In the forest with half of Class 1A and 1B together, Momo was called, "We didn't have... what it takes... Can you hear me... Creati?" Midnight's haggard voice came over Momo's earpiece.
She put her hand up to her ear "Midnight Sensei?"
"Are you aware... of what's going on?"
"Yeah... we heard Mt. Lady got tossed aside. What happened to Sasuke? Wasn't he supposed to be the first to try and stop him?"
"We... have no idea... he's missing in action." Momo drew a sharp breath but tried to hide her reaction. Midnight continued, "I'm sure he'll be fine... but we can't focus on that right now... since brute force won't stop him... I need you to put him to sleep!"
Momo asked, "Huh?!"
"I know it's illegal... but the situation is desperate! He must be sedated!"
"I don't understand, Sensei!"
A faint voice could be heard over the comms, "You got this one, Kakazu."
"Get the sedatives to the heroes and then get out of there! If things look dicey then save yourselves! I trust your judgment!"
"Sensei? Sensei?!" Momo got no response.
Kaminari asked, "What happened to Midnight?"
Momo bit her nail and rubbed her temple while the approaching stomps of Gigantomachia became louder and louder. Most of the class looked at her in anticipation, and Kaminari asked, "What's the plan, Momo? Are we throwing in the towel?!"
Momo commanded, "Earphone Jack! Tentacole! Give me his ETA based on sound! And his height too! Madman, I'll need your power too! Everyone prepare for action!" Vials of sedative protruded from her arms, "In class, we were taught to never back down from the enemy! I will stand and fight... you all... prepare to engage the enemy!"
Further in the forest between Momo's group and the mountain base, Kakazu performed surgery on himself while observing heroes and villains fighting in the bush's. He thought, 'That's all five hearts restored... would have preferred that sniper, but it'll do... isn't that one of those UA kids?'
He peered his eyes at Monoma, who copied a villain's quirk and beat him with it. 'A quirk that can copy other quirks... something like that could be trouble depending on who he copies, maybe I could pick him off.'
Tendrils shot out of his arm, and he aimed them at Monoma before shooting them out to grab him, but Shihai noticed them, "Monoma!"
He defended into the shade of the trees, and moments before the tendrils made contact he emerged from Monoma's coat and cut the tendrils while grabbing one.
Kakazu tensed up and he felt his arm twisting awkwardly, but he temporarily cut the arm off and glared at the pair.
Monoma sweated, "Good save, Shihai, thanks."
"Don't mention it," Shihai fully stepped out of the shadow of Monoma and Kakazu reattached his arm.
"Well, there goes my element of surprise."
Shihai braced himself, "This guy holds himself differently than the others, stay cautious."
Kakazu engaged the students, and at the same time, Momo's plan was being enacted. By destroying the ground, Gigantomachia tripped and Shiozaki wrapped vines around his head. "Forgive us for our numbers advantage!"
Jiro yelled, "Right on target! Go!"
The strength-focused members of the students tried to pull his mouth open, but it wasn't enough. Gigantomachia slowly struggled to stand up and Compress looked down at them, "It's UA! Why are so many of them here?"
The league spotted Ojiro, Shoji, and Aoyama dashing up his back towards them, and their attention was diverted from Mina below who jetted towards Gigantomachia's mouth with a vial.
She thought, 'It's fine if you don't wanna open that jaw, I'll melt right through it!'
Dabi spotted her and tried to shoot fire, but she coated herself in Acidman and got within range of his mouth. She shot a hole in his tooth and chucked the vial through it. "NAP TIME!"
Immediately, Gigantomachia grabbed Mt. Lady by the hair as she tried to get onto him and threw her to the side before making a mad dash for Shigaraki. His large palm came down to crush Mina in the process, and she stayed floating in midair with wide eyes looking up at the increasing darkness surrounding her. But before he could make contact, Kirishima tackled her out of the way of his palm.
They landed on the side and Kirishima helped her stand, "Good job, Mina!"
She put her hands on her knees, "Jeez... thanks for saving my life!"
"We're not out of this just yet."
Jiro yelled, "Mina got the dose into him!"
Majestic flew in with pro heroes by his side and Momo yelled, "The more he moves around, the faster the sedatives will take effect, Majestic!"
