Chapter LVIII: Only One's Left

Jirobo made the first move and tried to punch Lee, but he easily dodged as the ground below him was destroyed. "His strength is insane!"

He kicked his jaw, which made him stumble back, and Gai followed up with another kick to the head that sent him flying through a wall unconscious. Lee blinked, "That was it?"

Kidomaru covered his face and shook his head, "That useless bum always runs in first."

Gai glared at them and charged at Kimimaro with a punch that was met with a bone. However, the force of Gai's punch still sent him flying through another wall while Kidomaro weaved a bow out of webs from his mouth.

He drew and aimed it at Lee, but Gai grabbed the arrow before he could release it and tried to slam it into him. Kidomaro grabbed and struggled to hold him back with two arms, and used another two arms to grab Gai's punch.

Gai gritted his teeth and kicked him in the stomach, sending him through the wall he punched Kimimaro through and jumped after them. Marks spread across Kimimaro's body and he drew a sharp bone from his back, "You sure it's fine to leave your student behind out there? You might not have one in a couple minutes."

Gai took a deep breath as a green aura formed around him, "If the rest of you are going to underestimate Lee's youthful power like you, then I have nothing to worry about."

They engaged, and in the next room over, Sakon and Tayuya took on demonic forms, "Let's not drag this out, keep him busy while I prepare." Tayuya pulled a flute out and Sakon engaged Lee and threw a punch. Lee ducked under it but went wide-eyed when he saw a second fist under the punch that hit him dead on.

He rolled back and thought, 'I swear I dodged that punch! What was that?'

He focused on the head he saw behind Sakon's head, 'That's right. Gai sensei mentioned that one of them had the ability to split into two people. That must be the second person that hit me then. And the girl over there...her flute puts people under illusions if they hear her song...'

Lee held up his hands and hesitated for a moment, 'No matter what, I can't let them get out of here!' He slammed his palms on his own ears, bursting his eardrums which allowed some blood to flow out of them.

Tayuya messed up her song and glared at him, "What the hell?! Did he just deafen himself?"

Before Sakon could respond, Lee dashed forward and sent an uppercut to his jaw before kicking him into a wall. He turned to Tayuya and wrapped bandages around her before pulling her into a hard punch to the face that knocked her teeth out. He pulled back his fist for another punch but froze as he felt a sharp pain in his back.

He turned his head with gritted teeth to see what looked like Sakon's head popping out of his shoulder. His gaze jolted to Sakon who stood without the second head popping out of his back anymore and fell to his knees. 'Damn it! He got me while I wasn't paying attention! His profile mentioned that we're linked like one body if it gets to this point... What should I do?"

Tayuya played her flute again and Sakon grunted, "I'm tired of dealing with this brat. Can't even tell him how I'm gonna kill him. Just hurry up and put him under an illusion already so we can kill him!"

"Hold on! It takes longer if they can't hear it!" She snapped back at him and continued to play her flute. Despite not being able to hear, the vibrations could still be felt through the ground and traveled up Lee's legs as the environment around him shifted while monsters appeared out of nowhere.

Lee's eyes went wide and he reached into his back pocket for a tiny bottle, 'I heard pain can make him back off, but let me make it easier on myself first.'

He drank down the bottle of what he believed to be a pain killer but didn't notice it was swapped with alcohol.

Elsewhere in the building Gai dodged multiple arrows from Kidomaru and closed his distance on the two while they took on demonic forms. He tried to attack Kidomaru, but Kimimaro intercepted him and held him off equally, blocking every attack with his bones. Gai thought, 'Kidomaru is an easy target if I get close, but Kiminaro can be trouble. Either way, I'm not letting this fight drag out... seventh inner release...'

His green aura turned blue and he split Kimimaro's bone in half before kicking him in the side so hard that his bones shattered, making him spit up blood. Gai followed up by throwing him into an arrow Kidomaro shot. And while the two were lined up, Gai clapped both of his hands together, "Hirudora!" A large grey tiger made of his energy came out and swallowed up both of them, tearing through the Zhongnanhai and taking them out for good.

Gai briefly confirmed his victory by glancing at them before looking over in the direction Lee had been in with wide eyes. "Lee..."

A couple of minutes earlier, after Lee finished gulping down the alcohol, he wiped the remaining fluid off his lips, and Sakon's half that was attached to him fell off and slithered by to Sakon. Tayuya yelled, "What the hell are you doing?!"

"I think he just drank alcohol! You know I can't handle that!"

Tayuya facepalmed, "Ugh, whatever, he's still under my illusion."

