I do not own My Hero Academia or any of its characters.


Shigaraki

"Don't you dare lay a rotten finger on my students!" Aizawa snarled.

"You really are pretty cool, Eraser Head," Shigaraki smirked.

Then, Lee's blurred axe kick sent him exploding into the ground in the blink of an eye. Shigaraki smirked as Lee flipped, his boot's thurster sending his foot exploding into the ground to punt him at Endeavor. Endeavor swiped his arm, sending tongues of white-hot flames lashing outward, but Shigaraki swung his arm out to the side. The force of him swinging his arm alone sent him hurtling to the side, avoiding the majority of the strike, only his left hand being burned. Lee's gut clenched. Shigaraki's Quirk wasn't all that had been enhanced. His raw strength was now so great it was reminiscent of All Might's. Lee exploded forward, a blurred punch flashing toward Shigaraki's head, only for Shigaraki to lean aside, his good arm exploding into Lee's gut. Lee exploded backward, bouncing along the ground as Endeavor and Ryukyu both shot forward to attack. However, Shigaraki leapt over Ryukyu and caught her by the tail, slamming her down on Endeavor. She lunged at him instantly, allowing Endeavor to slip out from under her. Shigaraki leapt into the air, Endeavor just behind him. Then, again and again, Endeavor, Lee, and Ryukyu struck at Shigaraki, only for him to avoid Ryukyu and Lee, simply by swiping an arm, and blocked Endeavor's attacks with blasts of compressed air with nothing but his brute strength. Finally, he slammed a punch into Lee, launching him before Endeavor struck with Hell Spider, his flaming whips, only for Shigaraki to launch himself around behind Endeavor, then kick him, sending him exploding into Ryukyu and both into the ground. A moment later, Ryukyu was sprawled on her back again from an uppercut and Endeavor was pinned to her chest with Shigaraki standing over her.

"How'd it go again?" Shigaraki asked, raising his right fist, his left on his hip, copying All Might's victory pose. "Was it this arm that's raised?"

Lee launched himself at Shigaraki from behind, feeling his Quirk deactivate as he entered Aizawa's gaze this time, but swung a punch while his momentum still had him moving at hundreds of miles an hour. Shigaraki spun, catching the fist with his good arm, but before he could try anything, Lee's other fist exploded into Shigaraki's throat, crushing it just before his momentum slammed his body into Shigaraki, sending him crashing along the ground, Aizawa's gaze tracking him and allowing Lee's Quirk to reactivating, Lee slamming hia blurred feet back to the ground, haulting himself. As Shigaraki stood, Endeavor roared in effort, sending a massive jet of flames at him, only for Shigaraki to leap over it, flashing down toward Endeavor and Lee, Lee able to see his throat was already healed. Then, he exploded down on Endeavor before lunging for Lee.

He was monstrously fast, but even with Lee's Quirk deactivated, his neural implant was not, so he was beyond prepared. He swept Shigaraki's punch to the side and slammed his food down into Shigaraki's support knee, snapping it backward. Shigaraki began to fall, only for Lee's other knee to come up to greet his face, Lee holding onto the arm he'd blocked as Shigaraki recoiled. He pulled the arm, yanking Shigaraki forward again and drilled a punch into the side of his head before slamming hia right arm into Shigaraki's throat, not cruahing it this time but sending him exploding into the ground on his upper back. Then, Shigaraki's uninjurred leg slammed a kick into Lee's chest, sending him exploding directly at Aizawa and the two pro heroes supporting his weight. They ducked under Lee, Aizawa's gaze being broken for the briefest of instants. And in that instant, Shigaraki's regeneration Quirk restored his body as he charged Aizawa. Lee flipped, slamming his feet to the ground to stop himself, then moved to charge again, only for Deku to explode into Shigaraki.

"It's our turn!" Bakugo shouted.

"The worst case...is losing our teacher!" Deku declared. "The teacher who has watched over us all this time! We can't lose him!"

"Aizawa," Lee said. "I know it's more of a strain, but if you can focus your Erasure to him alone, we can end this. I can end this."

Aizawa nodded. "I won't block yours again. I'm ready this time."

Lee nodded, stalking forward. "Midoriya, I'm killing him."

Midoriya hesitated, then nodded. Just as Lee prepared to charge, Bakugo began to pepper Shigaraki with hos AP Machine Gun. As the blasts ended, Shigaraki swiped a hand, clearing the smoke and dust.

