8 Tipping Scales

Sakura watched as the swarm of villains drew closer to the staircase at the entrance, but there were three standing in the back. The dark mist shifted to take another shape, a figure of smoke holding yellow eyes of nothing. Standing as the largest out of them all, a creature with scarred black skin with too many muscles that he stood out among that group, especially with the bird face, jarred teeth, and exposed brain. And then there was the man radiating bloodlust like a broken faucet. Shaggy white hair, face hidden beneath a hand resting on it. In fact, there were hands, ending at the wrist on his shoulders and arms as well.

'Creepy. Wonder if those are real?' She couldn't tell from here.

Some of the students were asking how villains could trespass when there were supposed to be sensors around. It was quickly assumed that someone among the group had a quirk that could deactivate them.

'I wonder what they're after?' It took her a few moments to deduct information. For villains to appear when this class was supposed to be taught meant they were either after someone from class 1-a, plausible but doubtful. Then there were the teachers, all-pro heroes in which two out of three only appeared.

Shouta and Thirteen made sure to keep in front of the students. The homeroom teacher immediately started giving instructions.

"Thirteen, start the evacuation. Try calling the school. These villains even had something to counteract the sensors. Someone with radio wave type power may be interfering," Shouta hissed, "Kaminari. You try contacting the school with your quirk too,"

"Right," Denki attempted to obey his teacher's instructions, but he wasn't able to reach the school with his communication device.

Shouta pulled on his scarf, allowing the folds to flail around mid-air and everyone knew he was getting ready for a fight. Izuku spoke up in concern. "Sensei are you going to fight them all alone? As Eraser Head, your fighting style involves erasure and a quick-binding capture. A head-on fight is….

Sakura knew less about her teacher's fighting style, and even she didn't think it was smart to jump into a fray like that when your power was the ability to erase quirks. If these villains were smart they would eventually be able to figure out a way to out-maneuver him. Then again they did break into a school for heroes, which wasn't from her standpoint the best decision. Even if it was only an off-campus facility with one class.

He looked at the students through his goggles, "A good pro has more than one trick. Thirteen take care of the students!"

Leaping down the hill of steps, scarf ready it wasn't long before he reached the first line of villains. They were obviously going to use long-ranged attacks, but when they attempted to use their quirks it had already been canceled out by the time Shouta reached them, wrapping up in bindings and bringing the three together to crash heads.

'His physical strength and agility are good,' Sakura watched from the stairs as villains were thrown in this and that direction as he showed off his combat skills, using his scarf as if it was another limb. 'Still, there's so many of them and he isn't knocking enough of them out,'

"He's holding his own, against all those villains," said Izuku.

Sakura frowned, "Aren't you supposed to be evacuating?"

"You both should be evacuating!" Tenya called to them. Izuku followed his friend's instructions immediately but Sakura still stayed behind even though she followed after the class at a distance. She wanted to make sure that they all got outside, and that would decrease their risk. Then she'd be able to jump into the fight and help Eraser Head because however strong someone may be, everyone had their limits.

Thirteen was at the front leading the class to the entrance, but a few meters ahead a black swirl of mist appeared on the ground and grew to loom over them preventing their escape. The mist villain Kurogiri had unchanging yellow eyes, yet the malice in them was almost physical.

"Nice to meet you. We are the League of Villains. It may be presumptuous of us, but we decided to invite ourselves into the home of the heroes, U.A. high school to have All Might the Symbol of Peace take his last breath."

'Dammit,' Sakura rushed over to join her classmates. At least now they finally knew what the villain's goal was. She wasn't too far in the back of the class, wanting to view the villain as closely as possible.

"I believe All Might was supposed to be here? Has there been some change?" He wasn't asking anyone, just voicing his thoughts. "Well no matter, my role remains,"

'Does he not have a physical form if that's the case, and based on what I heard about Thirteen's power….'

It seemed that the space hero had been thinking the same, however before any attempt to attack was made by the pro, Katsuki and Eijiro jumped in front disallowing the use of black hole. An explosion for Katsuki temporarily blinded all of them with a smokescreen.

A dark voice chuckled as the mist villain emerged from the ash smoke, completely unharmed and undeterred. However, within that mist, there was also a glimpse of a metal brace.

"That was close. Even if you are students, you are excellent golden eggs."

"Move away you two!" Instructed Thirteen.

