36 USJ (2)

"Aizawa-sensei, will Anzai-kun be alright?"

Deku asked Aizawa who was looking onto the battle. He already tried using [Eraser] on the Nomu but it had no effect, meaning that it was naturally that strong.

And he refused to use that quirk longer than he needed to, afraid that Masato's quirk might just get cancelled, which would get him killed in that high-speed battle.

"How's the connection with the outside, Thirteen?"

"I contacted-"

Jut before Thirteen could continue, a loud voice rang in the entire dome.

"FEAR NOT FOR.... I'M HERE!!"

Almight showed up through the door, glancing at the entire place with one look.

- Whoosh!

He dashed at the surroundings areas, such a landslide, conflagration, earthquake and water hazard zones, taking all the villains out.

In the end, he returned back to the central area where Nomu and Masato were brawling.

It may have seemed equal at first glance but Masato was on the losing end of the battle. The Nomu could absorb damage and had an unending amount of stamina. On the other hand, Masato was burning through his stamina, using all 5 gates at once.

"Diligent Ant!"

Seeing that the Nomu aimed to kick at him, instead of only punching. Masato changed his tactics. It wasn't impossible to use 'Elegant Swan' on kicks but it was harder to do so. 

Hence, he decided to use his other move. 

Nomu's knee was struck 100 times before he could even complete its kick. Bending it the other way.

"What!? Is he a monster!? How can Nomu take damage!?!"

Tomura was scratching his neck even more harshly as he saw that scene.

But it wasn't too great as Nomu healed its broken knee because of the regeneration quirk that had been implanted in it.

"This is worse than I thought."

Masato was even ready to use the next gate, which hadn't been unlocked. But at the right moment, a huge palm gripped the Nomu by its head and slammed it to the ground.

"I'm here, Anzai-shounen. So you can move aside. I will take care of it now."

"Alright but I will be handling the purple mist!"

"Wai-"

Masato backed down and let Almight take the stage while dashing away. Almight wanted to stop his student from continuing as the heroes were here but Nomu didn't allow it.

As Masato was going to fight again, he took out an item from his system. It was a [Stamina Pop]. An item that restored stamina by 10%, a reward from the entrance exams. He swallowed the pill without a second thought.

Kurogiri noticed the boy running towards him and escaped his capture. The purple mist slipped through the fingers of the boy.

However, his target wasn't Kurogiri at all.

"Heya, you lost again?"

Once he saw him, Masato knew that this was the guy who infiltrated the academy, Shigaraki Tomura.

"Haha~ I really didn't pay you back for helping me that time, did I? Let me give you a gift!"

With those words, Tomura rushed ahead with his palm forward. But it was easy for Masato to dodge, too easy even.

'A distraction?'

- Foosh!

As he thought that, another hand appeared aiming for his back through the purple mist.

Sadly for Tomura, Masato was at 5 gates. He stopped retreating and took a step forward. 

"Elegant Swan!"

By raising his leg faster than Tomura could notice, he simply held it before Tomura's solar plexus. 

"Ack!"

Tomura jumped right into the kick as he could neither see it nor stop himself from moving forward. Since the length of his leg was further than Tomura's palm, none of the attacks even touched Masato.

"Diligent Ant!"

Before he had enough time to breathe, an illusion of a 100 kicks appeared before his eyes. But none of the kicks ever struck Tomura, absorbed by the purple mist that appeared.

- Whoosh!

The purple mist was blown away after taking the attack. And Tomura, gone with it.

"Ach!"

In a dimly lit bar, two people fell down. Kurogiri and Tomura. Tomura was in better shape than Kurogiri, who almost broke his neck.

Kurogiri still remembered the last moment. He thought he could absorb all the kicks since all of them attacked at a single point. But....

When he was about to absorb all the kicks, the last kick changed its direction and struck the collar of his suit.

It was only a single kick but Kurogiri, a High-End Nomu, almost saw death and had a small talk with it. Thankfully, Masato pulled back the strength of the kick, not killing Kurogiri.

'Why?'

Tomura must have missed it but Kurogiri didn't. He really wondered why Masato didn't kill him.

'He's really a hero...'

Nope, it was just because Aizawa would be a pain to deal with if Masato killed Kurogiri.

***

Back in the USJ.

Almight was easily thrashing the Nomu and sent it out of the stadium.

"Hoo! That was easy!"

With those words, he ran away. A heavy amount of white mist supported his escape.

While I was sitting on the fountain-side, people were being saved by the heroes who came late.

"Oi, Anzai! Are you okay!?"

Eijiro ran towards the fountain. His lack of vigilance was worrying.

"Yep, just twisted my leg."

The entire leg was broken. It wasn't because Nomu was strong nor was it because Kurogiri was hard. It was because....

'Just by trying to hold back can cause this much damage?'

Because 'Elegant Swan' used the force of the opponent against him, I didn't notice it but my powers were at their peak due to my fight with Nomu. Even one kick with 5 gates open, could blow up Tomura's head to smithereens.

