Chapter 108 - Advancing Perfection

When faced with the presence of true power, the human body could undergo several startling changes. One is the lack of motor functions, turning the legs to jelly under a thick, intimidating aura that power radiated like it was a breath of fresh air. Some would be wrapped with fear, causing an alarming amount of adrenaline to flood their veins. For a select few, it drove them forward, in a desperate act of survival, not just for themselves, but for others mostly, to combat the power and suppress it, like thrashing toward the surface of a deep blue lake.

Bringing his halberd wide, it carved the dead trees into splinters, showering the heroes in the debris. The spearhead refused to stop, aiming to cleave through the vanguard first and foremost. A metallic clang resounded, and the weapon buckled against the outstretched hands of Akio, using a combination glyph in each arm to expel a payload of flames and earth that threw back the weapon.

The ground under Red Dragon began to melt and warp, his feet seeping into it like wet cement, "I got 'em locked, you guys push in!" Honenuki, aka Mudman, declared, holding his grip on the condition of the bubbling ground.

"Forgive me, but for your cruelty, both for my friends and nature, you cannot be allowed another step forward," Shiozaki, aka Vine, wrapped her hair's thick bindings around the right forearm, withholding the swing of the halberd as best she could, her friends, Shishida and Kendo, Gevaudan and Battle Fist, held onto her vine-like hair, feet digging into the rapidly drying dirt.

"I too admit, my quirk, is a curse," Doryu's breath echoed within his helmet, before the ground around his shins dried up, breaking away from Mudman's control, much to his masked shock but his body did shoot upright in alarm.

"My quirk stopped working!" He relayed, watching the villain rise from his dirt trench.

"His quirk absorbs the life force from nature itself, seems that lack of energy caused your quirk to become mute," Akio had never seen this himself, he didn't have a quirk, but if this were the case, fortunately, only a few in their team had quirks that relied on the earth. "Incoming - Mass Ward!" Stretching out his hands to summon a halo of barriers in a ring around his allies, the halberd broke free, swinging with the additional tension to cleave through the hardlight, thankfully, only knocking those caught by the blast off their feet.

The trio holding the forearm were also thrown with it, collapsing into their friends. Kirishima and Tetsutetsu lunged next alongside Sato. Doryu readied his tower shield, tanking their strikes without so much as an inch given, thrusting his arm forward, the shield pushed against their combined weight, but Doryu was far stronger, twisting his posture to throw the boys across the forest as he slammed his halberd head into the dirt, releasing a jagged web of vibrant blue cracks.

"Evade!" Kyoka cried out, and those too close quickly escaped, some dragged into the shadows by Akio and Kuroiro in time to evade the rising blast of blue flames. Kyoka heard it alongside Shoji, the stomps grew louder. "He's approaching!"

"From the right across!" Shoji added, and Akio quickly appeared and met the weapon head-on with Shadow Sunder, the katana Yaoyorozu made for him rippled in shadow and smoke as the black slashes tore up the beast's arm, but still he remained absolute, bringing his shield across to slam the edge against Akio's stomach, flinging him through the trees above.

From above, Doryu blocked the devastating beam of purplish-red ether, the force tearing apart the earth as Akio slammed into the shield, reaching over with his left palm wrapped in orange glyphs. "Fire Scourge - Torrent!" Wind and flames engulfed Red Dragon's head, and the heat and pressure forced him back. "Now!" He swung his right forward again, biting against the recoil.

Doryu swung with his shield again, catching himself only for his arm to strain. Several pillars of stone wedged themselves against the inside of his shield, locking his wrist while a lilac aura surrounded his shield, causing it to groan in protest. Jura and Yanagi, or Tekton and Emily, strained to hold the tower shield at bay with Sero applying his tape to the top of the shield.

"What do they hope to accomplish?" Doryu didn't have to wonder for long, several approached from the front, his exposed chest primed for assault. He steadied his good arm only to strain again, those vines had returned with greater force, and glue-like substances gunked up his boots where Yaoyorozu provided Hagakure, Ojiro, Komori, and Tokage with. Kodai, Rule, used her Size quirk to enlarge the glue factor.

