Chapter 16: One For All: 180
The black Nomu roared, before slamming Aizawa down on the concrete.
Aizawa felt his nose break, his goggles flying away, snapped clean in two. The Nomu grabbed his already injured arm and twisted, shattering it with ease.
"Erasure, it's a powerful quirk in the right circumstances, but right now, you're as good as quirkless."
Aizawa turned his head, activating his quirk on the monster, hoping to cancel its strength to allow him to free himself.
The Nomu broke Aizawa's other arm by slamming its palm down, but the underground hero refused to give Shigaraki the satisfaction of hearing his pain.
Izuku's eyes widened, he'd seen Aizawa use Erasure, but the monster still had its strength.
The monster's strength, it's natural, or rather, bioengineered.
Kurogiri chose this time to return, appearing at Shigaraki's side.
"Tomura, we have a situation." Kurogiri spoke.
"What is it?"
"A number of the kids escaped, the outside force is containing them for now." Kurogiri paused. "But I appear to have made a mistake, I sent the wrong child to face Sangata."
Shigaraki reached up, scratching at his neck. "So you're telling me the kid with that broken quirk is running around freely?"
Kurogiri nodded.
"If you weren't so useful, I'd kill you myself." Shigaraki stopped his assault on his neck, lowering his hand. "Game over. We need to leave, it's only a matter before the damn heroes show up. But first…"
Shigaraki paused.
"Shock Nomu, finish off Eraserhead, Bark Nomu, go kill some kids."
Fear shot through Tsuyu and Mineta, the two grabbing each other for support.
Mineta frowned, finding something warm and soft touching the palm of his hand. The purple boy looked across and went pale.
He spent the next ten seconds with his head under the water, Tsuyu's hand holding him down.
"You did well, Eraserhead." Shigaraki smirked. "But these Nomu, they're out of your league."
Aizawa grunted in pain. "Why?"
"To expose heroes and hero society for the fakes they are." Shigaraki shrugged. "A crusade of sorts."
"Li...Liar."
Shigaraki turned his head to look at the underground hero. "You're perceptive, I'll give you that. No, the crusade thing is just a front for my true goal."
"Destruction."
"Right in one." Shigaraki repositioned the hand on his face.
Aizawa coughed. "If you stand for nothing, what would you fall for?"
Rage flooded Shigaraki's body, his already fragile mental state deteriorating further. "Nomu, kill him."
The Nomu closed its hand around Aizawa's head, lifting it up before ramming it back into the concrete.
A pool of blood spread out from the point of impact, covering his broken goggles.
Izuku's feet moved before he could think, pushing himself away from the ground with Slingshot, and charging up One For All in his left arm, tearing the sleeve of his gym outfit.
His fist slammed into the black Nomu's chest.
The Nomu didn't move.
Izuku landed, looking down at his arm.
It wasn't broken, had he finally managed to control One For All's output.
No, that was all of One For All's power, then that means-
"Shock Absorption."
Izuku turned his head to look at Shigaraki.
"Any attack you throw at it, it can absorb, physical attacks are useless against it." Shigaraki smiled behind the hand on his face. "Nomus. Kill the child."
Slingshot pulled Izuku out of the way of the Shock Nomu's fist.
Physical attacks won't faze it, then I'll have to try something else.
Ducking forwards, Izuku avoided the Bark Nomu as it lumbered in, placing one hand on the Shock Nomu's leg and the other on the ground, activating Weld.
It took a few seconds, but the Shock Nomu's foot was merged to the concrete, stopping it from moving.
Diving through the black Nomu's legs, Izuku scooped Aizawa into his arms and used a telekinesis-boosted jump to get to the edge of the area in which Aizawa's fight with Shigaraki had taken place.
A second later, Tsuyu and Mineta landed next to him, the latter wrapped up in the former's tongue.
"Go." Aizawa spoke, barely able to open his mouth.
Izuku ignored him, his teacher's blood soaking his clothing.
Pressing the fingertips of his left hand to Aizawa's cheek, Izuku activated his One For All-enhanced Heal, his teacher's snapped arms rotating back into their correct place, his shattered orbital bone repairing itself.
Izuku turned his head to his classmates. "Tsu, Mineta, take Aizawa up the platform at the entrance, I've healed most of the major damage, I'm no Recovery Girl, he's still pretty beat up."
Mineta recoiled. "You can't possibly be thinking of going back in there, you were lucky to survive once."
He's right. You know it.
"I have too, that villain will set those monsters on the others if I don't distract them." Izuku tightened his fist. "That's something I can do."
Aizawa's scarf shot out, wrapping around Izuku's wrist, pulling him back, away from the fountain, away from Shigaraki and his monsters.
"Run, get away from here. I ban you from intervening."
Izuku looked into his teacher, his green eyes burning with intensity. "Aizawa, you've given it your all, but you can't fight anymore. If I don't then who will, the others will die, my friends will die."
Shota looked back at the green-haired boy, his stomach constricting with fear, unable to stop himself from seeing Oboro in Midoriya's place.
But the boy was right, Shota, all though his bones were healed, was still in a pretty bad way, no fit state to fight.
"You know, you're getting detention everyday till you graduate U.A. if you do this." Shota coughed.
Izuku smiled slightly, before nodding. "I was kind of expecting that."
With that, Izuku was gone, another jump sending him flying back to the fountain, landing softly on the small wall around it, using Slingshot to dampen the force on his legs.
"You came back then?" Shigaraki's grin unsettled Izuku on a primal level.
"I won't let you hurt my classmates." Izuku stepped down from the wall, scanning the area to make sure all the playing pieces were accounted for.
Shigaraki. Kurogiri. The bark monster. Shit.
The other monster was missing, or at least most of it was, it had torn the leg welded to the ground from its body.
As Izuku watched the remaining limb began to smoke, dissolving to a liquid and evaporating away.
"Midoriya, watch out!"
Izuku looked up, seeing Mineta standing in front of where Aizawa laid, being tended to by Tsuyu, with his arm raised, pointing to behind the green-haired boy.
Using his telekinesis, Izuku pulled himself to safety, just as the Shock Nomu slammed both its fists down where he'd just been.
"It has multiple quirks, doesn't it?" Izuku straightened up. "Shock Absorption and Hyper Regeneration."
Shigaraki snorted. "Just like you it would seem."
Izuku kept his face impassive, trying not to give too much away. "He really is still alive, isn't he? All For One."
That caught Shigaraki off guard. "You know Sensei?"
That got his attention.
Izuku shrugged non-committally. "Who hasn't heard of the Merchant of Quirks?"
"You're lying." Shigaraki's expression darkened. "Shock Nomu, don't kill him, but hurt him enough so he'll talk."
Izuku hardened both of his arms, raising them into an x-block, just as the Nomu slammed their fist into the green-haired boy's defence.
Grunting, Izuku was forced backwards, his feet digging into the concrete.
I didn't copy this monster's quirks, Quirksmith mustn't be able to copy quirks when my skin is hardened. That means Hardening must fundamentally change the composition of the user's skin.
Izuku was pushed back further, his hardened skin starting to crack under the immense force from the bioengineered monster.
It's failing, it's not strong enough.
He could feel the pressure building on his arms, his bones felt like they were about to snap.
Forcing his arms to rehardened over the damaged sections, Izuku examined his options. He couldn't release Hardening to use another quirk without the monster turning his body to pulp.
It was like a simple circuit, Quirksmith was the battery, the quirk he wanted to use was the bulb and Izuku himself was the switch.
