"This is so fucking boring." Said one of the Yakuza guarding the gate.
"Hey, it's better than being on the inside." Said the other Yakuza.
"No fucking way!" The board Yakuza said. "You don't see anyone in there just standing around doing nothing."
"You wanna be in touching range of you know who, fine by me. I won't be the one cleaning you off the walls." Said the other Yakuza.
The complaining Yakuza thought about that for a moment, before saying. "You have a point."
"You fucking bet I do." Said now smug Yakuza. "Trust me, out here, is much, much safer."
BOOM!
The two men standing guard outside of the Yakuza base, died before even knew what happened, as a fiery blur crashed through the gate.
The blur suddenly stopped in the yard, and it was revealed to be none other than Izuku, atop his motorcycle.
"It's Ghost Rider!" One of the men shouted as the rest of his companions trembled in fear.
Izuku parked his vehicle and stepped off it. Walking towards the base entrance.
"H-hey. S-stop!" Shouted one of the men. He used his quirk to turn the leaves in a nearby bush razor-sharp, before launching them at Izuku.
The leaves burned to nothing the instant they touched him, and Izuku continued walking towards the base.
At this point, the leaf villain, and most of the other men, choose to run away. Izuku did not pursue them, their lives meant nothing to him. He was after Overhaul, and Overhaul alone.
Izuku was about to reach the entrance but, one Yakuza stood in his way.
"G-get back! I'm warning you!" The man said.
Izuku got closer, and out of fear, the man rushed him.
The Yakuza punched Izuku in the skull, but Izuku didn't even flinch.
Izuku's raised his arms, before plunging them through the man's chest and ripping him in two.
He threw the two man's halves aside and continued his march.
Izuku walked through the door, literally. Breaking through the walls as if they weren't even there.
The room on the inside looked like a dead end, but Izuku could sense Overhaul. He knew where he was. And how to get to him.
Meanwhile, with Overhaul.
Overhaul was finishing up his "harvest" when Chrono ran in. His face was covered by his mask but Overhaul could tell he was panicking.
"Ghost Rider!" He said, "Ghost Rider is here!"
Overhaul's eyes widened for a moment before he grit his teeth and cursed. "Shit. Get Shin and tell him to grab our money. Have some men get the boss out of here and send everyone we have at Midoriya."
"Do you think they can stop him?" Chrono asked.
"No." Overhaul answered as he put on his gloves and picked up the unconscious Eri. "But they can buy us time to escape."
Back with Izuku
Izuku easily broke through the secret entrance leading to the rest of the base, revealing a stampede of Yakuza coming towards him.
He and the heard of Yakuza met, but two of them attacked him, the rest ran past him, fleeing for their lives.
Izuku grabbed the two that attacked him by the throats, before burning their bodies to char.
He dropped the two burned corpses and continued on.
More and more men came at him, but most of them simply fled in terror. They saw what Ghost Rider had done to Tartarus. They knew they couldn't win. The few that attacked him were killed in seconds as Izuku continued his march towards Overhaul.
Back with Overhaul
Overhaul, Chrono, and Shin Nemoto ran down the escape hall. Chrono was looking at the camera's using his phone and growled as he saw his goons flee.
"Most of our men are fleeing," Chrono said.
"We'll take care of them later." Overhaul said. "Has anyone managed to slow him down?"
"Not at all," Chrono said. "But he's coming in contact with the trio of trash. They may be garbage, but at least they're strong."
Meanwhile back with Izuku.
Toya Setsuno, Yu Hojo, and Soramitsu Tabe stood in front of the slowly approaching Izuku.
"Ghost Rider! If you think you can pass us so easily you have another thing coming!" Yu shouted as he crystallized his body and charged at Izuku.
Izuku, not even bothering to stop, opened his mouth slightly, and let out a stream of flames, engulfing Yu and burning his flesh to ciders. When the flames ceased, there was nothing left but ash and crystals.
"You bastard!" Tabe said as he charged at Izuku. His jaw opened and ready to try and take a bite out of Izuku.
Try being the keyword.
Tabe bit down on Izuku's skull, breaking his teeth and setting him on fire.
"AHHH!" AHHHH!" Tabe yelled as the fire quickly spread over his whole body, killing him in seconds.
