Chapter 109: Fighting Back

"Endeavor can fly?" Shido was amazed as he floated just behind Endeavor while Hawks started ushering people away.

"I can only prevent myself from falling! Keep your guard up! This guy is...still moving!" Endeavor replied.

"Do you need help?"

Endeavor paused for a moment before replying, "No. Go save everyone first before helping me. I'll stall the nomu for some time."

"Ok! Hawks! I've already evacuated all seventy-six victims from this building. Go evacuate the people on the north and east side. I'll start from the south and west side." Shido instructed.

Hawks nodded his head and flew to the direction he was responsible for without hesitation and started his evacuation.

Shido did the same as tens of clones started appearing and ushering people away from the fight.

Just a mere five minutes after Shido started the evacuation process, he suddenly saw a huge black thing cut through the entire building like butter.

Shido wasted no time and flew towards the bottom of the building's falling part and raised his hand.

"Endeavor! Don't worry about the building! Focus on the nomu!" Shido screamed. Endeavor heard him and hesitated slightly before eventually nodding his head. Placing his entire trust into Shido, he carried on attacking the nomu without care for the building.

Shido didn't look too worried as a torrent of wind started to appear around Shido.

"Tornado."

As soon as Shido whispered, a massive tornado was formed. The fantastic thing that the civilians observed was that the tornado actually didn't touch the ground at all. Although some trees and stores were blown away from the strong wind, there was no severe casualty.

The tornado got stronger and stronger, bigger and bigger. It grew until the diameter of the tornado was as big as the building. The wind produced blew the two fighting figures away from the building, and Endeavor's flames were enhanced.

"Shit!" Endeavor swore to tear Shido to shreds later since his flames grew too strong from the wind. His body couldn't handle this amount of heat, but he endured it and continued attacking the nomu.

The building soon lost its structural integrity and fell. However, the civilians didn't panic too much as they saw the massive tornado support the building's falling part.

"Rise."

Following his commands, the tornado rose to the air, carrying the fallen piece of building to the empty and vast sky.

"What's he trying to do?" Hawks and Endeavor looked on with surprise, but they couldn't be distracted for long.

"Oi! Hawks! Help with the nomu's clones now!" A clone of Shido appeared in front of him and hurriedly said.

"Oh! Ok!" Snapping out of his surprise, he looked at Endeavor with worry but quickly went to deal with the other nomus so Endeavor could focus on the main nomu and would not be distracted.

Shido continued manipulating the air from above as he carried the building higher and higher towards the sky. He knew that this part of the building could no longer exist since it could neither be attached back to the building nor used in any other way. It would only cause more destruction should it fall onto the main street.

"Well, time to make this disappear. Spacequake."

Space started to distort in front of Shido with the building as the center. Ten seconds later, a huge impact could be heard as the building was engulfed in the compressed space.

Shido carefully observed this phenomenon as it was the first time he had used it consciously. The Spacequake looked similar to a black hole and a bomb combined into one.

Shido was sure that if he ever threw this Spacequake to the ground, everything within the radius of thirty kilometers would be annihilated into nothing.

The unfortunate building part was soon engulfed in the Spacequake and soon was destroyed into pieces and rubbles, before being disintegrated into even smaller pieces, which were then destroyed into nothingness.

"Phew, now that's the problem of the falling building solved. Time to go back and help Hawks." Shido wiped his imaginary sweat from his forehead.

He turned back towards the ground and started to take out the nomus. His clones couldn't deal with the nomu; they could only stall it. His clones didn't have the special weapons he has, and only possessed two firearms and the ability to use Spacequake and City of Devouring Time. However, both of the latter couldn't be used in the middle of a large crowd, so they had no choice but to use their firearms only.

Using Camael, Shido sliced the first clone of the nomu he saw and realized it wasn't regenerating.

"Hm? It's this weak?" Shido muttered in disbelief as he looked at Hawks, who had just killed another one.

"Maybe cause it was just a clone? Or was it an incomplete product?" Shido thought for a moment before shaking his head.

Putting these thoughts out of his head, he went on to the other four nomus and sliced them all into half without any exceptions. While this was going on, his clones started to usher people even further away from the fighting zone.

Hawks had already killed four of them as well, which made up of a total of nine.

Suddenly, he heard Hawks screamed Endeavor's name in worry, and he immediately turned around to see the scene of Endeavor's face being cut by some sort of shapeshifting arm from the nomu.

"Endeavor!" Shido also yelled in worry as he quickly rushed over to his body. He didn't see the nomu around, so he assumed that it had wandered away to find the next 'strongest' hero so that it could fight against him.

"Zafkiel!"

Seeing Endeavor's condition, Shido wasted no time in summoning Zafkiel.

"Dalet."

Luckily, Endeavor had only gotten injured just a few minutes ago, so the 'time' needed to rewind Endeavor back to his peak wasn't much.

Shido also noticed that the nomu had returned to this scene and looked straight at him.

The moment Shido shot at him, Endeavor immediately got up, his face clean and fresh, as though he had never gotten into a fight before.

"Woah!"

Not even checking his condition, Endeavor flew up and rushed towards the nomu and blasted him with another fire punch.

But at the same time, the nomu also returned with a long-range scratch that pierced through this skin.

