Here is the forty-fourth chapter in this story released in accordance with my release schedule for this story. It would appear that all the Diamond Company soldiers have been taken care of and captured and the door to the records room has been opened so it's time to sort that out and complete the mission. What could possibly go wrong now? That is all that I have for the administrative stuff I have for y'all and while there are no questions to answer here there are two guest reviews that need a response so I will do that now. Do keep them coming as your support is the best motivation for me to keep producing chapters at this kind of rate.

To Guest (guest), thank you for your review, glad to see that you enjoyed the last chapter. Yup, the change with Nero being there and how the Black Clover characters' magic or Anti-Magic have been adapted allowed for the capture of Lotus. Of course Lotus is a slippery, tricky, man so who knows what he might have in store for our heroes. Yup, time to see how Mars fights as we move to his role in the first part of the dungeon adaptation. Do keep reading and enjoying my work.

To Guest (guest), thank you for your review and continued support. Yup the Diamond Company has managed to forcibly awaken a Quirk and shown that this version of them is just as messed up if not more so than the Black Clover one because that bloody battle royale still occurred in this story. Yuno isn't one to not learn from a defeat, it shows him where to improve and he's not too proud to not mimic a strategy that works just because it worked on him and there's plenty more for Yuno and everyone else to learn going forward. Do keep reading and enjoying my work.

To Nathan Ramos (guest), thank you for your review and suggestions. I will now address them as best I can. In terms of the Diamond Company/Kingdom, if they do invade it would take all three branches working together to push them back so they're a threat all must be aware of. We do now how All for One meets his end and that will be incorporated into the story with Salem and Lucius's reactions though I'm not sure about Lucius having a time Quirk. I've not revealed his Quirk yet nor have I determined whether he and Julius are separate or sharing a body so there's still a lot to consider with him but I will consider it. In Salem's case though, well it's always hard to predict how she'll react but I'll remember this when the time comes. They can mentor Shigaraki and Cinder but that's not yet as both of them need their benefactors to be locked up first and that hasn't happened yet. Once it has though then they will be fair game though Shigaraki should have to deal with some hardship to force him to grow before Salem and/or Lucius step in to have some fun with them. There are benefits to it and Salem knows rage and grudges well so she can really help Shigaraki while there are benefits if Cinder is willing to listen. I'll think on this and once the Hideout Raid arc is over see where this might take me. Do keep reading and enjoying my work.

That is it for this pre-chapter note so it is time to sit back and enjoy the forty-fourth chapter in Black RWBY Academia.

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to these three great franchises.

Chapter 44: Chaotic Mission Completion

Lotus moaned as consciousness returned to him. His body tingled all over and wanted to spasm but for some reason couldn't while he also hurt like hell. However, as consciousness returned to him he recalled what had happened and groaned at the memory. He'd been beaten by those Black Bull students or whatever they were, only the second time people younger than him had beaten him, and knocked out when he'd tried to flee. Oddly, while his arm still felt broken, his ribs weren't so he wasn't in too much pain which confused him but as he moved to check his wounds he realized something alarming, he couldn't move.

He blinked at that and tied to call out to his men to see if they were near and conscious after their own beatings so that they could come and help him. Lotus needed it as he was on his back his arms by his sides and legs together in a dark corridor so he'd likely been immobilized where he'd been knocked out by that spirited lightning boy so they should be close by and could therefore aid him. However, as he tried to call out to them he realized that his voice wasn't working either. Strangely, he could move his mouth but he couldn't make a sound. It was as if his vocal cords had been sealed up.

At that realization Lotus realized that it wasn't just his vocal cords; it was his whole body. His muscles and joints were locked up though that was it. He could move his mouth, blink, and breath without issue but that was it, he couldn't do anything else except lay there. For a brief moment panic set in as this was a completely alien experience to Lotus but he was a senior officer in the Diamond Company and after a few deep breaths he quickly got himself under control and assess the situation.

Lotus was in pain, he could feel it in his body, mainly his broken left arm, and his muscles wanted to spasm from the lingering effects of the lightning that had been used to knock him out but couldn't. That meant that he'd not broken his neck and when you added in the issue with his vocal cords he knew that what was going on wasn't an injury or something. No, this was the effects a Quirk, that was the only explanation for how he'd ended up like this.

The moment that Lotus thought about that he realized that he had to be correct in his assessment and what's more he knew precisely who had done this to him. It was the fourth Black Bull student, the other girl with the short black hair and horns wearing a simple dark blue dress, the one who'd not engaged him at all when he fought the other 3. She must have had some kind of restraint or capture Quirk, or at least one that could be applied as such, and therefore waited until he was out to seal him up like this.

That would also explain why the aspiring Quirk Knights could move on without having to worry about Lotus and his men, they had a capture expert. Well, he should have expected that from the Quirk Knights and he gave them credit, they'd sent a good team to raid this abandoned compound.

That said it wasn't going to be enough to hold Lotus. The girl may have sealed him up but she'd not sealed up his Quirk, which he could now tell was back with him after that brat with the sword had somehow neutralize it when he'd struck Lotus with it.

Lotus could still use his Quirk and so long as the smoke was attached to his body Lotus could manipulate it however he saw fit while also controlling its density. That was just what Lotus needed as he created a layer of smoke under him to lift him off the ground. He then coated his body in it and used that to manipulate him into an upright position and turn him so that he was facing the corridor to the training hall.

If that brat made it to Mars then he could actually beat the Diamond Company's latest weapon. After all, one touch from that sword would neutralize even Mars's forcibly awakened Quirk long enough to knock him out and then that girl could seal him up just like she'd done with Lotus. That wouldn't be good but if he could get to where Mars was and then use his the more sneaky aspects of his smoke he might be able to change that depending on how this capture Quirk worked. They were still in this and with his plan in mind Lotus used his smoke to move him towards the training hall and back up his friend and comrade.

The blast doors slid open and light filled the visions of the Quirk Knights in training as they blinked in response to the surprisingly bright light. After a moment, their vision cleared and the low hum of servers and an AC unit filled their ears and they got a good look inside the records room. It was what those who knew, mainly Klaus as Luck hadn't really paid attention to the hero classes that didn't involve combat, and those who suspected, mainly Nero, it to be.

That was because before them was large room filled with several servers, a powerful AC unit to keep things cool, about a dozen or so filing cabinets that were no doubt stuffed with documents lining the walls, and a single computer terminal with a keyboard set into a desk with a chair at it about 2/3rds the way down the center aisle of the room. Other than the center aisle and a gap between the servers and the wall, the room was pretty packed which showed just how much data, both digital and physical, was being stored here.

"There are going to be hard and digital copies stored here, there always are as some things are apparently too sensitive to leave a digital trace." Klaus said as they walked in and he pulled out a specially made memory stick from his pocket. "Captain Vangeance gave me this before we left, it will break into the system and download it. We just have to activate the terminal, plug it in, and let it work."

