Chapter 259 - 258: Thump. Thump. Thump.

Endeavor dug his heavy boots deep into the cracked, wet earth.

"Come on, Number One! Don't tell me you're already out of breath!" Leviathan roared, his thick chest heaving with manic energy.

His eyes glowed a sickly, unnatural red from the Trigger drug.

Leviathan swung his massive arms forward, laughing like an absolute psychopath.

The twisted red tendrils extending from his fingers and head blurred into a tight, violent circle.

WHIRRRRR.

They ripped straight down into the mountain bedrock like a cluster of industrial drills.

A highly pressurized geyser of underground water erupted instantly from the cracked fault line.

"Let's see you burn this down!" Leviathan screamed.

He whipped his thick arm up, throwing the surging, high-velocity current directly at the hero.

FWOOSH.

Endeavor threw his left hand forward, unleashing a sweeping wave of concentrated fire.

The intense heat slammed brutally into the incoming torrent.

HSSSSS.

Thick, blinding steam exploded across the rocky terrain, pushing Endeavor backward by several inches.

'He isn't emitting a single drop of that liquid,' Endeavor analyzed, narrowing his eyes through the boiling fog.

He watched the thick red tendrils spinning wildly beneath the steam.

'It's pure rotational force... his Quirk is basically a series of helical scythes drilling into the local water table.'

Leviathan didn't give him a single second to breathe.

"Don't look away from me!" Leviathan bellowed, charging straight through the boiling steam cloud.

He swung his massive, bladed tendrils in a wide, lethal arc aimed directly at Endeavor's neck.

Endeavor ducked under the heavy strike, letting the spinning red blades shatter a nearby boulder into dust.

BEEP.

Endeavor's secure earpiece chimed frantically in his right ear.

[Flect Turn just hijacked the global frequencies!] the WHA Director yelled over the comms. [He accelerated the bombs... you have exactly ten minutes!]

Endeavor dropped his ranged combat stance completely.

He realized he couldn't afford a prolonged battle of attrition with a Trigger-enhanced brute.

He ignited the soles of his boots to absolute maximum output.

"Ten minutes is more than enough," Endeavor growled.

BOOM.

He launched his massive frame straight forward, moving at a speed that completely defied his large size.

Leviathan didn't show a single ounce of fear.

The villain's sadistic grin simply grew wider as he saw the hero charging directly into his physical range.

"I'll shred you to pieces!" Leviathan roared wildly, fully consumed by the drug's euphoria.

He spun all of his thick red tendrils together, forming a massive, high-speed drill right in front of his chest.

Endeavor ducked directly under the spinning red scythes, stepping right inside Leviathan's physical guard before the drill could connect.

Leviathan's glowing red eyes finally widened in sheer shock.

Endeavor grabbed the villain by the collar of his dark robe with his left hand.

"Flashfire Fist," Endeavor muttered, compressing a terrifying amount of thermal energy directly into his right knuckles.

He slammed his blazing fist straight into the center of Leviathan's armored chest.

BOOOOOOM.

A localized pillar of orange fire erupted point-blank from the heavy impact.

Leviathan screamed in raw agony as the kinetic and thermal force lifted him entirely off the ground.

He flew backward through the air, crashing straight through the heavy steel doors of the mountain fortress.

CRASH.

The metal hinges ripped entirely off the concrete walls.

Leviathan collapsed onto the floor of the dark subterranean corridor, completely unconscious and smoking heavily.

Endeavor didn't even look back at the Flaming Sidekickers fighting outside.

He sprinted past the unconscious brute, charging deep into the underground facility.

And rounded a sharp corner, kicking the heavy blast doors of the central command room off their tracks.

CLANG.

Endeavor marched aggressively into the dimly lit control center.

A wall of digital servers hummed loudly near the back of the room, displaying the ticking ten-minute countdown.

Flect Turn stood calmly in the center of the floor, his hands clasped behind his back.

"Shut that system down," Endeavor ordered, his facial flames flaring intensely.

Flect Turn just stared at him, keeping his pale face entirely void of emotion.

