Disclaimer: Of course I don't own My Hero Academia, its characters, or the franchise.
Story: As a result of their repeated run-ins with Villains in real life and the expected future encounters, Class 1-A is assigned a revised physical portion of their semi-finals -a simulation game of Heroes vs. Villains. Supposedly a way to give them experience and preparation in a safe, moderated environment, and also a way to just let go and de-stress...Nedzu really just supposes it'll be the perfect way to have Midoriya Izuku unleash entertaining hell. Plus, he would really like for her to utilize that brain of hers to break down everyone without restraint, give them reality and all their weaknesses. The best part is this could finally be the therapy she desperately needed and finally get her well-deserved vengeance! (He, after all, had managed to rain down hell on the humans that scarred him, so why couldn't she?)
Spoilers: Yeah, definitely, post-Endeavor-Agency arc.
Warnings: Age disparity, violence, cursing, maybe sexual situations, criminal matters…
Pairings: Enji/Izuku, Mirai/Izuku, Tsunagu/Izuku, David/Izuku, Keigo/Izuku

Blurred, Faded Lines
Chapter Two: Build Me an Army (bring me soldiers)

Clack!

Nedzu studied the board, sipping his tea. It was very light flavored —mellow in flavor and rather similar to oolong; according to his 'supplier', it came specifically from Africa.

"Thank you for the tea," he hummed, inhaling the calming smell. "I love my caffeine, but my! This is quite delicious. I so enjoy the teas you supply me with, Izuku-kougou," and he hid his smile behind his tea cup, watching the very minute twitch of her lips (which was either displeasure or amusement, but she was too neutral for him to guess at).

"You're welcome, Nezumichan," she said, smiling brightly, and he could hardly be offended at the affectionate nickname, even though he was being called a mouse of all things. He'd started it by calling her 'empress' and it was from her, one of his few favorite humans. "It's from Kenya, the Tumoi Tea Garden of Nandi Hills specifically."

Nedzu set down his tea and moved closer to the board, picking up a white stone and then heaving it up. Not wanting to destroy the carefully constructed patterns on the board, he indicated to his partner his next move and he watched in admiration at the fluid and elegant way she took the stone from him and placed it on the board, exactly where he'd wanted.

She could be mistaken for a professional Go player, to be honest.

Midoriya Izuku was also sitting like she would if she were a Go Pro, or (as he teased) she were royalty. Perfect seiza and posture, even though she was bright and sweet and happy (her usual self).

It was all in the minute details after all.

"It's been quite the busy year for you at UA so far, hasn't it?" he asked, calmly watching over the board as he went back to his tea and awaited her next move.

"Oh yes! It's been really crazy so far, Nezumichan," she said, such sweet cheer and happiness. She looked chagrined though. "Even if it's been too action packed and dangerous. Crazy goes as crazy can."

Nedzu chuckled, softly tapping a paw against the side of his cup. "As far as your class though, I know you get along with everyone —everything is well? You and your friends, your class overall, have a habit of getting into situations."

She casually waved it off, still cheerfully smiling. "Well, it goes with how I said about the year at UA has been going so far. But we've all been pushing through and managing ourselves. You've seen how it is. The USJ was practically the start of it, though maybe Aizawa-sensei's little test on the first day was a foreshadow and precursor to everything. It was probably a sign that my class and the year wasn't going to be normal."

Izuku made her next move, placing a stone that made him lose the cluster in the corner he thought was safe and apparently wasn't. He hmmed and looked over the board, trying to decide what move to make next.

"Then I suppose the Heroes vs. Villains simulation game went over well with them."

There. Finally, a crack. She visibly paused, smile thoughtful and then lessening to a smaller Mona Lisa that said nothing and turned up a newer mask.

"It's been…quite the talk," she murmured, gazing over the board, face as unrevealing as Leonardo Da Vinci's mysterious, infamous painting. "Kacchan has been very vocal about it, eager to get on with the game and very confident he'll trash the 'Villains' as the Paragon. He most assuredly thinks they have no chance and that he'll lead his Heroes to victory."

