"This is it?" Shigaraki asked in a tone that could be taken as either incredulous or insulted.
Ikiji looked over to his left and gave his impulsive comrade a passive stare as they grouped together for their assault. Kurogiri flanked Ikiji's right, and they had all donned blackened cloaks to somewhat mask their appearances and to avoid drawing attention to themselves.
Kurogiri because he valued anonymity and he was unwilling to draw curious eyes with his anomalous mist-like body. Ikiji because they couldn't risk any practitioners from Kamar-Taj recognizing him if any were stalking the streets of Kathmandu, which Ikiji knew they were frequent in doing. Shigaraki...well, he only ever wore a cloak to conceal himself whenever he was denied the embrace of Father, an order he was loathe to comply with, even if it had come directly from his precious 'Sensei'.
All three villains stood together, huddled close across the street from the door that gave entrance into Kamar-Taj. It was a dingy wooden door—more like a slightly sturdier plank bolted in place—and the building that it accompanied looked impossibly unimpressive, as squalid and unkempt as any other hovel within the confines of this Himalayan city. It was small, crammed in between two larger residences that seemed to crush it from both sides.
"I thought you said this place was a compound," Shigaraki hissed, his fingers twitching in agitation. Whether he was going to attack his neck, or a comrade, Ikiji was unsure. "This is just a hovel as nondescript as any other in this dump."
"It is a compound," Ikiji reaffirmed. "And make no mistake: that door is the entrance into Kamar-Taj."
"I assume the size discrepancy is the result of their...magic?" Kurogiri added to the conversation, his hesitancy at the end of his statement showing how even he, after all his time spent with Ikiji, could not fully wrap his mind around the very concept.
"Correct," Ikiji nodded. "The Masters of the Mystic Arts conceal themselves well wherever they go, and their compound and Sanctums are no different. What you see before you is merely an illusion, one designed to fool the ignorant passerby and the purposeful seeker alike. One does not comprehend the sheer size of Kamar-Taj until they have already entered its halls."
Ikiji leveled his glare directly at the door, recalling its interior and layout, it's winding stone corridors and passageways, its meditation rooms, burning with the stench of incense, and its expansive library, packed to the brim with the knowledge he had starved of for too many years now.
"Under normal circumstances, one does not simply enter Kamar-Taj," Ikiji continued. "They must be invited in, either from the inside, or by accompanying a Master."
"Well then," Shigaraki's hideously cracked lips twisted into his trademark ghoulish grin. "We'll just have to invite ourselves in, I suppose."
"Shigaraki," Kurogiri said warningly. "Have you already forgotten the plan Sensei and Ikiji laid out? The moment you play your role, you will be whisked back to the bar to await our return."
"Sensei's orders, I know," Shigaraki growled in annoyance, his fingers twitching more erratically now.
"If the door were to be forcibly opened, any intruders would be faced with the illusion of a barren hovel, denying them access to the compound within," Ikiji explained. "This is because of a magical seal laced over the other side of the door that protects Kamar-Taj—the Seal of the Vishanti."
"But there are ways to get around this Seal, as you have explained, correct?" Kurogiri inquired for affirmation.
"That is where Shigaraki comes in," Ikiji replied. "He will dissolve the door from the center just enough to expose the Seal. With my spatial magic, I can disrupt the seal just long enough for you to enter before the illusion is activated. Once you are inside..."
"Chaos reigns," Shigaraki finished Ikiji's statement, reveling in the thought of how much disarray and panic will be sown with the attack. The confusion as Kurogiri warped Ikiji and their waiting allies in from as many points as possible. How annoying, he thought, that he would not be allowed to contribute to the carnage directly, that he would be denied the sweet sensation of crumbling flesh falling between his calloused fingers.
"Make sure you warp me in first, Kurogiri," Ikiji turned to face the Black Fog, ensuring the mist man was nodding in confirmation. "Warp the rest of your allies in after, and avoid battle until I make my way to the library."
"All this meticulous planning just to check out a book," Shigaraki said with a grunt. "And I'm being forced into NPC status for this quest. This book better be worth it."
