In the sky, Nyx flew majestically… coughing out her lungs.
"Cough! Cough!" she cawed, making everyone seated on her back jolt. "Damn all fire-based Quirk bastards!"
Todoroki's mouth twitched.
"Hey… Todoroki! Watch it!" Monoma complained as cold water entered his eyes. "You're either gonna freeze my eyes or… burn them!"
Luke sat next to them, keeping an eye on the ground.
A thin layer of smoke lay beneath them, obscuring their vision.
If they were to fly lower than this smoke layer, it would make Nyx an easy target for the Villains. Flying too high would defeat the entire purpose of coming out, making it hard for them to notice an injured student or Hero.
The CRACK must be Mushroom-nimi's work, Luke thought, his mind constantly decrypting, divining, and deliberating. That guy has absolutely no idea how much strength to use, and where… I hope Shield will keep the cyborg from overdoing it. We do need that Nomu… and preferably in one piece.
As Dr. Blessed, Luke had now stolen four Nomus.
One was a Lower Tier Nomu from the USJ incident, which Shigaraki had brought as an extra, along with the High Tier Nomu to take on All Might. That was also the Nomu that Conformity had later possessed.
Later, during the Hosu City showdown, Luke had stolen one each of the Lower, Middle, and Upper Tier. Unlike the one he had obtained from the USJ incident, all these Nomus were corpses, making them less desirable experiments.
Luke had concluded that through Nomu, he could perhaps find the link to make the bestowed Quirks permanent in a much shorter and more affordable time period.
However, the dead Nomus, with dead Quirk Factors, held few details within them, other than their strange biological existence.
Still, Luke hadn't been overenthusiastic about it, keeping it in the back of his mind.
It was only after gaining Mushroom that the old desire reignited, with a much more intense flame.
With a brilliant engineer like Melissa by his side, taking care of the mechanical aspect, Luke had ample time to focus on his base field.
For that — he needed a Nomu.
That's why he hadn't interfered with the Training Camp's event at all, not preventing it from happening.
Who would have thought that Dr. Kyudai had already succeeded in creating a lesser version of the Quirk Amplification Device?
Who would have thought that this little deviation in the series of events would make the Vanguard Action Squad change their core target from Bakugo to Momo?
Sigh… Luke let out a breath. It's no time for regrets. For now, I must… prepare, plan, and execute…
[…] Miss Justice smiled.
"Hey!" Nyx suddenly roared. "My… Cough! I mean… Lemillion!"
The three students craned their necks out and barely saw a blur, carrying someone on his shoulders.
Nyx dived, and the wind snapped all heads back, Monoma cursing out loud.
When she landed, Luke instantly canceled the Gigantification Quirk and eyed the Pro, who was eyeing them back with a smile on his face.
"What did you do?" Mirio asked, staring at Luke. "How are you three out?"
Luke instead eyed the body Lemillion was carrying, recognizing her from her costume. "… Ragdoll?"
Mirio nodded. "A Villain attacked her," he explained. "She's heavily injured. I was taking her back to the campsite."
"That's why we are here, then," Luke said, smiling. "As medics."
…
"Erasure!"
Aizawa, who was making a beeline for the CRACK's direction, suddenly stopped.
From the bushes, Mandalay and Tiger came running out, the latter carrying Pixie Bob on his back with one of his hands broken badly.
Magne's Clone had hit Pixie Bob's head with a magnetic pillar. Now, she was bleeding profusely. Not only her, but the rest of the Pussycats weren't faring any better, with bruises and bloody scars covering their bodies.
The moment Aizawa saw them, a heaviness settled on his heart.
It wasn't only because of Pixie Bob's state, though.
"… You didn't meet Luke and Nyx?" Aizawa asked.
He had clearly seen Nyx flying toward the location where the Pussycats had gathered students for their little game before the Villains had appeared.
If the Pros were still injured, then didn't it mean…
"Luke and Nyx are out?!" Mandalay gasped. "Why?!"
Aizawa, for once, didn't know what to say. "… Medics," he said, saying the only word that appeared in his mind. "Spot Heal and Damage Transfer can save lives. They are not alone. Monoma, who can copy Quirks, and Todoroki are with them as well."
Mandalay looked at Aizawa as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Have you…"
Tiger put his hand on Mandalay's shoulder, making her stop. Hearing Aizawa's words, he guessed the worst-case scenario that could have played out at the campsite.
"We left that place much earlier," Tiger explained. "The children must have missed us entirely. We were heading toward the campsite first. But then, hearing that noise, we decided to come directly here…"
Erasure Head gave a heavy nod. "Mandalay," he asked, "can you send a message to all students? Ask them to keep an eye on the sky for Nyx."
As much as Mandalay wanted to know all the details, she nodded, instantly relaying Aizawa's message to all the students using her Telepath Quirk.
"One of you should take Pixie Bob back to the same spot," Erasure Head suggested. "Nyx will make a round of the forest and hopefully see you guys. Now that the boys are already out, we shouldn't gamble on waiting for paramedics to arrive."
Tiger and Mandalay looked at Pixie Bob's blood-stained head and nodded.
"I will take her back," Tiger said, already turning out. "Mandalay, keep me informed."
Then, sharing a nod between each other, Erasure Head and Mandalay rushed forward.
They didn't even need to guess where they needed to go, either. The more they ran, the louder the noises became, their eardrums humming by the time they reached the location.
And what they saw left them shocked beyond bounds.
Alas! That was only the beginning, with more Villains joining the audience… appearing one after another.
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