章節 13: Stroke of Lightning
Midoriya is glad he's able to call for help but knows the won't arrive right away. Somehow, he's got to hold out.
'I have to get Tenya and that other hero away from them. I can't attack with full strength if I don't.'
An ingenious idea comes to his head. If only one of them could take one hundred percent of his power than he could still use it, just sparingly. One for All shrouds his body as he bends down in preparation to attack.
'One for All—Full Cowl: 5 Percent!'
The sight seems to amuse Blade as he smirks. "And here I was thinking you were boring. You've got fight kid, I respect that. Still, just that won't be enough to beat me. You need to have to will to kill me."
"What are you talking about?"
"Heh, you heroes aren't true heroes, but not in the way Stain is talking about. Personally, I don't care how you fools want to live but, I just can't help wanting to kill you guys when you lot prance around like this is some circus act. I've saved more lives than any of you, wouldn't that make me a hero?"
"Y-you may have saved lives before but now you're a villain! You just killed a hero!"
Suddenly, Midoriya no longer sees the man and then it feels as though he's about to throw up his own stomach. He grabs ahold of his stomach in agony and drops to his knees, gagging.
"Don't get it twisted, kid. I don't wanna be some dumbass hero. I just want to prove a point of mine." He places his foot onto Midoriya's head and begins to put pressure on it as spittle leaks out of his mouth. "So, how about this. I'll let you beat me if you can show me that your willing to kill me to do so. You heroes claim that you will save anybody who's in trouble but none of you are willing to get your hands dirty to due so. I wanna see how far you'll go and if you can break this cycle. So, come on. On your feet. It's time to be a hero, right?" He laughs.
Despite his pain, despite his fear, and the fact his face was being smushed to the pavement, he spoke. "A real hero doesn't need to kill to save everyone. I-If you were that type of hero, I feel bad for you."
Not expecting that, he moves his foot off Midoriya and lifts him by his collar with a single hand. "And what makes you say that, brat?"
Most Shinobi didn't view themselves that way. He didn't either. It didn't change the fact that they saved people when they fought during the war. They prevented invasions, liberated towns, and serviced the Villagers as a whole. In this world, that would make someone a hero. But, unlike the heroes, they were willing to kill and did so. These heroes wouldn't cross that moral event horizon. They wouldn't go beyond their morals to actually save someone. But it would be interesting to push someone to kill to save someone. He already found his target that could potentially help him. A detour wouldn't be bad. It wasn't like the war was just going to end so quickly after he was gone, he'd only been gone a week.
"B-because, a true hero saves everyone. E-even a villain needs saving sometimes."
Those words... he couldn't stop himself from laughing. "Heh, you really are something different, kid. I like you. But let's see if you can beat me sticking to that thinking of yours. That's the only way to find out."
"Yea, you're right."
He sees a green spark come from the kid before looking down and seeing another finger glowing red. He recognizes it. A shockwave blows through the alleyway and the ground beneath him cracks and splits open, causing him to stumble violently and nearly fall.
His costume rips as he breaks from the hold but he doesn't think twice on it and dashes toward Tenya. Stain, however, makes himself known and steps between them with a grin, brandishing his sword. Midoriya won't stop, he want to try and dodge. He doesn't know that Stain's reflexes and instincts are the reason he can kill and maim heroes with better quirks than his. Stain makes a forward stab and Midoriya loses speed dodging to the side slightly. Stain grins and shifts his feet, enabling him to turn and slash Midoriya on his back.
This breaks his focus and he goes tumbling into the wall. 'H-he was able to catch me like that? Is speed his quirk?' He thinks, trying not to move his back as he slowly gets to his feet, wincing. He hoped his quirk wasn't a speed one.
"Heh, it's over, kid." Stain licks his blood off the sword and immediately Midoriya can no longer command his body and it falls to the ground with a thud.
'I-I can't move!' Suddenly, he remembers why Tenya was unable to move. 'That's his quirk! He uses our blood to paralyze us!' Everything made sense now. With that power, it could affect anyone.
"Didn't I say he was my prey?" Blade asks, walking up to Stain standing over him.
"It was my fight first. Besides, I won't let you kill him. He has potential."
"Heh, not that I'll let you tell me what to do. Besides, since he can't move, he's useless now. I don't like killing people without a fight. Well, the interesting ones anyway." His eyes find Tenya's form who hadn't moved since he'd been kicked. "He ain't dead yet. I thought you wanted to kill that brat."
