Deku and Shigarai stared up at the Number One Hero. One had wide, shaking eyes with a mix of awe and fear in his chest. The other had a narrowed gaze filled with spite and hatred. The hand-man stepped away from the green hooded villain as he kept his one eye on the Symbol of Peace. "Finally...Player one has entered the game..."
A few of the villains who were still standing looked up to the mighty hero, a newfound feeling of dread coming over them all.
"I-It's him...It's actually him!" A villain stated as he shook within his spiked shell.
"I've only seen him on TV, but...wow, he is really big...!" A villain with stitches across his entire body stuttered with trembling knees.
A villain with a mohawk shook himself out of his petrified stupor and put on a brave face. "C-C'mon, guys, snap out of it! There's still a whole bunch of us left! If we all gang up on him, then maybe we can-!"
In the blink of an eye, All Might came down from the entrance and stuck every last villain still on their feet unconscious, stopping as he reached the bloody and beaten Eraserhead. "Forgive me, Aizawa. I wasn't here when I was supposed to be."
All Might look over the underground hero's injuries. "What cruelty you've suffered at the hands of these scoundrels...!"
The Symbol of Peace looked in the direction of Shigaraki, the Nomu, and Deku. The green hooded villain played under the look Number One Hero gave them. His signature smile was gone. He now wore a furious scowl on his chiselled features. It was like looking into the face of an angry god, who had come down from his holy domain to smite the wicked for harming his subjects.
It was enough to make Deku instantly regret becoming a villain...
As fast as he took out the remaining grunt villains, All Might swooped in and grabbed hold of the children in the water. Deku threw his arms up to shield his eyes, while Shigaraki lost the hand that was clasped over his face.
Itsuka, Tsuyu, and Mineta found themselves standing on dry land before they could register what just happened. The grape-boy looked around himself in utter befuddlement. "Huh?! Wait-what the-?!"
"Children, take Mr Aizawa and head for the entrance." All Might ordered, his piercing blue eyes trained on the remaining villains sternly. "I will handle the rest."
Deku's eyes were fixated on the furious Symbol of Peace until he caught Shigaraki out of the corner of his eye. He had his right hand over his exposed face, twitching erratically as he stumbled over to his mask-hand on the ground. "No...no, no, no, no, no...That wasn't supposed to happen...!" He picked it up and placed it back on his face.
"Classic hero nature...punch first, ask questions later..." The hand-man mocked casually as if his mental breakdown was immediately halted by putting his hand back on. "You're fast, All Might. Too fast to keep up with. And yet, somehow...you seem slower at the same time..."
As the leader turned his head to sneer at the Symbol of Peace, Deku got a good look at what the leader of the League's face looked like without his cover. Dry, flakey skin, wrinkled dark eyes, capped lips curled up into a manic smile. The green hooded villain could have easily mistaken him for a zombie come back from the dead.
"Could it be that maybe...just maybe...you're losing your strength?"
A cold chill ran down the back of Deku's neck. Did Shigaraki know about All Might's weakness? Is this why he put this whole plan together? If he did, how'd he find out? Did someone else tell him? How many other's knew about this?!
As Deku recoiled from the bombarding questions in his mind, All Might rushed the three villains, crossing his arms before him. "Carolina..."
"Nomu," Shigaraki ordered passively. The grotesque goliath stepped in front of him, with a speed that seemed to rival the number one hero himself.
"SMASH!" All Might swung his arms forward, chopping the monster across the chest, the impact causing a shockwave that everyone felt. The mighty hero looked at the creature before him, who showed no sign of injury and merely stared at the man with its disturbingly blank eyes.
Suddenly, the monster lashed out at All Might, trying to wrap its muscular arms around him for a bone-crushing bear hug. All Might retaliated by ducking down and leaning back, then using his position to spring forward and deliver a devastating right to the belly of the beast.
...But the Nomu stayed on its feet.
All Might was stalled with shock until he tried another high-powered punch aimed at the monster's exposed brain. But once again, the creature stayed standing. "What in the world is this thing?!"
"That 'thing' is what will finally finish you off, All Might." Shigaraki gloated confidently. "You're going to have to put whatever dwindling power you have left into destroying it before it destroys you!"
All Might zipped behind the beast and grabbed it by its waist. "Thanks for the advice!"
He then swung himself backwards, bringing the Nomu with him, until he plunged the monster's head into the ground. The amount of force behind the attack shattered the earth, causing a geyser of dust and debris to erupt from the impact.
