Full Circle - Battle Against a True Dragon
A flurry of attacks echoed across the streets, punches and kicks delivered with enough strength to shatter the asphalt and shake the two fighters’ surroundings.
The storm raged around them, but they fought undeterred, despite the roaring thunder and chilling breeze.
Their fists collided in another flurry of blows, the energy generated by the impact being enough to push away both fighters.
They used that chance to take a breather.
The two fighters had left little more than destruction in their wake. What was once a residential area had become wreckage from some post-apocalyptic movie. The road had been upturned and reduced to rubble. Cars had been smashed in and sent flying onto their sides. Homes had been riddled with holes.
Kaylee panted, her body filled with lesions and cuts. She stared at her enemy. Part of Feral's armor-like scales were broken, showing nasty burns from her energy blasts, but even so, Feral was in better condition.
“Getting tired, sweetheart?” Feral taunted, but Kaylee paid her no mind. Her eyes blazed with inner rage, and she was focused on getting revenge for what happened to her friend.
Feral advanced with a rapturous roar.
Kaylee jumped in the air as two energy spheres appeared on her palms.
Orochi got up. She did not know for how long she was down or how she could be alive. She only knew she had survived; her insides burned, and her muscles were set on fire.
It was a special kind of agony she had never felt before. Orochi’s flesh knit itself together as organs were cut off from her body, only to be replaced by new copies by the same regeneration keeping her alive.
The hydras came back to life. Their skin was shed and replaced by steel-like red scales.
Muscles swelled and then compressed, and as bones hardened, Orochi’s own scales changed, much like her hydras.
The heat inside her only got higher as the ordeal progressed.
Flames burst out of her body like a pyre as it finished healing.
Red scales sparkled from the flame’s light, a flame that even the storm couldn’t put down as it kept raging inside Orochi.
Ear-sundering impacts and explosions came from somewhere near—instinctively, she knew where her foe was.
The dragon girl moved.
Feral blocked one of the energy spheres with a tail swing; her left arm blocked the second blast.
A small cloud of steam was formed after the explosion. For a moment, Feral looked at her arm. Kaylee’s attacks no longer broke through her scales. She was adapting.
The villain grinned before she looked at where Kaylee was, but the student was nowhere to be seen.
She looked up just to see the student descending like a meteor, using the temporary steam cloud as a distraction to get to “higher ground.”.
Kaylee channeled her energy into her right fist, and a condensed sphere surrounded her hand. She fell upon Feral like a falling star; her punch landed on her chest while the sphere exploded forward like a beam.
The S-rank villain grinned for a moment, knowing that her scales were enough to block the hit, but her smile did not last. While her outer scales were enough to block it, her insides needed to be sturdier.
The momentum and energy released by Kaylee's attack went through Feral’s hard scales. The impact reached her insides for internal damage. Feral was pushed several yards back, and her insides burned.
‘Tch, crazy bitch.’ The villain clicked her tongue in annoyance. Feral cleaned the blood out of her mouth, a Cheshire grin on her face.
“You know you can’t win, right? You may be strong, but your betters have tried and failed the same.”
Kaylee gritted her teeth. She took a second to cool her head and not let the red in her eyes cloud her mind. Feral’s adaptations were problematic, but she has a limit. ‘If only I could beat her resilience...’
The beast she faced months ago and the one before her were different, or maybe Feral wasn’t weakened enough. ‘At that time, Orochi pierced her heart.’
Kaylee no longer had a friend. She needed to make do with what she had now.
“This is my last offer. Stop fighting for nothing; it won’t bring any good. Just see what happened to your friend. You can become so much more if you fight for yourself instead of protecting people who don’t care about you.”
“Save your breath. I won’t bend to such corrupt ideals.” Kaylee retorted with a cut-and-dry answer that gave nothing about how she felt or the rage swimming in her chest.
“Your funeral, then.” Feral was not disappointed by Kaylee’s answer. She would get her fill of excitement either way.
“Well said.” A voice echoed from behind Feral. Kaylee widened her eyes.
Feral turned back to see something unnatural.
A pale specter wandered into the battlefield; her body burned with infernal flames.
She was supernatural, an affront to nature's will.
Her hair was stained in the same color as ichor.
A vengeful soul is akin to an Onryō.
Kaylee thought that her eyes had failed her. She blinked, but Orochi’s figure refused to disappear.
She stood across from Kaylee and Feral.
Orochi’s skin was pale; her blood had been drained; her long and flowing red hair fluttered by the storm’s mighty winds; and her eyes shone with mild apathy and cruelty towards the villain.
