Black_Paladyn
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MHA Paragon Rewrite 7
🕑 Added 2024-12-25 00:21:54 +0000 UTCMy eyes narrowed as I was forced to dash to the side, avoiding a crushing pincer, but my gaze never left the trio I had spotted, who seemed like they were barely holding their ground. Skating forward, I bobbed side to side like a skier heading down a mountain as I wove between the army of Villianbots, trying not to be crushed underfoot.
Eventually, I reached the small clearing the group had managed to carve out amidst the army, but they were surrounded, and to make the situation even more dire, they were unlikely enough to encounter a rare Three Pointer.
While the One and Two Pointers never stopped their relentless barrage of bullets, they were relatively fragile and could be put down by most with a couple of decent hits. Three Pointers, however, were the opposite.
They were squat and sturdy, with bulky, heavy armor like a turret. Instead of legs, the Three-pointers moved on two parallel tracks like a tank. While they had arms, the limbs were weighed down by two giant shoulder-mounted missile launchers, but instead of explosives, the armaments fired a rapidly expanding foam that would trap anyone caught in the radius.
While the missiles were even easier to avoid than the bullets, my punches proved ineffective against the Three Pointers' armor, taking several blows in a concentrated area to crack. It infuriated me to no end, and I had to actively fight the urge to use my flux in a more destructive capacity. Fortunately, this time, my goal wasn't to destroy the three-pointer but to save the unfortunate trio that had encountered it.
Breaking through the ring of Villain bots surrounding the group, I ignored their flashing red eyes as they locked onto me. The flux covering my arms vanished, flowing back into my skin as I would need every last bit of flux to pull off this rescue.
Gliding over to the trio, I stopped, but only for a second. Three streams of flux extended from my feet, slithering across the ground before latching onto the trio's shoes. "Hold on tight."
Before any of them could respond, I took off again, towing the trio along as the flux beneath their feet propelled them forward. I winced as three surprised screams rang through the air behind me, but I could barely pay them attention as my mind was being overclocked trying to track the position of all four of us as we avoided the spray of bullets ripping into the pavement only an inch away.
I had managed to pull off the same feat, but only with one other person. I hadn't even attempted two before. Feeling my mental control slipping, I had no other option but to slow down, hoping my mind could keep up with the frantic pace.
But the moment our speed decreased, a flash of red caught my eye, and I looked just ahead to see a Three Pointer barrel through the army, its missile launchers already ignited, 'Shit.'
My eyes narrowed as I realized I had no other choice, 'I don't even know if this is going to work.'
My mind went into overdrive as it pulled up the skeleton blueprint for an incomplete idea that I had decided to shelf for a later date, 'I guess that date is today.'
But the instant before I activated my flux, there was an explosion of light, sound, and fire as a blonde and black streak shot across the sky, arriving in front of the Three Pointer and blocking my shot, "You're not getting away from me that easily!"
My eyes widened as a barrage of seemingly endless explosions engulfed the Three Pointer, each generating a concussive shockwave that ripped through the air.
The sheer destructive force on display was unbelievable. When the fire died down, it revealed the smoldering remnants of the Three Pointer. Some of its metal plating had been blown clear off in places, while others had melted into slag. Looking away from the ruined remains, I glanced up at the person who had unleashed such a devastating power.
The first thing I noticed was their spiky blonde hair, which matched the explosive potential of their quirk. They also displayed a visible amount of muscle on their arms, wearing only a black tank top and baggy cargo pants.
As they began to fall, the person stretched out their hands, and two tamer explosions ignited, keeping them aloft in the air as they turned around and looked down. Our eyes locked, and I met their intense, blood-red pupils. Then I took in her face, and for a moment, my mind short-circuited, 'Woah.'
Even from a distance, I could tell she was gorgeous but more than just the conventional appeal of her plump lips, long lashes, and flawless skin. There was a dangerous edge to her, emphasized by the deep scowl across her face and the fire in her eyes.
The moment between us lasted only a second before she grunted and looked away. A moment later, she was gone, flying through the air, leaving behind a fiery, explosive wake.
Snapping out of whatever trance I had been put in, I shot forward, using the window of opportunity to dash through the villainbot army. When the frontline came into view, I was at my limit, and after crossing no man's land, I eagerly dumped off my human cargo.
Pausing for a moment, I winced as the aching sensation that had started in my limbs now radiated through my entire body. I realized that the pain was more than just muscle soreness. 'I'm overusing my quirk,' I thought.
It was a possibility I had considered but hoped to avoid by sticking to the gallon capacity the doctor had cited. But clearly, it wasn't just the amount but frequency that had an impact on my performance. A cold, nervous sweat broke out across my body as, for the first time, I was met with a limitation I hadn't prepared for.
