## Shigaraki's POV
I realized something lately. Everything is annoying.
The days, the nights,
The cities, and the people in them.
The way they smile on the streets. The way they sleep peacefully at night. The way they go to work and send their children to schools .... believing they're safe.
Everything about this society ... It's all so .. Irritating.
The way they move, walk ... That disgustingly secure mindset of theirs.
Like the world has convinced itself that peace is permanent, that safety is guaranteed. But it's not. It's all built on one thing. One person, really. Though I didn't find that out until recently.
Back then I always felt something was wrong. For a long time, I felt irritated with how society portrayed itself for some reason. But I couldn't tell why. Until three months ago, when my boredom led me to pick up something I would normally despise.
A book. Not just any book though. A novel the same society had been raving about for months, written by someone I personally despise.
Even Kurogiri was on it for some reason. Telling me how exemplary it was and how I should take the time to read it.
I did.
Turns out, it wasn't so bad. For on that day, my mind was ... Ah ... Enlightened.
Avatar: The Last Airbender—what a delightfully educational read. Opening my eyes to exactly what I had been missing for years. Making parallels and pointing out similarities right in front of me this whole time. The heroes. The teachers. The students. The news. All Might. Especially All Might.
Only now did I see how similar he was ... To him. The Avatar — the symbol of balance, of peace in his fictional world, just like All Might was here.
It was always there, gnawing at me. This itch I couldn't scratch, this crawling irritation in my skull. I knew I wanted to kill him. I knew I wanted to tear down everything he represented. But I never understood why. Not really.
But someone else did for me.
Sozin.
The Fire Lord understood something fundamental about symbols. The Avatar kept the world steady just by existing. His name alone was hope, was justice, it was a promise to all, good and bad alike. And when he vanished? Everything fell apart. Nations burned. People suffered. The Fire Nation carved its name into the bones of the world because the one symbol everyone trusted was gone. Remove the Avatar, and suddenly their century of peace crumbled into a hundred years of war. No more balance. No more safety net. Just chaos and fear, exactly as it should be.
That's when it clicked.
All Might is the Avatar.
That's why people smile like idiots when he's around. Why villains scurry back into their holes. Why society pretends it's safe. Because he's there. Because the symbol hasn't vanished yet.
I laughed when I realized it. My throat burned and my chest hurt, but I couldn't stop.
Like taking a weight off my chest ... All the dots connected. It was all because of him..
The Fire Nation had the right idea. They almost finished it too. Their mistake was being too slow. Not striking fast enough.
They gave the Avatar time to escape, time to hide in that convenient iceberg where dumb luck could preserve him. A century later, that single oversight unraveled everything they'd built. How frustrating that would have been for Fire Lord Sozin if he had been there to see it —to have victory snatched away by his own hesitation.
I won't make that mistake.
All Might is this world's Avatar. The symbol everyone clings to when they close their eyes at night. The reason mothers feel safe sending their children to hero schools. The pillar holding up their pathetic illusion of security.
But unlike Sozin, I won't give him time to run. I won't let him disappear into some metaphorical iceberg where chance might save him later. When I strike, it will be thorough. Complete. Final.
And I have the perfect instrument for it.
The author of this enlightening little book—what irony. He showed me the truth about symbols and their destruction, probably without even realizing it. So it's only fitting that he should be the one to demonstrate that truth to the world. Ken Takumi will kill All Might with his own hands, and then everyone will know. The Symbol of Peace fell to a U.A. student. To the very author who captured this wisdom in fiction.
The symmetry is beautiful. The author who wrote about the fall of symbols becomes the instrument of that fall. His book becomes prophecy, and he becomes its unwitting prophet.
Everything else is just setup. The other students, the hostages, the carefully orchestrated chaos—all of it exists to put All Might exactly where I need him, exactly when I need him there. No escape routes. No backup plans. No icebergs.
Just the truth, finally revealed: that peace was always an illusion, and symbols can always be broken.
---
## Various Locations - Ground Beta
**North District - Team C's Route to Monitoring Room**
"This is taking forever," Mineta complained, tugging at his helmet. His costume was torn, his skin still blotched from Todoroki's ice. "Why couldn't we just wait in that building?"
"Because," Aoyama declared, striking a pose despite his ragged state, "a true hero does not sulk in defeat. We must report our elimination with dignity!" His belt light flickered weakly, more pitiful than dramatic.
Kaminari rubbed his arms, still shivering. "I'm just saying, walking all the way to the monitoring building when we're already out seems like overkill."
"It's procedure," Shoji said simply, his extra arms folded across his broad frame. "Let's just hurry up. Mr. All Might certainly won't be pleased with our performance in the exercise—"
He froze mid-step. Not just him. Everyone did.
Mist.
A thin, purple fog curled between the buildings ahead. At first, it looked like swirling hole, then it grew even bigger.
"Um ... Guys .. what's that?" Mina's question went unanswered as figures emerged from the swirling portal before anyone could reply.
