How I Became the World's Greatest King

by Morpher87

Izuku is just the poor half-elf son of an elfin healer. Until one of the ancient kings of legend, All Might, arrives. Now Izuku must go to Uyay, the ancient school for heroes, and train to become a king and save his kingdom from threats, both within and from outside its borders

11. Chapter 11

Hello earthlings! I own nothing except a dysfunctional computer.

"Whoa…" Izuku whispered as he and his friends rode into Hosu City. "It's so…"

"Right." Tsuyu looked about as lost as Izuku. The girl was also from a small community that she hadn't left until going to UA, so she and Izuku were equally as shocked. Uraraka had lived in a decently-sized town, yes, but definitely had never been anywhere the size of Hosu. Todoroki and Iida just looked bored.

"We must be getting to our accommodations," the dark-haired boy declared, pushing his horse forward. "I expect that whichever Hero was assigned to watch us will be waiting."

They'd been on the road for two days. Two days of camping and riding, endlessly. It brought Izuku back to his quest, though horses were not really as comfortable as the dragon. He did not like horses that much, and he kind of guessed that they didn't like him, but it was mandatory at UA to know at least a little about riding them. During their travel time, they'd quizzed each other on strategies for anything that could happen in the city. Well, Izuku, Uraraka and Tsuyu had quizzed each other. Todoroki had just kind of been there, and Iida had stayed separate from the group for most of the journey.

Izuku didn't know what was wrong with his friend. He'd been acting weird since the Sports Festival, but he wouldn't even tell Uraraka what was bothering him. And something was obviously bothering him.

Despite that and the stress of the actual exam that they were there to take, Izuku couldn't resist looking around at the sites of the city as they rode past. There was so… much. So many restaurants and stores and theaters and buildings- some were taller than any tree Izuku had ever seen. He was used to seeing impressive things in nature, but never anything like this.

And there was so much magic. Izuku could physically feel it, rubbing on his skin. Every few feet he saw someone doing a spell or selling potions. There were also several people wearing the official outfits of Heroes, and a few groups of knights walking around in straight lines. It reminded Izuku that he still hadn't talked to All Might about what had happened with the Sword during the Sports Festival.

He'd meant to, obviously, he'd just… run out of time, with all of the studying and packing and getting ready for the exams, and now he wouldn't have a chance until they'd finished this exam. It probably wasn't… overly crucial. Probably.

Hopefully.

There weren't a lot of horses in Hosu, so the little group got strange looks as they reached the inn Aizawa had told them they would be staying at while they were there. The only reason they didn't get even more was the fact that Todoroki was wearing a hood covering his face. Either way, three humans- one dressed in part of the typical armor of a knight-, a nature spirit, and a half-elf traveling together would make people curious, especially since they were all teenagers.

A tiny old man was waiting around outside the inn, checking his watch dramatically every few seconds. When he saw the group, he sighed dramatically. "You kids really tried to make an old man like me wait outside in the cold and rain, huh?"

"It's not that cold…"

"And it's not raining?"

The man shrugged this off and walked off around the side of the inn, gesturing for the kids to follow. They looked at each other.

"Um…" Uraraka muttered, "he doesn't look like an active Hero…"

"Maybe all of them were busy, and so they pulled one out of retirement?"

"But I thought the point of this was we were supposed to watch an active Hero for a few days and then have our exam?"

Tsuyu shook her head. "It's possible this is part of our exam. We should do what he says."

"He hasn't given us any proof that he's even a Hero!"

"Hey!" The old man poked his head back around the corner. "Are you going to stand there like a bunch of gossiping old men, or are you going to follow me to the stables?"

After a few more seconds, the kids followed.

The old man didn't say another word until the horses were in the stables and the group was in the large room UA had rented out. "Right. Well, goodnight."

"Um… sir, aren't you going to tell us about yourself? Ask us anything? Um…"

Izuku trailed off as the old man sat down in a bed and glared at him. "I stayed up way too late waiting for you kids! I'm going to sleep. You can all go… I don't know, get me something to eat when I wake up."

He started snoring as soon as he figured the sentence. The kids looked at each other. Uraraka whispered helplessly, "It's three o'clock in the afternoon…"

"Well… I… I suppose we should do as he says." Even Iida seemed confused. While he was at UA, Izuku had figured out that Heroes were a weird bunch. They had a wide range of personalities, and were often very… strange. Izuku understood that. But this old man… was he even a Hero? He hadn't said anything or done anything to make it more clear. Maybe this was all part of the test?

