Kendo wiped a smudge of soot from her forehead, her expression grim. "We need to face facts," she said, her voice low and tight. "All Might isn't just fast. He's instantaneous. We saw what he did on the main road. No matter what we dish out—my strikes, your fire or punches, Elizabeth's support—it's like throwing pebbles at a mountain.
Elizabeth stepped closer to Izuku, her hands glowing with a soft, restorative light to ease the tremors in his arms. She looked into his eyes, her gaze filled with a desperate kind of faith. "Sir Midoriya, remember Metropolis," she whispered, her voice a soothing contrast to the distant sounds of crashing buildings. "I saw you then. When Mr Superman was lost to that mind control, you fought him and won. If you could take on Superman and live to tell the tale, surely All Might is a challenge you can overcome."
Izuku looked down at his hands. A bitter smile tugged at his lips. "It's not that simple, Elizabeth. I want to believe I can do it again, but that fight... it was different. I was broken. My 'tank' was completely empty, like a glass that had been shattered and drained. In that moment it was like all my power poured in to fill the cracks. It was a one-time surge, a 'Berserker' state triggered by the sheer necessity of survival."
He closed his eyes, his consciousness receding into the deep, swirling inner sanctum of his soul.
Within the void of his mind, Izuku stood before three figures. Meliodas stood behind the bar, his emerald eyes uncharacteristically serious. Rokuro Enmado stood with his arms crossed, his Impurity arm glowing with a dull, rhythmic light. Natsu Dragneel was a literal bonfire of energy, grinning widely as embers danced around his hair.
"Can you give me that power again?" Izuku asked, his mental voice echoing. "I need to stop him. If I can go full strength, then I'll be able to beat him for sure!."
Meliodas shook his head, his golden Mark of the Demon faintly visible on his forehead. "I can't, Izuku. Not because I don't want to, but because you aren't ready. The darkness I carry isn't a tool; it's an abyss. If you tap into that 100% state again without the proper mental focus, you could lose control. You'll be a disaster. I won't let you lose yourself to the wrath."
Rokuro stepped forward, the red seals on his arm flaring. "He's right. Your body has reached a threshold. The Impurity Arm is at its limit for its current state. You're hovering on the edge of a breakthrough, a new evolution of power, but you can't force it. You need a catalyst. This fight with All Might... it's gonna push further for sure, but not all the way. But for now, you're at the max of what your body can handle."
Natsu slammed his fists together, a shockwave of heat rippling through the mindscape. "Listen, kid! You're already using my fire at the peak of your current capacity. To go higher, you need to evolve. But there might be something you can do—if you can find a massive source of electricity, you can fuse it with my flames. Fire Dragon Lightning Slayer Mode. That would give you the punch you need to actually rattle the Symbol of Peace. But without a spark, you're stuck with what you've got."
Nana Shimura and Daigoro Banjo, the previous users of One For All, stood in the background, their forms flickering. "Focus on utility, kid," Banjo grunted. "Don't try to out-muscle Toshinori, the guy's built like a rock. Use the tools we gave you.
Izuku's eyes snapped open. He looked at Kendo and Elizabeth, a new plan forming in the tactical center of his brain. "I can't go 100%," he admitted, "but I don't need to. We just need to catch him off balance for ten seconds. I have a move I haven't shown him yet—Black Whip. If I can snag him, and Elizabeth can provide a distraction..."
"I can do that!" Elizabeth said, her hands coming together. "I've been practicing a concentrated burst of light. I call it 'Twinkling Light.' It's short-range, but it should blind even him for a moment."
Kendo nodded, her fists growing slightly larger in anticipation. "And once he's blind and bound, I'll use every ounce of my strength to hurl him away. We just need to clear the path to the exit."
"Wait," Kendo paused, looking around the debris-strewn alley. "Where's Bakugo?"
The three of them froze. A sudden, bone-shaking boom echoed from the main plaza, followed by a maniacal, high-pitched scream that they all recognized too well.
"DIEEEE!!!!"
"THAT IDIOT!" Izuku, Nana, Banjo, and Rokuro all shouted simultaneously—some in the physical world, some in the spiritual.
