With the banter done and dusted - for now at least - there was only the lesson left he could put his attention to. Elijah expected for his instructor to evade the strike; retaliate with her own once she assured her own safety. But her just taking the hit on such a vulnerable part of her body caught him off-guard. Not only did the impact reverberate up his arm to his shoulder, the feeling distracted him from dodging her move - which, ow, winded him slightly as he staggered back.

He clutched his stomach as he listened then. Really paid attention to the chains that covered Gleipnir's neck. Instead of launching them out to grapple her target, she had them surround herself as makeshift armour; absorb the hit she knew she was going to get. As she explained, she didn't use her Quirk in expected ways.

It brought him back to Nerima, where he melded with that statue. Well, a student who turned into a statue but still. Semantics aside, he took control of the stone figure, able to put it into motion so he could catch the woman before she could escape. That was about as unexpected as he could get with his Quirk. He didn't even know he could do that until then, so used to using it to hide or run away.

Gleipnir hated her Quirk too. Perhaps as much as he did his own. The difference was she was able to find ways to utilize it that suited her over time, while he was steadfast in his belief that his own was not good for anything. But that was no longer true, was it? It's not just for running anymore. It left Elijah with a lot to think about.

"I understand." He truly did, or at least he wanted to. The hero was imparting knowledge he didn't want to take fore granted. Though there was an awkwardness to his lack of response compared to her speech that he hadn't felt in a while. "I'll... think about it."

With a sigh, Elijah readied his stance instead. "One more round works. And unless improvement in Quirkless combat is the aim, I'd rather you not handicap yourself for my sake. Golems are uncommon but quirked villains very much aren't." He'll figure out a way to get past the chains. Maybe. Whether Gleipnir decided to use them or not though, he'd make the first move again, throwing a feint at her face before he tried to land a punch on her solar plexus.

Arataki Noa Iphigenia Pavlina Shirayuki Mai Sadako Gotoh Takeo Hoga

The longer the fight went on, the more spot on Lone Wolf's words seemed to be. Elijah had to expend more energy due to his swings, and the shots the man were firing aided in slowing him down. There wasn't much in terms of cover either other than the lawn chair that had long since been abandoned. In every sense of the word, the freshman was at a disadvantage.

But he saw the hit on the arm. The knife was deflected, sure, but it did connect to some degree. It only bolstered the student further despite getting hit in the legs with more bullets. "The only use my Quirk has is to escape. Unbecoming of a hero who's supposed to protect others." Elijah drew both kukri from their hilts. "The threat doesn't get removed if I run away." If his accuracy was getting compromised, then getting close really was the only option.

But that would never happen. With all the shots Elijah endured, it was getting difficult for him to stay upright due to all the pain. As a final attempt he would throw one of his kukri towards the hero, aiming to knock the gun off his hand before the freshman fell on the pavement.

lonewolf

[attr="class","likedo"]

Elijah couldn't hear anything.

It was a consequence of his Quirk. Once he merged with whatever it was he decided to merge with, all parts of him became one with that thing. No more eyes nor ears, so he couldn't count on either to inform him on what's happening in the outside world. All he had going for him was the pressure on the fingers of the statue he controlled. A weight pushed against them, meaning they've hit something solid.

He caught her. He actually caught her.

His grip was tight then, further locking the aggressor in place by wrapping his arms around her. He didn't care what part of the woman he was holding; didn't care how much it hurt. What mattered was that he couldn't let go of her at all costs.

Then there was more pressure. Claudio's hit must've connected. Elijah kept his hold just in case it was something else. He'd miss the humanity in the woman's features as she came to her senses. He would never have picked up on the apology that fell from her lips. All she'd receive in response other than the Cloud's glare was an impassive face from the statue she herself created.

The pressure soon faded away until it was gone; with the woman disintegrating into nothing. Elijah got ejected from the statue then, though it was gentle compared to when he left the golem's armour. He slid to the floor simply because the figure he was piloting was no longer made of stone.

Elijah thought he would just lie there until paramedics arrived but it turned out that fate wasn't meant for him today. Instead he would feel his body be pulled until he was laying against someone. Then came the chastising, followed by a soft hit on the head which prompted his eyes to close. Once again he was admonished for his actions, just like that day when every villain decided at once that they ruled the city. He had half a mind to click his tongue in preparation for a rebuttal.

But then the laughter came in. Claudio was a cheery person, that much he knew, but something about this instance seemed too loud for his ears. It was almost strained, even. Like he was forcing the situation to be joyous. They should celebrate after all. They lived to see another day. But it only made Elijah remember that the Cloud saw the golem's fist hit the ground despite his trying to stop it. That he wouldn't have seen him after the titan pulled away its arm.

From Claudio's perspective, he thought he failed to save him.

So the rebuttal never came, nor did Elijah call him out on the use of his first name. It was as much of an apology as any. He replied to the lighter topic instead. "Your first mistake was assuming their gender. You should've gone with something neutral." He paused. "Like Tin Can." Name-calling wasn't his forté evidently, only made worse by the fading adrenaline. But it was all he could focus on when he could do nothing about the woman they've essentially killed, nor for the girl Claudio's supporting who, while not dead, seemed in critical health.

