Chapter Thirteen

The First Heresy

Divided Chakra Shintai


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He did not remember the content of his dreams, just the fleeting sensation that it was an important vision worthy enough to remember. It felt less like a cobbled revision of his own mind and more like a coherent memory, yet he could no longer recall a single detail of it.

Izuku awoke, surrounded by cold sand on all sides. Overhead, he barely could make out the whispering of passing winds. The sound was faint this far down, but it was enough to tell him that it was finally safe to rise towards the surface. This, however, was not the sound that woke him.

Harsh, wretched waves of sound poured through the sands. They rattled him, but disconcertingly when Izuku should have felt the sounds in his heart and bones, the feeling was decidedly soft and… squishy. Here he was, surrounded by sand on all sides, yet now it seemed almost like he was in a vat of lukewarm oil. The tactile immersion felt disgusting.

He awkwardly wriggled, climbing his way out of the sandy depths. Izuku had no idea how long he had been down here and hecould barely surmise how he was still alive. Likely, he had slowed down his own heart and lungs with Cecelyne's powerful knack for survival.

These thoughts were interrupted when a strangely familiar voice invaded his senses.

"Fuck it Deku! I want to help you! But I can't! We can't save you! You have to get yourself out of there! You have to get out here! Deku!" Was Bakugou Katsuki up there on the surface? Izuku climbed faster, struggling against the pervasive sands. The sensation felt vaguely like swimming in warm water, which made no sense to him.

Izuku stopped cold when he heard Katsuki cry out again. Despite wondering just who Deku was at first, it didn't take Izuku long to reason out who it was Katsuki was talking to. "They have your mom, Deku! They have All Might! Do you hear me?! Do you, Deku?! They have your mom!" The cry came out not from above, but to his side. He turned, urgently focusing on Katsuki's words.

"Mom. All Might. The Primordials have them? What? What?!" Izuku thought. Panic consumed his mind. He thrashed, losing control of himself as he turned towards the voice of his… colleague? The thought was too confusing to do anything productive, so he discarded it. There were far more important matters than to decide what Bakugou meant to him, if anything.

There was nothing as important as knowing his mother was in danger. Nothing.

Izuku reached forward, flailing uselessly in warm liquid murk. Liquid? He was in sand, cold dead sand under the dunes of Cecelyne. This new sensation of warm immersion made no sense. He dared to open his eyes and was engulfed in darkness. He didn't feel the itchy burning sensation of sand invading his eyes.

He wished he could see, that there was just a tiny bit light…

Suddenly, there was. His own eyes provided all the illumination that he needed. Izuku could feel the hot fire burning from behind his retinas, but the heat didn't feel uncomfortable at all. It was startling though to discover this new ability. He didn't recall learning it from either Cecelyne or from Adorjan.

"You didn't." a deep voice emanated from somewhere nearby. "It's the power inherent to your own anima, the ventilation system, if you will, of your new Exaltation. What's curious though is how you manifested that power during your metamorphosis… and without any instruction." The voice sounded curious, yet almost paternal.

Izuku cast his gaze around himself, adding even more illumination. Panic consumed him as he was surrounded by soupy water in a sealed metal tank of some kind. He instinctively gasped for air, knowing that it was the wrong thing to do… but felt nothing. He reached forward, as though to claw at the side of his metallic confinement, but there was no arm to move with his command.

"You have no body, at least not here." The voice commented. "It is quite remarkable that you're awake enough to experience this. I've never heard of such a case before, not a single one among all of the Princes so far."

The complement meant nothing to Izuku, who was still panicking. He thrashed about uselessly, expecting some binding, some resistance, or even some form of numbness. This sensation of dissolute absence was unlike anything he had ever experienced or had ever been described to him. Pain would have been better. In a blind fit of impotent fear, he willed more illumination into existence.

His forehead lit up with harsh green light, flooding the tank with visible green clarity. The paradox was palpable, that Izuku could emit light from his eyes and his forehead, yet he had no body, no eyes, no forehead. The thought made him want to laugh with madness and anger, but he had no voice to convey his thoughts or feelings. He only had light.

Izuku poured more power into the light he was producing, drawing it from the deep well of essence inside his soul. The twisted brass trapping him grew partially translucent as it gave way to the intensity of Izuku's clarifying will. He could barely make out Katsuki's face and turned to face him. Even occluded by the metal wall between them, Izuku could make out the despair and rage that warped Katsuki's features, and the mask that covered the blonde's nose and mouth. He wished that Katsuki would tell him more about what was happening out there…

Out there? But Izuku was in Cecelyne's desert…

"He can hear me!" he heard Katsuki shout, triumph clearly audible in his voice. Who else was out there? Where was all this happening? What had happened to his mom and to All Might?

And who was the voice inside this metal water tank with him?

