[Central Hosu – Downtown – Thursday 6:11 PM]

The threat of rain had grown as malevolent as the day had boring but it still hung grey and cold around the cusp of the night. Riley was huddled under the tent after two hours of exhausting work; none stop interaction and fake kind of bravado he had to dole out in handfuls to those who came up to Ko and himself. He had enjoyed it for a time but it had worn him down and now he was more committed to not freezing his ass off, perhaps he should consider asking the company who made these things to sow some wool between the seams.

"You doin' okay kid? We'll be done soon don't'cha worry," Ko laughed as he noticed his shivering. "Here you go, Sir," he said as he handed out yet another of the hundred and fifty or so odd boxes they'd made up so far, each consisting of a variety of small edibles.

"You're doing the Lord's work Native," a toothy man said as he took it, he had thick eyebrows that almost fell long enough to go down to a bushy grey beard that accompanied it.

"It's nothin', you know that Seito," the sidekick gave a bow.

"Too modest as always. Nice to see you got some new blood out here at least, teachin' him a hard day's work, eh?" Seito pointed at him.

"Internship program, you know how it is. Now 'ave a good afternoon and stay safe out there," Ko answered.

"Will do, will do…" the man trailed away down the street made up of similar hovels of tents to their own, the others obligated not with a giveaway but a business of sorts. Tourists mingled among those who actually qualified as their customers; those down on their luck, people whom Ko seemed to know by heart, and those with sympathy for those very people.

In that sense their own business was sort of half and half, those who could not afford to pay simply wrote down a wish in exchange, a gesture of good faith and those who could pay made a donation of whatever sum they desired. The proceeds would go to helping out local shelters for those who lost their homes to villainy Ko had told him, definitely a cause that Hosu could understand.

"You get the next one Terra, movin' round will keep ya warm," Ko chuckled.

He nodded and grabbed one of the boxes, this one empty. It wasn't hard to fill as the man had given him a small pamphlet of what should be inside. What was difficult was making it look presentable enough to offer as a gift rather than an insult. A secondary effect of his terrible inadequacy at cooking was any sort of skill with this kind of decoration, his friends at Leineif had always thought that odd and he could hardly blame them; someone who could draw with apparent skill having a terrible eye for mixing and matching. He had an answer to that, you didn't need to be coordinated to draw a portrait of someone as it was basically like taking a photo of them, the details were set in stone. At least that's how he thought of it, not that he had drawn much since then. The last thing he had were those recollections of villains, the third of which he still could not recall.

Soon enough he closed the box and bound the thin cardboard with a thread, it kind of looked like Chinese takeout if he had to associate it with anything although it had a cute design of a turnip on the front. He had finished just in time for a customer to approach.

"Oh my how lovely, I didn't miss it did I?" a small well dressed woman with long black hair approached. She had a loosely parted blouse on that sat in both red and black and met a more practical thick layer of cotton fleece beneath it that almost made him jealous. Two gold plated earrings hung above a ruby necklace, they matched well to her ensemble that was completed with layered blood red harem pants and light red flat tops.

"No Ma'am," he did his best to smile. His tire was partly at fault of the weights as Ko had insisted it wasn't necessary he take them off when they went out. They did feel lighter after four days at least, in a few more he might not realise he was wearing them at all. He had yet to see the benefit of them, he still looked as malnourished as before but he was determined enough to see it through after yesterday.

"Very well, I'll make a donation then, in exchange for one of those lovely little boxes," she nodded at him.

He slid the gift across to her and then took out the thin metallic box stowed beneath their booth, half of what was inside was cash and the other half promises. The woman obligated for neither of those options, instead choosing to write a check, which he saw was made out for nearly fifty thousand yen.

The size of the number instantly woke him up a bit, "Thank you, this is very generous Ma'am," he gave a short bow before he locked it up tight. There was no way he wanted to lose their biggest donation of the night. Another thing he had noticed on it was her name, Yono Naemina.

"You're very welcome, it is a nice change to meet a sidekick so well behaved, however that accent… you aren't from around here are you?" she said as she took the box under her arm.

"No, Ma'am," he wasn't sure if he wanted to specify, the woman looked like she didn't want him to.

"Let me guess," she tapped her chin with a long thin nail, "American?" she asked, to which he nodded. "I knew it, my cousin stayed there for only a year but somehow she managed to pick up that exact same sound," she let a self-amused giggle escape her. "I'm from Spain myself."

Spain? he thought, she didn't have the slightest sound of a non-fluent speaker in her vocabulary.

Yono gave a natural smirk, "I know I don't sound it but its true," she coughed slightly, "Stayed there a whole seven years of my childh-"

Boom.

A rock sailed through the top of their tent taking half it with it, then more flew after it in a shower of sharp projectiles that bounced off his visor. He barely had time to hear where it had come from before it was drowned out in a sea of screams.

Thud, he looked back the woman, she'd collapsed in a slump on the floor. There was a large purple bruise forming on her forehead.

"A monster, everyone… RUN!" a man screamed in the distance, though he had caught himself so far in the sight of the wounded woman it felt like he'd been shell shocked.

