The air burned like ash.
Sector 3 was no longer just a battlefield. It was a graveyard refusing to rest—rubble trembling with every footstep, screams muffled under crumbling buildings. The smoke had thickened again, laced with Nomu blood and scorched steel. But no one was backing down. Not anymore.
I stood shoulder to shoulder with Zane, both of us bloodied, armor scorched, breaths heavy.
Across from us—the Joker.
Grinning. Breathing like he enjoyed the carnage. And beside him? A monstrous Nomu hybrid wielding the copied abilities of Hawks, Endeavor, and even All Might. Not quirks, no.
Perfected mimicry.
This was no longer a Nomu war.
This was extinction on purpose.
"They're pushing from the west!" Ryah's voice rang in my comms, tense. "Sector 1 and 5 are losing control—Shira's flanking them, but she won't hold for long."
"Where's the toxin field?"
"Dispersing. But slow. Wind currents are against us. It'll take another twenty minutes."
We didn't have twenty.
Zane let out a breath. "I count six cloned pros. Two Edgeshots. A Mirko. An Eraser. That's gonna hurt."
I nodded grimly. "Split them. We can't let them move as one unit."
Suddenly—BOOM.
A shockwave ripped through the right flank.
I turned, eyes wide.
Bakugo.
Limping. Bleeding. His gauntlets sparking with unstable detonations—but he wasn't alone.
Shoto. Covered in frost burns, blood down his cheek. One eye swelling shut. Fire blazing around his left side like a dying star.
And between them—
Izuku Midoriya.
Angry.
Eyes locked on Joker. Muscles coiled like springs.
He still didn't recognize me under the mask. But I saw the way he clenched his fists when he spotted the clones of the heroes we all once looked up to.
"Midoriya's in," Zane muttered. "Let's give him a path."
We moved fast.
I rocketed upward, smashing into the Mirko clone mid-leap, dragging her into a shattered building. She moved like the original—feral, brutal—but colder. Hollow. She didn't talk. Didn't scream. Just fought.
Steel met bone.
I threw her through a column and spun midair, heat vision bursting from my eyes and striking another clone just before it could reach Bakugo.
Zane dropped behind the Eraser clone, activating EMP blades. "Sorry, Teach," he said dryly. "But you're not real."
The clone reacted—only barely—before Zane slammed him into the concrete with enough force to shatter bone.
We kept moving.
The skies above began to open again—dark clouds split by lightning, not natural but artificial. Technology and quirk mixing in storms created by chaos. Wind howled, bringing with it airborne Nomu with razor wings and no eyes.
Ghost's voice buzzed in.
"Status?"
"Clones engaged. Sector 3 holding."
"We've got incoming from the north. Joker just opened another gate."
Another gate?
How many were there?
Suddenly—
Todoroki shouted, "Behind you!"
I pivoted—and saw it.
A clone of All Might. But not the weakened one. No. This one looked like he stepped right out of the golden era.
And he didn't smile.
He charged me with terrifying speed.
I gritted my teeth, arms up, taking the full brunt of the impact. We collided midair, energy bursting outward, windows shattering across blocks. My back slammed into a train wreckage.
I groaned, armor sparking. That punch almost crushed my lungs.
Zane darted in with a grenade spike, but even he got backhanded through a wall.
"Phantom!" Shira's voice cracked. "Fall back—NOW!"
"No time," I rasped. "He's too fast. We split him."
From the rubble, a shadow jumped—
Diamond.
Eyes wide. Armor damaged. But here.
"ANOS?!"
My breath caught.
My eyes flicked to her. Then to the others. Eliza. Marcus. Alex. All limping, injured—but here.
They knew.
They heard.
I couldn't respond.
Because right now, the clone of All Might had just reached Bakugo.
And Midoriya screamed.
I exploded forward, faster than sound, slamming into the clone and dragging it into the upper stratosphere. Higher. Higher.
Then—boom.
I let the energy burst.
A controlled detonation of toxins Ryah gave me, just enough to paralyze the clone. I dropped his body from the sky and landed hard beside Zane.
He was panting.
"You good?"
"No."
We both laughed bitterly.
And then turned to face the horde.
The war wasn't done.
But for the first time…
The tide started to shift.