Chapter 20
Title: Battle Of Calamities
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Anyways! Let's begin
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Third Person POV. -- 15th Of October -- 2415 --
[ Hinode City ]
If one were to ask Benibana Retsu, what is her greatest strength? She wouldn't answer it being her Quirk, nor would she say it's her swordsmanship.
No, those things are only tools she uses in order to chase her passion, her love for battle.
Benihana Retsu's greatest strength is her mental capability and what creative ways her mind can find in order to make her tools work better.
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Gigantomachia, a giant with no equal in terms of strength –bar maybe the number 1 hero of Japan.
He is a man who's able to hold 7 quirks inside his body with no modifications done to it prior.
Gigantomachia was All For One's watch dog, the greatest bodyguard that the demon lord could wish for, as well as a calamity who can topple entire citiesby only walking through them.
Now Gigantomachia may not be the smartest, –scratch that, because of his quirk his mental capabilities has deteriorated a lot, but even he will eventually start thinking,
'Did that brat trick me? There is no agencies situated in these northern regions. '
Currently, Machia is walking in the forested areas just a little outside of the city, having walked all this way after listening to Benihana Retsu's given coordinates, but have yet to find any agencies that may be situated around here.
The low IQ villain is slowly starting to piece together the odds, slowly coming to the conclusion that he was tricked after all. He is slowly starting to get angry,
'That brat tricked me! '
Before Machia turns around to go and raze that city down along with that brat, he stops in his tracks by a very familiar voice,
"Machia~"
'W-wha... ' Gigantomachia turns around, looking ahead and towards where he hears his voice,
"Machia~"
Again he hears that familiar voice, "m-master?..." He quietly rumbles out.
"Machia~ come this way my good friend~" The voice says, making Machia slowly start stepping forward, forgetting to smell for the direction the voice is coming from,
"M-master! I-I'm coming! Wait for me master! "
The moving mountain, the 10 meters (32'8 ft) of a giant, begins to tear up and start running towards the voice he's hearing.
He begins running, trembling and trampling the earth where he's feet touches, uprooting trees and vegetation as his hulking form sprints past, leaving behind devastation in his wake. Birds and other creatures steer clear of the path the moving calamity is sprinting through.
The walking calamity has started chasing his master's voice.
Gigantomachia runs and runs, leaving behind Hinode City, and making distance by miles every few minutes. But no matter what he does, he can't seem to be able to catch up to his master.
He should be getting closer, the constant voice he's hearing from in front of him is telling him that he should be closer, but no matter what Machia does, he can't seem to reach his master at all.
Miles away from Hinode City, and finally machia hears a new command,
"Stop, Machia. We have reached our destination. "
"Oh! So you were leading me somewhere? How kind of you my lord, to lead me to my destination! I swear to you that i will capture that pro hero like you ordered!
Now, where is his agency-"
Before machia can voice out the rest of his thoughts, a crimson slash the size of half his current height homes in on his form, crashing on his rock hard body before dissipating into red particles, not being able to pierce through the mountain's defense.
Machia suddenly hears a different voice,
"So, 5% isn't enough, duly noted. "
A figure jumps from a tree branch in front of the hulking villain, coming down on its highest branch in order to see The Gigantic Calamity eye to eye.
"You! " Despite being somone with a lower IQ due to his 7 quirks, Machia is still smart enough to deduce what's happening.
Now that he thinks about it, yes, there should be no way for master to be here! That means...
"You tricked me! " He yells out, managing to make a small hurricane with his roaring breath.
"Yes, i did. It's a neat trick of mine I've developed. Want to know how i do it? " Benihana Retsu asks, a smirk donning her face as she gazes at the giant villain.
Gigantomachia suddenly turns around, completely ignoring the person who led him all the way here. 'She isn't a priority to my master's orders. '
Gigantomachia values the command he's given more than feeling angry about some bug who let him astray.
The giant turns around to sprint back towards the city, –and immediately freezes in place because of the aura thatenvelopes him,
An aura of killing intent so vile, so big and dense that it reminds him of the aura of his master!
"Where do you think you're going. " He hears it. Despite their distance he hears the whisper from behind him.