Fortunately, Kurogiri saved him from the onslaught of 'Diligent Ant'. It was only when I was about to land the final kick, did I realize my power.

In the end, I had to hold back my strength. It was like forcefully stopping a bullet train, which was going ahead at full speed.

There were only two scenarios when one did that. Either the train would derail or it wouldn't stop at all and crash.

My leg got damaged because of that.

"Woah! That looks bad. But it's proof of your manly spirit!"

Eijiro was pumped up because of the adrenaline running through his body. Since Shoto couldn't hurt his allies, he didn't go all-out with his ice quirk, letting some villains in.

Katsuki, Eijiro, Fumikage, Mezo and Mashiro mostly dealt with them. The remaining were taken down by the rest of the class.

"Thanks for the compliment."

I stood up and limped forward. Eijiro suggested using him as a support but...

"Sorry, but I don't bend that way."

Eijiro realized that he was wasting his emotions worrying about someone like that.

"Are you okay?"

Mezo kept his conversation short.

"50-50. My leg hurts but it was pretty fun, smashing people."

"Villains."

He corrected, lest someone hear those words.

"That's what I said."

For some reason, he shook his head but anyone could tell that he was smiling, even with the mask on.

"Should I take you to the hospital?"

"Later. How is Sleepyworm?"

The state of the leg was so bad that time of reaching the hospital wouldn't matter.

"... You mean Aizawa-sensei? He's fine, taking care of the villains."

All the villains were already caught so it was probably some paperwork or some scouting.

"Hmm~ I'm glad that he's not hurt."

"He's a pro hero. I don't think he could be hurt that easily."

Mezo didn't understand those words but he had a strange thought.

"Hey...."

"Hm?"

"Do... Do you think you can train-No, please train me!"

He bowed his head sincerely. Eijiro who was walking behind us, seemed to be taking notes. While Mashiro was wondering if he should do the same.

"Sure. If you get beaten up a few times, you will learn how to fight."

That was how Stendhal taught others. As his disciple, it would be dumb not to use that.

"B-beaten? A few times?"

Mezo glanced back at the destruction that 'Hachimon Tonkou' caused.

"Don't worry, I won't use quirks and wear weights. Now, help me collect those damn, costly bracelets."

Even selling myself wouldn't cover the cost of those bracelets.

"Okay."

He gave a curt nod before searching for the bracelets. Mezo soon found one, it was laid atop of a fainted villain.

"Found one!"

With those words, he tried to pick up the weight... Only to feel something was wrong.

'Is it.... supposed to be this heavy?'

Though Mezo could pick up the bracelets, he couldn't imagine wearing even one of them all the time, not to mention four.

"Here you go."

He gave it back to me, which I immediately put on. This incident taught me that 5 gates weren't enough to even stand before AFO. Perhaps 7 gates might put me on an level slightly lower than AFO but 8 gates would entirely overpower him.

It wouldn't even be a fight with the last gate but a beatdown.

"Thanks."

Soon, we recovered all the weights, out of which only 3 could be used. Not because the bracelet was damaged but because my leg was.

"Shouldn't you go to the hospital now?"

He seemed to be worried about the leg. Blood leaked from it, muscles were torn and part of the bones were cracked.

"Let's head to Recovery Girl."

...

"You! Did you throw your leg into a meat grinder!? How is it so messed up?"

Recovery Girl wasn't the least but kind. Slapping the leg whenever she berated me.

"Ow! Can you not hit it?"

"Why? You have to pay for your actions!"

Her pout wasn't the least bit cute but I could see why she used to be a famous hero of her time.

'A tsundere character? Is she as old as Almight?'

She was definitely older but it could be her quirk making her age faster. All recovery quirks had a side-effect of some sort.

- Chuu!

Anyway, her quirk was pretty amazing. The entire injury was healed easily, even if my stamina was drained in the process. Thanks to [Stamina Pop], that wasn't a problem.

"Thanks. I can walk again. It was pain to limp."

"You shouldn't apply pressure on it for an entire week."

She wrote down some precriptions for something.

"I healed almost everything. But something could have missed my tests. How did you even get hurt like that? It wasn't an external injury. It was like something blew up within the leg."

That's what happens when you try to hold back after releasing an attack. The force of the attack is already gathered but it cannot leave the body so it explodes within it.

"... I tripped? Would that work?"

"Ha~ Just get out!"

I was thrown out of her infirmary.

"Masato-kun~"

A strangely eerie voice called out.

"The villains attacked us! I didn't go to them!!"

It was a weak defense considering I literally jumped in their midst.

"Is that so? But Vlad King-sensei had something else to say."

Oi, what kind of a teacher would leak information to their student?

Himiko drew out a knife as she inched closer.

'System, is this an emergency? Can I use the 6th gate!? I would rather break my body than get caught!'

Sadly, that traitor didn't ignored the pleas for help.

- Stab!

"ACKKK!"

That's how Himiko tasted her first kill.