Dante exhaled slowly, his breath visible in the air. "Okay then, let's test everything out."
No more words. All of the heroes shifted their stances.
Kamui woods lunged forward and his arms stretched out, aiming to bind Dante while Aizawa was cancelling his quirk.
Dante ducked, his body momentarily turning fully into sludge as he slipped through the branches.
"I've got your back."
Suddenly, several violent tendrils of sludge exploded out of Dante's back, swatting away any stray branches.
Edgeshot moved next, turning into a razor thin ribbon of flesh that cut through the air aimed at Dante's stomach.
Dante's arm hardened and he twisted, parrying the attack with his forearm. Little Dante's tendrils surged in response, reinforcing his back like armour. Edgeshot bounced back with a raised brow.
"How can you still use your quirk?" The pro murmured.
Dante didn't reply.
Hawks suddenly made his move. Feathers rained down on Dante at blistering speeds, aiming to pin him in place or at least sever a few tendons.
However, Dante's form suddenly melted and the feathers just fell straight through him.
When he reformed, Dante stood there with four feathers in each of his hand before throwing them back at hawks with an equal speed.
But the Pro Hero ducked and weaved through them all effortlessly, but it gave Dante some time.
Little Dante suddenly chuckled and sludge spiraled from Dante's sides and grappled to the rooftop ledge above Aizawa. He yanked, launching himself forward like a missile.
Aizawa's eyes snapped up. "Not happening."
He blinked, and Dante knew what he was trying.
He was attempting to give Pyroclast back in return for HARDCOIL.
However, Dante had anticipated this.
Suddenly switching off his sludge, both of his arms suddenly burst into flames.
It flickered, then vanished. Cancelled again. But he still had HARDCOIL.
As Dante approached, his fists suddenly hardened, replicating brass knuckles. He launched two tendrils at Aizawa's legs. Eraserhead dodged, one foot kicking off the wall to reposition—
But like hell was Dante not expecting it.
He twisted unnaturally, dropping low and slamming a hardened elbow straight into Aizawa's stomach. The man grunted and spat blood, skidding across the rooftop. It took him a few seconds to recover but when he did, his scarf lashed out and wrapped around Dante's arm. But his arm melted and slipped out of Aizawa's grip.
"Where the hell did you get that strength," Aizawa muttered under his breath. "That hit… was just like the one from that creature at the USJ attack."
"Damn right," Dante spat, landing on his feet. "That's the fruits of my labour."
Kamui was already climbing up the opposing wall again. Hawks was above and ready to attack while Edgeshot was nowhere to be seen.
Dante's body tensed.
"Okay," he murmured.
Sludge spun, eyes burned and the four pro heroes closed in at once.
Sludge suddenly burst out from Dante's shoulders, morphing into two additional arms.
"Alright, I'll show you the technique my master spent his entire life refining."
Kamui Woods's arms surged forward once more, wooden strikes aimed for Dante's ribs and neck. But one of Dante's arms blocked low while another slapped upward, deflecting the blow with ease. At the same time, one of Dante's regular arms rocketed toward Kamui's chest — a textbook Krav Maga move that Dante had learnt all those years ago.
Kamui was sent flying a few feet back, even though Dante was pulling his punches slightly.
Edgeshot appeared behind Dante, his hand having turned into something similar to a needle aimed to incapacitate Dante. However, little Dante willed a tendril to wrap around his wrist mid attack, redirecting him away from Dante's side while Dante himself slapped his elbow to offset the momentum.
"Redirect. Disarm. Counter."
Kaijin's rules, burned deep into his muscle memory.
Hawks immediately flew down, foot only inches away from hitting Dante's jaw. He dropped instantly, using one of his arms to springboard backward, then flung a backfist with his real hand that crushed the side of Hawks' face as he passed.
Aizawa was next, using his scarf to bind Dante. But he spun and his arm shot up to intercept. The scarf tightened around the sludge ling but Dante flexed and detached the limb.
The scarf pulled back a writhing chunk of sludge that didn't stop moving.
Dange turned, ready to dismiss the detached piece—but his gut feeling told him not to.
The sludge began emitting clouds of steam and folding in on itself, pulsing and reshaping.
It started with a full skeletal structure. Then came strings of slightly softer sludge that replicated veins and nerves, then came the large muscle like fibers pulling taught over the skeleton, shoulders formed, a torso followed. Clawed feet slammed into the rooftop.
A humanoid figure stood up from the steam, a dark red clone of Dante. The form wasn't perfect. Sludge dripped here and there, the features weren't very human, but it was unmistakable.
Dante's own eyes widened.
"…No way."
The clone grinned with the same crooked smile Dante had grown to hate. The same smile that Dante wore when he knew he had the upper hand.
Little Dante.
"We're going for the win! I won't accept anything other than victory!" Little Dante shouted, his voice sounding extremely rough and more like a growl than anything else. After all, these were the first words he'd spoken out loud in what felt like decades.
Before Dante could even question it, Little Dante launched forward, flying forward like a bullet as he tackled Aizawa clean off the rooftop.
"—What the hell—?!" Aizawa choked as he was tackled through the air, hair flipping wildly.
Dante immediately understood. Little Dante had actually figured out how to control detached sludge, and since he could control Dante's sludge at will, what's stopping him from controlling detached sludge?
This revelation completely changed the tide of battle, all because… Aizawa's eyes were no longer on him.
His body temperature suddenly skyrocketed.
His arms burst into flames, ember cracks spierwebbing along his skin. His sludge was a lot weaker without little Dante, but at least he had enough to fortify his core and legs.
"You're one hell of a guy, Dante." Dante chuckled inwardly as he got into his stance.
The roof suddenly exploded into a warzone.
Kamui Woods kept his distance, not wanting to get burned.
Hawks dove down, a sword made of feathers in his hand.
Edgeshot blurred forward, taking shape as a silver needle.
Dante wasn't afraid though.
He ducked under Kamui's long distance swipe, his foot suddenly exploding with fire to twist his momentum, using it to whip Kamui with his leg. The impact sent the man crashing to the edge of the rooftop.
Edgeshot struck.
But Dante flexed his core, sludge immediately reinforcing his stomach and he took the flow head on before twisting and sending a backfist wreathed in white hot flame directly into the blur.
Edgeshot pulled away before he could get hit, steam curling from his shoulder.
"The attack hadn't even connected and yet I was still burned. Just how hot ie this kids fire?" He sneered as he backed up.
Before Dante could even press him, hawks was behind him, ready to get his revenge.
But Dante was already spinning, fire streaking off his elbow as he launched a rising elbow strike that forced Hawks to bank off course.
…
Meanwhile, in the alley below…
Aizawa hit the side of a dumpster with a grunt, rolling into a combat stance.
Across from him, little Dante landed in a crouch — his sludge body rippling, eyes glowing with cruel amusement.
Aizawa's eyes narrowed. "What the hell is this?"
Little Dante tilted his head, tendrils of sludge slowly growing out of his back. "I'm everything he refused to be. And guess what?"
He giggled before he tilted his head mockingly.
"You can't erase the quirk of a vestige."