Midoriya kept his eyes trained on the man in front of him, allowing his peripheral senses to (quite literally) fade into the background. He trusted Danger Sense to warn him with a noticeable stab of pain if any major threat made itself known while he was distracted. He had more important things to worry about.
Particularly the man who he'd sent stumbling back from the sheer force of the wind blast from his punch. To be honest, he wasn't entirely sure which side of the conflict were villains, but he decided to ignore that and simply protect those being targeted—those on the defensive and clearly fleeing the scene.
The boy stared curiously at the magma that reformed into the shape of an arm, sizzling in the open air and incinerating what could only have been dust particles too small to see with the naked eye. The magma man lifted his lips just enough to bare his teeth in a snarl. Midoriya found himself letting out a fond, amused, and long-suffering sigh before he even realized what he was doing. This enemy's tendency towards anger reminded him so much of Kacchan. The soft warmth seeped into his belly even as a bittersweet ache settled into his chest and flared out across his shoulders.
Midoriya honestly wished he could see Kacchan and the rest of Class 1-A again, but he had long-since moved past his own childish desires. He was under no impression that he would get to see them again unless he pulled off a flawless victory. And the chances of that were… abysmal. Maybe in the past he would have been optimistic. However, he had shed his naivety the moment he woke up inside One for All and spoke with the previous users.
He had acknowledged what he wanted, regardless of how impossible he knew it would be. But just as he had acknowledged it, he also discarded any thoughts of it becoming reality. His feelings were the whims of a child that he could no longer afford to be.
Putting his nostalgic feelings aside, there was one important thing he had learned from all his years around Kacchan. Unbridled anger always posed a threat. He would need to be careful when handling this enemy, or he could risk getting taken out before he had the chance to face Shigaraki and All for One.
Yet the man simply sneered and started forward again, preparing a frontal assault. It seemed that the man in front of him didn't have any new tricks up his sleeve to worry about after all. But that didn't mean Midoriya was going to lower his guard, even for a second.
He felt an unexpected tension in his jaw, having ground his teeth on instinct, but did nothing to alleviate the pressure. Instead, he braced himself with a familiar stance in preparation for Air Force shots at a higher percentage than he was typically used to. The last time he had applied that technique in a practical way was during training. But that was when he still had his specialized Gloves.
Despite the dire circumstances, he couldn't help but wonder how useful the unfocused technique would be in a combat setting like this. He had been developing his techniques and refining his control while out and about taking down villains and escapees alike, but he had yet to find a situation that required the use of Air Force. But he supposed that fighting against an enemy that he couldn't risk hitting without burning himself was as good a situation as any.
As the magma man got closer, Midoriya let One for All fill his legs at a low percentage while bracing his shoulders for the recoil. It was likely that this man was now on guard after his last attack had blown him away. This new stance would probably lead him to believe that Midoriya had some different attack ready, so the boy hoped that this would catch him by surprise for a second time.
He shifted his arm slightly and tilted his head in the opposite direction to keep his neck from experiencing unwanted recoil. Midoriya felt his heart pounding in his chest as the chaotic clashes around him faded into the background.
It was just him and this man. His limbs were tense and slightly trembling from the effort of keeping still, his blood was pounding in his ears, but his heartbeat was firm and steady. It was all or nothing.
Midoriya watched as the man finally pulled his shoulder back, preparing for another punch, except at more of a distance. Did that mean that the man could send his magma flying? Of course, he had to remind himself that it didn't matter, as Midoriya let his finger flick out the moment the man's shoulder realigned with his other shoulder, his body facing flatly forward for a split second in the middle of his rotation.
And with that, he sent a larger air blast loose, lamenting the focusing ability of his Air Force Gloves. It was such a useful ranged attack as well. He almost wished that he could have stuck around to request for Hatsume to make him another set, but he hadn't had the time. If he had left any later, there was a chance that his classmates would have tried to stop him.
He refused to let them. The whole reason he had left was to keep them safe; he would do almost anything to ensure that. Even if that meant breaking their hearts in the process. They could hate him all they wanted, as long as they were still alive and able to do so.
With a deep breath, Midoriya refocused himself on the situation at hand. He really needed to stop getting lost in his own head in the middle of fights. Just because he had been on a winning streak so far didn't mean that he could let his thoughts wander.
The sounds of the battle around him came back into focus, though it was much quieter than before. Midoriya realized that the people that had surrounded him and the magma man were standing still, seemingly shocked that the man had been so easily splatter across the pavement. However, despite their complete willingness to be cowed by the magma man's apparent defeat, Midoriya was still quite aware of the dull throb that warned him the fight wasn't over just yet.