Bakugo Pov:
Katsuki Bakugo was a blur of orange light and sweating rage. He wasn't thinking about the exam. He wasn't thinking about passing. He was thinking about All Might. He was thinking about the way his world was changing, leaving him behind in Dekus dust and he hated it.
"I'LL DESTROY YOU!" Bakugo screamed, his hands firing constant loud and bright blasts at the silhouette of All Might standing in the center of the plaza.
The smoke was thick, and Bakugo laughed through the grit in his teeth. "How's that?! Still smiling now, you bastard?!"
His arms were screaming. The recoil of the constant detonations was micro-fracturing the bones in his forearms. He winced, his pace slowing for a fraction of a second as he reached his limit.
"Is that all, Young Bakugo?"
All Might's voice came from directly behind him. Bakugo didn't even have time to turn before the air pressure shifted. All Might hadn't even attacked; he had simply moved, and the vacuum of his speed pulled Bakugo off his feet.
"You call this a sneak attack?" All Might asked, his voice booming with a disappointed authority. "A hero who announces his presence with a tantrum is nothing more than a loud target."
"SHUT UP!" Bakugo spun, his face contorted. He brought his left gauntlet up, his finger hooking into the pin of the grenade-shaped reservoir. This was it. Months of stored nitro-sweat. "GO TO HELL!"
The explosion was gargantuan. A pillar of fire and concussive force that leveled the remaining streetlamps and sent a shockwave through the city blocks. Bakugo exhaled, his arm hanging limp, convinced he had finally done it. He imagined Deku's face when he saw the Symbol of Peace laying in the rubble.
But as the smoke cleared, All Might was standing right in front of him. Not a scratch. Not a singe.
All Might reached out. With the casualness of someone flicking a fly, he tapped the side of Bakugo's remaining gauntlet.
The reinforced metal shattered like glass. The remaining sweat stored inside, destabilized by the physical shock, ignited instantly.
BOOM.
The backfire was violent. Bakugo was sent spiraling through the air, his left arm scorched with horrific 1st and 2nd-degree burns. He hit the ground hard, sliding twenty feet before coming to a stop at All Might's feet.
All Might looked down at him, his cape fluttering. "I praise your spirit, Young Bakugo. Your drive is undeniable. But you are fighting a war you've already lost because you refuse to look to your left and right. Why do you insist on standing alone when your teammates are right there?"
Bakugo tried to speak, his teeth gritting against the agony in his arm, his pride still trying to find a way to curse the man standing over him. But he couldn't find the words.
"HEY! ALL MIGHT!"
The hero looked up.
Izuku Midoriya was perched on the edge of a rooftop, his eyes glowing. Before All Might could react, Izuku thrust his hands forward.
"BLACK WHIP!"
Tendrils of dark, pulsing energy erupted from Izuku's palms, lashing out with sentient speed. They coiled around All Might's torso, his arms, and his legs, binding him tight. The hero strained, his muscles bulging as he tested the strength of the energy. "A new quirk? Interesting young Midoriya!"
"NOW, ELIZABETH!" Izuku roared.
Elizabeth Liones appeared from behind a pile of rubble, her hands raised, palms facing All Might. She channeled every bit of her mana into a single point.
"TWINKLING LIGHT!"
A flash of pure, celestial radiance erupted. It was like a miniature sun going off five feet from All Might's face. Even the Symbol of Peace gasped, his eyes squeezed shut as the white-hot light burned through his retinas.
"KENDO!"
The ginger-haired girl leaped from the shadows, her arms expanding until they were the size of industrial cement mixers. She grabbed the blinded, bound All Might around the waist. With a primal scream of effort, she spun her body, utilizing the momentum of her entire frame.
"GET... OUT... OF HERE!"
She launched All Might. The hero, momentarily unable to see or leverage his weight, was sent soaring through the air like a human missile, flying hundreds of yards back toward the entrance they had first entered through.
The silence that followed was heavy. Elizabeth slumped for a moment, the drain of the light burst taking its toll. Izuku dropped from the roof, landing beside her and catching her arm.
"Did... did we do it?" Elizabeth panted, a small, hopeful smile on her face.
