Chapter 20
Izuku looked around seizing the situation, it was somber. 6 bodies lay around him, five pro heroes; including the trio that he theorized could be the next victims and Iida. At least four of them needed to be in the hospital yesterday. At the same time, he felt a pit in his stomach, and an ominous feeling gripping his heart
"Iida I'm sending you back to Manual's. Get-" Izuku used his kunai to stop the sword aimed at his neck. He sent a kick towards Stain who retaliated with a powerful punch, sending them both apart
"Another child playing to be a hero!" Stain hissed but his eyes widened when he recognized Izuku "You… you're All Might's chosen one" Izuku raised an eyebrow "A real hero"
"I don't know anything about being the chosen one" Izuku said while denying in his head the possibility of Stain knowing about All Might's quirk "But I'm going to ask you to leave these people alone Stain, they haven't done anything to deserve dying here" Izuku was wary, the ominous feeling on his heart rose
"They're just a bunch of fakes… they are a disgrace to the sacred duty of a hero! They just do it for the money and the fame"
"They may have made some mistakes and some questionable decisions, but at the end of the day, they save people! That's the most important part of being a hero!" Izuku said with fervor, Stain just shook his head
"You're young… even if you have the qualities of a real hero, you haven't seen how rotten the heroes are, how they left people die without trying because they don't have the right power, how they just don't act because their shift is over, how they turn their back to the people they swore to protect just because a situation it's too dangerous for them!"
"My brother wasn't like that!" Iida screamed from the floor "My brother never turned his back to the people; he always put the others before himself!" He then talked to Izuku "Midoriya, don't let him taste your blood, that's how I became paralyzed" Izuku graded that information as crucial
"Your brother was just another fame-driven fake; you don't think I haven't seen all his publicity stunts!"
"He did it to keep giving jobs to his sidekicks!" Stain sneered
"Say whatever you need to sleep in peace boy, to me, your brother was just another fake that needed to be purged" Stain suddenly tensed and smirked
"You're crafty I have to admit that," Stain said and turned around sending a knife through the shadow clone that was about to teleport one of the fallen heroes away making him explode "And smart too, trying to distract me while you safe the fakes. But you more than anyone know… that as a sage is easier to detect chakra" Suddenly everything clicked to Izuku and he felt the pit in his turn into a black hole
"You're a sage too" Izuku whispered. Now that his rescue attempt was frustrated and his mind was solely focused on Stain, he could feel it, the natural energy revolving around him
"Now I have your undivided attention huh?" Stain said with a wicked smile
"How," Izuku said stunned
"Let's just say… that in my darkest moments, when my determination started quivering... I happen to fell into the correct viper nest" Izuku's shocked state quickly turned into red hot anger
"You managed to master chakra and the sage mode. That requires a lot of determination and will! You can do so much good for the people! Instead, you're going around killing heroes!"
"Ah but my crusade is necessary for this world… I'll stain my hands with the blood of the fakes, just to make this society better. Now move away hero. I'll finish my job" Stain drew another sword from his back
"You know I won't do that" Izuku said through gritted teeth
"Midoriya leave! This is my fight, don't interfere!" Iida growled
"I'm not leaving you and the injured here Iida" Izuku lowered his stance
"That's the correct answer hero. Let's test how strong is your will!" Stain quickly lunged towards Izuku who met him halfway
Their weapons clashed in the middle of the alley creating a powerful blast that blew the paralyzed and injured away, Izuku sneered at the killer who smiled wickedly. Both Sages quickly started to trade blows, and the strength behind their hits quickly damaged the surrounding buildings
"The swings from his swords could cut my head clean in a swipe! I need to take this fight to a wider area" Izuku threw a kunai towards Stain who deflected it with his sword. Izuku appeared in the place of the kunai, catching stain by surprise and kicking him outside of the alley, he quickly followed leaving a shadow clone behind "I can't spare more chakra than that" Suddenly his instincts screamed at him
Izuku blocked most of the flurry of knives the killer sent in his direction but a few managed to pass him again catching his clone and making it disappear
"A teleportation technique I get it now, you're really amazing, but I just told you, hero, those are my preys, and I won't allow you to save them," Stain said smirking, Izuku just growled and threw himself towards the killer
"Wind Style: Vacuum bullets!" Izuku spat a barrage of air bullets at Stain who in an amazing display of skill and speed cut his attacks with apparent ease, Izuku narrowed his eyes "Wind style: Vacuum bomb!"
