After the entrance exam ended and the new school year finally began, Raiden moved slowly through the grounds of U.A.
Now that he was in third year, his schedule had changed a lot.
Most of his classes had been replaced with training sessions and patrol preparation, with only a few academic lessons remaining—mainly law, hero procedure, and regulations, subjects that officially began in the third year.
That meant he now had large windows of free time during the day.
The work at the hero agency hadn't started yet either, so for the moment he simply walked around campus, hands in his pockets, observing the movement around him.
Below, the first-year students were moving toward their respective classrooms.
Most of them looked completely lost.
They walked in circles, checked maps, asked for directions, hesitated in the hallways, and looked around nervously as if they had stepped into a completely different world.
Raiden couldn't help but smile faintly.
It reminded him of the first day he arrived at U.A.
Back then he had also been completely lost.
As time passed and the new students eventually found their classrooms, Raiden gently lifted himself into the air using his telekinesis.
Floating had become much easier now.
He could even do it in his human form without transforming, though it still required focus. It wasn't as fast as when he used his full Mewtwo form, but it was more than enough to move around the campus.
He drifted above one of the large academy buildings and looked down.
Soon the first-year students began moving toward one of the training fields.
The test they were about to take was different from the one he had done in his own first year with Snipe.
This one looked closer to a scholastic evaluation, but adapted for quirks.
Students used their abilities to complete physical challenges, solve problems, and demonstrate control.
Raiden watched for a moment.
Then he sighed.
"Now that I think about it… why am I even watching them?" he muttered. "I should be training."
Still, his gaze lingered on the field below.
And something started to bother him.
"Their quirks… they aren't that flashy."
He studied the group carefully.
"With a few exceptions… none of them look like they have huge potential."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"Even the expelled students from last year had better quirks."
His gaze stopped on one student in particular.
"What's the deal with that kid with the purple hair and the… grapes?"
He shook his head slightly.
"I mean, maybe as a support ability it could be useful sometimes… but I don't see much potential in that. And yet we're supposed to help them grow?"
That was the real issue.
Raiden understood that being part of the Yonkou of U.A. came with responsibilities.
But he hadn't expected to be mentoring first-years so soon.
And from what he was seeing…
He wasn't the only one observing.
A little farther away, he noticed Nejire, casually sitting on top of a tall tree branch, her legs swinging as she watched the new students below with curious eyes.
Raiden sighed again.
"Well… whatever. It's not like I have a choice."
Then another thought crossed his mind.
"…I'm bored."
Last year had been strangely quiet.
Compared to the chaos of his first year, the second had felt almost… peaceful.
Too peaceful.
"Did I get used to fighting?" he wondered.
He shook his head.
"No… that's not it."
His progress had slowed.
That was the real problem.
He lifted his arm slightly, and a faint glow appeared on his forearm.
The number 27 shone softly on his skin.
A few levels higher than before—but still slower than the explosive growth he had experienced earlier.
"I need real fights to level up."
With his current power, he was certain of something.
He could now fight very close to the upper ranks of pro heroes.
Most villains wouldn't even be a challenge anymore.
Only someone truly strong could push him further.
Raiden looked toward the horizon beyond U.A.'s walls.
"…But that wouldn't be good for society."
Still, he couldn't help thinking about it.
"I'm sure there are strong villains out there… hiding somewhere."
He crossed his arms as he floated quietly above the campus.
"They just haven't bothered to show themselves yet."
With nothing else to do, Raiden transformed above the rooftop and prepared to fly toward the city.
Or at least that had been the plan.
Just as he was about to leave, he noticed something unusual near the main gate of U.A.
A crowd.
More specifically—reporters.
Dozens of them.
Cameras, microphones, vans, tripods, all clustered around the entrance like vultures waiting for a moment of chaos.
Raiden sighed.
"That's going to bring problems."
Instead of flying straight past them, he crossed the street silently and landed on the rooftop of the building opposite the academy gate. From there he sat down casually on the edge, tail swaying behind him as he observed the scene.