Her vision was as haunting as it was haughtily beautiful.
Feral snorted and dashed towards Orochi with a bestial and demented smile. * ‘You got up again, too bad! You will die twice!’*
The villain raised her left claw and swiped against Orochi. Feral widened her eyes as her attack was stopped by one hand. Orochi merely left Feral’s claw to collide against her hand.
Her hand was thrown away, but the dragon girl was unfazed. “Too sloppy,” Orochi said dryly. A fire punch landed on Feral’s face before she could rationalize what happened. Her teeth shattered, and her jaw broke under the pressure of the fist as her flesh burned.
Feral was lifted off the ground; she was almost thrown forward, but before she took off, Orochi yanked her by the hair.
Orochi looked at Kaylee. Her friend’s eyes were wide with surprise and disbelief at the scene unfolding before her. Orochi’s eyes softened as she grinned.
“Hey Kaylee, baseball!” She shouted, and a second punch connected to Feral’s face in the blink of an eye.
The villain’s hair ruptured from her head; she was thrown forward. She flew towards Kaylee, who had to think on her feet. ‘What do you mean, baseball?!’
Maybe Orochi meant Feral was a ball; maybe not. Kaylee lacked time to ponder. She formed an energy sphere with both hands, intending to correct the mistake she made moments ago.
This time, she would hit Feral.
Like the rays of a morning sun, an energy flare roared toward Feral. All of Kaylee’s energy was channeled into a single attack to cripple Feral.
‘I hope you know what you are doing, Orochi.’ The British girl gritted her teeth as the energy flare burned through her stamina.
Kaylee’s vision dimmed, but she kept her attack; she would keep it as long as she could before losing consciousness.
Orochi moved with ludicrous speed. Orochi was close to Feral in mere seconds. She grabbed Feral by the head and plunged it into the energy flare.
Orochi’s scales burned, but they withstood the heat. The fire inside Orochi kept burning brighter and hotter than the flare; she could stand it now.
Feral closed her eyes to protect them from the flare, but it was in vain. Her face burned, and her eyes were damaged from the sheer heat.
The Orochi drove Feral’s head into the blazing energy. Vorpal-like claws dug into the sides of the villain’s head. “What, not so strong now?”
Feral could not scream; she flapped her limbs in confusion and fear as the flare burned layer after layer of her face. She tried to resist Orochi’s grasp. She kicked and flailed around, but Orochi barely registered her struggle.
Orochi saw the flare die as her friend collapsed on the ground. She sized up Feral’s condition. Her body should have been ruined after the flare, but the faintest signs of regeneration were already there.
Feral was plummeted to the floor by Orochi. In the corner of her hydra’s eyes, Orochi saw Kaylee panting, struggling to keep up after such arduous tasks back-to-back.
“Don’t worry, Kaylee. I’ve got this now.” Feral grunted as her claws tried to rip Orochi’s hand from her head, but it barely scratched her scales.
With a sharp breath, Orochi drove Feral’s head further into the asphalt, collapsing the floor under them as debris flew upwards.
The air was dank and foul, the floor beneath them sticky and smelly; it became worse as water poured from above them, but Orochi paid no mind.
She threw Feral forward. The villain rolled on the ground, and she tried to gather her bearings and understand what happened.
“Get up.” Orochi’s voice dried up. She stared at Feral with cold eyes, and her demeanor changed.
All Orochi felt was contempt for the wretched creature before her.
Feral placed her hand before her eyes, but she saw a faint white outline. Her vision was gone. “...” Feral heard Orochi’s command but remained silent, waiting for her adaptations to trigger.
Strangely, Orochi left Feral to her devices. “Why? If you had this strength, why hide it?” Feral failed to understand her foe and to think of a scenario where someone who had the same strength as Orochi would let herself be bullied and trounced.
“Truth be told, I don’t know what I have. It may be a blessing of the heavens or the chance to take revenge upon you.” Orochi's voice echoed, deep and husky. It fits the image of a vengeful specter.
“Ha… So you defied death... for what?" Feral laughed, and she got up.
Orochi crooked her head to the side, confused. “To stop you. That’s all that matters. While you stay free, people will die because of you. I won’t allow you to kill anymore, even if I have to take you down to hell with me.”
Feral retreated, taking a step back. She felt a change in the air. Something heavy bled from the atmosphere around them. Thick and venomous, her killing intent was so focused and driven that Feral felt it in her skin.
The air got warmer as a flame-wrought dragon stepped forward.
