Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Lung was almost three and a half meters tall; the speed at which she was growing was practically terrifying. She was already twice my height, and soon she would surpass me even more. Her fire was already hot enough to be felt even when standing close to her.
Lung roared with a powerful roar, a localized explosion erupted around her, the ground and buildings beside her were completely shattered, great flames engulfed her surroundings and shone with immense intensity. Even so, I didn't move. I felt the fire surround me and the heat hit my entire body, but I simply stared at her. Her fire wasn't yet as hot as Azula's, so the heat barely bothered me.
I lunged towards Lung, she roared once more and one of her hands, engulfed in flames, tried to strike me, and not only that, pillars of fire erupted beneath me, curved in the air and hurtled towards me like spears.
Pyrokinesis, true pyrokinesis. Both Azula and Todoroki, the two people I was most used to fighting who had fire quirks, usually limited themselves to generating fire and their attacks were based on 'throwing' and 'directing' the fire out in a specific direction, without any option of really fine control after their fires left their bodies.
But Lung didn't seem to have that problem; she was able to control fire completely, not just generate it. I clicked my tongue, "Water Breathing: Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent!" I struck the ground quickly and moved fluidly around Lung's fire, dodging her fire-covered hand and continuing to move to attack.
I took a deep breath, imbued Shusui with Haki and attacked, Third Form: Flowing Dance, I swayed and twirled my sword in sinuous, curved movements, gritting my teeth as I felt my sword clash against her Haki, but Shusui compensated for my lack of strength and finally pierced through, my sword cutting Lung's arm as I danced fluidly around her.
I finally reached her torso and continued slashing before backing away as Lung turned and tried to strike me once more. I heard a gunshot and saw Miss Militia firing her rifle, creating another hole in her chest.
I grimaced. Miss Militia had done more damage with a single shot than with the half-dozen cuts I'd made. Yes, I'd managed to pierce her Haki, but barely. All the cuts I made were superficial, and against a Regenerator? That wouldn't stop her for even a fraction of a second. In fact, they'd already healed completely.
I really, really hated the regenerators.
"I hope your damn idea isn't just to fight a damn regenerator head-on!" Vista yelled furiously. I could see her in a nearby building watching the fight. She was still holding up the folds of space over Brockton Bay as my insects kept arriving and swarming in the sky.
"I need time!! Militia, I need you to stop her movement as much as you can!" I yelled as I jumped to the side, I attacked Lung again with the same result, Miss Militia was dozens of meters away firing with great accuracy, I shot at her torso to try to slow her down, or at her hands to prevent her from hitting me, or even at her legs when she was walking so that she would trip, but still, Lung simply regenerated and continued to grow.
Her fire increased in intensity, becoming more and more intense yellow, almost as if it wanted to turn white or bluish at any moment. I could feel her starting to sweat profusely as I continued to dodge while attacking.
While I entertained Lung and kept her contained, I could feel the people around me drifting further and further away under the guidance of some nearby heroes, and I used part of my swarm to guide the missing ones.
So I didn't care much when Lung hit or destroyed one of the nearby empty buildings. Lung was so engrossed in me that she didn't care about anything else, and I was just standing in the middle of the street running around in place, preventing the destruction from spreading further than where we were fighting.
Lung's speed increased more and more; for every centimeter she grew, her speed increased more and more, and in an alarming way. She wasn't yet fast enough to cause any problems, but if her growth rate continued, it would soon become a problem.
The most annoying thing, definitely, was her pyrokinesis. Localized explosions, fireballs, rolling fire waves, curved pillars of fire, flamethrowers from her mouth, the ability to attack from any position while manipulating the surrounding fire and shaping it to try and attack me, and the most annoying thing of all, was the damn hellfire area that just kept growing in intensity.
Staying close only served to deplete my aura rapidly. I could definitely see how this damned monster could cause problems for the entire Protectorate and take on any S-rank, or even multiple S-ranks if it was allowed to grow larger.
Ryuma was truly a monster, capable of causing Lung enormous scars and forcing her to flee for her life, causing her so much fear and terror that she literally ran away from the country to avoid Ryuma.
Although… Ryuma, Kamish's killer, the strongest dragon slayer that ever existed, I'm sure he would be offended by Lung naming herself after Eastern dragons, and calling herself a dragon. I had seen the videos, and Kamish… was on a completely different level than Lung.
I took a deep breath, dodged back the next attack, although Lung's attack was faster than I expected, I raised my sword to block only to realize that I had retreated half a meter more than I expected and Lung's claws passed in front of me uselessly.
"Thank you!" I said to Vista. "Keep doing it!" I said as I launched myself back at Lung. Vista was on the roof of a nearby building; my swarm wasn't around the battlefield—it was useless, they would turn to ash instantly—so Vista had a clear view to work with her quirk.
