Guild Master here again, again.
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Gamemastersden and then .com
Officers from the police as well as the ESD were driving towards the currently known last stronghold of the yakuza. To maintain their element of surprise, the sirens were all shut off while they pulled up to a street just far enough for them to set up without alerting the yakuza. Far above them were drones scanning for any sort of activity that could indicate if their position was compromised.
Unloaded from a police car were the heroes who would be taking part in the raid of the hideout. A multitude of colorful characters were all primed and ready to go against the criminal organization. From top ten heroes to junior heroes in training, the roster had all of its checkmarks ticked off.
Izuku and Mirio were quite startled when the call came in that there was an anonymous tip that confirmed the location where Eri was kept hidden. The yakuzas had apparently been in the works to manufacture a drug to eliminate powers with the use of the child's own flesh. That sort of evil made every hero there sick to their stomach. Reports were also disclosed over how Overhaul was using his own power to constantly rip apart and heal the child without a second thought for her own wellbeing.
Both boys felt horrid for leaving the little girl to that psychopath, though the only bright side being that it was only two days or so from when they first met her. Now they were there and wouldn't leave without the girl safe in their custody. These two had a personal stake in retrieving the child since they were the ones who let her get captured when she barely escaped the last time.
After about ten minutes or so, all personnel had lined themselves up into rows to hear the final debrief before they engaged the enemy. The plan of attack was to allow the ESD defensive line to take point and use extreme prejudice when eventual retaliation occurred. There were few who wanted to argue the point of killing the yakuza, but there was no negotiation with the department and legal representatives. After the failure of the UA summer camp, the public didn't want to see another preventable incident occur due to the half measures the heroes implemented.
Skimming most of the details that needed to be reiterated, the commander dismissed the raid force and proceeded to return to the command post to coordinate things from above. A carefully devised formation was put into place as Izuku was starting to get a little nervous.
The participation of the interns was a point that was strongly argued against, but eventually had to be allowed due to some current legal issues that gave the decisions to participate to the interns themselves. It was for this exact reason the ESD officials wanted to prevent their involvement.
Midoriya had every reason to be there after failing to save someone he let slip through his fingers. There was no option of failure for him here.
As everyone was getting ready to follow the point guard, the ESD squad leaders heard something over the comms that caused them all to hold until they were instructed to do otherwise. It was a few moments before the ESD began to start moving in normally while disregarding their previous attempt to take the castle by storm.
Everybody else, including the police, were all a bit confused as to the sudden lack of adherence to the plan that the ESD themselves came up with. Their questions were answered when they came up to the front gate of the yakuza office, now realizing that the gate had already been broken by the wooden lock bar. Not a single living sould could be seen when they entered the premises. All the heroes were all confused and began to question why there was such a lack of security, especially since it looked like there was a massive security breach already.
Each squad split in order to clear the building of possible threats, but what they found was quite to the contrary. The heroes were advised to stay away as they informed them that there had been evidence of a new possible threat.
Nighteye disregarded the warning to take a look at what the officers were talking about. What he saw was something that made his stomach churn.
There wasn't a single spot in the hallway he peered down that wasn't covered in blood and gore. It was like somebody turned the entire space into a giant blender with several men trapped inside of the kill zone. One by one, the other heroes took a single gander before reeling back in horror at the sight of so much carnage. When the interns took a look into the mansion themselves, they were sick enough to start vomiting.
Many tried to guess what could have done all that slaughtering. Izuku and a few privileged enough to know about him knew that this was the work of someone with a name to match the work he left behind. Bloodsoaked had returned.
Earlier
Out front of the mansion, there was a single guard standing watch of the front gate. He was left to his devices with the task of simply sitting out front to watch absolutely nothing. While he was on his third cigarette, contemplating if he could grab a drink from the kitchen inside, there was a curious noise coming from the gate.
At first he thought he was just hearing things. The noise began to grow in volume rapidly as the guard finally noticed that the crackling noise was coming from the front gate itself. Without even offering resistance, the thick wooden lock bar was bending to the point of ripping in half. Pulling the gate open was a man dressed in all black with a mask. It was such a startling sight that the guard dropped his cigarette out of shock.
He couldn't understand what had just happened before he suddenly saw the mansion behind him flipped upside down for some reason. Everything began to fade away into nothingness before he could even realize what had happened.
Nakamura didn't want any sort of chaos to alert anybody of his appearance before he got into the underground facility. As expected, his display of inhuman strength had caught the patrol off guard long enough for him to bend their neck backwards and break the vertebrae without spilling too much blood.
Dragging the body with him, he approached the house from the front and entered the home unabated. His shoes were a very distinct sound for the guards who started to notice the out of place sound. They all valued a tight patrol pattern enough to know when someone was somewhere they shouldn't be. Turning the corner into the hallway, a guard saw the intruder making their way through the private estate unimpeded. Before he had the chance to even question the man, the sight of a dead guard with blood pouring from their limp head in a cascade of red that covered the upper half of their face clued him in that this was a dangerous intruder.
