Chapter 2 - a new place in space

A raspy voice broke through the tense stillness.

"What's going on?"

The sound of frantic scratching followed—a sharp, relentless noise like nails on rough stone. The man responsible had pale, light-blue hair, messy and wild. A detached hand clung to his face like a grotesque mask, and worse still, more severed hands gripped his body like macabre ornaments.

"He's not weaker... at all." The scratching intensified as frustration boiled within him. His fingers dug deep into his neck, almost (and I mean almost) drawing blood.

"Did Sensei... lie to me?!"

Before his rage could escalate further (his tantrum), a booming voice cut through his deranged muttering.

"What's wrong?"

Shigaraki Tomura's head snapped up, shock and annoyance filtering through his face while meeting the defiant glare of a towering, muscular figure with golden hair spiked upward into two tufts that you could argue looked like rabbit ears. (ngl, pretty funny)

"Didn't you say you were going to 'clear this level' earlier?" the blond man challenged, voice steady despite the tension and thick atmosphere. "Well, come and get me, if you dare." the man's voice was mocking, something most would never see from the number one. . . ever.

Around them, the terrified students watched in stunned silence. Whispers of awe were spread about the central area, "all might's got this in the bag" a certain manly man said, but one boy with wild bushy green hair knew the truth. 

Bush hair could see what the others missed, steam faintly rising from All Might's body, his muscles trembling, signs, signs that he was at his utmost limit. He was hanging by a thread.(heh, literal thread) and izuku knew one thing, he was bluffing, and he was the only one who knew he was bluffing. 

Hand-face's breathing deepened, tilting his face up, only to gain more access to his neck, his pale fingers clawing even harder at his neck (as if his neck killed his family), scratching until thin lines of blood began to seep through his skin. "if only I had nomu" he kept scratching and scratching at his neck as if his life depended on it, his irritation showing clear.

"Look carefully." Purple smoke moved closer as he continued. "The Nomu did weaken him... significantly."

Shigaraki froze, his bloodied nails stopping mid-scratch. He hadn't noticed that.

"The students are paralyzed with fear. They won't intervene, even if they did, they wont be able to harm us much. And if we retreat now, everything we've worked for will be wasted." Kurogiri's voice became sharper, as he advised shigiraki. "Work with me... and All Might will fall. With them all watching."

Shigaraki's breath hitched. The thought gnawed at his mind—We can still win...

His trembling hands slowly lowered from his neck. His bloodshot eyes gleamed with sinister resolve.

"Yeah... yeah... you're right..." he muttered, barely containing a twisted grin. "We have... the final boss... right in front of us."

He clenched his fingers, stepping forward. "he's already in my trap, weakened and ready to give exp"

With a snarl, Shigaraki charged. No plan. No hesitation. Just pure malice.

"This is for what you did... to Nomu!" he roared, sprinting straight for All Might, driven by a singular purpose of mindless destruction. Mindless chaos. Reasonless pain.

All Might tensed, clenching his fists despite the searing pain in his sides. His thoughts spiraled into panic, "Holy shit... he's coming right at me!"

As Shigaraki lunged, Kurogiri's dark mist spread in a swirling arc, expanding rapidly to cut off any escape route.

The bush-haired kid, the only one to know about All Might's condition, let his quirk OFA course through his legs, and he sprang into action, determined to intercept Shigaraki before it was too late. Before the symbol was buried six feet under.

But they had accounted for this

The purple mist fell into Midoriya's trajectory, blocking off shigiraki, but that was not all. A pale, flakey hand shot out from the shadows, reaching. For his demise

Midoriya's eyes widened—No time to dodge! 

Shigaraki's fingers closed in, inches from the freckled boy's face, 'haha, at least I'll get one of the pests out of the game.' he thought as his reward of the boy's death was now centimeters away, but fate had plans for this boy, now was not his time of death.

*BANG*

A sharp sound of a bullet splits the air.

Leaving Shigaraki to recoil with a snarl of pain, yanking back his outstretched hand with a cry. A bullet had landed right on target, right through his pale hands, making him veer off target at the very last second. "FUCK"

---

They're here.

The students and villains alike turned toward the widely opened entrance of the USJ facility.

