Breaking News: U.A. Highschool Attacked! Rise Of New Villain Group!

"Hello, this is Chitose Kizuki, live from Shoowaysha News. Yesterday, U.A. High School, one of the most well-known and well-regarded hero schools in Japan, was victim of an attack by a new and completely unknown group of villains."

Members of Class 1-A are in their rooms sitting quietly, some of them patched up and with tear running down their faces.

"According to official sources, the students of the class that were attacked have mostly come out with minor injuries, however quite a few students suffered major, possibly life-threatening injuries and have to be hospitalized. Whether they will recover is still unknown. The faculty is also victim to having some of their members heavily injured."

Inside Recovery Girl's Office, six beds were occupied. From left to right was Eijiro Kirishima, Katsuki Bakugo, Shoto Todoroki, Tsuyu Asui, Shota Aizawa, and Anan Kurose. Ms. Sato was on her knees crying, with her husband comforting her. Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi looked at her solemnly.

"As of the villains themselves, over 70 villains were captured at the scene, with one of them being found dead, cause unknown though highly suspected to be some form of brain death. However, from what we gathered, the leader of this group managed to escape, alongside an unknown villain."

Shigaraki was sitting on a stool watching the news, while angrily scratching his neck. Kurogiri was behind the counter, cleaning a glass.

"As of now, we know nothing of the state of U.A. after this attack nor the threat level of the villains. U.A. has yet to make a statement on the matter, and people are wondering if this is the start of something bigger, and what it could mean for society."

Inside an office, all the U.A. Teachers were gathered, sitting in a circle. On a monitor, both Eraserhead and Thirteen were shown still on a hospital bed but awake.

"Alright. Now that everyone is here," Nezu started from his desk. "It's time to discuss the effects of this attack."

"Infinite" - Sonic Forces OST

(0:00 - 0:11)

Shows multiple cities that constantly glitches between perfectly calm with blue skies and utterly destroyed with red skies and red outline.

Shows the League of Villains show before glitching out to the Meta Liberation Army, then the Shie Hassaikai, then Humarise

Shows a pair of hero students before glitching out to the next (Shoto and Inasa, Momo and Itsuka, Mirio and Tamaki, Neijire and Saiko, Ochaco and Camie, Neito and Yo, Hitoshi and Fumikage, Katsuki and Melissa)

Glitches to a glowing magenta gem attached to something. Then zoom up to see a glimpse of a mask before glitching to black

(0:12 - 0:25)

Shows a normal map of Japan before the center turns red and starts to spread

Yeah. Yo.

In a similar fashion, the title appears in red

My Hero Academia: Infinite Rises

I Am The Tallest Of Mountains, I Am the Roughest Of Waves

Multiple heroes are shown on the back foot fighting an army of villains and Nomus, with all of them injured or dead.

I Am The Toughest Of Terrors, I Am The Darkest Of Days

Civilians are seen running or fighting in panic as villains attack

I'm The Last One That's Standing, Don't Try To Stand In My Way

Cut to Seiai, Ketsubutsu, Shiketsu and U.A., all the academies looking damaged.

Cause I've Been Up Against Better, Just Take A Look At My Face

Fallen heroes are shown around the All Might statue, which is chipped in multiple areas and is missing part of its head and right arm.

Cause If You're Messing With Me, I Am A Dangerous Weapon

Many prisons, including Tartarus, were in ruins

I Am The Sharpest Of Blades, I'll Cut You Down In A Second

The HPSC building is up in flames, with people watching on

Cause I Was Born In This Pain, It Only Hurts If You Let It

The League of Villains is standing on top of a tall building, looking over the carnage

So If You Think You Can Take Me, You Should Just Go And Forget It

Hero Agencies all damaged or destroyed

And After All This Time Your Back For More

A group of students (above mentioned) walk down a red road.

