Izuku could cut the tension in the air with a knife.
All Might and the creature he had just been fighting stared at each other silently, as if daring the other to make the first move.
Izuku stood back, his mind telling him that the rational thing to do was to run and meet up with the rest of his classmates, but his gut told him to stay.
He couldn't help without using the watch, not against a threat of this level, but he knew that All Might had used up his time for the day, and soon he'd have to revert to his weakened state, the two were very similar in that way, after they ran out of time with their respective powers they were pretty much helpless in fights of this level, the only difference was that Izuku's time limit was much shorter than that of his teacher.
The silent standoff was broken as a vortex of black mist appeared behind the blue haired villain.
"Kurogiri, did you kill thirteen." The man asked, not sparing his partner a glance.
"I have incapacitated the pro hero, however, Shigaraki, the students here seem to be much stronger than we expected, one of them managed to escape, and I see that Nomu has even been permanently damaged, I think it is prudent to retreat whilst we have the chance."
"Are you crazy? All Might just arrived, it's not game over yet!" Shigaraki exclaimed, "we will proceed with the plan, Nomu kill him."
At the command of its master, the black creature began walking towards All Might, obviously learning some semblance of caution in the previous fight after having lost its arm.
The fact the creature could learn from its mistakes was rather terrifying to Izuku.
"All Might, that thing has insane amounts of physical damage absorption, specifically made to counter you, attacking it head on is not a good plan." Izuku told his teacher.
"Not to worry young Midoriya, an enemy like this will not best me." The blonde said, trying to reassure his student.
Izuku just narrowed his eyes at the man, he didn't need to be reassured of the current situation, he had quite literally fought toe to toe with Nomu a minute ago, he knew how to beat the thing, he just needed to let the watch cool down and he would put an end to the current situation.
He was glad All Might had saved him, elated in fact, and really wanted the blonde man to win by himself so he didn't have to force himself to kill Nomu, lack of sentience aside, killing something was not a thing Izuku wanted to do, but he was fully prepared to do it if it meant keeping himself and his friends safe.
He just didn't know how much longer All Might could force his transformation to hold, and was more concerned that the man would become a liability rather than an advantage if he wasted time trying to figure out how to beat his enemy.
"CAROLINA SMASH!"
The number one hero charged at the creature, hitting it with a cross chop that likely would have put anyone out of commission, but only sank lightly into the monster's skin.
Izuku sighed, he had literally just told the man about his opponent's resistances, but the pro hero had just gone and hit it without thinking, he couldn't help but think that maybe All Might wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed, or at least a little arrogant about the abilities of his Quirk.
The man ducked back to dodge Nomu's attempt to grab him, before planting a punch in his enemies gut.
"My blows, they aren't working at all!" The man grimaced.
"I see you've noticed Nomu's shock absorption, if you're thinking of dealing any damage, it would be more effective to slowly scoop his guts out," Shigaraki said demurely, "but him letting you do that is a different story."
Izuku regarded the villain quietly, he'd seen the man in action, he was rather fast, and his quirk was definitely dangerous, but he was definitely in control of Nomu, and if he managed to take him out then the creature might just stop fighting, the only problem was that the man was not alone, that Kurogiri character was probably the most dangerous person here, the ability to seemingly teleport anything anywhere, and an intangible body was difficult to deal with, it was likely he had some form of weakness, maybe he was hiding his real body behind all that mist, but Izuku didn't think he would have the time to figure it out if he was fighting both villains at the same time.
"I had been informed as much by my student, but to think it was truly at the level where I couldn't hurt him." All Might relented, "But it's fine, if that is the case then this will still be a cinch."
The blonde hero dashed behind his enemy wrapping his arms around Nomu's waist before backdrop slamming him into the ground.
The move created an explosion of dust and debris, for which Izuku was glad he had a helmet on, otherwise his eyes would have been rendered useless for a few seconds.
So All Might intended to bury his enemy in an attempt to capture him?
It was a smart move, but whether it would work was a different question, Izuku expected the creature would just dig its way out using its strength, however, he was surprised to see a black portal allowing the creature to pop up underneath the symbol of peace and grab one of his sides with his claws and began pulling All Might into the portal in what could only be an attempt to cut the man in half.
Seeing that his enemy hadn't remained passive after all, Izuku decided he had to act or All Might would be in real trouble.
Izuku could now see a metal casing around Kurogiri's neck, most likely due to the mist around him thinning as the man used it to make his portals, that would be Izuku's target.
"Frozen in fear Deku? That's so like you." Izuku heard, the sound followed by explosions, hitting Kurogiri right in his metal casing, forcing him to the ground and pinning him there.
"Glad you could drop in Katsuki." Izuku said to his rival, rushing over to the remaining villain as he watched ice spread over the the armless half of Nomu, freezing its leg to the ground, effectively stopping the creature from dragging the symbol of peace into his demise.
