Chapter 95: Villain Attack 2
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"W-what is that thing?! Fuck, fuck, fuck, GET AWAY!"
Awase ran desperately, blood dripping down his forehead. His eyes darted to the girl whose arm he had fused with his own to make sure he didn’t let her go by accident.
"Yaoyorozu, you alive?! Come on, please tell me you can run on your own, that thing’s catching up!"
"I’m sorry... Awase-san..." the girl answered weakly, blood soaking her clothes, pouring from the wound on her head. It was clear she wasn’t in any state to comply with his pleas.
"Damn it...!" he cursed.
It had all happened because they hadn’t been paying attention.
After Yaoyorozu finished distributing gas masks to her class, she had asked Awase to lead her to his class as well so she could give them out there as well.
But while they were doing so, something out of a nightmare popped up.
A giant humanoid monster with its brain exposed emerged from amidst the trees with heavy steps, its body capable of sprouting chainsaws, drills, hammers, and other grotesque weapons.
It ambushed them before they could react, and Yaoyorozu had taken a nasty hit to the head. Somehow, she was still alive... but that didn’t make things any better.
With her unable to move, Awase was left as the only one with working legs, forced to carry her with everything he had while the monster chased them relentlessly.
But nothing lasts forever—Awase knew that.
Even though they had managed to get away from the first attack, he could tell that it was unlikely they would pull it off a second time. He could hear it, every second, the monster’s stomps got closer and closer.
Not to mention the sound of its weapons. The increasingly loud, jarring sound of the chainsaw getting closer was a fuel for nightmares that pushed Awase to run past his limits.
But even with that kind of motivation, reality remained disappointing. In just a few more seconds, the creature would be on them. Chainsaws, hammers, and blades, all ready to strike.
Running was no longer an option. They were also still too far from camp, so no help would arrive.
So, there was only one thing left to do, and Awase picked up on it pretty quickly.
"Argh, screw it!"
He stopped dead in his tracks and, with a furious yet terrified expression, turned to face the monster.
Right now, it was fight or die. Yaoyorozu remained barely conscious, so both their lives lay in his hands.
Either he beat it... or this was the end.
And he wasn’t about to go down without a fight.
"Come on!" he shouted, planting his feet, Quirk ready to fuse the monster with anything around him—the earth, trees, anything that worked in an attempt to immobilize it or at least slow him down long enough, whatever gave Yaoyorozu even the slightest chance to escape.
...Even if he had to die in the process, for that’s what a hero would do.
He still could recall the video he saw after the internships ended, the one where Suzaku entered a building on fire like nothing, as other heroes around him cowered or didn’t dare.
If that guy could do something like that, then why couldn’t he?!
If he was going to die anyway, then he was doing it on his own terms, and if possible, saving someone!
With newfound resolve, Awase prepared to engage, dropping Yaoyorozu near a tree so she could support herself, and dashed straight towards the monster.
Before the challenge, the monster gave no reply, its gaze as vacant as ever.
But despite how unthinking it seemed, when it saw Awase standing his ground, it raised both arms in answer—one a drill, the other a chainsaw—ready to rip and tear.
And soon, the two clashed.
—BAM!—
—or they would have, if not for a blur that streaked in from nowhere, and suddenly sent the creature flying, landing a brutal double kick into the monster’s face.
The creature crashed through two trees, breaking one and making it crash down before finally slamming against a second one and coming to a stop.
Awase blinked, stunned, lowering his fighting pose.
’What the hell just—?’
He turned to the mysterious figure who’d saved him. But relief didn’t come—only a deeper sense of dread.
"Who are you?!"
Standing before him was neither a teacher, a pro hero, nor a fellow student... It was a black-haired man in a suit, a completely plain appearance that Awase would have shrugged off anywhere else, except this place.
This wasn’t somewhere someone like him should be... not to mention the power he deployed on that double kick... unlike his plain appearance portrayed, he was obviously not just anyone.
’Another villain?’ Awase thought. The coincidence of this person appearing just as villains attacked was too much, after all.
However, the next second, his gaze shifted to the recovering Nomu, his brows furrowing.
’But if he was one... why would he help us?’
Sadly, no matter how hard Awase looked at the man, he didn’t answer. Instead, his gaze stayed on the monster, who was already rising back to its feet, looking barely fazed by the blow it had taken earlier.
-BROOOOOOM!-
The chainsaw on its arm roared as it revved, and in the next instant, the monster was charging again, the ground trembling under its massive frame. No sound leaving its beak, nor any intent leaving his blank and eerie eyes.
