Chapter 25

Edgeshot was a 5'7" tall man at the height of his career. He had a certain presence around him. The presence of battle veteran, of someone who had enough experience under their belt.

"Phantasm. Follow me."

The building was in fact a café named 'Kamihara Café'. As I was about to follow him, a similar looking man went to the door and turned the sign from 'Closed' to 'Open'.

"This is my brother's café, and my base."

As we walked through the corridor, he said, "My agency keeps a close eye on the happenings of this city. Odawara is a major commercial hub for the prefacture. With a population of 230,000, there's a lot that could go wrong. I'm not the only pro here, but, this is the only agency that has access to the cameras all over the city."

We stepped into the elevator and he pressed the button for us to go underground.

"I saw the sports festival. You have good command over your quirk and a good head on your shoulders. Before I divulge anything about what I do, I need to test your skills. I will not have an idiot under my wing."

The door of the elevator opened, revealing a vast underground room that looked like it was taken out of a junkyard from a dystpoian cyberpunk game.

"Drop your stuff. I know this room like the back of my hand. You will have to find me and then fight without using your quirk. Find me within half an hour and you pass. Hold your ground against me for fifteen minutes and I'll deem you ready for field work. There will be very little light to emulate the night. You have five minutes to prepare before we start the clock."

*WOOSH*

It took me a moment to gather myself. The test was too sudden. 'What a no-nonsense man.'

I took a deep breath and removed my shoes. I was going bare feet so as to minimize the sound of my steps. Then, I changed into clothes that would have given me the most freedom to move my body.

Until the moment the clock had yet to begin, I stretched my limbs and my body as warm up.

There was a buzzer that indicated the start of the test and I was already on the move.

There was complete silence around me. The buds on my shoulders could barely pick up the sounds of a faint heartbeat. It was nigh impossible for me to locate Edgeshot just by following the beating of his heart.

I used 'Supersonic' and then followed the echo with my shoulder buds. Soon, the entire map of the dystopian jungle was etched in my mind.

I could 'see' where Edgeshot was hiding.

'This is going to be easy.'

I used 'Shadow sneak' to appear nearby. Before I jumped at him, I used 'Supersonic' again, just to make sure he was still there.

To my utter surprise, Edgeshot had disappeared!

Again, I tried to use echolocation to 'see' his whereabouts. But, he was nowhere.

My eyes widened upon realizing why I couldn't locate him.

His quirk!

It allowed him to fold his body and make it thin, like paper. 'He could be hiding against the wall or wrapped around a structure. How the fuck do find something paper thin?! His heartbeat is echoing against all this metal so I can't use that.'

I wraked my brain to think of a way to locate Edgeshot. I had over twenty minutes left to pass the test. Then, a light bulb lit up in my head.

I placed my palms on the floor and concentrated on producing intense vibrations through my shoulder buds. Slowly and steadily, I increased the intensity.

And then..

'Magnitude: 1.'

Again and again, I used the move until I was able to separate him out from the metal jungle. I wasted no more time and used 'Shadow sneak' to his position, appearing from the floor as I placed one of my stingers against his body.

"Found you, Edgeshot."

After a moment of silence, he said, "What will you do after you've located your target?"

Ignoring his assassin like words, I said, "Poke you with this and inject your body with a poison strong enough to paralyse you for a few hours but weak enough to not do any lasting damage."

*WOOSH*

He 'unfolded' and landed a few feet away from me. Then, he asked, "Why didn't you do it, then?"

I frowned and said, "Because there's still another part of the test."

The next thing I knew was his leg whipping towards my head. I barely managed to block it with my arms. The stinging pain in my fore-arms from his kick told me that he would have knocked me out if it had landed on my head. The force behind the kick pushed me a few feet away.

"Wrong. You should have outsmarted me and apprehended me. You're competent, I'll give you that. But, there's much to learn. You blocked my kick which means you didn't let your guard down. Good. You also used both of your arms to block my kick and not one arm. That tells me that you have trained in close combat. Now, show me if you are ready to face the darkness that infests the world."

Edgeshot was ruthless in his charge. I blocked the kick to my chest and then sidestepped the next one to my face. I grabbed the leg, pulled him towards me and struck at his face with my elbow.

Edgeshot crossed his arms to block the hit. I tripped him and we fell to the floor. I mounted him and rained down my elbows at him. Much to my frustration, he expertly blocked all of my attacks.

I cocked my fist and brought it down at his face. He moved his head aside, making my fist to land on the floor. I ignored the dull pain, but, was too slow in pulling my fist back. He grabbed my arm and pushed me off of him.

Amazingly using his smaller size, he folded his body while having a firm grip over my arm and pushed me away using his legs. The sheer force behind the push-cum-kick threw me away and into the surrounding metal structure.

I rolled my shoulder while keeping a keen eye at him while he was slowly getting into a stance.

"That was good exchange, for a warm up. There's still twelve minutes left for you to endire fighting against me."

I took a deep breath and said while taking a stance of my own, "I won't need twelve minutes to beat you senseless."

Edgeshot's lips curled into a small smirk as he asked, "Shall we?"

I closed my fists, letting my knuckles crack as I replied, "We shall."