Author's note: Hey everyone, Fire Slash here and welcome to the next chapter of 'Instant Pain'. I'm glad to see that so many of you are enjoying the story. Typically, I'd have more to say, but I've decided to instead put all that stuff at the end of the chapter. Please check it out for it contains some very important information. Also, if you haven't already, follow me on IG (fire_slash_fanfiction). I post when I plan on updating stories and it's the best place to reach me now that I don't get notified of PMs for some reason.

Oh, and shoutout to Wolf1741 for giving me a quote I end up using. There was no way I couldn't use it.

With that out of the way, let's get right into the story. Review and enjoy :-).

0000

"The only source of knowledge is experience"- Albert Einstein

0000

'Am I mad? I think I am. Nothing explains why I've decided to become a villain after years of dreaming to be a hero.'

"No, I'm not mad. I've just been shown the truth. The heroes of today are nothing but glorified celebrities. Heroics is a business and as long as they look like they're doing good, they get rewarded. They're far from authentic… just characters played to trick people into thinking the world is fine."

'But as a hero, I can change that. I can promote justice.'

"By playing by their rules? Listening to the laws some people are allowed to freely break? The laws made to oppress? Pah!"

'Then I'll use the platform given to me to speak up and demand that things change!'

"I'll be one person against the whole world if I play by the law. My only allies are those who can't speak up. Actions speak louder than words. If I show them what's wrong with their little illusion, then I'll truly be doing something great!"

'By killing people? Am I really willing to sacrifice the lives of others just for a stupid goal? That's not doing good. A true hero is willing to find a way to save both sides, no matter the cost!'

"But sacrifices need to be made. The few lives I end are nothing compared to the many I'll save. People won't see past the little bubble they've made for themselves if I play nice. I'll drag them out of it with everything I've got, even if it means I have to sacrifice some lives! One example won't change anything! Instead, the world needs to be torn down and rebuilt! Pain must be allowed to enlighten them! The heroes need to feel what it's like for their world to crumble, what it's like to be helpless as everything they once thought was true turns out to be one big fat lie! Then…then they'll see what they've been doing was wrong and will learn from it. Those who wish to be true heroes will rebuild themselves from the ground up, using their failure as motivation to be better! And I'll gladly help them be better. As for those who aren't up to the task, all the clout-chasers and phonies… well, the whiplash will hit them hard, and they won't be able to recover…"

0000

U.A's entrance exams were nine months away. Schools began two months after U.A's exams. This gave Izuku eleven months to practice with his new abilities, time he used to his advantage.

Self Analysis Entry #1: Quirk- Time Stop. I can slow down and stop time. How far I can do so is unknown. More analysis is needed…

Having discovered during his time in the hospital that he could seemingly stop time, for a while, Izuku simply thought that was all his new power granted him. As such, he only focused on this part of his new abilities for the first month. Adopting the abandoned Dagobah Municipal Beach Park as his training spot, he used his phone as a means of keeping track of how slow he was able to make time flow around him and how long he could use his powers before tiring out. It turns out that Izuku didn't seem to have a limit, or at least he hasn't managed to hit it yet.

Self Analysis Entry #2: Quirk- Flash Step. I can move at supersonic speeds. Limit is unknown, though I was able to cross the world in a minute. Impacts my senses and allows me to react much faster than the ordinary person.

During the second month, the boy managed to incorrectly define his powers yet again due to an incident with a tree. Having realized that getting into shape would benefit him, Izuku decided to do various forms of exercise, one of which being cardio.

"Alright, let's do this." Izuku aimed to run from one end of the beach to the other, two trees being the markers as to where the place began and ended. Taking off, Izuku was halfway to the first tree when he noticed something was off. For some reason, he wasn't getting tired yet. Typically, his legs would feel as if they were going to fall off by now. This wasn't the first time this happened, but it was the first time he's noticed such a change.

'Must be a byproduct of my quirk. I should test out my physical capabilities later…'

Pushing his physique to the side, the boy continued to run towards the tree. When he saw it, he decided to see if he could push himself to move quicker. If he did gain a boost to his physical prowess, it should mean that he could run faster. When he did so, he was shocked to see that he ended up running past the tree. In fact, when he managed to stop himself, he was somehow in his town's shopping district. He had also plowed down the tree.

'How did I do that?' The boy mentally asked himself as he looked around, confirming that he indeed was in his town's shopping district. Thankfully it didn't seem as if people noticed that he managed to zoom into town. 'Freezing time should have nothing to do with how fast I move… unless my quirk isn't really time manipulation… but superspeed!'

Diving into an alleyway, Izuku prepared to use his quirk. Mentaly pushing himself like he did when he was running towards the tree, he managed to make himself a blur. Making sure to focus as he ran, the boy was able to discover that his senses had been enhanced to the point where they were able to catch up with his speed, allowing him to process his environment as he ran. Eventually, he made it back to the beach in under two seconds, having activated his phone's watch before he ran.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Glancing at his hands again, Izuku was ecstatic about his discovery.

"Super speed! I can't believe it! Oh man, this is way better than time manipulation!"

