Chapter 40: Hyperion vs All Might
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- So... how was your internship? - I tried to start a dialogue, because Bakugou sure doesn't want to initiate one.
- Shitty. - She replied succinctly and continued talking. - I went to intern for Top Jeans, and I wish I hadn't. Other than how to put on jeans properly and choose the right hair gel, I didn't learn anything new. I thought I'd get stronger from a top ten hero in Japan, but in the end, I just wasted my time. - Katsuki said in an irritated tone. I decided to keep silent about my training with Rumi, so as not to make her more angry.
- You don't have a plan, I take it? - I asked Bakugou, walking with her through the streets of the city's firing range. Right now, we have a few minutes to prepare before Toshinori attacks.
- My plan is to blow him to hell. And you too, if you don't stop being annoying. - she immediately replied with a snort. - I'll defeat the Almighty...and then I want to take my revenge and blow you to smithereens, and your Two-Face to boot. - she said, and when she spoke of Shoko, her face contorted into an angry grimace.
- I'm fine, you disliked me from the first day you met me, but why are you so angry with Seko, she hasn't said a bad word to you? - I asked.
- Because...she...and you...you both are together...' she started to say intermittently, and with each word she was getting quieter and quieter. - Aah, shit! Fuck this! Fuck Two-Face! And let the Almighty go to hell! And you too!
- Bakugou, you're such a tsundere!
- Shut your mouth or I'll kill you! - she shouted and quickened her pace, trying to put distance between us as quickly as possible.
- Let's strategise. I can distract the Almighty for a while, a few minutes at most. But you'll have to help me with your blasts to buy more time. In that time, you have to either escape or handcuff him while I distract him. - I outlined a rough plan involving her.
- Y-you think I'm gonna sit on your back or run like a pussy?! Screw you and your plan, I'll beat him myself. That's what heroes do. - She dismissed my idea, which was quite logical, by the way.
- But you're weaker than me. The sports festival proved it; if you couldn't beat me, your explosions would be mosquito bites for the Almighty. - I reasoned honestly, and got hit on the head with a grenade-shaped iron glove. - No violence. - I scratched my unharmed head.
- What are you made of?! Not even that dickhead Hedgehog isn't as strong. - She vividly felt the strength of my body, comparing it to Kirishima.
- Katsuki... I've switched to the first name. - Please think with a clear head, not your emotions. We can win if we work together. I know you will be a good heroine...yes you are mean, narcissistic and extremely aggressive, but you have a good trait, you never give up. - I took her by the shoulders and looked her straight in the eye.
- ...Okay, you distract him, and I'll cuff the Almighty.
- That's good. And when you don't get angry or send me away, another of your good traits comes out, you're very cute. - I remarked and Katsuki looked away, feeling uncomfortable and got out of my arms.
Suddenly, a huge shockwave flew in our direction, destroying all the nearby buildings as well as the street. The shockwave didn't hurt me, and I covered Katsuki in time with a barrier.
A second later, the Almighty flew from the air, straight onto the asphalt, and with one landing, left a small crater in the road.
- Villains don't care about collateral damage! Prepare young Mizuiro and Bakugou, for I am already here! - he loudly proclaimed.
- Katsuki, stick to the plan. - I told her, and received a nod in return. - Almighty, is this exam evaluating our skills in situational judgement? If we encounter an enemy many times stronger than ourselves, do we have to choose whether to fight or retreat?
- That's right, young Mizuiro! What will you choose? - He stood up to his full height in a formidable stance and smiled.
- Retreating is not my thing, I only know how to fight and win. I apologise in advance for the fact that I will have to beat you into the asphalt Almighty. - I said politely and Infiniti appeared in my hand.
- Like hell I'm going to run away! - Katsuki extended both arms forward, pulling both cheques off her garnet gloves. - I will defeat you Almighty! - She shouted menacingly, creating a tremendous explosion, destroying what was still left of the street. But Hero Number One didn't even move, only covered himself with his hands.
- I'm impressed by your fervour, young Bakugou...but now, I'm a villain, so don't expect any favours from me, heroes! - He appeared right in front of her, and with two precise blows he shattered her reinforcing gloves into tiny pieces.
- Damn it! - Katsuki yelled, letting out an explosion no weaker than the one at the sports festival, and again, the Almighty had no trouble withstanding it.