Lee wobbled and yelled, "Alright, bring it on!" Before supposedly falling asleep on the ground.

Both of them blinked and watched him for a minute before Sakon stated, "I guess he can't handle alcohol either? What the hell was his plan there?"

Tayuya stomped toward him and pulled a knife out of her pocket, "Who cares?! I'm getting sick of this. I'm just gonna—"

She tried to stab Lee, but he caught the blade between his feet and he pulled her toward himself before palming her into the air and juggling her with kicks before knocking her unconscious with a haymaker that made her put an imprint in the ground with her body.

Sakon's jaw dropped and Lee wobbled in place with his arms up, "Waaaaaa! Did I do good, Gai sensei?"

Sakon thought, "Wasn't he supposed to be under her illusion? Even if his eyes were open, he shouldn't have been able to see her! How the hell did he react? Pure instinct or something?"

Lee turned to him and Sakon hunched over, 'Whatever. I'm not losing to a drunk! Tayuya isn't good at fighting up close unlike me anyway.'

Lee wobbled toward him, and Sakon went for the same invisible double punch he did earlier, but instead of a slight duck, Lee fully fell forward, and his head nearly hit the ground. But he suddenly shot up and completely twisted himself into kicking up at Sakon's jaw, shattering his teeth before beating him with a barrage of punches and kicks. After beating him until he spit up blood, Lee finished him with a kick to the dome that slammed his head into the ground.

As the two lay unconscious, most of them were torn apart by a gray tiger of energy, and Lee met eyes with Gai.

Lee's cheeks were flush, and he wobbled toward Gai, who looked at him with wide eyes, "A third one? What's the hold-up? Come on!"

"Lee..." Gai thought, 'Oh no... How did he get drunk? I'm gonna have to put a stop to him before he destroys the rest of this country!'

While China was safe, back in Japan the fight continued with Present Mic yelling, "Shoto took Dabi down!"

Sero smiled, "Nice! Knew he could do it!"

Kendo, Koda, Shoji, and Sero grouped up in front of the Central Hospital. In front of them stood 15,000 controlled citizens fast approaching. Together, Sero tied together citizens while Kendo knocked them away, and Shoji stated, "Let's win on our front too, then! Koda, how many bugs do you have?"

"Not much compared to how many people there are."

Present Mic, who stood nearby, shouted, "I know that we're not supposed to drug villains, let alone people, but Koda. If your bugs can slow down their riot then you have my permission to use them! We can't let them reach Kurogiri!"

Koda remained silent before remembering Shino's guidance: "The animals you control should be an extension of your own will." and resolved himself. He let out every bug he could into the air and dozens of people at a time collapsed one after the other without him having to say a single word.

Kendo relaxed, "Nice, Koda!"

He replied, "Yeah, but we have a bigger problem. Spinner isn't going down. The bugs can't bite through him. Even the insides of his mouth are durable."

Spinner dashed toward them madly and swung his sword down, but Present Mic destroyed it with a shout, and Shoji punched him with three fists. He went skidding and drooled but kept rushing forward and swung around at them wildly. A hooded man on a rooftop yelled, "Spinner! Get the one who's standing still!

Spinner turned on a dime towards Kota and charged for him, but Sero wrapped tape around his legs and tripped him. Kendo followed up by uppercutting him on the way down, and he struggled to stay conscious. Kendo said, "He's still conscious?!"

Shoji jumped high up and punched the top of his head with three fists, putting him to sleep and cracking the concrete below. "Not anymore."

Sero said, "Great, now where's that guy that ordered for Spinner to attack Koda?" Sero analyzed the environment and noticed someone standing on a rooftop overlooking everything, "There he is! Do you guys think he's controlling everyone in the crowd too?"

Kendo stared at where he pointed and replied, "Yeah, that must be him. Can you reach him?"

Sero nodded and shot off tape up at a building to reach him. While ascending he looked down at the growing pile of paralyzed citizens with a grimace. 'Koda must have already got hundreds of them with his bugs...We'll free those people soon...'

While turning back to his target, he noticed a scythe swinging through the air at him and he cut his own tape to fall under it. He recovered and swung to the side of another building then observed where it came from, 'That thing nearly went straight through me!'

He saw Hanzo slowly step out of his purple mist and swinging his scythe, "Good job on beating Spinner, but none of you are reaching him until you've dealt with me."

All the students turned to him and Kendo asked, "What happened to the other two hundred heroes?! Weren't they supposed to deal with him?!"

