39

Main Path

After splitting everybody away, only Nine was left, continuing the pathway up. Though he wasn't worried about his allies. No, his goal was to take the quirk Katsuma had so he could truly create his utopia.

Nine put up an air wall in front of him, blocking a stream of scales from Hiryu. Before he could use the air pressure to blast Hiryu away, he noticed Hiryu began strafing to the right. Nine immediately had his air wall move to the side to continue blocking. He noticed the Hiryu wasn't running, but was actually standing on something that was allowing him to strafe unimpeded. Nine instantly summoned another air wall with his other hand to block a barrage of horns from Pony.

"Keep attacking him!" shouted Pony in her native language.

Though Hiryu might have struggled to understand what she had just said, he still got the gist of it and kept firing.

"Foolish," muttered Nine before using his scanning quirk. He blasted his air shield towards where Pony and Rin were strafing, forcing Pony to pull her horns up to allow the both of them to escape the blasts.

Nine looked up, his fingers glowing as he fired a barrage of lasers toward the two, herding them closer together. Then, when they were, Nine used two fingers on each hand to fire a concentrated line of laser with the other digits kept firing around them to keep them cornered.

"Get behind me!" shouted Rin as he jumped in front of Pony, using his quirk to create a full body scale armor before crossing his arms.

Within One: Scale Carapace

The laser beams slammed into Rin, blasting him and Pony away. Pony was able to use her horns to slow down and guide their descent towards the water while Rin was still in one piece, but he was unconscious from the hit while Pony was barely clinging on. The two hit the water hard, and after Pony managed to pull Rin out of the water and onto the shore, she fell down unconscious.

"Looks like he got through the second wave. Third wave, get ready!" warned Kyoka as she monitored the situation through a telescope while her ear jacks were plugged into the ground.

Hanta and Reiko rushed out front to fight Nine.

"Tape Shot Trident!/Psycho Rush!"

Hanta hurled boulders that had been hovering in the air thanks to Ochako while Reiko accelerated the boulders' speed. Ochako had released the boulders' weights as soon as the two began their combo.

Nine barely raised an eyebrow as he used bullet lasers to cut through all the boulders flying towards him, scattering them into pieces.

The fact their first barrage didn't work didn't worry them. Their goal was to force Nine to overexert himself, and so the more quirks he used the better. Ochako rushed towards another group of rocks they had prepared, with Yui right behind her. Hanta had to reel himself away from Nine's attempt to shoot him, using his tape to grab Reiko and pull her to safety as well. Ochako and Yui touched all the boulders they passed. Taking this chance, Hanta shot his tape out once more towards his ammunition, hurling them forward at Nine. As Nine was about to blast the boulders with short bursts of lasers, Yui took this chance to tap her fingers together, drastically increasing the size of the boulders. Nine's eyes grew slightly wider, but nothing he wasn't capable of blocking as he blew them apart, though his laser bursts were longer than usual. Despite the combo attacks, Nine still walked forward, not even slowing his pace down.

"Damn, he doesn't stop at all," groaned Hanta as he swung himself away from another potshot at him.

Ochako, who had been running back with Yui, turned around as she saw all those shattered pieces floating in the air that Nine had been carelessly shattering.

"Release!" said Ochako as she removed her quirk on the floating rocks. As gravity took hold of the rocks floating in the sky. Reiko immediately used her quirk to accelerate the fall while guiding it all to land on Nine. Ochako had to resist throwing up from overusing her quirk, but managed to hold it in somehow. Reiko was barely any better, holding her head in pain as abusing her quirk gave her a headache.

As dust piled up from the impact point, a continuous stream of purple lasers fired toward them all like a whip, forcing them to dodge. The laser cut through all the rocks and dust before he could be seen holding an airwall up that he had used as an umbrella. Nine quickly put the wall in front of him, blocking some more tosses from Hanta and Yui, who had taken pebbles out of her pocket and thrown them before enlarging them back to their regular size.

Nine cut through the blockade of stones before releasing an air burst that hurled the stones back at them all. They were all blown away, with a rock smashing into Hanta's helmet that broke it open. Luckily, the helmet had protected Hanta from sustaining a head injury, who immediately managed to pick himself up and throw a tape out to Ochako and Yui, who were close together before reeling them to him while swinging away from Nine's bullet lasers.

Reiko was quickly dragged underground by Juzo, taking her to safety as she was unconscious after that blast.

"He's getting nearer to the trap!" noted Hanta as he pulled them to safety, right where Mineta and Bonda were ready with the trap they had set up.

Ochako ran towards the wooden stakes that were holding back the boulders from rolling down the cliff. Activating her quirk on them, her muscles began to shake as she began to lift the wooden stakes up. With a roar, she uprooted all the wooden stakes, allowing the boulders to roll down the mountain. Hanta quickly taped Ochako and pulled her away to safety, as she was at her limits while the others quickly made it to safety.

Nine actually had to stop to deal with this situation. His fingers began to glow before he fired streams of lasers like a whip, cutting through the rolling boulders. Still, there were too many, so Nine opted to create an air wall to wait it through. Suddenly, he felt the ground turn soft, sinking into it. Nine tried to lift his foot out, but had to shift focus as the boulders were upon him.

