Discord: https://discord.gg/t7bHrdRY7Y
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
---Tuesday, March 12th, 05:43 PM...
Standing atop Horizon Tower, looking out over Minato Tokyo, Horizon takes a few deep breaths, enjoying the fresh air.
"Are you sure you don't want us there?" Mudman's voice asks through his visor.
"Nah, I've got this," Horizon says. "And my source says villains are keeping tabs on my entire team, right now I'm showing my face in Tokyo so they relax a bit."
"Alright man, good luck with whatever big case you're working on," Mudman says before hanging up.
Horizon glances over his shoulder, seeing Scalpel, now recovered, hovering in the air behind him, alongside his hoverboard.
'Any second now,' he checks the time on his watch, then looks up as the sound of a helicopter reaches his ears.
He sees a news helicopter passing by the tower, the camera pointed directly at him, gladly broadcasting his location to put the city at ease.
Seconds later another call connects through his visor, "It's time, ready?" Pantu asks.
---HPSC Tokyo Headquarters...
Sitting at the back of a massive monitor room, Pantu looks out over dozens of agents coordinating teams of Pro Heroes.
There are four senior agents at one long desk just ahead of hers, before the ocean of other agents managing situations and Pro Heroes involved in this.
On Pantu's desk, there are only two monitors, showing a direct feed from Horizon's camera in his visor, and Endeavor's camera built into the chestplate of his new suit.
"Is everyone ready at Endeavor's Agency?" Pantu asks, glancing at the monitor to see the entire Endeavor Hero Agency assembled and waiting.
"Ready," Endeavor says.
"Horizon, sending coordinates now, you'll be 18 miles -30km- outside of Dagga city," Pantu says as she finally gets the specifics from Hawks.
The massive monitor at the far end of the room projects a map of Japan, showing Horizon Tower in Minator Tokyo, and Dagga City, 700 miles -1125 km- between them.
'Hawks was right,' Pantu thinks. 'They wanted this weapons test as far away from Horizon as possible, but that doesn't matter, we only need Kurogiri...'
"Got it," Horizon says as he receives the information. "Warping us there now."
"Track his jumps," Pantu orders her agents as she focuses on the screens.
In one instant he's standing atop Horizon Tower, looking at the incredible Tokyo skyline.
And in the next, he's standing in Endeavor's Hero Agency.
"53 kilometers -32mi-!" One of the agents yells out as he immediately marks Horizon's new location on the map.
As Horizon and Endeavor at talking, Pantu does her best to understand what she saw, or more accurately, what she didn't see.
'No materialization of another substance that helps him make space malleable, is this really Warping? Seems like, something else...'
She recalls his words during the UA Sports Festival, 'I simply tell the world what to do, and it does what I want, because it knows better'.
'Mystery Class monsters,' Pantu thinks. 'Probably close enough to compete with Start and Stripe right now, and only 16 years old, concerning.'
The view on her screen changes again, instantly appearing in a forest away from Tokyo, along with Endeavor and the Flaming Sidekicks.
"40 kilometers -24mi- !" the man announces once again, making the Warp destination and the number of people moved during it.
After a few more of these jumps Pantu leans back in her chair and considers all that she just saw, 'his warping it...inconsistent, but clearly it's not exactly him affecting space, something is off here.'
Before she can finish her thoughts the Heroes arrive in a forest overlooking the ocean, 28 miles -45km- up the coast from Dagga City.
---With Horizon...
"We're here, how is the connection?" he asks Pantu.
"Clear for now, if anything happens I have people in place to figure something out, do you sense anything?"
"I still don't get why I'm here," Burnin says. "If whatever they have is meant to be used against this freak, what am I supposed to do exactly?"
"Act as support and distractions if necessary," Endeavor says while Horizon is focused on checking out the area. "Combat isn't just about who hits harder, matchup matters."
"Yeah yeah," Burning rolls her eyes, not liking how useless she's expecting to be in this conflict.
"President Pantu, did you contact Ryukyu?" Endeavor asks. "Her city is nearby, if we need more backup she'd be a good person to have ready."
"It's already taken care of, but try not to let it get to that," Pantu says. "Honestly, regarding backup, if you and Horizon can't win a fight, adding Ryukyu won't change the outcome."
"As if that guy knows how to lose," Burnin chuckles confidently.
"Got him," Horizon says, drawing their attention to him. "Kurogiri is a few miles West, inland, he's standing by a...communication device maybe, doubt that's the weapon."
"Are you ready to engage?" Pantu asks.
"Ready?" Horizon asks Endeavor.
Endeavor nods in response.
SHAMBLES!
Standing in a wide grassy field among the otherwise thick forest, Kurogiri is staring at an antenna device intently, playing along to Shigaraki's machinations under the orders of his true master.
Being the perfect bait.
"Hm!" Kurogiri's eyes widen as the device is suddenly cut in half.
Before he can activate his Quirk to fein a resistance Horizon swaps places with the top half of the device and thrusts Scalpel through his chest.
"Ugh!"
COUNTER SHOCK!
Large arcs of electricity dance around both of them and flow through Kurogiri's convulsing body as he drives the Nomu to the ground and pins him against the forest floor with Scalpel.
The current flowing in the ground causes some of the grass to blacken and burn away around them before Kurogiri goes unconscious.
