Chapter 59: Dance on the Edge of the Void.
[The Ruined Warehouse - The Battle Royale]
There was no referee's whistle, no moment to catch a breath. The instant Bakugo and Aokiji stood side by side, the world erupted into chaos.
"Separate them!" Magne shouted, hoisting her massive magnetic weapon.
Bakugo's body suddenly glowed with a faint red aura, while Toga—standing on the opposite side of the clearing—glowed blue.
"Magnetism: Repulsion!"
WHOOSH!
An invisible, irresistible magnetic force slammed into Bakugo's chest like a sledgehammer, launching him away from Aokiji with violent velocity. He flew through the air, crashing hard into a pile of twisted steel pipes forty meters away.
"Katsuki-kun!" Toga squealed with sick delight, skipping gracefully over the rubble toward the fallen boy, her knife glinting under the moonlight. "Let me see you bleed! I want to know if you're red inside!"
"Bakugo!" Aokiji shouted, turning to chase after his teammate.
But his path was instantly cut off.
"Oh no, no..." Twice appeared in front of him, doing a theatrical pirouette. Then he split into two. Then four. "You're playing with us now! / We'll crush you like shaved ice!"
Four clones of Twice lunged simultaneously.
"Ice Partisan!"
Aokiji didn't hesitate. He swung his arm, generating three jagged spears of ice that skewered two of the clones, reducing them to brown mud instantly. But the other two slid under his guard, grabbing his legs and anchoring him to the ground.
"Now, Dabi!" the original Twice shouted.
From high atop a mound of concrete debris, Dabi looked down, his hand glowing with lethal intensity.
"Don't move."
A concentrated stream of blue fire poured down like a waterfall of destruction.
"DAMN IT!"
Aokiji couldn't dodge. With a roar of effort, he unleashed a massive "Ice Block: Avalanche," sending a flood of ice surging upward to meet the fire. He poured everything he had into it, trying to drown the flames in sheer volume.
HIIISSSSSSSS!
It was futile. The temperature difference was too vast.
The blue fire didn't just melt the avalanche; it devoured it. The flames tore through the ice flood as if it weren't there and crashed into Aokiji.
"ARGHHHH!"
Aokiji's scream was raw. He couldn't fully block it. The fire engulfed his right arm and side. The smell of ozone and singed flesh filled the air instantly. He forced his legs to move, ripping free from the Twice clones and rolling away, clutching his smoking, blackened arm, gasping for air that felt too hot to breathe.
[The Second Front - Bakugo vs. The Vanguard]
"DIE!!"
Bakugo pulled himself from the debris and unleashed a blinding explosion right in Toga's face. But the girl was unnaturally fast; she twisted her body in mid-air like a gymnast, dodging the blast radius by inches, her knife slicing a shallow gash across Bakugo's bicep as she passed.
Before Bakugo could counter, a heavy shadow descended from above.
"Executioner's Blade!"
Spinner, gripping his massive sword comprised of hundreds of rusted blades, swung it down with the intent to cleave Bakugo's skull.
BOOM!
Bakugo fired an explosion from his palm against the sword's flat side, altering its trajectory just enough. The heavy blade smashed into the concrete inches from his foot.
"Mr. Compress!" Spinner signaled.
From the dust cloud, the masked magician materialized, his hand outstretched to touch Bakugo's shoulder and compress him into a marble.
"Not that easy!" Bakugo snarled.
He spun with centrifugal force, generating a tornado of sparks. "Stun Grenade!"
A blinding flash of light disoriented the villains. Bakugo used the opening to blast himself upward, creating distance.
But the real threat wasn't the ones attacking him.
Shigaraki Tomura crouched low, placing all five fingers on the ground.
Crackle... Crumble...
The decay spread across the concrete floor with terrifying speed, rushing toward where Bakugo was about to land.
Shigaraki scratched his neck violently with his free hand, his face contorted in a grimace. Even using his quirk caused a backlash of pain in his own unperfected body. His messy, pale blue hair hung over his eyes, hiding a gaze of pure malice.
"Curse you..." Shigaraki hissed.
"Crap!"
Bakugo saw the ground turning to dust beneath him. He was forced to use continuous explosions to stay airborne, making him a sitting duck.
[The Joint Front]
"This doesn't end..." Aokiji muttered, freezing Magne's weapon as she tried to crush his ribs.
They were completely cornered. The League was moving with a terrifying synergy. Dabi controlled the range, Shigaraki controlled the ground, and the others filled the gaps.
"Kuzan!" Bakugo shouted from the air, firing a barrage of AP Shots toward Dabi to force him into cover. "Don't stop moving! If you stop, you're dead!"
