Kirishima saw a flash of black light sweep the Wendigo away.

A warm, sticky liquid splashed onto his face. He raised a shaking hand to wipe his nose. He stared at his fingers for several seconds, unable to understand why they were red.

Hands reached under his armpits and lifted him to his feet as if he weighed nothing.

His glassy eyes darted around, trying to remember where he was and why.

Cars were burning and piles of charred metal littered the ground. Acrid smoke rose from the wreckage of a crushed truck.

He heard someone scream, then beg.

His thoughts were so foggy that it took him several seconds to realize that this was not normal. As if in a dream, he slowly turned his head toward the sound.

He squinted, trying to get a good look.

There was someone on the ground, lying on his back. His mouth opened and closed, but Kirishima couldn't hear him. There was another person standing just above the first one.

He put his foot on the neck of the lying man, preventing him from getting up.

Kirishima saw the standing man twirl a sword in his hand. The blade reflected the sinister flames that consumed everything around them.

And then he plunged it into the chest of the man on the ground.

Kirishima's mouth opened to scream.

The blade twisted in the other man's chest, as if his killer was trying to tear him apart from the inside. He heard the bones crack, saw the flesh stir like a soup of intestines under a spoon.

Kirishima could only stare in horror as the man on the ground screamed

He wasn't dead.

- Oh, my God, he's not dead yet !

There was something sadistic about the way the killer kept twisting the blade in the other man's torso, his shining eyes never taking their gaze from the tear-stained face of his victim. Even when the other man stopped gesticulating, the killer twisted his blade a little more in his intestines. Then he sliced off his victim's head.

Kirishima heard a thud to his left.

He turned his head to see a black-haired teenager puking everything in his stomach.

The stench of feces and piss rose to his nose.

When he looked up, it was to meet the assassin's eyes.

He blinked.

Had he dreamed those red eyes ?

- Aizawa-sensei told me to do it.

Kirishima felt his breath catch in his throat.

The second before, he had been on the other side of the battlefield, so how...?

The boy who had thrown up wiped his mouth with his sweater, but he didn't dare turn around.

It was the other strong boy - the one who had lifted Kirishima - who answered:

- Ai-aizawa... is he the one who...?

- They killed Denki

The strong boy inhaled sharply. He shook his head, his mouth quivering.

- N-no, it can't be...

- He was behind the dormitories when they exploded.

The boy who'd been vomiting put two fingers to his mouth, as if to stop himself from throwing up again.

- How do you know that?

The assassin looked down.

At his feet was some sort of disjointed puppet, missing its head. He wiped the flat of his sword on the dirty jacket.

- I was with him.

His gaze wandered over the surroundings as if he were discovering the place.

The flames were reflected in his eyes, and their changing shape cast ominous shadows on his face.

It took Kirishima a few seconds to realize that neither teenager could look the killer in the eye.

The assassin's cold fingers brushed his temple. Surprised, Kirishima took a step back. The other boy acted as if nothing had happened.

- I've done enough. Let's go back.

He put his clean sword back into its sheath.

*

They are afraid of me.

I realized that the second Sato refused to meet my gaze, in the way Sero had turned his back and walked away from me, the way Deku flinched as soon as I opened my mouth.

Kirishima wasn't afraid - not yet - because nothing was right in his head.

But it didn't matter: I'd fulfilled my part of the contract with Aizawa and had my little revenge.

Whatever else happened tonight, I washed my hands of it.

- Stop

The four boys stopped at the entrance of the school at Monoma's command.

Monoma emerged from the darkness, his eyes red and his blond hair floating above his head. His gaze swept over each of us.

- It's them.

There were sighs of relief. A handful of teenagers emerged from their more or less dubious hiding places, smiling tiredly.

- Where the hell have you been?

Yaoyorozu's dark circles ate up half of her face. Her eyes lingered on me longer than the others, but she didn't say a word.

Tokoyami, on the other hand, scrutinized us all with his usual imperious air.

- Kirishima, there's blood in your hair!

The boy gently touched his head.

- Huh? Well, there's no wound...

- We thought you were dead, haha

No one laughed.

- Todoroki, wait, you've got blood on you too...

Séro clenched her fists and climbed up the stairs in silence.

- It's not mine.

