A/N: Who wants an early chapter?! Fun fact, the one-year anniversary of this fic being up on this website is coming up in about a week, but today is the day that it launched on YouTube a year ago, so I figured you guys could do with a little bonus treat. But hold on a sec- there's more!

I have also released the next chapter after this one on my YouTube channel, giving you guys back-to-back goodies in celebration of sticking with me for this long. I really appreciate it, you guys. Seeing your reactions to my take on this story (which is truly awesome to begin with) is a large part of why I keep writing. So, after you've read this chapter, be sure to head on over to Not Your Average Productions to check out the epilogue to this arc, as well as get some teasers for what is to come.

The next chapter will be up on this site for the one year anniversary of its drop on FF, so be sure to come back and let me know what you think of this arc's conclusion, as well as your thoughts on what is to come for Class 1-A.

P.S. I hope you guys like this week's cover art- it's the first time that I've drawn All Might, so I'm hoping that I did a good job. My Instagram account is the_red_swordsman

Phase 1: Chapter 25

Plus Ultra

"This… This isn't real," Akarui said, nearly dropping to his knees from sheer disappointment and shock. "Professor Shield would never…" For all of his intellect and knowledge, the boy had forgotten to account for a basic fact of life- your heroes are rarely who they seem at a glance.

"Papa, why?" Melissa demanded of her father, who was standing with a briefcase in his hands, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. "Why would you do this?!"

Akarui, Melissa, and Izuku had been on their way to the security control room on the 200th floor when they passed by an open storage unit and had seen the professor and his assistant, Sam, breaking into one of the compartments inside. Before they could ask what was going on, they overheard the two men speaking of their plan as being successful- how the villains had provided the distraction that they needed for them to break in.

Needless to say, the three children were devastated. Midoriya admired the professor for all that he had done for the hero community, All Might in particular. Akarui had idolized David Shield since he was a little boy, always striving his best to become a great scientist and supporter of the hero world like the American. Of course, Melissa was the most distraught of them all, having never thought that her beloved Papa could do such a wrong.

"The professor is only trying to get back what was stolen from him in the first place," said Sam, who was clutching the briefcase nervously. "In this case is a device that can amplify a person's quirk- without causing damage to their body or brain."

Akarui's eyes shot wide open as Sam showed them the contents of the container, his mind sifting through the information that he needed in conjunction with what he was seeing. If anyone could make such a device, it would be Professor Shield, he thought as he gazed upon the strange-looking helmet. But… there's something missing in all this.

"Please, just let me get this device to All Might!" Shield begged them. "After that, I don't care what kind of punishment I'm given! There's no time to remake this!"

"Why does All Might factor into this?" Akarui demanded, his logical nature beginning to reassert itself, despite his present circumstances. He could feel the backlash of his quirk building up again, and if it was about to get as bad as he suspected it would, he didn't have time to waste. "He'd be disgusted if he knew what you'd done to get this thing."

"…Because he's losing his power," the man admitted with sagged shoulders. "The Symbol of Peace's light is fading."

Fading? Akarui repeated in his head, his mind involuntarily flashing through everything that he knew about his favorite hero. He's… right. Now that he thought about it, All Might's speed and strength had been declining for the last six years, and more so in the last few months than before. Not all once, to be sure, but slowly enough that most of the public wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

But Akarui wasn't most people- with his quirk functioning at a greater capacity than it ever had before, he might well have been the most intelligent person on the island, which was saying something. That creature that he fought in the USJ… I thought at the time that it was strange how wounded he had been reported to be, but if he's been losing his strength, that makes sense! But…! His head felt like it was going to burst from a maddening fact: What am I missing?!

It took all of two seconds for him to put it together as soon as he focused every bit of his intelligence on the question. Akarui suddenly realized what he had been overlooking as he glanced at Midoriya, who seemed more upset than surprised at Shield's words- as if he had already known of this development all along. So much for Kurai being the next Symbol of Peace.

If he was right- that Midoriya was somehow connected to All Might's loss of power- it would explain a lot of things. That must be why Midoriya emulates the man so much, he thought as his head swam. He doesn't just idolize him- he'll practically become him!

