Chapter 78

Whirling Chaos (き) is the seventy-eighth chapter of Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia.

Summary
Shota Aizawa takes Kota Izumi to safety, surmising that Izuku Midoriya's adrenaline is preventing him from experiencing the pain of his Quirk's overuse. Kota wonders if Izuku will be alright, crying that he did not get a chance to apologize. Shota tells Kota that Izuku will be alright and advises him to thank Izuku the next time he sees him.

The battle between Mandalay and Spinner as well as Tiger and Magne continues in earnest. Izuku tells Mandalay that one of the villains' goal is to capture Katsuki Bakugo and asks her to inform everyone about it. As Izuku sprints to the forest, Magne realizes that Izuku defeated Muscular and knows about one of their goals. She tries to attack Izuku, but Spinner intercepts which allows Izuku to escape. Magne is displeased with his action, but Spinner says that Chizome Akaguro deemed Izuku worthy of being a hero and he will respect that opinion as well. Mandalay sees that Spinner has left his guard down and kicks him in the face, knocking him down. Izuku enters the forest while Mandalay uses her Quirk to inform everyone that Katsuki must avoid fighting since he is one of the targets.

Meanwhile, Shoto Todoroki engages in combat with Moonfish, using his ice to block the villain's teeth enlarging Quirk. Moonfish proves to be highly skilled, being able to break through Shoto's ice and nearly hit Katsuki with one of his teeth, only to be intercepted by Shoto's ice. Shoto warns Katsuki to not use his Explosion Quirk due to the fear of igniting the poisonous gas and causing more chaos, much to Katsuki's annoyance. Moonfish continues breaking through Shoto's ice defenses with his teeth enlarging Quirk while also using his teeth to maneuver himself around. Shoto analyses that retreat is not possible since they will get caught in the gas and concludes that he and Katsuki are in a bind.

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Itsuka Kendo continue walking through the forest; Itsuka realizes that the gas is not dispersing and surmises that a villain is manipulating the gas; they decide to find the villain responsible for the gas. As Tetsutetsu and Itsuka reach the source of the poisonous gas, the masked villain feels their presence and is impressed that they figured out the gas phenomena; he takes out a gun in preparation for their arrival. Suddenly, Tetsutetsu appears in front of the masked villain and prepares to attack him with his steel fist. However, the masked villain fires his gun at Tetsutetsu.

Elsewhere in the forest, Izuku continues his search for Katsuki. Out of nowhere, a giant shadow claw is about to attack Izuku; Izuku tries to defend himself, but his adrenaline begins wearing off and starts to feel great pain which stops him from moving. However, Izuku is saved by Mezo Shoji. Mezo decides to carry Izuku on his back after seeing his grievous injuries. Mezo explains to Izuku that he and Fumikage Tokoyami were ambushed by Moonfish; he covered for Fumikage and as a result, he lost one of his tentacles. Consequently, the ambush caused Fumikage to lose control of his Quirk that he was desperately trying to keep under control, Dark Shadow.

Izuku and Mezo turn their attention to Fumikage; Fumikage has been restrained by Dark Shadow, who is now larger and more ferocious due to the power of darkness. The empowered and berserk Dark Shadow begins taking control of Fumikage's body. Struggling, Fumikage pleads Izuku and Mezo to run away from him otherwise they will die. Izuku watches in shock.