Lemillion's unique fighting style, explained

Important takeaways

• Lemillion's fighting style is unique due to his quirkiness, physical strength and foresight.
• Permeation allows Lemillion to phase through anything, with drawbacks that make it challenging to control.
• Lemillion's disciplined martial arts training and ability to predict his opponent's movements enhance his fighting style.

IN My Hero Academiathe way someone engages in a fight – their fighting style, so to speak – is largely determined by their quirks. Those who can cause massive destruction with a single attack, such as All Might or All-For-One, can ignore everything and smash their enemies to smithereens. On the other hand, they have strange powers – Eraser Head and Stain come to mind – must come up with a unique fighting style that can take full advantage of their peculiar quirk.

Lemillion belongs in the second camp. Similar to Eraser Head and Stain, he also has an awkward quirk that would normally prevent him from becoming a hero. In fact, his father, who has the same quirk as him, rarely uses it in his everyday life because of how difficult it is to control. That said, Lemillion isn't one to give up on his dream of being a hero so easily. So he trains hard and is finally able to develop his own unique way of fighting. Let's take this chance to look deeper into what makes Lemillion's fighting style so unique.

Property: Permeation

Before we get into the fighting style, let's take some time to talk about the building blocks of Lemillion's fighting style first. Three main components contribute to his way of fighting. His quirk, his physical strength and his foresight. Let's start with his quirk, Permeation.

Phased through everything

As the name suggests, Permeation allows Lemillion to phase through anything. He can freely make his body, or parts of his body, intangible and slide through anything. Although intangible, no attacks can touch him and no defense can stop him. This quirk is especially useful for infiltration missions. After all, it doesn't matter if the enemy is hiding underground or behind layers of thick slabs of iron walls, Lemillion can simply walk into their lair without breaking a sweat.

“Mirio, make one wrong move with our quirk and you could be split in two. It's hard to control, which is why dad gave up being a hero. But you'll still go for it?”

—Mirio Togata's father, Chapter 152

Much more difficult than you might think

Reading the description above, Permeation seems like such a handy quirk, doesn't it? Well, that couldn't be further from the truth. This quirk requires an absurd amount of concentration from the user. In order to perfectly time which part of his body to become intangible, Lemillion needs to have absolute control and awareness over every inch of his body.

Also, while in full immaterial mode, everything will pass through him, including light and oxygen. That means when he dives underground he can't see and he can't breathe. By the way, to prevent him from slipping through his clothes, his hero suit is made of a special fiber developed based on hair.

Physical strength

Permeation is not a trait that grants its users enhanced physical abilities. It might help Lemillion move like no other, but that's pretty much it. So in order to take down bad guys and become a real bonafide hero, Lemillion has to train his body the old fashioned way. This means adding more muscle and learning some martial arts.

Raw muscle power

Since all kinds of weapons and tools will just slide right through him, Lemillion's only weapon is his body. Or to be more precise, his kicks and punches. He realized this fact early, so muscle building has always been part of his daily training program. But that doesn't mean he suddenly bulks up like All Might. Lemillion's fighting style requires speed and agility, meaning that although he is muscular, he is still relatively lean. That's why his build might not look that much different from ordinary people. Nowadays, he can easily knock people down with a single kick or punch.

Martial art

All the muscles in the world won't mean a thing if he doesn't know how to throw a punch properly. That's why, in addition to muscle building and property control, he also has martial arts training as part of his daily regimen. He doesn't need to be an expert in every martial art under the sun. Boxing for its punches and karate or taekwondo for its kicks should be enough. Maybe some grappling or Muay Thai to tie it all together. So yeah, Lemillion has mastered the basics of a Mixed Martial Arts and that's pretty much all he needs to take down some bad guys.

Foresight

Lemillion is a student of Sir Nighteye, a man who used to work alongside All Might for years. Nighteye's quirk allows him to look into the future of his target, perfectly seeing what they would do in the next few seconds, minutes, hours, and even years into the future. Thanks to this, no one can touch Nighteye in a fight. Meanwhile, he can easily land a critical hit to knock down his enemy. Lemillion does not have Nighteye's quirk, but the master has made sure to drill this foresight into his pupil.

