This is the last arc of The Human Realm. And it's a battle. Not only that, but seeing as I've had this mapped out, I know a lot of people are thinking "How am I going to get to chapter 30 before the boiling isles?"

This fight. That's how. This entire fight is going to be NINE CHAPTERS LONG. I know that sounds ridiculous. But this was the shortest I could make it without making these chapters 10s of thousands of words long.

So, yeah! Hope you all enjoy this chapter! This is just the beginning of the final arc of The Human Realm, and boy, is it going to be a doozy!

[AFO versus Golden Guard – Part 1]

If Luz hadn't put up a forcefield the moment she saw The Golden Guard lunge in her direction, the sword—which she realized was made entirely of light—would've cleaved her in half. Even still, that wasn't all that shocked Luz, because there was more. The sword had been more than sharp enough to cut through the forcefield in one swing.

Luz attempted to create distance between herself and the Golden Guard, only for her opponent to close the gap as Luz was creating it. The wings made of light flapped once, creating enough force to make a shockwave that blasted away all the rubble around them, causing more collateral damage knocking down several walls and windows, and even creating more potholes in the ground.

The Golden Guard tsked, disappointed it seemed, as he was mere inches away from Luz. He arched his arm around his back, sword hilt gripped tightly as he vertically slashed at Luz. The second user of All For One gritted her teeth, as the blade sliced through her like butter, and not only did it do that, but it burned. It was like she was dunked in a volcano as she held back a scream of pain. Though, as it cut through her, she recovered at the same speed.

That didn't matter, though. Even if she had recovered, that didn't stop her from feeling pain—something she was so used to not feeling over the last month of her life. Her Pain Nullification had been failing her lately. Did it have a limit? If it did, she didn't know what the exact limit was, and considering Shigaraki wasn't saying anything, he mustn't have known it either.

Luz retaliated, creating Red point blank in front of The Golden Guard. Before he could react, she fired it, hitting him square in the chest. The blast was more than enough to evaporate his upper body, including his head.

Luz smirked, thinking that it was over…. Because, it should've been. No one, aside from someone like herself, could come back from that. So, imagine her shock when she watched as his entire upper body reformed out of light particles, clothing and all. She could've sworn he was smirking underneath his helmet, as he spoke. "You're going to have to try harder than that, All For One."

Luz's eyes widened. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? SHIGARAKI! YOU DIDN'T TELL ME I WAS FIGHTING A KIZARU KNOCK-OFF!"

"Oops. To be fair to me, his Lightbringer Quirk wasn't that strong when I first gifted it to him. That must mean he's had the time to awaken it. Then again, having a Quirk like that for a decade and training it non-stop does that to a person."

Just as Shigaraki finished speaking, and as Luz mentally cursed, The Golden Guard back-handed her, sending Luz flying through several houses in the neighbourhood that she had lived in. With every house she knocked into, she watched it collapse, probably killing everyone in the house or most of them. Her anger stirred, but she kept it to herself. The last thing she wanted to do was blind herself with fury. She was trying to limit the collateral damage. The keyword being "trying".

As she slammed into the last house, her body nestled in the rear wall of what seemed to be a living room, Luz heard the family that lived in there screaming, but she ignored them, seeing as she wasn't staying there for very long. She jetted off toward where she was knocked away from, only to receive a point-blank blast from a light beam once she got there. At the same time it was fired, she created a forcefield, protecting herself.

She was getting quicker on the draw with her forcefields, which was sad more than anything. She fired off the forcefield at point-blank range, and to add insult to injury, she added Red to the mix, launching that as well. Just as both were going to hit, she watched the boy split himself apart into light particles.

He was doing it before the attacks hit. That was going to be a pain in the ass to deal with, and she knew that it was only going to get more annoying, because from what she could tell, only one of the strings was active, meaning that he was doing all of this—the wings, the sword, and separation, everything—with just one Quirk.

It was just as Shigaraki said. He "awakened" it, whatever that meant. She'd ask what that meant, but she was a little preoccupied. If Shigaraki was to be believed though, the Quirk in the beginning wasn't all that good. That meant that Shigaraki never knew it could become something like this.

