Chapter 11: Chapter 10: USJ Part 2
"Damn it, I really went overboard today." Toshinori mutters to himself, as he lies on the couch in the faculty's office. He had just arrived after resolving a third incident of the day, but doing so had drained him of quite a lot of his time and energy, now he guesses he could only maintain about ten minutes for the rest of the day.
"But still, even if it's just for ten minutes, I could at least be there by the end of the class." he says to himself, as he checks his phone once more. He had sent a message to 13 earlier to inform her about his inability to make it to class and he considers calling her once more to inform her about his plans, but debates with himself whether or not he should as they would be likely in the middle of class by now. Best not to disturb them.
A knock on the door surprises him as he spins around to find the principal standing at the doorway,
"Ah, Principal Nedzu, your fur is looking neat as always." Toshinori greets with a smile as Nedzu enters, "What brings you here?"
"Why I'm merely checking on you." Nedzu says as he shows a tablet with the latest news of his deeds, "Solving three separate cases across the city is quite astounding, but I must imagine it drained quite a lot of your already dimming time limit?"
Toshinori sighs, "It's true, ever since I granted Melissa One for All I can feel myself slowly losing my strength each day. But it doesn't mean I should ignore villains."
"Of course not. But I do recommend that you start placing a little trust in your fellow Pro Heroes across the city, you're not the only one capable of fighting villains after all." Nedzu reminds as he pours himself a cup of tea, "Even so, I do recommend that you focus on your career in education. But whether you choose to listen to this advice of mine is up to you."
"You're right, part of my new duties is making sure these kids grow up to be excellent Pro Heroes." Toshinori agreed, "In which case, I believe I should meet with them near the end of the class to evaluate their progress, and perhaps some advice, if I can give any."
"A good idea, Toshinori." Nedzu nods before tapping on his tablet once more, "Still, while you are here should we discuss our investigations into our mysterious student."
"Midoriya?" Toshinori asks. The chat between the student and the principal had given them more questions than answers, and they still couldn't decipher whether or not he had any former allegiance to All for One, "What did you find?"
"Our little chat has left us with more questions than answers. What is this 'Strixhaven' he mentioned? Who is 'Gideon'? Where exactly did he stay the last ten years?" Nedzu said as he took a sip from his cup, "Let's start with Strixhaven. We know of course this is where Midoriya claimed to learn some of his combat ability. I tried looking into any institute with that name in the past ten years, but to my dismay, I failed to find anything."
"Perhaps he was lying to throw us off?" Toshinori suggests but Nedzu shook his head.
"No, I could tell that was the truth. He looked extremely confident that I would not know of such a place." Nedzu explains, "I will continue to look into it, as it would be concerning if there is some secret organisation training children like Midoriya. I doubt anything good would come out of an organisation like that."
That was concerning. An organisation like that would definitely sound like something All for One would have in his pocket. After all, he had brought down a number of training facilities the villain owned which turned children brought from the streets into loyal, fanatical grunts. He had seen the condition of children rescued from them, bruised, bleeding and broken. To think that Midoriya may have suffered at their hands…
"And we still have yet to discern if he truly has any connection to All for One." Nedzu admits with some difficulty.
"What other explanation could there be?" Toshinori asks frustrated, "His Quirk, his training, how he keeps the past ten years a secret, it feels like too much of a coincidence. Sure, he may not be seeking revenge, but it's more than likely he has some past associations with the villain."
"Yes, I also believe his Quirk is too varied to be just a single one." Nedzu nods in agreement, "If we both subscribe to the theory that this 'Gideon' and the group he allies with were potentially under the thumbs of All for One, perhaps they did something heinous that Midoriya decides to abandon them. Perhaps involving a child."
"What are you talking about?" Toshinori asks, confused, before Nedzu shows him the tablet's contents.
"I decided to look into the Midoriya family to see if anything can shed some light on our investigations. One of them stood out, a young girl by the name of Eri." Nedzu explains, "Can you look and tell me what you think is odd?"
Toshinori takes a look at the contents and furrows his brows. Usually it was David, Nighteye or Naomasa who he entrusted with this parts of the job, so it took a few seconds of scratching his head before he realises,
"These records…they don't exist any longer than a few days ago?" he asks in surprise.
