Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Vlad King's Green Bean
Chapter nineteen: Boss Battle
At the bar hideout of the League of Villains, the mysterious black liquid that summoned the nomu and took Yaoyorozu away suddenly began deluging out of the mouths of Dabi and the other members of the League of Villains. "Stop them!" Kamui Woods yelled, "They're being teleported away just like the Yaoyorozu girl was!" The heroes tried to stop them, but by then it was too late; the mysterious black liquid had warped Dabi and his brood out of there, allowing for the League of Villains to make a clean (figuratively speaking) getaway.
"Damn it!" Kamui Woods swore, "They got away!"
"There was nothing we could have done," Gang Orca remarked, "The villains were able to pull yet another fast one on us."
All Might nodded in agreement as he blew away four nomu who tried attacking him by using Oklahoma Smash, defeating all of them. Looking outside of the bar, All Might saw that Endeavor was basically handling things solo, even though the police with him were technically helping. "...I'm going to leave things here to Endeavor," said the Symbol of Peace, "My gut's telling me that I ought to head over to the warehouse that's being raided." Without another word, All Might leapt off into the distance, in a beeline right for where the League of Villains' warehouse ought to be.
...
Over at the ruins of the warehouse, the mysterious villain clapped in applause as he floated before Best Jeanist who, despite being heavily injured, was still alive. The highly ranked pro hero had multiple strings out, to which all of the other heroes were attached, and the other heroes were all well behind Best Jeanist. "I must say, Best Jeanist," the mysterious villain said, "Using your quirk to pull your allies out of harms way in the nick of time. Why, if it wasn't for the fact that such a move requires the level of dedication and practice that you spent years putting into honing your quirk to its finest edge, I'd be liable to try taking your quirk from you."
Best Jeanist gave a bemused hmph. "You don't say, you fiend."
As Best Jeanist tried to keep the villain's attention occupied, hidden behind a partly ruined wall were the 1-A girls who came to try to rescue Yaoyorozu. Yamamaya and Hagakure were covered by the drunks that Kurata had charmed earlier to help them, and the girls upon seeing Yamamaya and Hagakure throw off the drunks saw that the drunks weren't going to be getting up ever again. "That..." Hagakure said, shaken to her very core, as she and the other girls saw where the two drunks laid dead on the ground, "...That could have been me and Yamamaya..."
"Well it's a good thing that I saw what was going to happen and told those drunks to cover you girls, huh?" Kurata replied, "Anyway, we need to bail, like, five minutes ago! I don't know about you girls, but that scary evil aura is so scary, it's this close to literally scaring the shit out of me!"
The other girls all nodded in agreement, but before they could move, they all heard a sloshing sound coming from a distance behind them. Daring to peek, it was Jiro who spotted a bubbling mass of mysterious black liquid forming into existence, then out of it came Yaoyorozu. Following that was more masses of black liquid, out of which Dabi and his League of Villains came out. Once everyone had appeared, the mysterious villain turned to face Dabi, gesturing to him in a way that conveyed, oddly enough, fatherly warmth and understanding.
Over where the mysterious villain had Yaoyorozu and the League of Villains, the mysterious villain said to Dabi, "It would seem that you suffered a setback, my dear Dabi. But don't go thinking that this failure is your fault. The heroes can be just as devious and sneaky as they claim us to be. Learn from this day, and use the lessons to better prep for the times to come. Everything here is being done for your sake, after all."
Dabi gave an amused hum as he got up and dusted himself off. "...Well it's not like I'm one to let a setback like this keep me from ultimately getting what I want."
As the villains talked, over where the 1-A girls hid, Mina said, "Yaoyorozu's right there! We can save her!"
"How?" Yamamaya asked, "She's surrounded by villains, and none of us have quirks that can let us get in, grab her, and get away without alerting the attention of any of those villains!"
Jiro nodded grimly in agreement. "She's right. We're going to have to wait for an opening to-"
"ALL FOR ONE!"