Majestic nodded and stated, "Understood! You never disappoint! C'mon everyone! The trainees have done more than enough for one day!"
Momo produced artillery on the ground to shoot Gigantomachia as support, but he stepped on them and kept moving as plates formed on his face, blocking sight of it, "So many gnats!"
Closer to the mountain base, Sasuke tried to attack Obito in his Savitar form while he dodged and occasionally phased through an attack, 'This guy is keeping up too well... I could go harder... but no, can't risk losing too much energy.' "Earlier, before I noticed, you could have finished me right there; why didn't you?"
"Very astute of you, perhaps I wanted to give you a chance to prove yourself. The good doctor thought I should just kill you, but it would be such a waste to miss out on seeing you fight All For One," Obito ran at Sasuke leading with a kick.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes and started throwing kunai and shuriken at Obito in different directions while backing up, avoiding any physical contact from his blows. "The good doctor? All For One? What are you talking about? Aren't you one of his lackeys?"
"The good doctor Garaki is the man you reap the benefits of quirk duplication from. As for AFO... well let's just say you're not the only person he's wanted the quirk of. I was a kid like you too once... although, I suppose I grew up in Garaki's grooming facility instead of state-provided housing."
Sasuke swiped his sword at Obito as he sunk into the ground. Sasuke looked around and thought, 'Garaki's grooming facility? And he made quirk duplication? What's this guy getting at?' He said, "If you want to see me fight AFO then why don't you screw off?"
Obito rose out of the ground behind him and reached out to grab him, but Sasuke sensed his presence and made a ribcage. Obito grabbed a rib and crushed it easily, but Sasuke did a spinning kick, making him phase through.
Sasuke jumped back again and Obito answered, "I answered that question already, Sasuke. Besides, despite my issues with AFO, we still ultimately want the same goal, can't have you ruining Shigaraki's journey just as it begins."
Sasuke glared and thought about Shigaraki and Gigantomachia, 'Damn it! By now, he might have reached Shigaraki! Are the others fine right now?' He sighed and gripped his sword harder, 'I just gotta trust that the guys at the hospital and the rest of UA have a handle on things...'
Closer to the hospital, they looked on, distraught at the path of destruction left behind by Gigantomachia. The pro heroes were taken out, and the giants' movements created a valley in the forest where he moved. Sero asked, "Shoji... are the heroes..."
Shoji replied, "It's too far. I can't confirm either way."
Momo muttered, "This is... ridiculous... the only reason we're alive right now... is because they didn't consider us worthy opponents..."
Komori asked, "Hey, shouldn't the sedatives have kicked in by now?!"
Mineta spoke, "Hey... do you think we made the right choice?... Seriously... did we just make things worse?"
Mina turned back in the direction Gigantomachia first came from and stood up, "I'm... going to try and find Sasuke..."
Jiro asked, "If you find him, what will you do then? I don't think he'd be able to catch up at this point."
Mina looked down, "I don't know... but it's better than sitting here and doing nothing."
She jetted off, and Momo stood, "She's right... we should try to find any heroes that might need rescuing."
The class nodded and while they started searching, Sasuke continued his fight with Obito. He thought, 'I can't let this fight go on any longer... I need this to finish.'
Sasuke went on the defensive and allowed Obito to come at him. Sasuke whiffed a sword slice at his head, and Obito tried to take advantage of the miss by grabbing at his collar, 'Got you.'
However, in the middle of his sword swing, Sasuke pulled on wires connected to all the shuriken he threw, and they came back, stabbing Obito in the back. Obito winced in pain. Sasuke punched him as hard as he could with a Susanoo fist, sending him flying into a tree. "Chidori!"
Sasuke blitzed him and tried to stab him through the heart, but Obito reacted kamui and his Chidori obliterated the tree he leaned against.
Obito sunk into the ground and reappeared hunched over and laughing, "You got me pretty good there, Sasuke!"
Sasuke kept his guard up, and thought, 'I put everything in that punch… is that it? I don't think he'd fall for the same trick twice.' "I've figured out your little trick already. You can't beat me anymore."