For Izuku's goal, this was true. Super speed will give him an edge regarding brute force, something he was lacking if his quirk had only given him the ability to freeze time around him. Sure, he could use a gun or a weapon, but it would be useless against those who had passive quirks that protected them from such things.

The next day, Izuku decided to test his limits again. Now that he assumed that he had super speed, he wanted to see how fast he could go. He was also motivated by the fact he could potentially be the fastest being alive. Despite how many quirks there are out there, the concept of speedsters in the real world didn't exist. The closest thing to a speedster was the pro-hero Ingenium whose quirk allowed him to move extremely fast compared to the average human, but it was through propulsion, not actual super speed.

'Test number one, can I run on water?' Staring at the beach water, Izuku crouched down, bracing himself to run. Mentally pushing himself harder than ever, the boy shot forwards. As it turns out, he could run on water.

'Let's try moving faster.' Pushing himself even further, the boy ended up running around the world, the only reason he even knew this was due to him passing by several famous landmarks.

'That sort of looks like the Great Wall of China… wait, Is that the Taj Mahal? Now I see the Leaning Tower of Pisa… how did I get to the Eiffel Tower so quickly? ...So that's how the Statue of Liberty looks up close…'

Eventually, he made it back to Dagobah Municipal Beach Park. Checking his phone to see how much time has passed, he was surprised that he's only been gone for two minutes.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Another laugh shot out of him. He couldn't help it. He was far faster than anyone alive. No one would ever be able to tag him. He could ram into All Might and instantly kill him if he wanted to! There was no way his powers could get better.

At least, that was what he thought…

Self Analysis Entry #3: Quirk- Zoom. I have my own timeframe and I can manipulate how fast I go in it and how it interacts with the main timeframe. I can mimic super speed, create devastating shockwaves, create vortexes, heal from otherwise fatal wounds faster than the human mind can process, and potentially do so much more…

It took the boy another month to realize something odd regarding his powers. Despite how comic books portrayed it, if someone were to move as fast as he could, they'd incinerate everything around them. Every step they'd take would cause massive shockwaves to occur. Yet when Izuku moved, none of that happened. There was also the fact he couldn't feel the effects of friction while moving. Whenever he came to a sudden stop, he always expected for a shockwave to follow suit from behind him as it should. Again, this never happened. In fact, he shouldn't be able to stop running so suddenly. He should have to slow himself down somehow. He was so confused by all this.

He would only be more confused after a certain incident occurred during his training. Practicing his punches, Izuku wanted to see how hard he could hit without a running start. One thing people tend to forget is that when someone with superspeed fights an opponent physically stronger than them, the reason the speedster's blows hurt them is because of physics. Being tapped by a car moving fast enough will send someone flying while being grazed by a car that is hardly moving theoretically wouldn't harm anyone.

The same logic could be applied to Ingenium and why he was able to hurt people with super strength. Using the engines in his elbows, he was able to move his fists fast enough to increase his striking force.

With this knowledge, Izuku decided to practice hitting things. He didn't want to kill those he was helping after all, unless he deemed them to be unredeemable in the future. With some help from his speed, he managed to master this in thirty minutes.

"Don't worry everyone, I'll save you."

However, on this particular day, Izuku was getting really into his training.

"I'll make sure the heroes are their best possible selves. No more leeches…"

"But not having a quirk? No, I don't think you can become a hero." The memory of his encounter with All Might popped up into his mind.

"No more liars!"

"Take a swan dive off the roof. You'll be far more useful dead." Thinking of his childhood bully made him see red.

"NO MORE FAKES!"

*BOOM!*

Throwing a final punch, Izuku was surprised when a giant shockwave ripped apart all the trash on the beach. Such a thing never happened before.

"What...was that?"

He had some researching to do. A trip to the library later and the boy found his answer.

Initially, he searched through all the books the library had regarding the laws of physics and theories regarding traveling the speed of light. When he couldn't find his answer there, he decided to go back to his roots and research theories of time travel and manipulation. That was where he found his answer.

"If two objects or forces from alternate timelines were to collide on the same plane of existence, the result could be catastrophic."

This line intrigued him. Digging through more books on the subject, Izuku made a breakthrough.

"I don't have super speed… I'm manipulating my own timeline."

Leaving the library, he made his way to a nearby forest. With what he did on the beach, he was pretty sure the police and some pro-heroes would be investigating the source of such an explosion, so he won't be able return there for a while.

Once deep enough, Izuku began to test a theory of his. If he did have the ability to manipulate how fast he moved in his own time-frame, then two things should be possible. First, he should be able to slow himself down as well as speed himself up. Doing a backflip, him being able to do so as a result of his enhanced physique, Izuku focused on slowing himself down, this time thinking of pulling something instead of pushing. This seemed to do the trick as Izuku found himself frozen in the air. Returning himself to normal, Izuku fell right on his face.

"Got to work on the landing," the boy mumbled to himself. Despite this, he was pleasantly surprised with the results. Being able to slow himself down will prove very useful as he could now leap from high places and slow his descent. No longer will he have to worry about breaking his legs if he chose to fall from a high distance.

Now, there was one more test he needed to perform.

