Death

by tmb1112

Death is a Quirk that can only kill. A perfect Quirk for a villain, but what if the boy who manifested that power just wanted to be a hero? Enrolling in U.A. might not be enough when all your Quirk can do is kill people. Follow Zach Sazaki from his first day in Class A on a story that spans years, as he learns to be a hero, finds out more about his Quirk, and too much to summarize!

244. Chapter 244

Disclaimer: I don't own Boku no Hero Academia

Chapter 244:

11 Years Ago

The nation of Japan long boasted the world's longest line of direct succession for its monarchs. Never in its history had the line known to have been broken. Then came the dawn of Quirks. And as the chaos grew in the time where more and more Quirks were discovered among the populace, the royal family itself remained Quirkless. Decades passed, and chaos grew as normal forms of law enforcement and militaries became obsolete in the face of the overwhelming power of Quirks.

Then, as the world's largest powers started to lose control over their populations, word from England reached Japan. The British Royal Family was famous for respecting the people who had early on developed Quirks. They had accepted their civilians both Quirkless and with Quirks as the same. Unfortunately, the royal family of England had long not had much power in actual politics in the country. As the British Parliament remained oppressive and attempted to keep track of every citizen in the country with a Quirk, putting them on specific registries and restricting access to government buildings, and then to national parks and monuments, they turned people with Quirks against those without. And as the divide separated more and more, with more showing Quirks than ever but still in a minority, a Prince of England bore twins of a son and daughter who each developed Quirks.

The reasoning for why the Royal Family had been quick to accept Quirk users was discovered. Conspiracy became more popular than the former existing idea that they were just very accepting people. Those conspiracies turned into ones that the Royal Family was somehow trying to take back power from the rest of the government. Chaos was already spreading. Those with Quirks now had leaders they could look to for help. Fear of the Royal Family using those children once they became older and more powerful spread through the rest of the populace. And a bastion of respect and diversity in a population shattered, as the mob stormed Buckingham Palace.

The slaughter of the British Royal Family was felt especially hard in Japan. The Imperial family had yet to have any children who developed Quirks, but rumors started to spread. People wondered if maybe the young princes and princesses actually had Quirks but their family hid those abilities to keep them safe from the same fate that befell England's own royalty. The chaos that arose in Japan was as bad as anywhere else in the world, if not worse. But the Imperial Family survived those centuries of devastation due to a few factors. Encompassing all those factors was their rapid ability to adapt. The Diet and the Imperial family in the early years of Quirks worked together for a means of developing special protection for the Emperor and his family.

Children who developed Quirks in Japan in the early years of Quirk discovery were taken to the Imperial Palace. Despite fear that existed across most of the population of these people with "superpowers," the Imperial Palace accepted that Quirks were just a scientific mutation that could be explained away. These children were still just children. And they were taken to the Palace, given better educations, and their families were paid large sums to allow their children to be brought there. Some did not have to be paid at all as many parents early on feared their own children who had developed strange powers, willfully handing them off to the government to be inducted into a new secret order that was kept hidden from the rest of the population for some time during its early years.

The Royal Guard of Japan was the earliest force of people with Quirks who could combat enemies who also had Quirks. Long before the foundation of any bounty hunter guild, and much earlier than the vigilantes fighting against villains became legitimized as heroes, the Royal Guard protected the Imperial Palace and the Royal Family. The Emperor maintained popularity among the regular people of Tokyo too by occasionally having the Royal Guard go out during times of incredible chaos. Days when the sky darkened and Quirk users tormented those without, and people fought in the streets and cities burned, the Royal Guard could be seen. Sent out by the Emperor to protect his people, while at the same time protecting himself and his family by keeping them in good favor with a population that they feared could turn on them at any moment.

The Imperial family had long traditions that spanned centuries. Some traditions lasted longer, millennia even. Over the past few hundred years though, the Emperor and his family attempted to keep as many of those traditions alive as possible. The ceremonial succession needed to remain to keep legitimacy of the family. It was a great way to keep the people of Japan united too. Even though the Imperial Family had never shown an heir to have a Quirk, they ruled over a country of Quirkless and people with Quirks. They had a special force of only Quirk-users trained and educated at the Palace and allowed to live there. One tradition that the family attempted to keep going, despite having a few years where it was impossible over the chaos, were the parades that occurred twice a year during holiday seasons.

The gates of the Imperial Palace would open. The park surrounding the Palace was often full of people. Police and vigilantes, and then heroes, would stand on the sides of the path to guard the procession as it passed by. The top Shinto priests followed the Emperor who was the leader of their religion. The servants of the Palace who were in these times the people who controlled the Emperor's wardrobe, his doctors, and all the various workers and gardeners who kept the Palace beautiful and a beacon of peace and prosperity of Japan, would take part in the procession. The Royal Guard would protect the family as they stepped out in the open, even though most years nothing would happen at such a heavily guarded event.

Eleven years before the Battle of Tokyo, the spring procession of the Imperial family had been interrupted. The procession moved from the gates of the Palace and started across the bridge. Right on the other end started police barriers that had officers on the outsides of them watching the people who all got close and some who leaned on those barriers but were told to let go if they leaned in too far. In the era of All Might, peace flourished across Japan and no one was expecting anything to go wrong. All Might himself was rumored to maybe show up today, and some people at the procession were actually just hoping to see him there rather than the Imperial family.

The Emperor came out first. He stood atop a float that had six of his Royal Guard on the lower section of it, leaving him alone at the top due to the unfortunate passing of his wife earlier that year. People called out to him before he reached them with their condolences. They waved towards the Emperor who stood atop his float and waved back at them, making eye contact with as many of his subjects as he could. The float was beautiful and had a driver in the front who also wore ceremonial and traditional garb like most others, even including the Royal Guard though many of their ceremonial outfits were just over their special costumes underneath that helped with their Quirks.

Inside the Palace was a school for the children of former Royal Guard members. Many of the Royal Guard themselves were as much a part of dynasties as the Imperial family. Their grandparents had served as Royal Guard as had their grandparents before them. They were loyal to their Emperor, and they were part of the procession but stayed on the lookout even during the traditional parade that usually went by without a hitch. Back behind the float of the Emperor, a second float emerged from the gates and the cheers got louder from people excited to see this one.

A six year old girl stood in her small kimono on top of her float that was covered in even more flowers than her father's. She heard the cheers and clapping, and for a few seconds she no longer had to pretend in order to keep that smile on her face. She was still sad about her mom, but she had been told by her caretakers and even approached by her father who got on one knee in front of her and explained how important it was that she smile and wave to their people. It was the first time she was doing this without her mom though, and after a few seconds her eyes lowered down sadly as she remembered her mom holding her last spring when she got tired of standing at the side of her mother's legs. Her mom had held her in her arms and asked her to keep waving for her since both of her arms were now full, and Princess Aya could remember waving around at everyone with a fresh burst of energy now that she no longer had to stand.

In front of Princess Aya, the Royal Guard member designated as her Head Guard glanced back from the front of the float he alone stood on. He had black hair with a touch of gray to it. The tall man was lean and his own hakama covered up the costume he had on underneath. "Are you okay, Princess?"

"Mm-hmm," she hummed back, lifting her gaze and then smiling brighter again and lifting her head back up. She lifted her right hand and started waving to the people at the end of the bridge they were nearing. "So many people," she whispered, suddenly seeing how far back the crowds stretched. Were there always so many?! Her eyes were wide, and she turned to the right too and waved that way, then back to the left quickly as she wanted to make sure she waved at everyone!

"Let me through, hey! Move," a young man pushed through a crowd of people. His rough shoves made a few angry spectators turn and frown at him, but he continued storming through the crowd until he was all the way up at a barrier that he put his hands down on top of. "Where is she?" He whispered. The boy looked young, in his mid-teens around, but he was large for his age. His hair was short and brown. He wore a plain white t-shirt with the words 'I LOVE YOU' written out in all capital letters on it. "Hey! HEY! Princess Aya!" He yelled and waved his right hand, and he reached to his shirt with his left and popped it out a few times for her to see when her float was finally getting close to him. "Princess Aya! Right here! Hey! Hey…"

Aya spun her head back and forth. She waved, and she was trying hard not to be overwhelmed by all the people calling to her. Some tossed flowers towards her float. The sakura blossoms were blooming though all around the park, and though she kept waving, she had been drowning out the people's voices for a few seconds now as she stared at the trees instead. Wow! They're prettier than the ones in the walls-

"PRINCESS AYA!"

Her head snapped to the left and her eyes opened wide. An older boy standing almost six feet tall and looking to weigh over two hundred pounds had pushed down the barriers in front of him and ran towards her float after it passed by him without her looking his way. As she turned and met eyes with him though, a different kind of look spread over his face as his lips curled up so far into his cheeks. "I love you!" He yelled out, while grabbing onto the side of her float and pulling himself up…

His eyes bulged as his eyes came to level with a pair of legs that were not just up that side of the float a second ago. He rose his gaze up to the face of a stern-looking man in his forties wearing glasses who glared back furiously into his eyes. "Down!" The Head Guard yelled out, stomping on the boy's fingers right as two other Royal Guards and the police ran up behind him.

They grabbed under his shoulders and started pulling back, only for the Royal Guards to both go wide-eyed as he yanked them the opposite direction. "Wait! Princess! I love you! We're going to get married-"

"Crazy kid, get back-" One of the officers trying to pull on him ducked quickly as the young man spun and swung his right fist behind him.

The other officer did not duck as his partner's head was in the way and he did not see the punch coming. Bone cracked and blood splashed from his face as the teen's punch took him off the ground. "Get down!"

"On the ground!"

"Move! We're taking him out of here…"

Princess Aya looked over her shoulder and leaned around the side of her procession's top part that wrapped around her seat she had not been sitting in anyway. "Toyo-san? What will happen to him?"

"It's okay, Princess." Her Head Guard glaring back towards that boy being roughly manhandled responded. He looked back towards her and motioned forward, "Greet the rest of the people who have come to see you. Do not mind him."

"Oh… okay," she nodded at what he told her. Her eyes glanced back once more, then she looked forward and rose her hand back up to keep waving at everyone. That was, scary, she thought, and she gulped but then tried to keep a brave face and a smile up for everyone else who came out to see her.

In the back of the procession, the two Royal Guards nodded at the officers and hero who had come as well to assist with this. They headed off to follow the procession and continue on with the parade as they had more important things to deal with than some over-excited kid. Unfortunately, that kid had just punched a police officer in the face. He had cuffs on and was being led to a police car by the hero scolding him and asking him where his parents were. But his head turned and he looked right by the hero who got a semi-unnerved look on his face for a moment at the glossed-over eyes of this teenager who just stared back in the direction of the Princess whose eyes he had locked gaze with.

She knows my face. Junji says that you have to make the first move or girls will never know who you are. They'll never fall in love with you. A smile spread across his face, then he turned to the hero who grabbed him firmly by the shoulder. "Are you listening? Hahh, you've broken the law. How old are you?"

"Not too old for her," he responded. The hero looking into his face from just a little down as he was shorter than this teenager, felt his stomach turn over as he glanced back himself in the direction of that very young girl. "She's going to be mine-"

"Enough of that talk!"

"Into the car, boy," an officer snapped towards him. The teen's head slowly turned and his eyes locked on the officer who just said that and had blood under his nostrils. The officer was glaring back at him, but the boy's eyes were wide and enamored, yet also angry as he glared at a man who had pulled him from the princess.

Makani Taizo was only fifteen years old. His mother who he lived alone with was called to the station to pick him up. He was in a lot of trouble for interrupting the Imperial Procession and rushing at the Princess, not to mention punching the police officer in the face. Fortunately for him, he was just too young for the officers to take the crimes too seriously. They warned him and his mother that had he been sixteen though, he would have received a harsher punishment. They faced a hefty fine as it was, one that Taizo's mother argued against because she could not afford it. Taizo was also required to do some community service to better teach him discipline which he was ordered to do after school on weekdays.

When they returned home, Taizo sat on his couch that night watching recordings on tv of the Emperor and his parade. His eyes locked on it more though and he leaned forward as he saw the Princess following after and all the other people who she looked at. His eyes grew huge and started shaking as he saw some men yell up towards her, and she waved back towards them as she had not done for him when he was calling her name and yelling at her. "Why?" He whispered. "I just wanted her to notice me. I just wanted, to meet her. A Princess. A real Princess."

