CHAPTER 13: PLUS ULTRA
The world was a kaleidoscope of fractured glass and ringing silence. Loki Hargreaves lay on the cold pavement of the central plaza, the stone beneath him vibrating with the aftershocks of a conflict that defied human comprehension. His consciousness was a flickering candle, guttering in a wind of absolute exhaustion.
He could see them through a haze of blood and dust: The Symbol of Peace and the Artificial Monster.
It was not a fight. It was a collision of tectonic plates. All Might and the Nomu were locked in a blur of motion so fast that Loki's eyes—even with his trained perception—could barely track the impact points. Each punch was a sonic boom. Each collision sent a shockwave that rippled the water in the shipwreck zone and shook the trees in the forest.
Boom. Boom. Boom.
"What's the matter?" Shigaraki's voice crawled through the air, taunting and shrill.
"You're slowing down, Symbol of Peace! I told you, he has Shock Absorption! You're just hitting a sponge! He'll never tire, but you... you're leaking, aren't you?"
Loki watched, his heart sinking into his gut. From his position on the ground, he saw what the others couldn't see. He saw the steam rising from All Might's skin from the heat of the battle,He saw the way All Might's side was heaving, the blood matting his yellow uniform.
The Nomu was a void. It didn't feel pain. It didn't lose momentum. It was a machine designed to grind the world's greatest hero into the dust.
If this drags on, Loki's mind whispered, a cold, clinical logic piercing through his fatigue, All Might will fall. And if he falls... the curtain comes down for everyone.
Loki tried to move his hand. It felt like it was made of lead. His mana veins were screaming, a high-pitched whine in his skull that warned of permanent neural damage if he pushed any further.
a bitter, defiant smile touching his cracked lips. I am the boy who plays with lights. I am the fraud.
He looked at Midoriya, who was struggling to stand nearby, his face a mask of helpless terror. He looked at Aizawa's broken form.
No, Loki decided. I am the Director. And I refuse to let this play end in a tragedy.
He began to crawl. It was a pathetic, agonizing movement. He dragged himself toward a discarded deck of cards—his own tools, scattered during the initial lunge. His white gloves were shredded and stained with the grime of the plaza.
He reached out. His fingers brushed the gold-rimmed edge of an Ace of Spades.
I need everything, Loki told his own soul. Every calorie. Every spark of mana. Every memory of Lyra's laugh and my father's tired smile. Give it to me now.
He felt it—a surge of "Weight" that didn't come from his quirk, but from his sheer, desperate will to change the ending. He forced himself into a kneeling position, the world spinning in nauseating circles.
All Might was being pushed back. The Nomu had its massive hands locked around the hero's waist, its beak-like mouth inches from his throat. Shigaraki was laughing, a sound of pure, chaotic joy.
Loki raised his hand. His fingers were trembling so violently he had to steady his wrist with his other hand.
[Phantom Echo]
Loki didn't create a sound in the air. He created a sound inside the Nomu's limited, programmed consciousness. He "told" the creature's brain that its master, Shigaraki, was screaming in agony from behind it.
The Nomu didn't have a soul, but it had orders. The cognitive dissonance was a momentary glitch in its biological hardware. Its head snapped back, its grip on All Might's waist loosening for a fraction of a second.
"What?! Nomu! What are you doing?!" Shigaraki shrieked, his confusion echoing the distraction.
All Might gasped, his blue eyes widening as he felt the pressure release. He looked toward the source of the glitch and saw him.
Loki Hargreaves was kneeling in the dust, his eyes glowing with an emerald light so intense it looked like his irises were melting. Blood was pouring from his nose and ears now—the price of imposing a "Lie" on a creature that wasn't supposed to have a mind.
"NOW!" Loki screamed, his voice a jagged tear in the atmosphere.
Loki gathered every remaining atom of his existence. He didn't just snap his fingers; he snapped the very fabric of his own reality.
[The Jester's Snap]
The world froze.
For the Nomu, time ceased to exist. Loki forced a "Weight" upon the monster so heavy that the creature's muscles locked in a state of total paralysis. It was a lie so profound that the universe had to stop and check its own math.
Loki's vision went pitch black. He couldn't see, but he could feel. He felt the Nomu stop. He felt the gap in the script.
"Young Hargreaves..." All Might's voice was a whisper, filled with a sudden, soaring hope.
"Thank you. I've got it from here."
The hero drew back his fist. The air began to spiral around him, a golden vortex of pure, unadulterated "Truth." The steam vanished, replaced by a radiant light.
"A hero..." All Might began, his voice growing into a roar that shook the very foundations of the USJ, "...can always break out of a tough spot!"
Loki felt the air pressure change. He felt the "Lie" he was holding being shredded by the sheer force of All Might's intent.
"HEY, VILLAIN! HAVE YOU EVER HEARD THESE WORDS?!"
All Might lunged. The Nomu, freed from Loki's snap at the exact moment of impact, had no time to adjust its shock absorption.
"GO BEYOND!"
The first punch landed. The second. The third. A hundred punches in a single second. The Nomu was no longer a mountain; it was a punching bag.
"PLUS..."
All Might's fist glowed like a dying star. He put everything into the final strike—his legacy, his pain, and the chance a "useless" boy had just bought him with his own life.
"ULTRAAAAAAA!"
BOOOOOOOOM!
The shockwave was so powerful it blew the water out of the shipwreck zone and sent the remaining villains flying into the walls. The Nomu didn't just fall. It was launched. It tore through the reinforced glass of the USJ dome, soaring into the sky like a grotesque, falling star until it vanished from sight.
Silence returned to the USJ. A heavy, ringing silence.
All Might stood in the center of the crater, his back to the students. Steam poured from his body in thick, white clouds. He was shaking, his power spent, but he remained standing. The Symbol was still upright.
Loki didn't see the victory.
The moment the Nomu cleared the ceiling, Loki's body finally gave up the ghost. The emerald light in his eyes vanished, replaced by a dull, glazed emptiness. He fell forward, his face hitting the dirt. The Ace of Spades he had held so tightly fluttered away in the dying wind, landing in a puddle of muddy water.
"Loki!" Momo's scream was the last thing he heard.
He didn't feel her hands on his shoulders. He didn't feel the frantic pulse of the rescue teams arriving. He didn't hear the sirens or the shouting of the police.
Loki Hargreaves, the Grand Illusionist, lay broken in the dust. He had told the greatest lie of his life—he had convinced a god to blink. And in doing so, he had saved the stage.
As the light faded completely, his final thought was a quiet, satisfied whisper in the back of his mind.
...A perfect... finale.
[End of Chapter 13]