"I am the Prince that was, the previous bearer of the Exaltation that even now is bonding to your soul. I am the echo within that shard, the immortal remains of a life well lived, I might add." There was a hint of amused laughter, of depth and wisdom in that voice. "This however is no time for introductions, especially dangerous ones…"

"Dangerous?!" Izuku was alarmed but also angry at the vague hints the new voice dropped. After everything Izuku had been through, an introduction hardly seemed dangerous. It sounded like this new companion in his head was making up excuses. It wasn't wisdom this voice contained, just condescending self-importance.

"The Primordials will continue to prod and test you. They are relying on you being ignorant. If I reveal too much too soon, they may decide to kill you and cut their losses." The voice paused briefly, considering how to phrase something delicately. "It would be better for your survival to ignore your shouting companion over there and continue your metamorphosis… to pretend that this wasn't happening."

"Oh, fuck off!" Izuku was not one to casually curse, but the day he had had warranted it. He had been suicidal, then seduced, then whisked to another planet, then drowned, and finally chased by an insane wind and forced to kill his own clones. He had had enough bullshit for one day. "Adorjan already tried to kill me, or did you not know that?"

Their conversation was interrupted by a loud clang as Katsuki struck out against the metal separating them. "Answer me you fucker! Can you fucking hear me?! Do you remember what I said just now?! Deku! They kidnapped your mom! Do you get that you stupid pissant?! Your mom is a hostage! All Might is a hostage! Hell, Ingenium is dead! Is any of this registering, you little shit?!" The string of declarations was punctuated with another blow struck on the metallic walls, ringing clearly through the liquid inside. "Fuck!" the blonde declared.

Desperately, Izuku thrashed within his confines, only to splash against the metal interior. Light erupted from within him haphazardly, his frustration made manifest in a sputtering display of green light.

"You're wasting essence like that. Nothing you do will let anyone out there understand you. You have no voice, no body. You can't write. You can't shout. You can't even clap your hands… the only thing you have is the light of your anima." Once again, the condescending voice droned on.

Light. His light made it through the shell, even rendering it translucent in places where the light was the most intense. He called on the powers of Cecelyne, forcing his mind to move rapidly around the problem. "What… are you doing?" the voice was both concerned and bewildered as Izuku flared his anima, strobing it with microbursts of essence.

"I'm releasing a short burst of prime numbers using Morse code." Izuku stated flatly. He concentrated harder on the display of light, putting more essence into it.

"I see… but why use prime numbers?" the voice asked.

"To let whoever is out there know that it's not a random display of light, and to expect me to say something else." Izuku grew irritated with each passing moment stuck with this thing talking to him.

"You're trying to establish communication. Great. Well, as long as you're committed to this course of action, are you planning on saying anything you don't want the demons to know?" it sounded almost like it wanted to be helpful.

Unfortunately, it had said the wrong thing, causing new waves of panic within Izuku. "Demons?! What the fuck? Are you saying these things that have my mom… the things I've been talking to in the desert… are all demons?" That would also mean that the woman that had faith in Izuku and set him on this journey was a demon too. Izuku didn't want to think about that.

"No." the voice sounded annoyed. "The things in the desert? Those were Yozis, two of them. These things out here? These are demons. The demons work for the Yozis. They always send three demons of the Second Circle and a two cohorts worth of First Circle demons to each of them… to guard a new Prince and escort him back to Malfeas."

Three commanders? Two cohorts? "How many is that? How many is in a cohort?" Izuku demanded answers.

The voice clipped the answer at him. "One hundred demons per cohort. Three fifths of a Legion in total."

So many… why so many?!

Reading his thoughts, the voice volunteered. "To protect you from other Exalted, the forces of Creation… or to put you down if you prove to be an unsuitable host for the Exaltation."

Izuku released a new set of signals off in Morse, a simple message saying that he could hear them. "These demons… the one I met spoke to me in my native Japanese. Can they speak any language? Can they crack human codes?"

There was the mental feeling of a shrug. "Some demons have a knack for languages. Most don't. If they were selected to come to your world though they would have been taught to speak to you in your native tongue. Why?"

In my native language, Izuku thought to himself. There was a good chance that these things wouldn't know any other languages. He wasn't the best student of English, but it might be his only shot. "I can hear you. Stop. Please hold on. Stop. Yes, I can hear you. Stop. I am coming. Stop." He droned the words out slowly in English as he released the correct bursts of essence fueled light.

Everything felt hot, like he was in the center of a furnace. The warmth was comfortable, though. Izuku could see the light grow and stretch around him, first from his forehead and then from every cell in his liquified body. The light rendered the entire shell opaque to his senses. His range of vision dramatically increased, and he could make out not only Bakugou Katsuki but also nine others. There were three professional heroes, three young women, and three middle aged men. "What is going on?" he mused to himself as he took in the vision.

"Your anima has flared fully to life after it's been infused with essence. If no one noticed your communication attempt before there is no way they'll miss this." The voice was accompanied by a general suggestion, a prodding to look around. It was almost as if Izuku could see someone stand next to him and watch them gesture at the sights.