"With this device, though…" Shield was explaining, unaware of what was happening in Akarui's head. "He'll be back to his old self! No- he'll be stronger than ever before!"

"And holding an entire island's worth of people hostage was worth that?!" Akarui shouted, his disappointment in his personal idol breaking through the cold façade that he had desperately tried to maintain.

"Papa, do you have any idea what Deku and the others went through to get us this far?!" Melissa demanded as she took a few steps toward her bewildered father. "How badly some of them got hurt?! How many times we nearly got killed or captured?!"

"Killed or-?" the older man repeated, his confusion growing. "No… the villains are fake. This is all supposed to be an act."

"Of course it was an act," a new voice chuckled as the owner stepped into the room, wearing a metallic mask that obscured most of his face. "The real trick was pretending to be actors, and not what we really are." He was flanked by another man, this one wearing a mask like the other villains at the party, which could only mean…

"You're the boss!" Midoriya shouted as green lightning sparked across his body, and he shot toward the villain, whose only reaction was to place his hand on the wall next to him.

The next instant, part of the floor warped and congealed into a rough column that slammed into the student hero, smacking him clear across the room. "Sam," the man said roughly as he ignored Akarui, who had placed himself between the enemy and Melissa, his hand on the sword, just in case. "Bring me that device."

"Yes sir!" the chubby assistant said, darting over to the villain and promptly handing him the case, much to the further surprise of David Shield.

"Sam?" he asked dumbly. "Why would you-?"

"I deserve to be rewarded!" the man shouted back at his employer. "All those years of research, and you just let them take it away from us!"

"Oh yeah," the villain said with a sinister smile that gave Akarui a sinking feeling. "About that reward…" There was the sound of a gunshot, and Sam immediately recoiled, bleeding heavily from a wound in his leg.

"Wh-Why?!" the traitor exclaimed as he tried to scramble away from the armed villain, with no luck. "This wasn't a part of the plan!"

"Really?" the villain scoffed. "It was always a part of mine." With that, he aimed the gun and pulled the trigger again.

"Agh!" David Shield cried out as the bullet bit into his shoulder and exited his body in the floor. At the last second, he had jumped forward to take the bullet for his traitorous assistant, saving his life, but being badly injured in the process.

"Papa!" Melissa screamed, but Akarui held her back.

"Don't be stupid," he grunted as his right arm spasmed a bit. "You'll end up like him."

"I'd listen to your friend," the villain chuckled as he aimed the gun at the two of them. "I don't really have anything against you kids, so I'll let you go- provided you don't try to get in my way."

"Bummer," Akarui muttered as he activated the photon sword. "My brother is training to be a hero, and his self-sacrificial tendency seems to be rubbing off on me."

"Your funeral," the villain shrugged, right before Deku shot toward him from across the room, having recovered from the earlier blow. The man was forced to abandon his aim and instead summoned up a rough wall of metal to block the student hero's attack. Growling as he did so, he grabbed David Shield, who was groaning in pain, and handed him over to his subordinate, who threw him over his shoulder. "Get him out of here," he ordered after binding the man's wrists.

"Yes sir."

"Stop!" he heard Deku scream. "You're not taking the professor!"

"Don't make promises you can't keep, kid!" he shouted back as he moved to get a better look at the room, just in time to see Deku making another pass from a different angle. Summoning more metal from his surroundings, he fashioned more columns that slammed into Deku, once twice, six times, pinning him in place, if not killing him.

"Well, that's that," he said with grim satisfaction as he started walking down the tunnel that would lead to the helicopter pad. Dealing with the hero student had taken a little longer than he'd expected, but things were back on track.

That satisfaction disappeared when alarms began to sound in the building, alerting the residents of I-island that the security system had been returned to normal. "Damn kids," he growled. The others must've gotten away when the green one tried to get at me. Whatever the case, we need to leave before the pros show up.

"That did it," Akarui said in a satisfied tone from where he sat. Under his and Melissa's control, the drones had released the other students that had been captured, and the pro heroes being bound on the first floor were now free. The island's security would now target the villains the second they came into visual.

