Hiya folks! The first chapter of 2022 is here!

Before you get all excited, let me say that this is not the final chapter of the Steel Sabers Arc. Again.

This is because of two things coming up that would delay this writing. My neighbors are leaving for a vacation trip and they asked me to take care of their two cats while they're gone. How could I refuse? The second is that next month I'm going to be busy playing Shadow Warrior 3. I have been eagerly awaiting this game and I can't wait to play it! Hopefully, it'll get the bitter taste of Battlefield 2042 out of my mouth.

So you can only imagine that this would hamper my writing schedule and I made the decision to cut the final chapter in half. You could consider this the semifinal chapter! I know you all think this Arc is dragging on too long but let me remind you guys that the Whole Cake Island Arc in Once Piece lasted WAY longer so be lucky the next chapter is the final one.

Also, you guys may have noticed some changes I made to earlier chapters, namely the ones involving Miruko. Recently, I discovered the torn photo easter egg in Doom Eternal (took me years to learn about it) and decided to make their relationship based on the Slayer's late wife and son rather than just Daisy. I felt like there was a stronger connection with his family but Daisy won't get left out. Might make the paring between The Slayer and Miruko easier to manage thanks to that.

One last thing, I want to give a shoutout to SycthteOfTheAbandoned. Thanks for sticking up for me; I do want to make these chapters the best I can even though it takes a long time to churn them out. I have a life and a job, I'm not a damn robot.

DOOM, My Hero Academia, and Darksiders belong to their respective owners. I do not own either of them.

Chapter 18

Dark Visions

"And I looked and behold, a pale horse. And his name that sat on him was Death...and Hell followed with him.

-Johnny Cash

I-ISLAND CENTRAL TOWER-ELEVATOR SHAFT

40 MINUTES EARLIER

The Doomslayer vacantly stared ahead as the lights within the shaft flew by him. Still gripping onto the cable as it carried up the shaft, the Slayer went over his current objectives.

-Eliminate the League of Villains

-Disable the WMD

-Rescue the hostages

-Procure Support Items from the vault

-Exfiltrate from I-Island

It seemed like his mission here was finally reaching its end. His actions would never go unnoticed in this universe and the people of Japan, and the rest of the world as a whole would view him as a threat. He thought that wiping out an army of mercs infamous for killing Heroes would probably be a godsend for those who lived in fear of them. But after the way he dispatched the entire organization, as well as how he defeated those Heroes who attempted to impede him, everyone would be terrified of him and he would most likely be branded as a Villain.

Villain...this world had a very skewed perception of what was considered "good and evil." The Heroes couldn't even handle this situation because they were either held back by their moral codes or because they all thought that killing was wrong. His thoughts once again went back to Izuku at the mall and more recently, Nejire and Tamaki. If they were truly learning how to be Heroes, then they should've been more aware of making the harsh decision to use deadly force at some point. But even then, it felt like the Heroes were hesitant towards that idea as well. Was it because they were afraid that if they killed a Villain, it would make them no better than the criminals they were trying to stop?

Bullshit.

If someone was threatening innocent lives and all other options had been exhausted, then you had absolutely no choice but to eliminate said aggressor. Police officers knew that soldiers knew that, but these Heroes apparently weren't getting the message. They were going to have to accept reality sooner or later, regardless of their opinions on the matter. He had long since swallowed that bitter pill ever since he joined the army. During his war against Hell, that notion didn't even bother him in the slightest. He hoped that none of the Heroes in this world had to go through the same hardships he endured.

/Slayer, I have calculated that the League of Villains will escape and detonate the WMD before you arrive. I need to buy you time so that you can stop them as well as save the hostages./

He clenched his teeth. During his fight with Nine and his toadies, the Hellwalker was wondering why he only saw Chainsaw and not the other members. It was as clear as day that they were using Nine as a distraction so they could arm the bomb and Chainsaw was sent against him to see how strong he was. These bastards were crafty.

/I have found a solution to our predicament. There is currently a group of U.A. students who have avoided detection from the Sabers. I have instructed them to pursue the League and delay their escape./

The Slayer's HUD showed security camera footage of a group of teenagers running through the halls. The Doomslayer wasn't thrilled with VEGA's so-called "solution." The LOV was extremely dangerous and these kids were only in training. What the hell made VEGA think they could stand a chance against them? This almost sounded like something Hayden would do.

/This course of action is something you disapprove of and for that, I apologize. But we must ensure the League of Villains does not escape with the Headset or destroy I-Island./

As much as the Doomslayer disliked VEGA's idea, he had to admit that the AI was right. During his fight against the Steel Saber remnants outside the tower, VEGA had provided him info on the Quirk Amplification Headset. A device that could enhance one's superpowers was deadly in the wrong hands; especially if a criminal mastermind like All for One managed to obtain it. Speaking of which, the Slayer still knew very little about this enigmatic Villain. He and Vega were going to have to dig up more information on him before they decided to hunt him down.

/Situation update: A Hero has just arrived on the Island./

Really now? It's about time they decided to grow a pair. Hopefully, he or she wouldn't try to get in his way-

/Confirmed: the Hero in question is Miruko./

Fuck. Why was it her again? This had to have been the 4th time he encountered her in such a short period. Was there some sort of reason why he kept running into her? The Slayer held up his hand and stared at his open palm.

Why...?

EARTH-MANY EONS AGO

COMMUNITY RECREATION CENTER

"I'm...having some reservations about this, Em." Flynn said as he looked down at the boxing glove.

"Will you relax? I'm just giving you some extra combat lessons before you get thrown at the mercy of your Drill Sargeant!" Emily laughed as she stepped into the boxing ring.

"But I'm already going through boot camp at the base tomorrow." Flynn said as he climbed into the ring. "Why the extra lessons?"

"What, you don't want your girlfriend to lend a helping hand?" Emily teased as she places her hands on her hips.

"N-no! That's not what I meant!" Flynn quickly corrected himself.

"Relax, ya big lug." Emily giggled as she limbered up. Her black gym outfit did little to hide her modest yet firm muscles and abdomen. "Trust me, this will give you a leg up during training."

"I get that, but I don't want to end up accidentally hurting you." Flynn expressed.

"This isn't a sparring match, dope. This is a practice session." Emily humorously corrected him as she slipped on a pair of boxing pads. "And besides, you couldn't lay a finger on me!"

Flynn stared at her for a couple of seconds before he contently chuckled. "Neither can anyone else." He relented as he got into a boxing stance. Patting the boxing pads together, Emily dashed forward and Flynn threw out a series of consecutive jabs at her which she easily blocked with the pads. They would continue with this training regimen for several minutes with Flynn landing more hits that Emily parried.

"So, our anniversary is coming up, you got something planned for me?"

"Well, I've been thinking..."

I-ISLAND CENTRAL TOWER-ELEVATOR SHAFT

PRESENT DAY

The Slayer clenched his hand tightly and exhaled through his nostrils.

/Miruko has just launched several flares. This will likely prompt the Heroes on the mainland to launch an assault to retake I-Island. You may have a physical altercation on your hands if they arrive./

Couldn't be helped. If they wanted to do their jobs like they should've done hours ago then that was their choice. But if they got in his way, they were going to walk away with a fuckton of bruises. His HUD notified him that he was nearing the 2nd floor where the hostages were located. As soon as he neared the elevator door, the Slayer swung himself forward and let go of the cable. He balled up his fist as he neared the door and punched it open, sending the steel doors flying into the hallway as the Doomslayer landed on the red carpet. The Slayer drew his Combat Shotgun and equipped the Charged Shot mod while sparks rained down on top of him from a destroyed ceiling light. His HUD showed him the path to the ballroom and he pumped his shotgun before sprinting down the hall.

In the ballroom, the seventeen hired guns employed by Wolfram were starting to lose it. They were dreadfully twitchy and they were currently arguing amongst each other.

"What the fuck do we do?!"

"We have to get out of here! Wolfram ditched us for cryin' out loud!"

"Are you nuts?! That psycho is probably still out there!"

"Oh fuck we're screwed we're screwed we're screwed we're screwed-"

"SHUT UP, JUST SHUT UP! LET ME FUCKIN' THINK!"

The guests and Heroes were feeling very uneasy as well. What if that armored maniac came up here? After watching him horrifically dispatch the last of the Sabers and their leader on the main screen, they feared that he would come for them as well. All Might wearily eyed the group of arguing criminals. These men were steadily losing their composure and their minds; all it took was one wrong move and the gunmen would snap and kill everyone here. Including him. Not to mention that all of the other Heroes in the room were still retrained by the glowing blue cables coming from the floor.

All Might tried to wrestle free from his bindings but to no avail. He was still losing strength and he wouldn't be able to remain in his powered-up state for long. This truly was becoming a hopeless situation for him. Unfortunately for him and everyone else, one of the still subdued Heroes decided to open their mouth.

"Just let us go!" Mr. Plastic, the Number 1 Pro Hero of England, pleaded to the group. "Whatever your plans are, it's over! Get us free and we can make sure-"

One of the gunmen smashed the butt of his assault rifle across Mr. Plastic's head but due to his elasticity Quirk, it cushioned the blow but disoriented him. "AND WHAT?! THROW US IN PRISON FOR THE REST OF OUR GODDAMN LIVES?! FUCK THAT!"

On the right side of the ballroom near the huddled guests, the students of Class 1-A watched the harrowing ordeal unfold before their eyes.

"We have to stop them!" Momo whispered to her friends. "They're going to kill somebody at this rate!"

"Momo, there's seventeen of them and five of us. What can we do?!" Denki fretted.

"We can catch them off guard." Momo elaborated as she produced a smoke bomb from her arm via her Quirk. She turned to Kyoka. "I soon as I throw this, I need you and Mineta to disorient them. Denki, Ida, you take them down and we'll back you up."