"Oh, you mean those heroes?" Hanzo allowed his mist to dissipate, revealing every other hero paralyzed or dead on the ground. You couldn't even see the concrete beneath their bodies. On the opposite end, they were reminded of the remaining thousands of civilians yelling and coming their way while stepping over their own fellow paralyzed people.

The remaining heroes gained a cold sweat and Sero thought, 'What the hell? Did he seriously just beat all of those heroes by himself? What the hell are we supposed to do?! There's no way we can beat that, even with all our training!'

Shoji clenched his fist, "Present Mic, you're the last pro here, what do you think we should do?"

Up above the raving crowds the controller held his hands behind his back, 'Good. It's roughly 15,000 to 5. Hanzo should be able to finish them off soon, then Kurogiri will be free… I'm lucky that AFO gave me a quirk to amplify my own, I might not have been able to hold this up so long otherwise. Now finish them, Hanzo!'

A large bead of sweat fell down Present Mic's face, and he answered, "Koda, keep doing what you're doing; you're doing a good job of holding them off. As for the rest of you, no matter what, don't breathe in that mist. I'm not a good close-range fighter, so forgive me, but I'll mainly have to assist you guys while you three engage him."

Present Mic looked down and Shoji put a hand on his shoulder, "We get it. We knew what we'd be getting into anyway."

Hanzo chuckled, "The pathetic so-called pro-hero needing to hide behind children? I'm not surprised. This should be entertaining." He swiped one of his scythes cleanly through the air at Kendo, but Sero wrapped tape around it.

Sero yelled, "There's nothing fun about this at all!"

Kendo and Shoji charged into him and he released mist in response, but Kendo blew it away. At the same time, the chain on the scythe wrapped around Sero's tape, and he yanked him into Shoji's back.

However, Shoji already had eyes behind his head and caught Sero, not stumbling in his advance. Hanzo smiled and spread his stance, "You're alert, good!"

Present Mic let off a focused shout that disoriented Hanzo and allowed Kendo and Shoji to perform a tag-team attack on him. Kendo punched him into Shoji who assaulted him with a rapid barrage of punches using multiple arms, but he quickly recovered and stabbed into Shoji's arm before cutting it off entirely.

Blood sprayed both Hanzo and Kendo, and she gasped, but Shoji gritted his teeth and powered through the pain to uppercut Hanzo as hard as he could. Hanzo blocked with both of his scythes and laughed maniacally while flying back through the air, "I like your grit, kid!"

Kendo ran to Shoji's side and asked, "Will you be ok?!"

Shoji nodded and his arm slowly regenerated, "I'll... be fine... It doesn't hurt as much after having them cut off so many times during training."

While that was happening, Koda glanced up at the controller and called for a flock of birds, but he noticed them, 'Hm? Must be the one that controls animals! whatever. I don't need to be in sight.' He ran inside the building and closed the door.

Koda gritted his teeth and Hanzo landed, noticing cracks in the handles of his blades. "That boy packs a decent punch, I'd rather not block that with my arms… Hm?" Hanzo pinched something out of the air and crushed it before over at Koda. He swung his scythes and analyzed all of them, "Let's see how you all handle this," then ran toward Koda while swiping his scythes around like a cyclone.

Everyone ducked under it, but Kendo saw the blade about to hit Koda and raised her hand to block it. Present Mic let out a loud shout, but Hanzo yanked Kendo toward himself to be a human shield while letting out his mist.

Present Mic tried to cut off his shout, but it hit her and made her scream before accidentally breathing the mist in.

Hanzo grabbed her collar and ripped his scythe out of her hand and went for her neck, but Sero wrapped tape around his arm, giving Shoji enough time to close the gap and sucker-punch Hanzo.

Hanzo weaved the punch, although another arm grew on his arm and punched Hanzo right in his mask. He stumbled back while his gas mask crumbled to pieces, and he rubbed his jaw with a smile, "Good hit, but unfortunately for you, I'm immune to my own gas. Don't give up now though; I'm sure you still have much more left in you! Dance for me until you drop dead!"

A vein popped on Shoji's forehead and he grabbed Kendo before she fell, "Is this fun for you? What the hell is wrong with you?!"

"I got her!" Sero yelled, and Shoji threw Kendo out of harm's way toward him, and he carried her above a stores sign away from potential danger.

As if things weren't bad enough, another problem presented itself as the thousands of people started running faster than they could be paralyzed and closed in on them.

Koda said, "I can't hold them back anymore!" He worked tirelessly, but they got closer and closer until they pushed Koda down and stomped over him, muffling his screams in their advance.

Shoji lost his nerve and ran through the crowd, "They'll stomp him to death!"