"What were those, fireworks?" He exploded forward. "I've lost interest in you."

He reached out to grab Bakugo by the face, but as he did, Lee and Endeavor's fists exploded into his face and chest respectively. Shigaraki exploded backward, slamming his feet down and skidding to a stop.

"Endeavor, sir!" Midoriya gasped.

"Where's Shoto?" Endeavor demanded.

"Outside the zone!" Midoriya reported.

"His power and speed are reminiscent of All Might, but not on the same level," Lee said. "As long as Aizawa can keep his eyes open, we can win, because that's all the power he has."

"Right!" the others nodded.

"One For All.." Shigaraki grinned as everyone tensed, "become one with me, Little Brother!"

He lunged, only for his eyes to go wide. Endeavor struck with Hell Spider, but Shigaraki avoided the flaming whips. For several moments, Shigaraki avoided Endeavor's strike, nimbly ducking and weaving around the whips, mumbling to himself. Then, he launched himself at Midoriya again.

"It's my will!" Shigaraki grinned wickedly.

"Electro Cannon!" Lee shouted, the lightning bolt exploding into Shigaraki's chest and launching him away.

Lee sank to one knee, breathing hard as he watched Shigaraki rise, still grinning despite the burn over his torso. Then, as he lunged again, Gran Torino slammed into his arm feet first, stopping him.

"Don't trample on Shimura's memory anymore!" Gran Torino snapped. "Your existence pains Toshinori!" His muscles begsn to buldge as he moved to punch Shigaraki. "It pains everyone!"

"Say what you want," Shigaraki said.

Then, he bent backward and to the side, avoiding the punch before exploding into the air over Endeavor before he could strike.

"I'm taking it," Shigaraki turned his gaze on Midoriya again. "One For All!"

"Stop ignoring me!" Bakugo roared, launching himself over Shigaraki. "You bastard! That guy's just bait!"

He ripped the pin from one of his gauntlets, and a massive explosion ripped out of it, swallowing Shigaraki instantly. A moment later, Midoriya slammed a kick into Shigaraki, sending him streaking through the air. As he did, Lee and Endeavor both rocketted into the air, flames roaring off of Endeavor as electricity screamed across Lee's body, focusing to his left fist. Suddenly, Endeavor swung his right fist through Bakugo's explosion, adding the flames to his own.

"Vanishing Fist!" Endeavor roared.

"Thunder Charge!" Lee snarled, focusing as much electricity as he could spare to his fist.

Then, their punches exploded into Shigaraki together. Shigaraki shrieked in pain this time, exploding directly into the ground. As he did, Lee swung his arms in circles, forming a pair of cyclones to blow away the dust cloud before he and Endeavor returned to the ground.

"It's over, Shigaraki," Endeavor announced, glaring at Shigaraki as he struggled to stand, managing only to get to his knees before falling forward onto his hands, cracks spreading over his body. "No matter how powerful you are, we won't yield to a destruction without conviction."

"I need to back off a minute," Lee warned, stumbling back out of Endeavor's way.

"You people...heroes..." Shigaraki croaked. "In order to save strangers they don't even know, heroes will hurt their families. That's what my father said. I have conviction!"

Lee deactivated his exosuit, falling to his knees and reaching into his pocket.

"I had it!" Shigaraki continued.

"What's that?" Gran Torino asked.

Lee pulled a small, metal disk out of hia pocket, a blue light glowing on one side. He set it against his chest, and pressed the light. Electricity flooded from the disk, sinking into Lee instantly. The disk was a new item Legacy and Momo had designed after Instant had stolen Lee's electricity. A storage tank to recharge him. He could only hold about ten percent of his full charge in the disks, but it was enough to stave off lethal side effects.

He used a second disk of his stock of four as Shigaraki stood.

"You people," Shigaraki repeated. "You pretend to protect society."

"He stood up!" Rock Lock growled.

"Hurry, the finishing blow..." Aizawa instructed.

Lee reactivated his exosuit and walked over to stand with Endeavor.

"In the past...over many generations...you pretended you couldn't see those you couldn't protect," Shigaraki rasped, swaying, "and covered up those you hurt...building yourselves up in that despicable way. In the end, the insides rotted, crawling with maggots! It was small things happening over and over. There was the trash that got used to being protected, and those who created the trash in order to profit by protecting them. Everything that I've ever seen, everything you all built, rejected me. That's why I'll reject you, too! That's why I destroy! That's why I become stronger! It's simple, isn't it? You don't have to understand. It's because you don't understand that we have heroes and villains."

