My Hero Academia: Son of Justice

by Jayme F. Midorikawa

The son of the disgraced former greatest Hero of The Soviet Union is extended a chance at a new life by the Symbol of Peace, All Might. After having lived so long resenting Heroes and Villains, and being scared to death of his own Quirk, will he be able to step forward and become the Hero he once dreamed of, and will he be able to find new purpose through friendship, or even love?

45. Training Camp Arc Part 5 - Attack 2

Hello again, everyone. I'm blown away, frankly speaking, by just how many favorites and follows this story has managed to get within the span of this last week. It really does my heart good to know so many people are still gravitating towards this story that much each day. I can only hope this next chapter can somehow be able to draw in that many more people and make them want to stick around to see what will happen next in this particular reimagining of the MHA manga.

I know every new chapter I ask you all to please review, but in all honesty, just knowing that so many people are choosing to take the time out of their days just to give my story the time of day is just as rewarding. I want to thank you all for having stuck with this for as long as you have, and I hope I can continue to give you all this thorough of entertainment for the foreseeable future. Please don't take that as some kind of foreboding of my absence. I just wanted to extend my gratitude to you all. It's been far too long overdue.

Anyway, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter especially, so I hope you all enjoy it just as much. I think a good portion of this is something a lot of you have been very much anticipating for the last week, or even two, if I know well enough just who the big fan favorite characters are.

I'd also like to give yet another grateful shout-out to my two beta readers Mizu and Jonny. You two are more awesome than you know, just by being reachable to give me any input you can.

My Hero Academia is the property of Kouhei Horikoshi and Shonen Jump. I only own my original characters, the original events surrounding them, and the alterations of established events that occur as a result of their existence in this universe.

A/N: [[]] indicates that characters are contextually speaking Russian.

Chapter 45

Attack – Part Two

(Атака - Часть Вторая)

Moments ago, at the same time as the Nikolay/Tetsutetsu/Itsuka vs. Mustard Battle…

Despite the back-to-back telepathic messages from Mandalay that not only were the students officially allowed to fight back, but that Bakugo was now officially one of the Villains' targets; neither Mina, Ochako nor Tsuyu were able to concern themselves with the latter. They were still in the middle of tensely staring down the mysterious blonde and masked teenage girl that had emerged from the woods and cut Ochakos' arm.

Despite the fact the odds were clearly against her, this villainous girl was still chuckling with unsettling amusement to herself as her piercing yellow eyes continuously shifted from one girl to the next. In fact, there even seemed to be a sense of dreaminess in her gaze as she started looking over the now bloody knife in her right hand, and the syringe in her left hand connected to the small tanks on her back.

"Are you okay, Urara-chan?" Mina finally asked when she heard another pained hiss from the brown-haired girl at her side, still clutching the bleeding cut on her arm. "Y-yeah, I'm fine."

Looking longingly at the thin trickle of blood on her blade, the blonde girl suddenly spoke up with all the giddiness a schoolgirl could convey: "Mmm…so shallow…so little. You really did get lucky, you know. The only reason I didn't attack you all from the outset was cause I was afraid fighting in that open path would help you all be able to encircle me. Then I'd really be in big trouble, especially if more of your friends were to come along. Here, I've got the advantage of space, and we can manage to stay all up close and personal, too. Still, I'm at a real disadvantage, aren't I? Three-on-one is never easy, no matter who you're fighting."

Finally, having had enough of this freaky and violent newcomer, Tsuyu stepped forward and spoke up: "Just who are you? Springing up from out of nowhere and trying to slash at us with a knife; who does something sick like that?"

However, Tsuyus' admonishment only seemed to amuse the blonde girl even more, as she started giggling and nearly wiggling with excitement where she stood. "I'm Toga. And you all must be…Ashido, Uraraka, and Asui! Oh, to hear you all sounding and looking so intense…you're all soooo cute! Even more than you all were on TV!"

To hear her point them out and call them by name now injected a whole new onset of apprehension in the three girls. "She…she knows our names?" Ochako asked very nervously, while Mina was already balling her hands into fists to try and offset her own fear. "She must've seen us on TV from the Sports Festival…and the news after the Vukodlak battle. Oh no, how much more do you think she might know about anyone else?"

"It doesn't make a difference. Right now, we're the ones she's focused on, and the fact she knows anything about us now puts us at the disadvantage, no matter how many more of us there are-kero." Tsuyu stated bluntly as she and her two friends now stood shoulder-to-shoulder, watching every one of Togas' slightest movements, just in case her fighting style was the swift and unpredictable kind.

All the while, Toga was still looking back and forth between her three targets and the two weapons in her hands. "I need more blood. Normally I'd have to make a big wound and…kiss, kiss…suck you dry with my mouth. But with this fancy little machine on my back, all it takes now is one little stab and, kiss, kiss, it finishes the job all by itself. Just a little cut…"

With that, Toga suddenly bent her knees and spread her legs apart, lowering herself into a much more aggressive stance, with the syringe and knife now both visibly at the ready, as she stared the three girls down with an unreadable intent in her eyes, but especially on Mina and Ochako.

"Ooh…I've been wanting to meet the Heroes that were able to beat a Villain like Vukodlak for so long now. He sounded so tough and cool, so surely the Heroes able to beat him have to be even cooler, right? To finally get to meet you both in particular, MiMi-chan, Ocha-chan…I'm so happy! I'd still love to meet all the rest soon, especially that really cute, delicate-looking foreign one that was with you."

To hear someone clearly so twisted in the head speak of one of her closest friends with such a sick tone of desire had Mina visibly tensing up, which Toga immediately noticed. She started giggling with even more excitement, with the beginnings of a heavy blush just barely visible on her face. "Well, until then, I'm more than happy to make friends with you both and your adorable froggy friend, Tsutsu-chan, even more. After all, one can never have too many friends, can they?"

In contrast to the clear aggression in her stance, Toga actually began to slowly step forward, one foot in front of the other, leaving the three girls visibly tense and nervous just what her first official move was going to be. Ochako could feel a horrible chill when she could just feel Togas' eyes fall upon the cut on her arm. "I can tell you and I are gonna get to know each other really well especially, Ocha-chan! With that little cut on your arm, we can become bonded with a little kiss, kiss, and I can learn all there is to know about you. Doesn't that sound just so sweet?"

Ochako was visibly tensing up with fear the more Toga spoke, but just as she began to approach her by another step, Mina suddenly stepped in between them, arms and legs spread to try and protect Ochako as best she could, while her black-gold eyes didn't dare leave Togas'.

This sudden act of selflessness on Minas' part had Togas' eyes go wide with very delighted surprise. "Ooh, you're someone truly special too, MiMi-chan. You can't hide that trembling from me. You're doing it from your horns down to your tippy toes. I can even see it in those pretty eyes of yours: you're scared. You're all scared, you don't have to try and lie to me. Friends shouldn't feel like they have to lie to each other.

"And yet, even for as obvious as it totally is coming from you, MiMi-chan, you're still choosing to stand between me and your friends. All three of you are still here even when you know you could be running right now. It's not like I have some kind of speedy Quirk, you could all easily outrun me if you really tried. But no, you're all still choosing to stay and fight for each other. That's so cool of all of you; I really find that kind of thing just so cute and cool!

"Even though you're all scared, you're all choosing to be brave for each other instead! You all really do deserve to be called Heroes…and if I can beat three cool Heroes on my own…then I could maybe even be as cool as Vukodlak! Come on; let's become even closer friends, okay?"

With that declaration, it was obvious to all three girls that Toga was done with her whimsical, delusional talking, and that set Mina even further on edge as she began to lower herself into an evasive stance. "Urara-chan, Tsu-chan, hurry back to the facility. I'll try to buy you some time."

Ochako and Tsuyu alike were both stricken with surprise that Mina was actually asking them to leave her behind; something neither of them could accept. "Mina-chan, you don't know how strong she is any more than we do. We should all be trying to run!" "Ochako's right; if we could escape to the facility, and she were to pursue us, at least one of the teachers would surely be able to handle her-kero. Battle authorization doesn't mean we have to defeat the Villain, it just means we have to protect ourselves; we all know that's how Aizawa-sensei meant it."

The moment Mina even slightly broke her gaze from Toga to try and convince her friends to just go; she suddenly caught sight of the blonde girl kicking herself off into a surprisingly fast sprint, almost immediately closing the distance between them with her knife at the ready. Mina immediately reacted by kicking herself up from the ground and throwing her body weight into an immediate handstand, swinging her legs around in a helicopter spin to knock the knife and syringe off their respective trajectories.

However, Toga was just as quick on the uptake, as she likewise ducked down to avoid Minas' feet and rolled towards her with her knife already making a swipe for her. Mina quickly sprung herself up and back by her hands, with Toga now in hot pursuit, kicking her own feet at her and immediately following up with either her knife or syringe, forcing Mina to stay on the move as she could either only duck and roll, jump, spin or any other assortment of her break-dancing moves, in order to either keep Toga from getting a hit on her or either of her friends, or to try and get an attempt at an attack of her own in.

Unfortunately, for every instinctive reflex Mina had to keep herself out of Togas' reach, the psychotic young girl likewise had a similar natural reaction to it, never falling into any kind of physical reaction routine that Mina thought she would fall into that would give her an advantage. Toga seemed to have all of Minas' reflexes spotted just as much as Mina had hers. The two were silently catching each other in a physical reflex game of wits, keeping each other moving and guessing what their next attempted moves would be, and how best to both counter it, and follow through from it. The two girls were surprisingly evenly matched in the one field of physical activity Mina dominated over everyone at, much to her unspoken shock, as well as that of Ochako and Tsuyu, who couldn't find a stable opening in the two girls' impressive acrobatic standoff to be able to intervene and give Mina some breathing room to act on.

After nearly half a minute of this constant jab-and-dodge game of theirs, Toga suddenly began to get more aggressive with her knife, relying more on swipes with it aimed low for Minas' legs. As soon as she found herself now being further and further inched back, and thereby giving Toga more control over the fight itself, Mina went for the one move she felt the most confident could gain her back some ground. Toga was focusing on her legs down below, but she wasn't keeping herself too low at the same time, either.

The moment she'd reached the length of another evasive jump back from one of her slashes, Mina suddenly sprung herself up from the ground with her right leg extended high over her head in a left-leaning descending arc, a picture perfect roundhouse kick aiming for Togas' head. She could either stun Toga with a hit to the head, and give her and the others a chance to restrain her, or she could kick the knife out of her hand and at least remove half of her assault capability, and thereby give them a chance to do the very same.

Unfortunately, Minas' foot was met with nothing but air, as Toga had managed to instinctively flatten herself to the ground, and immediately followed up by hooking her right arm around the pink girls' left ankle, and pull with all her strength. In that one moment when Mina wasn't perfectly balancing herself, Toga had managed to sweep her one foot on the ground out from under her, sending her crashing onto her back, and with Togas' constant slashing beforehand having kept Ochako and Tsuyu just that one little bit too far away to be able to intercept and save Mina.

Before Mina could roll herself backwards onto her feet, Toga was immediately on her, lassoing the tubes attached to her syringe around her neck and pulling hard, dragging Mina back until she was flush up against the blonde-haired Villain, holding her like a human shield before Ochako and Tsuyu.

"Oh, MiMi-chan, not only are you so super pretty, but you're so nimble and agile, too! I haven't had to put myself through that kind of workout for quite a while! You've got some really cool moves! No wonder you were able to help Ocha-chan and all those other Heroes hold their own against Vukodlak! But maybe without all those others around to help, you're not entirely as capable as I thought."

The moment she caught a glimpse of Ochako and Tsuyu getting ready to charge her, Toga immediately brought her knife around, poising the blade right up to Minas' collar bone. "Hey now, don't be so impatient; we've got plenty of time to really get to know each other! If you mess me up, I could end up cutting MiMi-chan too deep too soon!"

Ochako looked utterly infuriated at the advantage Toga currently had over them, while Mina was looking equally as angry as she was nervous. However, as the adrenaline rushed through her veins more than it ever had before, a realization came to Mina: a situation like this was exactly one of the scenarios the Pussycats had said her specific training was for.

Her Acid Quirk had incredible potential as a means of crowd control, immobilization of Villains and criminals, traversal and combat all in one, but it also had a very unfortunate proclivity to be used lethally without one meaning to. That was one of the things that made Mina the most nervous about using her Quirk in combat. And that was exactly what her training had been helping her to develop thus far: not only how to create even stronger forms of acid, but also a better grasp on how to wield weaker forms of it on the fly, without having to risk valuable time on the focusing part.

With this incredibly timely realization echoing encouragingly in her head, Mina started concentrating as much as she knew she needed, as she quickly brought her left hand up, and suddenly extended her index finger towards a momentarily confused Toga. Suddenly, the slightest squirt of citric acid shot out from the tip of her finger and right into the young Villains' eyes.

At the same time, Mina hurriedly focused on coating her right hand in a stronger acid and quickly brought it up to grab onto the steel of Togas' knife, melting it down to the hilt in just seconds while Toga was too temporarily stunned to follow through on her cutting threat. In fact, that momentary stun had forced Toga to loosen her grip on her syringe, causing the tubes' stranglehold on Minas' neck to loosen just enough that she could finally duck her head down out of it and free herself.

Tsuyu was instantly on the move as she shot her tongue out around Minas' waist and yanked her towards herself and Ochako, and out of Togas' immediate grasp. The instant Mina was back on her feet, Tsuyu retracted her hold, only to then wrap around both her and Ochako together, grounding herself with impressive strength as she hurriedly swung the two girls up and over, swinging them further away out of Togas' immediate trajectory, aiming to let them go closer towards the path. "Mina, Ochako, run to the facility!"

"You too, Tsu!" "Yeah, we're not leaving you!" Ochako and Minas' respective cries were wrought with worry, but Tsuyu was already starting to move along with them on her feet the moment she was getting ready to loosen her tongue from around her two friends. "Of course, I'm also going to-!"

SLICE!

