WARNING: The following contains spoilers for My Hero Academia #278, by Kohei Horikoshi, Caleb Cook and John Hunt, available now from Viz Media.
The pro-heroes of My Hero Academia aren't faring well in their clash against the Paranormal Liberation Front. With the fate of Japan depending on the outcome of their battle, the heroes have put everything on the line in an effort to prevent Shigaraki from achieving his destructive grand vision. Their plan of attack was solid, and they took the Paranormal Liberation Front by surprise thanks to the inside information their double agent Hawks provided them, but they couldn't have anticipated Shigaraki awakening early with his new frighteningly powerful All For One and Decay Quirks.
Now that Shigaraki and his loyal bodyguard Gigantomachia are in play, the heroes may be outmatched, and many are starting to fall. In My Hero Academia #278, another key may have joined the ranks of the fallen: Midnight.
The chapter opens with the revelation that Gigantomachia is running full sprint toward the crumbled ruins of Jaku Hospital -- where Shigaraki is located -- with Dabi, Mr. Compress, Spinner, Himiko Toga and Skeptic on his back. The pro-heroes on the mansion raid team are using every tool in their arsenal to slow his advance, but all their efforts seem to be futile when face-to-face with the villain dubbed the "Walking Disaster." Mount Lady puts up the best fight against him out of the heroes, but in the end even she is toppled by Gigantomachia's relentless strength.
Following Mount Lady's fall, Midnight bravely swings in on the back of Kamui Woods. She instructs him to get her near his face since her Quirk, Somnambulist, allows her to emit an aroma that puts everyone who breathes it in to sleep. Neither she nor Kamui Woods were aware of the villains riding on Gigantomachia's back though, and so unwittingly fly straight into the villains' striking range. That's when Mr. Compress uses his Quirk to release a giant slab of concrete from a marble he throws at Midnight.
Midnight is struck by the concrete and goes sprawling to the forest floor. Badly bloodied, she opens up a communication link with Momo Yaoyorozu and instructs her to create sedatives to stop Gigantomachia, since none of the heroes have the brute strength to stop him without such tactics. Yaoyorozu is agreeable but worried, not understanding why Midnight is leaving such a vital task to her.
In the next panel, it is revealed that a squad of Paranormal Liberation Front villains are closing in on Midnight. A man in a skull mask, who can be recognized as one of the three advisers in the army's Violet Regiment, declares, "She's mine." Meanwhile, Midnight has a flashback to Yaoyorozu's battle during the Joint Training exercise, and as her parting words to her student shouts, "I trust your judgment!"
Yaoyorozu screams into the communication link but is unable to get a response from Midnight. Her fellow classmates mutter in the background, wondering why Midnight is unable to direct the efforts to stop Gigantomachia herself. The story proceeds, but without further details on Midnight's fate.
If Midnight is indeed dead, she would be the most important hero to die so far in the war against the Paranormal Liberation Front. She's also joined the ranks of heroes whose dead-or-alive status is unknown, along with Hawks, Thirteen, Wash and the Wild, Wild Pussycats. Of course, it's possible she'll survive to fight another day, but given the dark and brutal turn My Hero Academia has taken, don't expect it to pull any punches.