Those thoughts were dismissed by the sights themselves. "I'm making all of this? This is my power's doing?" he asked, taking in the great corona of green fire, the hologram of the desert, and the wind currents moving within the barrier of his own corona.

"This is you. This is your soul on display… or at least part of it." The voice commented.

"Hey! Deku! What the fuck is up with the sandy projection! If you can make a light show in there use it to do something useful! Use words you fucking dumbass!" Katsuki interjected himself into Izuku's private conversation with…

Izuku chose to ignore Katsuki for a moment and continued his display of coded light signals. There were more pressing issues than Katsuki's temper. "Who are you? If you want me to take one more thing you say seriously, you'd better give me something to latch onto. A name. A title. Something." Izuku's patience had worn thin. He had to get as much information about the current situation as possible so he could figure out how to save his mom.

"Call me Takeru." The voice said.

Izuku knew this was not the voice's actual name. It was the name of a legendary Japanese prince from a bygone era, a name that had been recycled many times in the history of Japan. He strongly doubted that this disembodied voice belonged to a Japanese man, especially since he had already claimed to be a prior Prince… ah, there it was, a play on words. At least the voice understood the Japanese love of word games. By naming himself after a prior and legendary prince of Japan, he basically had given a name that meant only that he was a Prince prior to Izuku. "Fine, Takeru. It's good to meet you. I assume I'll get to know your real name when I'm safely out of this…"

"Chrysalis. Specifically, this is a Chrysalis Grotesque. Delightful name, isn't it?" There was honey in Takeru's words, but not enough to hide the sarcasm. He pointedly didn't answer Izuku's question.

If Izuku could roll his eyes, he probably would. Instead he focused on translating his thoughts to English and then to Morse. "I am coming to save you all. Stop. I will make this right. Stop. Tell my mother that I am coming to save her. Stop. Yes, I can hear you. Stop."

"Those are some very lofty promises for someone without a physical body, Izuku." Takeru pointed out. "The metamorphosis takes five day's per Creation's calendar… 125 hours, which thankfully are the same hours as in your world."

"What?! No! My mother is a hostage! I need to get out there! Now! I have the powers of Adorjan and Cecelyne! I can save her!" Izuku shouted into the chasms of his own mind. Emotional pressure built within him.

"No, Izuku." Takeru spoke calmly, soothingly. "You have only a tiny fraction of their power, just enough power to hold your own in a fight against their foot soldiers, but not against those kinds of numbers, most certainly not against the three demons leading the rest. And even if you burst out there and raise hell, you'll simply be branded a failure of a Prince. Even if you avoid death or capture, your world will be scheduled for conquest by another older Prince with more power than you have. That other Prince will kill you, and then enslave your world, likely killing everyone you know in the process. Also, before you say you'll beat the other Prince, be aware that they won't show up alone to kill you. They'll bring entire legions of demons, and probably an allied Prince or three."

"There has to be something I can do! Something this power is good for!" Izuku demanded. He refused to give into despair. It didn't matter if the odds were stacked against him. He still had to try.

For his mother, he had to try. Maybe for All Might too, but mostly… it was for his mom.

The voice of Takeru spoke grimly, urgently. "Listen to me carefully, Izuku. There might be a way to help them… to save them. Every single step of this plan is risky enough that you might die in the process… and through it all the Yozis will continue to prod you and test you. To them you will always be a weapon, a thing to control. They will ply you with drugs, sex, and any other meaningless pleasure they can… and threaten you and everyone you love, like your mother. Pleasure and fear are their preferred goads of control… but you must appear to indulge, to give in. If they believe that you are going rogue, they will kill you, and not in the sportsmanlike way that Adorjan toyed with you. If they want you dead, you are too weak right now to stop them. They are too powerful, and their armies are inexhaustibly infinite. You must be subversive; you must advance their plan and foil their efforts from within. You must bow and make deals and take as much power from the Yozis as they will offer, then grasp for even more. This is the way it must be for the rest of your life. Do you understand? Do you understand that there can be no final victory, only battles that delay and frustrate them? Because if you decide to go out in a blaze of glory and die some heroic death or fight this battle in a stupid way while telling yourself that your optimism will somehow win the day, then I won't help you. I'll burrow my consciousness deeper into this Exaltation and wait for another Prince to be chosen, a smarter one. Now: do you understand?"

Izuku was shocked by this complete reversal. This snarky voice may be an ally. Some of Takeru's message didn't sit well with Izuku, of course. Could he spend the rest of his life as a saboteur, working to aid an enemy that stood against everything he believed in while also working to frustrate their plans? Could he be a villain when needed, and a hero when he could get away with it? The thought disgusted him… but if he didn't agree to this, he had no way of knowing what would happen to his mother. "I have just one question… well, two actually: why are you offering to help me, and why should I trust you?"