I can't use two quirks at once, I'd have to be consciously thinking about each quirk to keep it working, active quirks at least.
And if Quirksmith was like a circuit, then it stood to reason he could treat it as such.
But that presented its own problems, in both series and parallel, the Quirksmith circuit would still only have one switch. If he wanted to use two quirks, they'd both be active at the same time or not at all.
Resistance, right, if I imagine this as a parallel circuit then I can add a resistor large enough to reduce current, or rather the energy supplied by Quirksmith, to functionally zero.
Rotating his hands and opening his palms, Izuku fired his largest explosion from each, while maintaining the hardening of his forearms.
Yes!
The Nomu screeched, but remained unfazed, if anything, the acrid smoke from the explosions were making it angrier.
Izuku had felt the hardening weaken somewhat when he'd fired the explosions. However, it had returned to normal the second he had set the resistance of the explosive quirk high enough to turn it off.
It really must be like a parallel circuit. Without resistance on either quirk the power was split between them equally, half as strong as they would be if Izuku was using them alone. So, when he applied full resistance to Explosion, Hardening had all the power it would normally have.
Izuku tried Wave Motion next, the spiral energy blasts proving to be nothing more than a mild annoyance to the beast.
Then he'd just have to try Seed Breath.
Izuku opened his mouth, seeds shooting like machine gun fire, impacting on the Nomu's skin and sprouting vines.
The monster roared as the vines encased it, leaving only its eyes visible.
Izuku released Hardening, stumbling back as the Nomu struggled against the vines.
It won't hold.
He was right, the monster tore through the vines, taking a chunk out of its own shoulder it's as it did.
It didn't seem to notice, swinging both its fist down in Izuku again.
Hardening reactivated, Izuku blocked the blow, the force driving him back nearly five meters.
Explosion, Wave Motion and Seed Breath all haven't worked. Weld, Variable Mist and Speed are all useless right now, and I don't even properly know what Origami even does.
But I do have Slingshot.
Izuku touched his hardened fingerpads to the monster's arm, activating Slingshot's secondary ability, and watching as it floated a few inches off the ground, spinning as it panicked wildly.
Dropping his hardening, Izuku charged One For All into his arm and punched the Nomu in the chest. The monster's Shock Absorption quirk took a large part of the force, but not all due to a lack of contact with the ground.
The Shock Nomu shot fifty foot into the air, coming to a halt as the force from One For All ran out.
Shigaraki looked up at his floating monster with confusion, before taking a step forward.
Kurogiri placed a smokey hand on his young charge's shoulder, stopping him. "I wouldn't get any closer."
Izuku released Slingshot and the Nomu was hurled back down at the ground with immense speed.
Dust blew past the green-haired boy, clearing to reveal the Nomu led beak-down in a massive crater, stretching out to damage the wall of the fountain.
Water trickled down into the crater, pooling around the Nomu's still form.
But it still got up, angrier than ever, its wounds healing without a trace.
That's not good.
The Nomu's fists smashed into Izuku's hardened arms once again, resuming their stalemate.
It was becoming very clear that none of Izuku's quirks would be able to land a solid hit on the monster, so that meant defence was his best bet, running out time until help arrived.
That just left Black Hole and Rockfist. The former was too risky, Kurogiri would just do to him what he'd done to Thirteen. The latter quirk was unusable, as a mutant-type quirk Izuku couldn't use it, unless…
Izuku slipped into quirkspace, summoning the orbs of light that represented Hardening and Rockfist to rest in front of him, before closing his eyes.
I can't afford to damage my muscles again, like I did when I made Slingshot.
Reaching out to One For All, Izuku channelled its power, not in any part of his body, but internally, in his quirkspace.
Opening his eyes, Izuku looked down, his arms were sparking with pale blue energy, but in his physical body they remained normal.
"I did it."
Expanding both of the quirks, Izuku started by making a strand starting from the node that triggered the Hardening's transformation to the node that represented the effect of Rockfist.
The two quirks glowed silver, forcing Izuku to look away momentarily, turning back to see one compound quirk.
"Let's see if this worked." Izuku reached out and touched the new quirk. "Rockhard, created by Izuku Midoriya, aged 15, on April 14th 2179. Type, Transformation. Compound of Hardening and Rockfist, allows the holder to transform any part of their body into a hardened rock or mineral, the more damage the hardened area takes, the stronger it becomes."
Izuku blinked, exiting quirkspace, returning to the physical plane.
Activating Rockhard, Izuku's already armored arms transformed into rock, almost up to his elbows.
Shigaraki scratched his neck. "Another quirk? Fucking hax."
Glancing to one side, Izuku saw the Bark Nomu advancing on Tsuyu and Mineta as they slowly dragged Aizawa back towards the platform.
Pulling himself to one side, Izuku hit the ground running, directly at the Bark Nomu. Using Slingshot to repel against the ground, Izuku flipped over the Nomu, landing in front of the monster as it brought its fist down.
Izuku grunted as the massive fist slammed into his rock-hard forearms, forcing him backwards.
"Take Aizawa, go." Izuku transformed his lower legs into hardened rock, bracing himself. "Now!"
Tsuyu and Mineta picked up the pace, just about managing to carry a barely conscious Aizawa between them.
"Mid...Midoriya, don't…"
"I'm sorry, Mr. Aizawa, but I have to." Izuku took a step forward, pushing the Bark Nomu back slightly.
"What a pest." Shigaraki suddenly moved, his speed greater than what Izuku expected from someone without a speed quirk.
Izuku didn't have time to move, watching as the pale man's hand wrapped around his face.
Nothing happened.
Shigaraki chuckled. "You really are pretty cool, Eraserhead."
Izuku's flicked back, Tsuyu and Mineta were leaning Aizawa up, his eyes glowing red and his hair floating above his head.
The Bark Nomu's strength had reduced, Aizawa was erasing whatever strength quirk the monster had as well. Izuku kept one rock arm blocking the monster's fist, rearing the other back and punching the distracted Shigaraki in the face.
Shigaraki was blasted back, bouncing across the concrete and impacting against the wall of the fountain.
"Tomura." Kurogiri portaled to Shigaraki's side, crouching over him. "Are you okay?"
Shigaraki spat out blood, two teeth with it. "That bastard!"
Kurogiri sighed. "Tomura, I believe it is time we cut our losses."
"No." Shigaraki stood. "This brat has to die, I want to see the life leave his eyes."
"Tomura." Kurogiri warned. "You cannot allow your emotions to rule you."
"Screw your platitudes." Shigaraki brushed Kurogiri's hand off his shoulder. "He's going to die."
At the same time, Izuku deactivated Rockhard, before activating Slingshot, attaching all four strands to the Bark Nomu's armor, repelling him back towards the fountain, into the other Nomu.
Aizawa's hair fell, the man unable to continue using his quirk any longer.
Izuku let his arms drop, as he slowly walked towards the fountain.
I need to be stronger.
"Come to die, have you?" Shigaraki glared at him. "Shock Nomu, kill him."
"Don't worry Mr. Aizawa, I'm going to find a way to overcome the recoil."
"Find a quirk to negate the damage from One For All."
Izuku watched as the Shock Nomu charged at him, undoing his gym jacket and tossing it aside.
Shock Absorption.
Hyper Regeneration.
This is going to hurt.
The Nomu swiped his arm, sending a backfist screaming towards Izuku.
"Midoriya!"
