Partas Estate.
Esdeath.
Her eyes still stinging, white spots still on the edge of her vision... Seiki Yamazaki was nowhere to be seen.
Not even ten seconds into their fight, and the foyer was already a mess, the furniture scattered across the room, all of it covered in her "ice." Both of Seiki's guards covered from head to toe in "ice." Her maids huddled against one another in the far corner of the room.
A precog.
Seiki Yamazaki was a precog.
It was obvious, in hindsight. With the way he guided their conversation, to the way he expertly dodged her opening strike, tilting his head at the perfect time. And then there was the way that he didn't seem the least bit worried about... well, about anything at all. In fact, she still didn't know how he managed to escape her last attack, flashbang or not. Something that grated on her.
And just like when she faced down Julius, Esdeath once again found herself wondering... 'can I even win?'
She didn't know the activation requirements of his Quirk. She didn't know it's mechanics, or how it targeted others, or if it even had to target others. All she knew was that she was already being predicted.
Even this brief stint in judgement was being predicted.
But on the other hand... Seiki was a precog. A combat oriented precog, but a precog. His Quirk didn't give him the strength or speed needed to compete with her. To escape her.
She slammed her foot into the ground.
FSSSHK.
Ice tore through the floorboards, before enveloping the outside of the manor completely. Freezing every window, door and crevice shut. Something that'll send the rest of the Partas on high alert, but that was Seiki's problem, not hers.
And she still had 50 seconds.
*
30 Seconds Later.
Grinding her teeth together, Esdeath sprinted down yet another hallway— her ice propelling her faster than Seiki could move— only to find nothing. Even with her icing every room, cutting off any avenue of escape... her Quirk didn't have a search component.
She was playing hide and seek with a precog.
Not only did he know the layout of her manor better than she did, but Seiki had already taken care of all of their security measures. No alarms, no service, nothing. The only things the manor still actually had was power and water.
All of daddy's so called expert guards— which included a few retired Pros— taken out by fucking bees.
...To be fair, when Esdeath first came across the first guard sprawled across the floor, staring blankly at the ceiling with bees crawling out of his ear... she immediately made the thin sheen of ice coating her skin a bit thicker around any holes they might try to intrude. It was quite the nasty Quirk Seiki had access to, not that she blamed him for taking advantage of his resources.
Which also meant there were more than two of his guards on her premises. Figures.
Seiki Yamazaki was clever, bold, and an incredible tactician— all things she liked to see in a man... but. This wasn't a fight.
"Twenty nine! Twenty eight...!" his voice once again echoing through the manor as she was forced to remember the exact wording of his challenge— to simply survive her, not to fight her.
It was just like when she faced Julius— no. It was worse. Julius defended himself peacefully, not landing a scratch on her because he was strong enough to do so... but Seiki wasn't going to land a single scratch on her because he was weak. Predict her all he wants, he was incapable of harming her.
Resorting to tricking her out of a fight. Taunting her with his inevitable "victory."
"He thinks he can goad me?" she whispered to herself coldly, her fists clenched so tightly that she was nearly drawing blood. 'He thinks he can play ME??? When I find him I'm going to rip his fucking eyes out. I'm going to rip off his fucking arms and legs. I'M GOING TO GUT HIM LIKE A FUCKING PIG!!!'
Killing intent flooded the manor as Esdeath decided... no more. Even if Seiki wins this little "game" he decided to set up with his precog power, Esdeath will kill him for the slight.
Because Seiki Yamazaki hasn't proved himself stronger. Only slightly clever. And not even that, if he ever thought that this plan of his would work.
...And just like that, cause and effect shifts.
Esdeath's decision to herself unknowingly, retroactively changing the flow of events. Setting up new objectives that her opponent must go back in time to achieve.
So when she turns around yet another hallway corner, ready to ice anyone she doesn't recognize— CRACK! She takes a fist to the jaw. With her ice protecting her, she doesn't tumble, but she still stutters to the side, her foot turning to face her attacker, to send a stake of ice— only for Seiki's foot to slam full force into the side of hers, forcing her stance outwards.
And now her opponent stands in front of her, staring her down, completely unscathed. His eyes no longer showing lingering amusement. Only hunger.
"Forget the game," he mutters. "Show me your might."
She forms a fist with her left hand, growing a saber of ice against her skin— only for him to punch her in the gut. His knee coming up into her wrist as she stumbles backwards, knocking her makeshift weapon out of her hand. This time, she manages to catch the flicker of black smoke/energy as Seiki makes contact with her. A shield of glowing black that briefly covers his hands and feet whenever he touches her ice, protecting him from what should be an instant win condition.
Her feet still touching the ground, she sends another unaimed spread of ice across the floor, only for it to be avoided with a light hop.
Another kick, this time to the inside of her leg.
"Most AOE Quirks aren't just spam to win," Seiki tells her, blocking her punch by jabbing her inner forearm, followed by a punch to the left tit, eliciting a sharp hiss from her. "For example, if you want to spear me, one of your hands or feet has to be touching something else AND be facing in my general direction. If not, you just send ice everywhere, which would only separate us," he continues. And when she finally manages to turn her back foot to face him, just as he says... he simply leans to the side, the sudden half a dozen stakes of ice just barely missing him as she takes another punch to the gut.
