All around him, students scrambled as Aizawa launched forward into battle—his scarf cracking like a whip, body moving with precision and purpose.
Villains spilled out of the swirling portals like insects pouring from a crack in the earth."Everyone, evacuate now!" Thirteen shouted. "Stick together and move—quickly!"
Looking back, Itami saw his classmates follow orders. Iida led the push. Midoriya hesitated, eyes darting between the chaos and his classmates, but he started to run.Itami remained rooted in place.
Something in his chest deep and coiled was gripping tighter with every breath. Like a string pulled taut, ready to snap.He wanted to move. He tried to move. But his feet were locked to the floor, as if his body refused to act before his mind caught up.He could hear himself breathing—sharp and shallow.
Why now? Why does it feel like this again?
A memory slammed into him like a bullet.
We're under attack! Sound the alarm! They aren't human—they're monsters! Itami why?!
A sudden whoosh of pressure ripped across the room, pulling him back to reality.
Black mist poured in like smoke from a furnace—cold, suffocating, and sentient.And then—it spoke."Forgive our intrusion," a voice echoed, smooth and hollow. "We are the League of Villains. We came here for one reason: to kill All Might—the Symbol of Peace."A shift in the air. A ripple, like the moment before thunder cracks. A towering figure appeared in the center of the room, arms spread wide, cloaked in black fog.
No... it's not the same thing. This is different...
The ringing returned not as loud this time, but a dull hum inside his skull. A tremor through the marrow of his bones.His vision tilted slightly not from disorientation, but anticipation.Then the figure spoke again. "Begone!"
The shadows exploded outward.Before Itami could blink, the world stretched and collapsed. His classmates screamed, flung in different directions—sucked into the warped swirl of black smoke. He covered his face as the darkness swallowed him.And then—BANG.
He slammed into a building. Concrete cracked as his body hit the wall, then dropped hard to the ground.Coughing, he forced himself upright. The smell of ash and smoke burned his nostrils. The buildings around him were gutted by fire, crumbling and scorched.
Through the cracks of flame, he heard voices.Footsteps. Laughter. Villains."Hurry up and let's get this over with—they're just kids," one shouted.Itami tried to move—but his body betrayed him.Still frozen.
Come on... MOVE!
After a few failed attempts, he started punching his own legs. Nothing. No feeling, no response. Then he turned the blows to his face.Come on. You've been trained for worse situations.
MOVE, damn you!
One last punch made him stumble. He fell to the ground, groaning. But finally his limbs started to obey. He pushed himself up and scrambled onto the side of a collapsed building.Using his agility, he leapt across the ruined structures, hopping rooftop to rooftop, weaving between walls of fire.
Okay... they must've scattered everyone randomly.
The heat licked at his skin, but he barely noticed.
This is nothing compared to Akuma's fire.
He skidded to a stop atop a half-melted ledge, crouching low. Below him, a group of villains patrolled the street—five in total. One whistled casually at the front of the pack while the other four followed, chatting lazily.
Itami reached for his weapons, Twin wakizashi—short, curved blades. He gripped them by the hilts, taking them out of their sheaths but he froze.
Thinking for a moment he slide them back into his sheaths.He patiently waited, like a lion stalking a zebra. When the first four passed beneath him, he dropped.Gravity did most of the work.
The first villain didn't even get a scream out, just a sharp wheeze as Itami's knee drove into his back, knocking him out cold.The others spun around but are too slow.
Itami grabbed one by the wrist, twisted, and flung him into the next. They both slammed into a wall, cracking the stone, rubble raining down on them.
"He's a sneaky little—!"
The next one lunged, fingers morphing into serrated blades.
Itami kicked up ash into his eyes, blinding him. He slipped past and slammed his heel into one of the two remaining villains. He felt ribs snap under the impact as the man flew backward, crashing through a charred wall.
Without hesitation, Itami grabbed the last one standing by the throat. His skin was hard,coated in stone.
A defensive quirk? Doesn't matter.
Itami lifted him clean off the ground and slammed him down with everything he had. The ground cracked, a crater forming beneath the man's limp body.Only one remained—the whistler, now running.
Pathetic.
Itami ripped a bent piece of rebar from a broken railing and hurled it.It spun like a javelin and struck the fleeing man square in the back of the legs. He screamed as he collapsed, disappearing into a cloud of dust.
Itami turned around after seeing the villain fall. Another one of the villains was crawling away, one arm clutching his side, wheezing with pain.He strode over, grabbed the man by the shoulder, and slammed him into the nearest wall.
"Please! Please! Have mercy!"
Standing over him, Itami asked, "What was your plan? Give me answers, and you'll be spared."His tone was flat. Emotionless.
He grabbed the man by his collar.The man gasped, eyes wide with terror. "W-We weren't told much! I swear!"Itami didn't blink. "Then tell me what you do know.""I—I was hired a week ago!" he stammered. "Me and the others—we're just muscle! Paid to show up and cause chaos! Smack a few kids around!"
"Who hired you?"