"Yeah, I guess we should…"

The only thing that the inn had in stock in its tiny shop were fish-shaped crackers, but none of them really wanted to go out into a strange city, so they made do. Plus they still had a lot of stuff in their packs, which they were going to use to make a small stew for the old man. Unlike what Todoroki suggested (because apparently he'd never been in a kitchen before in his life), they did not plan on putting the fish cookies into the stew. But they never got

When they got back, the old man was standing on a chair, glaring at the door. "You really left a sleeping old man alone? While you were gone, the inn could have been attacked, or someone could have broken in, or there could have been a storm or an earthquake. What were you thinking?"

"We're sorry, sir," Iida said, stepping further into the room and holding the fish crackers in front of him like a peace offering. "We thought-"

"Hmph! Heroes aren't made like they used to be."

"So you're definitely a Hero?"

"No."

Iida looked back at the other kids cautiously. "You're… not a Hero?"

"What gave you that idea? Of course I'm a Hero!"

"Ah… um… well…"

"Why haven't we started already? You kids are so lazy. Come on!" And with that, the old man strolled past the kids and out of the room. All of them looked at Iida, who sighed.

"I guess we should… follow him?"

They were up until almost midnight that night, running around after the old man, who hadn't even told them his name. He mostly just wandered around Hosu City, looking for something bad to happen. Izuku wasn't even sure why they were there. Should this man really be in charge of kids?

When they finally got back to the hotel, everyone collapsed into their beds in the room on the top floor that they were actually supposed to sleep in almost immediately. The old man, though, looked like he was still ready to go. "Ah, so lazy. Tomorrow we'll talk more." He turned the candle in the wall out as he left, shutting the door behind him.

Uraraka groaned. "Oh… I'm so tired… why did Mr. Aizawa put us with that man?"

"I'm sure our teacher had a reason! He seems very… seasoned, at least. Maybe he wanted us to absorb some of his wisdom."

"I guess we'll find out in the morning," Izuku said.

The next morning, the old man came and woke them up at around six am. All of the kids (except for Tsuyu, who apparently loved waking up early) agreed that they should have been allowed to sleep a lot longer, but the old man was suddenly in a huge hurry to get them into the big room.

"Right," he said as the kids ate the breakfast they'd bought from a restaurant near the inn, "you can call me Gran Torino. Let me make sure I've got the names right… the baby Iida's the one with the armor, witch's Uraraka, princeling's Shoto Todoroki, frog kid is-"

"My name's Tsuyu."

"Got it, Tsuyu Asui, and the elfling's Midoriya. Is that right? Great, don't care.

"Over the next week, you will be tested in more ways than you can count. You will come with me on patrol, and watch everything I do closely. If there is an emergency, do not try to help me. You'll just get in the way. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. At some point, your actual exam will happen. Don't ask me when, no one knows. The rest of the time, you will be free to explore the city and do whatever it is kids do. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Now. It's time for me to get some shut-eye." And he laid down on the floor of their room and started snoring.

Izuku sighed. "Why'd he wake us up if we weren't actually going to be doing anything?"

"Perhaps it was to give us a good sense of what actual hero life is like?"

"Anyway," Todoroki cut in, "we have time. Does anyone want to explore the city?"

"I think we got a pretty good tour of it last night." Uraraka groaned, shaking her head. "How does someone that old move that fast?"

"I mean, um, exploring the city and… things."

"Things?"

For a second, Todoroki almost looked nervous, and Izuku nearly started to smile. Of course. This was Todoroki trying to make friends. "I think it's a great idea!"

"You do?"

"Yeah!"

Since the Sports Festival, Izuku had noticed Todoroki making a little more effort to get to know his classmates. He still barely spoke, but he'd come down to the common room sometimes instead of just staying in his room. He was trying, and Izuku wanted to try and help him. For some reason, he felt kind of responsible for the prince.

Uraraka nodded. "There were no cities this big where I grew up, and I want to see everything? What about you, Tsuyu?"

"Sure."

"I apologize, but I will have to decline," Iida said, moving his arms as he spoke. "I have some studying I want to do for the exam."