"This is all necessary for my plans, as well as the League's," Ikiji whirled on Shigaraki. "Or do you object to using what power is available to grant a semblance of new strength unto your Sensei?"
Shigaraki glowered at Ikiji, his fingers flexing and tingling in a mad dance of depraved digits, before he suddenly lunged. Not toward Ikiji, but rather, the door into Kamar-Taj, slapping his hand onto the center of the wooden surface is it crumbled without hesitation. Kurogiri's fog roared to life as it circled Shigaraki, ready to whisk him away to safety now that everything was being put into motion.
"Return me home then, Kurogiri," Shigaraki called out as Ikiji took a stance, the space around his hands rippling unnaturally as he prepared to pierce through the Seal. "I can't stand being around this Player One any longer."
When the first shockwave rumbled through his barrack, Izuku didn't think much of it. He'd figured Rintrah—hulking behemoth of a fighter that he is—was merely giving it his all in training. That, or he'd triggered another landslide again outside the city while training in the mountains, which sparked Izuku's worry just a tad. Figuring it was ultimately nothing to get too worked up over, Izuku settled back on his wool sheeted bed, intent on resting before his training for the day.
It wasn't until a second, stronger, closer shockwave quite literally lurched him off his bed that he knew something was wrong.
Izuku face planted onto the stone floor as he flailed off the bed, picking himself up with a groan as he rubbed his sore nose and cheeks.
A chorus of panicked screams made Izuku perk right up, a flash of fear jolting down his spine. The entire barrack rumbled a third time, bits of dust and debris sprinkling down from the ceiling and onto his messy green hair as it groaned and shook. Izuku glanced out his sole window as he brushed the dirt off of him, a cloud of acrid smoke obstructing the morning light and his view.
What on Earth is going on!? Izuku thought as he rushed out of his barrack and down the long, dark, stone corridor without another thought. Approaching the door to the outer courtyard, Izuku could definitely hear a cacophony of whooping, yelling, the loud crashing of bodies, and the fiery whizzing of magic flinging through the air.
Izuku pushed the large door open as quickly as he could with all of his bodily weight. Forcing himself out into the courtyard, Izuku yelped and darted behind the nearest stone pillar as a burning substance landed right next to his feet. Izuku sweated in a panic as he glanced down to see what had nearly struck him, and he paled as he saw a flaming acidic blob burning through the stone tile.
Izuku peered out from behind the pillar; the courtyard was being overrun by nearly a dozen unruly figures whom he didn't recognize in the slightest. Many of his fellow practitioners were engaging the strangers in the courtyard, beneath the shade of the walkways, and Izuku could even see duels raging through the windows of the upper floors as well. Izuku caught sight of a sadistically grinning man covered in tattoos waving his arms around as his body pumped noxious smoke through the crowded courtyard. Only Rintrah, his bulky sparring partner, stood tall above the all-consuming smoke in the courtyard's center.
W-we're being invaded! Izuku realized with a pallor of dread washing over his face. Kamar-Taj is under attack!
Just then, a swirling black mass opened in the air in front of the boys' barracks and six people came pouring through the dark void before it dissipated back into nothingness.
S-someone is warping people in!? Izuku thought as he observed the new throng of people splitting up, three rampaging into the barracks and the other three bulldozing towards Rintrah. I've never seen a portal like that! Was that caused by magic...or from a Quirk?
"Aw, no need to be shy, little boy!" A deep voice drawled from behind Izuku, and before the boy could whirl around, his entire body was ensnared by slinking, constricting limbs that yanked him into the air. Izuku yelled out in pain as his assailant, a wide-eyed balding man with a horribly crooked smile, tightened his elongated arms around Izuku's body, crushing the breath right out of him. "I promise to make this quick!"
C-crap! Izuku tried moving his arms to conjure some magic—any magic—to help him, but they were firmly clamped shut within his attacker's coiling embrace. Another constricting squeeze made Izuku yell out, his pained shrieks drowned out by the crescendo of chaos unfolding all around him.
