4 I Explode! (Part 3)
(Alternate title: Evolve or Die.)
"Ah..." Izuku Midoriya bit his lips.
Looking up above, in the giant screen projecting All Might's battle, he stared wide-eyed at the state of All Might. His face was sunken, with blood dripping down his forehead, there he could see the shriveled All Might.
"All Might..." he whispered. With his secret out in the open, he couldn't help but wonder what would happen now. What would the people think, when they find out that their beacon of hope was no more than an empty shell of his former past. Gone was the blinding light, it was replaced by a broken, flickering glow.
He closed his eyes. He thought that he should've stayed. At least he could have helped All Might even in the slightest. "W-What should I do?" he asked himself.
After looking at the state of the battle earlier, and not finding the slightest mop of blonde hair his childhood friend had, he guessed that he must've escaped when All Might appeared. That's why he and his classmates decided to retreat too so that All Might could go all out and defeat the villain like he always does...
If only he stayed! He could at least help All Might and Gran Torino fight them off!
If only he stretched his hands towards Bakugo, the world wouldn't know All Might's true form!
If only... if only he saved Bakugo at that time...
"Sniff! I- w-what should I do...? Kacchan...." as he wondered what would have been the right course of action, he suddenly thought of his childhood friend. He raised his head and looked around, if Bakugo really escaped, he should have been around here by now.
Since Bakugo also admires the same hero like him, he thought that he should also be here watching the battle. Yet when he looked around, he couldn't see a trace of Bakugo.
Apprehension slowly made its way towards his face. He gasped at the thought, and with an unprecedented speed, he turned his head towards the screen showing All For One walking towards the shriveled yet ready All Might.
As they and the rest of the spectators held their breath and waited for All Might to attack, the camera suddenly changed scenes and showed a blonde-haired boy standing on top of a collapsed building.
The boy loomed over the area, with a hand in his pocket and a metal pipe over his shoulder, the camera zoomed in on his arrogant face. The boy had short, spike, ash-blond hair with choppy bangs that hangs over his eyebrows. His crimson eyes were sharp with an uncharacteristic calm in them.
Before Midoriya and the people of Japan could react, the boy run towards the edge of the building and did a 360 spinning motion in the air. "WHAT!" they all yelled. If a normal person jumped from that height, they would surely die from the impact, yet the boy jumped fearlessly and even did a front flip to go with it.
"BAKUGO!" the entire Class 1-A watching and those who knew him yelled in surprise.
Before they could calm themselves at seeing their classmate live on television, they were surprised yet again as Bakugo headed straight towards All For One.
BONK!
"..."
Even from high above the air, they could hear the bonk that reverberated in the crater. They all watched with mouth agape at the seemingly invincible villain that could contend against All Might on equal footing get knocked in the head with a metal pipe and used as a cushion, getting his deformed face dragged in the ground with a blonde-haired boy riding him in the back.
"A-Are you seeing this!!" the reporter yelled. He zoomed in on All For One that was kneeling on the ground. "A young boy suddenly intruded in the fight!"
As they wondered what would happen next, they definitely didn't expect the boy to swagger towards the kneeling villain and beat him across the face!
BONK!
"..."
They were too shocked to react. All they could do was watch as the boy kneeled down and grabbed the villain's head like a vice.
"B-Bakugo-shonen..." All Might stood there with a dazed expression. He didn't expect that his arch-nemesis would be taken out like that. As he started to relax his tense body, arcs of red lightning suddenly appeared on All For One's body.
"BAKUGO-SHONEN!" he yelled as he ran toward Bakugo.
Bakugo(Viktor), just gazed at All For One with a livid expression. He gritted his teeth and smashed his head again. PANG! Only for a massive arm to block it.
"Y-You... BASTARD!" Enraged, All For One cocked his fist and shot it through Viktor's smug face. Before the compressed air could be released, Viktor spat on All For One's face and flipped him the bird.
"Suck my diii-"
BOOM!
"BAKUGO""BAKUGO-SHONEN!"
With a satisfied grin, the compressed air smashed through Viktor's body, hurling him through the air. Blood spurt out of his mouth as his innards get scrambled, yet his smile was still plastered on his face.
'F-fuck...' he thought. The feeling of a giant pillar made of air smashing his whole body and rocking his brain made him question if he was transmigrated in the body of an alternate version of Madara.
BOOM!
Before his thoughts could wander, another pillar made of air raced through the night sky. Like a train bulldozing its way through, Viktor could only watch in bitterness as the finishing move made its way towards him. He knew that if that hit, he would surely die.
Before he lost consciousness, he felt a burning feeling coming from his left and there he saw another pillar, but this one was made of orange flames. The pillar of fire suddenly morphed into a wolf that opened its mouth, intending to swallow him whole.
'Ah, fuck."
BOOM! FWOOSH!
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Trivia:
Did you know?
Bakugo's quirk is so powerful that he could explode an entire building with just a canister of his sweat!