The fist smashed into Izuku, he felt his bones snap and crumple, agony flooding his veins.
Izuku's limp body flew back, impacting into a lamppost, bending it over almost completely.
Tsuyu and Mineta watched in horror as their classmate's broken form dropped to the floor, blood pooling around his body.
Shota couldn't breath, unable to look away from Izuku's broken body, the image of Oboro's body laid over it.
The underground hero met Izuku's glassy eyes, his expression slightly shocked, smoke gently issuing from his mouth.
Shigaraki laughed raucously. "He's dead, he's dead, he's dead. Now for his friends."
Mineta was crying, pulling on a frozen Aizawa with all his might. "Faster, faster, Tsuyu!"
Tsuyu wasn't hearing him, her eyes unable to look away from Izuku as the smoke slowly obscured him from view.
Shigaraki raced towards the frog-like girl, hand outstretched. "I'm going to enjoy this."
Aizawa blink rapidly, trying to get his quirk to work, but he couldn't, his eyes were too dry.
A hand gripped Shigaraki's wrist before he could reach Tsuyu.
The smoke dispersed, Izuku stood, fully healed, his gym trousers ripped and torn, ending just below his knees, light blue sparks cracking around his body.
"He's alive!" Mineta dropped Aizawa in his shock.
"He's alive." Shigaraki's expression darkened.
Strength, times three, Hyper Regeneration, times two, Shock Absorption, times one, all passive.
Izuku had expected the emotions attached to the quirks copied from the Nomu to match its rage, but instead he felt fear and pain radiating from them. The Nomu wasn't angry, it was hurting.
At its core it was human, scared and alone.
Izuku tightened his grip on Shigaraki, his three new Strength quirks stacking to give him a 4.8x increase to his raw muscle power.
I overstrained Quirksmith again, One For All is at 110% now, much more and it'll destroy my body every time I use it.
"That monster was human, until you forced those quirks on it and twisted them into that." Izuku threw out his free arm, using Slingshot to repel the Bark Nomu and his armor before it could attack him.
Shigaraki shrugged. "Well, not me personally."
Izuku's eyes bored into Shigaraki, before he twisted and snapped the pale man's wrist.
Shigaraki cried in pain. "Nomu, kill-"
"You won't hurt them." Izuku planted his foot and spun on the spot, throwing Shigaraki back towards the fountain.
The black Nomu charged at Izuku, almost trampling its master, if not for Kurogiri opening a portal under Shigaraki before it could.
Izuku reached out to One For All, channeling into his legs before he leapt forwards, rocketing directly at the Nomu. He felt both his legs snap, although not as badly as normal, Shock Absorption took some of the recoil. Unfortunately it was more effective the more muscle mass the holder had, and Izuku had far less than the monster he'd copied the quirk from.
"TEXAS SMASH!"
Just as Izuku felt Hyper Regeneration heal his legs, he charged One For All into his right arm and punched the black Nomu.
And still the monster shrugged it off, barely moving, it's Shock Absorption quirk negating the backlash in Izuku's arm.
Izuku activated Rockhard in his arms, blocking the Nomu's fist.
Let's try speed over power.
Izuku started punching, again and again, using both his passive strength increase and One For All for a combined strength factor of around 55x.
But still it didn't work.
The Nomu wrapped its massive hand around Izuku and lifted him into the air, pulling its other hand back to punch him.
Izuku landed ten meters away, skipping along the concrete and coming to a halt close to the water's edge. This time Izuku got up a lot faster, the Shock Absorption taking the brunt of the damage, leaving him with a number of cuts and a few broken bones.
Hyper Regeneration activated, while the quirk itself was passive, it was constantly checking for injuries, healing them when it found them.
The final cut, across Izuku's cheek, sealed shut as the Nomu lumbered towards him.
I'm still not strong enough, but if I overstrain Quirksmith to increase One For All's power anymore, it will blow my limbs off when I use it.
A realisation struck Izuku.
It would blow limbs off, but I would just grow them back again.
Determination filled Izuku, jumping away from the Nomu and calling on One For All to supercharge his Speed quirk.
Time slowed to a crawl.
Izuku took a deep breath, he had hoped to at least have had the time to actually practice this super move he'd thought of the day before, but needs must.
One For All…
"...JET SET RUN!
Izuku set off running, moving through the plaza at blinding speed to the outside world, touching every villain as he passed, copying their quirks. He turned, heading towards the Conflagration Zone.
Racing from street to street, the air displaced from his movement extinguishing the flames, Izuku searched the Zone, finding the villains had crowded in the centre, the last of the three monsters already defeated.
Ducking around Iida's barely moving body, Izuku scooped up all the villains, some unconscious, some fleeing, and dumped them in a pile next to the incapcitated Claw Nomu, copying each of their quirks as he did.
Biting back the rising pain, Izuku moved on, sprinting in the direction of the Mountain Zone, giving Momo a wave she definitely wouldn't be able to see, collecting the already defeated villains and using Quirksmith on them.
Izuku smiled, the pain was getting easier to handle, before racing to the Landslide Zone. He shoulder barged each of the villains fighting Todoroki, copying their quirks at the same time, before the pain suddenly intensified.
I was wrong, the pain is getting so much worse.
Tripping slightly on the last one, Izuku only knocked him to the ground.
Izuku moved to go back to him, but his Speed quirk twinged, he'd used three out of the five seconds of superspeed he had before the quirk was exhausted, he didn't have the time.
So he kept on running, into the Ruins Zone, he didn't find any of his classmates, but he did find where the fight had taken place. In a room of one of the buildings, Izuku found it filled with defeated villains and blast marks.
These guys never stood a chance against Kacchan.
Copying the villains's quirks, Izuku went for the Downpour Zone, plowing into a group of villains, touching each one as he did. Izuku changed direction, heading back for the main plaza as his Speed quirk ran on fumes, the pain from massively overstrain Quirksmith nearly breaking his concentration.
Izuku tripped as his superspeed ran out, rolling across the concrete, bouncing slightly, before coming to a halt near the edge of the water, the same place he had started.
His body was on fire, unable to stop himself from screaming, pale blue energy sparking over him, at a frequency far greater than the last two times Izuku had overstrained his quirks.
But then, as soon as it came, the pain left.
Izuku blinked, he was standing in his quirkspace, but it was different, the black void was the same, but it's contents had changed.
In the center was Quirksmith and One For All, the two quirks equally sized, coloured red and pale green, the latter was lighter coloured than it had been before, with cyan blue sparks now running through it. Around them, all Izuku's copied quirks lit up the void like stars in the night sky, of all different colours.
Stepping forwards, Izuku touched Quirksmith, examining the twelve quirks contained within.
Helmet. Laser. Wooden Claws From His Hands. Chameleon. Shock Dispersion. Size. Bat. Jaw. Mantis. Prehensile Hair.
Looking up, Izuku could see so many more quirks.
126 quirks, 100 of them from the assembled army of villains.
Izuku remembered copying everyone of them, in fact, Izuku remembered what he had for dinner on September 3rd, 2167, a rather tasty Tonkatsu, his mom's of course, perfectly.
He had a memory quirk now, well, he had two of them, both passively granting him perfect memory and recall.
In total, 135 quirks, plus One For All
"I told you we would speak again soon."
Izuku turned, seeing the same tall dark-haired woman as the day before.
"Seven?"
The woman smiled, nodding her head slightly.
"You knew I would do this, didn't you?"
"I did." Seven reached out to touch the energy ball that represented One For All.
"How?"
