Chapter 138: Motherland.

“““Avalon?””” Upon hearing the explanation, Yumiko, Keiko, and Nemuri asked, slightly surprised, as they looked at Kai, who smiled amusedly while nodding, then commented in a somewhat playful tone.

“Yes, it seems my ‘motherland’ is involved in this.”

One curious thing Kai had learned about the world he lived in was that it was somewhat different from what he remembered from his time as Daniel. Aside from the quirks, heroes, and everything else, the geography was also different, with some countries missing and others existing that he didn’t recall, mainly in regions like Europe and Central and South America.

Although the major powers were more or less the same, such as the United States, China, France, and others, in places like Central America, things were very different. There was a single country called ‘El Salvador’, while in South America, countries like Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia didn’t exist. Instead, there was a massive country called the ‘New Granadan Confederation’. But the strangest thing was his ‘motherland’, ‘Avalon’, or more precisely, the homeland of his mother, Alisa.

Although it had gone by different names over time, Avalon was an ‘island’ the size of Spain, located between North America and Europe. Over time, due to its strategic position for trade, various languages had been used, but the official language was English, as it had been a colony of the English crown for several centuries. It had also been the stage for a brutal civil war about 30 years ago, which forced his mother to flee the country, eventually arriving in Japan as a refugee.

“So it’s quite troublesome. Although it’s still far from being a ‘power’, Avalon is too problematic to deal with, and if they’re meddling in our affairs, it’s already a diplomatic issue that the higher-ups need to handle.” Nemuri commented with a somewhat bitter tone, to which Shino nodded and added seriously.

“Certainly, that’s why we decided to be careful and gather solid evidence first before doing anything. If things go wrong, we could very well be looking at a ‘war’, and dealing with those ‘war heroes’ is too problematic…”

“So, what do you plan to do?” Yumiko asked with a somewhat worried tone, to which Chatora replied seriously.

“For now, nothing. We’ll keep gathering evidence and investigating discreetly without drawing too much attention to avoid complications. The good thing is that, for now, the heroes involved seem to be a small group composed mainly of relatively weak heroes in somewhat problematic areas, so it’s not too serious yet. It might just be us overreacting, and it may not be something systematic orchestrated by a ‘war hero’.”

“That would be for the best. Avalon is a hot mess, problematic to the extreme.” Keiko added with a somewhat disgusted tone. But just then, Kai looked away and narrowed his eyes, at the same time grabbing the sword that was beginning to form from Salem’s fur on his shoulder.

“““What’s wrong, Kai?””” Seeing his strange behavior, everyone asked in unison, to which Kai responded calmly.

“I just detected something very similar to the ‘Nomus’ that attacked at the USJ.”

Along with Kai’s words, everyone could see a column of flames and smoke rising in the distance, and shortly after, a powerful explosion, along with countless screams, reached them. This greatly worsened the expressions of the present heroes, and at that moment, Momo spoke urgently as her armor began to emerge from her body.

“They’re attacking the city! We have to go!”

“One’s coming this way…” Kai muttered quietly as the heroes prepared to head to the impact site, then sent a flying slash to his left while commenting, causing everyone to look in that direction.

“Over there.”

Almost simultaneously, a winged Nomu came flying at high speed. Although it tried to dodge, it couldn’t do so in time and was hit by the flying slash on the left side of its body, losing one of its wings and part of its arm, quickly plummeting to the ground. At that moment, Kai ordered Salem calmly.

“Salem, electrocute it in case it can regenerate.”

With its master’s order, Salem quickly jumped from his shoulder and grew in size as electric currents surrounded it, then shot toward the Nomu on the ground, leaving an electric trail in its wake. At that moment, Nemuri asked seriously while looking at Kai.

“Kai, how many of those ‘Nomus’ are there?”

“I can detect two more.” Kai responded calmly as he extended his Observation Haki to its maximum range. Nemuri nodded and turned to look at the Pussycats to continue speaking.

“Pussycats, you can head to the center of the disturbance to deal with them.”

“We’re going too!” Nejire quickly exclaimed as she rose into the air with the help of spiral shockwaves emerging from her feet.

“Alright, but stay safe.” Knowing how strong the girls were, Nemuri quickly agreed, and at that moment, Shino spoke firmly.

“Then let’s move out!”

With his words, Shino summoned his Accomplice, something Ryuko, Tomoko, and Chatora also did, then mounted them and shot off at high speed toward the disturbance zone. Meanwhile, Momo and Nejire flew off in another direction. At that moment, Nemuri turned to look at Kai and spoke.

“Kai, take Keiko and Yumiko with you. I’ll try to help the civilians evacuate!”

“Take care.”

Kai, who was already beside Keiko and Yumiko, commented calmly, to which Nemuri nodded, then shot off at superhuman speed while putting on the special goggles of her hero suit, which she always carried with her.

“Shall we go home?”

After a moment of looking around as if trying to determine something, Kai conjured the [Accompany] card and asked while looking at the calm Yumiko and Keiko, who nodded in agreement.

“Let’s go. We’ll just be in the way here.” Keiko commented calmly as she hooked her arm around Kai’s, something Yumiko also did, adding with a small sigh.

“I just hope no one gets hurt.”

“Don’t worry, they’ll be fine.”

