MosesArk Reborn2000
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Chapter 20: Burn it all Down
🕑 Added 2024-04-09 14:30:44 +0000 UTCWell, this is weird. I started writing this near the end of March, in between my work on assignments, but I finished most of my data, so I can just do the bare minimum and save most of what I had for work. I do not even know how that worked since last I checked it, I had plenty(I'm betting it was the smart TV as my brother was staying with me and the roommate for a while, but I can't prove anything)
But onto a mixed bag of news: While Life of a Hero is on the ice for the moment, I'll be replacing it with a new story. I've discussed the idea with others for a while now and worked out most of the kinks, so we'll see how that goes when it's up. Also, I'll release a new chapter of Songbird in April, so keep an eye out for that.
Chapter 20: Burn it all Down
(Previously)
"Bastard...!" Vlad ground out, willing the blood from his broken arm into a spear to fire at the covered villain. Still, Nomu intercepted it, and he got rewarded for his efforts when it stomped on his leg, breaking it; this time, he couldn't hold back the cry of pain. "You, you're not going to get away with this. You'll pay for the blood you've slipped!"
The villain laughed in his face at that. "I've been just that for years. It might be a big day for you and your brats, us showing and tearing up the place, but for me, it's just an exciting Friday."
That statement, more than anything else, made the students still in hiding terrified to get out, being paralysed with fear as sure, the other villains had meant them harm, but none had been so twisted and gleeful in it that they could call this hell they made 'an exciting Friday.' But Tokage knew they had to act; she had sent an eye over the plaza and knew that both Hebimi and Vlad would die. Tokage was sweating up a storm as she recalled how she got her recommendation, how she moved without thinking and how she should be doing that now, asking herself why she had to before anyone else got hurt.
Line Break
While Tokage is having an internal crisis over what she should do, the warp villain that had sent them all over the place reappears by the boss villain's side, something that Shiozaki and Shishida paid close attention to as they didn't know much about their quirk. They could be sent somewhere worse if he saw them if they weren't careful. With the two villains, Kurogiri had some bad news to tell his boss, who seemed to be in a great mood now that they had defeated Vlad and seemingly killed another student.
Looking towards his accomplice, Shigaraki raised an eyebrow at the state the man was in. Even with the fog covering his body, he could tell he was winded, covered in dust, and, was that glue? He hoped it was glue. “What the hell happened to you?”
Kurogiri nodded towards him, still irritated that his regularly clean and proper form had been dirtied against mere students—U.A. students, yes, but students regardless. "The students proved their work as golden eggs, master Shigaraki. It. It was harder than expected to handle them," he stated.
“Did you at least kill Thirteen?” Shigaraki asked, only taking a little joy in how Vlad seemed just as invested in the coming response as he was.
"She's alive, but that shouldn't be an issue with the injuries she's sustained. I managed to scatter most of the students to the different zones, but unfortunately, some managed to slip past my warp gate, and together, they worked to ensure one of them escaped." Kurogiri’s response wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“What?” He asked, praying for Kurogiri's sake that this was just a fluke and that maybe he had damaged his ears thanks to God, who knew how many hours he had worn headphones.
"They managed to sneak one by me, and he got out of the USJ and is no doubt heading back to the main campus to gather reinforcements," Kurogiri said, which made Shigaraki upset, real upset as he started shaking in rage, his hands reaching for his neck and scratching it, getting more aggressive as his rage built up as this wasn't meant to happen! First, he discovers his grunts can't even take on some brats. One of them manages to pose a threat till Nomu blindsided them, and while that raised his mood, it falls even lower because their plan to keep the students here has fallen apart!
“Dammit…!” Scratching his neck raw, he just knew that things had gone to shit. U.A. had over 30 pros staff, which was why they chose to attack here, where they would have only needed to worry about 3, including their target! The students were meant to be distractions that the grunts could handle, but somehow, Kurogiri got bested by them. How stupid was that? “Just when I was in such a good mood!”
"Kurogiri…! If you weren't our exit plan, you'd be dust right about now." Kurogiri remained silent, knowing that the master wasn't lying. In fact, he might still try to kill him, as he wasn't known for his temperament or long-term thinking, so it was better to let him get it out of his system now.
