NO. 41 - The Lovely Lady Nagant

It's Nagant!

"Switch!" I yelled as I switched out Photo Manipulation for Projection Sorcery.

I glitched out of sight and reappeared across the roof. Hearing a whiz slice through the air, I jumped across several rooftops, dodging bullet after bullet. With each dodge, the bullets grew closer and closer to my position. Using CE, I increased my speed to clear the city block I was in within a flash.

Damn it, I'm starting to regret using so much of my CE today!

Using Blood Manipulation, I used a blood tendril to stop my movement. Letting me narrowly miss a bullet that smashed through a glass window from the building beside me. Blood spread over my eyes in a mask as I activated Flowing Red Scale, further boosting my movement speed and reflexes. In conjunction, I used Construction to create armor around my vitals with my liquid metal.

"She's good. She's very good!" I said as I ran through the city.

I can't use my wings or summon Nue due to not having the Ten Shadows equipped. Even if I did, being in the air would make it hard for me to change directions while also making me an easier target. That's something I can't afford to do with Nagant!

While I was moving, I slowly worked my way towards her bird's nest. I needed to close the distance between us in order to take her down. However, that was easier said than done.

Bang!

"A different direction?" I looked to my left toward where the latest bullet came from. "She must have moved. But how? She shouldn't have Air Walk. A support item?"

Two more shots rang out, and I saw the air shift in front of me. Even if I had Toji's perception, that didn't mean my body was equipped with the speed to keep up with it. Even now, my CE-enhanced body alongside Flowing Red Scale made me barely fast enough to dodge one bullet.

Shit. This one's got a curve to it!

"Geh." Blood splattered behind me as her second bullet sliced through the side of my stomach where my armor didn't protect me. "Damn it!"

If only I had Yuta's or Sukuna's CE! I would have been able to speed-blitz her!

My eyes zoomed off to where the bullets came from; I was able to finally see how Nagant was moving around. Strapped to her back was a compact jetpack that allowed her to boost from rooftop to rooftop while a grappling hook strapped to her left arm yanked her where she wanted to land. Not only that, but she also had some sort of hover boots that gave her a boost of speed.

"It seems like the HPSC isn't playing around! That gear looks expensive!" I yelled toward Nagant. Her head twitched as she leveled her sniper and fired another shot. "Show me what you've got!"

Projection, Construction, and Blood Manipulation.

Those are my current techniques after using my Binding Vow once. I needed to find a way to close the distance using these three techniques. Otherwise, it's game over.

"Let's see how well you keep up with me with this!" I yelled as I pushed Projection Sorcery to its maximum, causing my body to glitch all over the city as I rushed toward her.

x x x

[General POV]

"How the hell is he so fast?!" Kaina yelled as she activated her jet back to launch herself to the building across from her. While in mid-air, she saw Sukuna seemingly glitch out of reality as he quickly approached her position. "He hasn't used that ice quirk of his either! Does that mean he really does have multiple quirks!"

Tracking down Sukuna was no easy task. After receiving her assignment two weeks ago, Kaina had poured every recourse available to her to track the so-called King of Curses down.

Seeing as how the task of finding and taking down Sukuna had failed to find him for several months, Kaina decided to take a different approach from actively searching for him. Instead, she focused her efforts on finding criminals and villains who met Sukuna's established MO. If you find them, then it would only be a matter of time before Sukuna would come knocking down their door. A door you had a pair of eyes trained on.

Still, her plan wasn't flawless. Even after finding several criminals and villains that had a high potential of being his target, she always seemed to be one step behind Sukuna.

That was until he made the mistake of creating a public execution in front of many civilians on a busy street. Luckily for Kaina, she was only a few blocks away from the incident.

Raising her left arm, Kaina fired her grappling hook toward the building's concrete roof. Feeling it anchor, she quickly retracted the cable, sending her through the air with a jerk. Before she could crash into the ground, Kaina unclasped the grappling hook and activated her hover boots to slide across the entire length of the roof in two seconds.

