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-two: Final war part four- Green Bean versus Felgrand

Before any of the villains were even able to tell what in the hell was going on, Izuku zoomed forward and slammed right into Felgrand, striking with enough force to shove him back far enough to give a fair amount of distance between them and Westalis, although Izuku had to use a fair amount of the kinetic energy he had built up and stored within himself via Fa Jin in order to push Felgrand away from his classmates. The instant their green haired classmate had shoved Dabi's dragon away from the scene, the rest of Class 1-B who was present went on the offensive, doing what they could to either fight or restrain Dabi and the others who he had brought along with him for the unexpected visit.

Most prominent among those trying to restrain the villains was Juzo, who softened the ground the villains were all standing on to sink them down, as if the villains were all standing in quicksand. "Hey brats, what the hell gives?!" screamed a bald male villain foot soldier.

Dabi, surprisingly enough, chuckled in amusement, as if he thought the Class 1-B students were more trying to play than to fight. "I think that the kids here just wanna play-wrestle around for a bit is all," Dabi said, "I use to play wrestle with Natsuo a few times back when we were much younger. They also probably have some pent up energy they need to let off before they're able to settle down for a na-"

*WRAP*

Dabi was cut off when vines wrapped around him as well as some of the villains with him, including the others of his inner circle who were with him. "If by 'play-wrestle', you mean 'beat you villains and end this war you're trying to bring to the whole of our nation'," Ibara called out, "Then yeah, that's sounds pretty accurate to me!"

The blue flame villain merely arched a wry eyebrow at Ibara. "...Vines, seriously? You're using vines, pure solid plant life, against me, a guy who has flames hotter than Endeavor could of ever hoped to accomplish?" Ibara's eyes widened with realization as Dabi began to conjure his blue flames, bursting himself and a few other villains, again including the rest of his inner circle that were with him, out of the sinking ground. Some of Dabi's sinister blue blaze also began to run along the vines that made up Ibara's hair, but Manga, using his quirk to make the apperopriate sound effect solid, cut Ibara's vine hair before Dabi's fire got halfway to her.

"Thank you for the save just now, Manga," Ibara said, breathing a sigh of relief that Dabi's fires wouldn't consume her after all.

"Save the thanks for later," Manga said, "We got a serious fight ahead of us!" Indeed, Dabi and all present members of his inner circle were out of the softened ground, as well as enough foot soldiers to give the villains enough free members available to fight the present members of Class 1-B one to one. An arrow from Beros flew and struck Juzo in his right thigh, making him yelp in pain and fall back, thus depriving him of being able to focus on using his quirk to sink the villains, allowing them to get started on freeing themselves.

As the Class 1-B students looked on at the villains while Juzo tried pulling the arrow out of his thigh, Dabi said, "Well now! You kids certainly are feistier than Natsuo was whenever he and I play-wrestled back in our youth! Not even Fuyumi on the one occasion she joined us was anywhere near as feisty as what you kids are being, and she was kind of a whirlwind that day!"

"Well that's the thing," Itsuka called out, "My classmates and I are training to be heroes! So of course we'll be feisty when confronting villains like you!"

Dabi chuckled a bit. "Yeah, that does make sense. Although I can't help but feel at least a little worried for Broccoli Top. I mean, he's biting off way more than he can chew, taking on Felgrand alone like that."

Yosetsu turned to look at the blue flame villain. "Our classmate Izuku is a hell of a lot stronger than you give him credit for. Even your monster is going to have to work for it if he wants to keep up with him in a fight!"

Arching a wry eyebrow, Dabi said, "Oh? You seriously think that one lone kid who's around the same age as my younger brother Shoto will be able to do what a group of around a dozen or so pro heroes, many of which at the time were in the Top Ten including fucking All Might, failed to do and give Felgrand an actual decent challenge that's tougher than basic morning exercises?"

"You're sorely underestimating Izuku," Nirengeki said as he and Yosetsu stood with Juzo.

