My Hero Academia Perfected

by silentslender

In a society filled with Heroes and Villains, some are unfortunate not to be as gifted. Sometimes the world can seem almost out to take away all you ever desired, and other times it will feel as though there are no heroes to save you at all. So what if a chance of improbable odds were to befall you? What if someone without a Quirk, so to speak, were to become a Hero?

152. Chapter 145: Aksis's Perfection

Chapter 145 - Aksis's Perfection

|Siege Engine Collison - 00:50:22|

The ravage of Decay and Detainment only stripped a few layers from the wing, and yet, NARA repaired it all in seconds. When the dust settled, Nara expected there to be the crumbling remains of SIVA and its allies. What he didn't expect was to find not only had that not happened, but an orange shimmer gently subsided over their bodies. Yuki's eyes flashed to Jeanist. "Sorry for the scare, but are you okay?"

"I am thanks to you, Aksis," He nodded kindly, glaring up at the star-struck villain. "It appears your new ability has stumped their rugged plan."

"You survived...?" That's when Nara's smile fell, clearly irked by that lack of corpses. "...the Incubator..."

"Thanks for letting us walk right in, dumbass!" Katsuki laughed, explosions going off in his hands. "Now we can beat the crap outta you without worry!"

"Well, since that clearly won't work... It's time to meet your end, come to us, pawns!" Nara's voice was filled with glee a second later. And from his outstretched palms, several red plasma blast shook the air, forcing the heroes to evade instant to the various areas of the complex. "This reckoning has waited long enough!"

"Great Machine... do you ever stop reading crappy comics!?" Yuki hollered, maxing out her body to one-hundred percent as her very own SIVA Density collided with NARA's that expanded into a barrier at Nara's hand, tossing the girl toward the ceiling as it reconfigured itself, stretching into spines that she narrowly shaved down with a twist of her body, slashing them with her Quickfangs. Her eyes were the size of pins again, shaking at what she saw, and combined with the form Nara had taken, "Overhaul's quirk too!?"

"Can't have that going to waste," Nara replied almost mockingly before a wave of flaming whips melted through the platform to surround and scorch Nara in place. But with a flash of red off to the far right, Nara escaped the Hell Spider. Leaning forward, Nara smiled condescendingly at the two approaching from the sides. "Ah, there you are, One For All,"

Izuku's eyes didn't flinch when the surge of NARA-infused plasma rained down on him, Katsuki was faster, blasting them apart with AP Machine Gun, some blasts striking the towering abomination. "They became the very thing Yuki feared, what Siva once was, seeing this, how she reacted to it..." Like a swirling storm, all of One For All came erupting forth with bitter rage. "I won't ever forgive you! St. Louis Smash!"

Fixing two blackwhips over Nara's head, Izuku lunged forward with a burst of speed, striking through Nara's right arm, blasting it to pieces as he turned to raise his glowing palms toward the boy only for something to smash his other right and the left apart with a well-place swing of a hammer. Miruko grinned, kicking off the monster's face before a field of nanites could rip her apart. "Yer up kids!" She beamed.

Izuku doubled back, tearing several panels from the ceiling as he spun his body around, shrouded in smoke, causing some of Nara's attacks to skim by. Twisting his hips, Izuku felt his left shin connect to Nara's head while heat rose from behind Nara's crown. "St. Louis Smash!/AP Shot!" Both he and Katsuki tore off the head of Shigaraki in a single strike, but much to their horror, several blackish-red tendrils sprung from Nara's spine, slashing at his bodies had feathers not carried them off to safety while Yuki blasted them apart with Devil's Ruin and Endeavor's Flashfire Fist.

"Careful there!" Hawks winked, flying a fair distance away as Shigaraki's head immediately returned in the dust cloud, and the large body warped again, this time to the left side of the complex. "This guy's regeneration's on an entirely different level."

"Anything, Aksis!?" Mirio shouted as he flew between the pillars, avoiding Nara's blasts while proving to be a great distraction for the others to wrap around the other side.

"I... there's just no way..." What she saw made her stomach turn. She had used the tendrils she and Endeavor destroyed to gauge a brief close-up of what was happening inside Nara's body, she almost wished she hadn't. Several bright red cores were present inside of him. "He... has seven NARA Cores," That threw a few heads around as she shook hers, trying to stay optimistic. "Two in his stomach, one in each upper bicep, one in each front thigh. And one..."

"At his center," Jeanist answered, his fibres stretched between his palms, "So we require precision to destroy multiple,"

"I doubt he'll let us make it easy for him," Miruko huffed, dodging a wave of red energy as it tore up the ground beneath her.

Endeavor had already taken the lead again, throwing another Flashfire Fist to burn across a thick hardlight barrier as it pierce through, tearing through... a hardlight of Nara!? Up on the center platform again, the real Nara raised what appeared to be a horrid fusion of a scorch cannon and wire rifle as three fast-seeking bolts of red struck the ground under Endeavor, exploding a second later. He swung his arms wide, firing haphazardly over the heroes as small bubbles of NARA Density ate away at the air, cutting off Hawks' and Miruko's approach. He turned to Yuki meeting her Devil's Ruin with his own, their blasts swirling into a blast of blue and red.

"Valorgod!" With her armoured wings stretched out, Yuki dove away from another array of spikes formed at the tips of the legs, Overhaul's quirk making it harder to move closer while she continued to intercept any blasts from the weapon in his upper arms with her own pinpoint strikes. "Quadruple Ruin!" With both arms and wing vents, she unleashed a powerful concussive blast from four points, tearing down the barrier and weakening the Density around Nara.

"Faux One-Hundred-" Izuku zipped by all of them, bursting through nanites and flames to strike across Nara's weapon as he used it to block the insane amount of pressure built into Izuku's right leg. "-Manchester Smash!"

His leg swung down at the last possible moment, destroying the weapon and armour plating protecting Nara's abdomen. However, Izuku gasped as the air left his lungs, finding the reconstructed weapon back in the lower hands of Nara, swinging across and into Yuki's arms where he quickly recovered. "His regeneration's off the scales!" She hissed, helping Izuku to float beside her. "We need to coordinate our attacks and - E-Endeavor!?"

