Chapter 337: 20 V 1

While the previously frail-looking man rapidly grew in size, reaching a height and build similar to Mael, although it was stupid to just allow your enemy to grow in strength, I let it be since otherwise it wouldn't be any fun; however, while he was doing that, another man approached me from behind, causing me to raise an eyebrow as I stared at the illusion, only to shift my head to my right, seemingly looking at nothing.

"Just because you've managed to conceal yourself from my five senses doesn't mean I can't sense you." Said Diddy calmly while outstretching his hand and grabbing the air just as Muscle Man's eyes widened in fear.

"Absorber, back away! His strength, it's too much!" Yelled Muscle Man loudly as he outstretched his arm towards Diddy, attempting to stop him, yet he was too slow as a painful screech was followed soon after.

Clenching my hand, I crushed the man's arm while his figure began to reveal itself; he was relatively thin, though, despite the pain he was experiencing, I saw him smiling. I didn't need to question him as I figured out almost immediately after I felt myself considerably weakened; I was probably at most only half as strong as usual, causing me to furrow my brows from how sluggish and weak I felt.

Then again, despite being only half as strong as usual, I could still effortlessly crush part of his forearm off his body, causing him to release a bloodcurdling shrill, which was rather annoying on the ears. Just when I was about to kick him away, I was attacked with several bolts of lighting, hindering me, which allowed the black flash to swiftly grab the man and retreat, narrowly evading my attack in the process.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to follow after them as the woman from a distance kept bombarding me with lightning bolts while the man before charged into me from behind, and since he had my strength before I had been weakened, I wasn't able to resist him as he attempted to smash me onto the ground.

'Strength means nothing if you don't know how to use it.' Mused Diddy lightly as he tilted his body to the side before pushing Muscle Man to the side while he distanced himself.

While he attempted to stop himself, I narrowly dodged a woman wearing a US flag suit with a cape, and from every hero present, she was the only one who I deemed to be somewhat interesting.

'Heh, interesting; she's the one who's preventing me from leaving the ground.' Mused Diddy with a faint smirk as he glanced at Stars while she looked at him, their eyes crossing each other only for him to elbow her in the stomach.

Seeing how I was only able to knock the wind out of her despite holding back a little, I quickly grabbed her by the cape, yet before I could slam her onto the ground, she suddenly vanished from my grasp, causing me to swiftly turn my head around as I stared at her calmly standing beside a man wearing an all-black suit with a trench coat on top of it.

"Huh, you're going to be very annoying; I should kill you first." Remarked Diddy lightly as he narrowed his eyes onto the man while turning his body around.

"So, how is everything going Copy-Cat?" Asked Stars as she rubbed her eyes while intently staring at Diddy, who was calmly eyeing his numerous enemies.

"The report was correct; he has no quirk." Replied Copy-Cat with a deep frown as he stared at Diddy, only to click his tongue, causing everyone listening to furrow their brows.

"Ugh, great. How's Absorber, Saintess? Can he still fight?" Asked Stars with a click of her tongue as she glanced at a young woman in the distance kneeling before Absorber.

"Yes, but it'll take a few minutes; healing such a gruesome injury isn't super easy." Replied Saintess calmly with a nod as she didn't even bother lifting her head, focusing purely on healing Absorber.

"Huh, a healer? I'll let you live for a while; I don't want my little fun to end so quickly." Muttered Diddy softly as he calmly gazed at Saintess before yawning and shifting his focus to a black man profusely sweating while intently staring at him.

"Dawrin, any weakness? Darwin? DAWRIN!?" Asked Stars with a deep frown as she stared at Dawrin, requiring him to yell loudly before he broke out of his daze, causing him to bite his lip before shaking his head.

"N-No… N-No weakness. He has no weakness… I severely recommend we try the peaceful resort once more." Remarked Dawrin with an ugly expression as he intently stared at Diddy, only to see the faint silhouette of a tall, silver-furred beast with bright red eyes.

"Hehe, you saw something special, didn't you?" Asked Diddy with a chuckle as he eyed Dawrin while his eyes flashed red, causing him to flinch instinctively.