Stain blocked the technique with his swords that exploded into shards of metal and Izuku capitalized that moment to get close to him, Stain threw a punch towards Izuku who grabbed the attack and used his momentum to send him flying into the air, Izuku smirked "Gotcha"
Using the seal on the hero killer's arm Izuku teleported beside him and kicked him down, then teleported again and before the villain crashed on the floor Izuku made some seals "Lightning Style: Elekiter!" he used his electrified palm to hit the hero killer right into the solar plexus blasting him away
Izuku teleported again to continue his attack but was received by a kick to his legs that made him lose balance and then another stronger kick on his stomach that sent him rolling on the floor
Izuku got up and saw the hero killer using a sword "Just how many swords he has!?" to cut the piece of flesh where his seal was "He just cut part of him like it's nothing!"
"I told you before hero, as a sage I can detect chakra better… even if it's just a small print on a seal" Izuku growled and lunged to attack again
Stain dodged and both started trading blows again. Izuku disengaged and pulled a scroll from his back pouch and said "Needle rain!" throwing the scroll into the air while making a seal
Stain stopped for a moment, his eyes widening when he understood what Izuku just did. He took a powerful leap back that cracked the pavement and raised his swords to deflect the incoming projectiles
He raised his eyebrow when non-sharp sticks rained from the sky, when he caught the small traces of chakra it was too late, he just managed to catch a whispered "Hiraishin" beside his ear, before his body exploded in pain
Iida watched dumbfounded at the scene happening in front of him. He knew, deep inside him, that his friend was stronger than everyone in his class. He won the sports festival, and even if he wouldn't admit it ever, Iida knew he won it with ease. From his fighting skills, his amazing capability as a strategist, to his immense and crazy number of techniques, Iida understood that his friend was a level above him and his classmates
But watching him pummeling the hero killer like he was doing it was something mind-blowing, the hero killer looked like a ragdoll being throwing around by punches and kicks that Iida was sure were strong enough to break bones, after a minute of pummeling his opponent, Izuku kicked the Hero killer into the air and appeared above him "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough"
The powerful wind attack made the hero killer crash wildly to the floor, when the wind stopped Izuku was heavily breathing, "Lava Style: Ash stone sealing technique!" he covered most of the hero killer's body and walked towards Iida who was staring at him with wide eyes
"Iida, I'll teleport the worst injured first-" Izuku felt his body go numb and fell to the ground "W-what happened?"
"You are really ruthless for someone that wants to be a hero you know" Izuku felt his blood go cold when he heard the raspy and pained voice of the hero killer "If you used that against anyone else you would have probably killed them… or not. After all, you probably went with everything you got against me because I'm also sage" Izuku tried to move his body to no avail, he then heard his sealing technique crumble
"How are you conscious?" Izuku asked Stain but looking at Iida with an alarmed expression
"Ah, you almost got me with that last attack. If you attacked me with anything else I would probably would unconscious" The fallen teens heard the cracks of Stain's body while he stretched "But the wind is my elemental affinity, and I may have not learned a lot of techniques because I focused on my physical skills, but I learned how to counter wind with wind" Iida suddenly looked a little green
"What is he doing!?" Izuku asked Iida after seeing his face
"He's eating a snake" The blue-haired boy whispered
"What do you mean he is-" Izuku felt a spike in the hero killer energy "He has natural energy stored in snakes?!"
"Ah that's much better, you're really something else Hero, I ran out of natural energy after all that healing" Izuku tried to force himself to move again after hearing the hero killer voice again full of energy "You definitely are going to grow into a fine and true Hero. And in the future, when I'm finally done, I will be glad to be killed by you. But for now, I have a job to finish" Stain started walking towards them
"Get away Stain!" Izuku screamed, he noticed that he was regaining the feeling on his toes "A few more seconds!" Izuku quickly called for the shadow clone he had on standby in the city, the clone appeared in front of Stain startling him for a few moments, before chuckling.