Again, hesitation cost the life of another guard as the intruder threw the body directly into the patrol. The angle was just right enough that the force of the body caused the back of the patrolman's head to smash into a wooden pillar behind him. His skull caved in and left him just as dead as the first one.
Throwing the body at the force that he did, Haru caused enough of a ruckus to alert the other guards to check what the noise was. Already familiar with the intruder protocol that the yakuza possessed, all the guards would come to him to address the suspicious activity. While waiting, a curved knife with a ring at the end was retrieved from its sheath to allow Nakamura to remove the intact head of the corpse he threw.
Blood pooled where the now two dead bodies were left. Just as the head came loose, several guards came down the hallway he was in. Bloodsoaked was now armed with a three and a half kilo lump of meat and bones that was then thrown with so much force at the group of men that it actually managed to bowl through them like a cannonball.
Two men died instantly while the other four suffered broken bones and internal bleeding. All of them were on the floor as a trail of dripping blood was left behind Bloodsoaked while he closed in on the remaining survivors of the improvised shot putt made from their co-worker's head.
Brandishing the knife he used to sever the head from earlier, Haru's mask hid the look of sheer cruel joy on his face with the idea that the entirety of this mansion would be painted with its occupant's blood and remains. After all, sometimes working out one's anger through physical means can be quite the alleviating experience.
Present Time
So much viscera pooled on the once luxurious floorboards that were now marred with blood seeping into the grain. Ochaco and Tsuyu held onto each of Izuku's hands with their eyes closed while he guided them through the eerily silent mansion. None of the heroes who were charged with entering the secret facility had any words to describe what they saw. The only intact heads from the dead bodies had a look of pain and terror on them from their final moments being alive. No matter how much one was to comb through the bloodbath, not a single intact body could be found.
Tsuyu almost slipped on a chunk of someone's organ and used Izuku to balance herself. He was as solid as a stone pillar, which helped ease her mind as she trekked through human remains. All these men died painfully while experiencing some of the worst fear one could go through.
It didn't take long for the rescue party to find the way into the underground facility. The door was left wide open with a bloodied handprint marking the secret switch that opened said entrance. Bloodsoaked was here to sow the destruction he created over twenty years ago. As things were, the officers of both the police and ESD told the heroes that the hostage was of greater importance than the capture of Bloodsoaked.
Things were far beyond chaotic as they were. Whatever would come to pass would likely be dependent on the luck they have in getting themselves out alive.
For Mirio, this was the first time he had been witness to so much cruelty and sadism. He knew the world was in need of heroes, but not to the degree of needing to combat something as deranged as the man who caused all this. Midoriya clued in the naive upperclassman that the Bloodsoaked he saw help All Might was the same one who caused all this. That fact only served to confuse the boy even further than he already was. This sort of gray area was still beyond the understanding of the up and coming hero, just as it was for many heroes who were unfamiliar to such concepts.
Underground Facility
Downstairs wasn't much better than the upstairs area. The descent had blood pouring down the stairs like a miniature fountain. Arriving downstairs, there were a significantly lower number of bodies, but bodies were still there nonetheless. Both Tsuyu and Ochaco were still perturbed at the sight of such violence, though it was confirmed to Izuku that they could manage.
Further down the hallway was a sight that gave the entire space the look of a true to god nightmare. The corridor was bent and warped like some sort of avant garde piece of art while still being traversable for the advancing heroes and officers. Going through the twisted space ended with a gruesome sight to behold.
Pinned to the wall was the quirk user who was responsible for the manipulated hallway in front of him. Taking a closer look, Aizawa confirmed that the nails holding him up were human bones that were harvested from the bodies from earlier. The yakuza member's stomach was cut open to allow their organs to come out and dangle out of their torso. Somehow, Bloodsoaked had disemboweled the man and cut so precisely as to leave the tortured man hanging for the longest time possible he would remain alive in said predicament.
Aizawa regretted asking the ESD medic to assess the villain's condition. It just served to further shake the morale of those who were still unsure about their chances against the sadistic murderer. After sawing off the bones and restraining the yakuza member, the medics stabilized the man and had escorts watch over them to extract the first of many more.
Eventually, the paths started to branch off into different areas of the facility. The teams were divided up with designated numbers of officers to help assist the heroes with whatever challenges they came across. Each group began to make their way through the winding hallways of the yakuza facility.
One question that pestered Aizawa was how the masked killer managed to sneak through the security measures of the yakuza. He killed all the guards outside and left a trail of bodies underground as well. It wasn't the amount of bodies that were left behind, but the concentration of them that got him to question the circumstances.
Earlier
Inside of the yakuza security station were about four members charged with watching all the monitors for any possible threats. Compared to the ones forced to patrol outside in the heat, it was a space that gave the security interior comfort in comparison to those working exposed to the elements.
