Summary: The duel is about to commence. Which of the students will win the battle training? Also, a flashback where Izuku confronted a villain from league of legends, asking him and his parents' former affiliation for an aid.
A Dance of Bombs and Blades
"They expect me to play fairly. We aren't even playing the same game."
Two years ago before the recent events…
A villain, wearing a schoolgirl outfit, but with a few gadgets and pieces such as piped black mask, the boxes of knives strapped around her thighs, and a blue utility belt around her waist with more little green boxes attached to it on either side. Now taken down as her knees bowed on the ground, bruises, cuts, and small lacerations are visible on parts of her body, and she coughed out a small amount of blood coming from her lips.
Despite the coming defeat, she shakily stood up and wiped the blood from his lips using her wrist and smirked in front of her opponent. At first, she belittled him for what he's capable of, but now the tables have turned.
She was dead wrong.
"S-So…it's just as they say. I-I never expected you to be easy….b-but you're even more than what I had in mind…"
"N-Nightblade, isn't it? Or should I say….Izuku Midoriya~"
The green-haired admitted he admired her spirit and will to fight despite being beaten up from the attacks he gave to her. At the same time annoyed, thinking that villain in front of him doesn't even know when to quit.
Tips of his eight array of blades pointed directly at her and answered in a calm manner.
"I do have an idea of who you are, assassin. Himiko Toga from the league, with the codename 'The Deceiver'. You're the one who hurt my classmate. Even before you go here to fight me, we've already known about your plans. Go back and tell them this is meaningless…like a lapdog you are…"
She let out a burst of laughter, covering her lips while holding her knife from her right hand.
"Eh? Meaningless? Hahaha—"
"Aren't you the one with the meaningless work around your so-called 'hero' community?"
She uncovered her lips and taunted with her sinister look.
"If you hadn't gotten in our way….we would've never even bothered with the likes of you!"
Not really satisfied upon the taunt he received from the villain. The plan of league asking for a confidential aid to Equilibrium, the secretive vigilante organization where her parents used to be part of; the group where they do not want to be the pawns in times of hero crisis or even where evil comes to spread terror. They only watch and act as they please. He is aware his parents left before he was even born but why the villain came to ask him, of all people.
He replied back, but in a louder tone.
"Your league is too reckless to involve the people for their agenda. Aren't you aware the monks and scholars working at the temple are not taking sides?"
"Your league is merciless and oppressive! I can't let you sacrifice the innocent for your cause!"
The blonde girl insanely laughed, thinking the reply was tad bit ridiculous.
"HAHAHAHA! Of course, you'll be the future pro-hero of this community….or maybe soon you'll turn away to be a vigilante instead? A rogue assassin?…just like your parents?"
Izuku gritted his teeth upon hearing his parents being mentioned by the villain.
"Don't you dare mention my parents! You have no right to dictate which path I will take! The Equilibrium watch over this community!"
She grinned and licked her bloodied lips with an answer.
"Go ahead! Watch all you want. The league and the other villain organizations will act! This world will not have a balance with a hand on the scale. But let me tell you one more thing…. how many have two factions killed each other for that title…of which of them deserved to rule this community? Hundreds? Maybe thousands or even more?!"
"Tch…" Izuku decided not to reply anymore of her nonsense. He slowly shook his head and let out pity and shame at the disturbed villain who only want violence and harbor chaos just for fun and personal gain. While keeping his calm and quiet composure, the girl kept on blabbering pointed her knife at him.
"What's with that look on your face? The expression of guilt? Heh! Don't make me laugh! You and all the bastards are just hypocrites and murderers…just the same as us!"
"Where was your great sense of mercy?! When you were covering your fancy little blades with blood?!"
She paused for a moment. Her left hand snaked down on her leg to grab her second knife and later posed her combat stance with her dual blades. Panting and feeling weak, she has no other choice but to give her all and eliminate her target with all her might. She then continued her final say and slowly walked towards him and later increased her movement speed.
"Y-Yes…Maybe you already know…the peaceful community is long gone and all that's left is killers like us…"
"And you…better watch your back…"
Izuku stood his guard and posed his defensive stance with the blades that began circling around him. The blonde girl quickly dashed and attacked her target with lethal assault.
"BECAUSE I WON'T BE THE LAST!"
He was about to end her by commanding his blades to retaliate, but then was stopped when purple multiple orbs began to appear before him and after a short delay, the orbs unleashed some powers to knock her away. The girl was blown up a great amount of damage, screaming in pain as the orbs have beaten her up until she knocked down on the ground unconscious, blood from her head began to pool. A terrible defeat indeed.
Izuku knew and was quite familiar with the quirk he saw and found out it was his mother who protected him from the attacks. His circling blades went back on normal crest form located behind his back.
Inko ran up towards her son to give a tight caring embrace and asked if her son was alright. Her son only gave a slow nod as the green-haired teen placed his one hand on other's hands to give a double gentle pat on the back to assure that he is well.
Thirty minutes after the incident, the ambulance and police force arrived at the scene. Izuku was treated at the back of the ambulance van, patching the wounds on his arms and face and later interviewed by one of the investigators. When the media arrived, he requested them not to show his face on the television for privacy sake.