"Here's our chance, now everyone, put everything you have into this!" Yaoyorozu commanded, it was a split-second plan she cobbled together but with the vast array of quirks at their disposal, it could work in slowing the villain down. "It will work, I know it will!" She had to believe in her friends' abilities to pull this off for all their sakes.

"Here goes, let's light it up!" Kaminari pointed his finger gun, overclocking his gauntlets with the lingering electricity he stole from that wannabe villain back at the villa. "Shock-"

Reality pinched between Akio's fingers, stretching out the twilight bow and arrow as it gathered into a tidal wave of orange, blue, green, and yellow, sparks crackling at the arrow tip. "Elemental-"

Aoyama felt his stomach clench as he held his charge until the very last moment, converting his light into the ports across his silver armor. It was painful but he didn't feel his insides wanting to scream as loudly this time. Biting his lip, he held out another second more. "Navel-"

Beside Akio, Kyoka's hair whipped back from the wind, her jacks plugged into her gauntlets as she brought both her hands forward, combining her seal into a large halo. "Sonic-"

"-Redirection/Wish Ender/Buffet Lazer/Boom!" Their unified voices reached out with all their might, unleashing a massive concoction of various elements that tore down the trees, flattening the earth before them as Doryu was consumed by the blast's spearhead in the form of a Nightmare's disastrous spell.

*Tiiing - BOOM!*

The very forest ahead was ripped apart, spreading out over the valley below in a hail of rock and bark that rumbled in their ears. A few gave out a roudy cheer, swinging their fists.

"Hahaha, get up from that!" Tetsu yelled, grinning beside Kirishima.

"Talk about a one-man army..." Kendo sighed, rubbing her side with how she landed after the shockwave.

But Akio didn't smile, his eyes didn't even flicker, same for Kyoka, Shoji, and Yaoyorozu. The former three could pierce the cloud of smoke and dust, and the latter was anything but overconfident in this perilous situation.

With their combined efforts they had pushed Doryu back. Or, that's what they assumed when the dust finally settled.

"Your efforts, are commendable-" Eyes shrank back, some felt that presence of true power washing over them. "-But you, are children-" The final layer of smoke revealed the horrifying truth like a gavel in court slammed down their verdict. "-tell me, can you, resist fate?"

Doryu wasn't unharmed, his shield was burnt and gashes lined its dark face, his breastplate sustained heavy damage as well. But it couldn't be true, Akio thought, Wish Ender didn't just attack the body, it tore at the soul itself. "How did he survive?"

His chest was instead covered in white cracks that spurted blue flames like a furnace, his visor's slits glowing a deep red as he swayed forward, shoulder blades breaking away for a large pair of etheral wings to catch the stars themselves, fanning the lingering flames. He lunged for the nearest target, the pink girl Ashido.

She coated herself in acid quickly, slipping under the increased velocity of Doryu's halberd, swiping a thick layer of corrosive liquid against his hip, causing minimal damage to the scaly coat. "Pinky, get out of there!" Yaoyorozu felt his throat tighten but she tried to contain her fear, she couldn't hesitate now, they had to keep trying! "Lizardy, Tekton, create a diversion, everyone else, regroup and do not approach Red Dragon, his abilities have clearly enhanced!" For now, defense was their best option.

As Ashido dove between the trees, blinding the dragon with her acid, the severed parts of Tokage buzzed around Doryu's vision, forcing him to slam his shield into the chunks of flesh that blotted out his assault, then came the pillars that immediately crumbled within Red Dragon's aura, sucking in any and all bioenergy that remained.

"He's entered his enhanced state, my pillars can't touch him!" Jura proclaimed, shaking his head as he stared at his stump hand now a reinforced hammerhead. "I guess up close and personal it is!"

Doryu slammed the ground with his shield, sending a rippling current of bioenergy through the earth, throwing off the heroes' aim as his halberd pinned Ashido to the ground, the bladed edges nicking her cheek as she stared up in terror, unable to find the strength to move. "Goodbye," One word would sentence her to death.

"UNBREAKABLE!" A sudden pillar of stone grasped the polearm by the shaft just below the spearhead, trembling in the hands of the rock-steady Kirishima whose feet dug into the dead earth with a grunt.

"Red Riot!" "Eijiro..." Ashido gulped, pulling herself to her feet, finding the strength to move.

