The silent explosion, as the first called it, was what had saved him from All For One.
By forcing their energy to surge through their veins, they could generate a burning light that could scorch anything in the area.
And although they were built strongly, thanks to Angel, that wouldn't leave them unscathed.
The risk of death was very high.
Probably for the best.
That one technique was meant for when they were truly cornered, for when there was no hope. It would destroy everything, even the Quirk that had drawn its energy from.
If All For One came knocking, he wouldn't be able to extract anything from the corpse.
Tadashi had managed to survive it before due to the versatile aspect of DNA Writer, allowing himself to heal in an instant and deceiving All For One with extra appendages.
But Angel had no such luxury.
He made sure of it.
The one who used that technique would seal his death.
Or so it was supposed to be…
Yui opened her eyes to see two people bending down on her, and the soft rain pattered against her skin, indicating she was outside. They were on one of UA's robot-driven vehicles used to teleport the refugees.
But they weren't moving.
The panic and the hustle to hurry and get on one of the vehicles had caused a jam, while the heroes were torn between organizing the people and keeping the spies down.
There was a bright blue light off-sight that filled the sky ominously.
She wanted to groan, to make her discomfort and pain known, but her voice betrayed her.
" Don't say a thing…" the woman sitting by her side spoke, her hands clutching Yui's tightly, and she could feel warmth seeping into her aching frame from them.
The woman's blue eyes could be seen from behind her thick glasses, bright and focused on her task. " I can't heal you, but I can keep you alive until we get to Shiketsu. They will take care of you there."
It was Haruka, Yuu's mother. And her Quirk was probably the sole reason Yui was even alive by that point.
Her regeneration didn't activate…
Which meant her Quirk was mostly…
" I heard everything," Satoru told her, a hint of shame in his voice. It made sense for his enhanced senses to catch on to their fight. It also explained how she was quickly saved.
" You wanted to make up to your granddaughter by dying? That's absurd!" She felt the woman's hands squeeze hers tighter still. " Sora wouldn't want to come back to find her grandmother dead."
Yui closed her eyes, letting her tears drift on the burnt skin of her cheeks along with the rain. She wanted to speak, to ask about Reika, too.
She was Sora's mother, regardless.
" The woman is with the heroes now," Satoru said. " She didn't suffer many burns, managed to grow plants out of her body and around her to protect herself."
" She was the reason the escape hatches had been sealed tight with vines. When you took her down, they withered away."
Yui's eyes drifted softly to the sky again. The light seemed to get closer and closer to them, growing brighter with the moment, and the heat began to rise.
She could feel it even though most of her skin had been burned.
Haruka and Satoru, too, looked worriedly back at the expanding light, Dabi.
It wouldn't take long for it to envelop them and the shelter altogether.
All of a sudden, another vehicle skidded to a stop nearby. From it, they saw the school's principal, Nezu, hop down while holding something in his hands.
Haruka and Satoru's eyes widened at it.
A blue flame that was blazing brightly with no kindling or fuel.
Yuu's flame.
" This was originally a plan for when Shigaraki attacked UA. But I think the matters here are more pressing." The principal narrowed his beady eyes. " It's up to you."
He raised the flame overhead, and it floated into the air, almost undistinguished from the bright blue light that was a few meters from swallowing the panicked mass.
Then, it enlarged, branched, and took the shape of a creature that dwarfed the shelter and covered them like a shield. Before the flames finally receded and vanished, leaving behind the solidified form of a gigantic black tortoise with a thick carapace and a white snake for a tail.
The preceding heat reached them no more, fended off by the thick black shield of the turtle with glowing hexagonal patterns.
" Is that…"
" Genbu?!"
" The Guardian Spirit from legends?"
" How in the world…"
A kid who was holding his mother's hand tightly and hugging a white board with the picture of a nine-tailed fox to his chest widened his eyes in sheer amazement at the creature defending them. " Kyubi's friend…"
" Yuu's Yokai… why?" Satoru asked.
" He had left it in our care…" A man with a long yellow trench coat stepped closer to their cart. " Apparently, Yokais are not affected by effect-type Quirks. So if Shigaraki came to attack UA's main center, a Yokai of this size would stand as the best shield against him."
It was after their fight in Jaku that Yuu had shared that discovery with them.
His Yokais could not be affected by effect-type Quirks.
They were energy.
And energy was not easily manipulated.
They had tried it once before during a training course with Uraraka's Zero gravity, and she failed to reduce Kyubi and Thunderbird's weights.
Because they didn't have real weight.
It was their idea of it; of what made them follow the world's physical rules, but they had no obligation to abide by the change made by Uraraka.
Still, it was not enough.
It wasn't until Kyubi survived the decay that they became certain.
Yokais could stand against Shigaraki with ease.
The two could only stare in awe at the massive form protecting them from being vaporized by the heat.
As the people were, too, taking in their savior, no one seemed to notice the woman who had slid away into the eye of the flame vortex, nor her children following after…
________________
Without the energy center, the brunt of the coffin's weight fell on Sora and Gentle, making them grit their teeth as they grappled to fight against its plummeting trajectory.
Yuu realized they couldn't hold for too long, and they would be crushed under the chunk of metal if something wasn't done.
However, everyone's attention was drawn to something unexpected.
All For One, holding All Might by the neck, and ready to do him in.
Midoriya was busy with Shigaraki.
Gentle and Sora were busy with the flying coffin.
The other heroes were hardly in shape to fight or get to them in time.
None but Yuu.
In the split second All For One took to deal with the support aircraft of Star and stripes, he had to make up his mind on what to do.
He didn't have to.
" What's the situation…" A deep, growl-like voice sounded from behind him.
He looked back at a certain boy as he struggled to stand up, panting, bloodied, and a crumbled card with All Might's picture was held in his hand.
He was in no state to fight. He shouldn't.
No other Hero would have permitted it.
But he never asked for permission.
Yuu knew him.
He knew him too well.
If someone could save All Might…
" All Might is about to be killed by All For One, and Midoriya-san is busy with Shigaraki down there! He can't save him!" He blurted.
It was him.
That was all Bakugo needed to hear to focus his mind.
His eyes burned with resolve as sparks began igniting around him.
Best Jeanist, who clearly was against the idea of Bakugo jumping into the fight again just after being dragged from the realm of the dead, tried to restrain him with wires.
But that only resulted in a great explosion strong enough to shake the structure of the coffin.
Best Jeanist was not quick enough.
In a flash, Yuu watched in awe as Bakugo and Midoriya moved in perfect synchronization.
The former flung himself towards the latter, who adjusted his stance to be able to catch him, swirling together into a tight vortex of explosions and tentacles, giving him the boost he needed to reach All For One in time before All Might could be torn apart.
Everyone held their breath.
Everyone clutched their fists.
Everyone ground their teeth.
For a moment there, they forgot their own dilemmas.
Only one thought took over them.
" Reach him in time…"
" Bakugo-san!"
A bright explosion, brighter than any Yuu had seen him make so far, erupted.
Against the light, Yuu's sharp eyes found Bakugo with All Might under his arm.
He did it.
They did it.
With several more explosions, Bakugo managed to retreat to safety.
Knowing him, he would probably be fighting All For One, Yuu guessed.
And he couldn't do so with All Might in his possession.
Yuu equally wanted to help and stop him.
But there were more important matters to attend to.
" We need to land this coffin!"...