"Oh? You can talk?" Mewtwo exclaimed, genuine surprise coloring his voice.
His glowing eyes remained fixed on the creature as he analyzed it more carefully.
"But your thoughts... they're not complex. You had no memories before being thrown here, no knowledge beyond fighting, and yet... you can speak. More importantly, you even possess a natural mental barrier."
The situation was strange.
Very strange.
His psychic senses continued dissecting the Nomu's mind. It wasn't intelligent—not by any normal standard—but unlike every other Nomu he had encountered, this one possessed something beyond pure instinct. Its thoughts were primitive, almost animalistic, yet they existed. It could process information, make simple decisions, and react with something resembling awareness.
It wasn't much...
But it was far more than the empty shells the previous Nomu had been.
Unfortunately, his analysis didn't last long.
From the side, Dabi suddenly roared.
"You son of a bitch! I'll kill you!"
Apparently, calling him by his real name had completely shattered what little composure he still possessed.
Blue flames burst wildly around his body, rising higher than before.
Mewtwo, however, had neither the time nor the patience to delve into the mountain of trauma this boy clearly carried.
Besides...
It wasn't really his fault.
Dabi's mental defenses were painfully slow.
Worse, the boy spent nearly every second obsessing over Endeavor. It was practically an invitation for a telepath to stumble across his deepest secrets.
Honestly...
If someone thought that loudly, Mewtwo could hardly be blamed for overhearing.
Yes.
It was entirely Dabi's fault.
...Or at least, that was the excuse Mewtwo shamelessly gave himself.
His eyes flashed with psychic light.
Without another word, he unleashed Confusion directly into Dabi's mind.
The attack landed perfectly.
Dabi's body froze.
His flames flickered violently before vanishing altogether, and the young villain collapsed unconscious before he could even take another step.
"Sorry," Mewtwo said calmly. "I don't have time for this. The heroes can decide what to do with you."
Using his telekinesis, he caught Dabi before he hit the ground, leaving the unconscious villain floating harmlessly in midair.
Only then did Mewtwo shift his full attention back to the silent Nomu.
The creature still hadn't moved.
It simply stared back at him.
...
Far away from the battlefield, hidden inside a secure facility, a man watched the confrontation unfold through a series of monitors.
A smile slowly spread across his face.
"Wonderful..."
"So much potential."
A quiet laugh escaped him.
"Ah... he's like me."
"Hahaha..."
"So much power contained within a single individual."
His fingers interlocked thoughtfully beneath his chin.
"Do you also possess the ability to accumulate power?"
"Or perhaps..."
"...to steal it?"
The question lingered unanswered as he continued studying every movement Mewtwo made.
Standing beside him, the elderly doctor adjusted his glasses before speaking.
"I don't believe that's the case."
He kept his gaze fixed on the screen.
"From everything I've managed to investigate about that boy, I believe he creates those different powers himself."
"They appear to be separate abilities, but they're actually manifestations of a single core Quirk."
"At least... that's the conclusion I've reached."
All For One remained silent for several moments.
Then his smile widened.
"Perhaps..."
"...he would make a better vessel than Tomura."
The doctor's expression immediately grew serious.
"Sir, I have to disagree."
He folded his hands behind his back before continuing.
"His Quirk appears to be transformation-based."
"Considering the sheer number of variables involved, adapting his body for your use would demand an enormous amount of genetic work. We've already invested years modifying Tomura's body to withstand your Quirks."
"Starting over with this boy would be extremely costly."
Then a glimmer of excitement crossed the doctor's eyes.
"However..."
"If we succeed in separating the different components of his Quirk..."
"...we could feed those abilities to countless Nomu."
"And perhaps..."
"...integrate some of those powers into your own Quirk collection."
The old scientist smiled with genuine fascination.
"Now I finally understand why my colleague insisted on extracting a sample of his blood."
"What an extraordinary specimen."
All For One's smile only widened further.
"So..."
"We simply have to capture him."
"Yes," the doctor replied without hesitation.