Taizo turned his head and looked towards his mother who was sitting at their dining room table and had her right hand up in front of her mouth. She was biting her nails and looking down at papers in her other hand that told her how much she owed. "Didn't you tell me, Mom? That I could even marry a Princess?"

"Of course!" She yelled, jumping out of her seat and spinning to him. Her papers fell behind her and her chair knocked to the floor as she spun like that. Her eyes were huge and she ran to the couch she fell to her knees in front of. "You can do anything. Anything you put your mind to! You could be the Prime Minister, or the Emperor even!" She leaned up and put her arms around him, rubbing his back with one and putting her other hand through her son's hair. "Haha, you can, do it all. Anything you want to. The world is yours, baby."

"It's mine," he repeated, staring at the screen past his mother's head as he heard her voice in his ear.

"Everything is yours. I'll give you the world, baby. Take it. You can always do it."

"Even, marry Princess Aya?"

"Oh yes. Whatever you want. Those bad policemen were so mean to my boy. Did they hurt you?"

"No, Mom. They didn't hurt me." His eyes narrowed at the screen, and his focus shifted slightly from the Princess onto the man he could see on the screen with her. Why does he get to be so close? He thought of that man stomping on his fingers, and his lips curled down farther at the corners. He thought of the hero telling him what not to do. He thought of the officers who glared so angrily at them. Why don't they understand? I need to get close to her, in order to marry her.

"Good, baby. Don't let anyone hurt you. You're precious to me. So precious… I love you, baby. You can do whatever you put your mind to. Anything you want, your mother will make sure you get it. Won't she? Yes she will. Oh yes," her hands continued to rub up and down her son's back and through his brown hair. "Mother will give you the world."

---

Ten Years Ago

A seven year old Princess Aya climbed up onto her float on her own, ignoring the hand of Toyo who outstretched it for her to offer to help her up. "I can do it," she complained as he looked ready to assist her when she was climbing it. The small girl with long light-orange hair stood up straight in front of a seat under the float's overhang that was made of special fabric on the inside that was more protective than it looked from outside. It also had two curtains pulled to the sides that could be drawn and had the same kind of protective material on the insides. She wore a bright pink kimono with a flowery pattern on it that matched the colors and flower pattern of her float.

"Do you like it, Aya-hime?" One of her maidens wondered to her.

"It is so pretty, Mika-san!" She called back down. "Thank you for making it!"

The older woman with crow's feet to the sides of her eyes and bags under them showing how late she had been up perfecting every last detail of the float lifted her head with her whole expression brightening to hear that from the Princess. The other women who had assisted her and even the gardeners who had helped them pick out the flowers for the hundreds of bouquets on the float felt their hearts flutter at the girl's call to them. They all smiled back at the Princess who got ready to keep up that kind of energy as they went outside to great the people she could already hear beyond the gates.

The spring procession started and the floats began to move. The drivers pulled out onto the bridge. The Emperor went first along with the majority of the Royal Guard who stayed around him. There were a few members in the back of the procession, along with ones along the sides of the parade, and a few had slipped into the crowd undercover and were not part of the procession at all but just watching from potential danger points. It was a procession like any other. But that day, disaster would strike the parade as it passed the other end of the bridge and continued through the park.

BOOOOM!

In the distance past the edge of the park, a car exploded next to a sidewalk on the street adjacent to the Kokyogaien National Garden. The parked car suddenly erupted in flames and the smoke rose up high. It was not that close to the procession, and yet the smoke was easily visible from the path the parade was taking.

"Should we go back?" One of the Royal Guards wondered quickly to the Head Guard of the Emperor.

Miyamoto Kiyoko turned her large head and glared off towards that explosion. Her fists were already balled at her sides and her body larger than any of her fellow Royal Guards had already stepped back to block the Emperor from sight. "Please close the curtains," she warned her Emperor. "Until we say that it is safe."

"What is going on?"

"The heroes are rushing that way," Miyamoto informed her charge.

"Everyone calm down!"

"Was that an explosion?!"

"We need to get out of here!"

"The crowd is in a panic," the Emperor said, stepping forward and moving past where Miyamoto asked him to stay.

"You need to stay-"

"They are going to trample each other, Miyamoto," he scolded his Head Guard. "Assist the police and heroes! That is an order."

"You four! Keep the peace! And Ryuuski! Figure out what the heroes know! We are turning the procession around." Her fellow Royal Guards ran off and started yelling around the procession at officers and their fellow guards.

"Is that really necessary-"

"It is a precaution we need to take. I am sorry, my Lord-" Miyamoto's head started to turn past the Emperor and back through the procession.

"What's going on, Toyo-san? I can't see anything," Princess Aya complained from behind the curtains that her Head Guard had closed on her.

He turned back towards those curtains as she put her hands through the crack and started pulling them back apart. "I need you to stay in there, Princess Aya," he pleaded with the girl who pouted and frowned up at her guard's face.

When did she become so… "Hahh, we do not know if it is safe," Toyo started. He bent down to one knee on the top platform of their float so he was right in front of her face. Her pout eased up at the way he knelt like that to take her seriously and actually explain what was going on. "So please, until the heroes tell us it is okay, stay in there. I am sure it is nothing that the heroes cannot handle-" Toyo's head started to turn to the right. When his eyes darted that way, Princess Aya's head turned slower to her left and her eyes started to grow larger at the sight of the person who just climbed up the side of her float.

Toyo snapped up from his knee but his eyes bulged at that same moment as he recognized the face of the person in front of him. That young man was glaring furiously and with an unhinged look in his eyes at the Royal Guard who he leapt at in the moment Toyo was still getting up from one knee. "Wait!" Princess Aya shouted. She stumbled back and fell on the floor, the curtain falling back into her sides but unable to close as she had moved into that spot. Her vision became obscured in the corners by the pink curtains, but terror still covered her face as she yelled out, "Toyo-san!"

"Why! Do you! Get! To Look At Her! That Close?!" Taizo slammed Toyo's head into the ground again and again. His glasses had shattered and his head left a stain of blood on the ground after the last slam.

Toyo's arms flew up through his disorientation and popped underneath Makani's elbows. Makani Taizo lost his grip on Toyo's head for an instant, and Toyo pulled his legs up from underneath the teenager and kicked upwards into his gut as the boy was fully on top of him.

The pop of Makani's elbows came swiftly and without warning. Once the younger man saw that Toyo was fighting back though, he focused back on him from the Princess who his head was lifted towards even as he shouted that and slammed Toyo's head into the surface of the float which was luckily not made of steel. Toyo still had blood coming down under his hairline and over his face as he tried that kick upwards. His eyes started to glow red, but he stopped himself even as his kick failed to do anything. He's only a child, Toyo tried to remind himself, as his eyes turned back to their normal color without firing laser beams out into the teenager on top of him. Toyo was trained in more ways of fighting than just using his Quirk though from the time he was a child himself, so he attempted other means of stopping this boy first. When he kicked up though after pulling his body small into a ball, his opponent did not flinch.

Makani's Quirk had never been understood by his classmates or teachers. The doctor did not have a name for it, but everyone was certain that he had one. And yet what caused him to be stronger at certain times than others was unknown to even himself. Yet he did not feel the kick under him. He was over six feet tall now and over two hundred and fifty pounds, and more muscular than the year before after all the training he had done. His mother had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. His training had continued. The sixteen year old boy on top of Toyo put his left hand back down onto his opponent's face and gripped around it with his bare hand from temple to temple.

"Toyo-san!" Princess Aya yelled out in fear at the loss of her friend.

She scrambled forward and yelled, "Get off him!"

"Princess," Taizo's eyes shook as he stared into hers from up close. He was almost as close as this 'Toyo' had been a few moments ago when he was talking to her. She stared at him and suddenly, she recognized him just as Toyo already had. And she suddenly understood why they had treated him so roughly last year. And she felt the fear that she did not fully grasp back then as only a six year old who did not understand that there were people like this in the world. Never before had she felt such fear, because Taizo noticed that he was only almost as close as Toyo had been to her twenty seconds ago.

His hand gripped tighter on Toyo's head below him, even as his hand started to heat up as Toyo yelled, "Princess! Get back!" His eyes glowed red again as he heard her voice closer to him. Makani Taizo reached out for Princess Aya who leaned backwards but too slowly as her eyes had darted down to Toyo for a second when he yelled at her. By the time her eyes rose back to that hand reaching for her, his fingers were opening up and she could see from so close as his fingernails were extending and getting sharper.

"AHHEEE!" She screamed in terror and then in pain as she pulled backwards and Taizo's hand curled through air alone. The nail of his middle finger swept through open air as Princess Aya pulled back, but her face was just too slow to pull away. His nail cut her right cheek down to her chin, and she fell to the floor and brought both hands up to her face as she felt the pain there.

"PRINCESS!" Toyo yelled at the sound of her scream. "RAAA!" He fired two beams of red light from his eyes, and Makani yanked his body away with his other hand pulling quickly off Toyo's head too.

"AHHH!" Makani yelled out in pain. He had two holes in his left hand that went through his palm and out the back of it. He also got a hole in his left shoulder and a searing gash through the outside of it too as those beams of red light had gone up through his hand then through his shoulder before flying high into the sky.

"Save my daughter!"

"I cannot leave you if she's not the only target!" Miyamoto yelled back. "They have her!" She yelled at her Emperor who she was holding back herself to keep him from rushing for Aya. Damn it, Toyo!

Blood splashed off of Toyo's face from how fast Makani yanked his hand away. Just as his right hand's nails had started extending while he reached for Princess Aya, the nails on his left had been doing the same and digging into the skull of his enemy who audaciously felt he had the right to be so close to the Princess. Princess Aya lay on the floor with her body turned partially to the right side. Both of her hands were up to her face and covering the scratch that had her even more scared as she could feel the blood on her cheek.

Makani Taizo had pulled away with a yell of rage and agony after those beams fired through him. He lowered his left arm down though that looked bigger than it had when he got onto the float. His whole body appeared larger actually. Taizo leaned forward towards the Princess who stared towards him with trembling eyes of fear that darted down to Toyo who was grabbing at his own face and covering his eyes and the scratches covering it from those claws that raked over them. He could not use his Quirk again without being able to see anything, and he just yelled out for the Princess to get back and for Taizo to get away from her.

"You do recognize me," he spoke. His voice sounded off. His breathing was ragged and his eyes full of a look that made Princess Aya's breath suck out of her throat. Her skin became paler as he stepped towards her, blood dripping off his hands of from Toyo's, his own, and from her wounds. "I knew you would," he said. His smile could not have stretched higher to show how his teeth had sharpened as well. His eyes were bloodshot, and he looked huge as he towered in front of her and blocked out the sun so shadows cast into her protective tent. She stared at him with shadows cast over her and a dull light on the edges of his body. Her friend lay bloody at his feet after having his faced clawed like her own. She hurt. It hurt so much. But the fear kept the pain down at the moment instead as her face scrunched and the seven year old girl pushed her hands down at the floor on her sides to push away.

Her palms were bloody though from grabbing at her face, and they slipped so she fell backwards into an even more helpless position. "Ah-" she gasped but without any breath in her lungs so it came out as a whispered scratchy nothing.

"Princess Aya," Makani Taizo got down on one knee in front of her. "Will you marry me?"

"FOREST PUNCH!"

Six wooden arms slammed into Taizo's right side and threw him from the float.

"Toyo! Are you alri- Princess!" One of the Royal Guards who leapt up after the other bent down next to Toyo, but she spun towards Princess Aya instead as she noticed the terrified girl also had a scratch on her face.

"Take that!"

"How dare you attack the Princess?!"

"Take him down- WHOA!"

"PRINCESS!" A voice roared as Aya was sitting back up and leaning forwards to tell Anna to help Toyo. She froze in place and terror took her whole body at the sound of that animalistic roar. "ANSWER ME! NOW!"

"Get him!"

"Was he the one who blew up that car?!"

"It was all a diversion!"

"RAAAA! PRINCESS!" His voice got deeper and grew even louder as she heard growling like that of an animal. Princess Aya slinked back into the tent at the top of her float. She was staring down at Toyo and felt her heart ripping in half as she abandoned him like that without being able to say a word to the other guard to help him. She was too scared to speak though. Not when the other Royal Guard standing next to Toyo was staring down from her guard post that she was not going to leave, with so much fear in her eyes at whatever she was looking at. Aya could hear the sounds of fighting just next to the float on her right side, and she curled up and pulled the curtains shut on herself.

