So, bad news, shorter chapter as I deal with a massive truck load of stress in my life, though I do consider this a proper chapter as opposed to a side chapter, as it actively progresses the plot as opposed to going back to fill in details. Good News, next chapter should be full length and, short of me remembering a plotpoint I missed during it (The prank, the Familiar, the Mustafu trip, Raikou and Erice appearing) should be the last chapter before we reach UA.

—X Yu X—

Yu quietly dabbed ointment onto the savaged man's neck. The scars along it were slowly but surely shrinking, convincing her Midoriya was just faking his injury more and more by the day-

"Yu?" Think of the devil and he will come, evidently. Yu turned watching him sit in the doorway with a sour look on his face. Not directed at her, but at the wheelchair he was confined in. Literally, with a strap across his lap and leg, "can I come in?"

For a second, Yu considered turning him away. Partially just to see what happened, partially out of spite, finally, she sighed and gestured for him to move forward, "I suppose."

"Thank you," Izuku said, the Nemo Series pushing him forwards so he could stop between the pair of beds, "How are they?"

"No closer to waking up," Yu said.

Izuku nodded, reaching out to touch Pepe's hair and stopping to brush the scars from Beryl's last attack, "Asclepius is doing well."

"It makes me think your leg is fine," Yu said conversationally.

"There's definitely some damage," Izuku defended, "if it was all psychosomatic Asclepius would have just told me and been done with it. He wouldn't perform surgery for no reason."

"But that implies some of it is psychosomatic," Yu shot back, and Izuku raised his chin.

"In my defense, when you see your knee bent a hundred and eighty degrees in the wrong direction, your brain's default probably should be "I can't use this anymore." And I say that as a man who was once impaled and thrown around a stone church like a ragdoll by an elder god."

"Maybe for you humans," Yu said, "That's more of a minor inconvenience for me… the leg thing, of course. I'm not petty enough to take away the credit for surviving Yog-Sothoth."

"You should," Izuku said, "because "survive" is the right word. If you want evidence for how bad my leg is, I came out of that fight with six cracked vertebrae! Six! If it weren't for Circe, I'd probably be stuck in this stupid thing all the time."

Izuku punctuated that statement by punching the armrest of the wheelchair. To be fair, it was a very nice wheelchair in Yu's opinion, but she could understand Izuku, who seemed to be in perpetual motion, being indignant about being stuck in it.

"I don't know, six cracked vertebrae still seems impressive for an Outer God throwing you around," Yu teased, fighting the rising smile.

Damn Izuku for being so likable. He had been like that since they had first met at Chaldea, him trailing behind Mash and Romani like a puppy.

"That's just the start. Fractured my sternum and reset the progress we had made on my leg," Izuku complained, "And that's not getting into the organ damage or slew of potions and pills they put me on to keep the wound from getting infected, Akuta-Senpai!"

Gaia, why had she made that joke? It felt wrong for anyone to call her Senpai, and that wasn't getting into the logistics of how long she had been in cryo compared to how long he had been working.

"Don't call me that," she ordered, "Hinako or Yu will do, Master."

"Ok," Izuku said, eyes trailing over to the other unconscious man, "...is it bad I'm worried about when he wakes up?"

"No," Yu said, examining Kadoc's unconscious face, "You don't really know Kadoc, Master, and he was… close to his servant. A Servant who's true form loves-"

"Don't-

"She loves you," Yu said bluntly, watching Izuku recoil as if he was struck, "Why does that scare you so much to have admitted to you, Izuku?"

"...There are better people than me to love," Izuku muttered.

"Love isn't like that," Yu advised, "There is no better or worse in love, who you end up loving is always the best. It's as simple as that."

"That doesn't sound simple," Izuku said.

"Well, it is," Yu said, "How do you think a True Ancestor and a Centaur came to love each other? He could do better than me."

"Nobody could do better than Yu the Beauty," Izuku immediately said.

