Chapter Twenty-One
(Suzuki Saito)
He looked at me as if he were about to combust from sheer, unadulterated fury.
(Katsuki Bakugo).
In the end, he let out a low, guttural sigh, the sound of steam escaping a pressurized valve.
Then he looked at me and spoke,his voice a forced calm over a seething volcano.
"Didn't think the princess would interfere, you useless Quirkless freak. But that's it, isn't it? You stopped my Quirk for a few minutes."
Interesting.
And also,as expected.
As much as he seemed insane,he was equally intelligent.
The truth behind all this rage was a mind that worked 24/7,calculating, analyzing.
This was the most puzzling thing about him,not just to me, but to anyone who knew him.
(Katsuki Bakugo)was, on a personal-knowledge level, incredibly smart. Disciplined. Possessed all the traits necessary to become a great hero.
But he always viewed himself in a selfish,singular lens.
Not because he couldn't see others,but because he viewed himself with such immense, unquestioned superiority.
At this moment, (Katsuki) was staring at my face with an expression that had cooled slightly, becoming more analytical, before settling back into a murderous stance.
I glanced at(Momo), who was also watching him from a distance near the ventilation shaft.
I gave a slight,almost imperceptible nod of my head.
It was a signal we had agreed upon.Its meaning was simple: Proceed to the next location. Prepare everything. I will follow once I'm finished.
The explosive boy didn't look back.
He had noticed this tiny exchange—of course he had,his eyes missed nothing—but he didn't turn his head.
Instead,he kept his burning crimson gaze locked on the blue-haired boy in front of him, who had also adopted a combat stance.
A strange, electric silence hung between the two for one second.
A silent countdown.
Then, (Katsuki) lunged.
He couldn't use his Quirk,his explosions, at this moment.
The compound sprayed on him had neutralized his nitroglycerin sweat's combustive properties.
But he understood—his sharp mind had already calculated—that his Quirk would return in three to four minutes at most.
So,would he stop? Would he try to retreat until his power returned?
The answer was: Impossible.
How could the future Number One Hero run from a mere Quirkless person?
That would be an insult to his very being.
So, he threw a punch.
A precise,straight jab aimed directly at my face.
Swish.
In response to this punch, (Suzuki) tilted his head a fraction, raising his gauntleted forearm to deflect the trajectory.
Simultaneously,he used his free hand to deliver a counter-punch aimed at (Katsuki)'s ribs.
But(Katsuki) was fast. Brutally, naturally fast.
He used his own free hand to slap the incoming punch downward in a sharp,chopping motion—Smack!—sending (Suzuki)'s arm off-line and disrupting his balance.
"See the difference between us?! Even without my Quirk, I'm still better than you!"
The voice was a low, villainous growl.
He followed the deflection with a swift,reverse roundhouse kick aimed horizontally at the midpoint of (Suzuki)'s stomach.
Whoosh!
But suddenly, (Katsuki) saw the Quirkless boy's body… retreat several meters backward in an unnatural way.
It wasn't a jump or a dodge.His feet seemed to slide across the floor as if propelled by silent rollers.
Shhhkkkrt.
Then, he stopped and looked at (Katsuki).
"You are physically stronger than me, even with your Quirk nullified. But this fight was never fair from the start."
(Suzuki) adopted a different combat stance this time.
A small smile was etched on his face.
But it wasn't that cold,analytical smile, nor a confident grin.
It was a quiet,placid smile.
The smile of someone who has already entered a battle with a 100%certainty of victory.
(Fine then. Show me what you've got.)
(Katsuki) snorted with that signature derision and moved his body towards (Suzuki).
He dashed in a straight line,his movement fluid and fast, a testament to the explosive power latent in his muscles even without the sparks.
He used that power for a mid-level kick aimed again at the stomach.
This move was designed to force(Suzuki) to dodge, opening him up for a different strike with his left foot.
But what happened next was a surprise.
(Suzuki)didn't move any part of his body to evade.
He just stood there.And took the kick. Full force.
THUMP.
(Katsuki)'s eyes widened.
(Why didn't he move? I kicked with significant force, at a vulnerable point!)
The truth, unknown to him, was that one of the support devices (Suzuki) wore had been activated at that precise moment.
[Impact Dampener].
One of his personal inventions.
This device absorbed kinetic shocks to increase the user's stability.
Of course,it had limits and hadn't reached its full potential.
But at this moment,(Katsuki) wasn't at full capacity, lacking his explosions.
So,(Suzuki) didn't avoid this attack.
He looked at(Katsuki) with a hint of mockery before speaking.
"I was just thinking this fight is no longer fair for you. Because I'm going to win quite easily."
And then, he grabbed the foot that was still pressed against his stomach with a strong, vice-like grip.
He activated the third device he wanted to test in this pivotal moment.
[Advanced Enhancement Gauntlet].
(Katsuki) stared, baffled, at the hand holding his foot.
He tried to pull his leg back,to break free, but he couldn't.
It was as if his foot was fused to the spot.
