Chapter 14: The Crescent Flame.
Inside the Building, Middle Floor.
Natsu stood next to the paper-mache nuclear weapon. He didn't sit on it; he stood guard, vibrating with energy. Kirishima was scanning the room, looking for structural weaknesses.
"So, Kirishima," Natsu said with sudden seriousness. "What's the plan? Do we wait here and drink tea? Or do we go hunting?"
Kirishima grinned, activating his hardening. "Waiting isn't manly! But leaving the weapon unguarded isn't good either."
"Right." Natsu closed his eyes, inhaling deeply in the dark room.
Sniff... Sniff...
Natsu's nostrils flared, and his ears twitched slightly.
"I smell... chemical adhesive, like tape," Natsu muttered, analyzing the air. "And another smell... weird, kinda like an octopus. They're coming from the ground floor, North entrance."
Kirishima looked at him, his jaw dropping. "You can smell them from here?! Are you a police dog?!"
"I'm a Dragon!" Natsu corrected proudly. He cracked his knuckles, and his fist ignited with bright orange fire, illuminating his face with ominous shadows.
"Listen up, Spiky-Head. You stay here and guard this toy," Natsu said, walking with heavy steps toward the door. "I'm going to welcome our guests."
"Natsu!" Kirishima called out. "Don't be reckless!"
Natsu waved his hand without looking back, his scarf fluttering behind him in the darkness as smoke began to rise from his body, signaling his battle readiness.
"I'm all fired up!!"
Concrete Hallway, Second Floor.
Silence reigned supreme.
Thump... Thump... Thump...
Mezo Shoji froze. He morphed the tips of his six tentacles into ears and eyes, twisting them to sense every vibration in the air.
"He's coming..." Shoji whispered in a deep voice to his partner. "His steps are heavy, confident... he isn't trying to hide his presence."
Hanta Sero stood behind him, aiming his elbows at the corridor entrance, sweat beading on his forehead. "Is he alone?"
"Yes," Shoji answered, his multiple eyes watching the dancing shadows. "He's coming to hunt."
Suddenly, the temperature in the hallway spiked. The cold, damp air turned dry and hot, and the concrete walls began to sweat.
From the darkness at the end of the hall, an orange glow appeared. Then, Natsu stepped out.
He didn't have his hands in his pockets; his arms swung freely at his sides, his fingers twitching as if playing invisible strings, ready for combat. The white scarf covered his mouth, but his eyes shone with a playful, demonic glint in the gloom.
"Found you..." Natsu said, his voice muffled behind the scarf. He pulled it down to reveal a wide, toothy grin. "Octopus... and Tape Man."
"Fire!" Sero shouted. Without hesitation, he shot a strand of strong adhesive tape from his right elbow. "Don't let him get close!"
The white tape shot out like a bullet, aiming for Natsu's chest.
Natsu didn't dodge. He simply reached out with his left hand and caught the tape in mid-air with a solid grip.
"Gotcha!" Sero yelled, pulling back on the tape to off-balance Natsu.
But Natsu didn't budge an inch. He looked at the adhesive tape in his hand, and intense heat began to radiate from his palm. The tape started to melt, emitting black smoke.
"So this tape has no resistance against flames?" Natsu said coldly, watching the fire eat its way up the tape toward Sero. "I guess this will be easier than I thought."
Sero's eyes widened in horror. "It's gonna burn me!"
FWOOSH!
Sero severed the tape immediately before the fire reached his arm, stumbling back.
In the monitoring room, the students gasped.
"Oh my god!" Kaminari shouted. "He burns the Quirk just by touching it! He's Sero's natural enemy!"
"That smile..." Momo Yaoyorozu whispered, watching the screen anxiously. "He's really enjoying this."
"Stand back, Sero," Shoji said seriously, stepping forward with his massive frame to cover his teammate. "His ranged attacks are dangerous. I'll handle him in close quarters."
"Oh?" Natsu tilted his head, both fists igniting. "You want to dance hand-to-hand? I like that!"
Shoji charged with tremendous force. He used his multiple arms to form two massive, combined fists, merging three arms on each side to maximize destructive power.
"Don't underestimate my strength!" Shoji roared. "OCTOBLOW DOUBLE!!"