"Woah..." That was all that Deku could say as he watched the spectacle of power. But deep in his gut, Deku worried that the Nomu may prove too much for the Symbol of Peace to handle. He had to guess that the reason All Might was late for his own class, was because he was using what power he had earlier that day, saving lives and keeping up his appearance as the number one hero.
It was a tight pot that the mighty hero had put himself in. After all of his feats and victories, All Might had built up an image of always being able to save anyone and everyone, and that as long as he was here, all would be well. The boy could see it on the awe-inspired and relieved faces of the students around him.
But the mighty hero's reputation was a double-edged sword. If he was to, hypothetically, fall in the line of heroism, Deku could only imagine the fallout of society. Panic and fear would flood the streets. Villains would take the Symbol of Peace's downfall as an invitation to run rampant, with no All Might to put them back in line.
It would be chaos. Pure, unfathomable, chaos.
And that was exactly what the League of Villains was after.
"AAAARRGGH!" Deku whipped his head back to the struggle between All Might and the Nomu, seeing something that took time for him to register. All Might was stuck in his suplex pose, holing onto the Nomu by the waist with its legs in the air. However, the Nomu appeared to be cut in half, with its head and arms coming out of the ground beneath the number one hero, and digging its claws into his ribs.
The reason for the ghastly creature's strange position was thanks to Kurogiri, who had opened a vortex where the Nomu's head would have hit the ground, allowing it to reach up for the mighty hero and sink its grip into his body.
"So, you thought you could stun him and deal damage while he was in the ground, did you, All Might?" The hand-man laughed giddily. "Well, it wouldn't have worked if you did! Nomu's as strong as you, perhaps even stronger now that your losing power!"
"I can't stand having blood in my vortex, but at this moment, I'm willing to make an exception." The living cloud remarked, looking down at the trapped symbol of peace. "All I have to do is wait for our Nomu to drag you halfway into my portal. And once I close it up...You'll be split in two."
As the symbol of peace struggled to find a way out of his dire situation, Deku was frozen at a distance, watching with wide, vacant eyes.
Was this happening? Was All Might really going to...die? The idea was so...unbelievable. His mind recalled the last time he met his hero...his former hero. That day, at the top of a stray building, when the man Izuku Midorya looked up to and dreamed of being like, showed his true form, told him the truth of his power and said the one thing that caused him to let go of his dream for good.
"It's good to have dreams...but you should accept the reality of your situation. I'm sorry...but you can't become a hero."
Those words still stung even after a whole year. Deku clutched at his left arm, an inner turmoil taking him over as he asked himself questions that he'd been avoiding for a long time. Did he hate All Might? Did he want him to suffer? Just because he said something the Quirkless child didn't want to hear?
Did Deku want him to...die?
KABOOM
Whatever answers the green hooded boy was coming to were immediately blown away, as a huge explosion snatched his attention, causing him to look back at the struggling symbol, and who had just flown onto the scene.
And everything in the Quirkless child's vision turned red.
Kurogigi had been tackled to the ground after taking a blast from a spikey blonde-haired boy with red eyes, and a malicious smirk on his face. He wore a black tank top with an orange 'X' on the front and a pair of black pants with matching combat boots. He wore a black facemask over his eyes, tied off at the back with two wingtips that looked like comic-book style explosions protruding out of his hair. But the most noticeable part about the boy's outfit were the two large gauntlets shaped like frag grenades on his arms, where his hands could be seen sticking out of the pin tops.
Katsuki Bakguo sneered down at the vortex man beneath him. "Not so fast, smokey!"
Deku's attention was taken off of his old tormentor, when he saw a path of ice make its way toward the Nomu, freezing its body on contact. The cold trail led back to a boy with white and red coloured hair, with the white on the right and the red on the left. what stuck out the most about the boy, more than his hair colour, was the foul-looking scar that took up his entire left eye.
He wore an all-white uniform, from his button dress shirt, slacks, and combat boots. It was clear that he was the one who froze the Nomu, as the entire left side of his torso was covered in ice. He kept his stone-cold gaze on the creature, with his right eye being a warm red, but his left scarred eye being a striking icy blue.
"So... your friends were telling the truth...you really are here to try and kill All Might." Shoto Todoroki spoke in a tone as cold as his quirk.
Shigaraki caught something out of the corner of his eye and sprung out of the way. A boy with wild, spikey red hair took a swing at the hand-man, his entire arm looking like jagged rock. He wore an armoured brace that went over and under his shoulders, a faceguard that covered his forehead, nose and chin, a pair of black baggy pants with a belt with a large red 'R' as a buckle, a dark red waist cape with a torn edge, and matching colour boots.
