The weather around Shiketsu High was incredibly plain, a slight breeze and an otherwise warm sun, a few clouds dotting the skies here and there. Not enough to lay back and stare at them until they took funny shapes, but enough to block the sun and send a slight chill through the area. It was nice weather, perfect for new mothers to put their baby in a stroller and go for a nice walk.
With Gang Orca taking Till to deal with the official business, the other three UA students were left to their own devices, told to go no further than a mile away, not giving them much room. It wasn't the most freedom, but it was enough for them to stretch their legs and get the cramps of a long, overnight train ride out of their system.
This was far easier for Izuku Midoriya, who was far more physically fit than his teammates. He remained vigilant, as he was worried about being attack by some nefarious villain or another. Everyone was on edge for the most part, even the choice students he'd seen were all incredibly tense, the negativity thick enough to cut with a butter knife. It left an uncomfortable feeling hanging over the area, and the three of them soon found themselves off school ground, but not that far.
"Geez, I thought you 1-A bastards were hard to be around." Monoma quipped, actually eliciting a chuckle from the two of them. "Should we get something to eat?" Jiro asked, and Midoriya was more than willing to nod. "I forgot to eat before we got on the train, so I'm starving." he said, the three of them falling in line as they wanted the streets surrounding the school, looking for a decent place to eat.
The first thing that threw them off was their budget. Sadly enough, the only one with any money was Monoma, who carried his wallet for the express purpose of sneaking off and leaving the work to the 1-A students. He begrudgingly agreed to front the bill in return for reimbursement at a later date, something he wasn't against.
The second was how busy everything was. Even the most lowly street side noodle cart was filled to the brim, the trio worried that they'd be wandering too far and be scolded by Orca. When Midoriya's phone rang, they immediately assumed that was the case, and that the Orcinus user was not happy.
"Hello?"
"Hey Deku!"
The freckled boy breathed a huge sigh of relief, a slight smile tugging at his lips. He was glad that it wasn't Orca or anyone else that might want to yell at him at the moment. "Hey Ochako."
Jiro felt the edges of her lips twitch at those small words. It was as if she was upset about something, but what could it be? It was just a classmate talking to another classmate. Could it be the slight smile tugging at his lips as they talked. She tuned it out, trying not to focus on the chuckles and approving nods coming from Midoriya. She looked to Monoma, who could almost tell exactly what was bothering her.
"Lunch is on me, try not to look like one of those depressing classmates of yours." he said, flashing a smile her way. She smiled back, thanking him with a nod as the trio continued to move, Midoriya remaining on the phone with Uraraka as they talked idly.
"How's it going on your end?" she asked, and he hummed. He hadn't arrived too long ago, and most of the time he'd spent in this area was just unloading his luggage and following Gang Orca to the school.
"Nothing has happened. We're just getting lunch while Mr. Orca and Till do the official stuff." he said with an airy chuckle. Uraraka giggled, and went to say something, but the line went dead abruptly. The green haired boy looked to his phone. What was that? Did she hang up, or did someone take the phone from her? He shrugged it off, assuming it was midnight trying to scold her for something or another.
He couldn't be more wrong.
"This shit fucking sucks." Yo Shindo said, gritting his teeth as he struggled to his feet. He glanced about, seeing the busted walls and damaged ground about him. Ketsubutsu wasn't the best place to be recently, it seemed. First the attack on the build and Ms. Joke, and then within a week there's another attack by some other villain.
He was grateful for the aid of the small group of UA students, but even in a horde they weren't much of a match for their opponents. He couldn't identify them himself, but thankfully Ms. Midnight was able to identify people with the intel she had from UA. The man in casual garb with a huge magnet in his hands was called 'Magne', and the odd man with him in a full body suit was called 'Twice'.
