Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Vlad King's Green Bean

Chapter seventy-one: Final war part three- waxing philosophical

Izuku and his classmates in Class 1-B's fortified dorm building were nervous as all get out; they were worried that the villains may come back for them after reeking untold havoc in the city, causing untold amounts of damage and taking untold numbers of lives. Izuku was especially worried, given that the leader of the villain army, Dabi aka Todoroki's long thought to be dead brother Toya, was the successor to All Might's greatest nemesis of all time, the late All For One. As Dabi is heir to All For One, and Izuku himself is essentially heir to All Might, it means that the two of them will have to clash.

But can Izuku face the man who is to All For One what Izuku is to All Might? And even if he could, should Izuku be the one to face him? After all, Dabi IS the older brother of Todoroki over in Class 1-A, and a fair amount of what's motivating Dabi stems from issues concerning the Todoroki family. Does Izuku, even with how he's All Might's successor and Dabi is All For One's successor, even have any right to take part in trying to bring Dabi down, to make him see reason? Or should Izuku at best only provide assistance while Todoroki and the rest of his family try to calm Dabi down?

It was then that Izuku remembered when he posed similar questions to the vestiges of past One For All users in the vestige world of One For All...

(FLASHBACK)

"Personally, I don't think it matters that the fight against Dabi seems to be mostly family issues for the Todorokis," Daigoro said, "Dabi is All For One's successor, you're the successor to wielding One For All, so that's all you need to take your place in completing your destiny, even if you're asked to butt out when they try to claim it's a family only issue."

"It's not so simple," Nana remarked. There was a troubled hint in the woman's expression since it had been brought up that there's a lot of family drama on the table with Dabi threating to trample all of Japan under his blue blazing boots. "Yes, Izuku should at least help with the fight against Dabi," Nana went on, "But he shouldn't be the ONLY one to fight him. If Dabi's family wants to take part in trying to reason with him, then by all means they shouldn't be barred."

The first user of One For All turned to look where the second and third users stood facing a wall. "Guys, you need to help." Everyone looked on at the second and third users of One For All, nothing happening for a scant few seconds. Then, both the second and third users turned around and walked over to sit down in some unoccupied seats in the arc of seats that were in front of where Izuku stood in the vestige world.

"...Apologies," the second user said, "I was just thinking about whether or not the ninth should confront Dabi or not. I mean sure, Dabi IS the successor of All For One, but he's nowhere near as powerful, nor does he have All For One's vile namesake quirk. Theoretically, the ninth could go on without facing Dabi and let Dabi's family try to reason with him." Gently shaking his head, the second user went on, "...But I'm thinking that the ninth should face Dabi anyway, or at the very least deal with Dabi's monster of a bodyguard who is by far a much greater threat than Dabi himself."

Turning to look at Izuku, the second user said, "Ninth, after your latest burst of power, you're now able to use all of the quirks stored within the core of One For All. With all of those quirks at your disposal, a strong boy with a strategic mind, a boy such as you, should be able to make even Dabi's monster think twice before acting. However, there are a number of things that you will be needing to know before you even consider trying to take on Dabi, or his monster, or anyone else who marches under the flag of All For One's successor."

Izuku looked on, as if nervous. "...Such as?"

"Mostly, how the rest of the quirks within One For All work," replied the second user, "First off there's my quirk Gearshift, and arguably the most powerful and dangerous due to how it had mixed with and grew stronger from One For All. It allows you to alter the speed of whatever you touch, letting you accelerate the force of a target, letting you either enhance the impact of your strikes or make the target lose their own velocity. You can even change speeds while ignoring the laws of inertia. But if you use it, be careful. Although originally weak to the point it could only control small objects, Gearshift had grown thanks to One For All, grown to the point that it has to be your last resort option."

Izuku nodded in understanding, figuring that Gearshift ought to be saved for if and when he has to fight Felgrand. "Next is my quirk, Fa Jin," said the third user, "It lets you build up and store kinetic energy as you move. You can then release an amount of built up energy from Fa Jin in an explosive burst of speed and power. You don't have to release all of the built up energy from Fa Jin all at once, you can choose to release only some of it. That being said, as soon as this conversation here is done, you ought to use Fa Jin to begin building up and storing kinetic energy for later use, especially if you and some of your peers end up having to be dragged into some of the fighting in Dabi's second war."

