Blood tanged the inside of his mouth as he was hoisted up by one hand and pinned against the wall. Turning his head, he spat out the chunk of flesh he had bitten off the inside of his cheek. If Azem cared, she didn't show it, fist clenched even with her head and covered with a pair of knuckle dusters, "What the SEVEN HELLS are you asking me to consider, Hades?"
Oh, oh no. They had moved to personal names. This wasn't good…
"XXXXX," he spat out around the pooling blood, "We have no other option."
"No other, no other-" He was thrown across the room and over his desk, knocking the antique lamp some well-wisher had given him over to shatter with a crash, "NO OTHER!?"
"Yesh," he said, staggering upright in time for the _ to charge at him, sliding over the desk and swinging a fist for his nose. He caught it, and the follow up-[/I]
Izuku caught the growing dragon with shaking feet, beating Zalera's black wings to stabilize himself as he grabbed Zenos by the throat and span like a vortex, smashing him straight through the solid meteorite and to the edge of the artificial lake of the flood zone-
He didn't stop the headbutt that shattered his nose, letting go of the fists and throwing up a barrier as black as pitch.
"Lahabreah," he gurgled out, snorting out a wad of blood and cartilage, "Fandanel, Emmerololf-"
"Heal your fucking nose already," XXXXX snapped, "I'm not letting you play the victim here, Hades! What did Hephaestus and Hermes say?"
"That this will give us a chance!" He snapped, his nose returning to place with a crack as he applied some basic conjury to it.
"By giving up half the people we swore, I swore to protect to die like lambs to the slaughter!" He clenched his fist as she approached, baring her teeth in a snarl.
And sent a torrent of black flames flying at Zenos, only for them to wash across the scales like water over pebbles, causing Izuku's breath to quaver. Zenos raised his left paw, and the ground shook as the waterline suddenly began to recede, creating an artificial bubble of water in the far corner of the lake that was growing bigger and bigger with every passing second. He was going to flood the USJ… He was gonna-
"-DO WHAT WE HAVE TO!" He yelled at XXXXX, throwing a piece of the broken lamp at her head. She shattered it without even looking, her hardened skin unharmed.
"Have to! Have to! Is that what you actually think, Hades, or just what you're telling yourself!?"
"It's a fact, _! We don't have time to find another solution unless you have one right here, right now! The Terminus are appearing IN Amaurot! We've all been running ourselves ragged looking for a solution and this is the only one we have! We can't rely on some idealistic "maybe" answer to save the day when the fate of the Star is in the balance! So if you have another answer, give it to me. Please! Please give me another option than this, _. I don't want to give up Hythlodaeus anymore than you do, but-"
"WHAT!?" XXXXX thundered, lunging across the gap and reintroducing the back of Hades's head to the wall in a shower of stars.
"You, you didn't know?"
"I was angry about Themis," XXXXX snarled, "I am now, one step short of APOPLECTIC, HADES. WHAT. DID. YOU. JUST. SAY!?
Izuku/Zalera threw up the biggest barrier he could as quickly as he could as the wave crashed home. It held, just for a second, before it gave out like a dam would when a tidal wave hit it.
He staggered, wings falling to the side as his body gave out under him and his heart stopped pumping empty air through his veins. The paused curtain resumed its fall as the wave approached. Darkness began to overtake him, the warm, inviting feeling of Aether beginning to swirl around him.
"Hythlodaeus agreed, that to show that we were dedicated to impartiality, he would be among the sacrificed-"
Hades didn't get any further as XXXXX knocked several teeth down his throat. He would be hard pressed to say he didn't deserve it as she dropped him on the ground like the sack of shite he felt like and stormed out without another word or so much as a glance backwards.
— X Ochako X—
Ochako moved into action as soon as the wave began to form, touching Alisaie, Ojiro and Ashido and throwing them into the air before running towards Izuku. The wings on his back were molting horribly, the skeleton on his arm cracking and disinteresting as the glyph on his face flickered in and out of existence. A shadowy portal opened in front of her as she juked around it, planting a hand on Izuku's back and throwing him into the air.
Turning to the last person on the floor of the USJ, she met the eyes of the monster holding Aizawa-Sensei down, heart hammering in her chest. How was she supposed to get passed i-?
The monster took off suddenly, passing by Ochako without even making a swipe at her and wrapping the blue haired villain in an all consuming hug. Ochako took off towards Aizawa, when-
"A tidal wave, huh?" Thirteen rushed between the encroaching wave and everyone and firmly planted her feet. She held out both hands with the fingers spread, the caps on each one flipping up as she did, "I can't say I've ever tried to disintegrate a tidal wave before, but, here goes nothing! Black Hole!"
Ten streams of air began to hiss as Black Hole activated, then water was pulled in, slowly at first but quickly building up speed until the entire tsunami was swallowed by the Space Hero's Quirk. The boat from the shipwreck zone smashed into the ground and crumpled under it's own weight. Ochako watched her Hero deactivate Black Hole with an open mouth, how did Thirteen get cooler?