"Let's see if this works…"

A helpful way he found to explain the way his potential timeline interacts with the main one is that of using cars on a two-lane road as a model. The first lane represents the main timeline. The cars on that lane are only allowed to move a certain speed and are unable to either steer off-course or stop. Theoretical time-travel could break the latter rule as they could teleport someone further forwards or further backwards. However, even a time traveler could not push the cars off-course.

The second lane represents Izuku's timeframe. Unlike the cars on the first lane, the car on the second lane can break several rules. It can reverse or move forwards on the road with no aid, suddenly stop, or accelerate as much as it wanted. It was also the only car on that lane though. Typically, the two lanes co-existed in peace, but if it so wished, the car on the second lane could enter the main timeframe, controlling how it does so. It could enter harmessly, which was what Izuku might have been doing, explaining why there were no sonic booms when he ran. Or it could crash into the cars on the first lane, damaging them and explaining how Izuku was able to create that shockwave from earlier.

Raising his hand in the air, Izuku snapped his fingers, hoping to ram his car into the main timeframe. Doing so unleashed a strong shockwave, one which equaled that of the ones created by All Might at his prime punching something with all of his strength.

Izuku stared at the shockwave, eyes widened as he knew what this meant. The laws of physics, the core of space and time, none of that mattered to Izuku. He was an entity outside of all that, a glitch in the matrix. Someone like him shouldn't exist, but he did.

A maniacal smile adorned the boy's face. How funny was it that a glitch would help improve the system?

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Collapsing on his knees, Izuku continued to laugh. For all his life, he never belonged and now that he had powers, he still didn't belong. He wasn't upset about this though, for not being a part of the world allowed him to see how flawed it was. He was also far more powerful than everyone else as a result of his circumstances. If a messily snap provided that much power, imagine what would happen if Izuku hit something at full force…

"They won't see me zoom by them until it's too late. Hm, 'Zoom…' I like it…"

Standing up, Izuku began to leave the forest. He had some work to do…

0000

For the next seven months, Izuku began to prepare himself for his mission. Once he learned that he could move at supersonic speeds, it was practically game over. He realized that he was able to train up his body and mind in a month due to his powers, and he did just that. Having studied all known professions, Izuku was now a genius. In addition, controlling his powers isn't a problem anymore and he figured out some other trucks he could do, such as the fact he could run up on ninety degree angles like walls. In addition, he learned that traveling through slippery surfaces was of no issue to him, which was something that would be of a hindrance to him if he was actually a speedster. What should have taken him more than twenty years to master was done in a month. The funny part was that if Izuku could've done all of this in a shorter time span if he so wished, perhaps in one day. The only reason he didn't do so was because he had so much time to spare.

After gathering such knowledge, Izuku then began preparing his supervillain alter-ego. Stealing some materials from a well known support company as a test run, the boy managed to craft his costume. After several design fails, the young supervillain decided to make a dark green suit with a blue lightning design adorning his chest. In addition, he had a mask which has small lightning bolts sticking out above his ears, small line shaped gaps on the mouth resembling a demented smile, and some small sharp "claws" added to the gloves. Finally, there was a voice filter inside his suit which he could use to disguise his voice.

"If this doesn't scream 'villain,' then I don't know what does…"

While all this was going on, Izuku continued to live his life the way he did before he got struck by lightning, which meant that he had to deal with his entire school bullying him. Naturally, it sucked as Izuku hated that he was treated this way for existing, but in a way, he felt it was helping him in the long run. The bullying reminded him of his roots and why he was doing what he was doing. Izuku didn't want to end up like All Might and Katsuki who became ignorant of the struggles of the common folk due to their powers, so by continuing to pretend that Izuku Midoryia was still quirkless, he would remain grounded. It was messed up logic, but it was what he was going for.

Obviously, due to everything that's happened to him as a result of his powers, his sanity went down the drain. During his first month of having his powers, the sane and inner-fanboy side of him constantly questioned his motives, causing him to argue with himself when alone. When he discovered his true powers, what was left of his sanity had disappeared. Nowadays, his desire to 'help' people by causing tragedy in their lives was stronger than ever.

In terms of planning for his eventual debut, Izuku was originally going to make himself known as quickly as possible. However, he soon changed his mind due to something that happened at school. Katsuki was at it again, continuing to brag about his chances of getting into U.A when he said the following:

"Watch! I'm going to get into U.A, kick ass, and be a better hero than All Might!"

'You won't be if you don't understand what it means to be a hero,' Izuku had thought to himself in response. It was then that he had a realization. Not only could he help the current heroes become better, but he could help the next generation of heroes do so as well before they could make the same mistakes as their predecessors.

'Perfect!'

And what better place to start than U.A? U.A was known for producing some of the 'best' heroes ever made, being the center of nurturing upcoming heroes. By making his debut there, he could hit the hero world where it hurts the most.

It wasn't until the results of U.A's entrance exams were released that Izuku began his plan. One benefit of living in a society where test scores were publicly posted was that it was super easy to track the school's applicants. With some searching, Izuku was eventually able to find the thirty nine students who had managed to beat the cutoff score and would be joining U.A's heroics department.

