(Cathleen POV – Above The Ocean)
I slam my fist downward, and the air obeys.
A colossal spectral version of my own arm descends with it—an air giant formed in my own image—crashing into the swarm of AFO clones crowding the sky. The impact rips them apart like paper dolls, and through the gap, our two remaining jets carve forward.
'There's nowhere left to hide, AFO.' I think, my pulse hammering. At last, an unobstructed line straight to him.
"Don't let up, boys!" I bark into comms. "Lasers—NOW!"
"Roger!"
Twin beams light up the sky.
AFO's response is immediate and terrifyingly smooth, as he raises a hand, sludge shaping around him and forming a perfect clone of Gigantomachia. The giant shields him with his large arm, block the twin barrage. The lasers deal enough damage to destroy the clone, as it forms into a wall of sludge as gravity starts to claim it.
Good.
'He's blind.' I realize, the sludge falling like a waterfall around him, creating curtain of darkness.
We don't slow down, determined to make use of this opportunity.
The jets plunge into the sludge wall like spears. I dismiss the air giant, redirecting New Order to reinforce my body, and gathering my strength for the scuffle about to unfold.
'One moment… That's all I need.'
Nezu's words, from the few seconds we had contact, flash through my mind. 'The only name AFO acknowledges is All For One. That's the name New Order will work with.'
We carve a tunnel through the sludge, and AFO's silhouette materializes at the exit, finally within reach.
Perfect.
He lifts an arm to attack—
"Not on my watch!"
I launch myself from the jet, my boys already banking away, trusting teamwork honed over years to understand each other.
Wind roars in my ears as I speak a second rule into existence.
"New Order: THE AIR WILL PROPEL ME FORWARD!"
A shockwave detonates behind me as air pressure slingshots me toward him, faster than most can follow. I pull my fist back, veins alight with power.
"You're DONE FOR!" I scream.
Then, his voice cuts through the air like a cold needle. "Would you really throw your life away just to beat me?"
Instead of a counterblast, bone erupts from his arm. Jagged and spiraling spines burst through his suit and spread across his body, forming a grotesque shell to defend himself.
Fear should have hit me. Instead—
'I'm glad…' A raw, manic grin forms on my face. 'That he didn't run.'
"AFTER EVERYTHING YOU DID TO MY BOYS—YOU AREN'T WALKING AWAY!"
My fist slams into the bone bulwark, pulverizing spikes even as others punch through my forearm. Pain rushes up to my shoulder, but I don't stop. I don't need to break through.
The spines are part of his body.
They count as contact.
""NEW ORDER!"" I scream.
And he—
Says it with me.
Perfectly synchronized.
But I don't have the luxury to question it. I activate the rule with my next breath, pouring every ounce of will into it.
"All For One… WILL DIE!"
AFO's voice answers just as quickly, but with alarming tranquility and calm. "Cathleen Bate… is unable to use her quirk."
The world freezes.
My propulsion vanishes as my rule takes effect, and strength drains out of my limbs like water through a burst dam.
AFO shows no reaction.
No dramatic pain, or torturous death.
He doesn't even twitch.
He simply falls, lifeless, as gravity claiming him now that his quirks are gone.
But—
'I should've lost propulsion, but not my strength.' I note, feeling the weakness in my body. 'Something is wrong.'
Horribly, impossibly wrong.
But before I can think further, the sky spins as I begin to fall, pulled down by gravity and the spines embedded in my arm.
And what I see next makes my blood run cold.
A jet swings under me before I fall too far, and I hit the fuselage, roll, and stabilize, gasping as the bone spikes tear free from my arm, my blood spraying in the wind.
AFO's body crushes against the wing. The impact splatters sludge everywhere.
Not blood, flesh or bone.
But the same viscous sludge I've grown too acquainted with today.
"No…" I whisper.
It hits me like a bullet to the chest.
"It was a clone!" I scream.
My heartbeat spikes.
My lungs lock.
Everything inside me twists.
'Since when?'
'How?'
'How long have I been fighting a clone?!'
"Star!" My boys shout through comms. "Star, talk to us! What's going on?!"
