Chapter 138 - Kindred Perfection
|Siege Engine Collision - 01:50:15|
Heat, unbearable heat that turned the sky a vibrant blue with stains of black from soot. Camino Ward was ablaze, large walls of blue flames covered the ruined buildings around them. The large form of Selas the Augmented keeping the small number of heroes on their toes, seemingly unaffected by the flames. All the while, Dabi laughed while hanging by one arm off the side of the statue to All Might, admiring the calamity surrounding him.
"Ain't that funny, the already dwindling stock of heroes just got liquidated. Although it's been a while, it's still quite a nostalgic sight," Dabi commented, his patchwork body burning up, spreading across his numb skin as the rags of his coat were set alight at the edges. "I only began making my moves after seeing that spectacular sight at Hosu City, Shoto!" He swung his arms, engulfing himself in a whirlwind of tremendous flames.
The funnel spat Dabi up, hovering amongst the heroes with a tornado of embers around his legs. "Ah, sorry... that was a little personal rant, as usual, you won't look at me, huh? I can't get fired up like this..." He sighed dejectedly, eyeing the heroes below battling his flames. "You third son, with only three of your guys. Is this all you can muster up against me, father?"
"Kido, you stay back! You can't take this much heat with your body, right!?" Onima yelled over the roaring flames, using his extreme resistance to ward his partner.
"I'll be fine, I can control the trajectory of almost anything," Kido stated, the wrappings around his head coming undone by the air pressure swirling around them. "So redirecting the trajectory of hot air around me has become second nature, I do it all the time," He raised his hands, focusing on disrupting the flow. "Calmly and rationally, I've been doing this for over ten years, and will continue to do so, I was ordered by Old Man Endeavor to help, and help I shall provide!"
"I don't give a crap if this has to do with that old fart Endeavor's family problems. He's been honest in every job he's taken to date, that includes even now," Burnin' announced, making their stance on the matter firm. She eyed both Shoto and Hana next to him. "We'll entrust that duty to you, we'll support you with everything we got."
"I appreciate that, Burnin'!" Shoto replied.
She laughed once, "I don't need no thanks, it's a waste of energy!" As lively as ever in a hellfire.
"Toya... Dabi... don't get me wrong, I'm not here because someone ordered me, I chose that I would be the one to stop you!" Shoto declared, casting a wave of ice alongside Hana to hold back the raging flames.
"And I am here to end what Viral began," Hana grunted.
"Can't you see how that makes you Dad's puppet!?" Dabi declared, his face burning up more and more as his right eye flashed tiger orange. "Your ice can't even touch us, what hope do you have living up to a Nightmare that doesn't even exist anymore!?" Infernal giggled.
Frosty air pulled through Shoto's hair, alone, his ice was powerful but against flames infused by a Nightmare? He wouldn't stand a chance, so when his ice felt that arctic chill distinct to Hana course around him, it was hard not to feel unstoppable. "If that means he can take his mind off of you and be a hero, so be it,"
Dabi slit his eyes, "I see... in the end, this whole war's been a fight between individuals, not nameless soldiers acting on orders, this is the result... over everyone's feelings exploding all at once," Dabi realized, he and Infernal were here for more than the orders of some Splicer. Their desire, their combined agreement is what pushed them to act in the present. "Some want to change the world," Toga fighting alongside Ochaco and Tsu. "Others want to destroy it," Spinner stood by, lurking in the dark, taller than he once was. "Deviants to society that have been supressed and accumulated over time," Shigaraki and Kovik faces were split side by side.
Dabi smiled faintly, even as his skin was peeled back, his flesh cooked and tender without an ounce of pain written on his face. "The absolute limit of supernatural society, that's what I... what We are, what you and everyone else is," He motioned to Shoto and Hana.
"If you were alive all this time, why didn't you come back home?" Shoto had to know why, even if just a bit to put his mind to rest. The flames were quelled, giving them time to speak before that sun would inevitably explode within Dabi.
"Hah! You wanna know that, huh?" He gave a wide smile that would put Toga to shame. "Fine, I'll tell you. I might be a villain now, but I'm still your big brother, I'll tell you everything about how I became Dabi," His skin flaked, leaving the right side of his cheek exposed, the muscles taut as his lips burned to ash. "The reason why my flames never extinguished, and surpassed even those of Dad's masterpiece!"
