My Hero Academia: Lion of Courage
Chapter 16: The Final Level
Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia. All rights go to Kohei Horikoshi.
With the arrival of All Might, the tables quickly turned against the villains. But underneath his hand mask, Tomura Shigaraki was smiling sadistically. All Might had shown up just as expected and now, he would get what he came for: the death of the Symbol of Peace by using the monstrous Nomu, who had beaten Razor Shell bloody. Just as he was about to let out a maniacal laugh, Kurogiri appeared beside him.
"Tomura Shigaraki. One of the students has managed to escape the USJ. They're on their way to U.A. as we speak; it's only a matter of time before more heroes arrive."
Just like that, Shigaraki's joy twisted into annoyance and rage, so much so that he wasn't any attention to Midoriya as he tried to help Aizawa up. The disturbing young man started scratching his neck with one hand, breathing irregularly as if he was suppressing his anger. Then he started scratching his neck with both hands, scratching so hard that it started to leave red marks resembling claws.
"Kurogiri…" he growled lowly. "You had ONE job. ONE. All you had to do was keep the students from leaving the USJ. I swear, if you weren't our way out, I'd kill you right now."
"Tomura, we must flee. The heroes may be here soon-"
"No," Shigaraki refused. "I will not give up this chance to destroy the Symbol of Peace. But first…" Shigaraki was just about to use his Quirk on Midoriya, but he was gone along with Eraser Head. He had so caught up in his frustration at how quickly the situation would turn for the worse for him that he didn't pay attention to Midoriya, especially after he had just taken out Talos. He caught sight of Midoriya carrying Aizawa to the stairs where Tsuyu and Shiruku were ready to help him.
"No, you don't!" Shigaraki growled in anger. He rushed forward and extended his hand towards Midoriya, hoping to disintegrate him. Unfortunately for Midoriya, he wasn't able to outrun him due to carrying his bruised and beaten teacher, but just as Shigaraki touched Midoriya, nothing happened.
"Dammit," he growled. Aizawa turned his head and activated Erasure, preventing Shigaraki from killing his student and then kicking him away. Before Shigaraki could try again, a loud crash sent him flying back. All Might had jumped from the top of the stairs and landed in the main plaza, ready to fight and defend the students and his fellow teachers.
The Nomu stopped his assault on Razor Shell to look at All Might, giving the turtle hero an opening to dig his claws into the Nomu's chest and then use his powerful jaws to bit into the creature's leg. The Nomu shrieked in pain as Razor Shell used the strength of his jaws to pull it off of him.
"Razor Shell!" All Might cried out. "Are you alright?"
"As well as I can be," Razor Shell groaned as he slowly got up. Despite being able to stand, the Alligator Snapping Turtle Hero was in no condition to fight. The Nomu had beaten him terribly, his face covered in blood and his left eye swollen and black. Unlike Eraser Head, who couldn't even walk, Razor Shell could stand on his feet, though barely.
"Help is on the way!" All Might informed Razor Shell. "Go. I'll take care of these villains."
"Be careful of that creature," Razor Shell warned. "He was barely hurt by my attacks."
Tomura Shigaraki stood there with the grin of a demon, filled with sadism, childish glee and satisfaction. Right in front of him was the Symbol of Peace, the hero he planned to kill today. He couldn't wait to see the world's reaction when they saw All Might's dead, broken, mutilated body. The thought of that made Shigaraki's grin even wider, forgetting that additional heroes were on their way to the USJ.
"You have no idea how happy I am to see you," Shigaraki told All Might. "You know, I arranged this whole thing, this entire attack, just to see you die."
"Is that so?" All Might questioned. "Well, you will be very disappointed in the outcome, villain."
"Tomura, we must retreat," Kurogiri insisted. "If the other heroes arrive-"
"Shut up!" Shigaraki growled. "And go get Talos! Make sure he's not dead!" Kurogiri disappeared, leaving only Shigaraki and Nomu to fight against All Might.
"Nomu…" Shigaraki addressed. "Kill him."