"HIIYYAAHH!!" Natsu shouted, charging to meet him.
BAM! BAM!
Natsu's flaming fists collided with Shoji's massive limbs. The shockwave shook the corridor. Natsu laughed as he traded heavy blows, fire scattering with every impact, while Shoji gritted his teeth, enduring the searing heat.
"You're strong!" Natsu yelled with excitement. "As expected from the guy with 540 kilograms of grip strength!"
Shoji seized a moment of contact. With a sudden movement, he used two extra arms that sprouted from his side to grab Natsu's shoulders, pinning him in place with immense strength.
"Sero! Now!" Shoji shouted. "Bind his feet!"
"Got it!" Sero slid out from behind Shoji and fired a massive amount of tape at the floor and Natsu's feet, trapping him in a pile of tangled adhesive.
"Captured!" Sero yelled.
In the monitoring room, Sato shouted, "They got him! Teamwork!"
"Is it over?" Uraraka asked nervously.
At that moment, the door to the monitoring room opened slowly. Katsuki Bakugo walked in, his eyes still hollow from the shock of his defeat, but he lifted his head to look at the screen at that exact moment.
Happy smiled a small smile as he watched the screen. "No... they made one mistake. Natsu hates being tied up."
In the hallway, silence fell for a single second. Natsu looked at his trapped feet, then at Shoji gripping his shoulders.
"Holding me down?" Natsu growled, veins pulsing on his forehead.
Suddenly, flames erupted from the soles of Natsu's feet—not to propel, but to incinerate. The tape binding his feet vaporized in a fraction of a second.
"What?!" Sero screamed.
With a terrifyingly fluid motion, Natsu used the freedom of his feet and the strength of Shoji's own grip on his shoulders as a leverage point. Natsu threw his body backward in a backflip.
His right leg, engulfed in dense, concentrated fire, swung up from below with lightning speed.
"FIRE DRAGON'S... CLAW!!"
Natsu's leg rose like a flaming uppercut hammer, tracing a perfect crescent moon of fire in the air, slamming with devastating force into Shoji's exposed chin.
CRAAAACK!
A giant crescent of flame illuminated the dark corridor, lighting up the terrified faces of the heroes.
In the monitoring room, the light of the "Crescent Flame" reflected in the widened eyes of the students. Bakugo, standing by the entrance, felt his red pupils dilate as he watched the burning arc. He recognized that movement... that flexibility and explosive power that didn't rely on a Quirk alone, but on the body and fire moving as one.
Shoji fell backward hard, completely unconscious, his eyes rolled back, while Natsu landed gracefully on his feet, smoke rising from his leg.
"Shoji!!" Sero screamed in terror.
Natsu turned slowly toward Sero, who was now trembling alone, his back against the wall.
"One left..." Natsu said, taking a step forward.
"S-Stay back!" Sero panicked, firing tape wildly in every direction, trying to create a spiderweb, a wall, anything to stop the beast.
But Natsu didn't stop. He walked through the tape as if it were cobwebs, burning it away with a casual touch of his hand, advancing with a terrifying calm, his eyes locked on Sero.
Natsu reached Sero, who was frozen with fear.
Natsu reached out and placed his warm, heavy hand directly on top of Sero's head.
Sero stopped breathing. Natsu applied a little pressure, and a faint heat leaked into Sero's scalp.
"Want to play another round?" Natsu asked with a calm smile.
Sero's knees buckled. He threw his hands up immediately. "I surrender! I surrender! Don't burn me!"
At that moment, the door behind them burst open.
"Yo! Natsu!"
Kirishima ran in, having felt the vibrations. "Is everything okay? I heard a loud noise and—"
Kirishima stopped dead. He saw Shoji lying unconscious on the floor, Sero surrendering under Natsu's hand, and the hallway scorched black.
Natsu removed his hand from Sero's head, his usual childish grin returning instantly.
"Oh, Kirishima!" Natsu waved. "Everything's good! We're done here."
All Might's voice boomed over the speakers, tinged with awe:
"VILLAIN TEAM... WIIIIINS!!"
In the monitoring room, silence reigned for a moment before the students began to whisper in awe. Natsu hadn't won by touching a weapon or running out the clock; he had won by completely crushing the Heroes' attempt to breach his defense with overwhelming power.
.
.