"Shoto, I did go back home. Although my body was weaker than before, and I didn't have anything to look forward to in life anymore, even a little bit I wanted to change, I wanted to see that change," Dabi's tone was genuine and sincere, it was as if for the first moment in his long history of carnage, he was speaking crystal clear. But in his eyes, all he could see was an abusive father tormenting teachings into his youngest son. "I was reminded once again of the reason I was born... I'm just a defective product ~wE bOtH aRe~ my life has no meaning. My family has already... moved on from me,"
The air grew hotter, his flames burned with a clean azure pigment. "When you cross certain limits, the things that used to shape you lose all meaning, I devoted myself just to make my flames stronger," His arms started to burn up, his coat devoured by the embers. "I couldn't face him while being weak, even as this body burned and rotted, I could no longer feel anything," He hissed, voice scraggily as he prattled on. "I've seen many of his moves."
"Shoto, Velkhana, it's too hot!" Someone yelled but neither budged, caught in the crushing aura emanating from Dabi, from Infernal. Their souls were no longer separate in Hana's gaze, they were a single, bluish-orange flame.
"You wanted to die from the start," Shoto answered, biting the inside of his cheek as Hana took the vanguard, himself nodding to her.
"Everytime he protected the city, everytime the crowds cheered for him, my heart pounded like crazy," He flashed them a smile filled with flames. "Toya died and Dabi was born."
"Then I met Infernal, and he had seen what I've seen, felt how I felt, the first in so very long that truly gets what I'm saying down to my bones. How could I pass up that chance to see his devotion come to pass, same as mine?" He stomped onto the knees of the now melted stature of All Might, his body charred until almost all his skin was burnt away, cracks in his body spewing hot flames as his hair turned to furious embers. A molten fissure erupting across his chest as a tail sprung from his lower back, his charred fingers rigid and sharp.
The intense feeling Hana felt punctured her chest, this long-lost flame no Nightmare has ever come to possess in Velk's lifetime as Hana knew it. The Fatal Flames of Insanity. The two had become one in the hellfire. "We'll burn everything precious to Them to the ground! That will be proof we existed, that Inabi existed!"
"Their souls have merged!" Hana felt breathless, but her body didn't tremble, she had a job to do.
"Even so, like hell I'm gonna let that happen!" Shoto focused his core temperatures, he needed time.
"HeheHAHAHAHA! Getting that off our chest got us all fired up again! THANKS FOR LISTENING TO OUR LITTLE RANT!" Inabi released a massive accumulation of blue flames, suppressing them around his arms as Burnin' and Hana held back the scorching wave for Shoto as he pressed his hands to his chest, flames roaring across his torso.
"The rate at which he's raising his body temperature isn't normal, Infernal's now overclocked it," Shoto had to hope this plan of theirs would work, otherwise, not even the rest of Camino would survive. "Velkhana, I'm counting on you."
"Of course," She seethed, drawing her sword back in both hands, feeling Velk's power rush through her veins.
"Thinking about it now, maybe it's not so bad that Endeavor didn't show up, we think you'll make some excellent firewood!" Inabi cackled, flames circulating.
"I'll be the one who stops you!" Shoto announced over the noise.
"Don't get it twisted, We've been preparing for years... for the day we'll murder you!" He snarled, but his channelling was stalled when a freezing wind met his arms. Hana's cold eyes burrowing into his.
"Who said your wish will come to pass?" She spoke with a white mist between her teeth. "Release - Clear White Sky!" The massive ring of ice cut a clean, cool air through the inferno that refused to die, severing both Inabi's arms. Hana grunted, blocking the tail that dug a long, molten slash through her torso, watching two arms instantly regenerate from their stumps to grab her face, melting into her flesh as she was tossed to the left.
"Flashfire Fist!" A smouldering beam of blue flames atomized her head in the flames, but to Inabi's surprised laugh, her left arm pressed to his face, expelling a white, sub-zero haze through his mouth and eye sockets. The two were caught in a deadlock, blue and white tearing out the concrete in a storm of elements that ripped apart their flesh and bone until their arms tore from their elbows. Hana regrew hers in time to match Inabi's, a frozen hand interlocked with molten fingers as a flash of blue and white sparked between them, exploding backward in their faces, leaving a frozen archway of blue flames between them and the heroes.
