UPDAAAAAAAAAATEPOLUZAAAAA.

Let's enjoy some friendly bonding, shall we?

READ ON PEEPS!


Crunch.

Aizawa felt the villain's arm break under his heel and he turned his head, his eyes flashing onto his next victim even as the woman launched herself at him. Her quirk, some strange ability that let her use her hair like coiling snakes, suddenly died before her, blanketing her face and causing her to yelp in shock.

Aizawa reached forward, grabbed her by the hair, and pulled her towards him while, all in one fluid movement, smashing his elbow into her nose.

She fell like a bag of tossed garbage.

And yet even as she did so another took her place. There were almost ten bodies laying about him now, some moaning softly, others quiet and still. All had tried to take him, and all had failed. He let out a calm breath even though his lungs begged for more and his heart pounded within his chest.

Sweat plastered his shirt to his skin, despite it being designed to absorb perspiration and keep him moving swiftly. His scarf was already torn in one place, and he had another sharp cut along the leg of his black pants.

All his senses had become razor sharp, like the hunting wolf, like the stalking tiger. His body, even now, wanted to break and swing madly and go into a furious warrior-rage which would destroy the villains before him

But it was also a warrior's mind that kept him focused, kept him on the defense rather than the attack. For each one that tried to kill him, or each one that took even a step onto the vast staircase, they were met with his cold, unrelenting punishment.

He sniffed and then spat onto the ground, his spit tinged with coppery blood, and let his cold eyes cross over the hesitant villains before him.

There wasn't one yet who could even remotely challenge him. They were all low-level criminals, dollar-store thieves and thugs who could barely use their own quirks let alone actually fight.

But that wasn't the point. The point was that there were a lot of them and that was only in this area alone.

Who knew how many others were in the USJ itself? He had seen a full third of his class vanish before the Shadow-Man's quirk. If they were alive, kidnapped or dead he had no idea.

But such thoughts were not conducive to his process.

It wasn't that he didn't care, of course he cared, his heart almost spiked through his chest at the thought of any one of those children being hurt. But he had to force that side of himself away because acting irrationally would only get himself, and them, killed.

What he required right now was focus.

His eyes moved up to the fountain where he once again spied the two villains who had yet to do anything.

They were his true target.

His gaze moved across them for a moment, the man with the blue hair and hands over his body, and the giant, monstrous looking creature with the strange symbols carved directly into its bulging flesh.

Something recoiled within him at the sight of the bizarre, somehow violent symbols. Something that sneered in disgust at the idea of them even existing. Something deep inside him, right in his heart, and perhaps even deeper than that…

He cried out in sudden pain as someone slashed a knife across his back. In the same moment, he turned and smashed his opponent in the face with a whirling kick, knocking the villain down in an instant.

Dammit, he was getting distracted. He couldn't afford to get distracted, lives were on the line.

He refocused his efforts, ignoring the stinging pain across his back. The wound wasn't deep, the villain's swing was bad, and the cut was shallow. But they didn't label it 'death by a thousand cuts' for nothing. It was another wound that was subtly, quietly dragging on him. Another weakness he had allowed into his defense.

There were only two left now, two acting as a thin wall between himself and the two villains standing by the fountain.

He could take them. He had no idea what their quirks were, but if they were supposed to be the elite of their attack then they were a sorry bunch. A man who could teleport others, likely with no real offense to speak of, a man covered in hands who looked like he'd snap under a good punch… and the monster.

Again, something about the creature clawed at Aizawa's mind. Something about the symbols across its chest, the way its eyes seemed empty and soulless yet screaming and full of wrath. Something about it was just… wrong.

The two minor villains fell in quick succession. Aizawa robbed one of his quirk, some kind of metal arm protection, and smashed him in the face before using his capture tape to throw him to the feet of the final villain, a hulking man made of muscle who leapt easily over his fallen comrade to charge at Aizawa.

Big ones were always so easy to defeat. All that muscle clogged their brains of logical thought, for example, thinking that rushing at a man who knew five different forms of martial arts while screaming with their arms held wide open was a good idea.

Aizawa ducked easily under the hulk's arms and smashed his fist upwards into their jaw. The sudden strike knocked the brute senseless, and he was out cold a moment later when Aizawa swept a foot under his legs and shoved his face into the floor.

He heard clapping.

Panting, he turned and looked up to the fountain where the teal-haired villain stood, clapping politely. From behind the hand-like mask he wore over his face, marked with a sigil not unlike those upon the monster, Aizawa could see evidence of a wide, cracked smile.