"Ah, yes. The truth, as briefly as I can put it…" the voice paused. Izuku could feel in the back of his mind a storm of raw emotion. Regret and self-hatred were in the eye of that storm, feelings Izuku understood or at least thought he did. "I was a Green Sun Prince, as you know… and in nearly two centuries of service I committed many atrocities in the name of the Yozis, things I do not care to repeat or remember. I did it all without question, without compromise, and without flinching… and in the end, I found out that it was all for a great lie. You see… they didn't just tempt me with sex or goad me with fear… they altered my memories until I could be used as a weapon against everything I should have loved. That is why I will help you: my revenge." The bitterness in Takeru's voice grated at the back of Izuku's mind. The feelings were too raw and too real, and Izuku knew he could believe this man… this former villain.

Izuku was afraid to ask, but he had to know. "How did you die, Takeru?"

Sadness. Loss. Emotions overwhelmed Izuku's mind. "When I turned on my masters… I believed that I could rally the other Princes to rebel. Instead I was murdered by my closest friends and lovers, people I thought I could trust. By now my territory, artifacts, servants… all of it has been doled out, spoils of war split between valiant defenders of the cause." His words were like bile, yet it was not anger that supplied that sensation, but a raw visceral pain from love's betrayal.

Izuku now understood far better what he was up against. He may be empowered, but he was up against an enemy that had other such soldiers with more power than he possessed, and demons beyond counting at their beck and call. One misstep, one show of disloyalty at the wrong time, and it would all be over: not just for him, but for everyone and everything in Izuku's world. He couldn't allow that. He had to fight back, as intelligently and as shrewdly as possible. He mustered up his willpower, steeling himself for actions that he knew would violate everything he believed in.

"I understand, Takeru. I am ready. Instruct me: how do I… how do we fight back?" Izuku asked.

If it was possible, Izuku would have liked to see the smile on Takeru's face. "First: we establish some basic facts. Then: we commit Heresy."


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The voice was hollow, a computerized rendition of a stereotypical Japanese youth. "I am coming to save you all. Stop. I will make this right. Stop. Tell my mother that I am coming to save her. Stop. Yes, I can hear you. Stop."

Katsuki didn't want to admit to himself how much Deku's mechanical words meant to him. "He's… talking to us." He breathed out the words, hardly believing it.

"It turns out your friend knows Morse code." Eraserhead mused out loud.

"Yo. Deku! What's up with you using English?! And since when do you know Morse code?" Katsuki shouted.

The lights shifted inside the shell, and with only a minimal delay the computerized voice spoke again, transmitting from a garage halfway across Japan. "They might be watching. Stop. Listening. Stop. If they believe we are actively communicating. Stop. They will kill you. Stop. Now. Stop. I have questions for the heroes. Stop."

Eraserhead stepped forward. Behind him, Gang Orca gestured for his earpiece to be returned. Katsuki begrudgingly relented. "This is Eraserhead. I'll answer what I can. Our time is limited though. There's a ceasefire, and the enemy will come here soon to reclaim your shell, and you with it." He normally wouldn't talk so bluntly to a hostage like this, but he wasn't sure how clearly or concisely he needed to communicate just to be heard.

The lights seemed to dance inside as the three primary lights turned to focus on him. "Good to meet you Eraserhead. Stop. Midoriya Izuku. Stop. Do you know the names of the enemy commanders? Stop." The computer said, translating the words without inflection.

"Sondok." Eraserhead blurted. "Anyone here remember the name of the other one? Anyone in Support got it?" he asked around him and over the comm system. Momo supplied the answer to him before the Support Corps did, and he repeated. "And Mahbagodeth."

There was a pause, darkness. Then once again the lights flared up. "Sondok is an honorable opponent. Stop. She will seek worthy opponents to duel. Stop. Beware her hound and her Crown. Stop. The hound shares her senses and can swap locations with her. Stop. The crown allows her to summon explosions at will. Stop. Mahbagodeth has no moral compass. Stop. He will turn humans into ink and paper for his scroll collection. Stop. Beware his long-range attacks. Stop. His sorcery is not to be underestimated. Stop. He is a coward. Stop."

Eraserhead marveled at this information. How could this kid know so much while trapped inside this shell? Midnight and Gang Orca immediately got onto their comm systems and relayed the information, trying to see if it was possible for someone to retrieve the crown from the apartment rooftop.

"You only identified two of them. Stop." The droning voice said. "Do you know the name of or can you describe the third? Stop. Describe the breed of each type of soldier. Stop."

Cold sweat clung to Eraserhead's brow and neck. A third? "We've only encountered two commanders, and two breeds of soldier: wasps and large apes."

"Be warned. Stop. A third commander and more soldiers remain incorporeal. Stop. They always come in threes. Stop. You described Blood Apes and Paper Wasps. Stop. Blood Apes are the rank and file soldiers of Malfeas. Stop. They are brutal and organized. Stop. They hate humans with a passion and will seek to kill or devour humans whenever their orders will allow. Stop. Paper Wasps work exclusively for Mahbagodeth. Stop. They are a smaller specialized breed of wasp that turn flesh into vellum. Stop. Beware their sting. Stop. There is no cure. Stop." The monotone machine droned on. "What are the terms of the ceasefire? Stop. How did Ingenium die? Stop."