"Ochako," Alisaie called, voice unusually soft as Ochako let her and Izuku land, "He's cooling down."
"What?"
"His body heat is dropping," Alisaie said, cradling Izuku close. Weak breaths came from the boy, and as Ochako got closer, she saw his skin was still pale and clammy.
"Give him," Aizawa grunted, struggling up with one closed eye and breathing in, blood slicking his hair "give him here. Thirteen, I need to get Midoriya back to Recovery Girl, stat. Can you-?"
"There's no need," a deep voice boomed, and Ochako's heart soared, as she turned to see All Might walking down the stares of the USJ, tossing his suit jacker aside, "I am here now Take young Uraraka and Leveilleur with you as you go, Thirteen, you drive. I'll deal with these villains."
"Finally, the dragon growled, flapping its wings, "Kurogiri. Open a portal to UA. Let the children go."
"What-?" The blue haired man snapped, "Why would we do that? All Might-"
"Is here," the dragon said, "let them go, Shigaraki. There is no point in keeping them here, and I want to see how this story continues."
"Like we'd trust you," Aizawa snarled, tearing off his scarf and wrapping it as tightly around Izuku's chest as he could to slow the bleeding, "Everyone, back to the bus, we have wounded that can't wait! All Might-?"
"The other Heroes are on the way," All Might said with a thumbs up, "anyone who doesn't get out this time will get out with the second wave. Make sure Young Midoriya survives today."
"Understood," Aizawa said, moving as quickly as he could without jarring Izuku. Ochako followed along with Alisaie, worry gnawing at her gut as she watched the white capture scarf stain red. Was- was it possible for them to get back to UA in time to keep Izuku alive?
— X Zenos X—
"Well then," Zenos drawled, watching the boy vanish through the doorway without any further stalling. He spread his wings wide, gathering flames in his jaw as he went, "Let us commence our battle, All Might!"
Hellfire washed across the arena, before being cut in two by a blade of wind from a karate chop. The next thing Zenos knew, the small form of All Might was in his guard, slamming both fists into him in a hammerblow that cracked his scales.
Yes…
Lunging down, Zenos snapped his mouth shut around All Might, tasting shoe leather on his tongue as hands slammed into the roof of his mouth. All Might began to strain to keep the mouth open as Zenos gathered another torrent of flame and blasted him straight out of his mouth and across the now empty artificial lake. All Might slammed into the wall as metal and glass warped and melted to slag around him.
"Is that," All Might flexed, [I]flexed[/I], the flames away from him and lowered himself, vanishing as the flames closed back in. The next thing Zenos knew, his mouth was being slammed shut as All Might landed on it with a thud that echoed inside his skull, '"The best you got, big guy?"
"No," Zenos growled, pink eyes glowing as he tossed All Might into the air and took off after him, the flames coiling from his mouth condensing to a single point of plasma. Flying past All Might, Zenos fired the protostar at him and slammed him into the ground. Grabbing the energy below All Might, Zenos set off an eruption of magma right under the World's Symbol of Peace. All Might was gone by the time the eruption went off.
Glancing up, Zenos batted aside the boat All Might had thrown at him… only for a small gnat with ash blonde hair to leap out of it, cupping his hands and causing a weak detonation in Zenos's left eye. Hissing, Zenos closed it and used his wing to bash the boy away from him, feeling several ribs collapse as he did.
"Young Bakugo!" All Might leapt in between the missile and the wall, catching him and placing him on the ground, "What were you doing in there, why didn't you get out while it was safe?
"I wanted to help you," Bakugo said, coiling around his chest, "You can't- can't-"
"Nomu," Tomura said, "get the brat."
The Nomu rushed forwards, only for All Might to pull Bakugo behind him and catch the charge without missing a beat.
Zenos cracked upon his jaw and breathed flames right onto the clashing titans.
— X Chapter Name X—
Chapter 9 Part 1, Death Seraph and Angel of Truth, Titan's Clash, part one.
— X AN X—
Right, so after sitting on most of this for three months, I figured I'd post it now since I'm about to take a large hiatus.
So the fact that Izuku was a reincarnation of post-death Hades instead of Azem has actually been implied throughout the story up to this point (Izuku wears a red mask like Emet, tends to evoke spells by snapping his fingers like Emet to list two examples). While he had a few traits I think people just assumed me adding my like of Emet on him, I think the exact moment I decided to actively stop hiding it was actually last chapter. Izuku's pithy one liner about wanting the falling curtain to pause is actually a direct reference to the poem from 'Ere our Curtains Fall, Hades's Tale from the Shadows.
Now my charms are all o'erthrown,
And what strength I have's mine own,
Which is most faint, as is my breath
That quavers here at brink of death.
'Twas e'er my fate to wager all
For that which wrought my brothers' fall,
And thus the aether beckons me
To depths of black eternity,
To dream of things long lost and gone,
And futures which might yet be won─
Though not by me, lest you mistake,
For others wait, the stage to take,
And while their worth is far from sure,
I bid the falling curtain─pause.
Let "encore" be my final word,
Their epilogue to death preferred
