"Nighteye? What's going on?" Nezu glanced at his screen, quickly downloading the files of the Eight Precepts that were to be given to the Hero Commission. Moashi and Awata had tried to hack into their database before, trying to get more information on the supposed quirk destroying drug, but they had always been unsuccessful since there was always someone keeping an eye on the files, and kicking them out whenever they tried.
They decided that while the heroes were conducting the raid, and the yakuza were preoccupied with the heroes presence, it should theoretically be possible to use that opportunity to find out more about the plans of the Eight Precepts. And while they could download the information after the raid was over, they didn't know the entire layout of the underground, and they didn't put it past Chisaki to have some sort of self destruct protocol in order to destroy all the evidence. They had enlisted Nezu's help in hacking and information downloading, and while it wasn't necessary for him to attend the meetings about the raid itself, he had requested that Sasaki and Aizawa should update him whenever convenient.
"Eraser Head?" Nezu tried calling Aizawa, but he was either too deep underground, or his communicator was broken; all he was getting was static.
He was getting particularly worried about Midoriya and Togata, especially Midoriya; according to Sasaki's last update, those two had run off on their own to chase after Chisaki and Eri. And with what that drug was capable of, Nezu couldn't help but be worried.
Apparently, the drug doesn't just damage the quirk factor and prevent the quirk from being used, but it rewinds the entire quirk out of existence. Quirks are said to be the next stage of evolution in the human race, and are thus considered mutations. No matter how the quirk manifested, either through natural means, or through trauma, it was still a mutation, and the drug rewinds those very mutations back to it's unmutated state, effectively rendering a person quirkless.
Chisaki had also done his own research into trauma induced quirks, as rare as they were, deeming them as anomalies and wanting to ensure that his drug could erase any kind of quirk. And while he was never able to test the drugs on people who did have trauma induced quirks, there weren't many biological differences between normal quirks and a trauma induced ones, leading to the conclusion that the quirk destroying would rewind them out of existence all the same.
Nezu wasn't too sure if One for All would be destroyed, given that it wasn't reliant on a quirk factor if a quirkless person like Yagi could inherit it from Nana, but at the very least, Togata had a sense of self preservation.
Midoriya did not. The only thing that kept him alive through the attack on UA and Kamino, as well as all his previous suicide attempts, was that quirk. While losing the quirk might help improve his mindset and solve some psychological issues, given that the quirk was most likely actively making him hate himself and urging him towards suicide, Nezu was worried that Chisaki would very well end up killing Midoriya, given that the greenette'd speciality was close combat, something that could be very fatal against the quirk that Chisaki possessed.
He could only hope that everything would turn out okay.
Chisaki growled, and attempted to grab the boy, but Midoriya used his mask to blow more fire in Chisaki's face, blinding him temporarily, before twisting through the gaps between his four arms.
Suddenly, there was an explosion from above, as the ceiling caved in, with Tatsuma tackling Katsukame into the ground, with Uraraka and Asui behind her.
"Uravity!" Asui stammered, looking towards Sasaki, who had a stone spike poking through his gut, as he desperately watched an injured Midoriya trying to get to Eri.
"Nighteye!" Uraraka yelled, as Midoriya kept his gaze focused on Chisaki, "Take care of him!"
"Hakryuen? Eh?" Uraraka tilted her head in confusion, as Asui asked, "Then who was the one we just saw outside?"
"Get Nighteye first!" Tatsuma yelled, as they made their way over to Sasaki, who impaled on a spike, "Be careful!"
The ground erupted beneath him, as Midoriya narrowly avoided getting impaled by the stone spikes, but a large stone pillar shot into the air, sending Eri flying.
"Chisaki!" Midoriya growled, turning to the villain that was on the ground, but the villain merely created another stone pillar that rapidly elevated him to the surface, grabbing Eri in the process, "Everything's messed up! You pieces of garbage!"
Midoriya just growled, and threw a few knives at the stone pillar, lodging them into the concrete, before attempting to scale the rapidly ascending pillar. He wasn't going to let Eri go, not when they were so close.
He wouldn't let her be sad again.
"So obstinate!" Chisaki spat, before spotting Togata's cape, that had been flung up by a piece of flying rubble, "That was flung up too? Disgusting!"
