Chapter 24 is here! Now you'll finally see how things start to unfold with the Hero Killer, Stain, what role Mob is going to have in this outcome!


The night of training in the alley had bore no fruit for Izuku Midoriya. Despite his best efforts, the teenager was unable to scale the roof and effectively transition the use of One For All from different limbs so quickly. Even so, Gran Torino did his best to give him reassurance by saying it was only his first night of training, while also giving him a bit of history regarding his training with All Might. But before that conversation could continue, the sound of the doorbell rang, and outside was a package delivered for Gran Torino.

The elderly hero opened the box and revealed it to be a brand-new microwave, which had been broken during the short sparring session they'd had the day before. Gran Torino decided the first food to be heated with his microwave would be dessert pastries he'd bought the day before, even though it was still early in the morning.

The teenager put the pastries in the microwave and waited for them to be heated. As he was waiting, he felt a buzz in his pants pocket and pulled out his cellphone to see what it was. "Huh? Kageyama? He sent me pictures?"

Izuku pulled the pictures up, and he gasped, letting his inner fanboy pop out as he looked at Kageyama taking poses with the number three hero. The teenager's verdant eyes sparkled, and he squirmed in his place. "These pictures are amazing! Here, Gran Torino, take a look!"

Izuku showed the images to his mentor, who reacted with mild amusement, lightly chuckling at the bizarre pictures taken. "The number three hero, Hawks. Though he's still a youngin', he's got pretty good speed going for him. And then there's Kageyama."

Gran Torino smirked. "When I first saw the Sports Festival, I almost thought that he was the next holder of One For All and that All Might mixed up the names in the letter he sent me. That kid's managed to get a hold of his power so quickly and already increased it to All Might's level at such a young age. But he's still a novice when it comes to using that strength and speed effectively. Guess that's something else him and All Might have in common. If he'd been here, I'd have probably drilled the same combat training that I did with Toshi.

"Yea..." Izuku let out a soft laugh of amusement, but he still felt some emotions of jealousy and inferiority rising up inside him, though he did his best to suppress those feelings in front of the elderly hero. Even if close combat wasn't a strong suit for him, he still had so many other things going for him, things that Izuku still didn't have...

The microwave pinged, so Izuku went to get the finished pastries. As the two of them sat at the table and prepared to eat, the green-eyed intern came to understand that if he wanted to catch up to his friend, he'd have to put in the same kind of commitment he put during his training at the beach. No, even more than that! It was the only way he could reach Kageyama's level! But still, how he'd go about improving himself...

"My time is limited," a solemn Midoriya remarked, "What do I focus on?"

"Why the long face, boy? Just focus on those piping-hot pastries for now." The hero took the frozen pastry fish and expected a warm, delectable sensation, but bit down on the same cold pastry that'd been put in the microwave a few minutes ago.

"What? No way! I'm positive they microwaved them like it said to."

"What're you, an idiot? You stuck a huge plate in there, didn't you? If you do that, there's no room for it to turn, so only one part of it gets hot! Have you never done this before?"

"Well, ours isn't the turning type, so I guess not. Sorry, I..." The teenager's pupils dilated, and his mouth opened as he was struck with an epiphany. "I've got it! Whoa, Gran Torino, I see it now! The pastry in my hand, is me!"

The hero squinted his eyes, puzzled by Izuku's statement. "No it's not. Are you ok?"

"I don't mean literally, since I'm not really a dessert... But I get it: up until now, I've just been summoning One For All in the parts of my body where I need it and where I need it, like it's a type of switch. But doing that slows down my reaction time. That means I shouldn't be flipping the switch off! I just have to leave the power on the whole time!" The teenager focused his mind, red veins appearing all across his body as he ordered One For All to flow throughout every part of himself. Izuku's body now cackled with green electricity: he did it!

Gran Torino smirked, evidently pleased that Izuku had managed to figure this out so quickly. "Visualizing a pastry in the microwave is pretty boring, kid. You sure you're fine with that?"

"All Might said that about my egg already, and that was fine with me!"

"Think you can move in this state?"

"I'm... not sure."

The smirk on the hero's face widened. "Wanna give it a try?"

The teenager was not afraid of the hero's challenge, meeting his smirk with his own smile. He'd finally made a headway in using One For All, the first step in mastering this power and reaching Kageyama's level! Now, it was time to test this power to see what he could do with it!

"Yes! Let's do this!


The next two days of internships for Mob were no picnic. After seeing the way the esper had gotten nauseous and the limited ways he was able to use his speed, Hawks decided to devote the next few days to increasing Mob's natural tolerance to high-speed flight, and that involved patrolling the city at high speeds.

At first, Mob wasn't sure about this: he knew he'd be the only one that would be undertaking this training, and that at the speed they'd be flying, Tokoyami wouldn't be able to keep up with it, that even carrying him would cause some serious problems for his friend and potentially make him black out. But to the esper's great surprise, Fumikage was very humble and accepting of this proposition.

"Do not concern yourself, Kageyama. You've already done far enough for me," the avian student had said, "I do not want to have to burden you in anyway. I will simply have to work hard to find my own way to match the phenomenal speed of both you and Hawks."

Shigeo was still riddled with uncertainty, but Fumikage's stern stance managed to sway him and make him undergo the training Hawks had for him by himself. Even for someone as strong as Mob, this was proving to be somewhat of a challenge. He was essentially remaining in constant motion, soaring high in the sky above the streets and buildings. His shabby reflexes would also occasionally force him to make an abrupt stop to prevent himself from colliding with a building.

Nevertheless, the training was actually proving to quite beneficial for Shigeo: after only two days of this intense flight training, the esper was making significant strides. The nausea he'd felt before was much less pronounced, for his body was able to adjust to the intense speed rather quickly. Mob was nominally surprised at how fast his body was able to adjust, though he thought very little of it in the long-run.

Even though the training was no picnic, he was still enjoying himself, enjoying being in the company of Hawks, as well as Tokoyami. Just as Hawks had been surprised by Mob's character, Mob was also surprised by Hawks and his personality. He was expecting the number three hero to have a far more hardened, serious approach to hero work, something akin to All Might, but he acted with an easy-going, relaxed demeanor. The hero was honest, someone who the esper could confide in, just as he'd done before, and the time spent in the sky was also an unexpected joy.

