Overhaul placed his hand on the ground, letting loose waves of earthen spikes towards Izuku, who was forced to evade them all. Whilst Izuku was busy dodging, another section of earth forcibly launched the unconscious slump of Chronostasis towards Overhaul, uncaring of any extra damage that his lackey suffered.
"You wouldn't mind dying for me, right? Surely, you'd want to see me escape" Overhaul said, whispering to the unconscious body, as if he expected an answer.
He grabbed Chronostasis and lifted a hand to his own body, channelling his self-named quirk to reshape them both. When the two reformed, Chronostasis' body was gone, his mass transferred to the Yakuza boss.
Chisaki's body was slightly bulkier now, more powerful. His arms had become huge and clawed, monstrous in their appearance, he had a second set of arms that grew out from behind his original pair. Black markings wrapped around his arms and covered the centre of his face.
Overhaul turned to glare at Izuku, who was repulsed by the sight of him. "Are you done playing hero like the brat you are? You have caused me more grief than I can even believe. I've had it with you!" Overhaul launched himself at the fledgling hero, his regular hands dragged across the ground as he activated his quirk and before anyone could intervene, the terrain exploded and reformed, creating a whole new area.
Izuku immediately put distance between himself and the Yakuza leader. Izuku lifted his hands and fired several blasts of wind, but Chisaki Overhauled parts of the ground around him to create a shield that absorbed the blasts with little effort.
Bloodlust filled the tense air between them as the young hero and the Yakuza glared at one another with utter loathing.
"I'll slaughter you," Chisaki snarled, before lunging at Izuku.
Izuku darted to the side of the monster and going on the assault, fired more wind blasts at the villain, who utterly ignored the shots, in favour of closing the gap between them. He was fast, unnaturally so.
Overhaul set all four of his hands against the ground and prepared to destroy the area, but Izuku was ready this time and slammed one of his boots into the concrete, shattering the floor between them and rendering his Quirk much less effective. Izuku knew that the quirk, Overhaul, was much less useful on fractured terrain.
Chisaki scowled with annoyance as Izuku exploited one of his few weaknesses. Maybe Izuku could do this?
He lunged to meet the monster head-on, but it was just a feint. He suddenly swerved harshly to the left and slammed his fist into the ground, uplifting the ground Chisaki stood on and causing his grasping hands to pass over Izuku, who lifted a leg and delivered a ruthless kick into Chisaki's gut.
He felt bones cracking beneath the impact and Chisaki screamed with a mixture of fury and pain, but Izuku sent him rocketing into the opposite wall before he could retaliate.
Overhaul recovered, and for a minute or two, the Yakuza boss and the fledgling hero stared at each other, both prepared to go on the assault, both glowering hatefully.
It was the most violent stalemate any of them had ever experienced.
The entire underground was in ruins, large crater-size chunks missing, huge spiky pillars of concrete were everywhere. Izuku wasn't sure when, but somehow the roof had disappeared, revealing the open world.
Izuku had shattered so much of the floor with One for All to the point where Chisaki was being forced to Overhaul the walls. It was only when Izuku pulverized the latest batch of stone spikes into pebbles, did he realize how hopeless this was.
Whenever Izuku would attack, the villain would block with more Overhauled concrete. Whenever Overhaul attacked, Izuku barely managed to avoid it. If that was the only problem, then Izuku would be able to get past it somehow, but it wasn't the only problem; he could feel it… His stamina was quickly leaving him as the smallest of feats left his lungs heaving for air. Could he even beat Overhaul? Could he save the little girl and see her smile? He didn't know if he could, but he knew that he had to. He still had so much he wanted to experience in life, so he WILL win this fight.
"You will return Eri to me!" The four-armed monstrous form of Overhaul said.
"You won't hurt her anymore! I'll show her a bright future!" Izuku announced. Overhaul looked at the fledgling hero with a look of disgust.