Takes everything in

The first thing Lemillion does in a fight is observe everything around him so he can take advantage of his surroundings. It is better if he has information about his enemy in advance, like the case during the Shie Hassaikai raid. But even though he knows nothing about them, Lemillion is trained to always analyze his opponents' quirks, movements, and personalities so that he can predict their next actions as accurately as possible. By taking it all in, he will exponentially increase his chance of winning the fight.

To predict everything

When Lemillion uses his Permeation to dive into the ground, he will be repelled because two different masses cannot occupy the same space. Lemillion uses this phenomenon to propel himself in any direction he wants, allowing him to move faster than his opponents can react.

But no matter how fast he moves, if the enemy sees him coming, they will be able to prepare a counterattack or take an evasive maneuver. That's when predicting your opponents move comes into play. By anticipating where the enemy will be or what they will do next, Lemillion can trap his opponents and land a critical hit. He already has the quirk, the strength, and the martial arts, but it's the foresight that elevates his fighting style to another level.

“I watch my enemy closely! And try to predict his next move! But you move way better than any two-bit yakuza thug! You're strong, Chisaki! Like I said, between the two of us, I'm stronger!!”

— Lemillion, Chapter 151

Lemillion in a fight

So now that we have all the pieces of the puzzle in place—namely, the quirk, the brawn, the martial arts, and the foresight—let's see how Lemillion uses all of these tools in action. There's no better way to showcase his unique fighting style than when he fought Kai Chisaki, better known as Overhaul, and his goons in the Shie Hassaikai arc.

Move before the enemy

This battle takes place in the long corridor beneath Shie Hassaikai's headquarters. Chisaki intends to escape from the secret passage with Eri and some of his minions. The moment Overhaul and his goons realize that Lemillion has caught up to them, they immediately try to attack him head on. But before they can move, Lemillion has already dived into the ground, thrusting towards Overhaul and appearing right behind the masked villain. All these maneuvers happen in fractions of a second. Before Overhaul can react, Lemillion has already landed a clean punch that knocks this Yakuza down.

Catapult at the ground

Diving into the ground and nearby walls and then using the knockback effect to hurl himself towards his chosen direction is Lemillion's signature move. Not only is it effective as a surprise attack, but it's also Lemillion's fastest move. In fact, one of his ultimate moves is called Phantom Menace. When performing this move, Lemillion bounces around at high speed from the nearby walls, floor, and ceiling, then takes out multiple enemies at once. Lemillion uses Phantom Menace to take down several of Overhaul's minions before they have a chance to react. This move works especially well indoors.

Multi-stage chamfering

After enduring grueling and extensive training sessions, Lemillion has finally gained complete control over his troublesome quirk. He can now limit Permeation to only take effect on certain parts of his body and turn it on and off instantly. This multi-step phasing allows him to basically ignore enemy defenses. The best example of this is during Lemillion's final fight against Overhaul.

The destructive power of revision emanates from his palm. So when he realizes that Lemillion is about to hit him, he instinctively opens his palm, both as a way to stop the attack and to destroy Lemillion's hand. Unfortunately for him, Lemillion simply phases through Overhaul's palm, then makes his fist tangible again while the rest of his arm remains intangible. As a result, his full punch landed clean on Overhaul's face.

So in summary, when Lemillion infiltrates the enemy's lair and has to fight multiple opponents, he dives and pushes his way towards the enemy that is the furthest away from him. He will lunge upwards behind the enemy's back and knock him down. He will then dive again and bounce from the floor to the nearby walls at high speed, taking out the remaining enemies.

If anyone tries to attack him or block his attacks, he will use his mulCrunchyroll.ti-stage phasing to get past their defenses and land a clean punch or kick to the face. If he must engage in a prolonged battle, he will analyze the opponent as he fights them to predict their actions and adjust his strategy accordingly. This is the core of Lemillion's unique fighting style.

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