In fact, they had actually gone in the sky a few more times, though those times weren't so much for Mob to feel the rush of flight, but to get a few more wacky pictures. They'd also brought Tokoyami along for those moments, where they replicated the same cloud couch and had all three of them sit together with the same position. In fact, Hawks even took it a step further and had Mob create a television-shaped cloud, along with a remote controller cloud, so it looked as though they were watching T.V. in the sky and Hawks was flipping through channels. Keigo also had Shigeo and Fumikage pose in different ways, with some looking as though they were sitting on the clouds or even swimming through the clouds.

Shigeo sent these pictures to Midoriya and Yaoyorozu: the green-haired teenager responded with multiple emojis with tears of laughter while expressing how unbelievably cool the poses were, and Yaoyorozu was similarly amused by the wacky photos he was in. He'd asked both of them how their internships were going, but the responses he got were both startling in their own ways.

For Midoriya, the fanboy had informed him that he was interning under a pro named Gran Torino, who was All Might's homeroom teacher when he was at U.A. High and who knew about One For All too. He also informed Mob that he'd found a way to harness One For All without breaking his body, channeling only five percent of it throughout his entire body, which the esper had found very positive and ground-breaking. He expressed to Izuku how happy he was that he'd gained a better control over his quirk, and that he wouldn't be breaking his bones every time he used One For All.

For Yaoyorozu, however, it appeared her internship with the hero Uwabami was not nearly as exciting or fulfilling an experience: according to her, most of her time was spent following Uwabami, watching her do photoshoots, magazine covers, things that didn't really have anything to do with being a hero. She'd tried to assure Mob that the time there was a valuable learning experience, though Shigeo felt otherwise.

It was the third day of the internships, and the sun had already set: with most of the day's events having gone by, Hawks and his two interns were sitting and relaxing on the edge of a smaller, ten-story building, located near the heart of the city, where there was a large jumbo screen, tuned into a news channel. However, Keigo and Shigeo were basically limping, the racing they'd done throughout the city taking its toll, though more for the number three hero than for the esper thanks to his remarkable stamina.

"Man, these past two days've been exhausting," the hero said, "Training you to adjust your body to high speed is making me pedal to the metal. But I can't believe how quickly you're adjusting! After only two days, you've made crazy progress."

The esper could only nod in response. He'd pushed his body and his psychic powers farther than he usually did past two days, maintaining this constant high speed and forcing his body to adjust to it, and even his high stamina had started to dwindle. Right now, what he needed was a good night's rest.

"And Tokoyami, have you considered what I said two days ago?" the hero said.

The avian student nodded his head and rubbed his chin with uncertainty. "I have attempted to incorporate your wisdom, to try and find a way to use Dark Shadow to lift myself into the air as you suggested, though so far, I have not come up with anything."

"Keep thinking. Remember, it's all well and good to cover your weaknesses, but don't forget to remember to improve your real talents."

"Understood."

"Since we got time, why don't we see what the media's droning on about right now." Hawks pointed to the large jumbo screen, and the three of them kicked back and listened in. The channel being broadcast was a news channel, with Daikaku Miyagi acting as the news reporter, and the topic that he was reporting was none other than Ingenium's attacker.

"Despite diligent efforts by the police and many heroes, there has still been no progress made in the capture and detainment of the Hero Killer, Stain. His remarkable abilities and unusual power have allowed him to attack several pro heroes, his most recent victim being the hero, Ingenium. Many citizens have begun to cower before the threat that this man presents, and fear how many more of their city's heroes are slain before this man is finally brought to justice."

"Hero Killer..." Since he'd paid so little attention to anything other than his work the past few days, this new information about the one who'd attacked Iida's older brother was quite a shock. So this man was a serial killer who targeted heroes and murdered them?

"Yep, the Hero Killer, Stain," Hawks said, able to read the esper's face, "He's a pretty bad dude who's killed seventeen pro heroes and injured twenty three of them so badly that they had to retire. I've been paying attention to him and his habits: whenever he targets a pro, it's in a secluded place where there're barely any people, and for some reason, it looks like he's stuck to killing four pros in a city before he moves on to the next. His most recent target, Ingenium, was the first victim to appear in Hosu City. In fact, if I had to take a guess, the Hero Killer's probably gonna strike there again."

Shigeo instantly lost his breath. His eyes bulged open like saucers, and his mouth gaped open. Pieces that he didn't even know were there, that he hadn't even bothered to look at, were coming together. The blissful ignorance that the esper had been living in the past week regarding Iida was gone: the new facts that were presented allowed him to see the full truth about his friend. He understood that the regular, happy-go-lucky act that his friend had put on before was simply a facade, a false face to ease the concerns of Midoriya and Kageyama and to hide the bubbling pain and rage hidden underneath.

"Oh my god," muttered Kageyama, putting his hand over his eye with the utmost shame, "How? HOW could I be so UNBELIEVABLY stupid?"

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"Huh?" Hawks said.

"Ingenium is the older brother of Iida, one of my classmates, and Iida's interning in Hosu City!" the esper said with a rising voice while getting up from his seated position, "He's smart enough to have figured out the Hero Killer's pattern on his own! He's interning in Hosu City because he wants to go after the Hero Killer! He wants to find Stain and get revenge on him!"

"Revenge?" said Tokoyami, shocked by the esper's assumption, "Do you really believe Iida would do such a thing!"

"It has to be!"

At first, Hawks was rendered silent, surprised by the statement Shigeo had made and by his sudden change of attitude. But then he collected himself and analyzed what he'd just heard from Mob. Listening to his intern's reasoning, the number three hero understood why Mob would come to this conclusion, though wasn't quite ready to wholeheartedly agree, wanting to dissect the situation before making concrete assessments. "That's a possibility, but there might also just be the possibility that it's just a coincidence."

"No! Iida went there to find Stain! What other reason could he have to go there? Is there some sort of high-ranking pro stationed at Hosu City?"

The number three hero pulled out his phone and did a search for all the pros who had agencies in Hosu City. When he did, the curves of his lips moved downward, and Hawks became ready to give more credence to Kageyama's assumption. "Except for Ingenium, the highest-ranking hero that's in Hosu City is Manual, the Normal Hero, whose quirk lets him control water. But he's not even in the top 100: based on his placement in the Sports Festival, Iida would've probably gotten a lot better offers than that."

