Disclaimer:
My Hero Academia was created by Kohei Horikoshi. Shin Megami Tensei was created by Atlus. This story uses plot elements and characters from them.
The Quirk War
By: RB3
School Days Ch 7: Battle of I-Island p2
As the Spade Mercs fought the demons of Chaos, Plant Zombie and Queen had slipped past the main fighting by travelling through alleys. After rounding the corner to the outermost alley, they saw the warehouse where the Perpetual Reactor had been set up by the demons of Chaos. Dozens of demons stood guard in the parking lot before the building. "There are too many. We'd better call for reinforcements," said Plant Zombie.
"I'm here. Do you need those demons removed?" asked a female voice through telepathy.
"Yes Serenoa. Blow out their braaains," replied Plant Zombie.
"Of course. Let me thin out their ranks a bit," replied Serenoa.
She scanned the area and confirmed the locations of Plant Zombie, Queen, and all of the demons of Chaos which stood guard at the warehouse. A pillar of fire landed within the largest concentration of demons, lighting the area orange. In its wake, several demons had been incinerated instantly. Another fiery pillar descended into the next largest pack, incinerating many, though fewer since the demons were prepared and had started to scatter.
"Now's your chance!" said Serenoa.
Plant Zombie and Queen gathered dozens of reinforcements in the alley, then sicced their troops upon the warehouse. The demons immediately spotted the horde coming and moved to intercept. A Gagyson hurled ball lightning at a zombie, easily knocking it down. However, the restless dead would not stay down long, as just a moment later, it slowly arose to resume the battle. As the battle lines got drawn, Plant Zombie and Queen moved to the sides of the chaos that consumed the parking lot and nearby streets.
One of the Gagyson spotted them trying to sneak past the battle and descended. Plant Zombie saw it in turn and unloaded rounds from his peashooters. The Gagyson had been perforated in an instant and burst in motes of red. Once the duo reached the warehouse interior, they were confronted by Forneus, a demon who resembled a manta ray. Forneus quickly radiated redness around himself, causing the environment's appearance to distort.
The warehouse vanished and became a space bounded by a mass of root-like tendrils shaping themselves into the ground and walls. For miles around, the land resembled the bottom of the ocean with sand, rocks, and coral. However, it lacked the actual water. "He trapped us in a Domain!" warned Queen as she looked around.
She then noticed two other foes flanking them from the rear, forming the points of an equilateral triangle with Forneus. The first was a mass of wax with anguished faces all over his body. His body took a more cylindrical, candle-like form where his head and primary face would be. A lit wick extended from the crown of his head. The second resembled a gigantic, spherical mass of yellow electricity with two smaller blue ball lightning functioning as eyes. These creatures were Waxworker and Rolling Thunder respectively.
"Now we're surrounded!" said Queen as she looked at each foe.
"Don't worry! We can defeat them. Once we get past them and defeat Forneus, this whole Domain will collapse," said Plant Zombie.
Forneus opened the battle by spraying water at the duo, who scattered to evade it. He turned to Queen and spit icicles, which she blocked by setting the Kingdom of Hearts in their path. The walls of the castle got struck, but remained intact. The card soldiers on the walls returned fire with guns and cannons. Forneus ascended and let the volley pass by below. Several card soldiers exited a portcullis and formed up to fire rifles. Forneus dodged the rounds, then sprayed the group with icy water to destroy them.
True to his name, Rolling Thunder rolled his way towards the Kingdom, crashing against the side of the outer wall. It held firm, and a moment later, the card soldiers gathered above to shoot him with rifles. Their shots did the electric Avatar no harm, but neither could Rolling Thunder breach the sturdiness of the Kingdom of Hearts. Forneus fired ice at Queen upon the keep. The Kingdom put up a barrier in front of her as protection. These shots struck and got shattered on contact.
Waxworker spewed flame from the wick on his head. Plant Zombie quickly moved away, but still got singed by the roaring inferno. "Fire... Not something I do well with," thought Plant Zombie.
As his zombies advanced on Waxworker, Plant Zombie became targeted by Forneus' icicles. Plant Zombie whipped them aside with a vine, then fired the peashooters in return. Forneus blasted them out of the air with water from his mouth. Plant Zombie changed tactics and sprayed a golden pollen out of his body. It overtook Forneus and made him dizzy. That momentarily lapse of attention allowed the card soldiers on the wall to connect with cannon balls. Plant Zombie exploited the manta ray's staggered state by pelting him with even more peas. Forneus got perforated and burst into Magatsuhi motes before vanishing.