"Todoroki," Hagakure spoke, gently shaking her unconscious classmate. After hearing the fighting and then her classmate's screams, the invisible girl had made her way to where Todoroki was. Much to her shock, he was unconscious, beaten and bloodied and his right arm and leg broken. He appeared so strong with his Quirk; she was still surprised that one of the villains had managed to beat Class 1-A's strongest student.
"Whoever did this to you hurt you bad," Hagakure spoke with sympathy. With him out of commission, she had to get him to safety and the best place would probably be the main entrance. She grabbed Todoroki's left arm and slung it over her shoulders, struggling to carry him. At least he was very good-looking and handsome, so she'd be able to look at his beautiful face.
"So handsome~" she swooned as she carried him. "I really hope he's single."
RRRAAAARRRR!
Hagakure's entire body froze in terror upon hearing the bestial roar. She had never heard such a ferocious and feral sound before, one so horrifying that her body simply refused to move. Luckily, Todoroki's unconscious body caused her to fall onto her stomach, breaking her free from her state of terror and looked for somewhere to hide.
The destroyed larger buildings were too far away for Hagakure, especially with carrying Todoroki. The only place where they'd have a chance of hiding was behind some debris several meters away from villains that were encased in ice…and dead. Due to Todoroki's fight with Talos, he had been unable to free them from the ice and they ended up dying from hypothermia. It wasn't the best place, but it was the only one, so Hagakure quickly dragged Todoroki to the largest block of debris and placed him against it.
A loud thump was heard, followed by ferocious growling and beast-like heavy breathing. Hagakure cautiously took off her gloves and boots and looked from the corner of the debris. At first, she couldn't see anything or anyone moving, but from the other side of the frozen villains came a werewolf-like creature, Bloodmoon.
She froze in terror at the sight of the beast, his mouth and claws caked in blood, bits of flesh and skin dangling from his fangs. Bloodmoon raised his snout and sniffed several times as if he was looking for someone specifically.
"Where's Endeavor's son?" he growled. Hagakure let out a troubled breath as she quickly hid from sight, covering her mouth to silence her breathing. Unfortunately for her, Bloodmoon's ear pricked in her direction and heard her let out a frightened breath. He smiled like a hunter who had cornered his prey and licked the blood from his teeth.
"I know you're here," he taunted as he slowly walked down the landslide. He could only hear muffled breathing, but the thought of her being terrified and left with nowhere to run gave him sick satisfaction. He wanted to relish in this, to hear her try not to scream in horror.
"Maybe you can tell me where I can find my prey," he said. As expected, no response. Hagakure tightened her grip on her mouth to keep Bloodmoon from hearing her, to keep herself from screaming. Her sense of terror was so overwhelming, her eyes started to water, though she did her best to keep herself from crying.
"Have you ever fought a villain before?" Bloodmoon questioned, slowly approaching the debris. "I can hear your breath, your panicked, terrified breathing. You could run and save yourself, but that'd mean leaving Endeavor's son behind. But I suppose it wouldn't matter since I'd catch up with you easily."
His right ear pricked up after hearing noise coming from the direction of the Mountain Zone. He caught the familiar scent of three of the students he fought there…and unfortunately, one of them was the girl with the sound Quirk. They weren't too far, but there was still a chance they'd catch up with him. But since he was close to their classmates…
"Oh, no," Jiro gasped after putting her Earphone Jacks in the ground. "He's got two of our classmates, but…he's not eating them."
"He must've caught our scent," Raionhato deduced. "That monster will eat them if we just back off."
The three students were in a bad situation. Bloodmoon had captured two of their classmates and would undoubtedly eat them if they didn't act. Jiro couldn't afford to use her Counter-Balance attack without risking friendly fire or potentially causing Bloodmoon to kill them. Yaoyorozu was trying to come up with a plan on how to defeat Bloodmoon and save their allies, but no matter what she thought up, she feared it'd fail and get their classmates killed.
"Come on, come on," she whispered to herself. "There has to be a way. You're Vice President; you have to do something. But he'll hear us coming a mile away."
