Katsuki had never been scared of anything in his entire time as a Guardian.

The first thing he had done when he was revived by his ghost was to walk out of the building he had woken up in with a gun strapped to his back and the head of a Vex Minotaur strung over his shoulder.

He had fought Fallen Captains with his bare hands and torn them apart without using his Solar Light. He had completely vaporised a Cabal tank with his Light while Mikumo got a scavenger group to safety.

Katsuki didn't do being scared. He was never 'scared.'

That wasn't to say he never felt fear.

The Vex Minotaur had almost torn him apart before he knew he wouldn't stay dead, and he had been terrified of losing his new chance at living. He had almost lost his ghost while wrestling the Fallen Captain, and he still had nightmares about what could have happened.

And the Cabal Tank? It had been one, maybe two shots away from demolishing an entire settlement of lightless in the wilderness. He had never been someone with a bleeding heart—that was Mikumo's thing—but he had feared for the safety of those people.

And even after all that, no level of fear had ever come close to the rising tension in his chest as he followed his fireteam into the tear in reality before him.

He felt the Darkness flowing past him as all feelings of gravity left him, leaving him floating down a tube of green and black light that felt wrong to him in every sense of the word. He couldn't even see his teammates anymore, only feel their Light, and even that was muffled.

He was confident that they could do this. They had every advantage they could get, and they were the god damn Mighty Hydras! If anyone could slay Crota, it was them!

That didn't stop the absolute fear he felt towards what he knew would happen if they failed.

The 'Thrallway' was deathly silent, with not even the sounds of the battle above them reaching this far down.

Izuku landed silently on his feet, his hands grabbing at the handles to his blades as he watched the Mighty Hydras appear on the ground in front of him. To their credit, they adjusted to their new positions quickly, landing on their feet with grace.

Izuku supposed that transmat was fairly similar in principle, and most likely afforded them some form of practice for the portals of the Hive. He watched as they scanned the room, weapons up. He was glad they were taking this seriously.

"Welcome to the Thrallway, Guardians. Normally we would be set upon by a legion of thralls, but it seems the majority of the grunts are focused on the Guardians above."

He motioned for them to follow him and quickly ducked into a secret alcove before the drop to Ir Yut's chambers. He pried open the chest from the middle of the alcove, thankful that the doors were still open; it seemed that if you just warped to the end, they didn't start to close.

Grabbing a handful of a tough, chitinous cloth from the chest, Izuku stuffed them into his pack and rolled his shoulders, looking down the hole in the floor at the black puddle of liquid underneath it.

The Hydras gathered around him, looking at Izuku and waiting for him to give them the signal. He scanned them, seeing if any looked close to losing their nerve now that they were so close to Crota.

He was glad to see that none of them had anything but determination on their faces. He nodded to himself. "All right everyone, put on your helmets and make sure that no sound is capable of entering at all. You must not hear anything that is sung down there, whether it be from me or Ir Yut."

He watched as all of the Guardians put on their helmets and gave him a thumbs-up as their hearing was shut off. But he knew that wasn't going to be enough. He reached up and grabbed onto Mikumo's shoulders, smiling at the man.

He knew that blocking out the sound alone wouldn't stop the deathsong from obliterating people. It would slow it down, allowing someone to get out of range, but in a confined space like Crota's chamber, they wouldn't be able to get far enough away.

To fix that, they had to be protected from the telepathic part of the song as well. And he had been working on a spell that would allow him to share his Quirk's protections with someone for a limited amount of time.

With that in mind, Izuku pulled on Mikumo's shoulders, slamming his forehead into the man's helmet, before both of them stumbled back, a sharp green 'V' burned onto the front of Mikumo's helmet.

Izuku ignored the dull throbbing in his forehead and reached towards Shoto, who bent down a little bit to allow Izuku to reach him. The other Hydras went after Shoto, and Izuku branded each of their helmets with his protective rune.

Finishing the final preparations, Izuku bowed to the Guardians, thanking them for coming with him. When the prince was slain, he would be in their debt for a good while. But it was worth it. He turned away from the Hydras and let out a roar, the air around him shaking as he leapt into the air and the hole in front of them.

It was time for the Hive Prince to meet his end.

The caverns themselves shook around them.