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-Viktor Blaze POV-
Before the massive air pilar and the flaming wolf reached me, my world suddenly slowed down and eventually came to a halt. Unknown memories started flooding my brain, making me wonder if this is that so called phenomena where your life flash before your eyes.
"Heh, even though you're Quirkless... you're pretending to be a hero, Deku?"
Worthless.
"No matter what Quirk you get, you'll never beat me."
Arrogance.
"This is easy!"
A pile of worthless arrogance.
"Oh, I see! I'm amazing! No one is as amazing as I am!"
What an arrogant piece of shit.
Katsuki Bakugo.
Sifting through this body's memories, I found out many useful things.
Like, a lot.
Starting from Quirks to heroes and villains.
I especially liked his memories.
Katsuki Bakugo was an arrogant narcissistic shit-head.
He lived his life believing he was a king, calling others "extras" even though he too was an extra himself.
He was the very definition of a bully in a high-school story.
That one character that bullies the main character for some character develo-
Wait...
Don't tell me!?
"Are you all right? Can you stand?"
Another memory played out in front of me. There, I could see a boy with a mop of green hair stretching his hand out towards me.
Years passed, the little boy now became a nerd as expected. A timid, and cowardly high-schooler, a perfect target for my bullying.
After getting accepted into UA, I ran into him inside the classroom for the elites. I thought he just got lucky, but I never expected him to have a Quirk.
A Quirk that he had hidden from me for so long.
Weak nerd - Kind - Wants to be a hero - Suddenly becomes strong = Main Character trope.
Fuuuck me...
Shit.
I don't care if I'm an extra.
Hell, I don't even care if I'm a mob!
But... being the fucking bully turned rival of the Main Protagonist is more shitty than being the Main Protagonist itself.
I would be used as a stepping stone. Or worse, I would be used as a character development material, killing me off in order for the Main Protagonist to be more decisive.
Or... I could just be being delusional.
Again.
I need more information.
But I don't have enough time.
As it stands, the moment I collide with an object that would surely stop all the force in my body, there is a very likely reaction of me being smashed to pieces, or worse, me getting smashed to pieces.
"Fuck."
I've read on the internet that there's some sort of time dilation inside one's consciousness and the outside world. If I could find a way to stop myself midair, then maneuver myself on the ground, then everything would be all right.
Let's see... Ah! Quirks!
Explosion...
Explosion!?
Shit! That's it! If I could use the shockwave from my explosions, I could theoretically cancel all the force build-up and redirect it towards... Wait, wouldn't that break my arm though?
Theoretically speaking, one pillar of air sent me flying through the sky and forced all the air in my lungs, depriving me of oxygen to think straight, therefore if I wake up now, there is a high chance I might fuck it up and break my arms, and legs the moment I try to redirect the force of impact.
I need to think.
What would my master do...?
"My useless disciple, if you are trapped in a deadlock, no bullets, no guns, and no strength, then it's better for you to give up and die."
Wait, not that one.
"Listen, if you want to survive, then rely on your instinct."
"But if you have worthless instincts, then that's fine. Instinct isn't something you could immediately have, it is something you grow. You temper yourself through countless failures that the moment you recognize you're going to fail, you change your actions and plow through any situations that come your way."
"Instinct isn't some sort of superpower, it is the accumulation of your luck that leads you to survive every death encounter and avoid it."
"Humans are like cockroaches, the more they struggle, the more they evolve to survive."
"Evolve or Die my useless disciple. That is the secret to get an instinct."
Evolve or Die.
Alright, as expected of my master, even her bullshit somehow made sense.
"Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die. Evolve or Die."
Like a mantra, I repeated these words inside my head.
Katsuki Bakugo
Quirk: Explosion
-allows him to secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from the palms of his hands and ignite it on command, allowing him to create strong explosions.
Nitroglycerin
-an explosive yellow liquid made by nitrating glycerol, used in explosives such as dynamite. It is also used in medicine as a vasodilator in the treatment of angina pectoris.
I'm more of a gun powder person, but I could make do with that.
"Evolve."
Explosion Quirk:
Release.
-The ability to release nitroglycerin-like sweat from the palm of my hands at will.
Heat.
-The ability to emit heat from the palm of my hands, reaching up to 50 °C. Just enough to boil hot water. Nitroglycerin has about 50 °C boiling point before it explodes.
Detonate:
-The ability to detonate the nitroglycerin-like sweat despite it already reaching its boiling point.
If I were to separate it into Quirks, then it would be.
Sweat manipulation.
Heat emission.
Sweat detonation.
Unlike Katsuki Bakugo who only focused on making cool moves to imitate All Might, I focus more on practicality.
How well can a human body move. What is the most efficient way to kill someone. And what is the most appropriate way to use a weapon.
Now, what was it again? Evolve or die?
"Hehe, time to die."
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Next chapter: Break the world! EXPLOSION!
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Viktor Blaze
Rational* Schemer
A previously delusional gangster turned into an impulsive teen with a short-term identity crisis. Now with proper bearings, what would a former child soldier do with a Quirk that could destroy an entire city with enough sweat?
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