The shuriken fell out of Obito's back and he laughed more, "You can be so arrogant, although, I guess you need that arrogance to want to fight AFO… no matter, I've seen enough. You're even stronger than I thought, maybe you might be able to pull it off."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
Obito straightened up and waved his hand over his body, slowly disappearing, "Don't worry about it, besides, didn't you have a giant to catch?"
He disappeared and Sasuke jolted back to the direction Gigantomachia went before flying at his top speed in that direction, 'He kept me distracted way too long! I gotta get over there.'
On the ground below, Mina saw Sasuke fly overhead of her and smiled, 'There he is! What was he doing?' She looked around, 'Well if he's safe, I'll just check for some heroes then.'
While scanning the environment, she saw a familiar wrinkled eye mask and her smile disappeared, 'Isn't that Midnight sensei's?'
Her eyes followed a small trail of blood leading behind some bushes, and she slowly stepped toward it. The closer she got, the stronger a familiar smell entered her nose and chills ran down her spine as she slowly looked over the bushes with a tense gaze. Midnight lay dead on her stomach with a hole where her heart was, and Mina covered her mouth.
Footsteps approached from behind and she heard Kirishima's voice, "Yo Mina, did you ever find Sasuke?"
She murmured, "... Yeah..."
"Hey, what are you looking at over—"
She turned to him and put an arm on his chest while looking at the ground, "Don't look! Midnight is..."
Kirishima's eyes widened, "Midnight is what, Mina?"
"She's... dead..."
Kirishima went rigid and tried to step forward, "What? You can't be serious, Mina... c'mon..."
She tried to stop him, but he swiped her hand away and his breath hitched when he saw her. "Wha... what the fuck... who would do this?"
His voice shook and tears welled up in his eyes. Mina remembered what Nagant had described to her a few months ago about the villain she fought. "Kakazu..."
"W-what?"
"That's the guy who must have done it... he... uses other people's hearts for his quirk..."
Tears streamed down Kirishima's eyes and he trudged over to Midnight's body and picked it up. Mina asked, "What are you doing?"
"I gotta... take her somewhere better... we can't leave her here in the forest..."
Mina could see his back shaking while he carried her and followed after him looking down. She thought, 'Did we... make the right choice? Did we do enough? This... this is a war... if they're really trying to destroy society... we should do more...'
Sasuke flew past over a dozen cities, all in ruin with a path of rubble, bodies, and fire. He sweated profusely and tried to keep his nerve, using the destruction as a guide until he reached a large circular clearing, 'This is where Jaku used to be!'
He spotted Gigantomachia tied to the ground and figures below near him. He slammed on the ground in front of them and saw Bakugo, Midoriya, and Endeavor on the ground, bloody and unconscious. Gran Torino was nearby and looked like he was close to death. Mirio, Best Jeanist, and Nejire stared at him and he asked, "What happened? Where are they?"
Nejire heaved, "Sorry... but you're too late... they escaped."
A chill ran down Sasuke's spine and he slammed his fist on the ground, 'Damn it! I didn't get here fast enough!... if that Obito guy didn't come by…I could have stopped that giant and helped here…'
The images of every city he passed through ran through his mind and he side-eyed Gigantomachia's unconscious body. 'After everything you've done... I should...' His eye became bloodshot, '... Ama—'
Best Jeanist stated, "Sasuke... if you still have energy, just try to help people. We have to get everyone to proper medical care and try to help anyone else in trouble."
Sasuke stayed silent for a minute with his hair covering his eyes before looking at his injured classmates. His eyes went back to their normal black color, "Fine... I'll do what I can..."
In the aftermath of the battle, seven near-high-end Nomu escaped with Shigaraki. Gigantomachia, Compress, Re-Destro, Geten, Trumpet, and many other Paranormal Liberation Front members were all captured. In total, 16,929 individuals were apprehended. Although, 133 members of the front escaped, and Gigantomachia's rampage alone caused the deaths of over 20,000 civilians and counting.
Later that night, when everyone thought the worst of it was over, Nomu's and Shigaraki invaded the Tartarus prison.
A guard tower was decayed and a guard on watch typed on the computer as fast as he could, "Monitoring system down! We've been hit by some kind of EMP!"
The guard next to him yelled, "It'll be back up in three seconds! Wait... but how?!"
In the brief moment the monitoring system was down, AFO made his move breaking out of his cell and destroying every cell door on the bottom floor.
