Chapter 109 - The Burden of Imperfection
The darkness gave way to light, and as the flash of brilliant sparks cast by a blade vanished, two cutlasses collided with a thick wall of scarlet, recoiling from the shockwave. Yuki adjusted her wings, firing a series of blasts with her additional arms while Izuku moved in under their glare to intercept Kovik who motioned for them to come closer.
"No good! My control is shaky!" Izuku hissed, spotting his whips distorting as they swept Kovik into the air. "I cannot let him touch the ground now that Decay is working again!"
"Hang on, Deku, Aksis!" Katsuki barked from below, clenching his fists so tight he could break the skin. "You're both the ones that should be far away from that creep! He's no longer being held back by Eraser!" They may have saved their teacher but without his quirk All For One could manifest again.
"But who else can keep Kovik off the ground!?" Izuku yelled back, and much as Katsuki hated it, he was right. But still, watching them desperately evade the Splicer's deadly blasts and random warps was biting into his mind constantly.
Kovik laughed, "You both favor the sky? I'll oblige... by sending you straight to the afterlife, then, your friends, family, and every person you've met will be crushed!"
"Like hell!/You're not gonna hurt anyone else!" The pair cried out, slamming their fists up against the hardlight, swaying to the sides to evade a steady beam of red light that split into two, following them for a few moments, the beams melting through whatever buildings still remained tall.
It was beyond reckless but neither could bother to consider the consequences, the years Yuki had to endure just to scratch by on her stolen power, only to learn her whole life since the USJ had been watched and prodded for information. It was frustrating, every encounter with villains was bled to her worst enemy and she knew nothing about it. Fury bubbled over in her heart.
"Before I fall I will defeat you!" Her left leg extended outward as her wings propelled her down at deadly speeds against the barrier. "Rain's Fall!" The strike fractured the shield, shattering it as she flew by Kovik's claws, another heatwave surging toward him while he guarded with his forearms.
Izuku copied Yuki's strike, tearing through Kovik's side instead in passing, left arm weaved with Blackwhip to keep Kovik from teleporting away while suspending him with Float. "Even my 100% attacks aren't phasing him anymore, but the damage isn't healing as quickly!" He noted, doubling back with his right arm folded. "The last two 100% punches wrecked my left arm, even so-!"
"Evade!" Yuki pulled Izuku upward from an arcing beam that erupted in a chain of explosions, kicking his back, she sent Izuku barreling toward Kovik's blindspot once more, using two Devil's Ruin to deter the Fallen from counterattacking. Her own reserves made her cough up a little blood, pushing beyond her current limit for a few seconds to bump up her strength. "No matter what it takes, I've worked for this moment! For my Mama and Papa, for Nana, everything he's taken from Us!"
"He has to go down here! Now's the moment to let it all out! Everything One For All has to offer!" He brought his fist through Kovik's right arm, dismantling the limb into scrap and stripped wires with a resounding 'Boom' in passing. Izuku didn't even cry, his bare skin was exposed along his right arm, gashes tearing open but he refused to let it cave his spirit. "No matter what happens to me!" Izuku resolved, blasting through plasma and hardlight without remorse.
Yuki intercepted from the opposite direction, her left heel striking down across Kovik's helmet, tearing off a point in passing. Two halos of blue and green expanded from the sonic boom, the sheer impact alone disturbing the ruined city with a hurricane of pressure, but Blackwhip remained steady, dragging Izuku wide and back into the fray. Yuki's torn, burnt wings overclocked with blue wind pressure, launching her down also through the whirlwind.
Blood spewed from Izuku's right arm, the wiring around Yuki's left leg exposed through her stripped barding and fractured blue plate metal. Shaking her head from the shockwave, Yuki narrowed her eyes down at Kovik tugged along by the emerald-haired hero, his face angular with primal rage.
|Yuki Enough!|
SIVA's tone finally snapped her from her thoughts, "Siva? What-" Then she felt his consciousness smack her like a mallet.