"I don't know since when you had that clone hiding but giving the fake a few more seconds of life won't change anything" Stain raised his sword and leaped towards the clone that blocked and parried a few attacks but was finally kicked away and disappeared. Stain shook his head and walked towards Iida, passing beside a desperate Izuku
Iida saw the Hero killer raise his sword and closed his eyes not managing to stop the tears falling through his cheeks "I'm sorry brother"
"I told you, hero, that it wouldn't change anything. Goodbye fake" Stain pushed down his sword toward the fallen hero student
A hand covered in lightning stopped his blade. His eyes widened when he saw Izuku crouched beside him, with all his body covered in lightning, shining like a bonfire in a cave
"Believe me it changed everything "Lightning Style: Chakra mode" Before Stain could snap out of his shocked state Izuku punched him with all his might sending him through a few buildings "That won't stop him for long" Izuku jumped towards the injured heroes and prayed that they were still holding in to live. He teleported them away towards the seal he left on the floor where his clone was gathering chakra, "Hopefully the heroes that were guarding my clone are still there" after sending them away he appeared in front of Iida
"Now is your turn" Iida's protest stopped in his throat when he saw the scared and urgent look on Izuku's face who turned around and used his body to block the knives the hero killer threw at them, the armor of the chakra mode deflecting every knife
"Must be type O, also the natural energy probably decreased the time of my quirk" They heard Stain whisper apparently at himself anger latching into every word
"I told you" Stain hissed, they could hear the cold fury leaking in his voice "To not touch my prey!" before Izuku could think about teleporting Iida away, he was on defense, using his kunai to stop all the attacks he could "What is going on! He is way faster than before I need space!" Izuku ducked under a high swing of Stain's sword "Fire Style: Great Fireball!"
Izuku knew that Stain couldn't dodge the attack from that distance but was surprised when the fireball split in two "No sword can do that!" Izuku quickly leaped back and saw the sword of Stain covered in wind chakra "That could probably go through my lightning armor"
Stain leaped at him again and Izuku started making space using his Hiraishin seals, but every time he appeared, Stain only took a couple seconds to catch him. He could barely avoid his sword thanks to the enhanced reflexes and speed of his chakra mode combined with his sage state
Izuku was scared, Stain apparently wasn't holding anything back anymore. Earlier they were trading blows as equals until Izuku managed to catch him by surprise with that barrage of attacks. Now it was a completely different fight, Stain was faster and wilder. If Izuku avoided or deflected one of Stain's attacks the snake sage retaliated with a knee or elbow to the body, which Izuku knew were strong enough to break something "If I weren't using chakra mode…" He couldn't finish the thought
And suddenly it happened Stain finally manage to cut Izuku, a deep gash on his leg made Izuku cry in pain. Thinking quickly, Izuku summoned two clones to get some time before Stain manages to paralyze him. But Stain didn't lick his blood, Izuku jumped back avoiding a powerful swipe that went through the floor like butter
Both clones leaped to attack giving Izuku a second to breathe "I'm not used to combining these techniques, chakra mode burns my natural energy quickly, I need to stop him now" Izuku saw his clones get turned into pincushions, and prepared himself to attack
"Storm Style: Laser Circus" hundreds of beams of energy sailed towards the hero killer who even with all his speed couldn't avoid them completely, Izuku could see the burns and wounds appearing in the snake sage where his attacks landed, but the man didn't seem to notice them and kept running towards Izuku at incredible speed.
Izuku cut his attack and threw a volley of shurikens at Stain who again just took them directly. The villain got several shurikens buried deep into his body. Izuku's eyes widened and teleported away, only for his senses to scream at him to move, he quickly ducked and teleported again.
"He's getting faster!?" If Stain took a couple of seconds to catch him before, now it was practically instantly, Izuku narrowed his eyes and teleported again, then used all his speed to deflect Stain's sword. That cost him a deep wound on his hand.