"That proves it!"

"Even if you're right, Manual's probably not gonna let Iida go on his own to find Stain. I'd go further and say that Manual's already come to the same conclusion that you have and figured out that Iida's gonna go after Stain, that he got better internship opportunities. Manual also probably knows that he's not strong enough to take on someone as strong as the Hero Killer, and there's no way he's gonna risk fighting Stain alongside an intern."

"Iida's not going to be satisfied with that! The anger and hatred that must be fueling his heart will be too strong for him to be swayed so easily through just a warning!" Shigeo understood the power of hatred, as well as the anger that came from watching a sibling get hurt, the kind of fury that it invoked. If that fury was left unchecked, it would only grow inside Iida's heart, especially if Ingenium had been so badly injured the way that the other twenty three heroes, if he'd been damaged beyond repair. Mob had to do something about this, right now, before Iida did anything rash!

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"I'm gonna call Iida!" He waited for him to pick up, impatiently tapping his foot and fidgeting with his free fingers. To his frustration and worry, the phone went to voicemail.

"Come on!" said Shigeo, deciding to try again. However, this time, the phone went to voice mail much more quickly, indicating that Tenya had seen Kageyama calling him and chose to decline the call.

"No!"

"Maybe he's busy doing some work with Manual," the hero suggested.

"If he was, then he'd at least send a message giving me a reason why he wasn't answering the phone! This isn't like him!

"I have to go see him in-person! We have to leave right now!"

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"What?" The number three hero was shocked by the many steps the esper was taking at this moment. "You want to go right now to Hosu City to try and talk to your friend?"

"I need to try and help him, stop him from going off to find the Hero Killer himself, because I'm positive that's what he's going to do!"

"Listen, I get that you wanna help your friend, but Hosu City's over a thousand kilometers away. Even at my top speed, and I can fly faster than sound, it'd probably take me a little less than ten minutes. Besides, both of us have been flying all day. Our bodies and our quirks are exhausted: we can't make that kind of trip."

"We have to! I can't just let this be, just leave Iida to drown in his anger like this! I have to make it up to him, for ignoring his pain for the past week, and be there for him now!" The esper took a step toward, and both Hawks and Fumikage were put off by the esper's body movements, the distress in his voice and in his eyes. "Hawks, I'm begging you! Let me help my friend!"

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The number three hero could tell that this was not something that Mob was going to let go, that he understood his friend was going to do something extremely drastic if something wasn't done to stop him. Keigo could see a fire, a driving sense of urgency and desperation in the esper's eyes that he hadn't seen in him before. He was sure that if something did happen to Iida, if he did go after the hero killer alone and get himself killed in the process, Mob might never forgive himself for standing by, knowing he could have done something to stop it. He couldn't let Mob live with that kind of guilt.

Keigo sighed and lowered his visors. "Fine, you win. We'll go to Hosu City to help your friend. While we're there, I might as well search for the Hero Killer too, not only to stop his killing spree, but to also stop your friend from finding him before another pro does."

The bowl-haired teenager let out a huge breath of relief and slightly bowed his head toward the hero. "Thank you, Hawks. Let's go right now."

"I'd like to accompany you as well." Having remained silent and shocked during most of this conversation, the avian intern decided to interject and voice his thoughts as well on this situation with Iida. "If Iida really is out for the Hero Killer's blood as you say he is, then he's in grave danger. And I cannot remain here while his life is at stake."

Tokoyami looked at the esper with a softer expression, something that Mob had never seen in his friend before. "Kageyama, you have taught me the value of supporting one another, to be there for others when they fall to help pick them up. Though I may not be as close to Iida as you are, he is still my classmate. He's in trouble and in pain. And that means that I must take action as well, to be there to help him in whatever way I can."

A gleam of pride and admiration appeared in Shigeo's eyes: even though Fumikage may appear to have a stoic, reserved demeanor to everyone who knew him, the avian student still cared deeply about he people around him and was willing to do what he could to lend them his aid. Hawks was also liking the way Tokoyami wanted to stick out for his friends, though he still felt that bringing Fumikage along would be rather difficult.

"Tokoyami, I'm still not sure you'll be able to handle the speeds the two of us will be flying," the hero said, "There's the possibility you might pass out."

"That is a risk I must take," the student replied, puffing his chest up and looking at the hero with a newfound fire of determination in his eyes. Hawks could see that there was little he could do to change his mind, so he relented and took two objects out of the inner pockets of his jacket.

"Then take these. These're protective headphones that'll mostly keep your ears safe, and this is a visor that'll protect your eyes. I always keep an extra set of these in case mine break. But even with these, I can't guarantee that you'll be fully protected from the speed we'll be flying."

"I will bear it," replied Tokoyami.

"Ok. But before we go, let's get some things straight: I don't want you two to go after the Hero Killer. I'm only agreeing to this because of how concerned you both are for your friend. You two are going there only to help Iida, to try and talk to him and ease his mind. Meanwhile, I'll be searching for Stain alone. Even though both of you are strong, I'd still rather not have you confront the Hero Killer, especially since his quirk is still mostly unknown. Any slip-up could potentially cost you your life against such a strong villain like him. This way, not only will the Hero Killer be apprehended, but I can make sure that neither you two or your friend put yourselves in danger. Does that sound like a plan?"

Both interns firmly shook their heads in agreement. "Good. Kageyama, you hold onto Tokoyami. Tokoyami, put your headphones and visors on."

The winged hero took out his phone and pulled out the maps app. "If we're going to Hosu City, we need to have a good idea in what direction we're going. In fact, we have to be pretty damn accurate: even a few degrees off could land us off by miles. Now let's see here..." Hawks used the maps to estimate the longitude and latitude of Fukuoka and Hosu City. Using that information, he then used a compass to calculate the area they would be flying towards. Using his finger as another reference, the number three hero pointed the approximate angle of where they would be traveling.

"Ok, we're gonna be flying in that direction, a straight shot towards Hosu City! Now let's get a move on!" The three of them proceeded to shoot through the sky, beginning their journey to Hosu City. But as they begun their flight, Hawks took out his phone again. Before they left, he had to inform his agency of what the three of them were doing so they wouldn't start a panic.