"Unbelievable…" Izuku mumbled to himself once he saw Katsuki's score. While the boy did receive a whopping seventy seven villain points and earned first place, he didn't earn any hero points, a supposedly hidden set of points that were given to those who showed exemplary heroic attitudes. "I really have my work cut out for me. Don't worry Bakugou, I'll soon be able to make you better. Before I do that though, I need to decide which student won't be going to graduate."

Tragedy must be allowed to show the students in U.A's heroics department the light. What's more tragic than cutting the career of one of their classmates short? Yes, Izuku was going to kill one of the forty students. However, he wasn't going after just any of them. No, it needed to be the one who clearly had the most potential in becoming a true hero.

Some might question why he'd kill the one person he considered to have the best chance at being a 'true hero.' Izuku's response was simple: the other students who have the potential of being great heroes would see their classmate's death as a tragedy and would adapt the victim's heroic nature into their own careers to honor them. Those who couldn't see what made this individual truly amazing would simply continue with their old ways, meaning Izuku would have to either kill them before they infect their classmates with their poor attitudes or work twice as hard to help them. Even if it doesn't work out the way Izuku hopes it will, the loss of a life will still motivate the other heroic students to do better so that such a thing never happens on their watch again.

There was also the fact that most of the staff at U.A were pro-heroes themselves that motivated him to commit murder. If a student died on their watch, it'll reflect badly on them, no matter the circumstances as they'll be bombed by several media outlets. They'd have to start their careers from scratch, and those who manage to climb back up will find themselves at a height they could only dream of achieving at their current state.

'Let's see if I can get All Might in on the action…' All Might was rumored to be teaching at U.A starting this upcoming school semester. Imagine the world's surprise when the 'infallible' All Might fails to do his job…

For the next thirty eight days, Izuku would use his abilities to stalk all the accepted applicants, besides Katsuki as he already knew the boy's attitude already, and began listing them based on their personality. The most heroic of the students went on the top of his list while the least heroic went on the bottom. The one on the top would be his first target, but if they and/or their class weren't around when Izuku decided to make his debut, then he'd just move down the list until he found someone who was present.

Once he was done stalking the future students, Izuku spent the rest of the time he had before school started thinking about his debut. When was he going to strike? What will it look like? Sadly, nothing he thought of satisfied him. He decided to do some digging on the dark side of the internet to get inspiration from other villains who are aiming to make reveals of their own, but still, nothing came to mind. However, he did manage to accidentally find an ad that intrigued him.

"Come see the death of All Might!" The ad said. "We at the League of Villains have managed to create something which can kill that damn 'Symbol of Peace'! You too can be part of this momentous event. Details below…"

The ad then provided some contact information. A simple ad, yes, but it did its job.

"Kill All Might, huh…" To be honest, Izuku felt like whoever was advertising this didn't have the firepower needed to kill the 'Symbol of Peace.' However, hardly any villain dared try to take All Might's life, which was why this ad had left an impression on him. Izuku could count on his hand the amount of villains who fought All Might with the aim to kill. Most of All Might's opponents fought him to avoid getting caught. Then again, he had the power to kill All Might, so it was possible that someone else was equally, if not more powerful than he was. That was his thought process for the time being as it would be a long time until Izuku found out the truth about his powers and how he truly was one of a kind. As of now, he's hardly scratched the surface. "It'll be interesting to see what they have planned…"

Izuku memorised the address and date of the meeting. While the meeting was scheduled right around the same time he started school, the boy having decided to apply to a local public school as where he went to school didn't matter to him anymore, it was thankfully on a weekend night. All he had to do was sneak out of his house, a feat that would be easy with his powers, and he was set…

0000

The fact that the League of Villains was based in a bar surprised Izuku. Didn't they know that a bar was probably one of the most cliched places to operate in? Then again, the boy still lived with his mother, so it wasn't like he had any room to question their choices. He did have to give them credit for closing the bar to the public before hosting their meeting. Imagine how awkward it would be if some random person walked into a villain hangout area hoping for a beer…

Thankfully, no one asked for his ID or for him to remove his costume, so he was able to walk inside.

"The meeting will be held inside here," a man covered in mist informed the villains who had just entered, pointing to a staircase that would normally be hidden behind a shelf filled with alcoholic beverages.

The lack of security unnerved Izuku, but he knew that both the government and police don't check the dark-web as much as they should. Looking down the staircase, Izuku noticed that there were over a hundred villains inside. If a police force did manage to discover the meeting, they wouldn't stand a chance without some pro-heroes on their side. Even then, it should be a struggle.

Deciding that he didn't really want attention, the boy decided to sit in the back. Doing so granted him the ability to overhear some of the villains conversing with one another. Sadly, everyone in the room were small-time thugs or wannabe serial killers, so he didn't get any important information.

Eventually, the meeting began to start, with a man with several decaying hands attached to him taking the stage.

"Welcome everyone, the name's Tomura Shigaraki," the villain introduced himself. Izuku began to question why he'd reveal his real name, but remembered that some, if not most of these villains don't have much outside their villainous identities. These people were either forced to abandon their civilian identities upon being discovered or willingingly dropped them to fully embrace being a villain. "And today, we're all gathered because we share a similar desire: to end the so-called 'Symbol of Peace'!"

