Chapter Seven:
Murder is Meat
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The sun bled red light as it set far off in the distance, behind Sondok's back. The light disrupted the vision of the heroes around her, providing a brief disadvantage. For now, Endeavor and All Might had enough back up that their numerical superiority provided ample confidence. The fact that Sondok seemed unaffected by her isolation grated on their nerves, as did the insult that she summoned aid only to send it away to another theatre of battle.
Eraserhead had made a stealthy exit after his bindings were destroyed. All Might internally surmised that Aizawa was giving chase to the ethereal hound that Sondok had sent in the direction of Mount Lady. There was unfortunately no time to consider that now. They were engaged in combat, not a staring contest.
Even now they were being supported by Cementoss, who was working tirelessly to mitigate Sondok's explosion Quirk. The conflagrations had a brief tell before detonation: the air would fill with tarnished brass shrapnel the moment before the explosion. The shrapnel seemed to assemble using the same sandy substance that she and her soldiers used in their teleportation Quirk, which suggested that they were rooted in the same ability. But where it took almost half a minute for a complete creature to form, the shrapnel laden firestorms took no more than two to four seconds depending on the size of the blast. There did not appear to be a range limitation per se, nor did Sondok need to gesture or even glance in the direction she wanted the explosions to appear. But the fact that these explosions were not harassing Mount Lady or the heroic combatants on the streets below definitely pinpointed Sondok as the source.
For now, the best Cementoss could accomplish was to watch for the tell-tale signs of an upcoming blast and place hastily made walls of concrete between the epicenter and the nearest heroes. The strategy was proving at least somewhat effective. The main downside was that he was exhausting himself by forming so much masonry so quickly, and that the walls were brittle and weak due to how quickly he had to form them. Worse still, there was the inherent risk that concrete debris would get knocked about by the rapid concussive blasts each wall faced, potentially making hard brittle missiles for the other heroes to contend with. However, they served as effective shields against the shrapnel native to Sondok's explosions. As bad as being hit by brick sized chunks of concrete could be, that shrapnel was far worse and could do disgusting amounts of damage to their vital organs if they weren't careful.
Further complicating matters was the weakening integrity of the building they were fighting on. The weight of the gigantic shell was removed, but it's presence for hours on end had left a large crater in the center of the roof. Add to that explosions, heavy combatants, and rapidly forming walls of cement, and it spelled a recipe for a complete cave-in of the roof. This was evidenced by cracks forming along the roofline and the exterior support walls, bearing witness to the approaching to the imminent demise of the apartment complex.
While taking cover behind one of these walls, sheltering them from a repetitive series of concussive blasts, All Might and Endeavor took just enough time to cauterize the still bleeding wound that used to be All Might's right hand. That moment was unbearable for both men, not due to the physical pain but because they both knew that this was the passing of the torch from one hero to the other. As Endeavor sealed All Might's wound shut, he contended with the knowledge that he could never prove himself better than All Might at his prime, but instead would become the number one hero by default. All Might, similarly, had to deal with the fact that not only was he now missing a hand, but that this was an injury that could not be hidden. The Symbol of Peace would no longer be intact in the hearts and minds of Japan or the rest of the world.
The distant noise of helicopters overhead reminded All Might that even now, the entire world was watching. Embarrassment, mortification, and shame were a few words that described for him the feeling of losing his hand on live television. But the worst part of it was that he felt like he had let so many people down. He had built himself up into an invulnerable image, one that would let people feel safe and protected. Now that image was cradling a cauterized stump while sheltering behind a concrete wall. But he couldn't afford to wallow in this misery. He pushed the feelings aside and focused on the task at hand.
A quick glance down at where his hand once was suddenly turned into a moment of deep inspiration. "Endeavor, I have an idea."
The ambient temperature rose around Endeavor as he refocused onto All Might. "Spit it out quickly." He spat the words out bitterly, aware that even as they spared just a moment to chat that all the heroes supporting the two of them were fighting their hardest. If they delayed too long on forming a plan then one of those heroes would die, possibly more.
