He was breathing heavily. Aizawa's body weighed far more than I'd imagined. My arms were already trembling, and every breath scraped my throat, mixing dust with fear. I could still hear the echo of All Might's footsteps across the field—his strong, steady voice cutting through the chaos like a promise.
"Everything is fine now... because I am here."
Those words… I don't know what they had. I'd heard them plenty of times on TV, but there, among the smoke and the screams, they sounded different. For a moment, I forgot about the weight of Aizawa on my shoulders.
Through the wreckage, I saw All Might standing tall amid the destruction—impossible to ignore. Even the dust seemed to swirl around him.
Then I saw him: Shigaraki, frozen in place, his fingers twitching, his gaze locked on All Might. The hatred in his eyes was almost tangible.
"All Might..." he muttered with a crooked grin. "Finally..."
All Might charged forward without hesitation. The remaining villains—nothing more than chaotic cannon fodder—barely had time to react. In seconds, he took them all down with a storm of blows that shook the ground. The sheer force of his punches sent a rush of air strong enough to make me shield my face; even the smoke I'd released vanished completely.
The Number One Hero grabbed Tsuyu, Midoriya, and Mineta, who were dangerously close to Shigaraki, and the powerful gust that followed cleared the field of smoke entirely.
"Young ones, head to the entrance!" he ordered, without taking his eyes off Shigaraki.
And that wasn't all.The gust ripped the hand-mask right off Shigaraki's face, tossing it a few feet away.
I saw the villain immediately drop down, panicked, and lift his face—twisted with rage."Father..." he whispered, as if speaking to the hand he now held tightly in his grasp.
By the time he placed it back over his face, All Might was already standing before him.
The speed was inhuman. In less than a second, his fist came crashing down toward Shigaraki with the force of a thunderclap.
But before the hit connected, Shigaraki's voice rose—filled with rage and desperation.
"Nomu!"
The monster's roar echoed from the other end of the field. I had sent it far off with my distraction, but it didn't matter. Nomu appeared in an instant, placing itself between Shigaraki and All Might's blow.
The impact was deafening. The ground shook violently. The air compressed, then burst outward in a shockwave that sent me stumbling back.
I took the chance.
With my heart pounding in my chest, I grabbed Aizawa under his arms and dragged him away with every ounce of strength I had.
"Tachibana!" I heard someone shout through the roar of destruction.
I turned, still holding Aizawa over my shoulders. Yaoyorozu and Jirou were there; their faces tightened as they saw how badly he was hurt.
"Can you heal him?" I asked, my voice strained with urgency.
Yaoyorozu nodded."I know a bit of first aid," she said, and without wasting a second, began creating bandages with her Quirk.
While she worked, I turned my eyes back toward the battlefield. Explosions still echoed in the distance; the air smelled like metal and smoke.
You could clearly see All Might striking with his full strength… but Nomu barely budged. It had a Quirk that absorbed impacts.If I didn't know who created it, I might've wondered what kind of abyss could spawn a monster capable of withstanding the Number One Hero.But I do know. Nomu wasn't born… it was made.
Part of me couldn't help but feel a twisted sort of fascination. It was grotesque, yes—but brilliant in its most horrifying form.The other part understood what lay behind that thing: pain, human experiments, people treated as disposable pieces. All in the pursuit of power.
Dr. Kyudai Garaki… a man who took obsession far beyond any moral boundary. He even tried transferring Quirks from one body to another. Madness, sure—but madness that worked.That kind of technology… if only I could get my hands on it—
No. Thinking like that is pointless.
That's not the path I chose to reach power.First, because I'm not that sick.And second… because without a supervillain funding me, I probably wouldn't get very far anyway.
The battle, from where I stood, was almost an exact replica of the anime I once watched from the comfort of my room. All Might and Nomu clashed over and over, locked in a brutal dance that made the air itself tremble. Each hit raised clouds of dust, each roar shook the ground. Even my drones—trying to stay airborne nearby—were blown away by the sheer wind pressure they created.
And then, came the end.
All Might's final strike thundered across the entire USJ. A massive shockwave cleared the last of the smoke and debris, sending Nomu crashing through the ceiling and out of the facility.For a moment, everything fell silent.
All Might stood tall, arm still extended, chest rising and falling with heavy breaths. His figure looked unbreakable… but I knew the truth.I knew he couldn't move anymore.
His body was at its absolute limit.Even so, he didn't step back. He stood firm, like a statue refusing to fall while others were still watching.
Then, the silence shattered.
Shigaraki clawed at his neck in frustration, nearly frantic—until he suddenly stopped and lunged toward All Might.Izuku was about to run to stop him, but before he could move, four bullets tore through Shigaraki's limbs, dropping him to the ground with a scream of fury.
Kurogiri reacted instantly. His mist expanded violently, forming a dark barrier that swallowed the bullets before they could hit him. The metallic sound of the projectiles vanished into the portal as if they'd never existed.
"Shigaraki, fall back!" Kurogiri shouted, his voice filled with rare urgency.
We all turned toward the USJ's entrance.
There, through the haze and the sunlight filtering from the shattered ceiling, new figures stood.
Reinforcements.
Among them, I spotted the small figure of Nezu, calmly stepping over a piece of rubble, his voice cutting through the lingering silence after the gunfire.
"Sorry for the delay," he said with a polite smile—though his eyes glinted sharply. "I brought every hero available."
Around him, one by one, the U.A. teachers appeared: Present Mic, Cementoss, Snipe, Midnight, Vlad King…Each one ready for battle.
Shigaraki, blood dripping from his arms, let out a low growl beneath the hand-mask."Tch… damn school..." he muttered bitterly, before glancing at Kurogiri. "Let's go."
Kurogiri nodded.The mist spread once more, slowly swallowing them both.
Meanwhile, I could only stand there, watching.The chaos that had consumed the USJ was finally beginning to fade.