A piercing pained yelp from Tsuyu immediately preceded her tongues' grip opening around Ochako and Mina, sending both girls tumbling back to the ground. The sound of an object embedding itself in the trunk of a tree brought them both back to attention, immediately stricken with shock and anguish at the sight of Tsuyus' tongue bleeding as she tried to retract it into her mouth. Sticking out of the tree just next to her was another slightly bloody knife, and just a few feet back the way they had been pulled from, Toga was already back on her feet with her left arm extended as though she'd just thrown that knife with it. "Oh, little Tsutsu…"

Her left eye was now pink from the burn of the citric acid she'd just taken to it. What was more, her syringe was now tucked away, and she had yet another knife at the ready in her right hand. "That was a pretty slick sneak attack you pulled there, MiMi-chan. I wonder if the rest of you are just as resourceful. Good thing we're about to find out, I can't let my new friends leave yet, not until we've really gotten to know each other."

The sight of Tsuyu hurt, on top of Togas' constant taunting talk of friendship lit a fire in both Mina and Ochako, as they both suddenly began to rush for her and Tsuyu alike. "STOP TALKING LIKE THAT! WE AREN'T FRIENDS! REAL FRIENDS DON'T HURT EACH OTHER!" The sound of Mina sounding so impassioned and driven by that conviction had Toga squirming with delight, before suddenly closing her left hand and yanking her arm back as though she were pulling something.

SLICE! SLICE!

In the blink of an eye, the knife that had been embedded in the tree was suddenly yanked free and swung through the air between Tsuyu and Ochako and Mina. The two charging girls immediately felt an intense pain as the knife swiftly cut even further up Ochakos' already injured left arm, and sliced the edge of Minas' left hand, drawing blood from both girls with unsettling ease.

Following the flash of the moving blade, all three girls watched with fright as the knife flew back into Togas' waiting hand, and with a little flick of her wrist, the moonlight glistened off a previously unnoticed thin cord attached to the handle of it, right before she sheathed the knife behind her waist. Not only was she still armed with that syringe and apparently more than one knife, but she had a veritable rope dart on standby as well.

With blood having now been drawn from all three girls, Togas' eyes were downright ravenous with desire, as she suddenly pulled the black mask down from her face, revealing a deceptively cheerful vampire-fanged smile on her wildly blushing face. Just as quickly, she pulled out her syringe to go with her second knife again. "Oh, you're all so eager to just keep playing with me; that makes me so happy, MiMi, Ocha, Tsutsu! I just knew we'd all be great friends right off the bat! Oh, listen to me, I've been so excited, I never even bothered to ask: you all don't mind if I call you by those nicknames, do you, MiMi, Ocha, Tsutsu?"

Mina and Ochako were both still trying to block out the pain of their respective injuries, too much so to even shoot down Togas' taunting, but Tsuyu didn't have that issue, as she began hopping for her two friends, giving them just enough of a push to remind them they needed to run. "They already told you to stop with all that! The only people that can talk to any of us like that are our friends!"

THUNK!

"So we really ARE friends then! Yay!" Togas' cheerful tone was so sickeningly contrary to what she was doing, as she'd swiftly managed to throw her syringe across the space and planted it firmly against the tree Tsuyu was just passing, with her long green hair caught in the middle. Now the frog-like student found herself literally pinned into place while Toga was hurriedly letting the tubes attaching the syringe to the machine on her back reel her in, rushing over to close the distance. "And I already said I'm not leaving here without making some new great friends tonight, and nothing's going to stop me from doing so!"

Within a moment, Tsuyu found Toga leaning right into her face, staring with such demented intent in her piercing yellow eyes that was only reflected by that inextinguishable smile. "Oh, but you're bleeding, little Tsutsu; all three of you are! You're all just so cute…and I just loooove blood!"

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HER!" Minas' outcry broke Toga from staring into Tsuyus' fearful eyes, and turning to find her pink opponent sliding across the ground on an acid slick, coming right for her with absolute intent.

With her syringe still embedded in the tree, Togas' left hand was free to reach back behind her, and with her pinky finger looped around the cord, she swiftly threw her arm forward, flinging her rope knife right in Minas' path, knowing the charging girl was coming in too fast and too close to be able to dodge in time. "You're so brave, so cool, MiMi! Reckless, but cool all the same!"

PSSSSH!

With surgical precision and timing, Mina suddenly threw an underhanded toss of acid right for the incoming knife, melting the entire thing down on impact, and leaving the once connected cord slack. Not wasting a moment, she immediately grabbed onto the end of the cord and, with the added momentum of her slide, Mina proceeded to throw her entire body weight into a spin, reeling Toga right in off her feet towards her.

However, this did nothing to erase the gleeful fanged smile from Togas' face. "Those reflexes and last-second tricks of yours don't make you any less foolhardy, MiMi! I can just stab you like this without even having to put in any effort!"

All of a sudden, Mina let go of the cord and quickly dropped down into a kneeling crouch mid-slide. Before Toga was even able to process what her pink opponent was doing, she suddenly spotted an especially intense Ochako leaping forward and springing herself off of Minas' shoulders, using her as a human springboard.

Toga was already beginning to shift the trajectory of her knife from Mina to Ochako, but the gravity girls' mind was continuously replaying one of the many martial combat lessons Tunguska had given her in her surrogate internship: "When facing an opponent with a knife, it's essential you use your body weight and momentum to pivot out of their direct line of attack, put yourself in their open side. If facing them with your feet on the ground, make sure to grab their wrist and the back of their neck and force them face down to the ground, pushing on their head and pulling on their wrist all at once. If you find yourself doing it in the air, then make sure you once again stay out of their line of attack, and grab their attacking arm before anything else, and let your momentum do the throwing for you. With your Quirk, malenkaya Uraraka, that approach should come to you downright naturally."

With those words of encouragement and instruction blaring louder than ever, Ochako had taken his advice and sprung herself off of Minas' shoulders by her right foot, throwing her body just slightly enough to her left to effectively avoid Togas' stabbing line of sight, and grabbing onto her extended wrist at the same time. With her own gravity removed beforehand, Ochako proceeded to use Togas' arm as an anchoring point to have the rest of her body swing around so she could get her left arm around the Villains' neck.

With both holds secured, Ochako proceeded to hook one of her legs around one of Togas', and from there flung her entire body weight backwards while sweeping her leg out from under her, just as she'd done to Mina before. With that, Toga came crashing down flat on her back hard enough to force her to let go of her knife, sending it bouncing just far enough away that she couldn't reach it.

Restoring her own gravity with haste, Ochako immediately acted and forced Toga onto her stomach before getting on top of her back, pinning her down while losing absolutely none of the intensity in her gaze or body language. "Mina-chan, restrain her feet! Tsu, can you still use your tongue? Restrain her arms! Can you do it? Does it hurt?"

Mina was already coming in like a girl on a mission, building up a thick coating of her most adhesive but non-corrosive fluid between her hands, and slathering it in thick coats around Togas' ankles, basically adhering them to the ground. While she did this, she couldn't help but look at the two cuts on her rosy cheeked friends' left arm and feel a stirring of concern in her stomach. "Are you okay, Urara-chan?"

However, Ochako refused to take her eyes off Toga as she answered: "It hurts, but I'll be fine. I'll worry about getting patched up once we know everyone's safe and the Villains have been arrested. What about you, Mina-chan? Does that cut on your hand sting with that fluid all over it?"

Mina couldn't lie, judging by the very slight grimace of pain on her face as she kept slathering it on the Villains' feet. "Yeah…but like you said, let's wrap this up first, get everyone else to safety, then we can worry about that."

At the same time, Tsuyu was already trying to extend her tongue as best she could with it being hurt, while still trying to pry the syringe out from the side of the tree to free herself. "You two are amazing, Ochako, Mina. Just hold on a sec, my tongue still hurts, but I should still be able to use it."

Suddenly, Ochako and Mina began to hear that same bloodcurdling giggling coming out of Toga. Being as far back as she was, Mina couldn't see it, but Ochako had a full view of the blonde girls' face as she looked back over her shoulder to the young Hero pinning her down. She still had that same amused fanged grin on her blushing face.

"Little Ocha, Little MiMi, you two are both so spectacular on your own, but even more so when together. Fighting side by side like besties, it's no wonder you were both able to help beat such a big, strong Villain without help from any Pro Heroes. However, that distinction between Heroes and Villains, that's where the differences between the three of us end. The truth is that the three of us are super similar."

This sentiment got a brief but unmistakable jolt of unease out of Ochako and Mina alike, having no clue what on earth this psychotic girl was getting at, and Toga could physically feel it, making her blush even stronger, and her smile that much bigger and more menacing. "Ocha, MiMi…the two of you are both in love with someone, aren't you? I don't mean like the kind you have for family and normal friends. No, I mean you two are both totally in love with a specific other person outside those lines. Even if neither of you will say it out loud, or even consciously know about it, you both can just feel it, can't you: that warm, lovey-dovey fuzzy feeling in your stomachs."

Mina and Ochako both came to a sudden stop and felt their hearts momentarily seize. Where the hell was this suddenly coming from, and why was it worming its way into both their heads, when they both knew they had a serious job to attend to right now? And why were they both suddenly starting to feel their faces grow hot and their hearts start hammering alongside a frigid sweat?

By this point, from where Ochako was kneeling, it didn't look like Toga was even looking her in the eye anymore. If anything, it almost looked like those frightening eyes were starting to roll into the back of her head, as though Toga were simply starting to drift off into a thick and inescapable daydream land. "Those specific persons you both love…in your own ways, you're thinking about how much you want to see them, right? I can totally understand, since I'm a girl just like you."

Listening to her go on like this, Mina suddenly found her mind flashing back to all kinds of different places since this school year had started: the photo booth, the living room in the dead of night, the training camp clearing the very first night they had all come here…and the one other person those memories all had in common, and the emotions and physical desires she had felt and most times acted upon in all those times. The fact that Togas' taunting was actually throwing Mina off this badly, had her simply now looking upon this giggling young girl like a true blue monster.

Togas' smile was only growing that much more lined with sinister delight and longing, almost salivating to a point as she continued, completely wrapped up in her own head. "It's all so super obvious, you know. You both wanna be Heroes, but you both still feel fear when things get dangerous, and seeing your friends get hurt only makes you that much more scared, makes you wanna just turn tail and run. You know that saying old dudes like to say: 'live to fight another day,' and all that.

"And yet, no matter how much I could see and feel you all just shaking and quaking in your shoes, not one of you ever once gave up; instead you all just keep buckling down and coming at me like real Heroes. Except, the thing is, bravery and willingness are two totally different things, no matter what those bags of hot air at Yuuei would tell you. Oh, sure, your sense of bravery and the childish desire to show it may have always been there with you, but the willingness to seriously act on it and hide your fear all at once, instead of just standing around and calling yourselves brave Heroes and calling it a day; that's waaaay special.

"It's a whole new thing you're both trying to get used to, isn't it? That's how I know about you both deep down, Ocha, MiMi. The persons you both love that make you actually act on your natural courage…you both wanna be just like them, right? I mean, it's only natural. You wanna learn how to do all the things they can do, how to think and feel the way they do. But then when you do that, it just becomes that much harder to be satisfied, right? You finally reach what you think is the same level as them and then you find out there's so much more for you to get through. In the end, you just want to be exactly like those persons; you essentially want to be them. It can't be helped.

"So what are your types, you two? What kind of persons do you two like? Me, I love people who are beat up and smell like blood. That's why I always end up chopping them up. They're so much fun, aren't they, my dear Ocha and sweet MiMi?"

"Stop talking nonsense! You have no idea what you're talking about!" Mina stated firmly, trying her best to sound as serious and professional as she could, especially when she could see Ochakos' body was beginning to shake with her own impatience towards their enemy and her taunting.

However, Togas' giggling simply would not let up. "Oh, I know I do, though, MiMi! Love stories really are so much fun, aren't they?"

THWIP!

All of a sudden, the sound of something being pried out from the tree broke the silence, but for a moment, Mina and Ochako both thought Tsuyu had finally gotten herself free…until Mina caught the blur of that same syringe flying right past her side, reeling right back into Togas' waiting left hand, just next to Ochakos' exposed leg. Mina immediately felt her focus shatter as fear overtook every last instinct of restraint from her. "OCHAKO, LOOK OUT!"

STAB!

Ochako couldn't even finish processing Minas' warning before she felt a painful piercing sensation in her leg, instantly followed by the sensation of something sucking away at her from the inside. Mina, all the while, felt her blood go cold when she could see one of the tubes connecting the syringe to the tanks on Togas' back start running red with Ochakos' blood, all punctuated by the demented young Villain repeatedly saying "kiss, kiss" with every single suck.

Before Mina could finally focus enough to try and get the needle out of her friends' leg, Toga suddenly pulled her legs up, even from under Ochakos' weight, slipping her feet easily out of her encased shoes and socks, freeing herself with ease. Unfortunately, Mina couldn't even think to scold herself for not thinking to actually bind her legs themselves, before Toga suddenly curled her toes in, making her bare feet like fists in themselves, and drove one hard into the pink girls' sternum, knocking all her wind out with a single well-placed kick, before just as quickly swinging her other foot square into the corner of her neck and shoulder, momentarily stunning Mina enough to send her to the ground, trying to catch her breath again.

Ochakos' grip on Toga had loosened from the shock of suddenly getting jabbed and fed off of, allowing Toga to finally wriggle herself out from under her, just in time to catch sight of Mina already getting back up and building up two handfuls of acid, and Tsuyu already sending her tongue forward to try and restrain her. However, the distance and timing was just enough on Togas' side that she was able to get her own hold on Ochako, pulling her in until she now found herself as Togas' new human shield, forcing Mina to let the acidic slime in her palms fall harmlessly to the ground, and Tsuyu to recall her tongue, both girls grimacing with frustration at the advantage the Villain now had.

Togas' smile was stretching from ear to ear, and her blush and the look in her eyes made her look like she was in a downright euphoric state. "Don't worry, MiMi, Tsutsu, we're gonna get along so much better reeeal soon! Kiss, kiss; oooh, Ocha-chan, can't you feel us becoming so much closer? We should be so much closer with the people we love, right?"

However, the moment Toga took to keep whispering lasciviously in Ochakos' ear inadvertently gave her victim the distraction she needed to suddenly plant her full hand against the young Villains' leg, instantly taking away her gravity. This actually managed to catch Toga by surprise enough to lose her grip on her syringe, and allow Ochako to pull it out of her leg with a pained cry.

The moment she could see Ochako had gotten herself free, Mina immediately reacted with another quick underhand toss of acid from her right hand, aiming for the tubes connecting the syringe to the tanks. However, Toga wasn't allowing herself to be caught off guard for more than a moment, as she likewise immediately retaliated by planting one foot against the tree behind her, using it as an anchoring point to throw her body weight to her side, spinning herself around in the air just enough so that Minas' acid instead ended up hitting and melting the majority of the still empty tanks on her back, but leaving the rest of her blood-sucking machine intact.