If before, the animals have fled the area where the mountain was running through, now they've made themselfs vanish from this entire region of the forest, fleeing from the apex predator that has unleashed her full presence.
Machia slowly turns around, he turns and his dark brown eyes now land squarely on the figure who led him here.
In that moment, he doesn't see an insignificant bug. No, Machia sees an honest to god threat to both his own life, and the life of his master!
And what do loyal dogs do when their master is threatened?
ROOOAAAAAAAAAR!!!
They lash out.
Machia let's out a mighty roar towards the figure, generating a gigantic wind current that uproots everything in front of him, –Seemingly enveloping the thread in its wake as well.
Machia's normal physical strength let's him exert such strong currents, –enough to uproot trees, rocks and anything else.
But despite that, it was apparent from the moment he started chasing this figure,
It was apparent that she was faster than him.
Shunpo! Shing! Kiiirk!
Machia feels a blow from behind him, his rocky skin having blocked the strike sure, but...
"As hard as rock itself, maybe a few times stronger. But not as hard as steel. "
Retsu voices out, there being a visible excitement to her tone, –as if excited about the ensuing conflict,
Shunpo!
Retsu appears on another tree branch from where she was falling, keeping her form steady without using her hands as support, and having her blade in her dominant hand while gazing at the giant villain.
"Gigantomachia. Tell me, do you think a swordsman can cut through rocks simply through sheer technique? " She asks, but doesn't get a response from the villain, leading to her smirking.
"It's not something i wish to do, but I'm already here now so let's do this. "
Faux Augmentation, 20%!!!
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A faux augmentation means that Retsu has broken her current physical limit, –forcefully making her vessel exert more strength than it usually can, kinda like a hysterical strength, but a strength that she has full control over.
First, her eyes begin to bleed out, her irises turning an unusual red, –a sign that she's exerting more strength than her body allows,
then she forces her body to generate more adrenaline by giving her brain, –her command center, signals about the excitement she's feeling right now, triggering her neural signals and making her body enter a fight-or-flight state by making it experience her current feelings of joy.
Humans generate adrenaline when they feel extreme emotions, it's a defense mechanism build within our DNA,
And it seems Benihana Retsu has found a way to partially take control of this system.
Lastly, Retsu augments her body past the limit her current age allows, tapping into more power and shattering her quirk's current limit, –temporarily making her quirk factor transcend the limit it's been put under.
For Benihana Retsu, these false augmentations are simple to do, but at the same time it's like a double edged sword, –a temporary boost that will leave her quite exhausted and injured afterwards.
'But 10 minutes should be more than enough for this battle.' that's right, she can hold this form for upto 10 minutes straight, her mental strength flexible enough to both pay attention to the fight and her faux augmentation.
Why is she going this far you may ask? Well, that's just how much she Loves fighting, is all.
The branch that Retsu is standing on, is simply blown to smithereens as she vanishes from the spot, leaving behind a hurricane of winds before a great tremor hits the earth below, as if a meteorite striking the earth.
The center of this tremor is right in front of the giant villain, making Machia look down and see her just standing there.
Retsu holds her blade by bringing it right on top of her head, holding the handle with one hand, and letting blood drip down.
Sizzle!
There are sizzling noises as the boiling blood hits the ground, making the ground wither and melt away,
"Whenever you are ready. " Her voice may sound a little strained right now, but it no less hides her current emotion.
Machia, feeling the intense strength that his opponent is exerting simply by standing there, doesn't wait another second before he brings down his right hand, planning on crushing Retsu on the spot.
CRASH! BOOOOM!!!
The ground splinters, rocks and debris falling around, as if the surface of a water pont was disturbed, and it makes a cloud of dust and debris.
No sign of Retsu at first, before...
Shunpo! Slash! Kiiiiir-shlik!
Retsu appears besides the slightly kneeling, –now taller than before villain, and sends out another blood slash, this time stronger and...
"AGHHHHHH! " Melting the rocky skin of her opponent slightly.
Gigantomachia doesn't have a Regeneration quirk, his master not deeming it necessary because of his strong defense, –but maybe he should have...
