All Might fell from above and pinned down Midoriya between bars of a broken iron railing.
The resulting blast ruptured Midoriya's back muscles, making him grunt in pain. It also threw off Bakugo, who had been standing right next to him.
Midoriya instinctively tried to lift himself, trying to break off the iron railings — activating One For All involuntarily.
To his great surprise, he could feel Full Cowl activating, multicolored veins slithering on his body as thin, tiny green bolts of lightning rumbled in his surroundings.
He could use his Quirk again!
"Bakugo!" Midoriya screamed, ignoring the pain. "We can use our Quirk…"
However, All Might didn't give Bakugo the chance he needed, despite the boy having insane battle instincts.
All Might's fist, as large as Bakugo's entire waist, landed on the boy's stomach and sent him flying.
Booom!
Vomiting, rolling, and bouncing, Bakugo came to a stop dozens of meters away, squirming with pain.
Behind All Might, Midoriya's eyes widened in hopelessness.
He remembered a boy — from years before — who shared his enthusiasm when it came to All Might. That was one thing common between them, Midoriya realized. Despite Bakugo being a jerk, both admired All Might and his ideals.
"Arghhhh…" Midoriya tried to use Full Cowl.
But All Might had barely pulled back on his punches while beating the boys up.
Moreover, with the iron railing pinning him down several inches deep into the earth, Midoriya couldn't control One For All fully, failing to bring out enough power to free himself.
And, in front of him, All Might was already walking toward Bakugo.
"I know why you are so angry, young Bakugo," All Might said, seeing Bakugo getting up with wobbling knees. "It's because of your classmates' sudden improvement, right? Especially Luke and Midoriya… But, do you know that level 1 and level 50 cannot improve at the same rate?
"There's so much wasted potential in you… Do you understand? You have so much room to grow… Why not look within, young Bakugo, instead of fixating yourself on others' improvements?"
"Shut up…" Bakugo said, stuttering. "If I have to get help from that wimp… and that coward, then… I'd rather…"
Crack-KKKKKKKKK!!!
Bakugo couldn't finish his words.
His, Midoriya, and All Might's heads snapped to the front and saw an astonishing scene.
From a multistoried building's top floor, three figures came out flying, surrounded by shards of shattered glass.
Luke. Erasure Head. Nyx!!!
Luke was grabbing Erasure Head's binding strips with his left hand. His right hand was pressed hard against Erasure Head's eyes, blocking his vision.
Nyx was flying on top of them, positioned in such a way that her eyes reflected not only Erasure Head, but All Might, Midoriya, and Bakugo as well.
But an even more shocking thing was that everything had slowed down around them.
It was as if they were looking at a video being played at ten percent of its original speed.
Erasure Head's hand was going for Luke's hand on his eyes, and Nyx was hung midair, succumbing to the effects of her own Quirk.
Between All Might, Bakugo, and Midoriya, none were dumb enough not to realize what had just happened.
Contrary to what they were thinking so far, Luke hadn't run away, bolting to the EXIT.
Instead, the boy had miraculously found Erasure Head, used Reinforcement to throw him and Pro out in the open before his Quirk could be canceled, and then used Delay, slowing all movements.
Of course, they also realized the oddness of Nyx's weird position.
Because of Reinforcement needing direct contact, she couldn't have flown away from Luke in time, falling prey to Delay as well.
Luke must have planned for this moment, though.
From the way Nyx's eyes were wide open toward the three of them, it was obvious what Luke was trying to say —
— Either run now, Or… force All Might to enter a 50-meter range from him!
"Kacchan!" Midoriya shouted. "A Hero always wins in the end… Right?!"
Bakugo had wanted to say that he'd rather lose than work with Midoriya and Luke.
"Don't give up!" Midoriya's words echoed against broken buildings. "Don't give up!!"
But the moment he saw desperation on Luke's face, and as he heard Midoriya's screams from behind, he couldn't help but… move.
It was their chance.
It was their only chance, perhaps.
Delay would last on the affected targets for only a few seconds.
The thing was — if they could think this far — then All Might could, too.
"KACCHAN!" Midoriya screamed out his lungs, forcing the iron railing up. "NOWW!!"
Bakugo's pupils widened. With an insane display of agility, he fired two successive short blasts from his palms, wrapping his arm around All Might's waist.
Instantly, Midoriya appeared over All Might, ignoring all pain, letting Full Cowl burst to its maximum capacity of 12%!
Boooooooooooom!!!
Midoriya's punch landed on All Might's face, sending him skidding backward.
Simultaneously, Bakugo fired explosions from his one palm, increasing the momentum even more, taking All Might closer to Luke and Nyx.
Then, both Midoriya and Bakugo shouted together. "AGAIN!!!"
A punch landed on All Might's face.
Bakugo timed the explosion with the punch.
Little by little, they were closing the gap between Nyx's range and All Might.
The moment All Might entered her range, she would transfer Delay from Luke and Erasure Head to him.
Then, between Luke, Bakugo, and Midoriya, one of them could easily reach the EXIT and win the match.
For a moment… Just a few feet away from entering Nyx's range… Bakugo and Midoriya truly believed that they had overturned their hopelessness, snatching victory out of impossibility's jaws.
That moment ended as soon as it had begun.
This time, when Midoriya's punch landed on All Might's face, and Bakugo fired another explosion from his arm, the Pro Hero didn't budge.
Both boys stupidly shifted their gazes and looked at All Might.
His blue glaze had gone bluer, a smile surfacing on his bleeding lips.
All Might's left hand blurred with the speed of lightning and landed on Midoriya's jaw, his eyes instantly losing all focus, blackness surrounding his vision.
The same left hand then landed on Bakugo's stomach, making him fall on his knees, his eyes rolling back into his head.
Then, All Might disappeared.
The next time he appeared, he was already on top of Luke, behind Nyx's little head, his fist rising high toward the sky.
"Fear me, Heroes! … Why?" All Might's voice penetrated their souls. "Because I am here!"
*****************
AN: Up to 60 more chapters are available in advance across three Tiers. [Use the link in my webnovel profile to access all options]
You can even subscribe Trial Tier for just 1 dollar to have an experience of exclusive chapters for an entire month. I hope a few of you will consider supporting the work.
100 Power Stones: +1 Bonus Chapter