He looked back at the origin of the sound from earlier. He could now see what had set off the unanimous panic now. It was still far away but its form was distinguishable with ease; a gargantuan figure with a thousand limbs, it harboured a single eye on its face which lay engrossed within an exposed brain cavity protected only by the tips of four metal plates. Strands of black goo dripped from its shoulders onto its chitin arms before hitting the floor, turning it into arrays of potholes. Even though it was a form he'd only seen again in his dreams after that day he knew exactly that it was undeniably a Noumu.

He felt a hard hit on his back, enough to shake him from his status, "Look alive kid, can't afford ya bein' a bystander right now, help everyone evacuate," Ko said before he hopped the counter of their booth. He shook himself, Ko was right, he watched as the sidekick ran down the street toward the beast that was now hurtling after anything and everything it could see while creating clouds of debris and leaving piles of shattered glass in its wake. Without so much as a second thought he hopped the counter too and looked at the injured woman, she was still breathing but he needed to get her out of here and the rest of the crowd too.

"Hey you," before he could pick her up he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned to find a person covered from head to toe in bandages, almost like some Frankenstein's monster. "I'll get this woman to some paramedics, go and help out the rest of the crowd."

He nodded at the hero, as sensible as his sentiments were she needed medical attention that he wasn't sure how to get her fast enough, "Thanks," he said, as he got up and ran past him. He could see Ko was in direct combat with it now but the arachnid Noumu was far from a pushover.

What the hell is it doing here? he thought as the sidekick delivered a brutal punch to its ribs and a swift kick to its malformed calves. It broke bones but did little more than to serve it an annoyance, the creatures was just as relentless as its predecessor and the dark mess that spilled from it protected it like a dark shell that burnt it's attacker with every strike. Each wound that opened released more.

"This way," he shouted at the few people stuck behind caught between the now mostly empty street and their own battle of fight and flight. He shook some of them as Ko had him, which took them out of the state long enough to convince them to leg it.

"Screeeeeeee," the spider hissed in terrible torment before sweeping the sidekick away with a mess of limbs, long enough to scurry past him. It charged in Riley's direction but not at him, its target was a man whom must have been caught up hiding behind his stall.

"Watch out!" he cried as he threw up his hand toward its outstretched claw, each arm like small tweezers that could sever bone with a touch.

Try as he might the compression wouldn't build fast enough in his gauntlet, not in the two seconds he had to do it, "Damn it," he cursed as the creature slid to a halt and flung it's arms in a bracketed twine as if it were a wall of sharp bamboo. At this rate the man would die and become a casualty all because he was too weak.

Desperate, he gripped his gauntlet with his other hand and pushed his quirk into it as if he was trying to reload a gun that had run empty but in fact still had several bullets in the chamber. It quivered and shook his arm with terrible proximity like it would explode.

Fww-crack, the gauntlet ricocheted with a power it shouldn't have been able to deliver, it made the bones in his arm hurt and threw him back as it hurtled alongside pieces of metal it scraped from the inside of the cartridge, like some unpredictable grape shot.

Three of the hundred limbs cracked like twigs before the cannon blast went no further, "Ssssksssss," the creature howled as it retreated and surveyed the damage only superficially before looking at him, it only took a glint in its eye to see the thing ran on instinct, not logic and now he had incited it wholly on himself. With its arms it leapt in one great coil like some kind of pogo stick, the force carried it through concrete and wood alike as it flew at him.

"Move it, kid," Ko shouted causing him to duck in time for the sidekick to deliver a spine shattering foot to the creatures side, enough to make it stagger out of the street and tumble, taking trees and curtains and lights down with it as it went about its unbalanced frenzy. It roared as it dropped into the glass display of a small café, collapsing it into nothingness as it did.

"Screeeee-ssssksss," it hissed and mauled with the concrete as it melted away from the acid on its body, allowing it to free itself.

Thoomp, the asphalt in front of it cracked as a thin bolt slammed down in front of the Noumu. It was Edgeshot who'd arrived and as arms littered the ground around him the creature had already lost half of its intangible arsenal. It tipped and swayed as it tried to comprehend and stabilise itself only for Edgeshot to duck low at its feet, through gaps in the acidic goo.

"Montante," the hero said and a stinging shing rocked the night air.

What remained of the Noumu halted all at once, its roar choked in its throat before it even grasped the thin line that had carved and bisected its body. As it took a step both of its halves fell apart in a mess of sinewy flesh, blood, bone and tar of which not a single drop spilt on Edgeshot.

The man stood and took in the damage around him before then turning at them, "You two," he said, "there are more of these throughout the city, I will go on ahead. Join me as soon as you are able," as before a reply was not counted as something he found necessary and he jumped in a zigzag through smoke and rubble toward the heart of the chaos.

Ko yanked him to his feet, "You heard the man let's getta move on, follow me," he ran off, to which he was left naught an option but to follow and leave the mess the Noumu had created behind for others to deal with, most of whom had only just arrived.

Minutes passed and the streets had turned into an utter hellscape. Their reprieve was a shortcut through an alleyway that Ko had suggested and with adrenaline still coursing through him he found himself not wanting to disagree with the order, upon his arm still lay his shattered gauntlet which had been stripped of metal across it. He would need to get it repaired when he got back to the school, while also figuring out how that burst had occurred exactly.

