[Perfect, I'm on my way.]
After responding, Kai once again became covered in purple electricity and shot off in the monster's direction, unleashing a powerful electric shock that managed to carbonize dozens of spiders. Since he had moved away from the Drider to draw in the spiders. All while cutting down anything in his path, causing a literal rain of spider blood and entrails to pour down, until he finally reached his target.
Upon arriving, Kai quickly switched the grip of the sword in his right hand to a reverse one, then began spinning around himself at high speed in a motion perpendicular to the ground. His purple lightning intensified, crackling more violently and greatly increasing in thickness and size, reaching all the way to the ground.
"Thunder Guillotine."
After spinning for a few seconds, Kai stopped, and taking advantage of the large amount of Haki, electric aura, and accumulated kinetic energy, he unleashed a devastating, jet-black circular slash crackling with purple electricity. This almost instantly reached the monster's back, neatly cutting the humanoid portion in half vertically.
"It's still not dead…?"
Feeling the Drider's 'voice', which, although incredibly weakened and fragile, was still there, Kai couldn't help but ask in utter shock, as the monster fell in two pieces on opposite sides. At that moment, he saw how the exposed, charred flesh of the monster writhed in a strange manner, as though trying to regenerate, making a chill run down his spine. This prompted Sage to comment with an equally shaken voice.
"This is the first time we've recorded such an event, Master. That thing's brain should be fried and cut in half… it's likely we need to eliminate every last trace of it to truly kill it…"
"…These 'spiders' are truly terrifying… Sage, try capturing it now." Still filled with shock, Kai couldn't help but speak, to which the beautiful fairy nodded, then switched to her guard's uniform and approached to touch the monster.
"… Alcatraz still isn't activating, Master. It seems that even in this state, it's not considered 'defeated'." After a few moments, touching the monster, Sage turned to look at her master and spoke in a grim tone.
"Damn monstrosity… Sage, make a reminder to study Alcatraz's properties again from scratch. It's highly likely we've missed something."
Visibly irritated, Kai spoke while he leapt into the air, dodging dozens of spider attacks filling the area, ranging from energy rays to spit or fireballs, with some of them pouncing toward him with sharpened legs extended. At that moment, he made his right-hand sword disappear to point his open palm at the Drider.
"It'll be at the top of the priority list."
Sage answered in a serious tone, while a large purple glow formed in front of Kai's extended palm, quickly turning into a sphere that compressed to about the size of a basketball. Then, the blue-eyed youth spoke in a loud, powerful voice.
"Big Bang Attack!"
With Kai's announcement, the energy sphere shot off at great speed toward the Drider on the ground, striking it dead-on. A blinding purple flash filled the area, at the same time a brutal explosion occurred, creating an even larger spherical flash, which then vanished into nothingness, revealing an ominous mushroom-shaped column of smoke rising into the air.
"Finally dead… but the Big Bang Attack is too expensive…"
Breathing heavily, Kai spoke under his breath, his voice ragged. Although the Big Bang Attack cost less than his Kame Hame Ha, it was still by far one of his most expensive attacks. But because he wanted to vaporize every last bit of the Drider as quickly as possible, he hadn't had many options other than using an attack that was supposed to be a last resort.
But just as Kai was relaxing from having taken down such a dangerous opponent, a sudden furious roar filled the air, a roar so powerful it made the very air vibrate. This created a mighty gust of wind that sent Kai flying as though he were a leaf in the wind.
Visibly shocked, Kai could only stare wide-eyed toward where the roar had come from, since he couldn't sense anything in that direction with his Observation Haki. That meant only one of two things: either it was too far away, or it had some ability to hide from his Haki.
It didn't matter which was true, because in either case, whatever roared could not be weaker than the Drider he had just killed using large amounts of his aura. That realization only left a bitter smile on his face, right as the Magnetic Force card appeared in his hand.
(It looks like it's time to run…)
While the monster's roar caused havoc on the island, Kai used his Observation Haki to sense his surroundings while kicking the air to stop himself from being tossed around, and he realized the spiders' speed had greatly increased; they were approaching him in a straight line as though their lives depended on it.
But what was even more terrifying was that, through Trace, Kai sensed one of the original five spiders—which hadn't moved from the start—was heading toward him at a maddening speed just slightly slower than his own, coming from outside his range of perception.
"This is friggin' crazy. Now I've really stirred up the hornet's nest…"
"Indeed, Master. The best option now is to flee to recover your strength. Your current state isn't right for fighting such a powerful entity, along with that army of spiders."
Sage spoke in a solemn tone while she looked at her master with a worried expression. All the while, Kai merely steadied himself in the air with a blank expression, gripping the Magnetic Force card tightly in his hand. This prompted her to add hurriedly, with some urgency in her voice.
"Master, you only need a couple of hours to recover enough aura and Haki to face them. We can always stay right at the edge of the mist and keep watch, or even call All Might for backup. The best decision now is to flee."
"… You're right… that's for the best."
