Chapter 346: Come At Me Bruv (3)
[Third Person Pov]
The gymnasium had transformed into a battlefield of flashing quirks and raw determination. What began as scattered challenges had become an all-out war, yet Tony still stood at the center of it all, barely winded and radiating confidence.
Angel descended from above like a divine missile. Multiple glowing halos spun around her fingers and settled like radiant knuckle-dusters, and her fists blazed with star-like brilliance. She crashed down with tremendous force, the impact cratering the floor where Tony had stood only a heartbeat earlier. At the last possible second, Tony executed a perfect somersault backward, using the explosive shockwave and blast from her landing to propel himself further away and create much-needed distance.
He didn’t hesitate. Tony launched forward immediately with a powerful kick aimed straight at her midsection. Angel reacted instantly, forming a tight, compressed halo directly in front of her body like an impenetrable shield. The force of Tony’s kick met the glowing barrier with a resounding clang of energy. Instead of breaking through completely, he used the resilient halo as a springboard, launching himself high into the air. From above, he unleashed a blistering series of three fast kicks directly to her face—each one landing with precision and escalating force. The final kick sent Angel collapsing hard to the ground, her halos flickering erratically as she groaned in pain.
At the same moment, Vale—a tan-skinned girl with elegant wind markings swirling across her arms and cheeks—began waving her hands in wide, graceful arcs. Dark storm clouds rapidly gathered overhead, swirling with ominous energy. Simultaneously, the monstrous form of the twins, Mandy and Lenny, lumbered forward. Its massive jaw opened wide as crackling energy condensed into a single, blinding point at the center of their maw. With a deafening roar, they unleashed a devastating beam of raw power straight toward Tony.
Tony leaned all the way back in an acrobatic bridge, supporting his entire body with just one hand planted firmly on the ground. The beam screamed overhead, missing him by inches and scorching the air. In one fluid twist, he spun his body into a powerful kick that snapped the monster’s head violently to the side, redirecting the beam straight toward a boy who had been waiting for the perfect moment to intervene.
Henry’s eyes widened and glowed with intense light as he activated his quirk—Solar Flare. A brilliant beam of concentrated solar energy erupted from his palms, colliding violently with the twins’ attack in a spectacular explosion of light and heat that lit up the entire gymnasium.
Seizing the opening, Tony leaped nimbly over the monster’s broad back and delivered a lightning-fast, powerful karate chop to the thick neck of the combined form of the twins. The strike landed with devastating accuracy, causing the massive creature to shudder, collapse heavily to the ground, and finally come undone in a flash of light. Mandy and Lenny reappeared separately, both sprawled out and dazed.
Vale wasted no time. She unleashed thunderstrike after thunderstrike, lightning bolts slamming into the ground with crackling fury wherever Tony had been standing moments before. Violent winds howled around her, whipping up debris and launching sharp gusts of cutting air. Yet Tony moved with almost inhumane agility—dancing, weaving, and flipping between the strikes as if the storm itself was nothing more than background music. Jaime and Rudy tried to press the attack from behind while simultaneously dodging Henry’s sweeping optic blasts that lit up the chaos in bright flashes of lights.
Tony suddenly dropped into a low crouch, fists pulled back and then he lunged forward at superhuman speed, passing his three opponents in the blink of an eye. His strikes landed so quickly they were nearly imperceptible—only the sound of impact and the way bodies staggered revealed what had happened. He slowed to a dramatic pose once he was past the fray, sweat splashing dramatically from his body as he shouted, "Power!"
His sharp eyes then shifted toward Vale. She felt an icy shiver race down her spine the moment his predatory gaze locked onto her.
The storm clouds above grew even more ferocious. Lightning visibly swam through the dark masses like living serpents, growing louder and brighter with every passing second. The electric charge in the air was so intense that everyone’s hair stood on end. Vale swung her arm downward with a fierce growl. A blinding flash erupted, followed by a deafening crackling boom as a massive lightning bolt crashed down directly toward Tony.
The blast wrecked a wide section of the gym floor, scorching the ground black and sending cracks spiderwebbing outward. Vale’s breath hitched in anticipation—but Tony had already flash-stepped directly in front of her. She desperately summoned a dense storm cloud as a shield right before her body. Tony’s fist shattered the cloudy barrier causing it to disperse. His punch rocketed forward and slammed into her stomach with terrifying force. His muscles visibly flexed with the impact, lifting Vale clean off her feet. Spit flew from her mouth as her eyes rolled white. She crashed back to the ground, clutching her midsection and curling into a ball.