"You struggle, even now, against all odds," Doryu pushed harder, ignoring the dull strikes at his back in exchange for trying to overpower the redhead refusing to budge. "His sheer strength is impressive, or is it his spirit?"

"Grah, this burns! That energy's eating through my hardening faster than I can mend it!" All logic screamed for him to let go, but if he did he and Ashido would be skewered. So instead, he pressed back just as hard, letting out a defiant cry to hold the line. "I won't let go, I'll give them the chance they need!"

"A Titan is absolute in resolve, spirit, and strength," Rayla explained, wagging her finger in Kirishima's face. "Sure, we're typically seen as thick-skulled, crayon munching idiots that think they can solve a problem by headbutting it - they're not wrong, but it's more than that."

"When you become a Titan, you carry the weight of not just your Fireteam, but the world with you, when you strike back at the enemy, your strength is a mirror of the people you are willing to die for," She nodded solemnly. "Accepting you may die someday to protect what you love, is what makes a Guardian, and turning that acceptance into perseverance, is what makes us Titans."

"Me too?" Kirishima pointed to himself, earning a light laugh from the raven-whitette who ruffled his hair as a mentor would.

"Thought that was obvious, Red Riot, you may not have a Ghost but by the Traveler, you certainly are the embodiment of a Titan too." That easy-going smile of hers, it filled him with confidence like never before.

Kirishima dug his heels in, feeling his muscle fibers tear against the unstoppable force, but despite the puff of bioenergy flames and the sheer pressure applied to his body, his hands didn't buckle, straining the polearm as his friends flanked the starry wings.

"Gloom Grip/Ensnare/Mummify!" Akio, Shiozaki, and Sero bound their abilities around the shoulders, pulling Doryu backward while Sato, Tetsutetsu, Kendo, and many more wrapped their hands around the binds, aiding in pulling back the beast.

"Red!" Over his shoulder, Ashido raised both arms over his shoulders, flinching from a few wayward flames but her acid build up into two nozzles with her fingers, spewing the substances down on the polearm itself, much to the surprise of both Kirishima and Red Dragon. "His armor's thick as hell but I bet his weapon's not!" "Let's do it together, you and me!"

Despite the severity of the crisis, he sharpened his frown with a smirk. "Right! Graaaaaaaaaah!" Instead of only pushing, his wrists twisted in either direction, hearing the halberd begin to strain.

They could do this, if they could remove one weapon from the battle they could plan accordingly, all they needed was a single moment that the others provided. Doryu grunted, straining against both the combined efforts of Kirishima and Ashido and the heroes behind him pulling at his shoulders. Stomping the ground, the wind picked up with a sharp shift in his aura.

"Brace for it!" Kyoka cried out before Akio, grabbing his waist as the etheral wings threshed backward, unleashing light blue embers while cracks surfaced in the dead forest around them, erupting into a scorching cloud that threw them off their feet, the tape, vines, and shadowy hands peeling away. "Crap, we lost our hold!"

"Get them outta there, Kuroiro!" Kendo asked frantically, the boy already seeping into the shadows to intercept.

The forward momentum caused Kirishima's grip to slip, the halberd swinging back before the pair. As time stalled, his arms reached out to shield Ashido from the descending spearhead in time. "We're so close now-!" He had to keep fighting somehow! The halberd slammed into his wrist, cutting deep through his hardening that blood dribbled down onto his jagged face. "-hold him, until she can escape!" "Is that... you got!?" He hollered

"No," The spearhead turned a vibrant blue, and the burning sensation dug deeper into Kirishima's arms, causing him to cry out in pain. "This will be."

*SHIIIIING!*

Once a fierce, humid heat was expunged by a sharp, biting cold. Doryu huffed in surprise, and Kirishima gasped, the tension left his wrists as a solid icy blade bound with cloth threw back the polearm, holding it off to the side. Ice crawled at the earth, and the moisture in the air returned. Two hardened ice-blue eyes locked to Red Dragon's dimming scarlet irises.

"Velkhana!" Ashido gasped and smiled in delight when the regal girl swung her blade against Doryu's chestplate, erecting a jagged glacier of ice that smothered the flames. Everyone caught by the previous blast was safe, burning in a strange assortment of bonfires set by lingering golden hammers.