Flames roared from Endeavor's hands, swallowing Shigaraki whole.

"Thanks for the short break!" Endeavor snarled. "You're at death's door, aren't you? Prepare yourself!"

Then, Shigaraki exploded up from the flames. He grinned wickedly, angling himself to fall at Endeavor, only for Gran Torino to explode down on Shigaraki, sending him exploding into the ground. Lee narrowed his eyes. Endeavor's flames were losing heat and power, Lee was running on empty, able to use only his base speed, and Shigaraki was ignoring his own limits, continuing to move, to fight, even as his body literally ripped itself apart. Then, Shigaraki flipped sideways, swiping at Gran Torino to force him to leap back. Then, he lunged, grabbing Gran Torino by the foot and crushing it. Gran Torino shouted in pain, everyone moving to intervene.

Shigaraki slammed Gran Torino to the ground, shattering it and sending blood spraying from his mouth. Then, Lee's blurred fist exploded into Shigaraki's head, sending him exploding across the ground, blood splattering in a long trail behind him. Except, it wasn't his own blood. Lee's eyes dropped back to Gran Torino, and sighed, looking away. Shigaraki had ripped off Gran Torino's leg. Gran Torino was barely conscious, but as Lee had looked at him, he'd nodded and slipped away.

Lee exploded after Shigaraki again, Midoriya just behind him, then Endeavor, and finally Bakugo, but Shigaraki grinned wickedly, grabbing something from his pocket and exploding forward. Lee swung a punch at him, but Shigaraki avoided it, grabbing Lee by the head and smashing him into Lee, hurling Midoriya away but keeping Lee as he shot toward Aizawa, flashing past all of the others. Lee flipped, his left leg blurring from the knee down and slammed a kick into the back of his head, freeing himself. As he crashed to the ground, Ryukyu used her hand to block Shigaraki, Midoriya struggling to hold Shigaraki back with his Black Whip as Lee bounced and rolled past him. Shigaraki shoved forward the rest of the way through Ryukyu's hand as Lee stood, spotting a small red capsule in the two fingers remaining on that hand.

"Deleter round!" Legacy warned, refering to Overhaul's Quirk-destroying drug.

"Deleter round!" Lee repeated in warning.

Midoriya swung his left arm down, kicking his Quirk up to full power, only for Shigaraki to catch the arm in his mouth, stopping Midoriya from being hurt, but also stopping him from striking. Then, he hurled the dart. Lee swiped at it, but missed by a milimeter. A split-second later, it stabbed into Aizawa's leg. Without hesitation, Aizawa drew his knife and slashed, his leg spinning away.

"Man, you really are cool, Eraser," Shigaraki commended. "But even so, for just an instant, you were distracted."

The shift was instantaneous. A massive blast of pressurized air exploded up from around him, hurling Midoriya and Ryukyu away. Endeavor, who had been so close to reaching Shigaraki, was caught up in the blast and hirled away. Lee wxploded forward, but a yellow barrier appeared in front of Shigaraki's hand and a blast of compressed air exploded into him, hurling him away as Shigaraki launched himself at Aizawa.

"This damn game is finally about to end!" Shigaraki cried as he reached for him.

Lee flipped, his blurred feet exploding into the ground. He exploded forward. He could reach him. He closed in rapidly. Shigaraki was a foot away. Lee reached out for him. Aizawa's scarf tangled around Lee's feet, yanking them backward and tripping him, stopping Shigaraki's free hand from reaching Lee. And then, it was too late. Shigaraki's fingers tore down Aizawa's face, scarring his right eye, before a massive formation of ice exploded up from under Shigaraki, trapping his legs. Shigaraki shattered the ice just in time for Midoriya's Blackwhip-wrapped left fist and Lee's blurred right to both explode into his face, sending him exploding backward through the ice formation. As he exploded to the ground, however, he stood immediately, his body entirely regenerated, save for the scars, even those rapidly fading.

"Struggle all you want!" Shigaraki grinned. "You're only delaying the inevitable."

"I'll stall him," Lee said. "Make a tourniquet for his leg."

"This has been fun, but the show's over," Shigaraki said, reaching down with both hands.