"Dang, I missed!" Ejiro Kirishima cursed as he glared at the hand-man. "How can he even see out of that hand...mask...whatever it is on his face?!"
All Might felt the sudden chill, figuring it was young Todoroki who had frozen the beast holding him. With a hefty amount of force, All Might pulled himself free of the frosted fiend and leapt to a safe distance beside the children who'd saved him.
"We're not just going to stand by, and let scum like you kill the Symbol of Peace." Shoto announced as he raised his left hand, ready to let loose another blizzard.
Shigaraki took in the sight of the trio of students before chuckling. "Well, well, look at you. Aren't you just an impressive little party? Not only did you beat back our enemy waves, but you even captured our teleporter."
Kurogiri attempted to get up, but Bakugo slammed him back down with sadistic glee. "Don't even think about warping out of here, gas-bag! That collar of yours is part of your actual body, am I right?! You use all that smoke of yours to hide your physical form!"
He lowered his head closer to the mist man's face, his hand on the villain's collar crackling with explosive energy. "If you so much as flinch in a way I don't like, I'm gonna blast you into vapour!"
"Geez, Baku-bro..." The spikey redhead grimaced. "That's not very heroic, don't you think?"
The crazed hand-man placed his real hands together in a calm, docile manner. "Well, my dear future heroes. From the looks of things, it seems like it's game over for us...except..." The hand-man looked over to the frozen trapped creature. "Nomu?"
The biological beast then began to pull itself out of the vortex, its frozen half breaking as it moved. Soon enough its entire right side shattered to pieces, but as soon as it did, the monster started to grow back entirely new limbs from its muscle fibre in a matter of seconds, right before the students and heroes eyes.
All Might was struck dumbfounded by the grotesque spectacle, as he grasped at his bleeding side. "What the devil is this thing?! I thought you said its power was shock absorption!"
"Yes. But I didn't say it was Nomu's only power-up, now did I?" Shigaraki snarkily commented. "He is a biologically engineered weapon with a whole plethora of quirks, and it's one sole reason to exist...is to kill you!"
Shigaraki's words were nothing but white noise in Deku's ears. He wasn't even paying attention to the quickly recovering Nomu, as his focus was completely on the bomb boy who was only a few feet away from him. His brain began to replay every single horrid memory that had to do with him and the foul-mouthed hero-in-training.
How he made Izuku's life a living nightmare for twelve years.
How he made him feel weak and worthless every day since he was diagnosed as Quirkless at the tender age of four.
How he used to blast him with his quirk, relaying the fact that he was strong and Izuku was weak.
How he gave him his precious, irreplaceable nickname.
"Face it! You'll never be a hero, Deku! NEVER!"
The sound of his old tormentor's laughter echoed in the Quirkless boy's head until finally, he couldn't stand it anymore.
"Now if you don't mind, I'd like to have my teleporter back." Shigaraki declared as he raised his hand toward Bakugo, still pinning Kurogiri to the ground. "Nomu, kill hi-!"
A blur of green whizzed past Shigaraki before he could finish.
Before Bakugo, Kirishima, Shoto or the symbol of peace could realise, the proud hero-in-training was suddenly bashed in the face by the sole end of the bunny-eared villain's boot.
Kirishima and Shoto were too slow to react, as Bakugo went barreling across the plain until rolling to a stop. All eyes were locked on to the bunny-eared villain who stood over Kurogiri, his visor directed toward the boy he'd just booted in the face.
Bakugo slowly started to get up, his palms starting to smoke as a low growl came from his bared, snarling teeth. The bomb boy looked back at the villain who'd caught him off guard with a wide, twitching, bloodshot glare.
Bekugo then felt something wet and cold on his lip. He reached up and wiped his mouth before looking at what was on his thumb.
Blood. His blood.
The bunny-eared villain just made him bleed his own blood.
If looks could kill, then the seething glare Bakugo shot the green hooded villain would have reduced him to a charred smear on the ground.
Deku rose from his position, staring back at his old school bully with narrowed, dark-rimmed eyes. "I've always wanted to do that."
Shigaraki looked on at the green hooded villain who talked back to him after he kicked the bomb boy away from Kurogiri. "Does that NPC have a glitch or something?"
The living cloud disappeared then reappeared by the hand-man's side. "Apologies for getting caught, Shigaraki. I was too focused on All Might and I let my guard down."