"Now's our chance!" shouted Juzo as he popped up from the ground.

"Super Grape Rush/Glue Squall!" shouted Mineta and Kojiro as they used their quirks to ensure the boulders would adhere to each other and onto Nine.

The two used up everything they had, leaving Mineta with a bleeding scalp while Kojiro wheezed out dry coughs.

"I think we got him!" cheered Hanta.

"Yea! Take that!" said Mineta woozily as he tried to stabilize himself with a bleeding head. Suddenly, the pile of boulders began to glow yellow before purple lasers began cutting through it all. A giant explosion of air burst through the stones, sending all of it flying away, with a majority towards them. The air burst also sent them all flying back, and with luck and quick thinking from Hanta, who used his tape to divert as many as he could away from them. Juzo managed to land first and quickly softened the ground for the others to land safely, but at a cost. He had been unable to reorient himself fast enough to touch the ground with his hand, so the first impact to the ground was his left shoulder, which was dislocated upon impact, along with possible fractures.

Still, Juzo managed to slam his other hand onto the ground, softening the floor in time for the others to land in the softened land, especially as Hanta had been focused on diverting the rocks that he had forgotten to plan his landing and hit the ground head first.

"The trap failed!" reported Kyoka nervously.

"I'm going out then!" growled Izuku as lightning began to spark off his body.

"Belay that," coughed Juzo, using his one good hand to speak into the earpiece, "We're still able to stall him. No need to show the final trump card yet. Plus, we still have some heavy hitters left. Trust in us, Midoriya."

As Nine slowly walked forward, he summoned an air wall behind him, blocking Yuga's attempt to hit him with his navel laser before sending a burst of air back, sending Yuga flying.

Izuku felt his hands clenched tightly at that, ready to ignore that order when his earpiece blared out a voice.

"I can take that shitty villain myself!" roared Katsuki as he suddenly blazed across the field, letting out an explosion at point-blank range at Nine, who managed to shield himself. Before he could do anything else, Nine suddenly felt a chill, and immediately created another in time to block a giant glacier from trapping him inside.

"We'll take him on," declared Shoto as fire burst out from the left side of his body, "Leave it to us."

Heating the supercooled air, Shoto used Flashfreeze Heatwave on Nine, who still managed to block it.

Nine looked at the two new boys with wariness. He recognized Katsuki as the one who had attacked him yesterday and was surprised to see him up already despite taking a lightning bolt. The other he scanned with his other quirk, and was impressed and desired to take the quirk itself for his own. However, he had more important matters to deal with, such as taking the cell regeneration quirk.

Nine immediately besieged the two heroes with a barrage of lasers, to which both of them dodged. Immediately, Nine found himself fighting a ranged battle against the two, having to shield constantly from their attacks. He found himself getting annoyed dealing with explosions, fire, and ice barrages. After blocking their attacks, Nine immediately fired a barrage of lasers at them. Shoto quickly summoned an ice wall to deflect the lasers away while Katuski ended up having to sacrifice one of his bracers to block the attack.

Before Nine could continue his attack, a tape suddenly wrapped around his wrist, jerking it upwards.

Sero came flying in with a dive kick, only for Nine to counter with a laser-infused fist, sending him flying into the ground, his helmet completely shattered. Ochako came hurtling from behind while Juzo came from below, hoping to either trap him underground or float him away. Before they could touch him though, two hydra heads suddenly came out from Nine's body, snapping Ochako and Juzo in their jaws, swinging them around a little before tossing them towards the floor in the same direction.

Shoto managed to quickly create a giant ice slide to catch both of them from hitting the ground. Juzo quickly liquified parts of the ice slide to help slow them down, but the damage was done. Both Ochako and Juzo were down for the count.

"Bastard!" roared Katsuki as he sent out a barrage of explosions at the hydra heads. The heads seemed to multiply as they dodged Katsuki's barrage, but were stopped when Shoto fired his Heaven Piercing Ice Wall, where a giant glacier pierced through the hydra and hit where Nine was.

Nine quickly summoned an air barrier that surrounded his whole body to protect himself, growling in anger as these…. children were getting in his way! Deciding he was done playing around, Nine switched to his original quirk, gathering thunderclouds in the sky before summoning thunder to smite them into ashes.

With a roar, Nine unleashed the thunder upon them, destroying the glacier in the process.

Nine coughed before glaring up, thinking he was finally done with them all as the dust that had been blown up began to settle. Nine took a confident step forward, only for Katsuki to suddenly appear right in front of him.

"Max charge. Die!" roared Katsuki as he pulled the pin from his remaining gauntlet, letting off a huge explosion.

Nine was caught unexpectedly by this attack and was sent flying back, though he quickly used his hydra heads to halt his flight and an air wall to step onto. Looking forward, he saw that not only were Katsuki and Shoto unharmed, but his thunderstrike had also somehow missed them. As the dust settled, Nine saw some sort of contraption on the side that was emitting sparks of lightning, as if experiencing a mechanical malfunction. His eyes widened as he realized just what it was. It was a lightning rod, and it had intercepted his lightning. They had been prepared for his other quirk.

