….
The Recovery Girl turned her head sharply toward the principal–
"What do you mean?"
"Every single maneuver he executed up until this moment was restrained."
Nezu explained, tapping a key to bring up past combat data alongside the live feed–
"The ice walls, the controlled blue flames, the precise strikes... he was holding his true threshold on a leash to keep from obliterating everything around him. What we are watching right now isn't a Hero drawing out every last bit of strength to survive..."
Nezu turned to look at the screen, a cold chill running down his spine.
"...This is the very first time he is using his full power."
Eri blinked, watching the white frost and blue flames engulf the screen, her voice barely a whisper. "Daddy... is really strong..."
….
Back in the center of the roaring tempest, All For One pushed himself out of the crushed rock, coughing up blood through Shigaraki's lips.
His red eyes widened in genuine, creeping horror as he stared at the young man stepping through the flames.
Dabi walked forward, his slit-pupiled golden eyes locking onto the parasite like an apex predator looking down at an insect.
The scales on his face gleamed with cosmic light, and the pressure radiating off his body made the surrounding air distort violently.
The smooth pillar of ice glided to a gentle halt right beside the staging area's primary medical bay.
Toshinori Yagi stepped off the platform, his thin, skeletal legs trembling slightly under the sudden weight. His oversized hero suit hung loosely over his frail frame, dusted in ash and concrete grit, but his chin remained held high.
"Careful, you idiot!" a gruff, familiar voice grunted from below.
Gran Torino hopped up onto the ice ledge, extending his leather-gloved hand to catch Toshinori's elbow.
Despite the massive height difference, the old veteran barely coming up to Toshinori's waist, Gran Torino held firm attempting to steer the former Symbol of Peace toward an open ambulance where medics were waiting.
Toshinori didn't move right away, as his sunken blue eyes drifted over to a nearby transport vehicle.
There sat…
Endeavor.
The Flame Hero was completely motionless, heavy white bandages wrapped around his torso where blood still seeped through the gauze.
His eyes were blank, staring hollowly at the cold asphalt beneath his boots.
The proud, burning titan who had spent his entire life chasing the top spot was gone, leaving behind a hollow shell of a man who had lost his Quirk, his drive, and his purpose in a single moment.
Toshinori felt an ache in his chest for his old rival, knowing no words of comfort could bridge that void right now.
Turning his head, Toshinori looked up at the massive broadcast monitor mounted on the side of a police communications van.
On the screen, the sky over Kamino Ward was split between a pale blizzard and a roaring, white-hot blue sun.
Dabi moved through the tempest like an elemental god, his scale-covered frame smothering the hyper-pressurized decay waves hurled by the parasite possessing Shigaraki.
Toshinori stared at the screen, a complex mix of swelling pride and a quiet, indescribable emotion washing over him.
The world was no longer leaning on his broken shoulders.
A new, unyielding pillar was holding up the sky.
"Look at him..."
Gran Torino muttered as he tried, and failed, to drag Toshinori toward the first aid tent, his eyes fixed on the screen.
The old man tried to keep his tone stern, but he couldn't hide the unmistakable quiver of pride in his voice–
"You did a good job out there, Toshinori. Nana... she would be damn proud of you today." He paused, his gaze softening as he watched Dabi unleash a wave of frostfire on the monitor. "And that boy... I will be damned if he hasn't already become something incredible."
Before Toshinori could answer, a loud commotion broke out at the perimeter line.
"Hey! Wait! You can't go in there!"
"Kid, stop! That's an active tactical perimeter!"
Toshinori turned toward the barricades just in time to hear a desperate, breathless shout.
"ALL MIGHT!"
Izuku Midoriya was sprinting toward the staging area at full speed.
His face was pale, slick with cold sweat, and his freckled cheeks were stained with fresh tears.
His eyes weren't fixed solely on All Might, darting frantically between Toshinori, Endeavor's broken figure, and the ice walls behind them.
A squad of heavily armed police officers moved to intercept him at the secondary barricade, raising their hands to block the path.
Midoriya didn't even slow down.
FWOSH–!
