Midoriya stared at All Might, unable to believe it.
For a few seconds, the wind on the heliport seemed to be the only thing that existed. His hair whipped against his dust-covered face, his left arm trembling, still held against his chest from the pain. His costume was torn in several places, and dried blood ran from his forehead down to his cheek.
All Might looked him up and down, his expression serious.
"You're in bad shape, young Midoriya."
His gaze then shifted to Melissa, still unconscious in his other arm. She was also injured, with scratches and the improvised bandage on her arm, but she seemed to be in better condition than Midoriya.
Midoriya gripped his own left arm, feeling the prosthetic beneath his costume.
"All Might..." he said, panting. "Mr. Shield... the villains want to take him. They want to force him to make more of that device..."
All Might carefully lowered both of them onto the heliport floor.
"It's all right now." All Might placed a huge hand on Midoriya's shoulder. "You've already done enough. From here on, I'll take care of things."
Melissa let out a small groan, beginning to wake up. Her eyes opened slowly, still confused.
"Midoriya-kun...?"
"Melissa-san..." Midoriya turned to her. "Are you okay?"
She blinked a few times, trying to understand where she was, until her eyes focused on All Might.
"Uncle... All Might...?"
All Might smiled faintly.
"Rest for a bit, Melissa. Both of you are safe."
Before anyone could respond, a metallic sound echoed from the other side of the heliport.
The elevator doors opened.
Wolfram stepped out first.
His new appearance looked even more terrifying under the red emergency lights. His reddish, almost negative-looking skin, the muscles expanded beneath his torn clothes, and the Quirk amplifier attached to his head made his presence weigh heavily in the air. Over his shoulder, he carried an unconscious David.
Senju No. 2 stepped out right behind him, far less confident than before.
Wolfram cast a quick glance at the helicopter parked on the heliport.
"Senju. Start the aircraft."
"Y-yes!" Senju replied, frightened, running toward the helicopter.
Wolfram only let out a low growl, adjusting David over his shoulder.
"This night has dragged on for too damn long..."
Senju reached the side of the aircraft, but before he could climb in, something crossed the heliport.
A blur.
Too fast for him to follow.
In the next second, the helicopter exploded.
The explosion lit up the top of the tower, hurling fire and debris into the sky. Senju fell back onto the ground, screaming as he covered his head with his arms.
"What?!"
Wolfram barely had time to turn his face.
All Might was already in front of him.
The Symbol of Peace's fist struck the villain head-on, ripping David off his shoulder in the same motion. Wolfram was launched like a bullet across the heliport, slamming into one of the large metallic communication masts at the top of the tower.
The impact made the structure tremble with a deep sound.
Senju's eyes widened, paralyzed.
All Might's voice sounded behind him.
"I'm taking my friend back."
Senju let out a high-pitched yelp.
"A-All Might?!"
He staggered backward, tripped over his own foot, and started running away without looking back.
All Might knelt with David in his arms. Carefully, he tore apart the restraints binding his friend's hands.
David slowly opened his eyes.
"Toshi...?"
"I'm here, Dave."
David blinked, trying to focus on his face.
"Melissa... and that boy... they..."
"They're safe."
All Might turned his head slightly to the side.
David followed his gaze and saw Melissa in the distance, helping Midoriya stay on his feet. The girl was crying, but alive. When she realized her father was awake, her eyes widened.
"Dad..."
Midoriya noticed the look between them and smiled, even with difficulty.
"Go to him, Melissa-san. I can walk on my own."
"But you—"
"It's okay."
Melissa hesitated for a second, then let go of his arm and ran toward her father.
"Dad!"
David tried to stand, emotional.
"Melissa!"
"Dad!"
But before she could reach him, a huge shadow crossed the heliport.
Midoriya saw it first.
A large metallic rectangle entered his field of vision, covering part of the sky and casting a shadow over All Might and David.
His eyes widened.
"All Might!"
The structure struck them both with brutal force.
Melissa stopped halfway, frozen.
The impact made the entire heliport shake. The metallic rectangle embedded itself into the ground like a wall, raising dust, sparks, and fragments of concrete. For an instant, no one moved.
In the distance, Wolfram slowly rose from the wreckage of the metal mast.
