Disclaimer: This is a work of pure fanfiction using characters, settings, abilities, etc. from My Hero Academia; and A Certain Scientific Dark Matter and A Certain Magical Index; and KonoSuba (just for Chapter 1), which are trademarked and owned by Kohei Horikoshi, Kazuma Kamachi, and Natsume Akatsuki, respectively and all their related animation and publishing entities. I do NOT claim any ownership. I do NOT make any money off of this fanfiction. Please support the original creators Kohei Horikoshi, Kazuma Kamachi, and Natsume Akatsuki and their respective animation studios/publishers for making such awesome works.

Please do not repost Dark Wings of Freedom anywhere else.

Chapter 1: Meeting An Angel

"Did you just laugh?"

Kakine Teitoku turned his head, glaring at the now terrified Yobou Banka. With blonde hair reaching his shoulders and wearing his customary maroon suit paired with white collar and red V-Neck shirts, Teitoku was a preeminent figure in Academy City as the Rank #2 Level 5. In fact, the mere existence of Level 5s was so rare that in Academy City's entire population of 2.3 million, only seven individuals were granted the title. He represented the epitome of Esper abilities with his control of Dark Matter: a type of matter that simply did not occur in the world and broke the fundamental laws of physics. But this power alone could not help Teitoku achieve his end goal of negotiating directly with Aleister Crowley, the sovereign of Academy City, so he had usurped control over the Dark Side organization SCHOOL in order to further his own aims.

As one of the main members of SCHOOL, the black haired Yobou frantically shook his head as a bored looking Gokusai Kaibi watched the scene before her from her comfortable position on the couch. A beautiful girl by any standards, Gokusai had shoulder-length wavy blonde hair and donned several pieces of elaborate silver jewelry and a short, pink backless dress. Unlike the hapless Yobou, Gokusai was rather nonchalant about the whole situation, choosing to continue painting the last of her nails. This was due in part to her higher position within SCHOOL's hierarchy second only to Teitoku himself, and her understanding that Yobou could always be replaced in the worst case. Meanwhile, Teitoku held his scowl until Yobou began to sweat and tremble in a display of utter patheticism. Eventually, Teitoku stood up from his seat, heading over toward the door.

"Where are you going?" Gokusai asked softly.

"Out." Teitoku let the wooden door slam behind him as he exited the wrecked hotel suite. As Teitoku made his way through the ornately decorated hallway toward the elevators, he heard the door behind him open and quietly click shut. A series of hurried clacks of footsteps followed him until Gokusai was walking right beside him. He gave her a sidelong glance, silently questioning what she was doing.

"I have another date." Gokusai bluntly stated.

Within several minutes, the Rank #2 Level 5 Esper and Girl in the Dress were outside of SCHOOL's temporary base of operations. Given that it was already past curfew in Academy City, the area immediately around them was empty. That bastard agent. When their usual liaison had contacted him regarding the Daihasei Festival and the athlete's pledge, Teitoku had been tempted to end the call right then and there. Then the man had dared to suggest that the Level 5's wings would appeal to all those brats and deluded fools. His frustration had reached its limit, and their suite had suffered the consequences. Despite his anger, he had taken care not to harm Gokusai in the crossfire. However, Teitoku still had half a mind to hunt the agent down and kill him for the transgression. After all, SCHOOL could always get a new liaison.

But as Teitoku and Gokusai walked along the empty sidewalk, he knew the real reason why he had been so enraged. The agent's words had triggered a dark and painful memory within him. Ringo… The last person to have admired his power instead of fearing it. A survivor of the Dark May Project that he had rescued with the original purpose of just using her to figure out a way to defeat the Rank #1 Accelerator. A girl whom he had eventually grown to care for… and an everlasting reminder of his failure to protect those he had ever cared about.

"Kakine!"

The sudden alarm in Gokusai's ordinarily calm voice jolted Teitoku from his thoughts. Looking over toward her, Teitoku saw the girl literally glow with a strange blue light as the space around her distorted. Gokusai's expression was one of shock as her body seemed to blur from the phenomenon. She reached out a hand at Teitoku, and the Level 5 immediately reacted, using his wings to close the distance and managing to take hold of her. What was this? Some kind of teleportation? Unfortunately, Teitoku's course of action only caused his body to undergo the same effects as Gokusai's. Shit!