Everyone in the immediate area stopped as they heard the angry, bellowing baritone of All Might roar out, followed immediately by a shockwave so strong it blew many people in the area away, including the hidden 1-A girls, Yaoyorozu, Dabi, and the rest of the League of Villains. When the hidden 1-A girls were able to see, they saw to their surprise that All Might himself had shown up, and was throwing both of his mighty fists at the mysterious villain, apparently called All For One if what All Might bellowed is true.
The apparently identified All For One, however, was grabbing both fists with his hands before he was able to throw All Might back, albeit with very notable difficulty. After All Might landed back, All For One said, "That's quite a mask you got there, All For One. And those tubes in it suggest the mask serves some sort of life support system to aid you. Are you certain you should be up and about in that condition?"
"Well you're one to talk," All For One retorted, "It's about five kilometers from the bar and here, and it took you about twenty seconds to get here after I had sent those nomu. You're losing some of your luster as well, All Might."
The Symbol of Peace rushed at All For One, bellowing, "I'll make sure that you're ended here, All For One! You'll be smashed right into a prison cell, you and your little League of Villains here!" All For One raised an arm and thrust it at All Might, creating a shockwave that sent All Might reeling back, destroying several buildings in the process as well.
"All Might!" Yaoyorozu called out, clearly worried.
"No need to fret, girl," All For One said, "That won't be anywhere near enough to kill All Might." The powerful villain looked at the hand he had used to cast his attack at All Might, as if looking at it contemplatively. All For One turned to look at the League of Villains, saw that Kurogiri was still out of it. "...I'm going to have to forcefully activate Kurogiri's quirk to get him, Dabi, and the rest of them out of here," All For One remarked aloud. He took aim at Kurogiri, but before he did anything he quickly turned back, just in time to block another attack from All Might who rushed right back in.
The powerful villain scoffed in bitter annoyance. "You're making it very difficult for me to get my successor and his League out of here, All Might."
"None of you villains will be going anywhere!" All Might shouted, "Save for a jail cell!"
...
As All Might and All For One clashed, Mr. Compress turned to look at Dabi. "We need to get some distance between them and us!" Mr. Compress said, "Try to revive Kurogiri so he can warp the lot of us to safety!"
Looking around, Dabi saw that, out of all of the League of Villains, only Muscular, Moonfish, and Mustard were out of it. "Use your quirk on Muscular and Moonfish to make transporting them easier," Dabi said as he scooped Mustard up into his arms to carry him, "I'll carry Mustard here myse-"
"Not so fast, villains!"
Dabi got cut off when he and the villains who were awake saw that more pro heroes had shown up; Endeavor was standing right there, calling out to Dabi and the other villains as he had Hawks, Crust, Yoroi Musha, Mirko, and Wash standing with him. Furthermore, Best Jeanist, Mandalay, Mt. Lady, Gran Torino, Kamui Woods, and Gang Orca had all rallied around them. Endeavor pounded a flaming fist into his hand. "Your villainy ends here and now, fiends!" Endeavor declared, "You won't be getting away unlike with what happened at the training camp you had the gall to attack!"
Dabi scowled in annoyance as he backed up a step. "...Compress Mustard as well," Dabi said to Mr. Compress as he laid Mustard back down, "I don't want him getting hurt." Mr. Compress did so, and proceeded to compress Mustard and put the resulting marble away safely before Dabi yelled, "Everyone who can fight, you gotta fight!" That sent everyone in the League of Villains, aside from Mr. Compress who first had to compress the knocked out Muscular and Moonfish, right into battle against the other heroes, while the big players of both sides continued their dangerous duet dance.
...
Blow after blow after mighty blow. All Might and All For One exchanged blows non-stop while their respective groups fought each other. "Your villains are going to be finding themselves outmatched, All For One," All Might boasted, "They're up against many of the finest heroes Japan has to offer!"
