Author's Notes:
Hi guys!
How are you?
Well, I came to say that I will publish my Bnha story again.
And, with everything I've learned while writing my other story, I'm here to give it my all this season!
Without further ado...
Let's Go!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~•~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Mall]
[Point of view: Third Person]
Chaos spread beneath their feet like a hungry monster.
People fled, pushing and trampling each other, without looking back.
Screams, cries, and minor explosions mingled with the sound of alarms and the creaking of collapsing structures.
Smoke began to cover the scene, darkening the entrance to the supermarket like a curtain foreshadowing death.
Midoriya tried to focus, to think clearly.
But then, his vision became distorted.
The panic in the hallways overlapped with another scene in his mind: a city in ruins, bodies scattered like broken dolls, the sound of gunfire and explosions pounding like a war drum in his ears.
-Akemi, run!
His mother's voice echoed in his head, desperate.
-Deku, don't stop!
Ochako.
-We promised we would survive together!
Jirou.
-You have to keep going, you have to win...!
Izumi.
-Deku! Don't hold back, just run! I'll stop these fourth-rate idiots myself!
Bakugou.
Their voices mingled in a cruel echo, repeating themselves over and over again.
Midoriya tried to move, but his body wouldn't respond.
He felt his feet sinking into a ground of thick blood.
The stench of burning flesh filled her nostrils, and her hands shook uncontrollably. Her breathing became erratic, her chest rising and falling in ragged gasps.
-Not again...
Terror paralyzed her.
His mind was trapped between two timelines, his body unable to distinguish which was reality.
And then, the black whip reacted.
The strands of dark energy emerging from his arm began to twist erratically, fueled by his agitation.
They snapped through the air like angry snakes, lashing out at the surroundings with unpredictable movements.
One of the whips struck the roof with such force that it vibrated the surface beneath them, while another caught on a nearby antenna pole and ripped it out.
Hades, who until now had looked upon mortal madness with disdain, suddenly felt a tug on his arm.
He looked at Midoriya and noticed the tension on his face, his expression lost in something he couldn't see.
"This mortal nonsense again?" she thought, annoyed at first. But then she saw his eyes: open, unfocused, trapped in a void that didn't belong in the present.
The pressure on her hand increased. Her nails dug into his mortal skin with such force that she even felt a slight burning sensation.
-Midoriya.
He didn't answer.
The black whip remained uncontrolled.
Strands of energy sliced through the air, striking nearby surfaces and threatening to entangle themselves.
The problem wasn't just that they could get caught... it was that if one of those whips hit her hard enough, its own power could tear her apart.
And as the cherry on the cake, they were hanging from the ceiling.
The structure from which they were hanging shuddered dangerously, and the whip holding them began to destabilize.
Hades clicked his tongue, irritated.
With a quick movement, he took her chin and forced her to look at him.
-Midoriya, wake up.
Nothing.
The mortal girl was not here.
He wasn't going to waste time with soft words. His other arm moved forcefully, hitting her in the side hard enough for her body to react to the pain.
Midoriya inhaled sharply.
His eyes blinked several times, and the fog in his gaze began to dissipate.
The first thing she felt was the pressure of her own energy surrounding her, like chaotic tentacles out of control. Then, Hades's firm hand holding her against him.
And finally, panic in his chest.
The black whip crackled one last time before retracting as if it had been forcibly tamed.
The silence between them lasted an eternal second.
Midoriya felt his body tremble, but he gritted his teeth and buried his weakness deep inside. He couldn't allow this. Not here, not now.
She barely separated from Hades, still feeling his grip on her hand.
"Thank you..." he whispered, his voice hoarse as he tried to bury that weakness, to ignore the trembling in his hands, the cold sweat running down his back, and the phantom pain of all the times his allies had died in his arms.
But her body didn't respond. She was still trapped in that sea of corpses from the future, in the flames devouring the city, in Ochako's heartbreaking scream as she died impaled, in Jirou's last look before being reduced to ashes.
The roar of the stampede below them merged with the echo of their worst memories, and the black whips—fueled by their anxiety—whipped with greater fury, like beasts out of control.
Hades, who until now had been watching her with a mixture of annoyance and disdain, felt how his hand remained imprisoned in Midoriya's, his grip growing increasingly desperate.
He clicked his tongue.
Unlike before, when he tried to calm her down with a hit, this time he pulled her towards him tightly.
Her body was small and free of all softness compared to a goddess's, but she still held Midoriya firmly, pressing her forehead against his, forcing him back to the present.
"Calm your mind, Midoriya," he whispered, his voice deeper than usual, with a warning edge. "Unless you want everyone here to die."
Still wrapped up in her chaos, Midoriya could barely understand what she was saying until Hades lifted his chin and looked down at the scene below them.
The panic downstairs had reached its critical point. Customers were colliding with each other, some falling, and being trampled mercilessly.
And then, as if fate wanted to mock them, the security system failed.
With a metallic crash, the supermarket's armored doors slammed down, trapping the crowd like rats in a cage.
The screams redoubled.
Midoriya inhaled sharply against Hades's chest, his fingers curling into his clothes, trying to steady his mind.
"Then come down..." he murmured, ready to act.
"Just one more second!" Midoriya interrupted before tightening his arms around him, holding on tighter.
A dry crack resounded in Hades's column.
"HNGH!" he growled in pain, his face twisting into a murderous grimace. "You...!"
He was about to unleash a series of insults about how fragile his human body was and how stupid mortal attachment was when, without warning, his control over himself slipped away.
His mouth opened, but it wasn't his words that came out.