It was precarious to manoeuvre the alleyway but it hadn't slowed their dash only made it more careful. At fault were discarded pipes and trash that littered the ground as well as the rusted metalwork that erupted from of the sides of the poorly maintained high top buildings, it was almost like the gap had been left by another building having been completely ripped out. It was as such hard to tell if the reason he couldn't see very well was because of nights arrival or rather that the remaining light had been eclipsed by not just worsening cloud cover but also the chunked ceramic of roofs above them, it felt like someone had hit the lucid setting on a remote.

"Not bad back there kid," Ko said as he ran beside him to his right of him, "you saved that man."

"Thanks, Sir," he answered, "err, Native," he made the correction through a tinge of pride that he could feel burning stronger than the pain of breathlessness in his lungs. His usage of his quirk to do it had been admittedly reckless but it was still better than the alternative that would surely have come to pass.

The sound of fighting became louder the further they ran down the almost endless alleyway. It was far too long before a sliver of light finally appeared in the distance to answer their tandem steps. What kept in occupied during were thoughts of what had just happened, why the hell were there Noumu roaming the streets? As much as he repeated the question the only answer he could come up with was the League of Villains and as a consequence, Janus.

He almost slid as he caught a reflection of silver gleam on one of the wet pipes, it made the hairs on his neck stand on end and he turned to see what had caused it. Then, he realised, they were no longer alone. It was heavy steps that confirmed the presence, ones that had disguised themselves well in their own. Before he could utter a word he heard the distinct flick of something being thrown, something sharp.

"Ko!" he yelled and shoved the sidekick out of the way with his shoulder.

Shuck, a short sword with a hilt tapered by black tape buried itself deep in the concrete walls inches from where he'd just pushed Ko from, it had cut straight through both his costume and the flexible brace beneath it which left a shallow crimson wound behind on the top of his wrist. It might have bled a lot had it not already sat among heavy bandaging.

He didn't have time to contemplate his next course of action; that was stunned from of him by the outline of a shadow as it slid down from the wall above him and dropped onto the swords hilt, causing him to come face to face with what perched there in all its loathsome revulsion. It was more monster than man but not a Noumu, he could tell it was in fact far worse than that by the deep hate that etched itself into its every toned muscle, like tension in a stuck spring. The top of its face was encased by hundreds of lean bone white bandages through which only a predatory set of nefarious eyes shone despite only the pale light he had to view them.

Chunk, the concrete moaned as the blade was ripped out of it and separated by a twist and roll that allowed the thing to escape to the other side of the passage and back into its element. The weapon did not rest in its hands any longer but rather in a perverse vice between the figures teeth.

His muscles twitched and seized harshly which he for an instant accredited solely to fear before he felt the onset of total irrefutable paralysis that caused him to trip up. It was like someone had cut the signal between his brain and his limbs causing him to hit the ground with an uneven thud. Some of the impact was mitigated by his visor which fled in a series of bounces into the distance as it ran out of purpose.

"You okay ya damn idiot?" Ko rushed up to his side and propped him up against the wall.

"Can't move," he gasped. It was even difficult to speak.

"I'll get ya outta here, just wait," the sidekick took a defensive position beside him as he looked around the alley.

"Being saved by a child, how pathetic for someone who dares call themselves a hero," the deep voice echoed between the buildings.

It was a putrid figure that walked from out from dark and into sight opposite them, this time the details were far clearer. Short knives desecrated every inch of the man's ill fitting grey top which itself was layered in a twofold succession of belts and holsters that made him look like a punk, it was emphasized by two steel tipped shoes and a gnarly black mop of hair. On his back sat two swords and at his waist a scabbard gave a click as he returned the short serrated blade to it, the one he'd cut him and almost impaled Ko with, the manner in which he did suggested he had gone to great lengths to practice with them.

"I've come to cut you down, prepare yourself pretender," the threat was far from empty, this man wasn't just agile but far more deadly than any one person should have had the right to be. It spoke from the way he held himself, the same way in which Edgeshot had but with far more applicable malice to its stance.

A knife whistled as the would-be assassin flung it toward Ko, the sidekick dodged the projectile with ease this time and lodged itself in the concrete behind him. It left him just enough time to avoid a large overhead slice the aggressor had launched simultaneously with the more weighted of the two swords on his back.

Ko came up and punched the man in the wrist as he struck sodden pipe work, which caused him to groan in pain. Another to the gut released his grip on the weapon that then fell to the floor with a series of reverberating bounces. Shick, the short sword from earlier went up diagonally as the villain pulled it out with the back of his hand, although it didn't strike Ko across the throat like the man had tried it still caught fabric and feather which flew wildly from his midriff.

Thunk, the steel tipped shoe went as the sole of the heavy boot sunk it's Ko's stomach and sent him stumbling backward into the wall. The assassin jumped forward as he dropped his foot and caught with a grotesque curling tongue the red liquid that had liberated from a fresh wound caused by the dual toothed bite of the knife he had laid earlier and driven him into. Ko looked like he'd been shot as numbness overtook him and he shuddered backwards against the damp cement wall in much the same way he himself had.