"And that's… that," he muttered slowly as he glanced behind himself. Midoriya had gone ahead to chase after the villains and rescue the professor, but Akarui doubted his chances of success without backup.

Melissa was currently on her phone, explaining to All Might the situation regarding her father and the villains. It sounded as though she was going to be a few minutes, so he reached inside his shirt and pulled out the necklace that was enhancing his quirk. By his estimate, the power-up would only last for a few more minutes- and he seriously doubted that he would make it past that, either.

His left leg was already refusing to respond to his commands, and his sense of vertigo was threatening to come back with a vengeance, this time accompanied by a severe headache. If this is the last time I can use my gift… he thought sluggishly as he began to dig into the computer's database as fast as he could. Then I'm going to make sure that Kurai can keep using his.

With the information on every prototype stored in the security vault within reach of his fingertips, it took Akarui three minutes to put together the schematic that he needed. Moving as swiftly as his failing limbs would allow him to, he threw every ounce of his willpower into sketching what he had envisioned, and a list of the materials needed to make it.

"Hikari, what are you doing?"

The boy would have given a start of surprise if he were able, but instead all he could do was loll his head back to look up at Melissa, whose eyes widened when she realized that he was barely moving. "Ku…rai…" he said, his tongue feeling numb. He tried to hold out the paper to the girl, but his limbs betrayed his will.

"What about your brother?" she asked him worriedly as she helped him to straighten his head. "Hikari, what's happened to you?"

"No ti…me," he slurred, trying to convey his desperation to her with his eyes. "Design… Yaoyo…rozu… Kurai." As he spoke, his fingers scrabbled awkwardly at the schematic that he had just managed to finish.

"You want me to get this to Yaoyorozu?" she asked him as she finally turned to the paper and saw what was on it. "This is for your brother?"

"Yes…" he tried to nod, but was unable. He felt the necklace grow cold against his skin, and he knew that his power would soon be drained away. "Please… Before… the bad g-guys… leave. It… help them. Quirk… r-resssset."

"I'll call the others," Melissa promised him, though she looked very worried.

Kurai had just managed to wake up while the group was in an elevator that would lead up to the top floor, where Midoriya and the others would be, when his phone began to buzz, drawing him back into awareness a little more rapidly. "Oof," he groaned. "I will not complain when this is all over."

"You're awake, good," he heard Todoroki say from close by, so he looked up to see that he was in the lift with his friend, Uraraka, Kirishima, and Bakugo. "We were worried about you for a minute."

"I'm fine," he grunted as he massaged his temples. It was with an idle curiosity that he realized that his hair was now long enough to warrant brushing out of his eyes while he tried to reorient his senses. I guess I should get it cut after we go home, he thought a little sluggishly as his head pounded angrily, a sharp reminder of his actions leading up to his unconsciousness. It was almost bad enough to make him forget that his phone was still alerting him to an incoming call, but before he knew it, his hand had retrieved the device simply from muscle memory.

He peered closely at the bright screen since his vision was still a little uncertain before frowning slightly. "Akarui?" he muttered. "What's he want?"

"We heard an announcement that the island's system went back to normal, and the drones stopped fighting us," Uraraka told him. "He must've done that, and now he's wondering what to do."

"That smartass always knows what to do," Kurai chuckled as he hit the 'accept' button. "Hey, Bro. Nice job getting the security back up."

"Hikari, is that you?" Kurai's stomach dropped as he heard Melissa's voice on the other end of the line.

"Yes, it's me," he said quickly, drawing the others' attention to him. "What's going on? Where's my brother?"

"He reset the island's security, but now he's barely moving, and he can't seem to talk!" the girl said, panic clear in her voice.

Kurai's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as he whispered, "No… He didn't. Tell me he didn't!"

"What's happening to him?!" Melissa asked desperately. "He seemed fine just a few minutes ago! Is it a stroke?"

"The stroke is a symptom," Kurai told her as he clutched as his heart, feeling as though a dagger had twisted itself in there. "He… has a brain tumor, Melissa. It's not operable, but he needs immediate medical attention- do whatever you can to get it to him." He hung up the phone and jammed it in his pocket as he tried to control his breathing.