Mikumo had been in many odd situations, but he had never done a raid without any noise before. It was weird and meant that he was almost constantly spinning as he walked, not willing to let anything sneak up on them.

The room they were in was a circular one with a black pool of liquid at their feet, green torches surrounding them, and one hallway out into an open courtyard, where Mikumo could already see a few Hive Knights crouched on the floor.

Almost immediately after they all landed, Mikumo let his hand fall on Yuura's shoulder, stopping the small amounts of Void Light that was flowing from her hands. All of the Hydras knew what Crota had done to Yuura's squadmates on the moon, but Tsuyu's final death had been a hard blow to Yuura's mental health.

He was pulled out of that thought process when the ground underneath them shook a little. He watched as Izuku seemed to yell something, his arms igniting in a bright green fire as the kid ran ahead of the group, motioning for them to follow.

The kid was kind of insane, but he knew what he was doing. Probably.

Mikumo had faith in him.

In himself.

Izuku's arms burned with energy as he shot forward.

The deathsong was already flowing through the air around him, encouraging him to go faster, push harder. While the opening verse of the Deathsong wasn't lethal, it was still unpleasant to unprotected minds.

Luckily, the charms he had placed on the Mighty Hydras helmets seemed to be working for now, but he couldn't risk them being exposed to the Deathsong's chorus, the most deadly part of the song.

An acolyte who dared get in his way was ripped apart by Izuku's fire, leaving nothing but charred remains behind as Izuku barely slowed down. He heard the Mighty Hydras firing at the various Hive in front of him as he moved, and nodded to himself.

Being back in the Hellmouth was stressful for him, but this time he wasn't alone. And he was stronger than he had ever been.

He was on the lower level of Crota's throne room at the moment, and he knew that it was likely Ir Yut was hiding inside the crystal room that was above him now. She hid behind her song and her prince, preying on those unprepared to face her.

Izuku despised her.

His hand cannon roared in his ears as he put a Knight down, watching as it dissolved in front of his eyes, the magical rounds in the cannon's chamber doing their job. He slammed his foot into another Knight's shield, rocketing himself upwards to the upper platforms.

Thralls were crushed under his feet as he landed on them, and used as launching pads to push him forward. Now that he was on the upper level, all he had to do was fight his way through one of the corridors and take the Witch down.

He heard the different forms of Light going off behind him, and saw that Mina had copied his move and was right behind him, a shotgun in her hands. The other Hydras were making their way towards the staircase to his right.

She nodded at him, and there was a moment of silence. Izuku almost flinched as the woman exploded with power, blue Arc Light flowing over her body as dual daggers of pure light appeared in her hands.

It was almost beautiful how she danced forward, Hive falling at her feet as the blades of Arc Light cut through them without resistance. She quite literally blinked out of existence a few times as well, appearing in surprise positions around her enemies.

Izuku made sure to study how she moved with her blades, as it could be a very helpful thing to learn for his own swords. But even then, she wasn't his focus. Now that they had reached the hallway with the other Hydras behind them, Izuku could see her.

Ir Yut.

And she was staring right back at him, ready to continue into the chorus.

Shoto dodged one of the Acolyte's fireballs, returning the favour with one of his own.

After Mikumo, he was the most experienced Guardian here, but even he had never seen anything like this. The Hive that were protecting their Prince's throne room were rabid, wild. Not even the Vault of Glass had been this hectic or as big of a pressure on his Light.

The Vault of Glass had almost been like a game. There was a steady pressure on his light, just enough to make reviving difficult, and each room had rules that even the Vex had seemed to follow.

But this? This was… chaotic and confusing, and the pressure on his Light was both stronger and less stable, fluctuating, making it hard to gauge his available strength at any moment.

His pulse rifle vibrated in his hands as he fired it over and over, making sure to keep track of the number at the top of the gun to keep track of his ammo now that he was unable to hear the click it made when the clip was empty.

He watched as Midoriya cut the head off the final Knight in the hallway and nodded to himself as the green shield between them and the Hive Witch that Midoriya called 'Ir Yut' dissipated.

Almost immediately, they were attacked by another swarm of Hive, this time accompanied by powerful blasts from Ir Yut. Shoto made sure to focus on the smaller Hive, as his job for this raid was to keep the little guys off of their heavy hitters.

