MIDORIYA POV
He could hear muffled voices, jagged laughter that didn't sound like Pro Heroes. Hope, flickered in his mind: Help? Is that the rescue team?
He forced his head to turn, his vision slowly snapping into focus. The flicker of hope died instantly, replaced by a suffocating despair.
Dozens of figures stood scattered across the central plaza. These weren't heroes. They carried serrated blades, lead pipes, and weapons built for malice. They were pouring out of the purple-black mist of the warp villain like an infestation.
A heavy boot collided with Izuku's ribs, flipping him onto his back.
"Ha! Look, the brat's awake," a villain with a lizard-like mutation sneered, looking down at him. "Let's bring him to the boss man."
The villain didn't wait for a response. He grabbed Izuku by the collar of his costume and began to drag him across the rough ground. Izuku's shattered arms trailed limply behind him, every stone and uneven crack in the pavement feeling like a fresh blade across his skin. He wanted to resist, to summon even a spark of One For All, but his limbs felt like dead weights. He was broken.
Finally, the dragging stopped. He was dropped like a sack of potatoes at the feet of a man covered in severed, greyish hands. Shigaraki Tomura looked down at him with hollow, red eyes, then turned away with a dismissive shrug, as if Izuku were a bug not even worth crushing yet.
"Good," Shigaraki rasped, his voice dry. "Make sure to tie him well. It's almost time for the main event."
Shigaraki stepped to the side, and for the first time, Izuku had an unobstructed view of the plaza floor. His heart didn't just sink.....it seemed to stop entirely.
A few feet away lay a figure he knew better than himself. Riko.
She was motionless. Her hero costume, usually so vibrant, was matted with dark, blooming stains of crimson. Her goggles were shattered, a jagged spiderweb of glass centred around an exit point....a bullet wound. He couldn't see her eyes. He didn't want to see them.
No. No, no, no.
A primal, desperate Need overrode the agony in his body. He began to crawl. He didn't judst use his hands; he used his elbows and his chin, everything he had to keep dragging his broken body toward her. His body screamed, but the physical pain was a dull hum compared to the hollow void opening in his chest.
She's breathing. She has to be breathing. Riko, please.
He was inches away when a hand gripped his hair and yanked him backwards. The villains surrounding him erupted in cruel laughter.
"Look at this! The kid's still got energy even after that beating!"
"Boss was right, I'm gonna need to tie this fucker down," another man grunted, frustrated by the effort. He delivered a sharp kick to Izuku's stomach to still him. "Why can't you just stay still, you bastard?"
The physical blow snapped something in Izuku. As they dragged him away from her, away from the only person who mattered in that hellscape, a sound tore itself from his throat. It wasn't a hero's cry. It was a shattered, guttural howl of pure grief.
"RIKOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Vengeance. It was a black tide rising in his mind. He wanted to kill them. Not apprehend them, not hand them over to the police, he wanted to unmake the scum who had hurt her. He wanted to hurt them, make them suffer. He drew breath to scream again, his voice cracking with rage.
"YO-YOU"
"YOU BASTARDDDDDDDS WHO WAS IT"
His voice was drowned out by a roar even louder than his own.
The air suddenly plummeted in temperature. The villains dragging Izuku were frozen mid-stride, their legs encased in a massive, jagged mountain of ice that erupted from the floor. Soon his ear buds were filled with a familiar sound of explosions.
BAKUGO POV
Cold.
That's what I felt seeing Riko's body lying in a puddle of her own blood. Cold.
The feeling of warmth leaving my blood…..there was a wave of emptiness that spread from within my heart..…..only to be pushed back by even greater force of rage... I wanted blood.
The only thing on my mind right now was a massacre to find who did it.
I moved like a blur, blasting through the rank-and-file villains. They were nothing.....insects in the way of my massacre. I caught one by the throat, hoisting him up as my palms sizzled with lethal intent.
"Who was it?" I snarled, the words coming out as a jagged growl. "Which one of you bastards did it? Tell me before I blow your head off!"
