….
•-------•
[Ding–! Condition for Dimensional Travel are met]
[You can press the button, to activate Dimensional Travel]
•-------•
Jin-Ho stepped through the portal, feeling that same gut-deep pull as space and light twisted around him.
Honestly, despite it being his second time, that moment before arrival always hit differently - the weightless, drifting pause where he had no idea what awaited him on the other side.
The next instant, his boots hit solid ground.
He didn't move right away.
His instincts flared - muscles tense, aura braced - ready for an explosion, a hostile spell, a collapsing rift… anything.
But nothing happened.
Just… wind.
Cool, not so fresh wind.
His guard eased a fraction. "At least won't be half dead right from the start this time."
He straightened slowly, scanning his surroundings.
A park. A massive one, stretching before him, vast and expansive, with towering trees creating natural walls of green.
He looked around for a second before levitating upward without hesitation, rising above the treeline until the canopy fell away beneath him.
From this vantage point, he could see everything.
The park extended in all directions, bordered by a residential district beyond.
Buildings rose against the afternoon sky, modern architecture, power lines, the infrastructure of civilization.
Relief washed over him like a wave. "A modern world."
From a glance, it seemed like a developed world - meant there would be infrastructure, hospitals, places he could navigate.
Still floating in the air, the system notification flashed across, urgent and impossible to ignore.
•-------•
[Ding–!
[New Mission is assigned:
-> Task - 1: Save Toya Todoroki from the path of a villain.
-> Task - 2: Become a Pro Hero.
-> Rewards: ???
-> Punishmint: None]
•-------•
Jin-Ho squinted at the screen. "Toya Todoroki? Save from… what, exactly? And you want me to Pro Her—"
He barely processed the second task before the scream pierced the afternoon.
It wasn't the scream.
It was sharp, desperate, the kind of sound a child made when experiencing something beyond comprehension.
The kind of sound that made every protective instinct in him ignite.
He looked toward the direction of the cry, and his breath caught.
Blue flames erupted from somewhere beyond the park's northern edge, so brilliant and unnatural that even from this distance, they burned his eyes.
Not orange, red, but a vivid, searing blue that painted the sky in shades of impossible fire.
The scream grew louder.
"Damn, give me a break." Jin-Ho cursed, but his body was already moving.
Immediately, he summoned [Rairakku's Mask] to enhance his physical abilities and ran toward the inferno at full speed.
The landscape blurred beneath him as he raced toward the source. The closer he got, the more the air itself seemed to distort.
Heat waves rippled through the atmosphere, and even from above, he could see the devastation, trees charred to ash, grass turning black while small animals like birds and squirrels burned to death - everything in the path of those blue flames reduced to cinders in seconds.
This was no ordinary fire.
And then it hit him - the name, the context, the horrible certainty of what this was.
The Inferno at Sekoto Peak.
The incident where a 'boy' had been burned and reborn as something else. Something that burned from the inside out.
The incident that would one day give birth to Dabi.
The boy… Toya Todoroki.
"Of all places to land…"
Jin-Ho's Telekinesis surged through his veins, power flickering like invisible threads around him.
"Okay, kiddo… hang in there."
He descended rapidly, his eyes scanning the chaos below.
There, at the center of the inferno, a figure wreathed in blue flames, screaming.
Not screaming in rage, but in agony.
Pure, desperate agony.
The boy was conscious.
His body convulsed as the flames erupted from his skin in waves, each pulse of fire sending another ring of destruction outward.
His screams were involuntary, the sound of someone whose body was burning from within and couldn't control it.
"I hate flames… and to face one is the worst."
Jin-Ho muttered, pushing himself forward despite every instinct screaming at him to stay back. The heat was already affecting him, sweat streamed down his face, instantly evaporating from the heat.
The black smoke felt heavy and suffocating.
He couldn't approach directly.
The flames would incinerate him instantly.
He needed something to protect himself - a barrier.
Jin-Ho focused, drawing upon his [Telekinesis] Lv. 3.
◤-----------------------◥
「Skills:」
[Telekinesis] Lv. 3 (Proficiency 28%)
◣-----------------------◢
He had never tried something this complex before, never attempted to create a protective layer against such intense heat.
It was definitely different from when he was just stopping bullets - there shouldn't be any gaps left.
He focused, gathering his power around himself and the surrounding space.
The air shimmered as an invisible barrier materialized, gossamer-thin, almost insubstantial to look at, but reinforced with every ounce of concentration he could muster.
It was his first attempt at something this precise, and every second of maintaining it felt like pushing against an avalanche.
But the moment he stepped into the barrier's radius, Jin-Ho realized his mistake.
The barrier worked perfectly, it kept the fire out, preventing the heat from incinerating him instantly.
However, it couldn't selectively filter air molecules while blocking fire.
The space inside his barrier was a vacuum of breathable atmosphere, filled only with toxic heat and fumes.
At this rate–
His lungs screamed as he tried to breathe, finding nothing but the searing, empty space. His eyes watered. His body convulsed with the need for oxygen.
