Ok so i just realized I posted the wrong chapter. If yall notice please say something and ill fix it. Ill post the correct one now and the next chapter tomorrow
Chapter 16– Another threat and Help
Izuku stood motionless for a single heartbeat, cloak of living shadows billowing around him.
He could feel it.
The Hood Nomu was far different than the purple one had ever been. The air around it felt heavier, thicker, charged with a cold, calculating malice that the previous creature lacked. This one wasn't just a mindless brute. It was intelligent. Adaptive. A true weapon designed to hunt and kill heroes.
Danger Sense screamed in his skull like an alarm.
But Izuku didn't stop.
His glowing neon-blue eyes narrowed on Shigaraki standing behind the monster. The villain was still there, still breathing, and that was something he intended to correct.
"go" Izuku commanded, voice cold and absolute.
His entire army surged forward as one. Igris and Kaelros took the lead, Tank lumbered beside them, and the dozens of lesser shadow soldiers, and the new shadow nomu formed ranks behind them.
They charged straight toward Shigaraki.
The Hood Nomu met them head-on.
It moved with terrifying precision.
Shoulder-mounted jets ignited with a deafening roar, launching it forward at blinding speed. Transforming arms stretched and reshaped mid-flight — one becoming a massive spiked club, the other whipping out like a living blade. It crashed into the front line of shadow soldiers like a meteor.
The impact was catastrophic.
Where the purple Nomu had been strong but blunt, the Hood was a nightmare of adaptability and overwhelming force. It tore through the army with horrifying efficiency. One swing of its transformed arm shattered three knights into particles. A jet-assisted charge crushed another group into the ground. When Igris swung his sword, Hood's arm morphed into a shield that absorbed the blow, then immediately counterattacked with a spike that punched straight through Igris's shoulder.
Kaelros dove from above, claws extended — only for the Hood to fire its jets and rocket upward, slamming into the dragon with enhanced strength. Kaelros was sent crashing back to the ground.
Izuku tried to push through, shadows lashing out to pierce and restrain, but the Hood was too fast, too versatile. It regenerated instantly from every wound, released smaller stored Nomu from its body to swarm the lesser soldiers, and used its transforming arms to adapt to every attack on the fly.
The purple Nomu had been a tank.
The Hood nomu was a living weapon that had been trained.
It overwhelmed them far more completely than anything they had faced before.
Izuku's jaw tightened as he watched his army being dismantled piece by piece. But he kept advancing, eyes locked on Shigaraki with unrelenting murderous intent.
The fight dragged on for what seemed like hours to izuku but was only a few minutes.
Izuku refused to yield. He blurred through the plaza at 50% One For All, shadows whipping around him like living blades while Igris and Kaelros fought at his sides. Tank charged in like a living battering ram, smashing lesser Nomu aside. The army of shadow soldiers clashed with the hood nomu.
But the Hood Nomu was on another level.
It adapted instantly to every attack. Transforming arms lashed out like whips one moment, then hardened into spiked clubs the next. Shoulder-mounted jets let it rocket through the air, dodging Igris's sword swings and Kaelros's diving strikes with terrifying precision. Super Regeneration sealed every wound almost as fast as they were made. When Izuku tried to restrain it with piercing shadow tendrils, the Nomu simply tore free, using Muscle Augmentation to rip through the bindings with raw power.
Izuku finally saw an opening.
He commanded the shadows to surge forward in a coordinated web, wrapping around the Hood Nomu's limbs and torso, pinning it in place for a single critical second.
"Kaelros — now!" he roared.
The dragon dove from above, jaws wide open. A concentrated torrent of shadow-flame engulfed the Nomu's entire upper body. The fire burned hotter and darker than ever before, the blue veins in Kaelros's scales blazing like miniature stars. The Hood Nomu thrashed violently inside the inferno, its flesh charred and melted making a horrible smell drift through the plaza.
When the flames finally died, nothing remained but a blackened, smoking husk.
Izuku allowed himself one ragged breath of relief.
It was a mistake.
The Hood Nomu had been smart enough to sever its own head the instant the flames engulfed it. The decapitated head had been thrown clear in the chaos, unnoticed by anyone. While the body burned, the head regenerated rapidly in the shadows behind a pile of rubble.
The newly reformed Nomu exploded out of hiding with blinding speed.
It speared straight through Izuku's chest from behind.
The impact was catastrophic.
Black blood exploded outward from the wound, splattering across the plaza in a wide arc. The Nomu's arm punched completely through Izuku's torso, the clawed hand emerging from his chest coated in darkness.
Izuku's eyes widened in shock.
All of his active shadows instantly desummoned, collapsing back into the floor as his control shattered.