With a yelp of pain that came with successfully pulling the arrow out from his thigh (it only went in about as deep as the arrowhead), Juzo as he hissed in pain while covering his bleeding wound said, "Izuku's one hell of a tough customer, easily the best that the whole of UA's first year hero course has to offer. It's not so much us who is overestimating Izuku, it's more along the lines of you underestimating Izuku."

Dabi gave a humming chuckle of amusement. "It's sweet that you kids have so much faith in your friend. I just hope you won't be in for a shock when Felgrand proves to you that said faith had been misplaced." Dabi then conjured up some spheres of his blue flames. "...Now then," Dabi said, "How much longer will the lads and I have to play-wrestle with you kids until you wear yourselves out enough for nap time?"

...

After shoving Felgrand a fair bit of the way away from Westalis, Izuku stared him down. The green haired boy knew that he had a destiny to follow that would have him face off against Dabi. After all, Dabi is the successor of the late villain All For One, and Izuku is the latest (and probably last) in the line of successors in wielding One For All against the tyranny of that most evil man's legacy. All For One versus One For All, successor versus successor, in a bitter fight to the finish to either save everything, or see it all come crumbling down around everyone.

But Dabi, despite how powerful of a villain he was (Dabi is a strong villain, there can be no doubting that), still wasn't anywhere near as much of a threat as some of the subordinates he had. Dabi only had one quirk, a fire conjuring one that was a different color and burned hotter than that of the late Endeavor's Hellflame. But as for the blue flame villain's dragon, Felgrand, he was an entirely different ballpark altogether. Felgrand had a total of twelve quirks, more than even Izuku who now had access to what all was available to him thanks to One For All.

Felgrand also has taken so many lives, had slain so many pro heroes. The dragon had even vanquished Katsuki Bakugo, and although Izuku had learned what it was the late Bakugo had done to invoke Felgrand's ire so, Izuku already knew that Bakugo had done something to invoke Felgrand's ire deliberately so as to keep focus on him as long as possible so as to give Izuku and some of the other guys a chance to escape with a group of fourteen civilian refugees. Bakugo, because of how the traitorous bastard Aoyama made it necessary, had sacrificed himself and died.

Died to Felgrand's claws.

"Taking out Dabi's beast here, although easier said than done, is a good idea," the second user said in Izuku's mind from within One For All, "Just be careful, especially when you decide to use my quirk."

"Don't worry, I got a plan," Izuku thought back to the second user. The green haired boy knew that he could never outlast Felgrand in a contest of endurance, some of the dragon villain's quirks made that a guarantee, so Izuku instead decided that he'd have to create a good enough opening, then utilize as many of his quirks as he can in tandem to strike Felgrand in the head hard enough to at least knock him out or otherwise render him vulnerable to a fatal strike. As much as it revolted Izuku to have to do so, he knew that the only surefire way to ensure Felgrand couldn't be a threat was to kill him.

Izuku would have to accomplish that most ultimate of heroic feats, and become a dragon-slayer.

Felgrand said nothing, kept his dragonic eyes on Izuku as he seemed to be formulating a plan of some kind. Then, the moment he saw Izuku twitch to move, he threw up an explosively growing blast of large spikes from the ground, the spikes rushing at Izuku as they grew up. Izuku recognized this attack, saw a variant of it on the news when Felgrand had fought in the Battle of Kamino Ward. Thanks to notes Izuku got to read, including notes provided by Sir Nighteye, Izuku identified the quirk that Felgrand was using right now as Overhaul, the same quirk used to instantly disassemble the whole front side of Westalis.

Danger Sense blared in Izuku's mind as he zipped around the spikes as they grew and came at him. Seeing Izuku rush through the forest of spikes like that, Felgrand used Earth Flow to conjure a set of four earthen dragon constructs, the same size as the late Ryukyu, and the same general shape as the Dragon Hero and of Felgrand himself. After conjuring his earth dragon construct familiars, Felgrand flew back to get some distance, sensing that something about Izuku that put him a notch above most any other hero the dragon villain had fought (and inevitably killed) before.