Present Mic held up a hand, "Shoji, wait! I can—" He lost the feeling in his back as a wet, warm fluid poured down his legs, and he lost his strength. As he was collapsing and fading out of consciousness, he thought only about how he involuntarily had to pass all the weight of facing such a strong enemy to them, and tried to give Sero a thumbs up and smile before crashing to the ground.

Hanzo tilted his head, "All it takes is for one card to be taken and the whole house comes crashing down."

"PRESENT MIC!" Sero shouted, but his screams were drowned out by the stomping crowd getting closer and closer to the Hospital. Sero shot out his tape to pull him out of the way of the incoming mob, but Hanzo cut it and his body quickly disappeared below all the rumbling and destruction of the mindless crowd.

Sero's breathing increased, and he fell to his knees, sweating profusely. His eyes were as wide as dinner plates, and his gaze shot back and forth, staring between Kendo, where Present Mic was, and wherever Shoji and Koda might have been. Hanzo stared at him passively, Sero's face tensed. Some of the civilians set fire to cars on the road and the rapidly deteriorating situation sunk in. Hanzo observed him as he muttered to himself, "This can't be happening... what happened to everyone?" He looked around, only seeing the mindless mobs and Hanzo, "Someone! HELP US!" He tried to use his comms, "HAWKS! ENDEAVOR! ANYONE!? CAN ANYONE HELP?!"

On the other end in the headquarters, the men and women stared at one another with pained expressions. Tsukauchi told the rest of them, "Monoma can't open any more portals, or else Shigaraki might break free... We... we can't do anything now... there's not enough people..."

A car exploded near Sero and he yelped, scrambling back. Hanzo stared down at him with disgust. "How quickly your resolve crumbled when the situation became dire. I expected better from you kids. However, you were... disappointing. Tch."

Hanzo turned away and ran into the Hospital with many of the people not far behind while Sero sat there on his knees. 'He's gonna free Kurogiri... then join the fight on another battlefield... Could the others be doing any better than we are over here?'

He imagined his fellow classmates getting beaten and killed by AFO's forces on their own war fronts and gulped. He also recalled what Hanzo called him and he gritted his teeth, 'What the hell does he know?! Screw this! If... if we're really all gonna die then... I gotta try at least something!!"

He punched his shaking legs, forcing them to stop wobbling and he began to stand. To his right, he saw a lot of the people being thrown aside one by one until he saw Shoji break through the crowd and onto the sidewalk holding a bloody and severely bruised Koda. Sero smiled, "Shoji!"

Shoji ran and jumped to him then sat Koda beside Kendo. Koda breathed weakly while blood dripped from every part of him. One of his eyes was swollen shut, and Sero grimaced. Shoji stated, "He needs medical attention! What happened to Present Mic?!"

"Hanzo got him… I'm not sure if he's alive, but... We're the only ones left who can fight…" Sero straightened up and looked at the man controlling the crowd on the roof, "Shoji, you gotta go after Hanzo and do whatever you can... If he frees Kurogiri and gets away, things get a lot worse for us!"

"Shoji stood up, clenching his fist, and nodded, "What will you do?"

"I gotta take out that guy on the roof there. I'll catch up with you after that."

Shoji nodded and ran away, "Good luck!" They gave a thumbs up to each other and Sero licked the insides of his mouth before launching himself up a nearby building and swinging toward the controller.

The controller noticed him and pulled out a gun, "Oh no you don't!"

He fired, landing a shot in Sero's stomach, he yelped and thought, 'I gotta do this! Just ignore it!' He aimed and successfully wrapped tape around his leg. The controller pulled a knife out of his pocket and tried to cut it but to no avail. Sero glared at him, "A basic knife isn't gonna cut my tape, now go to hell."

The controller panicked and held up his hands, "Wait wait! I surrender! I—" Sero ignored him and yanked him, pulling him off the roof to fall all the way down.

Deep inside the Hospital, Hanzo stood in front of Kurogiri, who was restrained in a chair in a decrepit room with worn-down walls. He held up an audio recording device that played a clip of Shigaraki's voice and stated, "Kurogiri, your master needs your help. Open a portal to him."

He cut his restraints and black mist flared out of Kurogiri as he rose out of his chair, "I am... the protector of Tomura Shigaraki."

He quickly opened a portal and Hanzo grinned, "Good." He took a step, but before he could enter the portal, Shoji tackled him through a worn-down wall.

"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!" The wall he tackled him through led to a long four-sided stairwell and he tackled him through one of the railings. Hanzo grunted and stabbed him in the side before kicking him down the middle of the stairwell.