"Yes, the adopted youngest child of the Midoriya family officially doesn't exist before then." Nedzu says, "And any information we have on Izuku Midoriya's return is very clouded as his parents made very sure to keep it away from the media. But I have a theory, perhaps this girl was being trained like he was and unable to bear seeing her undergo the same treatment he rescues her and took her back home, taking the time to create a new identity to hide her from anyone tracking them down."
"That makes some sense." Toshinori nods, "He's shown to care very much about his classmates, very protective of them from what I gather. So it seems he may be an agent of All for One, but instead of revenge he's merely looking to get away from some sort of remnant of his organisation?"
"One of the many dozens of theories I have, but yes."
"I wish he wasn't so vague and deflective." Toshinori laments with a sigh, "I'm beginning to wonder if we should bring Nighteye into this. If there's an organisation suspected to have connections with All for One, he should know as well."
"Let's keep him in the dark for now. After all, we don't even know the full story." Nedzu reminds. It's been a while since he had encountered a puzzle that has him stumped like this. Honestly if there wasn't a possible connection to what is possibly a global threat he would be excited.
Their tea was interrupted when all of a sudden the doors were broken down and they both flinched in preparation for an attack but their eyes widened at sight of Tenya Iida, panting and sweating as he leaned on the doorframe.
***
If Melissa could describe the scene in front of her in one word, it would be overkill.
She had threw another punch at that damned villain, and like predicted he drops his crystal armour to allow Aizawa to erase its Quirks. And then Midoriya…
The Noumu charged undeterred by the loss of its Quirks but Midoriya waves his hand at it summoning dozens of spectral blue arms, reaching out from the ground and latch onto the Noumu and actually managing to restrain it for some seconds. It struggles for a few moments, occasionally ripping off a spectral arm only for two more to take its place, but even then it was barely restrained.
He proceeds to slam his spear to the ground as it glows red, firing off a trio of flaming orbs that streak towards the pinned villain like a cluster of missiles. The Noumu barely frees one of its arms to block the shots as they pierce the large muscular arm, setting it ablaze and into ashes, leaving only a stump in its place.
It roars before finally breaking free, leaping towards the three of them, but Midoriya barely flinched as he raised his free hand, glowing blue as the smoke from the explosion flew towards the Noumu, snaring it with tendrils of smoke before flinging it upwards into the sky before a black cloud forms in an instant above them, with a large bolt of red lightning striking down on the Noumu.
It was almost terrifying to see her classmate tear into this villain like he was doing. There was no hesitation in his movements, just like back in the Battle Trials only this time there was no confident calm he displayed but cold, calculating fury.
"Midoriya! I can't keep my eyes open for much longer!" Aizawa warns and the green haired boy grits his teeth before throwing his spear into the air, duplicating itself into dozens and dozens of white copies that flew down with such speed as to pierce the Noumu and keep it pinned before Midoriya fell back to where she and Aizawa was.
Aizawa was soon forced to blink, and in that split second, the armour flashes back into existence, shielding it from the effects of his Quirk as it pries the spears from its body. Underneath it's crystal shell it was likely repairing its body at high speeds but she notices the two arms that Midoriya burnt or blown off were growing back at a slower pace.
"It's down two arms, next we go for the legs, and then the head." Midoriya notifies them. It was almost disturbing seeing how uncaring he was with how much damage he was going to the villain, in fact she may even gamble and say that Midoriya wanted to kill this villain. There was more than normal rage in his eyes, like he saw the Noumu as something vile, something that deserves nothing less than absolute annihilation. It sends chills down her spine in all honesty.
She launches forward once more, reeling her arm back for another full powered punch and hearing the machinery whirr and metal strain but pushes on anyways determined to take down the villain. But just as she reaches, a familiar wall of black mist appears in front of her.
***
To say that things were not going as planned was an understatement. First of all, All Might was not at the USJ as promised by their information. It was initially no issue, it meant that they could use the time until he gets there to wipe out the students and teachers that could likely back him up.
He had certainly not expected the children to fight back as hard as they did, with one of them even managing to escape! He had to report back to Shigaraki, as even with the Noumu's upgrades there was a low chance of victory if all the teachers of UA and All Might arrive at the same time.