Monoma looked at me longer than necessary but said nothing.

- What's going on? Is Todoroki here?

Jiro hurried down the stairs, almost bumping into Séro.

- Why shouldn't I be here?

Jiro looked at Yaoyorozu before turning to me.

- Ochaco saw a fire in the desert. She and Bakugo went there a while ago, thinking it was -

They saw my clone turn on his heel and run away at full speed.

- Wait ! Todoroki!

But I was already far away.

*

Katsuki spat to get rid of the bad taste in his mouth.

Blood rolled down his forehead and stuck to his eyebrow. He wiped it away with two fingers, turning towards the villain.

- Is that all you can do, boy?

Katsuki gasped, his breathing jerky.

- I'm disappointed.

I can't lose, I can't lose, I can'tcant-

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The teenager roared and attacked again. He threw blow after blow, varying his attacks from a simple punch to the most subtle back kick. But it wasn't enough: the villain was too fast. He dodged and parried each of his attacks with frightening ease.

- I've told you before, if you put too much weight on your front leg...

The villain's fingers grazed Katsuki's elbow and he immediately lost his balance.

- ... you leave yourself open for this kind of counterattack.

Katsuki felt the air being violently expelled from his lungs as All for One destroyed his stomach with his knee.

- Bakugo!

The boy burst through the air like a meteorite, unable to stop himself. His head was spinning: he could no longer tell sky from ground, right from left.

An outstretched hand touched his shoulder.

He came to rest a hair's breadth from the ground, his heart beating wildly. Cold sweat ran down his neck. What would have happened to him if he had fallen headfirst at that speed?

Ochaco pulled him to his feet, legs shaking. She looked terrified.

- Did...

She swallowed, unable to formulate a proper sentence.

Katsuki, his hands on his knees, needed a few seconds to regain his composure: his stomach hurt like hell and his head was spinning so much that he thought he was going to throw up.

Only his will to remain dignified prevented him from collapsing to the ground to face his enemy. If he did, the villain would kill him. And after that, he'd kill Ochaco. Katsuki couldn't let anyone die while he was around: it was unworthy of All Might, so it was unworthy of him.

- Already up ?

Katsuki shrugged.

He had the choice between dying and dying : he might as well go all out and to hell with the consequences, right?

His lips curled into an evil smile, his pointed fangs gleaming in the silver moonlight.

- I could do this all day.

The villain sneered.

- A bit pretentious considering the state you're in, don't you think?

Katsuki used his explosions to propel himself towards the villain.

He kicked him in the head, which the villain blocked with his forearm. Katsuki raised his left foot to strike All For One's chin: he stepped back, avoiding the blow by a hair's breadth.

- You're not so-

Katsuki sent a kick from his right foot into the air just above the villain: parallel to the ground and with his feet still next to All For One's face, Katsuki curled up into a small ball. He put both hands on the villain's face and smiled with all his teeth.

- Fuck you!

And for the first time in his life, Katsuki used his Quirk at 100%.

Every drop of sweat, every molecule of moisture, every tiny atom of excretion that had left the pores of his skin exploded.

The bones in his arms shook like straw in the wind. Their muscles throbbed against his skin as if they were about to snap and tear. Katsuki let out a scream of rage, his eyes wild: he dug his nails into the villain's skin and squeezed, squeezed, squeezed, while all his sweat poured from him. Then he blew the whole thing up.

It had the effect of chain grenades: a series of explosions superimposed on the first, turning All for One into a roasted skewer. The dark sky lit up like fireworks: the clouds glowed red, then yellow, then red again.

It was magnificent.

Katsuki watched with morbid fascination as the villain's face exploded before his eyes.

His ears were ringing. He could no longer hear anything from the left, but he hardly noticed.

The villain's face was reflected in his eyes, drowned in the tsunami of explosions that went on and on. His head disappeared behind the smoke.

If Katsuki hadn't held his skull in an iron vise, he would have thought it had been obliterated.

Suddenly, icy hands wrapped around Katsuki's wrists.

The teenager's eyes widened. He tried to free himself, but the villain pulled so hard that he almost collapsed on top of him. Katsuki felt his heart pounding in his throat. If he resisted, his arms would be torn off.

