Location: Edo-Lines Agency, Kanagawa
Date: Friday | 11:00 AM
(One Week Later)
The boardroom didn't look like a quiet, traditional tea house anymore.
It looked like a messy war room. Thick black cables ran across the wooden floor. Empty takeout boxes and scattered papers covered the tables.
BEEP.
"Okay, try the ping again," Ryu said. He rubbed his bloodshot eyes and leaned closer to his three laptop screens.
Shizuka stood by the window. She tapped the side of her large headphones and closed her eyes.
BEEP.
On Ryu's middle screen, a digital map of the city flashed. A few small red dots popped up across the grid.
"Got it," Ryu sighed heavily. "The first fifty drones picked up your sonar bounce. But the feedback loop is terrible. It's lagging by almost two full seconds."
Kyohei was sitting on a desk nearby, "That's a massive blind spot. A guy can pull a weapon and swing before the ping even hits."
"I know," Ryu groaned, running a hand through his messy hair. "It's because I'm routing the drone signals through the local police towers. There is way too much traffic on their end."
SLIDE.
The heavy wooden doors pushed open. Kaito walked in carrying a massive cardboard tray filled with six large iced coffees.
"Then stop using the police towers," Kaito said. He set the tray down on a clear spot on the table.
Ryu looked up. "What else am I supposed to use?"
"Buy our own private servers," Kaito told him casually. "If we are selling secure information to the city, our network can't lag. Get the best hardware."
Ryu grinned. He instantly looked more awake. "You got it, Manager."
"Grab a drink before the ice melts, guys," Kaito said.
Kenzo stood up from his chair. The giant man walked over and picked up a cup. He looked at the dark iced coffee, then looked at Kaito.
"Is this just black coffee?" Kenzo asked. "I usually put like four packets of sugar in mine."
"You are a giant, Kenzo," Kaito laughed, grabbing his own cup. "You don't need sugar. Just drink the caffeine."
Kenzo shrugged and took a sip. He grimaced a little but kept drinking.
Ayane walked over from the corner of the room. She dropped a piece of dark fabric on the table right next to the drinks.
"The factory just sent this over," Ayane said. She looked tired but excited. "It's the first sample for the Shinobi-Tech jackets."
Kaito picked up the fabric. He stretched it between his hands. It was incredibly light.
"It breathes really well," Ayane explained, picking up an iced coffee. "It's totally waterproof. The black dye they used hides thermal signatures too. We can stitch the Edo-Lines logo right on the shoulder."
"It feels tough," Kaito nodded. "I like it. Did you talk to the manufacturer about the timeline?"
"Yeah," Ayane sighed a little. "That's the rough part. They need exactly four weeks to mass-produce the first shipment."
"That's fine," Kaito said, tossing the fabric back on the table.
He turned to Kenzo.
"Kenzo, while we wait on the gear, we need to clear up how you use your Vault for the VIPs," Kaito said.
"Right," Kenzo nodded. "I was actually thinking about that. Should I put a chair in there? Or maybe some lights? So the clients feel comfortable when I hide them?"
"No," Kaito shook his head. "Your Vault isn't a luxury hotel. It's an anti-hostage guarantee."
Kenzo looked confused. "What does that mean?"
"It means if a villain gets past the fog and the drones, you don't fight," Kaito explained simply. "You drop the client into your Vault, and you just walk out the front door. You take the target off the board completely. They are paying for a hundred percent survival rate, not a comfy chair."
"Oh," Kenzo realized. "Yeah, that makes sense. I just grab them and leave."
"Yes, that's it." Kaito smiled.
Kaito walked over to the large window at the end of the room. Edgeshot was standing there, looking over a thick stack of printed papers.
"How are the corporate offers looking?" Kaito asked.
Edgeshot handed the papers to Kaito.
"You were right," Edgeshot said, his voice calm through his scarf. "The moment we put out quiet feelers for the Invisible Guard service, the tech sector jumped on it. I have three different CEOs wanting to sign annual retainers. They want ghost coverage. They want us to protect them without the news media ever finding out."