Awase’s eyes widened.
"Watch ou—!"
-Click-
His warning was cut short. The man suddenly drew a gun from inside his wrist and aimed it at the charging behemoth.
—BANG!—
The next instant, a deafening gun explosion echoed all around the forest, making Awase wince in pain and close his eyes briefly.
But as he recovered, his gaze returned to the man, the worry still to dissipate from his eyes.
"Oi, don’t stop shooting!"
Regardless of who this man was, he was likely the only chance the two had at surviving this ordeal. He couldn’t let the man die because he had thought a single bullet could have done the job.
Desperate, Awase turned to look in the direction of the monster, worried it might already be upon the man. But...
His eyes widened. "Huh?"
The moment his eyes returned to the monster, it was already collapsing, crashing headfirst into the ground.
-Thud!-
Completely dead.
The creature’s massive body made the earth quake as it fell. But even then, Awase could hardly believe what he was seeing.
It couldn’t be, right? There was no way that thing had died that easily. It had to be playing dead, waiting for the right moment to catch the man off guard.
Awase’s mind raced, trying to come up with any explanation to make sense of what he was seeing.
But no matter how long he waited, the creature stayed down. Still. Lifeless.
After only a single bullet.
Seeing his suspicions unproven, Awase’s eyes nervously shifted back to the man, who remained staring coldly at the fallen monster.
"...?!"
That’s when Awase noticed it. Hanging over the man’s shoulder was one of the students from Class 1-A, the green-haired one.
A chill ran down his spine.
’Is he... dead?’
He looked gravely injured. Could it be that this man had left him in such a state?
And what worried him the most.
’Are we next?’
"A-Awase-san... what happened?" Suddenly, Yaoyorozu managed to walk his way next to him, whispering in worry.
He panicked.
He hadn’t even dared to let out a sound once he noticed Midoriya on the man’s shoulder, not wanting to bring his attention back to them.
Yaoyorozu clearly had not had the same in mind.
Awase turned nervously back to the man, sweatdropping as he prayed the man’s attention remained on the corpse meters away.
Sadly, it was already too late.
’Crap!’ Awase cursed inwardly as their eyes met.
His panic only grew when the man began walking toward him—slow, deliberate steps.
Awase braced himself, thinking he’d have to fight no matter what... but instead, the man pulled the unconscious student from his shoulder and tossed him at Awase, who caught him awkwardly, almost falling from the recoil.
As he adjusted Midoriya in his arms and recovered himself, the man’s voice came out, startling him.
"You can still walk, right?"
"Huh?"
Uncaring of whatever that "huh?" had meant, the man squinted his eyes and turned back around.
"Then I’ll burden you with getting him back to your base to get treatment."
"...Huh?" Awase repeated, his brain not processing the situation properly.
"And don’t worry about getting ambushed by the other villains..."
The man fell into a squat and delivered his last line.
"... I’ll be clearing this forest from now on."
And with that, he dissapeared into the distance.
...
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| Minutes later, Suzaku’s POV: |
...
I was dashing swiftly through the forest, circling the area where the Test of Valor had been held. Moving from tree to tree, I blended into the night like a shadow. My eyes scanned carefully every corner of this place, searching for either students to save or people whose necks I’d have to crack.
I had left Midoriya with Awase on a whim. I couldn’t move as fast with my hands full, and if I were to fight something else, I’d also prefer not to have a potential hostage on my shoulder.
Plus, after killing the Nomu, I figured most villains were probably concentrated in this area of the forest, considering quite a few had appeared here, including that muscular guy, the brat, and the newly deceased Nomu.
Sure, according to that kid Kota, there were some near the main building fighting with the pro heroes right now, but taking into account those pro heroes encompassed a whole hero team and our teachers, I figured they’d be fine on their own. I could go help them later if things turned too difficult for them, but for now, I had other matters to focus on.
Namely, making sure no other students would be in danger right now—like Awase and the 1-A girl had been—and of course, erradicating the pests from this forest for good.
’Though I doubt many students remain.’
I snorted. This was two classes from the hero department, after all. Whoever had fallen for the gas trap and fallen unconscious had probably already been rescued by those who hadn’t.
Still, just in case, I kept a sharp watch. Who knew if someone had been left behind, after all.
And who knew if there were still pests to get rid of roaming around.
With a grin twisting across my face, I accelerated.
