Kaori's blade screamed as it left its sheath.
Toga smiled.
They clashed in a blur of motion, steel against knives, sparks tearing through the ruined corridor. Toga danced, laughing, her movements wild and playful, blades grazing Kaori's cheek, her arm always close but never enough.
"Come on," Toga sang. "Bleed for me."
Kaori didn't answer.
Something shifted above her.
There was a noticeable shift in the ceiling pressure. Cracks she hadn't noticed before. The building was reaching its limit.
This situation won't last, she thought. Finish it. Fast.
She tightened her grip.
The sword pulsed.
For the first time, Toga's smile faltered.
The steel darkened, lines of faint light crawling along the blade like veins. Kaori stepped forward, calm and precise. Every swing now carried weight, no wasted motion, no hesitation. The air itself bent around the sword, as if it recognized her.
Toga lunged.
Too slow.
Kaori twisted her wrist. The blade split the momentum, cutting not flesh but intent. Toga's knives shattered mid-strike, fragments skittering across the floor. A second slash followed, blunt and controlled, striking Toga's side and sending her crashing into a pillar.
She slid down, coughing, blood pooling beneath her.
Silence.
What… just happened? Toga thought, her vision blurring, her body refusing to move.
Why can't I move? Why does it hurt? Why won't my body listen? What did you do to me?
Her breath hitched.
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?!" Toga screamed at Kaori.
Kaori let out a slow sigh.
She stood over her, sword lowered but ready.
Then she squatted down, fatigue finally catching up to her, and she spoke in a tired voice.
"My power isn't speed," she said quietly. "Or strength. My sword cuts what I choose. Movement. Force. Will."
Toga tried to laugh.
A broken, breathless sound escaped her lips. "H-How… how is that even possi—"
CRACK.
The ceiling groaned.
Kaori's eyes snapped upward.
But too late. The structure gave way.
Concrete rained down as the entire structure tore itself open. Kaori leapt back, shielding Toga as the floor cracked apart. Through the dust and falling debris, two figures emerged in violent collision.
Hana.
Tomura Shigaraki.
They slammed through the upper level, smashing into the hall like meteors. Hana skidded across the floor, boots digging in, electricity crackling along her arms as she barely stopped herself from hitting the far wall.
Tomura straightened slowly, brushing dust from his coat.
His eyes fell on Toga.
On her still body.
For a moment, he said nothing.
Kaori was sitting on Toga, pinning her down. I caught her in time, she thought. Pulled her out before the ceiling crushed us. She barely managed to escape the impact.
Then they hear Tomura laughing. A low and bitter laugh.
"…Things never go the way we want," he muttered.
His gaze lifted to Hana.
"Guess we keep going."
He takes position.
Hana answered by stepping forward, planting her feet and lowering her center of gravity. Power coiled around her as she took position, eyes locked on him.
"Kaori!" she shouted. "I need you to fight with me!"
Hana glanced back, breath ragged, eyes sharp.
"What? Now?"
Kaori looked down at Toga. The cuffs were already forming around her wrists. The unconscious villain breathes faintly at her feet.
Kaori felt nothing but fatigue and boredom. The fight was already over for her. No adrenaline, no tension, just a job finished. Her grip was steady, her expression flat, almost uninterested.
She shook her head.
"No. I'm staying off; good luck to you."
Hana froze for half a second.
"What?"
Kaori suddenly raised a finger, as if she had just remembered or discovered something incredibly important. Her eyes lit up for a brief, almost exaggerated moment, and she tapped the cuffs around Toga's wrists.
"She's a prisoner," Kaori said firmly. "She needs to be monitored. I won't leave her."
Hana's teeth clenched.
Kaori gave a small, almost casual wave. "Goodbye."
She hoisted Toga over her shoulder and walked away, leaving Hana standing there.
Behind them, Tomura laughed again, louder this time, delighted.
"Oh, this is great," he said. "Heroes arguing mid-fight."
Hana didn't answer.
She moved.
The ground exploded beneath Tomura as she slammed into him, the impact sending him through the floor and out into open air. Concrete and steel followed, collapsing inward as both of them vanished from sight.