As soon as Forneus' Domain collapsed, Plant Zombie and Queen found themselves on the warehouse floor, right in front of the Perpetual Reactor itself. "We're out of the Domain! Now to deal with these Avatars!" said Queen.
"Don't let them near the machine!" cried Waxworker.
Waxworker hurled blobs of hot, molten wax at Plant Zombie, who quickly hopped back to evade them. He sent his zombie hordes to attack, forcing his foe to hurl the wax to intercept them. The zombies got caught and encased, their forward advance halted. The molten white substance expanded to contain the zombies and hardened to trap them within. Despite that, new zombies arose from the ground and advanced on Waxworker. The unholy candle spewed fire at them, incinerating the whole lot, only to have more continue to arise and enter the fray.
"Ugggh..." groaned the zombies as they marched upon the candle-like Avatar.
"They never stop coming!" remarked Waxworker.
Nearby, Rolling Thunder boosted himself over the wall, then started trampling card soldiers within the Kingdom's grounds in his wake. He struck the keep's wall and shook the entire building, nearly knocking Queen's footing from beneath her. "Crap! This isn't good!" thought Queen.
Rolling Thunder boosted himself onto the wall of the keep and sped towards Queen. She quickly jumped off the side, letting Rolling Thunder speed off past the rear wall of the keep. Queen immediately removed the Kingdom and ran outside the warehouse. Rolling Thunder pursued, but Plant Zombie moved the zombies into his path. The living ball lightning simply flattened the zombies like bowling pins and continued its forward motion.
Seeing his effort fail, Plant Zombie hurled darkness at the living ball lightning, which finally broke his forward momentum and knocked him aside. "ARGGGH!" groaned Rolling Thunder, wincing in pain as he came to a stop.
Outside, in the sky above I-Island, a fissure appeared and behind it was the nearby Expanse. The Marduk hovered there, firing beams and elemental spheres at a horde of invading demons. Queen's jaw dropped upon seeing that. "This is bad! The sky has opened and we're getting bogged down here!" said Queen.
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Back at the Central Tower, Izuku's group had encountered more Ukobach as they rounded a bend. Melissa fired bullets while David unloaded handgun rounds into them. Being weak demons, the Ukobach were picked off one after the other until none remained. They entered a break room and paused to catch their breaths. "We should be far enough from them. Are there any cameras?" asked Izuku, still panting from running so tirelessly.
"I can't detect any in the room," said Melissa. "It's safe to change."
The three transformed into their Avatars with Izuku becoming the Werewolf. They continued the rest of the way and found the elevator, which they took to reach the top floor. When they reached F50, the elevator stopped abruptly. "What? We aren't moving," remarked Altered Beast.
Moments later, it started to shake. Gear of War opened the emergency hatch on the roof. Further up the shaft, he saw a Gagyson trying to sever the cable by repeatedly clawing it. "They're trying to cut the cable!" warned Gear of War.
He flew out of the emergency hatch with mini guns blazing. The Gagyson got perforated, but its final blow had successfully severed the cable. Metal Gear burst out the elevator's open hatch with Altered Beast jumping out moments later. He latched onto the side of the shaft, then transformed into the Garuda and followed his friends up the shaft to the roof. They burst out of the metal door and found themselves on the roof.
They saw a knight clad in turquoise armour with a golden ducal crown on his head. He was mounted on a Griffin which hovered over the roof. He was the demon Murmur. "He must be the demon in charge! If we kill him, everyone goes free!" said Altered Beast.
Murmur said nothing and wasted no time in assaulting the group with a lightning bolt. They scattered to avoid his attack before preparing their retaliation. Altered Beast landed and became the Werewolf, then launched himself into a Lunar Kick. Murmur simply evaded by shifting left. Gear of War unloaded his Gatling guns at him, but Murmur ascended to elude them. Metal Gear also fired bullets, but Murmur banked right to evade them. He hurled another lightning bolt at the group, striking down Altered Beast, who quickly healed the wound and got back up.
"Target Murmur is too mobile on a Griffon. This unit suggests we dismount him. Provide cover until this unit finishes its manoeuvres," requested Metal Gear.
"Sure," replied Beast, who did so by hurling Lunar Balls at Murmur.