Solar Light flowed through him as he used his 'Radiance,' and he could feel himself improve in almost every way. The darkness weighed on him less, and his vision was filled with fire as he swept his left arm out in front of him, a barrage of solar grenades hitting the group of smaller Hive in front of him.

It might have been because he was so focused on the smaller Hive, and the fire coursing through his veins, that he never saw the Knight's sword coming.

Yuura turned to the Knight that was now standing over Shoto's Ghost, Fuyumi.

Shoto's body was laid out on the floor, unmoving, the solar light fading quickly. A scream of anger ripped out of her as Void Light pulsed in her hands, a bow and arrow appearing in her grasp.

She refused to allow another one of her friends to fall to the Hive.

The purple arrow shot directly through the Knight's chest, blowing a hole open in it, before collapsing in on itself into a purple orb, tethers flowing out and grabbing the various Hive around them.

She could sense her Light pressing down on the tethered Hive and was glad to see that her shot was close enough to include Ir Yut,. The Deathsinger looked a bit stressed now that both Izuku AND Mikumo had engaged her in combat, with Katsuki keeping an Ogre off of them.

She was about to head forward and try to assist in Shoto's revival when a green blur shot past her, landing in front of the Ghost. She was about to fire when she saw that it was Izuku, a small green sphere coating his hand as he touched Fuyumi, who instantly revived Shoto.

She could almost sense how the green orb was absorbing the ambient Darkness in the room, redirecting it from Fuyumi and allowing for a faster revive.

Izuku nodded to her before his head whipped back to Ir Yut, and he shot towards her again. Yuura was left watching him for a moment before she pushed herself back into action, using her Light to vaporise an Acolyte as Shoto got his bearings again.

The kid was a solid fighter, and his powers were… intriguing, and incredibly unsettling.

Izuku hadn't fought this hard in a while.

The tower had been a place where he wasn't constantly on edge, or listening for the next ambush, or source of food, or avoiding the detections spells the Hive used at random times.

The tower had been a refuge, a safe place. He was glad that he could call it home and glad that he could help the people who lived there as well.

But something about this… about diving back into the Hellmouth, with true power behind him, was intoxicating. The thrum of adrenaline through his body let him push himself further, faster.

If he didn't have his Quirk up as much as it could be, he might have thought something was messing with his head. But he knew he was safe. He had been for years now. The Hive wouldn't get in his head as long as he lived.

He let his train of thought dissipate as he allowed his muscle memory and instincts to take over his movements, ducking down and weaving his way through a blast of energy that Ir Yut sent his way.

With a yell, he pushed off the floor, launching himself into the air, and twisted to gather momentum. He pulled his arms down and slashed at Ir Yut, smirking as his twin blades carved deep gouges into Ir Yut's chest.

The Hive Witch shrieked in pain and panic, and Izuku grabbed onto the feelings and sent them through his legs, launching himself back into the air as he landed, another swing of his swords carving a deep line through her hip.

He pushed off of her as he felt Light coming towards him, dodging out of the way as Mikumo slammed into her, Arc Light flowing over his body as his fists landed squarely on her forehead. The bone that made up her ridged 'crown' cracked and disintegrated.

Izuku almost laughed as he pulled on the pain and fear and panic and dread that Ir Yut was feeling, sheathing one of his swords and pulling out his Hand Cannon. With a word that hurt his throat to pronounce, a single bullet appeared in the chamber, lighting up Izuku's surroundings with green light.

"YOU WILL DIE THIS DAY, FOUL THIEF OF POWER!"

Izuku smirked, ignoring Ir Yut's shout, both of them knowing she was about to die. He raised his Hand Cannon, the sights landing on her head right between the three lights of her eyes.

"No, I don't think I will, bitch."

Mikumo watched as the entirety of Ir Yut's head just… vanished.

There was no sound to go with it, just the vibrations through the air as the head of the Hive Witch was blown apart, showering the wall behind it with green sludge. A bright green line of power reached from the tip of Izuku's Hand Cannon to the wall.

Not even a moment later, he watched as Izuku rushed over to the corpse, which had now fallen to the floor, swapping his Hand Cannon for his second sword, before plunging both of them into Ir Yut's body.

He noticed the Hive around them quickly falling, his fireteam suddenly finding it a lot easier to kill the Hive now that the Witch was dead. Had she been protecting them somehow? That was troubling.