Doryu landed, his wings losing the strength to manifest as he inspected his halberd, it was heavily damaged now, the frost biting away at the cracks along the polearm, the girl's acid had done more damage than he realized.

"Nice work, Titan," A hand ruffled Kirishima's spiky hair, and the redhead smiled hopefully up at the kitted-out Guardian raising a burning hammer in her left hand. "Round two, boys and girls, let's make it hurt."

"Right behind you," Hana murmured, and from her back, the scaly humanoid spread its wings, breathing a dense white mist that froze water in the air, crystallizing at her body.

"No one shall die here," Velk assured them, tail growing a blue blade of rime.


"If the connection to Shiraraki is cut, then we have to go all out!" Yuzuku realized it in only seconds of debating after Gran Torino left them on the sidelines. The sight of destruction, the countless people who were hurt or who died, the heroes fighting tooth and nail, it all burned like a sun in their chest. All available augments and quirks were energized by that rage. "You wanted us, then here we come, you bastard!"

"This your end, Yuzuku, was it!?" Kovik lunged forward, forgetting all about Endeavor, Ryukyu, and every other hero, focused solely on his most hated enemies merged into one disgusting face.

"Switch!" Warping at the last second, Yuzuku's command brought down a rain of burning bullets that riddled the Splicer's barrier.

"AP Shot Machine Gun!" Katsuki flew from above, only to flinch then that same intense pressure appeared before him with an icy stare.

Several Blackwhips snagged around Kovik, reeling him back from Katsuki, but another hardlight shield severed the arms. "Sorry, but you're not who I'm interested in right now." Raising his hand to blast the blonde into pieces, a burning comet collided with his core, flinging him through the air.

With a torrent of orange flames, the ferocious assault flung Kovik like a pinball across the ground, away from the students. "Endeavor!" Yuzuku blinked, surprised he was able to move so fast even now.

"Where's Shoto!?" He asked without missing a beat.

"It's just us!" Yuzuku commented, seeing Kovik fly toward them once more.

"He's got the same toughness and strength as All Might," Endeavor commented, a few behind them voicing warnings of Kovik's capabilities.

"All Might..." It wasn't hard to believe, but for Yuzuku, to see a new manifestation of power like All For One, perhaps even greater than that Nightmare Harbinger, was a horror they wish was just a dream.

"As long as I keep my eyes open, we have the advantage," Eraserhead stated, he was the only reason they could fight without the worry of Decay tearing them apart. "I'll hold out for as long as I can."

"Look out!" Yuzuku appeared before Endeavor, deflecting several blasts with their blades, the intense air pressure dispelling the attacks to rubble below.

"If you three are here it can't be helped, so focus on defending Eraserhead!" Endeavor raced forward. "Bakugo, you defend Deku and Aksis!"

"Don't use that name so casually," Kovik's voice turned, approaching the Number One hero at high speeds. Deep inside his mind, an echo, a pulsating feeling dug into his cybernetic chest, pulling him toward Yuzuku. "I just have to steal One For All..." That wasn't him, was it? Yet, his eyes couldn't leave the sight of the boy and girl mingled into one body. "One For All... gIvE iT tO mE lItTlE bRoThEr!"

"Did he just...?" Yuzuku hesitated, if only for a moment. Endeavor unleashed Hell Spider, ensnaring against the barriers as some tore into Kovik's chassis but he refused to stop, blasting Endeavor across the chest, tearing pieces off his costume in the ensuing blast of molten flames and plasma.

As the chaos ensued, Kovik dug deep into his subconscious. "That wasn't me, or Shigaraki... of course, it was you," There in the dark, another ghost lingered like a sour taste of bile in his throat. "You're dead and gone, All For One, leave this present to us, this world, your utopia is a fantasy drowned out in the past long ago," He felt his mind snap the chains, not all of them, but enough to think for himself as he grabbed Endeavor's hand to toss the hero into a haze of red energy. "We're no longer bound by revenants, we are the Kell of the Devil Splicers!"

Two pairs of boots collided with Kovik's stomach, Gran Torino and Yuzuku tossing the villain skyward as the latter doubled back into the sky, using a pair of silver wings from Valorgod to thrust themselves far into the dark clouds. Torino grit his teeth, craning back an arm burning with hatred, "Your existence, for Toshinori... for everyone, you only bring pain!"

