….
"The future... is never shaped by a single hand, and the doctor... merely executed our ultimate contingency…"
The massive violet-black hole detonated inward, throwing a concussive gale of spatial wind across the clearing that forced Endeavor to plant his boots deep into the earth to maintain his footing.
From the absolute center of the tearing rift, multiple heavy, clanking chains and shattered carbon-fiber restraints rained down onto the shattered ground of dust and ice, snapping like brittle wire.
Then, the silhouettes materialized through the smoke.
The spatial crack seemingly connects to the most criminal villains that are imprisoned in Tartarus; the same inescapable maximum-security facility in a remote island location, six deep underground levels, and heavy anti-Quirk restraints
Dabi's eyes narrowed, completely unbothered by the sudden influx of high-tier bosses onto the field.
He looked down from his elevated platform at the army of liberated convicts currently surrounding the isolated Symbol of Peace.
"Well… seems like I have to get down again."
High above the evolving chaos, Dabi stood on the precipice of his frozen tower, his brow furrowing into an irritated scowl as he angrily muttered–
"I made it clear that no one interferes in this battle..."
Without a second's hesitation, Dabi stepped off the ledge, neither bracing himself nor gliding onto the tower as he simply dropped like a corpse, plummeting fifty feet toward the shattered ground without the slightest concern for the impact.
The instant his boots struck the earth, a blinding wave of absolute-zero frost detonated outward, surging violently across the bedrock instead of cushioning his landing as it sought to flash-freeze the incoming wave of escaped Tartarus villains before any of them could take a single step.
All For One's sightless face twitched.
He couldn't allow Dabi to freeze his newly arrived cannon fodder, yet prying All Might off his back was practically impossible as the Symbol of Peace relentlessly hammered him with a crushing barrage of prime-level blows.
Even so, the villainous mastermind forced a secondary offence through his broken limbs, generating a shockwave that slowed the advancing frost by the narrowest fraction of a second.
Among the mass of escaped convicts stood Nine and his squad, monsters Dabi despised to his very core for daring to target his family.
It created a delicate deadlock.
He could blanket the entire colosseum in lethal ice with ease, but not everyone on the battlefield deserved to be frozen.
Standing near the rear was Lady Nagant, newly released from the depths of Tartarus, and while Dabi had no intention of freezing her alongside the others, she certainly didn't look like someone willing to accept his orders.
For a brief moment, he weighed how to approach the situation, carefully balancing Frostfire to incinerate Nine's group while keeping the collateral damage selective…. all as All Might and All For One continued their clash at the center.
His caution, however, proved unnecessary.
Lady Nagant neither attacked the heroes nor caused a scene.
Instead, when a handful of deranged convicts attempted to turn on one another, she calmly raised her rifle-arm and dropped them with precise, non-lethal shots to the knees.
To a veteran like her, the situation was painfully obvious: this battlefield belonged to All Might, and she had no intention of interfering with it.
Meanwhile, Endeavor entered the conflict completely uninvited.
Ever since Dabi had coldly declared. "This fight is entirely out of your league."
The Flame Hero had stood rooted at the edge of the arena, forced to watch the battle unfold in silence.
But the sight of Tartarus's worst flooding the field finally shattered that paralysis, compelling him to step into the fray.
Nearby, Kurogiri lay motionless, his body utterly spent after the forced, multi-target overclocked warp.
Seeing that, All For One in his desperation to escape, lashed out with black-and-red steel rivets that shot forward like striking vipers, intent on stealing the [Warp Gate] Quirk directly from his dying servant.
CRACK!
All Might intercepted the attack mid-air, a sweeping forearm strike breaking the metallic tendrils into useless splinters and thoroughly annoying All For One.
It was utter chaos, but it was obvious to anyone watching that within a minute or two, Dabi would have the entire villains locked down if he wanted.
All For One was visibly struggling, desperately searching for a single second, a fraction of an opening to shift the tide of battle, but All Might's relentless pressure refused to give him room to breathe.
So, the Symbol of Evil decided to push himself even further past his absolute limits. Abandoning defense entirely, he launched a two-directional assault, extending his steel rivets once again.
One cluster of tendrils whipped violently toward Dabi.
Dabi could have incinerated or frozen them in a split second, but before he could move, his danger sense fired towards something.
The warning wasn't coming from the front but from directly behind him, screaming at the back of his skull from the top of the ice pillar where he had left Shigaraki.
