Chapter 32: [32] USJ Incident {5}
A/N:JEEZ YOU GUYS ARE FAST! Well, as promised here is your bonus chapter!
[3 Minutes ago]
Todo watched another villain crumple from Bakugo's explosion. The girl fought like a demon - all contained fury and precise destruction. A true warrior's spirit. Almost as refined as his own.
"These extras are getting annoying," Bakugo growled, kicking aside an unconscious body. "We need to get to the plaza faster."
"Agreed!" Kirishima hardened his arms, blocking a knife strike before countering with a devastating hook. "But we can't leave these guys to cause trouble behind us."
Todo clapped his hands, swapping positions with a villain who'd been trying to sneak up on Bakugo. The man's surprised yelp cut off as Bakugo's blast caught him square in the chest.
"Nice assist!" Kirishima grinned, sharp teeth glinting.
"Of course." Todo struck a pose. "A true warrior anticipates his allies' needs."
"Both of you shut up and move!" Bakugo launched herself forward with controlled explosions, taking point as they advanced.
They made good progress through the ruins, working in surprisingly smooth coordination. Todo's quirk let him constantly reposition threats, while Bakugo and Kirishima provided the raw combat power. It was... beautiful, in its way. Like a perfectly choreographed dance.
A distant crash drew their attention. Through gaps in the ruins, Todo caught glimpses of the central plaza - and the battle happening there.
"Holy shit," Kirishima breathed. "Is that Nakamura?"
Todo watched as Yoichi dodged between strikes from some kind of monster, moving with impossible grace. Each near-miss demonstrated perfect spatial awareness. The kind of fighting that came from countless hours of training.
"He's reading its patterns," Todo said, admiration coloring his voice. "Using its strength against it."
"He's gonna get himself killed is what he's doing." Bakugo's hands sparked. "That thing's too fast."
As if proving her point, the creature's fist shattered one of Yoichi's barriers. The sound carried clearly across the distance.
"We need to help," Kirishima said, already moving forward.
"Wait." Todo held up a hand. "Look."
Below, Yoichi had switched tactics. Instead of dodging, he was meeting the creature head-on, each clash sending shockwaves through the air. It was... magnificent.
"He's stalling," Bakugo said suddenly. "Keeping it busy until help arrives."
Todo nodded. "A noble strategy. But his quirk's reaching its limit."
They watched as Yoichi teleported away from another devastating attack, his movements notably slower than before. The silver-white barriers he created were getting weaker with each use.
"Fuck this." Bakugo started forward again. "I'm not watching that idiot die."
A villain chose that moment to attack, swinging a metal pipe at her head. Without looking, she caught it and used the man's momentum to throw him into a wall.
"Go," Todo said to Kirishima. "Help Bakugo clear a path. I'll handle any stragglers."
Kirishima nodded, charging forward to join Bakugo's advance. Todo stayed slightly behind, using his quirk to ensure no threats could flank them. It was the optimal formation - Bakugo's raw power, Kirishima's defensive capabilities, and his own spatial control.
They reached the stairs leading down to the plaza just as Yoichi took a direct hit from the creature. The impact sent him rolling across the ground.
"Now!" Bakugo shouted.
Todo understood immediately. As Yoichi struggled to his feet, Todo clapped his hands. Space twisted, and suddenly Yoichi was beside them while Kirishima stood where he'd been.
"Dude, you look like shit," Kirishima said, supporting Yoichi's weight.
"What-" Yoichi blinked hard. "How-"
"DIE YOU FUCKING MONSTER!" Bakugo launched herself at the creature, explosions turning night into day.
"GET UP BROTHER!" Todo called out. "OUR BATTLES SIDE-BY-SIDE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED!"
[With Yoichi]
I struggled to my feet, leaning on Kirishima's shoulder. My ribs screamed in protest. "How did you-"
"MOVE!" Todo yanked us both aside as the Nomu's fist cratered the ground where we'd been standing.
