[1st POV]
"You have to be shitting me," I stared at the chaos that unfolded below me.
Deku and I were standing at the top of a building and looking down at the fight. There was only one villain, and he was someone I was more than familiar with. There were multiple heroes fighting him; I counted four, and there were a bunch of others standing by. Perhaps these were too weak to fight at the level of the others and thought they couldn't be of much help, so they stayed back.
On the other hand, there were virtually no civilians in the area. The heroes and the police did a great job at evacuating everyone.
"Is that all you've got? HEROES!!!" the villain screamed. Pink muscles enveloped his entire body like tentacles, and they were enhancing him enough that he could crush cars with a single swing.
I watched as he wrought destruction everywhere he went. It looked like while everyone was living in the real world, he was in a world made of Legos. Things he touched were destroyed as easily as Legos.
Muscular, if I remembered correctly. His name was quite easy to remember.
Now why the hell was he here? I knew he was an infamous villain when he appeared with many past atrocities, so was this one of them? He was a villain who genuinely liked killing and fighting rather than having a grand dream or fulfilling wicked desires.
He was a truly evil villain.
He was also powerful. I remembered that Deku with 100% One for All wasn't able to do shit to him. It was only some random ass-pull 1,000,000% that managed to defeat him.
He was the type of villain that should not appear at the beginning of the show, much less before the show even starts.
I looked at Deku and thought to myself that his main character energy was truly strong.
"Kacchan, look," Deku said, pointing a trembling finger at the scene. "The heroes are losing."
I turned back at the scene, and even though it was only the span of a few seconds, the scene looked much grimmer than before.
Heroes lay on the ground in bloody pools. It was unknown if they were unconscious or dead. The only thing that kept the villain from making sure they were dead was Rumi, who was fiercely clashing with him.
Upon looking at the fight, I began doubting all my victories against her. She was moving at a completely different level with a grin that didn't look like a grin except for its shape.
Deep wounds marked every place she landed as she fought like a rabbit, hopping around and crashing against the villain. Her powerful legs lashed out like a weapon not made of flesh. The resounding boom of each clash was enough to numb the ears and shatter the nearby windows.
Maybe she had been holding back while fighting me, or maybe you fought way above your level when your life was on the line. No matter how one looked at it, the fight was clearly above my level.
And somehow that made me both extremely pissed off and ashamed.
For someone who had such a big mouth and a major superiority complex, I was rather timid when it came to the real thing. But what could I do when every ounce of instinct and common sense I had in my body told me to run?
I knew I had incredible battle instinct. Even without learning techniques, I seemed to know how to fight as naturally as breathing. But in that moment, I wished I didn't have them. Those same instincts were making me afraid and screaming at me to run.
Deku and I watched helplessly as the fight dragged on. There was no decline in intensity. The battle seemed to climb in level instead. It was like music that was rising and rising, waiting to hit a crescendo.
Muscular continued to grow as more and more muscle fibres wrapped around his body. It was around this moment that I came to the frightening realisation that he was growing stronger and stronger.
Was that the nature of his quirk, like mine? Or was it because he just became a villain, and he didn't even know how to use his quirk properly, and he was finally learning through the battle?
Whatever the case, it was not good. Rumi could not keep up with that pace of growth, and there were no heroes around her that could help.
In terms of raw power, Muscular was someone only the top 10 heroes of Japan should be able to handle.
Rumi threw herself on the side of a building. She was high up, and then she shot down, completely caving the side of the building.
She brought her leg up for a hammer kick, putting all her strength and momentum behind the attack.
"Luna Fall!!" she yelled and slammed into Muscular.
But something happened. The muscle fibres on the villain came alive, completely wrapping around the villain. It was to the point that they swallowed his upper body whole, and you could only see the writhing muscles that popped with raw strength.
Rumi's kick landed, and the pink tentacles only trembled. The force behind the kick was completely absorbed.
And I was not surprised.
If Muscular was able to absorb a full-powered OFA punch, then even an inexperienced version of him could absorb Rumi's kick.
Rumi's leg was swallowed by the muscles. They gripped her foot tightly before the villain spun around a few times and threw Rumi into a building like a rag doll.
A deafening silence came after the crash.
Deku and I watched in horror towards the place where Rumi crashed.
But surely enough, the rabbit girl got up. She was bloody all over, and she was limping forward amid the destruction. Looking at the destruction caused by her body when it flew, one could imagine the destruction on her body.
And yet she was smiling, no, grinning like a strange version of All Might's smile.
She began limping faster and faster until it became a limping run. Then, after gaining enough momentum, she was hopping with only one leg towards the villain.
"Kacchan!" Deku's voice snapped me out.
Then I was barely able to hold him back as he tried to jump off the building.
"What do you think you're doing!!!" I screamed at him.
"Kacchan! Kacchan! Kacchan!" he chanted my name, perhaps hoping I was going to do something he couldn't do.
He didn't know I couldn't do anything either.
"Mirko is going to lose! She's going to die!" Deku said, and giant tears fell from his eyes. They didn't even gather in his eyes as they fell uncontrollably.
"We need to do something!"
"And what can we do, Deku! What can you do?! They are the heroes, not us!!" I asked, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him away from the edge of the roof.
His hands grabbed me at the wrist, and they squeezed me with strength that shocked me. I looked at his eyes. Crying as they might, his eyes didn't look pathetic. They were clear amid liquid, almost shining. The eye was an organ meant to be weak and soft, but they looked so incredibly hard at the moment. Like Deku's eyes were made of steel. Maybe even tougher.
His shaking hands pushed mine away.
"At least...At least...We can try! We can carry the other fallen heroes while Mirko risked her life to buy us time! At this rate, if she loses, everyone down there will die! Heroes need saving too!!" he yelled in my face, and I was completely frozen.