"Good job, Erasurehead." His voice was like someone had clawed at his throat from the inside, yet somehow youthful and betraying of his age. How old was this man? At a guess, Aizawa would say only as old as the third years in the school itself. "You beat the peons, you must be really high level to do all that on your own."

"Stand down now, and maybe I won't break your arms." Aizawa's threat was vicious but held together with his trademark stoic manner. He remembered what the shadow-man had called out before he had vanished from his fellow villain's side and his own eyes narrowed. "Tomura Shigaraki, right? I'm guessing you're the leader." He smirked. "Aren't you a little young to be ushering in the apocalypse?"

Maybe he could get him talking, stall for time while some form of backup arrived. They must have noticed the USJ systems were down, they'd send someone to check it out.

Or so he hoped.

Either way a moment to regain some of his stamina would be worth its weight in gold.

"Mock me all you want, but I've seen the truth. I know what lies beyond this wretched world." Tomura continued to smirk behind his hand-mask. "You see the fate of mankind is the fate of lice. They move, constantly, unseeing and looking out only for their own survival. All of them unaware of what all their little sins add up to. Where they're all going to end up." As he spoke his voice began to dip again, taking on a tone that caused spider legs to crawl across the skin of his neck. "I've seen it. Hell. It's real, Erasurehead. It's real and you're all going there."

Aizawa wanted to call out how stupid he was. How heaven, hell, or any of the other dumb myths weren't real.

But something held his tongue. Something in the man's voice, in the symbols etched onto the hands clutching his body. Something flashing in his ruby eyes.

"You're going to burn. All of you. And it's all going to start with the death of All Might," His eyes flickered and Aizawa suddenly realized that while he was talking his focus had been off the monster at his side.

The monster which was no longer at his side.

A shadow fell over him and Aizawa turned, his eyes flashing as he tried to activate his quirk. But it was too late. A hand the size of his face grabbed his head and simply squeezed. Pain tore through his skull as the monster lifted him from his feet and his scream was muffled by the monster's palm.

From behind him, he heard Tomura speak in that sickly soft yet course voice. "Don't be rude, Legion, introduce yourself."

A voice suddenly met his ears. The voice of a laughing child, a crying woman, a furious man, and a thousand, thousand others all twisted and linked and coiled together. A voice that caused his brain to alight with a primal fear dragged from instinctual memory.

"We are Legion. We are many."


The wind howled like a beast possessed. Izuku had no idea how they could ever manage to create such a thing and keep it up like this, but he could only suppose it cost the school a lot of money to maintain.

The wind and rain, however, provided several advantages to their position. First, it helped hide their movements, as most of the villains seemed unsurprisingly reluctant to stand around the streets of the faux-city and patrol for their intended victims. Most of them huddled into awnings or stood inside and peered out of windows.

Secondly, it hid any sound they could make. The roaring wind and battering rain allowed them to practically sprint from street to street without making much noise at all.

It hadn't taken long for Izuku and Fumikage to find the right directions towards the exit. Mostly because there were actual signposts pointing the way, which was helpful. The villains probably hadn't had the time to begin remove them, or perhaps they simply hadn't thought that the two would-be heroes would actually use stealth rather than outright violence to solve their problems.

Izuku had told Fumikage he wanted to avoid fighting if they could. Not out of cowardice, as Dark Shadow had accused, but simply out of necessity. Time was not on their side, for every second that ticked by another one of their friends could be dead.

It was a grim, but honest assessment and Fumikage had nodded as he had adjusted the gauze that Izuku had wrapped around his wound.

Izuku still had the impression that Fumikage didn't fully trust him, and more than once he had glanced to see Fumikage's crimson eyes watching him carefully.

They had spoken little since the holy water test, other than quick commands and warnings for the villains they had spotted. The bird-headed teenager had pulled Dark Shadow back into his body once the demonic shade had loudly protested about the 'run and hide' approach and not the 'tear them apart' approach.

So now they were here. Crouched on the second floor of a building, peeking out of a large, water-soaked window. They could see nothing of the USJ proper, the rain and wind made sure of that despite the glass ceiling of the dome. And even if they could he doubted they would see much, the high walls of the dome were designed to stop much of anything getting over them.

Izuku had wondered internally if they had some kind of flooding mode due to the way the concrete seemed to considerably darken a few meters up the wall.

His eyes moved down. A huge solid metal door stood closed and in front of it, a small tent with a white ceiling and clear walls had been put up in what would have been the middle of a road. The road itself split into two and vanished into the fake city, creating a three-way intersection with a roundabout. Izuku and Fumikage had managed to sneak into one of the side buildings, giving them a decent look over the entire road.