Glowing green sparks crackled erratically around his sneakers as he dug his boots into the pavement, leaping straight over the five-foot metal barricade and the startled officers in a desperate arc.
He landed heavily on the asphalt, stumbling forward before scrambling back to his feet and sprinting straight toward Toshinori.
Behind him, Bakugo and Shoto vaulted over the barrier right after him, with Uraraka, Iida, and Kirishima trailing close behind.
The rest of the students didn't fully understand why Midoriya was charging into the medical zone with such panic.
They were simply running after him to keep him from doing something reckless or getting himself arrested by the guards.
"Oi! Deku, slow down, damn it!" Bakugo barked, his face tight as he kept pace.
"Midoriya, stop!" Iida yelled, waving his arm. "The heroes told us to wait outside!"
Midoriya ignored them all. He skidded to a halt just feet away from Toshinori and Gran Torino, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for air, his wide, tear-filled eyes locked onto his mentor.
"All Might..." Midoriya choked out, his voice raw, trembling with the weight of the nightmare he had just felt through the vestige link–
"Shigaraki... the Quirk... the truth inside the basin... Did you hear it?!"
Toshinori Yagi stood paralyzed.
He looked at Izuku Midoriya, tears streaking through the grime on his freckled cheeks and frantic terror filling his eyes.
Gran Torino placed a firm, steadying hand on Toshinori's waist, while Shoto and Uraraka moved to flank Midoriya, gently pulling at his arms to keep him grounded.
"Midoriya, calm down! Take a breath!" Iida urged. "We are in an emergency zone! You need to explain what is going on!"
Midoriya's chest heaved violently as he struggled to process the psychological storm raging inside his chest.
"I... I heard it..." He choked out, his voice cracked and trembling–
"The villain All Might has been fighting all this time... He's the one who groomed Shigaraki. But the truth is, he stole Shigaraki's original Quirk when he was a child, just like he did with Endeavor, and replaced it with Decay. He also murdered his entire family! Shigaraki is... he's Tenko Shimura! He's Nana Shimura's grandson, All Might's master's own grandson!"
A suffocating, dead silence fell over Class 1-A.
Uraraka's hand froze on Midoriya's arm, Iida's rigid posture slackened, Kirishima, Mina, and Tokoyami all stared in absolute shock.
They didn't know about One For All, or the lineage of the embers passed down through generations.
To learn that the monster who had terrorized the USJ, the training camp, and Kamino Ward was actually the tragic descendant of All Might's own teacher?
And a child whose life was destroyed from the shadows, was a horror that made their stomachs turn.
Toshinori's eyes widened, a cold chill running straight down his spine.
During the frantic, life-or-death clash battle, Toshinori had been so utterly focused on maintaining his muscle form and trading prime-level blows with All For One that he hadn't noticed it.
But now, stepping away from the heat of battle, he felt it.
Deep within his chest, where the faint, lingering embers of One For All still flickered, he felt a distinct, mournful vibration.
It was a sad, weeping energy.
The spiritual residual of Nana Shimura's soul inside the Quirk factor was crying out in unbearable grief.
Midoriya hadn't heard the broadcast through a microphone. He had felt it directly through the vestige link.
Shoto's heterochromatic eyes flicked from Midoriya to All Might, a quiet suspicion dawning in his mind.
How could Midoriya possibly know the exact details of a confession spoken hundreds of meters away?
Before anyone could voice that silent question, Iida stepped forward, his expression was deeply conflicted.
"It's... it's tragic." Iida said softly, his voice trembling slightly. "Hearing that... we understand that this villain was terribly, monstrously wronged. But... what are you trying to say, Midoriya?"
The question hung in the freezing night air.
Silence swallowed the perimeter.
Five long, agonizing seconds ticked by, heavy and suffocating.
Midoriya tried to speak, but the words died in his throat as soon as he opened his mouth.
He looked at his hands, then at the distant ice spires where Dabi was currently clashing with the parasite.
Then, Katsuki Bakugo finally snapped–
"What else, dammit?! WHAT ELSE?!"
.
….
[To be continued…]
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