Mailin’s POV

The battlefield is a mess of smoke, flame, and destruction. Heroes are scattered, trying to hold off Tomura’s rampage, while debris from the ruined hospital continues to fall. The Nomu attacks are relentless, their regeneration and strength pushing the Heroes to their limits. Endeavor and Deku press forward, sweat dripping as they struggle to keep up with Tomura's monstrous abilities.

I’m standing at the edge of the chaos, my focus entirely on the fight ahead. The air around me is thick with dust, and I can feel the moisture in the atmosphere—it's not much, but enough for me to manipulate. My hero costume clings to me, soaked from the water I’ve already been pulling from the rubble, but I need to be more precise now. The situation is dire.

Through the smoke, I see Shota. His eyes are locked on Tomura, his Erasure Quirk working overtime to keep the High-End Nomu and Tomura at bay. But I see the exhaustion weighing on him. I want to run to his side, tell him to rest for a moment, but we both know there’s no time.

Tomura’s words echo across the battlefield, taunting Endeavor, mocking the very existence of Heroes. I watch as Endeavor retaliates, sending a blast of fire toward him. I quickly draw the moisture around me, forming it into a shield of water to protect the others near me. But Tomura leaps through the flames, completely unfazed, and my stomach churns.

Before I can move, Gran Torino rushes in, tackling Tomura to the ground. The sight of Gran Torino—fast as ever—gives me a momentary sense of relief, but that feeling vanishes in an instant. Tomura moves like a blur, crushing Gran Torino's leg, then slamming him into the ground with an unnatural strength. I feel a scream of horror rise in my throat as Tomura’s fist plunges through Gran Torino's chest.

“Gran Torino!” Deku’s voice pierces through the noise, filled with anguish.

I grit my teeth, my eyes darting between Deku, Katsuki, and Shota. I can feel my heart racing, the familiar burn of desperation rising inside me. My hands clench at my sides, and I reach out with my Quirk, bending the water around me into razor-sharp blades. I want to lash out at Tomura, but I can't lose control. Not now.

“Mailin, focus!” Shota’s voice is stern, cutting through the chaos.

I snap my attention back to him just as Tomura breaks free of Ryukyu's grasp, lunging toward Shota. Without thinking, I step forward, the water swirling around my arms like a whirlpool. But Deku is faster, his Blackwhip shooting out to restrain Tomura.

The air around us crackles with tension. Deku’s rage is palpable, fueling his strength, but Tomura’s cruelty is unmatched. He digs through Ryukyu’s grip, pulling out the dreaded Quirk-Destroying bullets.

I freeze. The realization hits me like a wave crashing against rocks. Those bullets—Eri, Shota, everything could be undone. I can’t let that happen. Not again.

“Shota!” I yell, my voice raw. “Watch out!”

Deku, Katsuki, and Ryukyu are doing everything they can, but I see it—the glint of the bullet aimed at Shota. Everything slows. My pulse pounds in my ears, and time feels like it’s slipping through my fingers. I can’t lose him. Not Shota. I won’t.

Shota reacts, faster than I thought possible, pulling out a knife and slicing through his leg in one swift motion. Blood sprays, but the bullet misses its mark. I’m in shock, my breath catching as I watch the man I love make that sacrifice without hesitation. Tomura laughs in the distance, but all I can think about is the pain Shota must be in. My hands tremble, but my vision narrows, and suddenly, all I see is red.

Something snaps inside me, and the world shatters. Time stretches, the battlefield noise fades, and in its place, a deep, cosmic hum fills the air. I feel it coursing through my veins—a force greater than anything I’ve ever felt before. I am no longer just Mailin. I am fire. I am earth. I am water. I am air.

I am everything.

The elements rise at my command, swirling around me like a storm, and the power surges—ancient, raw, unstoppable. Flames erupt from my hands, spiraling into the air. The earth quakes beneath my feet, cracking open as pillars of stone shoot upward. Winds whip around me, and the water rises, spiraling into a vortex of fury. I don’t need to think, don’t need to plan—the elements move as I move.

I feel the presence of countless lives echoing through me, guiding me, lending me their strength. Their voices whisper in my ear, not as individuals but as one. They are part of me now, an unbreakable connection to something greater than I could ever have imagined.

I am not alone.

We are not alone.

My eyes burn with light, and when I speak, it’s not just my voice that echoes through the air—it’s the voice of every life, every power that has come before me, speaking as one, thunderous and eternal.

“SHIGARAKI TOMURA!” My voice booms across the battlefield, reverberating like thunder. “YOU AND YOUR MASTER HAVE DESTROYED THE BALANCE OF THIS WORLD!” The words carry the weight of eons. “AND NOW YOU WILL PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE!”