The reporters were restless.
Some argued among themselves, some rehearsed questions, others stared at the gate as if expecting something dramatic to happen at any moment.
All of this… just because All Might was now teaching at U.A.
Most of them were hoping to catch him entering or leaving the campus.
Raiden watched them quietly.
Then something caught his attention.
One person in particular.
A young man—thin, almost frail—stood among the reporters.
But something was… off.
He wore a hoodie pulled low over his face.
And unlike the others, he carried no camera.
No microphone.
No press badge.
Nothing that identified him as a reporter.
Even his clothes looked out of place compared to the rest of the crowd.
He stood there like a fish out of water.
Raiden narrowed his eyes slightly.
Months of patrolling the city had sharpened his instincts. He had learned to notice subtle patterns in behavior—tiny signs that someone didn't belong where they stood.
And this man triggered every one of those alarms.
"What are you doing here?" Raiden wondered silently.
"A homeless guy? No… unlikely."
"A fan?"
"A stalker?"
"Well… U.A. does have a lot of pretty girls… so maybe?"
He tilted his head slightly.
"An All Might fan? Or maybe an All Might hater…"
That last option seemed far more likely.
"Impossible for someone like him not to have haters," Raiden thought.
Still, the man hadn't done anything yet.
"So long as he doesn't do anything strange, I'll let him stay."
But the very next moment—
Something strange did happen.
The man casually reached out and placed his hand against the metal gate of U.A.
And instantly—
CRACK.
Fractures spread across the metal like spiderwebs.
The thick reinforced gate—designed to withstand powerful quirks—began to crumble.
Not bend.
Not break.
Rot.
The metal collapsed into dust and fragments, crumbling apart as if it had decayed over decades in a matter of seconds.
Raiden's eyes sharpened.
He didn't need any more confirmation.
The man had used his quirk—and it was a dangerous one.
A quirk that destroyed objects by touch.
"People nearby are in danger."
If that man touched a person the same way he touched the gate…
They could easily die.
Raiden moved instantly.
He launched from the rooftop at full speed, crossing the distance in a blur.
To normal bystanders, it looked almost like he had teleported.
He landed directly in front of the hooded man.
At the same time, his telekinesis surged outward.
Every reporter nearby suddenly lifted into the air, their cameras and equipment floating helplessly as invisible force pushed them backward and away from the gate.
Within seconds, the entire crowd had been moved safely out of the danger zone.
Now only two figures remained near the broken entrance.
Raiden.
And the strange man.
Using his telepathic ability, Raiden projected his voice directly into the man's mind.
"Sir. Destruction of property is a crime. I'm placing you under arrest."
Before the man could react, invisible force wrapped around his body.
Telekinesis locked his arms, legs, and torso in place like steel chains.
The man struggled violently—but it was useless.
Raiden could feel the resistance through his power.
It was like a child trying to break free from the grip of a professional strongman.
Impossible.
Then Raiden pulled down the hood.
The face beneath surprised him slightly.
It was just a young man.
Normal-looking, thin—but his skin showed strange scratches and marks, as if he had been constantly injuring himself.
And the moment Raiden restrained him, the man began screaming like a lunatic.
"What the hell are you doing, you fucking NPC?! You're not supposed to interfere here! Let me go! Let me go or I'll kill you!"
Raiden blinked slowly.
"…NPC?"
He stared at the man for a second.
"What kind of game trauma does this guy have?"
Then the rest of the threat registered.
"Also… kill me? Really?"
Raiden sighed.
"This guy is extremely unstable."
Without wasting another second arguing with someone clearly irrational, Raiden tightened his telekinetic grip.
He twisted the man's arms behind his back and forced him face-first onto the ground in a clean restraint hold.
There was no point in talking.
Someone like this wouldn't listen anyway.
And Raiden had no intention of wasting time with him.
At that moment, Mewtwo moved a step closer to the man he had restrained.
But he stopped halfway.
A black vortex opened beside him.
Without warning, a massive fist covered in spikes shot out of it, flying straight toward his head.
