| Overhaul vs. Zora Salazar | |
|---|---|
| |
| Season | 3 |
| Season Episode | 7 |
| Air date | 12/5/2023 |
| Written by | Koboldy |
| Episode guide | |
| Previous Providence vs. Le'garde |
Next Superbi Squalo vs. Kisame Hoshigake |
Overhaul vs. Zora Salazar is Episode 27 in Koboldy’s Death Battles. It features Overhaul aka Kai Chisaki from the Shonen Jump anime series My Hero Academia, and Zora Salazar from JelloApocalypse’s webseries Epithet Erased.
Description[]
My Hero Academia vs. Epithet Erased! When it comes to dealing with a superpowered society, these two want nothing more than to return to the golden days where things were ruled by strength. But when they come head-to-head, one will have to bite the bullet.
Interlude[]
Boomstick: Superpowers suck! Well, not everyone may agree with that statement. But these two certainly do!
Wiz: In a society when someone is likely to be gifted due to the superpower luck of the draw, some people simply wish to return to a time where skill and power were what truly mattered. And they’ll do anything to do so.
Boomstick: Overhaul, aka Kai Chisaki, yakuza boss and creator of the Quirk-Destroying Bullets.
Wiz: And Zora Salazar, gunslinger, and member of anti-Epithet terrorist organization Bliss Ocean. And it’s our job to analyze their weapons, armor and skills, to find out who would win…a Death Battle.
Overhaul[]
(My Hero Academia - Overhaul's Theme)
Wiz: In a world filled with superpowers, superheroes, and supervillains, your average sort of criminal organization fell to the wayside. The Yakuza organization Shie Hassaikai, translation meaning “Eight Precepts of Death”, was one such organization that ran the criminal underworld of Japan. The organization’s leader, only known as “The Boss”, believed in a code of conduct and honor for Yakuza members. Something that clashed with the rise of supervillains, and with the growing rate of superheroes, forced them to retreat into the shadows.
Boomstick: Despite being, yknow, yakuza, The Boss was actually kind of a stand-up guy. Attracting tons of loyal followers, and even adopting his granddaughter when her own mother abandoned her. And one such loyal follower was Kai Chisaki, local orphan and creepy, masked germaphobe!
Wiz: Kai viewed Quirks as a “sickness”, stemming from the theory that Quirks were a virus carried by mice. And when he grew older, he began to wear a mask similar to those of plague doctors, believing that he shouldn’t even be breathing the same air as those who were inflicted with the disease of “heroism” and “villainy”. However, it didn’t take long for that belief to slowly turn into an obsession. Something that The Boss took notice of.
Boomstick: Try as he might to instill the traditional yakuza values into Kai, that only served to push him further off the deep end. He started dealing with Quirk-related drugs, something that didn’t sit well with his father figure. But even still, The Boss put his granddaughter Eri in his charge, primarily due to thinking they had similar Quirks. Kai’s, Overhaul, allows him to disassemble and reassemble anything as long as he’s touching it. Letting him create massive spikes out of the ground around him, or even flat out delete a person from existence!
Wiz: Kai’s Quirk is incredibly versatile, allowing for both an offensive and defensive powerhouse. Not only can he make ranged weaponry out of the ground, but he can also heal wounds and bring someone that he just killed back to life. And Kai is frighteningly smart about how to apply his Quirk as well. Fooling police into believing a situation was a simple accident when he and his organization were the root cause via using his Quirk. However, that frightening intelligence was also put into the hands of a flat-out sociopath…
Boomstick: Yeah…The Boss may have put a bit too much in Kai. Kai had come up with several schemes in order to pull the yakuza out of the shadows, but it wasn’t until Eri came along that he found a truly great one to put into motion. Eri’s Quirk Rewind basically allows her to, well, “rewind” someone or something back to a previous state. Not unlike Kai’s, in fact. However, while Rewind was in some ways more limited than Overhaul, it had its own danger surrounding it. Namely, it could even affect genetics and Quirks themselves.
Wiz: Kai saw great terror…and promise in this power. So, he came to The Boss with a plan. By repeatedly using his Quirk on Eri, he could make an unlimited supply of what he deemed “Quirk-Destroying Bullets”. The Shie Hassaikai would sell these bullets to villains to use on heroes, and they would later distribute a serum to heroes. Creating a monopoly and making both heroes and villains reliant on them, granting them great wealth and the opportunity to rise out of the shadows.
