The punch slammed into Shigaraki's body.
It hit.
Wait.
No.
There was no impact.
For one instant, Bakugo felt a surge of fierce joy, thinking his attack had landed. But almost immediately, he realized something was wrong.
His fist had not struck flesh.
His eyes told him the truth.
His attack had missed.
No.
It had passed through.
His full-power punch pierced straight through Shigaraki's body without the slightest resistance, as if the figure before him did not exist at all.
Because he had poured too much force into the strike, and because he had never expected to hit empty air, Bakugo's momentum instantly threw his body off balance.
He staggered forward and nearly fell.
Damn it!
Just as Bakugo barely stabilized himself and prepared to search for Shigaraki's real position, a hand suddenly shot out and grabbed his right leg.
It appeared from a blind spot he had never considered.
Even more unexpected was what happened next.
Before Bakugo could react, that hand yanked him backward and swung him viciously through the air.
"Brat, is that your attack?"
"Your speed is laughably slow."
A familiar voice sounded behind him.
Before Bakugo could turn to see who it was, his vision blurred from the violent motion.
Even so, through that dizzying spin, his excellent dynamic vision still caught the figure of the person holding him.
Shigaraki Tomura.
Completely unharmed.
In that instant, Bakugo understood.
Earlier, Shigaraki had not frozen in fear.
He had not been caught off guard.
He simply had not cared.
He had never believed Bakugo's attack could touch him.
Because Bakugo was too slow.
Because his attack was too obvious.
And because Shigaraki had the strength to look down on him.
When Bakugo charged in, Shigaraki had only shifted one foot and turned his body slightly.
That alone had been enough to avoid the strike.
Meanwhile, Bakugo had noticed nothing.
Like an idiot, he had punched straight through the afterimage Shigaraki left behind and had even felt pleased for a moment, thinking he had landed a hit.
How stupid.
But by the time he realized that, it was already too late.
And when someone made a mistake, they had to pay the price.
"Go."
In the next instant, Bakugo felt a sharp crack from his right leg.
The centrifugal force nearly tore the joint apart.
But Shigaraki did not let go.
He gripped Bakugo's leg and hurled him away with brutal force.
Then, before Bakugo could fly too far, Shigaraki yanked him back again.
"Get back here."
Bakugo's body was dragged back like a toy in a child's hand.
Then he was smashed viciously into the ground.
BANG!
A human-shaped crater appeared in the floor.
The impact was so violent that Bakugo felt as if his soul had nearly been shaken out of his body.
His organs screamed.
Blood burst from his nose.
Bad.
My consciousness...
It's fading.
One hit.
Just one hit, and his mind was already beginning to blur.
No.
He could not let this continue.
If he did, he would die.
Without the slightest hesitation, Bakugo relied on instinct and the last shred of his fading awareness to aim his palm behind him.
Toward Shigaraki.
In the next instant, the strongest explosion he could currently unleash detonated behind him.
A dazzling flower bloomed across the battlefield.
A flower made of smoke, heat, and fire.
The thick smell of gunpowder rushed into Bakugo's nose, mixing with the rusty scent of blood until he almost gagged.
The roar of flames and the violent heatwave filled his ears.
Those sensations finally dragged his mind back from the edge of unconsciousness.
But what truly woke him was the pain.
Before the explosion fully erupted, Shigaraki had already thrown him away without hesitation.
And he had used terrifying force.
Bakugo flew more than ten meters before crashing to the ground and rolling several times.
Only then did he finally stop.
But thanks to that, the cold wind, the pain of tumbling across the floor, and the killing intent behind him cleared his head completely.
"Cough... cough..."
Bakugo coughed up a mouthful of blood and wiped his lips.
His mouth hurt.
Even breathing felt wrong.
He knew one of his front teeth had been knocked out.
It had happened when Shigaraki grabbed his leg and smashed him into the ground. He had failed to defend himself, and the impact had broken it loose by force.
But right now, Bakugo had no time to care about whether his face was ruined, whether the tooth could be fixed, or whether his speech would leak air afterward.
Compared to his life, appearance meant nothing.
If he failed to escape Shigaraki today, he would lose everything.
And once he was dead, what use would a perfect smile be?
So instead of worrying about his missing tooth, Bakugo cared about only one thing.
Had his last attack worked?
What had happened to Shigaraki?
Half in pain and half in desperate hope, Bakugo raised his head and looked into the distance.
That was where his explosion had gone off.
Under his tense gaze, the smoke slowly scattered in the wind.
Then Shigaraki's figure appeared within it.
Completely unharmed.
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