The last Nomu still tried to get back up, but Tiger didn't let it.
He grabbed the creature by the torso, twisted his body with force, and hurled it straight into the enormous hole Pixie-Bob had opened in the middle of the clearing. The monster fell several meters before crashing into the pile of unconscious bodies already filling the bottom, drawing out a chorus of low growls and causing several arms and legs to shift beneath the newly added weight.
Tiger stared down for a few seconds, making sure none of the creatures would climb back out.
Then he clapped his hands together to dust off the dirt.
"That was the last one."
Pixie-Bob remained beside the crater, breathing heavily as she curled her fingers. The walls of the hole began to slope inward, creating a deep prison of compacted earth around the Nomus.
"If any of them wake up, they'll have plenty to climb."
Around the two of them, the camp was finally beginning to settle down.
The aftermath of the battle was scattered everywhere. Broken trees, craters, and blast marks covered much of the area, but fortunately, the students had come out of it far better than Mandalay had expected.
She was kneeling in front of a Class 1-B student, cleaning a shallow cut on his arm while Ragdoll checked another nearby group. Most of them had only scratches and bruises. A few would need proper treatment later, but no one there seemed to be in serious danger.
"This is going to sting a little."
Mandalay applied the antiseptic.
The boy flinched.
"That was not a little!"
"You'll live."
Ragdoll let out a tired laugh from the other side as she placed a small bandage on Kaminari's forehead.
"Considering how many of those guys fell out of the sky, I think we all got pretty lucky."
Kaminari looked toward the enormous hole filled with creatures.
"I'm never complaining about combat training again."
"You'd complain if we went back to training tomorrow," Sero replied.
"...Probably."
That was when Mandalay noticed movement between the trees.
She immediately stood up when she recognized the familiar figure.
"Kota?"
The boy slowly emerged from the forest, covered in dust with small leaves stuck to his clothes. His expression was completely lost, his wide eyes still searching for some explanation for what had happened on his way back to camp.
"What's with all these earthquakes? That was already the second one this hour..."
Mandalay ran toward him.
"Kota!"
The boy barely had time to react before she grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Where were you?! I looked for you everywhere!"
Kota blinked a few times.
"I was..."
He vaguely pointed toward the forest.
Mandalay immediately understood that she probably didn't want to know what that meant.
Kota looked at the destroyed camp.
"What happened here?"
Mandalay's expression softened, though the shock was still obvious on her face.
"I'll explain later. Are you hurt?"
Kota shook his head.
She released the breath she had been holding for several minutes and pulled him close.
"Don't disappear like that again."
While Mandalay remained distracted with Kota, Kirishima sat on a rock a few meters away, catching his breath alongside the rest of Class 1-A.
Mina was sprawled out on the ground.
Kaminari looked like he was about to fall asleep sitting up.
Sero was examining a small burn on his sleeve.
Bakugo remained off to the side, still staring at his own hands and the occasional sparks flickering across his skin, clearly more interested in what he had discovered about his Quirk than in resting.
Kirishima, however, was only looking toward the forest.
Takeda still hadn't come back.
Neither had Dash.
Midoriya, Todoroki, and Iida were still missing.
He looked toward Mandalay.
She was still talking to Kota while Tiger helped Pixie-Bob.
Ragdoll was still tending to the injured, while Aizawa was nowhere to be seen.
"Now."
Kirishima began to stand.
"This is probably the best chance I'm going to get."
But he froze the moment he took his first step.
Seeing something emerging from between the trees, Kirishima narrowed his eyes.
The figure came closer, revealing itself to be Iida.
"Iida...?"
Kirishima froze when he recognized the blond hair hanging over his shoulder.
"Da—"
"DASH!"
Pony rushed past him before he could finish.
Iida's eyes widened when he saw her practically charging toward him.
"W-Wait!"
Pony stopped in front of him, staring desperately at Dash.
"What happened?! Is he hurt?! Why isn't he waking up?!"
"Pony, calm down!"
"IS HE BREATHING?!"
"Yes!"
Iida tried to pull his head back slightly as she practically inspected Dash from every possible angle.
"He's fine! Takeda healed his injuries!"
Pony blinked.
"Injuries?"
Iida immediately realized he had chosen the wrong words.
"I mean, he's fine now."
"What happened to him?!"
"He..."
"Was he hurt?!"
Kirishima arrived a moment later.