The guards picked up their rifles, and the guard yelled, "Systems not coming back up, and the cells are being opened up from the inside! Suppression squads move in! Keep the inmates detained by any means!"
Down near the bottom level, Iruka picked up a rifle and trained it toward a smokey hallway with the rest of his squad, "Regulation states we will open fire if any inmate steps within range! Go back to your cells immediately or we will shoot!" Suddenly, a wall next to them collapsed as water rushed in and slowly drowned the guards. Through the smoke, a blue-skinned man with a shark-like appearance grinned, "Looks like the boss is finally breaking us out."
A level above, another suppression squad opened fire down a hallway, but a purple mist slowly filled the room and paralyzed them, "I can't... move!" A man with blonde hair walked into the room and grabbed a rifle from one of the paralyzed guards.
"I prefer a scythe, but this will do," he aimed the gun at the guards and opened fire on all of them.
On the other end of the floor level, guards sweated, and one yelled, "Go back to your cell immediately, Pain! If we hear so much as one sound from you, we're opening fire!"
The soft sound of footsteps approaching filled the dark hallway and every guard opened fire, emptying their magazines. "Reloading! Did we get him?"
The sound of footsteps continued, but before anyone could say anything, an array of bullets were shot back at them, shredding them all to pieces. An orange-haired man with piercings and vibrant purple-ringed eyes strolled through the room casually without a word.
Near the upper levels, Orochimaru sat in his office with a smile enjoying the chaotic rumbling outside while guards protected him. A guard said, "Let's just try to stay in here until it's over with. Our guns aren't doing anything to Nomu."
There was a knock on the door followed by a voice, "Orochimaru, are you in there?"
Orochimaru's grin widened, "Yes, Kabuto. Why don't you come in?"
A guard turned to Orochimaru with wide eyes, "Doctor, what the hell are you doing?! Kabuto is not a stable inmate!"
The door was busted off the hinges by a long white snake that jolted at a guard's neck and bit into it before rag-dolling him and slamming the other guards into walls.
After taking care of the guards, Kabuto walked in wearing only pants with a snake curled around him coming from his belly button. The two smiled at each other and Orochimaru stood up. Kabuto said, "There you are, master. Should we get out of here? Things are getting really hectic."
Orochimaru stepped out of his office and looked out of a hole in the ceiling at the Nomu jumping around. "No... this is a perfect opportunity for me to finally speak with AFO since I don't have to worry about my job anymore."
Kabuto asked, "We're joining sides with him?"
Orochimaru shrugged, "Temporarily at least. Better now than later when it could be too late. Now let's go."
AFO stood on top of a building with Shigaraki staring down at the chaos and destruction while prisoners ran outside. Three men walked up the stairs toward AFO and he smiled, "Ah, Pain, Kisame, Hanzo, it's been so long since I've seen you all!"
Kisame replied, "Knew you'd get us out eventually. Shigaraki's hair is whiter than I remember."
"Indeed, Kisame, you'll have to get used to his appearance though. He's an integral piece in the puzzle I'm forming."
Pain looked into Shigaraki's eyes, "I see you initiated that plan you mentioned to me before."
Hanzo asked, "What plan?"
"The one about AFO inhabiting a new body."
"Sorry if I'm interrupting, but I'd like to talk to AFO."
Everyone turned their heads to see Orochimaru and Kabuto. Pain slowly raised his hand, "The doctor..."
AFO said, "Hold on, Pain. Let's give him a chance to speak. He's always seemed like he was more than what meets the eye. What gives, doctor? Don't you care about your occupation?"
Orochimaru stepped forward, "My occupation is nothing to worry about, my main interest lies in finding out everything I can about quirks and their secrets. And when it comes to someone like yourself, you seem like the obvious route to follow on this journey."
AFO giggled, "A scientist wanting to use me to further his knowledge, how refreshing. I suppose since Garaki has been captured and is dying soon that another doctor could be helpful... don't get any funny ideas though." He leaned in, "I can sense your intent..."
Orochimaru momentarily froze, and AFO straightened up, "Ignoring that, though, you can join me… in fact, everyone here may bear witness to this impending void era by my side." AFO turned to the city across the bridge, "This era will be the story of how I became the most perfect Demon Lord of all time!"