..people," Tomura wheezed, "heroes. In order to protect strangers, heroes will hurt their own families. That's what my father said. I have conviction, I had it!" He continued to struggle to his feet. "You people, you pretend to protect society. In the past…..over many generations…..you pretended not to see those you couldn't protect…..and covered up those you hurt, building yourselves up in that despicable way. In the end, the insides rotted, crawling with maggots."
"It was little things happening over and over," he continued, "there was the trash that got used to being protected, and those who created that trash in order to profit by protecting them. Everything I've seen, everything you built rejected me. That's why I'll reject you too, that's why I destroy, that's why I become stronger. It's simple isn't it? It's okay if you don't understand, it's because you don't understand that we have heroes and villains!"
He was engulfed in flame then as Endeavor lit him up with fire from both hands. "Thanks for the short break," the number one hero said, "you're at death's door, aren't you, so prepare yourself!" Whatever answer he was expecting, it clearly wasn't Tomura leaping up out of the flames at him. Fortunately, Gran Torino came flying down and kicked the villain hard enough to crater the ground when he slammed into it. He wasn't quick enough to get away, though, as Shigaraki whirled around and grabbed his leg.
The Jet hero grimaced as he felt the villain's powerful fingers crush the boot around his ankle, drawing blood. It was highly possible he was going to lose his leg if not for a sudden cloud arrow head flying into his leg, tearing apart what Tomura was holding onto. It cost him a bit of skin and maybe even a slight bit of muscle, but he was able to jet away with his remaining leg before another bolt of lightning struck Shigaraki. "You're right, it is simple," Clay said as the number one hero and two students rushed the villain, "you're letting yourself be just another puppet, like countless ones before you!"
He went to charge up another attack but Tomura suddenly reached behind himself and forcibly yanked a metallic disk off his back. "Clever, so this is why you can't miss," he surmised before tossing it aside and propelling himself forward at incredible speed. He flew past Midoriya and Bakugou with surprising ease, even Endeavor wasn't able to catch him. 'Shit, he's not heading for me,' Clay realized as he turned and raced towards his uncle, praying that he'd get him out of the way in time.
His prayers were answered in the form of Ryukyu dropping down between the villain and three heroes he was heading towards, blocking his path with her giant claws. Shigaraki shoved his left arm into her enlarged hand but Deku quickly grabbed hold of him and tried binding him with Black Whip. "Shigaraki!" He declared, "You're the only one I won't forgive!"
"I won't forgive anyone," Tomura replied with a growl as he continued to shove his hand through Ryukyu's hand. By this point, Clay had made the decision to continue heading towards his uncle. He realized there were only a few moves he possessed that could really hurt Tomura as he was now, so instead he'd take on the job of protecting Aizawa by keeping him mobile. At least that had been the plan until he heard three words that made his blood run cold.
"A…..deleter round," Ryukyu said in surprise, causing the cloud wielder to turn around in shock. He remembered the red bullets that had been created by Overhaul all too well. It appeared that Shigaraki had managed to obtain a few when he attacked the Hassaikai's police escort. Now he was about to flick one at Eraser Head.
Midoriya immediately realized the danger of this and attempted to slam his fist on his head, his Wyoming Smash. Incredibly, Shigaraki caught the blow with his mouth, stopping it short as he aimed the quirk robbing bullet at his target. Clay moved as fast as he could toward his uncle but quickly calculated that he wouldn't get there to move him in time. So instead of that, the moment the deleter round was launched, Clay moved into its path instead.
He felt an impact in his chest that told him the projectile had hit. Everyone's eyes widened in horror at the scene as his uncle cried out. "CLAAAAAAAAYYY!" That was the last thing he heard before falling to the ground.
What started as a promising raid on the Paranormal Liberation Front has turned into a bad situation as one domino after another falls in the favor of the villains. Is there still a win that can be found among all of these terrible tidings? We'll certainly find out next chapter so in the meantime feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Also, check out my book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle and Kindle Unlimited! And lastly, don't forget to stop in next time as the rage of heroes and villains is unleashed! 'Til then.