Boomstick: The Boss shut this plan down pretty much immediately. In fact, he was actually pretty creeped out by Kai’s lack of regard towards both Eri and humans in general…so Kai put the old man in a coma and planned to wake him up once their “new world” was made. Yeah…The Boss was kind of right about Kai; shame he was a bit slow on the upkeep. Either way, Kai took his place as the new leader of the Shie Hassaikai, immediately putting his plan into action…a plan which involved breaking down, harvesting the blood of, and reviving a six-year old girl. Thousands of times.
Wiz: …
Boomstick: …
Wiz: …
Boomstick: …
Wiz: …
Boomstick: …this shit’s fucked, man.
Wiz: Yeah. Kai abandoned his name, now taking up the moniker of “Overhaul”. For a while, Overhaul and his organization worked under the cover of darkness. Not yet ready to reveal themselves to the world…at least until the fall of All For One and All Might. Overhaul, noticing a power vacuum in play, took it upon himself to speed up operations. Even meeting with The League of Villains; not with an offer of cooperation, but one of subjugation. Giving them more than just a fairytale, but a plan.
Boomstick: Shigaraki and co. didn’t really gel with that idea though, and one of their members attempted to attack Overhaul, only for him to reveal just how powerful his Quirk is when he made her body explode into blood almost instantly! Things definitely would have gotten a lot bloodier had cooler heads not prevailed, and both the Shie Hassaikai and The League backed off. With Shigaraki eventually accepting his offer later, albeit with a few schemes of his own underneath it all.
Wiz: However, this all caught the attention of pro-hero Nighteye, who was currently mentoring both Mirio Togata and Izuku Midoriya. After a chance encounter between Overhaul, Eri, Mirio, and Midoriya, the heroes truly had their sights set on the rising Shie Hassaikai. Especially once it was reasoned just what Overhaul was doing to Eri to make the Quirk-Destroying Bullets that had been floating around the villain world. While those bullets were still experimental and not perfected, both those and Eri’s condition presented a great concern to the world of heroes. Mirio and Midoriya especially having the wish to bring Overhaul down, due to their inability to save Eri during their first encounter.
Boomstick: When the time to raid the Shie Hassaikai base came to, Overhaul wouldn’t be caught unaware, however. Literally everyone he recruited he viewed as disposable, and they viewed him like a savior. Willing to risk their lives just so he could escape and be unaffected by this hero raid. But of course, he wouldn’t get away so easily. Being stopped by Mirio Togata who used his Quirk Permeation to take a few shortcuts to where Overhaul was escaping to.
Wiz: It should be noted that Overhaul is a schemer, not quite a fighter. He generally always tries to avoid one-on-one confrontations, and even when forced into them, he doesn’t engage in hand-to-hand combat. Preferring to either use his own minions to do his dirty work or engage from a distance with his spikes. Even being at a disadvantage against a Quirkless Mirio after he was shot by one of the Quirk-Destroying Bullets. However, even despite that, he was quick enough to dodge strikes from Miro and Midoriya, both of whom could likely attack at around Mach 7 speeds.
Boomstick: Not to mention he took a hit from Deku and lived, whose base attacks at that point could easily be compared to, at minimum, around 7 tons of TNT. Because, even if Mirio lost his Quirk and was “defeated” by Overhaul, he still managed to buy plenty of time for the rest of the heroes to find and confront Overhaul.
Wiz: But he refused to let his plans collapse so easily. Using a then unknown facet of his Quirk to merge with another human being, transforming himself into a horrific monster to deal with the heroes and take Eri back. But through the combined might of Midoriya, Nighteye, and even Eri, Overhaul was taken down for good. Apprehended by the heroes and taken into custody…only for his police escort to be intercepted by The League of Villains.
Boomstick: One would initially think this was a case of bad guys saving other bad guys, but…nahhhhhhhhhhh! Shigaraki and all them hated Overhaul just as much as the heroes did! So much so that rather than killing him and putting him out of his misery, they simply disarmed him…literally! Compress destroying his left, and Shigaraki disintegrating his right.
Wiz: Overhaul, or rather Kai Chisaki, could do nothing but watch helplessly as everything he built crumbled into dust. Becoming a mere steppingstone on the path of the villains he so despised.
Boomstick: Kind of a pitiful end for someone with such grand schemes. But his callous disregard for everyone around him could only lead him to a point where he'd be alone and broken in the end.