I let him go.
And then, without a second thought, without even thinking about the fact that he was quirkless, that he was weak, he jumped off the building and managed to get down.
I was left stunned on the roof.
I see, so that's why he is the main character.
That's why he is the hero.
His body moved to save others before he even realised it.
And I....Shit.
What the fuck am I?
...
I think I knew. I think I always knew that I was not a true hero like Deku. My body was not the body of a hero. It couldn't move before I realised it. Instead, it was stuck, frozen, and afraid. When it faced a powerful foe it thought it couldn't beat.
I recalled the memories of the show from another world. Had I ever faced this type of situation before?
Maybe if I didn't know how dangerous Muscular was, I would be able to move. Maybe if I hadn't worked on my attitude and character, I would be delusional enough to appear heroic like Deku.
I was able to change my character; I was able to change myself a little because of those memories. But perhaps they did more bad than good. Perhaps there was a reason why my quirk affected me that way.
I looked down at the scene once more. Rumi was fighting, but with no bright future ahead. Her own kicks seemed to do more damage to her than the villain. Muscular was in a complete rampage. I didn't think he was even fully conscious anymore.
I could also see Deku carrying one hero behind his back while trying to drag another hero with his arms.
I looked down at my own hands.
And what was the awesome Bakugo with the awesome quirk doing?
Absolutely nothing. He was frozen on a rooftop, helplessly watching.
The thought alone angered me to no end.
"Fuck,"
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" I cursed and began to beat myself with my arms. I created explosions that hit my body again and again until my shirt was blown completely asunder.
"FUCK!!!!"
Scared?! Me!?
Try again.
"You'll fucking listen to me, damnit!!" I clenched and scolded my trembling body that was too in tune with battle. The body that knew how to fight, when to fight and when to run, like an animal instinct.
Maybe I was not a saint like Deku. Maybe I was not a true-born hero like him. But goddamn it!! As if I was going to let that stop me.
If I couldn't risk my life and charge at certain death to save others, that's fine!! I just have to make sure that never happens.
I will just become so powerful that I don't even need to take a risk! So overwhelmingly powerful that these damn instincts never scream at me again.
My eyes were bloodshot as I finally became myself again.
I no longer saw a villain in front of me, so I exploded out from the roof and shot down like a rocket. Mirko noticed me with her enhanced ears and moved away. And so, without holding back, I slammed into the villain, and my body exploded, using every drop of sweat I had to detonate like a bomb.
My whole body felt dry as I burned all my sweat, and I shot away. But the villain shot off even further.
A huge boom erupted as the fire of the explosion grew higher than any building. It ripped apart asphalt and concrete to carve a deep wound into the earth and coloured them black.
Smoke rose, and I walked through it. I walked towards the villain that was nestled on a broken truck many metres away.
"That was so damn pathetic. I'm never doing it again," I said. My words were heavy like stone.
"You're not even a villain anymore in my eyes." Muscular was too far away, so he couldn't hear. But at this point, I was only talking to myself.
"There are no villains," I said.
Indeed, I was way beyond seeing people as pebbles or extras. But...
"You're stairs. There are only stairs," I said.
The only thing their existence would serve was for me to step on and climb to my dream of becoming the embodiment of power.
Power solves everything, even fear.
I came to that realisation now.
I was always talking about becoming the Symbol of Power because it sounded cool, but I think I understand it a bit now.
Power could cause fear, but also courage. It could destroy but also protect. It was a concept with two sides.
After gaining absolute power, I will share my power with everyone and become a symbol for both the villains and the heroes, both the good and evil.
A symbol not just for the people, like the Symbol of Peace, but a symbol for the villains too.
Power would make them afraid and destroy evil. The same power will give them peace and protect them.
I swear. I will never feel like I did today again.
Until I make absolutely sure of that, these villains were just stairs. Some high and low. But ultimately for me to step on until I claim the title, Symbol of Power.
I began tensing my muscles while I walked towards the villain. My body came alive; every part of my muscle was visible, and they writhed and moved around much like Muscular, only they were under my skin.
I slowly swung my right arm in a full circle, activating all of my muscles while doing so. I did the same thing for my left arm.
I folded my arms and pulled them back while puffing out my chest. Again, I made sure to tense all of my muscles and make them work to the maximum while doing the least amount of movement.
My dry skin, which was void of sweat after the explosion, began to sweat again in ridiculous amounts. I felt the scream of instinct again as I neared the villain. But this time, I didn't reject the fear and embraced it.
Fight or flight? I would alwasy pick fight.
I allowed my body to tremble and release cold sweat. The danger I sensed caused adrenaline to course through my body and release even more sweat.
It's okay to be scared. It's okay to be afraid. After all, I didn't have absolute power yet. I wasn't yet the Symbol of Power.
But I have to remind myself that such things were necessary to reach the end. It was simply a part of taking a step up the stairs.
The villain stood up, and the metal beneath him released a groan.
I stopped and began hopping in my place. Again, I made sure to tense my muscles and release them. I was straining them with the simple motion of hopping up and down.
By that point, my whole body was covered in sweat, and it was dripping.
The villain shot up with a resounding boom. His muscles began writhing again as the torn muscles repaired themselves and layered themselves even thicker than when he fought Rumi.
I bent my knees and remained motionless. I was still, holding that tiring stance as I allowed sweat to pool onto my feet.
After three seconds, the world screamed as my feet produced an explosion powerful enough to rip apart a building.
I shot towards Muscular.
"DIEEE!!!!!"
BOOOOOOOM!!!!
..
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Author : Was decently surprised when I read back this chapter. Due to some changes and erasing things, the development may feel forced but it was genuinely well done in the original.