The world trembles as the elemental sphere around me spins faster and faster, crackling with energy, gathering strength. Shigaraki falters, his twisted smile cracking as his Decay spreads, aiming to engulf everything.

But I push forward, unyielding. The clash is violent, like two titans colliding, the ground splintering beneath us. His Decay disintegrates everything in its path, but my elements—our elements—are stronger. Fire and earth clash with his dark wave, the air howling, water crashing down like a tidal wave.

The battlefield is chaos, but I stand at the eye of the storm, unyielding. Shigaraki moves toward me, desperation clear in his eyes, but my power only grows. The elemental sphere tightens around him, trapping him in a vortex of bending, and I see the fear finally take root in his twisted gaze.

“You will not harm anyone else,” I speak again, my voice reverberating like thunder, layered with the weight of countless lives. “Not him. Not them. Never again.”

My hands rise, commanding the elements. The earth beneath Shigaraki erupts, forming jagged stone to hold him in place, while fire snakes around him, burning away his Decay. Water crashes over him in waves, and the wind pins him down. His struggles weaken, his power flickering in the face of our overwhelming force.

The sphere spins faster, brighter—light and power merging into a storm of destruction.

We are the storm.

Shigaraki tries to break free, but I don’t let him. My power roars louder, unstoppable, bending every element to my will. I raise my arms, and the ground beneath him shatters, the earth swallowing him as fire and water collide in a brilliant flash of light. Wind whips around us, howling like the voices of the past, and the sphere tightens, crushing his resistance.

For the first time, Shigaraki's confidence falters. His eyes widen, fear taking hold. He is trapped, and the realization hits him—he cannot win.

I take one step forward, my body glowing with the power of the elements, and my voice booms across the battlefield, the voices of all those who came before me reverberating in every word:

“You are finished.”

The storm of elements around me begins to reach its peak, but something inside me shifts. This power—our power—isn’t just about destruction. It’s about balance. Shigaraki’s decay… it’s chaos, it’s destruction for the sake of destruction. He’s tearing the world apart with no regard for life, no understanding of balance.

I feel it—the pull. The swirling elements around me slow as the focus changes. I can sense Shigaraki’s Quirk, that endless hunger for annihilation, and I know what I have to do.

We know what must be done.

The voices inside me guide my movements. The sphere of elements softens, the flames flicker lower, the water calms, and the earth beneath us stills. I reach out with my hand, and Shigaraki, still trapped within the bindings of my elemental force, glares up at me. His Decay is still active, still pushing against the sphere, but it’s no match for what I’ve become.

“This ends now,” I say, my voice a chorus of countless lives, layered with the power of every element, every soul that came before me.

I extend my hand, not to attack, but to reach into the very core of his being. The connection snaps into place instantly—a bridge between us, between our energies. I can feel the darkness inside him, the overwhelming malice of his Quirk, the thing that devours everything in its path. It rages against me, trying to consume, but the power inside me pushes back, calm and unyielding.

Shigaraki’s eyes widen as I close the distance between us, my glowing hand hovering just above his chest. He struggles, trying to break free, but the energy between us binds him. His Decay falters, crumbling like ash in the wind.

I can feel the chaos, the raw, unchecked destruction within him. But deep within, I sense something else—fear. A broken boy consumed by a power too great for him to control. For a moment, I see the child behind the villain. But that doesn’t stop me.

The power surges through my fingers, weaving into his very essence, searching for the heart of his Quirk. It writhes, resisting, but I don’t let go. I dig deeper, connecting with the energy that fuels his destruction, wrapping it in the calm, controlled power of my own bending.

“You are no longer in control of this power,” I say, my voice resonating through the connection.

He snarls, his eyes blazing with fury, but I don’t flinch. Slowly, I tighten my grip on his energy, pulling at the core of his Quirk. The decay begins to unravel, piece by piece, slipping through my fingers as I strip it away from him.

Shigaraki screams—a sound of pure rage and terror. His body shakes violently, but I hold him steady, my power locking him in place as I continue the process. The energy shifts, his Quirk fighting desperately to survive, but it’s no match for the force of the elements coursing through me.

The decay—his destruction—is ripped from his soul.

Light explodes between us, blinding and intense. I feel the power leave him, dissolving into nothing as I pull it away, and suddenly, it’s over. The connection snaps, and I stagger back, gasping for breath. My hands are trembling, my heart pounding in my chest.

Shigaraki falls to his knees, the weight of his lost Quirk crashing down on him. His eyes are wide, filled with disbelief as he stares at his hands—hands that can no longer destroy.

“It’s done,” I whisper, my voice my own again, though the echoes of the past still linger. “Your Quirk is gone.”