Chapter 5: Stand against the (Villain's March) (Cosmos Denier's Call)
Happy New Years! Have the fight you've all been waiting for! I see a few of you are starting to ask where Mashu and the other familiar Chaldea staff are! Safe to say there have been a few changes following the conclusion of the Lostbelts! Nathan Relnor is currently the only human in Chaldea so I guess we'll just have to wait and see what happened to the other staff and where they went! As for Da Vinci well... That new body was only ever temporary...
Aizawa canceled the quirks of the three ranged units that stepped up to shoot him down, taking them down in a matter of seconds.
As the large crowd of villains debated how best to handle someone that could nullify their quirks with a look, a mutation type villain charged him.
He'd been a pro hero for years. If they really thought he hadn't trained heavily to deal with such opponents then they were in for a rude awakening. He slipped under the villain's attack and delivered a devastating series of blows before tossing him into the next villain.
As he reset to blink he caught a glimpse of something that simultaneously made his stomach drop and filled him with unbridled fury.
Nathan Relnor.
The unassuming third problem child of his class.
He should have had someone restrain him physically before he jumped down.
This was the ultimate culmination of Nathan Relnor's particular type of heroism.
If a danger presented itself he moved to eliminate it. That was the path he was walking. It was certainly something one desired out of a hero but he was a boy of 16. There was no way he could fight on the level of an actual villain threat, no matter how well he did against robots or his classmates.
He was too young to have truly overcome his fear in the face of someone presenting an obvious threat to him.
With his job now twice as hard Aizawa began to fight in earnest. He needed to protect his students, even if they were too stupid not to jump into a crowd of villains.
Even if they were more diverse than the average soldier he faced they were all still small time villains.
Experience in street fighting and using their quirks.
But these were the people who slipped through the cracks. They did not have the resources to truly experiment with what their quirks could do.
In a way, that there were so many people here was an indication that something was deeply wrong with the way the current system was structured.
But Nathan did not spare it too much thought.
'These people need to be saved too. I don't have that kind of power now but as long as they survive they can be saved later,' He thought as he arrived on the battlefield.
He was a ways away from Aizawa but close enough that they could keep an eye on each other. He wasn't familiar with Aizawa's combat rhythm so he wouldn't be able to support him fully, as such a tandem battle was the best he could do.
A blade armed villain slashed at him, but he was so slow. Nathan reached up and grabbed the blade with his right, running a low level current through it before tossing the entire villain overhead at one of his allies. He followed it with a second shock just to make sure the other one was down too.
Ducking under the next wide swing, he swept his left leg out.
The affectionate nickname his fighting style had gained from Chaldea was Stun Gun Style. By constantly running a current through the outermost layer of his scales any contact with either of those limbs generally incapacitated a normal opponent.
He pulled himself back magnetically, avoiding another strike while returning a hammer blow of his own.
Refocusing somewhat, he turned his attention back to the three primary threats.
Why were there only two of them?
Two villains charged him, one swinging a whip out and the other jumping up and firing sharp objects from his arms. Nathan charged forward, only taking a few indirect hits before twisting himself under the whip in a way that didn't sacrifice his forward momentum.
An open palm blow was all it took to bring them down.
The other villain landed and was electrocuted the moment Nathan planted his left foot.
He looked up to the stairs only to see that dark mist surrounding his classmates.
His mind went blank.
His vision shook for a split second.
'You came down here to save them. And now they're going to die anyway.'
Paxti spoke to him, as he often did in stressful situations.
'Now it's all on you. Survive and carry their memory like you always do.'
Nathan wanted to scream but two villains charged him from opposite directions.
He pointed both hands at either assailant. One was met with an electrical charge that stopped him dead in his tracks.
The other got a much less pleasant fate.
He activated the mystic code stored in his left gauntlet. An auto assist to help him cast a more effective Gandr.
These villains were from the surface of the world even if they'd fallen into some of its cracks. In other words they had no exposure or defense from the world known as magic that Nathan had drowned in. This meant they had no resistance to curses like Gandr, a spell meant to reduce an opponent's physical capabilities significantly.
A small black blast struck that villain directly in the chest with enough force to knock the wind out of him, downing him in a single instant as severe nausea overtook him.
Nathan straightened up with an unsettling crack.
He would save everything he could. But he would also survive no matter the cost.
It was almost comically absurd how many of them there were. But of the three Aizawa had been keeping his eyes on, one had slipped away in the moments between blinks. He swore under his breath as another three villains tried a simultaneous attack.
Long engagements like this weren't his strong suit, but he would keep fighting as long as it meant keeping his students safe.
Even if one of them had jumped down in some asinine attempt to assist him.
Begrudgingly he had to admit that it was helping.
Nathan's talent had exceeded his expectations again and again, but perhaps it wasn't raw talent that he was seeing.
Nathan dodged a blow by less than an inch and countered with a quick jab that downed his opponent. He'd taken a few cuts and scrapes from somewhere in this brawl but he was holding his own.
Aizawa would have to prepare a very very long lecture on why everything he was doing right now was the height of lunacy, but he would need to leave a small section at the end for helping him. Maybe.
Distantly he registered the sounds of water sloshing around. The shipwreck zone was almost close enough that he could chance a glance over. But it was still too much of a risk given the sheer number of opponents in the area.
He'd yet to take any major hits. Unsupported tandem battles weren't something Nathan was terribly experienced with. The quality of his usual opponent tended to be outside of human capability. No matter how strong he got he had never been able to catch up to the Heroic Spirits.
'Always a burden.'
He let out a wide arc of electricity, taking out the three villains charging at him from the front.
The two primary threats were still standing around. Nathan could faintly register counting from the man covered in hands. Was he counting down to something? Was it some kind of activation code? He didn't have the time to properly focus on him.
But that other one hadn't moved an inch.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a large nail.