Are you trying to kill yourself!? | Look at you both | You can't regenerate like he can, look!
She did, she finally gave the situation a cold hard look and gasped in horror. Not only at her own injuries, but Izuku's. His face and his actions were so muddled in anger that he barely realized how damaged his body was becoming. In her blind rage, she led him straight into a hell they wanted to avoid, and he was paying for it dearly.
"No... I have to stop him!" She desperately flew toward the battle. "I want to beat Kovik, but not if Izuku has to die for it!"
SIVA sighed. |You both are far too reckless | Focus on your emotions | Use them but do not be used|
"Right, thank you, again," She whispered, arcing her descent to evade the various blasts sent flying from the battle.
Izuku pulled back with Blackwhip, bringing his right side forward with a destructive right hook. "Detroit Smash!" Another barrier attempted to subdue the force, tanking a sharp slam of Izuku's fist that tore it down. "Wyoming Smash!" That was quickly followed by a puncturing kick to the stomach. "St. Louis Smash!"
"These constant bombardments, NARA can't recover, if those heroes hadn't had pushed me so far... no," Kovik analyzed it in a heartbeat, closing his regrowing fists in the face of a monster of a human child. "This body of mine is just a proxy, but worst of all..." He reached out with a glaring sphere between his fingers. "This power is in my way..."
"That's what... this power... is for!" Izuku roared, closing the gap in a bloodied mess as his shattered limbs continued to move forward, despite the percentage gap being short, the damage sustained was beginning to show, his skin turning purple and black along his hands, and the joints. "You'll pay for everything you've done!"
"Texas Smash!" The cross chop battered against two beams of light, and the electrical storm exploded outward between Splicer and Hero, erupting into a harrowing ball of energy that Yuki could barely slip between, squinting through the harsh light.
"It's too much, I can't get close at this speed," Looking up at the clouds, she realized what she needed. "I need more velocity, ready Siva?"
|Quickly, to save him|
With a flash of light, her thrusters took her far from view once more, desperately to reach the highest point her body could possibly manage.
Down below, Katsuki soaked it all in, finally finding his voice again in the roars of thunder that swept through his hair. "He's using his legs and Air Force to avoid the recoil while already controlling several quirks, Deku's pulling every move he's learned 'till now just to keep Kovik in the air,"
"Aksis' gone and done the same, bumping up her percentage to deal considerable damage without losing control but she's expending most of her nanomachines to do it constantly," Katsuki broke it all down, seeing the bluette flee into the sky for another stupid stunt. "Since they couldn't take him down on the first move it's turned into a war of attrition, wearing each other down... in a situation like that they can't win against someone with hyper-regeneration,"
"All it's gonna take is one move and Deku gets his power stolen!" Katsuki swung his head around to Shoto still providing a cooling mist to Endeavor. "Todoroki, you finished yet!?"
"Yes, but why-" He was even surprised to hear the explosive blonde using his name for once.
"Shut up, and grab on!" Katsuki's mind raced to solve the situation, peeling in all the resources they had left. "Endeavor, hold off on the fire, I'll make sure you get up there! Todoroki, keep Endeavor cooled off as long as possible!"
"I'll use my greatest firepower... to bring him down... leave it to me," Endeavor wheezed, still taking in all the rest he could afford.
"That's... but you're kids..." Rock Lock was cut off when Shoto called over, grabbed by Katsuki.
"Take care of our teacher!" He asked of him.
Despite that earlier fear, Rock Lock's grip on Eraser held firm. "What am I saying? I already acknowledged these kids as heroes..." "Okay..." He nodded and the teen shot off toward the sky and the ensuing chaos.
"Aim for when Blackwhip is completely extended! Then you two return to the ground or you'll be caught in the crossfire!" Endeavor ordered, the trio propelled toward the battle.
"Midoriya, hold on!" Shoto called out but his friend couldn't hear him.
