"I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here."
The words settled into Megumi's mind like cold water.
'Dead kids. He wants to kill us to lure All Might to come here.'
"Villains?! No way!!"
"What villains would be dumb enough to sneak into a school for heroes?"
"Sensei, aren't there intruder sensors?" Momo asked panicking at the situation.
"Yes, of course there are...!" Thirteen replied, stressed by the situation they're facing.
"Are they only here, or also at the main building...? Either way, if the sensors aren't working... It has to be one of their quirks that's doing it."
"This place is far from the campus, and they picked a time when there'd be few people here... They must have an objective because this is a well-coordinated sneak attack."
"Their objective is All Might." Megumi said as the class all turned to look at him. "It's the only logical conclusion. The gate breach incident is not a coincidence."
"Enough speculation!" Aizawa's voice cut through the moment. "Thirteen! Begin evacuation! And try calling the school!"
"One of these villains must be jamming the sensors. There's a good chance one of their electric-types is causing the interference, Kaminari. Try using your quirk to signal for help."
"Got it!" Yelled Kaminari as you could see the panic entering his face.
"But sensei, you can't fight them all alone!! Against that many... even you can't nullify all their quirks!! As Eraser Head, your fighting style involves erasure and a quick binding capture. Head-on battle isn't-" Midoriya argued against Aizawa but got interrupted.
"No good hero is a one-trick pony." Aizawa said as he looked back at the class putting on his goggles.
Before leaping towards the fray of the fight he said, "Thirteen! Take care of them."
"Ranged squad. Let's move."
"Our intel said it was just supposed to be Thirteen and All Might!! So, who's this?!"
"Dunno! But he's coming at us all alone."
"A dead fool, then!!"
"Huh?! I can't shoot..."
Aizawa's capture weapon deployed, already wrapping around the nearest villains as he launched himself into the mass of bodies. His hair lifted, eyes glowing red, and quirks started shutting down across the plaza. Villains who'd been confident seconds ago suddenly found themselves powerless and terrified.
"You dumbasses!! He can cancel out your quirks just by looking at ya."
"That's Eraser Head!!"
"Let's see if that trick works against us heteromorphic types!!"
Aizawa moved through them like a professional.
"No. It doesn't."
One-on-one, these thugs were nothing.
"Only against operative or transformative types."
Even one-on-twenty, he had the advantage.
"However… Statistically, guys like you tend to shine in close-quarters combat."
Every movement was efficient, brutal, calculated.
"Which is why I've got countermeasures for you."
Years of underground hero work showed in every strike.
"He's good at hand-to-hand... and those goggles hide his eyes, so we don't know whose quirk he's canceling."
"Even a whole mob of us isn't slowing him down... I see."
'Aizawa-sensei… He's putting his life on the line to protect us…'
Aizawa continued to mow down the numbers that the villains had as he kept an eye out on those who looked like the leaders of this attack.
"I hate pro heroes. Ordinary villains don't stand a chance against them."
Back at the entrance of USJ, Class 1-A had quickly gathered to evacuate from the building.
"Wow...! He can hold his own even when outnumbered." Midoriya said as he looked down to still see Aizawa keeping his cool against the villains.
"This is no time for analysis! Hurry up and evacuate!!" Thirteen called out, already moving toward the entrance.
"I won't allow that."
The mist villain materialized in front of them, cutting off their escape.
"Greetings," Kurogiri said, voice unnervingly polite. "We are the League of Villains. Forgive our audacity, but today we've come here to U.A. High School… This bastion of heroism..."
"...To end the life..."
"...Of All Might, the Symbol of Peace."
"We were under the impression that All Might would be here today, but it seems his schedule was revised?"
'I was right… Tch, one could only say that if they had the means to do it. The means to kill All Might… that would mean that the ability to kill everyone in this building as well.'
"Well... no matter. My role remains unchanged."
"Get out of the way!" Bakugo shouted, already launching himself forward with Kirishima right behind him.
"You idiots!" Megumi yelled out as he saw them rush forward.
The explosion hit center mass, but when the smoke cleared, Kurogiri was completely unharmed.
"That was close..." Kurogiri said. "Yes... students though you may be, you are the best of the best." The mist exploded outward.
Before he could react, Megumi felt reality twist, felt himself being pulled through space that wasn't space, and then he was falling.
He hit concrete and rolled, coming up in a combat stance immediately.