He could see them even through the storm, the six villains posted to the exit. They had collected under the tent and most of them seemed large and bulky. One of them, however, stood near the edge of the tent, trying and mostly failing to smoke a cigarette. He was slim and oddly demonic looking, though Izuku got none of the klaxon-loud internal warnings he'd gotten from Dark Shadow and had concluded quickly he was not a true monster.

His eyes turned to Fumikage, whose stoic expression was betrayed by a single twitch of his crimson eyes. Then he ducked back down and a turned to look at Izuku.

The room they occupied was lit only by fluorescent lights, most of which were out and the ones that remained flickered constantly with the rattling of the building, casting them in and out of shadow and gloom. Izuku knew in the dark he must seem like some strange, impish thing with his pointed ears, though Fumikage too looked like a creature of the night, dressed as he was in black with his spiked feathered head.

Fumikage had an intense gaze, either naturally or not, and it caused a subtle crawl of heat to move alone Izuku's scars. It was off-putting, his narrow avian stare. Along with his almost constant aura of moody darkness, it made him seem distant, aloof and brooding. It was the kind of aura that would shoo most people from him purely on instinct.

But Izuku didn't. In fact, he scooted on his hands and knees under the window to get closer to him. Izuku knew what it was like to be surrounded by shadow. He was more than used to it, almost to the point where he was secretly glad to see someone shared his dark impression.

"Six villains," He hissed under his breath to the raven-headed boy, "They're making sure to guard the gate well."

"We cannot avoid them as we have the others. To get through we must defeat them, and lock the gate behind us if possible." Fumikage mused, for a moment tipping his head up again at the window. "Such cursed souls are we for being handed such a challenge."

"We're cursed souls anyway," Izuku answered with a shrug, "So, we've got nothing else to lose, right?"

Fumikage fixed him with a sharp, piercing look for a moment before what he swore passed for a smirk flittered over his beak. "No, I suppose not."

"We have an opportunity to strike," Nemesis hissed through his ears, its battle-hunger evident in its dark tone, "We should murder them all."

"What do you think?" Izuku asked Fumikage suddenly, deciding it was better not to take the advice of… whatever Nemesis actually was. His hand curled into a fist atop his knee and his fingers absent-mindedly stroked along his palm. He could almost feel the odd tingling sensation even now, despite the fact he had his gloves on.

Fumikage was quiet for a moment before answering, "The villains we fought before had little combat training and seemed to rely entirely on brute force or their quirks to fight. They are street thugs and little else. Between the two of us, I believe we have the power capable of defeating our enemies."

"But you're injured," Izuku mumbled, a curled finger coming up to his bottom lip as he thought, "You can't fight like that."

"Not true," Fumikage replied swiftly, "When in combat, I use Dark Shadow. My injury was from the lucky strike of a villain and my own ill fate."

Izuku looked to Fumikage with a frown for a second and, even in the pressing situation they found themselves in, he felt a stab of jealousy in his heart. Fumikage's quirk-familiar was so strong, so powerful, and in many ways reminded him of Nemesis.

Yet despite the violence and terror that Dark Shadow threatened he obeyed Fumikage completely. If only he had such command over his own accused power.

"Dark Shadow is nothing to envy. It is a parasite creature." Nemesis hissed, almost defensively through the inside of his skull.

"But still. That leaves me." Izuku took in a steadying breath. "Obviously my control over Nemesis isn't… great. Not to mention it's not well suited to this environment." The boy shrugged. "Last time it was two on two and the wolf guy came in pretty close. This time though," He huffed quietly, "Six on two? I'll be useless after a few fireballs and then we'll be screwed."

Fumikage nodded slowly. "Agreed."

"We need to think." Izuku frowned again. "We have the element of surprise, we need to use that to our advantage."

The building rattled around the two cursed young men for a moment before, suddenly, Fumikage asked, "Izuku. How did you survive being dropped into this place?"

The boy in green blinked and looked over to his black-clad companion. His memory jumped to the events which seemed a forever ago but was more like only a handful of minutes. He smiled sheepishly, his fangs flashing in the blinking light. "Well, I, erm… flew."

Fumikage raised an eyebrow slowly. "You flew?"

"Well more like fell, with style," And he wagged his fingers in front of him. "Nemesis can, eh," He gave Fumikage an unsure look, "Summon wings to stop me falling. But it kinda only does it when it feels like it."

