Chapter 9 A Mock Battle Ensues
Chapter Text
"YOU CAN'T LEAVE ME! I WANT TO GO WITH YOU!!" Eri screamed while latching herself to one of Ainz's legs.
They say the perfect judge for all of life and death is someone that is neither in either state of being. A living man would be too corrupt to properly judge, while the dead have no voice to speak. This ultimately means that a middle is necessary. An undead. Knowing this, the most powerful and wisest of the undead in YGGDRASIL was the overlord Momonga. And here he was. The slayer of the World Devourer. The founder of Ainz Ooal Gown. The last remaining Supreme Being…was arguing with a child.
Note to self: spoiling children stunts growth. Ainz and Eri were currently in a tug-of-war in their apartment. He may have let the fact slip that he was going to be working at UA to Eri. Now she won't leave for her school because she wants to go with him.
"Eri I…" Ainz felt his racial ability activate, preventing a mental attack. "Did you just try to use [Persuasion] ?"
Guilty, Eri loosened her grip on his leg upon realizing her massive blunder.
"I am feeling two very conflicted feelings right now. One is pride. I'm so glad you managed to use a third-tier spell! The other is disappointment. You're grounded, young lady." The proud father stated while activating [Telekinesis] to rip Eri off of him.
He brought a floating Eri higher so they meet at eye level, "Also I'm immune to spells that affect the mind. Nice try."
Eri looks at him with a curious expression, "What is 'grounded?'"
"That can be our word of the day. Grounded, verb, means that you are being punished for doing something bad. Example: I am grounding you for trying to place a spell on me."
"P-P-Punish?" Eri shakes a little bit.
Oh right, shit. The Shie Hassaikai most likely had a different…definition of punishment. "No no no, nothing that would put you in harm!"
Eri's eyes became misty, "Y-You promise?"
With a still floating Eri, he ruffled her hair, "Promise. No need to worry, the Ainz Ooal Gown's approach to punishment is no adventures for three days along with…no following me to school for a week."
He released the telekinesis on Eri, plopping her down on Sepu. Eri harnessed her nexus of cuteness and stared Ainz down. Unfortunately for her, Ainz purposefully let his guard down so that emotional suppression could activate, abrogating any effect her cuteness had on him. A fantastic, yet futile attempt.
The overlord noticed her diminishing mood, "Eri…I'll let you know that me and Uncle Pandora," technically brother. "Are brewing up a spectacular show at the school. We don't want to give you any hints or spoilers. Just please me good until then, okay? For Papa?"
Pulling out the Papa card did the trick, Eri relented and began to pack her things up for her school. It was at this exact moment, while watching Eri pack, that Ainz realized he has no actual experience of being a teacher. This is karma for charming Aizawa isn't it?
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A man of Slavic descent pointed towards a switch from the other side of the apartment, "Conner can you adjust the alignment fins? We're almost ready to activate time dilation."
Conner obeyed, then activated the shuttle's speaker system, "Come in Katabasis crew, Mars is approaching its lowest orbit to Earth. We are preparing for the dilation quirk in T-10 minutes."
More switches, buttons, levers, and diodes were activated. Everything was being prepped for the most important use of technoquirk machinery. The Slavic man, Dmitri, was born quirkless in the Russian Federation. Might bring right was the motto of his country. Waste was the ultimate sin. A scarring product of once being a communist regime. One day, Dmitri was asked by the president himself if he wanted the chance to change history. He accepted. Now he was on a space shuttle with a quirk that allows him to speed up time itself.
The crew consisted of four people. Dmitri, a previous engineer. Connor, an American chosen by Brad to lead the crew. Amelia Hagans, a researcher from I-Island's astronomy department chosen by Kuzona. She was placed in charge of watching over Mars and is the second lead expert in the field. Finally there was the biggest surprise out of the entire crew, Cathleen Bate/Stars & Stripes. The #1 hero in America. She used her quirk New Order to forcibly learn all the knowledge necessary to fly an aircraft. She was the security personnel of the team in case the Martians were…inhospitable.
Once the preparations were finished, Amelia and Cathleen entered the cockpit. The seats of the cockpit were magnetic and had the option to float off of the floor. The reason for this was the time dilation quirk. It could speed up a human's lifespan effectively killing them in months. To stop this, only the shuttle could be touched.