After explaining what he knew of Ingenium's demise, Eraserhead went into some detail about Inko's capture and All Might's deal, about trading himself for the other hostages, but his answer did not seem to satisfy Izuku. His reply was scathing. "There is no reason they would make that deal with All Might. Stop. They don't see you as enemies. Stop. To them you are a resource or prey. Stop. Is there anything you are missing or that you skipped? Stop."

Midnight stepped forward. "Your mother made a deal, a prayer, to someone called Celine?"

"Cecelyne. Stop. That explains everything that I need to know. Stop." The shell seemed to give in to darkness as the lights inside died down.

"What are you all doing to the Shining Prince?" a silken voice whispered to all of them. The heroes and their deputies turned this way and that to look for the source, and eventually found her across the street outside the glaring glow of the corona that surrounded them.

She stepped out of the shadows as though a black silk curtain parted way for her to walk onto a stage. By outward appearance she was a tall and beautiful Japanese woman in a traditional kimono from an earlier era. The green and gold fabric swished across the ground as she moved yet somehow remained immaculately clean. Her hair was long, dark, and straight. Her makeup rendered her skin pale, with a small dash of red paint to make her mouth seem smaller than it was, while her eyebrows were painted higher than would be natural. If not for her startlingly blue eyes, she would fit in wonderfully at a traditional fair that showcased historical Japanese attire. Gesturing at them with her outstretched fan, she smiled, pleasantly revealing her black painted teeth.

Izuku's lights within the Chrysalis flared and flickered as the main three turned to regard the newcomer. The two lights at the bottom of the triangle seemed to snuff out. "She is Mara. Stop. Dangerous. Stop. Stay within the corona. Stop. She will kill you. Stop." The message was not comforting and felt rushed. The lights stopped flickering. The automated voice went silent.


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Once more Izuku clawed his way up and out of the sands. Again, he was greeted with the blistering heat of the Green Sun. Blessedly though, he could hear the breeze. The Silent Wind, Adorjan, was not here. He was alone, unless you counted the vastness of Cecelyne as companionship. Or the voice in his head.

"You're sure she's not listening, not watching?" Izuku asked Takeru, thinking the question rather than speaking it.

"Her attention is divided among too many facets of reality at once. Besides, we're not talking out loud. Now, are you ready?" Takeru asked with unstated gravity behind his words.

Izuku paused. "No… you're sure there isn't another way to do this?" he was rightfully afraid.

Takeru prodded his mind. "I am completely sure. Now, just as we discussed, manifest the blade-form of Freedom Lets Go."

Focusing his essence, dipping into the pool of power within himself, Izuku created the same golden knife that Adorjan had once handed him. As he held it, he could feel the chains that connected to his own heart, felt them thrum and sing as they dragged buried weights in the desert beneath him. He paused with trepidation, then activated Hellskry Chakra. The blade glowed in his hand, it's light piercing his third eye. The chains, now visible, shone with their own golden light.

"This plan sucks." Izuku muttered out loud, while also focusing the words in his mind at Takeru, the Prince-that-was.

"It's either this or simply continue on your way without offering any help at all. Now, do you want to buy them time or not? It makes no difference to me. My main goal is to ensure you survive long enough to be a thorn in the Yozis' collective backsides. A few dead friends and relatives might actually motivate you to get off your ass and execute a plan, hmmm?" the snark had returned in full, oozing out of every word.

"And you've done this before?" Izuku asked, skipping past the barbs and insults he wanted to retort with.

"Well… not exactly, no." Takeru said without apology. "I used this trick for crafting and for meditation… maybe some combat here and there… and other pet projects, but never for interacting with the Chrysalis like this."

"What?! So, this is all just… a fucking guess? You're just hoping this crazy idea works?!" Izuku was beyond angry.

"It's a workable theory, but please recall you're the first Prince to ever be awake during their time in the Chrysalis. We're in uncharted territory as it is. Now… are you going to do it or not?" Takeru prompted.

Izuku held the blade with both hands, pointing it toward himself. This sucked. This entire plan was fucked up. "But you did do this part, right? The stabbing part? And you were fine afterward?"

Tekeru spoke sagely to him, with no small amount of condescension in his tone. "Yes. As I said, this is just an unusual use for the Charm, but this is how you activate it. Now, focus on the image as we discussed. Think of 'it' like a tree, one that you must cut vertically. Alright, better get to it. The demons aren't going to wait for you before slaughtering those heroes."

Izuku focused hard on the blade and opened the eye of his chakra wide. This was going to hurt. This felt like he was about to kill himself… he calmed himself, steadied his breathing. If he could find the courage to jump off a rooftop, then he could do this. He could, he told himself.

His first attempt was a false start. The knife didn't even touch his skin.

"What the hell was that?" Takeru spouted at him.

