Chapter 65
At the start of the confrontation, at the back of the warehouse.
Spikes plunge straight into Present mic. Seeing them coming, Present mic lets out a mighty scream, pushing them back and hitting the pitcher full force, who crouches dazed. His colleague runs towards him, picks him up and hides behind a piece of debris.
"Who the hell would have thought a guy screaming in our faces would be dangerous..." Sighs the gravity manipulator.
"We can't go on like this, or he'll blow our heads off..." The hedgehog man holds his head, feeling his cranial box like swelling.
A scream is heard again and a shockwave passes right by the two members of the Eighth, screaming in pain, feeling their consciousness slowly slipping away.
Suddenly cool air rises, vision palers and a cold fog settles in, then a wall of ice blocks the scream and stops it.
"What the?!" Present mic turns to the source of the wall.
He is answered by the faint sound of someone walking on a thin layer of ice, a man walking towards them, the ground freezing at his feet, the source of this thick, cold air.
"Tss, even for me it's starting to be a lot of villains..." Present mic wipes his forehead.
"Oh! Someone's coming to save us! At last!" Exclaims the gravity manipulator.
"What are you idiots playing at, you're two against one, it should have been over a while ago!" Enraged the iceman.
"You can talk with your Sigil! It's not easy with ours!" The hedgehog man rises, sprouting spikes on his body.
"All right, that's enough, let's get it over with." The iceman moves into position and freezes everything in front of him, heading straight for Present mic. Seeing this, the gravity manipulator go up on the ice wall and increases the gravity around Present mic, forcing it to stand still. the hedgehog man jumps up and throws spikes to ensure the fatal blow.
But suddenly, the gravity manipulator is completely frozen, his power nullified. Free to move, Present mic jumps to dodge the wave of frost and the rain of spikes.
"All the injured have been evacuated. I can finally give you a hand Present mic." Aki stands next to him, her hand raised to the gravity manipulator.
"Ah, thank you Nijou-san, you saved my life." Present mic rubs his hands together, feeling the cold invade his body.
"Shit! I can't move!"
"It's probably because of the chick! The hedgehog! Draws attention!"
"How many times do I have to tell you that I hate that nickname!"
Despite his complaint, he sprang into action, running around Present Mic and Aki, spikes beginning to sprout from his body.
Behind them, emerging from the debris, a young woman runs towards the immobilized guy. Covering her fist with energy, she leaps up to land on top of him and hits him in the head, knocking him out instantly and destroying the icy wall in the process.
"Wow! What was that!?" Present mic asks, staying focused on the iceman.
"She's one of my students..." Aki breathes a sigh of relief.
"Aki-sensei! Inaho's coming to the rescue!" She said proudly.
"A kid capable of doing that much damage?! You're creating monsters in this school!" The iceman places a hand on the ground, which then freezes everything around him, spreading towards the two adults.
Having been knocked unconscious, Aki focuses her power on the iceman, which in turn becomes immobile, stopping the spread of frost.
"Damn that bitch, Hedgehog!"
"Fuck you! Take that heroes!"
The hedgehog jumps up and throws a handful of spikes. Being on guard, Present mic reacts immediately and lets out a scream, sending the spikes flying and violently stunning the hedgehog.
Analyzing the situation, Inaho runs back to the immobilized person, ready to knock him out.
"Get the hell away from me! Shit, I can't even move! That's cheating!"
"You only have yourself to blame for this, villain!" She raises her fist but stops herself.
The iceman smiles and suddenly a column of ice surrounding him emerges from the ground, surprising everyone.
"He managed to get out of Nijou-san seal?!" Present mic can't believe it. "Nijou-san?! Are you all right?!"
"Yes! I should have known, the elements around him were too cold, he clearly had the advantage, but I didn't think he'd have so much mastery of the elements..." Aki is embarrassed.
"...Well, when it's game time!" Inaho opened her hand wide and in a surge of energy, conjured Kamudo, her gauntlet. "Gotta go!"