Seven smiled, looking over her shoulder at Izuku. "That, is something you can't know yet."
Izuku sighed. "I thought you might say that."
Seven walked over to stand in front of Izuku, ruffling his hair with her hand. "Good luck, Izuku. I'd say to stay safe, but we both know that isn't going to happen."
"He returned?" Shigaraki looked confused, staring at the sparking boy as he writhed on the floor in agony. "What's wrong with this brat?"
Kurogiri stepped forwards. "According to our source, when he overstrains his quirk, he somehow gets stronger, he must have copied every quirk he could find."
"He was only gone a few seconds, surely-"
Kurogiri interrupted Shigaraki. "The boy has many quirks, our source says he has a speed quirk of some kind."
Izuku felt the pain subside as he returned from his quirkspace, slowly pushing himself to his feet, his balance slightly off.
I did it, One For All's power, it's at 180%.
"You know, I see now why Sensei is so interested in you." Shigaraki was scratching his neck again. "And also see why he wanted us to kill you if you wouldn't join us, you're a threat."
"I think we both know my answer to that one."
Shigaraki shrugged. "Sure, sure, that's why you have to die."
"You can try." Izuku glared back at the pale man.
Shigaraki sighed, before turning his head to the Bark Nomu. "Kill him, rip his head from his body."
The white Nomu lumbered towards the green-haired boy, towering over him.
Shigaraki chuckled. "This is your death, brat."
Izuku took a deep breath, preparing himself, a two-prong plan forming in his mind.
One that would take out the white Nomu, lightening the load for the heroes when they arrived, and one to signal them.
"It's over, Shigaraki." Izuku started pouring the power of One For All into his left arm. "You've lost."
"Why have I lost, brat?" Shigaraki sneered at the green-haired boy.
"All you came here to do today was kill and destroy, you fight for nothing and no-one but yourself." A swirling rainbow of light gathered around Izuku's fist. "You lack resolve."
Activating Variable Mist, Izuku called on his Perfect Recall, the chemical formula and structure for Disperse Red 9 that he'd gotten from Momo, coming to the front of his mind.
"Go beyond!"
One For All, 180%!
"DETROIT SMASH!"
Izuku punched the Bark Nomu, its wooden armor shattering on impact, and breathed out a massive cloud of red smoke. A massive tornado of wind shot upwards from Izuku's point of contact with the Nomu, taking the red smoke with it, hidden from view in its core.
The shockwave from Izuku's punch blasted through the facility, ripping part of the roof away, shattering every last pane of glass. The Bark Nomu, rocketed up and away, landing somewhere in the Landslide Zone by Izuku's reckoning.
Izuku set a grim smile on his face, the wind and dust clearing to reveal his still raised left arm had been blown apart, from just above the elbow, blood and bone splattered all around him.
The visera began to steam, evapouring as Izuku's left arm began to regrow, first the bone, then the muscles and tendons, before finally, the skin.
Whole and unblemished.
Izuku lowered his arm, looking Shigaraki straight in the eye.
"This is your Game Over."
Mirai and Toshinori shielded themselves with their arms as the massive gust of air blew past them.
Toshinori lowered his arm. "That was One For All, that was nearly as powerful as I was before my injury."
Mirai repressed the urge to wince at his former friend's comment. "Look, above the roof."
"Red smoke." Toshinori swelled, assuming his hero form despite being past his limit. "Something is very wrong, I have to go!"
"Toshinori, wait!" Mirai reached out to touch All Might as he sprinted away, his fingertips barely brushing the blond giant.
Mirai's eyes widened as his quirk activated, images flashing through his mind.
All Might clashing with a monster taller than even him. Two teenagers dragging Eraserhead away. A green-haired boy lying on the ground.
This fight wasn't Toshinori's death.
But it was Izuku Midoriya's, crumbled to ash and dust.
The doors to the USJ slammed open, revealing the figure of All Might, his suit jacket held in one hand.
Behind him stood Sato, Kirishima, Ashido, Sero and Shoji, the villains they'd been fighting now defeated by the No.1 Hero.
"IT'S FINE NOW! BECAUSE I AM HERE!"
The first thing Izuku noticed was that All Might wasn't smiling.
All Might always smiled, no matter the threat.
The corners of a smile appeared from either side of the hand on Shigaraki's face. "I've been waiting, hero, the Symbol of Peace. Worthless trash."
Shigaraki laughed.
Chapter 17: I am Here
Toshinori's eyes darkened as he saw the red smoke rising from the ruined roof of the USJ. That force was One For All, though he hadn't expected his protege to have the proficiency to squeeze that much power out of it yet.
"Variable Mist means I can emit mist made from various compounds from my body, but I need to know the chemical formula for it to work."
"Young Midoriya." Toshinori mumbled under his breath.
"Toshinori, wait!"
Toshinori called on One For All, swelling into his muscle form faster than the blink of an eye, and sprinted towards the USJ, every footstep cracking the pavement.
I may be at my limit, but I'll just have to go beyond it.
That was the lesson Young Izuku taught me,
He was getting close to the entrance now, Toshinori could see the students fighting a group of villains just outside the doors.
"FEAR NOT! MISSOURI SMASH!"
Toshinori moved his right arm into a chopping position and swept through the villains, using his momentum to boost his waning strength.
"All Might!" Kirishima cheered, releasing the hardening in his arms and face.
Both the red-haired teen and Ashido were crying tears of relief.
"Young charges, my apologies I took this long to come to your aid, but take comfort, your fight is over now." Toshinori marched towards the USJ doors, his face grim, he couldn't muster the strength to smile. "My fight has begun."
Toshinori slammed the doors open with more force than needed, using the loud noise to attract attention, after all, many villains fled or surrendered at the mere sight of him.
"IT'S FINE NOW! BECAUSE I AM HERE!"
Grabbing his tie, a cheap blue one he bought in bulk, Toshinori ripped it clean from around his neck and tossed it away, followed by his suit jacket.
Continuing to walk, Toshinori stopped at the edge of the platform, the top of the stairs. Below him he saw the main plaza, Izuku in his ruined gym outfit, looking relatively unharmed, Asui and Mineta holding an unconscious Aizawa.
By the damaged fountain, water pooling in the bottom of a crater, were the villains. A pale man with a hand for a mask, another man, made entirely of mist, and the last was a hulking monster, taller, wider and more muscular than Toshinori had been, even in his prime.
A number of villains, fairly low down the food chain by the look of them, crowded at the bottom of the stairs.
"His presence, it's oppressive." A villain with patches of metal skin. "I've never seen him in the flesh before."
A large blue villain, with horns and a single eye, spoke. "Ihan, you idiot! We can't fucking back down now, we're here to kill him."
Stonehenge, parts of his rocky skin still cracked from his encounter with Aizawa, pushed past Syclops and Ihan. "All Might!"
Toshinori sighed, turning his gaze to the villain.
"You put me away, for six years!" Stonehenge flexed all four of his arms. "I'm here for revenge, this time I'll fucking kill-"
Toshinori surged forwards, moving faster than the villains could see or react to, slamming into them and coming to a halt at the side of Tsuyu, Mineta and Aizawa.
Crouching down, Toshinori checked his fellow teacher and pro hero, he was battered and bruised, a fresh scar under his right eye, but no major injuries.
"Midoriya, he healed Sensei, kero."
Toshinori nodded, Chiyo had told him about Izuku's use of One For All as a power source for the quirk he copied from the elderly nurse.