"Conner Georgio, checking in. Katabasis crew, are we ready for the activation of quirk C-3?"
"Amelia Hagans, checking in. We are ready."
"Cathleen Bate, checking in. We are ready."
"Dmitri Romanov, checking in. We are ready."
"I-Island, checking in. You are a go for the activation of quirk C-3."
Lots of protocols had to be filled, but it was necessary. Dmitri activated the seat's superconductors letting them float ever so slightly off of the ship. He then touched the ship with his quirk active.
From the old age of the USSR, there was a saying made by the propaganda newspapers to put their citizens at ease. It was a promise to strive for the ultimate goal.
"For the happiness of all mankind." Then the ship sped towards the red planet.
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Oh God. Another one of the devil's shades has returned. I vow on the setting sun if they brought another-...
"Master! I have an apple for you per your wishes." One of the shades said. It looks like a shadow darted across the street and an apple magically appeared from it.
"Damnit! You creatures can't go around swiping apples from the market vendors. A passing wish does not entail an order." Tokoyami gritted back. Over a year ago, a being of unimaginable power gave him a 'collector's jar.' In Tokoyami's haste to destroy it, the beings within the jar were released and recognized Tokoyami as their master. He's kept quiet about them this entire time. How was he going to explain it? His quirk mutated in some way? No one foolish enough was going to justify this! Tokoyami usually sends them on wild goose chases so no one can notice them.
On the plus side, they were ridiculously strong. On accident, Dark Shadow went berserk at nightime and the bird-headed boy was defenseless to stop him. He was lucky one of the shadows came back from their 'mission' early. They easily subdued Dark Shadow.
Of course, every gift has its forfeit. The shadow monsters are precisely that: monsters. They have no quarrel with killing or maiming others. If the master's word wishes it, then it shall be done no matter the cost.
Tokoyami took the apple regardless of its origins and bit into it. I hope these creatures aren't affecting me in the long run. I'm supposed to be training to be a hero! Speaking of… He entered his classroom to find several people already waiting there.
Tokoyami took his seat and greeted the people he deemed to be competition, "Good morning Midoriya. Same to you Todoroki."
Midoriya stammered out a reply, "G-Good morning to you too, Fumikage!" Todoroki simply nodded in response.
A shadow demon scooted a seat placed at the back of the room, helping Tokoyami in any way they could. The boy rolls his eyes. He takes the seat while finishing his 'crime apple.' Dark Shadow appeared to his side with sly eyes.
"You could've told the guys to get me an apple, you know? I'm reeeeeally hungry. You wouldn't leave me hungry. I mean, you're not going to finish the entire apple, are you? You gonna finish the core? Please tell me you're not. I mean you could choke on the core and I'd have to drag you to the nurse's office. We don't want to follow the green boy's example. I read once in a medical journal that apple seeds have cyan-..."
Dark Shadow was hastily cut off by having an apple core shoved in its mouth. Tokoyami keeps his hand on the creature's mouth to make sure it shuts up, "At least 'the guys' don't pester me for sustenance. Their chemical makeup doesn't require me to forage for victual."
Despite the scowling words coming off as more of an admonishment of Dark Shadow, the five shadow demons were euphoric to hear any form of a compliment from their master. The shadows had a certain level of consciousness and self-autonomy, but it all revolved around helping their master.
Dark Shadow chewed on its apple core, while Tokoyami sat back to begin brooding before class began. There is never a bad time to brood-...
A yellow caterpillar opened the door to the homeroom by headbutting it. Dark Shadow choked on its apple core (somehow) and spat it onto Tokoyami, "What the heck is that monster? Are we being invaded?! I hate bugs! Toko go tell the other guys to deal with it."
You are so undauntable right now. Tokoyami rolled his eyes, "Your foolishness is showing penumbra. That is merely our disciplinarian Aizawa-sensei."
The other students were still not used to Aizawa's lax teaching method. Especially Iida Tenya who preferred order and discipline. Surprisingly, he kept his mouth shut.