I Won't Stop Until They Know My Name

At the end of the road, Infinite, with his mask off, is standing there back facing the students

So I'll Take What's Mine And Start This War

He puts on his mask and turns around

I'm Coming At You Like A Tidal Wave

He glows red and charges at the students, who also charge at him. They clash and the area goes white

When Everything You Know Has Come And Gone

Inasa, Saiko, and Yo all stare at carnage of their school being attacked with shocked and sad expressions

You Are At Your Lowest I am Rising Higher

Infinite hovers over an area with defeated heroes, including Mt. Lady, Ryukyu, Fat Gum Gang Orca

Only Scars Remain Of Who I Was

Mirio, Neijire and Tamaki all support each other while crying, each bearing scars and injuries.

What I Find In Ashes You Lost To The Fire

Shigaraki is seen ordering Nomu to attack, Flect Turn is seen doing the same to his followers

When There's No One Left To Carry On

Melissa, Shoto and Katsuki are fighting back to back on I-Island

This Is An Illusion Open Up Your Eyes And

More enemies glitch into existence, surrounding them.

This Pain Persists, I Can't Resist

A boy takes a step only showing a heavily scared right side, except his face.

A man with long, dark hair and a suit only showing his left side except his face takes a step

But That's What It Takes To Be INFINITE! Yeah.

Infinite appears and unleashes a wave of red cubes.

So Look Around You And Tell Me What You Really See

Katsuki, Melissa, Shoto, Inasa, Momo, Itsuka, Mirio, Tamaki, Neijire, Saiko, Ochaco, Camie, Neito, Yo, Hitoshi and Fumikage are panting and injured

I Never End And That's The Difference In You And Me

Villains surround them forming an ∞

Cause When Your Time Is Up And Everything Is Falling Down

They prepare to fight, but the area glitches out of existence and they all start falling

It's Only Me and You, Who Is Gonna Save You Now?

They land in a dark, empty void with Infinite hovering in front of them

So Look Around You And Tell Me What You Really See

They start charging, with Infinite sending a bunch of weapons and obstacles, taking out Saiko, Ochako, and Tamaki, Camie and Neito

You Live A Lie And That's The Difference In You And Me

Shoto, Inasa, and Itsuka attack at one but he deflects them all and knocks them back into Momo, Yo and Neijire

I Have The Power Let Me Show You What It's All About

Fumikage and Dark Shadow, Mirio, Melissa and Katsuki charge at Infinite, but he dodges and knocks Fumikage and Mirio down.

It's Only Me and You, Who Is Gonna Save You Now?

Melissa charges at him again, but he grabs her and throws her away at Katsuki who dodges.

Infinite grabs Katsuki by his throat and holds him up as Katsuki struggles to get free

Who Is Gonna Save You Now?

Scene fades to dark but then shows a flaming ∞

Aftermath I: The Meeting

"Alrighty then. Where do we start?" Snipe asked.

"I think it's best if we all knew exactly what happened at the USJ." Midnight proposed. "It would give us a better idea on what we're up against."

"I agree." All Might, in his skinny form, spoke up. "I'll start by going over what happened." He looked over at the monitor. "Aizawa, Kurose, I know you're both still supposed to be resting, but you're free to add in any details I might have missed." Aizawa gave a grunt of acknowledgement and Kurose nodded her head.

"Alright. So Aizawa had brought the kids to the USJ where Thirteen and I were waiting." He began to explain. "After Thirteen's brief, yet inspirational speech, we headed inside when the lights began to flicker. That's when a portal opened near the fountain of the plaza. And out of it came all of the villains."

"Not all of them." Aizawa interrupted. "Based on what we know from the students, villains were scattered around the USJ, with each of their quirks a perfect fit for whatever area they were in. Whether they were there beforehand or came out at the same time as the other villains is unknown and irrelevant."

