It was already been five minutes after Kurogiri arrived back at Tomura's side. It was a long and grueling wait for them to wait for an opportunity.
All Might lifted his hands to a stance as he prepared to strike again. The Nomu meanwhile suddenly twists its back foot before doing a dash fast enough to destroy the concrete below.
*BOOM!*
All Might almost missed it but Nomu went for a grapple again, All Might responded with an uppercut and side steps for the Nomu to overshoot.
Tomura smiles at the sight, "How do you like Nomu, All Might?! He was purpose-built to go up against you with your 100%! His Shock Absorption is the best counter for you!"
The Nomu gets staggered from the uppercut All Might sent. A normal man would get knocked out with even a flick of All Might's finger, he was holding back, not knowing Nomu could take it like it was nothing.
The battle continued for minutes with just All Might trying to strike hard enough to knock Nomu out or cripple it. Though what he didn't know was that Nomu was ultimately made to keep fighting forever with its second Quirk, Super Regeneration.
'He takes my punches so easily! So that's his Quirk, Shock Absorption.' All Might travels backward and prepares a more devastating attack. The Nomu recovers easily and returns a similar punch.
*BOOM!*
The impact sends out a huge shockwave that further destroys the surroundings. All Might gets a moment of rest before suddenly, without warning - the entirety of the USJ gets blasted with cool frost and searing heat.
'What was that?' All Might almost looked back to where the temperatures came from before the Nomu seizes the opportunity and goes for All Might's wrist.
All Might reacts by trying to pull his left hand back and punching with his right. The Nomu didn't care when its face got repeatedly pummeled. Instead, it focused on All Might's wrist and eventually returned his own punch directly at All Might's old wound.
'Argh!' All Might grit his teeth, a direct punch to his old wound was devastating for him. He finally wrestles himself out of the Nomu's strong grip.
"Hey, Kurogiri. I have an idea, when he punches won't you redirect it to himself instead? Maybe that will do an ample opportunity, then we'll try another chance with one of the students sneaking around like a rat." Tomura suggests.
All Might leaped back but Nomu kept coming back, he blocked the first strike and avoided the second before returning a flurry of blows.
'I have to go beyond. This person has such a good Quirk that even at my 100%' He was about to unleash his strike over and over. 'If this is what shock absorption is then I just have to go more than what he can take!'
He cocks back his arms and prepares to strike his hardest, before a portal forms just in front of where he was about to strike.
'What?!' His punches landed in the air before the Nomu took another opportunity and punched another devastating blow to All Might's side. Thankfully, his empowered strike stops short of hitting himself once he realizes what they were planning.
Still, All Might had completely missed and got a massive impact on his old wound. 'Arghh!' He steps back with the Nomu now coordinating strikes with Kurogiri.
Ayaka finally reaches the battle where All Might was engaged in combat with the Nomu, it was brutal. Shockwaves of force kept coming one after the other and it was a battle of attrition.
Ayaka approached the battlefield a few meters away. "Kamisato? What are you doing here?!" All Might had a moment to glance before focusing back on the battle.
Tomura interrupts the fight, making Ayaka turn her head to Izuku that was nearby the whole time. "Where are you looking at All Might? Maybe you should see something more entertaining as the Symbol of Peace - like one of your precious students dying in front of you!"
Tomura enacts his plan just as Ayaka arrives, he reaches outward toward Izuku while using Kurogiri's portals for his hand to contact him. "Young Midoriya!" All Might screamed out.
"Nomu, take him." The Nomu used the opportunity to grapple and lock All Might with him. All Might tries pushing him away with punches but the Nomu didn't feel pain, only the undying loyalty to Tomura.
Kurogiri forms a portal from All Might and the Nomu, making it possible for him to get severed in half by the portal closing.
Ayaka watched in horror as she saw both Izuku and All Might being threatened. "Midoriya, All Might!".
Using both the power of her ice and wind she propels herself to fierce speeds, she couldn't think of what to do next. In instinct, she swung her sword.
Her Vision erupted frost from below while she glided on the ice and made her way to the hand that was going to reach for Izuku.
She didn't know what Tomura could do but when a Villain announces they were going to kill someone - Ayaka didn't need to know what his hand could do, she had one choice.
*BOOM!*
"Get over here Warp Bastard!" Katsuki arrived with his explosive entrancance. Blowing away some of the mist before securing Kurogiri firmly under his hand and smiling menacingly with Eijiro supporting him from the side.
"Young Bakugo and Kirishima?!" All Might struggle to fight the Nomu before a large amount of ice erupted that came from Ayaka as she tries saving both Izuku and All Might.
