Takeru landed at the entrance of the USJ with a force that cracked the floor and sent a tremor through the dome. He saw Mina and Ochaco huddled around Number 13. Mina cried, seeing him sprinting towards them, and hugged him. "Villains are attacking us! Aizawa-sensei is fighting alone!" Sato said.
Takeru removed Mina's hands from around him calmly and firmly. "It is not us who should be scared, but them."
Takeru saw villains climbing the steps. "Take care of them. I will help Aizawa." Takeru's visor turned on, judging the threat level. He flew straight through the villains, the sonic boom blasting them aside.
As Takeru saw a massive monster crushing Aizawa into the ground, his arm being snapped, the brute had Aizawa's face pressed into the broken tile, its fingers locked around the pro hero's forearm as if testing how much pressure was needed to tear it free. Aizawa's body barely moved; one eye was swollen shut, and his breathing came in faint wheezes muffled by dust and blood.
Takeru surged forward before the Nomu could finish the job, closing the distance in less than a heartbeat. His initial strike landed squarely against the creature's chest, a double-fisted blow that sent the Nomu skidding across the plaza in a spray of shattered stone. The shockwave rippled through the air and forced the nearby villains backward.
Takeru caught Aizawa before he collapsed and carried him toward the students arriving from the water zone. Midoriya and Tsuyu froze at the sight of the battered man. Takeru handed him over with a sharp nod, silently commanding them to secure the teacher before turning back toward the enemy.
The Nomu stood again almost instantly. Its chest had caved slightly under the blow, but the damage stitched itself together as if nothing had happened. Takeru was shocked. The monster was not reduced to a red mist by the strength of his attack; worse, it was regenerating. How many quirks does he have? he thought.
A teen with blue hair and ashy skin strolled forward, covered in macabre hands, with an almost bored posture. The warped hand covering his face tapped lightly against his cheek. "Ahh, strong. An unexpected mini-boss. But Nomu was made to kill the Symbol of Peace. I suppose we can use you for a warm-up."
Before Takeru could respond, the creature moved at speeds that he could not imagine something of its size could achieve. Takeru intercepted the first punch and felt the full weight of a monster built for the sole purpose of destruction. The impact sent cracks spiderwebbing under his feet as the air rippled from the sheer force. Massive winds buffeted them, pushing anyone near away. Takeru countered with a hook aimed at Nomu's jaw, but the creature absorbed the momentum without reaction. It's like punching a bag of wet concrete. Takeru's punches were not having much of an effect, whereas the Nomu's punches were starting to hurt him. A left straight caught Takeru square in the face, blasting him 20 feet, his body plowing a trench in the sand.
"You are strong, kid, but you are no match for the anti-symbol of peace."
"Shut up, you chunibyo," Takeru retorted, wiping his nose. He saw blood. "Haha, haha," he laughed. That was the first time something had managed to draw blood. He could go all out on this thing. Thank you for such a rare opportunity.
"Have you gone mad?" the hand-villain guy asked. "Nomu, kill him!"
He charged. He needed to change his attack pattern. The Nomu was stronger and faster than him, but he had the advantage in technique and agility. He shifted his approach, relying less on brute power and more on angles that disrupted motion, only to watch the Nomu correct its balance instantly and retaliate with frightening speed.
Takeru forced the Nomu backward step by step, adjusting his rhythm until he found a pattern the monster couldn't immediately regenerate from. Instead of pure impact, he shifted into slashing arcs—knife-hand strikes that disrupted muscle fibers faster than the Nomu could adjust its stance, mixed with snapping punches designed to redirect its mass. Each blow sent violent ripples through the plaza. The floor shuddered. Support beams groaned. Sand and shattered tiles lifted in spirals as the shockwaves formed miniature wind tunnels around them. The USJ dome shook from the force of their battle. Every collision of fist and flesh produced a blast that swept outward, forcing students and villains alike to shield their faces.
Bakugo, Todoroki, and Kirishima arrived at the upper balcony just as Takeru drove the Nomu across the plaza in a series of brutal exchanges. They stopped dead, unable to descend. Their instincts screamed to run, but their bodies refused to obey. None of them had ever seen a fight like this. This was far above their weight class; even standing in the vicinity of the fight took great effort as gale-force winds buffeted them.
Shigaraki's amusement faded as he watched Nomu stagger backward from a combination elbow and slash from Takeru that almost tore the Nomu's arm off at the shoulder. "That shouldn't be happening… who is he?" he muttered, fingers twitching. "Nomu… is getting pushed back. NO, NO, NO!"