Katsumi landed beside us, palms smoking. "You idiots done chatting? That thing's getting back up."
She was right. The Nomu shrugged off her explosions like they were firecrackers, its muscles still bulging from whatever that red serum had done.
"It has shock absorption," I said through gritted teeth. "And regeneration. Direct attacks won't work."
"Should've led with that, dumbass!" Katsumi's eyes narrowed. "Any other surprises?"
"Yeah. It's fast. Really-"
The Nomu vanished, reappearing behind Kirishima. Todo clapped just in time, swapping our positions. The creature's punch missed, giving Katsumi an opening for another explosion to its face.
"Stop interrupting me," I muttered, then louder: "It was designed to kill All Might."
"The fuck?" Kirishima's arms hardened. "You're joking."
"Wish I was." I pressed a hand against my ribs, trying to steady my breathing. "Been fighting it for the last ten minutes. Bastard's tough."
Todo nodded. "Then we fight together. Four against one-"
"Five." Ice spread across the ground as Hitomi approached, her right side frosting the air around her. "Though you look terrible, Nakamura."
"Thanks. Love the new hairstyle."
She ignored my weak attempt at humor, focusing on the Nomu. "Its regeneration. How fast?"
"Almost instant. But-" I had to pause as a coughing fit hit. Definitely tasted blood that time. "But it's not infinite. That serum they gave it is burning through its stamina."
"Good." Katsumi's grin turned feral. "Then we wear it down."
The hand-covered villain started scratching his neck again. "Kurogiri. Deal with the extras."
The mist villain materialized behind us, portals opening in a semicircle. "Of course."
"I've got him!" Kirishima charged forward, body fully hardened. "You handle the big guy!"
Todo clapped, swapping places with Kirishima just as Kurogiri tried to warp him away. The redhead's hardened fist caught the mist villain in what passed for his face.
"Interesting trick," Kurogiri said, seemingly unfazed. "But futile."
More portals opened. Todo kept clapping, playing a deadly game of musical chairs with Kirishima as they harassed Kurogiri from multiple angles.
"Focus!" Katsumi's voice snapped me back to our fight. The Nomu was charging again, faster than before.
Hitomi raised an ice wall between us and the creature. It shattered instantly, but bought us a second to coordinate.
"Ideas?" she asked, already forming more ice.
"Yeah." I straightened despite my ribs' protests. "Keep it busy. Don't let it adapt to any one style."
Katsumi launched herself skyward on an explosion. "Finally talking sense!"
The Nomu tracked her movement, giving Hitomi an opening to freeze its legs. The ice barely slowed it down, but Katsumi's aerial bombardment kept it off balance.
I tried to raise a barrier, managed only a weak flicker of silver-white. Shit. My quirk was running on fumes.
"You're injured," Hitomi said, not taking her eyes off the fight. "Stay back."
"Can't." I watched the Nomu break free, noting how it adapted its movements to account for the ice. "If we don't coordinate perfectly, that thing will kill us all."
She didn't argue. Smart girl.
The next few minutes were chaos. Katsumi kept mobile, using explosions for hit-and-run attacks while Hitomi created environmental hazards with her ice. Behind us, Todo and Kirishima had Kurogiri on the defensive, their constant position-swapping preventing him from properly warping anyone away.
But the Nomu was learning. Each attack pattern we tried worked exactly once before it adapted. The serum had enhanced not just its physical abilities, but its combat processing as well.
"This isn't working!" Katsumi landed beside us, panting. "Fucking thing won't stay down!"
She was right. Despite our combined efforts, we'd barely scratched it. Meanwhile, I could barely stand, Hitomi's right side was showing signs of frostbite, and Katsumi's palms were starting to smoke less with each blast.
The hand-covered villain laughed. "Finally realizing how outmatched you are? Nomu, show them true power."
