The sound of helicopters tore through the air as the morning sky rushed past three figures.
Majestic flew at the front, his cape fluttering behind him as dozens of floating rings of energy carried both students alongside him.
Setsuna floated cross-legged inside one of the rings, her detached hands scouting ahead.
Momo stood within another platform, one hand pressed against the communicator built into her ear while the other held a tablet displaying the latest emergency dispatches.
There was a burst of static ...
Then—
"...Emergency response has confirmed multiple casualties across central Aichi..."
"...Witnesses describe the attacker as a winged black creature matching eyewitness accounts from the Hosu Incident..."
"...All available heroes have been ordered to converge ..."
Momo's expression became increasingly grave.
"The reports keep changing."
Majestic didn't look back.
"Meaning?"
"The League of Villains was already intercepted this morning."
She frowned.
"I can hardly believe they have another one of these things capable of this."
It had been months since the Nomu that appeared at USJ. After that, the subsequent ones shown on news reports were never at that level. The mastermind, All For One was already dead, and yet ..
Setsuna scratched her cheek. "Maybe they had another one hidden somewhere?"
Majestic remained silent for several seconds. "... Look alive. Those guys have a load of luck so I'm not too surprised."
His eyes remained fixed ahead. "If they escaped after being cornered..."
"...then today's operation has already become far more dangerous than expected." Just like everyone else, they had received the emergency broadcast to all capable heroes in the surrounding areas.
The orders were said to come directly from Madame President herself. Recapture the League Of Villains at all costs. A quite desperate order if he had to say so himself, but it couldn't be helped. Who would think the League would be captured only to be freed again?
One could only imagine the dissatisfaction this would cause once the general public ... already exhausted by constant villain attacks, learned the truth.
Momo bit her lower lip, her fingers flying across the tablet's glass interface. "According to the latest satellite updates, the local heroes have already made contact."
"I doubt that'll do much good." Majestic muttered, his hands adjusting slightly as he steered the platforms.
RRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!
Just then, a monstrous roar ripped across the sky. The sound was unlike anything either student had ever heard.
"What the—?!"
Momo's eyes widened.
"... Was that .."
"Hey, guys?" Setsuna's floating right hand suddenly snapped back to her wrist, her eyes widening as she pointed toward the unfolding skyline. "I think we just found the epicenter. Look."
Far beyond the city... Something enormous floated above the buildings.
At first it was only a tiny black silhouette against the morning sun.
Then...
The closer they flew...
The larger it became.
"...That's..."
The creature hovered hundreds of meters above the city.
Massive black wings. Around past the dense canopy of commercial high-rises, the true scale of the devastation looked rather minimal.
Compared to Tokyo, Hosu, or more recent villain attacks, the surrounding areas still looked rather well off.
The buildings destroyed were very few, and two Columns of thick, greasy black smoke punched straight into the morning sky. In the center above the ruined highway overpass, a massive, muscular shadow hovered motionlessly against the rising sun.
Slightly opening her costume, a rainbow glow appeared in between the spaces and Momo quickly formed binoculars. With this, Hood's features were clear enough to make out.
"What do you see?" Majestic asked.
Before Momo could answer, the creature suddenly convulsed with steam erupted from both arms.
"...What's it doing?"
POP!
POP!
POP!
Several grotesque spheres of living flesh blasted outward from its body. The organic masses scattered in every direction like artillery shells.
BOOM!
Just then, the sound of a collapsing building fell into their ears.
Looking into the distance, it was indeed a collapsing building.
None of them had time to speculate further. Because at that exact moment, a flash of blue erupted somewhere from the area beyond the commercial district.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The sky exploded. A deafening sonic boom chased something far too fast for any of them to properly follow.
Even Majestic only caught a vague streak cutting through the clouds.
Then—
SQUELCH!!
The projectile struck. It punched straight through the lower half of the monster's body before any of them even realized what had happened.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The High-End exploded. A sphere of blue-white energy swallowed its torso and lower abdomen from the inside before turning into a dazzling explosion.
Yaoyorozu's eyes widened, as did everyone else's.
Setsuna's jaw hung open.
"...What..."
"...just happened?"