"Your brother what?!" Uraraka gaped, while even Bakugo looked stunned.

"Yeah, and it grows every time he uses his quirk," Kurai said as he felt tears begin to sting at his eyes. "It's been growing slowly for years since he can't turn it off when the sun is out, but when he purposely enhanced it, it must have grown a lot bigger."

"If you knew it did that, why'd you let him use that thing?!" Kirishima asked him worriedly.

"He said it would only take a few days off of his expected lifespan!" Kurai answered hotly, clenching his fists tightly in frustration. "I thought he knew better than to lie about something like that! He's never lied to me before- not about this!" Tears were now streaming down his face as he was forced to face the reality that his brother might not live to see the morning sun.

He felt his phone buzz again, and he pulled it out to see that it was Akarui's phone dialing him again. Pressing the green button with a little more aggression this time, he asked, "What?"

"I'm really sorry, Hikari, but Deku went after the villains, alone," Melissa said, sounding as though she too was crying. "I've sent for medical droids, but that's all I can do for now."

"Thank you for doing that," Kurai said as he tried to keep control of himself. He felt Uraraka patting him on the back in sympathy, though she was careful not to touch him with all five finger pads. "I'm sorry I hung up on you."

"No, I understand," Melissa sniffed. "But there's something else you need to know. Right before he stopped being able to talk, he drew something- some kind of schematic for a device that he said was for you."

"For me?"

"He said something about needing Yaoyorozu, and that you should make it before the villains get away," she explained. "The very last thing he said was 'quirk reset'. Does that mean anything to you?"

Kurai's tears suddenly stopped as he dashed as his eyes with his free hand and he asked, "Quirk reset? He said exactly that?"

"Yes, why?" she inquired. "What does that mean?"

"It means that if he survives his stupid tumor, I'm gonna kill him," the boy muttered as the elevator reached the top floor. "We're on the same floor as you- where do we go?"

"You want to change our quirks?" Kurai asked his eight-year-old brother dubiously. "How would you do that?"

"I dunno," the younger boy said with a cheeky grin. "But I'll figure it out, someday. That way we can use our powers to help people, like All Might does! We'll be able to use our quirks like normal kids!"

"But people can't just magically change their powers," Kurai insisted.

"Not with magic," Akarui challenged. "With science!"

"Science?"

"Yeah!" the younger boy said excitedly. "All Might had a sidekick, Mister David Shield! He's super smart and makes stuff to help people control their quirks!"

"You think that he'll help us?" Kurai asked curiously.

"No, he don't know us," Akarui said in a tone that implied that his brother was stupid, much to his irritation. "But my quirk makes me super smart! I'll use it to become even better than Professor Shield, and then I'll figure out a way to reset our quirks so that they don't hurt us! And then I can do the same for people like us!"

"Reset?" Kurai repeated. "I thought you wanted to change our quirks."

"Yeah, but the best way to change something is to start it over," Akarui told him. "Just you watch, Kurai. I'm gonna save the both of us before my quirk gets me- I promise!"

"Looks like you didn't keep your promise, you little jackass," Kurai said bitterly as he looked down at his brother, who was sitting in a chair with his head hanging loosely to the side. "You said you'd fix both of our quirks, not just mine."

Melissa had run off as soon as he had come into the room, saying that she needed to go after her father. Before he could protest this idea, she was gone, and he was alone with his brother, who could barely look at him.

Akarui's eyes narrowed at him before he made a grunting noise along with a shrug of his shoulders. This was followed by his eyes flicking back and forth between him and the desk, where Melissa had shown him the paper. She and the others had gone ahead to meet up with Midoriya, hopefully to stop the villains before they got away with the professor.

Sighing heavily to himself, Kurai moved to pick up the paper and study it. Scanning it quickly, he muttered, "You listed each component and its atomic makeup… You wanted Yaoyorozu to make this thing?" There were symbols that ringed the device, but Kurai didn't understand their purpose, though they did look vaguely familiar.

Akarui made a little motion with his head that seemed like a nod, followed by his fingers twitching in little circle motions.