One, two ... Five, Ten, Twenty ...
All wearing menacing clothing with equally menacing expressions. The atmosphere took a noticeable drop, and all of them took a step back involuntarily at what they saw.
—Men and women in patched jackets, masks, armed with knives, bats, and quirks.
One of them chuckled. "Look what we've got here. U.A. brats."
His voice carried a sinister rasp.
Mineta shivered. "Hey! We already lost the exercise. What's with all this?"
"I know right? U A's pretty authentic. These guys look like actual villains." Kaminari uttered with a nervous chuckle. "Hehe ... You hear him? He thinks we're actors."
A round of raucous laughter spread through the crowd. Shoji immediately put on a defensive stance.
"I don't think these guys are actors."
"Just like the boss said." One wearing a bone mask and had a long elongated neck chuckled. "East prey."
"Don't break em too much. They're wanted alive."
"Doesn't mean we can't rough em up a bit. Show these newbie heroes what's waiting in store for the lot of em."
The students shifted automatically into defensive stances. Even Mineta's trembling hands pulled sticky orbs free, though his knees knocked together.
"But ... This should be impossible. Villains can't get into U.A."
"Yeah. The alarms should have gone off by now."
"Forget the alarms. Where's All Might?"
__
## All Might's POV - Monitoring Room
All Might flipped through the operations manual with increasing urgency, his massive fingers struggling with the delicate pages. "Section twelve, subsection four... emergency protocols for equipment failure..." He squinted at the tiny print. "Blast it all, why do they make these instructions so small?"
The static on the screens had worsened, now covering all feeds from the exercise zones. What had started as minor interference was now complete signal loss across the entire Ground Beta facility.
"Perhaps if I adjust the frequency..." All Might reached for a dial on the main console, turning it slowly. The static remained unchanged. He tried another switch. Nothing. "Dammit! Well, guess I'll have to call Tech Support."
He said, reaching for his phone while stifling a cough. "Can't believe I'm having problems on my first official class. So unprofessional ..."
He dialed a number. It didn't ring. "Huh?" The call wouldn't connect. Not even a dial tone—just dead silence. Looking at it again, the signal was gone. In U.A ... "Something's wrong." That was impossible. Equipment failures were one thing, but complete communications blackout? His expression hardened. "This isn't a malfunction."
Screens showing static, signal down ..
Definitely something wrong.
"The students ..." A bad feeling emerged in his gut. With enhanced speed, he rushed towards the door, only to be greeted by a large dark portal right at the entrance.
Multiple villains streamed out.
All Might's heart sank.
'That explains that problem.'
__
## South District
Midoriya clenched his fists tightly. Unwillingness emerging on his features.
"We're not giving up yet."
Uraraka yelled, getting into a fighting stance.
"Even if you win. Even if our actions are pointless ... A hero shouldn't go down without a fight." Seeing this, ken resisted the urge to pinch his nose.
He simply wanted to avoid having to pierce them with paralyzing rods. Why did they have to make things more difficult?
"I see you ... Huh?"
Turning his head, his words halted as something else caught his attention. Causing everyone else to turn as well. The lights that weren't already destroyed flickered slightly.
A slight electric pulse running through the bulbs.
In the distance, a purple mist materialized like a bruise against reality, widening until it became a gaping portal. Everyone's eyes widened as figures began pouring through—twenty, maybe more, all wearing the unmistakable look of career criminals. Scarred faces, crude weapons, the kind of hungry expressions that belonged in dark alleys, not hero training facilities.
'This ...'
Ken was stunned. What in Aang's name was happening? His gaze focused on the portal, then the people pouring though ... It clicked instantly. '... You have got to be kidding me.'
"Um ... What's going on.." Uraraka breathed, a little unsure of what was happening. "I'm ... Not sure." Midoriya uttered. "Perhaps actors for the exercise?" Tsuyu croaked uncertainly, though her instincts were already telling her otherwise.
"Not quite."
Ken answered.
The portal behind the intruders shimmered with a sickly energy that set his teeth on edge, and the men stepping through it carried themselves with the kind of ease only killers and criminals possessed. He exhaled slowly. 'Dammit. Another butterfly effect.'
There was no mistaking it.
"No. These aren't part of the exercise. These are real villains."
"Villains?" Everyone exclaimed in disbelief.
"It can't be." Iida objected. "The alarms would ..."
"Most likely blocked." Ken cut in. "But the situation isn't going to change. Look alive everyone." This was an attack by the League Of Villains.
Meaning, once again, Canon had screwed up. The timing wasn't right. The location wasn't right. This wasn't supposed to happen here.
His words dropped like stones in water. Silence followed, broken only by the shuffle of weapons being drawn on the other side. Uraraka's hands trembled at her sides, her eyes darting between Ken and the approaching villains. Tsuyu's throat bobbed with a nervous swallow. Even Midoriya, pale and sweating from exhaustion, tried to stand straighter, though his legs wobbled beneath him.