The moment she was free, Ochako took off into a mad sprint for Mina, practically leaping and reaching her hand out. Mina likewise extended her hand, and the moment they met, she felt all her gravity likewise vanish. The moment she felt this weightlessness take over, she quickly planted her feet hard into the ground, launching herself that much faster and higher, flying right for Toga, who was still in the middle of recovering from her saving spin.

Togas' piercing eyes were already honed in on the approaching pink girl, and with her smile as anticipating as ever, she immediately met Mina with her knife-wielding hand jabbing right for her the moment her spin had ended.

Fortunately, at this point, Mina was finally getting the beginning of a picture as to how her opponents' fighting style worked, and thus likewise met Toga with a counter of her own, lunging an acid-filled palm right for the knife, melting the steel away on impact, and forcing Toga to let go of the handle to avoid getting her hand burned likewise.

This instinctive act of self-protection was exactly what Mina was waiting for, as she immediately reached her right arm to grab onto Togas' collar, and yanked her in hard while using her weightless state to flip herself up and over her head, swiftly locking the female Villain into a sleeper hold.

Ochako brought her palms together with a resounding clap the moment she saw Mina had finally gotten a good grapple on Toga. Unfortunately, what she and Tsuyu didn't realize until it was too late, was that at the very same moment gravity had been returned, Togas' eyes focused on Minas' arm over her neck. "Oh, MiMi, getting up close and personal is such a loving gesture. I'm happy you feel that way!"

Mina let out a pained yelp as she suddenly felt two of Togas' fanged teeth bite into her forearm, immediately forcing her to release her hold at the same time their gravity had been returned. As a result, she and Toga both came crashing back down while Ochako and Tsuyu were once again running in.

Togas' reflexes from there were borderline inhuman, as she saw Ochako coming in to once again try and grapple her, to which she replied with a swift kick from below straight into the gravity girls' stomach, sending her tumbling back a good couple of feet. Tsuyu was immediately following up with her wrangling tongue again, but Toga quickly rolled out of the way towards the still-recovering Mina, lashing out with her right arm and grabbing a handful of her pink hair. Pulling her new hostage in closer, Toga immediately got Mina between herself and Ochako and Tsuyu, and just as quickly drove her syringe into Minas' left arm, drawing out another pained cry from her, while the Villains' face was once again looking totally enraptured. "Kiss, kiss. Kiss, kiss."

"URARAKA-SAN?! ASUI-SAN?! ASHIDO-SAN?!" At the same moment Mina could start feeling the syringe suck her blood, the air was suddenly broken by the urgent outcry of Izuku Midoriyas' voice, emanating from out of the woods behind them, and drawing every single persons' attention just in time to see Mezo, with the severely beaten up-looking Izuku strapped to his back, emerging from out of the thick of the trees. They were even soon joined by Shoto, Setsuna and another boy hanging from her shoulder the three Class A girls didn't instantly recognize. Needless to say, the moment the arriving students caught sight of the blonde girl holding Mina hostage and sticking her with a tube-connected syringe, their own urgency turned into full-on battle-ready seriousness.

However, rather than become overcome with further aggressive bloodlust or panic, Toga instead let out the slightest irritated groan. "Aww, if a bunch of other people got through all those woods just fine to end up here, that must mean that wimp, Mustard, got taken out."

Sounding so childishly disappointed, she suddenly pulled her syringe out of Minas' arm and roughly pushed her forward towards the rest of her opponents, forcing them to hurry to catch her, and give Toga herself a chance to slip away. "It's really too bad. There's way too many people here now, and I really don't wanna get killed, so…bye-bye, friends!"

With that, Toga immediately broke into a sprint into the further darkness of the woods to her back, leaving the Class A and B students in her wake. However, just before she made the final jump to break their lines of sight, she found herself instinctively looking back, and meeting eyes with the especially roughed up curly-haired boy tied to the especially big ones' back.

The sight of such beaten up flesh, of such primal pain…the very sight of it got Himiko Togas' heart and blood alike racing like never before, reflected by the radiant, unsettling blush on her once more maniacally grinning face. 'Oh…my…god! This one…oooh, my heart's throbbing again! I can't wait to see this precious cutie again!'

However, once she could see Ochako, Tsuyu and Mina were all back in the game with their eyes focused solely on her, she knew she couldn't afford to stall a second longer, and so she took off into another desperate sprint into the thickest of the brush, effectively cutting off her enemies' line of sight, even as Mina and Ochako were already starting to chase after her. "WAIT!"

However, Tsuyu was the only one of the three girls not trying to immediately give chase. "Ochako, Mina, stop! We can't be reckless! We still don't know what kind of Quirk she has!"

However, even if they stopped, Ochako still looked deeply conflicted, and Mina was looking borderline frantic. "But Tsu-chan, she took off in the direction we heard Kolya-kuns' blasts coming from! She could be going after him next! We can't let that happen!"

Mina was about ready to start sliding after Toga, but Tsuyu quickly grabbed her arm, forcing the two girls to meet eyes so she could hopefully talk her pink friend down. "Mina, you not only melted all her knives, but also pretty much all the tanks to that blood-sucking machine of hers. Not to mention you both managed to rough her up pretty good. All those things considered, on top of the fact she now knows there's so many more Heroes aware of her presence, it wouldn't make sense for her to put herself at unnecessary risk just trying to attack one more student. She said herself she didn't want to risk dying. For all intents and purposes, we've won this fight."

Mina still looked like she wanted to go for it regardless, but eventually had to suck in a sharp breath through her teeth to calm herself down, especially when looking at hers, Tsuyus' and Ochakos' respective wounds. Finally, with a calming sigh, she nodded in silent agreement and began to build up some clearer fluid from her palms. "Let's at least get our wounds sealed first."

Once it was clear the three girls were now okay, Izuku hurriedly squirmed his way up so that his head was resting on Mezos' shoulder. "Who on earth was that girl?"

"A Villain. She's crazy, and super dangerous-kero." Tsuyu stated bluntly as Mina tended to the laceration on her tongue.

Hearing this, but seeing all three of the girls still standing in one piece, Izuku felt an instinctive sense of relief. "I'm really glad you all aren't too badly hurt. I'm just sorry we didn't get to you sooner. Why are you all out this far into the woods, though? We all know this isn't the direction to the facility. Were you trying to find anyone else out here like we are?"

With the issue of their wounds having been taken care of, Ochako was quick to answer: "We were originally going to head right for the facility back the way we came, but we heard Kolya-sans' launching blasts from inside the woods, running alongside the path. He was heading further down, and we thought he might've been looking for students to save, so we decided to follow after him in case he ran into any trouble."

Hearing this, Izuku nodded in confirmation. "Yes, right after the Villains started attacking the Pussycats, I saw Kolya-san run off into the woods trying to find you three and any of the other students that were still out here. We were headed this far out because we'd heard a few gunshots come from this general area, so we thought that might've been a sign he and a few other students were out here."

The news that Nikolay might have been involved in a fight with gunshots they hadn't noticed due to focusing on their own fight with Toga, struck the fear of god into all three girls, but especially Mina, who now looked just as desperate as before. "Well then we need to hurry, he could be in real trouble! We'll go get him and any students he might've found out of here and back to the facility!"

Izuku and his group all looked unanimous in agreement with her, but Tsuyu was quick to point out: "Wait, Midoriya. You're already in bad enough shape as it is, plus if you've got Todoroki-san with you, that must mean you went to get Bakugo, too. Mandalay-sensei said he needs to stay out of combat no matter what, remember? Let us take care of getting Kolya-san and the others, and you just focus on getting back to the facility-kero."

"Well, hell, why don't I give Tsubaraba-kun back to Todoroki-kun, they can focus on escorting Bakugo-san back to the facility, and I'll help you guys. You're gonna need someone focused on fighting from a distance on multiple fronts if things with Bezpalov-kun are as bad as they sound." Setsuna immediately volunteered, earning a deeply grateful smile out of Mina and Ochako.

At least, until Ochakos' smile suddenly faded to a confused expression: "Wait, if you guys are escorting Bakugo, then why isn't he with you right now?"

"What're you talking about? Kacchan's right behind us…" Izuku stated in total confusion of his own as he began to look back behind him to find…Bakugo wasn't there at all. There wasn't a sign of him at all; it was like he had simply vanished into thin air. The emptiness, and the horrifying realization that came with it in these circumstances, left Izuku and all his allies frozen with speechless horror.

"If you're talking about him…" the sound of a sudden unfamiliar male voice snapped everyone to immediate attention, looking up into the branches of the trees, only to find a single individual standing on one, dressed in a large brown Victorian-looking button-up trench coat, a silver cane, red gloves, a black top hat with white feather, and with their head enshrouded in a black stocking, with a white mask with a painted smile adorning it.

"…I just used my magic to take him." With that proclamation, this stranger suddenly opened the hand he wasn't using to lean on his cane, revealing two small nondescript marbles in his grasp. "Someone like that has no business being on the side of Heroes. Not when we have a stage where he can shine even brighter."

The shock and confusion of all the other students looking up at this new Villain was offset by the expression of desperation and anger on Izukus' bruised face as he cried out in rage: "GIVE HIM BACK!"

However, even with the earth-shaking raw emotion evident in his scream, the Villain above didn't look remotely affected, instead playfully rolling the marbles about in his hand. "'Give him back?' That's a strange choice of words."

Likewise, even in the face of such indifference, Izukus' rage and accompanying emotions were only burning that much brighter, by now already squirming atop Mezos' back to try and get himself free so he could bring the fight right to him. "Kacchan doesn't belong to anyone! He is his own person, you damn egotist! GIVE HIM BACK NOW!"

Mina was already on the verge of reeling her hands back to throw several handfuls and melt the branch out from under the Villains' feet, but Shoto was one step ahead. "MOVE!" Mezos' reflexes were instantaneous; jumping out of his way, as Shoto suddenly emitted an immediate line of icy spikes from his foot, shooting right towards and up that very same tree.

However, the Villain was far more alert than the students expected, as he practically flew from the branch right before the ice froze it solid. Even as Shotos' ice pursued him from tree to tree, the Villain never stopped, and never missed a step. Unfortunately, Tsuyus' injury to her tongue couldn't let her shoot it out to try and trip him up fast enough, nor could Ochakos' Zero Gravity let her get up to him fast enough, nor could Minas' acid melt the branches fast enough.

Even Setsunas' already apparent lack of portions of her body, while trying to keep carrying Tsubaraba, was keeping her from being able to send the rest of her pieces out to try and knock the Villain down. They were at a severe disadvantage with this light-footed sort of opponent. "All we're doing is telling these people with rigid values that 'that's not the only way to look at things.' We simply wanted to make that point. It's so disappointing; such bright-eyed youths like yourselves have shown absolutely no free will of your own. You've all had your ideals and values chosen for you by this society."

While he was continuously trying to ensnare the fleeing Villain with his ice, Shotos' mind was racing, especially when he suddenly caught sound of Mezo likewise looking back and making an equally urgent exclamation: "Tokoyami-san isn't here, either!"

Shotos' impatience and desperation, now knowing two of their comrades were gone, was reaching its peak. 'To think, given where Shouji-san, Tokage-san and I were in our formation, that this Villain was able to snatch Bakugo and Tokoyami right out from behind us without a sound. Just what kind of Quirk does he have?'

All of this, combined with the significantly self-righteous sounding talk the Villain was mocking them with finally brought Shoto to argue in kind: "Did you really come all this way just to give us that spiel? You're making light of us, aren't you?!"

As the top hat and mask-wearing Villain suddenly perched himself on top of his cane atop another tree, he once again began rolling the two marbles between his fingertips with a gloating chuckle. "Well, I was originally an entertainer, after all. It's a bad habit of mine, I'll admit. Nabbing Tokoyami-kun was an improvisation on my part. You see, Moonfish, that sword-toothed fellow; he was quite a piece of work, not just in the power of his Quirk. A guy like that, sentenced to death, rejected appeals; he's a natural-born cutthroat murderer. The violent nature it takes to trample down someone like that so unilaterally, no matter what condition he'd been in beforehand…I have simply judged that Tokoyami-kun will be useful to us as well."

"YOU BASTARD! WE WON'T LET YOU TAKE THEM!" Mina suddenly exclaimed with exceptional anger to match Izukus', as she was already building up huge globs of acid to consume the entirety of her hands, ready to melt the entire trees' base out from under the Villains' feet and bring him down to their level.

Again, the collective desperate emotions of all his allies drove Shoto into acting the fastest, as he suddenly sprinted forward and planted his right foot and hand to the ground, once again creating a near instantaneous forest-spanning wall of ice right in the Villains' path in the blink of an eye. What would've normally been an awe-inspiring sight before, elicited no such reaction from the others, as they were simply stricken with greater frustration when they found the Villain had simply flipped himself right out of the path of Shotos' attack, completely unharmed.

"My apologies, all I do is deceive and run away! But it's what I'm good for, after all! Like I'd really want to fight against a bunch of Hero cadets when I don't have to, right?" As he proceeded to start leaping and bounding from one treetop to the next, he suddenly reached up behind his mask to where his ear would be, as though he'd been wearing an earpiece under the stocking over his head. "Vanguard Action Squad, the target has been successfully collected! I'm sorry to cut all your fun short, but this concludes our mission! As planned, you all have five minutes to rendezvous at the collection point!"

Hearing the Villain proclaim this to all his comrades hit all the young Heroes with a collective ice cold sensation of dread: the final deadline if they were to have any chance of getting Bakugo and Fumikage back was officially set. In five minutes, if they didn't stop that fleeing Villain now, they would stand to lose two of their classmates forever.

Izuku looked like he was about to burst several blood vessels, his face was twisted with so much emotion and drive despite his injuries, while Setsuna, Mina and Ochako both looked like they were about ready to tear through the entire forest in order to stop him. However, once again, Shotos' reaction time was on an entirely different level, as he was already starting to get himself into position to start sending himself flying on another trail of ice to go after him. "NO! LIKE HELL I'D LET YOU! THERE'S NO WAY YOU'RE GETTING AWAY!"