- Very good, young Bakugou! - The Almighty praised her, easily moving behind her back, intending to grab her head, but I closed Bakugou with five overlapping barriers. The barriers shattered under the Almighty's powerful grip, but bought time for her to move back a safe distance. - Brilliant! You work as a team, it seems Director Nezu was mistaken in thinking you couldn't work together.
- We will win. - I flew up into the air, and began to form various constructs out of light, maximising their gravity and light energy to increase their strength and destructiveness. - Create construct: Infinite Blade Barrage! - I shouted, and threw the created light spear at the Almighty, followed by the rest of the weapons.
The weapons, barely touching the Almighty, detonated with the same power as Bakugou's blasts from the gloves, and there were over a hundred of them, as little by little, but they crowded Toshinori, and added more Bakugou, bombarding him with blasts from the back.
- That's not all of them! - I opened a portal behind me and fell through it, surprising Bakugou and the Almighty.
I teleported a thousand metres above the ground, i.e. in the troposphere, right above Toshinori, and like a meteorite, I began to fall downwards, striking vertically with my sword charged with light as much as possible.
- Surprise Almighty! A blow from the heavens, you didn't expect it!?! - I exclaimed at a tremendous speed, about fifty metres above him.
- ...' he opened his mouth dumbfoundedly, a second before the impact hit him, pushing him two dozen metres into the asphalt, forming a colossal sized crater. I managed to save Katsuki, who was next to him, by opening a portal under her feet, taking her a hundred metres away from me and Toshinori.
- What the hell is this?! - Katsuki exclaimed, and a moment later, my carcass fell beside her, ploughing through a dozen metres of concrete.
- That hurt. - I got up and shook off the dust and crunched my neck a couple of times. Shit, the Almighty's kick was good, it broke two of my ribs at once, and if I hadn't regenerated, it would have been very bad.
- What was that? Where did you disappear to? - Katsuki started asking me questions.
- Ah, I told you that I know how to control spatial energy to create a pocket dimension, but recently I learnt to create a spatial gate, like the misty teleport of that villain from the League, Kurogiri. - I tried to explain as succinctly as possible. - While you were distracting him with my weapons, I rose a thousand metres above the ground to strike the Almighty.
- You never cease to amaze, young Mizuiro. Do you have any other new skills? - Toshinori had reached us in a second, and the last blow did damage him, judging by the small trickle of blood coming from the edges of his lips.
- That's what I told you. You're playing the villain now, so it's your secrets, not mine,' I said. - I cut him off. - Bakugou get ready, now I'll use everything I have to win, don't miss this opportunity.
- Understood. - She quickly understood me, and made the most focused face possible.
- Create a construct: Protective Shell! - Around my body, a five-metre long robot was formed, completely made of energy, and inside it was me, kind of in place of the central core or heart.
- Young Mizuiro! Give it your best shot! - Without wasting a second, the Almighty attacked me with a swinging right fist. - Texas Smash!' shouted the name of Almighty's super move, which involves creating and controlling a shockwave with his right hand. It seems that this was the technique he used to attack us in the beginning.
The shockwave was no weaker than the previous one, and it seems to have destroyed more of the buildings of the training ground. It didn't hurt me, as the defence structure was continuously expending energy to regenerate, and the incoming damage simply couldn't overpower the rapid regeneration of the structure.
- My turn. - I grabbed the Almighty by the shoulder, and with a powerful left punch straight to the head, I forced his carcass into a short flight, and immediately caught him in a grip, ramming the Peace Symbol into the nearest apartment building, which was already destroyed.
This structure isn't meant for combat, it's more of a cocoon that keeps me safe for a while. And while the Almighty was attacking me, chained in a robot, I was absorbing all the accumulated, so far, energy in my domain at a rapid pace. All the energy will be used to maximise my body, but it's a very painful procedure, because my body can't handle that much energy, I'm like a battery that can't hold a stronger charge.
That's why I came to Yuei. To become stronger, and right now, I'm fighting a living legend, isn't that what I wanted? To fight a strong opponent? Yes, that's exactly what I need.