"Give it, I'll know what to do to speed this up and try to target the most useful data." Nero said taking the memory stick out of Klaus's hand and walking forward before Klaus could say anything in protest. "Unless any of you understand technology as well as I do don't help me. Go and grab the hard files, Sir Spectacles is right, I doubt a terrorist group would have everything on the computers. Even if this is a closed system, which I suspect it is, there is always the potential that a tech based Quick could penetrate it."

"You know tech?" Klaus asked surprised and confused, the Black Bull interns were really shattering his image of them and the kind of people their scruffy Captain normally recruited but this girl was completely different to the likes of Asta and even Luck. "I didn't see that coming."

"Yes, I understand it well and have done extensive work in it, especially older systems though I can't say how that compares to this one until I'm in." Nero said as she reached the sole terminal and pulled out the chair to sit in it and began to type on the keyboard her focus fully on it before she inserted the memory stick into a port on the side of the terminal. "I was recommended for the Support Course and would have gone down that route had I not passed the Hero Entrance Exam and met Asta though I'm better at incorporating Quirk powers into items because of my own Quirk then I am with computers but I can handle this. Now let me work, this is a bit delicate and their security will be good so I need to focus."

The others did just that. It was clear that Nero knew what she was doing, which was a surprise to all of them and Noelle made a note to ask the other girl about it later, but for now Nero was right, they had to focus. Nero was getting the digital data while the others began to try to break into the filing cabinets.

It wasn't an easy task, and either Klaus had to make keys or Yuno had to use a small offensive star to break into them. Again Nero's power would have come in handy as these were locks so her bread and butter but she was the only one with any computer skills so she was left to it, as Luck and Noelle's powers would destroy the records and they needed them.

As such it was slow work but rewarding as they pulled out files and stuffed them into the satchels that they all had or put them in a special metal case with wheels that Klaus made from his foot and dragged around to keep it malleable with his Quirk. There was no time to check them, just gather them and bring them back so that headquarters and the HPSC could evaluate them and determine what useful intel could be gleamed from these record. Even with this process, it still wasn't fast enough to avoid what was coming for them.

By his estimate it took Lotus a good 15 minutes to reach the training hall via his smoke and another 10 to stealthily skirt the edges of it so that he was in position without being seen. Add in that he didn't know how long he'd been out cold for and he wasn't sure how much time the aspiring Quirk Knights had had to plunder the data here that he was supposed to retrieve if possible and destroy if not. Mars should have been able to stop them so long as he avoided that sword but as Lotus got to the area his suspicions, mainly born from still being sealed up, were confirmed and Mars had lost.

Whatever had happened to Mars he hadn't gone down without a fight as there was clear evidence of a serious battle having occurred as Lotus saw chunks of Mars's special minerals were all over the place along with a few craters in the floor and one in the ceiling leading to plenty of broken concrete as well. Additionally, there was a fair bit of broken steel around indicating a metal Quirk had been at play along with what looked like scorch marks in the concrete. Those could be the lightning boy or someone with a fire or heat Quirk, Lotus wasn't sure.

What Lotus was sure was about was that Mars had been beaten as Mars was in a steel sarcophagus on wheels with only his head free and it was lolling forwards as blood dribbled from his mouth. Clearly he'd been injured and knocked out and Lotus could only think of one person he'd seen that could do that to Mars, the spirited youth with the sword.

That sword negated the powers and effects of Quirks and if it made contact it could disrupt a Quirk Factor, it was something the Diamond Company had never experienced before and given the nature of his Quirk Mars had no way to counter a direct body hit from the sword. Once that happened Mars would have been unable to use his immense power for a few moments and that would have been enough for the rest to gang up on him and knock him out before restraining him.

However, while Mars had lost, he wasn't one of their best and likely going to be one of the next 8 Shining Generals when a spot opened up for nothing. The man was powerful, skilled, and smart, he'd learn from this defeat so that he could get around that sword if he faced it again. That meant that if Lotus could free Mars he'd be able to defeat the kids and make this place their tomb.

Of course Lotus couldn't actually free Mars himself given that his smoke wouldn't affect the steel. Plus it was clear that the steel was thick and judging by how it was separate from whoever created it he had a feeling it was a permanent creation regardless of what happened to the person who'd created it. By process of deduction it had to be made by one of the three wearing the gold robes of the Golden Dawn and they were as selective as the Diamond Company was when it came to Quirk power so Lotus didn't doubt that whichever of the three created the steel restraint knocking him out wouldn't change things.

That was fine with Lotus though because all he didn't need to actively free Mars but rather all he needed to do was wake Mars up and free whatever seals were on his body. Lotus wasn't an idiot; he knew that if he was all sealed up like this then Mars had to be as well. The Quirk that was used to seal Lotus was clearly a serious restraint power so would have been used on Mars as well while the steel was likely only to transfer Mars and add an extra layer of security in case he woke up and used his Quirk telekinetically to get around the sealing. If he did, being immobile would give his captors time to knock him out again.

That meant that if Lotus could take out the one who'd sealed him and Mars he could fall back to a safe distance and observe as Mars broke out and finished the mission. He'd have to wake up Mars as well of course but Lotus would do that for the kid, he was a friend and ally after all and Lotus always kept what he need for a sharp wake up on him because of what his smoke could do so that part would be easy once the girl with horns had been knocked out.

As such Lotus got to work. This was a pain and super draining, especially because he was fully immobile, but he could manage it as he first created a special smoke that he could that would obscure him from most people's vision as he moved his body into position to see inside the records room and find his target.

Thankfully, the girl in question was at the computer terminal typing away as she no doubt searched for useful data that could compromise many of the Diamond Company's plans for Japan so she was a direct target. Meanwhile the others worked to clear the filing cabinets that were around the edge of the room which gave Lotus an unblocked path to his target and showed Lotus that the one who could make steel was the older male in a Golden Dawn robe with glasses who was likely a 3rd year at U.A.

All this worked for Lotus as he concentrated and sent out a specialized smoke that he'd developed years ago that was useful in rendering suspects or subduing those who were misbehaving and focused as he moved it in a single stream that went from his body and through the air towards the girl with horns on her head. The smoke was an odorless and colorless smoke that could knock a person out cold if they inhaled too much of it so it was a variant of what he'd used on the lightning boy earlier though it wouldn't last long, 5 minutes at most, and took a lot to produce and control.

However it was fast acting and 5 minutes was all Lotus needed because once the girl was out cold he should be free and he could then use some smelling salts that he always kept on him for when he did have to knock someone out to wake up Mars. With Mars awake and free, well things would shift back in their favor. They'd still succeed in their mission; Lotus was sure of it.

