Mewtwo and Mirio stood across from the new Nomu, and the difference between this one and the others was immediate. This creature was even bigger than the one that had fought All Might before, towering at at least seven meters tall. Four massive arms extended from its body, each ending in long claws sharp enough to tear through steel, while flames constantly engulfed its skin like a living furnace.
The ground beneath the monster was already melting from the heat alone. Concrete softened into glowing cracks, and waves of distortion spread through the air around it. Even from several meters away, the temperature felt suffocating.
Mewtwo immediately noticed how much trouble Mirio was having enduring the heat. Truthfully, even he was affected by it. Instinctively, he activated Barrier and Reflect around his body, layers of psychic energy shimmering around him to mitigate the burning pressure. Mirio, however, didn't have that kind of protection. His Quirk let him phase through matter, but not through temperature itself.
And more than that, Mewtwo quickly reached a conclusion.
"Mirio, this thing is strong… really strong," exclaimed Mewtwo, his eyes narrowing while the flames reflected on his glowing irises. "I'll delay it. You and the rest beat down the others and then come help me. I'll keep this thing busy and make sure it doesn't keep eating."
To both Mewtwo's and Mirio's surprise, the answer didn't come from his teammate.
"That's a good plan," exclaimed the Nomu, its mouth stretching into a twisted smile, "but I doubt you can even delay me."
For the first time, the creature showed clear expressions. Unlike the previous Nomus, this one wasn't simply acting on instinct. It was thinking.
At that moment, Mewtwo smiled slightly.
"Sooo… you can think now," exclaimed the psychic Pokémon-like hero.
Immediately, Mewtwo attempted to use his telepathy. The instant his mind connected with the creature's consciousness, the world around him shifted.
What he found was disturbing.
Inside the Nomu's mind there was a wasteland, endless and rotten, filled with mountains of trash and broken remains. The sky was dark, almost colorless, and the air itself felt heavy. At the center of that ruined mental landscape was the creature itself, crouched down while devouring the bodies of the other Nomus one after another like an animal feeding.
The moment it noticed Mewtwo's presence, it attacked.
However, the mind was Mewtwo's domain.
With a violent telekinetic push, he blasted the creature backward through its own mental world, sending debris and trash flying everywhere. The Nomu roared in rage, but Mewtwo barely paid attention. Instead, he looked around carefully.
The defenses of the mind were primitive. Chaotic. Broken.
He doubted he could permanently damage the creature mentally given the terrible condition of its consciousness, but at the very least he could search for clues about who had created it… and he found something.
Among the piles of trash scattered across the wasteland were several blurry photographs. Most of them were torn or stained, but Mewtwo could still distinguish two figures.
One was a man wearing some kind of strange helmet.
The other was a bald man standing beside him.
The faces weren't clear enough to identify them properly, but it was still something. A lead.
The next instant, Mewtwo felt the pressure around him intensify. Because of the ongoing battle, he couldn't stay inside the creature's mind for long. Suddenly the mental landscape violently rejected him, forcing him out.
Back in the real world, the Nomu staggered slightly. Blood dripped from the corner of its mouth while it shook its head aggressively from side to side.
"That's annoying…" spoke the creature with visible irritation. "I'll kill you first."
"You can try," answered Mewtwo calmly.
Purple psychic energy gathered into one of his palms, forming a dense Shadow Ball, while electricity crackled violently in the other as he prepared an Electro Ball at the same time.
Mewtwo launched both attacks as he moved forward at full speed, the shadow ball and electro ball crossing the air like comets before crashing directly against the giant Nomu. The explosion shook the entire arena, flames and electricity expanding violently through the battlefield, and Mewtwo used that exact moment to reposition himself.
In the next instant, he appeared above the creature.
His two fingers joined together, glowing with condensed psychic energy, and with a swift slashing motion he unleashed a Psychocut straight toward the Nomu's neck. The psychic blade cut through the air with enough force to split steel apart.
Mewtwo expected the creature's head to roll on the ground.
Instead, only a shallow cut appeared across its neck.
His eyes widened slightly.
The Nomu reacted immediately.
Its gigantic body spun with absurd speed despite its size, far faster than something that massive should have been capable of moving. Mewtwo barely had time to notice the motion before one enormous arm smashed directly against his barrier and sent him crashing toward the ground like a meteor.
BOOOOM.
The floor shattered beneath him.