Kai said with a small smile, then began walking toward a camera-free area not far from the location. At the same time, communicating with his reliable fairy assistant through their mental connection, who was placing the Alcatraz mark on the Nomu.

[Ready?]

[Ready, master. I can isolate it at any moment.] Sage responded cheerfully as she moved away from the Nomu and approached her master, who replied with a satisfied tone.

[Perfect.]

Quickly, Kai turned to look at Salem, who had started hitting the unconscious Nomu with one of his massive paws, almost as if checking if it was still alive, then ordered firmly.

“Salem, wait here. I won’t be long.”

After Salem roared in response and sat on the Nomu, Kai nodded in satisfaction, then activated the Accompany card to take Keiko and Yumiko home. After a quick farewell, he returned to Salem using his [Magnetic Force] card.

“You can come back now, Salem.”

Upon arriving, Kai ordered his lazy cat, who quickly roared cheerfully, then shrank and jumped to land on his shoulder. At that moment, Kai walked over to some metal signs, which he ripped from the ground, then returned to the Nomu and picked it up from the ground, tying it down using the metal poles.

[Sage, keep monitoring this Nomu. When the opportunity arises, we’ll create an alibi so you can isolate it without it being directly linked to us. This Nomu is our key to understanding the spiritual aspect of quirks.] After immobilizing the Nomu, Kai nodded in satisfaction and ordered his reliable assistant through their mental connection, who nodded cheerfully.

[Understood, master. I’ll keep monitoring it.]

[I’m counting on you.]

After responding with satisfaction through the mental connection, Kai began to circle the position where he could sense the hand guy and the portal guy, who were on higher ground not too far from his location. He wanted to keep an eye on them to prevent them from attacking the girls, though he hoped it wouldn’t come to that, as he didn’t want to confront them just yet—or he might end up alerting the ‘big fish’ he was aiming to catch.

…

……

After rising into the air with the help of her armor, Momo headed with Nejire toward the second Nomu, aided by her reliable assistant. Momo studied the monster's appearance through the images displayed on her helmet, which ARES had obtained from nearby cameras.

The Nomu was tall and lanky, with a pale green color, disproportionately long arms, and its brain exposed like the others. However, this one had two pairs of eyes on its head, and its abilities seemed to be super strength and some strange appendages extending from its mouth, making it look quite grotesque.

Quickly, Momo and Nejire arrived in front of the Nomu, which was facing off against a short elderly man in a yellow and white hero suit who was flying erratically, while other heroes around tried to provide support. But just then, the Nomu’s musculature grew disproportionately, and it sent a quick punch toward the old man.

Despite his age, the old man still had sharp reflexes and managed to dodge the attack by a hair’s breadth. At that moment, Momo and Nejire sprang into action and attacked simultaneously—Nejire with a spiral shockwave and Momo with a repulsor beam—sending the Nomu flying, then landing in front of the flying old man.

[Are you okay, Gran Torino?] Momo asked, her voice slightly distorted by her helmet, causing the old man to ask while tilting his head.

“And who might you be?”

Choosing to ignore the question, Momo carefully watched the Nomu, as it was very possible, it could recover from the impact. At the same time, she retracted her left glove, and a wide metallic collar formed from her skin. Just then, the monster let out a horrible scream, then released a powerful shockwave that pushed them back.

“Did it absorb my attack?”

Nejire asked rhetorically, looking slightly surprised, to which Momo nodded. But just as she was about to propose a plan of attack, she received a message from Midoriya, which appeared on one of the screens in her helmet. The strange thing was that the message only contained his location, so Momo quickly ordered her virtual assistant.

“Ares, check the location.”

[There are no cameras in that location. Should I connect to the satellites?] A robotic voice quickly responded to her request, to which Momo replied seriously.

“No need.” Momo turned to look at Nejire and extended her hand with the neck restraint, then added in a serious tone.

[Nejire-chan, it’s possible a classmate is in danger. I’ll leave this place to you. With this collar, you can restrain it and prevent it from regenerating.]

“Alright, leave this to me! Go save your friend! Just send me your location—I’ll come as soon as I’m done here!” Nejire responded enthusiastically as she received the metallic collar, to which Momo nodded, then activated her repulsors and took off at full speed.

Quickly, Momo arrived at a secluded, dark alley, where she could see Midoriya and Iida lying on the ground, with a badly injured hero beside them, while a villain was about to stab Iida with a katana. Without a moment’s hesitation, she raised her left hand and fired several repulsor beams toward the villain.

With almost feline agility, the villain dodged the first beam by jumping backward, then performed several flips in the air to evade the others, landing a few meters away. At that moment, Momo landed in front of her fallen classmates and asked without taking her eyes off the villain, aiming her left hand at him.

[Are you guys okay?]

““Representative!””

Seeing the imposing red and gold armor, Midoriya and Iida exclaimed simultaneously, causing Momo to slightly tilt her head and nod. The villain took advantage of this moment, quickly rushing toward Momo at full speed, then slashing at her neck with his katana just above her left arm, positioning himself to the far left, completely out of range of her repulsor.

Just as the katana was about to strike her neck, Momo moved her left arm upward, deflecting the katana, while with her right hand, she fired a repulsor beam that hit the villain square in the chest, sending him flying into one of the buildings walls surrounding them. However, the villain, showcasing his great agility, managed to recover and, after spinning off the wall, landed on the ground while holding his chest with one hand.

***

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