Nero was focused on getting the data as fast as possible. She understood computers, back before everything she'd learned a lot about them from her Prince as well as their many uses in addition to their work on how to incorporate Quirks into support items that could make people's lives easier, but she was a little rusty and this was a complicated system.

It wasn't that Nero couldn't do it, however, as she'd caught up with the ever advancing technology over the last year or so and worked in her free time to bring her skills into line with what she'd expect in the field but this stuff was in the middle between what she knew really well and what she was currently learning. Thankfully, it leant more towards what Nero knew then what she didn't and as such she was able to get through the system's security with the aid of the memory stick and find the right data.

There was a lot but the item that the Golden Dawn had provided expediated the process immensely which meant that Captain Vangeance likely had a contact in the support sector with government clearance who could make this because it wasn't something most heroes had access to no matter the branch. Nero didn't really question it however as she used to aid her intrusion into the system and in no time she was in.

As soon as Nero was in she began to sift through the system to prioritize what would aid Japan from another attack and teach them more about people like the Diamand Villain with the likely awakened Quirk they'd just faced. This way they'd know what international crimes the Diamond Company were creating while also ensuring that they could better prepare for their next attack and judging by the snippets that Nero was seeing as she was copying the data on the memory stick they were definitely planning another attack.

It was a laborious task so Nero focused solely on it while the others got the hard data that was potentially even more useful as it was likely too sensitive to store on a computer. Alas Nero was so focused on her task that she didn't notice anything until she suddenly got dizzy and before she knew it she was falling to the side and the ground was rushing up to meet her as her vision blurred.

This wasn't good because Nero knew that if she passed out for even a second then her unnatural seals would be broken so with a desperate grab of her left hand Nero reached out and yanked the memory stick out and pulled it to her so that she could clutch it to her chest as she fell. Nero wasn't sure what had happened but she knew that if she was knocked out then things would get chaotic again and they might lose the data they fought so hard for so her last act before she hit the floor with a crash was to preserve what they'd gotten as she passed out as she hit the ground.

The crash alerted the others to what had happened and they all turned, and in some cases moved or leapt up onto the servers to see what had happened. What they saw was Nero on her side, the chair tipped over and the terminal on with a lot of text displayed on the screen. That wasn't good and Noelle was the first to act.

"Nero!" Noelle said rushing down the center of the room to her friend and getting down on her knees and rolling Nero onto her back as Mimosa followed her a few seconds later. "Are you awake? What happened?"

"Is she breathing?" Mimosa asked as Noelle gently lifted Nero's head and put it on her lap careful to avoid her horns. "Her eyes are closes so she's out cold at least."

"Yeah she's breathing." Noelle said as she saw Nero's chest rise and fall in a low rhythm. "She's just been knocked out or put to sleep the way Miss Midnight can. I don't know how it happened though."

"How isn't the issue now." Yuno said as he looked from atop a serve that he's transported himself to with one of his stars. "Her Quirk, what do you know about it?"

"What do you mean?" Noelle asked looking at him as Asta reached them great sword still in hand from earlier and ready to defend them. "What does that have to do with this?"

"Does it work like most Quirks and stop working if she's not conscious?" Yuno asked. "I know that if I'm knocked out my stars would flicker out, Asta's swords will vanish in a few seconds as we saw in the final of the Sports Festival, and I'm sure any water under your control would stop being under your control if you're rendered unconscious. What about her seals."

"Er…" Noelle said understanding what Yuno was saying but too proud to admit to him that he was right to focus on it and instead focused on the situation and realized a slight problem with that. "We don't actually know what happens to her seals when she gets knocked out and I never asked."

"It has to depend on the seal." Asta said thinking on what he knew about Nero's Quirk and getting all their attention. "I think some stay and some don't."

"How'd you know?" Klaus asked.

"Because she was the one who initially healed me after the Entrance Exam." Asta said. "I had several cuts from what happened and apparently they remained healed even after Nero passed out as well. Plus remember her after the Battle Trial, Nero was cut multiple times and she said afterwards that she broke her ankle and had to heal it before she reached the bomb but she passed out at the end. However, she wasn't bleeding and her ankle looked normal when they took her to the Nurses Office."

"Right she was fine if covered in blood." Noelle recalled though it was a vague recollection as what happened to her and what Asta did, with Weiss's aid, was more vivid to Noelle than the aftermath. "But those are broken bones and lacerations. What she does with them is basically heal them back to normal by sealing them up as if there is no damage. I think I get what Yuno is on about. The issue isn't Nero's healing seals or unlocking a door, it's her more esoteric seals, the ones that aren't natural and can only occur because of her Quirk."

"Like joints and muscles." Asta said recalling what Nero could do. "Yeah I don't know how that works. She's been knocked out a few times this year but she'd never done that before being knocked out. Well, she wasn't sealed to the ground when Tokoyami knocked her out in the Sports Festival and she'd been doing that to crawl towards him without being knocked back but I can't say for certain that she was knocked out while sealed to the ground so that's harder to determine."

"If it's not natural then I don't think they'd stick." Mimosa theorized. "That's a different application of her Quirk and likely requires an active release which means they'd be released if she was unconscious."

"We really need Midoriya for this." Asta said. "He'd be able to give a better assessment of Nero's Quirk."

"Who?" Yuno asked.

"Midoriya, he's the guy who destroyed the battlefield against Todoroki and beat you in the Obstacle Race." Asta said which was enough for Yuno to recall the crazy, almost Asta-like, green haired kid in Asta's class with an extremely powerful Quirk but almost no control over it. "He's a friend in my class who really gets Quirks and analyzes them in ways that I don't understand. If anyone could give us an insight into how Nero's Quirk works it would be him."

"Well he's not here so we can't get his assessment and I doubt that there's phone signal." Noelle said though Asta checked and confirmed that. "But we should assume that her seals on the Diamond Company soldiers are broken and work from that. What happened to her can't be natural so she was likely targeted because of her Quirk which means that there's still an active enemy."

"Whatever the case, even if her seals are broken the only one who's a true threat is in my steel, he's not getting out." Klaus said confidently. "So it's moot."

"You don't know that." Asta said glaring at Klaus where he was near the near the first bank of servers. "He…"

Before he could finish there was a groan and Nero slowly opened her eyes getting all their attention. For her part Nero blearily looked up before blinking to clear her vision and realized she was lying on the ground with her head in Noelle's lap, she could tell by the cloths and that she had at least some view of the ceiling which she likely wouldn't if it was Mimosa. It was a surprisingly gentle thing for Noelle to do and showed her growth though Nero was a little light headed from what had happened and said the first thing that came to her mind given who's lap her head was on.

"Sorry, I know you'd prefer Asta here Noelle." Nero groaned out. "Next time."

That got an eep from Mimosa while Noelle went bright red and leapt up causing Nero to fall back and hit the back of her head on the ground with an unpleasant sounding thud. That didn't sound good and Nero saw stars from the impact.