As Horizon gets up and removes the sword, he swaps part of the device with Endeavor, who immediately glances down at Kurogiri.
Before the purple mist can hide it he sees the hole Horizon left in his chest before glancing at all the burnt grass and dirt.
"Is he still alive?"
"It, is a Nomu, so who cares?" Horizon asks.
"Aizawa," Endeavor says.
"Whatever," Horizon steps back and warps the device back to them for inspection.
"Looks like they were trying to set up a communications array," Endeavor says.
"Doesn't matter now," Horizon says. "We just rui---"
"Machia, wake up," Shigaraki's broken voice echoes through the forest as the ground begins to rumble.
"Horizon?" Endeavor's flames become hotter in response to the potential threat, remembering the fight Buakaw and Hodori had with Gigantomachia.
"I don't sense any speakers or other devices, and, huh," Horizon turns to face the middle of the clearing, as a massive rock rises from the ground. "Some kind of Stone Body Quirk to stay hidden…"
As the rock rises out of the forest floor, it begins to crack open and release brown slime that coats it, without spilling a single drop onto the ground.
It simply clings to the stone.
Then the stone shifts, changing colors to a deep purple as it unfolds itself, beginning to reveal a giant Nomu.
SHAMBLES!
Before the process can be completed Horizon warps it away, and in its place is a simple stone.
"They made Gigantomachia into a Nomu," Endeavor says in disgust. "Where'd you send him?"
"Bottom of to oce---"
As Horizon is speaking a ball of the same brown slime manifests in the space where Gigantomacina was, starting the size of a basketball and growing rapidly.
As it grows Horizon recognizes it, "All For One's 'Warp' Quirk," he says while slashing at it with Scalpel.
AMPUTATE!
Horizon slashes downward, causing a thin division through the middle of the clearing and extending into the forest, perfectly slicing through trees and earth alike.
But to their surprise the brown slime simply took the impact, becoming deformed for a moment that was nearly impossible to notice because of how fast it was expanding.
And when it became the size of a bus, the slime fell away to reveal Gigantomachi, standing upright.
He was two stories tall, shorter than when they last saw him, and much smaller as well, but he was magnitudes stronger, that much was obvious.
His muscles were more accentuated, covered by dark purple skin but only for a mere moment as the brown slime immediately manifests across his body and coats him entirely in a centimeter of it.
"Flashfire Fist!" Endeavor yells out and fires a blast of superheated flames at Gigantomachia, but the monster doesn't respond.
Not moving, not even turning to look at the Heroes standing in front of him, only remaining there like a statue.
"Fire resistance," Endeavor grumbles, noticing the Nomu was entirely unaffected by his attack. But then he sees the area where his flames hit glowing red for a moment before returning to normal, causing the muscles there to flex and tighten slightly.
"Metabolosing fire maybe," Horizon says.
SHAMBLES!
Horizon once again warms him away, and less than a second later the same brown slime appears to warp him back to the clearing.
AMPUTATE!
The slime deforms slightly but continues expanding.
"Maybe if I'm faster," Horizon says as he begins warping about the clearing and attacking from all sides.
AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE AMPUTATE!
He flickers all about the area, but the slime simply takes all the hits, some parts of it seem to dissipate, but eventually, it grows and Gigantomachia is warped back into the clearing.
"Any more ideas?" Endeavor asks as he gets ready for a fight.
"I'll think of something, but I'm guessing this is the weapon," Horizon says.
"So that Quirk works," Shigaraki's voice echoes through the forest once more, causing all the heroes to look around.
Endeavor looks to Horizon who just shrugs, "he must be sending his voice through Machia' somehow."
"Stay on guard," Endeavor says.
Horizon looks back to Machia and addresses Shigaraki directly, "This is the part where you reveal your evil plan right? Can you make it fast, still have to drop this one off to jail," he gestures to Kurogiri.
"Plan?" Shigaraki asks, seeming genuinely confused. "What plan? There can be no plan while you're here, propping up Japan, being a pain in our side."
"Thanks," Horizon says. "Don't suppose you can keep this between just us, how about it?"
Shigaraki's broken laugh echoes through the forest, "no, that won't work for me. See, we had a plan, but then you decided to exist and ruin everything, everything!"
Endeavor and Horizon share a knowing glance, and he leaves Horizon to speak to the villain alone.
"So what is it that you want then?" Horizon asks as Endeavor quickly backs away.
"You, dead," Shigaraki says plainly. "With the resources we dumped into Machia' we could have taken over Japan already, but while you're here that goal is impossible, so you have to die first."
"And you think this big meathead is enough?"
Shigaraki's boisterous laugh echoes through the forest, "This new Machia grows in response to threat and danger, and he hasn't grown an inch since you so-called heroes got there!
We sacrificed his mind and pushed his insane constitution to the limit and beyond to fit these unique quirks, all engineered for his body, just so he could kill you.
So you can't simply wave your hand and get away from your death. You've met your match, Horizon."
"Wow, you put a lot of thought into this."
"Killing you is all I've thought about."
"Huh, I rarely think about you," Horizon shrugs.
"Tch, make your jokes, you can't run from what's about to happen to you."
"You did all that just so I wouldn't warp him into the earth and be done with it, are you that scared of me? C'mon, I've never even touched you," Horizon says playfully.
