Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Vlad King's Green Bean
Chapter fifty-eight: This is war, part two- brutality
The heroes, pro and student alike, who were marshaled to fight the threat of Dabi's army of villains were continuing their assault on Villa in Gunga Mountain. As the heroes rushed to seal off all possible escape routes, Re-Destro and Trumpet rushed down to an underground level with some followers as they started to brief them on a few key bits of important information.
"...Umm, yeah, about that sirs," one of the followers began, "Umm, the heroes have blocked off all of the communication escape routes save for the one back at the villa, which the heroes are currently attacking."
"...Que?" Trumpet said, taken aback by the surprising turnabout. As for Re-Destro, the black markings of Stress began to spread across his forehead and face, a sign that he was getting quite irritated with the heroes showing up out of the blue.
...
Outside of the villa, Cementoss is continuing to wreck up the place as Kaminari was keeping the scarred electric quirk user's powers from hurting the others by continuing to act as a lighning rod. "All electric meta ability users!" the scarred man shouted, "All of you aim your attacks at that hero kid! We can overwhelm him with enough power!"
The other electric quirk users among the many warriors of the Paranormal Liberation Front that were coming out all proceeded to take aim at Kaminari, they began to sink into the ground while also coughing up terribly. Looking around, it was the efforts of Juzo and Kinoko who were incapacitating those electric quirk villains so they wouldn't be able to overwhelm Kaminari.
"Whoa ho ho ho," Kaminari said, "I didn't expect to be saved by Kirishima's girlfriend and one of Midoriya's buds! Thanks for the save you two!"
Nodding once, Juzo said, "If we don't do our part to stop the villains, then how can any of us have the right to face Izuku as a peer? He's more hero than the rest of our year of UA's hero course combined! We need to do something to help out here, just so we'd have the right to refer to ourselves as the same kind of people he is!"
Juzo's remark drew cheers of agreement from other Class 1-A and Class 1-B students who had heard it, even Kinoko although she added under her breath that 'Eijiro is still tops' after cheering. Having heard only the cheering praise for Izuku, Nemuri smiled to herself in amusement. What all disagreements that were among the first year hero course students of UA concerning Izuku Midoriya had now been entirely done away with; the green haired boy was now an inspiration to the rest of his peers in his year, someone who spurred others to work to be their best just by being mentioned by name.
It would seem that All Might had chosen his successor very well.
It wasn't just the students of UA's first year hero course who were inspired by Izuku and the heroic ideal he had come to represent. Nemuri herself was also spurred on by the green haired boy, focused her quirk to knock out as many of the villains before her as possible. With Nemuri cranking out her sleep inducing mist, Juzo making the villains sink into the ground as if the ground were quicksand, and Kinoko making mushrooms grow inside the throats and lungs of the villains when her spores got into them, the villains were being taken down by the score.
Things were starting to look up for the heroes.
Meanwhile, inside of the villa, the Ninja Hero Edgeshot had the villain Twice restrained. "...Make one move that I don't trust," Edgeshot said coolly, the tip of his knife against Twice's throat, "And your throat's slashed faster than you can make even one duplicate."
Twice was trembling out of many emotions, most prominently upset confusion. "...How?" Twice said as he trembled, "How did you heroes find us out...?"
"We have our ways," Edgeshot replied, keeping up the same cool tone, "But said ways need not have to lead to your end." Twice stopped trembling for a moment, looking as if something caught his attention. "We got it that you're actually a good person deep down," Edgeshot went on, "You just made some bad choices and were led astray by bad people. After you pay for your crimes, you can get a fresh start, and the heroes will even help you back onto your feet. Because of how good a person we know you really are."
"...Bad people." Edgeshot perked up a bit when he picked up the sudden shift in Twice's tone. "...You think my friends," Twice began, "The ones who didn't judge me, the ones who understood me and accepted me for who I am, are... 'bad people'." Yelling suddenly, Twice bellowed, "It's people like you that helped to lead me to where I am today! You and the rest of the pompous self-righteous bastards who run society think you have the right to say what's right and wrong, the right to say who's good and who's evil! Well fuck you! Fuck you you ninja asshole, fuck that wizard guy who I'm certain is a traitor, and fuck all of the heroes out there!"