"It's okay, Akemi-chan..." he said with a strange sweetness, completely opposite to his usual dry tone. "You can take as long as you want..."
Midoriya's eyes snapped open.
Hades, inside his own mind, felt his consciousness being pushed into the shadow of his own body, trapped as a mere spectator.
-No... not again...!
His other personality had taken control.
Akemi, still reeling, sensed the immediate change in his tone and, instead of pulling away, allowed herself to bury her face against his for a few more seconds, discreetly wiping away the tears she hadn't realized she'd shed.
The warmth of another body was an anchor.
But it couldn't stay like that.
A blink later, Midoriya raised his head, his green eyes steady.
-It's time to act...
Without waiting for a response, he undid the black whip that held them in the air, letting himself fall with Hades towards the roof of the supermarket.
They landed softly, though Hades (or his other personality) made sure to keep a protective grip on her.
Midoriya took a deep breath, steadying his mind. Now that his crisis was over, his mind was working at full speed, sorting through the information he had.
"The leader of these terrorists..." he began bluntly, as he looked down at the supermarket from the ground. "His Quirk allows him to make everything he touches explode. No exceptions."
Hades, still with his arms crossed, looked at her with barely concealed interest.
"That means..." Midoriya continued, his tone hardening, "that there's a high possibility that there are human bombs among their ranks."
The atmosphere seemed to become heavier with those words.
Hades didn't react immediately, but his other personality did.
A battle where victory did not guarantee saving lives.
The naivety that used to take control was immediately extinguished.
Without needing to fight, Hades felt his consciousness slip back into control. His other personality silently stepped aside, leaving him in charge without the slightest resistance.
The usual Hades let out a low snort, lazily adjusting his posture before following Midoriya.
"Shall we go straight for the terrorists?" he asked, walking with her across the roof, his voice drier and more bored than before. "Or shall we take on those mortals?"
Midoriya didn't respond immediately. Instead, he briefly turned his head, his analytical gaze sweeping the supermarket.
In the crowd, he could see four figures wearing different-colored cloaks moving through the crowd. Their presence was enough to calm the hysteria of those trapped.
"There are supposed to be heroes in supermarkets," he said decisively, pointing at them. "Look."
Hades looked at them with little interest. He didn't expect much from them.
Still, with that cleared, he moved forward and stood in front of Midoriya.
-So, let's get straight to the point.
Without further ado, they began to move through the aisles, passing by several stores while Midoriya calculated his strategy.
His mind fragmented into possibilities, searching for the most efficient way to solve this without taking too many risks.
He thought about his power, what he had at his disposal.
One for All at 1%. It wasn't enough for a direct fight against the terrorists, but with his black whips, he could better control the terrain.
Hades, on the other hand... was different.
He had no fear. He had no human morals. And, more importantly, he had the ability to wreak havoc with ease.
Yes... He would be her beater.
"You'll be the decoy," she said suddenly, without looking at him. "I'll use One for All with my black whips to neutralize the suicide bombers. You'll be in charge of eliminating any potential threats with a strong Quirk."
Hades raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, sure," his tone was ironic. "I love being used as a disposable pawn."
Akemi ignored his sarcasm.
"It's not that," his voice was cold and calculating, as if he were looking at a chessboard rather than a life-or-death situation. "You're the best option to take on any strong lackey."
Hades snorted in derision, but didn't argue. He knew it was true.
But then, the real question came.
-And what will we do with the deadly bombs?
Midoriya paused for a moment.
He didn't respond right away.
His eyes darkened, and when he spoke, his voice had a weight that could not be hidden.
-They... have no salvation.
For the first time in the entire conversation, emotion seeped into his tone.
It wasn't fear.
It was guilt.
She knew it. She couldn't save them. There was nothing she could do but push them away, reduce the damage, keep them from exploding in the middle of the crowd.
But I couldn't rescue them.
Hades watched her out of the corner of his eye.
For a moment, he considered mocking her, belittling her sentimental weakness. But something in her expression stopped him.
Midoriya was not like other humans.
He wasn't crying out of pity.
I was crying because I had tried it before.
And it had already failed.
Without saying anything else, Hades turned his head forward.
"Fine," his voice held no mockery this time, just simple acceptance. "Let's get them out of the way, then."
They both moved at the same time, leaving, but Hades paused for a moment, extending his right hand.
In his palm, the darkness began to twist and swirl, as if the night itself were condensing on his skin.
The shadow threads tangled and compressed into a pulsating black sphere. Tiny purple-glowing cracks ran across its surface, flickering as if alive.
Without waiting for outside confirmation, Hades did his bidding.
-Come to me, Larry.
The ground shook slightly.
Right in front of him, the floor cracked with small creaks, and from between the fissures, a tiny skull emerged.
His empty eyes lit up with a ghostly glow as his skeletal body quickly assembled itself, its bones fitting together like an infernal puzzle.
When he finished getting up, little Larry raised his head, looking at Hades with absolute devotion.
"Sir, yes, sir!" he squealed, making a clumsy but enthusiastic military salute with his bony hand.
Midoriya watched the scene with a mixture of interest and amusement.
Despite its terrifying appearance, the skeleton had an almost cartoonish energy.
Hades, with his typical indifference, gave him his order.
"Look for traps or suspicious people..." He paused, turning his head to look at Midoriya, who was looking at him expectantly. "How do we know if a mortal is a bomb?"
Midoriya narrowed his eyes, assessing him.
Something in his tone seemed... different.
He hadn't used unnecessary words. There was no sarcasm or disdain. He was concise and direct, which was unusual for him.
He shook his head and focused on the question.
