Outside the closed gates of U.A., life seemed strangely calm for a Wednesday afternoon. The wind blew softly through the area, carrying with it dry leaves that slid across the nearly empty asphalt. The streets were silent… far too silent.
Inside a black car parked near the side entrance, a man with short hair rested his arms on the steering wheel. His name was Hajime Sakamoto, thirty-five years old, tired expression, and a look that made it clear he had seen far too much for a simple security agent.
He let out a heavy sigh.
"Empty roads today… damn Wednesday," he muttered, tapping his finger on the steering wheel in a nervous tic. "I don't know how much longer I can take this…"
Hajime adjusted his seatbelt, leaning his head back against the headrest with a frustrated air.
He remembered perfectly the day his superiors "promoted" him — or so they called it. From Ryo Tanaka's personal driver to part of the strategic surveillance team.
The old Hajime would've celebrated. A problem child, dangerous, son of a hated hero and with a quirk capable of leveling cities… who would want to be the driver of that kid?
But after years around Ryo — daily check-ups, taking him to the hospital to visit his mother, watching him grow up in a chaos that wasn't his fault — Hajime had grown a bit attached to the boy. Whether he wanted to or not, he cared.
And now? Now he was part of a disgusting plan from his superiors: mentally breaking the boy until he, on his own, agreed to be institutionalized. He knew very well they just wanted to grind him down enough to manipulate him.
Hajime closed his eyes, feeling his stomach churn just thinking about it.
"Damn it… the kid doesn't deserve this…"
The passenger door suddenly opened.
"I'm back!" announced a light female voice before a blonde woman stepped into the car. Rin Kobayashi, twenty-eight years old, immaculate black blazer, perfect posture… and a rice ball in hand.
She handed a snack to Hajime.
"I got the one you like, senpai."
"Thanks…" he replied, without much enthusiasm.
Rin settled in, crossed one leg over the other, and began eating her rice ball. Despite her professional air, she had a curious sparkle in her eyes — typical of rookies.
"You know, senpai," she began, wiping a grain of rice from the corner of her mouth, "I've only been here a week, but… this Tanaka kid. If he's so dangerous…" she tilted her head, genuinely confused, "why don't we just drug him and put him into a deep coma? Solves everything, doesn't it?"
Hajime stopped chewing.
His silence lasted several seconds.
"Kobayashi-san…" he murmured, frowning. "If it were that simple… we would've done it years ago."
She raised an eyebrow, puzzled.
"What do you mean?"
Hajime turned his face toward her, elbow resting on the window as he spoke in an almost resigned tone:
"The kid is completely immune. Drugs, sedatives, anesthetics… even experimental poisons. Nothing works on him. And to make it worse… he's also immune to any disease. Natural, synthetic… doesn't matter."
Rin froze.
Literally, she sat there with her mouth open.
The rice ball slipped from her hand and fell into her lap without her noticing.
"…You…" she blinked. "You're kidding me, right?"
"Wish I were," Hajime replied, too tired to laugh. "When I found out, I had the exact same expression as you."
He shook his head, letting out a humorless laugh.
"All those medical check-ins I did when I was his driver…" he tapped the steering wheel lightly "…all for nothing. The kid never needed any of it."
Rin still looked at him as if she had just heard an urban legend come to life.
"That… that's not a normal quirk," she murmured, finally blinking. "That's actually… kind of scary."
Hajime leaned back in his seat.
"Yeah. And even so they want to mess with his head. I don't know how they think that's safe." His eyes darkened. "The worst part is… he's still just a kid, you know?"
Rin didn't know how to respond. For the first time since joining the team, she looked genuinely uncomfortable.
Silence took over the car for a few seconds.
Until Rin took a deep breath and asked quietly:
"Sakamoto-senpai… is this job… always like this?"
Hajime closed his eyes for a moment.
"Unfortunately, rookie…" he replied in a heavy tone, "sometimes there are even worse days."
----------------------------------------
The Nomu pinned Aizawa to the ground as if the hero were nothing more than an annoying insect. Its monstrous hand squeezed Eraser Head's already-shattered right arm, pressing it down even harder with its massive palm. Aizawa's muffled scream echoed through the central plaza, covered in dust, debris, and blood.
