Chapter 15: The fight that (decides who you are)(ueTneTyrKhs)
Villains have invaded! How will events play with a wayward Master of Chaldea in the mix. More importantly, will he be able to do anything as exhausted as he is? Guess we'll have to find out.
Serious warning for some body horror around half way through the chapter. It's a little more than series typical violence so I figured I'd let you guys know up front.
Hope you guys enjoy the chapter! It changed several times at the half way point but it contains something I've been waiting on for a long time so I'm very excited to have it done. Nathan's half of the chapter title isn't looking too hot is it? Oh well I'm sure it's fine.
Kurogiri stopped Dabi, pulling him aside just before his group left to attack UA.
"Wait. You've got a message."
"Huh? The hell are you on about?" Dabi asked as he was handed an old style telephone.
"Hello. You're going by Dabi now, yes?" The deep voice on the other end called out.
"... What do you want?"
"I've got a special request for you. If you succeed I'll make it worth your while,"
"Don't be coy, don't have time for that shit."
"Fufu. Excellent. Of the students your group is about to go up against there is one I want eliminated before he can become a problem."
"Eh? Really? One of those brats has you spooked?"
"I wouldn't say that. Rather this is simply a prime opportunity to remove an obstacle early. I'm sure you have no objections to killing one boy."
"Just give me a name."
"Nathan Relnor."
He never imagined it would be this easy to pick off one particular student, but here this idiot was, running around on his own during a villain attack.
All he had to do was just burn him to death and that would be it.
Of course nothing was ever quite that simple.
Nathan Relnor rolled just after impact and lashed out, an arc of electricity hitting the tree behind Dabi.
He only barely managed to move out of the way before the tree exploded.
He clicked his tongue. So not only did he have to worry about this kid's attacks but he had to be careful where he dodged to.
Nathan himself darted behind a tree, panting heavily as he patted down the parts of his clothes that were still burning.
"Shit. This is bad isn't it." Nathan said with a small chuckle.
He didn't have any projectiles he could use for his railgun so he'd have to rely on his arc cutter.
Not to mention his reactions were sluggish. At peak form he probably could have predicted the burst of flames and been moving fast enough to avoid it entirely. But…
Blue fire rushed past the tree, quickly starting to burn it away.
From the direction the fire was rushing he could tell where the villain was probably standing.
Time was not on his side as he aimed his arc cutter and extended it straight through his cover.
Pushing himself to his limit his blade could extend around three meters before losing any lethality. If he was willing to sacrifice power he could extend it even further. It wouldn't be much of a blade by the time it reached its target but it would be enough to make him stop attacking if he hit him.
Dabi only saw the counter attack as it emerged from his flames leaving him with little opportunity to dodge.
Fortunately for him Nathan had angled the blade a little too far up for the distance he was covering, causing it to only barely burn his shoulder as it struck him.
Ditching his current cover, Nathan darted out into the open, looking for somewhere else to hide while keeping his eye locked on Dabi.
"There you are, you slippery bastard!" He roared, "Come on, make this a little more interesting for me!" Blue fire lashed out at the same time as a wave of electricity, staggering Dabi while burning Nathan just before he managed to get behind another tree.
Nathan's damage wasn't severe yet but he knew if he got hit directly by that villain's quirk he'd be in danger.
If his scales were burned badly enough the damage to their structure would cause them to fail and in this instance that would be the end. He had nothing to fight back on beyond his quirk.
When he planted himself against another tree he heard a soft metal clank.
He looked to his left hand and saw it. The Silver Key was once again in his hands.
Was it really that bad already?
Using it could very easily bring the fight to a close but… There was no telling exactly what kind of help would come if he turned the key. It was more appealing than using a command seal but only barely.
He tossed it out, only for a wave of fire to envelop it.
At least it had helped him tell if his opponent was active…
"Enough of this cat and mouse shit kid, time to die."
Dabi's voice was much too close, at that distance he could probably just reach around Nathan's cover to roast him alive. The tree he'd picked to hide behind was a bit too dense for him to forcibly detonate without risking burning out his right arm entirely so he chanced another dive roll out of Dabi's range.
If he'd reacted any later he would have been completely consumed.
Dabi's next attack had been merciless.
If he had any energy to spare Nathan would have indignantly asked exactly what he did to earn this kind of treatment.
Righting himself he lashed out, firing a bolt of electricity at his aggressor only for him to duck behind the same tree Nathan had been using for cover a moment before.
"You're a squirly one at least. I'll give you that. And you're too dangerous to take on face to face. I can see how you're a problem someone wants out of their hair so to speak."
While he was speaking Nathan charged the tree, reactivating his arc cutter and thrusting it forward.
If he drew this out there was a very real chance he would become too exhausted to defeat this villain.
Caution went out the window in favor of bringing a decisive victory before he himself could be defeated.
"You think I don't remember you can do that!?" Dabi shouted quickly rounding the tree just as Nathan attacked and blasting him with a gigantic ball of fire.
He could just about hear his Servants calling him out for his poor decision making as he reinforced his leg in order to launch himself away from the attack before he could take much damage.
A sickening pop sounded as he exploded forward with a bit more force than intended.
When Nathan landed he realized what the problem was.
He was not a spectacularly talented mage. While he could use reinforcement without a mystic code supporting him, the mystic codes he did use protected him from over reinforcing anything.
Without them it was up to him to control exactly how much power he was using, and in his hurry to get away…
He wasn't sure exactly what part of his left leg he'd damaged but it sure as hell hurt to put weight on it now.
"Great-" Nathan ground out as he sent a massive arc of electricity at his opponent to pin him down while he sorted himself out.
"God you're annoying! Twice!"
Nathan didn't have time to process what Dabi was saying, another fireball engulfed him from his right despite the fact that he had Dabi firmly trapped behind a tree at least 8 meters away.
Flames clung to him as he failed to dodge out of the way quickly enough, opting to drop to the ground and roll until he was no longer on fire.
His back struck a tree as he desperately rolled away. Hoping he had the distance he needed, he chanced a glance out.
When had two more opponents entered the battlefield?
One of them was an exact copy of the one he'd been fighting and the third was a man in a black bodysuit.
