"Hey! Arthur!" Inasa reached out and shouted, but Arthur had already jumped.
He'd seen [The World]'s physical power back during the special entrance exam. It could even beat his wind combined with Shoto Todoroki's ice.
"Thirteen, let us fight too!" Inasa turned and shouted.
Katsuki Bakugo also looked thrilled, clenching his fists with explosions crackling from his palms. "You noisy bullet-head bastard actually said something smart for once!"
"No!" Thirteen refused immediately. "These are real villains, not a fight you can join. Aizawa's right. Everyone fall back and call for backup."
After saying that, Thirteen turned and led everyone, trying to get out of the USJ as fast as possible. Tenya Iida, Ochaco Uraraka, and Minoru Mineta all agreed.
"But Arthur..." Ochaco turned to look at Arthur, who was already in the middle of the training ground, and shouted anxiously.
"Arthur in this state can't be stopped anymore. Let's hurry and leave." Momo patted Ochaco's back and urged.
Suddenly, just as everyone turned their heads, they saw a dark shadow emerge from the center of the forest path ahead.
It was Kurogiri.
"How is this guy so fast!?" Eijiro Kirishima's eyes went wide. Wasn't he just down there a second ago?
"Greetings, everyone. We are... the League of Villains." Kurogiri even bowed respectfully. "Please forgive our uninvited visit. We're here to completely eliminate the Symbol of Peace, All Might."
"Too much talk! You trash!" While Kurogiri was rambling, Katsuki Bakugo rushed forward first, slamming down and engulfing Kurogiri in his explosion range.
Eijiro Kirishima followed, hardening his hands and striking Kurogiri with a chop.
Boom!!!
A fierce fiery explosion rang out, forcing students like Minoru Mineta and Yuga Aoyama, whose Quirks were mid to low tier, to back up fast.
"Did we get him? Talking so much, didn't he think we'd take him out?" Eijiro was panting hard from nerves. First time facing an enemy, you get those jitters.
Yoarashi Inasa felt something was off and used wind pressure to clear the smoke. Everyone saw Kurogiri's body, which had been blown into scattered mist, quickly reforming. He let out a mocking comment:
"Oh, that was dangerous, dangerous. I really let my guard down. They're just students, but they're still uncut gems carefully raised by U.A..."
"Everyone, watch out!" Momo had already made two pistols and held them in her palms. "Just like Arthur said, he's definitely one of the enemy's main forces!"
"Not quite, young lady." Kurogiri's gaseous body suddenly exploded, just like Horus when he fought Arthur a few days ago, wrapping everyone completely in black mist.
"My job is just to scatter you all, and then... take you down one by one!!!"
---
In the center of the training ground.
Shota Aizawa was swinging around like Spider-Man with his capture weapon, taking down minor villains. He glanced toward Arthur and thought, Arthur, you haven't shown your real strength since enrolling. Are you this confident in your own power?
Whoosh
An enemy with hands swollen to several times their normal size threw a punch at Aizawa, while two other Quirk users flanked him from behind. Aizawa gritted his teeth and leaped, doing an aerial sweep kick, barely pushing the three back.
He didn't have time to worry about anyone else right now.
---
On the other side.
Arthur versus Shigaraki Tomura.
Clearly, the guy had a close-range Quirk too. But in terms of strength, speed, and precision, he was way worse than [The World]!
Bang!
[The World] threw a heavy punch that made the air crack, and Shigaraki's expression changed.
Snap!
Shigaraki's hand touched [The World]'s fist. But [The World] kept punching. With his arm bent, Shigaraki got sent flying into the forest area far away. He didn't stop until he'd broken who knows how many trees.
Crack~~
Something shattering sound came from Arthur. He looked down at his right fist and saw the skin on the back of his hand starting to crack like peeling paint, exposing blood vessels and tendons underneath.
"I completely forgot about your Quirk." Arthur gave a cold laugh, looking at Shigaraki lying in the bushes on the other side.
The next second, Arthur bit into his own injured flesh and tore that piece of meat off. If he didn't, the cracked area would spread to his whole arm and he'd lose use of it soon.
"You're insane... That punch of yours really meant to kill me." Shigaraki propped himself up, raised his right index finger, and said with a twisted smile. "But did you forget? I'm not the boss... Nomu!"
Instantly, Nomu appeared behind Arthur, reaching its arms from [The World]'s blind spot, trying to snap Arthur's neck.
Splatter!
A spray of blood flew out and splashed into Nomu's eyes, making it slow down immediately.
"How about this move? Blocking your eyes with blood!?" Arthur kept shaking his right hand, the one missing a chunk of flesh. It was the blood from the back of his hand that blocked Nomu's vision.
At the same time, [The World] appeared in front of Nomu.
"Muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda!!!"
Boom!!!
The nonstop explosive force from [The World]'s barrage created waves of air that kept the grunt villains away. After two seconds of who knows how many punches, the shockwave blew away the League of Villains' cannon fodder and sent Nomu flying into the rockery in the middle of the artificial lake.
