The Nomu exerted more force and managed to push through the torrent of water. The floor cracked and its wings dug into the walls, propelling it forward.
It extended its clawed hands to catch the kunoichi and disembowel her, as its master had ordered.
Mei stopped releasing water from her seal, her cheeks were puffed, and heat emanated from her body. When the monster got close enough, she opened her mouth and released a thick, burning mist right into its face.
Like the roar of a dragon, the cloud of steam filled the corridor, even reaching out through the hole in the wall where they had entered the building.
The heat was so intense that even the heroes fighting below felt the temperature rise and stared stupefied at the white, scorching cloud emerging from the building.
—An explosion!?
-No, that's steam! - Burnin exclaimed, a little less worried now. Her intern was still alive and able to fight.
A shriek of rage and perhaps pain was heard throughout the building; the Nomu's lidless eyes melted in their sockets, preventing it from seeing the kunoichi. Its brain also began to be affected.
Mei made sure to thicken the steam around the Nomu, extending her chakra into the cloud around her and redirecting it in waves at the monster. But that didn't stop the creature.
The Mizukage was forced to retreat and stop her steam emission when a claw with shedding skin tried to stab her. Without sight and with its ears stunned by the hiss of the steam, the Nomu relied on vibrations in the ground to detect Mei.
Furthermore, the narrowness of the corridor and its unidirectionality did not complicate things too much for the creature.
Mei kept retreating with the Nomu close on her heels, its massive body slamming into the walls and destroying everything in its path.
At the end of the corridor, a single window shone with the light from outside. Mei pulsed chakra and quickly moved until she was in front of it, turning back towards the clumsy but dangerous Nomu.
With a deep breath, she analyzed the monster's steps. When it got close enough, she moved.
She ran in the Nomu's direction, as if trying to charge it, but upon almost making contact with it, she dropped to the floor and slid between its legs, calculating the right moment to avoid being trampled.
She quickly spun around and extended her palm, another torrent of water expelled with great force. The Nomu crashed into the wall, breaking the window, and a moment later, it received the impact of the wave.
That ended up bringing down the wall, effectively taking the Nomu out of the building.
Faced with the sensation of weightlessness, the Nomu flapped its wings. Without the super regeneration, its eyes couldn't be instantly recovered.
That's why it didn't notice the figure of the Kunoichi who jumped after it.
With a hard blow, Mei slammed her feet onto the monster's back, destabilizing its flight. She firmly grasped the Nomu's wings and pulled with all her might.
Both were enveloped by gravity and pulled down toward the street, but Mei didn't stop her efforts. With her strength, she managed to position the Nomu beneath her, forcing it to receive the full impact.
The asphalt cracked and the Nomu's face was buried in the street. Mei took a small jump and stomped the back of its head, driving it even deeper.
With the firmness of the ground beneath her, the kunoichi exerted more pressure on the Nomu's wings, now gripping their base and pulling with a grunt.
Cracks echoed in the area as the bones at the base of the wings gave way, dislocating them and stripping the Nomu of its ability to fly.
The creature shook and managed to destabilize Mei, forcing her to jump from her position as the monster spun around like a damned alligator.
—Don't just stand there, Go away!!— Mei barked at the civilians who were admiring the spectacle as if it were a street performance.
The Nomu charged the girl again, half-blind and with its wings useless, it could only rely on its brute strength.
But on open ground, Mei didn't lose any advantage.
She also ran toward the Nomu, having already gotten an idea of its physical strength. It was superior to hers, but not overwhelming like the one at the USJ. She could handle it with technique.
She fired a compressed water bullet at the Nomu's coarse fist, diverting the punch and delivering a kick to its knee. Without shock absorption, the monster received Mei's full force, which made it kneel down.
The Nomu tried to lock her in a bear hug, but Mei held the creature's forearms, stopping it with great effort.
With her body trembling, Mei was losing the test of strength and the Nomu slowly started to surround her. But the kunoichi smiled.
She rotated her wrists, so her palms pointed toward the sky. She opened her storage seals in a fine line.
One advantage of these seals was that they could adjust the output. That's how she managed to softly take out water sometimes, and launch strong torrents in others.
By being able to do this, she could also imitate Sasori's use of water scrolls, but without the need for a complicated piping system in her body.
Her mouth swelled up again and she unleashed a cloud of steam into the Nomu's face, while a thin stream of pressurized water shot out from her seals.
While the Nomu's brain and half-formed eyes were melted once again, its forearms were sliced in half all the way down to its palms.
The water flowed in a thin crimson line upwards, reaching several meters before losing momentum and falling to the street as crimson rain.
Mei didn't waste any time and took advantage of the Nomu's uselessness. She clung to its right hand and dug her fingers into the opening that separated both flesh and bone. She exerted force to separate the parts even further.
The people who still hadn't escaped watched in horror as the beautiful kunoichi stood in the middle of a bloody rain, separating a part of the Nomu's spleen with a wet snap.
Cameras and phones took photos and videos of the scene.
Mei didn't kill the Nomu. For starters, it was already dead, but she didn't disembowel it or anything. She simply used her 'water laser' to cut the creature's tendons and bone, effectively leaving it paralyzed on the spot.
The only thing that bothered Mei was that her laser also left grooves in the asphalt, which would surely count as public property damage and reduce her reward, if she even got one.
Her idle thoughts were interrupted when her Ninja senses alerted her to a mortal danger.
She pulsed chakra to her legs and jumped aside as fast as she could, barely avoiding the emaciated palm that nearly grasped her face from behind.
Tomura Shigaraki clicked his tongue and was about to fully cross the portal and try to deal with the girl himself, but a cloud of steam the size of a bus was launched into his face.
Kurogiri acted first, pulling Tomura back and closing the portal before he could be burned. That didn't stop the eyes of All For One's disciple from drying out from the intense heat.
—AARGH! Damn it! —he growled as he furiously rubbed his eyelids.
For her part, Mei sighed, promising herself not to hide her true capabilities if she ran into those guys again.