"Yes, thank you Aizawa." All Might acknowledged. "They called themselves the League of Villains. Now of this group, there were three important figures. The warp gate fellow, whose name was Kurogiri, the big bird monster they called Nomu, and the supposed leader, Shigaraki. The moment Shigaraki saw me, he started monologuing about how my time was up and how would kick start his career by killing me. It was honestly more akin to a child ranting. More on that later. So me and Aizawa quickly engaged the villains while Thirteen led the students to retreat." All Might paused. "I took out quite a number of villains before Shigaraki ordered the Nomu to attack me. Some villains ended up getting knocked over and crushed as it approached me. Very fast I might add. I was forced to engage with it while Aizawa had handled the remaining villains."

"Unfortunately," Aizawa started again, "I had lost sight of the Kurogiri person during the conflict and he had teleported in front of the entrance. Cutting off the students' retreat. He regretfully explained. "From the students' statements, he had planned to split the students up throughout the USJ to prevent them from leaving and alerting anyone on the outside, since they were jamming communications. Kaminari, Mineta, Asui and Shinso were in the Flood Zone, Tokoyami and Koda were in the Downpour Zone, Yaoyorozu, Jiro and Hakagure were in the Mountain Zone, Todoroki was in the Fire Zone, Bakugo and Kirishima were in the Ruins Zone, Aoyama and Ojiro were in the Configuration Zone, and the rest managed to avoid him and remained at the entrance."

"Yes, that is true." Thirteen added. "With the remaining students, I had ordered Iida to escape and get help, seeing as he was the fastest. I had hoped to distract him using my quirk, but unfortunately, he turned it against me using his warp gate and I was taken out of commission. However, the other students managed to figure out his weakness and distract him long enough to successfully get Iida to escape. From there, Kurogiri retreated, and that's when I lost consciousness."

"While that was happening," All Might continued, "Me and Aizawa were dealing with the villains fine. Shigaraki had foolishly revealed Nomu's shock absorption quirk, so I worked around it by throwing and burying it. It helped that it didn't have much intelligence to counter me. Aizawa was dealing with the villains with little problems, easily taking them out. At this point Shigaraki started to rant, called his situation unfair and accused us of cheating, like it was some game. After that Kurogiri came back and informed Shigaraki of what transpired at the entrance. He attempted to assist Nomu with fighting me but," he paused before smiling. "That's when our students interfered. Shinso had managed to brainwash Kurogiri, taking him out, while Mineta and Asui had set up a trap to immobilize Shigaraki. And it worked. When Shigaraki had ordered Nomu to help him, I restrained it and Young Todoroki came and trapped it in ice. Then Bakugo came in to pin down Kurogiri, while Aizawa knocked out Shigaraki in order to stop him from giving orders."

"Seems like you were doing well." Ryo Inui, aka Hound Dog, complemented. "But I noticed at no point did the masked individual come in your story."

"Yes, that's true." All Might confirmed. "At the beginning he wasn't there. In fact, I suspect he wasn't supposed to be there at all. His role seemed more like a last resort or a hidden weapon. When Kirishima arrived, Bakugo was distracted for a second, and Kurogiri used that time to teleport something in. After that Bakugo knocked him out, but it seems he had done his job." All Might laments.

"The moment he awakened, he immediately produced this wave of energy." All might begins to explain. "While it seemingly didn't do anything, it did showcase just how powerful he potentially was. Following that, he waved his hand at Bakugo, and that's when things went downhill." All Might paused, but pressed on. "Kirishima pushed Bakugo out the way and took the attack meant for him, which was the buzzsaw that you all saw in his arm." The rest of the teachers gasped. "From there, it only got worse. I tried to attack him but he summoned a metal plate in front of him and stopped me. When I removed it, he had five rifles floating beside him pointed at me. I dodged the fire, but immediately after he summoned something else to attack me. I was prepared for another weapon." All Might gains a dark and serious look, "instead, I got Nomu."

"What!" Hizashi Yamada, aka Present Mic, yelled, forcing everyone to cover their ears. "Sorry. But I thought Nomu was trapped?"

