Legend of steel

by Mikatsuki Augus

Dying sucks, there is no other way to describe it. Being reborn in a messed up world where most beings can kill you with a sneeze is even worse, perhaps. Well, at least I can build those Gundams now...

10. Prelude to disaster

So, here's the chapter of the week thanks to Old Man and Toska who translated and double-checked the chapter respectively! Quickly moving on to the reviews:

-Sagittipotenta: Yes, honestly this is the first quick time skip I've programmed. There will be a second one between two story arcs. I decided to do this to set up the characters and the world in a not-too-short period (a few months) inserted before or during the MHA/DxD canon which will launch at the same time. Also, yes, I've always liked Sapphire more than Ruby (both as a character and as a character), so I tried to make an effort to characterize her better.

-Gwynx: He won't get that far until someone balances his moral side, so to speak, preventing him from going too far.

-Anonymous60: They're not useless at all. Jack already from the first chapter used touki every time he wore armor to resist his performance and not become mincemeat while he wore it, but he had already said that he didn't have the slightest talent with thaumaturgy or with the senjutsu. However, I had already made comparisons in the previous chapters with the various explanations and parameters. Just as I wrote Scathach tried to teach him, but unlike the prillya trio, Jack was unable to learn almost anything of what she taught him beyond the fighting techniques (which he can't use without armor anyway). The reason why Jack implemented the Spartan design, even though he still won't be able to go beyond that threshold without further modifications, is to use more powerful armor since before he could barely manage the performance at A rank (against Saber he suffered permanent nervous system damage from trying to go beyond what he could handle).

-narutoxasuna25: more than Pepper, Miyu is a reliable partner who helps him not to do bullshit... or rather, helps him to do it more safely, given the MC's complete lack of control over himself when he works.

-sickboy398: I don't understand if this is a positive or negative thing

-IsekaiFanBoy: I admit that Liz's part is a whim that I put in for no reasonable reason. I've always liked her, so I decided to bring her closer to the MC. Nothing more, nothing less.

-The embodiment of Weirdness: I was doing a rewatch of Iron Man and I felt like doing it (not to mention that it fit in that situation anyway) XD

I don't have much else to say other than leaving you the link to my discord ( /NhvGvA6KdZ), wishing you happy reading, and asking you to leave a review! Until next time!

---

I wait outside the school gates for a certain trio, leaning against the wall, mentally exhausted. I'm alone, and Nezu was definitely pissed off about the mess Scathach and I made as soon as we got back to school. Again.

He had made a fortified gymnasium especially for us because in our workouts we had destroyed almost all the others in the UA during the first...three days of the new school year; therefore, we were transferred to the unused fields that did not end up much better. Poor Cementoss had never seemed so emancipated before our arrival, probably because we had him rebuild a dozen gyms and the equivalent of four small towns at least three times a week since I started studying at UA.

We probably would have failed any school other than this one, with all the collateral damage that my teacher and I cause when we get a little loose, making me wonder where Nezu was getting his seemingly endless supply of funds from at this point.

So, I ended up spending most of the afternoon writing an essay hundreds of pages long as punishment. It wouldn't have been so bad if that rodent bastard hadn't tried every possible loophole or smear to get me to rewrite it all over again, just to get a laugh and waste more of my time, while Scathach was being scolded by Nezu for the lack of self-control shown this morning.

In the end, she stayed behind to discuss with him what to do about me, while I decided to wait for the girls to go out so we could go home together.

"Jack."

I turn my gaze toward the familiar voice and find Miyu, followed by Illya, Kuro, and the clique that usually followed the trio.

"Yo." I greet them lazily.

"You made a lot of noise Onii-chan. Shishou is as tough as ever eh?" asks Kuro extremely amused, making me wince embarrassedly. "I admit it was a little disorienting not to hear alarms go off for almost two weeks, and then suddenly start up again. People were almost starting to sleep soundly around here, you know?"

"You heard it too uh?"

"I think it would have been impossible not to even try, Jack-san," Illya murmurs with a rather amused and exasperated expression at the same time. "The earth was shaking so badly that it seemed about to open up to swallow us. It was much worse than usual."

"Ah...emh...I was trying on my new armor?"

I only received flat looks at the pathetic excuse.

"You really should learn to restrain yourselves a bit when you train in populated areas." Miyu admonishes me with a frown.

"Sorry, sorry, we got a little carried away," I admit guiltily, scratching my cheek embarrassed by the trouble I must have caused them indirectly as well.

"Well, we'll forgive you if you take us out for ice cream!" says the short energetic blonde approaching and patting me several times on the arm since she was too short to reach behind me.

"Wha-?! Tatsuko!" the pink-haired girl clamps his mouth shut and drags it back.

"I-I'm sorry Kurogane-san! Tatsuko-chan didn't mean it!" the peer with shoulder-length brown hair apologized, bowing several times.

"Y-yes, Tatsuko is an idiot who talks out of turn most of the time! Don't give any weight to what she says!" the tallest girl in the group with glasses nodded stiffly, suddenly very uncomfortable as she gesticulated in a desperate attempt to give a convincing explanation.

I raised a bemused eyebrow at their reaction, and out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that most of the middle school students were also coming out of the gates rather stiffly, trying desperately not to attract attention and making sure not to look in my direction for any reason.

Then again, even ignoring the whole political and media problem of the last few months, between the not-exactly-friendly attitude with anyone, the scars, the prosthetic arm, the patch over the left eye, the partially white hair, and the imposing build, I am not exactly the picture of beauty; so, I suppose their fear is quite normal not knowing me.

"Tatsuko, Mimi, Nanaki, and Suzuka if I'm not mistaken?" I ask, vaguely remembering that the girls had been mentioned somewhere before, causing the last three to stiffen, noticeably more nervous than before "I've heard Illya talk about you before, a few times. You are in the class with her, Kuro and Miyu, right?"

Miyu turns her gaze toward me.

"...How do you know them? Do you know why they follow us?" she asks cautiously, snapping the three frightened teenagers out of the tranny.

"Seriously, Miucchi! We've been in the same class for six months now, you should at least remember your friends' names!" cries Tatsuko indignantly as Mimi's grip on her mouth loosens.

At that point, the magical girl looks at the blonde with a neutral gaze.

"Why do you say we are friends?"

"Huh?" the shorter girl makes a confused sound.

"The only friends I need are Illya, Jack, and Kuro. You have nothing to do with them," she replies impassively.

"Uwaa, it was so cold I felt it in my bones," whispers Kuro in the background, feeling a little bad for her peer.

Illya was also left speechless.

"W-WAAAAAAAH-!" fountains instead of tears flowed from Tatsuko's eyes upon hearing her classmate's chilling words.

"Did he make her cry?!" gasped horrified Mimi, Nanaki, and Suzuka, hearing the ragged and annoyingly loud sound emitted by the hyperactive peer.

"M-but what's wrong with you, Miyu?" asks Illya rather upset, not expecting that outing from her best friend.

Miyu, confused blinked as she saw the panic in the albino girl's eyes.

"Why are you angry? You three are the only friends I will ever have, who cares about the others?" she asks with all the innocence of someone who has lived an isolated life- which she has indeed had.

"Wow, heavy!" Nanaki looks at her shocked and confused upon hearing her words.

"A rather strange way to interpret friendship!" agrees equally lost Suzuka.

"We don't need you, so don't come any closer to us," orders the completely oblivious magical girl with a tone of finality and a scowl.

I pinched the bridge of my nose as Kuro facepalmed. Once again Illya is stunned by Miyu's bluntness. Not that he didn't know that she always speaks bluntly, but wow, she's on another level this time than usual. I almost feel bad for them.

In contrast, Tatsuko falls silent for a few moments and stares at her with extreme indignation, while even bigger tears accumulate in his eyes than hers.

"UWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-!"

Now real jets of water that firefighters might have used to put out a fire came out forcefully from his eyes, forming large puddles in the ground that grew larger as the seconds passed.

"Oh no, Tatsuko is crying even harder now!" gasps Suzuka alarmed, seeing the scene her friend was making.

"Hey, Illya, do something!" panicked Nanaki begs her.

"I-I?!" Illya gasps when she is suddenly pulled in, but seeing the state of her classmate, she decides to improvise anyway "C-calm down Tatsuko, Miyu is just shy, she didn't mean it!"

"I was dead serious."

Unfortunately, her attempt to calm her friend was completely invalidated by Miyu's correction, still completely oblivious to what was going on.

"All right, if you stop crying like that I'll buy you all ice cream." I offer with a sigh when things have become practically painful to watch.

My olive branch instantly stops Tatsuko's crying, who looks at me with eyes still filled with tears, like a kicked puppy.

"R-really?" she sobs.

"Yes. Do you know an ice cream shop near here?" I confirm, trying to end that tantrum.

"YES! This way!" as if nothing had happened, Tatsuko runs toward the downhill slope that leads to the main road.

The previously frightened girls look at me gratefully, though still a little nervous, and hurry to catch up with her to prevent her from getting into trouble, as I can well imagine happening.

---

There are several cafes, teen restaurants, bakeries, and various grocery stores near UA, given the large number of apartment buildings occupied by off-campus students near the school. I had never stopped to look around before, always busy with a project in progress while planning the next one; therefore, I didn't even know about the stores near my home, even the more niche ones, or the unmarked online trucks of various sweets that roam the streets.

Not that I ever had time to do it anyway.

As a teenager who was an orphan, a foreigner, and without a quirk I had to prove that I was dozens of times better than anyone, if only to be considered for anything before I started working at Might Tower and had a stable income for my projects. At some point to be more efficient I started using intermediaries to avoid exposing myself to the public in any way or form when delivering my products, rather than doing it in person as well as using a pseudonym, unless they were people I could trust, relatively speaking. I didn't mind unconstructive criticism or insults, but my background hurt business 92 percent of the time it came up; therefore, I found it extremely strange and alien to sit on a bench eating ice cream while keeping an eye on a group of teenagers to make sure they didn't get into trouble.

