Ephialtes never managed to fly far from the seed storage. A few seconds away from it, even without Bakugou's interference, his wings falter and he crashes right into a couple of bushes below.
"What a weakling." Bakugou snorts, appraising the demon's condition with a glare. "I can't believe Shitty Hair and Half-and-Half Bastard had a hard time taking care of an ancient goat like you."
Wrinkles upon wrinkles are displayed all over the demon's skin, along with several age spots. Thickened blood soaks the noble clothes, while the large gashes on his neck and back are closing up. His stature seems to have shrunk in size, and there is a lot more of grey than purple among his hair.
"You're, what? 80 or 90 years old? Stop playing villain! An old fart like you should've stayed in a fucking nursing home, Satan." Bakugou's gaze darts to his healing wounds. Wounds that would have been fatal if the demon couldn't regenerate. "Where did you get those injuries?"
"M— Monster! She's a monster..." Face down in the dirt, Ephialtes mumbles a prayer, teeth chattering against each other. "O god... Do not bring me to the time of trial, but res— rescue me from the evil one— from that monster!"
Monster? Who, the useless extra? The one who couldn't do anything without other people's help?
"Are you shitting me?" Bakugou steps forward, intending to restrain the demon. His shoe lands on the floor with a mysterious splash, inciting him to look down. Down to a puddle of thin, fishy-smelling, pale yellow liquid that leaks from—
"FUCK!" Bakugou roars from the top of his lungs, horrified beyond belief. He quickly wipes his sole to the shrubbery nearby, trying to get rid of the piss that has tainted it. "Fuck you, old fart! Wear an adult diaper if you like peeing yourself! Have some dignity and hold it in, loose dick!"
I knew some old folks have a problem with their bladder, but... Ugh! Fuck this satan! Fuck everything!
Then, out of nowhere, Ephialtes starts wailing loudly. Teardrops pour out from his yellow eyes—with a foggy clump clouding over the middle part—as he runs his stiff fingers along the crumples upon his once-flawless skin.
"You don't understand... how awful getting old is! No! No, oh father in heaven, please return m— me to my youth! Deliver me from this aging! Let me beseech... a true repentance of my sins... Anything to escape this nightmare! Please... I don't want to grow old! Please, o god..."
Bakugou gawks, uncertain what to do, as Ephialtes grovels on the dirt with creaking bones, sobbing to someone who isn't there.
Great, now the satan himself turns to god. What is this world coming to?
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"He was like, around 50 years old, I think?" Kirishima ponders, tapping his foot on the floor. "I mean, right before he got into that seed storage with Arata-chan."
It is not until Kirishima explains the demon's abilities to him that Bakugou understands everything. Satan was fairly young and strong, not a weak old geezer like this, when he was facing Shitty Hair and Icy-Hot. As a compensation for his healing factor, he grows older every time he gets hurt.
"Well, actually Todoroki asked me to interrogate him, but this demon's too insane right now. He didn't respond to my questions at all. Getting old has made him go nuts. Arata-chan succeeded to turn him into a grandpa, huh?" Kirishima scratches the back of his neck, then grins. "I'm a bit embarrassed... I only managed to shake a couple of years off him."
Then, that means, the more life-threatening the injuries are, the more Satan loses his lifespan, Bakugou concludes, recalling the gaping gashes that previously adorned the demon's neck and back. "But, how? How could that useless extra do it? Was it her quirk?"
If she was that strong, why had she been acting like a dead weight? If she was that strong, did that mean she had been holding her punches when I confronted her last time?
The second his question drops, Kirishima glances the other way and shrugs, grimacing. "Maybe? I also have no idea, man."
Shitty Hair knows, Bakugou instantly realizes. He has seemed off ever since he left Bastard and Extra in the storage. What did he see in there?
Judging from Satan's lunatic prayer, he also knows. Hell, he must've experienced Extra's quirk firsthand. To the point he shriveled into a shitty old fart with cataract, arthritis, and bladder failure who couldn't even move without a wheelchair.
And Icy-Hot... No doubt he knows about it.
Am I the only one who doesn't know? Has Extra always been strong all this time, and I'm the only one who doesn't know?
Feeling left out and irritated, Bakugou snarls, "What the heck are you hiding, Sharp Teeth? Are you going to tell me that this dipshit over here has been blubbering 'monster, monster, monster' over nothing!? Extra must have done something that reduced him into this senile garbage!"