In the distance, blue fire spread through the forest, clearly responsible for the heavy burnt smell floating in the air. That meant that whoever caused it was probably close to there, so I’d be making sure to pay that place a visit.
But before I could pick up more speed, I caught sight of movement ahead and slowed down, my eyes squinting.
Uraraka and the frog girl were darting desperately out of reach of a knife, swiped at them by... a blond girl in a school uniform?
No. At first glance, it looked that way, but on closer inspection, she carried something more eerie: a knife in one hand and some strange tech rigged to a syringe in the other.
It looked like classical villain equipment. Or at least, it didn’t scream hero in any way.
Though the knife being swung around probably wasn’t very heroic either.
’A villain?’ I frowned, puzzled at first by someone so young being involved. But remembering the gas-spewing brat from earlier, I shrugged it off.
Teenager or adult—death was falling on everyone... by my hand.
Decision made, I drew my gun.
-Click-
And, much like with all three before this one, I didn’t waste time with introductions.
—BANG!—
The next instant, a bullet cut through the air, aimed straight at the girl as the deafening explosion of the chamber drowned the entire forest.
It took barely half a second to reach her—probably faster than the sound wave itself.
"...!"
-Swoosh-
But at the last moment, she ducked unnaturally fast and slipped past the shot, the bullet kicking up dirt uselessly behind her.
"...."
My eyes narrowed as I dropped from the tree I’d fired from, landing just a few meters from the three of them.
Immediately, all their heads snapped toward me.
The two 1-A girls looked worried—probably assuming I was another villain.
The blonde, though...
"That was dangerous. I almost died... who are you?" she asked, her voice slightly panicked, but otherwise almost playful.
’A crazy one.’ I snorted. There was no other reason she was like this after almost getting shot.
I wasn’t bothered that she’d dodged. It was bound to happen sooner or later. My gun only fired at the same speed as a regular firearm—some superpowered individual reacting in time was inevitable.
Besides, that shot had been manual. I could use my gun outside of Kill mode when I wanted to, though that meant I could miss like anyone else. Same with the knife: I could swing it freely, or I could activate Kill when close enough and lock the target into an unavoidable execution.
Basically, manually using my kill weapons gave me freedom for movement, but sacrificed that 100% assured kill.
Still, I wasn’t exactly untrained. The old man had drilled me in every weapon under the sun, making sure my skill arsenal was as diverse as possible.
So that 100% accuracy actually only dropped to 99%.
That didn’t mean her dodge hadn’t been surprising.
-Schk!-
I flicked my wrist, letting my knife slide free.
’But that’s as far as she’s getting.’
She could dodge all the bullets she wanted—but once I closed the distance, she was dead. Either from a manual slash, or from getting stun-locked by Kill.
And she wasn’t faster than me.
"Time to die," I muttered, kicking off the ground and rushing forward. Both gun and knife ready to deliver the finishing blow.
But she was sharper than she looked.
Before I could reach her the necessary distance to go for any type of kill, she darted beneath the still-stunned girls and pulled the two, pressing a knife to Uraraka’s throat, and the needle thing to the frog girl’s neck.
"Sorry, Ochako-chan, Tsuyu-chan. But I don’t want to die," she whispered sweetly, smiling as the blade edged closer to Gravity Girl’s neck.
"Ack!"
"Don’t... call me that!"
Both girls groaned under her grasp, but became unable to do anything as both weapons touched their skin threateningly.
I came to a halt, vein on my forehead bulging slightly.
’Again with the hostage card... these people are really starting to piss me off.’
Unfortunately for her, this time I wasn’t Suzaku like at the internships, so I was using everything in my arsenal.
I began walking around them, movements slow and deliberate, knife glinting at the moonlight.
The air was the only sound filling the surroundings as we reached this impasse.
"...!"
My eyes squinted faintly as I saw a leaf fall from the trees around. Predicting faintly where it was going.
A small smile bloomed on my face.
Then, as the leaf flew past her face, blocking her sight of me for merely a blink of an eye...
I vanished.
"...?!"
The girl’s eyes widened in shock, and she quickly began looking around, laughing nervously.
"Het, hey, if you don’t appear again, I’m killing her, you know? I’m serious."
Sadly, I wasn’t gonna put up with this play of hero and villain any longer.
Before she had any chance to continue with her bullshit, and still invisible to any eye, I shot forward, gun in hand.
—Bang!—
A bullet exploded forward, speed just as fast as the previous one, but at a closer distance—meaning less window to dodge.