In the air, Izuku bent his body backward to evade the claws, several blasts being deflected with other Blackwhips while he smashed his left fist against Kovik's open palm, the Splicer drawing him in close to knee in the stomach. Blood sprang from Izuku's mouth, but he grit his teeth and headbutted the Fallen instead, disorientating him.
Combing through his memories, Katsuki had so much to think about in the split second he fell back into his mind...
"So, what did happen between you two anyway?" Katsuki was alone on the roof of their dorm, rather, he and Ochaco were, his arms hung off the small wall, dangling them over the edge. She sat behind him, his back leaning against her chest while she played with his spiky hair. "I kinda got an idea from Yuyu and Deku, but I wanted to know... how you felt about it."
Her odd plucking at his hair managed to calm his heart rate, of all people he wanted to bury the truth from, it was her. But inadvertently, it was the same girl that could get him to confess to anything against his better judgment. Staring toward the cloudy sky, his eyes never lost their sharpness, but guilt could be seen. "I messed up... big," Like a lump of lead, he swallowed it whole.
"I had everything, a powerful quirk, people that would praise me for it, hell, anyone who threatened that was squashed, they knew their place," Every word was true but it stung in his throat thinking about it. "Then Dek... Izuku... no matter what I did he kept coming back, this quirkless kid followed me like a stray even after I got my quirk and he didn't, back then... I thought... I thought I put him in his place..."
"But that didn't happen, he got his quirk..." Ochaco murmured. "...from All Might."
What a hypocrite that one line made him now? It was laughable if he had the stomach for it.
"...again and again, he kept up his dream of being a hero, made it to UA with a mentor that I admired more than anything, it made my blood boil," His fingers dug into the wall. "And to top it all off, he showed up with a new chick that made him laugh again, smile brighter, act strong enough to confront me when he should've been afraid... and then I lost..."
"...then it all made sense, I just refused to see it for so long... how I used him to make myself forget my own weakness, my flaws, back then... I had no reason to think I could be beaten," Katsuki sighed after a long moment of retelling his story, and those delicate hands moved to wrap around his chest, embracing him tightly. "If he never forgives me, that's probably for the best, sure, that nerd doesn't have scars but..."
"I think you're wrong," Ochaco smiled softly, resting her chin on his head. "The past won't change, you can't erase what you've said and done, but Deku... does he look unhappy when you see him? Can you honestly tell me he's miserable in life after everything that's happened?"
For once, he had no words to rebuke her claim. She shot him down so easily.
"You can do it, someday, when you feel it's right, you can tell him everything yourself," Ochaco smiled, squeezing tighter to quell his subtle tremble. "And maybe... you two can be friends again."
Katsuki bore his teeth, "Even if One For All is some cursed power..." Flashes of the past dug into his skin, so he burned them into his palms. "One For All is... what I admired..."
"You can call me 'Deku', but I'm not the same defenseless kid anymore!" Izuku vowed, yelling at the top of his lungs. "You hear me, I've changed! From now on, Deku is the name of a hero!"
What Katsuki saw was that same person screaming bloody murder, his body ripped apart by the power he inherited.
Blackwhips extended as far as it could go, Izuku reeling back for another fist, Kovik was ready this time, drawing in NARA to its maximum density. "Now!" Katsuki yelled, and both he and Shoto flung Endeavor forward like a scorching missile on a crash course into Kovik.
"You again...?" Kovik grunted, feeling his core temperature rising higher by the millisecond.
"En...-" Izuku in his haze, froze in the air, feeling the heatwave smash into him.
"Get down!" Endeavor was consumed by roaring flames, a great ball of fire expanding. "PROMINENCE BUUUUURN!"
The wrath of the sun started to breakdown Kovik's chassis, but he didn't panic or even scream, in fact, he barely gave an inch in terms of reaction. "Is ThAt AlL yOu GoT!?" He gargled on static, and the flames immediately cut out.