As soon as Izuku got out of the forest of spikes, he immediately zoomed straight up into the air using Float, then released a little bit of built up kinetic energy from Fa Jin to thrust himself backwards as Danger Sense warmed him of an attack coming in on his left flank. Thanks to that, Izuku was able to dodge a Hellflame breath weapon attack from Felgrand. Also, as Izuku flew back, he caught a glimpse of the points of the tall spike forest Felgrand threw at him using Overhaul. To Izuku's noted curiosity, all of the spikes had blunt, rounded points that couldn't pierce or scratch him.

"Felgrand wasn't trying to kill me with that first attack," Izuku thought, turning his attention to where Felgrand was still flying in place. Izuku saw the considering look in the eye of Felgrand not at that moment covered by his raven colored bangs. "...And I don't think he wants to kill me period." Izuku stopped midair and showed no intent to continue fighting unless attacked again, and Felgrand recognized that the green haired boy wanted a moment. "Felgrand, let me ask you something," Izuku began, "Why are you doing this? Why is Dabi and everyone else following him doing what they're doing to Japan?"

The dragon villain loosed some mild volume, guttural growling. "...Izuku Midoriya," Felgrand began, "Allow me to respond to your question with a question of my own. Do you, as one who aims to be a pro hero, wish to do the right thing?"

"What are you talking about?" Izuku replied, "Of course I want to do the right thing! That's the reason why I wanted to be a pro hero in the first place! So that I can do the right thing!"

Felgrand growled again. "...And yet you, as well as the others who are on the same side as you of this conflict we all find ourselves in, are actively trying to prevent the right thing from being done."

Izuku's expression instantly became wary and un-trusting. "...And what do you think is the right thing to do?"

"Bring about peace." Izuku's brows piqued a bit at Felgrand's response. "Peace, true peace mind you," Felgrand began to explain, "Wasn't actually known to all in the society you and the others are fighting to the bitter, pointless end to defend. In the society that you and yours are aiming to defend, true peace is only known to a very select few, as well as the personal lap dogs and personal attack dogs of those very select few. Everyone in the society that you and yours are fighting to defend who is not covered by that umbrella of peace, and those who are not covered include over ninety percent of the country's population, are left to fend for themselves, their very lives determined by the whims of fate or, more often than not, the whims of those who are covered by the aforementioned umbrella of peace set up and supported by the very select few."

The dragon villain loosed another guttural growl. "That is why Dabi is leading the others and I in doing what we're doing," Felgrand went on, "We will bring about peace, a true peace, that will be known to all or, barring that, to as many people as possible. The safety, the warmth, the comfort of knowing and having true peace will not be greedily withheld from society as a whole, horded by those who decide themselves to be the ones in charge. No, it will be shared, spread around as much and as evenly as possible. Under Dabi, the citizenry will never again have to worry. Under Dabi, the crimes and messes of foul pro heroes will not be covered up, the citizenry will know the faults of their pro heroes and will be able to hold them accountable for those faults. Under Dabi, those who hold all the cards will play them better and for the good of the many rather than just the good of themselves."

Izuku looked on as Felgrand continued with what he was saying. "...Under Dabi," Felgrand went on, "Children will never again have to worry about the safety and well-being of their families, they can return home from school with full confidence that their families will be alive and well and waiting for them, to welcome them back home and tell them that they love them." Felgrand continued to fly in place as he looked directly at Izuku. "...That, Izuku Midoriya," the dragon villain said, "Is the promise that having society under Dabi will bring. The promise of peace, true peace, for all persons living there."

To Felgrand's piqued interest, Izuku gently shook his head. "...No. It's not true peace," Izuku said, "It will see society under the rule of straight up villains, a rule that was bought by reigning untold amounts of destruction and claiming untold numbers of lives. Society cannot know the true peace you speak of, the true peace that you want, if it's been bought by acts of evil."