His face was twisted with rage.
"Why is everyone being such a pain in the ass today?!"
The metal around him began to move. Parts of the antenna, plates from the heliport, and remains of the destroyed helicopter rose into the air, spinning around his body like a storm of steel.
"First, a bunch of brats manage to bypass the security. Then we lose the merchandise we were supposed to sell because that bitch insisted on using it to deal with the problem. Then there's that broccoli kid from earlier... and now All Might..." Wolfram spat the names like poison. "Why does everyone want to play hero today of all days?!"
Melissa trembled, her eyes fixed on the huge metallic block embedded in the ground.
"Dad..."
Midoriya tried to move forward, but his leg failed him. He fell onto one knee, gritting his teeth.
"No..."
But then the metallic block trembled.
Cracks began spreading across the surface of the metal. Small ones at first. Then larger ones. An absurd pressure was coming from within.
Melissa lifted her head, her eyes wet with tears.
The metal bulged outward.
Light shone through the cracks.
And then—
BOOM!
The enormous metallic pillar exploded into pieces.
Fragments were launched in every direction, but a gust of wind pushed them away from Melissa and Midoriya.
At the center of the dust, All Might stood tall.
His right arm raised, protecting David behind him.
His costume was torn around the arm, his body marked by the impact, but his smile remained firm.
David, kneeling behind him, was still alive.
All Might raised his gaze toward Wolfram.
"You complain far too much for a villain. I'm only doing what I must."
The wind swept away the rest of the dust.
"Now..." All Might clenched his fist. "It's my turn."
All Might shot forward at high speed.
The rooftop trembled under the initial burst, cracks opening across the concrete as he charged straight at Wolfram with his right fist pulled back.
"Detroit...!"
Wolfram raised his hand with a smile.
A thick, enormous wall of metal rose from the ground between them. All Might widened his eyes for an instant, but he did not slow down.
His fist collided with the barrier with a deafening impact.
The wall dented, cracked, but before it could be completely destroyed, several metallic pillars sprouted from its own surface and struck All Might head-on.
"Kh—!"
The pillars drove him downward with absurd force, smashing him into the rooftop.
The explosion from the impact shook the entire heliport. Cracks spread across the floor like a giant web, making parts of the concrete sink while others rose unevenly.
The metal around them began to twist.
Helicopter wreckage, pieces of antennas, internal beams, floor plates, and even maintenance compartments were torn from their places and pulled toward Wolfram. Everything spun around him like a tide of steel.
David, still weak, was dragged by the movement of the metal beneath his feet.
"Melissa!" he shouted, trying to hold onto a crack in the floor.
Wolfram opened his arms, laughing quietly.
"This is good…" he murmured, feeling the power running through his body. "This feeling is very good!"
The amplifier on his head shone intensely.
"As expected of something made by David Shield. With this new upgrade… I feel unbeatable!"
The metal gathered around him began to rise, forming an irregular structure, almost like a tower made of twisted beams, plates, and pillars. Wolfram remained at the center of that mass, suspended and protected by the metal itself.
He looked at All Might, who was standing up among the wreckage, and smiled.
"Now it's time for a little demonstration." Wolfram extended his hand. "After this, the price of this product is going to rise quite a lot."
Several pillars formed around him.
One of them shot toward All Might.
All Might advanced and destroyed it with a punch.
"This won't change anything!"
But from the cloud of dust created by the impact, more pillars emerged, forcing All Might to dodge. He leapt to the side, spun in the air, and smashed two of them with his fists, using small bursts created by violent contractions of his muscles to change direction midair.
"You may have gotten stronger!"
He landed on a metallic beam advancing like a bridge, using it as a walkway.
"You may have stolen David's technology!"
He ran across it at high speed, dodging another pillar that tried to hit him from the side.
"You can hide behind as much metal as you want!"
All Might jumped, broke another pillar with a kick, and kept advancing through the air.
"But so what?!"
Wolfram made more structures appear, one after another, trying to crush him. All Might moved between them, destroying some, dodging others, and using the villain's own attacks as footholds to gain ground.
"No matter how much stronger you become…" All Might pulled his fist back. "Justice will still reach you!"