"And to make things worse, these students proved to be annoying and capable, real 4-stars as that one over there," Shigaraki roughly pointed towards the cooling body of Midoriya, too angry to take any joy over his painful end. "Could they actually give Nomu a challenge, but now I hear that they managed to embarrass you as well?" This was some BS; there was a glitch in the system, and for that to work, there had to be!
“Regretfully, that seems to be the situation, master Shigaraki.” Kurogiri nodded his head as Shigaraki finally calmed down. He took a deep breath and let it out, along with most of his frustration. It sucked, but sometimes games had bugs like this.
“Man, we can't win against that many pros. With most of our grunts being pushovers, they wouldn't make them break a sweat. It's game over now. We might as well pack and leave." His grunts, those still awake, might have taken issue with that, but the honest knew he was right, while the rest were smart enough not to give the man a reason to kill them.
From their hiding spot, the trio heard the villains talking, which brought relief when they heard that not everyone had been caught up in the fighting and that one had managed to escape. That relief only grew when they heard that the villains were pulling out. “Did you hear that? Someone got out, help’s on the way.” Shiozaki whispered so that they couldn't hear.
"And it sounds like they're being smart and retreating before they can get here," Shishida added, but for as lovely as that would be, Tokage felt that this was suspicious.
“But that doesn’t make sense,” She rained on their parade, her mind racing to figure out what was happening. These guys did all this to have a shot at All Might; they kill…” She stopped herself, not wanting to say it. It was childish, she knew, but she didn't want to state that because it would make it true. They don't seem to be the type to do all that and just give up, not without a fight."
Her fears about this were proven true when Shigaraki seemed to realise something. "Oh, and before we leave, we might as well destroy the pride of the Symbol of Peace." He turned to the way they were, locking eyes with the recommendation's student, freezing her in place with just how disturbed those red eyes were. They housed nothing but malice, anger, and cruelty, not a hint of kindness or compassion in them.
The next moment, he was in front of her as if he had a speed quirk. She didn't even see him move, but now he was seconds away from touching her face. Her mind flashed to what she had seen his hands do to Vlad's arm and gear, how he crumpled and turned to dust with nothing but a touch. She could already see it; once those hands touched her, she would be dead, just like Midoriya. Shiozaki and Shishida were already moving, but it would be too late as they hadn't seen the coming threat any faster than her.
While her conscious mind hadn't perceived this, her primal fight or flight response triggered in a flash as, without her knowledge or willing input, she was raising her hand to block the attack while leaning back as far as she could. It would hurt to lose the arm, but she had lost limbs before and could afford that, especially when it was in place of her head.
Her life was saved when Shigaraki had to jump back, barely avoiding the missive spike of blood thrown towards him. "Even injured and low on blood, you're still a bad-ass, Vlad." Turning, he saw that despite his injuries, including shattered bones in his arm and leg, Vlad still found the nerve to form something and aimed it just right to force him to retreat. His reward for that showing of heroism despite the excruciating pain was Nomu grabbing his arm and squeezing it, his muscles and bones crushed within seconds, which got him to scream in pain, a scream cut short when it slammed his head into the pavement, coating the surface with more crimson.
Seeing their teacher do such a thing, they couldn't sit back as Tokage used the chance brought by his efforts to save her from shooting off both her hands towards the hand villain, aiming to strike from two different angles to try and surprise him. Shiozaki followed suit as she used what little vines she had to try and restrain him. Even if he could decay it, it would give Shishida and Tokage the chance to knock him out.
Shigaraki, despite being surprised by their balls to attack after they saw what they did to the other two, was still on a whole different level compared to them, as he was able to react to Tokage’s hands, grabbing back before they could touch him while rolling to avoid Shiozaki’s vines, dropping the now partially decayed hands to the ground, he saw that more was heading for him, along with more vines and that beast looking boy, who looked bigger than he did a second ago, with more pronounced fangs.
‘Strange quirk, does it only revolve her hands? Must make getting remotes and controllers when you’ve sat down easier.’ He thought to himself as he grabbed the first hand, decaying it and throwing it aside while, at the same time reaching for the beast's fist, but at the last second, the boy swung it, of course, to protect himself. Nomu hadn't even moved, as the creature could tell he was in no real danger, not from these brats, so he decided to just take care of them.
