Near the business district, the air was heavy with smoke, soot, and the acrid smell of scorched concrete.
The last Nomu was still thrashing.
Endeavor held it by the neck with a single hand, lifting the creature off the ground as if it weighed nothing. The Nomu writhed, its claws scraping uselessly against the forearm of the number two hero, its regeneration trying to keep up with the continuous damage its body was suffering.
"Burn," Endeavor said, emotionless.
The flames erupted.
Fire enveloped the Nomu's head in an instant, intense and concentrated, searing flesh, bone, and brain before the creature could even let out a scream. The smell of burning spread as the body went limp, and Endeavor simply hurled it to the ground, where it landed with a charred skull just like the last three.
The silence lasted only a few seconds, broken by the sound of his sidekicks' footsteps.
"Burnin'," he called, turning.
"Here!" she replied, rushing out from among the downed bodies of the Nomus, her flaming green hair dancing behind her.
Endeavor looked her up and down for a brief moment.
"Come with me. Let the others handle this mess."
"Understood!" Burnin' answered cheerfully, flashing a confident grin.
They had only taken a few steps when...
BOOOM!
A violent explosion shook the ground in Hosu's southern zone, a column of dust rising between the distant buildings.
Endeavor stopped.
His eyes narrowed, fixed on the direction of the blast.
"...That's where we're going."
Without another word, Endeavor charged forward, flames dancing across his shoulders as he crossed the street. Burnin' grinned with excitement before taking off right after him, following without hesitation.
----------------------------------------
From above, Robot floated motionless, coldly observing the spot where he had buried the heroes.
Dust rose in thick clouds… and gradually began to dissipate.
What appeared beneath the rubble was a translucent force field, broad enough to enclose a good number of people. Inside it, Anan and the Black Hole heroes remained unharmed, still stunned. At the forefront, Violet kept her arms raised, her face tense with concentration as she sustained the barrier.
Robot tilted his head slightly.
"That is a very convenient Quirk," he commented, his voice metallic and devoid of emotion. "What would be the maximum force it can withstand?"
As an answer, he raised his right arm slightly.
The telekinesis now gripped even larger debris—entire building fragments, slabs, beams, and concrete blocks—began to rise from the ground, groaning under the invisible force.
That was when something struck Robot in the side with brutal force, hurling him away in a violent arc through the air. The telekinetic control shattered instantly, and the debris crashed harmlessly to the ground.
Robot stabilized his flight, twisting his body in the air.
Below him, Ryo emerged, clinging to his torso, his body clearly exhausted but his eyes still steady.
"Got boring watching you up there," the boy snarled.
Ryo carried him away, deliberately distancing him from Anan, Violet, and the others. Both shot through the air like projectiles until they crashed into the upper floors of a building, exploding through the outer wall.
The impact flung them into a luxurious room, expensive furniture shattering, curtains tearing, and glass flying everywhere.
Ryo rolled across the floor until he stopped, gasping, trying to rise from the wreckage.
"Dammit…" he murmured, forcing his body to obey.
"What unnecessary resistance," said Robot.
Ryo looked up.
Outside the shattered window, Robot floated just a few meters away, motionless, dominant. Telekinesis enveloped the entire top of the building, cracks spreading like spiderwebs.
Robot slowly brought his hands together.
The building began to compress.
The walls of the room deformed, the ceiling groaned, the floor buckled under crushing pressure. Ryo ran, shooting toward the window at the exact moment everything seemed about to collapse.
He crossed the space and landed a direct punch on Robot's torso.
The Nomu was thrown backward, sliding through the air before stopping thanks to his flight. Without wasting time, Robot retaliated—the debris torn from the very building itself moved like stone serpents, closing in around Ryo the instant he landed on a building below.
A rocky prison formed.
"Fall."
The entire structure was then thrust downward.
Ryo was hurled like a meteor through the building, piercing ten consecutive floors, walls, floors, and columns being breached in sequence until he hit the ground with a deafening crash.
A vertical hole ran straight through the entire building.
Ryo coughed, his body buried in rubble, feeling every muscle scream in protest. Robot's shadow fell over him.