"Hell's Curtain!" The curtain of flames ignited the ceiling, collapsing atop Nara who stood idly by, his armour breaking down even under a barrier over his head.

"It seems that even a shield cannot stop the sheer heat pressure those attacks give off, NARA can't regenerate in a liquid state either, very troublesome, time to squash this bug..." He tore off metal behind him, rebuilding his armour before warping away to avoid another Jet Burn as it left the middle platform ablaze. But Endeavor was hot on his tail. Through the ward of flames, several burning feathers shot through and punctured parts of Nara but he easily crumbled them into dust. "Trying to catch us off guard again, and you call yourself fast," He mused up at Hawks who swung his blade to sever the tendrils that sprung from over Nara's shoulders.

"Even with Recovery Girl's aid, your wings can never be fully restored. Instead, you rely on prosthetics to make it to these speeds," That got a stupid grin from the blonde hero.

"I know, it's a real pain, right? Plus, these things lag behind me so that's another pain!" He then swept in to try and sever the Core located in the left bicep, or until a burning wall struck against Nara's body, forcing the giant to grind its legs into the earth and warp again, but as a result, Hawks missed his mark. Same for Katsuki who tried to aim for the right only to nearly strike Hawks.

"Oi, the hell's with you, Endeavor!?" Katsuki snapped, landing only to run and avoid another bombardment of shots from Nara's weapon, moving behind the pillars and large machines dotting the area.

*Bwam-Bwam-Bwam-Bwam!*

Over and over, Endeavor battered every barrier that met his fist into shards, the heat surrounding him and Nara was overwhelming for everyone. Endeavor wouldn't let up for a second but that meant he was forced to fight alone against a most dangerous enemy. "You seem frustrated, Hawks?" Nara mused, allowing a copy of himself to take a blow while he shifted through Endeavour to slam his left arms across the hero's back, but Endeavor spun around, unleashing a Jet Burn straight against the monster's chest had another dome of hardlight not kept it at bay. "It appears you're having trouble coordinating your assaults, is Endeavor feeling a little off today we wonder?"

But Endeavor wasn't going to let him mouth his way out of this, building heat and pressure into his left fist. "Don't let up, any of you! The damage is starting to pile up, NARA cannot regenerate in a liquidized state!" That made Nara curious, the hero had figured it out? Not that it mattered.

"Did we not provide an excellent setting for your allies? Had you not seen their strife this day? Their efforts put forth with their all toward their conclusive victory as have we?" Nara pressured, urged even. "Pro and student alike flock to the frontlines, battling an endless onslaught, and yet, your mind appears adrift?" He continued to press further, seeing the cracks in Endeavor's pattern beginning to form. "Your own tool was sent to take care of your failure from the past, wasn't he? We had thought you'd be elated to not need to sully your hands in more blood and false redemption,"

"Don't humour his jabs, remember what happened to All Might at Camino!" Hawks tried to reason as Yuki flew alongside him.

"Nara's trying to get into your head, come on!" She tact on, but by the grit look on the man's face, their words fell on deaf ears.

"Shut it!" Endeavor growled at the monster just beyond his reach as somehow, Nara managed to focus his attention on all of them, using jagged metal tendrils and blasts from his lower hands to keep the others from approach.

"Your ambition for power is not misplaced, strength can open many opportunities, but power in strength alone can only take one so far, your mind is a fractured state, now more than ever you doubt yourself, your hatred is no longer as potent, you feed yourself the idea that your actions will breed acceptance, but nothing with abstain from the sins you've committed, how does it feel? To know the crisis before you was bred by your own weakness?" Nara wondered, feeling the temperature rise and fall as his eyes watched Endeavor's fists closely. "Dabi was such a useful asset to Infernal, we can see why... All For One kept him so close to the board, to where you could never find him."

That there made all the colour drain from Endeavor's face. In that moment, all he saw was red.

"To think he still... had such an awful ace of his sleeve!" Hawks' face was anything but calm, but he bit his lip, seeing the others react in horror as well while Jeanist tried to restrain Nara's back legs alongside Izuku's blackwhip, but one sharp tug snapped those bindings. "Someone that seeks atonement can't harden their heart like I can, I knew in his current state, Endeavor wouldn't have come out on top against Dabi. That's why, I need to stand by his side!" With new-found determination, Hawks tried once more to reason with the hero now lost in a blind rage. "Your only duty now it defeating Kovik and Shigaraki! Keep your cool-!"

"NARAAAAAA!" It was too late, Endeavor launched into another furious assault that threw the others back from the blast radius.

"Humanity is so... disappointing,"

Blood flew through the scattered cinders, and in a single condense wave of nanomachines, Endeavor's right arm was completely engulfed and torn into pieces, leaving only a stump close to his shoulder as he fell from the sky, landing elsewhere in the complex. "ENDEAVOR!" Several cried out to the fallen hero, thankfully, Hawks and Yuki realized he wasn't dead, but he certainly wasn't moving around for a while.

"You may have created an augment to combat Decay, Overhaul, and Detainment, but those small graceful advantages can only ward away so much," Nara turned to his prey, the pair he was most cautious of approaching headfirst. "This grand stage wasn't meant for the likes of you, your involvement and constant interference has run its course,"

"If I'm such a burden, why don't you just kill me then!?" Yuki taunted, fist gliding alongside Izuku's.

"Perfected/Delaware!" Together, their fists moved as one, and at the last second, after seeing the faint shimmer, their bodies twisted sharply to land their feet against the barrier protecting 'Nara'. "Ruin!/Airforce!"

Yuki and Izuku swung their arms to the right of the complex, striking the real Nara as its weapon was blown to pieces and searing wounds were widened by a gale-force. Before he could recover, Miruko threw Katsuki against her hammer arm, the combined momentum met with a swirling vortex of flames and wind pressure. "Howitzer Impact!" He pressed his hands to the beast's dome shield, a blast force so strong it caused the glass from the sealed off observation deck to shower the back lane in glass as much of the complex tremble from the plume of thermal energy.

From below, Mirio shot forward, striking against the barrier as his body flew back with a few burns along his forearms. "Your abilities have led your allies closer to victory than we anticipated, but alas, your power cannot go above a certain threshold, and to learn nanite density affects your permeation. Your match-up has been poorly judged," Nara sneered down at the determined hero as his red cape flapped against his back.