Stain reared his arm to attack again when the explosive tag Izuku put on his sword activated, blowing them both away, Izuku took advantage of the explosion and after quickly recovering his balance he jumped high, he saw when stain leaped from the dust cloud, Izuku grimaced when he saw that the right side of his face and his arm burned, he grabbed Izuku's ankle and with all his might threw him towards the floor, the pavement exploded when Izuku crashed
The air on Izuku's lungs disappeared when he hit the floor, but Stain didn't let him catch a breath. Izuku rolled to his right he avoiding being impaled by the wind sword of the hero killer, then he received a powerful kick that sent him through a wall
Before Izuku could regain his bearings, searing pain on his shoulder made his mind go blank
"I finally caught you hero" Stain hissed and quickly pressed two fingers hard on Izuku's shoulder wound, Izuku screamed in pain and teleported outside, before he could think about doing something his body was paralyzed again
"Damn! I couldn't summon clones!" He could feel Stain's quirk running out quickly thanks to the natural energy and the increased metabolism of the chakra mode "YES, I just need a couple of ACK!" Izuku's planning was interrupted by a broken sword buried deep on his right side.
Izuku wanted to vomit from the pain, he slowly opened his eyes just to see the horrible face of the hero killer right in front of his
"I have to admit Hero I was planning to kill you for what you did to my preys… but that last blast managed to snap me out of my rage… and even if you got in the middle of my crusade, you're still a true hero, your actions today just confirmed it, you just needs to grow" Stain smirked wickedly "It seems that I'll just have to resign myself to kill just the younger fake" Izuku saw his snake-like eyes glow in anticipation and whispered something that Stain didn't manage to catch "What did you say, Hero?"
"I said…that my hero name is… HOKAGE! RASENGAN" Izuku grabbed stain with his left stopping him from escaping his attack. Both sages screamed in pain, Stain was twisting the blade in Izuku's side and Izuku was pushing his Rasengan with all his strength into the killer. Finally, Stain was sent flying away crashing hard into the pavement meters away from Izuku
Izuku spat a lot of blood, but he knew it wasn't time to faint. Turning quickly in the direction of the hero Killer, he prayed to be over. And Stain wasn't moving and Izuku saw that his face lost the sage mode characteristics "It is over?" Izuku's internal questioning was interrupted when a crying Iida crouched beside him
"Izuku… look at you… I'm so sorry" Iida cried and even in the situation they were in, Izuku felt happy that his friend was using his given name "If it wasn't for my stupid revenge, you wouldn't be in this state! Please, please forgive me" Izuku sighed and turned off his chakra mode, then took the blade on his side and started to pull it out "WAIT don't do it you'll bleed out!"
"Don't worry Iida, I still have enough natural energy to close the wound enough to get to a doctor… but we'll need to walk I don't have enough chakra to teleport the three of us" Izuku said without turning to look at his friend, he then pulled the sword out and bit a yell of pain. He focused the rest of his natural chakra towards the deep wound "That would hold enough" Izuku then turned to Iida
"You're really stupid, you do know that right?" Iida flinched
"I'm sorry, I was just so angry. I knew that I needed to stay with Manual… but" Iida couldn't continue and started crying again
"We'll talk about that later, I'm just happy that I got here in time" Izuku smiled at him and started to get up, Iida quickly helped him "Let's find something to tie up Stain and-" Izuku's eyes widened and his face was suddenly covered in blood, he didn't notice that, after all, his eyes were firmly focused on the knife buried deep into Iida's chest
"IIDA!" Izuku screamed and hugged his friend "Nonono please no! IIDA PLEASE NO!" Izuku turned to look at the hero killed who was still on the floor but had his arm stretched and a sadistic smile on his face. Izuku didn't know what to do, where he could teleport his friend to get help, suddenly a foreign voice called for him
"Go to Recovery girl!" Izuku's head snapped towards the voice, of a cameraman who was trembling in fear and was hiding behind one of the fallen walls of the buildings. He was the one who called for him "I just got a message from your principal and he said that Recovery girl was waiting for you" Izuku had a lot of questions but even in his panicked state he couldn't help but feel relief knowing that his Sensei somehow was watching over him, Izuku nodded and focused
He quickly extended his senses looking for his seal on Recovery girl's office and his heart dropped when he noticed that he didn't have enough chakra to teleport both of them that far
"You're going to be fine Iida you hear me… I'll catch you as soon as I can" Iida's eyes widened
"You- have to come- with me!" Izuku started crying when Iida coughed blood
"I don't have enough energy to teleport both of us that far… I promise that I'll see you there as soon as I can" Iida was about to cough another protest but Izuku teleported him away
