In I-Tower's control room, Senju No. 2 watched the monitors with a furrowed brow. The cameras were still working, even with some delays and interference caused by the damage on the lower floors.
On one of the screens, the students had reached the 150th floor.
The floor was partially open to the outside, connected to the wind-generation system. Large metal structures, enormous turbines, and exterior walkways surrounded part of the tower, with strong winds cutting through everything. The students had to move carefully to avoid being blown off.
Even so, Bakugo and Todoroki were clearing the way.
Bakugo flew between short explosions, destroying security robots before they could surround the group. Todoroki covered the rear, freezing entire rows of machines and creating ice barriers to stop more robots from approaching.
Farther above, Midoriya was climbing toward the upper floors with Melissa thanks to Uraraka's help. The girl had used her quirk to place them in zero gravity, allowing Midoriya to leap between exterior structures with much greater speed.
Senju No. 2 clenched his teeth.
"They reached the 150th floor…"
Wolfram slowly turned toward him.
"How?"
"They got past the robots on the 138th and found an external route," Senju replied, trying to stay calm. "The students are splitting up to cover each other."
Wolfram walked over to him, irritated.
"Didn't you say you were going to stop them?!"
"I said I was going to delay them," Senju snapped back. "I don't have full control over all the systems at the moment, only part of them. They're using routes that shouldn't be available to guests."
"Then you're useless."
Senju slammed his hand against the panel.
"If you hadn't left half the resources out of position, maybe I'd have more room to work!"
"Don't put that on me."
Farther back, Mirage only let out a quiet sigh. She looked at the two of them like someone watching amateurs argue in the middle of a critical operation.
"Unprofessional…" she murmured to herself.
She walked up behind Senju, ignoring the argument.
"How much time is left before the Tower's data transfer is complete?"
Senju was still irritated, but he answered while looking at the main panel.
"Seventy-three percent. If no one interferes with the system, it'll be done in a few minutes."
Mirage leaned in slightly to get a better look at the screen.
The transfer bar glowed blue.
73%
That was when the first pulse struck the tower.
The lights flickered.
The monitors shook.
Senju No. 2 widened his eyes.
"What was that?!"
Before anyone could answer, the second pulse came.
This time, several screens went dark at once. The main panel released small sparks, and the systems began failing one after another. A heavy alarm echoed through the room.
"A power outage?" Wolfram asked, looking around. "Now?!"
The third, fourth, and fifth pulses tore through I-Tower.
The white lights died completely, replaced by red emergency lamps that lit up one after another. The entire room was plunged into darkness, cut only by crimson reflections and flashing warnings on the few terminals still active.
"Emergency backup power activated," announced a distorted artificial voice.
Senju No. 2 typed quickly, but the commands were not responding properly.
"No, no, no… The system was hit by something that forced it to restart!"
Mirage leaned over the main monitor.
The progress bar had disappeared.
Her calm expression vanished.
"No…"
She pushed Senju No. 2 aside and began working on the computer, trying to recover the process.
"No, no, no! Come back. Come back now!"
The system rejected every command, because the security system had been restarted, cutting off all the access they had before.
Mirage let out a low growl, pressing her hands against the edge of the panel.
"Damn it!"
A beep sounded from the tablet in her hands.
She froze.
Slowly, she lowered her gaze to the screen.
The only green icon left had changed color.
Red.
S-V5 — OFFLINE
For a few seconds, Mirage stood completely still.
Wolfram noticed her expression and frowned.
"What is it now?"
Mirage did not answer right away. She only stared at the tablet, her fingers gripping the device so tightly that its frame almost creaked.
"H-How is this possible…"
----------------------------------------
On the 200th floor, inside the storage room, David Shield operated the panel with a tense expression. The red emergency light flashed above him, reflecting in his glasses as his fingers moved quickly over the controls.
"What was that…?" he murmured, watching the systems restart one by one. "All the systems suddenly rebooted…"
Beside him, Sam looked nervously toward the door.
"Sir... we need to hurry."
"I know."
David took a deep breath and returned to the panel. After a few more attempts, an electronic sound rang out.
ACCESS GRANTED
His face finally relaxed a little.
"I did it!" He looked at Samuel. "It's in block 1147."
Sam quickly nodded and ran toward one of the room's massive metal walls. Hundreds of sealed compartments covered the entire surface, each one marked with numbers and reinforced locks.
"1147… 1147… here!"
One of the safes opened with a hydraulic hiss. Samuel pulled out a silver metal case and ran back to David.
