[The Fox and the Hare] Chapter 43 - Unleashed (Patreon)

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Chapter 43 - Unleashed

Previous chapter

For a second, it felt as if sounds had ceased to exist in the world. Everyone still present on the battlefield watched petrified with shock how 'Aizawa-sensei' was erased from existence, not leaving even a drop of blood behind. But it wasn’t just him. The enormous UA Barrier that had tanked numerous punches and hits from Gigantomachia and the High-End Nomus was obliterated too, with Izuku’s punch going through it like a hot knife through butter before splitting the skies and releasing a shockwave that travelled for dozens of miles.

⁂

While the rest of the heroes and villains on the battlefield were staring in shock at Izuku’s power, the High-End Nomu weren’t awestruck.

Despite using his fox tails to guard against the Fat Nomu’s enormous hammer fist, Naruto’s whole body was rocked. Right away, Female Nomu appeared with a burst of speed and punched him in the gut. Kurama caught her punch, but he could do nothing more when Female Nomu’s entire arm exploded. The pieces of flesh and bone resulting from the explosions turned into deadly projectiles that skewered his entire torso.

Naruto had to grit his teeth to stop himself from screaming in pain.

“What are you waiting for, Naruto?!” Kurama said urgently.

The Fat Nomu, Elephant Nomu, Laser Nomu, Female Nomu, and Shigaraki Nomu… Five High-End Nomu were surrounding him from all sides.

Seeing Cementos, Todoroki, and Tokoyami whose Dark Shadow was carrying an exhausted Gaara coming towards him, Naruto shouted:

“Stay back! Don’t come any closer!”

“Uzumaki-san, we’re here to help!” Cementos said. “You’re bleeding severely, you can’t-”

“You won’t be of any help. Be realistic!” Naruto shouted. “I can’t fight all of them if I have to protect you.”

“Uzumaki-”

“Listen to me, Tokoyami! They’re as fast as Hawks but way stronger. You should know what that means. Take Izuku with you and run away. I’ll hold them all back,” said Naruto before jumping away. A split second later, Shigaraki’s Air Bullets skewered the spot where he had been.

Cementos gritted his teeth in frustration at his uselessness. He couldn’t accept the fact that he couldn’t protect his students. He felt ashamed that he had to leave everything on the shoulders of a boy while he ran away. But he also understood what it meant that the High-End Nomu were as fast as Hawks. They were probably capable of breaking the sound barrier. He would only be getting in Naruto’s way.

“Let’s go, everyone,” Cementos said. “Tokoyami-san, hand Sabaku-san over to me; I’ll carry him. Go after Midoriya.”

Tokoyami did as told, and Dark Shadow left Gaara in Cementos’ arms before flying to Izuku. On the other hand, Todoroki was still rooted in his spot, his hands clenched tightly as he watched how Naruto was fighting all alone against the five High-End Nomu.

Naruto had never looked at his classmates as competitors, but that wasn’t the case for them. Whether it was Izuku, Tokoyami, Gaara, or Todoroki, they all chased after Naruto’s shadow; he was their goal. He was their rival, the one they strived to surpass.

Looking at Naruto’s fight against the High Ends, Todoroki understood that the blonde had never given his all during their combat classes in school. He realised that even after two years, despite how much work and effort he had put into developing his Half-Colf Half-Hot quirk, the gap between them had not lessened.

“Todoroki-san! Let’s go!” Tokoyami said when Dark Shadow returned with Izuku.

Momentarily, Shoto looked at Izuku. His right arm was twisted like a pretzel. It was a horrifying injury, one that he was sure that not even Recovery Girl could help with. His right arm would have to be amputated. His left arm didn’t look any better either; he could even see some pieces of bone protruding through the flesh.

“Let’s go,” Cementos also said in a heavy voice. “He is buying time for us all to escape. Let us not waste his sacrifice.”

Hearing those words, Todoroki couldn’t hold it in anymore.

“What kind of Hero would I be if I left now?!” he shouted. “How could I live with myself after this if I ran while letting my classmate sacrifice his life for me?!”

