Finally, here's the actual conclusion of this Arc! I hope you like it because I sure do! Like last chapter, I'm also pretty satisfied with this one. There will be a lot of (*) in this chapter. Everything will be explained in the too-dang-long ending note, but it's not that important so you may skip it if you don't want to read it. Enjoy this really long chapter (6,3K words!), everyone!
Also, funny story, I was listening to "tanh1" from Thunderbolt Fantasy OST on repeat during the beginning in this chapter and I thought, 'well now, that's pretty badass!' and then when I reread it again without the music that scene became so much tamer I got confused lol.
Warning: I only checked everything once so don't complain about grammar being off. Sorry for that!
No. 8 A Promise
She had to… cheat then, Ryouka thought.
The ruby on her chest glowed a pale light in response to her thoughts, already filling with her magic so that she could use it in a moment's notice. She glanced at Midoriya, Asui, and the other kid, and took a deep breath seeing them trying to run away to a safe distance as she walked towards Aizawa's bloodied form.
Okay. She couldn't go the subtler route then.
As she healed Aizawa, she wracked her brain. Now how should she do this? She needed something flashy that would draw everyone's eyes on her so that no one will pay attention on the kids or Aizawa. Something flashy, but quick and wouldn't put her pendant under too much pressure.
Coming to a decision, she let her magic rush across her entire body—filling in every space from her head to the very tips of her toes, enhancing them with her own rendition of Light Shield to strengthen her body and make it impervious to most harm as well as Wings of God to make her movements as fast and as light as the wind.*
She stood back up and casted a dome of Borg to protect Aizawa, before she took a deep breath and smirked at the furious Villains.*
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"Come at me, Shigaraki!"
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Ryouka yelled, cracking her knuckles, fire gathering on her hands as the Noumu ran towards her in a speed that could only be described as inhuman.
Not intimidated by the display of strength, Ryouka jumped forward, rushing towards it to meet it halfway before she punched hard on its chest with her burning hand. A burst of fire exploded upon contact and engulfed both of them, the force of her punch caused the Noumu to skid a few meters back.
Ryouka watched as her fire danced on the monster's black skin, seemingly burning the monster, but a moment later the Noumu had recovered and came running after her again.
Ryouka clicked her tongue as she jumped back to evade its attacks. Her Wildfire Stance was one of the most powerful close range fighting style she knew. It was capable of destroying a Magitek Armor with only one hit and yet it did virtually no damage to the Noumu even with her currently enhanced strength.*
Resistant to blunt force then. Probably shock absorbent.
"Noumu…!" Shigaraki hissed, raising his arm towards her.
Ryouka glanced at him. The Villain looked pissed—probably displeased that his toy still haven't caught her yet even though it was supposed to be a weapon that could kill All Might.
Responding to its master's unspoken command, the Noumu tried to catch her, but she leapt back just in time and the Noumu ended up crushing the floor where she just stood at. It ran after her, trying to attack again, but thanks to Wings of God, Ryouka was faster than the monster's speed.
If blunt force didn't work, she thought as she continued to evade the Noumu's punches. Let's try something sharper then.
Sidestepping the Noumu's attack, she plucked a strand of her hair and transfigured the strand into a slender one-handed sword.
Ignoring Shigaraki's disbelieve and aggravation at her casual display of magic, Ryouka dived forward and swung her sword at the Noumu who tried to evade her attacks at first, but seeing how fast she was it quickly abandoned the idea and just put up its hands to block them.
Her call was right then—sharp objects worked better as she could see the inches deep gash her sword left on its hands, yet similarly to the time when she punched it earlier, the Noumu acted like as if it wasn't hurt at all.
Incredibly thick skin then, or maybe high muscle density.
That would explain its power and why it seemed like it didn't have the ability to feel pain.
She took advantage of its defensive stance to inflict as many hits as she could—leaving behind tiny gashes across the monster's arms and legs, but suddenly the Noumu swung its arms at her. Too late to jump back, Ryouka crossed her arms to protect her head.
The hit sent her flying. She faintly heard someone calling out her name in terror, but she ignored it as she contorted her body in the air so she could land somewhat safely on her feet and ended up sliding several meters across the floor, mostly unharmed excluding the blood dripping down from her forehead and the dull throbbing on both her arms.