"Shit," Nathan groaned out as he pulled himself up the tree he'd run into.
He felt the silver key in his left hand and promptly let it slide right out of it.
This fight was turning out to be a lot more difficult than he'd bargained for but he still didn't need help from beyond the gate. He just needed one good play… All he needed to do to turn this in his favor was to actually land a few attacks. If he could just get it back to one on one then-
"The one I sent out earlier already bit it so I figured I'd make another one since you seemed to be having trouble."
Ah, so the other fire villain was a copy.
"We'll take care of this kid then we need to keep the pros pinned down…"
"Right."
Nathan shook his head. His right arm had been burned rather badly so there was a good chance some of its scales were no longer viable.
Stabilizing himself he lashed out with a large burst of electricity from his leg, forcing his opponents to take cover. Thankfully one of the fire bastards jumped near a tree small enough for him to blow up.
With a mighty thrust of his right arm a bolt of electricity close to the power of lightning flew out, blowing that tree to smithereens and filling the villain hiding near it with wooden shrapnel.
With one down he focused on the other two just in time to duck and roll under another large blast of fire.
"How much fight do you have left in you!?" The bodysuited villain called out as Nathan charged towards the tree the other fire villain was hiding behind. His arm crackling as he unleashed a bolt of electricity. Would he jump out from the right or the left? He knew the moment he came out of cover he would be engulfed in flames so he had to strike him with a substantial amount of electricity before he could do that.
It was a gamble but-
"I'll see you in hell kid," Dabi said as he jumped out of cover ready to unleash a wave of flames.
He ran directly into that stream of electricity.
Nathan had guessed right.
Dabi's body seized up, stopping him from being able to burn Nathan to death.
A twig snapped as the other Dabi moved.
He recovered remarkably fast from being filled with large splinters. Much faster than Nathan assumed he would.
Nathan needed a split second too long to build up enough power to stun him out of his next attack so he opted to evade. But the moment he planted his leg his muscles screamed out in agony causing him to flinch in place for an instant.
"I'm done with you!"
That instant was all Dabi needed to close the distance between them.
A point blank blast struck Nathan's left shoulder with a flash bright enough to blind him.
He could smell burning flesh as he was knocked back from the force of it. When he went to roll in an attempt to put himself out he found his left arm was having trouble responding correctly.
Something was wrong, something was wrong and he was on fire.
He ran into another tree almost immediately.
It was probably the tree that other Dabi had been forced from.
Nathan screamed as he activated every scale on his body, sending electricity out in every direction in a desperate effort to stun anyone that was too close to him.
He heard a dull thud sound and opted to try and get back upright. He needed to be able to dive out of the way of the next attack-
But what would that accomplish?
The familiar weight of the Silver Key was in his hand again.
He needed to survive.
To survive he needed to win this fight.
Command Seals were extremely powerful and one of them could bring someone who would shred these villains in the blink of an eye.
In a normal Holy Grail War you only received three and you never got them back once you spent them.
The Chaldea System was different however, if he spent one another would replace it within 24 hours.
At the cost of consuming one of his memories.
A powerful spell needed powerful resources to produce.
But he could not stomach losing another memory of his early days at Chaldea.
What if he forgot about holding Mash's hand in that fire?
That was a precious memory he would not relinquish no matter what.
So.
He would take another path.
Slowly.
He raised his left hand, pulling it up with his right.
He opened his eye to stare at those villains that had pushed him so far.
And
So
ThE
Key
TurnEd
And
The
WorlD
ScreAmEd.
"What… Is that!?" Kota muttered
Midoriya stopped in his tracks. He'd only barely managed to defeat the villain Muscular and was in the middle of taking Kota back to camp.
But-
He could hear the sky groaning.
It distorted and trembled as something unknowable pressed against it from "outside."
The entire world was quaking under the strain of some enormous pressure.
It felt like some fundamental building block of the universe had been knocked loose.
He hardened his resolve and started running again.
And.
Upon seeing Aizawa he thought to himself that he'd finally caught a break tonight.
"Big sis Magne!? Wh-Who did we bring with us that could do this?" Spinner shouted as he stumbled back.
A shiver ran through the world, shifting color itself five seconds to the left.
Everything felt off in a way that gnawed at the corners of the mind.
It was like they were on a tv and someone was slapping the side in order to get a better picture causing everything to suddenly jump from one extreme to another.
"Mandalay? What's going on?" Tiger called out.
"I don't-"
Her quirk was picking up a loud static coming from the direction of the fire, but that wasn't right.
She did not have her quirk active at the moment so she should not be able to receive a direct message like this.
But even then. Was she the only recipient? Everyone seemed to be struggling under the strain of that awful noise.
"You! You're doing this aren't you!? Think it'll slow us down?" Spinner roared, charging her with his ridiculous weapon while Magne kept Tiger at bay.
Only for a flash of green to crash through his weapon before he could fully swing it, shattering it to pieces.
"Mandalay! Kota is safe!" Midoriya screamed as he crashed into the ground, his landing less than graceful due to the state of his arms. "I've got a message from Aizawa-sensei! Tell everyone in Class A and B with your telepathy that Pro Hero Eraser says it's ok to fight back!"
She winced. Was that really the best call in this situation?
The world itself seemed to be coming apart at the seams all around them.
It was hard to say what was truly going on.
But they were up against the edge.
She relayed the message.
"Alright! Please! Go get treated for your injuries-"
"I can't there's one more thing too! One of the villain's targets is Kacchan! Please tell everyone!"
He was already running off before she could protest further.
"Yeah! We really should kill this kid!" Magne called out as she pushed away from Tiger and tried to pull herself towards Midoriya. But something went wrong with her Quirk. She didn't get quite the distance she was expecting based on the amount of stress she was putting on herself. It was almost like someone was tampering with the intensity of her quirk directly.
Spinner tossed a knife to block her path but it sailed far past her instead of the near miss he'd been expecting.
He was about to say something but a deafening noise interrupted him.
A cascade of colors spread across the sky.
It sounded like rusted gears from a machine that hadn't been active for centuries were roaring to life.
The air took on an alien hue.