Endeavor still hasn't noticed that his body was back to its peak and was surprised that the blow he was expecting didn't seem as intense or painful as the previous one.

Nonetheless, he was still sent flying, crashing through three more buildings, and eventually got stuck in the fourth.

"More...M-More strength...!" The nomu stepped on the rubble and screamed as he raised his head. Nomu had obviously noticed that Endeavor had healed up for some reason and thus put in a lot more strength than he usually would in that attack.

The nomu looked towards Shido and pointed his fingers at him.

"You...strong...very strong..."

"Sentient nomu? How interesting...but you're wrong about me being strong," Shido replied to it, "I'm just a guy with plenty of tricks."

THe nomu didn't, or maybe it couldn't reply, and just dashed to him.

"Hahahahahahaha!" The nomu crackled loudly and madly as he dashed towards Shido, but before he could, Endeavor was in front of him and blocked the punch from the nomu.

Shido frowned a little at this scene. All Might was one thing, but Endeavor was another. What Shido wanted for this society is a symbol of peace and hope that lived to tell the tale, not a symbol of peace that died to protect humanity.

A hero who died is no hero. A dead person can't protect anybody.

"So, y-you have regen-regen-regeneration, too?" The nomu stuttered, but Endeavor didn't reply.

His fists were launched at the nomu once more, and a torrent of flames appeared to burn the shapeshifting hand.

However, the hand seemed to have some fire-resistant properties as it wasn't melting like it was supposed to.

The hand successfully pierced through Endeavor's hero costume and onto his left shoulder, but Endeavor didn't back off.

Endeavor roared as Shido headed in the opposite direction and launched a flaming slash at the nomu. Hawks was also present and launched a few feathers at the nomu.

Those feathers might not have any firepower, but their speed combined with Shido's flame slash was enough to let the nomu be distracted, which was just what Endeavor needed.

Tens of feathers supported Endeavor from behind, forming fiery wings when combined with Endeavor's flames. Shido also helped, with the wind fanning the heat of the flame even hotter.

'I'll push you forward, number one! You are what this society needs!"

Endeavor received a substantial buff thanks to the number two and three hero's support and aimed his fist at the nomu's face.

However, things never go to plans in life.

The nomu's obsession with power suddenly took a physical form: the shape of a monster. All the chains that were previously holding back the nomu were now broken, and the nomu grew even stronger than before.

The nomu opened his mouth widely, and his teeth closed in on Endeavor's fist, chewing his flaming fist like some sort of food. Simultaneously, his right and left arms stretched out to Hawks and Shido, respectively, trying to slash and stab them to death.

Hawks barely dodged, but the same couldn't be said for his shirt and visor. His visor cracked into pieces, and his shirt was torn. He also received some cuts from the sharp nails, but it wasn't anything serious.

Shido just mosaiced himself and let the claw pass through him harmlessly.

Endeavor didn't panic and continued pushing forward with his punch. His flames continued to burn brightly inside the nomu's mouth, and though it had some effect, the nomu's regeneration was fast enough to heal the burns.

The nomu also refused to let go of Endeavor's arm, so when Endeavor pushed forward, it caused both of them to fly on as well. At some point, the nomu managed to get his footing back and started flinging Endeavor around instead. Both of them flew back and forth, neither of whom was willing to back down.

"They're all burnt to cinders now; I can't offer much more support!" From a nearby rooftop, Hawks shouted.

Endeavor didn't mind it and instead asked Shido for help.

"Phantom! Help me go up!" Endeavor shouted with some difficulty as he started propelling himself upwards.

"Sigh, what are you trying to do now?" Shido muttered under his breath, but he did what he was asked and used the wind to propel Endeavor up the open sky.

Higher and higher, Endeavor went, and Shido realized what Endeavor wanted to achieve. Endeavor couldn't use his full potential in the middle of the streets as it would cause a massive fire, but up in the air?

It was a different story. Endeavor wasn't alone, however. Shido also flew together with Endeavor while preparing a massive attack.

"You are...what I could have been..." Endeavor started speaking as they reached above the tallest buildings, "...In the past...or perhaps...in another future...I'll burn you up...and you can rest."

"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Endeavor roared with great fervor as giant flames started to be produced all around his body.

[Plus Ultra Prominence Burn] + [Plus Ultra Wind Spiral]

Shido unleashed the torrent of wind in a spiral, and combined with Endeavor's already massive flames, the blaze was further enhanced and got even more prominent.

A giant flaming tornado appeared in the air as a meteorite-looking shape formed across the area.

From down below, it looked as though a shooting star had appeared. The 'body' being the nomu and Endeavor, and the 'tail' or 'shadow' of the shooting star being the flaming tornado.

After five minutes of intense burning and flames, Endeavor finally couldn't endure the extreme heat already and lowered the flare. Shido also stopped the tornado as any more would hurt Endeavor instead.

And like any other meteor or shooting star, they lost their momentum and started to fall down towards the earth.

Shido gently used his wind to support Endeavor's body so that it would float down slowly. However, the nomu's body received no attention and landed on the ground with a loud 'thud', and a blast of dust and smoke appeared.

The moment Endeavor reached the ground, he didn't fall down despite his totally beaten up appearance.

He stood proudly on his two legs, and although his head was down, his right arm was raised up high proudly.