Finding Me (Todoroki x Reader)

Chapter 136

No one uttered a word, all too focussed on the horror being broadcasted on the screen.

Endeavour wasn't moving as he laid splayed across the decimated ground like some twisted artwork. From the bird's-eye view of the scene, a black figure stood over him. I shivered at the sight when they zoomed in close to him. No, it wasn't a he at all; no human being would have a completely ink-black body two-times the size of the fallen hero beneath him; no human would have an elongated neck that twisted and wound up like some viper ready to strike. And its eyes - they were like heated coals in a fire, seething and hungry for more to burn.

The beast suddenly turned its flattened face to the sky. "Aren't there..." it snarled, voice deep and hungry, "...any other stronger heroes around? Is he best?"

The camera swung back to the Flame Hero in question, zooming in on his beaten body. A deep, bloody cut sliced through Endeavour's left eye, a concerning amount of blood seeping out of it. "Endeavour," I muttered, half in shock and half as a plea. No, he couldn't stop moving now. He just couldn't.

Beside me, Shoto still stared at the TV, blue and grey eyes wide as saucers and his body frozen to the ground. His energy signature had gone void, suddenly scaring me more than anything. "Shoto?' I asked, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. He didn't respond, not even flinching at my touch - as if I wasn't even here.

As I turned back to my classmates, I found them already looking at me. "L/N," Midoriya was the first to speak, worried eyes flicking from me to the boy beside me, "and Todoroki. You're back."

I nodded. "We just got back. What the hell is happening, guys?"

"A nomu appeared out of nowhere in Fukuoka, Kyushu," Momo answered, the slightest tremble in her voice. "He attacked the Wing Hero: Hawks' hero agency. Endeavour was there with him and has been fighting the nomu for a while now. But..."

I stiffened at that. A nomu? That's what that foul monster was? The screen zoomed back in on the nomu, who was now crawling away from Endeavour. Unlike the other nomu, this one was bigger and looked stronger, as well. Without even being there, I could sense the beast's great and horrible power. "So this is the League's doing?" I asked, not taking my eyes off the screen - unable to.

"I have no doubt it is," Iida said. "But L/N, this nomu is different. He's more advanced than the nomu we've encountered before. He can fly, and regenerate - he's basically indestructible. It's on a whole other level."

"A High-End nomu..." I finished off. Crap. If what Iida was saying was true, then the whole world was in trouble. Really big trouble.

"The villain who suddenly appeared is now destroying the city," a female news reporter said from the TV, the camera angle zooming out to showcase a smoking and fallen Fukuoka from high above. "I can't confirm this, but it looks as though many bio-engineered human nomu are also on the ground. Heroes are currently attempting to suppress them and evacuate citizens. However, Endeavour appears to have been greatly wounded. This madness... I can't help but draw comparisons to the nightmare we witnessed three months ago in Kamino Ward."

Amidst the many buildings and rising smoke, a blazing flame suddenly erupted. "Look there, guys," I said, pointing at the TV. As if hearing me, the camera zoomed back to Endeavour, whose fist was now engulfed in flames. "He's still moving!"

Endeavour blasted himself off the ground, launching himself towards the High-End nomu at a terrifyingly fast pace. His resounding cry echoed through the lounge room as he blasted a pillar of fire at the beast. However, the nomu dodged it, sending out a snaking arm to grip onto the Flame Hero. Long, slender fingers weaved around Endeavour's broad chest before the nomu slung him away, barrelling him through four buildings before stopping at the fifth. "You are not good enough!" bellowed the nomu, baring his picket-white teeth to the sky.