That was where he saw the Noumu, on its knees with glowing spears skewered through its body with a blonde student rushing towards it. He immediately warped her away just in case to give Noumu time to recover, but unfortunately, he didn't have time to focus so the warp gate could only go a few metres away, sending her blow right back at her allies.
"Shigaraki!" Kurogiri cries out as he carefully warps him away from the strange chains tying him up, "Are you alright?"
"Do I fucking look alright?!" he screams in pain as he grasps the stump where was his left hand once stood, "That… fucking cheater! There wasn't supposed to be some surprise mini-boss or something!"
Kurogiri glances at the limp hand that laid a few metres away and grimaces, "Fear not, Shigaraki. We'll get the doctor to put it back on. But we have to retreat now, one of the students managed to escape. We have to go before the Pro Heroes arrive."
"No… not yet…" Shigaraki growls as he points his remaining hand at the dust cloud. Kurogiri had attempted to use the blonde student's own attack against them but it appear all three of them were unharmed. Looking closely he realises one of the three was the green haired boy from the entrance, with a look in his eyes that spelt a lust for blood. Their blood.
"That cheater, he's got more than one Quirk…" he growls as their eyes met, "Only sensei can do that, it doesn't make sense! And he's ruining our raid, Noumu won't be able to fight All Might thanks to him…I'm not leaving without his corpse!"
Kurogiri glances back at the boy in concern, "The Noumu is designed to fight and even kill All Might, are you saying that he's capable of overwhelming it?"
"He's got support." Shigaraki growls as he scratches his neck with his remaining hand in frustration, breaking his skin, "Eraserhead…if we take him out he can't bring down Noumu's armour. And that girl… the one who thinks she's All Might, throwing punches while shouting 'Smash' like he does… Kill her as well, so Noumu won't have to bring down its armour to absorb her punches. The boy's their main DPS, if his support falls there's no way he can stand up to Noumu. There's three of us against three of them, and we have Noumu on our side. Besides, if we kill them, it'll break All Might's pride at the very least."
"...Very well." Kurogiri reluctantly obeys as he gets into position. While he believes they've done enough, crippling one of their teachers and scattering their students to various villain populated zones, he supposes adding at least one death would cripple UA's reputation even further.
***
"Midoriya? Aizawa-sensei?" Melissa cries in concern as the dust parted to reveal the both unharmed.
"We're fine." Izuku says as he phases back to reality with Aizawa as he glances to the creature made of black mist, "It looks like Kurogiri is finally here."
He had read the minds of the villains in the Conflagration Zone, this villain by name of Kurogiri was their only method of transport out of here. He hopes that perhaps they may flee now with their League in tow but it appears they all intend to keep fighting.
"How do you know his name?" Melissa asks with a tone he couldn't place, but before he could answer, the Noumu charges and interrupts them. He slams his spear to the ground once more, shattering the earth and making the monster stumble midcharge. This slows it down enough for chains, both white and blue to pull it back just enough to slow it down.
His spear glows as a blade of red energy grows from its tip, making it resemble a large glaive, before bringing it down, but the Noumu blocks it with a crystalised arm just as Melissa goes for a blow to the guts, forcing it to decrystallize the area to absorb the blow.
Aizawa took advantage of the opening once more and erased the Quirks it had, and the crystal armour fell allowing for the glowing hot blade to cut through its flesh into the bone.
But suddenly, a black rift appears in front of Aizawa who barely leapt back in time to avoid a hand clawing at his face. The villains may be blocking his sight but as long as he didn't blink the effects of his Quirk will remain until he does.
"Take down the support, and the rest of the party falls." Shigaraki growls, as he made crazed swipes at the Pro Hero which were sloppy but made dangerous thanks to the near inhuman speed he had.
Izuku curses at the sudden alteration before snapping back to attention as the Noumu throws a punch at Melissa that he barely deflects with a shield. It shifts its attention back to him and swung the arm his spear was latched into hoping to smash him into the pavement.
A snap of his fingers and he phases out midswing as the Noumu's fist smash into the earth as he appears above the monster. Stabbing his spear downwards aiming for the head but it moved the last moment, so he only managed to skewer its neck.
"Get back to Aizawa!" he screams from the back of the Noumu as it tries grasping for him, "Keep the one with hands away from him! His Quirk is to destroy whatever he touches, so be careful!"