I should have stayed in here. I shouldn't have opened the curtains. Aya's hands gripped harder on the curtains but her head bowed as she needed more hands to cover up her ears too. "RAaccgh- HAahaggh! LET ME THROUGH! Let- AGH- PRIn- HAAA! NO! LET ME- AYAAAAA!" Her head dipped harder and she pressed the insides of her arms into her temples to block off her ears and the sound of that horrifying monster outside. Her fingers trembling and wet with her own blood gripped the curtains and held them shut even more.

I shouldn't have left. I- I shouldn't have left the Palace. It's scary. I'm scared- "Ah-" she gasped out in fear. Her bowed head was pointed towards the floor. Even though she had muffled the noises, she could see the blood from Toyo's head just outside seeping under the curtain. Her eyes locked on it. They were trembling and her own tears fell and mixed with her friend's blood. I should never have left! I'm scared! I- I want- "I want my Mom," she whispered. Her eyes squinted shut and she screamed out in absolute horror, "Mommy! Help me! Ahhh- AHHHhhahahhh!"

---

Two Years Ago

After the Tartaros escape, many villains were captured in the days and weeks that followed. Too many villains locked away in Japan's mightiest prison were out of their minds. There were the fools who could not help themselves but abuse their freedom and commit flashy crimes that had them caught again in no time. There were the insane who murdered and rampaged for no other purpose but because it was all they knew how to do. Then there were those who started joining up with other organizations besides the League of Villains, and some of them were captured along with those gangs like what happened to Breakneck's.

A few fled the country for somewhere they could better hide. Many others stayed with the League and would go into hiding for a long time after Kurogiri's demise. A few would later be seen as part of the Radians, but no connection was made between them and the Radians actually being a part of the League of Villains. After all, every villain who escaped Tartaros had been with the League at some point. It was not suspicious that there were Tartaros members in the Radians. Several joined the Stain Cult and followed Faith, but all of them would be captured too. Other than the League which maintained a large number of the former Tartaros prisoners, there was one villain who did better than any other at recruiting them.

Duke Dread did not come to be known as a player in the Underworld for longer than any of his contemporaries. Overlord and Intanzo were known before him. They made big flashy moves before he did. Heroes fell to them, and they and their gangs were put on national leaderboards showing their danger. What no one understood though, was that there were several other gangs already on that leaderboard who were no longer independent of each other. United under one leader who pulled them together through his strength and his intelligence, Duke Dread convinced these villains to stand under one banner. The Jazz stayed in hiding because Dread believed that it was not their time. He pushed gang leaders and their members to keep operations small and to use even weaker gangs and street thugs to carry them out, removing them from being connected to the low-level crimes easier for heroes to track.

The Jazz themselves were not much. Each individual gang was strong, but not as strong as multiple other gangs united against them. Any one of them was potentially stronger than Duke Dread though on his own. He recruited a few of the Tartaros escapees though. He searched out villains who were on their own and brought them under his wing. It was why he became upset when he first saw Splodo with the Radians. After all, he had wanted to locate Splodo himself and bring him into the Jazz. After taking on Endeavor and escaping with only a few terrible burns though, Splodo had gone deep into hiding so no heroes could find him, but neither could Duke Dread. In the days and weeks after the SFI though and the Tartaros breakout, heroes were stretched thin. If Duke Dread searched with enough singular focus, he could locate some of the prisoners before heroes and police who had too much to react to that not enough of them were acting preemptively and hunting down the escapees using detective work.

If there had been heroes to spare, some of them may have gone through the list of Tartaros escapees and searched through all of their backgrounds. Had they not been fighting the villains taking advantage of the SFI's crippling of Japan's heroes, and the escapees who were busy rampaging, they may have checked on a man in his mid-twenties who was in Tartaros despite not having killed anyone. He had not stolen anything. Nor was he a rapist. But he had spent a long, long amount of time in therapy. Endeavor himself heard word of this villain once when there was more time late in the summer after the Sports Festival Invasion. He read the notes that psychiatrists from Tartaros had begged to get to his desk, so that he could see the danger that Makani Taizo still posed.

By the time Endeavor heard his name and looked into him though, Duke Dread had already stopped him from his ill-fated attack on the Imperial Palace. A plan that Duke Dread suspected but knew would fail. He explained it to Taizo: how he would never get within eyesight of the Princess, let alone close enough to talk to her, or… marry her. Makani turned to the man who had located his "secret base" in no time at all once he started searching. "If I can find you, heroes will find you too. You'll never make it to the next Imperial Procession. Even if you did last on the run for that long, you think they wouldn't be expecting you at the next one?"

Duke Dread had watched as Taizo squirmed and got more frustrated in the dark, damp cubby he had found for himself. "And, in case you haven't heard yet," Dread had continued to the man he stood along with in that base, (not that he did not have several of his most powerful goons waiting just outside in case this went south). "The Princess hasn't been coming out in any of the processions over the past eight years."

Makani's head lifted up from the papers he was staring at. The map of the Imperial grounds and pictures he had printed of the walls he would try to scale. He turned towards Duke Dread who nodded back towards him to show he was not lying. "Seems you left a mighty big impact on her."

"I did," Makani replied. He did not ask it back as a question to Dread who thought he might have to convince this man. The response made Duke Dread partially dread his decision to come here and involve him. He looked at this man twice his size who stared back down at the papers but moved one in particular which had an image of the princess taken from a much younger age, which he suspected now was because barely anyone had seen her in the past years. The thought of that made him smile more though, imagining how few people had actually seen her from as close as he had. "I left my mark on her," he continued. "Because she's mine. And now everyone knows it. She knows it too. Even if she didn't respond… That's just because she didn't have time. They interrupted."

"They interrupted us," Makani Taizo whispered. His fists curled at his sides and his face twisted in anger. "I need to see her again," he said firmer. "I need to see her!"

"I can help you with that," Duke Dread offered. Taizo froze and spun towards Duke Dread with wider eyes.

"You can?"

Duke Dread nodded slowly back at the man who had a believing look in his eyes. "I can," Dread assured. "But you have to be patient. You can't just rush in there expecting it to work. There are too many heroes who will try to get in your way. Those pesky Royal Guards too-"

"GRRrrrr…" The noise that came from bottom of Taizo's throat cut Duke Dread off for a second. "I hate them," Taizo hissed in a low voice. "They took me from her. Took her from me."

"Well, one day we'll make sure you get your shot at revenge then," Duke Dread said. He walked closer and then continued, "I promise you, my friend. I will get you back to the Princess."

"And she will marry me?" Makani wondered back to Dread. He asked it not rhetorically but wondering if Dread was actually telling him that.

"Of course," Duke Dread replied. He smiled back at the man who stared at him with wider eyes that filled with trust. Duke Dread continued, "If you come with me, and help me, I can get you whatever you want. Even the Princess. She'll be yours."

"She'll be mine," Taizo repeated, looking back down at a picture he grabbed and lifted up closer to his face. "She is mine. My Princess."

"Your princess," Duke Dread repeated, and he watched as the smile spread back over Taizo's face and locked there.

---

Present

Crash!

"They're at the gate!"

"Move! We need to get to the tunnel!"

"Princess Aya! Quickly now!" Toyo held back and kept his right arm back behind him with his palm pointed inwards.

The young woman helping her eldest maid through the hall looked ahead towards Toyo with shaking eyes of fear but also determination. She would not leave until every one of the staff in the Palace had gotten out for the same evacuation tunnel that her Royal Guards had been trying to evacuate her to. "Your father must already be waiting," her old maid who had bad knees and was struggling to keep up with everyone whispered towards Aya in shame. "I must not hold you up-"

"None of that, Baa-san," Aya hushed the woman. The seventeen year old girl with long orange hair falling most of the way down her back almost to her waist gave the older woman with pure white hair a small smile that was more confident than she was really feeling. "The guards will protect all of us and get us to the evacuation tunnel."

"Quickly," Toyo said to his left, speaking to the other guard still back here with him inside the front hall of the Princess' side of the Palace. "Get them all into the tunnel. Carry Old Kana." The Emperor and his wife had only had one child and it was Princess Aya. The Diet had passed a law sixty years earlier allowing for Empresses in the Royal Line, so there was no concern about there being no male heir when Aya's mother had passed away. She was next in line to rule Japan, at least ceremonially. Toyo and the other Royal Guards were here to protect her, but she was also in charge of them and had ordered them to help her get everyone else out before she was willing to get into the secret tunnel and escape the Palace through an ancient passageway known only to the Royal Guards and Imperial family.

"Princess, I have her," a muscular guard broader than Toyo assured the young girl he took Old Kana from. He lifted up Kana and held her bridal style in his arms in a way that made the ninety-four year old woman blush. "Now please, allow Toyo to take you to the tunnel after us." He turned and sprinted off, cautiously for the sake of the old woman he carried but quick enough to ensure that the Princess was not waiting any longer.

"Toyo, we should search the Palace to make sure no one is staying in hiding-" Aya began to her oldest friend and closest guard.

The one-eyed man wore an eyepatch over his left. His face had four lines cutting across it, scars that matched the Princess' on her right cheek from the middle down to her chin. That scar had always been a point of shame for Toyo who had attempted to resign from his position after the incident ten years ago. The Emperor had denied his resignation and forced him to stay and "continue to protect" his daughter as he had that day. Just as the Royal Guard were loyal to the Imperial family, the Emperors had always known they needed to show the same kind of loyalty back to their guards who protected them so. It mattered all the more, because the Royal Line had still never bore an heir who developed a Quirk. The Japanese royal family was Quirkless.

Toyo had a head of fully gray hair. He wore a monocle over his right eye. When the news of Lifebringer's attack on Nikko Enri broke, Toyo put on his costume and had the other guards in his sector of the Imperial Palace put theirs on as well. The bombing followed by Shigaraki's speech led him to organize their strategy with the other Head Guards around the palace, but Miyamoto made the decision when the following speech by Raijin and the images of a Tokyo under attack started. It was time to evacuate. They had no contact with the outside world beyond the walls of their Palace. They had to assume the worst. If the villains' full force was inside of Tokyo, then they needed to get the Royal family out of Tokyo.

"Come, Princess," Toyo interrupted the girl who he walked inwards to and put his arm behind her back to usher her to the door as well. Despite the public's belief that Princess Aya was still afraid after the attacked procession when she was a young girl, those in the Palace knew her better than that. Sure, when she was younger she was averse to leaving the Palace solely because of that one parade. She was no coward though. The fact that she was the last one in the Palace was a testament to that, but Toyo put his arm behind her now and got her moving to the door. "We got everyone on the first sweep. I promise. I know every face that was in the Palace at the time of the attack, and we got them out. Now it is time for you to follow your father."

The Princess looked up into Toyo's eye for a moment and pursed her lips. She nodded back at him though as she believed that Toyo knew exactly who was in the Palace at the time and would not lie to her about making sure they were all out. Aya rushed out of the sliding rice-paper doors. She slid on her sneakers that she had next to the sandals she wore only half of the time: when she thought she might run across her father on the Palace's premises and did not have on a long enough dress or kimono to cover up her sneakers that she preferred. Aya was in a more ceremonial kimono at the moment as she had worn during her breakfast with her father earlier along with distant cousins of his who lived up in Hokkaido and had concerns about the new Lifebringer Act that she had to listen to for much longer than breakfast was supposed to go for. It had made her late for her tutoring session which meant she had to rush back and did not have time to get changed again into something more comfortable.

Toyo had been with her all morning as well. He followed her even on the Palace grounds to ensure her safety at all times, as was his charge as the Princess' Head Guard. "What about Mochizuki? Kahara and Emmitt?" Aya wondered to Toyo about the other Royal Guards who he had sent away earlier and she had not seen since this all began.

"They're holding the bridge, Princess. Villains are here already-"

"But they'll hold them off, right?" Aya wondered, her voice getting more anxious now that none of the servants were around. The people she kept a brave face on were all gone, as she felt no need to keep it up for Toyo or the other Royal Guards who were still waiting outside for the Princess and started moving as a perimeter for Aya and Toyo as they ran around the outside of her building. "And they'll be right behind us? Toyo?"

"…Yes, Princess. Right behind us," Toyo told her. His hand remained on her back and he hurried her along without making eye contact with the princess who turned and looked up at his face at that moment. The lack of eye contact made her turn more to the right instead and look towards the Main Gate at the Iron Bridge. The loud sounds of crashing and fighting had quieted for a moment and she slowed down with her whole body tensing up.

