Download App
43.15% MHA: Horizon (Ope-Ope No Mi) / Chapter 163: CHAPTER 159(Would-Be Challengers)

Chapter 163: CHAPTER 159(Would-Be Challengers)

Discord: https://discord.gg/t7bHrdRY7Y

pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene (Unlimited chapters ahead)

CHAPTER START---

---7 PM, UA Campus, Principal Nezu's Office...

Sitting on Nezu's couch Horizon had his feet up on the coffee table while he was talking on the phone.

He was currently wearing some of his own merch, a pair of sweatpants, and a jacket with his logo on the back of it.

"Are you sure?" Gang Orca asks through the phone.

"Yeah, they should be moving lab equipment through your part of Japan by freight trains tomorrow," Horizon says. "And I can't go running to the far side of Japan every time I get a lead so I'm passing it onto you, that's your area after all."

"Right," Gang Orca says. "I'll send some of my sidekicks to the trainyard, they'll alert me if they see any suspicious activity. And this equipment is what they use to make Trigger?"

"Mhm, the rest of the world is still trying to catch up to the quality of Quirk Enhancing Drugs in America, but we should crush these people before they get any closer to a pure formula."

"Yes that would be problematic," Gang Orca says. "I'll be sure to review the file you sent me tonight, and I won't forget to mention you when we make the arrests tomorrow."

"Thanks, I appreciate it, anyway that's all, so---"

"Wait," Orca interrupts before Horizon rudely hangs up as he usually does. "Have you reconsidered my offer?"

"Don't need to," Horizon says. "You can't pay as much as Enji, you aren't as popular. Plus, even if I wanted to, the government won't allow me to just pack up and work in a city like yours. They need all the big guns in Tokyo to keep the crime rate down, your area is more about catching illegal contraband."

"I see, that makes sense. You have much more effect in a densely populated area like central Tokyo, very well then. If you change your mind, the option is always available..."

"I won't," Horizon rudely hangs up on the Hero.

Setting down his phone Horizon leans back and relaxes on the couch.

"That's the last of my cases to delegate to other Pro Heroes...such a pain in the ass when villains try to move their businesses out of Tokyo, but I guess that's the natural response when you've got me in your city..."

A few minutes later Horizon hears the door open, and in walks Nezu, "enjoying your quiet time?" Nezu asks.

"Just keeping the other Pros informed of my leads, in case they find anything."

"Mhm," Nezu casually walks up to him and sits on the couch beside him. "Have you noticed you're already talking like a fully licensed Pro Hero?"

"They're already treating me like one, and I'm already working like one, what's talking like one compared to that?" he shrugs.

"The burden of incomprehensible power, people simply expect you to do the heavy lifting."

"Mhm, it's all part of the deal."

"Yes, but onto the more pressing matter. Someone tried to hack into your phone today?"

"Yeah, but I dealt with it," Horizon says.

"Well explain that to me while we walk to the dorms, I need to go speak to All Might, and taking a stroll through campus is always fun. Atleast when my adorable little legs aren't doing the walking..."

"Mmmm," Horizon grumbles as he gets up, then puts Nezu onto his right shoulder. "As I said, I dealt with the hacker..." he says as they exit the office and begin walking through the empty halls.

"Well you couldn't have dealt with it as Horizon, so, do I want to know what you did?"

"For plausible deniability, you don't want all the details..."

"I see. And why did they try to interfere with you?"

"For leverage," Horizon says as they enter the elevator. "They wanted to know about my finances and businesses, but even if they go in there isn't anything illegal in my books."

"Aside from the overprice healthcare you offer."

"Miracles aren't cheap," Horizon says. "What's the cost of a life anyway. It's not like I judge, it's open bidding...they just want it more than other people, and have more money for it."

"I suppose that's true," Nezu says. "But why did they want leverage?"

"Apparently to borrow my goodwill with the citizens to promote their politics, they aren't anything dangerous. Just a group of politicians wanting to rally their supporters, boring garbage."

