Image At the End!
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Nine's hair pulsed with violet light.
"Pathetic insect-"
The clone shot me a look, grinning like he was in on the joke. "This fucker, lol. Using the same insult over and over. Get a dictionary, you illiterate fucker."
Nine's fingers twitched. "You talk too much."
"And you breathe too much." The clone circled him, voice sharp. "Don't worry. I will fix that."
Nine's tendrils lashed out in a wide arc. I kicked off the wall and vaulted sideways, watching one of the tendrils carve a trench in the stone where I had been.
"Almost got me. Another centimeter and I might've farted."
Nine's glow flared brighter. The air pressure shifted so hard, it cracked the rail behind me.
"Bro, is this your big scary villain routine?" The clone tilted its head. "You sound like a Walmart Darth Vader. All hiss, no threat."
He turned his hand, and a focused laser ripped through the clone's chest. The clone burst apart mid-step, splintering into faint wisps as Nine's laser carved through his chest. That was it. Four minutes already lost.
Nine's gaze locked back on me. His fingers twitched. The air condensed in front of him, another barrier sliding into place. He was stallling.
"Cute trick," Nine muttered.
"Cute enough to work," I said, already behind him. My foot smashed into his back, and he lurched forward, slamming into his own Air Wall. The impact made his barrier flicker.
I pushed forward.
[ENDLESS MOMENTUM 85%]
Explosions cracked off behind me as Nine twisted, violet arcs snaking through the air. Another Air Wall slammed into place inches from my face, forcing me to drop and skid under it on one shoulder. Sparks sprayed my left arm as his laser clipped past, scorching my sleeve, and the heat felt like my skin was already bubbling.
The floor buckled from his next pulse, throwing debris into the air. I shot forward, bat raised. He lashed out with tendrils, forcing me to twist hard, letting one whip catch my ribs and drag me sideways.
Nine's hand twitched. He flared the tendrils again and tried to close me in with walls.
[SLIPPERY BASTARD TRIGGERED]
I ducked between the bindings and kicked off the edge of a half-broken barrier. The air cracked as I flew up past his left side. His pupils darted to follow, too slow.
[PHANTOM STEP]
My body blurred left while my real path angled right. The bat swung up hard... straight into his ribs.
THUD.
He snorted sharp but didn't break. A pulse of air threw me off mid-swing. I twisted in the air, but a laser clipped my shoulder this time, burning through skin and flesh.
[CHEAT DEATH TRIGGERED]
The impact redirected, the burn shifting away from my joint and digging into the outside of my arm instead. Blood spilled, but the arm still moved. Barely.
I landed rough, forcing myself to a stop. The cooldown on Cheat Death ticked down in the back of my skull like a bomb.
[ENDLESS MOMENTUM 95%]
The world felt like it tilted. My body moved faster, harder. I swung low. The bat cracked into Nine's ankle before he could retreat again. The barrier he was forming fizzled.
His entire leg bent weird.
He grunted, fell backward onto another Air Wall. Energy sparked around him.
Then...
"DIE, YOU FLOATING ASSHOLE!"
Bakugo's voice split the fight.
He came screaming from above, grenade palms blazing. The explosions slammed into Nine's left flank, shattering two more Air Walls.
"You son of a..." I started.
Too late. Nine turned his head toward Bakugo. His fingers aiming.
I saw energy piking in that attack.
A compressed beam shot toward Bakugo, cutting across his path. The idiot didn't dodge, he deflected with an explosion, but the blast staggered him mid-air.
"SHIT!"
I bolted forward, bat dropping from my hand.
[DEVOURER'S INSTINCT TRIGGERED]
My reflexes sharpened as my hand shot up, grabbed Bakugo's arm, and yanked him down hard just as another beam sliced past where his head had been.
"WHAT THE HELL, DUMBASS?!" I yelled, dragging him behind the crumbled wall.
He snarled. "I had him, bastard! Stop holding me back!"
"Shut your mouth before I shut it for you."
Nine's glow flared again. A gust tore through the area. The wall shattered behind us, sending both of us flying. I hit the ground hard, shoulder first, the impact making my ribs creak.
[BLOOD LOSS WARNING]
[ENDLESS MOMENTUM RESET]
I staggered to my feet, skull pounding like a war drum. My left arm dangled uselessly at my side, twitching like it was trying to remember how to exist. The fucker villain didn't charge up his attacks until now, he knew I would dodge them. But like an idiot Queen stuck in front of the King by a Bishop, I had to take the hit. That is when he amped it up and went all in.
Fuck! Fuck! I was this close to punching Bakugo right in his sweaty blonde head. My hand was already cocked back, but instead I had to grab him and yank him down as Nine's energy blast tore through the spot where he had been. We slammed into the ground, my ribs protesting so loyd, I thought they might crack in half.