"Iida, we've fought real villains. The part of the exam that we need to study for is over. You should have fun!"

"I apologize, Midoriya, but no." The tall boy walked out of the room, and the rest of them just looked at each other. All of them had picked up during the trip that something was wrong with Iida. None of them knew exactly how to ask about it.

"Well…" Todoroki said quietly. "Should we go?"

The next five days passed quickly. The first time they went out, Gran Torino had found them at some clothing store and started yelling that they shouldn't have left an unarmed old man alone and asleep and that some huge emergency could have happened and a bunch of people could have died because they weren't there. After that, Todoroki bought him a magical device that would, hypothetically, let people talk to each other even over long distances. Just in case.

Patrols were hard, but somehow still boring. Nothing ever happened, and the two times something had, an active Hero had shown up before Gran Torino could do anything. Izuku was starting to think that the patrol was more so they could develop their abilities. And it worked.

All of them got better at running and jumping across the rooftops, navigating the big city even in the dark and when they were in a new area of it, and tracking down Gran Torino when they lost him. They also all had one-on-one training sessions with the man once a day. Izuku had been terrified at his first one.

"So," Gran Torino had started, casually biting into a fish cookie, "can I see the Ruling Sword?"

"Wha-wha-what?"

"Oh, relax, kid, why do you think I was assigned to you? I was the closest thing to a Ruling Sword expert back in the day. I've known All Might since he was your age and still learning how to fight." The old man had appeared to drift off. Right when Izuku had been about to stay something, he had suddenly lunged, going way faster than was probably natural. Izuku had whipped out the Sword and dodged out of the way, but Gran Torino was probably faster than Izuku was even with the Sword's added power.

"You're too stiff! Loosen up! If you're gonna try to dodge, do it right! C'mon, boy, get it together!" the old man had barked as Izuku frantically dodged his attacks. He hadn't wanted to actually hurt the old man with his sword, obviously, so dodging had been his only option.

"You're not using it to its full potential!"

"What do you mean?" Izuku had stopped and stared at Gran Torino, who skidded to a stop too.

"No idea why, but for some reason you're not fully using the strength the Sword can give you."

"Huh. I… I never noticed that."

"Well, get it together and start paying attention to the thing! Jeez, it's like you're a little kid! You've had the Sword for a long time now, right?"

"Um… I guess it's almost been a year…"

"You should be using all the of strength by this point! You're not nearly as strong as All Might!"

"Ok… um… how do I get stronger?"

Gran Torino had laughed. "That's on you, boy. You have to figure out why you're holding yourself back and get over it."

The conversation had definitely made Izuku think. He hadn't noticed that he'd been holding anything back. In fact, he'd thought he was doing fairly well with controlling the power. He'd done ok when the USJ had been attacked and with the Sports Festival, anyway, and there was no reason for him to hold anything back. Was Gran Torino just making things up? Was he really an expert on the Sword?

He was probably right, and Izuku was actually a failure who should never have been chosen as the new Wielder and soon All Might would realize that and he'd have to leave UA.

Izuku decided to put his "not thinking about this" skills to work again. Like he always did.

"So," Gran Torino barked, drawing Izuku back into the conversation. It was the second of Gran Torino's one-on-one training sessions, and it was slightly nerve-wracking. "Have you figured out how to access more power?"

"No, sir. I guess-"

"Why not?"

"Because I, um… because I guess I just kinda… um… I guess I don't really know what you mean? I think I have a lot of power, anyway? So, um…"

"What if the older brother comes back?"

The statement caught Izuku off guard. "What?"

"All Might fought him, sure, and scared him off a bit, but All Might's hurt because of it. If he comes back, you're the only one who can stop him, and you can't do that if you only have half of the power."

"How do you know I don't have all of the power?"

"You don't feel it, do you? No normal person is supposed to have as much power as the Ruling Sword gives. When you use all the power, it feels wrong. You don't look like you feel anything but the usual "I'm strong, and I can beat up weak people" feeling whenever you use it. Plus, if you were using all of the power, you'd probably be about as fast as me. Right now, you're nowhere close. All Might didn't have the same problem, so it's just a you thing."

"Wait," Izuku cut in, staring at the old man with wide eyes. "You trained All Might?"

"I helped train him, kid. Big difference. I was friends with his mentor, Queen Shimura, back in the day, and I used to help her keep him out of trouble."