"... Anyways, that's just what it is. But seriously, where the fuck is everyone? Today of all days and the ass load of the century just decides to up and leave."
The one at the primary control board was continuing the conversation started by another member of the quartet. His gripes were of the missing yakuza members who decided not to show up for work. What was waiting for them when they returned was nothing short of vindication.
"Yeah, well. What can you do about it? Oh, hang on."
Another member of the group let the others know of a message he received just now. He stood to check his phone while the others were still just minding their own business with their own work. Shortly after, a rather audible cracking noise from one side of the room gave the others a shiver for how loud the noise was.
"Jesus, I heard that from here."
The one seated at the main control station commented on the satisfaction that his coworker must have velt from such an audible cracking of his joints. Another sound that gave the man pause was the sound of something sliding against metal. This time it came from behind his left side.
"Hm? What wa-"
Turning to see what produced the strange noise was the last thing he did before feeling something sink into the back of his head . He watched his fellow yakuza member bleed out with a severed brain stem as he died from his own case of the same condition. The only one still alive in the room was the one who received the message just a moment ago.
After getting the body slumped in front of the main command station, the implanted organization member then went to work to shut down all comms and cameras in the entire compound. Security clearance was all wiped clean with one one biometric profile being approved for all the doors and administrative permissions. Once they were done, the last remaining double agent pulled out a thermos looking item from the lunchbag they brought with them into the workspace.
He unscrewed the top of it by only a partial amount to unlock the hidden function of the canister. Inside of the walls of the insulating container was a compound that went completely undetected during their daily security patdown. The thin amount of compound that made contact with everything began to ignite into a bright flame that began to melt and burn everything in the room.
They left without a trace and rejoined with the ESD officers who helped give the operative a clean getaway when the raid began. Unknown to the heroes, the one who gave the man his access into the facility was acting as one of the officers they entrusted their lives to.
Present Time
A group that had Kirishima and Fat Gum were investigating a hallway that expanded by a sizable margin in comparison to the one that it connected to. It was almost an antechamber for how large it seemed to stretch on for. Their security detail took point and secured the room for the heroes to enter.
Nothing in the room could have indicated any sort of threat. Convincing themselves that it was just another empty room led into them hearing something approaching the heroes from the darkness. Formulating a plan of attack was out of the question with how quickly the possible threat was closing the distance. Waiting in their secured position, it was a little alarming to see two masked individuals that were easily identified as members of the Eight Precepts of Death run for their lives from something that was pursuing them from the dark.
Right as they became visible enough was when one of them suddenly fell over. Their shin spurted blood as he was trying to make a break for the exit door with his partner. Coming to the aid of the larger yakuza member was a man with a traditional male japanese male robe. He created a bubble shield to protect himself and the injured ally from whatever was chasing them. All sound was suddenly silent as the sounds of footsteps echoed from out of the shadows.
From out of the inky black came the man that created the gruesome slaughter the heroes were laid witness to. A legend that was a fable to those who never saw the entity in person. Kirishima and Fat Gum felt their gut's drop as they saw Bloodsoaked make himself visible to them. His namesake did no justice with all the blood they saw dripping off the individual in person.
Approaching the bubble, Bloodsoaked simply stood in front of the barrier that the yakuza member was producing. His right hand still held the strange gun that couldn't be identified by the heroes. It was different from the other guns they saw from villains or the ESD. The portion that carried the bullets of the gun was behind the trigger part of the gun, as far as they could tell.
Without a single word, the killer placed a gloved hand against the bubble that was used as a last measure against him. Without ceremony, the spot that was underneath Bloodsoaked's hand cracked and gave away enough to leave a hand-sized hole in the barrier.
A snap of Bloodsoaked's arm then deposited something into the still intact dome. The desperately surviving yakuza elite's didn't even know what it was before they were eviscerated by a single blast of the grenade that tore them to shreds.
By the time that the shield disappeared, there were only two bodies where two of the Eight Precepts of Death previously were. The title barely meant anything against something that even death wouldn't touch with a ten meter pole.
As Bloodsoaked made his exit, the heroes were still trying to get their bearings in the situation. Here was the next greatest villain aside from All for one and he didn't even give the ones who wanted to bring to justice a second glance. Kirishima felt the weight of his need to break free from his fear to stop this killer from exercising his own brand of vigilante justice. At the end of the day, he was still a criminal in the eyes of the law.
Before the teenage boy could say anything, the hero he was interned with placed a hand on Kirishima's shoulder and spoke out to Bloodsoaked. Fat Gum had felt the same way, though he didn't want the boy to take on that burden alone.
"Wait just a moment. We can't simply let you leave, even if these people were criminals. You have to answer for everything you've done and face the consequences. Come peacefully."
