"There!"
Shoji's arm extended, pointing to a shadow leaping with terrifying agility between the tall trees, moving away at a speed that didn't match the elegance of his attire.
Green lightning burst around Midoriya's body and tore the ground beneath his feet. "From above! Todoroki, Shoji, cut off his path from below!"
He shot forward like a bullet, using the tree trunks as his road. Compress moved like a ghost who knew every corner of this forest, but Midoriya did not fall back.
From below, Todoroki struck the ground with his foot. A jagged ice wall split the earth and rose to cut off the magician's path. With stunning flexibility, Compress twisted his body in the air, clearing the ice by millimeters.
"Left!"
Another wall rose. Compress braced the tip of his shoe against it and leaped higher.
Along the trail left by their teammates' charge, Asui and Uraraka advanced cautiously, carrying the unconscious student.
Asui stopped.
From between the trees, footsteps. Heavy, slow, but unceasing.
Roronoa Zoro.
His shirt was torn at the shoulder, and blood traced a dark path down to his waist. But the sword was in his grip, and the grip did not tremble.
"Zoro!" Uraraka left the student and ran toward him. "What is this bleeding? Where"
"Where are the sounds of fighting coming from?"
His eyes were on the direction the others had gone.
Uraraka quickly tore a strip from her undershirt and wrapped it around his shoulder. He looked at her hand for one second only, then continued on his way.
Asui watched his retreating back. "He won't stop, will he?"
"We follow him."
Above the branches, Compress glanced back. "The green boy follows me alone? What an honor." He leaped to another branch. "Do you know the difference between a hero and a magician? The hero rushes in recklessly. The magician makes you rush exactly where he wants."
Midoriya read the path. The next branch. The gap in the air.
Now.
His veins blazed and he launched himself at full force. The collision was violent. Compress's back slammed into a protruding tree root, and the two balls flew from his pocket in opposite arcs.
Shoji's multiple arms stretched and caught the first. Todoroki slid and caught the second.
"We got them!"
Silence.
"Excellent reaction."
From between the trees, Dabi emerged. His hands in his pockets. Beside him, Twice spoke in two voices at once, and Toga turned her knife between her fingers.
Todoroki struck the ground. A massive ice wall rose, separating them from the villains. "Move now!"
Dabi raised his hand. Blue sparks gathered between his fingers. "I'll burn our way through."
"No need." Compress dusted off his coat. "The balls they're holding are just stones."
Midoriya froze.
Behind the ice wall, a dark violet mist formed from nothing. Three gates opened before Midoriya, Todoroki, and Shoji, cutting off every path.
Compress raised his hand. The ball in Midoriya's hand cracked and dissolved, and what fell from it was a small piece of ice.
Shoji opened his hand slowly. The same thing.
Midoriya felt something drop in his stomach.
"Deception is the foundation of every art." Compress pulled two new balls from his pocket. And in their hearts, the shadows of Bakugo and Tokoyami were clear.
Then, from the side forest, a flash. Not fire. Not an explosion. A brilliant blue beam cut through the air in a straight line and struck Compress's face with terrifying precision.
Aoyama. His hand visibly trembling, but the beam landed in exactly the right place.
The two balls flew from Compress's hand in two arcs.
"The balls!!"
Midoriya leaped and caught the first.
Todoroki charged toward the second, but a wall of blue flame consumed the distance between them. Dabi was faster. His outstretched hand was centimeters from the ball.
A cold blade slid between the flame and the ball.
Zoro. His shoulder bleeding, his left leg trembling silently, but the sword did not budge.
"That is not yours."
Dabi looked at the blade, then into Zoro's eyes. He didn't get angry. He raised a single finger in a slight gesture that no one saw but Kurogiri.
That one second was enough for Todoroki to catch the second ball. "Fall back!"
Directly behind Zoro, the air tore silently in a disturbing way.
The violet mist wrapped around his ankles.
Zoro looked down.
He launched himself forward with everything left in his legs. His fist on the grass. His fingers gripping emptiness. He was holding the earth and the earth was disappearing beneath him.
"Zoro!!"
Midoriya stretched his hand out. One meter away. Half a meter.
Zoro clicked his tongue in mild irritation.
And the darkness swallowed him.
In that same second, Compress snapped his fingers.
The two balls exploded in Midoriya's and Todoroki's hands. Bakugo and Tokoyami fell to the ground, returning to their normal size.
Bakugo coughed violently. He raised his head, his eyes searching for a target. Sparks flew from his palms without stopping. "Where are they?!"
But he noticed Midoriya's expression. He noticed Todoroki's grip.
He noticed the emptiness where someone had been.
He slammed his fist into the ground and blasted the grass beneath him. "Damn it!! They took that stupid swordsman instead of me?! I didn't ask for anyone's help!"
Tokoyami breathed slowly. His hand pressed against his chest. He didn't speak directly. He only looked at the spot where the gate had vanished, filling his lungs with air. Then, in a low voice: "We were the prey all along... but he paid the price for our weakness."
Compress and Dabi stepped back, absorbed into the last gate. Dabi's cold voice echoed before it closed:
"A prized catch."
And the gate vanished.
Uraraka finally reached the spot. "Where is..."
No one answered her.
Midoriya stood staring at the empty ground, as the night wrapped around them in its deadly silence.
.
.
For Advanced Chapters:
Chapter 87 is Available Now
The Weight of Pride
Zoro says to All Might Withdrawal and escape, even in a moment of weakness, would be a dishonorable defeat for me; I would rather die than do that.
All Might is facing off against All For One while simultaneously protecting Zoro, who is
being deliberately targeted by All For One.
What will happen in the end?
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