"I don't know!" he said quickly. "Some guy in a black hoodie handed out envelopes—cash up front. Said the League of Villains would handle the heavy lifting. "
Itami watched him for another few seconds, eyes unreadable. Nothing but panic stared back at him.He let go of the man's shirt.
The villain slumped to the ground, trembling."P-Please... I told you everything..."
Itami stepped back.Then dropped his fist like a hammer. The man's head snapped back against the wall—hard. Not enough to kill. Just enough to drop him cold.His body went limp. Still breathing. But out cold.
Itami exhaled—quietly. The street fell silent again.
Idiots. Just street trash in borrowed masks.
Itami turned, walking toward the far end of the ruined street—toward where the last villain had tried to run.
Smoke curled from the cracked pavement. Sparks hissed in the air. The distant crackle of fire echoed off collapsed buildings.Then he saw the body.The man lay still, sprawled on his side.
One leg twisted unnaturally, pinned beneath the chunk of rebar Itami had thrown. Blood pooled beneath it, dark and thick.
Itami slowed his steps. The man's head rested against a jagged stone. Blood trailed from his temple, leaking down to the dust below. One hand was curled weakly against his side, the other limp and unmoving.
Itami stopped a few feet away. Just stood there, staring in silence.He didn't move.Didn't speak.After a long moment, he finally turned.
Bootsteps crunching on broken glass and scorched gravel. The smoke thinned, but the silence remained—dense, pressing.His breath came in short, uneven bursts. Chest tight.
They were just thugs. Hired muscle. No threat.
He tapped the side of his watch again. Still dead. Just static and black.
A gust of wind rolled down the street— light, but cutting. It carried something with it. A whisper.
"You've done good."
Itami froze.His head turned slowly, scanning the rooftops. The alleyways. The fractured haze behind him.
Nothing.
No movement.
Just fire and ruin.Then—
Clap.
A slow, deliberate clap echoed from somewhere ahead.
His breath caught in his throat. A figure stood at the edge of the smoke, half-obscured by firelight and shadow.
Broad-shouldered. Hooded. Still. Itami narrowed his eyes.
Something about the stance, the posture—it was too familiar. Uncomfortably so.The figure raised its hands.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
"You've done good."
Itami's heart dropped.That voice... it was his.
The figure tilted its head.He moved without thinking. Fast. Reckless. Charging forward—hands ready, jaw clenched—but by the time he reached the spot...Nothing.
Just heat. Smoke. Silence.He spun around, breath ragged, eyes scanning every direction.Alleyways. Rooftops. Rubble. Shadows. Still nothing.
I must be going crazy. It's all in my head.
He took a step back, trying to slow his breathing.
Then—A hand landed on his shoulder.He whipped around, ready to strike—But no one was there.Just the whisper. Right next to his ear.
"You've done good."
He stumbled back, eyes wide. Frantic.Then the space in front of him rippled.For just a second he saw it. Himself.Standing only a foot away. Identical. Same expression. Same stance.But the eyes—they burned red.
Glowing like embers.It grinned then it vanished into thin air. Then came the ringing.
Itami dropped to a knee, gripping his head with both hands. His teeth clenched. The pressure spiked like a blade between his eyes.
What's happening to me...? What the hell is this?!
His vision swam. Hands trembling. He blinked and looked down—blood now coated his hands. Thick. Wet.
He looked up. Bodies.Dozens of them. Lying still in front of him, eyes wide, all staring directly at him.Then they spoke.
"How could you?"
"Why?"
"Why?"
The voices layered over each other. Louder. Closer. Like they were crawling into his head—SHOUTING.Real shouting.
It snapped him out of it like a slap to the face.The blood was gone. So were the bodies.His hands were clean again. The ground, just cracked concrete.
Nothing more.He blinked hard, gasping for air. His vision still spun, but the sound wasn't part of his hallucination this time.This was real.
Another crash—closer now. Metal on concrete. A fight.He forced himself to his feet, legs trembling under the weight of everything pressing in on his mind. But he moved anyway, staggering toward the sound of combat.
Climbing over a collapsed beam, he caught sight of a familiar figure—tail whipping in wide arcs, fending off two attackers at once.
Ojiro.
Without a word, Itami dropped into a low stance and slipped into the shadows nearby.
Ojiro ducked a swing and spun, his tail slamming into the side of a villain's knee. The man crumpled, shouting as he hit the dirt.Another rushed from the smoke—taller, faster, mouth stretched into a crooked grin as he raised a jagged blade.
Ojiro squared up, panting—Then the man dropped. No impact. No hit.Just a thud—like his legs had buckled from underneath him.
Ojiro blinked. "What the—?"
The third one didn't even get that much warning. One moment he was charging. The next, he hit the pavement face-first and didn't get up.Ojiro stepped back, tail raised, eyes scanning the haze.
Something moved. Just a flicker at the edge of the smoke. Too fast to track.A fourth villain turned to bolt.
From the shadows, something lashed out—low and fast. The man yelped, then collapsed with a sharp grunt. The only sound left was fire crackling.
