Chapter 13: Vs Kirishima Team
The sharp, electronic buzzer faded into the simulated city's ambient silence.
Kurapika and Tokoyami moved instantly, executing their strategy without a single wasted breath. Outside, Tokoyami commanded Dark Shadow to scale the building's exterior. The avian student utilized the heavy, elongated shadows cast by the adjacent structures to mask the entity's rapid ascent toward the fourth-floor windows, creating the perfect vanguard.
Inside the main lobby, Kurapika took a different approach. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, deliberately shutting off the aura nodes across his body. By activating Zetsu, he suppressed his life energy and presence entirely. He became a ghost navigating a concrete labyrinth. His footsteps made absolutely zero sound against the pavement as he ascended the central stairwell, moving with a fluid, predatory grace that belonged to an assassin rather than a hero-in-training.
My father left no aspect of our clan's 'Quirk' unexplained, he thought calmly, the absolute silence of the stairwell wrapping around him. But I cannot ignore the harsh reality: everything my father and the clan achieved with it were merely the basics. Completely erasing my footprint through Zetsu... this specific application only came to me in the aftermath of the massacre. And it is not the only one. I have many theories now. Many concepts I intend to test, refine, and perfect into weapons.
Three floors above, the tension in the weapon room was thick enough to cut with a knife. Sero had already fired multiple strips of strong, adhesive tape across the doorways, creating a sticky, overlapping barricade that would trap anyone trying to force their way in...
Sero had already fired multiple strips of strong, adhesive tape across the doorways, creating a sticky, overlapping barricade that would trap anyone trying to force their way in. Ashido paced nervously near the windows, her hands dripping with small, hissing droplets of corrosive acid that melted tiny craters into the floorboards. Kirishima stood front and center, his arms crossed, his skin already hardening into a jagged, rock-like texture.
"Stay sharp," Kirishima grunted, his eyes fixed on the taped doorway. "We don't know what kind of angle they're going to play. Tokoyami is strong, but that new guy is a complete mystery."
Suddenly, the glass of the eastern window shattered inward.
A massive, shrieking claw of pure darkness tore through the room, violently swiping at the barricades. Dark Shadow had arrived, its yellow eyes glowing fiercely in the dim light of the room.
"Whoa! So you're coming from the window!" Sero yelled, immediately firing a thick strip of tape to wrap around the shadowy beast's arm.
Ashido slid across the floor, launching a volley of acid to force the entity backward. "Keep it away from the weapon!"
Kirishima took a step toward the chaos but stopped, his tactical instincts kicking in. "It's a distraction! Tokoyami sent his Quirk up here to keep us busy while the new guy sneaks up the stairs!" He slammed his hardened fists together, sparks flying from the friction. "Sero, Ashido, keep this shadow monster busy and guard the bomb! I'm going down to intercept Kurapika!"
Sero snapped a strand of tape from his elbow in sharp acknowledgment, while Ashido flashed a quick, confident thumbs-up—her grin fierce and ready.
"Got it!"
Without waiting for a response, Kirishima sprinted out of the room, tearing through their own barricade, and threw himself into the stairwell.
He reached the third-floor landing just as a slender figure emerged from the shadows of the corridor.
Kurapika stood perfectly still, his blonde hair catching the faint light filtering through the dust-streaked windows. He wore the standard U.A. tracksuit, his hands wrapped in pristine white bandages. His gray eyes locked onto Kirishima with the cold, calculating intensity of a predator assessing a roadblock.
"Bingo!! I found you!" Kirishima yelled, a confident, fiery grin spreading across his face. He pushed his Quirk to its limit, his body transforming into a jagged shell of hardened skin. "Nothing personal, man! But I'm the ultimate shield, and I'm not letting you take another step up these stairs!"
Kurapika's expression remained entirely undisturbed. He analyzed Kirishima's stance in a fraction of a second: heavy footing, highly durable, reliant on linear charges and brute force. This was the conclusion Kurapika reached after witnessing Kirishima's passion and ability.
"You are welcome to try," Kurapika stated softly.
Kirishima roared, charging down the hallway like a runaway freight train. He pulled back his right arm, launching a devastating, hardened hook aimed squarely at Kurapika's chest.
Kurapika pivoted on his heel with millimeter precision. The massive fist sailed harmlessly past him, smashing violently into the concrete wall and sending cracks running up to the ceiling. Before Kirishima could pull his arm from the crater he had just created, a sharp, metallic clink echoed in the narrow corridor.
Silver links materialized from the invisible energy surrounding Kurapika's right arm. With a flick of his wrist, the chain snapped forward like a striking viper. It coiled tightly around Kirishima's planted ankle.
Kurapika gave a sharp, precise tug.
The leverage was flawless. Kirishima's balance was instantly shattered. The heavy-hitting student crashed hard onto the floor, his hardened face grinding against the concrete.
Back in the monitor room, a collective gasp rippled through the observing students.
"Whoa, what was that?!" Kaminari blurted out, leaning so close to the glowing screen his nose almost touched it. "Did something just shoot out of his arm?"
"It appears to be… a chain," Yaoyorozu said, her gaze sharpening as she analyzed it with composed focus. "Materialization, perhaps? But he wasn't carrying any support equipment earlier. Could his Quirk allow him to generate solid metal constructs… from nothing?"
"A chain composed of pure energy…" Iida stated, adjusting his glasses as his gaze sharpened. "Its force is sufficient to sweep even someone like Kirishima off his feet."
"What the—?!" Kirishima grunted, struggling to pull his leg free. He grabbed the silver links with his rock-hard fingers, expecting to snap them, but the Nen-constructed metal held firm, humming with a dense, unyielding energy.
He braced his hands against the floor, engaging his immense core strength to twist his body and break the hold.
But Kurapika had absolutely no intention of letting him recover.
Before Kirishima could anchor his weight, Kurapika's gray eyes narrowed into a sharp, predatory glare. He didn't just hold the chain—he weaponized the momentum. With a violent, full-body pivot, Kurapika planted his left foot and yanked his right arm aggressively backward.
The sheer kinetic force transferred through the Nen chain was monstrous.
"Whoaaaa!" Kirishima yelled, his eyes widening as he was instantly ripped entirely off the floor.
Despite his heavy, rock-hard armor, he was swung through the air like a human wrecking ball. He flew helplessly across the width of the narrow hallway, launched directly toward the solid concrete wall.
The reinforced structure offered absolutely zero resistance against the hardened student's mass combined with Kurapika's unnatural pulling force. With a deafening, explosive CRASH, Kirishima slammed side-first into the barrier. He tore straight through the drywall, steel rebar, and concrete blocks, disappearing into the adjacent room in a massive, choking cloud of thick, gray dust.
The hallway trembled from the violent impact. Debris clattered loudly against the floorboards, followed by an eerie, heavy silence.
Kurapika stood perfectly still amidst the settling dust. He slowly lowered his right hand, keeping the silver chain taut, his cold gray eyes locked onto the jagged, gaping hole he had just created in the wall.