Hello hello! Chapter 14 is here! Hope you enjoy seeing the Nomu actually do something, and be a real pain (both of the meanings) for our boys.
And on that, onward!
Chapter 14: Freezing Inferno and Awakened Beast
/
Ice crackled and shot forward, freezing solid a villain who dared approach head-on. Grave mistake.
Shoto exhaled, a small cloud of steam escaping from his mouth due to the temperature difference…
Then, there was a small whistling sound behind him. Shoto turned to the side and tilted his head, the blade of a knife brandished by a villain grazing his face. He immediately grabbed the outstretched arm of the man, freezing him on the spot…
"I'm sorry, but we're just playing on different levels… You were outmatched since the start."
Shoto then exhaled again… Before ducking under the outstretched arm of the frozen man and slowly descending the hill…
The villains were so pathetic… An intense heat soon greeted him, and soon he was walking amidst the flames… He raised his hands, disdainfully freezing those pathetic flames that were hindering his progress…
Suddenly, there was a roar and screams of pain…
Two villains emerged from a blaze, tearing off their clothes and clawing at their rapidly burning skin.
One of them staggered toward Shoto, an arm outstretched, face twisted in pain…
The next second, two ice spikes pierced through his abdomen, coming out the other side before a glacier engulfed him and his companion, blowing out the flames like pathetic candles and drastically cooling the air.
He heard curses in a language that was certainly not Japanese, an order, and two clones appeared in his field of vision…
He vaguely recognized one of them, but he was so useless and pathetic in his eyes that he dismissed the sense of déjà vu. Both carried large canisters on their backs, a cable connecting their weapon to these canisters.
A flamethrower… Shoto had never seen one… But using one was so… Primal… Even quirkless soldiers no longer used them in the JSDF.
One of them was fiddling with his weapon, clearing the ice from the barrel until the kind of nozzle they had began to emit a timid little flame… The other froze upon seeing him, and the dual-haired boy noticed a fist clenching in restrained anger.
But whatever the clone's desires were, he did nothing.
"Ah… There you are, pretty little flame…," murmured the other, who was fiddling with his weapon in an admiring tone…
Shoto looked at him coldly with some disgust, a pyromaniac, the kind of person rejected by society for being completely insane; they didn't deserved to live.
The dual-haired boy's thoughts were interrupted when excited shouts and laughter rose.
The boy prepared his quirk, his right arm cooling rapidly, the lens of his helmet made of a material similar to ice shining ominously as frost began to appear on his face…
Behind him, the two clones adjusted their flamethrowers, a gleam of anticipation shining in their eyes. He couldn't help but feel disdain for the two. Poor fools… Nothing more than defective instruments, incapable of truly understanding his power…
"Stay back and don't get in the way.", growled the boy, stepping forward, the ground cooling and beginning to frost over…
One of the clones nodded without a word, while the other, the one Todoroki might have encountered before, clenched his teeth, a glimmer of resentment briefly shining in his eyes.
Then the dual-haired boy remembered. If he hadn't seen that look because of the opaque visor, he felt it. So it was that one… That clone he had sent flying like a disjointed puppet during the Battle Trials.
The villains suddenly appeared, finally revealing themselves to the three boys. Their leader, an imposing man with snake-like tattoos on his face, had a sinister smile, full of cruelty and malice.
"Ah! We've been scourin' this damn place looking for the ones the portal guy sent… Well damn, finally!" exclaimed the man.
No second was wasted; Shoto raised a hand, a wave of ice shooting from his fingers to strike the villains head-on. The air instantly cooled, ice crystals sparkling in the light. Most of the villains dodged, the leader making an impressive move to avoid the bulk of the glacier aimed at him.
However, others were not so lucky.
Two villains were trapped by the attack, the first was impaled non-lethally by chance and then frozen, the other had his foot caught in the ice that eventually engulfed him.
The two clones moved forward, getting into position, pointing their weapons before pulling the trigger. Their flamethrowers roared, projecting two tongues of flame emitting intense heat. The terrain quickly turned into a chaotic hell, flames and ice mixing in a dangerous dance. However, problems soon arose.