"This is hard!" Izuku shouted.

"No." Takeru spoke to him, anger evident in his voice. "This is necessary. This is to save the lives of anyone and everyone you care about. This is a set of instructions given to you by your predecessor, who had to invent this on his own. Now, successor: do it. And don't ever back off at the last second like you just did ever again. Remember that you are Exalted and nothing is impossible. And remember to focus your essence properly."

I am Exalted, Izuku told himself. Nothing is impossible.

The knife was pointed directly at his head, directly at his own open third eye. He could see it in excruciating detail.

"I am Exalted. Nothing is impossible." He spoke the words out loud.

He thought about his mother. She needed him. This was the only way to reach her in time.

"Divided Chakra Shintai" he whispered the words aloud, imagining the tree that connected every chakra in his body. Then he shouted, angrily, focusing his rage so that he could overcome his own survival instincts.

Izuku stabbed himself deep within his forehead. The essence knife bisected his chakra cleanly, leaving his physical body mostly intact, though there was a slight trickle of blood. Already he felt strange, like he was cross-eyed and nauseous. This feeling was somehow worse. It was also painful. "Fuck!" he shouted. "That fucking hurts!"

"Good." Takeru said, encouraging him. "Now you just have to keep cutting vertically down the rest of the tree.

Izuku wanted to stop. He wanted to give up. He didn't though. He pressed onward, forcing the blade down through the chakras in his throat and then his chest. With each one he felt worse and worse, and his mind felt less and less focused. "Just a bit more…" he uttered, blood tricking from his mouth. "Fuck…" he exhaled. He didn't even understand how he was still alive after jamming a knife into his own brain, much less cutting through his face and neck… but he did know that this hurt worse than anything he had ever done… but it still wasn't as bad as Adorjan tearing his skin and muscles off.

"I can do this…" he said, spitting blood onto the sand. "I am Exalted… nothing is impossible…"

Whatever it was that Takeru said next was a blur to him.


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Gang Orca decided to take point between this newcomer and the remainder of their party and chose to stand just within the barrier of light created by Izuku's corona. To his dismay his young deputy, Katsuki, stood nearby behind him. "We're just curious, is all. The creatures we were fighting all ran away, and then this thing here started lighting up in a huge display. We were wondering how the two were connected. Are you lost, miss? Do you need me to call in transportation for you, to get you to a safe place?"

If needed, Gang Orca would continue to play dumb to her human subterfuge and sacrifice himself to get her away from the rest of the group. He simply hoped that he was good enough at acting that she would believe he was stupid… that the enemy looked down on them enough to believe they were, all of them, utter fools.

She did not take the bait. Her voice rang out smoothly, projecting outward like a songstress would enunciate across a stage. "The terms of the ceasefire are quite clear. We are coming to take possession of the Chrysalis. You 'heroes' will not interfere. Resist and die. Organize a bothersome resistance, and we will also kill All Might. Now… step out of my way, human." As menacing as her words were, they did not match her at all. Her tone was friendly, her posture and expression content if not flirtatiously polite.

Katsuki stared at the woman with rapt fascination. Pieces were clicking into place in his head. "You… you and I… you've spoken to me before, back at the apartment complex!" he announced his revelation with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer.

She refocused her attention onto the young blonde, "Ah yes, I remember you. Bakugou, isn't it? Are you enjoying the festivities?" She had the nerve to giggle at him as though she were a naïve flirt.

As he stepped forward, Gang Orca placed a hand on the young man's shoulder. "Stay inside the light." The older hero ordered his deputy.

That command caused the mysterious woman's face to twitch ever so slightly. "Excuse me, I was talking to young Bakugou." She said. There were daggers encased in honey by her words.

Bakugou stopped just at the edge of the corona and was less than a meter away from her. She was a bit shorter than he was. "I liked blowing up those ape monsters, if that's what you're asking." He couldn't help but smirk while bragging to a good-looking woman like this, even if her clothing was so old fashioned, and her mouth was totally freaky looking.

She smiled sweetly at him before gesturing at the Chrysalis. "I was referring to the culmination of all of your hard work, young Bakugou…" he turned his head to look over his shoulder, wondering what the hell she was talking about. She continued, refocusing his attention as well as of those around them. "You did a wonderful job. If you hadn't broken his spirit so thoroughly, we wouldn't have been able to remake him into such a wonderful Prince."

Ochako gasped in the background, saying nothing. Momo and Mina also pieced the puzzle together, wide eyed in horror. The adults took it all in stoically. They all had wondered what kind of friend would speak the way Bakugou had. His obscene shouting and rapid strikes stretched beyond even the abnormally violent or mocking expressions of male camaraderie.

Katsuki for his part did not enjoy the attention he was getting. "I didn't break shit! Besides, why would you want some Quirkless weakling like Deku? You could have picked someone much stronger to be your fucking Prince… hell, you could have picked me." He tried to turn the whole conversation around.