The demon shifted left, then right to evade them. He hurled lightning back, which Beast evaded by hopping right. Gear of War fired several rounds at him, but Murmur weaved around them without taking a single hit. Suddenly, Metal Gear exerted a force over Murmur's metallic armour, yanking the knight-like demon off of his mount into a hard spill on the roof. Gear of War unloaded bullets into the Griffon, ripping it to shreds from the sheer volume of fire.
"That's it! We have him now, boys!" said Gear of War.
Murmur hurled lightning at Metal Gear, who created a metal rod in its path. His lightning got drawn to the metal and conducted into the ground. Metal Gear telekinetically shoved Murmur to the ground, but the demon rolled with the momentum back onto his knees. Altered Beast launched into another Lunar Kick, connecting on the right of Murmur's head. He got knocked down and scrambled to get upright. Beast charged in, but as Murmur tried to evade, he found his boot welded to the ground by soldered metal.
Beast clawed through him and Murmur vanished in a burst of Magatsuhi motes. With the demon's demise, Murmur's Domain collapsed, returning the group to the physical counterpart of the Central Tower. "Look above," said Metal Gear.
The group saw a rift to the Expanse open in the sky. The Marduk, a golden cylindrical ship, had formed a blockade before the hole with Spade Mercenary demons. All of them were blasting the hundreds of demons trying to rush past to get into Hero Society. "Altered Beast, do you read?" asked Serenoa through telepathy.
"Yeah. What's going on?" he asked.
"The demons trapped you guys and the pros in a Domain to keep you from interfering. They're widening the hole to the Expanse with a new Perpetual Reactor in Northwest City. Queen and Plant Zombie are trying to get to it, but are being held back by Atma Avatars. Head over and lend them support. We need that machine shut down!" replied Serenoa.
"Roger! We're on it," replied Altered Beast.
He transformed into the Garuda and sped ahead with Metal Gear and Gear of War following behind. As he approached the warehouse with the Perpetual Reactor, he could see zombies and card soldiers brawling with various demons in the parking lot. Queen and Plant Zombie were there, evading lightning bolts and fireballs sent at them by Rolling Thunder and Waxworker. Queen had formed the Kingdom of Hearts, returning fire which forced Rolling Thunder to roll right to evade.
Beast spotted a cable running from the warehouse to a pole outside. He proceeded to strafe the pole with airy flechettes. The pole snapped and collapsed, tearing the wire. Sparks burst out, followed by the neighbourhood going dark. Without power, the Perpetual Reactor ceased to function, along with the growth of the hole in the sky. Altered Beast circled around, then dove at Waxworker and raked him across the back.
"GAAAH!" yelped the candle-like Avatar as he crashed to the ground.
Metal Gear finally arrived and unloaded bullets into Rolling Thunder's back. The metal shots had shorted and dispersed his electrical body, causing him to weaken abruptly. "Dammit!" cursed Rolling Thunder.
Waxworker saw Gear of War and quickly evaded a hail of bullets. "They're too many of them!" said Waxworker.
"Screw this! I only took this job for the powers, not to get myself killed for someone's revolution! Let's get outta here!" said Rolling Thunder.
Both he and Waxworker fled the site of the factory, leaving the Perpetual Reactor unguarded. "Should we follow them?" asked Gear of War.
"Negative. Disposal of the Perpetual Reactor is our top priority," replied Metal Gear, who went inside the warehouse and started to strain the metal from the inactive Perpetual Reactor.
"Those guys weren't really invested into the cause of Chaos. They were just mercenaries trying to earn a pay check," replied Serenoa through telepathy.
"Are you guys okay?" asked Beast of Queen and Plant Zombie.
"Yeah, thanks to you. Let's finish off the demons!" replied Queen.
They split up and picked out random demons from among the clusters of battling demons, zombies, and card soldiers. Beast found a Decarabia attacking one of Plant Zombie's undead and clawed through it. The starfish-like demon split into four strips which promptly vanished. Gear of War opened fire on an Eligor, dismounting him forcefully with his bullets' impact and perforating him and his horse. Serenoa called down a lightning strike and blasted a second Eligor into the ground.
Metal Gear emerged from the now empty warehouse. "The Perpetual Reactor has been destroyed. Mission accomplished," reported Metal Gear.