As his eyes were fixed on the paper, Kurai turned it over, even as he heard a muffled boom in the distance, followed by the building trembling a little bit. "Sounds like things have really gotten started out there," he muttered as he looked at what had been written on the back. "What'd you do…? 'Device goes on the neck. Will reconstruct your neural pathways to change the way that your mind processes your quirk's physical applications. Basics of your quirk will not change, but transformations will certainly be different. Will only work if you completely empty your body of energon reserves. Sorry, can't avoid it. But no more brain bleeds'." Putting the paper down, he saw that Akarui's eyes were smiling at him, causing him to frown harder. "You do know that this will be a moot point when Mom kills us both, right?"

Akarui shrugged again, as if to say, 'How could it be worse than this?'

His brother scowled and muttered, "You're lucky you're a cripple now, or I'd punch you into next week."

The paralyzed boy's lips twitched upwards ever so slightly, as did his middle right finger.

Just then, Yaoyorozu and the rest of the second group charged into the room. "Akarui?!" Iida asked worriedly. "What happened to him?!"

"He overused his quirk," Kurai said dully, causing the taller boy's jaw to drop.

"He-?! But that means-!"

"Yeah, he'll probably be like this for the rest of his life," Kurai nodded heavily, right before Mina wrapped him up in a tight hug.

"Kurai, I'm so sorry," she sniffed into his shoulder. "I was really mean to him because I thought he didn't care about any of us, but… I had no idea that he was really sacrificing himself! I'm sorry I didn't protect him!"

"None of us could have protected him from this," her boyfriend replied sadly. "Not from himself. He's too smart for his own good." After a brief moment, he nuzzled her hair and murmured, "I'm really glad you're here now."

"Of course."

"But why?" Yaoyorozu asked as she placed a worried hand on the younger boy. "Why do this when we have training for this sort of thing?"

"He knew that he could maximize all of our chances for survival," Kurai answered reluctantly. "I hate that he's right, but he is. Also…" He held out the paper to Yaoyorozu, muttering, "He left this for you. Said he wants you to make it for me."

"What does it do?" she asked as she examined the schematic. She didn't bother asking why- if Akarui had used the last of his physical capabilities to create this, it must have been important.

"It's supposed to cure me," he answered gravely, surprising everyone in the room. "It'll change the way that my body handles my quirk so that I don't have an aneurism every time I power up."

"Whoa, dude!" Kaminari said excitedly. "That's good, right?"

"The device wouldn't be hard to make, based off of this," Yaoyorozu added.

"I know," Kurai said as he gazed down at his brother. "But… my health isn't worth this." So saying, he gestured helplessly at his younger brother.

"If I make it, will you wear it?" Yaoyorozu asked him. "Because if you don't, then his sacrifice goes to waste."

"Hold on now," Iida cautioned them. "Don't do anything hasty. Let's not forget that Akarui likely figured out how to make this device by studying the research of experiments not yet completed. It would be unethical to make such a device, not to mention that it could seriously harm Kurai if it doesn't work according to Akarui's design." Glancing at his old friend, he added, "I'm sorry, but I don't think that this is a good idea, messing with your quirk. There are too many risks, both physical and ethical."

"Dude, his brother wouldn't have drawn those designs if he wasn't totally sure about what he was doing," Kaminari argued, surprising all of them. "The whole time that he's been with us, he's been super careful. He wouldn't do anything to put his brother in danger."

"He has a mass growing in his head," Jiro countered. "Who knows how clearly he was thinking when he made that?"

"All of you, just…!" Kurai said loudly, his hands on his head. "I need a minute, okay? I know the risks involved, but… I can't just ignore what he's given up for this." He gazed at his brother, whose eyes were slowly drooping closed as sleep tried to claim him.

"You gotta wear it, Kurai," Mina told him urgently. "I know you hate that this happened, and trust me, I wanna give him an earful for being so reckless, but right now, you have a chance to get well- a chance that he literally might have paid for with his own life. Let him be a hero today."

Kurai glanced between her, his brother, and his expectant friends a few times before he looked at Yaoyorozu. "There are still villains on the run here," he said as he tightened his fists. "I won't let the others fight alone, but I can't leave Akarui by himself."