Wearing the same blank expression, Kai spoke softly while raising the Magnetic Force card. Yet, his mind couldn't stop churning over thoughts of his family, especially the girls—everyone heroes, all with a natural vocation for helping strangers. Inevitably, that made him wonder how they would feel if these spiders attacked other countries or even Japan itself, for no matter what reasoning he used, it would be his fault.
Those spiders seemed to have a way to get through the storm without much trouble. So if they left the island and spread out, even he, with all his power and abilities, wouldn't be able to wipe them all out—assuming he didn't die fighting these monsters that rivaled him. After all, he wasn't certain there were only the one he killed and the one that roared. For all he knew, there could be a factory churning out such monsters somewhere on the island—an alarming power that he, and only he, had triggered.
If he hadn't come, or if he had at least waited one more day—maybe even just a few more hours—he wouldn't have directly fought the spiders, which seemed to be in a dormant state. They had likely been on that island for a long time without venturing out. So if not for his intervention, there would've been ample time to prepare. And if his theory that these things only appear when Midoriya becomes strong enough was true, then his sin would be even greater.
Therefore, would the heroes of his family—or better yet, his girlfriends and the people he was supposed to spend the rest of his life with—be able to smile and accept that his actions caused unprecedented destruction and the deaths of thousands or more? The answer was simple: they wouldn't. Some might try to soften it, refrain from blaming him, or even look the other way, but the elephant in the room was too large to ignore.
Their relationship would be brutally affected, not only romantically, but even their years of friendship and camaraderie would be thrown away. His foolish choice to save a complete stranger just because she looked a lot like someone from his past life would end up not only condemning their relationship, but potentially leading to an unprecedented global crisis.
"Master!! We have to go now, they're getting too close!"
Seeing that he had raised the card but wasn't activating it, Sage couldn't help but press him with a voice full of concern. Though the roaring had stopped, a presence no weaker than the previous Drider entered her perception range. At that, Kai could only exhale heavily, burdened with countless emotions but, curiously, not regret for saving a stranger and her little child—only a lack of will to accept the disastrous outcome.
"Alright, let's go. Help me calculate when we exit the mist; I don't want to go too far. [Magnetic Force] On! [Home]!"
With the card activated, a sphere of light enveloped Kai and shot downward toward the ground. But only a few seconds later, he suddenly felt a strong tug, causing him to open his eyes in astonishment. The sphere of light forcibly deactivated, and he was dragged through the air back to the island at high speed. Instantly, Kai activated Gyo in his eyes.
"Of course they weren't going to just let me leave so easily…"
Observing the ghostly web that pierced his chest, Kai couldn't help but comment ironically to himself, feeling shaken inside. Not only had he failed to sense that web invading, he hadn't even felt danger, nor had his future vision activated—if it had been a lethal blow, he'd be dead already. But his remark didn't sit well with Sage, who urgently and with visible panic replied.
"Master!! We're heading straight toward that enormous 'voice'. We have to do something! You're in no condition to fight an opponent like that right now!!"
"Calm down, Sage. Most likely these webs are those 'conditional webs' I theorized about. And just like my aura, it must have exploitable weaknesses. Even that initial roar might have been the activation condition, or maybe it was the hit I took from the Drider. In any case, we just have to study it a bit to figure out how to break them."
While summoning his two swords in his hands, Kai spoke in a calm, measured tone. His purple electric aura reactivated, and arcs of lightning danced around him once more, which seemed to calm the beautiful fairy. She quickly nodded and spoke as her wings glowed in different colors, like a kaleidoscope.
"You're right, Master. We just need to identify the specific traits of the web. I'll use all my computational power to figure it out!"
"I trust you."
Kai responded calmly, keeping his gaze on the monster that was pulling him, which turned out to be another Drider. Unlike the previous one, however, this one looked smaller and more 'feminine', with a much slimmer and more streamlined humanoid upper body—even having breasts—but equally monstrous. It had multiple red eyes on its head and what seemed like an exoskeleton instead of skin.
Another important difference was that this new female Drider had no small 'legs' on her back, and her fingers were long and sharp, almost like rapiers, while her spider abdomen was bigger and longer.
The moment Kai laid eyes on the female Drider, she looked back at him. She then contorted her spider-like lower body in a bizarre way, causing her huge abdomen to point straight at him from underneath her body, and started firing what appeared to be massive web bullets.
Knowing these webs were no joke, Kai quickly sent flying slashes to intercept them, cleanly cutting them in half. As a result, some expanded and hardened, while others began to release a strange smoke, and one even let out small electric sparks.
"She really can do anything with those webs…" Kai muttered with a bitter smile as he watched the varied set of attacks, then noticed with Gyo that the ghostly web on his chest was disappearing, prompting him to comment with some interest.
"It looks like there really are conditions, and by dragging me back here, the condition was fulfilled, and it vanished. But the question is, will it automatically reactivate when I try to escape, or is it a one-time use? Given the way they used it to try to keep Eva and Oliver here, that doesn't seem to be the case…"
"I'm taking note of that, Master." Sage quickly added with a solemn tone, her wings still gleaming in different colors, as Kai kicked the air to dodge several webs sent by the 'female Drider'.
***
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