Nine dropped after us, hovering just out of reach. We tumbled hard, sliding down debris and landing closer to the center of the island. My blood ran cold.
That was where Mom and Eri were.
This bastard Bakugo had dragged Nine straight into them.
Devourer's Instinct had burned out saving his life, and I was seeing nothing but red.
"Fucking idiot," I growled.
[EMERGENCY STUNT DOUBLE ACTIVATED - 05:58]
The clone blurred into existence and bolted the opposite direction, bat in hand, yelling insults like a cracked-out banshee. Nine's head snapped toward it for a half-second.
"Ryuu! Kacchan!" Izuku's voice cracked over, frantic.
Chimera's massive arm slammed into him from behind mid-call, sending him flying. Izuku hit the dirt with a grunt, bouncing once before he skidded to a stop.
"IDIOTS!" Kirishima barked, charging to cover Izuku's position. His skin was already half-hardened, blood streaking down his side. Tetsutetsu was right behind him, their movements synced as they held the line against Chimera.
Tens of grunts closed in like vultures, boots pounding over sand and broken planks. The square was surrounded. Chimera's roar split the air as Izuku scrambled back up, his gloves shredded, Blackwhip barely keeping him from eating another fist to the face. Bakugo stumbled near me, panting.
We were too close to the center. I had to drag this circus away before Nine realized who was holed up in the evac shelter.
I grabbed Bakugo by the collar and slammed him into a half-collapsed stall so hard the wood groaned like it was about to give way. "Stay down or I swear I will break your legs myself."
"Like hell, bastard! He is mine..."
My foot met his gut. He folded over with a bark of air. "You shut the hell up and let Hikaru patch you before you turn into another corpse I have to carry."
I grabbed Bakugo by the collar and hurled him over the courtyard wall. He crashed into a stack of crates near where Midnight guarded civilians. Momo and Hatsume were slumped against the stone, both looking like they had not slept in days. Hatsume barely noticed as Bakugo rolled past her feet.
Bakugo's cursing barely registered before Eri's small gasp cut through the noise. She was clutching Mom's arm, tucked into the evac shelter behind a barricade of rubble and overturned tables. But the second her wide eyes found me, blood dripping down my side and my hoodie scorched through, something in her snapped.
"Ryuu-!"
Mom's hold tightened. "Eri, no! Stay here!"
Too late.
The kid wrenched herself free, slipped through Mom's fingers like water, and bolted straight toward me. Her little shoes barely made a sound as she skidded to a stop in front of me, arms trembling.
"Don't... don't die."
Shit.
"Eri, stop..."
A glowing horn spiraled into life on her head, sparking violently. Her quirk's energy swirled out, golden light coiling like a wild animal. I felt it hit me, crawling under my skin, dragging something backward.
Pain vanished. The burns and cuts stitched themselves up in reverse. Blood returned to veins. Even my hoodie's ragged tear pulled back into seamless fabric.
But the glow didn't stop.
The air buzzed, heavy. She was panicking.
"Eri-" I reached for her wrist, but the light flared stronger.
Everyone saw it.
Class 1-A, 1-B, Nejire, Hatsume, Midnight, Mom. They knew what Eri's quirk could do. Rewind. The power to undo a person completely.
Nine's gaze sharpened instantly, a greedy light sparking in his expression as he hovered above.
"That power... it is perfect."
"Ryuu! Eri!"
Mom's voice cut through the chaos like a slap. Eri's little body trembled against my chest, her Quirk still flaring like a storm that refused to quit. I locked her against me as the light clawed under my skin, trying to rip me backward. Every nerve burned, but I gritted my teeth and held on like the world itself would have to kill me to pry her away.
"Hey, hey, shorty..." I tapped her forehead gently with two fingers. "I am fine now."
The energy recoiled like it had hit a wall.
[ECLIPSE STRIKE ACTIVATED]
The faint ripple from my tap spread out and cancelled her spiraling Quirk, her eyes to widened as her hands balled into my hoodie like she was gripping life itself.
"Watch closely," I muttered, only for her to hear. "I will make anyone trying to make you cry vanish."
She blinked up at me, tears clinging to her lashes, and I set her down behind the nearest barricade. My palm pressed lightly against her back. "Listen Mom, okay? Do not run out again."
I didn't wait for her answer.
Bakugo stumbled forward like a bull seeing red. "Dumbass, what are you..."
My boot connected with his chest before he could finish. He flew backward, crashing through a broken stall.
"Go heal him and Deku," I said, flicking my eyes toward Hikaru without breaking stride. "Do it fast before he opens his mouth again."
