In the ruined theater, Kimika's body lay among the debris left from her fight with Toga against the heroes. Beside her sat Recovery Girl, who was doing everything she could to save her life.
Knowing that every second could be crucial, Recovery Girl kissed the girl again and again, trying to activate her regeneration with her quirk. But every time, the result was the same: just moments after applying her quirk, it would dissipate.
"Come on! Come on!" she whispered, not stopping.
Finally, after another attempt, she managed to activate the regeneration, and Kimika's body began to slowly heal. Only then did Recovery Girl allow herself to catch her breath, watching as the girl's face began to regain its normal appearance right before her eyes.
"Finally... There's only one left. God forbid, she's in the same condition. Especially knowing those two... I hope they were softer in the fight than All Might."
Throwing one last glance at the girl to make sure she was okay before heading to Toga, Recovery Girl froze in shock.
The girl, who was supposed to remain unconscious for several days due to exhaustion after regeneration and the sedative, was now staring at her with eyes burning with hatred.
"What... You should've been unconscious! How...?" she whispered barely audible, unable to believe her own eyes. Her heart tightened, and her legs instinctively stepped back, succumbing to fear.
Unable to look away, Recovery Girl froze, caught by those eyes burning with hatred. It felt as though every cell in her body screamed danger, pleading with her to run, but she couldn't move.
As if chained by invisible bonds, she remained motionless, unable to tear her gaze away from the bottomless darkness.
First, she saw the eyes: black, deep as an abyss, radiating a chilling fury that seemed ready to tear her apart at any moment. In their centers, faintly glowing stones flickered, like dimmed stars that had lost their former light.
And just above the eyes were horns that, just moments ago, when she had tried to save the girl, had been blasted off at their roots.
But now, they had returned to their place, much larger, darker, as if carved from the very essence of the abyss, just like her eyes.
"This! This is the same black substance!" she barely managed to say, when the entire theater was filled with a terrifying, lethal aura.
The air grew heavy, as if soaked in death, and Recovery Girl, attempting to breathe, suddenly started coughing, unable to take even the smallest breath.
This was an aura she had never felt in her life, nor even heard of from other heroes. Her heart seemed to stop in her chest, as though it feared beating even once, lest it draw attention to this horrifying power.
A chill spread across her skin, not of the natural kind, as if the very shadow of this aura was seeping into her essence.
And just as she managed to take a deep breath, Kimika's hand, glowing with a red light and with dark claws, was already half an inch from her face, ready to tear her apart.
She had already mentally buried herself, imagining the inevitable end.
But to her great relief, before the black claws could rake across her face, leaving at best scars, a powerful shockwave swept through the air.
Its source was the loud, piercing scream of Present Mic: "AAAAAAA!" The wave was so strong that it could not only stun but also send anyone in its path flying away.
At the same time, Eraser Head, who just a moment ago had been on the verge of falling asleep due to Midnight's quirk, was fully awake, sensing the deadly aura that filled the space.
Without wasting a second, he immediately activated his quirk, targeting Kimika's ability to erase it.
The giant sound wave sent Kimika's body flying away from Recovery Girl with incredible speed, like a light leaf swept up by a storm. With a loud crash, she slammed into the wall, getting pinned to it—right in the spot where All Might had once pinned her.
Crushed against the wall, Hatred felt Kimika's body literally breaking apart from the force of the wave, disintegrating into pieces, following the example of the wall behind her.
But instead of pain, a wide smile blossomed on her face — she had long yearned to once again taste the true thrill of battle, and the realization of her defeat only fueled her satisfaction. She longed to see the deathly, frightened faces of the heroes, twisted by despair, who likely thought they had already won.
At first, blood poured from her ears, and soon she could hear nothing. Barely opening her bloodied eyes, which she managed to regenerate, Hatred struggled to watch as the heroes, shouting over one another, pointed at her and at Present Mic, who continued to scream, not letting her escape from the grip of the sound wave.
Even the horns she had regenerated, though only slightly weaker than the originals, began to crack under the immense pressure that showed no sign of relenting.
'If they think this is enough to defeat me… THEY'RE DEADLY MISTAKEN!'
Hatred immediately began splitting her tiny remaining strength between regenerating her ears to hear the desperate pleas of the heroes, while simultaneously working on restoring her eyes and horns.
Although she knew that after this, her ability to capture new body parts would be significantly limited, she wasn't worried. She was already in the body, and that was enough for her to eventually claim it as her own, sooner or later.
Blocking out the possibility of her body shutting down from the pain, Hatred refused to lose her only chance to experience the battle, maintaining full, albeit temporary, control over the body.
And the last thing she thought about was that after Kimika regained control, her body would need a few days or even weeks to fully recover. But that didn't concern her at all — she was ready to do anything to feel as much of the battle and excitement as possible.
