Karma rushed forwards and swung the potted plant at the man. It did nothing. The assassin caught it with his hand, "Too soft, hm. You'll have to find a better weapon, hm," and breaks the trunk in half.
"Don't need one." The two then brace themselves to fight with bare hands only.
The assassin comes charging towards Karma and starts taking swings at him. All of a sudden, Karma is dodging and blocking like there's no tomorrow.
Sora stood, silently watching. His arms crossed, and his eyes focused on what was taking place.
"Wow..." Kayano muses, "He's dodging or blocking every blow!"
"That's your defence technique, right, Karasuma-sensei?" Koro-Sensei inquires.
Sora noticed it too. The entire time he'd known Karma, he'd assumed he was just a thug. That was how Sora himself fought...but Karma...
Sora smirked. Karma was more than just that.
"What's wrong, hm? You'll never get past me if you don't attack, hm!" The Assassin stated.
"You think?" Karma smiles, "I mean, I could be doing my best to distract you while the rest of us slip past a few at a time. Relax. No underhanded hijinx here. Now... it's my turn." He cracks his knuckles and starts bouncing in place. "Barehanded, like you. We'll settle this fair and square, man to man."
"I like that face of yours, young warrior, hm. With you, I've got a chance- a chance at the fair fight I can't experience in the assassination biz, hm."
Karma next runs in and tries to hit him, throws punches left and right, up and down. Things are getting nowhere, that is, until Karma manages to kick his leg. The Assassin staggered and turned around when he limped away, leaving his back wide open. It was an opportunity to win, and the young redhead took it. He rushed up...
And a can of the demobilizing gas was sprayed at point-blank range into his face. Karma fell to the ground.
Sora's eyes narrowed.
Everyone in 3-E gasped.
The Assassin grabbed Karma by his hair, "It's over, hm." He dropped the canister. "I'm not fond of drawn-out fights, hm. Thought I'd give Smog's paralysis gas a try, hm."
"That's dirty! Ain't nothin' fair about sneakin' that into the fight!" Yoshida yells at him.
"I never said I only fight bare-handed, hm." He now has his hand over Karma's face and lifts him up into the air, "One mustn't get too particular about one's hangups, hm. Just another key to sticking around in this business, hm. A spray of gas at point-blank range, hm... You'll never defend against it if you don't see it com--" He turns his face around to properly view his victory and looks dead ahead at the demobilised red head. Demobilized. Or at least... that's what he thought. Karma himself sprays Grip in the face with a canister of gas.
The older male immediately coughs when he breathes it in, "Wh-what have you... hm..." He staggers, struggling not to fall down. Karma has a big grin, holding a handkerchief over his mouth,
"What a coincidence! We were both thinking the same thing!"
Sora sighed. Why on earth was he ever worried?
"How... did you... get that... hm...? And how... did you not... breathe my gas... hm...?" He reaches inside his shirt and reveals a pocket knife which he then comes flying towards Karma, wildly attempting to stab him.
Karma dodged, grabbed his arm, twisted it and shoved him onto the floor with all his weight on top of Mr. Hm. The man grunted in pain.
"C'mon, Terasaka-make it snappy! We'll need duct tape and sheer numbers to beat this monster!"
"Yeah, I'm on it. That promise of a barehanded one-on-one fight?" Almost all the healthy male students rush to help and all sit on top of him. What used to be a grunt now turns into a cry of alarm and pain. "It was bullshit from the word go!" Terasaka laughs. Sugaya produces some duct tape.
"Careful taping him up. With his superhuman strength, you've got to be cautious even when he's paralyzed," Mr Karasuma warned them.
Grumbles of 'yes, sir' emerge.
____________________
Tape covers the man, around his legs, arms and torso. He has a look of anguish written all over.
"Hm hm hm hm hm hm..." he mumbles whilst Karma throws the canister up and down and catches it.
"I filched an unused cartridge from that poisoner guy." Karma smiled mockingly. "It's so handy, I wish it weren't a one-time-use kind of thing."
"How, hm... did you see my gas attack coming, hm? Is that why you didn't breathe any in, hm? But I only showed you my bare hands, hm... How, hm?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Karma smiles, "I was on guard against everything but bare hands."