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
At the Spade Mercs' battle, Lilith suddenly appeared and arced lightning at Midori. Despite blocking the bolt, its sheer power smashed her into a bank. Upon crashing through the facade, the supports gave out and caused the roof and second floor to collapse and bury her underneath. Just then, a buzzing resounded within Lilith's mind, indicating an incoming telepathic message. "Mistress, our Perpetual Reactor has been destroyed. We should retreat!" reported an underling.
Lilith let out a guttural growl. "Damn! Sound the retreat!" replied Lilith.
She vanished in a flicker of blue light just as Midori melted her way through the rubble. "Yeah! You run, foul evil doer!" cried Midori.
Outside, Samael lunged at Atsuro, who quickly shifted right to evade it. Viola the Yaksini launched into a flying kick, which Samael noticed and quickly reared back to let her sail by. Samael spewed Blight over the area. The two allies scattered to evade the sickly green toxic slime. Samael pursued Atsuro and spit another blob of venom. Atsuro fled behind a car, which got struck and coated by the malignant green goo. As Atsuro fled, Tulzcha whipped his body and caught Samael in its grasp.
Suddenly, Samael vanished in a flicker of blue light to answer the call to retreat. A distance away, Yuzu had trapped a horde of Fallen in a tornado while Vidofnir bombarded them with ball lightning. The horde vanished in a series of blue flickers before suffering any serious harm. "They're gone, mistress," remarked Vidofnir.
"Oh! That means we won!" remarked Yuzu.
After this incident, the Spade Mercenaries and their demons save Abel began a search of the area for stragglers, but could not find any. The forces of Chaos had made a full retreat and left no one behind. The Spade Mercs appeared in the warehouse in flickers of blue light. "How was it? Is everything okay here?" asked Midori.
"Affirmative. Only plastic remains of the Perpetual Reactor," replied Metal Gear.
Yuzu looked on the ground and saw only the plastic scraps from the wires and circuit boards piled on the ground. "This can be cleaned up easily," said Yuzu. She created a singularity which sucked in the remaining debris and crushed it into a small ball which she collected. "All done! I'll just toss this into the trash on the way out."
In a flicker of blue light, Abel appeared by the Spade Mercs and Foundation demon hunters. "Sorry I wasn't around to help. I got held up in the Central Tower," apologized Abel.
"Don't worry. We got everything under control here," assured Midori.
"This is the Marduk. The demons have retreated deeper into the Expanse after you shut down the reactor. Good work! We will resume sealing the rift once we regain our bearings," reported Amane over telepathy.
"Good work everyone! You prevented the demons from making a bad situation worse," said Abel. "Thanks to your..."
At that moment, All Might interrupted Abel's talk with his booming descent into the courtyard beyond the open door of the warehouse. He marched straight into the warehouse. "I am here, to stop you villains from wrecking the city!" said All Might.
"Wrecking the city? We're doing no such thing!" denied Atsuro.
"You were the ones responsible for the damage outside. I am here to bring you to justice!" said All Might.
"We don't want to fight you. Please go away!" said Yuzu. She projected a powerful wind at All Might and blasted him several kilometres away. At the end of the trip, he splashed through the surface of the briny Pacific Ocean. "Sorry! I had to get him out of here," Yuzu said to Beast.
"I doubt that would even hurt him. He'll be back in a few minutes," replied Beast.
"Then we should beat a hasty retreat," said Atsuro.
"Yes," said Abel. Everyone vanished in flickers of blue light as they were teleported back to the Mustafar Park Domain.
A bit later, Izuku, Melissa, and David returned to I-Island in their human guise to see the aftermath of the collapse of the Domain over the Central Tower. The three of them rushed back to the Central Tower, but found that everyone had been evacuated by the heroes. Instead, police officers had cordoned off the area and were conducting an investigation. The people formerly trapped inside had been brought to a temporary canvas shelter to the south of the tower, set up by the authorities for receiving them.
All Might was there, talking to a police officer. He was soaking wet, but drying himself with a towel. "Toshinori! Are you okay?" asked David.
"Dave! Yeah, I'm fine. That strange space disappeared shortly after you went to the owner. I see you must have defeated him. I was worried when I didn't see you show up outside with us," replied All Might.
"We got spit out to God knows where. It took us some time to figure out that we were in the Northeast City and get back," said David.
"What happened while we were gone?" asked Melissa.