Zora Salazar[]
Wiz: In a world full of superpowers, there are certain rituals and customs that we are used to that fall to the wayside. Contests of skill, and those who do not have these superpowers are often looked over compared to those who do. Thus, the terrorist organization known as “Bliss Ocean” was formed. A “Mundie”, aka those without an Epithet, organization dedicated to attempting to get rid of Epithets to create a more fair and just society.
Boomstick: Sounds like a bit of jealousy to me, honestly.
Wiz: Well, there are legitimate arguments against the promotion and uplifting of Epithets. An Epithet, for the record, is a word inscribed onto a person’s soul. When a person has their Epiphany as to what their word is, they can then train and hone their Epithet to do incredible things. The limit, truly, is one’s own imagination. However, even if someone doesn’t have an incredibly powerful Epithet or a creative way to utilize it, like Gorou Shimizaki, he was still chosen to be the sheriff of Redwood Run solely because of his Inscribed status.
Boomstick: Blugh. Politics around superpowers. This sucks! Well, regardless, Bliss Ocean for the most part didn’t have much notoriety besides “they exist”. That is until The Sweet Jazz City Museum had the Arsene Amulet donated to them. An amulet that has the power to steal other people’s Epithets, crafted by a thief who held the Epithet “Copycat”. Bliss Ocean naturally caught wind of this; it perfectly lined up with their interests, after all! A guaranteed way to remove people’s Epithets would be perfect for their organization.
Wiz: However, things quickly got…complicated. There was another party invested in acquiring the Arsene Amulet for their own goals: Mera and Indus, who wanted the Amulet to steal other people’s Epithets to ease Mera’s constant pain. Giovanni Potage and his Banzai Blasters who…mostly just broke into the museum to steal stuff. And Molly-Wolly-Doodle-All-the-Day Blyndeff-
Boomstick: Wiz, what the hell did you just say to me?
Wiz: It’s canon. Molly Blyndeff, who got abandoned by her father by accident and got locked in the museum. By accident. Combine that with an incredibly lazy agent they sent to retrieve it in the first place annnnnnnnnnnd the Arsene Amulet ended up in the incompetent hands of Giovanni Potage. Who, frankly, had no ideas regarding what it could do and just wanted to pawn it off for a quick buck. Seeking out the assistance of Ramsey Murdoch, an appraiser.
Boomstick: This didn’t escape Bliss Ocean’s eyes either, and they sent another agent to retrieve the amulet once and for all: the skilled sharpshooter, Zora Salazar. Phew, we really beat around the bush saying her name, huh? Zora grew up in a family of paleontologists, until both her folks stumbled upon a golden box. Something within was apparently valuable, ‘cause a group of Banzai Blasters stole it and killed Zora’s parents…hey, Wiz, isn’t this the same show with a character named “Molly-Wolly-Doodle-All-The-Day” and a guy who fights with soup?
Wiz: *shrugs*
Boomstick: Whatever. Now an orphan, Zora quickly learned how to be a trained marksman, eventually putting her skills to use as a bounty hunter. Eventually discovering her own Epithet “Sundial” as well. And when it came to being a bounty hunter? She was the cream of the crop, in no small part to how utterly broken her Epithet was.
Wiz: Remember when we talked about how the only limit to an Epithet’s strength is a person’s creativity? Zora is a prime example of that. While Sundial at first sounds unassuming, Zora’s Epithet grants her mastery over time. If something has a beginning point and an endpoint, Zora can manipulate it. Ages, wounds, wear and tear, movement, the only limit is that once a thing has reached its endpoint, she can no longer affect it. Once her clocks have something in its sight, it’s only a matter of time before Sundial affects it.
Boomstick: But as it turns out, it gets a bit lonely at the top. That is until someone approached her, saying that her “gun was misguided”. The fight was described as “one-sided”, though it’s unclear as to who it was towards. Regardless, this person was most likely the still unknown leader of Bliss Ocean, whom Zora joined shortly after their scuffle. And she soon became pretty keen to their way of seeing things! Duels at high noon weren’t as fun when someone like her could just stop a bullet in mid-air and make her’s travel instantaneously.
Wiz: And it wasn’t long before she had tracked down exactly what Bliss Ocean needed. Stealing the Arsene Amulet off of the Banzai Blaster Bugsy Pugsler-
Boomstick: Same show that had a stone-cold murder in its backstory by the way.
