The villains who were still standing in the central plaza shrank back the moment they saw All Might appear at the entrance gate.
One of them gasped, his voice trembling:
"This is the first time I've ever seen him… in person…"
Another took a step back, his whole body recoiling instinctively.
"His presence… it's overwhelming…"
"Quit backing up, you idiot!" the third one snarled, desperately trying to mask his rising panic. "We're here to kill him, remember?!"
But they didn't even have time to reorganize their fear.
All Might simply vanished.
One moment he was at the gate… the next, a violent gust tore through the plaza, and all the villains were flung away like rag dolls, knocked unconscious before they could even realize what hit them.
The hero stopped at the center of the arena, his eyes immediately locking onto Shigaraki and the Nomu pinning Aizawa to the ground.
Without hesitation, All Might charged forward like a lightning bolt.
TEXAS SMAAASH!!!
The blow slammed straight into the hulking, dark-skinned, bird-headed monster. The blast of air ripped the Nomu from the ground and sent it flying, the shockwave crashing into Shigaraki as well, hurling him several meters back before he managed to regain his footing.
Shigaraki began to laugh — a distorted, high-pitched, almost childlike cackle.
"Ha… hahaha… throwing punches to save people… that's state-sponsored violence…" he tilted his head, fingers tapping the hand-mask. "You're fast, All Might. Too fast for me to keep up properly… but not as fast as I expected. Maybe the rumors about you getting weaker are true…?"
All Might didn't even look at him.
His attention was on Aizawa.
He lifted his colleague into his arms, his expression tightening at the sight of the severe injuries — ruined arms, mutilated face, weak breathing. As he took a step to move, he felt pressure coming from the side.
A massive shadow loomed.
A colossal wrecking-ball was hurtling straight toward him.
He leapt with Aizawa on his shoulder, the sphere roaring beneath him before smashing into the reinforced storm-zone wall.
All Might landed at the entrance of the dome, where part of the class was tending to Thirteen, touching down like a bolt of lightning with Aizawa in his arms. He gently laid Aizawa on the ground beside Thirteen.
"Take care of him!" his voice boomed — commanding and urgent.
And before anyone could answer, All Might had already leapt back toward the center of the arena, ready to face Shigaraki.
Without hesitating, he charged straight at him, arms crossed, ready to unleash a Carolina Smash.
But the Nomu intercepted the blow.
The creature appeared in front of the villain in the blink of an eye, taking the attack with its exposed torso and absorbing all of its force. The ground cracked, a burst of air rippled out… yet the Nomu remained there, unmoving, as if nothing had happened.
All Might's eyes widened.
"…What…?"
Before he could finish the thought, the Nomu lunged with a grab. All Might dropped down instantly, dodging by mere inches, and countered with a powerful punch to the creature's stomach.
Nothing.
Not even a scratch.
"You've got to be kidding me…"
He began unleashing a flurry of quick blows, but none had any effect.
Behind them, Shigaraki chuckled softly, explaining like a bored teacher:
"Your efforts are useless… He has shock absorption. Punches won't work. If you truly want to beat him, you'd have to tear him apart… piece by piece. But honestly? Once you get tired of punching… you'll die."
The Nomu threw a monstrous punch. All Might blocked it, feeling the impact reverberate through his entire arm.
"Thanks for the tip!" he snarled.
But then something flashed to his right.
On instinct, All Might leapt aside at the exact moment a plasma beam cut through the air, exploding against the ground where he had been moments before. A blue flash lit up the plaza, smoke rose, and the hero landed several meters away, staring at the new threat.
For a moment, he was speechless.
A massive black spherical robot projected itself into the arena, supported by multiple retractable arms. Its smooth surface reflected the lights of the artificial storm raging inside the storm zone.
"This is…" All Might muttered, incredulous.
"It's exactly what you think…" Shigaraki replied, casually walking up beside the Nomu. "Your face has been on so many newspapers, after all. Allow me to introduce… the one that killed one of the strongest heroes in the USA."
He lifted his hand as if presenting a masterpiece.
"Omnidroid."
The robot's visor lit up red. Lines of data streamed across its display, analyzing All Might within milliseconds: stance, threat level, breathing rate, possible weaknesses… everything processed and adjusted.
The machine reached its conclusion.
TARGET: ALL MIGHT
THREAT LEVEL: 9.8
INITIATING EXTERMINATION PROTOCOL.
The Omnidroid fired a burst of plasma, then another, and another—successive, precise shots.
All Might dodged the first, then the second, leapt to avoid the third, but—
The Nomu appeared behind him, striking him mid-air with a brutal punch.
