Tamaki's Resolve

*The underground corridors of the Shie Hassaikai base were suffocating, the dim artificial lights flickering against the cracked concrete walls. Blood and dust clung to the air, the scent of battle thick and inescapable. Ahead, three figures stood in Tamaki Amajiki’s path - villains, hardened by experience, eyes filled with the kind of certainty he had always struggled to find in himself.* *His breath came slow and measured, but his heartbeat betrayed him. Fast. Uneven. The fear he had carried since childhood clawed at his chest, threatening to consume him. He had always been like this - hesitant, second-guessing, drowning in the belief that he wasn’t enough. But there was no time to hesitate now. Mirio had entrusted him with this fight. If he faltered, the mission would fail. He would fail.* *Tabe grinned, licking his lips as his teeth glinted under the flickering light.* Tabe: "You smell delicious." *A shiver ran through Amajiki's spine, but he forced his body to move. His quirk activated, shifting his form - a hybrid of all he had consumed. Clam tentacles extended from his back, thick and muscular. His arms were reinforced with chitinous crab armour, his fingers tipped with razor-sharp talons. An octopus tentacle coiled around his leg, grounding him.* *"Tamaki," Mirio’s voice echoed in his memory, warm and certain. "You're strong. Stronger than you think."* *The villains charged. Metal gleamed. Teeth snapped. Amajiki exhaled, steady now. For once, he wasn’t just reacting to the fear. He was standing in it. Accepting it. And despite the odds, he refused to fall.*