The situation felt eerily familiar.
Just like the alley the day he lost the Symbol of Fear.
But this time was different.
This time he was ready.
Mewtwo reacted instantly. A translucent barrier formed in front of him while both of his hands gathered swirling spheres of energy—two Shadow Balls, already prepared to counterattack.
The punch struck the barrier.
BOOM.
A shockwave rippled through the street, rattling windows and sending loose debris flying.
But Mewtwo kept perfect control of the situation. His telekinesis expanded outward to shield the reporters and civilians nearby, pushing them further away from danger while he maintained his psychic grip on the man who had destroyed U.A.'s gate.
It was obvious now.
This wasn't random.
This was a rescue attempt.
"Looks like this kid is important to someone," Mewtwo muttered calmly. "Makes sense… that quirk of his is pretty useful."
But the fight didn't stop there.
The giant fist suddenly retreated back into the black vortex—and in the very next moment something else stepped out of another portal nearby.
The creature that emerged was… strange.
Tall. Thin. Moving with an odd sway, like its body struggled to balance itself.
Its brain was completely exposed.
And its presence immediately made Mewtwo frown.
The creature moved fast.
Very fast.
It lunged forward, striking hard enough to partially break through Mewtwo's defensive barrier. The impact pushed him several meters backward—just far enough to separate him from the restrained villain.
But Mewtwo's telekinetic hold remained intact.
His focus sharpened.
The creature reminded him of something.
"The Evolver's chimeras…?" he thought.
But that didn't make sense.
"The Evolver is in prison."
So what was this thing?
"A mutant-type quirk… maybe?"
Mewtwo tried another approach.
He reached out with his telepathy, probing the creature's mind.
But there was nothing.
No thoughts.
No emotions.
No resistance.
Just emptiness.
It was like looking into a desert—an endless blank landscape without a single thought moving across it.
"What exactly are you?" Mewtwo murmured.
The creature didn't answer.
Instead, it attacked again.
It crouched for a fraction of a second—its legs swelling with unnatural muscle—and then launched forward with incredible speed.
The reason was obvious.
Its legs had some kind of enhancement quirk designed for explosive movement.
But even with that—
It wasn't fast enough.
Mewtwo dodged the incoming strikes with ease, gliding aside as the creature unleashed a series of brutal punches.
Then he spun midair and fired one of his Shadow Balls straight into the creature's stomach.
But what happened next surprised him.
A mouth opened from the creature's abdomen.
And swallowed the attack whole.
The energy vanished instantly.
Then something even stranger happened.
Another mouth opened in the creature's palm, snapping toward Mewtwo's face.
For a moment, Mewtwo paused.
He had an idea.
Instead of attacking directly, he used telekinesis to grab nearby objects—pieces of broken metal, chunks of pavement, fragments of concrete—and hurled them toward the creature's hand.
Every single object was devoured by the mouth.
"So it's not just energy," Mewtwo noted calmly. "Objects too. Interesting."
That meant direct attacks would be tricky.
So he changed tactics.
He fired a Flamethrower.
The stomach-mouth opened again, absorbing the fire.
But while the creature focused on that—
Two Confusion attacks struck its head from the sides.
The psychic impact slammed it into the pavement with brutal force.
Before it could recover, Mewtwo followed with a powerful telekinetic push, pinning the creature flat against the street.
For a moment, it looked like the fight was under control.
But then something changed.
From the mouth of the restrained man—the one who had broken the gate—a strange black liquid began to pour out.
Before Mewtwo could react, the liquid spread across the ground and—
The man vanished.
Gone from his psychic grasp.
At the same time, a new black vortex opened beneath the creature pinned to the ground.
Since Mewtwo was pushing it downward with telekinesis, the force simply sent the creature directly into the portal.
And then—
Everything disappeared.
The vortex closed.
The street became silent again.
Mewtwo remained standing there alone, the broken gate behind him and scattered debris around the area.
Frustration slowly built beneath his calm expression.
The enemy had escaped.
Again.