All Might's presence filled the USJ like sunlight breaking through storm clouds. It wasn't just his physical size, though he was massive, easily seven feet of pure muscle. It was something deeper, something that made even the villains hesitate.
Charisma, Arthur recognized immediately. He carries hope with him like a mantle. People see him and believe everything will be okay.
Arthur had tried to do that once. As king, he'd stood before his armies and promised victory, promised justice, promised a better world. But he'd been young then, idealistic, believing in absolutes that didn't exist.
All Might believed in those absolutes. You could see it in his smile, hear it in his voice.
And somehow, impossibly, the world believed with him.
"You said you came here to kill me," All Might said, his voice booming across the plaza. "Well, I'm here. But I'm afraid I can't let you harm my students."
Shigaraki's scratching intensified, nails digging into his neck. "You're late! We've been waiting! Do you know how boring it was, watching Eraser Head fight trash?"
"I apologize for the delay," All Might replied, and there was actual politeness in his tone, as if he were addressing a legitimate complaint rather than a mass murderer. "Traffic was terrible."
The joke fell flat, but Arthur understood its purpose. All Might was projecting calm, confidence, and control. Making the villains doubt, making the students hope.
Psychological warfare, Arthur noted. All Might's eyes swept the plaza, cataloging. He saw Aizawa surrounded, exhausted but fighting. Saw Arthur against the wall, injured, bleeding, but standing. Saw the Nomu, and something flickered in his expression, too fast for most to catch.
But Arthur caught it.
Fear, he realized. He's afraid. Not for himself. For us.
"Himura," All Might called out, his voice carrying across the distance. "Can you move?"
Arthur tested his weight, feeling his ribs grind, his arm throb. Royal Core was working, healing, but slowly. "Yes."
"Get to Thirteen. Help evacuate the others."
"I can fight," Arthur said, manifesting another energy blade despite the pain.
"I know you can, young man. I saw what you did." All Might's smile never wavered, but his voice carried steel underneath. "But right now, I need you to trust me. Can you do that?"
Arthur wanted to argue. Every instinct screamed at him to stay, to fight, to prove he could handle this threat. Pride, the same pride that had driven him as king, demanded he not retreat from any battle.
But he'd learned, in his death and rebirth, that pride was just another word for foolishness.
"Understood," Arthur said, dismissing his blade and beginning to move toward the entrance, each step an exercise in pain management.
"Boring!" Shigaraki shouted. "This is boring! Nomu, kill All Might. Show him what real power looks like!"
The Nomu moved, and Arthur stopped despite himself, despite the order to retreat, because what he saw defied rational analysis.
The creature covered fifty meters in less than a second. Its fist, massive and grotesque, drove toward All Might's head with enough force to pulverize concrete.
All Might caught it.
The shockwave from the impact was enormous, a visible distortion in the air, debris flying in all directions. Arthur had to brace himself against the wall just from the pressure wave.
But All Might didn't move. He stood there, one hand holding the Nomu's fist, his smile unchanged.
"I'm afraid," the number one hero said pleasantly, "that won't work."
Then he punched the Nomu.
The sound was like a cannon firing. The Nomu flew backward, crashed through debris, and tumbled across the plaza. It should have been dead, or at least unconscious.
It stood up.
Regeneration, Arthur's tactical mind cataloged. Multiple quirks. Strength, speed, durability, regeneration. That thing was engineered specifically to fight All Might.
"Impressive!" All Might called out. "But I'm afraid you'll need more than that!"
The Symbol of Peace charged, and Arthur watched with the analytical eye of someone who'd commanded armies, who'd fought beside the greatest warriors ever born.
All Might's fighting style was nothing like Arthur's. Where Arthur was precise, economical, and surgical, All Might was an overwhelming force. He didn't dodge attacks; he powered through them. Didn't look for weak points, just hit harder until the enemy broke.
It was crude, wasteful, and absolutely effective.
He fights like he has infinite stamina, Arthur observed. But no one has infinite stamina. He's burning through energy at an unsustainable rate.
All Might and the Nomu collided again, and the plaza shook from the impact. They traded blows, each hit powerful enough to demolish buildings, and neither gave ground.
"Young Himura," All Might called between exchanges, "I believe I told you to evacuate!"
"I'm moving!" Arthur shouted back, forcing his legs to work despite the pain. "Slowly!"
A villain tried to intercept him, seeing an easy target in the injured student. Arthur's blade manifested on pure reflex, lightning crackling along its edge, and the criminal thought better of it.
Good, Arthur thought grimly. Learn.
He reached the entrance where Thirteen was coordinating with the few students who'd made it back. Uraraka looked terrified but determined. Ashido was crying but still standing. Sato had injuries but was ready to fight again if needed.
"Status?" Arthur asked Thirteen, falling into command patterns without thinking about it.
"Most students accounted for," the space hero reported. "Scattered across the zones but in communication. No fatalities. Some injuries, but nothing critical."
"Backup?"
"Iida reached the school. Pros should be here any minute."
Arthur turned back to the plaza, where All Might and the Nomu continued their battle. The Symbol of Peace was winning.
"We need to help him," Midoriya's voice came from behind, and Arthur turned to see the green-haired boy running up, Todoroki and Bakugo with him.
"He told us to evacuate," Arthur said.
"He's struggling!" Midoriya insisted. "Look at him! He's not at full power!"
"I know." Arthur had already seen it, "But what can we do? That thing shrugged off my strongest attack. It's designed to fight All Might. We're just students."
"So we do nothing?" Bakugo snarled. "Just stand here like extras while the number one hero fights alone?"
