WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia #314, by Kohei Horikoshi, Caleb Cook and John Hunt, available now in English from Viz Media.
Chapter 314 of My Hero Academia continues the dark, rainy battle for survival between Deku and Lady Nagant. The villainous sniper reveals the truth of why she defected from the ranks of pro-heroes to ultimately join All For One and in doing so, shines a spotlight on the corruption of the Hero Public Safety Commission. Lady Nagant is testing both Deku's strength and his convictions ... and in the final page of Chapter 314 pulls a dirty trick that may doom him to defeat.
The chapter begins with Deku surging through the night sky to grab Lady Nagant's arm. He crows that he's going to make her tell him everything she knows about All For One, but in pure frustration Lady Nagant lands a punch on him with her free hand. As Deku falls through the sky, she pulls off another shot on him that just barely misses. Even as he falls, he demands answers from Lady Nagant: "Why work for All For One? You know he's plotting to take over everything, right? So why?! I know you used to be a hero!!"
Nagant replies that the sense of order he's defending is a manufactured one. Those tinged by it can't understand the truth. Deku doesn't understand but does realize that the third wielder of One For All was right to warn him not to use his new Quirk in battle, since his parallel processing is all screwed up. He tried to introduce too many new maneuvers into battle at once and that took a toll on his ability to react to changing circumstances fluidly.
A bullet curves at him from behind, and Deku is taken aback by an attack coming from an unexpected direction. Once more he narrowly dodges, but Lady Nagant starts firing a hail of bullets at him. She tells him she was exhausted from having to kill to preserve the shiny illusion of hero society.
The chapter then cuts to flashback scenes that Lady Nagant is narrating. "Say there was a group plotting acts of terrorism against heroes ... or a hero team colluding with a gang of villains while gaining fame and fortune," she says. "When you have people like that -- people capable of shaking the bedrock of our society, law and order won't cut it. They have to disappear along with their crimes." Those were the types of mission the Hero Commission assigned to her.
Trust is the foundation of hero society, and Lady Nagant describes herself as the cog that kept the system running smoothly. We see the terrified faces of heroes she killed, exclaiming they hadn't even done anything wrong yet -- just planned on it. A younger Lady Nagant covered in blood shoots down more heroes as she narrates about how she obediently did her duty.
We next see her walking the streets, and a crowd of adoring children asking to shake her hand. She smiles and extends her hand out but recoils upon realizing it's covered in blood. Her expression is traumatized.
Lady Nagant reiterates that she was exhausted from all the killing. Disillusioned, too. She goes to the Hero Commission president in a flashback and questions if killing dirty heroes will really improve society. "Making people believe everything's puppies and rainbows ... Is that any better than brainwashing?" she asks.
The president replies that it's necessary to preserve all that hero society has built up. He ominously adds that this isn't a job Lady Nagant will be able to walk away from. She raises her rifle at him and the flashback ends.
Deku exclaims in shock that all he heard on the news was that she killed another hero in an argument ... not that it was the president. Nagant taunts him about how ignorant he is, that their superpowered society is a fragile illusion. Even if he brings back the status quo, history will just repeat itself in another bright-eyed girl turning to cynicism, forced to bear the weight of society's darkness on her own. She concludes that at least a world ruled by All For One will be more transparent.
Deku uses a Super Move called Pinpoint Focus with Black Whip to retaliate. This allows him to shoot towards Lady Nagant and close the distance that opened up between them. He retorts that while maybe he was ignorant, he's beginning to understand how most things in the world are shades of gray. It's exactly why he needs to needs to help people as a hero.
Backed into a corner, Lady Nagant turns her rifle on a man perched on the skyscraper above them -- Overhaul. Deku's eyes widen in shock as he realizes that not only is Overhaul of all people here, Lady Nagant is likely intending to shoot him in a move that will force Deku to decide between saving him at the cost of losing ... or letting him die.
My Hero Academia Chapter 315 will release on June 6th through Viz Media.