Something catastrophic was about to happen.
In the next second, the ground and Dabi's ice spires began to crack and disintegrate in a wave of spreading destruction, throwing everyone off balance.
?!!For a brief second, Dabi's eyes widened in genuine surprise.
There was no way Shigaraki could have broken free from his absolute-zero lock, unless the sheer psychological trauma triggered an evolution in his [Decay] quirk.
That single split second of absolute disturbance was the exact opening All For One had been hunting for.
Everyone, including All Might, Dabi, and the surrounding villains, was momentarily thrown off by the sudden structural collapse of the ice tower.
All For One's dual-pronged assault reached its targets.
The first cluster of black-and-red tendrils burrowed deep into Kurogiri's chest, successfully siphoning away the [Warp Gate] Quirk.
The second, initially launched toward Dabi, was abruptly redirected as the battlefield descended into chaos.
All For One wasn't confident he could steal Dabi's power.
He had already failed once in the past, before Dabi re-awakened his complete dual-element mastery.
Now, the odds of success seemed even slimmer.
Though he had intended to test that possibility once more, the rapidly changing battlefield left no room for unnecessary gambles.
Instead, he veered the steel rivets away from Dabi and toward another top-tier hero locked in combat along the perimeter:
Endeavor.
Seeing the tendrils shift, Dabi reacted immediately, throwing a huge mountain of ice in Shigaraki's direction while simultaneously firing a thermal strike toward All For One to intercept him, calling out over his shoulder:
"Hey... Enji! Watch your back!"
Dabi's dual-element counterattack froze over Shigaraki once more, burying him beneath absolute-zero ice and halting the spread of [Decay] before it could advance any farther.
At the front, however, Dabi was a heartbeat too late.
All For One's black-and-red steel rivets pierced deep into Endeavor's back, siphoning away the [Hellflame] Quirk.
The instant All For One exposed himself to launch that dual assault, All Might seized the opening too.
Crossing the distance at sound-breaking speed, the Symbol of Peace drove a full-powered punch straight into the tyrant's chest.
The impact landed cleanly, sending All For One hurtling across the frozen basin before he slammed violently into the rear ice wall.
Behind them, blood poured from Endeavor's back, staining the frost beneath his knees a deep crimson.
Yet, right in that breath, Endeavor was entirely bewildered by the sensation flooding inside him.
His vision blurred, and his legs felt unnaturally heavy, and he assumed the sharp, stinging impact was merely a deep puncture wound or physical shock from the surprise assault.
"Dammit..." Endeavor growled out, his breath misting heavily in the absolute-zero air as his hands scraped against the ice. "A cheap trick..."
He couldn't realize it yet, and he genuinely believed he was just physically stunned from the blow, completely unaware that his Quirk [Hellflame], the very foundation of his life's obsession, had been cleanly ripped from his DNA.
And because his flames had already been extinguished while he was standing guard, nobody else watching realized it either.
To the world watching the live broadcast, the Number Two Hero had simply taken a nasty physical hit from behind while trying to support All Might.
Instead, the true horror that froze the blood of every spectator across the globe was the terrifying swarm of figures now crawling out of Kurogiri's sprawling gates.
Hundreds of miles away, across public squares, crowded evacuation shelters, and high-security facilities, the collective breath of humanity caught in their throats.
"Wait... who are those people?!" a reporter in the broadcast chopper shrieked, his camera frantically zooming in on the ice floor. "Look at their attire! They don't like League members!"
In a shelter in Musutafu, a mother holding her child gasped, pointing at the giant screen. "Are those... prison uniforms?!"
Little Eri clutched the fabric of her dress. "Mr. Nezu..." Eri squeaked, tears welling in her eyes. "There are... so many bad people..."
Nearby, Principal Nezu stood at his monitoring console, his tea cup pausing halfway to his mouth. His eyes narrowed as his mind instantly recognized the monstrous faces materializing on the field.
"The lowest levels of Tartarus..." Nezu murmured, setting his teacup down with a light clink.
Beside him, Recovery Girl covered her mouth in sheer horror. "Merciful heavens... those are criminals who were erased from public records!"
"My dear Shigaraki... you weren't entirely useless, I suppose." All For One wheezed, his sightless face lifting toward the sky–
"A momentary distraction... was all I required."
.
….
[To be continued…]
★─────⇌•★•⇋─────★
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