"Hm..."
"I'm sure you did really want a barehanded bout... but you would have had to stop us by any means necessary, and if I were you, I would have done the same." He sits down cross-legged in front of the man. "I trusted your attitude as a pro...and that's why I was on guard."
Kayano beams, "Oh, I get it!"
"Karma had never known great defeat, but those midterm exams taught him all too well: Losers are people just like you who live their lives. Thinking about all sorts of things. Once you realize that, you inevitably find you can no longer make light of your opponent on the battlefield. You can see if your foe is thinking like you, trying hard like you. You come to see their abilities, their circumstances. Someone who can be respectfully wary of their opponent... That person has no chinks on the battlefield. You grew so much from that one defeat. You'll make a name for yourself someday."
"You're nothing to sneeze at, young warrior, hm. I may have lost, but I enjoyed our time togeth-"
"What are you talking about?"
Karma cuts The Assassin off, "The fun's just beginning!" He produces two tubes, one hot mustard, the other wasabi and brandishes them like weapons.
Sora clicked his tongue. Of course.
"Hm? What the hell is that, hm?"
"Wasabi and mustard. I'm going to put them in your nostrils." Karma grins sadistically.
Cries of alarm come from both The Assassin and the red head's classmates, "What, hm?!"
Karma starts fiddling about and clamps a metal clip onto the assassin's nose, it pulls the nostrils open. "I've been on guard around you all this time, but now that you're tied up, what's the point?" "Hm?"
"Once these are in, I'll plug your nose with a special clip," the now confirmed sadist informs him. A bag is on the floor, with 'be prepared' scrawled on top, containing objects/condiments like: hot mustard, gentian tea, wasabi, a 'kick me' sticker etc. "Stuff your mouth with ghost peppers-a thousand times hotter than average chillies-then, on top of all that, I'll gag you. Done and done!" He holds the hot mustard ready, "Okay, buddy, hm... now's the time to show your willpower as a pro, hm."
The man's nostrils and mouth are pulled open widely, curtesy of the 'special' clip. Ever so simply, Karma squeezes the mustard up the assassin's nose.
The man yells out in distress.
"Koro-Sensei... Karma hasn't really changed all that much, has he?" Nagisa remarks as the rest of the class look on in shock and disgust.
"No, he hasn't. I'm concerned for his future."
"What the hell did you bring with you, anyway?" Terasaka puts the bag of 'useful items' into a backpack. "Hey, let's get goin'. Keep draggin' our feet and they'll find us."
"They'll find you, you big hulk."
"Aw, shut it!"
____________________
Later, Kayano holds her phone out whilst Ritsu informs them of the next obstacle, "Okay, Everyone, the terrace is upstairs."
"The bar floor. Could be tricky." Hayami adds, serious as always.
"Yes." A diagram pops up on the screen of Sora's phone, showing where the class is, the route they need to take, and where the end of it is, "There's a stairway to the VIP floor inside the lounge here. The back entrance is locked; we'll have to come in through the lounge to unlock it."
"Now we're flying by the seat of our pants."
"We really stick out, you guys." Isogai worries.
"Let's have the teachers hide here." The guys all look up at the girls, "We'll sneak into the lounge and unlock the back entrance." Kataoka gestures at all of them. "We girls won't look suspicious alone in a place like this." The rest of the girls nod.
"Bad idea. A group of girls in a place like this will draw the wrong type of attention." Sora pointed out.
Karma literally looks like he's had a lightbulb moment. He smacks his fist down on his hand, "Oh! In that case..." And looks straight at Nagisa. Everyone else turns and stares, Nagisa himself having a bead of sweat roll down his cheek.
____________________
"Are we sure sending Nagisa was a good idea?" Itona muttered. "He looked like he was about to drop dead."
"He'll be fine. Just as long as Karma didn't take any pictures-" Sora replied.
"I totally took pictures!"
"Alright! Well, Nagisa's doomed."
"You should be more worried about yourself."
Sora's eyes widened as he shoved Itona back. And suddenly, white-hot pain ripped through his body. He jumped back and felt blood dripping down his left arm. He'd been stabbed. And right before him was the culprit. A tall man with black hair and a trench coat.