He was about to signal his fireteam to group up again when his light sparked in response to a sudden surge of Darkness coming from Izuku. Whipping around, his hand going to his Auto Rifle, Mikumo's eyes widened as he saw green light coiling around Izuku's blades as he chanted something, with the strips of green light entering the back of his hands.

The Vanguard had warned him that Izuku might do this, but seeing it happen in front of him, seeing the Sword Logic at work, right before his eyes… it was scary. But it was interesting. Mikumo almost wished that he had his notepad on him so he could do a proper analysis of what seemed to be happening to the boy.

But alas, the information on the pad was too precious to risk it becoming damaged in combat. It didn't last for very long though, as the lines of green seemed to fizzle for a moment, like a bad signal, before dropping completely.

He saw Izuku yell something. The boy looked angry, but Mikumo didn't know what he was saying. The boy sheathed his swords and walked back to the crystal room and motioned for them to follow him.

Mikumo nodded to his fireteam, patting Shoto on the shoulder as he passed. He had seen the man get dropped and was glad that Izuku had been able to help revive him quickly.

He saw that Izuku had one hand on the large green crystal that Ir Yut had been guarding, and watched as the green fields that had blocked this room off reappeared. Thankful for the short minute of respite Izuku was giving them, Mikumo allowed his Light to dim a bit, recharging what he could.

He gave Yuura a quick hug, bonking the front of their helmets together, before moving over to where Izuku had sat down. He placed his hand on the boy's shoulder, trying to ignore the tingling feeling he got being so close to someone who was both his dimensional doppelganger and a wielder of Hive Magic.

The boy just nodded at him, saying something Mikumo couldn't hear before standing back up and stretching out his shoulders. As he did, Mikumo got the other Hydras' attention, waiting for them to complete their weapon checks. He knew that they had to be in perfect working order; otherwise things were gonna go really bad really quickly.

After giving Izuku the go-ahead, the boy turned back to the giant crystal and pushed both of his hands forward, and Mikumo watched as they sank into the crystal as if it were water. Izuku seemed to be chanting something, his arms lighting up with green fire again.

As he did, the crystal started to glow slightly as well.

And then Mikumo felt it.

The Darkness around him nearly tripled as the giant green orb floating in the sky pulsed.

Bits and pieces of rock and bones seemed to construct themselves underneath it, forming what looked like an archway.

And then he appeared.

Izuku roared as he pulled his swords out of Ir Yut's chest.

It hadn't worked! At least, it hadn't worked as well as he had wanted it to. He had made these swords with the idea that he could bypass the Sword Logic's chant entirely, gaining strength immediately from anything he killed or stabbed with his blades.

They were meant to be leeches, something that would help him drain the strength of his enemies quickly, but they were imperfect. Inefficient. He could tell that he had only been able to siphon away around 45% of what he knew Ir Yut's power to be, the other 55% escaping his grasp in one final act of spite from the wretched Hive Witch.

It confused him. The swords had done perfectly well at absorbing the entirety of the Hive's power that he had killed so far. Perhaps the more powerful they were, the less efficient the transfer was? That was something he would have to investigate and fix when they got back to the Tower.

He sheathed his swords, a scowl on his face as he walked past Mikumo, back towards the Summoning Crystal's chamber. The other guardians followed him, and even though they were hidden behind their helmets, Izuku could sense how uncomfortable they were at the moment.

He understood that the Hellmouth was aptly named.

He sat down next to the summoning crystal before tapping it lightly and using his magic to make it activate the wards that protected the room. He would allow the Guardians a brief respite. They needed it for the coming battle. Even if they didn't, they deserved it.

He saw Mikumo pat one of his fireteam on the shoulder, the one who had been killed and revived during the fight. Izuku was honestly impressed that only one of them had died, and only once. Izuku went back to his rest for a moment before he felt Mikumo's hand on his shoulder.

The man wasn't able to speak to him at the moment, but Izuku could feel the question of 'are you ok?' from his body language. He nodded at him, smiling softly. "I am fine, Lightborn. The death of Ir Yut fills me with much anger and much joy. I only need a moment to collect myself."

He knew the man couldn't hear him, but Mikumo nodded anyway before helping the rest of the Hydras with their weapon checks. Izuku checked his own Hand Cannon, found nothing wrong with it, and rested his hands on the pommels of his swords.