"It was." Aizawa answers. "The Nomu All Might fought was a clone of some kind. immediately after, I tried to disable the villain's quirk, but got attacked by a clone of Shigaraki." he reveals. "It should be noted that the clones seem to have this glitching effect around them which makes them distinguishable from the real one, so it is safe to assume it was made using a quirk. And it seems the clones have the same properties as the original. I tried to elbow the clone and it caught it, then started to decay my elbow before I used my quirk on it. Then it ordered Nomu to attack me. That's when the Nomu broke out of its ice prison and regenerated what it lost. We'll discuss that detail in a minute." He quickly added as he saw his colleagues had questions about that statement. "Todoroki attacked it again and I disabled it's quirks, but it seemed its strength was natural as it broke through Todoroki's ice, grabbed my head and slammed me into the ground. It never let up pressure either, as I could feel my face being continuously crushed."

"I saw this and tried to help, as did Bakugo." All Might took back the conversation. "However, Bakugo was shot by a cannon which he fortunately blocked, but broke his arm in the process. Probably would have been worse if not for his gauntlets." He continues dejectedly. "I rushed over, but was unfortunately interrupted by the Nomu clone. It grabbed my leg, lifted me up, and slammed me into the ground multiple times before throwing me away. I landed in the Fire Zone, away from the rest of them, and the Nomu followed me. I had to fight it to get out and return. And it wasn't easy."

"As for me," Aizawa jumped back in, "I was eventually lifted up while getting my head squeezed." The other teachers looked at him worriedly. "That was when I heard a scream, which I would later learn was Ashido, and was dropped while Nomu roared in pain. That was the last thing I heard before I lost consciousness."

"From here on in," All Might continued, "Everything else is from the statements our detective friend here got from the kids." He nodded towards Detective Tsukauchi. He nodded back. All Might turned towards the teachers and started explaining. "Shoji, Sero, Ashido, Uraraka and '' he paused, "Sato," the teachers took a moment of silence after hearing the name of their dead student. "all witnessed the events from when the villain first appeared. After they had patched Thirteen up as best they could, they went to help out the others. Ashido was thrown by Shoji under the effects of Young Uraraka's quirk. That led to her flying at the Nomu and," he gulped at what he was about to say next. "landed on it and used her acid to melt through its head, including its brain." The teachers' eyes widened. "Afterwards, Sero wrapped it up with his tape and he, Shouji and Sato threw it away. Mina, Ochako and Sero went to assist Kirishima, with them trying to retreat, while Shouji and Sero went to Bakugo, who stayed and fought. They then faced the masked villain together, though faced might be a terrible description. They were on the back foot the whole time. He summoned a ship and threw it at them, which Todoroki claimed that it disappeared as soon as he attacked it, before getting hit with a mace and sending him flying. Then the ice was used to form spikes that he launched at them. Asui grabbed everyone she could and evaded while Sato defended Ashido's group, who were still tending to Kirishima. Bakugo, with assistance from Shouji, fired his gauntlet and destroyed the ice. They were all relatively unharmed. And then," All Might paused, looking solemn, "Sato was shot." The teachers wheezed a bit. "The rifles the villain made earlier was fired and hit him square in the chest. He collapsed. They weren't able o tend to him because he started firing again, this time at all of them."

"Oh, those poor babies." Midnight commented, with tears in her eyes. She wasn't the only one.

"Yes, they should have never gone through that." All Might agrees. "At this time, I had just defeated the Nomu clone. After I did it disappeared. I was left confused for a second before I heard the gunshot. I immediately went over to see the villain raining fire on them. Most of them managed to defend well, but Asui was getting nicked, before taking a clean shot to the leg. At that moment I rushed over to save her from getting shot further, and threw the strongest Smash I could. That's when everyone else came, and you all know the rest." All Might finished explaining. "Also, during the attack, Shigaraki and Kurogiri somehow escaped. My best guess was the clone Shigaraki and possibly a clone Kurogiri got them out while everyone was fighting."

After the explanation was finished, the teachers took a moment to take in all the information.

"So," Nezu began, making all the adults in the room turn towards him. "Now that we're all on the same page, let us discuss what we know about the villains. Detective,why don't you start us off."