"Nightmare-" Hana huffed, ripping off her breastplate to leave only her skin-tight underarmour, her gauntlets had all but been shattered too as two rings wrapped around her left hand.
"-Rain!" Inabi finished, two beams of dark energy colliding in the middle briefly as both combatants lunged into the middle of the explosion, Hana swinging her hips for her tail merged with her sword to slam into Inabi's neck, but her concentration flickered with anger as he giggled, the blade had only cut a shallow line. "Is that all you got left, little human?"
She drew her arms forward, showering the area in front of her in ice as Inabi shrugged it off, reaching through to burn a hole straight through her gut, seeing her blood splatter on his arm only to evaporate. The raven-whitette stood firm, pressing her palms to his arm as it exploded into frozen fragments of flesh and blood from being frozen in rapid succession. She threshed her tail, severing Inabi's before being thrown backward by a wide wall of azure flames, burning more of her skin away to leave more of Velk uncovered.
Attempting to fly, she cried out as Inabi appeared above her in an afterimage, another Flashfire Fist pummelling her back as she struck the ground hard, leaving a molten puddle as Inabi landed to finish the job. That's when two streaks of ice-coated tape snaked around his shoulders, yanking him back only to evaporate and snap like twigs. Inabi turned to Sero only for five radiant swords to skewer his body, causing genuine discomfort to him as he growled, seeing them pulse. His eyes shot wide.
The swords exploded, burning deep wounds into Inabi who recoiled from Draco's attack. He summoned a fresh batch of swords, standing close to Sero. "Might not be much, but we're here to help just like the rest!"
"And I learned that my quirk can hurt Nightmares, it would be a shame to sit back and waste it," Draco recounted firmly, flexing his hand to bring his swords forward, charging up five shots.
"You think that's enough? Oh, we see now..." He leaned forward, eyes slit as he craned his neck back to look over at Hana crawling from the crater, body mostly Velk as both saw the emotion plaguing his features down to his soul. Joy. "They're special to you, aren't they?"
"N-no...!" Hana had only a split second to act, seeing Inabi rush the two boys, leaving a molten landscape in his path. Sero's tape wouldn't stop his body, nor the radiant blasts as the heat simply ate them up. Inabi raised his hand crushing the blades between a compression of blue flames before swinging down, scorching the right side of Draco's body, catching his arm and leg as Sero yanked him back, strapping Inabi around his right wrist that rose to catch it, setting the tape ablaze. Both were woefully outclassed. "I don't know why, but... in that moment I... my body..."
Heat burned their skin into recoiling as a frigid wave of ice brushed past their feet. Hana stood between Inabi and two people important in Velk's and Hana's lives. Hana shivered, hacking up blood as a burning fist had pierced her chest. The boys were frozen still by the sight, Inabi's grin stretching his charred skin further. Everyone felt nothing but fear cross over their features. "...moved on its own."
"Gotcha, little human," Inabi was about to laugh but felt his arm lock up, instead of crushing a soul between his fingers, Hana stumbled back, a large hole through her chest was now an icy cage, ensnaring his arm. Hana's sword lay at her feet in a puddle of her own blood, shattered into several pieces. "Grr, hmph-" With a single flex of flames, the ice copy fell apart, azure flames engulfing the area around them. "Colour us impressed, you actually avoided that, but in all fairness, you are severely outclassed," He raised his hand to them all, shrouding them in blue. "We'll devour each of your souls before your friends, wonder what kinda faces they'll make then!"
Hana stared down at her shattered sword, the relic that brought her comfort for a good portion of her life since she met Velk. All it's stored up power was used up to make that copy to withstand and absorb all that heat into one place, but there was only so much of the opposing element the relic could absorb. Hana clutched the handle, a small edge of the blade remained intact among burnt wrappings of cloth.
"Well, that didn't go as planned," To her left, Sero sat down to pull his tape forward, wrapping it around the handle and Hana's fist held firmly to the broken blade. He smiled, unphased by the fact death loomed over them, no, he was afraid, in his soul he was beyond terrified... for her? For everyone? He tightened it. "There, that should do," Then he coughed, a few droplets of blood staining the fabric too.