That aside, she watched as The Golden Guard recovered faster than she had anticipated, and when he did, he generated another sword from the palm of his hand and attempted to slash at Luz downward. The second user of All For One created a forcefield in response to the slash, but that wasn't the end of it. The Golden Guard wasn't finished with just one slash, as he swung again, and again, and again; and in response, Luz created more forcefields. As one forcefield was destroyed, another took its place, and Luz narrowed her eyes. From what she could tell, there wasn't a single opening being provided.

It was clear that, unlike Luz, The Golden Guard was trained in combat—Shigaraki had assumed as such. The way he followed up each swing one after another without tiring, and the way he seemed to command the fight was unparalleled to her previous opponents who were sloppy at best and unable to fight at best—the only reason Luz was able to get those attacks in was because she had caught him off guard. Now, he was completely in the zone.

Activating Multiplier, Luz created ten extra limbs, all of which preparing to create orbs of Red. They were unable to do their job, as they were all cut down before they could even activate the Quirk in question. Luz's eyes widened, as The Golden Guard round-house kicked her into the ground, before following it up by cupping his hands together and shooting out a beam of light directly toward Luz.

In response, Luz created a massive Forcefield. Upon the light beam's impact, the shield began to crack, and digging Luz deeper into the ground. The white-haired teen snarled, her eyes glowing brightly as she tried to push back. But it was no use.

She tapped herself with Zero Gravity, removing the weight from her body and rocketing up into the sky before she was quickly intercepted by The Golden Guard. Luz swung a lazy punch in his direction, smashing her fist against his armour, only for it to disperse into light particles.

"I have nothing! There is nothing that I have that can counter him!" Luz exclaimed in her mind as Shigaraki snickered.

"He's holding back, too. Every blow he delivers is restrained. If he really wanted to kill you, Luz, he would've done so already. I was right, he's only testing you."

Luz felt a chill wash down her spine. The fact that Shigaraki was right scared her. Never once had she met her match, and yet, now she had. This guy, this Golden Guard, was kicking her ass. Though as much as that filled her with hopelessness, her pride wouldn't allow her to lose like this.

Every opponent she had fought had fallen to her hands. Every enemy who was out to kill her, or in this case, to defeat her had died. And while she wasn't trying to kill him, there was a limit to her patience. And he was expending all of that patience.

Right where she had punched him in her face, Luz created an orb of Blue. And it was there that she found a weakness. The orb began to absorb the light particles, which made The Golden Guard react, flinching as he lunged backward, just as the blue orb imploded, sucking in everything around before it shot it back out again like a shotgun.

"Nevermind! I found a weakness! If I can get in close, I can—"

Unfortunately, Luz was cut off by The Golden Guard regenerating. It was there that she got to see a fragment underneath the mask. The singular visible ruby red eye met crimson, as the boy's right eye narrowed. A scar was just underneath the eye, as the boy spoke.

"Now that… that hurt." As he said that, he looked below him, and sighed. "I was hoping to avoid any more collateral. But it seems you have other ideas in mind," The Golden Guard said, staring back at Luz.

Luz frowned, hovering in place thanks to Zero Gravity and Air Walk. "You're the one shooting light beams. Also, this part of town is basically destroyed. What collateral is there to be had?" Luz asked, and for the first time she heard the coldness in her voice.

Had she been talking like that the whole time? She hadn't noticed, and it had actually shocked her when she heard her voice. It sounded… distant, detached, and downright sociopathic. However, Luz wasn't given a chance to dawn on it. Because if she did, it would only waste time. She just wanted to get this over with, and when it was, she'd… figure something out. The boy chuckled, before swiping his hand over his face, his helmet repairing itself with light.

"Touche, All For One. Or… sorry, was it Luz? My bad. I can tell now you're different from Him. But regardless, it's my job to at least detain you, so make this easier for me, m'kay?" As The Golden Guard said that, he outstretched his hand, and began to generate light in the palm of his hand.

In response, Luz charged forward and felt Super Strength and Springlike Limbs activate. On top of that, Multiplier began to overlap with her arm, increasing its size to the point where it dwarfed her body, as she narrowed her eyes. Luz felt the strength in her right arm increase tenfold, as she closed the distance between herself and The Golden Guard.