"Izuku!" A voice sounded out from the encroaching smoke, garnering the attention of both the boy and his attacker. From out of the fog, a bright glow emerged, followed by a long wooden object snaking out and wrapping around the constrictor's neck.
"W-what the hell—!?" The constrictor choked out as the luminous object tightened around his larynx, forcing him to release Izuku as he struggled to regain his own breath. Izuku plopped to the ground on his hands and knees, taking in deep breaths as he rubbed his pained abdomen.
"Away with you!" Jack Holyoak leaped out of the fog with the extended Staff of the Living Tribunal already wrapped thoroughly around the thug's throat, its glowing segments churning out smoke itself as it burned into the man's exposed neck. With a roar, Jack lifted the man into the air with his end of the Staff and sent him crashing into the ground, the glowing segments erupting in a fierce burst of energy as Jack released all the magic he'd stored within its links. The constrictor wheezed out a puff of smoke and fell limp as he fell into unconsciousness.
"J-Jack!" Izuku sounded out with cough, Jack standing over him defensively as he caught his breath and shakily returned to his feet. "Thank you..."
"Don't thank me yet!" Jack yelled as the floor above erupted in a torrent of flames, debris from stone and wood alike raining down on them like tiny meteors. Izuku jumped to Jack's side, erecting a mandala shield to deflect the flaming rubble and the waves of heat undulating from the top of the building.
"Where is Master Strange!?" Izuku yelled out as the raining debris trickled to a halt, prompting him to lower his defenses for the moment.
"...He's not here," Jack said morosely after a second of silence. "It makes me wonder if this attack was purposely coordinated around his absence."
A flash of realization struck Izuku as he buried his hands in his pockets, desperately digging around until he pulled out a card. "I-I can summon him with this!"
"You can what!?" Jack yelled out, his strained face threatening to erupt into a grin.
"Y-yeah!" Izuku nodded. "Master Strange gave me this card months ago, and I can use it to summon him if I were to ever find myself in danger!"
Wasting no further time, Izuku flipped the card over to the side displaying Strange's Sanctum Seal, circling his thumb clockwise around the seal as he'd been instructed to do and waited for...nothing to happen. No portal opened up beside him as Izuku was expecting and there was no Sorcerer Supreme in sight to right the chaos being strewn about. Izuku's heart sank, as did Jack's hopeful face.
"T-this doesn't mean anything!" Izuku cried out to Jack, gripping his shoulder. "He's on his way, I just know it! We just have to hold out long enough for him to reach us in time!"
"Then I'll go make sure the barracks are clear—" Jack began before a deep bellow echoed throughout the courtyard, followed by a deafening crash within the plume of smoke. Jack and Izuku looked over to see that the towering form of their bullheaded comrade was nowhere to be seen. The Mighty Rintrah had somehow been toppled.
"Rintrah!" Both boys yelled out together as they rushed through the smoke, using Rintrah's rumbling groans to pinpoint his position. Izuku nearly gagged as they ran through the fumes; they weren't suffocating by any means, by they sure were noxious and putrid.
Approaching Rintrah's downed body, Izuku spotted three villains keeping their comrade restrained. One was a masked man whose fingers took on the shape of thick ropes, and he had used these to ensnare Rintrah's arms. The second villain was a loosely dressed woman with snakes for hair, and the dozens of tiny serpentine threads were wrapped around Rintrah's neck and biting into his face. The third villain was a portly man with a glue-like body, his viscous form firmly sticking Rintrah's legs to the ground.
"Get away from our friend!" Izuku roared as his magic flared to life in his hand. Jack similarly had his Staff blazing once again with energy as they charged the villains keeping Rintrah subdued.
Izuku leaped atop Rintrah's body, magic mandala blazing in his hand as he brought it down above the female villain's scalp, severing all the snake-headed tendrils with a swift slicing motion. The woman shrieked in pain, clutching at the bleeding serpentine stumps on her head as she fled into the smoke.
Jack launched his Staff forward the rope finger villain, the glowing links extending as they caught all the rope-like appendages and burned them away with a sizzling snap, causing the masked man to leap back and shout profanities at Jack.