Edgeshot saw Twice begin to thrash about a bit, but he didn't use Double yet. "You and your ilk have no right to say who's good and who's evil! You aren't the end all say all authority that all people everywhere has to respect the word of! You just slap negative labels onto people who don't agree with you, then shove them off into groups that you can deal with at your convenience! Well not anymore! I won't let you heroes shit all over everything! I won't let you take away all that I hold dear, all that to me means the world!" As a clone started to spawn from Twice, the villain exclaimed, "I shall-"
*STAB*
The very instant he saw a clone try to spawn out of Twice, Edgeshot carried out his grim duty of eliminating a major threat to the heroes' efforts in this war they were fighting against Dabi's army of villains. That knife plunging into Twice's throat cut off his exclaiming, cut off him using his quirk, and would in moments cut off his life. Edgeshot, keeping his expression cool and grim, pulled his knife out from Twice's throat by pushing the blade into the right side of the throat until it had cut its way out of the throat entirely.
Edgeshot hated having to do what he just did, as he had come to agree with Majestic's assessment on Twice and truly wished to redeem Twice. But Twice couldn't be convinced and, had he been allowed to live, he would have overwhelmed the heroes and lead to hero society falling into ruin under the Blueflame boots of Dabi. Putting the needs of the many ahead of the needs of the one, Edgeshot carried out the grim task that the heads of the HPSC had ruled were necessary if the heroes were to win against Dabi's villain army in the end.
...
Meanwhile, Dabi was rushing right up to where Edgeshot had just killed Twice, not knowing of the ultimate fate that had just befallen one of the members of his inner circle. Instead, Dabi was thinking about how all of this chaos had proven his lack of trust towards Majestic to be valid. "It's not your fault the heroes got the jump on us, Twice," Dabi said aloud but mostly to himself, an unamused scowl on his face, "They're scummy assholes who take everything from everyone, even going so far as to take from you the ones who you've come to hold dear to your hear-"
Dabi stopped short when, upon turning to enter the room where Twice was in, he saw Edgeshot push a knife out from the side of Twice's throat.
Back outside where the fighting was still going on, Fat Gum and Tamaki got Tokoyami to join their team in fighting as many of the Paranormal Liberation Front warriors as possible. Their team was focusing on the one passageway out of the five leading into an underground sanctuary that wasn't already covered by the pro heroes. There were many PLF warrios in that sanctuary, and the passageways leading out and into the open had to be sealed off. "I take it at least this one we're covering is out of range for Cementoss?" Dark Shadow asked as he was hanging out of Tokoyami at the time.
"Yeah, but we need to get rid of the ones guarding the passageway first," Fat Gum said. Tamaki stepped forward and, with an Ultimate Move that he called Vast Hybrid Chimera: Centaur, he got rid of all of the PLF warriors guarding that passageway.
Tokoyami then walked up to the entrance to the passageway and sent in Dark Shadow, pushing him to his limits into a berserker state, which made many of the warriors within flee in terror. Tokoyami felt that things here ought to be wrapped up without too much trouble, but a few moments after Dark Shadow sent many PLF members running, he felt Dark Shadow getting pushed back. After a few moments of pushing back and forth, Tokoyami felt that Dark Shadow threw back who it was that'd been pushing against him, but Dark Shadow had to slink back to Tokoyami afterwards.
"...Some balding guy who's blatantly gunning for an n-word pass," Dark Shadow began, "He got big and muscular and pushed against me. I was able to throw him back, but the effort drained me a bit. Also, there's a monster down there. A true monster." To Tokoyami's worry, Dark Shadow shuddered in clear fright. "...A monster who makes the balding hulking guy look like mere peanuts. A monster that I feel can be bested only by the other monster that the villains have at their beck and call."
As Tokoyami went wide eyed with surprise, Fat Gum said, "Fuck, must be Gigantomachia." Tokoyami then turned to look at Fat Gum, a bit surprised to hear him swear. "Luckily for us, Gigantomachia literally will not so much as twitch unless Dabi gives him an order to do something. This is intel we got thanks to the hard work and big risks that Majestic had done."