All For One parried a mighty punch from All Might. "Really? I'm not sensing Edgeshot or Ryukyu down there. And speaking of Ryukyu, I distinctly recall taking her quirk along with Endeavor's and Mt. Lady's. And yet Mt. Lady clearly has her quirk back, same as Endeavor. Might the same also apply to our dear Dragon Hero?"
All Might blocked a strike from his greatest nemesis. "All of your foul evil from that day has been undone, All For One! And don't go thinking I'll tell you how!"
"You still haven't explained why Ryukyu and Edgeshot are absent from a gathering of all of Japan's other top heroes," All For One said as he and All Might continued to trade blows, "You'd figure that heroes like them would be eager to fight villains."
"They're doing something heroes like to do even more than fight foul fiends like you and your League of Villains," All Might declared, "Helping with evacuating innocent civilians to safety!"
All For One blocked a few more blows from All Might. "Ah yes. You heroes and your need to protect the common citizenry. But let me ask you this." After blocking a few more blows from All Might, All For One asked, "How can you heroes expect to protect the innocent citizenry if you can't even protect yourselves or your own? If what I got is correct, UA has seen half a dozen of its students die this year, and all of that occurred before the little training camp that Dabi and his team were so successful in raiding and kidnapping from."
The Symbol of Peace growled furiously at his nemesis. "We'll be avenging the loss of so many innocent youths brave enough to want to step into the world of pro heroism," All Might declared, "I promise you this, All For One! Not a single innocent youth will be seeing their life claimed by your evil ever again! Not while I'm still here, alive and kicking!"
All For One hummed in thoughtful consideration. "It would seem that, depending on how this battle here ends up, history shall be written one way or the other."
...
Since Dabi and the rest of the League of Villains were distracted fighting off Endeavor and his large team of heroes, Mandalay was able to sneak in and collect Yaoyorozu from the grasp of the villains, getting her out of there and allowing the heroes to fight the villains without worry. Mandalay was torn as she had to abandon her knocked out teammates Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob in order to do so, but rescuing Yaoyorozu was a top priority. Besides, Mandalay figured that Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob were well hidden enough so that the villains wouldn't find or come across them easily.
"Young lady," Mandalay said in a serious tone as she led Yaoyorozu away from all of the fighting, "As soon as we're in the clear, I want you to run as far away from here as possible, got it?"
"But what about you?" Yaoyorozu asked, "You're not going to go back there, are you?"
"I have to," Mandalay said, her expression and tone equally serious, "I'm a pro hero, and right now my fellow pro heroes are fighting many tough villains. I have to head on back to the conflict and do what I can to help out. Not to mention I had to hide both Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob somewhere over there so I could sneak in, collect you, and get you out of there. I've already seen Tiger die, so I by no means want to see the same happen to Ragdoll and Pixie-Bob."
The wealthy girl was shocked to hear that one of the Wild, Wild Pussycats was dead. She was also scared beyond her wits on having to get out of there alone. "Please, I don't wanna have to get out of here alone, Mandalay," Yaoyorozu said, getting close to tearing up, "I'd like someone to-"
"Yaomomo!" a familiar voice called out, cutting Yaoyorozu off and making both her and Mandalay turn to see Mina, Jiro, Hagakure, Kurata, and Yamamaya come running up to them. It had been Mina who called out.
"Girls!" Mandalay hissed, "What are you all doing here?! Don't you realize how dangerous this is? Not to mention how many rules you must be breaking right now!"
"We came to try to rescue Yaoyorozu from the villains," Jiro said, "Look, we know we weren't supposed to do this and we know it can get us into trouble, but we just couldn't stand by and do nothing! Not while Yaoyorozu was in danger!"
As much as Mandalay was disappointed in the girls for risking themselves like this, at least none of them were harmed. "...Just take Yaoyorozu and get out of here," Mandalay said, "Making sure that she has an escort to see her out of here safely will actually be a benefit."
"Thanks," Mina said, "Oh, and please don't tell any of the teachers or other staff at UA about this."