And of course,that 'something' was (Suzuki)'s Impact Dampener, which had engaged a magnetic locking system with the metal components in (Bakugo)'s boot, effectively anchoring it in place.
In the next moment, his hand performed the function of the enhancement device.
He held the foot firmly,and then, after disengaging the dampener's lock, he twisted.
A sharp,powerful motion fueled by servos and hydraulics.
Whirr-CRUNCH.
(Katsuki), who had been trying to pull away to no avail, was thrown with tremendous force.
He sailed through the air,a blond projectile, and slammed back-first into the solid concrete wall several meters away.
CRASH-BOOM!
The impact reverberated through the hallway.
Pain bloomed across his entire back,sharp and radiating.
"So? What do you think of the power these tools provide? I assume you know your Quirk will return in about two minutes, right? So, I don't have time to play around any more than this."
(Suzuki) pressed a button on his gauntlet the moment he finished speaking, aiming the device at the stunned (Bakugo).
A net,compact and weighted, shot out with a pneumatic P-CHOO!
It unfolded in less than a second,wrapping tightly around (Bakugo)'s torso and legs, pinning his arms to his sides.
Snap-zzzip.
In the second after the net deployed, a smell emanated from its fibers.
A sweet,cloying, chemical odor.
(Bakugo)instinctively wanted to clamp his nose shut, but his arms were trapped.
Before he could hold his breath,he felt a sudden, intense dizziness.
His head swam,the world tilting on its axis.
"Don't worry. It's not poison. It's just a homemade anesthetic. Works as a neural tranquilizer. I think you'll need it after this loss."
Without looking back any further, (Suzuki) turned and left, his boots echoing softly—tap, tap, tap—down the corridor.
He had a bomb to find and a red-haired shield to bypass.
Meanwhile, (Katsuki Bakugo)'s head was ringing with tremendous difficulty.
His vision blurred at the edges.In less than a second, he felt an overwhelming urge to close his eyes.
(Did I… lose to a Quirkless person? In this humiliating way? Impossible. I have to get up. What's happening? My body feels like it wants to disappear. My eyes want to close. No!)
In the end, within a single second, his body was slumped against the wall, then slid down to the floor, completely unable to rise.
He watched,through increasingly heavy eyelids, as that blue-haired extra walked away as if he had just completed a mundane task.
Defeated by an extra. In this shameful manner. Impossible. I will get up. I will catch him and blast him to pieces. I cannot lose like this—
At the same time, a cruel irony was occurring.
Between his fingers,he could feel it.
A faint,familiar pop… fizz….
His sweat was becoming combustible again.His Quirk was returning.
But his body was losing strength with every second he involuntarily inhaled the tranquilizing gas saturating the net.
He hadn't held his breath in time because the gas had hit him directly in the face the moment the net deployed,so its effects took hold with terrifying speed.
Less than a minute later, without even realizing the exact moment, (Katsuki Bakugo)'s eyes closed, and he lost consciousness completely.
His head lolled to the side with a softthud against the concrete.
The faint,returning sparks on his palms died out, unanswered.
---
In the observation room, Class 1-A sat in stunned, absolute silence.
Every single person's jaw had metaphorically,if not literally, hit the floor in the last few moments.
They had watched the battle,though they couldn't hear the dialogue between the combatants.
They had seen(Katsuki) appear to be in control, then suddenly lose the ability to create any explosions.
Then,there was a fight lasting less than a minute—fast, brutal exchanges between (Katsuki) and (Suzuki).
But what shocked them the most was the ending.
(Katsuki Bakugo),the most explosively confident person in the class, had lost.
And in such a…humiliatingly clinical way. Trapped, drugged, and left unconscious in a hallway.
One of the most shocked was (Izuku Midoriya).
His hand,holding his notebook, was trembling violently.
He couldn't believe it.
His childhood…acquaintance. The person who had always been victorious, always on top, had lost.
And to a person he couldn't comprehend.A person with no Quirk.
Using technology to bridge the gap.
A person…like him, but in a completely different way.
(Suzuki)hadn't stopped. Hadn't given in to despair. Had tried, in his own unique way.
Not like(Izuku), who had submitted for years without fighting back.
If(Izuku) hadn't received One For All, he would have been just another face in the crowd.
While(Suzuki)… had continued down this path anyway.
(Midoriya) couldn't imagine it was possible.
But it had happened.
His childhood tormentor,the unstoppable force of his past, had been beaten.
"Kacchan… lost."
He whispered it to himself, as if unable to believe the words coming from his own mouth.
On the screen,the image of a peacefully unconscious (Bakugo), wrapped in a net, was more surreal than any villain attack.
The observation room remained quiet, the weight of the upset settling over them like a thick blanket.
The hierarchy of Class 1-A had just been violently,and silently, recalibrated.
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End of Chapter.
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A Note from the Stunned Spectators:
I was thinking of letting you wait until the third day to read the chapter, but I felt pain if I did because you are wonderful people
So here is the Chapter 21 on the same day, remember, support me with Power Stones, plus reviews and comments, thank you, heroes