The final explosion from our combined attack echoed throughout the industrial district, a deafening declaration of victory. For a moment, there was only a blinding white light and a total silence as the world seemed to hold its breath. Then, slowly, the sounds began to return. The sound of falling debris, the hiss of steam from Todoroki's melting ice, and most clearly, the sound of all our ragged, desperate breaths.
In the center of the blackened crater on the roof, there was nothing left of the high-tier Nomu. Only destruction. We had won.
I felt the last remnants of my strength evaporate. The Incursio armor, which I had pushed to its absolute limit, no longer receded normally. It shattered. With a cracking sound like glass, the black plates broke into thousands of red and black particles of light, then vanished into the night air. The shockwave from the forced release threw me backward, and darkness quickly crept in at the edges of my vision. The last thing I saw before passing out was the faces of my friends running toward me, their expressions a mixture of relief, awe, and pure terror.
From Ryukyu's perspective, the scene was an organized chaos. She was injured, her stamina drained, but her commander's instincts took over. "Midoriya, check on Tatsumi's condition, now!" she roared, her hoarse voice echoing. "Momo, status report from inside! Is our exit clear? Give us the safest route!"
Midoriya, though his arms still ached, immediately knelt beside me. He had no medical knowledge, but he had seen the effects of overusing power on himself many times. He checked my pulse, felt my shallow breathing. "He's... he's passed out from total exhaustion," he reported. "But his breathing is stable. He pushed himself too far, even worse than when he fought All Might."
Meanwhile, Akame stood a little way off, calmly cleaning the black blood of the Nomu from her Murasame blade before sheathing it again. She looked at this chaotic group of young heroes. They were inefficient, emotional, and often reckless. But they won. They worked together, protected each other, and managed to defeat a monster that would have troubled even an Imperial general. Kirishima, with his straightforward courage, was the first to approach her.
"Hey," Kirishima said, still panting. "I don't know who you are, or what your deal is. But... thank you. You saved Hado-senpai, and you helped us here." He held out his unhardened hand, a sincere gesture of friendship.
Akame looked at the hand for a moment, then at Kirishima's honest face. She didn't shake it, but she gave a small, almost imperceptible nod. "I was just... cleaning up the trash," she replied curtly, a lie that now felt a little less convincing even to herself.
"The cargo exit is clear!" Momo's voice came through the communicator. "But I'm detecting more movement on the lower floors! Other cell doors are opening! You have to get out of there now!"
"You heard her," Ryukyu said. "Let's move."
The journey out of the Humarise facility was a tense epilogue. They were no longer being chased by one powerful enemy, but by the sounds of growls and scratches from the darkness of the corridors. Bakugo, who had surprisingly become more cooperative after the fight, helped Kirishima carry my body. "Don't think this means anything, Shitty Hair!" he growled. "I just don't want him to die before I can beat him fair and square next time!"
Momo, from above, became our most important cheerleader, guiding us through the labyrinth of corridors now filled with small, failed experimental monsters. "Turn right! Ignore the door on the left, there's something big behind it! Hurry!"
Todoroki and Iida took up the rear, occasionally firing bursts of ice or quick kicks to slow down anything that tried to follow us. Akame moved at the front, her sword ready, becoming the spearhead that cleared the way. Nejire and Uraraka helped support the injured Ryukyu. We were a strange unit, an alliance born of fire and desperation, moving together toward safety.
They finally managed to reach an emergency exit on the other side of the complex, breaking it down and emerging into the cool night air. In the distance, they could finally hear the approaching sirens of the police and pro heroes, guided by Momo's frantic reports. They had made it. They were all safe.
Akame was the first to leave. She knew she couldn't be here when the other heroes arrived. She paused for a moment at the edge of the shadows. Her eyes met Ryukyu's, a silent acknowledgment between two powerful warriors. She looked at Midoriya and gave him an unexpected nod of respect. Then, her eyes fell on my unconscious form on Kirishima's shoulder. She walked over, and with a gentle motion, she slipped the Yozakura wooden token back into one of my intact pockets.
"We'll meet again, Tatsumi," she whispered, a promise only the night wind could hear. With that, she melted into the darkness, disappearing without a trace.
When the first pro heroes arrived on the scene, they found an incredible sight: a group of battered U.A. students, an injured Top 10 hero, and behind them, a secret facility now unleashing its horrors upon the world.
I woke up two days later.
The first thing I felt was the softness of the sheets and the faint smell of lilies. I wasn't in a regular hospital. This was a VIP private care room. I tried to move, and although my body still felt incredibly tired, the tearing pain was gone. My healing ability had been working overtime.
The door opened, and Nejire entered, carrying a tray of fruit. Her bright, energetic smile had fully returned.
"Good morning, sleepyhead!" she greeted cheerfully. "You almost gave us all a heart attack, you know that?"
"Nejire-senpai," I said, my voice hoarse. "Are you... okay?"
"Thanks to you, yes," she said, sitting in the chair beside my bed. "Thanks to all of you. Ryukyu told me... well, a very, very censored version, I guess. But I know you did something incredible to save me." She leaned forward, her big blue eyes looking at me with a new seriousness. "Thank you, Tatsumi-kun. I owe you my life."
The bond between us felt stronger than ever. She was no longer just a senior I was curious about; she was a comrade I had saved, and I was a junior she had seen risk everything.
Our internship ended in the most chaotic way possible. The official report of the incident was heavily censored. The public was told that an unknown villain organization had been raided by heroes, and that U.A. interns had heroically assisted in the evacuation process. There was no mention of Humarise, Yozakura, Akame, or the high-tier Nomu. Everything was covered up by the Public Safety Commission to avoid panic.
Back at U.A., we were all called in for a series of counseling and evaluations. But among us—the students who were at Kamino and at the training camp—there was a new understanding. We had seen the true face of the hero world. We had faced death and failure. And we had all grown because of it.
That night, after returning to the Alliance Heights dorm, I stood on my room's balcony, looking at the quiet campus. I held the wooden token from Akame in my hand. My mind was filled with questions. Who was Humarise? What was their connection to Teigu and my old world? And what was I to do with my secret alliance with Akame and Ryukyu?
I closed my eyes, focusing on my dragon's heartbeat. It felt stronger now, calmer, more in tune with me after all the battles. I no longer felt like I was carrying a monster inside me. I felt like I was finally starting to learn how to ride a dragon.
The break was over. New enemies had shown themselves. And I... I had a lot of training to do. I opened my eyes, looking at the full moon hanging in the sky. The road ahead was still long and dark, but for the first time, I was no longer afraid of the shadows—both those outside, and those within me.