Chapter 14 - Fires and Brimstone

{14} - Evans Smith: Fires and Brimstone

His gauntlets clacked, its inner mechanisms clicking into gear as Evans leapt forward.

The Villains charged at him, somehow undaunted by the giant wall of fire he'd sent their way just moments before. He didn't know whether it was stupidity, or if they assumed it was someone else that'd created it. It didn't matter.

He took a deep breath, and punched.

A spark flew from his skin. The canisters in his gauntlets let loose a cloud of clear, colorless gas. The two met, and the spark explosively rose into a giant wave of fire. It burnt through the asphalt with ease, filling the air with noxious gas. 

The Villains remained emboldened. After all, they'd forced Endeavour, the Number 2 Hero onto his backfoot.

There was just one issue with that.

Screams filled the streets as their flesh literally boiled. Their skin and muscles turned to ash, and their insides exploded as blood turned to steam. Those untouched by the fire would fall unconscious from the heat. Those that dared to breathe would fine their lungs filled with poison.

Their efforts were foolhardy from the start. His gauntlets—specially engineered by Izumi in just a day—were filled with mechanisms to fire an even more destructive variant of chlorine trifluoride. A single spark could set it alight, burning with temperatures that could burn through even concrete. 

And since it was his flame that'd sparked the fires, his -Blood Code: Helios- allowed him to control. His System categorized the flame as his to control.

Here was the thing,

The Villains had charged forward, expecting to fight to a Hero.

Evans was no Hero. He was here to make sure All for One didn't plunge this world into destruction. If it meant dirtying his hands, then so be it.

He'd have his panic attack later. He needed to make sure no more innocent casualties would come.

He punched and punched, turning the streets into a sea of fire as he leapt across the rising mounds of ash and brimstone. The flames licked at his skin, but -Blood Code: Helios- made the flesh-melting temperatures into something more akin to a pleasant sauna.

But the horde of Villains only grew. Those that'd survived the bombings had converged onto this one street, and though he was bathed in destructive flames, they charged at him all the same.

They all died just the same.

More and more came. They leapt at him like wolves to their prey. He fought back with a vengeance.

His gauntlets lit the air aflame. The streets snapped and cracked as he leapt. His punches would crack skulls. His kicks would snap spines. 

The Nomus began appearing, inhumane howls leaving their jaws as they ran to him with the intent to kill. They were a significantly larger threat than the legion of three-bit Villains that'd been trying to tear him apart for the past several minutes. Near-instant regeneration, inhuman endurance, overwhelming strength—they would've been perfect soldiers had they not been braindead.

He made use of that with no hesitation.

He was no perpetual motion machine—his stamina wasn't infinite, and nor was the supply of chlorine trifluoride in his gauntlets. There was no way he could go against tens of thousands of Villains on his own. And it wasn't as if he could rely on the Heroes either; they were still trying to fight without killing anyone.

So, instead, he forced the Nomus into a game. He stopped attacking and focused on dodging. He swerved to-and-fro, bobbing and weaving around the Villains. The Nomus—too dumb to think of anything else—bulldozed through the Villains in their path as if they were bowling pins. Most who were smashed in died right after.

But more than that, He directed the Nomus to charge through cars and buildings. The exploding cars wouldn't hurt them, but it sure did kill any Villain that was close by. And though falling buildings was nothing but minor inconveniences to the Nomus, humans were a lot more squishy, with a Quirk or otherwise.

Sure, he was causing millions-, nay, billions of Yen's worth of damage. But it wasn't as if the government could do anything. He was no Hero, and they'd find nothing if they tried to find him.

Admittedly, it was a little fun. The fact that he was killing thousands of people didn't escape him, but the deadly chase between him and the Nomus was the most fun he'd had in a while. He was no adrenaline junkie, but ever since he helped Jin Woo with that giant anaconda, he'd been itching for some more action.

And now here he was.

The minutes blended together, chopped only by the almost-rhymitic crashes of collapsing buildings. He leapt and ran and twisted, letting the Nomus miss him by a hair's breadth as he slowly culled their numbers with his diminishing resources.

Before he realized it, nearly two hours had gone by. And the only reason he even noticed was the lack of pained screams that usually followed after a building collapsed.

