The sea of blue fire that had been rampaging wildly like a storm now seemed to have lost its life. Under the gaze of Nabiel's pitch-black eyes that emitted a cosmic white glow, reality had been rewritten. Not with an explosion of world-destroying power, but with a simple validation of a fact.
Dabi panted heavily. Cold sweat mixed with blood and ash trickled down his temples. For the first time since he had obtained his terrifying blue fire Quirk, he felt heat burning from inside his own flesh. The pain he had always suppressed and ignored now multiplied, tearing at his sanity.
He stared at Nabiel, who landed slowly on the scorched ground. The young man in the oversized white shirt whose sleeves had been burned did not radiate any killing intent, yet his presence felt overwhelmingly massive.
Dabi tried to focus his fire again and threw a punch toward Nabiel. But his movement felt extraordinarily slow. Or more precisely, Nabiel was moving far too fast. The young man simply tilted his body slightly, letting the fiery fist pass by his face with no meaningful distance.
Dabi's eyes bulged. He tried to kick, to sweep, to unleash close-range fire waves, yet none of them hit their target. Every movement, every breath, every twitch of Dabi's muscles had already been read and anticipated.
It was in that moment, as they continued fighting, that Dabi realized something. That kid… was surpassing him.
Not just stronger or faster, but existing in an entirely different dimension.
"From the very beginning you were already doomed the moment you chose me, Dabi," Nabiel's voice flowed flatly, cutting through the dying roar of the flames. "My Quirk is always superior in duels like this."
Nabiel had not used his Outer power to erase Dabi from existence, because that would ruin the story stage he was enjoying. He had simply taken a sliver of his authority and translated it into the language of this world as a "Quirk."
The system of [Quirk: True> And with that condition met, the system of reality automatically adjusted Nabiel's attributes to surpass his target significantly. Speed, reflexes, physical strength, and reading ability surged dramatically, locking in an indisputable mathematical victory.
Without wasting any more time, Nabiel charged forward. His movement was so smooth it sliced through the air like a bullet. Remembering that both his hands were still burned and unusable, Nabiel spun his body in the air. His dark eyes locked precisely on Dabi's undefended chest.
With lethal momentum, Nabiel struck.
A knee strike delivered with perfect precision sank deep into Dabi's solar plexus.
CRACK!
The sickening sound of cracking ribs echoed. Dabi's eyes nearly bulged from their sockets as his breath was cut off instantly. The shock wave from the blow hurled the adult man dozens of meters backward, slamming him into the remains of concrete pillars until they shattered into pieces.
The blue fire around them died out completely, leaving only thick clouds of gray smoke.
Dabi coughed violently, vomiting fresh blood onto the ground. His body trembled uncontrollably, no longer able to stand. The pain from his broken ribs and the blisters on his skin caused by his own fire destroyed what remained of his fighting spirit. Realizing that death was staring him in the face if he lasted even a second longer, his cowardly instinct took over.
With the last of his strength and fire, Dabi exploded the ground beneath him, creating a thick smoke screen and blinding debris. When the dust slowly settled, the villain's figure had already vanished, fleeing into the darkness of the Ruin Zone.
Nabiel stood in silence. Slowly the thick black aura and cosmic eyes faded, returning to a pair of weary, lazy black eyes. His narrative authority withdrew back into the depths of his soul.
As soon as that power disappeared, the physical reality of his human body hit him like a truck.
"Ugh…" Nabiel winced softly. He looked down at both wrists, now blackened, blistered, and bleeding. Excruciating pain throbbed in every nerve ending. "Ah… this is really troublesome. Why did I have to act all cool…"
With a lazy gait and heavy breathing, the Observer walked away from the ruins, searching for a path back to the center of USJ.
***
The chaos at USJ finally subsided after the arrival of All Might and the professional heroes. The low-level villains had been subdued, and the remaining students of Class 1-A began gathering at the entrance area, checking on one another.
