Chapter 145 : The Tyrant's Double Life

Returning to the Alliance Heights dorms after my first mission felt like crossing dimensions. Out there, in the rusted industrial district, I was Tyrant, a shadow hunter who fought against tyrants. Here, I was back to being Tatsumi, a first-year student who had to worry about homework and whose turn it was to do the dishes. This double life was beginning to feel like a strange burden, a secret that isolated me even in the midst of my closest friends.

The next morning, the atmosphere in the common room was much lighter. The news of the heroes' success in neutralizing a dangerous villain in the industrial district had spread, although my name or the specific involvement of Ryukyu's agency was not mentioned. The report just called it "a successful joint operation based on accurate intelligence." It was enough to lift the public's spirits a little, and the spirits of my friends as well.

"Look! They got him!" Kirishima exclaimed, pointing at the television screen. "That's so manly!"

I just smiled faintly into my cereal bowl. If only they knew.

Class that day felt different. Aizawa-sensei, who somehow knew the results of my mission through Nezu, looked at me with a different gaze. It was no longer just the look of a teacher at a troublesome student. There was a flicker of... acknowledgment. As if he no longer saw me as just a kid, but as a soldier. Our lesson that day was battle analysis. He showed us the footage of Endeavor's fight against the High-End Nomu and asked us to dissect it.

"What were the strategic mistakes made by both sides?" he asked.

As usual, Momo gave a brilliant analysis of how Endeavor relied too much on pure heat attacks initially. Todoroki, with personal experience, added insights on the limits of the Nomu's regeneration. But then, I spoke up.

"The Nomu's biggest mistake," I said, making a few people turn their heads, "was that it fought like a soldier, not a monster. It had patterns. It parried, it dodged, it countered with trained techniques. It was too predictable. That was the opening Endeavor eventually exploited."

Aizawa looked at me for a long time. "A very good point, Tatsumi."

I knew I was walking a very thin line, showing insights I shouldn't have. But this was part of my role now, part of the lie I had to live.

That evening, I returned to my secret routine. While the others studied or relaxed, I slipped away to Gym Gamma. I had to get stronger. Kain was just the beginning. I knew there were far greater threats out there. I focused my training on one thing I had gotten from my dream: the spear, Neuntote.

I manifested the short sword blade on my arm. I could maintain it for almost a minute now, but it was still very draining. I tried to change its shape, to lengthen it, but the armor resisted. It felt like trying to bend steel with my bare hands. I realized I didn't just lack strength, but also understanding. I didn't know how the spear was made, what principles were behind it.

I also continued my adaptation training. I had asked Momo to create a small device that could emit various types of energy on a low scale—static electricity, sonic vibrations, even concentrated particles of light. I would manifest my gauntlet and hold it against the device, trying to 'teach' Incursio how to adapt.

"He's getting weirder and weirder," Uraraka thought one evening, when she accidentally saw Tatsumi alone in the gym, just standing still with armor on his arm, his eyes closed, as if he were listening to something no one else could hear. She wanted to ask, but the invisible wall between them made her hesitate.

In a dark, rain-slicked port city, Akame finally found her next lead. She had successfully ambushed a Yozakura courier and gained access to his communicator. The encrypted messages within, after she forced an underworld hacker to break them, revealed a horrific truth.

She saw communication logs between Yozakura and a client known only as 'The Doctor'. They weren't just selling weapons or information. They were selling 'subjects'—people with rare or unique Quirks. And more horrifically, she found several references to 'subjects from beyond the Gate,' which were sold for an incredibly high price.

Akame's heart went cold. So, this wasn't just an isolated incident. There was a systematic operation to kidnap people from her world—or other similar worlds—and sell them as experimental material. Her hunt for Yozakura had now turned into a mission to destroy an inter-dimensional human trafficking network. And she knew the only other person in this world who would understand this horror was Tatsumi. She had to contact him again.

The peak of my training week was an unplanned sparring session. I was training in Gym Gamma when Bakugo and Todoroki walked in.

"Oi, Tyrant," Bakugo growled, a wild smile on his face. "I'm sick of watching you just hit robots. Fight me. No tricks. No stupid plans. Just you and me."

Todoroki stepped forward beside him. "I would also like to participate," he said calmly. "I want to measure how far I have progressed. And how far you have progressed."

Aizawa, who happened to be observing from above, just sighed. "Fine. Three-way. Standard rules. First one unable to continue, loses. Begin."

The three-way battle between us was a storm of elements and power. Bakugo was more controlled now, using his AP Shot with terrifying precision. Todoroki danced on his waves of ice, unleashing bursts of fire and cold simultaneously. I myself was in the middle of it, a fast-moving black shadow.

I used my partial manifestations with a new fluidity. I would manifest leg guards to dodge Bakugo's explosion, then retract them and manifest a gauntlet to parry Todoroki's ice attack. I used my Dragon's Fang to cleave through a wall of fire, absorbing its heat to recover a little of my stamina. I wasn't as strong as them in terms of pure output, but my adaptability and reactions made me a very troublesome opponent.

After ten minutes of a brutal fight, the three of us stood panting in the middle of the ruined arena. There was no clear winner. We had all reached our limits.

"Not bad," Bakugo said, the highest praise from him. "You've gotten stronger, you damn anomaly."

"Next time," Todoroki said, "I won't lose."

A new mutual respect was formed among the three of us, a recognition that we were the three pillars of strength in our class.

That night, as I returned to my room, tired but satisfied, my secret communicator buzzed. It was Ryukyu.

"Good work in the industrial district," she said without preamble. "You've proven you can be relied upon in a solo mission. Now, I have a new one for you."

A file appeared on my phone screen. My face hardened as I read it. "Our next targets," Ryukyu's voice continued, "are not one person. But two. A pair of brothers who escaped from Tartarus, known as the 'Corpse-Grinder Brothers'. Their Quirks... are a little unpleasant. One can reanimate and control corpses for a short time. The other is a simple physical strength enhancer."

She showed me a picture from their last crime scene. An image that made my stomach churn. The defeated heroes were not just incapacitated; they were forced to fight against their own fallen comrades.

"They've taken over an old, abandoned hospital on the outskirts of the city and turned it into their horrific stage show," Ryukyu explained. "Ordinary heroes have psychological difficulty fighting them. But you... you're different. You've seen worse things. You are the perfect candidate for this quiet cleanup operation."

I stared at the photo in the file. The photo of a hero crying as he was forced to fight the lifeless body of his partner. A cold, pure rage, coming from my soul as an Earthling and from the echo of Tatsumi's soul, burned within me. This was no longer about justice. This was about desecration.

I closed the file. I walked to the window, looking out at the dark night. I felt my dragon's heartbeat, steady, ready to hunt.

"Send me the location," I said into the communicator, my voice calm and deadly.