Even while being driven through the concrete, Mewtwo's eyes glowed violently and he used Confusion three times in rapid succession, layering psychic interference over the creature's mind in hopes of disrupting its movements.
However, the effect was minimal.
The Nomu only twitched slightly before continuing its assault.
"Annoying…" muttered Mewtwo internally.
Apparently psychic attacks did not work properly against this thing. Either its brain had been altered too much, or the sheer amount of quirks inside its body was interfering with the effect.
In the next instant, Mewtwo changed approaches entirely.
He pushed both hands together, and electricity erupted around his body in violent arcs. Blue-white lightning expanded outward, illuminating the battlefield as his aura intensified.
THUNDERBOLT.
A massive pillar of electricity engulfed the Nomu completely.
This time the attack worked better.
The creature convulsed violently, smoke rising from its body as the electricity coursed through its muscles. For a brief moment its movements slowed.
But only for a brief moment.
The Nomu simply shook its head aggressively, growled, and continued forcing Mewtwo deeper into the crater with pure monstrous strength.
At that moment, the creature realized something.
It could not directly hurt Mewtwo while the barrier remained active.
Its glowing eyes narrowed.
Then two of its four arms pulled back while the other pair continued pinning Mewtwo down. Between its palms, an enormous amount of energy started to gather, fluctuating wildly between yellow and deep purple.
The pressure immediately increased.
The Nomu accelerated its attacks against the barrier, smashing it repeatedly with enough force to create visible cracks across the psychic shield.
CRACK.
CRACK.
CRACK.
Mewtwo's expression sharpened.
The barrier was close to breaking.
However, it was already too late for the Nomu.
Because while it had been focusing on overpowering him physically, Mewtwo had finished charging his own attack.
His eyes flashed brightly.
"HYPER BEAM."
A colossal beam of destructive energy erupted point-blank from Mewtwo's hands.
The attack completely engulfed the Nomu.
The explosion of energy swallowed half the battlefield, and the beam itself continued upward without stopping, piercing through the stadium ceiling and blasting into the sky above like a pillar of light.
When the attack finally stopped, Mewtwo immediately flew backwards to gain distance. Smoke and debris covered the battlefield, the remains of the Hyper Beam still burning through parts of the shattered stadium ceiling.
However, when the smoke slowly cleared, the Nomu was still standing.
Its massive body stumbled backwards a couple of steps, and the entire upper part of its torso was horribly burned, flesh blackened and steaming from the impact. Even so, the creature remained on its feet.
Then it smiled.
A distorted, almost mocking grin spread across its face before it slowly cracked its neck from side to side.
Mewtwo's eyes narrowed.
Immediately, he activated Barrier again and formed a Shadow Ball in each hand, the spheres crackling violently with condensed dark energy.
"It's time for round two," muttered Mewtwo before speaking louder. "I can beat you."
Almost as if giving him an answer, the Nomu suddenly looked toward the side of the battlefield.
There, Mirio, Nejire, and Tamaki were already finishing the other Nomus. Two of the creatures had already been defeated, and only two remained fighting against the trio.
The giant Nomu moved instantly.
Mewtwo understood immediately what it wanted to do.
It wanted to eat them too.
And he was not going to allow that.
Mewtwo accelerated forward at full speed to intercept it, psychic energy exploding around his body as he flew through the air. While moving, his leg started glowing brightly with concentrated power.
Mega Kick.
However, this time the Nomu was expecting him.
The creature twisted its gigantic body and countered with a punch from one of its massive arms.
The kick and the punch collided head-on.
BOOOOOM.
The shockwave shattered what remained of nearby walls.
Even though Mewtwo's Mega Kick carried more raw power, the Nomu had the advantage this time. Instead of trying to overpower the attack directly, it sacrificed itself to stop him.
All four arms attacked his leg at once.
CRACK.
CRACK.
CRACK.
Three of the creature's arms broke completely under the force of the impact, twisted unnaturally and exploding into blood and flesh.
But it worked.
The combined momentum still sent Mewtwo flying backwards at high speed, crashing violently into the ruined remains of the stadium structure.
That single moment was enough.
The Nomu rushed forward and grabbed the bodies of the two defeated Nomus.
Then it swallowed them whole.
At that exact moment, its body started changing again.
The broken arms regenerated almost instantly, muscles twisting and expanding grotesquely. One arm transformed into a gigantic cannon while another reshaped itself into an enormous shield covered in dark organic armor.