Toya trembled in fear. His quirk was useless on Izuku, so all he could do was hold out a knife and stand his ground.
When Izuku came close, Toya prepared himself for death and tried to stab Izuku, but Izuku simply grabbed his head and slammed it into a wall so hard it exploded. Sending brains and blood all over the corridor.
"What loyalty," Zarathos whispered inside Izuku's head. "Look at how very throw themselves to their deaths so willingly for that man. That man who tortures children. That man kills children."
Izuku's anger rose, as he continued deeper into the facility.
Back with Overhaul
"They're dead!" Chrono shouted.
"That was only forty seconds!" Shin said.
"Ghost Rider is stronger than we first thought. The rest of them might not even be able to slow him down." Overhaul said.
"What if he catches up to us?" Chrono asked.
"If that happens, then you take Eri and run. Shin and I will fight him." Overhaul said. "I have a plan."
Back with Izuku
Izuku continued trudging through the dark halls of the Yakuza base when suddenly the walls started twisting and turning, shifting around and making Izuku lose his footing.
Then the wall itself attacked Izuku, pushing him through another wall into one of the Yakuza's many hidden rooms.
"He's finally here!" Shouted Kendo Rappa. "Finally. Time for the fight of a lifetime!"
"More like the fight of our deaths." Said Hekiji Tengai. "Be focused. We must buy as much time as possible. Fight until you die."
"I know you can see their souls," Zarathos said to Izuku. "You know that they know what he's doing. You know that they don't care. You know that they've killed for him. That man. That monster. He even sent them to die and they follow orders like dogs."
"Speak for yourselves!" The huge man, known as Rikiya Katsukame shouted. "I'm gonna turn this guy into powder."
Rikiya charged at Izuku, his huge body towering over Izuku.
Izuku, without hesitation, formed a shotgun in his hand and pulled the trigger.
BOOM!
The blast went right through Rikiya's chest, creating a massive hole in the man's torso. Killing him instantly.
His charging body fell, sliding right until it reached Izuku's feet.
"Damn it. That's one down already." Tengai said. "Sakaki! Are you even using your quirk on him!"
Hanging from the pipes on the ceiling was Deidoro Sakaki, drinking alcohol and attempting to use his quirk. "Heyyy! You know hooowwww haard it is to get a skeleton drunk?!"
"Gah. Then his quirk is useless against him." Tengai said. "Rappa. We need to stay together and-"
"Hey, he's running away!" Rappa pointed out.
Izuku ignored them completely, climbing back out of the hole that was made when he was thrown through the wall.
"He must be going after Overhaul!" Tangai shouted.
"Heeeeeey!" Sakaki shouted. "Get back here and fight usss!"
Sakaki threw a bottle at Izuku's head, doing nothing.
"He's right! Fight us like a man!" Rappa shouted, charging forward and releasing a barrage of punches.
The punches landed, hitting Izuku in the back, which of course, did nothing.
Pest! Izuku thought.
Getting progressively more irritated, Izuku opened his mouth, but rather than a stream of flames, a swarm of locusts flew out.
"What the-" Rappa said as he was covered in Locust.
Then-
BOOM!
All the Locust on Rappa's body suddenly exploded, sending blood flying everywhere.
Sakaki looked at the swarm that was now headed this way, and the only thing he could say as the bugs started latching to him was. "Well, this is bullshit."
BOOM!
With blood and guts falling from the ceiling and a swarm of death bugs heading towards him, Tengai knew he was about to die.
He put up a barrier, in an attempt to buy himself time.
He could see through the barrier that Izuku was leaving. He had to do something, anything to slow him down.
"You were quirkless once were you not? Midoriya Izuku '' Tengai shouted as the bugs landed on his shield. "You, more than anyone should want to see Overhaul succeed. He's making something that can take quirks! He can make others go through what you did."
Izuku ignored him.
BOOM!
The bugs exploded, breaking the barrier instantly and leaving Tengai open to the rest of the swarm.
The Locust came at him and Tengai managed to quickly put up another barrier.
"O-or maybe he can help you get rid of your quirk!" Tengai said. "I know you don't want it! The police reports say that it's making you kill! We can help you!"