"Will he?" Nedzu asked nonchalantly, telling her his move and allowing her to pick up one of his stones and place it down for him. He sipped at his tea, breathing it in again.

Izuku looked at him, and though her face and smile hadn't changed, a chill went up his spine —both excited and apprehensive.

"Nezumichan…if Kacchan wants to be an unstoppable force, then I'll be the immovable object."

She carefully turned her teacup and then lifted it gracefully to her lips to take a long sip. Then she set it down and picked up one of her stones. She turned it over and over between her fingers, examining it in thought. Then she skillfully slid it correctly in place between the correct fingers and then placed it down certainly on the board.

"How do you feel about it? How do you feel about your role?" he prodded further.

"I was hesitant and unsure, maybe even reticent," she answered honestly, causing tension that he hadn't even known he'd had to lessen a bit. "But…a part of me is just as eager as Kacchan to do this. We've had Heroes vs. Villains 'simulations' before —the first class with All Might-sensei and where, just like then, I was determined to show my worth to Kacchan. There was the Final Exam for our first semester, where I had to pair up with Kacchan against All Might-sensei, who was acting like a Villain. And that special class Aizawa-sensei taught, where All Might-sensei actually was in a Villain role and we had to go against him."

At the mention of that class, Nedzu gave a little cough and pretended to fiddle with his cup. Instead, he looked over the goban and, good enough a player to be considered ranked highly, he already knew he was behind on points and would lose, despite the handicap against black and the additional points granted to him because of komi.

And so he conceded and they officially tallied up their points, while he admired the black and white universe he'd created with Izuku on the wooden board.

There was a reason he preferred playing Go with this young, brilliant girl —it was more fun to create a universe with another, than to play God all by himself.

When she took out two notebooks from her bag, after cleaning up their board and placing the goban and the Go bowls aside, she opened them up to start.

One was the 'Kingpin' rulebook, in which she had replaced the cover to a more normal notebook cover, and the other was a regular notebook filled with writing.

"Where will the game take place?"

"I've had an entire island created for this."

To her credit, she didn't even pause or blink at that.

"Who designed the game and who designed the island?"

"I designed the game, especially to mimic the situations of your class having been pit against the League of Villains. And as for the island, I tasked I-Island, specifically David Shield, with the island's design."

He saw her look thoughtful then, before she continued writing and he thought she probably was thinking of why the name was familiar. Knowing her affiliation with All Might and fangirling of her sensei, she probably recognized the name.

"As leader of the Villains, what does that mean for my role? Can anything go? Why aren't there any objectives listed like there was for the Hero's Rulebook? Who's fair game to recruit?"

The rapid fire of questions made him think quickly and he answered her as deliberately as possible.

"As leader, you must be as you would any other criminal —craft your persona, find a point in your life that could've been a turning point and created a Villain out of you, had you not had your heart set on being a Hero. That's also why there are no objectives for you —who are you as a villain? What're your motivations? Without knowing that, there is no point or any way for me to create objectives as to how your Villain persona would proceed in acting out your criminal activities. I could be generic…but where's the fun in that?"

He was pleased to see the brief lift of amusement in her lips before he continued on.

"Besides, I see that it's probably best for you to act generically as possible like the League of Villains, which is familiar to you and your classmates. As far as anything goes…so long as there are no permanent damage to any of the participants, meaning injuries and of course death, those are a no. You may be as villainous as possible otherwise. And when it comes to recruitment, unfortunately, the UA staff will be unavailable to you. However, the same could be said of the Hero team."

She made a noncommittal sound and continued grilling him, and he let out a pleased sound of his own as they continued.

If he answered blithely, if roundabout most times, then she was only taking advantage of her role as a Villain leader and getting a headstart on the game and taking his answers as they came. And if she was asking him instead of Aizawa, well, it wasn't like they had said where she and Young Bakugo were to ask their questions to.

Shoto knew that, no matter what, when it came to the teams, he would be choosing whatever team Izuku was going to be on.