Slamming his left foot into the ground he let out a large burst of electricity, removing everyone around him from the fight.
He needed the time.
His right hand split open and began building up a terrifying amount of power.
Pulled by magnetism the Nail hovered between those two pylons of scales as they began to let out an odd hum.
If that thing needed to be activated then there was a chance he could take it out of the fight before that handy villain decided to use his ace.
Nathan could vaguely tell it had been human at some point.
They wouldn't be the first person he'd ever killed.
He pulled the trigger. The nail shot forward at three times the speed of sound. An orange line tore through the battlefield and pierced straight through that creature's midsection.
It let out a shriek as it staggered, its eyes locked on Nathan.
"What the fuck?" The hand covered villain muttered.
"Relnor you idiot just get going already!"
"Nomu. Crush him, make Eraserhead watch as one of his students dies."
Nathan watched the small hole he'd blown in the Nomu completely heal over.
"Oh fuck off with that horse shit." Nathan said dryly.
Aizawa's hearing was momentarily blown away by Nathan's railgun blasting through the sound barrier. That boy had moved to preemptively take out one of the remaining problem targets.
But he had done so in a way that utterly disregarded the survival of his target.
That level of force was completely unacceptable-
"What the fuck?" He heard the hand covered villain say.
He was preparing to enter the fight himself.
"Relnor you idiot just get going already!"
If that problem child was worried about his prospects before he did not need to keep worrying about them now. One on one Aizawa would be able to take that guy out no matter what his quirk was. He just needed that kid out of the way before he got himself killed.
"Nomu. Crush him, make Eraserhead watch as one of his students dies."
Aizawa's stomach dropped like a rock. By the time he focused his quirk on the creature it had already regenerated the grievous damage it had received.
What kind of monster were they about to face?
Horror began to seep into him as he weighed his odds. If that thing was as strong as it looked there was a very high chance they were both about to die.
He had to do everything he could to at least save-
"Oh fuck off with that horse shit."
How.
Actually how?
How in the world did that boy not even seem bothered?
There wasn't any fear in those words.
How could there not be any fear in those words?
They'd both just watched that thing recover from getting shot with a railgun.
A massive explosion of water drew his attention to the shipwreck zone.
The moment that pillar of water shot up into the sky was the moment that creature moved. It all happened so fast that Nathan was still in the middle of reforming his right arm into a hand.
As such he couldn't properly use it to form the weapon he needed to defend himself.
He flooded his body with magic, reinforcing his speed and strength as much as he could.
The Nomu was fast. Fast enough that it almost seemed to disappear in a blur of motion.
If it wasn't for the years of conditioning. The years of fighting larger than life beings for survival he would have been obliterated in the next moment.
He began reconfiguring the scales in his leg in preparation for his counter attack.
It led with a right handed swing. The blow was too fast for him to dodge normally, but the creature was relatively straightforward. Read and predict its actions, move before it starts moving, overcome your lack of ability with diligence and skill. He was moving before the blow came out, allowing him to just barely dodge it.
Its stance was wide so Nathan decided to try and shoot the gap. Pulling on the piping underneath them to speed up his movements beyond normal human reaction times he spun out of the way of that punch.
He advanced instead of retreating, allowing the forward momentum of his previous movement to pull him down and ahead. Weaving between that creature's legs, he pulled himself up and swung his left leg.
Anything he could do with his arm he could do with his leg. That included creating an arc fusion blade.
When that creature turned around to swing at Nathan again it found itself unable to do so.
You could not hit someone with an arm that was no longer attached to your body.
The stench of charred flesh filled the air.
A burst of electricity sounded as Nathan catapulted himself backwards. He brought himself to a stop by slamming his left hand into the ground and grasping at whatever he could.
Finally he was allowed the time to convert his limbs back into their default states. Landing on limbs that had been reconfigured for attacking was usually a good way to lose half of that limb. His battle gear armored his off limbs specifically for the times where he would need to come to a rapid stop and neither of his prosthetics were available.
Aizawa was looking right at that creature.
It was not regenerating.
That meant it's healing factor was a quirk. It didn't help in the long run but if he and Aizawa could focus this thing down there was a chance they'd be able to stop it.
But they were not the only pieces on the board.
That hand covered villain finally entered the fray.
Aizawa watched completely dumbfounded as that boy not only weaved through a blisteringly fast attack, but managed to land his own severe counter blow.
Where had that reaction time come from?
Where was his fear?
Even as a pro hero Aizawa felt fear. He'd been afraid the moment these villains showed up to threaten his students. The major difference was that he had been trained to handle that fear. Nathan Relnor should have no such training...
He could waste no time being constantly knocked off guard by that outrageous problem child.
The white haired villain charged him.
"Che- the last boss came out to greet me himself?"
He was forced to take his eyes off the Nomu to cancel whatever quirk this one had.
But of course the moment they collided was one of the handful that he needed before he could retarget.
He felt a hand close on the elbow he'd attacked with.
Flesh began to crack and break apart. His arm was being disintegrated, spreading out from that point of contact.
"The time you can use your quirk is shrinking isn't it? You're not built for prolonged fights like this are you? I've been watching and counting! Don't bite off more than you can chew Eraserhead!"
Aizawa slammed him with a left hook and jumped away.
Right into three other villains.
But he couldn't let being down an arm slow him.
There was no way he would be defeated so easily. With heavy use of his capture weapon and the bodies of his enemies he managed to knock all three of them out of the fight.
That white haired villain was gone when he turned to look back at him.
No. He was on the ground.
"What the fuck is that kid!?" He heard one of the villains say.
As much as he hated it, he agreed with the sentiment.
The Nomus arm regenerated when Aizawa refocused on that walking hand collection.
"I know I can do that too to some degree but I still find that ludicrously unfair. I'm going to have to ask you to please stop," Nathan said glibly.
He was only met with a bellowing roar as his opponent charged him again.
