41 Chapter 41 - Heaven Splitter

Katsuki moved at blazing speeds, appearing at one point to another like a shadowy blur that left behind trails of flames and explosions in his wake.

As he moved through the air, the pain emitted from his arms turned more intense as minutes passed by, but the excitement he felt overwhelmed any sort of pain he could feel. Instead, he turned faster and faster as the newfound sensation was ingrained deeper and deeper into his muscles, bones, nerves, and brain.

The robot swung its arm in an attempt to hit him, but unlike before where he avoided it, he instead got closer to the robot and pointed both of his arms toward the robot, bending his fingers along the way as his instincts turned into inspiration.

'Explosion Style: Dragon's Roar!'

With the bent fingers in the shape of a claw acting as the muzzle of a cannon, the sweat gathered around his fists rapidly exploded in tandem to the point they culminated into one amalgamation of power!

Like the roar of a fearsome dragon manifested into reality, disastrous flames, and a catastrophic boom rang. A huge cloud of dust and smoke formed, while the sound of the explosion rang in everyone's ear.

"T-This?!" The orb guy stood up in shock, gawking at the monitor screen with dumbfounded eyes.

The rat thing trembled on its seat, clenching the arms of the chair tightly as it couldn't believe what it was seeing, "What is this?"

As the cloud of smoke settled, Katsuki's grin turned wider as he saw the missing arm of the enormous zero-pointer.

'I can do this!'

'I can finally kill this thing!'

He pointed his hand to the side, exploding off another series of explosions and propelling himself at breakneck speeds.

The more he used his newfound technique, the more he understood it, and the better he got at using it. There was a difference when it comes to raw power and technique.

While raw power built upon hours upon hours of training, and with one only seeing pitiful gains the more powerful they got and the closer they got to their limits, technique was vastly different!

Martial arts follow such principal, allowing humans to more effectively use the tiny power they can gather with their weak bodies. On the other hand, if an already strong man learns how to use martial arts, then the power they can exude would be far beyond what they could originally use with raw strength alone.

Katsuki was already powerful before he unlocked his newfound technique, with explosions that can destroy boulders with ease, and heat that can melt metal with enough time.

Now that he has access to this newfound application, no, this evolution to his already ridiculous raw power, then one can already foresee just how high his limits have been raised!

'Faster! Faster!' He blitzed through the sky as he left the grand sound of his explosions wherever he went. Windows shattered from the wind pressure he built up, while buildings shook along his path.

In front of his rapidly moving figure, the wind gathered as the wind pressure built up further and further. His hair flapped while his eyes squinted. The searing pain he felt from his aching arms made him want to stop, but this trance-like state he was in was something he couldn't pull himself out of!

'More! MORE!'

His body looped far away from the zero-pointer, and he was now on a straight path toward it in one clear line without any obstacles to stop him.

Katsuki straightened his arms and ignored the immense stress his arms were in. Instead, he transformed his hands into claws and murmured under his breath, "Explosion Style: Turbo!"

A series of rapid explosions erupted from the palm of his hands and the accumulated sweat rapidly dwindled. At a speed that appeared only as a shadowy blur to the naked eye, his pupils dilated and enlarged as he traveled through the air at speeds that caused the wind pressure to smash against his body like they were dense water.

But even so, he remained calm and sharp. As he spun in midair and gathered the wind to form a mini tornado around his body, he arrived in front of the robot, and traveled through nearly a hundred meters in less than a single second!

"DRAGON IMPACT!" Katsuki roared with all his might as he swung his open palm against the head of the robot. "CLUSTER!"

The air wrapped around his body suddenly shifted its course. From the tips of his fingers and on the edges of his palm, a multitude of sparks lit up at nearly the exact same moment. Then, with the sparks as the trigger and the air as the fuel, a loud explosion occurred.

BOOOOOOOM!

The wind pressure burst out like a dam, toppling down the surrounding buildings as a tornado of flames slithered into the sky. Nearby glasses shattered into numerous fragments, while the clouds up above swirled and dispersed like how falling leaves are pushed away by strong gusts of wind.

A small mushroom cloud rose up from where the epicenter of the terrifying explosion was, and the smoke that appeared obstructed the cameras that were pointing straight at the zero-pointer robot and Katsuki.

The rat thing stared at the cloud of smoke that rose into the sky, its eyes shining brightly upon the shocking scene that just occurred.

The orb-head guy sat down on his chair, his body shaking from his fear and surprise. "W-What terrifying power."

"It's already comparable to a series of missiles being launched at the same target." The cement guy commented from the side, scratching his chin as he used his quirk to control liquid-like cement and delivered a cup of water to the two beside him.

They stared at Battle Center A and were greeted by the entirety of what Katsuki has done. Buildings were broken into rubble while examinees teetered at the edges of the arena, practically hugging the wall and cowering in fear of what may happen next.

"To think there's not just one, but two crazy people daring enough to take down the zero-pointer…"

As the smoke receded, Katsuki's figure soon appeared in the countless eyes of the flying drones, and they saw him standing atop the destroyed head of the zero-pointer with melted metal and exposed wirings.

Katsuki leaned his back on the remains of the zero-pointer, his arms shaking and trembling as the adrenaline finally wore off. Both of his arms were bruised beyond recognition. His muscles were torn, his joints are at the edge of breaking, and his skin has been basically burnt.