The gigantic man falls backwards, falling on his rocky ass and making the earth tremble violently.
Retsu falls to the ground, before she exhales a little, her skin having slowly started glistening a red color, tanning a little as if under the sun. –signs of her faux augmentation slowly wearing out.
Despite the exerting form, Retsu is enjoying herself, "what's wrong? Feeling scared from only a minor scratch?
Oh please forgive me, i should control my manners.
After all, it's your first time ever that you've seen your own blood, right? Machia~" Retsu changes her voice in the last part, Imitating All For One's voice in subtle mockery.
It's a psychic attack. Retsu isn't only attackng her opponent physically, she's slowly destroying him mentally too, piece by slowly crumbling piece...
And it's making her drown in joy while doing so~
Machia finally find his courage to stand up, making the cut that's appeared on his right cheek that's running over his nose, and all the way to the other side of his face visible.
A visible crack in the middle of his rocky skin.
'No, how is she able to make me feel hurt? How?!? ' Machia asks, completely confused as to why his quirk is not working,
"By now you should be starting to ask, how I'm able to make you feel pain despite your Pain Tolerance Quirk..."
Shunpo!
Retsu appears before Machia, putting her right feet on his nose and her left on his upper lip, her sword is held behind her shoulder by one hand, her other limb being free at her side.
"...Well it's quite simple, actually.
You've consumed my transformed blood since the moment you started chasing me. "
That first slash she sent his way, it wasn't only to gauge his defense and compare it to her current strength,
The blood she let dissolve into the atmosphere in front of him, she made those blood cells transform and enter his body, invading his loose quirk factor (1) and influencing his Borrowed Pain Tolerance Quirk that enhances and gives him basic pain negation.
Retsu literally made Machia's pain tolerance weaken from the inside by using her quirk on him internally, she influenced his quirk factor directly, –though on a minor scale, plus it's a loose quirk so it's easier to influence.
This weakness though, will only last for 10 minutes, –the time limit she has for the amount of time she can control her transformed blood.
Machia brings a hand up to swat her away, but Retsu vanishes again, appearing on the ground and in front of the now fully grown villain.
Machia now stands at a whopping 25 meters (82 ft) , nearly comparable to 8 story buildings now, and truely embodying his moniker as the moving mountain.
Retsu's smirk widens, her eyes half closed with her blade slowly being lifted up, it's tip facing down ward, as if indicating that's where this Mountain will belong, –facing the earth.
Machia without any indicator, brings up both his hands over his head, ready to bring them both down in a devestating hammer strike!
FWOOOOOOOOSH- BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!!
As his hands descend towards the mother earth, it destroys thesound barrier before hitting the ground, –100 times stronger than his previous ground strike!
The shockwave it leaves spans out for hundreds of meters! Generating such a devestating destruction that it completely spans his surroundings in at least a mile radius! Flattening the ground and making a minor nuke level debris appear which blows away with the after–shockwave of the strike.
After a moment, a mile away is where Retsu shunpo's from again to appear before the behemoth, casually dusting off her shoulder,
"A very formidable physical strength, but that is all there is to it.
In terms of speed, I out-speed you by quite a lot,
Your defense may be tough, but it's useless in front of my strikes.
Gigantomachia, you are slowly starting to boreme. " Retsu's eyes narrow, her gaze piercing the giant and seeing his whitened eyes, her smirk slowly going away,
"Is this the extend of your strength? " She questions, making the giant mountain sweat a little In fear,
"I commend you on putting out everything you can offer, I always appreciate it when my opponents do whatever it takes to win,
But your one trick pony of only smashing your opponents with no regards to technique is slowly boring me.
I shall now begin to dismantle this sorry excuse of a fight. "
Retsu plants her feet firmly on the ground, crouching a little before she vanishes from her spot,
Shunpo!
She appears behind the villain, her step so silent that there is no displaced wind in her wake despite the level of speed she just displayed. Another cut appearing on Gigantomachia's right shoulder after she appears behind him.
Shunpo!
Another cut to the back of his other shoulder,
Shunpo!
