"Another school was attacked yesterday." Eraserhead stated, a look of frustration on his face. Those in the class that were surprised to hear this remained silent, deciding to not poke or prod him in this moment. "Reports are saying that it's the same pair of villains. The flame user from the Summer Camp attack and some partner who just stayed behind and watched the whole damn thing." he said.
He closed his eyes. If the meeting yesterday wasn't enough, he had to deal with other things, including a visit to Ms. Joke in the hospital. He might not be as infatuated with her as she was with him, but there was a mutual care and respect between the two. To see her in a bed with her eyes glazed over, obviously in pain and concussed wasn't pleasant.
"There were no Pros hurt, but a large number of students suffered some form of burn or injury. There were even… a few casualties." he explained, seeing the looks of worry and fear across his students. This villain was smart, either that or under the orders of someone even more intelligent. If they sought conquest or the extinction of Heroes, what better way than by wiping out and striking fear into the hearts of the next generation? It was a tactic he hadn't considered, and one of his personal friends suffered for it.
"So, Principal Nezu has made an executive decision after speaking with the proper authorities and the proper channels. Effective tomorrow, UA's students are going to be grouped off and sent with a faculty member to a different school to act as a vanguard." he explained, the idea confusing a few of them.
"Wouldn't that leave UA and our dorms completely unprotected?" Sero asked, and Eraserhead glanced to him, shaking his head. "If the target is the students, than getting you all out of here will divert their attention, confuse them for a minute or make them rethink. If they have an individual target, we want to make sure that they're in an environment that'll provide them adequate backup." he explained.
"But what about that mystery Villain, the one who attacked Ms. Joke?" Mineta asked, more concerned with his motives for attacking a woman than his own safety. Eraserhead looked to him, deciding to ignore his bad motivation and continue on. "The other villain has yet to be identified, but he seems to be still wearing a UA uniform. He has rainbow eyes, and it's also been reported that he has purple hair. Long, thick and well kempt. There's a slight wave or curl to his hair as well, so keep an eye out for him." he mused.
"What's our next target?" Dabi asked, looking to Shigaraki as the group sat in another bar that Kurogiri had procured somehow. The blue haired villain looked to him, a narrowed look in his crimson orbs. "What's it to you?" he asked, his raspy voice reeking of evil to Eros. The Ritter frowned, deciding that he needed to speed things along, his disdain for the people he was around getting to him. "Forget whatever little school you want me to ransack, where's the X-Force?" he asked, Dabi looking to him with a quizzical look on his face.
Shigaraki glared at him, as if upset that he belittled his plans. "Why don't you stay in your place and worry about what I tell you to do next?" he asked, and Eros simply gazed to him with his rainbow orbs. He wasn't afraid of Shigaraki at all. Yes, Shigaraki could kill him and everyone he loved, but Eros had Faith in the Lord, and his Faith was not something that could be stamped out by an overgrown child.
"My place is whatever I want it to be. I am still one of the Ritter Der Gotter, Mr. Shigaraki. The X-Force are my enemies, and I will see them eliminated no matter what." he said, Shigaraki's balled fist almost grinding against the counter. Eros looked straight ahead. He wasn't amused right now, and he could tell that his current level of power was enough to hopefully get him out of here.
"And if you take one more step towards me, you Asmodean cur, I will personally send you on a one way trip to Hell." he said, turning his back to Shigaraki to face a man with large lips and a large magnet in his grip. He wasn't afraid of someone like this in the slightest, and his desire to strike down the Demons holding his beautiful homeland in their clutches was beginning to eat at him.
"Relax there, Newbie." he said, and Eros frowned. He shoved past the man, deciding that he had better things to do than listen to a clutch of demons list off their plans and desires for wanton violence and carnage. He sat back and watched his partner turn that school into a bonfire, the scent of burning flesh reaching his nostrils right after the screams reached his ears.
He'd gotten his freedom. After all this time, he'd finally been freed, so why was he subjecting himself to this? He was sure that if he just simply sought out his brothers, he'd be accepted back into the fold and he could start from square one. But, that didn't sound right to him. The Lord was telling him that this was the right course of action, that he should subject himself to this evil for the sake of an even greater good. That he should become part of the destruction so that he could beget the creation he longed for in the Darkness.
After their classes, which were cut short due to everyone's worries overriding their ability to listen to menial academics, the students of 1A found themselves worrying about what would happen next. "Man, what if that guy that's been burning schools down comes after us? I don't have the training to fight long ranged Quirks." Kirishima noted, and Kaminari glanced to Kyoka before he nodded. "They said that they were going to split us up. I wonder how that's going to work out."
"Well, we'll find out sooner or later. Most likely tomorrow, so I think it'd be best if we all got some kind of rest or did some last minute training. They have those training grounds and such open for free usage all day and even extended curfew for training reasons." Ojiro noted, and they all found this rather worrying. They were only first year students. To hear that they'd be turned into a vanguard that was extra protection for other schools was unusual. Wasn't there some kind of child labor law that prevented this?