He squinted, trying to get his vision just a bit more clear, to little avail. After a moment, his questionable vision wasn't an issue. It was quite obvious that the puddles of magma were squirming and rising to reform the man once more.
Midoriya winced as he noticed the obnoxiously familiar taste of blood in his mouth. Had he bitten his tongue? He wasn't sure. The pain wasn't exactly registering with how much Danger Sense was thrashing his skull.
He was far too focused on the realization that he was unable to permanently subdue this man. All of his air pressure attacks did nothing but stall him by breaking his body apart. Hitting the magma part of him directly with his fist only resulted in burns on his knuckles, but clearly still had the same, temporary effect as Air Force. Midoriya had been hoping that his Air Force attack would push the man a decent distance away, but instead of shoving his body backward, it simply converted it into magma and sent it flying in hundreds of droplets.
It was odd that the solid parts of the man had broken into magma when force was applied. But there was no way to know if it was any amount of pressure or if there was a threshold. However, if there was a threshold, it most likely would be too low to cause any type of real damage.
That meant that no matter what Midoriya tried to do, this battle was already a loss. The only thing he could do to salvage the situation was to distract him for long enough that the fleeing party could get away.
Could Midoriya last that long without being defeated? Potential injuries be damned, he was already waning in terms of stamina and energy. One for All was probably the only thing keeping him going at this point, as it was a near endless source of energy from which he had continuously depended on to get through the weeks of patrolling. Maybe that had been his first mistake.
His vision swam as he finally allowed himself to stand up straight. The world wasn't quite spinning, but it didn't feel steady either. His head felt stuffy and his fingers were twitching. Forty percent must have been a bit much for Air Force, then.
Right.
He needed to check if he'd be able to last long enough to help the people behind him get away.
Midoriya forced out a shaky breath, distantly wondering when it had become so difficult to get air out of his lungs instead of just in. He turned his head to look over his shoulder and immediately regretted it, slamming his eyes shut and sucking in a sharp breath. Nausea built up in his throat and dripped down into his gut. He gagged reflexively, suddenly wishing that Danger Sense would leave him alone for a moment, if only so he could keep himself from wanting to throw up. Midoriya fully turned his body to align with his head, letting out a tentative, open-mouth breath as he waited for his stomach to settle even a little bit.
He swallowed thickly, reluctantly opening his eyes once the worst of the nausea subsided. The teens that had been behind him were now a decent distance away, being dragged from the battlefield by a blue blur. Midoriya could only assume that was someone's quirk. Given the lack of protest from the people retreating, he concluded that it was someone on their side and the teens were in no danger.
Midoriya turned back towards the magma man, who had reformed about half of his body at this point. It took him by surprise, given how relatively little time it had taken the man to reform his arm. Perhaps it was because there was no central anchor point to which he could focus the reconstruction of his body? Regardless of the reason, with how long it seemed to take him to get himself back together, the boy felt a lot better about his chances.
Midoriya spared a glance toward the loud fight to the side. The large man, who had been staring at him warily earlier, now faced a group that had only just arrived. The new arrivals must have been the source of his newfound dull throbs at his temple. And given the angry jeers that burst from those retreating behind him, this new group of people was most likely an enemy of the retreating group as well. It seemed that one of them was a traitor to these people, given how many shouted that word amidst their vitriol. Although it was a bit difficult to tell what was happening beyond vague figures, Midoriya did his best to grasp the situation.
Despite his inability to make out anything significant through his less than stellar senses, he assumed one of them must have glanced over towards him with intent to harm. Danger Sense sent another wave of piercing pain—strong enough to overtake the constant needles of agony that had been assaulting him ever since his arrival here—shooting through his skull. Its name was very on-point, considering how it was essentially functioning as a sixth sense with which he could begin to make sense of his surroundings in spite of his other failing senses. Though it hardly functioned as more than a warning system for active threats or passive, harmful, attention.
Were they talking about him? Or was he just perceived to be a threat because he was an unknown variable in this situation. Midoriya couldn't be sure, but he wasn't going to make any assumptions. The only thing he knew for sure was that there was a passive threat against him, as the sharp stabs of pain quickly dulled but didn't entirely disappear.
Sudden shouts behind him snapped him out of his contemplative state. He forced himself to listen to their words, gently chastising himself for losing focus in the first place. However, instead of more taunts and insults that he expected to continue from before he zoned out, he could only hear distressed begging.
Midoriya's chest ached as the cries of the retreating group only continued. They were all calling for that giant man to leave with them, desperate and distraught. Despite their pleading, it was almost as if the giant man couldn't hear a thing. It seemed that he was too focused on the one they called a traitor.
