"…Huh?"
Kurogiri still couldn't understand what was happening.
As he noticed the Nomu staring at him, unease crept into his voice.
"What are you looking at? Don't you recognize me?!"
One of the thugs beside him sneered.
"A bunch of useless scraps… have you already forgotten your masters' faces?"
The moment those words fell—
A Nomu suddenly activated its Quirk.
It opened its mouth—
And sprayed a massive stream of acid straight at Kurogiri.
Puff—!
Caught completely off guard, Kurogiri was instantly splashed.
He froze in shock.
…Why was he being attacked by Nomu?
Then the pain hit.
A searing, unbearable agony spread through his body as the acid began melting him on contact.
And that was only the beginning.
That single strike triggered a chain reaction.
All around him, the Nomu went berserk.
They surged forward like a tidal wave.
Quirks erupted one after another, filling the air with dense, chaotic energy—every attack aimed directly at Kurogiri.
"What the hell is going on?!"
Kurogiri panicked and immediately activated his Quirk, opening a vortex above him to redirect most of the incoming attacks.
But not everything could be deflected.
The thugs beside him weren't so lucky.
A flash of blue light sliced through one of them in an instant, cutting him clean in half. Blood sprayed across the ground.
"It's us! We're the League of Villains! Are you insane?!"
The remaining men shouted in terror.
They had always seen these Nomu as mindless, harmless tools.
But now—
They were witnessing their true nature.
These creatures felt no pain. No fear.
They were pure killing machines.
And worst of all—
They would never stop.
As long as even one Nomu remained, the assault wouldn't end.
Realizing this, Kurogiri's fear surged.
Then he remembered—
There was something even worse here.
Beyond these mass-produced Nomu…
There was still one more.
The large Nomu.
A partially completed but extremely powerful specimen—meant as a final safeguard for the facility.
If that one activated…
They would all die here.
"Don't fight—retreat!" Kurogiri shouted.
A portal opened beneath his feet as he began sinking into it, trying to escape.
But at that moment—
A strange, piercing sound echoed from the center of the factory.
"…No."
Kurogiri stared toward it in disbelief.
That Nomu—
It was the last line of defense.
Under normal circumstances, it would never act on its own. Even Shigaraki Tomura couldn't freely command it.
So why—
Before he could finish the thought—
The massive Nomu appeared beside him.
Instantly.
"Impossible—!"
Kurogiri's blood ran cold.
He couldn't even see its movement.
The next moment—
A single, casual slap descended.
BOOM!!
Half the factory was obliterated.
The thugs nearby were reduced to dust on the spot.
Kurogiri himself was struck and sent flying through his own portal—but even then, the impact shattered half his body.
He was hurled out the other side—
Crashing violently into the back of the bar at incredible speed.
Shigaraki Tomura, who had been recovering, witnessed the scene.
Kurogiri slammed into the wall like a train had hit him, collapsing part of the building.
"…That power… could it be…?"
Shigaraki's pupils shrank.
For a moment, he thought—
This was Etsuha's doing.
After a long while, Kurogiri finally stirred, barely conscious.
"…Nomu Factory No. 3… I was attacked… by the Nomu…"
"That's impossible!" Shigaraki snapped, eyes wide. "Why would the Nomu attack you?!"
"Cough…"
Kurogiri's body was already half-rotten.
After forcing out those words, he lost all strength. His breathing grew faint, as though he might die at any moment.
Seeing this, Shigaraki fell silent.
Without the doctor or proper treatment, Kurogiri couldn't recover.
There was nothing he could do—
Except wait.
…
Meanwhile—
Inside the laboratory of All For One and the doctor—
The situation was no less grim.
"What kind of flame is this…?" the doctor muttered in shock. "With my current technology, it's completely impossible to analyze it!"
All For One stood there, his body still engulfed in pitch-black flames.
The fire clung to his arm, reducing it to charred ruin while continuing to spread.
Without hesitation—
He picked up a large scalpel and cut across the burned limb.
Crack.
The sound was like snapping dead wood.
His arm, already carbonized, broke apart easily.
But—
The moment the scalpel touched it—
It ignited.
The blade turned red-hot, warped, and then melted into molten metal.
What made both men's expressions turn grave—
Was that even after this—
The black flames continued to burn.
They showed no sign of extinguishing.
The arm had already turned to ash, needing only the slightest breeze to scatter it.
The doctor carefully examined the powder.
And his face changed.
"…Even the ashes are still burning…"
A faint gust of air carried some of the ash onto a nearby, unfinished Nomu.
Within moments—
It ignited.
Black flames spread instantly across its body.
"What kind of energy is this…?"
For the first time—
Both the doctor and All For One felt a suffocating sense of dread, as though something unseen had gripped their throats.