"Retreat, idiots!" shouted Shoto, feeling the heat of his allies' flames licking his neck. The pyromaniac, focused on a villain trying to flank them, paid no attention and projected a burst of fire that dangerously brushed past the dual-haired boy.
The ice on the ground melted instantly, evaporating and creating a thick steam that obscured everyone's vision.
The other clone, irritated by Shoto's abrupt order, shot him a dark look before adjusting his flamethrower to cover a blind spot, but did so too close to Shoto. The young hero turned, his eyes blazing with anger.
"Are you completely incompetent, clone?"
Mirdip clenched his teeth and growled in anger.
"Watch where you throw your ice, you di'kut."
The villains' leader took advantage of the confusion among the three and their poor communication. His hands crackled as they were surrounded by black lightning, the man charging a devastating attack. The crackling intensified, and he extended both hands forward.
The attack was massive, with dark lightning shooting from the villain's hands, zigzagging unpredictably. Some struck the ground, exploding and sending chunks of earth and rock in all directions. Others dove underground, only to emerge two meters away like crackling, hissing serpents.
Shoto reacted quickly, creating a wall of ice to block them, but this only worsened the situation for his allies. The ice wall, though it stopped the attack initially, was struck by the lightning, which exploded or tore off large chunks of ice, preventing the two clones from aiming properly, and the villains exploited this opening.
One of the villains managed to flank them unnoticed, using the chaos caused by the ice wall's creation, and sprang at Uco from behind, ready to attack. Mirdip rushed to help his brother but collided with an ice barrier Shoto had just created to protect himself from another villain who had smashed through the already heavily damaged wall, sending shards of ice flying everywhere, and attacked Shoto. The wall struck the man that attacked the boy was struck head-on, sending him flying backward.
Mirdip stumbled as he retreated hastily, his flames shooting in all directions and narrowly missing Uco. The latter raised his flamethrower, managing to deflect the blade held by the villain that attacked him, which slid across the armor protecting his collarbone, leaving a small mark behind, before the flametrooper kicked the villain in the stomach and knocked him out with a butt stroke to the face.
"Kriff, Todoroki!" exclaimed Mirdip, feeling his frustration mount.
Shoto, however, remained unperturbed. He focused on the enemy before him, using his ice to immobilize and finish him with a brutal punch to the jaw, the optics of his helmet giving him the appearance of a monster from the deepest cavern of ice. To him, the clones were just pawns, tools he could sacrifice without remorse. A voice in his head screamed that he was behaving like his father whom he hated so much, but the boy ignored it completely.
He turned and ice shot from the ground to strike three other villains. However, at the same time, the roar of a flamethrower was heard, and the two forces collided. Shoto growled and shot another dark look at Mirdip, who returned it.
The villains took advantage of the distraction and attacked, one of them leaping at Mirdip, who reacted quickly and released a tongue of flame at point-blank range. The villain screamed and began running around and rolling on the ground. The flames went out, but the corporal's boot came down on his face, breaking the man's nose and jaw with a sinister crunch.
The other two charged at Shoto, the first using his arm like a club, trying to strike the dual-haired boy with it. His attack was intercepted by an ice spear Shoto had created, and the man was pushed back when the shaft's tip struck his stomach. The second, who sported growths resembling pill bug shells on most of his abdomen, tried to grab him from the left. The boy deftly switched the spear to his other hand, blocked, and opened the man's guard to plunge the spear into his abdomen. Blood spurted, and the villain emitted a strangled groan, falling to his knees and gripping the blood-soaked spear on the shaft.
Shoto twisted the tip before pulling it out with a sharp motion. The villain clutched the gaping wound in his stomach, trying to contain the bleeding, but collapsed to the side, unconscious, after the boy brought the flat of his spear down on the man's neck.
The second villain had gotten up and charged at Shoto. The latter turned and threw his spear, which impaled the man in the shoulder. The man fell to the ground, and the dual-haired boy approached, driving the spear deeper into the wound to pin the man to the ground.