They looked at each other worriedly before steeling themselves and nodding to her. They looked toward the men currently preoccupied with yelling at Mr. Plastic and they slowly prepared themselves to charge in and subdue the Villains as soon as Momo threw the bomb. Taking note of her friends silently readying their Quirks, Momo wrapped her finger around the pin of the bomb and prepared to roll it towards the group-

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

Momo whirled her head around just in time to see one of the captors come towards her from behind and smash his boot into her face! Momo was sent tumbling into the center of the room near the other gunman while the one who just kicked her trained his gun on the other students who held their hands up. The undetonated smoke bomb rolled across the floor and stopped at the feet of the main group. One of them picked it up and inspected it before looking down at the teen with his fist trembling in anger.

"YOU LITTLE CUNT!" The gunman snarled as he kicked Momo in the stomach hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs. The goon then grabbed her by the hair and lifted her head up to show her bloodied face to the terrified onlookers. "WERE YOU GONNA BLOW US ALL UP?! HUH?!"

He violently punched her across the face before dropping her to the floor and cocking his weapon. His eyes widened in horror, All Might thrashed himself around in a frantic attempt to free himself. The partygoers began sobbing and gasping at the sight.

"STOP THIS, YOU FIEND!" Pankration, the Number 1 Pro Hero of Greece exclaimed as he tried to free himself to no avail. "SHE'S ONLY A CHILD!" His response was met with a SCAR assault rifle pointed at his face. The other gunman kicked Momo onto her back and planted his boot down on her throat.

"MOMO!" Kyoka screamed as one of the goons held her back.

"NO!" All Might shouted.

Tears welled up in Yaoyorozu's eyes as she stared up at the barrel of the weapon pressed against her face!

"STUPID FUCKIN' BRAT-"

(DOOM 2016- Rip and Tear)

The gunman's head instantly exploded into a cloud of blood when the door to the ballroom was kicked open, followed by a loud shotgun blast! Momo's face was smattered with blood and screams filled the ballroom as the headless body crumpled to the floor. The shocked criminals snapped their heads around to see the armored killing machine standing in the doorway and pointing a shotgun directly at them.

The Doomslayer fired into the group, the Charged Burst tearing apart five of them and sending their guts and limbs splashing onto the floor. What happened next was a blur of spilled blood and screaming. The guests stampeded towards the exit, running past the Slayer in a frenzied panic as he opened fire upon the Villains. The crooks began flipping over the tables to use as barricades but before they could fire back, the Slayer threw a large dining room table at them to give the hostages more time to escape. As the last of the partygoers fled the room, Momo staggered her way over to her friends, her near-death experience and seeing a man's head get vaporized into a red mist shaking her to her core.

As soon as the least hostage left the room, the Slayer was free to engage the criminals. He fired his shotgun at the barricade, the shells easily ripping through the tables and killing the goons. The Heroes who were still tied up by the cables could only keep their heads down as they watched him gun down the Villains with ruthless efficiency. One gunman who was brave enough vaulted over the barricade and tried to shank him with a bowie knife only for the Slayer to grab him by his vest and slam him down on a dining table. The Slayer put way his shotgun and easily tore open the man's stomach; yanking out his intestines like they were party streamers while the restrained Pro Heroes gasped in horror.

The U.A students huddled against each other with expressions of pure, traumatized terror. Momo and Jiro were crying hysterically while Denki threw up next to Mineta who screamed at the top of his lungs. Ida shook his head in open-mouthed horror as his legs shook uncontrollably.

"RAAAAAAAAAAGH YOU SICK FUUUUUUUUUUCK!" One of the Villains roared as he flanked from the side and unloaded his assault rifle upon him. The Doomslayer grabbed a glass plate from the table and flung it at the gunman like a frisbee; instantly decapitating him. The severed head sailed through the air and right onto Kyoka's lap! The girl shrieked hysterically as did the others as she kicked her legs out, unintentionally jostling the head around.

The Doomslayer drew his Super Shotgun and pointed at the disemboweled gunman, who was still alive and gurgling on his blood, before blowing him apart with his weapon. This gruesome execution sent a deluge of blood upon X, the Number 1 Pro Hero of Germany. "HEILIGE VERDAMMTE SCHEISSE!" The Wasp Heroine shrilled as she blinked the blood out of her eyes as it dribbled down her face. The Slayer began blasting the remaining felons left and right with his Super Shotgun as their bullets did nothing to halt his advance. He rapidly reloaded and fired at his targets who were blown in half, staining the floor in a deep shade of crimson.

"DON'T YOU FUCKING MOVE!"

The Slayer turned towards the main stage and saw the last of the terrorists pointing his SCAR at All Might!

"PUT YOUR GUN DOWN NOW OR SO HELP ME GOD I'll-"

The Hellwalker instantly kicked a chair right at the gunman and it smacked into his face before he could even pull the trigger. The goon fell to the floor next to All Might, his weapon clattering away as the Doomslayer jumped up onto the stage. As the Slayer stomped over to his downed prey, All Might felt himself sweating out of literal fear. The sheer amount of bloodlust emanating from this man was enough to almost make him suffocate. The Slayer grabbed the Villain by his neck and hefted him up into the air, preparing to end the scumbag in the worst way possible. The degenerate pulled out his Armscor BXP submachine gun from his holster and aimed it right at the Slayer's face!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" The gunman roared as he fired his weapon directly into his visor! He unloaded his entire clip until it ran dry and was dumbstruck to see that there wasn't a scratch upon his visage! Glaring angrily, the Slayer tore off the idiot's mask and grabbed him by his lower jaw.

"STOP!" All Might pleaded as he tried to free himself. "DON'T-!"

The Doomslayer ripped off the Villain's lower jaw along with the entire frontal portion of his body, exposing his ribcage and internal organs! Screaming, yelling, and barfing filled the air as everyone watched the dead malefactor's guts slough out of his hollowed-out corpse and onto the floor near All Might as a cascade of blood flowed from the body afterward. The Symbol of Peace could no longer keep his lunch down and threw up, his puke mixing with the rapidly growing puddle of blood.

The Slayer threw the disemboweled gunman at the wall near the side door just as Bakugou and Kirishima kicked it open and barged in.

"WHO'S READY TO DIE, ASSHOLES-?!" Bakugou shouted with his explosions forming in his hands, ready to kick some Villain ass...right up until a dead body smashed into the wall next to him and exploded in a burst of viscera like a Kusudama confetti ball. It splattered all over the left half of Bakugou's body, coating him in red with some of it staining Kirishima as well. The underpants-clad teen let out a girlish, high-pitched shriek as he landed flat on his ass and scrambled away from his gore-soaked pal.

Bakugou stood frozen in place like a statue. He could feel his arm and leg, as well as half his face, slick and sticky with still-warm blood. He shook all over as he looked down at his bloodstained hand, a severed leg and half of a human skull lying at his feet. Bakugou's ego and bravado had eroded in milliseconds, now replaced with fear and terror. His pupils dilated, his heart hammered in his chest and he just realized there was a small intestine draped across his left shoulder.

Kirishima had tears welling up in his eyes as a feeling of mind-numbing fright paralyzed his body. He hadn't felt this scared since that incident with the giant a long time ago. But this was different: this was on an entirely new level. He never took his gaze off the mangled bloody that had been reduced to the consistency of ground beef while looking like it was a smashed bug. He slowly turned to his right and saw dozens of dead bodies lying in dark red puddles, many of which had been blown apart. Kirishima's teeth chattered together; this was all way too much for him.

All Might could see debilitating fear within the eyes of his students and glared up at the Vigilante in anger even though he was now lying face first in a puddle of blood and vomit. But no sooner did he look up when the Doomslayer glared back down at him. All Might felt his anger falter when he locked gazes with the armored sociopath. The Hero could barely see behind that tinted visor which made his appearance all the more chilling. It was like the death itself had taken human form and Yagi was completely at its mercy.

The Doomslayer stared down at Yagi, carefully studying him. Now that he was seeing him in the flesh for the first time, he took notice of how...unwell the Symbol of Peace looked. He could see tiny wisps of steam coming out of All Might's skin and he was sweating like he was in a sauna. At least this did confirm that All Might was suffering from some kind of illness if the footage from the main server room was anything to go by.

/Internal scans indicate that All Might is missing a portion of his stomach and his respiratory system has been heavily ruptured./

The Doomslayer raised his eyebrow. What happened to this guy for that to happen? More accurately, what Villain did this to him? As he began to deduce that All for One had something to do with All Might's state, a deep rumble shook the room and he tilted his head upwards.

/Update: Miruko and the U.A. students have engaged the League of Villains./

Narrowing his eyes, the Doom Marine drew his Super Shotgun and hopped off the stage. He ran through the ballroom until making a sharp right towards the second exit where Bakugou stood in front of. Bakugou jerked in fright when he saw the Vigilante barrel towards him but he couldn't move. He was so shaken up by being coated in gore earlier that he couldn't will himself to use his Quirk. All he could do was stand there utterly petrified as the man drew closer, his friends and All Might calling out his name and telling him to run but he was too scared to budge.

The Slayer closed the distance...and ran straight past Katsuki. He bolted down the halls, leaving behind the traumatized and tied-up Heroes. A part of him felt a little bit guilty about terrorizing those kids as he followed the waypoint. But it couldn't be helped, those men were going to kill them and if he had to dismember those fuckers to save them, then no skin off his bones. After following the path on his HUD through the tower, he came upon the stairwell that led up to the helicopter maintenance floor of the building. He could hear the sounds of a frenetic battle coming from just behind the door so he quickly went up the steps and opened the door to witness a muscular teen in the buff fighting four different Villains. Like before, VEGA gave him info on the boy.

Mirio Togata

Height: 5'11

Age: 17

Quirk: Permeation-Allows him to become intangible; capable of phasing through walls or floors as well as letting attacks harmlessly pass through him.

Current Status: 3rd Year student at U.A. High School

The Doomslayer figured that this was Nejire and Tamaki's missing friend if the boy's current status was anything to go by. His Quirk also sounded pretty impressive though it didn't explain why he was naked. They hadn't noticed him yet as they were busy with their fight so the Slayer quietly slipped into the smoke coming from the fires dotted around the room. Specs hung back a distance away while Swordkill, Nobu, and Daigo fought the nudist who was easily beating them in every regard. They couldn't lay a hit on the kid but Specs secretly found a weak spot: the boy had to concentrate on who was attacking him to use his Quirk.