The coward tried to beg, his eyes wide and watery. I didn't care. I let off a localized blast right in his face, then another. I was about to finish it with another, when a calm, mocking voice drifted through the smoke.
"It was me, you're looking for", finaaaaaaally... I thought, and released another blast on that runt, whom I was holding onto, before dropping him and turning around to see the owner of the voice.
It was the same guy who shot Idia….I knew it…..this fuck…I will kill him.
I launched myself towards him, about to launch a blast towards his face, when something suddenly grabbed my leg and threw me away…I repositioned mid-flight and put some distance.
Only to see another monster similar to one we just fought, yet he was a giant….I didn't remember any of the three monsters with similar appearances. Was it a new one or one of them, with a changed appearance?
"Hmm... Impulsive….as ever…yet colour me surprised, how did you manage to kill the Inferno Nomu?"
"Bastard, I'll kill you even if I have to fight ten of those things!"
"Oh…such killing intent..why?....I suppo-ohh, hahaha…my bad," the guy said, looking at Riko, th-this fuck I thought, as he then looked at me, said " A childhood friend, I suppose….I guess that explains how you managed to kill Inferno….anyway, but unfortunately, I have backups, Behemoth here isn't your average nomu, I wonder if you can kill him"
I didn't wait for another word. I cut a glance at Todoroki and Kirishima. They were already moving, their faces set in the same grim mask of fury. We didn't need a plan. We needed this monster dead.
I launched.
The behemoth threw a fist, trying to crush me with it, but Todoroki froze him before. The nomu could even make the move. I didn't waste time. I launched another howitzer impact on this face, while Todoroki spammed his flame…this ought to do it, I thought, yet that bastard pushed through our attack.
Fuck that didn't do much damage, the fuck is it made off? Does he have regeneration on top of it? Aghhh, Todoroki again put distance between us, while Enjiro moved to close quarters to engage that monster. While Enjiro was taking all the agro, Todoroki charged another set of fire and ice attacks. Meanwhile, I was running low on stored sweat; I needed something else. Something more precise and stronger.
THIRD POV
While thinking about it bakugo again got into close range, seeing Enjiro having a tuff, time dealing with the behemoth, a similar thought process was going on in Todoroki's mind, as both their attacks were seemingly rubbed off by the behemoth
As the fight continued, the behemoth slowly started to pressure the trio.
The Behemoth launched a burst of bone spikes from its back. I spiralled through the air, dodging the projectiles, while Kirishima let them clatter off his chest.
"Legs!" I shouted.
I dived low, spamming rapid-fire blasts at the monster's ankles. The friction and heat turned Nomu's skin a dull, glowing red. The Behemoth roared, lunging for Kirishima, but Todoroki slammed it with a sub-zero freeze.
CRACK.
The sudden contraction of the overheated armour worked. A massive fissure appeared in the monster's leg. Kirishima didn't hesitate; he wound up a heavy right hook and shattered the limb entirely.
The Behemoth went down on one knee.
"Finish it!"
Todoroki and I synchronised. Fire and explosions turned its head into a molten furnace; then, a flash-freeze turned the liquid flesh to brittle glass. Kirishima lunged to shatter the skull, but the monster's reflexes were still active. A hand shot out, catching Kirishima mid-air.
"IcyHot! Get back!"
Todoroki unleashed a wall of ice to distract the beast. I took flight, soaring high above the plaza. My palms were raw, the skin peeling from the sheer volume of nitroglycerin I was forcing out. I didn't care.
I plummeted straight down. Six feet from its head, I flattened one palm and used the other to form a focusing cylinder.
"AP SHOT!"
A concentrated beam of pure kinetic energy pierced through the Nomu's head like a needle through paper. The beast's grip on Kirishima loosened, and it fell face-first into the dirt. without a literal face.
BAKUGO POV
Fucking monster that ought to do it, I thought, looking at my palm, the skin had mostly burnt off, exposing the muscle fibres below, yet I was still not finished, as the main culprit…. of my massacre was still alive.
