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The Good Life: The Games We Play (ch. 79)
🕑 Added 2025-02-14 15:52:46 +0000 UTCIt was difficult to put into words how I felt, and that was partly because of the physical whiplash of the transformation I went through. Moments ago, I had been at Death's door, one foot across the threshold and about to cross over entirely. Then, the next, I was stronger than I had ever been. Stronger than I could have ever conceived of being.
But, if I did have to put it into words, then I would say I felt… realized.
I had become the ideal version of myself, physically. I was perfected, even. I could feel the seemingly unending ocean of strength in my muscles, all of them sculpted until they reached an ideal state. I was taller too, not by much but enough to be noticeable. My senses all felt like they were dialed up to eleven, almost to the point that it was overwhelming. There was something else too.
I could feel their presence like a pressure on my skin, making every hair stand on end. That, I don't think was a result of my transformation. That, I think, was a result of my near death experience.
Speaking of which, another was on its way.
“I gotta say,” I began as I created a Room. It was one unlike any I had tried before, but it felt effortless as I created it inside of myself. I could feel exactly where the blow was coming, so when it finally arrived, I was able to Shamble it outside of my body. “The same trick only works so many times,” I said, the spikes appearing above my hand and enlarging as the attack was meant to be delivered. Rumi's expression tightened as she saw me casually toss aside what had been their trump card mere seconds ago, the metallic spikes dropping to the ground harmlessly.
With that, I pressed my mask to my face and, I had to admit, it felt pretty good to wear it again.
“All Might -- we missed our shot,” Rumi said, naming the walking mass of muscle. I perked up as that sounded like a hero name. “We gotta go to Plan B.”
“Unfortunate, but expected!” ‘All Might’ declared and I wore a savage grin under my mask. I suppose I would get to stress test my new body right out the gate. Even without my Haki, I saw every single muscle he had flex as he prepared to kick things off.
“I'll leave Rumi and Oden to you,” I told Yoruichi, who just shot me a thumbs up and a grin.
Then All Might and I moved. Sonic booms followed us as we clashed in the middle as I caught a blow in the palm of my hand. Or, tried to, at least. Kinda hard when his fists were the size of my head. It was a testing blow as I tried to get acquainted with my new body, feeling myself get blown away as he shifted the impact to send me flying up into the air.
Strength was hard to gauge, but I'm positive that he was at the very least on Homelander's level. Stronger most likely, as I felt the sound barrier break around me as I was sent arcing through the air. My palm felt a bit weird -- the impact felt like a bomb going off in my hand, but I only felt the sensation of force rather than any pain.
As I flew above the city, I saw that All Might hadn't knocked me in a random direction. The air above Piltover was being filled with drones -- hundreds of them. Thousands, even. They all faced me, and I could feel what Eraserhead was doing to me much better now that I wasn't actively dying. If my power was a door, then he was doing something to close it. Suppress it so I couldn't fully utilize my power. I could fight it, try to force the door to remain open, but that turned it into a struggle.
High above the city, my Haki felt sharper than ever. I could sense Sukuna fighting against someone, and they were tearing up Zaun without a care. I could sense Oden and Rumi start their own fight -- Rumi trying to match Yoruichi with speed and cover Oden, who tried to deliver some damage. More interestingly, I could sense some chaos happening at my factory as that green haired assassin girl was attacking Cinder alongside Starlight -- didn't see that coming. I thought Starlight had been broken beyond repair, so it was good to see she still had some fight in her.
“DETROIT!” All Might shouted, kicking the air underfoot to launch himself after me and angling it perfectly so he was above me. “SMASH!” He thundered, and I caught the blow once more as he sent me flying down to the ground so fast that my clothing started to burn up from the wind resistance. Again, he’d knocked me exactly where he wanted me -- a park on the fringe of the city, near the police academy.
I struck the ground like a meteor, a crater forming underneath me as a large plume of dust went up.