“Todoroki!” Cementos and Tokoyami shouted as the hot-headed boy left their group and broke into a run towards Naruto.

But then, a bestial scream stopped Todoroki in his tracks, as if frozen. Cementos, Todoroki, Izuku, and Gaara watched in shock how merely the force of that roar blew the five High-End Nomu away.

Despite the fact that Naruto’s clothes were made of a fabric resistant to corrosive agents, they began to melt as a crimson-red liquid slowly spread over his body, starting from the stomach. It engulfed his torso and then ran over his arms, legs, and even his fox tails too. Lastly, it spread over his face and hair too, covering him from head to toe.

He no longer looked like a human. He looked like a demon.

⁂

Once he shouted at Tokoyami, Naruto could no longer split his attention to them. As the five High-Ends threw themselves at him, adrenaline started coursing through his veins.

Time seemed to slow down in his perception as he entered a special state. He backflipped out of the range of Elephant Nomu’s trunk and used his tails to shield himself from Female Nomu’s exploding leg before throwing a kunai at the head of Laser Nomu who was preparing to fire his Heat Vision, forcing it to dodge and lose the chance to shoot.

Naruto didn’t remain on the backfoot the entire time; a sonic boom exploded as he threw himself at Fat Nomu.

However, the fact that he was forced to go for the head—for the brain, specifically—made his attacks predictable, and Fat Nomu enlarged his hands to enormous proportions, putting them in front of him like a shield. Just as Naruto was about to tear through them with his fox-like claws, huge mouths with large, metallic teeth grew from them, meeting his claws.

Sparks came from his claws’ contact with Fat Nomu’s metallic teeth.

With his charge abruptly stopped, Naruto felt the space start to distort around his left leg, and he cried out in pain. But his Adamantine Sealing Chains quickly grew from his back and coiled around his leg like a snake, cancelling Laser Nomu’s Spatial Distortion Quirk.

In the next moment, Shigaraki-Nomu showed a new quirk as he fired a large ball of lightning from his hands. Seemingly recognising how devastating that attack was going to be, the other four Nomu retreated rapidly.

Naruto wasn’t blind to their behaviour and willed his chains to form a dome of golden light around him. The ball of lightning slammed into the golden chain-dome and exploded like a lightning storm, scorching and rupturing the ground all around him.

“You can’t go on like this, Naruto,” Kyuubi said with a hint of urgency in his voice.

It was almost unfair how powerful the Adamantine Sealing Chains were when it came to stopping attacks and cancelling quirks. However, they were not invincible either, due to a very simple reason: all Quirks consumed people’s stamina when used. Quirks were ultimately limited by the human body. In a situation where he was ganged up on by five High-End Nomu at once, it would be foolish to think that he could win a battle of attrition against them.

“You’re right…” said Naruto while panting for air. “Let’s do it.”

He would have preferred to save his demonic transformation for his eventual battle against All For One because it was his ace in the hole. But things don’t always go as planned in life.

Kurama retreated into Naruto’s body. Then, a crimson-red liquid melted his shirt and jacket, starting from the stomach. It spread over the rest of his torso, engulfing his arms, legs, and tails, and ultimately covering his head too.

The five Nomu didn’t patiently wait for him to finish his transformation and charged at him. However, a scream unlike that of a human came from his mouth. That bestial roar generated a shockwave that flung the five High-Ends away violently.

“This…this looks… looks dangerous,” Elephant Nomu said.

Among the five Nomu, Shigaraki was the one who retained the largest amount of memories from when he used to be human, but even he could never recall seeing anything like that before.

“We… need… plan,” Laser Nomu also said grimly.

Crimson-red skin that seemed to corrode and melt anything it touched, sharp-looking claws, two white soulless eyes, a mouth full of sharp fangs, and five large tails swaying slowly at his back. At that moment, he looked like a demon.

“Something… wrong… why can I see… 6 tails?” Female Nomu asked.

“Not good…” Shigaraki said, his memories from when he was human coming to the front of his mind. “Awakening… quirk is evolving… Attack!! … we have to kill!! NOW!!”

Saying that, Shigaraki raised both his arms and shouted:

“AIR CANNON!”