Eri clutched the dragon pendant tightly with both of her hands, not wanting to let go, before the red cape caught her attention.
That's... that's enough... I don't want anyone to die... I don't want that... Why do they keep...
Eri reached out for the cape, pressing her other hand against the arm that Chisaki was holding her with, and activated her quirk, undoing the fusion that Chisaki had done with Nemoto. She pulled the cape closer to her, clutching the pendant tightly, and looked downwards, seeing Midoriya trying to climb up the pillar, desperately reaching out to her, doing everything in his power to get closer.
These people aren't going to give up... not until I'm saved... even if it means that they'll die... I have to go back...
She stood up.
I have to let them save me... Or they'll all die for nothing... I have to go back! Into his kind arms!
Eri jumped off the ascending pillar, and Midoriya bit his lip, letting go of the knife that was lodged into the side of the pillar. He growled, and leapt off towards another piece of ascending rubble, and quickly caught his footing, before jumping off towards a higher piece of rubble.
She had taken a leap of faith. It was his turn to catch her. He had to; he had already let her go once, he wasn't going to fail again.
Midoriya reached out, jumping off another piece of rubble as the rocks crashed into each other and broke apart. One rock shard flew past his face, right by his eye, but he ignored the blood that started dripping down his face as he reached out.
"I'm so sorry we took so long to come." He grabbed onto Eri's arm tightly, catching her as she fell, using his own body as a shield as they fell to the ground, as Eri wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Give her back!" Chisaki roared, pressing his arm against the concrete pillar and creating more stone tendrils that chased after him.
But that just gave Midoriya more solid footing to work with. He caught himself, wrapping his arms around Eri tightly, as he swiftly twisted between the tendrils, being able to dodge them relatively easily; Chisaki was making the movements of the tendrils really easy to predict, and Midoriya was able to use that to his advantage.
"I won't let go. I'll never let go of you again. I won't let you go through that again." Midoriya whispered, watching as Chisaki leapt off the pillar in an attempt to get Eri back.
Midoriya took a deep breath.
I can do this.
There was nothing. No voices in his head saying that he couldn't, saying that he was useless and worthless and couldn't do anything right.
He could save Eri.
And he would.
Midoriya jumped off one of the tendrils, right towards Chisaki, and used his mask to blow more fire in Chisak's face, blinding him, before kicking the yakuza towards the ground. Chisaki yelped as he crashed into one of the other tendrils, and placed his palm on it, forcing it to turn around.
Eri clung to him even tighter, as Midoriya spotted the tendril zooming towards him. He activated his bracer, and a blade slid out of it, as Midoriya held Eri with one hand swerved to the side, lodging the blade in the tendril that was shooting upwards.
Midoriya grit his teeth as he let the tendril push them higher to the surface, before the yakuza seemed to realise what they were doing. Chisaki immediately forced the tendril to stop moving upwards, but it was too late; the green haired boy had already turned around, releasing the blade from his bracer as he shot upwards, jumping to reach the edge of the giant chasm that Tatsuma had fallen through. He quickly turned around in midair, using his bracer to shoot a few blades at Chisaki that tore right through the villain's flesh, breaking his focus, before he reached up, grabbed onto the side of the gigantic hole, desperately trying to hold on to both Eri as he hung on the edge, as the tendrils started falling apart and the rubble rained down on the people below.
"What... happened...?" Tatsuma asked, using her wings to shield Uraraka, Asui, and Sasaki from the rubble that was raining down on them. "Where's Izuku?" Uraraka asked, looking around, before she noticed that Chisaki was getting up, repairing his broken arms.
"Even though I never told her what her power was... or how to use it... Eri... you naughty girl. You know you belong to me." Chisaki stumbled towards the unconscious Katsukame, before activating his quirk on the fallen yakuza, turning him into a splatter of blood, "In order to realize the old man's greatest wish, I need you, Eri."
"Oh no!" Tatsuma growled, but Sasaki groaned, "It's okay... for you... At least... for the time being... he wouldn't target any of you... He'll head to the surface in pursuit of Midoriya and Eri. Then, he'll kill Midoriya, and take Eri back."
"No! We have to -" Uraraka tried to activate her quirk, before she collapsed. I want to move... but I can't...