Nine felt his anger grow exponentially as he tried to summon his other quirk, only for pain to suddenly shoot up throughout his whole body. The hydra heads he had summoned faded away while the air wall dispersed, causing him to fall to the ground.

"We got him," said Shoto, "We should press the attack."

"Don't tell me what to do, half and half!" shouted Katsuki as he shot forward with Shoto to pursue.

Nine groaned as his mask fell off, feeling his body slowly being destroyed by his own quirk. However, he couldn't afford to rest anymore, otherwise, his dreams would fall right there. If he delayed, then the chances of finding such a quirk that would enable him to rule over the world like a god would be gone.

"I won't let it end like this…. I WON'T LET ANYONE GET IN MY WAY OF MY UTOPIA!" roared Nine as the cylindrical tubes behind his shoulders began to inject the purple liquid before shattering into pieces. The formula would help Nine be able to stave off the pain for a little while exponentially increasing his power, but the consequences would be huge. Nine was essentially hacking his life away even faster, and he needed to get that quirk, or else, he was finished.

Shoto and Katsuki were forced to stop as strong winds began to buffet around Nine. His armor was broken in pieces, but now he looked like he had gaseous purple wings behind him.

Nine began spinning in place, creating a giant flaming tornado with lighting striking the area. Shoto and Katsuki immediately knew that they needed to stop him immediately.

Howitzer Impact/Heaven Piercing Glacier

Katsuki's ultimate move with a chain of explosions slammed into the tornado from above while Shoto sent out the biggest glacier he could summon, all while using his flames to keep his body temperature as warm as possible. However, it became clear that despite their efforts, they were losing ground.

All hope seemed lost when….

Chiba Smash

A giant fist came crashing right in the middle of the tornado. Izuku had decided it was time, using 100% of One for All along with his enlarged hands to punch the tornado.

Taken by surprise, Nine was unable to do anything as the fist blitzed into the tornado. With the additional firepower, their attacks broke through the tornado, slamming into Nine, who quickly put up dozens of air walls to block, only to be sent flying back.

"We had that," barked Katsuki as Izuku spat out air as he loosened his hold on the giant hand, shrinking down to his chibi form for a little.

"I didn't want to risk it," squeaked out Izuku, "Damn, I need to find a way to improve this attack. Luckily I didn't hold it as long, so I should be back to normal soon."

Shoto glanced at the chibi Izuku, wondering if it would be appropriate to snap a photo. He was sure his mother and sister would love to see it.

"Focus up, looks like he's not down yet," said Izuku.

Nine slowly stood back up, his eyes swimming in rage. That last attack had surprised him, but what was more shocking was that Izuku Midoriya was apparently up. He had been wary of that boy the most, and hearing Swordkil swear that Izuku would be down, if not dead, he had been slightly relieved. The boy had a lot of strength, according to his own scan, and was immune to his strongest lightning strikes. Still, he had other ways to destroy Izuku, but hearing he was down had made him focus on dealing with everybody else without trying to hold back.

"My body is breaking down faster than I can handle," growled Nine, "If that's the case….. then I'll take everyone down with me!"

He had glanced at the areas his minions had been sent to, only to see 1A and 1B slowly approaching his area, meaning his minions had been defeated. In this case, there was only one option.

With a roar, the cumulonimbus clouds above Nabu Island darkened and coalesced, condensing before everyone's eyes. Soon, a giant dark sphere the size of the island formed above it, bristling with electricity. Everyone gazed up at the sphere in horror, realizing just how much lightning was stacked inside.

"It's… wheeyyy.. got way more voltage than I can make," gulped Denki.

Katsuki and Shoto stood there helplessly, trying to think if their strongest attack could even destroy the thunder sphere, much less put a dent into it.

Izuku clenched his fist, thinking if he put everything he had into a single punch, he could possibly punch through the sphere, creating a tornado like All Might had shown him once. But even then, the size of the tornado was nowhere as big as the sphere above them.

"Even if I punch a hole through it, it might still discharge all that electricity down to the island. There's no guarantee that nobody would be hit, and worse, it might strike through the stone to where all the civilians are," muttered Izuku, trying to figure out what to do. His mind was racing, trying to think of a solution. None of them expected Nine to be able to do this. Nine himself was surprised at this, but didn't let it bother him.

Truth be told, inside the solution that had been injected into him contained Trigger, which was the reason why his power had grown exponentially.

It was then that a voice rang inside Izuku's mind.

"You know, this reminds me of a time in my previous host's body. There was a giant ball of electricity just like this one, intending to destroy the land and everyone residing on it. He managed to forcefully disperse it in the sky safely before punching the daylights out of his opponent," commented the devil residing inside Izuku's body.

'What? How did he do that? That's exactly what I need to do!' exclaimed Izuku.