"You say that, but what's a hero with only one trick, am I right!?" With that said, Mirio vanished into the floor, and as Nara felt, he would appear behind him. He turned, raising his weapon as he fought against Jeanist's threads once more as they pulled at the wires around Nara's throat. From the wall, Mirio launched himself, to which three tendrils appeared from Nara's back, slashing at the blonde who... warped through them? "Thanks a bunch for the assist, Aksis!" The orange shimmer of Anti Barrier proved its worth as Mirio plunged through Nara's stomach, tearing out with him one of the seven Cores but even clear of the body, he grunted as the tendrils whipped back and slashed his back, flinging him away but not before he crushed the Core in his hands.

"Tch...!" Nara's front legs lurched from the loss, visibly disturbed.

"Now's our chance, move!" Miruko yelled, but Yuki felt something shift in the air, and her hands instinctively grabbed Katsuki and Izuku. Before they could ask, they saw her masks eyes flicker with terror.

"...is that... ALL. YOU. GOT!?" Nara's tame but sinister tone suddenly shifted a moment, sounding much like Kovik as hundreds of those black and red tendrils struck out like a bramble of dark thorns from his back, piercing the ground, walls, ceiling and more as they multiplied from one another continuously. "PATHETIC!"

Yuki tried to erect a barrier in time, using herself to block what she couldn't stop from piercing her shield as the boys stared up in fright, but her own eyes were shocked to find not her own blood, but... Hawks, as he shielded her with his wings, grunting from the blades that dug into his back as a result. Making use of the bought time, she wrapped a barrier around Hawks too, snapping the tendrils as he fell to one knee beside them, facing the mass of metal and dark red light emanating across Nara.

But, just as the huge wave of blades seems to grow endlessly, something radiant crashed through, sending shards of metal flying with a single, drawn fist of pure, prominent flames. "That stubbornness of yours is what wrecked your life beyond repair, Endeavor," A voice all too familiar to the bloodied, burning hero resounded like an awful reminder.

He stood, crumpled at the feet of himself, the somewhat younger him wearing UA's uniform, not a shred of remorse behind those darkened eyes. "You're even weaker than before. Your conditions," Him promising to do better before Shoto, "Your atonement," Apologizing to Natsu. "Your mistakes," The praying shrine in memory of Toya, "And your responsibilities," His assurance to make amends for Japan. "All those things ever did for you is expose how weak you truly are,"

"They turned you into the pathetic excuse of a hero you are now," His other self berated, watching the person he had become grovel. "You will never be super-human, Enji. Remember your origins," That moment, Endeavor saw... that awful day, the charred bodies hidden by a cloth as they were wheeled away. The feeling so hollow in his stomach as he watched from afar. "Remember, who was the real enemy all along?"

"Remember when you saw a father try to save his little girl from a villain, and how they wound up as nothing more than scorched lumps of burning flesh," That memory stained his forever. "Do you remember your feelings of jealousy and inferiority towards the one true super-human?" The statue of All Might, cast in rays of sunlight in its magnificence. "Or that self-deprecating act of choosing a word that meant 'Hard Work' as your hero name?" Him sitting at his desk, jotting down the name he felt was right. "A soul so wretched that it could only survive by flaunting its ugliness?"

In a swell of anger, Endeavor's hand gripped around his other self's throat, but it didn't even flinch, in fact, it looked like it expected this. "That's right, you'll never be like, Deku, Aksis, or All Might. All this time, you've been fighting a battle against your own weakness," The young self smiled as flames began to roar. "So... don't even think about turning over a new leaf."

The memories faded, and Endeavor's missing arm was replaced with an effigy in the form of a smouldering fist of raw anger and heat. "Never stop cursing your weakness, after all... it's the only thing you've been living for," That was right, every thought was right and Endeavor accepted that with his being. Nothing will erase his past, that will burn until he himself dies. But before than day comes, he had a job to do.

With a massive force of flames, Nara was sent flying into the back wall, the heat disrupting his teleportation as Endeavor's punch made its mark, ripping out the left bicep's Core as his burning fingers evaporated, the dripping remains of the Core gone with it. "You're right about me, Nara, I'm as stubborn as they come!" This prompted the monster to glower at the hero risen from his own ashes to defend his allies. "I will never congratulate myself with a pat on the back! Ending this fight, once and for all, is my duty!" He was sweaty, bleeding, and the flames on his face were extinguished, but a fire in his eyes refused to go out.

Nara shook off the feeling of nausea, a barrier warding off the worst of the damage before the other Cores were put at risk. "We expected the Thief or OFA to be our greatest burden, colour us impressed that it is the tarnished pillar that held the most grit," While unexpected, there was far too big of a gap left between the deciding victor. In a matter of seconds, Nara was taken back when Endeavor was upon him in that stretch of time. "Huh?" Behind his back, feathers battled against the flames.

"Too slow, huh!?" Hawks quipped, guiding his feathers as Endeavor broke through several barriers.

"Vanishing..." His flames created a vortex, then struck down atop Nara with an intense blast of condensed embers. "Jet Burn!" The impact destroyed the center platform, setting half the complex ablaze. Inside of the molten metal body, another Core was burnt away, leaving Nara feeling even more weakened that before.

"His flames are too intense to get through!" Izuku grunted, closing one eye as Yuki kept him anchored to the ground overlooking the impact.

"Hey, why didn't you outright blast him apart with Prominence!?" Hawks yelled as Endeavor backed off.

"Are you blind or something!? He had his guard up!" Endeavor shot back.

"Good call, Density's gone beyond Anti Barrier's containment level!" Yuki offered, watching the flow of NARA starting to waver. "The frequency of its build-up's starting to slow, he may still regenerate at an alarming rate, but three cores are gone now!"

"Pah, leave it to one-armed Endeavor to dish out the damage!" Miruko grinned, waiting for her opportunity to move.

"Besides, it's not like I can use my Prominence Burn as many times as I want, I need to open up his defences with physical attacks first to make sure it hits!" Endeavor elaborated, exhaling in large breaths that puffed out his cheeks. He was trying to concentrate all his breathing into his flames while maintaining a steady flow of oxygen to his probably boiling hot body.