All Might retaliated immediately, hitting the creature with enough force to carve a crater into the ground… but it was like punching a flexible wall that absorbed the impact without taking damage.
And then—
A plasma beam struck the hero from the side.
The explosion sent him flying like a projectile, tearing through the arena floor as his body rolled across the concrete. His shirt was almost completely shredded, smoke rising from where the blast had hit.
All Might caught his breath, bracing one hand against the broken ground.
"Tsk… what the hell is this…?"
The Nomu charged at him. The Omnidroid followed, its retractable arms unfolding like blades as its cannon reloaded another deadly shot.
In the distance, Shigaraki laughed as though watching an unmissable show.
"Let's see how long the Symbol of Peace can last against two forces capable of killing him…"
----------------------------------------
The explosions echoed like metallic thunder, shaking the entire disaster zone. The group, still gathered near the exit, watched the distant glow of the clash between All Might, the Nomu, and the mechanical monster.
Ryo let out a tired sigh, his shoulders finally relaxing.
"…Looks like we're safe now," he murmured.
"Seems so," Todoroki agreed, keeping his eyes on the columns of smoke rising into the air.
Ryo took one step forward. Then another. His hand instinctively gripped his left arm, where the dark purple bruise clashed sharply against his uniform. Pain shot through him like an electric current.
"Idiot…" he thought bitterly. "I was a complete idiot."
Waiting for All Might would have been easier. Safer. More rational.
But the memory of that moment — Aizawa being slammed into the ground by the Nomu, the sound of that impact, the desperation in the teacher's breathing — was almost immediately replaced by another image: a small child, himself, surrounded by bodies and crying.
Ryo clenched his teeth so hard it hurt. Midoriya's words echoed in his mind, irritating like a persistent buzzing:
"Your effort was degraded by others, not by you…"
He hated how much sense that made.
Ryo started walking toward the exit without looking back. Todoroki and Tsuyu exchanged uncertain glances before slowly following him.
"Wait!" Midoriya stepped in front of them, arms spread. "We have to help All Might!"
The group stopped.
Midoriya swallowed hard, finally seeming to gather the courage to speak.
"I… I finally remembered that thing that attacked us earlier!" He pointed toward the center of the battlefield, where the Omnidroid was trading blows with the Nomu and All Might. "That robot… it's the same one that caused chaos in USA! The same one that killed their number two hero! All Might is strong, but this time he might seriou—"
Ryo grabbed him by the collar.
His bright green eyes burned with fury.
"Shut. Your. Damn. Mouth!" he snarled.
Midoriya froze.
"Now you want to help?" Ryo yanked him closer, close enough for their breaths to mix. "Now!? When Aizawa was being practically TORTURED, you jumped in and stopped me! What's the difference between the two, Midoriya!?"
Midoriya only blinked, confused, as if he had no answer.
"And even if we wanted to help All Might…" Ryo continued, his voice cracking under exhaustion and anger, "what the hell can we do against that? You just said it's the same machine that KILLED a top hero in another country! What do you think KIDS like us are supposed to do!? Huh!?"
Midoriya opened his mouth… but nothing came out.
He had never seen Ryo like this. None of them had.
Ryo suddenly let go, making Midoriya stumble back a step.
The silence that followed was heavy. Suffocating.
"I'm done with this," Ryo said, his voice low but carrying all the weight he had been holding in. "This damn hero course, this heroism, everything! If all we're going to do is watch people suffer like this… I don't want to be part of this anymore."
Midoriya felt the world collapse for a moment. The words hit him deep, each syllable like a slap.
He wondered — what had changed?
Aizawa and All Might… both were heroes. Both were people.
So why had he stopped Ryo earlier, but now he was ready to run straight into danger?
Because it was All Might?
Because he was his idol?
Because he was his mentor?
Because he was the one who entrusted him with One For All…?
The answer filled him with shame.
He opened his mouth, ready to apologize, ready to say something—anything…
But a scream tore through the air.
They all turned at once.
And they saw.
All Might was on his knees.
His left arm… was gone.
Blood was dripping down his torn uniform.
The Omnidroid was approaching like an executioner.
The Nomu roared beside it.
The Symbol of Peace… was falling.
----------------------------------------
All Might's condition was deplorable — and Shigaraki seemed to savor every second of it.
"Heh… just look at you…" the villain's voice trembled, almost affectionate in its cruelty. "You look better like this. Hurt. Bleeding. Helpless. The Symbol of Peace reduced to a lump of ground meat."
All Might forced himself upright, his whole body shaking, one hand pressed against where his left arm had once been. Blood dripped between his fingers. His chest heaved, and sweat mixed with the dust of the battlefield.