Gesturing to himself, the sixth user, En, said, "My quirk is called Smokescreen. As the name suggests, it will let you generate thick clouds of smoke from your body, letting you obscur the sights of those you fight."

"And you already know what Blackwhip, Float, and Danger Sense do," Daigoro said, "So you got this, kid." Izuku nodded once, thanking the vestiges for all of their words and help. Izuku then allowed himself to be pulled out of the vestige world, knowing what all he needed to know to fight Dabi's forces in case it actually does come down to fighting them.

(FLASHBACK OVER)

Izuku recalled that conversation in the vestige world, and after it was over and he came back to the real world, he immediately began using Fa Jin to build up stores of kinetic energy. He built up as much as he felt he could store, but even then Izuku felt he could have stored more were it not for the fact that he and his classmates had to be moved to their fortified dorm building to act as a guard tower to keep an eye for the advancing of the villain army. Izuku still had all of that kinetic energy he had built up, and was ready to unleash it on an enemy in a fight if it came down to it.

He prayed it wouldn't come down to it, however. But that prayer it turned out was not going to be answered, as Izuku perked up when he heard Yui cry out as she looked out a window looking into the city, "Some villains are coming back this way! They're going to... oh god, they have Felgrand with them!" Izuku and all of his peers who were present ran over and looked, in turns as there were only so many windows, to see that a group of villains, with Felgrand flying over them, coming straight their way, clearly aiming for their fortified dorm building.

The Class 1-B students of UA backed away when the large group of villains came up to the front door and tried busting the door down as well as the windows. But even those had been fortified, with Nezu boasting it would take at least the absolute peek strength of All Might in his prime to so much as begin cracking the fortifications that he made standard for all of the fortified dorms. The Class 1-B students were nervous, but held firm as they had faith that the fortifications of Westalis would hold up and protect them, even under the attack from the villains who came back to them.

But even those fortifications were rendered moot when Felgrand, placing his right dragonic hand on the front of Westalis, used Overhaul to instantly disassemble the entire front of the dorm building. A loud and large burst of dusty rubble exploded from the front of Westalis, making the 1-B students cough with the dust and scream out of fright, knowing now that nothing would stop the villains from swarming in and taking all of them. Looking up, it was Izuku who looked at the large cloud of smoke and dust that was made the the whole front of Westalis was disassembled in an instant by Dabi's dragon.

A dragon whose eyes were the first thing that Izuku was able to see through the smoke. The green haired boy then heard the sounds of Felgrand unfurling his wings and, before he knew it, great gusts of wind began blowing through, blowing the cloud of dust and smoke away, allowing Izuku and his classmates to clearly see all of the villains who came to visit, and vice-versa. When the dust was cleared, Izuku and his classmates saw just how many villains had marched up to Westalis, busted down the front of the fortified dorm building, and stood there to survey what they found.

There were forty foot soldiers from Dabi's villain army, a number that on its own outnumbered the whole of Class 1-B two to one; with Pony away in safety due to her pregnancy, there were only nineteen students of 1-B present, meaning the numbers posed by the foot soldiers alone were even worse for Izuku and his peers. But there wasn't just villain foot soldiers, no; Felgrand of course was there, looming over Izuku and his peers like a specter of death. There were also a number of identified elites who were Dabi's subordinates; Spinner who many saw as Dabi's right hand man, Kurogiri and seeing him there worried Izuku as the misty villain had been liberated from Central Hospital, and some new elites who Izuku was able to identify (thanks to Toshinori sharing files with him) as Slice, Beros, and the Serpenter brothers.

But most worrying of all was the fact that Dabi himself was there, looking at the cowering students with an arched eyebrow raised.

