Well... Things got controversial last time, eh? I'm not too worried about the negative reception, but I do accept constructive criticism. So If there is something you think doesn't make much sense, call me out on it. If it doesn't break story-flow, i'll take it into account.
That being said; I don't like just bashing stuff without offering that requested constructive criticism. I understand being not satisfied and wanting to vent because of that, but try to be helpful as well, alright?
As for the question of whether Accelerator let himself be defeated so he could get out of the tournament? I'll leave that up to your interpretation, though the clues of him constantly giving tips on how the beat him do lean one way, doesn't it? I can't spell everything out for you.
Anyway, I Hope you enjoy!
"That's good… you managed to pull it off, Ochako! I'm impressed!" Index said. Ochako was lying on her own back, appearing exhausted.
"You'll have to excuse Index… she's European; they go on a given name basis over there." Touma said.
"I-its fine, I don't mind… T-thanks… that was tiring though…" Ochako said in huffs.
"You're probably just tired because your mana stores are low…" Index said. "You've never tried magic before so it's natural that you'd go overboard. With practice you can work on it, and even expand how much mana your body can contain!" Index finished with a proud huff.
"I see… it seems like I should hold off on learning it until I have more free time in my life…" Ochako sat up. "Classes seem like they are going to get more intense later down the line…"
"Makes sense… magic takes large amounts of devotion and practice to get it right apparently." Touma said. "Sometimes you have to pick your battles; can't win them all."
"Still… I'm not crossing it off the list just yet!" Ochako cheerfully said. "So… is Deku going to be ok?"
"Should be more than ok." Index said. "Healing magic of this nature is very powerful; even long standing conditions should be affected."
"It looks like some of the scars and deformations on his hands are a lot better than before…" Ochako said as she examined Deku.
"Makes sense. I'd say he could make a complete recovery of whatever conditions he has after a few more rounds…" Index said. "But magic of this caliber should only be used in circumstances like this; it's not a spa treatment! Overuse when he's not heavily injured could lead to complications."
"I understand." Ochako nodded.
"Other than that, he should be better than ever when he wakes up!" Index said cheerfully.
"Huh… you don't say." Kirishima leaned in closer to inspect Izuku's body himself. "…Well whatever that light was it didn't kill him."
"Quirks, magic, and esper power. You learn a new force that runs the world every day it seems like." Fumikage commented.
"Still… if it is indeed magic… it opens up some new doors we didn't know existed… interesting…" Tenya said, rubbing his chin.
"I still don't buy it… seems like horseshit to me." Katsuki huffed. He didn't seem to buy it even after the cemetery incident.
"Of course it doesn't make sense to you. You're an uncultured neanderthal who barely knows left from right, even when it's right in front of you." Index stated.
"What did you just say to me you bitch!?" Katsuki shouted, picking Index up by the collar of her robes. "I better hear a change in tune really quick, or else!" he threatened.
Index immediately opened up her mouth wide… and bit the hand Katsuki was holding her up with.
"GAH! What the hell!? Get off of me!" Katsuki shouted, trying to pry the iron jaws of index from his hand. Each time Katsuki would somewhat pry Index's mouth open, she would bite back down twice as hard as before, causing Katsuki even more pain.
"I knew that was going to happen…" Touma sighed.
"Why didn't you try and stop it then?" Momo questioned.
"Because I would have been bitten instead." Touma answered simply.
"Index is Kami-yan's roommate after all, nya!" Tsuchimikado added. "He knows her quite well. They have become extremely… intimate!"
"One, you're wrong. Two, you're making that sound dirty on purpose!" Touma shouted.
"Oh no, whatever shall I do? I've been found out, nya!" Tsuchimikado mocked. Touma started to look angry when a bolt of electricity shot past him.
"You should hold onto that anger you know… you're going to need it for when we fight next!" Mikoto shouted confidently.
"Ah… right… I'm fighting Misaka next…" Touma said. "…Such misfortune."
"Hey! Don't talk like I'm just an inconvenience!" Mikoto shouted.
"But you are. You're always attacking and trying to zap me!" Touma shot back.
"N-not… recently!" Was the best defense Mikoto had access to. Touma sighed.
"Listen… you want to win this argument? Prove me wrong." He stated.
"Huh?" Mikoto was suddenly confused.
"Prove me wrong." Touma repeated. "Let's see… you're always calling me an idiot and insulting me. Give me one genuine compliment and I'll back off and agree that you're not inconvenient to run into."
