Chapter 19: Meteor of Justice
Down in the central plaza, the situation had deteriorated from a desperate struggle into an absolute nightmare.
Half-submerged in the shallow water near the edge of the Shipwreck Zone, Izuku Midoriya, Tsuyu Asui, and Minoru Mineta watched in paralyzing horror. Their homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa, lay completely broken on the hard concrete tiles. His right arm was snapped like a dry twig, and the monstrous, bird-headed creature known as the Nomu held him down with terrifying, effortless strength.
"Tomura Shigaraki," the dark, swirling mist named Kurogiri materialized beside the pale man covered in hands. "One of the students escaped. The authorities will be here shortly."
Shigaraki stopped scratching his neck. He looked down at the ground, a deeply frustrated, almost petulant aura radiating from his thin frame. "Game over. We have to go back. But before we leave..."
Shigaraki's single visible eye snapped toward the three terrified teenagers trembling in the water. "...let's smash some of the Symbol of Peace's pride."
He moved with sudden, terrifying speed. In the blink of an eye, Shigaraki closed the distance, his hand reaching out toward Tsuyu's face. Midoriya screamed, trying to move, trying to activate his quirk, but he was too slow. Tsuyu's large eyes widened in sheer terror as the villain's pale, dry fingers lightly touched the skin of her face.
She braced for the agonizing, inevitable decay.
A second passed. Then two.
Nothing happened.
Shigaraki paused, looking at his hand in mild confusion. Then, he turned his head, looking back over his shoulder toward the center of the plaza.
Aizawa, his face bloodied and smashed against the concrete, had managed to lift his head just enough to look through his messy hair. His eyes were glowing a fierce, desperate red, his erasure quirk locking onto Shigaraki with the very last ounce of his fading willpower.
Shigaraki stared at the broken teacher. A twisted, genuine smile formed under the hand covering his face. "You really are cool, Eraser Head. To push yourself this far just to save a few kids."
The glowing red faded from Aizawa's eyes as his head finally dropped, his strength completely spent.
"Nomu," Shigaraki ordered coldly. "Crush his head."
The massive, dark-skinned monster raised its enormous, muscular fist, preparing to bring it down like a piledriver onto Aizawa's skull. Midoriya screamed, desperately leaping out of the water to stop it, but he was miles away.
High above, standing on the edge of the four-story concrete ruins, Sakazuki saw it all.
His right hand was already bare, the black leather glove safely tucked away in his inner pocket. He did not have time to run down the stairs. He did not have time to shout a warning.
Sakazuki's right arm transformed into a churning, blindingly bright mass of liquid magma. But he did not aim at the villains. Instead, he channeled a massive, highly concentrated surge of superheated thermal pressure directly down through his legs and into the soles of his heavy, heat-resistant boots.
BOOM!
The concrete roof of the building shattered entirely. Driven by the explosive, volcanic propulsion of expanding heat and liquid rock, Sakazuki launched himself directly off the rooftop. He tore through the air of the massive dome like a blazing, apocalyptic meteor, leaving a thick trail of dark smoke and glowing embers in his wake.
Down in the plaza, the Nomu's massive fist began its lethal descent toward Aizawa.
Before the monster could connect, the sky above them roared.
Sakazuki slammed into the concrete plaza directly between the Nomu and the fallen teacher. The sheer kinetic impact, combined with the explosive thermal shockwave, shattered the ground into a massive crater. A localized hurricane of scorching wind and pulverized stone violently blasted outward, throwing Midoriya, Tsuyu, and Mineta back into the water, and forcing Shigaraki to cross his arms and skid backward several feet to avoid being blown away.
The thick cloud of gray dust and steam slowly began to settle.
In the center of the smoking crater, Sakazuki slowly stood up from a crouched position. His crisp white suit was perfectly intact, the heavy brown cloak settling menacingly around his broad shoulders. He adjusted the brim of his white cap with his left hand, while his bare right arm throbbed with intensely bright, violently bubbling magma that illuminated the faces of the terrified students in the water.
Shigaraki lowered his arms, peering through the settling dust. He scratched his neck furiously, chunks of dry skin flaking off. "Who the hell are you? You are not on the hero registry for this class."
Sakazuki did not answer him. He simply stared at the pale villain with a gaze colder than the ice Todoroki had wielded.
"Nomu," Shigaraki hissed, pointing a finger at Sakazuki. "Smash this annoying extra."
The monstrous Nomu shrieked, a horrific, unnatural sound, and lunged forward with blinding, inhuman speed. It threw a right hook carrying enough raw kinetic force to level a building.
Sakazuki did not step back. He dug his heavy boots into the shattered concrete, twisting his waist, and threw a straight, devastating magma punch directly into the monster's incoming fist.
The two strikes collided.
CRACK!
A tremendous shockwave ripped through the plaza. Sakazuki gritted his teeth, a sharp, agonizing jolt of pure pain shooting entirely up his right arm and radiating into his shoulder. The physical strength of the creature was absolutely monstrous, far exceeding anything he had ever encountered. His bones ached violently, protesting the sheer, overwhelming impact. It felt like he had just punched a speeding bullet train.
But Sakazuki forced his feet to stay planted. He refused to yield a single inch. He pushed through the immense physical pain, fueled by a profound, burning rage at the sight of his broken teacher.
The Nomu easily absorbed the kinetic shock of the punch, its muscles bulging to nullify the physical impact.
However, it could not absorb the absolute, uncompromising heat.
The liquid rock of Sakazuki's fist instantly clung to the Nomu's massive knuckles. The superheated magma immediately boiled the monster's dark skin, tearing through the flesh and searing the exposed muscle underneath.
The Nomu let out a sudden, ear-piercing screech of pure agony. The mindless beast violently ripped its arm away, taking several heavy steps backward. Thick, black smoke poured from its charred, sizzling right hand.
Shigaraki stopped scratching his neck, his visible eye widening in sheer disbelief as he watched the Nomu retreat. He stared at the monster's hand. The flesh was trying to knit itself back together, but the burns were too deep, the cells completely carbonized by the extreme thermal damage. The regeneration quirk was struggling to push past the scorched tissue.
"Its cells are carbonizing... the regeneration is failing to keep up," Shigaraki muttered, his voice trembling with a mix of shock and rising anger. He glared at the tall teenager in the white cap. "What is this? You are not a hero student. You are a glitch in the game! You're cheating!"
Sakazuki ignored the villain's rambling. He turned his head slightly, keeping his broad back positioned as an impenetrable wall between the villains and the students in the water.
He looked down at Midoriya, who was staring up at him with wide, tear-filled green eyes.
"Take the teacher and retreat immediately," Sakazuki ordered, his deep, rumbling voice cutting through the ringing silence of the plaza.
Midoriya swallowed hard, nodding frantically. He scrambled out of the water with Tsuyu, both of them carefully but quickly lifting Aizawa's broken body and carrying him back toward the safety of the stairs.
Satisfied that the injured were being secured, Sakazuki slowly turned his attention entirely back to Shigaraki and the groaning Nomu.
He raised his left hand and calmly adjusted the brim of his white cap one final time. Thick, glowing droplets of liquid rock dripped from his right fist, hitting the concrete and instantly melting small, hissing holes into the floor. He ignored the lingering, dull ache in his shoulder, his dark eyes locking onto the invaders with terrifying, absolute resolve.
"Those who dare invade the stronghold of justice," Sakazuki rumbled, the ambient heat around him suddenly spiking to suffocating levels, "will not leave it as anything but ash."