Wolfram gritted his teeth.
"Then come and catch me!"
The pillars began to fall more chaotically. Some missed All Might and struck the rooftop directly, splitting the structure into several parts. Concrete platforms tilted, entire sections of the heliport rising or sinking.
Melissa was on one of those sections.
The ground beneath her feet suddenly flipped, tilting more than seventy degrees.
"Ah—!"
She lost her balance and slipped.
Midoriya saw it from afar.
"Melissa-san!"
He tried to move, tried to activate One For All, but brutal pain shot through his arm and legs at the same time. His entire body failed.
"Ghh!"
He fell to his knees, teeth clenched, unable to reach the girl.
Melissa plummeted from the platform.
For an instant, she saw only the dark sky, the wreckage, and the metallic pillars crossing through the air.
Then something grabbed her.
She opened her eyes, startled, and saw Pony holding her in her arms while keeping herself suspended in the air with her telekinetically controlled horns.
"Got you!" Pony said, smiling despite her nervousness.
Melissa blinked, surprised.
"P-Pony?!"
But then her eyes widened.
"Behind you!"
Three metallic pillars were coming from one side, and four more emerged from the other, all aiming at the two of them in the air.
Before Pony could react, a wall of ice advanced through the sky.
Todoroki appeared at the edge of a nearby platform, one hand pressed against the frozen ground.
"Stay down."
The pillar of ice continued growing until it blocked the three pillars coming from the left side.
From the other side, Bakugo came flying in with explosions in his hands, his face twisted in rage.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY, YOU SCRAP STICKS!"
He unleashed an explosion large enough to destroy the remaining four pillars, scattering incandescent fragments through the air.
Midoriya looked at them, surprised.
"Kacchan… Todoroki-kun…"
"Midoriya!"
Iida's voice came from right beside him.
Midoriya turned his head and saw the rest of the class arriving through the elevator. Iida and Uraraka ran to him as soon as they noticed his condition.
"You are gravely injured!" Iida said, kneeling beside him. "Do not try to move!"
Uraraka brought her hands to her mouth, worried.
"Deku-kun… you're all hurt…"
Midoriya tried to smile, but the pain made his expression falter.
"I'm… fine…"
"You clearly are not fine!" Iida replied immediately.
Farther back, Kirishima appeared carrying Dash, who was leaning against his shoulder. The blond was pale, thin, and completely exhausted, looking almost like a mummy after spending all the energy and nutrients stored in his body.
Kirishima looked at Midoriya and frowned.
"Damn… Midoriya's in bad shape."
Dash's stomach growled loudly.
The entire group went silent for half a second.
Dash weakly raised a hand.
"Food…" he murmured, barely able to speak. "Please… anything…"
Kirishima adjusted him better on his shoulder.
"Hang in there just a little longer, buddy."
He turned his face toward Momo, desperate.
"Momo, are you sure you can't make something for him to eat?"
Momo clasped her hands, distressed.
"I can create objects, not ready-made food. And even if I could create specific nutrients, I would need to know the exact composition, and my body is also at its limit."
Dash let out a weak groan.
"My stomach… is going to defeat me before the villains do…"
Pony landed with Melissa a little farther away from the group. As soon as her feet touched the ground, Melissa quickly looked at her father, then at Midoriya, then at All Might fighting Wolfram at the center of the destroyed heliport.
The situation was still far from over.
Above them, Wolfram raised both hands.
All the metal around him responded.
And All Might, even wounded, kept advancing.
All Might compressed his body in the air, curling up for a brief instant like a living spring. In the next second, he abruptly spread his arms and legs, using his own muscular strength to propel himself forward like a bullet.
The air exploded around him.
He advanced toward Wolfram, cutting through the field of metallic pillars trying to intercept him from every side. Some missed him by mere centimeters. Others were destroyed along the way with quick, sharp blows, without him losing speed.
His right fist was pulled back.
"Detroit—!"
Before he could finish, a tangle of metallic cables erupted from the ground and the structures around him, wrapping around his body. In a matter of seconds, All Might was trapped in midair like a fly in a spiderweb.
"Kh—!"
He forced his muscles to break free, but the cables tightened even more.