She hits the ice wall with all her might, shattering it before she's even made contact, and without waiting strikes the iceman, knocking him through the opposite ice wall, knocking him out instantly.
"This kid, she's got monstrous power!" Present mic is losing his glasses.
"It looks a lot like... not sure it's a good inspiration..." Aki thinks back to last week's big test.
With the bottom destroyed, the ice tower crumbles. Inaho picks up the iceman and runs towards the two adults, dodging the chunks of ice falling beside her. The falling ice column causes a gust of cold steam.
"Aki-sensei! Present mic, we made it..." She doesn't have time to finish her sentence as she loses consciousness falling forward.
"Oh no!" Aki catches her before she hits the ground, ignoring the villains, who crash to the floor.
"What's going on? Is she hurt?!" Present mic asks.
"No, at least not at first glance, it's just that using her gauntlet takes a lot out of her." Aki explains, resting her hand on her forehead.
"I see... I'll let you take care of her, I'll take care of our last customer." Present mic stands up and walks over to the last Eighth member still conscious.
The latter twists in all directions, holding his head in pain. Seeing Present mic coming, he raises his hand in surrender.
"That's it! That's it! I surrender! I surrender! I can't fight anymore! I feel like my skull's going to explode!"
"Good, I was afraid that if we kept going, I'd destroy your eardrums or worse." Present mic goes behind him and ties him up. "And don't worry about your headache, the school nurse will take care of you."
"Present mic, I'm going to take you to camp, I'm going to have a quick look at you so you can get back into the fight quickly." Aki explained, with Inaho on her back.
"Let's do this, the battle doesn't seem to be ending quickly, those Eighth are tough as nails." Present mic looks further away, seeing the rage of the fight continue.
"Ah! Present Mic! We've come for backup!" Policemen approach them.
"Are you already up? I told you to stay down until further notice!" Aki is outraged.
"I'm sorry, ma'am, but we didn't know when you'd be back."
"Anyway, there are two members of the Eighth on the ground, if you can retrieve them that would be nice." Present Mic asks.
"Roger!"
"Let's go Nijou-san, they'll take care of the rest." Present mic heads for the camp.
"Yes, let's hurry." Aki follows suit.
"...Senji-sama..." Inaho mumbles in Aki's ear.
"Don't worry Inaho-chan, Senji will be fine with Youta. It's only a matter of time now." Reassuring Aki, even she can't help looking towards the warehouse, a bad feeling taking hold of her.
"What a mess! These Eighths don't fool around!" Chacha observes.
"Chacha-chan, please be discreet! We absolutely must take you and Sho-kun to camp." Fujimura explains.
"But we have to help others!" Chacha says in protest.
"I understand how you feel, but you're not yet qualified to be in support, especially in this kind of situation! We're talking about a battle here!" Fujimura explains.
"Chacha-senpai, please listen to Fujimura-sensei, or you'll get us into trouble..." Sho asks.
"You see Chacha-chan? You're not going to take one of your juniors into a fight, are you?" Fujimura points at him.
"...Raah! There's one of my juniors who's a direct target and another who's taken hostage, so don't give me that kind of argument!" Chacha gets angry.
"Precisely! If we can avoid putting another student in danger that would be even better!" Fujimura raises his voice, clearly upset.
"Please, both of you..." Suddenly, Iruka appeared beside them. "Chacha, I understand your frustration, but putting you in danger will only put more pressure on our shoulders and Senji's, who wanted to avoid this situation at all costs." He then turns to Fujimura. "Taiga-san, you must keep a cool head, this situation affects you far more than anyone else here, that's why you must serve as an example, you must remain calm and be a landmark for Senji, if he saw you like this, doubt would seize him too."
"..." Chacha said nothing, as did Fujimura, who stared pensively at the ground. "I'm sorry, I just feel so bad for Senji-kun and Youta-kun..." Chacha holds her head.
"Chacha-senpai..." Sho couldn't believe how low her senpai is.