"Hell yeah!" Someone in the audience shouted, others cheering alongside him.

"For some of you, you want to kill All Might because you hate his stupid smile! Others want to do it for sport! As for others, you're tired of what he stands for! True peace my ass! The world's a shit-show and it's their fault! They prioritized others over you, probably because of something stupid. No matter our reasons, we can agree on one thing, that All Might must die!"

"Down with All Might!" Some of the villains began chanting this, but Izuku paid them no mind. Izuku was far more interested in Tomura himself. It was clear that the boy didn't like heroes and it was clear that the reason was because he was let down by one. No one came to save him in his time of need, just like how All Might failed to save Izuku. Just like him, Tomura saw that the current hero society was flawed and needed to be destroyed. He would make for a good ally to spread his message. However, Izuku felt that he was going about this the wrong way. Killing All Might won't do anything as another false idol could just take his place. No, the world needed to see that the current way of doing things was wrong, and the only way to do so was by teaching the heroes the true definition of pain.

"And I can kill him! You might all be asking yourselves, 'but Tomura, you're probably only a mid-boss compared to All Might. Well, what if I said that I've created an end-boss so powerful that All Might can't dream of beating?"

"Is such a thing even possible?" One of the villains murmured to her comrade, causing him to shrug.

"Introducing Nomu!"

Upon saying this, the mist man from the entrance opened a portal. From it emerged a large, black creature with its brain sticking out of its head. The monster was a good head or two taller than All Might and appeared as if it could match his physique.

"The hell is that thing?" One of the villains asked, obviously creeped out by Nomu. Izuku had to admit, he was a bit curious about it as well.

"This 'thing' is what will kill All Might!" Tomura said, crackling wildly. "It's been designed to do so, having multiple quirks!"

'Multiple quirks?' Izuku had no idea this was possible. Typically, the closest thing to a dual-quirk user were those who inherited both the quirks of their parents, but according to various DNA tests done on these individuals, their 'quirks' was actually a single one with different attributes.

"Yes! We all know All Might's quirk, whatever it is, makes him strong. However, Nomu here can compete with his strength and speed, having several strength-enhancing quirks injected into it. If that isn't enough, it also has shock absorption and super regeneration. It's made to be a punching bag that can fight back! With Nomu, All Might has no chance! However, I still need your help!" Whipping out a piece of paper, Tomura showed them what seemed to be some sort of class schedule. Further inspection would reveal that it was from U.A and it detailed some sort of exercise one of their classes in the heroics department will take part of outside the school's campus. "I managed to steal a schedule from U.A and according to it, All Might will be supervising a group of students at the school's USJ."

"U.A has a Universal Studios Japan?" A villain asked.

"No you idiot! USJ stands for Unforseen Simulation Joint!" Clearing his throat, Tomura continued. "Tomorrow, as the exercise is going on, Kurogiri will teleport us to the USJ." He motioned to the mist man. "We'll be getting rid of the other teachers and students while the Nomu works its magic! Tomorrow, the Symbol of Peace dies!"

Everyone began applauding, all while Izuku frowned.

'Tomorrow… that's sort of a late notice, not that I plan on going… wait? What am I thinking?' Izuku realized something, this was the perfect time to make his debut. Not only would the students be there, but so would All Might. He could kill two birds with one stone! In addition, he could educate Tomura on how inflicting tragedy on the heroes will wield more results than mindlessly murdering them. Two villains were better than one after all, especially if there was an entire organization behind one of them. 'This is perfect! Sorry Tomura, but I'm hijacking your show tomorrow…'

0000

It was the next day and Izuku was waiting in the bar, suit worn. When the time comes, Toruma will have Kurogiri teleport all the villains to the USJ.

Now, he was skipping school to do this, but Izuku didn't care. All he had to say was that a villain prevented him from going to school or something along those lines and his mom would let him off the hook. Right now, he was far too excited to really care about that.

After about twenty minutes of waiting, an alarm set on Kurogiri's phone rang, indicating that it was time to go to the USJ.

"Remember, your main targets are the kids and whatever pro-hero is there," Tomura reminded the other villains. "Once you do your job, you're more than welcome to get a hit in on All Might as long as you don't interrupt the Nomu."

With that, Kurogiri created several portals, each leading to a different part of the USJ. As the villains walked through, a maniacal smile began forming on Izuku's face as he made his way through the portal that would lead him to the center of the USJ alongside Tomura and Kurogiri.

'It's showtime!'

0000

Stepping out of the portal, Izuku was greeted with the sight of nineteen students and two teachers. The first people he was able to recognize were Eraserhead and Thirteen, two pro-heroes. Thirteen's quirk was called 'Black Hole' and allowed the hero to suck up anything by creating some sort of black hole. The second hero was Eraserhead, real name Shota Aizawa who had the ability to erase the quirks of anyone he made eye contact with.

'He's going to be a problem,' Izuku mentally told himself. If Eraserhead targeted him, his quirk will be erased.

