There were no miraculous saves.
No one was going to magically appear, either.
All Might's fist was the fist of a villainous judgment.
And it landed right where he intended it to be — on Luke's sides, sending him flying at an angle like a black meteor.
Booooooooooooooooooooom!!!
A massive cloud of dust rose where Luke landed, bounced, and then skidded away, the whites of his eyes gaining several red veins instantly.
His blue pupils were nowhere to be seen.
He couldn't hear the cracks, the hissing ruptures, or the loud thuds.
When Luke came to a stop, much behind Bakugo and Midoriya, he felt like he was floating among clouds, weightless.
Midair, All Might grabbed Nyx with one hand and Erasure Head with another before swiftly landing on the ground.
Nyx was flailing her wings, trying to scratch All Might's eyes out with her claws.
But her vision had blurred so much because of the wetness that she couldn't even see anymore.
All Might's punch had sent Luke flying beyond a hundred meters. Even if they were to ignore the self-imposed limit of 50 meters on their publicly known Raven Quirk, they still wouldn't be able to activate any more Quirks.
This was a mistake, Nyx realized, cawing out her lungs in desperation.
They had always known that All Might was a monster among monsters. It was just — no one had expected to actually stand true to those words — against children.
Next to All Might, Erasure Head coughed several times as he stood up. The shock on his face had yet to vanish, a cyan-colored blurry image flashing in his mind on repeat.
How did he find me?! Erasure Head looked at Nyx before his gaze landed on Luke in the distance. If it wasn't for…
"… yeah…" All Might said, cracking his neck, guessing Aizawa's thoughts. "Luke got you good, huh? Even Midoriya and Bakugo took me by surprise. I didn't expect them to coordinate their movements so swiftly… not when they were fighting each other a few moments ago."
Erasure Head dusted his shirt. "They are getting clever," he said.
"You taught them well, then," All Might praised, smiling.
Erasure Head shook his head. "Not good enough, I guess," he replied flatly. "It was a mistake coming after me. I'd expected more from Luke. He should have taken the chance and bolted for the EXIT. Sure, there were risks of getting caught even then. However…"
All Might nodded. "Against Villains like us — priority should have been on making it out alive — no matter the means."
"That's what you get for playing Hero too much," Erasure Head said. "You forget what's truly important."
"Yeah?" All Might asked. "Then… why are you smiling?"
The grin on Erasure Head's face vanished as fast as it had involuntarily appeared.
"Anyway…" All Might said, sounding a bit disappointed. He held Nyx's head tighter, stopping her from squirming so much. "It's Over…"
The three boys, out cold, hadn't heard much of the words shared by All Might and Erasure Head.
But the moment All Might said Over, it was like someone had hammered nails into their consciousness.
After all they had gone through…
After pouring their all and everything…
Were they going to lose the match just like that?!
Luke's body stirred, his blue gaze finally gaining a touch of sight.
His strategy had been a solid one. More than solid, perhaps. He had calculated for All Might's health, strength, and weakness before going ahead with Plan D.
Now, it seemed, he must have taken one more thing into account — All Might's ridiculous will to go beyond his limits for stupid things…
It didn't matter how much stronger he had become as a Beyonder at this moment.
All Might's punch had landed on his side like a mini train — with an actual train's weight — cracking all his left side's ribs.
He couldn't even transfer such a wound to someplace else, either.
With Nyx out of the 100-meter range, there was no way of using Bioalchemy, either. Otherwise, later, he could have blamed this sudden extension of range on his Will to win.
Forget about activating a Quirk within out-of-range Nyx, Luke dared not move even a finger now, for he feared finding more broken bones within his body.
Somehow, Luke adjusted his face, letting out painful grunts. His blurry gaze landed on Midoriya, who was facing him as well, lying on the ground as dead as he was.
Beyond Midoriya, an almost-dead Bakugo was eying both of them, too.
In Class 1-A, including Todoroki, they were the strongest students with powerful Quirks.
Yet, against absolute Power…
No.
It wasn't Over.
Luke looked at Bakugo… begging for a few seconds, shocking the boy to the core.
They couldn't talk to each other, but even Midoriya understood that look, lying between Luke and Bakugo.
Why?
What was the point?
What could they possibly do now?
And then, without giving Bakugo any chance to accept his request, Luke looked at Midoriya.
In that instant, Midoriya knew what Luke was trying to accomplish…
In that instant, he knew Luke had gone insane…
"Ha… Haha…" Bakugo laughed, seeing Midoriya's stunned face. "… I will… buy… 10 seconds… Birdshit!!"
A chill ran down Erasure Head's spine.
He instantly brought his gaze upon Bakugo, but it was already too late.
An insanely powerful explosion burst out from Bakugo's palms, raising clouds of dust and creating huge gusts of wind.
As the explosion lifted him off the ground, Bakugo turned his wrists slightly, making him face the two Pros.
Then, using all his remaining strength, he grabbed the pin on the left-hand gauntlet and pulled it out. "DIE!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
Simultaneously, Luke's blue pupils dilated, gaining a bluer tinge.
Even if they momentarily blocked Erasure Head's vision, it wouldn't change anything.
However, there was one thing they could try… one thing they had been trying for days without getting any results…
And Midoriya, who was looking dead into Luke's eyes, once again found himself suspended in the blackness.
DEKU! Midoriya cried in the blackness. DO IT!!
Pouring his heart into calming his mind and focusing on All Might's toy figurine from his childhood to guide his Spirituality, Midoriya reached out…
… and, tearing through the blackness, Luke's hand grabbed Midoriya's, pulling him in.
A sudden effusion of light blinded Midoriya.
When he regained his vision, he found himself standing next to Luke, a tall, muscular woman eying him down.
"Well, well, well…" Nana Shimura said, smiling ear to ear. "Look who's here… Finally!"
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100 Power Stones: +1 Bonus Chapter