'This will not end well...' Lena's chilling thought echoed through her mind, a cold knot of fear tightening in her stomach as she fixed her gaze on the newly materialized villains. Her eyes, usually so bright and full of life, were now narrowed, meticulously analyzing the unexpected intruders. While dozens of menacing figures had poured forth from the purple mist, four distinct individuals immediately stood out to her, their presence radiating a particular menace that transcended the general threat.
The one who appeared to be the undisputed Leader was a tall, unnervingly thin man. His light blue hair, a peculiar shade, seemed to complement the grotesque assortment of dismembered hands strategically placed all over his body, including one that obscured his face. If one dared to look closely, through the gaps of the hands, one could discern a pair of unsettling red eyes, brimming with an almost palpable madness. He moved with an arrogant, almost languid stride among the hundreds of lesser villains, his gaze sweeping across them with an undeniable contempt, as if they were mere pawns in his grand design. His posture, despite the bizarre accoutrements, exuded a dangerous, unhinged confidence.
The second figure was an unsettlingly polite... butler. He certainly gave off the impression of one, except for the profound anomaly that his entire body was enveloped in a large, dark purple mist, swirling ominously. Within this mist, two large, glowing yellow eyes gleamed with an unnerving intensity. It was blatantly obvious that this entity, whose form was both ethereal and menacing, was the one responsible for conjuring the portal from which the villains had emerged. He moved with a quiet, almost deferential glide, trailing subtly behind the light blue-haired villain, a silent, ominous shadow.
The third individual, resembling a hulking bodyguard or perhaps a monstrous enforcer, was a man of extraordinary height and formidable musculature, his body appearing unnaturally dense and rigid. His most striking, and disturbing, feature was his head, which was entirely disproportionate to his body, topped by a grotesque, bird-like beak, and the raw, exposed tissue of his brain, pulsating faintly, was fully visible. The most unsettling aspect, however, was the complete lifelessness in his eyes; they stared blankly, devoid of any spark of consciousness, gazing everywhere and nowhere simultaneously, yet without moving an inch of his massive body. Adding to his eerie presence, his skin was a uniform, completely dark purple, almost like solidified fog, and he exhibited no discernible signs of breathing. He stood absolutely motionless, a chilling statue of destruction.
The final figure, Lena wouldn't even know how to adequately describe. He was dressed from head to toe in an ornate, jet-black robe, intricately adorned with strange, almost arcane designs that seemed to shift subtly in the light. His face was concealed behind a bone-colored mask, meticulously crafted to resemble a nightmarish fusion of a skull and a predatory bird's beak, evoking ancient, terrifying imagery. He emitted a chillingly lethal and indiscriminately murderous aura, a palpable wave of malice that radiated outward, causing many of the lesser villains to instinctively recoil and turn away from him, clearly unnerved by his presence. Lena's every instinct screamed that he was the embodiment of death itself. Oddly enough, that was the precise, unsettling feeling she felt settling heavily on her shoulders when her gaze, for a fleeting moment, locked onto him. It was a cold, absolute certainty.
Death.
'This... will definitively not end well at all...' The thought resonated with the terrifying finality of a death knell.
"So... where is All Might, then? He was supposed to be here, wasn't he...?" The Leader, Tomura Shigaraki, muttered, his voice a low, irritated growl, as his head swiveled around the vast expanse of the USJ, desperately searching for any sign of the Symbol of Peace. He found absolutely nothing but the stunned silence of the students and the burgeoning chaos of his minions.
"According to the meticulously detailed teachers' curriculum plan that we intercepted, that is indeed precisely how it should be, Shigaraki," the fog-like man, Kurogiri, explained, his polite, deep voice remarkably calm, working to placate his agitated leader. "Perhaps he simply hasn't arrived at the facility yet, or perhaps he is delayed..."
"I see, how utterly troublesome, how vexing... We meticulously set all of this up, precisely to lure him here, and in the end, the boss isn't even present in the final dungeon for our grand confrontation..." Shigaraki lamented, a whiny edge creeping into his voice, annoyed beyond measure by the current, unforeseen situation. He raised his hands to his neck, his fingers frantically scratching at the skin, a nervous habit, as if trying to reassure himself that everything was still under his crumbling control. "What to do, what to do, what to do with this unforeseen complication...?"