(It's rare to see her in such a state, as she always has her head held high, a big smile and always has something to laugh about... Now she's overcome with doubt and fear... What am I saying, she's still a child, it's normal...) Thinks Iruka.
"I... I'm sorry Chacha-chan, I didn't mean to yell at you..." Fujimura puts her hand on Chacha's shoulder.
Suddenly, a bright light illuminates their surroundings, followed by a shrill noise and an explosion. Iruka stands up and sticks his head out of the window to see a man standing, palms smoking, with strange linear craters all around him, and the corpses of policemen and shinobi.
"It's a real massacre..." Sho takes a look.
"...If Iruka makes that face..." Fujimura looks at Iruka with fear. "We have to get out of here, immediately, let's go."
"Yes..." Defeated, Chacha follows her sensei.
"..." Iruka pulls a kunai from one of his pouches. "Don't look at me like that Taiga-san, if he sees us, then I'll have to fight to let you go."
"Do you think I'm stupid or something?"
Suddenly, a powerful beam of energy passes through the building directly behind them, moving horizontally to slice it in two.
"Oh fuck!" Sho panics.
"Everybody down!" Fujimura exclaims.
Everyone lies down on the ground, letting the laser pass over them, cutting through the entire building and rendering it unstable.
"Run!" Fujimura gets Chacha and Sho to their feet and runs out of the building, closely followed by Iruka.
They leap out of the building just before it collapses. Iruka immediately gets up and stands in front of the children.
"Taiga-san, leave here with the children immediately, I'll hold him here!" He exclaims.
"What are you talking about Iruka-sensei?! Do you really think you can take him on alone?! Did you see what he did?!" Chacha panics.
"We don't have time for this! Get out of here! Taiga-san!" Iruka clenches his fist holding the kunai.
"Iruka, this guy uses energy like powerful laser beams, you can't face a guy like that alone..." Fujimura stands up, looking for something on her back.
"I know... but someone has to keep him busy while you look for reinforcements..."
"...Very well, I see you've made your decision, but you'd better not die Iruka, or Senji..."
"I know."
"Are you finished? Because I'm tired of waiting." The enemy's voice is heard through the smoke.
A laser passes very close to them.
"Nobody leaves, I'm Quang and I'm your opponent all four of you." He said.
"Tss... Ah this is a nightmare!" Chacha picks up a piece of debris and in a burst of light activates her maken, a black glove adorned with a silver bracelet.
The piece enlarges in her hand, she throws it towards Quang, the debris swelling to three times it's size. Seeing this, Quang raises his hand and fires a laser, passing through the debris and destroying it in an explosion, then lowers his hand.
"Scatter!" Iruka notices and alerts everyone.
They all leap to different sides. As soon as they stop, Chacha picks up a beam and stretches it out, heading straight for him. He simply sweeps his hand, cutting the beam in two and forcing Chacha to dodge, his hand stopping in mid-air, the laser beam stopping on the dome created around the port. Iruka puts one hand on the ground, then strange black marks appear, spreading out around Quang like a spider's web over a great distance.
"A barrier huh? You think you can lock me in this web? I'm sure you can do better than that..." Quang fires his energy beams at the marks destroying them.
"I won't let you!" Fujimura leapt up behind him, pulling out a small scepter from behind her back, she unfolded it, becoming a large spear with a fireball at the end.
She lowers her weapon vertically, straight towards the head. Quang dodges and fires in her direction. She barely dodges, feeling the heat wave on her ribs. She strikes a vertical blow to his hand to push him back, then follows up with a diagonal blow, aiming for the shoulder. Quang leapt back to dodge, but was surprised to see Sho behind him, who greeted him with a punch to the jaw, stunning him slightly.
But he's not done yet, using his maken, a glove similar to Chacha's, he brings Quang close to him, to deliver a second blow to the left temple.
He staggers, but suddenly, surprising Sho, he shoots, passing through his hand and destroying his maken.
"Gahh!" Sho shouts, falling to his knees in pain.
