Chapter 226
"This snow is going to be a problem..." grumbled Rumi. She had donned a pair of goggles and a black fur-lined parka in preparation for the wind chill at higher altitudes, but as she drew closer to the storm's center, her vision became obstructed by a literal blizzard.
"According to the satellites we've tapped into, you should be right on top of whatever is causing the storm," said a slightly panicked voice in Rumi's ear, belonging to a member of UA's Support Department.
Though she could tell the girl speaking to her was anxious, Rumi stayed on task, remarking, "All I see is snow-covered mountains and forests. Do you think they could be hiding underground...?"
"I don't know..." replied the voice, quickly adding, "I think it would be difficult for them to manipulate the weather underground. They should be someplace with a high vantage point so it's easier to influence barometric pressure..."
"Hmmm..."
Directing her gaze skyward, Rumi caught a brief glimpse of what looked like a serpent's tail covered in snow-white scales and tipped with icy blue fur.
"Know of any snake-like Kami or monsters associated with blizzards...?" asked Rumi, surprising her Operator before the girl answered, "There is the Kuraokami, a Shinto deity of rain and snow. Some fables depict it as a white dragon and a collateral offspring of Kagutsuchi."
"Neat," said Rumi, a battle-hungry grin developing across her face as she asked, "Assuming that's what I'm about to fight, anything I need to know beforehand? I don't like surprises."
"There is very little known about Kuraokami other than the fact it causes unseasonable rain and snowstorms," replied the Operator.
"Then I'll just have to play it by ear...!" exclaimed Rumi, punching her right hand into her fist before spreading both arms wide and performing a deep squat that caused her thighs to bulge tremendously. Then, like a rocket taking flight, she kicked off from the ground with enough force to create a thirty-meter-wide swirl of snow and cause a cave-in.
Penetrating the first layer of storm clouds, Rumi's smile broadened as she came face to face with a coiled, long-style dragon whose serpentine body was at least a hundred meters in length. As for its features, it had a mane formed from icy crystal, a body covered in snow-white scales, icy-blue fur lining the ridge of its back, blue-and-white eyes the size of exercise balls, and two four-clawed forelimbs, the right of which held a large orb whose interior puled with magical energy and swirled like a blizzard.
Reacting to Rumi's presence, the dragon opened its mouth and unleashed a beam of icy-blue energy resembling electricity. She managed to evade by kicking the air, but just being near the beam caused the tips of her ears to feel frozen as a layer of frost spread across her body.
"You think you can put me on ice!?" asked Rumi, appearing beneath the dragon as she kicked against the air hard enough to create a void in the clouds below.
"All you're doing is getting me fired up...!" she added, kicking the dragon in its stomach and causing it to roar out in pain as the impact dented the scales lining its abdomen.
'It's really fucking tough...' Rumi noted, repositioning as the dragon tried to smack her out of the air by utilizing its tail as a whip.
Catching Rumi a little off guard, an enraged voice echoed through her head as the dragon opened its mouth, expelling intense, frigid wind as it telepathically bellowed, 'FOOLISH MORTAL! THE SKY IS NOT YOURS TO TRESPASS...!'
"Eat shit, you oversized worm...!" countered Rumi, arcing her entire body as she sent a moon-shaped crescent of pale gold energy at the dragon's head, cutting through its breath. However, before it could find purchase, the dragon lunged forward, snapping its maw and shattering the crescent as it accelerated faster than a bullet train.
"You're too slow...!" exclaimed Rumi, dodging the dragon's charge with a smile but feeling increasingly anxious as she could feel the icy-cold Mana saturating the air seeping into her body, draining her warmth and reducing the feedback from her muscles.
Realizing the dragon was a bad matchup for her, Rumi gave it one final kick along the ridge of its back before darting into the clouds and bolting toward the nearby mountains. She hated having to run, but as her kicking power was much weaker in the air than it was on the ground, there wasn't much she could do besides buy time.
"So, what's your deal!? You the Kuraokami or what...!?" questioned Rumi, evading the dragon's freezing energy beam, the pupils of her ruby-red eyes contracting to the size of pinholes as she witnessed the beam create massive pillars of ice wherever it impacted.
'IMPERTINENT WENCH! TO DARE SPEAK THE NAME OF THIS KING SO BRAZENLY!' bellowed the dragon, its thunderous telepathy causing Rumi to feel a painful pulse in her head.
"Cry me a river...!" countered Rumi, going from fleeing to approaching the Kuraokami at high speed, narrowly evading its snapping jaw to land a kick against its eye. Unfortunately, while she was wearing the Fang Regalia to empower her kicks, her blades failed to lacerate the Kuraokami's eye as it was protected by an invisible membrane of magical energy.
"Shit, going for the eyes usually works...!" exclaimed Rumi, smiling despite the tips of her fingers and ears beginning to turn black. The air circulating around the Kuraokami was close to -100°C, so the veins in her extremities were starting to contract to preserve the temperature of her core.
As if to spite this reality, Rumi punched her fists together, bloodying her knuckles as she bellowed, "Guess I'll just have to try harder...!"
'YOU WILL DIE...!' roared the Kuraokami, coiling its body like a snake and spinning rapidly. As it did so, fierce winds, a tremendous volume of snow, and blade-like shards of ice swirled around it, obscuring it from view and making it nearly impossible to approach.