"Hanta..." She muttered, looking to her bound weapon and hand, then to his forced smile. Draco spun his swords to form a barrier, though this did little to phase Inabi from moving his hand to send a wave of heat over the dull blades, seeing them start to crack as their creator struggled to keep his eyes open. Inabi laughed at their desperate attempts, even as his tail swept up another tornado of blue embers to tear into Shoto's defensive line. All of them were failing, all of them were going to burn to death in seconds.
"Your souls are so weak, but hey, points for hanging in there until the end!" He declared, building thermal energy at his chest, the charred skin glowing, breaking apart as hot cinders whisked into the air. "We'll grant you the perfect death of heroes!"
Hana's heart skipped a beat, Velk's presence washing over her own. "Velk... I want to protect them," She asked, fingers quaking against her broken blade.
"I do too." She softly whispered.
"I want to see my friends again, to spend normal days with them," She closed her eyes, feeling the air drop in temperature.
"So do I," Velk answered in the void.
"I... want to be with Hanta until the day I die," She tightened the tape around her wrist.
"Hm, I know you do," Velk hummed, both looking back at the monster coated in a tsunami of flames.
"As if you'd find any weak souls here," Hana spat, standing up much to Inabi's curiosity, himself mere moments from unleashing his most destructive attack, the very same that set this area ablaze. Her eyes were wide open, burning ice-blue orbs with two distinct diamonds around her eyes. "The only soul you speak of, is the one We see before our eyes,"
"HaAH!?" His flames were quickly smothered in icy brambles, tugging him away from the boys as red ice formed at Hana's fingertips. Her forearms, palms, bare shoulders, cheeks, and forehead grew black scales with a distinct vermillion glint between the bumps. Her hair grew longer, turning white as snow and ending in shades of blue and red while the sword in her grasp pulled the fragments of her sword together, woven by Sero's tape with a distinct, red pigment to the ice, she swung right, the scent of blood and frost in the air.
From her back sprouted two majestic wings with shades of red ice for her membrane, white lines cutting between the scales across the wings' structure. Her ears were pointy, and a tail matching her wings grew while a calm, deadly mist surrounded her, turning the ground red with her ice. Velkhana the Iceborne had awakened.
"DON'T GET COCKY, BRAT!" Inabi howled, breaking away the vermillion brambles in a whirlwind of blue flames, but he recoiled, feeling her sword glide across his stomach, leaving a gash that didn't heal as he fell from his flaming spiral, hissing at the slowed regeneration thanks in part to lingering red ice in his wound. "We're not recovering as quickly, what's with the red ice, when did they learn to merge?"
Velkhana flew above Inabi, her eyes were unimpressed, apathetic. "What are you looking at, worm? We thought you wanted a fight?"
But instead of a furious retort, Inabi laughed between his teeth, flames spiralling around his forearms. "Oh, we'll give ya just that! Thanks for the reminder, Velkhana! Flashfire Fist!"
"Everyone, watch out!" Someone below cried out as multiple lashes of azure flames tore through the plaza like serpents.
"HELL SPIDER!" Even the blue flames had a darker pigment on the outside to them, striking the ground like comets, one slamming into Shoto's midsection while another was severed in half by Velkhana and Draco's blades.
"Hot! Hot!" "This is Endeavor's move, isn't it!?"
"Such roaring flames..." Velkhana grunted, even with her new state, the heat was still striking through her arctic aura.
Below, Iida flew back away from the large whips of flames. "But it's so much bigger and crudely contained!" Ahead of the sapphire flames, he faintly caught the sight of his classmate. "Todoroki!"
Burnin' and her squad, despite the overwhelming force, held a small pocket wide enough to shield Shoto within. "Shoto, are you ready!?"
His chest was ignited as he compressed his elements close to his center. "Yeah, let go-"
From Shoto's own shadow, Inabi emerged, fist scorching molten slag with it. "There's something we want you to tell us, Shoto, how on earth did you have the patience..." He brought his left arm wide, slamming a column of flames against Shoto's side, slamming him through the concrete. "To stay holed up with all those pathetic civilians with all that was going on?" He didn't give the younger Todoroki time to recover, pouncing with a cowl of flames around him. "You're Endeavor's son, our brother! You're a worthless mix of ice and fire. HAVE YOU NO SHAME AT ALL, SHOTO!?"