Its footing was tighter meaning it still had some cognitive ability.
That did little to change Nathan's objective but it made him feel worse about it.
He'd come here to learn how to not hurt people with his quirk after all.
The Nomu took the extra precaution of swinging down with enough force to shatter the ground.
Nathan soared over that strike, as well as the Nomu itself.
An Arc fusion blade split its shoulder open.
When it whirled around to swing as its opponent landed behind it it once again lost the offending arm. Without missing a beat it followed up with a left uppercut.
Nathan pivoted, pulling himself at an angle down and forward, allowing that fist to pass mere centimeters from his head.
If his opponent would not give him the space to evade under him he would make it.
He swung that blade of light and sliced through the Nomu's legs. He let its momentum carry it over him, the creature landing with a loud crunching noise behind him. Even for it's absurd regeneration it would be down for a few seconds.
It was enough time for him to check on the other half of the battle.
Aizawa's right elbow had been broken down by something.
Anger rose inside him as he leveled his left hand at that final primary threat.
That villain was not a mage.
One Gandr would be a powerful enough curse to stop him in his tracks.
He fired three.
With the Nomu as his opponent the hand man must have assumed Nathan would never be able to find the time to attack him.
So those three black fireballs took him completely by surprise, smashing into him with enough force to knock him off his feet.
He did not get back up.
One left.
The Nomu pulled itself up onto its newly regenerated legs.
Nathan took a moment to reassess. He suppressed the trembling that was surging through his body. This was an opponent that was both faster and stronger than he was. He was only barely managing to keep at its level during their exchanges and he knew that was going to come at a heavy cost..
Using so much power was starting to strain him. Eventually he would start burning out scales. Eventually he would start burning out his magic circuits. But he had to keep this up. Even if he destroyed his arm and leg he could remake them. Even if he was injured he could be put back together by Chaldea. As long as he returned alive he could get better later.
The Nomu flung a chunk of debris at him. It was terrifyingly fast but Nathan was already moving before it left its hands.
He let loose two Gandr blasts, each striking true.
If this creature could be slowed down with curses then maybe he stood a chance at holding out until help arrived.
It staggered slightly before launching forward. A fist slammed into the ground Nathan had been standing on mere moments before impact. It's base strength was truly terrifying. If it ever landed a direct hit he was sure that would be the end for him.
He pulled himself magnetically, coming to a grinding halt next to Aizawa.
"Status?" He asked sharply.
"We are going to have a long talk when this is over."
"Relevant status please."
"Right arm's shot, can't hold my stare long," Aizawa said before pausing. He hated it. He hated what he was about to do but he had no other options. To keep this problem child safe he was going to have to fight alongside him, "Yourself?"
"5-10 minutes tops. Too fast. Modes of attack insufficient. How long between blinks?" Nathan's right arm was letting out an odd hum. Aizawa assumed he was building up for his next big attack and didn't bother questioning it.
"Just a second or two."
Nathan opened his mouth but was quickly silenced by the Nomu's approach.
Aizawa darted to the side as Nathan shot forward to meet it.
It truly was a terrifying display.
Why did that boy always run in?
Why did that prospect not phase him at all?
The Nomu went for a grab, swinging both its arms wide and falling forward to try and cover his every escape route.
That wall of flesh closed around Nathan.
But.
Who was to say that wasn't part of that problem child's plan.
A massive burst of electricity surged through the Nomu.
It was airborn the next moment.
Nathan pushed off the ground as hard as he could carrying the Nomu far into the air.
The constant stream of electricity flowing into it from his back scales prevented its muscles from closing around him.
Once he was high enough he shoved his way out from under that creature. It reached up to try and grab him only to be met with a sword striking it in the chest. It didn't carry any real amount of force but it was enough to stagger the Nomu out of its attack.
A golden portal disappeared from sight moments after delivering that blade.
Strange glowing lines weaved their way across Nathan's arm.
This was not an opponent he could restrain himself against, nor was it an opponent he could maintain a sustained battle with.
He had to finish this here.
He was not a skilled mage but he had a powerful quirk to make up for it. Through a truly monumental amount of trial and error he had managed to combine those two skills into a single powerful attack.
Reinforced Lightning.
He had been building up power since his last disengagement.
One billion volts mixed with as much mana as he could safely supply.
Edison had once told him that this technique was the beginnings of a Noble Phantasm.
Nathan unleashed it all here, letting loose an absolutely terrifying amount of power.
The air broke down into plasma between himself and his opponent.
There was no chance of missing, the Nomu was already the closest thing to him even before he'd supplied a convenient lightning rod via the Gate of Babylon.
A horrid shriek filled the air as the Nomu's flesh melted from the sheer heat of the lightning strike. Because it was off the ground the electricity had nowhere to go for a moment before bursting from its back and striking the ground.
An ethereal purple light bathed USJ's main stage.
The attack only lasted a couple of seconds.
The Nomu hit the partially melted ground hard and made no moves to get back up. Not with Aizawa staring at it.
Nathan landed with an ungraceful thud, having only barely remembered to magnetically put on the breaks before hitting the ground.
His right arm was trembling. Its surface that had been smooth and glossy before was now a mess of out of place scales and charring.
If he hadn't been using his arc fusion blade so heavily.
If he hadn't fired a railgun.
He might have another one of those attacks in him.
But as he was now he wasn't even sure he'd be able to make another arc fusion blade.
"How many are there left!?" He called out. He'd been looking directly at that lightning strike so he had a nasty afterimage burned into his retina for the moment. His electromagnetic vision was not helping much either, it had difficulty if people were standing either too close to each other or behind one another.
"Not sure, they're not moving after that though." Aizawa said, struggling against his urge to blink.
He'd watched that creature recover from losing all of its limbs and having a hole blown in it. There was a chance it had even survived whatever kind of attack that was.