He inhaled, allowing the power that had been gathered from Ir Yut, and into the blades, to flow into him, refuelling him and making his own power much larger. Ir Yut was a league above him, and he wouldn't have been able to beat her without Mikumo's help.

It was humbling to know how much more he had to grow before he could be formidable enough on his own, and it also meant that even the 45% of her strength he had drained was a significant boost.

He looked over and saw Mikumo and the Hydras standing up, looking ready to go. Izuku nodded to them and turned to the Summoning Crystal. It was time to begin. He reached out and put his palms on the crystal, pushing his magic forwards to touch the magic of the crystal.

He felt heat on his arms and could sense the crystal accepting his commands. His eyes were closed, so he couldn't truly see it, but he could feel Crota's Gate forming on the platform underneath his Oversoul.

With a final push, Izuku felt the Gate click into place, and almost instantly he pulled his arms out of the crystal as a wave of Darkness washed over him, one of the strongest sources of Darkness he had ever felt manifesting nearby.

At that moment he knew it had worked.

Crota had arrived.

"IMPURE WRETCH! SCUM OF THE TUNNELS! YOU DARE SUMMON ME?"

Izuku winced as Crota's voice boomed through the cavern. A quick glance made it clear that even the Guardians had felt it; the vibrations Crota released when he talked were powerful enough to shake the air around them.

Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Izuku let his magic back into the Crystal in front of him, allowing the green fields to dissipate. The screeches of approaching Thralls and Acolytes echoed through the chamber.

As the field dropped, the Guardians immediately started to push forward, and Izuku pulled his swords back out and moved ahead of them. Moments after the barrier fell, the first group of Thralls came into view, their heads glowing with green energy.

Izuku scowled and sheathed one of his swords, pulled out his Hand Cannon, and shot one of them in the head, watching as it exploded. The force of its ignition pushed the others back, making them suffer the same fate as the first, with the entire group detonating, leaving behind green sludge on the floor.

'

He hopped over the sludge and turned the corner, decapitating an Acolyte as he did, and blinked as he felt another surge of power run through him. That Acolyte had been more powerful than the others so far. Why?

Letting the guardians cover him, he turned back and discovered why. The yellow stripe across the Acolyte's chest marked it as one of Crota's spawn. Izuku had only seen a few 'yellow bars,' as he called them, but they were usually stronger than their peers.

"ARISE, BEARER OF BLADES! SMITE THE LIGHTBORN! BRING ME THE CORPSE OF THE UNTHINKING ONE!"

Izuku growled in response to that, watching as doors on either side of the arena opened up. Hive Knights with black exoskeletons exited the doorways, red fire showing underneath the cracks in their armour.

Planted into the ground were swords almost as tall as Izuku, made of the same black and red that the Knights were. Swordbearers. Some of the toughest Knights in Crota's brood. Izuku would never have been able to take one, let alone two of them by himself.

But he wasn't by himself anymore.

Rockets fired from behind Izuku, six of them all slamming into one of the sword bearers, almost vaporizing it and leaving only its blade behind, stabbed into the ground. Izuku rushed over to the sword and pulled Mikumo alongside him, pointing to the blade, miming a swinging motion, before pointing at the Guardian.

Mikumo nodded, and there was a flash of Arc Light as he pulled the cleaver out of the floor. It glowed in response to Mikumo's Light, as if angry at the being who was wielding it but unable to do anything about it.

Mikumo darted off to the other Swordbearer, the cleavers slamming together as it brought up its own sword to block Mikumo's slash. Mikumo pushed off its chest, landing on the ground as more rockets slammed into the second Swordbearer, which suffered the same fate as its partner.

This time, Izuku pointed at Katsuki, who nodded back at him, putting his rifle away as he ripped the sword from the ground. Izuku didn't watch him, though, as he was too busy dodging the slashes of a new swarm of Thralls that had been released.

As the last Thrall died, he looked up at Crota, who was just pacing around on his platform, watching as Izuku and the Hydras fought. Why wasn't he fighting? Arrogance? Confidence? Whatever the reason, Izuku was glad for it.

Crota was underestimating them, underestimating him. Izuku would make sure he regretted that.

