Chapter 14 – From bad to worse
Izuku stood between the towering purple Nomu and Nerissa, his body screaming in protest with every shallow breath. The giant creature loomed over them like a wall of muscle and exposed brain, its beaked face was blank and mindless as it just stood there. Behind him, Nerissa's chest pressed against his back as he slowly backed away, her hands trembling as she tried to keep her breathing steady.
He didn't have to look to know she was exhausted. They both were.
"Run," Izuku whispered urgently, voice low enough that only she could hear. "Nerissa, you have to run. I'll hold it off as long as I can."
Her head snapped toward him, eyes wide with panic. "No!" The word came out frantic, almost a sob. "I'm not leaving you! I won't—I can't!"
"Nerissa—"
"I said no!" Her voice cracked, raw and desperate. "We've always done this together. I'm not running while you—"
The sound of slow, deliberate footsteps cut her off.
Both of them looked past the Nomu.
Shigaraki was walking toward them across the cracked plaza, one hand raised to his neck, nails digging in harder with every step. The hand-mask hid most of his face, but the glare burning through the gaps was unmistakable—cold, hateful, and completely unhinged. His scratching grew faster, more frantic, the skin beneath turning raw and red.
He stopped a short distance away, head tilting like a predator studying wounded prey.
"You two…" he rasped, voice low and raspy at first, then rising into something sharper, more unhinged. "You're really starting to piss me off."
He scratched harder, nails scraping loudly against his neck.
"I hate heroes. All of you. You act like you're so noble, so righteous, like the world owes you something just because you wear a stupid costume and smile for the cameras. But you're all hypocrites. Every single one of you."
His voice grew louder, cracking with raw hatred.
"You think you can't lose and that everything will always be fine. You think you can't die like a normal person. Well guess what?" He pointed one cracked finger straight at Izuku, eyes wild. "You can lose! You can die! Just like everyone else!"
Shigaraki's scratching became violent, almost frenzied.
"You're the worst one of them all right now," he snarled at Izuku. "Even standing here, half-dead, with no way out, you still look like you think you're going to win! It's like you can't even see any other outcome, you just have to think of a way to do it! I hate it! I hate it! I HATE IT!!!"
His scream echoed across the plaza, high and broken.
The Nomu shifted, waiting.
Shigaraki's grin returned, vicious and trembling.
"Nomu," he ordered, voice suddenly calm and cold. "Break his limbs. Then grab the girl."
The giant purple Nomu moved.
It didn't charge.
It vanished.
One moment it was standing in front of them. The next it was simply gone, moving faster than Izuku's eyes could follow.
Izuku's Danger Sense screamed in his skull.
He knew in an instant, if he didn't do something right now, they were both dead.
Power surged through him in a desperate flood.
Thirty-five percent of One For All roared through his entire body. Green lightning crackled violently across his skin. He poured one hundred percent into his right arm, muscles screaming as the power overloaded every fiber.
The Nomu reappeared directly in front of him.
Izuku threw the punch with everything he had.
The impact was deafening.
A shockwave of dust and debris exploded outward, blasting tiles into the air and momentarily blinding everything in a thick cloud of concrete powder.
For one heartbeat, hope flared in Izuku's chest.
Then the dust settled.
The Nomu stood completely unmoved.
It hadn't even flinched.
Izuku's eyes barely had time to widen in shock before the creature's massive hand clamped around his right arm that was already broken from his punch. It's hand squeezed like a steel vice.
CRACK.
The already shattered bone crunch instantly even more.
Pain exploded through him, white-hot and blinding.
The Nomu didn't stop.
It grabbed his left arm next and snapped it with casual brutality. Then its other hand came down on his legs breaking both femurs in quick, sickening snaps.
Izuku screamed.
The sound tore out of him raw and agonized as his body collapsed, unable to support itself. He hit the tile hard, shattered limbs buckling beneath him, blood already soaking through his costume.
Nerissa cried out in horror. "IZUKU!"
She lunged forward, palms blazing with light, ready to attack—
But the Nomu was faster.
Its enormous hand clamped around her torso, giant fingers wrapping completely around her body and pinning her arms to her sides. She struggled wildly, kicking and twisting, even trying to burn it but the creature didn't even seem to notice. It simply lifted her off the ground like she weighed nothing and held her there, staring blankly at Shigaraki, waiting for its next order.
Nerissa's eyes were wide with terror as she looked down at Izuku lying broken on the ground.
"Izuku…!" she screamed, voice cracking. "Let me go! Let him go!"
Shigaraki's vicious grin widened from his vantage point above the plaza.
"Oh… this is perfect," he whispered, nails digging deeper into his neck.
