Chapter 12: Monster Trio versus Nomu
(Edited on 8/28 for formatting)
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It wasn't until they were halfway across the lake that Izuku remembered he had Empathy. He didn't need his quirk to know Tsuyu was hurt by his actions— her sharp words and sulking demeanor were enough to show something was wrong. He knew he could have treated the disagreement on the boat with more tact, but at the time, he was more focused on the villains than his classmate's feelings. The use of Empathy only confirmed Tsuyu's feelings toward him: she felt hurt and defeated. Not the greatest emotions for someone walking straight into battle.
I was too harsh on her back then. If I had stopped to hear Asui out, or if I had thought out an alternate plan, I wouldn't have alienated her. I was in the right, obviously— the villains didn't deserve our help, and it would have been risky for us anyway— but she still resents me. If we're going to save Aizawa, we need to work together.
But he didn't say anything. Better to keep my mouth shut than to accidentally anger her by explaining myself. So he continued wading through the flood zone in silence, Tsuyu a few steps ahead of him.
After another minute's walk, the central fountain came into view.
"Izuku," Tsuyu croaked. She stopped in her tracks and pointed. "This doesn't look good at all."
Izuku stepped up to where she was standing. "Oh."
He was expecting for Aizawa to be having trouble, but this was something else entirely. A massive, hulking villain with dark skin and an exposed brain was standing over their teacher. If his smashed-in face wasn't any indication, Izuku could tell that Aizawa was, without a doubt, completely and utterly defeated. Shigaraki was standing over the teacher's fallen body, apparently to gloat.
"Quirk-cancellation is a cool gimmick, but it's got nothing against Nomu's super strength. You're nothing but a fly to him."
Aizawa couldn't answer, because just then, Nomu lifted the teacher's head up and slammed it into the ground.
Shit, thought Izuku. That's going to leave a nasty concussion, if it doesn't kill him outright…
Shigaraki chuckled. "I'm enjoying this a lot, hero. We might as well make this as long and drawn-out as possible…"
But at that moment, a dark cloud of mist materialized above the fountain, and the warp gate villain from earlier appeared. Shigaraki turned away, forgetting about Aizawa for a moment.
"Kurogiri," said Shigaraki. "Is Thirteen dead?"
"Yes, young master. Undoubtedly. But one of the students turned out to be faster than I bargained for, and he escaped. Please forgive me.
Shigaraki didn't say anything. Instead, his head twitched, and he brought his fingers up to his neck and scratched it, as if there was some phantom itch that he couldn't dispel.
"Why, Kurogiri, didn't you cut them all down with your new Invisible Blade?"
"It was a grave error on my part, master. And after the boy escaped, I wanted to report to you immediately."
Shigaraki lowered his arms and moaned in frustration. "Kurogiri, you're lucky you're our ticket out of here. Otherwise, you'd be dead." He shifted on his feet and sighed. "But no matter. We will escape. But not without leaving behind a few dead students!"
At that, he wheeled around to face Tsuyu and Izuku, who were watching from the shore. Shit, thought Izuku. I thought he couldn't see us!
Killing intent flared from within the villain, and Izuku, who had Empathy active, prepared to dodge. But Shigaraki wasn't aiming for Izuku. In a flash, the villain was right on top of them, and Izuku could only watch in slow motion as Shigaraki reached down with an outstretched hand, right for Tsuyu's face. The girl didn't have any time to react. But when the hand touched the skin, nothing seemed to happen. Shigaraki began to chuckle.
"How very persistent of you Aizawa. You erased my quirk!"
Izuku looked up at his teacher who, despite having been beaten half to death by the Nomu, was looking up, unblinking.
"...But you erased the wrong quirk. It wasn't your fault, though. You had a 50/50 chance of getting it right…"
The following silence was broken by Tsuyu's scream of anguish. There, in the spot directly under Shigaraki's hand, her skin was starting to crumble away.
"No!" yelled Izuku. The villain turned to face him, extending his free hand towards Izuku's face, but Izuku's hand got there first.
REJECT!
It was a direct hit, and Shigaraki was sent flying. The villain landed in the flood zone water, about one-hundred meters out. But Izuku didn't have time to celebrate. Tsuyu was on her knees now. Her scream had gone hoarse, and her face was dripping blood from the five points where Shigaraki's fingers had touched her face. Her whole head looked like it had been through a meat grinder. Twice.