And I was completely fine. I did feel that impact a lot more, but in a… catching a fastball with a mitt kind of way. I shook my hand back and forth, getting some feeling back in it as All Might landed not far from me. He felt pretty weird too -- at first, I wondered if it was my Haki acting up, but I think it was just him. The guy had seven other presences that were attached to him. It was an interesting sight, because they all seemed aware.
“So, I gotta ask -- when exactly did Asami find you all? How long has she been cooking this up?” I asked, striding forward unbothered as I patted down the errant flames of my clothing. High above us was a makeshift dome of the drones that were all looking directly at me. The number of drones didn't seem to mean anything, though. But, I did notice that the drones were arranged around the radio towers that Asami put up -- she even prepared a whole ass arena just for me.
The radio towers did seem to amplify whatever Eraserhead was doing, though. So, I would need to do something about them.
“I don't see what that matters,” All Might said, and even his words had a little oomph to them. “What matters is that we are here to put an end to this cruel empire you have built!”
“I just wanted to give her the props she's due,” I said, throwing up my hands in a careless shrug. I started to form a Room, but Eraserhead kept shutting it down. That wasn't too bad, though. Everything about me had just been massively overhauled -- I needed to walk a bit before I could start running again. “But, fair enough. You got me where you wanted me, yeah? Show me what you got!”
“Gladly!” All Might declared before he moved in a blur of speed, rushing right for me. It wasn't so much that he was moving slow -- it was just that my eyes were better. My brain felt more responsive, processing the barrage of fists that were coming my way, and I could react faster in response. I ducked and weaved between the blows, the wind still washing over me like a physical blow that probably would have shattered bones had I still been a squishy human. My Haki felt sharp -- sharper than ever before as I clenched my fist.
With a mad grin, I found my opening and I lashed out, only for All Might to catch the blow with a forearm. His eyes narrowed sharply, his bright blue eyes glowing with intensity -- the punch hurt him. Not enough to break a bone, but enough to bruise, I think. Not bad considering that it had been raw strength and nothing else.
All Might was hardly deterred, “Very well then!” He decided, and I agreed as I stayed in the pocket. All Might clenched his fists and he started to throw hands. Every dodge had the displaced air striking the ground like a missile, sending up rubble and dust. And, if I wanted to stay close to him, I couldn't afford to dodge them all, so I was forced to block and counter as I returned my own blows right back at him.
My Haki gave me an edge, always ensuring that the near misses were still misses while every opening I sensed was punished. Only as the seconds went by, the near misses got even closer while there were fewer openings -- not because All Might was closing them, but he was simply overwhelming me. His punches sped up, becoming a dozen a second, to a hundred. Then two hundred. Then three. A low building roar was escaping him as the punches just got faster and faster until I had to abandon countering entirely.
It was a pretty solid rebuttal to my Haki, I decided as one of the punches broke through my guard and I found myself slammed into the ground, my body carving through solid stone like it was sand. The taste of blood covered my tongue as a Room sparked to life above one of my hands. All Might knew I wasn't down for the count so he pressed on, only to be forced to dodge as a chunk of earth raced by his head so fast that a sonic boom followed in its wake.
“Not bad!” I exclaimed as I emerged from the rubble, my mask cracked but still in place. Eraserhead was shutting down my power, but I could still use it. I just had to change how I used it.
A Room phased into existence around a chunk of rubble that was falling down. The rubble was no bigger than a fist, as was the Room that enveloped it. An Amp-Room that was stripped bare except for one thing -- acceleration.
The rock launched itself at All Might at high speeds, and instead of dodging, he punched the rubble which shattered across his fist. That same second, the Room popped as Eraserhead’s ability took effect. But, that was fine, I decided as I strode forward, doing something I had been trying to do for the better part of a year now without any effort.
Two Rooms formed, each one catching a piece of rubble that I launched at him. He struck them both, which sent shards of rock scattering behind him. Some of which managed to reach the drones that broke upon impact. It meant little as there were more to replace them, but it did give me a few ideas.