"Damn," Ko coughed, "He got me. Sorry, kid," his face might have looked apologetic if he had the ability to even turn it toward him, however it wouldn't have mattered if he had, all that knew importance now in his eyes was the large blade that hung above the sidekicks head and the dread and implication it carried with it.

"Don't," he tried to shout, though it left him as merely a cracked stammer. The blade arced away from Ko and down at him where it sat just shy of cutting off the tip of his nose.

"If it's me you're after hero killer then leave the kid alone, he's just an idiot who doesn't know better," Ko said with a tough voice, the same he'd used while he hadn't known him on Monday.

The blade fell from his face and went back to resting in a shimmer above Stain's head before he gripped Ko tightly by the collar, "I do not care for the actions of children, its phony's like you who shall die by my hand Native."

Ko closed his eyes, "So be it you self-righteous cunt, as long as no harm comes to him."

"Stop. Stop please!" he said as the blade turned to face downward and sat on the flesh of Ko's neck, the only recognition he got for his pleading was a deep look of hatred followed by a strange pause of recognition.

"Perhaps I should kill you after all, I'm sure it would be a mercy."

His muscles might have frozen at that had they not already been rendered unusable, "What the hell does that mean?" he said in the most aggressive tone he could manage, if only not for care of his words but to perhaps slow the descent of the man's blade for just a few more seconds.

"It doesn't matter," the hero killer shook his head, "all that matters is that I cleanse the world of the ones who sully the name of hero. The bickering of mad men and their ilk has little consequence once they are silenced," he pulled the sword up and raised it a few inches in the air.

"No!" he shouted once more, there was little change to be had; his body wouldn't listen as the sword came down in a remorseless pierce. It dug into the flesh the to the degree of half an inch before a white mechanical shoe sent it veering off course and back around to strike whatever was trying to stop it from doing it's job.

A man, or rather more accurately a boy as he quickly realised, had stopped the execution and now lay scattered onto the ground beside the hero killer with the helmet he'd worn bisected where it had been struck by the riposte. It wasn't anyone random, it took not much more to tell than the blue hair and architecture of the Gundam suit that of all people that could possibly have come to their aid it was Iida who had.

"A child wearing a suit and attacking me just like that, bravery with idiocy to match," Stain held his blade loosely forward at Iida's throat, "You have only one chance to get out of here, best take it."

"It's you, I knew it. You're the hero killer aren't you?!" there was an unfiltered hatred in Iida's voice, one the likes he had never heard come from him before.

"What of it? Did you come here seeking glory?" he said as the blade inched closer and stopped just shy of the tubing that made up the neck of Iida's costume, "No… I see. Those are eyes that see vengeance."

"I will kill you for the heroes you cut down, for my brother… the name is," Iida back paddled away from the tip of the blade and to his feet, "the name is Ingenium you bastard! That is the name of the one who will put an end to you!"

Stain dropped Ko's collar and let him fall, "Ingenium, huh? How does it feel to be the brother of a fake, a mockery, does it hurt to know I only let him live to spread the rumours?"

"Take that back, my brother was… is a great hero, the likes of you doesn't even deserve to speak his name," Iida jumped forward with a kick.

"Fool," Stain said as he parried the attack easily and brought the blade down through Iida's foot lodging it in concrete, "you and your brother are both blind to what a true hero is," he jumped and hooked Iida's shoulder with the tip of his steel pointed boot, bringing him down hard into the floor.

"Argh," Iida groaned as the metal dug into his flesh at two points and pinned him.

"Revenge is such a selfish desire," the hero killer wrought the blade from the floor behind him, "it is opposing to the idea of heroism, no better than to seek glory or wealth. That is why today you will die, to serve as an example to your brother's disease and those like him," he scanned the blades reflection until he got to the end of it, where it had been tainted red.

The words were making him as sick as the sight itself. It was like he was toying not just physically with his food but mentally and here he was slumped against a wall unable to even throw himself at the villain. Worse than that was the look in Iida's eyes he could more feel than see, the same kind of desire that even though he had sworn secondary still did its part to drive him. It was the kind you couldn't so easily forgive.

"My brother was a splendid hero, he gave people hope, he guided them…" Iida said before he gritted his teeth against the torturous movement of the hero killer's boot.

Stain relinquished his view on the blade, "Did he teach you to be gripped by such petty desires then? Look around lit-tle he-ro, why didn't you save them first?"

"Wait… wait, what are you doing here Torenagi?" Iida said as his eyes set on him.

"This ninja turtle as looking motherfucker ambushed us on the way to the main square," he asnwered, he hoped his insult would serve provocation enough to help.

"Enough!" Stain growled his anger, "You can die here knowing that have received judgement befitting of your failure," the man finally indulged his desire and licked the blade, as he did Iida fell to the invisible impalement just like they had, as useless as the realisation was he now knew the cause.

"Those who brandish their powers only for their own sake must become an offering to a just world," the hero killer sheathed his blade and pulled out the other, their one was curved like a sabre with a blunt tip, something one would use to deliver a quick stroke of death. The blade sang as it went in one full motion from the end of the sheath downward.