My hands curled into fists as I resisted the urge to scream in frustration. I realized that all my preparations might not be enough to uphold the promise I had sworn to. Before I could completely fall victim to despair, I felt the ground beneath my feet begin to tremble. My head shot up along with everyone else as a shadow fell over the battleground. From around a corner, a towering figure emerged its head only a few meters below the skyscrapers to either side of it.
"Shit not that thing again!"
"Fuck it's the Zero-Pointer, let's get the hell out of here!"
Cries of retreat flew into the air as people started to turn and run from the massive metal behemoth, which turned onto the street and advanced, moving on two massive tracks that could crush entire houses beneath it.
I clenched my jaw as I stared at the moving disaster, and I turned to flee with the rest of the candidates when a series of explosions caught my eye. Narrowing my gaze, I eventually watched the fiery girl from earlier hurling herself through the air directly at the Zero Pointer in complete disregard for her safety.
'Is she going to?' I asked, but a massive explosion interrupted my thoughts. The fireball was so bright that it looked like a miniature sun and sent a shockwave so powerful that all the surrounding windows shattered, sending glass falling down below onto the Villainbots.
For a prolonged moment, fire consumed the sky, and I wondered if the firecracker had managed to pull it off, only for the Zero Pointer to suddenly lurch into motion, breaking through the fire that had engulfed it as it swung its arms.
My heart lurched for a moment, but the girl evaded the rather slow swing with another propulsive burst from her hands before launching herself right back at the Zero Pointer, refusing to give up.
Watching her, I couldn't help but be inspired. For a moment, the aching pain clouding my mind faded, and I started to come up with an idea. It was bold, ill-advised, unplanned, and impulsive, but I knew that even if I preserved my strength perfectly, it wouldn't be enough for me to claim first place beyond a doubt.
'I guess it's time to go big or go home,' I thought darkly as I took off rushing towards the Villianbot Army and the Zero-Pointer.
Knowing I only had one chance to get this right, I stopped holding back, and the flux around my feet exploded, propelling me forward. My surroundings were a little more than a blur and I didn't even bother to dodge as the army of Villianbots opened fire at me. I was moving far too fast for them to track.
Gritting my teeth, I suddenly banked to the side, aiming straight for one of the few buildings left intact. Instead of hitting the side of the building, I continued straight up, outrunning gravity as it tried to pull me down. My legs protested, but I ignored the pain.
When I was roughly halfway up the building, I bent my knees before pushing off the building with the help of my flux, sending me flying into the open air. For a glorious moment, I flew high above the ground, and while I normally would have been scared shitless, my mind was focused elsewhere.
The flux around my feet vanished, flowing up my body until it pooled in my hand. I kept pushing, drawing out every single molecule of flux I could manage. It gathered into a blob approximately a gallon in volume, the exact amount I had used when brainstorming this technique.
Flexing my will, I grabbed the half-finished blueprint in my mind and filled in the blank spots with sheer willpower. The flux gathered in my hand was whipped up into a frenzy as it rapidly changed shape, condensing and folding in on itself.
Gritting my teeth, I felt the cold electric current latch onto my arm as I pushed my quirks to its limits, and my momentum died, leaving me suspended in the air for a single breath. But then everything clicked, and I grinned as I felt my flux settled into form. Flicking out my hand, I unraveled the spool of delicate black fluid wire so thin it was barely visible, which unfurled around me, floating in the air like spider silk.
I turned around and stared at the Zero Pointer, which was only a few meters away. It was so close that I could see the individual rivets on its armor plating.
"Hey, what are you doing?! Back off! This thing is mine!"
I looked over as a voice called out to me, and I couldn't help but crack a cocky smile at the spiky blonde girl, "Sorry but you interrupted me earlier, so now I gotta show off a little bit!"
Before the girl could respond, I swung my arm in a wide whipping motion, casting out the wire through the air.
As I controlled its flight, the black thread unfurled, extending to a staggering length of almost a kilometer. The impossible thin tendril of fluid arched around the Zero Pointer before wrapping around the skyscraper next to it, overlapping several times until the length ran out. The muscles in my forearm were taut, and I could feel the resistance on the tendril.
The blueprint played over and over again in my mind, a combination of everything I had mastered so far with my quirk— a perfect molecular structure without flaws, reduced surface friction, and a shifting state of matter when under stress. By a large margin, it was the most far-reaching idea I had come up with so far, but as I yanked on my arm, pulling the fluid taught around the Zero Pointer and the skyscraper, I felt the last bit of understanding settle into place.
'Impossible Technique: Stygian Divide'