Toyo could feel that tenseness rise in his charge. His own head had turned towards the Main Gate though. The silence was deafening. The other guards running along with them but keeping a perimeter on all sides moved all at once. The guards already on that side of Aya moved for the gate, while the ones on the Princess' other side moved to be a second line between the gate group and Princess Aya. "HOLD THEM BACK!" Toyo yelled.

KOOOF! CRASH! An explosion blew apart the Main Gate that separated those inside the palace from the villains outside.

Two of the Royal Guard who ran forward first each threw their arms up. Both of their arms started glowing, one of theirs blue and the other red. The twins born in the Palace to a former pair of Royal Guards had similar Quirks that grew much more powerful when combined together. The purple barrier that formed in front of their hands repelled the debris blasting inwards from the gate. "Go! Princess!" Karu yelled over his shoulder.

"Escape now!" Haru yelled back as well but without looking over his glowing-red shoulders.

"Princess, we need to go! Quickly!" Toyo pulled the Princess with him.

She looked reluctantly back towards her other Royal Guards and tried to see past them through the smoke onto the Iron Bridge. "What happened to Mochizuki? Everyone out there-"

"PRINCESS!"

Aya froze where she stood. She was in mid-step but she almost fell as she felt the strength leave her knees.

"No," Toyo whispered in disbelief.

A Royal Guard with his right arm already grown into eight thick wooden arms that he held ready at his side took a step back. The scars on his chest ached and his eyes shook like Aya's behind him who he glanced back at. Panno's eyes darted to Toyo whose one good eye was huge behind his monocle. "It couldn't be," Panno whispered.

Toyo grabbed the Princess and put her behind him. "Princess Aya," Toyo started in a deadly serious tone as he saw the silhouettes through the smoke in the gateway on the other side of the purple barrier. The barrier won't hold for long.

Karu and Haru were staring through their own translucent forcefield and only pushed their arms out harder as they saw the form stomping through the smoke. One of its metal legs stepped through the gateway, then the other of the front two legs. Bu-du-du-du-du-duh! VRAAAMMM! The ground just in front of the barrier ripped apart. It exploded upwards, and the blast was too strong that the ground on the other side of the barrier blew upwards as well and threw back Karu and Haru from whatever invisible force just came from those instrumental noises.

The twenty-foot-tall robot stomping through the gate had four metal legs with points on the bottom. On the tops of those legs though were huge speakers attached to the drum set and guitar of the man standing on top of it in the convertible cockpit. Duke Dread had on his epaulettes and full marching band attire, with a bass drum on the front of his stomach, two snares attached to metal wires off his sides, a black flute around his neck held there by a gold chain, and a guitar he had held up in front of his chest but swung around so it hung on his back as he stared down the Royal Guard in front of him. The sight of Duke Dread on his own would have been enough to cause panic rise in the Royal Guard who had to protect their Princess at all costs.

Behind the Duke though, there were shadows walking forward through the thinning smoke so their bodies became more and more visible. The villains in full costumes marched around the metal legs of the giant robot vehicle that their leader stood on top of. The Jazz were invading the Imperial Palace in force. A body was slumped partially over the edge of the bridge behind some of the villains, and one of them kicked off an unmoving figure who had come out to face them. Other corpses were already below floating in the moat around the Palace. Another splashed down to join the rest of the Royal Guard who had been defeated and killed by their enemies they desperately tried to stop.

One enemy moved quicker than all the others through the smoke so he was fully out of it before Duke Dread even completely revealed from the smoke. Duke Dread admired the beautiful building ahead of him that were traditional in style and had sakura blossoms around the outsides of them. Gardens were scattered about and pink petals dotted the floor as well as blew around in the wind at that very moment. "Would you look at my new estate? What a sight-"

"Princess Aya!" The man who rushed forward between the front legs of Duke Dread's personal Spider droid yelled out and interrupted the leader of the Jazz behind him. He stared past the Royal Guard and straight towards a girl who was looking back at him in more terror than she had felt in a decade. "Did you miss me, MY LOVE?!"

"Holy shit, that's the guy who-" another of the Royal Guard who did not recognize him instantly cut himself off. His fists balled and burst into flames as he thought of the scared look on Aya's face that he just witnessed out the corner of his vision. Aya was not a timid girl. Many around the Palace believed that she used the excuse of fear to not leave on the processions any more, but her guards did not believe it. Aya? Afraid? The girl would sneak off before her tutors arrived so she could climb the trees around her building. Always going against her maidens and the guards trying to protect her, and even standing up to her father and denying to go out on the traditional parades which was a scary thing to do itself especially as he accused her of just trying to get out of it by making excuses.

In that moment though, the girl who had stayed behind to make sure that every person on the Palace grounds got out, even in the middle of a battle where this location could be a target, was as pale as a ghost. She stepped backwards and fell to her butt as that man looked towards her and straight into her eyes. Toyo stepped to the side and got between their eye contact, and Makani Taizo's eyes lifted from the girl on her butt whose face he could no longer see.

Makani's wide smile wiped instantly. Scars on his left hand and shoulder burned. His fists balled. His lips that had stayed parted even as he lowered his mouth into a frown revealed the sharpening teeth behind them. His body bulged twice in size in an instant as sheer rage filled him. "You," Makani hissed.

Duke Dread's eyes that were already huge as he saw his ally double in size snapped his gaze back up and towards the Princess' Head Guard. The rest of the Jazz behind Makani were also looking at that huge beast of a man with anxious expressions. They had always known something was off about him, and his strength was no joke normally. Seeing that instant increase in size was different though. The extending of fingernails that sharpened like his teeth did was scary, but the change in his voice let alone in his tone showed off his rage and thirst for vengeance. Dread relaxed quicker than his gang members though who understood in that moment that their comrade was a complete beast whose Quirk they did not fully understand. He was insane though. Mad, more like it.

"I told you I'd get you to her, Taizo," Duke Dread said down to his subordinate who he brought here. "Now, can you…" Can he even hear me? Duke Dread saw no reaction from the beast in front of his robot. "Fuck it. Kill the Royal Guard or they'll never let you get your Princess bride. I promised to get you to her. She's yours. Go for it, but don't destroy my new property in the process."

"GRRrrr…" Makani marched forward cautiously. His eyes darted from Toyo over to Panno who grit his teeth in anger while trying to hide his apprehension. They were trained to be fearless and protect their charges at the cost of their own lives if necessary. The Royal Guard did not back down even facing much higher numbers of villains who were armed with better weapons, technological marvels, and a Tartaros escapee whose sole desire was getting to the one who they could not let him get to. Haru and Karu dragged themselves back up. They were dirty and Karu had some blood coming down his face from under the right side of his hairline. Blood was in his right ear, and his left leg hurt a lot which his twin brother could see next to him but did not even bother asking if he was alright. They just stood up between Toyo and Makani, providing another layer between the Princess and the one coming for her.

"Anchor: The leader of the Cazzo Chargers. Rembrance. Ezekial," Anna was saying aloud mainly towards Toyo but also to the other Royal Guards in earshot. Her eyes locked on the man farthest forward who was not rushing but instead glaring towards her and Toyo. "And I'm sure you remember, Makani Taizo. I never would have expected him to have joined the Jazz. Dread made a deal with him."

Duke Dread. Makani Taizo. Dangerous gang leaders and murderers behind them. That robot has tech that amplifies Duke Dread's power. Many of their lower soldiers are also carrying firearms. Some have weapons that are glowing green as well. Toyo's good eye examined their enemies and focused on the most dangerous points. Sending her away to run on her own with this many enemies poses the risk of one of them slipping away and going after her. What they would do to a girl like her if they found her, is something I will never let happen.

Toyo's expression darkened more and his teeth bared behind his lips as he could see Aya in his peripherals. She was cowering behind him, and she just reached out and grabbed onto the back of his left pant leg. Her hand was shaking as she grabbed onto him in terror. She could not get up and run right now if I wanted her to. Heroes must know that this place is a target. The fighting outside of the gates is sure to have drawn attention. The explosions! We need heroes to get here! "Until heroes arrive to assist us," Toyo said. He had his hopes, but then he had to face reality that was right before him in this moment as the insides of the destroyed gateway became filled with enemies. He spoke to his seven comrades standing around him, and to an eighth running back up behind him as Dran got Old Kana into the secret tunnel and returned for the Princess as the older woman asked him to. Toyo could see Dran running their way, and he spoke louder in a firm voice, "Us nine will protect the Princess with our lives! That is our sacred duty, as the Royal Guard!"

"Princess Aya," Haru started.

"We will protect you," Karu finished for him. He spat on the ground in front of him after saying that and out came a glob of spit that was full of blood. He grit his teeth after while glaring towards villains who saw his bloodied teeth baring towards them like that.

"Whatever it takes, we will protect you." Anna agreed firmly while drawing her own nunchucks from her waist.

Do I have Dran grab the Princess and run her out of here? Makani will give chase for sure. It took a half dozen Guards with hero and police support to fully incapacitate him when he was a teenager. The time he had since he got out of Tartaros has only made him stronger, I'm certain. Dran will fall if I send him away alone. If I go with him, we stand a chance. Do I leave all the others to die here? Alone? Toyo looked to his left and saw Panno give him a look back, then he looked to Anna on his right and saw the same one. If that is the choice I make, each of them will stall for as long as they can until we can get away in the tunnel. They will hold off Makani even, possibly, for long enough for us to get down there? If we all fight together, I could hold off until the heroes arrive and without abandoning or sacrificing them.

And if the worst case scenario happens? And the villains take the city? The thought was one Toyo did not even want to consider. He had to imagine it though as the Head Guard for Princess Aya. Instead of reinforcements coming for us, they'll come for them. Take us down and take the Princess as a prisoner. To get to the Emperor. To force a surrender of the nation. If, it's only as bad as that. Toyo's one eye squinted but his fists balled harder in rage and determination of his own. There is no running. We must fight! It is the only option that I can make in this situation. Even if we must fight, all on our own.

"Go. Kill them all," Duke Dread ordered.

"RAAAA!" Makani threw his elbows back and roared towards the enemies standing between him and something he had desired for far, far too long. It was right there within his grasp. She was. And here they stood. In his way, again. "I'll kill you all!"

"Take them out!"

"Fire all at once-"

Makani's head turned towards the villain who just said that. The leader of the Cazzo Chargers, Anchor, shouted louder than he just did, "Nobody shoot! You risk hitting the Princess!" He did a one-eighty on what he just ordered the others in his gang to do. None of them even thought less of their leader for showing that kind of fear. Makani seemed to grow even larger when he looked Anchor's way with his head blurring their direction.

The distraction was all that it took for the Royal Guard to attack though. The fight was started, and they did not need to stay on the defense when such an opportunity presented itself. One punched his right hand forward, shouting, "Fireball!" Panno sprinted forward behind his ally's Fireball that blocked him from Makani's vision, and he was planning on jumping to whatever side that Makani dodged to in order to hit him right as he started dodging-

Makani's head blurred back forwards and he sprinted forward. He punched his right arm through a ball of fire as large as his torso. He did not slow down even as burns covered his right fist and forearm. His left fist slammed forward next into Panno's shocked face as Makani did not dodge in either direction. Panno's skull cracked and blood splashed out from the sides of his head while his neck snapped backwards. His back hit the ground and he bounced past two comrades who spun after him in shock and panic as their comrade and friend from when they were kids was easily broken like a twig.

"Even if you can't shoot at them, you can still help him out," Duke Dread said. His eyes focused towards Makani's right hand even after that devastating blow from his left that broke one of the Royal Guard facing them. He saw as his powerful tool actually took some damage, and he did not like how he saw Toyo and some of the other Royal Guards focusing on that injury rather than on their fallen comrade. They aren't heroes, but their lack of experience is made up for in their sense of duty. Even with as many of us are here, Duke Dread thought as he saw the hesitation of some of the men around him who did not run forward even after his last order. He saw them looking towards these Royal Guards who they doubted had the same restraint as heroes especially when the Princess was in danger. He saw his soldiers looking towards the Royal Guards nervously, even with Makani and Duke Dread on their side with more numbers too.