"Wait…"

"It's why I was assigned to you kids. All Might pulled some strings and got you sent over here."

Izuku wasn't quite sure what to do with that information. "Why did you want me?"

"Well… don't take this the wrong way, kid, but All Might ain't exactly a great teacher."

"That's not true! I've learned so much from him!"

"I'm sure, I'm sure, but he never really understood the finer points of the Sword. Like the history behind it and stuff. You know what One for All is, right?"

"Right."

"Well, All Might never fully got what it was. He understood it in theory, but… for whatever reason, Yagi- All Might- couldn't actually use One for All to talk to the old Wielders- which is what it was originally supposed to be, by the way. All the connecting to the current other Wielder and transporting the Sword is just extra. We're not exactly sure why, because he's definitely the real Wielder. Shimura had a much weaker connection to them than her predecessor, so we figured it was just natural progression. Yagi still had all the strength, so while we were worried he would end up being the last user, there was no point in worrying the boy further. And then Shimura had to step down, and All Might took over, and the older brother attacked and… well, it was a complete mess. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Now, I feel like I should ask- do you have the ability to talk to the old users?"

"Um… well… yes?"

Gran Torino looked surprised. "You do? Huh, wasn't expecting that. Interesting… does Yagi know?"

"No, I haven't told him, I don't really know if that's what it is, but a Koshai possessed me and while I was breaking out of that-"

"You broke out of a Koshai's mind control?"

"Yeah, anyway, when I was breaking out, I saw these weird figures and it kinda felt like one of them touched me, and they said some stuff."

"How many were there?"

"Eight. But one was really blurry."

"That would be Yagi, probably. He's still alive so… but why did it skip Yagi?" Gran Torino paced back and forth, muttering to himself.

"Ok, just to be sure- I didn't hallucinate those people?"

"No, of course not!"

"Ok, good. Just checking."

"Why would it skip a generation… why…"

"Um… can I-"

"You're not leaving 'til we figure this out!" The old man glared at Izuku. He might be the future king of Uyay and one of the strongest people in the kingdom, but he was terrified of the tiny old man.

"Fine, fine, I'll stay!"

"Good. Now… you have the ability to talk to the previous users… but you can't use the full power… are they connected? Can you only use one or the other now? Is the Ruling Sword losing power, or… is there just something different about this boy and Yagi…" Gran Torino was very clearly not talking to Izuku anymore.

Suddenly he stopped pacing and looked at Izuku, focused. "Has anything else weird happened?"

"Um, no, I don't think so."

"Good. The problem now is letting you use the full power… maybe a spell? No, no, that won't work." And he went back to pacing. Izuku really, really wanted to leave and go to Uraraka and Tsuyu's training session in the woods right outside the city.

"Right, right… it's most likely something inside the boy's brain that's blocking him… just like Yagi likely had a block on One for All… but how to break it… the holder has never been an elfling before… could that be part of it? Maybe, maybe…"

Izuku stiffened. That had never occurred to him. He was the first user of the Sword who had any non-human blood. He was part-elf, and some elves had different kinds of magic than humans. Was Gran Torino right? Was he not using the Sword right (which hadn't even occurred to him before talking to the weird old man) because of what he was?

"Ah, don't give me that look." It took Izuku a second to realize that Gran Torino was actually talking to him. "If anything, your elf blood is just a minor setback. The Sword chose you, so you must be able to wield it. 'Sides, it's just a theory."

Before Izuku could respond, Gran Torino had gone back to pacing and muttering to himself.

A few awkward minutes later, the old man nodded sharply to himself. "Right. Sit down, boy. Let's talk." When Izuku sat down on a chair, Gran Torino glared at him. "That's my chair. You get the floor."

Once he was settled and Izuku was sitting cross-legged on the ground, Gran Torino started. "Where exactly do you think the power comes from?"

"Um… the Sword, I guess?"

"Wrong! The Sword helps to access the power, sure, but the real source isn't anything you can touch. It's the literal well of magic that the first thing created. It doesn't really exist, but it really does."

"Oh. Great."

"Stop interrupting me! Now, the first king, when he made the Sword, linked it to this well of magic. Don't ask how he learned how to do that, I don't know. Anyway, he linked them up and so whenever the Wielders use One for All or the extra strength and speed, it pulls from that pull. Make sense?"