All Might never got to utter his plan out load. "Look out!" The two of them heard the unmistakable voice of Ingenium, warning them of the imminent threat.
Sondok, after repelling their earlier disastrous charge, after repelling them all with repeated detonations, initiated her own counterattack. Her battle-axe tore through the cement wall between the two heroes with devastating force, forcing them to duck and roll to avoid injury. If they had waited just a moment too late, she could have easily severed both of their spines. As things were, they both rolled forwards only to encounter more explosions and more shrapnel. She was intentionally keeping them off balance as she thrust forward with her sword, axe now at the ready in a low guard position. She was fighting an entire team of the world's top heroes and had every last one of them completely on defense. Her movements were so rapid that no one could completely keep up with her.
No one but Ingenium, that is. True, All Might could move faster, but such bursts of speed were especially draining. After all his sustained blood loss, All Might could feel the limits of his stamina rapidly approaching. He had to conserve his strength however possible. Ingenium had no such limits, no such injuries to contend with. Seeing this, the younger Turbo Hero figured out that he needed to distract Sondok as much as possible to provide the older more powerful heroes enough breathing room to gather their strength. He was lightning poetry in motion, forcing the villain from another world to parry and dodge amid her own onslaught of attacks, breaking her rhythm. One moment she was giving chase with explosions and readying one of her weapons, the next she was using that weapon to keep Ingenium at bay.
But it wasn't enough. Over time she was wearing the heroes down. They were becoming exhausted. Even Endeavor, fresh to the fight, could not produce enough fire to effectively burn or deter the mad woman. She was crazy enough to charge through his flames or incorporate them as cover for her own explosive blasts, mingling bursts of green fire and shrapnel into his giant gales of crimson fire. His fire did seem to damage her, but she moved fast enough that he could not focus on her with a sustained blast. Singed, she refused to burn. Laughing, she stormed through his fires to get close to him, bringing with her those baleful weapons that tore through flesh and concrete with equal ease. As a result, Endeavor's Quirk was largely neutralized, as his fires prevented Ingenium, All Might or the other heroes from moving freely, thereby providing accidental cover for Sondok to charge through.
Frustrated, Endeavor unleashed a storm of fire at her once he confirmed no other hero would be in the blast zone. He spread the fire wide enough that no matter where she dodged, she'd still be inside the flame. He completely immersed her in the fire, obscuring her from all vision, but finally he knew the bitch had to be burned. This was it! They finally had her pinned!
And then, from within the fire, all of them could hear her laughing. It was a haunting, insane noise. It was trill yet commanding, impossibly loud, drowning out the roaring fire. And then, it abruptly stopped.
Hair ablaze, she charged forward, coming face to face with Endeavor even as he produced more fire. Even as he propelled himself backward, she loomed into the forefront of his vision as she prepared to skewer him with one thrust of her sword. Her axe was ready at her side, ready to swing and decapitate him once he was secured onto the end of her other blade. There was no need for her to be so thoroughly cruel, so playful with her prey, but she was, nonetheless. A simple one hit kill would not please her, he realized. She needed to see the pain, the loss, and the ultimate resignation in the eyes of her prey. Endeavor was glad that he had told his children that he loved them before coming here. He knew that this was the likely outcome. He just hoped he could take the bitch down with him.
He prepared himself to embrace her in hellfire, knowing that he would only have a single instance once pierced by her sword, before her axe would take his head. In that moment he would focus all his heat, all his flames, onto her. In a tight hold he would pour his power into producing the hottest most concentrated fire he had ever mustered. He would incinerate her. And hopefully, he'd live to tell about it. It was a distant hope.
Somehow, he knew that his daughter and son were watching. He hoped they'd be proud of him. With his children on his mind, he poured less of his fire into his retreat and focused instead on building power deep within. He hoped it appeared to be natural hesitation as he backed towards the edge of the building, hoping to entice her into carelessness.