'This body... incredibly weak... squeezed... powerless... But that's nothing! As long as I have this!'
With a wide grin, baring her enlarged fangs as a sign of her control over the body, Hatred, despite every limb and part of her body being pinned to the wall by the relentless shockwave that seemed to grow stronger, managed to gather the remnants of her strength and force out a weak snap of her fingers.
With a golden glow, a golden capsule appeared in her right hand, radiating a soft golden light.
Through small cuts on her palm, she released her physical form as a black substance and began slowly absorbing the capsule into herself, and then into Kimika's body.
Meanwhile, Present Mic, standing behind the heroes, could feel that he could no longer continue, and he urgently needed to stop, even if only for a moment.
However, he had no chance to do so — his colleagues had not made a single decision on whether he should stop or intensify the attack. 'Decide faster! Tell me to intensify or stop! I'm not a sound system, and I can't keep going forever!'
"I'm saying it again — he has to stop! Even if she somehow managed to get up, her body could literally turn to mush from his scream! And at best, she'll be a lifelong invalid!" shouted Recovery Girl, worried about the consequences of this attack on the already exhausted girl's body.
"You! You've forgotten how she almost killed you? Do you think that..." Eraser Head began, but he didn't get to finish his sentence before Midnight interrupted, sharply pointing at Kimika.
"HEY, YOU TWO, LOOK!"
Recovery Girl and Eraser Head immediately stopped their argument, and without a word from Midnight, all three of them were blinded by a bright golden glow from the girl, forcing them to shield their eyes with their hands.
The glow gradually faded, and within a few seconds, it disappeared, leaving only a faint golden aura behind.
Crack!
The heroes heard a sharp sound, like breaking branches, and instantly turned their gaze to the spot where Present Mic had been. But he was no longer there. In his place, standing where he had been, was she... Kimika... with her third golden eye wide open and her right arm broken.
She smiled casually, shaking her broken arm as if it were nothing serious. "Hmph, the body still isn't used to the third eye..."
Eraser Head, unable to believe his eyes, couldn't comprehend what had just happened. Just moments ago, they were debating whether Present Mic should continue the attack, and now he was lying unconscious in the very spot where Kimika had been.
He saw how his friend's clothes were torn, and a huge purple bruise was clearly visible on his stomach, as if from an incredibly strong blow he hadn't even seen, and that crack...
Only now did Eraser Head realize that this crack was nothing other than the sound of almost all of Present Mic's ribs breaking, who hadn't even had time to understand what had happened.
This sight made Eraser Head clench his fists, and he immediately shifted all his attention to Kimika, who, as if unaware of his anger, arrogantly smiled, muttering something about her body's weakness and the third eye, while examining Present Mic.
Barely holding back his rage, he could feel the overwhelming urge to pounce on her right then and there, with no strategy or plan, simply driven by impulse, relentlessly pulsing within him.
His fists were clenched so tightly that his nails were digging into his skin, leaving bloody marks.
But he knew that such a reckless impulse would lead to nothing good.
And although with every passing second, his anger only grew, he forced himself to hold on with the last of his strength, waiting for an opportunity to...
"The crunch of bones... A delight for the ears... How long has it been since I heard this sound... Though it's a shame I miscalculated and didn't strike with full force, thinking it wasn't necessary... Maybe my hand would have gone through him like paper?" she said, inspecting her broken right arm with a smile.
"Although, because of that, my hand would likely have turned to mush, but damn, how fun would that be! Watching his terrified face as he'd look down and see my mushy hand passing through him... And he wouldn't even pass out and would feel everything while slowly dying."
Her words were the last straw, and Eraser Head immediately activated his quirk, recklessly closing the distance and launching himself at her with incredible speed, despite the excruciating pain in the leg he had injured.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" he shouted, overcome with rage, leaving Kimika with no chance to retreat.
Quickly tying her up with capturing weapon, he completely restricted her movements and began relentlessly striking, each blow filled with fury and hatred.
But Kimika took all his blows without even attempting to break free. She simply watched him silently with an unchanging smile, not a hint of pain or fear, which Eraser Head completely failed to notice.
"Had your fun?" — those were the only words that made Eraser Head freeze in place and stop attacking.
Instantly, everything felt incredibly strange to him. His uncontrollable rage... He had never allowed himself to act recklessly, to move on a wave of emotions.
And the behavior of this girl seemed unbearably alien. Every word she spoke, every movement she made, was unlike anything he remembered — too calm, too cold.
Even his impulsive strikes didn't provoke any normal human reaction, as if he wasn't facing a person at all, but some kind of creature.
It was as though her very presence amplified all negative emotions, making them completely uncontrollable, as if forcing him to lose all control over himself.