"We can summon forth our wings any time we wish." Nemesis whispered temptingly through his mind, "If only we stopped being so stubborn."

Izuku's fingers curled and he wished he could dig his fingernails into his palm. Thankfully his padded gloves stopped him.

Fumikage's eyes narrowed at Izuku, "Blue fire, shadowed skin and now wings. You hold quite the arsenal within you, Izuku Midoriya, especially for one who claims to not be of demonkind."

The teenager simply shrugged. "Just lucky I guess. And besides, I passed your test, that knocked me off the possessed list, right?"

Fumikage made no other noise, he simply locked Izuku with a stare that seemed to be boring through him. It was as if he was again judging Izuku, unsure if he was being tricked or was simply faced with a quantity he had never dealt with before.

However, after a moment he saw Fumikage slowly raise a finger to his beak and he hummed in thought. Izuku frowned and cocked his head a little in confusion. "What? What is it?"

"I believe I'm forming a plan. It will require precision timing, speed and your promise that you will not allow your demon to consume you."

Izuku nodded, though his stomach suddenly flipped. "I-I promise, whatever you need."

Fumikage smiled and in the same moment the light above them flickered off. In that second, it became difficult to tell who he was looking at, Fumikage or Dark Shadow.

"Good."


"This isn't going to work." Nemesis growled as Izuku approached the rooftop. The wind outside rattled and roared with the intensity of a caged beast and Izuku could already feel the temperature dropping. Nemesis kept him warm of course, but it was like putting a radiator in the middle of a snowstorm.

"The Seventh Son is trying to kill us." His curse continued like a whining child. A whining child made of bloody axes and severed skulls, but a whining child still. "He'll abandon us at the last moment. Just wait and see. He and his soulless parasite."

"He won't. His life is on the line just as much as ours- I mean mine." He gritted his teeth as his hand closed around the rattling, freezing cold doorknob to the roof. "He'll be there. I trust him."

"Our trust is misplaced." Nemesis replied like a coiling snake. "But at least we'll claim these kills as our own."

Izuku sighed loudly before shaking his head. There was no point responding to it any longer, after all, he had no intention of killing anyone or anything, no matter how much danger he was in.

Though a part of him knew even if he didn't want to kill, Nemesis sure would… and perhaps it wouldn't even give him the choice.

He opened the door and was instantly drowned in a torrent of rain and wind that almost completely knocked him off his feet. He held onto the frame of the door as he began forcing his legs forward, crouching down and crawling when he needed to as the never-ending tropical-storm level wind hit him full force, stronger than ever now he was atop a five-story building.

He was almost on his stomach by the time he got to the very edge of the building and he peeked over the stone rim. Squinting down Izuku could see the tent below him and though he could no longer see the villains through the cream tarp roof. Two now lingered outside, a flickering orange glow told him they were sharing a lighter.

Izuku fought against his drenched hair as he tried to brush it from his vision. Within his head he quickly began making calculations, trying to account for the wind, the distance and everything else he could need for the plan to work.

"Maybe we won't use our wings. Maybe we should just drop to our pathetic death," Nemesis complained, clear even through the howling wind.

"Maybe we should, you'd be doing me a favor for once," Izuku snarked back as he crawled away from the edge.

"We'd never let ourselves die!" The curse almost predictably cried back as Izuku climbed to his feet and began hunching down, aiming just askew from his original position on the ledge. "We are shadow and flame! We are Nemesis! We are Izuku Midoriya! No fall can ever kill us!"

"Well, it looks like you won't mind this then."

Izuku ran.

As he ran he shoved Nemesis deep into his legs, feeling them shift and burn and alight with fire as he reached the edge of the rooftop. With an almighty yell which was lost to the roaring of the wind he leapt off the rooftop and far into the street.

And he prayed to whatever God was listening that his accursed quirk would do the rest.

He began falling. The wind grabbed him and took him in an instant, throwing him through the air like a plastic bag. However, he had planned for this, the power of Nemesis had launched him far from his target and as he fell like a stone he tried his best to angle himself down, rushing towards the tent like a green-clad missile.

Nemesis responded.

He held back a scream as once again the muscles on his back split and cracked and tore open as wings, black as the void and coated in burning shadow, erupted from his flesh. Still, he rocketed to the ground, his falling slowed just in time as he angled perfectly with the top of the tent.

But he wasn't done yet.

Before his feet even touched the top of the tarp he held out one hand and gathered whatever was left of his blasphemous power into his palm. He could feel his dark curse rush through his body, burning his scars and alighting them to a furnace blue. Shadow burst up his skin like rushing flood water and his fingers cracked, mutated and were reborn into terrible rending claws.

