Free Web NovelChapter 9: Ch 9: Archnemesis
The next day, Luke was back in the abandoned garage.
Yesterday had been a rush job. After waking up from his impromptu nap on the concrete floor, he’d barely had ten minutes to test his new quirk before he had to bolt home.
He hadn’t even had the chance to check his stream stats or explore his dashboard.
Today, though, he was going to take his time.
He settled onto an old crate and pulled out his phone. The T-Stream app glowed to life.
[---------------------------------]
Username: Luke Dunphy
Terrorist Rank: 4,988,232
Power Level: F+
Achievements: New Recruit
Terror Points: 66
[---------------------------------]
[---------------------------------]
[ Next Quest Wait Time: 10 Hours 11 minutes ]
[---------------------------------]
Luke blinked.
His rank, which had previously shown as ’None,’ now sat somewhere past the four million mark. Were there really that many terrorists on this platform? The ’About’ page did mention that T-streamers were selected from across the multiverse, so it made sense.
But what really stung was the Power Level.
"Seriously?" Luke muttered. "I can literally create small explosions with my bare hands now, and I’m still an F+?" He sighed. Apparently, having a Quirk wasn’t enough to impress the system.
He scrolled down to his dashboard.
Latest Stream Stats
Max Viewers: 6Total Duration: 18.1 minTotal Hostages: 6Total TP Earned: 66Comments: 8 | TP Donations: 0 | Likes: 1
Luke tapped the ’View Comments’ button.
[urANUS]: Eh? Did he really put us (the camera) in a refrigerator? No freaking respect. I’m leaving.
[PPPPOTAH]: Looks like a noob T-streamer. He is not even doing anything, just talking with the hostages. There isn’t even an archnemesis. All T-streamers must have an archnemesis.
[THE FOOL FAN]: @PPPPOTAH it’s not mere talking, he’s planting fear in them. He’s playing psychologically, it’s more interesting when you watch with your mind open. Also, beginners rarely have an archnemesis. Plus, he looks like a first-timer.
[Diego_Nascimento]: He’s like the Joker. Is that why The FOOL is riding him so hard?
[Yeageristo]: There is no Tatakae! He really isn’t calling out for an archnemesis. It’s gonna be boring without one. I don’t fw noobs.
[THE FOOL FAN]: The escape was interesting. I’ll watch his career with great interest.
[Asura_Tensura]: Love the creativity. Next Stream When?
[Psycho7567]: Get the Phantasmagoria or Bomb Bomb fruit from the shop. Buy Phone Telekinesis too, use it for camera control, it’s a must-have.
’Hmm,’ Luke mused, rubbing his chin.
Aside from basic quest rewards, if he impressed these interdimensional edge-lords, he could farm TP from donations.
And while a couple of viewers appreciated his approach, the consensus was clear: the audience wanted an archnemesis.
"Like Joker and Batman. Lex Luthor and Superman." He rubbed his chin. "I get it. Every villain needs a hero to play with. And aren’t terrorists with superpowers just another supervillain?"
But Luke couldn’t afford an archnemesis right now.
Even though he had awakened a superpower, he was still objectively terrible at using it. He could produce explosions, sure, but their size and intensity were laughable.
Fortunately, the solution was in his hands. Literally.
Terror Points.
He navigated to the Terror Shop and pulled up his quirk’s mastery tab. The numbers were brutally honest.
Explosion Quirk Mastery: 1%
Upgrade Cost: 1 TP per 1%
He had 66 TP.
If he spent it all, he could push his mastery to 66%.
But... what did those numbers actually mean in practice?
Right now, at 1.6%, he had less control and power than a five-year-old Bakugo. freёwebnovel.com
In the MHA universe, Bakugo had awakened his quirk at age four. It took him thirteen years of casual training, one year of intense hero schooling, multiple life-or-death battles, and at least one near-death experience to unlock his secondary explosion abilities.
The kind of mastery that let him go toe-to-toe and win against the weakened All For One.
And even that level—that climactic, anime-history-defining level—probably wasn’t Bakugo’s peak.
Knowing the guy’s character, there was no way he’d stagnate.
Luke estimated that at that peak moment, Bakugo was sitting at maybe 75-80% mastery.
Luke didn’t have thirteen years. He didn’t have a U.A. education. He didn’t even have a training partner.
But he had something Bakugo never had.
Terror Points.
But before he started throwing Terror Points at the problem, he wanted to see something first.
How much could he grow with just effort alone?
Ten hours later, he had his answer.
"Haah... haah... haah..."
Luke lay flat on the cement floor, arms spread like a starfish, chest heaving. Sweat pooled around him in a frankly concerning puddle. Every muscle in his body screamed. His palms were raw, cracked, still faintly smoking.
He’d taken exactly one break—to inhale a sandwich—and spent the rest of the day pushing his quirk to its absolute limit.