Feral knew killing intent, and she had endured it many times before, but the enmity that emanated from her foe was different. Hitomi was unsure if she could survive this confrontation, let alone win it.
Her foe was not a human. Orochi was neither a human nor a beast, as if a completely different species were wearing the skin of a mutant.
Feral roared and dashed toward Orochi. Her body hardened; it became armor-like to make up for the wounds Kaylee inflicted.
Orochi’s left arm scales thickened and she pointed forward as she prepared a punch. They changed colors from red to orange.
A red, flaming fist collided against Feral’s chest. Blazing red scales exploded forward. They impaled and pierced through like bullets.
Feral was taken aback as the sharp scales lodged themselves inside her flesh. She fell to her knees.
Orochi stared at her left arm. The scales there were not regenerating. * ‘I guess I used all my energy to get back to life, huh? This means I’m running on fumes.’*
Orochi’s quirk awakening: Hydra Ablaze!
Hydra Ablaze is the awakened version of Headstrong Hydra! It enhances all functionalities of the original quirk, as well as speeding up the metabolism and regeneration of the body to such a degree that the body overheats and is set ablaze, producing extremely hot and noxious fumes.
Orochi’s scales can also harden and become flexible on demand, with Orochi being capable of changing their shape and growth speed to suit her needs! Those scales can be released and explode on demand once they are hot enough.
However, she is nearly running out of energy due to the circumstances of her awakening. Like how a beast knows what is required to survive from the moment of its birth, Orochi too knows what needs to be done to use her scales.
Feral held her chest. She felt her blood run through her fingers as sharp and foreign objects hurt her organs from the inside.
“Hey, bitch!”
A voice exclaimed from above as energy crackled. A sound Feral recognized as an energy blast, yet because of the flames, the downpour, and the clash between water and fire, she could not pinpoint Kaylee’s position, just that she was above her.
“Take that!”
The energy crackled louder, and Feral dropped Orochi’s fist to prepare herself for a back attack.
Yet, the lack of eyesight proved a crippling blow to Feral. Orochi saw that Kayleee’s energy had run dry too; her act was merely a bluff to catch Feral’s attention.
A bluff that provided a pivotal opening on Feral’s guard. Orochi attacked the gap in Feral’s defense with a right punch to her chest; her armor cracked there. Air was blown out of Feral’s lungs as Kaylee let out a barking laugh.
“I already ran out of juice; all I can do is bluff.” Feral was paralyzed as a sense of impending doom washed over her.
The hydras got closer to one another, and their scales grew to interlock them into a “single structure." The “hydra” clashed against Feral’s chest, and on the same spot, Orochi weakened.
All of the hydra scales exploded forward like a grenade going off. They shredded through Feral’s armor and body. Feral’s body was dilacerated as her armor fell apart and shredded through Feral’s armor and body. She was no longer capable of sustaining it.
(Feral’s POV)
Feral fell on her knee. Her quirk was no longer active. The wounds she sustained left a husk of a woman behind, her body thin and frail. Her mouth was dry, and she felt no strength in her limbs, just the cold washing over her left leg.
A shadow loomed over her. Its hair flowed like fire, while a pair of purple orbs shone with cruelty and antipathy. Feral felt the shadow get closer. She turned on her tail and crawled.
She tried to crawl away from the shadow that got closer and closer, much like the Reaper himself. The shadow laughed. “I will not let this be open-ended, but I won’t kill you.”
The shadow walked one step. “I will make sure you never hurt anyone again. You will rot in a white room for all I care.”
The shadow threatened. It continued its chase. It was in bad shape, too wounded, too tired to haste its walk, but it didn’t care. It would reach Feral, for she could no longer escape what was due.
“I won’t let you take my sister. Sorry.” Metal clashed against something hard, and the shadow was pushed back. Feral felt her body being picked up off the ground by her sister. “Drekus already ran away from that dinosaur freak. Let’s retreat.”
Karma took her out, running away from the shadow.
Yet Feral could hear the last words it muttered. “Remember me.”
Orochi felt her knees freeze in place; her muscles cramped and locked due to the overwhelming strain they went through.
Karma and Feral retreated into the sewers. She was not in any shape to chase them. ‘So those two freaks are related, huh?’
She sighed, her body cooling down fast. Orochi looked down. She saw red strands of hair reaching down to her waist.
Her last thought before losing consciousness was, 'Was it always red?’
She passed out standing.
There was a commotion once Orochi woke up in the hospital a few hours later, but it is a tale for another day.
Ending - Never Break Down