Taking the high road was the most logical approach since Bloodsoaked didn't seem to be entirely hostile towards the raiding heroes who were charged with apprehending the yakuza. They weren't able to do that with the man who was handling the situation with brutal executions that left all the suspects as lumps of dead meat. The soaking wet murdered dripping in the remains of his victims did acknowledge the rotund hero by coming to a stop. With every second that passed, Kirishima could feel the air change with something that made his palms sweat. His arms were starting to shiver as Bloodsoaked contemplated what he could do.
Fat Gum could feel the type of evil this man was. Bloodsoaked had been a huge topic of discussion for a time with no shortage of controversy. The nation saw how adept he was in combat against the villain that had leveled several skyscrapers with a single blow. Some information began to circulate and revealed all the death he caused so many years ago. People were divisive on whether or not what he did was a good or bad thing.
On one hand, the criminal underworld lost a huge amount of ruthless criminals and helped to balance out corruption in the country. It still didn't change the fact that he brutally murdered hundreds of people with the possibility of him torturing a signifigant amount of his victims.
These sorts of discussions were never brought to the public eye, but that didn't mean they didn't exist. Seeing the embodiment of all those rumors was all Fat Gum needed to see that Bloodsoaked wasn't just a rumor. Even standing dozens of meters away gave him apprehension in whether or not he wanted or should fight to bring this grim reaper to justice.
"... Years ago, there were two heroes that were in the same shoes as the ones you're wearing now…"
Fear was a reaction that the more experienced hero felt he managed well enough when facing off against more intimidating villains. That reaction was usually caused by a little bit of overthinking and uncertainty, so he learned to rationalize his way through such things. What he felt standing behind Bloodsoaked was not fear from the rational part of his mind. Every cell in his body refused to move with how thick the murderous intent was pouring out of Bloodsoaked.
Many people think that the most dangerous part of a river were the parts that had the rough waters churning around massive boulders and debris. These sections weren't without their dangers, but they were only as dangerous as the amount of water that poured through the river itself.
Kirishima and Fat Gum were swept to the bottom of a peaceful river that had an undertow that was impossible to swim away from. A consistently heavy flow swept them away from the surface and kept them trapped at the deepest parts of their fear. Nobody could move while Kirishima finally realized that the fear he felt from Bloodsoaked that night was from simply being too close to his actual target. Being the target himself felt so much worse.
"Leave now and I won't pursue you. However, if you wish…"
The churning sensation finally eased up, though now the heroes realized that the air still felt heavy. Now the sinking sensation was replaced with a deep panic that settled in the same way that replicated the realization of drowning.
"I will honor your code and fight you. Your lives are yours to do with as you wish."
This veiled offer to meet the heroes halfway was nothing more than a warning issued to the heroes regarding what would happen to them if they tried to take him on. He remained standing still in front of them like a statue, yet it was as if he had them all kneeling at his mercy. His confidence was not unfounded, since evidence of his abilities in combat were left in ample volumes outside in the hallways. Fat Gum found himself having to reconsider since he was still with the young Kirishima in his care while the biggest threat so far was offering him an out.
In the meantime, Kirishima was already trying to find a way into taking on the fabled mass murderer in a melee. He was going over everything that he knew about the man in his mind and was struggling to find some sort of exploitation he could use against them. Everything he could remember was something that only gave him more reason to take the offer that Bloodsoak gave him and his current mentor.
Physical abilities were far too different for a straight up brawl. One side did have the numbers advantage without the ability to advance with how little they actually knew about this enemy. Nothing they had would give the heroes the victory.
"You go around and murder people outside of the law! How can we just-"
A hand on Fat Gum's arm stopped the hero from going off on the murderer. To his surprise, Kirishima had been the one to stop the hero from taking on the murderer. As much as he wanted to simply ask why his apprentice was stopping him from doing his job, he already knew that taking on Bloodsoaked was nothing short of a death sentence. The boy knew what the hero felt, since Kirishima had already run away from danger many years ago. Thinking back on the incident gave the boy enough insight into the current situation over what was the right thing to do.
For now, he urged the hero to back off so that they can at least continue on with their mission without having to take on a man as dangerous as this. It didn't feel like it, but this was the only way he could save everybody in the room from a one sided battle.
Fat gum relinquished with a decent amount of bitterness over having to let a criminal pass through when it was his job to prevent such things. Feeling the tension start to change, Bloodsoaked walked away to disappear back into the shadows. This may have not been a victory against evil, but Kirishima had done something that even the strongest of men would have found difficult to do.
He chose to save a life over trying to look noble while risking them. Haru was proud of the boy for making such a mature decision that the more experienced hero had almost ignored. If they had chosen to take him on, the state he would have left the heroes in would have left them in a state that would have made them regret taking him on. A hero who was to become one by the true definition of the title was well on his way to leading a bright future for those who would follow in his footsteps.
Elsewhere
"God fucking damn it! Fuck! Why are they here so soon?! What the fuck is our contact doing while we're getting raided?!"