"Yes, sir."

"Ok. So the third Wielder had some… similar issues. It didn't really go in any history books, which is why I don't know much about it, but apparently he wasn't as strong as the first three when he started. The first Wielder- who was old by that point- did some research, and found some potion that would give the Second a stronger connection to the magic, but then it started… destroying the Third's body."

"What?"

"Whenever he used the extra strength and speed, it literally tore his body apart from the inside out. And don't interrupt me. So the First did some more research, and-"

"Um, excuse me, Sir."

"Said no interrupting!"

"Yes, but- can I say something?"

Gran Torino groaned dramatically. "Fine, fine, but make it quick."

"I was wondering if, um, you're sure I'm not using all the power? Because All Might was my age a long time ago, and, well, you could have forgotten-"

"Are you calling me a senile old man?"

"N-no! Of course not! It's just that everyone forgets stuff sometimes, so it's possible-"

"Of course I haven't forgotten! I was friends with Shimura when we were your age too, and she was much more powerful than she was! But you do have a stronger connection with the old Wielders than they did. Shimura didn't see them until she'd had the Sword for two years!"

"Then why didn't All Might mention anything while we were on our Quest?"

"The Quest is just for teaching the Heirs the basics. He probably wasn't paying that much attention to how much power you had, 'specially since he was also teaching you other stuff not related to the Sword."

:"But he hasn't mentioned it since then…"

"How much time have you spent using the Sword with him in a space where you're not about to die?"

When Izuku thought about it… not much. They'd trained together a few times since going to UA, but they'd both had other responsibilities so it had slipped their minds more often than not. It was probably reasonable to think that All Might just hadn't noticed… plus All Might wasn't exactly the most observant teacher… no. He was loyal to his mentor.

"All Might's a great teacher! Besides, I don't… I don't really think it's a big enough problem to risk getting my body ripped apart? It doesn't seem to affect me that much. I mean, I'm still stronger and faster than most people…"

"I'm the expert, not you, boy!"

"Ok, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

"Stop apologizing!"

"Ok, sorry!"

After a second of silence, Gran Torino sighed and continued. "Anyway, All Might's not the best teacher, and he's not that observant, he probably just didn't notice, blah blah. Anyway, can I continue please?"

"Oh, um, right!" Izuku smiled nervously. He hated it when adults- or anyone- yelled at him. He should've just not said anything.

"Back on the issue, they figured out how to save the Third, but I don't know how they did that. I'll do some research… but to be honest, boy, I'm not optimistic."

"Ok." Secretly, Izuku was relieved. His mother always told him that the medicine for a sickness should never be worse than the actual sickness, and possibly tearing his body apart to fix a problem he wasn't really sure was there did not sound like the best option. "So what do we do?"

"For now, nothing. You just try to stay out of trouble. Avoiding fighting anyone too dangerous. You should be able to handle your school's exams just fine, and if you're attacked by anyone barring maybe demons or All for One himself, you should be fine. Now, go. Be back in five hours after I work with the prince so we can start training."

After a few seconds of nodding and smiling, Izuku walked out of the room. It was a little worrying that he apparently wasn't able to access the full power of the Sword, sure, but it should be fine.

It wasn't like he was going to fight any sort of powerful villain anytime soon.

Tomura was bored.

He sat in the tavern, kicking his feet up and down as he perched on a thin stool. Kurogiri was somewhere, trying to recruit someone to come back to the hideout. Whatever, Tomura didn't know. But Master said that they needed new members, since so many of them had been wiped out by the USJ attack.

Thinking of that disaster made Tomura think about All Might. Stupid All Might. All Might, who had abandoned the kingdom long before he went on his stupid quest. Who let starving children die because he couldn't be bothered to take care of them and let people like Endeavor rule. And the other rulers before him were no better, and thinking about it made Tomura… itch, in a way that most of the time he didn't. Whenever he itched, destroying something helped, but if he destroyed anything in the tavern Master could get angry, which wasn't helping Shigaraki's mood. And then there was that boy…

The strange little elfling who, even after all people like All Might had done to people like him, even seemed to like the man. It was sickening. Absolutely sickening. He was a child, not anything close to a hero of Uyay" but a child, idolizing someone so obviously wrong. It made Tomurai sick to think about. He couldn't wait to kill the boy, to touch him and feel his skin turn to dust and laugh. It wouldn't be as good as destroying All Might, but Master would probably get there first, so Tomura had to take killing that boy and the rest of the little hero brats. He'd make it last especially long for the elfling.

