𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗜𝗗𝗘𝗦 ⌈𝐈⌔𝐌 ✗ 𝔽!𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫𝑬𝑹⌋

Chapter 117

CHAPTER 117: The Thin Line Between Life and Death

The sky cracked open like a wounded beast, thunder rolling with primal rage as Izuku blazed through the storm, his cloak of power trailing behind him like a comet. Every beat of his heart was a war drum, urging him forward. The American jets roared at his flanks, synchronized in formation, but nothing could match the firestorm burning in his chest.

He had to get there in time.

Lightning illuminated the night, casting flickering glimpses of U.A.’s decimated skyline. The floating stronghold that once stood as a beacon of hope now lay fractured and burning—a ghost of what it had once been.

Izuku descended like a meteor.

The battlefield stretched before him in a collage of carnage and courage. Flames licked at the shattered remains of buildings. Craters marred the earth where titanic blows had landed. Heroes bled, fought, and fell in silence.

He spotted them one by one—

Nejire, crumpled beside Tamaki, whose trembling arms tried desperately to protect her, his eyes wide with trauma.

Mirko, ever unbowed, glaring death at the enemy despite blood pouring from her leg and arm.

Jeanist, collapsed under twisted steel cables, his precision lost in a haze of exhaustion.

Katsuki, the living embodiment of fury and defiance, still moving, still fighting through blood-soaked grit.

And then…

You.

Your body lay still, too still, sprawled across rubble blackened with soot and rain. Crimson bloomed beneath you, spreading like ink in water.

Izuku stopped breathing.

For a moment, the world was void. The storm became a whisper. His senses collapsed into a single point—you—lifeless in a sea of wreckage.

His heart cracked.
"No... please no..."

Images raced through his mind: the way your eyes lit up in battle, the quiet strength you offered when he was on the brink, the unspoken words between you that meant more than any confession ever could.

And now… nothing?

The storm answered with a scream of wind as his body erupted in chaos. Blackwhip lashed wildly, a storm within a storm. Danger Sense, Float, Smokescreen—they flared without command, each Quirk reacting to the storm of grief and rage boiling inside him.

Lightning flashed in his eyes, dancing across his skin like divine fury.

"You took her from me!" he roared, voice raw, shaking the very air.

Shigaraki—no, All For One—laughed, the sound a hollow, blighted echo.

“Touching,” the villain crooned, “Is this the part where you go berserk? Cry for her like a child, just like you did for that mentor of yours?”

His taunts only fueled the fire. Izuku’s body glowed like a dying star, edges flickering between realms of power.

He was going to tear him apart.

But then—

“Midoriya!!”

Mirio’s voice rang out like a bell cutting through fog.

Izuku’s breath hitched, his vision snapping toward him. Despite a split lip, despite a shattered gauntlet and bruises littering his form, Mirio stood tall, defiant, immovable.