Chapter 18: The Trio of the Inferno and the Dragon's Roar.
In the Central Plaza, Shota Aizawa did not hesitate for a single heartbeat.
He leaped from the top of the long staircase, his body plummeting toward the army of villains below. His white capture scarf fluttered violently behind him, snapping in the wind like the wings of a predatory bird.
To the villains waiting at the bottom, he looked like a fool jumping to his death.
"It's just one guy!" a villain with a gun for a hand screamed, raising his weapon. "Idiot! Fill him with lead!"
The villain squeezed the trigger.
Snap.
Aizawa's hair shot straight up. His eyes glowed a piercing crimson.
"Huh?" The villain panicked. The gun didn't fire. The mechanism was jammed, the Quirk erased in an instant.
Before the villain could process the loss of his power, Aizawa landed. He didn't land softly; he landed with the momentum of a wrecking ball. He swung his leg low, sweeping the gunman off his feet with a bone-crunching crack.
As the villain fell, Aizawa spun. His capture scarf lashed out like a living serpent, wrapping around the villain's torso. With a grunt of exertion, Aizawa yanked the cloth, using the villain's body as a human shield to block a knife strike from a second attacker.
Wham!
The two villains collided. Aizawa didn't stop. He was a blur of black and grey, dancing through the crowd. He ducked under a rocky fist, grabbed the attacker's arm, and used the villain's own momentum to flip him over his shoulder, slamming him into the concrete.
Crack. Thud. Snap.
He was erasing Quirks, breaking limbs, and moving faster than their eyes could track.
High above, at the entrance, Natsu Dragneel watched the scene unfolding below. His hands gripped the railing, his knuckles turning white. Veins pulsed on his forehead.
"He's fighting alone..." Natsu growled, a low rumble starting in his chest. He took a step forward, his fists igniting with flames that licked at his sleeves. "I can't just watch! There are too many of them! Let me go down there!"
Natsu tried to rush past the group, but a thick, white, padded arm barred his path like a steel gate.
"Stand back, Natsu!" Thirteen shouted, extending an arm to block the reckless student.
"Move!" Natsu roared, pushing his body weight against the Pro Hero's arm.
Under the thick space suit, Thirteen's eyes widened in shock.
What is this physical pressure?! Thirteen thought, digging boots into the floor tiles to maintain balance. He isn't using a Quirk to push me... this is pure, raw muscle power! It feels like holding back a charging rhino!
"My job is to protect you!" Thirteen declared, voice straining against Natsu's strength. "Eraser Head is buying us time! You must evacuate immediately and alert the school!"
But before a single student could turn toward the exit, the air in front of the main doors grew cold.
A shadow rose from the floor.
"I am afraid I cannot allow that."
The purple and black mist swirled, forming a wall of darkness. Two glowing yellow eyes narrowed coldly from within the void.
"We are the League of Villains... We have come today to extinguish the Symbol of Peace, All Might."
The students froze. The blood drained from Uraraka's face. Kill... All Might?
"But it seems he is not here..." Kurogiri continued, his voice polite yet dripping with malice. "So, I shall scatter you, torture you, and slaughter you instead."
"Not on my watch!"
Kirishima and Bakugo moved in perfect sync.
"DIE!!" Bakugo screamed, launching a massive explosion.
"RAAAH!" Kirishima hardened his arms into jagged spears.
They lunged at the mist. BOOM! The explosion engulfed the villain.
But as the smoke cleared, the mist remained, untouched.
"That was dangerous," Kurogiri said calmly. "But useless."
"Get back, both of you!" Thirteen shouted. The hero pointed a finger at the mist, flipping open a small metal cap on the suit's glove.
"BLACK HOLE!!"
A terrifying gravitational force erupted from Thirteen's fingertip. The air screamed as it was torn apart. Debris, dust, and light were sucked into the vortex, threatening to consume the mist villain entirely.
But Kurogiri was faster. A warp gate opened directly in front of Thirteen's finger... and another exit gate opened directly behind Thirteen's back.
"Your power is magnificent, Thirteen," Kurogiri whispered. "But what happens when you are swallowed by your own void?"
The suction force bypassed the mist and hit Thirteen from behind.
RIIIIIP.
The back of the space suit shredded. The armor crumpled under the intense gravity.
"Sensei!!" Mina screamed in horror.
Thirteen collapsed to the ground, smoke rising from the destroyed suit. The students were defenseless.
Kurogiri expanded. The purple mist surged forward like a tidal wave, wrapping around the screaming students.
"And now... scatter!"
"Natsu!!" Happy cried out, reaching a paw toward his partner before the darkness swallowed him whole.
The Fire Zone.
Natsu fell from a tear in the sky.
He didn't fall onto cold concrete. He fell into the heart of an inferno. The city block below was engulfed in raging flames. The heat was suffocating, the sky choked with thick black smoke.
Natsu twisted his body in mid-air. He landed on his feet with the grace of a cat, his sandals touching the hot pavement. He stood up slowly, and a wide, toothy grin spread across his face.
"Fire?" Natsu breathed in the scorching air. "They sent me to a luxury resort!"
To his right, a blast shook the street.
BOOM!
Katsuki Bakugo landed in a crouch, smoke rising from his palms. "DIE, YOU SCUM!!"
To his left, the ground shattered.
CRASH!
Eijiro Kirishima landed, smashing through a burning pile of rubble with a hardened fist. "That was a dirty trick! So unmanly!"