Aizawa shuffled between hopping and slinking over to his desk before addressing his students, "Welcome back to your second day. Nice to see that you all have made it on time," As if on cue, two students, Mina Ashido and Denki Kaminari, appeared at the door with sweat dripping from them. "Almost all of you… Ashido! Kaminari! Showing up on time takes initiative, focus, and the ability to keep a healthy schedule. To show you have these things, I expect a five-page essay on the importance of them by the end of the school week."
Grumbling and groaning, they headed to their seats.
Aizawa waited a few seconds for that message to sink in, "Good. We can begin with the top two things of the day-... *yawn* . That being one of them. Per Nezu's orders, I can't fully describe to you why, but I am hiring an aide."
The kids in the class knew their teacher for one full day and they knew damn well why he was hiring an aide. Exhausted, strict, groggy, and downright mellow. Why else would this type of person hire an aide? To shove all of the work onto, of course!
The caterpillar continued, "With that in mind…can you please just enter and introduce yourself?"
"Ah apologies," said somebody from behind the doorway. They walked right next to Aizawa, "My name is Ainz Ooal Gown. I am no pro-hero. I merely make inventions in my spare time." Ainz opens a small black portal and pulls out a red orb. The orb sparkles slightly, capturing the attention of everyone in the room. He tosses the jewel back into the void with a nonchalant attitude. The inventor continues, "My quirk is called 'Pocket.' If it can fit in my hand, I can place the item in a nigh-infinite pocket. My goal is to make all of you into vessels worthy to be called a hero. Please take care of me."
Ainz was a man in his thirties, yet had messy gray hair. He seemed so ordinary. Any other person on the street would've never given him a second glance if it also wasn't for his golden eyes hidden by rectangular glasses. He dressed very warmly. Black turtleneck sweater with a gray trench coat.
Tokoyami had the strangest sense of déjà vu upon seeing the aide. I have never seen this man in my life…right? Why am I feeling so suffocated in his presence?
"Master?"
Perhaps he was a friend of my father's?
"Master."
I'll need to be as convivial as possible in hopes to-…
"Master!"
Tokoyami I looked at the shadow demon splayed across his desk, "What?!"
"You are not a resident of our home world YGGDRASIL, so there is a very important aspect that has been transferred." It said with a quiet echoing voice.
The bird master was shocked. They have never mentioned their home world or the fact they have come from elsewhere. He signaled it to continue.
"The mechanic is 'gifting.' If an individual gives summons to other individuals, they have the option to disable the summons from attacking the presenter," the shadow demon's voice softened slightly. "A caveat of this is the summon's ability to spot its original owner. Let me be clear, master, you are still where undying loyalty lies, but that 'teaching assisstant' gave us to you."
The man in question began what was supposed to be Aizawa's teaching. Aizawa was asleep in the corner. Tokoyami was frozen in fear. The-The God I met a year and a half ago. He gave the jar! Oh god. Aizawa what have you done?
Dark Shadow finished his thought under the guise of an exhale, "Toko, the teaching aide Aizawa hired is Death."
Neither the shadows or their master caught the retraction of an ear jack belonging to a purple-haired girl who had suddenly grown very pale.
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All Might was currently going through two very conflicting emotions. Joy from seeing all of the kids become ecstatic upon his arrival in class A-1. And confusion stemming from his ongoing conversation.
"You don't remember anything about All For One anymore?" Said the number one hero.
His protegé waved his hands in front of him with slight stuttering, "No no no no no! I remember the history you told of him after I came back from the beach, but…I don't remember anything about any sort of, erm, p-person I m-met on the beach."
For the first time in ages, the rusted gears in Yagi Toshinori's head began to turn. That's odd…and really bad. This indicates that whoever wiped Izuku just wanted their appearance to be kept a secret, but not the All For One bit. Are we really dealing with All For One? Nezu would want to know about this. However…
"Thank you my boy for clarifying a couple of pieces of information. You can go join the rest of your class." All Might says while watching Izuku heads toward the stage of the Heroics class. I have about two hours left on my muscled form. This, hopefully, will give me enough time to teach the kids.
Yagi himself managed to reach the observation deck of the practice exercises just in time to see a fairly strange sight. An unknown individual was dragging his colleague Aizawa in his yellow sleeping bag. The latter seemed to be asleep—contrasting the former's irritation.