Tony slowly exhaled, brushing his hair back with both hands in one smooth motion. Every line and contour of his sculpted muscles stood out under the bright gym lights, making him look like a living Greek god carved from marble and sweat.
Only three students remained standing.
Tess, a freckled brown-haired girl whose quirk allowed her to stretch her body like rubber, stared wide-eyed at Tony’s physique. Beside her stood Mark, a tall, quiet boy whose quirk let him split his body into a murder of crows, and Eric, who watched calmly.
Both boys noticed Tess audibly gulp while her gaze remained locked on Tony’s bare, muscular torso. When she realized they were staring at her, she snarled defensively, "Oh bite me! Like he doesn’t look like a modern-day Adonis. I bet you if he was a shirtless hot babe you would be no better than me! Don’t judge me for who I am!"
Tony chuckled from across the gym, clearly having overheard the compliment. "Thanks for the kind words. So... Do you three really want to do this? You don’t have to if you don’t really want to"
Mark didn’t reply with words. Instead, he slowly began breaking apart, his body dissolving into a swirling murder of black crows that cawed loudly as they dashed toward Tony from every direction. Tony’s multiple fists and hands became a whirlwind of precise strikes, knocking down bird after bird as they tried to peck and claw at him from every possible angle. The flock searched desperately for a blind spot but found none. Eventually, the crows regrouped at a safe distance, reforming into Mark. He rested his arms above his knees as it sat on the ground, breathing heavily, and simply said, "I give up. I can’t be bothered... and I really don’t like getting injured."
"Lazy coward!" Tess snapped at him. She stretched her limbs like powerful springs and launched herself forward like a human slingshot, hurtling straight at Tony.
Tony waited patiently until she was close, then slapped both his open palms sharply over her ears with perfect timing. The discombobulating impact sent her reeling. She collapsed to the ground, clutching both ears and cursing loudly while her body wobbled uncontrollably. Without proper balance or coordination, she couldn’t stretch or activate her quirk effectively.
Tony smirked. "Looks like it’s just you and me, cuzzo."
Eric nodded calmly and sighed while he reached for his glasses. "Looks like it." He removed them and handed them carefully to Mark to hold. Mark sighed and advised, "You should probably give up. Even if you have gotten strong you can’t win against that monster"
"I don’t want to," Eric replied evenly. His body suddenly glowed with a vibrant aura as he activated his psychic reinforcement. In the next instant, he vanished in a purple blur.
Tony vanished as well in a matching blur of incredible speed. The two met in the middle of the gym in a spectacular clash. They exchanged a fast, fashionable series of martial arts moves—punches, kicks, blocks, and counters flowing like a well-choreographed dance. At first, it looked like a perfect tie in strength and speed, but Tony gradually began to overwhelm with superior technique. He redirected every one of Eric’s fists and kicks with effortless precision, then countered with a blistering series of his own attacks that sent Eric stumbling backward.
Eric survived the onslaught by rapidly increasing his durability, his body hardening under the psychic reinforcement. Tony raised an eyebrow, clearly impressed yet still in control. Eric was visibly disheveled now but still holding on with fierce determination. They engaged in another rapid exchange of moves before Tony suddenly appeared directly in front of him and locked him into a tight, unbreakable headlock. His powerful arms wrapped securely around Eric’s neck, one hand gripping his opposite forearm.
Eric struggled desperately—twisting, pulling, and trying every escape technique he knew—but Tony’s hold was impossible to break. Eric’s face turned first red, then a deeper shade of purple as oxygen became scarce. Finally, unable to take it any longer, he started frantically tapping out on Tony’s arm.
Tony immediately released him. Eric collapsed to the ground, gasping for air and wheezing heavily as he clutched his throat.
Tony turned casually toward the sidelines where Momo and Melissa were still watching. "Hey, what’s the time?"
Momo glanced at her phone. "Three minutes."
Tony clicked his tongue in mild disappointment and gave Eric a soft, almost playful push down with the sole of his foot. "If it wasn’t for you holding out, it would’ve been under a minute."
Eric could only glare up at him while still holding his neck, trying to catch his breath.
Tony threw his head back and laughed boisterously, the sound echoing through the now-quiet gymnasium. All around him, the rest of the students lay sprawled across the floor—groaning, swaying unsteadily, or slowly pushing themselves up while nursing various bruises and sore spots. The once-pristine gym floor was covered in scorch marks, cracks, craters, and scattered debris from the intense battle.
Yet Tony stood tall in the center of it all, sweat-slicked muscles still gleaming, that signature manic grin never having left his face for long.
********************************************
+31 advance Chapters on: patreon.com/Shadow_D_Monarch3