Not that they needed it, mind you. Illya, Miyu, and Kuro were perfectly capable of taking care of themselves in case some ill-intentioned (crazy/suicidal wannabe) tried to do something to one of them. Even without the Kaleido stick, they could beat anyone in town to a pulp except me, Scathach, and All Might when he's around. And in case they failed, they would have me, the Peace Symbol and the killer magus out for their blood; therefore, no one was stupid enough to do it in daylight, worse still at night when we could kill and go undetected almost certainly without wasting time taking special measures to avoid detection.

Ergo, I was now simply eating trifle-flavored ice cream, restless as few times I can remember being since I arrived in this world.

It doesn't help that I was completely out of place in a park where thirteen/fourteen-year-old girls were joking around and enjoying nature. Just sitting around doing nothing is not something I am used to.

Part of me couldn't help but wonder if I hadn't had my memories or been normal by the standards of this world, would I have been able to joke around with a group of friends as Tatsuko does with Suzuka as she tries to bite into her ice cream like Mimi and Nanaki pretending to be mature and elegant as they taste their dessert flavors? Even Illya and Miyu seem to adapt to the environment, although the latter is extremely awkward while she gets spoon-fed by her best friend (although I'm really glad she adapted so well to the mundane life despite all that had happened to her. It shows tremendous fortitude).

"What's going onii-chan? You seem to be spacing out a lot."

I blink as I hear Kuro's voice, noticing only now that I had been so distracted that I hadn't even noticed that she sat next to me.

"Mn. Moments like that distract me too much and my mind starts to wander." I answer her with a grimace, nibbling on the wafer of my ice cream. "This kind of situation makes me restless..."

The tanned girl looks at me with a somewhat calculating gaze.

"You... don't know how to relax?" I raise an eyebrow at her question and try to answer her. "Tinkering on random things while thinking about something else doesn't count as 'relaxing' since you apply yourself to anything to the best of your ability, knowing you." she interrupts me impassively, even before I have a chance to retort.

Therefore, my mouth closes and I look for such a moment in my memory, if only to counter.

But I really couldn't blame her, since doing a mediocre job goes against my policy.

"...really?" she asks after a couple of minutes of silence, seeing that I couldn't think of anything that fit the description.

Does sex with Liz count? Not that I could say that anyway, but even that is 'tiring' physically speaking, especially when the person to be satisfied is a homunculus with superhuman endurance who specializes in combat, and I was just a human being with abilities that at that time were at the limit of natural growth.

"..." I do not respond and lean against the back of the wooden bench, annoyed that I have no arguments to challenge his claims.

Now that I stop and think about it, my whole second life has incessantly revolved around just four things: training, studying, preparing, and making all kinds of creations. All day, every day, no matter what mood I was in or the time of year. While others were on vacation I was training. If others were on vacation I was learning about new technologies being developed and how to improve my own. If others were celebrating something I was working on building my future.

I did not stop even after Shizuku's funeral. I had simply taken refuge in the laboratory to prevent my mind from derailing into unpleasant thoughts, such as my inability to cure her illness, or realizing that she was sick until it was too late even though we lived under the same roof.

Kuro frowns as she observes me for a few moments. Then she gives a smile similar to that of a maneki neko.

"Ne, ne, onii-chan." I turn my gaze toward her. "May I taste your ice cream?"

"Mn? Okay." I hand her the spoon with the trifle, rather unconcerned by the request.

This is not the first time she has asked for such things, and I have never had reason to deny her before, although almost every time she would make distinctly controversial hints or sounds immediately afterward, followed by comments that did not leave too much room for interpretation.

"Ahh-Mnnn!" She opens her mouth to eat and makes a happy sound as she licks her lips, touching her cheek with a blissful expression. "Ice cream plus Onii-chan's indirect kiss, that's the best taste!"

'She is hopeless...'

It was stronger than me, I couldn't help but think about it. I mean, it's close to her birthday, I understand that you are impatient, but can't you hold back? We could fuck all she wants after that, without me feeling guilty, just bear with me a little longer!

I feel someone staring at me intensely and I turn to look at the two magical girls who are now not even a meter away from me. Illya looked just a little embarrassed and shy, but Miyu looked at me expectantly a little impatient.

It did not take long to understand the rather obvious request, and fortunately, I did not eat my ice cream too quickly, leaving just under half of it.

Illya and Kuro almost struggled to try to get fed before the other twin, while Miyu was torn between doing the same and yielding precedence to her best friend; therefore, I distributed what was left in equal parts between them, even though they were rather fixated on that indirect kissing thing and almost forced me to lick the spoon before feeding them.

As a result, they then competed to try to get me to eat their ice cream, under the rather amused, shocked, and vaguely confused gaze of their classmates, now strangely comfortable with me around.

---

Miyu is happy. Not news after the class card mess had passed, but not obvious either as far as she is concerned, if she remembers what state they found Jack in the mirror world that night, or how it might have ended if they had not arrived in time to slow down Berseker and deliver Avalon to him.

Now she has two irreplaceable people in her new life whom she loves deeply, probably more than she should, perhaps, with whom she spends her days with almost no care in the world, despite all the trouble that seems to compete to jump on her 'brother' at the slightest opportunity.

Illya is her first and best friend. She is always eager to meet up with her again after they say goodbye in the evening to return to their respective homes (although they still see each other on video call almost every night), but that is not the point. The situation between them is...very friendly and comforting. And strange in some ways. She has lost count of how many times her best friend has mistaken her for her poorly hidden crush on Jack, trying to kiss her amid her semi-dormant state.

And she doesn't mind at all.

Her first kiss was taken by Illya on one of those very occasions. Although a bit sloppy because she was caught off guard by the half-asleep girl, she simply loved the feeling of Illya's tongue in her mouth. It was at that moment, when she got butterflies in her stomach, that she realized that her love for her friend was not purely platonic.

After reading many texts and papers about the causes of the pulsations he felt in the following days, and why he was...too high in the hours after the event. His reaction to the discovery? He didn't have any problems, other than the initial surprise. Why wouldn't he? There is scientific evidence that sexual orientation is influenced by a complex interplay of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences. There is plenty of evidence to support biological causes of sexual orientation over social ones, so after much research, she can say that she has no problem, deviation, or dysfunction of any kind in being attracted to both boys and girls. At least until science makes more discoveries on the subject that disprove all the information she has found.

Not to mention how the more varied mutations caused by quirks further affect that appearance, but it was a can of worms that she didn't want or need to open, not having one of her own to begin with.

Returning to the main point of her train of thought: She is bisexual and is sure that Kuro, and by extension Illya are as well.

Kuro never had a problem fooling around with Liz, groping her from time to time, or making allusions of various kinds that almost always included both her and Jack. Not that the guardian of the Emiya house ever had any problem with it. Although she is stoic and lazy most of the time, Liz adores Kuro and Illya more than anything else, showing herself more 'happy' and prone to cuddling when she is around either of them. She started being this way with her and Jack as well, seeing how happy her protégés were and practically spewing positivity from every pore whenever she or the armored teenager was around.

The point is that he has credible reason to think that Illya is bisexual. Her argument is based on the fact that Kuro has been fused with her best friend since their conception, and although she has been trapped in a metaphorical cage inside the mind of her crush, she has seen and experienced as a spectator everything Illya has gone through in her life up to six months before. Despite what her friends say, they have much in any case and not only in appearance, as they have displayed similar attitudes and behaviors over and over again on various occasions, although the older sister tends to be more explicit about everything she does or wants most of the time. Further supporting her hypotheses is her flirtatious attitude and constant flirtations with UA girls, although the only people with whom she becomes physically intimate are precisely Jack and Liz.

This led her to the conclusion that she could win Illya's heart and start a relationship with her, or at least try.

He should be happy, but then there is the downside: Jack.

She is very sure that she is attracted to him as well, so even though she doesn't want to, she sometimes wonders if she shouldn't have given her first kiss to him instead of Illya, even though in her heart they weigh the same and the same on the scale. After class cards, they both started to be more...open, in their interactions and spending time together when no mortal dangers were lurking. Because she is a person of science, he never had a problem talking with her about topics she couldn't discuss with anyone else, even her friends, and even helped her catch up in the fields that interested her most.

This led to him including her in his work, exchanging ideas and projects, working as equals, and not constantly being a burden to him.

And she is ecstatic about it every day.

Finally, she could repay all the help she had given him, even though he insisted it was not necessary. And even if it wasn't really necessary to repay all the kindness she had shown him, it didn't particularly matter because he was having a great time working in the lab whenever they got a chance. It was extremely liberating to be able to say whatever was on his mind out loud, without fear of anyone understanding her. It made her feel less alien, even though Illya or Kuro never thought of her that way. Simply their specializations lay elsewhere.

Just as with Illya, he looked forward to the next day to work with Jack on something, although he tried to spend equal amounts of time with both of them so as not to play favorites.

This, however, was the problem.

She is attracted to the two people she cares about most and has absolutely no idea what to do; therefore, she seeks advice from the one person she believes might have an answer to her dilemma.

"So, let me recap: you are bisexual and attracted to both Jack and Illyasviel, but do you think that with Kuro's advances and effusions, a relationship is already going on between them?" asks Scathach, sitting at the desk chair in her room, her arms crossed under her sizable breasts and her legs crossed.

"Yes, although I think there is already something between Jack and Leysritt," Miyu confirms rather seriously. "This morning I found them in his room, although he said it was to question him about the growth process. There was also a strange smell, but I'm not sure what it was given how messy his bedroom was. It could have been anything from food gone bad to dirty laundry."

