(A/N: Unfortunately, I couldn't finish the final battle in this chapter because it would have been too long, so I ended up splitting it into two parts. The other part will be released in a few hours. I think I should stop detailing the destruction and all that... Or do guys you like that?)
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Ryo woke up slowly.
The first thing he saw was the moonlight.
The white light of the moon filled his field of vision, blurred and distant, as if he were looking at it through water. The cold wind brushed past his face, carrying the smell of burned concrete, smoke, and heated metal.
He blinked slowly.
Then a shadow entered his vision.
Anan's face appeared above him, her eyes filled with concern. Only then did Ryo realize that his head was resting on her knees.
"Ryo?" she called, leaning down a little. "Are you awake?"
He tried to answer, but his throat was dry. All he managed to let out was a low sound.
Anan brought a hand to his face, studying his expression.
"Are you feeling pain anywhere?"
Ryo looked at her for a few seconds, still half disoriented.
"More or less..."
His voice came out hoarse.
He tried to sit up.
"Wait." Anan held his shoulder. "Don't move yet."
But Ryo was already pushing his own body up. His muscles protested immediately. A heavy pain tore through his arms, back, and legs, as if every fiber had been twisted and burned from the inside.
Even so, he kept going.
"I'm fine..."
"You are not fine."
Ryo sat up, ignoring the warning, and looked around.
They were on top of a building near Tower-I. The rooftop still had melted marks where he had fallen. Farther ahead, standing under the moonlight, was a white horse with enormous wings folded at its sides.
A pegasus.
Beside it stood a tall, handsome man with long brown hair and elegant armor inspired by ancient Greece. The sword at his waist and the round shield on his back made it clear who he was.
Perseus.
Ryo stared at the two of them for a few seconds.
"Am I still dreaming?"
Perseus raised an eyebrow.
"That's a pretty normal reaction I get."
Ryo frowned.
"That wasn't a rhetorical question."
Before he could fully stand, Anan grabbed his arm and pulled him back.
"You are going to stop moving now."
"Anan, I need to—"
"No." Her voice became harder. "You need to listen."
Ryo froze.
Anan pulled him a little closer, her usually gentle eyes now firm.
"You always do this. You always try to solve everything alone, endure everything alone, suffer alone." She tightened her grip on his arm, not hard enough to hurt him, but enough for him to feel it. "Have you ever thought about how the people close to you feel seeing you like this?"
Ryo opened his mouth to answer, but nothing came out.
Anan continued:
"You think it's enough to just stand up, grit your teeth, and keep going. But for someone watching from the outside, Ryo, that is terrifying."
She suddenly pulled his ear.
"Ah—! Hey!"
"I was worried!" she said, still holding his ear. "Very worried. When I found you on this roof, unconscious, the ground melted around you, not responding when I called... do you have any idea how badly you scared me?"
Ryo went still.
The defensive expression on his face slowly faded. He lowered his gaze, unable to look directly at Anan.
"Sorry..."
Anan watched him for a few seconds, still irritated. Then she let go of his ear and took a deep breath.
"Idiot."
She pulled him into a hug.
Ryo went stiff at first, but he did not resist. His face was pressed against the shoulder of her suit, and for a few seconds he just stayed there, silent.
"It's okay", Anan said more softly. "I know you don't do it on purpose."
She pulled back a little, keeping her hands on his shoulders.
"Are the others okay?"
Ryo looked up.
"I don't know. I was trying to get back to—"
BOOM!
An explosion lit up the top of Tower-I.
The sky shook with the impact.
A wave of light and wind spread out from the heliport, and even from far away, metal could be seen being thrown out of the structure in every direction.
Perseus immediately turned toward the tower.
"What is happening up there?!"
Anan and Ryo also looked toward the top of the tower.
For a few seconds, no one said anything.
Then Anan turned her face toward Ryo with a serious expression.
"Go."
Ryo looked at her, confused.
"What?"
Anan pointed with her chin toward Tower-I.
"Go!"
He still seemed surprised by her authoritative tone.
"But you just said that I—"
"I told you not to act like you were alone." Anan kept her gaze firm. "I didn't tell you to abandon your classmates."
Ryo fell silent.
"If they're up there, then go. But come back alive. Understood?"
The boy stared at her for a second.
Then he nodded.