"...Don't let it happen again." The leader of the league ordered.
All Might stared bewilderedly at the villain who struck down young Bakugo before anyone could do something. Observing his outfit, he quickly recognised the infamous villain that's been all over the news. "Is that the Green Rabbit? Why is he here?"
Kirishima snapped out of his stupor first and charged at the green hooded villain with a raised fist "Why you...!" Deku dodged out of the way of the skin-hardening boy coming at him at the last second. Ejiro threw multiple swings at the bunny-eared bandit, missing every time as the villain swayed past every one of his blows.
Deku dodged one more punch, then launched his own at the redheaded boy's chest...only to feel the sensation of punching a brick wall. "Ow!"
Kirishima grinned. "Gonna need to hit a lot harder than that if you wanna crack this shell!"
The skin-hardening boy then rammed his shoulder into the green hooded boy, knocking him back a few steps. Deku was about to retaliate until he felt a stinging chill come over his right leg. Looking down, he saw that his whole foot was no encased in ice. He looked back to the scarred boy, who glared at him with unimpressed eyes. "Where do you think you're going?"
"DIE!"
Deku turned back to see Bakugo rocketing toward him, using his open palms as makeshift thrusters to launch himself at the young villain. The bomb boy then shot a hand forward, letting loose a blast that blew Deku out of the ice, and sent him skidding across the ground.
The Quirkless villain groaned in discomfort. "Yup...That takes me back..."
The bomb boy's roars let Deku know that he was coming for him again. Getting to his feet, the bunny-eared boy barely had time to dodge another vengeful blast from his old bully. Bakugo continued to fire blast after blast at the young villain, but Deku was able to hop out of his explosions path.
"I know who you are! You're that Green Rabbit guy the news won't shut up about!" The bomb boy spat as he kept up his explosive attack. "You think you so great just because you took down a few haz-bin heroes?! Well, take a good look at what a real hero looks like!"
As Bakugo threw his right hand forward, Deku intercepted and grabbed hold of his exposed arm. Katsuki was taken by surprise as the bunny-eared villain yanked him off his feet, over his shoulder, and slammed him on his back. Hard.
Bakugo gasped in pain and looked up to see the green hooded villain looking down on him, his goggles hiding a pair of narrowed, dark-edged eyes. "You're no hero."
The villain finished his counterargument by punting the bomb boy in the stomach, with enough force to make him roll over, grasping his stomach with a growl. Deku took a moment to look down at the sight of the prideful boy's agony.
So, this was what it was like to be the one on top...he liked it.
"Get away from him!"
Deku snapped around in time to see Kirishima coming at him. The red-haired boy threw a rock-hard punch at the young villain, but Deku side-stepped out of the way. He grabbed hold of the boy's outstretched arm, gripped him by his shoulder, and dragged him into a spin before tripping him up and sending him sprawling to the ground.
What sounded like shattering glass met his ears next. He turned to see a stampeding glacier heading his way, courtesy of Shoto standing at a safe distance. Deku surprised the scarred boy as he charged for the rampaging ice, jumping up and running across the craggy ice formation until he closed in on Shoto, delivering a devastating kick to the boy's chin.
As Deku landed on his feet gracefully, he looked back to the three hero students he just downed, including Bakugo himself. He didn't make a strategy like he would with any heroes that would try to stop him in the middle of a heist. He just ran in without a plan and took them all down with nothing but skill and instinct.
The three heroes-in-training started to get back up, and Deku was looking forward to seeing what he could do against all three of them.
Call him crazy, but...he believed he could do this.
"No! How dare you-!" All Might was about to leap toward the green hooded villain when the league's mutant monster came out of nowhere and swung his massive fist at the number one hero. All Might barely had time to throw up his arms and block the attack, which sent him skidding across the area until he hit a wall. The symbol of peace was stunned by the amount of strength the monster had. To push the likes him back with just a single punch spoke volumes of how truly powerful this hideous creature was
"Not so fast, All Might! You don't have time to complete a side mission right now!" Shigaraki gleefully gloated. "You've got a final boss to die to."
Back to the battle of the youths, Kirishima was the first to attack the young villain again. Deku reached for his Taser-Knuckle, and after side-stepping his wild haymaker, rammed his weapon into the hard-skinned boy's chest. This time, he was able to cause the redheaded student some damage. "AARGH!"
While the boy's guard was down, Deku delivered a few more zaps, before whacking him across the face with the blunt end of his Knuckle.
