Chapter 40: Big Day, Part 2 of 2

(Chikyu Trivia: Chikyu's most developed body parts are his legs. He sees them as the most important muscle to train, especially for combat. His second most well developed body parts are his arms, as he believes that synergy in power between the legs and the arms makes one very powerful, even if they are quirkless)

(If I do make that Baki/Kengan Ashura fic, I would like suggestions for a technique or something similar that you might like to see in it when I do eventually get to making it. It doesn't even have to be from Kengan Ashura or Baki, but it has to be technique that a fighter can make use of that isn't straight up energy stuff. For example: No Kamehameha, no Rasengan or Chidori, stuff like that. It has to be a physical technique. It could also be a style of martial arts, just as long as it's a physical technique.)

All the heroes had been filled in on the fact that they were going to be fighting a Nomu. It unnerved a lot of them, especially those who knew in detail what the report of the USJ incident said.

Out of everyone there, Chikyu knew the most about fighting a Nomu. As such, they decided to ask him how they should proceed. Sure, they had more experience and should realistically be the ones giving him advice, but he was the only one there who knew first hand what a Nomu was like. Hell, he was the one who killed it and fought it for the longest, so out of everyone who was even present at the USJ, he was still the most qualified person to ask about it.

"Well, I should start by saying that most of the things I'm about to tell you are referring to the Nomu that I encountered. I don't know if this one is different, but in the case it is, we have to approach this with even more caution.", he started.

The heroes nodded, as it was true that there really was basically no more information on the Nomus than whatever was gathered from the one at the USJ. If there were major differences between each one, that would make things hundreds, maybe thousands of times more difficult.

"The most important thing to know about a Nomu is that it somehow has multiple Quirks. The one at the USJ seemed to have regeneration as well as shock absorption as quirks. It also had incredible physical prowess, as it was extremely fast and strong. The way I managed to kill it despite the regeneration was by crushing its entire body into basically nothing from all sides, but that move required a lot of sand in a vial that I carried on me, which I don't have with me now."

From that brief description, the heroes all agreed that if this Nomu was like that at all, it would be a problem.

Shock absorption alone immediately ruled out a lot of easy strategies. It also basically completely invalidated a good percentage of the heroes they had with them, as they specialised in physically beating their opponents to secure victory.

But the biggest problem of all was regeneration. It was such a simple quirk, but it was incredible. The mere concept of passively healing from any and all damage was incredible, but paired with shock absorption, it became hundreds of times better. That combo was definitely going to be troublesome if it did indeed have that same combo.

With Chikyu already having given them all he could, they got to planning.

Chikyu, Shio, Hanasu and Sugureta would be the front most fighters, keeping the attention of the Nomu at all times.

Despite how much Shio, Hanasu and Sugureta detested the idea of putting Chikyu at risk by having him be a main fighter, they knew, for different reasons, that he was definitely more than good enough to be a heavy hitter that could significantly improve their chances of victory.

The reason they hated the idea so much was because they despised the idea of putting someone so much younger than them and someone with so much potential in danger. Not only did it go against what they strived for as heroes, it went against what they strived for as people. They were all firm believers that every step should be taken to ensure that the young ones of each generation were allowed to prosper so that progression may follow, so the thought of even one young person getting killed for whatever reason was a huge no for them.

While they were thinking, Chikyu was doing the same thing. He realised that a good few of his martial arts moves would be useless, as if this Nomu was like the one at the USJ, it wouldn't react to his moves in the way that any other opponent would. For example, one of his favourite moves to execute was a leg lock. But with the way a Nomu fought, it wouldn't be very effective, even if he did break its leg using said leg lock, thanks to the incredible regeneration.

However, he did have something that he hadn't used yet. Well, that wasn't completely accurate to say. It would be more accurate to say that he only used half of it.

It was a set of four moves. He called the set of moves the "Dance of the four gods". So far, he had only used two of the moves in the set. Fist Of The Black Turtle and Kick Of The Red Phoenix. He still had two moves in the set that he hadn't yet made use of. He designed each move in the set in such a way that they would flow perfectly one after another, creating a combo that was destructive and impossible for an opponent to escape from until it was either done or stopped.

He was confident that if he could get off the full set, it could be a finisher. They would just have to whittle it down first, get it tired. If something prevented it from getting tired, then he could still use it to to do some major damage and basically just damage it faster than it can regenerate.

He decided that this was going to be an extremely important thing to mention, so he mentioned it to Shio, Hanasu and Sugureta, and told them that if they set up an opportunity for him to get in the full combo, they would have a chance.

They decided to take his words to heart and started to centre their strategy almost entirely around absolutely ensuring that Chikyu would be able to get the full combo off. He was still a main fighter, but in a different way now.

Sugureta, Hanasu and Shio would try their best to whittle down the Nomu with an unrelenting storm of attacks from all sides. Once the Nomu is weaker or tired, they would give a signal for Chikyu to move in and start his attack in hopes that he can end it with his full combo.

Satisfied with their plan, they evacuated all the workers on the ship onto one of their ships, ordering the captain of said ship to take them to the docks they departed from.

With the civilians now out of the way, it was time to begin.

Wasting no time on theatrics, Shio, Sugureta and Hanasu burst through the door to the room the Nomu was in. It looked slightly different from the Nomu at the USJ. It still had the large, bulky build, but it also possessed wings and claws.