"Shut your mouth, no matter what you say you're just a criminal, a criminal who hurt my brother! I'll make you pay!" Iida screamed.

Smash, a blur collided with its path and the blade went wide as the hero killer curled back from a punch to the jaw.

"Midoriya?!" Iida said, the green spray on a bed of black hair made it obvious enough he was correct, he came to a stop with a crackle of red on his body and a relief that came from having spared his friend from his fate.

"I came to save you Iida," Midoriya shook his head as the red energy dissipated.

"Kid, use that speed to get these two out of here, the bastard will be satisfied with me," Ko said but his voice no longer sounded commanding. It was a situation where it was impossible to be in control.

"There's no way I can leave anyone behind," he clenched his gloves tight.

"A nice sentiment," the hero killer put his hand on his short blade once more and bared a second knife against his left knuckle, "I have a duty to kill these men, I won't hesitate to cut you down if you get in the way."

"There's no way to justify these actions by calling it duty," the red surge sprang to life again, it made Midoriya's hair stand on end.

"The weak need to die; that is the way of the world," Stain lunged, an attack that should have easily connected but went far out of the way due to some crazy combination of reflex and speed. The hero killer stopped dead in his tracks as he realised he'd missed, "Not bad," he said as he peered down at the blade and turned back to face him.

"Don't let him cut you Midoriya, he can paralyse his victims somehow," Riley said, to which he nodded in acknowledgement. It was at least something he could help with.

"Please Midoriya, get out of here, it isn't something you need to involve yourself in," Iida yelled.

"He's right, you'll only find your own demise here," Stain raised his blade and flicked it downward, ridding it of the grime it had accumulated.

Midoriya shifted his foot back as he got into a more adept stance, "Even if that is true, I can't run away. All Might told me that one of the principal qualities of a hero is sticking your nose where it doesn't belong."

"Hah," the hero killer chuckled, "Not bad at all, let's see if you can back up those words," he drew his blade forward again, this time in a slash that would cut Midoriya in half without a second glance.

Midoriya slid underneath the sword again, only this time Stain threw his sword behind him to stop the reiterated escape. It hit concrete in time for the man to realise the fuming boy was already far above, having swept himself up off the concrete in the instant of passing him, his fist was primed and came down in one great arc on the hero killer's face.

"Detroit SMASH!" Midoriya yelled as the punch connected in one loud smack which forced the hero killer in a bow but did not collapse him. His classmate fell into a short roll as he caught himself in time to see the hero killer's recovery.

"A nice effort, but it's over," Stain said as he licked the tiniest drop of blood from the knife on his knuckle.

"What the," Midoriya fell in a heap.

"It's a shame, as much as you appear to embody him your movements are simply too rigid," he cracked the discomfort of the attack from his neck, "and the name of that attack, you are far from worthy of wielding it, if All Might had used it he could have razed the city in a single blow."

He dragged the blade across the floor as he walked, "You are worth keeping alive, that doesn't take away from the task at hand however…" the man raised the small knife like a boomerang, "I tire of this little game," he threw the knife directly toward Iida's exposed neck. Ice twisted in a torrent through the knife's trajectory before it connected, it swept past and hit the hero killer in the chest just hard enough to force him to pull away.

"Another one?" Stain gave a displeased murmur as he looked at Todoroki at the end of the passage.

"Sorry I'm late, you didn't give me much information to go on Midoriya," Todoroki said as bits of ice dropped from his right hand. "Next time be clearer with your instructions," he shook his head.

"Todoroki, you found us," there was excitement in Midoriya's voice, even as his paralysed body stopped him from expressing as much.

"You're lucky I did," the ground froze as he hammered his left foot into the floor, it rose into a ramp beneath him and the others, forcefully sliding them far down the alleyway toward him.

"You sure got some nice pals Ingenium," the hero killer let out a deep breath that held misted in the freezing air around him.

"You're the hero killer right?" Todoroki asked as the right side of his body lit up.

"So everyone says," he pulled the sabre he'd dropped earlier from the floor and stuck it back in its rightful place.

"Don't let him take your blood Todoroki, that's how we all got taken down," Midoriya said with a hoarseness that sounded like he was finding it hard to form the words.

As if to test the theory a knife left the hero killer's hand, something too fast to avoid nicking Todoroki's cheek as he tried to move out of the way, Stain had already lunged like an animal after it, like a shark that smelt the blood in the water, or rather air in this case.

Fire erupted and caused the tongue to sizzle into retreat, it turned the ice to water and then vapour as it chased the man whom retreated in a series of large hops and flips that looked easy to him. The air had become humid now and the smoke hit the hero killer's true shape within it as the trash and clutter on the floor burnt away with noxious fume.

"Damn it you guys, just run already, there's no way you can beat this guy!" Iida said. There was more than just hurt in it now, perhaps guilt too.

"I don't know what's gotten into you Iida but the Ingenium I know never made a face like that," Todoroki sent a pillar of ice lunging forward as he spotted the emerging figure in the flames.

"What are you say-" Iida bit his tongue halfway through the sentence, something had caught it in his throat and it read as anguish on his face.