She slowly started to fall into a panic as she couldn't come up with a plan to defeat Bloodmoon. If he was on his own, then most of her plans would've worked, but with their classmates' lives at stake…she couldn't come up with a plan.
"Yaoyorozu?" Raionhato asked, noticing she was starting to look very worried.
"Why can't I do anything?" she quietly asked. "My classmates are in danger and all I can-"
"Yaoyorozu," Raionhato addressed, snapping her out of her growing panic by grabbing her shoulders. "I'm as scared as you are, but right now, our classmates need us. Now please calm down and let us think up a plan."
Takeo holding Momo slowly helped her calm down as the two looked at each other. His reassuring and empathetic gaze made her feel better, allowing her to recollect herself. Once Takeo was certain Momo had calmed down and stopped panicking, he slowly let her go and took a few steps back…accidentally walking into mud. Momo looked intently at the mud and she came up with an idea.
"Raionhato, do you have any water?" she asked. Takeo looked down on the mud and realized what she was doing, then brought out two large water bottles from his Inventory while she started creating.
"Let me go!" Hagakure cried as she tried to escape Bloodmoon's grasp, but she wasn't strong enough to do so. She was being held in the werewolf's left hand while Todoroki was being held in his right. All Bloodmoon could do was laugh at Hagakure's attempts to escape his grasp.
"I wonder how you taste, little girl," he snarled. "That is, if I have enough room in my stomach after eating Todoroki."
Hagakure gazed in terror at her unconscious classmate. Bloodmoon held him close and took several sniffs of his prey, smiling with bestial sadism. He didn't know if Shoto's flesh would taste different from many others he had mauled and eaten, but considering he was the son of the #2 Hero, Bloodmoon was excited to learn how his flesh tasted.
"Eat…him…?" Hagakure quietly asked. She looked up and saw the still fresh blood in the wolf's teeth. She could smell the foul stench of whatever he had eaten recently, so much so that she vomited onto the ground. She had never seen something more vile and disgusting in her life and it filled her with dread and turned her stomach.
Suddenly, Bloodmoon noticed something: he could no longer smell the other students. His sadistic grin turned into one of confusion and caution as he knew Jiro was among those who followed him. He pricked his ears up to listen, but could only hear slight movements.
Hagakure noticed the change in Bloodmoon's behavior, meaning that something was up. She wasn't an expert on animals, but she guessed that Bloodmoon had a great sense of smell and sound. If her classmates were nearby, they'd probably need the werewolf distracted, so Hagakure thought of what to do.
She noticed that Bloodmoon was keeping his nose away from her direction, most likely due to the vomit she had just retched. Maybe…
"Oh, this is going to suck," she groaned before putting her mouth in her finger and touched the area behind her tongue. Almost immediately, she vomited again, this time onto Bloodmoon's leg. The werewolf growled in annoyance and disgust, especially as the smell started to overwhelm his nose. He dropped Hagakure onto the ground, but before she could even move, he stepped on her with the leg she had thrown up on.
"Little bitch," he growled. Before he could wipe the vomit off, he heard two items thrown from his left…which were flash grenades. They went off, blinding him and causing him to drop Todoroki and stumble back from Hagakure.
"Quick, grab them!" Yaoyorozu told Raionhato, both of them wearing special glasses to protect their eyes from the bright flashes. The two of them sprung out while Bloodmoon was overwhelmed by the grenades to grab Todoroki and Hagakure and get them to safety. Once they were out of the way, Jiro, also wearing special glasses, used her Counter Balance Attack on Bloodmoon, causing him more disorientation.
The werewolf cried out in agony as his senses were overwhelmed, first by the Flash Grenades, then by Jiro's Quirk. Before he knew it, he was bound by multiple layers of wires, causing him to fall to the ground. He was once again restrained by Raionhato's wire gauntlets, preventing him from running away.
Bloodmoon was angry at himself. Had he focused on pursuing Todoroki and Bakugo as he initially planned, he wouldn't be in this position…and they'd both be in his stomach, followed by Midoriya. But his bloodlust got the better of him and he thought that the group of students would be easy pickings. Just as Seika Shigaraki warned, they may be students, but they were HERO COURSE students.