"Okay," Tsukauchi replied. "For starters, we tried looking for Shigaraki, Kurogiri, and the masked villain in our data banks. Unfortunately, they were all a bust. We tried looking for anyone registered for a disintegration quirk from 20-30 years and came up blank. Kurogiri was just as much a dead end as we searched our data banks for anyone with that kind of warp quirk and couldn't find any. Whoever they are, they're not citizens or using aliases." he reported. "And we had absolutely nothing on the masked villain; no name, age, gender, or quirk so we couldn't even begin our search for him."

"I would like to say," Aizawa began, by saying that it was definitely Shigaraki, and probably Kurogiri, who destroyed the gate and took our schedule. Most likely wanted to use the media as a distraction."

"I would like to point out as well," All Might said, "that Shigaraki was definitely the leader of this attack, as Kurogiri acted more like an assistant, but I can't confidently say he was not in charge."

"Why is that?" Nemuri Kayama, aka Midnight, asked.

"Multiple reasons." All Might began explaining. "For one, Shigaraki himself acted very weird for a mastermind. The attack itself was too bold, no sane man would attempt it. Combined with the fact that he acted like he was certain his plan would succeed with no possibility of failure. And he was visibly upset when things didn't go his way, almost like he was throwing a tantrum. Even the way he spoke, referring to both me and Nomu as a boss and accusing the kids of cheating; it was like he saw this as a game. To put it simply, he was like a brat. A man child."

"Another thing were the other big villains, Kurogiri, Nomu and the masked villain." All Might continued. "Kurogiri was definitely his right hand. However, the way he acted around Shigaraki and the way he tried to save him, seemed a little like that of a guard. And then there's Nomu. But before I get into my reasoning, I think it's vital we go over what Nomu was. Detective."

"Right." Detective Tsukauchi spoke up. "When we recovered the body of Nomu, doctors did an analysis on it, and we found something disturbing. That Nomu," he then placed a mug shot of a criminal, "was this man." All the teachers' eyes widened with shock and confusion. "Emphasis on the "was". Doctors found that Nomu's DNA had traces of multiple people, with a majority of it belonging to him. We can assume he was experimented on alongside others to the point where his brain was damaged and DNA barely recognizable. Officially, he died when Nomu came into creation." They all paled at this realization.

"Thank you." All Might thanked his friend before turning back to the others. "With that in mind, where and how would Shigaraki get the resources to create the Nomu? With his attitude and his own confession at being new to the field, the odds of him creating it himself is zero, and the odds of having his own personal benefactor or someone he was in charge of do it just as unlikely. But he had to get aid from someone or something, so who or what and why?"

"This seems like it was bigger than we thought." Sekijiro Kan, aka Vlad King, gave his input. "But what about the final villain? How does he play into your theory?"

All Might nodded. "Yes, the masked villain. As I stated earlier, the masked villain seemed more like a last resort or hidden weapon. The way Kurogiri brought him in at the brink of their defeat leads me to believe that it was more of a contingency plan. But as I also said, Shigaraki came with complete confidence his plan would work and that he couldn't fail. Combined with that childish behavior, and the fact that Kurogiri seemingly acted on his own, I believe someone else gave Kurogiri the idea or, if I'm right, the order to bring the masked villain in case Shigaraki failed and was defeated or captured."

"So, with all this in mind, my assumption is that there is someone behind Shigaraki grooming him to be a villain, and possibly leader. This "true leader" set Shigaraki up with everything he needed, like gathering other villains and the creating the Nomu, assigned Kurogiri as an assistant to make sure everything goes well, and in the case something did go wrong, ordered or hired the masked villain to help or save Shigaraki, with Kurogiri being tasked to summon him if things go wrong."

"So," Vlad spoke up, with a bit of irritation, "essentially, we have a hidden villain essentially mentoring a powerful, psychotic villain, who experiments on people to create powerful monsters, and is teamed up with an even stronger, deadlier villain. And almost everything about them is all unknown to us and gives us no way of tracking them down until they decide to show up again."

