The frozen air cracked.

  Todoroki’s ice shattered off the Nomu in jagged pieces as it lurched forward through Kurogiri’s portals, its massive limbs splitting clean through the ice like breaking glass. Frosted muscle tore and then regrew instantly... skin, muscle, and sinew twisting back into place in seconds.

  All Might’s eyes narrowed.

  “Kids... stay back... His Quirk was shock absorption, wasn’t it?”

  Shigaraki let out a soft laugh from the edge of the plaza, still calm behind his hand-mask.

  “I didn’t say that was his only Quirk.”

  He gestured lazily toward the Nomu, now flexing its arms, towering over them.

  “What you just saw was super regeneration. That thing was designed to fight you at 100 percent. He’s a super efficient custom-built punching bag, All Might.”

  Then his tone sharpened.

  “We need our gateway. Nomu... go."

  The creature instantly leapt toward where Kurogiri remained pinned under Bakugo.

  Bakugo’s eyes widened. Dust and smoke exploded outward.

  When it cleared, Bakugo was somehow standing next to Midoriya and the others, panting, wide-eyed. He looked around in confusion.

  “What...?”

  A deep crack echoed from the side of the battlefield.

  All Might stood ten meters away, wall behind him smashed in a crater, his clothes torn and side bleeding more freely now. His arm had shielded Bakugo completely, he’d taken the full brunt of the Nomu’s charge.

  Shigaraki watched with a tilted head, voice quiet and clinical.

  “You call this peace? Violence in the name of ‘good’? You get applause. I do the same and get hunted. The difference is just branding."

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  All Might wiped blood from his lip. “You’re not angry at injustice. You just want to watch people break. This... this isn’t ideology. It’s indulgence.”

  He turned toward the Nomu.

  “You want me at 100 percent? Fine."

  "STAY BACK!" he shouted to the students. Then, glancing at Midoriya: ”I’ll handle it."

  He gave the boy a small, familiar thumbs-up.

  The ground trembled as he surged forward. He moved. Faster than before.

  His punch landed like thunder. Nomu reeled, but stayed up.

  Shockwaves tore through the plaza.

  Across the battlefield, just as the first punch landed, Robinn stood in a fractured ring of debris. Her stance was quiet.

  Three villains circled her, each bearing some crude, half-trained aggression. Knives, spiked gloves, all combat quirks.

  One of them sneered. “You think you can take all of us without even lighting up your Quirk?”

  Robinn didn’t answer. No banter. No mask. Just motion.

  She stepped forward, clean and fast.

  An elbow struck the first in the gut, knocking him back two paces. A drop-step forward. Palm to the throat. The man crumpled.

  Her breathing remained steady. Mechanical.

  She moved like a machine trying to conserve battery, sharp, stripped of style, every movement calculated to preserve strength.

  Because in her mind, this wasn’t it.

  This wasn’t the real threat.

  Fist met flesh, again and again. All Might and Nomu collided like giants in a storm, their impacts cracking the foundation beneath them. Concrete exploded with each hit. It looked for the first time like Nomu was struggling.

  All Might’s voice roared between blows.

  “You said his quirk was Shock absorption.. not nullification!"

  Nomu stumbled. All Might roared...

  “GO BEYOND”

  The second villain clipped her shoulder, barely a graze, just enough to rip her sleeve and twist her footing. She pivoted low, stance adjusting: wider, grounded. No flourish. No angle for show.

  Just basics. Just finish the fight.

  “Don’t waste energy. Finish it clean.” She whispered to herself and followed with a sharp exhale.

  She slammed a back kick into the second villain’s jaw, he spun sideways midair and didn’t get up. The third came barreling forward, Knives coming out of his hand.

  She ducked low, swept the legs and he went down hard against the rubble, head bouncing once.

  Silence.

  Then a sound... distant but deep. A sonic boom.

  Robinn turned just in time to see it. The Nomu, flying.

  Hurtling through the sky like a broken missile, its body launched clean across the battlefield.

  It smashed through the roof of the USJ dome in a burst of smoke and debris, vanishing from view.

  Robinn stared at the hole it left behind.

  From somewhere beyond the wreckage, she heard a faint familiar, gravel-thick voice... half scream, half triumph.

  "PLUS ULTRA!!"

  The shockwave reached her seconds later.

  She didn’t flinch. Just knelt down, breathing hard, head bowed.

  But her hands trembled faintly now. Not from fear. From the effort of staying ready.

  Of saving something in the tank.

  Because part of her still believed the real fight hadn’t come.

  Her eyes stayed on the hole in the dome, even as silence returned.

  No one saw her.

  No one cheered.