Was this what it looked like when one became too focused on revenge? Everything else simply faded away, out of sight, out of mind. The people one should have been living for eventually becoming another distraction from the sole goal of inflicting pain?
He couldn't help but think it was such a sad way to live.
And a sad way to die.
Midoriya watched, fully enraptured by the scene of the man's powerful punch, and the force behind it that shoved the traitor into the concrete. However, some black mist (much too similar to Smokescreen for the boy's liking) manifested and seemed to hinder the giant man's attack. Midoriya's heart felt as though it was about to pound out of his chest, but the swirling black mist didn't seem to stall the man for long. He quickly shifted tactics, choosing to attack the traitor with his large blade. However, it didn't seem to do much but keep the traitor in place. Midoriya's eyes widened in horror the moment he realized that the same was true for the giant man.
Midoriya stared—a familiar dread pooling in his gut—as dozens of guns were aimed directly at the giant man. For a moment, he wondered what the man would do about it, hoping that he could stall for just a moment longer.
But then he watched the large man remain in place, a resigned demeanor taking over his previous determination of his stance. Midoriya's stomach dropped at the sight. The mere thought of such a strong, loved man giving up on his own life unearthed feelings he wanted nothing more than to forget.
He refused to let someone give up on themself, not while he was there to do something about it.
His heart ached almost as strongly as Danger Sense sent another painful warning. Without a second thought, Midoriya abandoned the now near fully-formed magma man and rushed towards the man. With a smooth kick, a bit more forceful than he had intended, the barrage of bullets was sent flying away from their intended target.
Midoriya winced as he watched the man he had tried to protect stumble and nearly fall because of the indiscriminate air pressure from his attack. The boy buried the guilt and worry for later in favor of continuing his mad dash forward so that he could stand between this group of traitors and the giant man.
The traitor groaned from his place on the ground, slowly getting up and rambling as he did so. At this point, Midoriya could barely hear anything beyond the rush of blood in his ears, but given the round man's posture, he was probably trying to taunt them. The boy could only hope that he wouldn't have risen to the provocations even if he had been able to hear them.
Despite the fact that the man in front of them was still laying flat on his back on the ground, Danger Sense sent another wave of (relatively shallow) stabbing pain through his head. Midoriya grit his teeth at the sensation and lowered himself into a crouch to await his opponent's next attack.
He paused for a moment, glancing at the giant man behind him who had yet to leave. Hell, the man even shifted his stance as if in preparation to fight. Midoriya knew why the man had yet to take advantage of the distraction he'd just provided with his presence, but it still made his heart twist painfully. The boy refused to let such an injustice stand.
Midoriya called out to the man, "I can handle this. You should go."
His own voice rumbled oddly in his throat, coming out a lot more scratchy than he had expected. But he could hardly even hear himself over the blood rushing in his ears. He wasn't sure how he'd be able to make out the man's reply. He hoped the man would accept his words and leave.
Instead of taking this as permission to leave, however, the giant man remained in place and shifted his stance. Was the man planning to fight alongside him?
The man replied, his deep voice booming over the distant, unintelligible shouts from all around them. The vibrations resonated in Midoriya's bones, but he couldn't seem to make out what the man was saying. He could only assume that the man was protesting his suggestion to leave. But the boy refused to let this man continue on this path. He hoped that the giant man was still able to look past his own desire for revenge and listen to the people that had been begging for him to leave.
"You have people to live for, don't you? Can't you hear them? Go after them. Protect them," Midoriya insisted, silently adding his own promise to help protect them as well.
The giant man recoiled; Midoriya hoped that meant he had finally gotten through to him.
"I'll cover you, so get a move on!" he shouted as the traitor in front of them finally rose to his feet.
Midoriya didn't even have a moment to check if the man had listened to him before another wave of pain slammed into his skull. He spread his legs wide, lowering himself into a deep crouch and letting his arms hang down between them. One for All slowly dripped into his limbs, filling up his body from his extremities down to his very core.
Without waiting for an attack, Midoriya raised his chin and prepared Blackwhip before blasting out Smokescreen. His entire vision was enveloped by the purple smoke, but with how blurry it was, the boy figured that it would hinder his opponent far more than it would affect himself.
At first, his assumption proved to be correct. However, a few moments after he released his smoke, the black mist made a reappearance. Midoriya grimaced, realizing that it must have been this man's ability. Which, of course, made sense. He wanted to kick himself for not realizing that sooner.
But then the mist began shifting as though it was sentient.