"Ack!" Pain flooded through Endeavor's body, and his concentration cut thin when three blackish-red tendrils of steel pierced his torso. "How come... you won't... die?"
"Endeavor!" Shoto yelled out, Katsuki sharing his startled expression.
"BeCaUsE i HaVe To MuCh To LoSe!" Even engulfed in flames, Kovik pursued Izuku frozen from his onslaught, and the sight of Endeavor falling from afar, brushed aside so easily. Kovik steadied his hand, and four more dark steel tendrils extended from his back toward the boy. "DiE, lItTlE rAt!"
Izuku couldn't evade this. Above, Yuki had broken through the thick clouds only to find her sudden descent halted, she intended to strike through the wind pressure to pull Izuku from harm's way, but now spotting the tendrils moving to skewer him, her wings quickly pivoted without even thinking, moving on their own accord.
At that moment...
Katsuki twisted his whole body around, blasting several times with one hand outstretched he closed the gap.
Without thinking... My body...
Yuki caught Izuku by the wrist while Katsuki threw him against her chest at the last second, stalling her approach as blood flew between the three. Katsuki was impaled by three of the steel blades, the fourth warded off by Yuki's smaller blue barrier, herself unable to reach for Katsuki in time.
Moved on its own.
"Kat...suki...?" Yuki croaked out, the tendrils disappearing as the air grew unnaturally quiet.
They watched with anguished eyes as the blonde spat up blood, falling away from them. "Don't go... playing the hero... by yourselves..." He coughed.
A great, jagged blood-red flame surrounded Kovik, severing his augments while attempting to reel in his power. "GeT oUt... of my... Head!" He hissed, prying control away from the lingering subconscious of the villain residing his the quirk of the same name. "We don't need you here, old man."
A rush of flames caught up with Katsuki, Shoto grabbing his leg to keep him from falling to a painful landing. Across the air from them, Kovik regrew his lost armor and limbs gradually, his helmet repairing itself with the tendrils severed from the attack. "This fight today... has truly been a waste of life,"
His words thundered in their ears, pupils contracting as they let go of one another. "But I'll admit, that was by far the most pathetic attempt thus far," Every word, it made the pressure build and overflow again, unlike before, there was no time to even register the world around them. "Pathetic wastes of life, but I can't fault humanity for their weakness, you've all reached your limits."
Deep inside of Izuku, his fallout energy turned a deep shade of green, almost onyx in pigment as it shrouded his upper face in darkness, eyes jagged and white with unparalleled fury as he sucked in a sharp breath that made his veins bulge. Yuki was still star-struck that before she could catch Izuku by the wrist to stop him, he had left in a storm of black lightning, the whiplash tearing her wings apart so badly she had to land on a nearby mountain of rubble to survive.
"What... was that?" She murmured. Panic gripped her, seeing Shoto and Endeavor land with the injured Katsuki, and now Izuku had unleashed something that made her scales itch with worry. That was the most anger she's seen from him.
He's moving faster | To my knowledge | He's never been this swift
"Hm, where did he go? His speed again, that new quirk, what was it called again?" Kovik processed his memories from Yuki to where the trio and All Might discussed the other users, then to one where Izuku explained he met the 'ghosts' of One For All. That's right, one of them had a speed-like quirk. "How interesting," He mused, detecting the sibling quirk had reached the opposite end of the city. "In only a few seconds too?"
Across the city, remaining buildings had their windows shatter and anything not nailed down torn into the whirlwind behind Izuku, his broken fingers clung to the tarmac that fissured beneath him, his legs clenched with that cool swiftness again, only now all his energy had a darker pigment, his face shrouded in its fallout.
"Limit...? I've got it right here...!" Like a streak of black lightning, Izuku disappeared, tearing up the road beneath him as the whole world blurred into colorful streaks, his fist brought forward with a revving scream in the wind.
Kovik couldn't calculate this new feat, only stare and admire how strong of a quirk was barreling toward him. He smiled beneath his helmet, erecting a stronger barrier in time for the black bullet to traverse the world toward his core.