Collapsed Zone. Collapsed buildings, broken streets, urban decay everywhere.
And he had company.
As Megumi's eyes adjusted, he counted at least fifteen villains emerging from behind collapsed structures, spreading out with practiced coordination.
"Just one kid?" The lead villain, built like a tank with enhancement written all over his frame, laughed. "This is gonna be too easy."
"Boss said kill them all," another added, this one covered in blade-like protrusions. "So, let's make it quick."
Megumi didn't respond. He was already analyzing.
But it wasn't just a few. As Megumi's eyes adjusted, he counted at least fifteen villains emerging from behind collapsed structures, spreading out with practiced coordination. Low-level thugs by the look of them, the kind with quirks just strong enough to be dangerous to civilians but nothing that would threaten a pro hero.
Megumi's hands moved, forming multiple shapes in rapid succession.
"Divine Dogs."
"Nue."
Both canine Shikigami materialized on either side of him, white and black, already growling. Above them, the owl-like Nue took form, its wings spreading wide as it let out a shriek.
The villains hesitated for just a moment.
That was their mistake.
"Go," Megumi said.
The Divine Dogs lunged forward as a unit while Nue dove from above. Megumi moved with them, using their assault as cover.
The first villain, bulky with some kind of basic strength enhancement, swung a massive fist. Shiro caught his arm in its jaws, the force of the bite making the man scream. Megumi slid past, low to the ground, and his fist drove into the villain's kidney. As the man doubled over, Megumi's knee came up to meet his face. Cartilage crunched. Blood sprayed.
Kuro had already taken down two villains with minor blade quirks, moving between them too fast for their clumsy slashes to connect, going for arms and legs with savage efficiency.
Nue's talons raked across a villain's back, sending him sprawling. The Shikigami banked hard, then opened its beak and discharged a bolt of lightning that caught two villains trying to flank Megumi. They convulsed and dropped, twitching.
"Focus on the kid!" someone shouted. "Forget the animals!"
Five villains converged on Megumi's position, quirks activating in unison.
Weak flames. Slow-forming ice. A partial hardening ability. A stretching quirk with limited range. And one whose arms transformed into dull bladed weapons.
These weren't elite villains. They were street-level thugs at best.
Megumi's shadow rippled beneath him, and he sank into it just as the attacks converged on where he'd been standing. The fire and ice collided, creating steam. The blade villain's attack went through empty air.
Megumi emerged from a shadow ten meters away, behind the fire villain.
Before the man could turn, Megumi had already moved. A precise strike to the back of the knee, collapsing his stance. As the villain fell, Megumi's elbow came down on the base of his skull. The man went limp.
The ice villain spun, shooting a weak wave of frost at Megumi.
Megumi quickly went back into the shadows. Using the villain's brief confusion to get behind him. The ice villain tried to back up, creating more ice, but Megumi's foot caught his ankle, sweeping his legs out. As the villain fell, Megumi's fist drove down into his solar plexus, expelling all the air from his lungs. A follow-up kick to the temple, and he was out.
Three villains down. Twelve to go.
"He's too fast!" someone shouted.
"Split up! Use the terrain!"
The villains scattered into the collapsed buildings, using the rubble for cover.
'Smart,' Megumi thought. 'But not smart enough.'
He sent Kuro after one group, sent Nue to harry another from above, and moved into the ruins himself.
A villain with a camouflage quirk tried to ambush him from behind a tilted wall. Megumi's shadow writhed beneath him, and he sank partially into it, just enough that the villain's strike passed over his head. Megumi surged up out of the shadow, his hand catching the villain's extended arm. He twisted, using the man's momentum against him, and drove him face-first into the concrete wall. Once. Twice. The third impact left a crack in the concrete and the villain unconscious.
The black Divine Dog's snarl echoed from deeper in the ruins, followed by screams.
Nue's shriek from above, then the sound of someone hitting the ground hard.
Megumi kept moving, kept hunting.
A villain with a size-manipulation quirk tried to crush him by growing to twice his normal size in the confined space of a collapsed corridor. Megumi didn't slow down. He ran up the tilted wall, used the angle to launch himself at the villain's head, and delivered a spinning kick that connected with his temple. The man shrunk back to normal size as he collapsed.
Two more villains came at him from opposite directions, a coordinated pincer attack.
Megumi formed the hand sign. "Great Serpent."