Each moment felt disjointed from the last, crashing into each other instead of following naturally.
No one in their roster could cause something like this to happen… So…
What kind of monsters were these kids?
Alarms of every kind blared through the halls of Chaldea.
"What the hell is going on!?" Mandricardo shouted as he and a few other Riders burst into the command room.
"A False God has begun manifesting. We're trying to pinpoint it now but-"
"It's him."
All eyes turned to Abigail Williams as she walked in behind Mandricardio's group.
"Sut Typhon answered Nathan's call. He just wants to help but-"
"He called what?"
"Abigail." Sherlock spoke in a manner that barely hid the level of panic running through him, "Can a human successfully contain Sut Typhon if it has started manifesting through them?"
"Um. I don't… Know. Maybe if it's Master…"
"We don't have time to find out!" Moriarty screamed over the intercoms, "Everyone prepare to deploy. This is no longer a simple training mission. Our Master is in danger and we will defend him."
But.
Could they?
"Space has begun to distort. It's like Salem all over again. Getting close is going to be tricky without the ability to Ray Shift." Tesla said from his place at the observation platform.
"Che-"
The fires enveloping Nathan Relnor went out without any fanfare.
He straightened up with an unsettling crack that sent ripples through the forest.
Dabi watched, momentarily stunned as that silver key melted, flowing up into his left hand instead of dripping to the ground.
What was going to happen?
His mind screamed at him to move and burn this kid to ashes before the effects of that key could resolve but he found himself completely incapable of moving.
It was like he was struggling from inside a block of ice. His body was heavily constrained by something flowing all around him.
The flesh around Nathan's destroyed left shoulder began to bubble and pulse as something emerged from the grievous wound.
He struggled to put words to what he was seeing.
Slick black tendrils wove together, growing into a new shoulder before traveling further, extending down Nathan's arm and across his chest.
And then it opened its eyes.
They didn't seem to be directly connected to that strange flesh filling Nathan's wounds.
But they were all undoubtedly staring at him.
It was going to fight.
He did not understand how he knew this.
Those eyes were undoubtedly not human and as such were conveying emotions he did not understand.
But he could tell that his life was in grave danger.
So Dabi resolved to take action first.
He thrust his hands forward and activated his quirk, moving to finish the job he'd started.
But no fire came.
He looked down at his hands just in time to see rows of teeth erupt from his arms. Unbelievable pain rushed through him as his arms spiraled apart, forming into a large maw that proceeded to snap shut around his neck.
He felt his muscles snap and tear.
He felt his vertebrae crack and splinter.
He felt the impact of the ground as his head tumbled off his body.
He could feel the teeth running through his veins.
He could feel his organs devouring each other before ripping free as their own creatures.
He watched his body as it bubbled and split apart, a writhing mass of flesh, swelling and popping again and again.
But.
As he watched he began to wonder.
Why am I not dead?
He was a severed head on the ground and his body was a pile of sludge racing to devour itself.
And yet his consciousness would not fade. He could still feel every nerve ending as it was torn asunder and regrown anew. Agony upon agony flooded through him with no end in sight.
He tried to close his eyes to obtain some form of escape but even they refused to move for him.
A harsh static invaded him.
An alien tone sounding from the edges of creation rushed forth to claim him.
His vision faded to white.
And then he found himself standing before Nathan.
His head was still attached.
His body was not a quivering pile of teeth and flesh.
He was trembling.
The vivid memories of what had just happened rattled around in his brain as he tried to figure out what was going on. Was that an illusion? A hypnosis quirk? But. But he'd never heard of one that felt so real. He'd never heard of anything that could hurt that badly and not be real.
"Do you wish to know?"
Slowly.
Dabi looked towards that boy.
That voice was not his.
Nathan himself seemed to be struggling as that darkened flesh spread and retracted over his arm, as if he was trying to physically restrain whatever force was invading him.
"Stop. I don't have to kill them! I just want to live!" Nathan screamed desperately.
Space distorted around him.
Colors danced forth, shocking pink and emerald scattering across the ground as streaks of brilliant blue and gold flew through the air.
This was too much to be explained by a quirk.
There was something else going wrong here.
But his mind continually came up empty as he looked at that ever changing dark mass on Nathan's shoulder.
He tried to burn it again rather than deal with the fact that it existed.
His vision blurred as something caught his arms.
They were gone before he could see what was happening.
He toppled over as most of his torso had been ripped out as well.
His life drained from that enormous gaping wound.
He felt his sense of time leave him as he reached the end.
But that was the only sense that left.
The bugs crawling on him, his body swelling and decomposing. His eyes were the first to go, but somehow that did not stop him from seeing. From watching the weeks-long process of his body decomposing until there was nothing left but a skeleton.
His awareness spread out so far, he could feel himself in bacteria, every insect, and every animal that had taken a part of him as food.
His consciousness was stretched to the breaking point and beyond as they lived and died, becoming an ever expanding web as they too became a source of nourishment for the bottom of the food chain.
He could not move, he could not breath, but he could still feel, he could still smell, he could still taste.
Eternity spread out before him as he cycled through the wildlife around him, his consciousness continued to expand.
And then he was back.
Standing in that same spot, in that same forest. His arms were still attached, and his target stood in front of him, still distinctly not murdered.
He glanced at Twice and tried to speak but the only thing that came out of his mouth was a strained grunt.
He could still taste the dirt and the bugs that had been inhabiting his skull moments before.
"Dabi? What's wrong!?"
"Do you wish to know?"
That voice was not human.
There was no way to describe it.
It had come from that boy but it was equally loud from all directions.
It was descending upon them from above.
"Aaaaah! I'm taking him out if you're just going to stand there!" Twice called out, pulling a knife and taking a single step forward.
He shoved his own knife into his heart, twisting and ripping it from himself.
Dabi heard the sickening gurgle as blood spilled into his cohort's lungs.
He heard the soft thud as he collapsed, dead on the ground.
Why?
Why had Twice been allowed to die so peacefully?
"Because he will leave first."
"What?"
The word managed to claw its way out of his mouth, through all of the dirt and the dust still filling it.
"Please stop…"
A terrible groaning sound echoed from all around them.