"Good to know you're keeping a cool head," Hawks smirked while Yuki patched up his back quickly.

"A cool head? My blood is boiling!" He yelled as Yuki deadpanned.

"Yeah, I don't think Endeavor's ever 'cool'," She reminded them.

Endeavor quickly assaulted Nara while he was down, noticing Jeanist's threads binding the villain by his legs to his own complex, and he was struggling. Using this advantage given, Endeavor slammed the full weight of another point-blank Jet Burn straight into Nara's fleshy upper half, but the center Core proved to be a challenge to break through, so he moved his hand to burn against the monster's skull, dragging him up from the crater with a wave of cinders behind him, burning away any debris in his wake.

"This is unacceptable... the Thief made it seem like this was to be her fight alone with Izuku Midoriya... if I can just grab-" As Nara's hand move to steal Hellfire, pain shot through his arm as two beams of condensed flames shot from Endeavor's eyes, scorching and obliterating the hand as he was dragged up against the wall.

"The only thing that hand has done is destroy people's lives!" Endeavor scorned.

"Coming from the one... who helped destroy many too!" Nara rasped but Endeavor couldn't agree more.

"I know I have!" He threw himself and Nara high, carrying the full weight of the giant monstrosity higher until they about touched the ceiling. "Toya is but the product of my failures, the lives he's taken are on me too. The past is immutable. My wrath, my resentment, and even my retribution... woven together they form the fabric for the future,"

"What is the future? It is a path for the youth to tread on," He saw his own son, heading toward the people that opened his heart where Endeavor had sealed with his own bare hands. That light, a place Endeavor couldn't walk. "It's the endless possibilities, it's why I must prevail, so the sins of us adults... don't become an insurmountable obstacle for the youth," In Endeavor's eyes, his irises became roaring flares. "I will be the one to bear that punishment! I will be the one to end this, so that I can keep looking over Toya!"

I'll keep on... Hating myself.

A great ball of radiant flames ripped through the ceiling of the complex, forcing those nearby behind cover as the great pyre of flames overtook Endeavor and Nara at the center of a white core surrounded by the sun. Their roars drowning in the screech of flames.

*BOOOOOOOM!*

Eventually, the Prominence Burn fizzled out, and Endeavor was left to hover just barely below the large hole in the ceiling, what was to be sunlight, he saw only a red sky. There were only scraps of Nara left in his hand, the flakes brushing past his numb face as his flames died out around his missing right arm. At first, he really wanted to just keel over, his energy was well and truly spent from that effort.

It was over.

Nothing of Nara, Kovik, nor Shigaraki remained.

They were dead.

"Endeavor, get outta there!" Hawks' and Yuki's cries jolted him from his thoughts, and to his horror, the mangled, dripping mess of Nara was hanging off the edge of the complex's rooftop, right arm raised as it slowly regenerated, alongside every missing Core within its body, signified by the crimson stars that dug back into their hollowed out carcass, a smile pinned widely to Shigaraki's face as his hair regrew to fly back in the strong wind current.

"Did you really believe... we'd come here expecting to sweep you off the stage?" He asked, the slits for his eyes unnaturally narrow. "NARA is perfection incarnate, and we have more than a few aces up our sleeves for the grand event," Up above, large javelins materialized in the dark clouds, red bolts of lightning crackling across their edges. "May your flame be snuffed out - Escalation-"

Jeanist ran to wrap his threads around the others, Mirio shakily finding the strength to quickly dive into the ground, Katsuki flew back from the opening with panicked eyes as Yuki and Izuku grabbed each other's hands tightly, Miruko helped Hawks by throwing him up to reach for Endeavor who was frozen stiff at the sight.

|Yuki!|

"Midoriya, it's time!" Yoichi manifested behind Izuku, panicked as the rest were.

"-Judgement." Nara's eyes glowed a haunting white, his fingers closed tightly to his palm.

The whole complex became engulfed in red.

...

...

...

...

...

When Nara warped back down from the impact, he was surrounded by the remnants of the observation wing atop a large flat surface. In the distance, the peaks of Tokyo's cityscape had become clear, it wouldn't be long before the Siege Engine arrived and merged with the Skytree. Lingering flames dusted the area while any holes were quickly patched up by NARA. Sprouting from Nara's back, large, metallic wings shadowed the remains of his stronghold, he had taken the data from both Valstrax and Yuki to make himself flight-capable, if not to simply avoid the blast radius of his own attack.

His legs stomped around before Nara's calm exterior strained. Several heartbeats were found, and from the wreckage, a blue barrier dissolved.

...

...

...

Many memories fall into Izuku's and Yuki's mindscapes conjoined, the river of time gushing through their consciousness. It's not always a happy ending. But, they had run out of time. They saw Kovik's rage. They saw Shigaraki's crying soul. They understood clearly that they must resolve this matter here. One For All was the fury of the past. SIVA the fury of the future. Both converged into the present as a single blade. The true manifestation of that became clear as SIVA weaved the twin Quickfangs together.

They gripped that sword's hilt tightly.

With a great summons of light, the surface of the Siege Engine was ripped wide open by the sheer pressure of SIVA and One For All combined amongst the roaring flames. Freckles dotted their cheeks in a diamond pattern with a scar and blemish, eyes a fusion of green, blue and red with a hint of violet around the pupil. Their hair was a curly blackish-green with blue highlights and a long strand down the middle of their back.

Izuku's iron soles and mid-gauntlets were now pitch black with the accent lines blue, the shins and forearms plated. Small rounded pauldron sat atop their shoulders while their chest was covered with an angular breastplate. Izuku's blue cape was shortened with two twin tails bearing SIVA's mark, a blue sash torn at the left hip with SIVA's symbol was also visible.

Izuku's mask flapped behind the nape, tinted black with blue accents now. On instinct, a mask covered their face, two emerald slits over the dark metal with two jagged horns like Aksis'. Electric green bolts enveloping them, their hue turning purple. "One For All. Perfected. One Hundred Percent!" Yuzuku had manifested, their eyes locked to the monster haunting them for years.

