Midoriya had gone rigid.
Even hidden behind a wall, he could not force himself to take a single step under the crushing pressure bearing down on him.
It was nothing to be ashamed of.
His friends who had come with him were the same.
Every one of them was a standout talent, the kind who would never fall behind others their age anywhere.
Strong, smart friends. If not for the grace he had received from All Might, some of them were people he would never even have dared imagine standing beside as an equal. Yet even they could not move.
But even so, he was ashamed.
Lack of experience. Having only recently gained a Quirk. The enemy being too strong.
They were all excuses.
Wasn’t Kirishima, the same age as him, still fighting even while coughing up blood?
Originally, the one who should have been fighting there was him, the successor to One For All.
He could not throw away that sacred duty and right and keep hiding like this.
"Back then, I couldn’t save him because my body wouldn’t move! And now I’m frozen because I’m scared? He’s right there! They probably still haven’t noticed us! If they had, they wouldn’t be talking so casually!"
Midoriya gritted his teeth, trying to overcome the fear that had seeped up from some distant depth inside him and wrapped itself around his body like slime.
Kirishima had said it before.
For a warrior, what mattered most was courage first, experience second, training third.
When it came to growing stronger, technique was not the most important thing, nor was power. Courage came first, and without courage, everything else became meaningless.
More than ever before, Midoriya felt the weight of those words in his bones as he forced his body to move, though it felt as if he were trapped in sleep paralysis.
When he somehow managed to twitch the very tip of one finger, he felt the curse binding his whole body begin to loosen little by little.
But he still could not move.
"Don’t move."
"I’ll protect you."
At some point, Iida’s hand had reached over and grabbed his collar.
He had come along from the start to stop Midoriya, knowing full well he would recklessly throw himself in, and now, when the time came, he did what he had to do.
Seeing the resolve in Iida’s eyes, Midoriya stopped.
As their trembling gazes met and one will crossed against another, All For One’s voice rang out.
"Just as I thought. You came."
Kirishima seemed to say something in front of him too, but Midoriya could not make it out clearly.
Only All For One’s words echoed through the children’s minds.
As his heart pounded wildly at the thought that they had been discovered, salvation arrived.
The man who always, everywhere, saved people.
The absolute symbol of justice, victory, and peace.
All Might’s voice thundered across the vacant lot that had once been a ruined factory site.
"I’ll take everything back! All For One!"
"Will you try to kill me again? All Might!"
The two monsters beyond all standards collided head-on, and a storm swept in every direction.
The teleported members of the League of Villains and Bakugo were blown back by the shockwave.
Kirishima moved in front of Rumi, whose body was in no condition to move properly, planted his feet into the ground, and took the blast head-on.
"Ha. Yeah, there’s no matching that kind of one-shot destructive power. He’s insane."
"You’re plenty insane yourself. Still, thanks for blocking that."
"At that level, he’s the normal one. More importantly, I don’t want to hear that from you, Rumi."
"What’s that supposed to mean?"
The two grinned at each other.
As they stored up strength to move in an emergency, All For One’s voice came through the thick cloud of dust spread across the area.
"You’re rather late, aren’t you? It’s only about five kilometers from the bar to here, and you arrived a full thirty seconds after I sent the Nomu. You really have declined, All Might!"
At the sight of All For One casually shaking out his wrist as he spoke, All Might’s expression hardened and he fired back.
"And what about you? What is that industrial-zone-looking mask? You’re pushing yourself pretty hard too, aren’t you?"
He bounced lightly in place a couple of times as he spoke.
"I won’t repeat the same mistake I made six years ago, All For One! I’m taking Bakugo back! And this time, I’ll throw you into prison for good! Along with the entire League of Villains you command!"
Facing his old nemesis, long-buried emotions boiled up inside All Might.
He did not hide his fury. Roaring like a lion, he charged.
All For One answered him with the same leisurely mockery as ever.
Raising one arm, he activated a Quirk and spoke.
"That sounds exhausting. Though I suppose the same goes for both of us."
All Might’s fist slammed into his palm.
The massively swollen arm rippled as it absorbed the impact, then expelled the energy it had received back out together with the air.
