Chapter 18: Inverse Gravity and The Killing TouchThe wind howled at the peak of the Mountain Zone.
Yaoyorozu Momo and Jiro Kyoka looked down at the Central Plaza with trembling eyes. The distance was too great to jump, and the path down was treacherous.
"Kuma-san," Yaoyorozu said, her voice laced with urgency. "We need to find a path down. Sensei is..."
"There is no time for a path," Kuma interrupted gently.
He stepped to the edge of the cliff. He didn't look reckless; he looked calculated.
"Hold on to my coat," he ordered. "And do not let go."
The girls hesitated for a fraction of a second before grabbing the thick fabric of his trench coat. Kuma grabbed them securely, one under each arm, like carrying two small parcels.
He jumped.
"Kyaaaaa!" Jiro screamed as the ground vanished beneath them.
They plummeted toward the hard concrete of the plaza. The wind whipped their faces, and the ground rushed up to meet them with lethal speed.
Just twenty meters above the ground, Kuma thrust his feet downward, soles facing the earth.
"Pad... Cannon."
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
He kicked the air rapidly. Each kick released a burst of pressurized air that acted like a solid platform. The invisible concussions slowed their descent drastically, turning a fatal fall into a series of controlled, heavy steps on the atmosphere itself.
They landed behind a large pile of rubble near the edge of the plaza. Kuma set the girls down. They were dizzy, their legs wobbling from the G-force, but they were unharmed.
"Stay here," Kuma whispered. "Do not engage unless necessary."
He peered over the rubble.
The scene before him was a nightmare painted in blood and concrete.
Eraserhead—Aizawa Shota—was lying in a pool of his own blood. His arms were twisted at unnatural angles, the bones pulverized. The massive, beak-faced monster, the Nomu, stood over him, holding Aizawa's head and smashing it repeatedly into the ground with sickening, wet thuds.
Standing a few meters away was the man with the hands covering his body—Shigaraki Tomura.
"You're so cool, Eraserhead," Shigaraki rasped, his voice vibrating with madness. "But you're not All Might. You can erase Quirks, but you can't erase raw power."
Kuma adjusted his glasses. He saw Tsuyu Asui (Froppy) and Mineta hiding in the water near the shore, trembling in terror. They had been spotted.
Shigaraki turned his head slowly toward the water.
"Game over," Shigaraki sighed, scratching his neck violently. "But before we leave... let's smash some of his pride and joy."
He lunged.
It happened in slow motion for Kuma.
Shigaraki moved with terrifying speed toward the water. He reached out his hand—the hand of death—toward Tsuyu's face.
"No..." Aizawa groaned from the ground, trying to lift his bloodied head to erase the Quirk, but the Nomu slammed him down again.
Tsuyu froze. She couldn't move. She watched the pale hand reaching for her eyes.
Death, her mind screamed.
But death didn't come.
POP.
The air displaced violently.
One moment, there was nothing between Shigaraki and Tsuyu. The next moment, a towering wall of black fabric and muscle stood there.
Kuma had moved. He hadn't run; he had repelled himself off the ground, closing the distance instantly.
Shigaraki's hand didn't touch Tsuyu. It touched the center of Kuma's thick, Kevlar-reinforced trench coat.
Crackle.
The fabric turned gray and disintegrated instantly, turning into dust. The decay spread rapidly, eating through the outer layer, the inner lining, and reaching for Kuma's skin.
But before it could touch flesh, Kuma's large hand clamped down on Shigaraki's wrist.
The villain's red eyes widened behind the hand mask. He looked up—way up—at the giant who had just appeared out of thin air.
"A new player?" Shigaraki hissed. "You weren't on the NPC list."
Kuma stared down at him through his round glasses. His expression was as cold as the abyss.
"Get away from my classmates," Kuma said.
He didn't squeeze. He opened his palm, placing the soft, pink paw pad directly against Shigaraki's chest.
"Push."
BANG!
A concentrated blast of air hit Shigaraki point-blank.
The villain was launched backward like a ragdoll. He flew across the plaza at incredible speed, heading straight for the collapsed fountain ruins. The impact would be severe enough to break ribs, perhaps even kill him.
"Master!"
The black mist, Kurogiri, shouted.
But it wasn't the mist that moved.
The Nomu, which had been crushing Aizawa, vanished.
It moved so fast the human eye couldn't track it. A blur of black and purple.
Just inches before Shigaraki smashed into the concrete debris, the Nomu appeared behind him. It caught Shigaraki in its massive arms with the gentleness of a mother catching a child, absorbing the entire momentum of Kuma's attack into its own body.
The Nomu skidded backward a few meters, carving deep grooves into the ground, but Shigaraki was unharmed.
Kuma narrowed his eyes.
That speed... Kuma noted. He crossed the plaza in a microsecond.
Silence fell over the USJ.
Kuma stood like a fortress in front of the trembling Tsuyu and Mineta. He slowly removed his coat, which was now crumbling into dust, revealing his black sleeveless shirt and the white target pattern on his pants.
He dropped the ruined coat to the floor.
"Are you hurt?" Kuma asked without turning around.
"K-Kuma-chan..." Tsuyu whispered, tears forming in her wide eyes. "Ribbit... thank you."