"We'll watch out for him," Jiro said protectively. "Me and the others won't let him get hurt, I promise."

Kurai nodded once before turning to his old battle partner. "Okay," he murmured. "Let's do this… for my stupid kid brother."

Midoriya coughed heavily as he felt All Might push a massive slab of stone off of the two of them. "Are you all right, Young Midoriya?" the huge man asked worriedly. "Your body- it can't handle this!"

The two of them were in a real bind this time. The villain that had captured Professor Shield had donned the device meant to amplify All Might's fading power, and had essentially turned the entire tower into a metallic monster that obeyed his every command. Entire pieces of the structure were floating in the air, while many of the columns that the villain had used were strewn about in much grander fashion than before. Even though Izuku had managed to stun the man with a Detroit Smash while he was distracted with taking down All Might, his power was keeping the entire structure under his influence- they didn't have long before he would begin to rampage again.

"It's… a hero's job to save people, no matter what," Izuku said weakly as he looked up at his mentor through a swollen eye. "Right?"

All Might just stayed where he was for a moment, a surprised look on his face, before he let out a quiet chuckle. "You have a good point," he admitted as he held out a hand to his protégé. "It seems that I'd be in quite a bind without you. Will you lend me your strength once again, Young Midoriya?"

"Yes sir!" Deku declared as he grasped his teacher's hand and allowed it to pull him to his feet.

"I'm going, too." The two of them turned to see Kurai standing in front of them with a grim expression on his face, and some kind of high-tech collar that glowed with a myriad of colors around his neck. His aura was in full effect, making his eyes blue and his hair orange while the air pulsated with raw energy. Unlike most of the time when he channeled this power, however, he was not angry- to the contrary, it was almost frightening how calm he was.

Behind him stood his classmates, with Akarui slung on Iida's back, unconscious. All of them looked as though they'd been through enough to put them in the hospital, but they still stood strong. They were ready to do their parts to make sure that this villain would answer for his crimes.

"We'll support you however we can," Mina said firmly when All Might hesitated. "But let Kurai help you, sir. He can do it- he can be a Symbol of Peace like you, but only if you give him the chance."

"We'll watch each other's backs," Midoriya promised, surprising All Might, but they had no time to dwell on it.

"There's no way you can win!" a warped voice bellowed from atop the shifting mass of metal. Kurai recognized it as the voice of the villain before the man shouted, "You're insignificant pests! And you don't know when to lie down and be crushed!" With a wave of his arms, the floating metal congealed into house-sized cubes that hurtled toward the assembled students.

"You're the one…!" Bakugo screamed back, "who doesn't KNOW HE'S BEAT!" Explosions tore up the night air in front of him, disintegrating the metal before it could come anywhere near them.

"Don't underestimate us, Tin Man!" Kaminari laughed as some pillars came at them, all of them loaded with some manner of technology. Kneeling on the ground as if in acceptance of his fate, he then shouted, "Indiscriminate Shock…! Two million volts!" Electricity blasted from his body, surging into the pillars trying to kill them, and causing the mechanisms inside to explode, sending them off-course and away from the students, who had taken cover when they realized what he was doing.

As he stayed where he was, smoking like a used match, he gave his friends a thumbs-up and babbled, "Yay!"

"Great," Jiro muttered. "Now we gotta deal with this guy."

"Go, guys!" Todoroki urged All Might and his friends as he sent forth a wave of ice in order to intercept a trio of columns aimed to crush them. "I won't let him stop you!"

"Let's go!" All Might told the two boys, his mind finally made up.

"Yes sir!" they answered in unison before they took off at a speed that the others could hardly believe- a pace that they'd only ever believed that All Might was capable of. In that moment, the boys were not students of U.A. They were the heroes Deku and Kai, and they were ready to stop evil at any cost.

Kai moved like an orange comet trailing pieces of molten stones, hurling energon blasts at any metal scrap that came near him as he sped toward the infuriated villain. Deku became like a green bolt of lightning, moving too fast for the villain to keep track of. All Might moved with great leaps and bounds that made it seem as though he was flying toward his target as he crushed any object that got in his way, big or small. Together they blasted, smashed, and sped their way through the enemy's defenses.