Nathan was crying as he pleaded with that strange creature invading his body.
Dabi took a step back.
An odd crack reached his ears as he put weight on his leg.
He only caught a glimpse of it as it shattered and crumbled into a red mist.
Without that leg to hold him up he fell.
He fell and was dashed against the ground, shattered into a million shards as easily as glass. Each shard fell through the ground, passing through the soil as if it wasn't even there.
And it might as well have not been.
As those pieces tumbled he experienced existence in its entirety. Every atom of the universe folding into his being and expanding away from it.
And yet still he fell.
He fell out of that world of the familiar and into the beyond.
Concepts like space and time became living things and attacked his mind.
He was being invaded by forces that did not have names but were no less real.
It was like he was a spread of crumbs thrown over a lake full of hungry fish.
Those unknowable things devoured him piece by piece and transformed them into something else.
And then he opened his eyes.
He stumbled back somewhat but his body did not crumble.
The fact that he had a body again was noteworthy.
He looked ahead and saw Nathan Relnor continuing to struggle with that creature growing out of his arm.
It was only now that he realized it.
He had only seen that creature burst out of his target once.
Every time he came back it had either spread or receded.
Was time not being rewound or was there something more precise happening to him specifically.
"Wh-What's going on- I- Didn't I just-"
At least Twice was alive again.
What was the right move here?
Fighting was not working.
He'd managed to take that step back so maybe running was an option.
But was it?
The forest seemed to twist and distort the further away it got from him. He could swear there were trees hanging upside down in mid air off in the distance but it was possible that alien hue was playing tricks on him.
"Please just let them live! If they don't want to fight, let them leave!" Nathan screamed as he doubled over, the forest floor bulging and retracting wildly around him.
"They will not stop just because they have been spared. They have fought you again. We will show you."
Nathan opened his mouth to scream but something else came out.
It was not a noise a human body should be capable of making.
"Someone has to leave first. This is a very old story. There are no other versions of this story."
"Twice! Make a Shigaraki- We need to-"
A wet explosion sounded as the ground cracked open and black viscous fluid began to gush out and rush towards them.
It was too late again.
He was dreaming on his feet.
That wasn't quite it but there was little distinction between dream and reality at this point.
While Dabi and Twice fought and died in the waking world, Nathan tried to push back in the dreaming world.
He felt like he was trying to stop a broken fire hydrant with his bare hands.
That alien presence was flooding into his mind, making it difficult to even tell where he began and ended.
But, as long as he was aware of himself he could fight back.
He would survive.
He got the feeling a position like this was impossible for a normal human to attain, but hadn't he been told over and over that he'd left what it meant to be a normal human behind?
He could feel the protection of countless items given as gifts by worried servants straining against the pressure that outer god was exerting on his mind.
If he could just get it to slow down…
It didn't even need to leave. He had called it after all and it was trying to help him in his own way.
"Please! Don't! H-How can we be proper friends if you just rush in and drown me like this? You wanted to save me right!? So please-"
His screams were not physical ones.
His tattered soul shook as he tried to hammer out the divide between himself and Sut-Typhon.
But it did not break.
He would survive.
That was all that mattered.
Midoriya charged ahead. Something was going horribly wrong and he had a sinking feeling that there wasn't a villain behind this.
Why did he let Nathan Relnor go off on his own!?
He had no idea where he was now and the whole world seemed to be coming undone around him.
Not to mention.
His Full Cowling fluctuated no matter how hard he was concentrating on it, oscillating between 3% and 8% while he was trying to keep it at a steady 5%.
That uneasy feeling clawed at him no matter where he looked. Every time he blinked something had changed or warped in a way he couldn't even think to describe.
He could swear he heard a gunshot somewhere off in the distance but there was no way to tell with the world so off balance.
A loud crashing noise brought his attention to a mass of darkness rushing towards him.
Full Cowling suddenly dropped in intensity, giving his injured body nowhere near enough power to evade the merciless blow.
But he did not need to make such a move alone.
He felt something wrap around him, just barely pulling him out of the way of the attack.
"You shouldn't be running around in that condition…"
"Shoji!?"
That large stoic classmate was bleeding from a severed limb, and he looked like he'd gone a few rounds with a bear.
"Was that-"
"Yup. We got caught in a sneak attack. I took the hit but he activated his Quirk in self defense."
Midoriya recalled a distant conversation he'd had with Tokoyami about how his quirk was more powerful and more difficult to control at night.
A horrifying guttural roar tore through the forest, causing the very air around them to quake.
It looked as though Tokoyami was being completely consumed by Dark Shadow.
Shoji quickly dodged another attack, darting out of line of sight as best he could.
"W-What happened!?"
"Try to keep your voice down." Shoji said as the forest rumbled quietly. His steps were careful, as though he was afraid the ground would give way beneath his feet. "When we heard Mandalay's warning we went on high alert. I heard something in the distance but before we knew it we were under attack by a villain using high speed blades. I lost an arm covering Tokoyami but we managed to get away once… Well all of that started happening."
He pointed up to the sky as it shimmered unnaturally.
"Haven't been feeling super great since. It's like something's bubbling up inside me but I can't seem to get a good grasp on what or why. With all of that going on Tokoyami just got pushed over the edge and lost control…"
"Y-Your wound. You should get that treated as soon as-"
"Midoriya-kun, you are the absolute last one to say anything to me. Besides, it's fine, it was a duplicated arm I lost so it won't cause any long term problems."
They evaded another attack as Dark Shadow locked onto their conversation.
"He's reacting to sound and movement and attacking indiscriminately. We've really got our hands full. Not to mention…"
It did not need to be said aloud.
Dark Shadow's speed and power currently could not be quantified due to the overall distortion that had taken over the forest.
Shoji was clearly having a difficult time keeping ahead of Tokoyami with the added random element.
"Don't- Don't worry about me! Find the others! Save them!" Tokoyami ground out as he desperately tried to regain control of his quirk.
In order to calm Dark Shadow they needed a source of light or a fire.
They had a choice.
Lure Tokoyami to the well lit base camp to bring a stop to Dark Shadow, or continue going after Bakugo.
