Luke ran over the mud, his breath suddenly becoming frosty.
Because of the repeated use of High Complexity Quirks, his Stamina was already running low, making him pant.
Despite securing the Lower Tier Nomu, he still had a part to play in all this.
Ever since he had regressed, things had been changing, taking a different turn from what he knew.
What if All Might didn't arrive on time?
What if All Might didn't arrive at all?
Luke's actions were already selfish beyond redemption, disgusting even him often.
Still, it didn't matter if his classmates would stand against him or by his side in the future, he couldn't let them get hurt.
So, Luke needed to go out and help Erasure Head and Sand against the Upper Tier Nomu until All Might arrived.
For that, he first needed to leave the Landslide Zone without using Nyx's Gigantification Quirk. Because once she used one more Quirk, there was no saying for how long she was going to pass out.
So, taking deep, cold breaths, Luke finally eyed the scene in front of him.
There was ice everywhere.
In that ice, frozen to their neck, were Villains.
Between Luke and the Villains was Shoto Todoroki, eying them down.
The moment Todoroki heard someone approaching from behind, he looked over his shoulder. When he saw it was Luke, his shoulders relaxed.
"You were here, too?" Todoroki asked, narrowing his eyes.
Luke stepped down, Nyx resting on his shoulder. "I was buried under the debris," he replied. "Had to use Exchange Positions many times to come out."
"They have brought a creature," Todoroki told him after a while, noticing Luke's broken breathing. "They say it can kill All Might."
Luke raised his brows, playing his part.
"Can you fight?" Todoroki asked.
Luke nodded. "But Nyx can use only one more Quirk. And I want to use —"
Hearing what Quirk Luke wanted to use, Todoroki's brows rose this time. "Alright. I will take you out. Stand close to me."
As Luke nodded, coming closer, Todoroki's foot spewed out a great mass of ice, launching them up to the massive wall surrounding them.
In a smooth arc, both crossed the Landslide Zone.
…
On the platform leading to the building's entrance, Kurogiri rushed to get Tenya before he could escape, creating a warp gate right in front of him.
He couldn't care for what was happening near the plaza or the Lower Tier Nomu.
If the kid running away escaped, UA's full might would fall upon them soon.
"Help him!" Thirteen screamed, falling.
From a glance, it was clear that she was out of the picture.
Seeing Tenya getting surrounded by the Villain's blackness, Shoji rushed and grabbed the entire warp gate between his arms.
"You impudent!" Kurogiri hissed, seeing Tenya getting a clear path.
He again rushed, this time himself, extending his upper body.
Suddenly, from behind, Uraraka spied that the neckband Kurogiri wore was still there on the ground and hadn't extended with the upper body. "Hanta!" she shouted before making a run for it.
As Kurogiri was about to catch up to Tenya, Uraraka grabbed the cylindrical, neckband and used her Quirk on it, making it weightless.
With all her power, she then threw it up.
The band pulled Kurogiri's formless body up as well as if it was the only thing that could touch and contain him.
And before the Villain could do something about it, Hanta wrapped the entire blackness around the band in dozens of meters of tape.
Throwing the gates open, Tenya rushed out, the engines on his calves spewing fire.
A chill ran down Kurogiri's non-existent spine. Oh, no!
…
Near the plaza, a thoroughly frustrated and fuming Shigaraki returned after not finding any sign of Dr. Blessed in the trees.
Now, he eyed Erasure Head making a short work of the Villains he had brought with himself.
"Pro…" he scratched his neck which was already bleeding. "… aren't you so cool?"
Then, with a bloodthirsty grin on his face, he blurred toward Erasure Head.
From the other side, Aizawa rushed toward Shigaraki as well, considering him the final boss.
Swiftly dodging Shigaraki's grabbing motion, Aizawa planted his elbow deep into the Villain's stomach.
"Ha… Haha…" Shigaraki laughed, grabbing Aizawa's elbow with the other hand. "The secret to your Quirk's timing — is it your — hair?"
Aizawa's eyes went wide, his hair falling suddenly as he blinked.
He had been canceling Shigaraki's Quirk all this while, not knowing what Quirk this Villain even had.
Regaining his Quirk, Shigaraki tightened his grip on Aizawa's elbow.
Cracks began appearing on the elbow as Decay Quirk worked, decaying Aizawa's skin and muscles.
With great urgency, Erasure Head pulled himself out of the death grip.
But, by then, his right hand had already become useless.
Then it happened.
Just as Shigaraki was taking a brief joy in his minor accomplishment of injuring a Pro Hero — Just as Aizawa began fighting with the remaining Villains with one hand, guarding himself against Shigaraki — Just as Nomu's two bulbous eyes picked up the movement…
It happened.
The sand around Shigaraki stirred.
In the blink of an eye, hundreds of needle-thin strands of sand sprouted from the grand and ran right through Shigaraki, piercing his legs, hands, stomach, and chest.
The last few strands were about to run right through his skull when a warp gate appeared between them and Shigaraki's head, preventing the kill.
From behind, Nomu came rushing in and slammed its massive fists into the ground.
BOOOM!!!
A cloud of dust blinded them for a moment.
When it settled, on one side, there was Shigaraki, barely standing up, bleeding from all over his body.
On the other side, walking out of the water, was Sand, licking his lips. "Sigh…" he complained, walking forward. "It's so hard, you know. Playing dead."
Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Mineta, who had defeated the Villains in the Shipwreck Zone, had arrived near the small lake's bank to watch the fight and see if Mr. Aizawa needed help.
However, even they were shocked as they saw Sand.
Just for how long Mr. Sand had been holding his breath?!
"Bastard…" Erasure Head cursed, holding his right hand and panting hard. "You used me as a bait."
Sand shrugged. "What's the point?" he said, all the water drying up on his body as a layer of sand sucked it up. "I failed to kill him anyway."
Near Shigaraki, Kurogiri delivered another bad news to him — One of the students had escaped!
"Ahhhhhh…" Shigaraki growled, uncaring of his wounds. "Kill them all! Nomu!!"
Grrrrrrrrrrrr!
As if time had stopped, Nomu appeared right in front of Sand, making the Hero's eyes go wide.
Instantly, he put up a layer of sand between the incoming punch and himself — which turned out to be useless.
With a monstrous bang, Sand was sent flying hundreds of meters, leaving behind drops of blood in the lake behind him.
As the students' faces turned white, and blinked, the Nomu had already disappeared.
By the time Aizawa turned around and canceled it Quirk, the massive, black-skinned Nomu had already grabbed his head.
Low thuds rang with bloody squelches in Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Mineta's ears as the Nomu slammed Aizawa's head into the earth, crushing both his arms.
Defying logic, as if he wasn't wounded at all, Shigaraki appeared right in front of the children, his bare, right hand going for Tsuyu's head.
"Now, before we say goodbye…" he said, smiling from his eyes and bleeding from his mouth, "… let's send a message to All Might."
*****************
AN: 60 more chapters are available in advance [Use the link available on my Webnovel Profile].
With each Tier, you will get ALL Monthly Uploads of all my works, Side Stories, Backlog Chapters, along with unique Images, enriching your reading experience while simultaneously supporting the work.
100 Power Stones/day: +1 Bonus Chapter