Scathach watches her in silence after listening to his dilemmas, but she neither comments nor remarks on the latest information she has given him.

When he had proposed to Miyu to become his disciple, he had not thought of teaching her anything about seduction or sex in general. Then again, she will also at some point grow up and develop her interests, so maybe he should give her lessons on the subject. It's not like she has any other female figures to turn to in cases like these anyway...

"I understand the situation, but why are you discussing it as me and not with the two concerned?" asks the immortal woman, raising an eyebrow.

"I researched her history Shishou, and found that she had several lovers over time," Miyu responds evenly, "I thought she had advice for me regarding my situation."

"I was a queen and had a daughter, but the idea of settling down with a husband or finding love was never really in my plans," the shadow queen informed her, "Besides, having sexual relations with my students or whoever caught my attention is not the same as being in love, you know that right?"

Miyu's cheeks flush pink at her teacher's unfiltered comment, but she nods stiffly somewhat uncomfortably.

"You...have no advice for me, then?" the magical girl hesitantly asked, causing Scathach to sigh.

For one thing, this particular topic was out of his area of expertise...like anything about Jack on the other hand. Honestly, that brat causes him more headaches than Setanta did in his youth without even trying! And the most ridiculous thing is that the engineer never actually disrespected her the way the hyperactive dog did when he arrived in her kingdom! How was such a thing possible!?

She didn't have much to say to him anyway, since their relationship is strictly professional. She is not Jack's mother, nor his older sister, guardian, lover, or anything else. Although perhaps she could admit that the wall between them is almost too much even by her standards. Perhaps she should rectify that and get closer.

"The closest thing to advice I can give you is to take them both." Scathach replies with extreme seriousness, not showing his inner annoyance at yet another unforeseen situation caused by his only currently living male student.

Miyu's eyes instead widen like those of a deer blinded by car headlights.

"Both of us?!" she stammers, as her cheeks darken despite trying to keep calm and clear-headed even in this situation, as her teacher always told her to do.

"Why are you so surprised?" the immortal woman asks impassively. "Harems were and still are very common, from what I have seen and read about this era on Devilnet, at least for powerful people. It has always been a known fact that power attracts other power, but also other attention from the interested sex in general. It is now a common thing even in the mundane world with the advent of quirks, although in that case, it is more of a physiological need in most cases. The fact of the matter is that you would have no problem showing that side of your relationship even in public without making too much of a nuisance of yourselves since it is now a much more 'normal' thing for the population. Since there are no problems of any kind legally or socially, why not take both instead of choosing one?"

"..."

Miyu was dumbfounded upon hearing the words as her mind in overdrive struggled to form coherent thoughts. Was it okay to be in relationships with multiple people? Isn't it cheating if he's with both of them? Does Jack have that kind of relationship with Kuro and Liz? Will he break up with them if she asks him to? No, is it also okay to do that if he is already committed?

"B-but...if Jack is busy with Kuro and Leysritt?" he asks, trying not to stutter too much.

"Get them, too, and you've solved the root of the problem."

Miyu's head begins to smoke at her teacher's brief and concise response.

"W-w-if...doesn't f-function?" she asks hesitantly, trying not to freeze from the sheer awkwardness of the conversation.

"It's up to you to make it work." She replies with a shrug.

Miyu does not remember exactly how it was or if the conversation continued, she only knows that she barely got a wink of sleep that night. Her mind was too busy fantasizing things between her, Illya, and Jack, some innocent, some not so much. After all, despite her appearance, she is also a growing teenager herself.

---

While Illya and Kuro were busy working on a group assignment reducing to the last minute, Miyu was busy with matters she didn't want to talk to me about and disappeared who knows where, so I had allowed myself the afternoon to myself.

"What's going on? Is there something wrong with the ceiling?" asks Liz, sitting on the couch in my lab at my side.

Usually, he doesn't come in here when I'm working, but at the moment...I don't know, I didn't feel like it. I was feeling lazy, so I sat down to do absolutely nothing.

"No, I...I just feel like doing nothing. "I respond distractedly.

"...have you eaten anything strange?" she asks, after staring at me for a few moments rather intensely.

I shift my gaze from the ceiling to her.

"No, it's just...today for the first time since I picked up a screwdriver, I had to stop at a park. There I realized I had never taken a break for...well, anything." I paused, trying to regroup my thoughts, although it was becoming strangely complicated. "I was so busy running toward my goal that I never stopped to look around. It made me look at things from a different perspective, I guess. I don't know, it was a pretty confusing day."

Liz stares at me.

"Are you okay?" she asks after a while.

"Yeah, but I never realized I needed to unplug a bit and...stop and rest I guess?" I reply not too sure how to make sense of what I'm feeling either. "Kuro pointed it out to me today, but I've always pushed myself to get better without ever stopping until now, and doing it at the park was the strangest experience I can remember. I could almost feel the space between thoughts when I got...relaxed, I guess."

Once again, Liz stares at me, thoughtful.

"Are you having a midlife crisis?"

"Do I look old enough to have one?" I ask impassively, causing her to shrug in response. I couldn't even mentally have one since even adding up the years lived in both my lives, I still haven't even reached 40. "No, it's more of an identity crisis...or maybe not, considering I haven't shown any symptoms of depression, manifestations of anxiety, sweating, tachycardia, palpitations, phobias, panic attacks, physical symptoms, sexual dysfunction, eating disorders or post-traumatic stress disorder so far; so, I think I'm just tired and need to take a break."

"Do you want to let off some steam?"

I blink when Leysritt takes not once but twice the initiative in a day for something other than loafing or eating.

"Now I'm starting to get worried. Twice in one day?" I ask amused as she leans against me, pressing her breasts, which I knew perfectly well were free under the low-cut top she usually uses, against me.

"Saddle is very frustrating at times." She admits with a nod of annoyance. "I'm pretty sure she's too repressed."

I shrug my shoulders and very happily accept her offer. I kiss her unceremoniously and she doesn't hesitate to open her mouth to let my tongue in, quickly deepening the make-out. Liz draws me to her and falls onto her back against the couch, smoothly slipping a hand into my pants.

Not wanting to be outdone, I grasp one of her soft, firm breasts during the kiss, feeling no resistance and confirming that she is not wearing her strapless bra, my fingers sink into the soft sphere smoothly as I palm it. Even with the fabric in the way, I feel against my palm a hard bulge quite evident above that soft mountain. My other hand slips under her shorts and panties, touching her slit that was already beginning to moisten, trembling a little with excitement and anticipation.

Liz breathes slightly laboredly and from time to time she lets out a stifled moan, pleasantly enjoying the attention I give. She pulls down my boxers to get a more comfortable grip on me and begins massaging my cock.

I interrupt the kiss and stop playing with Liz's breasts, confusing her for a few moments. I remove my hand from her panties and grab the edge of her shorts. She understands my silent request and lifts her pelvis slightly, allowing me to slip off her clothing, leaving her lower body bare. I also pull up her T-shirt and she accompanies the movement, bouncing her large breasts.

I watch as if she were a work of art, the German woman leaning slightly to one side, naked as the day she was born. Her milky skin brings out her slight blush, and her pink nipples erect atop those large, soft, firm globes.

It is indeed an inviting sight.

I begin kneading her left breast as I play with her right nipple, making circles on her halo, before running my fingertip from top to bottom and vice versa over its tip. My actions cause the homunculus' breathing to shudder a little, and she pushes her pelvis against my erection, rubbing and wetting my shaft with her fluids. She also begins to stroke it, lubricating it better with her actions.

Honestly, usually, I wouldn't have minded going slower, but today I feel almost ... impatient.

I move my hand to her thigh, caressing the soft flesh, and plunge two fingers into her slit, while I press her clit with my thumb. She lets out a louder but quiet moan as I widen her entrance. Leysritt's limbs are soft, like slime, moist and smooth; it is quite pleasant to slide my fingers in and out of her, especially when it feels like a leaky dam. So she is already more than ready for the main event.

"Jack..."

Her gaze, rather pleased by my impatient behavior even though to someone who does not know her well she may seem impassive, indicates rather clearly that she is also looking forward to it.

I don't let her tell me twice and grab her right leg for support before pressing the tip of my cock against her wet entrance. I sink into her nether lips smoothly and slide in just as easily. I grit my teeth feeling the pressure of her inner walls against me. She is tighter than usual, or, rather, I have gotten bigger; therefore, I take up more space than other times, to the point that when I touch her cervix I have to grit my teeth to keep from coming to the spasm that beats Liz, who seems to want to suck me in even deeper even though it is extremely difficult to move.

Leysritt does not do the same, however, and she lets out a somewhat loud, muffled moan as she continues to squeeze me inside her.

Is she also a bit repressed since we haven't done this since before the growth process?

Seeing Liz's state, I lose all inhibitions and clutching her leg more tightly to me, leaning her leg against my shoulder, I back off until less than half of my rod is left inside her, then slam it back in hard. I establish a slow, brutal rhythm, making Liz bite her lower lip. Each thrust stretches her tight pussy, crawling and hitting some places on her walls harder than others.

Deciding that the position is a bit uncomfortable on the couch, I pause for a moment to change position. I let go of her leg and grab her by the hips, dragging her astride me while I am still buried inside her. At that point, I grab Liz's ass, taking a moment to feel the sensation of my fingers sinking into her soft, firm flesh, then lift her until only the tip of my rod is left inside her. Letting gravity take its course, she remains impaled on my cock, which re-enters her depths all at once, nailing her cervix.

"MNHH?!" I hear her squeeze even harder than before, reaching her first orgasm.

I grit my teeth and barely suppress the sensation of having to explode inside her and continue fucking her. I raise and lower her hard, giving another strong, deep thrust, making her gasp in spasms when I give her no time to recover.