Ignoring the factors mentioned above, Rumi allowed herself to fall to the ground, temporarily disappearing within a snow drift before emerging a split second later. The force of her takeoff caused an avalanche, but that was the least of Rumi's concerns as she penetrated the Kuraokami's veil, shouting, "Luna Gran Guadaña~!" while dropping her heel and sinking the bladed edge of her Fang Regalia into the coiling dragon's side.
Though there was a momentary pause, making it seem like her attack had no effect, Rumi's smile strained the muscles of her face as she 'felt' a tell-tale tearing sensation. A large icicle impacted her as she leaped away, but it failed to overcome her resilience and simply broke a few ribs as she was knocked off course. The Kuraokami wasn't nearly as fortunate.
As nearly a third of its serpentine body plummeted to the ground below, cut cleanly by Rumi's Ultimate, the Kuraokami reared back and unleashed a roar that could be heard across Japan and even the east coast of China. The weather became even worse, but as the icy-blue blood drained from its body, the Kuraokami was forced to lower itself to the ground. Rumi was surprised to see it transform into a delicate-looking, white-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing a predominately white kimono adorned with icy-blue snowflakes, but that didn't stop her from leaping out and drop-kicking him in the face before he could retaliate...
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"I'm not going anywhere, you say?" asked Shigaraki, his smile broadening despite his cape and clothes attempting to strangle him. Then, as if it was made from paper mache, he extended his left hand, tearing his cape with ease to reveal an open mouth at the center of his palm.
"Spread out...!" shouted Best Jeanist, sweeping his hand and using his Quirk, Fiber Master, to force the remaining Heroes away from him using the fibers in their Hero Costumes. The only exception was a well-built man with black, combed-back hair adorned by a white stripe running down its center. His Hero Costume consisted of a black mask covering his eyes, a green-hooded cape, a black shirt bearing red stitching, and a skirt similar to a Spartan hoplite, but it was his Quirk, Shield, which compelled Best Jeanist to keep him nearby.
As the mouth adorning Shigaraki's palm opened, a powerful beam of what appeared to be iron sand shot out of it with an effect similar to a water jet cutter. The pressurized beam pierced through the asphalt and sidewalk as if it were tofu, but when it impacted the hexagonal, stone-like shields of the masked, green-hooded man, Shield Hero: Crust, it promptly split apart and scattered in several directions.
"That's some shield...!" exclaimed Shigaraki, spreading his arms wide as he shouted, "But let's see you stop this...!"
Bringing his hands together, Shigaraki used a completely different Quirk to manipulate the iron sand he created, forming it into two massive hands that mirrored his actions. Crust responded by forming a protective dome around himself and Best Jeanist, but that ultimately worked in Shigaraki's favor as the hands enveloped the dome and solidified, trapping the both of them.
"Consider yourselves lucky my current loadout is geared toward capturing and not killing people," said Shigaraki, directing his attention to the barrier around UA. Then, with both hands raised, his chest, shoulders, and arms swelling to more than three times their usual size, he began peppering the dome with a tremendous volume of iron sand.
"Kurogiri," called out Shigaraki, his expression revealing his boredom as a wispy black visage materialized next to him with glowing yellow eyes.
"You called, Young Master...?"
"How much longer do I need to keep this up? Covering this entire dome in iron sand will take forever..." grumbled Shigaraki.
"The broadcast will begin shortly," replied Kurogiri. Then, as if prompted by his words, billboards and televisions across Japan went from showing the news and repeating emergency broadcast messages to depicting All-for-One standing in front of his throne, his body garbed in elaborate white robes that gave him the ambiance of a high-ranking clergyman.
"People of Japan..." said All-for-One, a luminous golden aura exuding from his body as he performed a slight bow and mused, "I would like to believe my reputation proceeds me, but allow me to introduce myself. To many, I am the Symbol of Evil, known worldwide as All-for-One. Today, however, I stand before you, not as a villain, but to offer you salvation..."
Raising his head, All-for-One smiled, placed his right hand over his heart, and added, "I know many of you fear change, but even more of you hope for it from the very core of your being. Unfortunately, our government and others are determined to maintain things as they are, even as hundreds of millions are sacrificed to the Meta-World Transversal Phenomenon..."
Shaking his head, All-for-One appeared genuinely enraged as he swept his hand to the side and exclaimed, "And this is merely the beginning! The government is trying desperately to conceal the truth, but soon enough, enemies from other worlds will emerge from the breaches to launch a full-scale invasion against us! Your Heroes and elected officials should be doing everything they can to ready you for this inevitability, but what is the reality that even a child can see!? They're keeping you in the dark for as long as possible to enrich and empower themselves!"
Lowering his hand and hanging his head as if he were exhausted, All-for-One waited a few seconds for his words to settle before slowly raising his gaze to reveal vibrant, glowing blue eyes as he stated, "I have shouldered the label of a villain for more than a hundred years. But if it will ensure the survival of our world and its people...I will flip this society on its head and force the change necessary to prepare you for the trials to come..."
As All-for-One spread his arms, the representatives of various Gods and Goddesses appeared around him. Then, with a third eye opening at the center of his forehead, causing a line of blood to trickle down his face, he issued his manifesto, or, more accurately, his ultimatum. He stated that, from that moment on, Japan was returning to its feudal system and that he, designating himself the title of Shinra Bansho, would be its first God-Emperor. More pressingly, a long list of politicians and Heroes appeared on the screen as he gave the populace six hours to capture and turn them over before the storm worsened and he unleashed his army of Nomus on the entire country. To that end, they were welcome to attack the Nomus, but for each one that was defeated or captured, All-for-One vowed a city would be destroyed, starting with the most populous...
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(A/N: O_O...)