"So a conspiracy, and what are the names?" Nezu asks.

"None of your business," Horizon says. "I'll deal with it myself. I already have a plan in motion."

"And what might that be?"

"I did some lasting damage, the kind that only a certain miracle doctor can fix. And one of the people who I suspect is in that group, happens to be an associate of mine. If he contacts me to come to help them out then I'll know he's part of it."

"Right, still relying on excessive cruelty, when will you drop this habit?"

"Horizon didn't do it, not this time," he says.

"I suppose, but you get what I mean," Nezu says. "And your plan after figuring out who is in their group?"

"Nothing," Horizon says as they approach the front exit of UA. "I just want to know exactly who I may have pissed off, what markets they control, and how they can make my life difficult, but I doubt they'd have the balls to do that. Not after the little chat I had with them..."

"I hope Horizon treats villains better than 'he' does," Nezu says.

"Horizon is a hero, there are limits to what he can do... unfortunately. I can't even use Injection Shot as much as I want because the damage is 'excessive and inhumane', a bunch of pussies. "

"What else would you call pulverizing bone and tissue to dust with invisible bullets that bypass defenses?"

"Effective."

"Those shots are almost beyond recovery without a healing Quirk and surgery being used before the bone begins to try growing back. We were lucky that we have Recovery Girl, otherwise, after the first day of practical training with you, Todoroki would have been spending the rest of his life in a wheelchair..."

"Yeah but they're villains."

"Just because someone is on the other side, doesn't mean you have to cripple them for life... as I recall you did with Himiko Toga before she broke out."

"Would you believe that was an accident?" Horizon asks.

"No, but your contempt for the people in your way is astounding, as is your lack of sympathy for those beside you."

"Thanks."

"Not a compliment."

"That's your opinion..." Horizon stops as they exit the main building and approach the dorms, seeing Yagi, Deku, and Bakugo on the front lawn. Both the boys were sparring with the former hero watching them. "And what's this?"

Nezu explains as he continues walking, "they got into a fight after the License Exams...and apparently Midoriya explain One For All to him, but he and All Might trust him."

"More than David Shield apparently," Horizon mutters. "But who won the fight?"

"Bakugo."

"As expected," Horizon says as they arrive beside Yagi, watching the duo spar on the grass. "How are you feeling?"

"Huh!" Yagi is startled to see them beside him. "Oh, you surprised me, and I'm feeling fine."

"That's good to hear," Nezu says. "And how is their training coming along? They've been sparring all week."

"Young Bakugo has been improving steadily, and young Midoriya is becoming familiar with his new fighting style more and more. I'd say they can compete with some of the combat-inclined Pro Heroes by now."

"So the D-Listers, and C-Listers," Horizon says.

"Hey, that's rude, you can't call them that," Yagi says.

"They are what they are, and what new combat style?"

"My Shoot Style!" Deku says as they finish a round of sparring, both he and Bakugo were covered in sweat.

"Shoot? So you can weaponize air pressure already?"

"Uh, no," Deku bashfully rubs the back of his neck. "It's more like Full Cowling, but with my legs too, so I can kick!"

"....." Horizon glances to his right shoulder where Nezu was seated, then back at Deku. "I told you he's retarded."

"He's not retarded," Nezu says. "But it did turn out exactly as you said. You could have gotten him to this level before summer even began if you were willing to help h---"

"He's gotten enough handouts," Horizon glances at Yagi.

"Excuse me," Deku looks at Principal Nezu. "Sir, what did he predict exactly?"

"Oh, you must have forgotten," Nezu says. "When he first taught you Full Cowling, during the Quirk explanation class he gave."

"Yeah, I remember that."

"Well, he said that you idolizing All Might would hold you back, what he meant by that is you constantly try to fight like a boxer and a brawler, when you're not 7ft tall like All Might, but should be more focused on speed."

"Oh," Deku facepalms. "I guess I really was trying to be like All Might so much that it became a hindrance..."

"And if you're that much of a fanboy, you've gotta be a retard on some level," Horizon says.