Kurogiri's form expanded, the dark matter spreading and covering the entire class's vision as they were wrapped in darker forms of the mist and vanished within them. Sakura kept her eyes wide open, as she was engulfed in the mist, narrowly avoiding an abyss of black but even so the number of her classmates began to decrease.

It was happening quickly, but this power was easily discernible.

'He can teleport,' Now the question was where they were all being sent to? 'One way to find out,'

"Argh!" She saw someone being drawn into the mist and rushed towards them, willing to vanish into the darkness.

The blackness was too brief for her eyes to adjust before they touched light again, the air was thinner, smoke and ash on her tongue as flames engulfed her vision. Buildings alight, the street tar hot to the touch.

'At least I'm still in the USJ,'

She heard coughing from her companion attached to her hand. A boy with short blonde hair, thin eyes, but what stood out about him was his tail. Mashirao Ojiro.

"Hey, you okay?" The pinkette tugged on his wrist realizing that he must have taken too big a breath and inhaled the smoke.

"I-I-I'm fine thanks," He coughed, she rubbed his back. Mashirao stood up, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Looks like we got taken to the fire zone. That mist villains quirk….."

"He's a warp gate," Sakura clicked her tongue. Of course, she finally finds someone with a quirk that lets them teleport and they're standing on opposite sides. "I'm worried about where he sent the rest of the class, a lot of us were caught up in that quirk,"

"Let's get out of here first-

"There they are!" Behind them not far down the road, a group started gathering a few dozen individuals appeared seemingly out of nowhere as Sakura hadn't sensed their presence before now. Many were armed with weapons and blunt tools looking for a fight or rather a one-sided win. And they were going to be disappointed.

Her companion on the other hand wasn't as eager for a fight and began pulling her away from the oncoming villains. He lifted them both into the air, hitting his tail hard on the ground to propel forward.

"We should find somewhere to hide until help comes,"

"Look around, that isn't smart considering where we are." Sakura pointed out. There were flames at every corner, buildings were unsafe, there was a danger of structures turning to ash.

"Then what do you suggest?" Mashirao stopped running once they rounded another corner, but he knew it wouldn't be long before they were discovered out in the open as they were.

"First take care of those guys to make sure they don't follow, and then-

"Whoa, whoa, you want us to fight them head-on?"

Sakura raised her eyebrow, "Of course, otherwise we're going to be stuck with them chasing us around. This is better,"

"This isn't combat training you know, these are real villains. We should at least be more cautious. Maybe use hit and run tactics,"

"That takes too long," Sakura retorted, "We can't waste time if we want to help the others,"

"But you heard that mist villain, they're here to kill All Might so they must have something up their sleeves,"

"That's all the more reason to get back to the others,"

"Why are you so confident we can beat them so easily?"

Sakura smirked, "Because we can,"

Mashirao didn't know what to make of the pinkette's declarations. It was as if she had no fear for the situation despite their lives being on the line. They haven't experienced a fight like this before and now just a few days into school they were thrust into this predicament and she was acting so calm. Even though they were outnumbered and were currently being hunted down by villains.

"What are we going to do then?"

Without answering, Sakura came around the corner, just as five villains appeared down the street as if she knew they were coming.

"What are you doing?" Mashirao called running out to her but she barely glanced his way keeping a sharp eye on the villains, who has seen them clear as day and was running forward.

'Only five,' There were more and she didn't want to waste time searching for all of them.

"Let's play round up. Come on Mashirao, don't fall behind,"

Running in the opposite direction, the tailed boy had no choice but to follow as the villains chased after them. More than the villains, he could also feel the flames licking at his heels and was quickly running out of breath being at low ground. It was barely five minutes before the group had grown, the villains calling on each other to run after them.

"Are you sure about this Sakura?"

"Yeah, I'm just waiting,"

"For what?" asked Mashirao, he looked back. "We've got over ten villains chasing us!"

"That's not all of them,"

They weren't able to make it around the next corner, which was their only turn due to the flames blocking their paths down any other ally building and street, but that option was quickly removed when more villains appeared in front of them, blocking off all means of escape.

'Oh crap,' Mashirao felt the sweat run down his back and he didn't blame the heat this time. He took an offensive position, his tail rising into the air, hands up, feet parted ready to strike. Attempting to also shield his classmate that he thought was in over her head.

"We don't have much of a choice now but to fight,"

He was stunned to see her smile all of a sudden, "That's the idea,"

"An even better idea would've been to make sure we weren't caught by the enemy!" Mashirao hissed, but it was too late now anyway. He decided to follow through with her plan and now they were cornered like prey.