"They often mutter things about explosions. Their eyes are red, they drool a lot, and they often convulse," he said without missing a beat. "When they shout 'glory to the new world,' they'll explode."
Hades nodded, turning his attention back to Larry.
"You heard her. Look around and let me know immediately if you see anything like that..."
"She's also looking for a short boy with purple balls on his head!" Midoriya suddenly interrupted.
Hades closed his eyes with a slow snort, his jaw clenching in frustration.
"He must be scared or taking advantage of the moment to see some girl," Midoriya continued with absolute naturalness, as if he hadn't just gotten in the way of his order.
Larry turned his skull toward her, flickering with its ethereal glow, and then gave a brisk military salute.
-Yes, boss!
Hades narrowed his eyes.
"I'm your boss..." he growled.
But Larry had already taken off running on his bony little legs, moving with surprising agility among the rubble.
Midoriya smirked, crossing his arms in satisfaction.
-Heh... that little one knows who's in charge here - he pointed at his own flat chest with pride.
Hades glanced at her, his eye twitching with suppressed irritation.
-Keep dreaming, Akemi.
She gave a light laugh, but said no more.
Without wasting any more time, the two advanced through the destroyed corridors, heading west, where the initial explosion had occurred.
The smell of burning and the sound of distant screams filled the air.
As they made their way through the remains of the supermarket, dodging collapsed shelves and pools of different-colored liquids, Hades felt something strange.
A slight tingling ran down his right arm, right where he had summoned Larry.
He flexed his hand several times, feeling something inside him throb, a distant echo vibrating in his soul.
He frowned and remembered something important.
"Why was Larry able to talk..." he muttered to himself.
He remembered his first summoning: a simple, small, silent skeleton, barely more than a tool.
But now, Larry had reacted, understood instructions, and even raised a thumbs-up confidently.
Hades ran his tongue over his teeth, uneasy.
He flexed his fingers once more.
Something inside him was changing.
He closed his eyes as he continued walking, momentarily ignoring Midoriya's presence.
Immersing himself, he searched for the origin of that strange sensation.
And then, he felt it.
A torrent of murmurs.
Not from the crowd trapped in the supermarket, nor from the distant screams of the wounded.
No.
These whispers were colder, more ethereal.
His eyes flew open, and a smile appeared on his face.
Not just any smile.
It was wide, trembling, filled with a sinister euphoria that made even Midoriya's skin crawl.
For a second, she hesitated.
"D... did... something happen?" he asked cautiously, without taking his eyes off her expression.
Hades looked down at his own hand, flexing his fingers slowly as his smile widened.
And then, he laughed.
-Heh... heh... hahaha...
Midoriya felt a chill run down his spine.
For a moment, he remembered the doctor recommending a psychologist.
At the time it seemed like an exaggeration.
Now she wasn't so sure.
"My link to the Underworld..." Hades dropped his hand, still feeling that tingling sensation run through his skin. "It grew more stable."
Midoriya frowned.
-How did you do it?
Hades paused.
I really wanted to know.
-I have no idea... But...
Her voice trailed off as her smile faded.
Because now I could see them.
The souls.
Five translucent figures floated around him, barely perceptible. They were blurry, unstable, but their forms still retained traces of humanity.
He didn't have to ask how they died.
He knew it as soon as he let them in.
One of them was a woman wearing a supermarket apron.
Her last memories were of her trying to guide a mother and her child toward the exit before a hooded man grabbed her arm. She felt the heat run through her skin. Then, the flash.
Next was a man in a blue cap.
His memories were of him pushing an old woman away from the stampede when something on his back started to burn. He felt heat. Then, darkness.
The third was a young man with short hair, wearing headphones around his neck.
She saw him try to cover a girl with his body when a man touched his shoulder. She heard his cry of despair before his flesh turned to fire.
The fourth was a security guard. He lunged at a man running toward a group of children with a fanatical expression on his face. He grabbed him, immobilized him.
And then the explosion consumed them both.
The fifth...
He was a child.
I was no more than six years old.
Hades watched him cling to his mother's leg, crying as a shadow loomed over him.
The fire was the last thing he saw.
Hades exhaled slowly.
He didn't comment. He didn't tell Midoriya.
He simply accepted the souls into him.
For a moment, he saw the last images of their lives reflected in his mind.
And he sighed.
"It's good that your power is getting stronger!" Midoriya broke the silence, trying to ease the tension. "Maybe the more you use it, the stronger it gets."
Hades took a second to respond.
-Yes... that must be it.
It wasn't.
But I had no intention of explaining it.
They continued walking.
Finally, they reached the explosion zone.
The ground in front of them had been ripped away as if something had devoured it from within.
A large hole stretched across the middle of the hallway.
Around him, debris and charred body parts still smoldered.
They hid behind a pile of metal crates, crouching down.
Five men were standing in the center of the disaster.
They wore dark clothes and bracelets with a golden symbol.
Two of them had serene faces. Too serene.
But...
Midoriya gritted his teeth when he saw the other 3 individuals.
They murmured.
They were drooling.
They had tics all over their bodies.
Midoriya held his breath, when without warning, those three guys turned and started running.
Not in the direction of Midoriya and Hades.
No.
They ran towards the south entrance of the supermarket.
Towards the crowd.
"Shit!" Midoriya leaped out of hiding, One For All crackling in his legs as his Black Whips emerged from his hands.
He felt the roar of the wind in his ears as his feet thumped hard against the ground. His body was a blur of green and black as he launched himself after the three bomb humans, his mind working at breakneck speed.
-I need... I need to stop them!
Her heartbeat was steady and controlled. She wasn't afraid. She had no doubts.
