AS we continued to spar with the Hero Killer, I could feel my body starting to ache from the blades and my quirk.

The hEro Killer was somehow evading both sides at once. And getting way too close.

Crap, I can't dodge at this range.

The Hero Killer's blade was inches from cutting my left arm clean off.

"Hasn't anyone ever told you relying too much on your quirk makes you sloppy."

"He's a monster," I gasped through gritted teeth.

From behind me, Iida flew into action, kicking the Hero Killer's blade in half with his Recipro Burst and saving me within seconds, driving the Hero Killer back.

"Iida!" called the paralyzed Midoriya.

"It wore off," I muttered. This guy's quirk isn't so great after all."

"Todoroki, Midoriya," said Iida, in a slightly new tone. "This had nothing to do with e other of you, so I'm sorry."

"Not that again," groaned Midoriya.

"That's why I swear I won't let you two lose any more blood here," he said. I understood then. He'd heard me.

"It's no use pretending," the Hero Killer snarled back. "A person's true nature is not so easily changed. You're a fake who prioritized his own selfish desires! A cancer on this society warped by heroes! Someone must teach you a lesson."

"So you're a fundamentalist?" I snapped, annoyed. "Iida, don't even think of listening to his so-called reasoning."

"No," said Iida. "He's right. I have no right to call myself a hero. Still, I won't let him break me. Because if I break, then Ingenium's truly dead."

"You're hopeless." The Hero Killer was rushing us now. Another fire blast was needed to keep him at bay.

"Idiot!" cried the Pro Hero. "The Hero Killer's only after me and that dude in the white armor. Stop fighting back, just get out of here."

"I don't think he'd let me run, even if I wanted to," I returned. "He went through a clear change a minute ago. He's all fired up too." The whole blood type thing adds an element of uncertainty. Plus, he's got to get close, and it doesn't last long. His quirk isn't what makes him so strong. I bet he tries to avoid fighting multiple opponents at once. Before the pros show up, he's desperate to kill Iida and this other guy. The intel suggested he might be scared off, bu far from that, he's gotten even more serious. This insane tenacity!

"Todoroki!" called Iida. "Can you regulate your temperatures?"

"I'm not really used to my left, but why?"

"I need you to freeze my leg for me without plugging the exhaust."

"Stop interfering!" cried the Hero Kller. A knife was flying at me again - but Iida had leapt in the way and taken the dagger in his own arm.

"Stay down!" screamed the villain, throwing yet another one - a bigger one, at Iida's oustretched arm. I called his name, almost panicking.

"Just do it, quickly!" he cried back at me. Obeying - the hero killer above, seconds from impaling us - I reached out my right hand to Iida's leg, and froze it precisely.

"There!" I called. Iida stood, and jumped upwards. At the same time, Midoriya - who it seemed and recovered again - flew from the other end of the alleyway. Both hit the Hero Killer at the same time, Iida with a kick, Midoriya with a punch.

"Go, guys," I murmured with a smile.

THe Hero Killer again swiped at Iida with a sword, but this time Iida dodged.

"I will defeat you, Stain," he cried, "Because you are ae criminal! And I am a hero!"

They all had fallen quickly - I caught them with ice and Midoriya and Iida slid to safety, while the ice trapped the Hero Killer.

"Get up, he's still - " I began, but then I saw…

"He's out cold," said Midoriya, as we stood there staring at the prone body of our unconscious enemy.

"Let's tie him up and get him out to the main road," I said. "See any sort of rope we can use?" If I keep him on ice, he'll probably shatter his own body the second he wakes up.

"We should take all his weapons too, just in case," said Midoriya.

A few minutes later, we were dragging the villain towards the street.

"Of course we'd find rope in a trash filled alleyway," I reflected.

"Todoroki, let me drag him," said Iida.

"Your arms are all messed up, though."

"Sorry," said the Pro Hero, who was now carrying Midoriya thanks to his injured leg. "I'm supposed to be a pro, but all I did was get in the way."

"Don't sweat it," said Midoryia. "It would've happened to anyone in a one on one against the hero killer and his quirk. He's so strong."

"Even in a three-on-one fight," I added, "we just barely won because he screwed up. He probably got so mad that he forgot about the effect wearing off on Midoriya. And then he wasn't able to dodge Iida's last receptor, or Midoriya's assault."

WE'd made to to the street, and suddenly were approached by a tiny old man in a white and yellow costume. When he spotted Midoriya, he screamed "why're you here?!"

"Gran Torino!" cried Midoriya. The pro leaped forward, and with Iida's speed, he kicked Midoryia in the face.

"I told you to stay on the bullet train!" he reprimanded, then added, "Well, I'm glad you're not dead at least."

Another voice called "Is this the alley?"

A group of pro heroes had arrived, at last, a few minutes too late. They gathered around us.

"We got a backup request from Endeavor, but…"

"Kids?"

"They're badly hurt. Call an ambulance."

"Hey, is that the Hero Killer?"

"So he's…Endeavor's still over there fighting, then?" I asked, glancing towards the old chaos.

"Oh they, those Nomu," said Midoriya.

"Yes," said a blonde female pro nearby. "Those of us whose quirks had no effect on those villains came to help you guys.

From behind us, Iida came forward. "Both of you were wounded because of me." He bowed. "I'm so terribly sorry." I could see then that he was crying. "I - was blind. I lost sight of everything."

"No, I'm sorry too," said Midoriya. "I couldn't tell at all that you were so upset about it. And 'm supposed to be your friend."

"Get it together," I told him. "You're the class rep."

Iida wiped his tears away. "Yes…"

"GET DOWN!" came a cry from nearby us.

It happened before we could even process what was going on. One of the Nomu flew down from the sky and seized -

"MIDORIYA!?" I cried, in a panic, as the creature flew skyward faster than I could comprehend, carrying Midoriya in its claws.

Everyone was panicking. Too high for fire to reach - what -

The Hero Killer had cut loose his bonds and licked the cheek of the blond pro. But rather than her falling - the flying Nomu was descending instead -

"BOTH THIS SHAM-FILLED SOCIETY, AND THE CRIMINALS WHO WIELD THEIR POWER IN THE NAME OF PETTY MISCHIEF ARE TARGETS OF MY PURGE," he cried, as he stabbed the Nomu through the head, and seized Midoriya for himself. "ALL FOR THE SAKE OF A BETTER SOCIETY."

THe pros around me were jittery. "He saved the kid?" 'No idiot, the boy's a hostage. This is an unrepentant murderer we're talking about." "Enough already, assume battle positions!"

"Why're you all bunched up together?" called a familiar voice. THe Old man had finally joined us. "One of them should've headed your way!"

'Endeavor, you're already finished?"

"More or less. I had to get a little rough…wait, is that…"

Midoriya was struggling and protesting as the Hero Killer held him down. THe villain turned and saw the old man with a malevolent grin.

"Endeavor…"

"Hero Killer!" said the old man, readying a fire blast.

'Wait, Todoroki!" called Midorwya's boss, Gran Torino.

"You false hero," snarled the villain as his mask slid away. That hideous visage - and the conviction coming out of it - froze us all in our tracks.

"If I don't fix this…if someone isn't stained with blood…if I don't reclaim my hero status…Come on, just try and stop me you fakes! There is only one man I'll let kill me, the true hero! All Might is worthy!"

We were paralyzed. No one could move. And then - the hero killer simply stopped. Out cold.

We learned later on that it wasn't a quirk. It was simply that one of his fractured ribs pierced his lung. No single one of us could bring ourselves to stand against him.