"It involves a giant ball of gold that got stuck onto your predecessor's arm that was about 2-3 times his size and then jumping into the thunderball himself before swinging the golden ball around like crazy," shrugged the devil, "Not too sure how it worked or how my previous host thought of it, but something about conducting electricity easily? He was challenging someone who was calling himself a god."

"How the hell did that work? And really, a god? You'll have to tell me about that," commented Yoichi.

Izuku's mind rushed through that scenario, pondering about it before realizing what had to be done to safely discharge the thunderball.

"I need to find Momo!" exclaimed Izuku as his body finally grew back to his normal size, "I have a way to destroy that attack without it destroying the island. But I'll need you guys to distract the villain, if not defeat him."

"The fuck you think we're doing!" shouted Katsuki as sparks crackled in his hands, "We…. I got this shit!"

"We'll handle him, Midoriya. You go take care of that thunder sphere," said Shoto, ignoring Katsuki's exclamations, "We can stall as long as you need."

Izuku nodded as the two others turned to walk toward Nine before calling out to them once more.

"Bakugo! Todoroki!"

The two turned around to see Izuku raising his fists up to them.

"Beat him up for me!" grinned Izuku, "I trust you two!"

Katsuki raised an eyebrow before his eyes widened, realizing what Izuku was doing. Raising his fist up, he gave Izuku a fist bump. Shoto looked at the fist in confusion, being the socially awkward teen that had no real social skills before high school, before realizing it was some sort of trust gesture, and followed Katsuki's example.

The trio bumped fists, a spark of energy flowing through them all before Izuku rushed away to find Momo.

"Are you crazy!?" shouted Momo when Izuku told her his plan, "I don't care if you are immune to lightning, there is more than that in that cumulonimbus storm ball. The air currents themselves could shred you to pieces! Not to mention the lack of oxygen or breathable air in there!"

"It's our only choice," replied Izuku, "We can't risk letting that attack hit the island, otherwise it would kill everyone."

Momo gritted her teeth in anger, trying to think of another way to diffuse the giant death ball above them, but couldn't think of any logical or possible way to do so while minimizing the damage.

"Momo, there's no time. We need to do this now! I need you to create the biggest gold ball you can currently do with your reserves," pleaded Izuku, "As for air, my respirator will give me enough to do what I need to do."

He had debated on using silver or copper, as they were better conductors than gold, but in the end, gold would win due to its higher density and resistance to corrosion when exposed.

Momo could only grit her teeth in frustration before eating the last of her hi-fat bars and creating the giant gold ball for Izuku, with a hole in the middle for Izuku to squeeze his arm through.

Izuku took a deep breath, letting One for All course through his body. The ball was heavier than he thought it would be, but with his strength being amplified as well as being able to use Float, it was doable.

'How my predecessor with the devil fruit did this with just his own brute strength is boggling,' admitted Izuku before opening his eyes.

"I'll be back," said Izuku as he bent his knees.

Before he could launch himself up, Momo caught up to him and gave him a crushing kiss before letting him go.

"Be careful, otherwise I'm not the only one you have to answer, alright!?" hissed Momo.

Izuku could only blink as he tried to clear his head from the mind-numbing kiss and the endorphins that were being produced before catching Momo, who suddenly collapsed.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine, shihihi!" grinned Izuku as he gently placed Momo back onto the floor before launching himself upwards.

Everyone all around the island that could see the sky could only sink down to their knees, unable to process what they could even begin to do when they saw someone ascending up towards it. It was hard to miss the very shiny large golden ball that was trailing behind someone.

Nine noticed it too and frowned, unsure of what the boy was doing. Whatever it was, it would be pointless, especially if he forced the destructive ball down to the island now.

Before he could do so though, he noticed Katsuki and Shoto walking towards him.

"So you've come despite knowing you will lose," said Nine with a mocking tone, "In the end, you will all fall to me. My utopia will be complete, where the strong rule over the weak, where you heroes will cease to exist."

Nine had set to ignore them when he noticed something off. His instincts immediately told him to use his scanning quirk, to which he did so to look over at the two. His eyes bulged when he noticed something was going on with the two in front of him. Their powers were growing exponentially right in front of him, and he was sure he had already seen them at their peak when they tried to fight off his tornado earlier.

"It's not over yet!" growled Katsuki as he felt One for All coursing through his body, orange lightning surging over his body.

"You're going to have to explain to me what the hell is going on. You and Midoriya," said Shoto as he felt power surging through his body, red and white lightning coursing over his own body.

Shoto wasn't sure why he was feeling this powerful, he was willing to bet Izuku had something to do with it. For now, he would push it behind for now…. while also placing this as evidence that Izuku's father was All Might in his conspiracy…. well laid out board. Both their hair was spiked up

Nine felt the veins on his forehead close to bursting in anger, all while other veins were turning purple. With a roar of anger, he sent about 20 hydra heads toward them.

The two began to dodge and weave through all the heads. Katsuki's explosions were even stronger, sending him through the attacks faster while Shoto skated through via his ice, his left hand pushing out flames hotter than he had ever done so while accelerating him forward.