"Looks like I was a bit late in arriving." Shoto was standing across, not needing to do anything after Ayaka froze the Nomu but everyone's attention was on Tomura.
"Arrrgggghhhhhhhhhh!" A blood-curdling scream came from Tomura, clutching his hand - or at least what was left of it.
His right hand was thoroughly severed from the base and lets it out of the portal before the remains of his hand flopped to the floor with Ayaka's katana bathed in blood.
Everyone was shocked, Ayaka severing a Villains hand was one they didn't expect of someone so cool-headed.
In the time when she was thinking about the results of losing both her friend and mentor, she didn't have time to risk their lives by hesitating.
"You... this violence! This is why I hate you, damn heroes! Justifiable in hurting us but the labels you put on us can't do the same? Nomu! Free Kurogiri and kill this bitch!"
The Nomu breaks out of his hold despite being frozen, losing most of its lower half and sides. It regrew the limbs easily while it shambled, eventually reaching into a sprint.
"Kacchan! Watch out!" Izuku yelled. Eijiro decides to try and block it, if he was about to watch Katsuki get hurt, he thought it'd be better for him to get the damage instead.
Katsuki was now facing the Nomu he tried using his explosions before the figure of All Might came to block the attack instead of Eijiro.
He arrives just in time to absorb the massive attack, dust flying all around before Kurogiri gets freed from Katsuki's hold. All Might gets sent flying back and skids to a stop.
All Might staggers, fighting constantly at full power for minutes made him weaker. He checks his wounds and grimaces to see the wounds on his previous scars and the minor bleeding all over him from the battle.
Ice arrived from Shoto as he aids the fight with his Quirk and tries to bind the now-freed Nomu or block its route as it tried going for Ayaka next.
The Nomu, at an increased amount of speed almost blindingly darted in front of Ayaka. It swung for her with a wide right hook. Everyone stared and a look of horror.
All Might wanted to force his body more to save his student. 'Damn! I shouldn't have cared so much about saving my time! I was too arrogant that I'd beat it without losing most of my duration!"
But then...
He stops and sees the overpowering glow hidden within Ayaka's sleeves, revealed to everyone in the present who caught a glimpse. Her arm was facing away from the Villains and toward the group so it was only visible to them.
"You will not take them away from me," she said with a blank look in her eyes. Not full of any emotion at all at the moment.
*SCHING!*
In a flash, enhanced by the power of Anemo she kept swinging...
...and swinging,
...and swinging.
She was at her strongest, whereas the eleventh Harbinger had his Foul Legacy, Ayaka had her own to fall back to. The power of her Vision and the strength of a Delusion combined and used simultaneously.
Blizzard Strayer.
The Nomu kept reaching back and punching but with each swing, Ayaka responded by dicing its flesh into nothing more than a ground paste of flesh and bone.
She overwhelmed the regeneration slowly but surely, Ayaka was consumed with strong emotion and could only think to fight.
Kurogiri warps to his master's side after being freed from Katsuki. "Shigaraki! We need to go, we will get back another day- Hngg!"
A blade is pressed to his back and cut shallowly. Kurogiri felt the hot steel entering his skin. The Fatui agent reappeared, his flames uncovering as he exits his invisible state. He holds his weapon out to Kurogiri's real body
"Kurogiri!" Tomura yells for his name. "Don't you dare get captured again after I ordered Nomu to save you!" He turns his attention to the Fatui agent. "You! All Might is there and we almost had him. Where were you?! I ordered you to-"
"-The Fatui does not follow anyone but the Tsaritsa. Our partnership was nothing more than a temporary arrangement. That arrangement expired the moment I got decent results from my objective and she became a threat. Nothing more can result out of this that can benefit us."
He pulls out a piece of paper with coordinates on it. "Take me to this location." he then burns it after Kurogiri looks over the paper. "If you don't want your master to get slaughtered by her then you would be wise to quicken your pace." he points to Ayaka.
'She will soon lose her mind and turn her attention to anyone nearby. An untrained individual can only do so much, I'm surprised she held on for so long even after our fight.'
The warp gate user hesitates but they needed to escape. "Fine." he opens a portal to the coordinates the Fatui asked for. The man enters with a grin.
Kurogiri continues the warp and changes to location back to their base. "Shigaraki, the battle is over and we have lost. All Might has stood strong against the Nomu but we did not consider the students being so formidable and one of our people turning from us."
He then warps Tomura's severed hand and returned it to him. "The doctor can help with that, let's leave and make haste."
Tomura grips his own severed hand tightly and scowls at the group before him. "I'll restart this level and kill everyone here, I'll remember you all… I'll remember!" he curses at them before continuing to his and trying to stop the bleeding.