Wiz: -who stole it off Giovanni Potage. But as luck would have it, the police officer charged with recovering the amulet had teamed up with one of Zora’s targets: Ramsey Murdoch. So, she proposed a duel: the winner gets both Ramsey and the Amulet. Though knowing that it’d be impossible for her and Ramsey to defeat Zora with Epithets, Percy threw another wrinkle into the mix. Locking both her and Ramsey in Eraser Cuffs, preventing them from using their Epithets, she challenged Zora to a duel without the use of their powers. Something that Zora near immediately agreed to.
Boomstick: Though she loves to use her Epithet to mess with people, Zora never turns down an honest-to-goodness mano-a-mano challenge. But even without Epithets, Percy and Ramsey could only really delay and dodge Zora’s attacks.
Wiz: Zora Salazar is, at this moment, the strongest and most skilled character within Epithet Erased. Easily scaling to, and likely above, feats like Giovanni’s Critical 13, or Percival deflecting and dodging Zora’s bullets. But even with her code of honor and desire to fight without Epithets, Zora can…be a bit of a hypocrite at times. When sufficiently angered, like when Ramsey broke her gun, she said, “screw it” and used her Epithet with a full intent to kill. Showing that she can embed her own Epithet into anything she touches: swords, guns, and even her own bullets. And with one slash of Percival’s sword, she disintegrated a rock into dust using Sundial.
Boomstick: If it wasn’t for some quick thinking from Ramsey, him and Percy would’ve been totally toast! And even then, she pretty much completely shrugged off a blast of electricity from Percival’s Epithet. If it wasn’t for her calming down and admitting that she cheated by using her Epithet, who the hell knows what would have happened. Especially considering she said that they hadn’t even seen a tenth of what she can do with her Epithet.
Wiz: And If it wasn’t for Zora’s own cockiness and sense of fair play holding her back, there’d probably be absolutely no one who could even come close to stepping to her. At least, as far as the audience has seen, anyway.
Boomstick: Better say your prayers, ‘cause if Zora challenges you to a duel at sundown, no way your ass is making it back home.
DEATH BATTLE![]
(My Hero Academia - Overhaul's Theme)
It took a lot to draw Kai Chisaki out of his base of operations. After a specific encounter with two Pro Heroes, he had become increasingly paranoid and less willing to jeopardize all he had built up, both for himself and the sake of his boss. So, when he was scheduled to meet with a group of researchers that might be able to perfect the Shie Hassaikai’s Quirk Destroying Bullets, he decided to forgo his paranoia in pursuit of his goal, meeting with them in an abandoned warehouse.
So, you might imagine his frustration when they were all tied up, dangling from the ceiling like villains in a cheap comic book. Gagged and bound, he narrowed his eyes as he stared down the cause of this assault on him and his organization. A girl dressed in old western garb sat atop a pile of boxes as if they were a throne. Being as she was the only one here, and she was clearly waiting for him to arrive, it was clear she was the person responsible.
“Well, howdy there. It’s not nice to keep a lady waitin’, y’know!” The woman raised her head, pushing her hat upwards. Kai getting a clear view of her eyes as well as the markings around her eyes. Though he did not respond to his taunts, rather simply motioning towards the men he brought with in case a situation such as this arose. But the moment they took a step forward, their momentum was instantly halted. Several old-fashioned sundials sprang into view as they surrounded the two members of the Eight Bullets. Glowing golden as they were frozen in time; a sigh leaving Overhaul’s mouth as he turned back towards the woman in question.
“Do you want something?” He asked, clearly growing tired of this whole charade. A vein even bulging in his head out of annoyance.
“Ahah! Don’t act all dumb, Kai.” She laughed, jumping off of the box as she spun a classic flintlock pistol in her right hand. “Oh, I’m sorry, ya go by ‘Overhaul’ or somethin’ now dontcha? Either way-“
With another spin (at this point just showing off), she pulled the hammer back on her flintlock. Pointing directly towards the unamused man in front of her.
“Ya got a mighty fine bounty on your head. And I intend to collect.” She spoke with a much more serious tone, contrasting with her mocking tone from earlier. Another vein bulged in Overhaul’s forehead. A bounty hunter? Really?
“What a pain…” Overhaul muttered to himself as he removed his gloves, his eyes never moving as he closely watched the woman in front of him for any signs of movement. Before slamming his palms into the floor of the warehouse, his Quirk activating as the entire floor rumbled and disassembled.
