The battlefield was collapsing.
Smoke rose in thick, suffocating waves. Buildings crumbled in the distance. Heroes screamed, villains laughed, and the air felt like death itself was closing its hand around UA’s remaining forces.
Ochako and Mina lay side by side, barely breathing. Blood dripped into the dirt. Their limbs trembled, too broken to move.
But they weren’t the only ones fading.
Riku Sogetsu—Tycoon: Black General—kneels nearby.
His Oni armor is cracked open, leaking black mist. One horn is shattered. His breath rasps like he’s swallowing glass.
“We… we can’t rush AFO head-on anymore,” he mutters, clutching his ribs. “The Oni almost took over. If I push again…” He doesn’t finish. He doesn’t have to.
Kaede Tsukishiro collapses beside him, Mirror Veil clones flickering like dying embers.
“Don’t you dare,” she wheezes. “If you lose control now, AFO will kill you before you even reach him. We need a plan, not suicide.”
Her voice shakes, but the sharpness remains.
Luminar stands a few feet away, one knee in the dirt, using the last of his light to shield a group of fallen students. His glowing barrier flickers violently.
“Damn it…” he growls, sweat dripping from his chin. “I can’t hold this much longer. If Midoriya falls, All For One kills every remaining hero on this field.”
He looks to Riku, Kaede, Ochako, Mina—then to the burning horizon where Midoriya struggles alone.
“We need something. A strategy. Even a miracle.”
Mina coughs weakly.
“Deku… he can’t keep up. AFO’s quirk arsenal is insane. Even he can’t handle all that alone.”
Ochako whispers:
“…What do we do…?”
Silence answers.
For once—even Luminar, Kaede, and Riku have no plan.
They’ve fought their hardest. They’ve bled more than anyone. And still—it wasn’t enough.
Riku digs his fingers into the ground, trembling. “We can’t just watch him die… there has to be something…”
Kaede forces herself upright, but her body gives out and she collapses into Riku’s shoulder. “We’re… out of options…”
Luminar’s light barrier finally shatters.
The world feels cold. Hopeless. Lost.
Villains advance again, believing victory is already theirs.
Riku lowers his head.
“…We failed.”
Then—footsteps.
Slow. Steady. Unhurried.
Everyone turns weakly.
Ochako’s eyes widen. Mina gasps through tears. Kaede lifts her head, stunned. Riku’s breath catches. Luminar feels the light around him shift.
A familiar silhouette walks through the smoke.
That confident, impossible calm, tall figure...it was...
You..
The strongest student in UA
The one person whose arrival feels like the world itself is holding its breath.
You look at the devastation. At Midoriya struggling. At AFO grinning like you've already won. At your friends broken on the ground.
Your expression doesn’t change.
You simply steps forward.
And the hopelessness breaks.