The sight of Yuzuku using a completed unity of OFA and SIVA to create a barrier that dwarfed Escalation Judgement left him bewildered. "...that sword. The embodied power did not increase, but the form has changed," By the sound of it, it was as if Nara was impressed. "We suppose this is worth praise. You're no longer a fragment, not a Thief, not an impostor. You are indeed One For All and SIVA... an abomination of bloodied, borrowed power."

Yuzuku didn't rise to that, clutching the blade tightly, "No, we're an extension of Yuki Azuru and Izuku Midoriya, of Aksis and Deku... a person." That answer felt exactly right to them.

"You've gained so much confidence from such a weapon? We've been through this farce once already today, and we don't expect an encore," With a flick of his wrist, several smaller variants of Escalation Judgement became clear in the dark skies around them, the scorch rifle poised as well. "Let us settle the score. Between NARA's perfection, and its inferior SIVA."

Nara ushered his javelins against Yuzuku... but from both sides, thin blue strings and a wave of thermal energy blasted them from their trajectory, thereby giving them their opening to slash the air with Whirlwind Blade, unleashing a devastating arc of Void energy to slice clean through the javelins and severing Nara's right arm, but the lost arm and Core gradually regrew. The formless energy that endlessly devoured their surroundings dissipate into nothingness after the flashes of cerulean, green and purple.

"Hah! All you've done it ramble on and on about how great and powerful you are, masking all your crap behind fancy words to make it seem like you're noble or that our cause ain't worth shit to consider!" Katsuki yelled, wiping the blood off his cheek from where he narrowly avoided being blown to bits by that large attack had Yuzuku not stepped in. "The hundreds of people you've killed combined and the lives you've ruined make your actions clear as day. You never once gave a rat's ass about anyone other than yourself, whatever the hell you are now. Shigaraki, Kovik, Nara - we don't care which is real or not, at the end of the day, you're just another lousy villain playing the victim for shit that's long in the past!"

"...You've done well. However, we remain troubled by that baseless confidence you and these heroes continue to show," Nara didn't acknowledge Katsuki's words, eyeing Yuzuku critically. So far, only these three, Mirio, and Miruko seemed conscious.

Yuzuku huffed, "Are you finally shedding that awful personality?"

"Who the hell are you now, huh?" Katsuki's question sounded more like a warning.

"You discredit our actions, insult our being, continuously dragging forth memories from deep within our mind - Did you think that you could subdue us like this? Force us to surrender?" Nara demanded with a firm tone, but it was obvious, he was starting to crack. "Or did you think that we would be suppressed by some washed-up Pro, a hot-headed brat, and SIVA and OFA's puppet? Free for your quirks to do with this body as you wish, to kill us?" He pressed one finger forward. "That is the extent of your strength, why do you continue to resist us?"

"All you're doing it proving your own arrogance, keep believing you're in the right and you'll fall much farther," Yuzuku warned.

"We know why you came here, Thief. You believe you can persuade us, convince the shattered heart withholding out emotions that what we are is nothing short of a virus threatening the overthrow the bodies of Kovik and Tomura," He pressed a hand to his heart. "In reality, you're not sure at all, are you?" He smiled again. "If memories can be falsified and emotions manipulated, does 'Nara' truly exist?"

That right there, made their stature relax, gripping Twin Quickfang tightly. "This isn't about you, Nara. We will defeat you, not based on what You are, but what you've done collectively," Static began to rise around them in purple flashes. "You've ruined the lives of thousands, destroyed whatever semblance of peace there was in our rotten world and turned Japan on its head, your Splicers and Villains have ravaged it's beauty and we won't allow another life to be taken. Give whatever convictions you want, but just as Dynamight said... we don't care, regardless of who you claim to be or not."

"Spoken well, both of you," Jeanist concurred. "The motives you've given will not dissuade our goal today. For the future of our world, there is no room for hesitance!"

In that instance, chaos erupted forth. Katsuki blasted his way backward, creating a smokescreen as plasma ripped through the sky after him. Duplicates of Nara appeared, keeping Jeanist on his toes as his threads bound one of their legs, slinging them into one another, piercing their false figures with sharp threads. Yuzuku then appeared next to him, swinging their sword in a wide crescent to swat the several explosive shots from the real Nara, blackwhip wrapped around their forearms and dark silver wings sprouted from their shoulder blades, lifting them to angle themselves better and dispel another wave of attacks while Jeanist strangled and snapped the neck of another copy that had its sights on Katsuki who focused on bombarding Nara with constant explosions as Overhaul worked to turn the ground to spikes.

"Who do you think are the two sides of this battle?" Nara continued to press amidst the battle. Blocking the return kick from Miruko as the pressure split his shield enough for Mirio to appear and strike with a fist, the two moving aside from another ring of steel spikes and molten plasma. "You think that it is justice and injustice? Wrong, all wrong,"

"One side is simply doing as they wish for their own goals, acting on emotion alone... Weak-willed fools who do not even understand the meaning of war," He turned, meeting the airforce blasts infused with searing hot blue plasma with his own blood red haze. "Whereas the other side is those suffering across the world... The people who live in pain under the discrimination of others, of what the world dictates is right,"

"You don't care? You don't have the right to begin with. How could you possibly fathom what we've been through?" Nara accused, slamming the ground with his legs as a massive riptide of plasma shot out around them, throwing Yuzuku back as they spun in a lilac halo, splitting the violent sea, crashing against the broad armour of Nara's chassis, his scorch rifle and their Quickfang locked briefly while Katsuki flung himself behind them with Miruko. "Those warriors who fight for this country's liberation, those passionate people who willingly spill their own blood upon the battlefield... No matter who they see as an enemy!"

"They entrust their lives to their faith, give up their human shells for the strength to endure pain. It's fine even if they go against the world in a moment of prejudice and short-sightedness, for this land is theirs too," He threw Yuzuku back as their left knuckle drove against the chassis, 'Maine Smash' tearing apart metal and flesh only for it to regrow as quickly. They spun around, caught by Mirio's feet as they were shoved at terminal velocity straight into Nara's face, unleashing a burning beam of light shredding half their face off before a barrier threw them away.