The Hood Nomu chuckled and assumed it had killed him.
It began to pull its arm back, ready to strike again to make sure it killed him.
But the black blood that had splattered everywhere, on the ground, on the Nomu's own body, and the droplets still hanging in the air suddenly froze mid-motion.
Then it reversed.
Every drop of black blood shot forward like living needles, piercing the Hood Nomu from every direction at once. The creature staggered, roaring in pain as thousands of shadow-blood needles impaled it.
Izuku grabbed the Nomu's arm with both hands, teeth gritted, and held the nomu in place.
Igris appeared in a burst of shadow right beside him, sword raised high. The knight brought the blade down with all his strength, aiming to split the Hood Nomu's head down the middle.
The Nomu ripped its arm free then dodged at the last possible instant, jets firing as it rocketed backward.
Izuku staggered as blood poured from the gaping hole in his chest then it visibly stitched back together from the inside out, recreating the tissue from scratch.
They were right back where they had started facing the same monstrous opponent.
Except Izuku was far worse off now.
His wounds that had been healing at an unnatural rate had now slowed to a crawl. His breathing was ragged. His legs trembled. Sweat and black blood streaked his face. He was visibly over-taxed, pushed far beyond his limits.
He dropped to one knee, coughing harshly into his hand. When he pulled it away, his palm was coated in thick, inky black blood.
Izuku stared at it in confusion, brows furrowed. As he noticed his blood for the first time.
"…Why is my blood… black…?"
'I thought the black liquid earlier was from from my cloak or something but now, this is- no i need to focus'
Igris immediately stepped in front of him, sword held ready, standing guard over his king while Izuku tried to catch his breath.
One small mercy came from the near-death experience: his mind had become crystal clear.
The overwhelming rage and grief were still there, burning like a black sun in his chest, but the haze had lifted. He could think clearly again.
He couldn't keep going after Shigaraki like this.
He was too drained. Too damaged. If he pushed any harder, he would collapse completely and then Nerissa's body would be left completely unprotected.
It pissed him off more than anything had in his entire life.
But he did what he had to.
Izuku forced himself back to his feet, shadows flickering unsteadily around him as he stared at the Hood Nomu with cold, calculating eyes.
He wasn't going to win this fight right now.
He just had to stall.
Izuku refused to fall.
Even as his body screamed at him to stop, he kept moving. He circled the Hood Nomu with unsteady steps, shadows flickering weakly around him like dying embers. Igris and Kaelros fought at his sides, but they were slowing too, their forms flickering under the strain of constant regeneration and combat.
The Hood Nomu had grown wary.
It no longer attacked as it had before. Instead, it circled with calculated precision, jets humming on its shoulders, transforming arms shifting between bladed whips and spiked clubs. It studied Izuku, clearly recognizing the threat he now posed. It tested him with probing strikes, never fully committing, waiting for the moment his exhaustion would make him slip.
They fought like that for several more agonizing minutes.
But by the end Izuku was barely standing.
The edges of his vision had started to fade into black. His wounds had stopped healing entirely. Every cut, every fracture, every internal injury was stacking now, compounding with brutal efficiency. His left leg buckled under him more than once. Blood dripped steadily from his mouth and nose. His breathing came in short, ragged gasps.
He knew he couldn't hold out much longer.
Right as that realization hit him, the massive doors to the U.S.J. slammed open with a deafening crash.
Standing in the entrance was All Might.
He wasn't smiling.
The Symbol of Peace looked pissed — eyes blazing with cold fury, muscles tensed, cape billowing behind him like a storm cloud. The sheer presence of him filled the entire dome.
The sight of All Might finally arriving was too much.
All the tension that had been keeping Izuku upright snapped at once. His legs gave out completely. He started to fall forward, shadows flickering and fading around him as his control slipped.
As he fell, All Might appeared in front of him in a blur of motion, catching him gently in his massive arms before he could hit the ground.
All Might looked down at the boy in his arms — at the blood (or what he thought was blood) soaking Izuku's costume, the broken limbs that were barely holding together. Seeing his successor in this state felt like someone was squeezing his heart.
"My boy…" All Might whispered, voice thick with pain. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry for being late."
The apology broke something inside Izuku.
A choked sob escaped him, tears flowing freely now as the last of his strength left him. His shadows completely vanished, the cloak dissolving into nothing.
All Might held him closer, one large hand gently cradling the back of his head.
Then All Might's eyes lifted past Izuku.
He saw Aizawa lying motionless on the ground, blood pooling beneath him, impossible to tell if he was still alive.
And then he saw Nerissa's body, crumpled and still, blood spreading out beneath her in a dark pool and her unmoving form
All Might froze. His face contorted in regret and shame for being late.