As I continue to bounce her on my cock, Liz brings her arms around my neck to avoid getting off balance, and I take the opportunity to kiss her. Not being very responsive from her recent orgasm, I don't find it particularly resistant even when my tongue enters her mouth, and I begin to absentmindedly explore.

I held her tighter to me, crushing against my chest her breasts that were tipping with my thrusts as I began to move my hips to meet her pelvis halfway to thrust even harder. I feel her breasts moving anyway, and her hard nipples rubbing against my chest.

Maybe that's what pushes me to the edge.

My thrusts become very strong and erratic perhaps worrisome if under Liz's soft, full body, though pleasant to the touch, were not muscles and bones much denser and stronger than human beings.

That realization allowed the feeling of ecstasy that coursed through me as I thrust one last time inside her to explode without worry. I feel my balls twitch agitatedly as I empty an overly large load of cum straight into Liz, who bites my lip as she moans louder than she has since we started. She stiffens and spasms for almost a minute as I finish pumping the last few discharges inside her.

Finally, she breaks the kiss as she collapses on top of me, panting with a slightly flushed face.

"Damn...I've never come like that before." I admit, a little dazed by the feeling of relaxation running through me after such a stressful day, even though I was still hard as a rock and buried inside Liz. "Must be the accelerated metabolism?"

"Man...after this, I'll hardly be able to go back to toys," murmurs Leysritt, even more stunned than I am.

My erection twitches upon feeling it.

"Well, that I can easily remedy," I reassure her with a rather amused smirk.

I feel her tightening on my erection, and she looks at me with hints of amusement.

"Are you ready to go again yet?"

"Accelerated metabolism and extra stamina derived from the Spartan-II program have worked wonders," I admit with a shrug. "There's also Avalon, but I don't know how it fits into the mix."

It was a fun two hours all in all.

---

"-Never in UA history has such a thing happened! What do you think of the guy they hail as the next armored All Might, Dean Nezu?"

"-Eighty-seven! All Might and his now official assistant stopped over two hundred crimes in just one hour throughout Japan!"

"-It's been a while since we've seen All Might patrolling like that. Could it be because he now has a helper capable of keeping up with him?"

"-This is how after nearly fifty years since the virus mutated due to a quirk, Kurogane-sensei managed to"

"-But let's be clear, we know why we are here. In the past six months, Kurogane-kun has been developing a new type of weapon with immeasurable capabilities, perfectly capable of matching multiple quirks at once, which if left unchecked could also cause incalculable damage to people and cities-"

"-it is still unclear to authorities whether or not the hacker who attacked HPSC's servers is related to Celestial Being, the private group created by Kurogane-"

The flat-screen TV in the dilapidated bar goes out.

"Kurogane...Kurogane...Kurogane...why aren't they talking about anything other than that brat All Might picked up on the street!" shouts Shigaraki Tomura in exasperation, slamming the remote control against the bar counter. "And for some damn reason, he has a Japanese last name if he's a damn gaijin!"

Unfortunately, all five fingers touched the surface, causing half the bench to rot and fall to dust before it had a chance to stop the decay.

Kurogiri sighs at the sight, knowing that he will have to clean and order a new counter. Again.

"Kurogane Jack was adopted by a Japanese woman after Bloody Valentine according to official documents," replied the noumu high end, wiping a glass cup with a cloth. "Not much is known about his origins other than that he had come from abroad with his family for a wedding that day, not even his real name since he seems to have lost his memory in the aftermath-"

"Who cares! What I want to know is why the media is talking so much about that damn defective NPC!"

"Well, because he's too good at what he does," replies a third voice, of a middle-aged man sitting at a table near the wall. Tomura's red, bloodshot eyes darted toward him. "Not to mention the earthquakes he is causing the government with his actions. It's virtually impossible to ignore him at this point."

"What the fuck does Giran mean?"

Kagero Okuta aka Giran. He is a grade C villain, an information broker often in business with the newly created Villan league, or more precisely All for One. He mainly procures men, materials, and information for Japan's bogeyman and his projects, which in recent weeks had heavily involved the neet the oldest criminal on the Asian continent was playing with.

"Exactly what I mean," the broker replies. "Over the years he has accumulated funds, connections, allies, and favors from sources that can unbalance the status quo as he sees fit under everyone's nose. His abilities in the field of engineering surpass almost every scientist from the dawn of the quirks to the present, and even the scraps of his work are worth gold because they are superior to anything that can be found around Japan, not to mention that it is virtually impossible to get them through normal means. Ignorant people deride him because he is quirkless, but now that he has come out in the open with a cause and ways of solving the problems that marginalized and desperate people fervently seek, even as the media and government tried to bury the facts, he also has a good portion of public opinion that questions the current system and supports it. Frankly, I think it is wise to stay off its radar and avoid getting on its bad side at least until the storm passes."

An amused snort could not help but come out of the middle-aged man's mouth, taking a sip of his drink after taking a drag on his cigarette.

"Heh, honestly I would have preferred to find it sooner, what a shame. Easily one of the biggest missed opportunities I can remember."

The eyes of the three present darted to the screen of an access PC that suddenly spoke.

"Sensei?" the All for One student asks uncertainly, "Do you think it would have been useful in any way, even if it is quirkless?"

The question almost filled with fear makes the man hiding in the shadows snort.

"If that was the only factor to be fixed, then it was easily solved," hums the villain. "No, the problem is still that buffoon. With his illegal luck, to say the least, the greatest obtainable resource of the last century has fallen into his lap. Simply fantastic."

Hearing his benefactor's voice leaking venom in industrial quantities for someone he has quickly learned to hate with every fiber of his being, Shigaraki Tomura could not help but feel an enormous sense of disquiet and envy pervade him.

"I still don't understand what all the fuss is about," he murmured, his indignation continuing to grow in tandem with his insecurity.

"As dear Giran said: Kurogane has steadily growing power, connections, funds, and influence, to the point that even other nations are trying to ingratiate or eliminate him, even if they keep failing because they take him at face value. Because of his off-the-charts intellect and abilities, it won't be long before he becomes how society will leap, making him a pillar that is difficult to replace or reach in any way," says All for One "That's why it's a shame. If I had found him before that buffoon, with his abilities we would already have the whole world in our hands, because then Kurogane would have had no constraints or brakes to slow him down, like the ones this society full of idiots has put in the way."

With all the irritation working its way into the tone of Japan's oldest villain, Shigaraki's anger and envy at hearing his teacher praise another student in such a way, of All Might of All People, sent him over the edge.

The nails dug so deep into his palms that he bled.

"Then just kill him, right?" the childish young adult hisses hatefully. "If we can't get his items we might as well get rid of the NPC, right? What's the use of leaving him in the hands of the main boss?"

"...Didn't you hear a fucking thing we said?" asks Giran, rather astonished by Shigaraki's words.

"Who cares about his resources, his connections, or his toys? He won't need them when he's dead anyway!" he snarls furiously, ignoring the broker "Yes, I will kill him...it will be the prelude to the fall of All Might, and then of this stupid society! When I'm done with him, there won't even be a speck of dust to bury!"

While Shigaraki Tomura was falling prey to his delusions, Giran takes a somewhat worried look at Kurogiri, not wanting to get in the middle of the shit he might do. Not without significant insurance or profit.

"Yes...he realizes that Kurogane is practically doing the work for him, doesn't he?" the misty man shrugs indifferently; then, the broker glances at the screen rather upset "Are you going to let him do this?"

"Mnn...not for the reasons he wants, but Tomura has a point." reflects All for One "Methods, strategies, ideology...Kurogane is completely different from that buffoon All Might, almost more like me in some ways. He has definite plans as well as the means to carry them out, with backup plans if the main ones go wrong, and that makes him extremely dangerous. It is better to eliminate him now before he becomes too powerful and influential to be stopped since we will probably be up against him at some point."

While Tomura looks almost starry-eyed at the monitor when his teacher approves his idea, Giran does not seem convinced at all.

"Then can I plan the raid against that NPC?" he asks ecstatically at the idea of killing the assistant to hero number one.

"Yes" confirms All for One "Normally I would let you make your plans so that you can gain experience and learn from your mistakes, but considering the importance of this goal I will give you more substantial help than usual."

"What kind of help?" asks Tomura curiously.

"The good doctor managed to get the equipment he needed to finish the Noumu project a couple of months ago and start production of the High Ends. I will allow you to use the ones we currently have for your plan."

Tomura's mouth takes the shape of an 'O' for a few moments, stunned by his teacher's unusual concession.

"How many can I use?" he asks curiously.

"Everyone," replies the man behind the screen seriously. "Start planning, your chance will come much sooner than you imagine."

---

Kuro sighs as she hugs the pillow, slumped in her bed.

"What's going on Kuro? All you've been doing is sighing since this morning," Illya pointed out helpfully, seeing her 'twin' as Miyu combed her hair.

They had made some last-minute arrangements for sleepovers and sleeping together in Jack's absence since Illya did not want to leave her friend alone. Miyu insisted that it was no problem, but she gave in rather quickly to Illya's demands.

Fighting with Sella to prepare dinner under the guise of serving Illya is annoying, which often leads Leysritt to provoke the 'sister' to give the purple magic girl time to get to the stove. In addition, Miyu and her two friends tend to bathe together usually before going to bed, especially after practice. So much to her embarrassment that she needed no special persuasion, since washing Illya's back and sleeping with her are among her favorite activities, especially since Illya tends to return the favor, and knowing full well from other past sleepovers how much her friend tends to hug anything while she sleeps (the reason why she often has body pillows or stuffed animals of her size in the vicinity of her bed). Needless to say, she is quite enthusiastic about moments to get closer to her, although she has never gone further than simply letting her eyes roam or wiping her friend's back more slowly under the guise of better accuracy, for the sole purpose of touching which minute more of Illya's soft, smooth skin.