"Get yourselves straight out of here and to safety, and you got yourselves a deal," Mandalay said, drawing nods of agreement out of the girls before the 1-A students took off away from the battlefield as Mandalay proceeded to rush back towards that ultimate danger.
As the 1-A girls made their way from the battlefield, Yaoyorozu asked, "What's with the outfits?"
"Disguises in case Aizawa-sensei got wise," Yamamaya replied.
There was still some curiosity in the wealthy girl's expression. "Where's Uraraka? Wouldn't she be here if the rest of you girls are?"
"She didn't want to join the team to come save you," Hagakure said, a hint of bitterness in her tone, "She said that the police and pro heroes should be left with everything."
"Well Uraraka does have a point," Yaoyorozu pointed out, "The trouble you girls could have gotten into aside, this was extremely dangerous. One of you might have even gotten killed. Letting the pro heroes and police handle everything here was a smart move on Uraraka's part."
The other girls looked surprised. "Are you serious, Yaoyorozu?" Mina asked.
"Yes," replied the wealthy girl, "But putting that aside, none of you girls are hurt, and you all are seeing to getting me out of here safely. So thank you."
Mina's look of surprise changed to an amused smirk. "Don't mention it."
"Literally," Jiro said, "We don't need Aizawa-sensei finding out that we pulled this stunt. He's an excessively harsh hardass already, so who knows what he'll do if he catches wind of us doing something that by its very definition breaks literally any and every related rule that you can think of?"
Yaoyorozu gave an amused hum despite herself, given the situation she had just been pulled from. "My lips are sealed." As the 1-A girls continued to run, Yaoyorozu asked, "Hey girls, do you think the heroes back there stand a chance of winning?"
"Are you trying to kid us?" Hagakure said, "Did you see how many heroes were back there? Many of them are top names in pro heroism here in Japan! And All Might himself is included in the force confronting the villains! Trust me when I say that All Might and the other heroes will have those villains all beaten with time to spare, and with no casualties!"
Kurata nodded in agreement. "Oh hells yeah! All Might and the rest of the big names in the fight behind us are all too strong to meet their ends here, especially because All Might is there! Nothing can beat All Might, not even that super scary villain who was fighting All Might at the time we all turned tail and ran!" Yaoyorozu had to take the girls' word for it that the heroes will prevail and defeat all of the villains.
Even so, Yaoyorozu couldn't help but worry. The scary villain who was fighting All Might was, shockingly, able to actually keep up with the Symbol of Peace. Yaoyorozu saw that some of the League of Villains were knocked out at the time she was taken out of there, enough to give the heroes a slight numbers advantage, but that was no guarantee that the heroes would wrap things up quickly. What especially worried Yaoyorozu was the fact that Dabi's bodyguard, this Felgrand fellow, was stated to be ready for action. The wealthy girl feared what would happen if Dabi got the idea to call upon his fully ready bodyguard to help fight off the heroes.
Depending on exactly how strong Felgrand was, Dabi calling him out to fight could potentially spell disaster for the heroes, even All Might.
The mighty clash between All Might and All For One continued to rage on. "You sound like a broken record playing the same line, All Might," All For One sneered, "I've heard your dribble previously, and from a mouth just as ugly as yours. Nana's."
All Might's eyes widened with blazing fury as he slugged All For One savagely in the gut. "How DARE you say her name, All For One!" All Might roared, "Your's is a tongue unworthy to say the name of so noble and awesome of a hero like her!"
The powerful villain tried fighting back, but All Might, infuriated from hearing the name Nana come out of the mouth of a villain like him, slugged him repeatedly and hard, each punch more than powerful enough to be fatal if used on anyone aside from All For One himself. All For One saw an opening, so he raised his right arm and tried to channel a number of his pilfered quirks into it to unleash an ultimate attack upon All Might. But before he was able to focus those quirks, a blast of flames engulfed All For One's right arm, sapping the mighty villain's focus and rendering him unable to unleash an ultimate combination right into All Might's mighty chest.
