Kurogiri had acted insanely smart in this raid of the USJ site.
First, learning as much as he could about Sand from Dr. Kyudai, he recommended bringing another Nomu with them.
With Sand having no moral restrictions against dealing death blows, they needed someone to occupy him if something went wrong.
All For One had rejected his request regarding an Upper Tier Nomu, but he had allowed him to bring a Lower Tier one.
The Lower Tier Nomu they brought with them had two Quirks if one ignored the natural strength augmentation — Muscle Ropes and Sonic Shatter.
Then there was the strategy Kurogiri had planned out to take on the rest of the Pro Heroes.
For Erasure Head, Kurogiri hired an enormous number of Villains to keep his ability to erase Quirk occupied.
The sheer number of Villains also served the purpose of taking care of the students.
By methodically scattering the students, Kurogiri had already thinned out their numbers, preventing them from using any kind of teamwork against Villains who were used to acting alone.
That left the Pro Hero Thirteen.
For her, he alone was enough.
…
On the platform reaching the building's entrance, only a few students remained along with Thirteen.
"Shoji, where is everyone?" Tenya asked. Hanta and Rikido were standing to his right, eying the Villain ahead.
"They have been scattered across the facility," Shoji replied, the end of the appendages morphing into ears, picking up on the slightest vibrations.
Behind the boys, Uraraka and Mina stood, their faces paling by seconds.
"Class rep," Thirteen said. "You know the situation. You must escape and warn UA of the Villains. With Erasure Head canceling Quirks left and right, it's obvious that whoever interfering with communications has hidden himself."
"But, Sir…" Tenya began.
The children still didn't know that Thirteen wasn't a male, but female.
"Listen to me!" Thirteen said, putting herself between the villain and the children. "All of our lives, your classmates' lives, depend on you! Do your duty. Be — a Hero!"
Tenya's gaze hardened. "Yes, Sir!"
He took the running stance as the rest of the students cheered him up.
"You really think I would just let him go?" Kurogiri asked, closing in.
Suddenly, Thirteen pointed her finger, with an opened cap, forward.
Quirk — Black Hole!
A strong pull sucked Kurogiri's blackness in, pinning him down.
"Now!" Thirteen shouted.
With a powerful lunge, Tenya shot forward.
Sadly, Kurogiri had been waiting for this moment.
A black vortex materialized right behind Thirteen, connecting her to her own Quirk. With a tearing sound, her suit got ripped apart to smithereens.
"Thirteen!" The students screamed.
Meanwhile, Kurogiri turned around and went after Tenya. "Now, it's your turn."
…
Sand rode a wave of sand as he slithered between the ropes of muscles, trying to pin him down.
His only relief was that these muscle ropes were coming out of the creature's palms, limiting their versatility a touch.
As he danced between the muscles, ever advancing toward the man with hands all over his body, one of the muscle ropes descended from his blind spot.
Suddenly, the jacket he was wearing scattered, becoming dust as well.
In a matter of a second, it spun around, effortlessly chopping off the muscle rope.
"Arghhhhhhhhh!" The Lower Tier Nomu raged, saliva dripping off its mouth.
Seeing his moment, Sand rushed toward the target like a brown blur, a storm of dust rising around him, blinding others' visions.
Out of nowhere, the raging Nomu opened its mouth, its lower jaw dislocating itself.
With a pop, its chest ballooned up, taking in a massive amount of air.
Then, it roared, the sound waves obliterating everything apart.
Coughing blood, Sand got thrown hundreds of feet away.
…
"I… I swear!" Yuga stuttered, almost crying. "I swear… I didn't know they — they would be killing students…"
Luke looked as Sand got blasted away by Nomu's Quirk.
On the other side, Erasure Head was doing much better against the cannon fodder Shigaraki had brought with himself.
The USJ incident was one of those things that Luke knew about a lot when compared to the fact that he didn't even know about the Quirk Apprehension Test.
For now, he knew that the students would be alright.
Midoriya, Mineta, and Tsuyu would easily win their way out of the Shipwreck Zone.
Midoriya would use One For All to cause a whirlpool and then Mineta would use his sticky hair blobs to stick the villains together, Tsuyu catching them midair.
Bakugo and Eijiro, in the Ruins Zone, would be making short work of the villains as well.
In the Landslide Zone, Todoroki would already be freezing everything around him.
In the Squall Zone, Fumikage and Ojiro could easily overpower the enemies.
That left Momo, Kyoka, and Kaminari in the Mountain Zone.
With Momo supporting them, Kyoka would use her Quirk to blast Villains' ears, while Kaminari could let his Quirk run amok, electrocuting them.
So, Luke wasn't overly worried about the students' situation.
In fact, the best way for them to go unhurt was to remain as far from the central zone where Shigaraki and the Nomus were.
Luke looked around and noticed that Kurogiri had sent Yuga to the forest area between the Mountain and the Landslide Zones.
He then looked at a trembling Yuga and nodded.
"Go hide in that hollow trunk of a tree," Luke said, remembering the instructions Yuga had received from All For One.
There was no way Kurogiri hadn't already visited here, familiarizing himself with the facility.
Shaking, Yuga nodded and ran away deep into the forest, leaving Luke alone.
Like the Villains, Luke also had a very specific goal to achieve this time — Capture a Nomu.
If he got the chance, and the time, he might attempt finishing the job with Shigaraki as well.
Of course, he hadn't known that there would be one more Nomu here. But that just eased his job, giving him one more option to choose from.
"Nyx…" Luke said, snapping his fingers.
First, Nyx spat out a glassy bead. The moment the glassy bead came into the atmosphere's contact, it burst apart with a smoky poof.
Out came hissing a 6 ft (1.83 m) large brown, burrowing snake, baring its fangs.
However, the moment it saw Luke, it bowed with deceptive intelligence.
Then, as Luke walked forward, Nyx became a black mask on his face, overlaying his blue eyes with redness, and the black greatcoat on him turned white.
After touching the snake for a few seconds, Luke put his palm on a tree.
From here, he could easily see everything, from the fountain to the platform that reached the entrance.
"Are you ready?" Luke asked.
Nyx scoffed out a caw and the snake next to him hissed, coiling next to him.
Then, Luke snapped his fingers.
With a great surge, the entire tree morphed, becoming a massive, woody sniper rifle, a flexible cord still attaching it to the roots.
Feeling the weight of the huge rifle, Luke put its butt against his shoulder and aimed.
The moment the rifle's muzzle lined with the Lower Tier Nomu's back, Luke fired, and —
— a green laser hissed its way to the Nomu, burning a fist-sized hole right through it!
*****************
AN: Image of the Tree-Laser Gun is available
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