The sound of Shigaraki's teeth grinding reaches their ears.
"You're an abomination, everything wrong with this hero-centric society, even if you pretend to be a True Hero! You're the biggest liar! You're the most cruel of all the government-hired muscle, eager to perform so-called 'lawful violence' against those who wish to be truly free!"
"What about the people who choose to live in a peaceful society, who don't want to have to fight for survival against their neighbors at every turn, what about their freedom?" Horizon asks.
"SHEEP! Brainwashed by your lies and propaganda! They don't know true freedom so of course they can't choose it, they're blinded to the choices in this superhuman society!"
"Just like All For One brainwashed you to be his pet monster, right?"
Shigaraki's low growl is all they hear for a moment before he speaks, "my master's plan failed, now it's my turn to take control."
"Yet you still call him 'my master', seems you're just a puppet that can't see the strings."
Shigaraki's frustrated grumbling is all they hear for a while, then he goes silent.
"Gigantomachia---"
Machia's head raises up, eye glowing, ready to accept the command.
"---Get to the middle of the nearest city, then start killing everyone, prioritizing Horizon, go!"
"RAARRRGHHHH!!" Gigantomachi's roar sends a shockwave through the clearing, nearly knocking Horizon and some other heroes off their feet before he breaks into a full sprint.
The draft from his two-story, bulky body moving that fast rips Horzion off the floor, forcing him to warp to the other side of the clearing to avoid being rag-dolled by the sheer force of the wind in Gigantomachia's wake.
SHAMBLES!
Machia' disappears once again, but only for a few seconds before he returns and continues running southwest through the forest, easily uprooting and snapping entire trees without even noticing.
"Endeavor?!" Horizon yells out before warping onto his hoverboard and giving chase.
Endeavor rockets into the air and flies beside Horizon, "good job stalling, Pantu contacted Ryukyu, evacuation is already going well!" Endeavor says as the wind is rushing past them. "How'd you know he would take the fight to the city?"
They can barely hear each other over the sound of trees being destroyed, the earth being excavated, and Machia's footsteps causing quakes with every movement.
"Shigaraki is a drama queen, he needs to world to see him win and acknowledge it, I'm just glad you got my hint, if Shigaraki wants Machia in the middle of the city fighting me, he thinks that's the only way to make me stay in the fight."
"Isn't it?"
"If the city is empty it won't matter, Machia can't actually hit me, we'll have time to figure out how to put him down."
As they're speaking and following Gigantomachia, Horizon constantly tries warping the Nomu away, only for him to immediately warp back to his previous location and continue his task.
TAKT!
Horizon rips a chunk of earth upward, directly in the middle of Machia's path, only for the Nomu to run directly through it, as if it wasn't even there.
"Tch, it's like All Might!" Endeavor growls out.
"I need to know what Quirks it has," Horizon says before warping forward, swapping with a piece of rubble as Machia is running, reaching forward to place a hand on his back and Scan him.
But the moment he's about to make contact, two dozen holes open on Machia's back, causing him to warp back to Endeavor just in case.
"Incoming!" Horizon raises a hand, ready to activate Curtain as the cannon-sized holes are aimed back at them.
But instead, each hole launches a cannonball sized sphere into the air, above the heroes.
Endeavor and Horizon look up at them, expecting an attack.
But instead, each sphere unfolds and expands into a high-end Nomu, each unique aside from the fact that every one of them can fly.
And with exceptional speed, they rocket back toward the clearing, past the heroes, past Burnin who was doing her best to keep up with her mentor and friend.
Looking back they all immediately realize exactly what's happening, and the situation becomes many magnitudes more difficult.
"They're going for Kurogiri!" Horizon says as he turns around. "Keep following Machia," he orders before warping away, back to the clearing.
Time until ascension, 10 minutes...
END CHAPTER---
No more waiting, the next chapter, is THE chapter.
Happy new year!
'Hi everyone, Keanu here. So the last 2-3 months have been...quite rough, but I mostly kept the webnovel and scribblehub uploads consistent.
Pa.treon has suffered a lot but January looks like I'll have a lot more free time to just focus on writing like the good ole days so I'll be focusing on that mostly this month.
We're in the Ascension sequence of the book, his Ascension is not his Awakening, you all aren't ready for that yet, but it will happen eventually. This being the first sequence of 2024 is just a perfect way to start the year.
Aside from that, I've also started planning my original book, I know a lot of people have been asking about that and I've decided now that I'm confident enough in my writing, at some point this year it'll be time to start uploading that.
My original story will likely be simultaneous with either this story or whatever current fanfic I'm writing, but again that's assuming life doesn't decide to rail me like it's been doing these past few months. The drafts for this book be pa.treon exclusive until I'm ready to upload in the later half of this year.
Horizon is currently at chapter 273, there are quite a few MAJOR arcs remaining so from my best estimates, this story may go as far as chapters 400-450, but I'm intentionally accelerating the pacing to trim that down a bit.
The entire arc with Majestic's team was honestly improvised while I was just writing and suddenly it was just there on the page, so I'll try to cut back on that bad habit.
But aside from that, happy new year. I wish you and your loved ones all the best, I hope you're enjoying the story thus far, and if you have any questions feel free to ask here or in my discord.
And as always any support here or on pa.treon is greatly cherished and appreciated.