Standing nearby was Endeavor who, with the other heroes including Mandalay who just that moment came back from seeing the rescued Yaoyorozu off to safety, had most of the League of Villains defeated. Indeed, only Dabi, Spinner, Rappa, and Mr. Compress were still active. "Things are going to end for you here and now, villain!" Endeavor yelled at All For One, "Just give up!"
All For One barely turned back in time to block another mighty blow from the still infuriated All Might. "...To think that things had come to this," the powerful villain said, "You heroes sure do have a knack for getting villains on the ropes."
"Someone who thinks of naught but doing evil such as you will never understand just how far heroes are willing to go to stop said villainy!" All Might roared, refusing to lighten up even by one iota in his savage assault on his greatest nemesis.
All For One was on the defensive, even he knew that. What he also knew was that now, for the first time in literal ages, he was beginning to feel something that he thought he'd never feel again; fear. Even though he could tell that All Might now was overall weaker than he was when the two of them had their fated clash a little over half a decade ago, All For One felt that All Might's fighting here today was stronger, more furious, than the example from their first clash. A clash that even All For One was willing to admit very nearly killed him for good.
If that first fight with All Might was just shy of being enough to end him for good, than this second, more powerful and furious fight with All Might would surely be what will spell out the true end of All For One. All For One, however, found it strange that he was not fearing his end here. Rather, he found a few ideas giving him comfort in what he could tell full well were going to be his final moments. "...A few last words before we end things here, All Might," All For One said, piquing the interest and attention of the Symbol of Peace.
"What is it, you fiend?" All Might roared as he continued to trade blows with his greatest nemesis, his confidence rising as he saw that he was gaining and keeping the upper hand in this fight.
"For starters, I can tell full well that this will be your final fight, regardless of who between me and you wins," All For One began, "You already passed on the power to a successor, didn't you?"
"That is no concern of yours, All For One!" All Might roared as he continued to throw the flurry of mighty blows at All For One. It was bad enough that All For One had dared to utter the name of All Might's predecessor in wielding One For All, Nana Shimura; by no means does All Might want to hear the name of his successor in wielding One For All, Izuku Midoriya, uttered by that very same poison voice.
All For One blocked a few blows while taking some as well. "No matter," All For One said, "I can tell full well that you have a successor who has your power now, but who he or she is doesn't matter. Whereas you and I will see our dance end here tonight, my successor and yours will see their own dance begin immediately afterwards."
"Your little League of Villains is very nearly defeated, All For One," All Might pointed out, knocking All For One over onto the ground. All Might did not let up, did not want to let up. He instantly was on the downed All For One, intending to make sure he did the job right this time. He had seen All For One return once before already, and All Might could tell that the point All For One said about this being his (All Might's) final fight was true, so he wanted to make absolute sure that All For One was not going to be returning ever again.
Assuming that he killed All For One within the next minute and all of the other villains are defeated and rounded up, All Might felt he'll have enough of his residual One For All embers left to use One For All for just ten minutes a day, everyday, from now until Izuku was expected to graduate from UA. And that would also require All Might to retire from his pro hero career immediately after this fight, so as to further conserve his remaining residual One For All embers. With a comfortable enough game plan for the future in mind, All Might proceeded to pick up the pace, hitting All For One faster and harder in the chest and head.
...But All For One was going to throw one last wrench in the gears, if only to spite the heroes.
...
Dabi was seeing thing getting hopeless for him; a quick glance over where the big boss and All Might were fighting showed that All Might was not only clearly trying to kill the big boss, but from all appearances the Symbol of Peace looked like he was going to succeed. As for Dabi and his allies with him, everyone but himself, Spinner, Rappa, and Mr. Compress were down for the count; a lucky shot from that little yellow speedster old man knocked out the real Twice before he could spawn enough numbers to turn the tide in their favor.
"...Heh, this is just how I'd like my end to come," Rappa smirked, "Going down fighting a bunch of powerful foes. Kinda wish some of them would get taken out before I go down. Also, that bunny chick strikes me as oddly familiar for some odd reason."