Chapter 19: The Pad vs. The SpongeShigaraki Tomura stepped out of the Nomu's arms. He dusted off his clothes, though he was unharmed. He looked at the crumbling remains of Kuma's coat on the ground, then at the giant standing protectively over the students.
He started scratching his neck. Scratch, scratch, scratch.
"That hurt..." Shigaraki muttered, though he was clearly lying. "You hurt me. You broke the rules. Students aren't supposed to be this strong. It disrupts the balance of the game."
His scratching became frantic. Skin flaked off his neck.
"Nomu," Shigaraki pointed a shaking finger at Kuma. "Kill him. He's a high-level obstacle. Clear the path."
The Nomu roared.
It was a sound that defied nature—a mix of a bird's screech and a human scream. The glass dome of the USJ vibrated.
Then, it attacked.
There was no buildup. No stance. Just pure, unadulterated violence.
One second, the Nomu was thirty meters away. The next second, it was directly in front of Kuma.
A fist the size of a boulder swung toward Kuma's head.
Tsuyu screamed. "Look out!"
Kuma didn't dodge. He couldn't dodge—if he moved, the students behind him would die.
He raised his right hand. He opened his palm.
"Tsuppari Pad Cannon." (Thrusting Pad Cannon).
He met the punch.
BOOOOOOOM!
Fist met Pad.
The collision created a shockwave so powerful it blew the water out of the artificial lake nearby. The concrete floor beneath Kuma's feet shattered instantly, creating a crater five meters wide.
But Kuma didn't budge.
His feet were planted, sunken into the ground. His arm hadn't buckled. The pink paw pad on his hand had stopped the Nomu's fist dead in its tracks. The air pressure he generated acted as an impenetrable shield.
"He... he stopped it?" Mineta squeaked, his eyes popping out. "He stopped the monster that broke Aizawa-sensei?!"
Midoriya, watching from the water's edge, clutched his chest. Kuma-kun is holding him back... but look at the strain!
Kuma grit his teeth. The force was immense. His shoulder joint screamed in protest. He could feel the raw physical power of the creature pushing against him.
He is as strong as All Might, Kuma analyzed rapidly. I cannot hold this forever.
Kuma pushed back. "Repel!"
He unleashed a massive shockwave into the Nomu's fist.
The Nomu was blasted backward, sliding across the pavement. But it didn't fly away like Todoroki or the thugs. It simply slid, dug its claws into the ground, and stopped.
It looked at Kuma with empty, dead eyes. It didn't seem in pain. It didn't seem damaged.
"It didn't work?" Kuma frowned. I hit him with enough force to shatter steel.
Shigaraki laughed from the sidelines. "Nice try, Bear-boy. But Nomu has Shock Absorption. You can punch him, blast him, or repel him all day long. Unless you can gouge out his flesh, blunt force won't work."
Shock Absorption, Kuma thought. My ability is based on impact and pressure. This is a bad matchup.
The Nomu charged again.
This time, it didn't stop at one punch. It unleashed a barrage.
BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!
Kuma's hands became a blur. He used a sumo-style open-hand defense.
Left pad. Right pad. Left pad.
Each deflection created a sonic boom. The air around them was turning into a chaotic storm. Kuma was parrying the blows, deflecting the Nomu's fists into the ground or into the air, but he was being pushed back inch by inch.
His stamina was draining fast. The ache from absorbing Midoriya's pain the previous night flared up in his muscles.
"You're slowing down!" Shigaraki cackled. "Nomu doesn't get tired. He doesn't feel pain. He is the perfect soldier!"
The Nomu saw an opening. It feinted a right hook, then spun for a backhand strike.
Kuma raised his arm too late.
SMACK!
The blow connected with Kuma's side.
Kuma grunted in pain as he slid sideways, his heavy boots carving trails in the concrete. He nearly fell, but he slammed his hand into the ground to stabilize himself.
Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth—the wound from last night reopening.
"Kuma-chan!" Tsuyu cried, preparing to jump in to help.
"Stay back!" Kuma barked, his voice straining. He stood up again, panting heavy breaths. "I am... not finished yet."
He adjusted his glasses, which were now cracked.
The Nomu screeched, preparing for a final, crushing blow. It raised both fists, intending to hammer Kuma into the ground like a nail.
Kuma raised his hands. He would have to use that. He would have to extract the pain from his own body and use it as a weapon, creating a bomb. It was risky. It might kill the students behind him if he couldn't control the blast radius.
But he had no choice.
The Nomu leaped into the air.
Kuma prepared to fire.
BOOOOOOOM!
Suddenly, the massive steel doors of the USJ entrance didn't just open. They exploded off their hinges.
A cloud of dust and smoke billowed into the facility.
The Nomu stopped its attack, turning its head. Even the mindless beast sensed a predator.
Heavy footsteps echoed. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Every step shook the ground.
A voice cut through the chaos. It wasn't the usual, cheerful voice of a TV star. It was a voice filled with suppressed, volcanic rage.
"I AM HERE..."
All Might stepped through the smoke. He wasn't smiling. His eyes were shadowed, blue flames of fury burning within them. He ripped off his tie as he walked.
"...AND IT IS FINE. BECAUSE I AM ANGRY."
Kuma let out a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. He lowered his hands, his trembling arms finally relaxing. The tension in his shoulders dropped.
He looked at the towering figure of the Number One Hero and allowed himself a small, tired smile.
"You are late," Kuma whispered to himself. "But... right on time."