Stain starts stalking to him. "Don't worry about him. He's dead." Slowly, he pulls out his chipped sword, grinning.
'T-This can't end here! I-I haven't accomplished anything at all!'
Even though he thinks that, he can't find the strength to move his body. It felt his some his ribs were cracked. Stain is only a few feet away now and he forced his eyes closed tightly, trying to alleviate some of his fear. If he would die here, he wouldn't be scared while.
"N-No, no, stop! Don't do it!" Midoriya begs trying to force his body to move. It won't follow his commands, and it's both scary and frustrating.
He raises his sword above his head. "Filth must be cleansed. That is the only way this society will change."
He drives the sword down, but isn't able to feel his skin as a block of ice covers the boy. His eyes widen in surprise before he looks up and dodges a blast of fire on pure instinct.
'Ice and fire?' Blade questions internally before leaping away as Ice shreds through the alleyway, forcing him onto the side of the buildings to keep away. He's smirking, however. 'Finally, something interesting is happening again. These heroes maybe not be all so bad.'
"T-Todoroki..."Midoriya shivered as Todoroki jogs up to him, carrying Tenya on his back.
"Sorry about that. I had to act fast." He sets Tenya down beside Midoriya and lights his arm of fire to warm them up quickly. "Don't worry, I've surrounded us in ice, so we have a bit of time to strategize. Are you hurt badly?"
"That's not it. Stain's quirk is consuming your blood to paralyze you. If he gets it, you're finished."
"That's why you can't move?" He asks surprised.
"Yea," he answers and gestures to his side. "This is where I got hit. He's skilled. You have to be careful."
Worried, Todoroki gives the wound a long look. "It doesn't look deep. Was it bleeding a lot?"
"I'm fine. It just happened before you got here. If it's not bleeding bad right now then I think I'm ok. But you have to be careful. You're on your own right now."
Todoroki nods, preparing himself. "What about the other guy? What's his quirk?"
"I wasn't able to catch it, but he's really fast and precise. You have to be creative, straight attacks won't work on him." He gestured to his broken finger. "Even at point blank range, my strongest didn't even move him. He took the blunt force without a care in the world. You have to be careful."
'This battle will not be easy.' Stain was a challenge on his own and now to add this other guy who was stronger than him and could yank attacks from Midoriya was overkill. He doubted he'd be able to just retreat. But maybe he could hold them off until his father arrived. Surely, if he took off like that his father would follow. All he needed was some sort of signal to make sure his father knew where he was. He looks up at the sky above his head. 'My ice would be perfect for that.'
"I know retreat is near impossible to accomplish, but what about holding them off? What do you think, Midoriya?" He asks, looking back at him.
"I-"
A crack and spilt hit their ears at once and when they look they see the dirt breaking through the cement and forcing the ice off the ground.
'That's his quirk? He's changing the terrain to his advantage! Damn!'
"G-Grab Midoriya and get out of here, Todoroki! This isn't your fight!" Tenya pleads as the ground rumbles violently underneath him.
"This is my fight. The moment you put yourself in danger, this became my fight." Todoroki glances back at Tenya. "Because you're my Class President."
Tenya can't help his surprise. He never would've expected someone like Todoroki to risk his life protecting him. It was almost enough to bring tears to his eyes.
Todoroki turns back as the cracking gets worse and he sees that his ice is about to break. 'He's lifting up my ice using his quirk. If his can change the terrain at will then one of my advantages won't be that anymore, well unless he has some sort of limit to how much he can do at once.'
His ice is on the verge of breaking and he knows that his time to think and strategize is over. He lowers himself, preparing for any action that will be taken against him and doesn't turn when Midoriya speaks to him.
"It might've been possible before, but now it isn't."
"Yea, I know. Can you move at all? Any support would help." He could still remember how he'd been pushed by a Midoriya during their fight at the Sport's Festival.
"I'm sorry, but no. I still can't move."
Todoroki is frustrated but nods. It isn't Midoriya's fault. He can't be angry, especially now of all times. He was up against odds that he wasn't sure he could overcome. Still, he had hope his father would turn up with all the noise they were making. He glances up. His ice and the earth were sticking from the alleyway, surely someone would see it.
"Todoroki, behind you!"
He's snaps out of his thoughts at the sound of the voice. He's lucky someone else was watching out for him and in a desperate move, he covers his body in both his quirks simultaneously before turning around. He glares at the man's eyes and watches his twin blades carefully.
"Is he Stain?"
"No, not this one. It's the other—Look! Above you!"