That's the kind of power that Lifebringer possessed. No one here was willing to fight if they weren't assured of the fact that he was going to be dead. Fucking Raijin wanted him to survive that blast, but we got lucky. The kind of fearlessness that Death's army showed in Wampajawa sent fear through the ranks of those villains. I felt it myself, the leader of the Jazz admitted to himself. They knew they would die. They knew there was little hope, and they still fought. Cornered rats. With everything to lose. We've all seen the power that people fighting like that can pull out. Overwhelming odds don't always mean the most. It comes down to willpower sometimes. But luckily for us, Makani's will is as great as theirs!

"Keep him back-"

"AH!"

Purple shards of broken barrier blasted in all directions as Makani threw his full force into Haru and Karu's Quirk barrier. "Hit him now!" Toyo yelled towards his comrade with fiery fists who put both together this time over his head and started swinging forward.

"Look out!" Anna pushed aside her comrade and at the next second leapt backwards.

Blue waves of light went through an empty space as Anna avoided them even after moving closer to where they were going to hit Guromi from. Her eyes snapped to Rembrance who narrowed his eyes right back at the woman whose Quirk he figured out quickly. When the silence had filled the exterior of the Imperial Palace, it was Anna's reaction to it that caused all of her comrades to move in unison. Her movement towards the gate had told them that the silence did not mean their own comrades were victorious on the other side. Her Preception had given Karu and Haru the ability to get up their barrier and block the gate from being blasted too far inwards by Duke Dread's Spider bot.

"Stop Makani first!" Toyo yelled, focusing his allies' attacks onto their primary opponent. In the worst case scenario, the villains won this battle with Makani still in play. Even if we just incapacitate him, Dread will likely kill his ally to hold the Princess prisoner instead. Her fate would be horrible in any of their hands, but Makani is insane. I was worried he would come here after escaping Tartaros. I checked his psychological profile for the eight years he spent in Tartaros. He never stopped. Never relented in his desire. His insanity must not be allowed to affect the Princess!

Toyo lifted up his monocle and aimed towards where Makani was sprinting. His enemy's eyes filled with even more rage as he saw the glowing red light in Toyo's right eye. The scars on Makani's left hand and shoulder screamed for revenge. And he darted to the right with a quick bend of his knees and leap to that side that sent him towards a tree. Makani's right arm slammed into the upper middle of the tree trunk, branches breaking apart around him and pink petals blocking him partially from view for a second. Then all those petals shot towards the Royal Guards as Makani flew through them and pulled a wind after him, the trunk snapping the other direction from how hard he pushed off.

Dran grabbed the Princess and leapt away along with Toyo who jumped back from the spot that Makani was actually aiming for.

"Kesou! Damn it! Keep fighting!" Guromi yelled out. He punched his right fist forward then his left, aiming for in front of his enemies and creating a wall of flames igniting the garden and separating their forces from their enemies.

A villain ran up to the front of the group from the bridge that he had his head dipped over the side of. His long tube-shaped tongue that was refilling with the bloody water of the moat rolled back up to just dangle in a coiled hose under his lips. It swung back and forth in front of his chin, dripping as it was so full he could barely hold it all. The short man with rough blue skin uncurled his tongue and poured out dozens of gallons of moat water onto the flaming garden. The steam that sizzled up from the ground all formed the shape of a tiger than charged forward at Guromi who punched a flaming Fireball into it, only for the steam to break apart into two smaller jaguar-shaped steam clouds.

The clouds surrounded him- FweeEEE! Duke Dread had his flute up to his mouth. He waited until his enemy could not see him, then he targeted the man who did not dodge quick enough and got a gash across the right side of his neck three inches deep.

Blood splashed out of the steam clouds that also cut through as well and showed Guromi's falling body inside. "Guromi!" Anna yelled towards the man she had been running back towards after just focusing too much on Makani that her Preception failed to warn her about Dread's attack in time.

"Makani! The Princess will be killed if this continues!" Toyo yelled towards his enemy who bounded from one crater in the ground over to a wall of the Palace that cracked as he slammed into it back-first. A red laser slashed across the ground from that crater towards the wall but stopped early as Toyo knew his enemy would leap off before he could get his head pointed that way. He kept Dran and the Princess behind him, and his head stayed on a quick swivel that was annoying the beast of a villain who knew how bad those lasers could hurt. "Do you want that?! Is that why you-"

"TRICKY ONE, ISN'T HE?!" Duke Dread's voice was amplified much more than Toyo's was. It boomed from his robot and drowned out the Head Guard's voice that could no longer reach Makani. "I won't let anyone touch the Princess, Taizo. She's all yours. I promised you, didn't I?"

Makani lodged himself in a wall of the Palace that was not strong enough to hold firm after his huge form just broke through. The ceiling behind and above him was cracking more and shaking, pieces of it dropping down and the wall's edges around him falling apart. His arms were out to his sides and hands pointed behind him where they curled more into those walls and broke them even faster. His focus was not on Toyo at the moment or on Duke Dread either. He could see the Princess' eyes again. His locked on hers. The girl with long orange hair pushed herself back into Dran who held her by the arms and stepped back while glaring over her head and towards Makani himself in anger at his threatening look he was giving Aya.

"Princess," Makani's voice got softer. "I never got my answer."

Princess Aya's eyes that she had snapped to the ground to break eye contact bulged as wide as plates. I remember. She was just a girl at the time, but she recalled the question he had for her. She could imagine all the movies she had seen in the years to follow and how afraid she had gotten during the most romantic scenes. As the man got down on one knee in front of the woman he loved, she would cover her own eyes or look away from the screen during those moments. Aya's head stayed bowed but her eyes rose back up, looking past dangling strands of hair and towards the man who smiled so wide at her, revealing the sharpened teeth filling his mouth. His bloodshot eyes were locked straight on her face. "No," she whispered.

The word did not process fully in Makani's head as he read her lips from afar. Toyo's eyes shifted to the left and he looked behind him to the girl whose fists clenched at her sides as she thought of all those movies and how scared she had gotten. She thought about the way she would smile at the maids and her Guards on the days of the processions as she acted like nothing was bothering her. As she gave them the false perception that she was not afraid, she had always just smiled through the fear that he was out there waiting for her. And ever since he got out of Tartaros, it had not just been on the days of the processions that she felt that constant fear in the back of her mind. Seeing him now though, smiling at her like that? Her fists shook at her sides and she leaned her head forward so it was just at Toyo's left side, and she yelled, "NO! I will not marry you!"

"Uhhh…" Ezekial glanced up towards Duke Dread from his right side at the feet of the Spider droid.

What the Hell? Duke Dread wished he had planned ahead for this. Most of the Jazz in front of him were still fighting the Royal Guard remaining in their way. They had even more people back behind them on the bridge too. There were close to a hundred of them still, and the Royal Guard were dropping fast… but Dread stared towards Makani who just got rejected by the one thing he had known the man to ever care about. He stared towards a man whose face twitched a few times as he struggled to comprehend what was just shouted towards him. And then, Dread's eyes snapped back to the Princess who turned her head and glared straight towards him in a way braver than Duke Dread had anticipated.

"But if you love me," Princess Aya continued. Her eyes narrowed at the leader of the Jazz whose soldiers all froze and tensed up themselves at what the Princess was saying. She pointed a hand towards Duke Dread and then spun back to Makani Taizo. "Then do what I say! Take down Duke Dread and the other villains!"

Yessss! Princess! Haru was standing in front of his brother who was down on both knees with his vision too blurry to even stand up anymore. He grinned madly at the sound of the Princess' voice and her attempt to help them. The other Royal Guards all felt themselves fill with strength and motivation. Here they were trying to protect the Princess, but her shouts at Makani were to get him to protect them as well. She was their leader, and at that moment even the villains could see it as the scared little girl tried to turn their strongest ally against them.

"But… but…" Makani did not seem to understand what was just told to him. "You are my bride." She looked at me. She's been waiting for me! SHE LOVES ME! "You love me," Makani said. He shook his head, then he snapped it around back and forth, his teeth baring harder and spit splashing from his lips. "You- You love-" His eyes widened and he stared towards her in realization. "You forgot! Because I was gone, for so long!"

"What?" Princess Aya looked at him and her newfound confidence shook a little. "No! I'm not going to-"

"You do want to marry me," Makani said, smiling again and laughing off the rejection that he could no accept. His mind refused to believe it. His confusion pushed aside though, as did Aya's voice that continued to call out rejections at a man who was no longer listening to her. "You will be my wife. I can do anything I put my mind to." He was speaking aloud but it did not sound like he was talking to anyone. His voice got lower and his eyes locked onto Toyo who stood in his way. "I can have anything I want. I could be the Emperor. I, can marry a Princess. I will marry the Princess. And you are in my way!"

"I WILL NEVER MARRY YOU!"

Makani's head twitched so hard that it cocked seventy degrees to the right side. His eyes were huge but his smile did not drop. His fingers uncurled and curled again while he fidgeted in place. As terrifying as he had already been with his focused will and menacing appearance, it was the understanding of how unhinged he was that put off everyone in the garden. Duke Dread had wished that Makani's response to the Princess would have showed more loyalty. He had hoped for Makani to call out how he would not turn on the Jazz just because she told him to. This is alright too though, I think, Duke Dread reasoned with himself. For now. "She doesn't know what she's talking about, Taizo! They've tricked her into hating you! You'll just have to show her that she's wrong! Make her love you!"

"Make her love me," Taizo repeated to himself.

"Oh shit," Karu muttered. His elbows that he had straightened out below his knelt form buckled. His face slammed into the ground as he lost the last of his strength due to the blood loss.

"Karu! KARU!" Haru snapped his head back up from his brother and threw both arms into the air. His arms pulsed with red and blocked the attacks of the ranged Jazz villains attacking all at once.

"YOU'RE MINE!" Makani kicked off the ground.

Even faster?! Toyo grabbed the Princess by her kimono and dove to the side. There was no time to shout and tell her to brace.

"Ahh!" Princess Aya yelled out in panic and then pain as they hit the ground, though Toyo wrapped her in his arms and tried to protect her in their roll. He put his back to the debris that flew towards them and hit him.

He'd risk hurting her?! Toyo spun his head back, and he felt a pang of grief at the sight of Dran's neck caught in Makani's claw. Makani swung his right arm to the side, and his claws dragged along and through Dran's neck as that Royal Guard was trying to pry the claw off. Makani released, and gashes all over Dran's neck poured blood over other Royal Guards who felt despair and terror at the sight of their comrade's body with his head barely staying on his body as he was limply tossed over them. Toyo stared at Makani instead of lingering on Dran's soaring body. He remembered the way that Makani glared at the other villains who had risked hurting Aya before, but the expression of the already insane man had changed to get far worse. He's not thinking clearly. He's deranged and can't accept her rejection to his decade-long proposal! It pushed him over the edge! And Duke Dread knows exactly how to manipulate that.

Toyo's right eye glowed, and he fired a beam of red light at Makani who might be too deranged… Makani turned his body sideways and the laser shot past in front of his body. The speed to turn like that was too much for Toyo who tried turning his head and dragging the laser towards the man who did not dodge far enough. Makani started running towards him though in his position on the ground guarding the Princess he held in his arms. "Get your hands off her!"

"STOP!" Princess Aya begged, looking towards Makani and pulling herself between him and Toyo whose eye laser faded.

Makani twitched.

"HAA!" A Royal Guard slammed his right fist into Makani's side. "HARU!" His strength Quirk threw Makani towards Haru who turned at that moment and threw both palms at Makani, creating a strong barrier that was strongest at the moment of its creation which was immediately before Makani hit it.

The forcefield bounced Makani backwards, and five enemies leapt over Haru's old fading barrier at that moment. A red laser cut two of them in half as Toyo snapped his head that way. Two others just dodged off to the sides, but the fifth opened his mouth and fired red needles out of his throat that hit Haru all over his upper chest and his neck and the bottom of his face while he was still getting his arms back over to block. Haru stumbled back with his hands moving to his throat where the needles pierced through too far into his trachea.

"Toyo! Get Makani while he's-" Anna started yelling over, only for a bullet to appear in her Preception. The one who fired was back on the bridge. She had walked into the worst angle she could be in. Her Quirk was focused on Makani who was going to struggle to get up, as well as on some of the other villains who posed the biggest threat to Toyo and the Princess at that moment which was her biggest concern. A sniper aiming towards her from the other side of the Iron Bridge outside of the destroyed gates was the furthest from her Quirk's eye. She saw the bullet though in the moment before it hit her. I'm not fast en- The thought she was having about being unable to dodge got cut off as the bullet went through her cerebrum and blew out the other side of her skull.