However, if Naruto in his human form was already too fast and agile for Shigaraki’s Air Cannon to meet its mark, his speed in his demonic form was on another level.

Although he didn’t leave sonic booms in his wake like before, he was even faster. Much faster.

Laser Nomu was not able to react as an enormous crimson appendage slammed into the back of his head, pulverising it.

The four remaining Nomu watched in shock as blood burst like a geyser from Laser Nomu’s still standing corpse. He was killed before he even knew it.

Naruto was perfectly lucid and in control of his actions, but as he obliterated Laser Nomu’s head, he couldn’t help letting out a roar of excitement. He may have learned how to suppress the feral instincts of his quirk, but that did not mean he was entirely immune to their influence.

Confident in her ability to avoid fatal injury with her Liquefying Quirk, Female Nomu was the first to charge at him in close quarters. Her leg inflated to a grotesque size and appearance as she kicked towards his head.

Naruto didn’t even attempt to block the hail of sharp projectiles that rained upon him as the Female Nomu exploded her leg. Whereas they had badly injured him before, those projectiles didn’t leave a scratch on his crimson-red skin now.

Four golden chains suddenly impaled the Female Nomu. She screamed in agony as she tried to activate her Liquefying Quirk in order to escape... however, nothing happened. Her Quirks were all cancelled. Immobilised by the four golden chains, she could do nothing but watch as his clawed hand came towards her head.

He sliced through her brain like a hot knife through butter, and his golden chains also tore her body apart savagely. It was completely unnecessary, but he took great pleasure in spilling her blood and gore all over the place.

A terror like they had never felt in their lives grew inside the High End Nomu as they watched the demonic fox savagely tear the Female Nomu apart and roar in cruel delight.

The Nomu were bio-engineered creatures with no will of their own. They were designed to obey their creator, even if they were told to self-destruct.

However, at that moment, a primal fear overrode their programming. It was a horror that surpassed their sense of reason and short-circuited their brain. They were standing in front of a monster even more terrible than them. Instinctually, they realised that they couldn't be its opponents. They were nothing but prey. And prey ran away at the sight of the apex predator.

Naruto was broken out of his state of enjoyment when, unexpectedly, Shigaraki, Fat Nomu, and Elephant Nomu suddenly turned on their heels… and ran.

“What the fuck…” For a moment, he was stupefied. “Are they running away?!” Naruto said in disbelief.

It had never even crossed his mind that the bio-engineered creatures would actually try to escape.

‘I have to kill them before they disappear into the city!’

The Fat Nomu was the slowest among them. He didn't even make it halfway through the woods before 10 claws sliced through his body from behind, obliterating his brain and turning him into mincemeat.

A great gale of wind was stirred as Naruto ran faster than ever before in this lifetime.

Sensing his impending death, Elephant Nomu turned his head and threw his large trunk at Naruto as he ran.

Nevertheless, it was for naught. His claws tore through Elephant Nomu’s trunk, ripping it apart. A moment later, three large tails wrapped around his body and suddenly constricted him, squashing him into a paste of blood and gore.

He took one second to admire his handiwork before throwing himself into Shigaraki’s pursuit. By the time he finally caught up from behind, Shigaraki had made it past the woods and into the city.

“Stop!” Shigaraki-Nomu threatened as he flew up in the air and aimed with his hands at the city around him. “One more step…and I-”

He didn’t have time to finish speaking his threat before a golden chain wrapped around his ankle and pulled him down violently.

“Get over here!” Naruto laughed as he pulled the screaming and struggling Shigaraki to the ground.

With his quirks cancelled, Shigaraki could only fall to the ground, desperately grabbing onto anything and leaving deep finger marks in the street as he was being dragged away.

Cries of panic and terror came from the people nearby as they watched the demonic creature grab a white-haired young man by the face and brutally slam him into the street, making a large and deep crater.

Not minding the spectators, Naruto slammed Shigaraki’s head into the ground five more times, deepening the crater and painting it with his blood. By the time he was done, Shigaraki’s head was nothing but a mess of gore and blood.

⁂

Several hundred kilometres away, in Tokyo, the villains’ situation was vastly different.