Shigaraki walked slowly around the scene, his trembling hands swaying slightly, as if irritated by a prank gone wrong.
"That kid from earlier really gave me a scare…" he muttered, tilting his head. "I didn't think anyone here could even make the Nomu move… I'll deal with him later…"
He crouched in front of Aizawa, as though inspecting a broken toy.
"So? What do you think of our anti–Symbol of Peace bioweapon?" he asked in an almost childlike tone. "Cool, right?"
Aizawa gritted his teeth in pain but said nothing.
"Your quirk-erasing ability is amazing… but against people who are truly strong, you're nothing but a quirkless wannabe hero."
The Nomu then crushed Aizawa's other arm against the ground.
His scream tore through the air.
Shigaraki watched like someone admiring a painting being completed.
It was then that Kurogiri appeared beside him, his dark mist rippling softly.
"Tomura."
"Kurogiri…" Shigaraki replied, still watching Aizawa being tortured. "Is Thirteen dead?"
"Not dead," the warp gate answered calmly. "Incapacitated. However… there was an issue. I couldn't teleport some students… and one of them managed to escape."
Shigaraki froze for two seconds.
"Oh…"
Both his hands went to his neck, scratching compulsively, leaving the skin red.
"What have you done…" he snarled. "You just jeopardized the entire plan! If it weren't for you… if you weren't our only ticket out of here, I would've turned you to dust RIGHT NOW!"
Kurogiri remained composed despite the explosive outburst.
"We still have that, Tomura. The Master instructed us to use it if the situation didn't go as planned."
Shigaraki froze for an instant.
Then stopped scratching.
"Ah… right. I almost forgot." His laugh trembled. "Heh… hehehe… that solves things for now."
Kurogiri tilted his "head."
"Shall I bring it?"
"Hm? Of course! What do you think!?" Shigaraki snapped, his fingers twitching irritably in the air.
"Understood."
Kurogiri vanished into the mist.
Left alone, Shigaraki kicked a chunk of concrete.
"Tsk… I had gotten such a nice little gift from Master… I wanted to play with it before using that. Now the fun's already ruined…"
Across the flood-zone coast, the scene was entirely different. Midoriya and Tsuyu were desperately trying to stop Ryo. Midoriya pushed the boy back with both arms while Tsuyu wrapped her tongue around Ryo's waist, pulling him away from the path leading to the plaza center.
"Ribbit! Takeda-kun, you're injured! You can't go!" Tsuyu said, still trembling from the cold.
"Stop!" Midoriya whimpered, pushing his classmate with all the strength he had. "You can't go there like this!"
Ryo glared at them, frustrated.
"What do you want me to do then!?" he shouted. "Stand here and WATCH OUR TEACHER DIE!? You don't feel anything seeing that!?"
Midoriya flinched, his face tightening. He answered with a swallowed sob:
"I do… I do feel something! I want to run out there and help! But if you rush in, you'll put everyone here in danger! You…" The words broke as tears filled his eyes. "I thought you would understand that!"
Ryo's gaze locked on the boy with intensity. There was a clash of convictions: the desire to save a teacher on the brink of death versus the duty to protect the group. Ryo saw the tears in Midoriya's eyes and, for a moment, it rattled him—not because the scene moved him, but because it infuriated him deeply.
He knew well the weight of sacrifice—giving up one to save many—but what gnawed at him was how no one seemed to consider the life, the fear, or the perspective of the one being left behind.
And to Ryo… that coldness had always been the cruelest part of it all. And he hated it from the bottom of his heart.
"I expected more from you… Midoriya."
Before anyone could break the tension, a massive shadow appeared above them—blocking out the sky.
"What…?" Midoriya looked up.
A gigantic portal, made of Kurogiri's distorted mist, opened in the air like a bottomless abyss.
"That mist guy again…?" Todoroki muttered, narrowing his eyes.
From within, something vast and dark descended: a massive black sphere, slowly spinning as if aligning itself for the perfect impact. It plummeted, slicing through the air, falling toward the frozen coast where the four stood.
BOOOOOOM
The sphere struck the frozen shoreline, shattering layers of ice and launching columns of water and broken ice skyward. The ground trembled as if hit by a low-magnitude earthquake.
From the center of the plaza, Shigaraki watched the explosion with his head tilted, as though admiring fireworks.