"...!"
But even then, the girl seemed to have seen it coming and jumped away with shocking agility just in time to avoid the lethal shot. But it didn’t really matter much to me. The fact that she had left behind the only thing that was keeping her from dying didn’t change.
Now, she was dead.
As she landed away, escaping the bullet by mere milliseconds, I was already rushing back against her, knife glistening as I prepared to slash.
This time, even if she reacted on time like with the bullet, she wouldn’t be able to get away on time. I was simply faster.
And she noticed it quickly, seeing her worried face as I closed in, despite her trying to maintain her distance.
In a matter of a second, I was already thrusting my knife at her, looking to make even the smallest wound.
And even if I missed, I had Kill prepared to activate the moment I got close enough, making dodging no longer possible.
But just as I was about to reach her—
"Sorry, Tsuyu-chan!" The girl gripped her knife tightly and tossed it at the frog girl, who had yet to follow our movements and couldn’t possibly react in time.
My momentum changed instantly. With my modified legs, I kicked the ground, cracking the earth, and redirected myself.
I moved faster than the knife, and I was able to catch it before it could fully reach the frog girl.
But by the time I turned to look back at the blonde girl, she was already running away, using that huge speed of hers to get away.
I dropped her knife and dropped into a squat.
’Good one.’ A grin broke on my face.
Veins bulged, and my muscles swelled.
’But it isn’t getting you away.’
No matter how much she ran, she wouldn’t be able to outspeed me.
She was dying, here and now.
But just as I was about to kick the ground and shoot after her—
—BOOOOOM!—
The sound of a huge explosion coming from somewhere in the distance caught my attention.
I could also hear faint scream sounds.
I flinched. My eyes fell on the departing girl’s back, then on the direction from which the explosion had come.
I stayed like that for at least five seconds, considering everything. Until I eventually arrived at a decision.
The girl had clearly retreated in a direction where there shouldn’t be any other students, plus, she’d discarded her knife, and honestly, that syringe of hers was quite lacking as a weapon.
She wasn’t enough of a threat to bother following for now.
First, I had to check what the hell that explosion and the scream were. It seemed more urgent.
With a sigh, I turned around to face the direction of the explosions. The two girls from 1-A seemed to want to say something, but honestly, I couldn’t care less.
They could walk, hence they could get themselves out of here.
So, disregarding them, I kicked the ground and shot forward, planning to investigate properly what the hell was happening further ahead.
Though, as I moved through the forest, I couldn’t help but let out a small snort as I recalled the blonde girl.
’Lucky one... at least for now.’
...
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| Somewhere else... |
...
Himiko Toga breathed haggardly as she finally stopped her sprint, sweat filling her forehead.
She looked back at the trail she’d left behind, unsure eyes locking there for quite a few seconds, alert, as if ready to explode into another full-on sprint the moment something dared to move.
-Sigh...-
... Only to finally relax once nothing ended up happening.
"That was scary... I almost died~" She fell to the ground, feeling her legs grow weak.
She’d felt it; if any attack of the man had connected, she’d have died. She’d been face-to-face with literal death.
Fortunately, it seemed she had managed to get away. That explosion had come at just the right moment.
"I wonder if it’s Twice’s work." She muttered, tilting her head faintly.
Then, she pulled out a communication device from a pocket.
It took a few seconds for it to connect, but once it did, an annoyed voice answered.
"What do you want now, crazy brat?"
"Don’t call me that! I just called because I almost got killed by a man in a suit. It was scary, you know? I almost died! You should have informed us that such a dangerous person would be here!"
{"... A man in a suit, you say?"}
"Yes!"
{"..."}
The call fell into silence for a moment, making Toga tilt her head in confusion.
Only after a few seconds had passed did the voice come from the device again.
{"... I’m on my way, whoever of you that remains alive, reunite at the agreed place."}
"How do you know some of us are dead?"
{"... Because it would be stranger if he hadn’t killed at least one of you by now... on that matter, how are you alive?"}
Toga pouted.
"What’s that supposed to mean?!"
...
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-To be Continued...-
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(A/N: Second part of the villain invasion. It’s certainly not easy, considering all the stuff happening at the same time, the things that were caused as consequences of others in the show, but that don’t apply here, etc.
What did you think? Also, sorry if it seemed that Toga’s plot armor was too strong. I tried to make it believable, but it’s hard when you have a character that instakills and you have a story to tell.
Also, here’s another meme.)
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