"Ow." Nero said as Noelle was back by her side.

"Sorry, I didn't mean that." Noelle said kneeling down but not touching Nero just to be safe. "You startled me when you woke up. What happened?"

"My fault there, I'm still a little…" Nero began before she tailed off as she suddenly realized what Noelle had said and everything started to come back to her. "Wait, Noelle, did you say I woke up?"

"Yeah you passed out and fell to the floor." Noelle said. "It was sudden so we don't know what happened but we suspect foul play."

"It's got to be a Quirk and likely that smoke guy if I had to say which really isn't good." Nero said worry in her voice though she didn't get up. "My unnatural seals aren't permanent. Yes what I can do can be permanent but only if it's a natural lock or something that is sealed back into it's normal position or function like broken bones or lacerated skin. When I seal something that shouldn't be sealed naturally it will break if I pass out."

"Don't worry we deduced that but my steel will…" Klaus began confidence in his voice despite no one else having deduced what he did before there was a roar and an explosion behind them that came from the entrance thus shattering his deduction.

The only thing that saved them from massive chunks of steel hitting them was a quick constellation shield from Yuno that blocked the shrapnel just in time, well that and Luck who wasn't near zipping away and along the servers with his Quirk though he fried some of them in the process. That said Yuno's actions did leave him open to an attack but right now he was more focused on protecting his friends than himself, which he managed to do.

However the same couldn't be said for the computers where were damaged or destroyed by the chunks along with a few of the filing cabinets. That wasn't good but what was worse was the sight that greeted them when they turned their attention to the entrance to the data room where they'd left the captured Diamond soldier.

He was now standing in the doorway once again conscious though blood still ran down his chin but he didn't notice that and neither did the aspiring Quirk Knights. That was because he was now encased in a massive crystalline armor that formed a humanoid, almost golem-like, shape which filled the doorway and then some. The armor made the man taller than they were as his upper chest, shoulders, and head were visible making it look like he was in a cockpit of sorts rather than wearing it, and sharp crystals protruded outwards in every direction. It was an impressive and terrifying display of power.

It didn't end there though as before any of them could speak lined of crystals burst forth from the ground and captured Klaus, Luck, and Yuno where they were which in latter two's case destroyed the servers that they was on. Under normal circumstances Yuno might have been able to avoid it but because he'd been focused on protecting the others from the steel that was blasted at them when the Diamond soldier broke free he'd not been fast enough to avoid capture.

The same couldn't be said for Asta and the girls as they were slightly further away so Asta just had time to bring his great sword around and slash down intercepting the crystals as they burst from the ground and preventing their capture. That was fine with Yuno as he fully trusted that a free Asta would find a way to either free him, win, or do both so they were still in this so long as Asta was fighting. As for why the man had gone for a capture and not tried to kill them outright, well that was beyond them, not that that was at the top of their minds right now.

"How is this possible?" Klaus said as he tried to move but couldn't and the crystals formed up his body to keep more in place and force his hands to the sides to prevent him from properly using his Quirk before ending at his neck with spikes of crystals lightly pressing against his skin but not yet piercing it while Luck and Yuno were similarly restrained. "My steel should have been enough to hold him even if the Black Bull girl's Quirk was broken. You were unconscious and injured, how are still able to fight? This shouldn't be possible."

"I had to heal his ribs so he didn't drown on his own blood or suffer some other kind of major injury." Nero said as the man coughed out blood. "But he was out cold. My guess is some kind of stimulant was used to wake him up after I was went down. If someone knocked me out, and at this point I'm all but certain that it was that smoke guy from earlier, then he would have had a plan to wake up his ally."

"It doesn't matter how he broke out of the steel because he did so clearly those crystals or whatever they are can do that." Noelle said as she leapt up and towards the Diamond villain while drawing water from her pout to the end of her wand. "We can still fight and so long as Asta can get there we…"

Noelle didn't get to finish her sentence before the left arm of the crystal armor shot forward in an unnatural way and extended out of the armor to slam into Noelle's chest hard and toss her back as she spat out a spray of blood from her mouth her eyes wide as pain burst through her body. The move also destroyed many of the servers near them along with the sole terminal that Nero had been using but they all ignored that as Noelle hit the ground back first with a loud thud and slid over it a few feet.

The front of her dress had been ripped open down the middle and she had a jagged laceration running from her navel to just below her throat with and another on her left shoulder. It was bad and Noelle grunted and coughed out blood as she lay there trying to remain conscious her body twitching slightly from the pain spasming through it.

It was bad but it could have been worse. Mars hadn't put his all into it because he wasn't fully in it mentally, flashbacks to before the procedure that forcibly awakened his Quirk, to memories of a girl he was close to back when they were kids and what they were forced to go through during the selection process, were starting to come back to him. It had caused Mars to blunt his attack and go for captures not kills which confused him but he pushed that away as he focused on the only real threat in the room.

"Noelle!" Asta roared in anger at what had happened his eyes wide.

"Asta, deal with the villain!" Nero shouted as she pushed the pain from her head as adrenaline dumped into her body and she rolled over before she sprang forward in a low sprint towards Noelle with Mimosa only a few steps behind her. "I can help her!"

"Yuno, shield them!" Asta said shouted as he turned to Mars and charged his great sword in both of his hands as the two girls reached Mimosa. "You're going to pay for hurting my friend!"

"It took getting hit by you to realize what you can do but I've figured it out now, I know what your power is." Mars said as Asta charged Mars while Yuno mentally created a dome of stars around Nero, Noelle, and Mimosa and formed a constellation shield to protect them which he could do despite his predicament. "Your sword can destroy anything produced by a Quirk once it makes contact with it. It can also disrupt a Quirk Factor if it hits it, which for me is my whole body. So all I need to do is avoid being hit by that blade. Can it help when the attack is too big for it?"

With that Mars blasted off the end of his right fist right at Asta, the minerals reforming to replace it as it flew at the charging Asta though it took longer than normal to reform as Mars was pushing his Quirk past its limit at the moment. Asta didn't notice this as he was so focused on his attack and the anger that he had for what the bastard had done to Noelle that his sole priority was beating the Diamond villain.

As such Asta was almost too late to shift his sword into a position that could deal with the attack coming at him, well that and he was almost to close to do so. Thankfully, he just about managed it as he twisted the great sword so that the flat of the blade was facing the oncoming spiky mass of crystal and intercepted the projectile on it with a boom.

Asta couldn't dissipate the force of the impact as his body was behind his sword rather than swinging it like a baseball bat but he did blunt the spikes for the most part. Therefore, rather than be skewered he protected his chest and face as the spikes broke off on the sword before he was blasted back by the force of it.