"Relax, we'll be done with this quickly,"

"For you kids!" One of the villains wielding machetes in his hands came towards them, Sakura didn't care to retreat like Mashirao and waited for the swing of the blades, side-stepping and throwing her hand at the back of his neck rendering him unconscious.

"Well looks like my assumption was right. They sent nothing but weak grunts to snuff us out. Pathetic," Sakura looked at them, mockery in her voice as she stuck out her tongue at the end of her statement. She was taunting them deliberately to enrage, and ultimately manipulate them to attack.

"WHY YOU LITTLE-

That's what happened, all of the villains raced towards them. Sakura knew how to fight a large number of enemies, and on her own, with this number, she would have been able to finish in under ten seconds but she had Mashirao to consider as well. She based most of her attacks around him, waiting for the enemy to strike, using him as bait before she went in. Barely using taijutsu to get them to yield. From her previous fights against villains in this world, she realized quickly that these types weren't worth the wasted energy of delivering punches, it was easier to knock them out with a chop to the back of the neck.

Their enemies attacked in a variety of ways. The majority attempted to use their weapons, but it was easy to step aside and get the villains to reveal their weak points, knocking all of them unconscious on the back of the head, she wasn't jumping around as Shouta had been at the central plaza.

Mashirao himself was able to knock back the villains, swinging his tail, the appendage knocking the wind out of his opponents. Even amid battle, he couldn't help but marvel through the chaos at how much control Sakura demonstrated, there was no change in her passive expression while she fought. Taking down the villains easily with a chop to the back of their necks. Just simple maneuvers were enough to avoid attacks and bring these villains tumbling. She'd occasionally pull him out of the way of attack and that was the only time she moved from her position.

There was barely a time difference between when the brawl began and when it ended. But the conclusion was clear.

The villains groaned, laying on the hot tar, all of them out cold in discomfort. A loud clap startled Mashirao as his senses were still heightened from the fight.

"What I'd tell you, these guys weren't much,"

"Yeah….." But they were still villains trying to kill them. That was the part that kept him alert, if they both let down their guard, he didn't want to think about what might happen. "At least we help with the load a little for Aizawa and Thirteen. I hope the others are holding out,"

Sakura was checking around the fire zone, "That should be all of them. Let's head back,"

Feeling a little more confident and at ease thanks to Sakura's demeanor, Mashirao followed her.

"Hey Sakura, what's your quirk?"

She glanced at him, as they ran. "I've got super strength,"

"Really that's it?" Mashirao couldn't believe it. "I thought it was some sort of reflex quirk, especially with the way you fought now and at combat training,"

She chuckled, "That's more practice and training, anyone can do it,"

That was both the truth and a lie.

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It was a fresh breath of air to be out of the fire zone, but the heat was still on. Villains scattered around the central plaza at the fountain. There was only a handful at this point, but they were along the path leading up the staircase at the entrance. That wasn't the worst of the situation as Sakura and Mashirao observed the villains from a safe distance.

At first, Shouta seemed to be missing from the field, but he was quickly found. A giant villain hunched over his form, the skin in his arms making indentations that shouldn't be possible, twisted and cracked. His face was buried in the ground with blood pooling around as he was held down.

The sight sent a horrifying chill through Mashirao, his face turning blue like he was ready to exhale his lunch.

"Aizawa-sensei…"

He didn't notice the way Sakura looked at the situation, counting the villains, calculating and weighing options. Mashirao hadn't even seen their other classmates Izuku, Tsuyu, and Minoru Mineta, sticking their heads out at the edge of the water zone, watching just as horrified as Mashirao.

There was another figure standing just a little ways from the giant bird-like creature with the exposed brain. Sakura held her eyes on Shouta. He was injured and being held captive by a powerful enemy, there were other students here but they were petrified of the situation. And their exit was being guarded by low-level villains.

'I can't find that warp villain either,'

However, just then the villain she was searching for appeared at the side of the man decorated with hands.

"Tomura Shigaraki,"

The man looked at him, "Kurogiri, did you kill Thirteen?"

"I put Thirteen out of commission but there were students I couldn't disperse, and one of them was able to get away,"

Sakura breathed a sigh, another enemy's appearance had turned out to be a stroke of luck now that she completely understood the situation. She glanced at Mashirao, to Izuku, Tsuyu, and Minoru, and then back at the villains.