Suddenly, he felt a cold, unsettling hand settle firmly on his shoulder. As he sharply turned to discern the cause, he found himself staring directly into the lifeless, mask-covered face of Death itself. Shigaraki's instincts flared, and he almost involuntarily activated his Quirk, a primal urge to assassinate the audacious presence that dared to touch him.
'How dare he put his hand on me... You are incredibly fortunate, Shinigami, that Master made a direct deal with you... otherwise, you would be nothing but dust, reduced to mere particles right here and now,' Shigaraki thought, his mind consumed by a maniacal, murderous rage, a creepy, unsettling smile stretching his lips under the hand-mask. "What precisely do you desire, Shinigami?"
"You recall the terms of our deal... do you not, Shigaraki?" a harsh, guttural voice resonated from behind the skeletal mask. Though Shigaraki would never openly admit it, the palpable feeling of Death emanating from Reaper unconsciously put him on guard, a primal alarm bell ringing deep within his being. "Isn't that precisely so?"
"Yeah, yeah, you have my permission to take any individuals you find particularly interesting for your own purposes, I don't know what your boss desires them for, and frankly, I don't care. As long as you diligently assist me in this grand raid, you are free to do whatever you want with them... they're your problem," Shigaraki replied, his voice still laced with annoyance, as he removed Reaper's hand from his shoulder. Reaper simply offered a silent nod, his masked gaze turning back towards the trembling students, a chilling predatory interest in his eyes.
"STAND TOGETHER WITH THIRTEEN!" Eraser Head roared, his voice cutting through the rising tide of fear, as he dove headlong and fearlessly towards the mass of low-ranking villains, a lone silhouette against the encroaching darkness.
"So incredibly confident, are you, Hero?" A villain sneered, raising his hand, pointing his fingers at Aizawa, intending to unleash his Quirk... but nothing, absolutely nothing, emerged from them. "Huh?!" The villain's face contorted in bewildered confusion.
Before he could even voice another question, Eraser Head delivered a swift, powerful kick to his head, knocking him instantly unconscious. The villain crumpled to the ground like a sack of potatoes.
Taking advantage of the momentum he had generated with his charging run, Aizawa swiftly moved towards two other Villains. The larger of them, a bulky brute, tried to strike him with sharp, jagged spikes protruding from his forearms, while the other, a scrawny figure, took a deep, preparatory breath, readying his own attack, perhaps a wind-based Quirk.
But the anticipated attack never came. Eraser Head, with a practiced flick of his gaze, instantly erased the breathing villain's Quirk, rendering him powerless. Simultaneously, he effortlessly dodged the spiked villain's wild punch, his movements fluid and precise. With an almost dismissive grace, he quickly stepped over their incapacitated forms and moved towards a third Villain who was staring at him dumbfounded, his mouth agape. Aizawa deftly tied him up with his flexible scarf-like capture weapon before slamming him to the ground with brutal efficiency, knocking him unconscious with a resounding thud.
"Why didn't my Quirk activate?!" one of the downed villains shrieked in bewildered frustration, his voice barely a coherent sound.
"Idiot! That's Eraserhead! He can nullify Quirks!" The spiked villain, still conscious but wary, warned his bewildered comrades, adopting a defensive, cautious stance, his eyes now filled with a newfound fear and respect.
Suddenly, the initial daze that had gripped the villains vanished. With renewed ferocity, they began to surge forward in waves, a chaotic tide of bodies, launching themselves relentlessly towards Eraser Head, hoping to overwhelm him by sheer numbers. The battle had truly begun.
"Q-Quickly! While Eraser Sensei heroically fights off the main assault, we must go!" Thirteen's voice, though muffled through her suit, was filled with a desperate urgency. She gently but firmly shook the stunned students out of their stupor, urging them towards the main exit. However, their path was abruptly and effectively blocked by a large, swirling mass of dark, ominous fog.