Toyo was turning towards Makani to attack while he was down. He aimed even as he saw blood and pieces of skull blowing out of his friend's head, making Aya scream out behind him as he got up to one knee. Toyo spun and crossed his arms though, turning who he was aiming his glowing red beam at. "YOU FUCKER!" A kick broke through his guard and hit him in the chest, lifting him off the ground and sending him flying backwards. "You killed Rizzy and E-Q!"

Another member of the Gurge Gang who just watched two of his comrades get lasered in half could feel one of Toyo's ribs cracking on his foot. Toyo clenched his eye shut as he was hit, but as he arced backwards through the air and farther from Aya, his eye snapped back open already glowing red and he fired down at his enemy whose leg was still up in the air and coming back down. He separated that leg from the thug's body, and the villain screamed out in agony, "AHHH!" Blood splashed onto the Princess who pushed her hands down on the floor below her, before spinning towards another of her Royal Guards who was stumbling backwards as bullets riddled through him and blood spurted out of his back too.

He dropped to the floor, and she whispered out in pain, "Argane."

"You fought valiantly. You fought with honor. And you all died, for nothing," Duke Dread's voice blasted out of his robot. His robot stepped forward farther into the palace lawn, while more of the villains around him moved in without as many enemies to deal with anymore. Rembrance stomped onto the back of a Royal Guard crawling towards the Princess. He put his hands down above the Royal Guard's head and fired out blue transparent beams into the man's skull, making him scream out in agony before dropping still to the floor. "Futile," Duke Dread finished menacingly, though he did stop and stay behind his front line while glaring back towards one last enemy he was still cautious of.

"Get, behind me, Princess," Toyo rasped out. He staggered forward behind her, glaring towards Makani only who was back on his feet and staring at the Princess himself.

"Every time," Makani whispered. "You get in my way. Why? Why do you… Oh." A look of clarity formed on Makani's face that seemed to push away some of the madness even. "I get it. You love her too. That's why you get in my way."

"I do love her," Toyo growled back, stepping past the left side of the girl who stared up in horror at her oldest friend. She could not remember a day of her life when he was not there by her side. "She may not be my daughter," Toyo's right eye glared at Makani and all those around him who were staring back at him and the girl he protected behind him. "But I love her as if she was. I will continue to look after, and protect her! Until my last breath, I will kill ANY of you who dare touch a hair on her head."

"Toyo…" Aya whispered, tears filling her eyes at what he just said. Her right hand lifted slowly and she reached out, grabbing the back of his left pant leg. "Please, don't. I- I don't want you to die-"

"I will not die, Princess." Toyo stated it with confidence. His eye was dark and a faint red glow burned inside it as he stared at enemies who had all seen what his eye could do. Toyo lifted his right foot up, and he returned the kick he had received before into the chin of the one-legged man on the ground next to him who was just dragging himself back while hissing 'you bastard-' Toyo snapped his head to the side with that kick, then he stomped that right foot forward on the floor and turned his body into a fighting stance. His right eye burned with fury and the righteous desire to protect the girl behind him. "I will not die, as long as you are in my charge. I swore an oath to protect you. I will fulfill that promise."

Aya's hand shook on his pant leg, but it released and lowered back down. She believed him. Most of the villains in front of Toyo did not believe that he would last very long against all of them… but not many of them were willing to be the first one to charge at a man who just said something like that. Toyo also stood directly in front of the Princess now too, so no one was willing to risk attacking with something that could cause collateral to her. They all knew who was going to handle this though, and they shifted their eyes to Makani's back as he stomped forward and grinned ear to ear at the way he saw the Princess looking at Toyo. "It was you," Makani said, believing fully in his conclusion now. "Don't worry Princess. I know he tricked you, but it's okay now. Why?"

Don't say it, Duke Dread thought with a bead of sweat dripping down the side of his face.

"Because I'm here." Makani said it in a heroic tone as if he was there to save her.

Princess Aya heard words that All Might famously said. Hearing them from Makani Taizo as he came for her to kill Toyo like he already had so many of her friends, sent chills down her spine. The irony made the villains behind Makani start grinning more though and some started laughing as they did not just sigh like Duke Dread did. Dread grinned after a second too though and shook his head around. I made a smart investment. Now it's paying off. I do feel a little bad for the Princess though. I'll have to keep a close eye on her and Taizo, make sure she doesn't convince him to turn on me for revenge… "Hmm," Dread considered more that possibility that could be to come. I might have to kill Taizo. It was always a possibility, but I was hoping to avoid it. If the League turns on me I'll need him at my side. Keep him loyal. But, he's a wildcard. Too unstable for my likings.

Then again, Duke Dread grinned ear to ear as Makani dodged a laser beam that went past where he dodged and left a hole in one of his other slower gang members. I can find a way to keep using him. Find myself the Emperor, and I can use him as a hostage to get the Princess to convince Taizo to do whatever I want him to. Don't know if Raijin or Shigaraki have any plans for the Emperor, but I might have to handle that internally. Only those I trust. I'll have Ezekial's tracker follow where the rest of the Palace has fled to. They'll find the Emperor in no time at all. Duke Dread smirked and then rose his gaze from the last of the Royal Guard still fighting who Makani was charging at. He looked at the huge Imperial Palace that he was standing inside the walls of on top of a powerful robot with an army around him. It's all paid off. For this. This moment, makes it all worth it.

"RAAA!"

"HI-YAAA!"

"What the-"

"AHH-"

Splash!

"MOVE!"

"OUT OF THE WAY!"

Duke Dread spun his head and glared behind him. Most of the Jazz around his robot turned around too. Those just inside the gate and those still in the broken gateway turned, looking down the Iron Bridge and then lifting their gazes up over the backs of their comrades who were blocking their views. Duke Dread could not even see them completely even from his position higher up on the Spider's back. The others just looked up over the backs of their comrades and at the bodies being tossed into the air all screaming out with bruises and cuts on their bodies.

Jazz members were tossed off the sides of the bridge two at a time, four at a time, five or six even. Several ran forward and dove and attacked the two boys on the bridge at the same time, and Kirishima and Tetsutetsu slammed their arms out to the sides without slowing down, knocking everyone else away from them and clearing a space around them. "RAAAA!" Kirishima and Tetsutetsu yelled out simultaneously while shoulder to shoulder. They were already Hardened, with Kirishima's body spikier and Tetsutetsu's shinier as he was encased in Steel instead of just his body turning hard.

The two of them dug their feet into the Iron Bridge. They leaned their bodies forward, glaring forward through the path of all their enemies and up to the top of the Spider droid at a villain who they recognized and whose robot started turning around to them. "This is all the reinforcements the heroes could spare?" Duke Dread wondered in a taunting voice. "Two children-"

Kirishima and Tetsutetsu sprinted forward. "Fire at them!" Ezekial yelled while running back and looking to comrades of his who had held off with their rifles in fear of Makani. They could fire in the other direction at heroes with no problem though, and ten of them pointed rifles and a couple also held up pistols in their free hands too. They all fired towards the teens and grinned to themselves as they could kill heroes… Neither of the two were slowing down. Both ground their teeth harder as they were hit by firearms that got closer and closer to shooting them from point blank. Even though they were getting closer, the villains' aim was getting worse. The bullets hurt more even while they were Hardened, because neither could harden into their hardest forms while still being able to move their leg joints, though they managed to harden some of their upper bodies stronger even while keeping the backs of their knees softer to help sprint.

The villains who were getting worse at aiming pulled back and a few dove to the sides to dodge the charging tanks sprinting over the bridge. Others kept firing as they noticed winces from both Kirishima and Tetsutetsu from their shots, and one even fired their pistol from nearly point blank into Kirishima's skull. It hit him in the right eyelid, and the villain who fired stared in shock and panic as the bullet bent into Kirishima's eyelid and bounced off. Kirishima closed only his right eye from the pain there, while he slammed his left fist up in an uppercut through the villain's rifle in his other hand and into his chest to knock him ten feet into the air.

"CLEAR THE BRIDGE!"

Chili Cazz had a body that looked like it was made of a red sludge. His arms were up though and he had a glowing green cannon in them that glowed brighter as he held down the trigger towards the boys who each recognized the glow and actually stopped to brace themselves this time. Ba-HOOM! A green explosion hit the floor directly in front of Kirishima and Tetsutetsu. The domed blast from Chili Cazz holding the trigger down stretched almost to both sides of the bridge.

Farther in the courtyard, Toyo turned his head and forced out another laser even though it had been too short of a time between the last time he used it. Makani thought he had his enemy's Quirk figured out too, so he only pulled his body partially away and got a deep burn gash across the front of his chest as he did not turn side-face quick enough this time when he had sprinted too close and was almost right in front of Toyo. He yanked away and punched his left arm out at the same time, and the end of his scarred fist punched out even in that strange angle grazed his opponent who pulled back while his laser faded after only half of a second and did not even reach any of the other villains behind Makani who leaned away fearing that the laser was about to kill them. Toyo lifted off the ground even from only barely being hit by the punch. He flew eight feet backwards and hit on his side before bouncing, then rolling across the floor while gasping out in agony from the force that shook his entire body and definitely cracked another bone or two.

"Now, Princess," Makani turned back towards her. He had a deep gash going through his costume of red and dark blue. The dark blue was getting darker and turning red itself as the blood came out of his muscular torso and soaked around the ripped fabric over his chest. The laser cut across both of his pecs. He did not seem to notice as he looked towards the Princess whose eyes trembled in terror as Toyo had been thrown farther from her so there was nothing between her and Makani now. Makani stepped towards her with his sharpened teeth baring as the corners of his lips pulled far up towards his ears. "You're mine."

"MOVE!" Kirishima sprinted through Ezekial who was staring with huge eyes at Chili Cazz as that sludge-y man got plowed over by Tetsutetsu.

Both of the teens slammed their fists out and hit the Spider droid as they ran past it, but Dread's vehicle reared up on its back legs with the front two that were hit lifting up in the air. The body of the vehicle did not shift much and kept Duke Dread mainly in place, and he swung his snare drums out in front of his body and started slamming his drumsticks down on them as the boys ran past his other side after going under his Spider. BU-du-du-du-du-du… As if machine gun fire had slammed into their backs, Tetsutetsu was knocked to the ground while Kirishima stumbled but managed to stay up for another second.

"HEY!" Kirishima yelled at the hulking form towering over the Princess he had almost reached. "Get away from-"

Makani's head started to turn and he was glaring back towards Kirishima. The ground underneath Kirishima's next step turned wavy and he stumbled to his right. In the corner of Kirishima's eyes as he was just making eye contact with this huge enemy, he suddenly realized how many more of the Jazz were already inside the Palace gates compared to those out on the bridge. Villains who had come in and fought and killed the Royal Guard were all targeting him now. The ground was wavy under his feet he suspected because of a dark-skinned man who just slammed his right palm into the ground while glaring at him with dark purple eyes.

Another figure up on the wall next to the broken gateway swung his right arm forward while Kirishima was focused on Makani. As Kirishima stumbled, the hook from the fishing line that swung from the villain's arm missed Kirishima's skull but did catch him in the right leg. The steel hook curled under his knee as if it were a snake at the end of a line, before hardening back into a hook that the Jazz member yanked backwards and took Kirishima from the ground as he was just trying to bring that foot down to steady himself.

Tetsutetsu was on his hands and knees and pushing back up, when a shadow cast over his head for a second. He snapped his head up and then turned himself into harder Steel as fast as he could. Anchor slammed down on his back and the ground underneath him turned into a crater. Duke Dread lowered the black flute he had raised because the snare drum did not riddle the teens with holes as it was supposed to. He chuckled to himself as he lowered the weapon that could hit a higher pitch and would be better for piercing the hard armor of the boys who came "to the rescue" of the Princess. I'm not even needed, Dread reminded himself.

"You children really thought you could just charge at the leader of the Jazz in his new property, all on your own?" Duke Dread wondered to the teens who struggled against his soldiers and tried to get back up while Makani fully turned around now so the Princess was at his back. Makani snarled at the two who interrupted right when he was about to take the Princess. Those boys darted looks from Makani to the girl behind him, over to the Head Guard who was farther away and bleeding badly while trying to stand back up. Their eyes scanned around enemies surrounding them and the corpses of the Royal Guards as well as some Jazz members they had been fighting. And they met gazes with Duke Dread who spoke down to them from the back of his Spider that walked closer and amplified his voice from the microphone attached to his chest.

