Chapter 78

Whirling Chaos is the seventy-eighth chapter of Kōhei Horikoshi's Boku no Hero Academia.

Summary
Shouta takes Kouta to safety, surmising that Izuku’s adrenaline is preventing him from experiencing the pain of his Quirk’s overuse. Kouta wonders if Izuku will be alright, crying that he didn’t get a chance to apologize. Shouta tells Kouta 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 Kenji continues in earnest. Izuku tells Mandalay that one of the villains’ goal is to capture Katsuki and asks her to inform everyone about it. As Izuku sprints to the forest, Kenji realizes that Izuku defeated Muscular he knows about one of their goals. Kenji tries to attack Izuku, but Spinner intercepts which allows Izuku to escape. Kenji is displeased with Spinner’s action; Spinner says that Stain 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 Telepathy to inform everyone that Katsuki must avoid fighting since he is one of the targets.

Meanwhile, Shouto engages in combat with the restrained villain (known as Moon Fish), using his ice to block the villain’s teeth enlarging Quirk. Moon Fish proves to be highly skilled, being able to break through Shouto’s ice and nearly hit Katsuki with one of his teeth, only to be intercepted by Shouto’s ice. Shouto 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. Moon Fish continues breaking through Shouto’s ice defenses with his teeth enlarging Quirk while also using his teeth to maneuver himself around. Shouto 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 and Itsuka 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 Mezou. Mezou decides to carry Izuku on his back after seeing his grievous injuries. Mezou explains to Izuku that he and Fumikage were ambushed by Moon Fish; 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 Mezou 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 Mezou to run away from him otherwise they will die. Izuku watches in shock.