It was unfortunate that he didn't know that Izuku still had no quirk, and thus no quirk remover would work on him.
BOOM!
His shield was shattered once again and the swarm rushed him.
He put up another barrier, blocking the bugs once more.
All but one. One bug slipped through before Tengai could put up his barrier, and landed right on his face.
BOOM!
His head burst open like a watermelon briefly splattering blood and bits of brain along the inside of the barrier before the barrier dissipated.
And with that, Izuku moved on. Not looking back.
Back with Overhaul
The three of them, and Eri, have almost reached the exit.
"They're all dead," Chrono said. "Mimic's the only one left."
"This doesn't make any sense," Shin said. "Why would Midoriya Izuku be attacking us? Our criminal activities aren't public so why would he suddenly attack us?"
"We are a designated villain group, and Midoriya is a villain who kills villains." Overhaul pointed out. "It doesn't matter if there isn't any proof, he'll act if he thinks we're up to something."
"Then why is he only after us?" Chrono asked. "Very few people make it out of a Ghost Rider attack, but Midoriya is letting anyone who doesn't attack him go. Even Tengai who tried to stop him was spared. What does he have against us specifically?"
Overhaul thought about that question for a second, before looking down at Eri, who was beginning to stir in his arm. "Maybe it's not us he's after. But her. When I paid off those officers to have a look at Midoriya's files, I found that the kid had been infected with the disease called heroism, despite his quirklessness. If he somehow found out about Eri, then maybe he's trying to get her."
"Then maybe we should just leave her here for him," Chrono said.
Overhaul gave Chrono a deadly glare. "Absolutely not. She is necessary for my plans to succeed."
"You can't see your plans through if you're dead!" Chrono pointed out.
"Like I said. I have a plan." Overhaul said.
Back with Izuku.
Izuku was getting very, very annoyed. And with Zarathos subtle manipulation of his emotions, that annoyance, turned to anger.
The walls and floor kept twisting and turning, making it hard to stand and impossible for him to continue.
Izuku raised his hand and unleashed a massive torrent of flames at the walls that were raised to try and stop him, melting through them like nothing, making a clear path for Izuku to progress.
Until Mimic raised some more walls to block Izuku's way.
"GAHHHHHH!" Izuku shouted in rage.
"Sit tight Ghost Rider! You ain't going anywhere!" Mimic shouted through the walls.
"What are you doing?" Zarathos said. "I thought you wanted to save the girl, and make that man pay? He's getting away! He's already left this place! He has the girl with him, can't you feel her terror? Get rid of this pest and save her!"
His anger growing, Izuku decided to run through the walls in front of him.
THROOM! THROOM! THROOM!
Mimic started to panic as he saw Izuku run through his walls, he had to stop him. At any cost.
In a last-ditch effort, Mimic made all the walls, floor, and ceiling, close in on Izuku attempting, in vain, to crush him.
"I'll never let you anywhere near the boss! Never!" Mimic shouted, squeezing Izuku tightly inside the building.
"...Why?" Izuku said.
"Huh?" Mimic responded.
"Why do you all defend that monster?! Despite knowing what he's done?!" Izuku shouted as his body started glowing brighter and brighter."I can see your soul! You respect him! You admire him! All of you did! You all disgust me! I'm going to save that girl! No matter what you do! NOW GET OUT OF MY WAY!"
Izuku's flames glowed brighter and brighter, until Mimic, and the entire facility was enveloped in Izuku's rage.
Back with Overhaul.
The three Yakuza had managed to escape through the secret emergency exit and were now walking through the city's shady alleyways, not really wanting to be seen holding an unconscious little girl while dressed like villains.
KABOOM!
The ground shook and the people trembled, as a massive explosion erupted from the Yakuza's base.
The people around the three villains started shouting and panicking, wondering what the hell was that.
All the commotion caused Eri to wake up.
"What's h-happening?" Eri asked.
Overhaul gave her a disgusted glare. "You've caused more deaths."
Eri gave Overhaul a horrified look and whimpered in fear.
"I'm guessing that means mimic is dead." Overhaul said, not showing a sign of remorse after sending all his followers to die.
"At least they bought us time to get away," Chrono said. "We need to lay low."