The icy pillar parted as a serrated edge tore it to shreds with blinding speed, however as it fell away there was nothing behind it but smoke, "Types like you rely far too heavily on your quirk," the deep voice came down from above, in the form of two sharp knives that impaled themselves through both of Todoroki's shoulders.

"Fuck," he cursed as he pulled at the sharp implements, they didn't come out easily. Blood soaked through the layers of his costumes fabric.

Stain was still hanging on the wall above him, dragging his sabre carefully from its sheath. He then jumped in one embellished motion like he was going to cut Todoroki in half from head to toe. The wall cracked as red lightning caught him on the way down, smashing the sword to pieces and dragging him across the concrete and through the damaged pipes which erupted into fountains.

Midoriya jumped to Todoroki as he tossed the hero killer roughly across the alleyway into a net of sharp icy spikes. His steps were light and woozy now like he was drunk, it was far more likely the toll of his quirk on his body. More importantly however he was no longer paralysed.

"I don't know why but I'm able to move now," he said as he steadied himself and took a defensive position between them and the hero killer whom didn't even seem to pay mind to the heavy scalding and battery he'd received.

"It must have a time limit of some kind," Todoroki said.

"But what determines it?" Midoriya looked at him.

"If it's based around the consumption of blood it could be any number of things, amount of affected, blood total consumed… blood type."

"Ding, ding, ding," Stain answered as he threw away the hilt of the broken blade still in his hand and took out the short remaining one from his waist. "Aren't you just clever?"

"My blood type is O," Midoriya said.

"Same as mine," Todoroki nodded.

"B," Ko said.

"A," Iida said.

AB, he thought before answering, "B," even if he added his own truthful data it certainly wouldn't help them now, it would also tell him something if it worked.

"I want to get these three out of here as soon as possible but he'll cut us off before we can. The only way we'll win is if we fight," Todoroki stepped forward.

"Let me draw his attention and then you take him out," Midoriya almost stumbled as his body crackled once more.

"Two against one, not such a naïve pair after all," Stain said before he chucked the short sword at the wall and jumped after it. It was almost like a trampoline in the way which it extended his jump and set him hurtling across the wall toward them.

The floor beneath Midoriya cracked as he pushed himself off it to meet the hero killer halfway. He must have misjudged the punch, or the villain's agility as his fist sailed right past him. The short blade gouged the flesh of his leg deeply as Stain ran it by him causing a yelp of pain to escape.

"You've become slower," he landed and indulged himself on the surface of the weapon causing Midoriya to fall like a rock once more.

"Sorry, Todoroki," he said as he hit the floor.

"Please stop this madness, you can still save yourselves," Iida said through weak gasps, the wound on his shoulder and leg had only worsened.

Ice burst open like a bomb, quenching the cries of Iida along with it and revealing fire beneath as the hero killer tried to rend it apart so he could descend on Todoroki once more, "You're class rep aren't you? Act like it," he said with the commune of ember, ash and humid air, "Stand up and set your eyes on becoming the kind of man you want to be!"

"Shut your blathering, your words are a waste," Stain curved between the gusts of fire as they chased him before he stabbed forward like a fencer diving the blade into the chassis of Todoroki's armour. A bicycle kick snapped the blade in half before it could skewer him.

"Recipro-burst!" Iida shouted and cleaved the hero killer across the chest with his heel, which even as the hero killer blocked it shattered several of his ribs, "I won't allow you two to spill anymore of your blood for me," he spoke through heavy breaths, the engine on his leg was emitting a thick smog now. "Please Todoroki, if you can then cool my engine."

"I'm on-" he was interrupted as the thick long blade almost impaled him, however the weapon wasn't meant for that, it had only missed Ko's head by a centimetre. Rather than waste words any longer ice spread like nestles across the floor and up Iida's leg, melting as it touched and cooled it.

Shick, a knife went as Iida caught it with his own hand, it had been aimed at Todoroki this time, "I won't let you hurt them any longer," he said whilst blood ran through the gap in the suit.

Yo͟u need͟ m̅e, don't you, tha̅t's why̿ yo̅u're afra͟id to even ͟mo̅ve, the sound invaded his mind, At thi̶s rate yo͜u're ͞going to die͜ R̶iley… w̶e're goi̶ng͞ to die, tha͜t scares͞ yo̶u͜ doesn't it?

He didn't answer its whisper, he was well aware his muscles had regained their composure but he had prepared himself to not move them, as right as the damnable voice was it would be for nothing he went in foolishly, let alone allowed it to do so. What he did do was reach for the blade stuck between him and Ko, the man was twisted in a way that allowed him to see it but he hoped the look on his own face would be enough to dissuade him from giving him away. The hero killer was far too dampened by volleys of flame to notice the quirk flush out of him and into the blade's sharpened surface, before he let it go once more.

Stain removed the last of his two knives from his frayed lapel, each of them dual tipped like he had used to subdue Ko, "I will free this world, your actions to stop me are futile," he crossed the gap between him and Todoroki in three great leaps before instead pushing the knife up into Iida's chest. He took the cut without flinching and redoubled his knee into the hero killer's gut, causing the initial stab to lose any ability to fatally wound him. However just as fast as the blow was negated did it serve to allow Stain to use Iida as a step ladder, clearing him in one great bound.