That was when he snapped. "Kurogiri! Go for the students!"
Kurogiri obeyed instantly, warping behind Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Mineta. A swirling mass of mist formed around Midoriya's arm as the boy charged forward with a desperate cry. "SMASH!"
But the portal swallowed his punch mid-swing, redirecting the blast across the plaza. The redirected smash collided with Takeru's face. Bone thrummed. The shock launched him sideways, and Midoriya's arm snapped like dry wood. The boy screamed—but the worse consequence was on the battlefield. Takeru was staggered by the massive punch, taken unaware. He bit his tongue to stay conscious. The Nomu ruthlessly exploited the opening. It lunged with inhuman precision, its jaws clamping down over Takeru's left shoulder. The bite sank deep—muscle tore, bone cracked. The Nomu pinned him with its massive weight and dragged a claw across his abdomen. Flesh split open in a long, deep gouge that exposed tissue and glistening organs beneath. Another strike tore across the right side of his face, gouging through soft tissue and blinding his eye in a burst of white-hot pain.
The Nomu had gained top position, holding Takeru down with its teeth and bulk as its claws dug into his right side and abdomen. The Nomu's claws pinned his limbs down, grinding bone and muscle into the shattered floor. His breath choked in his throat as blood drained across the tiles.
Kurogiri opened a portal under Takeru's trapped arm. The mist closed. Takeru screamed. His right arm vanished from the elbow down, severed cleanly by the collapsing gateway. Pain tore through his nerves in waves, sharp enough to blank the world for a fraction of a second. Kurogiri moved the portal lower, ready to take his leg next. Without the massive winds generated by the punches, Kurogiri could open portals at will.
That's when explosions rained from above. Bakugo slammed into the battlefield with a roar, palms blazing as he detonated the air around Kurogiri, forcing the warp villain to withdraw. Todoroki followed up with an ice surge to trap the scattered mist and disrupt the villain's focus. Kurogiri flickered apart, destabilized and unable to maintain his portals under the combined assault. Kirishima dragged Midoriya backward before the debris of the redirected smash collapsed on him.
Students stared in shock, most unable to move, unable to comprehend the level of violence, the life-and-death struggle that was happening in front of them.
Takeru pushed against the floor, blood running down his cheek, his vision split between clarity and a red haze. Bakugo landed beside him, panting, his eyes flicking to Takeru's missing arm and torn abdomen before darting back to the Nomu. For a moment, neither spoke. Then their eyes met. Takeru gave him a short, sharp nod. Bakugo returned it.
"Don't die, meathead," he muttered.
Takeru rose, staggering, one arm hanging uselessly, his right eye completely ruined and his right arm severed at the elbow. But the worst injury was to his abdomen; his guts were poking out, threatening to spill out.
This is the end, Takeru thought. I deserve it for all I have done, but at least I am going to take this fucker down with me. Despite all the pain and suffering, Takeru felt at home. Something in his blood, a reservoir of strength he had never tapped before.
The Nomu charged, and Takeru sidestepped, matching the creature in terms of pure speed for the first time in the fight. He grabbed the creature by its arm and drove his knee into its gut with such force that it sent a shockwave around the facility, causing the creature to be launched into the air. For the first time, Nomu froze, trying to regenerate from the massive blow that seemed to bypass its shockwave suppression.
Takeru didn't let him recover. He flew up, grabbing the creature by its ankle and started to spin. The force increased with every rotation, a violent spiral that dragged the air with it. A tornado formed around them, pulling debris, sand, and stray objects into a vortex of brutal speed. It took everything for the villains and his classmates not to get sucked into the tornado that was forming. With a final rotation, Takeru launched Nomu upward. The monster shot through the hole in the dome and vanished into the sky like a broken meteor.
Takeru dropped to his knees. Blood poured from his shoulder, his abdomen, and the empty space where his right hand had been. His vision flickered. His breath shook. The ground beneath him swayed as if the world were tilting. Footsteps thundered. A familiar voice followed: "TAKERU-SHOUNEN!"
All Might burst through the ruined entrance just as Takeru collapsed onto his side. Takeru looked up, a faint grin pulling at his bloody lip. "All Might…."
Then his body went limp. All Might caught him before he hit the floor. "Takeru-shōnen!" All Might shouted as he reached him and caught him before he toppled fully. "I am sorry. I was late ..."