Chapter 56

"What do we have-"

The blade of one of my knives hit his hand as he reached for Bakugo.

He screamed as I grabbed the two boys by the collars of their sweaters and pulled them quickly back.

The rocks disintegrated.

Ice sprang up from under my feet and swallowed him from head to toe.

He activated his Quirk and the ice vanished from his hands.

He seemed to be in a rage, scratching his neck to turn the frozen layer into dust.

But he wasn't moving fast enough, and the cold gained ground, gnawing at his jaw and covering his nose, preventing him from breathing.

"Nomu!" he shouted.

Shit shit shit.

I spun half around, pushing Bakugo and Monoma as far as I could with a double kick before drawing my tanto just as the bird beast rose.

Its forearm met my blade and I forced it through, slicing its limb to the elbow.

Blood spurted out, staining my weapon and the base of my mask.

I wiped my face with the back of my hand.

"Get me out of here !" Shigaraki shouted.

Nomu made several jumps backwards and stood at his master's side. His arm had already grown back.

As if I'd let it happen.

Burning flames erupted from my left side and charred the beast. A portal opened between us, swallowing them up.

Then, I exhaled a cloud of steam.

"Kurogiri, take care of the child !"

A new, phenomenal amount of ice burst from beneath my feet.

In a fraction of a second, I had frozen the portal man as well as the Nomu and Shigaraki behind him.

"Let's get out of here !"

I tucked my blade back into its sheath and jumped over the other rocks, hurrying towards the main square.

"I didn't need your help," Bakugo snapped to my left.

"You've got to be kidding me," countered Monoma to my right. "That guy would have made your face dust before you could do anything"

A toothy grin ate half his face.

"Actually, it might have been for the best. Say, Bakugo, don't you want to go back ? You give us time to escape, and you get your heroic moment. You'll die but oh, well, not a big loss"

I smiled wickedly and nudged the blonde with my elbow.

Bakugo seethed with rage, foam running from his mouth.

"We have to go as far as Aizawa-sensei," I said.

"I don't think the ice-"

And already I could hear frozen blocks crashing to the ground.

"Keep going," I ordered. "I'll slow them down a bit more"

I stopped and exhaled another cloud of steam. This time the temperature around me dropped a few degrees. There was the familiar sound of bells.

The ground under my feet froze. I raised my hand to the block I'd created earlier, which was already falling apart.

A staggering amount of ice spilled out, covering everything in a straight line down to the lake. The tallest ice peaks must have measured up to fifty meters, and the widest twenty.

There was so much of it that it grazed the roof of the USJ.

I think the original Shoto did something similar during the championship.

I started running again without looking back: in front of me, the two boys were fighting some lowlife villains who were blocking their way.

Bakugo didn't hesitate for a moment to blow their faces off, while Neito only had to dodge and then brush their skin to freeze them.

"Keep going !"

I could already hear Nomu's fists smashing the ice to get them out.

I must have frozen Kurogiri's device, otherwise they'd be after us by now.

I walked between the two blondes as they promptly finished their fight and joined me again.

"Todoroki," Monoma complimented me "Your last attack was really tough. I don't think anyone within a radius of five kilometers missed it"

He briefly touched my wrist.

To my left, Bakugo glared at me but said nothing.

So predictable.

"It wasn't anything really impressive," I said with a shrug.

What I'd done at the entrance exam could be described as impressive.

The way I had rebuked my assailants during the assassination attempt that had driven me into a hangar had been impressive.

What I'd done there was just inappropriately showy, though my ego was flattered that it was there for all to see.

Aizawa Sensei was finally within reach: I could see him whirling through the air, catching villain after villain.

His movements, however, were less graceful and slower, almost pasty.

It was only when I saw his three-quarter face that I realized the extent of the damage: blood was pouring from a gash in his forehead, staining his 'capture scarf'.

"Aizawa-sensei," Monoma called out as we approached.

Our teacher landed softly on the ground and kicked away another attacker. I frowned when I saw him stagger.

Behind him, a man lunged forward with a knife in his hand.

In a flash, Bakugo jumped up to intercept him and punched him in the face.

I landed on our teacher, slipping under his arm and slinging him over my shoulder.

"Pretty heavy"

"What are you doing here?"

"We were under cover at first, but the blue-haired guy wanted to disintegrate Bakugo, so we had to get out of the way"

The boy got indignant between two naughty ass-kicks and I ignored him.

"Then he called his big bird and I had to bring out the heavy artillery"

"I can see that," Aizawa muttered.

He spat blood and I frowned.

Had Nomu wounded Aizawa so badly in the canon that he'd pretended not to be wounded just to keep up appearances in front of his students?