She wiped the blood with her sleeve. If she hadn't cast Light Shield on herself earlier, it probably won't just be a cut there on her forehead and her arms probably would be in the same state as Aizawa's earlier.
What a terrifying creature.
"You're incredible, Spring of Life… but it's useless," Shigaraki said, amusement clear in his voice as he motioned for the Noumu to come back to his side. "No matter how much cheat you used, you won't be able to beat it. We made it specifically for the sole purpose of killing All Might, you know?"
"Wanna bet on that?" Ryouka replied dryly from across the plaza, ignoring his taunt.
Glancing to the side, she saw that Asui had managed to take Midoriya and the Grape-Boy to a safer distance and away from the blue-haired Villain. Another glance saw Aizawa lying on the floor protected by the Borg that she casted on him earlier, safe but unconscious.
They were safe now, but as long as the Villains were here, they won't be completely safe.
She focused back to her opponent as she casted a Cura on herself to relieve the pain on her arms.
Ryouka couldn't afford to lose now—not with Aizawa injured, the children in danger, and help still so far away. Even if she couldn't win, she had to at least stall until the other teachers came for them. Sharp object was effective, but she wasn't strong enough even with her enhanced strength.
And she was getting tired too.
On top of having her energy sapped awayby the use of her Quirk, she had been moving around a lot. She might not seem like she was tired, but she was.
She had to end the fight quickly.
Shit. Why did she forbid All Might to come here again? Oh right, it was because the idiot just had to waste his Three Hours to solve miniscule incidents instead of saving it for actually important Villain fights like, you know, the one she was having right now.
"Why don't you just give it up?" Shigaraki continued, waving his hand to make the Noumu stay still as he talk. "We'll still accept you even if you cheated and acted rebelliously like this, you know."
"Shut up, I'm thinking."
Ryouka had something in mind that could potentially kill the monster in an instant, but she couldn't do such a large-scale offensive spell right now. Not only that the spell took time to cast, the focus she had was too weak—it would break under such power and breaking it wasn't an option she could take right now.
Well, she could do it without a focus of course, but it would take longer than it should if done with one and she need someone to distract the Noumu while she did it. She wasn't going to risk one of the kids, obviously, and Aizawa was in no condition to do it for her so that idea was a no go.
Alright. Let's try that again, then.
Sharp objects clearly worked, but it only did a little damage even with her enhanced strength. Well, if her own body wasn't enough, why don't we try using the cheat on her weapon too?
The pendant on her chest glowed as she bathed the sword with her magic before she rushed at the monster again. Shigaraki clicked his tongue without any real heat at her stubbornness and yelled for the Noumu to capture her again, but she was determined to end this fight quickly before she ran out of energy.
Deftly evading the its punches, Ryouka rolled sideways and jumped backwards to get out of the Noumu's range before she threw the sword at its head.
The Noumu dodged the sword easily, but impaling its head wasn't her intention anyway. Instead, she pulled with her magic and suddenly she was in the air—clutching at the handle of the sword, having warped there following the trajectory of the thrown blade, leaving behind particles of light in her path.*
Holding the sword above her head, she took advantage of the element of surprise and swung the sword as hard as she could as she came down, slashing across the Noumu's chest—effectively cleaving the monster's body into two and leaving only a tiny section of its midsection attached.
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Blood spurted from the large gap she left in the Noumu's body, dying her pure white costume with the color red, but she paid it no mind as she jumped back to avoid being crushed by the Noumu's falling body. Not a second later, the Noumu's body fell onto the floor with a loud sound that resonated loudly in the silence of the plaza.
Not seeing any more movement from the body, Ryouka finally relaxed her hands slightly. They were trembling a bit, having overexerting her body beyond her current body's limit.
Thank goodness it worked, Ryouka thought tiredly.
She didn't know what she would have done if it didn't work, she felt like she just ran a marathon. She really needed to train her body after this if just that had made her this exhausted. Okay, maybe some of the exhaustion was because she had to heal Aizawa earlier, but still, she was way too out of shape for this kind of stunts.
She should make a proper focus too instead of this poor substitute of a pendant which couldn't handle too many high-level magic.