"Unfortunately, that sums up our situation perfectly." Aizawa responded.

"Great." Vlad threw his hands in irritation. "Then what are we supposed to do?"

"Well for starters, we need to focus on two other pressing issues than the villains." Nezu spoke up. "That being the students and the media. For the former I propose having them attend mandatory therapy, as well as encourage them to seek their own personal therapy in case what we are giving them isn't enough. Inui, Kayama. Can I entrust you to get this done?"

"Of course sir."

"Yes sir."

"Excellent. Now for the media," Nezu continued. "I think for now we keep the identity of the masked villain a secret." He raised his hand before the others started asking questions. "The reason for that is because it would cause a panic. Anyone smart enough would realize that if none of the villains captured even knew about him, that he showed up at the end and started all this carnage. The knowledge of someone that powerful will not only spread fear among the people, but also encourage villains."

"Knowing there's someone strong enough to keep All Might at bay would inspire villains to be more bold and civilians would live with fear of them and may do irrational things." Ectoplasm spoke up. "I understand, but what will we do when he shows up again."

"Hopefully, take him down. However, if Toshinori's theory is correct, he's not likely to show up immediately, giving us time to prepare if the League ever does show up."

"Understandable." Ectoplasm nods.

"Now then, I do believe we have an 'event' to attend, so I proclaim this meeting adjourned." His look turned blank. "All Might, Detective, would you mind staying a little long. I have something to discuss in private."

After the teachers left, Nezu addressed the remaining people in the room. "Now I'm sure you both know what this is about."

All Might sighed. "About both One For All," he raised his head. "And All For One."

Tsukauchi spoke up. "Are you sure it was a good idea to reveal to them about the Nomu. It almost certainly informs them someone out there with the ability to give multiple quirks. You know how dangerous it is to drag people into this."

All Might looked at his friend, looking deeply conflicted. "I smashed his clean inwards, and he tore out my inside. We were both supposed to die." He then gained a solemn look. "And I miraculously lived. And now it looks like he did too. As much as I want to finish this by myself, this incident shows me that's no longer an option." He starts reminiscing about the incident. "He's raising a dangerous villain, creating monsters just as dangerous, and that masked villain," he trails off. "The power he wielded was unlike anything I had ever seen. It was like he was bending reality to his whim. I can't even be certain he was going all out, nor can I say I would absolutely win against him. I can't foolishly fight this battle alone. We need as many people as we can, or else we're going to be slaughtered."

"Which brings me to my next point," Nezu cheerfully intervenes. "The search for your successor."

All Might looked down again. "Unfortunately, it's not going so well. I had planned to use the USJ as a way to judge the heroic potential of anyone in Class 1-A, even avoiding interventions so I could get there on time, but that was a bust."

"And what about the second or third years?" Nezu questioned. "Like the Big Three."

All Might shook his head. "They would be no good. They are too well trained with their current quirks, skills and abilities. Adding One For All now would mean reteaching them everything twofold, and they don't have that time or luxury. Especially the Big Three. I know Nighteye has been trying to raise Young Togata as a candidate, but the man has already put too much time and effort into mastering his own complex quirk and is already an excellent hero. I feel giving him One For All would hinder him more than help him."

"I see. In that case, would she be a good candidate." Nezu offered.

All Might looked confused before his eyes widened. "Absolutely not!" he quickly retorted. "She can absolutely not get involved!"

"But she seems to have everything we are looking for. While she's technically as old as our second years, she's sitting with the first years. And she has the heart and drive to help people. She's smart too, not to mention she's in the perfect position. And for quirk training, well," Nezu pauses and has a dangerous glint in his eyes. "She is quirkless."

"No, I can't- I can't do it. I can't involve Melissa. If something happened to her, I wouldn't forgive myself."

"Well you better make your choice soon Toshinori." Nezu clasps his paws together, his voice losing its cheerfulness. "You said it yourself, we need as many people as possible, and we're running out of time."