But at that moment, one of the guys who were calm, started to move, trying to stop the green-haired girl.
But, fortunately for him, Hades moved forward with a cruel smile.
-I'll take care of these filthy mortals.
With his words in the air, a bony flash crossed the air and Larry jumped onto the villain's back, clinging to his neck like a living parasite.
"What a nerve!" The villain tried to shake him off, staggering.
Midoriya didn't wait to see what would happen.
Hades had given her the opening and she wasn't going to waste it.
She shot out like a projectile.
She saw her targets running a few meters ahead of her.
In a matter of seconds, he decided to go after the leader of the group.
A thin guy, wearing a blue cap, black pants and a coat of the same color.
His lips murmured sick words.
-Glory... explosion... the new world...
The Black Whip's tendrils shot out from his right arm, wrapping with surgical precision around his torso. Midoriya pulled hard.
The man didn't have time to scream when his trajectory was abruptly stopped by a superior force.
And with the ease of lifting a pen, Midoriya slammed his skull into an overturned bookshelf with a loud thud.
A crunching sound was the last thing he heard from the subject as he continued running without looking back.
A second later, an explosion consumed the guy's body, the acrid smell of burning flesh flooded the girl's nostrils, but she didn't have the luxury of looking at the scene.
He had two more to detonate.
-One less...
In front of her, the other two men continued running without paying any attention.
The pair, a dwarf and a fat man, began to shake erratically as one of them wandered off down some corridors to the right.
-Perhaps...?
Midoriya saw the dwarf change direction with disturbing speed.
That movement wasn't random. He knew he was being followed.
But what made her grit her teeth was what she saw further down that hallway.
A family of three reluctantly left a store.
A man, a woman, and a little girl, maybe four or five years old.
The dwarf gasped, feigning despair, but his body moved with purpose.
I knew what I was doing.
Midoriya felt a chill run down his spine.
The man of the family frowned and took several steps ahead of his family, setting off small sparks in his hands. The mother, on the other hand, hid behind him, the little girl clinging to her leg.
Then the dwarf jumped.
And to Midoriya's horror, he saw the dwarf's mouth open.
-Glory to the...!
Midoriya reacted instantly.
The Black Whip went off.
The tendril popped out of the back of his hand, moving forward as fast as it could.
But, he didn't wrap it up right away.
I couldn't do it or I would activate it at the worst possible point.
So he let him advance another half meter.
Only half a meter.
And then he threw.
Applying the same principle as a common whip, he increased the tension on the tendril by changing its anchor point.
Instead of stopping the dwarf's movement, he deflected it, redirecting its momentum.
The villain's body, instead of plummeting toward the family, was brutally yanked upward, launched in an upward arc.
Her legs flailed in the air. Her mouth, still open, finished her scream.
-New World!
The explosion consumed it high in the sky.
The air burned with a scorching blast wave.
Flames and flesh scraps rained down the halls, painting the walls an eerie crimson, but the family remained untouched, their only injuries the ringing in their ears and the possible trauma of the little girl witnessing a dwarf explode in midair.
The man stepped forward, hugging his wife and daughter with trembling arms.
The girl was sobbing, her mother tried to calm her, but she too was shocked by what had happened.
Still, Midoriya didn't even turn around to look at them, he didn't have time to do so.
He just turned around and kept running.
The fat man was almost reaching the evacuation zone.
Midoriya gritted his teeth, feeling a second throb in his ears.
And then she accelerated, turned around the interaction, and ahead of her, a few meters away, she saw him.
The fat man ran panting, staggering under the weight of his own body.
But his destiny was clear.
Midoriya pushed himself to catch up, straining every muscle with 3% of One For All.
But it was too far away.
To his horror, he saw it.
He saw a hero emerge from the evacuation zone with a speed quirk.
Young.
Radiant.
With a confident smile, he ran straight to the fleeing man.
"You're safe, young citizen!" cried the hero, spreading his arms.
Midoriya felt a cold emptiness in his stomach.
-No...
His legs moved faster.
No.
Every fiber in his body tensed with despair.
Don't touch it!
He tried to scream, tried to warn the young hero, but his throat was dry.
Her scream was drowned in her tongue, unable to look away.
Then the hero hugged the man.
The fat man took a deep breath, opened his mouth, and his voice boomed like a death sentence.
-Glory to the New World!
The explosion was instantaneous.
A wave of fire and shrapnel engulfed the hero in a blinding flash of red and yellow.
The ground rumbled beneath Midoriya's feet.
And something warm and wet hit his face.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
I didn't need to look.
I knew what it was.
Warm blood trickled down her cheek, sticking to her skin like a cruel reminder.
The world fell silent for a split second.
And then...
The horror arrived.
-Oh, God!
-He... he fell apart!
-He was just a boy!
-It just can't be!
But, when she thought nothing could be worse, a woman's cry pierced her like a dagger.
-My son! My son, no!
Midoriya opened his eyes against his will.
And he saw it.
A pool of charred flesh.
An arm still extended towards the man he tried to save.
A piece of cloth still on fire.
A face that was no longer recognizable.
Midoriya stopped breathing.
Nothing was changing.
It was just making things worse.
He fell to his knees.
His boots slid on a warm, thick liquid.
He didn't look.
I didn't want to know who it was.
The pressure in his chest became unbearable.
-I'm no good...
Another explosion.
-I shouldn't be here...
A second one.
-I'm a mistake!
A third.
Shouting.
Tears.
Horror.
Every sound was another nail in his skull.
A suffocating feeling took hold of his chest.
Her eyes trembled as her fingers dug into her own skin.