Another cut at the base of his calves,
Shunpo! Shunpo! Shunpo! Shunpo! Shunpo! Shunpo! Shunpo! Shunpo! Shunpo! Shunpo!
Cuts, –while minor wounds in nature, they accumulate over the behemoths form with every second that passes, slowly overpowering the mountain while also additionally...
SZZZZZZZZ!!
... Leaving behind boiling blood, corroding and slowly dissolving the villain's skin away!
"AGHHHHHHHHHHH!!! "
Gigantomachia let's out another roar, –this one lacking strength and more being a cry of pain.
He is like a little child that experiences something painful for the first time, something he hasn't experienced a lot before, –never to this extend at least.
The giant is helpless in front of this onslaught. He can't reach nor grab his opponent, left behind to only suffer the pain, wait for her to stop, and try to protect his vitals as much as he can.
"Eh! hehehe~ hahahaha~ HAHAHAHAHA! ~"
The laughter of The Reaper herself, enjoying the torment and pain she's bringing by destroying and dismantling her opponent!
Moments later...
CRASH!
And the mountain is brought down on his knees, holding his form up by his hands, there being millions of cuts all over his body now.
Retsu appears in front of the face of the villain, seeing his right eye also bleeding and destroyed by one of her stray slashes,
"Done already? I thought you had an advantage in endurance because of your quirk.
It seems my tenacity has bested your endurance. "
Despite what she says, internally she is breaking apart slowly too.
Meanwhile, her opponent may have millions of cuts on his form, those cuts may have expanded and melted his skin to some extend, but his inner strength is still far from being over.
'2 more minutes, huh. ' Retsu idly thinks, a trickle of blood exiting from the side of her mouth.
'His physical strength has deteriorated that he should consider retreating by now. And my bloodlust has surely scared him enough to consider going against his master's wishes.
Despite what All For One may think, mortal life is more precious to a person than he may have thought. '
Retsu is proven right when in the next second, Gigantomachia slowly stands up...
–and starts running away, sprinting the opposite of where Hinode is, running away from the city.
Choosing to run away from his master's orders,
Run away from the Scary Reaper that keeps her gaze on his retreating figure.
One minute left,
after 9 minutes of continued overexertion, Retsu let's go of her Faux Augmentation...
–and simultaneously falls on the ground, her pupils slowly dilating up, and her falling unconsious with the blood that starts leaking from her nose, mouth, eyes and ears. Her blood sword having long been dissolved away.
The battle of the two calamities comes to an end, with Benihana Retsu as the winner.
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"It seems the time is closer than i thought,
Prepare yourself, █████ "
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Author's note/ the battle of Gigantomachia and Retsu comes to an end with Retsu as the winner, making the giant man flee the scene with his tail tucked between his legs.
Honestly in my opinion, Gigantomachia's endurance is ridiculous, so much so that millions of boiling cuts only makes him fall on his hand and knees, –only for a few seconds though, before he stands up again and can even sprint away.
The only reason he ran away was because he thought he'd die right then and there. If he endured for 2 more minutes, then Retsu would be out of commission and he could have been victorious.
Though their later encounter won't be the same.
I like to believe that Even Machia has a fear of death. You may think he doesn't but you'll never know unless you've lived through it.
Humans, no matter what, will always fear death.
It's an instinct that's been programmed into a person's being, and it cannot be changed unless that person isn't themselves anymore, like the Nomu or mind controlled beings.
(1) Loose Quirk Factor, it's a term Retsu has come up with to describe a given quirk.
Think of All For One as a stitch, and the quirks it gives another being as it stitching that quirk on their DNA factor.
A given quirk can never be compatible with a new host, that's why it still has the will to rebelafter all.
Izuku's One For All is different. The factors inside the vestige world of OFA gives their concent to the one who inherits them, making it so that the quirk factor will slowly become that new host's.
In a way, you could say that One For All has a more in depth influence than All For One.
anyways, Retsu refers to given quirks as loose quirk factors, because in her current blood manipulation level, she's able to subtlyinfluence those loose quirk factors, slightly strengthen and weaken them and such, –but not straight up destroy a loose quirk factor.
Anyways! That's it for this chapter! See ya in the next one! Peace!