I knocked out the witness and looked toward the Cannibal. The fight had been disappointing. His Quirk was undeniably powerful. It allowed him to increase his size and strength, and grow claws where ordinary fingernails should be. But he had no technique, no real instincts. Just brute force. Once I matched him in power, he became no more dangerous than an ordinary civilian.
He probably only became an A class villain because of his Quirk and his eating habits. Someone would have caught him soon enough. For me, he was a chance to absorb a powerful Quirk user and test a new manipulation of Dark Matter.
Through training and increased control, and by improving what I called the "quality" or "potency" of Dark Matter through absorbing life forces, I had developed a new ability. It was similar to "Rejection."
When I use "Rejection," I release Dark Matter in a burst with a specific mental command, like "push away" or "repel" or "deny." With my new ability, which I called "Hardening," the mental command was something like "protect" or "empower" or "shell." The Dark Matter coats my skin and clothes, providing powerful protection and a slight boost in strength. Maintaining the coating requires constant feeding of Dark Matter and my concentration to maintain the properties defined by the mental command.
For now, I could only keep two limbs coated with "Hardening" at a time. But with the combination of "Hardening" and "Rejection," the fight had been quite easy.
I walked over to the future corpse and placed my hand on its head. The absorption process began.
Suddenly, my free hand, still covered with "Hardening," shot up to my neck. Something that looked like a cross between a dart and a bullet fell to the ground. I frowned and looked toward a strange pair quickly approaching from the direction of the shooter. They had appeared completely unnoticed. There had been no one there a moment ago, and then suddenly there were two of them.
I absorbed Murakami's life force and got ready to run. This felt too much like an ambush. But one of the pair, a man in a white cloak and a white mask, extended his arms with open palms toward me. A purple rectangle covered me and the large man running ahead of him, along with part of the alley.
I was used to partially maintaining my "Gaze," so I could not sense the space around me without serious concentration, but I could sense Quirk energy. The barrier extended underground as well. I froze for a moment, terrified of being caught. Then the large man broke through my weak defensive block with his right fist and slammed me into the barrier wall.
I tried to use "Rejection" on the barrier. A few dark purple sparks appeared. Nothing.
"Ticci Micc, or should I say, test subject number twenty three? We are very disappointed that you decided to leave us. You know, the experiment wasn't finished back then. And you caused quite a mess. That's not good. But your body and your Quirk could more than make up for it."
A cheerful voice came from a massive black collar around the large man's shaved head. His empty, colorless eyes stared at the barrier behind me, and his two meter tall, muscle swollen body towered over me.
"How did you find me?"
I gritted my teeth as panic rose inside me, growing stronger from being trapped inside the barrier. I asked in a gloomy voice.
"You're not very smart, are you? It wasn't hard for Haijima to compare your abilities with Ticci Micc's. Your confirmation of our suspicion just now only proved it. And figuring out that you've been hunting strong, unstable villains lately was quite easy. But that doesn't matter. You'll probably refuse to return to your cozy cell. So we'll do this simply. Number forty one, beat him. Just leave him alive."
The large man, who had been standing motionless, started walking toward me. My arms still ached from his previous punch. I dodged his straight punch. My knife made a deep cut on his limb. He didn't react to the pain at all. He swung his arm wide, trying to hit me.
As I dodged his wide, powerful swings, I noticed that not a single drop of blood had fallen from the wounds I had inflicted. I ducked under a particularly wide swing, aimed my knife at his eye, and drove it in with "Rejection."
The large body took a few clumsy steps back as the knife sank into his eye. Then he delivered a sharp, fast blow to my torso. Only my instincts and "Hardening" saved me from broken arms.
As I struggled to catch my breath, I listened to the Haijima agent, who had decided to speak again.
"His Quirk, 'Blood Control,' makes its user extremely resilient. It's a shame we couldn't make number forty one take control of someone else's blood. But this result isn't bad. Your knife didn't reach his brain because the blood in his head is where his control is strongest. Even an anti tank rifle shot couldn't get through the blood vessels in that area…"
I threw another knife into his other eye to blind him. The large man was speeding up, but it didn't help him.
"…oh, I forgot to mention. Some of number forty one's internal organs have been replaced with organs from a test subject with a very interesting radiation type Quirk, a kind of 'telekinesis.' The Quirk itself can barely move a matchbox, but the telekinetic field surrounding its user allows him to sense all physical objects within that field. That's why he's a little slow in the head, by the way. His mind couldn't handle it. It happens."
The agent's voice remained just as cheerful. As if he weren't describing a fight, but an office worker talking about how often his printer breaks down.
All the while he was speaking, I had to dodge wide, floor crushing punches and kicks. Throughout the fight, the large man showed no signs of fatigue, despite dozens of cuts on his limbs and torso. Tendons, nerves, arteries. He didn't care. I couldn't say the same.
He had only hit me once the entire fight. But fatigue was building up, and besides him, I would have to deal with at least two others: the barrier user and the shooter. So I needed to finish off the large man quickly.
I used "Choice" to make myself weightless. Dodging a straight right punch, I used that arm as a pivot and kicked him in the head. My leg, covered in "Hardening" and accelerated by the recoil from "Rejection" pushing off the air behind my calf and foot, slammed into his head. Ignoring the pain in my leg from the impact, I pushed my weightless body upward. I deactivated my permeability and used a small "Rejection" recoil to grab his head from behind with my Dark Matter covered hands, my feet bracing against his back. I started absorbing him.
"Now that's not good. It's a shame, but I think even a dead body will do for us. Goodbye, number twenty three."