But even with his gruesome condition, a victorious smile was plastered on his face, "Take that, you pieces of shit."

Finally, as the last bit of strength left his body, he was knocked unconscious from exhaustion and plopped down to the ground with an audible thud.

…

Ryuji stared down the scattering snowflakes in front of him with a grin on his face. 'It seems like the zero-pointer is going to be sent out.'

'This would be a great way to forcefully awaken Katsuki-kun and have him teeter on the edge of Stage Three. Heh, after all of my arrangements, I would allow another being to get closer to forming a Law Seed.' Ryuji shook his head with a sigh and a smile on his face.

'Now, it's up to him how he'll form his Law Seed and start the formation of his own pathway to attain godhood and reach Stage Four, becoming a Pathway Entity.' Ryuji tapped the tips of his toes on the ground beneath him and observed all of the ones he found who have quite the potential.

'Ice, Creation, Hardening, and some other rough gems hidden under layers of dirt are all scattered here. With the right guidance, I can create a class full of legends that would, later on, go under my wing.'

'Of course, I also planted my own little seed among these gems.' Ryuji chuckled and a menacing glint flashed across his eyes.

'Sigh, it's so tough to be the hidden boss of a hidden organization which is also named Hidden Order. My own subordinates and slaves that have undergone tons of brainwashing and mind fucking don't even know I exist, and believe that the one running the organization is Leader!'

Just as Ryuji turned melancholic, a loud boom suddenly exploded from the distance and a huge cloud of dust formed in between rumbling buildings and fierce winds.

"What is that?" Momo stopped in her tracks and stared at the distant eruption with wary eyes.

The others did the same, moving their gaze toward the source of the commotion to see what was happening.

As the cloud of dust receded, they finally saw what was hidden within it, and the imposing figure of the zero-pointer with its colossal frame toppled over their body and minds.

"R-Run!"

Their survival instincts overwrote their fighting spirits, and they turned tail and run. Momo was the same, and she didn't feel ashamed one bit of running away.

'Only a madman would try and fight that thing!' She dismissed the hammer in her hands and ran along with the others, hiding between the moving crowd to ensure her protection while laying low at the same time.

Among them, Shoto, the ice guy, slid along the ground and moved up to the rooftop of a nearby building to better oversee the situation.

The reason behind his actions was to get a better overall grasp of all the chaos happening, while also providing himself the chance to get more hero points from saving the examinees that need saving from any possible accidents that may occur.

Just as he stared around the area with squinted eyes, he suddenly heard a thud behind him, and a hand pressed down on his shoulder without him noticing it at all.

'W-What?' He widened his eyes and prepared to attack as his fear of the unknown took over his logical thinking, but the hand simply moved away from his shoulder, calming him down.

"Hey, kid." A boy with golden eyes wearing a strange golden robe greeted him from the side, and Shoto instantly recognized who he was.

"You!" Shoto stepped back and retreated from the unknown guy.

"Yeah, yeah." Ryuji rolled his eyes. "I'm just here to warn you that you should go far away from here already unless you want to experience something really wild and dangerous up close."

Shoto prepared to activate his quirk as he interpreted Ryuji's words as a threat. "What do you mean?"

"Just go away already! I'm itching real hard to just go wild right now!" Ryuji stepped forward and appeared in front of Shoto within a split second.

Before Shoto can even react, Ryuji grabbed him by the shoulder, spun on the ground, and released his tight grip. In the next second, Shoto found himself flying through the air, his eyes widening in surprise.

"Fuck!" He cursed under his breath and swiftly created ice from the tips of his arm, creating a long pillar of ice that stuck to the side of a nearby building.

As he saved himself from imminent danger, he was about to look back and glare at the rude fella, when he suddenly heard a voice boom with endless bloodlust.

"Ha! I haven't had this much excitement in a long while!" Ryuji gripped the handle of his blade tightly and wore a wide grin that revealed rows of white teeth.

"Hooo…" He exhaled turbid breath from his mouth and tensed up his entire body. His muscles bulged with unrivaled strength beneath his golden robes, and his eyes glowed brightly like a pair of stars.

"Let's just hope this doesn't cause too much damage." Ryuji closed his eyes and concentrated fully on one single strike.

From his shoulders down to his elbows and onto the tips of his fingers, golden scales slowly appeared and shimmered underneath the radiance of the sun, shining brightly like mystical gold. Then, as he finally opened his eyes that were completely focused unlike his usual eccentric demeanor, he lightly muttered.

"Dragon Paradigm Sword Style: Heaven Splitter."

He swiftly pulled out the blade from its sheath. At a speed that went beyond the limits of sound, a golden streak of light flashed past everyone's eyes, and as they all collectively looked at the sky, they saw the clouds part into two, revealing the bright ball of light hanging in the middle.

AN: This chapter has 2088 words.

A common observation I have found is that the more I like the idea, the more hate I'll give it when I actually have to write it because my plot is way beyond my pay grade. Like, the fuck am I writing twists and turns for when I ain't getting a single cent from this shite. Ugh, anyways, Arc 2 is gonna be lit since a certain dubious twink is gonna do the a huge uno reverse card and get that classic NND spice of corruptive evil.

So much big brain behemoths is crushing my mind right now!

(May 26, 2023 - 547th day of writing)