I did art for this chapter on tumblr!

yurei-no-eiyu .tumblr .com

For those reading this who read previous chapter before 7/28/2020, I made a mistake. Instead of the document for ch32 I used this (doc 33) on the previous chapter. It is now updated and corrected.

Katsuki stilled, limbs locked by some invisible force as he stared at the shadows that now hung over the dusty plaza. Although his vision was inhibited, the clouds of rubble and whipping shadows couldn't mask the stench of ruch iron filling the air, a familiar scent that slicked his hands red and slippery, dripping off in crimson water. A body lying still, the flash of an ambulance siren, limp limbs carted away with just rusty red on the ground as a reminder of the life that was lost.

A rusty copper that hung in the air as it slithered down Deku's limbs, leaving scarlet tracks behind. Katsuki's heart thudded heavily, sickly, as he stared horror struck at the blood that refused to dissipate as it always had before. A disintegrating gakuran whipped in the invisible wind, beating erratically, matching the stuttering of Katsuki's breath. He knew this form, this Deku who had died in his arms, even if it was just the silhouette of his back and the heavy stench of iron.

"What the hell…" Shitty Hair whispered from his side, unable to break the sacred silence that had fallen.

Katsuki wanted to shove him aside, cover his eyes, and preserve the image Izuku needed for himself, but he was slipping, hands stained with blood that wouldn't scrub off, that would never be gone, trapped in the scene of a small body cracking against unforgiving cement.

No no no no nonono... The stench of blood filled his lungs and his rapidly beating heart as air became short, hands digging into tufts of hair.

A headache built, tensing with pressure as oxygen failed to reach his blood, black crawling at the edges of his vision.

"Whoah, bro, are you okay?"

No I'm fucking not , dumbass , Katsuki would have said, but hte surroundings were gone and he was lost to his mind and the worst words he had said in his life.

Take a leap of faith.

Tomura squinted at the figure through the dust. Why the hell was the little brat still standing. "Noumu…" he growled, anger rising and furious itching burning across his skin. "I told you to kill them, so KILL THEM!"

The mindless hulking monster that Sensei had promised him would obey every word did not move. Instead it glanced at him, a trembling shriek echoing out of its disgusting beak. " Do it. " Tomura repeated, putting as much force into his command as he could. The mess of quirks and bioengineering, the things designed to crush All Might, to feel no pain and have no fear, took a single step forward before faltering, balking backwards with a warbling caw.

He could fear Kurogiri's confusion at his side, and Tomura gaped at the monster that seemed afraid of the little Hero-kun. He whipped his attention back to the cloud of dust, squinting at the boy that stood within it.

" Ne… " drawled the small form once again, something so incredibly wrong about the soft voice. The sand caught in Tomura's eyes and burned them.

The dust settled, and against his will, Tomura stumbled a step back at some sort of fear that he couldn't quite understand. The boy seemed smaller, thin, bony wrists poking out of the decaying sleeves of a ripped up gakuran. Blood dripped down his arms and off his chin, staining thin mangled limbs and glistening gristely in the light of the black flames that flickered off the boy. His neck lolled slightly, thin and bleeding, wrapped in bandages that whipped about in a phantom wind that rose suddenly, full of the whistling and howling of voices Tomura couldn't understand. A gust blew past pulling up the side of his gakuran, revealing a torso malformed and bashed in, a deeply bruised arm hanging uselessly, twisted grotesquely as if by some severe impact.

Blood dribbled out from grinning teeth as grin eyes glinted at him. "Did you think I would let you hurt anybody else?"

Tomura couldn't stop the hysterical fear that rose up in him as he tripped backward, falling over. "N-NOUMU!" He shrieked, hand trembling against his will, itching nearly unbearable. He was going to die, he could feel it. "Kill him!"

The noumu started forward hesitantly, gruesome cry ringing out. The boy didn't budge, no fear flickering over his expression as the gentle laughter danced through the shade. Still laughing, he reached out a hand, flicking it slightly.

A rush of howling wind, and the noumu's arms go flying, blood gushing forth and staining the ground black like tar. His fingers clench in, and the gravity triples, digging the noumu into the earth as it fractures, raising in a field of anti-gravity that exists only in the void. He steps forward, just one step, and the ground crackles, rumbling in pained groaned as the air glistens, ice fragments materializing in the aching cold and blending in with the shards of crystal glass that rain down.