Before Kirishima hit the ground, Deku heard the telltale noise of crackling ice heading his way. He turned and saw another glacier wave heading his way. The green hooded villain dived out of the way and dashed toward the scarred boy once more. "Same trick with no difference! And people think I'm crazy!"
Todoroki shot out another stream of ice, following after the young villain as he ran along the side and closed in on him. Shoto was astounded at how this villain could stay ahead of his attack. Deku finally got up close to the scarred boy, who made a futile attempt to strike him. The bunny-eared villain easily evaded his fist and threw his elbow into the ice boy's jaw, sending him tumbling to the floor.
Deku saw Bakugo coming at him from a mile away. The boy had snarled like a mad dog as he threw his exploding fists at the bunny-eared villain, who ducked and weaved past all of them. After experiencing Bakugo's abuse for such a long time, Deku was more than familiar with the bomb boy's fighting prowess.
And after his rigorous training by Rappa, the young analyst was surprised by how much Bakugo telegraphed his attacks. The bomb boy more than likely did so on purpose, all to show off in front of whoever was watching.
Deku batted one of the boy's gauntlets out of his face, letting Katsuki's charged explosion hit nothing but air. "Predictable, and sloppy."
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" For some reason, Bakugo didn't take kindly to Deku's criticism.
Kirishima and Shoto both pulled themselves together, then rushed in to help Bakugo take on the green hooded villain, together. All three hero students ganged up on the one villain that had proved to be a bigger handful than the rest of the whole army of criminals that attacked them.
Deku ducked, weaved, dodged, blocked and parried every punch, kick and blow sent his way. His vision became a blur as he whizzed to face the hard-skinned, ice powered, and explosive heroes-in-training, one after the other.
Deku then saw a window of opportunity to cause the trio some damage. As the three students lunged forward with their quirks activated, Deku simultaneously tripped Kirishima into Todoroki, shoved Todoroki into Bakugo, and knocked Bakugo into Kirishima, causing all three to hit the other with their quirks.
The trio of heroes in training went flying across the area. Bakugo lifted himself up off the ground, the left half of his body covered in frost. "Watch where your aiming, Half 'n' half!"
"You okay, Shoto?" Kirishima grunted as he propped himself up. "Sorry about ramming into you like that."
"It's fine." Todoroki lifted his head at the bunny-eared villain who just took them all down...again.
Deku took in the sight of each of the heroes-in-training he just outwitted. He almost couldn't believe it...he was winning. He was actually winning! Against three hero students, which an incredibly powerful quirk each, at once!
He was winning against Bakugo!
It was enough to make the Quirkless child break out into a fit of mad, raucous laughter. He lifted his head to the heavens, laughing like a lunatic for all to hear. His frenzied merriment became so loud, it echoed across the whole USJ facility. Hero students near and far could hear the reverberating howling of happiness and were chilled to the bone by the frightening sound.
After a disturbingly long while, Deku began to come out of his frantic happiness. He then turned to face Bakugo once more, whose face was a mix of perplexed anger. The green hooded villain decided to raise his arm toward the bomb boy and gestured with his hand for him to 'Come Get Some'.
Bakugo's eyes flashed with white-hot rage. "...That does it..."
The bomb boy picked himself up off the ground slowly. When he was back on his feet, he raised his right arm and for the handle of his grenade gauntlet with his left, hooking his finger through a small pin. His expression turned from enraged hostility to a manic, menacing smirk.
Kirishima shot to his feet the moment the bomb boy took his stance. His mind brought up the mock battle between Bakugo, Iida, Ochako and Itsuka, and how the bomb boy utterly laid into the girls without mercy. It was at the end of the fight when All Might had to threaten Katsuki with suspension, that he made the exact same stance.
And just like back then, he had a really bad feeling about what the bomb boy intended to do. "Katsuki, wait!"
His plea was too late. Bakugo pulled the pin.
A wave of flaming death was fired from the bomb boy's gauntlet. The searing hot surge hurtled toward Deku, who was too late to get out of the blast's way. Throwing his arms up in a last-ditch effort to protect himself, he took the eruption head-on.
The explosion sent a shockwave out across the dome for all to feel. Kirishima and Shoto were beside themselves with shock and awe.
"Geez, Bakugo..." The hard-skinned boy managed to find his voice first. "Were you trying to kill him or something?"
As the flaring heat began to subside, Bakugo smirked at his victory. "Please! If he was tough enough to take on the likes of us all at once, then he should be tough enough to handle a blast like that easy! And if not, then I guess he wasn't so-"
"Nice gear."
