Chapter 50:

"Huh?" Uravity suddenly felt weakened. Along with everybody else, it's as if something was syphoning their energy away. Her eyes widened in realisation as she turned to Rikiya, who was slowly standing up and laughing. She saw a recently used Trigger injector. "Oh, no."

"He's getting up, boys! Get those guns ready!" Gunsha from the police squad exclaimed while everyone aimed their guns at Rikiya. Uravity held up her hand, telling them to stop. "Wait! Hold! What is it, Uravity?"

"Good call, Uravity." Ryukyu once again slowly started turning into her dragon form. Nejire-chan didn't even look that tired. Froppy was also standing up. "I have a plan. Nejire-chan!"

"Got it!"

Rikiya struck first, but Ryukyu blocked his punch. He tried to punch her again with his other fist, but she caught it with her claws. She bit down hard on his shoulders, blood splattering everywhere. He grunted in pain, but kept trying to attack Ryukyu. Nejire-chan was way above them, out of Rikiya's energy syphoning range, bidding for her time.

"Stupid bitch!" Rikiya yelled while slamming Ryukyu into the ground. Uravity took this chance, with the villain now distracted by Ryukyu. All it took was one touch from her to make him weightless, instantly making his strength mean nothing. Froppy used her tongue to tie his arms while Ryukyu punched him again and hit him with a headbutt. Froppy lets go of her hold on him as Ryukyu grabs Rikiya and carries him up in the air.

"Nejire-chan! Now!" Ryukyu signalled her intern and Nejire-chan blasted him in the face with the full power of her quirk. Ryukyu turned around to the ground while still grabbing onto Rikiya.

"URAVITY!"

Uravity touched the tip of her fingers together. "RELEASE!"

Ryukyu felt the weight on Rikiya again, using that to put more force in her attack. They were getting closer to the ground with everyone taking cover at what's about to happen.

"DRAGON BUSTER!"

Dying…

Throat.

Chest.

Abdomen.

Arms.

He was spiked in all of those areas. Izuku could tell that they went through his body. He couldn't even say a word with his throat being completely wrecked, but he could hear Overhaul laugh. The pain was more than he could imagine, and he could just barely move his eyes. He looked at Murry and Eri, who were both horrified at what they saw. He looked at Nighteye and Mirio, who had their mouths agape in disbelief.

He was dying, and it hurt. He looked at Himiko. She was shocked, her hands covering her mouth. He could tell that she was paralyzed. Izuku was dying, but the one that hurt the most was dying in front of Himiko. "I'm sorry."

Izuku was dying.

Eri could only look in horror at what she caused. Had she not run to her brother so hastily… She got someone hurt again. She can't accept this. She won't accept this, and so Eri ran again, getting out of Murry's grasp. The girl could only hope to save the hero, her horn glowing, activating her quirk. Murry called out her name, but she ignored it against her best judgement. The moment her hands touched Izuku's broken body, the boy glowed. His body slowly patched up, and when it was complete, he gasped for air.

"Wha-? Holy shit. What the hell? Huh?!" Izuku was not dying anymore. He looked at the one that saved his life, which was Eri. He then looked at Overhaul. The Yakuza boss tried spiking him again, but this time, Izuku was ready. With a single thought of using his quirk and a boost from One-For-All, he separated the molecules of the spikes coming at him and Eri. "That won't happen again, dick."

Black Whip came out of his body and struck Overhaul. The Yakuza boss dodged barely as more came for him. Nothing happened when he grabbed the damned tendrils. "Is this made of energy?"

Overhaul closed in on Izuku, reaching his hand out to make contact with the hero-in-training. Izuku allowed it. Overhaul laughed again, thinking that he won, only to be confused why Izuku was not turned into a red painting on the ground yet.

"Hmm, yeah, I figured. I could feel you trying to rip me apart with your quirk, but mine is stronger than yours." Izuku smiled at him while his eyes glowed green. One punch sent Overhaul to the opposite end of the wall, putting the Yakuza boss in a state of shock. Izuku admits, had it not been One-For-All strengthening his quirk, he would not have survived Overhaul's instant kill.

