They didn't have long to catch their breath. Just 24 hours later, the next attack began. And Kaede knew very well that it would go on and on until someone rescued them. But so far no one had come and they didn't know if anyone was on their way. The third attack began with a tremor that shook the building. The students ran to their posts and faced the danger. "What's your situation?" Kaede frowned because no one answered over the comm, then turned to Kyoka. "Do you have reception?" "No, I couldn't hear you." Kaede turned, cursing. "They're jamming our comm." "What do we do now?" "We continue as planned. Each group is on its own." She saw the worried looks on her friends' faces. "Don't worry about anything, alright? I'll look out for you." "It's not like we can't take care of ourselves." "Of course Neito." They saw a line of villains come forward, but behind them ran a line of larger schemes. "What's that?" It was some time before they could make anything out. The students had gone pale and Kaede felt dizzy for a moment. "Nomus." It didn't matter that there were a lot of them, they would have had trouble with one anyway. Did Nomus even have feelings Kaede could use? "This... We can't do that." Kaede froze. No no no, they couldn't lose their courage. She turned and sought Denki's gaze. "Of course we can do it, we just have to stall for time, the professionals will come." What was she lying for anyway? They all knew, after all. But Kaede shook her head, she had to banish those thoughts, all that mattered now was surviving as long as possible.They were doing quite well. So far, no one had suffered any initial casualties, but the fight had only been going on for a minute. Kaede had run straight to the Nomus to lure them away from her friends. Maybe it was honourable, but it didn't do her much good. A blow hit her in the side. The fist had not even touched her and yet she was thrown away by the gust of wind. She flew along the side of the house, unable to hold on anywhere until she hit a tree. A tree? She had flown as far as the east side, then she would have to.... Groaning, she pulled herself up the branch and looked around. There were Nomus here too, but fewer than at the field. She saw 6 people backing closer and closer to the wall. Eijiro's arm was torn and covered in blood while Hanta supported him. Ochako was leaning against the wall and looked like she was about to faint. The two from the B also looked terrible. Kaede winced as Mina fell to her knees. Her shoulders sagged and despair oozed from her twitching body. "How are we going to do this! We're all going to die!" Something broke inside Kaede. She would have liked to cry along with them, in this hopeless situation. Would they all die, would it end like this? It wasn't supposed to be like this. Mina could not give up hope. Eijiro stared at her in disbelief, as if he too were about to lose his grip. They were finished. But there had to be something? Something that could help them. But no one was there to help, they had only themselves. Kaede stumbled forward. While her mind was moving wildly back and forth, searching for anything, the scales fell from her eyes. "What is your Origin, young Miharu?" It was as if allmight was standing before her. Had she perhaps hit her head harder than she thought? "Stand up Mina!" Her friends looked to Kaede, who hurried to join them. "If we're going to die, we're not going to die on our knees. If we die, we die not like this. Remember all might. His last moments as a hero were not on the ground, but in battle. He fought to the last to protect, to win. I am here to remind you, it is my Origin to make a difference. My Origin is to stand beside you and support you until you can finally stand on your own again and kick that guy's ass." Mina wiped away her tears. "We will fight this battle, to the end, together. They will see that we weren't scared because we were together, okay?" Mina nodded. Eijiro seemed calmer. Kaede walked over to him. "You'll need your Quirk to protect the others." She put a hand on his arm and focused on her feelings. She wanted her friends to live, even if she had to do anything herself to do it, she would. As Eijiro's pain passed to her, she gasped briefly, but accepted it. "Kaede, what-" "Fight now, I have to get to my group."
Fortunately, their group had more space to dodge on the wide field. They did quite well. Most of the time they ran away until they could all attack one of the Nomus at the same time. Kaede threw herself at some of the villains near them. She didn't give them time to act, but waved her knives around, kicking and touching skin until there was a pile of bodies around her. Her bones ached and her muscles contracted, but she had trained for this. She had to fight to protect because the more she killed, the less her friends would have to confront. She tried not to be in the villains' minds for long, but each time she hesitated a moment longer. Did they really deserve to die? Well, they could run away, couldn't they? But it wouldn't change anything to think about it now, so Kaede went on. "Kaede!" She ran to Kyoka, who was standing further back. "Katsuki and Izuku's group have mixed, but they're between villains, you'd better be there than here." "Fine, if you say so." She trusted Kyoka's judgement, they didn't have more than that connection to the others either. Kaede ran around the corner again. Mina and the others were no longer there, but Nomus were, their backs to Kaede. "Are they circling them?" Kaede took a running start, then leapt forward with a golden blast, over the Nomus. She flew a little too far, but she could see roughly where her comrades were. When she landed, she made sure she landed on the Nomus, which she pushed to the ground beforehand. Then she ran back again. She made her way until she was with Katsuki, who was firing explosions at the Nomus in a small circle. When he noticed her, he retreated back to the centre. They stood back to back. "We must regain comm contact or we'll be lost." "Tch, who's jamming the comm, we're being overrun." "I can change that. You get our comrades out of the crowd and signal me when they've all gone, then I'll get going." He eyed her critically, but launched himself into the air. Kaede prepared herself for her plan. She would have little time, for the Nomus would not sit still as she poked around in the head of one of them. But the Nomus were no longer human, she didn't need to hold back. "Now light bulb!" She didn't need to be told twice. She jumped on one of the Nomus and sank into its subconscious. Instead of searching for individual emotions, she tried to grasp the whole. She felt pain in her leg, but she had to finish it first. With a jerk, she pulled the emotions out of the Nomu. She fell to the ground while the Nomu twitched, golden light streaming out of it as if it was glowing from within. Kaede couldn't get up, she couldn't move. "Oh shit." As the golden light robbed her of her sight, she thought it was over. But this was a beautiful way to die. For her friends, in a huge golden explosion of light she had created to save her friends. There was something philosophical about it. But a voice in her head answered. "No, it's just stupid."