"Yes, ma'am."
Ryo crouched down, planting his feet on the rooftop. The concrete beneath his soles cracked immediately under the pressure. He took a deep breath, ignoring the pain in his muscles, and then jumped.
The rooftop exploded beneath his feet.
A wave of wind swept across the place, forcing Anan and Perseus to cover their faces. The pegasus partially opened its wings to keep its balance, letting out a low neigh.
Anan moved her arm away from her face in time to see Ryo rising like a green line toward the sky.
In the air, Ryo tried to form the rings around his body.
Nothing.
He frowned.
He tried again.
The rings began to appear, but broke apart almost immediately, far too unstable to sustain Gauss Propulsion.
Ryo clicked his tongue.
"So I can't use it in this state..."
His body was still drained. His mind, exhausted. The fine control required by Gauss Propulsion was too precise, too delicate for the state he was in.
He opened his palms and pointed them downward.
"Alright..."
The soles of his feet began to glow as well.
"Looks like I'll have to go back to the Bakugo method..."
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The top of Tower-I was still trembling slightly after the last explosion, and the helipad remained unstable. Parts of the concrete were cracked, metal plates were coming loose in some corners, and smoke rose from several spots where Wolfram's attacks had torn entire chunks from the structure.
The group slowly began to reorganize.
Iida helped Uraraka stand while checking if anyone else was injured. Momo and Jiro supported each other near Todoroki's ice barrier.
Kirishima had placed Dash sitting against a firmer part of the rooftop. The blond looked completely drained, his eyes sunken, his face pale, and his body so thin that even the destroyed suit seemed too loose on him.
"You still alive there, partner?" Kirishima asked, trying to sound light.
Dash raised a weak thumb.
"Food..."
Kirishima sighed.
"Yeah, I should've expected that answer."
Farther ahead, Melissa was still hugging her father. David held her tightly, one hand on the back of her head, as if he were still trying to believe his daughter was alive.
"I'm sorry..." he murmured. "Melissa, I'm so sorry..."
She gripped his coat with her hands.
"Later..." she answered, her voice muffled. "We'll talk about this later."
David closed his eyes for a moment, clearly struck by her words, but nodded.
All Might stayed close to the two of them, breathing with difficulty. His body still maintained its muscular form, but there were small tremors in his arms and shoulders. He tried to hide it, but Midoriya noticed anyway.
The boy was sitting on the ground, supported on one knee. His entire body throbbed. The arm he had used in the blow against Wolfram trembled nonstop, the blood on his forehead beginning to dry.
"Young Midoriya," All Might called, looking at him. "Can you stand?"
Midoriya tried to answer yes, but when he moved his leg, a sharp pain shot through his body.
"Gh..."
Uraraka immediately knelt beside him.
"Deku-kun, don't force yourself!"
"I'm fine..." he tried to say, but his own voice failed.
Bakugo looked from afar, arms crossed and an irritated expression on his face.
"You look like a doll thrown in the trash."
"Bakugo!" Iida scolded.
"Am I wrong?"
Todoroki looked at Midoriya for a few seconds.
"He isn't wrong."
"Even you, Todoroki...?" Midoriya murmured weakly.
The small moment of silence that came afterward was broken by a distant sound.
A bang.
Then another.
Like small explosions rising through the air.
Todoroki frowned.
"It's coming from below."
Melissa pulled slightly away from her father, still holding his sleeve.
In the dark sky, a green point rose rapidly toward the top of the tower. It shot past it into the sky above, green explosions occurring as it changed direction high above before descending toward the helipad like a falling star.
Ryo fell and landed on one knee in a superhero pose, one hand touching the ground to steady himself. The impact cracked the concrete around him, but not too strongly. It looked like he had tried to hold back his own strength until the very last second.
Melissa was the first to move as soon she see him.
"Rito-kun!"
Ryo slowly raised his face.
"Melissa...?"
She stopped in front of him, her eyes wet as she looked him over from head to toe.
"You're alive..." she said, almost voiceless.
Ryo blinked a few times.
"I think so."
Melissa clenched her hands, her expression mixing relief and anger.
"You think?!"
Ryo tried to stand properly.
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not!" she immediately replied. "You disappeared fighting those strange robots, then the entire island went dark because of electromagnetic pulses, then a giant green pillar appeared in the sky, and now you show up looking like you fell into an oven!"