Time seemed to slow down. "This is it," he thought. "This is how it ends. This is my final blaze of glory."
To one side he saw All Might charge in. Endeavor vaguely heard his lifelong rival's extended shout of "No!" as the other hero moved at lightning speed to intercept Sondok. However, she was just as fast as the Symbol of Peace, and with a single upswing of her axe she repelled him just long enough to continue towards her target. Even after leaning back to avoid being killed, Endeavor watched with awe and appreciation as All Might leaned back in, allowing the blade of that axe to cut deep into his right shoulder, as though to sacrifice more of his arm in an effort to save Endeavor's life. But with a flick of her wrist the axe re-angled towards Toshinori's neck, forcing him to retreat away from the blade. All Might came to a complete stop, allowing Sondok to continue towards Endeavor. She was close enough now that Endeavor could see distant stars in a red sky, a vista of an unknown world hidden within her eyes. It was beautiful and terrifying, as was the certainty of his upcoming death.
"You tried," Endeavor thought. "You tried, and I appreciate that. Perhaps, if things had played out differently, we could have been more than just rivals." The fires burned hotter now inside of him, hotter than he had ever dared make them before. He could feel his organs objecting at the heat induced stress he tortured them with. If he could make it last, just stoke the fires a little longer, then this would all be worth it.
Sondok's sword came into sharp focus. It was pointed directly at Endeavor's chest; no doubt it would pierce his heart and his left lung in a single strike. With her monstrous strength this woman could then swing the blade through him, effectively cutting his head and shoulders away from his torso. He'd be dead in a single instant. He would have less than one second to burn her head into ash.
Endeavor no longer had any illusion that he would live through this. Even as All Might chased her from behind, she gained speed and momentum. Even as Cementoss threw wall after wall in her path, she moved so fast that she practically danced on them like a skipping game of no consequence. Her iron teeth were grandly revealed as she smiled at him, a smile that said that this has been a fun game, but I win now. And it is time for you to die.
A blur came in from the other side, opposite of the direction All Might had tried to intercept from, opposite of her axe, which even now was raised up from when she had fended off the Symbol of Peace. The movement was a complete blur. Other than All Might and now Sondok, Endeavor had never seen anything, or anyone, move that fast. He barely could process what was happening, but obviously Sondok could. Her eyes refocused, her posture shifted ever so slightly, and her sword changed its aim at the last fraction of a second.
Endeavor had forgotten about Ingenium. Sondok had not.
His armor helped maintain his mystery and his dignity, as well as hide his pain. Ingenium charged in recklessly and did not deviate from his path, not even when Sondok changed her aim from Endeavor to the younger Turbo Hero. Ingenium continued, placing himself firmly in Sondok's way and ultimately preventing her charge from reaching Endeavor. The younger man threw himself into harm's way as a shield for the older hero behind him, and had done so without a single flinch of hesitation.
Before Endeavor could process what this truly meant, Sondok's sword had already stabbed cleanly into the younger man's armor, through his torso, and back out the other side. She had skewered him in a single thrust, and in just another moment her axe would move to finish him off. Endeavor could not see where exactly Ingenium had been stabbed, nor did he know what vital organs were damaged, but he saw the man's resolve.
Ingenium used both of his arms to grip onto Sondok's sword-bearing hand and wrist, and then used his built-in elbow thrusters against her strength, keeping her arm as stationary as possible. Uttering something between a growl of fury and a cry of agony, the young man held firm. As Sondok reared up to swing her axe against him, Ingenium did not budge. With his thrusters on full blast and his legs locked in position, even her amazing strength could not dislodge him.
It was then that the only person faster than Ingenium finally had the opening he needed. All Might grappled Sondok from behind. His severed right arm was still powerful enough to help grapple her axe wielding arm, while his left threatened to crush her body in a vice grip. At last she was trapped.