"Hey listen, Kathy! I know this is kind of a last-minute notice, but I'm gonna be going to Hosu City with the two interns to find the Hero Killer! I'll call you tomorrow to let you know how things went! Let the sidekicks know!"

The number three hero hung up the phone, but as he was flying and had the phone in his hand, he thought of something else. "You know what? I'll call Manual's agency to see whether he and Iida are at the agency or if they're out patrolling, to make it easier to find them once we get there!" shouted Hawks.

The three of them slowed down a bit to allow the number three hero to look up the phone number for Manual's agency and dial it. After a few seconds of ringing, one of the staff members of Manual's agency picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, this is Hawks!"

The staff member stuttered, unsure of whether he just heard was real or not. "H-Hawks? The number three hero?"

"Yea! Would it be possible for you to get Manual, if he's at the office? I'd like to talk to him!"

"Right now, he's out on patrol with a new intern, but I'll let him know you-" The staff member's voice petered out, and Hawks could here some rising voices in the background. It sounded as though something big was starting to happen.

"What? A disaster just sprouted up? They were what?" the staff member said to his fellow workers with a voice growing panicked, "Sorry, but we've just gotten some calls from civilians! Apparently, there're some sort of... things causing a huge disaster in Hosu City! The callers said they looked like hulking monsters with exposed brains!"

"Wait, what? Hulking monsters with exposed brains are attacking the city?" the number three hero exclaimed with shock.

The esper heard this and felt his face begin to turn white as a blanket. The description of those creatures sounded awfully familiar. "Those sound like... Nomu!"

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Why would Nomu show up in Hosu City? The esper vividly recalled his experience with the Nomu, the beast-like creature who acted like an overpowering attack dog. There were actually more of these things? The League of Villains had actually made more of those monstrosities? And why would they show up in Hosu City? Then a terrifying thought crossed the esper's mind: what if the League of Villains and the Hero Killer were connected somehow? What if they were working together? That only meant that Iida's life was in even greater danger!

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"Hawks, you take Tokoyami!" The esper used his telekinesis to move his friend as gently as possible through the air and towards Hawks. The number three hero got the cue and tightly held the avian student. "I'm going on ahead!"

The golden-haired hero did not approve of the esper's suggestion. "No, Mob, you can't-"

But it was too late: with a large sonic boom, Shigeo shot through the air like a superpowered missile, the force of the boom leaving both Tokoyami and Keigo stupefied.

"Incredible..." muttered Tokoyami.

"No kidding," replied Hawks, "He's faster than me by a long-shot. Now I know how you and my sidekicks feel." Even though the hero had cracked a joke, he was still feeling deeply worried: this wasn't the plan. Was Kageyama going to do like he said, or was he going to decide to take matters into his own hands and fight the Nomu, or find the Hero Killer before Iida did?

"Please, Mob, don't do anything crazy," muttered Hawks.

Shooting through the sky with his rainbow aura surging around him, the esper was in a race against time. What was going on in Hosu City? If there were Nomu in the city, and they were as powerful as the ones at the U.S.J., then whichever heroes were sent to fight those things would be in grave danger: none of them would last against such powerful beasts! And Iida would get caught in the cross-fire!

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Kageyama had to get there as soon as possible! He had to get there to save his friend!

100% Desperation

With the concern for his friend and the uncertainty of the situation in Hosu City, the student's psychic powers exploded, resulting in a tremendous boost in speed that created another large sonic boom. Shigeo's aura grew even larger, with the esper pouring every drop of energy he had into his flight speed. With this incredible speed that surpassed the speed of sound more than two dozen times over, the esper was able to make absolutely incredible time, traversing the distance between Fukuoka and Hosu City in just about two minutes, equivalent to traveling more than eight to nine kilometers per second. The esper made sure to check his phone once or twice, which he also kept in a zipped pocket, to help guide himself in the proper direction.

However, when the esper was less than one hundred kilometers from the target city, he began to feel some fluctuations in his energy. His aura began to dim and flicker, while he felt himself making abrupt decreases in speed.

"What?" the esper said. He could feel it: his power was beginning to drop. Hawks had warned him of the stamina they'd depleted from their rigorous flying, and he was now able to see what he was talking about. Even though it had only been a few minutes, Shigeo knew he couldn't keep this power up for much longer. "No, no, no! Come on, a little farther! I can make it!"

The esper created another air burst to propel himself through the sky. Shigeo took a momentary breath of relief: the city was now in-view. He could also see the large fire that he'd heard from Hawks, which meant that's where the Nomu were attacking. This was still not the time to relax: he had work to do. He had to make sure that his friends were ok and that the heroes were handling the situation.

In only a few seconds, the esper made it to the site of the fire and took everything in: there were two Nomu wreaking havoc. One of them was black and had a similar physique to the Nomu he'd fought, while the other was a pale-yellow colored Nomu with wings. There were several pro heroes who had gathered at the scene to fight these monsters, and contrary to what he believed, they were faring better than he'd expected. After briefly seeing the way the pro heroes were fighting, he realized that these Nomu were not nearly as powerful as the one Mob had fought. If that was the case, then maybe the pro heroes could handle this by themselves.

Then that meant moving onto the next pressing issue: finding Iida. Mob knew that Manual would've undoubtedly come to this location to fight the Nomu, so he searched through the scene of destruction to find him. Though he didn't know what the hero looked like, he remembered Hawks saying that Manual had a water quirk, so that meant he was looking for the hero manipulating water, where he would hopefully find Iida too. After a second of searching, he spotted a hero with a blue and white costume manipulating the water of a broken fire hydrant. But Iida wasn't with him: he surely must've noticed this destruction, so why wouldn't he be here? Even if he was ordered not to fight, Mob still should've seen him somewhere in this area, either helping people evacuate or assisting with rescue efforts.

Then, the obvious answer came to him, the answer he'd been fearing all along to be true: Iida had gone after the Hero Killer by himself. Even with this sort of danger popping up, Iida had chosen to ignore it and instead search for his brother's attacker. His aura once again surrounded him: he had to find him right away!