"Well that's not very nice," Yagi says. "But knowing you, there must be a lot more you've already figured out right? In terms of improving his use of One For All and accelerating his training, especially considering how much Sero's Quirk usage and power improved in just a few weeks of training with you."

"Naturally I've considered the optimal way for all my classmates to train and use their Quirks," Horizon says. "Understanding the opponent is fundamental to crushing them thoroughly after all. How much power can you use right now anyway?"

"5% with my arms, but 8% with my legs!" Deku says, and Bakugo grumbles under his breath.

"Still a lot weaker than me, but you're thinking about it all wrong again," Horizon says.

'Ideally, he'd think of it like gears in increments of 5% each. If he can handle continuous use of his arms in first gear, then shift into second before impact then shift back down into first afterward.

One split second of 10% won't hurt him that badly and will accelerate how fast his body improves so he can raise his base power, but Yagi will probably explain that to him eventually. I doubt All Might was walking around at 100% all the time, the collateral damage from that wouldn't have been heroic after all...'

This is the same system Horizon uses with ROOM. Having set increments of ROOM size so he doesn't have to think as much. Some for more range, some for a more in-depth awareness of the battlefield. The smaller the room the more precise he can be.

"What do you mean?" Deku asks.

"You'll probably have Yagi teach you that eventually," Horizon says, then sighs. "I don't even have the damn Quirk but I'm better at it than you, no wonder I was the first choice for it..."

Bakugo freezes at that, he hadn't known that little fact. And Deku just feels smaller and smaller each time he's reminded. The official reason and to Yagi's knowledge is that Horizon simply doesn't need it, which is true.

But Nezu was also terrified at the idea of such a tool falling into the hands of a person he hardly knew at the time.

And now that he does know him, he's sure he made the correct choice.

"Anyway, have fun sparring..." Horizon hands Nezu to Yagi as they had some things to discuss about tomorrow.

"Wait!" Bakugo yells out as Horizon is about to leave

"What's your problem Silver Medal?" Horizon asks.

"Don't think I'm this idiot's rival!" Bakugo screams out, pointing at Deku. "He's just a stepping stone, and when I crush him, then you're next!"

"That's some dream you have there, but very ill-advised, because if Useless can compete with you," he nods toward Deku. "Imagine what Perfect will do to you..."

END CHAPTER---


Chapter 164: CHAPTER 160(Career Planning)

Discord: https://discord.gg/t7bHrdRY7Y

pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene (Unlimited chapters ahead)

CHAPTER START---

"What do you mean he paid for it?" Horizon asks.

Currently, he, Sero, and Tokoyami were sitting at the couches in his massive dorm room. Tokoyami was on the floor leaning on the coffee table, filling out some Villain Insurance paperwork.

Sero had some of his paperwork in hand, as both boys came to Horizon for advice on handling the logistics of Hero Work and some career planning.

"Check it," Sero hands Horizon a page which he quickly reads.

"Ok," Horizon shrugs and hands it back. "So the seemingly ungrateful billionaire asshole...wasn't that ungrateful."

"Doesn't matter to me," Sero says with a chuckle. "All I need to know is he paid my Villain Insurance for that helicopter rescue, makes sense since I saved him in that."

"And now you can get paid, correct?" Tokoyami asks. "Because otherwise the cost of the collateral damage would have been deducted from your payment?"

"Pretty much," Sero says.

"But that begs the question, when can we hold the Pro Hero responsible for the damage, and when do we blame the villain?"

Sero looks at Tokoyami, but can't come up with an answer, so he looks to Horizon who was sitting opposite him scrolling through his phone. "Uh, care to give us your idea of how that system works?"

"They rate it based on your history alongside some considerations based on the recordings or witness accounts, as well as the Quirks involved," Horizon says.

"Uh...wanna dumb that down for me?" Sero asks.

"Ok, think about it like this," Horizon says as he puts down his phone. "Mt. Lady has to stop a villain with a Tape Quirk, when the cops show up the entire street is torn up with massive craters, what do you think caused them?"