But were those really the only two options on the table?
Would All Might or Nathan Relnor settle for something that simple?
No.
If presented with the option to save one or the other, Midoriya would simply save both.
"Shoji. I have a plan!"
He wasn't getting any closer to wrangling the invading force known as Sut Typhon.
Had Abigail struggled this hard back in Salem?
He needed to get her a million more pancakes if this was what she was dealing with at the time.
"What convinced you to stop back then!? Didn't you listen to the earnest desire of one girl and decide to contain yourself!?"
"You have yet to provide us with an earnest desire."
"What?"
That voice manifested in front of him as a darkened reflection of himself.
"You have yet to provide us with an earnest desire."
"I heard you! But! Yes I have!? I don't want to die! And I don't want to lose myself to you!"
"We have heard those demands. You will do neither. We will preserve you here."
Oh that was familiar.
"We merely wish to protect you."
"You can do that while still letting me be human!"
"What is it you desire?"
"To live!"
"What will you do with that life?"
"I have no idea! I just want to live it!"
"Do you want to be a hero?"
"Yes!"
Sut Typhon did not respond.
It merely tilted its head as the invading force pushed him back.
"Do you want to be a hero?"
"YES I DO!"
"Do you want to continue hurting like this?"
"Wh- No! Who would want that! I just want to help as many people as I can-"
"Is this really the only way to go about that objective?"
"I-"
"Do you want to be a hero or do you want to make other people smile?"
It was Nathan's turn to pause, but for some reason the pressure on him was lessening. Maybe he was finally starting to make some headway.
"Why can't I do both?"
"Why do you have to do both?"
Nathan thought about it for a moment. He did want to be a hero didn't he? That was the best way to use the skills he currently had in order to make the people around him safe and happy.
"Is it?"
What did that mean? What other paths were there?
Besides he'd come this far now, he was already at the end of his first term at UA.
"Is this the path you have chosen because of your own will or is it the only path your sunk costs have not blocked off?"
Nathan chewed on those words for a moment before a question of why came to mind. Why was Sut Typhon so focused on if he wanted to be a hero or not?
"I- I don't know. But I should get to make mistakes! I shouldn't always have to pick the right path that will lead me to my ultimate happiness right away! If I didn't make mistakes I wouldn't be a human being anymore!"
"An earnest desire… We are heartened by that. Then this is fine. You can make the mistake of letting them live. And you can make the mistake of continuing down this path for as long as you like."
"Letting them live is not a mistake! J-Just because someone does terrible things does not mean they can't be saved. What led them here? Why do they feel like this is their only option!? Until I know those things I can't pass judgment on them as evil!"
Nathan wasn't entirely sure the path he was walking down was the correct one. But he was tired of being forced to take lives to survive. He would go to whatever length he could to avoid walking any further down that path.
"... Do you wish to know?"
"Of course!"
He could feel the pressure slipping away. Like a great dam had finally stopped the endless flood of that infinite being.
"Very well. We will bring them here."
"... What?"
How many times had it been?
How many times had the two of them been crushed and torn apart by the world itself.
Were they even really in a forest anymore?
The sky had vanished from sight, the canopy above them fusing together into a solid mass.
Nathan Relnor clawed at his unresponsive left arm as he struggled with the abomination manifesting within him.
But.
Was he winning?
What would it mean if he did win?
Dabi couldn't do anything about it one way or another.
There was simply no defeating the monster in front of them now.
Even if Twice could make as many replicas as he could there was no approaching that boy.
"Dabi what do we do? What do we do!?"
Dabi desperately wished his companion would stop freaking the hell out but he couldn't blame him.
This was an unreasonable situation beyond all comparison.
The world twisted around them sealing any hope of escape.
And then they both fell.
Dabi counted his blessings that they were both whole and alive, but there was no way that was going to be the case for long.
The forest left them behind as they fell between the between, shards of crystal passing them by before they touched down on an unbelievably soft surface.
No.
There was nothing there.
But that empty void was solid, and so they worked their way to their feet.
"Uh… Dabi… Why is there a kotatsu out here?"
"What are you on about n-"
Dabi focused his eyes ahead, finding Nathan Relnor sitting under a kotatsu in the infinite expanse of nothingness.
"I am just as confused as you are to be perfectly honest," Nathan said with an unsure look on his face.
"What the hell is going on with you!? You've been killing us for hours and now you want to sit!?" Twice shouted, pulling his knife immediately.
"Er… Yeah? I think I've finally gotten to an understanding with that invader so now we can do this the easier way. Unless you want to go back to that?"
Twice was under the Kotatsu in a matter of seconds, humming happily as he swayed back and forth.
Dabi was a lot more hesitant.
This was not how it usually went so he was still waiting for the part where he would get pulled apart atom by atom and scattered across the cosmos.
"So that thing you did with the key, what the hell was that? Isn't your quirk an electricity thing?"
"It is. But you guys were kind of killing me so I jumped to a last resort… I didn't think it would go this badly but I just. I just wanted to live, you know? I really am sorry. This whole evening has been completely out of control from the moment I met you."
Twice nodded sagely.
"Yeah I get that. Sorry about the whole trying to kill you thing too I guess?"
"Don't apologize to him!" Dabi retorted as he approached the kotatsu, "Why shouldn't I burn you to ashes where you're sitting?"
"... Where are you right now?"
Dabi opened his mouth and then stopped.
The infinite sea of nothingness extended further than his eyes could see.
"So that's it huh? If I kill you there's no going back?"
"You have your own goals and I have mine and all of them require getting back don't they? I'm not sure where we are right now but I do know this thing that lives on my shoulder now is the only way any of us are going to make it back."
"What's to say you won't just leave us here to rot no matter how this goes?"
"Nothing but my word."
"And that's completely fucking worthless to me. So again why shouldn't I burn you?"
"Because I don't want to die and I don't want to kill you. I think we can all get out of this without any more burning, you or me…"
Dabi's eyes narrowed.
"What?" Twice muttered, looking at Dabi somewhat surprised.
"That body of yours. How many senses do you even have left? You don't shrug off being filled with that many splinters if your sense of pain is still functioning. You've been burning yourself away. I just want to know why."
