Author's Note:I would like to apologize for my upload schedule. I had a very bad case of writer's block and just was also in a bad mental state for a while, so I didn't get much done.
WARNING: THERE WILL BE CHARACTER DEATH IN THE FOLLOWING CHAPTERS! SHIGARAKI IS NOT AS CHILDISH AND IS MORE INTELLIGENT.
Izuku shook. He recognized one of those villains. From his dream. Tomura Shigaraki. He was even creepier in person. His soul was the one that was near pitch black with taint, the grey soul. It reminded him of dust and cold. It felt wrong to his senses. The sheer amount of negative auras surrounding him made him light-headed. He felt sick to the stomach. It was the villain from his dreams.
"Sensei…"
"I know, Midoriya." Aizawa's face looked grim. There was a villain next to Tomura Shigaraki. It was large, as big as All Might. It had a bird-shaped head, and its brain was exposed. But that isn't what caught Midoriya's attention. No, that was the soul of the creature. Or rather, souls. Specifically, the four souls all meshed together like some kind of sick and twisted abomination. The longer he stared, the colder he got, the more he felt it was unnatural, something that needed to be fixed, something against nature. It needed to end, it needed to end, it needed to end-
"Bro, you okay?" Kirishima put a hand on Midoriya's shoulder, causing him to break out of whatever it was. He looked around. Even the villains seemed unnerved. He looked down. Shadows were pooled around his feet and lashing out, gouge marks in the ground. He was holding a scythe made of bones. When did he do that? He looked up. Kirishima's skin was hardened, but he could see light scrapes against it.
"I'm sorry." Midoriya looked forward.
"Hmm. Kurogiri, All Might isn't here. Was there a schedule change?" the villain with hands-on his face scratched at his neck irritably. "Annoying," his scratching became a bit more frantic, "Annoying," faster, "Annoying!" Suddenly he stopped, his hand dropping down by his side as he took a breath.
"Young Master?" the shadowy mass next to the villain seemed to tilt his head.
"Continue with the plan. He's bound to show up if we remove some cannon fodder. It's always like this for the final boss." The mist nodded its head.
"13, evacuate the students. Kaminari, try to alert the school!"
"Right!" Aizawa readied himself and jumped forward, taking down villains one after the other. Midoriya was frozen, his mouth agape. He was about to say something, but seeing his teacher systematically dismantling the villains forced him to pause. His soul, now that he could recognize what it was, shined brightly against the mass of dark colors, and he was amazed. 13 and the rest of the students began to back up. He blinked.
"I apologize for the interruption. We are the league of villains." The mist villain was behind them, surrounding the group "I am afraid that you'll be dying soon."
"Like hell we are!" Bakugo and Kirishima were about to rush forward, before Midoriya lashed out, grabbing Bakugou and Kirishima, preventing them from jumping.
"Wait, he has a warp quirk." Midoriya's mind was running a mile a minute, the cold focus from the cafeteria filling his mind. He analyzed everything, from the way the mist swayed to the metal casing inside it, to the feeling he got from the shadows clinging to Kurogiri's form. He pulled.
"What the-!" Kurogiri gasped, as his body was jerked forward. Midoriya pushed. Kurogiri flung away from them.
"Iida, go get help," Midoriya spoke.
"But-" Iida was about to protest, but one look in Midoriya's eyes caused him to think otherwise. It was frigid, calm, collected, but what terrified him the most was the feeling he got. Like he was never going to see the light of day again if he disobeyed. It chilled him to the bone. So he ran.
"You control shadows. Interesting." Kurogiri ripped himself from Midoriya's control, tilting his head. Midoriya grimaced, his head pounding. Kurogiri's body dispersed, collecting the class.
"Disperse."
Midoriya was cold. He could hear screaming, a cacophony of voices tearing at his ears and pulling at his soul. He could feel thousands of hands pulling at his limbs, their grip cold as death, before suddenly, he was fine, in the air. He was falling.
"Shit!" he exclaimed, faintly thinking Bakugou was a bit too much of an influence in his life before he twisted his body. He vanished in a black droplet, reappearing in the shadows of a nearby building. It was raining.
"Midoriya?" he turned, Aoyama was looking at him, terrified. He looked around. The ceiling was gray and water was everywhere. "What are we going to do!"
"Calm down, it'll be okay." Midoriya turned back to his classmate.
"Izuku!" he heard his name yelled out, followed by an explosion, though it was muted. He heard swearing.
"Kaachan?" he turned and ran over to his friend. It was strange, being able to say that about him once again. Aoyama trailed after him. Is he crying?
"God damnit, this rain makes it harder to use my explosions!"