With All For One spearheading their movement, the army of villains walked through the streets boldly, making a beeline towards the Headquarters of the Hero Public Safety Commission.

“Air Cannon!”

A pressurised gale of wind blew several armed vehicles away and even redirected an RPG, making it fly into a nearby building and blowing it up.

Police forces, Special Forces, and Pro Heroes… no-one could stop them. A trail of death and destruction was left in their wake, with casualties numbering in the hundreds.

Eventually, they reached their destination. AFO didn’t have time to hold another speech for his people like he did when they attacked the National Diet building because, just as the HPSC Headquarters appeared in their view, a familiar scream greeted them:

“Flashfire Fist: Hell Spider!”

It was the Number 2 Hero, Endeavour. Ten threads of fire sliced at them from above. AFO easily slapped one thread of fire away with the back of his hand, but that wasn’t the case for the rest of the villains behind him. Endeavour’s Hell Spider claimed the lives of dozens.

“Going straight for the kill, Endeavour?” AFO said in a mixture of surprise and amazement. “Look at him well, everyone. This is the true face of the Number 2 Hero in Japan.”

“You made a grave mistake coming out of hiding, All For One,” came the voice of a middle-aged woman from a loudspeaker. “Massacring all the parliamentarians at the National Diet building and leaving a trail of corpses all over Tokyo, killing hundreds of innocent people... You no longer deserve any human rights. You are a mad animal, and you shall be put down like one.”

“Everyone, listen closely! As the President of the Hero Safety Protection Commission, I am telling all the Pro Heroes gathered here today. Do not fight to capture or arrest. This isn’t a mere riot. This is a CIVIL WAR! The villains are trying to overthrow the government. Show them no mercy, for they will show you none to you either!”

Faces grim with determination, Endeavour and the rest of the Pro Heroes didn’t object. The Hero Network App and television channels all over the country had already spread the news of the massacre at the National Diet building, and dozens of Pro Heroes and hundreds of policemen and other innocent bystanders were murdered during the villains’ march through Tokyo on their way to the HPSC Headquarters

Many of them had friends or even families among the victims. Enraged at the villains’ cruelty and with the HPSC’s president giving them the green light to use lethal force, many of the Pro Heroes didn’t hesitate as they threw themselves at the villains.

A messy and chaotic battle ensued as the Metahuman Liberation Army clashed with the Pro Heroes. With most of the civilians having been evacuated ahead of time, the heroes could fully focus on their opponents rather than being afraid for other people’s safety.

Suddenly, a whirlwind of white sliced through the ranks of the villain army. Running at a speed faster than the naked eye could perceive, a hero that wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near Tokyo made their entrance.

Tanned skin, long white hair, and a pair of white rabbit ears: it was Mirko.

Having gotten wind of villains’ coordinated attacks all over the country, Rumi was left with two main choices: she could either go to UA High or Tokyo. Due to her great trust and confidence in Naruto’s strength, she decided to leave UA High in his hands and go to Tokyo instead.

Now, her body appeared like a blur and her legs like a helicopter’s rotor blade as she whirled around, sending villains flying left and right by kicking them in the face.

“Deadly Spear!”

“Fireball!”

“Ice Lance!”

“Bullet Storm!”

Villains all around her fired all sorts of physical and energy attacks at her, but she was like a ghost. Due to her quirk awakening at the UA training camp two years ago, Mirko’s perception reached an entirely different level.

Due to how their eyes are positioned in their skulls, regular rabbits have nearly 360-degree vision, allowing them to spot predators from all sides and escape. However, Mirko’s danger-sensing ability after her Rabbit Quirk’s awakening almost touched the realm of precognition.

Her incredible speed and exquisite control over her body, coupled with her inhumanly sharp perception, allowed her to dodge all the attacks they were firing at her as if she could see the future.

“Luna Rush!”

“Luna Ring!”

Nearly twenty villains were sent flying in quick succession, all of them knocked out cold and sporting broken limbs or cracked skulls.

Eight black tendrils suddenly attacked her from the back, but she dodged them by cartwheeling away and then jumping up, her powerful legs allowing her to instantly put a distance of over 20 metres between herself and her attacker.