Chisaki had one of the eight precepts follow him with Eri in their arms while he followed his boss through a corridor of the facility. There was no warning or sign that an invading force had been coming to the yakuza compound. It was only when he was alerted to the comms being shut off that he knew something was wrong.
He grabbed the closest person who was nearby in order to help him carry Eri from the facility in order to coordinate to another shelter away from there. Overload had no time to bother with nonessential staff or material since the entire facility was in the dark over what was going on. For almost half an hour, he was trying to call his contact from the organization that had approached him with an offer to reinstate the yakuza.
That man had given Chisaki the means and confidence to take on the world yet again with the pride of the once feared criminal organization on the line. His mission to push the drug market with the new product was to be the first stepping stone to making the yakuza the powerhouse it once was many years ago.
Another ambition he had after getting the yakuza to rise once again was to take on this mysterious power that had Japan under its control. Chisaki saw it as the potential that he was meant to achieve. It was what he believed to be the true ending to his contribution to the yakuza.
Right at that moment he had more immediate issues to address. His contact hadn't informed him of any sort of leak that could have possibly brought the fuzz down on them all. Now the currently acting leader was in a panic without any information about what was happening outside. Security had angles on all sides of the mansion and had also been located inside of the facility. There was no way possible to bypass that sort of defense unless…
Perhaps the yakuza weren't as tightly knit as he first assumed. An agent planted amongst their ranks would explain why comms were suddenly dead in the water. Not only that; being this defenseless was perhaps what the man who came to him with an offer that seemed too good wanted from Chisaki in the first place.
Out of frustration, Overload destroyed the wall to his right in a fit of rage at the fact that he felt he had been played. He and his underling continued on their way to another exit located on the opposite side of the floor they were currently on.
Turning the next corner gave Chisaki the unwanted company of the two villains loaned to him from the League of Villains. Shigaraki had reapproached the yakuza leader after Chisaki invited him back for another chance to negotiate their terms of employment. Things were far more civil between the two young men and even ended with a seemingly beneficial business proposition where two of Tomura's people would work for the yakuza as a sort of test run.
Those two villains were Toga and Twice. Their protests were noted by Tomura, but he managed to come off as sincere enough to waver their resistance enough to agree to the mission. Overload didn't like the idea of having to trust these two with his escape, though he wasn't exactly met with a large amount of options at the moment.
"You two! Buy us some time for us while we get the girl out of here!"
Without another word of protest, the two of them got to work to see what sort of damage they could do against the threat coming to catch them.
Elsewhere
Midoriya had been traveling with a few heroes who were still sticking together to react to any sort of threat that would try to do them harm. The ESD officers in front of them were working in perfect synchronization to clear the rooms of all possible threats as the group kept on their way to find Eri. All they managed to find were signs of a one sided slaughter with bodies shot, torn apart, cut, sliced, and mutilated in all sorts of cruel and inhumane ways.
Aizawa could see that his student was putting up a brave front with all the gore painting the entire facility. His regret for not trying a bit harder to get the teens to listen to logic was starting to pile up into an ugly pile of guilt. The heroes had thought that they would be the ones to finally be the ones to bring the yakuza to justice. In reality, all they were now was a glorified janitorial crew to scrape away all the dead bodies.
Bringing along the teenagers did nothing to assist the rescue attempt so far. Even worse, they were now in a kill box with the country's current number one most wanted man. It begged the question of whether or not he made the right choice to bring them along.
His job was to prepare and educate the youth that would grow to be the hope of tomorrow's future. What he saw here would break a lesser man if they saw this sort of hell in person. Midoriya may find the strength to overcome this horror, but it was Aizawa who had a hand in allowing this exposure to some of the worst that humanity had to offer.
Izuku knew that Bloodsoaked had been a murderer from the start from the stories he heard from All Might. Actually watching the aftermath was an entirely different sort of chaos in comparison to being told through words. First thing that was most obvious was the foul stench of blood and iron stinking up the narrow hallways. Things only got worse as the smell of shit and piss started to make the boy gag at how disgusting it was. His eyes were watering while his stomach was trying to jump out of his throat.
Out of desperation, Izuku used his mask to alleviate some of the smell. It was a significant improvement with the filters in his mask working to remove some of the stench. After getting himself sorted out, Midoriya could only watch more of the graphic violence that had come through here already.
One thing that Izuku felt strongly about was that a strength like the one All Might possessed could inspire and help those even in the darkest of places. He was struggling to see how something as dark and evil as the one who commited this genocide would be defeated by his previously naive ideals. Everything here was more than enough evidence that the world was a far darker place than he thought possible at first. Knowing the abilities of the one responsible for all this death made Izuku question what he was fighting against. Costumed villains were criminals in their own rights; this sort of criminal made his spine shiver at the sort of things they were capable of.