"Warp Bastard!" Bakugo snaps away from the bloodbath that Ayaka was continuously creating by constantly removing bits and pieces of the Nomu's body.
He lunges with his explosion and strikes. "I won't let you get away again!" he uses his explosions to give him more speed and reaches straight for the pair of Villains.
*BOOM!*
The smoke cleared and a clearly infuriated Katsuki screams at the top of his lungs. "Fuck! I didn't get handsy!" he grips the body of Kurogiri, the Warp gate user that teleported Tomura away.
Unfortunately for him, he was not fast enough to follow Tomura to their base. The Fatui's own exit made him lose time for his own teleportation, despite everyone still being traumatized by the massacre that was happening in front of them.
A glacier forms with the limbless monster as Ayaka had frozen the remnants of the Nomu. She was bloodsoaked with a pile of dead flesh below her but she kept her head held high.
It was done.
The Nomu gets frozen, unmoving from the interruption of command. Tomura had teleported away and he couldn't act without its master.
All Might weakly walks toward her, he feels the pain from his fight and blames himself even more. 'I should have just gone all out from the start. I was too afraid of losing my time limit, though we have most of them in custody now.'
"Young Kamisato?" he asks.
She was silent as she finishes off the Villain in her permafreeze. Ayaka had a cold glare in her eyes, almost as if it wasn't her.
Izuku approached her and notices a wet stream from her cheeks, despite all the cold and wind that came - it didn't hide the marks of tears. 'She's... crying?'
All Might sensed something wrong and feared for her well-being. "Kamisato, are you all right? Is something wrong-"
"-Kurogiri?" She said with a faint rage in her tone. She was looking straight at the already secured Villain. She heard his name being called out while the battle was happening.
Her mind was overtaken by fear, despair, and doubt. She held every single negative emotion to herself and it finally burst from within. The Delusion only acted as a spark for her and it led to a predictable result.
Madness consumed her.
Without saying another word, her blizzard flares back into life and dashes to Kurogiri's side. She lifted up her katana and swung.
*BOOM!*
"Idiot! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Katsuki shouted. He protects the Villain from being mercilessly cut into pieces by using a smoke screen and launching himself back.
"Shit, she's gone nuts!" He lifts the Villain up to his shoulders while trying to avoid carefully placed attacks that kept on coming. His sweat finally weakens after the exposure to the elements before All Might himself comes to face Ayaka.
"Ayaka! You don't need to fight anymore! We have won the battle, don't harm the Villain!" he tries to command. He uses his power to hold her in place after she started swinging for Kurogiri.
"I won't let it happen again..."
*hic*
Everyone stops, no one had ever seen the reserved individual have her voice shake. Let alone see them openly start to cry.
"I don't want to lose you or anyone ever again! It's what I only have left..."
*hic*
"I won't let them take you..."
*hic*
"…Why should I let the man who wanted to kill you… live?" Her last words were more aggressive than the rest of her sentence.
She starts to straighten her gaze and scowl. The Delusion started glowing its brightest. It had taken hold of her like never before, constant use of it made her go over the edge.
The frost starts enveloping everything around her, the strong winter gets everyone to wince. Even Shoto had to admit his ice couldn't compare to the speeds Ayaka's storm was creating.
All Might's arms begin to receive ice burns the moment Ayaka willed her frost to shoot outward. He tried his best to hold her back but she uses the ice forming around him to slip away.
"Ayaka, No!" All Might desperately called out. He didn't know what was happening to her, not realizing the Delusion was manipulating her.
Moments turned into slow agonizing minutes for him, Ayaka didn't take much more than a fraction of a second to loom over Katsuki with bloodlust seeping out.
She unsheathed her katana and let the sharp blade shine across the frost-ridden landscape she created.
Ice erupts from Shoto's feet, a massive iceberg that he had done to the same level of size back during the Quirk apprehension test.
Katsuki saw the wall of ice almost impale him. "Oi! Half and Half bastard you could have killed me with that!" He screamed.
"I don't think you don't know how much of a situation we are in. One of our classmates is going to commit a crime by killing a Villain under custody. I don't know what is happening but it's clear we need to do something about it."
Shoto had said all that but deep inside he was worried for his Quirk. The ice half of himself meant he was resistant to cold but he was still subject to hypothermia, worse was frostbite.
He breathed out and a layer of mist exited his mouth. The effects of the cold were already showing.
Katsuki had completely lost control of his Quirk, the combination of the rushing wind and the ice made it almost impossible to sweat. He was freezing under the blizzard and he knew he had only one thing left.