The glue body villain, his sludgy eyes widening at the sudden assault by the two boys, suddenly found himself hanging on for dear life as the green furred bull he had just helped bring down after a long struggle slowly but surely got back up on his two massive cloven feet.
"Guh, no hard feelings pal?" The goopy man gurgled out, earning a hard stare from the bull before being flung high into the sky and out of the compound with a rough kick by Rintrah, who stomped his feet several more times to rid his fur of the mucilaginous residue that was left behind.
"Rintrah, you okay buddy?" Jack asked as he inspected the wounds littered across the bull's body by the villains. Blood oozed from his face and arms, staining his green fur somewhat red, but Rintrah snorted defiantly, peering through the smoke with squinted eyes.
"Rintrah is fine," Rintrah bellowed before patting both Izuku and Jack on their shoulders. "Rintrah is thankful."
The pat snapped Izuku out his thoughts as he was stuck thinking about the show of force he'd displayed against the snake-haired woman, whose shrieks of pain startled him out of his anger. "Yeah! N-no problem!"
"Smoke is bothersome," Rintrah flared his nostrils and exhaled, momentarily displacing the smelly gas before it quickly filled back in the space around his nose.
"I have a solution for that," Jack said as he looked over at Rintrah. "You think you got enough energy in you for that spell?"
Seeing Rintrah nod in confirmation, Jack turned to Izuku, who appeared confused. "Stay behind us, Izuku!"
Jack and Rintrah stepped forward and, side by side, made identical hand motions and incantations as a vortex of energy whirled to life in their hands all at once.
"Winds of Watoomb, build and swell, and swirl at our command...!"
Together, Rintrah and Jack extended their opened palms forward, the magic gathered in their hands thrusting forward in the form of a huge gale of turbulent energy that seemed to latch onto the rancid smoke and carry it high into the sky, clearing the courtyard in an instant.
Izuku crossed his arms over his eyes to shield himself from the roaring wind, but as he cracked his eyes back open he was stunned to see the courtyard clear of any obstruction. Every intruder and ally could clearly be seen now, and Izuku saw the tattooed man who was spawning the smoke with his Quirk gritting his teeth in frustration as new wisps of the fetid fog began rolling off his body. The fighting had only halted for a moment as villains and disciples alike collected their bearings before clashing against one another once more, though the tide of battle in the courtyard seemed to swing firmly on the side of the sorcerers.
"Smoke Man is mine," Rintrah snorted angrily as he prepped for a charge.
"Hold on, Rintrah!" Jack hollered, grasping his friend by the arm. "Before we go charging back into battle, we need to know where the Masters are!"
"Masters Minoru and Hamir went toward the entrance," Rintrah said, his fury and desire to jump back into the thick of it barely being constrained. "Master Wong went toward the library. Rintrah knows not where the other Masters are."
"Izuku, head to the library behind us and inform Master Wong of the situation out here," Jack ordered while keeping his focus on what was ahead of him.
"What!?" Izuku cried out in protest. "I can't just leave you both out here to fight for yourselves! I can fight—!"
"Don't get me wrong!" Jack yelled, stifling Izuku's protests. "You are...undoubtedly strong, Izuku. I can see the potential that Master Strange sees in you. But you still have a long way to go. If helping us is what you want to do, then help us by helping Master Wong secure the library and not letting any of these villains get to the tomes inside!"
Izuku trembled at the thought of any of the magical books escaping the confines of Kamar-Taj or being stolen away like the one he had taken nearly a whole year ago out of Strange's Sanctum. He had taken that book out of ignorance, but if any of these villains were to take one with their malicious intent...Izuku didn't even want to think about the repercussions.
Filled with renewed determination, Izuku nodded and bolted for the library as Jack twirled his Staff between his fingers and Rintrah readied his charge.
"You called dibs on Smokey, right?" Jack said with a grin. Receiving a snort for verification, Jack grinned. "Shall we, then?" Both practitioners charged headfirst into the throng of villains with a fierce battle cry, rallying their comrades together against the hapless invading thugs.