"Noo!" Fujimura shouts, jumping towards him.
Quang turns and aims at her, but a huge barrel falls towards him. Caught off guard, he fires, striking the bursting barrel and spilling a large quantity of water, which turns to steam on contact with the laser.
"Well done Chacha!"
Fujimura's feminine voice is heard through the smoke, and Quang instinctively lets the spear pass close by, but when it hits the ground, sparks fly and the fireball explodes.
"Fujimura-sensei!" Chacha expands a cardboard box to intercept Fujimura, who has taken off due to her own explosion. "You have burn marks! We have to take you to see Aki-sensei!"
"I'm fine, but you're right, I'll go and see her after we've put him out of his misery, I don't want Senji to see me in this state." Fujimura laughs lightly.
"Stay focused!" Iruka steps in front and creates a barrier, resembling the Fillian sisters' but just for one person. "He's pretty tough."
"Iruka-sensei, do we really have a chance? This guy..." Chacha breathes with difficulty.
"Yes, he's strong, to be able to use pure energy without batting an eyelid... he reminds me of Senji in a way." Iruka gestures with his hands. "That's why we need his body to overheat, so he can't use it anymore. Taiga-san?"
Fujimura turns her gaze to Sho, lying on the ground further away, writhing in pain as he holds his pierced hand.
"Taiga-san, he's pretty much destroyed the barrier, but I'll be able to reinforce it, can you buy me some time?"
"Fujimura-sensei! "Chacha grew impatient.
"Sensei, don't worry about me..." Sho mutters, loud enough for them to hear. "Then do what needs to be done..."
"..." Tears stream down Fujimura's cheeks, lowering her head. "Very well." She rises, a weary, determined face. "Do what you need to do, Chacha and I will keep him busy." She ignites the tip of her spear again.
She takes one last look at Sho, who seems to have fainted. She swallows her saliva and stops her tears.
"Alright then, here we go!" Iruka suddenly disappears.
"I couldn't hear everything, but I'm not going to let you do it." Quang leapt forward.
His arms are covered with a thick layer of pure energy, so condensed that a dense vapor forms around him.
He attacks Iruka, firing numerous lasers in the formation of a cone, then dispersing to strike the shinobi.
The latter dodges with precision, throwing kunai and shuriken, forcing Quang to use lasers to protect himself. Then Iruka makes signs with his hands, before spitting out a large quantity of water, vaporizing on contact with the raw energy.
Taking advantage of this vapor screen, Chacha touches a section of wall, enlarges it and pushes it, sliding to the floor. The wall enters the smoke screen, dispersing part of it, and hits Quang, dragging him to another building, crashing into it.
Numerous rays of energy shoot out of the building, smashing it to bits, then change direction and head for its enemies.
Chacha dodges as well as she can, but fatigue has got the better of her, and she can only narrowly avoid it, taking a few burns here and there, then a laser hits her foot, knocking her to the ground.
Out of nowhere, Iruka emerges from the debris and hits him with a kick, sending him flying for a few metres. Quang gets up and fires a huge laser, but just as he's about to hit Iruka, it turns into a hundred scattering leaves.
"An illusion?!" Quang is surprised, suddenly stopping his shot.
He is answered by a torrent of flame on him, and jumps to the opposite side of where it came from, only to be intercepted by Fujimura, who hits him with a powerful blow from her spear. Quang stops the blow with one arm, before throwing a straight punch to the face. She pushes the arm away and throws her spear at the fist. Quang opens his hand and catches the spear, blocking it and allowing him to throw his other fist. Unable to free it, Taiga drops her spear and, in a backward somersault, dodges the attack and hits him in the jaw with a spinning kick.
He drops her spear, holding his jaw in pain. Taiga catches her weapon before it hits the ground and strikes him in the stomach, causing him to drop his entire upper body, then follows up with a backhand blow that sends him flying further away, but before he can be propelled, he shoots, piercing Taiga's low right side, who crouches down, resisting the pain as best she can.