"Hagakure, are you okay?" Yaoyorozu asked her while Jiro and Raionhato kept Bloodmoon occupied.
"I'm fine," she assured. "But Todoroki…I found him unconscious. Is he…?" Yaoyorozu immediately checked his pulse, confirming that he was alive, though still unconscious. She opened his eyes to check for signs of head trauma, considering how bloodied and bruised his face was.
"One pupil is dilated," Yaoyorozu discovered. "There's a bit of blood in his ear and his nose. Definitely suffering head trauma; we'll need to keep his head straight." Yaoyorozu then started to make a stretcher from her body, but that was about all since she couldn't make medicine needed to heal her classmate. She'd have to get him medical attention if he was to survive.
"Stupid brats," Bloodmoon growled. "Next time, I'll get you all, then I'll-"
BOOM! A loud blast was heard from the main plaza. Raionhato and Jiro were unsure of what it was, so Jiro took one of her Earphone Jacks out of her Stereo Boots and planted it in the ground to hear what it was.
"It's All Might!" she exclaimed. "He's here!"
"All Might!?" Takeo gasped, looking in the direction of the main plaza. "Good thing he's here."
"Guys, look!" Hagakure called out to Takeo and Jiro. To their right appeared a warp gate, the same they saw before they were teleported to the different zones of the USJ. Takeo summoned Lion Mane and tried to get close to Jiro to protect her, but a powerful blast of energy sent the two students flying several meters away and freeing Bloodmoon.
"Jiro! Raionhato!" Yaoyorozu cried out. Suddenly, Talos appeared, though his armor had been cracked and heavily damaged by Midoriya's Smash Attack. He was left unable to fight as he did against Todoroki and Bakugo, hence his long ranged attack.
"Bloodmoon, we're making a retreat," Talos informed. "We need to go, quick."
"Not without my prey!" Bloodmoon snarled, glaring at Todoroki.
"Bloodmoon, we don't have time!" Talos argued. "Pro Heroes are on their way and our forces are beaten! We need to retreat!"
"I don't take orders from machines!" Bloodmoon refused. "I still hunger-" The warp gate suddenly expanded and enveloped the robot and werewolf. When the black fog settled, they were gone.
"You guys okay?" Hagakure asked while Yaoyorozu gently put Todoroki on the stretcher. Raionhato and Jiro had been dazed by the blast, but they weren't badly injured, only receiving minor bumps and bruises from the rough landing.
"At least Bloodmoon is gone," Raionhato brought up as he helped Jiro to her feet. "But he said Pro Heroes are on their way. I'm guessing someone managed to warn U.A. about the attack."
"Sounds like it," Jiro agreed. She and Raionhato made their way over to Yaoyorozu and Hagakure, the former having put Todoroki on the stretcher and the latter having gone to get her gloves and boots back.
"Is Todoroki going to be okay?" Raionhato asked. "He looks pretty beat up."
"I think it's one of those instances where you look as bad as you feel," Jiro snarked, pointing out how obviously their classmate was brutalized.
In truth, Yaoyorozu, Jiro, Raionhato and Hagakure were shocked at seeing Todoroki like this. He had already shown himself to be very strong with his ice Quirk, able to freeze an entire building and a large group of villains within mere moments. Who could've done this to him, to someone considered their strongest student?
"We need to get him medical attention," Yaoyorozu stated. "Hagakure, please help me carry Todoroki."
"Got it," Hagakure agreed as she helped lift the stretcher carrying their unconscious classmate.
"Raionhato, Jiro, I'll need you two to keep an eye out for enemies or for our other classmates," Yaoyorozu stated. Both Raionhato and Jiro nodded their acknowledgement and started making their way to the entrance to get Todoroki the medical help he needed.
"Dear Lord," Takeo silently prayed. "Please let us get Todoroki help in time."