"Bro, I just think it's not my place to talk. It's Arata-chan's—"
"You don't want to talk? Okay, fine! I'll ask her myself!"
Bakugou hasn't gotten far when Kirishima pulls him aside and shakes his own head, urging him to stop with a very serious expression. "Don't, Bakugou. I think you'd better not see."
"What—"
"Todoroki is trying to get Arata-chan to calm down," Kirishima continues, then frowns. "If you barge in there, it could... drive her over the edge, and she might..."
Bakugou doesn't like the cautious tone that comes with Kirishima's words. The hell is that supposed to mean? That he should be careful or else Extra could hurt him? Him, one of the most powerful students in 1-A?
"Might what?" Bakugou barks, nostrils flaring in irk.
"I don't know, okay? Just don't, bro. At least, not now."
The only one keeping him in his place right now is how serious Kirishima is about this ordeal. Bakugou despises being kept in the dark, yet seeing his friend this adamant... He can't help but think there could be a damn good reason about it.
Whatever that reason is, you'd better not be weak and disappointing, Extra. I'll check it myself.
"Tch, fine." Bakugou harshly slaps Kirishima's hand away from his shoulder, then casts a glance around the botanical garden. "Besides, we've got new things to toy with."
"What?"
"Look around you, Shitty Hair." Bakugou points to a swarm of dark red, four-legged security bots that are creeping towards them, warning lights flashing from their top.
"Oh, man! The villains aren't letting us off the hook just like that, after all." Kirishima cracks his knuckles and smirks. "All right. Let's buy some time for Todoroki and Arata-chan."
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"Okay, I've deployed the security bots to hinder them."
"Damn it! Nobu and Daigo lost!?" a pink-haired villain clicks his tongue, pacing back and forth in the security control room. "And I can't believe Ephialtes got defeated. By a girl nonetheless! He normally preys on girls, not the other way around."
"Me neither, that one is unprecedented. About those kids, I believe they're trying to restore I-Island's security system. The other group is still going up."
"Who are the ones in the botanical garden? Especially the boys, they are too powerful to be ordinary kids."
"That's what I'm trying to find out." Mr. Hacker's fingers furiously dance on the keyboard. Several windows pop up in his screen. After scanning the contents, he turns to his ally and waves him over. "See this? The boys—Katsuki Bakugou, Shoto Todoroki, and Eijirou Kirishima—are from U.A. high school's hero course. All were final round participants in U.A. Sports Festival this year."
"That explains why they're so strong. What about the girl?"
"Arata Shirayuki. Zero information about her. Her identity doesn't exist in any public database. But, considering she is with those boys, high chance she's from the same school. Could be a new transfer student or whatever."
"What about her quirk? We should be able to at least know about it, right? She must've used it to fight Ephialtes off."
"We can't. There's no surveillance in the seed storage. That was why I directed Ephialtes there, so his... disgusting activities wouldn't leave any trace that could lead back to us." Mr. Hacker exhales and ruffles his own hair. "Who knew it would backfire like this?"
The other villain chews on his own thumb. "So, we don't even have a single clue."
"Wait a minute." Browsing through a number of recordings, Mr. Hacker's gaze flicks from window to window. "This girl... She's been with Shoto Todoroki almost her whole time in I-Island, including when he participated in I-Speed."
"I-Speed? Isn't it a racing competition that allows the use of quirks? Oh... I see what you're getting at."
"Yeah. I think, she's I-Kart 8's driver who pulled out before I-Speed's winner announcement. Same stature, same build... I didn't realize it at first because her identity wasn't revealed, and you know, the racing helmet."
"What's her quirk?"
"I'm not sure, but see here." Mr. Hacker taps his index finger on the screen. "Doesn't that look like a praying mantis foreleg to you?"
"Like Hanakiri's mantis form."
"Precisely. If that's the case, our boss' boss certainly would be interested in buying this info."
"Well done, Mr. Hacker. We'll leave it at that. I would pass the info to our boss. Now, while we're flooding the botanical garden with bots, we can focus on capturing the other group of kids. Our main objective hasn't changed. We ought to secure David Shield's quirk amplifier."
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In front of Bakugou's destructive explosions and Kirishima's powerful punches, there isn't much that can security bots do. Most end up as an electronic wreckage in their hands, and the few that manage to escape scramble around the botanical garden.
Red blinks from on top of their robotic heads as they autonomously try to re-group and re-strategize as the last layer of defense. Before the bots successfully creep closer to Bakugou and Kirishima with their mechanical feet, a sudden incoming influx of ice swallows them whole.
