Location: Tokyo Sky Egg – Main Dome and Lower Exterior
SCREEECH.
The sound of four-inch thick steel bolts shearing apart echoed through the rainy night like a cannon blast.
The Tokyo Sky Egg, a tower that was supposed to be a beacon of the new era, groaned under the weight of the swirling violet storm.
High above, the glass ribs of the dome were beginning to buckle, sending shards the size of dinner tables whistling down toward the thousands of people trapped in the plaza below.
WHUMP.
A massive, grey-skinned Nomu slammed into the pavement just ten feet away from a group of fleeing teenagers.
It didn't pause to roar. It used all four of its muscular arms to propel itself forward, its exposed brain pulsing with a sickening light as it lunged at the crowd.
"STAY BACK! GET BEHIND THE LINE!"
Ryukyu landed between the monster and the civilians, her massive dragon claws digging into the concrete.
She didn't just strike; she pinned the creature, her weight crushing it into the ground.
Even as the Nomu thrashed with 300% physical strength, her eyes remained fixed on the sky, scanning for the next drop.
VROOOOM.
Another purple mist portal tore open fifty feet in the air, and ten more Nomus dropped out.
Kurogiri was releasing them in waves, a timed interval designed to prevent the heroes from ever finding a moment to breathe.
"Ryukyu! The north sector is overflowing!"
Best Jeanist was perched on a fallen support beam, his fingers moving so fast they were a blur.
SWIISH-SWOOSH.
He wasn't just using his fibers to fight; he was weaving them.
A massive, high-tensile web of denim and carbon-fiber thread stretched across the main exit, catching a falling slab of glass before it could turn a dozen people into a memory.
"Ingenium! The debris is bottlenecking the secondary exit! Clear it now!" Jeanist shouted, his voice gravelly but loud.
VROOOO-VROOOO!
The high-pitched scream of six oversized mufflers drowned out the thunder.
Ingenium became a blue streak of light. He didn't just ram the debris; he used the high-speed maneuvers he had drilled during the Golden Manager training to pivot mid-air, kicking a three-ton chunk of steel away from the path of the fleeing civilians.
"Path is clear! Move! Move! Move!" Ingenium roared, his thermal suit venting steam as he skidded to a halt to check the next wave.
The difference in the plaza was jarring. While many local pro-heroes were scrambling, paralyzed by the sheer volume of the Nomu attack, the agencies Kaito had personally worked with moved with so much precision and effectiveness.
The Pussycats were on the upper balconies, Mandalay using her telepathy to direct people away from the zones where the air pressure was dropping, while Tiger and Pixie-bob created earth-ramps to bypass the broken elevators.
Selkie's crew who was also invited, having traded their sea-gear for urban rescue kits, were using high-pressure water cannons to knock Nomus off the vertical glass surfaces of the tower.
"SNIPE! TARGET THE BRAINS!" Sir Nighteye shouted, his eyes glowing as he predicted the trajectory of a Nomu's lunge, guiding the strike team with pinpoint accuracy.
BANG. BANG. BANG.
From a high-perch, Snipe fired with precision, using the gun kata and bullet curving.
He wasn't trying to kill them; he was trying to slow them down.
He noticed something. One of the Nomus he had hit two minutes ago was starting to smoke. Its grey skin was turning a charred black, its muscles swelling until the skin began to split.
SPLAT.
The Nomu didn't just die; it disintegrated into a pile of grey ash and black fluid.
"Everyone, listen up!" Snipe's voice boomed over the radio. "They have a limit! They're burning themselves out! It's been three minutes since the first wave dropped—that's their limit! If you can't pin them, just delay them! They'll self-destruct on their own!"
This was the turning point.
The heroes who had been struggling to find a way to kill the hulks now realized they only had to survive them.
"THIRTY SECONDS LEFT FOR THE CURRENT WAVE!" Naomasa shouted from a nearby communications van, his fingers flying over his tablet as he relayed the data. "Hold the line! Don't let them breach the internal shelters!"
THUD. THUD. THUD.