"I hope you realize how foolish it was of you to follow me here" Overhaul said. "You will die here by my hand. Alone, afraid and with no one around you. There's no way for you to win this! Once I'm done with you, I'm taking Eri back and escaping! Afterwards, I'll use her power to destroy all of hero society!"
Izuku was about to make a retort when he felt something poking him in the stomach. Looking down, he could see a pillar of concrete piercing through his spine like it was paper. He shrieked in pain as his legs ceased to function. A feeling of fire seared in his bones and he screamed, his arms scrabbled to remove the Overhauled concrete that had pinned him to the ground. Another concrete spike punched deeply through one of his lungs.
Blood bubbled up in his mouth as he threw up, his screams turning into a defeated moan of pain. One by one, more Overhauled spikes introduced themselves to Izuku's body to the point where it was amazing that he was conscious, much less alive.
This was it... he was going to die. He failed Eri.
Ochako had never considered herself strong. But after losing a one on one against Katsuki Bakugo in the sports festival, the idea of being "weak" was something that she simply could never allow herself anymore.
So she tried to make herself strong. She ended up going to the Gunhead agency for internships, so she could learn martial arts and get stronger, to be able to not look back, to be able to be the hero that Izuku had inspired her to be, to be able to make him proud.
She would never be weak again.
But then Yuga Aoyama came along.
At first, he was a side character. Someone who she had rarely spoken to. But then when she was paired up with him for the exams at the end of the first term, he said that one line;
"You like him, don't you?"
All of a sudden, she felt weak again. At first, she was dismissal about it, avoiding Izuku because she'd always be a blushing mess, but the more she did it, the more it confirmed the fact that she had fallen madly in love with her best friend. She couldn't place when she had fallen in love with him exactly, but before she knew it, she often found herself fantasizing about him as time went on. Imagining being hugged by him. Holding his hand as they walked to a restaurant. A romantic picnic on the top of a hill as the sun sets, Izuku opening a small box and popping 'the question'.
She soon realized that he was becoming a source of strength for her as well. Just being near him made her feel stronger than she ever had felt alone. She found herself relying on him more and more, to the point that being away from him for too long made her feel weak.
She had begun to realize she was proud to know such a strong person. He was a simple man, but in his simplicity was his strength. He looked at his goal and like a bull seeing red, he chased it! He was always able to rise and overcome his obstacles. He was always there, and in knowing that, she felt like she would continue growing stronger still. Even if he wasn't with her at the current moment, he would still be there for her, and in knowing that, she felt incredibly strong. It made her feel more weightless than her quirk ever could; knowing that such a person cared so much for her, knowing that such a person would risk everything for her, knowing that such a person would rise above all challenges for her if need be.
This time though... This time... He didn't stand back up.
She peeked through the gaping hole in the road and saw him. Izuku, laying on the ground with a puddle of blood leaking out. His limbs looked purple and absolutely crushed, bending in odd angles that no human body should be able to do and with Overhauled spikes permanently crucifying him to the ground. She didn't know how she knew, but she could tell that he was still alive, but not for long as she was surely seeing his death.
Ochako had never considered herself strong. But after losing a one on one against Katsuki Bakugo in the sports festival, the idea of being "weak" was something that she simply could never allow herself anymore.
And yet... As she realized her beloved friend, the boy she had prematurely planned her future with, was dying right in front of her eyes...
Ochako Uraraka had never felt weaker in her entire life.
It was strange. It felt like all the colours in the world were fading away like a sun saturated painting. All the colours faded away as the most dominating colour Izuku could see, was the red of his own blood.
The sky was shattering like glass when Izuku noticed another strange occurrence. The pain he had felt from the alien objects inside him was gone, replaced with a numb feeling. It was startling considering that he felt like he was in a pool of lava a few seconds ago.
He was expecting an 'epic evil monologue' to come from Overhaul talking about how he was going to destroy all of hero society and whatnot, but the villain wasn't speaking. The villain wasn't moving either, he stood tall and still as if frozen in time.