Ryo stayed quiet for a few seconds.
"...That's more or less what happened."
Melissa widened her eyes.
"That wasn't supposed to be a confirmation!"
Some of the group let out weak laughs, more out of relief than because of the joke.
Dash, sitting on the ground, raised his hand with difficulty.
"Hey... Takeda..."
Ryo looked at him.
Dash tried to smile.
"I took care of the others."
Ryo stared at his friend for a second, noticing his condition. The body far too thin. The pale skin. The weak voice.
A small smile appeared on Ryo's face.
"I knew you would."
Dash smiled back, but then his stomach growled loudly.
"...But now I need to be taken care of by a hamburger."
Pony laughed softly, going over to the blond.
"Or by me."
Ryo finally looked around and noticed the group's overall condition. A few injured. A few exhausted. But everyone alive.
Then his gaze stopped on Midoriya.
His smile disappeared.
"Midoriya..."
Midoriya tried to straighten himself.
"Takeda-kun... you're also—"
Ryo walked to him before he could finish. Melissa tried to follow him, but stopped when she saw the serious expression on his face.
Ryo knelt in front of Midoriya.
"You're screwed."
Midoriya laughed awkwardly.
"I was going to use less direct words..."
"Don't move."
Ryo stretched his hands toward him.
Melissa widened her eyes.
"Wait, are you going to—?"
"I'm going to try using that."
"But—"
"He needs it."
The answer was simple.
Melissa pressed her lips together, but didn't try to stop him.
Ryo placed one hand on Midoriya's shoulder and the other near the injured arm.
The green aura began to gather in his palms while Midoriya started to feel a strange heat pass through his body.
"What..."
"Stay quiet," Ryo said, closing his eyes. "I need to concentrate."
His breathing became slower.
The green aura around Midoriya started to twist and gently enter on his body. The cuts on his skin starting to close. His arm stopped trembling. The impact marks slowly disappearing.
Midoriya widened his eyes.
The pain vanished.
It did not merely lessen.
It vanished.
He opened and closed his hand.
"I... feel..."
Ryo pulled his hands away and exhaled sharply.
At the same moment, he almost fell forward.
Melissa caught him by the shoulder.
"Rito-kun!"
Ryo supported one hand on the ground, breathing heavily.
"I'm... fine."
"Stop saying that when you clearly aren't!" Melissa replied, frightened.
Midoriya looked at his own body, unable to understand.
"My pain disappeared... completely."
Uraraka approached, surprised.
"Deku-kun, your injuries..."
Iida adjusted his glasses, shocked.
"Was that healing? Did Takeda just heal Midoriya?"
Kaminari opened his mouth.
"Wait, since when can Takeda heal people?!"
Jiro stared at Ryo, still surprised.
"That's... pretty different from what we've seen from him until now."
Midoriya slowly stood up.
He looked at his own hands, then at his arms, then at his legs.
"I don't know how to explain it..." he said, confused. "But I feel like I have more energy than normal for some reason."
Ryo let out a weak laugh, still supported on the ground.
"Great. Make good use of it."
Melissa looked at him, emotional and worried at the same time.
"You did it..." she murmured. "You healed a real person."
Ryo looked at his own hands for a second.
There was surprise on his face too.
But it didn't last long.
The exhaustion hit him hard again, and he had to steady himself so he wouldn't fall.
"Yeah..." he said, his voice low. "But it comes at a high price."
Midoriya crouched in front of him, worried.
"Takeda-kun, thank you. But you shouldn't have done that in your condition."
Ryo raised his eyes to him.
"You talk a lot for someone who would've done the same if he had the chance."
Midoriya had no answer.
Beside them, All Might watched in silence. His smile was smaller now, more serious. There was pride in his gaze, but also a certain curiosity about Ryo's new ability.
Melissa, on the other hand, simply held Ryo's shoulder more firmly.
"You're going to rest after this."
"I can still—"
"You. Need. To rest," she repeated, more firmly. "Understand?"
Ryo stared at her for a few seconds.
"...Why is everyone being so bossy with me?"
"Because you don't listen."
Midoriya laughed.
Some others of the class ended up laughing at the conversation too.
