—Foolish girl, water is the last resource you should turn to!— Gang Orca charged at the kunoichi's attack, heading into the torrent of water without any fear.
Soaked in his element, the Hero aimed his blowhole toward the sender of such fresh water and sent a powerful sonic wave.
Mei pulsed chakra into her limbs and leaped over the wave she had unleashed, running and agilely evading her opponent's attacks as more seals were woven with precision.
Inside, Gang Orca felt the fluctuations in the water. Ripples and vibrations he could perceive, seeping from the girl's body. Then Mei placed her hands on the water and the Hero's calm expression vanished.
Suddenly, the wave jolted and began to accelerate, changing its course according to the kunoichi's will and pulling Gang Orca away from the true objective of this exam: the civilians.
Very clever, the Hero recognized. But I still have the advantage here, Terumi.
—Is that so?— Mei questioned with a crooked smile.
Gang Orca lunged and shot toward the girl at high speed.
He reached her in a matter of two seconds, forcing the kunoichi to retreat to avoid the devastating punch.
A considerable portion of water exploded outward due to the power of the attack, and Mei frowned. Was this guy seriously going all out against her? Not that it bothered her, far from it.
Little by little, Mei dragged the Hero away from the battlefield of his gang and the other students, leaving a trail of splashes behind.
Gang Orca forced her to run and jump from side to side, lunging with his fists or his sonic waves.
—I told you, the water is not your ally, but mine!— the Hero bellowed, shattering what remained of the wave with a single blow directed at the ground.
Mei jumped, tracing an arc in the air before landing gracefully, unfazed by her opponent's power. —Let's put that to the test then— she suggested provocatively.
Gang Orca charged once more, but Mei did not move from her position.
She wove more hand seals and mobilized the chakra in her body, reaching out with her invisible touch to the surrounding puddles.
Suiton: Suiben.
A dozen water whips emerged from the puddles, shooting toward the opponent and binding his limbs.
The pull surprised Gang Orca, who did not expect mere liquid tendrils to be so resilient. His movement slowed and his charge was spoiled.
He adjusted his stance to send a sonic attack at the girl, but Mei beat him to it.
The kunoichi gathered water in her stomach while running toward the Hero in a chakra-fueled flash of speed. She brought a hand to her lips and let out a stream of water that she caught and brandished toward the Orca man before her.
Suiton: Ryūsui Muchi.
The dense water tendril, more durable than those temporarily restraining Gang Orca, cut through the air with a painful whistle just before lashing his head.
—Hnnhg!— Orca grunted, a jolt of pain throbbing just above his eyes. Mei did not stop there.
She spun, leaped, and danced around the trapped Hero, mercilessly whipping the area where his blowhole was located.
Straight-line marks crossed the opening from top to bottom, left to right, and diagonally, every attack focused on that specific area of his body.
—ENOUGH!!— Gang Orca roared, tearing apart the whips restraining him with a powerful tug. Just as wind, light, and heat could harm land-dwelling beings, there was no reason water couldn't damage him as well.
Mei suddenly stopped maintaining the other whips, causing the man to stumble from the abrupt disappearance of his bindings. She lunged at him, showing little fear of a more direct encounter.
Her Ryūsui Muchi cut through the air once more, spinning and lashing the Hero's unprotected back, sending searing waves of pain through him.
Suddenly, Gang Orca spun on his feet and slammed a punch into the ground, destabilizing the terrain Mei was agilely dancing across.
He seized the moment, firing his sonic wave at point-blank range. Mei was hit head-on and sent flying.
But while her head was spinning, her hands formed seven seals in a blur and snapped wide open, aiming toward the Hero.
Suiton: Ja no Kuchi.
Gang Orca was struck by another torrent, this time caught off guard and without a strong foothold due to his own attack on the terrain. He could not resist the momentum and was pushed back even further than before.
Mei landed roughly and rolled across the ground, her head buzzing and her skin getting scratched by the rocky terrain. She cursed the wretched cetacean, as her hair was filled with dirt in the process.
She tried to get up, finding the action surprisingly difficult. Something had happened to her ear, as her abnormally perfect sense of balance was now failing her miserably.
That didn't stop her from seeing her water serpent explode several meters away, with the Hero soaked and his clothes in tatters raising a fist threateningly.
—I've already proven my point. To hell with the cetacean— she thought with annoyance, kneading chakra in her stomach once more, but this time altering the nature transformation.
Gang Orca gently patted his head, wincing at the throbbing pain in the area of his blowhole. Emitting that sonic wave had hurt him too.
The Hero took a deep breath, realizing that holding back with this girl would have been stupid. Her reaction and movement speeds were not inferior to his own, and with restrictions in those areas, he would have been picked to the bone by those searing lashes.
He cast a quick glance in Ryūkyū's direction, seeing the woman's majestic figure being bombarded by explosions, ice spears, and a dense pillar of sand slamming into her skull.
—Looks painful— Gang Orca murmured, focusing his attention back on the kunoichi, only to find her almost in his face with a disdainful look and puffed-up cheeks.
The Hero's eyes widened, having not noticed the girl's approach. In fact, she had been more than fifty meters away and shouldn't have been able to cover that distance so quickly without him noticing.
Mei gave the Hero a shower of steam that was not pleasant at all.
*************************************************
Tetsumaru did not flinch at the flying figure flapping furiously in his direction. He was not frightened by the imposing frame, nor the sharp claws or the enormous fangs.