The Golden Guard fired off his attack, as Luz launched her punch. Both attacks hit at the same time, and both attacks sent each other flying in opposite directions. Luz was dragged through the air, and dragged through over a mile of street, tearing up the asphalt and destroying any cars that had gotten in the way, finally ending at the end near the school, with the beam of light blowing up in her face.

A crowd of teenagers who had gathered near the school watched it all godown and ducked out of the way, hitting the ground with their hands over the backs of their necks when the explosion happened. Thankfully, they weren't injured.

As the dust settled, and as all the teens stood up, they looked over to the crater and saw Luz Noceda, her face completely burnt away with only her skull showing, along with a majority of her upper body having been evaporated, revealing her ribs and her beating heart and contracting lungs—meaning she was still alive, somehow.

It was a grizzly site, and one of them wanted to puke. The only reason they could tell it was Luz was based on the skin and what the body was wearing. One of them was about to call the emergency services when the body began to regrow muscle, eyes, and skin in the blink of an eye.

Screams echoed throughout the area as Luz narrowed her eyes. As her skin regrew, she covered her regrowing torso with her right arm, narrowing her crimson eyes as her hair grew back, completely white except for the tips.

This was the second time her outfit had shredded away, and it was really pissing her off. Luz looked over to one of the cowering teens, got out of the crator, and stalked over to the teen. They were wearing a purple hoodie, and she could see a shirt underneath.

The teen, a brown-haired boy stared up at her, terrified as his body shook. He also had a Quirk. Luz smirked, reaching out with her free hand and grabbed his face, covering his eyes in the process as she stepped down on his right leg. Then, she reached out with her other arm, grabbed his hood, and ripped the hoodie off of his body whilst she stole his power.

When she did, and when she was finished, she slipped the hoodie overtop of herself, before sighing. "Much better…" Luz muttered, looking down at herself. The boy was unmoving, though he had a terrified look on his face, his eyes completely glazed over, showing that he was dead.

Luz looked at him and winced. She didn't want to do that, but… at the same time…. "Sorry, but I need it more than you right now," Luz said, looking away as in her hand was a brilliant red flame. "Good. I was missing that Flame Quirk. While this one is just a simple fire projection, Quirk, it's better than nothing. I'll call it Flamethrower."

"Luz. You're going beyond your Limit. Are you sure about this?" Shigaraki's voice echoed in her mind as Luz frowned. He was right, but she needed this. She needed something to counter that pesky Light Quirk that The Golden Guard had. While Flamethrower wasn't going to be it, she needed to search for it.

Blue had already proven to not be enough. And punching her problem wasn't going to work. Although, considering that The Golden Guard wasn't able to ignore her punch by simply turning his body into light, it was clear that while his ability was very, very similar to Kizaru's Light Light Fruit from One Piece, it wasn't the exact same.

"Shigaraki. Does that Light Quirk of his have a drawback?"

"It does, although his other Quirks make up for it. Typically, overuse of it would cause the user's skin to burn. But because he has a copy of Super Regeneration, it negates that issue. As for his two other Quirks… I'm not going to tell you."

"Why not?!"

"Because if I did that, then what would be the point? Just because I'm your mentor does not mean I am obliged to give you all the answers. I can't coddle you. If you are to be a true successor to All For One, you need to figure it out on your own. Just because you have a plethora of abilities does not make up for a lack of problem-solving. I didn't get anywhere in the world without figuring out my problems for myself."

Luz cursed under her breath, before looking over to the rest of the group of teens, who stared at her in horror. They ran away as fast as their legs could carry them, though Luz really didn't care about that anymore. She was too focused on the problem she was facing.

Just as she turned around to leap back into action, a fist made of light slammed into her face, making her stumble backward, Shock Absorption doing its job as another fist slammed into her gut, and another, and another, and another at blinding speeds, each impact making shockwaves and ripples in her body.

Had it not been for Pain Nullification, she would've felt her bones shatter, her organs practically explode, and it would've made the blood erupting from her mouth even more horrifying to the teen than it already was.

What made it even worse was that it wasn't even coming from The Golden Guard himself, as he was standing a good chunk away. Rather, he was shooting these fists out from his body, as if he was creating them on the spot.

