Chapter Text
Lesson 1: A hero must know how to make use of the lies.
Chapter 3: "Diamond is Unbreakable!"
第3章: 「ダイヤモンドは砕けない！」
"And so the American Association of Heroes held their second conference of the year at Liberty Nexus Tower in New York. —"
As Yaoyorozu Momo approached Ben Tennyson's room, the sound of an English-speaking TV news program drifted out. Initially, she considered turning back, but halfway there, she changed her mind and knocked on his door.
"Ben?"
There was no response from inside; just the newsreader reporting about a recent big Pro Hero conference in America.
"... Every top-ranked Superheroes of the United States participated in the conference, where they discussed the matter regarding the theft of—"
She hated to interrupt him, but decided to give some knocks on the door anyway.
"Hello, Ben, you in there?"
"Correct, Mein Fräulein," answered a domineering and stern voice that clearly wasn't Ben's. "You may enter."
" — the Pro Hero and the director of CC Corporations, Captain Celebrity, has given his opinion on the case. To quote his official statement, he appears to believe that this particular act of villainy is either to haunt the world or to represent a certain symbolism—"
Momo thought something was off. She then opened the door and took a look inside first. No one was found on the couch, in front of which the TV was on.
"Turn your head around."
She almost jumped, but grabbed the top of the couch to calm herself and looked back at where the voice came from. In one top corner of the room hung a big orange crab-like creature upside down on huge, thick spider webs. It was staring freakishly at her through its large green eyes.
"Ben?"
"Jackpot, you're correct," answered the crab, its mouth frozen in a smile with exposed white teeth, without moving as it spoke. "You should've pinpointed my location just by tuning in to my voice from beyond the door."
"Do you think I'm a spy or something?" Momo angrily tightened her grip on the couch. "Also, stop speaking like a Kabuki actor. Cut the theatrics, you're starting to annoy me!"
It wasn't even a crab, but certainly a bizarre arthropod creature with a huge head, which was connected to a smaller lower body with a neck (?). Its hands with the pincers were connected to the top while the bottom body possessed six segmented arthropod legs.
"But I must suggest you exercise your auditory perception sometimes. It will prove worthwhile in your future heroics."
Speaking like a drama actor, his voice sounded so dignified and smart, almost like mocking Momo in particular. But not that it was in his control.
"I've never seen this one before," Momo said. "What is it called? Hugeheaded Spider?"
It made the "crab" raise its voice.
"The webs underneath my arthropod appendages were made of steel-strong silk produced from the Arachnichimp tail. And yours truly's name is Brainstorm."
[Arachnichimp = Spidermonkey's species]
"Such a basic name…?"
Upon hearing her remark, all kinds of classic insults and curse words danced on Brainstorm's mind, until she interrupted his overthinking before he could actually word out something harsh.
"Oh, almost forgot it," she said. "I know you're off-duty today, but the maids said you didn't come down for dinner. Come on, don't make your Ojou-sama personally come for you."
It was actually funny to see someone calling themselves an Ojou-sama. But Brainstorm didn't do much as chuckle.
"In layman's terms, I'm currently quite preoccupied with important matters," he said. "Therefore, perhaps please leave me alone for tonight."
Momo couldn't help but stare at Brainstorm's freakish smile for a moment. It was a smile, sure, but she knew it didn't reflect Ben's true feelings. His smile could send chills down her spine any time of the day, but she couldn't help it.
"Is that so? Then good luck," she replied, nodding. "I hope you'll reach the answer you need."
Yaoyorozu Momo was one of the few people who knew Ben Tennyson was much stronger than he claimed to be. It was at first meant to be a secret, but Ben let Momo know not just because he trusted her. In layman's terms, Momo was an intelligent and capable young lady who understood the professional boundaries between herself and Ben, no matter how they acted with each other.
She could never get closer to Ben even if she tried… So in the end, she made it a rule to not try to know Ben than she needed to.
" — no, the theft of this historic monument isn't just an outrageous challenge to the United States. It's a warning… to the entire world. It's like telling us up close to our ears! What if some great, overwhelming and unstoppable villain —"
The top side of Brainstorm's large skull split open in a freaky manner, revealing his pink brain inside. He looked pretty vulnerable right at that moment, but he really wasn't. A yellow string of electric sparks emerged from his brain and reached the TV, turning it off with a simple contact.
He closed the skull calmly and started concentrating even more seriously.
Ben Tennyson, who was Brainstorm at the time, felt the ironic childish anger inside him. The only thing that was keeping himself rational was Brainstorm's genius intellect. With a head that big, it should be obvious, heh.
Brainstorm wasn't nicknamed Brainstorm for no reason.
"Now I'm able to visualize the series of hypothetical events even clearly," his pincers clanged in harmony as he meditated, closing his eyes firmly. "So that appears to be the case."
The most reasonable theory Brainstorm could devise was rather complicated.
Reason 1: The highly advanced and strong fortress of U.A. High had been breached by someone. It wouldn't be insane to think it was all done by a single person, and it wasn't any of the journalists. None of them had such an insane quirk, according to his research.
It must be a villain.
Reason 2: Anyone capable of infiltrating the U.A. High and challenging its security must be formidable. Strong enough to antagonize Japan's top hero school. Additionally, All Might had begun teaching there this year. This couldn't be a coincidence. But what was their motive?
"It cannot be just a single villain… They must have other villains backing them up."
Reason 3: To challenge the strongest man ever, they'd have to be insane. Super crazy and completely messed up in the head.
For the time being, let's call them the League of Villains.
No, no, Brainstorm was just putting himself in the shoes of a crazy villain with a lame naming sense.
"Now everything's connected. I can see the ending of this route!"
Brainstorm laughed maniacally like a mad scientist, perfectly knowing that the Japanese villains were going to regret challenging the school of America's most wanted villain! No, I will make sure they pay the price!
Surprisingly, this Ben Tennyson is childish and petty at times.
It was another lively day at U.A. High for Ben and his classmates. However, Aizawa-sensei seemed different today. Usually, his voice was laced with fatigue and disinterest, but today he looked more serious, although his gloomy aura remained.
Aizawa Shota, also known as the Pro Hero Eraserhead, preferred to stay out of the media spotlight. Yesterday’s mess with the journalists must've been bothering him.
"And so if you've looked at the schedule," he announced to the class, "you'll see that we're going somewhere for the afternoon Heroics lesson. You'll be supervised by a three-man team: myself, All Might, and another hero."
So Brainstorm's prediction was right. So Brainstorm's prediction was right. U.A. didn’t just let the security issue slide.
"It's a Rescue Training session," the teacher said, comically holding up a card that said "Rescue".
"Rescue Training sounds a bit difficult this time around…" Kaminari remarked.
"Totally!" Ashido agreed.
Most Pro Heroes used the offensive part of their quirks more. Ben mentally noted, judging from the comments of his classmates. For those without means to use their quirk for rescue, this agenda will be difficult.
But at the end of the day, rescue isn't all about saving or evacuating people. Very often that you must be equipped with a quirk capable of destroying modern infrastructure that might trap people inside during the disasters. Offensive quirk users can go with this method to back up the rescue and paramedic team.
One of such examples is Thirteen, a Pro Hero teaching at the U.A. From the looks of it, Ben was 90% sure the third teacher Aizawa-sensei mentioned was Thirteen.
"Don't get ahead of yourselves," the teacher interjected, silencing them. "This time, it's entirely up to each of you whether or not you wear your costumes. Some of your costumes probably aren't adapted to the task at hand, after all."
He then pressed a button on a device that seemed to be a remote control and made the closets slide out of the wall.
"Ah…" only then Ben realized All Might didn't just open the wall with his sheer willpower (in the previous chapter).
"The training area is fairly far away, so we'll get there by bus. That's all for now. Go get prepared."
Oh, by the way, Brainstorm also predicted Midoriya would be wearing his gym outfit instead. If you think Tony Stark's predictions are crazy, come see Brainstorm is even crazier.
On the other hand, Iida was even more hyperactive after accepting the class representative position. Blocking the entrance of the bus, he strictly lectured the class to get on the bus in an orderly manner, only to learn that they didn't need it at all. It was most likely a commuter bus, with some seats in the middle arranged in two columns facing each other, affixed to the inner walls.
"Then I'll be taking this one first, hehe…" Ashido said, sitting down in one of the middle seats.
"Me here, me here!" Aoyama Yuga, the blond foreigner kid, also took the place next to her.
Meanwhile, Ben went all the way to the back and took the furthest seat out of habit. But that didn't go unnoticed by the young lady. Half-sulkingly, Yaoyorozu Momo sat down next to him, shattering his dream of peace and quiet. But his downfall didn't stop there.
"Oh…"
Momo and Ben looked up at the imposing figure, who was giving them a death stare right in front of them. And then without a single word, he took the seat right next to Momo.
Of course, it was no other than Todoroki Shoto! The mere "dark" energy radiating from him could make Momo shrink, because nah, he was tons worse than her butler's "edgy" teenager syndrome.
"I see the recommended student outcasts are getting along, huh…" said a certain spiky-blond explosive kid.