Felgrand loosed another guttural growl that sounded mildly unamused. "...A few points right back at you," Felgrand said, "One, the society you and yours are fighting in defense of is already being run by straight up villains. Two, those very same villains that you and yours are blindly protecting without knowing what they truly are have already reigned down untold amounts of destruction. Three, those very same villains have already claimed untold numbers of lives through their actions that serve and better only themselves and those in their exclusive club. Four, those very same villains and their club members not only are the only ones in the society you and yours fight to defend to know anything resembling true peace, but said true peace that only they know has been bought with acts of evil so numerous there's near to no end to their numbers."

Izuku gave Felgrand an unsure look. "...So what you're saying is that there's no difference between how society is run now, and how society will be run if Dabi is the one calling all of the shots."

The dragon villain gently shook his head. "...No, there is one difference, but it's a key difference. And that is how Dabi, unlike those who run the society you and yours are aiming to defend, is capable of learning from mistakes. Not just from his own mistakes, but also from the mistakes that others had made." Felgrand continued to fly in place as he and Izuku stared down at one another. "Those who run the society that you and yours are trying to protect have shown time and again that they flat out refuse to learn from their mistakes. That's why the League of Villains had formed, why the Meta Liberation Army had formed, why the League of Villains and the Meta Liberation Army combined into one and became the Paranormal Liberation Front. Those who would deign themselves as your overlords refuse to learn from any of their mistakes. They refuse to learn anything at all period. That is why Dabi decided to become the tutor who will make them learn."

Felgrand furrowed his brows as he continued to look right at Izuku, loosed another guttural growl. "...But the lesson fee isn't going to be coming cheap."

Izuku immediately rushed at Felgrand, to begin their fierce battle anew. He flew through the forest of tall blunted spikes, actually kicking off from as many of them as possible as he flew through so as to build up more kinetic energy with Fa Jin; the green haired boy knew that if he were to land a blow that would be powerful enough to at the very least knock Felgrand out, he'd need as much kinetic energy built up as possible so that he could unleash it all into one powerful burst. A burst that would still be limited in scope due to the fact that Izuku still can't use ALL of One For All safely; he was still using Full Cowling to channel as much of One For All's power as he was able to without causing harm to himself.

Luckily for Izuku, all of the training he's done, all of the experiences he's had since he first stepped foot into UA, has gotten him to the point he's at right now, where he is able to, via Full Cowling, safely use fifty percent of One For All's incredible power. A little over a year, and he's at the halfway point to truly having full control over the mighty legacy entrusted to him by his mentor and idol All Might. Izuku figured that in another year to year and a half, he could potentially be at the point that All Might in his prime was at. If only he were at that point right now, the fight against Dabi's dragon would be far easier for him to deal with. But even so, half of the power given to him from All Might, half of All Might's power, was still greater than what scores of other pro heroes would ever get to know even a fraction of in their whole lives.

Now all that remained was a single question; would it be enough to defeat not just Felgrand, but then Dabi after him, and then the rest of Dabi's followers after that?

That question was what was on Izuku's mind as he came out of the forest of tall large blunted spikes and came face to face with Felgrand's quartet of earthen dragon constructs, who were still around since Felgrand had previously conjured them in this fight. Izuku then used Smokescreen to unleash a burst of sight obscuring smoke to mask what he was doing, enveloping his surroundings and forcing Felgrand to fly up to see above everything. The dragon villain heard Izuku smashing up and busting his earthen dragon constructs, heard the din of battle coming from within that troublesome mass of sight obscuring smoke. Spreading his wings out, Felgrand flapped them hard and fast to generate a mighty gust of wind that blew away all of Izuku's conjured smoke.

By the time the last of the smoke had been blown away, Felgrand saw Izuku smashing up the last of the four earthen dragon constructs. The extra moving around, the extra smashing, had allowed Izuku to build up more kinetic energy via Fa Jin. But even with what all he had, Izuku felt that he was going to need more, going to need as much as he would be able to hold without any harm to himself, if he wanted to do lasting damage to Felgrand. Right as Izuku floated away from the crumbling remains of the last earthen dragon construct he had busted, Felgrand raised his head to look up into the skies above and loosed a skyward roar. The skies above darkened within moments, and sure enough it began to rain heavily, with strong winds blowing against Izuku as bolts of lightning struck down occasionally.