With a jump, Kaina raised her sniper arm and aimed. Her trained eyes scanned the sky, buildings, and rooftops before she saw a flicker of movement. Trusting her hard-earned instincts and skills, Kaina fired a shot toward where she knew her target would be.

Bang!

With her scouter, Kaina saw Sukuna raise his left arm. In an instant, a large plate of black liquid created a shield in front of his chest. Her bullet struck true and sent him skidding back. Coming to a stop, the black shield Sukuna created broke from the impact, causing him to look straight at her with a wide grin.

"He's good. I'll give him that," Kaina muttered as she ripped off a lock of her hair. On command, her hair changed its shape into a long, sharp bullet she injected into her sniper arm. "I guess you don't get as famous as you did without the skills to back it up."

Raising her rifle up, Kaina zeroed in on Sukuna's head.

"Lady Nagant! Lady Nagant! Oh wow! Can I shake your hand?!" A small boy from a group of children asked excitedly as they ran up to her.

"Me, too!"

"You're the best!"

"Heh. Sure. But only if you kids have been good." Kaina said as she turned away from the officer she was speaking with to offer the children her hand.

Extending it, Kaina's eyes widened when she saw her arm covered in deep crimson.

"This isn't the time to think about that," Kaina said as she watched her target disappear again. Her brief distraction had caused her to miss her opportunity. "Focus on the mission! Your last mission!"

Fwoosh!

At the sight of an incredibly fast-moving crimson spear, Kaina jerked her body back as she activated her support gear just in time to avoid several crashing blood and steel spears landing all around her.

"Shit." Kaina weaved in and out from the falling weapons before she heard the clattering sound of steel. "The hell?!"

Turning her head, she saw several chains clattering through the sky and between the buildings around her. Kaina spun in place with her rifle raised as she tried to find Sukuna amidst all the sounds and rushing chains around her.

"Right here, Nagant!"

Spinning, Kaina fired her shot at the source of the voice. Her eyes grew wide when her bullet collided with a voice recorder—smashing it to pieces.

A soft, almost inaudible tap behind her caused Kaina to freeze. The sound was barely audible, but to her, it might as well have been a booming detonation. Roaring, she spun around with her rifle half raised, but it was too late.

"Checkmate," Sukuna muttered before he punched her.

x x x

[Shimizu Souta POV]

My fist met her stomach as I punched Nagant across the rooftop. Not stopping there, I rushed after her as she tumbled to the ground. Grabbing her by the front of her shirt, I pulled her to her feet and sunk my knee into her injured stomach.

[+15 SP]

"Gah!" Nagant grunted as spittle and blood flew out her mouth.

Reaching back, I tore off her jetpack and threw it off the rooftop. She glared at me as soon as she recovered her bearings. With quick precision, she snapped out two left jabs at me. Moving side to side, I avoided her blows and kicked down her rising sniper arm back to the ground.

"Lady Nagant!" I said as I maintained a close distance between us. Using Wing Chun, I landed a series of strikes along her body. In a split second, I swiped my hand through the air and removed her grappling hook from her left forearm. "I was wondering when those sorry excuses at the Safety Commission were going to send their attack dog!"

[+20 SP]

"I-I'm not-" Nagant didn't get to finish her sentence as I landed a left hook on her cheek. With a sharp stomp, I destroyed her left hover boot. "I'm not their attack dog!"

"Then tell me, why are you here?!"

Enhancing my fist with CE, I punched Nagant's right shoulder, causing her to scream out in pain.

Lady Nagant was by no means a bad fighter. No, if anything, she was extremely skilled in hand-to-hand combat. She wouldn't be as famous as she was if she couldn't perform without her Sniping Quirk. No doubt a result of the Safety Commission's years of training. Unfortunately for her, I was much more skilled.