- I can't do much damage to you...but I can do damage to the young Bakugou. - The Almighty decided to provoke me, by the way, he didn't see me specifically in the mech, because of the huge amount of energy inside, the robot was glowing with blue light. The Peace Symbol switched its attention to Bakugou, who, without wasting any time, attacked it with an unstoppable cascade of explosions. Such a strain on his body was causing a lot of pain on his arms, judging by the far from happy look on Katsuki's face.
- Fuck you, Almighty! - she sent him, gritting her teeth in pain.
- I'm afraid you can no longer keep an eye on both of us at the same time. - I said as the protective structure opened like a door, from which I emerged, floating in the air. - As they say. Go beyond. Plus Ultra. - I exclaimed in the guise of a phantom humanoid, from my arms, torso, the whole body ran sparks of plasma, and on the body ran dense energy lines, while the skin was covered with a dense cover of gravitons, keeping my body from the expected desire to explode.
I was now in, so to speak, afterburner mode. If I shroud my body in light, my strength, speed, and durability parameters increase by a factor of two or three, but in my current form as a phantom of light, my characteristics are temporarily increased by a factor of ten.
≪Status≫
HP: 60010 [15002.5 per hour].
Light: 112510 [28127.5 per hour]
Gravity: 52500 [10500 per hour]
Pseudo-matter: 0
Body: 5804 [X10]
Stamina: 6001 [X10]
Control: 4821 [X10]
Intelligence: 2100 [X10]
Magic: 3150 [X10]
In phantom form, I'm not inferior to the Almighty, but in order to equal him, I had to spend the accumulated sixty thousand units of pseudo-matter, which I converted into one hundred and twenty thousand units of light, and that's just to activate this form. The energy I still had left would last for about ten minutes, spending ten thousand units of light energy and five thousand units of gravitons for each minute of use to keep this form stable. By comparison, in the battle with Six, I used something similar, and in terms of strength, I was about fifteen times weaker then than I am now. With the current strength, and the restraining bracelets on Toshinori, we have a chance to win.
- Young...Mizuiro? - The Almighty asked, somewhat embarrassed, as I looked like my usual appearance in my phantom form.
- What the...' Katsuki looked at me wide-eyed, interrupting the creation of explosions.
- The form of a Phantom of Light! - I shouted, and threw Infinity at him, which the Almighty easily dodged, but while he was distracted, I flew at hypersonic speed straight at Toshinori, and hit him in the side with my fist, aiming for his wound. It's a bit unfair to hit a weak point, but I don't care, in a fight you have to use every opportunity to win.
- Kha! - He spat out some blood, grabbing his bleeding side. - Missouri Smash!' The Almighty shifted behind me, and with the back of his palm, delivered a chopping blow to my neck, but the protective cover absorbed the damage.
- Accept defeat! - I kicked him on the knee of his left leg, forcing him to bend, and added a swinging kick to the shin with my right, and the 'most impregnable wall in the world' fell to his knees. - I told you I'd beat you into the pavement! - I grabbed his head with both hands and drove his head into the concrete, causing a wave of cracks, and then another and another. - Katsuki, it's time! - I yelled as I continued to bang his head against the concrete to keep him disoriented for as long as possible.
Katsuki watched our fight with her mouth open and her eyes wide open, but she was aware of what was happening, and as she drew closer to us, she quickly cuffed the Almighty's right hand.
'Warning. The body's mutation threshold has reached a critical state.'
'Awakening (96%) [Locked. To unlock, bring the body to 100% of the index.]
- We won...' I left the Almighty alone, who had already recovered, and rose to my feet, looking dazedly at Katsuki and me, and at the handcuff on his arm.
- Are you okay? You're fuming. - Katsuki noticed. I have to say, I wasn't feeling too good right now, the skin underneath the cover was starting to burn and char, causing me to smoke like a smoke bomb.
- Don't worry, I'm fine. - I cancelled the veil, returning to my usual appearance, with my slightly charred skin quickly regenerating and taking on its natural colour.
- Uggh, young Mizuiro, you could have been a little softer. - The Almighty said, holding his slightly bleeding side.
- I didn't see you doing us any favours. - I parroted his words, and treated his side with life energy. - You can be pleased, Almighty, I've done my best, and nearly died in the process. - I showed him the burned skin on my other arm, which was slowly regenerating.