Ryouka heard some loud cheers from some distance away and saw the Grape-Boy crying in obvious relief as he clutched at Asui's chest, while Midoriya broke out into a relieved smile. The small-fry Villains, in turn, looked terrified at her blood-covered form.
"Your weapon can't even defeat me, and you were hoping to kill All Might with that?" Ryouka scoffed, putting on a face as she swatted the blood from her sword onto the ground with a flick of her arm.
"Your Noumu is no more," Ryouka began, gesturing to the fallen form of the Noumu as she stared at Shigaraki with an even expression. "You have no way of killing All Might now, the Pro Heroes are on their way here, and then there's me."
"You know what I can do now. Even if you want to kill the children for the sake of your pride, you can't. I won't let you," Ryouka told him firmly. "It's your loss, Shigaraki."
She knewshe probably won't be able to do much now that she was tired, but they didn't knew that. They won't be able to do much anyway—even if she couldn't fight anymore, doesn't mean that she couldn't defend. Her Borg was a sturdy thing and their heavy hitter, the Noumu, was dead so they have no means of breaking her wall anymore.
But, instead of temper tantrums and a threat to kill her that she expected of Shigaraki, the man let out a loud laugh instead.
He laughed so hard that he threw his head back as he clutched his stomach. It was still a raspy and unnerving laugh, but it sounded the most genuine of all his laugh till now.
It sent a cold shiver down her spine.
"As I thought. I like you, Ibuki Ryouka. It's too bad that you're on the wrong side. The fact that you can 'defeat' the Noumu just makes you more interesting to me than ever," Shigaraki began, still chuckling lightly before his smile suddenly dropped and he tilted his head to the side.
"Hm… now I wonder if he can fix you if we bring you to him. Your skills are highly valuable, see. It'd be great to have someone like you on our side…" the man continued, one hand on his chin as he scanned her up and down with something akin to fascination.
Ryouka narrowed her eyes at him, not liking that he seem fascinatedby her instead of angry that she killed his weapon. They were losing—they should be mad that their plans were foiled, not… this.
She couldn't help but feel that something was very wrong.
"What are you talking about?" She demanded, glaring at the Villain.
She saw Kurogiri hovering uncomfortably beside Shigaraki before the man could answer her, seemingly hesitating as he inched closer towards the blue-haired Villain.
"Shigaraki Tomura, we should retreat now while we still can—"
The mist began before Shigaraki hissed to stop him from saying more.
"Silence, Kurogiri. Don't think I've forgotten the blunder you make before. Seriously, if you weren't the warp gate…" Shigaraki grouched before he turned towards Ryouka again, shrugging his shoulders in an indifferent gesture.
"Well, whatever. I don't think we should dawdle either. That's why…" he paused for a second to smirk at her, before he said something that made the blood in Ryouka's veins felt cold;
"Noumu."
As Shigaraki said that name again, slowly the bloodied body of the Noumu began to rise from the ground with slow movements.
Ryouka's eyes widened as she saw as the wounds on its arms and the large gash on its chest rapidly mending as it let out an inhuman screech. It had completely healed itself in only seconds and came back to stand on its own two feet as if Ryouka hadn't cut its body in two just minutes ago.
Ryouka whipped her head incredulously at the smug Shigaraki.
Super regeneration.
Are you kidding me, Ryouka thought in disbelieve.
"We might not be able to get All Might today, but if we could have you our effort won't be totally wasted, see?" Shigaraki continued as he pulled off his 'mask' again to smile at her directly.
"So come with us, Ibuki Ryouka."
And with that, the Noumu suddenly disappeared from Shigaraki's side only to appear a second later in front of her with its hand raised in the air. Ryouka put up her hands, barely managing to summon a shield to protect herself just as the Noumu's hand came down and hit it instead, creating some form of sparks from the magical discharge.
"Break her shield, Noumu. But don't kill her. She'll be more interesting alive than dead," Shigaraki ordered lazily from the sideline as Ryouka struggled to defend herself under the barrage of attacks that the Noumu rain down upon her Borg.
Ryouka gritted her teeth as she was pushed to her knees, straining herself under the weight of the Noumu's attacks.