Ojiro kept his guard up until a voice finally broke the silence.
"Area's clear. Are you injured?"Itami stepped out from behind a warped streetlight, knuckles dusted with ash. Not a scratch on him. Hood low over his face, eyes unreadable.
Ojiro tensed, then eased. "You've been following me?"
"No. Heard the commotion. Waited for the right moment."Ojiro glanced at the unconscious bodies. "Well... thanks for the help."
The quiet stretched between them, broken only by the low crackling of fire.
Ojiro then crouched to check one of the downed villains, then looked up. "You heading out?"Itami didn't break stride. "Yeah."
"You know where you're going?"
"I'll manage."
Ojiro hesitated—but Itami was already gone. No goodbyes. No questions. Just silence and scorched footprints.
He moved quickly but quietly, weaving through fractured terrain. The fires began to thin, giving way to smoke and charred rubble. The air cooled, replaced by stillness—and something else.
Something waiting.
Climbing over a collapsed support beam, he reached a ledge that overlooked the main plaza.And froze.
Down below, Aizawa lay crushed beneath something massive. Not just big—inhuman. Muscle on top of muscle, black skin stitched like it had been built, not born. Its brain pulsed in the open, twitching like a living wound.It hunched over, one clawed hand still wrapped around Aizawa's head like it was trying to decide whether to crush or tear.
Itami narrowed his eyes. The pressure in his skull returned—sharp and constant.A few meters away, Shigaraki paced like a bored animal. His fingers flexed against his neck, twitching."Meet the anti-symbol of peace..." he drawled. "The bio-engineered Nomu."
Itami's gaze flicked beyond the chaos.Hidden in the shallows of the water nearby, three students: Midoriya. Tsuyu. Mineta.All crouched low. All frozen.
Watching their teacher bleed into the stone.Itami's throat tightened. Not from fear. From weight of the decision. He could move. He could leap in now. But he knew better.He wouldn't last five seconds against that thing.
He'd die, and then the rest of them would follow.So he stayed in the shadows.But reality had other plans.
A misted figure in a suit appeared beside Shigaraki. They exchanged words—then Shigaraki lunged, straight for Tsuyu.
Itami flinched but he held his ground but Midoriya didn't. With a yell, he exploded from the water, fist cocked, fury blazing in his eyes.But the Nomu intercepted. Mid-air. Took the punch directly, didn't even blink.
Itami moved with instincts , Flames burst from his boots, a blade in hand. He lunged straight for the Nomu's chest, putting everything into one strike.
Here goes nothing!
Steel met flesh—And it shattered.Itami's stomach dropped. Looking at the pieces fall to the ground. The Nomu turned. Looked straight at him.
Then struck. Its hand clamped around his arm. Itamis arm bent and snapped with a loud CRACK.
The sound was raw. Sharp. Final. A scream ripped from Itami's throat as the Nomu hurled him like trash, slamming him into a pillar hard enough to split the concrete.
Dust exploded around him as he crumpled to the ground.He gasped for air, vision flickering. His right arm hung uselessly, his bone snapped and crushed. Blood pooled under his shoulder.
From the distance, Shigaraki's voice cut through the ringing. "Fragile little hero... Kill him first."
Itami's breath hitched. The edges of his vision bled red.
No. Not yet.
He grit his teeth, dragging his good arm forward.
Flames ignited in his palm—bright, angry, untamed.
The heat swirled up his forearm, licking at the fabric of his sleeve.
His muscles screamed. His bones ached. His body felt like it was tearing apart. But he aimed anyway.
He had one shot.
The Nomu lumbered forward, slow but unrelenting, eyes vacant and inhuman.
Itami roared, hurling a full stream of flame across the battlefield.
It struck dead center.
Smoke billowed. Skin hissed.But the Nomu didn't flinch. Didn't even pause.
It just kept walking—
like it hadn't even noticed.
Itami's heart dropped.
He raised his hand again—his fingers trembling.
Nothing. No flame. Just embers.
He looked down at his hand. Shaking. Burnt. Useless.
"No… no, no, no—come on," he breathed.
Then—something changed.
His fingers twitched. A spark—blue— arced across his knuckle.
It didn't burn. It buzzed. A soft crackle, like static whispering through his skin.
Itami stared. The air around his hand began to warp, barely visible—charged.
Then another flicker—black.
It erupted from the center of his palm like a candle lit in a void.
A flame. But not fire.
Not heat. Not light.
Just dark.
It writhed like it had been waiting for him.
Like it knew what he wanted better than he did.
The Nomu stopped. Just for a moment.
Its head tilted. As if sensing something new.
Itami didn't move. Couldn't.
His hand—still outstretched—was no longer entirely his.
The black flame danced, weightless and soundless, casting no light. No warmth. Just presence.
His breath stuttered. The red faded from his eyes, replaced by cold awe.
Then—
CRACK.
The flame vanished.
The blue spark fizzled.
The Nomu moved again.
And Itami, still on the ground, could only stare as it came toward him—
its footsteps heavier now.
Damn it…