(A/N: They ended up giving the laptop to me some hours after the last chapter, so hurray)
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[Showdown 1]
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…
It all happened in an instant.
The narrow, dark corridor suddenly expanded like a balloon.
Within seconds, it had turned into a massive arena.
Amid the violent transformation of the environment, Chisaki had already moved away from Taka. Now he stood at the opposite end of the newly formed space, his expression twisted with determination and rage.
He no longer trusted in his escape plan.
He no longer believed he could outrun the man before him.
Now he understood the reality of his situation—and what he had to do if the Shie Hassaikai was to survive.
He had to fight.
Cling to life like a cockroach.
Hold on until his nails tore off… and if that wasn't enough, bite down with his teeth and refuse to let go.
Nothing else—no plan, no subordinate—would save him now.
His eyes narrowed as he stared toward the place where Taka had stood moments ago. When he reshaped the corridor, he hadn't only created more space.
He had launched his attack at the same time.
"Tsk."
Unfortunately, that part had failed miserably.
Taka still stood exactly where he had been before.
But now, a massive amount of spikes lay around him, aimed directly at him—only, all shattered at their ends, having been unable to fully reach him in the end.
Taka remained at the center of the failed murder attempt, his gaze fixed coldly on Chisaki.
"So you finally stopped running."
—BAM!—
An invisible force ripped through the remaining spikes, shattering the ruined encasement around him, freeing him fully.
"Then let's not delay this any further."
Without another word, Taka moved.
His figure blurred.
"...!"
Barely reacting in time, Chisaki—already crouched with his hands on the ground—raised a massive wall of concrete filled with jagged spikes between them.
—BAM!—
A second later, the entire wall exploded apart.
A figure burst through it as if it were papier-mâché.
Even then, Chisaki didn't hesitate.
He was already sprinting away, having expected the wall to fail from the start.
As he ran, he slammed a hand against the half-crumbled remains of the barrier.
Dozens of concrete spikes erupted from the debris and shot toward the approaching Taka.
But with simple punches—and sometimes without even bothering to strike—Taka tore through them all.
His pursuit never slowed.
Within seconds, he was already upon Chisaki.
"You—Aack!"
The shout was cut short as Taka crashed into him like a meteor.
The impact slammed Chisaki into the ground.
—Crckcrckrkc!—
Taka dragged him across the floor mercilessly, the villain's body scraping through shattered debris as pained grunts and screams tore from his throat.
Broken chunks of concrete gouged his back as they slid across the arena.
Then, as if growing bored with it—
Taka's invisible force detonated forward.
Chisaki's battered body was launched at terrifying speed toward one of the arena's walls.
—BOOM!—
A massive cloud of dust erupted as he crashed into it.
Then, walking into the cloud, Taka waved a hand. His aura swept the dust away, revealing Chisaki embedded in the wall, his eyes threatening to roll back.
—Cough!—
A second later, a mouthful of blood spilled from Chisaki's lips, clear evidence of the damage he had taken.
Then the cracked wall holding him in place finally gave way, loosening and letting the gravely injured man fall to the floor.
Yet, somehow, at the last second, he caught himself—still awake despite the damage he had taken.
He coughed again, staining the concrete floor beneath and the surrounding debris with fresh blood.
"Hgrh…!"
—And then, in the next moment, his injuries repaired themselves.
Broken bones exploded, only to regenerate and realign themselves into proper shape.
Torn skin got ripped apart, before knitting back together with precision until he was flawless again.
In no time, Chisaki had gone back to top form.
Then, with both palms touching the ground, Chisaki activated his Quirk again.
"BEGONE!"
A wave of jagged spikes burst from the floor and surged toward the slowly approaching Taka, fast and powerful enough to impale anyone.
But the moment they reached him—
—Crack!—
—Bam!—
—Shatter!—
Not a single one remained intact.
Taka continued walking forward without slowing. Every spike shattered the instant they approached even remotely, the broken fragments lifting into the air and floating around him as if caught in an invisible current.
During all this, Taka's red eyes continued dead set on Chisaki, uncaring of the storm of attacks coming his way.
Gritting his teeth, Chisaki activated his Quirk again.