She was his best friend, so as far as he was concerned, he'd end up on whatever team she wanted to be on.

That was why he carefully watched her, waiting to see if she'd reveal her thoughts or what choice she was going to make. So far, despite it only being the second day since the announcement of the War Game, she looked as carefree as always. But he knew her and knew that, despite him never being able to see it, he just knew there was more to Izuku sometimes and that he didn't always see her thoughts and feelings plainly, even if he wanted to.

So if he had to be the blunt one, then so be it.

After wherever she'd gone that morning, he'd managed to find her at lunchtime and pulled her into an empty classroom. She cocked her head to the side cutely, giving him a curious look.

"Izuku, I am on whatever team you are," he said outright, waiting for her response to his assertion.

She blinked before, right in front of his eyes, her face shuttered and then she was straightening up and looking at him under her lashes, eyelids half lowered and lips smiling —only not her usual smile, and such a strange, strange way.

Izuku leaned forward, bent towards him at the waist, and Shoto had the off feeling that he'd somehow found himself trapped by a predator.

Her delicate, scarred hand reached towards him, gently caressed his jaw before firmly gripping his chin.

"You're perfect, my Samael. You are God's Poison and you shall lead by my side," she purred and she had the sharpest grin, sharp enough it could be cut against.

Shoto straightened up and nodded determinedly.

Mei admitted she could be pretty chaotic. But being chaotic was fun and she was all for creating and showing off her babies. Like in the Sports Festival, the thrill of being in front of everyone and showing what she could do and what she could create, finally having her babies front and center for everyone to see…

It was definitely exhilarating and the opportunities to continue creating more of her babies and keep showcasing them kept coming up since then.

In fact, one of the reasons for that was there in her workshop right now, her favorite babymaker partner and person overall —Midoriya Izuku.

"Hey there, Ten Million! Lovin' the surprise visit! Love it even more if you've got any ideas and future babies to make with me!" she greeted enthusiastically, giddily heading over to the greenette's side.

Midoriya paused in her perusal of some of Mei's current works on her station, standing elegantly then and tilting her head back, turning to Mei with a strange smile on her face.

"Hatsume-san, my Belphegor," she said fondly and Mei had no idea what she was talking about, but was mesmerized all the same. Honestly, she strangely felt trapped by the other girl's gaze and felt frozen to her spot.

Midoriya stalked towards her and stop just short of her. "You could make all the babies you want, if only you agree to be one of my Seven Princes and reign at my side, my Demon of Discovery and Ingenious Inventions," she enticed and Mei was listening intently.

"Y-yeah?" she said, not even sure what she was agreeing to, but felt compelled to anyway.

Plus, she was pretty sure this would be another chance to show off more babies and Midoriya sounded like she had more in mind for her to make!

Midoriya reached into the messy bun she was currently sporting for the day, retrieving a flash drive and her strange smile became sharp and actually deadly.

"Belphegor, take this and you'll find my key. In a month's time, you're going to help me subjugate Heaven."

Well, shit, Mei was pretty sure that she'd somehow, unknowingly, and carelessly made a deal with the Devil.

If he was feeling bitter and irritated, it was most certainly not because Class 1-A was again getting to showcase themselves and show off once more; again treated differently and being favored.

Why did they have to be the ones to get their finals readjusted to some special exam?!

"You seem agitated, Monoma-kun," a voice said softly, out of nowhere, and Neito jumped in the air as he was caught off guard.

There, sitting on his bed primly and looking noble and elegant with a cooled look on her face, Midoriya acted like this was her room and seemed all too comfortable.

"H-how did you get in here?!"

Class 1-A dorms were separated and there was security set up for all the dorm buildings. Her having somehow gone through all of Dorm 1-B's and then somehow traveled all the way into his room without notice was scary and kind of impressive (even if he hated to admit it).

"That's unimportant," she waved it off before smiling widely and holding out a folder. "Here."

Neito watched her warily but accepted the folder with a huff, opening it up and eyes immediately bugging out.