He was still hurt, the spikes that weren't blunted did cut up his face and sides, ripping up his shirt in the process, with at least one piercing his lower abdomen but it wasn't fatal and the adrenaline coursing through Asta allowed him to ignore it. As such Asta roared through the pain and impact as he pushed his sword out and sent the ball back at the Diamond villain even as he was tossed back at the same time.

The force threw Asta back several feet past where Noelle was being tended to before he hit the ground thanks to the angle and bounced off it, his great sword flying out of his hand and slamming into one of the as of yet undamaged servers. Asta just continued backwards until he hit one of the servers at the back of the room that closed off the center aisle and crashed through it to hit the far concrete wall with a jarring thud that caused him to cough out blood as he slid down to sit on the ground.

Meanwhile, the spikey mineral ball was blasted back at Mars and slammed into the broad chest on his mineral golem, or titan as he called it, with twice the force he'd sent out at and blew up. The force almost broke through the minerals and he was in too much pain to heal it as he staggered back from it and spat out more blood. That he'd not expected but as with the effort it had taken to create the titan and break through the steel imprisoning him a few moments ago, Mars pushed through it as he steadied himself and made sure that no one else could attack him.

It was more a sense honed from his training than anything else as he'd recalled the star Quirk user could teleport or fast transport himself so he'd made sure that the minerals encasing him shot out from within the encasement to lightly pierce the aspiring Quirk Knight when he created that shield for the girls. To add to it Mars made sure that the tips of the minerals pressing into the boy's neck were deep enough to draw a few drops of blood.

It was basically a statement, do anything more like break out or create those offensive stars and you will die before you can finish creating a star. Yuno got it and didn't try to use a transportation star though he kept his eyes open for a chance to attack while noting as the dust from Asta's rebound cleared that the chest of the armor was still cracked so clearly the Diamond villain wasn't as strong as he'd been earlier. This was likely due to a mix of Quirk overuse and his injuries so Yuno kept a close eye on that looking for anything that he could use even if it was in a support capacity.

"Hold on Noelle." Nero said as all this was going on, the stars illuminating the girl as she worked. "I'm sorry but I'm going to have to open the rest of your top to heal you. Thankfully the boys are too busy to notice but I'll do what I can to protect your modesty."

Noelle just groaned in pain, not really able to focus on what Nero was saying. The hit had been a serious one and she couldn't really focus so didn't notice Nero reaching over and pulling open the remains of the top of her dress, exposing her breasts in the process and placing both hands on Noelle's chest, one on her abdomen and another on her upper chest and between Noelle's breasts.

It was the best places for Nero because it allowed her palms to cover as much of the wound as possible before her hands glowed blue and she began to seal up the long laceration that Noelle had suffered. Nero had of course used some sterilizing wipes she kept on her for such work before because she was working with an open wound but still her hands were now stained with Noelle's blood.

"It will be ok Noelle." Mimosa said reassuring as she took Noelle's left hand in hers and squeezed while focusing on her right hand as she formed a seed in her palm. "Here, this will help with the pain. Eat it."

For the second time that day Mimosa created her special flower for pain relief and as Nero worked she reached over and put it in Noelle's mouth as she moaned on the ground. It wasn't much and it was all that Mimosa could really do at the moment but she was going to do all she could to help her cousin out at the moment.

That was because while Noelle may have had issues with her Quirk control and the way her siblings treated her growing up, which had led to the attitude that she'd had before coming to U.A., she'd always been there for Mimosa when Mimosa fell or was clumsy and that support had meant a lot to Mimosa. It was why she treasured her friendship with her cousin and that had turned to respect when Mimosa had seen how hard Noelle worked to try and control her Quirk despite how most in the Great Houses never worked hard because of how powerful their Quirks.

All of this made Noelle the kind and dedicated person that she truly was once you got past her defensive exterior and was why Mimosa was going to help because Noelle was her closest friend and meant so much to her. To add to it Noelle had grown so much in such a short time at U.A. and Mimosa loved the new version that was developing as Noelle's true nature was finally starting to come out now that she had friends who supported her, showed her how to properly use her Quirk, and she was away from her toxic family so there was no way that they'd all die down here as they all had so much more growing to do.

Noelle let out another groan but she trusted Mimosa, her cousin had been her only true friend growing up and like Mimosa she too treasured that even if she couldn't admit it to anyone. Well, Noelle guessed that she was friendly with Weiss and Momo but that was more due to familial networking and functions, Weiss transformation since befriending Ruby was a clear indication that Noelle hadn't truly known the Schnee heiress, but Mimosa had been there since the beginning was the only family Noelle could rely on.

As such Noelle did as instructed and ate the flower, swallowing it with difficulty but the pain was slowly ebbing, she was breathing better and her vision was no longer blurry. However it couldn't all be Mimosa and Noelle forced herself to focus as she began to gain more control over what was going on.

"Nero, is that you helping?" Noelle groaned as she turned her head and looked up to see her classmate over her. "Yeah it is, guess our positions are reversed now."

"Somewhat though it's worse for you than it was for me as you had a nasty cut but it wasn't that bad and your ribs are intact." Nero said. "I think some of the water that you were summoning up cushioned the blow but it's still bad. We'll need to get you to a proper healer to avoid a scar."

"I wouldn't want that though he may not mind." Noelle admitted her mind still a little hazy so her usual denials weren't in place as she briefly thought about what Asta would think of a long ugly scar on her chest before she addressed the other two girls as Mimosa felt a weird sensation in her chest. "Thank you, both of you."

"Just relax and leave this to Asta." Nero said as she worked and the sensation left Mimosa at Noelle's sincere thanks, whatever jealousy Mimosa had towards her cousin on that front it wouldn't get in the way of their close friendship. "He's got this."

"I know." Noelle said with a smile as Nero continued to work on her.

All three of them trusted Asta to sort it out and Mimosa trusted the constellation shield that Yuno had erected around them. Nero and Noelle trusted Asta's judgement and so if he trusted and had faith in Yuno then they would as well.

That trust might be tested as while Asta was on the floor at the back of the room, Mars was approaching the girls to take them out as after regrowing what he'd sent at Asta and ensuring that Yuno couldn't intervene he couldn't afford to use any more of his power on creating minerals to handle the girls. Mars was right at his limits following his constant use of his Quirk and the injuries he'd sustained so far so he'd have to use the titan to take care of the girls and save whatever reserves that he might have left for Asta if he returned to the fight.

"Only those who are strong will survive." Mars said, the memories of his past still filling his mind and he began to repeat what he'd learned as a kid while trying to ignore the flashbacks he was experiencing. "The weak must die. Only the strong deserve to live. The weak must die. Only the strong…"

As he spoke Mars was slowly lumbering towards the girls while Asta groaned where he was and the captured boys couldn't help. The crystals were hard and fast on them to the point that Klaus couldn't use his Quirk, Luck's was built for speed and quick attacks not raw power so this was beyond what he could make, and Yuno was in a precarious position where he'd likely die if he moved. Things weren't good and with the raw power the Diamond villain had he might be able to break through the shield protecting the girls. Only Asta was free to act and right now he was still dazed from the blow he'd just taken.