Thank you all!'
Discord: https://discord.gg/t7bHrdRY7Y
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene
Discord: https://discord.gg/t7bHrdRY7Y
pat.reon: Keanu_Eugene
CHAPTER START---
SHAMBLES!
Horizon suddenly appears beside Kido and Onima, two of Endeavor's Sidekicks that are guarding Kurogiri.
"What's going on?" Kido asks, seeing Horizon still standing on the hoverboard. "I thought you guys were going after that big thing?"
"Didn't you hear, two dozen High-End Nomu are coming this way for Kurogiri?"
"Communications went down when Machia' ran off," Onima says.
"Damn it," Horizon looks in the direction of the incoming Nomu, seeing them all flying toward him. "I need confirmation from Pantu before I just warp Kurogiri to a holding location, otherwise these things might be able to track him somehow."
"What do we do?" Kido asks.
"Just focus on staying beside Kurogiri, let me deal with the Nomu, I need to finish this then go help in Dagga city," Horizon draws his blade and begins hovering slightly higher above the field.
"Shouldn't you be more focused on the people in the city!?"
"Kurogiri is worth more than one city of people," Horizon says. "He's vital to Shigaraki, and since he said Machia's variety of Warp was entirely unique, they probably don't have any more warping Quirks."
"Horizon?" Pantu's voice reaches his ears. "Are you there?"
"I'm here, did you beat their signal jammers?"
"No, we were forced to reconnect via public satellite frequency, so be careful of what you say and do, it won't be long before the public begins recording everything our cameras and mics pick up."
Horizon grumbles lowly, "24 High-End Nomu on me, what's the status with Machia'?"
"You've got a few minutes before he gets to the city, evacuation won't be done before he gets there but we mapped his path and will at least have the middle of the city empty, hopefully we can keep the fight there while the people complete the evacuation."
"Good," Horizon raises Scalpel to point at the approaching Nomu. "When I'm done here I'll drop Kurogiri off at a safe place then go to Dagga."
"Copy," Pantu says as Horizon warps forward.
He suddenly swapped places with the second to last Nomu in the pack, sword perfectly aligned with the Nomu at the back.
The Nomu at the back continues flying forward with its massive bat wings causing Scalpel to easily pierce its skull up to the hilt.
At the same time, the Nomu he swapped places with looked down at Kurogiri and rocketed toward him, only for Kurogiri and the remaining heroes to be warped away.
The moment Horizon pierced the Nomu's skull, the others turned to swing at him.
SHAMBLES!
He swaps back with the Nomu in the clearing while swinging his free hand out to the side, toward the Nomu's head.
As it raked through the air, motes of green energy gathered around his hand before collecting in his palm, and with the sound of a hard smack, he palms the Nomu's skull.
GAMMA: STRIKE!
The radiation surges through the Nomu, irradiating its skull and brain, completely killing it in an instant.
"One down, 23 to go..."
A dozen Nomu and a few minutes later, Horizon finds himself on his hoverboard in the air, caught in a dogfight like he's never experienced before.
Limbs are being stretched and enlarged to strike at him, multiple Nomu breathing fire, causing him to either use Curtain to block it, or more frequently use Booster Shot to coat himself in protective energy, matching the flames.
A dance of swords and Quirks occurs, almost seeming graceful from the viewing eyes of Kido and Onima, as well as all the viewers that have tuned in.
It took barely a minute to word to spread about this operation after being forced to use public channels.
Pro Heroes from all around the country were rushing to Dagga city to help in either the fight or evacuation.
And most of the country, alongside much of the world were watching through Horizon's camera, and listening to every sound of exertion he makes that his mic captures.
"REEEEEEEEE!" One of the Nomu's body vibrates as it releases a high-pitched sonic attack in all directions, while flying only inches away from Horizon.
BA-DUM!
Horizon's eyes go bloodshot as his nose and ears begin bleeding.
SHAMBLES!
He warps behind the Nomu and slams a palm into the back of its skull.
As the radiation attacks its body the vibrations now have direct contact and shred the muscles and bones in his left arm, causing immense pain, but still, he maintains contact for the seconds it takes to kill the Nomu.
"Argh!" he warps away, arm hanging limply at his side until a wave of healing energy emerges from it and coats it, all while he continues fighting.
'Well at least they aren't going after Kurogiri,' he thinks as the fight rages on.
After killing two more Nomu, he slashes on of the smaller ones across its chest, and barely notices a shining light emerging from beneath the skin.
SHAMBLES!
He warps away just in time to avoid the massive explosion of electricity as the creature self-destructs only inches away from him.
BA-DUM!
His headache is growing, his heart is pounding against his chest.
He can feel the inside of his body glove becoming more uncomfortable as ever so often he collects injuries.
Moments later a Nomu swipes at him with its massive claws, and he manages to block with his sword, reaching toward in the same moment to grab its head and kill it with radiation.
Only for it to surprise him.
The downward slash it did with both hands activated a Quirk it had never used before in the fight, causing ten blades of invisible wind to slash down against Horizon as he was reaching out.
SHAMBLES!
He warps away, avoiding most of the attack, but the top of his visor and his skull were pierced, causing blood to begin getting absorbed by the mask below.
With the new cracks atop his visor he warps behind the same Nomu and grabs its head, instantly killing it.