"Holy fuck, Midoriya! What the hell?!"

Everything was in there. His entire profile, his name, age, hobbies, weight, height, and there was his insecurities, his eating and study habits, a hella thorough analysis on his Quirk (he could actually really use that), and oh shit —she had his grades and old friends from junior and elementary schools.

Midoriya calmly clasped her hands together and settled them on her lap.

"Are you scared, Monoma-kun?" she tilted her head innocently to the side as she asked curiously. She smiled, but it looked as off as it felt to him. And then she stood up and walked over to him, her arm stretching out elegantly as she barely touched his jaw with the tips of her fingers.

"I thought you'd like proof of what I could do," she murmured, eyes hooding as her lips curved into an amused, strangely dark smile. "You've heard of Class 1-A's semi-finals, right? Well, Bakugo is the Paragon. I am his antithesis. Therefore, my Triel, won't you join me and show that child how to really be the protagonist in this story?"

Despite himself, he could feel the excitement and eagerness build.

"How chaotic can things be?"

"Let's just say you of all people will enjoy the theatrics," she said wryly, amusement dancing in her eyes and a smirk twitching at her lips.

Hell, why not —maybe he could finally be a headliner for once and besides…

He hadn't realized Midoriya was actually kind of terrifying.

Momo took English notes in her room, trying not to think about the semi-finals. She couldn't think about those. And yet…

Hero or Villain? Villain or Hero?

The answer should've been easy. Hero, of course. But a part of her thought that maybe, even if the Villain team didn't win, if she could just…

"You have no confidence but you could be better than you are now. Could be but you hesitate."

Momo startled, knocking over things on her desk as she hurriedly stood up from her desk to face the intruder, only to see Izuku sitting on her bed and looking at her with a blank face and a small frown.

"You want more and more, but you are afraid to have more; to be more," Izuku murmured, standing up and striding towards her slowly.

Standing beside her, even though Izuku was shorter, she seemed so much more dominant and commanding than Momo. There was just something more assertive to the greenette than the other girl usually was and it took Momo aback.

Izuku then smiled, slight and cryptically, before leaning in and looking straight into her eyes with a self-assured air that normally didn't surround her.

"Maybe it's time to be a little greedy, Mammon, and show what you're really capable of," she smiled, all teeth, and Momo oddly shivered.

But…

Momo grinned hesitantly. Villain team it was, then.

Hitoshi was taking a break from his self-training time, hoping that the next time he sparred against Aizawa-sensei, he would at least be able to get a hit in. Unscrewing the cap for his water bottle, he took several gulps before he was interrupted.

"Hello, Hitoshi-kun~!"

He choked on his water as Izuku's face suddenly appeared in front of his, as she cheerily bent halfway and faced him closely, grinning with too many teeth to not be suspicious.

"What do you want, Midoriya?" he asked her warily, watching her uneasily.

Despite the fact that he knew she was, indeed, sweet and really kind, he was also privy to the fact that she could (and would) be terrifying and occasionally manipulative (mostly for your own good). He had lost count how many times she'd somehow snuck vitamins and new bandage wraps into his training bag without his knowledge —and more scarily, the amount of times she'd put a box of sleepaids by his bedside when she somehow knew he wasn't sleeping as much as he should be.

A 'Sleep well!' and an unsaid 'or else' meant that she would probably slip it into a drink or something if he didn't heed her warning, ethics be damn.

She had also slyly manipulated Aizawa-sensei into slowing, adjusting or even stopping his training sessions if she somehow even got a hint of him not sleeping, grades slipping even just a percentage down, or that he was pushing himself too much.

Midoriya Izuku could be a terrifying, little gremlin when she wanted to be.

As of now, she was eying him critically and he could tell she was sizing up his health and calculating whether or not he'd been sleeping enough. Then she just hmmed and plopped herself down next to his bag, leaning back against the wall and putting weight on her hands that were flat on the bench.

"Still up to proving yourself and getting into the Hero course?" she asked nonchalantly.