The criminals advanced slowly, deliberately, their sneers widening when they saw the fear on the students' faces.
"Well, what do we have here?" one rasped, dragging a jagged knife along the wall, leaving a long scratch behind. "U.A. brats. Fresh meat."
A ripple of cruel laughter spread through the group.
Another, larger man swung a spiked bat lazily over his shoulder. "Don't be shy. Heroes in training, right? Show us what you've got."
Ken stepped forward before anyone else could panic. His tone was calm, steady, even as his pulse hammered. "Stay back. Protect Midoriya." He glanced over his shoulder at Tsuyu and Uraraka, his gaze leaving no room for argument.
"But ... But ..." Uraraka swallowed. "There's so many of them."
"True." His hands clenched in response. Energy coalescing within his palms as a much smaller rod emerged slowly. "But I've faced worse ..." Technically, he hadn't. But they didn't know that. Plus it sounded like a cool one liner.
A small, dark rod formed between his fingers.
He weighed it for a second, then tossed it casually into the ground between the front line of villains.
It hit with a dull thunk.
The men paused, blinking at it. One stepped closer, sneering. "That's it? A stick?"
Another snorted, throwing his head back in laughter. "You missed, kid."
Ken's lips curved into a faint smile. "Not quite."
He snapped his fingers.
The ground erupted.
From the single embedded rod, dozens of jagged splinters exploded outward, piercing into flesh with sickening precision. Screams tore the silence apart as men staggered back, clutching at sudden wounds. Arms, legs, torsos—nothing fatal, but enough to drop nearly half the group in an instant.
"What the—?!" one howled, collapsing as blood spurted from his thigh.
Ken straightened, his hand forming another weapon, this time a full-length staff. He spun it once, the air whistling around the metal. "I won't repeat myself. Leave now—or stay, and regret it."
The remaining villains, enraged, surged forward.
Ken moved. His staff cracked against a jaw, swept low to knock another off his feet. He pivoted, blocking a blade strike, then jabbed forward, slamming the butt of the weapon into a gut. Ten months hadn't been wasted doing nothing but writing a novel. The photographic memory granted by his quirk was good for more than studying. They also worked on pro hero battle training videos and Martial arts replication.
The fight unfolded in tight, efficient motions—Ken never overextending, never wasting energy. Each strike was controlled, each movement precise. With his strength, one hit was all that was needed to make sure they wouldn't get back up.
By the time the last one hit the ground groaning, silence returned to the street.
Ken lowered the staff and exhaled slowly. Around him, Uraraka's mouth hung open, Tsuyu blinked hard, and Midoriya's knees nearly buckled from sheer disbelief.
"The exercise is over," Ken said flatly. He planted the staff into the ground. "U.A. has been infiltrated. Real villains are here. That means this isn't about passing or failing anymore—it's survival."
Canon had gone to shit.
The early coming of U.S.J meant that I couldn't rely on Meta knowledge for anything in this scenario.
By all means, Shigaraki was here in ground beta somewhere. There was no time to waste. I stretched out my hand. The rods embedded in Iida and Sato were pulled out cleanly.
"Iida. You need to alert the school and call the teachers."
"Huh? You want me to run?"
"No. I want you to get backup." I said without a change in expression. "And Asui is going with you."
"Ribbit?"
"You and Iida take Midoriya and get out. He's in no condition to fight, and you'll cover more ground together. Uraraka and Sato will stay with me. Go. Now."
Uraraka started, "But—"
"No arguments." Ken's gaze cut to her. "If you want to help, protect him. That's your role here."
There was tension in the air, but the logic was undeniable. They nodded, however reluctantly.
That's when Iida's voice cracked through the stillness. "Wait—what about Koda?"
Everyone froze.
Midoriya's eyes widened instantly. He staggered forward, panic breaking through his exhaustion. "Koda! He—he was supposed to escape before I used the Smash… in case it wasn't enough. He should've gotten away—"
"I'll contact him." Iida pressed his comms only to have static scream into his ear.
"Comms are down. Villains no doubt."
"We have to find him. Who knows what ... "
It happened then.
A scream.
High, terrified, echoing across the district. Koda's voice.
At least, that's what Ken assumed. He had never heard Koda's voice, and remembering what it sounded like from the anime was clearly asking too much of him.
'Dammit!'
His body moved before thought caught up, feet pounding against the pavement, as he leapt upward. Energy surging as he vaulted over debris and rooftops.
His ears quickly locked on to an approximate location.
It was close. Too damn close.
He landed hard, eyes locking on the scene just ahead.
A villain was dragging Koda toward a swirling portal, the boy's hands clawing uselessly against the ground.
"Help—!"
And then he was gone, swallowed whole in the ominous dark portal.
"Dammit!"
Ken stood frozen for a heartbeat. His fingers clenched around the staff until his knuckles whitened.
"… Damn you Shigaraki."
___
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