"Is that so… good for us, I suppose." Out of one of the buildings came a multitude of villains. Five of them. That… that didn't seem like a lot. Midoriya's mind sped up, analyzing them. One looked like a humanoid crocodile, down to the scaled tail, and he was easily 8 feet tall. He brandished a massive blade over his shoulder, the side jagged. He was grinning, his eyes wide in manic glee.
The other 4 looked perfectly normal. One had light blue hair pulled back in a ponytail, smooth pale skin, and was dressed in a white suit, a suitcase by his side. The other three were dressed in simple street clothing, and all held katanas by their sides.
"I dislike killing children, but it must be done." The one with the suitcase sighed.
"Who cares about their age! They're training to be soldiers, they're old enough to die like one!" the crocodile laughed.
"Like hell, I'm going to die today!" Bakugou screamed, blasting his hands towards them. Midoriya noticed they were smaller than usual. Shit. One of the villains with a katana stepped forward, swinging his sword at the blast. It was suddenly gone.
"What the?!" The crocodile grinned, before rushing forward, swinging his sword. Midoriya channeled One for throughout his body and ducked, easily avoiding the massive blade. It was curved. Midoriya recognized the design, it was a Khopesh, an Egyptian blade. But it was much larger than usual, easily 6 feet long. He dodged another swing.
"Compensating for something?" he mumbled, but the Crocodile must've heard him because he started to swing faster. He yelled angrily.
"Hold still you little rabbit!" Midoriya ducked under another swing and jumped backward, pulling a bone blade out of his shoulder. He let himself bleed.
"Come." Midoriya breathed, his breath coming out in a cold mist. He was freezing, he dimly realized, and his hand was numb. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that the rain seemed to drip off a figure.
"Hagakure?" That's two people whose quirk was neutralized by where they were placed. Was it a coincidence? Aoyama didn't seem to be weakened by being here, and Midoriya felt stronger due to the dim lighting. Maybe they just messed up?
"Bastard!" Bakugou yelled, but Midoriya didn't have time to check what happened. He saw a bright laser shoot out and hit one of the 3 swordsmen, blasting him through a wall. Good, Aoyama was still alive.
All these thoughts took mere seconds in his head, and Midoriya refocused on his own fight. Crocodile man. Right. He can handle this. Midoriya jumped forward, swinging his sword, clashing against the villain's Khopesh. He buckled.
"Holy shit." The crocodile was strong as hell! He glared up at him, the villain merely offering a toothed grin in return before they backed off again. Their blades clashed, and Midoriya heard a crack. His eyes widened as he witnessed his bone blade cracking, and apparently, the Crocodile heard it too, because he suddenly jerked his blade backward, pulling Midoriya forward and breaking his blade. Midoriya stumbled forward.
"Ha ha ha!" The Crocodile laughed as he jerked his blade, the curve digging into Midoriya's shoulder. He hissed in pain, and dropped the broken blade, deciding to go with the standard tactics of punch first and ask questions while punching. He swung his fist, impacting solidly against the villain's jaw, cracking it.
"Why are you here?" The Crocodile grinned, his teeth bloody.
"Why to kill All Might and start a New Era!" he bellowed, swinging his sword. Midoriya nimbly ducked, sweeping his leg underneath the Crocodile and tripping him. He then stomped on the Crocodile's sword arm, hearing a snap as his wrist broke. God that was satisfying. Wait, what? He felt out for his classmates' souls, recognizing Bakugou's instantly. He was fine. Aoyama was shaken, but that makes sense. Hagakure was hard to sense, her soul was clear, much like she was, but he still felt her emotions. She was scared but wasn't hurt.
"You little shit!" Midoriya silenced the villain by kicking him in the jaw, snapping it shut. He heard another crack. The villain suddenly fell limp. Midoriya felt his soul slip out of the body. He felt sick.
"Oh-oh god!" He backpedaled. He killed him, he killed him, he killed him, oh god. The soul was out of the body now. There are times in life where you do things instinctively, hoping for a positive outcome, something that would help. In Midoriya's case, right after ending his first life, he tried to grab at that soul, put it back, put it back, he tried to keep the villain alive. He had good intentions.
The body jerked. The soul recognized the host, but Midoriya's quirk was already acting. The body rapidly was covered in shadow, wrapping it up and squeezing, crushing, pulling, twisting. The body was different, but the same. In the place of the Crocodile was a large grotesque shadow, 8 feet tall and shaped by the hands of the reaper. He was now clad in pitch-black plate armor, the blade now clothed in writhing shadows. The shade jerked, and rose, gripping the blade. It awaited the command of its king. And Midoriya, in his rattled mind commanded
"Help them." And in a blur of motion, the shadowy warrior of the Nile rushed to aid his master's companions. Midoriya Izuku was now the Reaper. Lord of Death and Shadows. He never wanted this.