Kaori pulled Toga back, putting distance between them as the structure continued to collapse. She paused, glancing toward the massive hole left behind where Hana had thrown Tomura out of the underground base.
Dust and debris still rained down.
Kaori watched for a second, unease creeping in.
"…I think she's really pissed off," she muttered.
******
Outside, Hana and Tomura crashed through debris, their fight erupting into a storm of destruction, shockwaves rippling through the street, and fire and decay ripping through what little remained.
Hana attacked relentlessly, every strike fueled by rage. She didn't give him space. Didn't let him breathe.
Tomura laughed.
He skidded across the pavement, decaying the ground beneath his hands, flipping himself back to his feet as buildings around them crumbled.
"Yes," he said, grinning wide. "That's it. That face."
Hana came at him again, furious, and the fight tore deeper into the city.
Tomura was hurled through the trees, trunks snapping as he crashed into the forest clearing. Leaves and soil exploded upward as he twisted midair, reaching instinctively for the ground.
Hana moved first.
Her power flared, stopping him just before his fingers touched the earth. Roots trembled. The decay stalled inches from spreading, frozen by her control.
For a moment, Tomura hung there, suspended among broken branches.
He looked at her.
And smiled.
"You hesitated," he said. "That's dangerous. Guess arguing with your friend got to you."
Something cracked.
Hana's control loosened.
Her eyes darkened.
She let go.
Tomura hit the ground hard, rolling across damp leaves. He pushed himself up, then froze.
Her glare.
Cold. Focused.
For the first time, Tomura felt it.
… Maybe I went too far.
Hana stepped forward, boots crunching against the forest floor. Her voice was flat.
"Without your arm," she said, "you can't really use your power, can you?"
His smile twitched.
The air beside her hand distorted.
A sword formed from nothing but silence, sharpness, and unreality. She grasped it without looking.
She disappeared and then reappeared just inches away from Tomura.
"That's it," she said.
Her face was completely emotionless.
****
Above the city, the sky split.
A pressure fell over everything, heavy and suffocating.
Something fell from the clouds.
Grey hit the ground like a meteor.
The impact created a shockwave that spread through the streets, resulting in an explosion of shattered asphalt, twisted steel, and dust tearing outward in a violent ring. Windows blew out. Alarms screamed. The city felt it.
When the smoke cleared, Grey stood at the center of the crater. He shrugged off his coat and let it fall behind him, eyes cold as he surveyed the chaos.
Not much time left, he thought.
A thin line traced itself across his face, small and sharp, as if something beneath the skin had cracked.
Then reality warped.
All For One emerged beside him, stepping out of nothing, his presence crushing and ancient, a smile hidden behind his mask.
"So," All For One said pleasantly, "this city is lively tonight."
Grey didn't respond.
All For One chuckled softly.
"So it's like that," he said.
His smile faded.
For the first time, All For One's presence sharpened—playfulness stripped away, replaced by something colder.
The air around them distorted.
Space folded in on itself.
They vanished.
A vacuum tore through the street where they had stood, crushing inward before detonating outward, shattering what remained of the tower. An instant later, a violent crack split the sky as they reappeared miles above the city, already colliding power against power, the impact warped the clouds into spirals.
The shockwave rolled across the skyline.
Then the city screamed.
The force of the collision ripped them apart.
Both were hurled backward, dragged through the air by the shockwave they had created. The clouds shredded around them, the sky itself groaning under the pressure.
They stabilized almost simultaneously.
Grey twisted midair and surged forward again.
All For One raised his arm, power gathering as he lunged to meet him.
They were about to clash—
Then a voice echoed.
Not loud.
Not soft.
Everywhere.
"…Enough."
Reality folded.
For a single heartbeat, the world shattered into layers of light, sound, and time peeling away from itself. The city vanished.
Grey and All For One were pulled.
Dragged through a seam in existence.
When sensation returned, they stood elsewhere in an empty, colorless dimension, the ground smooth and endless, the sky a void without stars or clouds.
Silence pressed in.
Grey stiffened.
All For One slowly turned his head, intrigued.
Somewhere far away back in the burning city, every fighter felt it.
The certainty that something had intervened.
Something powerful enough to move gods off the board.
Grey broke the silence.
"…Where are we?"