Felgrand then landed on the ground and loosed another wave of the large round blunted spikes at Izuku, doing so with one hand, while releasing a violently rolling wave of earth with the other, and then on top of that he loosed a Hellflame breath weapon that moved from side to side as Felgrand moved his head back and forth. Seeing all of that coming for him, Izuku had to dodge around large spikes, violently rolling earth waves, streams of fire swaying back and forth, and flashes of lightning, all while he was being pushed against by strong winds, just to have a shot at reaching the dragon himself to hit him with anything at all. Danger Sense was working overtime to just keep him from getting hit by any of the danger that was coming his way.

If it weren't for the weather, Izuku would of been able to avoid a lot of the assault coming his way simply by flying up into the air with Float. But not only did the winds push against him (how they didn't affect Felgrand's Hellflame breath weapon Izuku for the life of him couldn't figure out), but if he got up high enough, he'd be an easier target for the lightning strikes. He tried conjuring another cloud of sigh obscuring smoke with Smokescreen, but the winds blew most of what he conjured away by the time he released the burst of Smokescreen he'd willed up. Izuku rushed out from the second forest of large rounded blunt spikes, able to build up a little more kinetic energy via Fa Jin in the process, only for Danger Sense to go off in Izuku's head the exact moment he got out of that second spike forest.

Danger Sense had gone off because Izuku came face to face with another earthen dragon construct, which Felgrand had conjured while keeping the green haired boy at bay. Izuku couldn't dodge because Danger Sense told him he'd get hit if he tried, so he had no choice but to release a burst of the built of kinetic energy he had to strike the earthen dragon construct, destroying it. But that burst cost Izuku what all he had built up going through the second spike forest, plus a little bit extra. Also, a flash of lightning struck down in front of Izuku, not actually hitting him but surprising him, as well as temporarily blind him with the flash. That bolt of lightning coming down like that made Danger Sense blare so much Izuku wasn't able to think straight for a second.

That one second, however, ended up being very costly, as Izuku was unable to avoid it as Felgrand smacked him in the back with his tail with a tail slam attack, even catching Izuku on his tail. "Izuku Midoriya!" Felgrand said before flinging Izuku away with his tail, "You are indeed very strong! And I can tell that even the time you had to serve under Endeavor hadn't done anything to corrupt you! I can tell full well that you are still worthy of being a hero!" Izuku was sent tumbling away, and ended up coming to a stop laying face down on the ground. But Izuku was still alive and, surprisingly enough, he didn't feel that anything inside of him had been broken. He could tell that he was bruised however, but that would heal in time.

Felgrand allowed Izuku time to get back up on his feet; the green haired boy was sore and hurting from a bruised back, and he had to wait for his eyes to refocus after the flash from that bolt of lightning that nearly hit him, but he was given that time generously by the dragon villain. Once he was able to function properly again, Izuku looked up at where Felgrand was flying in place in the air. Izuku raised his fists, took a stance to show that he was still willing to fight, despite how pain and exhaustion was starting to build up on him. "...You're pretty generous for a villain," Izuku said, "Giving me time to stand up and let the flash fade from my vision. You could've hit me while I was vulnerable."

"It wouldn't be fair of me to take actions like that against someone worthy of respect," replied the dragon villain, "And you're still a hero student. I am loathe to kill a hero student, even if sufficiently pushed into it." Felgrand's gaze narrowed a bit. "...Unless I have very good reason, like what Katsuki Bakugo had given me by shouting at me those poison words of his, even though I found out he shouted said poison at me so as to stoke my ire to buy time for his fellows to escape with innocents. He may have spoken foully at me, but if the reasons given for his actions are true, then I had done him a disservice by thinking him unworthy of being a pro hero." Felgrand loosed a guttural growl. "...But Yugo Aoyama has no such honor, and Dabi had learned you and your had discovered Yugo's status as a spy. I suspect that Dabi will be giving the order to have the Aoyama family killed, a spy who's cover is blown has no more value."

