Chapter 07: Fight As One

"So how the heck are we gonna get outta here?" Minoru asked as he, Izumi, and Tsuyu looked over the railing to see the various thugs waiting for them to jump in the water.

"Well, you know how water conducts electricity?" Izumi said as Minoru and Tsuyu quickly realized what she was implying, her hands sparking with electricity. The villains had the same realization and looks of horror plastered on their faces as they tried to swim away.

"SORRY ABOUT THIS!"

Izumi fired a blast of lightning, striking the water and electrocuting all the villains, no matter how much they tried to escape. Izumi winced as she controlled the electricity so it didn't end up killing the attackers but they were still smoked pretty badly.

"Holy shit, Midoriya, did you just murder those guys?" Minoru asked as Tsuyu put a hand over his mouth and shook her head as Izumi turned to her classmates and smiled, lifting up a finger as a bridge of solidified water rose for them to cross.

"After you!"


After crossing the water bridge, Izumi, Tsuyu, and Minoru safely reached the shore of the Shipwreck Zone, allowing Izumi to dispel the bridge.

"So what now?" Minoru asked. "Maybe we should find our way to the exit. See if we can't find the villain who's jamming the alarms."

"It's probably a good idea to stop that Warping Villain. Luckily, Akatani-Kun teleported Iida-Kun to safety earlier. I think he might be running to get help right now."

"Even if Iida comes with back-up, it's possible that most of the villains here are already cleaned up." Tsuyu pointed out. "I'm pretty sure Aizawa-Sensei is dealing with the ringleader right now too."

"I don't know about that, Tsu..." Izumi said. "Aizawa-Sensei is at a big disadvantage. His Quirk needs constant eye contact to function. One blink and his opponent can get the drop on him, so he's vulnerable to being worn down in a crowd."

"But you saw him kicking all that ass before we were warped. He's got this in the bag!" Minoru said, trying to hold faith in his teacher.

"True, but I'm worried about that big monster that Melissa-Chan pointed out earlier," Izumi said. "The leader, Shigaraki, suggested it was being saved for All-Might. But with the other villains being used to lure him here, what's to stop him from unleashing it early if they no longer have value as a lure? Most of them are like us. They haven't had any real training with their Quirks."

"Speak for yourself, Midoriya. You're practically a Goddess with your Quirk." Minoru said as Izumi blushed, deciding to take those words as a compliment.


In the Landslide Zone, Shoto had just finished freezing the remaining villains in ice while Melissa picked off any stragglers before joining the heterochromatic boy.

"This is why the Hero Course system has been refined, to keep out those who are untrained in the use of their Quirks. But rather than choose a more suitable path, you let yourselves be drawn in by the allure of a villain's life."

"Todoroki, don't you think it's a good idea if we ask these creeps what that giant monster in the center is?" Melissa pointed out as Shoto realized she had a point before turning to one of the frozen villains.

"Listen well. If you stay frozen like that your cells will slowly die. You'll soon succumb to frostbite and hypothermia. Now as a young man striving to become a hero, I'd prefer that not happen. I'd like to avoid unnecessary cruelty."

"So tell us what your boss has planned for All-Might!" Melissa demanded. She had to refrain from saying 'Uncle Might' in order to avoid getting unnecessary attention from these low-lives.

"O-Okay, okay, I'll tell you..." Whimpered the frozen villain through shaking breaths.


In the Mountain Zone, Denki jabbed his shock baton into one of the villains, taking him to the floor almost instantly. Momo was disabling most of the villains with capture weapons such as bolas and nets, while Kyouka plugged her earlobes into various speakers along her costume to unleash a stunning sound wave from her own heartbeat, paralyzing several more villains.

"Everyone!" Melissa's voice came through special radio earpieces she had made for everyone. "None of these guys are elite threats. They're just high school dropouts and street-level thugs recruited as fodder. That large black monster they came with is the one who's supposed to kill All-Might."

"So we just gotta avoid the ringleaders in the center, right? So long as we do that, we should come out of this alive." Denki said as he tapped into his radio headset.

"Why bother recruiting from the gutter?" Kyouka asked, "They have a villain with a Warp Quirk, wouldn't it be more efficient to break into Tartarus for stronger villains?"

"It's possible his Quirk isn't able to bypass it." Momo deduced as she concentrated real hard before creating a large insulating blanket for herself and Kyouka. Denki smirked when he realized what they were doing as he charged up with the full power of his Quirk.

"The thing about my Quirk is, it makes me a human taser. But I can only control where the electricity comes from, not where it goes. If I went all out, I might accidentally hit my classmates. But it still works like normal electricity, so things like rubber or other insulators are immune. And from what I'm seeing..."None of you creeps even has wood for an armor coating!"

