บท 62: Golden Fire
The thrum of the propellers through the air sounded out, almost deafening along with the wind that crashed past him. Nicklaus couldn't help but grin. He was currently outside the plane that was going to America. A flight attendant that hadn't talked a single word had helped him know when the moment to disembark was.
Having been led to a wall in the staff area he had 'phased' through it. Creating a small hole which the smoke like him had passed through by deconstructing and reconstructing his body.
Standing on the roof of the plan he felt his feet pulling against the roof where they were welded. The force of the air pulling past him would be enough to seriously harm a normal person.
There it was.
His sensitive eyes picked up movement in the cloud layer below them. His face formed into a wicked grin as he flexed his fingers. Cracking his neck he got ready as he waited for the right moment…
NOW!
Leaping from the roof of the plane he curled through the air. Tucking his arms to his sides as he plummeted through the skies, his eyes protected by a clear second layer of eyelids. The wind ripping past him turning his skin pink.
Falling he fell forward at breakneck speeds. The feeling of falling made his stomach bottom out as he fell. Watching as he fell in front of the plane, the plane now above him he took a deep breath and turned his arm into a long tendril that he shot up towards the plane.
Feeling the plane start to pull over him dragging the air with it the tendril slammed into the bottom of it. As soon as he made contact he welded his flesh to the bottom of the plane. The sudden force would have torn his arm clean off if he didn't focus on keeping his shoulder together. The combined force of falling and the pulling of the plane was enough that even his flesh tore a bit.
Being dragged along behind the plane he closed his eyes as he shortened the tendril, like a grapple he dragged himself to the plane. Seeing the back slowly come down to let him out he made a second one and shot it inside the plane. The second tendril pulled him into it as he finally once again stood on something solid.
Letting out a released breath he couldn't help but hold his hands above his head as the door shut. Letting out a loud yell of victory.
That had been awesome!
Seriously, that was probably the best thing he had done in his entire life, it was more thrilling than almost anything, the only thing that had topped it was the fight he had with All Might.
Hearing footsteps approach he composed himself but he couldn't get rid of the wild grin on his face. That had been wild.
Remembering that he had his appearance changed as he had been asked to do by Nezu, his face having been turned into a pre-made one by both him and Nezu. He had changed his appearance mid-fall.
Platinum blonde hair sat on his head in a shaggy mess, similar to Dabi's, his face covered in stitches from his mouth out to the side of his head. Once again similar to the resident of his soul.
Eyes were a glaring and dangerous gold. The energy coming from them leaves faint trails in the air. The stitching shone with a faint light as well. He wasn't planning on hiding his power. He was going to use his golden flames to the max and that meant that he would glow. With embers drifting from the gaps in his skin, he smiled at the person who was approaching him. A nervous Japanese military man.
"M-Mr Aurum. It's a pleasure to meet you." His words caught in his throat. Nick had made himself taller than he normally was. His figure was just over 7 feet tall and his body while lithe was covered in clear muscle. The defined chiselled body was almost impossibly strong. The stitching that wove across the body trailed those golden sparks.
He had been told what he was meant to know. He was an underground Hero hired by Nezu to take out Shigaraki. At all costs.
He was an intimidating figure.
"Pleasures all mine… how long until we get to Australia and where will I be landing. I assume this plane is never landing." His voice was mirthful as he walked over to a map that had already been laid out on the table.
"No, there is no way we would be able to land and take off again. Too many locals would try to take the plane if they saw it. We are going to have to drop you off from above the cloud layer. Since most of the settlements there have moved as close to the coast as they can the middle of Australia has become hell to be in. You'll be dropping here.
As he pointed to the map Nick tilted his head, it was fairly close to the centre of Western Australia. Near Lake Disappointment. It was probably infested by insects that had come there for water or the other wildlife that had managed to survive the swarm of bugs that were arguably a lot more dangerous just because they were alive.
"It's a salt lake, there will be no water there but a lot of corpses from the times there have been. The reason you dropping there is because normally animals stay away from that area due to the countless dead acting as natural warding. It will probably smell, the heat and salt won't have helped much…" His lips curled with disgust at even just the thought of it.
