Chapter 88: (Rabbit Hunting)
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CHAPTER START---
Mirko rockets foward, faster than Horizon can ever hope to physically react to.
Luckily his ROOM ovees that, allowing him to analyze and predict the simplistic movement of her fighting syle.
INCISION+BOOSTER SHOT!
He swings his sword, this time using both hands.
His sword and the metal tips of her Hero Costume boots sh. A moment before impact she adjusted her feet to kick the side of his sword instead of the de.
All while in mid-air she knocks his sword to the side with one leg, andunches and vicious kick with the other. As it''s about to m into his visor.
SHAMBLES!
He swaps ces with her.
And she simple continues the kick until she''s spun around to kick where she was a moment ago, once again missing him by a hairs breath as he swaps ces with a nearby rock.
The air pressure from her kick rips up the ground in front of her for a few meters as shends on her feet.
"Those cheap tricks won''t work on me!" she screams while rushing him again.
''Ok, she''s definitely a better fighter than All Might, I guess having less power means she has to be to pull off the same meatheadbat style for this long...plus she''s all instinct which means the time between taking in stimulus and acting is a lot lower than other people.
That means my warping won''t be as effective at close range to get free hits, she''s like an extreme version of Bakugo...no, Bakugo is like a discount version of her.''
BOOSTER SHOT!
Instead of trying to amplify his offense Horizon does something he learned a long time ago. The exact same thing he taught Deku.
Spreading the energy around his body, focusing on the muscles needed for mobility rather than power in this case.
Since this ability activates at the speed of thought, just like his warping, he can afford to do this. Trying as best he can to bridge the infinite gap between his mental processing and his physical reaction speed.
"Lunar Rush!"
Mirko strikes with a flurry of powerful kicks, each packing enough force to knock out Horizon if theynd a solid hit.
He barely manages to parry them with his de.
Even with his boost to agility and dexterity, he couldn''t keep up with Mirko physically.
She wouldunch one kick, and because of her speed, he''d barely be able to react, only defending or directing them to the side, not fast enough to capitalize on an opening to counter-attack.
His arms were numb at the fourth hit, now he couldn''t feel them at all. Booster Shot constantly heals the stress only for her to start the process all over again with a few hits.
Eventually, she drops down to her hands and spins, raising both her legs up while supporting herself with her arms.
Her first kick in this stance knocks his sword to the side, but he sees an opening.
Pivoting and stepping back to avoid the second kick he spins around.
BOOSTER SHOT+INCISION!
His de cuts into her thigh, reaching nearly an inch deep before it stopspletely. It could easily go a bit deeper at the force he swung.
But it stopped, and Mirko lept away with it still in her leg, ripping it out of his hand.
The grip strength of her leg muscles is far superior to the strength in his hand, and if the de isn''t physically cutting, Incision can''t enhance anything. She reflexively flexed her muscles and stopped his sword.
The difference between someone with a true Power Type Quirk, and someone with an ability that only replicates that effect. Just like the USJ Nomu was healing so quickly that when he tried to pierce its brain with Incision that the sword was being pushed out.
Because of this change in the battle, he doesn''t doubt that Mirko is at least on par with its striking power.
Mirko takes the sword out of her leg and holds it tauntingly. "Not so tough without your little toys huh!"
"Would you believe it''s only for picking up girls?"
"Awe,pensating for something?" She gives him a dark chuckle, dropping into a fighting stance to finish him off.
"Aren''t we allpensating for something?" Horizon shrugs. "I mean, you only focus on violence because you''re not smart, right?"
Mirko immediately sees red.
SHAMBLES!
Horizon warps his sword back into his hand.
Being someone who trust her instincts, and her prey instincts amplified hundreds of times over by her Quirk, Mirko feels all the hairs at the back of her neck stand up.
Suddenly it all fell into ce in her brain.
''He really wasn''t taking us seriously. Something changed. He''s different now. What''s happening? I should run. What?! I don''t run! Heroes don''t run away!
But this attack!
DANGER DANGER DANGER!''
She sees Horizon casually swing his sword through the air.
Her pupils dted, a dangerous attack that her body couldn''t withstand or resist. Heart rate hitting new record highs.
AMPUTATE!
Horizon swings horizontally.
Mirko ducks down, dropping to all fours.
She knew she couldn''t take that hit, it would end her fight. But her brain wasn''t sure what was going on, so she treated it like a gun.
She could dodge bullets with her raw speed. Kicking them out of the air wasn''t anything special for her.
But this was different, these attacks hit instantly, so she had to do what Pros that can''t dodge bullets do.
Dodge gunfire.
See where the barrel is pointing and get out of the way before the trigger is pulled, to the untrained it looks like the same thing, but dodging gunfire is much easier.