Decaying a vine that tried to wrap around his leg, he jumped over the rest, seeing that the girl sending them must have been on her last legs. He reached to grab onto the beast student and add another student to the obituaries, with Nomu moving to handle the students so they could pack up and leave.
At least, that was the plan. The doors leading into the USJ didn't just slam open but exploded, and a sound and vibration were felt even as far inwards as the plaza. Such a sudden and expected event froze the fight; it froze almost everything happening, which allowed them to hear someone approaching. Their steps were measured but echoing throughout the area, each step carrying with it a distinctive and immense sense of power that even Nomu turned to see who or what that was.
“It’s fine now,” they got their answer. From the smoke of their explosive entrance, they saw him. They saw the symbol of peace, dressed in his typical teaching suit, his jacket in hand as he ripped his tie clean off. "Because I am here," All Might announced with his signature catchphrase, but for once, he wasn’t smiling.
Line Break
Walking into the USJ, All Might saw the carnage that waited for him; while he was pleased to see the students were okay, this was only a tiny fraction of them. He didn't know where the others were; only what he had been told was the suspicion. “I had a bad feeling when my calls weren’t getting picked up, so I tore myself away from my discussion with the principal and rushed on over.” He stated that the students collapsed in relief or looked at him like many had before.
He kept his stride strong, his sadness and anger swirling in his gut as he took in the condition of Thirteen, just as he had been told. "I passed young Kaibara on the way. He filled me in on the situation." He recalled that encounter mere moments ago, as he had been surprised and concerned to see the boy rushing towards the school like death was chasing him. Kaibara had barely stopped long enough to explain the villain's attack before he ran to get more help. He was too panicked to do what most would have done upon seeing him heading to the scene, which was nothing now that All Might was due.
“It’s fine now,” Coming to a top at the top of the stairs, he ripped his tie off his neck, his iconic smile nowhere to be seen. In its place was a sneer that would have been expected from the Flame hero, but he couldn't bring himself to smile, not when he was worried sick for his students. “Because I am here!”
“He made it…” Back in the plaza, the group felt their bodies relax as the adrenaline started to wear off. Shiozaki clasped her hands together with calmed tears in her eyes. “Oh, thank the Lord.” Her sentiments were shared among the trio, who felt like they had a winning shot now, a means to end this.
"Trash of society looks like we're getting a continue after all." He wouldn't have shown it if Shigaraki had been worried about this. However, his confidence, real or otherwise, wasn't shared among the villains who were still awake as they looked up towards the top hero and felt themselves growing scared. It was one thing to plan it; it was quite another to stare down the strongest man in the world. This man didn't seem too pleased with the situation or them.
“That’s…that’s him, All Might.”
“I’ve never seen him before in person.”
“So intimidating, and all he’s doing is just standing there…”
One of the low-level villains got sick of the rest shaking in their boots and turned to remind them of why they bothered to get involved with this. “You idiots, don't just cold feet now if we can," Whatever he was going to say was cut short when All Might moved faster than anyone could even notice. With single strikes, he knocked out every villain in his way; before anyone even realised it, he had descended the stairs, taken out most of the villains in his way and now carried the unconscious body of his fellow teacher.
Looking the man over, his heart squeezed when he saw his condition. Both arms were broken, the same with his left leg and his head was covered with his blood. “I’m sorry…Vlad, if only I had been here.” He apologised, as he felt like a fool if he had just prioritised his teaching if he had only been here. But if he thought seeing Thirteen and Vlad in such a state was terrible, then what he saw in the corner of his eye nearly shattered him. “No,” He dashed over that moment before he came to a stop. He pleaded with the heavens that this wasn't so, but when he looked down, it seemed his prayers went unanswered.
“Young Midoriya…” He almost didn't recognise him; this wasn't the same bubbly, friendly boy who came to school every morning with a snake wrapped around his neck and shoulders. But he had seen this form before. He knew he was at his strongest when like this, but that strength didn't save him as he lay on the cold, unfeeling concrete, his lower half missing and his lava insides pouring from him as his snake tried to keep him going. Still, every shallow breath he took seemed weaker than the last.