"The peaceful approach? I trust your judgment, so I'll try." Muttered Stars with a deep frown as she and everyone else looked at Dawrin with skepticism, though none doubted his claim, his reputation being more than trustworthy.

At Dawrins words, the woman left her stance and slowly approached me while everyone else closely eyed me, more than ready to attack with everything if I made a sudden move.

"Stars, be careful. His strength… It's unreal." Stated Muscle Man solemnly as he gazed down at his large muscular body before clenching his fist, still mentally processing the raw strength at his disposal.

The woman nodded in return to the man's words, though she still continued towards me, only this time with extra caution, and when she arrived roughly a meter before me, I faintly smirked while looking up at her since she was pretty tall.

"Your quirk is interesting; I know a guy with a similar ability as well, but if I'm not mistaken, his is much stronger. Then again, he's much weaker than me, so…" Remarked Diddy with a faint smirk as he rubbed his chin while looking at Stars, his words greatly surprising everyone, including her, though they all remained composed.

"Diddy D. Kong. On behalf of the US Hero Association, I order you to surrender, or we will be required to use forceful measures." Ordered Stars calmly as she narrowed her eyes at Diddy, who raised an eyebrow while eyeing the surrounding heroes.

"Surrender? Hehe, you'll have to kill me." Replied Diddy in amusement as he looked at Stars, who faintly nodded, having already expected this outcome.

At my words, there was a brief moment of silence, only for Stars to suddenly push off the ground and lunge right for me, causing me to smirk as I flung her away with a swipe of my tail; however, following that, I was violently bombarded with numerous element attacks from a distance, though interestingly enough, they seemed stronger than before, and it wasn't because I was now weaker.

Still, the attacks from afar weren't doing all that much other than annoying me and slightly confusing my senses, which black flash took advantage of and attacked me from behind; ignoring him, I shifted my focus to the two men charging at me with their large and muscular stature.

'Huh, it seems the copycat dude copied Muscle Man's quirk; it also gave him my strength as well.' Thought Diddy lightly as he punched them both, yet unsurprisingly, he was grossly outmatched when it came to raw strength.

Getting pushed back by the two, I clenched their fists and aggressively twisted their hands, diverting them to their sides while swiftly nearing them, yet before I could attack them, their figures suddenly vanished, while Stars took their place and violently punched me in the face.

'Tsk, annoying; I don't like it when my opponents run away.' thought Diddy in annoyance as he swiftly regained his bearings while glancing at the man who was to blame.

Kicking off the ground, I used soru to swiftly close the distance as I neared the man, yet before I could get close enough, he vanished, which I was half-expecting, and out of instinct, I raised my arms, blocking a punch from copy-cat as he appeared in the spot where the teleporting man used to be.

Using one of the many martial arts among my seventy-bian, I transferred most of the impact into the ground, causing it to crack while I easily withstood the remaining strength.

"W-What the?" Muttered copycat as he looked at Diddy, who grabbed his arm before throwing him over his back.

Throwing Copycat onto the ground, uncaring for the bombardment of elemental attacks, well, that was until I suddenly felt gravity around me increase significantly, allowing Copycat to vanish while I was once again punched in the face.

Skidding across the ground, I quickly reoriented myself while slashing towards the approaching black flash with my nails, nearly slicing him in half with a blade of sharp wind, which he narrowly dodged.

"That's new." Said Stars as she suddenly appeared behind Diddy, who was ready and diverted her kick towards the ground with his tail.

"I'm hardly even trying right now." Replied Diddy lightly as he glanced at Stars before backhanding her into the distance, only for a black flash to swiftly near him.

I don't know if they thought I was stupid, but I clearly saw their plan, and just like I expected, black flash was suddenly swapped with both Copycat and Muscleman, which I will admit was slightly surprising.

'Huh, so it's not only one person.' Thought Diddy lightly as he blocked the first attack, only for the second to hit him cleanly in the chin, drawing blood.

"Heh, blood? Well, they're using my strength, so it's somewhat expected." Muttered Diddy calmly with a faint grin as he wiped his lip while quickly dashing back into the fray.