Kaito looked at the numbers on the paper. The money was massive.
"Which one do you want to start with?" Edgeshot asked.
"None of them," Kaito replied.
Edgeshot tilted his head. "Why not?"
"Because of the bottleneck," Kaito explained, handing the papers back. "Ryu needs the Hero Commission to clear the private airspace for the drones. Ayane just told us the factory needs four weeks to make the jackets. And the corporate lawyers need thirty days to finalize these massive VIP contracts."
"So we are stuck," Edgeshot noted. "We have to wait a month before we can officially launch anything."
"Exactly," Kaito nodded. "If we take a job right now, we do it without the gear, the drones, or the legal protection. The business legally has to wait thirty days."
Edgeshot looked around the messy room. "So what do we do for a month? We just sit here and wait for the lawyers to finish?"
"No," Kaito said. His face turned serious. "The business waits. You guys don't."
Kaito turned around and faced the sidekicks.
"Clear your desks," Kaito told the room. "Since we have a thirty-day downtime, we are not going to waste it. Sit down. It's time for your Quirk Counseling."
_-_-_-_-_
Kaito didn't wait. He walked straight up to the large whiteboard on the wall and uncapped a black marker.
SQUEAK.
He drew a large circle on the board.
"Right now, you guys fight like five solo heroes who just happen to wear the same logo," Kaito said, looking at the team. "You jump into a fight, throw your power at the bad guy, and hope it works. That stops today. We are layering your Quirks."
Kaito pointed the marker directly at Ayane and Kyohei.
"Ayane, you create heavy wind. Kyohei, you make thick fog," Kaito said. "But you two are always fighting on opposite sides of the room. I want you to merge your attacks."
Ayane frowned, resting her hands on the table. "Merge them? Manager, if I swing my fans full force, I just blow Kyohei's fog away. It clears the room."
"Not if you swing them in a circle," Kaito corrected her.
He drew a spiral inside the circle on the board.
"Think about aerodynamics," Kaito explained. "Kyohei drops a massive, heavy cloud of fog right in the center of the room. Ayane, you don't blow the fog away. You run around the outside edge of it, swinging your fans to create a wall of wind. You make an eye of the storm."
Kyohei sat up straighter. "A cyclone trap."
"Yes," Kaito nodded. "You trap the villain inside a spinning wall of wind and dense fog. They can't see, they can't breathe, and the wind is too loud for them to hear. It's a total sensory blackout."
Ryu leaned back in his chair, tapping his chin. "Actually, the math on that works. The air pressure from the outer wind wall would keep the fog trapped in the center."
Ayane looked at Kyohei. A slow smile spread across her face. "We can definitely drill that."
Kaito turned his attention to the giant sitting at the table.
"Kenzo," Kaito called out. "Your pocket dimension is a great hiding spot for clients. But you are completely wasting it in an actual fight."
Kenzo scratched the back of his neck. "How? It's just a storage room. I grab people and lock them in. I can't really hit someone with a room."
"You don't hit them," Kaito said. "You use the air. When you open your vault, air naturally rushes inside it from our world, right?"
"Yeah, a little bit," Kenzo agreed.
"So make it a lot," Kaito told him. "Don't try to grab the villain. If a guy is running straight at you, drop to one knee and snap your vault open right next to his feet. The sudden vacuum suction will pull his legs right out from under him."
Kenzo's jaw actually dropped. "Wait. I can just trip people with the air? Without even touching them?"
"Yes," Kaito laughed. "Use your head, big guy, not just your hands."
"Just don't suck up the office furniture while you practice," Kyohei joked from the desk.
Kenzo grinned, looking down at his massive hands. "Oh, I am definitely using that."
Kaito spent the next hour breaking down moves for Ryu and Shizuka, showing them how to use their comms and sonar to aggressively ping villain blind spots. Once everyone had their assignments, Kaito lowered the marker.
