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Chapter 52 - Chapter 52 : Plunge into the Monsters' Battlefield

The sensation of falling from a great height is completely different when you do it on purpose. The wind roared in my ears, but amidst it all, there was a strange calm. I looked down at the hellscape unfolding below: Ryukyu in her magnificent dragon form was struggling against an equally massive, muscular monster; her professional sidekicks were being overwhelmed by two other Nomu; and outside, flashes of light and swift movements indicated that Uraraka and Tsuyu were also in a fight. This was a real battlefield, chaotic and merciless. Nejire, holding my arm, used waves of energy from her feet to control our descent, her usually curious eyes now as sharp as a laser, scanning the battlefield and planning our landing point.

"I'll take the leftmost Nomu, the one closest to the door!" Nejire shouted over the roar of the wind, her voice filled with adrenaline. "Can you handle the one in the middle? Help Rock-san!"

"Rock-san" was the hero name of the burly sidekick with the stone-skin Quirk who was currently being severely pushed back. "Got it!" I replied.

We landed hard on a stack of shipping containers, sending a wave of dust into the air. The landing itself was enough to draw attention. The low-level thugs nearby stared at us in shock, while the two smaller Nomu diverted their attention from the sidekicks and turned towards us, their empty eyes fixing on us as a new threat.

"Finally, some fun!" Nejire exclaimed with a wild smile before rocketing toward her target.

I wasted no time. I leaped from the container, immediately activating the partial manifestation I had practiced. With a pain that was now a familiar friend, Incursio's gauntlets and leg guards formed on my body. I landed in front of the panting Rock-san.

"Are you alright?" I asked.

"I... I'm fine," he replied, surprised to see me. "Kid... you shouldn't be here!"

"Orders changed," I said curtly, a necessary lie. "Focus on defense. Let me handle the offense."

The Nomu before us let out a low growl from its throat and charged. This creature wasn't as large as the one Ryukyu was fighting, but it was fast, and its arms were mutated into sharp, bone-like blades. I met its attack head-on. This was my first fight against a Nomu. I knew from the USJ experience that they felt no pain and had regeneration. Attacking its body would be useless. I had to incapacitate it.

It swung its blade-arms with incredible speed. I parried with my Incursio gauntlet. The impact was much stronger than I expected, sending a painful vibration up to my shoulder. This creature, though low-tier, still possessed physical strength far beyond a normal human's. It had no technique, only brutal force. It kept attacking, swinging its bone blades blindly. I was forced to constantly dodge and parry, looking for an opening. This wasn't like fighting a person. There were no feints, no emotions, just a relentless assault.

On the other side of the warehouse, Nejire's fight was a spectacle of pure power. She floated in the air, dancing out of her Nomu's reach while bombarding it with energy attacks. "Try this! Nejire Pike!" she called out, firing concentrated spears of energy that pierced the Nomu's shoulder and leg. The wounds gaped open, but within seconds, its strange flesh began to knit itself back together.

"Whoa, it can heal! So cool!" Nejire muttered to herself. "But that must take a lot of energy, right? In that case, I'll just have to keep attacking until you run out of fuel!"

She began to unleash larger waves of energy, a Nejire Wave, that pushed the Nomu back, slamming it into the warehouse wall. The wall cracked from the impact, but the Nomu got back up as if nothing had happened and charged again. Nejire realized this would be a battle of attrition. Her Quirk was powerful, but it was also a massive drain on her stamina. She had to end this efficiently.

Outside the warehouse, in the labyrinth of shipping containers, the situation was no less tense. Uraraka and Tsuyu stood back-to-back, surrounded by a dozen remaining thugs. "We can't let them get inside to help the Nomu," Uraraka said, her breath coming in short gasps. She touched several large pieces of metal debris nearby, making them float, creating a makeshift shield in the air.

"Agreed, kero," Tsuyu replied, her tongue shooting out and snatching a pipe from a thug's hand before he could attack. "They're not very strong, but there are a lot of them."

One of the villains with a Quirk that allowed him to shoot small blades of wind began to pepper them with attacks. Uraraka reacted quickly, releasing one of the floating metal pieces to block the assault. "Tsuyu-chan, that one's dangerous!"