"Holy shit, kid. I felt that all the way over here. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, grandma Nana." He answered back to the vestige with his thoughts.

"Good. Don't scare me like that again. Now, pay attention to the kid behind you. She still has her quirk active. Overhaul over there is still confused about what just happened."

Izuku turned to look at Eri with her still glowing horn.

"Do you know how to turn it off?" Izuku asked the girl, but it looked like she couldn't speak.

"She doesn't." Murry intervened while walking near them. Izuku noticed Murry was making sure not to touch Eri yet. "Her quirk reverses the biological time of any living thing. I once saw her turn a tree into a sapling before passing out from exhaustion. I don't know how to turn it off either, but she is in a dangerous state right now and if anyone touches her, they'll eventually disappear."

Himiko was the first to run at Izuku and give him a hug. Then she smacked him upside the head. "We don't let Camie know about this, otherwise she'll have a panic attack."

"Ouch, and yeah. Sorry that I got myself killed, Himiko." Izuku was right to look ashamed. "My body kinda just moved on its own."

"Well, you better tell your body to stop being stupid." Himiko pointed accusingly at his chest.

"SpiderStorm." Nighteye and Mirio approached him. The hero checked Izuku's condition to see if there was anything else wrong. He then looked at Murry and gestured at Eri. "Smoses, may I test something?"

"I don't like where this is going." Murry admitted and looked at Eri. "Do you mind if that old man tries something? I promise you won't get hurt. If he hurts you, I'll slice him in half."

Eri nodded. That was all Nighteye needed, before telling Mirio to place his hand on Eri's head. The boy glowed with her, all his wounds disappeared. "Could count for healing… hmm, you said your quirk was destroyed? Try using it again."

Mirio activated his quirk, sinking into the ground before jumping back out again. He was happy that he got his quirk back and the girl was to thank for it. "Thanks, ki- gaaaah!" He quickly let go when he tried to pat her.

"Dude, you look a year younger right now." Izuku said worryingly.

Murry bent down to talk to Eri. "See, Eri? Your quirk ain't all cursed and evil. You're a hero to that guy now." He pointed at Mirio, who looks a year younger. "Just gotta learn how to use it, aight?"

Eri looked relieved. This was proof that everything Overhaul told her was a lie. She was not a curse. She is not a blessing, either. She's Eri.

*CRAKCNOVWBVOVAJDB*

"AUNTY?!"

The moment was interrupted by Ryukyu and Rikiya crashing from the ceiling. Overhaul took this as a chance to touch his strongest minion and merge with him. The Yakuza boss turned into a hulking monstrosity that could no longer be called a human.

"You are still a curse." The monster pointed at Eri. It tried to grab everyone, but Izuku used his quirk to reshape the ground into a gigantic dragon claw, and destroyed the arm. It didn't phase the monster as it started regenerating.

"Ah shit, my new move does nothing. This is gonna be…"

"I-I want to help." Eri struggled to say.

"What? No!" Murry and Izuku said at the same time.

"I can't turn my quirk off, but… but it can heal you!" Eri tried to explain herself to the two boys. Now Himiko joined in to convince the kid that this was a bad idea. Even Nighteye thinks so. Nobody expected what happened next, with Eri making contact with Izuku.

"Wha-" Izuku didn't have any time to think other than his own survival. With Eri's power, he had no choice but to activate One-For-All at its full power. His body kept breaking over and over, only to be reversed by Eri's quirk. This is a perfect balance between them.

"I want to help! Watch out."

"Damn kid!" Izuku turned around and punched the ever-living shit out of the monster that was Overhaul. It absolutely obliterated half of the villain's body. Even then, the monster still regenerates. "Let go!"

"No!"

"Eri, let go!" Murry said, but Eri didn't listen. No one else but Izuku could handle her quirk right now, and even then, he could only do so barely.

"Murry, I-" Izuku was at a loss for words.

"Shit. Aight. Sure, help him. Just… don't do this again after, okay?" Murry was using all of his mental power not to just pass out there. He did not want to do this, but he literally can not get Eri to let go of Izuku. "SpiderStorm, make sure she stays safe, okay? I trust you."