Although Izuku's vision was blurry, he thought he could see the distant blob of Ochako looking at him from outside the hole in the ceiling. Izuku looked back down and saw that Overhaul was gone.
Izuku still couldn't tell what was going on, first, the colours started to fade, then Overhaul froze like a broken NPC that wouldn't give you the quest they were supposed to give, and then Overhaul vanished entirely.
It was when the regular form of Kai Chisaki appeared, that Izuku managed to piece together what he was seeing and feeling.
This was fake. There was no such thing as "quirks". In real life, there were no heroes. All of those friends that he had made since attending UA High, all those friends, were fake. Kirishima, Mina, Iida, Uraraka, All Might… They either never existed or made fun of him and ignored his presence. He believed that his father was working in America to be able to afford his mother and Izuku's accommodation, but the truth was that his father abandoned him and his mother the day Inko said she was pregnant.
He gasped as a weird sensation spread throughout his body. Almost as if his body caught up with his mind and realized that everything was fake. He felt tired, his whole body feeling weak. But Izuku understood though. He just wanted to live happily, even if his 'friends' hated him in reality. Everything that happened to him was just so that he could live a life where he was a hero, a life where he was looked up to, a life where he was adored, a life where he was loved... Because real life is cruel...
Everything started to fade away from existence, the underground area slowly crumbled apart, he saw Ochako vanish into dust particles from the hole she was watching from. He saw Chisaki, who was unmasked now, give Izuku a smile behind his cold and sad eyes. Even though they were just fighting; Izuku understood that Overhaul, All For One, One For All, The League Of Villains and Shigaraki, all were to help Izuku feel like he was a hero, like he was actually helping people. Kai was just a figment of Izuku Midoriya's imagination; all of this was.
The hospital room was dark, the shades on the window blocked all sunlight from entering. It was quiet asides from the few sobs and the sound of a heartbeat monitor on a flat line. An older man of around 50 with dark slicked-back hair and glasses that highlighted his blue eyes wore a solemn expression, looking at the mother who was short, pudgy with dark green hair, The Doctor could see that she still needed a few more minutes, The Doctor stayed quiet.
Laying in the hospital bed was Izuku. He appeared to be sleeping peacefully as if he had no worries. Sadly, he'd stay like this forever. His mother, Inko Midoriya, was by his side, tears flowing from her eyes.
"Izuku is in a better place now," she whispered to herself as if she was trying to convince herself. But it didn't provide any sort of comfort, seeing her only son lay dead after almost three years. After three years of not waking up... Inko didn't look so well, as if she hadn't slept for the past few days. After finding out that Izuku would need to be unplugged due to various reasons, she stayed by his side, hoping he'd wake up... He never did. She sat in her chair, holding Izuku's cold limp hand.
The Doctor covered Izuku's body with a thin blanket and lead the distraught mother out of the room. She turned to look at Izuku once more, sobbing. It was the last time she would see her baby boy…
"Izuku's in a better place," Inko reminded herself again. But little did she know that any place was a better one.
She would never know that Izuku had created his own imaginary world where superpowers were the norm. A place where people treated him fairly. A place where he had friends. A place where he wasn't ridiculed or lied to. A better place than here.
Howdy, this was originally a writing challenge in a fanfiction-based Discord server I'm in that's called The Emerald Library, you should definitely check it out if you have Discord.
The Emerald Library is a community with hundreds of authors from dozens of fandoms. Some of our notable members include Greed720/Seagate, Bakkughan, OrionB15, USSExplorer, lildrummerboi, IDKHowToWritePlzHelp, Banix, Intata, Hero DarkyDark, and Darkfire1220. But there are bound to be others that you know not on this list, so come hang out!
If you'd like to join, here's the link "discord . gg/TfQVddNweG"
Remember to delete the spaces, and be sure to make sure the capitalization is correct.