As we stepped into the massive dome of the USJ, a collective gasp of awe escaped my classmates. The facility was truly extraordinary. Before us lay a vast landscape, divided into various realistic disaster zones: there was a city ruins zone, a landslide area with steep cliffs, a storm zone with artificial wind and rain, a blazing fire zone, and a large lake in the center. It was the most advanced training playground in the world. The Space Hero, Thirteen, stood before us, their large, clunky hand gestures feeling friendly.
"Welcome, everyone!" Thirteen greeted, their voice slightly muffled by their helmet. "I built this facility to simulate all kinds of accidents and disasters. I call it the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ!"
As Thirteen began their passionate speech about how Quirks could easily be used to kill and the importance of using them to save lives, I was barely listening. My mind was racing. My eyes scanned every corner of the facility, from the top of the dome to the central plaza below. I was looking for one thing. One sign. An anomaly in the air. The heat in my chest, which had been a gentle throb on the bus, now intensified to a constant, low-grade fever. My instincts were screaming that danger was close, very close. I felt a light touch on my arm.
"Tatsumi-san, are you alright?" Momo whispered beside me. She must have noticed my tension. Her face showed genuine concern. "You look… as if you're waiting for something terrible to happen."
I forced a faint smile. "Just a little nervous. This place is… incredibly real." It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either.
Up ahead, Aizawa-sensei finished a brief conversation with Thirteen. "Alright," Aizawa said to us. "Listen carefully to Thirteen's explanation, after that we'll—"
He stopped abruptly. In the middle of the plaza below us, in front of a large fountain, the air began to swirl. A small black dot appeared, then rapidly expanded into an unnatural, churning vortex of blackish-purple mist. The lights on the dome's ceiling began to flicker, and the fountain sputtered one last time before dying.
"Whoa, so cool!" Kirishima exclaimed. "The training even has villain special effects!"
"Stay back!" Aizawa's sharp voice cut through the excitement. He pulled his goggles up over his eyes.
From the center of the purple mist, people began to emerge. Not just one or two. Dozens. Hundreds. Villains of all shapes and sizes, from street thugs to monstrous mutants, flooded the plaza like ants. And in their midst, two figures stood out. One was the mist man himself, his form a shifting shadow with two glowing yellow eyes. The other was a thin, listless-looking man in simple black clothes. His face and body were covered by pale, dismembered hands. Tomura Shigaraki.
The entire class froze, their confusion quickly turning to horror. This was not part of the training.
"Aizawa-sensei!" I shouted, my voice cutting through the tense silence. "That's not part of the exercise! Those are real villains!" The urgency and certainty in my tone seemed to snap everyone out of their shock.
"Thirteen, protect the students and try to contact the school!" Aizawa commanded, without a hint of hesitation. "Kaminari, you too, try to use your Quirk to call for help!" He leaped from the ledge, his capture scarf floating around him like living snakes, and plunged into the middle of the villain horde below.
The fight that followed was a masterpiece of brutal efficiency. Aizawa moved among the villains like a phantom. He would glare at one villain, and their fire Quirk would extinguish. He'd look at another, and their stone arms would crumble into normal flesh. He used his scarf to capture, throw, and slam his opponents, while his fluid hand-to-hand combat neutralized anyone who managed to get close. He was a true underground hero, a specialist in fighting multiple opponents at once. But I knew, even he had his limits. Especially against the two main threats.
While we were all still transfixed by Aizawa's fight, the purple mist reappeared, this time right in front of us at the top of the stairs, blocking our exit. The mist figure coalesced into a more distinct humanoid form.
"Welcome," Kurogiri said in a polite yet chilling voice. "We are the League of Villains. We may be a bit presumptuous, but we've taken the liberty of inviting ourselves into this home of heroes to deliver a message." His yellow eyes swept over us all. "We heard that All Might, the Symbol of Peace, was supposed to be here. We've come to end his life."
His blunt statement made our blood run cold. "Kill All Might?" It was impossible.
Before anyone could fully process it, Bakugo and Kirishima shot forward. "As if we'd let you!" they yelled, attacking the mist figure. A massive explosion from Bakugo hit him, creating a thick cloud of smoke.
