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Inside the dim alley.
“Ohhh, look how lucky I am.”
The flowing sludge kept multiplying and reshaping itself.
The Sludge Villain, who had only been human-sized moments ago, swelled rapidly until his bulk blocked off most of the narrow alley.
“Not a bad Quirk you’ve got there, kid.”
His gaze settled first on the boy daring to face him head-on.
A rasping, bubbling laugh came from the villain’s mouth, and his huge eyes were full of mockery.
He was not worried that this little lamb would escape.
After all, not everyone was a monster like All Might.
Thinking of that man, whose strength made despair feel reasonable, a flicker of fear crossed the Sludge Villain’s face.
If his Quirk had not been sludge, All Might’s fist might already have left him half-dead.
But soon enough, his attention shifted back to Bakugo Katsuki.
Bakugo was brimming with fighting spirit.
The villain’s wide mouth split open, dripping foul slime.
For the moment, luck was on his side.
“But you’re way out of your depth.”
A giant hand made entirely of slick, reeking sludge grabbed Bakugo.
The fluid mass poured toward his mouth and forced its way in.
‘Damn it.
Damn it.
Damn it.
That idiot explosion-head ruined the whole plan.
What now?’
At the mouth of the alley, Ren’s face twisted.
His fists clenched as his pale eyes darted across the narrow space, frantic and calculating.
His original plan had been to stall.
Once All Might noticed and arrived, the crisis would resolve itself.
But Bakugo, that walking disaster of a teammate, had blown the plan apart.
Worse…
Ren looked around.
The alley was narrow, old, and nearly deserted.
Unless the fight made enough noise, no one would even know what was happening.
In the original story, had Bakugo been caught here?
The question rose before he could stop it.
Or had Ren’s presence already shifted the canon event?
Bakugo, pinned in an instant by the Sludge Villain, had no intention of waiting to die.
With great effort, he lifted both hands and aimed his palms at the villain’s confused eyes.
His own eyes went wide.
“Go to hell, monster!”
The nitroglycerin-like sweat beading on his palms ignited with dangerous light.
Boom, boom, boom!
Explosion after explosion roared through the alley.
‘Chance.’
Ren’s focus snapped into place.
He lowered his body.
A blur shot forward, and Bakugo, already trapped, was ripped free from the sludge.
As the Sludge Villain roared in fury, Ren ran for the street with everything he had.
“Damn it, Mikage, you bastard!
What are you doing?
Let me go!”
The wind howled past Bakugo’s ears.
His body swung with Ren’s stride, and every bit of it told him the truth.
He had been saved.
And if anyone had the strange brute strength to yank him out of the Sludge Villain’s grip, it could only be Ren.
Once Bakugo understood that, he started struggling like mad.
He was going to surpass All Might.
How could he let someone rescue him?
Worse, how could he let Ren Mikage, a Quirkless loser, rescue him?
It was humiliation.
Bakugo’s palms fired explosion after explosion.
The sudden impacts nearly tore him out of Ren’s grip as they ran.
Behind them, danger kept closing in.
Ren’s eyes were bloodshot now, and his temper finally snapped.
He whipped his head around and roared, “Shut up, loser!”
The shout was vicious enough to stun Bakugo for half a second.
Ren had no time to say anything else.
In that single glance back, he had seen the Sludge Villain’s disgusting body rushing toward them at terrifying speed.
By then, Pro Heroes who had received the report were already arriving.
But the villain was less than a meter behind the two boys.
“Hold on!
We’re here!”
Too late.
Ren, panting hard, could already smell the nauseating stench at his back.
He made his choice.
His right foot cut sideways and stopped his momentum.
Using the force of their sprint, he threw Bakugo off his back and out toward the street.
“Mikage, you…”
Bakugo arced through the air.
Shock froze his face as he looked down at the pale-faced boy below, swallowed in an instant by the mass of sludge.
“Why…
why?”
The question, the defiance, and the disbelief tangled together so tightly that Bakugo forgot he was still airborne and not out of danger.
Fortunately, one of the arriving Pro Heroes caught him.
‘Yeah.
Why?’
The Sludge Villain’s target was supposed to be explosion-head.
Ren had thrown Bakugo clear.
The villain should have chased him.
Why had he chosen Ren instead?
Ren would never get the answer.
Sludge forced itself into his nose and mouth, choking him.
Death began to close around him.
His pupils lost focus, and endless darkness pressed in from every side.
After setting down the dazed Bakugo, a Pro Hero with enormous fists charged toward the churning Sludge Villain.
“Hurry!
There’s another boy in there!”
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
Through the haze, Ren heard dull impacts, followed by angry, helpless shouts.
“Damn it!
Our Quirks can’t do anything to this guy.
We need a hero who’s a better matchup!”
“Then…
what about the boy?”
“I hate saying it, but…
we’ve done everything we can.”
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I hope this chapter pulled you deeper into the story.
Stick around, because there’s still a lot waiting just ahead.