Kendo ran up, her hands returning to normal size. She and Izuku shared a quick, triumphant high-five—the first real moment of synergy they'd had all day. "That was perfect! He's at least three blocks away!"
"Don't celebrate yet," Izuku said, his eyes turning to the groaning form of Bakugo. "We need to get to the exit. Now."
Kendo nodded. She enlarged one hand just enough to scoop up the semi-conscious Bakugo. She held him like a disgruntled toddler, though the boy was beginning to wake up.
"Let... me... go... you bitch..." Bakugo hissed, his voice weak but still venomous. He struggled against her grip, his burned arm twitching.
"Shut up, Bakugo!" Kendo snapped, her patience at an absolute zero. "We're saving your life! If you blow another explosion near me, I'll drop you from sixty feet!"
They began to sprint. The exit gate loomed in the distance—a massive, reinforced structure that represented safety. They were less than two hundred meters away.
"Almost there!" Elizabeth cried, her heart racing with joy.
But then, the air grew cold. The sound of a sonic boom echoed from the far end of the city.
"Well played, young heroes!" All Might's voice carried across the distance, echoing off the skyscrapers. "A truly magnificent display of coordination!"
They looked back. All Might was a golden blur, his feet carving a path of destruction through the asphalt as he charged toward them. He wasn't playing anymore. His arms were crossed in front of his face, his body glowing with a golden aura.
"But it'll take more than that to pass the Symbol of Peace!"
He was closing the distance with terrifying speed. 50 meters. 30 meters.
"CAROLINA—" All Might began, his arms unfolding to deliver a cross-chop that would generate enough wind pressure to level a city block.
In the midst of the panic, Bakugo snapped. The humiliation of being carried, the sight of Deku leading the charge, the pain in his arm—it all boiled over into a moment of pure, mindless sabotage.
"I DON'T NEED YOUR HELP!" Bakugo screamed.
He aimed his one good hand at the palm of Kendo's giant hand—the one carrying him.
BOOM.
The point-blank explosion was enough to startle Kendo and break her concentration. The recoil didn't just hurt her; it acted like a thruster. Because she was running at full speed, the sudden force of the explosion sent her stumbling forward, directly into the path of the oncoming All Might.
Izuku's world slowed to a crawl.
He saw Kendo's eyes go wide with a paralyzing, primal horror. She was falling, her momentum carrying her right into the center of All Might's strike.
All Might was moving too fast. He had already committed to the move. His eyes widened in absolute panic—he saw Kendo, saw the girl falling into his "Carolina Smash," and realized with a sickening jolt that he couldn't stop. Even if he diverted the punch, the sheer kinetic energy of his body moving at those speeds would hit her like a freight train. It would kill her.
Time froze.
In that split second, the green and red lightning around Izuku didn't just flicker. It exploded.
He didn't think about his "cup" being empty. He didn't think about his limits. He only thought about the girl who had stood by him, the girl who was about to be erased.
A blur of green-orange light bypassed the laws of physics.
Kendo felt a sudden, violent shove. It wasn't All Might's fist. It was a shoulder. A familiar, warm presence that slammed into her side, launching her safely into the soft grass of the nearby park.
She rolled, the world spinning, and looked back just as time resumed its normal flow.
"SMASH!"
The sound was not a boom. It was a wet, heavy thud followed by the sound of structural collapse.
All Might's arms, locked in the Carolina Smash, slammed directly into the center of Izuku Midoriya's chest.
The impact was horrific. The air in Izuku's lungs was expelled in a bloody mist. His ribs shattered instantly, the sound like dry branches snapping in a storm. He was launched backward with the force of a cannonball.
He hit the first building. He went through it like a hot knife through paper.
He hit the second building. The concrete support pillars disintegrated.
He hit the third building. The entire structure groaned and leaned.
Finally, he slammed into the fourth building, the impact so great that the foundations gave way. The skyscraper collapsed inward, a mountain of steel and glass raining down on top of the green-haired boy.
A heavy, suffocating silence fell over Ground Beta.
All Might stood frozen in his finishing pose, his arms still crossed, his face a mask of absolute, soul-crushing horror. He looked at his hands, the hands that were supposed to protect, and realized what they had just done.