In a corner of the gathering area, Nabiel stepped out from the shadows of a corridor. His appearance was extremely disheveled. His white shirt was covered in soot, and the ends of his usually long dangling sleeves were now burned away.
Nabiel's tired eyes scanned the crowd until they found the person he was looking for.
Yaoyorozu Momo was sitting on one of the steps, her shoulders wrapped in a thick blanket she had created herself with her Quirk to cover her torn hero costume after the fierce battle in the Mountain Zone. The girl looked exhausted, yet her eyes kept moving restlessly, searching for something. Or someone.
"Momo," Nabiel called in a hoarse, quiet voice.
Momo startled. She turned quickly, and when she saw who was calling her, the blanket on her shoulders nearly slipped off.
"Nabiel!"
The girl immediately stood and ran toward him. But her steps halted abruptly when only a meter remained between them. Momo's onyx eyes widened in horror and deep pain as her gaze fell on her childhood friend's hands.
The hands that were usually tucked into pockets or hidden behind long shirt sleeves were now ruined. The skin was severely blistered, reddish-black, with dried blood and damaged tissue.
"O-Oh God… Nabiel… your hands…" Momo's voice trembled violently. Tears immediately welled up in her eyes. "What happened to you?!"
"Ah, this," Nabiel lifted his hands slightly, then winced and lowered them again. He looked at Momo with his signature lazy expression, trying to lighten the mood. "I met someone who really likes fire. He forced me to join a bonfire."
"This is not the time for jokes, you idiot!" Momo's tears finally fell. Without caring about her own exhaustion, the girl immediately focused her mind. From the exposed skin of her arm, she created a complete first-aid kit with special burn ointment, sterile bandages, and antiseptic liquid.
Momo pulled Nabiel to sit on a relatively clean section of the floor, then knelt in front of him. With slightly trembling yet careful hands, Momo began cleaning the wounds on Nabiel's hands.
A soft hiss escaped Nabiel's lips as the cool liquid touched his open wounds.
"Hold on a little," Momo whispered, her voice hoarse from holding back sobs. "You are always like this. Always acting like you do not care about anything, but in the end you let yourself get badly hurt. Why didn't you just run?"
Nabiel looked at the top of Momo's head as she bent down to apply the ointment to his hands. He could see how worried she was. As an Outer, Nabiel could have healed these wounds in the blink of an eye. He could have erased the pain from his nervous system. But he did not.
The stinging sensation from the ointment, the gentle touch of Momo's fingers as she wrapped the bandages, and the tears falling from his friend's eyes, all of this was an "experience" he would never obtain if he simply sat on his observer's throne.
"If I had run," Nabiel murmured softly, "I would not have been able to see you scolding me like this."
Momo paused her movements for a moment, looking at Nabiel with a gaze that mixed annoyance and relief, then continued wrapping the bandages neatly. "You are really annoying."
After both hands were wrapped in thick white bandages, Nabiel let out a long sigh. All his energy felt completely drained. The tolerance limit of his human body had been reached.
Nabiel's body swayed forward.
"Eh, Nabiel?"
Without asking permission, Nabiel dropped his head onto Momo's lap. He rested his face on the girl's thigh, seeking a comfortable position, while his bandaged hands lay limply at his sides.
Momo's face instantly flushed red. "N-Nabiel! W-What are you doing? There are so many people here!"
"Too noisy…" Nabiel mumbled with his eyes closed, his voice growing softer and hoarser. "I am sleepy. Lend me your lap for a bit… do not move."
Momo swallowed hard, looking at Nabiel's peaceful sleeping face. The young man's breathing was steady, even though his face was pale and covered in dust smudges. Slowly the red flush on Momo's face faded, replaced by a gentle, sincere smile.
She pulled her thick blanket wider to cover Nabiel's cold shoulders. With her right hand, Momo stroked his messy black hair with extreme gentleness, letting her friend rest from the harsh reality of the story he had just lived through.
"Good work, Nabiel," Momo whispered softly into the quiet air. "Sleep."