"I'm in onii-chan withdrawal." grumbles the mulatto girl, rather annoyed and distressed.

"He left this morning and even came by to wake you up to say goodbye," Miyu replies impassively behind Illya as she finishes combing her freshly dried hair.

"I know, but I've had a bad feeling for a while," she says, raising her head in annoyance. "I can feel it in my stomach."

The two magical girls look at each other, not knowing exactly how to respond to this. Kuro is the one with the better instincts among them, although no one knows exactly how much of this instinct is influenced by the changes that created her and how much senjutsu plays a role in it, since because of her peculiar existence she is extremely in tune with nature, more so than 90 percent of yokai according to Scathach. The number of times her instincts have warned her of earthquakes caused by the teacher-student duo during their sparring, or incoming blows that are difficult to predict during training that make her move before she can even think of doing so, is enough to convince her that she is reliable when it comes to these kinds of omens, before anything dangerous happens if it involves Kuro or people close to her.

But now they did not know whether her attitude was just excessive drama given how clingy she is with Jack, and never misses a chance to throw herself at him or worry because something might happen.

[Kuro-san, don't worry. Jack-sama can take care of himself, even if something unforeseen happens during my retreat to the mountains] says Sapphire floating around her mistress, trying to cheer her up.

[Even if someone were stupid enough to attack him, we are talking about the mechanical monster. What could go wrong with him- Guooff!]

"THAT'S THE LAST THING TO SAY IN SITUATIONS LIKE THIS IDIOT!"

Howl the three girls at the wand landed by Sapphire's kick, who watches her sister agonize on the ground with extreme disdain at her direct challenge to Murphy.

Everyone knows not to screw with Murphy, no matter what universe you are in.

---

In retrospect, I should have expected this.

The HPSC's little games were at best annoying spitefulness as far as I was concerned concerning future threats, but this situation is wrong in so many ways that it is hard for me to decide where to start.

This morning, after Kuro's overly dramatic 'goodbye kiss,' although technically we would see each other again and I would be back in time for their birthday as well, I flew to the first-year training camp tucked away in the mountains, where the Wild Wild Pussycats would be helping with the training of first-year students.

Normally I should have gone with them, but I did not participate in the training for obvious reasons, rather my task was to help train the newly transferred 1-A and B students with their quirks this time. But I would not start until the second day since the first test, so to speak, is run through the forest while being attacked by Pixie-bob golems and some test models of the drones that Nezu had me prepare for the occasion.

He has decided to revamp the entrance exam and the parameters for entering UA, so he has asked me to build prototypes that are more...useful, he says, for his purposes, to be used in next year's exam than the 0-3 pointers, which are self-propelled punching bags made of poor materials.

The results were as disappointing as expected since after the sports festival the classes kept changing and being reshuffled several times. After unleashing my abilities huge expectations had been created in the current generation of students, for one reason or another, which not everyone was prepared to deal with psychologically or physically, so many quit at some point. Others were labeled unfit and removed by teachers for various reasons; in others by Nezu; but some thought they had to compete with me in a saturated industry and, after the festival, saw me as an impossible mountain to overcome, so they gave up.

The fact is that classes have changed within even the first quarter seven times, so this batch is far behind the Big Three, as they are called by other students Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire, who were already stronger than the current third years.

They arrived at camp around 7 p.m., mainly thanks precisely to the big three, who instead of going ahead stayed behind to help classmates in both sections who were struggling. Estimating their arrival we had prepared the first day's dinner as planned, and after everyone was full they took a quick bath and then went running to pass out on the futons.

Between me and myself, I find it a waste of time to have students cook rather than my drones since they could use that time in further training or analysis on quirks, considering how far behind schedule they are. After all, time accumulates and on average preparing meals for almost 50 people will take at least an hour after training, and in the following weeks it would be 42 hours wasted doing secondary things rather than improving. Almost two whole days with no progress.

Maybe I was being too pragmatic and utilitarian, bordering on hardcore, but that's not the point.

Ten minutes after the students went to sleep, during my watch, someone appeared on the perimeter of the Wild Wild pussycats' property. They were not wild animals, so I was forced to raise the alarm even though I could deal with the attack myself, simply because it was a procedure I had to follow.

"What is the situation?" asks Aizawa through the communicator, while I observe the situation from above.

"A little over a hundred targets detected, but almost none noteworthy," I inform him, hearing a few gasps from the listeners at the large number "Almost all of them are E to D grade, about ten C grade. The ones that worry me are the ones that remain."

"Do you recognize anyone?" asks Vlad King, listening next to Aizawa.

"Muscolar, grade A" I respond by zooming in with the targeting program "Of the others none. There are six of what I assume are bio-engineered soldiers; a hand-covered trespasser who has been missing and given up for dead since he was 5 years old, with no quirk registered to his name; and a warp gate"

"Not good." murmurs the man of blood.

"Not even that bad. That quirk is not a teleporter, it creates portals to get from one point to another; therefore, it can be dealt with easily and once captured the others will have no escape," I warn them about Kurogiri's quirk.

I recognized the Noumu immediately because of the dark blue skin tending to black and the exposed brains in four of the five specimens, but it was worrisome. Until the sky egg incident beyond Kurogiri, there was only a second one that was shot down by Crawler before he moved to America, everything else was developmental and low-level at best, like kamikaze minions. Useful for a predefined purpose, but incapable of doing anything else. But the ones Shigaraki brought here? Are high-end, and judging by the way they look around constantly on alert, they are either not programmed to react to any potential threat to their master (even the cannon fodder he brought with him) or in the worst case they are high-end, so I have to kill them before they have a chance to reach the students or teachers.

I am not prepared to face them now, especially with inexperienced students nearby. I know I can deal with all of them without problems, but caution is never too much.

"Err, so?" asks Vlad confusedly, distracting me from my thoughts.

"If his quirk only opens a portal from point A to point B, then he doesn't have the enhanced reflexes to keep up with the actual teleportation," Aizawa explains quickly and concisely to the confused teacher "Good eye, anything else to report?"

I hum while observing them from a distance. I can't hear them from here since I don't have sensors for espionage and eavesdropping missions, but I could still read their lips thanks to my 'natural' night vision plus the fact that several idiots move around too much, shaking the light from their flashlights frequently enough for me to read them even without enhanced vision.

"They are getting their act together. They are forming smaller groups for something and they have to split up" Do they want to use the strategy from the USJ? "Aizawa-sensei, Vlad-sensei, when the warp appears near the dormitory take care of him. I will eliminate the others."

"Kurogane-!"

"We both know that Nezu sent me exactly for eventualities like this; therefore, there is no point in arguing now about your priorities as a teacher," I interrupt the scruffy hero before he can even deny my request for engagement.

Ever since the subpoena arrived home for the 'trial' that resulted in nothing from HPSC started coming in with threatening letters and threats, both to me and to the school, but nothing too egregious or out of the ordinary. There are quite a few megalomaniacal students or students with overinflated egos who do not accept being expelled from their chosen courses or directly from the school, even if it is the fault of their shitty behavior or others who believed that I had stolen someone's 'rightful' place as if I had not come first in the exam with hundreds of points off second place. Threats and insults from those who failed the entrance exam tend to be among the most pathetic. However, making threats and glaring is the only thing they could do because UA is run by the world's most dangerous chimera, and if it points its fangs, whether metaphorical or not at you, there was little they could do about it, you would disappear without a trace and fed to the giant mutated rats of Madagascar before you even realized you were dead.

Nezu became suspicious, however, of an information leak when some of the school's programs started leaking in the wrong places, although 'officially' he was not sure from where. That's why I'm here. What I'm supposed to do on paper I can do on any school day; you don't need a retreat in the woods to do it. My job is to take down any threat as I see fit before it can reach the students, by any means necessary. To set up the camp and kick off the hunt without running into legal problems or other bullshit to eliminate pests. He had also put me in the conditions and in a place where I could even use the environment to my advantage with the equipment I brought.

Why me rather than other pros as additional security? Because the principal knows perfectly well that I hide my real abilities in addition to the maximum specifications of my armor, even if he does not know what exactly I am hiding or how dangerous my creations are. The surprise effect has always been one of my deadliest weapons, even compared to noble phantasm or other weapons I have used so far.

"They probably want to divide the students with the warp and eliminate them with the groups they are forming to do so, while their main force attacks me. Since they are students in the hero class of Japan's most prestigious school, they probably don't want to take unnecessary risks" Although it's strange, there is something about this situation that doesn't make sense to me.

"Do you want us to eliminate the warp while you take care of the others?" says Aizawa, with a frown, I could hear even from the microphone.

"Yes" was not exactly a question, but I confirmed it anyway.

"I don't like the situation at all," Vlad murmurs.

"Neither do I, but there is little we can do about it, the safety of the students comes first," I reply gruffly as always the scruffy teacher "Inform the pussycats to evacuate the students from the emergency tunnels."

I blink as I hear them.

"Are there any tunnels in this area?" I ask puzzled, having found no trace of them on maps of the area.

"A last-minute addition under Nezu's request. Some also leave from the dormitory, for emergencies, and lead to an area with evacuation vehicles. The idea was to use them for...wait, don't tell me that-" Aizawa quickly explains.

"Mn" I only make a sound of confirmation, now found the missing piece with Aizawa's explanation.

"What...?" asks Vlad confusedly.

"The rat made it for me," I snort amused "The destination is kept secret from all but the teachers because of alleged reliable threats; so, he used you as bait and sent me to clean up, huh? Truly a devious bastard Nezu, no doubt about it..."

I hear the underground hero and the blood hero stop in their tracks, stretched like violin strings.