Izuku dodged out of the way of a regular Knight's sword, planting his feet and diving between the Knight's legs, slashing both of the Knight's legs. The Knight tumbled down to the ground, and Izuku leapt onto its back, plunging both of his blades into the gaps of its armour.

He was about to continue when he found himself getting tackled by one of the Guardians, Mina, right as the purple beam of an Ogre's eye blast shot through where he had been standing. He nodded to her as she readied her rocket launcher, firing off a shot at the Ogre as soon as she was able to.

Letting the Guardians focus on the Ogres that had appeared at the Swordbearers' death, Izuku gritted his teeth and jumped. Pain shot down his legs as he rocketed upwards until he landed on the platform that Crota was on.

He watched as both Mikumo and Katsuki followed him right after, the Hive swords still in their grasps. Izuku nodded to himself, snarling at Crota. Crota roared in response, slamming the floor with the tip of his sword.

"YOU DARE? YOU DARE STAND BEFORE THE HIVE PRINCE, IN DEFIANCE OF HIM?"

Izuku roared as best he could in response, sheathing his swords as he beat his own chest. "I dare! You will die this day, Crota!"

The growl that came from Crota at that made the floor beneath them rumble, but Izuku and the other two Guardians stood their ground.

"YOU ARE AS MUCH OF A FOOL AS YOU ARE A THIEF!"

Izuku immediately opened a small portal to his right and dove into it, narrowly avoiding Crota's sword as it slammed into the ground where he had been standing. He appeared out of the exit to his portal on top of the sword and started to run up it as Mikumo and Katsuki flanked the Prince.

Izuku felt the sword shift beneath his feet and he jumped straight up, opening another small portal and dropping down onto Crota's head, slamming both of his swords into the crown of his skull.

Crota roared and swatted at Izuku with his free hand, but Izuku dropped down to the small of the Prince's back, holding onto one of the ridges of his exo-skeleton. But while he hadn't done much damage, he had been a fine distraction.

B A M !

Izuku watched as both of the Hive swords impacted Crota's chest, the green shield around his body blinking for a moment before stabilizing, albeit with a weaker glow. Izuku immediately dropped off of Crota's back and into another Portal, appearing back near where he had started, and dragged the two Guardians back towards him, swords and all, with his magic.

He gave them a thumbs up before creating a ball of fire in his hands and throwing it up to Crota's eyes, forcing it to latch onto his face. He knew he wasn't powerful enough to actually damage Crota with his spells, but the fire over his eyes should make it harder to see.

"WEAKLING! YOU ARE WEAK, UNTHINKING ONE! CAN YOU NOT DEFEAT ME WITH YOUR OWN STRENGTH!?"

Izuku roared back. "I don't need to! My allies' strength is my own, and my strength is my allies!"

"BLASPHEMY!"

Izuku ignored him as Crota seemed to start swinging his swords around with little care for who got hit. Izuku, while dodging the attacks, even saw a few unfortunate Knights and a Wizard get struck by one of their Prince's swings.

"ALL OF YOU WILL DIE!"

Izuku was about to continue fighting when he saw Crota stop moving, falling to a knee as Green light shot into the sky and into the orb above them.

The green crystal above Crota, the Hive Prince's Oversoul, started to pulse. Immediately, Izuku used his portals on all of the Guardians he could see and sent them to one of the platforms further back before waving at them and shooting the Oversoul.

They seemed to understand and immediately started firing at the Oversoul, and Izuku could see it was working. He could feel the Darkness that was trying to build up around it failing to reach it as the pressure of gunfire and Light was put on it.

Eventually, the glowing stopped, and the line of green light shot back down to Crota, who roared, but was still on one knee. Izuku rushed forward, motioning for Mikumo and Katsuki to follow him because he had noticed something.

Crota's shield was gone.

Whatever he had done to his Oversoul, having it fail had cost him the shield that made him seem invincible. Izuku yelled in triumph as both Mikumo's and Katsuki's swords slammed into Crota's chest, doing visible damage and making the Hive Prince roar in pain.

Izuku grabbed onto that pain and relished the amount of it he was getting from Crota, and how good it felt to have helped make the damnable Prince bleed. He must have relished it a bit too much though, because soon enough he found himself coming into contact with Crota's fist. Pain spiked all over his body as Crota punched him, sending him flying backwards.