"Heh… that takes care of four at once."
Aizawa struggled to stay conscious, his vision blurred, but he still saw — even if only for a split second — the monstrous sphere crashing down toward his students. A strangled groan escaped him, heavy with despair.
Shigaraki heard it and laughed.
"Ahh, did you like that?" he tilted his head, scratching his own neck with chipped nails. "Get used to it, Eraserhead… because you're going to witness this over and over today. Your precious students will die… one by one."
Aizawa tried to rise once more, driven by pain and fury, but the Nomu's colossal hand grabbed his head and slammed it into the concrete. The ground caved in, a crater opening beneath him. A dry crack echoed through the air. Aizawa's breath came out in shivers.
At the flood zone's coast, Midoriya coughed, stumbling as cold droplets of water slid down his face. Tsuyu trembled while pushing herself up, still hugging her own body to chase away the cold. Todoroki stepped over the shattered remnants of his ice, unable to understand how it had all been broken apart in a single impact.
"W-what… what was that…?" Midoriya mumbled before lifting his gaze.
And nearly lost his breath.
The titanic black sphere hovered slowly above them, still descending after the crash. Its size, its weight… it was absurd.
"ARE YOU THREE OKAY?!"
Ryo's voice tore through the air.
The three turned — and their eyes went wide.
Ryo was hunched forward, teeth clenched, feet buried in the soaked ground from sheer physical pressure… holding the colossal sphere above his head alone.
Todoroki simply couldn't believe what he was seeing. That thing had destroyed the entire mass of ice he'd created to shield them with its weight… yet now Ryo was lifting it as if none of that mattered.
Tsuyu was the only one able to answer:
"W-we're fine… ribbit…"
Ryo, feeling the titanic effort tearing him apart from the inside, forced even more strength out of his body. The glowing veins along his arms pulsed with light, revealing the Inert Transition pushed past its safe limits.
The sphere rose, giving the others room to escape — but in the middle of the lift…
CRACK!
Ryo's body gave out for an instant, his arms shaking violently. He dropped a few centimeters — just enough for the weight to nearly crush him.
"Not… now…" he growled through gritted teeth, his voice shaking with raw pain.
The cost of using the Inert Transition fell on him: muscles constantly tensed, as if he had been flexing nonstop since the fight began. Fatigue piled up like physical weight, fibers failing in waves, his left arm trembling uncontrollably. Tiny internal tears burned beneath the skin.
He had passed his limit long ago.
"TAKEDA!" Midoriya shouted, horrified as he watched his classmate struggle.
Ryo looked at him from beneath the sphere, sweat pouring off him like rain… before another muscular failure jolted his body.
"If this keeps up…" Midoriya whispered, breath hitching, "he's going to be crushed!"
"How do we help him, ribbit?" Tsuyu panted.
Midoriya thought fast, eyes darting everywhere… until they lit up with an idea.
On the other side, Ryo kept fighting the impossible weight, struggling to breathe. Then he felt something cold forming around his feet and sides — pillars of ice, taking some of the load. And moments later, something firm wrapped around his torso — Tsuyu's tongue.
He looked forward and saw Midoriya waving at him, sweating, trembling, but determined.
"When I say three — let go!" Midoriya shouted.
"Got it!" Ryo barked through clenched teeth… before another muscle failure nearly made him drop everything.
The ice cracked. Todoroki reinforced it. Tsuyu pulled harder. Ryo held on again, growling.
Midoriya closed his fist, inhaling…
"ONE… TWO… THR—"
But before the "THREE", a metallic, heavy sound vibrated through the air.
Clank… clank… clankclankclank—
The entire sphere shuddered.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! GET ME OU—"
He didn't finish.
A massive claw burst out in front of him, snapping like a metal blade. Then another. And another. Five… six total, wrapping around the sphere as it began rising on its own.
The weight vanished from above him instantly.
"What—?!"
There was no time to react. The machine unfolded its spherical shell, rising on six metallic limbs like an arachnid monster. Tsuyu yanked Ryo back with all her strength, dragging the staggering boy toward the group before the thing could drop onto him.
Ryo rolled to the ground beside them, panting, running a hand through his hair.