Hanasu decided that he'd be the one to start the assault.

The orange pattern underneath his eyes quickly moved to both of his arms, also changing in appearance as it did so, becoming what looked like a tattoo of fire wrapping around both of them. Immediately after that, his arms were covered in bright, orange fire.

{Hanasu Hono. Quirk: Blazing Ink. His quirk is in the form of an always present orange pattern that sits below his eyes when not in use. This pattern can be moved to any place on the body, and upon a mental command from Hanasu, it will burst into flames that he can manipulate as long as it originates from wherever the pattern was. His flames are at a default temperature of 2,300 degrees Celcius, a little over 600 degrees higher than the flames of a blast furnace, but he can make them hotter at the exchange of stamina)

Immediately after the flames manifested, he punched both his arms forward, the fire following the same direction and blasting straight toward the Nomu, wrapping it in a curtain of fire.

Luckily, it didn't seem like the Nomu had any sort of fire resistance quirk, as it started screaming in what sounded like pain. However, it also meant that the fight was now officially on, as it sprinted right at the group after the wall of fire subsided.

Kyofu decided that he was going to attack next, as wind started rapidly gathering under his feet. Shortly after, he shot at the Nomu at incredible speeds, using his momentum to punch it in the face, blasting it several meters away. Not giving it time to rest, he started "sharpening" the air around him and blasting it right at the Nomu, cutting into its skin and drawing blood.

(Sugureta Kyofu. Quirk: Aeroking. He can manipulate air in pretty much any way. The only limit is his creativity and his mastery. He is also able to "become wind", which gives him specialised benefits.)

Shio jumped in while they had it in a combo. He manipulated the water that was present in the body of the Nomu and clasped his hand, twisting it afterwards. As soon as he did so, its arms and legs broke and twisted in unnatural angles.

(Muryo Shio. Quirk: Hydrofreak. He can manipulate water in all of its forms: Liquid, solid and gas. He is also able to grant water-related properties to other people if he so desires.)

There was a very short period of silence. Part of them hoped that it was done and over, and that it was going to be that easy. But their experience in this business told them that that was impossible.

Turns out their experience was right, as after literally just four seconds, the Nomu began regenerating at an incredible speed. Its limbs were already back in place, and the cuts it sustained from Kyofu were already almost completely healed. The only damage that still lasted in full was that it sustained from Hanasu's attack.

It decided that it was going to go after Hanasu first, and within less than a second, it was right in front of him, following its approach with a quick punch.

It was too fast for Hanasu to put up a defence, and he ended up taking the full force of the punch. He was launched into the steel walls of the storage room, knocking the breath out of him.

It was going to go after Sugureta next, but it was suddenly stopped in place by Shio, who was controlling the water in its legs and manipulating it in such a way that it couldn't move its legs.

Sugureta took the opportunity to launch as many wind blades as he could at it while it was stuck, shooting 20 at it. The blades impacted the Nomus chest, neck, arms and legs. Sugureta didn't let up after it struck those areas, however, and continued rapidly shooting wind blades at all aforementioned areas. He was hoping that he would be able to deal damage quicker than it could regenerate.

Hanasu had recovered by now, and joined in on the assault. He shot "bullets" of flame from his fingers as the pattern moved to his fingers. The rate of fire was incredibly quick, around 20 bullets per second. He was fast and proficient enough with his quirk to shot from all fingers twice within the frame of a single second.

Shio couldn't join in on the assault, as he was using every ounce of his concentration and power simply keeping the Nomu from moving. All they needed to do was give Chikyu a perfect opening to use his full combo.

After 30 seconds, Shio literally couldn't muster any more power, and the Nomu broke free, though not without damage. After all that time being the target of the rapid attacks, it had sustained visible damage. It seemed that to beat the regeneration, the just had to keep a non-stop train of damage without stopping for longer than a few seconds.

It now prioritised Shio, as it was at least smart enough to realise that he was the reason it couldn't move earlier. The tired hero looked like a perfect target right now, and it ignored everything else and put all of its thought into getting to him.

"NOW!"

With a shout from Sugureta, a tall person seemed to just appear right in front of the Nomu, as if they teleported there. That wasn't the case. They just bolted so fast in its line of sight that as soon as it appeared, it was instantly right in front of it. This was obviously Chikyu.

Chikyu took advantage of the split second of surprise and unleashed a powerful punch right into the gut of the Nomu. It had enough force behind it to completely stop the charging Nomu right in its tracks and stun it.

[First Stance: Fist Of The Black Turtle]

Instantly after executing his punch, Chikyu slightly spun and kicked the space directly in front of the Nomus legs, creating a shockwave that offset its balance.

[Second Stance: Kick Of The Red Phoenix]

As soon as its balance was off, Chikyu assaulted it was a long combo of rapid punches and kicks all over the body of the Nomu, never letting off for so much as a single second.

[Third Stance: Dance Of The White Tiger]

(I would show pictures, but they are weird to download, so I'm not going to bother. You can look up the images if you really want.)

After the assault stopped, Chikyu suddenly unleashed a kick to the side of the Nomu that contained several times more powerful than any attack he ever did before, releasing a blast of wind that raged around the room. It had the brutal added effect of literally splitting the Nomu in two from the middle of its body.

[Fourth Stance: Wave Of The Blue Dragon]

The Nomu died shortly after.

And with that, the battle was over. The heroes had won.