『3rd Person』
Unsteady steps, a body swaying slightly as if drunk. His body stood tall. Wearing only a pair of pants tattered beyond recognition, A body that looked like it belonged to a corpse with the amount of bruises and lacerations littered across it. His arms, resembling tentacles woven into armored claws glowed slightly under the oppressive darkness of the night and the storm enveloping the city.
Shigaraki leapt down from the rooftop onto the street below, his eyes widened as he took in the sight of Hakari still standing. He smiled and scratched his neck.
"Figured you'd be more durable than that."
But then his brows furrowed as Hakari turned his gaze on him. The vibrant yellow of his eyes replaced by a glowing crimson more vibrant than even blood, and sclera darker than even coal. The eye bore into him with unadulterated hatred and hunger.
"Grrrr..."
A growl of equal parts of anger, and animalistic hunger left Hakari's mouth as he crouched low before pushing off the ground, shattering the asphalt beneath his feet and shot forward like a bullet, Shigaraki was caught off guard and used his tendrils to propel himself upwards, but then suddenly Hakari grabbed the Rivets and yanked them down, dragging Shigaraki down alongside them.
"!"
Shigaraki had to contort his body mid-air as Hakari swung his arm that swelled in size and changed shape into a sickle with a sharp edge, just barely missing Shigaraki's waist with a swing. Bisecting a wall instead.
Even then, Shigaraki quickly recovered his composure and sent several tendrils forward, directly at Hakari's torso, aiming to decay his lungs, but before that, two massive multicolored fleshy crystalline wings burst from his shoulders, moving as fluidly as water before getting in the way of his rivets and hardening, the point where his rivets couldn't pierce them fully before a tail also ripped itself out of Hakari's lower body and swept towards him, catching him in the ribs, throwing him away and making him cough blood.
"Gah, that hurt-"
Not even getting a moment to monologue, Shigraki turned his head and expended even more of his vital energy to pull out his barrier as a barrage of feather-like crystals shot out from the wings. They made sounds like shells slamming against a bunker when they impacted the barrier.
"Tsk, maybe I should have taken some more firepower instead. But he can't have that much MP left, right? All quirks take energy after all."
As the barrage slowed down, Shigaraki dashed out and weaved to the side as a tail slammed down on where he was a moment prior. He knew that, physically speaking, he was stronger than Hakari without those annoying tails and wings. Especially now with his recent buffs.
Faking a feint jump, he ducked under another swing of the tail and created several rivets on his fist as makeshift knuckles and punched Hakari straight in the face, tearing off most of his jaw before sending him flying and crashing into a dumpster.
Not letting up with just that, Shigaraki followed it up by throwing a fast rivet that pierced Hakari's knee and decayed his ligament and bone. But for some reason, instead of responding, he was... convulsing.
"...Aaaah..."
Shigaraki drew the rivet back in a panic as Hakari started convulsing even harder.
"What are...?"
"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"
The wings receded back into his body as from his lower back emerged 4 tentacles which looked like bladed whips that resembled an insect, each ending in a mantis like scythe at the tip. Letting out a gurgling animalistic scream Hakari threw himself at Shigaraki, all 4 limbs moving at once in tandem aiming to gouge Shigaraki.
"Shit!"
Shigaraki flipped backwards as one of the tentacles tore apart the ground he stood on moments prior and had to lean to the side as another whipped and caught a portion of his shoulder, almost ripping it off entirely. Another tentacle went straight for his torso, but he formed a smaller but denser barrier that deflected it.
'Is he possessed or something?'
The way he now moved resembled nothing like that of a human, he was crawling on all fours towards Shigaraki with sharp jerky movements, as if forcing his body along. It resembled an insect.
But then suddenly, the tentacles suddenly went limp, and he convulsed again, throwing up a significant volume of blood and some organs if Shigaraki was seeing correctly.
"U--aaaaaa---AAAA---!!!"
As Shigaraki was about to go in for the killing blow while he was letting out a dying gasp, a winged nomu dove towards Hakari, making him scowl.
"Hey you fucking kill stealer stand dow-"
Crunch!
He stopped himself when he saw one of the tentacles come to life and tear through the Nomu's chest before pulling it down like a frog tongue. And as soon as the Nomu was close enough, Hakari opened his mouth wide, half of his jaw that Shigaraki tore off replaced by the same crystalline tissue before he clamped down on the neck of the Nomu and tore off a giant chunk.
"A snack?"
Even Shigaraki was repulsed and fascinated slightly, watching as Hakari tore into the Nomu like a starving beast before throwing away the body and looking back at Shigaraki, just a little saner than before.
"Weirdo."
Shigaraki narrowed his eyes as Hakari took a deep breath and that glow appeared around his body again, in response, he formed dozens of rivers around his body. The wings appeared on Hakari's shoulders again as the tentacles retracted, and then he dashed forward, faster than ever before, his wings charged with the same sort of crackling energy. In response, Shigaraki erected his barrier and covered it in rivets, forming a spiky barrier and used decay through it, forming the absolute defense.
