Chapter 28 – Hu Tao
What a mess...
Kurumi thought as she found herself in a dark area.
Once again spreading her senses, she identified it to be a bar, albeit an empty one.
After another couple minutes wait, some familiar people appeared, but the hand-person was very angry at how he lost his abomination.
"Shigaraki, at least we still have Kurumi... so we still succeeded in some ways." It was obvious that the mist person was more logical thinking, and this eventually calmed him down.
Shigaraki? THAT Shigaraki? So it seems like it was the right choice after all.
(I found Shigaraki. Turns out he was the main leader behind this.)
(Hmmm. That's good.)
(Should I kill him now?)
(No, try and get as much information as possible. Perhaps he may be related to the person called All for One)
(Okay)
She was going to pretend to wake up then, but a voice sounded so she decided against it and to watch and observe.
"Master, I have acquired Kurumi, the one that you want."
"Really? Very well done Shigaraki, you exceeded my expectations. Another one of the reasons why I chose you." The voice laughed and gave words of approval. "Now, put the body on the table and I'll take her away."
He did just that, and Kurumi then felt a disgusting silver gel flow appear in her mouth, before flowing out and covering her. Then, she felt space crack around her.
I've been teleported again. Do they love teleportation so much? Twice in 20 minutes!
Spreading her senses again, she found herself in a very different place. Instead of chairs, there were capsules and instead of a counter, there was a main-control system.
"Doctor, I'll leave the rest to you."
"Of course. I won't let you down."
To her dissatisfaction, her body was placed inside a capsule, and the lid was shut, sealing her off.
A strange feeling spread throughout her body, and felt that her strength was very slowly seeping away.
(...And that is what's happening.)
(Can you escape?)
(Of course)
(Is this body still a clone, or the main one?)
(Well of course it's a clone. My main one is still safely hidden away, and if it was my main one, this machine wouldn't even tickle me.)
(Hmm, then are you fine with sacrificing this body then?)
(Sure, I'll just have to buy another one from the shop)
Before Kurumi met the chat, she relied on her past selves to take over her if her current body dies.
She can make copies of herself in different spots of time, but it was very inconvenient, since if she dies, then that 'her' would truly die. The others would replace her but if they die then once again the cycle repeats.
She thought this was necessary for her mission, but ever since she met the chat, everything changed.
There was an option to make a clone of yourself. A completely lifeless clone that supports 35% of your power.
This was the best life-saver for Kurumi, literally, as she bought one and transferred inside.
This way, there won't be needless sacrifices of her past selves. If this body dies, she will return to her true body somewhere else. It also has every function of a normal body, and apart from the decrease in strength, she did not feel any other differences between this and her main body.
Although it was somewhat expensive, Kurumi had around 16500 points, and each body costs around 1500
(Okay, then just wait it out. If something happens then tell me.)
(Wait! Are you telling me to just stay in this boring place for the next year? I wanna do fun things too you know?)
(...To be honest, I wouldn't want to be in that position either. How about this, I will give you 750 points, and you buy a body right now, and transfer your consciousness over to that. Periodically check on the one inside the capsule, and if something happens, transfer your consciousness back over.)
(Good idea)
And they did just that.
...
"A new mission?" A curious Hu Tao asked.
"Yes, as you know, a student has gone missing from UA. We suspect it was from a criminal organisation, so we have done our best to pin out lots of them on this map. As you are a hero and a strong one at that, please check these locations to see if the student is there."
An officer then handed over a piece of paper with a very detailed view of Japan.
"So the red crossed are...?"
"Yes, they are the locations. This looks like paper but is actually a very advanced device. If you tap the cross, more information will appear and you can zoom in and out."
"Oooh. Cool! Leave this to me!"
"Thank you."
With that, she left and reported this to everyone else.
(I'm definitely not at any of those places so there's no need to worry about jeopardising the plan. Feel free to go to those places.)
(Okaaayyyyyy)
...
Because of this sudden development, Medea stopped looking for clues and came back. Kurumi was also in the house sipping on coffee, whilst Hu Tao is out hunting.
The days passed quite peacefully for a while, before some weeks later, due to the sheer number of people Hu Tao captured and defeated, she was given the number 3 hero spot.
"YAY! Number 3!" Up to a camera, she smiled excitedly and put three fingers up. Behind her was an entire underground complex completely uprooted and destroyed, with multiple people on the floor.
She was noticed of the rank after and was very excited. After an interview, which she gave her backstory, she went back to hunting more places.
She didn't know that she garnered a fan club of her own, but that was irrelevant.
...
"So it's you who've been messing with the underground world."
Hu Tao looked at the young man in front of her who began to take of his gloves. He also had a weird bird-beak over his mouth, and his voice sounded like it was in a constant state of disgust.