Ahead, Wolfram raised both hands. Enormous blocks of metal began tearing themselves away from the tower structure and the heliport debris, floating around All Might like a suspended wall.
"Die!" Wolfram shouted, hurling everything at him.
All Might widened his eyes as his vision was swallowed by metal blocks coming from every direction.
"Shit!"
In the middle of the roar of steel tearing through the air, another voice appeared.
"Fiu, fiu! Olha a mensagem!"
The phrase came in Portuguese.
An incandescent figure crossed the sky at high speed, zigzagging between the giant blocks. The flaming body pierced through the metal as if it were butter, leaving orange and red trails wherever it passed.
The blocks stopped for a fraction of a second.
The figure appeared above everything, but without the lower part of his torso, as if it had been left behind during the movement.
He brought his palms together.
"Release."
Small spheres of heat emerged from inside each metallic block.
Then everything exploded.
Not into solid fragments, but into liquid metal, melted from the inside out. The steel streamed through the air in incandescent drops, swerving away from All Might as it fell onto the heliport like shining rain.
All Might stared at it, surprised.
So did Wolfram.
"Who the hell is that now?"
The flames that had imploded inside the blocks returned to the incandescent figure, gathering into his body. His torso formed again, made of living fire, while the blaze intensified and lit up the entire rooftop for an instant.
Igneel smiled.
"Brazil's number one is in the house, baby!"
He shot forward right after that, passing by All Might and cutting through the metallic cables binding him. The restraints snapped one by one, melted and severed by the concentrated heat.
All Might took the chance to retreat and land on a sturdier section of the heliport.
Igneel floated beside him, still in his flaming form.
"Thank you for the help," All Might said, adjusting his stance.
"No problem," Igneel replied, without taking his eyes off the enormous metallic structure ahead. "Now… what's going on with that marmanjo over there?"
All Might looked at Wolfram, who was gathering even more metal around himself.
"It's a long story."
He tried to take a deep breath, but ended up bringing a hand to his mouth and coughing hard. His body trembled for a second, and a familiar pain pierced through his chest.
"My time is running out…"
Igneel turned his face toward him.
"You okay, big guy?"
All Might wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and forced a smile.
"I am."
Igneel stared at him for a second, clearly unconvinced, but he had no time to insist. Several metallic pillars advanced toward them both.
All Might leaped to the side and landed on one of the pillars, using it as a walkway as he ran toward Wolfram. Igneel flew beside him, dodging the attacks with sharp curves and leaving trails of fire in the air.
"Looks like Brazil and Japan are making one hell of a team today," Igneel said, smiling.
All Might smiled back.
Igneel spread his arms, his flames intensifying in the next instant.
"I'll handle the distractions. You hit him with everything you've got."
"Leave it to me."
Wolfram raised both hands, making a new tide of metal rise before them.
Igneel moved first.
"Hey, scrap-metal Elon Musk!" he shouted. "Look over here!"
He fired a sequence of fireballs at the pillars, melting some before they could reach All Might. Others he flew straight through, leaving incandescent holes in the metal and making the structures lose stability.
All Might ran through the openings created.
Each step made the pillar beneath his feet sink and leave a trail of destruction behind.
Each burst of momentum brought him closer.
Wolfram noticed this and concentrated more metal in his path, creating one thick wall after another.
Igneel spun in the air.
"No chance!"
Igneel shot forward at high speed.
The flames around his body intensified all at once, growing in size and density until they wrapped around his entire figure like a living mass of fire. In the next instant, he began to spin.
The flames followed the movement, coiling around him in violent spirals, forming an inverted flaming vortex that tore through the air with a deafening roar.
Hell of Janeiro!
The tornado of flames struck the first metal wall.
It didn't hold.
The metal melted around the point of impact as if it were wax thrown into a furnace, opening an incandescent circular hole in the middle of the barrier. Igneel pierced through the second and third walls the same way, leaving melted tunnels behind as All Might passed through right after him at top speed.
All Might shot through the first hole like an arrow.
A pillar came straight at him.
He punched the metal mid-path and dragged his fist along its entire length, ripping it from end to end as sparks flew in every direction. Using the destroyed pillar itself as leverage, he leaped sideways and dodged another that grazed his body.