"I SAID PUT ME DOWN, DAMMIT!" Bakugo roared as Kirishima continued to refuse to put him down. By now, Kirishima was starting to get fed up with Bakugo's lack of cooperativeness and stubborn pride. The Explosion Quirk user didn't care that he had beaten bloody nor that his arm was broken, he still stubbornly insisted that Kirishima stop helping him.
"There is nothing manly about leaving a comrade behind," Kirishima responded. "Bakugo, in case you forgot, that robot guy nearly beat the crap of us."
"I don't care!" Bakugo rebuked. "I said put me down! I don't need help from you, Crap Hair!" Again, Kirishima refused to listen and continued carrying Bakugo to safety. He suddenly stopped when he saw All Might in the main plaza, fighting a large, grotesque creature twice his size. Just as he was about to do a German Suplex on it, it instead went through a warp gate…and the upper half of its body appeared below All Might to crush his torso.
"All Might!" Kirishima gasped as it became clear All Might was in great pain. "He's in trouble!"
"Where's that warp gate user?" Bakugo wondered as he looked around for the mass of black fog they saw earlier. He saw him a good distance away from where All Might and Nomu were fighting, so he lifted up his right gauntlet and aimed it at Kurogiri.
"Pull the grenade pin," he told Kirishima.
"Huh?" Kirishima replied before he saw Bakugo's raised gauntlet. "Are you crazy!? That blast could do serious damage!"
"Exactly!" Bakugo grinned. "That warp gate bastard is using his Quirk against All Might! If we take him out, it'll give All Might a chance. Now pull the damn pin!"
Kirishima was hesitant after what happened in the Combat Training. The last time Bakugo used it, it almost killed Midoriya and their classmates in the building. But considering All Might was struggling against that monster, especially with the warp gate user helping, they were left with no other choice as Kirishima lacked long range attacks and Bakugo was too beaten.
Reluctantly, Kirishima pulled the pin, unleashing the monster explosion towards Kurogiri. The Warp Gate user quickly disappeared before the blast could destroy him, but this also caused the gate with the Nomu to close, severing its body in half and freeing the Symbol of Peace.
"Thank you, Young Bakugo and Young Kirishima," All Might replied. Normally, he would've questioned Bakugo using such an extreme attack, but judging by how bruised and battered he was and considering Kirishima's lack of long-range attacks, it was likely their only option to turn the tables in All Might's favor. All Might expected the creature to be dead, but instead, the lower half of the Nomu's body simply fell dead while the torso half started to regenerate.
"What…?" Kirishima gasped.
"Kacchan!" Midoriya addressed as he ran over to him and Kirishima. "It's great- what happened to you?"
"We got our butts kicked, Midoriya," Kirishima bluntly answered.
"I COULD'VE WON, CRAP HAIR!" Bakugo snarled. "And don't you DARE show me pity, Deku!"
"No, no!" Deku responded. "I was just hoping you were okay; that's all. You look very hurt-"
"And your fingers look like crap!" Bakugo aggressively interrupted. "Don't you dare look down on me!"
Kirishima groaned in annoyance at Bakugo. While he did come to respect him for his earlier actions, that didn't mean he wasn't a pain to be around. He was in no shape to fight or stand, but his pride simply wouldn't allow him to accept Kirishima's much needed help.
"Come on, Bakugo," Kirishima stated. "We need to get to the entrance and-"
"Don't tell me what to do!" Bakugo barked angrily.
"Stop standing there and get to the entrance!" Zankoku called out to them, still carrying an unconscious Mina Ashido with Kaminari by his side. Kirishima gently put Bakugo down on the ground, leaning him against a wall and then raced over to Ashido after seeing her torso wrapped with a bandage stained with blood.
"What happened to her?" he gasped in shock.
"We'll explain later," Zankoku answered. "For now- look out!" Shigaraki appeared in the midst of the group and reached out his hand to touch Kirishima, who was prepared to throw a punch at the pale man.
"Kirishima, no!" Midoriya cried out in warning, but the redheaded hero threw the punch and was caught in Shigaraki's hand. Despite the pain Shigaraki felt from the jagged, rock-like edges of Kirishima's Hardening, he had all five fingers on his fist. He smiled as he activated his Quirk on Kirishima's fist, causing some of the skin on his hand to wither and making him pull away as he let out a pained cry.