Kneeling with the unconscious Vlad in his arms, he reached a hesitant hand to the student, to someone whom he failed to save. “Can you hear me? Blink if you can.” Midoriya didn't reply; his eyes, once warm glowing pits of flames, remained dim, the embers that kept them alive holding on by a tread. Meanwhile, Koharu looked up to him, giving off a deep sense of worry and fear and pleas for him to help. He moved again, and this time, the trio of students found themselves far from the villains, with Shishida blinking in confusion.
“Wait, when did we,” He asked, as he had just been…All Might moved them faster than they could see him, never mind react.
With his back to them, the symbol of peace kept his eyes on the current threat, having already placed the two wounded people close to the students. "Please take care of them; they both need emergency medical aid," He told them, the trio turning to their injured teacher and classmate but hesitant to get close to them.
“But, but sir, Midoriya’s,” Shishida struggled to say, as being up close to Midoriya and seeing him in such a state was hard for all of them as Midoriya, against all odds was still alive but could only be in what they could say was unimaginable pain. Koharu did not make it any easier as she fretted over him, her body cooling as she fed what energy she had siphoned off him back into Midoriya's body to keep him going while his body desperately tried to regenerate.
"Cool to the touch, he's fading and needs help; please get them out of here." All Might told them, as he wasn't sure if that was Midoriya making an effort not to burn him when he carried him or if he simply didn't have the strength to burn at all. Hearing this, the shaken students nodded as Shishida Tokage and Shiozaki went to help Midoriya. At the same time, Shishida, the strongest of the trio, stepped up to get the larger Vlad out of there.
But before they left, Tokage needed to give All Might a heads-up. Gesturing towards Nomu, she advised, “Be careful with the big one, All Might. That…thing did Midoriya in. It's incredibly fast, strong, and has a healing factor." She sneered at the beast, a sentiment shared by her two classmates.
“A thing indeed,” All Might replied, as he had seen many kinds of people, good, bad and everything in between in his 30-plus years of hero work, and he could safely say that not a single one of them came close to that fish-eyed look that nomu had.
With Shigaraki, he seemed to be fumbling around, repeating the same thing of how it wasn't good, looking for the severed hand that once covered his face, knocked off by All Might when he smacked him aside to make room to grab his students. As he searched, he covered his face with his other hand before eventually finding the missing appendage, calming considerably as he placed it back on his face, like a twisted variant of a security blanket. "I'm so sorry father, it won't happen again." He stated that as he relaxed, the appendage was back in place.
"Striking me while saving people, just what you would expect from a government official, just as fast as I thought. I didn't even see him move, but not as fast as I was told he would be.” He mused to himself before giggling as he came to a conclusion.
"He was right; All Might is getting weaker," He concluded, meaning their plans weren’t completely lost.
"It's all right. I'll get justice for this. This, I swear." All Might assured the students that he could handle this, which was enough for them to make their exit, their precious cargo in hand. Tokage and Shiozaki used their quirks to be as gentle as they could, carrying Izuku. In contrast, Shishida carried Vlad's bridal style.
With them leaving, All Might sprung into action, his arms brought up in an x pattern to his chest, "Carolina-”
"Nomu," Shigaraki ordered, and the beast followed without question and got in the way of the attack.
“Smash!” All Might struck, his arms swinging outwards in a double diagonal chop, but the body of the Nomu didn't budge, even though the force of the blow caused the water from the flood zone to part nearly to the bottom.
“She wasn’t kidding when she said it was strong,” All Might said as he bent to dodge a grab from the beast, pulling back his fist to strike. "So, how about this?" He asked, slamming his fist into its gut, but again, there was nothing despite the fact he put enough force in that attack that could send an armoured car flying. When that didn't work, he quickly followed up with two strikes at its jaw and side of its head, but the Nomu screeked through it all, trying to counter.
"I didn't even flinch, but even still, those hits should have done something, but it's like I never touched it." All Might said aloud as he continued to whale onto Nomu, aiming for bodily weak spots with increasing power behind his blows, but the Nomu didn't seem to even feel it.