The voice from the collar spoke with annoyance. Suddenly, blood began to pour from every pore in the large man's body. I stopped absorbing and jumped back from the blood spikes that had grown from behind his neck. His entire body was covered in chaotically moving blood, which suddenly froze into a grotesque, terrifying suit of armor. The blood covered head stared at me. Through the vertical slits in this makeshift helmet, it seemed like empty, rage filled eye sockets were looking at me.
I involuntarily stepped back and stumbled over what was left of the dead man's body. The giant's previous punch had flattened him. That moment of hesitation almost cost me my life. A clawed, bloody hand nearly gutted me.
The creature had become incredibly fast. I started taking and parrying his blows with my "Hardened" hands. I had to run. But how? The barrier was still there. I needed to redirect one of his blows into it. That meant getting closer to the barrier, which would seriously reduce my maneuvering room.
But it was my only chance.
Parry this blow. Block the next, which pushes me toward the barrier wall. Parry again. Parry again, moving closer to the barrier. I needed a really powerful blow from this creature.
Not that one. Not that one. Not that one.
A wide swing.
Time seemed to freeze in my mind. Raindrops, which fell unhindered through the barrier, slowly descended in my perception. Dark Matter moved through me, making me permeable to the outside world, and a pulse of "Rejection" was ready to launch me upward with its recoil.
Not yet.
An open palm with blood claws rushed toward my chest.
Not yet.
The barrier user's shoulders began to relax at the thought of victory.
Now.
The creature's palm passed under me and, with a slight delay, pierced the barrier. The man in the white cloak groaned and sank to the ground. The creature froze in confusion.
I pushed off its arm and jumped toward the nearest building, intending to pass right through it. Freedom was close.
A figure in urban camouflage appeared out of thin air in front of me. His left hook sent my body flying back. Blood spikes pinned me to the ground, interrupting my manipulation of Dark Matter. Dark Matter furiously tried to absorb or push away the foreign object.
I stared blankly at the disappearing silhouette of the man and at the still groaning barrier user on the ground. Blood continued to flow from the wounds the spikes had made.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.
I broke the spikes off at their base. The bloody creature began to lower its head toward its opponent's body, as if wanting to gloat over the defeated.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
My eyes stared blankly through my partially broken mask at the black clouds. All my emotions were gone. Only regret remained.
Regret for my meaningless, hectic life. For the dream I never fulfilled. Becoming the strongest, revenge on Haijima, wealth, influence… they were just goals. Meaningless in themselves. There will always be someone stronger. Organizations like Haijima have always existed and will always exist. Wealth is just a means to fulfill desires or goals. Influence and fame never really interested me.
What I really wanted was a family. A big, loving family.
*Weakling. Pathetic weakling who doesn't want to live.*
I looked with surprise at the almost frozen raindrops. But what surprised me even more was the silhouette sitting in front of me, shimmering like a mirage. My silhouette. My face with a wide, mad smile looking at me with red eyes on black sclerae.
*I want to live.*
I said to my apparent deathbed hallucination.
*No, you don't. You're not getting out of this freak's clutches.*
*But I can't.*
*Why not?*
I said, feeling hollow.
*I'm weak.*
*Then why not become strong?*
*I tried. I worked hard. I couldn't.*
*Then you deserved it. Since you couldn't. Or maybe you didn't want to. Although I think I know how to make you want to.*
I would have laughed at my hallucination trying to cheer me up if it weren't for this emotional emptiness.
*How?*
*Oh, it's simple. Imagine that you'll never talk to Midoriya again. Never joke about Bakugo again. Never listen to music again. Never trade barbs with Giran again. Never build new devices again. Never argue with Hatsume again. Never text with Melissa again. That you'll be alone after death in an endless void. Or you simply won't exist, and your acquaintances might just randomly attract Haijima's attention. Of course, it's unlikely. But what if?*
My eyes fixed on the silhouette, which was beginning to shake more and more. The wide, mad smile was gone from its face. Only a sad smirk remained.
*So, what are you waiting for?*
*
*
*
[Akiyama Ikeda's Pov ]
After dragging Kichiro away, Akiyama watched the fugitive test subject's imminent death with indifference. Thanks to his Quirk, "Concealment," he had been a fairly successful mercenary before joining Haijima's security division. Keeping himself and his partner hidden, he thought about when he should signal to calm the raging "demon."
Thanks to an implant in number forty one's brain, that would be easy. The cleanup squad was already nearby. After the mission was complete, he was told he would receive a bonus and possibly a vacation. And all of that almost went up in smoke because of the fugitive's agility and cleverness.
Oh well. It would all be over soon.
The next sight blew away all his thoughts. From the supine figure of the target, something began to billow out violently. It looked like what had been captured on video six years ago.
He had been given clear orders for such a case. Retreat.
Already pulling Kichiro to his feet, Ikeda stared with wide eyes at the surreal sight. A short figure, only reaching the "demon's" stomach, held its head with one hand. The "demon" tried to break free, but the upright figure, with rapidly closing wounds and surrounded by streams of transparent, dark, purple iridescent something, clenched its hand.
A crack rang out, and the entire "demon" was swallowed by that something. The "demon's" squeal, which had just begun, stopped immediately. That something quickly returned to the figure's hand, and a pale body fell in its place, accompanied by randomly flowing blood.
All this time, Akiyama had been afraid to even move, hoping his Quirk would hide him well enough. Horror seized him when the red coals from behind the broken mask stared directly into his eyes.
Throwing Kichiro aside, he tried to do anything to save his life, but a dark hand eclipsed his vision.
[End Pov Akiyama Ikeda]