The second before impact, Izuku heard a laugh, and Danger Sense exploded in his mind like a sledgehammer, "That's right... into my waiting arms..." His power cut short almost immediately, the shockwave followed regardless, blasting through them as the last few inches were covered, pressing Kovik's open palm to Izuku's face, sinking his claws around his flesh. "Now, be mine... One For All!"
"MIDORIYA!/IZUKU!" Shoto and Yuki screamed out, but it was too late, All For One and One For All had finally made contact after all these countless years apart. Both their collective powers cut out immediately, and the pair's thoughts drowned in the abyss.
The world quickly came into view again, the dark void swept by a dark, acrid wind that Izuku raised his arm to ward against. His mouth and parts of his body were still coated in black mist, but his control allowed him to move freely, and confront the manifestations before him.
"Ah, finally found you," His glossy white hair was pulled in the wind, raising his head from a kneeling position in front of the towering Fallen Splicer behind him. "Izuku Midoriya,"
"Shigaraki!? He could see me the whole time through Kovik!?" His surprise gave way to realization, of course, he tapped into Yuki's eyes and ears, why not with Shigaraki? He glared at the pair, drawing up his uninjured mind's body in defense. His face screamed, 'I'm not going to lose here!'.
Izuku balled up his hands bitterly, he let his emotions get the best of him and now he was in the very situation he wanted to avoid. Trapped at the edge of two powerful quirks on the verge of merging. There had to be a way out of this, some ability to pry him from this world, and in turn, from All For One's intensity. Like trying to escape gravity.
"You honestly believe you can win?" Kovik mused. "A childish thought, I have lived for centuries, my experience with the mind, body, and soul eclipses yours," He offered Izuku a hand, and his darkness started to erode the mindscape. "Give up, your friends are beaten and wounded, your own partner can't hold a candle to NARA, and now, you're completely vulnerable to us both."
"It all makes sense, why the Symbol of Peace favored a nobody brat like you," Shigaraki smirked. "It's cause you were me, blindly following our mentors to become their new symbols, but..." He lost his smile, fingers destroying the ground, ripping up a torrent of destruction toward Izuku. "I have my own expectations, even if my master is gone, I can't thank him enough for giving me the strength needed to steal my dreams, and destroy everything that isn't,"
Shigaraki looked to Izuku with a maniac's expression, joyous and drugged on his disintegration. "But the dead should stay that way, I'm following my own path, my own ideals! And nobody is going to stand in my way any longer!"
The decay slammed against a yellow-gloved hand, a barrier that Izuku couldn't see warding off the destruction. He spun around to find a familiar woman with long raven hair withholding the erosion. "Who's this?" Kovik grunted, his red nanomachines swarming in buzzing clusters around the void, unable to break the invisible boundary between the two quirks colliding. "Ah, one of the visages, right?"
"Seems you're well informed, listening in through a sweet innocent girl," Shimura replied with a stone-cold tone. She spared her grandson a pleading look, she remembered reaching into his subconscious months back, a strange back and forth between OFA and AFO, but she failed, she and her family's echoes couldn't reach him. All For One had truly destroyed any hopes of saving Shigaraki.
"The thief was useful until then," Kovik admitted, his nanomachines tearing into the ground, infusing it, manifesting red wires and clusters like a plague. "Tomura, won't you kill the last of your family?"
"You're Kotaro's..."
"Don't worry, Grandmother..." He murmured dryly, smiling back at her steely expression. "I blame you too." For the first time, Shimura agreed.
"Halt!" Another voice chimed in, increasing the strength of the barrier, causing a large ravine to split the two sides. Standing behind Izuku, resting a gentle hand on the boy's rigid shoulder, was the first user himself, Yoichi Shigaraki. "I suppose it cannot be helped, my brother was as stubborn as me, it only makes sense you both are struggling against their combined strength,"
"So I was right," Kovik replied to the white-haired man, waving an arm. "The linger consciousnesses within quirks retain fragments of the original holder of said power, guess that explains the annoying interruptions..." He rubbed his helmet. "All For One wanted this power to be unstoppable, all I want to be rid of it, and if Shigaraki wants to use it to further his goals, so be it."