But there was something about him… something that interested Tomura. They'd met before, when the elfling was wandering around the border swamp with the Dragon King, which was not a good place for a little boy to be. Why was he there? He definitely didn't live in any of the nearby villages. And then, when that Koshai had been about to force Tomura to kill himself, the elfling had stopped him. It would have been easier for him if he didn't. He could have just said, 'oh, there was nothing I could do, the Koshai was already there', and people would have believed him. No one would really care if Tomura died, and they all hated Koshais enough to just believe that one would casually kill someone. But for some reason, the elfling had stopped the Koshai.

It was a tiny thing. He'd probably just been worried about the other student or taking Tomura alive to question him or something, but for whatever reason, Tomurai couldn't get that moment out of his head. And it itched. It itched so badly, not even the hands on his face could scratch it.

The boy couldn't wait for his next mission. He wanted to destroy stuff, wanted to scratch the constant itch. Maybe whoever Kurogiri brought back would say that they wouldn't join Master's cause unless Tomura killed some specific people for them. Normally Tomura didn't like having to use his power when people who weren't Master told him to, but he might have to make an exception.

Finally a swirling black portal opened, and Kurogiri warped out, followed by a strange… thing. It looked mostly human, sure, but there was some kind of weird aura around it, like a monster from some fantasy book. It was crouched over, like a cornered animal, and had two swords in its hands. And its tongue was way too long.

"Kurogiri," Tomura said, pushing himself off of the stool and, almost without realizing it, attaching the hand sitting on the counter to the back of his head, "who is this?"

"This, Master Shigaraki, is Stain, the Hero Killer. He's a serial killer who only targets professional Heroes of Uyay."

Tomura had heard a lot about Stain in the past few months. No one knew much about him, but apparently a bunch of people who most would consider villains had joined some weird cult revolving around him and were pretty widespread. Not really Master's thing, but if he could use his influence to bring in new members…

"Not a killer…"

"What?"

Stain met Tomura's eyes. By that point, the boy had met a lot of insane people, so he knew how to recognize them from a look. The man crouched over across from him was not completely insane but definitely getting there. "Not a killer. A surgeon. I remove the scourge of false heroes on society, making it so the rest can prosper."

"Huh." Inside, Tomura groaned. He didn't like people like that. People who thought they were so much better than he was because they had some fancy thoughts about why they killed, how it was all for the good of society or some shit. At least Master was honest. He wanted to completely destroy society, not just 'fix' it or anything like that. But Kurogiri had brought Stain to the tavern, so obviously Master wanted Tomura to talk to him, so he would. Even if he didn't like it. "Fine. Well-"

"You, Tomura Shigaraki, are another type of plague." Stain stalked a few steps closer and, despite the fact that he could kill the man in seconds, Tomura backed up. "You and your master, hurting innocents for no reason other than destruction. You're no better than Endeavor, or any of the other false heroes. And you, too, are an illness that must be removed." And he lunged, going faster than any normal human should be able to go.

Luckily Tomura was not a normal human either, so he was able to get out of the way, but he'd forgotten about the swords. Stain whipped them off of his back and swung them around. One slashed Tomura's arm, drawing blood. As the boy landed a few feet away, Stain slowly brought the sword to his mouth and licked it.

Tomura couldn't move. He screeched, trying to fight it off, but something forced him to get onto his knees. Stain crept closer, long tongue flicking in and out like a snake.

"You kill," he hissed, leaning close to Tomura. "You kill, and you kill, and there's no reason for it besides your own selfishness. You deserve to be eradicated." He raised one sword above his head and Tomura couldn't move and he was sure that he was so much stronger than this, but whatever Stain was doing to him was working and he couldn't move.

As Stain brought the sword down towards Tomura's neck, his arm vanished and reappeared in a swirling black portal, halfway across the room.

"It would seem, Master Stain," Kurogiri said, sounding irritatingly calm, "that we were not meant to work together after all. My apologies for wasting your time."