"Majestic?" Tokoyami said, "My classmate Yaoyorozu, as well as Midoriya's classmate Tokage, both intern under Majestic." Tokoyami, as well as Dark Shadow, was surprised to hear that it had been the Magic Hero who had played such a big role in gathering this vital intel for the heroes. Indeed, whatever victories that the heroes score here today might be due near exclusively, if not wholly exclusively, to Majestic and the risks that he'd taken so that hero society would be able to go on and see another sunrise.
A sunrise that Tokoyami wished a certain someone he cared about had been around to see, along with many more sunrises after that.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKER!"
*BWOOSH*
Edgeshot was caught by surprise by a sudden exclamation, followed by a swamp of blue flames washing over his form as he pulled his knife away from where Twice was bleeding out and would soon pass on. He recoiled away as his form was swamped by those blue flames, and some of the Ninja Hero's form was still wire thin as Edgeshot still had Foldabody active. Those wire thin parts of Edgeshot's body easily burnt up, making Edgeshot scream in pain as what parts of him that weren't wire thin returned to their normal state.
After Edgeshot returned to normal, he saw that his legs below the knees were gone now, the ends burnt nubs where his knees once were; the silver lining here was that his wounds were cauterized so he won't bleed out. But he was still in the most excruciating, agonizing pain that he had ever felt, a pain so great it kept him from being able to focus on using his quirk if only to get away. As such, Edgeshot was barely able to prop himself up while he laid helpless on the floor as he saw Dabi, his soon to be killer, looming over him as a blue flame-wreathed grim specter of doom.
"You fucking killed Twice!" Dabi yelled at the Ninja Hero, "He was one of the guys in my inner circle! He was part of the brain-trust that I had going in the League of Villains, and continued to do so when the League and the Army combined into the Front! HE WAS ONE OF MY FRIENDS, GODDAMMIT! AND YOU FUCKING KILLED HIM!"
Edgeshot saw that Dabi wore a sincere look on anguish on his face, but noticed that something about said look was off. "...For... for a guy who just lost someone he had counted as a friend..." Edgeshot said, gritting through the pain, "...I'm seeing a distinct lack of crying on your... your part."
"My tear glands were burnt, asshole!" Dabi yelled, "I can't cry, even if I wanted to! And believe you me, I fucking feel like fucking crying right fucking now! I wanna fucking cry just like I did when I found out Endeavor had taken the lives of multiple innocent persons, one of which I held dear to my heart! If it wasn't for how I agreed to let Felgrand have dibs on killing that flaming brickhouse assfuck, I'd hunt the Flame Hero down, kill him, then mount his head on a pike!" Settling down a bit, Dabi gave Edgeshot a cold, unforgiving glare.
"...I won't get to claim revenge for what Endeavor had done to me," Dabi said, "But I can claim revenge for what you had done to me just now." Cranking out as much of his blue flames as possible, Dabi yelled, "AND I'LL BE CLAIMING THAT REVENGE RIGHT FUCKING NOW!" Edgeshot was in too much pain, pain from burns, pain from losing his legs at the knee down, to get away from the second swamping assault of Dabi's flames of blue. After that assault had worn off, Dabi stomped forward, knelt down next to Edgeshot, yanked off his mask to expose his face, forcefully open Edgeshot's mouth, then pumped his blue flames directly into Edgeshot's mouth, roasting the Ninja Hero from the inside out.
Within moments, Dabi, the Grand Commander of the Paranormal Liberation Front, had vanquished the Ninja Hero Edgeshot. After getting up from where the now late Edgeshot laid dead on the floor, Dabi breathed hard for a bit before a jolt of hope surged in his heart when he heard Twice's voice call out from behind, "Dabi! Over here, by the doorway!" Dabi turned around and saw another Twice, and for the briefest of moments felt as if he hadn't lost someone he'd come to care for after all, that his rage had been stoked, his emotions stirred, for nothing.
...But then he saw signs on the Twice before him that made it clear that the Twice before him was a clone, not the real deal. "The... the real me had been killed, huh?" asked the Twice clone as he ever so slightly began melting into a grayish puddle of goo, "I can tell. I'm struggling to keep myself together, it feels like I'm holding in the mother of all farts, and if I let go then I'm done."