The villains' leader, seeing his men fall one by one until he was the last one left in this hell of ice and fire, concentrated all his energy into a final desperate attack. A sphere of dark energy formed in his hands, ready to explode. Shoto saw it and, without hesitation, erected a dome of ice around himself for protection.
"TAKE COVER!" shouted Uco, seeing the imminent attack.
But Shoto ignored the warning. The sphere of energy exploded, the blast shaking the entire terrain. The ice dome absorbed the shock, but Uco and Mirdip were thrown back by the shockwave, their flamethrowers falling from their hands.
When the dust settled, Shoto emerged from the smoke, a cloud of steam escaping his mouth. His ice shield was pulverized, but the boy himself was unscathed. The unconscious villains had been blown away like straw in all directions, now lying scattered unlike a few seconds earlier. He turned to Uco and Mirdip, lying on the ground, injured but alive.
"You see? This is why you are just clones. Useless and weak," he declared coldly, his disdainful gaze piercing them as the clones got up with groans and brushed themselves off.
Behind him, the villains' leader, shaken, got up, saw the boy with his back turned to him and launched himself at Shoto. The latter heard the footsteps too late and turned, eyes wide as the villain's form loomed over him. Someone suddenly stepped in between, and the knife's blade sank into the back of the person who fell into Shoto's arms.
Uco, seeing an opening, aimed his flamethrower to fire a burst of flames that struck the villain head-on. The man was engulfed in flames within seconds, screaming in pain before collapsing and trying to extinguish the burning flames... Only to be frozen solid the next moment.
Shoto stood there, arm raised, after having dropped Mirdip who had intervened and taken the knife instead of the dual-haired boy, now cursing like a sailor as he tried to get up.
"Don't touch me ever again, clone," spat Todoroki, casting a malevolent look at Mirdip. Uco rushed to kneel beside his brother, a pool of blood forming beneath him.
"I may hate you, but I still follow my duty by protecting you, and this is how you thank me, you little di'kutla ade?" spat the corporal in return.
"Mirdip, hold on, we'll get you out of here."
The corporal gave him a confused look.
"Get me out of here? The blade slid off the armor."
Uco suddenly had a very bad feeling.
"Move your legs.", ordered the pyromaniac.
Mirdip tried to, but his eyes widened when he realized he... felt nothing.
"Why can't I feel anything? No, tell me my legs are moving, please, Uco, tell me they're moving."
The corporal pleaded, gripping his brother by the shoulders, shaking him, his voice filled with pure panic.
"Please tell me they're moving," implored Mirdip.
Uco remained silent, in shock... His legs hadn't moved an inch... They were completely inert. Uco grabbed one and lifted it. The knee bent, and the lower leg dangled limply...
"Please, please, please, tell me they're moving, please, Uco, answer me, please..." the clone's voice broke, "Uco... Uco, please... I beg you..."
The corporal began to sob...
"Please..."
Uco was stunned by what was in front of him... He had seen death up close, he had seen fatal injuries, torn limbs... He had seen despair... But never this kind of despair...
The harsh reality hit the two clones under the cold gaze of a boy who despised them to the utmost, who didn't give a damn about their emotions, about everything they embodied...
Today, Mirdip had permanently lost the use of his legs.
/
Aizawa stomped his boot on the face of the last villain who had tried to attack him. The yellow bolts of the clones' weapons were still flying around him, forcing the surviving villains to take cover without endangering him. The ground around was littered with unconscious villains, knocked out either by the shots or by the tired teacher himself. However, two people had been spared so far by the torrent of shots.
The villain with the hands, whose face was partially covered by a dead hand serving as a mask, watched the scene with a demented look. His eyes were filled with pure but dangerous curiosity as they darted to the line of white armor at the top of the steps. Beside him, the misty man silently awaited his leader's orders.
"Interesting, after all, maybe they're higher level than I thought..."