"Alright men!" one of the villain foot soldiers said, "Let's rush in and-"

That foot soldier villain was cut off when Dabi held a hand up, making all of the foot soldiers take pause. Lowering his raised hand gently, Dabi gave the Class 1-B students a calm, casually amused curious look. "...I'm not seeing Shoto here," Dabi said, "Is he somewhere else in this dorm building? Or is he in another one in which case my men here and I will have to go searching those fortified dorms in the radius around UA one by one until I find my baby bro?"

"We're Class 1-B, you idiot," Setsuna scowled, "Todoroki is in Class 1-A."

"'AY!" a second villain foot soldier, this one female, snapped as she pointed at Setsuna, "Don't you dare go talking smack about the Grand Commander like that, you mewling quim!"

Again, a raised hand from Dabi made the villain foot soldiers settle down. "...Yeah, if Shoto ain't here then we're leaving," Dabi said, "And if you kids promise to behave and not try to raise a stink to try keeping us here, we'll be more than glad to leave you all be." Shrugging, Dabi said, "I'm right now aiming to make sure all of my family that I have left is alright, so of course I gotta find and collect my younger siblings. Then my forces can go whole hog in sweeping over the nation."

"Just your siblings?" Manga said, "You forget that your dad is the pro hero Endeavor, the strongest and highest ranked pro hero that Japan has!"

Turning his head to look up at Felgrand, Spinner asked, "Can I show them?" Felgrand, knowing what Spinner was talking about, gave a single nod of his head and a hum in the affirmative. Spinner then took off the sack he had over his back, opened it, reached in and grabbed a hold of something. To the horror of the Class 1-B students, the lizardman pulled Endeavor's ripped off head out of the sack, like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat. "Ta-da," Spinner said, holding the late Enji's head by the hair just long enough for the 1-B students to see. Putting the head back into the sack, Spinner closed it and put it back over his back as he said, "Courtesy of Felgrand giving Endeavor the Mirko treatment."

"You..." Ibara said, horrified by what she and her classmates had seen, "...You villains are monsters. Utter, soulless monsters."

Dabi's eyes narrowed at Ibara as he looked at her. Pointing at Ibara, Dabi said, "You're damn lucky you're a kid in the same age group as Shoto. Because you're giving off strong religious vibes that are REALLY pissing me off."

"Is there a problem with how I have indeed embraced the word of God, you vile villain?" Ibara asked.

"Yes, young lady," Dabi replied, his tone and expression growing unamused and bitter, "I do, as a matter of fact, have a problem with how you're giving off the airs that religious people who worship your imaginary friend normally give off. Makes them come off as fucking pretentious."

"How dare you!" Ibara scowled, "The lord is NOT, as you have so wrongly put it, my 'imaginary friend'! He is very much rea-"

"No he ain't." Ibara was cut off when Dabi spoke up, giving her a bitter look. "...Let me ask you something, Bible Camp," Dabi began, "God is a loving, merciful guy who cares for all of us and is willing to forgive us our transgressions or whatever, right?"

Ibara was now a little nervous, but she held firm. "The lord is kind like that, yes."

"Then explain this to me," Dabi said, "If God is as good as you say he is, if he's looking out for all of us like you say he is, then how come me and so many of those who follow me have had shit lives that didn't improve no matter what until we turned to villainy and simply took what we needed, did what we needed to do, to make things better for ourselves? If God is good like you say, then he wouldn't of let society ostracize Spinner simply because how his quirk made him look. If God is good like you say, then he wouldn't of let Toga be screwed by people who found it easier to make her suppress the urges her quirk gave her, he'd of had people get Toga the help that she needed to function as well as possible."

Taking a step forward, Dabi went on to Ibara, "If God is good like you say, then he wouldn't of allowed the HPSC to force Nagant to be their personal hitwoman, having her kill people they thought would be threats to their own idea of 'peace'. If God is good like you say, then he wouldn't of allowed Felgrand's entire family to all die last year over a period between mid April to mid December, losing the last family member he had just a little shy of fucking Christmas. If God is good like you say, then he wouldn't have allowed Edgeshot to corner and kill my friend Twice during the last war, solely because Twice was a 'threat' to the society that the HPSC didn't want to risk losing their greedy hold over."