The next person he noticed was Katsuki. 'Bakugou's here… good. I can begin improving him.'

Finally, his eyes made contact with another student's, causing him to grin under his mask. 'My first choice is here! How lucky can I be?'

"Hm… the only real heroes I see are Thirteen and Eraserhead." Kurogiri spoke. Izuku noticed that the villains besides him were getting annoyed that All Might wasn't around.

'Wait, where is he?' Izuku searched for the man, but couldn't find him. He then remembered something about the Symbol of Peace. 'Has he hit his limit?'

"Where the hell's All Might?" Tomura asked, venom laced in his voice. "The schedule said he was supposed to be here today…"

"I thought that we were doing rescue work today?" Izuku's target questioned the teachers, only to realize that all their attention was on the newcomers.

Shota, having realized what was going on, braced himself for combat. "Thirteen, protect the students! These are real villains!"

Izuku saw the students freeze, wondering what real villains were doing at the USJ.

"Where is he?" Tomura growled at the two heroes, loud enough for them to hear him. "I went through all the trouble of bringing so many friends who were eager to meet him. They want All Might, the great symbol of peace. I can't believe he's not here… maybe the sight of a few dead kids will get him to come…"

Izuku had to admit, targeting the students was a good way to bring out All Might. Limit or not, he'll come if there were children in danger.

"I'll hold them off. Thirteen, get the students out of here." Just like that, Eraserhead began making his way towards the crowd of villains stationed at the center of the USJ, the close ranged ones moving in to fight him.

Seeing this, Tomura turned to his partner. "Kurogiri, scatter them."

Upon receiving that command, Kurogiri began teleporting himself to the students. Izuku watched his target carefully, wondering how they'd respond to the threat of a villain. While reckless, his target ended up acting as heroically as he expected.

"You think we'd let you have your way with us?"

"It seems that you truly are the golden apples of your generation," Kurogiri said to the students. "Unfortunately, I do not have time to deal with you, so I must bid you ado."

Izuku blinked as everything around him came to a sudden stop. It was time for him to retrieve his target. Moving forwards, he snagged the student before Kurogiri could react, moving so fast that no one even noticed that one of the students had been taken…

0000

"It's a shame you have to go," Izuku said as he watched his target struggle for breath. "You would've made a good hero."

"I...won't...let...you hurt," his target said, spitting up some blood. Izuku's target was still willing to fight, even when their bones were completely broken. "I… will… protect…"

"Even when dying, you care about others before yourself. Now do you see why you have to die? I want others to mimic that and the only way they will is if they witness the death of someone close to them-"

*BAM*

Izuku glanced at his target, stunned. His target shouldn't be able to move. Glancing at his target, he noticed they were using their quirk to support themselves.

"I... don't... care... if... I... die! I'll... fight... till... my... final breath to stop you!"

"You're amazing, you know that? You would've been number one easily."

*Shick*

"But I need more of you."

His target could only watch in horror as Izuku's arm went right through their heart. Their vision fading, they fell down.

"I'm sorry you didn't get the chance to be the shield you always wanted to be. Don't worry though, I'll make sure that your friends will do what you couldn't. I'll save them, I promise..."

That was the last thing they heard before death consumed them.

0000

Tomura was happy. His Nomu had managed to defeat Eraserhead while Kurogiri managed to incapacitate Thirteen and scatter the students. Sure, one of the students escaped and most of the thugs in his area had been defeated by Eraserhead, but everything else was going smoothly.

After reprimanding Kurogiri for his error, Tomura turned his attention towards the defeated Eraserhead. "Tch, All Might's taking too long." Scratching his neck in irritation, the villain noticed that two students were watching him, a girl with a frog-like appearance and a short boy with purple hair. "He should be punished for this." A sinister smile formed on the villain's face. "I wonder how All Might will react to some dead bodies."

Tomura rushed towards them without warning. Arm stretched, he was prepared to use his quirk on the frog girl, but when he touched her face, he noticed that his quirk wasn't working. Looking back at Eraserhead, he noticed the man was staring at him despite being utterly destroyed. Tomura gave the man an evil grin. "Even when down, you still fight. You're so cool Eraserhead!"

The Nomu smashed the hero's head in response, knocking him unconscious. Moving itself next to its master, it allowed for the other thugs to start surrounding the fallen hero. "Now, where was I?"

Suddenly, the doors of the USJ flung off their hinges, revealing All Might in all his glory.

"You villains made a mistake in attacking my students. "Why? Because I am here!"

Tomura stared at the hero. Something was off about him, but he couldn't put a finger on it, though it didn't take him long. For once, the pro-hero wasn't smiling.

Faster than Tomura could react, All Might knocked out every remaining thug he passed, rescued Shota from Nomu's clutches, and placed him safely away from the main bad guys.

"Finally! All Might is here!" Tomura said giddily. "Nomu, KILL-"

"No!"

Both Tomura and All Might froze, neither recognizing the voice. A blue streak suddenly ran past the two. Chills began running down their backs. It sounded absolutely demonic and outworldly.