"Give up now villain! I am the number 3 hero, Hu Tao! I won't hurt you if you surrender!"
"Your dreaming. I'm Overhaul, not those petty villains who can't fight for their lives. It is you who will fall." He then injected a needle into his neck, before he groaned in pain.
Hu Tao patiently waited for him to recover, but with no warning he stuck his hands onto the floor and the entire thing disintegrated.
The dust then flowed towards Hu Tao, and reassembled into many sharp spears.
With her own weapon, she moved elegantly and easily cut them in half. Carrying on the momentum she dived forwards.
Ignoring the rubble that was being launched towards her, she swiftly dodged them all with little and efficient movements. She then jumped high into the sky, and a second later the entire floor collapsed down.
After realising this will not be easy, Overhaul made a very strong and condensed suit of metal armour and a weapon comfortable for him before also jumping towards her.
They met in the sky and swung at each other, but since neither can fly, they both were forcefully pushed into the other direction.
Repositioning herself on a little boulder flown into the sky, she located him on the ground 100 meters away.
Looking at him, she smiled before jumping higher into the air.
Overhaul was alarmed by this, so he prepared himself and constructed an impressive fortress/shield made of earth, metal and other minerals.
When the first layer was assembled, they were squished into each other, forming a thinner but more dense and compact layer, and this process repeated itself many times until a genuinely strong wall was constructed over him.
Under it, he also prepared a counter-attack of his own.
Hu Tao in the sky, unaffected by such a high distance from the ground, looked calmly at his shenanigans, and her grip on her spear strengthened.
The orb began to glow and a shell of flames spread around her.
The heat then condensed at her heart, before forming a beautiful shape.
Then, the exact same flames spread behind her and formed majestic butterfly wings.
It looked more like a work of art to be appreciated than a battle form, but nevertheless she used it.
Especially in the sky, it brought out it's hidden beauty, and a soft warm glow resounded of it. With these wings, she could still not fly, but balancing and hovering in the air became possible. In other words, she could not go higher, but can remain at her current altitude indefinitely.
She eyed the now-finished fortress, and prepared herself.
3...
The wings glowed brighter than ever, and her spear was now completely unrecognisable due to the sheer intensity of the fire.
With one swift burst, she pulled up her spear, and the flame became a pillar to the sky before she dived down, causing a red-arc to burn in the sky.
2...
As the clouds were dyed red, her body became a passing blur as she picked up speed and not even seconds later, she collided with the shield.
Still with her confident and natural smile, her weapon and body forcefully burnt a hole in the layers of material.
And 1...
BOOM!
The ground shook, and a massive thick tornado wrapped around the air and towered into the sky.
It was not made of wind, but fire. The entire thing was bright red and lasted a few seconds before it started to dissipate from the top.
As the crater was revealed, Hu Tao could be seen standing over Overhaul, and he was currently unrecognisable from the debris and charred dust that landed on him.
However, Hu Tao looked perfectly fine and she was even shining. Her brilliance topped all the dust that was slowly falling back to the ground after it was brought up by the tornado.
Grabbing his body, with a couple leaps she came back to the actual criminal building, or what's left of it, and after seeing their defeated boss and being absolutely hopeless, the rest could only surrender themselves to her.
That's the 29th one! I'm on a role!
...
Since her first mission due to the system, she knew that she was definitely weaker compared to the others.
Maybe it wasn't her fault, but the truth was there nonetheless.
So, when she returned, she immediately asked others how to train and how to become stronger.
It was then that she was told to weaken herself and train the basics. This was why she always fought with no artifacts on. Not only does it train purely her technique, but also her battle sense and instinct.
After doing this for some time, she has regained her confidence and always fought battles without artifacts on to challenge herself, which results in her becoming much more stronger and confident physically and mentally.
And with the help of some of the rewards due to the system, she has now gotten stronger than ever.
...
"Well done as always Hu Tao!"
"Thanks!"
The officers cleaned up the scene and she escorted the criminals to the prison.
After making sure they were safely locked behind bars, an officer came up to her and told her to meet their chief in a meeting room.
"Sorry to inform you of this after asking for you to raid organisations, but please could you hear me out?"
"Huh? Sure! What do you want?!" She was as cheerful as always.
"There's a villain going around, by the name of 'Hero-Killer'"
"Hero killer? What an arrogant sounding name!"
"Indeed, but he has caused a lot of trouble for lots of heroes. Please may you have a look for him and if you come across him, report it and defeat him?"
"If I come across him sure! Japan's quite big though so it might not happen for some time."
"No problem. I can rest assured if you are on the case."
And with that, she left and went to her house, or their house.
As she opened the door, a familiar smell of beef entered her nose as she immediately lost all sense of dignity and jumped at the food.
"Slow down will ya?"
"Hmdmb" She then choked on her food.