"Iida, let me help."
"Thanks..."
He carefully took hold of Dash while Iida readjusted the weight.
"Is he really okay?"
"Yes. Ryo healed him. He's just unconscious."
Pony looked even more worried.
"Then why is he still unconscious?!"
The sheer number of voices finally made Dash stir.
Everyone stopped.
His eyes opened only a sliver.
"...You guys are really loud..."
Pony immediately leaned closer.
"Dash!"
He made a sleepy grimace.
"Five more minutes..."
And closed his eyes again.
Kirishima stared at him before letting out the biggest sigh of relief he had breathed all night.
Pony, on the other hand, looked torn between hugging him and shaking him until he fully woke up.
On the other side of the camp, someone was having a considerably worse night.
Kurogiri was on the ground.
The villain lay face-down against the dirt, one arm bent awkwardly beneath him while the rest of his body remained tense and still. A single violet restraint was locked tightly around the metal brace surrounding his neck, glowing with a steady light that made it painfully clear where Violet had chosen to keep him under control.
And Violet was standing directly over him.
With her foot planted firmly against the brace.
Kurogiri let out a low grunt as she increased the pressure.
Violet looked down at him with a small smile.
"You're not getting away now."
Kurogiri tried to shift his head slightly.
That was enough for Violet to press harder.
"Listen carefully."
His mist stirred around his shoulders, but he didn't dare move any further.
"If you try anything funny..."
The violet restraint around his neck tightened just enough for him to feel it.
"...I tighten this."
Her smile sharpened.
"And I keep tightening it until you find out exactly how long you can go without breathing."
Kurogiri went completely still.
Violet leaned a little more of her weight onto her foot.
Another strained grunt escaped him.
"Good."
She tilted her head, looking far too satisfied with the arrangement.
"So be a good little boy and stay nice and quiet for me~"
A few meters behind her, Tony watched the scene in absolute silence before clenching his fist tightly.
"That's my spot!"
An imaginary tear rolled down his soul.
"I'm the one who should be over there..."
No one around him needed to know that his outrage came from reasons completely different from what any normal person would assume.
Fortunately, Kurogiri was far too preoccupied to notice him.
"When did everything go wrong...?"
Not long ago, the plan had been working.
They had everyone deployed in their positions, with the primary target being led toward the bait.
The teams had been positioned at strategic points, and the escape routes had been blocked.
But then the communicators started going silent.
Kurogiri could still remember Tomura's irritated voice coming through the communicator when he realized that a large portion of their forces had suddenly stopped responding all at once.
"Hold those other brats back! Don't let anyone interfere with my meeting!"
And Kurogiri had blindly obeyed, trying to patch everything together and buy Tomura more time.
Now the Nomus were piled inside a hole, and he was on his knees with a young woman pressing down on his weak point.
Violet increased the pressure again.
"Kgh..."
Kurogiri closed his eyes.
There was no other choice.
"The operation had failed..."
With that, he whispered quietly into the communicator built into his metal brace.
"Master..."
Violet frowned.
"Hm?"
Kurogiri continued.
"Bring us back."
Violet tilted her head.
"What are you whispering about?"
Kurogiri didn't answer.
He simply waited for a few seconds, listening to the static on the other end of the communication.
Until a voice finally answered him.
"...Very well."
----------------------------------------
High in a nearby tree, a crow watched everything in silence.
Its talons were firmly wrapped around the branch while its head remained tilted downward, following the ruined clearing between the trees. At first glance, there was nothing particularly strange about it. Black feathers, a dark beak, small natural movements of its head as it observed the humans below.
But the moment its pupil contracted, an almost inaudible sound came from somewhere inside the bird's head.
Click
The image before it zoomed in.
Click
The focus adjusted automatically.
Inside its pupil, tiny circular plates began rotating over one another. The image before it drew closer through successive magnifications, adjusting focus, brightness, and distance like the lens of a camera.
Below, at the center of the clearing, stood Ryo, his left arm driven completely through Shigaraki's abdomen.
Midoriya stood several meters ahead, motionless. All the urgency that had been in him seconds earlier had vanished, replaced by such a confused mixture of shock, fear, and disbelief that his body seemed unable to decide which one it should show first.
Todoroki stood equally still.
His eyes slowly lowered to Ryo's arm piercing through the villain.
"He really..."
"T-Takeda!"
Midoriya's voice cut off the thought.
