Arthur POV
"Sure, why not."
I felt something wash over me, it...
It...
What was I thinking of?
What was I doing?
What was I -?
Oh yeah, the cavalry battle.
"Great!" Shinso said with that tired smile of his. "I think we'll make a good team."
I nodded, though for some reason I felt slightly disoriented. Maybe it was the excitement of the festival getting to me.
"We still need one more person," Toru said, .her gloveless hands pointing around, not that anyone but me could see that. "Any ideas?"
I looked around the field, students were forming teams left and right. I could see Midoriya who was struggling to find teammates, except for Ochaco, probably because of his ten million point bounty.
Bakugo was aggressively recruiting people, his usual explosive personality on full display. Todoroki had already assembled what looked like a formidable team with Iida, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari.
I had wanted to ask Kirishima, Kaminari, Mina, Tusyu or even Yaoyorozu, but they all seemed to want to not be in a team with me for some reason, which made me think back to what Kaminari said.
Wait, what was I thinking about?
Oh yeah recruiting someone? That's what I should be doing.
"How about him?" Shinso said pointing toward a tall, muscular guy with light brown hair who was standing alone, looking somewhat dejected.
"Rikido Sato," Toru said, then quietened down, which I found weird.
Before I could add anything, Shinso was already walking over to Sato.
"Hey, want to join our team?" Shinso called out.
Sato looked up, his expression brightening. "Really? You'd want me?"
"Of course," Shinso replied. "We could use your strength."
"That sounds great! I'm in!"
As Sato jogged over to us, I noticed something odd in his expression for just a moment - a brief blankness that flickered across his features before settling into enthusiastic agreement. But it passed so quickly I thought I might have imagined it.
"Alright, team strategy time," Toru said, though her enthusiasm seemed to have dimmed slightly. Just what was going-
What was I doing?
"So how should we set this up?" Sato asked, his voice carrying a strange monotone quality that hadn't been there moments before.
"I think Toru should be our rider," Shinso suggested. "Her invisibility will make it harder for other teams to target our headband."
"That makes sense," I agreed, though the words felt like they were coming from somewhere outside myself. "And with her quirk, she can move around more freely on top without being seen."
"I like it," Toru said, though I could hear uncertainty in her voice. "So who goes where?"
"Sato should take the front," Shinso continued, his voice taking on an oddly commanding tone. "His strength will help us push through other teams. Arthur, you take the left side, you can push us with your speed if necessary. I'll take the right and hang on to Sato when we speed up."
Something about the way Shinso was taking charge felt natural, almost compulsive to follow. My body seemed to want to agree before my mind had even processed his words. I shrugged it off, telling myself he seemed to have good tactical sense.
"Sounds like a plan," Sato said, his voice maintaining that same flat quality as he began pulling out candy and sugar cubes, consuming them rapidly to fuel his quirk.
Around us, other teams were finalizing their strategies.
It wasn't long before the fifteen minutes were up and each of the teams were ready.
We got into position as Midnight began the final countdown. I crouched down on the left side, feeling Toru's weight settle on my shoulders. She was lighter than I'd expected, which made sense given her build, and my own strength.
"Remember," Shinso said as we formed up, his voice carrying that same commanding undertone, "the goal is to protect our headband and grab two others, that'll be enough. Stay coordinated."
"Right," Sato and I said in perfect unison, which struck me as more than slightly odd. When had we started speaking in sync? And why did my voice sound so... empty?
"ARE YOU READY?!" Midnight shouted from the platform, her voice cutting through my growing confusion.
The crowd roared in response, their excitement a stark contrast to the strange fog that seemed to be settling over my thoughts.
"BEGIN!"
Immediately, chaos erupted across the field. Teams rushed toward each other. Most were heading toward Midoriya's team, drawn like moths to the flame of those ten million points, but several others were targeting what they perceived as easier prey, we were one of those teams.
"Forward!" Shinso commanded, and without thinking, our team moved as one.
My legs carried me forward before I'd consciously decided to move. That should have been my first major warning sign, but the thought slipped away like water through my fingers.
I could see Team Kendo approaching from our right, I knew Kendo's quirk but I had no clue about the rest, still something made me on edge.
"Incoming," I called out, pointing toward them, my voice still carrying that strange monotone quality that was becoming increasingly unsettling.
"Arthur, circle left," Shinso ordered. "Sato, prepare to charge."
My legs moved before I consciously decided to follow the command. Something felt deeply off about that automatic response, but I didn't have time to analyze it as Team Kendo closed in fast.
"Big Fist!" Kendo shouted, her hands growing to enormous proportions as she reached for our headband on Toru's neck.
"Arthur, protect the headband," Shinso said, his voice cutting through the battle noise with unusual clarity.
My outside leg moved with explosive force, slamming into Kendo's enlarged hands. But something was wrong - I was bringing too much force to bear. Why wasn't I controlling my strength properly? The impact was far harder than necessary.
BAM
Kendo's hands were knocked overhead with such force that she nearly fell off her horses shoulders, her team wobbling dangerously.
"Sorry!" I called out instinctively, but Shinso's next command cut off any further apology.
"Rush forward, Sato. Arthur, move us forward."
We did as we were told, and I felt my enhanced speed kick in. But wait - I needed to slow down. I was going to move too fast for the others to keep up. Why was my body not responding to my mental commands properly?
"Toru, grab their headband."
I could see her almost invisible form, identifiable only by our team's headband that swung around her neck, stretching forward to grab Kendo's. But before she could make contact, I spotted something that made my enhanced senses scream danger.