"Tsk, should have thought this through."
Having left with no choice, he clenches his teeth, holding his breath.
He wouldn't last long, maybe thirty seconds, maybe a minute if he stayed calm. But it was all he had.
Toya was screaming, his skin blistering, eyes unfocused, more flame than boy now.
Each step forward felt like walking through molasses.
The barrier required constant concentration to maintain, and now he was also rationing his oxygen, managing his heartbeat, keeping his mind focused despite the desperate urge to breathe.
The boy was closer now, maybe twenty feet away.
The blue flames were even more intense this close, they raged and danced, feeding on nothing but the child's own body.
The kid's screams were deafening, raw and desperate, filled with a pain that seemed almost supernatural.
"Please! Please, make it stop! MAKE IT STOP!" the boy wailed, his small body wreathed entirely in blue fire.
His hair whipped around him like it was caught in a maelstrom, his limbs thrashing uncontrollably. He was completely aware, completely conscious of every second of his own burning, and it was driving him to the edge of madness.
Jin-Ho realized with horror. He knows what's happening to him and he can't stop it.
That made it infinitely worse.
This wasn't a mindless instinct, it was a conscious mind trapped in a body that was destroying itself.
The boy was aware, suffering, and completely helpless.
Jin-Ho pushed forward, his vision already starting to blur.
Black spots danced at the edges of his sight.
His lungs were burning now, the oxygen reserves he had locked inside his chest depleting rapidly.
"Hey!" Jin-Ho called out, his voice hoarse from holding his breath. "Hey, kid! Can you hear me?"
The boy's eyes, wild and filled with tears, snapped toward him. For a moment, there was a flicker of recognition, a desperate hope in his gaze–
"Help! Please! I can't - I can't stop it! Help me!"
Fifteen seconds left.
The boy saw Jin-Ho approaching and his thrashing became more frantic, as if his body was reacting to another presence.
The flames intensified in response, as if the boy's panic was feeding them, making them burn hotter, faster.
"No, no, no! It hurts! It hurts so much!" Toya screamed, tears streaming down his face. His body convulsed, and the blue fire lashed out in all directions, testing the barrier, looking for weak points.
The heat was so extreme that Jin-Ho could feel it through the barrier now, not the direct flame, but the radiant energy, cooking the air around him.
Twelve seconds.
Jin-Ho reached the boy, his hands trembling from oxygen deprivation.
The child's skin was charred and blistered, the flames erupting continuously from his pores. But his eyes were screaming for help, begging someone, anyone, to make it stop.
"Don't touch me! You will burn!" the boy cried out, even as he reached toward Jin-Ho. "I don't want to hurt you! I don't want to—"
His words dissolved into anguished sobs.
Jin-Ho's mind raced. How the hell do you stop something like this? Talking him down was pointless; the kid was too far gone.
"Guess we are skipping the talk-no-jutsu route."
Nine seconds.
Jin-Ho's vision was narrowing now, tunnel vision setting in. The edges of the world were turning black. His heart was pounding so hard he thought his ribs might crack.
But worse, he could see the desperation in the boy's eyes, the way Toya was staring at him like he was a drowning man clutching at a rope.
Six seconds.
Jin-Ho's hand moved in a blur.
His fingers became a lance of controlled force, striking at the precise point on the boy's neck, not harsh enough to break bones, but firm enough to disrupt the nerve cluster that controlled consciousness.
It was a move from [Jackie Chan Martial Arts] skills he has.
◤-----------------------◥
「Skills:」
[Jackie Chan Martial Arts] Lv. 4 (Proficiency 99 %)
◣-----------------------◢
A move that required perfect control, perfect timing, that rendered someone unconscious without causing lasting damage.
The boy's body went limp mid-scream, his tears cutting off abruptly as consciousness fled his mind.
For a moment, there was silence.
Then - the flames continued to burn.
"Not again!"
Jin-Ho's panicked mind screamed.
The blue fire kept erupting from the boy's skin, the intensity not decreasing at all.
The unconscious body continued to burn, the flames seemingly independent of the mind that had been controlling them.
"Come on, come on…" He growled, his oxygen nearly gone now.
Five seconds of the flames raging.
Ten.
Fifteen.
Then, slowly, the intensity of flames emitting from the boy decreased.
The blue fire that had been so all-consuming, so catastrophic, gradually weakened.
The momentum of the burning began to slow.
Thirty seconds.
The fire was barely visible now, just faint blue wisps dancing across the boy's skin.
The flames stopped completely.
For a moment, there was nothing but the sound of still-burning trees and grass. Jin-Ho released his focus, and the barrier collapsed.
Fresh air flooded into his lungs, beautiful, blessed, life-giving air.
He gasped, his body heaving as he sucked in oxygen greedily.
His vision cleared, the black spots receding.
His hands were shaking, his entire body drenched in sweat from the heat and the exertion.
"That… that was too close." he gasped, coughing violently. "Way too close. He kept screaming even after, how long was that? Too long. Way too long."
….
.
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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