Bad.
This was very bad.
All Might was the strongest combat force in the operation, one of the pillars the entire plan had been built around.
If he was trapped here, what happened to the others?
If his guess was right, the enemy intended to divide and conquer them.
Separate the strongest fighters first.
Then crush them one by one.
The others might already be trapped somewhere else, just like him.
The only question was whether their prisons were as vast as this grassland, and whether they were as "lucky" as him, with no enemy appearing for the moment.
Damn it.
Whoever planned this was sinister.
But the police intelligence had also been wrong.
Tsuki Sengen's Quirk wasn't just some mental ability that created illusions or interfered with the five senses.
This was clearly a spatial Quirk capable of creating a separate dimension.
Otherwise, how could he explain being imprisoned inside a place like this?
Unless...
the enemy had another helper.
"Cough... cough..."
As that thought crossed his mind, blood surged up All Might's throat.
He coughed hard, and a mouthful of red spilled into his palm.
It wasn't from panic.
It was the price of the test he had just performed.
He was no longer the All Might of the past.
The time he could maintain his hero form, and the level of power he could exert, had both declined far too much.
All Might quietly wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked across the endless plain again.
No matter what the situation was, he had to find a way out.
He had to regroup with the others.
Or, at the very least, find the enemy and defeat them before the situation outside collapsed completely.
Unfortunately, saying it was easy.
Doing it was another matter.
Because he had no idea where the exit was.
No matter which direction he looked, all he saw was grassland stretching endlessly toward the horizon.
"All Might."
"Are you looking for the exit?"
Just as his thoughts grew heavier, a familiar voice sounded nearby.
All Might raised his head sharply.
In front of him, a mass of black mist appeared out of nowhere.
From within it, four figures stepped out.
Two of them were his targets this time.
Tsuki Sengen.
Muscular.
As for the other two, he knew them as well.
The black-mist man he had encountered during the Sludge Villain incident.
And the boy who had called himself the Savior of Villains.
Shigaraki Tomura.
"It's you..."
"Shigaraki Tomura!"
Seeing Tsuki Sengen and Muscular standing beside Shigaraki and Kurogiri, clearly following Shigaraki's lead, All Might's pupils contracted.
Tsuki Sengen and Muscular were working with Shigaraki?
That was the worst possible answer.
Thinking of the social impact caused by Shigaraki's previous speech, remembering Principal Nezu's evaluation of him as someone with a performance-driven personality, and adding the timing of his appearance here...
All Might's heart sank.
Shigaraki had come to create another incident.
And whatever he planned, it would not be harmless.
Shigaraki looked at him and smiled wickedly.
"Hehe. What's wrong?"
"Are you that happy to see me?"
The teasing tone made All Might's expression darken.
But he did not attack immediately.
He still didn't know Shigaraki's true purpose.
So he suppressed the anger in his chest and decided to draw out whatever information he could.
"How did you know about our operation?"
Shigaraki casually looked him over, then glanced at the ruined trail behind him.
After that, he spread his hands with a playful smile.
"Because there's a traitor among you."
The amusement in his eyes deepened.
"You received the little gift I left in that room, didn't you?"
"Then you should already understand."
"Your operation was leaked to me long before it began."
"The person who attended that meeting with you told us everything."
As he spoke, Shigaraki glanced at the Sludge Villain beside him.
"Including the part where you called in the No. 4 Hero, Best Jeanist, specifically to deal with my subordinate."
Only part of that was true.
Shigaraki and his group had indeed known about the Pro Heroes' operation in advance.
But the part about there being a traitor inside the meeting room was something Shigaraki had made up.
Only a small number of trusted personnel had been allowed to attend that meeting.
The mole he had planted among the Pro Heroes didn't have the status or record needed to sit in that room.
But not being qualified to attend didn't mean he couldn't control someone who was.
This was the world of Quirks.
All kinds of strange abilities existed here.
Naturally, there were Quirks capable of controlling people's minds.
And unfortunately, one of the moles the Sludge Villain had developed during this period possessed exactly that kind of Quirk.
That was how they had secretly taken control of an officer qualified to attend the meeting and recorded everything.
Shigaraki knew that.
The problem was, All Might didn't.
If All Might failed to notice the trap hidden in those words and truly believed there was a traitor among the people who attended the meeting, then Shigaraki would profit greatly.
And if All Might saw through it?
So what?
If it failed, it failed.
It was only a few sentences.
But as long as he could plant even the smallest seed of suspicion in All Might's heart, it would be worth it.
Thinking of that, Shigaraki fixed his gaze on All Might.
He wanted to know whether the Symbol of Peace could see through the lie.
And if he couldn't...
what kind of painful expression would he show?
Just imagining it made Shigaraki's smile deepen.
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