The fist never connected, a pulsating blast tossing the yellow and white hero off of the Splicer as a burning column from Endeavor's fist slammed into his open palm, the Fallen barely flinched, steadying himself in the air. "Is that all you got, heroes?"

"How's this for interesting then, whackjob!" High above Kovik, he spotted the small form of Katsuki as he pulled the pin from one of his gauntlets, smiling madder than any villain could. "They're just the bait, you low-life!"

A gold flash and two sonic booms resounded from a downward spiral of flames that dug through the rubble, burying Kovik at the bottom of the inferno. Endeavor, not to be outdone by his own intern, threw a large Flashfire Fist with a warcry, adding an additional layer of smoldering flames into the bonfire.

High above, Yuzuku inverted their metallic wings, and soon, left a large hole through the ashen clouds, hurdling toward the earth like an amethyst comet, right foot tipped forward like a spearhead. "St. Louis Rainfall!" A boom rattling their bones, the cone of flames bulged and exploded outward as they entered the center of the firestorm, connecting to a red glint in the inferno, leaving only a massive crossroads of fissures through the ruined city.

Flying backward from the collision, Yuzuku shook from their stupor, seeing the complete disaster their combined might with Endeavor and Katsuki conjured. The flames and smoke died out quickly after that impact, and from it, their faces paled.

"You heroes... hurt your own families... to help complete strangers," Kovik stumbled forward, his body was torn apart, missing his left arm for mere moments, the limb already beginning to weave code and matter again at the shoulder, the wounds he endured much the same, but the walking carcass was a horror unlike any creature in history, spite, and loathing dripped from his tongue. "You heroes pretend to be society's guardians, like the Lightbearers, those you cannot save you feign ignorance and shove under the rug to be forgotten. Those impressions tainted the world you safeguard,"

He spat out as he stood tall, various colors discharging from his tempered husk. "You've got the common rats too dependant on being protected, and the brave guardians that created the rats in need of coddling, a vicious, corrupt cycle," He and Shigaraki knew this well, they both have seen this ignorance corrupt and taint all they knew until it was taken from them. "Everything we've witnessed, this whole system you and the Lightbearers built rejected us. So we will reject it all,"

Closing his fist tightly, Kovik's resolve couldn't be swayed or countered, the truth was a vile disease the masses had been blinded to, covered put with pretty lies and half-truths, and that rot and decay would seep up and taint their minds, the societal norm twisted against those left to wither and die.

"That's why we took the power we needed, why we want to stamp out SIVA and One For All, and all other forms of strength to leave only truth, it's simple, isn't it?" For a moment, Kovik and Shigaraki's voices merged into one. "We don't care if you don't understand... that's just what makes us... Heroes and Villains!"

Despite his monologue, Endeavor cast a massive wave of flames to surround the area, sweeping Kovik under another scorching blanket of heat. "Thanks for the breather, but since you're on death's door and all prepare to-!" His voice caught like a fishhook, and the caster swept their arms through the blaze. A burning effigy that refused to die out. "How is he still moving?"

From behind, Torino slammed his palm against Kovik's scalp, pinning the larger Fallen into the ground. desperation written on his aged face. "Todoroki's packing less fire now, could it blowback from those flashy moves before?" Kovik quickly twisted himself to swing at Gran Torino only to miss as the hero flew back, had it been a normal human, Torino could've escaped the firm, cold clutch of claws ensnared around his left leg.

"Nana Shimura, right?" The old hero's face darkened at the name hissed from the villain's tongue. "I heard... Shigaraki is related to her. How does it feel, knowing her act of 'selflessness' brought about the incarnation of destruction? Very poetic if you ask me."

Even as Torino felt and witnessed his leg being crushed by the vice-like grip, blood flying from his limb, even while the monster slammed his small frame into the earth, charred earth, all he could think of was that day when his close friend gave up her own family to shield them from All For One. And the anguish that tore into her for days on end.

For a moment, Torino wondered. "Shimura, the decision we made... was it worth... the sacrifice?" He asked.

"Gran Torino!" Yuzuku cried out, they, Endeavor, and Katsuki attempted to close the gap in time.