All Specs needed was an opening and he could snipe the little bastard with a headshot. His rifle eye focused on his target, Specs patiently waited until he found his chance. As soon as Mirio jumped back to avoid a blow from Daigo, Specs was about to fire until the Slayer snuck up from behind and put his fist straight through the back of his skull, and pulled out a chunk of his brain.

"HOLY FUCK!" Nobu exclaimed as everyone else whirled around and recoiled in horror at what they saw. The Doomslayer lifted Specs over his head and tore the body in half vertically, splattering blood on him, the criminals, and Mirio; the boy staggered backward in shock. The Great Slayer barreled towards Swordkill who had no chance to defend himself as the Slayer tore off his arms and used the arm blades to decapitate him before the Villain could even scream. Nobu began hurling compression blasts at him while Daigo furiously roared and charged like an angry bull. The Doomslayer easily dodged the blasts as well as an overhead fist from Daigo before ripping open his stomach with Swordkill's severed limbs. Daigo instantly went into shock at the sight of seeing his guts spill out of his body and the Slayer chucked the limbs away, grabbed Daigo by the shoulders, and lifted him with ease; using him as a meat shield against Nobu's attack.

Nobu had previously charged up a large compression ball in both of his hands and flung it at the Doomslayer, only to realize too late that he hefted Daigo in front of him and his comrade's head was evaporated in an instant. The Slayer chucked the body at Nobu who jumped out of the way but the Hell Walker bolted towards him in a flash and smashed his foot into Nobu's leg, breaking it like it was a twig. Nobu screamed as he collapsed to the floor but had enough strength to swing his hand up and try to displace the Slayer's midsection with his Quirk.

Unfortunately for him, the Slayer caught Nobu's arm and punched it hard enough for his arm bone to pop out, eliciting a scream of agony from the Villain. He then shoved Nobu's arm up to his face, the exposed bone spearing into the Villain's mouth and exiting out the top of his head! The Slayer let the body slump to the floor and looked upwards to the ceiling as he saw dust rain down on top of him. Knowing that the others were still up on the roof, he made his way over to the stairway that led up.

"Why...?!" Came a shuddering voice from behind. The Slayer glanced over his shoulder at Mirio, the nude boy having flecks of blood on the left side of his body. He was shaking like a leaf, his face a fusion of fear and anger.

"Why did you do that?!" Mirio demanded, his voice breaking from the massacre he just witnessed, and was powerless to stop it. It had happened so fast and so violently that he was unable to stop the man from slaughtering the Villains. "You...you-YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO KILL THEM!"

Before Mirio could continue voicing his outrage against the Doomslayer, a barrel full of gasoline that was laying nearby suddenly exploded, and in the blink of an eye, the blood-soaked madman was upon him! Miro jerked back in terror when the Slayer whipped his hand out and caught something out of the air. Mirio looked to his right a saw a jagged slab of sharpened metal inches away from his face that the Slayer was gripping onto. Mirio stumbled backward until he landed on his bare behind, staring up at him in fear. The Doomslayer glared down at him for a couple of seconds before dropping the chunk of shrapnel and walking away from the teen.

As the Slayer disappeared around the corner at the far end of the room, Mirio slowly turned his frightened gaze to the metal shard. The realization behind that shard hit him like a bus: he could've died. He was too distracted to notice the barrel about to explode earlier and knew that he wouldn't have been able to activate his Quirk in time before that piece of sharpened steel impaled him through the head. But the Vigilante had seen it coming and caught the shard before it could kill Mirio. That man...just saved his life.

Meanwhile, the Doomslayer had reached the top of the stairwell only to find it blocked off by rubble. He balled up his fist and threw out a punch that destroyed the blockade and allowed him to resume his trek up the stairs and onto the roof. The Slayer walked through the smoke cloud in full view of everyone present.

"Oh, shit...it's him." He heard Miruko mutter as he turned his attention to her. The Doomslayer felt himself go rigid when he saw the numerous cuts on Miruko's arms and legs along with blood dripping from the wounds. A sudden surge of anger flared up inside the Slayer as he glared hatefully at the group of Villains who stood at the helipad.

/My scans have revealed that Volcano and Curator are in possession of a secondary Quirk. Sending you the information now./

Reading through the info on his HUD, the Slayer learned that Curator could transform parts of his body into pieces of broken glass while Volcano could control nanomachines. Shouldn't be much of a problem for him. But what intrigued him was how the two Villains each had a completely different Quirk. The Nomu creature he fought earlier had multiple Quirks so it wasn't much of a coincidence for Curator and Volcano. Somehow AFO was behind this just like with All Might's injuries...

Miruko took a step away from the Vigilante while regarding him with caution and suspicion. Shoto, Uraraka, and Melissa didn't move a muscle as Izuku swallowed fearfully. The Villains studied the Vigilante; the sight of blood caked onto his suit unnerving Dusty and Gust. From afar, Wolfram regained consciousness but he was in terrible pain from Volcano's blow. His eyes made his way over to the man that ruined everything: the armored butcher that made mincemeat out of the Steel Sabers. If that man never came, this operation would've been a resounding success for the League of Villains and he would've received high praise from All for One. But all of it was dashed to the winds when HE came along. Wolfram struggled to pick himself up, now fueled by hatred for the Vigilante but then he noticed something lying a few feet away from him.

The briefcase containing the Quirk Amplification Headset.

"Well, well well. The invincible barbarian finally arrives to face the perpetrators behind the siege." Curator drawled unimpressively, though this was only to cover his unease towards the Doomslayer. "I suppose there's some form of-"

Curator received the ultimate "Shut the fuck up" from the Great Slayer when he whipped out his Super Shotgun faster than anyone could follow and blasted Curator's helmet off his face! The Slayer reloaded and darted towards the Villains. No more talking; murdering time.

As Curator fell to the ground, completely disoriented, Volcano slammed his fist into the ground while a mass of nanites flowed into the concrete.

"NANO COFFIN!" Volcano yelled as a swarm of nanites erupted from the ground beneath the Slayer and engulfed him inside a large coffin. Volcano smiled victoriously. "Now I'll just pry off that suit he's wearing and rip him apart!"

Miruko and Izuku heard that and they, despite the bloodshed the man unleashed this day, ran towards the purplish/black coffin to try and free him. But then the Vigilante's fist shot out of the coffin and he wrenched himself free of his prison with his bare hands! Volcano balked at the sight of the barbarian splitting his attack in half before composing himself and summoning another nanobot-enhanced attack. This time, several tendrils began snaking around his arms and legs and tried to penetrate his armor in an attempt to absorb pieces of his armor and incorporate them into his nanobots. But something was wrong. For whatever reason, his nanites couldn't pierce his suit.

Dusty and Gust helped up Curator who clutched the right side of his deformed head. While the shotgun blast only destroyed his helmet, the force of the buckshot fractured his skull. "What the hell are you doing Volcano?! Absorb his armor!" Curator angrily shouted.

"I-I can't!" Volcano shot back. His nanites felt like they were being burned away by something. The Doomslayer grabbed onto the tendrils and crushed them in his grasp before ripping them apart vigorously. As the other watched on, stunned at the man's strength, Mirio came running up the stairs after recovering from his episode.

"Guys!" Mirio called out to them. Everyone turned around and had to look away from his nude form.

"Do you...uh... need some help?" Miruko inquired uncomfortably.

"I'm fine!" He replied, taking a glance at the Vigilante before gulping nervously. "Did we deactivate the WMD yet?"

"Yes!" Melissa confirmed as she picked up the rocket. "But we need it to get this as far away from them as possible."

Izuku and Miruko glanced behind them to see the Vigilante tear off the rest of the tendrils before turning his attention to the Villains. Miruko's mouth formed a thin line as she thought of a strategy. She placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder.

"Kid, get everyone out of here. Leave this to me, I'm dead serious this time." She said while never taking her eyes off the Vigilante.

"But what about-" Izuku started, looking at her lacerations before she cut him off.

"Believe me, this won't slow me down." Miruko assured him with her trademark smile. "Just get that bomb away from here."

Although Izuku was hesitant to leave her here with a group of Villains and that berserker, he had to admit that she was right. He nodded to her and ran over to his friends. "Let's go!"

Volcano saw the group heading towards the exit and scowled. This time, he swung his hand and unleashed a wave of lava that shot past Miruko and towards the others! Izuku and his friends turned around and gasped at the sight of a miniature tidal wave of magma about to engulf them!

"NO!" Miruko exclaimed just as a green blur darted past her. The wave was nearly upon the group as Shoto tried to freeze it to no avail, it was far too hot and it melted his ice within seconds. Izuku's life flashed before his eyes as the lava wave drew closer until a large shape suddenly dove in front of him: it was the Vigilante! The Doomslayer spread out his arms just as the lava swallowed up his body. Izuku and the others shielded their eyes as the magma splashed outwards away from them as the majority of the lava encased the Vigilante in boiling volcanic residue. Everyone lowered their hands away from their eyes and was greeted with the disturbing sight of the already cooling lava taking on the shape of the man who jumped in front of them.

It had dawned upon the teenagers and Miruko that the magma wave could've killed them had the man not shielded them with his own body. He just sacrificed himself to save their lives. They stood there with shocked expressions as their gazes lingered on the solidified form of their deceased savior. Miruko was just as stunned as the others. This man went out of his way to protect those kids at the cost of his own life. Thinking back to what that teacher at the airport said about him saving her and the schoolkids, Rumi guessed that somewhere in that fucked up head of his was some semblance of humanity. And his last act of selfless valiancy only enforced that fact.

"Welp, that's one down!" Volcano boasted as he popped his knuckles. Curator shot him an unpleasant look, that attack could've detonated the rocket and ended up killing them as well. Scowling furiously at the Villains, Miruko was just about to launch herself at them before she heard a disturbance from behind her. She turned around and witnessed the solidified body of the Vigilante start to crack and shake. The fissure grew larger until the Doomslayer exploded out of his pyroclastic sarcophagus; scattering chunks of cooled lava across the roof. His armor was aglow from the heat of Volcano's attack but it did not melt his Praetor suit one bit. Compared to the literal oceans of lava in Hell, this was lukewarm.