Izuku saw Kirishima jump in, swiping at Shigaraki with his quirk, barely missing the villain, who managed to dodge back.
This created the perfect opportunity for Izuku to land a roundhouse into the unprepared villain, knocking him onto his back.
"Nice set up Kirishima." Izuku complemented, fist bumping his friend.
"I almost had 'im, but your welcome." The red haired boy replied.
Thanks to Todoroki's ice, All Might managed to escaped, the students and their teacher all regrouping on the opposite side of the villains.
"I heard about your plan form the other villains, Scum like you, could never kill the symbol of peace." Todoroki said simply.
Shigaraki got up and regarded his opponents in silence.
"Kids these days sure are amazing, you've beaten the levels we set up but are still basically at full HP, you even took out our escape route." The man sighed, "Nomu take out the explosive brat, we're leaving."
Nomu raised himself out of the portal, the ice restricting him shattering, taking half his body with him.
"This is bad." Izuku said, watching as the creature regenerated all the damage they had dealt, including the arm he had painstakingly managed to take from him since the once cauterised wound had been reopened by the tearing apart of its body.
The watch hadn't reset yet, so he couldn't participate much in the upcoming battle apart from supporting whoever would be fighting Shigaraki, who was arguably the easiest to beat in this situation.
"I thought his quirk was shock absorption! Everyone get back, this is getting dangerous!" All Might exclaimed, shielding his students behind him.
"I don't remember saying that was all he could do, Nomu is a super powered punching bag designed to withstand everything you've got." Shigaraki stated as the creature charged towards them.
Like his master had requested, the black creature headed straight for Katsuki to get him off of the villain he had captured, Izuku knew the boy had no hopes of dodging it, but then neither did he, he could barely react to the attack, he was thankful that All Might managed to react in time, but confused as to why the man had decided to take the hit in his rivals stead instead of blocking the attack.
The pro hero was blasted back in a shockwave of wind, crashing against the wall of a nearby building.
"Anything to save a comrade right?" Shigaraki asked the symbol of peace, "Just like when that helmeted brat fought Nomu with the intent to kill, but violence in the name of saving others is admirable? Isn't it, hero?" The villain spread his arms theatrically, before continuing his rant. "You know what, All Might? That pisses me off! Heroes and villains both thrive on violence, but we're still categorised. Symbol of Peace? In the end you're just a tool for violence, made to keep us down! Violence only breeds more violence, I'll show the world that by killing you!"
Izuku looked at the villain, he had some serious issues in the brain cell department if that was the ideal that drove him, but he did have to thank the villain for monologging, it gave the watch just the amount of time it needed to recharge, which effectively completely changed the tide of this battle.
"Hey, the asshole with the really cracked lips!" Izuku yelled, getting the attention of the villain, "you're actually telling me you put us through all this for such a flimsy reason? Of course violence breeds violence, but the villains are always the ones that use violence first, like today for example, you think I woke up and thought to myself: hey, I want to go kill some giant mindless creatures to pass the time, that sounds like so much fun?" The boy asked sarcastically, taking a step forward, approaching his enemy, hand on the watch ready to transform into the alien he had decided to use. "You come over here, try to kill me and my friends despite that having nothing to do with your objective and then blame us? Get real dude, you don't do what you do for any other reason than because you like being a dick."
Shigaraki looked at the green haired boy with a bored expression. "Nomu, kill that brat, and make sure you do it properly this time."
The beast gave a loud screech, dropping Kurogiri and charging at Izuku.
"Young Midoriya!" All Might yelled, running desperately in order to protect his student, but Nomu had the same speed as him and was already closer to the boy.
The creature had already reached Izuku, and was about to attempt to take his life again, but the greenette had already pressed down on the watch face as soon as he heard Shigaraki give the command.
Nomu's strike seemingly passed through thin air.
In Izuku's place floated a ghost like creature with grey skin that had various black lines running through its body, a single purple eye peeked out from its head and large claws adorned its fingers.
Izuku hated this form, he didn't know why, but something about it just didn't seem right, like he wasn't fully in control when he used it.
Right now, however, regardless of any kind of aversion to it, Izuku needed to use it, he'd considered all his options, and, whilst Heatblast or Diamondhead could literally end the fight against Nomu in an instant, he'd have to kill it, now that All Might, the man could feasibly knock the creature out, removing the need for today to weigh on Izuku's conscience, the man just needed Nomu to stand still, Ghostfreak could do that easily.
If the pro hero didn't in fact have the ability to defeat Nomu, Izuku could simply control the creature's body and force it far enough away from its master that it couldn't receive the necessary commands.
For that reason the ghastly form phased through Nomu's fist, floating towards the creature as fast as he could, and with one hand outstretched before its face detailed his plan to his fellow classmates.