Shit, why now when she was already exhausted and the effects of her enchantments have worn off?
In a desperate attempt to push the Noumu back, she threw her sword past her Borg and watch it sink into the monster's chest, but it only pulled the sword out and throw it to the side before continuing its attacks.
Great. And her Borg was beginning to crack too. Just a few more hits and it will definitely crumble down. Fantastic.
Gritting her teeth, she closed her eyes and braced herself for that final hit that would end everything, but then suddenly something zoomed in on them and hit the Noumu so hard the impact created a huge shockwave that shook the entire building.
"Ibuki-Senpai, run!"
Someone shouted to her amidst all the noises.
Ryouka opened her eyes in surprise and saw Midoriya, standing on a bent and shaking leg that was obviously broken punching the Noumu's side with an equally shaking hand—which was a fruitless attempt since it had a shock absorbing ability.
The Noumu raised it hand, trying to capture Midoriya's arm.
Ryouka panicked, remembering just how easily the Noumu crushed Aizawa's hand earlier and without thinking she grabbed Midoriya's clothes, pulling him inside her already cracking shield, and pushed him behind her back to protect him as the Noumu raised its hand again towards her.
Fuck. There're no way it will hold. Why did Midoriya have to try and help her?
Coming to a decision, Ryouka turned around and pushed Midoriya to the ground and draped herself over him so even if the Noumu broke through her protection, at least the one who would be hit was her, not him.
Just as the impact was going to hit, however, suddenly—
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Crash.
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Something crashed the entrance gate. In the silence that followed, the sound of shoes against the floor suddenly echoed loudly around the plaza. Everyone simultaneously craned their neck to see the figure that emerged on top of the stairs.
Standing tall and looking enraged at the distress of his students and coworkers, it was—
"All… Might…"
Ryouka's eyes softened at the sight of his Hero form as Midoriya breathed out his name beneath her.
"It's fine now!" All Might began, his face contorted in rage as he ripped his blue tie off his neck. "I am here!"
The students cheered, tears in their eyes.
Finally.
Honestly if Ryouka wasn't so relieved right now she would start planning the punishment she would give that man for breaking his promise of not coming here today, she thought as the man disappeared from the top of the stairs in a flash.
Ryouka felt a big hand caught her and suddenly she was being carried on All Might's arm in a one-armed princess carry. Startled, she put her hands around his neck and only noticed Midoriya dangling by his stomach on his other arm as the man put them down beside the unconscious Aizawa and, somehow, Asui and the Grape-Boy too was there too.
Ryouka's eyes widened as she let go of his neck.
When did he take them all? And she thought she was fast with her Wings of God earlier.
"I'm sorry for being late," the man said, not facing her as he was too busy glaring at the Villains. "Ibuki-kun, please take young Midoriya and the others somewhere safe. I'm leaving Aizawa-kun to you too. Hurry!"
"All Might!" Midoriya suddenly intervened, looking worried as his eyes darted between the No. 1 Hero and the Noumu. "You can't. That brain Villain took One Fo—took a punch from me, but he didn't even twitch."
All Might paused and turned to them and Ryouka took over from there.
"He had some kind of shock absorbing ability," she explained as the Villain she mentioned were wobbling around for his 'mask', which had somehow fallen to the ground as All Might took all of them.
"Sharp objects can hurt him, but his muscle is really dense so it's hard to actually cut him. Not to mention his regeneration rate."
"Super regeneration?" All Might asked and Ryouka nodded.
"Yes. I managed to cut him in two before, yet even when it seem like it had bled to death, at Shigaraki's command it stand back up again and completely healed itself in just several seconds," she elaborated before she paused to look directly into All Might's eyes.
"Shigaraki called him 'Noumu'. He said that it was a bioengineered weapon designed solely to kill you," Ryouka warned him. "Don't be rash, All Might. It's not very smart and its only attack is punches, but its strength could probably rival yours and the one in control of him, that Shigaraki, isn't as stupid as he looked."
Hearing her words, the No. 1 Hero let his enrage expression melt into a reassuring grin as he posed like a school girl about to take a selfie, holding a victory sign to his eye level.
"Young Ibuki!" He bellowed confidently before his voice softened. "It's fine!"
