Junsei stood motionless for a brief moment, tracking every opponent surrounding him. His attention settled primarily on Deku's figure.
The inheritor of One For All remained the greatest threat present. The rest were manageable as far as he could tell.
Lemillion presented a different problem. His Permeation made him untouchable while active. Junsei concluded that defeating him required either surprise or exploiting a possible limit to how long he could remain intangible.
Both options required time, time Junsei did not want to waste on this.
After a brief calculation, he decided the other heroes should be removed first. Reducing interference would simplify the fight, especially eliminating Sir Nighteye.
Junsei turned toward Nighteye.
Nighteye's expression shifted instantly.
"Cover your ears!" he shouted.
Junsei inhaled deeply, preparing to unleash a sonic attack. But the warning reached him as well.
Junsei reacted immediately.
Instead of screaming, he raised both hands and released a blast of fire and explosions toward the gathered heroes.
A massive shadow moved.
Ryukyu stepped forward in her dragon form, spreading her wings and body to shield the others. The explosion engulfed her scales instead.
Nighteye stared in shock.
"Again? That is not what should have happened! Is he interfering with Future Sight?"
Eraser Head spoke beside him.
"My quirk had no effect on him. Yours may be the same. We cannot rely on it."
Nighteye nodded grimly.
During their brief exchange, Deku and Lemillion attacked from two sides.
Junsei ignored Lemillion entirely and focused on Deku.
He moved to punch the approaching boy, but Deku abruptly stopped and leapt sideways.
At that exact moment, Lemillion dropped low and surged forward, tackling directly into Junsei's legs. But the impact did nothing, Junsei remained rooted on the ground.
Junsei glanced at Lemillion and attempted to kick him, but his leg passed through Lemillion, who began diving back into the ground.
Deku seized the opening.
He rushed in from behind and launched a jumping kick toward Junsei's head.
Junsei sensed him.
He jumped upward, evading the strike, and pointed his hand downward to release an explosion.
Before the blast could be unleashed, Ryukyu's massive tail struck him across the side.
Junsei was sent flying dozens of meters in the air.
But before he could even start falling another attack arrived. Centipeder attacked with his giant centipede appendage wrapping around Junsei mid-air. With all his strength, Centipeder slammed him down.
The ground cracked beneath Junsei's body.
Junsei barely had time to register the impact before another force struck.
From beneath the earth, Lemillion erupted upward in a rising punch that launched Junsei back into the air.
Deku followed immediately with another kick.
Junsei raised his arm to guard.
The blow landed with tremendous force, sending him crashing back into the Yakuza house. Wood and stone shattered under the collision.
Lemillion smiled briefly. "Nice one, Deku."
"Your timing was perfect!" Deku replied.
Nighteye said "This is not the time. He is not using anywhere near the level he showed against AFO."
The two refocused immediately. From the ruined house, Junsei walked out unharmed.
Junsei evaluated the heroes again. Their coordination and timing were good. He could neither outmaneuver nor defend properly against their combined attacks.
And several heroes were still not participating fully.
After a moment's thought, Junsei altered his strategy.
If speed and technique were proving inefficient, then he would overwhelm them instead.
Junsei lowered his body.
He drew upon the charging aspect of numerous animals, then he surged forward like a rhino.
His speed was lower than before, but each step shattered the ground beneath his feet. Cracks spread through the courtyard as his weight and momentum tore into the earth.
Deku attacked first.
His punch drove into Junsei's shoulder.
Junsei did not even look at him.
The blow landed, but Junsei continued forward without slowing. Deku was forced backward and knocked to the ground by the sheer mass pushing past him.
Junsei charged directly toward Ryukyu and the impact was brutal. His shoulder slammed into the dragon's chest.
Ryukyu was flipped backward under the immense force, blood spilling from torn scales as her massive body crashed to the ground.
Junsei stood atop her fallen form and raised his fist then punched down into her chest.
Ryukyu screamed loudly as more blood spilled from her scales.
A moment later, her dragon form began shrinking as she involuntarily reverted toward her human body, her face looked pale and she was in a lot of pain.
Junsei lifted his fist again, preparing another strike.
Before it could fall, a wave of golden spiraling energy surged from the side.
Junsei jumped backward immediately, avoiding the attack.
He turned.
Floating in the air nearby, her face burning with anger, was Nejire Hado.
Golden spiral waves radiated from her hands.
Junsei watched the unfamiliar energy carefully.
He did not yet understand what this energy could do and until he did, he chose to dodge it.
Suneater attacked next from Junsei's side, his limbs twisted and expanded into thick octopus tentacles that whipped toward Junsei with sudden speed.
Junsei glanced at him and fired a blood bullet.
The red projectile struck Suneater directly in the forehead. The impact snapped his head backward, but an armor-like shell formed across his face just before the impact which protected him from the damage.
The tentacles reached Junsei.
They wrapped around his torso and arms.
Junsei did not resist. Instead, his hands closed around the tentacles.
In the next instant, electricity surged. A violent voltage blasted through the limbs like lightning through cables.
Suneater screamed as his body convulsed due to the powerful current running through him. Suneater tried to pull back, but Junsei held the tentacles firmly, preventing escape.
"AAAGH!"
Within only a second, the smell of burning flesh began to spread.
The closest hero, Eraser Head, reacted immediately. He rushed forward, knife already drawn.
He slashed the tentacles and severed them cleanly.
Thanks to that, the current finally stopped and Suneater began collapsing forward.
He had not yet hit the floor when Junsei moved again.
His target shifted instantly to Eraser Head.
Eraser Head reacted at the first sign of Junsei's movement and he tried to step back, but Junsei was already in front of him in a moment.
Junsei's fist drove forward.
Eraser Head clenched his teeth and jumped sideways while raising his arm to block.