Denki let out a fierce cry as he unloaded all of his electricity on the group of villains. The thugs all screamed as they were paralyzed to their very cores before dropping like smoking flies caught in a bug zapper.

"They didn't even have rubber soles on their boots. Bunch of edgelords thinking it was cool to have metal-studded ones." Kyouka chuckled before noticing Denki in a dazed stupor, giving thumbs-up and wandering around like an idiot. The rocker girl burst out laughing at the sight of her classmate while Momo put a finger to her chin.

"The ringleader...Mikumo-San addressed him as if they knew each other and he replied in kind...do they have a history?"


Aizawa grunted as he took down the last villain. it was a hassle to be sure but he had managed to take them all down. It was then that he noticed Shigaraki rushing at him at speeds too fast to be considered normal. Before he knew it, the villain had grabbed his elbow as he moved into a defensive position and much to his horror, it began decaying slowly, first through the cloth than the skin, and then began eroding the muscle tissue.

Acting quickly, Aizawa used [Erasure] to get the villain off him and stop him from taking his arm. Shigaraki grunted as he jumped back to avoid getting hit with a retaliation attack.

"You really are cool, Eraserhead. In all honesty, you're one of the few Heroes in this disgusting blind society that I respect more than anything."

"How so?" Aizawa said with a glare as he nursed his damaged elbow.

"Despite being a Hero, you see this society for the cesspool it is."

As Shigaraki and Aizawa talked, Izumi, Minoru, and Tsuyu had arrived to see Shigaraki's Quirk in action.

"A Contact-Type Quirk..." Izumi mumbled. "We should be careful, we don't know the full extent of what it can do yet."

"Oh, and one more thing, Eraserhead..." Shigaraki said as he finished his little chat with the 1-A teacher. "I'm not the true final boss here...NOMU!"

The black monster came to Shigaraki at attention, almost like a loyal attack dog as Aizawa got on guard. Despite the pain in his eroded elbow, he wouldn't falter in the face of any threat so long as his students were in danger.

"I was hoping to save our heavy hitter for the final boss, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to give him a little more XP before taking on All-Might."


Meanwhile, Kurogiri was having to face down Thirteen and the Class 1-A students he hadn't been able to warp. He had been quite frustrated that Akatani had managed to teleport Tenya out of the USJ to go get help but he figured he'd stop any more of the students from escaping at the very least before the cavalry arrived.

Thirteen was currently using her [Black Hole] to suck up the excess mist from Kurogiri's form. He had tried to use his portals to divert her Quirk behind her but Ochako had unleashed a stream of Electromagnetic energy that got him by his metal collar, leaving him exposed and unable to fight back properly.

"This is quite troubling. If I don't find a way to escape and regroup with Shigaraki, then it will truly be Game Over!"


In the Collapse Zone, Katsumi and Eijirou had knocked out most of the villains. As they surveyed their handiwork, a Chameleon-esque Villain known as Invisible Wall tried to get the jump on Katsumi, only for the blonde to grab him by the face without so much as giving him a passing glance and unleashing a mild explosion that was just strong enough to knock the creep unconscious.

"Most of our classmates are taking down the other villains," Eijirou noted as he dusted himself off. "A lot of them seem pretty weak. Like they haven't been villains for very long."

"Most big shot Villain groups tend to scrape the bottom of the barrel before finding the lucky break," Katsumi said as she cracked her neck from side to side. "The hero washouts, the ostracized, the homeless, you get the idea. It's easy for a big leaguer to bring these losers into the fold with promises of home, family, and anything else society may have been unable to provide for them."

"You know when you're not fighting and throwing insults, you're actually pretty calm and rational, Bakugou," Eijirou said as the blonde turned to him with a smirk that made his heart skip a beat.

"Trying to butter me up, Shitty Hair-Kun? Well, maybe when this is all over, we can see about a little reward~."

"D-Don't you think we should wait until we're a little older for that?!" Eijirou asked, his face now redder than his hair as Katsumi laughed at his reaction.

"I'm just fucking with ya! Come on, let's head to the plaza and see if we can tear that ringleader a new asshole!"


Akatani had managed to make his way out of the Fire Zone and was heading to the plaza, hoping he wasn't too late.

"If Shigaraki is there and taking action himself, then Aizawa-Sensei probably won't last much longer!"

Sure enough, Akatani arrived to see Izumi rushing in front of Aizawa to defend him from the black monster known as Nomu, erecting a barrier composed of the ground beneath her to stop its assault.