Suddenly, his body split opwn across his chest, around his right shoulder, and across his back. The wound split wide, almost a foot wide. Lee's heart soared with relief. His body was at its limit, Quirks or no. Being woken a month ahead of schedule was worth something after all. Shigaraki straightened up slightly, only for Lee's fist to explode into his face.

"Hit him now!" Lee roared. "He's vulnerable!"

Then, suddenly, Midoriya exploded into the air, his Blackwhip bringing Shigaraki and all of the others with him. Lee followed with his boots and jetpack, grinning.

"Another one, Midoriya?" Lee asked, seeing him floating in place. "It's perfect! Hold him steady!"

Lee slammed a blurred punch into Shigaraki's face as he passed him, Midoriya lowering everyone to the ground again.

"Take care of the wounded!" Midoriya shouted. "We'll handle this!"

"Shoto, take care of the triage!" Endeavor ordered.

"I'm on it!" Todoroki nodded.

"You like it up here so much?" Shigaraki asked. "Once I take One For All, I'll send you all the way to Heaven! And then your friends are next!"

"You won't lay a finger on my friends!" Midoriya shouted as Lee punched Shigaraki, sending him exploding toward Midoriya. "You've hurt them enough!"

Then, the pair began to take turns slamming strikes into Shigaraki, bouncing him around and around the air, and all the while, Midoriya kept a hold on him with Blackwhip. On Lee's absolute order, Midoriya was restricting his blows to fifty percent of his power, and while it was taking a tole, it wasn't breaking him immediately. At the same time, it was taking a while to deal out the damage required to finish Shigaraki. And Lee's blows weren't nearly strong enough either, but together, and with both trading blows multiple times a second, between Lee's raw speed and Midoriya doubling or tripling up his own strikes, it was adding up quickly.

"You are holding me back from my dream!" Shigaraki roared, the hole in his right palm shining gold as he prepared to strike with a blast of compressed air.

"That's exactly why I'm here!" Midoriya roared as Lee's blurred foot slammed an axe kick into the top of Shigaraki's arm, sending the blast into the ground before Midoriya's fist exploded into Shigaraki's face.

"How much longer!?" Lee asked.

"Long enough!" Midoriya shouted.

Just then, just as Lee slammed a full-speed, double-foot kick into Shigaraki's chest, launching him to the full reach of Midoriya's Blackwhip, Endeavor wrapped his arms up around Shigaraki's shoulders, his flames roaring to life.

"Back, Midoriya!" Endeavor roared.

Lee exploded past again, his blurred fists shattering Shigaraki's elbows, rendering his arms useless. Then, he rocketted away from Endeavor, clearing room for his strike. For a moment, Shigaraki shrieked in agony. Then, it was over. Several massive, black spikes with red lines along them were piercing his body from Shigaraki's back. Something had changed. Shigaraki was too quiet.

"Endeavor!" everyone shouted.

"Why won't...you die?" Endeavor croaked as he fell, Shigaraki turning to Midoriya.

"Little...brother!" Shigaraki rasped in a distorted voice.

The same kind of spikes, the same that All For One had used against All Might, stabbed out from his arm at Midoriya. Lee couldn't make it, but he didn't need to. Not to save Midoriya, at least. At the last second, Bakugo slammed into Midoriya, hurling him aside and being impaled in his place.

"Stop trying...to win this...by yourself!" Bakugo forced out, coughing up blood before the spikes retracted and dropped him.

Lee exploded forward, roaring in rage, pain, and effort.

"Let...me...go!" Shigaraki's voice snarled.

Lee caught Bakugo and spun, hurling him to Todoroki.

"It's my body!" Shigaraki snarled.

"You've fought and fought today," another voice spoke, one that Lee and Midoriya both recognized instantly.

"All For One!" Lee snarled.

"This last boy who interfered now suffers because he mistook foolishness for bravery," All For One said, his voice overlapping with Shigaraki's as tendrils of Blackwhip began to extend from him in every direction.

Then, as All For One struck with the spikes again, Midoriya took off, shattering the spikes one after another, almost instantly overpowering All For One's spikes and getting in his face.

"You take that back!" Midoriya snarled.

Then, All For One's hand slammed into Midoriya's head. "You're finally mine, One For All!"

Le exploded forward, but he knew. It was too late. Shigaraki had won. And then, in a blinding explosion of light, it was over.


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