Ben widened his eyes and got instant regret. He didn't notice Bakugou was sitting right in front of him. After having seen how Bakugou treated Midoriya, Ben decided to give him a piece of his mind—
"Are you in any position to call us outcasts?" His voice was unfaltering and confident, but also with a hint of mocking and insult. "At least we're getting along with each other."
"Grrr, I will explode you!"
"Bakugou-san, Tennyson-san…" Momo intervened with a tone of authority.
"Call me Ben," Ben replied, as hearing Tennyson-san was awkward.
"Yeah, as the vice class president," she continued. "I will have to stop you. Please don't taunt each other as you two are simply too danger—"
"Who cares?!" Bakugou turned back around and decided to mind his own business.
Yaoyorozu Momo let out a sigh of relief and relaxed, leaning back in her seat. Ben gave her a silent thumbs-up and closed his eyes, seemingly trying to take a nap on the trip.
"You've got it rough…" Todoroki muttered in a monotone, blankly staring at Momo before averting his eyes as he realized it was rude to stare at people for too long.
Momo didn't mind though.
"Well, I'm the vice president. Gotta do what I can."
It's not so often that Todoroki expresses himself. He was the prime example of a loner elite with twisted ideologies resulting from a miserable life. Momo used to lament Ben's "anti-social" tendencies, but look at this kid! His personality was aloof and cold, and detached — struggling in his life all alone and lonely. Unlike Ben, who had managed to make friends, Todoroki seemed to navigate life alone, with no one to rely on but himself.
Also that burn mark… Momo couldn't help staring at Todoroki for a moment. I wonder how he got it.
Meanwhile the middle seats just screamed fun with all the excitement radiating from chatter and noises from the crowd.
"Your Quirk reminds me of All Might's."
The frog girl, Asui Tsuyu was the one who set Midoriya on fire.
"Is… Is that s-s-so!? Haha, but…"
There definitely was something behind it.
With Midoriya stuttering in the middle seats, Momo could faintly hear Ben snoring next to her. Todoroki gave the sleeping brunet a look of disbelief, like so this is the guy who beat me? So relaxed he's even fallen asleep!? Or something along that line.
But in Bakugou's eyes, the last row of the bus smelled like a love triangle, Ben and Todoroki with Momo in the middle. Wait, should I tell them that? Would I get punched if I told them?!
"B-but if we're going to talk about strong quirks…" Midoriya tried to divert the conversation. "Tennyson-kun's Quirk is… definitely one, right?! It's also super versatile and super strong. I think he has a lot of uses for each of his transformations—"
"Stop, Midoriya-kun," Kaminari intervened before it went out of hand. "You don't need to explain the details."
"Hmm, now that I think about it…" Asui cupped her chin, giving another honest opinion. "I think Tennyson-kun also has creativity when using his super strength and likes. It reminds me of how All Might can change the weather just by punching…"
"Asui— Tsuyu-san, you're also going down the spiral," Iida said bluntly. "Don't tell me… Are you a nerd like Midoriya, too?"
"I'm just being honest," Asui said. Her expression was always hard to read.
I'm saved… Midoriya internally sighed as the storm had safely passed.
"Yes, okay, I get it," Kirishima said, getting up from his seat. "Hey, Ben, come join us— oh…"
"He's asleep?" Kaminari looked puzzled.
"He really has no worries, huh?" Aoyama said with an unreadable smile. "People with fancy quirks…"
Unbeknownst to them, Ben Tennyson had to take a nap on the way because he pulled an all-nighter last night. Thankfully, he got enough time to prepare for what was to come.
"He's also keeping his cool all the time," Ashido added. "Speaking of Tennyson-kun, Hagakure-san, how does it feel to be hugged by his… that four-armed transformation?"
"Eh?" Caught off-guard, Hagakure shrank in her place. "I don't… know, it's just normal?"
Hagakure was the wrong person to ask. Her definition of "normal" wasn't quite right.
"It's Fou Aamuzu (Four Arms), Ashido-san," Midoriya the nerd corrected the pinky girl.
"Ugh, wait, is it called "Four Arms" for four arms?" Sero Hanta, the tape guy, looked astounded. "Like, seriously?!"
"But it actually rocks," said Jiro Kyoka, the earphone jack girl. "Simple but still cool."
"Doesn't it sound cool just because it's an English name?" MIneta pointed out.
"But that orange dog must feel the best to touch," Ashido stated with a serious face. "Right, Hagakure-san?"
"Eh?" Hagakure sounded hesitant and confused again.
There was that one occasion during the battle trial where Hagakure had to ride Wildmutt to hide from Todoroki.
ARGHH, by then Ashido realized that Hagakure, while invisible, had sat naked on the back of Wildmutt. Embarrassed by her own imagination, she shut herself up and decided not to dig further.
The only other person who realized it was Yaoyorozu Momo of all people.
"Oi, foreigner!" Bakugou exploded, explosively waking up our protagonist. "Everyone's been talking about you and you're asleep?!!"
"Huh?... what's the time… Grr, leave me alone!!"
This time Momo only facepalmed instead of interfering, but the dispute was enough to turn their class president, Iida Tenya into a robotic busybody. He got up from his seat and rushed all the way to the back.
"Bakugou-kun, you don't need to be rude! He's just taking a nap!"
"Why're you even here, goody two shoes!?"
"Goody— that's the very thing I'm talking about!"
Some of the students looked at their teacher who sat in one of the front seats, hoping he would be help. But no matter how noisy and messy the class was, the teacher didn't utter a word. He was as quiet and calm as a meditating monk in the middle of a green forest.
Yes, that's right. Aizawa-sensei had plugs in his ears.
Soon they arrived at their destination for the day.
USJ - The Unforeseen Simulation Joint… a separate facility founded and managed by none other than the Pro Hero who specializes in rescue — Thirteen. From the outside, it was a gigantic dome — by gigantic meant it was really big. But the interior was even more impressive.
"This is just above and beyond…" Ben muttered, his eyes wide with astonishment as he entered the premises. "It's like an entire city's worth of disasters in one place."
"Yeah, it's definitely Plus Ultra," Kirishima agreed, his voice filled with excitement and a touch of nervousness.
The vastness and detail of the USJ left them all in silent awe. The realism of the various disaster zones was both impressive and intimidating. The air was filled with a mix of smoke, the scent of damp earth, and the faint, salty tang of sea water.
"Above and beyond" was an understatement to describe the detailed infrastructure lying inside that dome.
"Amazing, right?"
There was someone welcoming the Class 1-A — a Pro Hero in a white spacesuit like costume but with a puffy jacket, making her look like she was an inflated astronaut. Her voice also had a filter that made it sound like a synthesized radio-transmitted voice accompanied by a slightly metallic undertone.
"Welcome to the Rescue Training Lesson, Hero Course Students" she continued the intro. "There are different environmental disasters out there that heroes may face: flood wrecks, landslides, fires, etc. That's why I created this U.S.J. — Unforeseen Simulation Joint, the practical training area where we can simulate all kinds of accidents and disasters."
"It's the Space Hero: Thirteen," Midoriya excitedly said as soon as he recognized her. "She's an angelic hero who does phenomenal work helping with disaster relief!"
[A/N: Sorry for interruption, and a little bit of spoilers. In MHA latest chapters, Thirteen is revealed to be a cute anime girl, lol. No offense. She's not even agender or anything. So if you're confused about my choice of her pronouns, that's the reason.]
Pro Hero: Thirteen, Quirk: Black Hole. — out of all the U.A. faculty including even All Might, Thirteen had the most interesting quirk, according to Ben. It allows her to replicate a black hole suction effect from her hands. But what's even more interesting is the way Thirteen uses her quirk for rescue purposes.
It's obvious that it's illegal to turn the villains into dust.
"I will be leading this session, with the help of your homeroom teacher and All Might!"
The students could see Aizawa whispering to Thirteen. Though Ben didn't overhear their conversation, he could guess All Might was late to the party.
This is bad… Immediately, Ben decided to keep up his guards and be even more wary.
"Okay," Thirteen held up their fingers and looked at the class. "Before we begin, just one thing… or two… or three… or four… I'm certain that you're all already quite aware, but my Quirk is called "Black Hole", no matter what material may get sucked into its vortex, it will turn into dust."
"A perfect quirk to remove wreckage in disasters!!" Midoriya excitedly commented, which Uraraka wholeheartedly agreed by nodding rapidly.
"Yes…" Thirteen continued. "But it is also a power that could easily be used to kill. In that way, it's no different from the quirks of everyone here."
To sum up the rest of Thirteen's preface, with great power comes great responsibility. She explained to the students that they should use their powers responsibly.
"Your quirks emphatically don't exist to hurt others!" She concludes her speech. "Please leave this exercise having fully understood that your quirks exist to help people! That's all! You have my gratitude for listening so intently and patiently!"
"That was awesome!" "Bravo! Bravo!!"
So this is the hero who dedicated herself exclusively to saving lives. Ben had to commend her dedication and the speech she gave.
But unfortunately, it appeared they had some uninvited guests coming over…
Ben was the first one to notice it, having been watching that direction the entire time.
"Aizawa-sensei," he called out, but even without his warning, the teacher had already seen it.