"Don't let him touch you!" Midoriya warned. "He can disintegrate whatever he touches!"
"Way to cheat the game," Shigaraki growled, hating that Midoriya had ousted how his Quirk worked. "Oh well, the level's not over yet. I can still-"
He suddenly felt something sticky on his foot, leaving him unable to move. It came from Shiruku, who shot multiple web bullets at Tomura's arms and feet. Not only was he left unable to move, but even though his hands were free, they couldn't reach anywhere to disintegrate the Web.
"Don't run off like that, Midoriya!" Shiruku scolded. "Let's get out of here; Tsuyu's got Mr. Aizawa, so we should get going ourselves."
"Don't tell me what to do!" Bakugo barked. Shiruku rubbed his eyes in frustration at Bakugo's response.
"Midoriya, how are you friends with this prick?"
"We are NOT friends!" Bakugo rebuked.
"Okay, cut it out, you guys!" Zankoku reprimanded, growing tired of the arguing. He raised his tail and struck Shigaraki's body, injecting paralysis poison into his bloodstream. To everyone's shock, his body didn't stop moving, though it did become slower and too weak to break through the webbing.
"You cheating bastards," Shigaraki groaned in anger due to his situation.
Before anyone could give warning, the Nomu raced right towards them, preparing to deliver a powerful attack. Bakugo prepared to fire an explosion and Kirishima activated his Hardening to protect Ashido from the attack…and the Nomu swung at them with immense power, creating a cloud of dust.
"NO!" Shiruku cried out as he thought he watched his classmates be destroyed by the Nomu. As the dust started to settle, Shiruku realized that miraculously, his classmates were away from where the Nomu had attacked, something even themselves were shocked by. Once the dust cloud had fully dispersed, Tomura Shigaraki was freed from the webbing…and All Might had taken the hit from the Nomu.
"All Might!" Midoriya cried out in shock.
"Now you've really made me angry," Shigaraki groaned as his body was slowed by Zankoku's poison. He struggled to get up onto his feet, barely able to balance himself with his hand on the ground.
"You don't know how long I've waited for this moment. You have no idea how much I hate you, All Might! Defending a society that's not worth anything! Well, today, I'll send a message to the whole world…and that message will be delivered when Nomu kills you!"
All Might breathed heavily as he started to lose steam. His three hours were almost up, but he couldn't concern himself with that, not when the Nomu and Shigaraki could make easy pickings of the students. He'd never forgive himself if he failed to protect the students who had been entrusted to him.
"I've barely a minute left," All Might thought to himself. "But I cannot falter now. I must defeat that beast. I must stop it" He let out a heavy breath as he prepared himself for combat again.
"Come on, let's get 'em!" Kirishima insisted as he activated his Hardening. "We can help!"
"No!" All Might insisted, raising his arm. "Run, now." Shigaraki laughed mockingly at All Might.
"Nomu was built to combat you even at 100%! You can't hurt him, not with his Shock Absorption! You are more arrogant than I thought!"
All Might charged at Nomu and the two traded punches at superhuman speeds while the students still conscious watched in amazement. Bakugo, though unable to stand, turned himself onto his side to watch as the fight unfurled and joined the others in admiring All Might fight the Nomu head-on.
"Such power," Bakugo spoke softly.
"A head-on fistfight?" Shigaraki mocked. "Geez, how many times do I have to tell you? You can't hurt him, not with his Shock Absorption!"
"You said 'Shock Absorption', not 'Nullification'!" All Might retorted as he started punching harder and faster, so much so that the Nomu couldn't attack back anymore.
As Midoriya watched the fight, he realized that while All Might's attacks looked like a random barrage, he was actually hitting the same places over and over again. The Nomu's Shock Absorption was unable to keep up with All Might's raw speed and power and finally sent him flying towards the outskirts of the Mountain Zone.
