"Midoriya, get out of here!" Aizawa shouted at me as he tried to get closer to help.
"Stay out of this, master! I'll take care of this failure!"
"You're very arrogant, brat!" Shigaraki yelled as he approached to kill me.
"Says the idiot who calls people NPCs!" I just need to stay focused on his hands, and I'll be fine.
I can see it in the way he's approaching.
His palms are open; he's underestimating me.
He's only 15 meters away from me.
The rest of the villains who aren't being beaten up by Aizawa have stopped to watch me fight.
10 meters.
I can hear the destruction the Nomu is causing up there; the screams of my classmates as they attack it make me nervous.
5 meters.
Everything I prepared was ruined by a simple mistake I didn't see coming.
3 meters.
If any of my classmates die today, it will be my fault.
His hand is approaching my face.
One For All flows freely through my body.
A powerful tide.
I grab his hand by the wrist; I see the grimace of irritation he makes.
I deliver a knee straight to his stomach.
His reflexes aren't bad; I can see his eyes dart towards my leg.
He moves his hand towards my knee.
And that's exactly what I was aiming for.
With my free hand, I charge One For All to 20% again and attack using my index and middle fingers.
The pressure generated by the wind doesn't push him too far back; my fingers on that hand are still somewhat numb.
Our entire exchange didn't last more than 5 seconds.
But from the way my blood is boiling and his face shows the pain of my attack, it seems like an eternity has passed.
He rushes towards me again, but unlike last time, I don't hold back.
The fight has just begun.
He sends a right kick, which I dodge by tilting my head. He tries to touch my chest with his disgusting, chapped hand.
His focus is too direct. He's still underestimating me.
I don't even bother to look at his hand; my gaze remains fixed on his eyes the whole time.
He is... disgusting, simply disgusting.
And the idea that someone so disgusting and pathetic is capable of putting me in this predicament infuriates me.
This time, I don't stop his hand. I momentarily increase the power percentage in my legs and perform a sweep.
He falls, and with him, his hand.
I don't let him finish falling. I get as close as I can without risking being turned to dust and knee him in the jaw.
The force of my move sends him falling onto his back and rolling a few meters.
Blood comes from the corner of his mouth; he bit his tongue.
"What's wrong, hand fetishist?! All that mystery, but you're pathetic! That's how your Quirk works, right?! You touch your target and turn it to dust! You're the one who attacked UA!" Kurogiri tenses at my words. I can tell by the slight way his flames stop waving in the air and his eyes narrow into small slits. "And what's with the hands on your body?! Is there something you're trying to prove?! Or is it your way of showing the world you can't masturbate and you're pissed about it?!"
My words force Shigaraki to get up. The hand he had on his face falls to the ground. He's furious, and the fact that all he sees when he looks at me is my smile makes things worse.
Worse for him, of course.
"...Brat..." He keeps scratching his neck; his attitude annoys me.
A villain thinks that just because he hit his boss, he has the right to interrupt our fight.
He attacks me from behind with his Quirk.
He can conjure weapons made of glass or a similar material. Great Quirk, too bad it's in the hands of an idiot.
I dodge the stab he tried to land with his crystal dagger and give him a right hook to the face. Before he can fall to the ground, I grab him by the shirt and send him flying towards Shigaraki.
Shigaraki catches him with his hands, and the guy turns to dust on the spot.
He kills his own subordinate and doesn't even react.
I'm going to enjoy hitting him.
This time, I'm the one who approaches to strike. His focus is sharper; he's clearly stopped taking me for a simple kid.
I send a punch with my left hand, obviously failing in my stance. He doesn't notice. He tries to grab my left hand, but it was a feint on my part. I bring my left hand back to its place and send a punch to his kidney. He tries to catch it, but my right hand, which was still free, comes into action and stops his attempt.
He tries to use his free hand to disintegrate me, but I knee him in the abdomen.
The pain hits him immediately, but he doesn't stop his assault.
(Stubborn bastard.) I quickly jump back.
But not before grabbing the hand I had previously subdued.
My move is risky... but it might work.
I grab his pinky and ring finger.
And without hesitation, I break them.
His scream of pain echoes through the U.S.J.
And for a moment, everything seems to stop.
But not for me.
I send a punch to his face with One For All at 15%.
"SMASH." My attack sends him towards the landslide zone, but before he can fall, he's caught by a portal from Kurogiri.
Shigaraki falls next to him again.
As if this combat never happened.
But the dried blood on his face and his two broken fingers say otherwise.
My breathing becomes ragged, and only now do I notice that my suit has been disintegrated in some areas.
It seems that, just like him, I underestimated him too.