He felt relieved for one of the leagues of villains who hurt his classmate has finally defeated and got what she deserved, but at the same time, a little disturbed at those words she spat out from her lips.
That power, control, and greed are the sources of all conflict and always will be, no matter which faction you are at.
xxx
The dogfight between the redeemer and the other who seeks retribution have already started and it's been five minutes since they clashed each other. The battle of top hero-in-training students of different schools have exchanged attacks: the dance of bombs and blades kept on appearing on the battlegrounds. Their classmates, well, couldn't able to say a single word at how amazed at what they are seeing now. They see them as great future heroes and few of them hinted that they could make a pretty good team, despite their bad blood history.
Some notable students of 3A such as Todoroki, Kirishima, Uraraka, and Iida looked astonished at Nightblade's great speed and agility, managing to dodge the explosion attacks from Ground Zero's. Later on, when the ash-blonde backed away and aimed his grenade gauntlets at his target, he locked on and began shooting explosive shots at the green-haired, shouting his quirk technique.
AP Shot: Explosive Barrage!
The blue-haired yelled at Izuku. "Watch out for the barrage! They are dangerous if you don't evade his attacks! You could get some burns!"
He heard him and yelled backed at the class president. "I'm familiar with his technique. He used that quirk to harass me during middle school. But don't worry, I know what I'm doing..."
The barrage of explosives are about to hit him pretty quick, he commanded his blades to levitate and form a circle around him. He closed his eyed for a moment then after a two-second delay, he opened his eyes with a serious glare and made a snake hand seal. His circling blades began to spin faster around him before the barrage bombarded him. With his defensive stance, he gained some damage reduction.
Few students were surprised at the actions Izuku did. Before the explosions came right to him, he did not even back away nor move a single muscle to dodge. Now, they couldn't see anything but a thick cloud of black smoke around the battlegrounds. Seconds later, they never hear any reactions or a sound after the explosions Bakugou did.
The red-haired Kirishima scratched his head and yelled at the two. "Oi! Bakubro! Midoriya! Are you guys still alive? We can ask our class president to stop the battle training~"
Iida yelled as well. "You two have been sparring for ten minutes now. I think it's time for you two to take a break and continue this next time!"
The class began worrying at the two and requested them to stop the training, but the heterochromatic eyed teen raised his right hand and hushed everyone.
"W-Wait…I heard something…"
The brunette asked. "W-What are you talking about?"
"We didn't hear anything, Todoroki." Kaminari reacted.
"N-No…I-It's like…I hear a sound of soft metal chimes on the battleground, but I can't see a thing…"
The black smoke and gush of wind have faded as the students later went shocked at the latest scene towards the two challengers. It revealed that Bakugou has now been surrounded and stuck by the barrage of blades, forming a very sharp cage. It is quite noticing that Izuku's blades have been doubled than before, considering he can control and manipulate metal as much as he wants.
The ash-blonde couldn't move because of the effect of Izuku's quirk. Small lines of cuts have formed on some parts of his body and also one on his face, which later a small amount of blood appeared and dripped.
Katsuki thought to himself.
He intentionally stood still to receive my explosion attacks by purpose. Then he used the smokescreen to make a large scale assault against me. He didn't care about the damage I give to him just to use his assassin tricks. I've now realized how far he has become.
Izuku observed him carefully and walked through the blade cage with a grin.
"I call this as one of my ultimate moves. It's called 'Vanguard's Edge'. I once used this to my classmate and now a member of the Trinity Force. One more move of your single muscle will trigger my blades and they may probably slash around you."
Katsuki replied in a low tone and chuckled a bit before looking down on the ground.
"Guess I have finally found the answer I've been craving for earlier, Izuku."
"The outcome was obvious. I'm glad you've figured it out. Thank God I don't have to waste my time explaining everything to you—"
He was cut by the ash blonde.
"I think what you did in the past after the incident is the best." He looked straight into his eyes.
"You walked to your own path and now arrived in the same destination as we all did: to become a future pro-hero."
"You told me that I was only getting you in the way of yours dreams to be a hero. You were right and I let you do your own thing. And now after years of your proving yourself and knowing your worth in this world, I have finally acknowledged and recognized your true power, Izuku."
Katsuki let out a sad smile as he placed his right hand on his chest. Izuku's grin faded and expressed confusion on his face.
"E-Even if we're not in good terms in real-life…I-Izuku…I-I hope we…"
"I hope we could team up together in the future for the sake of peace and justice! And serve the civilians with smiles on our faces!" He looked up to him and smiled.
Those last words he received from the ash-blond were familiar to him and sounded like All Might. His heart began to beat fast, remembering the last time he met the former number one hero. That one ridiculous advice he received after disclosing him that he had a premature quirk. All Might never support him until they parted ways. He admitted he was a huge fan, but after being told that he should pursue a more 'supportive' career, his idolatry towards the hero suddenly shattered like glass.
He decided not to continue the challenge. He turned and walked away, commanding his blades to return to its normal crest form. He walked away from the scene, raised an index finger at everyone and announced in a normal tone.
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"My duel against him has ended."
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"I lost the challenge..."