"Doesn't matter how familiar you might be with the Rabbit Hero," Spinner said in a worried tone, holding his katana up in preparation to give one last effort in battle, "We're screwed at this point."
Mr. Compress nodded grimly in agreement, panting out of exhaustion. "All of the heroes we started off fighting are still up and active, and our side's down to four. We're effectively finished at this point, barring something that's nothing short of an absolute mira-"
"DABI, MY DEAR BOY!"
Mr. Compress was cut off when he and the others all heard All For One yell out as he was being pummeled into oblivion by All Might. "DON'T GIVE UP JUST YET!" All For One yelled, "YOU STILL HAVE YOUR ACE IN THE HOLE! CALL UPON YOUR BODYGUARD! CALL UPON-"
*SPLAT*
*SCLORCH*
To the surprise of Dabi and his fellows who were still active, to the surprise of even the heroes, All Might punched All For One in the head so hard, that he reduced the head to a viscous red paste, shattering the helmet as if it were made of graham cracker. All Might's second fatal punch crushed and collapsed All For One's torso and rib cage. All Might punched All For One's body a few more times before his rage wore off and he realized that he did indeed kill All For One.
"...No... no way..." Spinner said, looking more like all hope was lost for him and the others in the League of Villains, "...All Might actually killed the big boss."
"...But he did point out in his dying breath that we have one last option," Dabi said. The villains of blue flames turned his head so that his face was looking skyward, then he bellowed as loudly as possible, "HEY, FELGRAND! GET OUT HERE! ALL MIGHT AND A BUNCH OF HIS FRIENDS CAME TO PLAY!"
Dabi's call was loud enough to reach all over the area of Kamino, at least where all of the fighting was taking place. Silence hung in the air for a few seconds before the heroes turned their attention back to Dabi and the remaining villains. "...Heh, nice try for a bluff, villain," Endeavor sneered, "But that still won't change how this little dance of ours is going to-"
Endeavor was cut off when he, when everyone in that area, heard a mighty roar sound out from the distance. A roar that clearly wasn't human. Suddenly, something rushed out of the ruined remains of the warehouse, rushing out so quickly no one was able to get a good look at it. The rushing figure grew larger as it approached the ruined battlefield that had once been part of Kamino Ward. After it reached where the villains were standing in a losing fight to the heroes, said heroes saw that things were by no means over for them.
It was a dragon, same as Ryukyu in her dragon form. However, there were multiple differences between this dragon and the Dragon Hero; this dragon had black hair rather than blonde, its lack of pronounced chest made it clear that the dragon was male, and he wore a male-looking version of Ryukyu's hero costume which replaced the red quipao dress with a red sleeveless martial artist's top and white martial artist's leggings. There was also one last other thing that differentiated this dragon from the Dragon Hero.
...That being how this dragon who Dabi had called out was five-thousand centimeters tall. Five-thousand centimeters, or fifty meters, or one-hundred and sixty-four feet. Regardless how it was put, the dragon that Dabi had called out to play with the heroes before him was nothing short of being immensely gargantuan. Even All Might was looking up in worry at the dragon that Dabi had called out. Seeing that he had everyone's attention, Dabi smirked as he gestured to the dragon, fire coming out from its mouth and flying up and back from the sides of its maw.
"Heroes," Dabi called out, "Say hello to my bodyguard Felgrand!"
END, CHAPTER NINETEEN
Author's notes;
All For One is officially dead and gone for good, both the man himself and his quirk (that he had on-hand at the time). But that by no means will see the heroes get smooth sailing from here on out, because although All For One is now gone, the heroes now have to deal with the legacy that he had left behind. Dabi and the League of Villains will be continuing on, especially since Dabi has just busted out his new toy for a test drive. How things will go for the heroes will need to be seen to be believed, as the Kamino Ward chaos should be wrapping up in the next chapter, sparking a new, different dawn for hero society.