About a dozen meters away, a dark, ominous purple cloud formed out of nowhere, expanding rapidly until something emerged from it. The cloud morphed into a portal, a warpgate connecting this place to somewhere else.
"Huddle together and don't move!!" Aizawa-sensei shouted at the students, putting on his goggles. "Thirteen, protect them!!"
"What's that?" Kirishima said, staring at the newcomers. "Is this like—"
"Don't move!" Aizawa-sensei repeated. "Those are villains!!"
Within seconds, a good few dozens of "villains" flooded through the warpgate, including all kinds of weirdos and criminal lowlifes with weird fashion senses that advertised the fact ten times over.
Normally, Ben would consider it rude to assume someone was a villain at first glance. But in this case, it was obvious: trespassing on private property, crashing a hero course lesson, and blatantly unauthorized use of quirks. These people had already committed more crimes than Ben would expect.
"Eraserhead and Thirteen…"
A voice came out of one of the warpgates, with a pair of bright yellow eye-like structures while forming a humanoid form with its body overall.
"According to the teachers' curriculum we procured yesterday," said the Warpgate Man. "Mr. All Might was supposed to be here, and yet…"
"I knew it," Aizawa-sensei said. "So yesterday was the doing of you lots…"
"Where is he…"
This time, it was the villain in the center of them who spoke. He had creepy human-hand-shaped accessories holding him all over his body, especially one of them grabbing his face which acted like some kind of mask. Kinda cool, but in fact, creepy!
"... We went through all this trouble," he said. "And rustled up so many of us to bring along. You can't tell me All Might, the symbol of Peace, isn't here… I wonder if he'll show up if we kill the kids?"
So this confirmed half of Ben's, that is, Brainstorm's predictions. This gathering of villains came here to target All Might, so he suspected they would have at least prepared for an all-out war. They must've also brought some of their strongest guns (villains). On the other hand, the hero side had only two teachers who could officially fight the villains.
Sure, Aizawa-sensei had some great fighting skills even with his somewhat weak quirk. But he was greatly outnumbered, and Thirteen didn't specialize in fighting so Ben left her out of the equation.
But without All Might on the scale, Brainstorm's fundamental plan had been overthrown. Thankfully, he came prepared with a backup plan.
"Sensei!!" Momo asked Thirteen. "What about the Intruder Alarm Sensors!?!"
"Of course, we have some!!" Thirteen said. "But…!"
Well, they must've planned that far even if they're insane enough to take on All Might of all people. Ben quietly glared at the marching villains, his brain running hot like an overheating engine. Quite a number, but most of them are just good-for-nothing lowlife thugs. Eraserhead should be able to handle that much, but…
If they had planned to fight All Might, they must've also brought someone who could fight on that level… And Aizawa-sensei wouldn't win under most circ*mstances.
The situation didn't become better. The most important piece (All Might) on Ben's board was missing…
"An isolated space away from the school…" Todoroki tried to piece the puzzle together. "At a time when there's a class scheduled… It may seem out of the question, but they must have some solid objective."
"Bingo, Todoroki…" Ben said, checking the surroundings once again. "But whatever their motive, they didn't appear to hesitate killing us."
"Then—"
"Thirteen, proceed with the evacuation procedure!!" Aizawa-sensei said, interrupting them. "Try calling the school. These villains know how to get around the sensors! There's a chance there's an electrowave-type guy who'll try interfering!! Kaminari, you too! Try contacting the U.A. office with your quirk!"
"Sensei!? Are you gonna fight them alone!?" Midoriya suddenly spoke up, but with concern. "Even if you suppress—"
"Midoriya-kun, he knows what he's doing," Ben said, grabbing his shoulder. "You should leave it to the professionals."
"B-but…"
"He's right," Aizawa-sensei replied. "A Hero always has more than one trick up their sleeves. Countin' on you, Thirteen!"
With that request, Aizawa jumped down right into the battle, kicking one villain's butt after another. Ben could guess how much butt kicking experience this Eraserhead had. In fact, Eraserhead went much beyond Ben's expectations and professionally handled dozens of enemies at the same time. So he decided to leave the matter to the teacher for the time being.
Meanwhile, the students and Thirteen, who remained at the entrance, swiftly executed evacuation protocols. The strict laws governing quirk usage meant that even Hero Course students were prohibited from engaging in combat without a license. So here they could only let the teacher handle it.
Ben would love to "solo" the entire enemy team, but…
"Incredible…!" Midoriya couldn't help but watch his teacher fight, astonished. "I forgot—"
"Not a good time, Midoriya," Ben said, pulling him back. "Though we may even be—"
Too late…
The worst-case scenario unfolded. The same kind of dark-purple mist that the warpgates were made of, suddenly materialized in their path and shut off their escape route.
"I'm afraid I can't allow that," said the Warpgate Man, his voice calm and almost polite, but at the same time dry and emotionless.
"sh*t, you can't, fker," Ben couldn't help but curse under his breath. How the heck do I even fight a guy made outta smoke? Use Terraspin and fan him away?
"Greetings," the Warpgate Man continued. "We are the League of Villains. I apologize for the presumption, but we took it upon ourselves to enter the campus of U.A., the base of Heroes…"
Slowly, his humanoid form was becoming more and more defined and prominent, with a neck-like structure alongside some sort of protective armor pieces appearing under his "head."
But what is Thirteen doing?! This is the perfect chance to get him!
"... In order to engage with Mr. All Might, the Symbol of Peace… We were wondering if we might be allowed the opportunity to extinguish him, you see. Was Mr. All Might not meant to be in attendance at this facility? Perchance, has something been altered? Ah well, setting—"
"Surprisingly polite for a villain, huh, Mister?" Ben raised his tone, just enough to tick the Warpgate Man for a second.
"Huh? —"
In that fleeting moment of distraction, Kirishima and Bakugou seized the opportunity. With swift coordination, Kirishima delivered a powerful kick while Bakugou followed with an explosive punch directly at the Warpgate Man's face. The sudden counterattack even caught Ben off guard.
"Bet you didn't think we'd take you out before you had the chance!!" Kirishima shouted triumphantly.
But to an even bigger surprise, the Warpgate Man was unscathed. I mean, he was just mist (?).
"That was quite perilous," he said. "To be expected, though you may be mere students, you are also the hero world's golden eggs."
"It's no use!" Thirteen yelled urgently to Kirishima and Bakugou. "Run, you two!"
"Running's no use either," Ben observed, scanning their surroundings. "We're surrounded."
Even as they realized it, they found themselves surrounded by the dark purple mist emanating from the Warpgate Man, ready to engulf them entirely.
"We have three seconds before we're warped," Ben stated firmly, his tone resolute. "Prepare yourselves!"
"Everyone! —"
And just as Midoriya called out, the mist devoured them all.
Crap, I'm stuck playing along with this messed-up game, aren't I?
The next thing Ben knew, he was plummeting alongside Midoriya and the others from a great height, with a body of water visible below.
"AGHH!!"
As Midoriya screamed his lungs out, Ben reopened his eyes and adjusted to the free fall as fast as possible, his fingers instinctively tapping his wristwatch.
He could already see a handful of villains lurking underwater, waiting to prey on them. As if he would let them get the upper hand…
You sure will regret it!
Ben slammed the Omnitrix and called out:
"Omnitrix! Henshin!"
"Eh?!"
Following the sudden flash of green, humongous hands grabbed hold of Midoriya, Asui and Mineta in mid-air, plunging into the water with a tremendous splash, which created gigantic waves, messing everything up. Nearby aquatic villains of the League, waiting below, got slapped away by the waves of unstoppable strength.
Alright, thank you Omnitrix. Humungousaur is what I needed.
Clutching his students tightly in his arms, the gigantic humanoid dinosaur swung his tail and legs in the water, swimming all the way up to the surface.
"Um, Ben, actually, it's a bit late for this," Asui spoke up. "I have amphibian properties, so I can stay underwater for a long time."
Asui Tsuyu, 15, Quirk: Frog — gives her a frog's physiology and allows her to do anything a frog can, giving her abilities including an extendable tongue.
"That's not the issue," Humungousaur replied, gently placing them on a nearby yacht he had spotted. "This lake's dangerous."
The waves made from Humungousaur's fall only got them so far — the villains were tossed aside momentarily, but since the U.A. students were the "kill" targets, they would certainly come back here. They must've prepared for this bigtime and Ben must expect all the opponents in this aquatic battle to have some kind of aquatic-related quirks.
This put the students in a tight spot. But Ben had already prepared for that possibility.
"They're coming back for us," Humungousaur stated firmly, steadying the boat. "Asui-san, we might not be acquainted enough to make this request—"
"Call me Tsuyu," the frog girl interjected.
"Okay, Tsuyu-san, please take care of these two!"
With that, Humungousaur turned around, ready to face his foes.
"What are you going to do yourself, Ben-kun?!" Midoriya exclaimed, helping Mineta sit up. "They have advantages in both number and quirk, even if it's you—"
"So are you planning on just letting them kill you, Midoriya?"
Midoriya Izuku hesitated for a moment. What would a hero choose at that moment? Which choice would be closer to being "rational" that the Eraserhead always talked about?
"N-no, of course not… But you don't need to face them alone."