"We got attacked a few times, but young Tokoyami and Mr. Narukami handled those villains like pros. After we got out, we escorted the guests to the south, where the authorities took care of them. I heard that the villains were causing trouble at the Northwest City, so I hurried there to assist. I cornered the villains, but they launched me into the ocean. I've only managed to swim back just now," said All Might.
"They sounded like some powerful villains. Did they hurt you?" asked Izuku.
"Not at all, but I did get a nice bath. By the time I got back, they were gone," replied All Might.
Izuku could see that All Might's costume was a bit damp. No doubt he had dried off a bit since returning. "So they fled... At least the city's safe, right?" asked Izuku.
"Not quite. The fighting in Northwest City was quite intense. I'm hearing estimates of more than US $1B in damages to the area. It's very unsafe there at the moment. There have been power outages and some of the buildings are unstable and could come down at any moment," reported All Might.
"Is the Expo going to be cancelled?" asked Melissa.
"Fortunately, no. The damage was confined strictly to the Northwest City. The Expo is at the South and Central City," replied All Might.
"Midoriya!" cried Tetsu, waving as he ran over with the other UA students.
"Oh Tetsu! I'm glad you and the others are okay!" said Izuku, smiling to see that his friends had come out unharmed.
"Yeah! You guys did great! Thanks to you, we managed to get out of that strange world," said Tetsu.
"No problem. It's a relief to know you're unharmed. At least now, we can enjoy the rest of the Expo," said Izuku.
"Yep! I've still got a few places to show you, Izuku," said Melissa with a smile.
Kaminari winked at Izuku. "Ooh! Way to be a hit with the ladies!" remarked Kaminari as he wrapped his arm around his shoulders.
"Cut it out! It's not like that!" said Izuku, removing Kaminari's arm.
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
After the Expo at I-Island, things had returned to normal for Izuku and the other Foundation demon hunters. They continued training at the Domain and for this exercise, they were to explore the ruins of a modern city. Many buildings had been flattened by the initial explosion with only towering walls surviving and standing. Others had been seared black by nuclear flame. Windows had been broken with glass scattered all over the ground and floor. Wrecked cars lined the street, some of which had been flipped over by the blast.
As the demon hunters moved through the city in their Avatar forms, they could feel the presence of other beings lurking among the ruins. It kept them on edge since they could jump out to attack at any moment. After a few minutes into their exploration, they heard buzzing servos and metallic footsteps approach their direction. A crimson beam came their way, forcing them to scatter. The attack came from a humanoid robot in an alley between two ruined stores at the street ahead.
More of these robots followed the first, passing through that alley and others. "PEW PEW PEW!" went their rifles as they fired beams every step of the way. A missed shot hit an overturned car, triggering a small explosion.
Metal Gear telekinetically yanked the weapons from the hands of the first six robots and left them scattered on the ground. She manipulated one of the rifles and had it fire back at a robot. Her beam struck the war machine in the chest and melted a hole clean through its heart. A second robot advanced to replace the first. She blocked its shots with a heater shield, then shot it back with the rifle while sending a few extra shots into the crowd.
Altered Beast began a transformation into a new creature which resembled a cross between a man and a white tiger, the Rakshasa or Weretiger. Calling upon the powers of darkness, he enshrouded his claws in a black miasma. He pounced onto the robots and started raking and slashing them. The miasma instantly corroded through the metal on contact. Once they fell, he hurled several blades of darkness, some at torso level and others while crouching and aimed at their legs. The robots were slashed to ribbons one after the other with no one surviving.
As the robotic horde approached Plant Zombie, his own undead horde came from the other direction to meet them. Despite the zombies taking beams and getting felled by holes seared through their bodies, they kept rising to resume the charge. Soon, the zombies had surrounded a group of robots and tore them apart, piece by piece. Plant Zombie hurled blasts of darkness at other robots, corroding away their torsos and leaving the head and limbs to tumble to the ground.
He got struck by a beam, staggered momentarily before his plant-like body regenerated from the burn. Queen fired pink hearts at where the beam originated from the robot crowd. The robots there experienced glitches and shorts, then turned to each other and shot each other into scrap. "Are you okay, Plant Zombie?" asked Queen, concerned for her love.
"Yes. It's good that I can heal fast," replied Plant Zombie.