For a few seconds, the destroyed top of I-Tower finally seemed to breathe. Even with the cracked heliport, with smoke rising from the debris and the wind passing through the open parts of the structure, there was a small sense of relief.
Then something moved among the more distant rubble.
One hand emerged first.
Then another.
Igneel climbed out from inside a pile of crushed metal and broken concrete, shaking debris off his head as if he had just crawled out from under an avalanche. Part of his body was still in the form of fire, but little by little, it returned to human form, with small flames dancing over his shoulders and arms.
He brought a hand to his head.
"Ouch, my head..."
He looked around, observing the destroyed heliport before letting out a long sigh.
"What a crazy night..."
He began counting on his fingers.
"A terrorist attack, assassin robots, a villain worthy of a final boss, the tower almost falling, kids fighting like grown adults..."
He frowned, looking up at the sky.
"What else is coming now? A second phase?"
And his answer came immediately.
An explosion lit up the city below.
The sound reached the top of the tower a few seconds later, deep and heavy, as if something enormous had torn through part of the island.
Everyone turned in the same direction.
Igneel stood still for a moment.
"...I take back the question."
Ryo raised his head with difficulty. Midoriya, now standing and pain-free, ran to the broken edge of the heliport alongside Todoroki, Bakugo, and Iida. Melissa helped Ryo slowly stand up, even though he still looked one step away from collapsing again.
Down below, the city was being taken over by a strange movement.
Metal.
A lot of metal.
Streetlights bent and were ripped out of the ground. Cars slid through the streets like toys pulled by an invisible force. Deactivated security robots were lifted and dragged through the air. Signs, fences, doors, small bridges, and external structures from buildings began to deform, all being pulled toward a single point in the middle of the city.
Since almost everything on I-Island had some kind of metallic structure, the effect was devastating.
The sides of some buildings twisted. Internal structures were gradually torn out, causing facades to crack and non-metallic pieces to fall into the streets. Glass shattered. Concrete split apart. Pipes were ripped out like veins from inside the walls.
And in the middle of it all, civilians ran in panic.
People tripped over one another while trying to flee the streets overtaken by debris. Scientists, families, tourists, I-Expo employees. Some carried children in their arms. Others tried to pull elderly people away from areas where buildings were beginning to give way.
"No..." Melissa whispered, horrified.
A huge piece of facade broke loose from a building and plummeted toward a group of trapped civilians.
Before it hit the ground, a giant shadow covered the street.
Mother Ultimate appeared in the middle of the avenue, already more than fifteen meters tall and still growing. Her feet sank into the asphalt as she placed herself between the civilians and the debris. She raised both arms and took the impact on her back and shoulders, gritting her teeth as she protected the people below.
"Run!" she shouted. "Get out of here now!"
The civilians obeyed immediately, running beneath the protection created by her body. Even with fragments striking her arms and shoulders, Mother Ultimate did not step back.
Farther ahead, Gojira crossed a wide street, using his massive body to block cars and streetlights being pulled through the air. He grabbed a metal structure that was spinning past and crushed it against the ground before it could hit a group of people.
Perseus was also in action.
His white Pegasus cut through the low sky between the buildings, dodging pieces of metal that whistled past. Riding behind him, Anan held on tightly with one hand, while the other pointed downward.
"There!" she shouted. "At the corner!"
Perseus pulled the reins, and the Pegasus quickly dove.
A group of civilians was trapped near a half-destroyed walkway. A huge metal beam was being pulled toward the central mass, but on the way, it would sweep through all of them.
Anan jumped off the Pegasus before it had even landed completely.
She pointed her sealed fingers toward the beam and released her quirk with precise control. The tips of her fingers opened a small dark attraction zone, sucking in part of the metal structure and reducing its mass until Perseus could cut it with his sword in one clean strike.
"Keep running!" Anan ordered the civilians. "Don't look back!"
On another street, Cargirl accelerated with her rear wheels, pulling two civilians out of the path of a streetlight that fell right behind them.
"Go, go, go!" she shouted. "Move, move!"
Nearby, other invited heroes used everything they had to contain the chaos. Some raised barriers. Others carried civilians. Support heroes guided crowds toward open areas, away from unstable buildings. The entire city had turned into a rescue zone.
But all the metal continued being pulled toward the same point.
At the center of the city, the mass grew.
A gigantic sphere of dark red metal, twisted and alive, floated a few meters above the ground.