"What about you?!" she cries out just as the Noumu leaps up, taking him along for the ride as it angled itself so it would fall while landing on him. But he managed to phase away on time just as they landed.
"I'll be fine! Just go!" he orders, as Melissa nods and runs off to assist her teacher. The Noumu gets back up almost instantly and Izuku chains it down with more magic. The constant spells were taking their toll as he feels his breathing get more and more ragged, he needed to end this quick.
The Noumu roars but with the spear runned through its throat it sounded more like a wet gurgle, choking on its blood as it kneels and performed a great leap above, aiming it's back at the ceiling. Seeing it's intentions Izuku phased through it's body as it leaps watching as it rockets to the ceiling, smashing into it and despite the distance he could still feel it's bloodlusted glare as it launches itself back like a projectile.
In his mind he calculates the Noumu's speed and trajectory, gathering the mana from the nearby sources of water before guiding it in front of him, moulding it into the shape of a creature.
Before the Noumu was halfway there, a thunderclap was heard as a wyvern with blue scales and red wings intercepted it, snapping it between its jaws and claws midair. One of the many creatures he had encountered in his studies and journeys.
The wyvern slams the Noumu into the ground as fast as it could, but it barely lasts a few seconds as a black fist punches through its skull clean through like it was a piece of paper. The Noumu tosses away the fading carcass as it rushes for Izuku again.
He blitzes forward in a flash of lightning, sliding underneath an arm thrown at where his head would have been, before his spear wraps itself in a blade made of red and white mana, slashing at its side as he slid past, nearly severing it in two.
The Noumu falls on its knees, the muscles holding its body up sliced to bits and working quickly to piece itself back together. Izuku was going to take advantage of the situation but suddenly he senses something above, and trusting his instinct, leaps backwards as a pile of rubble falls where he last stood.
Above him multiple black rifts tear across the sky and rubble as he narrowly avoids or swats them away with his spear. Stabbing forward repeatedly and blasting each piece to dust before they can touch him, creating a cloud of dust that obscured his vision. Just as the last piece was destroyed he sees a shadow behind the dust and raises his spear to create a barrier to block.
The Noumu's fist shatters the barrier and strikes, snapping his spear in two and launching him backwards.
"D-damn it." Izuku curses, as he pushes himself back up, the dust now clearing and he sees the mist creature, Kurogiri, hovering in the air.
"I must admit, to go toe to toe with our Anti-Symbol of Peace shows that you both have a powerful Quirk and extreme skill." he analyses from his position above, "Our Noumu has to save its energy for the main course, so pardon me as I assist him in wiping you out."
More and more rifts appear in the air emerging from Kurogiri, "Your facility's Collapse Zone is home to quite some nice rubble, would you like to see them?"
"Oh lock me sideways." he mutters to himself, as he dodges more and more rubble thrown at him as the Noumu began charging, swatting any rubble that so happened to be in his way. He leaps backwards and fires some white chains from the spear in an attempt to slow down the Noumu but a warp rift appears in front of them and the chains disappear into the darkness.
"Son of a-!" he yells, as he phases through a fist before leaping to great highs with assistance from blue mana towards Kurogiri. If he can take out the weaker of the two first he could stall Noumu, buying enough time until he gathers enough mana to wipe it off the face of the plane, or for reinforcements from UA to arrive.
But he hesitates for a second. If he was the villain's only way out won't taking away their option to retreat force them to fight even harder, potentially even maiming or killing one of his classmates?
The second was long enough and a warp rift appears in front of Kurogiri before something shoots out of it, slicing away at his mana shield and knocking him out of his trajectory before it was blasted away with a gust of wind.
"Water?!" Izuku realises, at the feeling of his clothes being drenched.
"Exactly. Simple physics I'm sure you'd learn in school." Kurogiri explains as he sets up a number of portals across the area pointed at him, "Your facility's Shipwreck Zone is meant to mimic an ocean, and it has quite the depth."
A dozen streams of high pressure water shoot at him with enough force to sever a man in half. He barely blocks them with barriers or blast portals away with wind, keeping himself afloat with blue mana.
Then a large portal appears in front of him and a wave of fire washes over him but before it could even touch him he absorbs it into his spear, making it glow red with power. It was weaponizing the zones, turning what were meant to be safe methods of learning rescue techniques into weapons against those that sought to learn. There was irony in that.