"Sora!?" Koro-sensei shouted, meanwhile, Sora held his wound with his right hand.
"I'm fine!" Sora shot back. "I'll live."
"That's awfully optimistic." The Assassin replied. "You find yourself face to face with Blade. The master of weaponry, your survival is in an inconceivable future."
Sora laughed as he stood up. "More like the master of being his own hype man. Did you practice that one in front of the mirror last night?"
As he spoke he lifted his uninjured arm into an improvised fighting stance.
"Itona."
The shorter student understood and moved to stand beside Sora.
"What's the plan?" Itona asked, earning a laugh from his taller friend.
"Hit him until he stops moving," Sora replied, watching as Itona got into a stance of his own. "Duh."
"We're gonna die."
In an instant, Blade lurched forward, the man's knife swinging down toward Itona. "You are."
Sora smirked, however, acting quickly, and slapping the man's hand away. Following up with a punch toward his jaw. The Assassin stepped back and threw another of his knives toward Sora. But this time it was Itona to the rescue, pushing Sora to the side, the blade piercing the wall behind them, almost hitting a few other people.
The man jumped away, giving both himself and his opponents, a moment to breathe.
Sora wiped some sweat from his brow. So far this was going his and Itona's way. For every attack, The Assassin threw out, one of them was there to counter. Sora lacked the actual combat skill that Karma had, but he made up for that with endurance and physical strength. Meanwhile, Itona was likely among the most athletic in Class 1-A. Together, the two of them were likely greater than a single Karma.
"You two brats are annoying." The man stated, earning a snicker from Sora.
"I'm glad you think so." Sora quipped in response, lowering his stance and springing forward. The man slashed his blade down toward Sora's face. But Itona was again just in time with his counter, allowing Sora to bury his face in the man's gut.
Blade staggered back, but also brought up his blade, clipping Sora on the cheek and drawing blood.
The cut wasn't deep. But the man had only been off by a centimeter at most. Whoever this bastard was, he was like a surgeon, crazy precise with his blade. One wrong move and either boy's head could be detached from their shoulders.
"So do you have an actual plan now?" Itona asked, earning a chuckle from Sora.
"I'm working on something..." He muttered in response. He rubbed his thumb over the wound, wiping the blood from his face, as he watched his opponent.
But in the mere second he did that, Blade had already closed the distance. Stabbing his knife toward the younger man. Sora however, didn't waver. Bringing up his hand, he blocked the knife from piercing his neck by sacrificing his left hand. The blade pierced straight through, luckily missing any veins.
With his right hand, he grabbed the man by the shirt. And quickly slammed his head into the man's nose. The Assassin staggered back in pain as he held his face.
"Itona!" Sora ordered.
"Right!" He replied.
Taking advantage of the assassin's dazed state, Itona landed a kick straight against the man's gut. And just as quickly, Sora followed up with a devastating punch, slamming his fist into the man's face again. And throwing him down onto the ground.
Sora and Itona stood over his unconscious form.
They had won.
____________________
"Why is Sora bleeding!?" Fuwa panicked, Sora just smiled sheepishly.
"Hey. It's not all mine." He replied.
"That's not making this better."
"We really sent you into some dicey territory. You weren't in any danger, were you?" Koro-Sensei checked. Changing the subject to something else, allowing Isogai to continue his back-alley doctoring.
They shake their heads. "Not remotely!"
Nagisa joined them, now back in his own clothes.
"Wow, you sure changed fast, Nagisa," Kayano observed.
"Yeah." Nagisa looked uneasy.
"Hmm? What's wrong?"
"It's just... You girls did everything this time around. What was even the point of me being in this getup?" He pulls the folded-up outfit closer.
Karma showed him his phone with a picture of Nagisa blushing, all dressed up, "Comic relief, duh!"
"Don't you dare, Karma!" Nagisa yells, pink tinting his cheeks with embarrassment.
Kayano laughs, "No, I don't think that's it. I'm sure it wound up helping someone, anyway."
"That's a bold statement." Sora joked. "You girls aren't keeping a juicy love story from us right?"
...
"Nope!"
"Why did you pause- I was kidding!"
____________________
The class made their way up the stairs. Isogai turned to Nagisa with Karasuma leaning on his shoulder, "If only you could have stayed like that... History's full of assassins disguised as women."