The whistling wind picked up, buffeting Tomura back down as he tried to stand. The cold chilled him, breath coming out frosty and lungs icing over, breaths coming in cold like sheets of slate. Tomura's bones felt brittle, and diamond ice spread over the noumu's exposed muscles, which creaked to a halt as the regeneration is halted. The boy flickered. A glitch, he was a fucking glitch! The system was broken! He just had to destroy it and then-

The boy glanced down at his twisted arm, and Tomura howled as he felt his arm fracture, cracking as it bent unnatural, twisting and leaving fragments of bones disintegrating in his arms.

"I think that you're too late for that." The boy giggled early, shadows growing darker. The grin that looked painful stretched only further. "Besides, Death doesn't like me enough to keep me."

The boy tilted his head, listening to the wind, the howls of agony. "It liked Mon though. And Hannah-chan, didn't it?" The boy's eyes welled with glowing tears, disturbing grin still stretched wide, as Tomura's hairs raised. Panic bubbling beneath shaky hands that dug into the earth but didn't disintegrate anything for once. "She was so young…" he murmured, grin relaxing just slightly. The boy's eyes raised to Tomura, growing more viscous, crazed and glinting like the exposed bone poking through his kneecap. "But she's not the only person you killed, was she, Tenko-kun ?" He stepped closer, and Shigaraki stumbled to his feet, intent on running, head fuzzy, frosted over in fractals of irrational fear.

But the boy was in front of him, and he found himself face to face with the bloodcurdling smile as he tried to jerk backward but found his limbs restrained in echoes of dark lightning. The boy leaned in close, whispering conspiratively. "And you know what… they're angry , Tenko-kun. Very angry… and I think they'd love to tear you apart. " The grin grew further deranged as blood dripped down and sizzled against Tomura's skin, disappearing. Frost crackled and spread from where the shadowed lightning flickered over Tomura. He shivered " Can't you hear them? "

Tomura trembled as he was dropped to the ground. The gale rushed around them, buffeting their clothes and sweeping up shadow and dust, Tomura clenched his hands to his ears, digging into his skin until it bled.

" CAN'T YOU HEAR US?" screamed the wind, as the boy swept his arm toward their surroundings, grinning hysterically.

" They're all in so much pain! And it's all your fault! And you wanted to do this to the people I cared about? " The boy faced him, frenzy gone. "Not a chance." He whispered.

And just like that, the frightening boy and the umbral tempest of tormented screams vanished, revealing All Might standing at the entrance to the USJ. It was a dazzling gold sunlight that he brought with him, and Tomura was almost glad to see it. Almost.

He pushed himself up shakily, glancing around suspiciously for the terrifying boy who Tomura would not be able to call Hero-kun ever again. For now, he still had a goal, and he couldn't let whatever illusory quirk the brat had stop him.

That's right. Just an illusory quirk. Nothing else.

He ignored the trembling fingers and the frosted blood that lingered across his neck and the faint whispers of a young girl's " Tenko..." that lingered at his nape with a frosty breath.

Izuku blinked, looking around him. He could tell he was in his ghostly form, but how had that happened?

A second, a flash of pain and the aching of limbs smashed on impact.

Oh. He'd always wondered what being a poltergeist would be like.

He had vague memories of a fierce sadness and violent agner, names and words of mourning screaming at him from a mass of spirits, but the fine details were faded. He remembered an urge to kill. A name, Tenko Shi- No. Izuku wouldn't think about that for now.

Peering down at his hand, Izuku saw dried blood lining the cracks in his skin that flickered and floated off like wisps of ash. He felt weak, but the headache was gone despite what he knew must have been a massive output of his quirk-was the pressure in his head from stress then, rather than quirk fatigue?

His face ached, muscles used to smile over extended, jaw stiff from a tight clench, lingering pain racing around in his veins, the anger and hurt and pain pain pain of disintegrating and crumbling and dying under a pale hand and a brother who-Izuku shook himself, glancing around. Flickers of souls remained around him, and he could tell they were projecting emotions onto him. It was dangerous.

All Might had engaged in battle with the noumu, Izuku noted, surveying the scene as things still seemed to move in slow motion. A flash of red and blond caught his eye and his breath caught as he spotted Kirishima crouched by Kacchan's side-Kacchan who was blank eyed and still. He was there in a flash, dropping his incorporeality and kneeling next to Katsuki, ignoring Kirishima's "Holy shit!" as he fell over at Izuku's appearance.

"Kacchan," Izuku murmured, knowing what he had seen, knowing how much it must have hurt. "I'm okay Kacchan, remember? I'm back."

"D..eku?" He asked, hoarsely, a tiny spark of bright crimson lighting his dull eyes. "You were-"

"I know Kacchan, but I'm okay now, I promise." Izuku ignored that he could still feel blood seeping down his temple, parting his hair so that the cracked skin was hidden.

