NO. 8 - Pincushion

Blood Manipulation: Flowing Red Scale.

It is a technique that increases the user's body temperature, pulse rate, and the number of red blood cells. This results in a significant boost in energy and physical abilities, allowing the user to perform superhuman feats such as increased strength, speed, and agility.

The enhanced strength and speed granted by Flowing Red Scale can be used to boost the user's capabilities in hand-to-hand combat.

Making a knowledgeable fighter a force to be reckoned with.

Jumping to the side, I was able to dodge the red-skinned man's pair of well-muscled arms with ease. He growled in anger and swung at me again but once again hit nothing but air as I took a back step. His eyes twitched at the fact he was too slow and uncoordinated to hit me. His red skin glistened in the dim light, a stark contrast to his black, tattered clothes.

[+8 SP]

"Grr! Help me, you idiots!" The four-armed man roared to his crew, jolting them all to action.

"R-right!"

"We got your back, boss!"

"Tch! This ain't no kid! He's too fast and strong!"

I rolled my eyes from under the darkness of my hood and raised my arms in front of me in a loose boxer's stance. The four-armed man held his stomach and took a back seat to watch three of his crew dash towards me with the large-headed man hanging back. He looked down at his stomach and saw a dark red bloody spot that slowly disappeared, causing him great confusion.

"You'll regret this, you bastard!" One of the plain-looking men pulled his arm back and threw a sloppy punch at my head.

His teeth are all different colors. I observed and parried his punch to the side, causing the man to trip. I jumped up and crashed my elbow into the side of his head. Sending him to the ground, unconscious. Huh, now they're all yellow. His emotions must be why his teeth change colors. What a dumb quirk.

[+8 SP]

[+8 SP]

"Nishi!" Plain man #2 yelled as he and Plain man #3 looked down at their friend. The two of them then charged at me, their faces twisted into rage. "You'll pay for that!"

Despite their larger size and numbers, I was able to move in and out from their strikes and kicks with ease. These two men were untrained and relied heavily on their numbers to overpower me. Someone with decent training could keep up with them thanks to how they telegraphed each swing or blow.

The man to my left seemed to have a quirk that gave him super long fingernails on command, and the one on my right seemingly had a quirk that gave him extra joints in his skeleton. Their pathetic quirks didn't even offer them any buffs or attack power.

Unfortunately, they were up against someone amped up with Flowing Red Scale and with Itadori Yuji's hand-to-hand combat skills. Mr. left-right-goodnight himself!

Blam! Crack!

[+10 SP]

[+10 SP]

The two men fell onto the ground like bags of bricks from my swift, well-placed punches and kicks to their heads. I looked at my three knocked-out opponents with disappointment.

"You done hiding behind your lackeys?" I said towards the four-armed man. The one with the large head and yellow skin shook in annoyance from where he stood. "How pathetic."

[+5 SP]

"Take this! Wave of might!"

The man with the large head sent out his right hand towards me. His hand was covered in a golden hue of energy, and his palm was pointed in my direction. In the blink of an eye, a large concentration burst of energy flew straight at me, causing my eyes to grow wide.

Shit! No time to dodge!

I raised my arms in front of me and concentrated my CE throughout my body to reinforce myself. The energy burst slammed into my body and sent me skidding back several feet. I dug my feet into the ground and immediately began to slow down.

I slid to a stop beside the woman at the end of the dead end. She looked at me with worry and slight trepidation as I dropped my arms beside me. I ignored her in favor of analyzing the large-headed man's quirk.

Before he unleashed that attack, he was holding his arm behind his back to hide what he was doing. In fact, he was doing that during my fight with the three bozos. That means his attack needs to be charged before he can use it. Therefore I-

"U-um, are you okay-"

"Be silent."

Silence you, wench! I'm thinking!

[+5 SP]

The curvy woman flinched at my quick and rude comment. I paid her no mind and stepped forward to begin walking toward my last two opponents, causing the nervous, yellow-skinned man to flinch. It seemed that he didn't expect me to be able to tank his attack. Immediately, he pulled his arm behind himself to charge up another attack.

As if I'd let you. What do you think this is? Dragon ball?

I exploded towards the large-headed man, causing him to flinch and break his concentration momentarily. Just as I was about to reach the bobblehead, Four Arms decided it was time to get back into the fight. 

Four Arms grunted and used both of his right arms in an attempt to punch my head through the wall behind me, only to miss as I weaved under his attack. Using a quick back step, I created some space between me and the large mutant. He then stepped in front of his large-headed companion and shifted into a Mui Thai stance.