The jaws of every occupant on the roof fell open. Izuku couldn't help but feel amazed: what kind of material was that armor made of? It could shrug off lava like it was rain for crying out loud! Miruko was speechless when she saw the visor briefly illuminated by the superheated armor and could distinctly make out the rage-filled orbs of the Vigilante, staring daggers at the Villains and promising them a world of hurt. The Villains were also shocked as well, with Volcano doing a double take between his hand and the Doomslayer.

Gust Boy shook his head. "That's not right."

The Doomslayer wrenched his feet free and slowly marched towards the Villains while cracking his knuckles. Suddenly, the tower began to rumble as glowing blue fissures formed underneath everyone's feet.

(DOOM 2016-Ultraviolence)

Sections of the roof began levitating up from the ground until metal cables and other metallic objects erupted from the ground! Everyone was nearly thrown off their feet as they backed away from the fissures. Large pillars of concrete and steel support beams began to coalesce into a massive, tower-like structure formed on the helipad as electrical cables coiled around its base like a mass of snakes. Two giant arms ending in oversized fists made out of rubble and warped metal formed at the sides of the tower, which now looked like a gargantuan, patchwork golem several stories tall.

"OH, COME ON!" Miruko exasperated as she stood next to the U.A. students. "WHERE THE HELL DID THIS THING COME FROM?!"

The Doomslayer asked himself the same question in his head.

The Villains, who were on the leftmost side of the roof away from the Slayer, were awestruck at the sight of this monstrous construct. That is until Dusty Ash noticed something located in the center of the tower. "Wolfram?! What the fu-HE'S WEARING THE HEADSET!"

The Slayer, Miruko, and the students who were within earshot heard her and now that she mentioned it, they could easily make out Wolfram sticking out of the monstrosity like a sore thumb. He had lost his shirt, revealing his hideously oversized muscles that were ripping out of his body which was now glowing a bright orange. His eyes had taken on a deep, dark purple hue while his lopsided grin and frayed hairline gave him a menacing visage.

"Wolfram! What are you doing?! Take that device off right now before you damage it!" Curator loudly ordered him. But Wolfram wasn't listening, still wearing that Cheshire Cat smile. "WOLFRAM, I AM ORDERING YOU TO-!"

Wolfram suddenly swung his fist down at the Villains, forcing them to dodge out of the way! "I'M NOT YOUR BITCH ANYMORE, CURATOR." Wolfram declared, his voice taking on an echoey distorted tone. "I'M NO ONE'S BITCH!"

Thrusting his golem's fingers into the ground, Wolfram swung it upwards and raked off a large portion of the roof, sending the Villains flying off the roof and down into the city below. Wolfram flexed his fingers before unleashing a haunting, insanity-fueled laugh. "AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAA! I FEEL LIKE I CAN FUCK THE ENTIRE WORLD!"

Everyone, except for the Slayer, became highly disturbed at Wolfram's vulgar proclamation but Melissa was the most shaken out of all of them. She sunk to her knees while still holding the bomb; her eyes never leaving Wolfram. "Dad...what have you made!?"

The Doomslayer grimaced as he glared up at the empowered madman. How did David Shield think this was going to help All Might?

/The Quirk Amplification Headset has augmented Wolfram's overall combat abilities by 1,000%. But this has caused a side effect: it triples the body's production of endorphins, enabling the wearer of the headset to enter a state of heightened euphoria but heavily damages their mental stability in the process. Wolfram is now dangerously schizophrenic./

The Slayer calmly drew his Rocket Launcher and prepared himself for a fight. Miruko readied herself as well until she noticed the group of youngsters was still staring at the Villain before them.

"WHAT ARE YOU KIDS WAITING FOR, CHRISTMAS?!" She barked at them. "GET OUT OF HERE BEFORE I KICK YOU OFF OF THIS FRICKIN' ROOF!"

Startled by Miruko's outburst, Izuku and Melissa ran for the exit while Uraraka and Mirio lugged a heavily wounded Shoto along with them. As soon as they left, Wolfram swung his golem's fists at the Slayer and Miruko. But the Heroine jumped up at the right fist and was destroyed with a powerful double kick while the Doomslayer reared his armored fist back and threw out a punch that shattered the left fist into pieces. As the golem reeled back, the Hellwalker and Miruko looked at each other, impressed with how they destroyed the fists.

"YOU THINK THAT'S GONNA STOP ME?! AS SOON AS I'M DONE SHREDDING YOU TWO IN HALF, I'M GONNA PEEL ALL MIGHT'S SKULL APART LIKE A BANANA!" Wolfram hideously roared as he sent a wave of cables towards the pair. Each of the cables ended in exposed wires crackling with electricity as they slithered towards them like eels. Miruko bounded across the rooftop as she avoided the cable strikes and despite the blistering pain in her cut-up arm and leg, she powered through it.

"LUNA RING!" She cartwheeled through the air while kicking out her legs to hack apart the attacking cables like she was a human buzzsaw. The Slayer was just as easily holding his own, destroying the cables with his Rocket Launcher as he dodged their whip-like blows. One cable snuck up from being and lashed out with its electrical wires but the Slayer whirled around and grabbed it, severing it and using it to club away another series of tentacles gunning for him.

"YOU RUINED EVERYTHING YOU LITTLE GREEN WHORE! I'M GONNA MAKE YOUR DEATH AS SLOW AS-" Wolfram was forced to block a series of rockets launched straight at him with a reformed metal fist, courtesy of the Slayer's Lock on Burst. The Doomslayer kept launching a stream of rockets at Wolfram who continued to smack them away but blew apart his construct's hands in the process. This provided an opening for the Rabbit Heroine to use a slab of metal jutting out of the ground as a springboard to cannonball herself towards Wolfram.

"LUNA ROCKET!" Miruko thrust both of her feet at Wolfram and the Villain was forced to block with his overly muscled arms. Her feet slammed into the Villain with so much force, that it managed to overpower him in his enhanced state! Both of Wolfram's arms broke under the pressure and Miruko used this chance to slam her heel right into Wolfram's face and rebound off of him. The blow caused the metallic giant to lurch backward and nearly fell off the tower when the Doomslayer unleashed another barrage of seeking rockets at Wolfram in a series of explosions.

As Miruko landed on a ripped-up chunk of concrete, she smiled in satisfaction as she watched the titanic metal hodgepodge teeter over the edge. Miruko saw this chance to knock him off the building and she sprinted towards Wolfram but then noticed the Vigilante running towards him as well. Although Miruko always considered herself to be a tough, hard-as-nails woman; she had to admit that after everything she saw today and how that guy was almost next to invincible, she knew that she could not take him on as much as she wanted to pay him back for what happened at the port.

And yet why did he save innocent lives and seemingly chose to aid her?

Regardless, she had to focus on taking the Villain down before he could take this whole tower down. Miruko, unfortunately, started to eat her own words as a dark purple aura surrounded Wolfram, and a wave of sharpened steel speared out of the ground, forcing her and the Vigilante to backpedal away. More cables shot out of the base of the golem and anchored themselves to the roof, pulling Wolfram back up. More metal debris was ripped out from the building and formed around the golem until it looked like it was wearing a massive suit of jagged metal. The giant hands grew back but now they were larger and rebars jutting out of their knuckles like it was wearing a pair of Cestus gloves.

"Aw crap baskets." Miruko muttered as her ears drooped.

/Wolfram is incorporating anything metallic into his reinforced body via his enhanced magnetism Quirk. His current area of influence expands around the current vicinity but it is steadily growing. If he is not terminated soon, he will be capable of breaching the main vault and potentially absorbing the Support Items inside./

The Doomslayer couldn't let that happen. He was about to fire a slew of rockets at Wolfram but the giant punched the ground a swath of metal cubical columns shot out of the ground towards him. He rolled out of the way while Miruko swiftly sidestepped out of the way and demolished them with her kicks with an excitable smile. As the Slayer went over to assist, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Turning around, he could see Curator, Volcano, Dusty Ash, and Gust Boy flying away on a large disk made of ash in the distance.

They were escaping from I-Island.

The Greatslayer got down on one knee and aimed through the scope of his Rocket Launcher to get a lock until he heard a grunt of pain from Miruko. He looked over his shoulder to see her recklessly charge towards Wolfram only for a column to shoot from the ground and slam into her, sending her tumbling a distance away. Focusing back on the escaping Villains, the Slayer could feel his hands shake when he heard Miruko unleash her war cry. The Villains were almost out of range and the Slayer was torn between pulling the trigger or helping Miruko. He couldn't understand why he was hesitating like this. He gnashed his teeth together as the Villains drew further away. Another rumble shook the building as Miruko stomped on another swarm of sentient cables before one snuck up from behind and electrocuted her. When Flynn Taggart heard her yell of pain, an unmistakable image assaulted his mind...

Emily.

Miruko landed on the ground, her body convulsing painfully as the cabled surrounded her. Her eyes widened as the cables reared back to strike when a loud gunshot blew most of them into pieces. Miruko's mouth fell open when she saw the Vigilante, armed with his sawed-off, blasting away the cables and tearing them apart one-handed. Grateful but not about to let herself get shown up, Miruko launched herself at the remaining cables in an unnatural burst of adrenaline. Her powerful kicks made quick work of the makeshift tentacles while the Doomslayer tore the last one in half with his free hand.

"WILL YOU TWO JUST DIE ALREADY!?" Wolfram snarled as he summoned a wave of metal and rock pillars at them but the duo was not deterred. They dodged the incoming blows and retaliated by destroying them via crushing kicks or devastating punches. They were quickly blazing a trail right towards the Villian who was forced to slam both of his fists into the ground and destroyed a large portion of the roof which then slid off the right side of the tower. The Slayer and Miruko, who were blown away by the impact, landed hard on the ground but Miruko was near the edge and she fell off the tower!

