(Kata POV – Training City)
What happens next makes no sense, even to me.
The lightning pillar that should've struck All Might veers midair… toward me. A blast of wind tears through the ruined cityscape, pushing me backward as the air ionizes in a brilliant blue-white bloom.
For an instant, I'm swallowed whole by the storm.
My barrier deflects the lightning, remaining steady despite meeting the lightning head-on. Plasma ripples and arcs around me, dispersing harmlessly. However, the shock doesn't fade as quickly.
'He… redirected it?' I ponder, eyes narrowing. 'Or did he just punch lightning and hope for the best?'
Because that's exactly what happened. The instant before my attack landed, All Might's fist moved, smashing through the air, compressing it so violently the air turned to plasma and formed a heat-glowing gauntlet of pure force that smacked the bolt aside, bending its path toward me.
A ridiculous move… that somehow worked.
I barely have time to curse before a shadow swells in front of me.
"—Tch."
A massive fist cuts through the smoke, aimed squarely for my skull.
In a blink, I'm gone. The world warps, and I reappear a hundred meters away.
"It won't be so easy this time!"
His voice folloes immediately as I hear a clap of thunder behind me, then a rush of air, and then he's there, right on top of me again, closing the gap like he has his own brand of teleportation. His arms open wide, ready to grapple me and prevent any further escapes.
I teleport high into the sky, reappearing in a burst of pressure. But he's already after me. The air ripples beneath his leaps, as he air stomps platforms for himself. Every step leaves shockwaves that flatten debris below.
'He's persistent.' I click my tongue.
I teleport again. He rushed me. Then again. Over and over.
Each time I blink away, All Might's already closing in, his silhouette streaking through the air like a missile. The entire city's size is meaningless at this speed. The sound barrier being broken becomes little more than background noise now.
'This can't continue.'
If he gets a hand on me, it's over. I won't be able to teleport with him holding me.
'Fine, then.'
One last jump.
The air folds and I emerge at the far edge of the city. The wind of his approach howls seconds behind me, ripping rooftops from their foundations.
I brace myself, steadying my breathing. I'm not faster than him… but who said I need to be faster?
As he closes in, I shift my stance and focus. I visualize my arm not as flesh, but as an object I can manipulate with my quirk… and push it forward.
Every fiber in my body screams in protest. Muscle tears. Ligaments snap. Bones strain as cracks begin to form. The air burns around me, my barriers at least keeping the heat at bay as my arm lances forward faster than my body can comprehend.
All Might's eyes widen mid-charge. His instincts kick in, and his arms cross, defending his chest…
But it's too late.
My fist connects. The barrier around my hand shatters on contact, dissolving against his skin just as I release the payload.
'Vibration Emission.'
The world breaks.
Sound dies first. Then space follows.
The air fractures between us as spiderweb cracks fan between us, as the fabric of reality breaks underneath the pressure. For one, silent heartbeat, the world seems to hold its breath.
Then it erupts.
BOOOOOOMMMM!
The explosion tears through the city like a tidal wave. Buildings crumble under the sheer pressure, windows atomize, and the ground splits open. The shockwave hollows out everything in its path, leaving a yawning vacuum where air used to be.
All Might vanishes in the blast.
When the smoke clears, there's a gouge—no, a scar—cut clean through the city. A trench deep enough to swallow skyscrapers as its edges have been melted to glass.
I hover, staring into the ruin. My right arm's gone, reduced to mist during the clash. I can still feel the echo of the recoil shuddering through my core.
"…Next time, I'll keep a bit more distance." I mutter dryly, glancing at the bleeding stump. "Channeling that much power through my arm isn't fun."
And, with a thought, soothing Telekinetic Energy surges into the stump. Flesh knits, bones reform, and nerves rethread. In an instant, my arm is whole again.
I flex the fingers once, satisfied.
But the same can't be said for All Might.
I stare into the smoldering crater, dust and heat rippling through the air. The entire district's a molten scar—charred glass and vaporized metal. I can't sense him, so I don't know how he's doing but…
'I doubt that was enough.'
And sure enough—
The pit erupts.
A thunderclap splits the silence as All Might rockets upward, chunks of molten debris spiraling off him in a golden flare. He lands with a heavy boom, a crater blooming beneath his feet.
"You really did a number on me with that one." He says, maintaining his grin.
His costume's shredded from the elbows up, fabric burnt and skin raw. Blood runs in thin lines across his forearms, steam rising where molten air kissed flesh. His hands tremble, not from fear, but from the damage I've inflicted. And still, he laughs.