Ryouka stared up at All Might's eyes for a while before she nodded her acquiescence and turned towards the children.
"Asui, help me with Aizawa," she said as she crouched down to support the teacher's upper body with her shoulder. "Midoriya, come here."
"Y-yes!" Midoriya answered nervously, throwing a last worried look at All Might as the Hero leapt towards the Noumu, shouting something about Carolina as he attacked.
The boy limped towards her, supported by Asui's hands before she crouched down to help her with Aizawa's body.
As they stood up, Ryouka gestured for Midoriya to come closer and without wasting any time, she pressed her lips against his. Immediately she felt her energy being sapped again as she breathed out her Quirk into his lungs to mend his broken leg and arm.
Feeling a bit lightheaded, she pulled away just as the Grape-Boy shakily pointed a finger at Midoriya with an expression of absolute betrayal on his face.
"Midoriya you bastard…!" the small boy said, his voice shaking.
"Ribbit!" Asui gasped in surprise, a pink blush appeared on her cheeks as she saw the exchange very up close, what with she was only several centimeters apart from them. Midoriya himself wasn't any better than her, his whole face lighting up as he tried to cover his face with his arms.
"Ibuki-S-Senpai!" he said in embarrassment. "That's too sudden!"
Ryouka ruffled his hair with her free hand and smiled a little at his reaction.
"It's just a small kiss. Come on, let's go while All Might deals with that bastard. You, Grape-Boy, help Midoriya out while his legs heals," Ryouka told them and they were quick to snap out of it to follow her towards the stairs.
"Grape-Boy…" the smaller boy murmured dejectedly as they walked away.
Suddenly a loud sound and a burst of smoke came from All Might's direction and the four of them whipped their heads towards the source—Asui and Grape-Boy with amazement while Midoriya was showing concern over what happened.
"How did he make a suplex look like an explosion?!" the small boy exclaimed excitedly. "All Might's on a whole other level!"
Asui agreed with him. "Even though he's a rookie teacher who can't teach without looking at his notes."
They continued to chatter in excitement over the fight, completely convinced that nothing was going to take All Might down, but the expression on Midoriya's face showed that he believed just the opposite.
Did he knew the truth behind "All Might"? She thought, observing the boy's face with a light curiosity.
"How's your leg?" Ryouka asked as they climbed the stairs. Midoriya's cheeks flushed a little as he glanced at his still limping leg, but it wasn't bent anymore and Midoriya didn't seem like he was in that much pain anymore.
"Better now. Thank you, Senpai," he answered truthfully.
They've finally reached the top of the stairs, but Midoriya would sometimes worry his lip and glanced back every time some loud sounds were heard from the direction of the fight.
Ryouka knew exactly how he felt. She wanted to go back there too. Not having control over the situation made her feel anxious—especially when she remembered that All Might was already out of time.
"You seem worried," Ryouka asked finally, trying to distract both him and herself.
"Well, I…" Midoriya glanced at her, hesitating a bit before he nodded. Before she could offer a piece of advice for him, however, she suddenly caught sight of Uraraka and the pink haired, pink skinned girl from before sitting beside the prone form of her homeroom teacher.
"Thirteen-sensei…!" Ryouka gasped seeing the teacher on the ground, the back of his costume absolutely wrecked.
"Senpai… Deku-kun…!" Uraraka exclaimed, a relieved smile blooming on her face when she saw them. Ryouka immediately gestured to Asui to help her lower Aizawa gently to the floor before she ran to examine Thirteen's wounds.
"What happened?"
"Sensei was trying to hold back the mist guy, but he opened a warp gate behind Sensei and he ended up using his Quirk on himself…" the pink girl explained tearfully and Asui patted her head reassuringly.
Ryouka furrowed her brows as she examined him.
Thirteen didn't have any physical wounds because his whole body was a black hole. Probably the reason why he couldn't move was because he needed full concentration to control his Quirk so that the children wouldn't accidentally get sucked inside him and turned to dust.
What a scary Quirk. Thirteen must have it rough.
Before she could do something to help him, however, Midoriya suddenly spoke again.
"As I thought, I'm going back."
Ryouka whipped her head towards him in surprise, but before she could discourage him from going he was already running down the stairs again.