Was this a 'new branch' of history opening up because of my existence?

I couldn't afford to lose Aizawa - at least not yet; he was too important a card for me to sacrifice from the beginning.

What if I discreetly healed him with my chakra ?

My thoughts returned to the time in the teachers' lounge with my clone, Itachi.

Despite the immutability of my powers, I believed that he had seen me; it was as if something almost instinctive in him had whispered the truth into his ear.

I hesitated, my fingers hovering over his head. Then I withdrew them slowly, preferring to remain cautious.

I was pretty sure that if I did anything, he'd feel it and know.

I could only speculate what would happen next and what the repercussions would be.

No, I wasn't ready for that yet; I'd rather risk him dying than myself falling too soon.

I unconsciously clenched my teeth and felt the acid rush down my throat.

I hadn't felt so powerless, despite everything I could have done, since- since- since I was a child.

Since Kenzei.

A huge spike of ice fell from the ceiling.

"Nomu, grab him !," Shigaraki shouted.

I pushed an almost unconscious Aizawa into Neito's arms and drew my tanto just in time to parry the monstrous beast's left fist. It had pushed us several meters away from the boys and the teacher.

It raised its right hand to grab my head and I ducked immediately. The speed of his gesture sent my hair flapping.

An uncertain smile bloomed on my lips.

Wouldn't he have decapitated me if he had caught me ?

I burst into flames like a living torch. He took a step back, came closer again.

My flames turned blue. I grabbed his wrist to make him burn with me.

He struggled.

Small cries of grieving bird left his throat.

As if he'd finally remembered, he decided to slap my wrist with his other monstrous hand. I had strengthened it with chakra, of course.

For several seconds, there was a fierce tug-of-war between him and me: he tried to break my hand with his monstrous strength, and I tried to char him faster than he could regenerate. Since he was too stupid to think of anything other than the current stain, I took pleasure in bringing my tanto down on his thigh with increasing force, hoping to dismember him.

The smell of charred flesh rose to my nose, sickening and exciting me at the same time. Shigaraki must have been worried because he called his monster to him.

"Nomu, retreat !"

The beast tore itself from my grasp and promptly returned to its master.

I was surprised to see that despite my chakra, my wrist was already bruised.

He's only a low-level Nomu and he's already able to do this to me? I would have to remedy that extremely quickly once this was all over.

Bakugo and a Monoma supporting Aizawa came to my side.

I extinguished my flames, my eyes fixed on Shigaraki, a dozen meters away. He was scratching his throat desperately and seemed to be speaking in a low voice.

"Are you okay?" Monoma asked.

"Yes," I said, cracking my neck. "The giant bird is quite strong, though"

With a roar, Bakugo pushed aside a villain who tried to attack us from behind.

"You bet," he grumbled. "I'll eat him alive"

And to emphasize his words, he spat on the ground.

"You're really disgusting," Monoma said, his face contorted in distaste.

"That was blood," said the other, squinting his eyes. "Are you blind as well as stupid, you idiot ?"

Monoma smiled, and his smile didn't bode well, so I decided to intervene.

"Just a reminder that there's always the threat of the 2.30 meter bird on our heads, so focus"

And if they both die, how will things change ?

"They won't let us escape" I remarked.

A group of bad guys had invaded the stairs leading to the USJ entrance, blocking our way.

Others had formed a large circle around us, keeping their distance.

"We're not running away"

"Escape, strategic retreat, it's all the same"

Bakugo was really starting to get on my nerves.

If he dies, who will mourn him ?

"We won't be able to get Aizawa Sensei to safety"

"No one will..." Aizawa grunted in pain, then inhaled heavily "... drop me off somewhere"

I looked at him doubtfully.

Just breathing seemed to make him suffer.

"We need a plan," I said. "If we're going to stay here, we need to neutralize the bird and the teleporter; they're the biggest threats"

"How can we neutralize the bird? wondered Monoma. "I couldn't even follow its movements earlier"

"Leave it to me, you fools!" Bakugo shouted, revealing his sharp teeth in a smile that oozed confidence. I'll tear him apart.

"We said neutralize, not sacrifice unnecessarily," Monoma remarked calmly.

Bakugo stepped forward and was about to grab Monoma by the collar of his shirt; I stepped in absently, my eyes never leaving a Shigaraki who was fuming and whose hand was being bandaged.

"I have a way," I said. "But you'll have to take care of the Portal Man long enough for me to get an opening"

Monoma, who had been taunting Bakugo behind my back, winced at my words.

"Are you going to do the same as before? It's true that spewing a real iceberg out of the ground is quite stylish, but he quickly got rid of it and-"

"No, I've got something else," I cut him off. "Theoretically it should work."

