Chapter 14: Confrontation with the Hero Killer
Facing Stain, who could kill the boy at any moment, Death Arms felt his heart rise into his throat.
What surprised him, however, was that Stain didn't show any immediate killing intent toward Izuna. Instead, he slowly lowered the dagger in his hand and looked at him calmly.
"He's right," Stain said. "This isn't a place for children."
"At least I won't do anything to you until you become a professional hero," he added, glancing at the emblem on Izuna's uniform.
U.A. High School—a place dedicated to producing professional heroes. The quality of the heroes it produced was widely respected.
Izuna ignored Stain completely.
Instead, he waved toward Death Arms with a faint smile.
"Death Arms… do you remember me?"
"You should leave immediately!" Death Arms shouted anxiously.
Was this kid insane?
Couldn't he see the danger of the situation?!
"We happened to meet more than ten months ago," Izuna said as he slowly placed the groceries he was carrying on the ground.
"I had a pretty good impression of you."
"Huh?" Death Arms tried desperately to remember, but he couldn't recall when he had met this boy.
"Kid," Stain interrupted coldly as he rested the back of his sword on his shoulder.
"I'll give you five seconds to disappear from my sight."
"What if I refuse?" Izuna asked calmly.
The three tomoe in his scarlet eyes began rotating slowly.
"I don't have time to play with children," Stain replied, his gaze turning sharp.
"If you don't leave… you'll die."
"Then let's try it."
The moment Izuna finished speaking, his figure disappeared.
When he reappeared, he had already carried Death Arms more than twenty meters away from Stain.
"What…?"
Stain's pupils shrank instantly.
He had only seen a shadow flash past his eyes.
The speed was so fast that it was impossible to follow with the naked eye.
"You…?" Death Arms stared blankly at Izuna after suddenly being moved from one place to another.
"Teleportation?"
"Do you remember the sludge monster incident ten months ago?" Izuna asked.
"…I remember it vaguely," Death Arms replied.
"I was the hostage back then."
"So it was you…" Death Arms muttered.
But he clearly remembered that the boy's Quirk had been listed as Hypnosis.
How could hypnosis allow someone to move instantly like this?
Could he already be under hypnosis?
Thinking about that possibility, Death Arms instinctively slapped his own face.
"Kid… you're interesting."
Stain had already recovered from his brief shock.
He stared directly into Izuna's scarlet eyes, his expression growing serious.
In the next moment, Stain lifted his sword high and swung it through the air, the blade slicing through the wind as the blood on it scattered.
"But you're still just a child," Stain said coldly.
"You don't understand what a true hero is."
Although attacking a student went against his principles, the boy had chosen to stay.
That meant he had accepted the consequences.
"Leave now!" Death Arms shouted desperately.
"You're not his opponent!"
"Don't be stubborn!"
His wounds throbbed painfully as he spoke, his breathing growing heavier.
"Go find a professional hero! He's not someone you can handle!"
"Too late."
A red gleam flashed in Stain's eyes.
He kicked off the ground and rushed forward with incredible speed, his blade reflecting cold silver light beneath the streetlamp.
"Don't—!"
Death Arms could only watch helplessly as Stain closed the distance.
In Death Arms' eyes, Stain moved so fast that only a blurry afterimage remained.
But in Izuna's eyes—
Stain's movements were as slow as slow motion.
At that moment, Izuna's eyes changed.
The three tomoe rotated rapidly before connecting together, forming a complete circle.
The Mangekyō Sharingan.
Just as Stain's blade was about to strike—
A layer of mysterious blue energy suddenly emerged around Izuna.
It surrounded him, forming the shape of a pale blue skeletal frame.
Clang!
Stain's sword struck the skeleton and produced a sharp metallic sound.
The recoil instantly sent Stain flying backward.
He crashed into a nearby pile of garbage.
Death Arms stared at the scene in disbelief.
He could never have imagined that the clash would end like this.
The official records clearly stated that Izuna's Quirk was Hypnosis.
So what exactly was that blue skeletal figure?
"Interesting… what a strange Quirk," Stain muttered.
Despite being knocked away, he showed no intention of retreating.
Instead, a look of intense curiosity appeared in his eyes.
But that curiosity quickly twisted into madness.
"You're just a kid," Stain said as he tightened his grip on the blade.
"What kind of hero do you think you are?"
His killing intent surged once more.
"Show me… what you're capable of."