The gauntlets that stored his sweat were still active and filled, he was fighting beforehand but he was limited in what he could do.
Ayaka leaps back and avoids the ice formed by Shoto. She prepares her Katana, enhancing the strike by elongating it with ice and creating a slash made of wind.
Her head was spinning like she was falling from the sky while tumbling all the way down. With a single well-placed overhead cut, she did something dread-inspiring.
A single strike was all it took for the glacier Shoto formed to be sliced and blown away by her katana. Bolstered by the two elements she had completely gone through it like it was nothing.
"…Kurogiri!" she muttered again.
*BOOM!*
All Might launched himself with power coursing through his legs, he carries Katsuki and Eijiro away, continuing to arrive back at the group of students away further.
Ayaka tried to follow before she had to defend by slicing another growing iceberg being shot out by Shoto.
"Your fight is with me, Kamisato." Shoto challenged her, intending to buy time for the rest of the group to plan or recover.
What followed was predictable once her Blizzard Strayer form was activated without her consent. Each ice was mercilessly shattered and sliced away by Ayaka.
Shoto tried everything in his power to do so, but every training he went through to make bigger and bigger icebergs was being nullified by Ayaka hastening herself and improving the damage of her strikes with Anemo.
She created blades from the wind, empowering the slice with Anemo and making it expand outward right after. Using her own Senho form to dodge entire pikes made by Shoto to trap her in.
Shoto finally had reached a limit, the cold was too much for him. He hears a call from people behind him while sending out more ice to distract Ayaka while All Might does his own best.
"Young Todoroki, I'll take over from here. Don't worry about me, get to the others." All Might stepped up and was going to face Ayaka, he saw her expression and was disappointed in himself. 'I'm sorry… I'll have to try not to attack harshly.'
Back to the group of four…
Izuku was hard at work trying to figure something out. They might be forced to battle Ayaka eventually or need to get rough to try and snap her out of whatever fit she was having.
It confused the four but Izuku had a strong suspicion about what caused her to act in such a way. "Is it what was hidden under her sleeve?" He blurted without thinking.
"That thing you saw back in the infirmary?" Katsuki asked.
Izuku almost started to stutter but this was different. It concerned his friend so he wasn't about to mess up. "You knew what I was trying to look at?"
"Idiot, I was the first to wake up. I didn't know what to do since I got defeated. I went back to sleep thinking about what I did so wrong." Katuski admitted.
"She started to murmur to herself, like what you usually do. I wanted to get her to shut up before I saw what you probably saw too. I didn't know what it was but you think it's the thing affecting her?"
Shoto and Eijiro had no idea what was going on with the conversation but decided to nod along anyways. "So what do we do? Take this thing you keep talking about away from her?" Eijiro asked.
"Todoroki, you can produce fire, can't you?" Izuku had something in mind to try.
The question made Shoto harden his gaze. "No, I'm not using his fire. The last thing I want is to admit I needed his power to succeed-"
"-The fuck did you just say?!" Katsuki was always mad but something else was different about his confrontation. "All Might is out there fighting for us and you're telling me you won't use your damn Quirk?!"
"Bakugo, I don't intend to use my father's Quirk-"
"-Who the fuck cares if your damn dad is part of this shit! You're telling me you don't want to use your fire?! You at least need a better reason than that!" He was almost going to strangle him for being so nonsensical.
"Kacchan, calm down," Izuku asked this knowing Katsuki wouldn't probably do so. He turns to Shoto who was still stone-faced. "Todoroki, right now - whatever situation you have, we need to help All Might by making Kamisato come back to her senses."
Shoto finally showed some semblance of emotion by tightening his hands. "We can do so without me using my left side."
"Todoroki." Izuku directly looked at him. "I can't say much about your situation in the past but we need to look at what's happening right now. If your Quirk troubles you that much then I won't force you to. One of our classmates needs saving and All Might is out there trying his best to do the same thing."
"Sorry…" he apologizes. Izuku nods to his response as Katuski tries to beat some common sense into Shoto before he gets stopped by Eijiro.
"Hey man, don't be so mad about it for now. Midoriya, I'll keep watch on the Villain. If Kamisato ends up coming here and attacking me, then I might have a chance with my hardening. Don't count on it too much though."
"Tch!" Katsuki angrily clicked his tongue. Thoroughly irked and mad about Shoto's unwillingness to use his Quirk.
He looked back one last time before uttering something as they prepared to hatch a plan. "Some Hero you would be, you can't even use everything you have to save someone. All Might taught me - no, taught us that. Yet you don't even want to help him."