With a scream of rage, Sondok refused to yield. Explosions rocked around the three of them, locked in together. Repeated concussive blasts showered all of them with a hailstorm of fine metallic debris. Their skins pocked and penetrated, the shrapnel dug into their flesh at multiple entry points. Even as she was caught in her own blasts and harmed by the brass shards, Sondok did not relent.
Yet even as they were rocked by her explosions and showered with brass, even as they bled from hundreds of tiny cuts all over their bodies, All Might and Ingenium still held. Even as the blade in his gut vibrated with the struggle between Ingenium and Sondok, he still held. But both men were horribly injured, All Might with a missing hand and Ingenium thoroughly impaled. The other heroes were simply too far away to offer aid before this monstrous woman would break free.
It was all up to Endeavor now. He had no time to think. He had to act. All the heat he had built up was unleashed into his palms, which he then pressed hard to either side of Sondok's face. He unleashed enough concentrated fire to melt metal, to render flesh and bone alike into ash, and to hopefully kill this bitch. Protocol be damned, the growing burns on his palms from unleashing this much heat be damned. Lastly, damn this woman and all the cameras above them too. This bitch needed to burn, and Endeavor was the perfect match.
To her credit, Endeavor watched as she let go of the sword through Ingenium's gut and tried to push him away. But Ingenium would not let go so easily. If not for her ungodly strength, strength that reminded Endeavor of All Might's own power, then Ingenium might have been able to hold on. But she struck him hard, knocking the Turbo Hero away where he landed hard on his side. Endeavor hoped the younger man would live, but he could not afford to spare him a glance.
She screamed a bestial cry of rage as she beat her fist repeatedly into Endeavor's shoulder. He knew that bone was breaking with each of her blows. But he held on. She kicked out with one leg to knock him off balance, but he merely held on tighter to her face and turned the heat up. Still, All Might bought Endeavor precious time by altering his hold of Sondok, who even now refused to be taken out without dealing severe collateral damage to both heroes within her reach.
Even as All Might's newfound hold restrained her arms, she still broke the man's nose by throwing her head back into his. Endeavor however had to contend with her haunting eyes as she stared unflinchingly at him even as the sides of her face burned and gave way to ash. The process was taking far longer than Endeavor would have guessed, implying that she was built to withstand even volcanic levels of heat. But still, she burned.
"This is not over, human." She spat the words out at him before, at long last, the fire consumed her entire face. As her face and skull reduced to fine ash, her eyes lingered far longer than should have been natural. Endeavor was lost in those eyes, staring beyond them into a frightening blood red sky of alien and abhorrent stars. Yet despite her veiled threat, the fight was indeed over. Sondok was no more, her body slumping down like a headless doll even as her charred skull was stuck in Endeavor's grasp. Blood did not escape her cauterized neck. Her body lay there, lifeless, while her golden crown clattered off what remained of her head onto the ground. And though it was covered in soot, it was completely unharmed by the battle and untarnished by Endeavor's fire.
Panting for breath and bleeding in more places than either would care to acknowledge, All Might and Endeavor shared a glance before rushing to check on Ingenium. All three of them had sustained far more damage from Sondok than any other hero present. But as Endeavor feared, Ingenium lay cold on that rooftop. He had lost a lot of blood. Endeavor checked the younger man's neck for a pulse, but it was a faint, weak heartbeat that answered his fingers.
An armored glove moved to grasp onto Endeavor's hand. All Might knelt nearby, calling through the comm systems for immediate evacuation and trauma assistance. That left the job of tending to the Turbo Hero's immediate needs to Endeavor. "Easy, son. You saved the day back there. You know that, right? We all… I certainly would have died if not for you."
It was like the younger man could not even hear him. "Tell my brother…"
Endeavor could feel Ingenium's grip growing weak.
"Tell him… to become... the next Ingenium." And with those words, Ingenium suddenly let go of Endeavor's hand and went limp.