The stranger slumped the tired teacher in the farthest corner of the room before dusting himself off and turning to Yagi, "Umu, you must be All Might. Apologies if I haven't been given an introduction. I am Aizawa's new teaching substitute when he is 'out of action.' My name is Ainz Ooal Gown; Ainz for short." He extends a hand towards the three meter tall hero. All Might makes sure not to put in any pressure as to not break the aide's hand.
"My condolences," He said while glancing at the sleeping Aizawa. "Good to meet you Ainz. Excuse me for asking, but are you a registered hero? I don't recall ever seeing you in action."
Ainz chuckles before opening a portal—retrieving a mug, "It'd be pretty hard to find footage of me considering I am, in fact, not a pro hero," he sips and puts a hand up to deter any retorts. "I am not here to teach the kids. That is your job. I am merely here to be the voice and extra pair of hands for Shota Aizawa. On the rare occasions, I can give advice. Think of me as an intern."
Yagi is overcome with the strange compulsion to obey the man. Even then, if he's just going to be a bystander, there's no reason to argue a moot point. Finishing this thought, Students start to enter with their hero suits outfitted. It was time for class to begin.
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"First up is…Team E vs. Team D! That is Tokoyami Fumikage and Kyoka Jiro as villains against Mina Ashido and Shoto Todoroki. Villains? Suit up, you're going in first." Announced All Might with a booming voice.
The team in question were not well acquitted with one another and shared one key personality trait that made it so much worse: they were loners. Jiro would say it's 'just a phase,' while Fumikage would pass it off as people fearing the dark arts.
Tokoyami side-eyed Jiro. They were climbing a ruined building towards the top floor. The roleplay aspect of the mock battle was that villains have secured a bomb somewhere in the building. The heroes need to disarm (touch) the bomb within 15 minutes or the building explodes. Heroes win condition is subduing the villains and the bomb. Villains win by either subduing the heroes or running the clock out.
Team E(mo) had zero game plan or a desire to work with the other…at least that was the case for Jiro. Both were stationed on either side of the bomb that was placed on the top floor.
Tokoyami glanced at Dark Shadow who was instructing the demons to do…something. He'll ask about what the orders were later. He coughed into his hand, "Ms. Jiro, the heroes will have an unimaginably undemanding exercise if we don't cooperate with one another. Even if we lose, I wish to at least show them that the dark side fought with everything they had."
Kyoka looked at him with…an indescribable look. Probably a mix between bewilderment and disgust, "Fumikage, I have no idea what is up with you, Ainz, or the supposed 'dark side.' I am here to complete the test as quickly as possible."
Tokoyami was slightly taken aback from her finding out his history with Ainz, but what of it? That could be talked about later.
"Oho? You really think your ameliorated perception can beat someone such as Todoroki? How would you be able to counter his ice if he freezes the entire building?"
A vein pops on Kyoka's forehead, "Using the most extreme example are we? Alright, let's see how your shadow deals with Ashido's acid. I hope it doesn't burn off your edgy-as-fuck outfit."
"At least I have a proper ensemble for being a hero! Is this a rock concert for you? Perhaps play the heroes a melody?" The bird boy snapped back.
Dark Shadow sighed, motioning for the demons to interfere. Both of the heroes in training were one button push away from pummeling their 'teammate.' Four demons restrained their master and the young girl, while one materialized in between the both of them.
The materialized demon craned its silhouette to the girl, "Child. As immature as he is, I would prefer for my master to be unharmed by his ally."
Jiro looked at the creature who seemed to have the silhouette of a small man with mild curiosity and expectation, "You're the thing Fumi was talking to in class. I didn't know his quirk worked like this…neat."
The creature turns its head towards Tokoyami. Just go with it. She doesn't know everything and doesn't need to. The shadow continues, "Yes I am. Think of me as an extension of my master's own shadow. The teachers won't begin recording our actions until the heroes enter the building. Toko would prefer we are kept a secret considering he might be discriminated against for having a 'villainous' quirk."
Kyoka relaxed and sat down to meet the demon at what she presumes is eye level, "Alright, but how does this affect the mock?"
"For clarity, if all of Toko's shadows, us, went all out—the game would be over. We prefer master learns something."
"Okay then," Kyoka nods before glancing over at Fumikage who is getting a similar talk. "Do you have a plan we could use at least?"