The young sage could barely keep himself standing and conscious, his chakra was almost at zero. He heard rustling from Stain's position and knew that the hero killer was getting up
"You should leave kid… you saved everyone already… please just leave" Izuku turned towards the cameraman again and smiled at him
"Don't worry I got this"
"Hokage," Izuku wanted to vomit when he heard the adoration on Stain's voice saying his name "I have to admit that, when I woke up today, I didn't imagine that it will go down like this… but I'm pleasantly surprised that the future would be in hands of someone like you" Stain finally stood up
Izuku saw how hurt was the hero killer, the damage on his right side was something that would most definitely kill anyone else. He couldn't help but be amazed at the willpower he had
"It's over Stain… we both are barely standing and I'm pretty sure that other heroes are coming this way coming to arrest you" Stain started chuckling
"Oh Hokage you don't seem to understand. I'm not scared to be imprisoned, what do you think will happen to me? They'll send me into the deeper chamber of Tartarus, put a quirk suppressant handcuffs on me, and let me down there to meditate about my wrongdoings?" Izuku didn't understand what Stain was trying to say "I mean imagine how much natural energy I could gather down there"
Izuku's heart dropped to the floor when Stain's words finally made sense, it was the constant fear in Aizawa's sensei heart when he discovered the source of Izuku's power
"You know I can't be imprisoned, after all, our powers are above what this world understands and can stop!" Stain lifted his broken sword and completed a full blade made of wind
"What are you going to do now Hokage, if you leave now, I'll leave as well, but my crusade won't stop for long, if you beat me and get me imprisoned, I'll come back I can promise you that! If you don't end the fight now… how many fakes will fall to my sword before you or All Might get another shot like this" Izuku grimaced seeing at how crazy and deranged Stain was behaving
But even seeing his crazy state, Izuku was terrified, because everything he said was true. He knew that Stain's sage powers made him Impossible to keep imprisoned by conventional means, and even if he gets Fukusa sensei to help him with a solution, it would require time, time that stain will use to gather natural energy heal himself and escape! Izuku's mind was working at thousand thoughts per second… and finally, he made his mind
"I have to end this here" Izuku's voice sounded sad and resigned, he started gathering what little chakra he had left on his right hand "Rasengan" Stain's wicked smile grew impossibly long
"Yes! that's the correct answer Hokage," Stain said and ran towards Izuku who did the same with a yell
The cameraman had felt a lot of things in the course of the battle. Fear was the most prominent one after seeing the hero killer dispatch pro heroes like bugs, awe at the incredible skill the young hero had, after reducing and almost beating the hero killer, and sadness for the other hero student who was gravely injured. Right now all he felt was dismay, looking at the young hero, "Hokage" he reminded himself, threw himself to land one last attack on Stain. Even if some part of his mind told him to turn away and run… he couldn't keep his eyes away from the battle
When they were close to each other, the cameraman saw it in slow motion, Hokage threw his body to the side to avoid the swing of Stain's sword and threw the energy sphere he had in his right hand toward the villain. Stain's attack missed and cut almost completely the building beside them but Hokage's landed on his right side again
The shockwave sent the cameraman tumbling backward. He groaned in pain but he quickly shook his head and took the camera from the floor aiming it towards the battle scene, "The world can't miss this!" he first focused the camera on the hero killer who was again unmoving. After a few seconds of looking at the unmoving villain, he started looking for Hokage
When he finally found him, he almost dropped the camera, there was the young hero who had enough skills and strength to fight an S-ranked Villain, standing tall but clearly unconscious, with his right-hand gripping tightly the bloody stump where half of his left arm should be
At the distance he could hear the yells of the approaching heroes, in the grand scheme of things… the heroes were just a minute late
Jesus… this one was really difficult, haha, I know I said that about every chapter but this one was different, there were four endings for it! So, it was difficult to decide which one was the one I wanted, after a couple of nights of consulting it with the pillow I choose this one, I hope you guys like it!
Thanks for staying with me this long, I love you all! Also, I'm planning on starting making omakes! About some of the voids this story has, mostly funny ones, like something on Izuku's training in Mt. Myōbokuzan and things like that what do you guys think?
As always I'm sorry about the grammar I do try, but learning through the internet and Duolingo (help) doesn't make it easier