"G-g-genuine compliment!?" Mikoto stuttered out. "W-what kind of challenge is that!?"
"You're not scared, are you?" Touma asked.
"N-no! Of course not!" Mikoto shouted.
"Then I'm waiting! Compliment me!" Touma said.
"F-fine! I will! You! You. You…." Mikoto trailed off as her embarrassment caught up with her.
"Watching these two go at it all the time… it's like an old married couple." Momo commented.
"It's kind of exciting though! Makes you wonder if Kamijou will realize Misaka's emotions and seek out the happy ending!" Ochako added.
"Stupid short hair…" Index, who recently finally released Katsuki, commented with a hint of jealousy in her voice.
"Well, I'm waiting." Touma said impatiently.
"S-shut up! Give me a minute!" Mikoto protested, seemingly struggling to speak. "You…. Uh… Y-you… h-h-have… r-really cool hair…!" Mikoto squeaked out.
"What's that? I can't hear you." Touma said. Mikoto gritted her teeth.
"I-I said your spiked hair is really cool! When I see other people with the same look it reminds me of you!" Mikoto shouted quickly, covering her mouth when she realized what she said, blushing a deep shade of red.
"…Really?" Touma asked in a surprised tone. "I kind of just gel it because I like the look of it… does it actually cool good to you?" Touma asked, pulling on one of the strands of his spikey black hair.
"Y-yeah! I've always wanted to touch it!" Mikoto shouted in a rushed response again, once again covering her mouth and turning an even darker shade of red. Touma himself was even caught off guard by this statement, blushing a shade of red himself.
"She is bitten by the love-bug… and bitten really badly." Momo commented.
"Yeah, even worse than Uraraka was." Kirishima added.
"…I'm sorry, I didn't quite hear that." Ochako turned her head towards Kirishima, glaring at him.
"N-nothing! Forget I said anything!" Kirishima waved his hands in front of himself desperately. He had already felt her wrath when Ochako slammed his head into the glass window; he didn't want to incur it again.
"Well… it's not exactly soft… but the texture can be kind of neat I guess…" Touma said, sitting down in a chair. "I guess as long as you don't zap me, its fine."
"W-what is?" Mikoto asked.
"You can touch my hair if you want. Should probably make it quick; it seems like they are finishing up the repairs." Touma said. Mikoto seemed to be stuck in a mix of confusion, disbelief, and desire.
'H-he's kidding… right!? He's just going to say "got you," when I try to… right…!?' Mikoto thought. Mikoto slowly walked closer to Touma; her heart thumping loudly in her chest. "O-ok… h-here I go…!" She said, reaching out for Touma's hair. Her heart thumped louder with each inch closer. She shook a little bit more. She couldn't help but wonder if she had finally raised a flag with him…!
Her thoughts were cut short when she had to pull back her hand, as a pair of teeth suddenly clamped down on Touma's head, causing him to shout in pain.
"Gah! Index, why!?" Touma shouted as he tried to pry Index off of his head.
"S-stupid Touma!" Index said in-between bites.
"H-hey! Let go of him!" Mikoto shouted as she joined the struggle.
"Wow… a love triangle…" Ochako blinked.
"Kamijou seems like he's good with women without realizing it…" Tenya commented.
"That's the power of the Kami-yan disease! Never underestimate it!" Tsuchimikado said. The scene continued to unfold for a while until the speakers started to sound.
It was time for the next match… or so they thought.
-Arena Field-
"I won't hold back, you know. I'm in this to win." Mikoto said with confidence.
"I know… trust me I know…" Touma sighed.
"Alright, the last match of the semi-final round… then all that's left is the final match! Izuku's victory has guaranteed a final match that I am sure will be the best yet! Who else here is excited!?" The announcer called out. The crowd started to cheer wildly. Before he could speak further, the sound of an explosion was heard off in the distance, seemingly deeper in the city. Despite its distance, the aftershock could be felt in the arena.
"What the hell was that?" Touma asked. At that moment a loud screech could be heard as something could now be seen flying over the arena floor.
It strongly resembled a humanoid, and it was partially covered in flames. Despite the resemblance, it appeared to have an inhumanly large mouth lined with sharp teeth, and its limbs were thin, almost skeletal. Cleavers seemed to replace the arms from the elbow down, and flames also appeared to be erupting from its mouth as it screeched in the air. It flapped in the air with large fleshy wings, circling the arena for a time.
"What… the hell…!?" Mikoto asked in confusion.
"A demon from the Necronomicon…!" Index said in shock.