The Nomu descended slowly, landing a few meters away.
"It would simplify the process if you surrendered without resistance, Rito Takeda," he said, his voice cold. "Come with us."
For a moment, it seemed Ryo wouldn't respond.
Then he laughed.
A hoarse, tired, almost mocking laugh.
The boy stood up awkwardly, pushing concrete blocks off his body, his uniform torn, blood trickling, but his green eyes still burning.
"Hah…" he wiped the corner of his mouth with his arm. "Hell no."
He raised his fist, trembling, but firm.
"I'm not going anywhere… without kicking your artificial ass first."
The robot remained motionless for a moment before lowering its head in disappointment.
"So I'll have to take you by force."
Its body floated a few inches higher as telekinesis expanded like a crimson tide. The entire building groaned. Columns creaked, walls twisted, and the air grew too thick to breathe.
Ryo answered only by charging forward.
The boy shot across the shattered floor, pushing his body beyond its limits. The robot spread its arms, and the whole building responded to its command — slabs broke loose, beams bent in midair, all converging to crush the target.
The silent clash between human perseverance and artificial amorality unfolded within those walls.
Across the city, amid the ruins left by the robot, Violet finally dropped the force field.
"Is everyone okay?" she asked, breathing heavily. "Anyone hurt?"
A few replies came — some hesitant, others almost ashamed.
Before the murmurs could continue, Anan stepped forward.
"We need to help Takeda!"
She pointed firmly toward the ravaged horizon, in the direction where Ryo had been taken.
"He's facing that thing alone! We can't just leave him like that — we have to go save him!"
Without waiting for a response, she started walking across the rubble.
But… the sound of her footsteps echoed alone.
Anan stopped.
Turned around.
The heroes of the Black Hole Agency stood motionless, eyes lowered, faces tense with fear and shame. No one had followed.
Razor Beam stepped forward, his expression heavy.
"Chief…" he began, hesitating. "We… we don't know if we can do this. That thing isn't something any of us can face. Takeda is different… we're not strong enough to stand against that monster like he does. If we go, we'll just end up as collateral dama—"
SLAP
The sharp sound echoed through the ruins.
Anan's helmet rolled across the ground after she ripped it off in a surge of rage. Razor Beam staggered to the side, hand pressed to the cheek struck by his boss's slap. Anan stood there, hand still raised, eyes glistening, jaw trembling.
"You should be ashamed…" she said, her voice choked but firm. "Ashamed to call yourselves heroes and say something like that."
Tears threatened to fall, held back by force.
"A fifteen-year-old boy is out there, bleeding, breaking his own body to protect people he doesn't even know… and you call that collateral damage?"
Without another word, Anan turned and walked alone toward the chaos.
Razor Beam remained still, hand still on his face, staring at the shattered ground as his boss's words echoed in his mind.
Meanwhile,Tony and Violet watched everything in silence.
The slap, Anan's decision, the way she walked off alone through the rubble… it all felt too heavy to ignore. Tony was the first to break the silence, glancing sideways at Violet.
"Should we… do something?" he murmured.
Violet hesitated, her eyes following the spot where Anan had disappeared.
"I could go after Thirteen," she finally said. "I could help her with my force fields, at least to make sure she stays alive."
Tony frowned.
"Don't you think she might see that as… pity?"
The question hit home.
Violet fell silent, her lips pressing together as she thought. Maybe Anan really would see it that way. Maybe it would only make things worse—
BOOOM!
The ground exploded.
Debris, concrete, and beams were hurled into the air as something erupted from the rubble with brutal force.
"YOU BASTARD!" the roar echoed across the area.
Woman emerged from the wreckage where she had been buried, her body covered in dust. She landed on a large concrete slab, cracking it under her feet, her back arched like a predator ready to hunt.
"Burying me like that…" she growled, her voice twisted with rage. "Mommy doesn't like it when people try to trap her…"
The claws on her hands grew more prominent as she flexed them.
Her gaze swept over the group of heroes.
"Oh…?" she said, genuinely surprised. "You're all still alive?"
Then her eyes turned to Violet.
"Ah…" she murmured. "It was you."