"Do you know why the Jazz were known as the third strongest all this time?" Duke Dread questioned them. "It wasn't just because we were the only other large villain organization left after the Radians and Subspace Devils, before the League revealed themselves again. I think, Lifebringer said it best." Kirishima's eyes darkened and shifted to directly lock on Duke Dread's now with his head turning more as well even as Tetsutetsu stepped back more towards him and kept his back to his buddy's. Dread glared down into Kirishima's eyes, "In his press conference after defeating The Subspace Devils, he told everyone that they were only at the place they were at because of Potaru. The Jazz didn't have anyone like that. And even if I did, I wouldn't have used him in such a foolhardy way."

"No," Dread continued. His voice was menacing, and the leader of the third strongest villain group in the nation chuckled as he glared at the students of the nation's most prominent hero school. "I gathered up strong villains from across this country and created a massive force who came to each others' aid during your pathetic raids to support and save each other. We killed many heroes in the process, and hundreds of civilians during the chaos I would create to give my allies opportunities to escape. Sure, I never killed as many people as your friend did, but oh I have killed enough heroes on my own to know that you two," Dread shook his head with a smile as if this whole situation was laughable. "You have no chance of taking us. You could not take me on alone, and I will not fight you alone. You cannot save the Princess from Taizo."

"You will fall," Dread stated darkly. "Just like Lifebringer did."

The enemy's smirk rose so much more as he taunted Kirishima over that. Duke Dread remembered who Lifebringer had revived before anyone else. He looked towards the spiky-haired redhead whose face twisted in so much anger and simultaneously in grief. That grief was pushed aside though and even some of the anger too, though Kirishima could not escape it from entering his voice a little. "Tetsutetsu. Protect the Princess." Tetsutetsu was already facing away from Kirishima and to the other side where a monster twice as tall as him was glaring down at his face with blood all over his hands. The way that most of the Royal Guards around them had been killed looked so brutal, and Tetsutetsu imagined many of those deaths had been at the large hands or claws of this villain, Makani Taizo.

Kirishima was furious and his eyes narrowed on Duke Dread who stopped chuckling but did maintain his smirk that looked so dangerous as his head bowed and his right hand gripped his lowered flute tighter. At the sides of the legs of Dread's Spider were dozens of other villains, many of whom Kirishima recognized. Jazz villains who had made names for themselves. Gang leaders that he did not even know were under Duke Dread's control. And other unknown villains to him who still looked strong as well, all staring right towards him and readying themselves for a quick fight. Kirishima bowed his own head forward though so the spiky red bangs shadowed his eyes as well, "Zach may have fallen… but he did not fail. He saved all of us, over and over, and over again." Kirishima bit down in frustration and his head snapped up so his enraged eyes locked back on Duke Dread's. "So that we could live in a better world! He did that, FOR US! And I won't let you take that away. For once, I'm going to repay him for what he's done…"

"By stopping you right now."

---

Bam Bam Boom! Bakugo swung his right hand to his side and changed directions in midair.

"Damn it," he muttered, spinning around then blasting two explosions over his head and dropping down to the street below.

Villains and heroes were all in the middle of fighting. They were fighting hand to hand and foot to foot. Punching and kicking and using their Quirks… BOOM BOOM BOOM! Bakugo blasted between fights and aimed targeted explosions at the villains while they were in the middle of facing their enemies. Explosions rocked them and launched them away from the heroes and into walls that were covered in steel plating already to protect the civilians inside. Bakugo ducked down as a Harpy-looking woman lunged at him with her claws with her body appearing almost transparent so he barely missed her. As he ducked below and she passed over him, he blasted an Explosion out of the back of his neck where a green piece of armor had collected some sweat. Then he flicked his left hand out and spun-dodged another villain with green particles blurring off of him as he rushed forward at eighty miles per hour.

Bakugo reached back and grabbed that man by the back of his costume. The jolt from suddenly stopping short when he thought he was going to slash past Bakugo with the sword in his hands was too much for the Radian member who Bakugo recognized. He blasted Explosions out underneath his arm to swing Rabid up in the air and then down in front of him into the pavement. Bakugo released and pointed both hands to his right and fired a larger explosion at a group of villains starting to back away and open their mouths. He gave them no opportunity to bargain or talk this out, charring them and sending them sprawling back farther away from the injured three heroes they had been ganging up on with more than twice the numbers.

"Explosion King, that was-" One of the heroes he assisted started.

Bakugo slammed both hands down at his sides and launched himself back up in the air. "Wasting time," he muttered as he fired off continuous blasts to keep moving. His eyes darted to the right as he spotted a giant Spider marching down a street intersecting the one he was blasting through the air of. Out from the bottom of that robot dropped a large metal tube with a drill underneath that imbedded itself partially in the floor then stopped drilling so it stuck out for some reason that Bakugo was confused on. His teeth ground and his eyes darted to television screens that kept switching between different rooms of Heroally TV and showing the cowering employees held hostage by his old classmate.

"Guess you didn't realize it yourself, but why do you think I actually hung out with you? Talked to you, tried to help you at the licensing exam…" "…so I figured why not make friends with him? So come on, was I your second best friend?" Bakugo bit down but the thought of those words Raijin said to him on the day of the betrayal actually made him start turning more towards the Spider. He thought back on Zach talking about the Lifebringer Incident after his trial when he was in his room with Kirishima and Ashido. None of his reasons were personal. He thought he might be killing Kurogiri to make sure his sacrifice meant something, so he couldn't do it! His rage at Raijin had to subside so he could focus on the Spider and get rid of it for the rest of the city's sake. I'll get to Heroally the same time as everyone else even if I take several detours. I need to arrive the same time as Yaoyorozu.

Unlike Class A that was avoiding distractions and running straight towards Heroally, Bakugo was assisting every hero he saw and moving straight through battles and leaving only his allies standing. The sight of one of those Spiders facing little resistance but for some Police Force members trying to set up a road block with heroes he did not even recognize, made him turn that way to go give assistance. But just as quickly as he turned, he twisted his body and blasted back away to continue towards Heroally. Ryukyu has Encode on her back. He'll power it down. Bakugo spotted the Dragoon Hero with several of her sidekicks and other stronger heroes rushing at that Spider, and it allowed him to focus back on his primary objective.

Raijin. He killed Zach. He knew the state of mind Zach was in, better than even we did from at his side. We fucked up by not helping him. I can't do shit for him now, but I'll avenge him. Yet, Raijin has plans for me too. I can't rush in alone with so many hostages in his hands. Stay calm. Collected. His guard will be up, but I'll find a way past it. Bakugo's mind was racing as he pictured Raijin standing in front of him. He imagined lightning shooting around a confined room, and then he saw all of the windows blowing open and giving him more room for movement in and out of the building. Don't let him set the pace. Lead the…

Bakugo's eyes shifted to the street below and at a hero who stumbled into a wall of a building at a corner ahead of him. The hero was struggling against a mass of green sludge that was fighting him. Its body was viscous and swirling around the arms and legs of the hero who desperately pulled his face away from it. The muscular hero in a green costume with a bright purple mask over his face gasped for breath, only for sludge to start to wrap around the sides of his face with horrifying teeth curling over the back of him. The Sludge Villain's eyes lifted from the hero he was currently attempting to possess though, and the teeth of its sludge body pulled to the side of the hero's head instead and then opened far apart as its eyes locked on Bakugo's up in the air and thirty meters from him. "YOU! You're the one who's body I really want! I'll take it, and I'll use it to kill ALL MIGHT!"

The teenager up in the air flipped himself with an Explosion and blasted himself down towards the ground. He blasted behind him and shot back up and over the head of the Sludge Villain who was just moving the hero's arms to start pointing forward. The creature of green sludge turned its head and started twisting itself to look behind where Bakugo was going to blow him up. "So you're a little stronger than-"

Bakugo blasted more Explosions but not into his enemy who heard them behind him and was surprised that Bakugo would just attack this hero who also went wide-eyed behind his mask that he was going to be blown up. Bakugo sent himself back in front of the Sludge Villain in mid-turn though who started turning back forwards in shock at just how much faster this teenager was than four years ago. Bakugo reached his right hand forward and gripped the semi-possessed hero by the front of his costume. He yanked backwards strong while slamming his left palm past the side of the hero he started ripping from the Sludge. "DIE!" Bakugo roared at the villain who had escaped from Tartaros two years ago. Ba-KOOOM!

After the SFI when Bakugo found out all the villains who had escaped from Tartaros, this was the one villain who more than anything he wanted to capture again. He could not care less at the moment though. It was not because of Raijin either and the destruction all around him that the thought of his revenge against this Sludge Villain did not even cross his mind. Bakugo barely even watched as his Explosion ripped the Sludge Villain's appendages apart that tried grasping onto the hero who Bakugo tossed behind him after the Explosion. He barely focused on this "fight" at all, because his eyes had locked to his left and across the street he was on.

Bakugo's eyes locked on a vehicle that had flames coming out of it. There was a body slumped halfway out of the driver's side door, and one with blood all over his charred body with his head slumped into the dash. Dripping out of the backseats of the car was molten Magma that seared the pavement around it in the same way, that a dark trench leading away from this area also did. Bakugo's eyes shifted along that trench and then around the next corner a block away. In the top of his vision he could still see the hostages at Heroally on various billboards. Thoughts scolding himself for considering revenge were absent this time as his face enraged to a point that the hero getting up behind him could not even thank the boy.

"Meta," Bakugo's voice came out scratchy. In his rage, his voice even cracked from just speaking the name of that villain. Raijin is next. Miruko, I'll avenge you first. Bakugo's fingers curled at his sides so tense that they cracked inside his gloves.

Bakugo blasted off so hard that the wind knocked over his fellow hero. The hero who hit the ground spun towards where the Sludge Villain could be getting back up, only to see a puddle with rolled-back white eyes. Do I have a water bottle? The hero spun around and set himself on finding one. His eyes did glance the direction Bakugo just flew off to. Did he say, "Meta?" The older man's eyes shifted back down to the car that Bakugo had glared at, and he gulped at the thought of the fight about to come.

Bakugo flew three streets a second. Explosions trailed behind him in rapid fire blasts. He raced after a trail of destruction leaving holes in the pavement and sidewalks. On walls of buildings that went through steel and left multiple Intel-ANT's laying melted and in pieces showing that Meta had plowed straight through them. Bakugo launched himself around another corner then pointed both of his hands higher up behind him to angle himself downwards.

Meta stood alone on a street he had all to himself. His eyes darted towards the corner he heard the Explosions coming from around before Bakugo even showed his face. Meta took in and released a deep breath, then he punched his right fist up towards Bakugo who did not hesitate a moment to rocket himself down towards where Meta was standing. Closer, Meta punched his other hand while covering the first in Magma again as Bakugo just ducked his head without even needing an Explosion to dodge the first one.

Bakugo shot down towards Meta who leapt backwards and transformed his bottom half into Magma as he did so. His upper half remained the same though Magma dripped off more of his arms and down his back too. Bakugo was so close to the ground when Meta jumped backwards that he pointed both hands down towards the floor in front of Meta now to shoot himself after him. At the last instant though, Bakugo's hands twisted forwards and fired towards Meta instead.

The bald villain was farther away than he thought one of Bakugo's regular Explosions would reach. Both Explosions were larger than his previous ones without breaking his green grenade-shaped gauntlets though. They blasted into Meta and forced him farther backwards right as he was changing his own momentum to move in. Bakugo's blast in Meta's direction also pushed himself farther away from the villain. The bottom of his larger Explosions still hit the floor under where Meta had been standing and from where he had leapt off rather cautiously though he had attempted to hide how lightly he leaped. The ground underneath where Meta's feet had been broke apart and fell into the river of Magma filling the tunnel below him that he had set up before standing above it to complete his trap.

Meta's eyes opened wider and more of his body turned into Magma as he stared through the smoke and over a crumbling surface towards where Bakugo landed down and slid back on the pavement on his boots. Then a smirk spread over Meta's face, and he lifted his right hand that was curled around something Bakugo's eyes darted to. "Always have a backup," Meta pressed down on the button of the detonator. Condensed containers underneath the sidewalk on either side of the road as Bakugo blew apart, as they did on either side of the pit that had collapsed into the Magma River. The secondary trap for any heroes who potentially dodged to the sides exploded and Magma burst up into the air and out onto the street.