He turned around just in time to see a colossal sphere of black metal, retractable legs ending in talons, red sensors scanning the surroundings. Its "head" emerged from the top, rotating with artificial precision. It scanned the USJ… locked onto Shigaraki and the Nomu.
ALLIES DETECTED.
It rotated again.
Locked onto the students.
The visor flashed with violent red.
THREATS DETECTED.
ORDER: EXTERMINATE.
A weapon unfolded beside its head — a plasma cannon humming with energy.
"MOVE!" Todoroki shouted, raising a wall of ice to shield the group.
A blue short line of plasma shot toward them, slicing through the air like a comet, shattering the ice and creating a thick cloud of white steam that swallowed everything around it.
The Omnidroid recalculated, but not fast enough.
Because, in the middle of the smoke…
Ryo burst forward, water splashing behind him.
He braced his body, focused all the strength he still had into his left arm, and punched the front of the machine. The impact hurled the sphere dozens of meters back until it crashed into the collapse zone, cracking the concrete as it hit the ground.
Ryo staggered as he landed in the shallow water, his arm throbbing in unbearable pain.
When he looked down, he saw the purple bruising spreading from his shoulder to his forearm — the muscles twitching uncontrollably, as if they were about to tear apart completely.
"Ribbit! You're in bad shape, Takeda-kun!"
Midoriya rushed in right behind him, desperate.
Todoroki, eyes still fixed on the robot as it stood back up, pressed his fingers against the residual ice.
"What… is that thing? I feel like I've seen it somewhere before…" he muttered, watching the Omnidroid raise its spherical body and turn toward them without appearing damaged at all.
Ryo took a deep breath, forcing himself to stand.
"I… have no idea… but one thing's certain…" he pointed at the robot with his chin. "That thing wants to kill us."
The machine then retracted its six arms and head back into its body, returning to its perfect spherical form.
And it began rolling toward them.
Midoriya paled.
"It's coming back this way!!"
The sphere spun at high speed, making the ground shake as it advanced like a living wrecking ball, carving a trail of destruction through the walkways.
Todoroki stepped forward ahead of the group.
"I guess I don't need to hold back with this thing…" he murmured.
With a sharp stomp, he raised a titanic column of ice, completely engulfing the Omnidroid. The pillar rose like a crystal tower, thick enough to crush an entire building.
Dash was running in circles through the Forest Zone, searching for survivors, when he saw the blue flash reflected between the trees and the ice pillar rising like a skyscraper.
Behind him, Hagakure waved — or at least her voice vibrating in the right direction suggested so.
"Dash! THAT has to be Todoroki's work for sure!"
The blond swallowed hard.
"Alright! Then we're close! Hold on tight!"
"I-I'm holding!" she said… squeezing even tighter.
Dash turned bright red the moment he felt her chest press against his back.
"I-I already said you don't need to hold that tight!"
"You run like a rocket!" she shot back shamelessly. "I'd rather not go flying, thank you!"
"O-Okay… got it…"
And he dashed off, a golden trail cutting through the forest.
Shigaraki watched the ice tower forming, head tilted.
"Your students really are impressive, Eraser…" he said, scratching himself nonstop. "But that won't stop it… After all, that little thing there managed to kill America's number 2 hero."
Aizawa could only let out a weak grunt, his face dragged against the concrete by the Nomu.
Then the ice column trembled.
Cracks began to form… then spread… and finally exploded outward, launching shards of ice across the area.
The Omnidroid burst from its prison like a freed beast — arms blowing outward, claws digging into the ground, plasma cannon glowing.
It immediately aimed at the group of students.
Midoriya swallowed hard.
Todoroki returned to a combat stance.
Ryo stood firm despite his injured arm.
But before the machine could fire…
BOOOMM!!!
The USJ's main gate was blown apart.
Dust pulled back like curtains.
And All Might emerged at the center of the smoke, muscles trembling, expression fierce.
"DO NOT FEAR…"
He took a firm step forward, his expression now rigid and devoid of his characteristic smile.
"BECAUSE I AM HERE."
The Omnidroid's head turned, its lens focusing on the Symbol of Peace.
Recognition lines ran across its digital visor.
PRIMARY TARGET IDENTIFIED.
ALL MIGHT LOCATED.
ELIMINATION PRIORITY: MAXIMUM.