Bakugo froze. He whipped his head around to where the voice came from. However, the smoke from his attack was still thick in the air, blanketing the area in an unseeable fog.
As Bakugo tried to peer through his own smoke, Deku managed to sneak up behind him and grab him from behind. He wrapping his right arm around the bomb boy's neck and with his left, pinned the bomb boy's left gauntlet to his chest in front of him with the glove section pointed right up at his face. "I see the support classes of UA are still the best in all of Japan."
Bakugo would have blasted the bunny-earned villain off his back, but the way he had him held made it so that if he were to let off an explosion, he'd catch himself in it. And that fact irritated him to no end.
"Let me guess...the explosive sweat from for palms gets stored into these gauntlets, allowing you to let them off in one gigantic blast like that one." Deku deduced as he nodded his head at the explosion that was recently unleashed. "You always did like to put on a good show..."
"I don't know who you think you are, but if you don't let me up in the next three seconds, I'm gonna-!" Bakugo's threat was cut off when the villain reached for his gauntlet with his right hand, paying close attention to the pin sticking out of the handle. A Feral grin appeared on the young analyst's face underneath his mask. "I wonder if you're tough enough can take what you dish out..."
Bakugo could only turn his head and snarl into the villain's visor.
All of a sudden, the ground quaked beneath their feet, causing them to look at where the small cataclysm came from. All Might and the Nomu were engaged in a test of strength, each of them clasping the other hands in a clash of dominance.
Shigaraki was giggling up a storm as he watched the symbol of peaceful struggle. "Look at you...still putting up the act of the brave hero. You go around, making yourself seem like your invincible. That you can get away with beating down us poor, lowly commoners. Let's face it, you're just a glorified poster boy for this rotten society, able to get away with as much violence as you want. You're no better than us!"
The Nomu groaned as it pushed the mighty hero back a few inches, the symbol of peace grunting in reaction. "Don't give me that! You're not doing this because of some self-righteous purpose! This is all just some twisted game to you! You're loving every bit of this!"
The hand-man then broke out into a fit of unhinged cackling. "You got me! This is a game, and I am loving every moment of this!"
Deku watched the conflict from afar, keeping Bakugo in his grasp. He hated to admit it, but Shigaraki was right. If his hypothesis was correct that the number one hero had been using his strength beforehand, then All Might was practically running on fumes.
Could...could this be it? Was All Might really going to...?
Toshinori grimaced as the wound in his side let itself be known with a harsh sting once more. How could he not have seen that coming?! If he was still in his prime, he would have slipped out of that tight spot like it was nothing. The knowledge of his impending end weighed heavy on his mind. Oh, how he hated getting old...
But that wasn't important right now. This ugly mook was proving itself to be quite the handful, and on top of that, he only had about a minute left in his 'All Might Form' before he completely ran out of power. If he pushed himself any further, it could mean his end!
...But that's what he was here for, wasn't it?
How was this any different from his life before? Putting himself in the path of danger for the sake of others! shining a light of hope to all who needed it! Fighting back for forces of evil, and striking down injustice wherever it stood!
And he still had work to do. While he was fighting this freak of nature, the boy who showed him the spirit of a hero one year ago was still out there. And he had to find him, and tell him that he could still become the hero he wanted to be! To become the next great hero after All Might!
That is what he became! That is who he is! That is why he is...
THE WORLD'S NUMBER ONE SYMBOL OF PEACE!
All Might smacked the beast's arms away from him and began to rain down a thunderous hailstorm of fists. The Nomu tried to fight back, keeping as much pace with its target's blows as it could. But All Might proved to be much faster and stronger than the hand-man hoped not to be.
The flurry of brutality caused a shockwave that hit everyone present in the teeth. Deku managed to keep hold of Baukgo throughout the whole ordeal, but his eyes were glued to the fight, and he couldn't tear them away even if he tried.
"I...can't...get in there...!" Kurogiri groaned as he tried and failed to morph himself to Nomu's side, but the whipping wind of the fight was too powerful for him.
"You said one of this thing's powers was shock absorption, Right?!" The number one hero called out to the leader of the league, as he slowly started to beat the beast back. "That means that there's a limit to how much punishment this monster can take!"
The Nomu managed to land a lucky punch on the symbol of peace's bleeding side. All Might felt his mouth fill with warm red, but that strike only helped to give him another boost of adrenaline. "So, you were made to destroy me, were you, big guy?! To take me on at one hundred per cent of my power?!"
