Nomu

Jilan Jiyu crouched low as he made his way along the edge of the plaza toward the flood zone. Looking at the many figures in the plaza, he silently prayed they wouldn't notice him.

"I'm just brushing past, not going in..."

Shota Aizawa stood in the very middle of the plaza, surrounded by a crowd. Though he was panting heavily, no one approached him rashly. Perhaps they were being suppressed by having their Quirks erased, and they merely surrounded him warily.

"Ah!! Die!"

Several people in front of him exchanged glances and rushed him together, swinging machetes and clubs at Shota Aizawa!

Shota Aizawa ducked beneath the blades and wrapped the scarf around his neck around a baseball bat. An upward kick sent the fat man holding it flying into the air. Pulling hard on his scarf, Aizawa flipped him over his back and slammed him into another man, sending them both crashing to the ground.

Another man swung a fist at him with brass knuckles. Shota Aizawa tried to retrieve his scarf, but the fat man held on to it tightly. With no other choice, he jumped back to avoid the attack for the moment, then pulled hard and got his scarf back.

A tall, powerfully built man with a nonhuman form seized the opportunity to appear behind him and grab him in a tight bear hug! Shota Aizawa drove his elbow into him several times. The man cried out in pain, but he still wouldn't let go.

Just then, the man with the brass knuckles rushed over with a vicious grin. Aizawa could only watch as the brass knuckles slammed into his abdomen, and blood immediately welled from his mouth. Even so, he gritted his teeth against the agonizing pain, grabbed the tall man's arm, and roared as he heaved his whole body up, throwing him over his shoulder at the guy in front of him!

"How could this happen?!" The man with the brass knuckles only had time to wail once before the big man crashed into him, knocking him to the ground and out cold.

By then, every enemy around Shota Aizawa was sprawled on the ground!

"Pretty cool~ As expected of the underground hero whose name strikes fear into people's hearts..."

A guy clapped his hands as he walked over from beside the pool, making a remark that could have been either praise or mockery. What stood out were the hands hanging from his face, shoulders, and arms, all giving off an air of decay!

He walked toward Aizawa like that, then broke into a run halfway there. Madness laced his voice. "But until All Might gets here, you can be the appetizer!"

Is this guy the leader... Is All Might his target!

Shota Aizawa panted and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. His hair rose as he activated his Quirk again and charged at the guy in front of him!

As if it had a mind of its own, Shota Aizawa's scarf struck first, flying toward his opponent to bind him. But the man reacted quickly, reaching back to grab it and closing the distance between himself and Aizawa in the process. The instant they came into contact, Aizawa ducked and drove his elbow into the man's unguarded chest!

"Tch."

Shota Aizawa felt that his opponent hadn't taken much damage. Instead, the man had grabbed his elbow at the last moment. Aizawa's hair fell, and just as he was about to move out of the man's attack range, his opponent's low voice rang out.

"Even though you've been running all over the place, the moment your hair falls is when you blink, right? In other words, your Quirk isn't active for that second. And the intervals are getting shorter and shorter..."

Shota Aizawa's heart sank. As the man spoke in his low voice, Aizawa felt the outermost layer of skin on the elbow he was holding crumble and break apart, like a wall under an external force... Pain, intense pain!

"Don't push yourself too hard, Eraser Head."

Aizawa slammed his free left fist into the man's chin and jumped back to put some distance between them, discovering that his elbow was already ruined.

But even so, he had no opportunity to cry out in pain. Enemies kept coming at him, and he nimbly dodged their attacks, striking them with his scarf and his shoulder before rolling to a place that was relatively safe for the moment, clutching his elbow.

The enemy leader he had just knocked down slowly climbed to his feet and carefully adjusted the hand on his face with both of his own.

"That Quirk of yours isn't very well suited to a long fight against multiple opponents, is it? Things are completely different from your usual work, aren't they? What you're good at is short battles using surprise attacks, after all, right? Even so, you still charged in. Was it to reassure your students?"

As he spoke, several more enemies charged at Shota Aizawa. Although Aizawa drove them back, they forced him into a somewhat disadvantageous corner.

"Oh, right, hero...?" the man with the hand on his face drawled. "Haven't you gotten something wrong? I'm not the boss, you know."

Shota Aizawa spun around and saw that an enemy with a bird's head and a human body, several times his size, had appeared behind him without his noticing. He was just about to use his Quirk when his eyes narrowed and a hand came down over them!

"Mr. Aizawa!" At the edge of the pool in the flood zone, Izuku Midoriya watched helplessly as Shota Aizawa was instantly beaten down by the enemy like a torn rag. A massive hand covered his face, and then a pair of bloodstained goggles flew through the air...

I have to go help him!

Izuku Midoriya couldn't worry about anything else now. His teacher, who had been covering for him, had been beaten down by the enemy and was being held helplessly against the ground. How could he possibly stand there and watch in safety at a time like this?!

Even so, he hadn't lost his composure. He knew that charging in like this would be reckless, so he said to Tsuyu Asui beside him, "Tsuyu-chan, I'll rush out first and draw the enemy's attention. When I lure that enemy away, take the chance to pull Mr. Aizawa over with your tongue. Mineta, use your Quirk to stick down any enemies coming our way..."

"Midoriya, don't be rash. This isn't a good time." Asui analyzed the situation calmly. "We didn't see how that freak got to Mr. Aizawa at all. If we show ourselves recklessly, the enemy could spot us and wipe us all out."

"How can we not?!" Midoriya knew Tsuyu Asui was right. They had no idea how strong that freak was... But Izuku Midoriya gripped the finger he had just injured with his right hand and said unwillingly, "If I use my whole arm...!"

"Midoriya, you can't do that." Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out behind them. "I saw the whole thing from up above. Even your Quirk might not be enough to take him down."

"Huhhh!? Jilan!?" Midoriya and the others jumped at the voice and immediately turned around. Jilan Jiyu was right behind them, his body submerged in the water with only his head showing above the surface, bubbles still coming from his mouth...

"Jilan, I'm so glad you're all right!" Midoriya breathed a sigh of relief, but his delight was soon replaced by worry. "I wonder how the rest of our classmates are doing. And Mr. Aizawa, he..."

"Mr. Aizawa will be fine." Jilan Jiyu swam over and leaned against the edge beside Tsuyu Asui, staring intently at the young man with a hand on his face. "The most important thing for us right now is to contact our other classmates. I've already thought of a way, but I need your help."

Shota Aizawa's head was pressed firmly against the ground. Even using his Quirk, he couldn't erase the enemy's ability.

The enemy with the hand on his face seemed delighted. Laughing, he spread his hands and said to the nearly crippled Shota Aizawa:

"Let me tell you, Eraser Head. This guy is the anti-symbol of peace, the modified human 'Nomu.' I'm his master, Tomura Shigaraki."