"Agreed," Shin said. "We need to go somewhere he won't find us. Maybe-"
FWOOSH
All four of them froze as they heard the sound of roaring fire behind them.
Overhaul turned his head and saw a ring of fire had formed, and on the other side of the ring was nothing but emerald flames.
Then, a skeletal leg stepped out from the portal, then a boney arm emerged, and then, Izuku walked out of the flames.
"You," Izuku said. His face was emotionless as usual, but they could feel the sheer hatred that was emitting from Izuku. Hatred that was aimed directly at Overhaul.
The few people that were in the alleyways fled, running as far as they could from the terrifying teen.
Chrono and Shin tried to step in between Izuku and Overhaul, but Overhaul stopped them. Holding Eri tightly to his chest, while disassembling the glove on his other hand.
"Hey there. Let's calm down, and talk this out." Overhaul said calmly. "Afterall, you wouldn't' want her to get hurt right?"
This made Izuku stop. Seeing Eri managed to bring Izuku back to his senses somewhat, keeping him from immediately attacking Overhaul.
That quirk. It looks like it can take apart whatever he touches. If he put his hand on her...Izuku stayed still.
"Good." Overhaul said. "Now I'm going to offer you a deal. I'm going to give her to you. And in exchange, you let us live."
Izuku glared at Overhaul, not that he could tell. Deep down, Izuku still didn't really want to kill Overhaul, although thanks to Zarathos, that desire changed almost constantly as he kept imagining that man coming closer to Eri, wielding a needle.
But...with the girl safe in his arms, he might be able to subdue his rage long enough to let the man live, although he sure as hell wasn't letting his getaway, and he might hurt him a bit afterward.
Izuku nodded and held out his arms, silently demanding the girl.
The two men looked at their boss with confusion. He had been so deadset about not handing the girl over to Ghost Rider, and now it seems that his secret plan was to hand the girl over to Ghost Rider?
Overhaul walked over to Izuku, holding Eri out while keeping his open hand close to her face.
As Eri came closer and closer to the scary skeleton boy, she didn't know how to feel exactly. She was scared. She was always scared so that was nothing new. But she didn't know if she should be more, or less scared of Izuku. He looked very, very scary, but could he hurt her the same way Overhaul did? Would he kill her over and over again trapping her in a never-ending nightmare? Probably not. He would probably just kill her. At least then her nightmare would be over.
Eri was practically in Izuku's grasp now. She was surprised by how nice and not harmful his flames were. They felt...warm. Pleasant. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad, maybe he was just scary looking and that he would be much nicer than Overhaul. Maybe the nightmare really was over.
Then she saw it. Overhaul's hand, he was reaching for Izuku's arm.
"Run!" Eri shouted.
But it was too late, Overhaul touched Izuku's arm.
POOF
Izuku's skeletal body exploded into dust, with only fire where he once stood remaining.
"AH!" Overhaul shouted, as touching the flames instantly set his hand on fire. Before the fire could spread far, Overhaul disassembled his arm, before reassembling it, good as new.
Eri fell to the floor, face-first into the pile of fire and dust that was once Izuku. She sat up and looked in horror at the remains.
"N-no." She whispered. Someone else died. Because of her. She didn't know how, or why, but she knew it was her fault. It was all her fault. She was a-
"Cursed child." Overhaul said.
Eri's eyes widened with fear as Overhaul's shadow loomed over her. She turned her head and saw Overhauls enraged expression.
"You tried to warn him, didn't you?" Overhaul said. "You tried to get me killed. You know it's your fault he's dead right? He died trying to get you. Him, and all my men. They all died because of you. You little monster."
Overhaul leaning down towards her, extending his ungloved hand. "You need to be punished."
Eri crawled away in fear, as Overhaul slowly followed her until she hit a wall.
"You seem to have forgotten. You are a cursed child. A monster that causes nothing but pain and death. This pain, Is what you deserve." Overhaul said as his hand closed in on Eri's face.
Eri closed her eyes and prepared to die. Over, and over again.
Then, right before the Overhaul's hand reached her, the flames where Izuku once stood exploded upwards, and chains flew out of it and wrapped around Overhaul's wrist.
"What!" He shouted. "HOW!?"
"How dare you." Responded Izuku's voice, now deeper, and angrier than ever. "HOW DARE YOU!"