Arthur looked at the blonde, saw the desperation behind the aggression, the need to prove himself after losing to Midoriya. Pride and honor tangled together, the same mix that had driven Arthur's knights to glorious, stupid deaths.
"No," Arthur said slowly, mind working through options. "We support. We don't engage directly, we create opportunities."
"What kind of opportunities?" Todoroki asked, his heterochromatic eyes sharp, analytical.
Before Arthur could answer, Shigaraki screamed across the plaza.
"This isn't right! This isn't how it's supposed to go! Nomu should be winning! The Symbol of Peace should be dying!"
"Sorry to disappoint," All Might called back, landing another devastating blow. "But I don't plan on dying today!"
"Then we'll make you!" Shigaraki lunged forward, hand outstretched, fingers spread.
Arthur's Instinct screamed.
Arthur moved without conscious decision, Royal Core flooding his body with power he didn't quite have, energy blade manifesting despite the pain, despite the injuries.
Not fast enough, his mind calculated coldly. I can't reach them in time.
But he could throw the blade.
The energy construct spun through the air, not aimed at Shigaraki. Arthur knew better than to attack directly. Instead, it detonated between the villain and All Might, a burst of concussive force and light that forced Shigaraki to abort his attack, to shield his eyes.
"Students!" All Might's voice carried real anger now. "I told you to evacuate!"
"We don't take orders from injured heroes!" Bakugo shouted, already charging forward, explosions propelling him.
Todoroki moved simultaneously, ice spreading across the ground toward Shigaraki and Kurogiri, trying to limit their mobility. Midoriya jumped, that incredible power flooding his body, ready to punch with everything he had.
They're going to get themselves killed, Arthur thought with absolute certainty. They're brave, powerful, but they're children playing at war.
He knew because he'd been those children once. Young knights, talented and fearless, threw themselves at enemies they couldn't beat because honor demanded it.
He'd buried so many of them.
"Cover fire only!" Arthur commanded, his voice carrying that weight of absolute authority, centuries of leading armies. "Do not engage directly! Create openings for All Might!"
Something in his tone made them listen, made them adjust tactics mid-charge. Bakugo's explosions shifted from attack to distraction. Todoroki's ice became barriers instead of prisons. Midoriya held back, ready to intervene but not committed.
All Might used the opening, drove the Nomu back with a series of devastating strikes. Shigaraki retreated toward Kurogiri, scratching his neck frantically.
"This is wrong! This is all wrong! It was supposed to be perfect!"
"Plans rarely survive contact with the enemy," Arthur said, moving forward despite everything in his body screaming to stop. "That's the first rule of warfare."
He manifested three blades now, hovering around him, aimed at different targets.
This is different, Arthur realized, watching All Might fight, watching his classmates support. In Camelot, I fought alone at the end. I thought that's what kings did, carried everything themselves. But this...
All Might wasn't fighting alone. He had students supporting him, heroes responding to his call, and an entire society believing in him.
The burden wasn't just his. It was shared.
That's what I never understood, Arthur thought. The weight of being a symbol isn't meant to be carried alone. It's meant to inspire others to share it.
"Everyone back!" All Might roared, gathering power for something massive. "This ends now!"
Arthur felt it building, the sheer magnitude of energy All Might was concentrating.
That will kill, he realized. If the Nomu doesn't have enough durability, that punch will obliterate it.
But All Might had no choice. The creature was too strong, too dangerous. Non-lethal force wasn't working.
Sometimes, even heroes had to make that choice.
"PLUS ULTRA!" All Might screamed and punched.
The impact created a tornado of force, a vortex of wind and debris that tore through the plaza. The Nomu flew upward, crashed through the USJ's reinforced ceiling, disappeared into the sky.
Silence.
Everyone stood frozen, processing what they'd just witnessed.
Then All Might smiled that brilliant smile.
"It's fine now," he said, voice strong despite the exhaustion Arthur could see. "Why? Because I am here."
Shigaraki made a sound like a wounded animal, clutching his head. "No. No no no. This isn't right. Kurogiri, get us out. We're leaving."
"But Shigaraki," the mist villain began.
"NOW!"
The portal opened, swallowing both villains, and they were gone.
The remaining criminals, seeing their leadership vanish, immediately surrendered or tried to flee. It didn't matter. Pro heroes were pouring through the entrance now, Iida having brought reinforcements.
Arthur allowed himself to slump against debris. He had lacerations across his back from hitting the wall.
But he was alive. They were all alive.
"Young Himura," All Might approached, and Arthur noticed the steam rising from him was thicker now. "That was incredibly reckless."
"Yes," Arthur agreed. "But necessary."
"You could have been killed."
"So could you."
All Might paused, then laughed, the sound genuine despite everything. "Perhaps. But I'm the number one hero. Taking that risk is my job."
"With respect," Arthur said carefully, "being the number one hero doesn't mean dying foolishly. You needed support. We provided it."
"Indeed, you did." All Might extended a hand, helped Arthur to his feet. "Thank you, young man. You and your classmates may have just saved my life."
Around them, pro heroes secured the scene, and medics attended to injuries. The USJ attack was over, but Arthur knew with certainty it was just the beginning.
The League of Villains would return. Shigaraki's obsession with killing All Might wouldn't fade just because one attempt failed.
And that creature, that Nomu, was proof someone had the resources and knowledge to engineer weapons specifically designed to kill the Symbol of Peace.
War is coming, Arthur thought, accepting the medic's attention but keeping his eyes on All Might. And when it does, I need to be ready.
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