He'd done it. There were no more Villains alive. Or if there was, they'd run away a long time ago.

The realization froze him for barely a moment, but it was enough for one of the Nomus to smash its fist into his cheek. It sent him crashing through several walls, tumbling into emptied halls as the ceiling fell on him.

He quickly burnt through the concrete that'd fallen over him, and he coughed. "They're fast." He whispered, as he watched hundreds of Nomus leap through the dust cloud.

He coughed. Wiped the blood dripping from his jaw. And smashed his gauntlets together as a grin lit his lips. "Sorry Endeavour," He said. His gauntlets cackled. "But I'm borrowing your move."

Thousands of Nomus converged on him, smelling the blood falling from his lips. Most of them had only 3 or 4 Quirks. Some of them had more than 12.

He took a deep breath, and with all his strength he smashed his fists into the ground. The earth trembled from the impact, and a shrill screech sounded as his gauntlets exploded, unable to handle the strain. Thousands of gallons of flammable chlorine trifluoride spilled into the air.

He called for the flame in his chest, and blood-red flames covered his body. The gas and fire met, and a destructive symphony played as the gas was lit aflame.

But he didn't let it end there. He wrestled control over the burning gas. Forced it to heed his command. He condensed it all in a moment, forcing them together into a single orb, rotating just over his palm.

Then, just for the sake of it, he whispered with a grin, "Prominence Burn."

He let the orb loose, and it expanded forward as a colossal stream of fire. All that heat, condensed into a single beam. Concrete, asphalt, steel—nothing could stand against his attack for even a second before they boiled away.

Any Nomu in its path was turned to nothing in mere moments.

He didn't let it end there. He spun on his heel, and the beam of fire turned into a giant disk of light that spanned kilometers. Anything in the way was reduced to nothing. The thousands of Nomus—a force that would've overwhelmed most Heroes—all reduced to foul ashes.

Eventually, the disk of light vanished. The air remained twisted, warped by the immense heat that permeated miles of ruins. The crumbling buildings of Tokyo were gone. The corpses were gone. There was nothing for the heat to even burn.

At those temperatures, only someone like Endeavour could even dare to try and find him. For the moment, he was alone.

And hit with that realization, his strength finally failed him. His knees failed him, and he collapsed face first into the dirt. His body was fine—a little tired from all the moving he'd done. But it was his mind that hurt the most. Trying to control all that burning gas into a concentrated attack was no easy feat. He felt like his head was splitting in two.

[The Scorned One has performed an incredible deed! The Scorned One's [Legacy] has expanded.]

[Rewards have been sent to the Inventory]

He hissed in pain as the panel practically flash-bombed his eyes with bright blue. He quickly dismissed them, and groaned as he rolled himself over.

The skies were a pale blue. There were no clouds covering it. Most had probably been pushed away from the massive gusts of wind that came from that explosive final attack he performed.

But then, he heard a beep coming from his pocket. It was just an alert—nothing innocuous. But the sound caused a grin to come to his lips.

"She's done it, huh." He whispered, wincing as a laugh bubbled in his throat. "This world sure is lucky Izumi didn't turn into a Villain." He closed his eyes. "She would've [Ended] the world herself."

He took a breath. "Go, Izumi." He raised a fist to the air. In encouragement. In promise. "Save this world."

............

All for One screamed as his right arm was blasted to shreds, the combination of Quirks he'd used to bolster it rendered meaningless by a bright beam of plasma. "How ruthless." He rasped. A smile stretched across his faceless head, revealed through his cracked mask. "It really is unfortunate that you remain as you are."

Izumi Midoriya hovered high in the sky, kept afloat by the repulsors on her Suit's palms and feet. She stared at him coldly, her Arc Reactor glowing almost white. "Maybe I could've been a Villain." She admitted, leveling one of her arms towards his face. The repulsor glowed a dangerous blue. "But that's a me from a different world."

"Perhaps." All for One said. Winds surged around him, dark and cackling with lightning. 

Izumi smiled. It wasn't a kind smile. "Another Quirk." The nanites on her fingers morphed into syringes. "I guess the old man needs another dosage."

The air exploded behind her as she flew.