"Anything else?" he asks. Preventing another attack as he continues to overpower her. Effortlessly picking her apart. Leveraging his physique that, while ordinary... had been pushed to the absolute limit. Far more than she had pushed her own body, having focused mostly on growing her Quirk. "Because unless you have a second Quirk, I don't see how you'd ever be a threat to me, Esdeath Partas."
"Don't... have... that..." she rasped, her stomach heaving. Blood dripping from her busted lip.
She changed her mind.
This brat— no, this man was worth her time. Even if Father hasn't set her up with him, she's willing to see his proposal through. He's proved herself more than enough.
But she hasn't.
Like the precog that he was, Seiki's already leapt backwards, his body encased in strings of black energy, none of it touching the floor... but it doesn't matter.
The hallway, the manor, the room has slowed. The world itself taking a light blue tint as Esdeath unleashes her final card. Her Ultimatum.
GLACIAL OVERDRIVE.
*
Looking at her opponent, frozen in liquid time, Esdeath smiled. Slowly wading through the world as she approached, his eyes focused on her— but unable to follow, Seiki Yamazaki completely stuck in the moment. Not an awakening, but a strained function.
Something more than a Super Move, but... less than an Awakening.
Quirk awakenings happen under a variety of poorly understood circumstances, and are all but impossible to achieve on purpose. You simply couldn't rely on it to happen to you. And a lot of the time, they aren't even awakenings, but the user simply discovering unintuitive features of their base Quirk.
The only common factor for them is stress.
And that's an Ultimatum. Pushing the Quirk and the user... until they break. Until they have to unlock a new function to their Quirk, no matter how unwieldy or unstable.
Something not even taught in hero schools, since government institutions can't openly encourage self-mutilation. Something that most people weren't willing to torture themselves into unlocking, only to force them to learn a new function, one that they won't even be able to use often.
But Esdeath was willing to go the extra mile.
"It's my win," she muttered, limping towards her opponent, to Seiki Yamazaki. Reaching out to touch his clothes through the strings of black before their frozen time ends.
Only for her to start to feel... heat. For the world to start to lose its tint.
Only for Seiki Yamazaki to start to move.
*
Two Minutes Earlier.
Azula.
'DAMMIT DAMMIT DAMMIT! GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!' Azula screeches into the void of her mind, completely incased in ice. It was one thing if she had been caught off guard. But Seiki had told her EXACTLY what Esdeath was going to do, but she still floundered. Her fire pittering out against ice and time. Her body completely incased in it.
An instant loss.
She's long since known the pros and cons of Ignition. Of her Quirk. Azula turns her own kinetic energy into heat, and then directs it into flame. Thanks to the that, she can strike hotter and harder than almost anyone else with a flame Quirk. She can even direct the flames to stay, while the flames most Fire types simply flail about if not directed accordingly.
But.
She needs time and leverage to make her attacks work.
Things that most opponents won't just give you.
Something that Esdeath gave her none of.
That same niggling feeling in the back of her mind, reminding her of her inadequacy, as she can't even last a second against one of the threats Seiki faces.
Because of course she can't compare to a God.
Still straining her Quirk, trying to get it to do anything to the ice holding her down...
...Only for something to finally click. Up against Esdeath's Ice and Time, she has nothing but her Fire... and Movement. Her Kinetic Energy. Her Quirk, Ignition, pitted up against her true opposite, resonates. And after years of straining herself to the absolute limit, Frozen Heavens gives Ignition that last push it needed to truly awaken, and Azula finally finds herself with access to the true functions of her Quirk.
Heat, turning to kinetic energy, turning to heat, and so forth. The block of ice and time glowing hot as it sludges off of her, onto the carpet.
Heat and movement continuing to spread as she races through Partas manor.
*
Present.
Esdeath grit her teeth as she saw it. One of the guards that she had iced right at the start, the Fire type, sprinting full speed from the end of the hall. The chick bringing a wave of flames, of heat, cascading down the hall as the world starts to move. Something that shouldn't even be possible, but Esdeath doesn't have time to dwell on it.
She's already launched a dozen spears of ice, intent on skewering both her and Seiki... non-lethally this time.
And with her hands shaking, blood dripping down her front, her ankles sprained, her ribs bruised, her left wrist broken... her heart nearly beating out of her chest... Esdeath can't help but smile widely.
She's having the time of her life. Far more fun than she's ever had bounty hunting.
And then everything stops.
A bubble suddenly existing around Esdeath Partas. A bubble around Azula Onozaki. A bubble around Seiki Yamazaki. A dozen more bubbles enveloping the rest of the manor. And Esdeath can't even grit her teeth as her mind immediately reaches the only possible conclusion.
"Now now, just what do we have here?"
'Juliusyoumotherfuckingbitchgodfuckingdamnit...!!!'
*
*
*