"Alright, that's step one," Kaito said. "Sidekicks, clear out. Go pack your bags for the mountains. We leave Monday."
The team scrambled out of their chairs. They were buzzing with energy, talking over each other about the new moves as they walked out into the hallway.
CLACK.
The heavy doors shut.
Kaito erased the whiteboard. He pulled up a chair and sat down directly across from Edgeshot.
The room was totally quiet now.
"Okay," Kaito said. "Let's talk about you."
Edgeshot leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "I'm ready. Tell me how I break the ceiling."
"Tell me exactly how your Thousand Sheet Pierce works," Kaito asked. "Give me the actual biology of the move."
"I fold my body until I am the width of a surgical thread," Edgeshot explained calmly. "I launch myself faster than the speed of sound. I pierce the target's body, slipping past their muscle fibers, and I constrict the blood flow to their brain. They pass out instantly."
"It's a flawless assassination move," Kaito agreed. "But it leaves you completely exposed to blunt force attacks, and it does absolutely nothing against a giant falling building. We need to upgrade your defense and your cutting power."
Kaito stood up and grabbed his marker again.
He drew a straight line, then folded the line over itself repeatedly on the board.
"First upgrade. Fractal Density," Kaito said.
Edgeshot looked at the drawing. "What exactly is that?"
"Right now, you fold your whole body to stretch out and get thin," Kaito said. "I want you to fold your body fifty times in one single, compressed spot."
"Why?"
"Density," Kaito explained patiently. "If you fold a piece of paper fifty times, a bullet can't pierce it. If you compress your mass into a singular geometric point, you become as hard as tungsten. You could take a direct punch from a heavy hitter without breaking your bones."
Edgeshot crossed his arms. He didn't just blindly agree. He thought about it like a seasoned pro.
"Holding complex geometry mid-air in a split second takes a massive amount of mental stamina," Edgeshot warned. "If I lose focus, my bones snap."
"That is exactly why we drill it until it's muscle memory," Kaito replied smoothly. He drew a wavy line next to the folded one. "Second upgrade. Resonance Edge."
"Vibration," Edgeshot guessed, staring at the wavy line.
"Yes," Kaito nodded. "When you are in your string-thin form, I want you to vibrate your body at incredibly high frequencies. Millions of cycles per second."
"....."
Edgeshot went dead quiet. He stared at the board, running the physics in his head.
"If I vibrate a string-thin edge that fast..." Edgeshot murmured, his eyes narrowing. "The friction would weaken molecular bonds."
"You would turn into a monomolecular saw," Kaito confirmed. "You wouldn't just pierce bad guys anymore. You could slice through a solid steel vault door like it was warm butter. You could cut through diamond."
Edgeshot took a slow, deep breath. The math made total sense. It pushed his Quirk to its absolute peak. But the reality of it was terrifying.
"Arisaka, listen to me," Edgeshot said seriously. "If I vibrate my cells that fast, the internal friction will literally tear my own body apart from the inside. I'd rip my own arm off before I even hit the target."
"I know," Kaito said, capping the marker. "It is incredibly dangerous. If you mess up, you die. That is exactly why we are not testing this in a city gym."
Kaito tossed the marker onto the tray.
"We are going to a decommissioned aerodynamic testing bunker deep in the Nagano mountains," Kaito told him. "We test the extreme physics where it's safe."
_-_-_-_-_
Location: Paris, France (The Gollini Estate)
Date: Friday | 04:00 AM
The sun wasn't up yet. The massive penthouse suite was mostly dark, looking quietly over the empty streets of Paris.
Valdo Gollini stood on the balcony. The cold morning wind blew against his expensive dark suit.
He adjusted his glasses. It had been exactly a year since he watched that broadcast from Japan.
A year since he watched Hero X completely massacre a swarm of monsters at the Sky Egg concert.
THUD.
THUD.
Heavy footsteps shook the floorboards inside the room.
Valdo didn't flinch. He turned around and walked back inside, closing the glass balcony doors behind him.
Bruno stood in the center of the room.