The pillar missed and struck another, scattering debris through the air.
All Might landed on a new metal structure rising beneath him and began running across it, each step sinking the metal under his feet. Ahead, thousands of pillars rose at once, snaking like giant tentacles between him and Wolfram.
"Too persistent!" Wolfram screamed, raising even more metal around him.
Igneel emerged in the middle of that field like a line of fire drawn chaotically. He weaved through the pillars in zigzags, climbing, descending, and cutting through impossible angles, leaving flaming trails that melted everything they touched.
The pillars began to fall one after another.
All Might kept advancing until a massive shadow covered the heliport.
Everyone looked up.
A giant cube of metal was forming above the tower, gathering plates, beams, helicopter wreckage, parts of antennas, and every piece of metal Wolfram could tear off. The mass was so enormous it seemed capable of crushing the entire top of I-Tower.
Wolfram bared a savage grin.
"Then I'll finish all of you off along with this tower!"
All Might clicked his tongue.
"This is bad…"
Igneel appeared beside him for an instant, flames dancing around his body.
"I got this."
Wolfram brought his hand down.
The cube plummeted.
Igneel blasted flames from his back like thrusters and shot toward the metal mass, turning into an incandescent flash against that colossal wall. From Wolfram's perspective, it looked like nothing more than a thin line of fire crashing against an impossible block to pierce.
The villain laughed.
"That's all?!"
But inside the cube, Igneel had already pierced deep.
He was at the center of a melted space, surrounded by liquid metal flowing like magma down the inner walls. The air was gone, replaced by pure heat. His flaming body trembled, but the smile remained.
"Time to really heat things up."
The flames around his body exploded in intensity.
The small space around him began to expand.
Outside, the cube changed color as it fell. First it was dark. Then it turned red. Then orange. Then the center turned white.
Wolfram stopped laughing.
"What…?"
Inside the metal mass, Igneel spread his arms and shouted with everything he had.
SUPERNOVA!
For an instant, it was as if a small sun had been born inside the cube.
The giant structure inflated from the inside out and exploded like a soap bubble made of magma. Liquid metal scattered across the sky in brilliant waves, evaporating part of the air and illuminating the entire heliport with what looked like fireworks.
At the center of the explosion, Igneel hung suspended, arms and legs spread wide, leaving a clear path ahead.
He looked at All Might and gestured with his head.
"Your turn now."
All Might shot past him.
Igneel slowly reverted to human form, the flames losing strength as his body began to fall.
"Beat the crap out of him, big guy!" he shouted in Portuguese, a tired smile on his face.
All Might didn't catch every word, but he understood enough.
"Thank you, brotha!"
He covered the last meters toward Wolfram.
The villain let out a frightened scream and pulled two enormous pillars forward, crossing them in an X as a last defense.
All Might raised both arms.
Carolina—
His arms crossed into an X.
—SMASH!
The strike hit the metal structures and destroyed them all at once. The brilliant explosion unleashed a blast of wind in every direction, strong enough to reach the students on the other side of the heliport.
"Hold on!" Iida shouted.
Uraraka covered her face with her arms. Momo braced herself beside Jiro. Kirishima shielded Dash with his own body, while Pony ducked down next to them.
Midoriya, even injured, widened his eyes.
"All Might…"
Melissa also looked at the scene, holding her breath.
Wolfram stood paralyzed.
Before him, All Might came through the air with an upright posture, fists on his hips, his body illuminated by the glow of destruction all around. Even injured, even fighting with a prosthetic, even with his time running out, he still seemed larger than anything on that rooftop.
"To overcome the crisis before you…" All Might said, his voice steady enough to cut through the wind.
Midoriya felt his chest tighten.
"With everything you have…"
All Might flexed his back and propelled himself forward.
"To save people…"
His fist pulled back.
"With everything you have…"
Bakugo ground his teeth but didn't look away.
Todoroki stayed silent, his eyes fixed on the Symbol of Peace.
Kirishima clenched his fist.
"Go…"
Melissa brought her hands to her chest.
All Might surged forward like a shining star.
"You must go beyond!"
Wolfram tried to protect himself, gathering every bit of metal possible around his body. Layer after layer closed over him, forming a cocoon.