"Goddamnit, that kid—" she hissed in frustration.
Damn this wannabe Heroes and their hero-complexes.
Ryouka quickly spied the area around them and saw a piece of rubble big enough for her to use and summoned it to her with a silent summoning spell. It smacked her hand loudly, but she ignored the sting and the gasps of surprises from Uraraka and the pink girl and quickly transfigured the rubble into a thick sheet of material similar to the one of Thirteen's astronaut suit.
She draped the sheet over the large hole on Thirteen's suit and waved her hand to mend it. Once that was done, she quickly stood back up and turned towards the girls.
"Take care of him. I'll go get Midoriya back."
Without waiting for their response, Ryouka ran in the direction Midoriya just ran into.
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.
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When she reached the stairs, it was to see All Might, bleeding on his sides—his weak spot—with Tacky Costume, the loudmouth Katsuki, and that spiky readhead assisting him to escape the Noumu's grasps while Midoriya stood amongst them looking relieved at their help.
Before Ryouka could get there, however, suddenly the Noumu had broken free and went for Katsuki because he was holding down Kurogiri.
Ryouka's eyes widened in panic.
No matter how much she disliked Katsuki for being a bully, he was still a child. He didn't deserve to die like that.
When the Noumu hit, however, Ryouka noticed that all of the kids was suddenly relocated to the sideline. She followed the trail of destruction the Noumu left behind and when the smoke had subsided, she saw All Might there, panting heavily with blood trailing down his chin from his mouth.
Ryouka couldn't hear what they were talking about, but when she got close enough, All Might was telling them to leave him alone. They were probably intending to join the fight and assist All Might to increase the chance of winning.
"No!" All Might said firmly. "Please run away."
Tacky Costume glanced at him with an even expression. "You would've been in trouble if I hadn't done anything earlier, right?"
Oooh, he got you there, buddy.
"That was a different story, Young Todoroki. You have my thanks," All Might told him gently, flashing them a grin before he turned his back on them. "But it's alright! Just watch as a pro gives it everything he's got."
Midoriya stepped closer to him, looking worried.
"All Might, you're bleeding… and besides, the time—" he caught himself before he spoke too much and shook his head at the tall man. Katsuki, the spiky redhead, and—Todoroki?—all nodded to show that they shared Midoriya's opinion that he shouldn't push himself when he was injured.
"Listen to your students, All Might. If you need help, then don't shoulder everything by yourself."
Ryouka said as she arrived beside the Pro Hero, nodding at Midoriya and the others.
"Ibuki-Senpai!" Midoriya gasped in surprise at her sudden appearance.
Ignoring him, Ryouka grabbed the front of All Might's shirt and with surprising strength she pulled until the Hero's face was directly in front of hers. The Hero looked startled at her appearance. She smiled at him slightly as she used her Quirk on him and patted his cheeks good-humoredly.
"Besides, I'm here too, you know."
She might have no more stamina to run around and punch things to pulp, but she didn't have to do that now there were All Might and the others here. She had something that could possibly end everything in one move now if there were others to distract the enemies.
"Listen well, Shigaraki! No matter if it's once, twice, or even a hundred times you tried, All Might will never die!" Ryouka declared at the Villain who, finally, for the first time that day looked genuinely ticked at her presence.
"As long as I'm alive, I won't let any of you to kill All Might!"
It's a promise, Ryouka vowed.
As she yelled those words, Shigaraki suddenly chuckled and All Might readied his stance again, standing in front of her protectively.
"Ibuki… Ryouka…" Shigaraki lowered his head, still chuckling. He raised his head again and smirked at her behind his mask. "We'll see about that."
Ryouka smiled sweetly back at him.
"Oh, you can try."
"Noumu. Kurogiri. Get him," Shigaraki ordered as he ran towards the kids. "I'll deal with the children."
Ryouka gestured to the children to come to her side as she grabbed hold of the Hero's back.
"All Might! I'm going to do something, but I'll need your help to do it. It's a gamble, but I'm confident it will work," she told at the tall man.
It was true. Ryouka didn't know if it would work, but seeing that the Noumu wasn't immune to her magic, it should work. Maybe. Hopefully. They were screwed if it didn't, since All Might was already out of time and she knew he was pushing himself to hold on even now.
