"NIGHTEYE!"
The tension in the air almost became touchable as Sakura's rage bubbled to the surface. Her chakra flared, as if trying to swallow the entire room. Her emotions seeping through with intense bloodlust that felt like it had taken on a life of its own, becoming a phantom wrapping its fingers around Kai's neck. Chaos broke through the scene, with Mirio desperately trying to stanch Nighteye's wounds, while Izuku was stuck between the urgency of Nighteye's situation and the obvious fury of Nemesis that was ready to fire at Kai.
She watched as Mirio fell apart clambering at his teacher, trying to stop the bleeding. It wouldn't help though. His injuries were severe, and Sakura knew that even immediate treatment would likely not be enough to repair this kind of damage.
Losing an arm was bad enough, but if they didn't do something about the wound in his torso there wouldn't be any hope of preserving his life.
"You must escape," Sakura turned her gaze sharply on Izuku. She tossed a pouch filled with her medical supplies at his feet, ignoring his dumbfounded and shocked expression. Any other time she would've given him a good punch to snap him back to reality but she wouldn't turn her back on an enemy. "Tie up his arm tightly to stop the bleeding, and don't move the pike around his stomach. You'll have to break it off and be careful when moving him. There's likely spinal damage."
Picking up the bag, Izuku saw the way his hands trembled, "What are you going to do?"
Her eyes set on one target, cold as steel. "Finish this."
In the backdrop of this dire moment, Kai refused to grant them even a semblance of respite. He took the chance to seal all exits, ensuring that their chances of evacuating Nighteye dwindled to nothing.
"You think it'll be that easy? I'm going to put an end to you all and your small-minded sense of justice!" Kai's words echoed through the tense atmosphere.
"You would think it's small minded if it meant justifying all the things you've done to a child!" Sakura barked back, raising her voice with the intent to shield everyone else away from Kai's attentions. And if Nemesis provoked him, that should be enough to hold his gaze while Izuku and Mirio treated Nighteye. "Eri was never some tool for you to use! She is a human being! She has a right to live like one! But instead, because of you she has to hide in the dark, and she believed she deserved it! You tormented her."
Kai wasn't swayed by Nemesis words dripping with condemnation and revulsion. The only part that irked Kai, wasn't the contents of her statements but the undertone, as if it to tell him, he was a disesea that needed to be rid of.
He held up a talon-hand, palm wide. "None of you know the value of Eri's power. Quirks progress markedly when you develop them. Through countless experiments, I extracted Eri's power and succeeded in bringing it to its endpoint."
Sakura did not care to conceal her fury, her bloodlust like a tempest trying to sweep Kai away where no one could hear him. It became so potent that it made Kai take a step back, feeling the weight of her rage like a noose tightening around his neck.
"THAT GIRL IS A PERSON! DOES THAT MEAN NOTHING TO YOU!? HOW CAN YOU EVER JUSTIFY WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO HER!?"
Sakura's words had struck a chord deep within him, resonating with the very question that had been posed to him by his master. The memory of that confrontation, the rejection, the disgust in his master's eyes, all surged back.
When Kai came to him to explain his plan. The one that would bring Shie Hassaikai to the top. Selling the unfinished product of quirk canceling bullets to neutralize the heroes, and then creating a serum to restore the quirks their very product destroyed. With Eri as the catalyst for both products, no one would be able to move in on this business. It would be their own personal gold mine that would outlast them through the ages. Quirk's were the most valuable commodity of this modern age, it had been utilized in the workforce, and the criminal underbelly, and Kai had just created the blueprint for the control panel to it all.
And yet without much consideration, his master had shot him down, with that same question. He thought that he would be able to make him see things from his point of view. The bigger picture. Kai thought it might've been the softness his boss held towards his flesh and blood, as Eri was his granddaughter, but even her own mother had abandoned her for her quirk. Why couldn't he see that he could make something great come from that so-called cursed power? He wanted to give back the power that had been taken away from him by those heroes. Did the means to get there really matter this much?
"You... HOW DARE YOU! Don't talk as if you know anything! A MERE INSECT WHO CAN'T SEE PAST THEIR OWN FEET!"
The ground trembled, like a physical manifestation of Kai's fury. Using his quirk to create a monstrous force, reshaping the facility into something grotesque, no longer the clean cut industrial complex with the smoothed out concrete and sterile appearance, all that was lost. Turned into something ready to consume everything in its path. Izuku, quick to react, lifted Mirio and Nighteye into the air, in a desperate attempt to evade the chomping monstrosity that once was the ground.
Sakura didn't stay still either, taking to the air and navigating against the shifting terrain with her limited speed, she kicked off against the jagged rocks, the soles of her feet clung onto them as they carried her through this disaster.