He didn't look entirely human anymore. Bruno was massive.
His skin was dark grey, thick, and overlapping in heavy, jagged plates.
Because of Anna Scervino's forced Quirk modification, Bruno didn't just have super strength now. His skin acted like reactive tank armor.
If someone punched him, the armor automatically hardened and spiked outward to break their hand.
Gil stood right next to him.
Gil looked incredibly thin, almost sick. But the air around him felt terribly dry. His dust Quirk had mutated.
If Gil touched a wooden table right now, it would dehydrate and turn to ash in three seconds.
Paulo walked in a moment later. He slumped into a leather chair.
He still carried his arrogant smirk, but he looked awful.
Thick, dark purple veins bulged up his neck and across his jaw. Forcing a human body to hold that much extra power was taking a heavy physical toll.
Deborah walked in through the side doors. She held a thick black folder.
"Sitrep," Valdo said. He walked over to a glass pitcher on the desk and poured himself some water.
"The streets are quiet," Deborah said, opening her folder. "We officially control eighty percent of the European underground, Sir."
"And the girl?" Valdo asked, taking a slow sip.
"Anna is resting in the secure medical wing," Deborah answered. "She finished modifying the latest batch of lower-tier soldiers."
Paulo groaned from his chair, rubbing the dark veins on his neck.
"She cries too much," Paulo complained. "Every time I go down to the lab, she is begging to go home. It's annoying. Tell her to shut up and just do her job."
Valdo lowered his glass. He looked at Paulo with completely dead eyes.
"She is a teenage girl we kidnapped from a normal life," Valdo said coldly. "She is allowed to cry. And as long as our men in Sicily keep a gun pointed at her parents' heads, she will keep doing exactly what we tell her. Her tears do not matter. The results matter."
Paulo swallowed hard and looked away. He didn't say another word.
"Eighty percent is a good number," Valdo said, turning back to Deborah. "But it is not a hundred. Tell me about the missing twenty percent."
Deborah pulled a map out of her folder and laid it flat on the large oak table.
"The remaining twenty percent is heavily fortified," Deborah explained, pointing to several red markers spread across the map. "It is a network of deep-state safehouses and hidden factories."
"Who owns them?" Bruno asked. His voice sounded like rocks grinding together.
"The League of Villains," Deborah answered. "It is the European branch of All For One's empire. They are producing the Enhanced Trigger drug."
Paulo shifted in his chair. He looked nervous now.
"My guys scoped out one of those factories," Paulo said. "They are guarded by monsters. The exact same monsters we saw on the news in Japan a year ago."
"The consumables," Gil spoke up. His voice was raspy and dry.
"Yes," Valdo nodded, walking over to the map. "All For One uses three-minute consumables. Those monsters hit with three hundred percent power, but they burn out and break their own bodies in three minutes."
Valdo looked at his family. He pointed at the dark veins on Paulo's neck.
"All For One relies on disposable garbage," Valdo said. "I want this family to have permanent, stable power. Paulo's body is failing because the Overmodification pushes him too hard. We need a stabilizer."
Deborah looked at the map, realizing what Valdo was thinking. "The Trigger drug."
"Exactly," Valdo said. "If we steal All For One's Enhanced Trigger research, your scientists can combine it with Anna's Quirk. We remove the physical drawbacks. We cure Paulo's failing veins. We take the three hundred percent power jump, and we make it permanent."
Bruno cracked his massive, armored knuckles. A cruel smile spread across his face.
"So we hit the factories," Bruno said.
"Yes," Valdo commanded, his voice completely flat. "Bruno. Gil. Take your best men. March on the League's European branches. Slaughter their three-minute monsters. Steal the Trigger formula. Then burn the factories to the ground."
"Consider it done, Sir," Gil said, bowing his head slightly.
"Sever All For One's roots from this continent permanently," Valdo said, turning his back to them and looking out the window. "Europe is mine."
_-_-_-_-_
Location: Nagano Mountains (Underground Aerodynamic Bunker)
Date: Day 5 of Training
WHOOSH.