The massive construct erupted from his shadow in the space between the two villains, its scaled body coiling and expanding rapidly. Both attackers were caught, wrapped in constricting coils before they could react.
They screamed as bones began to creak.
'Tighter,' Megumi thought coldly, and the Great Serpent responded, squeezing harder. 'Make sure they can't-'
"Megumi."
Tsumiki's voice cut through his focus like a blade. As if she was right next to him.
"That's enough. You're going too far."
Megumi looked at the two villains, saw their faces turning purple, saw the terror in their eyes.
'They came here to kill,' Megumi thought. 'They knew the consequences…'
"Maybe," Tsumiki's voice interrupted gently. "But that's not your decision to make. You're training to be a hero, Megumi. Heroes don't torture people, no matter what they've done."
The cold feeling in his chest started to fade, replaced by something else. Clarity.
Megumi adjusted his control. The Great Serpent loosened its coils just enough for the villains' bones to stay intact, then constricted again in a specific way, cutting off blood flow to the brain without crushing their bones.
Both villains went limp in seconds, unconscious but alive.
'Better,' Megumi thought, dismissing the serpent.
Kuro emerged from the ruins, three more unconscious villains in its wake. Nue circled above, having driven another two into a position where they'd knocked themselves out trying to escape.
That left three.
Megumi found them huddled behind a collapsed wall, clearly having watched what happened to their companions.
"Stay back!" one of them shouted, electricity crackling around his hands. "We'll-"
Megumi didn't give them a chance to finish. His shadow expanded rapidly, and he sank into it completely, disappearing.
The villains panicked, backing up, looking everywhere.
Megumi emerged from a shadow directly behind them.
Three quick strikes. Solar plexus. Temple. Pressure point on the neck.
All three dropped.
Megumi stood among the unconscious bodies, breathing slightly heavier than normal but otherwise composed. Fifteen villains down in less than three minutes.
"Yo! That was sick!"
Megumi spun, Shiro and Kuro immediately took defensive positions.
Bakugo and Kirishima emerged from another section of the collapsed zone, their own pile of unconscious villains behind them.
"Easy, dude," Kirishima said, hands up. "It's just us."
"These weaklings aren't even worth my time," Bakugo said, kicking one of the unconscious villains. "Bunch of low-level trash."
Megumi dismissed the hostile posture. "How many were in your area?"
"About ten," Kirishima said. "Though Bakugo did most of the heavy lifting."
"Damn right I did," Bakugo said, then seemed to struggle with something for a moment before adding gruffly, "Your shadow stuff is... decent. Versatile or whatever."
"Your explosions are pretty strong," Megumi replied carefully. "You have good control over them."
Bakugo's eye twitched slightly, like he wasn't sure if that was a compliment or an insult. "Tch. Of course they are. I'm the best."
An awkward pause.
"Right," Kirishima said, clearly trying to move past whatever that was. "So, what now?"
"We move," Bakugo said quickly. "Stop wasting time standing around."
"Where?" Megumi asked.
"The central plaza," Bakugo said, eyes sharp despite his usual aggressive demeanor. "That's where Aizawa is. That's where the main fight is happening. We go there, we help him crush these villains, and we end this."
Megumi considered for a moment, then nodded. "Agreed. Aizawa's outnumbered. Sooner or later, he'll get overwhelmed."
"Damn right." Bakugo said. "Now let's move before I decide to go without you extras."
"We'll be faster if we fly," Megumi said, already forming the hand sign. He pulled more energy into the summoning than usual, pushing more of his stamina into making Nue larger.
'Just like I thought.' he thought, 'I created them to begin with, so I should still be able to change them.'
Nue materialized above them, significantly larger than before, its wingspan easily wide enough to carry all three of them, though Megumi could feel the increased drain on his stamina compared to usual.
"You've gotta be shitting me," Bakugo said, staring up at the massive bird-like creature.
"It can carry us," Megumi replied. "Faster than running through the zones."
"That's actually pretty smart," Kirishima said, already moving toward the Shikigami. "And pretty cool!"
Bakugo looked at Nue, then at Megumi, then grunted. "Fine. But if that thing drops me, I'm blasting your ass into next week."
"It won't drop you," Megumi said.
They climbed onto Nue's back, Megumi in front to direct it, Kirishima in the middle, and Bakugo at the rear looking deeply uncomfortable with the entire situation.