He placed the case on the table and opened it.
Inside, protected by dark foam, was the Quirk-amplifying helmet.
"It's all here," Samuel said, relieved.
David let out a heavy sigh.
"Thank goodness… I finally got it back."
Sam carefully closed the case.
"Despite that strange power problem, everything is going according to plan. The villains are playing their part."
David lowered his gaze for a moment.
"Yes… thanks to you too, Sam. You organized everything."
Before Sam could answer, a familiar voice echoed behind them.
"Dad…?"
The two turned around.
Melissa was standing at the entrance of the room, accompanied by Midoriya. The reinforced circular door was still open behind them.
David froze.
"Melissa…?" he asked, incredulous. "What are you doing here?"
She did not answer immediately. Her eyes were fixed on the case on the table. Then, slowly, she looked at Sam. Then at David.
"What did you mean by 'organized everything'?"
David froze.
Melissa took a few more steps forward, hesitant, but her voice grew firmer and firmer.
"Dad… are you responsible for this?"
David clenched his fists.
"Melissa, I…"
"Is it true?" she asked, her voice cracking. "Did you cause this incident?"
The silence that followed was worse than an answer.
David closed his eyes for a moment.
"Yes."
Melissa froze, unable to react.
Midoriya's eyes widened.
"No…" Melissa murmured. "No, that doesn't make sense."
She looked at her father, as if she expected him to laugh and say it was all a mistake.
But David did not laugh.
"Why?" she asked, her voice rising. "Why would you do this?!"
Sam took a step forward.
"Miss, you don't understand. Your father only wanted to recover something that was taken from him!"
"Taken?! The entire tower is what was taken! Heroes were trapped! People are scared! The others are fighting on the floors below!" She pressed her hands against her chest. "Everyone is putting themselves in danger because of this!"
Melissa continued, now with tears in her eyes.
"Dash stayed behind to hold off the security robots. Kirishima, Iida, Sero… all of them are risking themselves. I was hurt. And Rito-kun…"
She gripped the arm where the improvised bandage was still wrapped.
"Rito-kun is out there, fighting those strange robots alone! He's probably hurt, exhausted, and alone! He doesn't deserve this after everything we've been through! I... I saved him today! And it hurts to know I can't save him again!"
David took a step back, as if every word had struck him physically.
"No… that wasn't…"
Melissa shook her head, tears finally running down her face.
"You said you wanted to help heroes. That you wanted to protect people. That you wanted to create things to save lives."
She looked at the metal case in Sam's hands.
"But because of this plan, people who had nothing to do with it are suffering."
Melissa was breathing quickly, trying to hold back her tears and anger at the same time.
"Especially Rito-kun..."
David stared at his daughter, horrified by everything he had heard.
"No… that wasn't part of the plan..."
He turns to look at Sam, who shrinks back slightly.
"I-It was supposed to all be an act..."
"Of course it was an act."
Wolfram's voice echoed through the storage room.
Everyone turned at the same time.
At the reinforced entrance, Wolfram stood calmly, with Senju No. 2 just behind him. The villain kept a cold smile on his face, as if he had arrived at the most convenient moment possible.
"It was an act of being a fake villain," he continued. "And I must admit, David Shield… you fell for it perfectly."
Wolfram's hand touched the side of the thick metal door.
Midoriya's eyes widened.
"Melissa-san, get back!"
Full Cowling surged through his body in a green flash at that exact moment.
A rectangular slab of metal burst from the floor in front of Wolfram, shooting forward like a thick blade toward Midoriya. He leapt to the side on pure reflex, feeling the wind from the impact graze his shoulder.
"He controls metal...?!" Midoriya thought, his feet sliding across the floor as he landed.
Wolfram merely lifted his fingers slightly.
More metal pillars erupted from the floor and walls. They didn't come in straight lines; they curved, changed direction, and emerged from different angles, as if the entire room had become an extension of his will.
Midoriya dodged the first with a sidestep.
Jumped over the second.
Duck under another one that whistled above his head.
One pillar nearly struck his entire upper body, forcing him to slide across the floor, his hand scraping against the cold metal as he slipped beneath the attack. In the next second, another pillar slammed into the ground right in front of him, throwing up dust and fragments.
Midoriya didn't stop.
He climbed onto the tilted pillar itself, using it as support, and ran across its metallic surface while the dust still obscured part of Wolfram's vision.
"I have to reach him!"
Green energy gathered in his legs.
—25%!
Midoriya jumped.