The hydras either missed or were destroyed by the duo quickly closing in on Nine. Katuski shot forward with a kick that Nine didn't have time to put up an air wall and just barely dodged, only to get caught in a glacier.

Flashfire Fist: Jet Kindling

Shoto closed in and threw out his strongest punch at Nine, who threw up a crudely made air wall to protect himself. It would have worked, if Shoto wasn't currently being powered up from One for All. The punch broke through the wall, and with a burst of flame, sent Nine flying away, right into Katsuki, who was already waiting for him, spinning in the air rapidly before landing an explosive axe kick to the head, sending Nine towards the floor.

Nine quickly summoned some Hydras to prevent himself from landing face-first into the pavement, all while firing laser beams at Katsuki, who dodged them with his explosions. Nine felt a chill behind him, quickly turning around to create an air wall in time to block a massive flame burst from Shoto before releasing an air burst towards Shoto, who was sent flying up into the air. However, before he went anymore, Katsuki had caught him by his arm, and using his other hand, began to spin Shoto around and around, building up speed as he did so.

Explode-A-Pult

Katsuki sent Shoto hurling toward Nine, who managed to position himself attacking with a diving kick with his right foot.

Zeroice Kick: Glacial Crash

Shoto's new move involved striking Nine with his right foot, doing almost the same as his previous move, but inverse. A trail of ice followed Shoto as he was sent flying right toward Nine.

Nine tried to use his hydras to attack, but they were quickly taken out by Katsuki's AP Shot: Auto Cannon. Shoto's foot crashed into air walls that Nine quickly created. Before he could try to counter with another air burst, he saw his air walls shrinking. The ice from Shoto's attack was shrinking the air molecules in his air wall, causing it to become smaller and more fragile. Katsuki came blasting past them as their clash continued. The air wall shattered, allowing Shoto to land his dive kick into Nine's stomach. The impact, though weakened from the barrier, still sent Nine flying away, encapsulated in ice.

He wasn't stuck in ice for long, though he wasn't the one responsible for escaping. Katsuki was already waiting for him, his hands glowing as it was primed for the biggest explosion yet, empowered by One for All.

Everyone on the island above ground witnessed an ice flower blooming, followed by a firestorm that lit up the dark sky.

Nine was sent flying up into the air, his whole body in pain, and not just because of his own quirk.

"I've had enough of this foolishness. All of you will die!" roared Nine as he commanded the thunder orb to descend down on the island.

It was then he noticed that it was discharging lightning a lot. Not that he knew the reason, as he had never created this attack before, but it didn't matter. All he knew was that it would kill everyone on this island.

Nine's eyes widened as the thunder ball began its descent when he saw a crack in the middle of it. The crack slowly became larger and larger, forming all over the ball. Nine's mind began to flash before remembering seeing someone diving into it.

'Impossible!' thought Nine as the cracks grew prominent all over.

Few Minutes prior

Izuku had used Float to keep himself on course as soon as he dove into the destructive ball of thunder that was Nine's final attack. Finding it difficult to breathe, he quickly activated his respirator, letting it form around his mouth to give him some extra air. Though Izuku was immune to all the electricity in the air, he was not immune to the cold and sharp air currents cutting into his body, its biting cold seeping in.

'Can't lose focus!' screamed Izuku internally as he focused, spreading armament haki over his body. It helped mitigate the damage, but didn't completely protect him. It was enough for Izuku to push on.

Golden Dubai Smash

Izuku began to swing the golden ball everywhere, letting his limbs extend to their limit as he kept swinging. He didn't know how long he had to do it, but he just knew he couldn't afford to stop, even for a second.

"HHHRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" roared Izuku as he kept flailing around, using Float to keep him steady in the air while One for All helped maintain his strength. He was swinging faster and faster to the point it looked like there were blurs of multiple balls.

His eyes felt heavy before Izuku realized he was using up his oxygen reserves faster than normal. But Izuku wasn't going to give up. He kept swinging faster and faster, noticing the air seemed to be changing.

"Turn back to sunny now!" shouted Izuku as his last flail broke through the destructive thunder ball of death. The shockwave from depleting all the lightning in the ball pushed all the dark clouds away from the island, revealing the blue sky once more.

Izuku turned to see Nine being blasted up into the air by Katsuki, helpless for a moment. That was all Izuku needed as he threw his right arm back with the golden ball, twisting it counterclockwise so it kept rotating until it reached its limit.

"My ambition… My utopia will not fall here!" roared Nine as he unleashed everything he could at Izuku, "I will be the one to rule over all!" Dozens of hydra heads and ten purple laser beams flew at Izuku.

"You underestimate all of us when you came to this island. Your tyrannical ambitions end here! Why? Because… WE ARE HERE!" shouted Izuku as he pulled his arm forward.

Catalonia Smash

Izuku's punch shot forward, far faster than his usual attacks, with the added weight giving it momentum. Add the fact that was using everything he had, including wrapping his arm in armament haki, and it smashed through all the hydra heads, turning them into dust. The laser beams managed to drill into the golden ball, but not enough to penetrate it through completely, as the ball was spinning rapidly, never allowing the laser beam to drill at one single point.