Unbeknownst to him, there was someone from afar watching the events unfold for himself. The leader of the League of Villains, Tomura Shigaraki, had summoned the Nomu to Hosu City. He'd initially offered the Hero Killer the opportunity to join his organization, but he'd promptly refused his offer, disgusted by his lack of conviction. In fact, Stain had nearly decided to finish him off, but after seeing the tenacity in his eyes, a sprout of conviction to kill All Might, he'd decided to spare him and allow him to grow. After this, Stain had demanded to be returned to Hosu City to resume his work, declaring that he'd purge all the false heroes of the city. But Tomura wouldn't allow this to stand! To be so casually overpowered and be treated like trash, it was unacceptable! It was why he wanted to show Stain up, to prove that he wasn't someone to mess with and to destroy the things he hated.

He gleefully watched the destruction is Nomu were causing to the city and the heroes mostly futile efforts to try and stop his pets, but his glee was cut short when he saw a particular teenager floating in the sky.

"It's him. It's that psychic brat again," Tomura said. He was still slightly sore about how easily he'd handled the Nomu and ruined his attack on the U.S.J. "But I don't get it. What the hell's he doing here, and what's he looking for?"

Shigeo flew away from the scene of the crime at a much slower speed than before, though the first question that came to mind was where the Hero Killer could possibly be? Then he remembered what Hawks had said about Stain's targets: they were all found in secluded places where there weren't many people. That meant that he would have to look through the back alleys of Hosu City, far away from the panic!

The esper proceeded to hover above the city, scanning every desolate alleyway he could find in the hopes that he would find Iida. It was a race against time, and every second counted, for if his friend had already found the hero killer, a few seconds could mean the difference between life and death for his friend. So he had to find Iida and save him! There was no one else here to save him!

Shigeo quickly found out that this was not the case: after about fifteen seconds of scanning from high in the sky, Mob identified someone wearing a white suit of armor in an alleyway up ahead. It was Iida, lying on the ground, bleeding from his shoulder! But what he didn't expect to see was someone wearing a green costume, standing in between Iida and a man with a red scarf and a weapon in his hand.

"Midoriya! Iida!"

The bowl-haired teenager dropped down from the sky, plopping himself down right next to his friends, who couldn't believe what they were seeing As Kageyama had anticipated, Iida had gone after the Hero Killer by himself with the sole intent of fulfilling his vengeance. After encountering Stain, Iida had been quickly overwhelmed by the villain's remarkable speed. The teenager spewed his hateful words toward the Hero Killer for crippling his brother, the person who Iida most admired in the world, and declared he would kill the villain. Stain, however, brought up something that Iida had completely ignored: the other hero he was trying to kill, Native. So consumed with this desire for revenge, the thought of helping him had not even crossed Iida's mind. For this, Stain declared him to be as far away from being a hero as possible, raising his sword to deliver the finishing blow. But before he could plunge his sword down, he was quickly interrupted by a punch to the face from Midoriya. And now, less than fifteen seconds after this newcomer had come, Kageyama had dropped in from the sky.

"Kageyama? You're... you're here," a baffled Midoriya said.

"I was worried about Iida, so I rushed over here as soon as possible." The two teenagers were still having a difficult time accepting that the esper was here, that he'd come even though Hawks' Agency was more than one thousand kilometers away. The shock was even greater for Iida, though. Kageyama had called him, but with only thoughts of anger and vengeance, Iida did not want to talk with him or really anyone else, so he'd declined his call. That couldn't have been more than five minutes ago: could Kageyama really have come from Fukuoka all the way to Hosu City in that amount of time?

"Thank god you're here, Midoriya," the esper said, "If you hadn't come, I would've been too late to save Iida." Shigeo turned his head toward his spectacled friend and gave him his reassurance and said the same thing that Midoriya had said when he'd arrived.

"Don't worry, Iida. We'll protect you." The esper looked over at their opponent, who was glaring at both Shigeo and Izuku.

"So you're him: the Hero Killer." Shigeo examined the infamous villain, the blades that adorned his body, and those red, intimidating eyes. "You're the one who hurt Iida's brother, the one who's been killing all those pro heroes." As he looked at Stain, he also realized the other pro hero that was sitting on the ground with blood coming out from his left armpit area. He hadn't expected to find another pro here with Iida. Now that he was standing face-to-face with this man, the one who'd been causing so much grief and death, he felt he needed to understand what was driving him to commit such heinous acts. "And now you've come to kill my friend and this other pro hero. Why? Why are you targeting heroes?"

Stain scowled at the bowl-haired teenager, tightening his grip on his blade. "I am on a mission: to reclaim the word "hero", a word that has lost meaning in today's society. In order to do that, I am eliminating those who bear that title without having earned it, who do not act in the ways that a true hero should. Your friend is such a person: he came here to exact vengeance upon me for damaging Ingenium's spine and crippling him, completely ignoring the hero that was in danger. Someone as selfish as that, who only uses their quirk for their own desires has no right to call themselves a hero, which is why I will end his life tonight."

The killer's red eyes began to simmer and broil with intensity, while his voice was laced with malice and hatred, causing both Midoriya and Kageyama to feel shivers running down their spines. But for the esper, shortly after that burst of fear came a sharp gasp. He had assumed that Ingenium had been hurt rather badly, but he couldn't believe that the damage was that terrible. Ingenium couldn't walk anymore? No wonder Iida was fueled with such anger: it reminded Mob of a time when he was also bursting with rage...

"There was a time when I thought my family had been murdered, that their bodies had been burned alive." The esper began to recollect that frightful time, when he found his house being burned to the ground. He'd tried to convince himself as he was walking through the burning house that his family was fine, that they'd gotten out, but when he opened the door, those bodies...

Shigeo began to stare down at his empty hands, the images of those corpses that were burned into his mind popping up once again. "As I stood there and saw their charred corpses, in that moment, I..."

The esper's body began to tremble, for that memory was another moment that had come to haunt him, a moment where the monstrous beast lurking inside of him threatened to come out in all its terrifying, feral and unadulterated fury.

"I was ready to burn the ENTIRE world to ashes."

Hearing this unexpected and horrible recollection from Mob, Izuku and Tenya felt their hearts skip a beat, while the hero killer and the other pro widened their eyes in shock. The words that Shigeo was using, the way his body began to tremble with fear, all of them could see that the anger he was describing must have truly, TRULY terrible, that it was a feeling that haunted him even now. The psychic managed to stop his trembling body and regained his voice, though his eyes were still focused on his empty hands.