It had certainly not been normal lightning.
"Shigaraki-"
Black mist emerged from the ground near the fountain.
The third threat returned to the battlefield.
And he did not seem happy.
Darkness that had previously held a somewhat orderly air became frenzied.
Nathan swore under his breath. The Nomu's defeat hinged entirely on that thing being the only target they had to deal with.
"I'll handle him! Don't let that thing get back up!" Nathan shouted. He was expending too much mana but he had to keep fighting. He had to keep his teacher safe.
"RELNOR IF YOU DON'T STAND DOWN THIS INSTANT-" Aizawa roared.
But Nathan wasn't listening.
He opened fire, testing the waters with a Gandr blast.
When that same blast struck him straight in the back he staggered from the force of the blow.
He was very very thankful he'd installed an Anti-curse mystic code.
So he was dealing with a Villain that used portals to fight? Unfortunately for him, that was an opponent he had a wide variety of experience with.
He would have to thank those golden kings for teaching him so much about how portal users fought.
Aizawa had seen that blast drop at least half a dozen villains in one shot. And here was Nathan pulling another inexplicable resistance out of his ass. His eyes had drifted to the portal villain for just a moment.
They snapped right back to the Nomu when he heard it move.
How?
How had it survived such an onslaught?
He was glad he hadn't watched his student murder a villain in cold blood, but its survival filled him with dread.
Eventually he would blink enough times that it would get up and enter the fight once more.
If even that hadn't been enough...
This battle had been going on for far too long. He simply wouldn't be able to keep it down for much longer.
Was it better to try and focus down the new arrival and then deal with it when it got up?
"Ghrhhhn…"
That white haired villain covered in hands pulled himself off the ground shakily.
"Fucking! I hit you with three of those! You should be in bed till next week!" Nathan shouted. Once again there was no creeping dread in his voice at the prospect of now being completely outnumbered. There was only vague annoyance that his efforts were being undermined.
"Kurogiri… What the fuck is happening?"
"One of the students escaped."
"What?"
"One of the students I failed to scatter got through the gates. The pro heroes will be here soon."
Shigaraki just looked at the black mist villain, his hands shakily making their way up to scratch his neck.
"Aaaaaaah… Are you telling me… You couldn't even keep some damn brats in line…"
"I mean to be fair, you couldn't even keep one brat in check," Nathan snarked.
Aizawa wondered briefly if that boy had any survival instinct to speak of.
It was a truly massive swell.
Killing intent flowed forward like a tsunami.
But it might as well have been a light drizzle to Nathan.
Aizawa was vaguely aware that there were two students watching from the edge of the shipwreck zone.
Was that Nathan's objective?
Was he just taunting them to keep all of the attention on himself?
There was being heroic and then there was lunacy and Nathan was veering far far into complete madness.
"Come on then." Nathan said sharply.
"Kurogiri!" Shigaraki shouted as he charged. He thrust his hand forward through a portal that opened up in front of him.
The matching portal appeared behind Nathan.
Shigaraki made to grab his neck.
Or at least he would have if electricity hadn't surged through his system.
It arced from Nathan's back scales straight into that offending limb.
Every portal user he knew always went for whatever blind spot they thought you had. Even Nathan fought that way when using the Gate of Babylon heavily. Fortunately that villain's attacks required physical contact so a simple discharge of electricity was enough to stagger him.
"Listen," Nathan began. His presence shifted considerably, making it seem like the very air around him had changed. "Just stop. I will unquestionably accept your surrender. This is senseless. Destroying the symbol of peace? What does that even mean? What could you possibly hope for from doing so? Power? Infamy? Whatever it is, it isn't worth it. So just stop and accept help."
"You couldn't possibly understand you little shit-"
"Try me. I'll listen to whatever you have to say, without judgement or scorn."
Shigaraki faltered.
That shift in presence had taken hold of him in his rattled state.
But he was already too far gone.
Some half improvised speech from a snot nosed brat would never reach him.
"Che- Kurogiri. Lets go. If the pros are on the way it's game over anyway… But first-"
"You can't keep running from the pain that drives you. Eventually you have to reach out to someone who won't coddle you and encourage that pain or else you'll never be free of it. It will consume you until it's the only thing left."
"I'm going to take my time ripping you apart."
The sheer glee that accompanied those words made Aizawa's hair stand on end.
The Nomu was struggling to its feet.
Aizawa was reaching the limits of his abilities and he knew Relnor had to be well past his own.
Not that it showed on that boy's face.
That calm air of understanding evaporated in an instant.
"Well. The offer is always on the table for you no matter how many times you turn it down," He said with some resignation. His arm gave off a few odd sparking noises, as if it was having trouble containing its own power.
The door at the top of the stairs exploded.
With three massive threats to his life in front of him he couldn't spare it the attention.
But they could.
"Ah… Looks like we're getting a continue after all." Shigaraki muttered.
"So he finally showed up," Aizawa said under his breath.
"Everything is fine. I have arrived." All Might said, thinly veiled fury in his voice and expression.
Nathan ran the matchup in his head. If All Might could just keep that Nomu busy for long enough he and Aizawa could handle the other two. That would leave it at a nice three on one fight well in their favor. Even if he was exhausted. Even if he'd taken a few hits here and there. He would continue as long as he could still fight.
"Alright let's finish this up and go home," Nathan said, electricity dancing across his palm.
So help him, Aizawa was going to hang that boy upside down from a tree and knock some sense into him.
"Relnor go tend to your fellow students."
Before he could protest All Might was in front of them. The gaggle of remaining henchmen were blown away by his wake.
"I'm sorry for my absence Aizawa-kun…"
His heart stopped when he saw exactly who it was beside Aizawa.
"Young Relnor?"
"Yes sir," He confirmed helpfully.
"Please stand down. This will be an excellent opportunity for you to see a pro in action."