Izuku grimaced at the dragon villain's latest words. As much as Izuku felt revolted by Aoyama due to finding out what all the sparkly French boy had done, Izuku still couldn't find it in him to want Aoyama and his parents killed. Although they gave in to their cowardice and served the villains, the Aoyamas, when one gave the matter some thought, were still victims. Izuku would much prefer that the Aoyamas all receive (considerable) jail time for what their actions had led to, make them take time to reflect on what they had done and to truly repent. The villains in this sense would have none of that, seeing themselves as judge, jury, and executioner. The villains here would much prefer to skip straight to killing the Aoyamas.

Izuku panted a bit, getting tired. "...I don't suppose that you could be convinced to instead allow Aoyama and his parents to live out their lives behind bars, to wallow in their guilt and shame over what they had done?"

"I want to kill Yugo Aoyama for what I now know he is responsible for," Felgrand replied, "And even if you were successful in making me change my opinion, it wouldn't matter anyway if Dabi told me to kill the Aoyamas. If you want the Aoyamas to live, to wallow in their guilt and shame behind bars even if it would end up being for the rest of their lives, you'd have to convince Dabi to allow it to happen. Yugo Aoyama should count himself lucky that I don't intend to collect his head."

Izuku saw that the villains here were refusing to be reasoned with. In that sense, they were proving themselves as no better than the persons they aimed to usurp as the ones calling all the shots in society. As the green haired boy ran through the options in his mind, wracking his brain for the best possible idea that he could come up with, he soon came to the realization that he had no other option left but to use Gearshift to (hopefully) wrap things up here. As soon as Izuku thought about using the second user's power, the second user himself began to speak to Izuku within his mind via One For All.

"You're actually going to activate my quirk," the second user said to Izuku within his mind.

Izuku nodded once, but said nothing. "...Yes," Izuku thought back.

"You are aware that, due to the burden that using Gearshift will be coming with," the second user began to thought at Izuku, "You will have about five minutes to defeat Felgrand after you start using Gearshift before the burden takes you out of the fight."

Giving another single nod, Izuku thought to the second user, "...Yes."

The second user gave a resigned, but very understanding, sigh. "...Very well. If and when you're able to, aim for a solid blow to the side of Felgrand's head, hopefully that will at the very least knock him out." Izuku gave one more understanding nod before he covered his right fist with his left hand, let out a breath as he tried to make himself calm down because of how nervous he was.

"Gearshift." Power began emanating from Izuku, enough so that it actually caught Felgrand's attention. The dragon villain looked on in curiosity, although a hint in his eyes denoted how he was cautious at the same time. He was also surprised and amazed that Izuku had such a power like this, and was actually happy that such power was in the hands of one who had proven himself worthy to work the pro hero profession. Izuku opened his eyes, and looked right at where Felgrand flew in place in the air. Izuku's pools of emerald made it clear that he meant business now, and that nothing that he would be able to help would be stopping him from doing what he felt was his pro heroic duty.

END, CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

Author's notes;

This chapter sees the students of UA's Class 1-B attempt to keep Dabi and the crew that he brought with them to try to keep the villains from going after where the fortified dorm building that Class 1-A is located in. Of particular note is how Izuku blitzed in to shove Felgrand away so he could try dealing with him alone. The two of them fight, exchange words to share their views, then get to fighting again. Izuku is forced to use all of his tricks to keep up with the mighty dragon, and near the end is forced to whip out his trump card, Gearshift, which gives him a time limit before he's taken out of the fight regardless. But Felgrand has even more tricks than Izuku, so how the battle will end up going is still up in the air.

This will be continuing into the next chapter, which will start off by seeing more of what the rest of the present members of Class 1-B can do before cutting back to Izuku's duel with Dabi's dragon.