So his opponent could not only produce it, but control it as well? Was it possible that he could also sense what was in the black mist? That would mean Midoriya was at a huge disadvantage.
Hope for the best, plan for the worst.
If the man could, in fact, sense where he was in the mist, then that meant Midoriya would be on the defensive. He would have to rely on Danger Sense to keep himself from succumbing to any attacks thrown his way. This would be a much more difficult fight if the mist was also offensive, but that was only his speculation. There was only one way for Midoriya to find out.
Sucking in one last deep breath, the boy prepared for what was sure to be a long, precarious fight.
Instead of attacking, however, the black mist simply whirled around, whipping in several directions wildly. After a moment, Midoriya quickly realized what the black mist was doing. Before he knew it, his purple smoke was almost entirely dispersed, leaving the battlefield only slightly hazy. The black mist dissipated as though its job was complete.
The round man, no longer laying flat on his back, laughed maniacally. The group behind him stood menacingly, but Midoriya was far past the point of being able to gauge their expressions or body language. Besides, with how Danger Sense continued to slam him with waves of pain, it was clear that they intended to fight.
He didn't need to know any more than that.
Midoriya shot forward, slamming his fist directly into the round man in front. It must have caught him off-guard, because he stumbled back, clutching at his stomach. He grumbled something, but Midoriya had already launched himself past the man and kicked his steel-toed boot directly into one of the other men's side.
The man he hit reached for him, impossibly fast, but the boy grabbed the offending limb and threw him as far as he could before moving into the next person-shaped blob. As he jumped around, aiming kicks at (what he hoped was) each person's vulnerable spots, Midoriya released small amounts of smoke. After his first hit and subsequent narrow dodge, it became clear that these people were able to keep up with him. His best defense was to distort their vision to prevent counterattacks.
Before long, the area was slightly hazy with all the purple smoke. Midoriya allowed himself just a second to breathe, doing his best to ignore the way his stomach ached.
He thought that the gunshot wound from Lady Nagant had already healed, but he guessed that all this strenuous movement reopened it. It was true that the second assassin had been easy to defeat, and the other fights he had gotten into with small-time villains were laughably easy in comparison.
Perhaps he'd become too overconfident.
But he paid his self-deprecation no mind as a sharp jolt of pain pierced his head once more. Midoriya filled his legs with a small percentage of One for All, entirely on instinct, and leapt away. He glanced back to where he'd been standing just a second earlier, only to see bright magma melting a hole into the concrete.
Damn, how could he have forgotten about the magma man?!
Midoriya only had seconds to berate himself for his carelessness before Danger Sense flared up with an even more intense pain. Panic flooded his veins as he found himself at a split-second loss for what to do.
His maneuverability in the air was limited in a wide open space like this, since there was nothing secure to which Blackwhip latch on. He couldn't blast himself horizontally because he was surrounded on all sides. And given his current predicament, launching himself higher in the air would only exacerbate his vulnerability.
Midoriya's head snapped to the side as a slight shift in the hazy smoke caught his eye. That meant it was the traitor attacking, not the magma man.
The boy bit his lip, holding back a smug smile. He shot Blackwhip out and watched in satisfaction as it wrapped around his midsection securely. The man yelled in surprise, but Midoriya paid him no mind, instead tugging on Blackwhip and sending himself flying away from the magma man's punch as another, weaker pain shot through his temple.
Activating Float briefly before releasing it, Midoriya just barely prevented himself from tumbling in an ungraceful heap on the ground. The traitor wasn't quite so lucky.
The boy grimaced as he felt Smokescreen peter out, the exhaustion weighing him down. Luckily, a large amount of the smoke seemed to be blowing in the direction of the retreating group, so much of the lingering smoke blocked them from view. Hopefully that meant that the focus was all on him.
The traitor, still wrapped up in Blackwhip, simply cackled obnoxiously. Then he began to speak.
Midoriya had no idea what was being said, but he paid it no mind. If this man wanted to waste time while his only objective was to stall for time, he would hardly be one to complain. Then the man laughed again before reaching to grab Blackwhip. The boy grit his teeth, reluctantly letting it dissipate rather than risk whatever the man was planning to do to it.
Another loud shout diverted Midoriya's attention just moments before Danger Sense delivered another painful warning. He was only used to the quirk activating a few times in a fight at most, only the moments in which he was at risk of debilitating injury. Sure, he realized he had landed in the middle of some major conflict, but this was a bit ridiculous.
A surge of blobs (the uniformed men that had been surrounding them this entire time, he assumed) rushed forward. Midoriya leapt up and launched a kick, creating a shockwave that knocked them all off their feet.