Watching this, Shigaraki couldn’t help but brag about it, as who could say they watched the symbol of peace struggle? "Your attacks are pointless, not when Nomu has Shock Absorption. The only reason that brat managed to injure Nomu was because of his fire, but you don't have that, do you?" He mocked the number one for his lack of an effective counter and how the one person who did was still bested by Nomu, ripped in two.
"Well, you could gouge out his flesh, but I doubt Nomu would let you do that," He suggested as All Might rolled to avoid another attack.
“Thanks for the tip!” Using his immense speed, he got behind Nomu and wrapped his arms around its midsection before lifting it to slam it head-first into the ground with a classic German suplex. "If that's the case, then it's easier for me!" he stated, slamming the beast into the concrete with enough force that it was like an explosion had been set off, throwing up a thick cloud of smoke and dust.
Line Break
Despite the gruesome nature of his injury, he didn't feel all that much, though the logical part of his brain suspected that was due to how his spine had been severed, leading to his lower torso. Perhaps shock was also a factor as he felt himself being thrown aside like garbage. He bounced on the floor, rolling for a bit before he stopped, taking time for the situation to sink in. He hadn't just been bested; he had been destroyed.
And with that realisation, his fogging mind realised that his sense of pain, not from his now severed lower half, but from his innards flowing out of him, came in fast and agonisingly piercing. It was like ice had been shot through every part of him, but he didn’t have the strength to even let out anything more than a pained moan. He heard Koharu screaming at him to stay awake, that she could try and transfer some of her heat back to him, but he didn't see her anymore. He didn't see much as his vision started to blur.
He knew that his body was rugged and should be able to regenerate from this, but he had never done something like this; the most he had tested it was breaking his arm and seeing it heal in seconds. That seemed to be happening, as he wasn't dead yet, but it was slow, too slow and draining to seal up his wounds in time; it didn't help that he was using all his will to maintain his transformed state as if he changed back now, there'll be no going back, and he'll bleed out here, torn to pieces by some…thing, that shouldn’t even exist.
There was a thud; he wasn't sure what, but then there was a shadow over him. Koharu said it was All Might, or at least she seemed to be pleading with All Might, but he couldn't see what he was doing or saying; he just felt himself being lifted; that shouldn't work; he was hot…right? Deciding that he should focus his strained attention on his recovery, he did just that. Still, it was an uphill battle, a battle he didn't have the strength to fight as he felt himself slipping, and in those moments, he felt afraid.
He didn't want to die. He didn't want to leave his friends behind, not when he had just made them. He didn't want to leave his mom behind as they had only started talking again. She even removed her bandages the other day and hugged him without fear, which made him so happy. He didn't want to leave Ryukyu and Hado behind either; they had done so much for them; he wanted to make them proud, to become a hero like them, go on patrols and spend time with Hado, saving people as they saved him.
He couldn't do that if he died, but it wasn't a choice he could make as he closed his eyes, and the darkness took him.
Line Break
Opening his eyes, he wondered if this was hell, as it was fire everywhere, but that seemed silly.
Why would hell be filled with such wondrous things?
No, looking around, he realised that he had been here before, as this was the same place he had seen when he spent his first night in the shrine; he suspected that he was in his mindscape, one of the seas of infernos and winds that were giant gales of emerald fire. Strange that he was seeing it months after the first time, he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth as the flames that seemed to exist in all directions had only increased in scale and power, burning brighter and hotter than he remembered.
Walking forward, he paid no need to the fact that he was in the nude, with only the shadows keeping his lower half obscured in darkness. Instead, he looked down, through the emerald fires, to what appeared to be a city close to the bottom, where everything was burning. From the tallest buildings to the most minor ant hills, nothing was spared, including the people as they rushed about, screaming as the flames ate away at them without pause or mercy, the smell of ash, smoke and burnt pork, all things he had come to be familiar with when he transformed, as pungent there as he watched without any adverse reaction what could only be described as a scene of a god exerting their divine wrath on the world for some offence he would never know.
Perhaps that was morbid, but he had to accept that he saw the world differently from others and that it was okay that he didn't view things like fire and burning as bad. Hence, his attention shifted from the scene to the fact he could see it, as this looked like a city, one where even the tallest buildings still seemed far away, so he wondered how high up it was and if he was walking on the surface of this ocean of flames, how deep did it go? How high up was he?