Mina was already running right alongside Shotos' way of thinking, as she was already pulling Ochako and Tsuyu in and practically forcing them into a hand-holding chain with Mezo, Setsuna and Shoto, with herself placed right in the front, planting Shotos' left hand on her shoulder. "We can still catch them, Todoroki-kun! It'll be just like the Sports Festival: you lay down the ice path, and I'll speed us up with my acid slide! Nobody let go, move in synch with each other, and we'll be okay! He's not getting away!"

However, just before she could start making her first stride before beginning to lay down her slick fluid from her feet, a pronounced rustling and snapping of twigs from the bushes, specifically the ones in which Toga had just fled into, had all the present young Heroes on full alert, already preparing themselves for yet another fight while Shoto would carry on in pursuit.

Suddenly, the sight of a very familiar young man with silver hair and sharp teeth came stumbling out from the bushes, very quickly followed by an equally familiar young woman with orange hair tied in a ponytail, with especially enlarged hands clasped together held out in front of her. The sight of Tetsutetsu and Itsuka from Class B had the majority of everyones' apprehension vanish instantly and be replaced with great relief, especially from Setsuna as she rushed over to them with the barely conscious Tsubaraba still in tow.

"Oh my God, it's good to see you're both okay! What are you still doing out here?" Setsuna asked as Mina, Ochako and Tsuyu hurried over as well, while Mezo and Izuku were still right behind Shoto, ready to move right along with him at any moment.

"I wanted to stay and try to take care of the Villain responsible for gassing the forest, and Kendo-san decided to stay with me while Kodai-san took care of getting Shiozaki-san and Honenuki-san back to the facility. We ran into Bezpalov-san along the way, too. Right after we took care of the gas Villain, we heard all the noise coming from here and thought someone might be in trouble." Tetsutetsu tried to explain all this, but the mention of Class A's sole foreign member had Setsunas' three companions looking awash with relief.

"Kolya-kun's with you guys? Oh, thank God! We were coming out here trying to follow him in case he ran into trouble! Where is he? Is he okay?" Unfortunately, Minas' relief was instead met with deeply regretful looks on both Itsuka and Tetsutetsus' faces, and this struck a very unsettling chord with Setsuna and all three of the Class A girls. "Itsuka-chan…why aren't you saying anything?"

Setsunas' question was met with an awful silence, just before Ochako suddenly spotted a trail of blood running from within Itsukas' enclosed massive hands. This, on top of Itsukas' silence, and remembering the news of gunshots from before, suddenly made all the awful clues click together in her head. "Oh…no…"

Realizing that Ochako had figured it out, Itsuka knew there was no point trying to delay or hide the inevitable, and with incredible reluctance, she finally removed one of her hands, revealing the already very bloody form of Nikolay Bezpalov lying inside her enlarged palm; his chest already red with blood, with several soaked through strips of both his Class B allies shirts tied around the left part of his chest. The sight of their classmate and friend in this kind of condition hit every single one of them like a thousand knives to the heart. And even that paled in comparison to…

"Oh no…OH NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD, KOLYA-KUN! WHAT HAPPENED?!" Minas' devastated cries, borderline wails, were nothing short of heartbreaking as she fell to her knees and practically came scrambling on her hands and knees to the unconscious young Russians' body, desperately grabbing onto him while her vision long since went blurry with a whole new onset of nonstop, inconsolable tears flowing down her distraught face.

Ochako was barely managing to keep from sobbing herself at this terrible sight, while Setsuna just looked angrier than ever, and Tsuyu was clenching her fists in an attempt to try and maintain her own composure. Shotos' visible anger was growing even more intense than it already was, as heat waves were beginning to emanate from his left side at the sight, and Izuku, while still more focused than ever on getting Bakugo and Fumikage back, couldn't help but feel another kind of sadness and anger flare up inside him when he saw his foreign friend like this, even from a distance. Now, three of his friends had been irreparably hurt by these Villains, and his desire to get back at them and punish them for what they'd done here was at a level he didn't even think was possible after what they'd already done to his oldest friend.

"When we found the gas Villain, he tried to attack us with a gun. Bezpalov-san…he…he got shot while saving me from taking the bullet instead. We were trying to get him back to the facility to get treated after the battle, when we heard you guys over here. I've been able to feel his heartbeat against my palms this whole time; I know he's still breathing." Even though Itsuka, bless her heart, was trying to instill even the slightest bit of reassurance into this awful situation, even the fact that Nikolay was still even slightly breathing did nothing to quell Minas' heartbreak at seeing one of her closest friends hurt like this, let alone hurt at all.

"Unfortunately, we couldn't find an exit wound, which means the bullet is still inside him. If we can get him to the facility, Vlad King-sensei can help treat his wound, and our classmate, Yanagi-san, can use her Quirk to get the bullet out." Tetsutetsu further explained with regret, before likewise trying to instill hope as well, until he saw the likewise regretful look on Setsunas' face.

"I'm sorry, you guys, but Reiko-chan was with me when the gas first hit. She and Kinoko-chan both fell unconscious pretty much right off the bat. They both got evacuated with Yaoyorozu-san and Awase-kun, but I don't know if they'll have regained consciousness by the time you all get back to the facility."

This breaking of bad news, as much as Setsuna hated having to give it, left a great air of foreboding over everyones' heads, until Tsuyu suddenly stepped up, placing a firm but supportive hand on the sobbing Minas' shoulder, forcing the pink young Hero to look in her eyes. "Mina, see if you can use that salve fluid of yours to at least try and slow Kolya-sans' bleeding. That should be able to stabilize him at least for long enough so you can all get him back to the facility-kero."

Understanding what Tsuyu was trying to do by instructing her like this, Mina tried to swallow her emotionally devastated choking sobs and focus on building up as thick a coating of her salve in her hands as she could, all while forcing herself to look at the open bullet wound just above Nikolays' heart.

Biting down hard on her lip to try and keep from sobbing further, Mina hurriedly pressed her hands to his chest, trying to fight the stomach-twisting sensation when feeling the warmth and wetness of his blood against her hands. She tried to lather on and smear as much of her quick-drying salve against his wound as possible, all the while silently praying to whatever force would listen that this would somehow be enough to at least keep Nikolay steady until they got him the care he needed at the facility.

However, even for as much as she kept hoping this would work, it still didn't stop her from feeling just how weak Nikolays' normally strong and healthy heartbeat now felt against her own hands. The realization of this, as soon as she had stopped making enough salve to completely cake Nikolays' wound over and temporarily stop the bleeding, made her immediately break her focused demeanor and start falling apart into unbearably tortured sobbing.

While this was going on, not sure as to whether they were going to be joining him in pursuit or not, Shoto didn't dare take his eyes off the Villain ahead, still leaping from tree to tree. Finally, though, he couldn't stay silent: "I can still catch up with him, but this can't wait any longer. Ashido, Tokage, go with Tetsutetsu and Kendo back to the facility. You can both help protect Bezpalov in case you run into any more trouble on the way there."

Setsuna was visibly surprised Shoto was saying this, considering the potential risk he was taking chasing after a Villain; and while Mina was likewise surprised, she also looked especially conflicted. "B-but I can still help! Those are still our classmates' lives in danger, and I should help save them too!"

Before she could say another word, though, Ochako grabbed both of Minas' shoulders, forcing the emotionally distraught girl to look in her eyes. It was so clear to Ochako that Minas' emotionally fragile state was keeping her from being able to think clearly right now, and this was where she needed to step in more than ever. "Mina-chan, by going with Setsuna-san, Tetsutetsu-san and Kendo-san, you are helping save one of our classmates' lives, one of our friends' lives. You can help get Kolya-san somewhere we all know he'll be safe."

Mina genuinely looked as though she were torn on what the most reasonable course of action was to take, torn between following her head or her heart. However, upon looking at Itsuka protectively enclosing her massive hands over Nikolays' motionless body again, she could feel that ill-advised twisting of guilt in her gut, and the natural desire to make things right that came with it. Finally, her all-encompassing sadness had given away to a shaky, but still evident drive as she looked all of her fellow classmates in the eye as she gave her answer: "Okay. I'm gonna get Kolya-kun to safety and make sure he'll be safe. You guys…you guys just promise you won't let that Villain get away with them."

None of the others even needed to verbally make that promise for Mina to know they were all of the same heart and mind. They were going to get Bakugo and Fumikage back, no matter what would happen to them in order to make it happen. And so, albeit still with great visible reluctance to leave so many of her friends behind to face a potentially massive threat, Mina finally took off into the woods alongside Setsuna, Tsubaraba, Tetsutetsu and Itsuka, this time in the direction they all knew would lead straight back to the facility.

Despite just how emotionally overwhelmed they had seen their mutual pink friend become at the sight of Nikolay in such an awful state, not a single one of them had a shred of doubt that, as long as they had Mina at their side looking to protect her friends, there wasn't a single thing any Villain out there would be able to do to stop them from getting where they needed to go. She had her mission, and they had theirs to finally attend to now.

After having seen the Villains go after Kota, harming Ochako, Tsuyu, Mina, Mezo and Nikolay, and even kidnapping Bakugo and Fumikage all in less than an hour, Izukus' heart and spirit alike were blazing with a Heroes' passion for delivering true justice. 'I swear to you all…those Villains aren't going to get away with anything they've done here tonight! That is my promise!'

---

Meanwhile, a minute ago…

Amid the asphyxiating smoke filling the forest around them thanks to the still-raging wildfire he had set at the start of their attack, Dabi and Twice were waiting patiently in the spot in the woods they had designated as their teams' rendezvous point once all their objectives had been fulfilled. While Dabi was as silent, observant and unsettlingly calculating as always, Twice was especially animated in his excitement. "Hey, Dabi, did you hear the radio?! Time to get pumped! It sounds like Mr. Compress has succeeded! Sure took his time though, huh?! I was seriously about to fall asleep over here!"

However, Dabi didn't nearly reflect as much childlike glee, instead keeping his eyes open for any sign of their returning comrades, or any intruding enemies. "If things really went according to plan, there would be walls of fire and gas making it difficult to find this place, but…the gas has cleared out, which means Mustard must've been taken out. I guess it goes to show things don't always go according to plan."

"Y'can say that again! Nothing went as planned…all according to plan!" While Dabi simply chose to ignore Twices' nonsensical proclamation, neither of the two Villains were aware that, less than five feet away, currently crouched and trembling behind a bush, was the normally twinkling, but now gravely terrified, Yuga Aoyama, curled up into a ball to try and keep himself as hidden as possible.

Just hearing how close the Villains were to his location had his normally confident demeanor completely sapped away, as he knew he was now in a position where he couldn't say or do anything without risking revealing himself to these two enemies that would doubtless kill him right where he stood the moment they saw him.

And what was more, Yuga wasn't alone, as he instinctively looked back down in his silent panic to see the two unconscious gas mask-wearing forms of Kyouka Jirou and Tooru Hagakure lying at his feet. From the onset of the Villain attack, Momo had placed Yuga in charge of getting them to the safety of the facility while she tried to help evacuate the Class B students. He had taken the task to heart and didn't let anything stop him…until now. And the realization that if he were to get caught, he would essentially be getting the two girls with him killed at the same time made his fear that much worse.

'Oh, mon dieu…this is terrible! At least the gas has cleared…just as those two said; somebody must've beaten the Villain that caused it. Everybody else out there is still fighting…but I…what is it that I should do? What can I do?'

All of a sudden, Yuga felt the worst kind of jolt shoot through his entire body; the kind of unsettling sensation one felt when they could instinctively feel eyes upon them. He immediately clasped his hands to his mouth, trembling like a leaf while trying so hard to fight the urge to do so. What made it all so much worse was that even through the crackling of the fire nearby, he could still make out the sound of a single pair of footsteps slowly approaching the bush he was hiding behind. 'Oh no…what's happening? Did he actually see me? Should I actually try firing my laser and taking the girls and running for my life? Would I even be able to get far enough away in time? What on earth should I do?!'

Just on the other side of that same bush, Dabi had been overcome with a sensation his heightened sense of alertness had given him, that indescribable yet undeniable feeling of not truly being alone here. Perhaps it was some sort of paranoia making him especially sensitive, but he knew one didn't get far in life by just brushing everything off as less than it actually was. As such, he had begun to approach that one bush, just looking to make sure everything was as secure as he hoped it was. He was less than two feet away from finally being able to see over the bushes—

"Hey, Dabi! Shit, I just realized, shouldn't we have called Nomu back here by now? You did say that he only responds to you, didn't you? That's an important detail, don't you think?" Twices' interruption stopped Dabi in his track. At the same time, it made Yugas' panicking heart nearly skip a beat, as the stitch-faced Villain turned back to his black-and-white-clad accomplice.

"Ah, crap, you're right. You're talking about why we didn't have him join in the attack, right?" Of course, Dabis' seriousness was sharply contrasted by yet more over-the-top energy from Twice, who had already started puffing out his chest and motioning for his partner to bow down to him in gratitude.

While Yuga was letting out the deepest silent sigh of inexpressible relief that he and his classmates hadn't yet been discovered, Dabi was now looking intently to another portion of the woods. "I received it from Shigaraki; a monster tailored to my specifications…"

---

Elsewhere in the woods at the same time…

"This is bad…THIS IS BAD!" This was all that the black-haired, bandanna-wearing Class B student, Yosetsu Awase, could keep saying to himself as he carried a badly injured Momo alongside him, trying to run as fast as his legs could carry him. He couldn't dare to even slow down enough to look back, nor did he need to, as he could just hear the trees being destroyed right behind him.

For the last minute or so, he and the Class A vice president had gotten attacked (with Momo suffering an especially hard hit to the head) and subsequently chased by another of these creatures she had explained were called Nomus. According to her, they varied wildly in ability, but that didn't make a difference to Yosetsu any; this thing chasing them was one of the most terrifying creatures he could think of: a hulking indestructible brute with multiple arms like a spider, each one ended with a multitude of especially vicious power tools, all gunning at that moment to kill them both.

"It's probably killed someone by now, I bet…THIS GUY IS SERIOUSLY BAD NEWS!" Yosetsu was fighting through the fire burning in his legs, he was running so fast through the uneven, brush-covered ground in an attempt to save both their lives, but nothing was slowing this damn thing down. Any second now, he was pretty much preparing to feel one of those steel blades come slicing right through him like butter.

By now, he could even feel Momo beginning to grow heavier in his arm, as she had stopped actively running right alongside him. Looking back even for a moment, he could see her face was running with lines of her own blood from that blow she had taken. "Oi, Yaoyorozu-san, are you alive?! Please, I need you to run! He's still chasing us!"

