Further from them, at the adjoining energy center, four students and a large black bird occupied some kind of dome that was sucking at the electricity they were emitting.
" Wow! Manga-kun, isn't this crazy?" Kaminari yelled with a broad sneer. " You feeling it!"
" It's like I'm screaming 'Whoa!'!" The other boy had a thought bubble with said word while actually holding onto the prefix of 'crackling'.
" First years! Focus!" Haya reminded them.
" We're practically second years now!" Kaminari corrected. " Right, Manga-kun?"
" We're the cornerstones! Let's do our best so we can keep Shigaraki locked up!"
" Yeah! Charge your best, Chargezuma!"
" You're all too loud!" Thunderbird bellowed in a voice like thunder rumbling, almost shaking the whole place. " Better produce as much energy as your voices!"
" You're the loudest yourself!" The practically second years retorted.
" And I'm zapping just as hard!" The bird cried.
" Don't steal our parts!" Manga's bubble read 'unfair'. " We're the cornerstones!"
" Being the cornerstones isn't enough!" Thunderbird glared down at them. " If you're satisfied with being a cornerstone, you will remain as one. Become the great insurmountable wall that will keep Shigaraki from ever harming anyone beyond this fortress. Not now, not ever!"
" Damn... he's right!" Kaminari admitted. " Let's become the walls!" And he unleashed even more electricity at that.
Yuu. Don't act recklessly. The bird's eyes narrowed. Even if you've been storing your energy for this very fight, there is no telling how things will play out. Be careful...
________________
The metal wires shot at the white-haired boy, but he dismantled them with ease.
Bakugo tried to blast him, but he deflected it with an energy shield. Hado redirected the attack at him, yet to no avail.
Yuu discharged bolts of lightning in his direction, hoping to make his body seize up again for another opportunity to take him down; however, Shigaraki nullified it with his own black electricity.
Kumainu lept on him, biting right through his shoulder, only to be flung off as the boy zoomed higher.
A red cloud manifested right where Komainu landed, softening his fall. " You weren't kidding, he's really a monster in human form."
" We're pressing on him, Angie!" Mirko called as she climbed one of the wires to Shigaraki, and Sora followed after her.
They attacked from both sides, trying to land as much damage as they could. " It's no use!" He kicked Mirko and grabbed Sora by her arm, flinging her towards the electromagnetic field, electricity wracking her body for a moment before she shot away.
" She had been touched!" Best Jeanist shouted.
" Sora!"
" Don't yell..." she panted as she held her arm. The feathers that had been in contact with Shigaraki fluttered off and came apart as new ones grew in their place. " Much like this fortress, I can cast away the affected parts!"
She smirked, clenching her fist and bolting towards Shigaraki, smacking him across the face. " Your Quirk has no effect on me!"
The boy fell to the ground with a heavy thud as the girl's large form bore down on him, ready to deliver another punch. " You're all so annoying."
He reached one hand out, about to unleash whatever he thought would push her back. And Sora smirked.
It was then that the boy realized something and rolled back instead before she could hit him, her fist breaking through the dirt ground where he was moment ago.
" Did you forget the shitty game we played at Jaku?" Bakugo landed on a platform overhead, sneering down at Shigaraki.
The white-haired boy looked back at the energy center, where Monoma and Aizawa stared at him from behind the energy shield. Monoma's eyes glowed red as his hair floated around from the built-up energy.
They were sealing his Quirk. Or more correctly, Monoma did. Aizawa was just there as a backup to slow things down if the boy ever broke his stare, since his Erasure was weakened.
Shigaraki wasn't allowed a moment reprieve, for Yuu and Amajiki attacked at once, using their lightning and octopus whips respectively.
Shigaraki still managed to dodge them before Miroko leapt for him, a broad smirk on her face. She tried to slash at him using her prosthetic leg, but he leaned back, avoiding her with ease, as though he were just playing around with her.
It was then that something unexpected happened.
Sora's eyes widened as she saw his aura expanding. " Miroko, get away!"
It was absurd; he didn't have his Quirk, so how could he generate that aura?
She got her answer as the boy turned around, his arm morphing into what could only be described as a whip of thousands of interlocking hands and fingers.
It was something none of them knew.
Thanks to Sora's warning, Miroko managed to brace herself for impact, suffering no serious injuries, but losing her prosthetic leg in the attack.
Shigaraki flailed his mutated arm around at them, and they struggled to escape the flood of fingers jutting everywhere and destroying their school building.
" I thought he couldn't use his Quirk!" Sora complained as she flew down to her friend, who mounted Kumainu again.
Yuu glanced back at their teacher. " Aizawa-sensei and Monoma-san didn't release Erasure, which means there is no way his Quirk is working."
" Then what's that!" Sora pointed at the stream of fingers writhing around.
Yuu frowned slightly. " Evolution..."
That made the girl blink.
" It's said that all living things evolve to adapt to their environment... so... Perhaps he's doing the same."