The creature moved faster than we could track. One moment it was twenty feet away, the next it had Katsumi by the throat.
"No!" I tried to teleport, managed only to stagger forward as my quirk fizzled.
Hitomi reacted instantly, encasing the Nomu's arm in ice. It squeezed harder. Katsumi's struggles weakened.
Move. Move. MOVE.
The world slowed. Not like before, when I was reading the Nomu's patterns. This was different. Deeper.
In that frozen moment, I saw everything. The precise angle of the Nomu's grip. The way Hitomi's ice crystalized. The geometric patterns that made up space itself.
Oh.
I hadn't been using my quirk wrong before. I'd been using a fraction of it. Creating barriers, teleporting - those were just the surface. The true power of Limitless wasn't about stopping things.
It was about controlling the infinite space between moments.
I reached out, not with my hands, but with my mind. The space between the Nomu and Katsumi stretched infinitely, a vast expanse contained within a hair's breadth. I pushed.
Reality snapped back into motion. The Nomu stumbled backwards as if struck by an invisible force, its grip on Katsumi broken. The ice encasing its arm shattered, scattering crystalline shards across the ground.
Katsumi dropped to her knees, gasping for air. Hitomi moved to cover her, ice spreading in a protective semicircle.
"The hell was that?" Katsumi croaked, rubbing her throat.
I stared at my hands, feeling the new power thrumming beneath my skin. "I'm... not entirely sure."
The Nomu roared, its severed arm already regenerating. Muscles and tendons knitted together at an alarming rate, forming a new limb in seconds.
"Well, figure it out fast," Hitomi said, her voice tense. "Because that thing isn't staying down."
I nodded, trying to recapture that moment of clarity. The power was there, just beneath the surface, but using it felt like trying to grab smoke. Every time I thought I had a grip on it, it slipped away.
The Nomu charged again, its speed somehow even greater than before. I reacted on instinct, pushing at the space around me. The world blurred as I shot sideways, narrowly avoiding its attack.
"Holy shit," Kirishima yelled from where he was still grappling with Kurogiri. "Since when can you move like that?"
"Since about thirty seconds ago," I muttered, orienting myself. The enhanced speed was disorienting, but exhilarating. I could feel my stamina draining rapidly, though. Whatever this new power was, it came at a cost.
Katsumi was back on her feet, palms sparking. "Less talking, more fighting!"
She launched herself at the Nomu, setting off a chain of explosions that filled the air with smoke and debris. Hitomi followed up, coating the ground with a sheet of ice to throw off its footing.
I tried to raise a barrier, but nothing happened. It seemed I couldn't use this new power and my old abilities at the same time. Cursing under my breath, I focused on the fight at hand.
The Nomu emerged from the smoke, barely singed. It adapted quickly to the ice, using its immense strength to simply shatter the frozen ground with each step.
"This isn't working," Hitomi said, her breath coming out in frosty puffs. "We need a new strategy."
She was right. We were wearing ourselves down faster than the Nomu. Even with my new speed and strength, I couldn't keep this up forever.
An idea struck me. "Katsumi, how much power can you put into a single blast?"
She grinned, a predatory glint in her eyes. "Enough to level this whole USJ if I wanted."
"Good. Hitomi, can you create a dome of ice around the Nomu? Something to contain an explosion?"
Hitomi nodded, understanding dawning on her face. "I can, but it won't hold for long against that thing's strength."
"It doesn't need to," I said. "Just long enough for Katsumi to build up a big enough blast."
"And what about you?" Katsumi asked, eyeing me warily.
I smirked, feeling the new power surge through me. "I'll keep it busy."
Without waiting for a response, I launched myself at the Nomu. The world blurred around me as I moved faster than I ever had before. My fist connected with its face, the impact sending shockwaves through the air.
The Nomu stumbled back, actually caught off guard by the force of the blow. I pressed my advantage, unleashing a flurry of punches and kicks. Each strike was empowered by my new ability, hitting with far more force than I should have been capable of.