The burst of power launched him at high speed through the dust and across the room, straight toward Wolfram. For an instant, surprise appeared on the villain's face.
But only for an instant.
Before Wolfram grew serious in the very next moment.
"Naive."
He opened his hand.
Dozens of metal pillars exploded from the floor, the walls, and even the ceiling, filling Midoriya's path like a forest of steel. There were too many. Too fast. Too thick.
Midoriya's vision was completely swallowed by metal.
"I can't change direction—!"
Before he could react, the pillars struck him in sequence.
One hit his shoulder.
Another hit his leg.
Three more slammed into his torso.
Midoriya's body was carried by the wave of metal all the way to the corner of the room, where he crashed violently against the wall.
BOOM!
The wall shook from the impact. Dust and debris rose around him, completely hiding his body.
Wolfram slowly lowered his hand, watching the cloud of dust.
"For a kid… you're actually pretty dangerous."
Melissa's eyes wide open in terror.
"Midoriya-kun!"
She ran toward the corner of the room, where Midoriya had been pressed against the wall by dozens of metal pillars.
David watched everything in shock, still trying to process how quickly the situation had fallen apart.
Wolfram walked calmly to the platform where he stood, as if none of it were urgent.
"There. Now we can talk in peace."
He then turned to Sam.
"Where is the device?"
Sam hesitated for a second. Then he clutched the metal briefcase against his chest and walked quickly over to Wolfram.
David's eyes widened.
"Sam…? What are you doing?"
Sam stopped halfway. For a moment, he didn't look at him. When he finally turned his face over his shoulder, there was a bitter pain in his expression.
"What I should have done a long time ago."
"What…"
"Of everyone here, I was the only one who was fooled, David." His voice trembled, but he continued. "I served you for years. I worked on this project alongside you. I believed it would take us to the top. But you let everything be shut down so easily."
David was speechless.
Sam gripped the briefcase even tighter.
"The honor we should have received… the fame… the recognition… it all disappeared. If I can't at least get some money out of this, then all the time I spent was nothing but waste."
Wolfram smiled.
"Good work."
Sam took a deep breath, as if those words finally validated his choice.
"Now… the reward I promised you."
Wolfram drew his gun.
The shot echoed through the room.
Sam was hit in the shoulder and fell onto his back on the floor, crying out in pain. The briefcase slipped from his hands and clattered against the metal floor.
Melissa, who had been trying to pull the debris around Midoriya away, turned immediately at the sound of the gunshot. Her hands flew to her mouth.
"S-Sam…!"
Trapped against the wall, Midoriya heard it too.
He stopped struggling for a moment, his eyes wide. A thin line of blood dripped from his scalp, crossing his forehead and nearing his left eye.
"A gunshot…?"
He tried to move, but the metal pillars held him from all sides. The space was too tight. He could barely expand his chest properly.
Then another shot echoed.
Midoriya's instincts screamed.
"I have to… I have to get out of here!"
Outside, David had thrown himself in front of Sam at the last second.
The shot hit his back.
"Professor!" Sam screamed, horrified.
David fell to his knees, trying to stay upright despite the pain.
Sam stared at him, in shock.
"Why…? After what I did… why would you…?"
David breathed with difficulty.
"Because… you're still my friend…"
"Dad!" Melissa ran toward them.
"Melissa, don't come!" David tried to warn her.
But Wolfram moved first.
With a sharp backhand strike, he hit Melissa across the face and knocked her to the ground. She fell sideways, letting out a pained groan, her injured arm hitting the floor.
Inside the tight space, Midoriya started struggling harder.
"I need to get out…" he muttered, grinding his teeth. "I need to get out of here…!"
The pillars groaned around him, but they wouldn't give way. The metal pressed against his back, his shoulders, his legs. Each movement made the pain worse.
Then a memory came to his mind.
Gran Torino.
The old man held a small spring between his fingers, compressing it slowly as he spoke in his usual impatient tone.
"Listen carefully, kid. A spring absorbs force when it's compressed. Then it releases everything all at once. It's simple."
Midoriya remembered himself sitting on the floor of the battered apartment, tired and covered in bruises, trying to keep up with the explanation.
"If you learn to use your body the same way, you can reduce impact when touching a surface and return the momentum at the right moment. It's not just jumping harder. It's compressing, storing, and launching."
Gran Torino then squeezed the spring to its limit.
"But there's another interesting thing you could try. Instead of using just your legs, imagine your entire body as a spring. Everything compressed down to a single center..."