"Lemillion and I will search for Eraserhead. He can stop Eri's quirk. SpiderStorm, for your sake, be careful." Nighteye told Izuku before departing. It was a hard choice, but with the ability to use the full power of One-For-All, he can entrust the task of defeating Overhaul to his intern.

"Aunty! Outta the way. I got something I need to do." Izuku held his hands out, activating his quirk. Ryukyu understands what's about to happen and flies back up to the ground. Being boosted with the 100% of One-For-All, he now has more control over it than ever. With a single motion similar to an uppercut, he summoned an even bigger Dragon Claw from the ground, launching the monster into the air.

Izuku looked at Himiko and Murry, giving them an apologetic look. Murry pulled out fifteen cigarettes and started smoking all of them at once, refuelling himself. He was not about to let Izuku face that monster alone in the air. Himiko would give him a hug and a kiss on the cheek for good luck, but she's not really into the whole erased from existence thing. He bent his legs and jumped. He didn't even notice that he and Eri were instantly up in the air, only level with the monster. "Whoa, is this what All Might feels like all the time? Doesn't matter." He tested the range of his quirk. Izuku could feel it manipulating the ground below.

"DIE!" The monster bellowed as it swipes at him. Izuku made sure that only he was hit, and not Eri. The damage he took was healed back instantly. He shot out his nanostrings from his hand to bring himself closer to Overhaul, going in for a kick.

"EDINBURGH SMASH!" It was an aerial dropkick, instantly obliterating ¾ of the monster's body before it quickly regenerated. Something happened as more of its limbs appeared to get sliced off.

"Nice to see ya again, dad!" Murry's lower half was in his smoke form, allowing him to fly in the air. He was caught off guard by how fast Izuku was off the ground, but he managed to catch up.

"MOKEMURI!" The monster roared in the angriest tone. He regenerated a limb quickly and tried to strike down his own son. "YOU STRIKE AT YOUR FATHER?!"

"I'M GONNA BREAK YOU BACK!" Murry turned into smoke, avoiding the damage before turning back and slicing the arms with his katana. He didn't stop there, using burning smoke projectiles in the shape of slashes to attack his father from a distance. The monster summoned bone tendrils to strike at Murry, but they were disintegrated by Izuku, who then reshaped it into spikes. Izuku aimed at Overhaul with the bone spikes and used his quirk to launch them at the speed of sound, stabbing the monster multiple times. He could feel Eri's power slowly overtaking One-For-All destroying his body.

"SMOSES! We need to end this quickly. I can't keep up with Eri's quirk." Izuku yelled at the top of his lungs to make sure his friend heard him. Murry nodded as he turned into smoke and got inside of the monster, slowly suffocating it. This forced the monster to start adopting to what Murry is doing, creating holes in his body to allow oxygen to pass through and be purified without the need for lungs. Murry was doing his best to block out the adaptation and distract him.

"Hold on very tight, Eri." Izuku told Eri as he felt the kid hold him tighter. He closed his eyes, using all of his concentration to get as much of the debris and matter on the ground to get up in the air quickly and surround him. The form became bigger and bigger until he was inside of his large creation. This was his strongest attack. In the form of a dragon constructed from the destruction left by Overhaul, he strikes.

The monster could only look up when a big shadow blocked out the sun. He was too busy dealing with his mistake of a son to realise what was happening. Overhaul saw what could only be a true monster. Made of dirt, concrete, and everything that can be seen on the ground, he witnessed the creation of a dragon. Its head had what looked like eight eyes and the wings were more like 8 protruding spider legs. It did not make a sound, but the eyes glowed green with power. Its size dwarfs that of Ryukyu's dragon form and it makes even Overhaul monster form look like a small puppy. With a silent roar, it flew at him, its sharpened teeth biting him. The force itself was enough to shatter his entire monster form, degrading him into nothing more than a limbless victim. He could not even react, as the pain was too great. The bite held on to him, sending both of them straight to the ground. He could feel Murry leave his body and be left behind in the air, as the speed of the attack was faster than anyone could have imagined. When they hit the ground, he was struck by the full power and weight of the dragon.

