Chapter 220: Just a distraction.

--Saturday, May 30, 2172

With a solemn expression on his face, Kai ‘saw’ through a future vision as webs appeared out of nowhere around All Might and Ryuko. Quickly, Kai sent several controlled flying slashes to cut the web cocoons without hurting the people inside. At the same time, Kai asked his trusted assistant in a serious tone.

[Sage, any clues?!]

[Too many to be useful, master. They even contradict each other.] Sage replied, completely surrounded by holographic screens. [There are too many things connecting the people who were attacked.]

Just then, Sage shared with her master a vision of the future, where the tunnels began to close rapidly as Shino, Edgeshot, and Mirko were wrapped in cocoons of corrosive webbing. But the problem was that the three of them were in different directions, unlike All Might and Ryuko, or Chatora and Tomoko, who were relatively close by.

The spiders practically wanted to force him to choose between advancing through the tunnels or protecting the others. Gritting his teeth, Kai pushed his thoughts to the limit—earning himself a splitting headache—and started thinking of a way to avoid having to choose. As he reviewed his memories of his experiences with corrosive webs, Kai realized something important, causing his eyes to shine.

[Mandalay, Edgeshot, and Mirko. Don’t move!] Using the mental room created by Shino—which was much faster for sharing information than speaking—Kai gave the order in a solemn tone.

From the start, the conditional webs had been reactive—unless the condition was met, they wouldn’t activate. Therefore, they required an action from the target, and since the positions of Shino, Edgeshot, and Mirko were slightly different in the future vision compared to the present, there was a high probability that this was related.

[All Might! Let’s deliver a combined attack at twelve o’clock.]

Seeing that his slashes were tearing apart the webs covering All Might, Kai quickly sent a message. All Might, who had several first-degree burns from the corrosion on different parts of his body, quickly replied in a solemn tone.

[At three!]

After throwing his right sword toward Shino, Kai clenched his fist and gathered as much aura and Haki as possible into it while kicking the air to launch himself toward All Might. Just as Kai was about to arrive by All Might’s side, a new vision of the future came to Kai—in which he, Mirko, and All Might were wrapped up in a web cocoon.

With only fractions of a second to act, Kai was forced to conjure a sword out of thin air in his right hand while spinning in the air to send flying slashes toward Mirko and All Might. Meanwhile, all he could do was grit his teeth and use his aura, advanced Armament Haki, and advanced Conqueror’s Haki to coat his skin and armor.

[What—?]

Confused by Kai’s sudden movement, All Might tried to ask a question via telepathic message, but before he could, the light in the cave flickered for an instant and webs formed around him once again. Seeing firsthand the reason behind Kai’s erratic actions, All Might’s eyes widened in disbelief.

But thanks to his decades of active service, All Might instantly recovered and took defensive action. Activating One for All at full power throughout his body, All Might covered his face with his arms and clenched his teeth, bracing for the pain.

“Kai!!!”

Seeing cocoons of web forming around Mirko, All Might, and Kai, Shino felt her heart tighten. But when she saw flying slashes saving the rabbit hero and the symbol of peace, while Kai himself had nothing protecting him, Shino let out an almost desperate cry, at the same time activating her armor’s repulsors at full power.

[DON’T MOVE!!!]

Before Shino could ‘run’ toward Kai, his voice echoed in everyone’s mind, leaving them completely frozen in place. At the same time, two black Jian swords appeared floating around Kai and began spinning rapidly, cutting through the cocoon of corrosive webs surrounding him.

[Sage. Any ideas?]

With an ashen expression from being forced to conjure swords out of nowhere, Kai asked his trusted assistant after sending the mental message through the mind room created by Shino.

[Just a hypothesis, master.] While controlling the swords to free her master, Sage replied in a bitter tone and explained.