I take the trouble to become aware of my surroundings again and see that Aizawa has managed to defeat the rest of the villains who were surrounding us.
For a moment, our eyes meet, and that tells me everything.
When this is over, we're going to have a serious talk.
I turn my gaze forward again and see Kurogiri. His look is analytical; he doesn't bother to hide it. That's why he didn't intervene in my battle with Shigaraki. He analyzed me from head to toe to be able to inform All For One.
Indirectly, I've lost more than I've gained.
I have no doubt anymore. After this, everything is going to get worse.
I'll have to consider many changes I hadn't foreseen.
Damn it!
I judged this world as if it were a simple anime, and now I'm paying the consequences!
Maybe if this were the Naruto universe, I would have been more cautious! But I assumed this universe was simpler! That I could have my freedoms!
And I was wrong.
...
There's no point in getting angry now.
All For One is a problem, a big one, but one that will be dealt with eventually.
Now my priority is to survive this shit and...
"Midoriya!!" What the hell?
I feel Aizawa pull me to the side with his scarf.
And the next moment, I see the Nomu crushing the spot where I was standing no more than a second ago.
I'm alive... by a miracle.
Not even a second later, Aizawa is being crushed in the same way as Bakugo.
If he's knocked out, I'm lost. Aizawa is key in all of this.
The Nomu turns its gaze towards me, and by instinct, I activate One For All to the maximum capacity I can handle.
15% explodes throughout my body, and I can feel that the pain is no longer numbed by adrenaline.
I'm playing with my limits, and that's not good.
I think... I'll have to break some bones if I want to survive.
It launches at me at full speed, and its punch manages to graze some of my hair.
I lunge from my defensive position to try and push it away.
It's all in vain, I know, but it's my best bet.
My punches no longer have any effect on it.
A right hook to the face, a kick to the sternum, nothing works.
I try to hit its brain, a weak point if I remember correctly.
The beast protects itself, grabbing the arm I was planning to hit it with and throwing me towards the stairs.
(Fucking son of a bitch, my back isn't broken in six different pieces thanks to One For All.) The pain is killing me, and I don't know what else to do.
How do I defeat something that was created to beat All Might?
The Nomu doesn't let me think any longer and launches directly at me.
I jump to the right and dodge its punch. My head started bleeding from the hit I received earlier.
My vision in my right eye is compromised, and therefore my depth perception.
I can't attack it with 100%. It would be stupid; it has shock absorption. I would have broken a bone in vain.
I have to hit its brain and stun it until the others arrive.
I see the Nomu preparing to attack me again. My only safe bet now is my speed.
It's all I have.
It jumps towards me. I prepare my legs to back away. But it's intercepted in mid-air by Gran Torino.
He manages to send the Nomu towards Shigaraki again and lands beside me.
"Look at you, being so reckless, you idiot brat," he says with a frown. I don't blame him; ever since we got here, I've done nothing but screw up.
"I'm sorry, sir. The excitement got to my head."
"And now you're paying the price, typical of teenagers." Have I mentioned how much I admire this man? "I'll keep him distracted, and you'll strike. You noticed his weak point, right?"
"Yes, I did," I confirmed. "It's his brain."
"Then you know what to do." And without another word, he took off into battle.
(My strategy is useless now. I'm flying blind in this. One For All Full Cowling 12%.) I repeated Gran Torino's action and launched myself into battle as well.
Gran Torino is very limited in this terrain; he has no walls to jump off of.
So I start hitting the ground repeatedly, creating spikes that surge upwards.
He notices my move and takes advantage of it. He manages to evade every punch sent by the Nomu in a professional manner; it's incredible.
In one of his movements, he manages to make the Nomu trip. That's my signal. I take a big leap upwards and lift my leg as high as I can.
(I've borrowed this move from Tsunade Senju. Let's see how useful it is.) I bring my foot down, hitting its brain with my heel.
The effect is immediate. The Nomu starts to writhe and grab its head, as if it's disoriented.
I land on the ground and automatically back away, but Gran Torino has other plans.
He propels himself off some raised rocks and approaches me.
He takes my arm and, with a 360-degree spin, sends me towards the Nomu again.
Understanding his plan, I charge One For All in my right arm to 15%. After this, my muscles will definitely suffer tears, but I don't care.
I hit its brain again, and this time, I even manage to send it flying backward.
It's not much, only about 10 meters, but it's enough for me.
(My arm is burning like hell!).
I see Shigaraki start to scratch his neck erratically; this situation has him annoyed.
But from one moment to the next, he starts to smile.
(What does all this mean?) My question was answered by a loud crash.
"Everything is fine now! For I am here!" About time you showed up, you son of a bitch.
...