The ground trembled and shook. And the skies darkened as storm clouds came from nowhere and began covering the sky.
The pillar of flames quickly grew larger, and larger, until it was the size of a small building, towering over the small alleyway.
In the flames, something started to form, and in less than three seconds, Izuku had not only reformed himself but grew larger than the surrounding buildings.
More chains flew out of Izuku's body, quickly wrapping themselves around Overhaul. First around his wrist and arms keeping him from moving his hands, then around the rest of his body, before hoisting him up into the air, leaving them face to face.
"Boss!" Chrono and Shin shouted. They tried to attack Izuku, Chrono using his quirk and Shin using his gun. But it was a futile endeavor.
"YOU KILL! YOU TORTURE! YOU SEND LOYAL MEN TO DIE AND YOU HAVE THE NERVE TO CALL A DEFENSELESS LITTLE GIRL A MONSTER!" Izuku was angrier than he had ever been in his life, and Zarathos barely had to tamper with his emotions this time. Flames flew out of Izuku's gigantic maw, flying inches away from Overhaul. "THERE ARE ONLY TWO MONSTERS HERE! YOU! AND ME!"
"You want to hurt him right?" Zarathos said to Izuku. "You want to make him suffer. Make him go through everything he's put her through."
"YES!" Izuku roared. All thoughts of sparing this man, no...this monster had left. All Izuku wanted right now was to make, him, hurt!
"We can do that," Zarathos told him. "Just look at him. Right in the eyes."
For once, Izuku did exactly what Zarathos told him, and held Overhaul up to his eyes, staring at him.
Overhaul was scared. And fear was not something he was used to. He was used to being in charge, being strong, being powerful.
But here, staring death in the eye. He was powerless.
And that's when hellfire latched onto his soul. The fire in Izuku's eyes swirled, and pain engulfed the sinful man.
"AHHHHHH! AHHHHHH!" Overhaul screamed in pain. He felt like he was being torn apart, over and over again, like he was using his quirk on his whole body times a thousand. He could hear screams, so many screams, all of them felt so familiar. The boss, Eri, the henchmen he killed, the people he tortured. They were all screaming at him, cursing him. Their hatred sinking into his body and burning his soul.
New emotions he's never felt, guilt, remorse, regret, all filled him at once, as tears slid down from his eyes.
In his last moments, he could feel his life fading away. All he could think was, Boss. I'm sorry.
Overhaul...no, Kai Chisaki's eyes burned, reducing them to pure black sockets as his soul left his body. Leaving his body a lifeless husk.
Izuku looked at the lifeless body of Overhaul and felt...at ease. It was over. He was dead. He couldn't hurt anyone, ever again.
Calming down slightly, Izuku retracted the chains around Overhaul back into his body, letting his corpse fall to the floor.
As Izuku shrunk back to normal size Chrono and Shin ran over to Chisaki's body.
"Kai! Kai!" Chrono said as he looked at the lifeless body of his friend.
"His eyes," Shin said.
Chrono looked at Izuku, who was now back to normal size, with rage in his eyes. "You bastard!"
Using his quirk he sent his razor-sharp hair at Izuku, but it did nothing but bounce off his skull. He tried again and again but to no avail.
Izuku looked at his "attacker's" soul. He saw rage, sorrow, giraffe, loyalty. Loyalty to a monster.
"They let him hurt her. They're still loyal to him. If you let them live they will hunt her down, and hurt her." Zarathos said to him. "Kill them. Keep her safe."
Filled with the desire to kill and protect, Izuku raised his arm and aimed at the two followers.
Then he heard it.
Crying.
He looked behind him and saw Eri, curled up into a ball against the cold brick wall. Crying.
The intense fear and sadness on her face were clear for all to see, as tears ran down her cheeks like a waterfall and he could faintly hear her say, "My fault."
And just like that, the trance was broken. All the rage and anger drained from his body, and the villains around him faded from his attention until all he saw was a scared helpless girl, crying in an alleyway.
Izuku slowly approached the girl but when she saw him get close she back away, looking at him with fear in her eyes, as if certain that he was going to kill her.
He saw her eyes quickly dart behind him before looking back at him, and when Izuku looked back, he saw his work. Overhaul's dead, lifeless body.
