The Altered Original Story and the Fleeing "Villain"

Uraraka Shige stood on the ground, having momentarily forgotten what he was going to do next.

Because he remembered that, in the original story, the first ones to suffer little damage and remain conscious after what Endeavor called a low-temperature test should have been those monstrous Nomu...

In other words, if events had followed the original story, Endeavor had never actually encountered this "villain"...

In other words, has it already changed?

At that moment, Uraraka Shige suddenly felt a flicker of panic.

Has the original course of this world, the original story, already changed?

The reason for Uraraka Shige's panic was just as he was thinking: at that moment, he had suddenly discovered that the original course and story of this world, which he had known so well, had already been changed by him without his realizing it.

This is way too fast... completely...

Although he had already prepared himself for the possibility of changing how the original story unfolded when he decided to repay All Might's kindness, that was after he had changed the part of the original story where All Might was gravely injured. The worst possibility he had prepared for was that Izuku Midoriya would fail to receive the "One For All" passed down by All Might...

But the story having already changed was something he had not anticipated at all.

When a person or thing that was once very familiar suddenly became utterly unfamiliar, having undergone changes completely unknown to oneself, without one's knowledge or awareness, it would often cause panic. That was exactly how Uraraka Shige felt at the moment.

Fortunately, however, highly developed internet networks existed both in his previous life and in this one. Thus, almost as soon as he fell into a panic over the unknown future, he suddenly recalled the offhand comments and mockery he had directed at certain novel protagonists in his previous life when they found themselves in this kind of situation.

"No... that's not right... I should have realized it long ago..."

Uraraka Shige murmured those words so quietly that even he could barely hear them, but they were remarkably effective in bringing him temporarily to his senses, at least to some extent.

"From the moment a person appears in the world, even if he's just a stillborn baby, he'll cause the people who see him to have certain thoughts, and in turn exert an influence and bring change to this world-everyone inevitably changes the world in ways they may or may not know about..."

That was the obvious conclusion that could be drawn by distilling those words.

"So, I actually changed the original story when I was born into Ochaco's family."

As Uraraka Shige fell into panic and contemplation over his sudden discovery and realization, the "villain" who had returned for revenge also fell into a panic upon seeing the figure who had attacked him.

"Why disturb the farewell gift I so carefully prepared... Endeavor, why are you here... why did it have to be you..."

The "villain" in the suit and tie was no longer as clean and tidy as before. Instead, most of his clothes had been scorched a faint yellow-brown. He had also lost the affected gentlemanly accent he had put on earlier, which had been anything but gentlemanly and had even made people feel distinctly uncomfortable, as well as the unhurried, self-assured manner that suggested everything was going according to plan.

From his words, it was also clear that he had anticipated a "hero" coming here to stop him and had even made preparations for it to some extent. He had simply never expected the "hero" who came to be Endeavor.

"Endeavor... Endeavor... forget it."

Yet although Endeavor's arrival had been beyond the "villain's" expectations, he panicked only very briefly before regaining his composure.

"Even though you're the one who came—no, it's better that you're the one who came..."

For some unknown reason, the "villain" suddenly regained his former self-assured manner. Once again unhurried, he even seemed quite arrogant as he resumed his slow approach toward Uraraka Shige, as though ignoring Endeavor's presence altogether.

"Even if you're the No. 2 'hero,' and even if your 'Quirk,' Hellflame, is extremely powerful, your Quirk ultimately does nothing more than control flames. In that case, you simply can't stop me."

Endeavor was an extremely proud man with an extraordinary competitive streak.

The "villain's" slightly disdainful tone and choice of words, along with his unhurried behavior, immediately stirred Endeavor's competitive spirit and pride. The smile he showed outsiders vanished from his face—the smile he maintained to better fit the profession of "hero" and to surpass All Might in that profession as soon as possible.

"Hmph!"

Endeavor gave a forceful snort, and the flames all over his body flared up at once as he looked in displeasure at the "villain" making such grand claims.

"You've got some nerve saying that... I don't know why you're under that delusion, but it can only be because of your 'Quirk,' right? Did you get confident because my flames didn't do any real damage to you before? Then try this."

Endeavor held out his right hand toward the "villain," all five fingers spread. A great mass of flames began changing from their previous orange-red to a bright yellow, condensing into a stream that surged from his palm toward the "villain" and enveloped him completely. Then, rather than simply burning as they had before, the flames began to spin rapidly, eventually forming a small fire tornado with the "villain" at the eye of the storm.

"Whether your Quirk makes you immune to burns or lets you absorb heat, it must have a limit. And even if flames alone can't do enough damage to you, how long can you last in an environment with so little oxygen?"

Having roughly guessed the "villain's" Quirk from his earlier test alone, Endeavor did not intend to raise the temperature of his flames further and exceed the limit the enemy's "Quirk" could withstand in one stroke. Instead, he used his fine control to trap the "villain" at the center of the flames while using the fire to create an oxygen-starved environment, intending to make him lose consciousness from suffocation and render him unable to resist.

But in the next moment, the flames enveloping the "villain" suddenly vanished. This time, it was not because Endeavor had deactivated his "Quirk" and stopped sustaining the flames. Rather, it seemed as though the fire tornado had suffered a series of powerful impacts from within, blasting the flames that formed it apart.

Immediately afterward, the "villain" took two quick steps toward a nearby sewer entrance, silently blasted a large hole in it, and dropped straight down.