He raised an eyebrow. "Of course. Why else would I be in here, pushing myself?"

She shrugged. "There's a way you can show off yourself and your skills again, like you had last time in the Joint Training Battle exercise. Of course, I know that was your entrance exam already, to the course, but you could do with showing that you're prime material to be interning as soon as you make the course too."

Hitoshi didn't know how she knew that was his 'entrance exam' or that he got in already, but he wasn't surprised. She just knew things sometimes.

"Okay, I'll bite," he said as he sat next to her, fidgeting with his bottle as he continued to watch her warily.

"I'm sure you know about Class 1-A's physical semi-final," she hummed idly. "Kacchan's the Hero leader."

"Of course he is," Hitoshi couldn't help sneering.

"I'm the Villain leader."

He dropped his bottle and eyed her in shock. She looked back steadily at him, not at all fazed or a hint of any other emotion than steadfast calm. And then she smiled, and it wasn't sweet and it wasn't kind and it wasn't Midoriya Izuku. It was something else and she was someone else.

"Villains are the ones that get remembered in the stories," she murmured softly. "The character the people remember is the Villain."

She stood up and patted his shoulder, starting to walk away from him. "Villain or Hero? Whatever label we're assigned doesn't matter. History gets to decide in the end. We're just players on a stage, my Livyatan. And besides," she turned to face him, winking, "in this instance, being a Villain is much more exciting!"

Izuku faced the exit and walked towards it again, voice echoing behind her.

"And as one person once said, 'If you can't play the good guy, sometimes you've got to play the Villain."

The door clang shut behind her.

Hitoshi thoughtfully picked up his bottle, shoving it into his bag and slumped back against the wall. All his life, his Quirk was considered villainous and he a future Villain. But…

"I want to be remembered," he muttered.

Even if he played a Villain, it was just a game, and a winning team (Izuku was going to wipe the floor with that Bakugo) meant that in the end, he was going down in history as a winner.

And history is written by victors.

By 7 pm, there were seven students that received a notification on their phone. A private message saying to click the accompanying link alone, and an additional note saying that the sender would know if they clicked it when they weren't.

Maybe a few of them would try and find out the link wouldn't work, and curiously try again when they were indeed alone —finding a video message waiting for them.

In a dark room with a shadowed figure, the person's voice quietly spoke out to them.

"I am the Morningstar that will light your path, so long as you heed my guidance…"

And as Aoyama, Ashido, Tokoyami, Shoji, Jiro, Koda and Tokage watched their videos enraptured, the last of the Villain team more or less decided that this moment defined when they were signing away their souls.

Started 7/20/22 —Completed 8/3/22

A/n: Holy crap, y'all. I haven't had a response like that to a fic in a long time. It's amazing ;-;

Quick Points:

1. Nicknames: "Kougou" and "Nezumichan" are my new headcanons for Izuku and Nedzu (and which I can went to the trouble of researching way too much for XD); also they interact –Aizawa's nightmare scenario unknowingly come true.

2. This chapter was just too damn long (and therefore took too long to edit). Also Nedzu and Izu's scene was the cause, plus I wrote that and most of this chapter even before the first one, pffft. I just had to and go on wax poetry between these two~

3. As a Hikaru no Go fan, I'm a bit baffled that there's no Go playing between Nedzu and Izu. I love chess and I'm sure they play it in Japan…but come on y'all. It's Japan –Go and shogi should be mentioned and used too at least XD

4. Wanted to do something different, hence no directives, etc. There are a lot of Civil War AUs, so I don't want to be too alike! I hope I'm being as different as I can with this idea :D I hope I'm also making sense XD

5. Shoto will always be Izuku's "ride or die" with me. Also, Monoma is a theater kid and I fucking love that and what I can do with it. Hitoshi knows what's up. That 'girl' ain't playing.

6. Biblical references abound. Wanted to do something different in regards to codenames, but then it started falling into place that the refs are going to be more matching into the plot than originally. Y'all probably also know who Izu's inner circle is~