Shigaraki flinched. He did not like the sound of that...!
"Then I'll just have to go beyond my limits!" All Might continued to wail on the monster, his fists flying even faster as he pushed on. Deku was in complete awe. Even with his wounds, even with his power dwindling, he was still giving it his all. And he wasn't just throwing his fists at random, either. Every one of them was a calculated target. And each one was over his natural limit!
It made the Quirkless child remember why he became a fan of the symbol of peace in the first place.
With a mighty pulled back fist, All Might swung into the beast, sending it crashing across the field. The Nomu got back on its feet, only to collide with All Might once again. "A real hero...always finds a way...to turn a bad situation around for the better!" The symbol of peace delivered a devastating dropkick into the monstrosity's mangled face, sending it airborne.
All Might shot up to the Nomu and grabbed hold of the creature's arm. Spinning at a high velocity, he threw the beast down to the ground, causing it to crash into the earth like a meteor coming out of orbit. "To always make sure that justice prevails!"
Everyone was dumbstruck at the awe-inspiring feet. Deku was slowly starting to let his hold on Bakugo slacken.
All Might then landed on his feet before the Nomu, as it began to rise up from the gravel once more. "Here at UA...we have a saying, that inspires future heroes to give their all..."
All Might felt his power surge into his fist, pulling it back for one last attack.
"GO BEYOND...PLUS ULTRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The symbol of peace plunged his fist into the Nomu's belly. Time seemed to stop for a few moments as if reality was taking a moment to register the amount of power in the hero's feat. And once it did, the Nomu was shot into the air like a rocketship to the moon. Its thick hide struck the dome roof of the USJ, and the force of All Might punch helped to push it through the ceiling, and out into the open air.
The sounds of the Nomu screeching started to drift away, as it slowly disappeared into the wide blue sky.
All Might heaved heavy breaths after his climactic finish. "In my prime...I would have taken down that beast with five blows alone... " He stood back up straight, his signature grin glimmering in the smoke of the demolished facility. "But it took three hundred blows to send that creature flying! I'm starting to think I'm getting too old for this..."
Shigaraki's wide astonished eye turned into a bitter sharp slit. "That's cheating...!" He then started to flail his arms around, throwing a fit like a toddler would when denied what he wanted. "That's cheating! He's supposed to weak! Master said he's supposed to be weak, now! HACKS! I CALL HACKS!"
Deku ripped his gaze away from his former idol and back at the razed hand-man. Did he say 'master?' Wasn't Shigaraki the leader of the League of Villains?
A tired groan came to his ears next. He turned his attention to a few of the downed villains still on the ground. Realising his position, he re-tightened his hold on the bomb boy and called out to the defeated villains. "Rock-Slide!"
The four-armed rock villain eyes shot open when his name was called. "Huh?! W-What?"
"Brano! Split-Endz! Skullasaurous!" The green hooded villain cried out. "Anyone that can move, move! We gotta go!" He then whipped his head to the living cloud. "Mr Vortex!"
Kurogiri turned his attention to the bunny-eared boy who came to his aid. "Hmm?"
"Make a portal, quick! We gotta get out of here!" The young villain ordered.
"What does he think he's doing?!" Shigaraki growled as he pointed at the green hooded upstart. "I'm the one in charge here! I tell you-!"
"He's right, Shigaraki." Kurogiri defended the boy, taking the seething hand-man by surprise. "The rest of the heroes will be on us in a matter of time. We must leave, now!"
Shigaraki couldn't believe what he was hearing! His frustrated mind began to spill with overflowing, inane thoughts as he ripped into his neck once again. Did he have any leeway around here?!
The living cloud created a large portal behind himself, as some of the other villains started waking up and picking themselves off the ground.
"Oh, I don't think so!" Kirishima declared as he rushed for the bunny-eared villain, only to stop dead in his tracks as the young analyst jingled the pin of Bakugo's gauntlet, still aimed at the snarling boy's face.
"Ah, ah, ah!" The green hooded boy warned as he kept his prisoner close. "One false move...and the firecracker goes off, for good!"
"He's bluffing! Get him!" Bakugo barked. But Kirishima didn't have it in him to take that chance.
"No...!" All Might grunted as he tried to make his way over to the young villain, but after his draining battle with the Nomu, he was barely holding it together. If he made any move, he would reform into his true form. He didn't want the world to see him for what he was, but he couldn't stand leaving young Bakugo to these merciless fiends.