BA-DUM!
He stumbles for a moment, and another Nomu takes that chance to strike forward with a punch.
Thoughts blurry Horizon reacts on instinct and raises a palm to the fist.
ANTIBACTERIAL CURTAIN!
A blue dome is erected around him, protecting him from all sides as he hovers in the air.
The impact of the fist sends a shockwave through the forest below, but doesn't even crack the shield.
He begins taking that moment to catch his breath, pushing aside the pain in his mind, forcing Hand of God to stay active in this fight.
But a wave of invisible force slams into him, knocking him off the Hoverboard and disrupting his focus enough to drop the shield.
He feels his own Body Glove and Hero Costume crushing and wringing his body, almost hard enough to crack his bones.
Seeing the same Nomu who attacked with its fist in the same position he realized what was going on.
'A secret telekinetic Quirk it didn't use till now huh,' he thinks, but this attack only lasted for a split second before he used Takt to regain control of his items.
But a split second is all it takes to change a fight.
So the instant Horizon reached out and grabbed the same Nomu, who was still frozen in place since it was using its telekinetic Quirk, he felt a warm sensation in his torso.
"Hng!" he flinches for a moment, ignoring the five blades piercing through his back and out of his belly, made entirely of solid white light, and formed out of the chest of a Nomu behind him.
The Nomu behind him morphs its neck and head, stretching forward and growing, attempting to bite Horizon's head off, a mouth filled with sharp and jagged teeth excitedly extending toward him.
Horizon ignores that for now and quickly pumps raidation into the Nomu who used the telekinetic Quirk against him, then spins around with the sword still in his torso.
They slash and tear his flesh, muscles, and bone as he twists, swinging his arm wielding the radiation at the NOmu who was trying to bite him, and in one motion pierces its skull with Gamma: Knife.
As that corpse falls to the floor, now just like most of the others unable to use its Quirks because of the radiation damage to the brain, Horizon turns around on his hoverboard to see the final Nomu reentering the fight after being knocked away earlier.
He still holding his heavily bleeding torso as it rockets toward him via flames firing out of its back and abs.
"Ok, what's your gimmick," his voice, for the first time, allowed the public to realize that even Horizon can get tired.
But he couldn't think about his public image right now, he was more focused on the fight.
As the Nomu gets closer its eyes flicker bright blue for a moment.
CRACK!
Horizon hears the sound of shattering metal from his Hoverboard as it suddenly loses power, Scalpel tries to fly out of his hand as he's falling, but his grip is so strong that instead, it pulls him upward.
'Magnetism,' he thinks before swapping the Nomu and Scalpel, allowing him to easily make contact with its skull and fry its brain.
SHAMBLES!
He warps into the treeline beside Kido and Onima, who are staying hidden with Kurogiri.
"OH god, are you---!" Horizon raises a hand to cut Kido off as he leans back against a tree.
He was still holding his bleeding torso, but a thin layer of blue energy quickly gathered around it which caused the bleeding to stop.
"Pantu, status?" Horizon asks as he checks the condition of his Hero Costume.
His shirt, jacket, and vest were completely shredded due to all the different types of attacks.
Discarding them he reveals his Body Glove, in which most of the white fabric was now red, blood-soaked.
His visor had a crack at the top of it, but he easily took out his spare and swapped them.
"How are you still alive?" Kido asks, eyes wide and amazed, as is everyone who saw that fight through Horizon's camera.
"Gigantomachia is a few minutes away from Dagga, and I've double-checked security at location 3 for Kurogiri," Pantu says.
"Right, I'll be there in a minute," Horizon says as he takes a moment to catch his breath.
He feels the pounding headache fade away, and is thankful Hand of God didn't shut off on him during that fight.
"I can't believe you won that," ONima says. "That fight was insane, two dozen High Ends...my god."
"My thoughts exactly," Shigaraki's voice is projected through the area. "How did you do that?"
Horizon stands up, holding Scalpel at the ready, "What, months of research, putting together a team of two dozen Nomu and Machia all perfectly designed to kill me, and you thought that would be enough?"
"They almost did," Shigaraki says.
"Welcome to the real world, where 'almost' doesn't count," Horizon says.
Shigaraki grumbles a bit, then scoffs, "With the resources we put into these 25 creatures, we could have overthrown countries, but you just had a be a pain in my neck...enjoy your near-death victory, because these Nomu were nothing compared to what Machia' will do to you, and you won't survive that one."
"Big talk from a guy who won't fight me himself," Horizon says.
"Why would I bother fighting someone that's hacking the game..."
They wait for a moment, but Shigaraki doesn't say anything else, allowing Kido and Onima to finally breathe.
"I hate that guy," Kido says.
"Don't worry, I'll put my hands on him eventually," Horizon says as leans back against the tree.
"Are you sure you'll be ok man?" Onima asks.
"Doesn't matter," Horizon says. "Machia will get to the middle of Dagga, then his secondary command will activate, he'll start killing anyone he finds then move to the next city. Unless I'm there, since if I'm there he should ignore everyone else until I'm dead, so regardless of how I'm feeling, I have to go."
"What about your friend, can't he give that thing a new command?" Kido asks.