"…Well then…" Touma appeared confused. Suddenly the humanoid turned its head towards Touma and flew down towards him, screeching loudly. Unamused, Touma stood his ground as the beast soared toward him. It slashed downward when it got close, but Touma managed to dodge, and quickly counter by driving his right fist into the creatures face; a shattering sound was heard when the attack made contact. The impact was enough to forcefully topple the monster, who's screeching died down slowly before suddenly stopping and glowing a bright red, eventually shattering into millions of red lights that eventually flickered out of existence.
Whatever that creature was, Touma's Imagine Breaker seemed to destroy it.
"What the hell was that thing!?" Mikoto asked.
"No idea…" Touma replied. At that moment alarms started to blare, followed by instructions to evacuate. "What the hell is going on!?"
"What's… happening…?" A groggy Izuku asked, the alarms waking him from his slumber.
"Deku! Some kind of weird monster tried to attack Kamijou!" Ochako replied.
"What…?" Izuku suddenly shot up, trying to look out the window to try and see. As the alarms sounded the audience stampeded towards the exits, trying to find some kind of safety. Various news outlets were reporting a massive but strange terrorist attack on the city.
"That was no mere monster." Index said. "It was a demon, called forth by twisting the soul of a human; the monster taking the human's body and using it as a catalyst to enter our realm… against popular belief, it can only be used on the dead but…"
"…The Necronomicon…?" Izuku asked. Index nodded. "So this is what they were trying to do then…!"
"Hey, I just checked my phone for some news; apparently the entire city is covered with these things!" Kirishima shouted.
"Does it say where they are all are coming from?" Fumikage asked.
"Apparently they are most congested around the city cemetery, according to my sources." Shouto replied, checking the news himself.
"That makes it even clearer that it's the work of the Necronomicon… but to cover the entire city in such scale… would require a large amount of magical power…" Index thought out loud. "I have to go… the only way to stop this is to cut off the flow of magic sustaining them!"
"…Kamijou can do it, couldn't he? With his right arm?" Izuku asked. Index bit her lip.
"Yes… he could but… if he got involved… he'd…" Index trailed off.
"Don't worry!" Izuku shouted. "Don't worry about him. I'll protect him for you!"
"H-huh?"
"I know you're worried about him getting involved with dangerous stuff. I can tell. But you don't have to; I'll do everything I can to help! I'm not going to abandon someone like that, not in a million years!" Izuku finished. Index was taken aback; she had no idea how to respond.
"Hey, you're not stealing all the fucking credit for yourself, Deku." Katsuki said from across the room, suddenly in his full hero costume. "I still have a score to settle with that Kamijou fucker; if he goes off and dies I can't beat the shit out of him, now can I?"
"Kacchan…!" Izuku smiled for a bit.
"Well, I guess that settles it!" Kirishima punched his fists together, hardening them at the same time. "If you two are going, I'm can't skip out on this!"
"At a time like this, I don't think any of us would be able to stand behind and watch." Shouto spoke up.
"That's right!" Ochako spoke up as well.
"No one gets left behind, no matter what." Momo added herself. Fumikage did not speak, but stood to join with the group, nodding towards Izuku.
"I suppose… I have to join as well… as the class representative of course." Tenya stepped up to join the group.
"You're all stepping into the fiery pits of hell, you know that?" Tsuchimikado warned.
"What, you want us to sit around and do fucking nothing?" Katsuki shouted. Tsuchimikado smirked.
"Nah, just giving a warning from a guy who's already there." He replied, shrugging. "Stuff like this is probably making waves; some of the forces of magic who were already here hunting for either Gregory or the stolen Necronomicon are probably active in the city now too. Not to mention Anti-Skill mobilizing; it's going to become a warzone really fast."
"Doesn't matter, this is the kind of thing we've all been trying to get ready for. We are heroes after all!" Izuku confidently spoke. The door swung open as Touma and Mikoto rejoined the group.
"Hey, is everything ok in here?" Touma asked.
"Touma! It's the Necronomicon! They're using it to cause this!" Index replied. Touma's eyes narrowed.
"Right; where is it?" Touma asked.
"The cemetery; the same one from two nights ago." Izuku responded. Touma nodded and turned to leave, but Izuku grabbed his arm. "Hold on, we're coming with you!"
"You are? But it'll be dangerous; you could get really hurt out there!" Touma responded.
"I know, but that's why we're joining you." Izuku started. "This isn't the time to be arguing who goes and who shouldn't. If we don't act now, it will only get worse!"