He follows instruction immediately and sees Stain swooping down with a combat knife in hand. Todoroki is able to deflect his strike using the ice already on his hand but doesn't see Stain's next attacks that are vicious and precise. Todoroki feels gassed as air forcefully leaves his lungs when Stain's knee slam into his gut. It causes him to bend over and he can both hear and feel the combat knife sliding up his arm and it wakes him up from the pain and allows him to incline his head, barely saving himself from having his throat sliced open.
He stumbles back holding his throat that is bleeding from a small cut near this right ear. 'Dammit, Midoriya didn't make him sound much of a threat but he's fast and precise. But what would that make the other guy?' His eyes suddenly widen in scary realization. 'W-Wait... he cut me..."
Stain is grinning madly as he lifts his sword, the end of it dripping with his blood. "Heh, another kid? I'm surprised. I expected you to be an adult with the way you split us away from your friends in a matter of seconds. But now I recognize you. You're Endeavor's brat."
Todoroki glares at that.
"So, let's see what type of hero you are. Are you a hero like your father?"
His glare intensifies. "I'm nothing like my father."
"Oh, then let's see about that. Blade, do me a favor, kill four eyes over there."
Todoroki can't hold the surprise and his eyes show it. 'What?'
"Heh, I thought he was your pray. Honestly, you need to pick what you want to do." He didn't want to keep flip flopping around after all. He still needed to have his fun.
"I'll owe you back, so do it."
"Heh, fine." His blades come out sharply and then he rushes at Tenya with incredible speed. He would reach them in seconds. He can't let that happen and he tries to turn around before Stain's voice reaches him.
"Not so fast!" When he turns his head back to Stain he sees the sword in front of his mouth and could tell what he was implicating. "Choose! Who will you save?! Yourself or him?!"
Todoroki's stuck in the middle. He doesn't have anytime to think! He can't think! Blade is getting closer and Stain is already lowering the blade to his mouth, a long tongue coming out to lick the blood.
Stain is doing this on purpose, he realizes and his arms twitches toward Stain. He has to make a move! Quick! He needs to think! Without another thought, he stomps the ground and a huge block of ice larger than the buildings they were surrounded by materialized, coming for Blade.
The blood is inching closer to his tongue. 'Fool, you may be unlike your father, but you're now true hero. You wouldn't have hesitated otherwise.' He thinks.
Before he can have a taste of the blood, a fireball hits the back of his hand and forces him to drop the blood. The pain is sudden and intense and he grabs his hand and turns to where it came from. He sees a woman with flaming hair rushing him from the air before he quickly ignores the pain and grabs his sword with both of his hands. He lets her gets closer before he swings it in an angle that would be nearly impossible for her to dodge in mid air.
But somehow, she defies gravity. It shouldn't be possible! She spins past his blade and slams a fist into his gut, leaving him breathless and he drops the sword. He let his guard down. He was too confident. She prepares to strike again but he plants his feet and leaps away before her foot could connect with him. She's good—he hadn't fought someone with actually talent since the boy's brother.
"You think something like this is going to stop me?!"
A quick flick of his wrist and he pours chakra into his retractable blades. In one second, there's two slashes. In two, there's 4. Soon, he's slashes 40 times and the ice shatters into hundreds of pieces. Todoroki is surprised at how fast and precise the cuts were. But those movements shouldn't be possible, he thinks, and yet this man proved that wrong. How could that be? He had to have another quirk. Speed like that was impossible without one.
Burnin glances at the shards of ice, then at the man who caused it warily, an understanding that she was probably outclassed in speed, which was one of her main attributes that helped with her fighting style.
"Burnin, did anyone come with you?"
Todoroki asks not turning away from Blade.
"Yea, but I sent them back to go get you dad. They'll be a minute, so it's just us until then."
The conversation seems to entertain Blade. "You fools, don't you know we can hear you?"
"It won't matter regardless." He says. "You'll see we're on our own when the battle begins."
"You could've had an advantage still. Any advantage over an opponent shouldn't be taken for granted. Don't be so cocky!" Todoroki doesn't know why he got angry so suddenly, but he's rushing forward again, and this time Todoroki cannot track him.
He's lucky. Burnin appears in front of him and is sent into the wall in his stead. He tries to take advantage, quickly gaining his wits and sending a blast of ice his way.