" I've never heard of an evolution going like this!" She countered. She had heard of the theory, at the very least. But that was on another level.
" His body was altered, remember," Yuu pressed on. " So perhaps it has the ability to adapt faster. What worries me, however..."
He looked back at Monoma. " Is how long Monoma-san can hold."
Sora looked back at the sheer number of hands and fingers around them and gulped, realizing his meaning.
" We need to get to his main body!" Said Yuu as Komainu flew off, as though climbing through the air with swift leaps. Sora flapped her wings and caught up with him.
From the other side of the stream, they could hear Bakugo and Miroko squabbling before Best Jeanist got their attention.
Thinking about it, those two are similar. Sora couldn't help but remark.
Shigaraki redirected his lash of wriggling appendages, and they could do little but try to dodge it.
It was then that Mandalay shouted in their minds about Midoriya being on Oukto Island and needing a warp.
" Right now?!" Sora exclaimed as she flew out of reach of the offending hands.
" There is no way!" Kumainu ducked under another whip, and Yuu doubled down, the fingers barely touching his hair. " The moment Monoma-san looks away... all of these fingers will..."
There was no need to say it. They all understood the danger they were in.
Still, without Midoriya there, most of the work will fall back to them to hold Shigaraki.
Yuu gulped and narrowed his eyes. " So be it. We were preparing for this anyway. We're all heroes here."
The black and red dog's smirk broadened. " Brat, you actually have some gut. I can see why Kyubi bothered with you." His golden eyes cut to the other boy at the center of the maelstrom, his glare getting darker.
" Even without One For All!" All of them backed off to join Best Jeanist and hear of his plan. " We can win this!"
" Yeah!"
" Sure! Best-... Yeah..." Amajiki broke off, and Sora gave him a pat on the back.
" I get you. It's really hard to keep up with him."
The plan was... simple.
Keep moving. Now that Shigaraki had used those giant appendages, he couldn't move around freely. How could he with those giant things? So far, whenever he needed to switch the course of attack, he summoned more. Which reaffirmed that theory.
Yuu and Sora confirmed that he was confined in the middle of the swirls of fingers, not moving, but using them to protect himself. It wouldn't be easy to reach him through them, they realized.
But it wasn't impossible.
They had to fight their way through.
________________
Further from the flying coffin containing the fierce battle, most of class 1A were fighting to protect... A villain.
Ai would have laughed at the odd situation, weren't it for the fact that if this one villain was awakened, everyone she loved would be in danger.
And she didn't want to lose anyone.
Not again.
The situation was just getting tense when a transmission helped boost their morale.
Dabi was defeated.
" Did you hear?" Ashido's voice rose over the din. " Todoroki has worked hard!"
Certainly, the news spread like wildfire, and all of class 1A were visibly thrilled; they began putting more effort into their attacks, wanting to live up to their friend.
" We shouldn't lose here as well!" Ai picked up a screw from the rubble around her and threw it towards Kodai, who deftly snatched it out of the air, understanding her intentions without the need for words.
" I won't let anyone get hurt again." She brushed her fingers through the pink fur of her vest, and the tips glowed bright pink for a brief moment before she caught the screw that was thrown back to her.
However, the small artifact began to grow she had to grab it with both hands, flailing it around like a giant club. " Come at me!"
She raised one leg up as high as she could and swung with her force, swatting away the villains who dared to take up her challenge.
" When did you become a baseball player?" Honenuki questioned while she heaved the screw over her shoulder again.
" Grand Orca had been training us at the agency for another baseball tournament," she stated offhandedly as Yanagi floated a barrel before her and she struck it, sending it towards the far-off group of villains.
Even when they tried to dodge, Shoda's second impact changed the barrel's direction, making it hit home.
" We're not letting them through! No matter what! This fight ends here!"
Tobio halted right beside Shoda, allowing the other boy to touch him and ready another second impact in case he needed it while bouncing around.
The two actually made a good combo team together.
" I've never seen our Dobutsu so serious before," Shoda commented.
Tobio's beady eyes opened slightly at that as he looked at the girl, throwing one giant barrel after the other.
To be fair, he thought it didn't suit her. Ai ought to be the distracted, ever-so-bright, bubbly girl of their class. Seeing her with that stern expression unsettled something within him.
" I want her to smile again," he muttered, and Shoda glanced in his direction before he closed his eyes and nodded in understanding.
" Let's bring back everyone's smiles again. Even Dobutsu's."
" Right!" Heaving a deep breath, Tobio shot off in his rubber ball form, striking the next group of villains and crushing their formation.
Yanagi was quickly swept by Honenuki as a slime villain assaulted her from behind, while Ashido was being chased by a woman with a large hammer. Only to find her weapon blocked off by Ai's screw, defending her schoolmate while she was off guard.
" Let's see who's stronger. You, or a mountain bear!"
" Bring it on!"...