Altered Beast leapt into the last remaining group and sliced them to pieces with a quick series of slashes. With the enemy felled, the group ventured further into the ruined, post-apocalyptic city. The deeper they went in, the less and less of the city had survived the nuclear holocaust. At ground zero was a massive blast crater where none of the buildings survived. From here, they went north and found the grounds of an intact factory. According to the sign at the parking lot entrance, it belonged to Cybertronic Computer Systems.
Inside, they found several conveyor belts which lay in disuse after the nuclear attack had killed all of the workers. On racks around the factory floor were metallic limbs, torsos, and heads, all spare parts for the robots they had battled earlier. Queen hacked into a computer once used to manage the factory floor and found out that these robots were nicknamed "Arnolds." Cybertronic was actually a robot manufacturer which produced combat models for the US military.
Queen found a file on a powerful war machine known as the "Cyber Gear Rex." It was a biped walker with chicken-like legs controlled by a single pilot. It had numerous weapons such as arm-mounted machine guns, and a back-mounted rail gun which launched missiles. This launcher was how the Rex lobbed nuclear warheads at enemy targets. Rex also had a camouflaging device which concealed its appearance from enemy eyes. It was designed to be a mobile, stealthy missile platform on land the way a sub was in the water.
At that moment, machine gun fire blew open the front wall of the factory! A massive cloud of dust billowed across the floor. The source of the bullets came from the arm-mounted machine guns of the Rex itself, who had positioned itself a kilometre away down the street. The demon hunters rushed out of the factory on a beeline for their foe. It fired another volley of bullets, but Metal Gear deflected them with her power over metal and even sent some of them back. Those bullets pattered against its chassis, but could not penetrate its bulletproof armour.
Plant Zombie raised dozens of zombies and marched them at the Rex. It ignored them to focus its fire on him, flattening him with a hail of bullets. As zombies were apt to do, he refused to stay down and started to rise once again. Queen had the Kingdom of Hearts fire all cannons on its walls. They struck the Rex cleanly, but did no damage to it either. Altered Beast leapt onto the war machine's back and started clawing into its missile launcher. The Rakshasa's necrotic claws caused corrosion to its armour, to which Rex responded by electrifying its body, forcing him to separate from Rex.
Metal Gear attempted to liquefy its armour plates with her power over metal. Its armour seeped off its chassis quite slowly like a grey molasses. "Target is constructed with substances of non-metallic origin. Stripping its armour will be delayed," said Metal Gear.
"Don't worry. We'll keep it busy," said Queen.
Plant Zombie and Queen began pelting the war machine with an assortment of attacks from dark blasts and peas to shots and heart-shaped bubbles. They stalled the Rex, but did it no visible harm. Instead, it directed its guns at them and started shooting. Metal Gear stopped the bullets midair, then turned them back against it. The bullets pattered against its chassis, but could not penetrate the armour. Metal Gear continued to melt off the armour, eventually wearing it away enough to cause a small gap to appear on the front.
Beast moved just below Rex's front and performed a Shadow Uppercut into the gap. Enshrouded by dark energy, his necrotic claws corroded a trio of gashes, leaving the interior visible from outside. Metal Gear melted away the scraps of metal and further exposed the vulnerable electronics underneath. "Rail Gun active. Commencing fire," announced Metal Gear.
Metal Gear formed a tungsten bullet, then launched it at hypersonic speed into the exposed gap in the Rex's armour. The bullets tore through vital internal circuitry and electronics. The bullet burst out of the Rex's rear and left a gaping hole in its wake. A small explosion quickly followed from within. Critically damaged, the Rex collapsed into a heap at the feet of the Foundation's demon hunters.
The post-apocalyptic city ceased to be and became replaced by the firing range of the Domain. Upon returning to their human forms, Abel approached them. "Good fight, but do be careful with that technique. It's a pretty powerful one," warned Abel. He raised the Hanging Gardens, which magically caused a multitude of fruit-bearing bushes and trees to sprout. The magical vegetation cleansed them and healed their wounds and fatigue.
"I know," replied Melissa.
"Wow! That was a neat trick! What was that?" asked Izuku.
"It was my Rail Gun. I can accelerate a tungsten bullet at speeds greater than Mach 10. A bullet travelling that fast just rips through anything in its path, but it's a very taxing technique," replied Melissa.
"It's a great technique!" remarked Izuku. "It can even take down an armoured, walking tank like the Rex easily!"
"Thanks!" replied Melissa with a smile. "I noticed that's the first time you've ever become a Weretiger. I'm amazed at how strong it is."