"Yes, we must."
Meanwhile, completely unaware of the plans being woven by the greatest villain in Japan—one who was supposedly long out of commission—Mewtwo remained focused on the battle before him.
His attention never left the remaining Nomu.
Then he noticed something else.
Dabi.
No one was coming to retrieve him.
The unconscious villain still floated exactly where Mewtwo had left him, suspended by telekinesis. There were no portals opening, no reinforcements appearing, no desperate rescue attempt.
For all appearances...
He had simply been abandoned.
Discarded like a broken tool.
They aren't even trying to recover him?
That struck Mewtwo as odd.
His Quirk was undeniably powerful. The blue flames alone possessed terrifying destructive potential. Surely someone with that kind of ability would be worth recovering.
...Unless they had already written him off.
Or perhaps...
Since Dabi had already fallen into Mewtwo's hands, they simply didn't believe risking additional resources was worthwhile.
Whatever the reason was, it wasn't important right now.
He had something far more dangerous demanding his attention.
Without warning...
The Nomu vanished.
Mewtwo's expression remained calm.
Inside, however, every instinct screamed at him.
Had it not been for the psychic field constantly spread around his surroundings, he never would have perceived the movement. There was no blur, no visible acceleration—one moment the creature stood before him, and the next...
It was directly overhead.
Fast...
Ridiculously fast.
It almost looked as though the creature itself had become lightning.
The Nomu descended with a devastating kick.
Mewtwo reacted instantly.
"Barrier."
The translucent sphere materialized around him just before the impact landed.
BOOM!
The kick struck with tremendous force, making the barrier vibrate violently, but it held.
At the exact same moment, Mewtwo counterattacked.
Without moving a single muscle, he unleashed Psyshock from inside the barrier.
One of the greatest advantages of his psychic abilities was that they required no physical motion. His opponent couldn't read his attacks through body language.
The invisible force shot straight toward the Nomu's head.
Or...
At least, it should have.
The creature was already gone.
Before Psyshock could connect, the Nomu had disappeared again.
A split second later, it reappeared on the opposite side of the barrier.
It struck again—
...No.
Mewtwo narrowed his eyes.
It wasn't attacking.
The Nomu wrapped both arms and both legs around the psychic sphere, almost hugging it. Then its jaw unnaturally widened.
Far wider than any human mouth ever could.
Rows of jagged, shark-like teeth emerged from within the darkness of its maw.
And then...
It bit down.
Crunch.
The creature began chewing directly through the Barrier.
Each bite produced visible cracks across the psychic shell.
"..."
Inside the barrier, Mewtwo didn't panic.
Instead, he launched attack after attack.
Confusion.
Psyshock.
Psychic blasts erupted one after another, hammering the Nomu from point-blank range.
This time they connected.
Chunks of flesh exploded away from the creature's body.
Entire pieces of muscle were ripped free.
Deep wounds carved through its torso and shoulders.
For a brief instant, it looked as though the barrage had finally overwhelmed it.
Then...
The missing flesh regenerated before Mewtwo's eyes.
The torn muscles stitched themselves back together.
Bone reformed.
Skin closed.
Within seconds, the Nomu looked completely unharmed.
"I see..."
Mewtwo murmured quietly, carefully analyzing everything he had witnessed.
"So it isn't just a double Quirk..."
His eyes sharpened as another piece of the puzzle clicked into place.
"...No."
"It's at least three."
Extreme speed.
Powerful regeneration.
And whatever ability allowed it to consume psychic constructs...
As that realization settled in his mind, another loud crack echoed through the battlefield.
The Barrier continued splintering beneath the relentless bites.
Oddly enough...
Mewtwo smiled.
To tell the truth...
He was excited.
Genuinely excited.
Ever since arriving in this world, every opponent had eventually proven disappointing. Strong at first glance, perhaps, but none had truly forced him to fight seriously.
He had begun wondering where the upper limits of his abilities actually were.
Now...