Ryo did not answer.
Shigaraki let out a low, uneven sound as his body involuntarily contracted. Blood spilled from his mouth and fell onto the part of Ryo's arm that remained outside his body, running down his skin toward his elbow.
"Takeda... what are you doing?!"
Ryo turned his face only slightly.
"Taking out the trash."
Midoriya froze.
Todoroki narrowed his eyes.
Shigaraki coughed again, more blood slipping past his lips as every tiny movement of the arm lodged inside his body made his muscles seize in pain.
Midoriya's expression immediately changed.
"What do you mean by that?!"
Ryo did not react.
"You're killing him!"
"He's a villain."
Midoriya stepped forward.
"He's still a person!"
Ryo finally looked at him.
Midoriya felt his body hesitate, but he kept walking. One step at a time, far too slowly for someone who could normally cross that distance in an instant. The scene before him made his stomach churn, but he forced himself not to look away.
"You..." Midoriya swallowed hard. "You don't feel anything about this?"
Ryo remained silent.
His eyes returned to Shigaraki.
For a moment, however, it wasn't the villain's face that he saw.
It was his mother.
Yuuko stood before him, smiling.
The same gentle smile she wore whenever she ran a hand through his hair, whenever she asked how his day had been, whenever she tried to convince him that he could simply be a normal child for a few hours.
Then a crack tore through the image.
Another appeared across her face.
The smile broke apart.
Her skin began to crumble away, pieces vanishing into the void as Shigaraki's words returned to his mind.
Ryo closed his eyes for a fraction of a second.
"No."
Midoriya seemed to lose some of the strength in his legs.
"I don't feel anything about preventing a dark future from happening."
Midoriya's expression collapsed.
His fists clenched.
"That's not..."
Ryo looked at him.
Midoriya gritted his teeth.
"THAT'S NOT WHAT A HERO WOULD DO!"
The shout tore across the clearing, making Ryo turn fully toward him this time.
"Then what would you do?"
Midoriya stopped.
"What would you do if someone promised to hunt down your friends and your family?"
Midoriya opened his mouth, but no words came out.
"If you knew he'd try again the moment he got the chance?"
Midoriya clenched his fists even tighter.
"I..."
"You'd arrest him? How many times?"
Ryo continued before he could finish.
"Hope he stays locked up?"
Midoriya didn't answer.
Ryo studied his face for several seconds.
"Of course."
His voice came out low.
"You don't know."
Midoriya raised his eyes.
"No one does."
That was when Shigaraki gritted his teeth.
Until then, he had barely been able to breathe properly.
But he gathered everything he had left and shot his right hand upward.
"IF I'M GOING TO DIE...!"
All five fingers went straight toward Ryo's face.
"...THEN I'M TAKING YOU WITH ME!"
But Ryo stopped him easily by grabbing his wrist.
Shigaraki's hand halted only a few inches from his face.
"I'm not interested in the offer."
But Shigaraki caught him off guard by spitting blood directly into his face.
"Go... fuck yourself!"
Ryo reflexively shut his eyes.
And at that exact instant, the zero-point energy beam struck them both, freezing Ryo and Shigaraki immediately.
Ryo's arm was still buried through the villain's body, but neither of them could move so much as a finger.
Midoriya's eyes widened.
"What the...?!"
Todoroki quickly searched for the source, spotting Mr. Compress beginning to regain consciousness several meters away, one hand braced against the ground as he tried to lift his torso.
But it hadn't been him.
Todoroki looked farther ahead and saw Shigaraki's mechanical arm lying on the ground, tiny lights blinking across its damaged frame while the emitter remained aimed directly at Ryo and Shigaraki.
"It fired on its own...?"
Todoroki frowned.
Before Midoriya could answer, something black appeared in the air.
Multiple thick, dark, viscous masses began seeping out of empty points in space, as though the air itself were leaking some kind of black substance.
Todoroki took a step back.
"What is that?"
More masses appeared.
And Nomus began emerging from them.
Entire torsos were pushed out of the black substance, falling onto the ground before rising almost immediately.
"N-Nomus?!"
That was when he realized the same substance was also enveloping Mr. Compress.
Toga, still pinned against the tree, was also beginning to be covered by the black mass.
Shigaraki too.
And because Ryo remained trapped only inches away from him, his arm still buried through Shigaraki's body, the liquid inevitably began spreading over Ryo as well.