"I'm lucky I had a friend there to bring me back to my senses, to stop me before I did anything I would regret." He clenched his empty hands into fists, and looked back up towards the Hero Killer.

"That searing, molten-hot anger, it can be so difficult to overcome, especially when you have to do it by yourself. That's the anger that Iida's been carrying with him all this time, all by himself."

Mob turned his head to look at Iida, his shoulders hunched over with complete shame. "I'm so sorry, Iida." The spectacled teenager drew a faint gasp.

"As soon as I heard your brother was injured, my top priority should've been to see how you were feeling. I should've come with you to Hosu City, to help you through your crisis and your emotions. But I was too preoccupied with other things, so I made stupid excuses to myself that you were doing fine, that you were handling this perfectly well, completely ignoring your pain." The esper tightened his fists, and he brought his eyes back to the ground, too ashamed to even meet Iida in the eye with the ways he had let him down.

"I've failed as a friend. I hope you can forgive me."

Shigeo's words, the way he was expressing his shame and regret in such an open manner, his genuine, wholehearted apology, it managed to land a deep strike Iida's heart. For a brief second, the anger and hatred that had clouded his heart was beginning to clear, and Iida began to feel some tears form in his eyes. He was about to say something, but before he could, Midoriya's loud voice interjected.

"Kageyama, stop!" Even though the green-eyed teenager could feel the heart and emotion laced into his friend's words, and he himself also felt a similar regret for not being able to see that Iida was suffering and not helping him either, he did not understand why Kageyama was saying these things now, when there was a serial killer standing right in front of them. "This is not the time for that! We have to get ready to fight!"

"No." The esper lightly shook his head before turning his head back to look at the Hero Killer. "I came here to help Iida, not to fight Stain. But now that I've found him, now that I know why he's doing this, I have to talk to him."

The mild shock that the four had displayed before was small in comparison to the stupefied faces. For Iida, the cloud of anger covering his heart returned and actually worsened, for what Kageyama just said was absolutely revolting in his eyes. Midoriya and the other pro hero looked at the esper as if he was crazy, and even Stain was visibly startled by what this child had just said.

"Kid, are you insane," Native said.

"What the hell do you mean by "talk" to him?" Iida snarled.

"Kageyama, what're you trying to do here," said Midoriya, "What do you think you can possibly accomplish? You can't talk to villains! It's pointless!"

"That won't work. I have to make him try to understand something extremely important," the esper replied. After hearing Stain's words and getting to view him up-close, he began to notice an eerie similarity between the Hero Killer and someone else he'd met before. Those cold eyes, his intimidating, overwhelming aura, the fiery hatred in his soul, and his determination to kill the people he viewed as evil, he had seen all those things in Keiji Mogami. Though it had been somewhat difficult, Shigeo had still managed to leave his mark the evil spirit, make him understand that people could change. Since he already knew how people like Mogami thought, maybe he could try and instill the same lesson onto Stain. He had to at least try.

"Fascinating..." The villain's body began to slightly loosen, his eyebrows raising up while his curiosity began to grow. "You're something new, unexpected. Normally, I would assume that this is some sort of cheap ploy to distract me or some feeble attempt to try and buy time to think of some sort of plan, but I see no fear or desperation in your eyes. There is only sincerity. You know who I am, and yet you truly wish to speak to me?"

Stain let out a soft chuckle of amusement. "Diplomacy is a rare trait in a hero, and you're the first person I've encountered where it's your first response. Very well: you have my attention. Say whatever is it you wish to say." The villain lowered his blade: letting the child speak would waste some time, and his quirk, Bloodcurdle, relied on time. It worked by ingesting the enemy's blood, paralyzing their bodies, though there was a time limit before the paralysis was removed. Still, Stain felt curious about what this child would say, and so long as he didn't drone on for too much time, the Hero Killer didn't see it as too big a problem.

The esper took a short breath and collected himself. Here it went. "I understand how you think and feel, Stain. You hate this society because you view it as a corrupt place, and you're right. The world can be a cruel, terrible place, full of selfish, inconsiderate people who only care about themselves, who only want to maintain their status or live for their own desires. You think that the best way to fix that society is by killing those people, but you're wrong. Instead of killing those people, or in your case, the false heroes you describe, we should focus our effort on trying to change them."

The Hero Killer's interest in the esper's words quickly started to die down, and he scoffed. "Ridiculous. The method you describe is not feasible, a foolish pipe dream: people's true natures cannot be changed."

"That isn't true," Shigeo replied, "People grow because of the interactions they have with each other. We all become better thanks to the people around us, and everyone has something valuable they can teach to others. If you put in the effort, show their flaws or why they might be wrong with how they think, you can inspire them and make them into better people."

Stain shook his head in disagreement. "What absurd dribble. You are a well-intentioned, but naive fool. You will have to waste your life on that endeavor to change others, to change their selfish mindsets, before realizing how futile of an effort it is. I pity you." The villain raised his sword towards the young teenagers, and his malefic aura began to flare up once again. He'd already felt heard enough from this child, and felt there be no need to listen any further. "You have nothing to teach me, and you will not stop me from my mission to cleanse this world of the filth that are false heroes."

"Look Kageyama, just stop talking and focus on fighting," Midoriya said, finding it partly ridiculous that he even had to say this, especially considering how easily the esper could take care of the Hero Killer. In fact, with Mob here, he was confident this fight would be over in moments. "Use your power to restrain Stain while I deliver some heavy blows to knock him unconscious. With your power, we can take down the Hero Killer."

"Ok," the esper said with a tone of disappointment in his voice. It was unfortunate, but it looked like he was going to have to use his psychic powers to bring Stain down. Even if his power had dropped, he was still sure that he'd have at least some energy left to fight right now. But when he raised his hand to activate his power, nothing was coming. He stood there for a few more seconds, grunting and trying to summon his psychic energy, and to no avail.

"Oh no."

"What's wrong," Midoriya said.