He collided with the tarp, instantly caving it inwards as he collapsed whatever metal structure had been holding it up.

In the same moment he detonated the gathering demonic blue flame within his palm and, for a brief moment, his entire world was filled with nothing but the explosive, mind-breaking sound of his profane power erupting across the tent around him.

Despite the downpouring water, it was blown apart in mere seconds, the pieces being scattered to the howling winds around him.

But Izuku couldn't even focus. His world was a spinning and liquid and hissing steam on burning fire. His breakfast was already falling from his lips as he staggered forward and collapsed down to the water-drenched ground. His power was still pulsing through his body, begging and clawing at his heart and demanding access to more.

More fire, more chaos, more fury.

Izuku curled into a ball, screaming to no-one's notice as Nemesis was denied its prize, and instead burned its way across his scars in a flash of corrupt blue flame before finally fading back into his body like a receding wave.

Izuku could hear shouting from somewhere. He had no idea how many his surprise attack had managed to take out, but he hadn't bet on removing all them. He had kept his eyes closed as he had screamed bloody murder, but as he finally opened them, almost blinded as he was by the furious wind and rain, he could see three of them gathering to their feet.

One them pointed three arms at Izuku and they began closing fast, screaming words that Izuku could barely make out through his ruined senses.

And then the shadow took them.

It reached not for one them but all of them in one, vast sweeping gesture, like the paw of a great animal.

Within the space of a breath it had picked them up and thrown them into the side of a nearby building. It was out of Izuku's range of vision, but he could hear the crunch of bones breaking against flat concrete. There was the smash of glass, the laughter of a great mocking jackdaw and the screaming of men.

And then, suddenly, there was no more.

From the haze of rain came a new figure. A bird, a crow, Fumikage. From his back stretched the great form of Dark Shadow.

The boy walked over to Izuku slowly and then knelt before him. Rain pattered off his form, his feathers dripping and soaked. He cocked his head a little, seemingly ignorant to the actions of his monstrous familiar.

"You didn't abandon me." Fumikage announced in a quiet tone. "And you did what I asked, even though it was practically suicidal if you had failed."

"It's… what a hero… would do." Izuku panted out softly, trying to wipe the dribbles of vomit and spit from his mouth as he slowly tried to raise himself up on shaking limbs.

Fumikage frowned again at the teenager, however, his gaze was not annoyance, but a strange sort of look that reminded him, sharply, of the look Hitoshi had given him when he had spoken similar words before. A sort of amused, gladdened, perhaps even hopeful look.

Then the crow-boy shook his head slowly and as the world gradually rotated back into place Izuku swore he could see a smile playing along his beak, "You are a strange one, Izuku Midoriya. A child of darkness that will sacrifice himself for the light. You have the quirk of the damned, the soul of one claimed by shadow, and yet you insist on playing the hero." He stood up, and then did something Izuku hadn't seen coming.

He offered his hand.

"Come, we have our classmates to save."

Izuku paused for only a moment, looking to the outstretched hand and wondering for a brief second if this was another one of Fumikage's little tests.

Then he managed a weak smile, nodded and in a wet slap he took the hand of the boy and allowed himself to be hauled up onto his feet. He staggered and almost fell onto Fumikage before managing to find his balance, as shaky and uneven as it was. He looked around, wiping his hair from his drenched head. "… oh shit."

His attack had not just been a great distraction, as intended, but it had demolished the tent. Pieces of it still burned despite the heavy downpour. Apparently, there had been a table with treats and drinks within the tent because food and burned plastic wrappers were now littered across the road, if they weren't already caught up in the wind.

Izuku's eyes moved to the bodies laying about. Three of them had been knocked out the moment Izuku had landed, he could tell by the way they sprawled out on the floor, one with the tarp still thrown over them.

Dark Shadow had made short work of the rest. Izuku had always considered Nemesis to be excessive in its violence, Kaachan was now wearing the proof of that on his face, but Dark Shadow came a close second.

One villain simply hung from a window he had been thrown through, blood flowing from some unseen wound in his face. Another lay at the base of a crater his body had punched into a wall and his legs twisted unnaturally under him. The third Izuku couldn't see, but he had no doubt they had a suffered similarly brutal fate.

"Are- are they-"

"They'll live, Little Demon," Dark Shadow replied grumpily, "Master will not allow me to take lives. At least," And their grin grew as it circled Fumikage, "Not yet he won't."