But the Nomu was adapting. Its regeneration kicked into overdrive, healing the damage almost as fast as I could inflict it. It started to anticipate my movements, its own speed increasing to match mine.
A massive fist caught me in the ribs, sending me flying. I crashed through a chunk of debris, pain exploding through my body. Gritting my teeth, I forced myself back to my feet.
"Nakamura!" Hitomi's voice cut through the ringing in my ears. "We're ready!"
I looked up to see a massive dome of ice surrounding the Nomu. Katsumi stood atop it, her hands glowing with barely contained energy.
"Get clear!" she shouted.
I tried to push myself with my quirk, but nothing happened. I'd reached my limit. Stumbling forward, I managed to put some distance between myself and the ice dome.
"HOWLITZER IMPACT!" The explosion that followed was unlike anything I'd ever seen. The ice dome contained it for a split second before shattering, turning the contained blast into a devastating shockwave.
The force of it knocked me off my feet. I hit the ground hard, my vision swimming. Through the ringing in my ears, I heard the others shouting.
Blinking away the spots in my eyes, I pushed myself up. The explosion had carved a massive crater in the plaza. In the center of it stood the Nomu, its body charred and smoking.
But it was still standing.
"You've got to be kidding me," Katsumi growled, landing beside me. Her hands were raw and blistered from the force of her own attack.
The Nomu's flesh began to knit itself back together. It was slower this time, but still far too fast for comfort.
"We hurt it," Hitomi said, her voice tight with exhaustion. "But it's not enough."
I stared at the creature, my mind racing. There had to be a way to beat this thing. Some weakness we hadn't exploited yet.
Then I saw it. As the Nomu's burned flesh regenerated, there was a moment where its brain was exposed. A split second of vulnerability before the skull reformed.
"Its brain," I said, the pieces falling into place. "That has to be its weak point."
Kirishima joined us, his body covered in scratches from his fight with Kurogiri. "Great, but how do we hit it? That thing's faster than any of us."
I looked at Todo, who was keeping Kurogiri at bay with his spatial swaps. An idea formed, crazy and desperate.
"I have a plan," I said. "But it's going to take all of us."
I quickly outlined the strategy. It was risky, with a dozen ways it could go wrong. But it was the best shot we had.
"That's insane," Katsumi said. Then she grinned. "I love it."
We moved into position. Hitomi took point, unleashing a massive wave of ice that engulfed the Nomu's legs. It roared in defiance, muscles straining against its frozen prison.
Katsumi grabbed Kirishima, who hardened his entire body. "Ready, Shitty Hair?"
He nodded, a determined grin on his face. "Let's do this!"
She set off a controlled explosion, launching them both into the air above the Nomu. At the apex of their arc, she spun, using another blast to send Kirishima hurtling downwards like a meteor.
I pushed myself forward with everything I had left. Time seemed to slow as I approached the Nomu, its brain once again exposed as it regenerated.
"Todo, now!" I shouted.
I heard the clap of his hands. The world twisted, and suddenly I was in Kirishima's place, plummeting towards the Nomu from above.
I poured every ounce of my remaining strength into my fist. The new power surged through me one last time, coating my arm in crackling blue energy.
The Nomu looked up, its inhuman eyes meeting mine. In that moment, I saw a flicker of something almost human. Fear.
My fist connected with its exposed brain. The impact sent a shockwave through its entire body, shattering the ice holding it in place. For a heartbeat, nothing happened.
Then the Nomu collapsed, its massive form crumpling to the ground with a thunderous crash.
I landed hard, my legs buckling beneath me. Every muscle in my body screamed in protest. Through blurry vision, I saw the others approaching cautiously.
"Is it..." Kirishima started to ask.
The Nomu twitched. Then, slowly, it began to push itself up.
"Oh, come on!" Katsumi yelled, raising her blistered hands.
