The caras had recorded everything.
The drones that had been tracking the fight through the fire barrier caught the mont Akira's arm left his body.
It played on every screen. In the stadium. On televisions across the country. On phones, laptops, tablets. Millions of people watched a fifteen-year-old boy's arm get punched off his body by a monster that shouldn't exist.
For a mont, Japan was silent.
Then everyone watching scread.
Scread in pure horror. Thousands of people who had been watching a school tournant this morning, who had cheered for a blood oath and a railgun and a phoenix made of fire, were now watching a child be torn apart on live television.
Parents covered their children's eyes. Adults turned away. So couldn't look away, frozen by the sa instinct that makes people stare at car crashes.
In the VIP box, the world ended.
Honoka watched her son's arm separate from his body and her face went blank.
Then she moved.
She was at the door of the VIP box before anyone could react. She rushed at full speed. She tore the door open and was in the corridor, heading for the stairs, heading for the ground level, heading for the jungle.
Reika reached for her but missed. Momo was already following, her suit reactivating.
Jian stood up. i just entered the room, after disposing of the nomu.
Behind them, Nia was crying.
The cry of a child who had just watched her father lose his arm on a television screen and didn't understand why the adults around her were panicking, but understood, on so fundantal level, that sothing terrible had happened to the person she loved most in the world.
Wei held her tight. Na and Xiaoqing stood beside them, their faces pale.
Kiyomasa Yaoyorozu had not moved from his seat. His hands were gripping the armrests so hard that the leather had torn beneath his fingers. His face was stone. But his eyes were burning with anger.
Honoka reached the ground level in seconds. She ca through the stadium tunnel at a dead sprint, barefoot, her dress torn from catching on a railing, her hair wild. The exit to the campus grounds was fifty tres ahead. Beyond it, the jungle. Beyond the jungle, her son.
She made it thirty tres.
"Stop."
The voice ca from in front of her.
Six figures stepped out of the shadows of the tunnel. n and won in black coats, standing in a line that blocked the exit.
HPSC field operatives from Lieutenant Sato's team.
But Honoka didn't stop.
The first operative stepped forward with his hand raised. "Ma'am, we need you to-"
Honoka's fist connected with his jaw before he finished the sentence. The operative's head snapped sideways, and he hit the ground. The second operative moved to restrain her, reaching for her arm.
Honoka kicked him in the chest. The operative flew backward and hit the tunnel wall.
She kept moving. Two more operatives closed in from the sides. She dodged the first grab, but the second caught her wrist. She twisted, pulled, and almost broke free-
"Stop, or you will be arrested, Shuzenji."
The voice echoed through the tunnel.
"You are no longer a licensed hero. You have no legal authority to enter an active combat zone. Any further resistance will result in criminal charges."
Honoka stopped.
Not because the words scared her. Not because the threat of arrest ant anything to a woman who had just watched her son lose his arm. She stopped because she recognised the voice.
The line of operatives parted.
Madam President walked through the gap.
Honoka stared at her. The blank expression from the VIP box was gone, replaced by sothing that made several of the operatives take an involuntary step backward.
"What are you trying to do?" Honoka said. Her voice was trembling in rage.
"My job," Madam President replied. "Maintaining order during a crisis. Which includes preventing unauthorised civilians from entering an active villain engagent zone."
"My son is dying in the woods."
"Your son chose to engage a villain without authorisation. He created a fire hazard that has destroyed hectares of forest. He is currently operating outside any legal frawork that protects him. And when this is over — regardless of the outco — he will answer for it."
Footsteps echoed behind Honoka.
Momo burst through the tunnel entrance. She saw the operatives. She saw Madam President. She saw Honoka standing barefoot in the middle of a standoff.
"We need to go NOW!!" Momo yelled, her voice cracking. "He's hurt! He lost his arm! We have t-"
"You are not going anywhere," Madam President said, turning her gaze to Momo. "None of you are licensed heroes. None of you is authorised to intervene. Shuzenji should not be fighting, but he is, and when this is over, he will be taken into Commission custody."
"Custody?!" Momo's eyes widened. "He's FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE, and you're talking about CUSTODY?!"
"I'm talking about the law, Miss Yaoyorozu. Sothing your boyfriend seems to have little regard for."
Just then, another figure walked out of the tunnel.
i Lin.
She didn't rush. She didn't run. She walked calmly. Her claymore wasn't materialised, but the air around her was already vibrating.
She stopped beside Honoka and looked at Madam President.
"You think you can stop ?" i asked.
Madam President t her gaze without flinching.
"I know exactly how strong you are, Li i. Your combat assessnt is in our files. S-Class threat level. Warblade quirk. Trained under President Ming's direct supervision."
She paused.
"But you are on Japanese soil. Anything you do here — any act of aggression against Japanese governnt personnel, any interference with a sanctioned operation — will be answerable to the Chinese governnt. Your actions will have diplomatic consequences. For you, for your husband, and for the Asian Hero Support Association."
She tilted her head slightly.
"You wouldn't want to cause that kind of trouble. Would you?"
i stood there. Silent.
Because Madam President was right. And they both knew it. If i attacked Japanese governnt operatives on Japanese soil, it wouldn't just be her problem. It would beco Ming's problem. It would beco AHSA's problem. It would give every governnt in Asia ammunition to challenge Ming's authority, to call the organisation a threat, to do to AHSA what the Chinese governnt had tried to do years ago.
i couldn't move. Not without consequences that went far beyond this tunnel.
She stood still, and the frustration burned behind her eyes like a furnace with its door shut.
Finally, Jian Li reached the group.
He had put his gold glasses back on. His suit was slightly rumpled from the events of the day, but his posture was relaxed, his hands in his pockets.
He stopped beside i and Honoka.
"Let's calm down," he said, his voice smooth. "Everyone here wants the sa thing. Akira, to be safe."
He looked at Madam President.
"You want to maintain order. Understandable. You want the boy brought in. Also understandable. You have your protocols, your legal fraworks, your chain of command. All very proper."
He took a step forward.
"But right now, at this very mont, there is a fifteen-year-old child in that jungle with one arm, fighting a monster that has been specifically engineered to kill him. And you are standing here, blocking his mother from reaching him, while discussing custody and legal fraworks."
"So here's what's going to happen, Madam President. You are going to move your people. You are going to send your operatives into that jungle. And you are going to save Akira Shuzenji. Right now. Before we lose patience."
He held her gaze.
"And trust when I say — you do not want to see what happens when this group loses patience."
The area went silent.
Madam President looked at Jian for a while then turned and left.
"Lieutenant Sato," she said. "Redirect your teams to the jungle. Locate the combat zone. Prepare for extraction. The boy cos out alive."
With that said she began to walk toward the exit, her operatives falling in behind her.
Honoka moved to follow. Momo was right beside her, already running.
A hand caught Honoka's shoulder. Gentle but firm.
"You wouldn't be able to do anything," Jian said quietly. "And you know it."
Honoka stared at him. Her eyes were wet. Her body was vibrating with the need to move, to run, to reach her son.
"He's my child," she whispered.
"I know," Jian said. "And the best thing you can do for him right now is be here when he cos back. Not dead in a jungle because you ran into a fight you can't survive."
Honoka's face crumbled.
Momo stood beside her, tears streaming down her face, fists clenched. She wanted to rush to Akira. She wanted to launch herself into the sky and find him. Every cell in her body was screaming at her to move.
But Jian was right. And she knew it.
A voice ca from behind them.
"Relax."
i stood with her arms crossed.
"That brat won't go down that easily."
As I said... DAILY CHAPTERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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