"ASUI, NO!" Izuku caught her before she hit the ground. She was limp now, probably fainted from the pain.
Ohnonono, this is a bad injury… can I use Sacrifice to help her? No, that would just cause my own face to disintegrate, and there's still villains here-
He looked up just in time to see Nomu's fist coming right for him. He channeled Reject through his feet to dodge, but with Tsuyu in his arms, he was too slow. The fist barely grazed his face, but it felt like getting hit by a bullet. Izuku was spun around by the pure force of the attack, and Tsuyu was wrenched from his hands by the inertia.
"Ungh!" Eyes blurry, he staggered to his feet. What was with the pure force of that blow?
He reached out towards Nomu with Empathy, only to find pure, unadulterated rage like he had never felt before. And it was directed at… everything. The whole world. But it was directed especially strongly towards Izuku. Is this what an artificial human is? Rage? No normal person is capable of expressing such harsh emotions. Whatever caused you to be this way is seriously messed up…
Izuku felt the Nomu's rage well up and realized that the beast was about to attack. He stepped back just in time to dodge a punch that would have torn him to shreds if he stayed a second longer. Now's my time!
For a brief moment after releasing his punch, Nomu had put himself into a vulnerable position. And that gave Izuku a brief moment to place his arm on Nomu's and Reject!
Reject could always be used for long- and mid- range shockwave attacks. But Reject was always strongest with tactile contact. That's why Izuku could propel water droplets at a bullet's speed and send Shigaraki flying across USJ. So even though Nomu was much bigger than Shigaraki, Izuku's attack should have at least done something. But when Izuku pushed all that force into Nomu's arm, nothing happened. The beast just shrugged it off, winded back, and punched.
But Nomu's attack didn't hit either. It was redirected out of the way by a black, misty portal.
"Now, now, Nomu," Kurogiri chided, floating towards them The beast stood up straight, having seemingly forgotten about his fight with Izuku. "Don't try too hard to kill him. The media won't be able to report on this boy's body if the pieces are scattered around USJ. Better to use a cleaner, more precise method, like my new Invisible Blade."
A disturbance appeared in the air in front of Kurogiri, but Invisible Blade never hit. Instead, the floating villain's torso was caved in by an explosion.
"Hah, I knew you had a body we could hurt!" yelled Bakugou, who was pulling Kurogiri towards the ground. "Did you really think you could randomly teleport me and get away with it? I lunged the minute I saw you materialize, ya damn misty mook!"
"Bakugou!" shouted Izuku. "Watch out! He has a second quirk called Invisible blade!"
Bakugou dropped the villain. "Second quirk? Like y-"
But he didn't have time to finish the question before the glass-like Invisible Blade swept through the air towards him. But Kirishima got there before the Blade did, and it glanced off his hardened skin.
"Second quirk, huh?" Kirishima grinned at the downed villain. "You thugs have been working hard on your evil experiments."
"You'll… die... " gasped Kurogiri. "I'll cut you… again…"
"No you won't." It was a new voice this time. Izuku turned to see Shoto, crouched down ten meters away, his right hand brushing the ground. "Try cutting us when you're frozen solid." Ice spread from his fingers, which spread to completely encase the man's misty form in a thin layer.
"Kurogiri!" shouted Shigaraki, who was pulling himself out of the water. "Get yourself up! We need you to fight!"
"Hmm," hummed Shoto. "I'll freeze you too." He redirected his ice powers in the villain's direction, and in an instant, Shigaraki was frozen into the water around him.
"Whoo!" shouted Kirishima. "That's two villains down! Now there's just…" He suddenly felt an ominous shadow looming over him. He slowly turned around, his eyes trailing up to meet Nomu's ten feet above him.
"...him."
"Kirishima, look out!" warned Izuku. But Nomu punched out with his superstrengthened arm, and Kirishima was knocked back into the fountain. "Kirishima!"
"Calm down, Izuku. Kirishima's fine." Bakugou pointed to the boy, who was already getting up and dusting off his hardened skin. "He's extremely durable, remember?"