“I hate getting dirty.”
FIGHT!
(Street Fighter 6 - Poisonous Passion)
A rapid fire barrage of spikes ruptured from the ground directly towards the woman in question, though Zora merely dodged and hopped out of the way of each strike. Using the spikes as springboards, propelling herself off them like an acrobatic dancing through the air. Until she found the opening between the spikes she needed, soaring through the air on her side as if she was in a cheesy action movie. Her fingers pulling the trigger as the bullet fired from the chamber.
*BANG*
The bullet whizzed through the cracks of Overhaul’s offense, only barely avoiding scraping itself against the walls, or rather floors, that he had made. But still, such a basic attack was nothing to a Quirk user like him. Merely making a wall out of the floor he had disassembled, erecting itself right in front of him as the bullet harmlessly lodged itself inside of the wall Overhaul had constructed. The wall crumbling as Overhaul disassembled it, a whistle being heard after the fact.
“Not a bad superpower there, bucko. And here I heard you were all against heroes and villains and all that jazz.” Zora taunted, though Overhaul merely narrowed his eyes at the frustrating woman. Not bothering to answer her as the wall behind him disassembled before reforming into a pillar of stone that rapidly moved past him and towards Zora. The pillar slamming into Zora’s face as it shoved her backwards, and yet the “squelch” of a skull being crushed against concrete never came. In fact, it seemed to stop against Overhaul’s will, before crumbling to dust, leaving only a smirking Zora in its wake.
“Ya almost got me there! Almost.” Spinning her pistol, Zora’s tattoos flashed golden. Smirking as she activated her Epithet. “Oh, hope you don’t mind, but I went ahead and got a bit of a…head start before ya got here.”
Overhaul looked up, his eyes widening as he saw what exactly Zora had meant. Tens of twenty bullets hung suspended in midair, and as soon as Zora activated her Epithet, the momentum they had lost continued once more. Firing directly towards Overhaul as they encircled him completely. Overhaul responding by raising a barrier of stone around him, defending himself against the barrage of bullets as they, same as the previous, would uselessly lodge themselves into his perfect defense. But the moment the first bullet clashed with his stone defenses; it all came crumbling down.
Literally, as the stone he had reformed began to break apart and crumble away, leaving him wide open as he was pelted with…non-piercing bullets. Odd in the future tense, but for right now, it still felt as if his body was being pelted by several rubber bullets moving at mach speeds. Veins started to pop in his forehead, and his eyes began to glow bloodshot. Painful and annoying was a frustrating combination for Overhaul. Refocusing, even as he was being showered with bullets, Overhaul used his Quirk to make the entire warehouse shake and rumble. Ignoring everything else around him and focusing only on the annoying piece of filth that was fighting against him. Deconstructing the entire warehouse as he brought it down on top of itself, crushing anyone within it.
*CRASHBOOM*
A few moments of silence passed by as the rubble of the warehouse stirred, a few concerned members of the Shie Hassaikai looking onward at the collapsed building in worry. Though with a few more passing seconds, the sound of the rubble being moved was heard, as Overhaul emerged from the collapsed building (relatively) unscathed. Aside from the fact that he was currently covered in hives, anyway.
“I feel disgusting…” Overhaul muttered to himself as he scratched the itches in his arms, all while trying to get as much dirt, dust, and grime as he could off of himself.
*BANG*
And yet all that came to a halt as a solitary gunshot rang out, the bullet whizzing towards Overhaul’s direction. Though the watchful eye of the Shie Hassaikai leader reacted in time as he grabbed the bullet in mid-air before opening his hand, letting the copper dust fall from his palm. The pile of rubble the bullet came from suddenly shifting as it all began to float in the air, surrounded by a golden glow. As if time itself was rewinding, the rubble almost looked as if it was falling upwards. Another vein bulged in Overhaul’s forehead. Soon the rubble reformed into its proper position once more, as a bit of floor underneath Zora’s feet.
“Howdy.” Zora tipped her hat towards Overhaul, though the mafia leader hardly responded in words. Quickly placing his right hand on a piece of rebar as the end point disassembled, extending itself like a spear directly towards Zora. The cowgirl smirked as she dropped a seed to the ground.