Miruko cursed as she felt herself fall through the air but at the last second, the Vigilante nearly dove over the edge and caught her by the foot. Miruko was utterly gobsmacked as she stared up at her unexpected savior who had a strong grip on her leg. Wolfram took advantage of their precarious position and send a downward fist hurtling towards them but the Slayer hoisted himself up along with Miruko and without missing a beat, the pair already responded with their respective attacks. The Doomslayer threw an earth-shattering punch while Miruko jumped up and kicked out with both of her feet, their combined attacks connecting with the massive fist, and the resulting force of the blows redirected the attack right back at Wolfram! The metallic gauntlet smashed right into his main body, the exposed pieces of rebar penetrating his chest and causing him to gag up blood through his oversized muscles mitigated potentially fatal injuries. As the construct lurched backward, Miruko and the Doomslayer stared at each other.

For Miruko, she could only express confusion at the Slayer. She had no idea what his motive was for saving her but she was nonetheless grateful that he did. But she still mistrusted the man who turned this entire island into a slaughterhouse and put some of her comrades in the hospital. Nothing seemed to add up about him.

For Flynn, it was like he was looking at his late wife all over again. Despite the obvious difference in nationality, Miruko still resembled Emily in so many ways than one. When he was unable to prevent the deaths of his wife, son, and their pet rabbit from the Demons during the invasion of his Earth, he blamed himself for being unable to save them. Hearing or even seeing Miruko in pain brought him back to the moment when he lost his family...and he did not want to experience that feeling of heartrending sorrow again.

The sounds of shifting metal caused the two to turn their attention to the right to witness Wolfram recovering from his self-inflicted blow. Miruko took one last look at the Slayer before making her choice.

"You better not shoot me in the back." She warned as she turned to face Wolfram while taking up her fighting stance, ignoring the pain she was in.

The Bane of Hell responded by drawing his Super Shotgun and standing beside her. He wouldn't dream of it.

I-ISLAND ROOFTOPS

SEVERAL SECONDS EARLIER

Freefalling through the air, the Villains landed on a nearby rooftop near the tower. The landing wasn't exactly comfortable as they smacked against the hard concrete, skidding to a painful stop near the edge of the building. The Villains painfully forced themselves to stand and glared at the top of the tower where they heard Wolfram laughing manically and the sounds of battle taking place. That's when they all became very, very livid.

"I. Am going. To kill him." Curator calmly grounded out, both of his hands forming into glass shards while his arms took on a whale-like skin texture.

"Get in line." Volcano breathed through his teeth as his hands boiled with scorching anger. He didn't care of Curator was 2nd in command, he just wanted to flay Wolfram alive.

"Guys? We've got a situation!" Gust Boy called out the two Villains, causing them to glare at him and scaring the living daylights out of him in the process.

"What now?" Curator growled in annoyance.

"Heroes." Dusty Ash said tersely as she looked through a pair of collapsible binoculars she brought with her. Walking over near the edge of the building where she stood and squinting out to the vast sea beyond, Curator and Volcano could almost make out two large boats and several flying Heroes approaching the island at a rapid pace while illuminated by the bright moon in the night sky.

"Perfect." Volcano grunted sarcastically. "Now they're on the agenda."

A vein popped on Curator's head. He was close to reaching the end of his rope; this entire operation had been a complete nightmare from beginning to end. Curator carefully weighed his options as the other Villains stayed silent. They could try and eliminate Wolfram and retrieve the headset but that would mean they would have to fend off the Number 5 Pro Hero and that...thing. They could try to enter the building and retrieve the bomb from the brats but for all they knew, they could've freed All Might and the Heroes in the ballroom by now. But any one of those choices would close off all of their escape routes if that small army of Heroes arrived. Each of those scenarios would result in a huge fight that they didn't have time for. Curator knew that there was only one option left and it was not something he could consider lightly. Unfortunately, due to the current circumstances, he had to go for the latter choice of retreating. As much as he loathed having to disappoint All for One, they also couldn't afford to be captured either.

For the first time in his service to All for One and the League of Villains, Curator took a loss.

"Dusty, get us out of here." Curator calmly ordered as the other regarded him with stunned silence. "The mission is scrubbed."

Volcano's shoulders sagged as he grunted in disappointment while Dusty Ash and Gust Boy looked at each other worriedly. Failing AFO was basically signing your own death warrant. But maybe they could convince AFO that Wolfram ruined their attempts to retrieve the headset and spare themselves a messy death. Dusty, with a look of reluctance, summoned an ash disk for everyone to board upon. Once that was done, Dusty flew her disk off the roof and into the air where they flew past the tower where the battle was taking place. they scowled bitterly as they flew past it, completely unaware they were in the crosshairs of the Doomslayer's Rocket Launcher who was forced to disengage to aid Miruko.

They flew over the burning city and the walls until they cleared I-Island. They kept low under the cover of the clouds to conceal their movements from the Heroes. Hopefully, they were too focused on retaking I-Island to notice. As they soared through the air looking for a secluded place to land, their thoughts went back to the Vigilante and they found themselves asking the same question Dusty Ash had when they arrived.

How did they not see this guy coming?

I-ISLAND CENTRAL TOWER-STAIRWELL

PRESENT TIME

The rumbling from the rooftop nearly knocked the group off their feet as they ran down the stairs. Izuku and Uraraka carried Shoto as he was too badly wounded to walk. Melissa still had the bomb in her arms while Mirio followed behind.

"How close are we to the ballroom?" Mirio asked Izuku.

Midoriya dug out his cell phone and checked the map. "Not far. We just need to go down one more-AAAAGH!"

Another tremor, this one far stronger than the last, shook the whole stairwell and the teens were sent tumbling down the stairs. Melissa grabbed onto a railing but accidentally dropped the WMD in the process and it fell over the edge! Everyone gasped in horror but Shoto outstretched his hand and a wave of ice engulfed the device and most of the stairwell.

"Sorry, it was all I could think of." Shoto groaned. Uraraka patted his shoulder reassuringly as they all went over to the ice wall at the bottom of the stairs. The WMD was sticking out of the miniature iceberg so Izuku used 5% of his Quirk to chip away at the ice surrounding the bomb with quick jabs. He finally extracted the bomb and looked it over while Shoto was able to muster up enough strength to melt the ice with his superheated hand. Midoriya carefully set the bomb down and inspected it while everyone else held their breaths.

"No cracks or anything broken...I think we're safe." Midoriya confirmed.

Everyone let out the breaths they had been holding in. "Thank God." Melissa buried her face into her hands.

"Likewise." Mirio wiped the sweat off his forehead. "I can't believe the League brought a nuke with them..."

"But how?!" Uraraka exclaimed as she helped an exhausted Shoto up again. "How did they get their hands on something like this?"

Izuku was mentally asking himself that same question. At first, he thought the LOV was just a band of Villains who grouped up to try and ransack U.A. while attempting to get a shot at All Might in the process. But now after his repeated run-ins with them, it became clear that they were well a highly dangerous organization who were perfectly willing to kill thousands of innocent people to get what they wanted.

"/What you are looking at is not a nuclear weapon./"

Everyone jolted at the sound of their mysterious contact announcing themselves again through Midoriya's phone resting on one of the steps in front of them.

"Wh-who is that?" Melissa questioned but she only received a shrug from the others.

"/The device is a miniature rocket containing VX Poison Gas: a deadly, inhumane weapon that was categorized by the United Nations as a Weapon of Mass Destruction in 1993. In 2103, the UN led a joint operation with other countries to seek out and destroy all known caches of the nerve agent. They were successful but it would appear that the League of Villains was able to acquire the last known sample in the world./"

"P-P-P-Poison gas?" Midoriya stammered, eyes as wide as saucers. "They were going to gas us?!"

"/Correct. If the casing were to be ruptured, it would be lethal up to a hundred feet and terminate the five of you. The LOV had installed the casing into a rocket so it could be launched into the air and detonated at a fixed height for maximum dispersion of the agent. It would kill every single living being on this island./"

As everyone looked at each other with mortified expressions, Shoto swallowed grimly. "How exactly does this stuff kill you?" He inquired.

"/VX Gas is a cholinesterase inhibitor. It stops the brain from sending nerve messages down the spinal cord within 30 seconds, effectively rendering anyone exposed to the gas incapable of breathing. Any form of epidermal exposure or inhalation and you'll know via a twinge at the small of your back: that's the poison seizing your nervous system. Your muscles will painfully contract while your body goes into increasingly violent spasms to the point where you can break your bones in the process. After which you will expire from asphyxiation due to your brain being unable to transmit orders to your lungs. The League of Villains intended to use this to eliminate any witnesses./"

Everyone was speechless. The description alone was enough to make VX sound ten times more frightening than any nuclear bomb. To think that the League was going to unleash something this horrific upon innocent people...

"/Miss Shield./"

"H-huh?" She jumped at the sudden announcement of her name.

"/The main server room should allow you to disable the security systems restraining the Heroes and contact a team of Pro Heroes en route to I-Island./"

Although VEGA could just as easily do it himself, He wanted these youths to have some level of control due to their already traumatized mental states.

"Heroes are coming? Finally...!" Uraraka sighed as did Mirio and Melissa.

"/Your father is also present in the server room Ms. Shield. He is unconscious but safe./"

Melissa looked momentarily surprised but that was when her tone shifted drastically. She looked down at her feet, bringing her tightly clenched hand up to her chest. She appeared conflicted and almost resentful. Mirio was just about to ask her what was wrong until another series of rumbles rattled the stairwell.

"I think we should get going." Mirio spoke for everyone as he raised a finger. Uraraka helped Shoto down the stairs while Mirio grabbed the bomb and followed Melissa down. Izuku picked up his phone and began to follow after them but stopped. He looked back up the staircase and gulped apprehensively. His worried expression turned darkly serious as he ran up the steps, much to the group's confusion when they witnessed this.

"Deku, where are you going?!" Uraraka called out.

"I'm going back up to the roof." Izuku said as he stopped going back up the stairwell. "Miruko needs support and I don't trust that Vigilante."

"Izuku, no!" Mirio implored. "It's far too dangerous to go up there!"