"And if you don't like the answer?"
"You tried to murder me for it so I'm willing to bet no matter what comes out of your mouth my response is going to be 'fuck you' but I didn't get to where I am by dismissing people just because they tried to kill me."
Something about that didn't hit right with Dabi but he found himself sitting down regardless.
"Well you're not getting anything. This fire of mine burns for one purpose and I'll destroy everything I need to in order to fulfill it. Even if it includes myself."
Nathan let out a low hum as he leaned back, allowing for Twice to react in his stead.
"What the hell dude!? What's the point in that?"
And then he immediately pivoted.
"Yeah! Burn bright and hot! Wipe out anything that stands in your way!"
Nathan regarded him for a moment.
"Are you ok?"
"Huh? What's it to you punk? I'm perfectly fine!"
"That's why you're with the league in a full body suit."
"No, that's because I don't have anywhere else that would take me in! These guys accept me so I'm willin to go to the edge of the earth for them!"
Dabi looked away, unable to take the level of twisted sensarity.
Twice lost confidence in his words nearly immediately.
"I just want some place I can be, you know? People who don't care if I'm real or a clone. Is it a crime to want to be happy and to do whatever it takes to achieve that!?"
"No. I understand completely."
"Y-you do? But- You're a little hero brat aren't you?"
"Do you think it's silly to follow a dream of being a hero even if you're only alive today because you stand atop a pile of bodies?"
Dabi's thought process jammed up upon hearing those words.
"It was a fight for survival. I'm sure you're both painfully aware that there's no pride to be found there. In a fight like that you can't wash away tragedies or dishonor with the end result. My only saving grace is that those fights happened on the other side of the world. The side where an endless sea of stars can support the weight of three people sitting at a kotatsu. The side that produced a key capable of bringing forth an abomination from beyond the universe."
He'd thought it was odd.
Their fight earlier hadn't been a fight with an inexperienced student trying to save people.
It was a fight between two desperate parties trying to reach their goals by any means necessary.
That was why it had been so difficult to burn one kid to ashes…
"Do those heroes understand you?" Twice ventured.
"I hope not. The kinds of things I've seen. The kinds of things I've done. Nobody needs to understand it."
"But do they understand the pain that brings you?"
"..."
They sat in silence for a little bit.
"Do they even see that you're in pain at all?"
"I think so. My close friends have offered their hands to me but I can't just. It's not something I can share. I will carry it with me and hold it close for it pushes me to be better. To help build a world where no one has to suffer like I have."
"And what the hell have you suffered through exactly?" Dabi asked bitterly.
"I was born in a fire."
Dabi let out a strangled choking noise.
The sea of stars around them distorted somewhat.
"I was destroyed utterly and completely only to be saved and rebuilt into a weapon capable of saving the world."
Familiar words and familiar feelings tore through Dabi's heart.
"It's only now that my work is done that I'm having to come to terms with that. I fought tooth and nail to survive no matter what it took, to see this world back to the way it was, and now that I'm here what am I supposed to do?"
Dabi tried to crawl away but found himself stuck in place.
But there was no power holding him there.
"Those scenes are burned into my memories forever, and the blood I've steeped in will never wash off. I can't be who I was but I want to live all the same. Is it selfish? Sure. Is it much of a desire? Not really. But it's enough for me."
Twice let out an ugly sob as he rushed to hug Nathan.
"Y-you're out here doin your best! NOBODY CAN TAKE THAT AWAY FROM YOU LITTLE DUDE!"
Nathan let out a strangled yelp at the unexpected closeness before Twice realized what he was doing and backed away.
"You deserve it too! A place where you can be happy! That's what I'm fighting for! That's what you're fighting for! Why can't anyone see that we all want the same thing?"
Twice shifted slightly before taking on another aspect of himself.
"But the world threw us away! For no reason! And then- And then- I just want to be happy!"
Nathan held out his left hand to the villain blubbering before him.
They shook, Twice sobbing incoherently.
"Twice, if you run into trouble and need help I can vouch for you. I can't say I know what it's like to have your particular dilemma but I do know what it's like to completely lose sight of who you are."
"Yeah well that's great and all but I don't give a shit about any of that," Dabi said, finally recovering from whatever was worming its way into his heart earlier.
"You- what?" Twice muttered, "Then why are you here man!?"
"I only want revenge against this world that tossed me aside and made me what I am. That's why my fires burn. I will destroy this whole system that allowed someone like me to exist!"
"Will that stop what happened to you or will you just open up new avenues for further cruelty?"
"Don't care. I've got a very specific target in mind and I'm not stopping until everything he's built is in ashes at my feet."
"Then what?"
"I'll be free to finally die."
"Blaze of glory! Blaze of glory!" Twice called out.
"... Is that even life if you're only fighting to die?"
"I died a long time ago, and then Dabi rose to take my place. Now here we are."
"And nothing can get you to change your mind?"
"No. Good or evil, living or dying, I don't care about any of it. I've gathered everything I am to burn bright and let the whole world know the blight it created."
"... I just don't want you to die for it. Making the world better… Isn't it sad that you won't get to see it once it's happened?"
"I- What?"
"This world isn't a perfect utopia, I've seen plenty of them to know that. Humans are never going to stop making mistakes, so systems built by humans will always have flaws. But what you're saying is… You want to bring attention to that flaw so it can be corrected… And you're willing to spend your life force to do it? But what if it doesn't work the way you want and you're too dead to be able to say one way or another? Your corpse will just become a puppet for someone else's ambitions if you don't see that kind of thing through."
Dabi bristled at the thought.
Getting used even after death?
Wasn't that what he was already doing?
But then why did that thought sting so much?
"The way I see it now…"
Dabi desperately wanted that brat to stop talking.
"If you die in order to get revenge against that one person and bring attention to the flaw in the system while doing it…"
"Stop-"
"Even if they die, as long as they do it opposing you they'll be vindicated as dying to solve the problem they caused."
"SHUT UP!"
That got him to his feet.
But he could not push back against that idea now that had been given form through Nathan's words.
If… If everything he did… Became a footnote in someone else's story... If everything he did only served to push that person up… What was he doing?
