Ultra Responsibility (My Hero Academia X Spider-Man Reader)

Issue 26 - The Boy With Ambition to Power the Sun Part 1

I didn't expect Kraven's "training" to start with an audience.

The manor's grounds stretched out behind the main building like a private wilderness someone had stapled onto the edge of the city. Trees thick enough to swallow sound. Fog hanging low like it had a schedule. Somewhere in the distance, something metallic clanged, and a flock of birds launched into the sky like they'd been shot.

Kraven led me onto a raised platform built into the rock face, half lookout post, half execution stage. He didn't say much. He never did at the start. He liked letting silence do the intimidation for him.

I crouched on the ledge, knees tight to my chest, the new suit's fur collar itching my neck. It still didn't feel like mine. It felt like I was wearing someone else's idea of me.

Below us, in a wide clearing, a circle of hunters formed around a single man. He limped. One side of his body sagged like the bones inside had forgotten their job. His gear was torn. Blood darkened his sleeve and dripped in steady drops onto the dirt.

He wasn't a "target," not in the way my brain wanted to categorise things.

He was one of them.

And they were closing in on him anyway.

"Watch," Kraven said quietly, like we were at a museum exhibit.

The surrounding hunters shifted, weapons scraping: short blades, blunt batons, a crossbow raised just enough to be a threat without being a mercy.

The wounded hunter lifted his head. His eyes were wild, glassy with pain and something worse. Humiliation. Fear. Fury.

My stomach twisted.

"What is this?" I whispered.

Kraven's gaze never left the clearing. "A lesson."

The wounded man lunged first, desperate. Not calculated, not clean. He threw himself at the nearest hunter with a snarl and a sudden burst of strength that didn't belong to someone bleeding out. He slammed his forehead into the other man's face, then yanked a knife from his own belt like he didn't care if he bled faster.

The circle stumbled back, surprised. Two hunters went down hard. One clutched his jaw. Another hit the dirt, scrambling like a panicked animal himself.

Kraven leaned slightly toward me, voice calm, almost gentle. "The most dangerous creature is not the strongest."

The wounded hunter spun and slashed at anyone close enough, breathing ragged, eyes darting, body shaking.

"It is the desperate one," Kraven continued. "Predator or prey, it makes no difference. When something believes it has nothing left, it becomes... honest."

The hunters regrouped. I watched them tighten their formation with practised movement, as if this were routine, as if they'd rehearsed "how to put down your own" the way UA rehearsed evacuation drills.

Kraven's voice dipped lower. "You treat every opponent as the final hunt, Spider. You do not mock them. You do not underestimate them. You do not assume mercy will be returned."

My hands clenched. I didn't even realise I was digging my nails into my palm until it stung.

Down below, the wounded man surged again, forcing them back with raw, ugly force. He looked like he'd tear out throats if it meant staying on his feet. The hunters hesitated, suddenly cautious.

Kraven's eyes glinted. "Do you understand now?"

The circle closed again. This time, the hunters moved in with coordination, feints and traps. One drew the wounded man's attention, another swept his legs. A third came in from behind, baton cracking against the back of his knee.