However, the other two villains that were with them were the problem. One of them was a well built man, stocky and covered in hair and muscles. His Quirk enhanced his physical abilities and made him some kind of animalistic man, almost like a caveman or something. And his partner was similar in a sense. He also had a Quirk that enhanced his physical attributes, but he sported a pair of huge, metallic wings that proved to be quite the pain to deal with.
He was rather pressed at the moment, as most of his classmates were down, and even the UA students had suffered losses. The three girls along with the teacher were all down, and that left just him and Todoroki. To make matters even worse, the two of them had incompatible Quirks. If he were to use his 'Vibrate' to shake the ground and disorient or damage the beast man, Todoroki would be knocked off balance and unable to strike the airborne Villain. It really did suck.
"We got to escape once everyone's carried off." he said, and Todoroki glanced to him, a nod despite his frown. The focused on the Villains, who remained incredibly stalwart despite their vast power and number advantages. What was keeping them from attacking and finishing them off? An internal debate, or were they under orders to not kill certain people? All of this thinking and paranoid fear was beginning to get to Yo, who clenched his fists and inhaled.
"Nice try, whelp." he heard from the left, whipping his head around to see nothing before something hard and heavy struck him in the back of the neck. His vision went black and then white, his balance thrown off as he collapsed to the ground. He struggled to remain conscious, to crawl back to a kneeling position so he could fire off at least a single attack.
Todoroki cursed his luck, being left alone against four villains, his only advantage being his range. However, he'd seen that during the fight that the angel winged villain could fire needle like projectiles from his wings, which were likely made of a material that wouldn't melt in his flames and might be able to damage his ice if not shatter it. He was in quite a tight spot, and all he had to go on was his own training and experience.
The confrontation barely lasted five minutes. While Todoroki get get a few good shots in, singing the arm of Twice and keeping the rest of them at bay, he was completely spent, and barely able to maintain his standing position. He had to hold out a little longer. He was praying that he had reinforcements on the way, someone to collect him and Yo and either take down or send off the Villains.
The battle was taking it's toll on his body as well. Between the few strikes he had taken over the course of the Villains' attack and the fire and ice constantly shifting the temperature of his body, he felt lethargic and wobbly. "Come on you damn beach ball, give it up!" the beast man shouted, receiving raucous laughter from Twice in response. Todoroki grit his teeth. This really did suck. Yo was crude and not very strong in comparison to him, but he wasn't wrong about how much this shit fucking sucked.
"Looks like poor little Shoto Todoroki is up shit's creek, isn't he?" he heard, the blood in his veins running cold when he turned and saw the figure that kidnapped Bakugo all those moons ago approaching. He was wearing similar clothing, his sickening gaze still just as icy as ever. However, what caught Todoroki's attention was that he wasn't alone. There was a single person with him, a single person on their hitlist.
"What are you doing here?" the beast man asked, his gaze going beyond Dabi and Todoroki all the way to Eros, who was smiling as he adjusted the ropes that he had tied around his hands and forearms. He was wearing similar ropes around his biceps as well, and his feet, ankles and calves were all bandaged as well. He wore coat with no sleeves, and a pair of boxing shorts, plain and white unlike the coat, which was a dark brown color, almost black.
"I wanted to see what all the noise is about. Is there a problem with that, John?" he asked, the beast man turning to Eros and frowning, Magne and Twice seeming a little on edge.
"The name's 'Rakshasa', terrorist."
Eros chuckled, taking slow, taunting steps as he looked to the sky. "I see that you brought Michael with you as well. Or is he going by 'Azrael' again?" he asked, his slow steps agitating the X-Force member, who grit his elongated teeth. "Are you gonna get out of our way, or do I have to move you?" he asked, and Eros hummed, standing next to Todoroki, who had yet to move.
"Listen carefully so you can report this to your superiors, Shoto." he said, the hybrid Quirk user narrowing his eyes as he listened. He didn't have much of a choice after all, he could barely move.