As much as Aizawa wanted to say something to help boost his student's morale, he didn't know what he could say in the face of all this. Sensationalism and publicity had a hand in creating an image of fighting evil as a contest of power between two clear and cut sides of a conflict. Something so horrible like this was out of his field of expertise.
For all intents and purposes, the death of all these criminals would theoretically help reduce the amount of crime that would be perpetrated out in the public. Seeing them torn apart like food for the wolves made even the most gung ho person against evil wish better for these men when they died.
Focusing on the mission was the only thing they could do for now. Inside of this underground facility was an innocent child who still needed to be saved. That helped harden Izuku's resolve to be strong for that young girl as he dove deeper and deeper into the belly of the beast.
Elsewhere
Mirio was cut short on time as he wandered through all the hallways and floors in search of the hostage. Only the sight of more death kept greeting him as he kept exploring the facility for the slightest hint to where Eri was being kept.
Lemillion eventually caught a break at what he could guess was the bottom floor of the facility. Voices could be heard from where he was through the empty hallways. Using his quirk, Mirio phased through all the walls and barriers that were in his way from where the source of the voices were coming from.
He finally came face to face with the villains that had Eri in their possession. Overload looked surprised at the young hero and recognized him as the junior hero he ran into the day before yesterday. Now it was clear to Chisaki that the worst case scenario has come to pass for the yakuza. It was a good thing for him that he had the foresight to grab the child with the only working version of the drug that got rid of a person's quirk. His only objective now was to escape and restart his research where the authorities would never find him.
Stopping in his tracks, Chisaki took the opportunity to work out some aggression he had been developing for the past hour or so. His phone was abused to the point of almost being bored through by his finger. There was no point in trying to contact someone who didn't answer the first fifty times or so. Overload and Lemillion faced off against one another as the tension was starting to climb.
"Hello again, Mr. Student. I must say, I didn't know that they allowed kids to go and arrest criminals like the yakuza. Must be a staffing shortage."
"I'm here to take the girl into custody and place you under arrest!"
In opposition to Overload's mocking tone, Lemillion was being short and direct with his intentions. Chisaki was now a bit calmer with the information he wanted being supplied to him with the presence of the young hero in front of him.
"My, my, how scary. I guess after you wised up, your remorse decided to rear its ugly head and made you feel like shit, eh?"
That assessment was uncomfortably parallel to the truth for Mirio. He felt guilty and couldn't stop seeing the girl's scared and desperate expression wherever he was. If justice was something that required him to throw away his humanity, Togata would have never pursued becoming a hero in the first place.
"You saw it yourself; she came with me willingly. I don't know any sort of hero that just leaves a kid behind with their supposed kidnapper, do you? So why should she see you as a hero?"
He knew he messed up. He knew that this girl had to suffer more because of what he did. He saw someone who needed his help and he turned her away. What he did was acknowledged by him as a preventable mistake that caused harm to an innocent child. That wasn't an excuse to simply allow that same torment to continue while he had something to say about it.
"I know that. She did suffer at your hands because of me, but I would never leave her behind to someone like you!"
Charging forward, Lemillion sprung into action and made a mad dash directly towards Chisaki. Rather than engage the young challenger, Overload turned away nonchalantly and walked away. It was then that Mirio suddenly felt the room suddenly begin to rock back and forth while losing his usual coordination. He needed to catch himself on the wall next to him to prevent himself from going tumbling down into the floor.
Above him was a voice that started to mock Togata in a sing-song tone with the words slightly slurred. One of the Eight Precepts of Death was hanging by the overhead pipes while chugging down a whole bottle of rice wine. An ability that allowed one to become as drunk as the user had robbed Mirio a significant amount of his coordination. Being quick on his feet, Lemillion guessed that the power was used as a mobile inhibitor for someone with actual offensive capabilities to come finish off the inebriated targets.
Like clockwork, several shots from a handgun barely ended up in their target with how close of a call Mirio had been in activating his own quirk. The yakuza members were caught slightly off guard at the lack of bullet wounds the teenage boy had after they clearly passed right through him.
The newest arrival had posed the question of how it was that the bullets weren't affecting the hero open endedly. Togata answered the question immediately and gave away information on how his power worked. Had he intended to answer the question, the boy would have certainly tried a fib over giving away such critical information. What had made the young hero answer involuntarily was the power of the second member of the eight precepts. A nasty ability that forces one to answer honestly after he asks the person a question.
These two had quite the tag team in combat as the drunken stupor forced upon their enemy would weaken their will and make it easier for the truth to slip out. Lemillion was asked questions that mainly addressed why it was that he left the girl behind to suffer the hell she went through.
Each and every response the man got out of Lemillion began to weigh heavily on the young man. He left her to Chisaki out of his teacher's need to fulfill the plan that was meant to locate some sort of evidence of the yakuza's illegal activities. Mirio was then accused of simply rescuing Eri out of his need to make himself feel better. Revealing the truth that people tend to ignore can have an adverse effect during something like a fight. More often than not, the truth can be something that hurts badly enough to break a person.