The three stood in the middle of the burning intersection, back-to-back. Surrounding them were two dozen villains, wielding knives, pipes, and fire-based quirks. They sneered, confident in their element.
In the center stood Natsu, cracking his knuckles, his eyes shining with the ferocity of a dragon.
On the right, Bakugo, vibrating with murderous intent.
On the left, Kirishima, hardened like a fortress, his face set in determination.
"Look at this," one villain with a skull mask laughed, twirling a machete. "They sent us some kids to roast!"
"Let's go..." Natsu whispered, his voice low. His arms erupted into flames that burned brighter and hotter than the surrounding fire.
Chaos erupted.
It wasn't a battle; it was a brawl.
"SHINEEE!!" Bakugo launched himself into the air, blasting a villain in the face with an explosion that rattled the windows. He spun, using the momentum to kick another villain into a burning storefront.
Kirishima stood his ground like a tank. A villain swung a steel pipe at his head. CLANG. The pipe bent against Kirishima's hardened skin.
"Is that all you got?" Kirishima yelled, delivering a heavy right hook that sent the villain flying.
And Natsu... Natsu was a force of nature.
He ran straight through a wall of fire. A villain tried to shoot fireballs at him. Natsu swatted them away with his bare hands.
"Too cold!" Natsu laughed. He grabbed the villain by the collar and headbutted him. THWACK.
"We need to finish these trashes quickly!" Natsu shouted, throwing a villain across the street. "Aizawa is fighting alone in the plaza! We have to go back and help him!"
"Shut up!" Bakugo roared, blasting another villain into the pavement. "Don't tell me what to do, Salamander! I'm going to kill every extra here, and then I'm going to kill the boss!"
"Guys!" Kirishima yelled, blocking a sword strike with his forearm. "There are too many of them! And they keep hiding in the fire!"
The villains were smart. They used the environment to their advantage. They darted in and out of the burning buildings, launching surprise attacks from the smoke and retreating into the flames where the students couldn't see them.
Natsu stopped in the middle of the street. He looked around at the burning skyscrapers. The fire was massive, consuming everything.
"They're using the fire?" Natsu muttered.
He stopped fighting. He stood completely still, his arms hanging loosely by his sides.
"Hey, Bakugo! Kirishima!" Natsu called out. His voice sounded strange—distorted, as if he were inhaling while speaking. "Leave the building... Now."
Bakugo blasted a villain and turned around, veins popping on his forehead. "HAH?! Are you ordering me to run?! No way in hell!"
"Natsu..." Kirishima looked at the pink-haired boy. He saw the air warping around Natsu's mouth. He saw the flames on the nearby lampposts bending, drawn toward Natsu like water down a drain. "He's going to eat it... No, he's going to eat the whole zone!"
"I'm not moving!" Bakugo yelled stubbornly.
"Sorry, Bakugo!"
Without warning, Kirishima hardened his entire body and tackled Bakugo. He scooped the blonde boy onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
"What are you doing, you Spiky-Haired bastard?!" Bakugo screamed, kicking his legs wildly. "Put me down!! I'll kill you!"
"Trust our partner!" Kirishima shouted, sprinting full speed toward the large glass window at the end of the street. "Cover your ears!"
Kirishima—carrying a raging Bakugo—leaped through the plate glass window, shattering it as they tumbled out onto the walkway overlooking the other zones.
Inside the Fire Zone, Natsu was alone with the villains.
"What is this kid doing?" a villain stammered, backing away.
They watched in horror as the flames from the buildings, the ground, and the sky began to detach. A massive cyclone of fire formed, swirling violently into a funnel that connected directly to Natsu's open mouth.
"Thanks for the meal..." Natsu whispered after inhaling the inferno. He wiped his mouth.
His stomach glowed a bright, blinding orange. The light traveled up his chest, into his neck. The magic power and heat he had gathered were enough to power a small city.
Natsu cupped his hands around his mouth like a trumpet.
"FIRE DRAGON'S... ROAR!!!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
It wasn't just an explosion. It was a concentrated beam of pure, destructive flame. The roar erupted from Natsu's mouth, obliterating the wall of the Fire Zone completely. The shockwave pulverized the burning buildings, blew the villains away like leaves in a hurricane, and tore through the structural dome itself.
The beam of fire pierced through the zone, shooting out into the central plaza and shaking the very foundations of the USJ.
Outside the Fire Zone.
Kirishima and Bakugo lay on the floor where they had landed. They looked up.
Reflected in Bakugo's wide red eyes was a towering pillar of orange flame that pierced the ceiling. The heat washed over them, hot enough to singe their eyebrows even from this distance.
"What... the..." Bakugo whispered, his voice trembling. He watched the destruction, his mind struggling to comprehend the scale. It was raw power. It was undeniable.
"So manly..." Kirishima breathed, shielding his face from the intense light.
The Mountain Zone.
Momo Yaoyorozu and Mina Ashido were in the middle of fighting off thugs, with Happy dropping rocks from the air to assist.
Suddenly, the mountain beneath their feet shook violently. A deep rumble, like a volcano erupting, echoed through the facility. They looked across the dome to see the massive column of fire erupting from the Fire Zone.
"Oh my god!" Mina screamed, grabbing a rock for balance. "What is that explosion?!"
"Did a gas main rupture?" Momo asked, her face pale with terror.
Happy stopped in mid-air. He looked toward the pillar of fire and destruction. A small bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, but a proud smirk tugged at his whiskers.
"No..." Happy said, adjusting the straps of his green backpack. "That's just Natsu saying: 'I am here.'"
.
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