Its body grew even larger.
Another meter at least.
The pressure coming from the creature immediately increased.
Nejire, Mirio, and Tamaki prepared themselves to intercept it, but before they could move, Mewtwo's voice echoed inside their minds.
"Finish the other two first. I can take it."
At the same moment, Mewtwo launched himself toward the giant Nomu again.
The creature immediately responded by firing multiple glowing energy spheres from the cannon-arm. The attacks exploded through the battlefield one after another, tearing apart the arena.
Mewtwo dodged through them in a zigzag pattern at absurd speed, barely avoiding each blast before finally closing the distance.
MEGA PUNCH.
His fist smashed directly against the giant shield.
BOOOOOOM.
The impact generated another massive shockwave.
Yet the damage was minimal.
Mewtwo clicked his tongue internally.
It was frustrating.
The attacks were working, but not enough.
"I need more power."
Mewtwo focused harder.
His energy reserves were immense, absurdly so, but now he actively started forcing more output from his body. Psychic energy surged violently through his muscles and nerves.
Both fists glowed white.
Then his legs.
Then his tail.
He was already reaching the limit of what his body could safely handle.
And still, he pushed further.
He was going to overwhelm this thing completely.
Mewtwo rushed at close range again and unleashed a relentless barrage of attacks.
Mega Punch.
Mega Kick.
Iron Tail.
Again.
And again.
And again.
The air exploded continuously around them as every strike carried monstrous force behind it. Between physical attacks, Mewtwo constantly recharged and fired ranged attacks at point-blank range, interchanging Shadow Balls, Electro Balls, and psychic blasts without stopping for even a second.
The Nomu retaliated just as violently, smashing the battlefield apart with claws, cannons, and brute force, yet Mewtwo continued pressing forward relentlessly.
However, one thing became obvious.
The physical attacks were affecting the creature more.
"More power," thought Mewtwo.
He forced his body even harder.
Fire Punch.
Thunder Punch.
Iron Tail.
Mega Kick.
The strain became unbearable.
His muscles screamed in pain, and cracks of psychic energy started leaking wildly around his body from the sheer amount of output he was forcing.
But he could see it.
The Nomu was starting to feel the damage.
So Mewtwo continued the assault.
There, in the middle of the battle, while forcing his body further and further beyond its limits, Mewtwo suddenly felt a familiar sensation.
It was the same feeling he had experienced inside that strange dream long ago.
Yet this time, it was different.
Back then, the power had felt distant, unstable, almost impossible to grasp. Now, however, he was stronger. Far stronger than before. His body had evolved through endless battles, brutal training, and constant strain.
And now, unlike before, he was focusing all of his energy directly into himself.
"...Maybe now I can," thought Mewtwo.
"I'm stronger now."
The psychic energy inside his body surged violently.
Mewtwo forced the energy to flow harder and harder through every muscle, every nerve, every part of his being. The pressure immediately became overwhelming, enough to make the air around him distort.
Then—
BOOOOOOM.
Psychic energy exploded outward and engulfed Mewtwo completely inside a gigantic sphere of glowing light.
The battlefield trembled.
The pressure generated by the sphere alone pushed debris, dust, and broken pieces of the stadium away from him. Waves of psychic force spread through the arena like a storm.
The Nomu noticed it immediately.
Without hesitation, the giant creature rushed forward and attacked the sphere directly, swinging one of its massive arms down with enough strength to crack the ground beneath it.
The fist collided against the psychic sphere—
And shattered part of it.
However, at that exact moment, something emerged from inside.
A kick.
BOOOOOOOOM.
The strike pierced through the broken opening in the sphere and impacted directly against the Nomu's torso.
For the first time since the fight started, the creature was blown away.
Not pushed back.
Not staggered.
Sent flying.
Its gigantic body crossed the entire battlefield like a missile, smashing through ruined walls and debris before crashing violently into the far side of the stadium.
Silence filled the battlefield for one brief second.
Then the psychic sphere slowly cracked apart.
And the Mewtwo that emerged from inside no longer looked the same.
He was not floating anymore.
No.
Now, he stood firmly on the ground.
His body looked sharper, more powerful, more refined for direct combat. Psychic energy flowed around him like flames, concentrated tightly against his frame instead of dispersing wildly.
His stance had changed too.
Before, he fought like a psychic controlling the battlefield from above.
Now—
He looked like a warrior.