The villains closed in around the yacht, but thankfully, the dinosaur man was the only one still in the water.
"Thanks for worrying, but I'm not," he smirked, seizing the yacht's anchor chain. "What I'm gonna do is flashy and dangerous, that's why as a hero wanna-be, I need to protect you from them. Hold on tight, cuz I'm gonna launch this friggin boat!"
"... Hmm, wh—"
Without waiting for further protest, Humungousaur shattered the anchor chain, sending the yacht spinning and drifting several dozen meters away with incredible force.
"co*cky much?!" Several villains leaped out of the water to get Humungousaur. "Face the terror—"
"Thunderclap: Aquatic Edition!"
水の版 の サンダークラップ！
"What the—"
They had no time to dodge. No, even if they did, it was unavoidable at all. That one massive underwater tremor shook their entire bodies down into their nerves and subsequently; all of them dwelling in the lake were thrown out of it like ragdolls and scattered in all directions, rendering most unconscious.
The yacht rocked violently from the tremor, Ben's three classmates struggling to grab on.
"Hold tight! Mineta-kun!" Midoriya shouted.
Just as Midoriya and Mineta nearly slid off the deck, Asui's tongue wrapped around them, pulling them back while she anchored herself to the wall for stability. Waves surged over the deck like a miniature tsunami.
Thunderclap is a signature mid-range move of Four Arms and Humungousaur. This time instead with a bit of twists, Humungousaur clapped his hands together underwater, generating even more powerful waves than the shockwaves created with wind.
"Wh-what just happened?" Mineta gasped in surprise.
"Huff… my first time using it…" Ben, in human form, emerged from the water close to the yacht. "Asui— Tsuyu-san, please."
"Say no more," Asui responded, using her tongue to lift Ben out of the water and drop him safely onto the deck.
"That was amazing, Ben-kun!" Midoriya exclaimed, excitement quickly giving way to worry. "But where's the rest of us?"
Ben had already taken a look at the facility's layout the previous night.
"I only saw you three here," Ben answered, inspecting the surroundings. "This must be a flood simulation zone. The villains who attacked us had quirks suited for water combat, which means our classmates must be scattered across different zones, each facing their own enemies."
The ability of the Warpgate villain to warp multiple targets to different locations simultaneously was troubling. Brainstorm had taken a guess at it, but even he couldn't determine the limits of Warpgate Guy's powers.
"What should we do?! We're in big trouble!" Midoriya fretted.
"No worry!" Mineta exclaimed. "As soon as All Might arrives, he will send them flying like pow pow and save us!"
"Mineta-kun, I think they must've figured out some way to kill All Might," Asui said. "Otherwise going to that extent—"
"No, that's impossible," Ben interrupted. "They can't take down All Might just because they're a little crazy. All Might ain't the type to go down that easily."
His classmates fell quiet for once and looked around. At least Midoriya was ready for a face-off with the enemies, even if he wasn't sure how to proceed. Thankfully, Ben had eliminated the immediate threats they were facing.
Before them stretched a vast and varied landscape with fake mountains, zones filled with ruins, a flood zone with a raging river, a mock forest fire, a landslide area, and icy terrains with slick surfaces and crevasses.
"Ben-kun…" Midoriya began. "You know how to handle your quirk much better than we do with ours. It seems you also have the most experience out of us..."
"Do they train kids differently in America?" Mineta asked, rubbing his head.
"I trust Ben-kun, how about you two?"
"I agree with you, Midoriya-chan," Asui said. Mineta just returned an approving nod.
"See?" Midoriya pressed. "That's why… lead us. Tell us what to do. We will support you and fight our way out of this!"
"No way! I won't be part of it!" Mineta exclaimed. "Tennyson has already taken care of the ones coming after us! We should be fine!"
"But we still need to help our classmates!" Midoriya argued, albeit out of good will. "We don't know if they're in worse condition than us! We have Ben with us so…"
Ben Tennyson looked at his classmates, seeing determination in their eyes. He crossed his arms and gave them a stern look that sent shivers down their spine. But there was something oddly motivating and fierce about it.
"No," he said monotonously.
"Wh– why?!" Midoriya panicked, as Ben's response was unexpected after his climatic build-up. "We need to—"
"Yeah, normally you would, but your training's not enough. Especially you, Midoriya… using your quirk hurts your body, right? How many shots do you think you'll get? If you injure all your limbs and get taken out, someone else will have to save you."
Ben was also speaking out of good will, simply hoping it would reach Midoriya.
"... even then… I still…"
Ben Tennyson wasn't reckless anymore. Well, he used to be—a delinquent who played the role of a vigilante, kicking the butts of random thugs in alleyways. But over the years, his experiences had changed him. He couldn't afford to lose, but more importantly, he couldn't stand to see someone get hurt right before his eyes.
Yet, he understood how selfish it was to make that decision on his own.
"Hold it, if you insist, you three work as a team," Ben said, after changing his mind. "You won't be assisting me. You… I mean, I don't deserve to lead you. Sorry."
"Ben-kun…"
"We don't have any time to waste," Ben said, tapping the Omnitrix. "I will drop you off at the nearest zone and you guys go help others."
"Wait," Mineta said. "I haven't agreed—"
The three teenagers closed their eyes subconsciously as the brunet was once again enveloped in bright green light, indicating his transformation.
"Eh?! A new transformation?!" Midoriya exclaimed as he witnessed the red manta-ray-like humanoid with golden horns standing before him.
"This one's called Jetray," the creature said. "Now if you don't mind, Tsuyu…-chan, please hold onto the boys."
"Leave it to me," Asui replied with a thumbs-up.
"What does this one do?!" Midoriya asked eagerly.
"You'll see…"
With Asui holding Mineta, Jetray grabbed her and Midoriya with his clawed legs, carrying the trio and flew up into the air.
"The flight's free," Jetray said, picking up some speed. "But open to complaints if the air resistance's too much!!"
"This is just about fine!" Midoriya over the rush of wind.
"Don't drop me!! Please don't drop me!!" Mineta clung tightly to Asui, his voice tinged with panic.
"Is that Aizawa-sensei?!"
Jetray decelerated quickly and overlooked the fights on the land. Aizawa-sensei was still handling the villains alone. In fact, some of the villains here seemed to be the leaders.
So this is the most problematic place…
"I will back him up later," Jetray said, flying away from the plaza. "I will drop you off in the landslide zone. You guys look for others and help them out!"
"Ah, okay—" Midoriya was cut off.
"Also, it's not necessary to fight the villains. If you can get away, just do it! You guys are still students! The best if you can leave here unharmed…"
"Ben-kun, you're talking like a teacher," Asui remarked sincerely. "But I understand you."
"Good luck for you, too, Ben-kun," Midoriya said.
Jetray nodded before gliding all the way to the ground and slowing to gently release his grip on his classmates and let them fall to the ground.
"Thanks for that— ah…"
Before Midoriya could finish his words of gratitude, Jetray vanished into thin air as a red blur of flash.
"So he's been flying slowly for us?" Mineta commented, puzzled. "He's even faster than Iida—"
"Not a good time to admire it, Mineta-kun," Asui reminded him. "Let's go."
"Wait, I haven't even agreed—"
Their guess about the students being scattered all over the place was correct. But particularly in this landslide zone, it wasn't the villains who had the upper hand.
The sole student who got sent to this area — the "half-and-half bastard" — had already effectively immobilized the enemies in his ice.
Todoroki Shoto, 15, Quirk: Half-Cold Half-Hot. — As the name suggests, his Quirk allows him to use Ice abilities from his right side and flames from his left. The embodiment of the clash between the political wings.
"At this rate, you guys will gradually succumb to death by necrosis," he said, his voice firm and emotionless. "But since I'm aiming to become a hero, I want to avoid doing horrifying sh*t like that as much as I can."
The villains couldn't even do as much as tremble as Todoroki himself decided to take a seat on the ground and interrogate them.
"What's the basis of your plan to kill All Might?"
"Todoroki-kun!" A voice interrupted his thoughts. "You all right?!"
Todoroki turned, only to see three of his classmates — Midoriya, Asui and Mineta — hurrying down the mountains of ruins. When faced with an obstacle, Asui effortlessly carried the boys over it, landing them safely behind Todoroki.
"You're!... Unharmed?" Midoriya looked around and realized all the enemies around them were frozen and imprisoned in ice.
"He's like Tennyson, then…" Mineta remarked.
"Yo, I'm here, too!" A female voice said, surprising the group but Todoroki. It was Hagakure Toru, the invisible girl. "Though, Todoroki did all the job."
Todoroki didn't seem to be bothered, but at any rate, his interrogation was already ruined.
"Are you okay, too, Hagakure-san!?" Midoriya asked.
"I'm fine, I'm fine. No worry," the voice replied. "It's totally safe here."
"That's why Ben left us here…" Asui said, realizing it.
"Huh?" Midoriya looked confused.
"He dropped us off in the safest place," she clarified. "Ben's being too protective of us."
"So Tennyson…" Todoroki muttered, causing his classmates to flinch.
Initially disinterested, he now couldn't help but be curious about this particular American. Not that he considered him a worthy rival or anything, but it was the sign of a crack in his stone cold demeanor.