"I'm sorry…Awase-san…I'm…all right." Momo barely had the strength to say once her consciousness briefly returned to her. She could barely even put together what was happening right now, that blow she had taken to her head had been so intense. Of course, it thankfully didn't take long for her to remember when hearing the desperation in Yosetsus' voice, and the terrifying monstrosity that was chasing after them.

"DAMMIT! SHIT! WHAT IS THIS?! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!" As Yosetsus' fear reached a fever pitch, just at the same time the Nomu finally lunged an arm ending with a chainsaw right for the back of his head…the creature suddenly froze mid-pace, almost as though it were a statue. Just as quickly, every last ounce of aggression left its body as it suddenly stood up straight, recalled all of the attacking arms into its back, and started turning around, moving as though it were just a complacent non-threatening animal.

Realizing the buzzing of the power tools had stopped, and he could no longer hear the creature chasing after them, Yosetsu just as quickly stopped in his tracks, now looking back in even greater confusion. "Now what…why is he just turning around like we aren't even here?"

However, even for as confused as Momo herself was, she knew that wasn't what she needed to focus on. The fact the Nomu was now retreating had to mean the Villains had done what they were supposed to…which meant they now had to be gathering up to leave. Knowing what Mandalay had told them was one of the Villains' targets, a whole new surge of realization and concern filled her heart as she hurriedly began focusing as much as she could with the pain in her head, slowly reaching up to her scalp.

While Yosetsu looked to his injured ally in confusion, Momo suddenly created a tiny button-looking device from her palm, before just as quickly looking to him with an especially determined light in her eyes. "Awase-san…use your Quirk on him…with this!"

As she planted the small object in his palm, he couldn't help but look on in that same confusion. "What is this, a button?"

"Just hurry up and go!" Momo pleaded before finally collapsing to the grass, while Yosetsu now looked up to the slowly retreating Nomu. It didn't look as though it were reacting to anything they were saying. Perhaps that creature really was just a dumb mindless beast that only reacted in situations when its controller wanted it to react. Yosetsu had no way of knowing, and right now he didn't care. Momo was asking him to do something with all the seriousness in the world, and he needed to follow through. Gritting his teeth to try and swallow his still-lingering fear, he hurried up to the strolling Nomus' back, and with his mind screaming in focus, he hurriedly planted his palm with the button device flat against its back, until he could feel the Nomus' hide and the button physically becoming one.

This was his Welding Quirk in action, an ability to attach any two objects he physically touched together at the molecular level. And as soon as he removed his hand and saw Momos' button now sticking to the Nomus' back, he hurried back to her as fast as his legs could carry him after all the running he'd already done, hurriedly hoisting the barely conscious girl back to her feet, and running for his life back in the direction he knew the facility had to be in.

---

Outside the Forest Path at the same time…

"COME ON NOW, SPINNER! THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" This was the angriest Magne had sounded since the battle had begun between them, Spinner and Mandalay and Tiger, and for good reason.

After all, Tiger had finally found the opening to his Pliabody Quirk to completely entangle Magne in his arm, leaving them completely unable to keep fighting. It was the perfect kind of Quirk for one to be able to conduct rescue in a place like a collapsed building, as well as for completely overwhelming cocky Villains like this one. "SILENCE! If you're looking to blame someone, then blame yourself, you purveyor of evil!"

At the same time, Mandalay had since finally found her own opening to completely catch Spinner on his blind side, planting him face-first into the dirt with his hands hopelessly pinned behind his back. His speed had given her a real run for her money, but that kind of perseverance hadn't steered her wrong yet, and it wasn't about to start tonight. "And that is how it's done, Mr. Spinner-the-Villain!"

"NO! Get off of me! You filthy woman! Damn it! Stain will be restored! Do you hear me?! His will! Right here! It will be carried out through ME! YOU DEGENERATE LOT OF HEROES AND FOUR-EYES, I MUST PURGE YOU ALL FROM THIS WORLD!"

However, for as enraged and impassioned as Spinners' sudden attempt at a speech was, it did nothing to even remotely break Mandalays' focus on keeping him pinned down. "I don't know what you're talking about. Even so, you didn't even last long enough to use your Quirk, huh?"

Whether she was being completely serious or mocking him made no difference, it only served to infuriate Spinner that much more. "SHUT UP! MOVE! GET OFF OF ME!"

"Yes…"

A sudden unfamiliar voice began echoing through the air. Before Mandalay or Tiger could even look to each other to make sure they weren't simply hearing things, they found the area around them suddenly being engulfed in an impenetrable black mist; a mist only perforated by a slowly developing pair of glowing yellow eyes amid the quickly growing mass. "I will have you both…kindly move aside for me."

---

Northern Section of the Forest, present time…

From the very moment Mina had reluctantly left with Setsuna, Itsuka and Tetsutetsu, the rest of the Class A students had finally brought their attention back to the still visible, but quickly shrinking, sight of the top hat-wearing Villain jumping from tree to tree.

"He's fast. I can still close the distance to catch him, but it's going to be close." Shoto noted with frustration, while Ochako could only look on, shaking her fists from the same emotional place. "If only Iida-san were here, he'd be able to catch him in no time!"

At the same time, Izuku was gritting his teeth with desperation, repeatedly slamming his head against Mezos' back in an attempt to come up with a plan. Attacking Kota, severely injuring Nikolay and even putting so much as a scratch on anyone else was unforgivable as it was, but to take Bakugo and Fumikage like that Villain was threatening was something he was going to do everything humanly possible to stop.

"The situation with Kolya-sans' state was a bad enough stop gap in us chasing after him…the longer we wait, the more the distance between us increases, and the time we have left decreases. We can't give up…No! I've got catch up…and take them back!"

As Izuku growled this through his teeth, even fighting through the broken bones in his arms to clench his fists in determination, he drew the shocked and likewise worried gazes of his remaining classmates, before finally jerking his head back up with the beginnings of a plan in mind, looking intently upon Ochako and Tsuyu specifically. "Uraraka-san, hurry and make us all float! And then Asui-san, once we're floating, use your tongue to throw us with all your strength! Throw us as hard as you possibly can! We'll be able to fly towards him at high speed! Shouji-san, you can use your arms to guide our trajectory! You'll pull us along! We'll be okay as long as we're in Uraraka-sans' field of vision, so estimate the distance between us and him, and return our gravity when the time is right!"

Many of them were speechless but not stupid as to what Izuku was suggesting, as Mezo noted: "I see, it'll be like a literal human rocket."

However, understanding and agreeing weren't the same thing, as when Ochako finally found the wherewithal to actually answer such an insane plan: "But, Deku-kun, can you seriously still move with injuries like that?"

At this point, once more looking upon the green-haired boys' pitiful state, even Shoto felt the urge to speak up: "Uraraka-san's right; it's not unusual for virtually anyone to pass out with injuries like those. Midoriya-san, you should stay here. Otherwise the pain could very well—

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT PAIN IS RIGHT NOW! I CAN STILL MOVE, SO HURRY!" Izukus' voice was wrought with agony, desperation, and determination all rolled into one; the kind of rare emotional example that could resonate with anyone and everyone. And it was with hearing that and realizing just how serious and immovable he was on this matter, that Tsuyu finally proceeded to wrap him, Mezo and Shoto around the waists with her tongue, while Ochako quickly put her open hands to all three boys, rendering them all weightless. "Please…at the very least, just try to be careful, Deku-kun. Go ahead, Tsu!"

"We all promised Mina, and now you promise us: you have to save those two, okay-kero?" Before any of the boys could even answer her, Tsuyu proceeded to turn her entire body several times, towing the trio along inside her tongues' lasso in order to build up the right amount of speed and momentum. As they let out an affirming cry that they would do just as she was asking, Tsuyu finally released her tongue from around them, sending Izuku, Mezo and Shoto flying like a human trebuchet round through the night sky, directly after the still-fleeing magician-looking Villain.

The moment they were airborne, with Izuku still now strapped to his chest, and with one hand holding Shoto tight by the wrist, Mezo proceeded to open up the webbings between his tentacles, effectively forming a makeshift pair of organic wings and helping them fly so much further, while never taking his eyes off their target, even as Izuku and Shoto couldn't help but cry out as they flew completely weightless.

Once she could see that the three boys were flying in a steady course at last, Ochako didn't dare take her eyes off them, knowing the timing of their success rested entirely on her shoulders. However, that didn't stop her from speaking up to Tsuyu, her now sole remaining partner in these woods. "Tsu…please, go join Mina-chan and the others and go back to the facility. I can't imagine how much her mind must be racing after seeing Kolya-san like that. Having you there to help keep her steady in case of a fight is just what they need right now."

Tsuyu admittedly looked very uncertain of how good an idea this was, but she couldn't deny that anyone would react like Mina had after seeing someone they were so close to in such a state. To think someone like her could just swallow all that emotion the entire time when that very same persons' survival was in their hands was just plain naïve. Having her around to keep things under control, just in case, was ultimately the best course of action.

"Okay, Ochako. Just please be careful, and the moment Midoriya and the others catch up with that Villain, don't hesitate to get back to them in case they need help. I'll ask the teachers to go to their position for backup as soon as I get to the facility-kero." She knew Ochako had taken every word to heart, just by the focused look in her eyes as she kept an eye on their three airborne friends. And so, Tsuyu proceeded to hop out into the brush in an attempt to catch up with Mina and the Class B students. All the while, Ochako had her two hands just hovering centimeters from each other, just waiting to gauge the right time to return the boys' gravity and bring that fleeing Villain down.

---

Villain Collection Point

It had been a good couple of minutes of waiting impatiently before Dabi and Twice finally heard the rustling of bushes that could have only come with someone brazenly announcing their approach. Turning to address the first of their returned comrades, they were met with the bright smile of Himiko Toga, and her sharp eyes that seemed to indicate a sense of surprise upon seeing her two partners in one piece. "Oh? It's only this many of us so far? Or have you two just been waiting here since we started?"

Of course, Dabis' blank expression of apathy sharply contrasted with her deceptively sunny grin. "Oh, the crazy one. Of course it'd be you to get back here first. How did your blood collection mission go? How many peoples' worth?"

Himiko didn't hesitate to nearly twirl on her heels, revealing the numerous melted glass tanks lining her back, but more importantly the two that were not only still intact, but were also one-and-a-half full with blood. "Only two students, unfortunately. Those Yuuei girls are seriously no pushovers. They destroyed almost all of my knives, too."

The fact she had come up so short, but was still sounding so peppy, had Twice going into near spasms of frustration: "JUST TWO?! Weren't you the one who said you would get blood from at least three different people?!"

Of course, Himiko simply kept walking, completely indifferent to the ninja-esque Villain getting way up in her face. "There wasn't anything else I could do; that adorable pink one melted the rest of my tanks, plus a whole bunch of other Hero cadets showed up before I could suck out any more. I thought I was about to get killed if I stuck around."

Twices' momentary disbelief at the young girls' combat circumstances was swiftly snuffed out when he noticed the particularly bright, giddy smile on her blushing face. It wasn't like the infuriatingly immature smile she always had otherwise. "Hey, Toga, what's got you so excited after coming up so short?! Did something else happen to you?!"

As if she were simply waiting for that question, Himiko suddenly brought her hands to her face, wiggling with absolute delight. "I made two really good new friends today…and I even met a second boy I'm interested in! I hope I'll get to meet the first one properly soon, I don't wanna be caught in something so lurid as a love triangle…although, that might be a lot of fun in its own right, too! Ooh, I don't know what path to decide on!"

Twice was already beginning to start arguing if Toga was offhandedly referring to himself, but she was too absorbed in her own daydreaming head to pay attention, and Dabi was far too focused on something else to let the two carry on like the half-assed comedy duo they looked like in moments like this: "Both of you, shut up!"

The truth was that, even amid their mindless chatter, Dabis' sharp ears had caught the sound of something soaring through the air right for them, but it sounded far too big to simply be their comrade that had called them all here, Mr. Compress.

The moment he could finally discern where the sound was headed, Dabi immediately turned on his heels with the alertness of an animal, just in time to find the aforementioned magician Villain come crashing straight down through the foliage and into the ground…and he wasn't alone, either.

Piling down on top of him to keep him from moving were the three Yuuei students Dabi had memorized from the archive beforehand to be Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki, and Mezo Shouji. The fact these three had decided to almost literally crowbar themselves into the Villains' proceedings at virtually the last minute had Dabis' normally unreadable eyes noticeably widen with surprise and anticipation, while Twice was immediately on the over-the-top reactionary exclamation as always: "THESE BRATS! I KNOW THEM! WHO ARE THEY?!"

---

Elsewhere, at the same time…

Mina hadn't slowed down one bit from the moment she had taken Ochakos' advice to heart, and decided to accompany the Class B students in getting Nikolay back to the facility. In fact, she had practically taken the lead right from the start, throwing a continuous barrage of handfuls of acid into the obstructing brush ahead of them, clearing up a path straight there that they could run across and save themselves that much more precious time.

"Itsu-chan, how's Kolya-kun holding up?!" Mina called back, not wanting to risk a moment looking back, and instead continuing to melt away the brush. While Tetsutetsu and Setsuna were both managing to keep pace with her, Itsuka had to slow herself down by comparison to keep Nikolay from being rocked about inside her hands. Unfortunately, her answer was anything but good: "I can still feel him breathing, but I can also feel more blood than before. He's already started bleeding through the salve!"

This immediately sent Mina into an even greater rush of desperation, by now completely engulfing her hands in acid as she continued to throw even faster, nearly breaking into a sprint as she went along, forcing the others to follow suit.

Within seconds, the trees around them suddenly thinned out, and they found themselves now stumbling out onto the path they immediately recognized as the one that led back to the facility. What was more, they weren't the only ones here, as they immediately caught sight of a figure almost entirely in black and grey likewise sprinting up the road before nearly skidding to a stop. "Are you kids alright?!"

Mina, Tetsutetsu, Setsuna and Itsuka couldn't have been happier to hear the voice of Aizawa, still clutching a trembling Kota Izumi in his arms, as he looked them all over with a distinct worry in his once unreadable gaze, immediately spotting the bullet holes in Tetsutetsus' shirt, and the blood dripping out from inside Itsukas' hands. "What happened out there? Are there any other students evacuating from the forest behind you?"