Nathan stood up too, brushing himself off before offering to help Twice up.
"I think you're right to be angry at a system that hurt you so badly but I think you should look at what you're creating with your actions and make absolutely sure that you're not just playing right into someone else's hands,"
Dabi just took a shaky step back from the kotatsu.
"I think we should get going. Twice. Dabi. I'm glad we got to talk even for a little bit. If you ever need help or anything, reach out to Chaldea. We'll be happy to support you no matter what."
With that Nathan smiled at them.
It was a smile so full of love that it was almost blinding.
"S-So we're going back? To the forest?"
"I hope so? I'm not entirely sure what's going to happen next. After all, I don't think I've finished dealing with that intruder. But I think I can reach an understanding with it."
"Heh. That seems to be what you're good at, understanding others," Twice said with a sudden tired calmness that seemed unusual from him, "You too you know. If you can't find a place where you are… You should come visit us! We're all just a bunch of rejects with nowhere else to go too!"
"I'll keep that in mind Twice,"
"Call me Jin. Jin Bubaigawara."
"Very well. Shall we?"
"Do we need to hold hands or what-"
Nathan just offered him a small chuckle before clapping his hands together.
"..."
Nathan looked at that great mass pressing down on his consciousness.
"Thank you."
It shifted and retracted. There was an uneasy divide between the two of them but staring into those eyes still felt a little too much like he was also seeing through them.
"We are tangled with you. We will need to work. For now your container is badly damaged from the fire. We only managed to repair your shoulder because we replaced it. We can pause the effects of your injuries but we cannot undo them. We are too small. Only a sample of our might made it through the gate you opened…"
Only a sample caused all of that? Well when it tried to manifest in Abigail it caused a full on Singularity so that made sense somewhat.
"You're still influencing the outside world right? Is there any way you can reign that in?"
"We are trying. We do not know what it means to be singular. It is a concept that is alien to us…"
"I see. Do you want some help?"
"... Our divide will be damaged. You will be Us and We will be you. But that is the nature of the One and All and the All in One. We are the key, the gate, and the guardian."
"We can sort it out I'm sure. I just don't want anyone to get hurt because of a mistake I made."
"... If that is what you wish."
That vast presence shifted and swirled.
And Nathan opened his arms for it.
Dabi was the first one to his feet.
He looked around and it was almost like the last eternity of his life had never happened.
Well. No, not quite. There was still a strong alien presence in the air, but it seemed to be somewhat lesser than before.
Twice came to a moment later.
"What… We're back?" He said as he straightened up.
"Looks like…"
They both exchanged a look before glancing around.
"Oh there he is," Twice said as he approached Nathan's unconscious body.
Dabi watched as Twice hoisted him up onto his back.
"What are you doing?"
"We can't just leave him in the middle of the forest! We hurt him really bad! He might die!"
"Did you forget how many times he killed us?"
"Was any of that even real?" Twice asked.
"..."
It certainly felt real.
It felt like they'd been there for so long just fighting and dying and talking. The dissonance was enough to make it difficult to tell how much time had actually passed.
"But I can't just leave him here… Not after he said all that… Hey! Maybe we should just bring him back to the League! We are here to capture a few people right?"
"I have very explicit orders to burn him to ashes."
They stood in silence for a moment.
"Y-You're not going to right? At least not while I'm holding him right!?"
Dabi looked at his hands.
'I think you should look at what you're creating with your actions and make absolutely sure that you're not just playing right into someone else's hands'
Those words rattled around in his head. He hadn't cared an ounce about being used up to the point of death before. Not as long as he got his revenge.
But…
What if that revenge only pushed the one he despised more than anything further?
"Let's go."
"L-Let's go? Ok! Wh-Where?"
Their communication devices blared to life in the next moment.
"Short though it was, our mission has come to an end! As planned, be at the evacuation point within five minutes of this transmission!"
They both paused.
"Short? We've been fighting here for hours haven't we? But damn he's right that was quick work of him!"
That lent to the whole 'dying over and over again wasn't real' hypothesis but…
The patch of blackened flesh was still shifting oddly on Nathan's shoulder.
And the sky had yet to fully recover from whatever he'd done.
"Let's hurry up."
"We're bringing him?"
"Do what you want."
Aoyama peeked through the bushes, paralyzed with fear as he watched those two villains talk casually.
One of them had Nathan Relnor resting on his back.
He looked like he'd been through hell but not just from the fight itself.
His shirt had mostly burned away, revealing that his body was covered in strange otherworldly scars.
There were simply too many to count.
Not to mention…
What was wrong with his shoulder?
Maybe it was the overall alien feel the forest had taken on long ago, but it felt like it was a separate living organism.
And.
He couldn't shake the feeling that it was glaring at him.
"Hey! Only you guys so far? … Who's the kid?" A blonde villain asked as she approached the other two with an absolutely giddy air.
"Just some brat we thought we'd kidnap!" Twice said before shifting suddenly, "He's my good friend Nathan Relnor! He's hurt real bad and we figured we could bring him to the league and help him out!"
"... Yeah he is hurt real bad isn't he…" Toga muttered, her heart aflutter again for the second time tonight. It wasn't as much as before since this Nathan kid wasn't even conscious but he was absolutely littered in scars, "I'm surprised though! Did you really sign off on this Dabi?"
"Huh? Oh. Feh. Twice can do whatever, as long as it doesn't get in the way of our actual objective I don't care."
"I guess I can't find it strange that you two made a friend since I did too! And… I found a boy I like.."
"Oh!? Is that why you seem so happy? Who are the bastards? Are they me!?"
The unstable alien air dulled it, but Dabi noticed a sharp rustle getting closer and closer.
"Hey, shut up for a second-"
A large clump of people crashed into the small clearing, Compress had not been able to shake his pursuers off and now they had to deal with three more hero brats.
"Mister, dodge." Dabi said before anyone had a chance to register what was happening.
He had to put his conflicting feelings aside and make it back to base.
Then maybe he could have another chat with that troublesome kid on Twice's back.
Blue fire shot out, Compress disappearing into his own quirk as the three UA students did what they could to mitigate the damage.