"You aren't as hurt as I expected." I reply flatly, meeting his gaze.
He grins wider, the same unbreakable grin that made him a symbol. "It's impressive you could do this much. Not many can make me feel it."
Then he moves.
The world blurs as he leaps off the ground toward me, a shockwave cracking the air.
'Not this time.' I think, raising my hand.
The space before him shatters like glass. A compressed vibration slams into his chest midair, twisting him off course. He crashes back into the ground with an earth-splitting roar.
The impact clears instantly, dust swept aside by his own counter-force as he rises, unharmed. He rolls his shoulders once. Not even staggered.
I'm not surprised. It lacked the physical contact that allowed me to actually hurt him, but I can't let him get close a second time.
'If I could detect his resonant frequency, I could end this instantly, but I'd need to be able to sense him.'
'So, I have to try to kill him to beat him.' I sigh inwardly. The thought feels absurd, but no less true.
My first instinct is to freeze the atoms in his vicinity and stop all molecular motion outright and simulate absolute zero, but…
'That would kill him instantly. Total thermal collapse, followed by the shockwave from the edges vaporizing the remains. There'd be nothing left to heal.'
So, I go the opposite direction.
The air around me stirs, then howls. Pressure folds inward, drawn into a dense, spinning sphere. Across the now non-existent city, identical vortexes form, each one sheathed in invisible Telekinetic barriers.
All Might's eyes widen, muscles tensing as he recognizes what I'm trying to do. He rockets forward again, trying to close the distance and stop me.
"It won't be so easy this time." I echo, smiling faintly, his own words thrown back at him.
He laughs in response, even as he charges. "Now that's the spirit!"
He braces himself, expecting another shockwave to blast him off-course. But instead—
The air in front of him turns black.
A wall forms, massive and seamless, blotting out the light. Molecules split under my will—carbon dioxide, oxygen—ripped down to atoms and transmuted into Carbon. Then, Carbon chains weave together into a nano-lattice, compact and perfect. And finally, Plasma hums inside its hollow core, caged by telekinetic force.
All Might doesn't hesitate. He never hesitates.
He pulls his fist back, air whistling around his fist. "DETROIT—SMASH!"
The punch lands.
The impact reverberates through the wall, the sound like a mountain groaning. The lattice bends, screaming under the strain… but it doesn't break. Instead, the containment field at the point of contact collapses as the energy maintaining it vanishes.
Rrrrrrrr-FZZZZZTTTT!
A blinding flash. A sharp, rising hum.
Then darkness.
Finally, the explosion follows.
It's as though a miniature sun is born. The shockwave rips the clouds apart, flattening the remains of the city. From where I hover, the ground buckles, then collapses inward, forming a crater so deep it glows red at the edges.
When the light fades, All Might is no longer in the air. For a heartbeat, I think he's gone, until I see a shape tumbling through the haze.
He crashes down, skidding across the fractured earth. His forearm is gone. The limb ends in a cauterized stump, as the flesh is sealed by the heat of the plasma.
He exhales sharply, steadying himself as blood drips from his jaw, but his stance doesn't waver. He glances at the wound, then back up at me.
And though his smile falters for the first time, it doesn't disappear.
"I see…" He says quietly, voice still steady despite the pain. "So that's what this was all about."
I don't answer, but he knows. His eyes narrow, the realization dawning—the wall, the lattice, the compression points. Every blast, every vibration, was never meant to hurt him… only delay him as I set up the real attack.
But now, it's too late.
My plan is complete.
Each of the countless spheres surrounding the battlefield flares to life, glowing from within like captured suns. Their light bleeds through the barriers in soft white pulses, restrained only by my will. Within each orb, atoms collide in violent union as nuclear fusion is achieved, and their cores burn at fifteen million degrees Celsius.
The world trembles at their collective hum.
I watch All Might through it all. His hair dances in the wind, his figure unyielding, back straight, eyes locked on mine. He recognizes this.
His expression hardens slightly. "This is like your move from the Sports Festival…" He says, his tone curious, cautious , but not afraid.
"I've gotten stronger since then." I answer, my voice calm and detached. "I can make more of them, more easily, and much faster. They're… far more powerful than the one I used back then." I pause, studying his stance, the tension in his arms, the light of resolve that never fades. "I advise you to give up."
He chuckles softly. "This is your exam, young man. I can't give up unless you beat me."
'Of course.' I sigh, a faint exhale of resignation.