Shoto cleared his throat. "We should be more concerned about the villain that was able to punch with such speed and power." He placed his right hand on the ground again, and ice began to spread over the villain's body. For a moment, it looked like Nomu was frozen, but with a flex of his muscles, the ice was shattered.
Nomu lunged for Izuku next, and the green-haired boy was able to dodge by grappling himself to the side with Attraction. He aimed another Reject shockwave, this time at the villain's exposed brain, but the blast didn't visibly affect the villain at all.
Izuku landed between Shoto and Bakugou. The three stood side-by-side, facing Nomu.
"If he can break out of my ice, he's too powerful for me to take on alone." Shoto pointed his right hand at the beast, engulfing it in a wave of fire. "Izuku, Bakugou: we'll need each other's help to defeat this villain. We made a promise to do that, right?"
"Hell yeah we did!" Bakugou pounded his two explosive fists together. "Just don't get in my way!"
"It will be nice to put all our teamwork training into practical use," Izuku agreed. "But first, Kirishima! Take Asui to safety!"
Kirishima jogged up to the trio, still reeling from Nomu's punch. "Tsuyu? Where…" his eyes searched the ground, finding the body with the bloodied face. "Holy, shit. Is that…"
Izuku nodded. "Shigaraki got her face, but I think she'll live. She needs medical attention as soon as possible."
Kirishima looked from Izuku to Tsuyu, unsure of whether he should listen to Izuku or stay and fight. In the end, he remembered the force behind Nomu's punch and decided he wouldn't be of much use, so he scooped up Tsuyu in his arms and fled for the entrance.
"So," started Bakugou, blasting himself into the air. "How much force can you handle?" He brought his two hands together and launched an explosion, which completely engulfed the Nomu. But when the debris cleared, Nomu was still standing, not having moved from his spot. And now, Bakugou was wide open.
Nomu's rage swelled, and Izuku knew the villain was about to attack his friend with another super-speeded, super-powered punch. So he focused Attraction on his friend and pulled Bakugou out of harm's way right before the punch hit. Nomu followed through with his other fist a split-second later, and both Izuku and Bakugou had to jump out of the way with Reject and Explosion, respectively.
"Thanks, Izuku," Bakugou grunted. Izuku nodded back.
Shoto stepped forward. "Looks like your power attacks aren't working. But my fire seemed to keep him back. Can you guys try to distract him while I try to melt him?"
"Sure!" Izuku leaped up with Reject and brought himself down with Attraction before Nomu could hit. He repeated this process, circling counterclockwise around the villain while Bakugou propelled himself clockwise with explosions. Nomu was strong; that was for sure. But he was as dumb as a rock, and that stupidity showed as he flailed his massive arms at the students circling him from both sides.
Shoto took this opportunity to attack liberally with his flame side. Wherever the flames touched the villain's dark skin, it started to melt away, but it grew back to normal right after.
This monster can regenerate his injured flesh. I can't do much with my flames from here, but if I got closer…
With a puff from Reject, Izuku leaped up to avoid another one of Nomu's punches. He rolled to the ground and continued to run, but the green-haired boy was getting tired. Nomu's fast, and I'm not sure how long I can keep this up for… And what about Bakugou?
The blond boy seemed to be faring alright, dodging all of Nomu's attacks with explosion-aided jumps. When he saw an opening, he aimed a blast at the villain, but they never seemed to do anything.
"My explosions won't work!" Bakugou yelled back at his classmates.
"Fool!" It was Shigaraki, encased up to his shoulders in ice. "Nomu has been specially engineered with a shock-absorption quirk. You're better off ripping him apart piece by piece, not that Nomu will let you…"
Ripping him apart, huh? Izuku had an idea. "Shoto, make a wall of ice!"
The boy deactivated his left side and heeded Izuku's command. If his friend had a plan, he'd better follow it.
Seeing that the iceberg had been formed, Izuku turned to his other friend.
"Now, Bakugou! Blast it apart with all your power."
"What?"
"Just do it!"
Bakugou grudgingly obliged, leaping away from the Nomu to break apart the ice. "I don't know what this'll do…"
"Perfect." Now, Izuku was ready to execute his plan. He reached out with Attraction and felt all the tiny shards of ice, bringing them to surround his body. Then, when he had gathered enough to look like an icicle monster, he faced Nomu and let loose with Reject. A maelstrom of ice traveled at the villain, each piece moving faster than a bullet. They all pierced the Nomu at once, and the villain was thrown to ground, squirting out enough blood to fill three grown men.