And she was good at it; every time I took half a step back, Vista made me retreat 5 times that distance. Every time Lung was about to attack me, she distorted the distance and created a void between us where her blow didn't reach me.
I adjusted my movements to get used to Vista's power. Lung was becoming increasingly resistant; I couldn't tell if it was her Haki or her body, but it was getting harder and harder to cut her with my sword. Even Militia's shots were doing less damage.
Lung did not use her Aura to defend herself; with her regeneration and natural defense, it wasn't necessary. So, the difficult part was penetrating her natural defense.
I grimaced as my eyes scanned Lung's weaknesses; not even her joints were soft enough to be easily sliced. I moved to attack her again when I saw something out of the corner of my eye.
Her Haki covered her entire body, making it completely black, almost metallic, but also, her entire body was covered in fire. I was so focused on her fire that I was throwing myself at her and avoiding her attacks that I hadn't seen her entire body.
Hidden beneath her fire, almost as if by design, were long scars all over her body. Even when her entire body was covered in scales and armor imbued with Haki, the scars remained.
And I realized, the cuts Ryuma had made were still there. I almost wanted to laugh in disbelief; Ryuma had left permanent marks on Lung, marks that even when she used her quirk and transformed, they couldn't be erased.
I smiled broadly, lunged toward Lung, dodged the fire from her attack, closed the distance to her torso, and almost telegraphed my sword, it struck one of her scars. My Haki-infused blade sliced through the scar with such ease it was almost comical.
Lung let out a cry of pain, her fury practically multiplying, and the fire intensified along with her rage. But I didn't care. Vista forced me back several meters while I smiled. Lung had weaknesses. I gripped Shusui tightly and, with renewed confidence, began to attack her.
"Miss Militia, her scars!" I yelled as I sliced off one of her legs. Lung roared, but I didn't care.
The fight was more… even now, let's say. We were still at a standstill; we were doing more damage, Lung just kept growing and regenerating, but it was easier for us to keep her in place.
After more than a couple of minutes in this situation, everything was finally ready. Lung attacked me once more, Sun Breathing: Fake Rainbow. I let Lung's blow pass through my afterimage, reappeared to Lung's side, and attacked again, Clear Blue Sky. I spun my entire body while striking her arm below the shoulder, right where there was a scar.
My sword pierced half her arm with ease, but the scar wasn't as deep as I'd like, so I gritted my teeth as my sword struck her Haki and her full armor. I couldn't help but scream as my sword pierced Lung's flesh. I pushed my Haki to the maximum and pushed harder.
Finally, Shusui pierced Lung completely, severing her entire arm. This caused Lung to scream in fury. She tried to attack me with her other arm, but Miss Militia fired again.
Miss Militia's bullet exploded Lung's hand, and she roared again. Without hesitation, I went to her other arm, spun around with my whole body, and with a scream, cut over another of her scars, using it to cut her other arm at the same height as the previous one. This time, the cut was smoother and faster.
Lung ignored her severed limbs and tried to use her head to attack me. I could see fire forming inside her mouth and gathering as she approached. I spun my body in the air and kicked her jaw, sending a huge burst of flame flying away from my direction.
I stepped back into the air, away from the fire, and raised my left hand while still holding Shusui with my right. A swarm enveloped my hand as I fell, and I could feel hundreds of webs attaching to my fingers. Finally, everything was ready. I immediately channeled all my Haki into the webs before they could be burned away.
I could feel my Haki beginning to drain and fight against me. I wasn't used to pushing my Haki so far and on something so big, but I just gritted my teeth and pushed harder. Finally, I fell to the ground, planted my feet on the ground, and dragged my hand forcefully in the opposite direction.
From the sky, my swarm dispersed, revealing the trap I had prepared. Thousands of silk threads began to fall upon Lung, webs woven with urgency and held aloft. Hundreds of thousands of spiders and dragonflies worked in unison to create hundreds of enormous nets, all coated in my Haki to make them strong.
The cobwebs fell upon an unprotected and careless Lung.
The spiders were capable of making two types of webs. Dragline, which was very strong and resistant, and sticky, which was more elastic and had adhesive droplets to trap their flying prey. They created both in large quantities, and all of them fell on Lung.
Thousands of sticky, tough spiderwebs began to cover her body like a huge net. Lung began to thrash about, only for the sticky web to envelop her and stick even more to her body. Even with Haki, the spiderwebs maintained their adhesive properties.
At the same time, thousands of dragonflies flew around Lung, not caring if they caught fire and died halfway there; their only task was to wrap Lung in hundreds and hundreds of meters of spiderweb, like a damned silk cocoon.