The man burst into a dry, sardonic laugh, suddenly confusing Aizawa. "Oh, but here you are, Eraserhead... I can't lie, you impress me, you're quite the mini-boss in this game... This combo with these clones is devilishly effective..." he said, a twisted smile on his lips. "If I can beat you, their morale will surely fall, it always happens like that... So why not dance?"
And with that, the man swayed right... then left... before lunging forward.
Without wasting a moment, Aizawa activated his quirk, immediately neutralizing the man's powers. The villain felt the difference but didn't seem overly concerned. On the contrary, he seemed even more amused by the situation.
"You really think you can stop me with that? I know your quirk, Eraser... When your hair stands up, it means you're using it, and your goggles allow you to fool many enemies, but the activation intervals get shorter each time... Your eyes don't like that, do they?" taunted Shigaraki, his fingers clawing the air impatiently.
Aizawa didn't respond, but unfortunately, he was right. He merely pounced on his adversary with the speed and precision of a predator. His capture weapon flew forward, aiming to immobilize the villain's limbs. However, the villain dodged with surprising agility, his movements almost seeming premeditated.
"You're fast, Eraser, but not fast enough," declared the man in a grating voice, a dangerous gleam in his eyes. Aizawa had to blink, and the man reached out.
Aizawa barely dodged, feeling death lurking with every move. His sharp reflexes allowed him to escape, but he knew this cat-and-mouse game couldn't last forever. He needed to find a flaw, an opening.
"It's a shame... I could have killed you if the contact had been longer...", declared the villain in an irritated tone. Aizawa didn't understand at first, but a sharp, searing pain suddenly pierced his elbow. He looked down as he felt a warm liquid run down his arm, soaking his sleeve... He realized with horror that there was a wound... The skin was cracked around it, dried out, surrounding a hole exposing his muscle, his flesh... He could even see his bone... He then understood the villain's quirk... He could disintegrate anything he touched...
The villain growled, feeling impatience rise, and changed tactics. He ordered the smoke man to envelop them both in a thick mist, hiding them from the outside world.
Aizawa found himself blind, forced to rely solely on his other senses. The villain took advantage of this to launch a surprise attack, emerging from the shadows like a specter, hand outstretched.
The blow was parried with cold precision by Aizawa. He activated his quirk, nullifying the other's one, and grabbed the extended arm, throwing him to the ground, but he knew the effect of his quirk wouldn't last forever. The other was trying to wear him out, to push him to his limits, and with one arm down, it was even more complicated to fight. Unfortunately, it was working all too well. Aizawa could feel his strength waning, his body taking the toll.
The villain got up and lunged forward again, hand outstretched.
Aizawa dodged and sensed a change in the air. A tiny opening, but it was there. Without hesitation, he threw himself in the opposite direction, retreating instead of advancing while launching his capture tape, catching the man by surprise. Using all his remaining strength, he yanked hard, spinning around with a grunt as he used his injured arm for support, then pulled the man towards him and delivered a knee strike to his chin.
The villain was thrown back and crashed heavily.
He got up, shaking his head, clearly very dazed. Aizawa didn't waste another second. He rushed forward, capture weapon ready to immobilize his opponent for good. Their eyes met for a moment, and Aizawa saw something in the man's eyes. A spark of madness, but also an unwavering determination.
"You think you can defeat me, hero?", he murmured, a mad smile spreading across his face as the ribbons wrapped around his limbs. "This is where it all begins, Eraser."
With renewed strength fueled by rage and desperation, he broke free from the weapon and counterattacked.
The fight resumed with even greater intensity, a deadly dance of exchanged blows and precise dodges. Both opponents seemed out of breath, but neither backed down. Aizawa knew he had to finish it quickly. He used one last technique, a desperate maneuver. He propelled his capture tape around the man, tightening it with all his remaining strength.
The villain struggled, trying to break free, but Aizawa held firm, activating his quirk despite his burning eyes to avoid the villain from breaking free with his quirk. He felt his own strength leaving him, but he refused to let go. In a final effort, he managed to pin him to the ground, finally immobilizing the villain under his weight.