Her smile seemed disarmingly genuine. "Oh, you poor thing. You don't even understand how powerful the codes built into you are. Your entire world doesn't even understand what a hero is. Instead you're all wrapped up in this larger than life fantasy, but it isn't heroism. It's just a power trip, and nothing more."

She sighed as she shook her head, yet her smile remained. "Heroes don't rise from their own strength, you silly, idiotic boy. They rise after being beat down by a tyrant much stronger than them. And they do it repeatedly, winning victories for others… Prince Izuku was not chosen because of some latent power. Our masters already have all the power they could ever need. He was chosen because of his own heroic drive… and because your world chose to break him, allowing us to rebuild him in our own image. You played your role well and fulfilled the basic programming Cecelyne and the Ebon Dragon instilled into your genes. I must thank you for that."

She had the nerve to smile and bow to him, to thank him for… for bullying Deku. "Oh, fuck off! People get picked on all the time. Weak ass losers get it more than most: so what? Deku didn't break because of the world. He broke because he was weak. You're fucked in the head if you think that makes him somehow useful to you."

Eraserhead didn't know whether to hit this stupid kid or bury his own face in his hands. At least this conversation was buying them time for… for what? More time to live while this light surrounded them? It was clear to him and the other heroes that the moment any of them stepped beyond this corona of emerald light that this new enemy would kill them. He halfway expected her beautiful visage to be an illusion, but he wouldn't be surprised if she could stay in the form of a beautiful woman while decapitating them. It had been just that kind of a day.

The blue-eyed beauty smiled prettily, gazing at Bakugou to the exclusion of the others as she stood at the periphery beyond the luminous barrier. "All too true. It is as Cecelyne has written: the strong shall rule over the weak. Also, as the Ebon Dragon has declared: cruelty is the currency of the powerful. You embody these mandates quite well. I'm sure you'll pass my test and prove yourself stronger than 'Deku' ever was. I'm sure all of you will pass." Glancing around at the rest of them, her smile became a thing of joy, like she was about to share a sweet treat with an adorable child.

"What fucking test?" Bakugou took the bait, sneering. Of course he did, the idiot boy, thought Eraserhead.

She unfolded her fan, revealing a rustic pattern with a long green dragon coiling through the leaves of a gilded forest. "I don't have time to simulate the years of torment you inflicted upon the Shining Prince, so I'll have to break you in a much more direct way: I'm going to kill your mother while you watch. It'll be so fun!" she giggled.

"You bitch! You're bluffing! You…" the young blond could hardly think straight. His vision became a red haze of unquenching fury.

Bakugou was clearly about to lose it, Gang Orca and Eraserhead could both see it. Before he could charge across the threshold, the larger hero restrained the young man while Eraserhead strode forward, placing himself squarely in front of the kimono wearing woman.

"I'm pretty sure the terms of the ceasefire would prevent you from going through with that threat." Eraserhead stated flatly.

She batted her eyes at him as though he had just said something scandalous. "The terms also say you heroes won't interfere as we reclaim the Chrysalis. As you pry apart the terms of the oath, you tear open loopholes for us to use as well, human. I can see the threads of fate that tie you all to your loved ones elsewhere. Even now, my soldiers are moving to capture them. All of them. They have nothing but free time during this temporary peace, after all, and I want to give them something to play with."

"Why are you doing this?" Eraserhead managed to keep calm even as the hearts and minds of everyone around him dropped into pits of despair, each of them likely worried about whoever they all feared would be captured. For him, he was worried about his students more than anyone else. He feared that she could read minds, so he tried to think about anyone or anything else but those promising heroes-to-be.

She smiled demurely. "It is as my master said: cruelty is the currency of the powerful. I want all of you to feel the bitter irony of your own powerlessness before you die." The jovial inflection of her voice never wavered, never gave in to the acrid hatred her words implied.

Her kimono swished about her feet as she turned. She shifted her posture just slightly; her eyes widened. "Oh! It looks like my soldiers have found the first contestant for our little game! Fortunately, she was close by." Her giggle was infuriating to listen to.

Bakugou feared the worst. His heart threatened to stop. He struggled hard against Gang Orca's grip. "Let me go! Let go!" he repeated, madness consuming him. Then he watched, wide eyed with horror as a set of wasps flew in, carrying the limp form of a woman. The darkness gave way to reveal her face as they neared the corona surrounding the Chrysalis.

Bakugou's body went limp with exhaustion. Adrenaline drained from his emotions, he was practically limp and hollow. He didn't recognize the woman. It wasn't his mother.

"Mom!" Ochako screamed. "No!" she screamed from within her father's tight embrace.

It was Ochako's mother.

The wasps dragged her closer to the corona of light before placing her next to the woman in the green kimono. The newcomer was awake; she looked about with hazy glassed over eyes. Some form of intoxication had clearly befuddled her senses.

The woman in green turned her attention toward Ochako and her father. "Watch carefully, child." She said with the care one would use before explaining something important like how to properly cross the street. "Watch as your mother is killed. It's a sight so few get to appreciate."