Stumbling back, Nagant managed to escape from the close range we had. With a rebellious roar, she raised her right arm despite the agonizing pain in her bruised shoulder and aimed the barrel of her shortened sniper right at my face.

Shit! I messed up!

I screamed in my head as I stared down the barrel that was only 30 centimeters away from my face.

Bang!

Everything around me slowed to a crawl as I watched the bullet leave its muzzle. There was at most half a second to react before the bullet shot through my head.

The spinning pink and indigo bullet rippled through the air as it was a hair's breadth away.

Switch!

In a microsecond, I exchanged Blood Manipulation for the Limitless technique.

Using the Limitless without the Six Eyes was not an impossible task to accomplish.

No, it certainly was plausible to be used. However, using the technique without the Six Eyes's godly control of cursed energy made activating the neutral Limitless, Infinity, an extremely draining move. It was as if one were to try to collect a cup of water with a mesh strainer. It was an impossible task. This means that once I activate the Limitless, I'll be throwing away my already depleted CE at record speeds.

Crack!

[+50 SP]

"W-What?!" Nagant yelled as her bullet stopped an inch away from my head by some invisible barrier.

Fuck! My CE! I instantly felt my reserves begin to plummet with incredible speed. It's barely been half a second but I already feel my CE drop by 35%!

Without wasting any more time, I slipped out of the bullet's path and deactivated the Limitless. I ignored the feeling of exhaustion and rushed Nagant with pure, raw speed. Due to the shock of seeing her seemingly sure-kill bullet stop mid-air, Nagant was still frozen in shock and unprepared for the powerful blow I landed on her face. Sending her flying back and over the roof's edge.

Nagant was wide-eyed as she felt gravity take hold of her body. Closing her eyes in acceptance, she let her body plummet. That is until I shot to the edge of the rooftop and wrapped my fingers around her left wrist. Stopping her from falling.

She opened her eyes to look down at the dark, sparkling city streets below before looking up at me. Slowly, her indigo eyes grew wide in surprise as she looked over my exposed face. The black hood that usually hid my identity had blown off in my burst of speed in order to reach her before she fell.

[+50 SP]

"You're… just a kid," Nagant said with horror. Her eyes trembled as she examined my features. "I almost killed a kid."

"I'm not a kid," I said as I looked down at her hanging form. "I'm almost 16."

She remained silent before she looked over to her right arm. I kept quiet as she had her internal struggle before she sighed.

"Go ahead… drop me. End this already."

"...do you want to die?" I asked.

"I don't know," Nagant muttered. A strong breeze blew past us, tousling her long hair to the side. "But it doesn't matter what I want. I tried to kill you. I'm sure you've killed for less. So go ahead."

I frowned at her answer and sighed.

Lady Nagant.

A tragic character who was groomed by the Hero Public Safety Commission to become its ruthless executioner in the original storyline. She reached her breaking point when she was ordered to kill two heroes and instead killed the Commission chairman. This act led to her imprisonment in Tartarus. Eventually, she was used by All For One to capture Izuku for him.

While it seems that the event where she killed the Chairman had yet to happen, Nagant still had that dead, lifeless look in her eyes. She was nearing her breaking point. If left alive after this, Nagant would indeed proceed with killing the man who turned her into an unstoppable killing machine—killing the once hopeful young girl with dreams of grand heroics and serving the public.

"Nagant." Raising her head at my voice, the woman stared up at me with defeat. "I... have a proposition for you."

[+15 SP]

"A proposition? You want me to make a deal with a serial killer like you?" Nagant said as she looked down at the far-off ground. "I suppose I don't have much of a choice with my current situation."

I smiled in amusement at her response. "Trust me. I think this will work out for the both of us."

-

AN:

What do you all think of the new ending Horikoshi made for MHA?

Personally, I think it's a lot better than his original ending. It also set that fan base on fire. (LOL)

Please be sure to leave me a comment on today's chapter.

Until next time!