The screams continued.
Thunderous.
Heartbreaking.
-Calm your mind, Midoriya.
Hades's voice echoed in his head.
Midoriya shuddered.
Her world shook, and she forced herself to breathe. The air burned her lungs like hot coals.
But the screams had disappeared and there was only a sepulchral emptiness.
Absolute silence.
Then his hand rose by inertia.
PHAP!
The blow to her cheek woke her up like an electric shock.
His body shuddered.
His mind cleared.
The fear had not disappeared.
But he no longer controlled her.
He took a deep breath and stood up.
The traces of despair were buried under a new determination.
He clicked his tongue and fired Blackwhip at a nearby post.
The tendril coiled tightly.
-Three percent!
He pulled with all his might. His body became a green blur.
There was no time to grieve.
But, when he was about to reach his maximum speed, he found something.
Or rather someone...
A boy, a teenager about the girl's age, with purple hair and purple bumps, was crawling through some rubble, tears visible running down his face.
-You...
[Meanwhile: 4 minutes ago]
The explosion and chaos were left behind as Midoriya disappeared into the distance.
Dust still hung in the air, mingling with the smell of burnt metal and charred flesh.
But Hades remained motionless.
Watching.
Analyzing.
Larry was still clinging to the man's back, but he barely flinched.
Then, his skin changed.
A harsh sound, like stone scraping stone, resounded as his dark skin took on a grayish hue.
"Is that his power?" Hades muttered to himself, his gaze sharpening.
Larry was quick to react.
He jumped before the man could crush him to the ground.
At that very moment, a ray of light crossed the air.
Bright, hot, fast.
It hit the hardened man's shoulder, doing no real damage, but causing light to scatter in all directions like a reflection in a polished mirror.
Hades narrowed his eyes and followed the trajectory of the shot.
There it was.
Another man with a smirk emerged from the rubble, his silhouette illuminated by the energy still crackling in his hand.
-My, my... Sosuke, did you really let something so insignificant stop you?
His mocking tone echoed in the momentary silence.
Sosuke gritted his teeth, the muscles in his neck tensing with suppressed fury.
-Shut up, Hiroto. I don't have time for your games.
"Oh, please... Don't get sentimental," Hiroto tilted his head, his expression playful. "After all, we have work to do."
Sosuke glared at him.
-Then do it. And bring the rest of the special packages.
Hiroto was silent for a moment.
Then he clicked his tongue in annoyance.
-Don't give me orders... I'm your boss!
But when the older one looked at him with icy seriousness, his attitude crumbled.
He growled softly, turned sharply, and disappeared into the rubble.
Hades, for his part, watched the interaction closely.
-Interesting... The hierarchy between mortals is not respected as always.
But he put that thought aside when Sosuke turned his gaze towards him.
-Well... -his voice sounded deep and mocking-, a pubescent boy wants to play the hero.
With that said, he began to walk slowly towards Hades, his heavy footsteps cracking the ground beneath his weight.
Hades sighed.
-How boring... A mortal who thinks he's strong...
Then, he smiled and raised his hand.
-Cadaver equipment...
The air trembled.
-Sonic Gauntlet.
Larry glowed brightly before disappearing.
Instead, Hades's hand was wrapped in a gauntlet of bone and leather, the twisted, organic structure forming a jagged design.
In the center of his palm, a concave hole pulsed with latent energy.
Hades clenched and unclenched his fingers, feeling the force running through his arm.
-Don't let me down, damned mortal.
Sosuke didn't respond, instead, he propelled himself forward with a powerful stomp on the ground.
His movements, despite his size, were swift.
Hades's gaze sharpened as Sosuke lunged at him.
The man was a monster of brute strength, his speed was not to be underestimated.
The ground rumbled under his weight.
An instant later, his fist came down like a hammer.
Hades barely had time to spin on his axis, avoiding the impact by a narrow margin.
Sosuke's punch shattered the asphalt like paper.
Stone fragments flew in all directions.
And Hades felt the vibration in his chest.
-Average strength... But the speed is disappointing.
He leaped to the side and threw a punch with his gauntlet.
The blow hit Sosuke's hardened armor with a sharp sound.
But Hades did not stop.
He spun around and struck again.
One.
Two.
Thrice.
With each impact, an almost imperceptible vibration ran through his arm.
The gauntlet began to heat up.
"Is that how it works?" Hades felt the latent energy building in his palm.
It was subtle... But it was there.
The gauntlet didn't trigger its special ability immediately.
It needed to be charged.
Every blow that landed, every impact received, fed into the internal mechanism.
-Interesting...
But there was no time for further testing.
Sosuke roared in fury and twisted his body in an explosive motion.
His hardened elbow went straight for Hades' torso, and he couldn't dodge it in time.
The impact threw him backward.
He rolled on the ground, the air escaping from his lungs violently.
His chest burned from the blow, but something else caught his attention.
The gauntlet vibrated.
The accumulated energy intensified.
-I see... Getting hit also charges it.
Hades stood up, shaking the dust off his clothes.
And then he smiled widely.
-This makes things more interesting and worthy of a god.
He propelled himself forward.
Blow after blow.
Punch after punch.
Sosuke grunted, blocking most of the attacks, but each impact served a purpose.
The gauntlet pulsed with stored energy.
The sound condensed in its core.
Then, at the precise moment, Hades slipped under an attack from Sosuke.
He turned his body.
And he launched a direct blow to the enemy's torso.
The gauntlet gleamed faintly with a pale flash.
The sound trapped inside was suddenly released.
A dull rumble echoed in the air.
Sosuke felt the vibration run through his armor.