"I—" I try to force words out.
But a voice interrupts.
A deep, clear, and triumphant voice.
"You… have lost."
A purple portal blossoms open behind me, silently, radiating ominous energy like a wound torn in space.
The real AFO steps out. At least what I assume to be the real AFO.
He carries no sense of urgency, lacking any sign of hostility. Just a cold, cruel, certainty.
His boots hit the jet with a hollow, resonant thud. The sound crawls up my spine, and when he turns his masked face toward me, I swear I can feel the smug smile brimming beneath it.
"Truly impressive." He says…
And he claps.
The sound is crisp, and rings through the air. It echoes across the bleeding sky and syncs with my racing heartbeat and the impact of his steps as he walks forward calmly.
Clap.
"To have pushed me this far."
Clap.
"You are truly deserving of the title…" He steps closer. "…America's Number One Hero."
Clap.
The sound might as well be a countdown.
"Star! Star!" My bros scream. "Answer us! STAR!"
I try to speak. Try to invoke the familiar command.
"New Order…"
But nothing answers.
No shift in pressure.
No tingling in my bones.
No rule forming at my fingertips.
Just strange isolation.
My quirk…
The symbol of my strength…
The power that's defined most of my life…
…Is gone.
(AFO POV – Above The Ocean)
'Yes… that's the expression I wanted to see.'
Even beneath the metal of my mask, I can feel my smile stretch, savoring the exact moment realisation blooms across her face as horror dawns like a slow sunrise. The loss. The disbelief. The dawning truth that everything she had staked on this battle… meant nothing.
'She's so painfully similar to All Might.'
The same stubborn spark.
The same nauseating righteousness.
The same refusal to back down even when the world tramples her underfoot.
'And because of that… I want to watch her break… Piece by piece.' I smirk.
Her friends are absent. Her comrades dead. Her quirk is sealed. Her hope… nothing but a dream.
'Even her life isn't guaranteed.' I think, a low chuckle escaping me.
Yet just like that insufferable Symbol of Peace…
"She still refuses to stay down.' Her jaw tightens, and her feet planted as she adopts a boxing stance. She lifts her fists defiantly, blood dripping freely, breath ragged, but still ready to charge at me like some rabid animal.
My smile fades.
Of course she would.
"No, no." I say lightly, the way one might scold a misbehaving child. "We can't have that, now can we?"
I raise my foot, Air Cannon concentrating in my leg, and with a casual stomp—
BOOM.
The jet beneath us ruptures violently, metal splitting like wet paper and erupting into a fireball. Cathleen is flung skyward in a spinning burst of debris and wind.
"Rivet Stab."
My fingers darken, branching with glowing red lines. They extend, elongate, and fire forward in a burst of lethal speed.
SHNK. SHNK. SHNK. SHNK.
The rivets spear through her limbs, pinning her helplessly in the air.
"A—AARGH!" She writhes, gritting her teeth, eyes burning with raw hatred as she glares down at me.
That look… That infuriating defiance.
'God, how I detest it.'
Air Walk carries me effortlessly upward as I reel her in, her body dragged toward me like a weak animal caught in the hunter's trap. Even now she tries to yank at the rivets with whatever pathetic movement she can muster.
I sigh, almost disappointed.
"Some heroes never learn." I murmur. "New Order: Cathleen Bate is unable to move." I command, using my Forced Quirk Activation quirk, just like my clones did, to use her quirk as my own.
The command settles into reality instantly.
Her muscles lock up as her entire body freezes.
She's wide-eyed, trembling from the strain of trying to move, as her teeth clench tight.
I grin, openly now.
"A truly marvelous quirk you have." I say, almost reverent. "Though I prefer it in my hands."
"Wh—What… did you do…" She forces out, breath quivering.
"Oh, come now." I lean closer. "You understand your own quirk far better than I do. I merely… let you experience it yourself."
Her eyes widen further, panic and rage mixing into a beautiful cocktail.
Before she can spit an insult, I turn my attention elsewhere.