'I can handle this,'

"Mashirao," The boy jumped at the call of his name but seemed to come out of his state. "Just listen to me, don't question, don't doubt. Just do what I tell you,"

The man Tomura began clawing at his neck, shaking with fury and reeking of bloodlust. "Kurogiri, if you weren't a warp gate I would've crushed you to pieces,"

Then he stopped. And the silence was like watching a predator preparing to strike. "We can't win against dozens of pros. It's game over this time. Let's go home,"

Sakura frowned. There no way, she could still taste it in the air, that glint peaking through the fingers of the hand on his face was still present.

'This is not good,' She made a single hand sign Tiger and put her plan into action. On her left, a perfect replica appeared, surprising her companion.

"You know what to do," Sakura said to her clone who nodded.

"Right," She took off from her position but wasn't too far. Making sure to avoid being seen.

"I thought your quirk-

"Get ready now," Sakura's instruction made Mashirao feel like his heart was about to jump into his throat, but he did his best to remain as calm and vigilant as her.

She felt it, just as the silence was about to be broken. Shigaraki's eyes landed on the three students in the water, like an arrow strung and ready to be released. But Sakura didn't allow him to set on his course.

"Before we leave. Let's smash some of his pride as the Symbol of Peace!"

Without a cry, she leaped from her hiding place, fist drawn before falling into the ground. It was like an earthquake right in the middle of the USJ. Tremors shook and knocked people off balance. It was that moment, that chance that she and Mashirao took to move.

Her clone struck at the remaining villains in the plaza, knocking them down and clearing the path as her original wanted and then taking center stage to join her. Mashirao had been instructed clearly, without room for argument, to gather his classmates, while Sakura played as bait and the distraction.

And then they were all to escape with their teacher. It sounded like a plan stitched together with a thread of madness but he had been strictly told there was no room to argue especially when the only that seemed to have her faculties despite the situation was doing the sowing.

Sakura was not a fan of the shadow clone technique, for those who had a massive supply of chakra and no control like Naruto it was a great method of outweighing the odds in battle. An entire army at a single sign of his fingers. For Sakura, it was a technique that halved her chakra despite her best control. But she needed to put more weight on her scale to counteract the number. And she had finished the Byakugo seal, she had the chakra to pull off this jutsu without exhausting herself immediately.

Only three villains were remaining, but they stood out to her and that's what made her realize that the novice students on her side currently would not be able to tip the scales.

The smoke cleared, exposing the damaged area. To keep from hurting her teacher, Sakura had ensured that her strike was controlled and more importantly as stable as possible only meaning to create a smokescreen and shake the ground to render a distraction, small cracks visible like the spider pattern of broken glass, allowing her to take Shouta right from under the villain's beak.

Sakura, her clone clutching Shouta in her arms and rushing over to them, Izuku, Minoru, and Tsuyu following Mashirao who was basically dragging them in the right direction. They reached her safely.

"Sakura, you were here too?" asked Tsuyu.

"T-There are two of you now!" pointed Minoru.

"S-Sakura?" was all Izuku could stutter, looking at their teacher.

"H-Haruno?" He seemed to be questioning as his eyes unfocused, blinded mostly by his own blood was trying to put the two blurry blobs of pink and red together in focus but he couldn't.

"Still conscious sensei?" The clone asked, putting a hand over Shouta's face. Her hand glowing with healing chakra as she mended the injuries.

"You…..you all…." Shouta struggled to cough out, his throat filled with blood. Even in his weakened state, he attempted to move. His arms were broken, one of his elbows looked like the skin had been peeled off, revealing the layer of muscle but there was a greyish cracks as if the skin had decayed. "….get out…..escape…."

Sakura frowned, she started trailing her hand over his neck before pressing down on a nerve, watching his eyes close."Yeah, sorry about this but you're not in any shape to fight, the enemy or the medic,"

"Wha-What are you doing?" asked Izuku.

"Relax he's just sleeping," Sakura then instructed her clone, "Just wrap up the arms, the bones are shattered. He'll need surgery first for the splinters and double-check the muscles, tendons-

"I know,"

"Aizawa-sensei's wounds, are….healing," Tsuyu observed, her expression barely changing but there was a glint of surprise in her eyes.

It was a little difficult to decide what to focus on, their class representative who apparently had multiple quirks or the villains.