"Dark Shadow, return." Fumikage snapped and the shadow-monster obeyed, rushing back into their master's body. The crow-like teenager then turned his eyes to Izuku and commanded, "Let's go."

And with that, he stormed forwards, not even giving Izuku or the bodies another glance. Izuku joined him quietly at his side, staggering along and feeling as weak as a newborn kitten. He had pushed himself so far that he was amazed he hadn't surrendered control the moment he'd landed.

He was proud of himself for that. He'd burned his limbs and now his entire body ached with every movement and effort he made, but he was still moving. He could still help.

He thought about what Dark Shadow had threatened, how Nemesis had so often threatened to do the same. Tired, slightly unfocused eyes turned to the water-drenched crow.

"… it's horrible, isn't it?" Izuku said in a voice that was almost stolen by the wind. "Having that thing inside you."

Fumikage's voice was much the same. "Yes."

"Sometimes I wonder if God hates me." Izuku continued as he began to follow Fumikage, the two of them heading towards the small archway which held the double doors to the storm surge arena.

"I don't think God actually cares." Fumikage's reply was so blunt that it practically tripped Izuku over. He felt his stomach roil and he staggered a little, being forced even to throw a hand up against a wall as they stepped into the barely-dry archway. "But who are we to question the Almighty? He is supposed to work in mysterious ways," And for a moment, Izuku could see a great and terrible sorrow hang around the bird-like boy, dripping from him like rain. "Each soul plays its part in the great theater. Some, perhaps, must suffer in darkness so others may enjoy the light."

Izuku paused at this and then slowly nodded. "Yeah. Maybe," He allowed a smirk to appear on his lips, "Or maybe life just sucks, you know?"

Fumikage almost, almost smiled. Izuku could tell, the beak twitched, and the crow-boy was forcing it down. "Maybe."

They stepped forward and the double doors whooshed opened automatically. Quickly the two boys hurried through and it slammed behind them, locking the storm away. The moment they were back into the USJ proper Izuku could feel the sudden, almost dizzying sense of difference from their previously wind and rain ravaged environment.

It was only now he noticed just how truly drenched they were. Water was practically pouring off them, and even in the new warmth of the overhead sunlight Fumikage seemed to be shivering. Izuku, however, did not, as Nemesis's inner fire already comforting him and steam gently rose from his form.

"We should block the door," Izuku glanced at it, "I would try and melt it shut but…" He sighed heavily and wobbled where he stood. "I still need time to recover."

"Understood." Fumikage turned and without a word Dark Shadow once more emerged from his body. However, rather than take shape, it darted up and forwards, rushing towards the door controls and smashing them like a fist.

Electricity surged through the doors and Izuku heard something loud click into place. He smirked as Dark Shadow returned back into its master. "When in doubt, smash things, I guess?"

"U.A.'s systems have a tendency to lock down on a hair trigger. I noticed it first when the journalists tried entering the grounds," Fumikage mumbled almost to himself, "What a dark design flaw this academy holds."

Izuku couldn't help but silently agree. Still, they were outside, finally. Soaking wet, windswept, bloodied, battered and, in Izuku's case, one more quirk use from throwing up all over himself and collapsing.

Or worse.

But they had made it, and now they could work on helping the others.

He looked around and spotted the huge staircase leading up to the entrance. The main fountain area was hidden by a long, curved line of shrubs and bushes planted along the edges of a walkway that led to the storm-surge arena.

He could see their way back to their friends. "Alright," He started as he gulped down another roil of vomit that played across his stomach and threatening to reach up to his throat, "All we need to do is stick to the bushes and we should be able to make it back up the-"

There was a loud crash and a shout from the fountain. Izuku felt his heart go cold and heat again prickled greedily along his scars. It was Aizawa, it had to be. His feet began to move on their own, but a hand shot out and grabbed his shoulder.

He turned to see Fumikage, looking at him with his focused, crimson gaze. "We can't get involved. You said yourself you can't use your quirk much longer, and I am still injured, even if I do have Dark Shadow. I…" He paused for a moment and Izuku saw him gulp. "You saw that… thing with the villains, didn't you?"

Izuku nodded slowly. "Yeah?"

"I do not know what it is… but it is not human." Fumikage let the words hang in the air for a moment, like a warning, before pressing on. "Or if it was once, its body and soul have been corrupted beyond recovery. Either way, it is dangerous."

"The Seventh Son is a coward," Nemesis spoke distantly within Izuku's mind, vicious and swift, "We could tear it apart without issue. Simply unleash us, and we shall bathe in its blood."

