Ch.63: The Artificial Human

The world blinked sideways.

A moment ago, Class 1-A had been standing in the USJ main atrium, listening to Thirteen explain the purpose of the training grounds. Then the mist came—chilling, unnatural, suffocating. Warping space.

Now, they were scattered.

—

Flood Zone.

A massive splash echoed through the cavernous chamber of waterlogged ruins. Izuku Midoriya surfaced, coughing, the chill biting into his lungs.

"Midoriya! You okay?" Tsuyu called, floating gracefully nearby. She had Mineta latched to her back like a terrified barnacle.

"I think so," he gasped. "Wait—villains!"

Dozens of shadowy figures bobbed through the waves and climbed over rusted metal boats. Their eyes gleamed with menace.

Tsuyu's tone darkened. "They're already moving in."

Midoriya clenched his fists. No time to panic. We have to fight.

—

Landslide Zone.

Rubble shifted underfoot as Kirishima slammed his hardened fists into a crumbling boulder to clear a path.

"Yo, Sero—behind you!"

Tape flew. Sero yanked himself out of the way just in time as a villain lunged through the dust.

"Damn!" Sero muttered. "They're in here already?"

Kirishima grinned, cracking his knuckles. "Guess we get to fight after all."

—

Conflagration Zone.

Infernos raged through twisted steel beams and scorched walls. Todoroki stood untouched by flame, his breath steady.

A cluster of villains stepped into view, fanning out.

Todoroki raised a hand. "You made a mistake coming here."

He lowered it—and ice swallowed the flames in a crashing wave. Within seconds, the villains were frozen in place, frost clinging to their skin.

—

Downpour Zone.

Rain hammered down like bullets. Kaminari and Jiro pressed their backs together, scanning for enemies through sheets of water.

A villain stepped from the fog, lightning dancing between his fingers.

"Oh," Kaminari smirked. "A lightning guy, huh? This might get fun."

—

Mountain Zone.

Kael Ishiro sprinted through uneven terrain, his boots slamming against jagged stone. The cliffs around him curved upward, broken into natural steps and terraces. Clouds hung low, casting a faint gloom across the sharp ridgelines.

He hadn't stopped moving since landing.

His heart pounded—not from fear, but from calculation. Where are the others? How spread out are we? His breath came slow, even. Can I regroup? Or do I handle this alone?

He vaulted up a steep incline, landing in a crouch. Dust settled around him.

Then—

Laughter.

Five villains stepped into view from behind a cluster of jagged rocks. One leaned on a rusted steel pipe. Another twirled a curved blade lazily.

"Well, look who's on the run," said the leader, his grin wide. "They said the mighty 'Equinox' would be fast."

Kael straightened.

"You've been watching me?" he asked, voice low.

"Not us five specifically, but we definitely got eyes on you," the villain replied. "And orders."

Kael's fists clenched. "Orders?"

"To test your limits," another said, sliding a baton from his belt. "You're a priority, kid. He wants to see what you can do."

'This aren't just random,' Kael thought. 'They're targeting me. On purpose.'

"Last warning," Kael said calmly. "Leave. Or you will regret this."

"Cocky," the baton wielder scoffed. "Let's wipe that look off your face—"

Flashstep.

Kael was already moving. A shockwave followed his exit.

His elbow collided with the speaker's ribs before the man could react, sending him sprawling. Kael twisted, sweeping a leg beneath the next attacker and launching himself skyward.

DarkBind.

Tendrils lashed from his back, yanking two enemies off their feet and binding them to nearby boulders. One screamed in surprise before being silenced by a swift punch.

Another villain managed to swing the steel pipe, grazing Kael's shoulder—but Kael grunted and twisted under the blow, planting a fist against the man's chest.

Kinetic Forge.

Energy surged into his hand.

His fist launched the villain backward into the cliffside, where he slumped unconscious.

Kael stood alone again, panting lightly.

Then the wind shifted.

The temperature dropped.

Kael's sharp eyes darted upward.

BOOM.

The mountaintop exploded.

Rocks rained down as a hulking shadow crashed through the cliff above, slamming into the earth with the weight of a freight train. Dust and debris surged outward.

Kael slid back, shielding his eyes as the wind howled.

And then he saw it.

A towering monster. Not human. Not in the slightest. Its frame was stitched and twisted. Its skin shone with a sickly sheen. Veins pulsed with something unnatural.

It didn't speak. It only stood.

Its eyes were empty. Its presence felt like a weight on the entire zone.

Kael stared.

No emotion. No fear. Only analysis.

DarkBind tendrils twitched behind him, ready—but that wasn't gonna be enough.

"…That thing," Kael muttered. "I can feel it. DarkBind won't stop it. Not even close."

He lowered into a loose stance, cycling through every Quirk in his mental arsenal—Flashstep, Kinetic Forge, Smokescreen, Flexweave, Healing Aura—he would need them all.

And maybe even more.

He'd fought villains. He'd fought powerful ones.

But nothing like this.

This wasn't training anymore.

This was survival.