Boom! Bang!!!
Nomu slammed into the mountain wall, and a cloud of smoke went up.
"So... so insane..." Izuku Midoriya, who had gotten separated by Kurogiri's ability along with Tsuyu Asui and Minoru Mineta, had made it back to the central plaza with them. They were hiding in a corner by the shore, watching quietly.
Crash
Rubble fell from the rockery wall, and in an instant, a dark shadow burst out of the smoke.
In less than a second, it landed next to Shigaraki Tomura. Izuku and the other two saw Nomu clawing violently at its own eye sockets with its nails, trying to wipe off all of Arthur's blood. It even gouged out some flesh. It looked horrifying.
Then, after it tore out its eyeballs and flesh, the chunks regenerated fast. In less than five seconds, it was back to normal.
"H-how can that be... completely unharmed?" Izuku asked in disbelief.
"Your punches can't do anything to him" Shigaraki had already stood up, spreading his hands and letting out a creepy laugh. "The abilities 'Impact Absorption' and 'Super Regeneration' are pretty amazing, right? They were made specifically to kill All Might"
Arthur and [The World] turned to look.
"It'll be a problem if All Might doesn't show up soon. Even we can't handle dozens of pro heroes at once" Shigaraki muttered to himself, scratching his neck.
The next second, he curled his right index finger. "Then let's destroy a bit more of the 'future of peace' before we leave!"
In an instant, Nomu flashed in front of Arthur, letting out a shriek as it threw a right punch.
Thump!
Suddenly, a whip kick came from above and hit Nomu's right arm. It was Shota Aizawa, now wearing his goggles.
"Ugh! Get back! Your Quirk isn't as strong as his!" Aizawa quickly manipulated his binding cloth, trying to wrap up Nomu's right hand.
"Don't get in the way!" A voice rang out. It was Shigaraki, who had run over, one hand already gripping Aizawa's right leg that had just kicked Nomu.
But at the same time, those same three words echoed inside Arthur's head.
Thump!!!
[The World] met Nomu's punch head-on.
"Ugh!!!!" With his right leg "decaying" from Shigaraki's Quirk, Aizawa gritted his teeth and endured the intense pain. But his body went limp, and he fell hard to the ground.
"I told you it has Impact Absorption, didn't I? What can your powerless punches even do?" Shigaraki kept mocking him.
"Whoosh!!" Nomu let out a bizarre, piercing shriek. It struggled its arm, easily breaking free from the binding cloth Aizawa had just wrapped around it. Then it threw a punch, colliding with [The World]'s fist.
Thump!!!
A violent gust of wind swept through the central plaza again.
"Pfft!" Blood involuntarily sprayed from Arthur's mouth.
"Oh no! He's not as strong as the enemy!" Izuku cried out in alarm.
"Mmph!" [The World] let out a muffled roar and kept throwing punch after punch. Nomu clenched its fists and blocked every single rapid-fire punch, which no one had ever taken head-on before with its elbows.
Thump!
Thump!
Thump!
While Izuku and the others couldn't see the details, they could tell that during the several-second exchange, Arthur's combat pants ripped, plasma burst from his bruised wounds, and the blood from the corner of his mouth got worse. Yet the enemy was completely unharmed.
"No good! He's just getting beat down! He can't win at all!" Minoru Mineta cried, almost in tears.
"Is this guy crazy? He should know he can't beat him." Shigaraki, whose eyes under the hand on his face narrowed, stepped on Aizawa. Whenever Aizawa tried to get up, Shigaraki put his hand on his back again, making his body "decay" more.
"Ugh!!!" Aizawa's face twisted, and he cried out in pain again. Multiple parts of his body were attacked by Shigaraki's Quirk, and he couldn't use any strength.
"But like I said, we're out of time. Kill him, Nomu." Shigaraki ordered, raising a finger.
Nomu instantly maxed out its power. Its fists danced in mid-air, creating explosive sounds that seemed to shatter the air itself.
Pfft!
[The World]'s arm got beaten bloody, and its head was about to get hit. And if [The World]'s head took that punch, Arthur's head would also shatter like a watermelon.
"Arthur!!!" Momo Yaoyorozu, who had been separated to another area by Kurogiri's Quirk, had already returned with Kyoka Jiro and Denki Kaminari. But as soon as they arrived, they saw this scene. Momo instinctively screamed.
On the other side, Shoto Todoroki and Yoarashi Inasa were also rushing over at full speed. Wind and ice intertwined, trying to attack from behind to stop Nomu. But it was too late.
Arthur's pupils suddenly shrank. A natural human reaction when death is right in your face.
"No! If this keeps up, Arthur will actually die!" At the same moment, Izuku Midoriya suddenly jumped out.
" Midoriya!" Tsuyu Asui gasped, extending her tongue to try and stop him.
Arthur had never felt death this close before.
Do or die.
In that instant, the world seemed to freeze.
...
Read advance chapters on p@treon
[email protected]/guilt_free_daoist
Join disc0rd link in synopsis.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.