"All Might must fall…"

The hero in question began bracing himself, preparing to deal with this unknown enemy as another streak rushed by them.

"But not like this…"

"Who's there?" Tomura growled as a third blue streak went past them, not liking the fact someone was interrupting his moment. "Show yourself!"

"Show myself? Very well," A final blue streak appeared, Izuku showing up between Tomura and All Might shortly after. "Better?"

"Who the hell are you?"

"Tomura Shigaraki," Izuku said, addressing the villain. "The hero society has failed you, so you seek revenge and to reform it. A world ruled by false gods like All Might… you wish to turn it into ash. Sadly, you're going about it the wrong way…"

Tomura was pissed at someone questioning his methods. "The hell are you talking about?"

"Killing All Might here won't do anything yet. When he dies, someone else will take his place as the Symbol of Peace-"

"-Then I'll kill them too-"

"And All Might will be remembered as the hero who fought until his very last breath to save a group of children. No matter what you do, this won't change. All Might will be remembered as a true hero and the same will go for all who die succeeding All Might."

"..." Tomura's anger turned to realization. Whoever this villain was, they were right. Killing All Might won't change anything. All it would do is give him temporary satisfaction.

"But there is a way to defeat the Symbol of Peace and bring him down."

"How?" Tomura was now intrigued. Meanwhile, All Might was watching this interaction go down, taking extreme caution in terms of dealing with this newcomer.

"Target his reputation as a hero. The world thinks All Might can save anyone. Show them that's wrong. You need to make him fail. You need to inflict tragedy upon him and everyone around him! Make it so that people suffer for even talking to All Might. He can't save them all and will soon fall from his pedestal. Once he does, the world will lose hope in the idea of the heroes of today and it'll begin to recover! What's now the symbol of this broken world will become a symbol of change. Hopefully, All Might will realize his mistakes, but if he refuses to learn, then you kill him! There's no need for such poison in this world!"

Tomura looked at the boy, eyes gleaming with mischief. He had been too near sighted. Everything this villain was saying made sense. In order to destroy the hero-world, he needed to break all of it, not just part of it, otherwise, it'll just keep rebuilding itself.

"Let me show you what I mean." Izuku turned his attention towards All Might. "Look at your students All Might. Notice something?"

The possibility of one of his students being in danger caused the man to obey Izuku's command. Glancing at them, he noticed that all of them seemed to be gathering near the doorway, eying the scene. 'What is he talking about?' Deciding to play it safe, the hero began doing a headcount, only for his blood to freeze when he noticed something. Someone was missing. Clenching his fists, he turned to Izuku. "You… what did you do to my student?!"

*ZIP*

"He's right here."

All Might glanced at Izuku and what he saw horrified him. In his hands was the corpse of one of his students.

"Ejiro Kirishima, he could have been a great hero," Izuku said. "But because of scum like you who dare call yourselves heroes, I had to kill him to teach you a lesson."

Tears began forming around All Mights eyes as he continued to look at his now deceased student. Ejiro's quirk granted him the ability to harden his skin, yet it seems that Izuku managed to chip through the boy's hardened body with ease. Several scratch marks and craters were present, with a hole going straight through his heart. For the first time in a while, All Might failed to save someone, someone who was put into danger because he chose to work at U.A. He should've known that there was a chance villains would try targeting U.A as a means of getting to him.

"You failed him All Might. You failed to protect him. It's because of you that he had to die. Do you understand? You should've been better, you know how to be better, but you refused to be, and that cost Ejiro his life."

All Might's sadness soon turned into rage. If he was angry when he arrived at the USJ, he was practically a volcano now. "YOU MONSTER! YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE!"

Rushing forwards, All Might prepared to strike Izuku in the face. With the speed he was going at, no one should have been able to react, but Izuku did. Holding his hand in front of him, Izuku snapped, sending a devastating shockwave that threw the Symbol of Peace back.

"Tragedy must be able to teach you." Izuku glanced at the remaining students, taking in their reactions. Some were crying due to Ejiro's death, some were angry, and others were fearful of this new villain. He just knocked All Might backwards after all, something hardly anyone was able to do. "Tragedy must teach you all! To become the best heroes you can be, you must know what it's like to suffer."

"YOU WON'T HURT ANYONE ELSE! AS LONG AS I'M HERE, I'LL MAKE SURE TO PROTECT EVERYONE." Standing right back up, All Might flew forwards, using all his strength now. It mattered little to Izuku, who with a measly backhand, sent All Might flying back to his original spot.

"He's not getting the lesson," Izuku mumbled under his breath. "He's still pretending to be invincible." Izuku turned to Tomura, who had been absolutely enjoying the show, and back to the students. "Time to expose a false God. How would all of you like to know All Might's greatest secret?"

"YES!" Tomura shouted as if he was a child watching a movie. The students didn't respond. Either way, Izuku was going to continue.

"All Might prides himself in being unbeatable-"

*ZIP*

"PFFFT!"

"But that's a lie." Everyone watched in either horror or glee as All Might spat up a massive amount of blood. Izuku had struck him in his weak spot hard enough to cause the man to revert to his non-powered form. To say everyone was shocked would be an understatement. "All Might is nothing special without his power!"