He couldn't keep going.
Every time he tried to charge at the Omnidroid, the Nomu intercepted him like a living shield, blocking every strike. And when he tried to go around the Nomu, the robot fired plasma bursts that burned through the air as they passed. With Kurogiri now opening random portals, the attacks came from impossible blind spots.
A portal opened to All Might's right — he jumped back just in time — but another opened in front of him, and another to the left, and one behind him. Four gigantic metallic claws burst from the portals at once, aiming to skewer him like spears.
All Might leapt high—
And the Nomu met him in the air.
A monstrous punch collided with All Might's right arm, the only one he had left to block with. The impact echoed like thunder, hurling him straight into the steps of the central plaza. The crash made the concrete explode into a cloud of dust and debris.
Shigaraki laughed like a madman.
"THIS IS ART!" he almost screamed. "Look at him! Just look at this! Kurogiri… this toy our master's 'friend' lent us is incredible!"
"I must agree, Tomura," Kurogiri replied in his distorted voice. "The Omnidroid combined with the Nomu creates a deadly pair."
The Omnidroid tilted its spherical body, sensors analyzing All Might buried in the rubble. Red readings flashed across its internal display.
CRITICAL VITAL SIGNS
TARGET'S PHYSICAL INTEGRITY COMPROMISED
THREAT LEVEL: 7.8
But its calculations were cut short by a sudden green flash.
Midoriya appeared in the blink of an eye, One For All coursing through his entire body like green lightning at 100%. He couldn't even feel the weight of his own muscles — only instinct screaming at him to move.
"There's so much you still need to teach me!"
A violent SMASH hit the Omnidroid dead in the center, denting its metallic shell and launching the robot into the collapse zone like a metal cannonball.
Shigaraki and Kurogiri were stunned for a moment — just long enough for Bakugo to blast in with a furious roar, slamming Kurogiri into the ground.
"STAY STILL, PURPLE SMOKE!!"
"STEP AWAY FROM OUR TEACHER!!" Kirishima shouted, trying to strike Shigaraki with a hardened arm.
Midoriya landed hard, expecting to feel his bones shatter… but nothing happened.
He stared at his own body, panting.
"I… I'm fine!? Is… is this it? Is this what it's like when I can control One For All…?"
There was no time to reflect.
Shigaraki clicked his tongue, irritated.
"NOMU!! Kill them all!"
The creature appeared behind Bakugo and Kirishima like a nightmare shadow—
But a punch connected with its beak-like face.
A punch from Ryo.
The impact sent the Nomu flying like a projectile. The green-eyed boy stood still, his right arm covered in microfractures like glass about to shatter.
"TAKEDA!" Kirishima shouted, excited for a moment… until he saw the miserable state of his friend. "Dude, are you okay!?"
Ryo didn't even turn his head.
"Worry about yourself," he growled. "This is far from over."
The Nomu tumbled across the ground, digging its feet in to stop itself. It roared, preparing to charge.
Ryo stared it down, spitting a thin line of blood.
"Heard you crawled out of a lab…" he muttered, muscles tensing as Inert Transition surged through his body again. "So I've got no reason to hold back on you."
With that, they charged at each other.
Their fists collided in an explosion of wind so strong everyone nearby was pushed back.
The shockwave was followed by a rapid sequence: blows, dry impacts, cracks, cross-punches — like two animals fighting for territory.
Each exchange opened new fractures along Ryo's arms. His nose bled, his body trembled with pain. But he didn't stop. Didn't slow down. Didn't hesitate.
Suddenly, Ryo stepped back half a pace, gathering energy in both arms — and lunged.
A double strike hit the Nomu's arms.
The Nomu's limbs exploded into bloody fragments.
Shigaraki's eyes widened.
"WHAT—!?"
The Nomu immediately began to regenerate.
Ryo watched the flesh trying to knit itself back together.
"No way I'm letting you heal in the middle of a fight!"
Veins lit up along his right arm, green light glowing beneath the cracked, torn skin.
He poured all his weight, all his strength, all the energy his body could handle into that final motion.
And delivered a devastating uppercut to the Nomu's jaw.
The creature's entire upper body was ripped off.
The impact released a colossal shockwave that shot upward, tearing the entire USJ ceiling open like flimsy paper and sending dust, concrete, and steel beams flying.
Sunlight flooded the scene.
And the Nomu ceased to exist above the middle of its torso.
----------------------------------------
Through the clouds of dust and debris, the Omnidroid's metal shell trembles… and rises again.
Its internal servos buzz, warped plates snap back into place, and the central red eye flickers, reactivating with a harsh beep.