…

Kael's eyes locked onto the monster that had descended from the shattered ceiling, the broken stone still crumbling from its landing point. It stood in the ruins of the cliffside above him, silent and waiting, like a war machine carved from nightmares and built with only one directive: eliminate.

The distant cries of combat from other zones echoed faintly in the background, muffled by the twisting terrain of the Mountain Zone. But Kael heard none of it. All his senses were attuned to the creature before him.

Its eyes didn't move. There was no hesitation. No flicker of emotion. Just that same empty, soulless stare.

This thing isn't thinking. It's tracking.

The monster shifted forward with a sudden, stomping step. The ground cracked beneath its weight. Kael instinctively flinched back, muscle memory taking over as a shimmering ribbon of DarkBind curled in front of him, low and ready to strike.

'I can't use DarkBind like normal. It'll easily break through it. I'll need to layer my Quirks, use combinations—test them before I commit to it.'

Kael inhaled slowly, activating Courage to clear his head. The world sharpened around him. His fear was still there, but now it was manageable. A small ember instead of an overwhelming blaze.

He began circling, feet quiet beneath him thanks to Silent Sole, trying to angle for a better position. The Artificial Human—if it had a name—turned ever so slightly, tracking him with minimal movement.

A predator waiting for a mistake.

Kael's fingers twitched. Eagle Hunting zoomed in on the creature's joints—metal-plated elbows, flexible armor across the chest, strange muscle reinforcement along the knees. It was engineered. Someone had designed this thing to be a weapon.

'And I'm its test case.'

He didn't like how still it was. How measured. It wasn't lunging. It wasn't attacking recklessly. It was watching.

Trying to learn him.

"I don't suppose you're gonna tell me why you're here," Kael said aloud, keeping his tone casual but low, like he was speaking to a living thing.

No answer. Not even a twitch.

Kael frowned, his hand slowly raising toward his side. He layered a thin veil of Smokescreen around his legs, letting it slowly leak and drift across the ground—not enough to obscure his vision, just enough to give himself a margin of error if things turned fast.

He wasn't going to throw the first punch. Not yet.

The Artificial Human moved.

A blur of mass and violence launched forward in one thunderous burst—its fist rearing back, the wind howling behind it. Kael barely had time to react.

Flashstep.

He vanished in a crack of speed, reappearing twenty feet to the left just as the monster's strike obliterated the ridge where he'd been standing. Shards of stone ricocheted off the cliffs, one slicing Kael's cheek as he landed. Blood trickled, but he didn't flinch.

"Fast," he muttered.

The Artificial Human had already turned. It didn't roar. It didn't celebrate. It simply adjusted.

Then it rushed again.

Flashstep wasn't going to work twice. Not without consequence.

Kael dropped into a low slide instead, letting Flexweave enhance the movement. He twisted beneath a sweeping arm, planted his palm against the ground to launch into a backflip, and landed a dozen paces away. Every instinct in his body was screaming.

One hit. Just one clean hit and it's over.

Kael let out a breath. His joints ached already from the sheer force of dodging. If he hadn't layered his defensive Quirks beforehand—Flexweave, Kinetic Forge, and Silent Sole—he might have been caught.

The monster slowed, looking at him again.

Still no emotion.

Still nothing.

Kael's eyes darted to the ruined section of the cliff behind it. If he could bait it into attacking there again, maybe he could bury it. Or at least slow it down.

"I've got maybe five or six seconds of surprise left," he whispered. "After that, it's going to adapt."

His thoughts moved fast. He visualized his entire arsenal.

'Sound Spike—might not do anything.

Fake Mortal—no time to use it properly.

Shock—not nearly enough stopping power.

Healing Aura—useless if I'm dead.

But Smokescreen, Flashstep, and DarkBind… if used together…'

He tapped his heel. A signal to himself.

'Go.'

Smokescreen erupted in a dense, hissing cloud. Kael vanished into it, ducking low and sprinting sideways, reactivating DarkBind to lash out with a net of tendrils meant to restrain.

They struck.

But this time… the Artificial Human caught them.

A tremor of resistance snapped through Kael's arm.

The creature had grabbed DarkBind mid-air. Not only that—it was pulling it.

Kael skidded forward from the force of the yank, eyes wide as the monster reeled him in like a hooked fish. He released the tendrils just in time and flipped backward, rolling once across the gravel before snapping up into a stance.

"Of course you learned," Kael muttered. "That's what you were waiting for."

The Artificial Human didn't charge again. It stood there, smoke curling around it, those lifeless eyes gleaming faintly.

It had tested him.

Measured his speed, his strength, his reflexes—and now it was calibrating.

Kael slowly stood straighter, wiping the blood off his chin.

This wasn't just a weapon.

It was a hunter.

And it knew he was the prey.

He took a breath, tightening the gloves over his fingers.

'This thing wasn't just made for chaos. It was made to kill someone like me.'

The Artificial Human stepped forward again, one foot at a time, its pace calm.

Kael didn't retreat this time.

He exhaled. Raised his hands. Shadow tendrils flickered to life behind him.

"I'm not going down easy," he said.

Then, more quietly—more to himself than the monster—

"And I'm not dying here."

…