In a panic, Endeavor checked the man's pulse one more time. No. It wasn't there. It wasn't there! "All Might!" Endeavor rarely called for help with such abandon. But here he was, feeling the last remnant of life belonging to the younger hero fade; the hero who had just saved the life of Endeavor. It was unfair. It was unjust. The idea that the young should die so that the older generation could live on; it was too cruel.
As All Might, Endeavor, and other nearby heroes scrambled to save Ingenium, they all failed to notice that Sondok's charred skull and headless body quickly deteriorated into nothing but silver sand, which fled with the wind.
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The situation was completely insane. One moment, Izuku was running alongside Adorjan, a veritable titan of wind and madness. But now he was running from her. With his newfound speed he vainly hoped to outpace her, or at least to keep away until she grew bored. But every time he glanced over his shoulder; he saw her clearly keeping pace with him. Where he was using every bit of strength he had, she was relaxed. In his deepest gut he knew she could outrun him. She could turn into wind and outpace him several times over, multiplying her speed far beyond even his current capabilities. Her knife had never been placed back in its scabbard, and now she wielded it to shred him to ribbons.
He had no idea what had set her off, what tiny instance had shifted her mood. She offered no explanation as she turned on him, slashing at the air he had instinctively dodged from. Thankfully he had that power now, to dodge her attacks. There was no rational reason he could think of that explained it to him, that he could dodge an opponent that was clearly faster than him. But so long as he maintained his speed, he could outpace her dagger even if he couldn't outpace her. Even when she sent forth gale winds to attack him, he rolled and dodged to the side. Logic dictated that this was not possible. His own movements were not possible. One moment he'd be running at his new top speed, the next rolling to the side at speeds far exceeding his new limits, and then back to running from a new starting point at his previous pace. All he knew was that each time he dodged, each time he outpaced himself and defied all logic of movement, he could feel that great energy well inside of him diminish. It was like each dodge dipped a small bucket into that well, only to cast the precious water onto the sands around him. He instinctively knew that once the well within him ran dry, the energy would be gone, and with it his ability to outpace her dagger or to dodge her winds. While he was physically fine, he knew that each of her attacks were a drain on his resources, whittling him down into a defenseless target on the dunes. It was only a matter of time before he'd bleed out across the sand.
He glanced over his shoulder and found Adorjan was no longer there. This did not reassure him. She most likely had abandoned her feminine body to become something far more ephemeral and deadly. His worrisome thoughts were distracting enough that he almost ran headlong into a wall of arrowheads, but he banked his turn just in time. Immediately after, Izuku found himself surrounded. He was now in the eye of a great storm, dry and lifeless yet a storm, nonetheless. The chase was over. Adorjan had him trapped. Other than running in circles he had nowhere to go. Wafts of crimson and light rushed through the exterior wall of wind and arrowheads surrounding him. The air was filled with a heavy bleeding silence, one that promised that his screams would be stifled into his throat as he died.
"Kill." He heard a whisper in his ear. Izuku turned only to be blinded by harsh white light rushing around him. He was inundated and buffeted on harsh wind. He dodged inward towards the eye to escape but remained disoriented. He was too dazed to consider that he had crossed through the wind to this place without touching any of the intervening space.
Standing alone and still in the epicenter, his eyes eventually rediscovered sight after agonizing blindness overtook him. He was no longer alone. Izuku looked about him to see… Izuku. No matter which direction he looked, he was greeted with the familiar sight that had greeted him each morning for years when he'd head to the bathroom and see his own reflection. There were multiple copies of himself, seven to be precise. Each was as nude as he was, and each seemed just as lost as he felt. Like him they were all changed from his original picture of himself, but he still recognized his own face. They were all his height, yet from the comparison he could see they were all taller and leaner that he remembered himself to be. They each bore the same full body tan that afflicted him, and the same green eyes and messy hair that he intimately knew as his own.