"Is there a mole in the faculty?" asks Vlad stiffly.

"No, he is among the students, which is why he probably leaked information about our location and made sure it reached the ears of possible suspects. He wanted me to catch the attackers in a secluded place where they couldn't cause collateral damage or injure anyone" I sigh, definitely not happy with how I was used when I didn't pay attention to the principal "We-Well since he put so much effort into putting on this little theater, I might as well please him this time and make him happy"

"Since you raised the alarm, reinforcements, and help will arrive in fifteen to twenty minutes, do you think you can stop them until then?" asks Aizawa again, serious as a worried mother.

"Trust Erased head, I won't need the ambulance when it arrives," I replied amused.

"Troublesome brat..." he murmurs scornfully.

"If I don't make your life interesting who do you think will? Spinx?" I snort, barely holding back a thornier comment.

"Don't you dare infect that sweet creature with your madness!"

"Aaw~, come on! Your cat loves me!"

I met Spinx in a rather funny way. Aizawa was away on an investigation and his cat had to go to the vet; therefore, he left him at Present Mic for a couple of days. Unfortunately, he and the cat don't get along very well considering how noisy he is, so when he took him to school to return him to his owner, he ran away at the first opportunity he got.

Aizawa went crazy looking for him, and when he found him sleeping on my shoulders while I was doing research for Mirio's costume, he let out the least manly scream I had ever heard anyone give.

Considering that I hardly hear him speak in a tone above 10 decibels, powerful to imagine my dismay hearing him.

Aizawa did not speak to Mic and me for a whole month afterward.

Especially when I used it as a ringtone for messages coming from him, which I have active even now.

"I remind you that we have a job to do," Vlad says with a sigh.

---

At the foot of the hill, newly arrived villains emerge from the large portal created by Kurogiri.

"Vlad king and Erased Head? According to our information, Kurogane should also be present, but nowhere to be seen?" murmurs Shigaraki's guardian, wary after hearing the alarm and sirens sounding as soon as the first of them set foot on the ground "Their response is quick, no doubt about it, better watch out."

Shigaraki Tomura scratched his neck in irritation as his subordinates began to form groups. A strange uneasiness and sense of anticipation warned him that something was wrong, but he could not figure out what, which irritated him even more.

"Where is he? And me going to so much trouble to bring all this audience..." Nana's nephew looks around, rather eager to get to work "Maybe he'll appear in the second phase of the boss fight, after killing enough minions? Come on put-AAah!?"

Before he could finish his sentence, the Noumu reacts. He is grabbed by one of them as the whole group jumps away, just in time before something or, rather, someone, left at too high a speed for him to see where they landed.

Of all the minions he had brought, only a handful managed to throw themselves off enough or take cover fast enough not to be swept away by the shock wave that followed the crash.

Or by what happened next.

"W-Wha-AAAAGH!?"

"-Guffoh?!"

"YAaaah?!"

"Gaaah?!"

"Kyaah?!"

"N-No-AAAAAAGH!"

Shigaraki remains silent and watches cannon fodder being slaughtered in a few moments. Well, more 'feel' actually. The only thing he sees besides dust and occasional bodies flying bent in ways they shouldn't are remnants of blue sparks and the sound of someone moving the air.

Among the many screams, he also hears his own of various gunshots and the impacts of bullets, some of which are stopped by the Noumu before they can hit him.

One of the noumu, with a somewhat thin humanoid figure despite being as tall as a basketball player, attacked without Shigaraki giving any order when it detected a threat to its master. Despite the cloud of dust that covered the area, he stretched the bony 'tail' attached to his head, scattering it like sharp-tipped, jagged pillars. The grayish pillars crashed in random directions, tearing and sending trees, rocks, and earth flying everywhere.

The response came just as quickly in the form of multiple bullets against the noumu. Four pierced the shoulders and knees, hitting the joints; three to the chest, leaving fist-sized holes in each, virtually obliterating the heart and surrounding organs; three more blasted the left side of Noumu's exposed brain, then the lower right side, and later to the neck, detaching the mangled flesh that was once his head.

With his heart gone and now badly decapitated, the bioengineered soldier could no longer regenerate; therefore, he fell to the ground dead as gravity took its course.

An eerie silence falls after half a minute, as the dust settles, allowing a shocked Tomura to see his battalion decimated by a single green-and-black figure posed on top of one of the many bodies piled at his feet.

---

GN-EX000 Gundam Command Core.

After the sports festival and the mess there, Nezu had advised (obliged) me to use in public and at school during address hours when there are other students something more... family-friendly, so to speak, since using armor that looked armed enough to take on an army didn't give me a very peaceful image. I didn't care about it anyway, but since he shelled the money out of his pocket for this project, I created the first third-generation Gundam that I will use for school or school-related activities with a bit of anticipation.

The idea came from taking a cue from the Core Gundam and the fact that yes, Nezu was right about some things, like that in addition to fighting I am also expected to save lives in the field in case of disasters. So I took all the data gleaned from Astrea's three generations to create an alternate version of Exia and modify her exoskeleton a bit to fit my version of the PLANET system. In this way, I can mount multiple pieces of equipment that are not necessarily for combat, but also to be useful for shipwreck situations, landslides, earthquakes, and the like. It took me relatively little time to assemble it because the Astrea although I use it mainly for short- and medium-range combat, it is extremely adaptable already from the ground up. Not to mention that with a proving ground like the USJ at hand testing, modifying, and adjusting the equipment is relatively easy since I have simulations as close to reality as possible at hand whenever needed.

So in addition to the six armors shown by Hiroto and others assembled for salvage where needed, I added the command pack from which it takes its name to be used as a standard form so as not to leave the frame mostly bare. So the only thing that differentiates the Command core from previous armor is the GN drive and the fact that the prehensile armor pieces are made of E-carbon, not adamantium like the frame or the Astrea F2.

I didn't really intend to use the Command Core outside of civilian chores, but I still built the frame out of adamantium giving it the highest performance I could at the time because it could be repurposed later on, for supernatural combat if needed...not that it's not suitable even now, mind you, but in the future it might need more extreme equipment, so...I'm going off the rails. E-Carbon could hardly be harmed by today's quirk or technology, even supernatural creatures up to high class can hardly do so; therefore, I used it to save money since I saw Nezu's fur lose color when I presented him with materials and prices needed to assemble one of my armors.

With the Command pack (standard for armed general combat in civilian environments) he quipped:

A 4-tube missile launcher over the left shoulder. It works with the large backpack sensor unit and is extremely accurate. It can mount a wide range of ammunition, including non-lethal.

Command Sword: a large physical sword based on the GN Sword V of 00 Qan[T], it can be used to slice targets like a sword or slash enemies like a hatchet. It is mounted on the backpack when not in use. The only peculiar ability is that it was originally intended to be part of the equipment of the Astrea Type F, so it is made of adamantium and has traces of Agreas ore, making it extremely responsive to almost any source of energy and optimal for use in combination with the GN Burst, although the yield is less for obvious reasons compared to the Proto-Buster sword.

Heavy machine gun: has excellent suppression capabilities due to its large caliber and large magazine capacity. It can be used as an automatic, semi-automatic, or single-shot weapon thanks to its fire selector. It also has options to be mounted under the barrel, such as the ICER (Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting Railgun) which with a mix of engineering and biochemistry, these custom tranquilizer weapons are designed as perfect tools to stop someone without killing them. It fires nonlethal bullets with high stopping power that rupture beneath the subcutaneous tissue. From there, the bullets release a small amount of dendrotoxin (100 nanoliters), incapacitating the target long enough to arrest them and without any harmful side effects in the process.

Arms Shield: defensive armament equipped on the left arm. A large-caliber ray gun is integrated into the rear, and combat knives are stored on both sides of the shield.

Two small knives: are stored in the shield. They are weapons of last resort that are used when I run out of all weapons.

I have other nonlethal options, but at the moment they are of no use since I am fighting zombies.

"What the hell happened!?" mutters Muscolar "Hey, Shigaraki, is that him?"

After getting rid of the insects in just half a minute, which was tedious, to say the least, given the awkward reaction times they have along with their general slowness, poor physical abilities, and lack of any kind of equipment useful for anything, I turn my gaze toward them.

It could have taken me much less, even with the limiters to lower the force to a nonlethal level, but prevention is better than cure, so I took my time not to accidentally kill someone.

Muscular is a large, massive, and extremely muscular man with short, spiky, sandy-colored blond hair with small black eyes. He is currently clad in muscle bands fraction to his quirk, although they are cut the various places and have holes courtesy of my weapons. This is how he reacted by some miracle to my assault.

Didn't he have a scar in one eye though? I also remember that the grandson of...Mandalay, if I remember correctly, had been orphaned when his parents tried to stop this guy. The incident hasn't happened yet? Well, good for him then.

The other individual who catches my attention is Shigaraki Tomura, who is obviously younger than his counterpart but still covered with his hands. He is looking at me with boundless hatred in his eyes as he angrily scratches his neck.

"Yes, it is-"

It is interrupted by a strange screech, followed by several yellowish (?) blades raining down on us.

I moved, even though I knew I would not take damage, just so that my enemies would not know how durable this new armor was.

However, I changed the rifle mode to automatic and fired at the deformed blades that approached, destroying most of them in the rain of bullets before they could hit the ground and slaughter the villains I had knocked out.

I don't care about them. I think that if you're going to kill you have to be ready to die as well, but Nezu and the teachers would chew me up pretty good once I finished here if I let all the unconscious thugs die, so I defended them.

"MOONFISH WHAT THE FUCK IS YOUR PROBLEM?!" shouts Tomura pissed off when the Noumu defended him again, this time from one of his 'allies'.

"Meat...there is so much meat...Haaaah, it's beautiful..."