"You're on the wrong side of history, Master Wong," Ikiji spoke as he slowly approached one of his old teachers who stood in his path. Wong took a defensive stance before Ikiji, blocking his way toward the forbidden tomes of Strange's collection.
"The gall of you to return here, Ikiji," Wong uttered vehemently. "I always knew Strange made a mistake by untethering you instead of killing you all those years ago!"
"You cannot halt the march of progress," Ikiji said as he pressed his palms together, readying his attack."You can impede it...you can slow it, like you did us...but you cannot stop this. This is all inevitable."
"We will see about that," Wong spat as his fists burst with the bright energy of the Ruby Rings of Raggadorr.
Ikiji slid his hands apart, conjuring a translucent shard that shimmered and rippled the very space around it. Admiring his handiwork for little more than a moment, Ikiji raised his blade directly at Wong. "Such a shame that you will die before this world ascends to its rightful place."
"Heretic!" Wong yelled as he and Ikiji charged each other at once. Stout though he may be, Wong was swift and agile and could pack one hell of a punch. He crashed his Ruby Rings against Ikiji's Space Shard, resulting in a mystical impasse as Master and fallen Apprentice struggled against one another.
"I will not let you succeed...!" Wong rasped as he began pushing Ikiji back with his sheer bulk. "I know what you have come for! The Book of Cagliostro will not fall into the hands of a Zealot once more!"
"Very intuitive, Master Wong...!" Ikiji growled back, struggling against Wong's might as the tip of his Space Shard pressed against his rings but could not pierce them. "But as I said...this is all inevitable!"
Ikiji suddenly ceased his pushing and leaned far backwards, allowing the bulk of Wong's momentum to barrel over him. A swift knee to Wong's gut knocked the breath out of the portly man and he suddenly found himself thrown across the room before he could properly recover.
"Now Kurogiri!" Ikiji suddenly yelled out as Wong was dazed from the blow.
The space near the back of the room erupted in a back swirling mass, reforming into the vague shape of a human as it approached the forbidden shelf, perusing the books calmly before locating its target.
"The Book of Cagliostro," Kurogiri said as a foggy appendage reached out to undo the chains and take hold of the tome. "This will serve the League of Villains well."
"No...!" Wong cried out as he sent a fiery lash hurtling toward Kurogiri's body. The lash stopped just short, however, and Wong cried out in agony as Ikiji's Space Shard pierced into his right shoulder, prompting the man to fall to his knees as the Shard faded and lost its tangibility.
"Seems it went well," Kurogiri said, regaining his composure after nearly being entangled by flame. "Shall we depart posthaste?"
Ikiji, however, seemed none too rushed to leave. "You know, last time I was here this place was in ruins," Ikiji said, slowly stepping toward Wong. "Fire. Debris. Oh, and how could I forget the corpses strewn about?" He stared down at the writhing form of Wong and pressed his palms together, conjuring a second Space Shard to finish the deed. "I think that look suits this place." Ikiji raised the Shard, about to bring it down to end Wong's measly life—
"STOP!"
Ikiji ceased his attack and looked toward the stairs, perplexed at the voice that interrupted him. A green-haired boy, slightly younger than him from the looks of it, jumped down the stairs to confront him.
Announcing your presence with a desperate shout and jumping down to confront a man who just defeated a Master that bested him as quickly as he was bested by this stranger was probably not the best idea, but Izuku Midoriya would have been loath to simply stay hidden as one of his Masters was struck down.
The man—no, boy—who looked only slightly older than himself turned to face Izuku with a studious glance. Izuku was met with jagged white hair, a face full of freckles much like his own, and piercing, cracked eyes that made Izuku take a step back in intimidation. It was as if the skin around his eyes was a mere shell, and the silver cracks belied a violet monstrosity lurking just beneath its human host.
"A new face," The boy said with a slight chuckle. The black mist man—Izuku assumed he was the one ultimately responsible for warping the villains into the compound—stood silent as he observed this interaction. "The Masters of the Mystic Arts sure do like to get them young, don't they?"