- I-I-I...- Bakugou said something, but didn't finish and started to fall forward, but I caught her in my arms just in time. Katsuki's quirk alters her sweat, making it similar in properties to nitroglycerin, and the sweat itself, as well as the explosions do not harm her body. The problem is the strain on the joints and muscles in her arms, which makes Katsuki unable to use the quirk without interruption, and I have to say, it's amazing that from such pain, she's kept conscious on pure willpower.
- You're doing well Katsuki. - Praised the unconscious girl, stroking her hair.
In the control room I was met, all as one, with dumbfounded faces. Even Shoko was surprised, and she rarely shows emotion on her pretty face.
- Wow... we knew you were strong headman... but this is the Almighty. - Kirishima said to the nods of Sero and Tokoyami, who couldn't believe that the Peace Symbol had been defeated by a duo of high school students.
- I don't mean to be vulgar, but that was just unbelievable Headmaster. - Momo exclaimed.
- Aha-ha, first the Almighty such a boom, and then you such a boom! - Mina said with her face shining like a light bulb.
- That would be something to be proud of. The Almighty was wearing restraining bracelets, and in phantom form, I can't stay more than ten minutes. I was just lucky, that's all. The Almighty underestimated me from the beginning, and that played a significant role. - I replied, still holding Katsuki in my hands.
- Haha, yeah, looks like I was shortsighted. - Toshinori scratched his head, smiling.
- And yet, you won. - said Iida, who had been silent until then. - I must admit, I underestimated you, Mizuiro. Particularly because of your childish and rude nature. But not only did you win, but you were able to co-operate with Bakugou, you are more than worthy to be the class headman. - he agreed, recalling the ordeal of the battle where he was teamed up with her.
- I'm happy for you, love. - Shoko came up to me and kissed my cheek, embarrassing her classmates.
- You're good, Mizuiro. The ability to analyse the weaknesses and strengths of the enemy, to choose tactics and coordination with allies is an important attribute of a hero. In addition, you tried to fight with the Almighty, already in the destroyed part of the range, minimising the damage. - praised me Aizawa, on whose shoulder sat Nezu. The homeless man and the talking bear both gave me suspicious glances. - The final exam of the trimester has come to an end. First of all, those of you who failed the practical part of the test... will also go to summer camp! - said Aizawa with a smile on his face, fooling everyone again.
- Yay! - Mina and Itsuka hugged each other in joy.
- Damn, Yuei's fooling us again, it's not manly. - Kirishima sighed.
- If we're done with the exam, do you mind if I take Katsuki to the nurse's station and treat him there? - I asked Aizawa, he replied with a short nod.
- Follow me boy, I'll see how this healing of yours works. - The Healing Girl, who had been watching the exam all this time, said, 'I'll see how your healing works.
At the infirmary, I laid Katsuki on the bed and began to infuse her body with life energy, gradually revitalising her exhausted body, it took me ten minutes to complete the treatment, during which time the Healing Girl watched me intently.
- A useful ability, especially for kids with little control over their quirks. Since you don't need my help here, I'll be on my way. Don't forget to close the door on your way out - the nurse left, leaving me and the sick one behind.
- Rise and shine, Katsuki. - I pinched her...and got a smack in the face. - You have strange ways of expressing your gratitude.
- Go ahead. - She got up from her bunk and sat on the edge.
- Why are you being so rude again? We won. - I sat down next to her.
- You won...I'm not even close to you. - she said,
staring blankly at the wall. - I couldn't beat you, I couldn't beat the Almighty...what am I even doing here.
- You're too fixated on wanting to be first, there's nothing wrong with that, but there's nothing good either. Just be yourself Katsuki...after all, that's how I like you. - I couldn't resist, I brought my face close to Katsuki's and kissed her on the lips.
At first she opened her eyes in surprise, but she didn't resist, even when I used my tongue, instead she put her arms around my neck and sat on my lap. For a minute or so, I licked her, exchanging saliva without breaking our lips, and when I finally let her go, Katsuki didn't scream or threaten to blow me up, but just stood up and walked away with a pensive face.
Her mind was a mess, but from all that, I learnt that she liked me a lot, and annoyed her just as much, she was also jealous of Seko and the other girls. Basically, while before she wanted to beat me because she wanted to be first, now her focus has changed to wanting to be with me, and at the same time not wanting to...well, Bakugou's narcissism and arrogance specifically is getting in the way in this matter.