Quang lands right in the center of several pillars with sealing tags attached to each of them.
"Again?!" He fires, but each pillar is protected by a barrier. "Tss, It's no use if I'm not in it!" He jumps.
But then he hears a wire being pulled, making this little high-pitched noise, then debris on the ground is lifted, causing Sho to emerge, a bandage quickly made around his right hand and on his left hand his maken.
"I have two hands motherfucker!" Sho uses his power, drawing Quang to him and punching him in the ribs.
"Gahh! You brat, it's not your other hand I'm going to dig, it's your intestines!"
Too late, the sealing tags light up, immobilizing Sho and Quang.
"Ah! It seems you're stuck with me! I guess you serve as a sacrifice, and then they say we're the monsters!"
"Sensei!" Sho exclaims.
Iruka leaps into the air behind Sho and pulls another wire, dragging Sho out of the sealing zone. He fires off several fireballs, before catching Sho and landing quickly. The fireballs explode on contact with the ground, avoiding hitting Quang.
"Hahahaha! So shinobi! you missed me on purpose?! Need I remind you that this is a duel to the death?!" Quang points his hands at them, but his arms crack and burst. "Argh! What?! You... Were all those fire attacks just to wear me out?!"
"This 'duel' is over." Iruka concluded.
Fujimura arrives and brandishes her spear. Suddenly, the fireball at the end expands, taking on the shape of a huge feline paw, then strikes down, crushing Quang and creating an explosion, forcing Iruka to protect Sho.
When the blast finally subsides, and the dust settles, Iruka releases Sho, lying on the ground, completely exhausted.
"Is everyone okay?!" Chacha's trembling voice is heard, staggering toward their direction.
"All's well!" Sho gives a thumbs-up. "I'll just lie here for a minute..."
Iruka stands up, nodding to Chacha, then moves towards Fujimura, who's lying on the ground next to the unconscious Quang. She's breathing heavily, a hole in her stomach.
"I guess we did it..." She smiled awkwardly.
"Ouch! No Chacha-senpai, don't get me up!" Chacha tries to raise Sho.
"Don't just lie there! Especially on debris, you might make it worse for yourself!"
"No! I have no strength left!"
"Ha... The kids seem to be doing better than you..." Iruka watches them squabble.
"You can talk, you're just as damaged as I am..." Fujimura sighs. "Haaaa... I can already see Asia-chan's face, melting into tears when she sees me like this, if she hasn't already."
"Sensei." Sho stood up, helped by Chacha. "We shouldn't stay here, the explosion probably drew in some people, allies and enemies alike."
"You're right, and not taking the risk of waiting for reinforcements just to see another member of the Eighth swoop in." Iruka helps Fujimura to her feet.
"Let's go to the camp, it's a bit far, but it's our only chance." Fujimura stands, wincing. "Me, who wanted to help Senji, and here I am, good for nothing."
"You seem to really like Senji-san, is he your favorite student or something?" Sho asks.
"Ha... You could say that Taiga-san is Senji's adopted sister." Iruka explains.
"Yeah, I love that boy like a little brother, I blame myself so much that the situation is so out of control.." Fujimura bows her head.
"Hmm... I think we all failed to avoid this situation, Taiga-san. So don't take all this weight on your shoulders alone, okay?" Iruka reassures Fujimura. "And then it's Senji we're talking about, that kid always has an idea in his head, he's going to get out and save Youta."
"I... I don't really know him, but from what little I've seen and heard, this guy's pretty strong, at least I know I don't stand a chance against him..." Sho scratches his head.
"Yes, Senji is one of the best first-year students, after all." nodded Iruka.
"..." Fujimura raises her head, an embarrassed smile on her face. "Thank you, that's lovely, I feel better now, but I'm still in a lot of pain..."
"Yes, let's go while we still can." Iruka starts walking, helping Fujimura.
"I hope this hell is over soon..." Sho sighs.
"Senji, please, come back to me alive..." Fujimura prays.