"My power's drained." The green-haired teenager gasped: Shigeo was out of power? Unfortunately for the esper, his depleted stamina had already been an issue, and it was only made worse when he entered his full power mode. In fact, Shigeo should've already been hit with a wave of drowsiness, but the intensity of the situation was keeping his brain awake. "I used up all my energy coming to Hosu City. I didn't think I would be so tapped out: it'll take me at least a few minutes for me to get back some of my energy!"

"Damn it!" This was the last thing that Izuku wanted to here. Without Shigeo's power, that made things much more complicated and difficult.

"Listen, Midoriya, Kageyama, don't get involved!" The two teenagers stared back at their friend, whose face was twisted with rage. "This doesn't have anything to do with either of you!"

"Iida, what're you talking about," the esper said, dismayed that Iida would even entertain such an idea, "Of course it does! You're our friend!"

The green-haired fanboy grunted: he should've gotten help from one of the pros fighting with the Nomu. He knew he needed someone else to fight alongside him, and right now, Kageyama couldn't be that person. So he silently took out his phone, and from behind his back, sent a mass text to all his friends giving them his location. For now, Izuku would have to fight the Hero Killer by himself, so he widened his stance and clenched his hands into fists.

"Kageyama, you need to go and get help from the pros while I hold the Hero Killer off," the teenager said.

"And leave you here to fight Stain all by yourself?" Shigeo replied. The bowl-haired teenager knew that his friend had managed to use One For All without damaging his body, but that was still using only 5% of his power, and his opponent was a man who had overpowered more than forty pro heroes. "I'm not going to just abandon you all here! You need my power right now! Besides, Stain's not going to just let me run away! Even if I do manage to get help, what if he overpowers you and kills all three of you while I'm gone? I'm not gonna take that risk! Just try to stall him, give me as much time as you can for me to-" The esper growled with frustration, his entire body beginning to shake as he attempted to summon his psychic power. But the most he could create at the moment was a mild flicker.

The fanboy was unsure about this: on one hand, Shigeo was right in that he needed his incredible psychic powers. On the other hand, Shigeo was still putting himself at risk by staying here. Without his power, he couldn't do anything meaningful here. But like his friend said, the Hero Killer wouldn't just let Kageyama run away. Stain also possessed remarkable speed, being able to outmatch both Ingenium and Iida, who were renowned for their impressive speed, so running away could leave Kageyama wide open for an attack, and without his power, he'd have no way to defend himself from such an attack.

"Alright." The green-haired teenager sighed, "I'll try and buy you as much time as I can, but you need to try to draw out every ounce of power possible."

"Listen to me! Stand down!" Iida said, still vehemently against the idea of them intervening in this fight, "I told you this has nothing to do with you!"

"If you really believe that, then why're you trying to become a hero in the first place?" Izuku admonished his friend for trying to get the two of them to leave, before turning his attention to the villain.

"All Might was right." The teenager got into a fighting position with a shaky smile forming on his face. "Meddling when you don't need to is the essence of being a hero!"

The Hero Killer expressed similar shock at this teenager's words, but smiled with glee, admiring this child's tenacity and bravery, and even Shigeo cracked a smile of pride before focusing his efforts on channelling his psychic power. While he was doing this, he watched his friend fend off against Stain. Iida warned his friend not to get cut, which confused the esper since his friends hadn't informed him of the details of Stain's quirk.

The enemy swung his sword, but Izuku ducked and also managed to evade a follow-up knife attack with nimbleness he'd never seen from his friend before. Then, he leapt into the air, landing a 5% Detroit Smash on Stain's head.

Both Iida and Kageyama were amazed by this new fighting style, noticing the similarities it bore to Bakugo's movements. Mob was feeling confident that his friend could stall for quite a while before the heroes showed up, but sadly, the villain had managed to get a small cut on Izuku's shoulder with his knife. The villain licked the small drop of blood on the blade, and suddenly, the teenager was rendered immobile.

"Midoriya? What's wrong?" the esper said.

"The Hero Killer's quirk lets him control his enemy's body if he swallows someone's blood," the green-eyed teenager said, "But I can't believe one graze was all it took."

"You're not powerful," Stain said, "It's not that you predicted by movements, you just left my field of vision and maneuvered so you'd be able to get a clean shot, but I saw through your plan." The Hero Killer's focus went on the only person who was still standing. Izuku was entering a state of panic: that couldn't have been enough time for Shigeo to regain his energy. Now he was left to fight alone without his psychic powers.

"You're the only one left. You still haven't regained your power, and words won't stop me," the villain said, "So what will you do?" The Hero Killer was waiting heavily on Kageyama's reaction: this would be what determined his character, whether he hid under words to conceal his fear and cowardice, if he would run and abandon his friends without his quirk to fight for him. His decision would determine whether or not Stain would spare his life.

The young esper was at a loss: he'd never experienced a situation like this before. He'd never been in a fight where he didn't have his psychic powers to defend himself. The only time this had occurred was during the raid on Claw's Seventh Division, when Ishiguro was going to destroy the base and both he and Reigen had run out of power, but then, Sho had intervened to finish the Division Leader off. But now there was no one, no one to stand up and fight in his place. For a second, his body froze, paralyzed with uncertainty and fear.

"Kageyama, run away!" the angered teenager said, "Leave now!"

For some reason, Iida's words managed to have the opposite effect that he intended: it allowed him to snap out of his state of fear and understand that he couldn't just run away now. Even if he didn't have his powers to help him, he had to do something! He had to fight for his friends!

The esper rushed toward the Hero Killer, priming his fists for combat, while the villain's face split into a wide smile almost identical to the smile he'd given to Midoriya. Even without his quirk to defend himself, even though his body was frozen with fear, he was still choosing to take action and stand with pride. Stain was very impressed by his resolve, but he was much less impressed by the teenager's attempt to overpower him. His wide smile quickly drooped down into a frown, surprised and very disappointed by Kageyama's fighting style.

The young esper was simply going for broke and wailing on the Hero Killer with sloppy punches that Stain was able to dodge with astounding ease.

"What is this?" the Hero Killer said, "Is this actually how you fight? It's as if I'm looking at the fighting style of an infant!" Stain used his remarkable speed to move around the esper to observe how Shigeo would react, and he was equally astonished by how slow his reaction time was. "And your reflexes are pathetic!"