The memory faded.
Midoriya took a deep breath in the confined space.
"My entire body… like a spring…"
Full Cowling covered his body.
15%
The green energy spread through his muscles, but he didn't release it. Not yet.
He pulled his arms back as far as he could. Bent his legs within the small space. Contracted his abdomen. Clenched his fists. The pain shot through every part of his body, but he ignored it.
"Compress everything… into a single point…"
Outside, Wolfram was holding David by the collar, partially lifting him off the ground.
"Scientists are fascinating, David Shield," he said with a cruel smile. "You create wonders, change the world… and yet you're so easy to manipulate."
David tried to break free, but he was too weak.
Wolfram continued:
"You've fallen into the darkness of villains. After today, do you really think anyone will still accept you as a scientist? As a hero of science? No. Now you'll make toys for me."
Melissa, lying on the floor, lifted her face with tears in her eyes.
"Let him go…"
Wolfram ignored her.
"You'll come with me and mass-produce that device."
He struck the butt of his pistol against David's neck. The man lost consciousness almost instantly, going limp in the villain's arms.
"We're leaving," Wolfram ordered.
"Give him back…"
Melissa's voice made him stop.
She was trying to get up, trembling, tears streaming down her face.
"Give my father back…"
Wolfram looked at her for a few seconds. Then he smiled.
"Ah, that's right. I almost forgot."
He raised the gun.
"I need to eliminate any possible attachments my new scientist might have."
The barrel aimed directly at Melissa.
She froze.
But before Wolfram could pull the trigger, a deep sound came from the corner of the room.
Metal grinding, followed by sudden pressure.
The pillars holding Midoriya began to vibrate.
Wolfram turned his eyes toward the sound.
The next instant, everything exploded.
The metal pillars were shattered from the inside out, hurling fragments across the entire room. A shockwave of air pushed the dust in all directions.
In the center of the destruction, Midoriya's figure emerged.
His arms and legs were stretched to their limits, as if he had just released all the compressed force at once. Dense white vapor billowed from his mouth, Full Cowling trembling around him like living electricity.
His eyes were locked on Wolfram.
Blast Core!
Wolfram's eyes widened as Midoriya landed on the ground.
For a moment, the boy just seemed to breathe.
The next moment, he vanished from in front of him.
"Fast…!"
Wolfram raised his hand on pure reflex. A thick metal wall erupted from the ground between them, forming a barrier heavy enough to block a truck.
But Midoriya didn't try to go through it.
He took a sharp lateral step, his body wrapped in the green glow of Full Cowling, circling around the wall before Wolfram could adjust his defense.
"He went around…?!"
Wolfram gritted his teeth and launched multiple metal pillars at him. One came from above. Another from the left. Two shot low along the ground. The structures moved like living spears, trying to close off every path.
Midoriya kept advancing.
Low.
High.
Left.
Right.
He dodged by centimeters, his entire body working like that spring Gran Torino had described. When there was no room to escape, he broke through the obstacle with quick strikes.
—Smash!
One pillar shattered.
—Smash!
Another was blown apart.
Each blow at 25% made his arm tremble, but he ignored the pain. He couldn't stop.
Not now.
Wolfram spread his fingers, and the same scene from before began to repeat. Pillars emerged from all sides, closing in on Midoriya's field of vision like a steel cage. One ran beneath his feet, trying to carry him right into the center of the trap.
"I'm not falling for that again…!"
Midoriya bent his fingers back and fired off air blasts from his hands.
The momentum threw him out of the pillars' immediate reach, sending him through the last gap before it closed. He shot out of the trap like a bullet, straight toward Wolfram.
The villain's eyes went wide.
"Damn it!"
Five metal walls rose one after another, thick, reinforced, lined up between him and the boy.
Midoriya pulled his right fist back.
His entire arm glowed.
45%!
The pain came before the punch even landed.
But he didn't stop.
DETROIT SMASH!
The fist struck the first wall and shattered it. The second broke immediately after. The third crumpled like wrinkled paper. The fourth exploded into fragments that flew in all directions.
The fifth held for a moment.
Just a moment.
Midoriya gritted his teeth and pushed more force into the blow.
The last wall split apart.
Behind it, Wolfram appeared with wide eyes.
Midoriya's fist hit him dead-on.
The impact sent Wolfram crashing into the wall of metal safes. His body struck with such force that several compartments caved in at once, and an explosion of dust and loose parts scattered across the room. The floor shook. Cracks opened in the foundation and ran up the walls.