The villain exhaled a cloud of black smoke. His mouth stretched into a slow, horrible smile, revealing his gleaming teeth. He grinned like a hunter about to devour his prey.

- My turn.

He opened his mouth wide, inhaling all the smoke and the last of Katsuki's explosions.

He tilted his head back, expanding his lungs to spit it all out. Katsuki panicked and pulled at his arms, trying to free himself even if it meant losing an arm.

The villain pulled harder on his wrists, forcing him nose to nose with him. And then he spat everything out.

Katsuki barely had time to hide his face behind his shoulder before he was thrown into the air by a tornado of fire. It was as if All for One had turned into a dragon: a veritable jet of fire shot out of his mouth, sweeping up everything in its path.

Katsuki flew almost ten meters, unable to resist the pressure and power of the burning geyser.

His clothes went up in flames. In a split second, his entire shoulder turned black.

He felt his skin shrinking like burnt parchment, smelled the disgusting smell of burnt pork rising to his nose, saw white blisters appearing all over the reddened skin of his arm.

Katsuki crumpled to the ground and stifled a scream. He felt like he was being boiled from the inside out.

Tears of pain rolled down his cheeks as he writhed and screamed. He felt as if acid had been poured over his arm and someone was digging their fingers into his flesh to play with it.

He heard someone scream. It took him a few seconds to realize it was his own voice.

He thought he was dying. He fainted.

But the moment he did, his survival instinct took over. Alarms flashed in every part of his body, forcing him to wake up and flee. If he stayed here, he'd be at the monster's mercy.

Katsuki's eyes rolled wildly in their sockets, as if he was fighting himself to stay lucid. Unwillingly, he looked down at his shoulder and wanted to die.

The skin fell off his arm. The experience was surreal, as if it were someone else's arm and skin, someone very far away, someone he was watching through a TV screen.

But the suffering - oh, the suffering - was his own.

With a superhuman effort, Katsuki managed to get down on his knees. He was shaking from head to toe and for a moment, he thought he couldn't do any better.

But his fear of dying was so great that he forced himself up again.

His leg shivered under his weight, his thigh almost buckling from the effort. Gritting his teeth, his eyes glazed over, he forced himself to lift his other leg.

He staggered, nearly falling face first. His blood ran cold, knowing that if he fell again, he wouldn't be able to get up.

Miraculously, he regained his balance.

His shoes made furrows in the sand as he hobbled back to camp.

His throat burned from swallowing too much smoke. His vision was blurred by the tears streaming down his cheeks. His eyelids were half closed, as if he would fall asleep at any moment.

A distracted part of his mind realized that he could no longer feel his arm. Indescribable relief washed over him.

- Where do you think you're going?

Katsuki's eyes were fixed on the camp.

The dormitories were like a spot of fire on the dark horizon, a beacon of light in the middle of the darkest night of his life.

As long as he kept his eyes on them, all would be well.

- We're not done yet

Katsuki quickened his pace.

His charred arm hung like a dead weight from his shoulder, forcing him to lean to the right to regain his balance.

- Come on. I promise I'll be nice this time.

He was almost running now, dragging himself away from the monster as fast as he could. Hot tears ran down his dirty cheeks.

Suddenly he froze, eyes wide open.

There was a warm breath on his neck.

- You're interesting, you know...

The villain struck Katsuki's ears with both palms, knocking him off balance. Blood spurted from his ears as the boy staggered, his eyes haggard.

- ... for an insect

All for One folded his arm, palm open and muscles flexed.

He watched the teenager for a second, his face closed. The poor boy, half facing him, was too confused to understand what was about to happen to him.

All for One inhaled sharply: the air in front of his hand compressed into a pea-sized white ball. The wind picked up around them, blowing their hair and ruffling their clothes. The boy stared at the sphere with his big, stupid eyes, like a deer caught in the headlights.

Ochaco raised her arm to cover her face, eyes squinting: the wind tore his skin, carving bloody furrows in it. The air mixed with the sand became so strong that it was visible to the naked eye: it looked as if All for One and Bakugo were at the center of a cyclone that was about to destroy everything.

- Too bad your friend didn't make it in time, huh?

A thin smile stretched the villain's lipless mouth.

- Maybe the doctor was right. Maybe he's more like me than I thought...