"The man on the ground with the elongated teeth and excessive hair is Johnathan Kregan. His alias is 'Rakshasa', and his Quirk is 'Primal Fury', a power enhancer that makes him become more and more animalistic the more victories he claims consecutively." he explained, and Dabi sighed as he headed over to his partner. He was stupid as stupid could be, but the two of them still had a plan.
"The one is the air is Michael Van Der Flug. His alias is 'Azrael', and his Quirk that gives him metallic wings and the ability to fly and shoot metallic feathers is called 'Mekk-Angel'." he explained, and the UA student wondered why he was telling him all of this.
"Twice, Magne, get the hell out off here." Dabi said, the League of Villains members hesitating. "Whatchya gonna do, Dabi? You aren't gonna do anything stupid, are ya?" Magne asked, and Dabi frowned.
"I'm gonna burn you both to a damn crisp if you don't get the fuck out of my way." he said, and the two of them hesitated. Eros inhaled, rolling his shoulders before inhaling deeply. "The X-Force are foreign sinners, the responsibility of the Heroes of Germany to deal with. You League of Villains members are not worth my time. Either leave know or face the same divine wrath that they will." he said, and Todoroki grit his teeth.
"Why are you helping us!? Aren't you all Villains!?" he shouted, and Dabi cast a cerulean glance back to him. "If anyone is going to kill you, Shoto, it's going to be me."
With those words sending a chill down his spine, the two rogue villains sprung into action. Eros vaulted forward at an insane speed, clashing fists with Rakshasa at the same time that Azrael avoided Dabi's flames.
"You're making a mistake, terrorist!" Rakshasa called, throwing a right hook that Eros weaved beneath. He came up, throwing a right bodyblow that found purchase. Rakshasa recoiled, seeing Eros move his left arm to throw an elbow strike.
With his focus on the elbow, Eros was able to strike with a second left bodyblow, knocking the beast man back far enough to regain his stance. "You were always the fucking weirdest brat." Rakshasa stated. He never liked Eros to begin with, the X-Force and the Ritter having no love lost between them. It was a mutual hatred, and the man baring Primal Fury had especially disliked Eros.
A wild right haymaker was blocked by Eros' left forearm, but the force was incredible. Eros was flung to the side, crashing into the ground and rebounding. He knew that his opponent would be on him, and he responded by throwing a leaping right knee. Rakshasa had a number of victories under his belt to bolster his power and speed, and he was able to stop short and sway back, avoiding the strike with ease.
He caught Eros by the throat and spun, slamming him into the hard ground before releasing his hold to kick him in the side, sending his body bouncing away.
Eros rose to his feet panting, a rough cough sending blood splattering on the ground in front of him. Eros cursed, realizing exactly how much weaker he was at the moment. He was fighting on sheer physical ability against someone with a physical Quirk. He was able to outmatch Rakshasa in single combat at full power, but heavily weakened like this, he'd have to rely on his previous knowledge of his opponent along with his intellect.
"You think you can beat me with that damn spike in your head!?" he shouted, and Eros shook his head, realizing that he needed to focus. If he spent the whole fight in thought, he wasn't going to be able to win.
He offered Dabi a glance, realizing that Dabi had the upperhand in his fight, something that he was currently jealous of. He didn't have a second to shift focus, because a right cross caught him in the jaw, the sound of fractures ringing through his ear as his body was flung back, crashing into a nearby wall of a destroyed classroom, rubble covering his body and dazing him further as he felt the pain in his body magnify.
And yet, he wasn't deterred. Infact, this pain he felt, this splitting, mind numbing throb in his jaw, and the prickly sores across his body from the rubble all felt…. Weird. They felt pleasant somehow, as if he was enjoying the fight far too much to feel pain. Was that it?
He sighed mentally as he began pushing himself through the rubble slowly but surely. That wasn't it. He wasn't too happy to feel the pain. He did feel it. He knew that his jaw would be nagging at him for ages and that the rest of his body would be covered in any number of scrapes, scratches and bruises from the fight. However, the pain was enjoyable to him. He liked getting hit, and being flung around, and being damaged.