Shoto stood still at Katsuki's words. It came from someone everyone admonished for unhero-like behavior during their battle training. It cut deep, especially when Shoto realized Katsuki was right.
Ayaka still had her blood boiling during the fight. Her battle senses were in full swing as she fought with All Might. He was still just as injured from his fight with Nomu.
Even though he had 3 hours - early on, he wasn't willing to unleash everything. His power could kill and he still held back a bit. Only after knowing the shock-absorbing and self-regenerating nature of Nomu could he try to seriously try and punch as hard as he mustered.
Kurogiri's constant use of his portals made it harder for him, a coordination that even Tomura didn't think about when they were planning on All Might's downfall during their planning phase.
Finally, when he was about to reduce his time limit - he made a mistake and didn't account for his student's willingness to risk their lives.
He blamed himself for that, for everything happening to Ayaka. Which is why he was keeping up with her despite her Blizzard Strayer form.
But it was too frustrating, Ayaka constantly sank to the ground even with a small threat of being held down to make her relax. All Might was receiving damage from Ayaka's blizzard but he powered through it.
"Ayaka! Please! This is not who you are, I don't know what happened with you - I'm sorry!" He kept trying to apologize, not wanting to seriously hurt her even when she was on the verge of killing a Villain.
The tears she shed and to look of the pure emotional pain she exerted the first time she tried to strike Kurogiri down. He wanted the best for her but he felt like he let her down somehow.
"I don't want to hurt you, All Might. Step aside." Her voice shook but was aggressive at the same time. It was like she was hesitating or fighting back against her own actions to her thoughts.
*BOOM!*
Ayaka heard the large pressure hitting the ground, she turns to see Izuku barreling toward her with his arm raised. "Kamisato!"
She blocks with a wall of ice before using her Anemo to dash herself away. She didn't get another chance to rest when another attack came behind her.
*CLINK!*
Katsuki unleashed one of his gauntlet's stored sweat as Izuku traveled along the air. The wall of ice gets blown to pieces as Izuku went forward with his punch.
"I'm sorry about this Kamisato! I couldn't think of anything else!"
Ayaka ushered forth her wind to stop Izuku and planned to go into her Senho form. The strong winds almost blew Izuku away.
He felt his body slow down from the onslaught of harsh wind current. He grits his teeth and clenched his body as he suddenly felt surging heat behind him.
"Todoroki!"
"About time you bastard!"
Shoto unleashed his fire toward the gust of wind, the heat made the air rise and stopped Izuku from being blown away.
Ayaka saw the strike coming, she was midway into her Senho state before Izuku could fully use his OFA strike. Instead, he does the same thing back then in the Battle training.
*BOOM!*
Ayaka knew what Izuku was doing, instead of committing to her Senho, she tries combating Izuku with her katana. She reaches out, consumed by her emotions she didn't see where she would strike, only that she needed to fight.
The color of crimson showers into the cold and frigid air, Ayaka had cut deep into Izuku's arm. Leaving a cut that was enough to make him bleed profusely the instant her blade made contact.
"…Midoriya!" She screamed out. The color in her eyes came back after a momentary lapse in the Delusion's hold over her mental state.
Izuku gripped his arm, he was prepared for something like this. Determining she couldn't think for herself and gambling on the battle-focused state of Ayaka, Izuku had to do this if they were to defeat her without severely injuring her.
"All Might!" Izuku screamed out.
Without even being part of the plan, All Might knew what had to be done. He rushes at the same blinding speed, now unimpeded by the constant use of Senho. All Might could hold her down tightly in the air so as to not let her access Senho by touching the ground.
Izuku reached out with his uninjured arm and grabbed onto the Delusion, feeling it through the layers of cloth.
Grasping it tightly he twists and pulls it until the Anemo Delusion gets taken away from Ayaka. It flung off into the air and landed on the ground with distinct clinks from the Delusion skidding on the floor.
The blizzard soon slowly died out, leaving the Delusion dulling from its once bright colors. Ayaka, without the support of the Delusion, suddenly felt her energy dip down.
Relaxing under the tight embrace All Might gave, she finally snaps out of the Delusion's side effects of going too far over the limit.
With one last whimper before she goes into unconsciousness from the massive exhaustion suddenly exerted on her, she warns Izuku. "All Might, Midoriya…"
Her head started to sway, "Don't touch it… please…"
"What happened Ayaka, what is that thing Midoriya ripped out?" All Might lets her go but supports her from falling.
"I'll… tell you… everything. Please-"
Her tears flowed, memories of what she had done while being affected by the Delusion rushed in. "-don't hate me… don't leave me…"
"I'm sorry…"