As the familiar events unfolded before Miquella's eyes, a chill ran down his spine. Despite knowing what was coming, the reality of facing actual villains sent a jolt of adrenaline through his system. Glancing around, he silently thought, 'There are more of them than I expected, and I swear I've seen some of these guys on the news before.'
A raspy voice broke through the tension, dripping with anger. "Where is he?... We went through all this trouble, and the Symbol of Peace isn't even here! I wonder if he'll show up if we start killing the kids?"
Kaminari half-whispered, half-shouted, "Did they just say they were here to kill All Might?! What kind of idiot thinks they could waltz into the biggest hero school in Japan and kill the Symbol of Peace!"
"Sensei, what about the intruder alarm sensors?!" Momo asked urgently.
"We have some setup, but they must have someone among their ranks blocking the signals," Thirteen explained.
Aizawa, without breaking eye contact with the villains, commanded, "Thirteen, do the evacuation procedure and try calling the school! These villains know how to bypass the sensors, so the only way to contact them is for you all to get as far away as possible."
"S-Sensei, are you really going to fight all of them alone!? Even if you suppress their quirks, there are so many of them!" Izuku exclaimed. Even Miquella had to admit the situation seemed much grimmer than the original.
"Don't worry about me. I'll meet up with all of you as soon as I can. Thirteen, I'm counting on you to keep them all in line!"
Suddenly, Aizawa sprang into action. His capture weapon unfurled as he leaped from the stairs, eyes glowing red beneath his goggles. The pro hero moved with incredible speed and precision, taking down villain after villain. His Erasure Quirk nullified their powers, leaving them vulnerable to his swift, calculated strikes.
Aizawa's movements left the students in awe. His capture weapon whipped through the air, ensnaring villains and slamming them into each other. Those who managed to avoid the cloth found themselves face-to-face with the pro hero, only to have their quirks erased before they could act.
"Holy crap," Kirishima breathed, his eyes wide. "Mr. Aizawa is amazing!"
Miquella nodded, his eyes tracking every movement. "He's buying us time. We need to move."
As if on cue, Thirteen began ushering the students toward the exit. "Everyone, stay together! We're evacuating now!"
Malenia fell into step beside Miquella, her arm tensing around her blade. "Something's not right," she murmured.
Just as the words left her mouth, a swirling black mist materialized in front of the exit. It coalesced into the form of Kurogiri, his yellow eyes gleaming ominously. "I'm afraid I can't let you leave," the mist villain's voice echoed throughout the facility. "We are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity, but today, we've come here to U.A. High School—this bastion of heroism—to end the life of All Might, the Symbol of Peace."
Before anyone could react, Bakugo and Kirishima launched themselves at Kurogiri, their quirks blazing. The explosion from Bakugo's attack filled the air with smoke and debris.
"Did you consider that you'd get beaten by us before you did it?" Kirishima shouted, his hardened fist swinging through the air.
As the smoke cleared, Kurogiri's voice cut through the chaos. "Oh dear, that would have been dangerous. That's right. Even if you are students, you are the heroes' world's excellent golden eggs."
"Move away, you two!" Thirteen called out, but it was too late.
Kurogiri's mist expanded rapidly, engulfing the students. "My job is to scatter you all and torture you to death!"
Miquella's instincts kicked in. As the vortex began to pull them apart, he reached out, his hand grasping for anyone nearby. His fingers closed around a wrist, and he pulled hard, bringing the person closer to him.
"Asui!" Miquella shouted, recognizing the frog-like girl. "Hold on!"
Tsuyu's large eyes widened in surprise, but she nodded, gripping Miquella's arm tightly in return. "Call me Tsu, ribbit," she managed to say before the darkness enveloped them completely.
Miquella tried to reach for Malenia with his other hand, but the swirling vortex pulled them apart. The last thing he saw was the determined glint in her eye before everything went black.
When the darkness cleared, Miquella found himself in the fire zone, Tsuyu still beside him. They both stumbled as they landed on the scorching ground, surrounded by flames and suffocating heat.
Tsuyu stood firm beside him, her expression focused. "This environment isn't ideal for my quirk," she stated matter-of-factly.