I-I...I killed him. Izuku thought.
This time wasn't like all the others. It wasn't Zarathos forcing his rage onto Izuku, making his body perform these horrible deeds like a puppet. This time, Izuku was in control, kind of. It was like a trance, he stormed through Yakuza base in a haze. He wanted to kill Overhaul and save Eri so much that he did whatever he could to get close to him, tearing apart anything and anyone without a thought. And then when he got to Overhaul his rage was so strong that he barely hesitated to kill the man.
Zarathos was undoubtedly messing with his mind, but it was Izuku doing. It was Izuku's rage and Izuku's actions. And no matter how much Zarathos was messing with his head, that was all that mattered to Izuku.
Chrono saw that Izuku was looking at Overhaul's body in a somewhat remorseful way, and became enraged. "Don't act like you sorry! Don't act you're innocent! You killed him! You killed them all! You called him a monster! Your one too! You're just as bad as him, no worse! You kill without reason! Without cause! You're a demon! A DEMON!"
Izuku couldn't deny most of what he said. He was a monster, he was a demon. HE was the one who killed these people, with his own rage. He was a murderer.
But...was he worse than Overhaul? When he did...whatever he did to Overhaul that killed him, Izuku got to see every sin the man had ever committed.
Izuku did consider himself a monster, one who murdered criminals by the hundreds at this point...but was that really worse than someone who'd killed dozens of innocent people for his own gain, manipulated people into blindly following him, and put his father figure in a comma so he could do horrible inhumane things to his extremely young granddaughter?
He remembered seeing what Overhaul did to Eri from her perspective and feeling the pain he'd caused her.
"No," Izuku said.
He then made two chains come out of his hand, and wrapped them around the two villains, trapping them.
"Gah! Damn you!" Shin shouted.
Izuku ignored them and focused on Eri, who was still looking, fearfully, at him.
Slowly and carefully Izuku approached her. One he reacher her, he kneeled down and very slowly brought his arms around her.
Eri closed her eyes and once again prepared for death.
But death did not come for her.
Instead, when he touched her, she felt that feeling of comforting warmth once more.
Eri was confused, why wasn't she dead? Why did this fire feel so nice? Why did these arms feel so...kind?
Then she heard something, the sound of flesh growing and moving around and when she opened her eyes, the skeleton boy with the green flames was gone, and instead stood a kind-looking, green-haired boy. And even though the flames were gone, she could still feel that kind, comforting warmth in his arms.
"I'm sorry you had to see that," Izuku said to her. "You've been through a lot. You've suffered more than anyone should ever have to. But I'm going to make sure that no one ever hurts you again."
His words were so kind. Eri couldn't remember the last time she heard kind words.
She found herself instinctively clinging to him, crying into his shoulder.
Izuku pet the back of her head in a soothing manner. He could blame himself later. But right now he had a chance to do some good. And he'd be damned a second time if he let that chance go.
"I'm a demon," Izuku said to the defeated villains. "But I'm not as bad as him. I don't hurt children."
And with that, he ran. With Eri safely in his arms.
Say so to explain something.
1:Why didn't Izuku just make a portal to Overhaul in the first place, rather than storming through the entire Yakuza base? Answer: You can chalk that up to Zarathos's influence, higher chance of killing more people if Izuku storms the base.
2:Why did Izuku let some people go? He was acting differently in this chapter. Answer: Basically, Zarathos was trying a new approach. Rather than filling Izuku with his rage and hoping he'd just give in and kill people, he's enhancing and exploiting Izuku's own rage and his sense of justice to get Izuku to kill these people. In the end, he could convince Izuku to kill the child torturing Overhaul and he could make Izuku careless about the people who got in his way, but for the guys who were fleeing it would be harder for him to convince Izuku, and if Izuku resisted enough it might have broken him out of his murder trance.
3: Izuku's too op! Answer: Don't worry Izuku has weaknesses, and soon those weaknesses will be exposed. This story has only just begun.
Basically, Zarathos used brute force. It's not very effective. Zarathos used subtle manipulation. It's super effective.
That's it for now. If you have any questions then just put them in the reviews. If you see any mistakes then just tell me and I'll fix them as soon as I can. Thanks for reading.