At the top of the stairs, stood the full force of U.A.'s pro staff, faces hardened with fierce determination.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Gunshots rang out in rapid succession, precise, accurate, and deadly.

Bullets tore through the air, striking down scattered villains in perfect rhythm. No shots wasted. No mercy for them.

---

Amidst the confusion and renewed combat, Shigaraki staggered back, cradling his injured hand, His expression shifted into something oddly pitiful—like a child being told it was time to leave a friend's house after playing too long.

"aw man, the pros are here, it looks like it's game over, Kurugiri we're goin-" his words were cut off as more shots rang out, landing on each of his limbs, his legs and arms each with a new bullet hole.

"Aww, man… the pros are here. Looks like it's game over, huh?" he muttered, disappointment dripping from his voice. "Kurogiri, we're goin-" 

BANG! BANG! BANG!

His words were cut short (wish I had a bullet joke) by the deafening crack of gunfire. Shigaraki's body jerked violently as bullets tore into his limbs—one in an arm and each leg.

"Gah—!" He stumbled backward, barely managing to stay upright. His eyes widened with shock, more shots were fired but thankfully for shigiraki and his poor body (I mean look at his ugly ass) kurogiri's mist stretched out and covered his body, swarming around shigiraki like a cocoon.

He stared directly at the number one hero, eyes filled with malice, glaring at him for all his trouble "You" he started, filled with venom

"Your days are numbered." His twisted grin stretched wider, unnervingly sharp and predatory. "I may have failed this time... but there won't be a third."

His fingers twitched, stained with both dirt and his own blood.

"Next time... I'll enjoy killing you with my own hands."

With one final, hate-filled glare, Shigaraki vanished into the swirling fog, consumed by Kurogiri's void-like mist.

They had retreated, and no one had died, it was the best-case scenario.

--------------------------------------------------

Once the red-haired student had left, Cementoss brought down the wall he'd created to protect All Might's appearance. "Thank you, Cementoss, that would've been... hard to explain right now, hahaha…" All Might chuckled, as the hero nodded and approached, "no problem" he said with curtness. 

"We need to get you out of here now—you and Young Midoriya both. That could've ended very badly."

All Might averted his gaze, resting one trembling hand against the broken wall for support. He knew Cementoss was right, but...

"I had to act recklessly," he admitted with tired eyes but he still had that stubborn determination left in him. Admirable to most, dangerous for others. "If I hadn't..." He paused, coughing harshly into his fist, red droplets dripping down his lip, but he wiped it off, forcing himself upright.

"I wouldn't be standing here now."

His words hung in the air—defiant, resolute, and tinged with the weight of his ever-dwindling strength.

The tension was palpable, but for Izuku Midoriya, something felt wrong. His keen analytic mind noticed something off, eyes narrowed as he scanned the space around them, instincts screaming that something was off. a feeling of something wrong. 

The air itself seemed... warped.

He blinked, trying to focus. The air was distorting like heatwaves on asphalt. But this was different. It wasn't just a trick of the eye. It was—

CRACK!

A sharp, unnatural sound sliced through the stillness, it's like something had cracked glass?

Midoriya's breath hitched as he saw it—a jagged, spider-web-like crack forming in the air itself, stretching outward in a horrifying display of spatial destruction. Like time and space was failing

"What the—?!" All Might started, but his voice slowed, dragging like a corrupted audio file.

Time itself seemed to glitch.

Izuku gasped as his body felt like it was stuck in molasses, every movement sluggish. His pulse pounded in his ears as reality distorted around him—time crawling slower... and slower...

0.5 speed...

0.1 speed...

Pause.

Then—

Crack

The crack exploded inwards with a small shimmer, with a small flash covering the distorted space-time, before The distorted world snapped back to normal, leaving no trace of the anomaly. . . except . . .

Except for her.

A broken, battered figure was launched from the collapsing void, hurtling toward them like a discarded rag doll. Izuku barely had time to react before the girl hit the ground with a sickening thud and crunch, rolling to a limp stop just inches away from him.

He stared down, eyes wide with disbelief and horror.

"A...a..."

His mind raced to process what he was seeing.

"A... corpse??"

A/N ngl, got carried away with rewriting the usj, dunno why. It was supposed to be much shorter. Oh well.