"I don't think you understand." I say quietly. "It's impossible to survive this attack."
Even as I speak, I make my body intangible, layering kinetic fields around my atoms. Around the city, the barriers shimmer as I add nine more layers, each one dense enough to contain a small sun, just to ensure I don't accidentally erase humanity.
And still, he stands there, smiling like he's greeting an old friend.
"Could you heal me after the attack?" He asks suddenly.
I blink. "Yes."
His grin widens into something radiant. "Then we'll fight until the end."
He plants his feet, muscles flexing, posture set. Despite the blood drying across his arm, he looks every bit the Symbol of Peace.
"This is the end. After this…" I pause, realising my error. "There'll be no after."
But All Might's spirit doesn't falter. That spark in his eyes only burns brighter.
All 341 orbs pulse in sync, the air vibrating with unstable power. For a moment, I hesitate. My calculations are precise, my aim perfect… but after this hit, I'd basically be recreating a new body to house his soul rather than healing what remains.
I know Nezu is watching through cameras outside the city, and will have Catherine cancel New Order once he does so I can heal him.
And just in case, the rule only applies to his body, so even then, he can still be saved.
The orbs flare brighter, energy spiking as I redirect their focus toward his limbs.
"Get ready." I warn.
All Might crouches slightly, his grin undimmed. "Always am!"
The air thrums with a deep, resonant hum, signalling the prelude to annihilation…
"Kata, you pass. End the test."
Nezu says urgently from the monitoring room, probably aware that I can hear him from this distance. But it's already too late.
Bzzzzzzzt—Vrrrzzzzzzz!
The world ignites.
All 341 orbs release their energy at once, causing blinding spears of concentrated plasma to lance through the air faster than most can follow. The sky turns white, bathed in their glow, while space itself seems to scream.
All Might doesn't move… he doesn't have enough time to.
The beams tear through the atmosphere, vaporizing the very air, while shockwaves chase their tails, ripping everything apart, flattening what little remains of the cityscape. For a fraction of a second, it feels like the end of everything.
At the last instant, I throw up a barrier around him, forming a sphere of pure force that barely holds together as the onslaught hits.
The impact is apocalyptic.
White light devours the horizon. Every shadow is erased. The ground beneath us liquefies, then vaporizes entirely, leaving only a molten scar where a city once stood. The city's barrier screams under the pressure… but it holds.
A roar follows as the air seems to howl in fury. The sound alone could rupture eardrums, while the rising temperatures could melt tungsten.
Then… silence.
I focus, then freeze every particle within the city, stopping the plasma before it continues rebounding perpetually in this sealed space. Slowly, I then bleed the temperature back down to normal.
Only then do I exhale.
All Might stands within the barrier, unharmed but squinting against the fading glare. He blinks hard, eyes struggling to adjust after the flash of light.
I remain suspended in the air, because there's no longer any ground to land on.
'Humanity survives.' I think wryly.
I lower myself toward the ruined crater. "All Might." I say, my voice steady again. "Nezu says I pass."
He groans, rubbing at his eyes, blinking me. "Huh? What—" Then he notices the melted horizon and laughs, deep and genuine despite everything. "Hah! I guess even I can't argue with the principal."
I nod.
All Might then lets out a slow breath, still smiling. "You really don't hold back, do you?"
"You wouldn't until either of us won." I reply flatly. "So I had no choice."
He grins wider, raising his missing arm. "You'll, uh… fix this, right?"
I nod. "Once S&S lifts the rule interfering with my quirk."
He gives me a lopsided thumbs-up with his remaining hand. "No problem!"
The last embers of the fusion orbs flicker, then fade as I make them dissipate. The sky dims, and the world is peaceful once more.
I glance at the horizon, then back at All Might.
'I passed.' I think. 'Even if it took more effort than it should have.'
*************
A/N: Hello Everyone! How are you? If you've enjoyed the chapter and book thus far, please consider leaving me some comments, reviews, or power stones. It really helps the book out.
So, this is the chapter. I believe it was worth the delay, and quite a few revisions went into this🤣. Overall, Kata's quite strong, and the fight was quite intense, and no one died. I guess the only victim is the Training City.
But, I'll keep this A/N short, since I need to pass out now. Had to take 3 naps just to be able to finish😭🫠. So, yeah, I really hope you enjoyed it😁.
You can also read 10 chapters ahead and support me at [email protected]/AMV_WEAKLY
And that you have a great rest of your day/night 🌃