"…Fine." Touma said begrudgingly. "Just be careful; I can stop magic with my right arm but I can't keep everyone safe at once."
"…We're all going to be fighting. We can defend ourselves; you just worry about yourself you idiot!" Mikoto suddenly shouted, poking Touma in the chest. Her words caught him off guard.
"Touma! Let's go!" Index added. Touma wanted to protest, but was forced to concede by the overwhelming demand. Touma sighed; even if he told them all no, with this many people, they'd just follow him anyway.
"…Right. I still got the map to the cemetery in my phone, follow me!" Touma shouted as he turned to run, being followed by the large gathering of people. The only one who stayed behind was Tsuchimikado, who simply stood with a smirk on his face.
"…Aleister Crowley, you big blowhard. You better be watching from that damn building of yours. I don't know what you're thinking letting this happen, but you're about to see what this little group of people can really do." Tsuchimikado himself finally left the room, dialing his cellphone to get the attention of someone.
Tsuchimikado couldn't help but feel like that if the person he was referring to had heard him, all he'd get back in response would be a smile.
-City Streets, about 30 minutes later-
The city was starting to burn. The creatures seemed to attack and destroy everything they crossed, burning everything in sight. The chaos was evident as they passed and tried to help whoever they could. But there was an oddity.
It was clear that the demons summoned forth from the Necronomicon were behind this, but they seemed to retreat whenever they found them. They would find them assaulting someone, and they would intervene, but they would escape shortly after the battle began. It's as if they were simply just terrorizing the city with hit and run tactics. That alone gave the group an unsettling feeling.
"This is bad…" Touma said.
"Most of these areas seem to be already evacuated; we must have just met and helped out some of the stragglers." Fumikage commented, examining the area.
"It was probably Anti-Skill. In cases of emergency like this, they have access to an underground railroad that leads all over the city to their various bases; it lets them deploy large amounts of people wherever they are needed for evacuations or combat." Mikoto said.
"Too bad we can't use them… let's keep moving." Izuku instructed, the group moving forward. Suddenly, they heard the loud booms of explosions, followed by gunfire. The group raced toward the origin of the sounds, when a large volley of energy blasts hailed down upon them.
A large number of thin, red creatures clawed all over the walls of the buildings to their right, gathering balls of red energy and throwing them down at the group. They were explosive, but everyone managed to dodge them with relative ease.
"Annoying little bastards…!" Katsuki cursed. "Come down and fight you pieces of shit!"
"I know a way to bring them down here…" Mikoto smirked as she pulled out an arcade coin. She fired her railgun straight into the side of the building, tearing through it like paper. The monsters were blasted off, several where even killed by the attack, but most of them slammed into the ground.
This group of demons wasn't anywhere near as cowardly as the one's they encountered before, however. They were very aggressive; like they were after something. Moreover, they seemed to be coming from further down the street, where they could still hear gunfire. They charged the group, trying to break through with sheer numbers. Katsuki suddenly broke off and charged them back, running straight for them.
"Eat this you scum-fuckers!" Katsuki threw his hands forward and unleashed a massive explosion, forcing the group of demons to scatter. One managed to get around and tried to claw Katsuki, but Touma abruptly slammed his right fist into the creature's face, his Imagine Breaker destroying it in the process. With the display of these two charging head first into combat, everyone else who could quickly joined in as well.
They pushed forward, wiping out every demon in their path, making their way towards their destination. The gunfire grew louder, until they eventually started to see sparks from bullets hitting the steel parts of the area. It appeared to be a detachment of soldiers, armed to the teeth with automatic rifles and hand grenades, defending what appeared to be the entrance to one of their emergency railroads. There were about fourteen of them, but there was something odd about the situation.
Not only where there a large number of monsters charging the position, more than they had seen before, the cooperation between the soldiers was impressive. Their aim and capability to take down primary targets was absolute perfection. Their knowledge of when to use explosives to clear enemy forces charging in mass was masterful. Even when some would get close to the soldiers, they would attack in unison together to drive them back. It was perfect.
Too perfect; it was like they could all see what everyone else saw and react instantly. It was like someone was controlling their every move and pushing them far beyond their limits. When they moved in closer, they noticed another oddity; all of the soldiers had some kind of star in their eyes. When they finally reached their destination, they finally realized the cause for the unusual behavior from the soldiers; they saw a familiar curvaceous blond standing in-between them, darting her eyes all over the place, seemingly giving mental commands to all fourteen soldiers.