Nathan didn't want to burden him with the knowledge that he had already seen history's greatest heroes duke it out with each.
But he would not leave until this was finished. Until the threat was removed he would fight.
Even if All Might was here… He could not back down.
"Focus on the big one, that's the one Aizawa and I can't seem to bring down. The other two are chumps in comparison.
It was certainly an odd presence to feel coming from a student. Especially to All Might.
He felt like he was receiving orders from a field commander.
That boy had no intention of standing down.
He respected the attitude but this was a different world than what he was used to.
Wait.
Was it?
Was it really?
Had he not been fighting at Aizawa's side this whole time?
Had he not come from that mysterious hero organization known as Chaldea?
It was a question to ask later that was for sure. For now he had the support of another pro so there was no need to endanger a student any further.
"Relnor please. As a teacher. As someone put in charge of your safety. To have you needlessly endanger yourself is something I cannot stand," Aizawa said, moving in front of the combat ready teen.
For the first time Nathan took a step back.
Another figure flashed in front of his eye.
Would Goredolf be saying the same thing?
"I-"
He hated fighting. But he could not stand the idea of his teachers being hurt over his mistake. So he would swallow his feelings and fight anyway. But he was finally being pushed out the door.
His attention drifted over to the two that had been watching the fight unfold from the water's edge.
Midoriya Izuku and Asui Tsuyu.
"I understand. I will fall back."
"About time."
He rushed over to the side of the water.
"Are you two ok?" He asked calmly.
"Y-Yeah? Relnor-san your arm-" Midoriya muttered shakily.
"Everything will be fine. Let's get going," He extended his left hand out.
"Where did you learn to fight like that Relnor-san?" Tsuyu asked as he pulled Midoriya out of the water.
"Around." He said blankly, offering his hand to her.
Hesitantly she reached out and took it.
A blast of air pressure jostled the three, turning their attention back to that central fight.
Aizawa was keeping Kurogiri on lockdown while dealing with Shigaraki hand to hand.
All Might was engaged in what Nathan could only describe as a battle between Heroic Spirits. The speed and power that he moved with would rival many of the Chaldeans he knew back home.
But why did Midoriya look so worried?
Was there something wrong there that he just wasn't seeing?
He considered rejoining the fight but… His fellow students needed him more than All Might and Aizawa did. He would leave his hopes with them and focus on survival.
"Come on. We need to get moving," He said.
"That's rich coming from you," Tsuyu said with a soft ribbit.
"Quite." He agreed, "I want to check on the people at the top of the stairs. A bonus of double tapping all of the villains on the way is also nice."
Tsuyu just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that she'd just watched one of her classmates engage in such a high level battle. That creature was currently giving All Might trouble and Nathan had been fighting it. How had he been reacting that fast? How was he not terrified at the sight of it? What about him had allowed him to fight at the level of a Pro for even that brief amount of time.
"Wait…" Midoriya muttered.
"Midoriya. All Might is here. There's nothing more we need to do," Nathan said.
Both of the students gave Nathan a look that he simply brushed off.
But Midoriya did not move.
Something that had been said earlier on the bus occurred to Tsuyu
'Oh my god there's two of them.'
She felt dread creep back into her system.
A massive cloud of debris exploded out, threatening to swallow the three of them.
It was only thanks to Nathan grabbing both of them and shooting forward that they managed to clear the blast.
"Who knew a backdrop slam was that explosive?" Nathan said with a tone that was a bit too dull.
He could faintly hear Uraraka at the top of the stairs. It looked like whatever danger they'd been in had passed.
"Come on-"
"No-" He heard Midoriya mutter.
When he looked to see what had Midoriya so flustered he took in a sharp breath.
Kurogiri had opened a portal, allowing the Nomu to avoid any damage from All Might's attack.
They'd locked each other together.
Midoriya was about to run in. Nathan could tell just from the look in his eyes. There was something else wrong that Nathan didn't know about that was driving him to desperation.
But a sickening squelch that interrupted both of their trains of thought.
The portal the Nomu had been using disappeared, slicing it clean in half. It allowed All Might to pull himself free as it started to regenerate its lower half.
"Che- This is-" Shigaraki started before being knocked away by an unbelievably swift blow from All Might.
"Thanks Aizawa-kun!" He said, giving his fellow teacher a thumbs up.
This fight was unmanageable. The villains needed all of their quirks to truly get the upper hand on All Might. But with Aizawa present they could never rely on their quirks being there when they needed them.
It would be a losing battle of attrition.
Especially when Bakugo launched himself into the fray, pinning down Kurogiri with a series of small explosions.
The regenerating Nomu didn't fare any better. Ice flowered across the ground before encasing its limbs and lower half. Todoroki and Kirishima approached the battlefield casually.
Two pro heroes, five relatively unscathed students waiting in the wings with powerful quirks, and one Master of Chaldea.
"I don't understand…" Shigaraki groaned out as he pulled himself up. The kids were beneath his concern when his target was All Might. So how the hell did one of them screw up his plans so so badly. The Nomu should have crushed Aizawa. Even if one of the kids was stupid enough to rush in they shouldn't have been capable of fighting a weapon designed to counter All Might!
So why!?
"You!" He pointed to one Nathan Relnor, "You! You! YOU! Nomu! Get this fucking brat off Kurogiri and then give everything you've got to killing that piece of shit!"
That scream had been directed at Relnor, but all of the students felt the weight of those words. It was like someone had driven a stake through their hearts and made them doubt every choice they'd made to reach this point.
But.
"Oh because that's been going so well for you up until now," Nathan said dryly as that enduring enemy broke through the ice and began regenerating his limbs again in earnest. He split his right hand open and created another arc fusion blade. It was noticeably smaller than his previous blades but it would be enough.
Todoroki took a step back, watching in horror as the Nomu shrugged off having it's limbs shattered.
The Nomu exploded towards Bakugo.