“TREE!” As her tattoos glowed golden, the seed sprouted instantly into a tree as it launched her up into the air. Dodging out of the way of the rebar spear and taking aim towards the grounded Overhaul. Firing several shots from her pistol, Overhaul brought his defenses up as he took his hand off the rebar and slammed his palm into the ground. A spike of concrete erupting from the ground as it was disassembled and reassembled in an instant. Though that defensive wall was brought to dust as Zora’s bullets pierced into it, though as soon as that wall fell, Overhaul’s attack followed through. His free hand grabbing onto a piece of piping from the rubble as it shot forward and coiled around Zora’s ankle like a snake. Before pulling her down out of the air and slamming her into the ground as a puff of dirt exploded off her crash landing.
Zora growled as she fired a shot into the piping, it instantly rusting and weakening as she was able to break it apart just by slightly moving her leg. No time to break, however, as a rush of spikes was headed her way. Another dropped seed, another glow of her facial markings, and another shout of “TREE!” and Zora was launched backwards into the air. Avoiding the assault as she tucked and rolled to avoid any serious harm.
Though what quickly became clear to Zora after the dust settled was the fact that she was currently surrounded by three of Overhaul’s men. Each ready to attack when the opportunity arose. But unfortunately for them, that very same opportunity never came. The first step they took, they began to fall like dominoes. Freezing in place sequentially as Sundial halted their movement one by one.
“Sorry, Kai! You ain’t getting your lackeys to fight your fight this time around!” Zora shouted to the man standing across the way. Sneering as she took aim towards the yakuza leader at the other end of area. A vein bulging in Overhaul’s forehead as he crouched down, slamming his palms into the ground once more.
“Stop calling me by that name!” Overhaul roared, his voice turning into a guttural growl as the concrete below his feet dissembled. A rapid barrage of spikes barreled directly towards Zora as she fired her flintlock, the bullet seemingly defying physics itself as it avoided each spike that erupted from the ground. However, it also avoided its intended target. As Overhaul moved his head to the side, narrowly avoiding the bullet as he felt the burst of air brush across his cheek.
Zora, however, was not as lucky. The act of firing her flintlock pistol forced her in place for just long enough that Overhaul’s spike assault had landed. Piercing her shoulder as it strung her up, blood dripping onto the ruined ground beneath her. A cough leaving her lips as she spat up blood. Overhaul closing his eyes as he breathed a relieved sigh, casually walking up towards the woman he had pierced in place.
“Y’know, that was a pretty slick move there…” Zora coughed out between labored breaths, a half-smile on her face showing that even while she was still in pain, she wasn’t letting her guard down for a moment. “Gettin’ a hit on me is *COUGH* impressive, and I don’t just hand out compliments every darn day.”
Even with his killing intent being near overwhelming, Overhaul stopped in his tracks. Several clocks sprouting from nothingness as he dodged stepped backwards as fast as he could. He wasn’t sure just how far of a range Zora’s powers extended towards, but he was going to be as safe as he possibly could. Watching as the concrete disintegrated into nothingness, Zora dropped back to solid ground as her wound healed up as well.
“Just think though; if you had any degree of skill, ya might’ve been able pierce somethin’ actually vital.” Zora’s previously cheeky tone turned to one of spite as she aimed her flintlock once again, firing six shots rapid fire in a row. Overhaul’s eyes narrowed as he sidestepped and dodged out of the way of each bullet’s trajectory, giving Zora opportunity to reload her flintlock before firing another wave of bullets in Overhaul’s direction. None of which landed; Overhaul’s speed compared to the velocity of the bullets simply being incomparable.
“Seems your aim is off.” Overhaul coldly spat out, practically taunting Zora at this point. Though the cowgirl merely tipped her hat upwards and flashed a cheeky smile as she responded.
“Nah. Just wasn’t aiming for ya.” Her tattoos glowed golden as Overhaul quickly realized what was going on. Whipping his head around to see the bullets retracting just as fast as they shot out of her pistol. Though this time, they were practically already on top of Overhaul before he realized what had occurred. Managing to avoid all but one of the bullets, as one lodged itself into his left shoulder. A wince came across his face as the bullet struck. Painful, but ineffectual. Just like last time he had been pelted with Zora’s barrage of bullets.
And yet, his eyes went wide.
His left arm began to rapidly age, wrinkles forming onto the back of his hand as he too began to feel the effects of Zora’s Sundial affecting his whole self. He needed to act fast, and with his Quirk, he only had one true course of action. With his right hand, he grabbed onto his left arm. Shutting his eyes and gritting his teeth as he braced for the incoming pain he was about to experience.