Ochako screamed at tears flooded her eyes. Madness consumed her mind as she watched one of those dreadful beasts move its long stinger to the back of her mother's head. "No! Please no!"

Air left her lungs. It was only after a moment of confusion that she understood why. He father had pushed her hard into Midnight's arms, rendering her briefly weightless in order to enhance his own push. She watched with horror as her father launched forward toward the woman in green, toward the giant wasps, towards her mother. Her own momentum, her rough landing on top of Midnight, rendered her helpless.

Time seemed to slow down. Ochako watched as Eraserhead was shoved aside by her father, caught unawares by the attack from behind. There was no one between her father and the woman in green…

Whose smile grew wider with anticipation as Ochako's father charged closer and closer. Ochako knew that this was the outcome the woman wanted, for each of them to charge recklessly at her. Her father probably knew it too. He couldn't just stand there though. No one could, Ochako reasoned.

Scrambling up off Midnight, she tried to join the charge, only to have the older woman pin her to the ground. Ochako didn't know what she screamed out in that moment, or if there were words at all. She watched helplessly as the two most important people in her world were about to die violently.

The corona of light flashed to a greater brightness, suddenly flooding the street with white hot illumination. She heard rather than watched as the Chrysalis seemed to fall over onto its side, if any part of it could be considered its top, and then it rolled, dragged, and scraped along the ground. It all happened so quickly. Thunder clapped around them as a streak of lighting seemed to erupt from behind her out to the coronal edge in front of her, in front of her father. The blast knocked her father and Eraserhead back and off their feet completely, and even sent Gang Orca hurtling backward with Katsuki in tow. Farther from the edge, Ochako and the others were able to stand the shockwave that emerged…

From where he appeared.

As the coronal light around them dimmed back to the bright green display that it was before, all Ochako could see was a tall muscular figure composed of the same green light as the desert sands they all rested on. He dominated her vision, as though her eyes would not follow her own commands for more than a few moments at a time. His back, gluteal, arm, and leg muscles were holographically carved as though by a sculptor. Other than a pair of bracers on his forearms, she didn't see a single scrap of clothing on him. A long cascade of messy green hair descended behind him, obscuring the area between his shoulder blades.

Like the other projections, he was partially see-through. She could make out an alignment of stars, one higher than the next, that climbed up the center of his being from his groin to the top of his head. Even from behind, his forehead glowed with a burning intensity, as did his eyes. It was as if he was a creature made of green fire. That fire ignited the world around him, spreading the corona of emerald light farther out, enveloping the monsters that held onto her mother, embracing her in the warm light as well.

Ochako's mother recoiled from the light's embrace.

Ochako's eyes returned completely to her control. Finally free to understand what happening, Ochako wept as the face of her mother melted away, her form replaced with a dark leathery creature… a vaguely human shaped thing which scrambled away. The wasps let it go and flew away themselves, leaving only the woman in green. The thing that was… no, the thing that once resembled her mother, ran in fear from the light.

Uncaring for just a moment about how it had happened, she was consumed by relief. Her mother wasn't a captive, and her father was safe. Once Midnight let her go, Ochako crawled over to where he still lay on the ground and the two embraced as they cried.

Izuku spared the young woman and the older man to his left a brief glance before turning all his attention to the demon in front of him. She had retreated just enough to remain beyond the new boundary of his projected anima. He could see both her human disguise and the demon herself in her true form. "Mara, how good to see you. It has been too long." He spoke in formal Malfean to her, relying on memories of Takeru's prior interactions with her.

Under the examination of his opened third eye, her beautiful human visage gave way to a doe-like face, thin and dark. Horns raised from behind her head before turning forward. Her glorious green kimono tarnished and faded before his eyes into a plain grey robe, as her fan turned into a collection of black bladed daggers. Her cleft hooves stamped nervously under his gaze. "Prince Izuku," she said. "I'm so happy to see you as well. We did not expect your appearance for so many more days…"

"You have made too much noise, Mara, and have disturbed my metamorphosis. I was dancing with Adorjan when you rattled me awake…" he spoke to her with untamed venom in his voice as he gazed round at all the destruction, the piles of rubble, and the desecrated streetscape.

Mara looked nervous to him. That could also possibly be anticipation before combat, he realized. "There were some issues we had to resolve, Shining Prince. There is no reason for you to be roused from your slumber or your visions of the Creators…" her unstated question, just how he had awoken before his time was due, remained hanging in the air between them.

Izuku then turned his full attention to her, as he skipped past her own voracious appetite for knowledge. "I believe it is customary to bow to the new Prince when he first emerges."

The dark skin around her thin animalistic mouth stretched as Mara smiled at him. The smile had no impact on her hauntingly hollow blue eyes. With a gesture of her fanned blades, she reminded him of the Chrysalis that lay behind him, uncracked, unbroken, and still occupied. "When you emerge, dear Prince… only then, as per the custom, will we bow."