"A true hero…" All Might started. "No matter the odds, no matter the difficulty, ALWAYS finds a way for justice to be delivered!" He and the Nomu leapt at each other, allowing All Might to grab the Nomu's arm and then throw it into the ground. Before the Nomu could attack again, All Might unleashed another barrage of powerful punches.
"I am All Might!" he roared. "I am the Symbol of Peace! And I will show you the true meaning of going beyond!" As he delivered a powerful final punch, he let out "PLUS ULTRA!" The punch was so powerful, the Nomu was sent flying out of the USJ at such speed, it was impossible for anyone to see it go.
"Holy…" Bakugo gasped.
"I…whoa," Kaminari spoke, unable to come up with words to describe what he just saw.
All the students could do was stand in shock and awe at All Might's pure power and strength. Despite the difficulty of the fight, he had managed to prevail against the seemingly indestructible Nomu.
To Midoriya and Bakugo, it reminded them why they admired All Might so much. To Midoriya, All Might had put his life on the line for his students, protecting them against an opponent they had no chance against. To Bakugo, All Might had prevailed against an opponent built specifically to handle him at full strength, but even then, it was no match for the Symbol of Peace. His strength was simply unrivaled by anyone.
"I really have gotten weaker," All Might commented. "In my prime, five hits would've been enough. That took over three hundred powerful punches."
"Are you sure you're getting old?" Kaminari asked.
Shigaraki couldn't believe what he just saw. Nomu had been engineered to fight All Might at his strongest, at 100%. He was certain that All Might's age would've caught up with him and cost him the fight, but even though he was no longer in his prime, All Might still prevailed.
Everything Shigaraki had planned for today was all for nothing. His army of goons were beaten, Talos and Bloodmoon were forced to retreat, Nomu had been beaten and U.A. reinforcements were on their way. He shook in nigh uncontrollable frustration and anger at how his seemingly perfect plan had failed.
"It's over, Shigaraki," All Might said as steam started to emit from his body. "Surrender; you have lost."
"You cheated…" Tomura growled. "You cheating son of a bitch!" Out of pure impulse and rage, Shigaraki charged forward with the intent to kill All Might with Decay…but was stopped when a blast of solar energy hit him.
"Huh?" Zankoku asked before looking up at the top of the staircase. To everyone's relief, Iida had returned with U.A. teachers to help them. At the front was Sunstorm, his body coated with solar energy and just throw a solar bolt at Tomura, severely burning his torso.
"Protect the students!" Nezu told the teachers. Open Palm used his Seismic Sense on the entire USJ, looking for students still in potential danger. He alerted that three were in the Downpour Zone, one was in the Conflagration Zone and five were in the Landslide Zone. Open Palm ran off to the Conflagration Zone, Hound Dog to the Downpour and Sunstorm to the Landslide.
"Tomura!" Kurogiri addressed as he appeared and started to teleport his friend away.
"This isn't over!" Shigaraki shouted as Kurogiri teleported him away.
Despite their victory over Enmaku, Yukine and Koda were still unable to help Tokoyami, who could be in possible danger. While the villains were mostly street thugs, they were still numerous and could potentially overwhelm Tokoyami.
But Yukine's mind was on what she had learned from Enmaku. If what he said was true, then her parents framed his family for corruption to prevent them from taking governorship of Hokkaido. She had no respect or love for her parents, but had they truly ruined an entire family just so they could keep their power? Were they truly so amoral and lustful for authority that they'd destroy a family's reputation so they could run unopposed?
To the public, her parents could be seen as heroes, but behind closed doors, they were elitist, selfish, uncaring people. They didn't care about the happiness of others, not of the people of Hokkaido, not those who worked for them, not even their own daughter…all that mattered to them was their reputation, their desire to remain in power.
In truth, Yukine wouldn't be so surprised. Growing up, her parents didn't care about her happiness, only about her being their 'perfect daughter', one who would strengthen the Kuraokami Family name. To them, she wasn't their true child, only a tool for their own ambitions and selfishness.
"Daddy, I'm tired!" a ten year old Yukine told Reitan during a gathering with many political allies and Pro Heroes. It was already ten at night; she was tired and just wanted to go to bed. But her father wouldn't allow it as he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards him.