"This is ridiculous," Bakugo muttered, gripping the shadow-feathers tightly.
Nue took flight, its powerful wings carrying them over the collapsed zone toward the central plaza. The wind rushed past them as they gained altitude, and from up here, Megumi could see the entire USJ facility.
The flood zone where some students were still fighting. The landslide zone where ice was spreading. And the central plaza where Aizawa was clearly struggling against overwhelming numbers.
"There," Megumi said, directing Nue toward the plaza. "Fast approach."
"Finally," Bakugo said. "Some real action."
Nue descended rapidly, and they arrived at the central plaza just as Nomu slammed Aizawa into the ground one final time.
They were the first students to reach the plaza.
Megumi, Bakugo, and Kirishima dismounted as Nue circled above. Megumi immediately dismissed it, the strain of maintaining that size having drained more stamina than he'd anticipated.
'Increasing size works,' he thought, catching his breath. 'But the energy cost scales exponentially. Something to remember.'
Shigaraki was standing over Aizawa's beaten form, scratching at his neck with one hand while the other was extended toward their teacher.
"I'm gonna kill you, bastard!" Bakugo shouted, explosions already crackling in his palms.
Shigaraki's head snapped toward them, hand pulling back from Aizawa. "Oh? The students are regrouping faster than expected." He scratched harder at his neck. "How annoying."
Megumi's hands moved without hesitation.
"Divine Dogs!"
Shiro and Kuro lunged forward simultaneously. Shiro went high, jaws snapping at Shigaraki's extended hand. Kuro went low, targeting his legs to destabilize him.
Shigaraki jumped back with surprising agility, avoiding both attacks. "Shadow creatures? Interesting." He scratched at his neck frantically, flakes of dry skin falling. "Kurogiri, we have more pests to deal with."
"Kurogiri, shall we add them to the collection?"
Kurogiri's mist began to expand, yellow eyes studying each student carefully. His gaze lingered on Megumi for just a moment longer than the others.
"If we're going to kill a student," Kurogiri said thoughtfully, "it should be one that will truly enrage All Might when he arrives. Draw out his full power."
"Any dead kid will do that," Shigaraki said, scratching harder at his neck.
"Perhaps," Kurogiri replied smoothly. "But that one with the shadow constructs, he's been the most effective in combat. The most capable. Killing the strongest student first..." He paused deliberately. "That would send the right message, wouldn't it?"
Shigaraki's scratching paused for just a moment, considering. Then a manic grin spread across his face, visible even behind the hand-mask. "Yes. Yes! The strongest one dies first! That'll show All Might what happens when he's late!"
He pointed at Megumi, hand trembling with excitement. "Nomu! That one! The one with the dogs! Kill him!"
"Bakugo! Kirishima! Get away!" Megumi yelled as he used his divine dogs to drag them away from him.
Nomu released Aizawa, who collapsed to the ground, barely conscious. The creature's dead, exposed-brain eyes turned toward Megumi.
Then it moved.
The speed was incomprehensible. One moment it was standing over Aizawa. The next, it was in front of Megumi, fist already swinging.
Megumi's instincts saved him. His shadow rippled and he sank into it, the punch passing through where his head had been with enough force to create a shockwave that shattered nearby windows.
He emerged from another shadow five meters away, both Divine Dogs repositioning with him now that Bakugo and Kirishima were safe.
But Nomu was already adjusting, already coming at him again with that horrifying speed.
'Too fast,' Megumi thought. 'Way too fast.'
He sent Shiro and Kuro at it simultaneously, one from each side.
Nomu's hands shot out with casual precision. It caught Shiro by the throat and crushed the construct, shadow dispersing instantly. Kuro tried to go for its legs, but Nomu's foot came down on it, obliterating the Shikigami in one stomp.
'They're gone. Just like that. Not even a contest.'
Megumi summoned them again immediately. Both dogs materialized and charged.
Nomu destroyed them again just as easily. Faster this time, like it was learning their patterns.
'I can't keep this up,' Megumi realized. 'Every time I summon them, I'm using energy. And it's not even slowing that thing down.'
He summoned Nue instead, the owl-like creature diving from above with talons extended discharging its purple electricity.
Nomu caught it mid-flight with one hand and slammed it into the ground so hard the concrete cratered. The Shikigami dispersed.
'One hit. Everything I have, it destroys in one hit.'