Holding up his palm, All For One murmured,
"Air Cannon, plus Springlike Limbs. Reflexes times four, stamina enhancement times three. This combination is quite delightful. Shall I add a few more enhancement types?"
"All Might!"
Beyond the dust cloud scattered by the wind, Bakugo saw All Might blasted away and buildings collapsing one after another, and shouted.
Without even looking at him, All For One replied in a flat voice.
"There’s nothing to worry about. That won’t kill him. So for now, run along. Tomura. Take the boy with you."
Dark red tendrils extending from his hand stabbed into the back of the fallen Kurogiri.
"Kurogiri, help everyone escape."
"Wait, you! This kid got attacked and knocked out! I don’t know the details, but if you can use warp, then send them yourself!"
"Mine is one I only acquired recently, Magne. Its transfer range is terribly short, and unlike his coordinate movement, all it can do is pull things to my side or send them from my side. And when sending, it only works if the destination is a person, someone very familiar. So I’ll have to ask Kurogiri. Quirk Forced Activation!"
Even as he soothed Magne in a gentle voice, he did not withdraw his hand.
Kurogiri’s black mist-like body convulsed and scattered, creating a round crack in space.
"Now then, hurry along!"
"What about you, Teacher?"
As All For One was about to answer Shigaraki’s question, All Might rose from the pile of rubble and charged again.
As he launched himself into the air, All For One called out,
"Always keep your mind working, Tomura. You can grow far, far more than this!"
"I won’t let you get away!"
Another violent collision erupted, and the atmosphere was shoved aside in a savage wave.
Watching that grand battle, Shigaraki muttered without realizing it.
"Teacher..."
"Let’s go, Shigaraki! While that pipe-mask freak is holding All Might back! Grab the kid while you’re at it!"
"You annoying bastards!"
At the words of the suited man in the mask, Bakugo raised his fierce eyes.
This was better than being kidnapped in a cramped enclosed space, but the situation was still overwhelmingly against him.
"Young Bakugo!"
All Might shouted in his direction, but he had no room to shake off All For One and help him immediately.
In that desperate crisis, a brutal storm crashed down on the villains who had been eyeing Bakugo like vultures.
At the same time, a voice that made no effort to hide its ugly mood rang across the lot.
"What, you bastards think I disappeared just because I took a few hits and bled a little? Who said you could just take my friend wherever you want?"
The members of the League of Villains all threw themselves aside to avoid the attack, then turned to look.
Kirishima stood there with a vicious expression.
He had taken too much damage and forced his body to its limit in too short a time, so [Demon Form] had half unraveled and his face had mostly returned to normal, but his presence had not diminished in the slightest.
As the villains swallowed hard before the ferocity of a wounded beast, he continued.
"I’ll use you to teach the others what happens when they dare lay a hand on my friend. I’m going to crush all four of your limbs. You were prepared for that much, right?"
Now that he had no intention of hiding his killing intent, Kirishima looked terrifying.
If All For One felt like an old demon king, seasoned and complete with age, then Kirishima felt like a young demon king, openly radiating spirit and hostility.
With everyone except All For One and All Might, who were clashing violently like a demon of rebellion and a god, overwhelmed by the atmosphere, Kirishima checked his condition and let out a breath.
"My condition’s awful. No, considering I just traded blows with All Might’s archenemy, maybe I should be grateful it’s even this good. Once? If I’m ready to die, maybe twice more."
His body was in terrible shape in every possible way.
For now, his body’s metallic properties were somehow holding together despite being warped inward, but the moment [Demon Form] fully came undone, all that damage would hit him at once.
The blow he had taken to the abdomen was a problem too.
No matter how he thought about it, some of his internal organs had probably ruptured.
In this state, he could move violently at most one more time.
So he bared his teeth and growled all the more fiercely.
"If possible, I need to keep these bastards tied down until those two settle things. If they all rush me at once, I can handle one, maybe two at best. Even with Rumi helping, maybe three. Bakugo’s strong too, but he’d still be at a disadvantage in a two-on-one, and three-on-one would probably be certain defeat."