"This is over!" the villain bellowed, but the three heroes disagreed.

"It'll only be over for you, fiend!" All Might countered as he unleashed a Carolina Smash to clear the way for himself and his students. "Do you know why?!" Without waiting for a proper response, he shouted, "Tell him, boys!"

"Because we are here!" they answered as they powered through another wall of metal.

The villain let out a scream of frustration and began to gather his power above himself, bringing in every piece of metal within his reach- from the tower, from nearby skyscrapers, even from the structure that was holding him up. In doing so, he unintentionally lessened his defenses, and exposed David Shield to the open air, bleeding but still alive.

This is it, Kurai thought as he and the other two leaped toward the growing mass, their powers filling the air so much that it felt as though the atmosphere itself might be ripped apart from the pressure. If this works, I'll finally be free of my restraints… Thank you, Akarui. This one is for you.

By now the gathered metal was the size of a soccer stadium, and it showed no signs of slowing down its growth, either. But the size didn't matter to the three heroes- they would take down this villain because it was their duty to do so.

"To overcome the crisis in front of you, by giving everything you've got!" All Might shouted as he drew back his fist, quickly causing Kurai to recognize the creed of the number one champion of justice.

"And saving people, no matter the cost!" Deku answered, the lightning around him practically erupting from his gauntlet.

"That's what makes someone… a hero!" Kai finished as he slammed his wrists together and poured nearly every ounce of his power into a single point in front of his palms. An orange ball congealed where he willed it, but the power was so great that sparks of orange lightning were cast out in every direction, the counterforce slowing him down while his comrades continued to rise in the air.

"I'll bring down this entire tower!" the villain declared as he hurled the castle-sized chuck of metal at the three of them.

"Final…!"

"Detroit…!"

"SMASH!"

Kai's energy blast erupted like a volcano, smashing into the crushing structure, and stopping it in its tracks just in time for Deku and All Might to crash into it a few meters below his impact point. The metal immediately lost its integrity and splintered, sending the shards upward, and far out to sea, away from the island.

Kai grunted as he hit the ground, but he recovered quickly, his power not quite spent. Seeing his teacher and his friend suspended in the air from the force of their momentum, he let a grin stretch across his face as he saw them draw their fists back in unison once again. The monster cube might have been destroyed, but the villain wasn't down just yet.

Holding out his right hand, a swirling orb immediately appeared as he envisioned it, and he let the last dregs of his energon seep into his body in preparation for the final blow. Akarui said to use up all of my power, he thought as he prepared to jump again. This is it- I hope you were right, Brother mine!

"Deku!" Uraraka called out, praying for her friend's success.

"You got this, Kurai!" Mina added.

"Stop him, All Might!" Jiro and Yaoyorozu cried.

"Go, Midoriya!" Iida and Kirishima shouted.

"Destroy this guy!" That was Todoroki and Bakugo, watching the heroes prepare the final blow that they had laid the groundwork for.

"Let's go…!" All Might prompted.

"Beyond!" Deku replied.

"PLUS ULTRA!" Kai bellowed so loud, his voice nearly gave out as he launched himself up to where he thought they would strike, his Rasengan ready to connect.

The three of them slammed into the shifting mass of metal just underneath where the villain was attempting to shield himself. The Rasengan disintegrated a huge chunk of the pillar, while Deku and All Might's brute force punched through the rest of it, causing the thing to explode, and drowning out the terrified scream of the villain.

That wasn't the only thing that broke, either. Deku's gauntlet, put under the enormous strain of keeping his power from destroying his body, finally shattered and fell away from his wrist. Kai's collar went dim, and then a short electrical burst saw to it crumbling away from his neck, its job completed.

The two boys landed near each other, both of them grunting and groaning as they pulled themselves out of piles of destroyed scrap metal. Kurai winced as a bright light assaulted his eyes, and he wondered if it was rescue helicopter already come to evacuate them. However, it didn't take him long to realize that he was having to shield his eyes from the rising sun.