"Alright then," Sakura cracked her knuckles under her gloves. "Onto the second act,"

There were exactly three villains, and she made sure to have them all in her line of sight. The smokescreen was only a means of gathering her teacher and classmates. She wanted to ensure that the villains didn't counter her plan.

Now their eyes were set on her as the field took an eerie calm once again. A chilling experience for most.

The shock had knocked Tomura and Kurogiri for a loop because they seemed to just be getting to their feet. Sakura did not want to look away from that other villain, bigger didn't always mean better but her instincts were screaming at her to take things at face value as well in this situation.

Tomura glared at them, his hatred intense. "Another wannabe hero showing up,"

"Wannabe huh? We'll see about that," Sakura turned to her clone, "Get them out of here,"

"Right," Sakura's clone adjusted Shouta in her arms, telling her classmates to follow her closely, "Let's move,"

"Are you planning on fighting them by yourself!? Are you crazy?!" Cried Minoru. "Look what they did to Aizawa-sensei!"

"You all being here will just get in the way," Sakura didn't turn her eyes away from the enemy.

"It's-It's too dangerous by yourself!?" Izuku argued. "That villain with the hands can destroy what he touches. And then there's the mist and the bird villain is really strong!"

"Ribbit, we can't just let you fight them by yourself,"

"I agree!" said Mashirao. "These guys are different from those other villains, you're also a student-

"Enough!" Sakura's voice held firm, she laced it with an intensity that sent shivers down all of them. "Go now!"

A single glance from her was enough to kill all protests. And without another word, they followed the clone's instructions and began to make their way towards the exit.

'What was that?' Izuku wondered, glancing back. He felt that he had broken into a cold sweat, all from the pinkettes look.

"Now then," Sakura rounded the creature, still refusing to turn her back on the other villains. "Let's do this,"

"Nomu," Tomura spoke with a detached calmness, "Go,"

On command, the creature moved dirt tracking a path behind as it rushed for her. Fangs bared, eyes as bare as its brain and fist raised. He was strong, but before submerging, she had to test the water. Molding chakra in her fist, she held strong, and then….they clashed.

The force was strong and heavy as was the punch, even so, when the dust cleared, Nomu was holding his fist against a much smaller version. He went for another punch and against she met his fist and again, and again. But it was as if they were at a stalemate. Countering each other's force.

Sakura did not want to let up, because if her assumption about this villain's power was right then she wasn't going to risk taking a hit.

'This guy's no joke,' There were very few people who could match her in terms of physical strength. Power and chakra was a different matter. But this was starting to make sense to her. She knew that All Might was powerful and yet despite his reputation these villains stormed the facility looking to kill him. And she had found the key component of their plan. Right now she was going to have to focus on taking down the giant meant to take down the countries number one hero.

Nomu may not be deterred by Sakura's counter to his punch, but Tomura was.

"She withstood Nomu's punches with her own, how is that possible? He's supposed to be as strong as All Might," Kurorgiri observed in disbelief.

"No, she's cheating somehow," Tomura narrowed his eyes, his fingers twitching in irritation "That's not allowed. Nomu, take her down now!"

It seemed that a switch had been pulled as the Nomu reached for Sakura. And that's when it happened again. Just like when she was fought against Rappa, things seemed to slow down, her eyes were able to follow Nomu's movements.

'I can see it,'

Grabbing a kunai from her pouch, Sakura moved away from his hand that loomed over her head using it to lift herself up so she was at higher ground, throwing the kunai into the air simultaneously. Nomu's eyes fell on her and again attempted to reach, to crush her in his hands as he had with her teacher.

Sakura brought her heel down on the end of the kunai, just as the villain opened its mouth. The blade piercing through his beak and jutting out of his chin. But he was barely affected and still swiped his hand at her, the force knocking her back in the air without contact.

She landed as quickly as she could, doing several back-flips until she got her barring.

"What the hell is that guy made of?" She asked watching as Nomu tore the kunai from his mouth, blood dripping for a few seconds before the flesh closed and covered itself again in skin.

'He healed?' Sakura became rigid.

"I'm starting to get how this guy's supposed to beat All Might," Sakura glared back at Tomura and Kurogiri. "That is your plan isn't it?"

Tomura seemed to take a delight in her prodding, "Nomu is the bio-engineered anti-symbol of peace that will put an end to All Might. With his shock absorption and regeneration, how could one of you hero wannabe's even hoped to defeat him?"

So that was it. Shock absorption was one thing but regeneration was another problem, topping it off with this villain's strength the bold attack was really forming a clear picture. And if what he said was true then that meant she wasn't going to cut it like this.