But All Might was already there, fist raised to deal with all evil.
PLUS ULTRAAAA!
His fist struck the metal mass.
And the shock made the entire heliport tremble.
The top of I-Tower shuddered with the impact, windows shattered in sequence on the floors below, and a pressure wave swept across the platform. Wolfram's artificial tower was pulverized into pieces, metal thrown outward from the structure like a rain of brilliant debris.
Wolfram vanished into the middle of the explosion.
At the center of the remaining wreckage on the platform, David was freed from the mass of metal that had held him prisoner. Before he could fall, All Might appeared and caught him, quickly carrying him to a safer area of the heliport.
On the students' side, everyone was still trying to steady themselves after the tremors.
Some larger debris came flying toward them.
Bakugo extended his hands.
"Die—!"
But before he could blow anything up, a wall of ice rose in front of the group, blocking the fragments.
Todoroki lowered his hand calmly.
"There."
Bakugo spun toward him with a twisted face.
"I DIDN'T ASK FOR HELP, HALF 'N' HALF! I could've handled that on my own!"
Todoroki looked at the debris trapped in the ice.
"Didn't look like it."
"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"
Sero let out a nervous laugh. Kaminari, even exhausted, almost laughed too. Kirishima smiled faintly, still holding Dash, who only murmured something like "food" again.
But Midoriya and Melissa didn't laugh.
They were both looking at the other side of the heliport, watching All Might help David to his feet.
David staggered but remained standing. His gaze searched for his daughter in the dust.
Melissa froze for a second upon seeing her father, just rescued.
The tears came right after.
"Dad!"
She ran to him.
David also took a few unsteady steps toward her, opening his arms.
"Melissa…"
They met in the middle of the battlefield. Melissa hugged her father tightly, crying against his chest, while David wrapped his arms around her as if afraid to let go.
The class watched in silence, many with relieved smiles.
Except Bakugo, who was still grumbling at Todoroki.
And Todoroki, who simply pretended not to hear.
In the background, All Might remained standing, looking up at the dark sky above the tower.
For a moment, everything finally seemed to be over.
.
..
...
Almost...
Plummeting from Tower-I along with the debris, Wolfram grunted in pain.
The wind tore at his face as pieces of metal and concrete fell around him. His body was battered, his coat almost unrecognizable, and the amplifier on his head was releasing unstable sparks.
"All Might…" he snarled, spitting blood into the air. "Damn… All Might…!"
He spun in the middle of the fall, trying to stabilize his body as he looked upward. The top of the tower was growing farther and farther away, illuminated by the red emergency lights and the last flames of the battle.
For an instant, Wolfram only gritted his teeth.
Then his eyes widened.
"No... Not yet…"
His hand went to the inner pocket of his tattered coat. His fingers trembled, but they managed to pull out a small metallic cylinder. Inside it, protected by a narrow glass container, there was a glowing green liquid.
Wolfram stared at the object for a second.
"That man…" he murmured, his voice hoarse. "He said to use this only if everything went wrong."
His thumb pressed the side button.
A dry click sounded.
A needle emerged from the bottom of the cylinder.
Without hesitation, Wolfram drove the device against his own chest.
The injection entered.
The green liquid disappeared into his body.
For an instant, nothing happened.
Then the veins around the point of application began to glow. Green lines spread across his chest, climbing up his neck, crossing his arms, reaching his face and eyes.
Wolfram opened his mouth in a silent scream.
A wave of absurd strength tore through his body, making his muscles contract and the amplifier on his head glow violently. His eyes were consumed by an intense green.
The metal around him reacted.
First, small fragments began to spin around him.
Then entire beams.
Then plates, cables, parts of the destroyed antenna and blocks of steel from the tower itself.
Everything was pulled in.
Everything piled together.
The metallic mass grew around Wolfram as he continued plummeting. The debris fused into each other, crushing, bending, locking together in irregular layers until they formed an enormous sphere of perfectly spherical metal.
The entire sphere began to take on that same negative red tone that had overtaken Wolfram's skin.
Inside the sphere, at the center of that steel body, Wolfram breathed with difficulty.
But he smiled.
"It still… It still isn't over…"