"You are far too late," Flect Turn replied smoothly.

Endeavor raised his right hand, aiming directly at the glowing server racks.

FWOOSH.

He unleashed a concentrated beam of pure fire to melt the hardware.

Flect Turn stepped casually to the side, placing his own body directly into the path of the flames.

The thermal energy slammed into the villain's blue skin.

Instead of burning, the entire column of fire violently bounced right back.

Endeavor's eyes widened.

He quickly crossed his massive arms, taking the full brunt of his own explosive attack.

BOOM.

Endeavor crashed backward into the metal wall, denting the heavy plating.

He fell to one knee, coughing up a small mouthful of blood.

Flect Turn adjusted his pristine white collar, looking down at the hero with pure disgust.

"Throwing blind tantrums won't save your diseased society," Flect Turn stated, taking a slow step forward.

Endeavor wiped the blood from his chin, forcing himself back to his feet.

"You think bouncing one attack makes you untouchable?" Endeavor growled, glaring at the cult leader.

Flect Turn raised a blue hand, gesturing casually to the burning scorch marks on Endeavor's armor.

"I am the mirror that reflects your own sins," Flect Turn answered calmly. "...You will only destroy yourself."

--<>--

Location: Tokyo, Japan, City Center

Time: 7:38 PM (Local Time)

Cementoss slammed both of his blocky hands directly into the paved intersection.

RUMBLE.

Massive slabs of solid concrete instantly tore out from the city streets.

The hero gritted his square teeth, pushing his Quirk to its absolute physical limit.

Thick walls of grey stone rapidly curled inward, forming a massive dome over the hidden Humarise explosive.

"Layer twenty-five!" Cementoss yelled into his radio, sweat pouring down his face.

He didn't stop to rest.

RUMBLE.

He pulled another ten feet of bedrock up from the subway tunnels, completely entombing the chemical weapon.

Standing on the edge of the evacuation zone, Fat Gum aggressively ushered a large crowd of civilians down the street.

"Keep moving!" Fat Gum ordered loudly, waving his thick arms. "Don't push each other!"

He tapped his secure HPSC earpiece.

"The Tokyo device is completely locked down," Fat Gum reported rapidly. "Even if that gas goes off, it isn't breaching that much solid rock."

--<>--

Location: Cairo, Egypt, Downtown Bazaar

Time: 1:38 AM (Local Time)

Total chaos consumed the Egyptian capital.

Sirens wailed aggressively through the dark, sandy streets.

WEE-WOO. WEE-WOO.

Thousands of terrified civilians sprinted through the narrow alleyways, trampling over market stalls and dropping their belongings in sheer panic.

They screamed wildly, shoving each other to escape the designated blast radius.

Salaam rushed through the panicked crowd, his two-dimensional body flattening against the sandstone walls to avoid the stampede.

He carried three crying children securely under his thin arms.

"We need more time to clear the grid!" Salaam yelled frantically into his comms.

Kamui Woods swung high above the frantic streets, using his elongated wooden branches to snatch civilians out of crushing bottlenecks.

He threw them safely onto the upper rooftops, panting heavily from the immense physical strain.

"We can't contain the device!" Kamui Woods yelled back, swinging desperately toward another trapped family. "The plaza is way too open! I'll try to contain the trigger bomb and layer it with my quirk."

They were fighting a losing battle against the clock, knowing a ten-minute sprint wasn't enough to save the city.

--<>--

Location: Paris, France, City Plaza

Time: 12:38 PM (Local Time)

Ryukyu stood in her massive dragon form in the center of a beautiful European plaza.

She stared down at the ticking metal device sitting entirely exposed on the cobblestone.

A crowd of French civilians screamed in terror in the distance, running blindly away from the WHA barricades.

Ryukyu dug her sharp claws into the street, her reptilian eyes narrowing in deep desperation.

She didn't have the quirk to contain the trigger bomb.

She couldn't warp the bomb into the ocean.

'If the timer hits zero...' Ryukyu thought, her massive chest heaving. 'I'll have to wrap my own body around the blast and pray my scales muffle the gas. Or I can just fly this in the atmosphere away from the human populace.'