Izuku breathed deeply and pushed the image from his mind before continuing, "But Mr. Aizawa," Izuku looked back to where more shouting, more heavy smashes were coming from. "We have to help him."

"Then what is your plan?"

Izuku bit his lip and raised a finger up to them for a moment, mulling his options before starting to move towards the bushes. Slowly, carefully, both to keep from being seen and because he still wasn't completely over his sense-destroying attack on the other villains. He felt wobbly, uneasy on his feet and his temples throbbed with a possible oncoming migraine. He could still taste acid at the back of his throat and he felt as though he needed a nice, long drink of water.

Minor complains when taken in a normal context, but when combined with the knowledge he could lose his grip on his dark curse with one more surge of power, each served as a warning sign to stop.

"Maybe we can draw some of them away, lighten his load." He shot a smile over his shoulder to Fumikage. A tired, weary, unconfident smile, but a smile nonetheless. "Anything to give him a better hand, you know? I might not be able to use my quirk any longer, but I can still run like hell."

Fumikage didn't seem to totally accept the plan, but he said nothing and continued to follow Izuku. The green haired boy took it as a sign of submission.

It was a stupid plan, Izuku knew that, but he also knew that he owed his sensei more than he could ever give. Aizawa had seen him at his worst, when Nemesis was pulling his strings and looking for fresh blood to spill.

Aizawa had stepped forward and stopped him in a heartbeat.

That was why he had to save him, that was why he had to do something. Because everyone else was acting so heroically, while he just sat and cowed at the curse of his own blood.

No more. He was trying to be a hero dammit, and if he could pull even a handful of villains away from his teacher and lead them on some merry goose chase through the USJ it would be worth it.

This thought hardened in his heart as they reached the end of the length of bushes. He stopped as he heard more crashing, this time louder, and somehow far more brutal than before. Anxiety turned his stomach and crawled along his arms as he crouched low and turned his head.

Fumikage locked eyes with him and nodded only once.

Then, together, they moved just past the corner to peek around the bushes.

What Izuku saw send his heart into overdrive.

He had assumed the crashes were that of his sensei kicking the villains into next week, and indeed across the courtyard before the fountain the bodies of villains lay practically stacked on top of one another.

But it was not the villains making the noises.

Their teacher lay on the ground, crawling with only one working arm, the other dragging uselessly at his side. He was coated in blood, it flowed from his face, his lips and stained his clothes in worryingly large blotches.

And walking behind him, almost casually, was the hulking form of the midnight-skinned monster.

The creature walked with long, purposeful steps towards the broken-looking man with barely a scratch on it. It grabbed his leg in one massive hand and simply turned, hurling the teacher over its shoulder in a gigantic arc and slamming him full force into the ground.

Izuku could hear Aizawa's bones snap even from his distance.

He could feel it now. Closer as he was to the monster. The same deep, stabbing, instinctual pull of his soul that told him this thing, whatever it was, was not of this earth. It wasn't even human. It was something pulled up from the most terrible parts of hell and forged into a flesh and bone shell.

It was like the shadow-man, like Dark Shadow.

Like Nemesis.

"This monster," Nemesis almost gasped through the insides of his mind. "This thing, this creature… one fallen soul, surrounded by so many connected shadows. Like strings of maggots to a carcass."

Izuku listened. He listened because right now he had no idea what was going on, and even with Fumikage at his side had no time to ask for answers. Right now, he was running on fumes and instinct.

His eyes turned to the man with the blue hair and, bizarrely, he felt Nemesis shudder through him, like the grasping flickers of a fire caught in a storm wind.

"That man." Nemesis spoke again, a long, blade-drawing whisper that seemed… strained almost, as if it was struggling to comprehend what it was seeing. "His soul is… strange. We know he is corrupt, he must be, and yet we cannot pierce the veil which shields him. Those hands," And Izuku's eyes flicked to the dismembered limbs grasping to the man's body, "They... they are like a cloak, hiding his soul behind thick shadow."

"Are you having fun yet, Erasurehead?" The man he suddenly remembered being referred to as Tomura Shigaraki laughed and spread his arms as he stood, watching passively from the edge of the fountain steps. "Legion was summoned especially for just one purpose. To destroy All Might so that I may claim the remains of his withered soul."

Aizawa went to shout something, but the creature called Legion was already upon him, grabbing his head and twisting it upwards, forcing his focus on its master.