"I am afraid that will not be possible, young Heroes," Kurogiri's polite, deep voice resonated from within the mist, its tone conveying an almost mock sympathy. His gloomy yellow eyes, shining like malevolent lamps, fixed intently on the huddled students, glowing menacingly from the swirling darkness.
The faces of some students immediately paled, their expressions contorting with raw fear and despair. Others, though visibly nervous, managed to steel themselves, adopting a defensive stance, ready to defend themselves against the encroaching villain. Lena, her gaze hardened, stared directly into the swirling mist, her expression serious. But internally, her breaths were rapidly quickening, her mind succumbing to a mounting panic, the suffocating memories of her capsule confinement threatening to overwhelm her.
"Greetings, aspiring Heroes. We are the League of Villains, a humble group of individuals whose sole, overarching goal is the annihilation of the Hero known as All Might," the mist politely explained, his tone a chilling contrast to his words, as his glowing eyes seemed to gaze happily at the pale, terrified faces of the students. "I know it's terribly impolite to ask, but by any chance, has anything been altered in the teachers' schedule? From what I meticulously understood, All Might would currently be here, present at this very location..."
'Kill All Might... can they truly do that...?' Lena thought, a profound fear gripping her heart, causing her to start sweating profusely. Yet, despite the cold dread, she bravely maintained her composed facade, not moving an inch, even as her heart pounded loudly, threatening to burst from her chest. The thought of All Might, the Symbol of Peace, being in danger was almost unthinkable, yet the malice emanating from the mist was chillingly real.
"Oh well, in the end, it really doesn't matter, does it...?" the mist murmured, his voice laced with a subtle threat, as his form began to expand rapidly, enveloping the students in a swirling vortex of dark energy, their escape cut off.
BOOOOM!
"You're nothing but a talking piece of shit, you hear me?!" Bakugo's furious shout cut through the air, his voice laden with unadulterated rage, as he unleashed a powerful explosion from his palm, momentarily dispersing a portion of the dark mist. His attack, though impulsive, revealed a hint of the mist's underlying vulnerability. "You like that, you piece of shit?!"
"We won't go down that easily, you hear me?!" Kirishima exclaimed, his arms stiffening, his skin hardening with his Quirk, his resolve unyielding.
"That was undeniably dangerous," the mist replied calmly, surprising both students, as their attacks seemed to have no discernible effect on his ethereal form. "They are aspiring U.A. heroes, after all; of course, they would possess some inherent strength. Too bad they're just that, mere wannabes, filled with naive aspirations. Anyway—"
Just then, the mist expanded once more, swirling outwards with terrifying speed, and before anyone could react or even utter a scream, it swiftly enveloped them, sucking them inward with an irresistible force. The sensation was akin to being pulled into a vast, dark abyss.
"See ya." The mist's voice, chillingly polite, was the last thing Lena heard before everything went dark.
Moments after experiencing a profound silence that seemed to stretch into eternity, Lena found herself unexpectedly falling through the air, plummeting towards a rugged, rocky area. Reacting with astonishing speed, her ingrained instincts kicking in, she skillfully used her legs to cushion the impending impact, bending her knees to absorb the shock of landing on the uneven terrain. Looking up, she could clearly see a swirling vortex of dark purple mist, from which two more students were unceremoniously ejected.
It was Kyoka and Momo.
Seeing that Momo, with her impressive Creation Quirk, was already in the process of rapidly creating a makeshift parachute to cushion her own fall, Lena quickly shifted her focus. She swiftly moved towards Kyoka, who seemed less prepared for the sudden drop, and managed to catch her just before she hit the unforgiving ground. The sudden impact, though softened by Lena's quick reflexes, was still jarring.
Kyoka's eyes widened in fright, darting nervously around her unfamiliar surroundings before settling on Lena with a bewildered, confused expression. She seemed utterly disoriented.
"Are you alright, Kyoka?" Lena asked, her voice laced with genuine concern, as she gently placed Kyoka on the solid ground, ensuring her friend was stable.
Kyoka merely nodded, still looking around, her eyes wide with lingering shock. "Y-Yes, thanks, Lena... Where... where are we?" Her voice was a shaky whisper.