Midoriya's eyes widened when he saw it before he shot toward them.
"TAKEDA!"
A Nomu stepped into his path, but Midoriya drove a fist into the creature's face, sending it flying without slowing down.
Another tried to grab him.
Midoriya slipped underneath it, passing between its legs.
Todoroki froze two others coming from the side and looked toward the device on the ground.
"Midoriya!"
He pointed toward the mechanical arm.
"It's the arm!"
Midoriya followed the direction of his finger and changed targets instantly.
If he destroyed it, Ryo might be able to move again.
A long-armed Nomu tried to intercept him, but a kick to the chest sent it crashing into a tree.
Another came from the right.
Midoriya spun and struck it with his elbow.
He could already see the mechanical arm lying on the ground as he ran, until a shadow passed over him.
Talons clamped onto his shoulders.
"Argh!"
A Nomu with enormous bat-like wings lifted him off the ground.
"Let me go!"
His fist slammed into the creature's face.
The Nomu's grip weakened.
Midoriya grabbed its shoulders, pulled his legs against its torso, and used the monster itself as a platform to launch himself downward.
Midoriya spun once through the air, lining up both feet with the mechanical arm directly below.
"SMASH!"
Both feet struck the device.
The impact buried it deep into the ground and shattered its metallic structure all at once.
Ryo regained movement alongside Shigaraki.
But before Ryo could even pull his arm out of the villain's body, he felt something touch his back.
Click
His body disappeared.
In the place where Ryo had been, a small blue marble appeared.
Midoriya's face went pale.
Mr. Compress, already almost completely enveloped by the black substance, held the marble between two fingers.
Despite his injuries, he managed to smile behind his mask.
"I'll be taking this one."
"NO!"
Midoriya shot toward him.
Todoroki launched an enormous mass of ice toward Mr. Compress as well.
But neither of them reached him in time.
The black sludge completely engulfed Mr. Compress before vanishing along with the blue marble.
Toga was swallowed moments later.
Shigaraki disappeared next, still gravely wounded.
The black masses began receding just as quickly as they had appeared.
Midoriya passed straight through the spot where Mr. Compress had been, crashing to the ground, scraping his arms against the dirt and rolling several times before finally coming to a stop.
The entire area fell strangely silent.
The Nomus that had been sent to stop them lay scattered around the clearing, frozen or unconscious.
Aizawa emerged from between the trees and stopped the moment he saw the chaotic state of the area.
His gaze found Todoroki first, then Midoriya.
Both of them were alive and unharmed enough to bring him a few seconds of relief.
Until he noticed the absence of the most important person.
Midoriya slammed his fist against the ground.
"No..."
He struck it again.
"NO!"
The blow opened a small crack in the earth.
"No, no, nO, NO...!"
He slammed his forehead hard against the ground.
Aizawa's face went pale.
"Don't tell me..."
Todoroki bit down hard on his lip.
Midoriya struck the ground again.
"AAAAHHHHHH!!"
----------------------------------------
In the end, as difficult as it was to admit, they had lost.
Not because the camp had been completely destroyed, nor because the heroes had been defeated. In fact, considering the scale of the attack and the absurd number of enemies sent against them, the number of injuries had been surprisingly low.
But the villains had achieved their objective.
Apparently, Vlad King had managed to get a brief message through the communications blackout before the signal disappeared again. Fifteen minutes after Shigaraki and the others vanished, the first police vehicles finally arrived in the area, accompanied by ambulances, firefighters, and rescue teams.
The camp was quickly transformed into a massive operational zone.
Floodlights illuminated the forest. Police officers began marking the locations where the battles had taken place while paramedics examined every student, even those who insisted they were perfectly fine.
Of the forty students present, only four had suffered minor injuries. Cuts, bruises, and a few small wounds sustained during their fights with the Nomus.
None of the eight heroes present had suffered serious injuries.
And three villains had been captured, along with the fifty-seven Nomus that had been found unconscious or incapacitated before being quickly placed under heavy containment and transported away.
On paper, it looked like an overwhelming victory for the Heroes.
But no one there treated it like one.
Because there was one name missing from the student count.
Rito Takeda.
Missing.
And the rest of the villains who were supposed to have been there had simply vanished.
There were not even enough prisoners to answer the most basic questions. Kurogiri, Spinner, and Magne had disappeared right before the students' and heroes' eyes when that black, viscous substance emerged around them at the camp. Even restrained, even defeated, they had been ripped away before anyone could stop it.