Horizon begins walking over to Kurogiri, "Before he became a full Nomu, probably, but Nomu get commands via some kind of frequency or radio Quirk Shigaraki uses, copying a voice won't work."
"Damn it," Kido frowns. "Ok, can you warp us to Dagga while you take Kurogiri away, they'll need all the help they can get until you're there."
"Yeah..."
---Daaga City, Minutes later...
News helicopters and drones were swarming the city, getting the position to record every moment of the upcoming fight.
Some of these drones were even following Gigantomachia as the monster carved a path through the nation in a straight line toward the city.
Endeavor was still giving chase, having left Burnin behind miles ago as she simply couldn't keep up with their speed, but still, nothing he did had any effect on the monster.
Looking ahead as he's flying, he sees a highway filled with people, most of whom are marching out of the city since the roads are too crowded with cars.
Daaga city rests behind it, he rockets ahead, past Gigantomachi and higher up to observe the situation.
He sees the city being evacuated, but toward the outer regions, there are still massive amounts of people and traffic.
In the distance, he sees a legion of boats sailing away from the city, already filled with as many civilians as they could possibly carry, and likely even a bit extra.
Noticing Gigantomachia is about to trample the highway he realizes something was wrong here.
'They were supposed to lead the civilians away from the angle Gigantomachia would be entering from just to avoid this, did these people not listen to the Pro Heroes here?'
Trying to think of a solution, he's greeted by a voice he hasn't heard in months.
"Endeavor!" Nejire-Chan yells out as the flys up beside him, looking at the villain trampling its way toward them on the horizon.
"Nejire-Chan," Endeavor says. "Where's Ryukyu?"
Nejire-Chan points toward the far side of the city, "she's flying out the bedridden patients from the hospital, the roads are filled with too many cars."
"Then I guess you and I will have to be enough, we need to launch Machia into the air," Endeavor says.
"Ok...what?" Nejire-Chan looks at him confused.
"There are too many people here, they won't all make it out of the way in time, and look down there," he gestures to the edge of the city Gigantomachia will be entering from. "There are crowds at the perimeter of the city there, but maybe you and I have enough power to push him over them, his command should make him continue to ignore them and run to the middle of the city."
"That's...a terrible idea," Nejire-Chan says.
"I know, but our Quirks won't do anything to him, if you can raise a platform below him I can help push it with my flames, he won't have any leverage in the air to fight against it."
"I really don't like this," Nejire-Chan says one last time as Machia' is only a few hundred meters away.
"This is the most we can do," Endeavor says, "Our Quirks can't help in this kind of fight, but that's not our job. Because being a Pro Hero, is about keeping people safe, not beating villains, this, is our job."
Looking around at all the scared and desperate people trying to get away from the city, Nejire does her best mean face, which still turns out rather cute, and flys toward Machia', ready to sacrifice it all to save the people behind her.
Like a true hero would.
Endeavor is beside her as they fly forward, and now she can see Machia' as the two-story monster of muscle and flesh he is.
"SPIRAL WAVE---!" Nejire-Chan charges up all her power, devoting every drop of her vitality to this. "GR---!"
SHAMBLES!
Gigantomachia suddenly disappears, and the sound of a loud crash is heard from within the city.
Nejire-Chan and Endeavor immediately spin around and rocket into the city.
"That was too close, did you secure Kurogiri?" Endeavor asks into his communicator as they're flying toward the battle, already seeing a skyscraper falling in the distance.
"He's captured and hidden, now come give me some help here," Horizon says.
"Help? Since when do you need help?" Endeavor asks jokingly.
"Since Shigaraki designed 25 Nomu, including this titan, specifically to kill me, now c'mon!"
As they arrive at the city center, they see Gigantomachia exactly as he emerged from the ground, charging at Horizon and throwing pieces of buildings or entire vehicles at the hero, only for him to constantly warp about and dodge everything.
"Do you have a plan?" Endeavor asks as they hover above the battle, landing on a building to observe.
"Keep dodging until a lot more people get here," Horizon says. "I need more resources, more people, more Quirks to plan around, more options."
"Can't you just cut him in half or throw him into space?" Nejire-Chan asks.
"They gave him a variation of Warp, it's much weaker and just lets him return to wherever he was warped away from. That's why I had to warp him here, since getting here was his goal he wouldn't leave. It's designed to keep him on the battlefield."
"I see, they knew that would be your first instinct, which it was," Endeavor says. "You did instantly warp him to the ocean floor when he showed up."
As the battle is going on Nejire-Chan notices Horizon moving slower, his body sluggish, and all the blood and damage on his Hero Costume.
'He actually can get hurt, fighting two dozen High-End Nomu must have been hard, especially when they're built just to kill you specifically...'
Nejire-Chan snaps her fingers, having a great idea, "What about the move you used to deal with the other Nomu today, if they were designed to kill you then it would probably work on this guy too, right?"
"Even if I was fresh out of bed I don't have nearly enough energy to use it effectively on this guy, he's too big."
As the fight continues, more and more Pro Heroes arrive, including Ryukyu.
AMPUTATE!
Horizon slashes vertically, and splits the road for miles along with Machia', but the Nomu puts itself together yet again.
Eyes go wide all around the world as the slash reaches from the middle of the city, 13km away to the ocean, a thin line only an inch wide.
Machia' doesn't even flinch, but Horizon notices its body acts slightly differently.