In the next instant, Woman shot forward, the concrete slab shattering beneath her feet.
"You're too dangerous to keep breathing."
Violet barely had time to react. A force field expanded around her and Tony, just as Woman's monstrous fist collided with it.
The impact was devastating.
The bubble was sent flying like a cannonball, tearing across the block and crashing into the facade of an abandoned shopping center, shattering glass, steel, and concrete in a deafening downpour.
The remaining heroes stood frozen.
Woman landed again, crouching low, her muscles coiled like springs ready to unleash stored power. She cast a brief look at the group… and then smiled.
"I'll play with you all later."
And in a blur of movement, she leaped toward the shopping center, chasing after her prey.
The silence that followed was suffocating.
A few heroes began to stir nervously.
"This… this is too much for us," one of them said. "L-Let's just focus on evacuating civilians instead!"
"Yeah… it's better to leave this kind of thing to the top heroes…" another agreed, trying to convince himself.
There were murmurs, doubts, retreating footsteps.
But Razor Beam said nothing.
He only stared at the ruined horizon… the same spot where Ryo had disappeared, where explosions still lit up the sky like artificial lightning.
He clenched his jaw, his fists tightening hard.
The slap still burned on his cheek.
With a trembling sigh, he took a step forward.
Then another.
And then, he began to run—leaving behind the fear, the excuses… and his own hesitation.
----------------------------------------
Todoroki stared in shock at Stain's figure atop the ice pillar.
For a brief moment, the world seemed to stop… until their eyes met.
A chill ran down Todoroki's spine, and his body froze before he could even react. The air was severed as a small knife appeared before his vision, burying itself in his right shoulder.
"Gh!" he grunted, the impact making his body recoil slightly.
By the time he realized it, Stain was already in front of him.
The Hero Killer charged with his sword raised, and the ice Todoroki hastily erected was cut like paper, the blade slicing through without any resistance. Todoroki instinctively took a step back, dodging a potentially fatal blow by mere inches.
But there was no time to breathe.
Stain appeared before him again, a knife aimed straight for Todoroki's face. In a desperate reflex, he erupted his left side in flames, forcing the villain back with an agile leap.
But not before two knives were thrown into the air, sinking deep into his left arm.
Stain landed a few meters away, in a low stance, his eyes burning with rage.
"So fast…" thought Todoroki, his chest heaving with difficulty. "He got even faster after that burst of rage…"
Then, his body failed him.
He fell to his knees, confused, his heart racing.
"What? H-how…?"
He glanced to the side and noticed the knife that had been in his right shoulder… was no longer there.
"Just die already…" Stain's voice echoed in front of him.
The katana descended, aiming for his head—
DETROIT SMASH!
Stain was sent flying backward by a 15% punch from Midoriya, hurtling through the air until he violently crashed against the large ice pillar, cracking it.
Todoroki's eyes widened.
"Midoriya…?!"
Izuku landed in front of him, his fists trembling slightly.
"I… I don't know how," he admitted, panting. "Suddenly, I just… could move again."
"So it would be temporary then...?" Todoroki asked, tense.
"That doesn't make sense…" Iida's voice echoed from the ground. "I still can't move!"
The pieces clicked in Midoriya's mind.
"The blood…" he murmured. "Could it depend on the amount ingested, or... the type of blood!"
"That's right."
Stain appeared beside Midoriya in the blink of an eye, confirming his deduction as he brandished his katana. Midoriya reflexively ducked, leaping toward the side walls, maneuvering between them until his body froze mid-air.
"A-Again…?!" he thought, panic trying to take over. "Did he get my blood again?!"
But his eyes widened as he realized Stain was staring directly at him.
"No…" he corrected himself. "It was that gaze…!"
Seconds later, control returned.
Midoriya fell into motion, bouncing between the building walls, his brain working at full speed.
"That paralysis from the gaze only lasts a few seconds…"
He dodges thrown knives.
"But now it's not working even though he's staring at me again."
Stain dodges his punch.
"Then there must be some cooldown time."
Stain's eyes were still following him.
"If that's the case…" Midoriya murmured, One For All coursing through his body.