Kai, with a renewed determination, bellowed his intent, "What I'm going to do is tear down the very foundation of this world. You hero pretenders stay out of it!"
"THIS TIME THE ONE WHO WILL BE BROKEN IS YOU!"
Giving an especially generous pour of chakra to her legs, Sakura propelled herself towards Kai, moving like a wrathful force, in a blur of anger that could barely be registered. Kai, anticipating her attack, shattered the floors again, trying to throw off her course. But Sakura wasn't one to be deterred. She adjusted, turning mid-air, avoiding the fragmented floors that threatened to ensnare her.
'This time, I'll crush him,'
As Kai attempted to gather himself he couldn't help but sense the change in the air. It was as if it had thickened with the weight of Nemesis' presence. Before he could react, the crushing force descended upon him. He raised his hand in a futile attempt to shield himself, but the blow landed, a swift kick delivered with precision hitting a soft point. His arms cracked. Kai skidded across the ground. He attempted to rebuild, to reconstruct, to defy the onslaught. Yet, the relentless force against him persisted.
"Think that'll stop me? I'll just reconstruct-
His thoughts were severed from his mouth when he caught sight of another blur in the corner of his eyes, something green, with visible sparks of light, ready to set his entire plans on fire. He heard a yell of one word "SMASH!" before his inner cheek was trying to break through his teeth. Kai was propelled back by Izuku's punch, barely having an instant to make contact with the boy's eyes but he could see the light in them, and the fury.
He didn't get a chance to regain his footing or launch a counter when Nemesis stepped over, delivering a kick with enough force to propel him further into the air. This became a cycle, as if the two were in perfect sync to a performance and Kai was the one who had forgotten the steps. He had become to object of torment for those two.
With each strike, Kai attempted to heal, to reconstruct, but the pace of Nemesis' and Izuku's assault overwhelmed him. He became a victim of his own creation, caught in a relentless barrage. The room resonated with the symphony of destruction, an orchestra conducted by Nemesis, leaving Kai's ambitions shattered. The air hung heavy with the scent of dust and the metallic tang of blood.
Kai, found himself grappling with an unsettling reality. Here was a person, Nemesis, who defied the laws of logic and expectation. Kai had honed his reactions to near-bullet speeds, yet that was not enough to deter this enigmatic persona. Was this really due to his quirk alone? Or was there something more lurking beneath the surface of that mask?
Nemesis pressed forward, like a force of nature, no matter how many precautions you took, it was impossible to face head on without severe consequences.
"This is for Eri, and for everyone you've hurt!"
In that climactic moment, Sakura's words hung in the air before her fists came down to deliver Kai's final judgement. It was a force that could only be described as supernatural, transcending the physical possibility of power. And the armor of stone that had embraced Kai, began to crumbled like sand in the wind. Yielding to the intensity of the collision.Cracks spider-webbed from the point of impact, an allegory for the fractures that now cleaved through Kai.
As the dust settled, revealing the altered landscape of the battlefield, Sakura stood.
'He beat Overhaul with one punch.'
Izuku heaved a breath he didn't know was lodged in his throat, he looked over at Kai's unconscious form and back to Nemesis. Who was making his way over to Kai! Realizing the implications of this, Izuku intervened. Forcing his body to move forward until he was standing in the path between the two.
The air grew thick with tension, but Nemesis was unyielding. Standing against the fractured backdrop, as an artists would in front of their finished paintings. She met his gaze, and knew that two resolves and morals were about to clash.
"Hold on Nemesis! He's already down!" Izuku's words echoed. Yet, Sakura's response, devoid of triumph, hinted at a different truth, one Izuku instinctively grasped.
"No, he isn't, his heart is still beating,"
"You can't kill him!" This wasn't a plea from Izuku, but a determined statement of truth and heroism. They were meant to save people and stop villains but there was a fine line that heroes could not cross under any circumstances, it was something they were taught from young when having quirk counseling. With that power, there were of course certain regulations that had to be admitted.
Sakura's stoic reply, a simple "Move,"
In that moment, Izuku, propelled by One for All, positioned himself as a human shield, standing resolute against the advancing Nemesis. The clash of ideals played out in the silence that surrounded them.
"You've seen what he's done to her, why are you getting in the way?"
"Because if you do this you're not better than he is! Treating another life like it's expendable,"
"Maybe I don't care about being better," Sakura's words, delivered with an unsettling calm. Her unclenched fists, however, spoke of a potential divergence from the path of relentless vengeance. "That seems to be the only certainty in this world,"
"You are! Please think this through! What about Eri?" Izuku's words stopped Sakura's advance. "You won't be able to come back from this and you won't be able to see her again!"