She bared her teeth, fully prepared to sacrifice her life for the fleeing citizens.

--<>--

Location: Otheon, Humarise Command Room

Time: 11:39 AM (Local Time)

Endeavor glared across the burning control center.

Scorch marks covered his heavy hero armor, but he refused to step back.

Flect Turn stood calmly by the primary console, watching the chaotic global evacuation feeds on his monitors.

Endeavor raised his fists, fully prepared to incinerate the villain again.

"Heh..."

Suddenly, Flect Turn chuckled.

It wasn't a loud laugh, but the cold, amused sound cut straight through the crackling flames.

Endeavor stopped his advance, narrowing his eyes.

"What exactly is so funny?" Endeavor retorted, sensing a massive shift in the villain's demeanor.

Flect Turn slowly turned his back on the monitors.

He looked directly at the Number One Hero, a dark, arrogant smile finally breaking his emotionless facade.

"You heroes are so incredibly predictable," Flect Turn mocked smoothly.

He rested his blue hand entirely over the main launch keyboard.

"You really thought a man trying to cleanse the globe would honor a ten-minute countdown?" Flect Turn asked.

Endeavor's eyes went incredibly wide.

"What did you just do?" Endeavor demanded, his voice shaking with sudden fury.

Flect Turn pressed his palm down hard onto the console.

BEEP.

"Just as you guess," Flect Turn stated coldly.

He didn't care about playing fair anymore.

"The WHA mobilized much faster than I calculated," he admitted without a shred of guilt. "My grand design was butchered."

Flect Turn raised his chin, his red eyes completely devoid of mercy.

"But if I wipe out a quarter of the global Pro Heroes right now..." Flect Turn reasoned, a sadistic edge entering his voice. "That is still an absolute victory for humanity."

Endeavor went completely blind with rage.

"You bastard!" Endeavor roared at the top of his lungs.

FWOOSH.

He completely ignored the Reflect Quirk.

Endeavor unleashed an absolutely massive, unchained torrent of pure fire, deciding to melt the entire room and the mountain itself if it meant stopping the cult leader.

--<>--

Location: The X Agency, Tokyo, Back Office

Time: 7:39 PM (Local Time)

The massive glass tracking table glowed a soft blue in the center of the dark office.

Mirai Sasaki and Tsunagu Hakamada watched the twenty-four red targets blinking across the global map.

They were nervously counting down the minutes, praying the international heroes could evacuate their zones.

Suddenly, the glass table violently glitched.

BZZZT.

The global timers displayed above every single city instantly skipped.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

A harsh, blaring alarm ripped through the quiet office.

The ten-minute countdowns completely vanished, replaced by numbers rapidly dropping into the single digits.

Mirai dropped his digital clipboard directly onto the floor.

CLACK.

"The timers just collapsed!" Mirai yelled, his analytical mind completely breaking in sheer panic.

Tsunagu stepped urgently toward the table, his eyes wide with horror.

"He triggered them early!" Tsunagu shouted, gripping his denim collar.

The two veteran heroes immediately spun around, looking frantically toward the back of the room.

"Hero X!" Tsunagu yelled out, entirely dropping his calm composure.

Kaito didn't jump nor gasp.

He stood up smoothly from his luxurious leather chair, casually buttoning his pristine white suit jacket.

'You can never trust a single word from a fanatic,' Kaito thought casually, entirely unfazed by the sudden betrayal.

He had expected Flect Turn to cheat the entire time.

[Hero X is taking the field!] the Director announced urgently. [I repeat! Evacuate those pros who haven't contained the bomb yet.]

Makoto leaned against the edge of the glass table, completely ignoring the red timers flashing in front of her.

She watched Kaito step away from his desk.

And shook her head, a soft, amused giggle escaping her lips.

"You're such an absolute show-off," Makoto joked loudly, playfully rolling her eyes at her boyfriend.

Kaito stopped near the center of the room.

He looked over at Makoto, offering a highly confident, charming smile.

"It's my time now," Kaito replied smoothly.