"Please..." That voice! Yuzuku's eyes widened, feeling the hands grip their shoulders with a plea of desperation. "Save him!" Shimura's voice begged through knitted teeth, yearning for the two merged heroes to save her friend.

A deep, arctic shiver tore into Yuzuku as Kovik plunged his fist through Torino as the old hero was slammed into the ground below, blood flying into view like a gothic canvass of red. Nothing but a painful cry left Yuzuku's throat, and their blood boiled with a potency that couldn't be contained.

"AAAAAAAAAAHH!" They let out an animalistic cry, bursting forth with something new, something that brought a cool burst of lightness to their legs' muscle fibers, motes of cyan light emerging around their legs as their eyes flashed the same pigment. A trickle of lightning traveled down their nervous system, and before Endeavor could breathe a word, they unleashed an ungodly amount of speed in a single stretch.

"Huh-" Kovik's sensors flared with genuine pain when a fist found itself caving in his breastplate, followed by a massive blast of wind pressure that tore out wires and broke apart his metal plating around his back with a single strike, the same force he quickly applied himself, slipping away from Yuzuku in time to escape the heroes, making a b-line for the relocating Eraserhead. "That speed? It surpassed mine? How, SIVA can't - oh, I get it, it's happening isn't it?" He sneered, adjusting his jaw tightly. "A quirk is manifesting as we speak..."

"Get back here!" Yuzuku roared, picking themselves up to turn toward Kovik.

Suddenly, Ryukyu's claw slammed against Kovik, biting back the pain as his sharp knuckle pierced her palm in an attempt to bypass her defense. "Ryukyu!" Eraser yelled out.

To ease her burden, several Blackwhips tore Kovik away, and he came face to face with Yuzuku's fury. "KOVIK! We will never forgive you!"

"Like I need your forgiveness, rats!" He snarled, jabbing them in the gut as blood stained his back, but the tendrils didn't relent, in fact, they were getting stronger?

"Turn that anger into strength, control your heart, do not let anyone die!" Resolute, Yuzuku pulled with all their might that they swore their limbs might tear off.

"Hold him right there, Deku, Aksis!" From afar, Endeavor brought back his full strength to a single fist. His face was bloody and beaten as his body, but his flames evaporated the blood as quickly as it fell, gritting his teeth, "One more good hit, with all I got, one more should be enough!"

Grappling with Ryukyu and Yuzuku, Kovik had very little room to manifest his barrier now, they'd simply be caught inside it with him. So, instead, his nanomachines slotted a small bullet into his palm, fixing his fingers around its red shell like a chamber. "These fools forget, I still have... this!"

Even amongst the brambles of scales and teal-black whips, their eyes caught sight of the familiar bullet. "That's the same as...!" He was aiming straight between the gaps for Eraserhead. Bringing their arms high, cupping both hands, Yuzuku brought both fists down on Kovik's pyramid head like a gavel, a resounding boom following closely. "Wyoming Smash - 100%!"

But then it happened, after the shockwave passed, Izuku blinked before grunting as the pyramid head was shattered, and a pair of metallic teeth bit down on his forearm, behind him, wrapping tightly by Blackwhip, Yuki seized up from the abrupt end of unification, their gauntlets losing their charge.

"Out of luck are we?" Kovik mused, and like a rifle, his fingers shot the bullet toward Eraserhead in a split second, puncturing his right shin directly, even as Rock Lock and Manuel attempted to help the wounded hero evade. "With all my convictions and dreams keeping me moving, I will put it all toward my own risks for triumph!" Then his blue gaze narrowed as his helmet began to regenerate, releasing Izuku's bloodied arm from his mouth.

There wasn't even a moment to consider the following, Eraserhead simply acted on rational thought, "Thanks, Ryukyu, Deku, Aksis. Thanks to you three, I can deal with this swiftly and rationally," Not an ounce of fear fed into his eyes, only a steady, and determined focus, drawing his knife down to below the knee.

In a single, swift series of motions, Eraserhead did the unthinkable and amputated his own leg, never once taking his eyes off of Kovik to so much as twitch, but his whole body erupted with agony. If not for Manuel, Eraserhead would've blinked to suppress even a micro of pain.