So Elijah just let the boy ramble on, adding his own quips as best as he could before exhaustion eventually took him too.

Emilia Hall Fanthes Bakiri Retsu Shion Utsui Claudio Bernardo

One down, one more to go. At least for this first altercation. The second man was tougher than the first with him not curling up immediately. Elijah's second strike was able to reach his face, but what the student didn't expect was for the man to unhinge his jaw and bite down on his prosthetic, teeth turning into drills as they ground on the metal with a high-pitched whirr.

Well. Fuck. The only silver lining he could see was the man didn't have a firm hold on his human arm instead.

Try as Elijah might to use the rest of his limbs to wail at the man - punches, kicks to several places, even to that universal sore spot because honour was useless when death was a possibility - he wouldn't let go. He tried to keep tabs on his surroundings - someone was getting up, the first one, but was subsequently brought down when another man came flying in. The freshman couldn't help but let out a short laugh. "And here I thought we weren't supposed to throw people."

The more he tried to pull his arm out, the more he realized it just wasn't going to work. And being locked in place meant an opportunity for someone else to come at him. Wait. Something else? Was that a burger? Elijah twisted himself to avoid the animated food and got so distracted that he got hit in the head by something that was very much not food. A hiss escaped him, ears ringing. He couldn't take more direct hits like that. As the blurry man readied another strike, he was left with no other choice.

If garbage man wanted his arm so badly, he could just have it.

With his free hand, Elijah grasped firmly on his opposite shoulder, triggering mechanisms he knew by heart to detach his prosthetic and pull away. His hope was that the projectile/fist - he still didn't know which it was - hit the garbage disposal man next and stun him enough for him to let go of his arm so he could put it back on. If he didn't, well, shit. Elijah would just fight with one arm then.

Elijah huffed when Cloud questioned the name he chose for himself. "I was supposed to work underground. If I did my job right no one would need to say my name in the middle of a fight." He might need to think on a different one though if emergencies put him on patrols like this. One for public hero work, one for when he's undercover? In any case, Cloud seemed to have his own problems. Elijah would help bring some edge to the fight.

Whether he was able to get his prosthetic or not, the hero student drew a knife from his vest with his human hand, throwing it at the other man with dreads. By the complaints the other student was exclaiming, range was key to dealing with that man in particular.

Claudio Bernardo

So much was happening.

Elijah could still hear explosions around him. Which was weird- surely they would've run out of bombs by now. Just how many did that biker have on them? Were they still attacking the thing? And there was that boom - sounding much closer than the others, to the point it was practically right by his ear - that made him cover his head on instinct. It reminded him that he still wasn't safe. That none of them were safe.

He needed to get up. Now.

Elijah blinked his eyes open, trying to clear his vision so he could see around him for the first time since he'd been inside the golem. By shifting his head he saw the damaged behemoth, holding its arm up as if to aim something. Not at him however- it pointed at some other people he wouldn't be able to get to on time, not from where he laid. He thought he saw something flying towards it though, so he could only hope that would stop its assault.

Turning his head more, he eyed a smaller statue, tensing at first as he assumed it was another henchman of the titan, only to realize it was something else. Someone else. The hair. Her clothes.

Lodestar? Wasn't she dead?

A shadow in his peripheral pulled his attention away from her though, his focus now on the figure looming over him. Her foot was in the air; her eyes wide in fury. His own widened as well, realizing what her goal was. She was moments from killing him outright, aiming to end his life with a snap of his neck.

But he saw something else too. An incoming force, fast as a bullet heading towards the woman herself instead of the golem. It had to mean she was as much of a threat as the golem was surely? Was she the mastermind behind the whole thing?

That didn't matter though did it? He'll be dead if he didn't do something.

Elijah rolled sideways out of the leg's path and tapped his hand on the Lodestar statue's ankle, sinking into the stone as a result. It was a protective barrier; something to take the brunt of the blow should the woman try to hit it next. What he didn't expect was his legs shifting to balance the sculpture before it fell over. Because he had no legs of his own to move. He moved hers. A curl of his - her - fingers confirmed it- he was controlling the statue itself.

Which meant he could do more than just shield himself against the woman.

He could ensure she didn't get away from Claudio's hit.

With nothing but his memory to guide him, Elijah turned and ran towards the woman with his stone arms out, hoping to grasp some part of her to lock her in place, or at the very least distract her long enough to not notice the real attack planned for her. It had to work. It had to.

He wasn't sure how much longer anyone could last if it didn't.

---

OOC: Elijah sees the woman about to kill him and Claudio coming in with a kick of his own, so he used his Quirk on the Emilia statue to shield himself. When he realized he could control the statue though, he shifted tactics to make sure Claudio's attack hits by trying to grab the woman with his newfound strength.

Emilia Hall Fanthes Bakiri Retsu Shion Utsui Claudio Bernardo