SHAMBLES!
He suddenly swaps places with Endeavor, throwing the man into the fight without warning.
Endeavor launches a wall of fire to shroud himself before flying upward, then looks back at his previous location to see Horizon gone.
"I need a minute, stall him," Horizon says through their earpieces. "If I can pull him apart long enough then I can Scan him, and we can attack his weakness directly," he says before going silent.
"Alright, everyone with ranged attacks, don't stop firing!" Endeavor yells out as he leads the dozens of Pro Heroes into the battle.
As soon as Horizon leaves the battlefield, Shigaraki's grating voice begins booming through the city.
"Running away huh, can't blame you, Machia' is a titan of a different class, and he hasn't even registered a single threat here," he gloats. "The new foundation of his body, his Titan Quirk, it causes him to physically grow in response to any danger he senses, and he hasn't even grown an inch today, which means he can't even use his more fun Quirks yet."
"Tch, then we'll destroy him before he can," Endeavor says while launching wide blasts of flames at Machia's eyes.
"If you want me to call him off, just give me, Japan," Shigaraki says. "Otherwise I'll just break it down to rubble and rebuild it how I want..."
---1 minute until Ascension...
"Endeavor, I'm ready, get everyone away from him, then I'll swap with you," Horizon says through the earpieces.
"Everyone scatter!" Endeavor yells while flying toward Machia'.
The entire main street of the city was rubble, city blocks blasted apart or demolished by the Nomu.
There was a 300m -900ft- circle where not a single building was left intact. All around this zone the news helicopters and drones drank in the sight of this battle, gladly transmitting it to the masses so everyone could see the heroes struggle.
Eventually, as most of the Pro Heroes got away from the fight, Endeavor was the last, as instructed.
He sends blast after blast of flames at Machia', not focusing on the heat and pressure of them, but the width of the columns.
His only goal was to blind the monster for as long as possible, giving everyone a chance to keep their distance, and their lives.
A handful of Pro Heroes are already dead, mostly from the sheer destruction in the wake of Machia's charges.
"Get close to him," Horizon says, and Endeavor instantly rockets toward the monster, at the edge of the destroyed zone.
As he's closing in Machia raises a giant hand to swing at Endeavor...
SHAMBLES!
Horizon appears in his place, Scalpel in hand, and slashes down at Machia'.
The moment he swapped places with Endeavor he shrank his Room, only big enough for the move he was about to do.
AMPUTATE!
Just as he noticed earlier, Machia's body was slower at knitting itself back together, something had changed.
'I didn't imagine it, his Quirks must be causing his body to degrade...' Horizon thinks as he warps away, swapped with some rubble on the opposite side, and slashes down again.
AMPUTATE!
SHAMBLES!
Over and over again he does this, appearing as a flicker in hundreds of places at once, as if he suddenly learned to clone himself.
"Wow," Nerjire-Chan's eyes go wide. "But he said he doesn't have a Super Move."
"He doesn't," Endeavor says. "This regards this more like an attack combo."
Seconds later Horizon stops, and Machia' is diced into thousands of pieces, mixed in with the rubble on the floor.
His head, neck, and right shoulder are intact, too healthy for Horizon to separate from the rest of him.
SHAMBLES!
Horizon doesn't hesitate to warp up to him and place a hand on the back of Machia's head.
SCAN!
A surge of information floods his brain, then suddenly the information seems to multiply many times over, increasing by magnitudes in an instant.
BA-DUM!
BA-DUM!
BA-DUM!
"ARGH!" Horizon yells out as the headache sets in, his brain hemorrhages, eyes, nose, and ears bleeding.
He stumbles back as Hand of God shuts off to protect his brain from destroying itself.
In the same instant, the seemingly unconscious Machia's eyes shot open as a spike of flesh formed on his head, and pierced Horizon through the right thigh.
Before anyone could process what was happening Machia's pieces warped back to his main body, and he shook his head, causing Horizon to fly through the air.
As he's falling, Nejire-Chan and Endeavor rocket toward him and Ryukyu just stands back and watching, conflicted on what she should be doing.
But before they could catch him, Machia had reformed, and with all his might he formed a fist that was larger than Horizon's entire body with his right hand.
FWOOSH!
The air pressure from the punch he landed on the falling Horizon caused Nejire-Chan and Endeavor to go rolling through the air before catching themselves.
They steady themselves just in time to see Horizon skip across the battlefield, slamming into the rubble and debris before embedding himself in the second-story wall of a far building.
His right leg which had been pierced was entirely gone now, from mid-thigh it had been torn off by the force of that attack.
His visor was cracked, and the right eye and forehead area missing to show a bloody mess below.
Gigantomachia stopped for a moment, unable to hear Horizon's heartbeat, then released a victorious roar.
"RAARRRRRRRRRHHHHHH!" The entire battlefield shakes as people all around the world are left speechless.
And as the monster instantly turns its attention back to Endeavor, Shigaraki laughs.
"AAHAHAHAHA!" His wild manic cackling echoes through the city, instilling a new sense of fear in the civilians and even some Pro Heroes.
"Dead, just like that!" Shigaraki gloats. "That moron, he really thought we wouldn't learn anything from his fight with my master! We knew that Scan ability of his was his strongest ability and his weakness, and he really fell for that trick.