Held in the air by his elongated teeth, a man covered from head to toe in a black straitjacket held together by black restraints decorated with red spikes. These same restraints connect to metal clamps that cover Moonfish's head and hold his lips open, highlighting his many misshapen teeth as well as making him drool.

"Who cares what his problem is? I can kill the brat, can't I?!" shouts Muscular impatiently, with a maniacal grin when he hears that the target is me, and I'm standing right in front of him.

That comment clears up any doubts I might have had about the current circumstances. I found it strange that Shigaraki would attack in this way without All Might as a teacher at UA, but maybe he is trying to provoke it by targeting me. Maybe using moles at UA as informants to find out where and what I would have done during school hours if someone who was kicked out because of me held such a grudge that he would do business with someone like him to make me pay, even if only through a series of contacts.

Not that they hadn't tried before. I lost count of how many people, even before the mess with HPSC tried because I blew off tempting assignments to somebody.

Competitiveness brings out the worst in everyone.

However, could Nezu have known about this detail and used the trip to get rid of the moles, using me instead of the other students as bait so that he could find and get rid of All for one, in case he was still alive?

We have never really talked about it, but since All Might or Gran Torino have found nobody and anyone who knows him knows that he has cash everywhere if I did not know that he is alive and well I would surely doubt his death and try to ascertain his status, even years after his 'disappearance'. Perhaps for the principal, this is the opportunity he has been waiting for to clear up any doubts.

It is ... very much in the realm of possibility.

Nezu, despite his friendly and cordial behavior, one thing that almost everyone keeps forgetting is that he is not human. He may emulate our emotions, expressions, language, or morals, but to him, these things are just foreign and external concepts that he uses to interact more easily with people. He hardly perceives them as his own; to him, they are just useful tools for communicating with his interlocutors 90% of the time.

He is exactly like me in that sense, both of us are too twisted to understand and think as normal human beings would, even by supernatural standards, although in my case my state is more the fault of the origin I awakened as a child that distorted my worldview more than it already was, causing the premature formation (still ongoing) of my reality marble. Those traits lead me to do whatever I think is necessary for the advancement of science and technology because I am irritated by the way Humanity wastes its potential that would help it develop, and Nezu does the same with his agenda, whether it is educating UA students or whatever.

Balancing our inability to perceive the world as others do is the magic trio for me, and the UA staff for him I guess. Maybe that's why we get along so well (much to the horror of those around us).

That and the fact that raising a generation of people who are not a bunch of idiot sheep is conducive to progress. If that were not the case, we would have a lot more problems.

That's why I wouldn't be surprised if his idea is just that once he puts the pieces together.

"Mah, who cares," I huffed to myself, returning my focus to the current situation.

I quickly analyze Moonfish, and a warning appears in the interface declaring to capture or kill him on sight. Considering that he is already on death row and his cannibalistic tendencies, my response is obvious.

A quick look at Muscular shows me almost the same situation. It is extremely dangerous to be captured immediately if you have the chance, alternatively kill on sight.

That's all I need to know.

"YOU ARE RIGHT! WHO CARES ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE'S MOTIVATIONS?!" howls Muscular launching himself at me after covering himself with new muscle fibers to replace the ruined ones, much faster than anyone besides me could move, I guess "BLOOD IS THE ONLY THING THAT MATTERS!"

I pass under the mass of reed-thick flesh he calls an arm, and once behind him, I slash the tendons of his knees with my sword, causing him to fall.

"I guess you're not going to give up just because I ask, right?"

"OF COURSE NOT-!"

Although the question was rhetorical, he responded as he turned around in an attempt to punch me.

"I thought so."

I swing the sword and stab him in the back before he can turn around, blocking both his comments and his words. Then I twist the sword back into the wound, shattering his vertebrae and tearing his severed nerves.

Muscular makes a choked sound, stunned by pain and the unanticipated blow, but I ignore this fact and hit him with a roundhouse kick that partially buries the now permanently paralyzed villain in the ground, unconscious.

About halfway through that movement, I pointed the Arm Shield at Moonfish and fired without hesitation as he threw a myriad of bone blades at me again.

Needless to say, they melted so quickly as if they had never been there, as soon as they came in contact with the rosy beam of the shield cannon, vaporizing even the villain.

The only thing left of him are two feet that fell to the ground almost completely burned off from the rest of his body.

That was the moment the remaining Noumu threw themselves at me, except one of them, who remained to guard Shigaraki.

The one with a squat, muscular figure tried to bite me with the toothed mouth on his palm, followed by a Noumu with a muscular female figure with a deformed animal (?) head and sharp claws.

With a swing of the sword, I sliced off the arms of both of them, then kicked the big one, which was shot back and swept the others away as if they were Skittles.

"And...I was... I..."

"Yes..."

"It's been a long time..."

"Now we can go wild properly..."

I impassively observe the wanted bio-engineered soldiers.

"Let's go wild...kill everyone!"

At the war cry of the female noumu, everyone begins their assault.

I also do the same. An almost three-meter-tall noumu with an elephant's head and arms considerably more massive than they should be, similar to those of a gorilla jumps toward me, trying to strike me, but I slice through both limbs and trunk with a 180-degree horizontal slash, to also catch the female noumu who had moved behind me trying to attack me from behind.

Surprisingly, he had good instincts and instead of getting decapitated, he backed off as best he could, getting a cut on his...face. Nose? Exposed brain? I mean, at that height, that cut both eyes.

The space around me distorts slightly and my armor begins to squeak, but it does not give way at all. E-carbon is not affected at all by such pressure, let alone adamantium.

The GN drive hums rather loudly, and in an instant I reset the distance between me and the armored-headed noumu. He didn't have time to react. I split his skull with the shield, sticking the edge where the barrel of the GN rifle is in one eye and fire. Your head melts off in seconds, but just to make sure he didn't get back up I cut him in two halves, which fall to the ground with a wet 'splat'.

The remaining three charge me, behind the largest Noumu, which swells swelling to almost five meters tall.

I clamp my right hand around the hilt of the sword and GN particles engulf it as if it were a light green flame. It swings releasing a GN burst, overwhelming everything it encounters, uprooting trees, rocks, earth, and people alike.

"Mn...I would say a solid C."

GN Burst with an adamantium blade to act as a conduit can hit like a C-grade anti-army noble phantasm at best, while with the identical components and vibranium to act as a catalyst the destructive power exceeds that of Caldborg, which is A-grade. Off the top of my head, I would say that GN burst is about 2.5 times more powerful with the Proto-Buster sword, but it does not get to a full B+ even if it is only a couple of notches from that threshold. The GN power lines would get too overloaded to go any further without the stave bits that empty the GN condensers to feed GN particles into the sword, although neither material would break from the strain.

It's really scary how versatile vibranium is, no wonder everyone at Marvel is waging war to get it...

I shift my gaze from the sword to the ground. The thugs who are part of the Villan league are mostly all alive, though they are blown away by the shockwave as I have their backs to them and push the noumu away during our brief 'fight'.

Yes, no, it cannot be called that. The three charred and unrecognizable bodies of those three don't even move anymore, having lost almost 70 percent of their structure. They never had a chance from the beginning. They woke up recently and have not had time to adapt to their new abilities, but I am not a 'hero' in training or pro like others. My machines are infinitely more armed and lethal than their quirks, as well as being generally much more versatile.

There is no comparison.

"Hey, you..." the voice was almost an anger-filled whisper, covered by the sound of dry skin being scratched hard "The noumu couldn't do anything...did that doctor make fun of me?!"

"What's wrong with you?" I ask lazily, shifting my gaze to Shigaraki, who winces back "Aren't you going to come down? You said you were here to kill me, didn't you? I'd like to see you try."

"Eek!" Hearing mine he takes several steps back, slamming into the only remaining noumu. His nervousness subsides, as does the constant scratching of his neck, until he stops "...that's right, I still have this noumu...it was designed for him, but given the situation...yeah, I think he could do it...right, the game goes on as long as the boss is here!"

"..."

Looking more closely at the Noumu, I notice that it is very similar to the one in the USJ. Among those who arrived here tonight, it is probably the only one with a humanoid figure that is not deformed except the head, has the usually exposed brain with eyes implanted on it, and ends with a bird-like beak full of sharp teeth. He is six feet tall and extremely muscular with scars on his lower and upper limbs. He wears only threadbare shorts and skull-shaped knee pads.

I say 'very similar' rather than identical because the DNA detected is not part of four different people but eight, so there must be more inside.

Judging by the way he spat that 'he' from earlier must have been the one prepared for All Might...two years in advance. It couldn't have been a coincidence that several High Ends and one High End suddenly popped up out of nowhere, especially since that bastard who calls himself a 'doctor' will have the means to produce them on mass with MLA resources alone. They must have used something else to prepare them, and that worries me a little. It means that All for One somehow found a powerful and resourceful ally somewhere that I missed.

But it is something to be corrected later.

USJ's noumu had superhuman strength and speed, almost to the parts with the canon's weakened All Might, plus super regeneration and shock absorption. If they had thrown that at All Might in this world, it would have brutally tarred him, so he underwent additional upgrades to compensate for the fact that with my costume the Peace Symbol has both increased range and higher performance than he should with his injuries, as well as being able to use touki, though not even comparable to before his injury.

Did they increase his regenerative capacity and the extent of shock absorption, or change with cancellation? That's the most obvious countermeasure to take, so I guess that there's more to it judging by the way Shigaraki suddenly calmed down once he realized he still had that. Not that it did much good against me, since I use slashing weapons, lasers, and explosives instead of blunt blows.

Deciding not to give him time to reorganize further, I launch myself at Shigaraki to take him down.