She can't see it, however she gets the weird feeling that the shadow is smiling, "That…we do."
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The announcement over the speaker by the entire class, "Heroes, in position. You will begin the mission in 3…2…1…GO!"
Shoto and Mina sneak into the building via the main entrance. Their plan was a rehash of shock and awe.
Mina caught a flicker of a shadow from the corner of her eye, "Todoroki. I think-"
"Shoto." He interjects.
"Shoto. I think Tokoyami is here. I can't reeeeeally see him, but I just saw a shadow move. We should be quick."
Shoto wordlessly nods, then touches the floor with both hands. In the span of 10 seconds, the entire floor was covered in ice. After half a minute of constant freezing, Shoto takes his hands away from the building. As a consequence of overusing his quirk, frost began to form on his right side. Mina notices this. She begins to melt the ice off of him using acid with a higher pH.
Shoto stops shivering, regaining his composure, "Let's go meet our frozen classmates," he sticks a thumb towards the stairs of the second floor. "You first."
Mina narrows her eyes, "I'm getting the slight suspicion that you're seeing me for my quirk only."
He shrugs, "Makes things a lot easier if your teammate can carve a path without me breaking my oath."
The alien girl stamps down her gossipy nature that's begging her to ask about the oath for the rational option of defeating the 'villains.'
She covers her feet with acid to lead Shoto to the top floor. Upon reaching the stairs, something… odd appears. It's another flickering shadow, but an impossible one. It directly contradicts the light source coming from the bulb. Mina whips out a bit of acid onto the silhouette. When the acid hits the floor, the shadow is gone.
Are they sure they took Fumi down?
Shoto stopped once Mina threw down the acid, "Did you see something?"
"I don't think we took down our resident edgy boy."
"We'll just be more alert," he mentally checks the time. "We need to hurry up. Only 10 minutes remain."
The duo start to scale the frozen five-story building. It was so eerie. Not a single sign of life. The only sounds that emanated were the dripping of melting ice and the sizzling of Mina's acid. That was the case until they reached the third floor. It took a minute to find out what was wrong. A very soft layer of white noise enveloped the atmosphere. Mina didn't say anything about it. Believing it to be unimportant.
They reach the fourth floor with a dramatic increase in the white noise. She remembers a hearing condition where people believe they are constantly hearing an ever increasing tune. It was called the Shepherd's…something. She's not that great at memorization.
Shoto hasn't spoken in quite some time, so she calls out to him, "Hey Shoto, how are you holdin' up with this creepy vibe? You think this is Jiro's…quirk…?"
The half fire and ice boy isn't behind her.
"Shit!" She curses before ignoring the ice and bolting straight to the next staircase. Surprised by even making it to the steps, she reaches the highest floor. This is it! I'll find Jiro and Fumi here with the bomb all frozen! Nothing creepy! Nothing scary! God that noise is so annoying!
She was half right in what she wished for. Nothing, except for half-frozen concrete littered the story. The white noise ceased immediately contrasting its slow buildup.
Mina may not be school-smart, but she wasn't stupid. Enough horror movies prepared her for this one singular moment, "I GIVE! I surrender! Uncle! No more, please and thank you!" Devoid of any shame, she covered her ears with her hands, squeezed her eyes shut, and crouched down.
A moment passes, then… "Ppbt! You're no fun. We worked really hard to scare you for at least six more minutes."
The pink-skinned girl opens her eyes to see a smug Jiro holding a roll of capture tape. She rolls up Mina's wrists in it.
"There ya go. Both heroes are down."
Mina shook her head to clear away her stupor to ask the big question: "B-But, where was the bomb?!"
As if on cue, Fumikage comes down from a hole in the ceiling leading to the roof. He dusts himself off and points to the newly made hole, "The administrators of our training never specified if we were allowed to tamper with the location of the device; thus we placed it on top of the roof."
I…Huh-? Are you kidding me? We never had to enter the damn building in the first place?! Mina looks back at the intimidating emo duo, "Uhhh…where's my partner by the way? How the heck did you grab him without me noticing?! He was right behind me." She tries to flail her arms, yet is stopped by the capture tape.
Jiro was about to talk when…
"Congratulations Team E for completing the mission and capturing all of the heroes! Splendidly terrifying work." The voice of All Might boomed from a hidden speaker.