"I tried... to stop him... I tried to save him... but in the end... the future can't be changed..." Sasaki panted, trying to stem the bleeding, but Tatsuma stood up, "We can't do nothing after hearing that!"
"In the shape you're all in... you couldn't beat him even if you tried. Midoriya doesn't stand a chance." Sasaki continued, but Uraraka pushed herself up, activating her quirk on the rubble around her, "So what? We can't just do nothing! You don't know how the future will turn out!"
Sasaki lifted his head, spotting the monstrous form of Chisaki in the distance, "Froppy... I'm not sure where Mirio is at the moment... but Rock Lock and some policemen should be beyond that hole in the wall. I think Mimic managed to get free... you should go help them."
Asui nodded, as Sasaki continued, "Uravity, Ryukyu... head to the surface with me. We need to help Hakryuen."
Uraraka carefully made her way over to Sasaki, and used her quirk on him, before picking him up. She activated her quirk on herself, before Tatsuma lowered her wing, allowing Uraraka to use it as a boost to get to the surface, "Don't wait for us, Uravity! Take him to an ambulance first! Stabilise that fragment in his stomach. Don't remove it! Then go help Hakryuen! He won't be able to deal with a monster like that on his own, not in the state he's in!"
Togata was using One for All to push up the ceiling, as Rock Lock tried his best to push himself up. Compared to the first time, Mimic had been much easier to subdue; Togata's ability to phase through the walls, and Mimic being a much noisier and angrier asshole than last time, and with Ryuto's hearing and Reiko's weird ability to just sense people, it made it easier for Togata to locate him.
But there was only so much stress the underground structures could take; the fight with Chisaki, as well as Mimic manipulating and twisting all the walls, had made it unstable, as the ceiling fell apart and started raining concrete down on them.
Togata was devastated that Rock Lock had somehow lost Eri to Chisaki, but he couldn't really blame the older man; he had tried to save her from falling rubble, and Chisaki had been manipulating Eri's emotions from the start, and it was no surprise that Eri would try to go back if it meant that she could save someone from Chisaki's wrath.
"Hold on." Togata easily heaved the concrete block off Rock Lock, and despite his injuries, the pro hero was trying his best to pull the police officers out from the rest of the falling debris. Togata pushed the ceiling up, as more police officers streamed into the room, helping Rock Lock and the rest of the officers up.
"Wait... what's going on?" Togata asked, and one officer replied, "Most of the yakuza are cleared up, and Katsukame is being taken care of by Ryukyu and her interns, in a large basement below. We're going to get all of you out."
A hooded figure walked out, and Togata grinned, "Tamaki!"
Amajiki admitted, "I woke up... some time ago, and I thought you were in trouble. So I came to find you... though you seem fine."
"I'm fine." Togata nodded, "You should go find Eraser. He and Chronostasis... uh, I think his name is Kurono, they disappeared while Sir, Midoriya and I were fighting Chisaki."
"Alright. I'll let the rest of the police help you." Amajiki gave his friend a small smile, "Just keep the ceiling up."
"I know much about you. Erasure Hero: Eraser Head." Chronostasis muttered, pinning Aizawa down, stabbing him with the hour hand of his quirk, "We referenced your quirk a lot while conducting research on Eri. Since I was able to isolate you without killing you... that means it must be worth keeping you alive. Erasing quirks... to him, that's an attractive power."
Aizawa tried to push himself up, but Chronostasis merely removed his mask, "Oh, you should just give up. You can't move faster than a snail right now. Once he's decided something, you can't stop him. I don't know how much you know, but Eri is the granddaughter of the boss of the Eight Precepts. If it's for his goal, he'll use anything. That's the kind of person the man called Overhaul is."
The ground started rumbling, as Chronostasis looked up at the ceiling.
Too long... There's no way you'll lose, right? Kai... I've been watching this whole time... how in order to preserve the dignity of the organization, ever since you were young, you were always willing to put in an exorbitant amount of effort. If Kai loses... then at least I'll take the finished drug and serum... and execute his plan.
He unsheathed his knife, as he stood over the helpless Aizawa.
For the Eight Precepts. For Kai.
He tried to stab Aizawa, only for a giant spike to impale his arm, forcing him to drop his knife.