At the onset of the ice waves, Todoroki whisks the frost from his right shoe. His back is half-leaning on a holed metal door as he shifts carefully to position the girl in his arms better, letting her head to slump against his left shoulder.
"Hmph, took you long enough, Bastard."
"Fighting while carrying Arata-chan, that's one hell of a skill, Todoroki! Arata-chan seems injured, is she okay— Oh." Kirishima sends a worried glance to Bakugou. "Bakubro, he looks... angry."
No shit, Bakugou scowls, realizing who is on the receiving end of their friend's scathing death glare. Of course, it's Satan. Angry is an understatement. Half-and-Half Bastard is furious, and rightly so.
What went down between Satan and Extra, wasn't an ordinary fight where people hit each other and got rendered unconscious. It was a mindfuck and a lifesuck waiting to happen. Less of a fight, more of a torture.
Even Bakugou got riled up by the fact that such despicable deed almost took place right under his nose. Although he merely heard about it from Kirishima and didn't see it for himself. Him, who hasn't been buddy-buddy with the extra.
Trying to do the deed is repulsive enough in and of itself. And Icy-Hot... watched it happen. To the one he gives a serious amount of shit about. To Extra. With his own eyes. Then learned about the rest in great detail from her. Saw the scars it left. Felt the ones he couldn't see.
Fuck! This must have totally fucked him over.
"So there he is," Todoroki growls, low and dangerous, his anger a palpable force in the room, as he cradles the sleeping Arata closer to him. He doesn't even bat an eye at the physical changes the villain has gone through. "The demon who hurt Ara."
"Eeeek! Monster! Help— Help me!"
Appalled as a pair of arms covered with wrinkles latch onto his left leg, Kirishima tries to shove Ephialtes away, grossed out. "Hey, buzz off, you demon!"
"Hardening Boy! Please s— save me... from her!"
"What is that wet— Ew! Is that piss!? Don't touch me, man!"
Ignoring the ruckus going on next to him, Bakugou sneers at Todoroki, "Damn right, Bastard. Why, you want to question Satan and knock him out yourself?"
In all honesty, Bakugou wouldn't be surprised if Todoroki took his offer and went berserk. A lot of people blow up over this kind of things, including Bakugou's own father when a dickhead groper dared to lay a hand on his mother.
His father—a wimp and a softie at heart who usually hides behind the wife's back—didn't think twice to put himself between her and the offender. Stomped on one of the asshat's feet. Even proceeded to drag the pervert by himself to the nearest police office. Roared his lungs off so fiercely that Bakugou's child self thought his father was possessed at that time.
So it's just natural for the bastard to—
"No. I'll leave that to you."
— What the fuck?
Sensing the bewildered stares from his friends, Todoroki grinds his teeth and turns away from them. "I'm not getting near him. Ara is unconscious and I won't take any chances of him taking over her dream."
"... Fine."
"Consider it done, Todoroki."
With Arata's slack body in his arms, Shoto thinks he understands the appeal of being a vigilante. There is a primal part of him that wishes to hurt the demon as much as—or perhaps even more than—the damage she has received.
An eye for an eye. A torture for a torture.
It doesn't matter whether it's lawful or not, whether the demon has learned his lesson or not. This part just wants to hear him scream, to see him pay for his mistakes, to let him burn in the depths of hell... To be out for blood. There's no doubt it wouldn't be unsatisfying. However...
A hero doesn't give in to their own selfish desires, Shoto reminds himself, clenching his jaw. Never forget who you want to become. Weren't you the one who said that to Iida back then?
Know your priorities. Isn't her safety the top priority?
What do you even want to achieve by having a revenge? No amount of it can change anything. It can't change whatever she has been through.
His gaze flicks downward. Arata is bundled up in his suit jacket, snuggling to his chest with slow, relaxed breaths. It totally could be the sleeping drug in her system, but he feels relieved to see her so peaceful, so serene... so free from all of her pain and fear.
Staying with her is probably the best decision I can make at this moment. To make sure incidents like this will never happen again.
"I swear Bastard's eyeballs are gonna fall off if he keeps staring at Extra."
Chuckling, Kirishima says, "What Bakubro means is, let's quickly catch up with Midoriya and the others. Too bad I didn't get the demon to spill any info, but we still have the whole island to save, so we should carry on."
"Sure." Shoto nods. "The sooner this is over, the better."