Spores. Tiny, nearly invisible particles were beginning to drift from one of the girls on Kendo's team. I pulled all of us back sharply, even though my body seemed to resist the action.
"Arthur, what are you doing? Move forward," Shinso said, his voice carrying an edge of frustration.
I felt a compulsion to obey, a strange pressure in my mind that wanted me to follow his orders without question. But my instincts overrode whatever was trying to control me.
Then mushrooms exploded all around us in a burst of white and brown, sprouting instantly from where the spores had landed. If I hadn't pulled us back, they would have engulfed our entire team.
"Great job, Komori," Kendo said excitedly to the spore-user.
"She uses spores," I said, my voice coming out more monotone than I intended, the words feeling disconnected from my thoughts. "Once they touch a surface, they grow instantly into full mushrooms."
"Huh," Toru said, and I noticed our headband suddenly began to float up slightly, a light pink aura surrounding it. She grabbed it quickly, pulling it down securely to her neck again.
"It flew up on it's own," Toru said monotone.
"Tsk, they may have a telekinetic, we need to be fast," Shinso said, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "Arthur, push us forward. Toru, get ready to grab their headband."
I did as I was told, and I ran, fast, too fast. Why? Why was I following orders so automatically?
Shinso hung on tightly to Sato as we moved forward with supernatural speed. Toru had her hand stretched forward, reaching for Kendo's team's points.
BOOM
In the blink of an eye, we were behind them, and Toru had successfully grabbed their headband.
"Dammit, we lost. Turn back, girls," Kendo said with good sportsmanship despite the setback.
"Move quick, Sato," Shinso ordered, and so we began to run at a pace all the horses could maintain.
But our success was short-lived. Vines suddenly burst forward from the ground in thick, writhing masses.
"HA, NO SNITCHING THIS TIME!" Tetsutetsu's voice boomed as his team barreled toward us with renewed determination. The vines, Shiozaki's quirk, started to encircle us in increasingly tight spirals.
"Arthur, cut them with your sword," Shinso commanded.
That order made me stop dead in my tracks, causing our entire team to stumble. Something about being told to draw Excalibur felt fundamentally wrong.
"Arthur," Shinso said again, his voice taking on that strange compelling quality.
Despite my reluctance, my hand moved to Excalibur's hilt, and I drew her sacred blade. I slashed at the approaching vines, her edge cutting through them like they were made of paper. But even as I fought, questions raced through my mind. Why had I drawn her? The vines weren't that dangerous, I could have dealt with them with my bare hands.
The ground beneath us suddenly softened and gave way as another quirk user, another horse from Testutesu's team, it turned the solid earth into something like quicksand. We began to sink.
"HA! WE GOT YOU NOW!" Tetsutetsu crowed triumphantly.
"Sato," Shinso said simply.
Without hesitation, Sato's sugar-enhanced strength activated, and he pulled us up from the softened ground. I helped as well, my enhanced physical abilities making the task easier than it should have been.
But Team Kendo had circled back around. Two giant hands appeared in front of us - Kendo's enlarged fists blocking our path. Behind us, more vines were sprouting and reaching for us. I slashed again with Excalibur, clearing our immediate vicinity.
Tetsutetsu's metallic hand shot out toward Toru's headbands on her neck.
"Toru, fall back," Shinso said.
She did as she was told, that same instant, automatic obedience that had been plaguing our entire team. My free hand moved on its own this time without a command, it was more an insticnt, my normal one at least, just as Shinso's did, and we caught her as she leaned backward to avoid Tetsutetsu's grasp.
Kendo's giant hands clasped around us, or at least tried to, as Sato pushed against both of them with his enhanced strength, the muscles in his arms bulging with sugar-fueled power.
"Arthur, can you jump and push us all up?" Shinso asked.
I did as I was told, my legs even though they were partially trapped in the softened material, burst with mana. My enhanced strength allowed me to grab all of them by different parts of their shirts, or they grabbed onto my body for support.
We flew into the air in a graceful arc, leaving both opposing teams behind and below us.
"Shit, this may have been a bad idea," Shinso muttered as we reached the apex of our jump.
I sheathed Excalibur automatically. Why had I used her at all? She wasn't necessary for dealing with vines and softened ground. A nagging voice in the back of my mind was screaming that something was very, very wrong with this entire situation.
I looked toward the timer displayed on the stadium screens. Six minutes left. According to the scoreboard, we were in third place, a respectable position, more than enough to qualify.
Around us, I could see the other teams engaged in their own conflicts. Midoriya's team was being relentlessly pursued by multiple groups, all drawn to those ten million points.
Bakugo's team was aggressively hunting down another team.
And Todoroki's own team was the closest to Midoriya's.
Gravity finally took hold of us, and the ground rushed up to meet our falling forms.
We fell.
A/N: Yeah Arthur isn't immune to mind control as you can see, and since he's keeping everything at bay he hasn't had a big enough knockback to pull him out of it. I know a lot of you may not like it, but I talked it extensively with a few people and yeah Arthur shouldn't be able to stop it, Avalon or not.
Also this cavalry battle shit, is way too fucking hard to write. Like I seriously didn't know what I was doing half the time, this came out late because I kept rewriting the chapter over, over and over.
I did my best and I hope you all enjoyed it, we finished this week in fourth place, so I have to give you guys a bonus chapter.
I may write it today but with how hard this cavalry shit is to write, that isn't a certainty.
Thx for reading. See you all guys in the next chapter. Author out.