"You're Kurono... right?" Amajiki asked, panting as he leaned against the wall, a swordfish manifestation in his hand, "I know the conditions you need to activate your quirk."
Two police officers appeared behind him, pointing their guns at Chronostasis, "It's the police! Resistance is useless!"
"Senpai!" Asui hopped up to him, "Where's Lemillion?"
Amajiki turned back to her, "I saw him just now. He's somewhere past this corridor, you'll see him. He's trying to protect Rock Lock and some of the police officers as the ceiling caved in, I think you should go help him out."
"Alright, kero." Asui nodded.
"Ah, there's no need for that, Suneater!" Togata grinned, as he raced down the corridor, giving him a thumbs up, "All the police are safe, and we're going to head out. The ceiling's pretty stable now, so we'll be fine."
"Froppy... Suneater..." Aizawa muttered, trying to look up with his slow movements due to Chronostasis' quirk, "Lemillion... how's Hakryuen?"
"Uh... last I saw him, he was fighting Chisaki with Sir. He did get hit by one of the quirk destroying drug bullets, though." Togata replied, and Aizawa's eyes widened.
"Bring me to the surface. I need to contact Nezu." Aizawa ordered, and Amajiki frowned in confusion, "The principal?"
"He's hacking through the database of the Eight Precepts. He'll have more information on what the drug is capable of." Aizawa replied, and Togata asked, "But Hakryuen is quirkless, right?"
Aizawa bit his lip, desperately trying to think of an excuse that wouldn't reveal that Midoriya actually did have a quirk, before he hastily ad libbed, "Exactly. At least, we do know the effects of the drug on someone who has a quirk, but for someone who doesn't have one, we're completely in the dark. If the drug does indeed target the quirk factor, and Hakryuen doesn't have one, who knows what other effects the drug could have on him."
"Ah. Makes sense." Togata nodded, "I think that's everyone."
Asui spoke up, "Ryukyu's waiting for us in the main room, kero. Let's go."
Midoriya knew he couldn't hang on for too long; water from the broken pipes were starting to leak out, making it slippery, but he just hoped that Uraraka or Asui or even Tatsuma would just see what was going on and help him out.
But he didn't have time. He wasn't sure if Chisaki was unconscious, and while Eri did manage to rewind his transformation with Nemoto, he didn't know where Katsukame had fallen, and if Chisaki decided to fuse with that monster, who knows what would happen.
His shoulder was aching, the bone broken from when the stone spike had pierced through it, but he could still use it. Clutching Eri with one hand, with the girl wrapping her own arms tightly around his neck, he desperately tried to pull himself up, but his broken arm just wasn't strong enough to pull both him, and Eri, upwards.
Midoriya grit his teeth, and pushed all his remaining energy into his arm. His muscles were screaming from the exertion, as pain flared through his entire body, but Midoriya refused to give up, pulling himself up until he could use his elbow to anchor himself down on the side of the edge.
"Hold on tight... Eri..." Midoriya groaned, as he tried to crawl his way out of the hole with one arm. He managed to get up to chest level, before pushing Eri out of the hole with his other arm. Once she was safe and away from the edge, Midoriya hauled himself up, panting, before turning to Eri, "Are you alright? Are you... hurt... anywhere? I'm sorry... if I was a little rough..."
Eri just shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes, her horn still glowing faintly, as she did her best to not make contact with Midoriya. Midoriya shaikly stood up, and gently led her further away from the edge.
"You... undid the fusion. You turned him back to before he fused with that other guy... is that your quirk?" Midoriya softly asked, not wanting to spook Eri. The girl nodded slowly, looking away from him, almost as if she was expecting him to be disgusted at her, but Midoriya gently patted her head, "You're quirk is such a blessing."
Midoriya noted how Eri seemed to flinch away from him, yet wanting to get closer to him at the same time, and he crouched down, "Are you... afraid that you'll destroy me?"
Eri flinched, and looked towards the ground, before nodding slowly. Her powers hadn't worked on Midoriya due to his clothes, but with parts of his outfit ripped apart, she didn't want to risk making him disappear.
"It's alright. Just... calm down. We can deal with it." Midoriya gently patted her head.