This weighed heavily on Izuku Midoriya, who found himself wandering about mumbling to himself. He'd managed to get back to his room and change his clothes, sure, but he ended up simply walking the streets mumbling and theorizing about the 'assignment' they were given. He thought about what kind of combinations he could do with different sets of classmates or Pro Heroes. About how he did team up with Todoroki and Iida to defeat the Hero Killer.
He was also able to defeat that muscle villain, and disarm that weird reptilian villain as well. He even remembered everything that happened with All For One, and their attempts to rescue Bakugo. He had a large number of his classmates that he had good chemistry with. It made sense after all, they did spend a lot of time together and live in the same dorm. But what if he was paired up with 1-B students, or if he was paired up with someone like Koji, who he didn't have the most chemistry with?
"You alright there?" he heard, blinking and breaking out of his trance to see Raphael standing on a street corner, as if waiting for someone. There were a few good restaurants in the vicinity, and an arcade or two. Was he here to go on a date, or to meet up with an informant or something? Izuku could never decipher what their foreign guests were up to, or what they thought. What if he was paired up with them? How would that work?
He shook his head, trying to break free of his thoughts and worries to hold a conversation. "Yeah. Did they tell you about all of us being split up?" he asked, wondering if they were exempt due to their circumstances. He nodded, shrugging it off. "Yeah. It doesn't bother me. I like you guys enough to trust you with my back." he said, and Izuku smiled, nodding positively. He was surprised, because Raphael hadn't interacted with him much personally.
"So, do you always go wandering the streets talking to yourself?" he asked, and Izuku blinked, chuckling nervously as he shook his head. "N-no, I was just really worried about this assignment." he said, and Raphael shrugged. "It could be a pain. Those Villains from Germany might be working with your Villains. If so, it'll be a pain." he mused, more to himself. Izuku was worried about that as well, as he had no idea if that story they were told was even true. That was a while back, even before Eros had disappeared.
"Wh-what are you doing out here? Most of us are training or something for tomorrow." he inquired, genuinely curious as to what had him waiting for someone on the corner. Raphael shrugged. "I was hungry. I do enough training. Besides, for people like us, too much training and combat can be quite a pain, right?" he asked, and Izuku felt a slight chill go down his spine. "What do you mean people like us?" he asked, and Raphael blinked.
He seemed to stare with his grayish eyes for a moment before he blinked, a visible sign that realization had dawned on him. "Ooooh, you not being born with that Quirk is a secret, isn't it?" he asked, and Izuku could feel his heart sink in his chest, his mind moving at both a million miles per hour and not at all. How had he figured out? "How… how do you know that?" he asked, and Raphael tilted his head a little. He glanced in a different direction, seeing something that made his eyes light up ever so slightly.
"I can tell, Izuku. I wasn't born with my Quirk either." he said, and the green haired student blinked. He wasn't? Was that why it was so similar to the Quirks of his brothers in arms? Had they all received their Quirk from another source, or was Raphael unique?
"Where'd you get yours from, if you don't mind me asking?" he mused, realizing that this was his chance to finally speak to another person who inherited or was gifted a Quirk instead of it being something they received genetically. Raphael seemed to mull it over for a second before speaking.
"You see, my brothers all have a common ancestor. Despite the fact that we're all from different parts of Germany, and our Quirks have different elemental or sub elemental affinities, the base Quirk, which is known as 'Sternritter', or 'Star Knight', originates from a family of missionaries. Till, Jebediah and Captain Ezekiel can all trace their lineage back to a singular point that I'd rather not speak of." he mused, obviously not wanting to divulge to much on his brothers.
"I, however, did not share this lineage. I did not have a singular point, or even a family I could trace my powers to. Instead, I got my Quirk from Eros." he said, and Izuku blinked. What exactly did that mean? Why was it that the arsenal of abilities Eros had seemed to increase and expand the more and more he heard about him? It was as if his Quirk was some kind of endless wellspring of whatever power he could want or need.
"I don't get it really, but because I looked up to him, and my heart was focused on him in one instance, he was able to give me a fraction of his power. 'Seraphim' is merely… my heart's way of making Eros' power my own. Much like your Full Cowling is something that's unique to you, not All Might." he explained, and Izuku realized that what he said made perfect sense.
If Eros had some kind of power like All For One, than Raphael's story made perfect sense. Although, that also worried him because of Eros' current allegiance. What if he fragmented that power off to one of the Villains? That was a harrowing thought.
"What is this fucking nerd doing here!?" he heard, breaking out of his worried thoughts to see Bakugo crossing the street, Raphael laughing at the remark. "Relax, Katsuki. I found him wandering around talking to himself and wanted to see if he was okay before he walked into traffic." he said, and Izuku blinked. No one ever called him by his first name. The only person who didn't call him 'Bakugo' was Izuku himself, and that's because they're childhood friends.
Bakugo grit his teeth, grumbling to himself as he continued walking. "Whatever. Should've let him. Maybe it'd teach him to stop being such a damn nerd." he growled out, Raphael rolling his eyes with a sigh, bidding farewell to Izuku before heading off with Bakugo. The two were an odd pair of friends, and it left Izuku arguably even more confused that a foreign missionary was able to befriend the violent Hero in training.