He narrowly avoids another three high pressure blade of water, waiting for the right moment to strike at Kuorigiri. Then he sees an opening and dashes through the air, spear aiming for the exposed bits of metal armour behind his neck. If he was made of mist, then why wear armour? It meant there must be something worth protecting behind it.
But before his spear could scratch it, sheets of crystals deflects the attack as an arm reaches out from the mass of mist that made up Kurogiri, and grabs his spear. Despite the strength of the metal it was easily snapped like a twig.
Kurogiri enlarged the portal allowing the Noumu to fly through directly at him. With no time to change his direction Izuku could only raise as much mana he could into a frontal barrier to block the blow. But the Noumu shatters it with ease and slamming into the already weakened shield of mana enwrapping his body.
The blow shatters the shield and sent him flying backwards, and Kurogiri used this opportunity to focus the high pressure water blades at him. Despite being stunned from the blow he saw the portal open in front of him.
His reflexes save him from the worst of the blow, if it had been a direct hit he had no doubt it would have pierced through his skull. But the shot does graze him, slashing at his right eye.
Pain was all he felt then. Agonising pain, worse than any he's ever felt in his life. A white hot pain on the right side of his face like it was on fire. Being on fire may actually be preferable.
His focus breaks and his flight spell stops keeping himself afloat, plummeting from the skies and slamming onto the ground like a bag of rocks. Something breaks when he lands.
He tastes blood as he coughs, trying to get his lungs to remember how to breathe. Broken ribs and choking on his own blood? That was too familiar for his taste. Almost immediately his vision blurs, finding it difficult to decipher whether he was in the USJ or in Amonkhet, he can't tell if he was lying on broken concrete or stone bricks.
He hears shouting, most certainly either Aizawa or Melissa, but his concussed mind keeps hearing those of Gatewatch, Jace, Nissa, Chandra, Liliana and Gideon…
…Gideon…
The monster looms over him and for a moment its visage was replaced with a golden dragon. The pain dulls, his mind racing at a hundred thoughts a second and sharpens as the creature raises a foot and stomp with all the force it could muster.
***
"That punch…shouting smash as you do it…you're an All Might fan aren't you." Shigaraki asks as he caught her gauntlet with his remaining hand, "It pisses me off."
Melissa's eyes widen at the sight of her gauntlet disintegrating as Shigaraki moved to place his other hand, momentarily forgotten it was now a stump. Melissa quickly kicks him away with her armoured boot before backing up to inspect the damage.
The whole thing was rusted to the state of being unusable and she quickly activates the emergency disengagement to let the broken piece of armour fall to the ground, crumbling into a mound of rusted metal. That was just from a single touch…
Shigaraki charges again but a familiar scarf wraps around his wrist, "This again?!"
Aizawa pulls Shigaraki towards him before delivering a powerful kick to the face, launching him backwards before pulling in for another blow.
"Get your hands off my student." he growls as he swings him and and to the ground, smashing against the concrete.
Even fighting with one arm broken, Aizawa was still able to take down a villain like that. And Midoriya was also fighting a villain that was supposed to take down All Might. Look at her, she was his successor, shouldn't she be doing something more?
Sudden;y she notices a shadow coming from above and glances up, her eyes widening at the sight as she rushes to a distracted Aizawa, slamming into him just as a piece of rubble was about to fall on him.
"Look out!" she cries out as the sky began raining rubble of broken buildings, likely from the USJ's Collapse Zone. She aims an arm at the skies, pouring it full of One for All before shouting just like her Uncle Might.
"TEXAS SMASH!" The resulting force of the blow blasts away most of the pieces and the mist portal. She breathes a sigh of relief before they both hear something fall and crack. They turn around at the source as their eyes widen with both horror and disbelief.
"Looks like the Noumu's done." Shigaraki cackles at what he saw, untangling himself from Aizawa's capture weapon, "About time."
Lying in front of them was the body of Midroiya, the ground beneath him cracked from his impact and a puddle of blood from his head. She pales at the sight, her heart racing as Aizawa moved to cover the sight with his body.
"Don't look." he says as calmly as he could through gritted teeth, "Don't think about it, not now. We're not out of the woods."