"No," Dabi said, sounding desperate as he went up to the Twice clone, "No no no no no..."
The Twice clone walked over to where the real Twice's body laid on the ground. "...Yeesh, it is brutal for one to see their own dead body..." the Twice clone said as he reached down to search for something on the body of the real Twice. Finding what he was looking for, the Twice clone stood up, somewhat shakily as he moved, holding a handkerchief. "The real me here..." began the Twice clone, "...Had borrowed this handkerchief from Toga when his mask tore a bit and he was freaking out about his mask not being whole. Toga is downstairs with Compress, I got enough left in me to return Toga's handkerchief to her..." Dabi gave only a single nod to the Twice clone before he turned his attention to where the real Twice laid dead on the floor, never seeing the Twice clone leave the room.
...
Toga and Mr. Compress were both being restrained by a pro hero who had caught them during the raid. "Ah ha ha!" the hero boasted, "With two of the elites among the villain army captured, things are bound to go far more smoothly for the heroes as we-"
*STAB*
The pro hero was cut off and killed when the Twice clone fell from the height and impaled the hero in the back of the head with a piece of rebar he picked up before jumping down. The hero's body was heaved to the side by Mr. Compress who was freed along with Toga, with Toga hewrself turning to the Twice clone, flashing him the biggest, sweetest appreciative smile ever. "Thanks for the save, Twice!" Toga said cheerfully, "Now we can-"
Toga was cut off when the Twice clone handed her the handkerchief he got from the real Twice's body. It was then that both Toga and Mr. Compress began noticing that the Twice clone was actually just a clone. "...The... the real me's been killed..." said the Twice clone as Toga, now trembling due to what she had just heard, received what she now recognized as her handkerchief she had loaned to the real Twice previously, "...That ninja bastard Edgeshot did the deed, and we got reason to... believe that Majestic had betrayed us. Dabi killed Edgeshot, and I... was able to get that from the real me's body... to return to... you..."
The Twice clone then fell over into Toga's arms, she having caught him as tears welled up in the corners of her eyes as she wore a look of dawning heartbreak on her face. "This... this is it for...me..." the Twice clone said, his form collapsing more and more into a grayish goo puddle, "...I'm sorry that... that this happened. Also, I just want to... to say thanks to you... to all of you in the... the League of Villains. Thank you... for loving me..." With that last bit, the Twice clone fully collapsed into a puddle of grayish goo, melting away onto the ground from Toga's hold.
"...Even dead, he still manages to save us if only one last time..." Toga said, barely able to keep it together, "...Oh Twice, why is it always the good ones...?"
"TOGA! COMPRESS!" Both Toga and Mr. Compress turned to look when they heard Dabi call out to them; looking up, they saw Dabi, a look on anguish on his face, looking down at them.
"Dabi!" Toga cried up, tears now flowing freely down the sides of her face, "The heroes killed Twice! What are we gonna do?!"
Taking a breath to steady himself, Dabi said, "We and a few others are gonna hitch a ride on Gigantomachia. I just got word that a lot of bigwig heroes are over at Jaku General Hospital, raiding the nomu lab. We're gonna avenge Twice by killing as many heroes over there as possible!"
"I heard about the raid on Jaku over our comm devices," Mr. Compress called out, "But I wasn't aware the heroes had gone so far as to find the nomu lab...!"
Dabi nodded once in understanding. "Also, have word sent to Felgrand to meet us over at Jaku as well!" A glowering, brow furrowed look of vengeful anger appeared across the face of the blue flame villain. "...That bastard Endeavor's over there. The first thing I wanna see to feel better about the heroes killing Twice is to see Felgrand rip Endeavor's head off."
Meanwhile, outside where a lot of the fighting was going on, Fat Gum had Tokoyami, Kaminari, Juzo, and Kinoko all sunk into his big fat body as he ran to the rear line of the heroes' formation, using a super move that the BMI Hero called Fataxi. "You kids had helped a great deal with subduing villains with the wide ranged quirks you brought to the table," Fat Gum said, "With that, the pros can gradually take the rest down. Sorry that we had to borrow your strength there, but we're done now and we can take the rest from here!"