"Native," the hero killer said as he landed next to his lodged long sword, "Even when it is like this I will make sure the world is rid of at least one wretched phony," however instead of grabbing his last blade the hero killer spun on his heel and caught Todoroki in the side, flinging him into Iida and toward the wall. A powerful throw of his last knives that followed nailed the pair to the concrete momentarily.

"It is inevitable that a weakling like you should fall," he ripped the sword from the floor and brought it down on Ko's neck without waiting. It stuck and then bent, "What?" Stain growled as bits of the blade fell apart and a mere husk of foil remained of the once powerful weapon. "You," Stain said as he threw Riley a vicious look, "The last of my mercy is spent," he said as he reared his metal boot back and threw it tip first in his direction.

He caught the shoe with his broken gauntlet, clipping the steel between its brittle surface, enough to allow him to grab both it and the stationary leg behind it, "Compress," he pulled with as much of his quirk as he could. The legs weight first doubled and then doubled again to become four times as heavy and then another few times to the point where not even a crane could have lifted the hero killer from the floor. Stain struggled but his freedom had been taken, that which allowed him to move and to even turn, no amount of agility would help him now as sapped as he was.

"Now," he shouted at Iida as he allowed his grip to lapse on the villain and a terrible tremor that threatened to tear muscle and rend bone overcame him.

"Recipro-extend!" Iida ripped the knives out of his body in one great burst, allowing him to bring his foot up into the hero killer in one pulverizing blow, it send the hero killer keeling, almost tipping him on his heavy legs. Another followed it but this time in a pincer as the metal of Iida's costume counted in a roundhouse kick to the hero killer's jaw, in time to be met by an imploding smash in the back of the head from a newly reinvigorated Midoriya.

The hero killer swayed as the blows landed but didn't fall, a shunt of ice erupted from the ground and dragged him the last few feet into a pipe set that made the man's back appear to shatter, he passed out then and there on his feet against the hard concrete and metal.

All that was left in the air for a time was each of their tepid breaths and the calming of heart rate that drummed their veins and chests and minds, it was a minor distraction to him who still had within him a problem that was becoming more severe by a second, the binding of compression as it set and unset his arms and caused his teeth to chatter frantically.

"Are you okay Torenagi?" Midoriya said as he reached out a hand toward him, it was a kind gesture considering the guy was barely able to stand on his own leg.

"Don't," was all he could get out as he waved him away. He needed to vent the awful sensation into something and preferably not his classmate.

The weight sticking out beneath the fabric where Stain had cut him became the unlucky recipient, release coursed through his body as he touched his palm to it. Along with it came a loss of energy, he was utterly wiped, it didn't come as a surprise considering all that had happened in less than an hour. He clipped the brittle weight from his arm as if it were wet tissue paper and chucked it down the alley where it shattered into many tiny pieces like a shitty version of a shrapnel grenade.

"Better," he let out a shudder as he allowed Midoriya to pull him to his feet.

"Close call," Todoroki said as he let out a hint of a sigh, "Too close."

"It was all due to my foolishness, I'm sorry," Iida said.

"I don't know how to thank-" he paused as he realised what had almost slipped his mind, "Ko!"

"Don't worry 'bout me kid, I've had worse," Ko coughed as he sat up, his immobilisation finally gone.

"Worse than having a blade rammed into your neck?" he smirked slightly as he looked over the man's wounds, they weren't dire but hardly shallow, a jagged cut where the throwing knife had gone in and a rapidly yellowing bruise on his stomach, as well as a skin deep slit from the dulled blade.

"Well, you're well versed with Leina you tell me," he chuckled.

"And you call me the idiot," he shook his head and tore off the cap of his leg brace with his left hand while removing the remainder of his athletic tape from his holster with the other. A light wrapping of the unsoiled bandage held tight by the wind of the sticky tape stopped the bleeding for the most part, however it was obvious he needed more thorough help.

"Sorry for bein' kinda useless there."

He grabbed the man and hoisted him on his shoulder, it was lucky he was as light as he was, "Let's just get you out of here, okay?"

"Couldn't agree more, that thing from earlier really did a number on me," he coughed again more harshly. At this point it was the burns he noticed, the ones marked by splotches of grey still stuck to Ko's skin, it made sense now why he'd fallen for the attack so easily. He must have already been struggling after that fight.

"That should do," Todoroki said as he finished binding the hero killer with a plastic tape that would normally have held newspaper stacks together.

"Best we find some real heroes to take him into custody for now," Iida said with a hobble of his own, he'd found a piece of stray wood to use as a crutch in the meantime. It didn't take them more than a few steps out of the alleyway to find someone, a white bearded old man whom recognised them in an instant, or rather one of them.

"Gran Torino," Midoriya said before he received a flat foot to the face delivered with far more aptness than the grandpa should have been able to muster. This must have been the sole nominator that had gone for him last minute, he surmised.

"What the hell are you doing here, boy?!" Gran Torino said as he landed, before the student could answer the man raised an eyebrow at what Todoroki was dragging behind him, "Is that who I think it is?"