"... Was he with you?"
"Yes…" Midoriya confirmed. "Tennyson-kun kinda saved us from danger and handled all the villains."
"But Midoriya-chan insisted we'd help others," Asui added. "Yet Ben left us here instead of letting us fight."
Todoroki Shoto's facial expression remained inscrutable, but didn't seem to have that much of a reaction. After a brief silence he took time thinking, he stood up from the ground.
"I've dealt with the villains here so if you want to help, go and back up others. The Earthquake zone is just across the bridge over there."
Midoriya and Asui exchanged glances and nods of agreement.
"Thank you, Todoroki-kun," Midoriya said, leading the way with Asui, followed reluctantly by Mineta.
Meanwhile Jetray just flew out of the Earthquake Zone where he "helped out" Bakugou and Kirishima. Unfortunately, it earned himself some explosive complaints from Bakugou so he took his leave shortly after.
Well, apparently, they were handling it fine so Ben didn't need to worry.
On the other hand, in the Mountain Zone…
"Uwa!!" Kaminari narrowly dodged a strike from some strength-based villains and met up with the girls. Trapped in this zone were himself and two girls — Momo and Jiro Kyoka, the earphone jack girl.
But it was nowhere close to a lucky perv encounter.
"That was close!!" Kaminari said, struggling to maintain balance. "Holy crap!! I saw death's door!! Who the fk are these guys!! And what the hell's going on!!?"
"Let's worry about the specifics later," said Jiro as the villains began to surround them.
There was no escape path, of course. Momo could also guess these all were going for the kills as they claimed to be, but she couldn't believe the League of Villains could gather this many bloodthirsty ruffians.
If Ben Tennyson were on duty, all these people trying to harm his mistress would have been turned into paste. Momo wanted to laugh out loud at that crazy thought.
"Jiro-san, take this," Momo said, producing a small sword out of her thigh. "We will have to defend ourselves."
"Thanks, and of course," Jiro gratefully sheathed the sword and held it in front of herself with two hands.
"Right now, we also need to focus on how to get out from under them!"
Momo also produced a metal pipe weapon for herself, ready to smash the skulls of her opponents.
"Wait, aren't you an electric kid?" Jiro said, mentioning Kaminari's Quirk. "Just fry them already!"
"Hey now! Didn't you see when we were a team—" Kaminari was cut off.
All of a sudden, something dropped right onto a villain that was going to strike the distracted Kaminari. What a save?
The trio cautiously took a step back, their backs touching each other's. Kaminari now couldn't avert his eyes from the cloud of smoke where the newcomer fell.
"Lemme tell ya somethin', you fkin' donut maniacs that are dumber than Joker from the Tales of the Great Batman!"
It sounded fierce and harsh enough to strike fear even in the roughest of the criminals. But despite that, the obvious foreign accent in his voice was somewhat funny.
"Now that Rath's here! Nobody's touchin' Rath's girl! Cuz if she's hurt, her dad will be seriously pissed!"
"What… what's that?!" Exclaimed one of the villains nearby — instead of an answer, he received a smack-down from the newcomer, which consequently dispelled the dust.
"Now who's up fkin' next!"
"Isn't that Tennyson's symbol?" Jiro muttered, taking a glance.
Okay, I kinda wish he didn't come in that form. Momo mentally complained, unable to bring herself to turn around and see it. It's Rath of all things!
The first thing Kaminari noticed was a glowing green hourglass symbol — of the Omnitrix on the newcomer's belt. He resembled a tail-less bipedal muscular tiger, with a broad chest and front limbs (arms) being larger than his hind limbs. With the skin color being orange, he had black stripes visible on his arm and elbow, with his hands from wrist down covered in black fingerless gloves, and one big black claw coming out of each wrist.
The creature also wore a black-and-green coat that resembled Blitzwolfer's getup, but nothing else underneath.
"Ah, that guy's an exhibitionist!" Kaminari shouted. "Girls, don't look this way!"
"What the heck?!" Jiro exclaimed, until she realized the creature didn't have any exposed privates. "Uh… makes sense."
Momo wanted to facepalm. For now, she should take a mental note to make Ben change his Rath's outfit.
"Lemme tell ya somethin', you blondie donut whose hero costume is plain as heck!" The tiger man shouted back. "Rath's no exhibitionist! But if you wanna throw hands! Rath's open to kick your butt! Rath will make you eat sushi all day—"
"Grr, you are too loud!!" A villain yelled out, swinging a large plank of wood right at the tiger man's face.
The wooden plank broke into pieces, but it didn't leave as much as a scratch on the tiger man, let alone hurt him at all.
"Ah… sorry?"
"So that's how you wanna play, huh?!" The tiger man slapped the perpetrator right across his face, sending him flying all the way into the lake of the flood zone.
"Where did you fking go, donut?! I'm not done punching yet!"
Some of the criminals, despite being rough-looking ruffians, began to feel the shaking in their knees. Wha, it seemed they had undiagnosed, underlying knee pain.
"Jiro-san, are you sure that's Ben? Ben Tennyson?" Kaminari asked, unable to believe it due to the contrast between Ben and Tiger Man "Rath".
"Yeah, I'm doubting it now…" Jiro said, lowering her sword as the tiger man was serially taking out their enemies.
"Lemme! Tell ya!! Some fkin' thing!!" Yelling angrily, Rath rapidly punched one villain after another, flinging them away like ragdolls. "You donuts!! For even thinking!! To hurt Rath's girl!"
"No one told me about this!! Aghhh!!"
One of the villains screamed out of horror and tried to run away using his quirk, only to get caught by Rath.
"Where do you think you're goin'?!" Rath grabbed him by his collar. "Oh, ya going to the floods?! Lemme give ya a free flight ticket!!"
"No, no, no, Aghhh, help!!!"
With that, Rath kindly flung him across the air, making sure he would safely arrive in the lake. — Hint: he did. There was no hint of sadness in Rath's eye: nothing but pure, growing rage. What a cruel world.
"I guess he's on our side," Kaminari Denki remarked hesitantly. "He better be… Cuz I don't wanna fly."
"Oi, you wanna fly?!" Rath's attention turned back toward Kaminari.
"I just said I don't!"
Rath, the Tiger Man, at that point, had already taken out three-fourth of the dozens of enemies surrounding the students. It wasn't just impressive; it was straight-up horror.
Rath is one of Ben's nine transformations. With a tiger-like appearance, Rath has anger issues and an ever-rising nigh-uncontrollable anger meter. Additionally, the angrier he gets, the stronger he becomes — but his rationality is questionable most of the time as his personality completely overwhelms and clogs Ben's voice of reason.
Jiro was right.
"Then lemme kick some more butts, will ya?!"
"Just do what you want!" Kaminari said. "Why're you even asking me?!"
"Huh?! You wanna go for a round?!"
"Sparky," Jiro elbowed the lightning boy and whispered a warning. "Don't provoke him!"
"You're on his side?!"
"No—"
"Polaris… Piledriver!"
ポラリス・パイルドライバー
The trio could only watch to not get in his way as Rath the Tiger Man took a few dozen seconds at most to take out and incapacitate the rest of the villains around.
"I wonder if he's the final boss here…" Kaminari muttered, seeing all the villains knocked out flat on the ground and scattered all over the site. "Also what does he mean by "My girl?" He mentioned that, right?"
That piece of… Momo gulped. Of all the words, Rath's choice of vocabulary was poor.
"Definitely… not me…" Jiro also couldn't help noticing how quiet Momo Yaoyorozu had been the entire battle. "Yaoyorozu-san?"
"Huh, her?" Kaminari glanced at the young lady Momo with disbelief. "No, no, it'd be more believable if it was about you."
"What does that even mean?!"
"Now Rath's schedule's open…" Rath said, walking menacingly toward Kaminari. "Maybe wanna throw hands?!"
In a panic reflex, Kaminari accidentally activated his Quirk, sparks of electricity flying to Rath, only to be nullified by his thick fur.
"Grr, lemme tell ya somethin' —"
"Bad cat."
Rath stopped all his movements, his green eyes set on the young woman standing in his way. That courageous woman, namely Yaoyorozu Momo, gently pressed her index finger on Rath's soft furry chest.
"Yaoyorozu, you…" Kaminari gasped in shock.
"My… Yaoyorozu-san… You're unharmed."
It was almost like all of Rath's wrath was sucked away.
It was a flash of green light at the right time that confirmed that Rath was Ben's transformation, with himself being right there in the flesh. Jiro didn't seem to be enthusiastic about it but Kaminari couldn't be more clueless.
"Uh, sorry guys," Ben said apologetically. "I did something really crazy. That must've been annoying."
Momo retracted her hand and let out a sigh. "Yeah, it could've been a disaster."
"Ah, come on, I don't go berserk that bad."
"But you did," Momo deadpanned. "They better have insurance to cover the medical bills."
"Hello, Earth to Kaminari Denki?" Jiro waved her hands in front of the petrified Kaminari's eyes. "Okay, he's beyond hope. Anyway, what's the situation, Tennyson-san? Since you seem to come from other sites…"
Hmm, she's pretty sharp.
"Call me Ben," he said. "Everyone's safe. Our class was dispersed like you guys here, but there was a group left near the entrance."