"Her stomping," Tokoyami says. "That's one of her Super-Moves..."

"Mhm, but the government has to pay to repair that, which is where Villain Insurance comes in. But since, in this case, it wasn't necessary, it gets detracted from her pay. If the villain was someone like Kirishima and she had to stomp him to crack his shell, then it would have been fine."

"And if the villain did the damage, it would have been fine, right?" Tokoyami asks. "Plus if it keeps happening they'll just stop investigating it and just continue charging her."

"Exactly, this is another reason Sero and I have cameras on our Hero Costumes. Most heroes don't bother with body cameras outside of America, that's one of their ancient regulations with Law Enforcement forces that just transferred over to the Pros after all."

"Plus most of them would just break it," Sero says. "Fragile things and fighting villains don't go together..."

"Exactly, plus more content means more popular in the Pro Hero world."

"Yeah, but I don't get why they had to cut my pay to zero after that helicopter rescue, I think I did pretty good with that," Sero says.

"You literally paid nothing compared to the full cost of fixing the damage you caused to that building, you're lucky they didn't put you in debt," Horizon says.

Sero chuckles nervously at that, "yeah, when you put it like that I did get off easy. Stills sucks thought."

"Mhm," Tokoyami stops writing and looks up to Horizon. "So for the section about my maximum damage output---"

"The higher the output the more eager they will be to charge you for Villain Insurance since the chances of the collateral being caused by you in higher."

"I see, so I should put my lower power output in order to preserve my payment, yes?"

"No," Horizon says. "I mean yeah that's an option, but you won't get many team-up requests or assignments from the Hero Public Safety Commission if they think you're weak. Just put the truth then do your best, get stronger, get popular, then you'll get more chances to help people."

"Or in my case," Sero says. "More sponsors and popularity!"

"I see," Tokoyami leans back against the foot of the couch and looks down at the papers. "I didn't realize such deceptively trivial paperwork had such dark meanings behind them----"

Sero gives Horizon a confused glance to which he just shrugs in return.

"---But I suppose paperwork shall be part of my life now. I have much of this to endure during my work studies with Hawks this semester."

"Well, that's a dramatic way of putting it," Horizon can't help but rolls his eyes beneath the visor at Tokoyami's usual persona. "Just don't break things and you'll be fine, and be sure to look good for the cameras."

"Mhm," Tokoyami just nods as he continues chewing through the paperwork.

"And save people," Sero adds.

"Right, that too," Horizon shakes his head, then the conversation continues.

A few moments later, another career-focused reveal surprises Tokoyami.

"You really don't plan to sign on with Edgeshot as a Sidekick?" He asks Sero. "But he's the number 4 Pro Hero."

"Yeah but he mostly does stealth stuff and detective work," Sero says. "Honestly Jeanist is a better fit for my Quirk but his style is way to reactive for my liking."

"Well you'll be working with Kamui Woods again," Horizon says. "Just like your internship since you spent it with him."

"Mhm, since he, Edgeshot, and Mt. Lady formed a team they've been spending a lot of time together, so I basically get 3 Pro Heroes to teach me stuff at once," Sero chuckles deviously. "No way I could pass up on this offer. But they really should have come up with something better than 'Lurkers' for a team name..."

"I see, but that begs the question, who do you intend to work for?" Tokoyami asks. "Atleast after we become Fully Licensed Pro Heroes."

"Well, I'm planning to go solo once that happens, skip the Sidekick stage all together."

"That's risky, but you're already quite popular with Horizon's help, if you follow his lead it shouldn't be impossible. I don't envy the amount of work that will take."

"Yeah its a real pain in the butt," Sero admits. "But it gets me ahead of the competition."

"So you intend to be like Mirko? Running about Japan without an established agency anywhere?"

"Kinda," Sero says. Then he glances at Horizon who wasn't paying them much attention, still on his phone, then back down to Tokoyami. "But its more likely I'll be working with someone, but not like a Sidekick."