All Mirio could see of the escaping Chisaki was his back fading away into the shadows. Time was working against him, and feeling sorry for himself was the last thing he wanted to do when a life was at stake right in front of him.
Taking a deep breath, Lemillion phased into the wall and disappeared right in front of the villain's eyes. They didn't have a chance to relocate as they were struck in the head hard enough by the leaping Lemillion for some of their teeth to come loose. Their unconscious bodies slammed into the concrete with Mirio landing on his feet.
His weakness was something he was well aware of. He had a lot to learn about the world before he would be ready to take it on as the hero he wanted to become. Even now, his heart wanted to give into his guilt and accept that he was no better than these villains he fought against. All of that was nothing in comparison to what he already went through to become the man he was already.
This wasn't about him. There was a little girl who wanted to be rescued and he was that hero to pull her to safety. He wouldn't dare call himself a hero if he wasn't able to give this little girl another day for her to smile once again.
Chisaki watched as the young Lemillion disappeared into the floor as he ran straight at the villains. What happened next all occured in less than three seconds. Launching himself out of the floor with his power gave Lemillion a good amount of speed to use to assault both yakuza members with an attack each. Timing was everything as his kick phased through Eri harmlessly and was reconstituted right as his foot came in contact with the man holding her.
Overhaul was quick enough to evade the fist that nicked him, but his subordinate wasn't as fortunate with the kick that smashed his mask directly into his face. As Eri fell to the floor, Lemillion caught the child and began his defensive effort to get the girl to safety unharmed. The little girl could only look on in awe at how the hero managed to get her away from the yakuza.
Losing Eri to the young hero only served to piss off Chisaki even further than he was before. From the very beginning, Chisaki had no control of the situation when he realized that he couldn't speak to or hear the rest of the facility. After all the sacrifice and effort he committed to this cause, he would be damned if he were to lose it all now.
"... Eri. Come back here, now. Do you want that nice hero to die? How many times do I have to repeat myself before you realize you only destroy people? Before you realize how cursed you are."
"How dare you! You have no right to say that to your own daughter!"
From the intel that the heroes had on the situation, they had incorrectly assumed that the girl was his daughter. This information didn't need to be corrected in Nakamura's eyes as it would only waste time to redress information that didn;t help cut down time towards Eri's rescue. Chisaki found it appropriate at that moment to correct the hero over the misunderstanding.
"Daughter? I don't know what you're talking about."
Touching the floor was all Chisaki needed to do to completely render the concrete into loose rubble. Lemillion barely kept himself upright at the loss of the floor itself. Overhaul's power didn't quite follow the definition that was given to describe its function.
His ability to dismantle and reconstitute allowed him to reshape whatever it was he destroyed in the first place. He wasn't limited at all with whatever he touched, so it was mostly based on how much mass he was manipulating that caused his limits to appear. The reshaping process was so fast that he could even use the reconstitution to launch a deadly attack. Dozens of thorn like spears made out of concrete clamped down on where Lemillion was.
Above his head, Eri was being balanced on his palms while he used his intangibility to avoid the damage such a lethal attack would have caused. Not a single moment of hesitation was spared with Overhaul over the possibility of killing or maiming the child. When Chisaki overheard the hero's analysis, the yakuza leader dismissed the risk as being inconsequential when he could simply forcefully revive Eri from whatever injury she suffers. It was like Chisaki relished in hurting the girl as he stated in how Eri had already experienced this sort of pain already.
The fight had enough going on already with just two people squaring off against each other. Regaining consciousness, the yakuza member Mirio had kicked in the face, regained consciousness and had a gun aimed directly at Lemillion. Suffering from the involuntary effects of being drunk had significantly weakened the effectiveness of Togata's kicks.
In order to end the fight as quickly as possible, Overhaul destroyed all the barriers that Mirio had been using to avoid the initial few shots. One weakness the young hero had was how his power only applied to him alone. His hero costume was able to phase with him due to the hair that he donated to the support class to build him the uniform. He would have to remain tangible enough to tank the damage that would otherwise fall upon Eri.
To help lower the enemy's accuracy, Togata used his cape to shield both himself and Eri visually from the criminals. Catching on early, Chisaki called out to his underling to get him to move out of the way of Lemillion's punch. Being faster than the blow had its merits with Overhaul catapulting his subordinate out of danger's way.
Mirio's cape was something of a symbol for the young man. Despite it being cumbersome in combat, he declared that a cape had the function of keeping those who needed comfort warm against the cold. A comfort that heroes donated to the innocent so that they can feel safer under the care of their protectors.
A well timed punch sent Chisaki flying across the now uneven concrete floor. Mirio openly acknowledged the strength that Chisaki had as an individual; but disclosed that despite his power, Mirio was stronger than he was.