"S-Shokuhou!?" Mikoto shouted. Misaki heard her and turned with a cheerful smile.
"Hi everyone! Wow, you formed up a big group, huh? I guess great minds think alike!" Misaki said.
"Shokuhou… are you controlling these guys?" Izuku asked.
"Yup! This group of Anti-Skill seemed to be having some trouble, so I decided to lend them a hand with my mental ability! But… it doesn't help that large amounts of these guys were chasing me all over the city; seems like the two forces joined together." Misaki answered.
"Chasing you?" Ochako questioned.
"These demons will divide and conquer, targeting those who they feel are large threats to their conquest." Index spoke up. "They will only charge major threats if they have the combined force to win; if they don't stand a chance they will flee, but they will relentlessly throw themselves at significant threats if they feel they can win."
"Explains why they haven't been targeting us… but it doesn't explain why this set is so committed to combat suddenly…" Touma commented.
"It is strange… they haven't been able to make any progress towards me yet they keep coming." Misaki said. Then suddenly they heard a loud crash from behind the various alleyways the demons where pouring in from. They heard a loud and powerful roar as they could hear the heavy footsteps of something marching towards them.
A massive beast made its way through the alleyway. It was easily thirteen feet tall, accompanied by pale skin and immense bulk; its height and mass caused its sides to grind against the walls of the alleyway, but the monster made progress like it was nothing. Although it appeared powerful, it also lacked eyes. It roared again as it made its exit of the alleyway into the large street.
"I don't know what the hell that thing is… but it explains why these demon guys are so confident!" Kirishima said.
"It's a Chaos Knight; a powerful war beast… to call forth even a monster such as this…" Index trailed off.
"This… Japhet, he is supposed to be a holy man, correct? Why would he summon forth demons to do his bidding…?" Fumikage questioned.
"…I think I understand why he would attempt something like this..." Index said. "Japhet intends to bring the city to the brink of destruction, then save it with his own power without letting on that he's the source of them in the first place, proclaiming his order to be their saviors to turn the remaining people to his faith…"
"…And probably leaving the rest to die, proclaiming them as heathens to their religion, justifying his actions." Shouto added.
"Japhet… making creatures like this to go out and hurt people just to boost his own cabal's popularity in the magic world...!" Touma appeared angry. A large mass of magical power gathered in the Chaos Knight's right hand as it turned its attention to Misaki and her group of soldiers. "H-hey! Get out of its way; it's going to attack!"
The beast roared again, unleashing the blast from its right hand towards Misaki and her group. One of the soldiers picked Misaki up as they all scattered to dodge the attack. The blast ripped the railroad entrance like it was nothing; an explosion could be heard a short time after, seemingly after the blast hit something underground. The soldiers fired numerous rounds into the Chaos Knight; the bullets seemed to pierce the monster's skin but it was not deterred in the slightest, almost as if it didn't care if it was being damaged. During this the smaller demons were starting their own attack, using the Chaos Knight's rampage as an opening.
"Leave this to me!" Shouto slammed his left hand onto the ground, as a wave of ice moved past everyone and towards the demons, freezing their legs to the ground or completely icing them over, making them much easier targets. The Chaos Knight however, was only frozen up to its waist; it quickly broke free, but just as fast as it did so, a blast of fire erupted from Shouto's right, engulfing the demon's upper torso, and causing it to stumble backward.
"Nice Todoroki!" Izuku complimented.
"We're not done yet!" Shouto warned as the Chaos Knight charged another blast of green energy and fired it off towards the group. Touma moved in front with his right hand outstretched, colliding with the magical attack. The blast struggled for a time, but eventually it shattered into nothingness with enough force that the Chaos Knight's hand recoiled.
"Whoa… even an attack as powerful as that didn't stance a chance…" Izuku looked amazed.
"We should move to evacuate those soldiers and Shokuhou. Try to keep that thing busy!" Momo said, running off to try and provide support, Fumikage and Kirishima following after her in agreement.
"Uraraka… do you think you can make this guy float to make him unable to charge at us? Touma can handle its blasts, but I don't even want to imagine how strong that thing is." Izuku asked.
"It… might be above my weight limit… but I'll do my best! If it's possible I'll make it happen!" Ochako responded with confidence.
"If I can just touch it with Imagine Breaker…!" Touma said, getting ready to charge the Chaos Knight.
Suddenly, a large impact could be felt, like a soundless explosion inside one of the buildings; specifically the one to the right of the Chaos Knight. It felt like a miniature earthquake. The building in question slowly started to topple over in the monster's direction, but it had already taken notice and was starting to move.