And along with them, Takeda had been taken as well.
The search began immediately.
The forest was combed throughout the entire night. Tracking dogs, police teams, heroes specialized in search and rescue, and tracking Quirks were deployed across different areas.
But no sign or clue was found.
The training camp, chosen specifically because it was isolated and prepared to keep the students away from the dangers that had been pursuing them since the beginning of the year, had ended in the worst possible way.
Somehow, someone had leaked its location.
And that had resulted in a student being kidnapped...
The following morning, the N.C.R.C.D.Q. Complex remained as quiet as usual.
Yuuko sat on the examination bed in her room, her legs comfortably crossed, a small cup of coffee pudding resting in one hand. Her spoon dipped into the dessert and came back full before disappearing into her mouth.
Yuuko closed her eyes.
"Mmm..."
She chewed slowly, even though there was practically nothing to chew since she had already swallowed most of it.
"This is really good!"
She stared at the little cup for a few seconds before taking another spoonful.
"Who put this on the menu?!"
Yuuko brought the spoon to her mouth again and smiled in satisfaction.
"I need to make Ryo try this when he gets back from camp~"
Just thinking about him was enough to improve her mood even further.
She imagined Ryo walking into the room after the camp, probably pretending that he hadn't lied to her about U.A. while she forced him to sit down and tell her absolutely everything that had happened.
Yuuko already had an entire mental list of questions.
Whether he had trained properly.
Whether he had eaten properly.
Whether he had managed to get enough sleep.
How many times he had gotten himself into trouble.
How many times the teachers had complained about him.
And, of course...
Yuuko placed the spoon in her mouth and narrowed her eyes with an amused smile.
The girl.
She still wanted to find out more about the girl who had captivated her boy.
Ryo had been far too careful during the few times the subject had come up, which, to Yuuko, only made the whole thing even more suspicious.
"I'm getting her name out of him this time."
She giggled.
"Ohh~ What a terrible mother I am~"
Another spoonful.
"But it's his fault for making me so curious."
Yuuko rested the cup on her leg and looked out the window at the clear sky.
There were a few clouds, but nothing that threatened rain. The morning light streamed through the glass and illuminated part of the white room.
She stared outside for a few seconds.
"It's really quiet today..."
Normally, she would have already heard someone walking through the hallway. Doctors talking, carts being pushed around, some nurse complaining about paperwork, or at the very least a door being shut a little too hard.
That morning, almost nothing.
Yuuko tilted her head.
"Did everyone decide to sleep in?"
She looked at the television mounted on the wall across the room.
"Well..."
She picked up the remote beside the bed.
"Let's see if there's anything interesting on."
With that, she turned on the TV.
The image took a second to appear before displaying a morning news broadcast.
Yuuko calmly returned to her pudding as the reporter spoke.
"...investigations are continuing this morning into the attack that occurred overnight at a training camp being used by students from U.A. High School."
The spoon stopped halfway to her mouth.
Yuuko slowly raised her eyes.
Aerial footage of a forest appeared on the television.
She lowered the spoon.
"What...?"
The reporter continued.
"Authorities have yet to release complete information regarding those responsible for the attack, but they have confirmed that dozens of creatures identified as Nomus were found at the scene, along with the arrest of three suspects."
The report switched to footage recorded during the night.
Students being escorted toward ambulances, Heroes speaking with police officers, and entire sections of the forest left devastated.
Yuuko desperately searched the screen for a familiar face.
For any sign of Ryo.
"So far, four students have sustained injuries considered minor. No deaths have been confirmed."
Yuuko released the breath she had been holding all at once, bringing a hand to her chest.
"However... authorities have confirmed that one student remains missing."
The cup of pudding slipped from her fingers, falling onto the sheets and spilling its contents across the bed without Yuuko even noticing.
A photograph appeared on the screen.
A face she would recognize among millions.
Yuuko stopped breathing.
The reporter kept talking, but his voice began to sound distant.
"The missing student has been identified as Rito Takeda, a first-year student at U.A. High School. Authorities have stated that search teams remain active and that..."
Yuuko's hands began to tremble.
All the color drained from her face.
She tried to breathe, but couldn't.
Her eyes remained fixed on the photograph on the television.
On the image of her son.
And then on the word beneath it.
MISSING.
"Ryo...?"