“You’re going a bit too wild, Mirko. I can’t have you kill all my subordinates now, can I?” All For One said as arcs of red lightning flickered over his legs.

The street under his feet cracked as he launched himself at Mirko at a speed faster than the naked eye could follow. But the Rabbit Hero was more than capable of keeping up with his speed, easily evading his charge.

‘That monstrous strength of his is still the same,’ she thought with a frown when she saw the entire building collapse into a heap of rubble after AFO smashed into it.

AFO was in the middle of getting out of the rubble when a scream came from above him:

“Flashfire Fist: Hell Curtain!”

AFO chuckled as a blue flame appeared around his hands.

“Flashfire Fist: Hell Curtain!” AFO said and a wave of blue fire erupted from his fist.

Blue and Red clashed, and Endeavour was shocked to see All For One’s blue fire easily overpower his.

“Endeavour!” Mirko shouted when she saw him getting blasted away by AFO’s attack and heard him screaming in pain.

Not wanting to give AFO time to deliver the finishing blow, Mirko threw herself at AFO with such speed that it appeared as if she had teleported above him.

“Luna Arc!” she yelled and threw an axe kick, her heel landing on AFO’s head, right as he raised his arm and aimed at Endeavour to kill him.

Her axe kick slammed All For One down into the collapsed building again, making him leave a human imprint into the heap of rubble below.

“Tsk!” she clicked her tongue when she saw him stand up from the rubble, completely unharmed.

“Is that the best you can do, Number 3?” AFO asked mockingly.

A dragon dived from the sky with her talons first, but AFO just aimed his hand at her and said in annoyance:

“Don’t ruin my fun, small fry!”

His Air Cannon quirk blasted the large dragon away like a broken kite, smashing into the nearby building.

“Now, where were we?” he said as he turned to face Mirko and Endeavour, who had gotten up to his feet in the meantime. “Ah, yes, entertain me some more!”

His body stiffened, and his arms were unexpectedly forced to his back as the fabric of his clothes tightened extremely hard around him like a straightjacket, immobilising his body.

Endeavour didn’t miss the opportunity that Best Jeanist created for him and shouted:

“Vanishing Fist!”

The flame-encased fist struck All For One so hard that it smashed him through the entire heap of rubble, straight into the sewers below the city.

Mirko didn’t fall behind either and threw herself down with as much momentum as possible:

“Luna Fall!”

However, right before her kicks reached him, AFO’s Air Cannon blasted both her and Endeavour away. It was such a simple, but overpowered quirk!

Due to the fact that she was in midair, despite her danger-sensing ability warning her of what he was about to do, Mirko was unable to dodge.

The Air Cannon that he had fired with both hands flung her and Endeavour away at a great distance, making them fall from a height of over 100 metres.

Despite the powerful attack, Endeavour wasn’t knocked out, and he quickly righted himself in the air with a burst of his flames.

As for Mirko, she flipped her body in mid-air so that she fell with her legs first. Due to her powerful legs, falling at terminal velocity was not enough to injure her; her special move, Luna Fall, was far faster than that.

Endeavour frowned when he saw AFO flying out of the sewer. The wounds that his Vanishing Fist had inflicted on AFO were healing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“Getting ganged up on by Number 2, Number 3, Number 5 and Number 10 Pro Heroes… it seems like I need to get a bit serious as well,” All For One said. Despite his words, the tone of his voice was relaxed, showing no worry.

“Springlike Limbs, Strength Enhancer, Kinetic Booster, Multiplier, Hypertrophy, Rivets, Spearlike Bones, Iron Skin, Hellfire [...]”

All For One’s entire body started twisting and changing into a grotesque form as he spoke a long list of quirk names.

“Fuck… we’re screwed.”

Had it been in different circumstances, Best Jeanist would have reprimanded Mirko for her uncouth language. But he couldn’t think of any words that described their situation any better at that moment.

Despite the cuss words she let out, Rumi was the first one to charge at AFO.

“Mirko, don’t be reckless!” Endeavour shouted in worry.