With that, the two vanished and, after a few seconds, Tomura could move again. Whatever Stain had done to him apparently didn't work when he was further away. The boy climbed to his feet. Everything felt wrong, like his body didn't belong to him. Stain had taken away any control Tomura had. He'd made him a slave, unable to do anything even though he was about to die. Master would be disappointed. He'd raised Tomura to be better than that, to be stronger, to fight harder…

The itch was strong.

Kurogiri reappeared in the room. "I'm sorry about all of that, Master Shigarki. Are you all right?"

"Go and contact Master."

"Sir?"

"Make sure that he's still ok with us testing out our Nomus on a wide scale- say, a big city."

"Where, Sir?"

Tomura grinned. Stain thought that he was so much better than the League. He'd show him. "Stain works in Hosu City, right?"

The exam period was nearly over. And they still hadn't had their actual exam.

It almost seemed like Gran Torino had completely forgotten about it. That didn't seem too strange, given the fact that most of the time he acted like a confused old man, but that couldn't be it. Sometimes he seemed way smarter than normal, like he was just faking something most of the time. And he was a fairly good teacher. Izuku still had no idea what was going on with his lack of strength, but he'd learned some new techniques that would probably be useful.

Uraraka and Tsuyu seemed to think that Gran Torino was just leaning really far into the whole "the students have to be surprised by the exam" thing. Which was very much possible, but Izuku would prefer to just get it over with. He usually scored well on the information tests, sure, but he wanted to test himself in fighting. Todoroki thought that Gran Torino had just forgotten.

Izuku had no idea what Iida thought, since the taller boy was never there. He'd only be at the inn or with the rest of his group for mandatory training or patrols, and even then he seemed to be thinking about something entirely different. As soon as they'd finished he'd leave, coming back late at night, if he came back at all. Whenever one of them asked, he'd just say he was training or sightseeing or meeting up with family friends or something else that was obviously a lie. Todoroki had mentioned that Iida's older brother had been severely injured in Hosu, so part of it could just be him coping with that. Izuku just wished that his friend would talk to him. He cared about Iida and didn't want him to be in pain, but the other boy refused to open up.

On the next-to-last night of exam week, Izuku couldn't sleep. He couldn't really figure out why. He was tired, definitely. Gran Torino had been working them all hard, with twice-a-day training sessions and patrols. They'd all gotten stronger, but it was exhausting. He looked forward to getting the exam over with and going back to UA, and then going back to his village for the break. So he definitely wasn't worried about the exam.

It was hard to really put a finger on what was bothering him. For whatever reason, he just felt wrong about something. So the boy threw on a cloak and his boots and walked out of his room. He might as well get a run in.

Izuku loved running on the roofs of Hosu City. There was something exhilarating about jumping between the buildings that reminded him a little of a stupidly dangerous game he used to play with Kacchan as kids, where they'd climb to the top of the mountain and race to see who could reach the village first. Izuku had won, until Kacchan had started developing his sorcery, and he'd started winning.

The boy was so lost in the thought of his old friendship that it took him a few seconds to notice the fire. Almost as soon as he did, though, he changed course, sprinting straight towards it.

People could be in danger. And it was his responsibility to stop it.

As soon as he reached the fire, though, Izuku realized he was in way over his head.

The area was swarming with the Nomu things from the USJ. At least four of them. They were running around, snapping at people trying to get away and roaring. There were only three Heroes on the scene at that moment. It wasn't really clear what had started the fires, but that wasn't really important. What was important was saving the people. Izuku jumped off of the roof, landing in a lunge and getting up almost instantly to sprint at the monsters.

"Get out of here, Pointy!" one of the Heroes, a young woman, snapped.

Ignoring the fact that the random Hero had just called him 'Pointy', which was technically a slur against elves, Izuku called, "I go to UA! I'm going to be a Hero!"

"But you're not right now, so scram! You'll just be in the way!"

Izuku stared at her, but she had already turned her attention back to the Nomus. Which was probably fair. And she was probably right. Izuku wasn't a fully trained Hero. He'd just get in the way, like he always did. He should go back to the inn and-

And do what? Sit around, waiting for the blue-haired boy from the USJ and the Nomus and the rest of the villains to hurt people. No, Izuku definitely couldn't do that. Since the Nomus were here, it seemed obvious that Shigaraki was somewhere close by, or had been, at least. This seemed like a good distraction. Obviously the boy was trying to steal something while the Heroes were dealing with the Nomus. But what?