"Young Asui, Young Mineta, you've done so well." Toshinori managed a smile, the adrenaline pounding in his veins. "Allow me to continue your hard work."
Standing, Toshinori blasted forwards, grabbing Izuku and reversing his current momentum with a snap of his One For All-enhanced fingers. Placing the green-haired boy down besides his classmates, Toshinori rested a hand on his shoulder.
"I got your message, Young Midoriya." Toshinori didn't have to fake a smile this time, his heart swelled with pride. "Well done, and I'm sorry for doubting your quirk."
Izuku's calm demeanor broke, wiping away tears. "A-All Might, that monster, the Nomu, it has multiple quirks, Shock Absorption, Strength, Hyper Regeneration. Even at full power, I couldn't even make it flinch."
Toshinori caught the true meaning the green-haired boy was trying to convey.
This is All For One's doing.
"I understand, but for now, take Aizawa and head for the entrance." Toshinori struck a pose, peace sign over his right eye. "FEAR NOT!"
Whether this monster was made recently, or is just a relic of a dead man, it doesn't matter right now, protecting the students and Aizawa is my priority.
Near the fountain, Shigaraki was crawling around on all fours, running his hands across the concrete. "Father, Father, I'm so sorry, Father…"
His grip closed around his fallen hand, Shigaraki stood, staring down at the object in his hand.
"That's all it is, isn't it? Just state-sponsored violence." Shigaraki returned the hand to its proper place. "He's fast, too fast to keep up with, but still not as much as I expected. I guess Sensei was right, he really is getting weaker."
Toshinori formed an X with his arms, since his injury he'd had to retire his North and South Carolina Smashes, he simply didn't have the strength for them anymore.
"CAROLINA SMASH!"
Rocketing towards the Nomu, a shockwave either side of his path, Toshinori delivered a double chop to the beast's chest, it didn't even blink.
Seriously, I know Young Izuku said he had Shock Absorption, but no effect at all?!
Shigaraki sneered at the Number One Hero. "The brat told you already, Nomu can take anything you throw at it, you'd better off ripping him apart, if you can keep up with his regeneration that is."
Toshinori blocked a punch front the Nomu with one arm, before he spun on one foot, moving himself behind the monster.
"Thanks for the info, I appreciate it." Toshinori grabbed the monster around his waist and lifted it into the air. "This'll be a cinch."
Izuku was making his way back to the bottom of the main stairs, Aizawa's arm around his shoulder, Tsuyu had the other, Mineta taking up the rear, when All Might suplexed Nomu, a shockwave ripping through the USJ.
He turned, looking back.
"All Might's in a whole other league." Mineta had stopped to watch as well. "Turning a suplex into an explosion like that."
"At yet, as a teacher, he's such a rookie, with those cheat sheets of his." Tsuyu tilted her head. "Midori, are you sure you didn't copy All Might's quirk, they really do look similar now I've seen them up close."
Izuku just shook his head, he couldn't think of an excuse, his eyes locked on where All Might and the Nomu had been, now obscured by a dust cloud.
Something was wrong, Izuku could feel it.
That monster, it might really be able to kill him, but if I try to help him, I'll just get in his way. I'm stuck looking on, helpless.
Useless.
Deku.
I know I have to trust All Might, but I also know the truth. That exchange between Aizawa and Thirteen before the attack, the three fingers they held up.
All Might is already beyond his limit.
Tsuyu spoke. "I guess we were worried about nothing, that power…"
It didn't dispel the rotten feeling in the pit of Izuku's stomach.
The dust cleared, and Izuku's heart dropped, fear gripping it.
All Might was on his back, his arms slamming the Nomu down into the ground, except Kurogiri had opened a portal to underneath the No. 1 Hero. The Nomu's massive hand grabbed All Might's side, driving its fingers into where Izuku knew the man's devastating wound was.
All Might coughed, a small drip of blood trailing from the corner of his mouth. "It was a trap after all?"
Shigaraki slowly clapped. "Excellent timing, Kurogiri. So, did you really think that would work, All Might, driving him into the concrete and stopping him from moving, he's as strong or maybe even stronger than you."
Izuku reached a hand out. "All Might…"
He felt something grip his arm, it was Tsuyu.
"All Might told us to go, kero."
All Might grunted, trying to peel the Nomu's hands from around his torso. "I-Impressive, for first-timers, but this won't hold me."
"I can't say I'm fond of blood and guts in my void." Kurogiri said, as the Nomu pulled.
The monster began to drag the lower half of All Might's body through the swirling purple portal.
"But for you, I'll make an exception." Kurogiri's misty head flared, growing larger. "Killing you was never the Nomu's job, it's mine, the Nomu was just here to counter your strength and get you in the right place."
All Might coughed again, more blood coming from his mouth.
"My job is to close my portal at the right moment, thereby cutting you in two."
Izuku's mind whirled.
I have to do something.
"Mineta, help Asui, Tsuyu, with Aizawa in my place."
Izuku passed Aizawa to Mineta, his hands leaving the underground hero as he took a step forward, closer to the fight.
Mineta's eyes widened. "Mi-Midoriya, you can't-"
All Might, there's so much more I need you to teach me.
"I have to."
Izuku surged into motion, focusing on the feeling of One For All 100%, the feeling he'd felt during the ball throw test.
Don't let the egg break!
"Young Midoriya, don't-"
Izuku flicked his finger, it snapped, turning a light shade of purple, as a massive burst of wind blew through All Might and the villains, buffelting Kurogiri and knocking Shigaraki off his feet.
"DIE!"
Bakugo soared in, explosions powering his hovering, past All Might and the Nomu.
Releasing his quirk, Bakugo dropped with a yell, tackling Kurogiri to the ground, pressing his palm to the villain's collar, just as Izuku had done earlier.
"You slipped up." Bakugo leaned forward, speaking into where an average person would have an ear. "When you said 'that was a close one', you gave it away, you've got an actual body under all that misty crap."
"Impressive, your green-haired friend figured it out as well." Kurogiri didn't try to escape, the ten minutes he'd spent unable to move thanks to Izuku's explosion served as a warning.
"Oh, come on!" Bakugo raged, small explosions popping in the hand restraining Kurogiri. "Fuck it, if you do anything fishy, I'll blow you sky high!"
Izuku sucked in a breath as his finger healed, finished in just over ten seconds.
Kacchan had the warp villain under control, so Izuku had to free All Might.
Before Izuku could move, ice shot across the ground and up one of the Nomu's legs, encasing its entire right side, bar the head.
Izuku turned his head left, seeing Todoroki approaching from the direction of the Landslide Zone.
"Todoroki, make me a block of ice!"
Uraraka came into view, as Todoroki created a one meter square of ice.
Touching her fingertips to the ice, Uraraka removed its gravity and spun around, throwing it at Shigaraki. Moments before impact, Uraraka cancelled her quirk, returning the ice block's weight.
But it never hit, crumbled to dust by the five digits of Shigaraki's hand.
"FIRE!"
A cannonball shot from the distance, Shigaraki was so focused on defending himself against the block of ice from Uraraka that he was unable to stop the cannonball striking him in the side.
It exploded into black goo, covering the pale-haired villain and beginning to expand. Twisting his arms, Shigaraki placed his hand on the goo, decaying it, but it kept expanding, as fast as he could destroy it.
The smoke cleared, revealing Momo stood next to a cannon, Jiro and Kaminari at her side. On the other side of the cannon was Mikumo, with Tokoyami, Koda and Hagakure, Mikumo's gym jacket showing where she was.