"No way, it's the hero killer," a man whom he remembered from earlier, the Frankenstein hero who had taken the wounded woman off his hands. Hopefully she was alright.

"Who cares about that right now," Gran Torino growled, "Look at their injuries, call an ambulance you fool."

"R-right away, Sir," the young hero stuttered as he pulled a radio type device from behind his back. Several more heroes had joined them now, including a staunch man kind enough to take the weight of Ko from his shoulders, even his own untreated cut was beginning to bother him now as the ache that had been temporarily banished returned.

"I'm glad that's over," he pushed a hand across his sweat covered brow before adjusting the bandages beneath his costume to more thoroughly cover his wound, he didn't want to risk an infection. It'd be a sad way to go considering what they'd just been through.

"Torenagi, I believe you dropped this," Iida nudged him in the shoulder with the visor that had bounced away earlier.

"Thanks…" he said as he took it, that would have been far more annoying to lose than anything else, "Frankly I should probably be thanking all three of you," he turned toward the trio, "if you hadn't come when you did me and Native would have been toast. I'm sorry you got injured coming to our aid," he gave an apologetic bow.

Iida shook his head, "Our success rests solely with Midoriya and Todoroki and also in no small part to you holding him in place for that instant."

"Why were you and Native even in that alleyway to begin with?" Todoroki asked.

"There was a Noumu, Edgeshot told us to regroup in the main square with him but," he frowned, "It was as if the hero killer had been waiting, he had us both down with that quirk in the blink of an eye…"

"What a terrifying grudge," Iida bit his nail as he thought, "Still, I can't help but feel I owe you and Native an apology in turn."

"Huh?"

"As sick as the hero killer's words were they were still true, my revenge blinded me of what was truly important. You can rest assured I will not let that happen again, it's not how someone who wants to call themselves a hero should act," Iida almost looked pained by the revelation.

"Duck!" Grand Torino yelled as he threw himself to the ground.

He barely swerved as he saw it out of the corner of his eye, the claw missed him and Iida but it didn't hit air, instead it grabbed Midoriya by the collar and ascended with him clutched in its talons as it swooped back upward. It was another Noumu, this one more like a pterodactyl than any man.

"Damn, where the hell did that thing come from?" Gran Torino pushed himself off the floor with an air powered pounce but the creature had already ascended to a height in line with the top of the buildings. Riley raised his hand but the Noumu was pivoting far too much for him to get a clean shot, chances are he would hit Midoriya if he so much as tried.

As if it had been struck by lightning the Noumu fell, for a second he wondered if he might have compressed on accident, then he came to terms with a reality that wasn't so simple. It cascaded up the buildings, knife in hand and caught the Noumu on the way down, before it even hit the floor the creature was dead, a fountain of blood and entrails was all that remained active in its lifeless form. Among the haze stood hunched the form of Stain; risen once more. The bloody mess dripped down his arms and onto Midoriya, whom was pinned to the floor beneath his palm.

"Disgusting creatures, I should have taken care of it when I had the chance," the hero killer let the boy in his grasp go all at once and turned with his knife raised at their small crowd. "Listen you weak incompetent little wannabes…"

"Those who wield their powers for selfish ideals, who claim titles not rightfully earned," he took a step forward and flicked his knife at the Noumu, "They are the targets of my purge!" his face had a bloodlust to it, embellished by the drips of the creatures fluid that had sprayed on him. It was a holistic anger, something intricate and deeply seeded in the man's face, in his being, "All of this… all of it is for the sake of a just world."

Fire swept in to greet the hero killer's words but he merely brushed it aside like some bothersome fly. Riley looked to find it was not Todoroki who had flung it but Endeavor whose tall figure now loomed over them like an antagonistic vigil.

"I have finally found you hero killer," Endeavor gave a fierce grin as he pushed his way through.

"Another phony," the knife twisted in Stain's hand, it was longer than his others but not quite a blade, the handle was merely strips of cloth that provided only the amount of grip that one could force upon it through discomfort. Its use was single, to remind the wielder of the weight that came with the baring of a weapon, something not to be done without a conviction. The way he held it so confidently, like he could cut them all down with something so puny was enough to pierce Riley's heart with a harrowing fear.

The pavement almost felt as if it would shake with every step the hero killer took toward them, with the curling of his tongue and the darkness of his being, "Someone must stain themselves in the blood of the fakes, the liars." His voice exuded in a way that was deep, like it wasn't from this world any longer and not bound its laws, "The title of hero is sullied, the pedestal decrepit and ruined. It must be restored!"

Stain's figure grew as he walked, becoming something demonic in its menace. Riley stumbled and fell to the pavement as the animosity gripped him tighter than any quirk might, enough to try and choke the life out of him; it was like a wave of pure evil. There was no backing away from him, not even the ability to so much as avert his eyes from its horror was afforded.

"Not one among you is allowed to cut me down, none of you are worthy," his tongue curled itself sickeningly across his half rotten teeth, "There is only one man in this world who is allowed," he tightened his grip on the dagger, "The only man who can end me is," the hero killer came to a stop, "All Might!" the knife fell from the hero killer's hand with a clank, as all movement ceased and the indomitability of his stance fell back into nothingness.