Chapter 63: Riftstorm at USJ: The Echo of Malice
Narration – Belenus
I knew the moment it began.
The birds fell silent. The mana-tuned security wards flared briefly—then shattered like glass under pressure they were never designed to contain. The dimensional anchors started to hum.
Something wasn't coming.
It was already here.
---
Scene – Interior: USJ Disaster Zone
Class 1-A stood in the flood zone when the air tore open with a wretched, grinding screech.
Out of nothing, a rift spiraled—a mangled vortex of shadows and static. And from its depths stepped Shigaraki Tomura.
But this wasn't the boyish anarchist from history files.
This Shigaraki was revamped, enhanced by Rift energy and dungeon corruption—his skin spiderwebbed with glowing red glyphs, fingers longer, twitching with insatiable rot.
> "I thought they'd send children again," he muttered, voice layered with a static echo. "But this time… the world grew teeth."
Behind him, the Nomus emerged—not one, but five.
Each one was a grotesque evolution—Rift-spliced, titan-spawned, dungeon-reforged horrors:
One with wings of obsidian crystal.
Another crawling with void tendrils.
One pulsing with mana geysers, breathing fire.
A fourth that shimmered in and out of existence—phase-shifting.
And the last... a behemoth Nomu with three faces and a cannon-arm carved from dragonbone.
Other villains followed—warped dungeonborn mercs with augmented quirks, hollowed sorcerers, corrupted ex-heroes. They came through in droves.
---
Scene – Solnaria, Nyssara, Deku, Ichigo
Solnaria moved first—her time aura flaring like an hourglass turned sideways.
> "I'll anchor the timeline."
Nyssara's hands wove spirit-threaded sigils. Ghostfire blades shimmered into her grip.
> "I'll scatter their formations. No mercy."
Deku activated his current form—One for All, honed, amplified by Goku's training and Belenus' pressure-forged conditioning. His eyes glowed green as he launched toward the Nomus.
Ichigo Kurosaki, standing tall in his hybrid form—Shinigami merged with Hollow and Fullbring—stepped beside them, Zangetsu already drawn.
> "Looks like old-school isn't enough anymore."
The four warriors moved as one.
Solnaria locked time mid-air, freezing enemy advance, while Nyssara shattered their speed advantage with a flurry of memory cuts.
Deku broke sound barriers—his Full Cowling now mixed with flame-coated strikes.
Ichigo flash-stepped through three villains at once, his Getsuga Tenshō reshaped by Riftlight—blue and violet now, not black.
> "We need to hold until—" Deku started—
But then the behemoth Nomu roared and surged forward, crushing barriers with one sweep of its bone cannon.
---
Scene – Belenus and All Might Arrive
The dome cracked from above.
A storm of gold and scarlet light burst through the glass as I descended like a meteor, crushing a Nomu underfoot.
My spines pulsed crimson. The very weight of my presence forced the villains to stumble.
A second impact followed—All Might, still in his muscle form, landing beside me in a shockwave that sent enemies flying.
He glanced sideways.
> "This time, I'm not fighting alone."
I didn't reply with words. Just a slow, controlled exhale that turned the floor molten.
> "Your move," I whispered, raising my claws.
And then we charged.
---
Scene – War Unfolds
Solnaria rewound a beam aimed at Deku.
Nyssara phase-dashed and stabbed a Nomu's inner skull core.
Ichigo and Deku tag-teamed a Riftspawned villain who split into dozens of clones.
I grabbed the obsidian-winged Nomu and shattered its wings mid-flight, then turned the remaining bone into a dagger and hurled it into another's reactor heart.
All Might brought down a hammering blow of pure kinetic force—sending Shigaraki sprawling.
But even as Shigaraki bled, he laughed.
> "You think this is a war?"
> "No," I said, voice low.
> "This is a prologue."
---
Scene – Final Exchange
With one final roar, I unleashed the Ashen Spiral Beam, combining primordial flame and gravitational fusion, annihilating the RiftGate Shigaraki had opened.