My power didn't feel stronger, but it felt more responsive. Things that I’d struggled with, made only incremental progress with, just enough to prove that it was possible… It felt like the emergency brake had been taken off my power so that I could finally slam my foot on the gas. I could make Rooms that I didn't have to be in and I could make more than one. Two felt like it was about my limit for now, but that was just for now.
“Not enough, villain!” All Might boasted as we clashed again. I could tell that he didn't particularly care for me sidestepping the restrictions, but he accepted it with what I could only suspect was a practiced ease. He was right about that, though -- some rocks thrown his way wouldn't change a thing.
So, I had to fight smart.
His fists rained down in blurs and I met them head on. The wind pushed away the dust and rubble from our clash, which was his intention to stop me from destroying more drones. But, I had another use for my Rooms. Seconds passed before I saw my opportunity and I went in for a punch to the liver. All Might seemed to accept the blow in exchange for delivering one of his own -- an overhead hook that probably would have punched me to the center of Runeterra.
Had it landed.
A… Mini-Room appeared exactly where I intended to punch a split second before the blow was delivered. It amped the impact and All Might grunted, telling me that he felt that one.
Despite taking a liver shot, All Might just ate it -- the slight hitch in the flow of his punches was the only sign that he felt it and he just soldiered on. Still felt it though, which told me exactly what I needed to do. I shifted my footing and I forced All Might to give chase, taking the defensive as I made to break out of the arena. I didn't expect to -- All Might was boxing me out like a champ, but he couldn't build up momentum like he did before when he was forced to react to me.
The park was soon transformed into an utter hellscape as All Might gave chase, following a half step behind me every step of the way. We clashed constantly, trading what felt like a hundred blows a second and I laid my plan out. More rubble was sent flying, and I took shots at All Might to get a reaction. And he had to react, else he knew I'd start whittling away at the drones or start targeting those radio towers.
Breaking his tempo stopped me from getting overwhelmed, and I met him blow for blow -- I changed how I used my Mini-Rooms, sometimes using them to deliver a punishing punch, and other times I used it to enhance a blow that was blocked, just to keep him guessing. As I did so, I laid the foundation for my victory.
My Mini-Rooms had to be within my line of sight, so it was a bit tricky to manage. A chunk of stone was compressed in the split second that I had before the Room was destroyed by Eraserhead. Before it was, I discovered a second trick -- I could Shamble stuff between the Mini-Rooms, which did make the trick a bit easier to pull off. With each Room, I added more stone to the mass as it was compressed, generating a searing heat that had to be released.
Little by little, I prepared my silver bullet as massive chunks of stone were pressed into a diamond bullet the size of a baseball. The moment it was ready, I changed my tactics once more, backing off completely as I formed my Mini-Rooms as fast as I could make them to send a barrage at All Might. The man glowered at me as I attempted to overwhelm him with a constant bombardment of rubble aimed his way as much as it was the drones.
I was shaving their numbers down, little bit little, forcing the drones to spread out for maximum coverage. There was an opportunity there, if I kept chipping away at them.
“Your petty tricks are meaningless, villain!” All Might boasted, planting his feet like a champion and started throwing hands. The air pressure from his fists smashed into my rubble bullets, destroying them in midair. I was grinning like a loon -- what an absolute lad. I loved it.
“That so?” I taunted, springing my trap. A Mini-Room formed near All Might, but he only reacted to it when the diamond bullet was shambled there. With a crack of the sound barrier, the bullet took off and despite being at point blank range, All Might still managed to react. He shifted, turning a blow that would have punched through his chest into one that tore through his side in a spray of blood.
All Might winced, a hole in his side, but that was the only reaction he gave. “Yes. They are meaningless!” All Might declared, unbothered by missing half a liver and just chased me down like a bloodhound that had caught a scent. “Do you think something like this could hope to defeat me!? When there are so many lives at stake, entire worlds that hang in the balance!? Heartless, I will stop you here or I will die in the attempt!”