[Right before the attack, the light flickered and changed subtly, which caused your shadow to overlap slightly with All Might’s and Mirko’s. And that shadow overlap also happened during the attack on Tomoko and Chatora, with Ryuko and All Might, and even in the future vision of the attack on Shino, Edgeshot, and Mirko.]

[What a strange condition,] Kai replied as he brushed the remnants of web off his body and immediately sent a new message through the mind room created by Shino while watching the tunnels close completely.

[Mandalay, light up the entire place—leave no shadows!]

With a swift movement, Shino quickly typed on her armor’s forearm and then fired a large number of disks at the walls and ceiling, following the instructions of the onboard computer, which handled all the calculations to erase the shadows. At that moment, Mirko’s voice echoed in everyone’s mind.

[You saved my life again, Saito.]

Kai turned to look at the rabbit hero and found her with several burns on different parts of her body as she flipped through the air, landing with a powerful kick on a spider. At that moment, Ryukyu’s solemn voice echoed in everyone’s mind.

[We’re trapped.]

Upon hearing the dragon hero, the other heroes looked around and realized that, indeed, all the tunnels had been closed off, even the one they had entered through. In that instant, Kai’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he instantly sent an urgent message through the mind room, while at the same time calling for his loyal pet.

“SALEM!!”

[Pixie-Bob, bury us and get us out of here now!!!]

Upon hearing the order, Ryuko quickly placed her hands on the ground and created a hole beneath each of them, while Shino turned off her armor’s repulsors, dropping straight down the hole. When everyone had fallen through the holes, Ryuko once again ‘heard’ her beloved’s urgent voice in her mind.

[Ryuko, cover the entrances with everything you’ve got and bring us together!!]

With a solemn expression due to the urgency in her beloved’s tone, Ryuko pushed herself to the limit, creating layer after layer of hardened earth barriers reinforced with metal, while at the same time interconnecting the holes. In that instant, a violent earthquake shook the ground, and the layers of barriers Ryuko had created began to shatter into pieces at an absurd speed.

Gritting her teeth, Ryuko used up every last drop of energy she had to create even more layers of barriers, to the point where her skin turned slightly red and she began to sweat profusely. But even though she was doing her best, the barriers were shattered like sheets of paper. Lifting her head to look up, Ryuko saw a white flash filtering through her barriers.

“Is this the end…?”

As she felt her consciousness slipping away from exhaustion, the beautiful blonde hero whispered to herself with a bitter expression. She still wanted to apologize to Kai, tell him how much she loved him, and enjoy many things with him. But it seemed that was no longer possible. That realization made Ryuko let out a sigh filled with disappointment.

Soon, Ryuko began to feel as if she were underwater, and everything around her slowed down. She even thought she heard her beloved’s voice in the distance, but she was so exhausted that she couldn’t even understand what he said. Just then, Ryuko felt something grab her by the neck and pull her away at high speed, which completely erased her last trace of consciousness, leaving her totally unconscious.

………

In the middle of the small dome Ryuko had created by interconnecting the different tunnels, three bulky figures appeared and gathered in the center. The three figures turned out to be All Might, Kai, and Salem carrying the others. Kai was carrying Shino, Chatora, and Tomoko. All Might had Kamui Woods and Ryukyu, and Salem had Mirko, Ryuko, and Edgeshot.

“[Absolute Fortress] On! [3 meters] [5 minutes]!”

Upon reaching the center of the dome, Kai conjured a card and activated it without a moment’s hesitation. Soon, the card turned into a beam of light that surrounded them. The light quickly transformed into metallic walls covered with a pattern of Aura Script, crowned by a bluish energy dome that allowed them to see outside.

“Don’t leave the walls.” After setting Shino, Chatora, and Tomoko down on the ground, Kai ordered in an incredibly serious tone. Immediately afterward, Kai took the unconscious Ryuko from Salem’s jaws and activated his Mystical Palm.