Shigaraki just shrugs carefree, "It's a shame, I would've liked to capture him alive for Sensei but I suppose his corpse will do just fine. This is what you get for sending children to fight, Eraserhead. Don't be so surprise if they bite the dust."
"You'll pay for that." Aizawa growls in anger as memories flash through his eyes. Of Oboro, how he died against a similarly gigantic villain with his head crushed. How was he going to explain to his parents that he let their child die under his watch?
"You…you bastard." she may not have been close with Midoriya, even downright suspicious of him, but he didn't deserve to die. Not from trying to protect them. She clenches her fist in anger and throws it at the villain in front of her.
"Noumu." he calls out confident that his minion would leap to take the blow in time but to his shock the Noumu doesn't move from his spot. This moment's hesitation cost him as he hesitates before leaping back and raising his hand to catch the blow, momentarily forgetting his Quirk had been erased by Eraserhead.
"SMASH!" the punch wasn't as strong as it was on full power, yet Shigaraki could feel every bone in his arm fracture, and his jaw nearly dislocated as the back of his own hand smashes into his face.
Shigaraki was sent flying and landed in a roll as he screamed for Kurogiri and a warp rift appeared, wrapping around him and warping him to safety before Aizawa's capture weapon or Melissa's fist could touch him.
"Where the hell is Noumu? What is it doing?!" Shigaraki asks after some distance was put between them.
"It's… just standing there." Kurogiri responded similarly confused as all eyes turned back to the villain in question. The dust cloud it kicked up has cleared and beneath its feet laid a surprisingly still intact green haired student.
***
"...Thank you, Gideon." he whispers as the Noumu's feet struggle against the impermeable barrier between them. Gideon's signature ability, creating borderline invincible barriers. It was lucky that he didn't misjudge the timing, and he knows he can only maintain it for a split second so he quickly casts the second spell.
White chains emerge from the earth below them and wrap themselves around the Noumu's arms and legs, pinning them down. It roars and snaps its teeth down in an attempt to maul his head but he glares back defiantly with his remaining eye as he vanishes in a flash of blue, away from the Noumu with a glowing white hand on the gash, patching the wound as best he can.
The pain was barely contained, he's likely concussed from the impact, who knows how many bones was broken, and he was having trouble breathing, a sharp pain through his lungs whenever he inhales. But he can't collapse now. He needs to kill this creature in an instant but how? His spear was broken, and he can't make a big enough incineration spell quick enough. His mind scrolls through all of the different spells and creatures, something that can be done fast enough to kill this bastard before he passes out.
…There was one. But it was a gamble. If it fails that would be his last spell ever. The chances of failure to cast the spell was high, and the consequences if he failed… it wouldn't be just him that will pay the price but possibly everyone in his class.
His thoughts were interrupted as a wave of ice washes over the Noumu, completely encasing it in a miniature glacier. With hope in his eye he spun to see a familiar figure dressed in white, half encased in a sheet of ice.
"Midoriya, what happened to your eye?" Todoroki exclaims in surprise. Izuku could not have timed this better if he had tried,
"Todoroki! Your flames! You have to use them!" He informs his classmate as urgently as possible, "As much fire as you can! It's the only way to beat it!"
The boy takes a moment to look surprise at the request before looking at him coldly.
"I'm not using my right side." he simply says and Izuku was actually stunned by the blunt refusal of aid as Todoroki turns his attention back to the glacier, "Besides, that was their Anti-Symbol of Peace right? I heard it from one of the villains. Doesn't seem like much of a-"
The glacier explodes and both students raise their own barriers to block the shrapnel of ice. He turns to the fire and ice user with a frustrated glare, "If you won't use your fire then at least hold it back for as long as possible! Buy me time!"
Without waiting for a response, Izuku kneeled down and slammed both palms on the ground, the area around him glowing lightly with grey mist circling around him. Confused by the sight, Todoroki nevertheless obeyed and kept pouring wave after wave of ice at the Noumu, who shattered each attempt to restrain him with ease as it steadily gained traction and moves faster, closer and closer to the two.
Meanwhile Izuku pictures the blade in his mind. Pictured the black steel, that stench of evil and wrongness that permeated the air when he saw it. A sword of darkness, forged in the blood of hundreds of slaves and the blacksmith's own son. A weapon of evil that was reforged and wielded by the purest warrior he has ever known.