Standing before an enemy capable of pushing him back...
An opponent that demanded his full concentration...
For the first time in a long while...
Mewtwo felt as though he had finally found a battle worth fighting.
Before the Barrier could finally shatter, Mewtwo acted.
"Agility."
His body blurred in an instant.
It would be dangerous if his speed were cut in half during the middle of the battle. He wasn't going to let the Nomu dictate the pace.
The very next second, psychic energy coated his tail.
"Iron Tail."
Spinning his entire body, Mewtwo unleashed a devastating strike into the Nomu's side.
BOOM!
The impact launched the creature through the air like a cannonball.
Mewtwo didn't give it a single moment to recover.
The instant the Nomu was sent flying, he accelerated after it.
As he chased it through the sky, he stretched one hand forward.
"Swift."
Multiple glowing stars materialized around him before shooting forward like homing missiles.
One after another, they curved through the air, relentlessly pursuing their target before crashing against the Nomu.
Explosions erupted across its body.
Pieces of flesh were blown away.
Its torso was left riddled with wounds.
Yet...
The regeneration began immediately.
Fast.
Far too fast.
The missing flesh knitted itself together almost before the smoke had faded.
"..."
Mewtwo's body suddenly ignited with electricity.
Golden lightning danced across his limbs, crackling violently through the air.
"Thunderbolt."
A massive bolt of lightning surged forward and engulfed the Nomu.
The thunder roared across the battlefield.
The creature's entire body convulsed under the electric discharge, while smoke escaped from its mouth.
For a brief second...
It remained completely still.
Then...
It smiled.
Its entire body suddenly became wrapped in yellow lightning.
The Nomu disappeared.
Fast!
In the blink of an eye it intercepted Mewtwo head-on.
Neither hesitated.
Both threw a punch at the exact same instant.
"Mega Punch."
The Nomu answered with an attack surrounded by crackling electricity.
Something remarkably similar to...
Thunder Punch.
Their fists collided.
BOOOOOOM!!
A violent shockwave burst outward, flattening the surrounding trees and sending debris flying in every direction.
Both fighters were blown backward by the collision.
While still drifting through the air, Mewtwo immediately extended both hands.
Several spheres of darkness condensed in front of his palms.
"Shadow Ball."
One.
Three.
Five.
Then all of them shot forward.
The barrage detonated across the Nomu's body one explosion after another, tearing away massive chunks of flesh and leaving pieces of its body scattered across the battlefield.
For a moment...
The creature looked completely mangled.
Then, once again...
It regenerated.
The torn muscles reformed.
The missing flesh returned.
Even the shattered bones restored themselves within seconds.
"...Looks like it came prepared for me."
Mewtwo narrowed his eyes.
This wasn't simply a durable opponent.
Someone had deliberately engineered this creature with abilities that directly countered prolonged combat.
Without wasting another second, psychic energy gathered around his arm.
"Psycho Cut."
A crescent blade of psychic force flashed forward.
The Nomu's left arm was severed cleanly.
The limb spun through the air before crashing onto the ground.
Yet the creature didn't even acknowledge the injury.
It ignored the pain completely.
Instead...
It accelerated straight toward Mewtwo.
Its remaining fist slammed into his abdomen.
BANG!
The blow sent Mewtwo crashing into the ground hard enough to leave a crater beneath him.
Without hesitation, he pushed himself back into the air.
There wasn't even time to breathe.
Lightning gathered in one hand.
Darkness condensed into the other.
Thunderbolt.
Shadow Ball.
Unlike before...
He didn't fire them immediately.
Instead, he continued pouring power into both attacks.
The spheres grew larger.
And larger.
Until it looked as though he were carrying two massive orbs of pure destructive energy.
Only then...
He thrust both hands forward.
The attacks collided with the rushing Nomu.
The resulting explosion swallowed the creature whole.
A pillar of fire, darkness, and lightning erupted into the sky.
The blast was enormous—
Almost as large as the missile explosion that had struck Mewtwo only moments earlier.