"HAHAHA! You came back! Good! It's not often I get to fight someone that'll keep getting back up! Let's see how long you can go this time!" Hanzo spread his gas through the stairwell and Shoji had a long tube hidden leading outside of it.

Shoji glared daggers through him, "I'm getting back up as many times as I have to to beat you! We're not gonna let you destroy our country! This isn't a game!"

Hanzo chucked one of his scythes at Shoji's neck, and he remembered something he was taught while getting sliced at by Sasuke's sword, "When you're dealing with someone that has a weapon, you're at a bigger disadvantage the longer you let him keep that weapon. Even if you risk a wound, it's best to disarm them as fast as possible. Don't hesitate." Shoji produced a large mouth that bit the blade before he grabbed and crushed it.

He dashed back at Hanzo with a battle cry and punched with three arms down at him. Hanzo sidestepped it, leading to the stairs crumbling into pieces of concrete before Shoji grabbed the falling pieces and threw them at Hanzo.

He cut a couple in half, but a few pieces tore through his sides and he grunted before laughing louder, "Of course it's a game! I'm having the time of my life! Nothing makes you feel more alive than a fight to the death! The new world that will come about will be determined by those who are strong; if you can't thrive in battle, then you'll be left behind!"

He swiped his remaining scythe at Shoji, but he ducked under it and hooked-punched him off the railing; he went into a free fall but recovered by jumping off more railing back at Shoji. "This isn't a comic book! It's a fight to the death! If you aren't willing to lay everything you have on the line to win then you will always fail!"

He faked a stab that Shoji fell for and gouged one of Shoji's eyes out. "Near-death experiences have always been my greatest teacher! That's why I'm still alive right now while you're about to die!"

He grinned from ear to ear while Shoji reeled back in pain and went to slice his head off, but tape wrapped around his arm and yanked him through one of the railings. "Sero!"

Shoji looked up at him with his remaining eye while Sero proned over the top of the stairwell holding his bleeding wound. He managed to yell out, "Finish him off... Shoji!"

Shoji turned back to Hanzo with a renewed fire in his eye and jumped on him with a flurry of punches. Hanzo did his best to avoid the hits, but with so many fists coming for him, he still got hit multiple times, "This war is not a game! You're trying to kill my friends! You're not getting away with what you did to Kendo, Present Mic, or anyone else! You want me to put everything on the line?! FINE!!! I'm putting you down even if I have to kill you!"

Shoji hooked him hard enough to send him down the middle of the stairwell, and while he was in freefall he thought, 'I never should have spared that child just because of how pathetic he was! And come to think of it, why the hell has this kid not been paralyzed?! It's impossible for anyone but me to resist my gas!' He noticed the tube coming from Shoji's back and narrowed his eyes, 'There it is... Damn, if only I still had my other scythe.'

He threw up his last scythe around a railing to stop himself from freefalling, but Shoji ripped a railing out of the stairs and dove down at him trying to impale him with it.

Hanzo's eyes went wide, and he yanked his chain, releasing it from its grappling point and slicing the railing before stabbing through Shoji's stomach, but before he could shred through Shoji's guts, all of his muscles locked up and he couldn't move, 'WHAT?!'

Shoji noticed a bug biting into Hanzo's neck and recovered from the pain, 'Sero, Koda, thank you guys… i couldn't have done this without you.'

Shoji yelled and grew arms that crushed Hanzo's arm, then he headbutted him, breaking his nose. The two of them freefalled to the very bottom of the stairwell and cracked the concrete with Hanzo letting out a weak scream as blood welled up in his mouth, but before he could think of anything to do, Shoji was pounding into his head as hard as he could. "WHAT'S WRONG!? Nothing left to say anymore?! It's not much of a game when you're the one on the losing end, IS IT?!? HUH?!?"

Shoji didn't stop punching him full-force, even after he stopped feeling any resistance or movement from Hanzo at all, even as blood splashed into his one good eye and painted the floor red, even as all the purple gas produced by Hanzo's quirk disappeared, he kept going until the flesh and bone he punched turned into only the concrete below. And then, he finally stopped and heaved to catch his breath.

'We... won... Kurogiri got away but... Hanzo is finished...' He looked down at the scythe going through his stomach and groaned, 'I might bleed out if I take it out… damn… Hopefully they can send a medical team.' He looked up at Sero, who was a dot at the top of the stairwell, and gave a weak thumbs up.

Sero returned the gesture and tapped his ear, "Central Hospital... is secure. Hanzo is finished."