"You had the perfect body, the perfect training environment, and even then, you chose to cling to others!" He slammed more blasts of hot blue flames into Shoto's sight, his ice barely withstanding the strikes, his flames were beyond measure. All the while, flames vomited from Inabi's maw as he screamed. "You had everything since you were born! But you weren't man enough to own it! Someone had to tell it to you as it is, brother!"
Inabi stomped the ground, a rising heat wave tossing Shoto upright again as the scorched Nightmare folded his right arm back. "You can't even act as a puppet correctly! You'll never become a hero!" He snarled, pummelling Shoto with a massive column of flames straight into a distant building with a resounding crash and shower of glass that dripped into long globs of goo.
The rumbling ceased as Inabi stood tall again, flexing out his bony hand as charred skin replaced what was lost, even now, his own flames were far too powerful for his regeneration, and that attack Velkhana left on his stomach stung even now, through Dabi's own shot nervous system. He needed to be wary of her red ice. But his attention was quickly drawn up to... the building wasn't on fire? Nor was is crumbling, why?
"You're right," Shoto's voice drew his eyes upward. White mist circulated in the air, supressing the flames, but something was burning in the center of the impact zone, as white as snow. "...I'm a loser, I thought of myself as nothing more than a tool, for the longest time, I couldn't find my way..."
"Did he just... neutralize all that heat!?" Inabi's eyes burned with scorn, unable to frown from the loss of flesh and skin around his lips.
"I thought you only cared about dad, but knowing you were also observing me all this time, it makes me happy," Shoto exclaimed, embers cast beneath his chin. "I was always chasing after everyone, and in the process, I finally figured it out, Flashfire..." "I developed this technique, all by myself, a move created specifically to defeat you and Infernal!" His insides were hot and cold, a perfect equilibrium.
As Class 2A talked and laughed with one another, Shoto stood off to the side on the phone, ~Shoto, you don't have to do this. Let's reconsider the distribution and...~
"Then what about Kovik?" He interjected. "Among the remaining heroes, you, and Yuki the only ones that can stand against him right now, just as it's Midoriya's job to stand against Shigaraki,"
"I too am the best pick to stop Toya in his tracks, Hana and Velk will need the added hands while Scourge and Akio are working, but aside from that, I want to be the one to do it,"
~...that's my duty...~ But Endeavor could tell there was no swaying Shoto's mind.
"We'll do this together, we will all do what we must, and stop not only my brother, but every single villain!"
"There's something your stupid brother wants to tell you too! Our house was hell, and our father was insane! But you're the one who took this dark path of your own volition!" Shoto flew back through the air, his chest layered by a blazing cross of pearl white flames, the same gathering around his right forearm as Flashfire Fist. "Don't you ever again dare to steal the lives of people who had nothing to do with your downfall!"
"You damn GOLDEN BOY!" Their voices overlapped, fury digging into their soul.
Shoto slammed his fist into Inabi's side with a crackling hiss of ice that burned through flesh, "Take it all out on us instead - Flashfire Fist, Phosphorus!"
The night before their departure from UA...
"Todoroki, for you to be fighting..." Izuku didn't finish his sentence as Shoto turned to him.
"No need to worry about me, I have made my decision, father will be annoyed he won't be able to keep his promise, but we'll let that be his punishment. Hawks and the others made a wise decision," Shoto brushed over, turning with his gym jacket undone, concentrating his elements into his palms internally. "Dabi is a product of out family's sins, and besides, if I ever want to become a hero this is one fight I can't run away from,"
"This move is..." With a flash of light, vibrant white flames engulfed his chest in a cross. "...something to overcome that overwhelming wall,"
"When you told me you almost had it, you were talking about this!" Izuku noted, smiling as his analytical side crept out unnoticed. "It looks like Flashfire Fist but something's different about it..."
Kaminari then came over, poking his fingers into the flames much to Shoto's bemusement at how comical his new ability seemed to be. "Since you were rouge, and the others displaced for a time, you weren't around for the process," Ojiro explained.
"Get a load of this, even if I poke it, it doesn't burn at all!" Kaminari grinned with a laugh.
"Controlling the temperature of flames despite them being the hottest flame possible," Akio marvelled, raising a thumb. "Even I can't do that, nice technique!"