For a brief moment, a flash of bright white light exploded throughout the area. The illumination quickly dispersed, revealing an empty and scorched sidewalk.

The first matter Teitoku noticed as he opened his eyes was the black and white checkerboard patterning of the floor. He was currently hunched over, sitting on an uncomfortable wooden chair. There was an eerie silence. That is until a gentle female voice echoed directly in front of him.

"Welcome, Satou Kaz- Wait… Who the hell are you?!"

Teitoku winced at the sound of her loud shriek. Two annoyances today. Someone was going to have to die. Might as well be the woman before him. He straightened his back from his hunched over position and saw the source of his current vexation.

Blue was one way Teitoku would describe her. Aside from the pink hagoromo over her shoulders, the young woman was quite monochrome with her light blue hair, eyes, and dress. However, even Teitoku had to admit that she possessed an inhuman beauty. She was currently sitting on a glowing white throne, pointing an accusatory finger in his direction. He would keep this short.

"Where am I?" Teitoku demanded in a cold tone that allowed no room for argument as he spread his six wings.

The woman looked shocked, and he could see a semblance of fear in her eyes. "W-wait. You're not supposed to be able to use any magic here! Um, well… I'm Aqua. I'm a goddess-"

"I didn't ask for your name. I asked where I am?" Teitoku cut her off, absolutely not wanting to waste any more time. Magic? Goddess? What kind of delusional farce was this?

"W-well... I guess you could call this the crossroads to the afterlife."

"I'm not dead." Teitoku deadpanned.

"I can tell that now!" Aqua quickly retorted. "The system must've messed up somehow, accidentally bringing you along instead of the other guy."

"Then send me back."

"I don't think I can because of the rules. That's not actually how it wor- Eek!" Aqua barely managed to dodge in time as one of Teitoku's wings sliced through the throne.

"If you keep moving, I might end up taking off your head instead of an arm." Teitoku said coolly.

Aqua raised her hands in a calming gesture. "Wait, wait, wait! Let me see what I can do… yes! Okay, I can send you back after all!"

"Good." At this point, Teitoku simply wanted to return to the suite and see this troublesome night end.

"Um, could I interest you in maybe defeating a Demon King in another world?" Aqua asked.

Teitoku just glared in response.

"O-of course then. Uh… bye then!" Aqua raised a glowing hand toward Teitoku.

A flash erupted throughout the room, and Teitoku disappeared.

Aqua waited a few moments before beginning to bawl. "Eris! Get over here!"

"Aqua, are you all right?" Aqua's silver haired goddess counterpart suddenly teleported in front of the kneeling Aqua.

Aqua whined hysterically, "No, he was so scary! Really handsome but a total sociopath!"

"Um, I'm so sorry you had to go through with that. The system made an error in my section too. The girl pulled her firearm on me at first, but she ended up being quite indifferent and calm about the whole situation. We ended up speaking like friends."

"Gah! You padded chest goddess! Why do you always get the good ones?! That other quiet one had also gone to you!" Aqua yelled as she banged her fists against Eris' body.

Eris' face turned beet red at Aqua's insulting; albeit true, allegation. Taking a deep breath to compose herself from lashing out at her senior goddess, Eris attempted to get back on topic, "Speaking of… maybe we should make sure that something like this doesn't happen again."

"Yes! Blacklist that whole damn universe!" Aqua raised her fists in the air as if to emphasize her point.

"O-Okay… uh, Aqua… you didn't fail to mention to him that technically we could only send them to that backup world since the reincarnation system isn't working properly, right?" Though in the back of Eris' mind, the junior goddess suspected she already knew the answer to her own question.

"Of course I didn't! He was trying to kill me!"

Gentle Criminal, formerly known as Tobita Danjuro, preferred to think of himself as a sophisticated gentleman. With his gelled back hair, uniquely groomed handlebar mustache and beard, and his penchant for elaborately fancy attire, Gentle truly did look the part. But even he could not contain his excitement as he finished watching the final product.

"That was absolutely wonderful! Truly you have outdone yourself, La Brava!" As he applauded his much smaller-in-stature partner in crime as she sat in the dining chair next to him.

La Brava, a.k.a. Aiba Manami, visibly blushed as she was delighted to hear Gentle's genuine praise. "T-Thank you, Gentle! I'm so glad you liked it. I wanted to make you as cool as possible."