"You guys handle the mist guy and Handy Manny over there, he likes touching kids so watch out." With those words Izuku's body slid into Nomu, and the creature froze for a second, before crumpling to the floor like a puppet with cut strings.
Izuku didn't know what to make of the creature's brain, it was a mess, he could feel something that could roughly be put together into a full personality, if he had the time to assemble a one thousand piece puzzle, screaming in the background for control, but it seemed to be locked away by something.
The next thing he noticed was the completely inhumane structure of the monster's body, it wasn't human, not anymore at least, whatever had happened to this poor thing was sick and twisted, but there was nothing Izuku could do for it right now.
"Nomu? What's going on? Why are you not killing these brats?" Shigaraki asked in petulant anger.
Izuku stuck his ghostly head out of the creature.
"Yeah, I'm going to borrow your toy for a second, don't worry cracked lips, my friends will keep you company meanwhile."
Shigaraki barely managed to move out of the way as Katsuki tried to hit him with an explosion.
"Stay still so I can kill you asshole." Katsuki groused, going in for a follow up.
Kurogiri tried to help his comrade, but Kirishima tackled the metal casing that made up his real body, pinning him down.
"You're not doing anything buddy." The redhead said.
Izuku turned away from that fight just as Todoroki stepped in to help Katsuki pin down his foe.
"Students, please run, this situation is too dangerous for you." All Might implored finally joining the fray once more, the man looked absolutely ragged, his suit was ruined and he had blood down his chin, his body steaming because of his upcoming time limit.
"Sorry Sensei." The greenette told his teacher, "it's too late to back out now, if you're worried for us, come here and finish off this Nomu thing quickly."
All Might sighed as he watched his students hold his own against the villain.
Izuku could see where he was coming from, Katsuki and Todoroki had terrible team work, the blonde always bringing the fight back into melee range, preventing Todoroki from using the full output of his ice, anything that did get through was quickly disintegrated by Shigaraki, they weren't losing, but unless they suddenly learnt to work together, they wouldn't win any time soon.
"What do you want me to do?" All Might said, finally relenting.
"Nothing much, just hit this thing really really hard."
"Understood young Midoriya, this thing was built to withstand everything I got was it? Well then I'll just go BEYOND that!" The man said, cocking back his fist "Villains, you've definitely heard these words before, but let me show you the true meaning of PLUS ULTRA! DETROIT SMASH!"
As the man was speaking his piece, Izuku left the body he had inhabited and moved over to aid his friends, he paused briefly, turning around to see the enemy he had fought so hard to defeat literally launched into the atmosphere with a single punch, All Might's quirk was definitely bullshit.
Izuku made himself invisible, before appearing behind Shigaraki who had just dodged another one of Katsuki's and Todoroki's poor attempt at a combined offensive.
He placed a hand on the villain's shoulder causing the man to turn with a start.
Izuku's single purple eye stared down at his enemy.
"You put us through hell today you single colour wearing bastard, let me return the favour." The boy rasped, his free hand moving to one of the lines on his chest, before pulling it aside to reveal purple and black tentacles.
The boy himself didn't know what was behind the second skin this alien wore, but he wasn't especially keen on finding out.
Shigaraki looked at the sight in horror, a silent scream reaching his lips before he fell back onto his behind and crawling backwards.
"Kurogiri, Game Over! Get us out of here! Get us out of here now!" The man screamed in terror.
His comrade sent out a blast of black mist, catching Kirishima off guard, the boy's hardened fingers leaving deep gouges in the mist man's true body before he was teleported as high into the air as his enemy could achieve.
All Might saw this and moved to save his student, allowing Kurogiri to teleport next to his comrade and create a portal next to him.
"You won this time, but I'll be back, and then I'll kill you All Might, you and that brat!"
With that the Villain retreated into the portal and they were gone.
Izuku deactivated his transformation, he released a deep breath and looked around at the carnage wrought during the incident, it wasn't over yet though, they needed to round up all the villains and make sure all his classmates were alright, he also needed to get All Might away from the scene for some reason, the man was barely holding himself together.
As his teacher landed from the jump he had made to save Kirishima, despite the boy being unlikely to get hurt due to his quirk, Izuku walked up to him.
"Sensei, we'll go regroup with our classmates, you should go to secure that Nomu guy." He said to the man.
All Might wanted to tell his students that they had done enough for the day, but he could tell his transformation wouldn't hold much longer and that his student had just given him the perfect excuse to hide his secret.
"Yes, good idea Young Midoriya, please be careful."
With that the man was gone, whether he actually went to find Nomu or not Izuku was unsure, but he was glad he could help hide his teacher's secret.
The boy turned over to the main entrance, where most of his classmates were, and noticed that most of the teachers from the school had finally arrived at the scene.
Heroes and their penchant for being late to the action, honestly, he needed to start giving them the wrong time so they got places before the party was over.