"Training and maintaining it is incredibly difficult, so it ends up fizzling out... that's why I said I almost had it," He added under his breath, letting the flames go out after Akio and Izuku both poked at the flames curiously, much to Shoto's chagrin. "The secret of this technique is using my freezing left half and my burning right half at the same time," He had the visual of his heart as a catalyst. "Using my heart as the center focus, I can manifest it,"
"Cold and warm blood circulate throughout my body, resulting in a Thermal Equilibrium... mm, it's something like... Cold Fire," He could imagine that's a word Yuki would come up for it, he'd have to show her beforehand. "My old man wanted to reduce the body's internal temperature by introducing ice as a coolant, I, on the other hand, am doing the opposite,"
"Only I could find out the reason I was born in that house," "Midoriya," He gave his best friend a content smile, for all he had done for him. For his friendships with Izuku, Iida, Yuki, and many more pleasant things in his life. And for the strength he could wield with pride. "This is my power, thank you."
"Coldflame's Pale Blade!" He announced, striking Inabi with a solid spear of ice that contained the raw strength of flames, burning and freezing across his monstrous brother's body with enough kinetic force to send him flying, freezing his azure flames in passing. "How about you cool down for a change!"
*FWOOSH*
Inabi's body tumbled and crashed like burning tire, straight into a row of vermillion spikes that shredded into his right hip as he barrelled through them. Again, the blood-soaked ice was hampering his regeneration, but he clawed at the earth, melting his fingers into the tarmac. "He has a body able to withstand our Flashfire... along with ice to quench our flames..." "Well, aren't you just the man for the job!"
"Heh, what a wonderful sense of morality you have, brother!" He dug his hands in further, sending large rivers of molten blue cracks through the earth, bringing the core temperature around him to unbearable levels. "We always knew it, even bound in blood... WE'RE NOTHING ALIKE!"
"He neutralized it!" Shoto took a small glance over his shoulder, it was nearly time... "I just need to find an opening again and-" His breath hitched at the inhuman sight.
"Once you stray from the right path there's no turning back!" Inabi snarled, arms bent as he pumped his flames deeper into the earth, the very flesh clung to his hands to halfway up his forearms burning away for pitch black bones, "This is the side effect of super-human society. We Our. The Absolute Limit!" He creased his bones, and massive columns of blue fire erupted from the earth in a destructive line toward Shoto. "Enough talk already! BURN TO DEATH! FOR OUR SAKE!"
To intercept, Burnin' and her team rushed in with the last of their strength, "Go, Shoto!" "We believe in you!"
*BOOM!*
The pyres of sapphire flames were thwarted by their efforts, and even burned and exhausted, they had given him the last opening he needed, what they Both needed. He knew fine rightly, those flames were hot enough to burn him for sure, they had taken that hit for him to deliver his final blow to his brother. "Thank you...!" He breathed, clenching his ice and flames into one last attack.
"I told you... don't waste your energy..." Burnin' grinned, falling to the ground exhausted.
"If I had to summarize all my thoughts into one phrase, all I'd say is this..." He choked up more hot air to scream, "Thank you so much!"
"My Blood. My Past. It was a lonely existence," He walked a single road in the dark, his class miles ahead of him. "With almost nothing to look back on or forward to," Then he turned his head in surprise down the road, "But by the time I finally understood it wasn't the case, everyone seemed like they were so far ahead of me..." But they weren't, he stood at the end of the road, walking with them at his sides. "When in reality they were always beside me," Yuki offered her hand to him with her signature fanged smile, the others waving him over.
"Every member of Class A was there for me... they always gave me a place to feel... safe," He built up all the power he had left within him, pouring all he had into his heart and soul. He ignored all the pain in his body, he pushed forward with a resounding step. Their faces etched into his mind, into his actions.
There was a sharp flash of white flames, the connection between Dabi and Infernal disrupted when Shoto moved, the two unravelling slightly from the shockwave. "There is turning back, even if it's by force... so please..." Shoto begged, fist slammed to his brother's burnt chest. "...just stop all this..."
All of Inabi's flames were snuffed out in a single strike, his face twisted in agony as the strength of raw emotion and physical strength struck him, "Great Glacial Aegir!"
The second after the flames were snuffed out, the whole area in front of Shoto became masked in a sea of snow and rime, the great wall of flames supressed and suffocated beneath the tundra as the ice sparkled in the visible sunlight, twinkling.