Five years in total darkness, and one of the only sensations he could feel on a regular basis was pain. He began to latch onto it, savor it, use it. It reminded him that he was still alive, and the Lord was still willing to forgive him one day. The Lord had forgiven him, so why was he allowing the Lord's forgiveness to go to waste? It didn't make any sense to him at all. The Lord gave him his life back and he was wasting it losing to a mere meathead from the X-Force. How could he defeat the Prime Minister or aid in the defeat of Tomura Shigaraki if he couldn't get passed one man that called himself a demon?
Free of the rubble and glancing to the sun, Eros finally understood. His powers were complex, and multi layered, and his intelligence allowed him to use this Quirk and expand on it, make it seem like a great number of Quirks all put together. They all the same basis, because they were all the same Quirk. His Quirk allowed him to serve the Great Lord God Almighty On High. He viewed himself as an avatar of the Lord, and the Lord's greatest blessing, the symbol of his involvement, was 'light'.
The sun beat down on him, and he inhaled as he began to feel the heat coating his being. He looked to his hands and inhaled, seeing sparks cackling about the ropes as he looked towards Rakshasa, who was moving for Dabi now that Azrael was grounded. Eros crouched down, preparing to vault himself forward as fast as he could, using one of the first techniques he learned from Captain Ezekiel.
"Highway Star."
Rakshasa was blinded, literally and figuratively. A bright, shimmering light blitzed passed him, obscuring his vision and taking him by surprise. He felt pain in his abdomen, followed by a splitting pain in his temple. He had no idea what was happening, and by time his vision cleared, all he could see was Eros' knee.
A left knee struck in the jaw, lifting his body up so that a right hook could strike him in the opposite temple, staggering him for a right knee to hit him in the chest, taking him off of his feet.
A left bodyblow quickly followed, keeping him airborne so a right roundhouse could strike him in the jaw, sending him spiraling and crashing to the ground. He rebounded on pure instinct, reaching his feet and shooting forward to attack whatever was in front of him. He had to strike, his instincts told him to. He needed to feel something on the receiving end of his punches and kicks, his haymakers and the swipes of his elongated nails. He needed to know that he was inflicting pain so he could feel safe..
However, all he felt was another massive pain to his abdomen, his right kidney suffering huge damage from a kick. He spat blood, a flurry of punches and elbows striking him in the nose, in the temple, in the jaw, his body staggering back for two, maybe three steps before a pair of leaping knees sent him vaulting into the sky.
"Rampart Division."
Eros vaulted, twisting and moving his body to increase the torque and velocity of his attack, striking his foe in the chest with a left knee, driving him to the ground, dirt, grass and dust being flown about as the earth cracked and shattered beneath the force of the strike, blood erupting from his maw and coating Eros' knee and thigh as he rose to his feet, a single glance to Dabi telling him that both members of the X-Force were defeated.
"Now what? Do you wanna burn him?" Dabi asked, and Eros looked down to the defeated man, whose body had reverted to it's initial state of a lanky man with less than a fraction of the muscle that he had when fighting. He was truly pitiable, and it was only due to his bad decisions that he ended up here. Eros shook his head, closing his eyes and clasping his hands together.
"The Great Lord God is all powerful and all forgiving. I, Eros Koningsliebe, the King of Hearts, ask that this misguided man be granted entrance to Heaven. Along with him, his fallen brother, the angel called Azrael." he said aloud, praying as he cast another glance to the body.
He didn't like this. It wasn't that he hated killing, or that he hated seeing a corpse, it was that he didn't. The sight of his vanquished foe, crushed beneath two of his most basic techniques due to Eros' own superior combat experience, made him feel nothing. Not even the pain was nagging at him at the moment. He just stared. This made him frown even more. Was he really losing it? Was he truly, truly becoming an honest Villain?