Did we… get him? The villain lay unmoving. Izuku took a step closer.
And then, Nomu's head perked up. In one fluid motion, the villain shot to his feet and pounced on Izuku. The deep wounds from the ice fragments were already starting to heal.
Izuku's head was smashed into the ground, and the boy saw stars. Then, the villain picked the boy up and pounded him down again. Izuku's entire chest caved in, and his broken ribs were driven into the organs inside him. If his lungs were still intact, he would have screamed.
"Izuku!" Bakugou ran forward, Shoto following right behind him. The blond sent an explosion towards the villain, but it did no good. Izuku stayed pinned under the massive hand. Shoto's fire started to melt Nomu's skin, but it was too slow. They were going to lose Izuku.
So much pain… I'm not going to survive this. He had to fight to stay conscious. If my hands weren't pinned, I could use Sacrifice…
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Kirishima bounded up the stairs to the entrance two-at-a-time, running as fast as he realistically could without dropping Tsuyu. Her face was… man, it was messed up. What did they do to her?
"Mina," he gasped when he saw her at the top. "Are you guys okay?"
"Kirishima!" Tears were running down the girl's face. "Thirteen, he's…" she pointed at the teacher's fallen body, which was surrounded by an ever-growing pool of blood.
No way he's alive. But he didn't have time to worry about that. He set Tsuyu down on the ground.
"Kiri… what's that?"
The red-haired boy didn't say a word. With her crumbled and bloodied face, their classmate was almost beyond recognition.
"Oh my God! Is that Tsuyu?"
Kirishima just leaned back against the railing and ran a hand through his hair. The whole day was messed up. The other classmates were starting to gather around the girl's unconscious body. With the exception of Ochako. She was looking down at the fight by the fountain.
"Izuku," she mumbled. Her voice was trembling.
At first, the three boys looked fine. Izuku and Bakugou had been successfully dodging Nomu's attacks, and Shoto looked like he was doing some damage with his fire. And when Nomu went down under the barrage of icicles, Ochako thought the villain was finished. But now, he had her 'friend' pinned, and Izuku was literally getting crushed.
Ochako wanted to do something, anything, but Izuku was on the opposite side of the park. She looked around for ideas. There wasn't really anything she could throw. Or was there… Her eyes rested on the white, spacesuited body lying in a pool of blood.
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"Hrngh!" Izuku struggled under Nomu's oppressive grip. His life force was fading away. He wouldn't be able to struggle for much longer. If he could get his hands up to touch Nomu's skin, he'd be able to transfer his pain into the villain's body and kill him for sure. But his arms were pinned underneath his own body, and he had no space to move.
He closed his eyes. Sorry, Asui. Sorry mom. It looks like all of my actions were in vain.
But like a red and white angel from heaven, something soared down at them from the top of the embankment. It hit Nomu square in the back, and the villain loosened up a bit, more out of surprise than anything. Shoto and Bakugou watched on, dumbfounded, as Thirteen's dead body slid down the villain's back.
Did somebody… throw him?
But none of that mattered to Izuku now; he was momentarily free to move around. He gasped, brought his hand up touched his skin to Nomu's, and activated Sacrifice. Now, Izuku's pain became Nomu's.
The villain howled as all of his ribs simultaneously snapped. His exposed brain started to bend out of shape as it suffered the same blow he had dealt to Izuku a minute before. And although Izuku couldn't see it, Nomu's lungs, kidney, and stomach burst open.
Having healed most of his own injuries, Izuku stood up, his hand not leaving the Nomu's skin.
"Shoto, finish him off with your flames!"
Wondering what, exactly, had just happened, Shoto broke out of his trance and activated his left side. The Nomu was on his knees, now, so Shoto got in close and made his flames as hot as they could get. The fire made short work out of the already-injured Nomu, and the villain fell to the ground in a pile of ash.
Izuku got to his feet, panting. His life-threatening injuries had seemingly vanished, and he was fine now.