Hikaru and Katsuma bolted across the rubble toward Bakugo and Deku. Katsuma's small hands glowed faintly as he tried to keep up, stumbling slightly on a broken plank before Hikaru yanked him forward by the collar. Behind me, Nine's stare locked on Eri, his face twisting as his hand twitched, a faint pulse of energy radiating from his fingertips. The greed in his eyes was thick.
Everyone had gathered now. The entire crowd of Sorashima and Nabu islands stood in that ruined square, eyes wide, breaths caught. Even the kids clung to parents and debris, silent.
[CROWD FAVORITE ACTIVE]
The stats hit me like a drug. Strength surged up my spine, every movement climbing, every breath stronger. My fingers flexed around another bat I pulled, as I felt momentum coil tight in my legs like a spring waiting to snap.
Nine's eyes swept over the civilians, but they stopped dead on the little horned girl behind me. His mouth stretched into something between a grin and a snarl.
"I want her!" His voice cracked, half-laughing as violet sparks licked over his skin. "Her power will be mine!"
The bastard sounded like he already owned it.
I laughed.
The same laugh that made Chisaki shit himself when he realized Overhaul wasn't enough to save him. The one that shut Bakugo up mid-feral pace, his teeth grinding as he side-eyed me like I had gone off the deep end.
[SPITEFUL RESILIENCE ACTIVE]
Nine's finger twitched the thousandth of an inch when a bat appeared in his face.
The sound it made when it slammed into his jaw was sharp, wet, and satisfying. His head snapped sideways as if someone had yanked his skull on a leash.
The stored force hit like a freight train. Air cracked around us as his body tumbled midair, slamming into his own Air Wall so hard it spiderwebbed on impact. He grunted, a guttural sound that vibrated off the debris-strewn plaza.
I did not stop.
My feet barely touched down before I was moving again. The second strike came low, the bat swinging straight into his ribs. Something gave under the hit. He wheezed, coughed, and flared energy, forcing his body to float higher, but the movement was sloppy.
His fingers twitched, and two Air Walls slammed down on either side of me. Too slow.
[SLIPPERY BASTARD TRIGGERED]
I spun out between them, dust flew everywhere as I skidded on gravel. The glow on his hands spiked as he aimed another laser, but I was already twisting right. A flash of light seared past my shoulder.
Nine's teeth clenched. "You are starting to piss me off."
"That is not new. Everyone says that."
He lashed out with three tendrils, trying to cage me. I ducked the first, slapped the second aside with the bat, and kicked off a half-broken stone slab to vault over the third.
[PHANTOM STEP ACTIVATED]
My real path veered left. Nine's eyes flicked to where my afterimage had been, and he overcompensated. I came in from the side, swinging for his knee.
CRACK.
His leg buckled. He dropped a meter before catching himself on another Air Wall.
"Getting sloppy," I said. "Did AFO teach you to fight, or did he just hand out quirks and tell you to wing it?"
[RAGE BAIT TRIGGERED]
"SHUT UP!"
Nine's voice cracked as the glow around him flared like a busted transformer.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU FORCED ME TO USE THIS!"
The air bent. The crackle of energy rolled through the opening, ripping debris loose and hurling it like shrapnel. His arms spread, violet light leaking from every pore. Tendrils whipped out in every direction, burning through the stone.
I stepped back, as his power clashed against itself. He could not hold it steady.
"Ah… there it is. The desperation Quirk." My voice carried across the square. "Go on. Pop that final form and let's see if you can even stay standing."
He dropped to one knee for a second, fingers digging into his own leg like he was holding his body together. The surge in his veins looked wrong, unstable, like the Quirk itself was chewing him up inside.
[TACTICAL AWARENESS ACTIVE]
[SHATTERPOINT IDENTIFIED]
Nine's hand jerked, and the air seemed to split with a sound like tearing fabric. The glow in his veins spread to his shoulders, neck, even up his jawline. Lightning crawled across the sky above us, crackling through clouds that had not been there thirty seconds ago. Wind slammed into the plaza, so strong, it toppled a half-burned cart.
Black clouds spiraled overhead as if he was pulling them straight from some other plane. He had pulled the trigger. Weather manipulation. I could see how his arms trembled as he forced the Quirk to keep shape, his teeth gritted tight. Even standing there, he looked like a cracked-up lab rat pretending to be God, straining to hold a storm that wanted to chew him alive.
"You wanted Eri? I will send your head back to AFO in a doggy bag."
(Check Here)
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FREE:
372,000+ words
Pain. Growth. Cliffhangers. Found family. System manipulation. Bat. Angst.
CONDITIONS:
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No comment
No closure
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