The storm didn't end.
It mutated.
Like it had a mind of its own.
Like it was angry we'd stopped the war too early.
Zane and I stood back-to-back in the middle of the crumbling street, watching the air itself twist into something… unnatural. I saw colors that shouldn't exist. Heard sounds that bent in and out of frequency. It was like reality had glitched.
A hurricane swirled above Sector 6. Lightning traced ancient sigils in the clouds.
And then I felt it—
The shift.
Not in the wind.
In the people.
Ryan screamed somewhere to my left. His weather manipulation quirk snapped out of control—hailstones the size of grenades forming mid-air and raining down in jagged patterns.
Bakugo's blasts triggered sporadically, exploding from his palms without him even trying.
Eliza's hardening flickered—stone, steel, glass, back to skin—like her body couldn't decide what it wanted to be.
Shoto was on his knees, frost and fire leaking from every pore. He clutched his head in pain as a ring of scorched earth and ice formed around him.
And Izuku—
God.
His quirk shattered the ground beneath his feet like an earthquake. Blackwhip lashed out in every direction, completely uncontrolled, like the power within him was trying to escape his body.
"What the hell is happening?!" Diamond screamed as her lightning sparked like wildfire around her, striking nearby survivors without warning.
I could feel it too—my own energy twisting, pulling at me like it wanted more than just control. It wanted release.
"It's the Genesis Flame," Zane said, eyes wide. "You destabilized the field. You didn't just wipe out the villains… you woke something buried in the quirk gene."
I blinked. "The hell does that mean?"
"It means everyone's powers are breaking their limits—evolving without restraint. If we don't stop it soon…" He didn't finish.
Because there wasn't a solution.
Not yet.
People across Tokyo were suffering.
Heroes were turning into walking time bombs.
Civilians were experiencing quirk awakenings—mutations—some never even had quirks before today and were now screaming as their bodies shifted unnaturally.
This wasn't evolution.
It was chaos.
And in that chaos, I saw the eyes of my friends flick toward me.
My childhood friends.
My classmates.
My brother.
All of them knew the truth now.
They'd heard my name screamed through the battlefield when I was still wearing my mask.
They watched me trigger the apocalypse to stop a war.
They were still bleeding.
Still scared.
Still staring.
And I was supposed to be the one who had answers.
I swallowed the fear rising in my chest.
No time for regret.
I raised my comm.
"Shadow, report."
Shira's voice buzzed in. "Medical units overwhelmed. Quirk surges everywhere. If this keeps up, we'll lose more people to themselves than the enemy."
"Tell the science units to regroup. We need Ryah, Thorn, and Ghost working on a quirk suppressant or stabilizer ASAP. Priority one."
"You got it."
I turned toward the edge of the battlefield, where winds were rising and black clouds touched the ground like crawling fingers.
Izuku stood there.
Eyes glowing. Face pale.
He didn't recognize me in this form—but he stared at me like he knew.
And I could see the tremble in his shoulders.
He wasn't breaking from the pain.
He was breaking from the fear of hurting someone.
Because One For All was fighting him now.
I wanted to go to him.
To tell him I was here.
That he wasn't alone.
But I couldn't.
Not yet.
Because if I stopped now—
If I even hesitated—
We'd lose everyone.
I stepped forward, ignoring the war still screaming around us.
"We hold the line," I said.
My voice didn't shake.
Because I couldn't afford to anymore.
Not as a student.
Not as a brother.
Not even as Dark Phantom.
But as the one who lit the match—and now had to put out the fire.