Not that Asta wasn't fighting though it, it was just pain after all and Asta could deal with pain without an issue. He just had to push through it as he groaned and watched Mars approach and realized that he needed a different approach. The Diamond villain had adapted to Asta's style to overcome it and likely had more tricks so Asta had to do the same if he was going to win this once and for all.

It was a good thing that he had two swords and that he had only used the larger, heavier one so far. He'd done so because it offered more power which worked well against the villain's crystal or mineral Quirk while also offering more blunt force damage to take him out. However, now that wasn't an option as the Diamond villain had found a way around it so Asta needed to change it up which meant shifting to his lighter sword.

That was fine with Asta, he wasn't some one trick pony after all, he had other styles and tactics that he'd learned over his time before and at U.A. and now was a time to show it. So, as the villain approached the girls he dismissed his great sword from where it was still buried in a server and pushed himself to his feet and staggered forward.

Adrenaline and the desire to protect his friends filled him and with a roar Asta pushed himself off the ground and leapt through the broken and sparking server he's crashed through earlier as he charged the Diamond villain just as he closed in and raised his right arm to bring it down on the constellation shield. Asta was still in this fight and he was going to win it no matter what.

"Don't you dare harm them!" Asta shouted as the rend appeared once more and he pulled out his normal sword and slashed off the crystal golem's arm around the mid forearm of it. "Your fight is still with me!"

The sword cut through the Quirk creation without an issue and the spiked ball, fist, thing it fell away, shattering as it did and bouncing harmlessly off the constellation shield as Asta landed before them the sword in his right hand high and in the air. At the same time the crystals began to crack as the whole Quirk creation was negated by Asta's sword and that negation move up from the where Asta had cut it.

Out of instinct Mars backed up as fast as he could and broke off the minerals at the shoulder before it reached him there so that they crashed to the ground and finished breaking apart on the ground. That seemed to work as he retained control of the rest of the titan which told Mars that the negation worked a bit like a poison or infection and thus could be somewhat overcome with the titan so long as it was addressed in time.

However, that realization mixed with what else was going on in Mars's mind as it was reeling from Asta's return to the fight while the memories kept coming back but Mars pushed past them as his stared wide eyed at what was going on. He'd adapted his strategy to handle the great sword, which was the one thing that could affect him but it appeared that his opponent had done the same and it had almost cost Mars his titan armor had he not acted as quickly as he had.

"You have a second sword?" Mars asked his composure breaking a bit at the realization that Asta had also adapted to the situation at hand. "Where did it come from?"

"Never mind, leave my friend alone!" Asta roared as he glared at the villain before him. "I'm still your opponent!"

"Why won't you just die!" Mars roared back as he tapped into his reserved and created several crystal daggers with a detailed appearance appeared in the air and shot at Asta spinning at a rapid pace. "This will keep you back."

"No it won't!" Asta bellowed as he swung his lighter sword and intercepted the daggers as the reached him before he charged at Mars as more daggers were made and sent at him. "Take this!"

Mars grunted in annoyance as the brat broke his daggers while he charged, he was going past his limit now but he wasn't going to let this kid beat him, and neared him. He'd come to far, done too much to reach this point, things that were hazy but coming back now in all their horrific and vivid detail, so he couldn't lose. All he had to do was beat this little brat and he'd be fine but the brat wasn't giving up.

Asta showed that by leaping up and slashing his sword at Mars's body. Mars was forced to shift to take it on his spiked right shoulder and lean his head away to avoid contact with the sword which had the same Quirk negating ability as the great sword so Mars couldn't let it touch him lest he lose complete control of his Quirk. As such the blow sliced off a portion of the spiked there and Mars quickly broke away the minerals as close to the impact point as he could to ensure that it didn't spread. At the same time be brough his left arm around and slammed it into Asta's chest as he fell to the ground.

"Be gone boy!" Mars roared as he punched.

Again Asta got his sword up to block though he didn't have the rebounding ability with this sword that he did with great sword. Still it worked to protect him and there wasn't as much force in this blow as before so Asta was only knocked back a few feet and landed in a crouch as he slid along the ground, left hand down to steady himself as blood ran down his chest and dripped onto the ground from a few fresh cuts that he ignored. As he did Mars preemptively cut off the top of the fist to avoid the spread of this Quirk nullifying power further weakening and reducing his armor.

As Asta came to a stop he panted, blood running down his chin, from his head, over his chest, and from his sides as he looked at the Diamond villain who was still standing there. He was exhausted and well past his limit but Asta wasn't going to give up because his Quirk was never giving up, well that was what it was before he got a Quirk and to him it was still that.

However, this was a battle of attrition as the armor was so thick that every hit he landed could be broken away before it took out too much. To add to that, the amount that was being broken away was reducing with ever hit as the Diamond villain got a better sense of Asta's normal sword.

It was basically death by a thousand cuts and even with his stamina, Asta wasn't sure he could keep this up much longer, not with the injuries that he'd suffered. What he needed something powerful to break through the armor in one go, or that could at least seriously weaken it, but he didn't know what as his large sword was too heavy to get to the villain in time and the smaller one couldn't penetrate as deep. It was a vexing dilemma that Asta was trying to figure out as he panted there and it was as he tried that the voice called out from behind him.

"Why are you just crouched and panting there, insect?"

The voice came from Noelle who was off to the side but still thankfully behind Asta. She was still in a lot of pain but Nero had closed up the wound on her chest so the pain should begin to subside soon. She'd also made sure that at least her nipples were covered by the remains of her top, her bra was beyond repair at this point, but Nero was able to make it that Noelle wouldn't show off her most private area up there, and moved to the one on her arm after using some of Noelle's water to wash try and wash Noelle's blood off her hands. As such Noelle was able to turn her head and look at Asta a smile on her lips.

"Noelle, don't strain yourself!" Mimosa said worried. "You're still injured and in pain."

"It's fine, the wound is healed up she won't open it but she does need to rest and let her body realize that there's no need to let her know that she's in pain anymore." Nero said as she put her right hand over the wound on Noelle's bicep. "And this is going to be important to her so let her speak Vermillion."

"Noelle, you're conscious." Asta said standing to his full height and looking over to her as Noelle as she used what strength she had to raise her head and meet his eyes. "You…"

"Shut up and listen to me Asta." Noelle said. "I am from one of the Great Houses that founded the Quirk Knights long before the Age of Heros which makes me as close to royalty in the Quirk Knight branch as it's possible to be. You are a low born orphan from the north of Hokkaido, we live in different worlds and social stratifications, and yet I've accepted you. You are the first not born to a historic Quirk Knight House that I have, the first who I can call a friend. Now get moving and remind everyone who you are. Don't you dare give up until you beat him, understand?"