"So, you chose to manipulate this kid as he has?" Yoichi inquired with a hard stare, enough to excite a clicking laugh from the Splicer.
"A mutual trust, you should know, you both are persistent in aiding this pest," He prodded a finger at Izuku who glared back. Sighing, Kovik threw his arm forward, and his nano swarms quickly took the form of his Escalation Judgement Spears. "Do us both a favor, roll over and accept your fate!"
"Don't worry," Yoichi offered Izuku a kind gaze, then raised both his hands toward the mindscape. "We won't be leaving, we have chosen to remain with this boy! The true, Final Successor!" That shot Izuku's stare right back around, feeling an emotion warm his soul like no other.
"Hehehahahaha...!" Kovik broke his facade, dropping into a brief lapse of hysterics, his and Shigaraki's combined will resisting One For All's. "This... this is your plan!? To reside within an incompetent human being! He can't fully master his power's potential, just now his body's a broken mesh of flesh and bone!"
The Fallen's words tore into Izuku, his foot shifting back with shaken eyes. "He couldn't protect anyone, instead, relying on the protection of others to survive! And best of all? He let rage consume him, leading us to this moment, all his efforts are blind luck that's run dry!" Kovik's entire visage vibrated with darkness. "Offering up your strength to someone so inconsequential was by far your biggest mistake!"
Izuku nearly stepped forward, but that gentle hand - no, several hands held his shoulders and arms. Shimura, Yoichi, Banjo, Hikage, and the other users he didn't know the names of yet. Yoichi glowered back but retained an air of pride for the young hero under their watch. "He's not a mistake,"
"I've seen your actions, Splicer, you are a lot like my brother, always taking advantage of others for your own benefit, deep down, that is you at your core, so you could never understand," Yoichi visibly made Kovik's silence simmer with rage. "No matter what, this boy would spill blood for others, he becomes enraged for others-"
As he said this, Izuku reached out with his own hand, One For All channeling into his fingertips in many colors again, he could feel it, all of them offering their strength to him, pushing back the nanomachines and decay from reaching across the ravine. "-and without limits, and without fail, he picks himself up again,"
"He is a boy possessed by the need to save others despite his commonsense," Yoichi let Izuku rush forward, banishing the darkness. "This power will stick with this boy forevermore!"
*Shiiing!*
Shigaraki and Izuku couldn't reach each other in time as a white arc severed the void in two, the mindscape collapsing away. As the ground fizzled and crumbled, something else could be heard over the noise.
"...ease... elp..." It was faint and had Izuku not been on high alert, he might've glossed over the tiny frame in the darkness where Kovik's body dissolved. Scruffy, pale-blue hair, and a frail body attached to it. The person was wrapped in wires and metal, hung like a puppet on strings against his will. "...please... help me..." He croaked painfully.
Izuku tried to reach for them but the world quickly disappeared, but he felt it in his chest. That little boy... he was in so much pain.
*Shiiing!*
"Get off of him!" Yuki brought her body forward into a vertical swing, severing Kovik's arm by the elbow as she wrapped one arm around Izuku and pulled him away from the mad Splicer Priest in time to evade another shredding from newer tendrils, the angular limbs piercing earth and rubble to uproot Kovik high above the masses. "Izuku, Izuku, are you...?" Seeing her worried face as she pulled her mask back made his chalky lips break a faint smile.
"Yu...ki, I'm okay, I still... have it," He coughed into her chest as she landed next to Shoto, himself inspecting Katsuki's injuries with haste, but the blonde was groaning in pain, a good sign at least. "Sorry... failed," Izuku murmured only to feel two fingers tap his lips, seeing the angel holding him smiling sadly.