"Step away from Master Wong!" Izuku yelled, trying his best to marshal his courage against what he knew to be a superior opponent.
The white-haired boy seemed none too keen to comply and instead pressed on with more questions. "With those red robes you must be an Apprentice, correct? You are very brave to stand against one who bested a Master before your very eyes. I would commend you if I knew your name."
"M-Midoriya," Izuku said with a blink of surprise. "Izuku Midoriya." He didn't really know why he was entertaining the questions of this villain, but if the other boy was not going to make an aggressive move against him, then he would be fine with that.
I just have to buy time until Master Strange returns...!
"Kokotsu," The boy said with a mocking bow. "Ikiji Kokotsu at your service."
"G-get away from Master Wong!" Izuku repeated a second time, sliding into a combat stance and steeling his nerves as best he could against such an eerily calm and calculating opponent.
Ikiji, however, seemed either unimpressed or unworried. Or perhaps both. "Cease your hostility, Izuku Midoriya. Your fighting will get you nowhere, and it certainly will not stop this."
"This? This?" Izuku said shakily, motioning toward the cacophony of fighting happening right outside and above their heads. "I don't even know what this is! What was the point of all this!?"
"This? This is the end, Izuku," Ikiji spoke. "And the beginning. The many becoming the few, becoming The One."
"...You're not making any sense," Izuku said, shakily maintaining his stance as he shot a look toward the black mist man in the back of the room, who seemed motionless and unwilling to intercede in any capacity.
"The One being the benevolent Dormammu, Izuku, the entity that will save this world from the time that enslaves it," Ikiji explained, causing Izuku to stand still in shock. The shock did not go unnoticed. "...You know who I speak of, don't you?"
"Dormammu," Izuku croaked. "I-I saw the rituals in the Book of Cagliostro. A realm beyond time. That is the Dark Dimension..."
"Very good, Izuku," Ikiji said with a pleased grin. "I am pleasantly surprised that revolutionary minds so similar to mine are still cultivated in such a stagnant place such as this."
"My mind is nothing like yours," Izuku said fiercely.
"No, Izuku, you are a spitting image of myself from just a few years ago," Ikiji rebuked. "Naive, willful, full of promise...and broken."
Izuku shook and looked down at his scarred hands, something that Ikiji picked up on as well, raising his own scarred hands for Izuku to see. "Sorcerers like Strange are people who like to collect broken things, Izuku. We are all led to Kamar-Taj with the promise of being healed, of being given renewed purpose, but all he and the other Masters have to offer us are parlor tricks and the joke that is their morality. They try to make us think in terms of good and evil, but time is the true enemy, time is what enslaves all who walk this Earth, time is the source of all our suffering and pain, time is an all-consuming insult that kills all that we hold dear!"
Izuku stepped back in the middle of Ikiji's rant as a lone tear cascaded down the zealot's cheek. He's crying, Izuku thought, stunned. H-he really believes what he's saying...
"Izuku," Ikiji continued. "I don't wish to rule or ruin this world, I wish to save it, to have this world join alongside so many others in the Dark Dimension, to be free of time and suffering and pain alike for all eternity as part of The One."
"You say time kills what we hold dear, but what about the people you killed!?" Izuku retorted, recalling all the carnage he saw just moments prior, how his friends were fighting for the very lives all throughout the compound. "What about the lives you've ruined in your so-called quest to save the world!?"
"All worthy sacrifices for my noble cause," Ikiji said with a callous smirk.
"You're insane," Izuku uttered, tightening his stance.
"You will eventually see things my way," Ikiji responded, extending an open hand toward Izuku. "Once you side with me."
There was a moment of silence that befell the room as Izuku studied Ikiji's open hand, an earnest invitation that he felt was sincere and honest.
Not that Izuku bought it for a single second.
Swirling his hand, Izuku opened a portal beneath Wong's crumpled form and let him fall through, away from the soon-to-be confrontation between him and Ikiji. The black misted figure tensed up, preparing to leave or enter the fray, Izuku wasn't sure.