"Which means they couldn't evacuate…" Jiro remarked with a slight concern. Or annoyance? Either way, she seemed to be bothered a bit.
"No, wait, since we're isolated and the communication's totally cut off from the school…" Kaminari connected the dots. "Unless there's anyone who successfully reaches the school, we won't have any back-up!"
"Bingo," Ben said, he himself absorbed in thinking.
"Then you should go. You have that guy Wildmutt, who's faster than Iida—"
"No, I can't," Ben tried to look at the entrance, which was about a kilometer well away. "I can't leave this place."
"Ah…" Jiro seemed to have realized why Ben meant. Momo did so as well.
"What? Why?" Kaminari questioned.
"What about Aizawa-sensei?" Momo asked with concern.
"He's still fighting… I hope the backup will come soon. Ah, anyway, you guys leave this place and meet up with others. Landslide zone has Todoroki and the Earthquake zone has Bakugou and Kirishima. I also left Midoriya, and the other two there."
Yes, that's right. Ben raised his left hand and rolled up the sleeve. I can't waste any more time.
"And what about you?" Momo asked.
He merely placed a finger on his lips and shushed her with a grin. "I'll be an errand boy. Henshin!"
With that, Ben assumed the form of an Aerophibian — Jetray, and turned into a red blur, disappearing quickly from sight with blurring speeds.
That smile… But he's not playing around. Momo felt uneasy. Is he going all out?
"I can't wait for the back-up!"
With his enhanced eyesight, Jetray could see the Warpgate guy keeping the students and Pro Hero Thirteen at the entrance. Unfortunately, Thirteen didn't have much fighting experience. But Jetray had his hands tied to help out Aizawa first.
Initially, Aizawa had been overpowering the small fries with his experienced fighting skills, but now he was throwing hands with who seemed to be the leader of the villains. It wasn't going well.
If the most important piece isn't here… Jetray dived to the ground and pressed the Omnitrix, after which he seemingly phased into the ground, unnoticed by anyone on the battlefield, heroes and villains alike.
"We're finally here!"
Midoriya and co turned back from the earthquake zone and headed to the plaza where Aizawa-sensei was fighting alone.
"Shall we go there?" Asui asked. "Ben-chan isn't there yet…"
"What's he doing…" Midoriya muttered, feeling troubled. "Oh, no, sensei's caught!"
After beating dozens of villains, Aizawa Shota the Eraserhead was finally stopped by a creepy white-haired guy with hand-shaped accessories all over his body.
"We keep jumping around so it's hard to tell," the creepy guy said, grabbing Aizawa's elbow. "But there are moments when your hair falls over your eyes. It's whenever you complete one action. And the interval is getting shorter and shorter…"
As soon as Aizawa couldn't keep up his Erasure quirk, the creepy guy's quirk was activated, which turned Aizawa's sleeve into disintegrated dust. Before the effect spread to his arm, the teacher punched the creepy guy across his face and jumped back as a temporary retreat. Unfortunately, the standing small fries took that opportunity to launch a strike, now that Aizawa was injured for once.
It was the right moment.
Sensing something coming out of the ground, Aizawa changed his trajectory mid-air and rolled to the side. The concrete floor immediately shattered and opened, with a huge chunk of greenish blue crystal-like material emerging out of the ground — hitting and knocking out the villains.
What is this… Another villain? Aizawa couldn't let his guard down. One of his arms had been injured… Not a good time to face another enemy.
"What is that?!" The creepy hand man yelled angrily. "Who did it?!"
The crystalline pieces fell off the chunk, until a humanoid form grew more and more distinct. The transformation was almost artistic.
The newcomer stood tall and buff, with a rocky body — crystal-like greenish-blue arms and his torso, legs, and the back of his head composed of indigo-colored rock material. Four crystal shards jutted from his back, and his head had a sharp, angular shape with a protruding lower jaw and emerald green eyes, but no noticeable nose structure. He wore an unbuttoned black vest adorned with greenish-blue linings and a diamond-like symbol on the left side of his chest.
He is… Aizawa narrowed his eyes under the goggles. Not on their side?
The crystal guy transformed his right arm into a crystal blade with dull edges, while declaring, his voice masculine and deep, almost sounding like Tsuda Kenjiro. (A well-known JP voice actor).
"I'm the Righteous Vigilante from Musutafu — Codename: Diamond Knight! I apologize for arriving late, Eraserhead."
A vigilante? Who?! Aizawa tried to recall if that guy was someone he knew. He had a lot of connections in the underground lawless sites of Tokyo. But he had never heard of any vigilante in Musutafu. U.A. High was just next to the city and there were a handful of active pro hero agencies around.
Aizawa Shota wasn't sure if he should be relieved or troubled for that. But at any rate, a helping hand was exactly what he needed.
"I won't thank you for that," Aizawa recovered and stood up. "I hate to accept assistance from a vigilante, but lives are at stake. So…"
"No need for formalities, Eraserhead," Diamond Knight replied. "All after seeing this all, it's too late for me to not get involved."
Diamond Knight was actually Ben Tennyson transformed into his petrosapien form — nicknamed Diamondhead. But with a few modifications in his outfit, of course, since he didn't want to give away his identity. He didn't include Diamondhead in the official registry.
This was his plan B — if All Might isn't here, just bring another big piece on the board.
Where did you even come from in the first place? Aizawa was naturally clueless. Forget it for now, I will question him later.
"So you decided to work with a vigilante…" the creepy hand guy said. "Don't you have any pride as a Pro Hero?!"
"Pride comes last when it comes to saving lives," said Diamond Knight on Aizawa's behalf. "That's why Eraserhead has been working as an underground hero…"
Okay, that's not why I became an underground hero but I hope he shuts up. Aizawa found trouble.
"Grrr… I don't want to hear it…" The creepy man ordered his minions. "Get them!"
Negotiation's out of the question, huh… Diamond Knight turned both of his arms into blade-like weapons.
But with his command, the small fries moved out of the way as if they left the job to someone else…
"Look out!!" Aizawa shouted, seeing a black humanoid monster charging at the vigilante.
But his alert was too late — no, this monster was too fast for Diamondhead to counteract against. Just what the heck is this?!
Diamondhead was slammed flat against the concrete floor, destroying a good chunk of it. Aizawa jumped back and activated his quirk on the monster though he was unsure what their quirk was.
The monstrous villain towered over even All Might, with a heavily muscular body and a large, exposed brain that had an eye on either side. His mouth resembled a beak, framed by thick beige-skinned lips and filled with monstrously large, jagged teeth.
What is this… Aizawa was taken aback. This thing… An instant villain?!
No, impossible. The instant villain incidents had died down years ago since the last Naruhata battle! There were a couple other possibilities he could think of. But for the time being, he must focus on nullifying them at any rate.
The remaining stubborn criminal minions jumped on the opportunity to kill the "last standing" hero, Aizawa. Despite how much he tried, the monster's strength didn't seem to falter. Aizawa dodged to the side, avoiding a dagger strike, and then used his capture scarf to take down another villain, bringing both to the ground.
Damn, I hope that guy's not dead…
"Ha, you're so weak, aren't you…" the creepy guy said, approaching Diamondhead who had been "crushed" by the monstrous villain. "The bioengineered artificial human… Nomu… born to kill the Symbol of Peace! You stand no chance against it!"
Nice to know that… If my opponent's an artificial life form… I can go a bit further…
Unbeknownst to everyone around, Diamondhead was completely unscathed. The creepy man instinctively stepped back as Diamondhead eventually lifted the entirety of Nomu's weight and began to get up, striking the floor with his fist, which almost made Shigaraki lose his footing.
"... the hero's still alive? Huh… HuhUHHuh… How is that possible?!"
"Oi… use your brain…" Diamondhead said with a grin. "A little too late but let me say this before I roll… I'm fairly strong!"
What's he doing… Aizawa felt relieved to see his temporary partner still kicking, disregarding his cringe declaration.
"Nomu! Crush him!" The creepy man shouted, acting like an even creepier mentally unstable mad man who walked out of an asylum.
Nomu exerted more strength into his legs and tried to push down the vigilante, but it was no use. Diamondhead didn't move an inch down — instead in the meantime, the shards on his back grew and formed an arch-like structure, which pierced through the monster's foot.
"Grrr!!"
"A Hero always has more than one trick up their sleeves."
Diamondhead referenced the exact same phrase Aizawa said just before the battle, and overpowered Nomu's strength through his sheer will and crystallokinesis! A boulder made out of various gems like diamond, ruby, etc, emerged out of the floor, supporting Diamondhead as he pushed up the Nomu, causing it to lose footing and drop to the side helplessly.
The Nomu immediately recovered from the sudden change in the tide of the battle, and charged at the vigilante right away. However, the fight wouldn't go in their favor anymore. Unable to slow down, the Nomu slammed itself against a large crystal shield that suddenly erect from the floor, which was indestructible however strong the monster was.
"Unfortunately for you, I happen to have a lot of tricks," Diamondhead said, detaching his hand from the shield. "Maybe I shall call this move… Diamond is Unbreakable. (ダイヤモンドは砕けない)"
Is he really just a random vigilante? Aizawa questioned, slapping an incoming villain with his capture cloth. Or was that Anti-All Might too weak?