It seemed so far and yet so close as he didn't need to squint to make out people's faces, to see their fear, anger, grief and heavy-hearted resignation as all that they knew, all that they loved, was taken by the beauty of the flames. He couldn't understand their feelings towards the fire alone. Still, he could understand what it felt like to feel like you lost something important, someone important. He could know that these people needed saving, but he couldn't reach them. When he tried to push into the flames like one would water, he was met by a hard surface, as ungiving as stone.
As he wondered what to do as he continued to try to force his way to them, a shadow came over him, blocking out the overpresent sun that burned overhead. Looking up, he saw that it was the giant snake from before, and he could see from its burning eyes that it wasn't pleased with him. Again, its mouth didn't move; instead, like with Koharu, it spoke directly into his mind.
“Why are you holding back?” The snake asked him.
"Holding back?" What was it talking about? That didn't seem to appease it either as it lowered its head to glare at him, making him flinch from the intensity of it, as it was like staring into the heart of a volcano, not like gazing towards a star.
"Why don't you just burn everything? Burn everything like what is happening below?" The snake asked him again, gesturing towards the ocean of flames they stood on. "Because you held back and denied what the fire wants, you allowed yourself to be bested by a creature that, like all others, bows in reverence and fear to the flames." The snake, his quirk, lambasted him for his failure, which made him red in the face as he recalled that fight and how it ended.
“Answer me.” His quirk didn’t give him time, demanding an answer.
"I, I didn't want to hurt anyone. I didn't want to hurt my friends or my teachers. I didn't even want to hurt the villains; I just wanted to stop them." Others weren't like him; they got hurt by his flames when he wasn't careful. He didn't want to use too much power, the power that made him so hot that even the concrete melted in his presence.
His quirk ticked its fangs, a sound akin to gigantic flint stones striking against one another, echoing over the howls of the flames. "Foolish reasons, what harm could the flames bring them? Why should they fear the inferno? Are they your enemies? Are they evil? Flames exist to destroy all evil, to burn away impurities and cure the world so that its guiding light can lead to a brighter future." He nodded, already knowing that, but he couldn't just be reckless, either.
"So, I shall lend you more power, but l’ll be in control for whatever time I can hold it." His quirk told him, the flames moving toward the two of them, the air and oceans swirling as the heat and fire gathered. Rising to its full height, his quirk towered over him but still left him captivated by how captivating and potent its slit emerald orbs were. “I shall show them just what it means to witness and experience the majesty of the flames.”
Line Break
"Just as we thought, you wanted to ram Nomu into the ground to keep him from moving, so we made sure to be ready." Shigaraki laughed as All Might found himself in a real bind; his attempt to suplex Nomu head first into the ground had been turned against him thanks to Kurogiri opening a portal right before impact, allowing the two to pass through it, and for Nomu to get the upper hand on the number one, its big clawed hands digging into All Might’s sides, hitting his weak spot and restraining him.
“But now you’re the one that is stuck, and Nomu’s more than strong enough to hold you in place.” He finished as All Might held up a curse at how painful the beast's grip was on him. He let go of its mid-section to try and loosen its grip but found that it wouldn't budge.
“This is your first offense! So you better prepare yourselves!” All Might told them, trying to think of a way out of this. His legs were useless in this situation, but the same was true for Nomu. If he could just weaken its grip, but how?
“Maybe, but after we kill you, who else will they send?” Shigaraki asked, eager to see this as Kurogiri formed his head again.
"I'm not a fan of this plan, as the idea of having blood and guts all over me is far from appealing, but I can make an exception for you, All Might," Kurogiri stated. "Because of your speed, one of Nomu’s jobs was to restrain you so that I can use my quirk as it wouldn't matter how strong you are; you'll be sliced clean in two all the same if you find yourself midway through a portal as a close it."
This wasn’t lost on the 3 as they carried the injured away, as Tokage kept her eyes on the encounter. “Shiozaki, keep an hold on Midoriya." Shiozaki looked at her funny, the same as Shishida before she realised what her classmate intended to do.