Megumi's mind raced as Nomu came at him again. He sank into shadows, emerged elsewhere, but the creature was already compensating, already cutting off his escape routes.
'Conventional summons won't work. It's too strong, too fast. I need something more. Something with more power behind it.'
And then he remembered.
That training session in the gym. The thought he'd had about his Shikigami being constructs stored in his shadow. About them being part of him, not separate entities.
About modification.
About combination.
'Shiro and Kuro are separate constructs,' Megumi thought as he dodged another devastating punch. 'But they're both made from the shadows. Both extensions of the same quirk. If I can increase Nue's size by using more stamina, then what if I combined the dogs the same way? Merged them into one construct instead of two separate ones?'
Nomu's fist came at him again. Megumi barely avoided it, the punch cratering the ground where he'd been standing.
'No time to think. Just do it.'
Megumi formed the hand sign, but this time he pulled deeper from his shadow. Reached for both Divine Dogs simultaneously, not as separate summons but as a single construct.
Felt the shadow-stuff that made them, felt how they were shaped, felt how they could be reshaped.
"Divine Dogs," Megumi said, and his shadow exploded with more force than ever before. "Totality."
The Shikigami that emerged was nothing like the separate dogs.
It was massive, easily the size of the Nomu. One half of its body was pure black like Kuro had been, and the other half was white, for Shiro. Its musculature was dense, powerful, built for speed. Its jaws and claws should be able to hurt it.
This wasn't two Shikigami fighting separately.
This was their combined power, their combined form, unified into something greater.
Nomu charged at Megumi again.
Totality intercepted it mid-charge.
The impact when they collided sent a shockwave across the plaza, but Nomu barely slowed down. It was stronger, much stronger. The creature's fist swung at Totality, and the Shikigami had to dodge rather than block, taking that hit directly would destroy it.
But Totality was faster. Much faster than the regular Divine Dogs had ever been.
Where Nomu moved with overwhelming power, Totality moved with precision and speed. It ducked under a devastating punch, circled around to Nomu's flank, and its jaws clamped down on the creature's arm. Teeth sank in deep, tearing off its arm.
Nomu roared, grabbing for Totality, but the Shikigami was already gone, already attacking from another angle.
Claws raked across Nomu's back, leaving deep furrows that immediately began to regenerate.
'Its physical enhancements isn't its quirk… It's regeneration,' Megumi analyzed, watching the exchange while maintaining the Shikigami. 'This thing… I can't leave any lasting damage. But Totality is faster. Much faster. So, this should allow me to stall out the fight.'
Totality lunged again, going for Nomu's legs this time. Teeth found flesh, tearing into muscle and tendon. Nomu stumbled, just slightly, and Totality pressed the advantage, moving to the creature's blind spot.
But Nomu was learning. Its hand shot out, faster than before, and caught Totality by the neck.
The Shikigami thrashed, claws tearing into Nomu's arm, but the creature's grip was too strong. It lifted Totality off the ground and tried to slam it down with devastating force.
But not before Totality went back into the shadows.
'I can't let Totality take any hits, Totality might have better endurance than the Divine Dogs, but that things strength was able to create air pressure from the force of its punch. This thing is what the villains believe could kill All Might. Too many hits and Totality will get crushed.'
Totality came back up, immediately on the offensive again. Circling, testing, looking for openings. Teeth found Nomu's shoulder, tearing. Claws raked across its exposed brain, leaving furrows that healed in seconds.
'Regeneration is too fast,' Megumi observed. 'Every wound heals within seconds. But there's a pattern. The brain regenerates slower than the body. And when Totality damages multiple areas simultaneously, the healing is slightly delayed.'
Nomu caught Totality again, this time by the leg, and swung the construct into the ground repeatedly. Once, twice, three times. Each impact sent cracks spreading through the concrete.
Megumi's vision blurred for a moment, the energy drain hitting him hard.
'Can't maintain Totality much longer,' he thought, gritting his teeth. 'But it's not enough. Not strong enough to put it down. I need something else. Something more.'
Totality twisted in Nomu's grip, bit down on the arm holding it, tore away flesh and muscle, and broke free. The Shikigami landed in a crouch, ready to charge again, but Megumi could feel it starting to destabilize.
'Just need one more. One more Shikigami to even the playing field.'