Miquella nodded, a grim realization settling in. "They must've figured out our weaknesses… or they just got incredibly lucky."
A sudden blast of cold air swept past them, extinguishing nearby flames. Miquella and Tsuyu turned to see Todoroki emerge from behind a scorched building, his right side coated in frost.
"Todoroki!" Miquella exclaimed, "You're here too?"
Shoto nodded, his mismatched eyes scanning the area. "I heard your voices. It seems we've all been scattered across the USJ."
"Is your ice quirk affected by this heat?" Tsuyu inquired.
"Yes, but I can manage. I've been around flames hotter than these," Todoroki replied, his tone calm but determined.
Tsuyu turned to Miquella, her large eyes questioning. "What's our next move?"
Miquella quickly surveyed their surroundings, formulating a plan. "We need to regroup with the others and find a way to contact the school. If we're going to get out of this, we have to work together." He paused, weighing their options. "We should head to the flood zone first. They're likely in the most dire situation, being not only surrounded by villains but also surrounded by water."
The trio raced through the fire zone, dodging flames and leaping over smoldering debris. Miquella led the way, with Tsuyu and Todoroki close behind. As they approached the border of the fire zone, the intense heat began to subside.
"We're getting close to the flood zone," Miquella called out over his shoulder. "Stay alert!"
As if on cue, he felt something slither around his leg, trying to pull him down. Reacting quickly, he summoned a light blade, slicing through the tendril. When he looked down, he saw it was just smoke dissipating into the air.
"Oh, it's been a while since I've had prey that fought back. But I guess it's understandable, seeing as you all want to be heroes," a crazed female voice called out. The voice sounded youthful, yet it carried a strange, muffled quality as if the speaker was wearing a mask.
Turning around, they were met with a young woman, likely in her early twenties, with smoky white hair and piercing red eyes. She eyed Miquella with a predatory gaze as if he were her favorite snack.
"There's something about you that just makes me want to suffocate you more than the others. Take it as a compliment, kid," she said, winking, her voice dripping with malice and excitement.
'Great, a sadist likes me,' Miquella thought as he got into a fighting stance. Before he could make a move, the ground beneath them rumbled violently. A man with mole-like features erupted from the earth, his hands spinning like drills as he tore through the ground. He cackled, his beady eyes gleaming with glee.
"Don't think I'm gonna let you have all the fun!" the mole-like villain sneered. "I've got my own way of digging into heroes!" He let out a harsh laugh at his own pun.
As if that weren't enough, a massive, towering man with bulging muscles wielding two giant knuckle dusters stepped into view. He moved with deliberate, slow steps, his expression a mix of boredom and sheer annoyance.
"Why do I have to be saddled with the sadist and the idiot?" the giant man sighed, his voice heavy with exasperation. "Well, as long as I get my money, I don't care." He shrugged indifferently, his gaze lazily sweeping over the young heroes as if they were nothing more than an inconvenience.
Without warning, the giant rushed at Todoroki, his massive frame closing the distance with surprising speed. Todoroki barely had time to react, throwing up a wall of ice that the villain merely dug in his feet and let the ice crash over him, yet he still appeared with the same expression on his face.
Meanwhile, the mole-like villain dove back into the earth, leaving only a rapidly moving trail of disturbed soil in his wake. The trail headed straight for Tsuyu, who leaped into the air, sticking to the wall, narrowly avoiding the villain's drill-like hands as they burst from the ground.
This left Miquella face-to-face with the smoke-quirk villainess, her red eyes gleaming with twisted delight. "Just you and me now, pretty boy," she purred, tendrils of smoke coiling around her arms.
Miquella summoned his light blade, its glow cutting through the thickening smoke. "Lucky me," he muttered, preparing himself for the fight ahead.
As the smoke villainess approached, Miquella quickly reached for the sleek purple gas mask attached to his hero costume's belt. With practiced efficiency, he connected it to the half-mask already on his face, securing it in place.
"Oh, you came prepared," the villainess purred, her red eyes narrowing. "That's no fun. I wanted to see you choke."
Miquella's voice came out slightly muffled through the mask. "Sorry to disappoint. I prefer breathing."
