Chapter 5 - New Fighting Style

3rd POV

Two Years Later

Once again, you could see two people, a man and a child, fighting against one another. The child looked like he was ten or eleven years old. On the other hand, the man was huge, very muscular and probably in his early forties or late thirties. They were sparring, and the kid was holding his own surprisingly well, although it was a rather peculiar fight.

It was a peculiar fight because there were fingers floating in the air and attacking the man or distracting him so that the kid could strike him. It was a truly disturbing sight.

Raiko's POV

I was once again fighting Knuckle Duster for our daily spar and I was testing my new fighting style that I had been developing in the last two years. It was a mix of multiple quirks, but the general idea was to use flying fingers to distract the opponent and when he was the least ready for it, you finish him. The reason I chose fingers as my fighting is that I wanted something that would not gather attention, that did not make a lot of sound and that would be so different of my fighting style so that when I got into U.A., in a couple of years, they would be no link between me and the Vigilante me. Yeah, I was totally becoming a Vigilante, I still had a villain group to eradicate after all.

But the real reason I chose fingers were that Quirks were less expensive if you had drawbacks to them and if you had to master them yourself. For example, a warp quirk that I would need to use with my fingers would be way less expensive than a warp gate that I could use with only my mind. Or a fire quirk that I could only shoot fire from my fingers, etc.

Also, a quirk that gave the ability to use telekinesis on objects of up to 500 kg would be more expensive than a quirk that simply gave telekinesis, because you had to train the latter, but the former was already at its peak. Maybe the quirk that simply gave you telekinesis could become more powerful, but you had to put a lot of efforts into it. It was for this that I had chosen fingers.

Back to my fighting style, I had bought multiple quirks that would complement it and a couple more utility quirks, but I still didn't have a warp quirk… I know it wasn't very careful of my part, but I wouldn't do something dangerous until I had one so… I also intended to have a Quirk Levels reserve in case something went to sh*t one day, but I didn't receive enough Quirk Levels per day yet. I received a number of quirk levels per day equal to my age. As I was currently eight years old, I received eight quirk levels per day.

The quirks I had bought were:

360 Vision (1007): It simply gave me a 360-degree vision and the ability to see very well up to 100 meters away. A must, in my opinion, to avoid people sneaking up on you, I had no blind spots. It took a while to get used to it, though, as it is ALWAYS active. Although I was still reliant of my eyes, so I could be blinded, but I had good reason for that.

Nightvision (278): Simply gave me the ability to see as well in the dark as normal. Another must, especially when are "working" at night.

Voice Change (112): This one was a quirk to conceal my identity, it could be used to make my voice deeper, similar to an adult's voice.

And now in my Finger Punch fighting style:

Detachable Fingers (487): Allowed me to detach my fingers from my hands and control them. I could only control for approximately 30 seconds, though. After that they fell to the ground, so I tried to reattach them before. They wouldn't disappear after 30 seconds, I would only lose my control over them.

Finger Blast (649): Allowed me to shoot air blasts from my fingers. Yep, that's a match! These two quirks allowed me to "shoot" fingers as fast as 100 m/s, for now, but as I trained both quirks more it would be faster (as fast as an airsoft or a paintball).

Steel Hands (551): Can change user's hand into steel. I used this quirk to do more damage by launching my finger. It was also very useful to block blades and bullets.

Finger Speed Regeneration (1055): This one is the last quirk I bought, cost me nearly all of my savings, but it was worth it. It basically allows me to regenerate my fingers. It can regrow an entire finger in approximately 10 seconds. Also, when I use detachable fingers, I can force myself to regenerate fingers even though they aren't damaged, because they aren't attached to my body anymore. It allows me to detach my fingers, regrow more of them, detach them again, etc.

All those quirks made that if I hit people at the right spot, I could easily knock them out.

Right now, though, I was fighting with Knucle Duster using this fighting style and it was pretty effective, our spars were much closer than before. I still don't think I could win, because the man was a monster at fighting, he was comparable to people with strange quirks but I gave him a run for his money.

As I ducked, dodging his fist, a steel finger shot and hit his ribs, getting a grunt out of him. Frustrated, he took another of my fingers in his hand and kicked me. I wasn't able to dodge quick enough and was hit in the arm.

To counter my style, Knuckle Duster had started to take my fingers when they were in the air, so I couldn't use them anymore and it was kind of effective. Although each ten seconds, there was another batch of fingers, so there were always more. At least I couldn't always bombard him with fingers. He also stayed very close to me, so I couldn't shoot my fingers freely if I didn't want to be accidentally hit by them and trust me, a metal finger going at 360 km/h hurts like sh*t.

As I retreated, I "sacrificed" a couple of fingers to buy time for one of my special moves, dubbed Five Fingers Death Punch. For this move, I shot 5 fingers in quick succession aiming at the same spot. The move was strong enough to break bones and cause serious damage if I aimed at a good spot, like the temple.

Right now I was only aiming at behind his knee, hoping to unbalance him and it worked! I managed to sneak the fingers behind him without him noticing and shot them. He couldn't dodge in time.

And it looked like it hurt. Oh, I angered him…I'm so dead…

As he got serious, I only managed to last for a couple more minutes before, once again, my face was against the ground.

Knuckle Duster helped me get on my feet again before he said, pride evident in his voice.

"Look how far you've come in just two short years kiddo. It was exactly two years ago that I started training you and you're already giving me this much trouble…"

"You're just getting old…So, what do you think of my new fighting style?"

"I like it, it's quiet, efficient and it hurts like hell, Goddammit…I'm definitely going to have bruises tomorrow."

Knuckle Duster and I had been growing closer these past two years, to the point where I trusted him with my secret, my quirk. He also told me his secret, what happened to his quirk.

You see, Knuckle Duster was the former Pro-Hero O'Clock, but a villain stole his quirk and gave it to someone else. Since that day, he was a Vigilante as he wanted to continue to fight against villains but couldn't be a hero anymore. His former quirk, Overclock, was also very interesting, it allowed him to stimulate his brain, increasing his perception and thoughts speed, allowing him to move very fast.

The only reason he had agreed to train me I the beginning was that my dad saved him after he lost his quirk and often healed him when he got injured doing Vigilante work. It had helped him avoid getting caught multiple times as Vigilantes were technically criminals. Also, my mom had helped him a couple of times identify quirks of villains he wanted to stop.

Also, behind his gruff facade, he was kind and caring, he just didn't admit it openly very often. He really meant each compliment he said and he had a really strong sense of justice.

Interrupting my thoughts, the man spoke again, and asked:

"I think that you're strong enough now, you just lack experience, so what would you say to go and patrol with me? We'll tell your parent and you won't be in danger."

"Of course, I would be honored, I quickly answered. An offer like this from him rare, it meant that he thought quite highly of me. Also, it was exactly what I wanted. If I wanted to destroy the villain group that kidnapped me, I needed more experience and this was the perfect opportunity."

"Good, join me here, tomorrow, at nine in the evening. See you tomorrow."

I nodded and he left the gym we were in.

It may seem like a dumb idea to ask a small kid to become a Vigilante, but Knuckle Duster knew that I would accept and that I would become one sooner than later, so he wanted to give me guidance. We only would go after small street crimes at the beginning anyway. Also, I didn't look like a kid anymore, I looked like an 11-year-old, except I was quite muscled (for my age), I was 144 cm (4"9'). My training wasn't for nothing, I could easily defeat most small-time villains.

And thus, my Vigilante career started.