"Young... Midoriya?" All Might's voice was a broken whisper.
Elizabeth fell to her knees, her hands covering her mouth, her silver hair falling over her face as the first sob escaped her. "No... no, Izuku..."
Kendo scrambled to her feet, her hands shaking so violently she couldn't close them. She looked at the exit, then at the pile of rubble where the boy she loved had vanished. Her eyes reddened, the reality of the scene sinking in like a poison.
Izuku wasn't standing with them.
He had taken her place.
And under the tons of concrete and twisted metal, there was only a terrifying, silent darkness.
The silence in the monitoring room was not the silence of a quiet room; it was the heavy, suffocating silence of a vacuum. It was the sound of air being sucked out of the world.
Tsuyu Asui's hands were pressed against the glass, her large eyes reflecting the image of the collapsed building where Izuku Midoriya had disappeared. A single, crystalline tear tracked down her cheek. Beside her, Momo Yaoyarozu had fallen to her knees, her hands clutching her chest as if she were the one whose ribs had been turned to powder.
Ruby Rose didn't scream. She didn't cry. Her silver eyes went unnervingly blank, the light within them replaced by a cold, predatory focus. Her hand gripped the handle of Crescent Rose so hard the metal began to groan. Yang Xiao Long was vibrating, a low, tectonic hum coming from her throat. Her hair wasn't just glowing; it was shedding sparks of golden-white heat that began to melt the plastic of the console she was leaning on.
"He did it on purpose," Yang whispered, her voice a jagged edge of glass. "That blonde brat... he threw her. He sent her to die so he could win."
Iida collapsed to his knees, his friend...His best friend gone just like that, the thought filled him with such indignation, such a thirst for vengeance against Bakugo that it felt like he was looking at Stain all over again.
Recovery Girl didn't scold them. She didn't tell them to calm down. Her hands, usually so steady during surgery, were shaking with a violent tremor that had nothing to do with her age. She reached for the emergency phone, her breath coming in ragged, shallow hitches.
"Nezu," she said when the line picked up, her voice sounding like it was being dragged over gravel. "Cancel the exam. Call the medical helicopters. Call the Hero Public Safety Commission. We have a... we have a catastrophic incident at Ground Beta. Student-on-student assault with intent to endanger life." She looked at the screen, at the dust rising from Izuku's grave.
In the fake city, the world had turned to ash for Toshinori Yagi.
All Might stood frozen, his arms still crossed in the wake of the Carolina Smash. His heart, which had beat for decades as the pulse of peace, felt like it had been lanced by a poisoned needle. He could still feel the sensation—the sickening, wet thud of his forearms impacting a teenager's chest. He could still see the mist of blood that had sprayed from Young Midoriya's mouth.
I hit him. I hit my successor with a lethal blow.
The image played on a loop in his mind, faster and faster, a strobe light of horror. Every time it repeated, the sound of Izuku's bones snapping grew louder in his ears until it was all he could hear. He wanted to scream. He wanted to fly to the rubble and dig with his bare hands until his fingernails tore off.
"DIE!"
The scream was like a slap across a fresh wound.
All Might didn't move as a massive explosion bloomed against his back. Then another. And another.
Katsuki Bakugo was standing ten feet away, his face a distorted mask of manic triumph. He wasn't looking at the rubble. He wasn't looking at Kendo, who was sobbing in the grass, or Elizabeth, who was paralyzed by grief. He was looking at All Might's back.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!" Bakugo screamed, his scorched left arm hanging limp while his right hand pumped out explosion after explosion. "I DID IT! I BLOCKED HIM! I MADE THE OPENING! SEE?! I'M THE ONE WHO WINS!"
He let out one final, massive blast, the smoke obscuring the area. Bakugo panted, a tired, twisted smirk playing on his lips. He had done it. He had forced the Symbol of Peace to a standstill. He had proven that he was the center of the universe.
When the smoke cleared, All Might was still standing.
He hadn't moved an inch. His hero costume was singed, his cape a tattered rag, but he felt nothing. The pain of the explosions was a flea bite compared to the agony in his soul.