The villainess snarled, swirling the smoke around her more aggressively, trying to obscure Miquella's vision. But the light from his blade cut through the haze, allowing him to see through her attempts to blind him.
She lunged at him, using the smoke as cover to strike. Miquella sidestepped her attack, his blade humming with energy. She was fast, but
Miquella was quicker, slicing through the smoke as she retreated.
The villainess directed a thick tendril of smoke at him, trying to force him back. But Miquella had a plan. Instead of pressing forward, he deliberately retreated, allowing the smoke to thicken around him. The villainess, sensing an advantage, pursued him eagerly.
Miquella led her towards a nearby fire hydrant, his movements calculated and precise. As they neared it, he suddenly spun around, his blade slicing through the air in a wide arc. The villainess instinctively ducked, but Miquella wasn't aiming for her. His blade struck the hydrant, rupturing it and sending a powerful jet of water into the air.
The sudden spray caught the villainess off guard, drenching her and dispersing her smoke. Without her protective cover, she stood exposed and vulnerable. Miquella didn't waste the opportunity. He charged forward, using the hilt of his blade to strike her chest, knocking the wind out of her.
The villainess gasped, doubling over as she struggled to breathe. "You... you tricked me!" she wheezed, trying to summon more smoke, but the water had temporarily neutralized her ability.
With a swift movement, Miquella swept her legs out from under her, sending her crashing to the wet ground. He quickly pinned her down, securing her hands behind her back with some capture tape he had in one of his utility pouches.
"One down," he muttered, his focus shifting to the other battles. In the distance, Todoroki was locked in a fierce fight with the towering villain. The massive man stood his ground, muscles bulging under his skin, his knuckle dusters gleaming ominously. Despite the ferocity of Todoroki's ice attacks, the villain seemed unaffected, shrugging off the frozen assaults as if they were nothing more than a minor inconvenience. It was a stalemate, with neither opponent able to gain the upper hand.
As he watched, he began to notice a pattern. Although the villain appeared invincible, he observed that every time Todoroki was about to attack, the villain would suddenly stop moving. There was one instance when he accidentally moved his arms while being covered in ice, resulting in a small, almost imperceptible cut on his arm that would be easily overlooked in the heat of battle.
As Miquella approached, he called out, "Having trouble, Todoroki?"
The dual-quirk user didn't take his eyes off the villain. "while he hasn't had the chance to get close to me. He's not taking any damage. Every attack just bounces off."
Miquella analyzed the situation quickly. He leaned toward Todoroki and whispered, "He's only invulnerable when he's standing still." A strategy began to form in his mind as he met the towering villain's gaze, his expression unreadable.
Activating his quirk subtly happy that his mask hid his now glowing eyes, Miquella locked eyes with the brute and called out, "What's wrong, big guy? You just gonna stand there all day, or are you too scared to Move?"
The taunt worked. The villain's eyes flashed with anger, and he charged forward, his massive fists raised to strike. Miquella stood his ground, his heart steady, and waited until the villain was close enough that Todoroki couldn't hear him. In a low voice, he said, "Fall."
The villain's foot suddenly lost its grip on the ground, his momentum throwing him off balance. Seizing the opportunity, Miquella executed a perfect judo throw, flipping the hulking man over his shoulder and slamming him into the ground with a thunderous crash.
Todoroki was ready. As soon as the villain hit the ground, Todoroki unleashed a wave of ice, encasing the brute in a thick layer of frost before he could recover.
Todoroki stepped forward, a layer of frost covering his right side. "Nice work," he said, his voice carrying a note of respect.
"You too" Miquella replied with a nod. "Now let's help Tsuyu and finish this so we can go help the others."
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Hey everyone! I know it's been a while, but I've been really busy. I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I wanted to showcase how the extra time allowed the villains to change the outcome of the USJ attack, giving them the chance to gather more forces and learn about the students' abilities. I hope this chapter captured that well. I know many of you have been eagerly waiting to see Miquella use his mind control, so I hope you liked that scene. I also wanted to highlight how his passive likability can sometimes be his worst enemy. Let me know what you think!