"This is the last time you'll ever see time stop in your life, Za Warudo!!!!"
Arthur roared, and the whole world went still.
"Wryyyyyyyyy!!!"
The World merged into Arthur's body, and he launched himself upward.
He shot up nearly two hundred meters into the air, right in front of Wolfram. Wolfram was falling, but time had stopped, so he just hung there.
"One second passed!"
The moment he got in front of Wolfram, Arthur started counting.
"Muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda!!!!"
"Two seconds passed!"
"Muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda!!!!"
"Three seconds passed!"
"Muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda!!!!"
"Four seconds passed!"
"Muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda muda!!!!"
"Five seconds passed! WRYYYYYYYYY!!!!"
Every second, mixed in with his "Muda" battle cries, Arthur called out the countdown.
Then Arthur shouted "Five seconds passed."
The world's colors went back to normal.
Down below, All Might and the others had seen Arthur standing on top of the tower. But now he was already two hundred meters up in the air with The World.
And a dark shadow came crashing down like a meteor.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
It smashed through floor after floor of the central tower until the sounds finally stopped.
Nobody saw exactly what that shadow was, but everyone had a guess.
"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! WRYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!"
Arthur's insane battle cry echoed all across I-Island.
Shoto Todoroki, Katsuki Bakugo, Izuku Midoriya... everyone just stared blankly at Arthur in mid-air. He looked completely different from his usual self.
Or maybe... this was who he really was now?
"Um, is that guy still alive?"
Eijiro Kirishima looked back at the huge hole blown through the building's rear.
"No human could survive an impact like that," Shoto Todoroki said flatly.
"Wait, so that's murder? Is that even allowed? Pro Heroes can't do that, and he's just a student." Mina Ashido sounded worried.
"He probably doesn't care. And All Might will help cover for him. It's... probably fine." Kyoka Jiro shrugged.
"Still the same crazy power." Toru Hagakure looked up.
"No," Tokoyami shook his head. "He's stronger than before. I can feel it. He evolved during that fight."
Izuku Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugo, and the others clenched their fists when they heard that.
Izuku's hands were already bleeding.
Then All Might and Arthur landed from the sky, one after another.
Pet Shop flapped over and used ice to help stop its master's bleeding.
"Arthur!"
"An, are you okay?"
Momo Yaoyorozu and Melissa rushed over at the same time, worry all over their faces.
The Class A guys who had been hyping up his strength instantly switched to jealousy.
"Damn it..." cough, cough.
All Might coughed twice and got serious. "That was a huge mess. Everyone go back and rest. I and the Pro Heroes will handle cleanup."
Then All Might thought to himself, 'I need to figure out what happened to Izuku's One For All... how it disappeared from his body.'
At All Might's signal, Class A started leaving the central tower.
David Shield was a victim, but he still caused all this. He'd probably face serious consequences. Maybe prison. But considering how famous he was and with All Might vouching for him, they'd probably handle it quietly.
That evening, while getting his injuries treated, Arthur told Melissa and Momo about the commission he'd taken from the Hero Association.
After Melissa begged him, he agreed to help and put in a good word with the Hero Association.
He didn't mind having a "talk" with those guys using his fists anyway but the two girls seemed to avoid bringing up anything personal between them.
Maybe because of everything that happened that night, they weren't in the mood. Or maybe they saw Arthur had just been through a huge fight and didn't want to add more.
The next morning.
In a private room at a fancy hotel.
Arthur turned on the TV, and last night's incident on I-Island was all over the news.
"According to investigations by the I-Island Hero Association and All Might, the leader of the enemy criminal group, Wolfram, an internationally notorious mercenary organization leader, has been successfully arrested and imprisoned with the help of U.A. student Arthur and All Might..."
Arrested and imprisoned?
Arthur raised an eyebrow at the female anchor on TV.
"Seriously?"
He'd beaten that guy to a pulp. No way he got "arrested and imprisoned."
Probably the authorities were covering it up. Under the stupid Quirk management laws, whether you're a Hero or a Hero candidate, if you kill someone, it gets really messy.
"Boring."
Arthur scoffed. The only reason he hadn't turned off the TV was to see what kind of punishment David Shield would get.
Dong Dong
Someone knocked on the door.
The World materialized from inside Arthur, opened the door, then vanished back into his body.
It wasn't Melissa or Momo like Arthur expected. It was All Might and a few middle-aged guys in suits who smelled like office workers.
Arthur vaguely recognized them. They were higher-ups from the I-Island Hero Association.
...
Re@d adv@nce ch@pters on p@t
guilt_free_daoist
Jo!n d!sc0rd I!nk in synops!s.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.