"/I would advise against this course of action, Mr. Midoriya./"

"I have to stop him from killing that Villain!" Midoriya argued as he glared at his phone, the screen showing the contact's symbol. He internally asked himself how and why this person knew his name. "It doesn't have to end that way! Just let me remove the headset and restrain him so I can take him to the authorities!"

"/Wolfram has become a danger to everyone on the island and now poses a significant threat. Attempting to subdue him via non-lethal methods is impossible at this point and he should therefore be eliminated./"

"No! He doesn't have to die! You-I mean, he can't just solve every problem with extreme violence!" Izuku fired back.

"/That much is true. But in this case, Wolfram is beyond the point of mental recovery and must be-/"

"STOP IT!" Izuku suddenly shouted, his voice almost loud enough to drown out the rumbling from above. "ENOUGH OF THIS! ALL OF THIS DEATH AND BLOODSHED, HE CAN'T KEEP KILLING PEOPLE LIKE THIS! HE CAN'T!"

Despite the tremors coming from the roof, everyone stayed silent as they watched Izuku breathing heavily, most likely straining his vocal cords. Everyone had heard the contact's grim assessment of the situation and was left at a loss. Uraraka could feel the sting of tears welling up in her eyes as she felt Izuku's desperation for this whole nightmare to stop.

"/The 'people' you are referring to were mercenaries and Villains who were planning on murdering innocent civilians. By the time the Pro Heroes came here to stop them, they would have already killed all of the hostages, the Heroes, and escaped with I-Island's Support Items to use for their own purposes. There was no alternative solution to resolve this situation peacefully. We did what had to be done./"

"But-But it's still not right!" Izuku desperately implored, trying to find some way to get him to see reason.

"/Then would it be 'right' to let them escape after committing what amounts to a small-scale genocide?/"

"But-"

"/Would it be 'right' to allow the Steel Sabers to continue hunting down Heroes?/"

"That's not what I meant-!"

"/Would it be 'right' to let families suffer from their actions?/"

"I-"

"/Would it be 'right' to not eliminate them in order to prevent them from endangering more people?/"

"...!"

"/The world is not black and white, Izuku Midoriya. It is gray./"

And with that, Izuku's phone shut itself off. The boy could only stare at his phone, wide-eyed and speechless. He was completely oblivious to the persistent rumblings occurring from the roof and the rattling of the stairwell. That is until he felt a hand tightly grab his wrist which caused him to look over his shoulder. It was Uraraka. His eyes were locked onto those tear-filled eyes of hers.

"We have to go." She pleaded.

Izuku stared at her for a few more seconds before looking down the stairs and seeing Melissa carrying the rocket with Mirio helping Shoto down the stairs. Swallowing, Izuku stuffed his phone back into his pocket and nodded, following her down the stairs afterward.

I-ISLAND CENTRAL TOWER-ROOFTOP

The Doomslayer dodged an overhead blow from Wolfram while Miruko moved in and axe-kicked the hand, splitting it in two. Letting out a snarl, Wolfram sent an open palm heading their way to knock them off the roof but Miruko backflipped over the blow while the Slayer reared his fist back and punched straight through it. Wolfram reeled his hands back away from the lethal pair as they swiftly retaliated.

The Slayer launched a barrage of missiles at the Villain while Miruko punted a truck-sized slab of uprooted concrete. The warheads against the giant's metal armor; blasting some pieces off of it while the slab impaled itself into the golem's elbow joint, preventing its right arm from moving. Miruko pumped her fist while the Slayer hefted his rocket launcher with satisfaction. But this was short-lived when Wolfram let out a chuckle and the blown-off pieces of his armor gravitated towards him and reattached themselves back to his body.

Miruko grimaced at this and gave her temporary partner a sideways glance. "I don't suppose you still have that big laser cannon in your magic pockets, do you?"

The Doomslayer kept his focus on Wolfram. He knew she was talking about the Gauss Cannon he used to subdue Ryukyu earlier but he had burned through all of his plasma ammo against the Steel Sabers, the same thing went for his heavier munitions for the HAR and Chaingun. All he had left now was a plentiful supply of shotgun shells and a handful of rockets. He still had his BFG but he didn't want Miruko to be an accidental casualty. While the Argent tendrils only sought out beings with Argent energy within them, the blast radius was more than enough to get her killed, something he wanted to avoid.

"GO AHEAD, KEEP ATTACKING! IT'S ONLY GONNA MAKE ME STRONGER!" Wolfram cackled as he raised his golem's arm and swung it down at them. They both dodged the blow and the Doomslayer double-jumped onto the hand and ran up its arm while Miruko made a beeline for the other arm. The Slayer switched to his Combat Shotgun and attached the Explosive Shot mod. He rapidly fired a volley of grenades at Wolfram who summoned a wall of metal fragments to block the explosives. Due to the Slayer's UAC-brand explosive munitions being stronger than modern explosives, each blast from the octanitrocubane rounds destroyed Wolfram's shield with ease, causing the villain to summon more to protect himself. Meanwhile, Miruko closed the distance on the other arm and jumped into the air, slamming her feet down upon the slab of concrete jutting out of the elbow.

The force of Miruko's blow speared the slab straight through the elbow, severing the golem's arm as it toppled to the ground. Landing back on the ground, Miruko followed up by kicking the slab right at Wolfram who was preoccupied with shielding himself from the Slayer's assault. The slab stabbed right into the golem's midsection, forcing it backward while Wolfram grunted from the impact. With his opponent distracted, the Hellwalker jumped off the arm and barreled through the metal debris that protected Wolfram. The Villain panicked as the Slayer closed the distance and landed on his armor while Miruko avoided the falling shrapnel from the shield.

The Doomslayer tore away the armor surrounding Wolfram's main body with his bare hands until a swarm of cables burst out of the Golem and slithered towards the Slayer. But that's when he grabbed a sharpened piece of the armor and used it like a makeshift weapon, hacking apart the cables like he was slicing salami. After they had been hacked to pieces, the Slayer raised his fists and slammed them down against the armor, destroying it to reveal Wolfram who suddenly surged forward and grabbed the Unchained Predator by the neck.

"YOU LITTLE SUNOVABITCH! I'M GONNA ENJOY POPPING YOUR HEAD LIKE A ZIT!" Wolfram grinned as his muscles bulged hideously as a purple glow emanated from his eyes. The Doomslayer merely dipped his head and glared at Wolfram in amusement as the Villian tried to choke the life out of him.

Cute.

The Slayer grabbed Wolfram's arm with both of his hands and squeezed so hard that snapped it in two. The villain screamed as the Slayer raised his fist but the remaining hand of the golem grabbed the Doomslayer and slammed him down face-first into the roof. Wolfram willed the golem to raise its hand and smash the Vigilante until something struck him in the chest and before he could register what it was, it burst into a blinding flame that seared his flesh!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGHHH!" Wolfram hollered in agony as more projectiles collided into his body and lit him aflame, one striking him right in the eye!

"DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME!" Miruko shouted as she fired her flare launcher at Wolfram. The flares dug into his skin and burned brightly until his whole body was on fire. Miruko chucked away the spent launcher and jumped high into the air towards Wolfram; launching into a dragon kick that smashed into the Villain's face, destroying most of his teeth and probably breaking his skull. She kicked him again in the face with her other leg and sent Wolfram teetering near the edge of the building as the force propelled her away from him.

As she landed on the roof, a stream of missiles sailed past her and collided with Wolfram; a series of massive explosions detonated against him and finally causing the golem to topple over the edge. Miruko peeked behind her to see the Slayer armed with a smoking Rocket Launcher, looking no worse for wear after being swatted like a bug. It seemed like that armor of his could shrug off just about anything. Looking back at where the golem once was, Miruko surmised that the Villain was probably defeated at last.

"Well, that takes care of him." Miruko wiped the sweat off her forehead as the Great Slayer displaced his weapon.

"Now then..." She started off as she walked right up towards the Scourge of Hell, without a hint of fear, and placed her hands on her hips as she glared up at him with a cocky smile. "Let's talk about carting your crazy ass off to Tartarus. Hopefully, they'll have a cozy reinforced cell ready for you."

She wasn't serious, was she? And what was this Tartarus she was talking about?

/Tartarus is the most heavily guarded maximum-security penitentiary in the world. The prison was constructed to contain extremely dangerous Villains that pose the utmost threat to society./

And she thought a prison was going to hold him? He would break out of there in a heartbeat...but not before sending every one of those prisoners out of there in body bags. The Doomslayer stared down at Miruko as she continued to stare back at him as if she was expecting an answer. Seeing her defiant posture even while wounded and bleeding impressed the Slayer. She really did remind him of Emily.

A loud disturbance alerted them; the pair shifted their attention to the left to see the golem climbing back up onto the tower with its remaining hand!

Miruko sighed in annoyance. "Hang back, Murder Happy. I got this." She sprinted towards the clambering monster until another wave of cables erupted from the ground in front of it, but this time they were covered in rebar and coated in chunks of metal. But instead of dodging, Miruko ran straight toward them with a smirk; fully confident that she could handle them. What were a few more cuts and scrapes on her body?

But before Miruko could deliver a swift kick to the cables, a hand grabbed her by the scruff of her leotard and yanked her back. Landing on the ground, she looked up to see the Doomslayer grab a cluster of cables while a few stray tentacles slammed against him, the rebar spikes broke against his unpenetrable Praetor Suit.

"HEY!" Miruko shouted at him, waving her fist in the air. "I had that one!"

Idiot. Those spiked cables could've killed her and she just charged in blindly like a bull. At least he knew when to dodge and when he could take a hit. What she did was borderline suicidal. The Slayer ripped off the cluster of cables and slammed them down on the ones attacking him before jumping out of the way when the golem regrew its right hand and slammed it down on the roof. The golem magnetically added more metal to its mass; becoming larger and more armored with sharpened protrusions sticking out of its metal coating.

Wolfram was, shockingly enough, still alive in spite of his gruesome injuries. His skin was horribly burned and torn apart, exposing his oversized muscles. His right eye had been burned out, leaving a cauterized hole while his broken arm hung limply with a bone sticking out. Wolfram looked positively feral, gnashing his teeth together as his remaining eye glowed brighter. Not only that, but the Quirk Amplification Headset was undamaged.