"Looks like we've been separated and sent to the Landslide Zone..." Momo muttered, her voice thoughtful but a hint of anxiety in her tone, as she surveyed their new, rocky environment. "There's the central plaza... it's not too far from here." Her analytical mind was already assessing their position.
Lena looked around, confirming Momo's assessment. They weren't too far from the Central Zone, the main plaza of the USJ, where Eraser Head was apparently still actively engaged in a fierce battle with the main contingent of villains. The distant sounds of combat, muffled but distinct, confirmed his continued struggle.
"Hey, hey, hey, what do we have here..."
"They look like some rather nice damsels in distress..."
"Hehehe, I wonder if we can have some fun with them for a bit?"
"Kukuku!"
Suddenly, several guttural, menacing voices echoed around them, seemingly materializing from the rocky crevices and shadows of the Landslide Zone. As if in a pre-arranged, predatory maneuver, several Villains emerged from all directions, surrounding them in a tight, inescapable circle, like wolves circling their prey. Their eyes gleamed with malicious intent.
Reacting swiftly, Lena instinctively pulled out her phone, her fingers already flying across the screen, attempting to activate the Slipstream's invisibility function... but something, some unseen force, abruptly interrupted the app, causing it to crash.
"Don't even bother trying to call for your pathetic Heroes, girl," a villain sneered, a wide, mocking smirk plastered across his face, his voice dripping with condescension. "One of us has a Quirk capable of blocking all outgoing phone signals and radio waves! Hahaha! You're completely isolated!"
'Crap!' Lena thought, her heart sinking. She quickly stashed her phone back into her pocket, knowing it was useless. She then glanced at her visor, and to her immense relief, the Slipstream's basic functions, its temporal manipulation abilities, still seemed to be operational. It was a small but crucial comfort.
Lena looked around at the encircling villains, taking a deep, shaky breath to calm her rapidly pounding heart. 'We are clearly outnumbered, and these villains possibly possess more direct combat experience than we do. This is a precarious situation...'
Lena suddenly moved sharply to the left, her reflexes honed by training, narrowly dodging a thin, sharp wire that inexplicably shot out from the ground, aiming for her leg.
"Next time, you won't be so lucky, little hero," the villain with wild, punk-rock hair snarled, his eyes glinting with a lecherous, predatory gaze fixed on Lena. One of his hands was visibly sunk into the ground, indicating the source of the wires. "How about you give up peacefully and allow us to have a little 'taste' of you, eh? Make it easier on yourselves."
All three girls' breath caught in their throats, their faces visibly paling at the implied threat, a cold dread washing over them.
Shaking her head vigorously, Lena desperately tried to shake off the paralyzing shock, a cold sweat breaking out across her skin.
Capitalizing on her momentary distraction, a burly villain approached her from behind, a cruel smile on his face, and threw a heavy punch. His fist was strangely lined with a silver-colored cape, making the blow deceptively powerful. "Take this, you little bitch!"
"Lena!" Momo cried out, her voice sharp with alarm.
Momo reacted with remarkable swiftness, instinctively creating a shield of hardened material from her arm, which she quickly positioned to deflect the villain's strong punch. The impact, though absorbed, was enough to shatter her newly formed shield. 'He... he destroyed my shield?!' Momo thought, astonished by the unexpected force.
Lena spun around, alarmed by the sudden, sharp noise of the shattering shield. But before she could react or do anything else, a loud, concussive sound, like a thunderclap, suddenly sent the charging villain flying backward, crashing into the rocky terrain.
Looking to her side, Lena saw Kyoka Jiro standing with her distinctive earphone Jacks outstretched, pointing precisely to where the villain had been standing moments before. Her face was set in a determined grimace.
'I didn't realize Kyoka's Quirk could be so incredibly strong and have such a concussive force...' A sudden, brilliant idea flashed into Lena's mind, a desperate, yet potentially game-changing, strategy. 'That's it! This is our chance!'
"Momo!" Lena shouted, her voice cutting through the remaining chaos, as she vigilantly kept her eyes on the surrounding villains, who were momentarily stunned. "Create a guitar with powerful sound amplifiers and immediately give it to Kyoka! Kyoka, protect Momo at all costs while she's creating it!"