The blow did not send him flying.
He didn't go through it.
But it destabilized him.
For the first time in the entire fight, he staggered a step back.
Hades clicked his tongue.
-So it's not fully charged yet...
But the crack in Sosuke's defense was enough.
Hades wasn't going to waste the opportunity, and while this was happening, in the shadows...
A floating phone recorded every moment.
He remained hidden among the rubble, leaning at the perfect angle to capture the fight.
Behind the camera, a bated breath.
A barely audible murmur.
-He's... fighting a villain...
The voice was young and feminine.
-He must be my age...
The phone was shaking slightly from the owner's hesitant grip.
The lens of his camera reflected the figure of Hades dodging and counterattacking with lethal precision.
The beat in his chest quickened.
-It's... so cool.
However, his grip on the phone tightened.
A doubt crossed his mind.
If she was recording... why wasn't she helping?
But far from his thoughts, the fight between Hades and Sosuke continued in a brutal exchange of blows.
Hades felt each impact run through his body like thunder.
The gauntlet vibrated with each blow, gathering more energy, but his mortal coil had a limit.
Sosuke, on the other hand, looked like an unbreakable war machine.
Every time Hades dodged an attack, another came in its place.
It was like fighting against a stone wall that could move and hit with the force of a truck.
Hades jumped back, avoiding a leg sweep that would have broken his bones.
He rolled on the ground and immediately got up.
He was breathing heavily, his chest was burning.
He'd taken several direct hits, and his bruised skin had a slightly shiny hue. Hades didn't notice, but the bruises he'd accumulated were slowly healing.
But even though he healed, it wasn't enough. And his stamina was constantly draining.
At such a scene, Sosuke sneered.
-Not bad, brat. But... I see you're already at your limit.
Hades did not respond.
He wiped a trickle of blood escaping from the corner of his lip with the back of his left hand.
Then, he smiled.
-Don't get arrogant, damned mortal, we're still far from finished.
He launched himself into the attack again.
His gauntlet vibrated with each impact.
One.
Two.
Three.
The air around him began to distort.
The accumulated energy was almost at its peak.
But then, Sosuke changed his pace. Hades saw the hardened fist coming toward him and tried to dodge it.
But it was a feint.
The real blow came from the side.
It hit his ribs with devastating force.
A dry sound resonated inside him.
Hades was thrown, crashing into a concrete pillar.
The pain spread through her body like liquid fire. Her breathing stopped for a moment, and her lungs began to ache with every breath she managed.
Sosuke then moved forward with a firm step.
-I told you you'd already reached your limit.
But at that moment...
A stone hit his face.
It wasn't a big shock.
But enough to make him frown.
-What the devil...?
Another stone flew out of nowhere and hit his hand.
Sosuke grunted, looking away for a moment.
Hades, panting, raised an eyebrow.
-That...?
Then he saw her.
Or rather, he saw the phone floating among the debris.
Someone was there.
Someone seemingly invisible who continued throwing stones at precise moments, annoying the villain with the repetitive tapping.
So, Hades took advantage of the distraction.
He stood up and pushed himself up on shaky legs.
He clenched his fist tightly.
The gauntlet vibrated with a deep hum.
-Now yes... it's loaded.
But just as he was about to attack, an explosion sounded in the distance.
A roar of fire and destruction shook the ground.
Hades turned instinctively.
The screams of the civilians were distant, But meaningful to the ears of the God.
His attention was divided for an instant, an instant long enough for Sosuke to react.
-Don't let your guard down, brat!
His hardened fist went straight for Hades's face, coming down like a warhammer.
Hades, distracted by the previous commotion, barely had time to react.
I couldn't dodge.
His only option was to resist.
He gritted his teeth and crossed his arms in front of his chest in a desperate attempt to block the impact.
The hardened fist struck with monstrous force.
A dry, chilling sound echoed in the air.
The pain was instantaneous.
His left arm creaked under the inhuman pressure, the bone bending in a way it shouldn't.
A wave of pain ran through his body.
Sosuke laughed with a smirk of triumph.
-Ha! Did you really think you could beat me, you damn brat? You're nothing but fodder!
Hades, his breath coming in short gasps, felt his arm throb as if a red-hot iron had been stuck into it.
But then...
He smiled.
A crooked, arrogant, defiant smile.
-You fell, asshole.
The gauntlet on his right hand began to vibrate with unusual intensity.
A deep, low hum rippled through the air, like the roar of a restrained beast.
The kinetic energy accumulated in each blow, in each impact received, had exceeded its maximum point.
A spectral glow ran along the lines of the gauntlet.
Before Sosuke could react, Hades extended his arm and drove the palm of his gauntlet directly into his chest.
-Die!
A blinding flash of light erupted across the battlefield.
The air compressed in an instant and then...
The gauntlet exploded.
The shock wave spread like an unstoppable storm.
The sound roared with a brutality that shook the ground and shattered nearby glass.
Sosuke was thrown out as if he had been hit by a train.
His torso arched in the air before his back collided with a concrete wall with tremendous force.
The impact raised a cloud of dust and debris.
The residual vibration of the blow ran through his body like an invisible whip, pulverizing his ribs in a shower of splinters inside his own chest.
Hades's palm print was etched into her skin, buried in bruises and blood.
Sosuke spat out a crimson stream as air struggled to return to his crushed lungs.
-What... what... the fuck...?
The air smelled of dust and blood.
Hades, his breathing erratic, felt his body begin to give way.
Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him conscious.
His eardrums rumbled as if someone were hitting them violently.
His arms were a mess.
The left one, broken at an unnatural angle.