That seemed to halt Sakura in her tracks. She stared hard at Kai. Where would she be going from here now? Was this really the end of everything for her?
That's when the ceiling above began to quiver and crack, opening wide like a gaping mouth about to swallow.
"What now?" Izuku coughed as the dust cleared. He readied himself for another battle, but he noticed that the subject that fell wasn't moving further.
It was Rikiya, one of the eight bullets that had appeared at the entrance, but his form was different from before. He was larger, in a grotesque manner, but they realized he was also defeated. He ended up sprawled across the debris. That's when Ochaco, Tsuyu, Ryukyu started falling down as well.
"Deku!"
"You guys okay, kero?" The girls seemed unharmed, aside from looking pale and fatigued.
"S-Sir Nighteye…." That's when Sakura's senses returned. There was something more urgent than ensuring Kai's demise, and that was preventing Nighteye's. She was certain that a punch like that, he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. And even when he did, he would need severe treatment to fix everything she had broken.
She approached the corner where Mirio was cradling Nighteye, tears streaming down his face as he begged his mentor to hold onto that short thread of life. Ryukyu, Ochaco, and Tsuyu were stunned in horrific silence when they saw the severity of his condition.
"S-Sir Nighteye…."
Sakura observed the hero's injuries with a critical and medical eye. The pike that protruded from his torso, was the most dire wound of all. Likely ruptured and destroyed his organs and gave risk to spinal damage. This was the kind of injury that typically demanded the resources of an entire medical unit.
She looked at her hands, the only two that were available at this time to take on this task.
"He won't make it at this rate."
"W-What can we do?" Mirio's voice wavered, tears streaming down his face. "How can we save him?"
In truth, Sakura already knew it was very unlikely that he could be saved. Tsunade had taught her all about the human body and she knew by now he had already lost an amount of blood that was close to fatal. But he was still breathing, however shallow. And her teacher's doctrine was, to never stop healing your patient until they take their last breath. And now wasn' the time for her own doubts and logic to prevent her from trying.
Sakura had gone through enough surgeries to know which ones had a chance of success and which were likely futile. Nonetheless, Nighteye was still breathing somehow, and she couldn't allow them to lose hope to her professional opinion.
'That power….'
Sakura thought back to that night at Kamino, taking that blow through her chest, losing her whole heart. If she could just call on that ability, then maybe he might have a chance of surviving too.
But what gave Sakura pause was that she didn't know if it would even affect other people. And she didn't have a good handle on the chakra to begin with, so calling on it at this time, when she was still under the effects of Kurono's quirk. If she couldn't muster up the ability to bring forth that power and use it to treat Nighteye. Then removing that pike would be killing the hero.
She questioned the transferability of this power an ability that had mended her own wounds. Did it possess the potency to mend another? The chakra added another layer of complexity to this delicate operation.
An internal struggled unfolded in her contemplative silence. As a medic, she couldn't dismiss the gravity of her decisions. Not when she knew what it felt to be haunted by the ghosts of everyone she failed to treat, and knowing that it was still better than the feeling of having done nothing and giving up.
Her eyes shifted to Nighteye, whose fading vitality etched a somber narrative on his pallid features. Paling skin from blood loss, fading eyes. Sakura made her decision then.
Casting aside the cloak of doubt, she maneuvered around Mirio. Pushing her chakra through her body to keep up her speed and nullify the affects of Kurono's quirk.
"What are you doing?" Mirio asked, his vision blurred with tears as he tried to make out her movements.
"Trying to save him," Sakura replied.
"Ho-How?"
"Hold him on his side," Sakura instructed. Mirio, though skeptical, and filled with far more questions, fell on hushed ears as Sakura maneuvered around him. "Do you want to save him or not?"
Mirio followed her instructions then. Sakura just carefully took Nighteye into her hold. She adjusted so that she could grab hold of the piece of stone from his back as that was the larger part. She kept her other hand ready, chakra pouring through to close up the wound as she pulled the pike out from him.
"Wait- isn't that-
"Don't distract me," Sakura seethed, as she watched Nighteye's body begin to twitch. He likely couldn't even feel pain at this point, but still had a reaction to the movement. "I need to focus,"
Sakura resumed to pull on the pike, blood surged from the wound, as she kept trying to hold her focus and call on that chakra deep within her.
With each pull, Sakura delved into the recesses of her being, beckoning the dormant chakra. 'Dig deep, I know it's there.' The chakra, an elusive force, remained elusive, requiring an effort akin to coaxing fire from damp wood. But Sakura was resolute in her pursuit of it. Digging into her being with her own chakra to find it and pull it out.