"I know," Tsuyu replied. She leaped high onto a container, then used her tongue to swing away, disappearing from view. The thugs looked confused. A few seconds later, Tsuyu dropped from above, right behind the wind-blade user, and incapacitated him with a swift kick to the nape of his neck. Their teamwork, honed at U.A., was flawless. However, they knew they could only hold out. They heard the monstrous roars from inside the warehouse. They knew their friends were facing a much greater threat, and they felt helpless for not being able to assist. "Tatsumi-kun... he jumped in," Uraraka whispered to herself, deep worry etched on her face.

High above all the chaos, Akame watched from her perch atop a crane tower. Her red eyes stared unblinkingly, analyzing every movement below. She saw Ryukyu fighting valiantly, but also being overwhelmed. She saw Nejire, whose power was immense but wasteful. And she saw Tatsumi.

She watched intently as Tatsumi fought. She saw how the boy no longer moved with blind force like at the auction house. His movements were now more controlled, more precise. He used his partial manifestation not just for power, but for speed and defense. He wasn't trying to kill the Nomu; he was aiming for its joints, trying to disable it. He was working with the other hero, providing cover and looking for openings. He was fighting like a soldier, not like a rampaging monster. She saw how Tatsumi took a blow to his unprotected shoulder, winced in pain, but immediately got back up, the determination in his eyes unwavering.

'He's learning,' Akame thought to herself. 'He's learning fast.' She saw an echo of the old Tatsumi in that persistence, but also saw something new—a tactical calmness that the original Tatsumi lacked. It was a strange and powerful fusion. She had given him the tip about these smugglers to test the heroes. She hadn't expected to find a nest of Nomu here. The situation had escalated beyond her control. She should leave. Her mission to observe was complete. But she couldn't tear her eyes away from the fight below. Something was keeping her there. A remnant of loyalty to the name 'Tatsumi', and a burning curiosity about who this young man truly was.

Back in my fight, I was starting to find my rhythm. Rock-san and I were working together. He would use his stone-skin Quirk to tank the Nomu's direct hits, while I would use my Incursio-powered speed and strength to attack from the flanks, aiming for its knees and elbows. The Nomu roared in frustration, unable to land a clean hit on either of us.

But the Nomu wasn't a mindless creature. It learned. It stopped focusing on Rock-san and suddenly turned, swinging both its blade-arms at me in a wide, sweeping motion. I had no time to dodge completely. I crossed both my armored arms in front of my chest.

The impact was immense. I was thrown backward, sliding across the concrete floor. The armor on my arms managed to absorb most of the damage, but I felt several hairline cracks form. My passive regeneration began to work, but this was a bad sign. I couldn't keep taking hits like this.

The Nomu charged forward for a final attack. Rock-san was too far away to help. Nejire was busy with her own opponent. This was my fight alone. As the bone blade slashed toward my unprotected neck, I knew I had to do something different.

'More!' I thought. 'I need more than just arms and legs!'

With a roar of pain and determination, I forced Incursio to evolve. The chest plate and shoulder guards formed rapidly, and most importantly, the menacing draconic helmet enveloped my head. I raised my now-armored head just in time. The bone blade slammed against the side of my helmet with a deafening CLANG, sending a vibration down my entire spine, but it didn't penetrate.

I had manifested my head defense for the first time since the festival. And this time, it felt more stable. I gripped the Nomu's arm with both my armored hands, holding it in place. Our strength was evenly matched for a moment.

Atop the crane tower, Akame saw this. She saw Nejire, who had finally managed to blow the head off her Nomu with a concentrated blast, was now beginning to tire. She saw the third Nomu about to attack a vulnerable Nejire from behind. The heroes were on the verge of defeat. Her pride as an assassin told her to leave. But the echo of her past, of Night Raid, of a team that never abandoned a comrade, screamed within her.

She drew her sword. Murasame gleamed coldly in the moonlight. She identified her target: the Nomu about to attack Nejire. Its position was open for a split second. It was an impossible shot for any sniper. But she wasn't a sniper.

"Target identified," she whispered to herself, her red eyes blazing with deadly focus as she leaped from the crane tower, becoming a blade in the night.

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