Minas' heart was still racing and her mind going a thousand miles a minute as she tried to give her teacher a concise answer: "S-Sensei, w-when we got told Bakugo was the Villains' target, Urara-chan, Tsu-chan and I, we got attacked by this one Villain, but we managed to drive her away when Midori-kun, Setsu-chan, Shouji-san and Todoroki-kun showed up. They…they were trying to guide Bakugo back to the facility, but this other Villain captured him and Tokoyami-kun!

"Then…then Tetsutetsu-san and Itsu-chan showed up…and…and…" by this point, Minas' already shaky demeanor quickly fell apart as she started breaking into further choking sobs, which made Aizawas' already deathly intense gaze turn even colder with worry as he looked to a likewise shaken Itsuka.

"Bezpalov-san, he…he saved me from getting shot by this Villain that had gassed the forest…and…"

Unable to keep putting the words together the more the reality kept sinking further and further in, she proceeded to once more remove her hand, and the moment he saw how bloody and pale Nikolay was in her grasp, Shota Aizawa nearly felt every hair on his head stand on end. His grasp on Kota began to grow even tighter, especially as he now took this sight in alongside Tetsutetsus' bruises, visible through his shot up shirt, and especially the now extensive scalding burns visible on Minas' hands as she tried so hard to try and stifle her tears. 'God…she had to have been forcing herself past her ordinary limit for damn near two whole minutes to get like this, all for the sake of getting them to safety. I'm sorry that I couldn't be there to save you kids…but that changes now.'

As Mina kept trying to wipe the ever-flowing tears from her face, she suddenly felt the firm yet supportive touch of Aizawas' hand on her shoulder, forcing her to look up to the man as he looked intently up the road. "All of you stay with me. The facility is not even a minute away. We're going to get all of you the medical attention you need the moment I know you're safe there. Now stay close."

Aizawa didn't waste a second before continuing to sprint up the road, now with the rest of these students following right on his tail. As he kept holding the shaken Kota tight and didn't break his eyes from the road ahead, the teacher found his mind thinking back: 'Bezpalov…Tetsutetsu…Ashido…they all ended up hurt, because in their own ways, they were trying to protect each other, to save each other. Perhaps I was wrong on some front; perhaps they really have grown more than I thought they had, just not in the field I had been expecting them to be by now. Especially Bezpalov; I accused him of not maturing like I thought he had because he'd gone knowingly into danger on his own…but if he hadn't, this could've turned out so much worse for Kendo and Tetsutetsu.

'He did what any and all Heroes are supposed to do when they see someone is in danger, and it's as a Hero that I can't help but approve of him following through on his duty…but as a teacher meant to look out for the safety of his students, I can't approve of him going off so recklessly, alone against who-knows-how-many Villains. But this isn't the time to be dwelling on that right now! I'm not going to let anything else happen to these kids, no matter what!'

As Aizawa and the students kept running as fast as they possibly could, Kota likewise had felt himself be stricken anew, even with the foundation-breaking revelation he'd already gone through thanks to Izuku saving his life. He recognized the foreign-looking boy whom he'd given an attitude to as well, and to now see him looking practically dead, and knowing he had ended up this way for the exact same reason that Izuku had for the little kid himself, left Kota with a whole new twisting sensation of guilt in his gut.

Just as Aizawa had said, the trees lining the road began to thin out, and the beginnings of the training camp clearing were just up ahead. If all the students' relief hadn't been so immense, they, like Aizawa, would have immediately realized the distinct smell of smoke in the air, much too far from the wildfire in the forest to be from that.

When the facility finally came into view, Aizawa dug his heels in, as did the rest of the students in quick succession, as they all beheld the petrifying sight of the glow of fire coming from within the windows of the facility wing they all knew to be the remedial classroom.

---

Minutes ago, the time of Mandalays' message conveyance…

"Come on, Sensei, didn't you hear her?! Those Villains are going after Bakugo, we gotta stop them! Please, let us go out there!" "Damn right, Aizawa-sensei told us to fight, didn't he?" Shortly after Tenya and his group had been sequestered into the remedial classroom, and Mandalays' two telepathic messages had been given to all the students, Denki and Eijirou had immediately been on the move to get back out into the woods to protect their hotheaded classmate, only for Vlad King to firmly plant himself in front of the classroom door, arms firmly crossed.

However, no matter how much the two boys tried to reason with the 1-B homeroom teacher, even with Tenya trying to use the argument of their sheer numbers to convince him, all pleas were simply falling on deaf ears."I'm sorry, but that's not happening. When Eraserhead said you students were allowed to fight, he meant that in self-defense until you could all reach the safety of this place. I'm in charge of making sure you kids don't go getting yourselves hurt, and especially not if you're already safe here. Now all of you just stay put."

CLUNK!

The sound of something making a pronounced impact against the door behind Vlad King left the entire classroom silent as he looked back to the window. Inside the frame was a single nondescript hand. The sight of this simply emboldened Eijirou even more. "See, Aizawa-sensei's back already. Let's just ask him directly."

The moment the red-haired boy began heading for the door, Vlad King suddenly extended a mighty hand, stopping him and Denki in their tracks, while the rest of his body tensed up immensely upon realization. "No…that's not him!"

The moment a sudden flash of light began to emanate from the hand on the other side of the door, Tenya instantly turned back to the rest of his peers: "EVERYONE GET DOWN!"

BOOOM!

With a deafening burst of noise and heat, the door to the remedial classroom was blasted right off its hinges in a blazing blue fireball, just a second after Vlad King had thrown himself straight into Eijirou and Denki, bringing both shell-shocked boys to the floor while shielding them from the brunt of the explosions' damage.

Even with all their heads ringing from the huge explosion, the students all began to get back up, taking in the flaming wreckage of the doorway scattered across the classroom, before suddenly realizing the fiery black-clad, stitched and scarred figure now stepping in through the flames and smoke; the very same Villain they had seen fighting Aizawa just minutes before, whom they had all seen disintegrate before their very eyes.

"W-what the hell?! That's the same guy! Why is he suddenly all better again!?" Minoru cried out in horror at the sight of this seemingly invincible Villain having now come back to undoubtedly take them all out without Aizawa around to interfere.

However, the very moment the black-haired Villain noticed his numerous preys watching him, and subsequently began to engulf his hand in another blue fireball, Vlad King was already on the move, ramming him straight into the wall with the force of a freight train. "TOO SLOW!" He immediately followed up with the power of his own Quirk, emitting several lines of his own blood from the tubes in his gauntlet, straight through his hand and into the foolhardy Villain, effectively immobilizing him against the wall.

This brash young evildoer didn't look the least bit intimidated, even with the Pro Heroes' menacing bulldog-like face staring him down with potentially lethal intent if necessary. "Barging in here like that with such a brainless attack…you're really making light of us, aren't you?"

While the students couldn't help but watch with fascination and excitement (the latter on Monomas' part), the Villains' burn scar-stitched face stretched into a mocking grin, much to Vlad Kings' simmering anger. "Of course I'm making light of you…you've reacted exactly the way I thought you would. You've already fallen behind…you're losing this battle.

"Yuuei, the pinnacle of Hero education, and All Might, the paragon of peace. Two of this Hero society's most trusted symbols, gathered in one place. If we can do things that cause that trust to waver, then no matter how many All Might copycats start popping up to try and reinforce his influence, surely those cracks will start to spread throughout all of society, don't you think? For example…a careless administration that allows itself to be repeatedly attacked, one weak enough to allow a group of ragtag criminals to snatch away students…"

At the mention of this, Eijirou and Denkis' shock had immediately ignited into driven anger, as the former began to harden his fists, and Denkis' hands began to conduct sparks and bolt between his palms. "You jerks, what did you do?! Does that mean that Bakugo's been-?!" "Is that how it is?! We'll mess you up if so!"

The sight of the two young boys getting so fired up brought out an especially chilling chuckle out of the Villain, completely paying Vlad King no mind at this point. "Just watch and see. Us, who are so few in number…we will run you and your whole society into the ground."

WRAAM!

Out of nowhere, a blur of black suddenly flew in through the doorway, slamming a devastating knee straight into the Villains' head. Vlad King and the students barely had the time to process what had happened before recognizing their sudden intruder as Aizawa. "Don't bother with this one, Vlad."

With insane precision, he proceeded to wrangle one of the wrappings around his neck around that of the Villain he already knew what to expect from, planting his foot on the back of its head before pulling on the wrapping, tearing right through the neck just as before, and leaving the Villain clone to once again disintegrate into a puddle before everyones' eyes. "This guy's just trying to agitate you. You won't get any information from him. See? He's just a fake. There was one just like him here earlier."

Before any of the students could even begin to ask just what the hell was going on, or even express relief that their teacher had returned, the uneasy calm of the classroom was swiftly broken by the arrival of all his own accompanying students, with Mina practically sprinting in and hugging every single one of her classmates with an especially frantic energy. "Oh my god, Kiri, Kaminari, you guys! When I saw that fire, I thought something awful had happened to all of you! Are you sure you're okay? You're not hurt or anything?"

While she was hurriedly trying to check any of her classmates for even the slightest sign of injury, Eijirou was trying hard to play the pacifier between them, trying to calm his old friend down. "We're fine, Ashido, I promise, we're okay. We owe a lot of that to Vlad King-sensei, as a matter of fact."

At the same time as this, Monoma was still looking especially shaken, even though he tried to express his relief at the sight of Setsuna, Tetsutetsu and Tsubaraba, despite the latter being unconscious. "You manage to hold the fort down okay with Sensei, Monoma-kun?" Setsuna finally asked once she had set Tsubaraba down for Vlad King to look over.

However, before the normally snarky blonde boy could summon up an answer, a strong flinch of shock from Eijirou drew everyones' attention, as he'd finally noticed the cut and bite mark on Minas' left hand and right forearm respectively, even under the dried-on healing salve; on top of the scalding burns on her palms, together with all the blood on them. But the final punctuation on just how roughly things had gone for his longtime pink friend, was the unmistakable sight of tear tracks running down her face; a face that looked like it was even now trying with all her willpower not to start crying even more. "What the hell happened to you guys out there, Ashido? What are you doing worrying about us when you're hurt like this?"

Mina was already sniffling as she tried to silently assure Eijirou not to be worrying about her. "It's…it's not mine, Kiri. It's not…not my blood."

However, even despite this, that didn't look to calm Eijirou down worth a damn. "Then why do you look like you've been crying yourself raw the whole way here? Wait…did something happen to Uraraka-san and Asui-san? Are they with you guys?"

Eijirou looked like he was about ready to go running out that door to go and get Minas' previous partners, but a steady grasp on his shoulder from a surprisingly worn out-looking Tetsutetsu stopped him dead in his tracks. If the student who was, in far too many ways for his liking, pretty much a carbon copy of himself was actually looking this forlorn, then this situation was even more serious than he already feared it was.

"Kiri…we ran into a Villain, after Mandalay-sensei told us about the Villains targeting Bakugo. She ran off when Midori-kun came with Todoroki-kun, Setsuna-chan and Shouji-san. They were on their way to get Bakugo back here, but he…he'd gotten taken by another Villain, along with Tokoyami-kun. Midori-kun, Todoroki-kun and Shouji-san are chasing after him right now. I was even going to go with them, bring everyone along so we'd have a better chance, but that was when…when Tetsutetsu-san and Itsu-chan showed up…and…and Kolya-kun was with them, but he…he…"

As if to serve as the only finisher to this awful story that Mina needed, Itsuka finally made her way inside, her large bloodied hands still clasped together. She could already tell from the fact Mina was borderline inconsolable again, that she'd already told everyone what they needed to know. With that, she knelt down and opened her hands, revealing the bloody mess that was Nikolay Bezpalov to everyone else, all the Class 1-A students stricken with indescribable horror at what had happened, while Aizawa and Vlad King were already getting the boy out of Itsukas' hands and setting him down easy. Eijirou especially looked like his heart was getting crushed right alongside Mina and Denkis'.

"My Quirk only affects my blood, so I can't use it to help him, but I can at least stop the bleeding. The whole facility has a satellite uplink to emergency services, so they should be on their way now, and they'll be able to really fix him up. I can at least stabilize him for now." Vlad King hurriedly explained while Aizawa had rushed back out to the hall and almost immediately returned with a first-aid kit for his fellow teacher.

"Tokage, Yanagi was in your group for the courage game earlier, correct? Were the rest of your classmates behind you on your way here?" Vlad King suddenly asked the saddened Setsuna, momentarily catching her off guard, before her shoulders slumped with further regret.

"She and Kinoko-chan were both knocked out by the gas when the Villain attack started, Sensei. Last I'd seen of them, they were being evacuated with a lot of our other classmates, alongside some of Class A, by Awase-kun and Yaoyorozu-san. They surely must all be on their way here after Mandalay-sensei gave the order for everyone to return here. But I don't know if Reiko-chan will have regained consciousness from breathing in that gas by the time they all get back."

Vlad King couldn't hope to hide the likewise frustration on his own face as that of his students, as he already began sorting through the first aid kit, while Aizawa was getting back up and heading for the door. The Class B teacher immediately noticed what his colleague was doing in the middle of this chaos. "Eraserhead, where exactly have you been, and where are you going now?"

Aizawa silent stepped aside, allowing the trembling little Kota to step inside, to the recognition, surprise and relief of many of the students that had already been here from the start, relieved to see the kid wasn't hurt. "I'm sorry, Vlad. I was going to go and issue combat authorization, but I had to go and protect Kota-kun until I could get him here, first. Could you take care of him for me from here once you've stabilized Bezpalovs' condition? I will go back to the frontlines to save the rest of the students. In the meantime, I'm still counting on you to protect this place and these students with everything you have, Vlad."

However, Vlad King wasn't necessarily as accepting as Aizawa had been hoping he would be: "Wait, Eraserhead! Who knows how many times the Villains will try and attack this place again?"

This question struck a clear chord of apprehension among the students, but Aizawa remained undeterred: "I know you'll be able to handle things here on your own, Vlad. Just look at this fake that just attacked you. Both times they sent just one…they're simply a means to keep the Pros here distracted. It's a tactic to make up for their lack of numbers."

Thankfully, this clarification seemed to remove any remaining doubt in Vlad King, and the moment he gave a resolute nod of acceptance, Aizawa was already turning on his heels to take off into another sprint, before Eijirou, Mina and Tenya all suddenly shot back up to their feet. "SENSEI, PLEASE, IF THERE ARE SO FEW VILLAINS OUT THERE, THEN LET US GO OUT THERE AND FIGHT WITH YOU!" "YEAH! WE CAN'T JUST LET THEM GET AWAY WITH HURTING AND KIDNAPPNG OUR FRIENDS! PLEASE, LET US FIGHT!" "YES, YOU KNOW WE'LL HAVE THE NUMBERS ADVANTAGE!"