Another portal opened. Kurogiri dropped the third wave—another twenty Nomus.
The struggle intensified, the heroes of the "Kaito Agencies" taking the lead, their faces set in grim determination.
They weren't counting on a miracle; they were counting on the grit and the protocols they had mastered during their months under the Manager's watch.
The Sky Egg groaned again, tilting another degree as Nine's storm outside grew more violent.
The battle for the dome was a meat-grinder, a desperate game of keep-away played with 300% strength monsters that were literally rotting while they fought.
_-_-_-_-_-_
Location: The Sky Egg – Exterior Glass Dome
WREEEEEEE.
The wind screaming across the curved glass of the dome sounded like a dying animal.
High above, the violet clouds churned, lit from within by the jagged, pulsing veins of Nine's lightning.
The air was thin, freezing, and smelled of burnt insulation.
Down on the slippery, rain-slicked surface of the roof, the five legends of the Top 10 stood their ground.
They were bruised, their capes snapping violently in the gale, but their eyes were locked on the figure hovering in the center of the vortex.
"Insects," Nine said. "You cling to the heights as if you belong here. You don't. You belong in the dirt, under the heel of the strong."
"SHUT YOUR MOUTH!" Endeavor roared.
CRAACKLE.
The flames on his shoulders exploded, the heat so intense that the supernatural rain evaporated before it could touch his skin.
The steam hissed and swirled, creating a white shroud around the Number Two Hero.
"I don't care about your philosophy or your 'world of the strong'! You're a villain in my city, and I'm going to drag you down to the pavement myself!"
Endeavor slammed his feet against the glass, the reinforced panels cracking under the pressure.
"HELL CURTAIN!"
A massive, circular wall of orange fire erupted from Endeavor's palms, encircling Nine in a cage of heat that reached thousands of degrees.
The violet clouds above turned a sickly orange as the fire tried to swallow the storm.
Nine didn't move. He simply raised a hand.
Cloud.
SWOOSH.
A thick, unnaturally heavy bank of dark grey fog erupted from his fingertips, instantly smothering the flames.
The moisture in the clouds wasn't normal; it was pressurized and cold, neutralizing Endeavor's heat in a shower of boiling rain.
"Is that the extent of your fire?" Nine asked, his voice dripping with boredom.
VROOM.
Nine vanished.
Overclock.
To the heroes below, it looked like he had simply ceased to exist.
To Nine, the world had slowed to a crawl. He saw the individual droplets of rain hanging in the air like diamonds.
He saw the way Shishido was tensing his leg muscles to lunge. He saw the frantic, searching eyes of Gang Orca.
He appeared inches away from Endeavor's face.
"Too slow," Nine whispered.
He drove a palm into Endeavor's solar plexus.
Heavy Payload.
BOOM.
The impact sounded like a wrecking ball hitting a sheet of steel.
"Ughh!"
Endeavor didn't just fly back; he was launched through the air like a ragdoll.
He skipped across the curved dome, smashing through two reinforced steel support ribs before his body finally slammed into a secondary spire.
BAAAM.
"ENDEAVOR!" Crust screamed.
The Shield Hero didn't hesitate. He tore a massive, stone-like plate from his own arm and hurled it at Nine with everything he had.
"SHIELD THROW!"
Nine didn't even turn to look. He raised his left hand toward Gang Orca, who was preparing an ultrasonic blast.
Forced Quirk Activation.
WREEEEEEEE!
Gang Orca's eyes bulged.
His throat constricted as his own Quirk was ripped from his control.
Instead of aiming at Nine, his head was forced to the side, his neck snapping into a fixed position.
A massive, unfocused wave of ultrasonic sound exploded from his chest, slamming directly into Crust's incoming shield.
BOOOM.
The stone shield shattered into a thousand tiny pebbles.
The sonic wave didn't stop, hitting Crust square in the chest and sending him tumbling toward the edge of the dome.
"What... my body... it's moving on its own!" Gang Orca choked out, his hands clawing at his own throat as his sonar continued to fire at his allies.