"Are you sure, sir?" Kinoko asked, "I mean, we can probably do more to help if you and the other pros need it."
"Heh, don't you worry yourself about that," Fat Gum said, "You and the other hero students have done more than enough here! In fact, I'd say that you ought to worry more about your fellow hero students!" Soon enough, Fat Gum got the students he was carrying in his fat to the backline, where other UA hero students were waiting. After the students in Fat Gum's fat got out and stood with their fellows, Fat Gum leaned in to whisper to Kinoko. "...Beside which, Komori," Fat Gum said, "I'm sure that Red would never get over it if something bad were to happen to you."
Kinoko's face lit up a bit out of embarrassment, knowing full well Fat Gum was using her relationship with Kirishima to convince her to agree to hang back with the other hero students. Getting back up from leaning over, Fat Gum said to the hero students, "Anyway, Imma head on back to the front lines now, given that-"
*KABOOM*
*RUMBLE*
*ROAR*
Fat Gum was cut off when he and the others heard the sound of something gargantuan break out from under the ground, accompanied by the quaking of something emerging like that, then they heard the fierce roaring of a behemoth. Turning to look, Fat Gum and the hero students saw a large rocky looking backside that seemed to have a few persons on it in the distance. "What..." Mina said, trembling as if out of primal fear, "...What the fuck is that...?"
"...The other monster that the villains have at their beck and call," Dark Shadow said as he popped out of Tokoyami, "...A monster that no one is equal to, and only Felgrand can surpass."
As Fat Gum looked on in dawning horror, he got some intel over a comm device he wore in one of his ears. "We just received word that Dabi's monster Gigantomachia is on the move," the male voice coming in on the comm device said, "And it looks to be making a beeline in the direction of Jaku General Hospital where Endeavor is still leading efforts to capture Garaki and stop the production of the nomus! Also, Dabi himself is riding on Gigantomachia's back! He also has his subordinates Spinner, Toga, Mr. Compress, Skeptic, Rappa, Agari, and Revy with him riding Gigantomachia as well!"
The BMI Hero looked worried about the information he just got. "...Dabi is taking one of his two monsters straight to where Endeavor is leading the charge against Garaki's nomu lab...?"
"And that's not all!" the voice over the comm device said, "We've also confirmed that Felgrand has just started making a beeline for Jaku as well! If Dabi has both of his monsters at Jaku, all of the heroes are sure to be wiped! We need as many pro heroes as possible to go in and try to intercept Dabi's monsters!"
Fat Gum gave a bitter, frustrated scoff. "There's barely enough here where I'm at to keep the villains here contained. The only pro hero I can think of who's not busy deailing with fighting villains right now is Ryukyu, but she's-"
"Taishiro."
Fat Gum was cut off when he heard Ryukyu's voice over the comm device suddenly. "I heard everything so far," the Dragon Hero went on, "There's enough sidekicks here to continue managing the evacuating of the civilians. I'll come in with the interns I have with me, we'll think of something to help the effort to help slow down Dabi's monsters."
Nodding once in understanding, Fat Gum said, "...Just try not to get hurt." The comm device Fat Gum had in one of his ears turned off, then he turned to look at the hero students. "Well kids, it looks like Ryukyu is coming to help subdue the monsters that Dabi's bringing with him."
Tokoyami looked surprised. "Monsters? You mean he's not just bringing that beast Gigantomachia? He's got Felgrand coming in as well?!"
The BMI Hero gave a single affirmative nod. "Hopefully, the heroes can help to buy enough time for Endeavor and his group to arrest and collect Garaki, and also to shut down all production of the nomus." Turning around to look in the direction that Dabi was riding off in on Gigantomachia's back with a few others, Fat Gum said, "I just hope that the others succeed."
Meanwhile, moments after she got the details over her comm device, Ryukyu in her dragon form was flying with all due haste in the direction of Jaku General Hospital, aiming to join the efforts of slowing down Dabi's monsters. Slowing down Gigantomachia was of particular importance as Dabi himself and a few other PLF bigwigs were all riding on Gigantomachia's back. Coming along for the ride with Ryukyu were Izuku, Uraraka, Nejire, Bakugo, and Todoroki. "You kids once we find Dabi's monsters need to go regroup with the other hero students near Fat Gum's location," Ryukyu said, "Let the pros handle Dabi's monsters!"