Everyone just blinked at that, well everyone but Nero who already knew that Noelle had accepted Asta as a friend and equal, though not accepted that she clearly wanted to be more than that with him, but it was still impressive that she openly admitted it. Yuno was taken aback by the level of trust and faith he heard in the girl's voice though he knew Asta could earn that from anyone while Klaus was stunned that a Silva, failure or not Noelle was still a Silva, had accepted someone like Asta. It was a shameful thing for him and his own issues were raging even more as Noelle affirmed her acceptance and support for Asta.

As she did something else happened that not even Noelle could understand. The water in her that was left in her pouch, which Noelle had been slightly controlling as she spoke without even realizing it, suddenly burst from it, the connection between it and her wand which Noelle still held in her right hand had been broken so she'd have to get the item fixed, and arched over Nero and at Asta or more precisely at Asta's sword.

The moment that the water made contact with the sword it seemed be sucked into it and suddenly it was glowing bright blue. Asta could feel the water in it, it was an odd feeling but on an instinctive level he knew exactly what he had to do with it.

"Yeah thanks Noelle, I couldn't have done this without you." Asta said with a grin as he turned and squared up to Mars who was still before him the words of the silver haired girl having brought fresh memories of a pink haired girl showing a similar faith in him to the surface of his mind, his sword up and across his body. "Don't worry, I'll take this guy down and get in a few hits for you and then some for everyone else in the process."

"Give up, you must know that you can't beat me in that state." Mars said pushing his Quirk even further to try and heal the damage to his suit while shoving the memory fragments he was getting down before they could cause more issues for him. "I was made to destroy the weak!"

"Well you won't destroy me!" Asta bellowed. "My Quirk may have manifested late and so I'm behind with it but that's ok because I have my friends who will always have my back! Together we will win!"

"Friends get in the way, that won't be enough to defeat me!" Mars bellowed as Asta finished his own statement and slashed the sword horizontally and an arc of razor sharp water shot out and at the titan. "You…"

Mars didn't get to finish what he was saying before the water slammed into the chest of his titan and blew up, the force sending him skidding back towards the doorway as Mars coughed out blood from the pressure on his still blood filled left lung. The room was filled with smoke, crystal fragments, and water vapor while everyone stared in utter shock at what Asta had done. It was a whole new aspect to his Quirk, one that had somehow incorporated a part of Noelle's Quirk into Asta's rather than destroy or nullify it and it had been enough to almost break the armor open fully.

It wasn't enough though as Mars roared as he came to a stop in the doorway, the chest protection now cratered and almost to his skin but his left arm still clear. Yuno was the first to see this and while he wasn't 100% sure he knew what Asta had done he had a good idea of what it was and that he could also aid.

"Asta!" Yuno roared from where he was being held hoping that the attack had distracted the Diamond villain long enough for this work as he poured all his own trust and support for Asta into their bond similar to what he'd heard from Noelle regarding her own acceptance of Asta, something Yuno had long done as he'd always seen Asta as his rival. "Finish him!"

At that the same deep level of trust and comradery that existed between Asta and Noelle was shown by Yuno and his own trust and faith in Asta which allowed Asta's normal sword to use its special ability. Like his great sword, Asta's normal sword had a secondary function only where the great sword could reflect an attack at twice the power it was sent at, the normal sword could absorb the Quirk power of a trusted ally and then project it outwards in a slash of the absorbed Quirk power.

There was more too it of course, the Quirk power had to be active in some way for it to be drawn to Asta's sword and it had to elemental or natural to an extent so there were a lot of Quirks that it wouldn't work with. However, with Noelle's control over water and Yuno's ability to create stars this wasn't an issue.

As such the stars in the constellation shield around the girls seemed to stretch into shafts of pure white light as they were sucked towards Asta and into his sword just as Noelle's water had done only now his sword was glowing a dazzling white that illuminated everything around it but for the black metal of the blade, hilt, and pommel in a drastic contrast of white and black. Asta just grinned at this understanding what Yuno wanted.

"You got this Yuno." Asta said as he raised the sword over his head and then slashed down and across his body. "This ends now!"

"I will not be defeated by the weak!" Mars roared as he got himself under control and took hold of the minerals holding the boys to kill them and break the brat's spirit just as Asta release a slash of offensive starlight from his sword in an unnatural arc that Yuno could never have produced. "All of you will die!"

However, before Mars could get a proper hold on the minerals, the slash of starlight slammed into his chest. Between the damage and the angle, this time it hit his exposed upper right chest from his shoulder down and cut just under the stone in the center of his chest. The rest of the stash cut through the mineral titan with a boom showing just how powerful the slash was before the last vestiges of it reached him to complete the diagonal cut though only the exposed parts that were hit were deep enough to leave a scar.

Still, it was more than enough as the titan exploded into hundred, if not thousands, of sharp shards of crystals which forced Yuno to erect more stars to form a constellation shield and protect them which he could do as Mars was out cold from the blow and the mineral bindings holding him, Luck, and Klaus were breaking up. As for Mars, he was expelled from the back of his titan, eyes wide and white, blood covering his chest and out cold beyond what stimulants could wake up as he was tossed back and into the training hall.

However, he never hit the ground as suddenly an explosion of black smoke burst from the entrance to the hall and caught Mars in it, cushioning him and bringing him into it's embrace and whisking him away before the final pieces of crystal struck Yuno's latest constellation shield. As it did, Lotus's voice called out as the Diamond Company contingent fled.

"We still destroyed the data so it's a win for us but we won't meet again. Goodbye."

There was a lot to question about what just happened between Asta borrowing the Quirk powers of Noelle and Yuno, or some aspect of them at least, to what his normal sword actually was, to the call from Lotus as the Diamond Company fled. However as the glow left Asta's sword he suddenly coughed up blood and looked down. He'd been pierced in the abdomen earlier in the fight and now that the fight was over and danger gone wound was coming back to remind him that there was shard of crystal in his abdomen. It wasn't deep so it wasn't immediately fatal but they needed to deal with it right away.

"Well that worked at least." Asta said as he collapsed to the side, his sword falling from his hand and vanishing as he did.

"Asta!" Noelle yelled. "Nero…"

"On it." Nero said already leaping over Noelle's still supine body and rushing to Asta. "Vermillion, I need vines now. We need to keep that crystal in him and stable as I work from within while you slowly remove it on my instructions. This will be rough first aid, he's going to need surgery I think, but I can ensure that he lives."

"We need to get out of here." Yuno said ignoring the several holes in his cloths or the drops of blood there as they were superficial injuries as Mimosa turned and rushed to join Nero leaving Noelle to get up on her own which given the situation couldn't be avoided. "Klaus sir, can you create that chariot of yours around us."