The images of dead kids flashed behind her eyes and she shook her head. Yeah, no. She wouldn't let any of these kids die before her. They had a long life ahead of them, she wouldn't let anything took that away from them.
"What do you need me for?" All Might nodded, immediately agreeing with her without asking what she was planning. The show of trust he gave her touched her, but unfortunately this was no time for sentimentality so she just gestured towards the Noumu with her head.
"Distract that thing. Buy me some time," she told him quickly before she turned towards the children. "Midoriya, Redhead, Loudmouth, and Tacky Costume, let All Might deal with the Noumu. You four keep an eye out for Shigaraki and Kurogiri."
"Who the fuck do you mean Loudmouth?!" Katsuki yelled at her, full of rage as usual while Todoroki muttered under his breath as he looked at his costume with confusion.
"Tacky…"
Ryouka ignored them both and ripped her pendant off her neck. Holding it in her right hand, she took a deep breath and suddenly a circle of glyph appeared beneath her feet, lighting up with a magical glow. She hold the shining pendant above her head and turned to All Might and the others.
Looking directly into their eyes, she said, "Don't let anything touch me, you understand?"
They all nodded simultaneously, determined and fired up, confident that everything will be okay.
How could she disappoint them now?
She began to focus her everything into that tiny pendant as tiny particles of light gathered around it and All Might immediately took off as she did so. He laid a punch on the Noumu's chest. And another, and another. Soon three becomes ten, and then twenty. He didn't slow down at all, giving more than 100% of his power into all of his punches.
"I stand in the place bathed in heavenly light," Ryouka intoned clearly in concentration.
Shigaraki, sensing that she was about to do something, rushed at her, but Katsuki and the redhead appeared in his path, grinning like a pair of sharks about to bite their prey.
"Your opponents are us!" Redhead yelled at him as he punched the Villain's face.
"Thou art where the gate to the Underworld opens," Ryouka continued as Katsuki leapt over Shigaraki's and tried to blow his head off. The blue-haired Villain evaded and jumped back to try and get some distance between them.
"Tch…!" Shigaraki clicked his tongue in irritation, turning to his companion. "Kurogiri!"
The black mist immediately tried to get her again, but now Midoriya was there for her. He sidestepped the Villain's gates and punched the air, causing a big shockwave to blow his mist away and Todoroki encased the visible metal thing of his with his ice.
She watched as her pendant began to crack under the pressure of her power, but she kept pushing.
It's still not enough. Not yet.
In the middle of the plaza, All Might coughed up blood as he fought the Noumu, but he didn't falter. Even when he got hit or pushed to the ground, even when everything around him was destroyed. All Might threw the Noumu to the ground and the Noumu rolled before it jumped high into the air.
"You know, a Hero… can always break out of a tough spot!" he yelled as he jumped after the Noumu.
Ryouka caught his eyes in the air, and the both of them nodded.
Grabbing the Noumu's arm, All Might twisted in the air and threw the monster back onto the ground with a loud yell.
"Ibuki-kun! Your turn!" he shouted.
Ryouka closed her eyes before she opened them again, glaring at the Noumu as she brandished her cracking pendant at its direction. The Noumu screech as it tried to stand back up again, but it was too late for it to get away.
"This is the end, Shigaraki," Ryouka said quietly.
Before the Villains could do anything about her warning, she threw her arms up to support the pendant and focused all of her magic into one impact point—the Noumu. The area around them darkened as three layers of magical rings materialized, lighting up above the Noumu like a guidepost for her spell.
Around them, the children shouted encouragement for her.
"Senpai, goooo!" Uraraka yelled from on top of the stairs, joined by the others. Together, they punched the air and shouted on the top of their lungs;
"Plus Ultraaaaa!"
Smiling, Ryouka shouted loudly and released everything.
"Come forth, Divine Lightning! Indignation!"
Her pendant crashed as a single, tremendous bolt of thunder struck down from the sky, piercing through the lightning rings and hit the Noumu, causing an explosion so big the tremor caused her to almost fall to her knees. All Might appeared beside her instantly, supporting her by the shoulder so she didn't fall and nodded at her.