Lemillion was now fighting a battle on multiple fronts. The yakuza member he had failed to knock unconscious was trying to load his gun before Mirio kicked the man right in the chest. Being alone in this fight drove the young hero to react and retaliate with the utmost urgency in order to keep Eri safe.
Chisaki heard his name being uttered by Lemillion as he decked the older individual with all his might. Hearing that name only served to anger Overhaul as he had received that name from someone he had to hurt in order to usurp the seat of power he sat on now. Becoming the monster he was now was not without its tributes and sacrifice. That name was only a bitter reminder of that loss he willingly gave to fully realize his dreams for the yakuza he valued.
"I must walk alongside my master!"
There was a hole in the wall Chisaki built all around the empty room as a way to keep Eri from escaping. A subordinate that Chisaki valued personally had awoken from the blow they suffered from Lemillion and crawled all this way to help his leader in the fight. They were barely coherent, but what they possessed would help turn the tide of the battle. In their hand was a still functional handgun.
Inside of Overhaul's jacket was the case of experimental drugs that had yet to be tested. Whether or not it would work would depend on the next few seconds. The entire case was thrown to the delirious yakuza member, where he took a single dart round and loaded it into the chamber of the handgun they brought.
What the yakuza member needed was a target that would force the intangible hero to remain tangible while giving them the opportunity to hit Lemillion. Taking aim at the hero itself was pointless. It didn't take long to find the ideal target for the weakened yakuza subordinate. Eri was still sitting out in the open with Lemillion fighting a few dozen meters away from her. He took aim at the young child that the young hero had been protecting from the start of the battle.
MIrio saw where the gun was aimed. As a hero, he swore to protect the child from all harm with every inch of his body as the shield he would use to defend her. There were too many unknown factors for him to simply remain idle against the threat that presented itself against Eri. Gambling her life was not his style, so Lemillion didn't hesitate in using his own body as a shield.
He knew that the bullet was likely going to be a dart that had the drug that would take away his power. If it was just a simple bullet that was loaded in the gun, then he knew that the armor he wore would keep the bullet from reaching the child.
Eri had the habit of clenching her teeth and eyes shut when she knew something painful was about to happen. Feeling a hand start to embrace her gave the girl a reason to open her eyes to see Mirio smile as if he was telling her to not be afraid. His life had been a set of challenges that he overcame with diligence and determination. He never wanted recognition from the beginning. All he wanted was to offer hope to the people he would save as a hero. Years of effort and struggles with the people he cared about flashed before his eyes as he gave the young child hope for a better life.
Feeling the drug course through his vein was like someone had turned his blood into battery acid. His nerves felt like power cables carrying an insane amount of electricity through them. Before he knew it, the sensation of pain ended with the knowledge of being quirkless. He was no different from someone who was quirkless.
All the yakuza who were still conscious were all mocking the young hero in celebration of their small victory. Overhaul saw this moment as an appropriate opportunity to retaliate against the thorn in his side that was Lemillion. Their vision was suddenly obscured by the incoming body of his ally before being floored by the improvised distraction.
A fist collided with Overhaul's ribs with a solid crack of his bones. Chisaki had about two of his ribs broken from one punch. Lemillion was far from defeated with his quirk gone.
"Everything that I am has been from years of effort! Even without my quirk, I am Lemillion!"
Chisaki's speed was mostly from how his powers worked. His actual physicality was something that was quite average in comparison to any other male adult. Facing off against someone who knew how to carry themselves in an actual fight was one of the worst situations that Overhaul could have found himself in. All the other yakuza members who were still barely conscious were unfamiliar with the strength that would drive a man to defend someone as small as a young child.
At the end of it all, Lemillion was eventually brought to a screeching halt with several concrete spikes impaling him. Tanking the damage was to protect Eri from getting hurt. There were no depths of depravity that Chisaki wouldn't sink to in order to achieve his goals. Mirio was barely standing with all the pain and exhaustion racking his wounded body.
The incoming attack was impossible to dodge. Lemillion stood with bravery in his eyes as the yakuza leader mocked the young hero for all his wasted effort. Even if he were to fall, Lemillion would not fall to the petty whims of such deprived villains.
Right as the next attack was closing in, Mirio felt something yank on the back of his costume that sent him flying backwards. Taking his place, the one who saved the boy's life then proceeded to swipe away the incoming concrete spikes and destroy them with a single swing of their arm. After that, several gunshots loud enough to deafen a normal human being went off.
Opposite of where Lemillion had been a moment ago, Chisaki had suffered several gunshot wounds that were lethal enough to kill someone who didn't possess the power he had to save himself. A second later would have cost Overload his life from when he touched his own torso to regenerate his body from the bullet wounds.
Mirio saw a man who smelled like iron powder and something sour. What Chisaki saw was the embodiment of death for the yakuza many years ago. Bloodsoaked had come to replace Lemillion in the battle against Overhaul.