He raised his right hand, positioning his thumb perfectly against his middle finger.

SNAP.

Kaito stepped directly into the empty space in front of him, folding reality entirely as he vanished from the Tokyo office.

At that exact second, the atmosphere shifted across the entire planet.

In the chaotic streets of Cairo, the panicked civilians suddenly stopped screaming.

In the Parisian plaza, Ryukyu blinked in absolute confusion.

In Otheon, Endeavor paused his fiery assault.

There were no visible speakers, yet the audio perfectly blanketed the sky above all twenty-five target countries simultaneously.

A heavy, incredibly energetic bassline dropped right out of the clouds.

🎵Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.🎵

--<>--

Location: Cairo, Egypt, Downtown Bazaar

Salaam fell back hard against the dusty sandstone wall.

The heavy metal casing of the Trigger bomb hissed violently.

HSSSSS.

Thick crimson gas sprayed directly out of the cracked pressure valves.

"Get everyone back!" an Egyptian police officer screamed, waving his arms frantically at the terrified crowd.

A young girl tripped over a market stall, crying loudly as the red mist drifted rapidly toward her.

Diving over the panicked child, Salaam shielded her entirely with his flat body.

He inhaled a sharp lungful of the red mist.

Thick black veins instantly bulged across his paper-like neck.

"My body... it's tearing apart," Salaam choked out, his Quirk spiking wildly out of control. "Damn!"

A heavy bassline suddenly dropped right out of the dark desert sky.

🎵 Ain't never seen something quite like it, mm

And when we play we don't stop fighting

Won't see it coming fast like lightning, whoa-mm We'll save the day, they can't deny it 🎵

The lyrics echoed across the entire city, completely drowning out the wailing emergency sirens.

"Is that... music?!" the police officer yelled, looking around the empty bazaar in sheer confusion. "Where are the speakers?!"

Stepping smoothly out of a solid stone wall, Kaito ignored the screaming crowd entirely.

SNAP.

The physical dimension folded on command.

The crimson gas sucked violently backward into the metal casing.

Flattening against the cobblestone, the weapon turned into a bright red graffiti tag.

Salaam dropped to his knees, his mutation reversing instantly as his lungs cleared.

"How did he..." Salaam whispered, staring at his normal hands.

Hero X offered the bewildered hero a two-finger salute before vanishing right back into the stone.

--<>--

Location: Paris, France, City Plaza

Time: 12:39 PM (Local Time)

Ryukyu wrapped her scaly wings tightly around the ticking explosive.

"Fall back! Clear the plaza!" a French SWAT commander ordered, dragging a civilian away from the WHA barricades.

"I can't leave them!" Ryukyu roared back, squeezing her reptilian eyes shut.

She braced her massive body for the lethal chemical release.

🎵 Higher, higher

We're about to set this game on fire, fire

They can't bring us down 🎵

The upbeat, rhythmic music rattled the glass windows of the surrounding Parisian cafes.

French civilians stopped running, pointing up at the empty blue sky.

"Look up there!" a civilian yelled.

Dropping straight out of the sky, Hero X didn't even look down.

SNAP.

He snapped his fingers right before his boots touched the pavement.

The metal device under Ryukyu's claws ceased to exist.

It flattened outward into a colorful chalk drawing on the plaza square.

Staring at the chalk art, Ryukyu let her jaw drop completely open. "Thank god, he arrived..."

"Did he just... turn a chemical weapon into street art?" the SWAT commander stammered, dropping his radio.

Kaito landed gracefully next to the drawing.

He walked straight into the side of a nearby brick bakery and disappeared.

--<>--

Location: Manhattan, New York City, USA

Crouching over a shredded server rack, Hawks watched the timer hit one second.

"It's over," an American pro hero muttered, dropping his heavy shield in defeat.

🎵 We're that whole new type of hero, hero

We gon' win wherever we go, we go 🎵

Kaito stepped casually through a shattered skyscraper window.

SNAP.

The bomb flattened into a glossy sticker on the linoleum tiles.

Hawks completely froze, his brain failing to process the sight.