A cable wrapped around Shigaraki's ankles, the pale man overbalanced and fell.
On Izuku's right, in the direction of the Downpour Zone, Hatsume lowered her SHTR gauntlet, a nauseous looking Aoyama on one side, and Iida supporting Ojiro on the other, his posture ramrod straight.
"Looks like your plan to kill us has gone shit sideways, doesn't it?" Bakugo shot a sadistic grin at the villains.
Toshinori gripped the Nomu's arm and pulled, freeing himself.
Young Todoroki, he managed to freeze just the monster, such precise control for someone his age.
Launching clear of the portal, Toshinori landed ten feet in front of Izuku, his back to him, facing the villains.
"Scum like you, could never kill the Symbol of Peace." Todoroki's face remained impassive, his voice betraying disgust and a hint of cold anger.
Holding his wound, Toshinori allowed time for his breathing to return to normal, before speaking.
"Stay back, young charges."
Shigaraki finished decaying the cable around his ankles, freeing himself. "Looks like you've pinned down our escape route, this could be annoying."
Bakugo sneered at Shigaraki, looking supremely smug.
"Tch, not only have you beaten our stage, but you've done it at full health." Shigaraki sighed. "You kids really are something, we should be ashamed of ourselves, but we will be needing our way out back."
No-one moved, tension filling the air.
"Nomu, kill the explosion brat."
The Nomu pulled itself out of the portal and upright, its frozen arm and leg cracking and shattering to pieces.
"It's falling apart, but it keeps on moving!" Uraraka took a half-step backwards, many of the other students doing the same.
Toshinori watched as the Nomu's arm and leg regrew, first the bones, followed by the muscles and then the skin.
"So this is Hyper Regeneration."
Shigaraki sneered at Toshinori. "This is your opposite, the Anti-Symbol of Peace. A living sandbag, super-powered, created to handle whatever you throw at it."
The Nomu burst forth, towards Bakugo, its fist drawn back.
Toshinori pushed One For All to its limit, pushing himself to stand in the way of the Nomu with a sidestep, as Izuku used that compound telekinesis quirk he had created to pull Bakugo out of danger.
BANG!
The Nomu's fist slammed into Toshinori's crossed forearms, blood dripping from his lips as he was driven backwards, creating two deep grooves in the concrete.
Bakugo looked shocked, his sudden rescue surprising him. "What was that…"
Izuku was holding his arm out in Bakugo's direction.
"You, you fucking saved me?!" Bakugo roared as he stood, before mumbling under his breath, so only Izuku could hear him. "Even after all I've done to you?"
The dust cleared, revealing Toshinori to his students, he'd made sure to wipe away the blood from his mouth and make his block look more solid, he had to give them reassurance that he would defeat this foe.
I don't know if I can, he's too strong, too resilient. But I have to make them feel safe.
Toshinori lowered his arms. "Do you not know how to hold back?"
No matter the cost.
Shigaraki snorted derisively. "I had to save my comrades. Just like the plain one, with the copy quirk, earlier, he went at the Nomu with everything he had to save that underground hero."
No-one spoke.
"That's all you heroes are, a reason to hurt others, to use your quirk, in the name of saving others. How admirable ." Shigaraki held up a hand. "'And yet, people like me are called villains simply because we wish to freely use the gifts we have been given.'"
Toshinori's glowing blue eyes turned the pale-haired man. "That's a quote from Destro's manifesto, isn't it."
"So what if it is?" Shigaraki shrugged. "He fought for equality, true equality, and was declared a villain. What about you, Symbol of Peace?"
He didn't respond, instead Toshinori studied the man closely.
"You're the ultimate tool for keeping us down, beating us into submission with violence. But violence only breeds more violence, does it not? We'll show the world that, as well as the evil and corruption of the system you represent by killing you."
"Liar."
"Hm?" Shigaraki raised an eyebrow.
"Idealistic villains, they have a fire in their eyes, they believe they are ultimately doing." Toshinori's eyes flashed brighter. "But you don't have that, you know this is wrong, evil, and you're just enjoying yourself."
Shigaraki laughed. "You've got me, I'm a big fat fraud, just like you."
Todoroki took a step forward and spoke. "You're surrounded and outnumbered, three-to-ten, it's over for you."
Izuku frowned, looking around, the others who had come from different directions had skirted the edge of the fight, joining himself, Uraraka, Bakugo and Todoroki. In the distance, Izuku could see Tokoyami and Iida helping to carry Ojiro away, his leg clearly broken, with Koda, Jiro, Kaminari and Aoyama taking up the rear.
Momo caught his eye from where she stood next to Uraraka, giving him a smile.
Izuku returned one of his own, before looking back to the fight and speaking. "We can backup All Might by taking the two leaders out."
"Yeah, especially since we know the mist guy's weakness now." Uraraka clenched her fists and bobbed her head.
Toshinori held out his arm, in front of the eight students, six from heroics, two from support.
"No. Run away, I'll handle them myself."
"If I hadn't intervened earlier, then you would have been in serious trouble, wouldn't you?" Todoroki looked to the No.1 Hero.
"For that, you have my thanks, Young Todoroki." Toshinori moved closer to the villains. "But this is a different matter. Just watch as a pro gives it his all."
Izuku watched in fear as his idol and mentor reassured his fellow classmates.
But not him.
He knew what the blood on All Might's left side meant, that he was way past his limit, that his power was waning.
And he couldn't do anything.
Izuku let his head drop.
I'm useless.
Izuku felt like the scared boy he knew he still was deep down, shrouded by the false confidence he pulled from his copied quirks.
A fake. A liar. Without One For All, he would have been nothing, maybe he still was.
Izuku saw All Might flash his classmates a thumbs up and beaming smile.
"I don't think you can be a hero, Izuku. You already are a hero."
Mom.
"You wear your heart on your sleeve. But you have an iron core."
Detective Tsukauchi.
"Young Midoriya. Well done, and I'm sorry for doubting your quirk."
All Might.
"You are a natural-born leader, under all that nervousness. Besides, I trust you, why else would I have voted for you yesterday?"
Momo.
Izuku reached out, feeling the familiar power of One For All pulsing weakly under All Might's skin.
At age three Izuku Midoriya dedicated himself to becoming a hero.
At age four Izuku Midoriya was told he was born quirkless.
At age fifteen Izuku Midoriya learned this wasn't true.
And now, he'll show the world.
Izuku saw the strand of power, invisible to the eye, connecting the copy of One For All inside him to All Might's. Channelling the additional eighty percent of One For All that Izuku had cultivated, he poured it down the link to All Might.
"Woah, Deki's glowing!"
He opened his eyes, seeing multi-colored light enshrouding his body.
"So's All Might!" Urarka cheered.
Izuku's eyes turned, looking at his mentor, who was covered in the same glow as himself.
"Izuku must have copied some sort of power boosting quirk." Momo mused, her use of the green-haired boy's first name not going unnoticed by the others.
Todoroki's eyes scrutinised both Izuku and All Might, and the similarity of the light surrounding each of them as it began to fade.
The light was gone, but Toshinori still felt the power flooding his veins, no longer was he pushing One For All past its limit. In fact, he felt like he had another couple of hours in him, instead of running on fumes.
Turning to look back at his protege, Toshinori gave him a wide smile.
A genuine smile.
Todoroki noted that.
"Thank you, Young Midoriya." Toshinori shot the green-haired boy a peace sign. "I'll take it from here!"