Giving Machia the ability to shut off his bodily functions and healing Quirks to lure him in worked better than I expected!
Now, Machia, kill them all and bring me Horizon's body!"
"FLASHFIRE FIST!" Endeavor screams out with a new sense of hate and anger as he launches a concentrated column of fire at Gigantomachia.
Some of the other Pro Heroes join him in the fight, willing to fight to the death against the villain.
But a handful of them crumble to their knees, feeling their hopes crushed and wills broken.
All across the nation tears are shed, as the news cameras all focus on Horizon's body, stuck in the wall, still clutching Scalpel tightly in his grasp.
"Ryukyu, get Horizon's body away from here!" Endeavor commands as he has Machia focused on him, but Ryukyu is still frozen in shock staring at the corpse.
For a few seconds, Endeavor shows why of all these people, only he could be the #1 Hero, because only he stands against Gigantomachia.
And the rising star Nejire-Chan rushes off in the direction of Horizon's body, not paying any attention to her frozen mentor.
Machia ignores the girl and moves to swat at Endeavor, just as the man prepares to unleash his strongest attack, gathering his flames above his chest.
BA-DUM!
The monster flinches, and a chill is felt across the battlefield.
All the hairs at the back of Endeavor's neck stand up, as if there was an immense danger behind him, yet Machia was standing in front of him.
But the monster was frozen in place, its gaze lifted, looking past Endeavor.
ROOM!
A sense of dread washes over the entire city, and miles surrounding it.
The entire world begins to shake and rumble, buildings for dozens of kilometers crack and fall apart, and rubble around the battlefield floats in the air.
The air itself becomes more stiff, making it hard to breathe.
Endeavor feels his heart rate speed up as a new surge of adrenaline flows through him.
A new sense of fear blooms in all living things for dozens of miles around, in the world itself.
Endeavor's flames flicker out without his command, causing him to fall a few feet to the ground.
The news cameras pan around, and while entire buildings are floating, skyscrapers begin torn from the ground and sundered in the air, the ocean at the coast, was almost a mile away.
As if the waves were running away from the city itself.
Endeavor musters his courage and turns around, leaving Machia' at his back, to see the source of this phenomenon, and his eyes immediately fall onto Horizon.
He was still stuck in the wall, but the crack in his visor was releasing a fountain of thick energy vapor, the blood-soaked areas of his body glove were saturated in it, causing the blood to become mist and blow away, revealing the glowing blue lines between the plates.
Endeavor swallowed nervously, and before he realized it he was backing away, steps only quickening as the entire building Horizon is lodged into crumbles apart for him to fall to the floor.
In the time it takes him to fall two stories, his entire right leg regenerates before their very eyes, allowing him to land roughly and crack the ground.
The glowing blue leg was exposed, yet it appeared as if it were made entirely of blue energy, he was simply releasing so much that they couldn't see the flesh below.
Everyone watching this didn't realize it, but they hadn't taken a single breath since his presence was felt, and deep down, they knew why.
Because this thing, this was not Horizon.
Not yet.
This was a being of pure instinct and power, and every fiber of their beings screamed for them to run away and never look back.
Endeavor was the first to snap out of this state, not because he had the will to overcome, nobody does, but because of what he saw.
He had unconsciously backed up, stepping past Gigantomachia who he'd turned his back to without realizing it.
Realization dawned on him, that he was this much more scared of Horizon than the titan.
But then he noticed something, Gigantomachia was scared too, the titan was now 25m -82ft- tall, five times the size it had been all day.
'It grew in response to the new danger,' Endeavor realizes as he now consciously takes cautious steps away, raising a hand to his earpiece.
"Clear the area, we don't want to be here when they start," he says quietly, but nobody moves, they were too terrified to even hear him.
Horizon raises his head, gripping his sword, and for the first time in months, Hand of God didn't fight him.
Now after death, all the Quirks had become perfectly in sync. He'd found what Dr. Ujiko took centuries to discover, that the only thing powerful enough to force proper Quirk assimilation, is the innate desire to survive.
That alone will force them to work together, that is why the Nomu must be corpses.
And that alone, is the baseline primal instantly, in absolute control of Horizon's body.
"RAARRRRRGHHH!" Machia' rushes forward, his skin becoming tough scale armor and his muscles bulking up as he closes the distance.
Finally sensing a threat, Horizon's instincts kick in and pilot his body.
A surge of power like never before flows through him, bringing a feeling of adrenaline and bliss as it manifests as thick blue vapor, some of which falls to the ground as a liquid before evaporating.
"ARRGHH!" Horizon's roar echoes for dozens of miles, far beyond the city and surrounding mountains, shaking the world around him as he swings Scalpel upward.
The blade is instantly coated in a bright blue energy, and as he swings it through the air an arc of that same energy fires toward Machia, growing to the same size as the monster before colliding directly with him.
What would later come to be named, 'Divide', the first of his many, many new abilities to be created with his newly realized power...
END CHAPTER---
Ok, so a few things. 1, I realize people are excited about this and I do read the comments, so I decided to minimize the inevitable cliffhangers by making this mega chapter to get us into the real fight before the end of the week.
2, this chapter was a few hours late because I had to write and edit it, sorry about that.
3, I'd really appreciate some power stones or reviews or any support really :)
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