"The lives of our race, who fought against their false God for the sake of reclaiming what was taken from them, who went against their beliefs for the chance at a better life, forgoing consequence in the name of peace," He rambled on, thick clumps of thread dragging their arms down for Katsuki to unleash an X-Catapult, launching Miruko through glaring plasma fire, her body singed and bleeding as her hammer arm shattered against the caved in chest of Nara, throwing the Splicer backward as he heaved. "The bannerless who fight for the Eliksni not Fallen, those who refuse to give up - all for the sake of the Great Machine!"

"The ambition of those who want to decimate the land, drag those blessed down into the same dark abyss as they had endured, to see through a lens without filter but sheer clarity at the disgusting filth that taints the world!" Nara swung his arms wide, attempting to grab Katsuki's leg to steal his quirk only for the boy to twist his body and blast himself into a forward spin, shattering the grip while his feet pressed to Yuzuku's, the two launching away from several blasts that skimmed their boots.

"Fate is a blind concept. Hardships are meant for those to endure and rise above. Those that cannot escape death have no right to stand above others, or dictate the laws of nature!" At his hand cast high, several Escalation spears took aim and launched themselves down only for a blur of purple to sweep high above, catching them with multiple blackwhips, bringing them together to blast them apart with a single thresh of airforce from a right roundhouse kick. Red fire and nanites fell around Nara. "Complexity and diversity will be reduced to nothingness!"

"You're nothing but the Incubator's lingering Darkness, a twisted ambition that's warped their minds, you're everything NARA has become through exposure, you're a shadow," Yuzuku growled, drawing their blade forward into another cyclone of raw spacial energy. It cleaved the dark tendrils asunder, leading the way for Miruko to bob and dive underneath the monster and strike with the force of hundred underneath its chassis. Density increased in a split second but a blackwhip tore the silverette backward, and a hand to her right leg repaired the lost cybernetic in seconds. SIVA was evolving too.

"Amusing, if nothing else," Nara commented, and the ground immediately burst forth with... amethyst flames!? Those were Harrow's flames! "You didn't believe, we'd let that foolish creature die without ensuring his strength wasn't properly disturbed?"

The combination of metal spikes erected around Nara and the burning purple flames that suddenly exploded, leaving the area around him layered in soot and fire. Everyone managed to evade as Nara set his wings ablaze, threshing them to not only leap back, but brush a large lingering wave of cinders on the ground. Bounding high, Yuzuku snatched up those fighting aside from Katsuki into blackwhip, holding them with float as the ground exploded.

"Okay, we're out of options now, we have to use it," Yuzuku resolved, there was one ace left up their sleeves, and as they are now, it couldn't have been at a better time. Their eyes burned with several colours, forming a spectrum. "This... is our full power!"

Letting the others fall back to safety, Yuzuku flung out their left arm, "Blackwhip infused with Fa Jin... enhanced capture combo!" With a single swing, a thick line of energy formed a chain, binding itself into Nara's steel and flesh. "Black Chain!"

"Is that all? Too predictable!" Nara twisted and broke the chain, but for a brief glimpse, they saw a man with ginger hair and a cross scar over his face looming behind Yuzuku.

"Save my quirk for last, if we don't deal with him in the next five minutes, this world is doomed," The Second User grimaced, the sparks of various aspects of energy crackling over the merged teens.

"Let's finish this!" Pressing their right fist into their left hand forced quickfang onto their back. "2nd... Transfer," A strange new power began to accumulate. Nara didn't so much as blink, feeling their body become weightless when a force suddenly pulled them off the ground. Yuzuku arched their knuckle against Nara's chassis, burning through the nanomachine density with a crackling, molten heatwave behind them. "2nd Gear... 3rd Gear... Top Gear!" The unquantifiable amount of energy burned through Nara's whole body, splitting through the seams in their armour.

Suddenly, the whole ground they stood on was obliterated under and surrounding Yuzuku, the sheer force roaring second afterward, blasting massive chunks off of Nara in an instant, the wind and stray bolts arcing upward like a fountain.

"The sound was delayed..!?" Mirio couldn't believe his eyes or ears.

Above, Nara gagged on their own blood, eyes twitching in pain as two cores were wiped out faster than they were previously. "What just happened!? Why did they go!?" Nara couldn't detect them, but the hairs on the back of their neck stood up, feeling that presence manifest above them. "This is completely different than that glow from before, they're too fast, don't tell me...!"

Yuzuku beat their wings, arcing slowly in the air as a burning blue flame covered their right arm and aspects of their form, there was a burning pressure of red in their legs, sparks of gold, emerald, purple, orange, pink, the sheer quantity of abilities manifested at once were enough to keep up - no, surpass NARA and All For One in this moment. The Second appeared again, looking as fiercely determined as the two merged before him. "Things are different this time around. A meta ability that enables the user to shift the speed of anything he touches; Gear Shift. To put into Izuku Midoriya's words, 100% becomes 120%."

Gear Shift, like every other quirk, had grown inexorably stronger within One For All over several generations. So when that raw power stored within One For All overlaps Gear Shift, enhanced even beyond with SIVA. A single smash contains the power to bend the laws of physics. Yuzuku released a burst of plasma from their wings, combined with Fa Jin, their speed overclocked, breaking the sound barrier along the way. "Detroit Smash... Quintuple!"

It all happened faster than their eyes could track, Yuzuku leaving behind a crater several times, completely collapsing Nara's torso, blood and metal flung everywhere, even as NARA healed their wounds in mere seconds, it was still causing them strain as a result, the damage was starting to accumulate. Which could last longer? One For All and SIVA or All For One and NARA? Even after the quintuple impact, Yuzuku's feet barely touched the ground, dipping and diving away from more hellfire and metal spikes that poured out around Nara's frame.

With a small adjustment of Nara's legs, a wave of Decay shot forth, tearing apart the ground as Yuzuku fell straight through to the underbelly of the Siege Engine, watching as the large hole started to close up. They ground their feet into one of the walls, blowing a massive hole through the wall with a single lunge. Squeezing their wings together, they rocketing past falling debris and shifting walls that attempted to block their path. Drawing Twin Quickfang above their heads, they held it like a spearhead, piercing forward as an amethyst arrow, tearing through any and all obstacles in their way.

The hole was barely wide enough to fit a child through, but with the momentum at their backs they shot straight through, flying above the chaos before looping around they threw down their left arm, unravelling the blackwhip around it, "Pinpoint Focus! 2nd Gear" It snapped forward, latching to Nara who attempted to pummel them only to see Yuzuku's form shift sharply overhead.