No ... Where did attack come from?
Far below...
The debris from Hood's dispersal was still falling. Chunks of grey-black mass raining across the highway overpass. Flesh pieces that would have been more disturbing if anyone had been standing there to receive it.
"What ..." From within the debris cloud, a distorted voice resounded, utterly confused as the surviving half of Hood's body plummeted through the sky.
Its remaining yellow eye twitched at the feeling of his lower torso ... Or rather, lack of it. An attack had blown up his body, leaving one arm as the sole limb that emerged. An upper torso, one arm, the left side of a wing reduced to a stump, and finally, the exposed brain shielded under thick skin.
Luckily, the doctor had made him well. The remains quickly knit together at a rapid pace before jets burst from newly regenerated flesh.
WHOOOOOSH!! The ruined body steadied itself midair as the rapid regeneration continued. New bone and tissue spread outward at rapid speed and was quickly followed with muscle crawling over exposed bone.
In under ten seconds, more than half of Hood's destroyed body looked as good as new.
Below...
Citizens who had witnessed the explosion stared upward in horror.
"...It's..."
"...Still alive..." The scene was similarly captured on camera, causing the reporter to gulp, her hand still on her ear.
"... That ... That's impossible. Ladies and gentlemen ... After withstanding a devastating attack, the Nomu just regenerated from nothing but its head ..."
Majestic's advance had come to an abrupt halt. The scene of the regenerating Nomu causing his eyes to widen in disbelief.
"It ... really is just like the one from USJ." Momo swallowed.
In the city now a few hundred meters away, Hood no longer paid attention to the civilians.
Instead, its head snapped toward the north—focusing entirely on the distant, ruined factory where the blue lightning flash had originated.
The power of that single attack, capable of blowing apart its lower body was the only thing its instincts recognized.
'There...' The last bits of flesh over bone completed over the rib section. 'The strong... is over there...'
With a powerful burst of its newly formed thrusters, the half-regenerated monster ignored the approaching heroes entirely, streaking like a black missile straight toward the area the final flash had come from.
"...It's leaving?" Setsuna asked, bewildered.
Majestic immediately picked his rings to chase after it. However, they hadn't flown even two hundred meters before—
CRASH!!
One of the black flesh masses struck the middle of an intersection below.
The organic sphere bounced off the wall then began pulsating.
"...Sensei..."
Momo noticed immediately. "...Look."
The fleshy cocoon split apart. A long, clawed arm forced its way out. Then another.
A distorted roar echoed through the streets as an incomplete humanoid creature dragged itself free, fresh liquid around its body like a newly hatched egg.
Not far away... Another pod burst open.
The same result appeared across the city block as the living projectiles began hatching one after another.
The biological masses Hood had expelled before being struck crashed throughout nearby districts.
SPLAT!
One landed atop a parking structure. Another hit an apartment roof. One smashed directly through an office block.
Pedestrians who had only just emerged nearby screamed.
"MONSTER!"
"It's another Nomu!"
"RUN!"
A mother grabbed her child. Office workers scattered in every direction and Vehicles collided trying to reverse away from the growing abominations.
Majestic watched the chaos unfolding beneath them.
"Damn! So that's what those were." His expression hardened as he turned his gaze toward Hood rapidly disappearing into the distance.
"... Priority changes."
The floating rings immediately made a U turn as a news helicopter flew past them after Hood. He looked toward his students. "Lizardy! You're on surveillance on that Nomu. Creati, with me."
"Yes sir!"
"Yes sir!"
Setsuna immediately jumped out of the ring, her body separating to multiple pieces as she flew in all directions. Many heading after the High End.
"Creation." Locking onto the creatures on the ground, the rainbow light faded as what looked like a missile launcher was hauled over her shoulder.
'Fire.'
A large projectile shot towards one of them hanging off the walls. The Nomu saw the weapon and swatted, only for it to burst apart and turn into a giant restraint net.
Majestic descended as purple rings shot towards several charging Nomu.
"Bind!"
The rings slammed shut.
The creatures stumbled and fell asleep their upper and lower bodies were clamped.
Momo landed beside an overturned commuter bus.
Several passengers were trapped beneath twisted steel.