"Your body is a vessel for power," Nine said, descending slowly until his boots hovered just inches above the shattered glass. "But you are too weak to steer it. I am the only one who can navigate this tide."
ROOOOAR.
Shishido let out a feral roar, his lion-like features contorting with rage.
He was the strongest physical brawler in the group, and he wasn't going down without a fight.
"LION CLAW: EARTH SHAKER!"
He lunged, his claws glowing with kinetic energy. He slammed his fists into the dome, hoping to shatter the glass and drop Nine into the arena below.
Rifle.
THWIP. THWIP. THWIP.
Nine flicked his fingers. High-pressure air bullets, each one buffeted by the crushing force of Heavy Payload, tore through the air.
They didn't just hit Shishido; they punched through his thick, lion-like hide as if it were paper.
The bullets tore through his shoulders and thighs, the impact pinning the massive hero to the glass dome like an insect on a board.
"Ugh... GAH!" Shishido's roar turned into a wet cough of blood as he collapsed.
Yoroi Musha drew his blade, the ancient hero's movements precise and sharp even in the storm.
He saw the opening as Nine's attention was on Shishido. He blurred forward, his sword a silver streak in the darkness.
"IAI-ZAN!"
The blade hit Nine's neck.
CLANG.
The sword didn't cut. It vibrated violently in Yoroi Musha's hands, the steel cracking from the tip to the hilt.
Heavy Payload + Air Wall.
Nine hadn't even looked at him. He simply reached out and grabbed the broken blade, snapping the steel like a dry twig.
"You speak of honor and history," Nine said, looking Yoroi Musha in the eye. "But history is written by those who survive. You are a relic of a dead age."
Nine drove a fist into Yoroi Musha's chest. The concussive force bypassed his armor, shattering the old man's ribs and sending him sliding across the roof into the darkness.
Endeavor pulled himself out of the spire, his suit a tattered mess, his face covered in soot and blood.
HUUF-PUFF.
He was gasping for air, his flames flickering a dangerous, dying blue.
He looked at his fallen comrades—Crust struggling to stand, Gang Orca pinned by his own power, Shishido bleeding out, and Yoroi Musha unconscious.
"I... am not... done!" Endeavor hissed.
He gathered every spark of energy left in his cells.
The rain around him didn't just evaporate; it turned into superheated steam that screamed as it rose.
"PROMINENCE... BURN!"
A pillar of pure, white-hot fire erupted from Endeavor, a beam of energy so bright it briefly lit up the entire Tokyo skyline.
BAAANG.
It hit Nine square in the chest, engulfing the villain in a furnace of absolute destruction.
For a heartbeat, there was hope.
The fire roared, melting the very glass of the dome.
Then, a hand reached through the flames.
Nine walked out of the white heat.
His suit was charred, and his skin was blackened and peeling, but as he moved, the violet light from his chest surged.
Super Regeneration.
The burned skin flaked away, replaced instantly by new, healthy tissue. Within seconds, Nine was untouched, his eyes glowing with an even more sickening radiance.
"A valiant effort, Endeavor" Nine said, his voice dropping to a low, predatory growl. "But you cannot burn what is already forged in fire."
Nine raised both hands toward the sky.
CRICCKLE-Craackle.
The violet clouds descended, swirling around him until he looked like a god of the abyss.
"Is this the best the 'Guardians of Japan' can do?" Nine asked, looking down at Endeavor. "You have no power here. You are nothing but dust in the wind."
He raised his hand for the killing blow.
BOOM.
A shockwave of air slammed into the dome, clearing the steam and the fog in a single, golden burst.
The glass of the dome didn't just crack; it groaned as the weight of a new presence landed in the center of the battlefield.
All Might stood in the center of the crater.
His golden hair caught the violet lightning, and his muscles were taut, rippling under his suit.
He looked at the broken bodies of the veterans, his face set in a grim, terrifyingly calm mask of fury.
"I am sorry I am late!" All Might's voice boomed, drowning out the thunder and the rain. "But the evacuation is secure! Now..."
He looked up at Nine, his eyes burning with a blue fire that made the villain actually hesitate for the first time.