And all of this began the moment her eyes and horns turned a dark, abyssal color... Looking at her face, he noticed the third golden eye, which he hadn't paid attention to before, and which was now staring at him intensely, as if penetrating into the very depths of his soul. And her calm, almost mocking smile, despite all his strikes, sent chills down his spine.
"Your... your third eye was supposed to be closed..."
Without noticing his fear of the unknown creature, he involuntarily took a step back, completely confused, trying to understand who was truly standing before him. And at that very moment, his confusion caused him to accidentally deactivate his quirk.
This moment of hesitation gave Hatred a chance. She immediately activated her third eye, and within a second, her silhouette dissolved in a bright golden glow.
In the same bright golden light, she reappeared a little to the right, with her constant smile, watching as the сapturing weapon, which had been holding her the entire time while he struck her, helplessly fell to the ground.
Eraser Head, noticing how his emotions became more uncontrollable due to this creature that escaped from his capturing weapon by teleporting, forced himself to gather all his focus, tensing every muscle to avoid succumbing to the chaos of the situation.
"Teleportation? You just keep surprising me," he said, watching every even the smallest movement of Kimika, trying to stay calm and maintain control, realizing that the situation was slipping out of his grasp.
"Teleportation? Missed it, think again!"
Without giving Eraser Head a chance to understand the meaning of her words or consider other possible options.
Right before his eyes, she began to disappear and reappear, leaving behind golden trails, each time either shortening the distance between them or, as if for fun, increasing it.
With each teleportation, she appeared in a way that he could only see her from the corner of his eye, as if playing with him, constantly preventing him from activating his quirk.
Her voice echoed playfully from all directions, mischievous and teasing, as if toying with him. "I'm here… Oh, no, now I'm here!"
And then, after yet another teleportation, she was right in front of him, grinning with dark fangs and delivering a blow with her accelerated, fully extended left arm straight at his abdomen.
Instantly blocking her strike, he was already ready to activate his quirk, but within a moment, she reappeared behind him, bathed in golden light.
Noticing from the corner of his eye how her left hand, glowing with a red aura, swung toward him for another blow, he realized that the strike was inevitably approaching his side.
Eraser Head instantly realized he wouldn't be able to block it in time and would likely end up in the same state as Present Mic.
Instinctively squinting his eyes, he felt her hand nearing, but… nothing happened. Opening his eyes, he saw her fist being held by All Might, who was now in his hero form.
But how is this possible? Just a moment ago, when both girls were unconscious, he had smiled and said how lucky they were to finish it all, since he had already completely used up his limit for the day.
Hatred also couldn't understand what had happened. Another moment, and she would have knocked out another hero, the one who posed the greatest threat due to his quirk.
She had already started to think about how she would play with their unconscious bodies, enjoying every moment when they couldn't resist.
But now her plan shattered into pieces: All Might's fist, with incredible grip, stopped her hand just a moment before it struck.
He was the one she hadn't noticed and hadn't felt throughout the entire fight, which allowed her to indulge in games instead of acting with full seriousness.
He hadn't appeared when Present Mic almost killed her with his scream, or when she, stopping time with her third eye as much as her body allowed, almost killed him.
And only now, during their fight with Eraser Head, did he dare to appear and interrupt her fun at the most exciting moment.
She didn't even try to pull her left hand out of his steel grip, knowing it would be futile.
"RECOIL!" she shouted without wasting a moment. Instantly, her left eye and right hand began to glow with blue light, and within a second, her hand looked as if it had never been broken.
Knowing that she couldn't oppose All Might in her current state, and even if she somehow managed to break free from his grip, she would ultimately lose, she instantly accelerated her already restored right hand, using her right horn to its maximum.
Creating incredibly sharp black claws capable of cutting through anything, she struck with all her might, aiming to send Eraser Head to the other world, directing her claws straight at his heart.
But, just like with her previous hand, All Might caught her arm again, stopping the attack just moments before it reached its target, as if he were crushing her fate in his grip.
"You've lost, Kimika. Surrender, and it will all end" All Might said, his tone firm and serious, tightening his grip on her arms, causing them to crack.
But even that couldn't make Hatred fall to her knees or surrender. With a wide smile on her face, Kimika coldly chuckled, and her gaze grew even colder.
"You really think I'll just give up this bloody pleasure after your words?"
///
Well... quite a lot of abilities, both in Kimika and Hatred, and if you combine them all... But don't worry if you forget something — I'll soon write a new chapter with a list of all her abilities!
Very soon, they will all be used!
Want to see the continuation even faster than the next day? Or perhaps you want even more chapters? Head over to my Patreon — it's all there! But don't worry, sooner or later, it will be here too! patreon.com/Zoi4erom
///
The cat in the mask, reading this chapter, wondered if there wasn’t too much going on with all this variety — the third eye, dark fangs, dark claws, amplification of negative emotions, recoil... So much interesting stuff, and in the end, he’ll probably forget most of it...