"You dummy, we both messed up, so rest, I'll at least keep your limbs from falling off this time," She spoke, already working overtime to mend his arms and legs but her nanomachines felt weaker, "Guess we worked too hard to death, huh?"
|Hm, yes, focus|
"Hang in there, guys, we'll take care of-" Shoto's voice died in his throat, the onyx-crimson blades digging into the ground closer to them, the worn and ruined husk of a Splicer leaning forward with a twitching head.
"You didn't think..." If they could see it, the Devil smiled back at their fearful expressions. "...that I'll let you recover, Thief?"
"Would you use my name, jackass!" Yuki snapped, furrowly done with both today and Kovik's insults.
"Yuki, I'll defend you, patch them up as quickly as possible," Shoto whispered back, seeing her nod slowly, eyes narrowed in concentration.
"Just be careful, his nanotech, NARA... it's much stronger than mine," Her admittance made his muscles clench, this would be dangerous then.
"I'll do what I can!" Breathing out white mist, he threshed his arm, producing several shards of ice to deflect the red plasma from reaching them from afar.
*BLAM!*
A solid double-helix of golden light slammed into Kovik's left side, throwing him from the air again while a silver blur cut his tumble off with a roundhouse kick so blindingly fast Kovik's systems spun, collapsing through a nearby mound of debris. The armored knight spun around, skidding to a halt before his friends while a beautiful girl with light blue hair floated into view above.
"Everyone!" Nejire called out, lowering her arms.
"We're finally here to assist! And it seems we made it on time!" Iida added, recoiling when he saw how battered Yuki was, but worst of all, Katsuki with several wounds through his back and Izuku's mangled body undergoing repairs. "...I... you're alive, that's what matters," He had to swallow his panic, they had a job to do.
"Iida, help move the casualties out of the battleground!" Shoto waved to his friend, watching as the rubble tore into the sky, Kovik crawling out on those metal limbs again like a spider, rising to the air again.
A small distance away, Manuel helped to move Ryukyu to safety, herself severely injured, the sight made Nejire pout angrily at the rising Splicer.
"H-hey, wait-" Yuki helped Izuku to sit upright, her partner refusing to rest. "I... have to s-stick to Kovik...! He's still after me and Y-Yuki... just take Kacchan and Endeavor!"
"His regeneration's slowed-" Shoto revealed, flames tickling across his hair while frost coated the ground. "-we can take him, Hado!"
"Is that right, Shoto Todoroki?" He flinched, hearing Kovik call his name. The Splicer held up his right hand, claws bent rigidly against one another, preparing to click them. "Then I suppose I should even the odds, right?" His helmet's red glare flashed brighter.
*Click!*
There were several red flashes, and nothing happened for a time but Izuku sensed it, several stabbing pains from every direction, and the pungent stench of venom. "Hado, evaaaaade!" He screamed to her, and she just barely flew down to avoid two spinning green halos that doubled back around toward the ruins of a building on its side, standing atop it, the user caught their twin kamas dripping with poison.
"Man, you really detected me from that far away, good for you, real sharp as ever, huh?" Yuki's face lost all color upon seeing the shirtless, malnourished young man with long curled blackish-green hair. His nails dug into his neck, drawing blood. "Howya been, Yuyu? You look real messed up this time, can't be helped I guess, you are hated, y'know? Lots of people envy you so much, right?"
"Halimaka..." She breathed.
A pluck and bang in the air quickly alerted them to another new threat, and Shoto gasped in pain when a streak of blue electricity punctured his left bicep slightly, leaving a wide gash through his flesh as the flesh hissed until he applied a cold hand to the wound quickly.
"Nejire, Shoto!" Iida spun around with Katsuki in his arms to check if they were safe.
"Put me down, four-eyes!" To make matters more unexpected, his dead-weight barked an insult.