"Fuck." Katsuki finally breathed, a whoosh of air escaping as he pushed himself angrily out of his hunched pose, eyes fully cognizant. "That fucking." He tch'd, eyes darting away from Izuku, acting like he was recovered, but Izuku heard the shake in his voice, saw the way his fingers twitched, the way he rubbed unconsciously at already raw hands. Izuku chose to ignore it, and he didn't think anyone else would notice.

"Bro..." Kirishima's voice startled Izuku, who may or may not have forgotten he was there. "What the hell was that Midoriya?"

"I second that." Izuku's attention snapped over to Todoroki who had picked his way down the rubble to join them. "I was under the impression you had a physics quirk."

"Ahhahaha…" Izuku laughed awkwardly, wincing at the twinge of pain in his jaw. "I have no clue?" he asked, and recieved a cold glare from Todoroki-who had frost crawling up his side.

"I don't believe you. I felt that cold and there's no way-" Todoroki had taken a step forward, and Kirishima stood in front of Izuku.

"Come on, now isn't the time." He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, glancing back at Izuku. "I would like an explanation too though…"

"Um-"

"Later." Katsuki interrupted. "We'll deal with this later. Right now, I've got some villains to kill."

"That's still not very manly you know…"

They were interrupted by a whirling portal opening under All Might, and suddenly all three of them rushed off, leading Izuku standing awkwardly against the mental fatigue that deadened his form.

Sighing-because it would be nice if the villains could just recognize a lost cause-Izuku begins his sprint over to the main fight.

"FUCK!" Shigaraki screams, as All Might breaks free of the noumu's hold, not even injured. "Noum-" he starts to order, directing it towards towards where Katsuki is holding Kurogiri down with a feral grin, but All Might is faster and swoops Kacchan up, depositing him right next to Izuku.

All Might is about to go back into the fight when he catches a better sight of Izuku and pauses. "Young Midoriya… are you alright?"

Izuku knows he's probably soaked in blood, but now's not really the time… "It's not mine."

All Might doesn't look like he believes him, which is understandable. "Young Midoriya-" A lightning flash of forewarning, enough to buckle his weakened knees, and Izuku lunges forward, hand slamming down with spiked telekinetic force, slamming the noumu down for who-knows-how-many-ith time, fingers pressing down on leather, cold flesh.

At contact, the creature howls, pure panic and fear ringing through the USJ, instilling a familiar sort of discomfort. The monster thrashes against the telekinesis, distortion and cracking its own newly reformed bones as it struggles to get away from him. He blinks at the feel of a quirk, and pulls at it instinctively. He stumbles backward at the feel of gaining a quirk from what should have been a living body before it slips away almost instantly, following the fading of the most concrete form in the mass of spirits attached to the monster, just a flash of olive hair and large mouth registering before it disappears.

Moving backward gave All Might the opportunity to engage, and he did so without hesitation. Izuku noticed dimly that the beast's arms remain twisted, even though it uses them like it feels no pain. It takes just twenty punches before the creature slammed away and stays down. Definitely unconscious, though the remaining ghosts indicate that its somehow still alive.

Shigaraki growls in fury, Kurogiri at his back. "YOU!" He screams, spitting as he flings a finger toward Izuku. "THIS IS ALL BECAUSE OF THE GLITCH!"

"Violence against children?" All Might asks in the booming voice of a hero, pose bold and imposing. Izuku does not miss the steam that begins to float off him, even as it mixes in with the smoke of the rubble.

It does not reprimand Shigaraki, but it does seem to calm him down, because the manic tension dissipates into carelessly slumped shoulders and a calm, if ominous mood, accompanied by a hollow chuckle. "You heroes are all the same. You fight and say it's justice just because the law supports you! It's violence either way! And that glitch of yours-" he laughed violently. "Why," a chilling grin, "He's far too scary to be a hero! He was willing to kill me, and it was like I was suddenly in a horror first person game! Say, Villain-kun~ Why don't you join us? You'd fit in much better here than pretending like you're some sort of her-"

All Might takes a step forward, and Shigaraki laughs, throwing a hand out. "Who am I kidding!" he cheers, instability widening his eyes, cracking his voice. A hand reaches out through the portal, followed by the bloodshot eyes. "You're just a brat who idolizes heros and thinks an illusion quirk makes you one of them!" Crusty finger's close around his face.

A gunshots ring out, slamming Shigaraki's hand away. "Hah." He growls. "I guess we get a continue, then." Shigaraki disappears back into the portal, and suddenly he and Kurogiri are gone.

As the heros get to work taking out villains and the police storm in, gathering up any unconscious before they can recover, Izuku let out the breath he no longer needed and collapsed, not-heart racing, to his knees.