"How is that… How is that even possible?!!" The creepy man began scratching his face, experiencing an emotional outbreak. "How does… How does—?!!"
"How does a random vigilante even have the power to fight your final boss, huh?"
The co*cky grin on Diamondhead's face vanished, replaced by a frown. "The answer is right in front of your eyes: you're just too weak!"
At his command, the shield crumbled into pieces, letting Nomu recover and lunge at him again. But it was just a very brief pause as the enlarged crystal fist slammed right into Nomu's torso, making it growl in pain. It was neither the fist nor the strength that hurt it. Nah, in fact, Diamondhead was too weak for that.
"What… Huhhuhuhh…" The creepy man widened his eyes in horror as the crystals pierced through the monster's body, emerging from its back. Just to make sure it was neutralized effectively, Diamondhead enveloped its torso and limbs in his crystals, incapacitating it.
The bioengineered monster, born to face All Might of all people, had gone into slumber at the hands of a street vigilante.
"Our plan…"
He asked Eraserhead if he had any pride as a Pro Hero… But now his pride as a villain leader had been crushed like this. This Nomu was his trump card.
"Kurogiri!" His voice now had a bit of urgency. He must be calling for help…
"As if I'd let you!" Diamondhead called out and charged at the villain, with his fist pulled back ready to smack him in the face.
Aizawa took down the last of the remaining thugs and looked back at the vigilante. But he had no choice but to leave it up to him as the villain leader had proved to be more than he could handle.
Another twist of events in favor of the villain side.
Just before Diamondhead landed his punch, his hand went into a warp gate that appeared right in front of the villain. This is bad! By the time he realized it and retracted his fist, the warpgate closed on him, severing his arm.
"Crap!"
"Diamond Knight!" Aizawa called out.
"I'm fine! Don't come!" Diamondhead frowned, stepping back. "It's dangerous."
"So this is his arm…" the villain leader said, holding the amputated crystal arm that dropped from a warpgate. "... must commend you for that, Kurogiri."
"Shigaraki Tomura…"
The two heroes immediately entered battle ready stance as the warpgate mist suddenly reappeared behind the creepy hand man, alongside the voice — slowly forming a humanoid shape.
So the hand guy is Shigaraki Tomura. Ben took a mental note. The Warpgate Man is Kurogiri… But for real, it did hurt quite a bit even if I can regenerate. Cutting through space itself… That’s a tough power to face, even for me.
Yet… despite his regenerative abilities, Ben decided to pretend it hurt more than it should, and pressed on the "wound" as he observed the villains conversing.
"If you're here…" Shigaraki questioned. "Does that mean Thirteen is dead?"
Both Diamondhead and Aizawa couldn't help but flinch upon hearing it, but Aizawa couldn't afford to look away and check on his co-worker. Especially after witnessing how Kurogiri cut off the arm of the vigilante who stood his ground against the Nomu that would even face All Might…
He didn't want to believe it, but it wasn't impossible at all. Did they fail to evacuate?!
"I've incapacitated him, however," Kurogiri answered, as politely as always. "I'm afraid the students who remained there impeded me… and he was therefore able to escape with his life."
"Huh… Huuhhuuuhhh?" Overcome with anger and frustration, Shigaraki activated his quirk, making the crystal arm quickly disintegrate in his hand. "Kurogiri, you… if you weren't a proper warp gate, I would've crushed you to pieces! If the back-ups come, we can't win against dozens of pros. It's game over. Man, it's so game over this time. Let's go home…"
Are they leaving? Ben couldn't afford to lower his guard despite that.
If he hadn't restricted himself to a single transformation, he could've easily handled this level of villains even if they were leaders or whatever. Shigaraki's fighting style was sloppy and inconsistent, while Kurogiri entirely relied on his mist-like physiology.
But he couldn't afford to blow his cover in front of his homeroom teacher of all people. He had no other choice but to let the villains go for the time being.
"... or not?!"
Shigaraki seemed to have changed his mind at the last second and lunged at something in the lake around the plaza. Diamondhead turned his gaze in that direction and immediately noticed Midoriya and co in the water.
"Kids… Get away from there!!" Aizawa shouted, activating his quirk to nullify Shigaraki's disintegration while charging in with his scarf ready to bind the enemy.
Kurogiri quickly got in the way to prevent Aizawa from using Erasure, only to receive a solid punch in his neck from Diamondhead.
"I've finally figured it out… Bastard!! Eraserhead, go!!"
But in the end, they didn't even need to act.
"Diiiiieee!!"
A loud battle cry followed by an even more deafening explosive sound and a flash of bright flames that forced the Heroes to cover their eyes. Without a doubt, the problem kid of Class 1-A had arrived.
"Shigaraki Tomura!!" Kurogiri exclaimed.
Met with the incredible point-blank explosion at his face, Shigaraki was blown away like a ragdoll, forcing Kurogiri to retreat and save him. On the other hand, Midoriya and Mineta also got flushed away by the waves, but Asui picked them up with her long tongue and leaped out of the water, landing back on an ice board that suddenly appeared in the lake.
"Thanks, Tsuyu-chan… And…!?" Midoriya recovered and looked around to see his saviors.
"Bakugou, Kirishima, and Todoroki, too," Aizawa grumbled. "This is going to be troublesome."
"As if you don't have your hands full already…" Diamondhead chuckled, regenerating his arm quickly, much to the surprise of Aizawa and the students.
"You could do that?" Aizawa asked.
"Well, I probably can't do it again in a while. Let's focus on this first."
Unlike Swampfire whose body is made of organic plant-like matter that could be easily absorbed from the environment like earth's, Diamondhead's body is made of an organic silicon substance. Regenerating an entire arm means he was also using other parts of his body to reform one. The density and durability overall should've been reduced as a result. The only way to renourish himself was to absorb the natural gems and crystals the earth had to offer, but currently, he was too busy to do that.
He wasn't sure he could face another foe as strong as Nomu right now, but fortunately, Nomu had been neutralized.
"So these are the ones who want to kill All Might," Todoroki said, ice-skating toward the bank of the plaza. "They're not as tough as I expected."
Bakugou wasn't as calm.
"Now I will fking get you, Warpgate!" He growled and jumped into the air, aiming explosions at Kurogiri.
It was almost like his divine duty to protect Shigaraki Tomura. In spite of the option to warp away, Kurogiri got in Bakugou's path and took the explosion point-blank, letting himself be blown up.
It seemed Kurogiri, the main transport of the villain league, had been neutralized at the hand of a high schooler.
"Don't you dare fricking move," Bakugou threatened, somehow pressing Kurogiri on the floor. "The second you do so much as twitch, I will load you with a nice little explosion right here, right now!!"
"Now's our chance, Eraserhead!" Diamondhead said, to which Aizawa responded with a nod. Leaving Kurogiri up to Bakugou and Todoroki, the hero and the vigilante rushed toward Shigaraki Tomura who was lying on the ground, injured from Bakugou's previous attack.
The hand-like accessories covering the villain had fallen off, exposing his mental facial expression. He was a bloody mess, with random spasms and voluntary twitches which didn't make it better.
"You heroes are like that…" Shigaraki began, his voice shaky and weak. "... Violence is justified when you do it."
"It's all because you villains won't learn the lesson without violence!" Diamondhead shouted, halting and summoning crystal constructs from the ground, mirroring Todoroki's ice technique. The constructs formed a line all the way toward the villain, in order to hold him down before he could return a counterattack.
In harmony with his vigilante partner, Aizawa's scarf and hair began to float around, indicating he had activated his quirk so Shigaraki wouldn't be able to destroy the constructs.
"Kurogiri… let's go home for real…"
Caught off-guard, Aizawa turned around to look back at Kurogiri. It all happened in a few seconds when Kurogiri escaped from Bakugou's grip and appeared overhead of the weakened Shigaraki.
"Shigaraki Tomura…"
"... everything's in vain…" He barely escaped Diamondhead's constructs somehow and rolled into Kurogiri's misty warp gate. "... cheat codes suck…"
"... Maybe we'll get him next time."
"We will."
And so the warpgate disappeared alongside the villain leaders. Left exhausted and frustrated, Diamondhead kneeled down on the floor, restraining himself from profanity in front of the high schoolers.
"Fk that piece of sh*t!" Bakugou, however, didn't give sh*t to that rule. "Why did you let them go?!"
"Bakugou, calm down," Aizawa wrapped his broken arm in his capture cloth. "All villains here have been neutralized, right?"
The reason why they had been fighting was the kids. So the result was good enough. If he were a more sociable person, he would have to thank the vigilante big time.
"I hope everyone's fine…" Midoriya said, before realizing his homeroom teacher had been injured. "Aizawa-sensei! Are you okay?!"
"This can be healed so don't be so loud," Aizawa said as calmly as possible. "Seriously, you know. Instead, we need to make sure—"
"Sensei!!" Someone shouted across the lake, gaining everyone's attention.
"It's Yaoyorozu-san!" Midoriya exclaimed. "And others…"
Diamondhead stood up, holding a crystal cane he made out of nowhere. And then he created a thin bridge out of crystals, connecting all the way to the other side where Momo, Jiro and Kaminari were.