"Noumu"

With that simple order, the bioengineered soldier steps in front of him to protect him as my sword comes down on him. Despite the incredible resilience, I knew of the former human, with the speed at which I was moving and the rank B strength of the Command core, I practically barely resisted as the sword cut from his right shoulder and exited from his left hip.

Noumu's wound finished closing the moment the blade came out of him.

I honestly looked a little astonished at his most extreme regeneration speed I've ever seen in a quirk. Or anywhere else. The only one faster I know of is Avalon's. Absurdly, his wounds closed faster than those of servants I have faced or seen, even with a command spell.

I duck backward when he tries to grab me, trying to decapitate him in the process, but the Noumu ignores the throat cut that disappears just as quickly as if it had never been there, to begin with.

The most absurd thing was that I was not holding back the strength of my armor at all.

The thrusters hum and I move several meters away in seconds to get back on my feet, but the Noumu catches up to me just as quickly. A green flame erupts from my sword and I hit him in the chest with another GN burst.

A large explosion engulfs the area, shaking the earth and sweeping away everything around us.

---

"Guhh..."

"Stay still!" snarls Vlad King, pressing the red crystallized mass against Kurogiri's metal collar, which squeaks in response.

Stopping him had been rather simple. Kurogiri is not a noumu designed for direct combat despite his developed intellect, so taking him down was rather quick for the two teachers, especially since they knew in advance what to expect and had time to prepare for him.

As soon as he appeared from his portal, when he was beginning his presentation Aizawa turned off his quirk from a tree branch so as not to hit Vlad with the Eraser as well, thus giving the 1-B teacher a chance to create a heavy hammer and hit the warp gate, pinning him to the ground. Still out of his line of sight from the leaves, Vlad immobilized him by altering the shape of the in a vise that kept Kurogiri pinned to the ground, tight enough that he could barely breathe.

An explosion shakes the area, jolting teachers, who see a blue-green torrent ripping through the forest where a troubled student is struggling.

"What's going on down there!" shouts Vlad from the sudden frightening encounter.

"Something dangerous..." replied Aizawa annoyedly, seeing the cloud of dust more than fifty meters high that had risen soon after.

As if the world wanted to prove them right, not even two minutes later an equally loud second green explosion resounds noisily through the forest, making the ground shake beneath their feet. Then a third, and shortly after a fourth. The blasts from whatever his student was facing began to get progressively louder, raising dust clouds as high as more than twenty meters as the clash continued.

"We have to go-"

"No," replied before the 1-A teacher could finish.

"Why?! If he's in trouble we have to go down there! He's still one of our students!" protests Sekijiro Kan decidedly against staying on the sidelines.

"Think about it, you idiot," Aizawa sighed at his colleague's fiery behavior, "If there are villains strong enough for him to use those kinds of attacks, then by going down there we would only be in his way, and we both know when it's dangerous with a suit of armor on."

A particularly violent blow splits the earth, sinking the area where that ruckus is taking place. A misshapen figure, nearly twenty meters long and ten meters tall lifts what appears to be a limb and slams it to the ground. A small earthquake shakes the area again, creating new and larger craters before a green blade mows down the monster.

The only result achieved is that flesh bubbles began to form in the wound stopping the bleeding, creating new clusters of organic matter, and distorting its figure even more.

Vlad's mouth closes upon seeing that.

Obviously, as a UA faculty member, he had greater access to information about the (alleged) capabilities UA has available to him. Not that he needed them to begin with. The peace symbol had publicly admitted in one of the many interviews that also concerned Jack that his favorite student is capable of keeping up with him in a 1vs1 battle and that they could not fight seriously without risking killing each other. Most people think he was exaggerating his claims to 'make him look better than he was,' but things were as All Might said. All that is known of Scathach is that he is monstrously strong although no one knows for sure how much, is skilled with anything that could be considered a weapon, and was also a teacher in Ireland before he moved there. Even from her first days at school, however, practically everyone knew that as soon as she and the most controversial student UA had ever had went slightly over the top, they became walking disasters.

Nobody with an ounce of brain inside the AU questions the judgment of the peace symbol on him. So it's pretty much obvious that if he sets foot down there and that's an All Might level threat, then he's pretty much fodder for the slaughter.

It would only get in his way.

"Damn..." that's why the only thing Vlad could do is clench his fists and curse helplessly in the face of a confrontation beyond his reach.

Aizawa understood that feeling perfectly, having experienced it for a long time as a student until he figured out how to use what he had to his advantage. That is why the only thing that makes him uncomfortable is not the feeling of helplessness, but the fact that one of his six students had to be constantly put in such situations after not even a single semester.

Although he doesn't show it very often, he is concerned about the complete lack of emotion with which the troubled boy approaches such situations. Too cold and distant, too desensitized, to the point of not even seeming human anymore.

It perfectly highlighted how fake and fragile society was when the harsh reality kicked in. All it took was for one boy without quirk to emerge to put everyone on edge and push them to give their worst to reject reality.

Thus, Aizawa continued to silently watch the troubled boy fight his battle.

---

I understood rather quickly the changes made to that Noumu.

As I imagined, they had made his regeneration exponentially faster, as well as making him look like rubber (although he was a ball of muscle, an enhancing punch from GN burst simply bounced off leaving him with burns). The problem came later. I already knew that he was fast and very strong to keep up with the peace symbol, but it seems that All for One was more than a little intimidated by the equipment I had prepared for my former employer; therefore, it decided to also include a set of quirks that increases his strength based on the damage he takes, one that accumulates power in proportion to the severity of his wounds, and another that, judging by the way he turned out, turns him into some kind of giant bomb?

Probably the others are to harness that stored energy, or to make his kamikaze attack more destructive, although I cannot say for sure without analyzing it in the lab.

I had hit it with half a dozen GN Burst blasts, several missiles, and bullets, and as it began to take more and more damage it began to grow larger and more deformed. There were agglomerations of...something, which looked like an animal and human limbs, some unable to support its ever-increasing weight due to its reduced or distorted size; simple clusters of crap; extra heads; spikes, and so on. At some point, it also began to glow.

A misshapen limb larger than a truck with two trailers collides with the flat part of my sword as I try to block it and prevent it from crushing some villain league survivors, but although I had tripled the strength of the command core with the trans-am, I was still pushed back nearly a hundred meters.

"Kruuuh...krr...kraaAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

A distorted howl resounds in the night. The former human tries to turn around, falling on his side but it does not seem to matter, for his body, unable to contain all the accumulated power opens, transforming the upper part of his body into a mouth, from which a purple orb bursts out.

Then the Noumu...does it roar? Does it shoot? Does it vomit? A huge bluish laser, big enough to engulf a small town.

And I couldn't move, because Aizawa and Vlad were right behind me.

"GN Field deployment."

The Command core's prehensile armor pieces move a bit to expose the GN condensers on the chest and in the four limbs, allowing large amounts of particles, facilitated by the Trans-am, to form an emerald green bubble of one and a half meters around me.

All the accumulated energy of the Noumu crashes down on me, forcibly dragging me back several meters. The enormous amount of heat released vaporizes anything in its path for almost half a kilometer, as well as everything around the tunnel. The particles that make up the bubble after a few moments change from green to white due to the intensity of the attack, beginning to deform due to the strain subjected by the equivalent of an anti-strength attack.

In the end, the GN fields of the Astrea and command core are not like that of the Virtue. It is a more advanced and compact prototype of the second generation. That is why the Noumu was able to go through it with brute force.

I raise the shield and try to nail my feet to the ground to hold the position, but it is difficult for multiple reasons. The E-carbon is strong, but the Noumu's blue plasma, with all that accumulated energy, has exceeded 50,000 degrees Celsius. After almost half a minute, along with the force of the crash, I began to be pushed back as my shield and outer armor were beginning to warp.

Thirty meters later, the noumu's power eventually runs out.

When the blinding light of the huge plasma jet, I saw the effects on the environment. The heat was so intense that it dug into the earth about ten meters and was thirty meters wide. With me acting as the pole, the laser had split in half, leaving a burned 'V' imprinted in the ground, at the center of which is the dormitory.

Unfortunately, most of the thugs were vaporized instantly, while the less fortunate were far enough away to have caught fire and not died immediately.

Even the noumu, now completely charred by its attack, falls apart as if it were a piece of broken coal.

I breathed a sigh of relief. I could have projected and used the shield-shaped bit-staves and reinforced it, maybe even Rho Aias if the GN field hadn't lasted long enough, but I didn't want to give more information than I had to my enemies and possible lurking observers. Fortunately, this was not the case.

I started to feel hot though, which is a bit worrisome with my enhanced body.

The trans-am shuts down when the power lines overheat. The armor still works, but the cooling system will have to work overtime to get them back up and running, and I'm not sure it will be finished by tonight, as Veda has started to do a diagnostic of the damage they have sustained; so, there will be something to replace once we get home.

I looked around, searching for Shigaraki, but he was nowhere to be seen.

If he knew about Noumu's abilities, I doubt he would have stayed close to him as he began to swell, so I have to assume he escaped somehow. Did Aizawa and Vlad let Kurogiri get away?

I looked around again with a grimace.

Honestly, it was fortunate that I started working on the Might tower. If All Might, even stronger than his counterpart, had faced this Noumu at the USJ in two years without my costume, he would have died for sure. Killing him in a few blows is very possible, even with his regeneration, both for me with the Proto-Buster sword and for All Might if he uses touki, but if his canonical counterpart, weakened and on the wane, as he was, had faced him? He might have overpowered him at the end, just barely, but he would not have survived the kamikaze attack that would have followed. Neither would 1-A.

Shortly after the battle ended, police cruisers, some ambulances, and several pro heroes from nearby towns arrived, but by that time it was all over, leaving only a scorched earth and charred corpses scattered far from what remained of the Noumu.