Panting, overwhelmed by pain, Aizawa looked into the villain's eyes. The latter, despite his disadvantaged position, was still smiling. A cruel and triumphant smile.
"You think you've won, hero?", he whispered, his eyes shining with malice. "Kurogiri, bring out our final asset."
/
They were winning. The villains had been decimated by the clones, and only a few were still able to fight.
Lock, however, had his attention drawn to Eraserhead's victory over the leader of the attack... Okay... One danger eliminated. The captain aimed his weapon at the smoke villain, carefully aiming to ensure he didn't miss...
Suddenly, the very air seemed to shiver, a supernatural darkness forming in the center as the villain raised his hand and a portal appeared. His brothers tensed, changing targets as their weapons trained on a new portal that began to whirl and expand for the second time.
"PREPARE FOR A SECOND WAVE!" shouted Lock, his orders relayed by the others. He dreaded what would come out of the swirling portal...
A dark and imposing silhouette began to materialize, its form initially blurry and indistinct... All gripped their weapons more firmly...
And suddenly, the thing sprang forth. In one second, the silhouette had emerged from the portal, too blurry for the clones to distinguish its physique.
Half a second later, Aizawa, caught off guard, was grabbed and pulled, his attempts to use his quirk to nullify the powers of the blurry figure having no effect.
A second later, it propelled itself into the air with a force that cracked the ground and caused an air blast that blew everything within a five-meter radius.
Lock, horrified, followed the thing with his eyes in the air... But he also noticed something...
"SCATTER!" shouted the captain, and his soldiers rose in panic, scattering like ants as the thing landed like a cannonball... Hitting the ground with such force that the ground shook, cracked, and a shockwave knocked the clones down like trees in a hurricane...
Lock hit the ground heavily, tumbling for two meters, his weapon clattering on the ground near him, stunned, before sliding on his stomach for another meter... He remained like that for a few seconds, before grabbing his weapon and getting up with a groan, as did some of his vods...
But what he saw petrified him...
At the center of the crater formed by the impact, a dark silhouette emerged from the dust and rubble.
A nightmarish creature slowly rose, its massive body casting a sinister shadow over the devastated ground. It was taller than any man, almost dwarfing the imposing stature of All Might. Its bulging muscles, marked by numerous scars that seemed to twist and contort, looked ready to burst under the black, glossy, and rough skin. Instead of the top of its skull, its brain was exposed for all to see, pulsing abnormally. Around this cerebral mass, large, globular, and expressionless eyes fixed on them with cold, almost mechanical indifference.
It's mouth, resembling a bird's beak, was filled with sharp, razor-like teeth, yellowed, rotting, and with jagged edges. It was emitting a guttural and irregular breath, a respiration that seemed to come from deep within it's massive body. The creature wore only beige pants and metal kneepads designed to look like skulls, adding a sinister touch to his already macabre appearance. It's feet and torso were left uncovered.
In his right hand, he held Aizawa tightly, his fragile body seeming tiny and vulnerable compared to the iron grip of the beast. The hero struggled, but his efforts were futile against the creature's superhuman strength. Aizawa felt the relentless pressure crushing his ribs, each breath becoming a hard-fought battle to avoid slipping into unconsciousness.
The thing rose fully, emerging from the crater like a demon from the bowels of the earth before letting out a scream, a piercing and terrifying sound that tore through the air like a banshee's wail, leaving everyone momentarily deafened and disoriented.
With one wild movement, the monstrous beast threw Aizawa to the ground with enough force to break bones and tear flesh. The ground cracked, and the weary man screamed in agony, pain etched on his bloodied face. And before anyone could react, the monstrous creature grabbed the hero by the leg and hurled him with terrifying force against a nearby wall. A sickening crack resounded as Aizawa hit the wall and collapsed, barely conscious, his body in tatters, his limbs twisted at angles that were certainly unnatural...
"FIRE! FIRE!" shouted Lock, and the clones, recovering from the initial shock, opened fire, the shots illuminating the creature like a light bulb. The beast took the continuous volley without flinching, let out another howl, and attacked.