Todoroki was the first to realize they had a worse hostage situation than they realized.
"Is that Relnor!?"
Midoriya's mind went blank as he took in the scene before him.
He could not stop making mistakes. Bakugo and Tokoyami had been captured right from under his nose, and now… He should never have let Nathan go off alone!
Toga weaved past Shoji and attacked with one of her syringes, forcing Midoriya to dodge rather than spend time formulating another plan.
Todoroki however was free to attack, ice rushing towards the villain carrying his friend.
"Hot! Hot!" Twice cried out as he did his best to dodge.
"Ow. Who would have thought they'd be crazy enough to chase me through the air." Compress said, releasing himself from his quirk and starting to brush himself off.
"You got Bakugo?"
"Of course," Compress reached into his pocket only to pause for a moment.
"Todoroki! Get Nathan! I've got the others!" Shoji called out, holding the two small orbs he'd pulled from Compress' pocket during the struggle.
"Ohoh! Well done," Compress said with a jovial clap.
Fire raced towards Twice, forcing him to run towards Dabi and Compress.
"You heroes don't understand him! He's hurt and we're getting him help!" Twice shouted as ice followed him, only for Dabi to force Todoroki on the defensive.
"Don't just stand there, get them back!" Dabi called out.
"Now now. There's no need for that."
Compress pulled his mask off revealing two orbs clenched between his teeth.
The orbs in Shoji's hand expanded, revealing their contents as a block of ice and a wisp of fire.
"Don't you know? Flaunting a particular object is inevitably part of the trick," He said before replacing his mask as a series of black portals opened all around them.
Just as the villains were about to celebrate their successful mission by retreating.
The world itself quaked.
The ground that seemed so stable before wildly bulged and retracted.
Their escape routes began to flicker and destabilize.
"This again!? Twice drop him!" Dabi called out.
"I can't abandon him, he's my worst enemy!" Twice called out.
Something was deeply wrong.
That uneasy feeling everyone had been battling with the entire night came back more severely than ever.
Todoroki fought through the extreme nausea and attacked, unleashing his massive wave of ice.
But.
Wild spears of ice shot out in all directions, twisting and contorting almost as if they were alive.
A spear tore through Dabi's left shoulder as he tried to get a handle on forcing his body to move under this new strain.
"'Ittle Kitty…"
A new voice entered the arena.
It was another Nomu.
Midoriya's mind raced as he tried to figure out something. Anything that could save his friends against these overwhelming odds.
"Come on kid! We're trying to help you!" Twice called out.
"Just go!" Toga screamed as she jumped through a portal right before it disappeared.
"No way!" He responded, diving into the nearest portal.
"NATHAN!" Midoriya called out.
The remaining parties were left gasping as they tried desperately to regain themselves.
"Compress we're out!" Dabi called, clutching his limp arm.
"Of course-"
It happened before anyone could even really register what was going on.
A laser hit Compress directly in the face, shattering his mask and knocking the two orbs free.
Shoji and Todoroki rushed forward.
Midoriya tried but that unnatural weight crushed him to the ground immediately.
Compress' quirk deactivated, freeing Bakugo and Tokoyami. The alien air was rapidly draining away now that its source had disappeared but it was still causing havoc with everyone's quirks.
Shoji grabbed Tokoyami's wrist and yanked him away.
But before Todoroki could do the same, Dabi snatched Bakugo's collar and slung him into the portal behind him.
"You lose Todoroki Shoto!" He shouted as he and Compress disappeared into that inky darkness along with Bakugo.
The villains made a full retreat.
Their mission was successful.
Midoriya screamed as the forest quickly returned to its former self.
Chaldea arrived immediately after the distortions faded from the forest, bringing with it a slew of strange heroes that collected the scattered students and defeated villains.
They provided first aid for the students incapacitated by the gas attack as well as those with injuries from directly battling villains.
But.
Midoriya drifted in and out of consciousness as a woman with short pink hair and black wings tended to him.
"I- I'm sorry-" He muttered, causing her to jump in surprise.
"Whatever for?"
"N-Nathan… They got Nathan… I couldn't-"
"... Hush now little one. Nathan is not one to easily break under pressure. Besides. All of Chaldea is rushing to rescue him and your other friend."
She gently stroked his hair as she did some preliminary healing. His arms had been almost completely obliterated. There was no way modern medical technology would be able to restore them to what they once were. So Circe decided to cheat a little bit. She was sure Nathan wouldn't mind if his first human friend received some special care.
She glanced over to Shi Huang Di who was heading operations in the area while Sherlock and the others worked diligently to locate their missing master.
"... I hate to be that guy," Vlad King said as he approached Shi Huang Di, "But you were slow today. Aren't you supposed to respond to any disaster no matter where it is in five minutes or less?"
Shi Huang Di looked back, an unreadable expression on Their face.
"Were you out sick? Did you not feel the air? The moment the forest cried out in pain an impenetrable barrier rose all around it. We've been waiting outside of it since before you even called, but we could act until it was out of our way."
His tone was hard to discern but it seemed like he was angry.
"Do you think that we did not do absolutely everything We could to reach our most precious charge in his hour of need? Do you think our failure to save him or his friends in time does not weigh heavily on Our mind?"
"I- I'm sorry."
"Apology accepted. Tend to your students. We believe the proper authorities will be arriving shortly."
Vlad King turned to leave.
"And-"
He froze in place when that commanding voice began again.
"Do not think to exclude Chaldea from this rescue operation. We are to be a part of the recovery efforts at every step. Do We make Ourselves clear?"
Vlad could only nod shakily as that Chaldean turned his attention away once more.
And so.
The Summer Training Camp came to its worst possible conclusion.
Aaaaaah finally! Sut Typhon, Yog Sothoth, The gate, the key, and the guardian, is here to play! Hope you all enjoyed the fight. I've had the part where Yog Sothoth manifests written for a while but I've been waiting to finally get to the point where I actually get to have it happen!
So. How will things change now that the LoV has Nathan and Bakugo? More importantly, how pissed the hell off is Chaldea right now?
Also really couldn't resist quoting Richard Siken's War of the Foxes.