Back inside of the gym, 15 minutes ago, 20 seconds after Dante left.
Kaijin stood at the back, cleaning a bench press with a towel, humming something old and half forgotten.
The chime of the door rang, a soft, high pitched ding, Kaijin turned, expecting to see Kazuya.
His eyes widened, mildly surprised to see a young girl step inside. She looked maybe fifteen. Pale blonde hair matted and messy, she was wearing a tattered school uniform. Tears streaked down her face as she sniffled, holding her arms tightly around herself like she was in extreme distress.
Kaijin lowered the towel, his eyes narrowing.
"Hey… you alright, kid?" He asked, his voice steady but gentle.
The girl didn't answer. She took a few shaking steps forward—then she stumbled.
Kaijin moved quickly, arms ready to catch her—when he felt something hit his side.
*Shhk.*
His eyes widened. The pain was instant, white hot, but his body reacted before his mind did. A thin but long arm grew out from his ribs, grabbing the embedded blade and holding it in place as he shoved the girl back with one hand.
She landed on her feet, her sobbing stopping immediately, replaced by a wide, gleeful grin.
"Hmm… maybe you're not so dumb, old man."
Kaijin staggered slightly, gritting his teeth, blood running down his side, but the wound wasn't open for long. The weird arm pressed tightly against it, slowing the bleeding.
"Am I seriously gonna have to work these old bones?" He muttered, wiping his lip with a now bloody hand. "It's been a while…"
Then the gym door creaked open again.
Two more people stepped in.
One was cloaked in a dark jacket, patched together with pieces of stolen hero gear, blue fire flickered in his palm as he entered.
The other was a lizard looking person, holding a jagged blade and dragging it against the floor just enough to make it screech.
"We just gotta kill this geezer then burn this place down?"
Kaijin stood straight, gaze sweeping over all three of them now.
His muscles suddenly bulked up. Veins pushed against his skin. Then, with a slow exhale, he dropped the towel and untied his robe, letting it fall away.
Beneath, his body was a canvas of war, scarred, muscular, aged but honed like a weapon that refused to dull.
With a twitch of his shoulders, two additional arms burst out from his sides, flexing and cracking their knuckles. His stance changed, one leg shifted slightly behind as he spread all four arms like he was activating a secret art.
His expression hardened.
"You came to the wrong place, even if you take me down, there's one person here that will never let you live it down."
Spinner lunged first, his sword in hand. Kaijin sidestepped, an arm sprouted out from his lower back to parry the blade with an open palm while one of his regular arms grabbed Spinner by his scarf mid charge and swung him down to the ground, breaking the floor beneath him.
Dabi retaliated, blue fire flooded the gym, then condensed an aimed burst toward Kaijin. He didn't flinch, a pair of more forearms erupt out from his forearms, crossing to shield him while he rushed through the flames. His skin burned, but he refused to slow down.
He dove through the wall of fire, his fist slamming the floor to launch himself upward into a spinning knee, it catches Dabi under the chin.
Midair, Kaijin twists, another arm sprouting from his shoulder to backfist toga before she darted in from the side with a bloodstained needle.
She flipped from the hit, landed on all fours and immediately lunged again. 'She's fast.' He thought as She aimed the needle for his thigh.
Kaijin lowered his center of gravity, even more arms whipping from his shins to catch her by the wrist. He twists, flips her over his back—but spinners sword came out of nowhere.
Kaijin raised a knee, forming a forearm over it as a brace. The blade clanged off his makeshift shield. Another arm rockets out from his chest and slams spinner in the ribs, sending him flying into a weight bench.
Dabi comes back, unleashing another concentrated burst of fire. Kaijin snarls and plants his foot, letting two arms sprout from his back to grab and throw a dumbbell into the source of the fire, disrupting the attack just enough.
Then Kaijin closed the distance, weaving through fire and delivered a savage flurry of blows, two body shots, one elbow to the jaw and a dirty hammer fist to the shoulder.