"Damn, you. Just who are you?!" Four Arms growled out.

Instead of answering, I rushed to the red-skinned man and delivered a right CE-enhanced punch that he quickly blocked. I tilted my head to the side and felt the wind from his left jab slice next to my ear. Using my short height, I stepped into his personal space and landed a hook punch into my opponent's liver.

Four Arms clenched his teeth in pain and was about to smash his upper arms onto my head when an invisible force crashed into his liver again, knocking him off balance.

"Divergent Fist," I muttered as I dashed after Four Arms. Leaping into the air, I landed three snap kicks onto my opponent's head, chest, and stomach. Thanks to my Divergent Fist, each attack had a delayed second impact.

Four Arms violently spun in the air from my attack and fell in a puddle below. As his body slammed on the floor, a large, victorious grin grew on his face. I felt the hair on my body stand up, and I quickly looked over at Mr. Bobblehead.

"Wave of might!"

Shit, so much for sticking only to Blood Manipulation.

Just as the wave of yellow energy was about to slam into me, I held my palm towards the ground and shot out a concentrated burst of flames that illuminated everything in the dead end. I felt my body violently jerk upwards as I moved out of the way of Mr. Bobblehead's attack.

"F-fire?!" Mr. Bobblehead screeched as he saw his attack miss.

[+8 SP]

I landed on the ground with ease and looked over to see Four Arms now on his feet. A look of apprehension and nervousness on his face; behind him, Mr. Bobblehead was shaking like a leaf.

"Those f-flames. Aren't they like Endeavor's!" Mr. Bobblehead muttered, his face covered in rain and sweat. Four Arms growled and began running full speed toward me.

"Don't be ridiculous! This punk just has a fire quirk! Hurry up and recharge-"

"I don't think so." I held up my hands and swiped them to the side. Four Arms suddenly jerked to the side and flew straight into Mr. Bobblehead. The two men rolled on the ground in a heap of flailing limbs.

"M-my body." Four Arms muttered as he trembled. "It h-hurts!"

"Tajima-san! What's the matter?!" Mr. Bobblehead asked Four Arms, er, Tajima, as he watched the four-armed man shake uncontrollably on the ground. Blood began to spill out of Tajima's mouth and eyes as he convulsed on the ground.

"Much prettier than the one from last night," I said as I continued pointing my hand at Tajima, repeating what one of the plain men said earlier. "That's what your buddy said, right?" Slowly, I clenched my hand tighter and tighter, but not to the point of closing my fingers into a fist.

My action caused Tajima to hold his stomach tightly as he screamed bloody murder. "You see, I don't particularly like people like you guys. Rapists and the like. So, I'll do the world a favor and just get rid of you five. Kay?"

For a moment, I hesitated in what I was about to do next. I looked behind me at the frightened woman and imagined what could have happened to her if I hadn't decided to go on my crusade to get stronger. She could have been raped, beaten, or even killed by these rabid dogs. I took a deep breath and steeled my resolve.

At the same time, unknown to me, a piece of my humanity shriveled within me.

"Blood Manipulation: Human Pincushion."

Human Pincushion was the first original technique I created with my Blood Manipulation curse technique.

It requires me to inject my own blood into my opponent's bloodstream, imbued with a layer of CE. The layer of CE protects my blood from being deluded or absorbed into my opponent's body, meaning that it will lay in wait until I reach out to it and command it to do whatever I wish. Whether that be to restrict their movements or to shred their insides into pieces.

To finish off the technique, I command my blood to exponentially expand like a short-range explosion similar to a grenade, sending long spikes of blood throughout my target's body.

Once I called out the name of my first original technique, I made a fist, and spikes of my blood shot out of Tajima's body, causing him to look like a bloody pincushion. His face was twisted in agony until it finally relaxed. Blood slowly leaked out of his body, mixing in with the large puddle of dirty water underneath him.

[+30 SP]

[+15 SP]

[+12 SP]

"Agh! Y-you-you killed him!" Mr. Bobblehead yelled as he quickly stood up and began to run away. "Leave me alone!" As he ran, he saw a lone crow at the end of the long alleyway. But what confused him the most was the combat knife underneath its tiny legs. The small bird cawed and swiftly flew away.

"Funny. That's what she said, too." I said as I motioned to the woman behind me, who was now on the ground on her knees. Her face was etched into shock and horror at my actions.

[+8 SP]

I ignored the woman and raised my hands.

Clap!