Izuku didn't waste any more time. He was running in a random direction, but all of his instincts were telling him to go that way. It seemed logical that the Sword or the previous Wielders or whatever were trying to guide him, right?

Apparently they were, but it definitely wasn't towards Shigaraki.

Tenya had been in Hosu for almost a week, and no sign of the Hero Killer. And he'd looked. Since the Heroes weren't doing anything to find him, the boy had had to go out every opportunity and look for the man, hoping that he'd find him. He still had no name, nothing to go off of besides for a vague theory. But still, it was less than the Heroes had, and they were doing nothing with it.

He couldn't believe it. The Heroes were worthless. They couldn't find the Hero Killer, they couldn't protect each other- worthless. Someone had to track down the person who'd nearly killed Tensei, and Tenya would be the one to do it.

The boy walked through the night, holding up the lantern in front of his face. Hosu was nearly pitch black at night, and the lack of sleep didn't help with his ability to see. Tenya hadn't slept for more than two hours a night for the past week, and it still was too much. He had to find the Hero Killer. Had to…

Something moved in the shadows of an alley. A hunched-over shape, kneeling over another shape. A voice, hissing something Tenya couldn't decipher.

"Hey!" Tenya shouted, running towards the two. "Hey! What's going on!"

The hunched over figure lifted up slightly, and Tenya gasped as he saw its face. It was wearing a thin red mask around its eyes, and it had an unnaturally long tongue and was brandishing two swords. The figure on the ground groaned. They were still alive.

"Hm…" the hunched-over figure growled, stalking closer. "Who are you?"

Tenya put on his helmet. He wore his armor every time he went out, but sometimes it seemed a little impractical to wear his helmet. Finally. The figure in front of him was the Hero Killer. Finally. He'd avenge Tensei, prove he was worthy of being in his family.

Finally.

"My name is Tenya Iida," he said, as loudly as he could. "You are Stain, the Hero Killer, and I have come to deliver-"

"A knight?"

"No. A Hero. You've done so many awful things, and it's time someone stopped-"

Stain groaned. "You disgust me. Another selfish coward I must eliminate, for the good of society."

"I'm not afraid of you!" Tenya drew his sword and ran at the figure, driven by pure anger. How dare the monster call him selfish and a coward, when all it did was kill and kill! It dodged him easily and the boy was barely able to deflect its own blade. He yelled in anger, swinging around again but this time he was slammed to the ground, and Stain's sword went through a chink in his armor before he could do anything. It hurt, but nothing he couldn't handle. Tenya forced himself to his feet, but it was too late.

Stain licked his blade, and suddenly Tenya couldn't move. He fell to the ground, barely able to breathe as Stain stepped closer. "Pitiful," the Hero Killer hissed, bending down and lifting up Tenya's head so he could see. "You say you're a Hero? You're just like the others. A weakling, easily defeated by me. Not a protector at all. And you chose to hurt me instead of saving your fellow, hm? You all disgust me. You're all so selfish, with no thought to anyone but yourself.

"But you're young. Pity. It's better to stamp them out early, before you grow up and become just as monstrous as the rest of them." It pointed its blade at Tenya's throat.

The boy gasped, feeling the blood run down his back. "I was trying to avenge my brother!"

"Revenge, avenge, same word. But Heroes avenge. Villains take revenge. They're the same. You, little Hero, are nothing but a stain. Nothing but a villain, pretending to care about others for power or glory. I apologize, but I must eliminate you."

After a second, Stain moved its arm closer to Tenya's neck. The boy took a deep breath. He couldn't move. He had no way to fight back. He was about to die.

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other Hero, lying on their side and seemingly as paralyzed as he was. Stain was right. Tenya should have saved him. Shouldn't have gotten so wrapped up in his anger to think that he could take on someone even the real Heroes couldn't fight. For a second, the boy thought about his family, about his friends. They wouldn't know what had happened to him, not until someone found his body.

I'm sorry…

Then the hilt of a familiar green sword slammed into Stain's head, knocking him away.

Lol yeah that was interesting. Sorry about the poor quality, but I did set up a conflict going further (Midoriya's inability to actually use the full power of the Sword) and actually foreshadow some stuff, so yay, I guess? Anyway, leave a review with constructive criticism, plot suggestions or questions, and/or words of encouragement! Later, potaters!