Dabi stumbled, burns crawling up Kaijin's side, but he doesn't stop.
Toga appeared behind him, ready to stab, but Kaijin's lower back once again sprouted an arm that grabbed her wrist mid stab. He then slung her into a row of mirrors, smashing on impact, some glass wounding her.
Spinner then tried to pin him from behind.
Bad idea.
Kaijin let himself get grabbed, then two large arms exploded out from his shoulder blades, grabbing spinners head and suplexing him backwards, into the hard floor.
He stood over them, bruised, smoldering, bloodied and breathing heavily.
But of course all stood up again.
Kaijin dropped into a defensive stance, eight arms now active, positioned around him like a human spider. "Why are all kids these days so energetic."
Dabi rushed him first, Kaijin met him mid charge with a double forearm smash. Toga vaulted over Dabi's back but Kaijin sidestepped and jabbed her midair, but she somehow rolls off it. Spinner slid under the attack, dragging his blade to trip Kaijin.
With a heavy growl, Kaijin kicked spinner back and leapt toward the rear of the gym, crashing through the door to the back training room, a reinforced space with an open floor, padded walls and high ceilings. If he was going down, it was in this room, so that he would die with his son.
The villains followed.
Toga leapt through first, Dabi behind her and Spinner last.
Kaijin exhaled, his arms all retracted back into his body before four arms extended, two real, two grown from his quirk from his shoulder. His body, though trembling, locked into a martial stance few had ever seen before.
This wasn't any martial art anyone knew, it wasn't Krav Maga. It wasn't Muay Thai, boxing or jiu jitsu.
This was Shin-Kakutō , a brutal, flowing martial art Kaijin had developed across six whole decades of pain, battles, tournaments and survival. Designed for four limbed assault. It turned his body into a machine. If he had more time, he wanted to develop it further into a martial art suited for eight or six limbs, but this will do.
They all came at him together.
Kaijin spun. One hand caught Togas blade. Another arm cracked her across the chin, a hit harder than any she'd ever felt before. A third arm locked Spinner's wrist and the fourth threw a palm strike into Dabi's sternum, sending flames sputtering sideways as the villain choked on impact.
He kept moving. Palm, elbow, shoulder, knee, kick.
He weaved between their attacks, his eyes staying wide open, scanning each and every move. For every hit they landed, he answered with three.
But it wasn't enough.
They didn't stop.
Kaijin's legs started to give. His vision blurred. He growled through the blood and fire—"Not yet…"
Toga stabbed him three times in the stomach again.
Spinner slashed deep into his thigh.
Dabi, panting and burned, managed to launch a blast of fire into Kaijin's back.
Dante's master roared in pain and collapsed backward into the wall, leaving a trail of blood on the floor. "No… not yet, I needed… to make him… proud." One of his limbs withered and crumbled away into limp flesh.
Still, he sat upright, back against the wall. Defiant. Eyes never leaving the trio.
Toga walked toward him with her blade out. "You were one hell of a problem to fight, old man."
Dabi wiped blood from his mouth and chuckled. "Too bad it wasn't enough, you were strong enough to be a hero, why rot away down in this gym?"
Spinner raised his weapon, stepped forward and—
*STAB!"
…
…
The sound echoed, sharp and final.
But Kaijin didn't flinch.
Spinner's eyes grew wide.
Blood began to pour from his mouth.
Behind him stood Kazuya, tall, silent, his right arm sheathed in golden armour up to the shoulder. The gleaming, clawed gauntlet had pierced straight through Spinner's side. The end of the blade like forearm protruding from the front of his stomach.
"Didn't your master teach you," Kazuya said coldly, "never turn your back in a fight, dumbass."
He twisted his arm and yanked it out, letting spinner crumple to the floor in a heap.
Dabi and Toga turned, shocked. Kaijin let out a weak chuckle through bloody lips. "Heh… took you long enough."
The Great Golden Lion Kazuya tags in.