One For All, it's eighty percent stronger, no wonder that punch that destroyed the roof looked so powerful for a beginner.
Shigaraki was frantically scratching his neck. "This kid, this fucking kid and his broken fucking quirk."
"Tomura, now is not the-"
"I know." Shigaraki calmed. "No matter, Nomu, Kurogiri, kill him. I'll deal with the children."
Toshinori tightened his fists.
It's true my power has been declining faster than I expected, faster than it did for Nana. But this power Izuku has given me, the power he's gained from overstraining his natural quirk.
Shigaraki's eyes bored into Toshinori, hatred shining in them. "Let's clear this and get home, I tire of this."
I'll use this power he's given me to protect these heroes-in-training. I must.
Shigaraki raced at Izuku and Bakugo, with unnatural speed, the teens prepared to defend themselves.
Because I am…
All Might called on every last ounce of One For All's power, both natural and the boost granted by his protege, energy flooding his veins in a way he hadn't felt in nearly six years.
...the Symbol of Peace!
His shone bright, power rolling off him in waves, making Shigaraki and all the students stop to watch.
With the slight push of one of his feet, All Might rocketed forwards as the Nomu did the same, the two titans heading straight for the other, their fists pulled back, ready to punch.
A sound like a cannon issued as All Might and the Nomu's fists met, followed by a shockwave, knocking Shigaraki and all but a couple of students, Izuku, who used Slingshot, and Todoroki, who created an ice wall behind himself, off their feet.
The Nomu's arm rippled and morphed as its Shock Absorption quirk barely managed to take the force of the No. 1 Hero.
Shigaraki flipped in the air, landing on his feet with a nonchalance that didn't hide the practiced grace. "You said it yourself, about Shock Absorption, didn't you?"
All Might gritted his teeth. "Yes, I did."
The No. 1 Hero sent punch after punch at the Nomu, the mindless beast's own coming to meet it everytime.
A wind started to blow, getting stronger with each blocked punch.
Instead of slowing down, the two titans only got faster, until their arms were just blurs.
"A head-on fistfight? But he just absorbs it all." Izuku grunted as the force began to push him back, regardless of Slingshot. "Except, he's not giving the Nomu time to absorb the blow before the next one."
On the other side, Kurogiri was sliding backwards, two steps for everyone he took forwards. "I can't get close, this wind, it's too strong."
All Might increased the speed of his punches, the force coming from him and the Nomu increasing in turn.
"Young Midoriya is correct." All Might's voice was booming, audible over even the howling wind. "This Shock Absorption quirk this beast has is just that, not Shock Nullification, so there must be a limit, surely not?"
The Nomu's entire torso was rippling now, the skin and muscle warping desperately to contain All Might's power.
A massive fist drove into All Might's wound, drawing fresh blood, soaking his pure white shirt even more. All Might grunted, but he wasn't deterred, instead he redoubled his efforts.
"You were created to handle whatever I throw at you." All Might was speaking to the Nomu now, regardless of its mindless nature. "Created to withstand a hundred percent of my power."
All Might continued to rain blows on the Nomu, too fast for it to even block, instead it just took them, slowly driving it backwards, and All Might forwards.
He was gaining ground.
"Then I'll just have to go beyond that!" All Might roared. "I'll break my limit!"
Izuku couldn't take his eyes off All Might.
Even though he's spitting up blood, even though his body is failing him, he's giving it his all.
Every single hit, it's more than a hundred percent of his power.
The Nomu lost its footing, bouncing across the concrete, followed by All Might slamming his arms down on its back as it attempted to stand.
"Even in the darkest of moments, a hero can always break free."
All Might grabbed the Nomu's arm and launched himself into the sky, before kicking the beast in the chest, sending it flying further into the air.
Rising to meet it, All Might gripped its arm once again, spinning in the air and throwing it to the ground with all of his might, face-first, creating a massive crater, three times the one Izuku had made. The monster rebounded, flying five meters into the air.
All Might slammed down on the ground, on one knee, before the Nomu had even finished rebounding.
"Villain, have you ever heard these words?" All Might reared back his fist as his entire arm began to glow, a faint silver colour.
The light began to change, first to pale blue, then pink, before flashing quickly through orange, red, navy, purple and finally, yellow.
"GO BEYOND!"
A swirling rainbow of light, of each colour that it had already glowed, gathered around All Might's fist
"PLUS ULTRA!"
All Might slammed his fist into the Nomu's gut as it fell.
Yellow light glowed from within the Nomu's chest as its Shock Absorption quirk tried and failed to negate All Might's strike.
The Nomu rocketed upwards, at an angle, blasting through an undamaged section of the USJ's roof, shaking the facility to its very core, and into the sky, parting two clouds before vanishing into a speck.
On the platform, the rest of Class 1-A was gathered, including those who'd initially escaped the USJ, watching in awe, before calling and cheering.
They thought it was over, Mirai realised, as he raced past them, heading for the stairs, throwing a high density seal at Masque, the villain having just freed himself from the vines, hitting him directly in the forehead, knocking him out.
I'm not going to make it, if the child dies before passing it on, then One For All will fade once Toshinori can no longer use it.
Mirai slowed, taking the stairs two at a time.
Down in the main plaza, Bakugo looked at the sky, seeing the raw power of All Might with his own eyes.
How can I ever hope to compete, to surpass him?
Izuku's eyes shined with joy and admiration, even though his heart still weighed heavy with fear for his mentor.
Lowering his gaze, Izuku watched as the dust cloud around All Might began to thin, allowing him to see the trails of steam that indicated the No.1 Hero's imminent transformation.
"I really have gotten weaker. In my prime, I could have done that with five hits." All Might spoke, his booming voice carrying, a wide smile on his face as he turned to face his students. "As it was, that took nearly two hundred."
All Might turned his foot, his head following, to glare at Shigaraki and Kurogiri.
"Now, villains. I think we all know this fight is over." All Might repressed the urge to cough up blood.
Shigaraki reached to his neck, scratching frantically as he began to draw blood, running down his fingers. "He was supposed to be weaker, but we were completely overwhelmed. The Nomu is gone. Did Sensei lie?"
"What's wrong?" All Might boomed, getting Shigaraki's attention, his bloody hand falling to his side. "Aren't you going to come at me? I thought you were here to kill me, after all?"
All Might's eyes hardened.
"Kill me, if you can."
In that moment, not just the villains, but the students as well, realised why exactly many villains gave up when faced by the No.1 Hero, why crime rates were at an all time low across the country.
Why All Might was dubbed the Symbol of Peace.
Bakugo watched the No.1 Hero. "All Might…"
"Looks like we didn't need to fight after all." Todoroki commented, turning to head towards the platform.
The other students joined him, even Bakugo.
But not Izuku.
He couldn't look away from the thin trails of steam issuing from All Might's skin.
"Deki! We should get out of here, like All Might said, and get out of his way."
Izuku didn't hear Uraraka, he couldn't.
All Might, he's at his limit, even with the power I transferred to him, his body just can't keep up. He's bluffing, he probably doesn't even have the strength to take a single step.
All Might proved Izuku wrong, taking a step forward and yelling. "What's taking you so long, villains? Are you scared?"
But Izuku was ultimately right, the smoke trails were getting larger and more frequent, the pro hero's arms and legs shaking slightly.
Shigaraki reached up to scratch with both hands, but Kurogiri spoke.