"Izuku," Shoto started, "how did you heal?" He looked to Bakugou, who had a better idea about what was going on. The blond knew about Sacrifice after all.
"I'll explain later," Izuku said. "For now, let's get out of here."
The three turned toward the entrance and started to walk towards the staircase. Bakugou stooped down to pick Aizawa's broken body up, but they heard something crack behind them.
"Damn kids," hissed Shigaraki, pulling chunks of ice off his shirt. "Killed my Nomu… Do you know how hard it is to disintegrate something when it turns into water on contact?"
"Facepalm guy!" yelled Bakugou. "Come at us! We're not afraid of you! What are you going to do now that your slave-monster is dead?"
"Fools," muttered Shigaraki. "You still know nothing about the next quirk in my arsenal." He held out his arms. "Prepare…"
"Master, please do not!" It was Kurogiri, who had started to thaw out of his icicle. "We cannot waste any time, and you still haven't learned to control it! You could kill me, or maybe even yourself…"
"Hah!" Shigaraki lifted his arms and prepared to use his mysterious second quirk. "Like I care at this point-"
However, before he could use it, a bullet pierced his hand.
The three shifted their attention to the entrance, where the shot had come from. A line of newcomers had arrived, all dressed from head to toe in their hero costumes.
"Sorry we're late,everyone!" shouted Nezu, as Snipe blew off the smoke from his revolver barrel.
The UA teachers had arrived.
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In the end, Kurogiri had broken free of the ice and teleported Shigaraki away before the teachers could capture them. So now there were two dangerous villains on the loose. And they each had two quirks, which made matters even more complicated.
Now that the bad guys were gone and everything was over with, Mina Ashido could break down in peace. She deserved to cry— after all, her life was on the line, and she just saw a teacher get murdered right before her eyes. And to top it all off, she had been forced to look at Tsuyu's face, mutilated beyond recognition. It had seemed like forever ago when they were talking about boys that morning. Mina shouldn't have been so mean…
So she cried to her heart's content as the teachers hustled around her, examining the scene of Thirteen's death and making sure all the children were accounted for. Shoji had assured her that his severed arm would grow back, and Ochako's wound on her chest was too shallow to cause any permanent damage. But they all had been scarred, internally.
"...Hey." It was Bakugou. The blond boy sighed and sat down next to her as they looked over USJ. "Ballsy move of Ochako, throwing the teacher's dead body at Nomu like that. It worked, though. She saved Izuku."
Mina didn't answer, and she kept her gaze locked onto her feet.
Bakugou tried again. "Tsuyu's gonna live, according to Recovery Girl." These words were true, but the reality was much bleaker than that. Recovery Girl could only do so much for the tissue that had literally crumbled away, and it was unlikely that the girl's face would ever look the same, even with plastic surgery. "So that's nice, I guess."
Mina sniffed. "You probably think I'm weak, crying like this…"
"No. Not at all. We were all hurt in some way or another. Look, even Sato is crying, and he's ripped!" It was true: tears were dripping down the muscular boy's face as Ojiro and Koda tried to calm him down.
Mina smiled, despite herself. "So, how are you so okay?"
"Dunno. Maybe I'm too tired. Maybe I'm just tougher than you. Maybe Nomu hit me too hard in the head and I can't feel emotion anymore."
She giggled. "It's probably the former option. I'm so emotionally exhausted that I could fall asleep any minute now and not wake up until the final exams." She shuddered. "Now that's a scary thought…"
Bakugou smirked, and they looked over the facility together. The villain ringleaders got away, a teacher died, and a student was injured beyond repair. But the day wasn't a complete and total defeat. Together, the students had killed Nomu, a beast with the strength of All Might in his prime. And together, they had survived the attack on USJ.
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That's the end of Chapter 12, and the conclusion of the USJ arc! A lot happened here, and a lot of it was a huge shift from the original story, so I hope you enjoyed it.
For those of you wondering: Invisible Blade allows the quirk user to cut anything within close range, kind of like a nerfed version of the Sectumsempra spell in Harry Potter. As for Shigaraki second quirk, it's a secret :) Both Kurogiri and Shigaraki will have time to develop their quirks stronger than they already are.
Keep an eye out for the next chapter (probably out Thursday). Next up: the aftermath of USJ and preparation for the sports festival!
