The Nomu's fist was two meters from Momo's face when Rei hit it.
Not intercepted but he hit it head on.
Rei's body slammed into the Nomu mid-charge with enough force to redirect three tons of bioengineered muscle. The creature stumbled sideways, its killing blow missing Momo by centimeters.
Rei landed between the Nomu and the students in a perfect three-point crouch, one hand touching the ground, mask's lenses glowing in the dim light.
"Sorry I'm late," he said, voice cold and steady.
The entire plaza went silent.
Every student, every villain, even Shigaraki—everyone stared at the black and white figure who'd just redirected a monster designed to kill All Might.
Momo's eyes were wide behind her mask. "Rei..."
"Get them out of here," Rei said without looking back. "All of you start Moving right now."
"But—"
"NOW."
The command cut through shock. Momo grabbed the nearest students—Kaminari, Jirou, Hagakure—and started pulling them toward the exit.
The Nomu's head snapped toward Rei with mechanical precision. Dead eyes. Exposed brain. A weapon wearing skin.
Shigaraki's voice cut through the tension, excited and childish. "Ooh! A brave one! Nomu, kill him first! Then the others!"
The Nomu moved.
Fast, impossibly fast for something that size.
Rei's spider-sense screamed.
He launched himself straight up, firing a web-line at the ceiling. The Nomu's fist cratered the ground where he'd been standing.
'Strength confirmed,' Rei analyzed mid-swing. 'Equal to or greater than All Might. Speed is superhuman.'
He swung in a wide arc, building momentum, then released and flipped three times in mid-air before landing on the plaza fountain.
The Nomu charged again.
Rei waited until the last possible second—spider-sense screaming danger—then moved.
He dropped flat against the fountain as the Nomu's fist demolished the stone structure. Water exploded upward. Debris flew everywhere.
Rei used the chaos. Fired two web-lines at the Nomu's legs mid-jump, yanked hard.
The creature stumbled. First time anything had moved it.
'It can be stopped, good.'
Rei landed on the Nomu's back, fired webs at its arms, trying to restrain them.
The Nomu flexed. The webs held for half a second, then snapped.
'Stronger than my webs. That's... concerning. I have to get my hands on web shooters soon, i can't always depend on my organic webs'
The Nomu reached back with inhuman flexibility, grabbed Rei's leg, and threw him.
Rei flew across the plaza, fired a web-line to arrest his momentum, swung around, and used the velocity to deliver a flying kick to the Nomu's head.
The impact would've killed a normal person.
The Nomu's head barely moved.
'Extreme durability. Multiple enhancement Quirks. This thing is—'
The Nomu's backhand caught Rei mid-thought.
Pain exploded across his ribs. He felt bones crack. His body ragdolled through the air, smashed into a wall hard enough to leave a crater.
'—really strong.'
Rei dropped to the ground, rolled to his feet despite the agony. His ribs screamed. At least two broken, maybe three.
But his enhanced healing was already working. Bones beginning to knit. Pain fading to manageable levels.
'Can't fight it head-on,' Rei analyzed, breathing carefully. 'It's physically superior. Stronger, more durable. Built to fight All Might.'
'So don't fight it like All Might would, I don't have one for all'
The Nomu charged again, each footstep cracking concrete.
Rei ran straight at it.
Everyone watching thought he'd lost his mind.
At the last second, Rei dropped into a slide, passing between the Nomu's legs. As he slid under, he fired webs at both of the creature's knees, connecting them together.
The Nomu's legs tangled. It crashed face-first into the ground.
Rei was already moving. Wall-running up the plaza's pillars, gaining height, positioning.
The Nomu recovered, ripped the webs apart, stood.
Rei dropped from above, firing a massive web net.
The net enveloped the Nomu's upper body. Not to restrain it—Rei knew that wouldn't work. But to blind it.
While the Nomu tore at the webs, Rei struck.
A kick to the knee joint. Another to the elbow. A palm strike to the exposed brain.
Each hit was surgical. Precise. Targeting weak points that didn't exist on normal opponents.
The Nomu roared and swung wildly.
Rei's spider-sense guided him through the attacks. Duck, weave, flip, dodge. His body flowed like water, never stopping, always moving.
He fired webs at the Nomu's feet, anchoring them to the ground. The creature tried to move—held for two seconds before ripping free.
Two seconds was enough.
Rei grabbed a chunk of rubble—easily five hundred kilograms—and threw it.
The concrete smashed into the Nomu's face. The creature stumbled back.
Rei pressed the advantage. Web-swing, aerial kick, land, roll, web the eyes, strike the knee, flip away before the counter.
It was the most dangerous dance he'd ever performed.
One mistake, one missed dodge, and one punch from Nomu would kill him probably.
But Rei didn't make mistakes.
Forty-three years of killing had taught him that.
"Wow," a voice said from across the plaza. Shigaraki. "You're actually making Nomu work for it. That's... impressive, but sadly you can't win. Nomu has shock absorption, regeneration, multiple enhancement Quirks. It was made to kill All Might."
Shigaraki's voice turned gleeful. "What chance does a student have?"
Rei fired a web-line, swung in a wide arc around the plaza, building speed.
"Here's the thing about fighting monsters," Rei called out, his voice carrying. "You don't fight them head-on."
He released at maximum velocity, flipped twice, and delivered a spinning kick to the Nomu's head with all his momentum behind it.
The impact sent the creature sliding back five meters.
Rei landed, breathing hard, ribs screaming.
"You outsmart them, with this thing" Rei pointed a finger at his head smiling inside the mask.
The Nomu recovered, but Rei had already noticed something.
The creature's movements were getting slower. Just slightly. Its regeneration was working overtime, healing damage faster than it accumulated.
But it was using energy, there is a limit.
'I can't outlast it,' Rei calculated. 'But I can slow it down. Buy time until—'
The entrance doors exploded inward.
"I AM HERE!"
All Might.
Finally.
The Symbol of Peace stood in the doorway, eyes scanning the scene. Aizawa broken on the ground. Students scattered. Villains everywhere.
And one student in a black and white suit, standing between a bioweapon and his classmates, cracked ribs and all, refusing to back down.
"Young Mizuki..." All Might's voice was shocked. "What—"
"About time," Rei cut him off, not taking his eyes off the Nomu. "This thing's all yours. I'll handle cleanup."
He didn't wait for a response. Fired a web-line and swung toward a group of low-level villains trying to flank the students.
All Might stared for half a second, then his expression hardened.
"NOMU!" All Might charged. "YOUR OPPONENT IS ME!"
The two titans collided.
And across the plaza, Rei Mizuki went to work.