At that moment, all the heroes could see through the energy dome as a bright light filled the space. Surprised, the heroes shielded themselves as best they could and closed their eyes, but after a few seconds of feeling no change, they opened them again. What greeted them was a scene that practically made their jaws drop.

All the earth around them had completely disappeared and had been replaced by a massive amount of smoke that blocked almost all visibility. Seeing the smoke, all the heroes instantly understood the reason behind Kai’s actions and his urgency. The trap this time had been an explosion so powerful that it even managed to frighten someone as strong as him.

At the same time, however, the heroes couldn’t help but look at the metallic barrier surrounding them—not just because it was impressive enough to remain intact in the face of the explosion, but also because of how magical it was. After all, through the dome, everyone could see small traces of melted and vitrified rock amidst the smoke.

That was nothing less than proof that the power of the explosion was comparable to that of an atomic bomb—something capable of vaporizing all of them in an instant. Yet, even so, inside the barrier they were not only perfectly fine, but they didn’t even feel a vibration or hear a sound. It was something so magical and strange that it was hard for them to believe it was real and not just a high-resolution video.

But if the barrier was intriguing, the one who had created it was even more so. That man in black armor, besides having power comparable to All Might, possessed far too many strange but powerful abilities. He could heal, control electricity, send out energy slashes, and even seemed to have some sort of predictive power. Such a wide and terrifying set of abilities was too varied to be the result of a single quirk.

For his part, All Might turned to look at Kai with an expression that combined surprise, gratitude, and a hint of realization. Although the Symbol of Peace had always suspected that one of the young man’s many abilities was seeing the future, now he finally had confirmation. After all, that explosion had come out of nowhere, without any warning. So, if it hadn’t been for Kai, they all probably would have perished right there.

But even though he was grateful, the Symbol of Peace remained clear-headed enough to realize that Kai hadn’t revealed the whole truth about his quirk. That incredibly wide set of abilities the young man possessed made him a danger comparable to All for One—or perhaps even worse.

After all, All for One relied on stealing to expand his repertoire of abilities, which meant he could be tracked to some extent. Meanwhile, Kai seemed able to create anything he could imagine. That difference meant no one could ever be truly sure what the young man had hidden up his sleeve, and there was nothing as terrifying as the unknown and uncontrollable.

“How is she?”

While all the other heroes were lost in deep thought, the Pussycats gathered around Kai, and Shino asked, full of worry as she looked at the unconscious Ryuko. Kai, with his hand over Ryuko’s chest, replied in a calm tone.

“She’s fine, just exhausted. She’ll recover in a few minutes.”

“That’s a relief…” Shino commented with a small, relieved smile. Although comforted by the answer, Chatora couldn’t help but look at Kai seriously and ask,

“What happened just now?”

“I don’t know.” Kai replied in a flat tone that seemed to hide a multitude of emotions. “All of a sudden, my instincts warned me to run as far as possible. So I focused on that. But I really don’t know what they did, much less how.”

Hearing the answer, Chatora looked up to see the smoke outside with a solemn expression. Even though Kai hadn’t been very clear, he could easily understand what he meant. In a single moment, Kai must have seen a future where he died, so he got everyone out of there. But somehow, the spiders managed to block his perception and keep him in the dark from beginning to end.

For her part, Shino clenched her fists and bit her lips hard as she stared at the smoke. With every minute they spent in that place, Shino felt more and more that the spiders were invincible. Not only did they have the power to destroy the world, but they were also incredibly intelligent and adaptable. Like simple flies, the spiders kept leading them into increasingly complex and dangerous traps.

…

[The whole shadow trap was just a distraction.] With an ashen expression on his face, Kai communicated with Sage, who also wore a grim expression. The beautiful fairy soon replied in a heavy voice.

[After a preliminary analysis of the explosion, it appears to be four times stronger than the blast from the 'furnace spider'.]

[Most likely, several furnace spiders surrounded us underground and detonated at the same time.] Kai commented through gritted teeth. [Those bastards have a way of bypassing my observation haki at will.]