"Sensei was right, he is weakened…" Tomura said, the sight of All Might's weakened form filling him with absolute joy. The students on the other hand were shocked. Was this really All Might?

Izuku eyed the man, All Might unable to do anything but look back at him, shocked that someone knew his weakness. "Just look at him. His fighting spirit's destroyed. This is the true All Might, a hack who only talks big but is nothing when faced with a challenge he can't hit." Izuku scoffed as he continued to speak. "Let's not forget your pitiful display when that Sludge Villain was engulfing that poor boy. You left him to die because you were without your power, even when the villain had such a glaring weakness that a genius like you should've worked out. You're lucky Kamui Woods decided to risk being burnt to a crisp and got him out in time, otherwise you'd have the deaths of two children on your hands." Izuku moved forwards so he was face-to-face with his former idol, his demonic mask staring straight into his soul. "If this is how you deal with hardship, then you have much to learn All Might." Moving backwards, he turned to Tomura. "I think that's enough for now. Let's go and give everyone some time to process what they've learned."

Nodding, Tomura signaled for Kurogiri to open the portal. Normally, he'd protest, but he desperately wanted some alone time with his now second-favorite villain, hoping to convince him to join the League of Villains.

Izuku stared at All Might and the students one last time. "I want you all to remember something; sometimes you must HURT in order to KNOW, FALL in order to GROW, LOSE in order to GAIN, because life's greatest lessons are learned through PAIN. If you don't know what it's like to be the people you're saving, then can you really call yourself a hero? Don't worry though, I will make sure all of you grow, I promise."

"Who...are you?"

Izuku looked at the weakened All Might, the hero desperately trying to buff up. Izuku however managed to hit him hard enough to disable his transformation for a while. He was going to enjoy watching the media report on All Might's weakened form...

"Who am I? I'm someone who's seen how your actions have hurt people. I'm the one who's witnessed the flaws of this world which you hide from the public." Turning his back towards the Symbol of Peace, Izuku began making his way to the portal. "I am the cure to the disease known as heroes. I am the prophet that'll lead everyone to the light. I am Zoom."

Entering the portal, he left All Might and the students to pick up the pieces.

Unknown to them, this wasn't the last time they would see Zoom. No, this was only the beginning…

0000

Author's note 2: Alright, I know you guys have some questions, so I'll do my best to answer them.

1. Q: Izuku seems extremely OP in this fic, is this intentional? A: Yes it is. If you know about the comic book Hunter Zoloman, then you know how powerful he is. He's curb-stomped the Wally West Flash (the strongest of the Flashes) numerous times, even when Wally absorbed both Jessie Quick and Jay Garrick's speed. He's taken hits from the likes of Power Girl and Wonder Woman without much injury. Wonder Woman even says that he hits harder than Superman. He even punched Flash from a hospital to a mountain far away and tackled him from Rome to China. The only ways he's beaten is through poor writing (seriously, the way Wonder Woman beat him, by predicting his movements, was so BS) or plot convenience. Izuku in this fic is a force of nature and an ideal mixed into one, not something that can be defeated by any ordinary means. His powers would also help him train faster, hence why the training montage wasn't anything big. People forget that characters with the abilities of Zoom and Flash could learn something that would take someone years to learn in seconds.

2. Q: Will you be bashing All Might and Katsuki in this fic? A: No. Even though I have three fics where Izuku goes against All Might, I actually really like All Might. I enjoy the fact that even though he's a Symbol of Peace, he isn't perfect. However, keep in mind that even though this story is written in third person, Izuku's POV plays a huge part in the narrative. Here, he is against All Might, so he won't see him in a flattering light. However, he does wish to help him become a better hero. As for Katsuki, Izuku does hold some resentment for how the boy has treated him (he is human after all), but he does wish to also help him become the best hero he can be. Of course, Izuku's methods might not be the most noble. Resentment will play little to no role in this story.

3. Q: Why did best boi Kirishima have to die? A: He was one of the pillars of class 1-A, so his death would be most impactful. I love Kirishima as much as everyone else does, but sadly, as this Izuku would say, some sacrifices are needed to make the world right. It was a close call between him and Ochako who would be biting the bullet, but the former's death does set the stage for some other characters in the future.

4. Q: What version of Hunter Zoloman/Zoom did you use? A: I used the CW Zoom's costume (but made it green and blue) while using the comic Zoom's motives and powers. I didn't like that they made Zoloman just another speedster in the TV show, but I adore what they did with his costume. Don't get me wrong, his comic costume is great as well, but in a world where Flash doesn't exist, there's no reason to use that costume.

Oh, I also have a fun challenge for a story someone could do: making a Reverse Flash Izuku. In this story, Izuku aims to take All Might's place as the Symbol of Peace, similar to how Eobard Thawne aims to steal Barry Allen's identity in his debut, but ends up going down a dark path doing so. He has Reverse Flash's powers obviously. I'd do it myself, but with all my current stories, plus three other stories I want to publish, it'd just take me too much time. Instead, I've decided to give it to you guys to try writing. You don't have to ask me for permission or give me credit :-)