Chương 189: Chapter 186 - Hecatomb 2/2
His father was far away enough to help without getting hurt ; civilians, on the other hand, were another matter.
Shoto made pop up several of the clones working on his final project : the chakra he got back from them was meager and the accumulated fatigue was getting harder and harder to bear.
He clenched his jaw and refused to pity himself.
He would find a solution when this whole damn mess was over.
He created two clones and glanced at the one in charge of keeping All for One asleep.
Judging by the scowl on his face, the task was far more challenging than he'd expected : it was worse considering his mission was to weaken All for One's focus by stretching out time withing the illusion in order to get more of it in reality.
Shoto cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders.
Clone 1 jumped next to the Genjutsu focused one to transmit the new instructions.
"Ready ?", Clone 2 asked.
Shoto nodded, crackling arcs of yellow light dancing around his body.
He would have to be especially careful while handling civilians.
"Change your looks" he ordered.
The clone transformed into Yamato, his clothes changing into Jonin's common outfit.
The two clones on the roof morphed into Genma and Asuma.
Shoto stretched his sensing further, his brain registering and compartmentalizing every new energy he detected.
His headache spread from his scalp to his forehead, burning and throbbing. His eyes grew hot : it felt like someone was trying to unscrew his eyeballs with a screwdriver.
He buried exhaustian and pain behind the necessity of his goal : zero casualties.
He would have to go extremely fast - faster than he'd ever gone before.
"Whenever you want", Yamato breathed
Shoto reinforced his full body with chakra, paying special attention to his ankles, knees and thighs.
The last thing he wanted was for his legs to break, in which case he'd be completly fucked up.
The amount of chakra he poured onto his body was so great a layer of shimmering blue light coated his skin.
He breathed in one last time, filling his lungs full.
His clone had not blinked that Shoto was gone.
One second he was there, the next an earthquake shook the street, a gust of wind blowing from where he stood.
Cracks were spreading out from the place where he had jumped, turning into crevices.
The clone hadn't even reopened his eyes when Shoto smashed through the wall of a first-floor apartment.
The wall exploded inward, flying rubble scattering in all directions.
Still at the height of his leap, Shoto surveyed his surroundings quickly, his Sharingan moving so fast it looked like a streak of red light on his face.
An old woman, a puppy on her lap, was crouched behind a sofa.
The pieces of wall were still in free fall : the instant his soles grazed the floor, yellow light ran around his legs.
Shoto lifted the old woman and the dog, spun on his feet, and threw them through the holed wall.
Outside Yamato, Sharingan on, caught her gently ; she was still curled up against her dog, eyes closed, motionless as a statue, stuck between the inhalation she'd taken when Shoto had smashed through her living room wall and the exhalation she hadn't had time to take yet.
The rubble from the first wall he'd smashed while getting inside hadn't even had time to hit the floor before he'd already crashed through the wall of the next apartment.
Four people were hiding in a bathroom : Shoto shunshined so fast that the closed door was obliterated.
A couple was hugging their two children in a bathtub.
Shoto tore off the shower curtain, quickly flung it around them, grabbed all four as if they were a single bag, spun on his feet, and threw them through the window in front of him and across the apartment.
Shoto quickened his pace, heart pounding in his chest, leaving a lingering image where he'd already vanished.
He went so fast that the civilians, unable to even see him coming, looked like frozen figures stuck in time, faces contorted in terror, mouths open on throats that made no sound.
He cleared the entire second floor before the rubble from the first wall he'd smashed in hit the ground.
Not enough.
Another clone sprang from Shoto's body : the headache turned into monstrous dissonance.
The clone, wrapped in the same blue halo, jumped, feet joined, on the floor ; he broke it and landed on the first floor.
Shoto tightened his muscles and pumped more chakra in his legs : he didn't even leave anymore residual images, merely a trail of paper sheets flying in all directions, picture frames falling from walls, and hardwood floors shattering in splinters, unable to withstand the pressure of his footsteps.
Civilians went through their home's windows faster than the rain was falling.
Outside, between two hastily caught bodies, Genma created two more clones.
The Raido clone caught the civilians thrown from the ground floor, whereas the Gai one carried dozens of them on his shoulders, a thin coat of chakra sticking them to him to prevent an impromptu fall. He shunshined at full speed to the unofficial rescue zone defined by Endeavor's presence.
Shoto threw another family out the window, choosing at the last moment to send their cat with them, knowing full well that he couldn't afford to waste that millisecond on pets.
All for One looked up at the sky.
Out of the corner of his eye, Shoto saw the wires crisscrossing his body like a spider's web : Asuma and Genma - in between catching civilians - were working together.
All for One shifted slightly to the left, glassy eyes wandering, as if he were trying to see something closer.
He collided with the iron web, threads of steel sinking into his flesh and clothes.
Chakra strings dangled from Genma's fingers, at the end of which were explosive tags : he threw them in a bell shape, not really aiming at All for One.
One in the heart, one in the throat-
Shoto tore himself away from the spectacle and resumed his frantic run.
He was sweating profusely yet he was moving so fast the barely out beads were freezing. The wind blew his hair against his head and pushed his clothes against his skin.
He grabbed, wrapped in rags and threw the civilians so fast his hands were blurry.
Faster.
Shoto cleared building after building, his ground-floor clone speeding up to keep up.
Move faster, run faster-
Adrenaline pumping through his blood made him frantic.
Come on, come on !
He left pets behind. He had no time for them.
Have to be enough, have to do enough, because if you're not-
Even with his sharingan on, the landscape grew hazy.
Keep fucking going.
The second All for One opened his eyes again, the whole area exploded.