Given the way that Midoriya had spoken of his friend, it seemed as though he had a great deal of confidence in the power of Kageyama's quirk. "I don't even know what your quirk is, but I can tell you rely on it far too much for combat! You've counted on it to save you from every fight, and so you've seen no need to develop any basic combat abilities, hone your senses, sharpen your reflexes! A foolish mistake that is costing you very dearly right now!"

Shigeo performed an overly predictable jab, which the Hero Killer dodged while delivering a hard elbow to the teenager's gut. Stain then followed up with a right kick, sending the esper crashing into the wall, and jammed his sword into Shigeo's left shoulder, causing the esper to yell out in pain.

"Kageyama!" Midoriya shouted.

"A word of advice: if you want to be a hero, you have to know how to fight," Stain said, "I could end your life with ease if I so desired. However..."

Stain took the sword out of Mob's shoulder and licked the blood, who instantly felt his entire body tense up. "You will not die tonight. Even if you're misguided, you're still unique, the most unique hero I've ever encountered." Stain released Shigeo from his grip, and the esper collapsed to the ground.

"There are countless false heroes who're all talk, but I believe you and your friend are worthy of staying alive. You're different from these two." Stain walked toward the blue-haired student, his sword primed and ready. The two teenagers watched as the Hero Killer approached their friend: Shigeo was practically going crazy trying to get his psychic power out, to immobilize Stain, but while the aura around Shigeo became more pronounced, it still wasn't quite enough. He still needed a little more time!

"Stop it," Midoriya said. The Hero Killer lifted his blade upward, and the pupils of both teenagers began to dilate.

"GET AWAY!" screamed both teenagers. But before the villain could plunge his blade into Iida's skull, a burst of fire came forth, forcing Stain to jump back. The three students looked up and saw Todoroki with his left side engulfed in flames while he had his phone in his right hand.

"Todoroki!"

"Midoriya, you need to give more details in times like this. I was almost too late to stop this guy. Your message took me a while to decipher, since you only sent me your location, but you're not really one to leave cryptic messages without a reason, are you? So I figured you were in trouble and asking for help! Don't worry, the pro heroes will arrive any minute now!"

The dual quirk-wielding teenager observed the scene and gasped when he saw Kageyama among the people on the ground. Not only was his presence in this scene quite a shock, but what was more shocking was that Stain had actually managed to overpower him, someone whose strength was comparable to All Might. "Wait, Kageyama? The Hero Killer got you too?"

"He's out of power, and without it, he wasn't strong enough to take on the Hero Killer alone," Midoriya explained.

Shoto stomped his right foot, covering the ground with ice. Stain jumped up to dodge, but as he did, ice structures formed, which slid Native, Shigeo and Izuku all behind him. Shoto fired another shot of flames which the villain dodged.

"Wait, Todoroki, you can't let him get your blood," the teenager continued explaining, "I'm pretty sure that he controls his enemies actions by swallowing it!"

"So all I need to do is keep my distance!" The dual quirk-wielding teenager and the villain continued their scuffle, with Stain using very crafty maneuvers to draw blood while trying to get in close, but the ice and fire attacks were proving to be much more difficult for the villain to handle in comparison to Midoriya. As he was doing this, Shigeo was still desperately trying to bring forth his psychic powers, while Iida's anger was still boiling over.

"Stop, why're you doing this? His fight is with me! I inherited my brother's name! I'm the one who should stop him! The Hero Killer is mine!"

"You're Ingenium now? Odd: the Ingenium I knew before never had that look on his face."

"He's right!" The esper could see the burning hatred in his friend's eyes and did not like it at all. It wasn't a look that suited him whatsoever. "Iida, I know how angry you are right now, and I know how hard it can be to overcome that anger, but you have to try and fight it! You can't allow it to control you like this, to dominate your heart! It'll turn you into something that you're not, something terrible and twisted! I know you're better than this! We all know that you're better than this!"

Tenya stared his friend in the eyes, and was startled by the passionate, almost pleading look in them. It was as if seeing Iida in this vengeful, hate-filled state was hurting Mob, as if Iida's pain was also his own. The look in his friend's eyes made the spectacled teenager's eyes gloss with water once again.

As Stain and Todoroki continued fighting, the villain threw two knives at the teenager's left arm while preparing to strike the immobile hero with his sword. But before he could, Midoriya jumped up, grabbing Stain and sliding him through the wall. "I'm not sure why, but I'm able to move now!"

"So he has a time limit," remarked Shoto.

"No, he should've been the last one to be freed," Native replied, "I still can't move a muscle."

Stain elbowed Midoriya in the head, releasing the villain from his grip, though Todoroki followed up with another volley of ice while warning Midoriya to dodge. The fanboy backed up next to Todoroki, where he began to dissect Stain's quirk. "So swallowing a person's blood activates his power, but I was the one freed first. I've come up with three different guesses: one could be that it's less effective the more people it's used on, the amount ingested could play into how long you're paralyzed, or there's even the possibility of a person's blood type."

"If it's the last one, then I'm Type B," Native said.

"I'm Type A," added Iida.

"And I'm Type O."

"Then you should be freed any second now, Kageyama," the green-haired teenager said, "Have you mustered up your power?"

"I've almost..." The psychic teenager's entire body tensed up while the psychic energy flowed around him. It was almost there, but...

While the esper continued lying on the ground, both Midoriya and Todoroki were going over their next plan of action, deciding how to go about combating the Hero Killer. With retreating out of the option, Izuku decided to distract Stain while Shoto supported him from behind. As the two of them began their assault, Shigeo felt himself regain control of his body. So the time limit had ended, but he still hadn't summoned up his psychic power! As his two friends continued risking their lives, Shigeo continued to feel his frustration building up inside of him. They needed him right now, and he was just standing therelike a helpless idiot!

"Come on, COME ON!" The esper used all the negative emotions boiling up inside of him to act as a fuel for his powers, and to Shigeo's immense relief, he began to feel the psychic energy flowing through his body, the rainbow aura surrounding him.

4%

"Yes! I've got my powers back!" Through the sheer weight of his emotions and pushing his psychic powers past their limits, Shigeo was now able to stand up and fight alongside his friends. It was time for the second round to begin!


Now things are starting to heat up again! Despite a rough start for Mob, he's got his psychic powers back! Until Chapter 25, where you get to see how things finish with the Hero Killer!