With a lazy flick of my wrist—
DOOM-DOOM-DOOM-DOOM—
Several Dark Balls streak across the sky, crashing into the last jet that had been charging a laser beam, hoping to ambush me. Maybe even what allowed her to retain hope.
A burst of orange and white flame ignites in the distance in beautiful fireworks that contrast the evening glow.
Her last ally… is now gone.
"Leaving you…" I finish, turning back to her trembling face. "All alone."
Her throat tightens. Her breath shudders.
But her glare remains.
"I'LL KILL YOU!" Her scream tears from her throat, raw and feral as her body strains uselessly against the command of her own quirk.
Perfect.
'Since the very beginning, I waited for this moment.'
My weakened body couldn't risk direct combat. My clone provided the illusion I was in danger. It maintained its distance, kept her chasing distracted, and her into close combat so that when she used her quirk on it…
'Even if it died, her quirk, would be sealed.'
So simple.
It's almost disappointing she never noticed my clone didn't attack, not even once.
Even revealing Machia… Hood and the Nomu's relation to me and the League. Yet all of that pales before this.
New Order is a prize worth risking everything for.
The rivets retract, pulling her toward me until her face is only inches away. Bloodied, furious, and utterly helpless.
My free hand lifts, and my palm settles against her head.
"This quirk…" I whisper, savoring every syllable.
"…is mine."
Power surges as I absorb the quirk factors, and for one glorious moment—
'I feel invincible!'
Then the backlash hits. Pain lances through every nerve, my body tearing apart under the weight of New Order power.
"Magnificent." I hiss through the agony. "Exactly what I'd expect from a power of this caliber."
Still, it's more than worth it.
"And I have you to thank." I purr at her as her immobilized body trembles. "First America's Number One… and eventually, All Might."
Her eyes ignite with fury.
I lean in closer.
"But killing you now would be such a waste." Kurogiri opens a portal behind me. "Our mad scientist will craft something exquisite from you. I imagine you'll make a remarkable Nomu."
I step backward, half my body slipping into the vortex… and then my instincts scream.
A cold prickle skates up my spine.
A split-second later—
SCHLK.
My arm is severed cleanly as I cross the portal's threshold.
"Oh my." I murmur, almost amused. "A pest has arrived."
It's unfortunate that I couldn't take Cathleen… but in the end, it matters not.
'Her quirk is already mine.'
Kurogiri immediately begins closing the portal at once, only for it to rip violently back open as a pair of blood-red eyes and snow-white hair pierce the void.
Someone I had hoped to meet eventually… but not now.
My remaining hand snaps to Kurogiri's shoulder.
"New Order…" I speak the words that will save me. "Telekinetic Energy is dispersed."
And the portal snaps shut.
*******
A/N: Hello Everyone! How are you? If you've enjoyed the chapter and book thus far, please consider leaving me some comments, reviews, or power stones. It really helps the book out.
Damn. Even I was surprised by this guy's audacity as I wrote this. How can he say all that about Star😭. But yeah... Was the fight good? Is the conclusion good? Did I portray the characters well?
Star was grabbing with losing her quirk, since it effectively got sealed, and the loss of her bros, while still acting brave. Her spirit inspires me. AFO... Yeah, he's just a villain. How dare he clap like he's congratulating her, when he's basically saying after all that, she effectively did nothing useful. It's appalling behaviour of you ask me.
But, I kept my promise. Delivered the chapter to make up for the shorter one yesterday. And this one is proper length! I mean, I think I was right. A cliffhanger would've been at the part AFO's clone was exposed as a clone, or after Star lost her quirk, and that would've left too much in the air. But, I could be wrong. Let me know if you prefer such cliffhangers going forward, and I'll do my best to provide🫡 (jokes... Unless you actually want that?!👀)
This is coming to an end. I got a bit carried away here (and while I think it was worth it, instead of rushing to finish the arc), I couldn't conclude everything in one go. So hopefully next tchaoger is the end of the arc.
You can also read 10 chapters ahead and support me at [email protected]/AMV_WEAKLY
Anyway, I'ma head to bed, cause I'm extremely sleepy. And I hope you all have a great day/night 🌉