The punch landed.
A cracking sound echoed through the courtyard.
Eraser Head's body launched through the air just as Kirishima had earlier. He flew dozens of meters before crashing outside the gate near the police line. The people watched in horror his state. The night hero had a broken arm with bones protruding out, and by the look of it he likely had several ribs shattered.
Eraser Head tried to stand up but he coughed blood and collapsed. When the police saw that, they rushed toward him along with Uravity.
Back in the house courtyard, behind Junsei, a voice roared.
"You'll pay for that!"
Junsei turned.
Lemillion charged forward, anger burning across his face.
Junsei studied him briefly.
[How to kill him?] Junsei pondered.
Permeation rendered all attacks meaningless. He needed a way to take him by surprise. A distraction that would disrupt Lemillion's focus and leave an opening to strike.
Lemillion closed the distance rapidly.
Junsei extended his hand toward Lemillion's head. And when only a few inches remained between them, Junsei's hand began to glow like a firefly.
Lemillion phased through Junsei completely, without any reaction to the light and emerged behind him.
Both turned simultaneously.
Lemillion began a kick, then his expression shifted to surprise before his body began sinking into the ground again.
Moments later he reappeared several meters away.
"What was that light?" Lemillion demanded.
Junsei did not answer.
Instead he spoke calmly.
"Just now, you did not react until after you phased out. You were blind while your quirk was active."
Lemillion clenched his jaw but remained silent.
Junsei continued.
"And possibly deaf as well considering the sound attack from earlier."
Lemillion did not deny it. He only stared at Junsei with a grave face.
Junsei considered the implications.
This reaction confirmed his suspicion.
While Permeation was active, Lemillion lost sight and hearing.
[But why? In retrospect, it made sense he is deaf when activating his quirk, otherwise how did he not react to the sound? But light? That was different.] Junsei thought.
According to the physics he had studied in school, sight relied on reflected light entering the eye. If Lemillion phased through light, it should pass through his body entirely.
He would become invisible. But that had not happened.
Earlier, the glow from Junsei's hand had clearly reflected from Lemillion's face.
Meaning light was interacting with his body.
So why blindness?
Junsei narrowed his eyes slightly.
Perhaps the issue was not the light itself.
Perhaps, during phasing, the eyes could not convert light into electrical signals.
The photons reflected normally, but the neural signal transformation failed.
If that was the case, Lemillion's quirk allows him to phase through all matter except for light. That was the limit of Permeation. Something he might be able to exploit with enough light.
With that theory in his mind, Junsei charged toward Lemillion.
Lemillion reacted immediately, his body beginning to sink into the ground as Permeation activated.
Junsei kept going. His arm extended forward, hand closing into a fist with a single finger extended.
That finger aimed directly at Lemillion's head, which had not yet disappeared beneath the surface.
The finger phased through Lemillion's skull.
At that moment, Junsei activated the light.
He drew upon as many life aspects as he could and condensed them into the fingertip, forcing them to generate the most intense light possible.
Light was energy and when light reflected off matter, it converted partially into heat.
Could enough light damage Lemillion from inside his own body? Junsei did not know for sure. But there was no cost to trying.
His hand slid downward along the path of Lemillion's head, keeping the glowing finger embedded within it while increasing the intensity of the light further and further.
Then Lemillion disappeared completely beneath the ground.
Junsei withdrew his hand.
At that exact moment, Deku rushed forward again, leaping into a powerful kick aimed at Junsei's head.
Junsei jumped backward, avoiding the strike.
His eyes scanned the ground, searching.
A second later, Lemillion emerged several meters away.
The moment his body fully exited the earth, blood streamed from his eyes, ears, and nose.
His body jerked upward as if thrown by invisible force before collapsing back to the ground.
He did not move.
The battlefield froze. Every hero stared in shock. They all knew how impossible it was to hurt Lemillion. No one could comprehend how this could have happened or what Junsei had just done.
Sir Nighteye ran immediately toward Lemillion to check his state.
Junsei used the moment of distractions among the heroes to attack. He shot blood bullets at every hero around him.
Nighteye's eyes widened and stepped aside just before the projectile reached him.
Deku twisted away at the last instant.
Above them, Nejire Hado unleashed her spiral wave, blasting one of the bullets apart.
The rest were not as fortunate.
Bubble Girl, Centipeder, Rock Lock, Kesagiri Man, Mr. Brave, and Fat Gum noticed the attack a little later and got struck by it. The bullets had been aimed directly at their hearts. Most managed to shift their bodies by a fraction before impact, turning fatal blows into catastrophic injuries.
But not all succeeded. Mr. Brave failed to move in time and the bullet pierced through his heart. He was dead before he struck the ground.
Deku stared in horror at heroes falling scattered across the courtyard, blood pooling under them.
"You monster!" he screamed.
Junsei did not even look at him. Instead he had already jumped, his body soaring upward toward Nejire.
Enraged, Nejire raised her hands and released a spiral wave toward him.
Junsei fired an explosion to the side, propelling himself away from the energy blast.
Then he opened his mouth. A sound attack burst outward at close range and struck Nejire directly.
She groaned in pain before her body began to fall. Luckily, Deku was able to react, he rushed and caught her before she hit the ground.
Junsei landed lightly on the ground and looked around. Nearly every hero lay injured or unconscious.
Only two remained standing.
Deku and Nighteye.
Nighteye had reached Lemillion but had not examined him. A quick glance confirmed the young hero was still breathing, but he was clearly in a bad state and won't be able to fight anymore.
That was all he had time for.
Nighteye slowly looked back at Junsei. Fear settled into his eyes.
The outcome was far worse than he had predicted. He had known the boy was dangerous.
But this… This was something else entirely. And Junsei had not even transformed into the monstrous form he had used against AFO.