This time, the floor beneath him transformed into a rising pillar that launched him upward at tremendous speed, buying him distance and time from his relentless pursuer.
Taka reacted instantly, shooting after him.
As he ascended, vicious tentacle-like spikes erupted from the concrete pillar, lashing toward him in an attempt to pierce or at least slow him down.
But just like before, they were useless.
The dark figure of Taka's costume rose through the storm of spikes without hesitation. Concrete shattered around him as if he were an unstoppable force.
Before that overwhelming power, Chisaki's resistance meant nothing.
Within moments—just as the pillar reached its limit—Taka floated in front of him.
Chisaki trembled with fury at the sight of the man he couldn't even scratch.
"Why won't you die?!"
Desperation flooded his voice.
His hands slammed against the pillar again, and a barrage of spikes shot toward Taka one after another in a relentless assault.
Each one failed, shattered the instant Taka punched them.
—Crack!—
—Bam!—
—Shatter!—
Before long, the attack barrage ended, revealing a still unmoved Taka, looking at him from above with eyes that seemed to ask, "Is that all?"
Chisaki stared at the unmoving figure before him with wide, desperate eyes, his breathing ragged.
"...Why?"
—BAM!—
A fist answered him.
The punch blasted Chisaki off the pillar.
He shot across the arena and slammed into one of the distant walls.
Ironically, that actually saved him—allowing him to break his fall by creating a ramp to roll through, rather than plummet to his death.
Still, the force of the landing rattled his brain.
He bounced and rolled down the wall in a chaotic tumble, crashing against the ramp unceremoniously several times before finally landing sprawled on the floor below.
Slowly, he pushed himself up. A few times gravity almost dragged him back down, but in the end he managed to stand again—though only barely.
Then, once more, his injuries healed.
Yet even though his body had returned to perfect condition, his eyes told a completely different story.
Weariness.
A kind that simply reconstructing his body could not fix.
He was mentally exhausted.
To heal himself, he first had to disassemble his own body.
That process filled with pain, combined with the damage he kept sustaining—and the fact that despite everything he had done, he had not injured his opponent even slightly—was pushing him closer and closer to his breaking point.
—BOOM!—
The next second, Taka descended like a meteor. Concrete cracked beneath his feet as he landed only a few meters away from Chisaki.
Most of the lights in the corridor—now transformed into an arena—had already been destroyed during the fight. Only a handful still worked, barely illuminating the battlefield.
Even so, the entire place was swallowed by darkness.
And in that darkness, Chisaki saw him.
The figure clad in black, standing there completely unmoved by everything Chisaki had tried.
Red, eerie eyes staring straight into his soul—glowing even through the gloom.
Something inside Chisaki finally broke.
"Why?" he repeated.
He began walking toward his opponent.
Slowly.
Then suddenly—he ran.
Desperation and raw hatred burned in his eyes.
Mid-run, he crouched and brushed his hand against the floor, causing dozens of spikes to erupt from the ground and shoot toward Taka.
But the teenager simply punched, dodged, and walked through them without difficulty.
Still, Chisaki didn't slow down.
His hand struck the ground again.
Even more spikes surged forward.
Once again, they failed.
Fragments of shattered spikes floated through the air around Taka, like silent proof of his overwhelming power.
Tears ran down Chisaki's face as his teeth ground together in rage.
He grabbed a jagged piece of debris floating nearby, reshaped it into something sharper with his Quirk, and swung it desperately at Taka.
"Why are you so strong?!"
—Crack!—
The weapon shattered the instant it struck.
"...!"
Chisaki's hand remained frozen in the air, suddenly empty.
That was when he finally understood.
He was powerless.
And what angered him the most was something else entirely.
Until now, he had been allowed to fight.
No matter how he looked at it, the man before him could have ended the battle from the very beginning.
Yet he had been allowed to attack. Allowed to run. Allowed to heal himself.
To the man standing before him, this had never been a real fight.
He had simply been playing with his food.
That's when he understood it.
He never stood a chance.
And with that understanding came the realization of his reality.
His dream—no, the boss's dream—was going to end here because of the whims of someone with a powerful Quirk.
Once again, all of it because of the disease that Quirks were… and the madness they brought to people.