Seeing the ball closing in so fast, Nine gave up on offense, switching to his strongest air walls. Creating seven consecutive walls, all compressed and layered before each other, his strongest defense. As soon as the first attack hit the first wall, it would press against the air wall behind, and keep repeating until the last wall. Each wall would decrease the opponent's attack exponentially. Once halted, he would release an air burst to counter and give him some breathing space.

'If I can block this attack, then I can counter!' thought Nine before realizing something. That attack was going much faster than he anticipated. He barely managed to create them all when Izuku's attack landed. The air walls quickly compressed against each other, but before Nine could even try anything, all of them shattered to pieces.

Nine could only watch as Izuku's fist smashed into his face, followed by the golden ball that slammed into the rest of his body. Nine was sent flying into the ocean from the attack.

Izuku fell down to the ground, barely stopping his descent as he felt extremely woozy from the lack of oxygen. Luckily, as he was made of rubber, he crashed into the ground with no damage.

Katsuki and Shoto weren't in any better condition, either. Their limbs were bruised to the fact they had turned almost purplish red from using One for All's stockpile which amplified their own abilities beyond their body's capability.

Still, they had won with no harm to the citizens or the island. It didn't take long for Pro heroes of Japan to arrive on Nabu island, along with the military. A building was quickly remade into a medical house as the injured were quickly brought in to be treated. Though none of the students were critically injured, the only ones that had sustained the most damage were the ones who had fought Nine. Izuku had to be brought in for some oxygen treatment after being in such a low-oxygen atmosphere while exerting himself inside said atmosphere. Katsuki and Shoto were being treated by Recovery Girl and Katsuma, with Endeavor crying out for his son from behind. It became too annoying for Recovery Girl that she kicked him out with her syringe cane.

Everybody else had more superficial wounds, if none at all. The program was suspended, but all the students of UA decided to remain on the island to help rebuild. Ochako almost fainted when she saw the amount of gold that had been on Izuku's arm, which had been safely taken off with Juzo's help, who liquified it. Mei and Melissa had taken quite a bit to use for their own inventions. Ochako couldn't help but maybe…. take some while nobody was looking.

Thankfully, the damage done to the town was easily repaired. Ochako ended up leading the effort with her knowledge of construction thanks to her parents being construction workers themselves. Izuku, Katsuki, and Shoto were soon authorized for medical release from their injuries, and were quickly put back to work.

On the very last day before they had to head back to their school, they were given a free day to just relax, insisted by the mayor and the local population. It was unanimous as all of them chose to head to the beach, especially since they were given a specific zone just for them. A special shoreside that only the locals knew of its location.

"Everyone! We must be very careful as we do not have a lifeguard specifically on duty! Though the islanders have given us supplies to relax, we must remain vigilant about not wasting it! Do not go out alone, have a buddy with you at all times!" lectured Tenya on the beachside.

He was promptly ignored as everybody else cheered as they began to dive into the ocean.

"Don't worry too much. They know how to take care of themselves," said Yui from his side.

Tenya was about to respond with a hand-chopping motion when he felt Yui glomp onto his arms. He stiffened when he felt the warm flesh on his arms, especially the soft ones pressing down on his biceps. Tenya couldn't help but glance over before snapping his eyes back forward.

'Why does her swimsuit seem smaller than before!? It was already indecent enough, but now it seems to reveal even more up close! Did she have a growth spurt in the last few minutes!?' thought Tenya.

Yui raised her fingers up in a victory sign, as she had slyly shrunk her own bikini just a little to tempt Tenya.

Mineta, Denki, and Kosei couldn't help but drool at their female classmates in bathing suits. Though they tried to be sly about it, they couldn't help it. It wasn't as if the other males of the classmates noticed their female classmates, they just had better control of themselves. Especially with all their hero training and diet, along with the fact they were blossoming in their teenage years, it was easy to see they were all becoming beautiful ladies.

Izuku laid back on a towel, enjoying the sunlight for a little.

"What was with that power?" asked Shoto from the side, prodding at him with a stick.

"I'll explain more when we get back in a more private setting," replied Izuku, "It's not something that should be shared."

"... Fine. But keep in mind this is going up as proof that All Might is your real father," replied Shoto, causing Izuku to cough in shock. Before he could do anything though, he was distracted by the others who wanted to play volleyball

Everyone enjoyed themselves out on the beach, whether it be swimming, playing in the sand, or just relaxing under the shade. Itsuka, her big sister persona taking over, was already setting up a food station with the tables they had brought, laying out the food that had been pre-made for them by the locals.

"Come get some food if you're hungry!" shouted Itsuka, "However, make sure you dry those hands before digging in! Nobody wants soggy food, especially the chips!"

While everybody started to dig in, Izuku slipped to the side to where Melissa was, sitting on the beach looking out to the ocean.

"Miss playing in the ocean?" asked Izuku.

"A little," admitted Melissa, "I-island had man-made beaches and tidal pools that I used to love going to when I was little. I stopped when I became fully invested in inventing new things, but I did want to go back to play. But now I can't because of my 'quirk'."