It was one of the few techniques I'd never been able to test in real life because of the risks involved.

"What do you mean 'theoretically' ?''

"Well, I know how to set it up and how it should work, but there's a risk that I'll... let's say, go a little overboard"

Monoma nodded and Bakugo frowned, not satisfied.

"And what do you mean by 'a little overboard'?

I shrugged nonchalantly.

"In the worst case, I'll freeze the entire USJ and everyone inside will die in agony within a minute"

Despite his pain, Aizawa found a way to scowl at me from his sitting position.

"Oh, if that's only that" Bakugo spat sarcastically.

"Yes," Monoma agreed, "so there's nothing to worry about.

I couldn't decide if he was being serious or if he was oozing sarcasm. Knowing him, it was the former, and that only made me wonder more about his sanity.

Is this guy some kind of sociopath ?

"Here's my suggestion," I said.

*

"Here we go !"

I turned my back to Shigaraki and faced the villains on the stairs.

Surprised, some of them stepped back; a frozen wave burst from beneath my feet, freezing them.

I looked over my shoulder: Bakugo and Monoma were charging at a surprised Shigaraki.

Before he could say anything, I threw several spikes of ice in Nomu's direction and he jumped back to avoid them.

Since he hadn't received any orders, that was all he could do: dodge again and again and again.

Shigaraki noticed this and swore.

"Nomu, atta-"

Bakugo, propelled into the air by his explosions, descended on Shigaraki like a tornado. He sent him crashing to the ground and landed behind him, stringing explosion after explosion together to distract him.

The man with the hands swore again, then tried to approach Bakugo, but the blonde was too clever and had a lot of dexterity.

Kurogiri tried to intervene but a wall of flame suddenly separated them. Surprised, he turned his head to me.

Ah, they obviously gathered some information before they showed up.

I smiled and pointed behind him.

He didn't even have time to turn around that Monoma brought his hand down on his metal torso, knocking him to the ground.

His hand glowed red and I knew he was threatening to melt the creature right then and there.

I was sure he could do it and would do it without second-thought.

I scanned the area one last time, trying to find a villain who had escaped my last attack.

"Go ahead," Aizawa cut in. "I can handle one or two troublemakers"

Again, I scanned his bleeding forehead, his red-stained eyes and his broken-looking left arm.

If he dies, Leo will kill me.

"Understood"

Shigarakis eyes widened when he saw Kurogiri on the ground.

This time, instead of going toe-to-toe with Bakugo, he preferred to step back to create some distance. He was going to call the Nomu, I was sure of it.

I took off towards the bird like lightning, the flames on my feet turning me into Hellflame.

"Bakugo," I warned him as I passed them.

"I know !"

From the air, he landed on Shigaraki and sent a blast into his face, forcing him to close his mouth and defend himself.

I came face to face with the Nomu and pushed him back, sending gust after gust of fire. I glanced over my shoulder - no, they were still too close.

I dodged the giant's right hook and sent a fiery kick back into his chest.

It was long and tedious, but I managed to make him retreat step by step.

And then, as I pushed him back for the umpteenth time, I created a wall behind him and he stumbled.

"Shit !"

I jumped back when I heard Bakugo curse.

Shigaraki had managed to free himself by some maneuver and destroyed the ground under the blonde's feet, causing him to stumble.

He didn't even take the time to care and rushed towards Nomu and me, holding out his hand and opening his mouth.

"Nom-"

"Monoma!" I shouted, covering Shigaraki's voice with my own. "Let go of the teleporter and take care of Bakugo!"

I didn't bother to explain further: time was short, and now that Shigaraki knew that he wasn't our target…

An icy wind came up and blew my hair around my face.

Frostbite appeared on my skin like blue and white embroidery, freezing my flesh. I clenched my teeth and took the pain without flinching: a cloud of steam left my mouth.

"Absolute Zero"

I blinked: there was a sound of bells.

And then my body became the epicenter of a veritable tornado of ice.

For about fifty meters around me, the ground froze.

It began to snow, thick flakes visible to the naked eye falling from the glass roof.

The temperature had dropped well below 0; Nomu was instantly frozen in the ice, unable to move. Behind me, I knew that Shigaraki could not move either.

If this goes on too long, his body won't be able to take it; he'll die.

I could only hope that Monoma had reached Bakugo in time, and that the fifity meters seperating us were enough for them to be in the 'safe zone'.

It was as if I'd given free rein to a beast that had been chained for too long and dreamed only of consuming again and again and again until it had devoured everything.

*

Power stones goal : 215

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