"I will handle this."
_-_-_-_-_-_
Location: The Sky Egg – Shattered Dome Apex
THUD.
The glass dome groaned as All Might's weight settled into the center of the crater.
His eyes, glowing with a fierce blue light, were fixed upward on Nine.
Beside him, Endeavor pulled himself upright. His suit was scorched and shredded, blood trickling from a jagged cut on his temple, but the fire around his eyes burned hotter than before.
He hissed as he regained his footing, his boots melting the edges of the glass crater.
"All Might," Endeavor growled, the heat radiating off him in distorting waves. "I didn't ask for a savior. Stay out of my path."
"This isn't about pride, Endeavor!" All Might's voice was a resonant boom that seemed to push back the thunder. "Look at those monsters in the plaza! Look at the clouds! This man isn't just a villain—he's a carrier for a darkness we both know!"
All Might narrowed his eyes, tracking the violet energy pulsing through the scars on Nine's chest.
"Multiple quirks... a stolen regeneration factor... and that aura," All Might shouted up at the sky. "You're a piece of his legacy, aren't you? Tell me, boy! Where is All For One hiding?!"
Nine hovered in the eye of the storm, his long hair whipping like a nest of snakes.
He looked down at the Symbol of Peace and let out a short, jagged laugh that carried no humor.
"All For One?" Nine sneered. "He isn't here old timer! I alone am enough."
WHOOSH.
Nine raised his hand, and the violet clouds above swirled into a massive, downward-facing funnel.
"Enough talk," Endeavor barked.
He didn't wait for a plan. He launched himself into the air, his feet leaving molten footprints on the glass.
"VANISHING FIST!"
He became a streak of white-hot plasma, aiming for Nine's core.
Nine didn't move. He simply activated a transparent barrier.
CLANG.
Endeavor's fist hit the Air Wall with a sound like two skyscrapers colliding.
The heat from his fist turned the air around them into a vacuum of steam, but the wall didn't crack.
"Endeavor, move!" All Might roared.
SWOOOSH.
All Might was already gone. He didn't fly; he leapt with such force that the entire dome beneath him shattered.
He scaled the vertical side of the central spire in a blur of gold, his hands digging into the steel like it was wet clay.
He appeared on Nine's flank before the villain could even turn his head.
"DETROIT... SMASH!"
All Might's fist broke the sound barrier, the shockwave shattering the remaining glass for fifty yards.
Nine's eyes widened.
He realized too late that the Air Wall was directional.
He twisted his body, calling upon Heavy Payload to harden his muscles and Super Regeneration to prepare for the impact.
BOOM.
The punch connected with Nine's ribs. The sound wasn't a thud; it was a detonation that cleared the storm for three miles in every direction.
"UGGGH!"
Nine was sent screaming through the air, his body a ragdoll caught in a hurricane.
He crashed through a secondary communications tower, the steel snapping like toothpicks, before tumbling into the clouds.
BAAANG.
"He's not down!" All Might shouted, landing back on a support beam. "Endeavor, now!"
"I know!"
Endeavor was already channeling his maximum output.
He didn't aim for Nine; he aimed for the clouds where the villain had vanished.
"PROMINENCE BURN!"
A pillar of concentrated, white-hot fire erupted from Endeavor's palms. It didn't just burn; it incinerated the very moisture in the air, creating a pressurized furnace in the sky.
WREEEEEEE.
From within the fire, a series of violet energy beams shot out.
Hydra.
Six massive, serpentine heads made of pure energy tore through Endeavor's flames.
They weren't just attacks; they were sentient, tracking the heroes with predatory speed.
All Might blurred into motion, intercepting two of the heads with his bare hands.
He grabbed the energy-snakes by the throats and slammed them together, the explosion of force throwing him backward.
CRACK.
Nine emerged from the steam. His suit was gone, his torso covered in the blackened scars of Endeavor's fire, but they were already fading.
The violet light in his chest was frantic, sewing his flesh back together in seconds.
