This Thing A Quiet Madness Made

Chapter 22

The three intruders launched in different directions as chaos spread through the arena in an instant. The few dozen teachers that had been on the sidelines thus far raced down in front of the frenzied students, shouting for them to stay back as they chased after the villains.

"Do not engage!" Aizawa yelled behind him as he intercepted the redheaded boy who lunged at a group of Ketsubutsu students. He caught his arm and threw him away from the group before charging at him, his eyes pulsing red as his quirk activated.

"Damn pros, always getting in the way," the redhead sneered, ducking Aizawa's fist and countering with his own. "Luckily for me, I don't need my quirk to beat you, unlike some people," he muttered under his breath as he dodged a series of blows, aiming a kick at the man's chest.

Aizawa caught his leg and harshly twisted around it, using it as leverage to swing himself up and bringing his knee sharply towards the back of his neck. The boy ducked and grabbed Aizawa's arm, flinging him over his head. He landed on his feet a few meters away and quickly charged at him once again, reactivating his quirk.

"We have to move! We need to get out of the way!" Yaoyorozu shouted, grabbing her friends and pulling them behind her as she hastily ran towards the raised bleachers. The group she had been with, Midoriya's group, and a few other 1-A students quickly followed without a word, bewilderment and fear etched into their panicked faces. They were nearly swallowed by the mass of other students desperately racing towards the outer ring, and by the time they reached the top of the raised seating, Yaoyorozu glanced behind her to find herself separated from the rest of her classmates.

Shrieks ripped through the bleachers as an enormous blast of blue fire shot across the arena. Everyone instantly fell to the ground as the scorching flames tore past them, mere inches above their heads. The sudden heat knocked the air from their lungs, and had it been any closer, they wouldn't have escaped so easily.

"Watch your aim, stitches," Unknown clicked her tongue as she glanced at the boulder flying towards her, instantly shattering it to pieces as she spiked the pressure on the face of the stone.

"Thanks for the advice, princess," he replied dully, jumping back to dodge a punch before sending an arc of fire at the four pro-heroes surrounding him.

Unknown leapt in the opposite direction as an enormous fist smashed into the ground where she stood only moments ago. Her eyes flicked to a large chunk of fallen metal below and quickly lifted it to meet her foot mid-air, shifting her weight backward to stand on it. She glanced down to see a whale-like humanoid charging at her. If she recalled correctly, he was one of the higher-ranked heroes: Gang Orca, was it?

"What are you doing here?" he shouted gruffly as he leapt up, swinging a clawed fist at her just as she pulled back, smoothly dodging the hit. She raised the slab of metal underneath her further into the air and out of his reach, eyes already scanning languidly over the figures encircling her below.

There were five in total: all pro-heroes, she assumed, though she didn't recognize any aside from Gang Orca. Just like the rest of them, they wore expressions of confusion, determination, and most familiarly, fear. One woman with pale hair quickly brandished an immaterial whip, unfurling it and snapping it at her. The thin leather tip would have left a painful mark had she not quickly knocked it from its course with a pulse of pressurized air. Once the tail slowed enough for her eyes to focus on it, she unbalanced the pressures on the surface of the glowing leather, making it tear itself from the woman's hand. Ignoring her shouts of protest, Unknown tossed it somewhere far over her shoulder.

She looked down as she noticed the air begin to ripple unnaturally in front of her. Her eyes followed the disturbance and again landed on Gang Orca, and all of a sudden, her muscles stiffened against her will.