I suddenly appeared where the dropped combat knife once sat, causing Mr. Bobblehead's eyes to grow wide and his mouth to open in horror. I held my right fist in my left hand as I charged up my CE. Due to his body shape and head size, Mr. Bobblehead was unable to slow his speed and stop his run, causing him to trip right in front of me.

Wham!

My punch struck true as it broke Mr. Bobblehead's nose and sent him crashing back a dozen feet. His broken nose sprayed blood all along the dirty, wet ground. Once he rolled to a stop, his body twitched a few times until it stilled into unconsciousness.

[+15 SP]

"Damn it." I looked down at my bloodied and bruised right fist with a frown. "I thought I would have gotten it that time for sure."

I have been trying to achieve a Black Flash for the past two months, and so far, I've failed at achieving a single one. I needed to reach the sparks of black in order to further push my understanding of the essence of cursed energy.

But so far, no luck.

I sighed in frustration and walked down the alleyway; as I did, I passed by the four knocked-out men and one corpse. Reaching my newly acquired weapon, Slaughter Demon, I bent down and slid it back into its holster.

Standing up, I noticed the woman I inadvertently saved stare at me with a dumb expression.

"Why are you still here?" I asked the frozen woman. My voice snapped her out of her daze, causing her head to spin to me with fear. "Get the hell out of here already."

[+5 SP]

"I-uh... I don't..." The woman said shakily before standing to her feet.

At first, she took a few small, unsure steps, her eyes scanning all the downed men and dead bodies before turning to me. She looked scared but somehow relieved at the same time. Without saying another word, she ran out of the alley and disappeared around the corner.

I looked up towards the rooftops where three crows were perched. Their eyes were looking down at me with loyalty.

"Follow her. Make sure she gets home." I called out, causing one of the crows to caw.

(I, Geto, will make sure that monkey- I mean, human- reaches her nest.)

I nodded at the crow I named Geto as he flapped his wings and flew away. I scratched the back of my head as I still couldn't get over the fact that I was now able to understand what the crows under my command said.

It was an odd experience; being able to speak to my crows wasn't something I thought my recently pulled cursed technique, Black Bird Manipulation, could also do.

Don't even ask me how they got their namesake personalities.

Was MeiMei able to understand her birds as well?

If so, that's a fact Gege hid from us all. How dare he.

(Standing around here has gotten boring, so I'll come along. Maybe I'll even fly into a hawk to fight? Heh, it won't even be a fight. I'll take it down quickly! I am the strongest, after all.) Crow Gojo said as he followed behind Crow Geto.

The crow beside Crow Gojo, Crow Shoko, shook her head before looking down at me from her perch.

(Haa... I'll make sure they don't get distracted, Master.)

"...right, you do that," Crow Shoko nodded her little head and flew off. I watched them all fly away and turned to the unconscious men on the floor.

I stepped over to one of the plain men and crouched beside him. I grabbed his shoulder and turned him onto his back. I took a deep breath and placed a hand over his heart.

"Now then." I began to focus my CE into the man's body and reached into his inner negative thoughts and emotions. "Let's try this again..."

Curse energy is a form of spiritual energy that leaks from humans as a result of their negative emotions. Everyone had negative emotions, so it made sense that I should be able to somehow unlock curse energy within the people of this world. With that in mind, I started off by using the crooks, villains, and scum bags I've taken down to be my test subjects.

Not because I wanted them to have CE. But because I didn't want to use anyone innocent, and I didn't mind these lowlifes getting hurt by my dangerous tests.

This ended up being a good call because my first few rounds of tests ended up with my test dummies becoming out-of-control, angry, quirk-powered beasts with a fleeting CE boost from yours truly.

Sadly, even after two months of trial and error, I had yet to unlock a glimpse of curse energy within anyone else. The only thing I had to show for all my trouble were several corpses and brain-dead people. Still, I wouldn't give up yet. I just had to improve my own understanding of CE to hopefully be able to unlock it in others so that I wouldn't be the only one with CE in this world.

Hold up… did this make me sorta like Kenjaku?

…nah!

Can't be.

"Shit." I stood up and quickly jumped back as the once unconscious man scrambled to his feet with veins pulsing throughout his body. His eyes were crazed, and his breathing was erratic. "Not again."

And so, I went through another night of failed experiments and fights against amped-up, CE-enhanced, quirked individuals.

"No! No biting!"

-

AN:

I'm glad to see this story picking up steam!

Thank you, everyone, for reading my silly little story. Thanks for all the power stones and story views. Here is a bonus chapter! I saw a comment asking for a list of Souta's current techniques, skills, and anything else he's gotten through the Gatcha. That will be added in the next chapter due to some of the abilities spoiling the next chapter.