Chapter 13 – Crisis at the USJ
Shigaraki stepped fully out of the swirling black-purple mist and looked around the plaza like a disappointed tourist. His cracked hands flexed at his sides as he scanned the empty space.
"Where the hell is All Might?" he muttered, voice thin and irritated. "The files said he'd be here. This whole stupid plan was built around him showing up so we could kill him."
He lifted one hand and began scratching violently at the side of his neck, nails digging in hard enough to leave red streaks. The irritation in his tone grew sharper with every word.
"This is so annoying… I came all this way and the Symbol of Peace can't even bother to show up on time?"
Then something seemed to click behind the hand-mask. Shigaraki's scratching slowed. A slow, manic grin stretched across his face, the kind that made the air feel colder.
"Maybe if we kill some of the students…" he whispered, eyes lighting up with twisted delight, "he'll finally come out to play."
-back with izuku-
Izuku's blood ran cold as he saw more and more villains come from the gate.
His head whipped toward Aizawa, mouth open to shout a warning but it wasn't needed. He had already seen the horde of villains spilling out of the portals..
The teacher's eyes narrowed behind his goggles he pulled down. Without hesitation he barked over his shoulder, "THIRTEEN! Evacuate the students—NOW!"
Then Aizawa charged straight into the swarm, capture scarf whipping out like living steel as he erased quirks left and right. He moved with brutal efficiency, dropping villains before they could even finish activating their powers.
"Everyone to the exit now!!" Thirteen yelled as she turned to make her way towards the doors.
The class barely had time to react.
Before anyone could take a single step toward Thirteen, Kurogiri appeared in a burst of black-purple mist right in the middle of the group. His calm voice cut through the rising panic like a blade.
"You will not be leaving so easily."
Portals exploded open all around them.
The world twisted.
Izuku felt Nerissa's hand clamp desperately around his wrist a split second before gravity vanished. The ground disappeared beneath their feet. Everything spun violently.
Then when they were falling, Izuku quickly grabbed her and wrapped her around to absorb the impact from their fall.
They slammed hard into smooth tile hard.
Izuku rolled with it, pulling Nerissa closer so she didn't hit the ground as badly. When the spinning finally stopped, they were alone in the central plaza, but they were on the far side of the fountain from where Aizawa was still fighting.
Villains were already waiting for them.
A dozen of them grinned as they fanned out, quirks crackling to life—flames, blades, stretching limbs, all aimed directly at the two students who had been dropped right in the middle of the kill zone.
Izuku didn't hesitate.
He raised his hand, shadows surging at his feet like a living tide.
"Arise."
Darkness erupted upward in a wave. 2 dozen Human-sized armored figures rose from his shadow, glowing blue eyes snapping open as they formed a protective line in front of him and Nerissa.
Nerissa was already on her feet beside him, palms glowing with bright white light.
"Ready?" she asked, voice tight but steady.
Izuku nodded once, shadows coiling around his arms like living armor.
"Stay behind the soldiers. We need to fight our way to Aizawa."
The villains charged with a roar.
Izuku's shadow soldiers met them head-on.
One knight slammed a thug into the ground so hard the tile cracked. Another caught a flame-wielding villain mid-leap and hurled him sideways. Nerissa fired concentrated beams of light, blinding and disorienting anyone who slipped past the front line.
Izuku moved with them, 10% of One For All humming through his muscles as he drove a shadow-reinforced fist into the nearest attacker's stomach, sending the man flying.
The impact echoed across the plaza, and the villains seemed to take it as a challenge. More of them poured toward the central fountain, drawn by the growing fight like moths to a flame. What had started as a scattered dozen or so villains quickly swelled into two dozen, then three. Shouts and quirks lit up the air as the enemy numbers swelled, clearly directed now toward the two students putting up real resistance.
"More of them are coming!" Nerissa called, firing another bright beam that blinded a charging villain mid-stride.
Izuku didn't waste time answering. He raised his free hand, shadows surging at his feet like a living tide.
"Igris! Kaelros! Take the larger groups on the flanks!"
The two powerful constructs answered instantly.
Igris materialized in a swirl of black armor and flowing cloak, crimson eyes glowing as he stepped forward with his massive sword already drawn. Kaelros burst into existence beside him, obsidian scales gleaming with faint blue veins, wings flaring wide as the dragon let out a low, resonant growl.
"Go!" Izuku ordered.
Igris gave a single sharp nod and charged into the thickest cluster of villains on the left. Kaelros launched skyward, swooping low over the right flank and unleashing controlled bursts of shadow-flame that sent groups of villains scattering away from the dragon.
The smaller shadow knights continued their work, holding the direct line in front of Izuku and Nerissa. They fought with disciplined precision but the enemy kept coming. One by one the lesser knights began to fall as the villains adapted, overwhelming them with sheer numbers and raw power.
Each time a knight shattered, Izuku felt a small but noticeable tug on his stamina, like a thread being yanked from his core. But immediately he reformed them beside him. The knights rose again almost instantly, blue eyes flaring with fervor then rushing back into the fight, but the constant cycle was starting to wear on him. His breathing grew slightly heavier, a faint sheen of sweat forming on his brow.
Even as they fought for their lives, neither he nor Nerissa aimed to kill. Izuku was using just enough to knock villains unconscious or immobilize them. Nerissa's light beams were calibrated to blind and stun. They were holding back, trying to protect themselves while still refusing to cross that final line.
Shigaraki stood on a raised section of ruined tile, watching Aizawa with bored fascination. The teacher was a blur of motion — scarf whipping out, erasing quirks left and right, dropping villains before they could even finish activating their powers. It had been entertaining at first.