The smaller male protested. "Don't you start too, Isogai!!"
"If you're going to cut it off, Nagisa, sooner is better." Karma sneakily advises him, obviously enjoying all this.
"I am not! I happen to like it!" He yells at the red head for the second time that night.
"Don't worry Nagisa. Nobody's taking it from you." Sora laughed.
"Can we talk about this later?" Karasuma glares, sweating badly.
"Or never..." Nagisa added quietly.
"We're in our final stage of infiltration here. Ritsu?"
"Yes, sir. Up ahead is the VIP floor. These guests don't rely solely on hotel security but provide their own hired lookouts." Two shady, rather muscly men stand by the entrance door. There are whispers of:
"So of course some is blocking the staircase."
"They look way tough, too."
"Are they more of the guys who've been threatening us? Or hired muscle that has nothing to do with us?"
Terasaka cracks his knuckles, "Either way, we're gonna have to beat 'em to get by."
"Exactly right, Terasaka." Koro-Sensei muses now being held by Kimura, "And that weapon you have will do the job perfectly."
Sora raised an eyebrow at that.
Terasaka scoffs, "Pff! What, you got X-ray vision now, too?" He takes his backpack off his shoulder and unzips it. "You'll have to take them both down at once, or they'll call for help."
"What do you have?" Itona muttered.
"I got this, okay? Hey Kimura, see if you can lure 'em out this way some." Teraseka stated, ignoring him.
Kimura starts protesting at this, "Who, me? But how?"
All he gets is "How should I know?"
Whilst Karma glides over, a big smirk on his face, "Here, Kimura, try this..."
Sora smiled worriedly.
____________________
Later, Kimura walked over to the two guards who instantly turned to look at him, "What gives, kid?"
"Huh? Any brains around here? These guys are total muscle heads! You slabs of pigmeat oughta quit pretending to be human."
After the wash of insults, the junior high student started walking off.
The two men, now extremely angry, sprinted after him, "Hey! Get back here!"
"Got it!" Terasaka and Yoshida suddenly blasted out of hiding, tackling the two to the ground and driving stun guns into their necks.
"Stun-guns!" Nagisa gasps, now back in possession of Koro-Sensei.
"I bought 'em to see how electricity worked on that octopus... Never thought I'd be using 'em like this!"
"You bought those? But weren't they expensive?" Someone chimes.
Terasaka thinks back to when he was helping out Shiro, "Huh? Uh, well... I came into a little money lately, so..."
Sora stared blankly.
"Nice weapon Terasaka. But check their chests." Koro-Sensei informs. "Judging from the bulges there," The student does what he's told and starts rifling around, "You ought to be able to find something even better."
Terasaka holds up two guns.
Real ones.
"Sir?" Sora asked, there was no way anyone here was ready to fire a real gun at someone. Even he was skeptical that he could do it without hesitation.
"And... Chiba? Hayami? Those guns are for you. Karasuma-sensei hasn't recovered enough to fire with any accuracy. Right now, you two are the best gun-users we have."
Sora knew he was right but...could they really handle this?
"B-But this is all so sudden-" Chiba tries to say but Koro-Sensei continues.
"However! I will not permit you to kill anyone. With your skill, you should have plenty of ways to use those to defeat someone without a scratch."
Chiba checked the amount of bullets.
Hayami eyed her gun nervously.
Sora let out a breath. Koro-Sensei knew what he was going after all. The octopus knew his students better than Sora himself did.
"Let's be on our way, then. From the looks of things at this hotel, there's no sign the enemy has set up camp in any great numbers. They're even down to one or two hired killers-at most."
"Yeah! So, let's go murderalize the rest!" Terasaka shouts, clenching his fist.
"That's not a word." Itona remarked.
"Okay, team: We'll have to use the VIP-only emergency stairs to reach the next floor up." Ritsu relays, "And to do that, we'll have to go through the concert hall on the 8th floor."
The students piled in. But just as they did, a man entered. Instantly, the entire class hid, concealed behind the chairs of the auditorium.
The man the muzzle of the gun in his mouth and sucked on it. He then stood on the stage.
Next battle.
Start.