"Admirable as you are, Eraserhead, my praise will not undo your inevitable fate," Releasing a massive shockwave, Yuki grabbed Izuku under his armpits, flying backward with Blackbird before the density of NARA could tear his body apart, the hot shockwave throwing those nearby away with burns across exposed skin.

Closing the gap on a bloody and beaten Eraserhead, all the ravenette could feel was the cold touch of steel against his face. "Game Over, Eraser Hero!" Kovik proclaimed as a shredded husk of Splicer technology.

Like a changing tide, the air became frigid, and a wave of sharp white ice tore through Kovik's path, sparing Eraserhead at the last possible second. "Teacher!" Standing a few meters away, Shoto had finally caught up.

Using the distraction, Blackwhip threw Izuku forward, Yuki close behind as their fists connected to another red barrier, but the blowback at least threw Kovik far from their teacher's side. Both were exhausted, their bodies were torn with injuries but neither had the gall to suggest giving up now, standing on defense once more.

"After you protect him, then what?" Rising again and again, Kovik cracked his neck, helmet fully regenerated, but his armor, while under maintenance, bore visible lacerations and burns that couldn't fix themselves. "Even if you flail about endlessly, your end is unavoidable, desolation is all that remains," Even behind a mask, all of them felt his cynical smile.

Ice quickly surrounded the area, blocking off any sight of Eraserhead while much of it covered Endeavor nearby. "Shoto!"

"I had to help Ryukyu and them first, cool off with that ice first, it should provide some comfort," Shoto could see it, his father's flames were already near their limit, and if he fell then another strong ally would be lost. "Mr. Aizawa's quirk is out of the question, there's nothing holding Kovik back now."

"Nnnrgh, dammit!" Katsuki couldn't believe it, when they thought they had Kovik pinned, he turned the tables and took down the only person capable of fending off All For One.

"Eraser!" Yuki moved first, landing next to her badly wounded teacher with Izuku knelt next to her, face unreadable at the time. "Hold still, I can help." Quickly, she applied her nanomachines to clot up the bloodied stump of a knee.

"Elevate his leg and stop the bleeding with his binding cloth," Manuel instructed as Rock Lock tried to unravel the oddly resistant fabric. "Aksis, you're doing great, the worst of the bleeding's stopped."

"We thought we had him..." She didn't speak, but her mind was rampant with anger. Finishing her work, she dug her nails into the ground. "Siva... what do we do?"

|Take him down| As if she suspected any other answer, but it brought her that needed comfort. | I will stand by you | For this world's sake | And to slay a false Kell

"Deku, Aksis!" As much as Rock Lock hated to say it, he stared back at the teens. "Just run!"

But what stared toward Kovik wasn't a pair of teenagers, they were two students who had to watch their teacher be brutalized yet again before their eyes. Yuki's mask showed no remorse, and the sweat mixed with blood dripped down Izuku's face like liquid fire. "Never!"

Kovik readied for another assault only for his body to rip itself apart, fluid and red wires hanging from his gashes. "What... what's going on...?" He stumbled slightly, almost collapsing under the strain. "The combined variants are rejecting me now? I see, All For One was keeping me together, but the prolonged disconnection caused feedback to NARA."

"That's it..." Izuku murmured, catching on to the sight immediately like a mirror of irony. "NARA and All For One are too much for his body to handle."

"Just like you and me," Yuki surmised, and the two quickly knew what to do, "I got your back, whatever you need."

"Then follow my lead," Izuku concurred, thinking the same thing.

Taking to the vanguard when a great wave of dark red erupted around the Splicer. The same that instigated this conflict. Blackwhip emerged like a teal web of darkness, while a burst of silver and blue surrounded Yuki with a pair of angular wing-vents

"No matter, I can still move forward without regrets," He brought his arm high, casting his nanomachines toward the dark clouds, gathering them into swarms of black and red needles the size of spears, it wasn't the same extent but it would still do an irreparable amount of damage. "Escalation Judgement!"

Lightning cracked the sky once more, severing reality in its bloodied haze. Shoto steadied his hand, since it was impossible for everyone to evade, he'd focus his ice to a single point. "Cover a wide area in an instant - Heaven Piercing-" He found himself cut short when two forms rocketed into the air ahead of them all.