The Blackblade emerged hilt first as he grabs it before drawing it from the mist like it was a sheathe. It has slain mortals, undead, and elder dragons before breaking against the scales of Nicol Bolas. But this creature, this Noumu, was no Nicol Bolas.
He breaks into a sprint towards the Noumu, a crystal fist speeding for his head as he raises the Blackblade to meet it, powering himself with as many enhancement spells as possible. The two of them met in a clash and Izuku skids to a stop a few feet behind the Noumu, the two of them stood still, unmoving.
In his hands the Blackblade crumbled, as he was unable to maintain its form for any longer. The legendary blade vanished back into the Aether as the damage Izuku received through he course of the battle finally took effect, collapsing on a knee.
Shigaraki smirked under the hand wrapped around his face. Finally that troublesome mini-boss had been taken out, and with his body relatively intact, he was sure that Sensei will praise him for such a find. But then his eyes widened as the Noumu stumbled as well.
"What…" he mutters in shock as all of a sudden the Noumu's arm slides right off, having been cut clean through despite the thick layer of crystals and Shock Absorption Quirk, the Noumu lost a third arm. It was just a cut so it should've regenerated instantly but it didn't, the wound continued bleeding and the crystal armour that protected it faded away.
But that wasn't possible, did Eraserhead do something to Noumu's Quirk? But that was impossible, Super Regeneration shouldn't be affected by it! That wasn't possible!
"That…cheater! This isn't possible! Noumu isn't supposed to fall to some damn miniboss! It was supposed to kill All Might! That's why we we took on that sidequest with the Yakuza to level it up!" Shigaraki screeches as he scratches his neck harder, practically flaying at it, "This isn't possible!"
"Shigaraki…" Kurogiri says placatingly but equally concerned with what he just witnessed, "We must flee now."
"But our minions, they're awaking! We can still do this!" Shigaraki points out to the rousing villains strewn across the USJ having been knocked out earlier by Aizawa.
"Our soldiers are no match even for the students, and our Noumu is dead. Even if All Might shows up now, we lost the element of surprise and have next to no chance. We. Must. Retreat."
Shigaraki snarls at that but relents to his advice, turning to face Melissa and Aizawa as Kurogiri wraps his mist around him to prepare for long distance warping.
"Next time…the next time I'll really kill you…you damned All Might copycat. You and that damned mini-boss."
"Like hell we'd let you go after all this!" Melissa shouts in rage but was held back by Aizawa.
"Calm down." he orders. If they were leaving it's a good thing, after seeing the mist villain in action he realises they can't risk another engagement. Not when they were all worn out and Midoriya in critical condition.
"They… they just left us?" a villain groggily asks as he awakes.
"Damn it! Those fucking cowards!" another yells, "They left us for the pigs!"
"Look, that hero and those students are fucking worn out from fighting. If we can take them hostage…" a villain suggests.
Todoroki took a position to defend Midoriya's unconscious body, ready to unleash ice on anyone that gets close but that would not be needed. From the entrance of the USJ, something large smashes through the tall hydraulically locked gates and a familiar booming voice, filled with barely contained rage echoes through the USJ.
"Have no fear students, you are safe now." All Might says, "For I am here!"
***
"Aizawa, Melissa, are you alright?" Toshinori says after he swiftly defeats the remaining villains in less than a few seconds. All around the USJ, defeating each villain that still stood with one punch. The number was suprsingly little and he feels pride that his students have come this far in only such a short time.
He returns to the centre of the USJ where he had saw his colleague. Aizawa looks worse for wear, his arm was broken and laying limply against his body and he had to be supported by Melissa to walk who looked to have part of her armour rusted off.
"Forget about it, Midoriya needs urgent care now!" Aizawa says, pointing with his unbroken arm. He follows the direction he pointed at and his eyes widened at the sight in shock. Endeavour's son, Shoto was kneeling next to an unconscious Midoriya looking in worry and concern. His heart sinks further at the sight of the boy, blood staining his white coat, the armour he wore dented, and one half of his face caked in dried blood missing an entire eye. All this happened while he was with Nedzu, discussing what they thought was the boy's true intentions in their school. A sense of guilt emanates within him as he carefully picks up the boy, cradling him in his arms.