We've been up all night, he thought dumbly as he looked around himself. Seeing Midoriya trying to get his foot out from under a larger piece of rubble, he moved over and helped his friend escape the crushing weight. "You good?" he asked as Izuku tentatively put weight on the limb. His voice was haggard as a result of the screams he had unleashed earlier, but it was nothing permanent.

"Yeah, it's not too bad," Izuku admitted as he looked up at his friend. "How are you? I kinda thought that you'd be…"

"Dead from an aneurism?" Kurai blandly finished for him. "To be honest, I half-expected that, too. The fact that I'm not means that I'm cured- I'll never have to deal with that again." As he spoke, he tested his limbs and extremities to find that everything seemed to be responding as normal, despite having his neural system more or less recalibrated. He was amazed, really- the device hadn't even hurt when he'd used it, and he had no headache whatsoever from the use of his quirk.

"Wait, what?!" Izuku yelped in surprise. "How is that-?!"

"Akarui and Yaoyorozu made me something," Kurai told him. However, far from appearing happy at the fact that his lifelong ordeal was no more, he looked as though he had just come from a funeral.

"Are you okay?" his friend asked him with concern.

"Akarui may have cured me," Kurai said heavily as he sat down and rubbed at his neck. "But the cost may have been his own life." He looked as if he was about to say more, when his breath caught, and his eyes widened in shock.

"Hikari?" Midoriya asked him worriedly. "What's wrong? What happened to your brother?"

"Is… Is that…?" Kurai said hoarsely as he raised a shaky hand to point at something further down in the rubble. "Am I seeing this right?"

Midoriya followed the path of his pointing finger, and he paled to the color of a ghost when he did. There, tending to the wounds of his friend David Shield, was a skeletal figure dressed in All Might's hero costume.

Uh oh, the inheritor of One For All gulped. Busted.

Mataras: HAH!

Kai: What are you laughing about?!

Mataras: Many things, but mostly at the person who was saying that it won't be possible for you to learn about All Might and Midoriya! I told you guys, patience pays off! Did I not deliver?!

Kai: You delivered my brother a probable death sentence!

Mataras: Yeah, I honestly felt kinda bad about that... But how does one learn and grow without a painful lesson every now and again?

Deku: Something tells me you're just getting started with throwing those at us...

Mataras: No comment.

Kai: Really? I thought you had a comment for everything.

Mataras: Oh, of course I do. It's just matter of choosing when I'm going to use them.

Kai: There it is.

Deku: At least you don't have to worry about your quirk killing you, right? Or did I misunderstand that part?

Mataras: No, that's right. Energon no longer poses a threat to Kurai's life from now on. He's good on that end.

Kai: I guess now the question is what will kill me, if not my quirk? I had originally assumed that Energon would do me in, but I guess you have something else in mind.

Mataras: Yep. But we'll get to that another time. For now, I suggest that everyone impatient to find out what happens next to go and check out my YouTube channel so that they can get some answers. You'll get to see my wife and I do a little retrospective on how the story has changed some of the characters over the last year, if you're interested in that kind of thing. I also recommend going to check out my Instagram if you want a look at Kurai wearing the device that Akarui and Yaoyorozu made for him, in addition to a better quality version of this week's cover art.

Deku: Next time- Two Pillars

Kai: Go Beyond!

Mataras: Plus Ultra!

Next time on Your Hero Academia...

"On a scale of one to dead, how grounded are we?" Kurai asked wearily as he stared bleakly into his phone's screen. It was the early afternoon, less than eight hours after the final battle atop the research and development tower had reached its explosive conclusion.

"That depends," his mother answered with thin lips. "Are you both alive?"

"Yes," he nodded.

"Did you break any laws?"

"Bent, but no, not broken."

"Will your brother ever recover?"

Kurai paused here. He knew that his mother's anger was a veil behind which she was concealing her concern, but he didn't want to be the one to let her know how bad the situation really was. His parents had been alerted to the crisis and the fact that it had passed as soon as he and Akarui were admitted to the hospital, though they hadn't been given the full details just yet. That duty had fallen to Kurai when his mother video called him.

"Kurai, answer me," the woman demanded. "What happened to Akarui?"