He roared in pain as he landed near the back of the giant platform, willing his broken body to regenerate, using his new stores of power and the pain of Crota himself to fuel his magic. His flesh stitched itself back together, his bones snapped into place, and after mere seconds, Izuku was back and ready to keep fighting, albeit without a good chunk of his energy now.

Crota had no such luck. The damage that the Guardians had done with the swords, infused with Light, seemed to have struck the exposed Crota badly, as the Prince wasn't regenerating. Or maybe that was the trade-off for such a powerful shield?

Izuku didn't know, but it didn't matter. If the Prince couldn't heal, then they were going to win this. Izuku could feel it in his bones.

"DAMNABLE WELPS! DIE ALREADY!"

A wave of Crota's hand had doors opening all over the arena, Hive spilling out of them like a flood. Luckily, most of them were Thralls, but there were a lot more Knights than Izuku had ever seen in one place before.

Izuku looked over to check on Mikumo and Katsuki and froze. Katsuki had somehow been killed while Izuku was regenerating, probably from one of Crota's wild slashes after he recovered enough to attack again, and his Ghost was too far out of the way for any of the Guardians to go after at the moment.

Mikumo's Hive sword had been snapped in half, leaving the Guardian with just the handle and a jagged edge around half a meter out from the hilt. But that wasn't what Izuku was worried about. Mikumo gave him a pained smile, his helmet dropping off of his head, damaged beyond repair.

Mikumo's mind was now unprotected. If Crota succeeded with his next Oversoul attack, there was a good chance that Mikumo would die. Quite possibly his final death. Izuku turned back to Crota and snarled.

He wasn't going to let that happen.

Sound rushed back into Mikumo's ears very suddenly.

He had been struck by one of Crota's attacks, but it was only a glancing blow. He had been much luckier than Katsuki, who had been killed by the attack, and his ghost Mitsuki was currently doing her best to hide behind the rest of the Hydras, unable to revive him at the moment due to the overwhelming pressure of the ambient Darkness around them.

He looked down at the sword in his grasp and saw that the sword had been snapped in half. He let it fall to the ground, a scowl on his face. He felt the air around him gaining a static charge as the familiar sound of Arc Light crackled around him.

"Izuku! How much more do we need to do to take this guy down?!"

Izuku glanced over in his direction, his face twisted in a snarl. "Not much! A few more hits comparable to that last one should be enough for me to finish the job!"

Mikumo nodded, doing a quick scan of his surroundings. His sword was gone and wouldn't be much help, but Katsuki had apparently been able to throw his sword to the side before dying. In a flash of Arc Light, Mikumo darted over and grabbed the sword, letting his Arc Light flow through the blade.

He turned back to Izuku and smiled. "All right then! Let's do this!"

As Izuku darted forward, both of his swords unsheathed and covered in raging green fire, Mikumo followed him, the Hive sword at his hip leaving a trail of blue lightning in his wake. Both of them dove to either side of another slam from Crota's sword, and Mikumo ignored the ground-shakingly loud roar that Crota released.

He saw Izuku disappear in a puff of green and black smoke, appearing behind Crota and jabbing his swords into the newly-regenerated shield Crota had up. Izuku yelled out in the Hive tongue, and his swords gained an ethereal glow as Crota's shield dropped a bit.

It seemed that when Izuku had called his swords 'leeches,' he was being literal. Mikumo used the distraction to place an orb of Arc Light right on Crota's chest, dodging the swipe that came his way as Arc energy pulsed over Crota's shield.

He was about to cheer when he heard Crota yell something else. Izuku yelled something in response, and suddenly Mikumo found himself getting flung backwards. He landed with a thud, rolling to a stop, his head pulsing with a headache like none he had felt before.

Izuku landed next to him on his feet and dragged him upright. Mikumo nodded to him and was about to thank him when his throat dried up. Izuku was standing in front of him, but this time with only one sword in his hand.

Hand, single.

Izuku's left arm was gone.

"EVISCERATION!"

Izuku watched as Arc energy pulsed over Crota's shield, and Crota roared out that one word. Izuku immediately grabbed himself with a portal and placed the exit in front of Mikumo.

"Bulwark!"

He thrust his left arm forward, a spike of pain rushing through it as a shield formed in front of Mikumo, protecting him from the pulse of energy that came from Crota's shield. The shield seemed to hold for a moment, before a cold chill hit his shoulder, the pain in his arm disappearing as the shield collapsed, sending Mikumo flying backwards, but unharmed.