The massive industrial fans built into the bunker walls were running, pushing a heavy, constant current of air across the room.
Kaito didn't sit up in the safe observation booth.
He was standing right on the bunker floor, wearing a thick jacket against the wind. He held a tablet, tracking the air pressure and Edgeshot's movements.
Edgeshot stood facing a thick concrete barrier. He flattened his body into a razor-thin line, attempting the Ghost Fold.
He shot forward, trying to slip through the microscopic pores of the concrete.
BAM.
He didn't make it through. He bounced off the wall and the heavy wind caught him, pushing him backward.
Edgeshot didn't crash into the wall like a rookie.
He flipped mid-air and landed smoothly on his feet, sliding back a few inches on the concrete.
He shifted back to his normal shape and let out a frustrated breath.
"I couldn't slip through," Edgeshot said, walking back over to Kaito. "The moment I thinned out, my mass dropped. The wind pushed my trajectory off by a few millimeters."
"Your speed was perfect," Kaito said immediately, showing Edgeshot the data on his tablet. "But you are right. Your mass dropped too low. You are fighting the wind instead of anchoring yourself against it."
Kaito tapped the screen, pulling up the Fractal Density math.
"Let's switch tactics," Kaito suggested calmly. "Don't try to pass through the wall this time. I want you to stand in the center of the room and take the wind head-on. Fold your body fifty times into a single geometric point. Make yourself heavy."
Edgeshot nodded.
He walked to the center of the room. He took a slow breath and focused.
Instead of stretching out, he compressed. He folded his body tightly, overlapping his own thin mass over and over again in a split second.
The wind howled around him, but Edgeshot didn't move an inch. He was completely rooted to the floor, as dense and heavy as a tungsten boulder.
Kaito smiled, tapping a note into his tablet.
"Perfect hold, Edgeshot. You just tanked a Category 3 headwind without moving. Relax your form and grab some water."
_-_-_-_-_-_
Date: Day 14 of Training
The giant fans were turned off. The bunker was completely dark.
Kyohei crept slowly across the concrete floor. He kept his footsteps totally silent, scanning the darkness, trying to stay hidden.
FWIP.
A razor-thin red thread shot out of the shadows and wrapped tightly, but gently, around Kyohei's wrist.
"Got you," Edgeshot's voice echoed calmly from above.
CLICK.
Kaito hit the wall switch.
The bright fluorescent lights in the bunker flicked back on.
Edgeshot was suspended near the ceiling. His body was stretched and split into hundreds of microscopic threads, spreading across the entire room like a giant, complex spider web.
Slowly, Edgeshot pulled his threads back together. He dropped down to the floor in his normal human shape.
He was sweating, and his breathing was heavy, but he looked composed.
Kaito walked over and handed him a clean towel and a cold bottle of water.
"Thanks," Edgeshot said, wiping his face. "Spreading my mass into a hundred different threads is a massive strain on my spatial awareness."
"That's because you are completely rewriting years of muscle memory," Kaito said, his tone supportive. "You usually focus on a single, straight line to pierce a target. Spreading out requires a totally different part of your brain. But you just tracked Kyohei in pitch darkness solely by the vibrations on your threads."
Edgeshot took a drink of water. He looked at his hands, stretching his fingers.
"If I can control the threads like this," Edgeshot noted, "I can perform the emergency sutures. I can stitch a civilian's wound closed on the battlefield."
"Yes," Kaito nodded. "You aren't just an assassin anymore. You are becoming a shield and a medic."
On the other side of the room, Kenzo and Kyohei were resetting for a physical spar.
Kyohei dashed forward to throw a punch.
VWOOM.
THUD.
"Ah, man!" Kyohei groaned loudly from across the room. He rubbed his knee and looked up.
Kenzo stood over him, grinning wildly. "I got it! The vacuum trip works!"
"Yeah, I noticed," Kyohei muttered, grabbing Kenzo's hand to pull himself off the floor. "You took my legs right out from under me."