"And nobody could do better than Izuku the Chaldean, if they decide they love him," Yu said humorously, "love is a complicated subject, Master. We don't pick who we fall in love with. I never wanted to fall in love, but I don't regret it despite the time I spent apart from Xiang Yu. You'll understand it one day."

Izuku shifted uncomfortably, as best as he could, strapped to the chair, "if you say so… I need to go, I promised Pollux I would watch a spar between her and Li Shuwen."

Bringing up an uncomfortable subject to get them to leave. Worked every time.

— X Castor X-

Castor stood behind the seated Master, arms crossed across the top of the wheelchair, "I don't understand why we're doing this. Sister is capable of wrestling Alcides. There's no way this human will beat her."

"You're more than likely not wrong," Master agreed, "Li Shuwen just wants to test his skills. As the God Spear, he takes pride in being the greatest martial artist of the modern era. He wants to test his skills."

"You already said that," Castor snarked, "so he wants to be crushed?"

"He wants to see how long he can last," Master corrected, "and, I think, what the pinnacle of Kāimén bā jí quán can do against the greatest boxer to ever live… of course, that's not quite right, if I believe Jason."

"What do you mean by that?" Castor gritted out. Was Izuku implying that Pollux wasn't-?

"Jason said Pollux killed King Amy- Amyk- Amykos?"

"Amykos, yes," Castor corrected his pronunciation.

"By punching him in the elbow," Master finished, "So I'd say that Pollux and Master Li Shuwen are actually very similar. Both are fighters who need no second strike to win. So this will be a spar based mostly around dodging. Whoever lands the first blow will likely win, unless the other is capable of resisting whatever properties give the other's fists such lethality. Which, if I'm honest, still skews the match in the favor of your sister. I find it far more likely that Pollux resists being enveloped in Master Li's Qi than it is that Master Li resists the unknown specifics of your sister's ability to take a life with a blow. No offense, Master."

"None taken," the grey haired Martial Artist said, legs sliding apart and arms shifting into the base stance of Bajiquan, one fist raised to partially guard his face, the other parallel with his sternum, "once again, your assessment of the situation is entirely perfect. It's why I wanted this duel, excepting myself, I cannot say I've ever fought another opponent for whom a second strike is unnecessary. Thank you for humoring me, Pollux."

"I can say the same, Kami Yari," Pollux said, tightening the leather straps on her hands and jumping in place to limber up, "I haven't had the pleasure of fighting someone who can kill with a touch before."

"If you're both ready," Master said, "you can begin."

It was honestly a question to Castor how Master could see the fight, or if he could even see the fight and was just sitting there to humor the two combatants. Even with his highly trained eye, the fight was a blur of motion.

Li swent an elbow strike at Pollux's head, who swept around it and sent a punch for the kidneys. Li fanned his arm down and deflected the punch without blinking, spinning in place and stamping hard on Pollux's instep, trying to force her to fall onto the defensive. Insteadz Pollux grabbed him by the leg and threw him over her head like a bag of flour.

Li landed on all fours, before rising up to his feet as Pollux rushed forwards and punched at him. Once, twice, thrice, four times, each punch was weaved around without missing a beat. The short demigoddess lept up and punched at Li's head, where the grey haired martial artist caught the punch and dangled her above the air.

A chirp went off on Master's wrist communicator, and he glanced at it as Pollux wrapped her body around the the hand holding her up and threw a punch at his kidney again-

"I have to go," Master said suddenly, raising his communicator to his mouth, "Okita, I need you on floor four. An, Nobu, that wasn't funny. Jeanne… I'm be right there. Nemo!"

The Nemo playing a game on a screen with their tongue out jumped up, saluting and taking the wheelchair'd handles.

"Disaster waits for no man," Li Shuwen said, dropping Pollux, "What happened, if I can ask?"

"Nobu and An just pranked Jeanne Alter," Izuku said, "She's gonna be… angry."