"Is there a bug colony nearby?" Nick suddenly asked as he looked at the map, his eyes glancing over the red dots. Danger zones that were completely overridden. He couldn't die, even if he was being pulled apart he was still far more dangerous than anyone alive. At least that new knew about.
He was confident that he could take out a swarm of bugs. He wanted to do it, he wanted just to fight without having to hold back. The idea excited him.
Seeing the grin on Aurem's face as he asked that question, the golden light from his eyes increasing in intensity the military man found himself sweating, the heat was rising and the embers were turning into flickering flames.
"U-Um… yeah, that closest one has been named Irantar mound… its- I would not advise going there s-sir." Looking at Aurum he simply looked over at him with a smirk he felt a chill run down his back as the words of the dangerous man before him cut through the air.
"It's been ages since I was able to cut loose man. Trust me if you had the quirk I did you would understand. And if I die I die, that's my fault. But I practically can't." His voice was eager as he said, "I haven't called my quirk Phoenix Flames for a reason." Confidence or Arrogance brimming in his words.
"How long until we get there?" His voice mellowed as he took a few deep breaths, the heat dissipating as he focused himself again.
"Um… 7 hours… at least. There is a place prepared for you to sleep- all the details of Australia are on this table. I wish you luck with your mission." his words were quick as he left with a hurried pace. Wanting to get away from whatever psycho this Hero was.
Looking at the man as he left Nick tilted his head. Oh, this was going to be fun.
---
Standing on the edge of the open door Nick once again felt the wind rushing past him. The beating of his heart sounded through his ears as he barely kept his fire under control. He was going to let it go as he fell, he wanted to. He had studied the map enough to know most of it by memory.
Looking down at the wasteland below him he was surprised that he could see the destruction from here even through the thick cloud layer. The brief gaps let him see the shattered ground. The blobs of black moved across its surface.
Such large swarms he could see them from up here.
With the wind ripping through his hair Nick leaned forward, and soon his feet left the metal they were standing on.
Falling down to earth he felt the thump of his heart through his chest and his eyes grew cold in concentration. No laughter or excitement from before. That was for the act, now he was in it. He had to focus, his control was on point, and it was time to let it slip.
With each beat of his heart cascading golden flames tore out of his body between the stitching. His eyes glared into the sun as he plummeted towards the planet with a trail of flames. Focusing them on his feet he pushed himself down faster and as he burst through the cloud layer he saw it.
His target.
A small mountain that was crawling with ants, he couldn't see it well from here but it was the right distance from the lake he was meant to be heading towards. Adjusting the angle of his flight he fell towards it as he heard the crack of the sound barrier. The wind ripped past his skin fast enough that he started to burn up from his quirk and the friction but he didn't care. He was healing faster than the damage anyway.
Barreling towards the earth with unstoppable momentum he collided with the peak of the ant hill.
And tore through it.
The sand structure shattered as the heat turned it to glass.
The plummeting comet of a man ripped through the internal layers and tore through halls. Thousands of oversized ants the size of dogs to horses turned to ash as fire exploded from the impacts.
Before he hit the bottom of the nest. Slamming right into the queen ant's room where the eggs were being kept near. But there wasn't even time for blood or gore.
No, there was just fire and ash.
With the final impact, Nick felt his heart hammer in his chest as he let out a mighty roar pushing as much fire from his body as he could muster. Even with his artificial heat resistance, he burned up. The golden flames blew away the earth from the impact like a meteor the earth folded out from the impact.
Waves of molten glass erupted into the air as the impact more was like a boulder falling into the ocean than an impact on the land. Waves of molten glass and lava passed through the air as the screeching of insects couldn't be heard of the harrowing sound of the mighty explosion. The roar ripped the air apart as the bang sounded deafeningly for kilometres.
---
The pilots of the plane watched as the figure shot towards Earth, distracted by the plummeting golden streak that was like a star falling to Earth.
The impact shocked them. They saw it happen from all the way up where they were. The golden flash, the eruption of earth and molten materials shooting out from the impact sight. Shaking their head they saw the impact size. It must have been at least 50 kilometres across.