"We have a family name to uphold," Reitan told his daughter. "You are to remain in the main hall until the event is done and not before! Now let's go!"
"Let me go!" Yukine cried out as she managed to break free from her father's grasp. In response, Reitan gave her a backhanded slap, making her give out a cry of sharp pain.
"Governor Kuraokami," the Hokkaido Police Commissioner addressed, having heard the scream. "Is everything okay?"
"Everything's fine," he assured, quickly putting on a smile. "My daughter almost fell on her way back to the main hall." The Police Commissioner looked at the Governor with some suspicion. Yukine didn't look like she wanted to go back to the event, but he had no means to raise questions against someone so powerful. Reluctantly, the Commissioner left the two of them alone and returned to the event.
As soon as he was out of sight, Reitan viciously grabbed his daughter's face and made her look up at him.
"How dare you almost embarrass me in front of the Commissioner. You are my daughter, Yukine Kuraokami, and you will behave in a manner befitting of our family name. If you try to leave the gathering again or if you fall asleep, I will have you whipped. Do you understand?"
Yukine found a place in the study where she fell asleep. Unfortunately, as Reitan Kuraokami had threatened, he beat her with a stick the next day and forbade her from eating for the whole day. If he was capable of doing that to his own daughter, what would stop him from doing it to Enmaku's family?
A loud snarl was heard in the distance. Yukine and Koda made their way to a window where they saw a dog-like creature recklessly charge into the villain ranks and easily take them down. They didn't recognize him, but considering he was attacking the villains and not Tokoyami, it was easy to see that he was an ally. With the span of several moments, the dog Quirk person had taken down the remainder of the villains.
"Are you alright?" Hound Dog asked. "What're you scared of? I'm Hound Dog, a U.A. Teacher. Now come out!"
Yukine and Koda ran out of the building and into the pouring rain to join up with Tokoyami. They then hurried over to where Hound Dog stood, his height and ferocious look easily intimidating Koda.
"I thank you for your aid, Hound Dog," Tokoyami thanked the U.A. Teacher.
"I'm just glad you're all safe," Hound Dog spoke in a much softer tone. "Now let's go!"
As soon as Open Palm entered the Conflagration Zone, he could sense the unconscious bodies of many villains, though there were still many more in the area. Having deduced that the student in the Zone was Mashirao Ojiro, he was impressed that he had held his ground against so many villains for so long.
However, he could tell that Ojiro was starting to get tired through his Seismic Sense, so he hurried to find him.
"A Pro Hero!" a villain called out as they saw Open Palm. "Take him down!" Open Palm smirked cockily as he raised his staff and prepared for the villains who were charging at him.
With great skill and finesse, Open Palm's powerful martial arts made quick work of the large group of villains. As he took them down with ease, the villains were unable to land a single hit on the master martial artist. Open Palm's worry for Ojiro quickly vanished as he easily took down these street thugs; though numerous, they lacked true fighting skills. Whoever recruited them must've had low standards or saw them as expendable.
"Whew," Open Palm chuckled after beating all the villains. "I'm sweating and it's not because of the effort I used on you."
"Mr. Suzukaze!" Ojiro called out as he leapt towards the blind martial arts teacher. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," he assured. "These are just low-life thugs; I'm only sweating because of how hot it is in here."
Ojiro had never seen such martial arts mastery before. Ojiro had taken out several villains, but he had to rely on hit-and-run tactics. Open Palm, despite his blindness, took them out with great ease in a straight fight without so much as a scratch sustained. Even if he was out of his prime, Open Palm was a master martial artist and Ojiro was simply in awe of his battle prowess.
"Let's get out of here," Open Palm insisted to Ojiro.
The two martial artists started for the exit of the zone, though Open Palm quietly thought to himself about Ojiro. By himself, he had taken down a considerable number of villains; even if they were just street thugs, Open Palm wasn't going to deny Ojiro credit. He was undoubtedly a good martial artist in his own right, but he clearly still had much to learn.
"Maybe I found the one," Open Palm quietly said.