Eri nodded, trying to listen to what Midoriya was saying, but her eyes just trailed down to the puddle of blood that was accumulating under the green haired boy.
"You're... bleeding..." Midoriya looked at the small girl, before saying, "I'm fine. Don't worry."
Suddenly, the ground started cracking, and Midoriya hastily picked Eri up, along with Togata's cape that she was still clinging on to, as he ran away from the edge of the hole. The cracks grew wider and wider, and the ground was starting to split apart, as Chisaki crawled out of the hole in his gigantic, monstrous form. Midoriya knew that he couldn't outrun a monster like that; Chisaki could easily catch up to him even if he tried.
"She has no control. She may have activated it at a good time, but she doesn't know how to stop it. Isn't that right, Eri?" Chisaki spat, as multiple appendages protruded out of the fused body, each arm equipped with clawed hands that could tear him apart in an instant, "She rewinds humans. That's who Eri is. Depending on how you use her, it might even be possible to turn a person back into a monkey. You keep carrying her like that... the second you make physical contact with her, you'll be annihilated. Everyone who touches her will be rewound into nothingness. That girl's quirk is cursed!"
Midoriya's temper finally reached its limit, and he snapped back, "That's because you only used her, and never taught her how to control it! There's no such thing as a cursed quirk!"
"Hand her over! There's no way to stop her other than to disassemble her! Unless you want to be annihilated, hand Eri over!" Chisaki growled, but Midoriya just used Togata's cape to tie Eri to his back, making sure that she couldn't make any direct contact with him, growling, "Over my dead body! I'd rather die than to give her back to you!"
He turned to Eri, who was clinging onto his back, whispering, "With a form like that... I can't beat him on my own. Eri... will you lend me your power?"
"Neither you nor Eri know the value of her power. Quirks progress markedly when you develop them. By conducting countless experiments, I extracted Eri's power, and succeeded in bringing it to its end point. As a result, it doesn't stop at simply winding back the flesh. It winds back on a much greater scale. It rewinds the course of the species to its unmutated form. That's the kind of power Eri possesses!" Chisaki yelled, creating stone tendrils that sped towards them, but Midoriya was just barely able to evade them, before lodging a knife into the tendril and climbing upwards.
He needed to beat Chisaki before they could even think about escaping. If he ran away, Chisaki could easily use the open space to locate his position. By getting in close, Chisaki's own gigantic form, the tendrils and debris would make it harder for the yakuza to hit him.
"The power to annihilate quirk factors, and turn humans back to normal! Enough power to destroy this world built upon quirks... to destroy the natural order! That's Eri's power! You don't know her value! A punk like you can't exploit an asset like her!" Chisaki snarled, trying to hit the small boy, but all he was doing was destroying the other stone tendrils as he tried to locate the boy with all the dust flying about. He deduced that the boy was trying to run away, and extended the reach of his stone tendrils, but still wasn't able to find the boy.
Midoriya threw another knife, lodging it into one of Chisaki's fleshy arms, and the yakuza looked down, shocked that the boy had managed to get close. Chisaki took a step forward, attempting to step on him, but Midoriya swiftly dodged it, before slashing his leg with a blade from his bracer.
"Why won't people look at the big picture!?" Chisaki growled, looking downwards as he desperately tried to find Midoriya, "What I'm going to tear down is this world! It's very framework! Your justice is so small; you only see what's in front you! It's mere sentimentalism! You hero pretenders! Stay out of my way!"
Chisaki activated his quirk on himself, transforming his numerous appendages into a large set of arms and legs, as he towered over Midoriya. He took a step forward, as Midoriya rolled out of the way, before he turned to Eri, "We've got one chance, Eri. Do you trust me?"
Eri nodded, still clinging onto his back, as Midoriya charged forwards. Chisaki aimed a punch at him, but Midoriya flipped out of the way, before undoing the cloth around his arms and lashing onto the gigantic hand. Chisaki lifted him up, before trying to use his other arm to try and swat Midoriya away, as the green haired boy pulled himself in, grabbing onto the humongous, fleshy arm with all his strength.
"Eri!" Midoriya yelled, gritting his teeth as he anchored himself onto Chisaki with a knife, "Do it!"