The power that they witnessed took their breaths away. What monster had they just taken to Australia?
---
Shigaraki looked at the sky, his mouth setting into a grim line as he watched the golden trail fall. The streak of light stood out even in the bright desert sun. The gasps of voices around him filled the air with the slow muttering and gasps of the shocked people around him.
His lips cracked, the dried skin slowly being stretched and bent as his lips curled into a grim, almost furious smile. His breathing increased as he felt his heart pick up pace. This man was far stronger than he had imagined. Far stronger than he had been when he fought the Ice Queen, that useless wench.
This was what it was like to feel hunted? This was… almost overbearing, a weight on his chest that he did, not, like… not one bit.
Taking a shaky breath he could swear that he felt the impact rattle the ground where he was standing. The sound alone was enough to let him know that the hunter had landed. The sound was earth breaking even from this distance. The molten material that was thrown into the air was seen as a pillar of molten slag. Momentum turned to fire.
Feeling the wooden scaffolding he was standing on shake he felt his hair shift slightly from the passing blast of air that followed heavily delayed from the impact.
Nicklaus was here.
---
Standing up from the molten glass Nick reformed from the fire as it condensed down to make his form. He had blacked out from the impact. He had felt his thread start to burn up but he didn't care. His burning with more intent than any gaze the fire slowly formed into his figure.
The impact had been closer to killing him than the ants, they hadn't even touched him and he had wiped out this entire nest.
Rising from the crater as he willed the flames to push him into the air, rising with golden flames licking off his skin Nick couldn't help but smirk. Satisfied with the display of power he had shown.
Desperate prey was more likely to act irrationally.
He would instil a fear of not only himself but the chase in Shigaraki, and when he slipped up and let his location be known he would chase him to the ends of the earth and turn him into ash. Just like this nest. He would kill the man before he could awaken whatever modifications had been applied to him.
Flying to the edge of the crater he landed on the glass, the smooth surface still red hot against his feet but he didn't feel it. Not even the slightest pain. It wasn't enough to even make him flinch.
Walking towards the west coast of Australia, the place he knew the community to be he was eager to finish this. Feeling his feet start to pick up pace he leapt from the floor and with a controlled blast of fire started to fly towards the ocean front.
As he flew a giant spider tore through the sand and leapt up into the air, its size closer to that of a whale, the long worm-like abdomen making it look like a sandworm with horrid mutated legs that jutted from its front.
In that one shocking moment, its giant fanged mouth started to approach him. The horrid maw opened wide enough to swallow a car. The mouth was lined with thousands of prick-like teeth that secreted a venom that bubbled in the air.
So this was the extent of the mutations.
Changing directions in an instant Nick shot into the air sending a blast of fire beneath him with the same movement filling the creature with intense flames that started to turn its face to ash. Slower than he would have liked.
The monsters here seemed to have natural heat resistance because of the harsh sun. But Nick didn't care. No heat resistance would be enough to counter his flames. Not even his resistance was enough.
Sending a pulse of power through his flames they all rushed back to his hands. The creature slammed into the floor as it rolled in pain.
Condensing the power down into a small ball Nick felt the heat the star in his hands emitted burning the air around it.
As it got its legs beneath it the star grew.
And then it leapt once more. The ginormous beast catapulted itself off the ground. As it opened it was already ashen and burnt mouth once again.
Just for Nick to send the heat ray into its maw.
All it took was a moment, a fraction of a second.
And the monster exploded into ash. The fire and the heat were so intense its entire body was burnt up in that single moment. A smile formed on Nick's face as he watched this. Yes, this was what the move was meant to be. If she ever attacked him again he didn't care what kind of support Eira had, he would turn her to ash just like this monster.
Continuing on his way he soon saw a settlement on the horizon, landing on the ground he started to make his way there on foot. Although his running speeds were far faster than any car he soon arrived at the high stone walls that were covered in shale spikes.
A settlement in the apocalyptic wasteland.
He was finally here.
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Thanks for all the support! Sorry if the quality if a bit lower, I've gotten pretty sick and was tempted just to not do a chapter but I already missed a day this week. I gotta write!
Reviews and comments are always welcome, let me know how I am doing!
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