This was going to hurt her. She knew it but she knew that she would have to power through the pain if she wanted the right results. It wasn't her life on the line right now. That same pain she felt in Kamino, that overwhelmingly suffocating, heavy chakra that gave her the greatest sense of power.
Come,' she whispered inwardly, watching chakra flicker in her hands. Blood continued to seep from Nighteye as the pike yielded to Sakura's persistent efforts. The seconds felt like eternities as the stakes climbed higher.
'Come!'
A spark, fleeting yet tangible, teased her senses. Sakura clung to it, an ember in the dark. The process mirrored the challenge of kindling a flame from reluctant wood. But Sakura, a tenacious flame in her own right, refused to surrender.
'Again.'
A burning sensation coursed through her hand, forcing her to release the flame she sought to wield.
'No, again!'
Undeterred, she persisted, grappling with the searing force like one trying to grasp a hot iron. The repetition is a testament to her will.
Mirio, his concern etched on his face like a haunting refrain, watched as Nighteye, fragile yet tenacious, expelled another surge of blood. The pike, once a anchor to his life, now lay discarded, staining his hero costume in a sickeningly deep shade of red.
"SIR!"
"I won't give up!" Sakura's proclamation cut through the air as she invoked her Byakugo. Her own chakra reserve pulling, trying to use that to help her conduct that strange chakra that sat at the center of her being. She needed this power and it was time she made it her own.
Then she felt it at last. That burning sensation engulfed her entire body, but Sakura knew she couldn't let this power run wild across her form, she couldn't let it burn her as freely as before. So she pushed through that pain, forming her concentration to draw the power to her hands, and to run into the wound Nighteye sustained.
Mirio didn't know what was happening to Nemesis, he was more concerned about Nighteye dying in his arms right here and now because he had chosen to listen to this person instead of calling out for an ambulance. Then he watched as Nemesis became engulfed in a strange light that felt like war, too warm to be around.
It began to reach Nighteye as well before falling onto the wound alone and Mirio watched what could only be considered a miracle happen. As the flesh around his teacher's wound began to move like threads, weaving together, tendons regenerating, muscles forming, even the bones and organs were coming together at that part. His right arm seemed to cauterize and heal out into a stump, but there were no more wounds or bleeding.
Izuku, Ochaco, Tsuyu, and Ryukyu watched from a distance in the same stunned awe.
When there was nothing left but a layer of fresh skin, only then did Nemesis stop.
"Healing….superstrength…." Izuku gasped, 'It can't be!'
He wanted to ask him. He wanted to go to Nemesis through this chaos, and demand to know the truth behind that mask.
Sakura looked at Nighteye's wounds and saw the rise and fall of his chest, though unconscious now likely from the strain.
He was going to live.
She breathed out heavily, drawing back that power and her Byakugo seal, as it settled back into a diamond her heart squeezed tight and she convulsed. Collapsing, and chasing her breath.
"Nemesis!"
"Something's wrong!" Ochaco called.
All Sakura could hear was the footsteps, before she felt her mask being lifted from her face. She caught the brief stunned expressions of Izuku, before closing her eyes and succumbing to the pain.
..
..
In the aftermath of the battle with Shie Hassaikai, and audience had gathered to witness the clamor of ambulances. The sound of sirens and flashing lights painted the area but it also signaled for a mission complete. Despite this success it didn't feel like a victory when the heroes and police force had to help carry out their injured comrades. While Shie Hassaikai's members faced no fatalities and they were loaded into a lineup of trucks. Through all of this chaos somehow, the League of Villains managed to slip away, and due to their limited numbers, there was enough forces to attempt a futile search.
And for the firs time, Izuku, Ochaco, and Tsuyu saw that being a hero wasn't all smiles, even when you won. For the first time, they felt an unsettling knot in their stomachs, something new. Dissatisfaction.
Especially when they had to watch their classmates and senpai's getting taken on gurney's to the hospital. Eijiro was already covered in bandages until his neck. And Tamaki had half his face hidden behind gauze yet they could still see some blood seeping through and his walk lopsided. While Nighteye was carried away, now free of injuries yet still absent of his consciousness. The only evidence left of his injuries were his bloodstained clothes and missing arm.
Then there was Sakura.
Izuku watched as the paramedics rushed her into an ambulance, leaving the doors wide open as they took off her jacket. Rushing to grab their equipment. It felt as if everything was moving in slow motions for Izuku despite how chaotically fast it truly was.
"Her heart not beating!"
This in the end was nothing more than a bitter-sweet victory.