He remained calm, most of his attention directed at the Satetsu constructs the students were using to move the "critically injured," and those the long-range fighters used to protect him.
—I don't need your help, ugly eyes!— Bakugo spat, sending a massive explosion toward the construct lifting him into the air to propel himself toward the Heroine.
The blonde aimed and unleashed a powerful explosion beneath Ryūkyū, the resulting shockwave destabilizing her flight enough to alter her collision course with the shinobi.
Tetsumaru ignored Bakugo's friendly hostility, helping Todoroki reach a greater height until he was positioned right next to him.
—Blind her with fire, block her with ice. But be careful, you don't want to drop a glacier on the civilians' heads— the shinobi briefly instructed before turning his attention away from the combat. It wasn't his role yet.
Shoto nodded, acknowledging Tetsumaru's point. The boy fixed his gaze on the Heroine, who was already circling back toward their position in a wide, predictable arc.
Without warning, she flapped her wings forcefully and shot toward them once more.
Flames hissed around Shoto's arm and an incandescent stream burned the air in front of him, forming a dense, searing cloud.
Sure enough, the sea of flames prevented Ryūkyū from seeing the movement the Sand platform made. By the time she burst through the fire without much difficulty and lunged with her claws, the position of both had already changed.
Bakugo met her from the right side, reluctantly jumping between the floating masses of solidified Satetsu to avoid making a scene. Another massive explosion hit Ryūkyū in the side, pushing her through the air and scorching her scales.
On the left, Shoto bombarded the woman with a rain of ice spikes the size of hands. The small frozen constructs shattered unceremoniously upon impacting the Heroine's tough exterior.
—... When I said block her, I meant you should freeze the base of her wings, Shoto— Tetsumaru commented. —And if you want to deal real piercing damage, use denser spears, not those flying knives.
—I understand— Shoto nodded, slightly embarrassed.
But Ryūkyū was not going to wait around for another attack. She whipped her tail and destroyed the platforms closest to her position, forcing Bakugo to retreat.
Then she dove straight toward the makeshift medical aid stations.
—Tetsumaru!— Shoto called out, jumping into the void after the Dragoness.
Iron Sand tendrils chased the boy and wrapped around him, accelerating his fall and redirecting it to better aim at his target.
On the ground, the students and civilians looked up, seeing Ryūkyū's monstrous figure descending over their heads with her jaws wide open.
Unexpectedly, it was Mineta who reacted before most.
The little pervert froze for a second before a flash of determination crossed his eyes. He turned toward a tough guy from another school who had just lifted a piece of rubble twice his size.
—You, throw me now!— he pointed and ordered, his tone clear and leaving no room for doubt. The boy blinked and looked awkwardly between Ryūkyū and little Mineta, not understanding what he meant.
—Hurry up, damn it!— Mineta shouted, jumping onto the guy's chest. —Are you crazy!?— the young man asked, catching him in his arms anyway.
—Are you going to move or not!?— Exasperated, Mineta slapped the boy to make him react.
It seemed to work, as the boy with superhuman strength grabbed him by the belt and the collar of his costume, spun on his feet, and launched him into the air.
From above, Shoto threw a large concentration of ice that hit right at the base of one of Ryūkyū's wings, spreading rapidly across the entire limb.
From below, ascending like a cannonball, Mineta threw his Pop Offs and managed to weave an improvised chain along the wing-arm, sealing the fold that forms right under the armpit and briefly rendering that limb useless.
Ryūkyū calmly analyzed the children's efforts and nodded to herself in approval. It was clever, but they didn't fully think through what would follow.
Those who did were the examiners and the Help Company staff.
—Restraining the monster is one thing, but doing so while it is plummeting toward the civilians is a terrible decision— Ryūkyū said, her voice booming with a relaxed tone but loud enough to be heard in the vicinity.
—It was my decision, so it's not wrong— Tetsumaru said as he landed on the Heroine's back in a flash of movement that surprised both her and Shoto, who had not yet reached her.
Ryūkyū narrowed her eyes and flapped her wings, easily peeling off Mineta's pop offs and cracking Todoroki's ice without taking any damage. But it was already too late.
Having concluded the most critical rescue operations, with Gang Orca successfully led away by Mei and the Hero's henchmen easily subdued by the remaining fighters, Tetsumaru could now focus on the Dragoness.
The Satetsu poured out of the seals in two waves of darkness that imprisoned the wings again, solidifying into dense, thick rings that circled Ryūkyū's abdomen and pressed with crushing force, truly preventing her from moving.
Shoto was redirected by the Sand holding him and set about forming thick ice spears, firing them at the opponent without mercy.
Bakugo also descended, propelled by his explosions, and bombarded the Dragoness once more. The only one who didn't act was Mineta, whose eyes reflected the enormous maw plunging toward him.
When a Sand tendril moved to pick him up, he swatted it away with a kick. He opened his arms and closed his eyes, surrendering to fate with a solemn expression.
The old Mineta was gone, his attitude changed by the horrific experience he lived through at the Wild Wild PussyCats' Camp. However, a person could not simply stop being who they were so quickly.
Ryūkyū shook herself as best she could, trying to throw the shinobi off. She had been asked not to underestimate these children, especially him, but she had still been too gentle and would now pay the consequences.
Those consequences arrived in the form of a massive pillar of Satetsu that slammed into her head.