The smoke thinned.
What emerged from it was disgusting.
The Nomu staggered forward, half of its body grotesquely melted away. Blackened muscle hung loose, skin bubbling and sliding off its frame as it dragged one ruined foot after the other. A nauseating stench filled the air.
Ren let out a shaky breath.
He had made it.
Barely.
If he had been even a fraction of a second slower, if Thunder Step hadn't been pushed to its absolute limit… he would have been vaporized alongside the Nomu.
His legs suddenly gave out.
Every muscle from his thighs to his calves screamed in agony—torn, shredded, pushed far beyond what they were meant to endure. Ren's vision blurred as he tilted forward—
—and strong arms caught him.
"All Might…" Ren rasped, barely able to keep his eyes open. "Thanks… old man…"
"You did a great job, Ren," All Might said, his voice gentle yet proud as he kept him upright.
But then—
Scratch.
Scratch.
Scratch.
A sound worse than nails on a chalkboard echoed behind them.
Shigaraki Tomura had finally stopped clawing at his neck.
Blood ran down his fingers. The skin there was raw, peeled back, barely clinging to his body.
He took a step forward.
Then another.
"Takeda Ren…" he muttered.
Ren lifted his gaze.
"Takeda Ren… Takeda Ren… Takeda Ren!"
Shigaraki's voice grew louder, more frantic with each repetition, his breath ragged, his eyes wide and unfocused.
"How…?" he gasped. "How do you know?!"
Ren smiled faintly.
…
A couple of days ago.
"Mom…" Ren whispered, his hands shaking.
"I'll… find those bastards…"
His pupils had vanished entirely, his eyes pure white.
"And when I do…" his voice dropped into something inhuman, "…I'll rip them to shreds. I'll make them regret ever being born."
The screen in front of him flickered endlessly.
News articles. Police reports. Archived footage.
Every hour.
Every minute.
Every second.
Unexplained disappearances. Sudden deaths. Buildings reduced to nothing but debris.
Nothing.
No names. No patterns. No leads.
By the time the sun rose, Ren hadn't slept.
"…Tch."
His fingers curled into claws.
"ARGHH!"
The laptop shattered under his fist.
He slammed it onto the floor, stomping it again and again until plastic cracked and metal bent. The apartment floor groaned under the abuse, the noise echoing through the building.
Knock.
Knock.
"…Huh?"
Ren turned.
Someone was at the door.
When it opened, his downstairs neighbor forced an awkward smile.
"Sorry to bother you, Ren-kun, but… do you know where all that noise is coming from at four in the morn—"
The man froze.
Ren's eyes locked onto his.
Those eyes didn't look human.
They screamed danger.
The man didn't finish his sentence. He bolted down the hallway without another word.
Ren closed the door.
Silence.
He turned back toward his desk.
"…?"
The laptop.
It was gone.
Breath in.
Breath out.
Ren's chest rose and fell violently.
Everything around him felt wrong now.
Every glance felt like mockery.
Every word felt like pity.
Every expression felt disgusted.
That was why he had hit Midoriya at school later that day.
That was why he had spoken so harshly to Momo.
He hadn't heard their words at all.
All he heard was ridicule.
It wasn't until All Might calmed him down later that his thoughts finally cleared.
If nothing existed online…
Then it had been buried.
Someone capable of disintegrating matter with a touch would have caused a massive incident when their power first awakened—especially as a child.
So Ren went where information truly lived.
The police.
Bribes opened doors.
More bribes erased hesitation.
And eventually—
He found it.
A sealed case.
An entire family dead.
Their home erased from existence, leaving behind nothing but a massive sinkhole.
At first glance, it looked unrelated.
But one detail stood out.
A single fragment of wall recovered by a forensic officer.
Decayed.
That alone meant nothing—until Ren read the rest.
The house had been a newly built modern villa.
It was impossible for it to have decaying walls.
That was the thread.