But if they were all that weak, then what had set the quirk off…?
Midoriya flinched as Danger Sense drove a metaphorical sledgehammer through his brain, ducking down as he held his head in pure agony. A rush of heat passed his head, and only then did he realize that he had just narrowly avoided a blast of magma to the face. How had he missed that? The attack came from directly in front of him? Was his vision really too messed up to fight?
He stared blankly at the concrete, finally understanding that he was royally fucked.
But Danger Sense warned him of another incoming attack, this time a bullet which he barely managed to catch. A series of war cries rose around him as the onslaught of projectiles and magma began. He hadn't even had enough time to wonder why the traitor with the black mist wasn't attacking them as well.
As the battle raged on, Midoriya's vision was completely useless to him and getting worse by the minute. At this point, Danger Sense was the only thing enabling his constant defense. He desperately hoped that his two enemies would continue to focus on him alone; the only way he could continue fighting was if he was on the defensive, reacting to their attacks without launching his own. The moment they turned their killing intent towards others, Midoriya was certain he wouldn't be able to defend anyone else, much less himself. The entire brawl was a fast-paced blur, even more undistinguishable than his vision, his mind barely able to focus on dodging one attack before having to block another.
Danger Sense suddenly screamed at him, the pain akin to someone crushing his skull in from all sides simultaneously. Perhaps he would have been able to handle it and act accordingly if it had been an isolated incident; but his tolerance and stamina had been completely worn down and he couldn't do anything but cry out in pain as his body collapsed alongside his mental faculties.
The world around him was spinning. He couldn't tell which way was up or down. His stomach lurched to the side. He wrenched his eyes open one last time, only to realize that he was actually being drawn into the black mist-vortex that just appeared out of nowhere. It felt as though he was falling, except sideways. He slowly gained speed as the invisible force tugged him harder.
Midoriya scrambled to find purchase in the pavement beneath him, the rough, broken stone tearing up what little remained of his already ruined gloves. He ignored the way his fingers stung as he continued his desperate struggle to find a grip to keep him from being consumed by the black mist.
Danger Sense, with oscillating agony, only continued to warn him of the potential dangers residing within that mist.
He finally activated One for All in his desperation, slamming his fingers into the concrete, creating deep bores for him to clutch on to with all his quirk-enhanced might. His arms ached as he had to exert an increasing amount of force to keep himself from moving any further. The strain on his shoulders was almost too much, but he refused to let himself go. He raised his feet slightly above the ground and slammed them down, creating footholds so the stress wouldn't damage his arms. But even with the exertion more evenly distributed among his limbs, it was almost too much.
Suddenly, the pulling stopped. Midoriya's eyes shot open against his will as he found himself flying in the opposite direction from the force of his own limbs. His back twinged as he slammed into the ground a great distance away from the men he'd been fighting.
He wasn't entirely sure what had stopped the mist from dragging him in, but it provided some much needed breathing room. Midoriya took the short reprieve to toss a glance behind him. As far as he could tell, there wasn't anyone other than a few downed men in those white uniforms, which meant that the retreating group was able to get away safely.
Against his will, Midoriya felt his entire body relax. Danger Sense had dulled significantly, but he wasn't out of danger yet. He couldn't just stop fighting! He couldn't just lie down and die, damn it! He had to defeat Shigaraki and All for One.
But his body wouldn't listen to logic. Midoriya squeezes his eyes shut in frustration, heat spreading across his cheeks and chest, the smallest tears beginning to slip out from under his eyelids without permission.
His entire body refused to listen to him.
The sound of gravel crackling and scraping on the concrete caught him by surprise. Reluctantly, Midoriya opened his eyes just a crack. Just next to his face were two clawed feet, like that of a bird, surrounded by a teal and yellow flame. Given the short distance, Midoriya expected to feel the overwhelming heat of blue fire, yet was only met with soothingly warm flames.
Ah, that must have been the person that had dragged those two teenagers to safety when Midoriya had first arrived. The person spoke softly, his voice a soothing comfort that when in the presence of, the boy couldn't help but relax. Gentle hands scooped him up and began to carry him away from the battlefield before he could find it within himself to protest.
The wind began to rush by them as they sped away from the chaos.
Midoriya let his eyes slip shut, relishing in the relief the small action brought. He forced himself to focus on the sound of the wind rushing in his ears to keep himself awake and aware. The battle may have been over and the pain from Danger Sense lessened, but that didn't mean he was out of danger just yet.
But the exhaustion from weeks of wandering around the remains of cities and fighting villains finally caught up to him; his body hung limply as the man with teal flames carried him away from the battlefield.