[There’s still a chance there was a tunnel nearby.] Sage responded, clenching her tiny fists tightly.

[It doesn’t matter what it is.] Kai commented in a cold voice, then added, his eyes shining with a light full of murderous intent.

[I won’t rest until I’ve kill every last one of those damn spiders and brought this to an end!]

…

“What will our next move be?” With a solemn expression, Edgeshot looked at All Might and asked in a serious tone.

“The first thing will be to analyze our surroundings.” All Might replied in a heavy voice. “But we definitely can’t keep using the tunnels. The spiders know them too well and will use them against us.”

“We can’t move on the surface or underground. What path do we have left?” Ryukyu asked with a heavy, somewhat resigned sigh. At that moment, Kai stood up, carrying Ryuko in his arms like a princess, and spoke in a serious tone.

“From this moment on, I’m heading straight for the spiders’ gathering point with everything I’ve got. Meanwhile, I want you all to move around and distract them.” Handing the unconscious Ryuko to Chatora, Kai looked at everyone and explained.

“Moving together allows the spiders to concentrate all their power in one place. So, it’s best for you to split into two groups—one with All Might and the other with my cat. Meanwhile, I’ll infiltrate deep inside and make my way to the base. We’ll stay in contact through Shino’s mind room.”

Upon hearing Kai, Tomoko, who had remained silent, quickly jumped up to hug Kai around the neck. At the same time, Shino unconsciously reached out to take Kai’s hand, her expression full of worry. But to Shino’s surprise, Tomoko announced in a cheerful and determined voice.

“Take care, Kai! Salem and I will keep everyone safe here!”

“Moving alone is too risky.” Kamui Woods said seriously at that moment.

“For me, it’s actually more dangerous to move in a group. I have ways of moving unnoticed, but only when I’m alone.” Kai quickly replied in a cold tone as he took something from his belt and tossed it to All Might. As All Might caught the object, Kai explained.

“That’s a prototype detector for nearby life signatures. It’s not as good as Tomoko’s quirk, but it’s better than nothing.”

“Are you sure about this, Saito-shonen?” All Might asked seriously, since he honestly couldn’t think of any path that wouldn’t end in a deadly trap like before. Kai nodded with a serious look.

“Yes. No matter what happens, those spiders have to die today. We can’t give them any more time.”

“Does anyone have anything to say?”

All Might turned to look at the other heroes and asked in a calm tone. The other heroes remained silent while the Pussycats bit their lips in frustration. After a few seconds, All Might looked back at Kai and spoke in a serious tone.

“Then let’s do that.”

“Let me heal you first and give you some recommendations.” Kai said as he extended his hands toward Mirko and All Might, which lit up with a faint bluish glow.

“First, be very alert when it comes to webs. If you see webs nearby, avoid getting close. It’s highly likely that it’s a trap, because even though this place is full of spiders, webs are actually scarce.”

As Kai spoke, All Might and Mirko stepped forward so he could heal them. Meanwhile, Edgeshot couldn’t help but look at the heroes’ wounds, then at the armor worn by Chatora, Ryuko, and Tomoko, which showed signs of corrosion from the webs in several places. Finally, the ninja hero examined Kai’s black armor in detail. Though it had some traces of damage, they were minimal compared to the Pussycats’ armors.

“Secondly, be careful with your movements.” Placing his hands on the backs of Mirko and All Might, Kai continued his explanation.

“Conditional webs are reactive—in other words, they need a trigger to activate, and this is usually based on movement. Also, remember that your job is just to distract the spiders; avoid direct confrontations, don’t repeat tactics, and don’t stay in the same place for too long.”

Seeing the group of heroes nodding, Kai glanced at a screen on his helmet that displayed different routes and action plans proposed by Sage. After a quick look, Kai selected the ones he liked best and sent them to the Pussycats, while also looking back at the heroes to give his final warning.

***

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