Its silhouette became blurry, and in less than a millisecond, it sent a dozen clones flying with a wide sweep of its hand. Bones broke, screams filled the air, and the crash of armor on the ground soon followed.
"FRIENDLY FIRE! FRIENDLY FIRE!" someone shouted as two men collapsed after being hit by the friendly yellow bolts.
The creature turned and swung its arm towards Lock and the group of three of his men who were with him. While Lock managed to roll to the side, as did Aether and Basis, but Derac screamed as the creature's grip closed on him, followed by a sickening crunch and a cry of agony as blood spurted from the gaps between the beast's massive fingers.
Derac's head fell limply, and the beast threw the shattered body at Midnight and Device, propelling the two backward when the body struck them at high speed.
The monstrous beast then turned towards the five students, an injured No. 13, and their escort who were trying to get them out.
It rushed forward, however, a rocket hit it squarely in the back, and the beast froze, a large hole in its back...
"YEAH! I GOT IT!" shouted Neex, bursting into laughter.
However, his laughter died when a sound of tearing flesh filled the air, and the muscles around the wound stretched, twisted, closing the large gash with absolutely disgusting cracking and fleshy sounds...
The beast then very slowly turned towards the clone, its dead and empty eye fixing on the AT Trooper who gulped.
The thing let out a roar of anger and primal rage, then rushed forward again. Neex dodged, but Arrow, who was next to him, was grabbed as he tried to retreat. The monstrous creature saw no difference, lifted the screaming clone above its head, and pulled...
Bones cracked, muscles screamed under the pressure…
-CRAAAACK!-
A rain of blood and flesh splattered the clones around, and the beast threw the legs and torso of the clone in opposite directions, before delivering a lateral punch with its closed fist. Xanks and Firdiss took the full impact to the face. Skulls shattered into thousands of fragments, helmets cracked, vertebrae dislocated, and arteries burst as the two bodies were sent tumbling to the ground.
Lock began to despair, to panic. Nothing seemed to be able to stop this bastard, and the barrage of discharges they unleashed didn't seem to cause it any damage.
"MORTAL MODE! WATCH FOR FRIENDLY FIRE!" shouted the captain, it was the only thing he could order.
Clicks filled the air, and suddenly, the yellow bolts were replaced by blue ones.
At first, this did not seem to stop the thing, which punched Hellinnk, sending him flying several meters, his bones so broken he looked like a ragdoll.
Another vital sign turned black.
The thing backhanded the nearest clones, and Incident missed Lock by a few centimeters, colliding with Basis in the process.
Then, the creature roared, throwing its head back, and the blaster impacts started to appear all over its body. Finally, its regeneration was overloaded by the volume of fire. However, its brain suddenly pulsed, and the thing suddenly rushed towards the group of students and injured teachers. The clones escorting the group opened fire, but the thing did not stop, leaping into the air, ready to bring down its hand to crush the students into a pulp...
The entrance doors exploded, smashed inward, and one of the torn doors struck the thing in the jaw with such force that it was sent flying back with a hiss of anger.
"DO NOT WORRY! I AM... FINALLY... HERE!"
'All Might!'
The captain thought with relief...
The hideous thing jumped to its feet and immediately attacked the figure who had just entered, throwing a powerful punch. All Might's hand rose, blocking the blow, and a punch to its jaw sent the creature flying thirty meters back... Crashing three meters from where it had emerged from the portal...
Lock, however, noticed something... Rage was distorting All Might's features... He wasn't smiling at all...
The symbol of peace looked at what had transpired before his arrival... His eyes fell on the already cold bodies and injured clones, then on the gravely injured teachers... And finally on the group of students, some of whom, especially Mina, Ochako, and Koda, were crying in fear and horror at the carnage... Lock saw something in All Might's eyes that he had never thought possible...
Pure anger... Hatred...
In an instant, before everyone's eyes, All Might let out a bellow of rage that shook the very foundations of the USJ...
Seeya later with the next chapter!
Note: The discord acquired it's first member! Thanks a lot to him!