"Ah, that's a pretty powerful Quirk you've got there..." Shigaraki said with a smirk as he saw Izumi rush to her teacher's defense. "Too bad Nomu will simply break through whatever defenses you have!"

"Wanna bet?!" Izumi challenged as she coated both arms in electricity and grabbed the Nomu by the chest, unleashing as much electricity as she could manage to fry the beast. However, when she was finished, the Nomu was still intact but smoking and staggering back, trying to regain its bearings.

"Dammit, perhaps I spoke too soon..." Shigaraki growled, scratching his neck with three of his fingers when he saw his weapon slowly recovering from the massive shock it received.

Kurogiri, who had managed to take an opening to escape Thirteen, arrived beside Shigaraki.

"Tomura, I wasn't able to kill Thirteen and before I warped most of the students, Young Mikumo warped one of them away, no doubt outside the USJ to call for help."

"And speak of the devil and he shall appear!" Akatani said as he made his presence known.

"Aka-Kun!" Izumi cried as Tsuyu and Minoru made their way to Aizawa, helping him as he clutched his still damaged elbow.

"Ah, my sweet little Otōto. Finally come back to join the family, huh?"

"'The Family' can bite me." Akatani scowled. "I hoped that when All-Might rescued me, I'd never have to see any of you bastards again...not after what you did to Katsuo!"

"Still blaming us, huh?" Tomura sneered behind his hand mask. "You do realize it was All-Might who caused that debris to fly around, not us."

"I know he didn't intend for collateral damage..." Akatani said, his head bowed. "I admit, I couldn't forgive him at the time, but when I saw how horribly it affected him when I told him, I knew I couldn't leave him with such a burden...so I forgave him."

"Wait, All-Might caused collateral damage, and a friend of Aka-Kun got caught in it?" Izumi thought, deciding she needed to talk to Toshinori when he had the time...provided they made their way out of this situation alive.

"Heh, you're too much of a bleeding heart, Akatani." Tomura chuckled. "You would have been better off staying with us. Your REAL family. Maybe then Katsuo and that bitch mom of his wouldn't have died in the first place!"

Akatani gritted his teeth, his fists clenching tight enough to draw blood as Izumi narrowed her eyes, realizing that Shigaraki was trying to get him riled up. Kurogiri looked like he didn't want to stall for time as he turned to his ward.

"Should we retreat?"

Tomura shook his head. "No, not yet. After this they'll beef up security, making the level that much harder. We won't get a second chance. How's the rest of the party?"

"Considering how skilled and capable these young aspiring heroes are, I doubt they are doing very well."

Tomura nodded as he turned his attention back to the heroes. "Okay, we may still be able to accomplish a side quest at the very least. We can still wreck the Symbol of Peace's pride. Nomu! Stalk down the students and kill every last one of them!"

Tomura then dashed toward Izumi, who got on guard as he reached his hand out for her. However, it was at that moment, that he screamed when his outstretched hand was lopped off at the shoulder.

"Don't...TOUCH HER!"

"Aka-Kun!"

Akatani had transformed his arm into a sword and with one swift motion, sliced off Tomura's attacking arm. The young villain growled and fell to one knee from the pain before feeling Akatani grab his neck.

"Your Quirk...I think you'll probably appreciate me getting rid of it for you."

Tomura grunted as he felt Akatani suck away his Quirk, [Decay], and add it into the endless forge of [Quirk Artificer]. The young villain broke free and growled as he looked at his hands, realizing he was now effectively Quirkless.

"A part of me feels grateful, Otōto. That damned Quirk destroyed my family after all...though I guess Father destroyed it first."

Akatani didn't give his 'brother' a reply as he took [Decay] and closed his eyes, harnessing the forge inside him to break apart the dangerous Quirk until there was nothing left. He had effectively 'killed' the Quirk to make sure it never hurt anybody ever again.

"Thank you..." Came a voice inside Akatani's soul. it resonated from the half of [Quirk Artificer] that housed [One for All]. The raven-haired boy smiled, recognizing the motherly voice.

"Your welcome, Mama Seven..."

"Well, this is troubling..." Tomura said in annoyance, scratching his neck with all his fingers since he didn't need to worry about his own Quirk backfiring on him anymore, considering he no longer had it. "I guess this really is Game Over..."

"INDEED!" A booming voice said as the students of Class 1-A turned and smiled in relief when they recognized who had just arrived. As for Tomura, he sneered in annoyance at just how badly things were turning out.

"And NOW the Final Boss arrives...just fucking typical!"

All-Might himself stood before everyone, a furious scowl on his face directed at the villains that dared threaten his precious students, adoptive son, and co-workers.

"HAVE NO FEAR! FOR I. AM. HERE!