Melissa made some arms sprout out of her elbow before letting them fade away into flower petals as if to emphasize that statement.

"Do you regret eating it?" asked Izuku with curiosity.

"Honestly?... No," chuckled Melissa, "Even if it was by accident, I love having this new quirk. I'm able to improve my inventions by having multiple limbs working on the same invention. I've tried to sprout a few eyes to look at different angles all at once, and though it does give me a bit of a headache, it's nice to be able to see my inventions at different angles all at once. The benefits far outweigh the cost."

"Not to mention, it's not like I can't go into the water," smiled Melissa as she pointed to her bands around her biceps as well as band that right under crop top style bikini that seemed to blend into the design, right under her chest, "I tested the limits, and just like you said, if more than half of my body is above water, I'm alright. I can at least splash around the shoreside. If I'm in trouble and I do somehow end up being submerged in water, these things will expand to become life preservers and arm floats. I'll shoot right up to the surface without worry."

"That's useful," admitted Izuku, "If I had the same weakness, I'd have probably requested one. My idea was to create a full-body suit that would repel water if I dove into it. Though the design was somewhat troubling to create."

"I'm sure someone would've risen to the challenge," chuckled Melissa before pointing to Mei, who had been forced to come to relax. She was in a one-piece school swimsuit, but was currently focused on one of her 'babies'.

It promptly exploded in her face, as to be expected.

"Mei! I told you to be more careful," sighed Melissa in an exasperated tone.

"Being careful means less progress!" shouted Mei through the cloud of smoke.

"No it doesn't, in fact, it can lead to more setbacks if you're not careful," replied Melissa.

"Too busy to care, I have a new idea! You, two hair color, I need your ice!" shouted Mei as she rushed over to Shoto, once again never having memorized names except for a select few.

Shoto himself turned around, being the only one with two hair colors, and yet when he finished turning his head, his mind blanked. Shoji and Fumikage, the ones that he had been talking to, had turned to see who was calling for Shoto, but quickly turned their heads, blushing red.

The reason why? The explosion had destroyed the top part of Mei's swimsuit, leaving her chest exposed for everyone to see. Not only that, but the straps had been destroyed, causing her swimsuit to slowly sag down. Give a few more seconds, and her whole body would be completely exposed.

"Mei! Be more aware!" shouted Melissa as she sprouted hands around Mei's waist, grabbing the sagging swimsuit while Momo quickly began to create another swimsuit for Mei to use.

Ochako ended up having to lift Mei away while she struggled, as she had an idea that needed Shoto's help.

"Are you alright?" asked Shoji as soon as it was 'safe'.

Noticing a lack of reaction, the two looked over to see Shoto with a blank look. It took several seconds before Shoto finally reacted, shaking his head out of a trance.

"Sorry, did you say something?" breathed out Shoto.

"Just making sure you're alright," said Fumikage, "I fear the vision you saw was too bright for you."

"Mmm," nodded Shoji, though noticing Shoto seemed to have a slightly nasally voice, but chose to ignore it.

Indeed, if they had looked under Shoto's nose, they would've noticed an ice block that he had made to stem a nosebleed, but that's neither here nor there.

The party continued throughout the day and into the night. Tenya would've shouted for everyone to head back had Yui not pulled him aside into a small cove just a little beyond the area. When Tenya and Yui came back, Tenya seemed completely out of it, his hair a mess while his glasses askew. Yui, however, seemed perfectly fine. Monoma had been ready to call him out, only to get a death glare from Yui with her hair raised up and eyes shining that spoke of death. Monoma was more than wise to look away.

Soon, it was time for them to head home. As they began to board the ship, they looked out to the island one last time. Katsuma and Maharo were at the port, saying their last goodbyes with a few other villagers.

"I'm going to do it!" shouted Katsuma as the ship began to leave, "I'll become a hero, too! I'll go to U.A. and become a hero like you all!"

Izuku smiled as he gave Katsuma a thumbs up, believing he could become one.

At the same moment, the League of Villains had finished taking over the Meta Liberation Army. Tomura had Dr. Giraki warp him over to where Nine was, who had somehow managed to survive, albeit barely. Tomura finished the job, decaying Nine into dust. Nine was merely a test subject for Dr. Giraki's true experiment. Nine was an excellent subject not only as a guinea pig, but also a distraction for the League of Villains while they took on the Meta Liberation Army.

Rikiya Yotsubashi, aka Re-Destro, was healing while slowly transferring ownership of the Meta Liberation Army to Tomura.

The League of Villains were eating to their heart's content with sushi and other expensive food that they hadn't had a chance to eat, having to steal to survive.

Himiko Toga was eating sushi to help satiate her hunger when her mind couldn't help but flashback to her own fight against Chitose Kizuki, aka Curious.

Flashback begins

Having been challenged by Re-Destro and the Meta Liberation Army as well as holding Giran, an information broker that had worked with them, Tomura and the others had no choice but to fight them. Especially since they had tracked them down, showcasing just how much more resources they had.