"What's happening?" One said off to his left. The other Izukus looked about with anxiety.
"It's ok." Another one offered words of comfort. "It looks like we've been split into multiple people. We'll figure this out. We're going to get out of here together." Yes, he had thought of saying the same thing.
"What's the last thing you all remember? We need to see if we all match on the inside too. This could be a trick." He asked out loud, attracting the attention of the others.
One jogged a bit in his direction. To his eyes the movement was sluggish. Didn't they all have the same capabilities? Weren't they all the same person? "I remember running from Adorjan, and being surrounded… and then that flash of light." The runner offered up. Others assented that their version of events matched, so their memories seemed to be the same.
It was odd that the wind that surrounded them did not close in to kill them all. Izuku knew that it easily could. Judging by the anxiety he could see on their faces… the other Izuku's faces… all of them were painfully aware of this as well.
"Kill. Or be killed." Adorjan's whisper, louder to them than any shout could ever be, was accompanied by gradual tightening of the circle of death that surrounded them. She was nowhere and everywhere, whispering directly into each of their ears, left and right, into the deepest darkest parts of their minds. But what worried all of them was that she had them surrounded. The eight of them were at her mercy. Izuku, whichever among them was the real Izuku, was at her mercy. She was not giving them time to figure out their situation, their identity, or much else.
The situation was obvious. Their captor intended that they all kill each other for her amusement, or perhaps for some sick lesson she wanted to impart to the survivor. There was no guarantee though that the survivor would be allowed to live. No promises had been made, and Izuku doubted any would be offered. There would be no negotiation.
"Kill." Again the ring of whirling death moved in tighter around them, closing in by a full meter. Was there a way out of this death trap? He swore to himself that he wouldn't pray to Cecelyne for aid, but perhaps this was a situation that called for it.
"Oh god no…" He heard one of his copies mutter behind him, yet the quiet words carried well in the whirlwind of silence. It was a bad habit that he recalled casting away, cut out from his heart like so much else. He set that thought aside and focused, turning his head and attention to the speaker. The other Izuku had his hand on his forehead and a look of unspeakable horror on his face. Of course the situation was dire, but something beyond the immediate problem was bothering this particular iteration of Izuku.
"What's wrong?" He and another copy asked simultaneously, using the same voice but slightly different inflections. It was unnerving.
The horror-struck Izuku removed his hand from where it rested on his face and pointed back to where it just was resting on his forehead. "I don't have the jewel Cecelyne gave me… gave us… only he has it…"
Izuku looked around to see more and more eyes searching like his, confirming what the other Izuku had just said. He saw nothing on any of their foreheads. Out of instinct he reached and touched his own to find a hard but smooth gem embedded into his skin. He was the only one that had one. "If I'm the only one with the gem…"
"Then you're the only one of us that's real." Another said. This one walked up to face him head on. "The rest of us are copies made from you. You're real, and we're not." Watching his face, Izuku could feel the horrible weight of the words. The idea of being a fake, a copy, had occurred to him. His own relief was matched by the existential horror of all the others around him. It was terrible and cruel, but they had all been created just now only to die gruesomely. Either they would all kill each other, a positively horrifying thought, or they would be caught in the maddening winds of death that even now were closing in.
"Wait!" Another spoke up, this one from off to his right… he had lost track of which was which. Izuku could not remember which one had first pointed out the lack of gems on any of their foreheads. "We're all copies… but that doesn't mean we're not real! We're all still people! We have feelings, bodies, and dreams… all of it! We're all just as much Izuku as the original!" This other self desperately pleaded with the others. "We all have just as much right to live as he does!"
And there it was, the dropped gauntlet. The philosophical debate in the heart of a blender: who among them had the right to continue living? Did any of them? There was no assurance that any of them would continue living past this.
"Izuku." Another copy spoke up, addressing him. Others turned as well out of instinct, but his eyes and posture made it clear who he was speaking to. "You don't have to die. You should pray to Cecelyne. Ask her to rescue you." His determination was pragmatically grim.
