Tec
I stood there, not knowing what to do...
I had already taken off the mask from my face…
My Kakugan wasn't active…
'I…'
A tremor, followed by a crack from the ceiling, brought me back to reality.
I picked up the boy in my arms and ran down the stairs.
He trembled in my arms, staring at my face in horror, but after a few seconds, his eyes adjusted, and he rested his head against my chest, crying softly, but clinging tightly to me.
He murmured quietly.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
Apparently, the boy was hallucinating from inhaling too much smoke, which eased the weight I felt a little.
God knows what that kid might have seen when he looked at my face.
I exited the building, shielding us with my Kagune so no debris would fall on us.
I set the boy down, and he ran toward his mother.
The two embraced, crying.
The rest of the crowd had moved away from the building and were now watching the heroes fighting the Nomu.
Their attention was due to the arrival of Endeavour, the number two hero.
Meanwhile, paramedics were tending to those who had passed out inside the building.
"Thank you so much…" The mother looked up at me, sobbing with emotion.
I nodded, put on my mask, and headed toward where Mirko was.
─── ◆ ───
The street where Mirko's fight was happening was a complete mess, full of craters and a strange green sludge that seemed to be melting the asphalt.
I looked for the flying Nomu, but there was no sign of it.
Mirko was fighting a new Nomu.
This one had a less absurd physique, but was still quite muscular, with red skin and four arms.
The red Nomu opened its arms, its palms glowing dark red, and then clapped its hands together.
With that, it created a blast of air, which Mirko skillfully dodged.
The attack hit a small shop, what little glass remained inside shattered, along with the shop's pillars, causing it to collapse.
"MOOOO!!"
I turned my head to the side.
From a hole in a residential building, the bull Nomu emerged, staggering.
But I noticed something interesting, its left leg was broken, probably Mirko's doing.
A longer look at its body showed several bruises, including the holes where I had pierced it with my Kagune earlier.
'It's not regenerating…' If it was, it was doing so at a pitiful speed.
The Nomu noticed me and started running toward me, bellowing furiously.
"MOOOO!!!"
I released my Koukaku and, dodging its charge, slid across the ground and cut its heel.
The Bull staggered, but turned using its massive arms, letting its legs drag across the ground and using only its arms to move.
"Tsk."
It started coming at me again, at a decent speed for someone using only its arms.
I switched to my Rinkaku and jumped, letting it pass beneath me.
I combined my tentacles and struck downward.
The attack fell like a massive whip onto the Nomu's back, raising a cloud of dust.
"..."
The Nomu lay motionless in the middle of a new crater in the street.
I brushed the dust off my outfit, looking at it suspiciously, expecting it to get back up at any moment.
"..."
It stayed completely still, but I cut the joints of its arms just in case, better safe than sorry.
I climbed out of the crater, being greeted by Mirko dragging the red Nomu, also motionless.
"These things are tough."
"Too bad they're dumb, otherwise this would've been a good fight," she complained, dropping the other one into the crater.
"There's still one left on our side." She pointed in a direction with her head.
I raised one of my tentacles toward where she pointed, blocking a glob of green sludge.
I tried shaking my Kagune to get the gunk off, but it refused to come off.
I noticed that instead of dissolving my Kagune, it was heating it up exponentially.
I dismissed my Kagune, letting the sludge fall to the ground.
"Disgusting," I muttered.
"Yeah, very."
Our gaze turned to the culprit, who was watching us from the air before starting to fly away.
"That little bastard kept doing that the whole time."
"Very annoying," she continued.
"Give me a hand, Ghoul."
"Yeah."
I drove my tentacles into the ground and used them like a catapult. I grabbed Mirko's hand and launched her onto a tall building.
From there, she jumped on her own and reached the Nomu, hitting it square in the face with a kick.
It fell to the ground, right into the crater where the other two were, completely motionless, with a dent in its face, the perfect imprint of Mirko's "boot."
Mirko landed safely on the ground.
I extended my hand to her, and we exchanged a high five.
"Sigh… we need to pin them down."
She grabbed some rebar scattered from the destruction and started pinning the Nomu with it, using her own heel like a hammer, driving them into the ground and twisting them into the Nomu's limbs.
I helped her, and we finished in less than five minutes.
"That should be enough."
"Now, do you know how these things work?"
"At the USJ, there was only one."
"It seemed to have been built to fight All Might. Just from that, you can imagine how much stronger it was compared to these."
"Hmm."
"There was a weird pale guy with hands all over his body, he was the one giving orders to the Nomu."
"So that freak should be nearby?"
"I don't think so, at least not anymore. He has a partner who could create portals."
"Tsk, they're probably long gone." She kicked a stone away in irritation.
"Come on, there should still be more of these around."
She sighed as she looked at the numerous plumes of smoke in the distance.
"If not, there are still plenty of places that will need our help."
We started heading toward the chaos, but with the reduction of explosions and screams, it seemed we would be helping more with rescues than fighting.
"And good job back there, brat."
"You too, old lady."
I lowered my head, dodging a slap, smiling behind the mask.
Mirko tried to look irritated, but her smile refused to leave her face.
─── ◆ ───
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