"I've seen the snake crawling from the virgin's womb, I've seen the rising flames on Armageddon, I've seen the armies of the eternal damned shattering the great Sheol gate." Each sentence seemed to stab at something deep inside Izuku, something that made his stomach churn and bile taste on his tongue. "I've seen it, Erasurehead. And it's all going to start with All Might's death."

Izuku could feel his arms shaking. He could feel a bizarre numbness enter his legs and his heart hammering in his chest. He felt horrified, he felt scared, he felt terror and fear and… anger.

So much anger.

It wasn't until he felt a hand land onto his shoulder and squeeze tightly that he realized he had been rising to his feet. He turned, feeling his scars burn hotter and hotter as an unbridled rage threatened and teased with promises of power, with the satisfaction of violence.

Cold, crimson eyes bore at him and the raven-headed boy simply whispered. "Don't."

Izuku's fingers were curling tightly. He was shaking with the fire in his scars, in his blood, with fury unrivaled circling his heart. He could feel Nemesis crawling through his system, tugging at his arms and legs, whispering in the dark corners of his mind. Just go out there, just let go, just kill them all.

His breath came in shudders as if he was forcing himself to take in lung-fulls of air just to keep control.

There was a sudden movement from the fountain, and the distraction was enough to pull Izuku back into the present.

The shadow-creature formed beside Tomura. Again, its very presence set off alarm bells within Izuku. Another vicious predator forged of darkest shadow, one not meant to walk the world of men.

Yet there it was.

"Master Tomura." It bowed its head towards the blue haired youth. "I bring news. The hero Thirteen has been defeated."

"Good."

"However," It kept its head bowed, "Some students escaped my grasp and one managed to escape the facility. He is no doubt gathering help even now."

"What? Dammit, Kurogiri, you let one of them go?"

Tomura's voice was furious and yet suddenly some of the overwhelmingly threatening aura that had poured off him faded. Suddenly he seemed… almost childish.

"My deepest apologies, my master."

"If a dozen pros show up along with All Might we're done. Not even Legion could take them all on at once," Tomura grumbled and he raised his hands to his throat where he began scratching at bizarrely dry skin. "We're going to be outnumbered any minute, and Legion is going to be lost. We can't win this boss fight without our tank," He ranted to himself as he scratched over and over again before suddenly stopping and slumping like a spoiled brat. "Fine. Whatever. Let's leave. So much for ushering in the end times."

Izuku felt his heart start to rise. He looked to Fumikage and silently they shared the same glance. Hope. Maybe they could get out of this alive, maybe their friends could survive, and everything would be alright.

Maybe.

But Izuku wasn't one for hope. His quirk had made sure he was a born pessimist.

"This isn't right." Nemesis whispered through his mind. "They leave too easily. They hold such overwhelming strength, why abandon their mission now?"

"Before we go, let's make sure they remember us," Tomura announced coldly, "We can at least slaughter the kids."

His gaze turned right onto the two boys.

"Starting with you two."

Izuku's blood ran cold. Ice cold, colder than Nemesis had ever allowed. Fear gripped his heart as the two figures by the fountain turned their collective gazes to the boys.

Tomura raised a finger to them, "Legion, bring me their-"

"Master, wait."

The air froze around them, locking the two boys in place. Izuku was standing tall now, though when he had fully risen to his feet he wasn't sure. Fumikage was at his side, on his feet, hunched, but just as frozen to the spot as his ally.

Fear, cold and unrelenting, gripped them both, anchoring them with an almost physical weight on their limbs.

Kurogiri pointed a ghostly, black-clad finger to the two boys. "When I first moved to the top of the staircase I scanned the students for signs of corruption. These are two of three I spotted whose souls had been touched by the hand of Hell."

"Really? Huh." Tomura raised a hand to his throat again and scratched as his ruby eyes flashed at the two boys. "Well, that changes things, doesn't it?"

A sickening, cracked-skin smile grew from behind the palm-mask he wore and he stretched out a welcoming hand towards the two. "In that case, I offer my greetings, brothers, and on behalf of the Heralds of Eversoris," His smiled turned into a yellow-toothed grin, "I invite you to join us."


GASP. Izuku has an offer to join the Heralds! Should he take it? Or should he freak out and go all Nemesis on everyone? I mean, it's really a very easy choice to make.

So next chapter is gonna be the BIG FINALE of USJ. Also I'm gonna be announcing some changes coming to the schedule (that I'm making for my own sanity) and a very obvious change to the update time.

But until then, tell me what you think of the chapter and have a great two weeks my dudes! Thanks for reading and for all the kudos and everything! Peace out, peeps!