Every piece of metal torn from the island was pulled toward it as if it had been captured by its own gravitational field.
Inside the sphere, Wolfram breathed with difficulty, but his smile only widened. The green veins still glowed beneath his reddened skin. The amplifier on his head creaked as if it were at its limit, but it kept working.
"More..." he growled. "More... more... more...!"
The sphere opened.
First like a mouth.
Then like a cocoon.
From it, two gigantic arms began to form. Broad shoulders emerged from the metallic mass. A colossal chest rose over the city, made of beams, plates, and layers of steel fused into a monstrous structure.
The torso was connected directly to the ground.
The streets, foundations, and surrounding structures served as the base for that absurd creature, anchoring it to the ground while it continued growing.
One hundred meters.
Two hundred.
Three hundred.
The metallic colossus towered over the nearby buildings, its shadow covering several blocks. Its face began to take shape at the top, with plates locking together like jaws and hollow eyes lit by an intense green glow.
Perseus, still mounted on Pegasus, pulled the reins in the air. Anan, behind him, went silent for a second when she saw the scale of the thing.
"That..." she murmured. "That is big."
Perseus tightened his grip on his sword.
"Very big..."
Anan looked at the mass of metal, then at the civilians still running below.
"We need to get everyone out of here before that thing decides to move!"
Wolfram was trapped in the heart of that metal creature, connected to every piece, every beam, every fragment reinforced by his second quirk.
"Now..." his voice echoed throughout the entire city, distorted by the metal. "Now I don't need to run anymore."
The colossus rose higher... and roared.
"GRRRAAAAAAOOOOOHHH—!!!"
The roar tore through the city like a sonic explosion.
The air shook. The windows that were still intact shattered in sequence. Abandoned cars jumped a few centimeters off the ground, alarms began blaring everywhere, and even the sea around I-Island seemed to respond with irregular waves.
Then the city ground exploded.
Thousands of metallic pillars burst from beneath the asphalt like tentacles, tearing through streets, sidewalks, plazas, and underground structures. They did not rise in straight lines; they twisted, curved, and spread like chaotic roots throughout the entire city. Some pierced through buildings from one side to the other. Others rose like gigantic spears and came crashing down over entire avenues, crushing everything around them.
The heroes in the city were forced to act at that very instant.
Mother Ultimate carefully grabbed an entire group of civilians, lifting them against her chest before leaping backward. Her enormous feet sank into the asphalt when she landed on a wider street, setting the people down with as much delicacy as someone forty meters tall could possibly have.
"Keep running!" she ordered. "Don't stop!"
But the pillars came after her.
Three of them struck her back in sequence, making her grunt and take a staggering step. Another slammed against her shoulder, then two more wrapped around her arm, trying to pull her to the side. Mother Ultimate gritted her teeth and tore the metal apart with brute force, but one last pillar emerged from below, far too fast.
It struck her directly in the face.
The impact echoed through the avenue.
Mother Ultimate lost her balance and fell sideways, crushing part of the asphalt around her, but still raised one arm at the last second to prevent the nearby civilians from being hit by the debris thrown up by her fall.
Farther ahead, an entire street was about to be swept away by a tide of metal. Poles, cars, signs, and beams came together, pulled by dozens of tentacles that tore through everything in their path. The people in the middle of the avenue froze when they saw that wall advancing.
Then Gojira stepped in front of it.
The kaiju hero planted his feet into the ground and spread his arms, using his own body as a living wall.
"EVERYONE BEHIND ME!" he roared, his deep voice echoing through the entire street. "NOW!"
The metallic mass collided against him violently. The impact pushed his feet backward, carving two deep trenches into the asphalt, but he did not fall. Godzilla grabbed one of the pillars with both hands and snapped it in half, then lowered his shoulder to take another blow that could have hit dozens of people.
"I said run!" he shouted, glancing sideways at the paralyzed civilians. "My back is big, but it's not a parking lot!"
That finally made some people react. They ran into the side streets while Godzilla continued holding back the tide, taking impact after impact, his teeth clenched and his eyes fixed on the colossus in the distance.
From the top of I-Tower, the class watched everything in silence.
The distance made the scene even more absurd. From up there, they could see the streets splitting open like living cracks, the metallic pillars spreading through the city, and the heroes trying to contain a destruction that grew with every passing second.