But Mirko didn’t hear him. Despite her sharp hearing as a rabbit, she didn’t hear anything. Due to her Rabbit Quirk instincts screaming at her to get away clashing with her personality and will to fight, Mirko entered a special state of focus. She could count the number of times it happened in the past on the fingers of one hand.

This state of extreme focus was triggered in her only when her instincts warned her of mortal peril, but she still decided to stay back and fight. There were few individuals who would be able to induce that feeling in the Rabbit Hero but All For One was certainly at the top of the list.

A violent wind stirred as AFO punched with his monstrous arm, but Mirko slid under his looping fist. Standing on her hands upside down, she kicked upwards, smashing both her feet into his chin, the force of the impact throwing his head back and wobbling him.

Spear-like bones burst from AFO’s torso, but Mirko executed a move similar to break-dancing to dodge the bone spikes and throw a sweeping kick at the back of his leg.

As AFO dropped to one knee, Endeavour launched himself at him with a scream:

“Flashfire Fist: Jetburn!”

However, at the same time, AFO raised his hand and said:

“Lightning Spear!”

Recognising the mortal peril, Best Jeanist used his threads to quickly pull Endeavour’s body away.

The enormous spear of lightning missed Endeavour, but it hit the HPSC Headquarters building dead centre, blowing a huge hole into its midsection and destroying several floors.

After AFO extended his right arm to fire his Lightning Spear, Mirko took the chance to jump up and throw a whirlwind kick at his head. But her attack was unsuccessful; her tibia ended up smashing into a spike-like bone that had grown from AFO’s shoulder.

AFO was about to turn around and deliver a devastating blow with the back of his hand, but Best Jeanist controlled the fabric of AFO's suit to delay AFO’s movement, allowing Mirko to escape.

“I’ve had enough of your meddling, Number 5,” AFO said. “Cataclysm strike!” he shouted and his monstrous arm was engulfed by blue flames as he threw a punch at Best Jeanist.

An intense burst of flames propelled Endeavour ahead at great speed as he rushed to get into AFO’s way with all his strength.

“Vanishing Fist!” he shouted, and a large fist of fire appeared over his hand before he smashed his fist straight into AFO’s monstrous punch.

For a split second, their attacks seemed to be evenly matched. But it was only an illusion. Amplified by nearly a dozen quirks, AFO’s punch was not something that Endeavour’s Vanishing Fist could contend with. The Flame Hero’s entire right arm exploded in a shower of blood and gore, and his body was flung back violently, smashing through three different buildings before finally coming to a stop.

“Endeavour!” Best Jeanist shouted, but he didn’t receive an answer.

“Rivet Stab!” AFO said as he aimed at Best Jeanist next, but Mirko suddenly kicked him in the elbow from below, making him miss.

In the next instant, Best Jeanist used his quirk again to restrain AFO’s body, and Mirko landed a flush Luna Ring into his face, shattering his industrial mask into pieces and twisting his head to the side, making him take several steps to stabilise his body.

She didn’t celebrate the small success. As her danger-sensing ability went haywire, Mirko rapidly jumped away and broke into a sprint towards Best Jeanist. The blond hero didn’t even know what happened before he felt as if a car crashed into him when Mirko abruptly grabbed him in her sprint and started running away with him in her arms.

And it was just in the nick of time. A second later, All For One fired the most powerful Air Cannon that Mirko had ever seen him do.

It happened in the blink of an eye. In an instant, the entire street and the buildings surrounding it were razed off the surface of the earth.

Hero, Villains, HPSC personnel, policemen; nothing survived. Everyone and everything that was caught in the range of his Air Cannon was pulverized. Only three people survived: Endeavour, who had been blasted away a few moments before, Mirko, and Best Jeanist, whom she had carried away.

Nonetheless, Mirko and Best Jeanist hadn’t managed to fully evade the range of the attack either and were slammed violently into a wall, knocking them unconscious too.

Using a radar-like quirk to detect life signatures, All For One realised the Mirko, Best Jeanist, and Endeavour were only knocked unconscious, not dead. Therefore, he raised his arms and aimed in their direction in order to deal the finishing blow:

“Air Cannon!”