The little speech stirred something in me. It felt like a jolt of lightning racing down my spine and every hair stood on end. Meanwhile, All Might flexed and kicked up a hurricane force wind that cleared any dust or debris. The bleeding at his side stopped with what I could only imagine was sheer force of will.
He meant it. He was determined to stop me even at the cost of his own life.
“You really are a hero, huh?” I said, my tone far too casual for what the words meant to me. It felt like something had clicked inside of my chest and I just couldn't stop smiling.
“I am a Symbol of Peace,” All Might declared. “So that any who might look upon me can have hope!” He clenched his jaw as he beheld me with a stern gaze, “Asami has told me of your world and your actions against the heroes of your home. She has told me what they were. A hero is a promise to all that cry out into the night that I will be there!”
He took a step forward, “That is why I have answered the call sent forth by Asami, along with so many other heroes that seek to put an end to your twisted games!” He continued and my shoulders shook. Sincerity dripped from his words that were filled with righteous anger.
This guy…
He was a Superhero. A true, genuine superhero. He was exactly what I had imagined Homelander to be in my dreams, when I first put on the mask. This was the confrontation that I had hoped for back in my own world.
Oh, Asami. You made my dream come true.
Something bubbled up from my chest, and it wasn't just laughter. The air became heavy with something that I didn't know how to describe -- it was filled with this, just… weight. The ground cracked around me from the force of it as I threw my head back and laughed so hard that it hurt. Around me, something sparked to life. A black lightning that was twinged with red slammed into the ground, sending up rubble and dust while the sky above began to twist, the clouds darkening, like they were drawn to something.
It was familiar to me, even if I didn’t really know what it was. I had a taste of it back when Oden first confronted Sukuna.
“Put an end to my games?” I echoed, laughter spilling from my lips. My voice sounded manic to my own ears. Elated. This was it. This was what I had been missing. Conquest for the sake of conquest was fun and all, but this? This right here? This was something I hadn’t felt since I fought Homelander for the final time.
“But look at all the fun I’m having!” I shouted as the world seemed to tremble at the words while lighting began to fall like rain.
…
“Conqueror's Haki?” Oden, now named Yamato once Rumi had called out her name once during the fight, tensed. Yamato looked up to the sky and it was something that Yoruichi allowed, just so she could steal a glance up as well -- Law was unleashing some crazy spiritual pressure. Or something like it. It was the same thing that Yamato used, only… sharper. More intense. It felt like the difference between a regular Captain and Old Man Genocide himself.
Whatever it was, it was so potent that the world seemed to react to it. Pitch black clouds formed overhead as lightning fell. All throughout the city, people were dropping like flies from the feeling of an oppressive presence bearing down upon them.
It actually got a grin out of Yoruichi -- this was a step above what she had expected from Law. Because something like this couldn't come from a serum. This was all Law.
“How bad is that?” Rumi asked, her dark skin covered in a sheen of sweat while she controlled her breathing. The three of them stood on separate rooftops, most of their fight happening in the air or through the alleys below. They were keen on preventing any collateral damage during the fight, and she allowed it. Mostly because she didn't need to hide behind hostages.
Yamato shifted her weapon as the air around her plunged down to an icy chill, a mantle of mist forming around her shoulders while her face shifted to almost animalistic features. “It's as bad as it can get,” she answered. Seems like whatever Law was doing shook her up. It also tapped into some deep seeded issue inside of her because the resolve shining in her eyes was entirely too intense for someone who hadn't even had a conversation with Law.
Rumi tsked, “He's seriously such a pain in the ass.” She groused, and Yoruichi just smirked.
“Speaking from experience?” She teased, making Rumi blanch.