Kaminari went pale.
"This... this is way too big."
David stared at the metal monster with a devastated expression, especially because everything he saw was a horrific consequence of his own choices.
"This shouldn't be possible..." he murmured. "Even with the amplifier... his body should collapse before controlling that much mass."
All Might took a step forward.
"Then we need to stop this before he destroys the entire island."
He tried to move ahead, but his body finally demanded its price. A harsh cough escaped his throat. All Might brought a hand to his mouth and dropped to one knee beside David, his body trembling violently.
"All Might!" Midoriya ran to him.
"I'm fine..." All Might forced a smile, but his voice came out weaker than before. "I'm just... very tired."
Midoriya froze for a second, seeing the symbol he had always admired trying to stay on his feet even after everything.
Ryo clenched his fists.
"Then I—"
Melissa grabbed his arm with both hands.
"No."
Ryo looked at her.
"Melissa, there are people down there."
"I know." Her voice trembled, but her hand did not let go. "But if you go in that state, you'll collapse before you even reach him."
"I can handle it..."
"You just almost passed out healing Midoriya!" she replied, louder. "You are not in any condition to face that thing right now, do you understand?!"
Ryo opened his mouth to argue, but Uraraka stepped closer as well.
"Takeda... she's right."
Iida adjusted his glasses, firm.
"You need to recover your energy. Entering combat without the proper condition would only increase the risk for everyone."
Kirishima carefully sat Dash down and turned to Ryo.
"Man, I know you want to go. Everyone knows. But if even you go down, then we lose one of our biggest strengths."
Ryo stared at all of them.
For a few seconds, it looked like he was going to insist. His jaw tightened, his eyes turning back to the city below, to the tentacles destroying the streets.
He closed his eyes.
"...Damn it."
Melissa held his arm more tightly.
Ryo slowly exhaled and stepped back.
"Fine. But I'm going as soon as I recover enough, got it? Now, the plan is this..."
The details of the plan were quick, direct, with no room for hesitation.
Ryo sat down on the cracked floor in a meditation position, his legs crossed, his hands resting on his knees. Melissa stayed close enough to watch him, but not close enough to get in the way. Small green sparks appeared and vanished around his body while smaller cuts slowly closed. His breathing was still heavy, but it was beginning to fall into a controlled rhythm.
Inside his mind, the white pieces began to float again.
The class split into two groups before they started moving.
The group that would take the elevator went first, carrying the most injured and those who could better help with the evacuation.
At the edge of the tower, Igneel extended both hands.
"All right, kids. Brazilian air transport. Complaints only after landing."
Midoriya held one of his hands. Todoroki held the other.
"Can you carry both of us?" Todoroki asked.
Igneel smiled.
"Partner, I've carried barbecue for forty people on New Year's Eve. Two teenagers are nothing."
Midoriya blinked.
"That's... a strange comparison."
"But it inspires confidence, right?"
Igneel launched himself off the tower with the two of them, flames bursting from his back and feet as they descended toward the city.
Bakugo did not wait for anyone.
"Tch. I don't need a ride."
Pony was the last to get ready.
Her guided horns positioned themselves under her feet like small platforms, keeping her suspended in the air. She held Dash by the arms, the blond hanging from her with what strength he still had.
Dash looked down.
Very far down.
His face went white.
"Pony..."
"Hm?"
"This is really high."
"I know."
"Like... really, really high."
Pony smiled sweetly.
"Don't worry. I got you."
"I believe in you, but my legs don't believe in anyone."
She laughed softly and began descending carefully, the horns keeping both of them stable.
"Don't worry. As soon as we get down, I'll take you to some restaurant to fill that empty little tummy of yours."
A faint light appeared in Dash's eyes, and his arms held onto her more firmly.
"You are officially my favorite person on the island."
Pony blushed a little, but kept smiling as she descended along the side of I-Tower.
At the top, Ryo remained still, trying to ignore the distant sound of destruction below. His hands trembled over his knees, but his breathing remained steady.
Melissa knelt near him.
"Are you sure you'll make it in time?"
Ryo did not open his eyes.
"Yes."
Down below, the metallic colossus let out another roar, and the city began to shake again.
Ryo lightly pressed his fingers against his knees.
"I just need a few minutes."