But there was someone else there who could match its speed.
All Might tossed the boy over the villain, landing him near Midoriya and the others.
Taking a blow meant to crush Bakugo directly, All Might was knocked back, sending up a cloud of debris as he skidded backwards.
But he did not fall.
The Nomu had other orders, and it was keen to follow them.
It charged Nathan with another terrifying burst of speed.
All Might was on top of it in a matter of moments, grabbing it by the hand it had reared back, the hand Nathan was one step away from severing. With a great show of force All Might slung it into its allies before turning back to the students.
"Please. Everyone. Escape."
"But- All Might!? Aren't you already out of time- Ah!" Midoriya shouted out.
"All Might isn't the only one here problem child," Aizawa said, taking point next to him, "Leave this to the Pros."
"Don't any of you get it!?" Shigaraki shouted, "At the end of the day, violence is violence. Heroic? Villainous? Who draws the line here? There's no difference in what you do and what we do. Symbol of peace? You're just a tool to suppress those of us who want to be free. Once we kill you. The truth of violence will spread across the world."
All Might opened his mouth to call the man out on his words but someone beat him to the punch.
"Huh!? Is that what this is about? You're sick of the categories so you're just going to destroy the walls between both of them and show the world your truth? What's to stop you from just walking over that line yourself? Why do you have to kill and destroy to do it? If it's all the same then why can't you just be a hero!?"
Something had snapped and those words exploded out of Nathan Relnor.
"If the line is so arbitrary then why aren't you out helping people? If we're doing the same thing then why did you break into our school and try to kill us? You're just doing what you want and blaming everyone else for it!"
The air was at a standstill.
Shigaraki took a step back.
How had he lost so utterly and completely? When had it happened?
"Nomu. K-keep them busy. Kurogiri we're leaving."
An explosive burst of air followed immediately. Everyone was blown back except for Aizawa and Nathan who had managed to brace themselves in time.
That was just how much force All Might and the Nomu unleashed when they collided.
The wind was so bad that Aizawa lost eye contact with that portal Villain for a moment. In that brief instant Shigaraki disappeared inside his black mist.
"Built to fight me at 100% they said!? Then I'll just have to go beyond 100%!" All Might roared as he began to push that creature to its limits.
This was what it meant to be a top level Pro Hero.
To push past your limits and save everyone around you.
All Might's fist collided with that creature from below, overwhelming whatever shock absorbing ability it had and sending it flying straight through the large dome overhead.
The primary threat was eliminated.
All that remained was to collect the students and deal with the small time villains.
Nathan's helmet split apart and folded around his neck. Strength left him as he shut off his reinforcement magic. He was exhausted. He was a human and that creature had been somewhere on the level of a Heroic Spirit.
Aizawa was not wrong to think he was out of his depth when approaching a monster like that but Nathan Relnor was a unique case. He had been fighting alongside heroes of that scale for so long that by pushing himself to his absolute limit he could attain similar results for a short period of time. That was simply what he had been forced to in order to survive.
The world did not remember the trials he and Chaldea faced. But that did not mean they didn't happen.
"Relnor. Can you move?" Aizawa asked him.
It took Nathan a moment to respond. Something was weighing heavily on his mind clearly.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Cuts and scrapes and strains. Nothing unusual."
"And your arm?"
"It's shot but that's not a big deal, I'll just regrow it tonight. It'll be good as new next time you see me. What about yours?"
"I'll be fine." With that he wrapped the boy tightly in his capture weapon and started to drag him towards the exit.
"Um."
Nathan wasn't readily trying to escape but he wondered why Aizawa felt this was entirely necessary.
"I don't trust you to not run off like an idiot again so we're doing this the hard way."
"Um why is Nathan tied up?" Shoji asked as the group returned to the top of the stairs.
Aizawa and Nathan just looked at him like he'd just asked why the sky was green.
Mina and Uraraka ran up to the group and started sobbing about how glad they were that they were ok. Despite everything. Despite the villains showing up with enough force to fight with All Might, they had all come out relatively uninjured. The only ones majorly injured were Aizawa and Thirteen, discounting Midoriya's broken fingers and Nathan's overexertion.
"Oh. Is it all over already?"
They turned to the door.
A group of pro heroes advanced.
"We just need to sweep up. All Might is down at the plaza checking around," Aizawa said.
"Understood," Snipe said. He took point and started picking off the remaining villains as the other pros moved to secure the last of the scattered students.
Things were finally moving to a close.
"Why is Relnor-kun tied up Aizawa-kun?" Nezu asked as he approached the aforementioned teacher.
"Why are you tied up Relnor?" Aizawa, the person who had tied him up, asked.
"Because I jumped straight into a villain fight when you expressly told me not to do that?"
"At least you're self aware," Aizawa grumbled, "Not that you let it stop you."
"It almost never does."
"Relnor-san, did you contact Chaldea during this engagement?"
Nathan just gave him a blank stare before registering what he'd said.
"No?" He paled as he spoke. The realization that he probably should have called them if only because it would upset them when they heard that he hadn't dawned on him. "Should I have?"
"Perhaps. Perhaps not. It seems like everything has worked out rather well regardless."
"Why would Relnor-san call Chaldea?" Midoriya asked.
"I live there," Nathan said simply.
Midoriya's mind came to an abrupt stop.
That secret hero reserve force that barely anyone knew anything about.
And his friend for a month and some change had lived there the whole time? He had been hearing Chaldean conversations?
If he hadn't just been in the middle of a massive villain attack he'd have been furious at Nathan for keeping that information to himself.
But right now he was just glad they'd all managed to survive their first encounter with Villains.
"The emergency responders will be here soon, let's start getting you all outside and make sure you're all ok!" Nezu announced cheerfully.