“What? No- Fuck you!” Rumi spat in her direction, her cheeks heating up adorably. Rumi was fun to tease. Not quite as fun as Soi-Fon, but a close second. “He never came near my ass!” Yoruichi's smirk grew a fraction and Rumi scowled while flipping her the bird. “Grow up! Aren't you, like, a hundred years old or something?”
“Or something,” Yoruichi replied, placing a hand on her hip and cocking it. “And aren't you two in a rush? Can you really afford to be taking it this easy?” She needled just enough to hurt as Rumi narrowed her eyes into slits.
She’d taught the woman Flash Step on a whim, but Rumi wasn't half bad with it. Especially since she was still amongst the living. She made do with her Quirk, adapting the foot technique enough that it was still recognizable. She had been pressed hard during their bouts, covering for Yamato, who attacked with all the strength that she could muster. She came pretty close a couple of times too -- that Haki stuff helped balance the scales a bit more in their favor. Not enough, of course. But some.
Yet, neither of them fought with raw desperation. They were fighting hard, but not so hard that it told Yoruichi that they didn't have a card up their sleeve. They didn't feel like they were giving everything that they had and then some.
“You're not wrong. No way am I going to let All Might finish the job without getting some licks in,” she decided and Yamato tensed. Rumi reached into a satchel that was attached to the small of her back near the fluffy bunny tail. She took out a pressurized injector from it, one of which she tossed to Yamato.
Yoruichi's eyes narrowed a fraction as she recognized the fluid in the injector. No- it wasn't identical in hue, but it was close. “Asami has been a sneaky thing,” she observed, realizing what it was.
The serum that Law had the Institute producing.
“Wasn't so hard,” Rumi boasted with a grin as she popped the cap. “Law and those egg heads in the Institute were so damn confident that the Synths were just a bunch of machines…” She teased and Yoruichi hummed. She’d had qualms about that as well, ever since she learned that the Synths could produce a soul. An artificial one, certainly, but that was more than what a toaster should have, as Law described them.
Rumi pressed the injector to her neck alongside Yamato, and with a hiss, the fluid within rushed into their veins. She watched them dispassionately, taking the moment to think. From how that sounded… it sounded a lot like the Synths were working against the Institute. Meaning that this little conflict wasn't just happening here.
It could be happening everywhere.
A moment passed before the transformation began and now she wasn't so distracted by Law nearly dying, she was admittedly curious on what the transformation looked like. The answer was that it was fast and sudden -- Rumi and Yamato both lurched where they stood, gritting their teeth against the pain as their bodies shifted.
Their skin seemed to crawl as their muscles shifted underneath while their bones popped and cracked. Rumi snarled through the pain, her canines growing just a tad sharper while she grew an inch or two. Her quirk had already shaped her heavily with powerful legs, but the serum seemed to perfect both her Quirk and her body to use it.
Yamato's transformation was harsher, as she put on a noticeable amount of muscle and grew even taller. She nearly crushed the hilt of her weapon in her palm as she took a step forward before unleashing an animalistic howl. A challenge to Law as much as it was to Yoruichi.
The entire process took about a minute and Yoruichi gave it to them, meeting their gaze with a dispassionate one of her own. There was a foreign anger in their eyes that told Yoruichi that the serum they took hadn't been the complete version that Law had used.
“Well, I've been pretty generous to let you power up, huh?” Yoruichi noted before she cracked her neck. “So… do me a favor in return, would ya'?”
The tension swelled between them, but it was Rumi and Yamato that couldn't take it and snapped into action.
“Don't die too quickly.”
Comments
Readm
I don't know how I feel about Rumi and Yamato dosing. But the rest of the chapter was amazing
Readm
Eraserhood's power doesn't work through a screen he has to be looking at you in person
Bud
loved it.
Anh Duy Ly
Bro, I must have given you hundreds over the years...and the shit you keep putting out is still worth every cent.
Picklix
fr fr. Peak literature.
fireball77
It's just so peak 🥲