Katsuki's mouth hung open, a thin stream of drool running down his lower lip.

The villain frowned, suddenly irritated.

- Why am I wasting my time talking to you?

All for One stretched out his arm: the wind increased in intensity.

Katsuki could only watch, arms flailing, as the shredding ball headed for his chest.

It made a horrible sound, like a chainsaw running on empty.

He knew it would hurt, but he also knew it wouldn't hurt for very long and - oh, there really was a lot of drool on his chin. He didn't know anyone could have that much saliva in their mouth. Maybe it was a record ? Was he a record man ? Was someone...

The air was violently expelled from his lungs.

Katsuki collapsed to the ground like a lump, gasping for breath. He heard something snap in his back.

The pain exploded, shattering his foggy thoughts in an instant. His eyes almost popped out of their sockets as something tore into his back.

Suddenly he felt extra lucid.

He could see every grain of sand falling like snow around him.

He heard every voice around him with unprecedented clarity : Ochaco was screaming, and the villain... the villain was also screaming.

Katsuki blinked, unable to understand what was happening: and then he saw a hand fall right next to his face. It bounced on the sand, fell again, and rolled onto its back. One of the cold fingers touched the tip of Katsuki's nose. The boy just stopped breathing.

As if it had been waiting for him to notice, the hand suddenly began to bleed.

It was as if someone had opened all the floodgates wide: hot blood cascaded from the wrist and poured onto the sand with the intensity and force of a dam that had just burst.

It looked like wine.

Katsuki had tasted wine once. He hadn't really liked it.

The mulled wine rolled down a dune, flying through the air like a surfer doing acrobatics on a stormy sea. It rolled in the hollows of the sand, almost hovering over the golden surface because of its speed.

Katsuki watched with morbid fascination as the wine raced across the desert.

And then it splashed his face.

He jumped back, pushing tons of sand to bury the bloody hand away from him.

He tried to get up, but was abruptly knocked back to the ground. Something was on his back.

His knees dug so deep into the sand that for a moment he thought someone was trying to drown him. Red and yellow grains sank into his nose and mouth, preventing him from breathing.

He lifted his watery eyes to the villain and froze.

Standing over him with one foot on his back was Shoto Todoroki.

Katsuki inhaled sharply.

Shoto was covered in blood.

There wasn't a square centimeter of his skin that wasn't covered in blood.

There was blood on his clothes, under his nails, on his shiny sword. There was blood in his hair, on his forehead, rolling down his neck. There was blood dripping from his blade in a terrifying plop-plop.

His grip on his sword was so tight that the knuckles of his hands were white. His muscles were tensed, his legs bent, his jaw clenched. His forearms, neck, and forehead were bulging with veins. White clouds of steam rose from his skin, swirling gently around him, giving him an unreal appearance.

He looked as if he'd come straight from the underworld.

It took Katsuki a few more moments to notice that Shoto was trembling.

It was a subtle tremor, something he would have missed if all his attention hadn't been focused on the boy who had fallen from the sky like an avenging god.

Katsuki's eyes moved up his face.

His mask had been half blown up, part of his nose and mouth showing.

His mouth was set in a cold, hard line, his lips so white it looked as if the blood had stopped circulating. The protruding vein that ran from his chin to his throat was so large that it looked as if it would burst at any moment.

His nostrils contracted and expanded as if he was struggling to breathe, and his cheeks tightened and relaxed so visibly that he looked like he was about to scream.

Then Katsuki focused on his eyes.

They glowed eerily, almost phosphorescent, casting the shadow of his eyelashes across his cheeks. Their pupils were reduced to two dark slits, two slits that made

Katsuki recoil for a brief moment.

There was something smoldering in those eyes, something dark, animal, dangerous, that made the hairs on the back of Katsuki's neck stand up.

Suddenly, he understood.

Shoto wasn't shaking because he was afraid, oh no.

If Shoto was shaking, it was because he was purely and simply mad with rage.

*

Author's note :

A fight between Shoto and All for One so early on in the story ?

Makes me wonder what will happen...

Anyway, if you want to support me/read ahead of schedule, you can do so on my P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

Power stones goal for the sunday bonus chapter = 250

See you in the next update everyone !