They start heading back, with Tokoyami using Dark Shadow to carry an unconscious Shoto and Jiro explaining what happened to Mina, "Believe it or not, this whole thing hinged on our faith that Mr. Icicles over there would freeze the entire building. We knew you'd feel less tense if that happened. Toko was on spooky duty and I was tasked with causing you auditory neuropathy."
"Wha-?"
"It means ya lose any idea on where any sound is coming from. That's what the white noise was for. That was mainly it. No idea where we were coming from, Toko or I drops on ya."
Mina pokes at a, hopefully, sleeping Shoto, "Why is he like this?"
This time it was Dark Shadow that answered, "This brat wouldn't stop struggling! Do you have any idea how hard it is to silently knock someone out?"
No one answers the obviously rhetorical question.
"Couldn't you have just…jumped on us without the whole scary thing? I'm gonna get nightmares from you two."
Jiro twirled one of her ear jacks, "I mean…yeah, but that would've been no fun. Plus we wanted to be creative."
Both teams enter the lobby with the rest of their classmates. Reactions were heavily directed towards the villain team with an emphasis on how terrifying they were.
"Damn Fumikage, that was awesome!"
"You two are like Jekyll and Hyde except you're both Mr. Hyde."
"No, more like a horror version of Bonnie and Clyde."
"Ahem," All Might coughed into his fist. "Now that the mock is over with, can anyone tell me who was the MVP?"
Two people, arguably the smartest in the class, raise their hands. All Might chooses Yaoyorozu first.
"I believe Tokoyami was the MVP. I'm not entirely sure who thought of the plan, but its execution was fantastic. Shoto's predictability worked out greatly. Lowering the guards of the heroes for the villain's mind games. I don't know how you manipulated the shadows to induce paranoia, yet it worked brilliantly. My final point for why he was the best is his capturing of Shoto. Even watching it from the screens made me feel tense. Fantastic work."
All Might nods at that before turning to the other hand raised, "Do you have a differing opinion Midoriya?"
"W-Well not much. My opinion is more of a draw between Tokoyami and Kyoka. It was her idea to place the bomb on the roof. I'm a bit surprised no one thought to check there. Other than that, her white noise effect acting like a scrambler was super intuitive! Um, how did you do that anyway?"
Jiro brings a shoe up, "The speakers in my shoe simply have a 'White Noise' setting. I didn't know it was that effective either! Sorry Mina. I'll help you with an assignment as an apology."
Mina perked right up at that, "Apology accepted!"
All Might really had no idea what to do now, "Hmm…okay then. The first round is done. Let us begin the second battle between Team A and Team C!"
No one, not even Kyoka heard the soft murmur of the teaching assistant as he stared at Tokoyami, "Uhu, it's nice to see someone appreciating your presents. Glad to see that jar wasn't a mimic."
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"I-I-I'll do anything! J-Just let m-me go a-and anything I have is y-y-yours." Stammered Yuso Tanagi in a panicky voice.
The man…monster, thing, whatever it is across from him with a bizarre assortment of items. A camera, an art easel, multiple hair stylist products, a set of clothes, and even makeup.
"Ayiyiyiyiyiyi! Your screaming ruins zat beautiful face of yours! You should be proud zat I chose you from tens of zousands of possible people," he throws his garishly long hands in the air. "Manche Menschen können niemals glücklich sein!"
Yuso wasn't tied to a chair or restrained in any possible way. He was standing unfettered. However something blocked his body from moving. As if he was a live mannequin. He wasn't really sure where he was. Only a small light in between him and his captor illuminated the place.
"P-Please, I don't know w-why you want my face. I-I have a wife and a kid. J-Just let me g-go back home."
The thing swiveled its head to show its lack of facial features. Yet with such a 'face,' Yuso could tell it was appalled, "Why? Why?! To be the face of ze main actor of course! My ability allows me to change into anybody," it switches into several grotesque forms. "Wunderschön, nicht wahr? However I cannot turn into something I haven't seen before. Zat is where you come in! You'll be my model for me! A sculpture with untapped potential!"
The shapeshifter pulls out a pair of scissors along with a razor, "Let us start with ze hair!"
Yuso screamed in terror.