Crash!
And in a single moment, Hakari slipped past him, the sound of glass shattering deafened the surroundings. Shigaraki ran his finger along the gash that had appeared on his midsection, it was not deep enough to kill him. On the other hand, the wing Hakari had used looked like a plucked branch.
"Seems like neither of us are going to win at this point, eh? Guess I'll just have to call this one a draw again. How annoying."
Hakari stood like a waning statue and glared at Shigaraki. He looked like he was moments from dying, but Shigaraki knew better than what he could do with that desperation. Besides, he had already spent far more time here than he wanted to.
Boom!
Shigaraki winced as a wave of flames washed over his position, not hot enough to kill enough, but just hot enough to make it intolerable. He opened his barrier to isolate himself from the flames and watched as a massive man landed between him and Hakari, with a dark blue outfit and his iconic bear of fire.
"You're the villain Burning told me about, I used lower temperature as a warning shot, but if you can take that, it seems like I'll have to go hotter."
Endeavor. The number 2 Hero.
Busted.
"Oi, Nine, give me an opportunity, we're pulling out."
"Who are you talking to? An accomplice-"
Crack! Boom! Boom!
He was interrupted by several bolts of lightning ripped through the sky and tore up the road in between Endeavor and himself. At this moment, the dark mist of Kurogiri appeared behind him and Shigaraki let himself fall backwards into the mist, vanishing from the battlefield.
Despite being forced to retreat, he smiled. Though it was not a happy one.
I'll get him next time.
.
.
.
"Student, no, Hakari right? Are you alright?"
Endeavor turned to the student standing in the street after having fought a villain by his lonesome. Yet, despite his words, Hakari did not seem like he heard him, just blankly staring at where the villain had left.
"Can you hear me?"
Assuming some sort of shell shock, Endeavor approached him only for the boy to turn his gaze towards him, he looked like a corpse standing, with bruises, scars, tears, lacerations, and so many different wounds he couldn't name them all. He clenched his jaw, he didn't have anything to perform first aid with, but seeing as the rain had suddenly stopped and there were no more so called "Nomu" flying around, he could deliver the student to a medic.
Finally, Hakari's head turned to him, he opened his mouth slightly.
"Bleurgh."
-And puked out a concerning amount of what could only be called a soup of blood and torn internal organs, one of his eyes turned red as if all the blood vessels in it had popped and he collapsed on the spot.
Endeavor quickly rushed forward and caught him before he could fall onto the floor and grimaced.
It would be a miracle if he survived.
⚀—⚁⚂⚃—⚄—•⚅•—⚄—⚃⚂⚁—⚀
『Hakari Kotaro』
Feat Achieved! Repel Shigaraki Tomura
+1x Diamond Ability Gacha Ticket
Feat Achieved! Forcefully change your race into an Epic Race
+1x Diamond Trait Gacha Ticket
...
I opened my eye.
Eye, singular. I could feel the other one, but it was completely wrapped in gauze and cotton. The familiar pale white light of a hospital shone down on me., My body felt like it was made of lead, despite me trying to move, it tried to disobey, but I showed who was the captain here by forcing my hand up regardless, much to great discomfort.
It was completely covered in bandages, but I could see slivers of reddened, tender, pulsating skin poking out from between them.
...How the hell are my arms still here?
I mean, mostly there, there are still a few fingers missing. Most of my jaw still seemed to be in the process of getting there, about a quarter of it was still missing. The first thing I noticed was the fact that my body wasn't in agonizing pain. Instinctively sensing my body with Red Child revealed why, there were foreign compounds in my bloodstream, probably metric tons of sedatives and painkillers.
Wriggling onto a sitting position, I saw how the nurse over my bed looked shocked before she hurriedly rushed out of the room.
So, did I win or not? Most of what happened is a blur to me. A blur of pain and hunger.
Right, hunger.
I turned myself into a ghoul, and also ate a man. Or a former man. Worst part? He tasted so tough and gamey, like a well done steak.
Shaking my head, I flexed my muscles for a moment before being hit with a sharp pain that politely told me to reconsider. My body was in such a ruined state that I couldn't tell the difference between being human and a ghoul.
So I pulled up the trait instead to see what I really was.
[Hybrid Ghoul]
|Epic Trait|(Race Change)
You are a Ghoul Hybrid, someone who has artificially turned themselves into a ghoul while retaining their human traits. As a Ghoul, you have considerably stronger and tougher than regular humans due to the Red Child Cells flowing through your body and as a One Eyed Ghoul, you have great regenerative abilities. In addition, your body has several Kakuhou organs that allow you to manifest Kagune(Rinkaku, Bikaku, Ukaku) formed out of RC Cells that act as natural weapons.