"Sorry, this is the extent of my powers," he said, looking back at Aizawa.
"It's good enough, thanks. You guys, gather here first."
With the teacher's instructions, Momo and co arrived at the plaza via the bridge, while Asui and Mineta were sent to check up on Thirteen and students who remained near the bridge.
"BOOOMM!!"
The entrance gate of the U.S.J. opened explosively, creating big clouds of smoke and dust — with the arrival of a certain someone.
"Have no fear!" The man declared as he set foot in the facility. "For I have arrived!"
"All Might!!" The students excitedly shouted in relief.
All Might was wearing a shirt and yellow pants, with the yellow matching jacket taken off — instead of a hero costume. It was quite clear he came here rushing.
The only odd thing was he didn't smile or laugh like usual. His expression was all serious, showing signs of rage. But well, he was late to the party.
"Hmm? You guys… have defeated the villains?" He looked around, confused, until he found his injured colleague. "Huh, Thirteen!! Are you okay?! No, you're not clearly okay!! What about the students?! Where is—!"
"We can check it later," Aizawa said, raising his voice. "Could you please check up on the students in the other zones and bring them here? I can't quite move around, now."
"Aizawa-kun! You are injured, too!"
"Come on. This can get healed later."
All Might calmed down.
"Okay, got it, leave it to me," he said before disappearing in a blur. And then in the next few seconds, he brought Ojiro Mashirao from the flood zone over to the plaza.
"As expected of All Might!" Mineta said excitedly.
"By the way, where's that friggin' damn foreigner?" Bakugou questioned. "If he's so damn powerful, he could've done something here!"
Diamondhead flinched upon hearing Bakugou's remark. His absence here must definitely be suspicious. I should get outta here and change back!
Todoroki and Aizawa showed a slight sign of interest. The homeroom teacher would soon need to do a headcount. He didn't see Tennyson anywhere. Though that American kid was strong, he still needed to transform. So if the villains got him before he transformed…
"Uh, Tennyson? He saved our butts back in the mountain zone," Kaminari gave his testimony. "That tiger form of his, what was it called?"
"Rath…" Momo filled in.
"Yeah, Rath, that guy was really scary."
"He also helped us in the flood zone, too," Midoriya said. "Though he, like, knocked out most of them in one blow and no one dared to come after us."
Ben Tennyson's presence was here and there, so Aizawa supposed the kid ran around here and there helping others. That was better than facing the villain leaders here. Aizawa wasn't sure if Tennyson could handle something like this.
Leaving him aside, what about the rest? The homeroom teacher couldn't help getting worried.
"On second thought, I will go by myself."
"But sensei, you're injured!" Midoriya said.
"This is nothing…" Aizawa muttered, seeing the state Thirteen was in.
"I've found everyone, Aizawa-kun," All Might said, carrying Aoyama on his shoulder. "No need to worry now."
Following him were the rest of the students from other zones and a big orange dog that was Wildmutt.
"Oi, foreigner, where did you go?!" Bakugou shouted as he angrily approached Wildmutt, who only responded with grunts.
Meanwhile, the entire faculty of Pro Heroes from the U.A. office made their entrance at the site, accompanied by Iida, who managed to go all the way back to the school and informed them. The police and the paramedics had also arrived.
The only one gravely injured was Thirteen though she still somehow maintained her consciousness. Aizawa needed medical attention but after replacing the binding cloth around his arm with a proper bandage, he decided to share some information with the cops and his co-workers first before going to the infirmary.
"Speaking of which, Aizawa-kun, you took down all those villains there," All Might asked, inspecting the thugs lying around either knocked out or incapacitated.
"No, I worked with the guy over there… Oh…" Aizawa muttered as he found out the vigilante Diamond Knight had disappeared. "Did you guys see that glimmering rock guy who was sitting by the lake?"
"Ah, yes, but I don't know where he went off to," Sero Hanta said. "Was he a Pro Hero?"
"A Pro Hero… A glimmering rock guy…" All Might mumbled, thinking. "Who?"
"The issue is he's not a Pro Hero," Aizawa said. "He called himself a vigilante of Musutafu, went by the name Diamond Knight."
A tall, handsome man in a stereotypical detective long coat and a hat approached the heroes, accompanied by his trusted subordinate with a cat-like head.
"Diamond Knight…" he said, writing it down in a small notebook. "From my knowledge though, I've never heard of someone like that. I'll look into it later."
"Please do so, Tsukauchi-kun," All Might said. "To think a vigilante is that powerful…"
"A vigilante, huh… How nostalgic," Tsukauchi the detective said, looking at Aizawa, who didn't particularly show any interest.
Nostalgic? To be precise, a vigilante almost stole his younger sister's heart. Tsukauchi Naomasa also had some real history with vigilantes.
"At any rate, students, please follow Tamakawa-san for check-ups just outside," he announced. "If further medical attention is needed, he will help you speak to the paramedics."
"Me?!" Tamakawa Sansa, the officer with a cat-like head, exclaimed in surprise. "Uh, okay, kids, let's go."
With Tamakawa leading the students out of the facility, All Might, Tsukauchi and Aizawa exchanged glances. They were soon joined by Principal Nezu and some Pro Heroes from the U.A. faculty.
The group went down to the plaza to inspect the handiwork of Diamondhead that captured and incapacitated the bio-engineered Anti-All Might monster — Nomu.
"This is a really tough material," Nezu noted, tapping the surface of the crystal construct. "Interesting."
"Tsukauchi-kun!" All Might looked concerned. "Is this really okay to touch?!"
"I don't think it would be a problem," the detective answered nonchalantly. "Any comment, Eraserhead-san."
"This guy here was said to be an artificial bio-engineered being," Aizawa said. "They called him Nomu. It seemed this guy was also designed to kill All Might."
"Kill…" All Might muttered, tensing up. Tsukauchi looked worried for his best friend, too.
"Well, I can't tell how strong he was," Aizawa said. "Diamond Knight took him down pretty fast and the rest is as you can see."
"That would be a problem," Nezu said. "We can't arrest our suspect if we can't destroy these structures. Care to give it a try, All Might?"
"Please not here," Tsukauchi said before calling in his officers to figure out how to excavate the entire thing and bring it to the police station.
And so the U.S.J. incident chapter came to an end without anyone finding out about Diamond Knight's identity. Speaking of which, apparently, the crystal constructs holding Nomu suddenly crumbled and disappeared that same night, except for the one in its stomach. Fortunately, the creature seemed to be in a deep slumber so there wasn't any resistance.
The truth behind it was… Ben somehow managed to sneak into the station that was holding the Nomu and took away the constructs in the safest way possible.
- [ Transition ] -
The moment had finally come. That bastard was frustratingly skilled at hide and seek.
Come to think of it, I didn't really need to go that far, but I did—maybe out of curiosity, or just plain old selfishness. Wonder if Mr. Stark would give me a round of applause for this.
It was that door. At first glance, just an ordinary closed bar. No customers had come or gone in the past 24 hours. Most would think it was just a place left forgotten.
Couldn't see a thing inside from out here. Either it's pitch black or they're good at hiding their lights.
Got to the door, planning to knock politely, then changed my mind. They're villains. No need to play nice. Scoped out my surroundings—no one around. This district's practically a ghost town anyway.
"Three, two, one…"
I teleported right into the place. It was just a dim-lighted and gloomy bar without any bartender on duty. Classic villain lair.
Found the Kurogiri guy in one corner, tending to a badly injured young man wrapped in bandages. Funnily enough, it looked almost like Shigaraki was on life support already.
But come on, at least remove your handy thingies when you go to bed. How attached can you be…
"Who are you, sir?" Kurogiri asked, still polite but cautious. "How did you get in?"
Let me show you something cool real quick, buddy.
I snapped my fingers, teleporting a wine glass from the rack into my hand — a magic trick that surprised both Kurogiri and Shigaraki.
"Teleporting… like you, Mr Kurogiri," I said, dropping the glass and letting it shatter on the floor.
"... interesting…" Shigaraki muttered weakly. It seemed Bakugou really roughed him up.
"Thank you, Mr Tomura Shigaraki," I grinned. "I go by Deejay Emcee. Let's cut to the chase. I want to collaborate with your… little league of villains."
Hook, line, and sinker.
"Is that so?" Shigaraki said. "But we can't just trust anyone who waltzes in our game. What's your deal?"
"Actually, you should know it. Just recently, I struck fear in people and made them question their own security and livelihood…"
Kurogiri exchanged glances with Shigaraki before saying. "Go on."
"Well…"
Another snap of fingers!? Hell yeah. This time, instead of anything else, I teleported myself and them thousands of kilometers across the world.
"This is… where are we?! Answer me!?"
Even Kurogiri, usually calm, started freaking out. As I expected, his quirk must have some kind of distance limitations and usage rules. When suddenly brought into an unfamiliar space, this was their reaction.
Shigaraki himself seemed to be astounded, until he burst into mad laughter.
"... This is the north pole," I answered, slipping away from Kurogiri's grip. "And if you're thinking about that, yes, you're correct. I stole the Statue of Liberty."
- To be Continued -