"YOU LITTLE FUCKEEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRRRSSSSSSSS!" Wolfram hatefully bellowed. "I'M GONNA RIP YOUR FUCKIN BONES OUT, SMASH EM TO SPLINTERS AND JAM THEM INTO YOUR FUCKIN EARS!"

Miruko raised an eyebrow. "Overplaying it a little, isn't he?"

The Doomslayer said nothing as he glared at Wolfram. He could do worse.

I-ISLAND CENTRAL TOWER-BALLROOM

"You guys all heard that, right?" Denki shakingly asked as he gripped the wires, overcharging them with electricity.

"Try to focus, Kaminari!" Ida snapped him back. "I think you've almost got it!"

After recovering from watching the bloodbath that unfolded earlier and after the Vigilante had left the room, Class 1-A immediately set to work on attempting to free the bound Heroes. This was already proving to be almost fruitless as the bindings restricting the Heroes were nigh unbreakable. That is until Momo hatched an idea: If they could overload the wires connected to the cables, they might be able to short circuit them and free the rest of them.

To start, Kirishima ripped up the center of the carpet and broke part of the bare floor with his hardening Quirk, easily smashing the tiles with little effort. They managed to find some wires connected to the cables that were holding down All Might. Momo constructed a generator of her design that could amplify electric currents. After clipping a pair of jumper cables onto the wires, Denki grabbed another pair and started funneling his electricity into them. The current was channeled through the generator and fed into the jumpers connected to the wires on the floor but with an enhanced charge to overload it. This was pushing Denki's Quirk to his limit, as he was becoming dangerously close to exceeding his wattage limit and going into "Derp Mode".

While Momo and Ida oversaw Denki, Jiro attached her earphones to the wall in case she heard anyone coming towards the ballroom; acting as a lookout. Kirishima and Mineta were tending to a shellshocked Bakugou who was sitting in a chair. Kirishima tried as best as he could to shake him out of it but there was no reaction, just pure fear all over his face. There was no trace of the cocky, hotheaded explosive teen. It was almost darkly humorous: all of those times Bakugou yelled die at the top of his lungs without a care in the world and then he gets to see what it's like to have someone actually die in front of him.

Or rather popped like a balloon right next to him and shower him with blood and guts.

"I think it's working." Momo said when she saw the blue glow of the cables wrapped around All Might flickered with sparks. "Just one more time and you should be able to free him!"

Denki let out an exhausted groan before nearly sagging to his knees. "If I go any further I'll turn into a dumba-"

"Do not fear or curse your own limitations, Kaminari." All Might assured him with encouragement. "You can overcome your hurdles as long as you focus on your goal and give it your all. Go beyond, Plus Ultra!"

Emboldened, Denki nodded and channeled all of his electrical power into the jumpers he was holding onto. All Might was proud of his student's determination...but he could tell that he and the others were barely holding it together. He could see the raw fear in their eyes. It would be a miracle if any of these youths wanted to continue their enrollment at U.A. High School. The amount of bloodshed this day was enough to make Yagi doubt his own words.

"Guys! I can hear people coming!" Jiro warned her friends.

Ida, Momo, Kirishima, and Mineta tensed up when they heard footsteps approaching the door and they all prepared themselves. Denki focused everything he had into the jumpers until the cables holding down All Might short-circuit as it released him but also fried the boy's brain in the process (non-fatally of course). All Might tore off the rest of his bindings and looked towards the doors just as they opened to reveal Izuku, Shoto, Uraraka, and Mirio.

"Guys!" Midoriya exclaimed, overjoyed that his friends were okay. But his elation slowly vanished when he saw the bodies strewn about on the floor, more victims of the Vigilante's rampage. As his friends voiced their relief at seeing him again, Izuku's gaze focused on the seated, hunched-over form of his friend. In all of his life, Midoriya had never seen Bakugou this scared, Ever. Sure, there was that one time when he saw fear on Katsuki's face during the Sludge Villain incident but this was genuine trauma written all over his face.

"W-W-what happened to him?" Midoriya asked his classmates. Jiro looked down at her feet, or rather the blood staining her clothes. Mineta twiddled his fingers together as he turned away while Kirishima swallowed the lump in his throat; averting his eyes towards the desiccated corpses in the room.

"Young Midoriya!" All Might rushed over to his apprentice as Ida and Momo followed after him, the former carrying the now stupefied Denki. But then he and everyone else in the room noticed the unclothed Mirio and they all looked away with a light blush. Mineta nearly barfed. Realizing this, Mirio grabbed a tablecloth from the floor (which was thankfully not covered in blood) and wrapped it around himself.

Before All Might could ask Midoriya where Melissa was, all of the bindings that had captured the Heroes suddenly deactivated and released them. All of the Heroes picked themselves up, and many of them were ecstatic for being freed from their imprisonment.

"HA! Freedom at last! Harasho!" Kontsert, the Number 1 Pro Hero of Russia laughed.

"That must've been Melissa!" Izuku realized. "She managed to deactivate the security system!"

"Wait, so if someone was already going to turn the security off then..." Kyoka trailed off as she looked at the babbling simpleton that was Denki. Momo sweat dropped as her friend gave her a thumbs up, giggling absentmindedly. An earsplitting rumble rocked the room, nearly throwing everybody off their feet and sending tiles from the ceiling falling on top of them. They all heard an enraged roar from above, followed by more rumbling and the sounds of an oversized shotgun being fired. Elecplant, the Number 2 Pro Hero of North America, clenched his fists. "Quickly, everyone! To the roof!"

"WAIT!" All Might suddenly exclaimed, holding out his hand as the overseas Heroes immediately halted. "We need to ensure the safety of the hostages! They have no idea where to go and if this tower collapses, they won't have time to escape. We need to protect them."

The Heroes present looked confused. What about that armored psychopath? They couldn't just let him have free reign of the place, they had to apprehend him! Midoriya silently agreed with his mentor's plan but knew that there was another reason: he was reaching his limit. Izuku could see small wisps of steam coming from the nape of his neck and there was no telling when he would forcibly revert to his previous state. Mirio knew it too but Izuku didn't know that. Luckily for All Might, the Heroes understood his reasoning.

"He's right!" Salaam, the Number 1 Pro Hero of Egypt, agreed rather theatrically. "The lives of innocent people are always a first priority! Quickly, close friends and allies! We have no time to waste!" The walking pictogram sped straight out of the room due to his Quirk making him paper thin while several Heroes followed after him. Kirishima and Mineta ushered Bakugou out of the room though they still had to guide the unresponsive boy out the room. As the rest of Izuku's friends and the Heroes vacated the room, Izuku went towards the opposite door.

"I need to go find Melissa so we can find someplace where the civilians will be safe. She's going to get in contact with Pro Hero teams on their way here right now." Izuku said to All Might, the only occupant in the room.

Yagi felt a sense of hope rise from within. It seemed that the end was finally in sight. "Good! I'll go ensure everyone's safe."

As they both headed for their respective exits, All Might suddenly stopped. "Young Midoriya!" Izuku halted halfway out the door and turned to All Might. The Symbol of Peace glanced at the corpses and gore decorating the walls before giving Izuku an apologetic look. "I...I didn't think that things could escalate like this."

"...Neither did any of us." Izuku solemnly answered as he hung his head. After a few seconds, they exited the room, leaving behind the dead bodies of those unlucky enough to cross paths with the blood-maddened Vigilante.

A FEW MILES AWAY FROM I-ISLAND

"We're almost there, everybody! Better get yourselves prepared." Tiger said over his shoulder as he steered his rescue boat in the cabin. A distance away from his right, the other boat traveled alongside him; piloted by Mandalay. Each of the boats carried a dozen or so heroes while Hawks, Ryukyu, Majestic, Loud Cloud, and Air Jet flew alongside them. Every one of them was preparing themselves for whatever was on I-Island but if the scent of death and rot in the air was any indication, it was going to be bad.

"I'm telling you, Villains were leaving the island not long ago, my Quirk is never wrong." Ragdoll told Eraser Head.

"I'm not doubting you but we need to focus on the bigger picture: our top priority is to secure I-Island. We'll get the escapees another time." Eraser Head reminded her.

"But what is your plan for apprehending the Vigilante?" Yoroi Musha the Samurai Hero inquired as he stroked his beard. "If that armor of his could withstand Endeavour's Hellflames, he won't be easy to subdue."

"Simple: We'll knock him out." Midnight answered slyly with a wave of her finger. "If we can hold him down and take off his helmet, I can hit him with Somnambulist, and then we got him in a bag."

"You're positive it'll work against him?" Ectoplasm asked.

"I'll be using an enhanced formula. I've been honing my Quirk for years so I'm able to alter the potency of my fumes. The one I'll be using on him is strong enough to instantly put an entire herd of elephants to sleep." Midnight explained; some of the Heroes nodding in agreement to her plan. Some of them looked towards I-Island at the pillar of smoke spawned from the explosion earlier.

"Tiger, are you sure that-" Gran Torino began to ask before Tiger cut him off.

"For the hundredth time, the Geiger counter isn't picking anything up and yes, it's working just fine." Tiger tiredly repeated. Then again, even he wasn't exactly sure how that was possible.

"Do you know for certain he doesn't have a Quirk?" Edgeshot questioned Eraser Head.

"I'm not exactly sure yet but we all think that suit of his might have something to do with it." Eraser Head answered as he pondered on the subject of the Vigilante. "The real question is, who is he and where did he get his hands on such powerful technology?"

"You can ask him when we throw him in the deepest, darkest, most reinforced cell in Tartarus." Snatch told him as he kept his eyes on I-Island.

"Everyone! Someone's contacting us! Patching it through to you now!" Came the excited voice of Mandalay over the boat's radio. All at once, the Heroes piled into the cabin and crowded around Tiger who pressed a button to activate the speakers.

"Hello? This is Melissa Shield from I-Island, can anyone hear me?" It was a voice of a young girl; her tone of voice was shaken and rife with fear.