"I... I didn't even see him move," the American pro gasped, rubbing his eyes.

🎵Explosions in the sky

Be-be-be-bending space and time

We're that whole new type of hero, hero 🎵

Turning around, Kaito walked right back out through the empty window frame.

--<>--

Location: Global Grid, Multiple Countries

The upbeat anthem blasted from the sky across twenty-one other nations.

--<>--

🎵Ain't never seen something quite like it, mm

And when we play we don't stop fighting🎵

In Singapore, Big Red Dot watched his bomb turn into a watercolor painting on a shipping crate.

"Well, I'll be damned!" Big Red Dot laughed loudly, throwing his hands in the air.

--<>--

Standing on a London bridge, British pros stared at a sudden brick mural.

"Bloody hell, what was that?" a British hero asked, completely bewildered.

🎵Won't see it coming fast like lightning, whoa-mm

We'll save the day, they can't deny it🎵

--<>--

SNAP.

Stepping through a carnival float in Brazil, Hero X snapped a device into vibrant street art while the local crowd cheered wildly to the beat.

--<>--

SNAP.

🎵Higher, higher🎵

He appeared in the dusty Australian Outback, flattening a threat into a dot painting.

"Mate, did you see that?!" a local Australian hero yelled, dropping his jaw.

--<>--

🎵We're about to set this game on fire, fire🎵

Dropping onto a crowded Mumbai street in India, he turned a bomb into a flat rangoli pattern while civilians gasped in awe.

--<>--

In China, he stepped off a Shanghai neon sign to leave an ink-wash mural behind.

"Is that Hero X?!" a Chinese civilian screamed, pointing at the empty air.

--<>--

Folding reality at impossible speeds, Kaito eradicated the remaining threats in South Africa, Canada, and Mexico.

🎵They can't bring us down🎵

He erased the bombs in Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia before the local authorities could even pull their weapons.

Jumping seamlessly across borders, he cleared South Korea, Argentina, Nigeria, and Kenya in mere seconds.

Terrified civilians in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Sweden, and the Philippines simply stopped running in the streets.

🎵We're that whole new type of hero, hero

We gon' win wherever we go, we go🎵

"He's everywhere at once!" a Philippine hero yelled, staring up at the sky.

They listened to the booming upbeat music while the white-suited rookie dismantled their extinction-level threats.

--<>--

Location: Otheon Mountains, Fortress Exterior

Burnin dodged desperately as Ena lashed a whip-sword at her neck.

Sidero stood on the high ground, generating another iron sphere from his knuckles.

Drawing her bow back, Beros locked her mutated fingers onto Kido's chest.

🎵Explosions in the sky

Be-be-be-bending space and time🎵

The music echoed off the canyon walls, drowning out the firefight completely.

Ena looked around frantically, his glowing red eyes darting across the ridges.

"Where the hell is that garbage music coming from?!" Ena yelled, looking for a speaker.

Hero X stepped right out of the empty air directly between the twin brothers.

Jumping backward, Ena and Dio raised their segmented blades toward his neck.

Kaito just smiled.

SNAP.

The spatial dimension collapsed inward.

Ena and Dio flattened violently into two-dimensional paper dolls.

Plucking the paper out of the air, Kaito tossed them onto the dirt near Burnin's boots.

"Holy crap..." Burnin whispered, staring at the flat villains.

"What did you do to them?!" Sidero roared, launching his iron sphere.

🎵We're that whole new type of hero, hero🎵

Kaito didn't bother turning around.

SNAP.

The flying iron sphere instantly turned into a small red laser pointer.

The red beam hit Sidero's chest, refracting cleanly into Rogone's shoulder.

Both Trigger-enhanced bruisers flattened against the canyon walls as permanent graffiti murals.

Panicking completely, Beros released her bowstring to fire a homing arrow at Kaito's head.

"Damn!" Beros shrieked.

SNAP.

The incoming arrow turned into a flat line of black ink.

Splashing across the ridge, the ink encased Beros and flattened her into a charcoal drawing.

Kaito adjusted his lapels, looking calmly at the stunned international strike team.