When the smoke subsided, they saw the Noumu amongst the rubbles, unmoving, showing no signs of life. It was fried with one of the strongest offensive spell she had, she'd be surprised if it didn't die from that.
"She actually fucking did it…" Katsuki said in disbelieve.
Ryouka couldn't take it anymore though—her vision blackened, the exhaustion had finally caught up to her. She would have had been on the ground by now if it wasn't for All Might holding her up.
"Are you alright?" All Might asked her, but she couldn't even answer him.
She faintly heard Shigaraki's voice, but she couldn't make out what he was saying. She can hear All Might taunting the Villains to go attack him though.
What was he doing?
When her light-headedness lessened, she realized that All Might was carrying her in his trembling arms and Shigaraki was running straight at them, shouting about some revenge for the Noumu she just killed. Her eyes widened when she saw Midoriya launching himself at them.
"Get away from All Might and Ibuki-senpai!"
Ryouka saw Shigaraki's hand going through the warp gate and appeared mere inches from Midoriya's face, but before it could touch him, suddenly there were gunshots.
A bullet pierced Shigaraki's hand and All Might turned around towards the entrance.
"Are they finally here?" he exclaimed in relieve.
"Class 1-A representative, Iida Tenya, have returned!" Someone yelled from the top of the stairs. Ryouka tried to focus her eyes and saw all the teachers standing behind the glasses guy from 1-A.
Look at that, the principal was even here. His fur looks amazing today, too.
All Might chuckled.
"It's the keratin," he said with amusement, looking down at her.
Ryouka blinked. "Did I say that out loud?"
"You did," he said softly as he adjusted her position on his arms.
All around them, the sound of fighting picked up again. There were gunshots, the lashes of a whip, Present Mic's awful screeching noises that made her headache picked up again, also—oh my. Was she just that out of it or was Ectoplasm actually multiplying himself?
"You did a great job today, Ibuki-kun. Thank you… thank you for protecting everyone in my stead," All Might suddenly said, his voice grateful and holding a tint of embarrassment. "Thank you for saving me, too."
Ryouka looked up at his blue eyes and slowly brought her hand to his cheek and—
—pinched it.
"Ow!" All Might yelped, and her lips quirked upward in amusement.
"Wait for my punishment later," she told him. "Don't think you're getting away from it."
All Might's eyes widened in panic.
"You're still going to punish me?!"
With a small laugh, Ryouka closed her eyes again and fell into a deep sleep. Everyone was safe now. She can leave the rest to the actual Heroes of this world. Hopefully, when she woke up later, nothing like this will ever happen again.
She still didn't want to be a Hero, after all.
No. 8 A Promise — End
So we finally got several appearances from Ryouka's other previous lives! It's not explicitly mentioned, but implied through her skill arsenal. The first one is Borg, which is a shield in Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic. Being able to use the Borg is considered as a proof that you are a magician in that universe. She was Scheherazade if you're wondering!
The second one is the Wildfire Stance, which is one of Eight's fighting stances in Final Fantasy Type-0. His fighting style is hard to use, but it's fun to play with when you master it! Magitek Armor is an enemy from the same game and it's basically a really tough magical tank that could sometimes fly, depends on the model.
The third are Light Shield and Wings of God, which are spells of the holy element used by Grisia Sun, the 38th generation of Sun Knight, in The Legend of Sun Knight. I love Grisia to death, so if you see a lot of reference to the light novel series in this story, that's probably why!
The fourth one is Warp, which is a magic skill that could be used by those who have the blessing of the Crystal in Final Fantasy XV. Typically the one who could use this skill are the royals from the Lucis Caelum line and the Kingsglaive, if they were shared the power by the king.
Lastly we have Indignation, which is my favourite spell in the entire Tales series. The one she used here is Jade's version of the spell, from Tales of the Abyss. Jade is my favourite character from the entire Tales series lol I love him so much he's such a little shit.
I'll put a link in my AO3 story page if you want to see what some of the skills looks like since linking things in FFnet is a pain. Also, thank you all so much for the response last chapter, I really enjoyed reading your comments! By the way did you notice that Shigaraki actually started to say her name this chapter? It's because he started to acknowledge her as a person instead of a tool for his objective!