"It's called the Rakshasa. It uses darkness to corrode whatever I hit. Abel also told me that it can inhibit regeneration and healing effects in the victim," said Izuku.
"That's right. Do be careful using it, as it can lead to bad scarring," warned Abel.
"What was that place you had us fight in? I've never see anywhere like it before," asked Manami.
"That was F77 of the Dungeon from the world of Orario. That floor is named after Cybertronic Computer Systems, which manufactured combat robots for the United States of that world. Its weapons had been used in a war which had destroyed the previous civilization of that world. That Dungeon was meant to seal a Shard of Divinity and prevent YHVH from rising again," replied Abel.
"I hope what's happening now doesn't lead to a nuclear war breaking out," said Izuku.
"That's why we fight so hard against YHVH and the Shards of Divinity. We've seen situations like this in Orario and in Nanashi's home world. We don't want a repeat of that here or anywhere else," said Abel.
"Is the war between Law and Chaos really going to get that bad? I mean, seeing how numerous demons are, can we really stop them trashing Hero Society just by their fighting?" asked Melissa. "What happened at I-Island was insane!"
"We have to keep trying. Eliminating the leaders of the demons should help. We can also fortify weaknesses in the dimensional barriers like we did earlier. That should restore things to normal," replied Abel. "We must not lose heart. We must be resolute and believe that we can do it. Courageous people like you will make that possible."
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Summer had reached its peak as the middle of August arrived. Classes were still out for summer holidays, so Izuku met with friends from Class 1B and helped them train. He stood across from Tetsu in the centre of a ring at a gym in UA. When Itsuka rang a bell, the two advanced on each other. Tetsu started by throwing a jab, which Izuku blocked. Izuku countered with his own jab, which Tetsu blocked in return.
Tetsu threw another jab, and as his opponent blocked, he went in low for a take down. Izuku quickly scrambled back and forced Tetsu's momentum downward to thwart that attempt. Tetsu managed to push and pin Izuku against a ring post, then stood up to deliver knees to his stomach. Izuku managed to sneak in a right hook, but with Tetsu holding on so closely, it had little power and thus did little harm. Tetsu kept trying to lift Izuku until he tilted him and got him down.
Izuku trapped Tetsu within his guard as Tetsu squirmed to get to a more dominant position. Izuku got hold of Tetsu's right arm, then wrapped his legs around his neck in a triangle choke. Tetsu tried to squirm his way out, then lifted Izuku and spiked him into the ground. Izuku's legs came loose from the pain reflex, but he quickly recovered and put Tetsu in an arm bar. The pain was too much for the Real Steel to handle and he tapped.
"Phew!" said Izuku after securing a narrow victory in this sparring session.
"Man, I almost had you then!" remarked Tetsu.
"Yeah, that powerbomb really got me good," said Izuku, rubbing his back.
"That's enough for this session," said Itsuka.
"Hey, are you guys going on that camping trip soon?" asked Izuku.
"Yeah! The teachers set it up for us as training for our provisional licence exam," replied Tetsu.
"Normally, first-year students don't try for one. They wait until their second year when they're more experienced. After all these attacks against the USJ and the Sports Festival, it seems villains are becoming bolder. The teachers have been pushing us harder to be able to face them," said Itsuka.
"Don't forget the attack at I-Island with monsters that couldn't be hurt like at the Sports Festival," said Tetsu.
"Yeah. My Quirk was one of the few that worked well against them for some reason. I don't know why, but it was," replied Izuku, shrugging his shoulders.
"If only you were in the hero course, Midoriya. I'm sure the pros would be fighting to scoop you up. You're one of the few people who could stop those creatures if they ever showed up again," said Tetsu.
"Still, it's great that you can try for your licence as a first-year! If you pass, that means you can do hero work legally. You're one step away from being a real pro," said Izuku.
"Yeah, that's why we're so stoked! Class 1B is going to ace that exam, every one of us. Just you wait and see!" said Tetsu, clenching his fist in excitement.
"Oh, I don't doubt it," said Izuku.
"Just like the Sports Festival, we'll make good on all that effort you put in to help us," said Itsuka.
"Good! It's getting late, so I have to head out to my gym. See ya around and good luck at that camp," said Izuku.
"Good luck to you too, Midoriya!" said Tetsu. He and Itsuka waved to Izuku as parted from the UA gym.
END OF CHAPTER