But then Shigaraki's eyes drifted to the dragon soaring across the plaza, sweeping aside whole groups of his grunts with precise, controlled bursts. Then to the larger knight that was batting aside groups of his mobs.
His scratching at his neck slowed.
"Huh…" he muttered, head tilting. "That big lizard thing is actually kind of cool. Kinda like a mini boss."
He flicked his fingers lazily toward five of the hulking lesser Nomu waiting near the main portal.
"Go deal with the dragon and the knight. They're annoying me now."
The five Nomu lumbered forward, heavy footsteps shaking the ground as they moved to intercept Igris and Kaelros.
Shigaraki watched Aizawa for a few more seconds, then let out a long, irritated sigh.
"Eh… I'm bored of this one," he said, gesturing toward Aizawa. "Nomu — the big one with the beak. Go finish Eraser Head. Make it quick."
The massive purple beaked Nomu stepped out from behind with a low, guttural roar and charged straight at Aizawa.
Shigaraki stopped watching and turned his full attention toward the central plaza, eyes narrowing on the two students still fighting desperately.
He watched them closely now.
The way they fought.
The way they held back.
His grin slowly faded into a scowl of pure annoyance, fingers digging harder into his neck.
"They're… holding back?" he hissed, voice dripping with disgust. "Even when their lives are on the line, they're still playing hero? How pathetic."
The scratching grew more frantic.
"This is supposed to be fun… and they're ruining it."
His dead eyes locked onto Izuku and Nerissa with fresh, dangerous interest.
"Maybe it's time to make them stop pretending."
Shigaraki's scratching slowed. A vicious, manic grin split across his face beneath the hand-mask, eyes lighting up with cruel delight.
Back with izuku, the tide was turning fast.
Five hulking Nomu burst through a fresh warp gate, their grotesque forms slamming into the tile hard enough to crack it. One of them immediately veered toward the smaller shadow knights, massive fists swinging like wrecking balls. The other two charged straight at Igris, and the other 2 went after kaleros.
Igris spun to meet them, sword flashing, but the two Nomu crashed into him like freight trains. He held for a moment—barely—before the sheer weight forced him back. Kaelros dove in to help, wings beating as he tried to draw their attention, but the Nomu were relentless. The two strongest summons were now completely tied up, locked in brutal close combat with the 4 nomu.
The areas they had been holding off were suddenly wide open.
Dozens of villains surged forward, sensing the opening. Quirks flared—flames, blades, stretching limbs—all aimed directly at the two students now standing exposed in the center of the plaza.
Izuku's jaw tightened. "Nerissa—stay close!"
He pushed his body harder than ever before.
Twenty-five percent of One For All flooded his body in a crackling surge of green lightning. The power let him move like a blur. He blitzed from villain to fists slamming into solar plexuses, knees driving into stomachs, elbows cracking against jaws. Each strike dropped an enemy cleanly, but every step came with a price.
His bones groaned under the strain. A sharp crack echoed in his left arm as a hairline fracture formed. Another snap in his right shin. Pain lanced through him with every movement, but he didn't slow down.
Nerissa stayed back firing precise beams of light to blind and stagger anyone who got too close. Her breathing was already ragged from the constant healing and fighting.
Izuku finally skidded to a stop next to her, chest heaving. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth. Nerissa didn't hesitate—she placed both hands against his back, warm light pouring into his body as she knit bone and muscle back together.
"Izuku, you're killing yourself!" she cried, voice thick with worry. "You can't keep pushing like this!"
He was about to answer when a sharp, sudden drain hit him like a punch to the gut. His head snapped up just in time to see Kaelros shatter apart into black particles, the dragon's form collapsing under the combined assault of the two Nomu.
"Damn it—!" Izuku hissed.
He forced the summon again. Kaelros reappeared in a swirl of shadow. Izuku was panting harder now, sweat dripping down his face, legs trembling under the mounting exhaustion.
For several long, brutal minutes they held the line shadow knights reforming as fast as they could, Nerissa's light flashing, Izuku moving like a green blur despite the damage he was doing to his own body. But they had finally cleared out most of the regular villains now all that was left were the nomu. Things were looking up for them.
Then a massive dark purple figure exploded into the fray.
The beaked Nomu rushed forward with terrifying speed. It slammed into Igris first, one enormous fist caving in the knight's chest plate with a sickening crunch. Igris staggered. Before he could recover, the Nomu grabbed him by the head and smashed him into the ground hard enough to crater the tile.
Igris's form shattered instantly, dissolving into wisps of shadow that streaked back toward Izuku.
A heartbeat later, the same Nomu turned on Kaelros. The dragon tried to dodge, but the creature was too fast. A single devastating strike ripped through Kaelros's wing and torso. The dragon let out a final, pained roar before he too exploded into particles.
Both of Izuku's strongest summons were gone in seconds.
Izuku stood there and stared in shock at both of them going down so quickly and now he had no energy to summon them again.
Nerissa's eyes widened in horror. "Izuku—!"
He didn't think.
He just moved.
Izuku stepped forward, planting himself directly between the towering Nomu and Nerissa. His arms shook. His legs felt like they were made of glass. Every breath burned.
They were in a horrible situation.
No more summons.
No more reinforcements.
Just the two of them, exhausted and cornered, with the black Nomu and the other 5 looming over them like death itself.
Shigaraki's vicious grin widened from his vantage point above the plaza.
"Oh… this is perfect," he whispered, nails digging deeper into his neck.