STORMING SPIDER-DRAGON'S BITE

The attack left a crater on the ground, and anyone not holding on to anything or not behind Ryukyu's dragon form was launched away from the force of the impact. Everyone was left in awe of the attack. It was nothing short of a miracle when they saw Overhaul still breathing. Nemoto and Rikiya were separated from him by the force of SpiderStorm's strongest attack. The dragon construct crumbled as Izuku was on his knees. Not from the pain of the attack, but from Eri's quirk now overtaking One-For-All's power.

"DON'T! GET! CLOSE!" Izuku struggled to speak, but everyone heard the message loud and clear. Murry flew back down next to him without touching. The smoker was trying to figure out how to make Eri turn off her quirk. It was then that Eraserhead finally emerged from the mansion with Mirio helping him walk. He stared at both Izuku and Eri, simultaneously stopping their quirks. That was when they passed out. That was also the moment Overhaul took the opportunity for one last attack. With the last of his energy, he stood up and ran, catching even Murry off guard.

"No!" Murry reached out as Overhaul closed in on Izuku and Eri, with his hands ready to kill them.

*BANG*

A rubber bullet hit Overhaul at the side of the head.

"DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!" Uravity followed through, using Gunhead Martial Arts to take down Overhaul. Murry looked where the bullet came from. He saw Gunsha holding an assault rifle. He was uncharacteristically serious.

"That was a close one, man! Seriously, I don't even know SpiderStorm can do that cool shit!" Gunsha's seriousness disappeared when Overhaul was taken down by Uravity. He nodded at Murry and tipped his Shiketsu cap at the ex-Yakuza hero-in-training.

"Thanks, Gunsha. I owe you one." Murry was relieved that his friend was there right on time.

Aftermath…

"Okay, one at a time, boys." Gunsha ushered the Yakuza loyal to Murry's grandfather in the police van. They all complied, saying something about preferring to go to jail than to be Overhaul's underling. That gramps must have been one hell of a guy if they were this loyal to him. "I just hope they don't make me do any of the paperwork again."

The rest and more volatile Overhaul loyalists were cuffed and sent into the other police vans to avoid any fighting inside. All of them might need to go to separate prisons to avoid any internal gang wars.

"Wait." Rappa suddenly said as Murry came into view. The police were about to say something, but Fat Gum stopped them. The hero nodded at Rappa, which he'll never admit to be thankful for. "Murry!"

"Rappa?" Murry walked over to him, entrusting Eri's care to Himiko, Uravity, Froppy, and the paramedics. "Bro, did you actually fight one of em? I told you not to!"

"Well, I can't help it, runt! These guys were too fun." He gestured at Fat Gum and Red Riot. Fat Gum had bruises all over him while Red Riot was in a worse condition, suffering from lacerations on his arm for blocking Rappa's barrage of attacks. "I want to fight them again, but…" He showed the police cuffs to Murry.

"There anything I can do about this? I swear, he's not really a bad guy. He just wants a good fight." Murry tried to bargain with Fat Gum. The hero sadly shook his head. If what Rappa told him was true, this would be like denying the son to see his dad get free. "Come on, man! Anything?"

"Nah, don't bother, kid." Rappa told Murry. He patted Murry's head. He smiled sadly at the one who he eventually saw as his own son. "Just take care of Eri. You're her big brother, after all. See ya around, kid."

"Hey! Is there really nothing anyone can-"

"I'm sorry, Smoses." Nighteye walked up behind him and placed a hand on the hero-in-training's shoulder. "The best we could do is lighten his sentence."

Murry looked at Nighteye and then glanced back at Rappa. It'd be too embarrassing to cry about it, but he still did. Rappa only laughed at him before getting in the police van. "Man up, runt! I didn't raise you to cry after a minor setback!" His guardian said as the police closed the door of the van.

Hospital…

"How's everyone doing?" Izuku just got out of the hospital bed. The only problem the doctors could find about him was that he was beyond exhausted. Two days already passed when he woke up with Himiko sleeping by his side.

"The only major injuries we've had were Fat Gum, Red Riot, and Suneater." The doctor explained to him while Himiko listened to their conversation.

"And Eri?" Himiko asked him. The doctor smiled.

"The girl has a fever, but she'll live."