Your Hybrid Status Allows you to eat human food as normal with Human Flesh providing a boost to your abilities.
So I've become a literal monster now?
Ugh, What are these thoughts right now? That fight is really getting to my head. Did Deku infect me with some fucking virus? Did he hijack my brainwaves and make me throw myself to shield that little girl? And these sedatives are not helping my thoughts right now.
"Haaa... this sucks, I miss Toga."
My voice came as a raspy gravelly mess, I could feel blood pool up in my mouth as I spoke, this sucked.
Slam!
"Hakari-shounen! I am glad to see you are we....ll."
All Might all but ripped the door off its hinges as he burst into my hospital room with Nezu on his shoulder. He looked like he rushed here considering he was still wearing a suit and not his teaching attire.
"As soon as we heard the news that you were awake, I had All Might bring me as fast as I could. Are you feeling alright Hakari-kun?"
Rushed here? As in from UA?
Damn.
Nezu hopped off his shoulder and looked at me in blatant concern. As much as I wanted to greet him back, my body was not feeling particularly helpful.
"Do I look- Ptui okay to you?"
I had to rip off the bandages and spit the blood pooling in my mouth as I tried to speak, but Nezu seemed equal parts saddened and relieved regardless.
"You do not! But your spirit does seem to be okay, I am relieved. You have been asleep for an entire day, the doctors were worried you went into a coma. Especially since they couldn't operate on you."
"I see."
My gaze lowered down to my hand which was still regenerating. I had lost so badly, so easily, so overwhelmed, was it because I did a stupid thing by trying to jump in front of a child?
What did I think I was, a hero?
"Why are you here?"
Nezu hopped onto my bed and stared me in the eye.
"Because I was worried for you of course, Hakari-kun. I saw firsthand how brutal that fight was, speaking of, you really got yourself into a lot of trouble, did you not? The police chief officer will unfortunately have to talk to you after this. Bastards cannot even until you have recovered fully, unfortunately."
"Okay."
...
All Might's hand landed on my shoulder and patted it, he gave me a smile, and for the first time, it felt like he was giving me a real one. Like a proud parent. But I didn't know why, did he have a problem with me before?
"Don't look so down Hakari-shounen, it was thanks to your heroic efforts that the day was saved! I am proud of you, you stood against a villain by your lonesome and never backed down."
"Yeah."
I fiddled with the missing ring finger, feeling the flesh wriggling beneath, despite me not exhausting energy, my flesh was regrowing.
Why am I so half-assed?
All Might looked quite disturbed as he retrieved his hand and scratched his head. Nezu shook his head and came closer to me.
"Are you feeling alright, Hakari?"
I don't know.
All of a sudden, Nezu dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a clumsily sealed letter and held it for me and I tilted my head.
"It is a letter, it was addressed to you, well, I thought I'd deliver it by hand since the post office in Hosu is going to be closed for a while you see."
Who the hell sends a letter in this day and age?
Seeing my raised eyebrow, Nezu shook his shoulders.
"Just read it."
Sighing, I took the letter and opened the envelope to find a letter clumsily folded inside.
'To the Mister who saved me and my mom, I didn't know who you are, so I asked one of the good misters around to deliver it to you'
The handwriting is quite shitty.
'Thank you so much for saving me and my mommy! You were so cooler, cooler than even All Might, I wanted to thank you in person but you vanished.'
I gave a side eye to the nervous All Might, reading this clumsy letter was giving me a headache, was this written by the kid I jumped in front of? I didn't care about some rando that didn't even exist in the show.
As for the letter, most of it were just hastily written thank you's and gushing about how cool I was. But I decided to read it until the end anyway.
'You will always be my hero! Thank you for saving me!'
I refolded the letter and leaned my head back.
"Why did you even show me this?"
Nezu shrugged his shoulders.
"I thought you might like it. Should I throw it away for you?"
He reached for the letter, but I snatched it away, making him give an annoying smirk.
"No."
"Alright then, whatever you say, Hakari-kun. We'll be taking our leave, we have to explain to the side why All Might jumped through the roof after all! And there are plenty of people who want to meet you after this, but you can refuse them if you want alright? I'll support whatever decision you make."
With that, Nezu and All Might left through the door, leaving me in the silent room again.
I looked down at the folded letter again before unfolding it and reading it again.
On second thought.
It's actually pretty well written.
A/N: Ghouls are pretty damn strong, and Hakari may have won in a battle of attrition... if only he didn't completely overhaul his entire biology in the most extreme, brutal and careless way, it is a miracle he isn't literally dying right now, but his body will need time to adapt to the new changes thrusted into it.
Hakari has been through the wringer, physically and emotionally. Twice, twice he almost lost to Shigaraki, and he is having conflict with his inner emotions about just what hell he is doing or is trying to do. But hey, he got a letter from a very thankful fan out of it, so that is nice, perhaps there is hope for this Gambler after all.