Explosion after explosion.
Sparks. Flames. Concussive force.
He’d scorched the walls, dented a metal shelf, and nearly set his own shoes on fire twice in failed attempts to fly.
With trembling fingers, he lifted his phone and checked the mastery tab.
Explosion Quirk Mastery: 1.68%
Luke stared at it.
Then he laughed.
"A whole 0.07%," he croaked. "In ten hours. That’s... that’s not bad, actually."
It wasn’t. For a single day of training, it was progress. Real, measurable progress.
But it wasn’t going to cut it.
He opened the calculator app, still trying to catch his breath, and did the math. If he trained like this every single day—ten hours of obsessive, nonstop grinding—it would take him roughly 605 days to reach 50% mastery. To hit 90%, he was looking at three full years.
Three years. In a world with mutants, vigilantes, and who knew what else lurking in the shadows. Three years before he could even think about competing at a high level.
"Yeah, no." Luke closed the calculator. "I don’t have that kind of time."
Terror Points. They weren’t just a luxury. They were a necessity.
He pushed himself upright, wincing as his shoulders protested, and opened the Terror Shop.
First purchase: 49 TP straight into quirk mastery.
He watched the number jump.
Explosion Quirk Mastery: 50.68%
Luke felt it immediately. The knowledge didn’t just appear in his brain—it settled into his muscles, his bones, his instincts. He flexed his hand, and the sparks that danced across his palm were brighter now. Hotter. They didn’t fizzle out. They lingered, hungry and eager, waiting for a command.
"Okay," he breathed. "Okay, that’s more like it. I’ll do more testing another day."
Second purchase: Phone Telekinesis. 3 TP.
It was suspiciously cheap compared to everything else in the shop. Luke figured it had to be a basic utility skill, something every Terror Streamer was expected to have.
The ability to float your phone around for perfect camera angles, no cameraman required. Made sense.
He accepted the purchase, and his phone wobbled in his hand, then floated up, orbiting his head like a tiny electronic moon. Luke grinned.
"Cool."
Third purchase: Bakugo’s Grenadier Bracers. 14 TP.
Sadly, they were a one-time use item.
They materialized on his forearms with a soft green glow—bulky, grenade-like gauntlets designed to store sweat and release it in massive, concentrated explosions. The real Bakugo had used these to level buildings. Luke at 50% mastery could definitely do some damage with these.
He flexed his arms, testing the weight. Not bad.
An interesting thing about them. Just like his teleporting phone, he could will it to Teleport in his arms whenever he wished.
He checked his balance.
Terror Points: 2
"Broke again." He snorted. "Some things never change."
But it was fine. Two points left, and the new quest wait time was done as well.
He tapped on the notification.
[Quest: Live Terror Stream]
Objective: Conduct a live-streamed terror operation within any commercial or public facility.
Conditions:
20+ minutes duration10+ hostages
Reward: Terror Shop Gacha (Rare Guarantee) + 100 Terror Points
Bonus Condition:
Engage in battle with a superpowered individual.Bonus Reward: +100 Terror Points (Extra points awarded depending on enemy strength.)
A Gacha with a Rare guarantee. That was new. And 100 base points, plus at least 100 more for the bonus condition. If he played his cards right, this one quest could net him over 200 TP.
The conditions were steeper—double the hostages, five more minutes—but the reward matched the risk.
An interesting thing to note was that this time there was no condition to about the fate of the hostages.
’But I am not planning on killing innocent civilians anyway.’
And the bonus condition? Engage a superpowered individual. That was exactly what the audience wanted. An archnemesis. A fight.
Perhaps that’s why all the viewers were so hyper about a fight with an archnemesis. All the Streamers must be doing it for the bonus rewards...
"Heh..."
Luke already knew who he was going to pick.
He’d thought about it during training, between explosions, when his mind wandered to the comments section. THE FOOL FAN. Yeageristo. All of them craving a real battle. A hero and a villain.
Spider-Gwen.
She was perfect.
Young enough to be inexperienced, strong enough to be a challenge. She operated in New York, same as him. And from what he’d gathered from scattered news reports and online forums, she wasn’t officially tied to any big teams yet. No Avengers backup. No SHIELD oversight.
Just a girl in a costume, trying to do the right thing.
She’d make one hell of a show.
Luke stood up, rolling his shoulders. The new mastery hummed in his veins like a live wire. The bracers sat heavy and reassuring on his forearms. His phone floated lazily beside his head, ready to capture every angle.
"Alright," he said to the empty garage. "Time to prepare for the next big Stream. I have to scout the location and plan out the whole theme once again."
========================
Thanks for reading!
https://www.pat reon.com/c/Marveller
Right now advanced Chapters are still being prepared. Drop a comment too! And power stones too ig.
:)