*SPLRRGGGG*
As his left arm exploded into a mass of blood, tissue, and muscle mass. His eyes went bloodshot as he screamed out in pain. But he had avoided the worst of it. Just from how his body was feeling, he could tell that this woman’s powers were not unlike that of Eri’s. And while it was it was a bit of a gamble to assume that cutting off the source of the strike would stop the effects, it appeared to have worked.
At the cost of his own arm, of course.
“HaHA! Not too shabby there; almost didn’t think ya had the brass to do somethin’ like that!” Zora whistled before laughing at the state of the man in front of her. Pushing up her hat with her pistol with a smile. “A shame that your powers require your hands though, isn’t it?”
Overhaul scoffed as he pulled himself off the ground. Quickly tying what was left of his sleeve to stem the bleeding as much as he could. Clutching his eyes shut and calming himself before reopening them.
“I only need hand to squash a bug.” Slamming his palm into the ground, the fight renewed once more. As the pair danced their dance, Zora careful to dodge out of the way of any spikes targeted towards her and Overhaul avoiding Zora’s bullets in any way he could. In a battle where any one strike could mean death, avoidance was the key to victory. Both would play keep away: Overhaul with the knowledge that her bullets would fry him to ash, and Zora with the knowledge that one touch would be fatal. His eyes constantly scattering and bulging as he kept track of both Zora and her bullets, knowing the manipulation she had over them. But even still, he managed to stall long enough to formulate a plan. Utilizing his Quirk to push a constructed stone pillar up from the earth, launching Zora into the air. Something that took her off guard based on her facial expression, but she quickly found her footing. In only the figurative sense of course, as she used Sundial to time stop her momentum and leave her floating in the air.
“Sorry Kai, but the laws of physics don’t mean much to m-“ Zora’s taunts were interrupted, however, by a pillar striking her back. Overhaul utilizing his reconstruction and disassembling Quirk to knock her around like a pinball with pillars of stone. Battering and distracting Zora to such an extent that she even dropped her pistol. The retro-looking firearm clattering to the ground, right at Overhaul’s feet. As the man calmly picked up the gun while Zora fell to the ground with a thud. His eyes glancing back at her…before he reduced her gun to dust. A mostly symbolic gesture, considering she could utilize Sundial regardless of her bullets being imbued with it or not, but-
“YOU DOGGONE SON OF A *****!” Zora screamed as her gun was destroyed. Clearly striking some kind of nerve as Overhaul cocked a single eyebrow at this outburst. “I made that gun! You don’t just **** with other people’s stuff like that!”
“Your attachment to a weapon is…honestly pathetic.” Overhaul curtly responded; a mix of bewilderment and annoyance in his voice as he heard Zora’s screams across the way. A scoff leaving Zora’s lips as she pulled out a second gun, taking aim…but also giving Overhaul all the time he needed. Such sentimentality was a weakness. When a job needed to be done, it needed to be done. And right now…
…that job was almost done.
“Tsk!” Zora grunted as she dodged another spike that would pierce her, another pillar that would launch her into the air. For the first time during this fight, she felt a trickle of sweat down her neck. Dodging and weaving through each attack, her focus became much more on the actual act of dodging than what she was dodging to. And it was far too late for her to realize that Overhaul was corralling her right into his arms.
Literally.
With one dodge backwards, Overhaul struck. Grabbing onto the back of her neck as he slammed her face into the rubble below.
“You’re sick…” He growled out, venom dripping from his tongue as he spat those words. His eyes bloodshot as he began to activate his Quirk. Veins bulging in Zora’s neck and face as her entire body began to be disassembled. Clocks springing from the ether as her eye markings glowed golden.
*SPLORCH*
Yet they were too slow to reverse Overhaul. Hives began to appear on Overhaul’s face as he shook and quickly pulled out a handkerchief to clean up the blood that had splattered upon him. Zora’s lower half laying limply on the ground.
“This is why I hate messes.”
KO!
Conclusion[]
(My Hero Academia - Overhaul's Theme)
Boomstick: THIS JUST IN! Local gang member kills yet another orphan!
Wiz: Unsurprisingly, this was an incredibly complex matchup to analyze with a lot of moving parts. At first glance, this seemed like a relatively easy win for Zora. Being a much more skilled fighter and much stronger power to instantly delete a person from existence. But upon closer inspection, things started to turn towards Overhaul’s way.