"We do! This is Tiger of the Wild Wild Pussycats!" The Hero answered her, picking up the transceiver as the other Heroes were elated to finally hear someone from the island.

"The Pussycats? That Pro Hero team? Oh, thank God!"

"Just hang tight, there are two boats crammed with Heroes on the way to I-Island. We'll take care of everything, kid. Just leave it to us!" Tiger said proudly.

There was a long silence on the other end. "I...I don't think that'll make a difference. He's...he's already killed them all..."

Everyone gasped. In that instant, they all assumed the worst: the hostages were dead. It was like they had all been doused with ice-cold water. Everyone looked at the radio in shock as their mouths hung open. And it wasn't just them; the other Heroes on the second rescue boat heard it as well along with the flying Heroes who were close by.

"No...!" Cementoss whispered as he backed away, his stony hands trembling.

"I knew it...!" Snatch angrily cursed as he punched the wall.

Eraser Head felt like he was about to throw up as his worst fears were realized. How was he going to tell the families of the students he swore to protect? How was he going to tell them that he failed them? There was also another chilling possibility for everyone: were All Might and the other Heros a part of the body count as well?

"You mean...all of the hostages are dead?" Tiger hesitantly asked.

"What? No, the hostages are alive! All of them!"

"They are!?" Tiger exclaimed. Everyone was dumbstruck at the announcement.

"Yes! Uhh...they're all being held at the main airport and All Might is leading the rest of them to safety with the other Heroes!"

The sounds of cheering came from both of the boats as the Heroes celebrated the fantastic news. After hours and hours of fearing the worst, they were exultant to hear that there were no innocent civilian or Hero casualties. It was just the morale boost they needed after getting half of them pummeled by an insane Vigilante, watching him slaughter the Sabers on live television before setting off an earth-shaking explosion.

"Didja hear?! They're okay! Your students are alive!" Present Mic laughed excitedly as he shook Aizawa's shoulders before hugging him. Shota could only utter a chuckle as he genuinely smiled; going a little bit weak at the knees over the confirmation that his students were alive. Midnight folded her arms as a light flush was visible on her cheeks. It was rare to see Aizawa crack a smile and even she had to admit she was just as elated as he was. But then a thought came to her: what did that girl mean earlier about everyone being dead?

The R-Rated Heroine walked up to the radio and motioned Tiger to hand her the receiver. "Ms. Shield, this is Midnight. When you said, 'He's already killed them all', what exactly did you mean if the hostages are okay?"

"I meant the Steel Sabers. They're... they're all dead. Every one of them, there are bodies everywhere, oh my God...!"

Everyone looked at each other, startled. Did they just hear all of that right? The entire organization was dead? It was shockingly hard to believe but after all of the gunfire and explosions they heard earlier, it didn't seem to be an exaggeration. Their eyes cast down at the floor, nobody knew what to feel. The Steel Sabers deserved to be captured, dragged in front of a judge, and put away in prison for the rest of their lives. Not butchered like animals. But there was one big question on everybody's minds: should they feel glad that the Sabers were dead? Should they feel elation since their reign of terror upon Heroes had been brought to an end?

"Melissa! I've got your father, we need to go!" Came the voice of a boy on the radio.

"Midoriya?" Aizawa blinked.

"O-okay! The hostages are being held at the main airport, All Might, and the others will be there. Good Luck!" And the radio went dead before anyone could answer.

Hawks flew onto the boat and walked up to the cabin. "You guys should probably get out here and check this out."

Everyone either stepped out of the cabin or looked out its windows to see a dark, purple haze on I-Island's central tower. They could see some massive shape swinging its arms around while angry roars came from the creature.

"What the hell is happening today?" Snipe grumbled in annoyance.

Hawks narrowed his eyes at the top of the building. Miruko had to be up there but he wanted to confirm it first. He turned to Ragdoll. "Tomoko, can you get a lock up there?"

"Can do!" Ragdoll cheerily posed. She glared at the tower and activated her search Quirk. "Okay, that huge rock monster thing is definitely a Villain...and I can sense Miruko! She's banged up and fighting him."

Keigo's mouth formed a thin line. Hopefully, his friend could hang in there just a bit longer.

"What about the Vigilante? Can you search him out?" Thirteen the Space Heroine asked.

"Gimmie a sec..." Ragdoll replied focusing hard. "Got him! He's-"

In that instant, time froze for Tomoko. It was like she was turned into a statue; unable to move at all. Her whole world went dark and the most absolutely horrific visions assaulted her mind. She found herself falling through a deep pit with flames circling her, the sheer heat completely unfathomable. Then, a mass of tentacles with stingers at the end wrapped around her and dragged her further into the flames. She was flung down face-first into a pile of dismembered bodies, blood splashing against her face as she managed to regain her footing and crawl away from the pile. She looked around and found herself in a nightmarish hellscape: a barren, rocky wasteland with emaciated corpses impaled on stakes with rivers of lava flowing in the background.

An inhuman screech filled the air and Ragdoll turned around to find herself face-to-face with an army of the most horrendous creatures imaginable. Nearly every one of them had razor-sharp teeth, hooked claws, towered over the others, had weapons grafted to their arms, soulless eyes radiating utter hatred, conjured fire from their palms, and one of them was a literal floating meatball with teeth. With a roar, the monsters converged on her and Ragdoll braced herself for the inevitable until a bright green orb collided with the horde, the force of the explosion throwing her backward and nearly blinding her. She could feel more blood splattering against her like a tidal wave, covering her cheery costume in crimson fluids.

She looked up from where she lay and saw the Vigilante, standing upon a literal mountain of the disemboweled monsters, clutching a giant canon that was bigger than he was in one hand while brandishing some kind of energy sword that glowed blood red with runes etched along the blade. The fires began to surround them, getting hotter with every passing second, and engulfed her right up until the Vigilante glared back at her with emotionless, hate-filled eyes that bored into her very soul.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ragdoll screamed, snapping herself out of her vision as she clutched the sides of her head in agony!

"Ragdoll!?" Tiger balked as the other Heroes jerked at her sudden screaming. Ragdoll collapsed to the floor, writhing and flailing as she continued to scream as her throat went raw. The Heroes immediately tried to hold her down as she thrashed around in their grip.

"AAAAAAAAAAH AAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHH!" Ragdoll continued to scream her lungs out. Her pupils were like pinpricks as she struggled with the Heroes restraining her while kicking out with her legs.

"What the hell is wrong with her!?"

"Hold her still!"

"Calm down, Tomoko!"

"IT CAME FROM HELL! IT CAME FROM HEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLL!" Ragdoll shrilled as tears ran down her cheeks, her fingers digging into her skin until they drew blood.

"She's out of her mind, Nemuri! Give her something!" Snipe yelled to Midnight. The Heroine tore off a tiny piece of the thin fabric covering her hand and quickly held down Ragdoll before pressing her hand up against the panicking woman's nose.

"Shhh, shhh, shhh, it's okay. Just breathe it in, everything's going to be okay." Midnight whispered as gently as she could as Ragdoll's squirming subsided. Her eyes fluttered as she finally lost consciousness, going limp in Midnight's arms. Everyone stared at the unconscious girl, rattled at what had just transpired before them.

"What. Was. That?" Present Mic breathed, disturbed to the core.

"Guys! I heard Ragdoll screaming over there! What's going on?!" Pixie Bob shouted over the radio.

Hawks faced the central tower and balled his hands up into fists, his mind finally made up. He didn't know what had happened to Ragdoll but that Vigilante had something to do with it and Miruko was up there with him. And there was no way he was going to sit around and wait while his friend was in peril. With a flap of his wings, Hawks launched himself off the boat and flew next to Ryukyu.

"You guys go protect the civilians at the airport, I'm going on ahead." Hawks said to her before taking off into the air and flying towards I-Island.

"Hawks, wait! We're supposed to stick together! HAWKS!" Ryukyu called after him but he was already out of sight. Hawks shot towards the tower like a bullet going as fast as his wings could carry him. He was getting Miruko out of there and far away from that psycho as possible. But after what happened with Ragdoll, Hawks couldn't fathom what that man was capable of.

"What are you?" Hawks muttered to himself.

To be continued...

FINALLY, The Doomslayer and Miruko are fighting together! Can they beat Wolfram? Find out next time!

Not much to say about this chapter except that I had a pretty fun time scaring the shit out of Class 1-A and the Heroes by making them watch the Slayer's brutality up close. And we even get to see Bakugou nearly crap his pants! As easy as it was to have the Doomslayer oneshot Bakugou, I felt that terrorizing him into submission and shattering his pride would be a lot more entertaining.

I will admit, I was not sure how a fight between the Slayer and Mirio would go so I just wrote him in being scared too. If you guys have any suggestions about rewriting the scene, I'd love to hear them!

The world of MHA is getting a small taste of what's in store for them in the future! Poor Ragdoll, she only got to experience a few seconds of what the Doomslayer has lived through for literal eons. Her canon counterpart got off lucky if you think about it.

What I'm aiming for in future chapters of the story is the moral conflict between the Slayer and the Heroes. As evidenced by the stairwell scene, the Heroes believe in justice and doing the right thing, a sharp contrast to the Slayer's "Kill them all so they can't hurt anyone" mentality along with VEGA's cold logic. Eventually, they will all have to accept that they can't hold back their punches when the Demons invade.

While I understand some of you may be put off by seeing the Slayer talk, this will only be done in flashbacks to give some more variety to his backstory. I really wanted to emphasize that the Doomslayer is a broken man underneath all of his rage and hasn't been able to fully move on from his family's death but it will not nerf him in any way, he's still the badass Demon killer we all know and love. Just trying to humanize him a little more.

I don't know when I'll be back but it'll be sometime after my neighbors return from their vacation and after I've played Shadow Warrior 3 like crazy. As usual, I won't give a release date, I'll update when it's done and when I'm able to. Don't hound me when I'll be done and don't keep saying I'm dead. See you all next time in what will hopefully be the last chapter of the Steel Sabers Arc. I hope.

Don't forget to review but please don't flame!

Stay healthy and stay safe.