Ren pulled.
More money changed hands.
More files unlocked.
The family's name was hidden because of its connection to a former heroine.
Respect disappeared the moment ten million yen hit the table.
And there it was.
A photograph.
A small boy.
Messy hair.
Haunted eyes.
Shimura Tenko.
Ren stared at it in silence.
"…Found you."
...
USJ.
Shigaraki's body jerked violently, his hands clawing again at his own neck as his sanity completely shattered.
"Kill—! Kill! Kill! KILL!" he screamed, voice cracking into something feral.
"Nomu! Kill him! Kill him!!"
The green Chimera Nomu moved instantly.
It lunged, its remaining arm slicing through the air toward Ren and All Might—
—but it never reached them.
BOOM!
All Might struck it with his free hand.
The punch landed square in its chest, detonating a shockwave that blasted the Chimera Nomu backward. It skidded across the ground, carving a trench before stopping.
All Might didn't even look strained.
Not like with the black one.
"This one isn't built for me," All Might muttered, tightening his grip around Ren to keep him standing. "I can handle it."
Ren let out a slow breath, chest rising and falling painfully.
'Yeah… I can see that.'
His gaze lingered on All Might's back.
'…I've still got a long way to go before I can stand where you are, old man.'
Then—
Wriggle.
Wriggle.
A wet, unnatural sound crawled across the battlefield.
Ren stiffened.
All Might turned.
Their eyes locked onto the black Nomu.
The flesh that had been melted by the beam… was moving.
Bulging.
Crawling back into place.
"…What?" All Might breathed.
The charred muscle twitched violently, fibers knitting together as if time itself were being reversed. Burned skin reformed, glossy and slick, rolling over exposed tissue. Bones realigned with audible cracks.
"How is it not dead?!" All Might exclaimed.
"Fuck—!" Ren hissed, forcing his body to react.
Despite the pain screaming through him, despite Seraph barely keeping him functional, Ren started generating energy again—Surge straining his shredded muscles, Livewire sparking weakly across his skin.
Shigaraki was laughing now.
"Kill! Kill! Kill! KILL!!"
The regeneration accelerated.
It wasn't gradual.
It was instant.
"What…" All Might's eyes widened for the first time since his arrival.
Ren's blood ran cold.
'That regeneration…'
His mind raced.
'It's not just fast—'
'It's inhuman.'
Seraph struggled desperately inside him, healing one fracture only for another to scream for attention. But even at full capacity, Seraph wasn't anywhere near that level.
'That's…' Ren realized, horrified.
'That's leagues beyond me.'
Within seconds, the black Nomu had regained most of its original form. Melted flesh restored. Muscle re-layered. Its posture straightened.
It rolled its shoulders.
Cracked its neck.
Then it lifted its head—
—and locked onto All Might.
A low, distorted growl rumbled from its throat.
All Might clenched his fist.
"…So that's it," he said quietly.
Two Nomus.
Both still standing.
Shigaraki's laughter echoed through the dome—raw, broken, unhinged.
"Kill him!"
To be continued...
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How was this chapter? Liked it?
Guys, I am officially back. I had some problems with my leg... again. Apparently, the previous surgery didn't go well. I started to fell some excruciating in my leg again two weeks ago, and so I went to get it checked, and after a couple of analysis, it resulted that the surgery had been done precariously, and the injury reopened. The surgery had even damaged my leg more than it already was.
Last wednesday, they operated me again (I changed hospitals), but they told me that, because of that damn first surgery, it's very probable that the injury would open again, and that I would need to be prepared to amputate the leg.
To sum it all up, damn that guy who joked about me getting a cyborg leg! (Just joking, love you).
Oh, and... sorry if the chapter wasn't that great, I haven't been writing for two entire weeks. I started my first xianxia novel (I know it sounds crazy that I just started one now since we are on webnovel) and I got hooked immediately, couldn't get away from the screen.