"This quirk, Gear Shift, can change your speed while ignoring inertia," The 2nd commented. "You understand, don't you, Nara?"

"Then I'll just-" But a smokescreen blotted out their view of Yuzuku, feeling black whip coil around their crumbling chassis, hoisting them above the smoke where Yuzuku stretched out Quickfang, the blade visibly glowing a deep shade of violet.

They then swung down, unleashing a massive compression of Void and wind pressure. The wind blade cleaved through Nara, damaging several Cores, but the center remained intact, even as the damage become substantial. "This isn't working! Guy's gonna keep fixin' himself!" Miruko grunted, avoiding a spiral of cursed flames.

Right as she said this, a pyre of scorching orange flames counteracted the purple embers, smothering the blast under intense heat. From seemingly nowhere, Endeavor, bloodied and missing an arm, raced into view past Yuzuku, closing his fist tightly as five lines of plasma whipped and folded in around Nara's shields, breaking them down to whip the whole area in a molten impact. "Endeavor, you're okay!" Yuzuku was relieved but the state he was in suggested otherwise. "Well, er, y'know, not dead..."

"My health isn't of concern, now move!" He barked, watching Nara warp until he was on top of them. "Of course, a monster like him wouldn't have been so eager to fight us if he wasn't certain of handling Hellfire. I'm unable to create something as extensive of Prominence Burn, not without completely eliminating me from the battle," He gamble may not have worked, but he wasn't about to just throw in the towel. "I have a duty to uphold, no matter the excuse."

"Your inability to lay down and die will be your last futile act as 'hero'," Nara sneered, casting his scorch rifle upon them had several blasts from above not peppered both the weapon and his body, forcing Nara to expunge a cyclone of purple flames while flinging balls of plasma between them.

Moving unconsciously, Yuzuku smothered Endeavor and themselves in smoke, spotting some of Hawks' feathers lifting the large hero through the plume and out in front of Jeanist who wrapped Nara's legs in more threads, but one slash of the large wings severed them almost instantly. Yuzuku, in that moment, drew themselves back on blackwhip, building up kinetic energy into their calves until it was almost unbearable, all while their fingers squeezed against Quickfang to the point the blade threatened to snap in two.

"Faux One-Hundred, Top Gear-" A blinding shockwave stretched across the burning battlefield, slicing a massive arc that multiplied into three other waves of devastating void light through Nara's right breast and shoulder, tearing up the ground with them. "-Quintuple Stone Slash!" Flying upside-down to deflect the oncoming black tendrils, feeling them graze through their armour, they cried out. "Do it now!"

They had managed to expose the center Core, and the others had only a few seconds at most to enact on a gut feeling, even with Danger Sense and seeing the Flow of technology, predicting how Nara would react was almost impossible, as if every Core acted of its own free will. Hawks quickly helped to pull Jeanist away from a large cone of red energy and cursed flames while tossing large chunks of debris at the rising spikes around Nara.

"Hawks!" Endeavor called, knowing it would put a strain on the two of them, he gathered all the flames he could muster, the air in his lungs burned, the oxygen in the air had thinned slightly from all the flames cast across the observation deck. Several feathers snagged to his back, prying the hero over the wall of blades, the bright orange flames were pulled back, forming into the point of an arrow that, upon realizing it, forced Nara to focus his spikes upward, and Endeavor bit back a yell as two spikes dug into his right leg and near his stomach. But his veins bulged, and with whatever compensated for willpower, launched the projectile forward. "Ignited Arrow!"

Nara raised his hand to block with another barrier but was shocked when that wall of nanites came down thanks to the red glove slammed against it from below, Mirio shot through Nara's own head, kicking sharply to yanked the monster's entire vision sideways, even as the gathering density tore up his costume and skin. The arrow met its mark, burning a wide circle through the already large gash that held his right side up by a few wires and flesh, now bubbling and dripping with various fluids.

Yuzuku gasped, watching as the nearest Cores converged amongst NARA, "They're... protecting the Center Core," That's why they're so efficient! Gilding past Katsuki, they waved frantically. "Dynamight, you need to lay in all the damage you can at point blank range, straight at his chest!" He looked at them like they were mad. If he screwed this up, the nanite density would rip him apart with or without Anti Barrier.

"Thought I said before not to give me orders!" He growled but immediately bent his arms back. Just like with his Explosive Speed, Katsuki propelled himself forward, only this time, his explosions were far stronger and faster, unleashing a flurry of bursts that sent him forward at blinding speed. Nara summoned a spiral of dark purple flames around Katsuki, but the mad bomber's grin only expanded. "Hah! You call that an explosion you knock-off!?" Bending forward to lessen the drag, Katsuki squeezed his body tightly, keeping from triggering the cursed embers early as he flew down the middle, sure, he was burned at the sides slightly, but he avoided losing any forward momentum.

Katsuki swept through the flames that whipped by his hair, slamming his hands against Nara's chest as some of NARA began to eat into his grenadier gauntlets, but he didn't even flinch. "I don't know if you're Kovik or Shigaraki right now, but... I don't wanna here another word from either of you! I've had enough of you since Kamino!" As he yelled this, the packs of his back expanded and grew, merged with SIVA as large mounted machines guns rose over his shoulders, all revving up as he glowered down at the abomination of technology and flesh. "Area Supressing Heavy Armour Activated - Strafing Panzer!"

"I will clear the path... we'll crush the main body along with your cores!" He screamed as several sparks shot through the smoke, blinding everyone by an array of heavy, loud explosions at point blank range, flames kicked up and swirling around Nara and Katsuki as they tore into the machine with great intensity. "You want to talk about fear and rejection? I've accepted that long ago! But I didn't just accept it, I'm way over it!"

"Bakugo...!" Jeanist was speechless, the recklessness that he's seen in Katsuki from day one, it had been driven into his convictions here and now.

The black smoke cleared, and Nara glared back at Katsuki's unwavering hatred and determination swelling in his scarlet eyes. "I found people who were willing to put all that aside and move forward! No matter what it may take!" He saw his class aiding Izuku and Yuki back into the school past the once furious mob, all while Katsuki stared up at the bold brunette who screamed her heart out for her friends atop UA. He felt lost in her image, the rain hardly noticeable, "That's why, I don't give a damn about whatever you have to say! You sack of deformed flesh!"