"Float's a lot like that Air Force of yours, nice name by the way, catchy," Shimura smirked with her fists on her hips as she floated around Izuku within a memory pocket, to his frantic shock he was flying in the open sky, a beautiful, boundless blue world with fluffy clouds and distant sun.

The seventh holder smiled playfully at how Izuku freaked out, eventually realizing he wasn't going to fall. "H-how so?" He asked, trying to stay upright in the air.

She glided gently toward Izuku, grabbing his hands to lead him through the air with a motherly smile. "Your energy isn't just in your feet, it's your whole body, you expand an invisible wave that interferes with gravity, effectively creating buoyancy - there's been many times you've tapped into my quirk without realizing it, just as you unlocked Danger Sense from Hikage,"

"I see, so there could've been many opportunities to manifest the other holders' quirks but it was all situational, does that mean even after mastering One For All I'll need to understand not just the quirk itself but a situation of which to apply it?" His muttering started to form a dark spiral of words around him, so much so he started to float of his own accord upside down, much to Shimura's giggling amusement. "Ah, s-sorry, I'm wasting this precious time rambling, it's a habit I can't really drop."

"Hah, we know," She rolled her eyes teasingly as his cheeks tinged pink, then she spun upside down herself to join him. "That level-head of yours and strong heart are why we entrust all our will to you, if you want to protect the people you love, then we'll be here to support you, that's what a hero does, right?" Shimura grinned just like All Might. "After all, the ones always smiling are the ones who are the strongest!"

Izuku's eyes flashed pearl-white. Blackwhip moved with the striking force of a viper, ensnaring every Escalation Judgement Spear from the air like toothpicks, restraining them from ever so much as grazing a building. "They're being suspended!?" Rock Lock gaped in awe.

Gran Torino saw it all with a weak smirk, staring up with a look of nostalgia. "The Seventh User's... Shimura's Float..." For a brief moment, he saw his old friend bounding through the air with a carefree smile.

"Aksis, Noooow!" Izuku cried out, tossing the spears above his head for a brilliant blue meteor to collide with every spear in a striking, star contrail that flashed through the sky with a rumble of thunder behind the attacks.

Adjusting her wings to spin around, Yuki flew next to Izuku who snatched up Kovik in one of his whips, even as blue and red sparks rained down around them like fireworks, the pair drew in close to the stupefied Splicer who quickly focused his attention on the pair of insurable teens hellbent on his destruction.

"Up here is where we'll beat you!" Izuku growled like an animal on the hunt, his partner no less furious, her heart erupting in her chest.

"This ends now, Kovik!" Yuki seethed between knit teeth.

"We swear it with all we got!" Their powers bounced between one another above the ruined city.

To Be Continued...


The great battle has really kicked off now, Yuki and Izuku finally confront their enemy head-on, how will Kovik survive against the two teens who've been disrupting his plans since day one? Who will survive? I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Heroes!

Next Chapter Intermission: The Burden of Imperfection

"Hello~ Yuki here to give you a breakdown of SIVA! With, unfortunately, Kovik!" She cleared her throat as the Splicer stood a good distance from her. "So, what actually makes SIVA and NARA so different anyway?"

"Simple, while you retain SIVA, the Perfected variant, Virus variant from Ravage, and the Regenerative program from that scientist you met; NARA is a manifestation of all variants merged with the power of the Incubator and tethered to Shigaraki's newly obtained All For One to stabilize NARA's coding within my proxy," Kovik explained simply. "But my proxy cannot handle its strength, not for long periods of use as we've seen."

Yuki tapped her chin with a thoughtful noise, "So when Eraserhead cut that connection, it caused a disruption to NARA, so when you reconnected it caused the backlash,"

"Correct," Kovik nodded curtly.

"Like someone who's been starved for a long period of time and then eats a bunch, their body lacks the nutrients to properly break down the food and they end up severely sick, it can even be fatal!" Yuki exclaimed with a proud smile. "See, I pay attention in biology."

"... every day I speak with you I wish for death," Kovik drawled. "Next week, The Burden of Imperfection."

"Because you're all sunshine and rainbows yourself..." Yuki murmured dryly, sighing. "Rise Up!"

"And Fight On," Kovik concluded.