With a burst of energy, Eri's horn glowed, and she reached out, pressing her hand against Chisaki's arm, as a bright yellow glow burst through Chisaki's monstrous form, undoing the fusion between Katsukame and Chisaki just as one of Chisaki's claws tore Togata's cape to shreds. Uraraka jumped in, attempting to restrain Chisaki, but the man just growled, and swiped his hand at her, forcing Uraraka to evade; he practically didn't have any injuries, and Uraraka knew she didn't stand a chance against him. She opted to go after Katsukame first, before Chisaki could fuse them back together again, and caught him as Chisaki crashed into the ground headfirst.
"Uravity! What's the situation!" Tatsuma asked, as she climbed out of the hole, only to find that Sasaki was trying to stem the bleeding from his wound as he surveyed the situation. Asui and Amajiki crawled up her arm, as Togata walked out, carrying Aizawa on his back, and several police officers were helping Rock Lock.
"We already called for residents in the vicinity to evacuate!" Uraraka yelled, "But Hakryuen and Eri! Something's off!"
Midoriya growled, and reached out for Eri, who's horn was still glowing.
Stop! He'll die! Eri was close to tears as Midoriya attempted to grab her arm in midair, and Aizawa's finger twitched, causing Togata to turn to the Erasure hero.
"Froppy!" Togata yelled, as Asui looked up, before gently tilting Aizawa's head until he was looking directly at Eri, and Aizawa's eyes glowed red, erasing Eri's quirk.
Eri's horn stopped glowing, and Midoriya quickly grabbed her, pulling her in and using his own body to protect her as they fell to the ground. Midoriya flipped around, landing directly on his feet, bending his knees and using his legs to absorb the impact, before he fell to the side, panting.
Midoriya coughed up some blood as he tried to push himself up, cradelling a barely conscious Eri gently, and Sasaki gazed at them, "I... I saw it... Chisaki succeeded in his escape... with Eri... and Midoriya dies... That's... the immutable future I saw... I even tried to change it... but the outcome was the same... I did not see... this future..."
Does that mean... that it can be changed?
Togata quickly rushed forwards, having left Aizawa to Asui, and helped Midoriya up, pressing his hand against Eri's flushed face, "She's feverish. Come on, let's go."
Midoriya gave the older boy a small nod, as Togata supported Midoriya as they slowly walked back to the other heroes.
Suddenly, a chill ran down his spine, and Midoriya tensed up, much to Togata's confusion, as they heard the sound of rubble moving behind him. The ground started rumbling, and before the blonde could react, Midoriya hastily shoved Togata out of the way as he whirled around, shifting his body as a gigantic stone spike erupted out of the ground, impaling Midoriya all the way through.
Midoriya coughed out a mouthful of blood, as Togata stared at the younger boy in shock; if Midoriya hadn't reacted in time, Chisaki would have run both him and Eri through. Instead, he just opted to take the brunt of the fatal attack. Chisaki pushed himself up, healing all his wounds with his quirk, cackling, "People these days are so fixtated on quirks and their stupid sense of heroism and villany! It's all a disease! I'm trying to cure humanity! You're quirkless; you should understand fully well what I'm talking about! But now you're reduced to this!"
Tears rolled down Eri's face as she glanced to the side, noticing the stone spike that was inches from her arm. Midoriya gently reached up, and patted her back, "Don't worry. It doesn't even hurt."
"How can... it not hurt..." Eri cried, as Midoriya passed her to Togata. It really didn't hurt, he could barely feel his own body, and everything was foggy and blurred, but only one thing was clear; Chisaki. Midoriya took out a knife, and lodged it into the spike, breaking through it, before he tried to pull the spike out of his abdomen.
"Stop, you'll just kill youself." Togata tried to stop the boy, but Midoriya just yanked the spike out and threw it to the side, ignoring the blood that was pouring out of his wound like a leaky faucet.
"Chisaki would stop at nothing to get Eri back. Right now, you're the only one strong enough to protect her. Just go. And don't turn back." Midoriya muttered, taking out a knife, before he leapt at Chisaki.
"No!" Eri yelled, reaching out, before she coughed, her small body shaking, and Togata wrapped his arms around the girl. Midoriya was risking everything for Eri. The least he could do was to ensure that Eri got out safe and sound.