"...Leave us, Kurogiri," Ikiji hissed dangerously as he glowered at Izuku. The black mist—Kurogiri, Izuku was sure to remember that name—nodded and disappeared in a dark swirl of his own bodily mass, vanishing with the Book of Cagliostro in tow. Izuku was none too pleased to see the forbidden tome whisked away by a villain...but he had bigger problems to worry about right now.
"If you will not help me rid the world of its pain," Ikiji said, sliding his palms together. "Then I will rid you of yours."
Both Apprentice and Zealot alike surged themselves with magic: Izuku summoned his shimmering mandalas over his fists and squared off against Ikiji who conjured his translucent Space Shard that rippled through space like an existential error.
Izuku took a defensive posture as Ikiji took the approach of a direct assault, battering the boy's mandalas repeatedly with his strange, rippling blade. It was a magic unlike any Izuku had ever seen before and it frightened him a great deal.
"Your mandalas will not repel my blade like Wong's Ruby Rings did!" Ikiji yelled as he gave a piercing thrust, nearly splitting Izuku's shield down the middle with the edge of his Space Shard.
Izuku gasped as the tip of Ikiji's blade stopped short mere inches from his face, and the energy that constituted his defenses began to fade as Ikiji destroyed them utterly. Thinking quickly, Izuku recalled what energy remained to his hands, coalescing it into the fiery whips he was familiar with. He swiftly wrapped the fiery lash around Ikiji's arm, locking his elbow so Ikiji could no longer flay him with his blade.
With his opponent all but disarmed for the time being, Izuku quickly capitalized with a few well-aimed punches to Ikiji's side, hitting flesh twice but striking something incredibly hard upon the third punch, causing him to recoil in pain. Ikiji yanked himself free of Izuku's sizzling bonds and he whirled in the air, bringing his blade up in a slicing motion to cleave Izuku in two.
Izuku recovered from his pain, however, and nimbly took advantage of Ikiji's spin by lashing him across the face with his flaming whip when he turned back around, knocking him to the floor. Izuku adopted his defensive posture yet again as Ikiji launched himself back up on his feet, showing Izuku the extent of the damage inflicted on him.
"Y-your face...!" Izuku exclaimed.
Latched onto Ikiji's cheek was a singed, bony plate that soon popped off his face and landed on the floor with a clatter, exposing perfectly unharmed skin where Izuku's lash had landed.
"Yes, that is the work of my Quirk: Bone Spurs," Ikiji said with a confident grin. "My training here at Kamar-Taj helped me hone the power of my Quirk as well as my magic. It is no longer the...debilitating curse on my body that it once was. So hit me with your strongest punch, land what paltry magic you possess against my indomitable body. You are little more than a paper tiger before a storm, Izuku."
I-I need backup! I can't beat him on my own! Izuku thought as he turned to escape up the stairs, sweat pouring down his forehead and back as the pallor of dread swept across his body. He didn't make it very far.
Ikiji waved his palms before bringing them together, stretching them toward the staircase as the entire room seemed to creak and groan. Izuku raced up the staircase, but realized he wasn't getting closer to the upper floor. Glancing down as he raced upward, Izuku was stunned to see the floorboards of the stair rapidly moving downward as if it were an escalator. Izuku was essentially running in place as the descending floorboards kept him for ascending; it might have looked comical were it not for the evil sorcerer trying to skewer him.
Resigning himself to his fate, Izuku ceased his running and allowed the moving floorboards to carry him back down to the floor before Ikiji. All of the floorboards seemed to alter in shape as sharp ripples tore them out of their stillness, rocking the numerous bookshelves in the room to and fro. The walls, too, seemed to ripple and warp as if they possessed the consistency of waves prepped to crash against the shoreline.
"W-what are you doing...?" Izuku dared to ask, horrified by the display of magic before him.