He clenched his mammoth-sized fist in frustration. He was caught!
A handful of villains started making their way toward the vortex, walking around the green hooded boy and his hostage. Shoto wanted nothing more than to turn those smug, smirking convicts into villain-sicles! But he too couldn't take the chance of Bakugo's head getting blown off. No matter how much the temperamental timebomb seemed to be asking for it.
"This reminds me of what happened to you last year..." The bunny-eared villain mocked the bomb boy in his grasp. "When that Sludge Villain got ahold of you, and none of the heroes had the guts to come rescue you." A joyful chuckle escaped his masked lips. "I remember the look in your eyes. You were so scared..."
"You don't know a thing about me!" Katsuki roared as he tried to wrestle himself out of the young villain's arms.
"Oh, I beg to differ!" The green hooded villain argued back as he tightened his grip. "I know how you regard everyone in your life as 'extras'. How you love to lord your power over others. How you relish in breaking people down, until they don't have the will to fight back!" The boy had to take a moment to calm himself, breathing heavily after his rant.
Deku then chuckled as he started backing up toward the vortex, dragging his old bully with him. Kirishima and Shoto followed, but kept at a safe distance, so as not to agitate the villain holding their hot-headed bomb boy. "What I'm getting at, is what would happen, if all your classmates, your teachers, your parents; what if everyone knew...just what kind of a poor excuse of a future hero you really are?"
The bomb boy was now utterly ticked off, and completely confused. Who the heck was this freak?!
Shigaraki was visibly shaking with rage at this point. Kurogiri noticed this and knew that when the young master got like this, he was bound to do something incredibly foolish. "Shigaraki. We need to-"
"I'M THE ONE IN CHARGE, HERE!" The hand-man's raspy voice ripped through the air. All eyes snapped toward him, as he broke out into a mad dash at the bunny-eared villain and his prisoner. "If you're just gonna stand there and lag over killing that brat, then I'll kill him MYSELF! AND YOU WITH HIM!"
Deku could do nothing but watch as Shigaraki came racing toward him, his right hand stretched out. Bakugo tried to tear his way out of the villain's grasp when the crack of gunfire went off. The crazed leader of the league stopped dead in his tracks, shrieking in pain as he clasped at his hand, which now sported a freshly made bullet hole.
The young villain whipped his head around and up to the main entrance where the shots came from and was glad to see his lazy attempt to stop the spectacled boy was not in vain.
"Class President of 1-A, Tenya Iida! Reporting for duty!" The super-speed boy declared as he stood at the top of the large staircase. "I have returned, and I brought help!"
That he did. The hero staff of UA academy were lined up, side by side, and were looking ready for a fight. Snipe, the quickdraw hero, had his trademark pistol drawn and was no doubt the one who put the bullet in Shigaraki's hand.
"Tarnation!" The cowboy hero quipped as he blew the smoke from his gun. "These varmints really got the drop on us!"
"What naughty boys!" Midnight licked her lips sadistically as she snapped her whip in anticipation. "Don't they know these kids aren't old enough to play rough yet?"
The villains who were on their way to Kurogiri's vortex were frozen in place, until a brave, but ignorant bunch of them decided to try and rush the recently arrived heroes. Present Mic, the radio hero, sporting a leather jacket, a blonde backwards pompadour, and a special crafter stereo collar around his neck, stepped forward.
"YYYYYYEEEEEEAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Present Mic unleashed his quirk, Sonic Voice, and blew the oncoming enemies back down the stairs with his booming vocal cords. As the villains tumbled back down the steps, Deku turned back to all the villains still around him. "We gotta go, NOW!"
None of them needed to be told twice. All the villains who knew they were outmatched ran for the portal, hopping in and disappearing into the darkness. Shigaraki gave the bunny-eared boy a scathing look from behind his hand-mask, then walked into the vortex next. Deku backed up toward the portal next, dragging a seething Bakugo with him.
This isn't over... you hear me?! When I find you, and I will! I'm gonna blast you into so many pieces, they'll be finding you across the whole country, for a MILLENNIUM!"
Deku looked down at the seething bomb boy, his eyes cold and calculating. "There's no need for that..." He then leaned down, staring deep into his former tormentor's eyes. "I'll come for you. See you soon."
With that final word, Deku kicked the bomb boy away and jumped into the vortex. As the hard-skinned and ice powered boys made their way to the fallen Katsuki, he shrugged away their helping hands as the portal began to dissipate, until it was completely gone. Like it was never there, to begin with.
The battle was over.