Nathan and Aizawa sat near one of the ambulances that were pulled up outside of USJ. Thirteen had been grievously injured and immediately rushed to surgery. Aizawa's arm was bandaged but the damage had not been deep. He would simply wait for Recovery Girl to treat him.
"I'm only going to say this once, and it's going to go against everything I'm going to yell at you tomorrow once I've had time to sort everything out in my head." Aizawa started quietly.
This caught the lightly bandaged teen's full attention.
"Thank you. I don't know how well it would have gone if you hadn't been there. It's my job to protect you so I would have accepted any outcome, but thank you for giving me this one, where none of my students were badly injured."
Nathan just looked at him with a blank expression on his face.
Almost like he was having some difficulty processing what Aizawa was telling him.
"I just did what I felt was right. As much as you can't stand the idea of your students getting hurt, I couldn't stand the idea of my teacher getting hurt either."
Aizawa was completely blindsided by what followed.
That smile and the overwhelming emotion it expressed.
He recognized it for what it was.
Love.
So much love that it had an almost inhuman quality to it.
Faint flashes of a friend he'd never see again with a smile too bright came to the forefront of Aizawa's memory.
"I know it was wrong, and I know I deserve admonishment for going against you. But reaching this outcome made it worth it to me. I couldn't handle being responsible for too many people being injured. I already feel bad enough about you and Thirteen."
Wait.
The gears in Aizawa's head came to an abrupt stop.
What was he on about?
"Relnor you are in no way responsible for this incident."
"I noticed someone with murderous intent with the reporters yesterday but I couldn't single them out and when I saw the gates come down I thought it would be fine so I didn't say anything. Then when the alarm went off I knew it was them and went looking but I couldn't find them or stop them. They probably stole the information that they used to plan this attack so because I didn't stop them-"
"Relnor."
Aizawa had turned to face the boy completely.
He was glaring at him.
"That is not your responsibility as a student."
No wonder this ridiculous boy had acted so far out of line.
He blamed himself for the entire thing and was acting out of guilt and a desire to correct his perceived mistakes.
"UA's security measures failed. That's why this happened. You should be focusing on how to become a proper hero. Your safety is our responsibility and we failed you. Not the other way around."
Nathan looked at Aizawa like he'd sprouted two additional heads.
"Being a hero does not mean you have to take the entire world on your shoulders and keep it safe all by yourself. Rely on us. Rely on your peers. Let go and grow with them. Become heroes with them."
A soft hiccup came from that boy's throat. He was holding together but it looked like the slightest tap would send him over the edge.
"It is ok to run away from a situation like this where your life is on the line. It is ok to ask an adult for help with something you can't overcome."
Aizawa watched as that boy suppressed the overwhelming emotions his words were bringing up. It was eerie to see him mentally compartmentalizing his feelings to deal with later.
"I-" he finally got out.
His breathing was a little erratic but he was rapidly regaining control of himself.
"Thank you…" he said almost too quietly for Aizawa to register.
"This started out as me thanking you problem child… Go talk to your classmates they're hovering."
With a gentle shove, Nathan was pushed away from the ambulance.
Aizawa watched as that shaky boy made his way over to his peers.
He was going to have some words with Chaldea.
Exactly how had a boy in their care come out like that?
What horrors had he experienced?
If Aizawa was going to help him he needed to know more.
"Relnor-saaaaaaan!" Mina shouted, running over and hugging the boy.
He flinched at the sudden contact but relaxed quickly.
"You're actually a lunatic, you know that?!" She said, tightening her grip on him.
"I have been told as much before," He said dryly.
He didn't see Midoriya in the group but last he'd checked the boy had been with All Might.
Who was also gone.
Curious.
Shoji and Yaoyorozu approached the two, exchanging a worried glance as Mina continued her endeavor to crush the life out of him.
"Are you ok Relnor-san?" Yaoyorozu asked.
"Can't breath but otherwise fine. Cuts and scrapes. Nothing serious."
Finally Mina let him go, giving him a soft pout as she did.
"I must say that was quite the performance," Shoji said in a tone Nathan couldn't quite pin down, "When you went toe to toe with that large villain I was sure you were about to die but… Where did you learn to move like that?"
"Around," Nathan supplied unhelpfully, "The best place against a strong and fast opponent is too close for them to fully rear back to hit you. If you're agile enough to keep up with them anyway. Thankfully I could follow his speed otherwise I would have just died."
Another series of odd looks told Nathan he'd said something strange.
"Wh-Why are you so casual about that!? If he was too fast you would have died!? That's terrifying!" Mina shouted.
"It is how it is."
"You're not in shock are you?" Yaoyorozu asked, "From the stress?"
"Not that I know of."
"Oh man!" A new voice came in from the side. Hagakure and Ojiro approached the four, "Nathan your arm!? Is it ok?"
"Not really. I'll have to replace it when I get home."
"R-Replace it?" Ojiro said, paling significantly.
Oh right that was probably not a sentiment any of them were used to hearing so casually.
"Yeah. I've talked with you about it with Yaoyorozu-san but replacing my arm isn't too big of a deal. It'll be as good as new by tomorrow."
It was rather alarming how casually he discussed damage that severe but…
"How long has your arm been like that?"
"Mh. Four years or so?"
Ah. That's why he was so casual about it. He was used to it.
Wait.
No that didn't make any sense to her either.
Why was he used to destroying his arm in direct combat?
If it was four years ago, he would have been twelve.
The more she talked to him the less she understood him.
"Does regrowing it hurt?" Ojiro asked.
Nathan's face froze at a thin smile for a moment while he recovered from the question.
"I'm used to it!" He said approximately truthfully. It wasn't the most pain he'd ever experienced in one go but it was certainly agonizing. Removing the scales hurt. Regrowing them hurt even more. He needed to be able to feel what he was doing so he could never have local anesthetic while regrowing scales.
"That's not a comforting answer, Relnor-san." Shoji said dryly.
"Sorry," He said instinctively.