"No you don't! You're going to wait right there!" Mikoto unleashed a massive amount of voltage through the ground, being careful to focus its direction entirely on the Chaos Knight. The electric attack caused the demon to roar out in pain; the electricity paralyzing its muscles. Now unable to move, the building collapsed on top of the Chaos Knight, silencing its screams as it was suddenly buried underneath a pole of concrete and steel. The smaller demons, upon seeing their superior felled, finally started to flee, calling off their assault and running deeper into the city.
"Man… that building collapsing was lucky for us!" Kirishima said as he supported one of the injured soldiers, bringing him over to the group.
"That wasn't a result of the fighting." Mikoto stated. "That building had suffered very little structural damage; something knocked it over.
"But… who could have done that…?" Ochako asked. Almost as if to answer her question, a body of a smaller red demon suddenly hit the ground near her. Its form was nearly unrecognizable; one could describe it as completely mangled. Its arms were clearly broken, as were its legs; even its neck appeared to be snapped. From the base of the building that was apparently knocked over, a figure walked towards the group.
"Hey… one of you fuckers wouldn't happen to know what the fuck this thing is, would you?" The figure was revealed to be Accelerator, who promptly kicked the side of the dead monster when he got close. "Little bastard tried to attack me when I was on my way home."
'S-scary…!' Izuku thought to himself.
"They are some kind of monster or demon… or something…" Touma commented. "We're actually heading out to deal with it; a magician is summoning them all over the place."
"You don't say… well then I guess I'll have to pay this fucker a visit and properly punish him then." Accelerator looked off toward the road in front he had just blocked off. The rubble suddenly started to move as the Chaos Knight burst from the debris with a mighty roar. It looked angry; its entire body was covered in wounds from the sudden attack, most of which were bleeding profusely.
"You've got to be kidding me…!" Izuku shouted. Accelerator clicked his teeth.
"Stubborn son of a bitch huh…" He stepped forward, ready to put down the monster for good. Suddenly, the Chaos Knight started to swell, its bulk increasing dramatically. It was also starting to glow the same color of the energy it used to attack; it looked like it was about to explode.
"Self-destruct… that attack could take out the entire city block!" Index shouted.
"Damn it all…! I just need to- whoa!" Touma was caught off guard when he was suddenly lifted up and put on Tenya's shoulders. "H-hey! How did you do that!?"
"Uraraka made it possible." Tenya said. Ochako herself had apparently used her quirk on Touma, and surprisingly, it worked; Touma felt completely weightless.
"It… works on me!? But Imagine Breaker…!?" Touma questioned. Ochako seemed to be struggling to maintain her ability.
"D-Don't worry… about it…!" Ochako huffed out. "Just focus… Iida can get you there really quick!" She finished. She didn't know if her quirk would work on Touma or not; she merely wanted to try it. But there was something odd regardless; her nausea was hitting her full force, as if she were using it on herself. She had a weight limit for her nausea to kick-in as well, but that limit is three tons, so Touma shouldn't have been anywhere near that.
It felt like in addition to Touma, her quirk was affecting something deep inside of him. Something massive; she had no idea how to describe it.
"…Understood, Iida! Let's go!" Touma shouted.
"Recipro Burst!" Tenya shot forward with great speed, easily covering the distance. Touma slammed his right hand into the Chaos Knight. It roared in pain as it's swelling suddenly ceased, and like the demon back at the arena, the beast suddenly shattered into millions of flickering lights that all faded.
Ochako disabled her quirk and fell to her knees, exhausted and trying to recover. Touma abruptly fell off Tenya afterward, but quickly got back onto his feet.
"Good work." Tenya gave Touma an approving thumbs up.
"Thanks…" Touma replied; feeling winded from the sudden rush of speed. He looked back at the group behind him as they gathered around and made sure everyone was ready to go. They started to make their way toward him down the street, ready to progress. Even Misaki and Accelerator had decided to join. Touma bit his lip; he wanted to say something.
He wanted them to head back; it didn't matter to him if he got hurt, but he absolutely couldn't stand it if someone was injured because of him. To him, if his sacrifice protected everyone, it was worth it.
But he knew his words would fall on deaf ears. For whatever reason, be it for his sake, personal reasons, or just a desire to help, they all were going the same direction.
"…Alright." Touma said. "Let's go." He said simply as the group joined him and they all moved forward.
This started off looking like it was just going to be a battle. But now it was starting to look more like a war.