He stumbled back to his feet, his eyes blurred with tears. He saw the shadowed swing at one of the swordsmen, cleanly cutting through his blade and shoulder, dismembering him. He swallowed, eyes wide.
"Stop!" he yelled, and it did. Because its master told him to. He pulled at the warrior, jerking it back. It fell backward, and vanished, being pulled into the infinite shadow of Midoriya Izuku.
"What the hell…?" the blue-haired villain mumbled. He pulled out a pager, one that is often used by assistants.
"Kurogiri, recall me. I have vital information that your leader may want to hear about," and suddenly he was gone, pulled into the shadow of Kurogiri.
"Damnit! Get back here, you blue-haired bastard!" Bakugo shouted, his palm planted onto an unconscious villain's face. The other two villains left were already taken out of commission, one unconscious in a wall, a burn on his chest from Aoyama's laser, and the other bleeding on the ground, the rainwater washing the blood from his stump shoulder away. Midoriya stepped forward.
"Kaachan! Come here, he's dying!" Bakugou immediately responded. They both knew that killing villains was to be avoided. So Bakugou put his palm against the stump and a sizzling followed by the scent of burnt flesh filled their noses. The villain was already unconscious from shock, but Midoriya grimaced.
"Come on. We need to go. Aoyama, Hagakure, come on! It's time to go." Midoriya didn't wait to see if they followed, he was already running towards the exit of the downpour zone. He needed to help them. He can't be late.
Midoriya burst out the doors of the downpour zone, the plaza dead ahead. What he saw shook him to the core. There was Aizawa, on the ground, the muscled bird brain villain holding him down. Blood pooled around his head. He looked dead. Oh god. He was dead. He was dead. He was dead. He was dead!
Midoriya stumbled before he felt it. Aizawa's soul was still intact and was still there. He wasn't dead. But it flickered and waned, and seemed to lift slightly like it was trying to escape, but something was holding it still. Midoriya gulped. Dying. He was dying.
Midoriya ran forward. He needed to help. The hand's villain turned towards him and smiled. The blue-haired villain was standing next to him, still holding the suitcase. Midoriya stopped.
"Let him go!" he shouted, pointing a finger at him and shooting out a bone bullet. It shot out with a vengeance, the speed enhanced by One for All. It burst through the skull of the muscled villain, but the villain didn't let up its grip.
"Oh? He went for a killing blow instantly. How… villainous." Tomura Shigaraki laughed, a grating noise that tore at his eardrums. Midoriya felt sick. He didn't think, he just wanted the villain away from Aizawa-sensei. He- he didn't mean to go for a lethal shot! Shigaraki stepped forward, scratching at his neck.
"It seems," he began, "that you have a killer instinct. Don't worry, you're not the first hero," he spat out the word like poison, "to have one. In fact, it's quite common."
"Tomura Shigaraki," Midoriya mumbled. The villain seemed surprised.
"You know my name? I don't think I introduced myself… oh… I get it now…" he chuckled, "You're that mind reader, aren't you? The one Kurogiri told me of. How… nice to meet you, bug." Tomura was close to him now, a mere 5 feet. Midoriya didn't stop channeling One for throughout his body, and he was tense.
"Why are you doing this?" He tried to stall. Being this close, the soul of Shigaraki was making him nauseous. It was just so… wrong. Shigaraki stopped.
"To kill All Might," he said. It was so casual, like it was an everyday thing for him, plotting murder. Then Midoriya realized something. It was because it was an everyday thing. He was so depraved, he wasn't even human anymore. His soul was sick. It made him sick. It needed to be removed from existence.
Midoriya would later say he didn't remember the next minute. That it was a blur. But the truth is, he remembered it vividly. Every single excruciating detail. He remembers the moment he stepped forward, the bone scythe already in hand. The moment he pulled at the soul of every. Single. Villain. He remembered how it felt, feeling the souls of so many things. The feeling of despair, rage, fear, and the power of it all. He remembered feeling all the light in USJ suddenly vanishing, the world becoming a black and white pastel, the look of surprise on Shigaraki's face and he felt the bones in his body shift, forcing his body to grow taller and thinner, his back arching as his face split into a twisted grin, the skin on his face pulled tautly, his skull vividly detailed as he swung his blade and removed Shigaraki's hands. That's all he had time for before the black-skinned villain appeared in front of him. It punched, but Midoriya felt none of it. He didn't move. He felt One for All screaming at him, trying to stop what he was doing, but Midoriya could not. Not until the twisted soul was reaped.
Then everything went black.