🎵Higher, higher

We're about to set this game on fire, fire

They can't bring us down🎵

"Do you guys need a hand out here?" Kaito asked easily.

Pankration swallowed hard, completely unable to form a coherent sentence.

"...I think we're good" Maestro finally answered, staring blankly at the graffiti. "You finished them all..."

--<>--

Endeavor unleashed a concentrated beam of fire directly at the cult leader's chest.

Flect Turn stood his ground perfectly.

The moment the thermal energy touched his blue skin, his Reflect Quirk activated.

The entire column of fire violently bounced right back at the sender.

Crossing his arms, Endeavor took the full brunt of his own explosive attack.

BOOM.

He crashed backward into the steel wall, denting the heavy plating.

🎵We're that whole new type of hero, hero

We gon' win wherever we go, we go🎵

Dropping to one knee, Endeavor coughed up a handful of blood onto the floor while listening to the music.

"Brute kinetic force is completely useless against me," Flect Turn mocked coldly.

Endeavor gritted his teeth, forcing himself back to his feet.

"Your body is a heat engine, Endeavor."

Projecting his voice through folded space, Kaito spoke right into the burning command center.

Flect Turn snapped his head around, looking frantically for the invisible speaker.

"Who is there?!" Flect Turn demanded, his emotionless facade finally cracking.

Endeavor froze, his flaming eyebrows furrowing.

'Who the hell is that?' Endeavor thought, wiping blood from his chin.

"Stop venting your energy as light and noise," Kaito advised calmly over the connection.

Endeavor's sharp tactical mind rapidly processed the strange advice.

"Pull it in," Kaito continued smoothly. "Create the thermal haze. Make the air itself collapse before it reaches you."

'Collapse the air...' Endeavor realized, his eyes widening. 'It makes perfect sense.'

Planting his heavy boots into the melted floor, Endeavor stopped throwing fire.

SHHHHHHH.

He pulled the intense heat directly back into his own body.

His skin turned a deep, bruised purple as he trapped the terrifying temperatures beneath his muscles.

H-ZTT.

A massive ripple of distorted air shimmered around his heavy frame.

He successfully initiated the Fire-Armor prototype on the fly.

Taking a hesitant step backward, Flect Turn's eyes widened in sudden panic.

"What are you doing?!" Flect Turn yelled.

Endeavor didn't throw a single punch or launch a fire blast.

He simply walked slowly forward.

The ambient temperature inside the small room skyrocketed to insane levels.

The steel walls instantly glowed a bright cherry-red, and the plastic keyboards melted into liquid slag.

🎵Explosions in the sky🎵

Flect Turn raised his hands desperately, trying to find an attack to reflect.

But there was no direct kinetic strike to bounce back.

The suffocating ambient heat simply existed everywhere at once.

Gasping for air, Flect Turn dropped to his knees as his white cloak scorched.

He collapsed onto the melted floor, completely unconscious from thermal exhaustion.

PANT. PANT.

Endeavor released the Fire-Armor, leaning heavily on his knees.

The control room was a raging, uncontrollable inferno.

The structural supports groaned dangerously under the lingering fire.

🎵Be-be-be-bending space and time

We're that whole new type of hero, hero🎵

A shimmering distortion appeared in the center of the blazing room.

Hero X stepped smoothly through the spatial tear, completely unaffected by the heat.

Burnin and the rest of the strike team rushed in right behind him, coughing from the thick smoke.

Kaito offered a polite smile.

"Excellent work securing the target, Number One," Kaito praised casually.

Opening his mouth, Endeavor tried to warn the rookie about the collapsing roof.

"The structural integrity is—" Endeavor started hoarsely.

Kaito simply raised his right hand.

SNAP.

The roaring inferno instantly flattened into two dimensions.

The flames turned into a harmless graffiti mural painted perfectly onto the melted steel walls.

The room temperature dropped back to normal in a single second.

🎵Thump. Thump. Thump🎵

The theme music cut out entirely.

"..."

Endeavor stared blankly at the graffiti fire, completely speechless.

...

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(9 Advanced Chapters)