Then all of a sudden, the boy gasps and reaches out with a shaky hand, coughing out blood.
"Midoriya?" he says in alarm, "Be still, young man. You're too injured to move."
"...Safe?" he coughs out and Toshinori nods.
"You're safe now, Young Midoriya. The villains are gone." he assures but Midoriya shook his head.
"No…they…safe?" he asks again and Toshinori understood what he meant. Even at the state he was in he was more concerned with the safety of his classmates? To think that he once considered the boy to be an agent of that terrible man, lying in wait for an evil plan.
"They are." he nods, "Stay awake, I'll have you sent to Recovery Girl in no time."
He leaps with all the power One for All could offer, to get the boy to Recovery Girl as quickly as he can. If he dies because he was too late, then he would never be able to forgive himself.
***
"Tomura, you return far earlier than expected."
A voice from a static television says as Tomura fell out of Kurogiri's warp gate, his remaining hand clutching over his stump as the adrenaline starts to fade and the pain returns. He screams in anger as he began to take his rage out on his surroundings, throwing bar stools and breaking glasses on the tables.
Kurogiri sighs at the tantrum but quickly goes searching for the medkit behind the bar to supply his charge with morphine for the pain. As this goes on the voice behind the television went silent at the sight of Shigaraki with one less hand than he started with.
"What happened, Tomura? Where's your hand? The Noumu?" the voice asks calmly after Tomura pauses his tantrum for a moment, "Take a moment to catch your breath before recounting what has happened."
Tomura pants before turning to the screen, "He killed the Noumu, that damned cheater!"
"The Noumu dead?" another voice from the screen asks in shock, "That should be impossible! With the upgrades thanks to Overhaul it should have been a guaranteed victory. He should have been able to restrain All Might and use Energy Suck, making Noumu stronger while All Might gets weaker! And Crystallize! Even if any of the students there had an energy based Quirk that ignored Shock Absorption, Crystallize would have defended Noumu! Working with Kurogiri there is no conceivable way All Might would have won!"
"That's just fucking it…" Tomura growls as Kurogiri administers the morphine to his stump, "Noumu didn't even get the chance to fucking fight All Might. He lost to some damn surprise mini-boss!"
"...What?" the doctor could only ask, stunned by what he just said, "Are you telling me that Noumu lost to a student?!"
"Doctor, calm yourself." the first voice says, "How did Noumu lose?"
"It was a stalemate at first." Kurogiri cuts in to give his report as Tomura stews, "From what I saw the Noumu and the child fought to a standstill before I interfered. He had a strange Quirk, lightning and fire, yet being able to phase and summon blades of energy at the same time."
"It was like you, Sensei." Tomura says, "That brat…I think he has a Quirk like yours."
You could hear a pin drop as both voices became silent almost for a full minute before he says in a suddenly neutral tone, "Continue your report."
"The boy was soon overwhelmed when I joined the fight and assisted Noumu. I managed to shoot a high pressured shot of water that cut his eye out, and he fell to what I had thought was his death. But he survived, and while the Noumu was held back by a boy with an ice Quirk, he created a strange black sword that killed the Noumu."
"He killed the Noumu…with a sword?" the doctor asks, incredulous, "His Super Regeneration should've fixed a wound from a blade in seconds!"
"But it didn't!" Tomura snaps, "That brat sliced through Noumu's crystal armour like it was nothing! And it didn't heal from that, like the sword applied some sort of debuff or something!"
"So the sword was able to somehow negate the Noumu's Quirks…" Sensei mutters out loud, "Fascinating, very fascinating. And who was this boy exactly?"
"We do not know, but he had green hair." Kurogiri explains, "I apologise for our failings, master."
"Do not fret, Kurogiri." the voice assures like a kindly old man would wave off a child's mistake, "Neither should you, Tomura. The results were disappointing but I believe this would be a perfect introduction for the League. The crippling of a UA student, breaching their impenetrable defences, will cause quite a ruckus amongst the populace. Rest, visit the doctor when you can to do something about your loss of a hand. But I believe when time comes for retaliation, you will be ready."
"I will, Sensei." Tomura says with bloodlust, "The next time I see that brat, I'll kill him myself. Him and that All Might-wannabe."
"All Might-wannabe?" he mutters, curious, "Tell me more about this, All Might-wannabe."