The right... worse.
The gauntlet had exploded along with the sonic wave, shattering into burning fragments that dug into his skin.
The flesh on his hand and forearm was burned, blackened in places, with traces of smoke rising from the charred skin.
The pain was simply unbearable.
His dislocated shoulder throbbed with a stabbing fire that stole his breath.
But... even with all that pain, he smiled.
-Hmph... Isn't that very strong... you deadly piece of shit?
Her voice was broken, but the mockery in it was clear.
Sosuke remained motionless on the other side of the battlefield.
His body barely reacted, as if his nervous system had completely shut down.
The rubble around him was stained with his blood.
And an arrogant expression decorated his already twisted smile, his heart pounding with the ecstasy of battle.
But right now, I couldn't keep fighting.
His body just wasn't responding.
His knees buckled, the strength that had sustained him disappeared from one second to the next.
The ground was getting closer and closer in Hades' eyes.
But then, something unexpected happened.
Seemingly invisible hands caught him before he fell face first onto the ground.
A stifled gasp made her realize someone was there.
Someone had caught him.
-Hey! Hey, don't fall asleep!
The voice was feminine, agitated, full of nervousness.
Hades blinked slowly.
Light footprints were left in the dust around him.
The phone that had been floating in the air was now lying inches away from him, still recording.
-What the fuck...?
He tried to focus his gaze, but his vision blurred with each stabbing throb of pain.
The girl held it with difficulty, as if she were about to drop it at any moment.
-Shit, you're ripped to shreds!
The desperation in his voice was palpable.
But Hades just snorted.
-I've been worse...
-How the hell have you been worse than this!
The invisible girl couldn't believe what she was saying.
Hades could barely hold his own weight, his right arm was shattered and his left... not a chance.
The guy couldn't even lift his head without trembling from exhaustion.
And yet, he smiled.
-Because I am not a mere mortal like you.
She swallowed.
I had seen it all.
From the moment he had launched himself at that gigantic villain until the moment he had destroyed him with a blast of sound.
The sonic wave had been brutal, the recoil devastating, and yet he remained standing.
The girl gritted her teeth.
-You're a fucking lunatic...
Hades just chuckled, before coughing blood.
He relaxed for a moment in the grip of the invisible mortal, but then, something echoed in the distance.
The air was filled with a thick tension as Hades, with difficulty, raised his head.
Beads of sweat and blood trickled down his face, but his eyes burned with suppressed fury.
The heavy footsteps of five people echoed in the distance.
The newcomers fit Midoriya's description perfectly.
Bloodshot eyes, open mouths dripping with drool, bodies jerking in erratic spasms, as if their muscles were pulled by invisible strings.
Meat puppets with one function: to explode.
Then, a voice thundered above the chaos.
-What the fuck, Sosuke! Who did that to you?
Sosuke's apparent boss, Hiroto.
His gaze scanned the scene quickly, jumping from his subordinate, a wreck against the rubble, to Hades, barely managing to stay on his feet.
When her eyes fixed on him, she sparked with rage.
-You... Damn it!
A crimson glow shone from his fingers.
Hades barely had time to react before several lasers flew in his direction.
They didn't pierce his flesh, but the heat was unbearable.
One hit his leg, another his broken arm, and the last his side.
The smell of charred skin filled the air as the flesh was instantly charred.
Hades grunted in pain, gritted his teeth, and his arm twitched in mild spasms.
The invisible girl, who had luckily escaped the attack unharmed, screamed, taking an instinctive step back.
Hearing that cry, the ringleader laughed with sick amusement.
-Wow... So there's a girl over here... Hehehe... I hope she's pretty...
He covered his mouth with one hand, as if trying to contain his emotion.
-You guys! Go to the northern section and find more people to blow up!
The four convulsing subjects laughed with unnatural synchronization and ran away.
But not in the expected direction.
They weren't looking for civilians.
Their empty gazes were fixed on an invisible space next to Hades.
Adrenaline coursed through their bodies in an icy shiver.
"Brainless idiots, go get more people!" Hiroto bellowed.
But no one paid attention to him.
They were nothing more than weapons without a will of their own, and their only target now was that seemingly empty space.
Hades understood immediately, he could hear someone's heavy breathing next to him.
So, through the pain, through the dizziness that clouded his vision.
He forced himself to stand up.
"Get out of here!" he roared, his voice raspy with the blood pooling in his throat.
He, like God, could not abandon someone who had helped him before, no matter how insignificant the gesture.
He would return the favor.
-No! I won't let you!
She grabbed his right arm, but Hades didn't hesitate.
With his hand, still trembling and burned, he pushed her away with an awkward push.
The pain of that simple action was unbearable, but he ignored it.
He raised his hand with difficulty and let a black sphere emerge from his palm.
A whirlwind of shadows formed on the ground in front of him.
And, from between the cracks that formed in the ground, a skeleton emerged.
Tall, robust, with an imposing posture.
His skull stared up at Hades with a spectral glow in its empty sockets before his body began to crumble.
His bones compressed, fused, reformed.
A flash of light accompanied the transformation.
When the darkness dissipated, Hades was holding a massive broadsword.
The invisible girl gasped.
-W-what...?
Hades did not respond.
He took a deep breath and felt his right shoulder creak as he unknowingly briefly activated his regeneration, resetting the joint.
But, it was just his shoulder.
The rest was still a mess, but that didn't matter to him.
He held the sword tightly, the blade was weightless, unlike what he thought, the greatsword weighed nothing.
A faint recognition crossed his mind, but currently, he couldn't afford to lose his focus.
I knew what I had to do.