"You're fast, All Might," Nine panted, his voice ragged but defiant. "But you're fighting the inevitable. This body is a vessel for a world you aren't strong enough to imagine!"
Nine raised his hands, and the Weather Manipulation quirk reached a terrifying new level.
The rain turned into frozen spears of ice, and the lightning didn't just strike—it formed a cage around the dome.
"Is he a disciple, or a runaway experiment?!" All Might yelled, his muscles bulging as he prepared another leap. "That regeneration... it's the same type him! Answer me, villain!"
"I am the answer!" Nine roared.
He pointed a finger at All Might.
Rifle + Heavy Payload.
THWIP.
A single, high-pressure air bullet tore through the air. It was invisible, moving faster than the sound of its own firing.
All Might sensed the shift in pressure and twisted his torso, but the bullet was too fast.
It grazed his shoulder, and despite his hardened muscles, it tore a chunk of his suit and flesh away as if he'd been hit by a tank shell.
"Ugh!" All Might grunted, blood spraying onto the glass.
"All Might!" Endeavor skidded across the roof, his boots creating a trail of fire.
He threw a wall of flame between All Might and Nine. "Stop worrying about his master and kill the dog in front of us!"
Nine hovered above them, his chest heaving. He looked bored, his eyes drifting away from the two heroes and toward the stadium below.
"You two are so persistent," Nine said, his voice echoing through the Radio Wave frequency into their headsets. "But you are also distractions. I didn't come here to play you guys"
He looked at the plaza, where the civilians were huddled in terror.
"I came for him," Nine growled, his aura flaring until it was a blinding violet sun. "If he will not show himself... then I will bury the stage and everyone on it under the weight of the sky."
Nine raised both hands toward the blackened heavens.
"Kurogiri!" Nine's voice was a command that shook the building. "If they want a show, give them the finale! Empty everything!"
VROOOOOM.
The sky didn't just darken; it tore. A massive, horizon-spanning portal of dark purple mist opened directly over the Sky Egg.
"No..." All Might whispered, his face going pale.
From the purple void, shapes began to drop.
THUD. THUD. THUD. THUD.
The remaining 160 Consumable Nomus began to fall from the sky like a black, biological rain.
They dropped toward the stadium, their four arms thrashing, their mindless eyes fixed on the screaming crowds below.
"They're unleashing everything!" Endeavor roared, his flames reaching a desperate height. "We can't protect the tower and fight him at the same time!"
"I will hold the plaza!" All Might shouted, his heart pounding with a dread he hadn't felt since his encounter with AFO. He can't go all out since the it will affect the dense population and the surroundings.
"Endeavor, you have to keep Nine occupied! Don't let him sever the remaining supports!"
"I'll burn him to ash!" Endeavor promised, but even he could see the impossibility of the situation.
High above, Nine watched the 160 monsters falling into his masterpiece of destruction.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_
Location: Tokyo Sky Egg – Exterior Spire and Plaza
VROOOOM.
The purple void in the sky didn't just stay open; it began to vomit.
One hundred and sixty grey-skinned, four-armed hulks dropped from the churning mist.
They fell in a chaotic, biological cascade, their thrashing limbs silhouetted against the violet flashes of Nine's lightning.
THUD. CRASH. SLAM.
The first dozen hit the dome with the force of artillery shells.
The reinforced glass, already weakened by the storm, groaned under the sudden impact of nearly ten tons of mindless muscle.
On the ground, the heroes who had been struggling to contain the first waves looked up in a state of pure, unadulterated horror.
"There's too many!" a mid-tier hero screamed, his shield buckling as two Nomus landed right in front of him, shattering the pavement. "We can't hold the perimeter! The doors are going to fail!"
The plaza was a meat-grinder.
The 160 Nomus began to plow through the security barriers, their grey hands tearing through steel like it was wet paper.
They didn't care about the heroes. They were a tide of grey flesh aimed at the civilians huddled in the lower bunkers.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT.
The blades of the Sato News Network helicopter fought against the gale, the pilot struggling to keep the craft from being swatted out of the sky by a stray lightning bolt.