"Oh, Buddha's fat fucking chin. What a relief." It was as if something heavy was removed from Izuku's shoulders as he felt himself relax. In fact, he was so relaxed that he sat down on the ground, to Himiko's worry.

"How tired were you?"

"Very. Any bad news?"

"Well…" Himiko hesitated, but told him anyway. Hours after Overhaul's capture, the League of Villains attacked the van transporting him. They didn't kill him. They only took away his arms.

"Must have explained why Twice was there. The Shie Hassaikai might have been the League's new rival faction." Izuku did not let that bother him. At least he tried not to.

The two got out of the room to see Nighteye and All Might talking. They were not smiling, but whatever they were talking about didn't seem grim either. They shook hands after. All Might saw the two of them.

"Young Izuku. Young Himiko." He nodded. They greeted him back. "It seems that here was an update to One-For-All that you forgot to tell me about. You have 14 years left, I believe?" The former hero asked Izuku.

"Yeah, but I know a guy who can help me figure it out. He's kinda in the know now, since he has to. Don't worry about it, All Might. Seiji can keep it a secret." Izuku reassured All Might, but his hero could only smile.

"While I have to warn you of the dangers of casually telling others of this secret, I trust your judgement. Besides," All Might placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder. "I'm proud that you're able to find more people that you could trust with your quirk. More friends than even I could entrust it to."

"O-oh." Izuku did not expect that compliment, and now he's feeling flustered. Himiko giggled at the rare time that he was caught off-guard. "I wasn't expecting a compliment."

"Learn to take one, Young Izuku. Still, try not to do something as risky as what you've done during the raid. Your older sister will kill me if anything happens to you." All Might joked about it. Or at least Izuku thinks it's a joke. Tatsumaki always follows through with her promise. From the looks of it, none of his other family members were informed yet of what happened. "It looks like we'll be back to square one in your training. I shall partake in it whenever I have a time off in my duties as a teacher. Consider me a good cop to Gran Torino's bad cop. I have been practising my teaching skills, and I am confident that I might finally be able to properly teach you."

"Hope you don't feel the burden of the world on your back with that power you got." Himiko teased him.

"I'm not worried. I got you and the rest of our friends to help this out. No offence, All Might, I don't plan to become a lone pillar."

"And that is why you are already better than me."

"I-I, uuhh. I, well…"

"WAHAHAHAHA!" All Might laughed at him being caught off-guard again. He didn't even care about the blood coming out of his mouth when he did so. "Now I can see why you wished to be an underground hero, and yet, what you did two days ago was not at all subtle! WAHAHA!"

"Excuse me." Nighteye finally decided that now was the time to enter the conversation. "Toga, regarding your quirk. You mentioned it being able to take the form of a person?"

"Yes?" Himiko was cautious about where this was going. Nighteye reached into his pocket and revealed a vial of blood. "Okay, that's a vial of blood."

"Have you heard of the theory behind Quirk Awakening?" Nighteye asked her. Himiko nodded, having heard of it from her biology class years ago. "Well, I have a plan to save Izuku from his doomed fate."

"What do you mean, Nighteye?" All Might asked his former sidekick.

"What if, when your quirk awakens, you can copy not only the form of a person but also their quirk? Would that not be plausible? The only thing that could go wrong is that it awakens to something less." Nighteye explained the hypothetical situation, thinking long and hard. He touched Himiko's hand, revealing to him the far future of her taking the form of someone that could help save Izuku. "Would you take even that small chance to save your friend?"

"Whoa, okay, sir, we don't need to go that far." Izuku tried to reason with Nighteye. He knew about how much it takes to awaken a quirk. Lots and lots of stress, and that is the last thing he wants Himiko to experience after all she's been through.

"I'll do it."

"Huh?"

"Even if the chances are small… I don't want you to die, Izu-kun." Himiko said while holding his hands. "You're a dear friend to me. Still, do we even need two Seiji's?" She asked Nighteye.

"Oh, this is not Shishikura's blood." Nighteye held the vial. "After some request, this vial of blood belongs to Overhaul."

{- To Be Continued...

Yeah, Nighteye lives by virtue of Izuku being the one getting spiked.

Bakugou: Ya know what? I can accept that explanation

You better.