And all of this, all of these attacks, they were all coming from a singular Quirk. Not multiple. Just one. It was almost like he had mastered it in its entirety.

With one final punch, Luz was sent rocketing up into the sky, of which she had stopped the ascension when she reactivated Zero Gravity on herself. As her regeneration repaired the damage, she also created a massive barrier in front of her using Forcefield Projection. As she did, at the same time, activated Spear Fingers with Multiplier to create a maze of finger-like spears in his direction.

Much to Luz's chagrin, The Golden Guard was more than able to dodge around it all, flapping his golden wings made of light and swerving through the maze of dangerous blades like it was nothing. Panic began to settle into Luz, as she created several more limbs, and created multiple Red energy balls, around about five, all aiming at The Golden Guard.

Four of the five red balls of energy missed the other worlder, but the fifth one hit him point blank. Not that it mattered, as he had dispersed himself into light particles. That's when Luz smirked, snapped her fingers, and transformed the Red into Blue like Sophia had.

The Golden Guard, for his part, was shocked when he saw that. The light particles that he had dispersed into were sucked into the blue vacuum, which made him disengage as fast as he could.

Much to his chagrin, when he reformed, he was missing a good chunk of his lower torso. It didn't take long for it to be replaced, but that wasn't the point. He could tell she was holding back, which was good. Although it did slightly scare him knowing that this was her holding back. Prior to this, though, she wasn't. That meant she caught on to what it was he was doing.

Regardless of that, the two combatants stared down one another, as Luz fired off the forcefield in his direction. The Golden Guard re-created the Light Sword to cut the massive shield in half. Arching his body back, he sliced through the air, creating an arc of light where he had slashed the air as it travelled and grew the further it travelled from The Golden Guard.

Luz's eyes widened at the raw display of power as the light blade cut through the massive forcefield like it was nothing, splitting it in the middle as both halves landed on the ground, exploding on contact. One half landed on the school, and the other half landed on a small group of buildings. The explosion was more than enough to blow both parties back just a little bit, and when the dust settled, all that was left were two craters.

Another 5% of Gravesfield was destroyed with that attack. Luz narrowed her eyes. This was getting ridiculous. What was also ridiculous was the fact that cracks began to form on her body, specifically around her face and her arms. She could feel them spreading. Her body was breaking, and while her regeneration was working overtime, she knew she was on a timer.

She shouldn't have stolen that Quirk, but she did. But now, anyone that she could've offloaded it onto in the immediate area was dead. That meant she had no choice but to wait until she found someone to dump it onto.

Until then, she reconned, she would use it.

A ball of fire the size of a basketball began to form in Luz's hand, as she fired it off in the direction of The Golden Guard, and followed it up with several more of those fireballs. The Golden Guard, in response, slashed each and every ball of fire that came close to him.

Instead of dispersing, the flame balls simply stayed cut in half, and after a moment, the balls of fire exploded, catching The Golden Guard off guard. And when that happened, Luz closed the distance and repeated the same combo of Quirks she used to punch him the last time. She wanted to test something, and if she was right, that meant she now had a real, solid chance at beating The Golden Guard.

The fist came into contact with her opponent's face, shattering the armour covering his face, and sending him flying into the ground. He didn't disperse into particles that time, nor did he try and escape by some means. He simply took the punch. That meant he was tiring out. She smirked at that.

She had unlimited stamina.

He did not.

This would become a battle of endurance. She could outlast him, and when she did, she would get the answers she was looking for. However, there was a voice in the back of her head, reminding her that she had only seen two of the four Quirks he had at his disposal. Meaning he could always just pull out something new.

So, she'd have to remain vigilant. She couldn't let her guard done. But, at the end of the day, she was going to win. After all, she had to win.

She alone, was The Chosen One, after all. And The Chosen One never lost.

So as she stared down the falling form of The Golden Guard, who created a set of wings made of light, she smirked, black lightning sparking off of her body, her eyes glowing bright, as she floated in the sky, all while a bell only she could hear dinged in the back of her mind.

"Round Two, Golden Guard. And this time, I'll defeat you."

-To Be Continued-