Dabi took yet another dangerous step forward towards the Class 1-B students, focusing mainly on Ibara. "If God is good like you say, then he wouldn't have allowed Endeavor to force my mom into a quirk marriage, use her as a baby factory until he got a kid with a quirk that he thought would be strong enough to surpass All Might in the rankings, then go on to abuse his family without consequence until he got what he wanted anyway, but got pissed that he didn't get it the way that he wanted to get it. So now, Bible Camp. You tell me." Dabi held up a hand at around shoulder level with the palm facing directly upward, loosed a streak of blue flames that shot straight up into the air by about a meter.

"If God is real, and he is good like you say," Dabi asked, "Then how come me, and others like me, were victimized and unable to get out of it until we all turned to villainy and did what we needed, took what we needed, in order to make things better for ourselves? Where was God when Spinner was suffering from being ostracized from society, when Toga was being forced to suppress quirk-based urges she couldn't control for the sake of 'appearing normal', when Nagant was being forced to kill at the discretion of the overlords who rule over everyone as the HPSC, when Felgrand's entire family was killed, when Twice was killed, when Endeavor was making life for me and the rest of my family a total living hell?"

Holding a hand out to gesture to the Class 1-B students, Dabi went on, "Here's the answer kids, although it may be a bit of a shocker for your friend Bible Camp there. God wasn't anywhere, because he's never anywhere, because he ain't real. But you wanna know who is real?" Holding his arms out at his sides, Dabi said, "Us. All of us. Humans. We're real. What happens in the world ain't the result of some 'grand design by some all knowing all powerful being'. No, what all happens out in the world, what all has been happening out in the world, is the result of the actions that are taken by the people who are living in it, and the actions that are taken in response to the first set of actions that had been taken, and so on and so forth."

The blue flame villain lowered his hand that he was gesturing to the Class 1-B students with. "In the end, everything that happens is the result of the choices that we all make. I became what I am today because Endeavor had chosen to let his complex against All Might lead him down the path that saw his head in the sack Spinner has over his back. Toga became what she is today because the people who could have helped her instead chose not to and forced her to suppress her urges to 'be normal' because it was easier for them. Spinner became what he is because society chose to ostracize him. Nagant became who she is because the HPSC chose to make her get rid of threats to their precariously balanced idea of peace."

Blue flames began to fly up from the rims of Dabi's boots. "Twice died because the HPSC chose to label him as a threat and have him eliminated so as to better the odds that they'll get to continue to lord over Japanese pro hero society. Felgrand became who he is today because the heroes chose to kill off his family, who meant more than anything else in the world to him. Everyone else in my inner circle, everyone else who I count as a friend, have different stories explaining how they became what they are today, but all of those stories all ultimately have the same thing in common, that people outside of their control had chosen to screw them over royally, had chosen to make their lives a living hell."

Dabi cracked a sadistic, teeth baring grin, his eyes wide and wild with excitement. Shivers ran down the spines of Izuku and his classmates as the blue flame villain gave all of them that look. "The power of choice really is amazing, isn't it, kids?" Dabi asked, "A power stronger than any quirk, if you give the matter some thought! All that it would take to mean the difference between everyone as a whole living nicely, and society as they all know it being trampled under the heels of blazing boots, is for just a single person to make a single choice one way or the other! That there's the lesson that you kids, as well as everyone on your side who survives this war and goes on to live under my rule, has to keep in mind! You gotta make your choices carefully, because who knows what all could happen if you choose wrong!"

Izuku and his classmates were cowed, they had no idea what to do, what to think, what to choose. Luckily for them, Dabi held a hand back out to them, extended to them a choice. "Here's what I'm offering," Dabi said, "An offer available to all of you who knows the information that I'm looking for. Tell me which of the fortified buildings in the radius around UA that I can find Shoto in so my men here and I can go over and collect him to make sure he makes it out of this war alive. Do so, and the first person to tell me will know my gratitude once I'm the one running the show, making the choices of what all does and what all does not go on." The blue flame villain arched a wry eyebrow.

"Do we have a deal?"

Izuku narrowed his eyes at Dabi. "...What will happen if we don't tell you?"