But Blade dodges and runs around the ice. "Your nothing but a one trick pony, kid!" Todoroki couldn't believe his flexibility as he ducks low and slams his foot into his gut. He wasn't finished and uses his momentum to spin, his blade coming dangerously close to his neck. But Burnin steps in again but sacrifices her shoulder as the sword is lodged deep inside her arm. Todoroki uses that to his own advantage and puts his arm on the side of her abdomen. A blast of fire forces Blade back but he's too fast for it to be done to any significant degree and he appears behind them before he slams the back of his fist into the side of Todoroki's head, sending him into the wall before he drives his blade forward.
Burnin could barely turn before the blade is driven through her stomach. The pain is unbearable. She can't believe she'd been beaten so fast. How could he move like that? He had no wasted movements and no weakness he could exploit.
"Heh, and yet another bites the dust."
Her legs begin to turn to jello.
Midoriya is in disbelief. "No..." he mutters breathlessly.
"S-Stop! Stop this already, dammit!" Tears are coming down his face as he screams hysterically. He can't take this. "This is my fight! Get the hell out of here!"
"Shut up, kid. You're too damn loud. You're coming up next." He says, turning to him, smirking. He turns when he feels a hand grab onto his wrist.
It's her. Even upon his blade, she smirking, her head leaned back to look at him. It's a sight that boils his blood. But he can't act upon it because her hair flares up more and he's surprised. He can actually feel the flames. But he's more excited than scared.
"I won't let you kill anyone else! It's time for the finisher!" She exclaims as her flames burn brighter and hotter by the second and she begins a deep bellow that resounds through the alleyway.
It forces Tenya to close his eyes as dust picks up and is swept his way since he can't move yet. 'She looks like one of Endeavors' sidekicks. But what is she planning?!'
"You think I'll let you?!" Stain starts to run toward the woman despite the intense light but his instincts scream at him to turn to his right.
'SMAAAAAAAAASHHHHHH!'
With five percent powering his body, Midoriya smashes his fist onto Stain's face, finally able to move. Stain is sent meters away down the alleyway and he turns to Burnin. "Finish him!"
"BURNIN!" Her flames peak when she screams the name of her final attack and the scene erupts into an explosion of flames that stain everything in the vicinity. The flames were intense enough to scar the cement and the buildings and even after everything had settled, the atmosphere was dry and hot.
Midoriya takes his arm away from his eyes, wondering if it was over. He hears a noise and turns to see Todoroki coming from his ice, almost as if he'd been using it as a shield. He runs to his side and catches him before he lands on the ground.
Todoroki is surprised. "I thought you couldn't move."
"I can now. Maybe his quirk has some sort of time limit."
Todoroki sighs and grunts as he's laid against the wall, his head aching. "That's good for us, I guess. You saved Burnin before she could get hit by Stain."
"Maybe, but I don't think that's enough to finish Blade. He took my full power." Todoroki could see the worry on his face and how his hands were shaking by his sides.
"Even if it didn't, it had to injure him, at least a little. We just have to hope."
Midoriya nods and sighs. "You're right." He stands to full height as the dust begins to clear. He has to be strong. If the battle isn't over than that means his fight isn't.
He wished things were different. He wished it could truly be over. But a voice proved that wrong. It wasn't over. It was just beginning.
"Heh, how interesting… and futile."
Suddenly the dust is pushed away and reveals Burnin's flames dying and Blade without a single scratch on him. He was clean. No burn mark in sight. He's smirking, but his eyes are full of excitement as he slowly begins to lift her high. She gasps in pain as the blade moves up a bit her body and the pain is unbearable. She won't scream, though she can't let him know. But he already knows even before blood launches out of her mouth and begins to drip down the blade.
"But that fire has burned out. Seems you're not hot shit after all."
"Let her gooooo!" Tenya yells on the ground. "She isn't part of this fight! So, stop!"
He turns to look at the dumb kid. "What are going on about? I was never apart of the fight you and Stain had going on. This is my own fight. Now, shut up, before I kill you myself."
'Why? Why can't I moooove?!'
He blinks and turns to look up when her blood drops onto his cheek. His other blade comes out sharply and he aims it for her heart.
'I won't let you!'
Green electricity courses through his body.
'One for All: 100%!'
As if in slow motion, he drives his arm up as Midoriya raises his arm, ready to flick his index finger. But before any of them can land, lightning strikes.
Midoriya can't believe his eyes.
Todoroki's mouth gapes open.
And Tenya's heart drops.
None of them could hear anything but a deafening ringing as their ears could take the sudden blast of noise. But, even with muffled hearing, they could take their eyes and their minds away from what they were seeing. It's impossible.
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票