However, a single piercing glare from Aizawa rendered all his especially impassioned students silent. "Absolutely not! More than keeping us Pros occupied, the students seem to be the Villains' main targets! Bakugo is just one of many they could potentially be after! In terms of information, we're at a complete disadvantage! In any case, ensuring absolutely everyones' safety is our victory condition tonight, so all of you, just stay here where Vlad King can keep you all safe! That is an order!"

Aizawa could clearly see the frustration reflected in every single students' eyes, but he couldn't afford to let that make him reconsider. Their safety, as was the safety with every single student here, was his top priority, and if he had to play the bad guy in order to get them to stay put and out of harms' way, then by god, he would do it as long and harshly as he needed to. As soon as he could see the tension in their body language start to wane, he was off like a shot, sprinting back out the front doors and back down the path into the woods. He didn't even need to hear the immensely frustrated and devastated cries from Eijirou and Mina respectively to know that was exactly what they were doing the moment he had left.

He couldn't even think of blaming them. Both their devotion to those they called their friends was palpable and unbreakable, and to see those same friends of theirs in serious danger, and being refused the opportunity to go out and potentially save them…it was the kind of frustration few people could truly understand and empathize with…and Shota Aizawa was definitely one of those few people.

What he never realized as he left, however, was the presence of a second Villain clone hiding just out of sight behind a corner of the training facility, having been listening in on all their talk through the busted open windows, and feeling a sensation of anticipation once Aizawa had left. "'Just a means of distracting the Pros', huh? Well, he's not exactly wrong, but nobody ever said anything against going one little step further. As if kidnapping that Bakugo kid wasn't enough, surely killing at least one other student under the direct protection of a Pro would make a plenty big enough crack in society's faith in Heroes, too."

---

Villain Collection Point, Present

The very moment he had seen Mr. Compress get piled onto the ground by the three Yuuei boys, and Twice had simply asked who they were, Dabi was immediately on the offensive, aiming his already aflame right hand in their direction. "Mister, dodge."

Even with the boys pinning him down, the magician Villain now known as Mr. Compress heard his allies' blunt instruction, and with a resounding "Roger that," his entire body suddenly seemed to shrink into itself right out from under the three now-confused students.

The moment he saw Mr. Compress vanish from sight, Dabi immediately proceeded to throw his right hand in a jab, sending a massive column of blue fire tearing across the clearing right for the stunned children in front of him, ignoring the once more nonsensical exclamation from Twice of his attack being cold.

As for Izuku, Mezo and Shoto, the instant they realized what the scarred Villain before them was doing, they were immediately evading, with Shoto practically launching himself to the side, with Mezo and the now untied Izuku forcing themselves away from each out and out of the line of attack. Unfortunately, they were simply half a second too late behind Shoto, as Mezo and Izuku felt the agonizing burn of Dabis' fire against their left and right arms respectively, letting out further anguished cries from the searing pain.

Shoto rolled hard across the ground, still in shock from the scale of Dabis' fire attack from such a minor jab. For someone to wield such power while showing such little physical effort, he was clearly far stronger than he looked, and the red-white-haired boy had just barely managed to avoid getting caught in it, while seeing to his further shock that his two allies had just barely been less lucky.

However, his momentary stun kept him from noticing the approach of Twice from behind, who was already in the process of tightening a measuring tape to strangle the child with. "Your faces were on Shigarakis' kill list! Both Mr. Beat-Up over there and you! You both weren't on the list!"

Shotos' natural alertness and alarm together didn't even allow him to be bothered by the Villains' inconsistent rambling, as he immediately rolled himself over and slammed his right hand down, creating a massive bunch of icy spikes to erupt from the ground, forcing Twice to practically throw himself back out of the way with an alarmed proclamation of "HOT! HOT! HOT!"

At the same time as Izuku and Mezo were trying to roll themselves across the ground to put out the flames on their arms, Izuku suddenly heard the sound of something zipping fast through the air, only to realize a syringe on a cord was flying right for him, barely managing to jerk his head to the side just out of the way as it flew right past him.

Before he could even gather what to do next, he found himself getting nearly tackled and pinned to the ground, now staring up into the manic eyes of the very same blonde schoolgirl Villain that he had found attacking Ochako, Mina and Tsuyu; and right now, she had a knife raised high over her head to drive right into him, an ecstatic smile on her face. "I just knew I'd get to see you again soon! Hi, I'm Toga, my dear Izuku! I remember seeing you on TV like the others, too!"

Before Izuku could even think of countering, she planted a firm, tight grasp on his throat, pinning him to the ground further, unable to fight back with both his arms so severely broken now. "I was just thinking about this, but I think you'd probably look a lot cooler if you were bleeding just a little bit more, my dear Izuku!"

Just at the moment she was about to bring the knife straight down into him, though, Izuku suddenly felt her weight come flying right off him, as Mezo had managed to put his own burning arm out and come charging right in for the save, shoulder-tackling the female Villain right off of him before hurriedly helping the battered young boy back to his feet.

As the two of them stood facing off against Himiko, and Shoto continued trying to fight off Twice, Mr. Compress had finally taken that chance to return from the form of the tiny marble he had saved himself with, brushing off his jacket before calmly approaching the ever-patient Dabi. "Owww…to think those youngsters would come flying right on after me. What marvelous thoughts take flight when driven by emotion."

However, Dabi wasn't nearly as willing to entertain his comrades' whimsical thought process, instead simply holding out a waiting hand. "Bakugo?"

"Of course." With that, Mr. Compress proceeded to reach into his right pocket…and keep reaching, and searching, and with each second his calm demeanor gave way to that which could only be confusion and surprise. At the moment he and Dabi had realized that their quarry clearly wasn't where it was supposed to be, Mezo suddenly called out to Izuku and Shoto: "BOTH OF YOU, RUN!"

The two Villains immediately turned to the masked tentacled boy, who was now staring down Mr. Compress with especially intense determination, as he suddenly held out his left arm and revealed two tiny marbles clasped between his fingers; leaving both Villains with visible surprise. "Your actions just now have made it clear. I don't know what your Quirk is, but those things you were flaunting at us earlier, in your right pocket…THESE ARE TOKOYAMI-SAN AND BAKUGO-SAN, AREN'T THEY, ENTERTAINER?!"

Even with his face as bruised up and with one eye nearly swollen shut, Izuku looked like he was about ready to cry for joy the moment he made the same realization with Mezo and Shoto. "SHOUJI-SAN!"

At the same time, however, instead of giving into frustration, Mr. Compress actually began slowly applauding. "Ho, ho, ho! In just that short span of time, you…oh, well done, Six-Arms! You're quite good at groping about!"

Realizing they'd gotten what they came for, Shoto immediately created a sudden wall of ice separating himself from Twice, already making a beeline to grab Izuku so they could escape with their imprisoned classmates in tow. At the same time, Dabi was already beginning to make his own way towards Mezo, glancing angrily at Mr. Compress all the while: "You idiot…"

Suddenly, the magician Villain himself held a pausing hand in front of his burn scarred comrade. "No, no, hold on."

Before Izuku or his partners could even think of just what the Villains were thinking, a sudden movement out the corner of his eye drew the freckled boy to look to his right and see, to his blood-chilling shock, the sight of an even bigger Nomu than all the ones before, emerging from around a tree.

Immediately turning back to face the Villain, he, Shoto and Mezo now found themselves faced with a quickly growing black mass of mist, with two unmistakable yellow eyes building up between the three Heroes and the remaining Villains. All at once did Izuku realize just what was happening now: "A warp…gate."

This was it, and they all three knew it: this was the final stretch, the deciding moment." As a couple different warp gates suddenly began to open across this little forest clearing, Twice and Himiko were the first to make their escape through them: "It's been five minutes now, Dabi! Time for us to go!" "Sorry, my dear Izuku! See you again soon!"

While their allies vanished, Mr. Compress was likewise calmly making his way for his own, while Dabi, for once, didn't look to be on the same page. "But our objective…!"

Stopping mid-stride, Mr. Compress then proceeded to remove his top hat and mask. "Oh, yes, that. Well, they all just seemed so happy after chasing me; I wanted to give them a present. It's another bad habit of mine. You see, one of the fundamentals of magic is to flaunt things…"

From the moment he finally removed his mask to reveal the stocking over his head still revealed his eyes and mouth like a ski mask, he suddenly opened his mouth with tongue extended, revealing two marbles resting securely on it. "…only when you have other things to hide."

CRASH!

As if on cue, the two marbles in Mezos' hand suddenly exploded into plumes of ice, to his and both other young boys' surprise. Mr. Compress' body language was downright giddy as he once again donned his mask and hat while looking at the stunned Shoto in particular. "During your freezing attack, I prepared some dummies, and I put them in my right pocket. And then you all happily ran after me when you noticed me putting them in there."

Izukus' shock ignited into rage, completely pushing aside his natural observation of what the Magicians' Quirk now clearly was, as he once again fought through all the broken bones and began to clench his left hand into a fist, reeling his left arm in preparation to knock both these Villains' lights out. And yet, even in the face of such emotional drive, Mr. Compress still continued stepping back into his own warp gate, capping it all off with a very theatrical exiting bow. "Well then…until next time, young Hero-!"

THOOOM!

Out of practically nowhere, a blinding sparkling blue beam suddenly shot out from one of the nearby bushes, just grazing Mr. Compress' face, shattering his mask, but most importantly, forcing him to spit out the two marbles in his mouth; both falling harmlessly to the ground while the Villain was still reeling from this sneak attack.

Izuku, Shoto and Mezo couldn't have mistaken that miraculous laser to be from anyone but Yuga Aoyama, barely visible from behind one of the now smoking bushes, visibly wincing from the physical strain of firing such a concentrated Navel Laser shot.

However, they couldn't let the relief of this miracle interference distract them any longer, as now the marbles containing Bakugo and Fumikage were out in the open for anyone to grab. As such, the three boys immediately broke into a rabid sprint for the two tiny spheres.

Unfortunately, after the third mad stride, Izuku suddenly felt an electrical jolt of incomprehensible pain suddenly shoot through every single fiber of his being, just as it had when he'd first been attacked by Dark Shadow. His adrenaline was finally wearing off, and thus the pain of all his collected injuries was coming back all at once with a vengeance, forcing the crippled boy to collapse face first to the ground, and thus leaving the rescue of their two classmates to Mezo and Shoto alone.

Extending his right arms, Mezo managed to snatch up the marble bearing Fumikages' crow head, while at the same time, Shoto was practically diving for the one with Bakugos' face. Just to better their chances, Mezo even began to reach with his left arms for it as well.

Unfortunately, a single purple-gloved hand suddenly swept in and snatched the Bakugo marble just out from under them, as Shoto crashed to the ground, wide-eyed at the realization of how victory had literally been stolen right out from under them.

Looking up, he found himself staring into the cold, judgmental eyes of the black-haired Villain with the numerous patches of purple burnt skin and stitches. His wasn't a glare of gloating victoriously…it was as though he was staring down at something that bred an especially strong contempt deep inside. Those eyes lost none of their cruel apathy as the Villain Shoto now knew as Dabi, slowly stepped back to be consumed in the black haze of his own warp gate. "How sad…Todoroki…Shoto."

With the stabbing sensation in his heart of what was actually happening, Izuku fought with blood, sweat and tears through this all-consuming pain as he was practically forcing himself off one foot after the other in a mad charge for the last of the escaping Villains.

Seeing this, Dabi calmly turned to the likewise escaping Mr. Compress, who was now halfway through his own gate. "Mission accomplished. Release it."

"Oh, come on now, that laser back there totally ruined my show." Despite this complaint from the magician Villain, he still did as he was told, as just before his gate closed, with his arm being the last thing revealed, he suddenly snapped his fingers before pulling back and officially escaping.

As Dabis' gate likewise began to close, and Izuku found himself once again tripping over his own feet from the pain, he tried to crawl his way back up, only to find that now, the marble had gone, just as the one once in Mezos' hand had exploded, revealing the once more whole Fumikage now falling from the air to the ground before him; and Dabi now stood side by side with a shell-shocked-looking Bakugo, looking like he was physically incapable of moving, as the Villain had his hand grasping firmly at the back of his neck. "No problem."

As Dabi stated this cold declaration of victory, and the gate continued to shrink before them, even through Izukus' desperate tears, he could still feel the sensation of Bakugos' eyes looking directly into his own; nobody elses'. Seeing this expression of heavily restrained fear on his old friends' face, Izuku couldn't hope to not let his own desperate anguish be heard, crying out for Bakugo to try and flee: "KACCHAN!"

Izuku was the sole focus of the normally hotheaded boys' attention, as he barely managed to speak but only a few words as the mist enclosed around him and his captor. It was surprisingly soft, but unmistakable to be heard: "Stay back…Deku."

And just like that, with an unceremonious whisper in the wind, the last of the warp gates had finally closed, and Izuku, Mezo, Shoto and Fumikage now found themselves faced with the cold, unforgiving silence that accompanied the world-weighing realization of one unmistakable truth:

The Villains had escaped, Bakugo was gone, and they had unequivocally failed.

---

Training Facility, just a minute ago…

While Vlad King and Mina had finished applying the last touches they could to Tsubarabas' wounds and Nikolays' bullet wounds with the first aid kit, the rest of the students had thankfully taken care to put out the last of the fires from the Villain clones' attack minutes ago. From all of their perspectives, they were about as safe as they could be in these circumstances.

After Vlad King finished washing the wound with a bottle of water and using his strength to apply pressure to it so Mina could get a disinfected gauze over it, she proceeded to apply a thin coating of her healing salve, which the Class B teacher had taken to calling as similar to Vaseline, to the gauze, adhering it to Nikolays' softly rising chest. Vlad Kings' pressure had thankfully managed to help control the bleeding, at least for now, but it still didn't change the fact they were racing against the clock.

The entire time they carried this out, Vlad King could clearly see just how distraught Mina still was when seeing the Russian boy like this. It was clear as day that she held this classmate of hers especially close, and as easy as it could've been for her to just stay in this devastated state of inconsolable wailing, she was still trying to control it enough so that she could actually be able to help. A Pro Hero like him couldn't just brush willpower like that off, and so once it was clear there was nothing more they could do for Nikolay for now, he finally spoke up to the teary-eyed pink girl before him.

