Wolfram had made many calculations tonight.
Hostage leverage. Security override windows. Helicopter arrival timing. Quirk output versus neurological strain.
He had accounted for hero intervention. For student interference. Even for All Might.
He had not accounted for this version of him.
Not the weakened symbol whispered about in back channels. Not the "fading legend" spoken of in villain circles.
But the one standing in front of him now—
The man who ended The Dark Age.
Wolfram staggered backward as All Might closed the distance again, faster than physics seemed to permit.
"Where is he?!" All Might demanded, voice cracking like thunder. "How is All For One contacting you, villain? You still have the chance to turn back from this!"
The words were punctuated by motion.
All Might seized Wolfram's arm, pivoted, and executed a brutal over-the-shoulder throw. Wolfram's vision spun as he was hurled downward, metal splintering beneath him as he cratered into the arena floor.
Before he could recover—
A gut punch.
Wolfram twisted desperately, barely diverting the full force, but even the grazing impact detonated the air in his lungs. Pain radiated outward as he coughed violently, tasting copper.
Metal responded to his panic.
Pillars erupted from every direction, surging upward like a tidal wave made of steel, drowning All Might in a forest of jagged columns.
Wolfram staggered back, breathing hard.
"I swear," he rasped, wiping blood from his chin, "saying that heroic quote stuff always gives you people that stupid resolution."
The metal forest exploded outward.
All Might burst through it like a missile, debris spiralling behind him.
His fist drew back.
"RHODE ISLAND—"
Wolfram threw every ounce of power he had into defence. Layers upon layers of compressed alloy stacked between them, walls thick enough to stop artillery.
"SMASH!!!"
The shockwave hit first.
The air pressure alone pulverized the outer layers, ripping them apart in a violent cascade. But that wasn't the real attack.
All Might himself tore through the remainder, descending like a meteor, shoulder driving into Wolfram's chest as they plummeted.
"Damn it—All Might!" Wolfram screamed as his face was smashed into the arena's surface, metal buckling around his skull. "Don't you know when to quit?!"
All Might's hand closed around his collar.
"That's because I can't!" he roared.
He lifted Wolfram bodily, slamming him once more into the warped battlefield.
"You've seen it, haven't you?" All Might continued, eyes blazing. "The same heat and heart in those students you faced! The way they embody my heroic spirit!"
Another slam.
"They do not allow me—"
He drove Wolfram into the ground again, cracks racing outward.
"—to give anything less than one hundred and twenty percent!"
Wolfram's vision blurred.
He forced metal upward in desperation. It wrapped around All Might's torso, his arms, his shoulders. Bands constricted, edges sharpened, digging into muscle and flesh. More metal surged, coiling around All Might's fist, crushing, slicing.
Blood ran down the hero's forearm.
Metal spikes drove inward.
One—sliding beneath his ribs.
Puncturing.
Wolfram felt it connect.
All Might's body jerked.
For a split second—
Wolfram thought he had him.
"You can't!" Wolfram gasped, voice breaking as fear finally clawed its way up his spine. "Don't you have any self-preservation?!"
All Might didn't release him.
Didn't even look at the spike embedded in his abdomen.
His grip tightened.
Slowly.
Deliberately.
His voice dropped—not thunderous now, but absolute.
"A hero… does not prioritize himself. Just everyone else."[1]
His arm drew back despite the metal grinding against bone.
"TEXAS—"
Wolfram's eyes widened.
He tried to pull away.
Tried to move the metal.
But his focus was fractured. His breathing is erratic. The device feeding him power flickered under the strain of neurological activity.
"SMASH!!!"
The punch landed.
Not just on Wolfram's body—
But through him.
The impact compressed the air into a visible shock front that split the night sky. The entire floating arena warped violently, then ruptured from the force. Metal disintegrated in a spiralling burst as Wolfram's consciousness shattered under the blow.
The orange glow vanished.
His control—
Gone.
The vast bowl of metal that had loomed above I-Island shuddered.
Then began to fall.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
From below, it looked like the collapse of a second moon.
Mineta Minoru stared upward, mouth hanging open, several of his signature purple spheres missing from his scalp.
"Mr. Shield… is that…?" he whispered.
David Shield stepped forward instinctively, eyes wide, glasses reflecting the descending wreckage.
Through gaps in the falling metal, they could see a figure suspended in the air.
Broad shoulders.
Tattered cape.
Silhouette unmistakable.
"…Yeah," David breathed, voice trembling despite himself. "He… he's done it again, kid."
The floating arena collapsed in sections, debris raining harmlessly outward now that Wolfram's precise control was gone.
All Might descended with it.
Victorious.
Unmoving.
If anyone had seen him clearly—if the smoke and falling steel had parted just a little more—
They would have noticed.
The metal spike.
Still lodged in his abdomen.
Dark red spreading across his torn costume.
Steam rising not just from exertion—
But from blood meeting cold night air.
All Might landed heavily atop the tower's remains as the last fragments of the arena crashed into the sea around I-Island.
For a moment, he stood tall.
Back straight.
Chest out.
The image of victory itself.
Then—
His knees trembled.
Just slightly.
Out of sight of the cheering civilians.
Out of sight of his students.
Out of sight of the man who once worked beside him.
The Symbol of Peace remained standing.
But Toshinori Yagi was bleeding.
_________________________________________________________________________________
[Auther: Remember this is your symbol. Anyways, I finally got this done. I kept reworking it to see which one I'd like the most, but this seems quite nice.
Also, I can't remember whether he was wearing the Golden Age uniform or his previous ones. Btw, his previous ones all have capes except for Golden Age.
]
[1] Peter Parker: "Hey, that's some great responsibility!"