Without hesitation she slapped her forearm.
Golden light spread across her skin.
A hydraulic rescue jack emerged from her arm before dropping heavily into her waiting hands.
"I'll get you out!"
"Everyone!"
His amplified voice echoed through the streets.
"Remain calm!"
"Do not panic. Please follow the officers and evacuate this area. We are here!" The sight of a Pro Hero arriving steadied the panicking crowd, if only slightly. Of course, not everyone appreciated this sentiment.
A scrambling salaryman stumbled backward, one polished shoe slipping against broken glass as he desperately dragged a young woman behind him. He looked from the approaching monsters... then back at the hero standing in the middle of the street directing the evacuation.
His face twisted with panic.
"...Would you stop trying to be All Might and kill those things first?! They look like they're gonna break free."
"Huh?" Majestic turned around. The restrained Nomu he'd incapacitated only moments earlier slowly pushed itself upright. The purple rings still bound its torso and legs...
Yet its muscles began to swell.
CRRRRRK...
The lower restraints of Majestic's Magic circles broke into light pieces.
"Ugh ." Well, it would be a lie to say he didn't expect something like this. But still. He had heard these things were strong, but even the random flukes have this level of strength ...
'Then there's that black one that can regenerate. ..'
He raised his hands. 'This is probably the first time I have ever been urged by a civilian of all people to kill an enemy, isn't it?'
The reality of the situation tasted bitter.
With the current state of the country, the public's faith completely fractured and villain factions bolder than ever, the Hero Public Safety Commission had quietly stripped away the old, idealized golden rules. Under the direct orders of Madame President, all active heroes had been granted an unprecedented, grim mandate: full permission to use lethal force, regardless of the situation.
Yet, knowing the law was one thing; hearing it screamed into his face by a terrified taxpayer in a rumpled business suit was entirely another. It hammered home just how desperate things had truly become.
Society that had once praised and prided heroes, seemingly didn't even want a reassuring smile anymore. They just wanted the monsters dead.
Majestic looked at the abomination before him and felt a deep pity looking at the exposed brain and the hollow eyes.
"I would've preferred to save you." His fingers tightened and the rings around them glowed brighter. "...But there are too many lives depending on me."
With that winged aberration tearing toward the northern district, and his own constraints failing... He couldn't afford to hesitate.
'I'm sorry..'
SQUELCH! Two orange flashes crossed directly in front of him.
The Nomu's massive forearms spun through the air before crashing onto the pavement several meters away.
"...What?"
Majestic's eyes widened. The creature itself seemed equally confused, staring at the stumps where its arms had been.
Then—
RUMBLE!!
The street beneath its feet suddenly collapsed. Chunks of asphalt folded inward as though the earth itself had become liquid. The Nomu dropped waist-deep into the opening.
Before it could climb out ...
CRASH!!
The ground slammed shut around its lower body, imprisoning it like hardened concrete.
"...GRAAAAH!" It struggled violently.
Several streets away...
SQUELCH!
SQUELCH!
SQUELCH!
The exact same scene unfolded. Every Nomu suddenly lost both arms.
Every street erupted. Every creature was buried up to its chest before it could reach another civilian.
For just a brief instant... The battlefield became strangely quiet.
"...Who..."
He raised his head, only to see countless feathers flying towards a nearby building.
'Those are ..'
A figure quickly came into view on top of a building. Scarlet feathers drifted through the sky like countless falling leaves.
Some sliced cleanly through the air. Others wrapped gently around terrified civilians, lifting children and the injured away from danger with surprising care. The owner of those wings scratched the back of his head with an easy grin. "...Man. He just went through an entire pack of Nomu in under a second." They had barely arrived, and he, the actual Pro Hero here, didn't even have the chance to do anything before all threats were taken care of. "Heh ... If he keeps this up, I might actually get upstaged all the time. By the way ... Where did he run off to?"
His searching eyes quickly locked on to Majestic on the ground.
"Hey, Enma!" More feathers shot away in crimson streaks.
Without looking, Hawks casually remarked,
"Mind if I borrow your disaster zone for a bit? I'm training my interns so .."
BOOOOM!
An explosion rang out into the distance.