Shoto panted, but while it would've been easy to just cave under fatigue, he grit his teeth and quickly jumped back. "Velkhana, now!" He cried to the heavens, falling into step with her landing, clasping one hand around her vermillion blade as they plunged it together with a cry, piercing through Inabi's chest, spreading a wave of scarlet rime to capture and esnare the now growling villain. They glowered back at Infernal, pushing through to overtake his Host with his once wicked grin reduced to a horrific frown.
"You... You-you-you... YOU RUINED EVERYTHING!" He howled, orange flames erupting from his back in his rage, struggling against the red ice as it continuously poured from the tainted blade. The two stepped back, Velkhana lifting Shoto into her arms as they watched the monster struggle with a hoarse laugher that shifted between a chuckle, wheeze, and cackle, he had lost his mind. "I'LL KILL YOU ALL! ZORAH, HUNTER, EVE, I'LL BURN THE NIGHTMARE RACE WITH MY BARE HANDS!"
He clawed at the ice that punctured and ripped into his flesh, stripping away the ever-blooming layers as Velkhana spoke a single phrase. "From Viral to you, creature. Release - Clear Crimson Sky." The sword flashed, and then violently tore into Infernal's body, several smaller crescents peeling through bone and limb like a hot knife, his flames continued to burn on and on. "The rest is all on you, our friends." Shoto silently agreed, Dabi was beaten, but Infernal wasn't his to defeat.
Far away from the chaos, atop a building that overlooked the destruction, the second the flames and smoke cleared they became obvious. Akio held Wish Ender tightly, sweat poured down his face as he coughed up a little blood. He had been pumping his magic into the spell until he was nearly dried up, his body would suffer the recoil later but he needed every ounce of magic possible. Scourge helped to support him, channelling his magic into the boy's as he too looked strained.
"While I cannot hope to face Infernal head to head, this method, will ensure our might is not wasted," He wheezed, collapsing to the ground. "That... is all I... have..." He couldn't even form his crossbow arm properly.
"This is all for the time they bought us, Todoroki, Draco, Sero, Velk, Hana, I won't let your efforts be undone!" He held strong, remembering all Dimitri taught him, he took a long breath, then, it hitched, this was to be the perfect shot. One that would spare Dabi's soul from complete disintegration, killing him alongside Infernal. It was by far the hardest shot to perform, and he had a single chance.
But it wasn't that pressure that made his hands quake, nor his heart twist in pain and grief. "Once I fire this, it'll be over... Infernal is the last connection to Harrow... to... Viral," He would truly be gone, nothing but a memory. His family for decades would... would be put to rest, his legacy fulfilled. Akio steadied his determination, drawing the bow back again straight, but he still didn't let the string go.
"Akio, you must know this was how it was going to end," Scourge's solemn tone made his body tremble, his eyes misty as he tried to focus but failed so quickly. "Viral would want to see this through, to see you move on from his shadow, you are more than him now."
"I... I can't... I... I still can't be the person he wants me to be... I'm... I'm not ready," His tears fell, grinding his teeth so hard they could break. "I've tried to move on... but I can't let go of... feeling so empty... I'm so lost now," He gulped back a sob, even as raw power danced between his fingers. "Everyday it just gets worse!"
Scourge struggled to sit upright, looking down at the ground. "Listen, your friends down there, Velk, Hana, those aboard the Siege Engine, they're all gonna die, You will die. Nightmares and their Host outlive their loved ones, that grief never gets easier but it can be accepted faster, Viral gave up everything in the Shattered Isles so that you and that girl can live out your lives without his mistakes coming to haunt you," Scourge rested his eyes on Akio biting his lip. "You have to let him go to grow Akio, become more than Viral, of any of them, that is how you can make their memories worth so much more."
Akio's head lowered in complete shame, or until it felt like his chin hit something, an unseen force pushing his head upright again. Something then guided his arms to stand with equal balance, a foot tapping his into the right position. Akio glanced around, and swore his heart stopped.
Harbinger steadied the river of Wish Ender, stabilizing the overwhelming magic current. Magnar kept Akio's arm from trembling with the arrow, using his own thumb to hold Akio's properly. Ravage kept his feet firm but balanced, holding a thumb up in acknowledgement. And merged into Akio's left eye, marking burning bright violet, "One Last Time," Viral's ghostly voice echoed as he stood with his Host.
