After putting on the Quirk enhancement device David Shield made, Wolfram's face started glowing with this creepy blue light.
The steel floors, walls, and supports around the Central Tower moved like living things, swirling around him.
They wrapped his body in the center, forming a giant steel dragon inside the tower.
"Hahahaha!!!"
Wolfram stood on top of the dragon, laughing like crazy. "Hahahahaha! David Shield's device really works. I can feel my power going through the roof!!"
Melissa and the other two girls were helping the injured David toward the venue where All Might was. They turned to look at the top of the tower.
They felt the ground shake violently, then saw the giant steel dragon rising into the sky.
Ochaco Uraraka said in disbelief, "Is that... is that a Quirk?"
"That's insane!"
Momo Yaoyorozu couldn't believe it either.
"That's the device my dad made..."
Melissa's face went pale. "An..."
Arthur had already released The World, which stood behind him, looking up at Wolfram inside the giant steel dragon.
Even though the device could push someone's Quirk to the limit, it was still a prototype.
Wolfram was already losing control.
Maybe he was getting this insane power boost by burning through his stamina, or even his life.
"Caw..."
An eagle cry came from behind him.
Pet Shop was still on Arthur's shoulder.
Arthur walked forward with The World, smiling. "Yeah, I'm feeling something stronger than a Nomu. In terms of raw power in this world, maybe only All Might in his prime could take this down? Coming here was totally worth it."
He looked up at Wolfram and grinned. "And you're way up there just to stop my time ability?"
"I'm not letting you get close. The user of the world's strongest Quirk dies today."
With the device on, Wolfram's voice got deeper and rougher.
The moment he finished speaking, countless steel structures from the Central Tower turned into rough, super long whips swinging in from every direction.
This simple first move alone could wipe out any hero ranked below number twenty.
"Weak? WEAK!!!"
Arthur laughed out loud and shouted.
The World charged forward.
Facing the steel whips coming from all sides, its hands struck wildly, like hundreds of fists at once, smashing all the incoming whips to pieces.
"That was just a warm up!"
Wolfram grunted.
From the countless steel structures around him, endless blades emerged.
They turned into weapons, attacking from every direction without stopping.
Pressure. The pressure of death.
Even after unlocking The World's time stop, Arthur never slacked on training.
But now, regular training was just stacking experience.
To actually go from "training" to "leveling up,"
he needed that kind of death pressure he felt against the Nomu back at USJ.
With time stop, a Nomu wasn't enough anymore.
That's why that night, when Arthur heard Wolfram wanted to steal the device from David Shield, he let him go on purpose.
Wolfram was already a skilled fighter who could rank in the top ten or higher.
Once he put that thing on, he'd probably be on par with All Might, right?
And honestly, the device Wolfram and David made lived up to Arthur's expectations.
Even if he wasn't as strong as prime All Might, Wolfram right now had already surpassed current All Might and the Nomu.
"Perfect!"
Arthur spread his arms wide. "THE WORLD!!!"
Hearing that shout, even Wolfram in his current state felt a spike of panic.
He knew what came next. Time would stop.
And in a frozen world, he wouldn't know anything.
That's exactly what made it so terrifying.
A strange energy surged from inside Arthur, and everything went still.
In the stopped time, The World knocked away all the iron blades about to hit Arthur.
Arthur leaped up, grabbed the knife from his combat suit belt, and threw it toward Wolfram inside the steel dragon.
But Wolfram had gone really high. To counter The World, he was nearly three hundred meters up.
"This is the limit."
Arthur kicked off again and jumped. "Time resumes!"
All the blades Wolfram had thrown were knocked aside.
Two knives were flying straight at him.
Wolfram panicked and quickly controlled some steel to form a shield, blocking the knives.
He looked at Arthur rushing up from below and said carefully, "Terrifying Quirk. I really can't let my guard down for a second."
Then Wolfram raised his voice. "To deal with you, I need something foolproof!"
More than half the steel from the entire Central Tower was under Wolfram's control.