Momo gave Lena a confused look, her brow furrowed, but then, a look of profound understanding illuminated her face. Her analytical mind had grasped the brilliant, audacious simplicity of Lena's improvised plan.
"Understood! It'll take a few seconds, Lena!" Momo replied, already beginning to concentrate, her skin shimmering faintly as she prepared to activate her Creation Quirk.
Lena nodded, her stance resolute, before swiftly using an 'Acceleration.'
The world around her immediately shifted to a dull grayscale, everything frozen in time except for her. Lena dashed forward, her movements impossibly fast, directly up to the nearest villain's face, and delivered a forceful kick. Taking full advantage of the fact that the 'Acceleration' had not yet ended, she continued her charge towards another villain, and just as she was about to deliver a powerful kick to his belly, the world snapped back into its normal, vibrant colors.
"GAK!" The first villain choked, collapsing.
"GUH..." The second villain grunted, clutching his stomach, momentarily incapacitated.
Lena took a quick, ragged breath before skillfully dodging a swift kick coming from her side, an unexpected counter-attack. Without giving her a moment's respite, another villain, a sneering figure, shot some kind of viscous yellow gas directly at her. But Lena, utilizing another 'Acceleration,' effortlessly dodged the noxious gas and delivered a precise, powerful blow to the yellow gas villain's chest, sending him sprawling.
"Bitch!" one of the villains snarled, infuriated by her speed.
"Watch out! She has a Super Speed Quirk! She's too fast!" another villain shouted, issuing a panicked warning to his comrades.
Taking some necessary distance from the still-advancing villains to catch her breath and calm her racing nerves, Lena looked around the chaotic scene. She had only managed to effectively knock out one villain completely; the others, though momentarily incapacitated or thrown off balance, were clearly only out of the fight for a short time. She needed a more definitive solution.
Suddenly, thin, sharp wires erupted from the ground, seemingly out of nowhere, and coiled tightly around her wrist, binding her. "Son of a bitch!" Lena muttered, struggling against the unexpected restraint.
The punk-haired villain, his hand still visibly sunk into the ground, laughed maniacally, a cruel, triumphant sound. "She can't run if you're grabbed, right, little hero?" His eyes glinted with satisfaction.
"She's ready, Lena!" Momo exclaimed, her voice strained with effort as she handed a newly created, sleek electric guitar to Kyoka, who, with her earphone Jacks, was actively pushing other villains away from Momo, creating a defensive perimeter.
"Kyoka! Use the guitar, now!!" Lena shouted, a triumphant, almost mischievous grin spreading across her face, before she disappeared using 'Recoil,' instantly reappearing beside Momo, her movements a blur.
Kyoka nodded, a fierce determination in her eyes. She quickly connected her two distinctive Jacks to the guitar, a wide, confident smile spreading across her lips. "Alright, everyone! Let the concert begin!"
Without further ado, Kyoka immediately began to play the guitar, launching into a raw, powerful solo. The very floor of the Landslide Zone began to crack and quickly shatter into pieces, chunks of rock and earth flying outwards from the sheer force of the sound and vibration.
The surrounding villains clutched their heads, screaming in agony from the deafening sounds, their bodies convulsing. Some, desperate, tried to force their way towards Kyoka, but they quickly fell to the ground, fainting, their eyes rolling back into their heads, and streams of blood pouring from their ears. The concussive sound was too much for their bodies to bear.
Momo, ever prepared, had given Lena a pair of specialized earplugs to muffle the debilitating sound, but even through the plugs, they could still clearly hear the earth-shattering, face-melting, raw rocking sounds of Kyoka's guitar, a powerful force of nature.
Kyoka, for her part, seemed to be having the time of her life, completely lost in the moment, continuing to play as if possessed by a powerful, unseen force, her body swaying with the rhythm.
Finally, after a few minutes of this sonic onslaught, all the villains succumbed, collapsing onto the ground, passed out and, quite possibly, permanently deaf for the rest of their lives.
'Serves them all right, the pathetic villains...' Momo thought with a trace of mocking satisfaction, surveying the incapacitated forms.