"Kill." The voice in their hearts thrummed as the spinning blades of death circled closer.
Izuku considered the suggestion. He could pray himself into debt but doing so would allow him to live. The others here would die, likely quickly, but painfully. He could move on and tell himself that none of their blood was on his hands, but he would also be responsible for abandoning them. "If I leave, then Adorjan will shred you all to bits. It will not be a pleasant way to die."
The others understood. None of them felt comfortable with the idea of letting the others die. Life was precious to each of them. They were all the same person. Those facts had coalesced into a fraternal bond shared by all of them. They all knew each other better than they knew anyone else in their lives, like a giant set of identical twin brothers.
The copy of Izuku that had asked him to leave walked right up to him. "You've noticed it too though, right? You have the gem… and none of us are as fast as you… or as smart. Whatever Adorjan copied of you, she didn't copy everything. None of us have the gifts of either Cecelyne or Adorjan… just the superficial tan…" The copy turned to look around at some of the other. "Is anyone else here thirsty? Hungry? Do any of you feel hot?"
The others shrugged or nodded their assent. All of them had thirst and hunger. All of them, despite the winds surrounding them, felt the stinging heat of the Green Sun. Izuku himself felt none of these things as poignantly as the rest of them did. That could only mean one thing, that none of them had the Charms of Cecelyne aiding their ability to survive. Even if they all got out of this death trap, they would all die within a matter of one or two days due to dehydration and sun exposure. All of them truly were born minutes ago solely for the purpose of being killed.
And judging from the thoughtful and shocked expressions cascading across the group, they had all figured it out. Some merely arrived at these conclusions faster than the others. "So, Izuku. We're all doomed. You aren't. You need to live."
"Kill." The voice of Adorjan intoned deep into their ears and minds.
"I'm not abandoning you!" Izuku shouted. He didn't think about it hard. It just wasn't right to abandon your twin brother… even if they were a fake created minutes ago. "We're all going to figure this out!"
The other Izuku, the one who lead them all to a fatalistic comprehension of their situation, smiled sadly. "I want you to know that… from the outside looking at you, you saying that… that's actually really heroic." He sighed sadly, even as the others nodded. "But there's no time. She's closing in around us. We don't know how long it will take Cecelyne to come and save you. She'd have to get past Adorjan. So, you need to act quickly."
"No." Izuku declared, unflinching.
Neither of them noticed that a member of the group had strayed from the others, wandering threateningly close to the edge of their haven. "You're all wasting time! I'm not going to kill anyone… and I don't want any of you to have to kill me… tell mom that I love her!"
Izuku widened his eyes in shock. His body moved before he could even think. Rushing forward, he reached out to grasp at the copy of himself.
"Kill." Adorjan intoned as the whirling mass of blades closed in further, swallowing up the stray version of Izuku into the spinning gale of death. His scream lasted only a moment before it was drowned in deathly silence, despite his writhing and suffering. The rest watched, helplessly, as their fraternal copy was torn apart before their eyes. The only comfort was that he did not live long through the process, dead long before his body scattered through the gale as organic debris. But the sight was gruesome, his skin flayed, followed rapidly by muscle, viscera, organs, and bone.
Izuku had stopped himself just short of that terrible vision. He watched all of it happen less than a meter in front of him. He saw the moment the pain overwhelmed his copy, the moment death finally released him from his agony. He watched helplessly as the body was scattered, torn apart by the wind.
But the agony did not end there. It had only just begun. Izuku was knocked backward, or more accurately fell back as he recoiled with pain. He felt his own body being torn apart, blood being pulled from his veins by the wind just before the blood vessels themselves were pulled and cut. He felt his skin stretch, tear, and lacerate, followed by his muscles. He felt everything, just as his copy had moments before. Then he saw everything, from the moment the copy was made to the moment of his death. He recalled feeling his own forehead to find the gem gone, the existential horror of realizing that he was a copy. He felt the meaninglessness of a temporary slaughter-cattle existence. He felt keenly the determination to kill himself, hoping that his own sacrifice would end the debate. And he was filled with remorse that these horrible emotions were the last things his copy had felt before dying, that his end was so violent and painful.
