….
High above the ground, the broadcast camera in the lead news helicopter zoomed in capturing both ends of the tragedy.
In the center of the screen, All For One stood wrapped in the roaring, crackling inferno of [Hellflame].
Seconds later, the camera cut to showing Endeavor kneeling; his face completely bare and unlit, surrounded by class 1-A students and Gran Torino.
Inside the chopper, the news anchor felt his sweating palm. His throat was dry, his mind wildly refusing to process the visual evidence staring back at him from his monitor.
"L-Ladies and gentlemen..." he stuttered, his professional, practiced voice fracturing. "Please... look at the screen. The fire quirk currently the villain is using... it is... it is identical to Hellflame."
Across the country, newsrooms descended into absolute panic.
Producers screamed into earpieces, graphics directors froze with their hands hovering over keyboards, and studio hosts sat in stunned silence as the terrible realization rippled out from the media field.
"Are we... are we confirming this?!" a studio anchor in Tokyo asked frantically, her voice broadcasting live to tens of millions of homes. "Is that... did the villain just take...?"
"We are receiving confirmation from field reporters at the Kamino perimeter..." the lead journalist choked back a gasp, his voice echoed through every speaker in the nation. "The... the Flame Hero, Endeavor... Quirk was gone…"
The words landed on the nation like a megaton warhead.
The Number Two Hero is Quirkless.
In crowded city plazas, thousands of people stared up at the giant LED screens in dead silence; the noise of traffic, chatter, and distant sirens seemed to vanish entirely.
"No... no way..." a businessman in Shibuya whispered, dropping his briefcase onto the pavement. "Endeavor? The man who held the number two spot for decades?!"
"He can... steal powers?!" a student screamed in horror, clutching his head. "He just took the strongest fire Quirk in Japan like it was nothing?!"
It wasn't just a loss of power on the battlefield; it was a soul-crushing strike to the collective psyche of Hero society.
For over twenty years, Endeavor had been the unyielding, ferocious wall standing right behind All Might; the living proof that even if the Symbol of Peace ever faltered, there was a titan of flame ready to hold the line.
And now... that wall had been shattered in a single split second.
The hero who had dedicated his entire life, his health, and his sanity to reaching the apex of power was standing in the dirt as a Quirkless, bleeding husk.
In the hospital room miles away, Rei Todoroki closed her eyes, tears quietly slipping past her lashes.
Beside her, Fuyumi covered her face and wept silently, while Natsuo stared at the screen, his chest heaving with complicated expression.
Down in the staging plaza, Endeavor could hear the muffled chatter of reporters behind the police barricades and the relentless clicking of cameras capturing every line of despair etched across his bare, unlit face.
In that moment, both the Flame Hero and the Number Two Hero ceased to exist.
The fire that had consumed his life had been stolen, leaving behind only the empty shell of Enji Todoroki.
….
Inside the subterranean control room of Jaku General Hospital, the emergency lights cast a crimson glow over the rows of shattered glass and broken monitors.
On the master screen, the live broadcast was displaying the same tragic aftermath:
Endeavor kneeling, while All For One flaunted the stolen flames of [Hellflame].
Feathers hovering silently around his jacket, Hawks stood entirely still; to anyone watching him, the Number Three Hero appeared completely unreadable.
His expression remained perfectly stoic.
But deep down, beneath his trained hero-persona, the blow hit hard.
Since he was a starved child clutching a cheap plastic Endeavor doll in a dark room, the Flame Hero had been Hawks' absolute idol; the embodiment of relentless, unyielding effort.
To see that ferocious pillar stripped of his fire was a surreal, sickening sight. Yet Hawks kept his focus straight, refusing to let a single emotion slip onto his face.
Beside him, Sir Nighteye looked at the screen through a completely different lens.
Adjusting his glasses, Nighteye's eyes weren't fixed on Endeavor's fall, but on the solitary silhouette standing atop the glacial basin in Kamino:
Dabi.
Suddenly, a dormant memory resurfaced from the deepest vault of Nighteye's mind; a faint, chaotic glimpse of the future he had caught years ago.
In that fragmented vision, Nighteye saw a terrifying yet majestic man, like a roaring dragon cloaked in blinding cosmic fire, battling a supreme evil amid utter devastation.
The vision had been a tempest of pure ruin and chaos, a war that seemed destined to tear society apart at the seams. Yet, in the quiet aftermath following that storm, the future had settled into a stability.
Ever since Nighteye first met Dabi, not a single event had aligned with his Quirk [Foresight]. The boy kept breaking probability, rewriting trajectories, and forcing destiny onto an entirely unmapped track.
Looking at Dabi efficiently containing Shigaraki, freezing the Tartarus prisoners in seconds, and leaving All Might a completely clear arena, Nighteye finally understood.
His old vision hadn't been wrong; it was simply taking form now, guided by the hands of a boy who refused to be written.
"Hawks..." Nighteye spoke. "The hero rankings are about to change."
Hawks didn't turn his head, though the tips of his feathers twitched ever so slightly. He knew Nighteye wasn't referring to a simple shift in the rankings; with Endeavor out of commission, the position of Number Two would naturally fall to him.
"We aren't just witnessing the fall of the second pillar…." Nighteye continued. "We might be seeing the birth of a Number One Hero... one who will inevitably surpass even All Might in terms of absolute strength."
A rare flicker of genuine surprise crossed Hawks' face.
He glanced sideways at the tall strategist.
A Number One who surpasses All Might?
Hawks knew better than anyone how monstrous Dabi was.
He had just seen Dabi's dual-element mastery, most importantly even before that his terrifying battle adaptability.
But All Might was an untouchable, god-like standard that had anchored society for decades. To claim a new generation Hero; who didn't even care for traditional Hero politics; would exceed the Symbol of Peace was a staggering claim coming from All Might's former sidekick.
"That's a high bar, Nighteye." Hawks murmured softly.
"It is…" Nighteye conceded quietly. "...Which is why you should know... the future you have always dreamed of is finally within reach."
Hawks went completely rigid, his golden eyes narrowing.
His dream.
The secret, deeply altruistic motivation that drove everything he did: to create a world so peaceful, secure, and low-crime that heroes would have "too much time on their hands."
A society where heroes could sit back, get bored, and enjoy a lazy life because people simply didn't need saving every hour of the day.
To achieve that dream, Hawks had willingly waded into the mud.
He had signed his life over to the Hero Public Safety Commission, taken on black-ops assignments, executed classified hits, and done the dark, silent 'dirty work' so the world could stay bright.
He had sacrificed his own freedom, assuming a lazy world was decades away, if not entirely impossible.
And now, Sir Nighteye; the man who claimed to see the absolute truth of tomorrow… was telling him it was… near?
And Dabi is the one causing it?
Hawks' mind raced as he looked back at the screen.
He knew how the Commission operated.
For years, the higher-ups had been desperately trying to measure, track, and keep Dabi under a leash, terrified of his immense power and unpredictable origins.
They were constantly playing defense, waiting for the dust of the League and All For One to settle so they could step in and control Dabi.
Hawks realized the hilarious, ironic truth.
The Commission hadn't been keeping Dabi in check at all. Dabi wasn't someone waiting to be handled by the authorities once things settled down.
Dabi was the one who had been waiting for the old gods to clear out, so he could settle the world his own way.
Looking at the young man standing firm over the battlefield of Kamino Ward, Hawks let out a small, almost soundless sigh.
"So the old era is ending..."
Hawks whispered, his feathers settling back against his back–
"And the one who is going to replace them is right in front…"
.
….
[To be continued…]
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