Melissa stared, unable to speak.
Her gaze went from the destruction to Midoriya, who still had his fist extended. Then his arm spasmed violently.
"Ghh…!"
He grabbed his own arm with his free hand, but he didn't retreat. Instead, he raised his head and shouted into the dust.
"Who do you think you are to decide what people are?!"
His voice echoed through the room.
"You don't have the right to say what someone is, or what someone will become, just because of one action! Just because of one mistake!"
Melissa brought her hand to her chest, her eyes starting to well up.
Midoriya breathed heavily, but continued:
"The one who decides what a person wants to be… is that person themselves!"
He gripped his aching arm.
"And Mr. David doesn't want to be like you!"
The words struck the room like another blow.
Sam, still lying on the floor, bit his lip. His gaze fell to the suitcase, then to the unconscious David, and for the first time since everything started, the bitter certainty on his face began to crack.
At the entrance, Senju #2, who had only been watching until then, took a step back. A drop of sweat ran down the side of his forehead.
"No way…" he muttered. "I wasn't made for this smoke."
He turned to leave.
But the door behind him began to twist.
Senju froze.
It wasn't just the door.
The entire room began to groan.
The metal walls bent outward. The concrete floor split apart, revealing the internal metal foundations rising up like uprooted roots. Safes, beams, plates, supports, even parts of the ceiling began to move.
Wolfram's voice came from inside the dust cloud.
"Oh, is that so…?"
A hand emerged first, gripping the edge of the hole in the wall. The skin had a strange, reddish tone, almost negative. The other hand braced on the opposite side.
"You're too arrogant for someone who's just brute strong."
Wolfram stepped out of the smoke.
His coat was torn at the sleeves, his muscles expanded abnormally. The mask had fallen off, revealing his face contorted with rage. On his head, the Quirk amplification device glowed with an ominous light.
He smiled at Midoriya.
"If you don't like it, then try to stop me."
Wolfram extended his hand.
The entire room moved.
The metal came like a tide.
It wasn't just pillars. It was everything. Walls, foundations, safes, pipes, plates, and beams blended into a colossal mass that snaked toward Midoriya, completely blocking his vision and crushing any route of escape.
Midoriya looked to the side.
Melissa was within reach.
"Melissa-san!"
He launched himself to her without thinking, placing himself in front of the girl like a shield.
The wave of metal hit them.
Outside I-Island Tower, an explosion ruptured the 200th floor.
The outer wall was torn from the inside out. Metal tentacles serpentined like giant snakes, spewing debris, dust, and pieces of structure into the night sky.
In the midst of the destruction, two figures were thrown outward.
Midoriya and Melissa.
Both fell in free fall, unconscious, surrounded by shards of metal and concrete. The wind pulled at their hair violently as they plummeted alongside the darkened tower.
Midoriya woke up a few seconds later.
At first, everything was confusing.
The sky.
The wind.
The pain.
Then he realized he was falling.
"Ah…!"
Panic took over his face. He spread his arms and legs to try to create drag, but the speed was too high.
That's when he saw Melissa below him, also falling, drifting further away.
"Melissa-san!"
Midoriya dove with everything he had, ignoring the pain in his arm. Full Cowling glowed faintly around his body as he tried to correct his trajectory in the air. Finally, he managed to reach her and pulled her against his chest.
"I got you!"
But that didn't solve the problem.
They were still falling.
Too fast.
Midoriya looked down.
The city was approaching.
He tried to think. A solution. Anything. Use One For All at 100%? Kick the air? Cancel the impact? But none of that would help—the debris was too far away to use as platforms. And his body was already at its limit.
Desperation tightened around his throat.
Tears formed at the corners of his eyes.
"Someone…"
He squeezed his eyes shut.
"Please… someone help!"
For a moment, only the sound of tearing wind resounded in his ears.
Until he heard a voice.
Strong.
And familiar.
"Don't worry!"
Midoriya's eyes opened.
A figure was rising from below at absurd speed, damaging the tower's lateral structure due to the sheer velocity.
The next moment, two massive arms wrapped around them. The impact of the catch made the air explode around them, but the grip was firm, secure.
The figure rose with the two of them, tearing through the wind until reaching the top of the tower.
On the helipad, he landed with a thunderous crash, pushing away dust and fragments in a circular wave.
Midoriya blinked, still trembling.
Melissa was safe in the other arm.
And between the two of them, smiling as if he had arrived exactly when needed…
All Might raised his head.
"Because I am here."