He started walking.
Slow, deliberate steps carried him across the cracked tile toward Izuku, who lay broken on the ground. Shigaraki crouched down beside him, bringing his masked face close enough that Izuku could see the bloodshot eyes gleaming through the gaps between the hands.
"See?" Shigaraki rasped, voice almost gentle. "I just won. As easy as that."
He tilted his head, studying Izuku's face, clearly expecting to see defeat, terror, or at least the sweet collapse of hope.
Instead, Izuku stared straight back at him.
Defiant.
Unbroken.
His eyes still burned with the same stubborn fire, as if he were already calculating his next move, still refusing to accept this as the end.
Shigaraki's grin faltered.
Irritation flashed across his face. He glared down at the boy, nails digging harder into his neck as he started scratching again.
"How… how are you still looking at me like that?" he muttered, voice rising. "Why won't you realize you've lost?"
The scratching grew faster, more frantic, nails scraping raw skin.
"This is so stupid… so fucking stupid… why won't you just give up like a normal npc?!"
Then all of a sudden Shigaraki stopped scratching.
His hand froze mid-motion.
His head slowly turned toward Nerissa, still held helplessly in the Nomu's grip.
A manic, gleeful grin spread across his face.
"Ahhh…" he breathed, eyes lighting up with cruel understanding. "That's it. You still have a reason to live. That's why you haven't given up yet." he muttered to him self.
He looked back at Izuku, smile widening.
"Perfect."
Shigaraki stood up smoothly and turned to the other Nomu standing nearby.
"Pick the boy up," he ordered. "By his arms. Hold him up nice and high so he can watch."
The other Nomu around them obeyed instantly.
Two massive hands clamped roughly around Izuku's shattered arms and yanked him upward. Agony exploded through his body as the broken bones ground against each other. A raw, guttural scream tore from his throat as his legs dangled uselessly beneath him. The pain was excruciating, white-hot and blinding, but the Nomu held him steady, forcing him to stay upright.
Shigaraki turned to the purple Nomu still holding Nerissa.
"Put the girl in the same position."
The creature shifted its grip, lifting Nerissa by her arms until she was suspended in the air beside Izuku, feet dangling off the ground. She screamed as she fought, struggling wildly, but the Nomu's hands were like iron.
Shigaraki walked casually over to a fallen villain's sword lying on the ground. He picked it up carefully, keeping his pinky finger raised so the blade wouldn't decay in his grasp. Then he stepped behind Nerissa, positioning himself so Izuku had a perfect view over her shoulder.
Nerissa's eyes widened in horror as she felt him behind her. She started thrashing harder, screaming, "No! No—get away from me!"
Izuku's face twisted with pure terror. "DON'T TOUCH HER!" he roared, voice breaking as he tried desperately to thrash against the Nomu's grip. "NERISSA—LET HER GO!"
Shigaraki grinned over Nerissa's shoulder, staring straight into Izuku's eyes.
He shoved the sword forward.
The blade punched straight through Nerissa's chest, right through her heart.
Both of them froze.
Nerissa's scream cut off into a wet, choking gasp. Blood bubbled up from her mouth and slipped down her chin in a thick red line. Her eyes went wide with shock, body jerking once in the Nomu's grip.
Shigaraki pulled the blade free with a sickening wet sound.
The purple Nomu released her.
Nerissa's body dropped heavily to the blood-soaked tile, landing in a crumpled heap beside Izuku.
Blood poured from the wound in her chest, pooling rapidly beneath her.
Izuku stared in frozen horror for half a second.
Then he started thrashing wildly against the Nomu holding him, screaming her name over and over, voice raw and broken.
"NERISSA!!! NO—NERISSA!!!"
Shigaraki listened in delight, having finally broken him. But he figured the kid had a good quirk so he might as well bring him to master as a gift.
He flicked his fingers toward the Nomu with blades for hands.
"Cut off his arms," he ordered coldly. "Then let him drop. Were taking him with us after he stews in sorrow for a bit."
The bladed Nomu stepped forward without hesitation.
Its razor-sharp arms flashed once.
Izuku hit the blood-soaked tile with a wet, broken thud. Pain exploded through what remained of his arms, but he barely felt it anymore. All he could see was Nerissa lying crumpled a few feet away, blood pouring from the wound in her chest.
"Nerissa…" he choked out.
He had no arms left to push himself up. No legs that could support him. But he refused to stay still.
Using the only thing he still had control over, Izuku dragged himself forward with his chin, scraping his face against the rough, blood-slick tile. Each inch was agony. His shattered bones ground together. His body screamed. But he didn't stop.