So before he can finish his quick sh Mirko is already ducked down, the top half of her rabbit ears get amputated but she doesn''t feel it.
Before Horizon can adjust his sword she rushes forward, cratering the ground beneath her with how fast sheunches into action.
As if time was frozen around her as an entirely new level of adrenaline took over, she got in front of him and does a small jump, making her body parallel to the floor, seeing his left hand reach out as if to grab her.
CURTAIN!
Both her feet m into the dome of energy that he quickly formed. Her dropkick hits it harder than anything had ever before.
And the Curtain shatters.
BOOM!
The area in front of her gets pulverized by the air pressure of her kick and a dust cloud is kicked up.
"Argh!" Mirko reaches up to grab her ear, the most sensitive part of her. Only to realize they aren''t there.
"I swapped ces with them," Horizon''s voice says from behind her, where her ears were.
"You!" Mirko turns around just in time to see the world going sideways.
All her limbs were quickly and quietly Amputated, causing her to begin falling to the floor as just a torso.
"Shambles," Horizon swaps for one of her legs and catches her by the neck, holding her up so she was at his eye level.
Everyone looks on in Horror as he holds the limbless Mirko above the ground as if she were nothing, then her other leg swaps for the unconscious Gang Orca, directly below her.
"You''re better than I thought, at least for your style."
Mirko snarls in his face, "next time I''ll kick your ass!"
"Says the woman with no legs."
"Yo---"
"Counter Shock!"
"ARRGHHHH!!"
To her credit, it takes an entire three-second tasing to knock her out. Then he simply drops her atop Gang Orca.
"Shambles!" he reassembles her, then looks around at everyone staring at him and the unconscious heroes.
Walking back to the safe zone as the final few civilians are rescued Horizon takes a few deep breaths, intent on taking it easy for the rest of the day.
''I''ve still got so much improving to do. My physicality isn''t enough. My stamina pool isn''t nearly enough... I''m nowhere near where I want to be, where I can be, I need to step up my training...''
Even beating two of the top 10 Pro Heroes that were fully intent on defeating him wasn''t enough for Horizon.
It wasn''t nearly enough.
Because to him, this is simply what''s expected.
But to everyone else, it was an absurd achievement. And from all the people nearby taking pictures, it was one the public would soon know about.
As the exam is finished Eraser just sighs and shakes his head, seeing Horizon proceed to get his final score with the others.
Then he looks over to the Pros as medical teamse to wake them up.
''Mystery ss or not, the kid is a freak. Most viins wouldn''t dream of beating one of the top Pro heroes, much less two. But why weren''t these wearing any kind of restraints? It is an exam after all.
Hmm, they probably just figured since it''s Horizon at this venue they needed a challenge. That kinda makes sense I guess. With how much Nezu brags about him I wouldn''t doubt if that''s the case.
I guess it doesn''t really matter. Either way, his obsessive nature, Quirk, and capabilities are abination you''d find inside any viin''s nightmares. It''s game over for them...''
While the students were waiting for their final scores the head proctor, Yokumiru Mera, was pacing around his private control room at this venue with his phone to his ear. All the tiredness in his demeanor waspletely gone as he anxiously waited for someone to answer.
In this simple room was a wall of monitors. On thergest was a live feed of Gang Orca and Mirko being woken up and treated.
On another was Horizon sitting in the waiting area for his final results while everyone else was leaving to go change.
And on the third was his results, a perfect score in all stages. Making him one of three people alive and active to ever get this score in Japan.
Tied with Endeavor and Best Jeanist.
"Hello," Mera says as the call is answered.
"----"
"A perfect score."
"----"
"Yes, I know, it should be impossible. But he beat them. I''ll send you the recording, if it isn''t online already. Some of those kids had their phones out the whole fight."
"----"
"Yes, I know this wasn''t the n..."
"----"
"He only warped out about a dozen civilians."
"----"
"Are you sure I can''t fail him on that? I mean he spent the entire time fighting after that and ignored everyone else."
"----"
"Well I guess it''s true that nobody else could stop them, but if you really want him to fail I can make it happen."
"----"
"Alright. Then I guess this n is a bust. We''ll have to get him off the hero path some other way."
"----"
"Yes," Mera sighs. "I understand how detrimental it is for our ns if Horizon bes a Pro Hero."
"----"
"That''s true. But at this point can anyone stop him from being the next Symbol Of Peace? He beat 2 of the top ten Pro Heroes. Most viins never even get past one..."
"----"
"Yeah, I guess the next best thing is to put a deal together, get him to break whatever deal he has with Nezu, ande to our side..."
"----"
Mera sighs and hangs up, then turns to look at Horizon casually scrolling through his phone in the waiting area.
"To think I''d have to be so scared of a kid...but a world where he bes the Symbol Of Peace, is a world we can''t survive..."
END CHAPTER---