He rushed over to Mikumo and pulled him up, finding it weird that his left arm seemed to not respond to that order, only his right arm reaching down to help the man up. "Are you all right? My shield should have been enough to stop most of that attack from getting to your head."

He noticed that Mikumo was staring at his left arm, a shocked look on his face. "What? Is something wro—oh."

Izuku looked down at the stump of his arm, which had been cut off right in the middle of his bicep. It was leaking a little bit of blood, but his supernatural regeneration seemed to have stopped most of the bleeding. It didn't seem to be re-growing his arm though.

"Are you all right, kid?"

Izuku heard Mikumo's question, but it sounded like it was in the background of a loud room. Izuku turned slowly, facing Crota, who had apparently sacrificed a bit of his health to perform that move.

A cold look slipped onto Izuku's face as he willed his arm to close up, the small jab of pain in his shoulder as it did so nothing compared to the rage he felt boiling within him. "Mikumo. I'm going to try and bait him into dropping his shield for another attack. Be ready to end this."

He glanced backwards and saw Mikumo give him a little nod before moving over and picking the Hive sword back up. Izuku took a deep breath and dug down into his supply of energy, wrangling all of what he had left.

"Crota! You coward! You speak of fighting with your own strength but hide behind your shield! Fight me head on, if you dare!"

Izuku didn't even really get a chance to realize how much of a bad idea calling the Crown Prince of the Hive a coward was before he was using a portal to dodge another swing of Crota's sword. He gave Mikumo a small glance back to check if he was all right and was glad to see that he had dodged as well.

"COWARD! COWARD! YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME IN SUCH A MANNER, FILTH?! I WILL SMITE YOU AND CLAIM BACK ALL OF THE POWER YOU STOLE!"

Izuku watched as Crota's shield fell before realizing that it hadn't fallen, exactly. Crota's sword had become a pillar of pure Darkness, glowing with fire of such potency that Izuku felt like his own was a drop in an ocean in comparison.

"DIE, HUMAN THIEF!"

As Crota reared his sword up, ready to swing his blade horizontally, Izuku, for a moment, felt the cold dread of his incoming death. Was this how it was going to end? At the hands of the Hive Prince?

Izuku couldn't think of a worse, or more fitting, end to his time in this reality.

- P

That noise…

Izuku opened his eyes and saw a small orb of Void Light at Crota's feet. Where had he seen that before?

"MIKUMO! IZUKU! GET HIM!"

As Yuura's voice washed over him, the ball of Void light activated, latching onto Crota's body with a purple tendril. Immediately, the glow of Crota's sword faded as the Hive Prince let out a roar that shook the very air around them.

Izuku could feel it. The Nightstalker's tether, suppressing Crota's attack, free to latch on with his shield down, relinquishing Crota of his indomitable defense and his unstoppable attack. Mikumo appeared at Izuku's side, sparkling with Arc energy.

"Izuku, with me! We're finishing this!"

Before Izuku even registered the words, he and Mikumo were sprinting forward towards the weakened Prince. Crota's armour was cracked, his glow was gone, and his flesh was twitching with exertion. Izuku knew they could do this.

A wave of Thralls appeared in front of Crota as a Wizard that the other Guardians were fighting noticed what was happening with their Prince. Izuku ignored them, jumping up and using the closest one as a springboard into the air, aiming directly for Crota's face.

Pain shot down his arm.

Mikumo appeared in the air to his right.

Pure darkness, everything Izuku had left, pooled into his fist, his entire body giving off ethereal green fire.

Mikumo's body sparked with more Arc energy than Izuku had ever seen a single Guardian use.

Both of them reared their fists back as they neared Crota's face, the Hive Prince staring up at them.

Izuku could smell the smallest seed of fear from the Prince, and it was heavenly. As the air in between Izuku and Mikumo's fist seemed to chill, the temperature between them dropping rapidly as the air seemed to crystallize as Izuku and Mikumo's powers intertwined, they finally reached Crota.

Emboldened by Crota's fear, Izuku let out a battle cry that was one of the things he could remember most of his old world.

"SMAAAAAAAAAASH!"

I got a commission to go with the end of this scene! Enjoy! Thank you to Celerior on Twitter!

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