"You're awake! I apologize, I must not let you down due to the damage you've sustained-"
"We need... a complete... victory," Katsuki panted for a breath, glowering at the new arrivals. "Damn boss brought back-up, no, he was waiting for this moment when we're all too weak to fight back."
Crouched between two slabs of concrete, a figure appeared from thin air, clutching two static cutlasses between her claws, tugging her deep blue cowl over her head. "Target confirmed, I shall engage," Drevis sighted Eraserhead through the heroes with ease, he was weak and unconscious, it brought a wicked smile beneath her respirator.
"Shoto, are you alright!?" Knelt near Shoto, Izuku, and Yuki, Endeavor mulled over the newest threat to their safety with a stone-cold exterior, even though he was nearly able to stand himself. "I apologize, Hawks! I've taken your sacrifices but fell short, this is my responsibility to bear," He curled up his fist, the pain in his chest made it hard to stomach even a long breath for long. "My lungs are half-gone... how can I perform my duties if I can't even breathe?"
Just watch me.
"No! I must prevail here!" He almost let himself give in to such hopeless, needless thoughts. Taking a shaky stand, "I am the top hero of this nation!" He'd burn brighter and brighter until his own flame blew out if it meant victory could be assured.
"Ohhhh, there you are!" A chipper yet wicked tone cut through Endeavor like a hot knife. A patchwork face beamed brightly, giving them a wave as he hopped down a few meters below Kovik, eyeing up the four injured heroes. "From here you all look like ants! Ey, Shoto's here too huh!? Wonderful, long time no see!"
"Huh?" Shoto didn't remember this guy being so carefree. "He's obviously in a good mood..."
"Yeah, definitely more unsettling, huh?" Yuki grimaced, finishing her patchwork on Izuku's broken arms, applying a copy of Full-Gauntlet to both. It wasn't much but it would help keep his limbs. "Why is he so happy?" Somehow, that smile on Dabi's face made her stomach twist, and her eyes lingered on Shoto.
"Dabi!" Endeavor spat the name like a bad taste in his mouth, a nervous sweat trickling down his face. "Three members of the League are here, how many more are lurking around though?"
"Aww~ don't be that way..." Dabi pulled out a bottle with a clear substance inside, raising it to douse his hair. "Why must you call me by my villain moniker..." Every word on his lips was cold, cynical, and riddled with jubilation, a child on Christmas Day if anything. "When I have such a respectable name..."
The liquid dripped down his bangs and face, not the slightest ounce of discomfort as he met Shoto and Endeavor's eyes with snow white hair in place of his raven. "Which is Touya!"
To Be Continued...
Oh My God, Dabi was actually Touya Todo - Okay, I'm not doing that again, yeah, like it wasn't obvious, moving on. Quite the bloodied battle and we ain't even done yet! Surprise, Izuku's strong enough to use not just Float but another quirk, but which users? The stuff coming in however many chapters remain of this arc will be quite the gut-wrencher, trust me.
I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Heroes!
Next Chapter Intermission: The Perfect Counterattack
"So, Halimaka, Drevis, Dabi, and Kovik..." Yuki clapped her hands awkwardly, then threw them up. "Welp, we're dead, it was nice knowing you guys, but hey, what a way to go, right?" She smiled dumbly.
"We can prevail, I believe..." Shoto murmured, tapping his chin. "But Dabi is... my brother?"
Yuki offered him a remorseful look, patting his back. "If it's any consultation, being related to a villain is a lot to take in."
"Why did you look at me when you said that?" Not far away, Siva stared at the pair.
"I mean, you did nearly destroy the Cosmodrome, aaaand killed a bunch of Guardians and Fallen," Yuki teetered with the answer, smiling behind Shoto who blinked at the awkwardness.
"...point taken," Siva conceded. "Coming soon, The Perfect Counterattack."
"That's what I'm talking about!" Yuki grinned.
"That isn't something to be excited for... right?" Shoto looked to SIVA who shrugged. "Ahem, Go Beyond."
Yuki held up a peace sign. "Plus Ultra!"