The steel dragon had doubled in size.
And Wolfram's own body was slowly getting swallowed up inside the dragon.
"Like this, even if you have time stop, it doesn't matter. No matter what, your attacks won't reach me, hahahahaha!!!" Wolfram laughed like a maniac from inside the dragon.
The next moment, the giant dragon roared and came down. Its world-crushing attack sent a tremor deep through everyone's heart.
"ZA WARUDO!!!"
Everything went still again.
"WRYYYYYYYYYY!!!!"
Arthur leaped up, and The World aimed for the dragon's head.
Since he didn't know where the guy was hiding, he'd just hit everything.
"Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda Muda"
From what David Shield said, plus knowing his old friend, All Might quickly figured out most of what happened.
He handed David over to Yoarashi Inasa, asking him to use his Whirlwind Quirk to fly David to the island's hospital.
Then All Might stood up, looked toward the top of the tower, and gritted his teeth. "So right now..."
"Arthur is fighting the enemy, but like you can see, with the device my dad made, the enemy's Quirk got boosted to an insane level," Melissa said, her heart pounding.
"Damn it!"
All Might cursed under his breath, turned his back to the others, and said, "Everyone, get off this island and take cover. I'm going to help Arthur."
"All Might, we'll help too!"
Shoto Todoroki's right hand shot out ice shards.
Tokoyami, Katsuki Bakugo, and the others looked ready to jump in.
"No!"
All Might refused hard, blocking them with his hand. "This fight is above your level right now. I'll handle it."
As soon as he finished, All Might bent his knees, ready to jump hundreds of meters up to where Arthur and Wolfram were.
Boom!
But just as he was about to move...
An ice pick shot through the air and landed right next to All Might's foot.
Everyone froze and looked up.
It was Pet Shop.
"Pet Shop! What are you doing? All Might is trying to save Arthur!"
Momo Yaoyorozu gasped.
But Pet Shop stayed in the air, its cold stare locked on All Might and the Class A students below.
It was blocking the sky.
"What's wrong with this bird?"
"Yaoyorozu, you know it?"
"Did it just use its Quirk?"
"Isn't that the dangerous bird that attacked us at the training ground months ago? Why is it here!?"
A lot of Class A students who hadn't seen Pet Shop before stared in confusion or shock.
"Don't interfere, is that it?"
Momo Yaoyorozu read the look in Pet Shop's eyes and turned to All Might. "All Might, Pet Shop is saying you shouldn't get involved in Arthur's fight."
"Like hell I won't!"
All Might refused immediately. "Even if Arthur has time stop, against an enemy like this, only one or two seconds gives him no chance. Let me go..."
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Right as All Might moved again, more ice picks cut through the air.
They landed around All Might's feet and brushed past his bangs.
"SCREEEEEECH!!!"
The Stand [Horus] screamed a warning, telling All Might not to come any closer.
If All Might tried to get near, Pet Shop would attack for real.
Even if it probably wasn't strong enough to take on All Might.
"This bird... you fought the Shie Hassaikai, didn't you? That's some serious determination."
All Might gritted his teeth and tried to reason with it. "If you don't want your master to die, then move!"
Inside the metal tornado.
Arthur's body was wrecked from the endless attacks.
But his face didn't show any fear or worry about losing.
Instead, the more hurt he got, the harder he fought back.
"This guy, no matter how strong my attacks are, no matter how many times I break his body, he won't go down."
Wolfram, hidden inside the giant metal dragon, didn't even realize that something called "fear" had started creeping into him.
"Fine then. For this move, even if you can stop time, what are you gonna do!?"
As he spoke, the metal tornado started crushing inward toward the center.
Sharp metal blades, so dense there was no way out.
"A no-gap compression attack. Even if you can stop time, it doesn't matter."
"Fear" was the emotion.
...
Re@d adv@nce ch@pters on p@t
guilt_free_daoist
Jo!n d!sc0rd I!nk in synops!s.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.