"I'm trying!" Aokiji gritted out, creating an ice slide to evade another knife throw from Toga.
But All For One decided to join the "dance."
Standing calmly in the distance, hands behind his back, he simply raised a single finger towards the airborne Bakugo.
"Air Cannon."
BAM!
It wasn't a flash. It was just force.
An invisible bullet of pressurized air slammed into Bakugo's midsection. The sound of ribs cracking was audible even over the battle din.
"Gah—!"
Bakugo was swatted out of the air like a fly. He crashed into the ground hard, rolling violently before skidding to a halt near Shigaraki's feet.
"Bakugo!" Aokiji screamed.
Aokiji tried to rush toward him, ignoring the pain in his arm. But Dabi stepped into his path, a wall of blue flames erupting between them.
"Keep your eyes on me, Ice Prince."
Dabi unleashed a massive fireball. Aokiji, exhausted and injured, tried to summon a wall, but his reaction was too slow. The blast clipped him, sending him tumbling across the gravel, his uniform tattered and his skin screaming in agony.
On the other side, Bakugo tried to push himself up. Blood streamed from his forehead and mouth. His vision was swimming.
He raised a trembling hand towards Shigaraki, trying to ignite a spark.
Fzzzt.
The spark was weak. But before it could ignite—
THWACK!
Shigaraki's heavy boot slammed viciously into Bakugo's jaw, snapping his head back and cutting off the attack before it began.
Bakugo fell back, coughing blood. Shigaraki loomed over him, the hand covering his face shaking with irritation. He leaned down, his voice raspy and cold.
"I'll crumble that skull of yours into dust..." Shigaraki threatened, reaching out. "A small, petty mind that couldn't understand my offer... this is exactly what you deserve."
From the distance, All For One watched the scene with a serene lack of movement. He didn't need to lift another finger. His students were already winning. The victory was absolute.
Aokiji lay on the ground, staring across the battlefield.
He saw Bakugo moments away from death at Shigaraki's touch.
He saw Dabi charging up a final prominence burn to incinerate him.
He saw the Demon Lord smiling in the background.
All the training at U.A. All the strategies. They felt meaningless against this raw, overwhelming brutality.
Is this it? Are we going to die here?
His mind drifted. He remembered the Sports Festival. He remembered his fight with Todoroki.
Back then... I thought I reached my limit. I thought I touched the bottom of the thermometer.
Aokiji forced himself to his knees. The pain in his burned arm was blinding, but his mind was suddenly becoming dangerously clear.
I've been thinking about ice all wrong. I've been trying to create it. To project it.
He looked at Dabi's fire.
I need to stop thinking about overpowering the heat... I need to reach the absolute end of movement. The point where atoms simply... stop.
Maximum Entropy. Zero Kelvin.
Aokiji stood up.
He didn't speak. He didn't scream.
Dabi paused, the fire in his hand blazing. "Still standing? You really are a glutton for punishment."
Suddenly, the air in the ruin changed.
It wasn't a wind. It was a vacuum. A sensation of heaviness descended upon the clearing, pressing against the eardrums of every villain present.
Dabi frowned. He looked down at the massive blue fireball in his hand.
Flicker.
The roaring flame wavered. It shrank. It pulsed weakly, as if it were being suffocated.
"Hmm?" Dabi stared at his own hand in genuine confusion. "What is this...?"
Everyone turned to look at Aokiji.
The soot and blood on Aokiji's face began to flake off.
Not washing away—flaking off.
Underneath, his skin was no longer flesh.
A layer of diamond-hard, translucent ice was spreading rapidly across his entire body. It crawled up his neck, covered his burned arm, and encased his torso like a suit of living armor.
His hair, once black, bleached instantly into a crystalline, glowing white-blue structure, flowing like frozen mist behind his head.
He took a step forward.
CRUNCH.
He didn't activate a quirk. He just stepped.
But the ground beneath his foot turned white instantly. The concrete didn't just freeze; it crumbled into fine white dust, its molecular bonds shattered by the sudden, impossible drop in temperature.
Toga, standing ten meters away near Bakugo, suddenly stopped laughing. Her cat-like pupils dilated into pinpricks. The hair on her arms stood up.
Her survival instinct—the same instinct that kept her alive in the streets—screamed at her with a volume she had only felt once before.
She looked at Aokiji, trembling.
Why...? Toga thought, taking an unconscious step back. Why do I get the same feeling from him... that I get from the Boss? Or from Stain? No... this is different.
Run away. The voice in her head shrieked. Run away before everything stops.
Aokiji raised his head. His eyes were gone—replaced by two glowing, abyssal blue lights that held no emotion, no mercy, and no warmth.
The Awakening had begun.
.
.