Shrugging, Dabi replied, "Depends on the context of you not telling me, really. If you don't tell me because you knew but chose to withhold the information, then you simply will miss out on some nice bennies that you would have otherwise gotten. If you don't tell me because you honestly don't know the answer, then you still won't get those bennies, but I also won't be anywhere near as cross with you as a result. I'm not the kind of guy to punish someone for not knowing what I want to know. I'm not an unreasonable person, I'll have you know."

"Not an unreasonable person?" Itsuka cried out, "You're leading an army of villains on a warpath to take over the nation! You and those under you have caused untold amounts of destruction, have taken untold amounts of lives! That all is the very definition of unreasonable!"

"So you're saying that me and my crew should have simply taken what all life was doing to fuck us over in the ass," Dabi said, "That we simply should have just grinned and bore with it all, so the people who felt like doing that to us can enjoy what all they've grown accustomed to, what all they've grown addicted to?" Dabi gently shook his head in the negative. "...No, I don't think so. I don't think that my crew and I should grin and bear with it while the rest of society takes a collective dump all over us. I don't think that what all my crew and I are doing is unreasonable. I think that anyone, if they found themselves under the same set of circumstances as us, had been subjected to the same shit as us, would like us refuse to take said abuse lying down, would have acted the same as-"

"A PHONE CALL IS HERE! A PHONE CALL IS HERE! A PHONE CALL IS HERE!"

Dabi was cut off when a ringtone of All Might's mighty baritone announcing that someone was calling sounded out from nowhere. Izuku had a look of horror on his face as he realized that it came from his phone. The change in the green haired boy's expression did not escape Dabi's notice. "...Someone calling you, Broccoli Top?" asked the blue flame villain, "Answer it or I'll have Beros turn you into the average town guard." A gesture from Dabi made Beros turn her left hand into a longbow and knock an arrow to the bowstring, aiming the arrow at Izuku's left knee.

"I thought you guys don't kill those in our age group," Juzo said as Izuku's ring tone went on.

"Typically we don't," Dabi admitted, "But we will if pushed or given a sufficient reason, like what happened with that Bakugo boy pushing Felgrand's buttons. And I highly doubt an arrow to the knee will kill Green Bean here."

"Yeah, I'm still not happy that your dragon killed Pony's baby's daddy," Setsuna grumbled.

Dabi arched a wry eyebrow. "...The Bakugo boy got a girl pregnant before Felgrand killed him? Damn. But irrelevant."

Izuku took a step forward, despite how nervous he was despite not looking nervous. "I think it's very much relevant, especially considering the fact that Kacchan did what he did to buy time for some of the other guys and I to escape with some civilian refugees to the safety of the UA safe zone."

Felgrand turned his attention to the green haired boy. "Katsuki Bakugo said that his fallen comrades were not worthy of being remembered, that they were nothing more than worthless extras in his story of how he'd become a great pro hero. Such irreverence, such disrespect for his comrades, most of all for those who had died, all went on to prove that Katsuki Bakugo was unworthy of the lofty goal that he had the gall to proclaim that he would take. It boiled my blood so, I had decided to make him see reason, make him see that the dead are in fact worth remembering, by sending him to meet them."

"Yeah, newsflash about that," Yosetsu said, "Bakugo said that he was going to deliberately piss you off so as to buy the guys and I as much time as possible to escape with the civilian refugees we were taking to the UA safe zone. Obviously Bakugo had spouted all of that mean spirited bullshit because he knew it'd piss you off and keep your focus for as long as possible."

The dragon villain considered Yosetsu's words as he looked down at where the welder boy stood. "...If what you say is true," Felgrand began, "And Katsuki Bakugo did indeed act to draw my ire solely because he wanted to give his allies time to escape and escort refugees to safety, then perhaps he'd been worthier of being a hero than I had given him credit for."

Dabi nodded in agreement. "Deliberately pissing off a guy he had no chance of surviving pissing off, just to let his friends get away with refugees. Yeah, that's pretty damn heroic, not to mention pretty damn ballsy. But again, we're getting off subject." Dabi turned to look at Izuku, whose phone never stopped ringing, never stopped calling out in All Might's mighty baritone. "Answer your phone, Forest Mop." Slowly, Izuku reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. The caller ID told Izuku that it was Uraraka, his girlfriend in Class 1-A. The green haired boy's eyes widened in alarm. Izuku's alarm didn't escape Dabi's notice. "...Who is it?"