Lung began to roar. Armless, she could barely struggle against the Haki-coated webs, which were just tough enough not to be burned by her fire. Even so, Lung was incredibly strong. I could feel hundreds of webs shattering under Lung's power, even those coated in my Haki.
Lung shook me hard enough to lift me off the ground and try to slam me against the floor. I gritted my teeth as I planted my feet on the ground more firmly and used my other hand to pin Shusui to the ground and hold on to the ground to try to stop Lung from dragging me and shaking me. The cobwebs attached to my finger started to break, so I replaced them immediately.
The spiderwebs were too weak, and my inexperience with imbuing Haki was evident, but the sheer number of silk threads more than compensated for that. Dragonflies flew swiftly, thousands of them swirling around Lung as she was enveloped like in a cocoon. Finally, her legs were bound, and Lung fell to the ground, yet my insects continued to envelop her in webbing.
Hundreds of thousands of spiders joined together; normally, the length of silk that a spider could generate was really small, about 5cm per second per spider, but when thousands of them worked in unison they could wrap any person in a short time.
Her arms finally began to regenerate, but instead of piercing through the web, they simply grew longer and tightened against her body and the web. The sheer quantity, thickness, and strength of my Haki kept the cocoon completely airtight, impossible to break. I could feel the web tightening as Lung continued to grow. I just gritted my teeth and held onto my Haki with all my might.
It took barely 20 seconds to envelop Lung in a complete cocoon, from her legs to her entire body up to her shoulders. Lung was completely trapped on the ground as she writhed and thrashed; the only parts of her free were her elongated neck and head, which jerked from side to side.
Lung definitely hadn't stayed still during all that time, nor had her fire gone out. Lung kept shooting flames from her mouth while shaking all over the place. She was also controlling the surrounding fire to create explosions and attack me with fire. She growled, screamed, and roared loudly.
I pulled Shusui out of the ground and dodged all the attacks while keeping my left hand wrapped in webs connected to Lung's cocoon to keep my Haki on the silk cocoon, even so, I had difficulty turning around, then I spun in the air, approached Lung once more, jumped into the air and landed upside down, Sunflower Thrust.
I launched a powerful thrust at Lung, my sword piercing her neck and plunging into the ground, holding it still in place. Even so, that only enraged Lung further; the explosions around me grew louder and louder, enough to shake me from side to side. I used a portion of my swarm to try and choke Lung and cut off her air supply, but between the surrounding fire and the flames erupting from her mouth, a swarm was impossible to bring close.
I looked around, trying to find a solution. My internal clock, Armsmistress, still had 5 minutes left. Finally, I saw my haori move in the air and remembered something: my haori was fireproof.
I gritted my teeth. I released Shusui, who was still pinning Lung's neck to the ground, and pulled out a small knife from the compartment in my back. I coated it in Haki and cut my haori, since I couldn't remove it without loosening the webs that held Lung captive. Once my haori was just a half-torn rag, I threw it aside.
A swarm of my insects grabbed it, wrapped themselves in the web and moved in unison. I waited until Lung's flames were gone before inserting the web into Lung's mouth and forcing my insects to push the web all the way in.
Although the fabric was fire-resistant, it didn't mean it was immune to fire; it had its limits, but it was enough. My insects were able to enter her throat while the fire in her throat was suppressed by the fabric. A larger swarm fell on Lung once more and entered her throat and covered every breathing passage, including her nostrils, from the inside.
Lung began to thrash about more violently when her air supply was cut off, so that a large number of cobwebs instantly shattered, I gritted my teeth as I tried to keep Lung trapped.
Miss Militia suddenly appeared by my side, something I appreciated. She grabbed the cobwebs of the cocoon without hesitation and pushed her Haki, practically supplanting mine and taking half of the cobwebs reinforcing Lung's ties, even as her body continued to grow and stretched the cobweb to its maximum.
Lung continued to thrash about, her head was on fire, but my insects were already deep enough inside her neck to stifle her. She tried to control her fire to direct it towards her mouth, which didn't work when Vista intervened and distorted the space around her mouth.
Lung became increasingly agitated as oxygen began to run out in her body. She could regenerate, but she still needed air to function. Those were truly tense seconds as we kept Lung wrapped up. Finally, after almost a minute, Lung began to slow down, her eyes seemed to blur, and finally her head fell to the ground, unconscious.
The three of us remained silent for a few moments as we stared at Lung, unconscious. Her Haki was the first thing to disappear before her Quirk began to recede, and she started to shrink. I almost sighed with relief.
Even so, I didn't let go of my webs. I grabbed Shusui, pulled her off Lung's neck, and before cutting a particular spot on her neck—a small opening—I reached in and pulled out my haori and removed the insects from her throat, clearing her airways so she could breathe once more.
Lung took a deep breath as she continued to shrink, completely unconscious and defeated.