"Got it, Ryukyu!" Nejire said as she was leading her junior students behind the Dragon Hero. Well, Uraraka and Bakugo who both were able to achieve some manner of flying with their quirks; Izuku and Todoroki were riding on Ryukyu's back as they lacked the ability to fly properly (Izuku hasn't mastered Float to that degree yet). "You have no need to worry about us!" Nejire said, "Once we catch up to one of Dabi's monsters, we'll let you and the other pros handle things while I'll take my kouhais with me to the backlines and wait for further-"
*ROAR*
Nejire was cut off when she and the others heard an inhumane, dragonic roar sounding in the distance. Ryukyu turned and saw, to her worry, that Felgrand was seen flying in their general direction given that she was on a course for Jaku General Hospital. "...It's Felgrand..." said the Dragon Hero, her tone both worried and grim, "...Of all the times to-"
"This is Present Mic, recording live from Jaku General Hosptial!" Hizashi's voice said in a panicked tone over the comm devices, "Me and my fellow heroes over here at Jaku are currently starting to get overwhelmed with all of the nomus that keep popping out of the place! Two pro heroes who found Garaki's hidden hidey hole have been killed already, and we got some injuries over here! We can use all the backup that can be sparred right about now!"
Ryukyu was caught between a rock and a hard place. She knew the heroes at Jaku needed help, especially since Dabi was leading a handful of his top subordinates and both of his monsters over there. And one of those monsters was within view for the Dragon Hero right now, getting closer. As much as she didn't want to, Ryukyu didn't see much alternative given how the heroes went into things here outnumbered anyway. Letting out a resigned breath, Ryukyu said, "Nejire."
Perking up a bit, Nejire said, "What is it?"
"Lead your junior hero students here over to Jaku," Ryukyu said, "Back up the heroes over there trying to subdue the nomus, but let the pros handle the really strong nomus while you and your juniors focus on the weaker ones."
"Knowing Endeavor," Todoroki said, "He'd probably order my peers and I to focus on the weaker nomus anyway."
Ryukyu nodded in agreement right before Felgrand got close enough to intercept. Flying in, Ryukyu stopped right in Felgrand's path. The dragon villain wasn't currently stacking Gigantification on top of Dragon, so right now he was somewhat smaller than the Dragon Hero. To Ryukyu's piqued interest, Felgrand looked a bit surprised to see her intercept him. "Ryukyu..." Felgrand said, flying in place in front of where Ryukyu flew in place in the air. The two dragons eyed one another in a way that made it clear to both that a one on one duel between them was going to happen.
END, CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
Author's notes;
This chapter sees a lot of fighting going on, with major deaths happening on both sides. First, Edgeshot makes a hard decision and kills Twice so as to keep the villains from utilizing Sad Man's Parade to overwhelm the heroes, but then Dabi who comes across things kills Edgeshot in return. A Twice clone lasts long enough to take a handkerchief belonging to Toga from the real Twice's body, saves Toga and Mr. Compress from capture, and gives the handkerchief to Toga before collapsing into goo. Dabi, spurred by the loss of a comrade and friend, invokes Gigantomachia and hitches a ride on his back to head straight for Jaku General Hospital, were many heroes including Endeavor are at.
And that's not all. The heroes also got word that Felgrand is also making a beeline straight to Jaku, stopping only because he's intercepted by Ryukyu who is responding to the call for as many heroes as possible to help with restraining Dabi's monsters to keep them from reaching Jaku. Ryukyu also has Izuku, Uraraka, Nejire, Todoroki, and Bakugo with her, but a call from Present Mic over at Jaku prompts Ryukyu to make a hard decision to send the hero students over there, meaning that Ryukyu will be alone as she prepares to fight a one on one fight against the only villain more powerful than Gigantomachia; Felgrand, a villain who can do what all that Ryukyu can do and more.
The next chapter will see the war continue. Things are going to be getting rather dicey and violent in the next chapter and the chapters to come, so be ready to brace yourselves.