Meta reached his right arm forward that was growing and turning into a bulging mass of Magma. It touched the other Magma splashing outwards into the middle of the road, and his head turned fully into Magma in that moment and snaked up through his mass and forward towards Bakugo. Splashing Magma came from both sides of the street and Meta came from in front of him. Bakugo's feet exploded. His body lifted up and his head leaned forward so he was starting a frontflip. His right foot came up over his back and the heel slammed down towards a rising arm of Magma, then it exploded and blew apart the arm while also making a smokescreen that Meta swung his other Magma arm through to blow it away.

Meta's gaze darted both ways as the air above him was empty. The heel-kick downwards had flipped Bakugo back towards where he had started but twenty feet above it so that his back was rising just over the highest arcing pieces of molten Meta. Meta's own molten body was not fully under his control as Bakugo noticed while watching how the Magma farther away from his central mass moved. Meta's face was glowing bright red and hot, but his eyes looked more human and did not disappear into the Magma as much as the rest of him did.

Meta saw Bakugo analyzing his Quirk. He saw the teenager locking eyes with him through splashing Magma and a thin veil of smoke. And Meta smirked back towards him while dropping down into the hole in the street now directly below him. Bakugo ground his teeth and pointed both arms forward, "I don't think so. DIE!" Bakugo fired out Explosions from the backs of his leg and from the center of his back and back of his neck. As he did that to counter-balance himself, he fired off larger Explosions from both hands into Meta's central mass. The control in his Explosions was such that after the initial blasts from his arms and all over his back, Bakugo switched the intensity just a bit to fire stronger Explosions out of his back and weaker ones in front of him.

He both cleared out the Magma in front of him while pushing himself closer to Meta before he could reach that river below and merge with it. His analysis of Meta was not complete, but he knew that this fight would be harder if Meta dropped down and either disappeared into that huge supply of Magma or merged with it. Meta's eyes grew wider this time for real in surprise as Bakugo forced himself closer before gravity could drop him to the surface of the Magma River below. Meta slammed both arms forward and kicked up his lower half mass as well-

Bakugo swung his right arm forward and grabbed the pin of his gauntlet as all that Magma swung towards him. HE'S REALLY GOING TO KILL ME!

"DIE!" Bakugo roared, and he pulled the pin of his gauntlet as Meta forced out as much Magma as possible in front of himself.

The street above Bakugo ripped apart as did the sidewalks on either side. The entire road from where Bakugo and Meta just fell below the surface, to three blocks away, blew apart with his Explosion annihilating the ground through its force and the flames. Meta's body flew out of the flames and smoke with Magma splashing away from his burnt body that hit the floor of the tunnel underneath the crumbling ground and bounced just before a piece of road would have collapsed down on top of his body. He kept bouncing underground as the road behind him broke and fell. Meta's mouth opened and he gasped out a puff of gray smoke as he hit a wall underground and his back finally stopped against it.

Bakugo's right wrist twinged with pain but the gauntlet had taken most of the force away. He shook his arm out and reached down for a smaller support tool that he clicked a button on the side of and made it grow and break in half as he tossed it up. He snapped his right arm out to the side, and Hatsume's support item she made for him flew back down to the glowing blue dots on top and bottom of his wrist to connect back together as a slightly thinner gauntlet than his left. Bakugo turned his head and started looking away from the road he had blown apart. He turned and tried to look towards Heroally, but he could not turn completely while in his peripheral vision he saw wobbly pieces of road breaking and dropping into the tunnel below. "Don't," he hissed at himself, his body twisting away more.

…

The street above Meta broke apart. The unconscious man underground covered in burns and slumped against a wall with his insides full of broken bones, did not see the pieces of road above him falling onto his collapsed body. Nor was he woken up as an Explosion blew them away from just above the top of his bald skull and left an open space above him that Bakugo bounced in for a couple of seconds just glaring down at his enemy. All Might wouldn't do that. I'm not going to be a better hero than him, by doing that either. Bakugo dropped down and landed on his feet in front of Meta. He balled his left fist and really wanted to just punch the unconscious man in the face, but he refrained from even that and just reached his hand forward instead and gripped Meta by the throat (since he had no more shirt on to grab instead, or so Bakugo reasoned with himself without caring much either way).

"We'll make this a secondary command post. Burnin! Relay that message to Endeavor when you can!"

"Lemillion has Karebo's command center now. Endeavor is off fighting Intanzo!"

"He's here too?!" Plucky exclaimed. She snapped her head to the side and cursed under her breath, "Fuck. Of course he is. They're all here-"

"OI!" Bakugo screamed down at the heroes who he had rushed in on and beat up all their enemies a couple minutes ago. They looked back up at the teenager flying down their road who had one hand pointed behind him blasting twice as many Explosions per second as usual because he could only use one arm. Bakugo flew down closer to just above their heads then spun himself a hundred and eighty degrees. He let go with his right hand and blasted Explosions out the back of his arm to release stronger. He threw Meta's limp body into the wall next to Burnin who turned her head and then stared with huge eyes at the body Bakugo just launched her way.

"Take care of this!" Bakugo yelled at them as he finished his spin back the other way. His eyes narrowed into the distance towards where he knew Heroally was, and he blasted two Explosions off the palms of his hands at the same time this time.

"Did he just…" Sky-Girl started in shock.

Presto Change-o stared at the limp form next to Burnin who started grinning after a second and spun herself back to call after Bakugo. "Meta," Presto Change-o said in amazement. "He defeated one of the most wanted villains in the country, without a scratch on him?" He looked back after Bakugo himself in astonishment. Maybe, we stand more of a chance than…

In the Heroally TV station, Raijin looked at the live drone footage showing him an enemy who his lips stayed flat as he watched. His eyes had narrowed as he watched Bakugo defeat Meta, but seeing where Bakugo's attention shifted to after tossing Meta's unconscious body to heroes was what solidified the decision in his mind. "You really are too big a threat, Bakugo. I'd rather not take you on so early in the fight. Not that you would beat me, but just as a precaution." Raijin lifted back up the right corner of his lips then cleared his throat and lifted his tablet up in front of him. "A-hem. Kaaa-kah kah! Let's see." Raijin wiggled his tongue and then recreated his best Shigaraki expression.

Match his intonation and speech. The modulator will do the rest. "Machia," Raijin spoke into his device.

In a plane flying six thousand feet up in the air, a beastly figure not moving a muscle lifted his head. Raijin's fingers sparked. The inner walls of the plane all turned on. They were covered in television screens that showed the face of a single student at U.A. "I have a job I need you to do for me," Shigaraki's voice spoke into the thick cargo plane that Machia's large body was stuffed inside of. "Do you see this person? The hero, Explosion King. Bakugo Katsuki. I need you to eliminate him for me. Kill him, and wreak as much havoc on Tokyo as you can while you do it."

The floor of the plane dropped out. The un-piloted plane had already changed direction and had been flying according to Raijin's direction rather than a circular autopilot. It had changed direction when Raijin noticed Bakugo changing directions to follow Meta's trail. It was already exactly where he wanted it to be. "You're strong, Bakugo. You really are. But not even you can do a thing against Machia. This is a fight you cannot win." His smirk rose up as his quickest drone backed away from Bakugo to get some distance between it and the landing zone.

Bakugo just started flying away from the new evacuation site and command center that heroes were trying to establish in this part of the city. Coordination was still too hard with Raijin around, leaving them to use runners to try and relay this information around. Bakugo's head started lifting up though as he spotted a plane flying overhead and crossing the road ahead of him a few hundred feet or so. He had not noticed the plane before, but he looked up as all the hair on the back of his neck stood up. Heroes back behind him turned as well and looked up at the sight of a plane flying high above. Presto Change-o, Kuresta (or Crest), the Feisty Foursome, and Ectoplasm all looked up towards it.

"Damn, they need to ground all flights…" Vixen stopped talking and instead dropped her jaw at what she saw falling from that plane which was apparently not a passenger plane flying over a combat zone.

"Shit, what the hell is…" Ectoplasm's eyes grew wider and wider still as whatever was falling was growing at the same time.

"BAKUGO! KATSUKI!" The thunderous roar of a falling monster shook the buildings down below. The force of this monster's voice alone was enough to crack windows and push back on Bakugo who swung both arms in front of him and blasted himself the other way while staring up with his lips in a huge smile even as sweat dripped down the left side of his face.

"Oi oi, are you serious?" Bakugo's eyes snapped down below where this monster was about to drop. He glared off towards Heroally. "You don't want to fight me that much? Really? REALLY?!" It's targeted on me. Bakugo refocused and blasted himself backwards but while staying in the middle of the street as much as possible. There are too many people around. I can't lead it to everyone else, or those hostages. What the Hell is this thing?! Bakugo watched as it grew larger while glaring straight down towards him.

"Gigantomachia," Ectoplasm whispered. His glowing white eyes were darker as he glared towards the beast dropping fast towards their capital city. "The destruction will be immeasurable if we don't stop him, right now." Ectoplasm shot forward as fast as he could. The other heroes behind him trying to set up a safe location found their situation changed. They reacted just as fast though as Ectoplasm and gave chase to the experienced hero and U.A. teacher who knew of this villain apparently. All Might brought him up last year, Ectoplasm thought in fear of the figure getting more detailed every second he dropped. Based on the pictures of that trail through the Miyagi Forest he suggested this "Gigantomachia" could be responsible for, the size it's at currently is not half of what it could reach. We need to stop it before it gets that huge!

Farther across the city back the direction all of these heroes had come from but more to the north, Gran Torino and Sonic both shifted their gazes as they caught sight of the monster dropping from that plane. "So early on?" Sonic wondered. He sounded thoughtful and interested, and also a bit concerned though not too much as he refaced Gran Torino ahead of him. "As an old enemy of All For One, you know what Machia can do, don't you? Really think I'm still the one you should be focusing on?"

Sorahiko snapped his head back and glared furiously towards Sonic for a moment. I hate it, but he is right. Gran Torino spun around and shot air out the bottom of his feet at full speed. He grit his teeth even harder as he knew he was still in Sonic's range based on how their fight had been going, but Sonic did not want to have to deal with such a fast hero any longer that his opponent could actually threaten him as Gran Torino had been.

Sonic just turned away and started running the opposite direction as Machia, thinking to himself, I want none of that. I'll stay away from wherever Shigaraki's fighting too. Maybe pay a visit over towards Heroally. See if I can't pick off a kid or two. "Hahaha," he laughed under his breath and his eyes narrowed in a most dangerous way. They'll only be in our way otherwise. The most distracted they'll be is with Raijin. The best chance I'm going to get for a few easy kills.

Gigantomachia landed on the street of Tokyo that cracked under his feet and crushed down through the surface. The city shook more than it had when Bakugo blew his first gauntlet on Meta. Bakugo hovered in the air seventy feet in front of Machia's face. He saw his teacher, or teachers (as Ectoplasm had split himself into twenty), rushing forward just behind and below him now. "Why is it coming after you, Bakugo?!" Ectoplasm yelled up towards his student.

"Raijin," Bakugo snapped in annoyance and knowing that the single word was enough of an explanation on its own.

"I'm sorry, Bakugo," Raijin said while watching from his drone at a farther distance now. His attention was shifting at the same time to cameras much closer to his building that picked up on the people on the same street. "But you're actually a threat if you take part with whatever moves Yaoyorozu has in store for me. You're much too strong for the AANTs, far too fast as well. Faster than Machia, admittedly." Raijin smirked while looking at the group who gathered out front of his tv station. The front doors unlocked for them with a click he made sure was loud enough for them to hear as they faced the entrance. "But Machia will never be defeated by you. So you won't be here to watch as I kill all of our friends."

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A/N Thanks for reading! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Only going to do one review response this time as I'm in a bit of a rush, but I really wanted to mention it:

Yamajiji chapter 243 . Jan 3

Holy. Fucking. Shit. Deku lost an arm and pulled an Eziano and closed the stub? Gangster shit. Wonder if Eri will fix that? Probably not after all the shit they gave Deku for Gran Torino. But damm the fight just started and he's already heavily injured. The rest of the Hero fights are interesting too. Endeavor vs Intanzo is awesome and his quirk is pretty interesting. Todoroki vs Dabi will be awesome too. The Shiketsu kids are gonna be awesome too. So much is happening right now, I can't wait. I bet Bakugou is gonna end up fighting Gigantomachia too, since he doesn't have an opponent for now. Great job as always. Looking forward to the next one.

Nice. Fucking. Call. XD Bakugo and Gigantomachia sets up at the end of this chapter! Thanks for the review, and awesome prediction!