All Might looked on as Edgeshot, Kamui Woods, Endeavor, and Gran Torino fought All For One.
Half of his spiky, yellow hair had fallen.
His entire body ached, blood staining his chiseled, muscular frame.
However, it was his heart that pained him the most because of what All For One had told him only moments ago.
Tomura Shigaraki was… Nana Shimura's grandson!
He was his mentor's relative!
All For One hadn't needed to say one more word to prove it, either.
That was exactly the kind of fiend he was, feasting on others' emotions, playing with innocent feelings.
All Might kept standing, looking out, but watching nothing.
"Cough! Cough!"
The sudden coughing made All Might look to his right.
Not far from him, buried under massive debris, was Alexander Becking. Gasping for air, he crawled out and noticed his torn slippers with a frown. Sighing, he took out a cigar, which was still miraculously intact.
A tongue of flame lashed out toward him opportunistically as Endeavor attacked All For One.
Alex used that to light his cigar, sucked in, and blew, the smoke hissing out of his mouth.
Slowly, he then looked toward All Might.
"You are not a god," Alex suddenly said.
All Might frowned.
"The way Star worships you," Alex continued, even as All For One blasted the Heroes, "I'd thought that you would be some god… but you are not."
"I…" All Might gulped. "… have never claimed to be one."
Alex sucked the cigar in several times, turning it into coal and ash almost simultaneously, before blowing out a bulbous cloud of smoke.
He dusted off his shirt as he stood up. But the shirt was so torn that it just fell off, leaving his scarred, chiseled body in the open. Then, flicking off the cigar's butt, he sucked deep one more time.
The earth quaked under his feet as Alex shot the Gravity Crusher Quirk to the third multiplier, instantly gaining a new wrinkle.
"I was just saying…" the Radiant of Gravity's voice boomed. "… if you are not a God, then can't you just act like a fucking man?"
All Might kept looking as Alex shot toward All For One, creating a crater right next to him.
Yes… Yes… Yes… The Symbol of Peace thought, hearing the voices of those who were counting on him. Yes. I am not a God. I am just a man… a Hero… with a Villain to defeat.
"You—" All Might roared, appearing over All For One in the blink of an eye, his hollow blue eyes shining bluer than ever. "—bastard!"
A BOOM resounded as All Might's punch landed on All For One's face, sending him flying down into the earth, creating another crater.
As if that was a cue, the Heroes jumped into the crater, raining down attacks.
Thick, wooden branches sprouted from the earth and latched onto All For One's wrists and ankles.
Alexander Becking lifted his fists and hammered down right into the Villain's stomach, making him cough up blood. Endeavor's fire drowned him, charring his exposed head. Edgeshot couldn't pierce through the skin, but he did break the tubes of his helmet, which were important for the Villain.
At last, All Might fell from the sky, coming down like a missile.
He pulled back his hand, making an enormous fist, and punched, the SMASH widening the crater instantly, rocking the entire city.
All Might came flying out of the crater, stumbled back a few steps before coming to a stop, panting hard.
One by one, Endeavor, Gran Torino, Edgeshot, Kamui Woods, and Alexander Becking began appearing on the crater's edge, all bloody and battered, but still alive.
At the center of the crater, buried half in the earth, was All For One.
There was no sign of any life about him, no rise and fall of chest, and no twitch of muscles.
"Oi…" Alexander grumbled, looking older than ever. "… I wanted to capture him alive…"
As if the words themselves were cursed, red-black bolts of lightning thundered in the crater and, with a boom, a huge shockwave came shooting out, forcing the Heroes to skid back several steps.
Slowly, blurred by the dust, All For One came levitating out of the crater, his eyeless face planted dead on All Might, the palm of his ballooning, left hand facing the same direction.
"Enough…" All For One stuttered. "… hiding behind masks… for both of us."
"It's a big one!" Gran Torino shouted, taking to the air. "Dodge it!"
Endeavor, Edgeshot, and Kamui Woods rushed in different directions.
Alexander had been jumping in and out of his Quirk's maximum multiplier. The longer he remained in the third multiplier, the faster he would age. To top it off, jumping from zero to the third multiplier wasn't instantaneous and needed a few seconds.
So, knowing that they were already winning a battle of attrition against the Villain, the Radiant of Gravity couldn't find a reason to meet All For One's attack head-on, moving out of the way.
Meanwhile, All Might had come to the same conclusion as well, his foot lifting off the ground.
"Is that…" All For One chuckled. "… wise?"
All Might's heart skipped a beat, sensing a presence behind him.
Alex and Gran Torino instantly turned around, seeing a woman trying to pull herself out from under the debris, some hundred meters behind All Might.
If he moved now…
All For One attacked, the blast of air tearing through ground and air like paper.
A BOOM rang out as it hit All Might head-on, who refused to budge an inch, a storm raging in his surroundings.
The dust lingered on the battlefield for a few moments before revealing the horrors it hid within.
"Show them all…" All For One said, hovering midair. "… just how pathetic you are…"
On the ground, All Might stood, holding out his fist… deflated, becoming a lanky Toshinori.
The world gasped.
And, yet… the blueness in his eyes was still there.
"Even if you expose all my secrets…" All Might said, blood showering out of his mouth as he made a fist, "… my heart will remain that of the Symbol of Peace!"
"I see…" All For One said, flying down to the earth. The moment he landed, he stumbled, barely managing to keep standing. "A wounded Hero is the most frightening, but… the same is true for Villains, too… All Might. Haha!"
As dozens of Quirks compiled over each other, as Heroes stormed toward him, All For One's right arm began mutating.
This mutation should have never gone beyond his right arm.
With so many Heroes, this should not have been enough to turn the tables, either.
However, just as the mutation stopped, the thin, bloody line in All For One's mind snapped open with a BANG, becoming a black hole, its periphery radiating a bloody redness.
And… the mutation began covering his entire body, as if fate itself had decided to betray All Might.
All Heroes stopped in their places.
All the world, which was gawking at All Might's lanky form a moment ago, now looked at the Villain, stunned… terrified.
Over 15 ft tall, weighing tons, and radiating redness from here and there, was a monster from the worst nightmares.
"You must die here… All Might," All For One's voice boomed, chilling souls. "… especially when… You don't have One For All anymore. HAHAHA!"
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Note: Original Character Image of fully-transformed All For One is available
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