"Ahh, a Hero Team," Tokoyami pauses for a moment as he considers it. "A wise choice, operating alone has become more dangerous lately."

Both Sero and Tokoyami discuss the positive and negative aspects of being solo vs being in a Hero Agency or Team.

But Sero leaves Tokoyami mostly oblivious to the fact that he'd just sign on to work out of Horizon Tower when they receive full licenses, skipping the cost of setting up his own agency and forcing himself to operate in an environment where he cannot slack off.

But Tokoyami isn't an idiot by any means, and everyone knows they've both been operating out of Horizon Tower this past week.

It was a simple issue to reason that they would continue operating as they are.

As a moment of comfortable silence passes Sero begins laughing quietly, "I can't believe this is a real conversation I'm having, back when I was little I'd dream about even meeting a Pro Hero. Now I'm so close to becoming one, and I talk to them every day..."

"I understand what you mean," Tokoyami says. "I've never been a 'fanboy' like some of our classmates. But I've always admired the control and precision Pro Heroes have, and here I am, actively learning from them and being mentored directly. Sometimes I still find it hard to believe."

"Mhm, never thought I'd be here either," Horizon says, surprising them. Atleast before he clarifies, "not because I believed my skills aren't enough, obviously. I just never saw myself playing hero, but here we are..."

A few minutes later and while they were enjoying the silence Horizon warps one of his metal calling cards into his hand, then tosses it forward.

It hovers in the air between both couches for a moment.

"Shambles," Kyoka Jiro suddenly appears in his room, standing frozen with a hand reaching up.

Warped inside just before she could knock on his door.

It takes her a moment to realize what just happened, then she just puts her hand down and huffs, giving Horizon an annoyed look.

"I thought Principal Nezu told you to stop doing that!"

"He did, but you literally can't stop it," he shrugs. "Now, why were you about to knock on my door?"

Jiro just rolls her eyes, "why didn't any of you respond to the messages we sent in the class chat?"

"Uh, my phone is in my room, the battery died," Sero says.

"Same here," Tokoyami says.

Then Jiro looks to Horizon who still had his phone in his hand, "why would I ever have the class chat notification settings turned on, I don't care what you people usually have to say..."

"Whatever, just...they're planning to watch a movie downstairs," she looks at Sero. "Your girlfriend and Juzo are here for it and helping set up. If you guys want to vote for a movie then get down there before they start it, I've already cast my vote."

"Uh, who's winning?" Sero asks, with clear concern. "Mina and Toru started an alliance."

"Oh crap!" he hops off the couch, and Tokoyami immediately stands up with him. Before they rush off he looks back at Horizon who still hasn't moved. "Uh, you coming?"

"Jiro and I will be down in a second, I'll watch whatever you all vote for," Horizon says, surprising them that he'll actually be attending.

"Uh, right," Sero glances between them but doesn't ask any questions, quickly leaving the room with Tokoyami.

Leaving the awkward Jiro standing before Horizon, who was looking her up and down in her shorts and an oversized t-shirt.

"Do you wanna sit down to say whatever it is you've prepared?" Horizon asks.

"Uh...what?" Jiro tried to play dumb, failing miserably.

"Stupid doesn't look good on you," Horizon says. "And I saw you practicing some speech in front of my door for five minutes, well, spit it out already, we've got a movie to watch."

And just like that Jiro felt her heart hammering in her chest, as if it would soon try to break her ribcage...

END CHAPTER---


Load failed, please RETRY

Weekly Power Status

Batch unlock chapters

Table of Contents

Display Options

Background

Font

Size

Chapter comments

Write a review Reading Status: C163
Fail to post. Please try again
  • Writing Quality
  • Stability of Updates
  • Story Development
  • Character Design
  • World Background

The total score 0.0

Review posted successfully! Read more reviews
Vote with Power Stone
Rank 200+ Power Ranking
Stone 412 Power Stone
Report inappropriate content
error Tip

Report abuse

Paragraph comments

Login

tip Paragraph comment

Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.

Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.

GOT IT