"Still that was absolutely insane!" Mina interrupted, "I thought Midoriya was good at dodging but you were just like woosh!" She passed her fist just past her own face as a visual demonstration.
"Mh. I realized I was probably in trouble after it regenerated the railgun shot off but thankfully I managed to just stack enough damage on it to keep it pinned."
Nathan watched them continue chatting, the tension and fear of the day began to ebb away from them.
He was glad. They'd seen him go something close to all out and they did not seem overly perturbed by it.
Somehow they had accepted him even though he had displayed that monstrous side of himself. The side that allowed him to bring an end to the Lostbelts.
It was a part of him. That deadly mindset that concerned itself with his own survival above all other things. It was a loud part of him that took many faces, but he did not want to go back to it. He did not want to be stained with blood yet again.
This incident had made him knock on the door to that former self of his. But he had not allowed it to fully answer.
"My my. Is everything alright?"
A dapper man walked up flanked by a police officer.
Nathan's eye went wide.
"Sherlock what are you doing here?" He asked.
His friends looked at him and considered for a moment that he was displaying more open fear here than he had that entire fight.
"We heard there was an incident. From someone that wasn't you. So they decided I should come by and see what all the fuss was about."
That man was smiling but his emotions were hard to follow. He was off in a way that was hard to describe.
"Regardless. Good work clearing everything up. It seems like you did quite the exemplary job. As I would expect of you."
"Who is that Relnor-san?" Mina asked finally.
"I am Sherlock Holmes, point of contact for the Chaldea Security Organization. It is a pleasure to meet you all." He said, giving a bow.
It was everyone else's turn to be taken aback.
They'd all heard something or another about Chaldea but it was all so vague.
And yet.
Why were Nathan and Sherlock conversing so casually?
"I'm sorry I didn't call. I thought… I just-"
A gloved hand fell onto his head.
"I'm proud of you. For solving it all by yourself. But now is the time to let go and let the adults in your life take care of it for you. I doubt you'll be able to but do try to rest when you get home."
Nathan blinked, his words having died in his throat. Sherlock gave the other students a wave as he continued on with the police officers.
"So was that your dad or?" Hagakure asked.
"N-No no no! He's- He's just been taking care of me for a bit!"
"Wait. Relnor-san. You said you live at a hero organization right?" Mina began.
"Yes?"
"Is that hero organization Chaldea!?"
"Yes."
Shoji vaguely recalled a conversation he'd had with Nathan a few days ago at lunch where he said he'd been saved by Chaldea. Had he been with them since then?
"Were you keeping that a secret for any reason?!"
"No? Nobody asked directly so I did not give a direct answer. It's a bad habit of mine that I picked up from someone who definitely isn't here and absolutely isn't named Sherlock Holmes." Nathan snarked while pointing directly at the aforementioned man.
Something about that struck them as odd.
Nathan was fairly reserved and was usually not one to joke around too much, so seeing him openly jeer at someone was unusual for them.
Although they'd only known him for a few days so who was to say that this wasn't his normal behavior finally coming through after getting used to everyone?
The return to UA was quiet. Everyone was either bouncing the same questions off of Nathan regarding his brief jump into pure insanity or were shell shocked from their own encounters.
He couldn't blame them.
He remembered Fuyuki.
That city of flames seemed so far away now.
How had he come to view that horrible corrupted landscape as nostalgic?
He remembered how inexperienced he and Mashu were. How Olga and Cu had basically had to drag them to victory on their backs.
But he survived.
And his class had survived this.
They would grow stronger from it. This was their first step into the world of villains. While not as controlled as his teachers probably wished it was, the fact that none of the students had been critically injured couldn't be overlooked.
He walked out of UA alone today. He'd slipped away because he wanted to avoid another endless barrage of questions. He'd have more energy for them tomorrow.
"Oh." He heard a small voice call out. It wasn't one he recognized as a classmate so he turned his head to investigate.
"You're… Ah. I remember. You made it in!" He said with his characteristic smile.
"Ah-" She flinched at the weight of the emotion that smile conveyed, but she wouldn't falter this time. "Thank you!"
He had saved her. Even if it was a practical exam. Even if she hadn't been in real danger. He had moved to save her all the same. She'd wanted to thank him ever since arriving at UA but she had simply never had the chance until now.
"I-" He started, clearly knocked off guard, "You're welcome?"
"Kodai Yui. It's nice to meet you."
"Relnor Nathan. A pleasure."
He gave her a wave before moving on. His ride had arrived and keeping this one waiting was a recipe for disaster.
She sat atop a large dinosaur bearing her name.
"Hey Quetz."
"Haaaaiiiii Master!"
He quietly glanced around, there weren't too many students around and none of them seemed to be paying attention to the things she was saying over the fact that she was riding a dinosaur. Perhaps he hadn't fully registered that they were not speaking Japanese.
"Shall we be on our way?" He asked.
"Yes! Let's get back home! We have a lot of yelling to do!" She said, obligingly lowering the reptile so he could climb aboard.
"I was afraid of that. But… Do you think it can wait? I've been holding everything together but I'm at my limit here..."
He let his focus drift for a moment. His body started trembling the moment he stopped trying to restrain it.
In order to reassure everyone he'd suppressed the symptoms of overusing his mana. It wasn't a disease with proper symptoms so showing the emergency workers wouldn't have done him any good.
"I see. That won't do at all! Your big sister will get you help right away!"
They took off in an explosion of motion, soaring through the skies towards Chaldea.
I hope that was everything you all wanted it to be! It was a lot of fun to write! Fighting the Master of Chaldea is no small task after everything he's been through! And boy has he been through a lot! I wanna thank everyone for leaving such nice comments and reviews! It really does brighten my day whenever I see them! I hope you all have a wonderful New Year!
Next time! War comes to Chaldea in this time of supposed rest! See you next week!