Inside, Hideki Sato was white-knuckled, his hands gripping the camera stabilizer so hard his knuckles were bone-white.
He didn't look like a poised news owner anymore.
"Japan... look at the screen," Hideki's voice was hoarse, shaking with a terror he couldn't hide. "The Sky Egg is failing. The supports are snapping. Our icons... All Might and Endeavor... they're being pushed to the brink."
The camera panned down, catching the terrifying reality of the tower that was still stabilized and held by Captain Celebrity.
CREEEAK.
The central exterior support had been sheared off by one of Nine's tornadoes, and the entire structure was leaning five degrees toward the plaza.
"Everyone! The entire tower is being supported and held by Captain Celebrity." Hideki continued.
It was a slow-motion catastrophe, 100,000 tons of glass and steel preparing to crush the very people the heroes were trying to save.
"We are witnessing a terrifying event," Hideki whispered, the camera catching the rain lashing against the glass of the Egg. "The heroes are exhausted and struggling."
_-_-_-_-_
Near the primary evacuation door.
"It's over," Tamaki whispered, his voice broken and hollow as he watched the countless Nomu lunge. "Nobody can stop this many... nobody can save the tower."
In the plaza, thousands of people looked up. They saw the black hailstones of monsters falling.
Nine watched the chaos with a cold, flickering intensity.
His body was smoking from All Might's strikes, his lungs burning with every breath, but the sight of the falling tower filled him with a dark, satisfied energy.
"Haha! You can't stop me" Nine laughed out, his voice echoing through the storm.
The thunder rolled. The wind howled. The Nomus reached the glass.
Then.
SNAP.
The sound didn't come from the speakers. It didn't come from the sky.
It was an iconic sharp, crystalline click that carried a weight.
The world stopped.
The tilting building that was supported by Captain Celebrity didn't just slow down; it froze.
"Huh?! What happened?" Christopher gasped.
His muscles, which had been on the verge of tearing, suddenly went slack as the crushing weight of the tower simply... vanished. It was like the gravity of the building had been deleted.
The groaning of the steel ceased instantly, the 100,000 tons of metal going dead silent as if a giant, invisible hand had reached down from the heavens to steady and repair the tower.
While the 160 Nomus, mid-lunge and mid-plummet, were locked in place.
Nine's eyes widened to the size of saucers. He spun around in the air, his Scanning quirk frantically searching the darkness.
"Nine! Above." All For One's voice hissed directly into the Nine's mind, a cold command that cut through the storm.
At the very tip of the Sky Egg's observation spire—standing on the narrowest point of the steel needle—was a figure that defied every law of the storm.
He wore an all-white suit that looked as if it had been carved from light itself.
His hair was a brilliant, shimmering white, slicked back.
His red tie fluttered calmly in the gale, the only bit of color against the blinding, divine white of his form.
Hero X
He didn't speak. He didn't strike a battle pose. He simply raised a hand and adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, looking down at the frozen chaos with a calm, terrifying elegance.
_-_-_-_
A/n:
Hey everyone! I want to sincerely apologize for the delay in updates. I know I promised a chapter a day, but my real-life schedule has become incredibly tight. I'm currently working through a complex Project Management Plan that is taking up a massive amount of my time and energy. I seriously misjudged this task.
This story is my way of relaxing between work blocks, but to ensure the quality stays high (and I don't burn out like a sidekick without cooling gear!), I'll be switching to a release schedule of one chapter every two days.
_-_-_-_-_
[Regarding the Identity Reveal]
I've seen some comments on Webnovel questioning the reveal of Kaito's identity to Koichi, Kazuho, Makoto, and Iwao, with some saying it felt "forced."
I want to clarify that this was planned long ago. Kaito spent his childhood and the pre-Naruhata arc being detached and "emo."
For me, that was enough of that phase. The reveal isn't a plot convenience; it's character growth.
I want Kaito to actually be connected to the world and the people around him rather than remaining an isolated ghost. He's moving past being a loner and starting to actually live—and he can't do that if he's constantly lying to his closest family and friends.