“Tokage, you can’t be serious.” She whispered to her, as this would be suicide.
"Please. I have to do this." Tokage turned to her, her eyes wet but filled with a sense of determination that Shiozaki bowed to against her better judgment. Giving Tokage a chance to let go of Midoriya, she raced to jump into the fight, her mind moving a mile a minute as she thought about everything that had happened, how she had even been recognised for a recommendation spot, and what she had done since and what she hadn't.
She thought about how she didn't do anything before when Midoriya was hurt and was helpless as he was all but killed, so she'll be damned if she let her mentor share that fate! The villains and All Might turned to see her rushing them, her body splitting into 18 different pieces, her limit of what she could split and control, and sending those pieces for the two villains, relying on numbers to make up for their speed advantage.
"Foolish," Kurogiri told her, opening a portal before her head to try to capture her. He would not let this student get the jump on him like the others did.
“Let’s see about that!” She yelled, splitting her head down the middle to avoid the portal and pulling them together as fast as possible. Even that left her with a splitting headache and dizziness as she willed her pieces to attack the hand dude. She might not be able to hurt him, but she saw that the beast moved to protect him. If she could just trigger that response, All Might could cold free himself.
"Dumb girl," Shigaraki ground his teeth together as these kids were getting annoying. But that annoyance turned to surprise when he felt his balance shift. Looking down, he saw that he was sinking into the ground. What the hell? "What?!"
"She has the right idea," He and the rest looked to the side to find Honenuki, why Shigaraki was sinking. It wasn't just him, as the Nomu’s bottom half was caught in it two, just one foot already nearly shin-deep in the softened earth. "As if we'll let you just have your way and kill All Might." Honenuki finished, as they had rushed here as quickly as they could and just barely saw the state of their teacher and classmate, which was filled with shock and grief, but also rage and a burning desire to get justice for them.
"Honenuki?" Tokage pulled back most of her pieces, but some still went after Shigaraki, who couldn't focus on them now as he worked to get out of the quirk-induced mud puddle he was in. And if he thought his day couldn't get any worse, it was about to, as Honenuki hadn't come alone.
“No good villains, I’ve had it up to here with you!” Tetsutetsu, covered head to toe in his steel, rushed the villain.
“Tetsutetsu?” Tokage and the other two students called out, seeing Tetsutetsu’s straight punch be caught, and the effects of Shigaraki's quirk started to break through it.
“As if your quirk will protect you!” Shigaraki counted but was blown back by a fierce steel headbutt, dazing the villain as Tetsutetsu ripped his cracked hand back. His quirk filled in the gaps between them as he punched the villain with his other hand, resulting in the villain nearly spitting out a tooth, if not for the hand covering his mouth.
"So what? Heroes fight with their lives on the line daily, so I will, too!" Tetsutetsu yelled at him, hitting him with a quirk right jab and then a left hook; Shigaraki countered where he could, but his quirk couldn't work fast enough to stop the righteously enraged student.
"We heard that your Nomu thing was meant to kill All Might, but let's see if it can do that when it's buried to its eyes in the mud." Honenuki continued to try and bury the Nomu, which, as Tokage had expected, saw its master in distress and moved to protect him, which was just what All Might needed as this change in focus and the fact it was partially submerged in the softened ground, weakened its grip long enough for All Might to get out and leap away from the portal before Kurogiri could close it.
Seeing that All Might was free, Honenuki moved to try and bury the Nomu, but it, along with Kurogiri, was fast as they dodged his attack and retreated, the Nomu bashing aside Tetsutetsu, who All Might caught before he went too far.
Thus, they found themselves in a stand-off, with All Might and his students on the one side and the villains on the other. They were outnumbered, but their quirks and skills made up for this. All Might knew this but didn't want to allow the students to fight longer than they already had. Pulling himself from the muck with the help of Nomu, Shigaraki was pissed that their second plan had failed; more than that, there were 2 more brats that didn't die against the villains he sent against them; they didn't even look wounded.