"...My girlfriend," Izuku said, before answering the call and holding the phone to the side of his head. "...Hello?"

"Izuku, my classmates and I are hunkered down over at our fortified dorm building!" Uraraka said, "There's loads of villains outside, and we're worried their repeated assault would let them break in and take us pris-"

"I'll take that," Dabi said, interrupting the call by taking the phone from Izuku after walking up to him, "My spy told me that you're dating a girl in Shoto's class, and I know Shoto's with his classmates." Holding the phone to the side of his head, Dabi said, "Sorry, Green Bean's girl, but whatever your problem is will have to wait as your boyfriend is entertaining me and around four dozen of my crew members right now."

Uraraka cried out in alarm on the other end. "Y-You're Todoroki's villain older brother!"

"That's one way to put it, yeah," Dabi replied, "Now here's the deal. You will be answering my questions, and you had better answer them correctly, because otherwise I'll be forced to knock some heads over here, something that I'd much rather avoid but will do if you push me. First question you don't give a correct answer to will see Felgrand set Green Bean's classmate Bible Camp on fire until she's sent up to see her bestie Jesus. Second question you don't give a correct answer to will see Beros put an arrow through Green Bean's jugular. Do you understand?"

Uraraka on the other end let out a shaky breath before replying. "...What do you want to know?"

"Is Shoto with you right now?" Dabi asked.

"...Yes," Uraraka said, "My entire class aside, aside from Bakugo who your dragon killed and Aoyama who we found out is your spy, is with me right now."

Dabi let out a whistle. "You guys found out that Frenchie is my spy? Well shit, there goes his family's warranty. Guess Felgrand will be turning them into French Roast the next time we get a hold of them. Now for the next question. Where can I find you, Shoto, and the rest of your class?"

"...We're at our fortified dorm building," Uraraka said bitterly, "It's surrounded by your minions right now, but none of them had managed to break through the fortifications yet."

"Can you tell me where your building is located in proximity to Green Bean's?" Dabi asked.

"...We're located along the radius around UA going north from where Izuku's dorm building is at," Uraraka said, "My classmate Mina decided that painting the roof of our dorm building pink was a good idea because she said that she wanted to make it look 'fabulous'."

"A dorm building with a pink roof," Dabi said, "Located going north along the radius around UA from Green Bean's dorm. Got it. You better not be lying about any of this." Dabi then ended the call and tossed the phone back to Izuku. "Well kids, I'd love to stay and chat," Dabi began, "But I've got to go pick up my little brother from the play date he's having with some friends. Ciao." Dabi then turned around and left. However, Dabi and the villains he had brought with him all took pause when they heard Izuku bellow something at the top of his lungs as he zoomed at Dabi's dragon.

"EVERYONE ELSE, KEEP DABI AND THE OTHER VILLAINS OCCUPIED! I'M FIGHTING FELGRAND!"

END, CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE

Author's notes;

This chapter begins with Izuku having a flashback to a conversation he had in the vestige world of One For All, where he's told by the vestiges that he had unlocked all of the quirks sealed within One For All, as well as being told the functions of the ones he didn't have unlocked previously. The chapter then cuts back to the present where the fortified dorm Izuku and his classmates are hunkered down in is besieged by Dabi and approximately four dozen of his closest friends, with Felgrand completely taking down the whole of the building's front with Overhaul.

The villains go in, Dabi gives a long speech about how there isn't an all loving deity and that everything that happens is a result of the choices that people makes before asking Class 1-B where he can find his little brother Todoroki. A chance phone call Izuku at that moment got from Uraraka ends up giving up the ghost anyway, letting the blue flame villain get the information he needed before he and his crew try leaving. However, just before he and the others could leave, Izuku called for everyone in Class 1-B to back him in trying to keep the villain detained.

This will continue into the next chapter, where Class 1-B gets a chance to shine and try to fight the villains as much as possible.