It had just been a day after Toga had met up with Katsuki, and already they were about to fight one of the largest villain syndicates in Japan.

They had originally grouped up, but due to the overwhelming numbers that were the whole population of Deika city that was part of the Meta Liberation Army, they had been separated. Toga was dealing with Curious and her minions, who were cornering her for the sake of Curious and her interview.

Curious had been investigating Himiko and her 'descent to madness'. She planned to use Himiko's history as an inspiration piece to showcase to the world why free quirk usage should be allowed, bringing forward the Meta Liberation Army's agenda.

Her quirk, land mine, had hit Himiko already, and though it wasn't terribly strong, she could make it up with numbers.

Even when Himiko threw out several syringes at once and began to directly suck up blood, it ended up backfiring on her as the blood exploded inside her body. Curious had already turned her loyal and willing (also brainwashed) soldiers into living bombs to counter Himiko's plan to steal blood and blend in with the crowd.

Taking an explosion to the face from Curious's support gear, the Flattener, and quirk, Himiko almost fainted before managing to pick herself back up.

"My man's explosions are better than your lame firecracker," spat Himiko, ignoring all of Curious's questions and hypotheses. Her life had ups and downs, but she was happy as she was now. Especially as she took out a vial of blood that had been freely given to her. Quickly consuming it, her bloodied face transformed into Katsuki Bakugo. Itr was a way to stem the bleeding, keeping her from losing too much blood.

"She transformed! A stock of blood kept hidden, I see! Oh you're going to make me cry," mocked Curious, "But your quirk only lets you change your appearance, and nothing else! At least I want to look good before I die, I suppose! But it is interesting that you bring up your man. I'm curious to see who could've caught your heart. I suppose I'll investigate that next after making you our martyr."

Curious raised her right arm high before swinging it down with her Flattener to finish Himiko with an explosion. Everything slowed down for Himiko as her mind flashed through her own thoughts. Himiko responded by raising her hand in desperation. She could see Curious's taunting face as she swung her arm down. She could feel anger rushing through her as she saw Curious with her 'Oh so mighty' attitude. Himiko wanted to blow that smirk off her face with a huge explosion, showcasing just how much better her man's abilities were.

Something crackling could be heard from Himiko's hand in her disguised form before a giant explosion was set off.

At first, Curious thought it was her own explosion that was going off with a bigger bang than she thought. Then she realized the point of the explosion wasn't going toward Himiko, but rather to her own face. Curious screamed in pain as the explosive fire washed over her whole upper body as she was sent flying away.

"Curious-sama!" shouted the loyal soldiers as Himiko managed to disentangle herself from the rope she had been caught by. Without hesitation, Himiko rushed towards the crowd, who were too busy looking worried for their boss. Being on the run, and maintaining a false mask had helped her gain the ability to read into people. She could slip right into their blindspots with ease. With that, she placed her hand on the back of the first person's head that she made contact with. Without hesitation, she created an explosion that knocked the person down. Himiko wasn't sure if the said person was dead or just unconscious, but she didn't let that stop her. She kept moving, blasting away at every single one of her enemies, not caring if they were dead or not, just unable to hurt her anymore.

Himiko wasn't sure why she could suddenly use Katsuki's quirk, but wasn't going to question it. The blood he had freely given to her was saving her life, and she'd take it. As soon as she took care of everyone in the area, Himiko coughed up some blood as half of her face dissolved back to her normal bloodied look. Still, there was one more thing to take care of.

Walking towards the barely conscious Curious, Himiko quickly straddled right onto her waist, pointing her hand right at Curious's face once more.

"How?" whispered Curious, "You should be only able to change appearances. Did your quirk evolve?"

"Don't know, but I do know this," said Himiko as sparks began to crackle in front of her hand, "I will live my life however I want. I'll live how I like, love how I like, and die how I like. I will continue to love who I want to, and nothing you can do will stop me."

Curious sighed as she closed her eyes, knowing she had lost. She accepted it as an explosion blasted her face once more, and then she felt nothing anymore.

Flashback ends

Himiko sighed as she leaned back on her beanbag chair, fiddling around with her eyepatch. In the end, they had won, and the transition of power had gone over to them. After combining both groups, they were now the Paranormal Liberation Front, a name devised by Re-Destro and Spinner. Each member of the League of Villains were now appointed officers, holding power over the other members of the now-extinct Meta Liberation Army.

Himiko couldn't help but think about Katsuki Bakugo. Would he still want her to be his girl? Did she want to become his girl? Such thoughts kept crossing over her mind, leading to conflict between her love interest who could somehow always tell who she was despite her disguises, and her loyalty to the Paranormal Liberation Front.

In the crowd, Hawks, the number two hero, flinched mentally. He hadn't expected the League of Villains to suddenly take over the Meta Liberation Army, especially when nobody in the government even realized such an army existed. They had been blindsided and distracted, especially from the Nabu island incident.

Still, his cover wasn't blown yet, and he needed to make sure the other heroes knew about this. He was trained for this, and he wouldn't fail his mission just yet. It was just a matter of getting some more information and conveying it to his handlers.