"We've done all we can for Bezpalov-kun for now. If the rest of my students get back here soon, and Yanagi is indeed conscious again, her Quirk can help remove the bullet, which will be a big step towards his recovery. However, if that's not the case, it shouldn't take much longer for the emergency services and the police to get out here, then he really will be in the best hands."

He was clearly trying to be both optimistic and realistic at the same time, and while Mina, deep down, could appreciate that, her worry for Nikolays' health was simply too much for her to keep putting off. Thankfully, Eijirou could see this constant conflict on her face, glistening with her continuous tears. "Hey, Ashido, please, just try to breathe for a minute, okay? Vlad King-sensei surely knows what he's talking about; no matter what happens, Kolya-san's gonna be okay, you'll see."

As he placed a reassuring hand on her trembling shoulder, Mina immediately placed an appreciative hand of her own over it, even if her tears still couldn't stop. Truth be told, it was taking everything the sharp-toothed redhead had to not start letting his own rampant emotions out the same way, knowing their mutual closest friend had ended up like this, and neither of them had been able to prevent it.

"I just…I just can't stop thinking about it, Kiri. From the moment Mandalay-sensei said we were under attack, right from the start, even though I tried to stay strong for Urara-chan and Tsu-chan, and even though I tried to fight to protect us, I was so scared the entire time. The only reason I didn't just go sprinting after Kolya-kun the moment I heard his blasts in the woods, was cause I was scared of us blindly running into a Villain and getting hurt.

"I can't stop thinking about what I could've done if I hadn't let myself get scared, though! What if…what if I had just gone for it, fought through whatever Villain got in our way, and made my way to Kolya-kun like I thought I should've? Maybe I could've been able to stop this from happening. Maybe if I'd been faster in saving him, maybe we could've met up with Midori-kun's group sooner, and Bakugo and Tokoyami-kun wouldn't have gotten taken. If I'd just been braver and stronger, maybe I could've been able to help save all of them."

Eijirou and many of the other students looked genuinely at a loss for words as Mina poured her heart and souls' worth of regrets out at last, revealing just how tormented with guilt she truly was after having seen a friend she had sworn to always be there to look out for and fight alongside, practically on the verge of death.

However, of all the people in that room to answer Minas' emotional anguish, it was Vlad King, as he placed a firm hand on her shoulder like so many others already had tonight, forcing the pink young Hero to look into his serious, yet surprisingly empathetic eyes. "Listen to what I'm about to tell you, Ashido-san; all of you listen well, in fact. Whatever you do, whether as a Heroics student or a Pro Hero, you cannot start tormenting yourself with what-ifs and hypotheticals about the past, because no matter how much you dwell over them, they ultimately change nothing. What's done is done. All it ends up doing is driving away at your ability to reason and live, focusing on circumstances over which you never had any control to begin with.

"A true Hero needs to know how to be humble and, above all else, realistic about what it is they can or cannot feasibly do, and as much as I'm sure none of you want to hear this, that doesn't make this single fact any less true, and no less vital for you all to take to heart and accept: the one thing that no Hero has ever been able to do, not even All Might, is save every single person that was ever in danger around them. It's a very painful and cruel lesson to learn as up-and-coming Heroes, but it's something you need to accept if you ever hope to truly succeed as real Heroes.

"However, for as cruel as I'm sure some of you must be thinking I am for saying this to you all now, especially you, Ashido-san, don't misunderstand me. Even if Heroes inevitably will find themselves facing a record of both victories and losses, tonight is not going to be the start of that record for any one of you. Do you know why that is? Because even when facing incredibly dangerous odds that were stacked against you, not one of you ever gave in to cowardice. No, those of you that faced a threat, you all dug your heels in and fought with everything your own physical strength, minds and Quirks had to give, all for the sake of protecting those around you. The fact that each of you here has taken any kind of action at all for the sake of others, no matter how big or small, is its own small victory. Remember that.

"As long as you keep that ideal of protecting those around you in your hearts, but keep your minds realistic as to what you can actually do for people at any given moment in a crisis, you'll find that your ability to adapt and act in certain situations, and especially your ability to control your emotions under pressure, will grow exponentially alongside you. Tonight, even if you've now experienced things that are devastating for you, you've all already started growing more than you realize…and Eraserhead has surely realized it as well."

For the first time tonight, the despairing atmosphere hanging over all the students' heads had been cleared, replaced with a much more subtle, but no less potent, fire of admiration, acceptance and dedication being ignited in the hearts of every single one of the young Heroes in this room. Vlad King could feel an ember of pride likewise grow in his own chest to see these kids taking one of his most down to earth lessons to heart.

Even when only watching these proceeding events regretfully from behind the only desk at the head of the classroom, even Kota couldn't help but feel those words of wisdom resonating inside him, after having previously been wracked with growing guilt for how he'd treated both Izuku and Nikolay alike, and having now seen them both in these awful conditions.

"Hey, do you smell that?" Rikido suddenly asked before the mood could settle any further, spurring the rest of the students to take a whiff of the air, only for nearly all of them to start wincing at an especially pungent scent filling the room. "Ugh, it almost smells like bad eggs!" Monoma groaned from behind the hand he'd clasped to his mouth.

However, while the students were all actively trying to swat this smell away with their hands, Vlad Kings' reaction was far more alert, as he knew what this scent was.

Without a word of warning he suddenly shot up to his feet and ran for the classroom door, deaf to the confused questions of the students he was to be watching over. However, he didn't go a step further than outside that doorway, as the moment he looked down the hall Aizawa had left through, he found himself not only staring at several uprooted and broken gas lines torn out from the ceiling panels and spewing their invisible contents into the hall and open classroom, but also another of the clones of that same fiery Villain from before, smirking at him with a satisfied cockiness, and with one hand open and ready to ignite.

Vlad Kings' heart nearly rocketed out of his chest as he practically launched himself back into the classroom; a veritable crimson blur as he was already reaching for the nearby Hanta Sero. "EVERYONE, OUT THROUGH THE WINDOWS NOW!"

In those few precious seconds, so much happened all at once:

Following Vlad Kings' urgent order, Hanta quickly shot out two lines of his tape from his elbows, latching tight around Rikido and Denki, causing the two to get reeled right along with him as Vlad King tossed him through one of the blown out windows.

Tenya likewise grabbed onto Minoru and Mashiraos' tail in both hands and, firing up the engines in his legs, proceeded to toss them both out right alongside Hanta with Rikido and Denki, while Mashirao had grabbed onto both of Koujis' hands, pulling him out right along with them. The class president, following Vlad Kings' further movement, proceeded to dash his way out the window.

At the same time as Vlad Kings' initial throw, and Tenyas' right along with it, Setsuna had immediately gotten into action, latching onto Tsubaraba with her one remaining hand before using her pieces to reel them both out, while Itsuka likewise scooped up Tetsutetsu and Monoma in her hands before throwing herself out the window with them in her grasp.

Without even missing a beat after throwing Hanta, Vlad King immediately followed up that full body spin he threw the tape boy with to grab Eijirou and Mina by the collar and wrist respectively, and proceeded to likewise throw them both through the opened windows alongside everyone else.

The moment his ears caught the sound of fire meeting and igniting gas, the Class B teacher once again launched himself into a blinding sprint, scooping Nikolay and Kota into his arms and holding them both tight to his wide chest like he was their own human shield, and threw himself out through the window just as the blue fireball finally consumed the hall and the entire classroom right behind him. He could even feel the burning of the flames catch onto the back of his Hero costume just barely as he finally met the ground on one knee, instantly checking to ensure neither of the two boys in his arms had been hurt.

As Vlad King set Nikolay and Kota back down, with Mina and Eijirou already instinctively rushing over to make sure they were both okay, all the other students couldn't help but look at the blazing blue inferno that had less than five seconds ago been their classroom, and realize just how close they had all come to getting incinerated without a word of warning. Twice tonight, Vlad King had effectively saved all their lives, just as was to be expected of a Pro Hero.

However, even that admiration couldn't last when they all suddenly found themselves being towered over by that very same Villain clone, with a hand of blue fire already aimed and ignited, just ready to send the fireball that would destroy them all where they all knelt. The confident slight smirk on his stitched mouth made it clear this course of action of theirs was exactly what he'd been expecting, and now he'd caught them all completely unprepared to attack, and knowing all it would take was a flinch to make him end them all.

"Truth be told, our mission's already complete; but rubbing a good helping of salt in the Heroes' wounds will more than make up for those of us we lost tonight."

The moment it looked like his fire was finally about to expand, all at once driving Tetsutetsu to activate his iron skin and throw himself in front of as many of his classmates as he possibly could, and Eijirou to place himself in front of Mina and Nikolay and harden his entire body as much and fast as he could; the sound of something zipping through the air pierced through the rumble of the Villain clones' flame.

An instinctive grunt of surprise emanated from the clone, and out of sheer gut reaction, every one of the students all turned to find that, at the very last second, Tsuyu had emerged from the forest surrounding the clearing, and upon seeing what was about to happen to her schoolmates, had shot out her tongue to latch around the Villain clones' arm, buying them a few precious seconds to act. However, the Villain clone was likewise aware of this, as he'd already started bringing his other arm around, likewise ignited, to still get his attack in.

Realizing they now had a fighting chance, Mina suddenly remembered just what it was Aizawa had told Vlad King before: these guys attacking the facility weren't real Villains, but clones. If their mission really had been accomplished like he'd said it was, then there was no reason for one of the real Villains to potentially risk themselves coming this way just for some spiteful kind of last minute action.

Those facts together left no doubt in Minas' mind that this was another clone, and sucking in a sharp breath through her teeth to help her focus, she immediately built up a handful of the strongest acid she'd trained herself to be able to make thus far, and threw it square into the Villain clones' chest.

Already his body was not only beginning to dissolve from the touch of her acid, but also started coming apart like all the clones that had come before it. The fact his expression was still so mockingly calm despite this was just downright unsettling to all the students watching.

"You really should've gone for the attacking limb, you know. Don't give your enemy a single chance." With those mocking instructions, even as his arm began to dissolve from his shoulder, the Villain clone still managed to have enough control left to unleash his fire right at the gathered students, with many of them instinctively getting down in the hopes it would help their chances.

BWOOOM!

A sudden deafening burst of sound erupted from out of the congregated students, unleashing a brief but insanely powerful physical ripple through the air that not only sent the plume of blue fire dispersing harmlessly and right back in the Villain clones' face all at once, but also even managed to send him flying up and back through the air like a leaf before a leaf blower, sending his now scattered pieces flying and disintegrating into the same black liquid from before, and officially removing the last remaining threat the Villains had sent for the Yuuei students.

Many of the student' instinctive surprise at this sudden rescue quickly turned into a very hopeful excitement once they had realized just whose Quirk it had to have been that had managed to act so suddenly. When they all turned to find Nikolays' left arm extended and his eyes wide open, many of them had the instinctive desire to thank him and hoist him back up as the final Hero of the night for them. Mina looked like she was downright ready to lift him up by herself entirely to express her relief…

…until the Russian boys' hand fell listlessly back to the ground, and his green eyes rolled to the back of his head and his whole body went slack with one lingering exhale.

This kind of loss of consciousness did not feel right to any of the students or Vlad King alike, and that was even comparing to the state he'd been in before. On sheer instinct, Mina leaned down and put her head to Nikolays' chest, only for her black-gold eyes to widen with disbelief of the worst possible kind.

It wasn't what she heard that set her off like this, but what she didn't.

"Oh no…no, no, no, NO, NO! KOLYA-KUN, DON'T DO THIS TO US, PLEASE DON'T! PLEASE, DON'T DO THIS TO ME! SENSEI, HE'S NOT BREATHING; I CAN'T FEEL HIS HEARTBEAT ANYMORE! PLEASE HELP HIM! PLEASE!" Mina was now no longer borderline frantic, she was in outright emotional hysterics as she was already trying to feel at both Nikolays' wrist and his neck for some sign of a pulse, but she simply wasn't getting it.

Her own devastation was quickly reflected in all the other students around her as she began desperately trying to apply CPR to Nikolays' now motionless chest, barely able to form words through her wailing tears as Eijirou soon joined in the same, trying to apply as much pressure as he could to try and get Nikolays' heart beating again. At the same time, Mina had by now taken the liberty of clearing his airway when leaning his head back, and without an ounce of hesitation began to apply mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to give Nikolay air the only way she could, while Eijirou kept trying to stimulate his heart.

Within seconds, Vlad King took over compressions for the now likewise weeping Eijirou, while Minas' desperate cries for Nikolay to wake up between her attempts at giving him air, soon devolved into inconsolable wails of heartbreak, and cries for mercy that echoed out from the forest clearing and all across the Beasts' Forest.

---

However, neither Shoto, Mezo nor Fumikage even knew of the devastated cries of their pink classmate from across the forest, as from their area, they too could only stand in the frigid cold of their own defeat, trying to fight back their own devastated emotions as Izuku remained a kneeling curled up ball of a young man on the ground, likewise howling his anguish and despair at the knowledge that, in the end, after everything he and everyone else had suffered and gone through to try and save everyone…in the end, he had failed. Bakugo was gone, and he had nobody else to blame but himself for not being able to do enough to stop it.

On this night, the bright-eyed and hopeful future Heroes and students of Yuuei Academy had received their first true taste of total defeat.

And there it is, the new chapter for the week. I hope you all dearly enjoyed this take on the Villain attack on the training camp. It really took a considerable amount of planning and re-working on my part to keep the battles that needed to be altered just as interesting.

If you liked what you read here today, if you would be kind enough to leave a review, it would be greatly appreciated.

Also, if you find that you've been enjoying this story enough so far that you would perhaps like to make fanart of your own for it, by all means, feel free to do so and maybe let me know through a PM. I'd love to see what kind of stuff even my efforts may have inspired some of you to make.

I'll be putting up artworks I've had commissioned for this story thus far onto my profile in the near future. Once that starts, I'll tell you all where to go in case you'd like to finally have an idea just what I personally envisioned our Russkie protagonist and the Sun of Justice themselves look like. Expect to hear an update on that little expansion of this endeavor of mine in the near future.

With all that being said, have a great rest of your week, everyone; stay safe, and I will see you all with the next chapter on 10/16!