Megumi's other hand formed a different sign, pulling from a part of his shadow he'd barely explored. Pulling from something larger, heavier, bigger than anything he'd summoned before.
He looked up at the USJ's ceiling, at the shadows cast by the dome's framework.
"Max Elephant."
The shadows on the ceiling suddenly expanded, darkening, and from them emerged something enormous.
A pink elephant-like Shikigami, easily five meters tall, materialized from the ceiling shadows directly above Nomu.
Gravity took over immediately.
The elephant dropped, its massive weight, several tons, falling like a meteor toward the Nomu below.
The impact should have been devastating.
But when Max Elephant hit, something was wrong. The force should have crushed Nomu into the ground, should have cratered the concrete, but instead the creature barely moved. The elephant's massive weight pressed down on it, but Nomu was still standing, like the impact had been... absorbed.
'What? That should have…!'
Nomu grabbed Max Elephant with both hands, and even with the Shikigami's massive size, the creature started to lift it like it weighed nothing.
'It absorbed the impact,' Megumi realized, his eyes widening. 'The force of the drop was completely negated. It's not just its natural physical resilience; it has shock absorption!'
Understanding clicked into place. That's why it could take those hits from Totality without being knocked back. That's why it seemed so durable beyond just the regeneration.
Megumi dismissed Max Elephant immediately, the Shikigami melting back into the shadows before Nomu could throw it.
His vision blurred from the energy expenditure. His legs shook.
'Different approach. Can't rely on impact. Need something that doesn't rely on force. Something that pierces rather than strikes. More than Totality.'
He reformed the hand sign, pulling from his shadow again, this time summoning Max Elephant right beside him instead of above Nomu.
The massive Shikigami materialized at ground level, trunk already positioning toward the Nomu.
"Piercing Water," Megumi commanded through gritted teeth, pouring what stamina he had left into the attack.
Max Elephant's trunk opened wide, and a torrent of high-pressure water erupted, compressed into a cutting jet by Megumi's desperate focus.
The water stream hit Nomu's chest like a spear. The shock absorption couldn't fully negate it, the water didn't impact, it cut, it pierced, like a drill. The pressure was intense enough to penetrate the skin, to push through muscle, creating a hole that exposed internal structure.
The hole went deep, exposing bones and tissue beneath.
Totality lunged at the same moment, using the opening Megumi had created. Jaws clamped down on Nomu's exposed brain, teeth sinking deep, tearing, shredding the tissue that regenerated slower than anything else.
Claws raked across the hole the water had made, widening it, tearing away flesh, making the damage meaningful.
For the first time, the Nomu made a sound that might have been pain.
But the cost was devastating.
Megumi felt his stamina drain like someone had pulled a plug. Maintaining two modified constructs simultaneously, Totality's combined form and Max Elephant's massive size with the water pressure attack, was too much.
His vision went dark at the edges. His legs gave out completely. He collapsed to one knee, gasping for air.
Blood dripped from his nose. His hands were shaking uncontrollably.
'Too much. Used too much. Can't maintain…'
Max Elephant dispersed first, unable to hold its form.
Nomu was still standing, pieces of torn flesh hanging from its body, the hole in its chest not fully healed yet, but the regeneration was already working.
It surged upward with a roar, and its fist caught Totality mid-lunge.
The punch was devastating. The force of it sent the construct flying backward, and when Totality hit the ground, Totality's form came apart like smoke, unable to maintain cohesion after the damage it had taken and with Megumi's stamina completely depleted. The Shikigami melted back into shadows.
Megumi felt the forceful return of his Shikigami like a physical blow to his chest. His vision swam. He tried to stand, tried to form the hand signs again, but his fingers wouldn't respond.
His shadow wouldn't move. He had nothing left in the tank.
Nomu stood, its regeneration having already taken him back to his original state before the injuries happened.
It turned those dead eyes toward Megumi.
Started moving.
That same impossible speed from before, covering the distance between them in a heartbeat.
Megumi tried to move, tried to sink into his shadow, tried anything, but his body wouldn't respond. He was completely drained, completely defenseless.
Nomu was closing in, fist pulling back for the killing blow.
'Move…' Megumi thought distantly. 'I can't die here…'
And then the entrance doors exploded inward with a sound like thunder.
The shockwave alone made everyone stop, made even the Nomu pause mid-stride and turn toward the entrance.
"FEAR NOT."
"I AM HERE."