Sakura glanced for a moment over at her clone's back, running with Shouta in her arms. She wanted to release the jutsu so she could fight this thing at full power. 'Calm down, everyone and every power have a weak point. Just have to think,'

In this world, Sakura understood that many people could take on anthropomorphic appearances, their bodies mutated but even so underneath they were human and she knew the human body. From the battles she and her friends had with the Akatsuki, Sakura was always certain that no matter how strong an opponent there was always

'Liver, lungs, spine, clavicle, jugular, kidneys, heart, brain-damn,'

The brain. It was exposed like that. And there was a rule about brawling, always protect the face. It wasn't just for aesthetics. That was one of the most vulnerable points and could induce a knockout. Taking a hit to the head with the same amount of force you might take to another part of your body like your arm would not make you lose consciousness.

'Should I?'

"Is Sakura doing okay?" Mashirao asked looking back.

Sakura's clone clicked her tongue, "If I'm still here, then she's fine, we're almost to the entrance. Stop worrying about me. We need to hurry up so that I can get back,"

"This is kinda strange talking to you about you," said Minoru.

"Ribbit, Sakura didn't even use a clone during the combat training,"

"Because it wasn't necessary,"

"Will Sakura-I mean you really be alright?" Izuku asked.

"Don't worry," The clone assured. "You'll know something's happened to the original if I vanish,"

"What does that mean?" asked Mashirao.

"Either the original does it on purpose, or she's severely injured, or dead,"

That set Izuku off because he couldn't take another step away from the battle and he rushed away. "I'm going back, get Aizawa-sensei to the entrance!"

"Wait Izuku!" the clone called after him, but he didn't listen and she was still holding Aizawa. "Dammit,"

"Hold on I'm going to-

"Don't you dare!" The clone hissed, slamming her foot into the ground so hard it cracked the ground. "I will knock you out before any of you can take another step back there. Here,"

The Sakura clone handed off Shouta to Mashirao, who grunted at the weight. She pointed to the staircase "Get up there and stay or I-

There was a white puff of smoke that startled the students, but when it cleared, the clone was gone. That caused a lump of dread in the pit of their stomach as they looked back at the battle.

Mashirao swallowed heavily, "Sakura….."

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'Can't keep dancing around like this,' Sakura told herself as she fell down on Nomu. Her body was straight as she shot down like an arrow, her feet landing on his back. The force breaking the ground below him, but he remained unscathed. Reaching for her as she jumped away in time.

It was a spur decision but the most practical, end the battle as quickly as she could and then worry about healing the injured. When the clone jutsu was released, the original would retain their memories and Sakura was not expecting Izuku to be coming her way. Now there was more reason to end the fight quickly. No time for prodding.

'Gotta go for the head, now or never,'

Sakura ran towards Nomu again, and he didn't seem to be capable of thinking or considering seeing her eagerness for a fight as a trap. She thought that he was going to punch again like before as his fists were raised and ready, but then his fists unclench, clasping her small fists and holding her in place.

'What is-

She straightened, feeling something looming behind her, in a mist of black swirls and hand appears just as she turns around, reaching towards her face and somehow she knows whose hand that is, but she doesn't know what it's about to do.

"LET GO OF HER,"

Izuku's screams catch not only her attention but the villains too. He wasn't coming towards Sakura but Tomura and Kurogiri who were being used to warp his hand to get Sakura. Izuku knew what would happen if Sakura was touched by that villain's hand. He had watched Shouta's elbow crumble like a leaf in autumn and imagined what would happen if he grabbed hold of someone's face like that.

"SMASH,"

He jumped at Shigaraki, throwing his fist forward. The power in his force made it difficult to see what happened. But in that instant, Sakura's hands were released unharmed and Nomu was out of sight. It registered and she checked what happened in that instant.

Izuku stood, looking at his arm in wonder. Unharmed, unbroken despite the attack. And yet his celebration for controlling the output, at last, wasn't possible when Nomu's force loomed over him now. His quirks clearly in full effect.

"Izuku!" Sakura called about to dart for him until she heard a tremor and the conflict was paused.

They weren't able to see the doors to the USJ being kicked down nor the relieved expressions on their classmate's faces as All Might entered without a smile on his face.

"Fear not!" He spoke with his teeth clenched, "I am here!"

Tomura seemed delighted at the heroes appearance "Oh, we're getting a 'continue'"