His fists clenched tightly, nails digging into his palms until blood began to seep out.
The Yakuza's bright future—rising beyond a decaying criminal group into one that would hold the world in the palm of its hand—was ending today.
All because of the deluded bastard standing before him.
—BAM!—
Mid-grief, once again, an invisible force struck him.
Chisaki was sent flying, crashing straight into a nearby wall.
Something in his back cracked on impact, blood spilling from his mouth as he crashed.
A moment later, he slid down the wall and collapsed onto the floor, like a puppet without strings.
All the strength in his body was gone now.
Of course, he could stand up, heal himself, and try again.
But what was the point?
No matter what he did, he couldn't defeat that monster.
No matter how hard he struggled, the future he had envisioned was ending today.
There was no escape.
'I'm sorry, boss… In the end, I wasn't capable of carrying on your vision…'
Chisaki lay on the floor, barely lifting his head to watch his opponent slowly approaching.
Like death itself, calmly coming to collect what it was owed.
Chisaki finally gave up.
His head lowered again, eyes falling to the cracked floor beneath him.
Was he going to kill him?
Or capture him?
Considering the man was a vigilante, not bound by law or popularity, Chisaki leaned toward the first option.
Either way, it meant the end of the Hassaikai today.
He had failed.
'Boss…'
As his consciousness began to fade, the first person that surfaced in his mind was the boss.
The man who had taken him in.
The reason he had done all of this for.
Only the two of them were needed for the Hassaikai to continue existing.
But today, Chisaki would be gone.
'I'm sorry—'
The thought halted midway.
His eyes suddenly widened as despair crept into them.
Realization struck.
If he died here…
If he were captured…
What would happen to the boss?
He had put him into a coma so that when he finally woke him up again, he could show him the results of his plan.
Show him that he had been right all along.
But if he died right now…
Who would wake him up?
Who would bring him out of that coma?
The realization hit like a shot of adrenaline.
His eyes snapped wide open, strength surging up from somewhere deep inside despite his battered body.
And then, as if fate had answered that desperate will—
Two figures stepped through the entrance of the arena.
"Overhaul!"
Two men wearing plague masks rushed inside, searching frantically for their boss.
One of them was Shin Nemoto, whose Quirk forced people to speak the truth—even if they didn't realize it themselves.
The other was Chronostasis, Chisaki's right-hand man. His Quirk allowed him to drastically slow someone down by touching them with two strands of hair shaped like the hands of a clock.
The moment they spotted him lying on the floor, both of them ran toward him.
'Nemoto… Kurono… Good timing.'
A faint smile appeared on Chisaki's lips.
"What the hell are those idiots doing…?" Taka turned toward them, his aura already gathering as he prepared to knock them aside before finishing with Overhaul.
But then—
—BOOOOOM!—
Enormous walls erupted from the ground, instantly surrounding him.
The source was Chisaki.
Both of his palms were pressed against the floor.
And the walls weren't the only thing he created.
The entire structure of the arena began shifting again.
Taka was pushed as far away as possible, while the two men rushing in were pulled closer.
"We received your alert and came as fast as we could," Kurono said, bearing a grave look.
"Overhaul, are you alright?!" Shin asked, staring at his boss's condition with alarm.
"Like never before."
Before, Chisaki might have fought alongside them.
But not now.
There was no more space for plans or useful people to make his allies.
There was only survival, and the boss.
So—
—Grab!—
His hand shot forward, seizing Shin and Kurono, who flinched in shock.
"You two will give up your lives for me, yeah?" Chisaki asked, a cruel grin spread on his face.
"Huh?"
In the next second—
—BAM!—
The disassembly began.
And so did the reassembly.
Soon, an entirely new figure was born.
"HAHAHA!"
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Was wondering whether to make Chisaki take Trigger, fuse with his subordinates, or both. But in the end, I decided on the fusion only. It didn't make much sense for the provider to rely on the drug... At least, that's what I think. Giving it to the henchmen was fine, but not himself.
Anyway, I know it may be a bit annoying that he is still fighting, due to Taka playing with him the entire time, but it's all for the aura, believe me. You'll see in the next chapter.
There's no regression of character here... at least I think so.
Anyway, see you soon.)