*
Inside, Neito and Ochaco had finished clearing the first building.
The smell of burning already permeated the place : the fire was getting closer.
Ochaco ran down the corridor, kicking open door after door.
She ran past a mirror and caught a glimpse of her reflection : she looked away before meeting her own gaze, her mouth set in a bitter line.
Neito, standing at the top of the stairs, gazed at her.
She was aware that he hadn't turned his back on her once since her half-confession ; he must have been afraid that she would stab him in the back.
It was indeed true that she'd went through a kitchen earlier and the thought had crossed her mind.
Her mind drifted back to the baby.
Seeing dead adults, ok, needing to kill a couple of teenagers because they had seen things they shouldn't have, reprehensible but understandable, but the fact that a baby - a being so small, so fragile, that hadn't asked to be born and hadn't stood in her way - died because of her...
Bitter taste rose to her throat.
She had never realized that her actions would have consequences.
She'd only seen the money and, to tell the truth, that was all she could still see.
Katsuki came to her mind.
Ochaco forced herself to think of something else.
She wondered what his expression would be when he found out she was a traitor. Maybe if she managed to escape, he'd chase her to the other side of the world and demand an explanation. So romantic.
She almost smiled, but Neito would have taken it as a personal slight.
She could see by his murderous look that he was dying to hit her until she couldn't remember her own name.
He'd held back earlier - without that, and with All Might's Quirk in his possession, he would have simply pulverized every bone in her skull.
She wondered what he'd think if she told him she regretted her life choices.
Of course, he wouldn't believe her for a second.
The money had its appeal, but perhaps she should have been more careful before signing a pact with the devil. But all that money...
She'd heard the Nomus screaming across the city : there were too many of them, too scattered for it to be a focused strike.
If she could get away - when she would - she might be able to make a break for a bank to fill her pockets.
She'd always dreamed of robbing a bank.
Then she'd disappear forever. That is, until All for One decided to drag her out of her hideout by her hair, or Todoroki - also dragging her by her hair - took her back to Katsuki for explanations before a quick execution at the hands of the Commission.
Getting caught had never been a question of 'if', only 'when'.
She'd known she was done for ever since Todoroki had stormed into her room with his witchcraft or illusion or whatever the hell was that thing was that made her feel like there were worms crawling in her stomach.
According to Neito, she'd been screwed up for far much longer, she just hadn't been aware of it.
Still, she would have preferred it if Katsuki was the one that had caught her red-handed the night she'd left Kaminari's room.
Katsuki was clever - he would have suspected something and would've eventually discovered the truth on his own. Obviously he'd have confronted her one day.
He would've hurt less if he'd discovered the truth on his own.
She really didn't want to see his face when he found out.
She had to get out of there tonight, no matter what Mirko threatened to do.
"Next building", Neito said.
This one was fully cleared.
Ochaco came back at a brisk pace, cheeks flushed.
Neito stepped back when he saw her coming ; he wanted her to walk down the stairs first.
It's true that she'd thought about pushing him down, using her Quirk to increase the weight of his body so he'd fall to his death.
Neito met her gaze, hostile. As if he'd heard her thoughts, his expression darkened and he switched on Aizawa's Quirk.
Ochaco wasn't even annoyed.
She was bound to get an opportunity and-
One of the Nomus screamed, its voice a high-pitched shrilly.
A large window overlooked the corridor they were in.
Something hit the wall next to the window with a loud thud.
A muscular, tanned arm - a human arm - flapped in front of the glass.
Mirko slid on this side, feet resting on a gutter.
Blood trickled from her forehead into her hair. She'd been bitten on her left shoulder. She'd lost her smile, a grave look on her face.
Suddenly Mirko's ears snapped back : her eyes flicked to the left, as if she were trying to see over her shoulder, her left elbow instinctively going for a hit between his eyes.
She expected him to strike her throat thus she leaned forward, muscles tensed, and lifted her left leg to kick him right in the jaw.
And the first Nomu-
Suddenly, a wave of searing pain washing over her from head to toe : Mirko arched her back, toes twitching, a wave of icy sweat breaking on her burning skin.
Mirko, red with pain, jaw clenched, lowered her eyes.
A huge black Nomu, unlike the other three, had sunk its teeth between her crotch and thigh.
He looked at her with his monstrous globular white eyes, blinking stupidly when their eyes met.
He smiled. Then he pulled violently.
Mirko's bones rattled : her femur rubbed against her pelvis, sending a jolt of scorching pain through her bones.
Her vision went white, her eyes glassy.
Mirko screamed.
A chill of icy terror ran through Neito and Ochaco simultaneously.
The Nomu's smile widened, blood staining his black gums and rolling over his teeth.
Then he bit off Mirko's leg.
A spray of blood splattered diagonally across the Nomu's face and the window through which Neito and Ochaco could see everything.
The other two Nomus pounced on her.
Her screams turned into cries of agony.
They tore her apart.
Paralyzed, Neito and Ochaco saw the three Nomus crouching around her through a screen of blood that turned the world scarlet. Behind the red curtain, the white mass was shrinking.
Pieces of bloody flesh and shreds of cloth rained down onto the street.
Ochaco looked at Neito.
She wiped her sweaty hands on her trousers, heart pounding, then backed slowly down the corridor she'd come from, sinking into the darkness.
Something squeaked under her shoe.
She looked down for a moment. A forgotten doll.
Neito's burning eyes were already on her, his blond hair floating above his head.
He gritted his teeth and hissed, not wanting to make too much noise to alert them.
"Don't fucking move or I'll-"
She stepped back again.
*
A/N : If you want to read ahead of schedule, go check the story's P@treon, Nar_cisseENG
See you in the next update !
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