"It's hot! It's hot! It's hot!"
In Lock's field of vision, Purple Grape suddenly popped out from the top of the turtle shell, yelping as he forcibly tore the shell off his back and flung it away.
The shell had been roasted a blazing red by the flames.
A turtle man without his shell looked… extremely strange.
"Purple Grape, I've got you!"
The one who spoke was Red Bean Ice, wearing the red bandanna. Frost instantly spread across the twin forks in his hands as he pressed them against the overheated shell.
Hiss—!
A piercing sound of extreme cold colliding with extreme heat rang out, accompanied by thick white steam.
Red Bean Ice was forced to recoil, his arms trembling violently.
He looked at Lock with lingering fear and swallowed hard.
This kind of absolute elemental suppression—
It was impossible to even think about resisting it.
Turning back to Purple Grape, he said with genuine admiration,
"Thank goodness you managed to block that."
Purple Grape shook his head, still shaken.
"It's all because of the Quirk-enhancement drug. Otherwise, there's no way I could've defended against that."
He was the one with the strongest defense among the four, known for being impenetrable.
Yet even through the shell, the sensation of being scorched by Lock's flames was something he never wanted to experience again.
Red Bean Ice repeatedly pressed frost-covered forks against the shell to cool it down.
"Ice-type Quirk… interesting."
Lock nodded thoughtfully, then raised his eyes and asked directly,
"You're not here just to stall me, are you?"
The four Ninja Turtles exchanged glances, then answered without hesitation.
"Yes."
In fact, they hoped Lock would talk more and waste time—it would only benefit their allies elsewhere.
When planning the USJ invasion, they had already taken Lock into account.
The young Pro Hero who had escaped even All For One.
Nomu's role was to test All Might.
Lock, meanwhile, had to be dragged down somewhere else.
Thus, Yamamoto Saru and Kurogiri came up with this plan—
Use the Four Ninja Turtles, with their terrifying defensive power, to stall Lock as long as possible.
"So that's it."
Lock raised his arm, magic power circulating as he formed ice with one hand.
"Shape of Ice: Frisbee!"
A crude-looking disc of ice formed instantly in his palm.
With a sharp flick of his wrist, Lock hurled it toward the four of them.
The ice frisbee spun at high speed, its edges screaming through the air—
Even steel would be sliced open by this rotation.
"Red Bean Ice!"
Without waiting for instructions, Red Bean Ice stepped forward.
A layer of water condensed around his body as he turned his back to the attack.
Crack!
The sound of ice shattering echoed.
Deep scratches appeared on the turtle's shell behind him.
Immediately after, lightning magic gathered in Lock's right hand, crackling violently, and was fired toward them.
"Sunkist!"
The turtle wearing the orange bandanna rushed in front of Red Bean Ice, blocking the lightning head-on.
Just like the Fire Dragon's Roar, the lightning was absorbed by the shell.
"Acceleration. Defense. Ice. Lightning…"
Lock murmured.
He had to admit it—
The villains had prepared extremely thoroughly just to stall him.
Each of the Ninja Turtles' Quirks was perfectly suited to counter his attacks, and they weren't completely helpless offensively either.
But that was all.
Since direct attacks were being neutralized—
Then he would simply ignore defense altogether.
"The shape of ice…"
Lock surged forward, his steps riding the wind as the ground beneath his feet rapidly froze.
The four Ninja Turtles, unable to understand what he was about to do, instinctively withdrew into their shells.
They were confident.
Their shells could block anything.
"Ice Owes Spring."
Lock slammed both hands—overflowing with ice magic—into the ground.
A massive, ice-blue magic circle bloomed outward.
The temperature plummeted in an instant.
The earth shattered.
A spring erupted.
Gushing water surged up like a towering, pyramid-shaped wave, engulfing all four Ninja Turtles at once—
And then froze solid.
The attack was meaningless.
So he used control.
[Congratulations. Sub-quest completed.
Reward obtained: B-rank Lucky Draw ×1.]
Lock stood up, brushing frost from his hands as the cold mechanical system voice echoed in his ears.
The ice spring sealed them completely.
Perhaps, for a short while, the four turtles hiding inside their shells could endure the freezing.
But they couldn't break free.
And with villains swarming all around, melting this hill-sized block of ice would take half a day even with fire-type Quirks.
By then, the USJ incident would already be over.
Thus, the system judged the Four Ninja Turtles as defeated.
At the same time—
On the other battlefield.
Kurogiri opened a massive black portal, four to five meters wide, and swept it toward the students.
"Everyone, get back! Don't be swallowed by Kurogiri!"
Hero No. 13 shouted urgently from behind.
But it was too late.
When the black fog dispersed—
Only Hero No. 13, Uraraka Ochaco, Shoji Mezo, Sero Hanta, and Sato Rikido remained.
The rest of the students had been warped away to unknown locations.
No. 13's expression darkened instantly.
As a rescue Hero, this was an unforgivable failure.
She didn't know where the students had been sent—but the odds were grim.
Kurogiri spoke calmly:
"Although I don't know why All Might isn't here, as long as his students are in danger, he will definitely appear. That is my mission."
His task was simple—
Defeat No. 13, scatter the students across the USJ disaster zones, then overwhelm them one by one with numbers.
"Black Hole!"
No. 13 didn't hesitate.
She tore off her gloves, revealing the dark, bottomless aperture beneath.
The next instant—
A terrifying suction force erupted, like a true black hole, devouring everything in front of her.
Kurogiri's misty body was pulled violently toward it, like dust being sucked into a vacuum.
This was Hero No. 13's Quirk—Black Hole.
In theory, it could absorb anything.
Given the chance, even All Might or All For One could be swallowed whole.
And yet—
Kurogiri showed no panic at all.
His yellow eyes curved faintly.
"No—this won't do."
No. 13's greatest weakness surfaced.
She was a rescue Hero with very little real combat experience.
Her emotions wavered, and she realized her mistake too late.
She tried to stop her Quirk—
But halting a black hole took time.
At the very moment Kurogiri was about to be swallowed, a portal opened in front of him.
The exit—
Was directly behind No. 13.
"Heroes specialized in disaster relief," Kurogiri declared smugly,
"Sadly lack the combat experience of ordinary Heroes. It's already too late."
He spoke as if victory was assured, as if he had already seen No. 13 being killed by her own Quirk.
Suddenly—
The ground beside them exploded.
Mud and debris flew everywhere.
A maid with cherry-pink hair, wearing a maid outfit and an utterly expressionless face, rose from the shattered ground.
"What?!"
Kurogiri cried out in shock.
He never expected that at the moment of victory—
Baloo would appear and forcibly overturn everything.
---
A/N: 40+ Advance Chapter Has Been Uploaded.
Support: patreon.com/Narrator_San