"Tomura Shigaraki, calm yourself." Kurogiri paused. "All Might, he's been weakened by the Nomu's attacks, you can see it if you look closer. The children are leaving, if we work together, we still have a chance of killing him."
Shigaraki calmed, lowering his arms. "That's right, that's right, we have no choice but to kill him. The last boss is within my grasp."
Izuku's eyes widened.
I have to do something.
Shigaraki sprinted at All Might, hands outstretched. "Consider this my revenge for that Nomu!"
Kurogiri warped closer to All Might, his purple mist swelling in size.
Slingshot repelled Izuku forwards, as he prepared to send a full-powered One For All flick at Kurogir's collar, in the hopes of blowing him away from All Might.
"Young Midoriya, no!"
"Get away from All Might!"
A warp opened in front of Izuku, his outstretched hand sailing towards it as Shigaraki's hand appeared from it.
Time seemed to slow, but not because of any quirk he had, but because of the fact Izuku was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. None of his quirks could react fast enough, Shigaraki's fingers would touch him in the blink of an eye, they were just millimeters from his hand now.
In all the excitement of All Might's arrival, Izuku had forgotten one thing, his gloves, they had been destroyed by One For All's power, and he'd touched Aizawa without thinking.
Then that meant.
Izuku blinked, his eyes opening to reveal red glowing red irises, his hair floating.
The warp closed in an instant, Shigaraki screamed in pain.
Izuku blinked, he had barely managed to hold Erasure for a second, but it had been enough.
His trajectory had been changed, Izuku sailed clear of Kurogiri and slammed into the concrete with a loud snap, he was pretty sure that was his leg he'd just broken.
Shigaraki sobbed, holding his severed hand with his remaining left hand. "My hand, my hand, that fucking child, I'm going kill him."
The pale villain went to lunge at Izuku.
A gunshot rang out, a bullet striking Shigaraki's remaining hand.
All Might turned, looking back to see Mirai running towards the main plaza, up on the platform the pro heroes of U.A. had joined the students, as well as Aizawa and Thirteen. At the front of them, Snipe stood, his pistol aimed in the direction of the villains.
"Everyone, sorry we're late." Nedzu spoke, riding on Vlad King's shoulder. "I gathered everyone I could as soon as we saw that smoke signal."
The villains at the bottom of the stairs, the ones defeated by Aizawa, had awoken, readying themselves to attack the heroes on the platform.
Present Mic walked to the top of the stairs and yelled at them.
YEAHHHH!
The villains clutched their ears as the hero's quirk assaulted them, the noise leading many of them to pass out.
Ectoplasm ejected a horde of clones from his mouth, down the stairs, quickly picking off the villains that had weathered Present Mic's attack.
Shigaraki stood, cradling his severed hand. "This is game over, I guess it's time we left, Kurogiri, we can kill All Might another ti-"
Snipe fired again, his bullets changing trajectory to ensure they weren't immediately lethal wounds, hitting his arms and legs.
Shigaraki dropped his hand as he fell to the ground, blood pooling around him as Kurogiri began to swallow him up.
"All Might." Shigaraki burned as they zeroed in on the No.1 Hero. "Next time, I'll kill you, and these brats of yours."
With that, Shigaraki and Kurogiri were gone, leaving only the former's severed hand behind.
Toshinori breathed a sigh of relief, his students were safe. His body gave out, leaving him in his true, emaciated state, steam billowing from him in waves.
"Izuku! Izuku! Are you okay?"
Toshinori turned his head, Yaoyorozu was running right towards him.
Shit, as much as I must applaud Young Yaoyorozu's concern for her classmate, she can't see me like this!
A wall of concrete shot up, blocking Toshinori and Izuku from the sight of the black-haired girl, stopping her in her tracks as well.
Cementoss looked at Yaoyorozu from the side of the wall. "We want to make sure all the students are safe, join the others up on the platform."
Yaoyorozu looked at the concrete wall nervously.
Did that villain injure Izuku? Or maybe All Might? Were the teachers hiding it?
She hesitated, but in the end Yaoyorozu turned and began walking back the way she came, passing a tall, green and yellow-haired man running the other way. He was a Pro Hero if she remembered correctly, she'd met the man at a party she'd attended with her parents years ago, but she couldn't remember his name.
Mirai ran around the side of the concrete wall, towards Toshinori.
Toshinori frowned, looking at his former sidekick as he came to a halt.
"Toshinori, your student, he has to pass it on, One For All."
"Mirai, this is hardly the time or place for that kind of discussion, and I've already made my decision."
Mirai shook his head, out of breath from sprinting over four miles. "No, no, you'd understand, Toshi-"
"No, Mirai." Toshinori said firmly. "I need to check on him."
Turning away from his estranged partner, Toshinori walked towards where Izuku had landed, finding him resting on his knees, head bowed, shaking slightly.
Toshinori reached out. "Young Midoriya, are you unharm…"
Izuku raised his head.
The words died on Toshinori's lips.
"A-All Might, h-he got me."
The skin up Izuku's entire right arm, then across his half his chest and face had turned grey, the fingers of his right hand had already decayed entirely.
"I-Izuku?"
Izuku was crying, great heaving sobs. "When I-I used Mr. Aizawa's quirk I could only only target one person, I chose the warp guy, I thought Shigaraki didn't touch me in time, but he did."
Toshinori took a step forward, Mirai a few paces behind him.
"I can't stop it much longer, I'm supercharging the Hyper Rengernation quirk I copied from the Nomu with One For All, but the rate of decay is faster than it can heal. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry All Might, I failed you."
Toshinori went down on one knee. "You could never fail me, Izuku, you've already made me so proud, we'll beat this, together."
Izuku's unaffected eye shined with hope. "R-Really, how?"
Smiling, Toshinori placed his hand on the unaffected side of his successor's face.
"Toshinori, don't! It could spread to you."
Toshinori ignored his former sidekick. "This power you gave to me, I return to you."
Remembering the same feeling Izuku of transferring that energy to him earlier, Toshinori activated One For All, pouring it into Izuku via the invisible strand that connected them.
Toshinori blinked, he was in quirkspace, Izuku's to be exact, in his muscular form.
The young boy was standing over a quirk, dark purple in colour, his hands pressed against it, One For All's green and cyan light covering his arms.
"It's okay now, Izuku, why?" Toshinori placed a hand on the green-haired boy's shoulder. "Because I am here."
Izuku smiled.
And Toshinori smiled back, his body glowing yellow.
The Hyper Regeneration quirk shone brighter, Toshinori could feel himself burning through One For All's stockpile faster than it could replenish.
Unbeknownst to either of them, a woman placed a hand on Toshinori's shoulder, glowing purple. Behind her was a man, glowing navy, his hand on her shoulder, another man behind him, bathed in red light, in the same position, behind him, orange, then pink, then light blue, and finally, silver.
As soon as it had started, it stopped. Toshinori found himself back in the real world, watching as Izuku, the decay now pushed back to his right forearm, hardened his other arm to sparkling diamond and swung.
Izuku's diamond-sharp hand cleaved through his other arm, just below the elbow.
The decaying arm hit the ground, crumbling to dust in seconds, before evaporating away.
Izuku returned his other arm to normal, before looking at his mentor, still smiling. "We did it."
The green-haired boy flopped forward, unconscious before he could crash into Toshinori's chest.
Wrapping his spindly arms around the young boy, Toshinori hugged him tight, as if he might vanish if he didn't, tears flowing down his face.
"Izuku, deciding to train you, was the best decision I ever made."