All Might turned his head.
The look in his eyes was something no villain had ever seen. It wasn't the look of a hero. It wasn't even the look of a man. It was the look of a god staring at a piece of filth that had dared to stain his temple. It was a deep, soul-consuming disgust.
Bakugo froze. The smirk died on his face. For the first time in his life, his survival instinct drowned out his pride. He felt his knees turn to water.
"Your attacks," All Might said, his voice a low, terrifying rumble that seemed to vibrate the very earth, "are disappointing. They do not tickle. They do not matter."
He stepped toward Bakugo, and the air pressure alone forced the boy to stumble back.
"You committed the greatest taboo a hero can commit," All Might hissed, each word a hammer blow. "You threw a comrade into the jaws of death to satisfy your own vanity. You are not a hero, Katsuki Bakugo. Today, you are a monster. And when this is over... I will ensure you never wear a hero's license as long as there is breath in my lungs."
All Might walked past him. He didn't even look at the boy as he collapsed to the ground, Bakugo's mind finally shattering under the weight of All Might's condemnation.
The hero looked at Itsuka and Elizabeth. His voice softened, but it was a hollow, ghost-like softness. "Young Kendo... Young Elizabeth... leave the grounds. You have passed. Go to the infirmary. I will... I will bring him out."
All Might turned toward the mountain of rubble that buried Izuku. He was about to leap when the ground began to moan.
A low, guttural vibration started deep beneath the earth. It wasn't an earthquake; it was a heartbeat. Then, a pillar of pure, necrotic darkness erupted from the center of the ruins. It didn't go up; it tore through the sky, eclipsing the sun, turning the afternoon into a midnight of swirling, chaotic ink.
Izuku Midoriya was not in Ground Beta.
He was drowning in a sea of grey.
Drip.
A cold, wet drop hit his forehead. Then another. The sound was deafening in the silence.
His body felt like it was made of lead, his chest a hollowed-out cavern of fire and broken glass. He opened his eyes, but he didn't see the rubble of the fake city. He saw a sky the color of a bruised lung, choked with the black smoke of a burning kingdom.
He was kneeling in the mud. His arms were wrapped around someone—a girl with short, pink hair. She was so light. Too light. Her breathing was a wet, ragged sound, each inhalation a knife to Izuku's heart.
He knew her. In a corner of his mind that wasn't his own, he knew her better than he knew himself.
"Liz..."
The name left his lips like a prayer. He looked down at her, and the pain that flooded him was three thousand years of grief concentrated into a single second. He saw her eyes flutter, saw the life fading from the woman he had loved and lost over and over and over again in a cycle of cursed immortality.
A scream built in his throat—not Izuku's scream, but Meliodas's. It was a sound of absolute, unmitigated hate for the gods who had done this. As she drew her last breath, darkness erupted from his chest, a black sun that vaporized the kingdom of Danafor in a heartbeat.
LIZ, DON'T GO!
IT'S ALL MY FAULT !!
HOW MUCH LONGER!!!!
WHEN WILL THIS ENDLESS HELL END!!!!!!
The scene shifted, the mud turning into cold, sterile stone.
He was wearing the white and gold garments of an Enmado exorcist. He was standing in a strange, distorted dimension filled with the scent of decay. In front of him, behind a shimmering blue barrier he couldn't break, was a girl with long, dark hair and a hime cut.
"Benio!"
She flinches. She looks at him, her eyes filled with a terrifying, silent apology. She clutches her side, her fingers staining her white robes a brilliant, horrific crimson. She collapses.
Izuku slammed his fists against the barrier. He screamed until his vocal cords tore, watching his "other half," the person who made his soul complete, flicker out like a candle in a gale. The realization that she was gone—that the twin stars had been severed—flooded his veins with the Impurity. His right arm didn't just transform; it became a demonic limb of pure, unbridled rage, roaring like a beast being flayed alive.
I CAN'T SAVE YOU !!
BENIO I'M SORRY!!
GIVE HER BACK !!!!!
I CAN'T EVEN HOLD HER BODY !!!!!!
The scene shifted one last time.