He crossed his heels in the air and shot at high speed toward Stain.
"Then I just need to defeat you in that interval!"
"Huh…?"
The space in front of him was empty.
"Where…?!"
Stain appeared beside him, completely anticipating the attack.
The blade rose from below, aiming for his throat.
"I can't dodge… I'm in the air!"
Then, an idea crossed his mind.
Midoriya concentrated 15% of One For All into his finger.
DELAWARE…!
The air blast exploded downward, propelling his body upward at the last moment. He spun in the air, his entire body following the motion—
MANCHESTER SMAAAASH!
The 25% kick landed squarely on Stain's head.
The impact echoed through the district as the Hero Killer was hurled into the ground, creating a deep crater upon impact.
Midoriya landed a few meters away, breathing heavily, sweat streaming down his face.
He stared at the crater, his heart pounding.
"I… did it?"
A few seconds passed, and Stain made no movement.
A weary smile appeared on Midoriya's face.
He turned and ran toward the others, his voice filled with relief.
"A-Are you guys okay…?"
"...I'm fine," Todoroki answered, breathing heavily. "Not in the best shape, but… I'm okay."
"M-Me too…" Iida answered reluctantly, his voice strained. "But I still can't move my body."
"Same here," Todoroki confirmed, gritting his teeth.
Midoriya frowned.
"The effect persists even when the user is unconscious?"
He leaned over to help Todoroki get up.
But then his body gave out.
His strength vanished all at once, and Midoriya fell to his knees beside his friend.
"Midoriya?!" Todoroki called, worried about his classmate.
That's when he saw.
Stain was rising from the crater.
Slowly. Staggering. But… on his feet.
The Hero Killer brought a dagger to his mouth, carefully licking the thin smear of blood stuck to the blade — Midoriya's blood, collected from a grazing blow in the last second before the kick.
"Heh…" Stain snarled, his gaze feverish. "You… you've really managed to piss me off now."
He lunged.
Before anyone could react, he kicked Midoriya, who was still kneeling, slamming him into the ground.
"AAH!" Midoriya's scream came accompanied by a metallic sound.
The worn katana was stabbed into Midoriya's thigh, wrenching a scream of agonizing pain from the boy.
"MIDORIYA!" Iida screamed, horror etched on his face. "STOP! STOP IT! KILL ME! KILL ME INSTEAD OF THEM! They have nothing to do with this!"
Stain didn't even look at him.
"I don't care."
He pulled the machete, raising it above the anguished boy.
Todoroki tried to move, but nothing worked.
"Midoriya…!" he called, his voice weak, his body betraying his will as he tried to drag himself forward.
Iida felt something break inside him.
"This is my fault."
Because of his actions… his classmates would die.
He just wanted…
He just wanted to avenge Ingenium.
Avenge his brother.
Why was life so cruel to him?
It always gave him things he never asked for and took away those he needed the most. Ever since entering U.A., it had been like this — hoping to become relevant, only to have a bucket of cold water thrown on him when he saw others doing everything he did… better.
Faster.
More efficient.
More… sensible.
An old memory surfaced in his mind.
Of him talking to Tensei after his first day of class at U.A.
Complaining that there were two students at the school faster than him. Saying he had failed to honor his family's power during the Quirk assessment test.
Tensei had laughed.
"Don't worry about it," he said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "The world is a big place, Tenya. It's normal to find people who do things better than you."
He continued, with a gentle smile.
"They might be stronger. Faster. Even more heroic than you. But that doesn't diminish you."
Iida had lowered his gaze as Tensei continued.
"Not being the best at something doesn't mean you're bad," Tensei added. "You might not be the best in your class… but you have an identity."
He squeezed his brother's shoulder.
"Don't try to be better than someone. Try to be yourself."
Tensei's smile was etched into his memory.
"Be myself..."
Iida gritted his teeth.
His body trembled as he forced his muscles to respond.
Little by little, rising from the ground.
Stain raised the machete above Midoriya.
"Die."
The blade began to descend—
RECIPRO…
The sound came like a gunshot.
A kick at immense speed slammed squarely into Stain's face.
…BURST!