Akio smiled, teary eyes dead-set on the monster burning his way out from the scarlet ice. "...right... SOUL SPLITTING... WISH ENDER!" The moment his fingers left the string, the front side of the building was reduced to rubble, the air sending back a whiplash that broke both his wrists and knocked the wind out of him, collapsing to the rooftop as the last ounce of mana were taken just to fire the single arrowhead. "...goodbye... Viral the Cursebreaker..."
His eyes slowly succumbed to darkness.
"...thank you..."
Infernal brought his right leg out from the continuous downpour of ice, growling as he wiggled and peeled his flesh apart to move even a few inches more. "I... won't be... denied my... Destiny!"
"That's where you're wrong," Velkhana interjected, her face shed no tears for the animal that called itself a Nightmare. "Destiny is not given to us, it is the life we live, a legacy we leave behind in memories, but yours... only seeks to snuff them out, that is why your flames will never burn again."
"Hah... hah...!" His eyes flinched back in fright when a dark purple and red arrow split the sky apart, and slammed straight into the crack above the red blade, digging in deeper and deeper through layers of stolen souls, dispelling them, burning them up into nothing as they cleared a path toward a single, tiger-orange flame that flickered in despair. "N-no, I... I am... s-s-stronger, this is... this is my strength, you... YOU BITCH!"
"Hmph, what, can't stand a little heat?" Velkhana huffed, the cracks spreading across Infernal's body as his desperate face twisted into a fanatical smile, laughing as he tried to pull the arrow free from his chest cavity.
"HahahahahAHAHAHAAAAAAAAH!" His cries of torment turned into a gargled shriek of pain as his body pulled itself apart, bursting into soul fire as his body was peeled away from Dabi's, smile crumbling into dust as his soul burst into starlight, the cinders fading into nothingness as Dabi collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
A few seconds had passed, and the last traces of Infernal's essence was wiped from the face of the realm. The many souls he had stolen, rising toward the sky, free to rest.
Velkhana landed, collapsing to the ground alongside Shoto as Hana and Velk split apart, exhausted with their backs together. All that remained was the vermillion blade wedged into the ground ahead of them. Shoto coughed, trying to take in a soothing breath through his dried throat that felt like sandpaper.
Burnin' forced her arms under her, cracking on eye open as she analysed the situation, for lack thereof. She shakily reached for her ear, pressing down on it. "Secured..." She couldn't believe her own words for a second there, finding the strength to yell at the top of her lungs. "Infernal has been defeated, and Dabi... has been secured!"
Soon after the morale of those fighting was restored, the defeat of the imperfect copy of Selas and several other villains was easy-coming. Surrounded by the sounds of triumph, Iida approached with Sero and Draco. The latter two sat with Hana and Velk while Iida tended to Shoto who was burned, and bleeding in several spots.
"Hey, Hanta?" Hana perked up as he turned his eyes to her.
"Yeah, what's-" She cut him off, and possibly his airflow when she pulled him forward against her lips, taking in the new warmth neither had felt before between them. When she pulled away, their faces were red as he sputtered for his words, Velk whistling at the bold move while Draco smiled and politely turned his head the other way. "-a-a-a, I uh, um, ah...?"
"Hehe, I love you," She closed her eyes, smiling brightly back at him as the wind caught in her hair.
Across from them, Shoto stared up at Iida, "I stalled your engines... didn't I? I'm sorry..." He spoke hoarsely.
Iida knelt beside him, the top half of his helmet off as he wrapped one arm over his friend's shoulder. "Why are you apologizing?" He found it rather funny that even now, Shoto still felt like that was important enough to warrant an apology.
To Be Continued...
I had nothing for Infernal's and Dabi's fused name, my sister told me 'Inabi' was a good name so it stuck. 'Velkhana' well, that was right from the get-go, and the vermillion ice was just a real good touch when I was contemplating their fused form. Oh, and Shoto's technique? I decided it to be white flames, they aren't as hot as actual white flames more-like its the ice and fire infusion, but take what you will from it. Probably my favourite fight thus far but that'll probably change soon enough.
Last note, I had intended on Dabi perishing with Infernal, but instead I had Akio's empowered Wish Ender to strip away only Infernal and all the souls he had consumed, leaving his Host behind, still a very painful process, whoops. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Heroes!
Next Chapter: Perfecter of Light
In the bowels of the Siege Engine, Rayla's team is met with an enemy and a choice...