But even as the gate closed, his words echoed.
> "You've forced the world to evolve, Red Death. And we… evolved with it."
---
Scene – Aftermath
Smoke filled the air. U.A. stood—scarred, but standing. Students helped each other. Some cried. Some stared in stunned silence.
I stood in the center of the crater, Deku at my side, Ichigo sheathing his blade, Solnaria still glowing with fractured time.
> "This is the new world," I muttered.
> "And now… it remembers me."
Scene – USJ Crater (Moments After the Battle)
Narration – Belenus (First Person)
I stood in the heart of the broken arena, steam rising off my skin, each breath like volcanic fume. My claws were still bloodstained. Not from enemies—but from shielding Solnaria.
Her blood.
My daughter's blood.
The crimson droplets clung to my palm like echoes—quiet, damning, unforgivable.
> "She said she could handle herself," I whispered, eyes locked on her faintly glowing form as Kaela cradled her in a protective shell of spirit-thread and storm.
But this wasn't about her failure.
It was about mine.
I should have sensed them sooner. Should have burned that damned Rift open before it ever touched her.
The ground around me groaned.
The gravity shifted.
Molten veins began to form in the broken floor beneath my feet.
> "Belenus—" All Might began, stepping cautiously forward, "She's alive. She's safe now."
I turned to him slowly, eyes blazing.
> "Safe?" My voice cracked like a tectonic plate. "They touched my daughter. They bled her. That will never be safe."
---
Scene – Solnaria Awakens
She stirred in Kaela's arms, her voice dry but defiant.
> "I held them back, Father," she said, lips curling into a weak smile. "We all did."
I knelt beside her, jaw clenched tight enough to crack obsidian.
> "You were brilliant," I said. "But next time…"
I leaned closer.
> "Next time, the sky itself will scream before they reach you."
I rose to full height. My aura exploded outward—visible, tangible, bending the air with radiant ash and anti-light.
Around me, U.A. staff and students froze in awe… and fear.
---
Scene – A Mentor's Wrath
All Might stood at the edge of the crater, fists clenched. The symbol of peace looked broken in a way few had ever seen.
> "They targeted children," he growled.
> "They corrupted Nomus into Rift-beasts."
> "They brought war to my students… again."
His voice deepened, no longer polished for the public.
> "No more mercy. No more patience."
He turned to Aizawa, who stood injured but alert.
> "We're no longer training them to be heroes," All Might said grimly.
> "We're training them to survive gods."
---
Scene – The Fallout
As I approached the edge of the battle zone, the students parted.
Not from command.
From instinct.
From heat.
From the unshakable presence of something older, deeper than any creature they'd ever imagined.
Belenus.
The Red Death.
Their mentor.
Their executioner.
Their father.
I paused beside Deku, who stood with fists bloodied but still trembling from the adrenaline.
> "Midoriya."
He looked up at me, still catching his breath.
> "You fought well."
> "But next time… you call me."
His throat tightened. "Yes, sir."
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Scene – Shigaraki's Wound
Far away, in a rotted cathedral that now served as the new villain command post, Shigaraki lay on a stone slab—his hand regenerating slowly, his chest still marked by where Ichigo and Solnaria had pierced him.
His Nomus were gone.
His Riftbeasts, burned.
But his eyes…
Still glowed.
> "He roared like a dying god," he muttered.
> "And the world heard it."
Kurogiri hovered near him. "Our forces are damaged."
> "Let them fear," Shigaraki grinned. "Let them train. We're evolving faster than they can comprehend."
> "Next time, I won't send monsters."
> "Next time, I'll send remnants of gods."
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Final Scene – U.A. Infirmary
Lunadora placed a kiss on Solnaria's brow as Kaela quietly tended to Nyssara's wounds.
I stood outside, watching the stars burn in the night sky.
Not praying.
Not hoping.
Just… waiting.
Because next time?
Next time I wouldn't be Belenus the Mentor.
I would be Belenus the Cataclysm.
And the cosmos would kneel.