He left a bright red trail behind him as he crawled, smearing the floor with his own blood.
Nerissa's eyes were half-open, glassy, her chest rising in weak, wet gasps as she choked on her own blood. She saw him coming. Her lips moved, trying to form his name.
Izuku kept going, chin scraping against the ground until his forehead finally bumped gently against the side of her head.
He lifted his head with the last of his strength, just enough to meet her eyes.
Nerissa looked at him, really looked at him, through the pain and fading light. Slowly, with trembling effort, she raised one blood-stained hand toward his face. Her fingers brushed his cheek, weak but determined.
She pulled him closer.
Their lips met in a light, trembling kiss — soft, desperate, and final. In that moment, the last of her strength flowed into him as she activated her quirk, trying with everything she had left to heal him.
It didn't work.
Her hand slipped from his face and dropped lifelessly to the ground.
Her eyes fluttered once… then closed.
She stopped moving.
She stopped breathing.
Izuku stared at her unmoving form.
"No…" The word came out broken. "No no no no no no— Nerissa, please… you can't die. Please just wait. Momo or Shōko or All Might will be here soon. Someone will come… just hold on please…"
She didn't respond she laid there growing cold.
Izuku stared at her in shock.
Nerissa lay completely still beside him, blood still pooling below her from the wound in her chest.
He nudged her with his forehead, desperate, trying to get any response.
"Nerissa… come on… wake up…" he whispered hoarsely.
He nudged her again. Harder.
Nothing.
He pressed his ear to her chest, straining to hear.
No heartbeat.
No breathing.
Nothing.
The world went silent around him.
The only thing he could feel was a hollow, aching void in his chest — like a part of his heart had been violently ripped away and left empty.
He hadn't noticed yet that the blood still leaking from his severed arms and broken body had stopped being bright red. It was slowly growing darker. Thicker. Turning into inky black liquid that looked more like liquid shadow than blood.
Tears poured down his face and ugly, loud, heaving sobs that shook his entire broken body.
But the tears changed too.
They thickened, turning from clear to black ink-like liquid shadows that trailed down his cheeks.
The black tears kept dripping down his face, thick and inky, falling one after another into the open wound where the sword had pierced her heart.
The whole time, Shigaraki had been watching from a short distance away, reveling in the show.
He threw his head back and let out a loud, cruel laugh, clapping his hands slowly.
"Ohhh yes!" he crowed, voice dripping with malicious joy. "Look at that! Look at him crawling like a worm! I broke him! I finally broke him!" he cheered like he had just cleared a particularly annoying boss.
He scratched at his neck again, faster and faster, grinning like a madman.
"This is beautiful. This is what I wanted to see. All that defiance… gone. Just pathetic sobbing and begging. Perfect. Absolutely perfect."
Shigaraki's laughter echoed across the blood-stained plaza as Izuku continued to sob over Nerissa's lifeless body, black tears falling like ink onto her still form.
Izuku started to shake.
The tremors began small, then grew until his entire broken body was trembling violently on the blood-soaked tile.
He slowly lifted his head and looked at Shigaraki.
But it wasn't a normal look.
It was full of hate, utter, unrivaled, burning hatred.
His eyes slowly bled black from the edges inward, the whites turning completely dark until only bright neon blue cores remained, glowing with murderous intensity.
Izuku opened his mouth and roared Shigaraki's name with every ounce of pain, fury, and grief inside him.
"SHIGARAKI!!!!!"
Black, deep black shadows poured out of him like a massive inverse waterfall, surging upward in a massive pillar of darkness that swallowed the light around them. The pillar of shadow rose high into the dome, twisting and churning with raw, uncontrollable power.
When the pillar finally dissipated, Izuku was left standing.
He was enveloped in a regal cloak of living shadows that flowed around his shoulders and down to his ankles. His bones audibly cracked and shifted back into place as his body healed at an unnatural speed. Shadows erupted from the stumps of his severed arms, reaching out like living tendrils to grab his discarded arms lying nearby. They yanked them back violently, pulling the severed limbs to the stumps.
More shadows erupted from the wounds, fusing flesh, bone, and muscle together in a grotesque but effective reconnection. The process was painful and raw, but Izuku didn't flinch.
He stood tall, the cloak of shadows settling around him as he stared directly at Shigaraki with pure murderous intent.
The air around him grew heavy. The shadows at his feet writhed like living things, ready to obey his every command.
Then a crown slowly shaped itself above his head. It was black with blue lightning running through it. Then a large black sword formed in his hand; it was an exact replica of Igris's sword but it felt far more dangerous right now.
Shigaraki's grin faltered for the first time. "No one told me about this boss having a second phase."