From within the smoke, Kurogiri's voice sounded, unfazed. "How spirited. But my role here is for something else."
In the space distorted by his Quirk, Kurogiri observed the students. His mission, given by Shigaraki, was to scatter and isolate them. He saw the explosive boy and the red-haired one. They were physically strong. He saw the boy with glasses who looked ready to run. He was fast. Then, his eyes fell on the jet-black-haired boy standing near the ponytailed girl. The same one who had first identified them as villains. 'This one is sharp and perceptive,' Kurogiri thought. 'He could be a problem if left with the others. I'll place him somewhere… challenging. A place where his perception won't do him much good against brute force.'
"My role," Kurogiri said as his black mist suddenly expanded with terrifying speed, "is to scatter you all and torture you to death!"
A dome of darkness enveloped me. I felt a bizarre sensation, as if my body were being pulled in every direction at once. There was a biting cold, the sound of rushing wind, and then, with a violent jolt, I was thrown onto a hard, uneven surface. I landed on my knees, coughing as I tried to get my bearings. All around me, sharp rocks and steep cliffs rose toward the dome's ceiling. The Landslide Zone.
"Tatsumi-san!"
I turned to see Momo landing a few feet away from me, looking just as disoriented. Damn it. Kurogiri had sent us together. Before we could even assess the situation, the sound of harsh laughter and heavy footsteps echoed from the cliffs around us. A group of villains—at least a dozen—began to descend, surrounding us. They were the rough-and-tumble type, with physical and earth-based mutation Quirks. One had skin like rock, another had giant drill arms.
"Well, look what we have here," growled one of them, the largest with a golem-like Quirk. "Two lost little hero chicks. Looks like it's our lucky day."
Momo looked pale. I could see it. This wasn't a drill anymore. These weren't robots to be dismantled. These were real people who wanted to kill us. For a moment, she froze. Her genius, her planning, it all vanished in the face of real, brutal terror. One of the villains, a smaller, faster one with rock claws, saw her hesitation and lunged for her.
In that instant, something inside me broke. The heat in my chest that had been a low-grade fever now exploded into a supernova. It was a purely instinctual reaction—seeing someone I considered a comrade, an ally, in mortal danger. That was the trigger.
"GRRAAAAHHH!"
A roar that wasn't my own ripped from my throat as searing pain tore through my body. This time, the manifestation was faster, more complete. Jet-black plates erupted from my skin with even greater force, forming more solid gauntlets, shin guards, and a chest plate. A jagged helmet formed around my head, leaving only my eyes glowing with a dangerous light. Incursio had answered my call. The pain was immense, but the power flooding my system drowned it out.
I moved faster than the villain's eyes could process. I shot in front of Momo, catching the villain's rock-clawed fist in my gauntlet. The sound of cracking bone was audible as I crushed his hand. With a furious roar, I threw him back, slamming him into the cliff wall with enough force to crack the surrounding rock.
A stunned silence fell over the villains. I stood before Momo, my partially armored body slightly hunched, my breath heavy. I glanced back at her. Her eyes were wide with a mixture of horror and awe.
"Yaoyorozu!" I said, my voice raspy and slightly deeper from the armor around my face. "I'll hold them off! You are our artillery! You are our weapon factory! Make a shield, make a staff, make anything you can think of! Don't hesitate! Don't think, create!"
My firm, urgent command seemed to jolt her out of her fear. She looked at me—this strange, armored creature—standing between her and death. She saw the absolute trust in my eyes. She straightened her back, her expression of fear hardening into a mask of cold concentration. The lipids on her arm began to glow brightly. "I understand," she said, her voice steady now.
The other villains, having recovered from their shock, let out a war cry and charged at us in unison. I grinned behind my helmet. Let them come. I rolled my shoulders, feeling the power of the newly awakened dragon coursing through me. With a battle cry, I lunged forward to meet them. Behind me, I could hear the distinct sound of Momo's Creation Quirk working at full speed. Our fight for survival had just begun.