He rolled, dodging in towards the gathering of the others as the winds drew in closer to them, a curtain closing in toward the end of their lives. Again, the same voice, and again the same one worded commandment. As Izuku rose to face them, the six remaining copies displayed enough horror and agony that he knew they had all shared in the memories of the fallen copy. And in that shared moment of sorrow Izuku knew that he could not abandon even one more of them to such a gruesome death, and none of them would ask him to do so again.
"Izuku, come here." He said, gesturing to the copy that stood closest to him over. The request could not have been surprising, nor the motivation behind it. There was no malice or subterfuge, but a grim determination. The other Izuku stepped closer to the original. Awkwardly, the two embraced. The embarrassment the copy felt faded quickly. They didn't cry, but mourned, nonetheless. The weaker copy rested his head on Izuku's shoulder. Izuku stood there, a pillar of support for his younger brother to lean on. They were all his little brothers. He wouldn't abandon them to die so horribly.
That didn't make what he had to do any easier, not for any of them.
"Are you ready?" He asked. He felt his other self nod.
The others recoiled in shock as Izuku moved his copy into a stranglehold. The difference in their physical abilities was obvious. Despite the similarities in their bodies, Izuku could rely on a wellspring of power that the others simply did not have. In a few moments, far shorter than if he had relied solely on his mortal strength, Izuku rendered his copy unconscious. Once he confirmed that the copy was out cold, Izuku snapped his doppelganger's' neck, releasing a disturbing cracking sound that seemed to echo with consequence. Amid the pervasive silence the sound was deafening. It was over far faster and far less poetically than the end of a life should be. He let the body rest gently on the desert floor before standing and turning to face the others. His stomach clenched with a sickening feeling of fullness, a discomfort that he ignored for the sake of those around him. He did not want to contemplate what that sensation could be, and told himself that by killing he simply was making himself sick.
"Are any of the rest of you ready?" He asked. The other Izukus were obviously scared, but thankfully none of them were angry or in denial about the situation. They all understood.
That moment was disrupted by the feeling of being suffocated. Izuku nearly fell to his knees with an inability to breathe… but this time the ending was bittersweet. The emotions of being embraced by your source, by your… father. Where he looked at them like they were his little brothers, the dead copy looked up to him like he was their guardian, their parent.
He rose, unwilling to let them down. Five more times. He had to do this, to kill them as mercifully as he could. Five more times. For them, he would do this. He would do this for them, and be the big brother, the father, that they would never have otherwise. They were made by Adorjan to die. The least he could do would be to make the ending as pain free as possible. That would be the only love these poor little brothers of his would know that wasn't scavenged from his own memories.
He told himself he would cry later. For now, he would be strong. He opened his arms to another copy, taking the time to put him at ease.
"Kill." The whisper of Adorjan grew more urgent as the wall of death closed in around them, and Izuku felt the young man in his arms tense up with fear.
Izuku patted his copy gently on the back of his head. "It'll be ok. She won't hurt you. I won't let her." The words did not have their full intended effect. He felt the wracking dry sob more than he heard it. Izuku held onto him gently, letting him have a moment to mourn his own imminent death. But then, grimly, he stifled his other self, cutting off their ability to breathe as he put pressure onto their neck. With terrible strength, he stifled them into unconsciousness.
As he broke the neck of his copy, he thought about how unfair it was that the doppelganger had been alive for less than an hour. Wracked by his own echoes of the copy's memories, he swore he would get revenge for each of them, and to live his life to the fullest for each of their sakes. That is, if he somehow survived this himself.