As Yuno was speaking he, Klaus, and Luck were fully freed and they joined the girls as Nero set to work her hands glowing around the shrapnel in Asta's abdomen and focusing all her healing abilities to mend the damage that was inside him. Unfortunately, there was a lot that couldn't be mended by sealing it back up but she knew enough about the human body thanks to her special lessons with Recovery Girl, which as she did some healing also counted as part of her work assignments that she had to do as part of her financial aid, to be able to mend enough to make sure that Asta didn't die.

"Yes, we need to leave." Klaus admitted as the steel began to flow from his feet and Noelle painfully got up and made her way to them so that she was on the steel before it formed the chariot as vines burst from seeds in Mimosa's palms as she knelt on Asta's other side and shot to assist Nero. "A shame we didn't get much but we can take what we already packed into our satchels and there are a few papers we can still recover. Yuno can you use your stars to get the papers over here, I can't move the case I made for them now that connection's broken."

"Yes sir." Yuno said as he used a star to get him into the air so that he could see where the papers were and then stood on two more stars as he created a transport star over the papers and brought it down onto them. "What about the digital data? Did we recover any of it before the servers were destroyed?"

"I grabbed the memory stick before I passed out and put it in my satchel when I went to heal Noelle." Nero said as the steel chariot formed only wider and longer this time to hold a lying Asta as Nero and Mimosa continued to work on him, the later using her vines to secure the shrapnel and slowly withdraw it as Nero healed from the end point of injury up. "We've got some stuff but that's for the HPSC to sort through. Let's go but keep it steady."

Klaus nodded as the last of the papers appeared in a new box he'd made at the head of the chariot right in front of where he stood and on the inside of the chariot walls. They'd lost plenty of the data that they'd been sent to retrieve in the fight but there were some and you never knew what could be useful. Now they had to go though and be quick about it. Alas once again fate, or in this case Lotus, had other plans for them as suddenly an explosion was heard from elsewhere in the compound and the room.

"What was that?" Noelle asked as she held onto the side of the chariot once it was formed around them so as to be out of the way while Nero told Mimosa to gently remove a little more of the crystal. "A bomb?"

"Sounds fun." Luck said with a laugh. "I didn't get to have any in that last battle so this can make up for that."

"Yes, I should have expected this." Klaus said his face hard as another explosion went off this one sounding a bit closer. "It's not uncommon for the Diamond Company to rig their bases with demolition charges that implode it once it's compromised and no longer of value to them. We need to move and fast but we may have to break through debris and it will get bumpy."

"Yup, totally fun." Luck said.

"No we won't." Yuno said as he ended his stars now that all the saved paper documents had been transported to the chariot and fell to the ground to land in a crouch before running over and leaping onto the chariot so that all of them were in it now. "This may be rough for us and I'm going to be out of commission afterwards but Asta just went plus ultra to win, I can't let that go to waste or let him show me up."

"What are you going to do?" Klaus asked as another explosion rocked the compound this one closer while Yuno moved around Asta to stand near the front of the chariot to Klaus's right while Luck was on his left. "We have to take the chariot to get out of here."

"I know but theoretically I can transport the chariot itself and by extension all of us as we are in contact with it between two special transport stars." Yuno said as he closed his eyes and focused on what he remembered of the path down and into the compound so that he had it in his mind's eye. "Transporting this many people and to an unseen but known location is going to be draining and I'll admit I've never placed a transport star in a place I couldn't see or at least perceive in the distance but we're U.A. students, we're supposed to go beyond. Hold tight and Klaus as soon as we land move this as I'm not sure if the ground will be flat."

"Er sure." Klaus said as Nero got the hint and sealed Asta to the base of the chariot now that he was out cold.

"Whatever happens, keep that shard stable." Nero said. "It's plugging the wound hence why I'm sealing what I can as it's drawn out. Thankfully most of the damage was to things I can roughly mend but it's going need professional attention."

"Got it." Mimosa said as she did as instructed while Noelle held on and watched worry in her chest but having faith that Asta wouldn't let something like this kill him. "I'm ready."

Yuno ignored the chatter as he focused and made the special star similar to the one he'd made in the Cavalry Battle outside where they'd arrived via the portal door they'd taken as the compound was rocked by another, much closer, explosion. Then he made another of the stars, a large multi pointed thing, over the head of the chariot and brought it down towards the metal. It wasn't a moment too late as a bomb that was buried beneath them and sunk the floor went off just as the star made contact and they vanished.

It was a jarring experience for all of them and not like Finral or Cobb's spatial gate Quirks. Instead of going from one location to another in an instant, it was more akin to being sucked along a long, very bright, tube that connected the two stars only it occurred in the blink of an eye. One moment they were in the records room as it was blowing up, the next they were at the top of the ramp down to the compound though only Yuno could see as everyone else had been temporarily blinded by the light of his stars.

The moment they landed in the darkening day for it was now dusk, Klaus pushed through his confusion from the strange travel sensation and moved the chariot forward several feet until his vision returned and he was sure they were on flat ground. Then he stopped it and turned his head around to see the entrance cave in as the ground below it was explosively imploded. What would remain was a crater that the HPSC could look through to try and recover any useful intel but they were free and safe.

As soon as they were, Yuno turn and projectile vomited over the side of the chariot, blood coming up with it as he lost his lunch and was well past his limit. When he was finished vomiting, he panted, spat out a gob of spit, and then turned and slid down the side of the chariot to sit on the floor his back to it taking deep breaths as his vision blurred for a moment. He was spent but he'd gotten them out and proved that he could do this. He'd not yet matched Asta in his mind but he was getting there with this feat so they were at least even for the events in the compound.

Asta was still getting healed up and the sun was setting but Klaus and Luck were able to look out and over the remains of the compound as debris poured into the air. It wasn't pretty and they'd almost died several times while they'd been down there but they'd completed their mission. All that was left to do was finish recovering here and back at the hideouts where professional medical care could be brought in, give their reports, and see what came of them.

Before that though Klaus knew that he had something that he had to do and he swore he'd do it the moment that Asta was conscious as it had to happen right away. That would be soon but for now he let out a sigh of relief as the mission officially ended.

I think this is a good spot to end this chapter on as the mission is over and they're free from the compound. As you can tell, the changes with Nero there, Yuno's Quirk, and how Asta's Quirk works has made this a little different and I hope that y'all liked how it played out in the end. I was going to include Klaus's apology here and Mars's thanks to Lotus as they fled but it felt too much so instead it will start the next chapter off before we lead into the aftermath of the mission and close up this part of the Hero Killer arc with the results of the aftermath so plenty to look forward to. However, that is all that I have for y'all so I will leave this chapter off here. If you like this story please follow, favorite (this story and me) to keep up with it and leave a review or PM; your support is what helps motivate me to keep up this work and any questions posed before the next chapter is uploaded I will try to answer. Until next time.

Stringdog