"Get out of here," he ordered coldly.
The girl clenched her fists, frustrated, helpless.
-I...
He took a step back.
His breathing became erratic.
I wanted to help.
I wanted to do something.
But I couldn't.
The four subjects were approaching.
Their bodies wobbled, but their movements were inhumanly fast.
They did not hesitate to attack them.
"Gloria..." they whispered in hollow voices.
Hades crouched down.
And he ran.
An explosion of speed erupted around him.
His silhouette disappeared in a fleeting flash.
The sound of something breaking accompanied his burst of speed.
It was a dry, disturbing sound.
And before the four men could reach them and finish their sentences, the sword descended in a perfect arc.
The blade cut diagonally through flesh and bone as if they were air.
The bodies of the four subjects were separated.
For a second, nothing happened.
The invisible girl stared at the scene with wide eyes.
An indescribable horror ran down his spine in a matter of a mere second.
She felt afraid, she had seen a murder in front of her.
But then, one by one...
They exploded in succession, flames leaping into the air and the roar was deafening.
The girl screamed in surprise, her silhouette marked by the sizzling drops of blood from the four men.
The hot wind from the blast hit her, ruffling the invisible strands of her hair.
"They're living bombs," Hades declared, his voice hoarse.
His silhouette appeared among the flames, but something was wrong.
His body was unbalanced.
He wasn't running. His enormous sword was now stuck in the ground in front of him.
When the fire dissipated, the image was clear, Hades was standing in front of the ringleader, but not standing.
His legs were limp, dangling from the grip of his sword.
He only kept himself upright thanks to his sword, stuck in the ground, using it as a walking stick.
Blood dripped from his mouth and ears alike.
The boss, on the other hand, stared wide-eyed at the smoldering remains of his special packages. His breathing became erratic, his face twisting into a grimace of pure anger.
"You sons of bitches! Do you know how much it cost to prepare you?" His voice was a roar, thick with rage and disbelief. "Months of drugs, manipulation, conditioning...! All for some fucking jerk-off teenager to blow you up like you're nothing!"
His bloodshot gaze fixed on Hades, who could barely stand, his sword stuck in the ground serving as support.
"You..." He spat venom with every word. "I'm going to make you shit, you fucking scum!"
His hands shook with fury, but it wasn't from fear.
It was because he was concentrating his power.
His ten fingers joined together in front of him, and this time, instead of ordinary lasers, a crimson sphere began to form at the tip of his middle finger. Energy pooled with a fierce glow, pulsing like a raging heart.
It was bigger than before, more unstable and lethal.
Hades knew it the moment he felt the scorching heat against his skin.
-Shit... I can't move...
Her legs barely responded. Pain clouded her senses. Her body staggered, unable to avoid what was coming.
-Fuck fuck fuck!
The invisible girl watched the scene with her eyes wide open.
He felt helpless.
The shock of seeing so many people die had made her legs weak. Although the words that they were bombs had calmed her a little, it was just that, a little.
She could only breathe, and watch as that beam of energy was charged and aimed directly at the wounded boy's face.
She felt useless, she would watch someone else get killed without her being able to do anything.
His breathing became heavy, his pupils widened, and a rush of adrenaline shot through his body.
His legs moved before his brain could process the decision. He couldn't just stand idly by.
Ran.
Heart pounding in her ears, she grabbed her phone she'd left on the floor to hold Hades and threw it with all her might.
The mobile cut through the air in a precise trajectory.
The impact was a direct hit. The phone struck the villain's right eye, completely shattering his concentration.
"ARGH!" the man roared, bringing his hands to his face.
The crimson bolt shot out of control, deflecting just enough to pass over Hades's shoulder.
Still, the heat was unbearable. A burn mark appeared on his skin, but he had no time for the pain.
A burst of darkness appeared out of nowhere.
From above, black whips descended like living snakes, wrapping around the villain with inhuman speed and precision.
"What the..." He tried to move, but the whips clamped down on his body brutally, closing with terrifying pressure.
And then, a blast of wind shook the debris.
A green and light blue blur appeared in the air.
A fist descended like a divine hammer.
-SMASH!
The impact was brutal.
The ground shook as the villain was thrown, his body spinning like a rag doll before slamming into the remains of a wall. A crater formed with the impact, dust and stones flying in all directions.
The silence was absolute.
The invisible girl froze, her breathing rapid. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her heart pounding against her ribs.
His eyes fixed on the epicenter of chaos.
Amidst the cloud of dust, a silhouette stood out against small green rays.
A girl with green hair, slightly stained with blood, held Hades firmly.
Its tendrils of dark energy wrapped around her body, securing their grip.
The scene froze for a moment.
Then, Midoriya turned his head.
His cold, inquisitive gaze swept over the room... until his eyes focused on a phone that was beginning to float in the air.
His pupils sharpened.
-Who's there?
The girl, who had been picking up her phone a moment before, felt a chill run down her spine.
Hades coughed and, in a weak voice, murmured:
-She... helped me before and... I think she's invisible...
Midoriya looked down at the bloody boy in his arms, then back at the void.
His mind worked quickly.
He tied up the loose ends in a matter of seconds.
-A woman with the invisibility quirk...
His jaw tightened.
-Hagaku...
But then, the invisible girl interrupted her.
"C... Could you treat him better?" she said with a hint of concern, watching Midoriya hold the boy like a wounded doll. Her tone immediately softened when she saw the state he was in. "Looks like he broke some bones..."
Midoriya sighed heavily.
But he didn't answer.
He just stared at her with an unreadable expression, holding Hades in a protective grip.
TO BE CONTINUED.