The sick bastard was standing there with the smoke guy with the wrap quirk from before, he was looking directly at me.
just i was thinking he was gonna order an another attack on us, he just raised his hands and started clapping…..saying "good….good you go on to prove that you guys are the golden seeds on UA....Im thoroughly satisfied with your progress, though I wonder can you survive go beyond this….after all" he turned to look at riko body and continued "she was able to survive the added difficulty…sooo i suppose the same can be expected form you..... nomuuuu"
Suddenly, there was a boom, and then followed by Enjiro's cry as he was thrown away. I didn't even get time to turn around, as just where Enjiro was standing a minute ago was another nomu, the one with an exposed brain; he is fast.
Todoroki reacted instantly, sending a jagged glacier toward the new threat. The Nomu didn't dodge; it simply ran through the ice, shattering the frozen pillars with its shoulders. Todoroki switched to fire, but the creature was already gone.
I snarled, attempting to launch an intercept, but my burnt palms misfired.
"Shit!"
The Nomu appeared in front of Todoroki. He barely had time to raise a wall of ice before a fist punched through the barrier and caught him in the gut, sending him skidding back beside me.
Shit was the last thing I could think before the bastard nomu suddenly, fighting off Todoroki, dispappred from there and appeared before me, i couldnt even counter attack, before I was blasted off, I tried to tank the attack using my arms, yet that bastrad was too strong, I crashed a bit far from others, and tired to check is my arms to see if they still work….
Fuck they hurt, yet it was a good sign....it meant i was still in the fight, its was a miracle my arms didn't fracture, but I was sure I had micro fractures, that new nomu was fast as well as hit hard. Our situation was bad. Nomu was right now engaged with Todoroki, who was continuously spamming it with attacks, not letting it get close, yet it was clear that he couldn't he couldnt hold on any longer. Fuck I hate to admit it, the longer this went on, the more we were at a disadvantage.
Just to make things worse, the leader bastard spoke again…. "Hmmm, you seem to have trouble with the nomu…hmm maybe I overestimated you guys a bit too much, seeing your classmate was able to fight both of nomu….. I thought you could do the same as her"
What...
R-Riko fought both of them together…while three of us were struggling with even one.
"it's a pity that she had to put down…so soon"
.....…I don't remember what happened next, but the next moment, I was an feet away from him, before being pinned down by the nomu that Todoroki was fighting against.
The bastard he croched down staring at me with amusement and said "hmm….. such intensity?.....Ah...love was it?…..prince charming…sadly it isn't romance story"
thi-this fuckin scum
"I WILL KILL YO-YOU BASTARD"
"Not very heroic of you", he muttered before looking towards the entrance door, before saying, "kurogi get the others"
And on command, the mist villain spread out, and from the smoke, more villains started pouring in along with a few of our tied up classmate.
TODOROKI POV
It was over.
I tasted blood in the back of my throat. My left side was sluggish, my right side was shivering. Looking around the plaza, the tally of our defeat was written in the dirt.
Aizawa-sensei was down. Thirteen was incapacitated. Iida was bleeding out. Midoriya was a broken mess. And Riko...
I didn't want to look at her. If I didn't look, maybe she was just sleeping. But I knew better. She had fought two of those things alone. She had fought until she couldn't anymore.
And now, my classmates were being lined up like trophies.
The leader looked at the group, doing a casual head count. "Hmm... a few are still missing. No matter. Be prepared. All Might should be—"
BOOM.
The reinforced doors at the top of the stairs didn't just open; they flew off their hinges. As a massive cloud of dust billowed into the arena, caught in a sudden, violent updraft of air.
Through the haze, a silhouette appeared. The familiar, towering frame.
Hope flickered in the back of my mind.
If it's him... maybe we can survive this after all.
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Author's Coffin
I ded
BTW, this whole thing was supposed to be one single chap....but eh...