Boomsticking: Overhaul pretty consistently outstatted Zora in the usual stat trinity. While Zora, just by virtue of being top dog in the Epithet Erased universe, scaled to most of the bigger displays of strength within it. But even then, Overhaul was way, way stronger than Zora. Not to mention about 3 times faster.
Wiz: Granted, this was never a fight in which strength was actually much of a factor. Due to how both characters’ powers work, both only needed one good opportunity to get the kill in. Either Zora would need to activate Sundial and age him to dust, or Overhaul would need to touch her and explode her into a bloody pile.
Boomstick: And with Zora having a ranged way of hitting Overhaul with her instakill, it seems like another no-brainer that Zora would take the dub. So, what happened?
Wiz: First, Zora is mainly known for channeling her Epithet through her bullets. Being a crack shot and fantastic marksman would normally mean that that would be game over for Overhaul, but Overhaul has shown reactive speeds far greater than the average bullet time. Especially considering Percival King only needed to react at Mach 2 to deflect and dodge her bullets in the first place. Meaning that it was unlikely for Overhaul to get hit by a stray Epithet infused bullet. With that out of the picture, Zora would have to manually activate Sundial, which she has only been shown using in close proximity. Deaging Bugsy, aging Howie, corroding Howie’s construction project, it was all done either being in close proximity to or actively touching her target. Giving Overhaul easy availability to touch Zora and do the very same thing.
Boomstick: Overhaul also arguably had better control over the battlefield. While Sundial has a wider utility in how it can affect things, Overhaul has been shown to reconstruct multiple things at once, like when he turned the floor into a spike garden against Mirio. Meaning that he could defend himself and pressure Zora simultaneously, all while pushing forward to get in close. Zora could theoretically use Sundial on Overhaul’s constructions, but that would most likely only end up in a stalemate of Overhaul constructing, Sundial reverting, Overhaul constructing, you get the gist.
Wiz: Additionally, while Overhaul was far less of a fighter than Zora was, that actually ends up playing into his favor in a weird, roundabout way. Zora is extremely cocky and only met a real challenge within the world of Epithet Erased once. She likely wouldn’t take Overhaul seriously up until it’s too late, especially since she has a penchant for playing with her food and not going in for the kill unless pushed to.
Boomstick: Whereas Overhaul will go for a killing blow more often than not. The only reason he didn’t straight up merc Mirio and Deku during their first encounter was because he didn’t want to draw attention to himself and was unaware of how much information they actually had on him at the time. So as long as he had a way of getting in on Zora, Zora would most likely be slow to avoid his grasp and instant death from his Quirk.
Wiz: And yet despite all that, Zora still had a possible way out and access to secure the win. It came down to one single question, and one that left us stumped for quite a while: “Could Sundial regress the effects of Overhaul?” A complicated question, with an interesting answer. In the anime, we see what Overhaul does to Magne’s body firsthand. Veins protrude in her body, we see her skin bubble, and then she explodes. Theoretically, this should point towards Overhaul taking even a few minute seconds to activate and kill its target.
Boomstick: However, looking at that scene a little closer, we can see Overhaul’s reactions as all this is taking place. From our interpretation, one of the few things actually moving during those few seconds is Overhaul activating on Magne’s body. Most things in the scene are frozen in time until Magne’s body explodes, and Overhaul finishes his duck, giving credence to this possibly only being a visual aid for the audience’s sake.
Wiz: This also lines up with the underground fighter Kendo Rappa, describing his experience with Overhaul as being “instant”. While there likely is a sort of build-up time for Overhaul before it goes for the kill, if most characters in the MHA universe were unable to react to it, it’d be unlikely that Zora would be able to. Meaning Sundial, while incredibly powerful, would be unable to save her from Overhaul. And while Zora should theoretically upscale from Percival’s bullet deflecting feat, without a higher speed feat to measure her against, it’s hard to give her too much of the benefit of the doubt. Meaning in more cases than not, Overhaul would be the one to land his one-hit kill first.
Boomstick: Try as she might, Kai simply cleaned her clock.
Wiz: The Winner is Overhaul.
Next Time on Koboldy's Death Battles...
Trivia[]
- I commissioned art of this matchup from Sunmellows on twitter! Even getting it signed by Overhaul's official english VA, Kellen Goff!
- The connections between the two fighters are they are both characters in a world filled with superpowers, yet hate the existence of them. Both of them working towards a superpower-less society, despite frequently using their own powers.