All Might was about to tell the students to pull back while Shigaraki was going to give the order for Nomu to kill one of them. Still, both stopped when they heard Shiozaki let out a surprised, loud yelp, followed by a tremendous wave of heat, causing both sides to sweat slightly. Turning to the source of it, they saw that Shiozaki had dropped Midoriya's body, which started to bubble and boil, his innards stronger than ever as he exploded into a raging inferno. Shiozaki and Shishida just barely jumped behind some trees for cover.
The inferno grew, till it was the dwarfed all of them, with the heat it was putting off only increasing as the emerald flames burned so hot they shifted to a lighter shade, forcing all but the Nomu to shield their eyes from the heat. “What the heck is that?” Tetsutetsu stepped back, the flames causing his metal to heat up, which was starting to hurt.
"Wasn't young Midoriya injured? How does he have this much power?" All Might asked as he had only seen firepower like this once before, from Endeavour. Still, even then, that was when the man was pushing himself to his absolute limits.
“What kind of broken quirk is this? That brat was on 1 HP!” Shigaraki yelled as they looked into the flames, and through the bright inferno, they heard the sounds of exploding rock, followed by a deafening, inhuman, unnatural roar, akin to an eruption which was so loud it was heard not just the plaza, but throughout USJ with the students and remaining villains still in their zones turning to the source, dread flowing in their veins as they wondered what monster could be the cause of that.
With the roar, the already gigantic flames grew larger as they could see Midoriya within it. The students were about to cheer, thinking their friend was alive and well, but that joy was killed in the crib when they realised that the shape was off and even transformed. Izuku wasn't the largest person out there, but the thing they saw just kept growing; in mere moments, it was 2m tall, then 3, then 4m, with no signs of stopping as they could make out what looked to be more minor explosions in the flames, but no limbs as it was one long body that was being created.
"What kind of surprise boss is this?" Shigaraki, feeling fear in him, asked as he swore that he saw eyes in those flames that didn't look human.
Without warning, a fireball, easily 5 times larger than any Izuku had used that day, came barrelling out of the inferno, its heat so great that the concrete beneath it was blackened and melted, with the attack aimed straight for the Nomu, which wasn't fast enough to dodge the entire thing, as its legs were caught in the flames. They didn't just burn; but turned to ash, leaving the creature to fall onto its side, screaming and rolling about as the intense heat slowed its regeneration considerably.
But their attention wasn't on that or how the fireball crashed into the flood zone with an explosion of smoke and steam, but on the source of that as the flames dissipated, allowing them to see what stood in Midoriya's place. What was one was a monster out of a forgotten myth as an enormous viper, with only a portion of its body raised off the ground; the creature made from volcanic rock and lava had its head 4m off the ground, its body coated with randomly placed mini volcanos, some leaked lava, others erupted as its eyes were brilliant balls of purple flames that took it all yet could focus on one thing at the same time.
"Young Midoriya?" All Might called out to him, hoping for a response, but if this was Midoriya, he didn't respond. Instead, they heard but sounded like 5 different vacuums set too high, as the air wasn't sucked in through the snake's mouth, but through vents below its jaws and on its back, just below its hood. Those who knew how his attacks worked realised what was happening but weren't able to say a word before Midoriya let loose another fireball, even larger than the first, that burned like a star as it shot towards Shigaraki, who held up his arms in a futile attempt to protect himself as Nomu was still regenerating.
Kurogiri opened a portal in front of the fireball, sending it to the flood zone, resulting in a massive explosion that shook even the plaza as both sides turned to the flood zone and saw that what could easily be thousands of litres of water evaporate near instantly, the water level of the zone actually visible lower than before. Midoriya let out an ominous and dangerous hiss that reverberated through their bones, as if he was displeased with them, avoiding a fiery death a second time as he wasn't in his right state of mind.
Right now, he was little more than a serpent on the hunt, and they were all prey.
Line Break
It is good to be back! And with a longer chapter than usual to boot. With that return, Izuku lets out more of his power, but there is more to it than meets the eye, which we'll see in the next chapter. I do have to admit that it was weird thinking up this kind of power. Still, with quirks like Rewind, Overhaul, Nine's Weather Manipulation and New Order in existence, it's not like Izuku's breaking ground with how much power his quirk gives him.
If you're an early reader, the next chapter should already be up, but if you're not, it should be uploaded next week, April 16th.
