With each subsequent use of "Growth" and strengthening the bond with the hornets, Taiko changed slightly as a result of training and the rapidly increasing number of victims at his hands and combat experience, which cannot be said about his body. It changed much faster, acquiring the best features of the hornets, as if they looked on a person. This black and red coloring, having a strong chitinous structure, continued to spread up the arm. The chitin did not stand out at all and looked like a second skin, only much stronger and the weight was not felt at all. And one day, Taiko will approach the point of complete and final transformation.
"Growth" is a skill that Taiko used on bodies, from which one carnivorous hornet per body was then born, depending on the body's mass. Unlike the Queen Bee, the Hornet King cannot reproduce his pawns "traditionally", so the quirk, emphasizing their bloodthirstiness and aggressiveness, chose this method of reproduction.
Also, unlike Kuin's bees, due to the hornets' larger size, they are difficult to store. Kuin could release her bees from her own eye, but Taiko could not, so the hornets, due to their huge number, which Taiko could not physically control, chose secluded corners in the forest and began to wait for Taiko to subdue them and be able to control them in the right quantity. Too many hornets spawned after using "Swell" on the Giant, which he was unable to control, but the closer to the end of the transformation, the stronger the control over the swarm.
Like Kuin's bees, Taiko's hornets did not require food, since they were a product of their quirks, but unlike bees, the bloodthirsty and carnivorous Taiko hornets are not averse to an extra snack.
Returning to the forest once again, Taiko saw that his hornets had built a huge hive in the deepest part of the forest, where very few people passed by. He tried to call as many hornets as he could. About a hundred individuals flew to his call, while there were about five hundred individuals in the hive. Taiko's hornets are slightly larger than the Vespa mandarinia or Asian hornet, which are the largest hornets in the world.
Taiko began to train himself to control the swarm more precisely, creating a line and formation of them right in the air. With their incredibly fast flight speed, powerful jaws and paralyzing sting, hornets are a good help against opponents with a numerical advantage. The guy guessed that if the transformation was complete, then most likely he would be able to obtain many of the hornet's features, including their wings. The impossible dream of flying came alive in him again.
Naturally, when it comes to the hornets' features, he didn't want to get some disproportionate and rather inhuman features, even at the cost of their effectiveness and functionality. After all, Taiko liked his appearance. Now the hornets were telling him that a key stage of transformation awaits him in the future. Very soon.
***
All For One has lost too much this year, including his main base due to Almighty. Giran was forced to lie low and temporarily stopped giving out missions. The Yakuza turned their backs on him and no longer cooperated, which is why he lost his main income.
-And all because of him... Grimm, Taiko Garaki. - All For One already had a plan to gradually regain income and influence, but in this regard, Taiko was a thorn in the side. His popularity and obvious income from streams made him independent of Kyudai, Giran, and All For One himself. He didn't even help Kyudai in creating Nomu, he just sometimes suspiciously stood near Kurogiri and Gigantomachia.
All For One envied him, his incomprehensible abilities, how easy everything was for Taiko and how he quickly rose. His envy grew into hatred. He wanted to take everything away from him, but the most painful thing, as it seemed to him, was that quirk of his.
-Still, his eyes at the moment of my borrowing his quirk betrayed fear for his quirk.
Also that girl with whom he lives. All For One watched Taiko and saw how he treasured her.
The villain smiled, an insidious idea occurred to him. He just had a place where Queen Bee Kuin could come in handy. In the criminal world, there is a group of former yakuza and criminals who are just looking for Grimm, driven by the desire for revenge and cruel reprisals.
- Just give them a tip and they'll tear his throat out like dogs on a leash.
While All For One plans to cultivate the malice of Tenko Shimura, whom he named Tomura Shigaraki, he must cut out this tumor called Grimm, otherwise his emotions will continue to cloud his mind.
***
Another day, not like before. Yellow leaves appeared on the street, winter is coming. Taiko and Kuin were returning home from shopping, they tried on clothes all day. He bought warm clothes for himself and Kuin. For himself, a tight black T-shirt with long sleeves, cargo pants, a black vest, good white sneakers. And Kuin bought herself all sorts of things.
Taiko deliberately did not withdraw too much, so that the tax office would not calculate the flow of funds, he also used an intermediary to withdraw funds from the crypto wallet. - "There is still a lot left for a happy and long life ..." - he looked at Kuin. - "... together with her."
Even if he enjoyed bringing a kind of lynching, he loved money more.
He even knew what consequences there were behind the death of both police officers, it taught him not to make hasty decisions, but it was too late to change anything. He knew that because of this, something went wrong for All For One, as he had planned, it was obvious. Kyudai also shut up and only occasionally glanced warily in his direction. Giran recommended several other contracts for some time after the first contract, but also began to freeze after a while, until after the heroes' raid they completely lost each other's contacts.
After the raid, Taiko cleaned up all the contacts and threw away the old phone, afraid that they would contact him. There was some kind of calm, for good or, it seems, before the storm. The entire criminal world became much more cautious because of one person - Almighty. They began to fear him, because he undermined the man who gave all the criminals at least some guarantee for their dirty business. Now the crime rate began to fall rapidly.
***
A sinister silhouette peered out from behind a dark alleyway, right at the house where Taiko had entered with a joyful Kuin. There were more silhouettes. They were holding various weapons in their hands, and someone was ready to use their quirk just to wipe the very essence of Grimm off the face of the earth. To break his will. A little further away from them, a familiar sly smile appeared in the light, waiting for at least the slightest hint to steal Taiko's quirk.