"You see now the strength that Dormammu grants me?" Ikiji boasted, causing the walls and ceiling to violently convulse with a squeeze of his hand. "I can bend space as easily as you might bend rubber!" The ceiling suddenly grew taut and regained its solidity with another flex of Ikiji's hand. Horrifying Izuku yet again, Ikiji suddenly leaped up to the ceiling and flipped himself upside down, landing on it as if it were the flat floor. "And his power allows me to nullify the effects of gravity on myself as I see fit!"
Ikiji took off in a sprint toward Izuku, closing the distance before the boy could muster up a strong enough shield. He coated and closed his hand into a bony plate before crashing it against his mandala, punching straight through and landing a solid direct hit onto Izuku's cheek. Grasping the boy's shoulders as he recoiled in pain, Ikiji violently tossed him into the ceiling before letting him collapse back down to the ground.
But Ikiji's onslaught did not end there. Raising his hands as if framing for a picture, Ikiji rotated them to the left and to the right, causing the room to rotate and spin as his hands did. Izuku tumbled helplessly as he rolled from floor to wall to ceiling and back to floor repeatedly, his body slamming into sliding bookshelves and being pelted upon by airborne books sent flying from Ikiji's spatial magic. Ikiji righted the room suddenly, sending Izuku's battered body and the splintered and rent remains of the room's bookshelves crashing back down to the floor.
Still, Ikiji was not yet satisfied. He would make this boy suffer for his insolence.
Ikiji raised his hands and tilted them down, the room mirroring his hand movements as it, too, began to tilt. Izuku clawed for something to grasp onto as he slid helplessly against the wall, what was now the bottom of the room. With a yell, Izuku rolled to the side, just barely avoiding a falling pile of hard cover books and splintered shelves before Ikiji suddenly tilted the room yet again, this time tilting his hands up as the room began to shift once more. Izuku jerked as he suddenly found himself falling, falling, directly into the bony grasp of Ikiji, whose osteal hand clenched his throat in an iron-like vice.
The room suddenly jerked back to normal, shelves, books and desks all guided by gravity as they crashed to the ground once more in abysmal heaps. Ikiji slammed Izuku into the ground and knelt down, digging his knee into the smaller boy's gut to keep him firmly in place. Ikiji released Izuku's throat and swiftly conjured a Space Shard with his palms, staring down at his sibling student with pitiful disdain.
"It's a real pity," Ikiji said as he raised his Shard above Izuku's head, readying it for the killing blow. "I can see in your eyes that you've experienced a great deal of pain and suffering in your young life. You have my sympathies, Izuku Midoriya, but not for long, as your pain will soon be over in an instant."
"Fade into the timeless void of Death!" Ikiji yelled as he brought down his wrathful Shard upon Midoriya's bloodied head...only to have his arm and blade entangled and halted by a dark green fabric of some sort, keeping the tip of his piercing Shard hovering an inch above Midoriya's eye.
"You have my sympathies, Ikiji Kokotsu," A deeply stern voice sounded from behind him, laced with a boiling fury that he hasn't had the misfortune of hearing in over five years. Ikiji dared to spare a glance behind him as a levitating Stephen Strange bore down on him furiously, blasting him away from Midoriya with a burst of ethereal lightning. "But not for long!"
Author Notes
I really enjoyed writing out this chapter, and the long awaited confrontation between Izuku and Ikiji has come at last. I hope you all aren't disappointed; I had Izuku try his hardest despite facing against a superior opponent, but it's clear our protagonist has a long ways to go if he hopes to stand a chance against such dark magic.
Next chapter will be the conclusion of the Kamar-Taj Arc, and if any of you are wondering when Izuku will be taking the Entrance Exam and when we'll all see our favorite 1-A students enter the story, I can promise you all that it's only a few chapters away. Just one more arc and then we'll get to the Entrance Exam, I swear!
Writing out that last scene of the chapter reminded me of Aokiji confronting Doflamingo when he was about to kill Smoker on Punk Hazard. It's not what I was going for, I was just reminded of it is all.
Anyways, if you enjoyed this chapter, feel free to leave a review/comment and I'll try my best to respond to it! I love reading what you have to say and I deeply enjoy seeing that people enjoy reading my story!
Until next time! Plus Ultra!