Hull damage: 34%.
Internal systems: partially compromised.
Continuous operation… possible.
Its visor refocuses just in time to catch that colossal explosion at the center of the plaza — the exact moment Ryo reduces the Nomu to a torso and smoke.
ANALYZING TARGET
THREAT LEVEL: 7.4
Recalculating…
NEW THREAT LEVEL: 10
CRITICAL THREAT
ACTIVATING PROTOCOL: SENTINEL
SENDING DATA TO MATRIX…
Its claws retract into the body, the head withdraws — and within seconds it returns to its wrecking-ball form. But it remains inert, motionless, until the entire body splits in half.
Across the plaza, Shigaraki stares, dumbstruck, at the mutilated body of the Nomu at Ryo's feet. It shatters every expectation — a student had taken down the tank they spent so long preparing.
"What… what WAS THAT?!" he screams, scratching his neck until it bleeds. "A… a student… A STUDENT destroyed the Nomu?! That… that makes no sense… NO SENSE AT ALL!"
He sees Ryo staggering, barely able to move a muscle. An easy target.
"I'll kill you right now!!" he bolts forward.
But a massive pillar of ice erupts in front of Shigaraki, completely engulfing him.
"You're not laying a finger on him," Shoto declares, cold as the ice itself.
Shigaraki emerges from the mist of Kurogiri's warp.
"Tomura, are you alright?"
"OF COURSE I'M FINE, DAMMIT!" he roars. "Kill that kid! HE ruined everything!"
Then Bakugo blasts between them like a missile:
"DIE, YOU BASTARDS!"
—but the villains vanish into the portal.
They appear behind Ryo — Shigaraki half-emerged from the warp gate, hand outstretched for the killing touch.
Ryo, too exhausted, can only move his eyes.
But then a massive hand appears.
All Might grabs Shigaraki's arm and yanks him out of the portal like a ragdoll.
"I will never… EVER allow you to harm my students!"
Shigaraki clicks his tongue, snarling, and with Kurogiri's help reappears in the plaza — this time surrounded: All Might in front, Todoroki on the left, Bakugo ready to blast, Kirishima and Midoriya closing from behind.
"Surrender, villains," All Might orders, voice steady. "You've already lost."
Shigaraki trembles, scratching his neck compulsively.
"No… no way… we were so close… SO CLOSE…"
"Tomura…" Kurogiri says calmly. "I believe we should retreat."
"IT'S THAT BRAT'S FAULT! EVERYTHING IS BECAUSE OF HI—"
Shigaraki stops mid-sentence when he senses a tall, slender, black presence rising behind Ryo and All Might — it moves so fast no one sees it coming.
Its long arm smashes into Ryo's side like a sideways shove, launching him into the air like a meteor.
He tears through trees, rocks, and vanishes into the forest in a devastating explosion.
"YOUNG TAKEDA!!" All Might cries, horrified.
He charges with a desperate SMASH—
but in a fraction of a second, the creature coats itself in a gleaming diamond layer, blocking the strike with flawless stability.
All Might's eyes widen.
BIO-DATA COPIED
The being wastes no time — a brutal punch slams into All Might's abdomen. Not merely a blunt strike… but a Smash. The hero is launched at incredible speed, blasted across the sky, disappearing toward the storm zone, dragging clouds of dust and smoke with him.
Bakugo arrives in an explosion.
"COME AT ME, YOU—"
The creature grabs him by the face.
And hurls him straight into the plaza fountain. The water erupts, and Bakugo blacks out instantly, floating unconscious.
Todoroki summons an enormous ice wall, crushing and covering the creature completely. But something incandescent bursts from within — heat, concentrated flames radiating inside the ice, melting it in an instant.
The frozen pillar dissolves like fragile frost under summer heat, the black body igniting until completely wreathed in fire.
And before he can react, the creature's face opens and fires a blinding, searing beam. Todoroki raises a wall of ice to defend himself — it shatters, and he's flung violently toward the flood zone's coast.
Midoriya and Kirishima, on the opposite side, watch everything unfold in a single, breathless instant.
The entity returns to its original form — black metal, eyes like tiny cold beacons — and its sensors lock onto them.
They freeze on the spot.
Midoriya drenched in cold sweat.
Kirishima struggling to stay brave.
"M-Midoriya… w-what the hell is that?" Kirishima whispers.
Midoriya swallows hard, terrified.
"I-I… I have no idea…"
But one thing he understands…
The true nightmare of the USJ has finally stepped onto the field.
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(A/N: Give me 50 Stones after the reset and I'll send a chapter bonus!)