Kaito let out a short laugh, watching the sidekicks.
He looked back at Edgeshot. "Your team is adapting fast. Take a ten-minute break, then we run the web drill again."
"Understood," Edgeshot nodded, taking another drink.
_-_-_-_-_-_
Date: Day 28 of Training
The final day of the camp.
Kaito stood near the control console on the main floor. He pressed the button on his radio headset.
"Ryu. Talk to me," Kaito said.
"Kanagawa is totally clear, Manager." Ryu's voice crackled over the radio. "The HPSC airspace permits officially cleared yesterday morning, and the network is completely live. The drones caught two guys trying to hotwire a car last night."
"Good," Kaito said. He looked over at the team. "Alright, everyone. Final simulation."
Kaito walked over and grabbed the heavy red lever on the wall panel. He pulled it down.
CLANK.
A massive steel I-beam, weighing over two tons, dropped from a crane near the dark ceiling. It plummeted straight toward the center of the bunker floor.
"Move!" Ayane yelled.
Kyohei slammed his hands together. A huge burst of thick grey fog exploded outward.
Ayane sprinted perfectly around the outer edge of it. She swung her heavy titanium fans in a smooth, practiced rhythm.
WHOOSH.
The wind caught the fog. A thick, loud cyclone formed instantly, trapping the drop zone in a total sensory blackout.
A red blur dropped from the rafters right above the spinning trap.
Swiish.
Edgeshot fell straight down toward the steel beam.
He flattened his body out. He didn't force the vibration through his chest or his arms.
Following Kaito's coaching, he pushed all of his energy straight into his fingertips, localizing the vibration to create the Resonance Edge.
BZZZZZZT.
The high-frequency whine was so loud it cut right through the roaring wind of the cyclone.
Edgeshot slammed his hand straight into the falling steel.
CRUNCH.
It was a harsh, heavy sound of thick metal tearing open.
THUD.
Edgeshot hit the concrete floor. He rolled once to absorb the impact and dropped smoothly to one knee.
Ayane stopped swinging. The wind died down and the fog quickly cleared.
Behind Edgeshot, the massive steel I-beam hit the floor in two separate pieces.
CLANG.
BAAM.
He had sliced it cleanly in half.
Edgeshot stayed on one knee for a moment.
His right arm was trembling violently from the massive kickback, and he was breathing hard.
HUFF-PUFF.
He looked back at the massive, clean cut in the solid steel.
A genuine smile formed under his mask.
The sidekicks stared at the broken steel on the floor.
"Yeeaah!"
"Nice one, Boss."
Kenzo let out a loud, booming laugh of pure excitement. Ayane pumped her fist in the air.
Kaito walked over to Edgeshot. He looked incredibly proud of his client.
Edgeshot stood up, rolling his tired shoulder. "I didn't turn it to dust."
"No," Kaito smiled, looking at the massive steel blocks. "But you just sliced through two tons of solid steel using nothing but your own biology. The foundation is there. Now you just have to refine it on the streets."
Kaito looked around at the exhausted, smiling team.
"You guys did the work," Kaito told them warmly. "Go hit the showers. We're going back."
_-_-_-_-_
[Author's Note]
Hey everyone. I managed to push through and finish a chapter, but I have a bit of bad news regarding the update schedule for the next few days.
Today, I finally had to get a decaying molar on my right side pulled out. It's been giving me severe problems for months. I really hate the idea of losing an original tooth, so I tried everything to save it..
Like I literally went to the dentist to get it cleaned out and filled four different times, but nothing worked and the pain kept coming back. I finally gave up and had it extracted today.
The problem is, the anesthesia has completely worn off now, and the painkillers just aren't cutting it. It hurts so badly that I can't even think straight.
I need to take a short break for about 2 to 3 days to let the wound properly heal and let the pain subside so I can actually focus on the screen again.
Thank you so much for understanding and for the continued support. I'll be back to writing as soon as the wound heals.
.....
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patreon.com/Dr_Chad
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