But something was different. The Nomu's movements were uncoordinated, almost confused. It stumbled to its feet, swaying unsteadily.
"We did it," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "We scrambled its brain."
The hand-covered villain let out an inhuman shriek of rage. "Nomu! Kill them all!"
The creature took a lumbering step forward, then another. But there was no coordination to its movements, no deadly purpose. It was operating on pure instinct now, its higher functions destroyed by our combined attack.
"It's over," Hitomi said, ice spreading from her right side. "Surrender."
The villain's hands shook as he scratched furiously at his neck. "Kurogiri, get us out of here!"
The mist villain materialized beside him, a portal already forming. "Of course. But what about the Nomu?"
"Leave it! It's useless now!"
They vanished into the swirling darkness, leaving us alone with the brain-damaged Nomu.
I tried to stand, but my legs gave out beneath me. Kirishima caught me before I hit the ground.
"Easy there, man," he said, supporting my weight. "You look like hell."
I managed a weak laugh. "You should see the other guy."
Katsumi approached the Nomu cautiously, her hands still smoking. "What do we do with this thing?"
Before anyone could answer, a booming voice filled the air.
"HAVE NO FEAR, FOR I AM HERE!"
All Might landed in the plaza with earth-shaking force, his signature smile firmly in place. He took in the scene before him - the five of us battered and exhausted, the Nomu swaying unsteadily on its feet.
"It seems I've arrived a bit late to the party," he said, his voice tinged with both pride and concern. "Is everyone alright?"
I tried to respond, but the adrenaline was fading fast. The world tilted sideways as unconsciousness claimed me.
The last thing I heard was Katsumi's voice, uncharacteristically gentle:
"Yeah, All Might. We're alright."
Then everything went dark.
==========
[Next time on "My Hero Academia: Limitless"]
"Hold him like this," Hitomi demonstrated, cradling Yoichi's head in her lap while running her fingers through his white hair. Blood and dirt still caked his temple.
"Your cold side's gonna mess with his recovery." Katsumi dropped onto the couch. "Give him here."
"He's fine where he is," Hitomi said, her fingers never stopping their gentle motion.
"Um, guys?" Kirishima pointed at the recording light. "We're rolling."
Todo cleared his throat and stepped into frame, striking a dramatic pose. "Greetings, dear viewers! After the shocking events at USJ, many questions remain. Who is this mysterious Ghost? What secrets does the Eclipse organization hold? And most importantly..." He winked at the camera. "Will my brother recover in time for the next chapter?"
"Shut up, you extra." Katsumi shoved him aside. "Next time we're investigating these Eclipse bastards. Someone's gotta pay for what happened to Aizawa-sensei."
"And Thirteen," Kirishima added. "Plus we need to figure out how they got past U.A.'s security."
"More importantly," Hitomi's eyes narrowed as Yoichi stirred slightly in her lap, "we need to understand why Ghost seemed so interested in Nakamura specifically."
"Right!" Todo jumped back into frame. "Join us next time for shocking revelations, daring investigations, and perhaps..." He wiggled his eyebrows. "...some romantic developments?"
"I will literally explode you." Katsumi's palms sparked.
"Please refrain from property damage during the preview," Hitomi sighed.
"Guys..." Kirishima gestured frantically at the camera. "We're supposed to be promoting the next episode!"
"Fine." Katsumi crossed her arms. "Next time: 'Aftermath' There, happy?"
"And don't forget about-" Todo began.
"We're not discussing shipping statistics again," Hitomi cut him off.
"But the data clearly shows-"
"Is that smoke coming from your hair?" Kirishima asked.
Todo yelped and patted his head as Katsumi lowered her smoking palm with a satisfied smirk.
"This is why we can't have nice previews," Hitomi murmured, still stroking Yoichi's hair as he shifted again. His eyes fluttered, and she leaned closer. "Nakamura?"
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
-- Power
stone