He was underground. The air was cool and smelled of damp earth and old books. He was on his knees, holding a woman in his arms. She was blonde, her hair in pigtails, her clothes tattered.
"Lucy?"
Her forehead was covered in blood. Her eyes were closed, her face peaceful in a way that made Izuku want to tear the world apart.
"Wake up, Lucy. Hey... Lucy, please."
WHY ARE YOU SO QUIET LUCY!!
LUCY PLEASE !!!
He shook her gently, then violently. She didn't respond. The silence was the loudest thing he had ever heard. It was the silence of the end of the world.
He felt his spirit twisting, warping, reforming into something else. The fire inside him didn't burn with life anymore; it burned with the desire to incinerate existence. He wasn't Natsu Dragneel. He wasn't the savior of the guild.
He was E.N.D. The Etherious Form rippled through his skin, his teeth sharpening into fangs, his soul becoming a book of dark spells written in the blood of his enemies.
WAKE UP!!!!!!
And then, the three memories collided.
Liz dying in the rain.
Benio dying behind the glass.
Lucy dying in the dark.
The four souls within the body of Izuku Midoriya—Meliodas, Rokuro, Natsu, and Izuku—all reached the same conclusion at the same time.
There was nothing left. No mercy. No heroism. No "plus ultra."
There was only the Desire to Destroy.
I... HATE... EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!
The four voices screamed in a terrifying, soul-chilling unison that echoed through the layers of the afterlife.
In the real world, All Might had just reached the edge of the rubble when the explosion happened.
It wasn't a fire explosion. It was an eruption of pure, chaotic nothingness.
A pillar of darkness, thick with the jagged red seals of the Impurity and the swirling gold-red lightning of a Dragon's wrath, shot into the sky. The force of it was so great that the three buildings All Might had knocked Izuku through were not just destroyed—they were disintegrated. The concrete was turned to dust, the steel beams melted into slag.
The sky over Ground Beta turned black. Thunder crashed, but it didn't sound like lightning; it sounded like the laughter of a demon.
"GET BACK!" All Might roared, his voice barely audible over the cacophony of the dark pillar.
He didn't hesitate. He grabbed Kendo under one arm and Elizabeth under the other, ignoring their screams of protest. And grabbing Bakugo he leapt, pushing his body to 100%, flying over the walls of the fake city just as the darkness began to expand.
Behind them, Ground Beta was being erased.
The skyscrapers were being pulled into the pillar like straw in a hurricane. The cars, the roads, the very foundations of the city were being consumed by the void.
All Might landed on the observation deck, skidding to a halt as the girls from the viewing room rushed out, their faces pale with terror.
"WHERE IS HE?!" Yang screamed, grabbing All Might's collar. "WHERE IS IZUKU?!"
All Might didn't answer. He couldn't. He just looked back at the center of the darkness.
From the heart of the pillar, a figure emerged.
He didn't look like Izuku Midoriya.
His skin was pale, covered in the black markings of the Demon Clan. His arms were a monstrous, pulsating limb of red and black, glowing with a necrotic light. His hair was standing on end, wreathed in a fire so dark it looked like blood.
His eyes... his eyes were no longer green. They were a void of red, leaking tears of black.
The figure let out a breath, and a wave of heat hit the observation deck, nearly melting the glass. It wasn't the heat of a hero's passion.
Izuku—or the thing that used to be Izuku—looked up. He didn't look at All Might. He didn't look at the girls. He looked at the sky, his voice a distorted, multi-layered rasp that chilled the blood of everyone who heard it.
"Why... am I still here?"
He stepped forward, and with every footfall, the ground beneath him turned to glass. The hate radiating from him was a physical weight, a pressure that made it hard for the students to breathe.
In the monitoring room, the screens flickered and died. The last thing they saw was the face of a boy who had been broken one too many times, a boy who had finally decided that if the world wanted a monster, he would give them one that would never let them sleep again.
Elizabeth Liones fell to her knees, her heart breaking as she realized the boy who had saved her was gone, replaced by the collective agony of a thousand lifetimes.
"Izuku..." she whispered, her voice lost in the roaring of the black wind. "Please... come back."
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