As he coolly sorted through the situation and thought over how to move, he remembered a lesson from his previous life.
Kirishima had not always been this strong-willed from the start.
Under a biological mother too drugged out to care about him and a father who lived by violence, he had needed to become a quick-witted rat just to survive.
He made himself as invisible as possible and carefully picked up leftovers to eat.
Even that meager life of scraping by came to an end when he was forcibly thrown out of the house.
That night, Kirishima sat on a bench swallowed by darkness, looked up at the sky, and cried.
He could find no reason to live. It felt as though he had been born only to die.
In the end, what moved him from that puppet-like stupor of despair and pain was the instinct of a living creature.
Life was cruel enough that even a half-corpse wishing for death had no choice but to move under the lash of fierce hunger and thirst, and what he found after that was the wilderness of survival of the fittest.
At first, he became a rat again, just as he had at home.
But he soon realized something.
He could not survive that way.
To live, Kirishima became a beast.
No matter who it was, if they laid a hand on him, he had to look like he would take their arms and legs with him, like he would at least tear off a few fingers or toes.
Back then and now, Kirishima understood one thing very well: he could never afford to look weak.
Showing the inner demon raised by a twisted world that had been cruel only to him, he prayed this lull would last as long as possible.
"Kirishima... he’s not okay!"
Hidden behind the wall, Midoriya thought that with trembling eyes.
Other people might shrink back from that terrifying presence, but Midoriya had known Kirishima since they were very young.
He knew the Kirishima in front of him was not normal.
Normally, Kirishima would never say things like that.
He was the type to beat someone down first and talk while stomping on them afterward, not waste time threatening them in advance.
To him, his very existence was already a threat, and trying to make it sound bigger with words only made it feel smaller.
"All Might, Kacchan, even Kirishima are all cornered like this!"
As Midoriya clenched his teeth, he remembered what he had heard at the hospital in Hosu City.
What it meant for someone without a license to use their Quirk without a guardian’s permission.
"We... we’re not even allowed to fight in the first place!"
In that desperate situation, Midoriya forced his mind to work.
Right now, All Might was desperately trying to save Bakugo.
That meant he could not properly fight All For One. If they could just get Bakugo out, then All Might would finally have the conditions he needed to fight for real.
Midoriya searched for a route.
East, west, south, north, and from top to bottom.
"Above? Above? There’s a route!"
"Iida! Everyone!"
"Absolutely not, Midoriya!"
Iida tried desperately to stop him.
He had a sense of responsibility.
He could not allow his friends to repeat the same mistake he himself had made.
And to him, Midoriya spoke of hope.
"That’s not it! There’s a way! A way to save Bakugo without fighting! And we can get out of here too!"
"Tell us."
Todoroki spoke with a stiff expression.
By the time they were talking, the battle had already resumed, and explosions could be heard outside.
Midoriya answered with the same hard expression.
"But for this to work, Kacchan has to play along too!"
He remembered Bakugo being dragged away by the neck, shouting at them not to come, and Uraraka saying Bakugo would see being rescued by him as humiliating.
Midoriya took in the situation calmly and said,
"This plan definitely won’t work if it’s me. So Sho! You’re the key to raising our chances of success!"
"Huh? Me?"
"Explain it in detail, Midoriya."
"Okay."
Midoriya laid out the plan.
First, he and Iida would dash out with Iida’s speed, and Sho would transform into a stone-lion and break through the wall.
Then Todoroki would create an ice wall, making a path high enough for them to jump and cross over the battlefield through the sky.
The League of Villains had no Quirk suited for flight, and with All Might holding All For One in place, the reverse was true as well: All For One was tied up by All Might.
It was possible.
"And after that, the important part is who calls out to him. Not me. It has to be a friend Kacchan recognizes. Sho, you can do it! If it’s your voice calling him!"
Midoriya shouted as they flew through the air on the power of Recipro Burst.
Sho thrust out his cat-paw pads and shouted with all his might.
"Come on!"
Bakugo’s eyes widened as he twisted this way and that to avoid being grabbed.
An unexpected voice in an unexpected moment.
Then an explosion burst forth, turning the tide as it launched upward.
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