The young woman had spent the past several hours completely revamping Gentle's online video channel, including designing a new intro and outro for his future escapades. Gentle could not help but appreciate his partner's hard work and effort and be thankful that she had arrived on his doorstep all those weeks ago. "This is cause for celebration and the finest of teas!" Gentle exclaimed as he flourished an arm in the air in a dramatic pose. "Wait here, La Brava, for I shall go upstairs and retrieve that Yorkshire I had been saving for just such an occasion!" Without another word, Gentle had hurried up the stairs to his room.

Hm, now where did I place it again? Gentle carefully rummaged through the large wooden cabinet that housed some of his private collection of teas. Aha! He pulled out a small, black cylindrical case, containing Yorkshire tea leaves.

A loud crashing noise reverberated downstairs. That sounded like our fine plates of china shattering! "La Brave, are you all right?!" Gentle called out in a concerned tone.

For a few moments, there was a complete lack of response. Could she have been injured from a fall?

"Um… Gentle… I think you need to come down here…" La Brava stated loudly, clearly nervous.

Ah, there was no reason for her to be nervous. Accidents do happen after all. Gentle picked up the container of Yorkshire tea and headed downstairs. As he turned the corner leading into their dining room, Gentle tried to assuage his partner of any concerns. "Not to worry about the plates, La Brava, for we can always obtain more. But most importantly, I come bearing the te-"

Gentle abruptly stopped speaking as he witnessed the scene in the dining room before him. Their small dining table had clearly fallen, scattering several, now shattered, pieces of fine china plates. La Brava was standing, visibly shaking in fear as she held her hands upwards in a clear sign of surrender. And just a few steps in front of his partner was a young girl holding a gun clearly pointed at La Brava's head. Still aiming her firearm at La Brava, the girl turned her head toward Gentle's direction. She gave him a small smile filled with fake warmth. Her eyes seemed to glow a pinkish color.

"Now then, would you be a good friend and tell me exactly where this is?"

Gentle could only helplessly nod. What mess have we gotten ourselves into?!

"You're all done tonight, Eri. Go to sleep then."

The gloved hand on her shoulder was anything but comforting. Chisaki Kai gently shoved her inside and briskly shut the door, extinguishing the last trace of light in her bedroom. Her entire body hurt as usual. The new bandages on her arms were intensely itchy. But none of that compared to the utter sense of despair that filled the young girl's heart.

Eri thought she would be used to it by now. In some ways, she was. She did not cry as much anymore… as there were few tears left to shed. While Eri sat on the cold and uncomfortable mattress, she considered trying to run away again. She knew it was useless, but what else could she do? Eri wanted it to stop. The pain. The loneliness. The terror.

She pulled the covers of her blanket around her. The resulting small amount of warmth did give her some level of solace. She turned her head to the right. There was a thin, worn out picture book that her father had once read to her when she was younger. She carefully reached out and pulled it toward her. One of the last remnants of her once happy childhood. At this point, Eri did not even remember her parents' faces, but she at least had this book to recall them by. The Dove and the Angel…

Eri had never grown up in a particularly religious household with her parents, and her current "caretakers" were far from devout. But she recalled still enjoying the children's book. Though, looking at the illustration of the smiling dove on the cover, Eri could not help but recoil. Her night terrors were constantly filled with the horrific birdlike masks that were worn by all her caretakers. Still… sometimes I wish I could just fly away from here… far away from all this pain! It was hopeless. She had been told it many times before. No one was coming to save her. She did not deserve to be taken away from this place. I'm dangerous to everyone… like with Papa…

Suddenly, a white light flashed in the corner of her bedroom. Eri squeaked as she tried to cover her eyes from the brightness with her hands.

"Huh… hey, kid, where am I?"

It was a man's voice. Eri hesitatingly took her hands off her eyes. The young girl glanced upwards and gasped as she saw him. Six wings of pure white that illuminated her small bedroom with their brilliance. Eri could not help but think that they were the most beautiful things she had ever seen. Then, she noticed that they were all coming out from behind the back of a young man with blonde hair. Eri's eyes widened at the sight. He was an angel. Just like from her book. A real life angel had appeared here in her room. Maybe he had come to save her from this nightmare.

"So… pretty…" Eri whispered.

She had found her guardian angel after all.