Whipping up a spiral of thermal energy behind him, Katsuki swept his left arm forward, blasting a series of smaller shots against the flickering barrier of Nara's. "Howitzer Impact - Cluster Bomb!"

*KABOOOOOM!*

The blast completely shook the Siege Engine, roaring flames expanding and flowing down over the edge of the dreadnaught as the sky briefly turned orange from the radius.

Through the fallout, blood flew through the ash and dust. Katsuki's face screwed up tight in agony as his right eye nearly shredded by the whiplash of flames and metal. "A highly condensed blast, maximizing the energy output while avoiding any damage to the environment. Truly wonderful, that's why-" Nara was covered in burns as a red pigment replaced the lost tissue, his arm breaking Katsuki's while scorching it with Harrow's cursed flames. "-we had to break it."

"We're sorry, but we stand by what we told you last time, we continue to have no interest in you," He swatted Katsuki away like a fly, the riptide of plasma sending Miruko and Jeanist back from the scorching wave.

"Dynamight!" Jeanist gasped, seeing his old intern laying on his side, coughing up blood.

"In reality, it was never your dreams or ideals that interested us, Katsuki Bakugo," Nara past him a mocking smirk. "The only thing that ever piqued our interest in you, was the fact you're Midoriya's childhood friend,"

Using a tendril, he snatched up Katsuki's body, strangling him before slapping his body off the ground as Katsuki gasped in pain, drawn closer to the Splicer. With a simple smash from two more tendrils, both grenadier gauntlets were pulverised, alongside his augment machine guns. "Going off our last encounter, when we skewered you, they became so enraged, so we wonder how they'll react to your corpse?" Nara's grip constricted his breathing, digging the metal around his skin.

"You grew up drugged on the dream of becoming just like All Might, to achieve victory today? It's high time you were given a harsh lesson on reality, Bakugo," Nara leaned closer, his eyes digging into the corners of Katsuki's soul, his eyes the size of pins. "No matter how hard to train or fight, you can never surpass Midoriya or the Thief, destined to live in their shadows,"

Without warning, threads bound to the black tendrils, followed by a single, rising kick from below that shattered the joint blades, catching Katsuki. "Jeanist, here!" Mirio threw Katsuki out of danger, his body phasing through the onslaught of plasma to dive away. "Seeya!" Nara's leg smashed the ground, but Mirio had slipped away before NARA Density could prevent his escape.

Katsuki now resided close to Jeanist, laying on his knees and facing the ground. Whatever was going through his mind, no one could tell.

"Kacchan..." Yuzuku felt their heart clench, but... they had to do their part, he cleared the path as he said. They had their opening! "You were always amazing, Kacchan, so thank you!"

"You two ready?" Behind Yuzuku, the second user appeared to them, watching the incarnation of evil starting to rebuild itself. But his eyes flickered to the Ninth merged with his partner, their aura shimmered between echoes of one another, their unity was starting to reach its limits.

"We are," Yuzuku replied, this was a risk both have considered before the battle, many scenarios and 'what ifs' clouded both sides of Yuzuku, but this was by far the most effective, and with the city of Tokyo below, they were out of time. Glancing to the side to where Katsuki and Jeanist watched them, they spoke up. "You might want to steer clear, things are about to get a little crazy," With a wink, Yuzuku raised their right arm, fingers fanned out with the palm facing forward. "Everyone, Siva, the other Visages, please guide our power."

Closing their eyes, they began. "SIVA, Augment, Crimson Glow," The flow of energy from their Valorgod wings suddenly erupted into a constant, blue stream of plasma at the vents, and their breastplate warped to a copy of Valstrax's, drawing in the hot air around them. "Combining heat and wind, and all the momentum we've been accumulating to avoid Nara," Their legs began to groan, sparks of crimson visible while clasping their right fist tightly "Transmission, 2nd Gear, 3rd Gear, Top Gear - Overdrive," Steel Blue light billowed against their cloak, surrounding their fist.

"He warned us of the dangers, of using all of these quirks in one go takes a considerable amount of concentration to not cause a wayward discharge, not to mention every vein feels like its threatening to burst just from containing this new energy!" It was taking a lot not to simply gasp. Their breathing was the key, to circulate oxygen throughout the whole body constantly, it was undoubtedly the one skill that was hardest to master with such limited time for practice. Drawing themselves back, two Blackwhips anchored them to the ground, becoming taut like a slingshot.

There was a sudden chain reaction that streaked in an arc, faster and harder than even Nara could trace. A line of explosions that arched a massive crescent of searing blasts across their chest, blasting apart metal and flesh as Katsuki tumbled out of range, coughing up blood as he recoiled from his own attack. That one instant brought one word from the ash blonde, his good eye glowering back hatefully. "Die."

"Fa Jin, SIVA, Blackwhip, Gear Shift - One Hundred Percent!" A soul fire turned their pupils to embers. The static howl of their powers on the brink made the air buzz. "Escalation Smash!"

There was a flash but not much else registered for Nara, he had erected another barrier upon sensing the drastic shift in energy around Yuzuku, but the other heroes fought in a dire state to keep him at bay, they weren't able to scratch him, even in his recovering state. That proved to be a fatal flaw. A clean streak of light, the colours refracting off every metallic surface shot through the ground and straight across his chest, the force bending the metal chassis with several rings at their backs, the sound only now caught up.

The deck of the Siege Engine groaned, creasing inward from the scorch line before erupting into a wall of flames straight down the middle where Nara was engulfed. That last move forced Yuki and Izuku to split, with Izuku wincing back as his mid-gauntlet crumbled to ash against his arm, burns running up toward his elbow with some wounds visible on his arm from the shockwave. Yuki's was already on the mend as she ran to his side to help relieve some of the pain.

Not far from view, the top of the Tokyo Skytree could be seen, had an hour really passed already? Whatever the case may be, Nara wasn't moving from the smoke, Yuki was unable to focus anymore, having strained her sight on reading NARA's attack patterns nearly the entire fight in placement of Danger Sense. The rumbling of the battles over the dreadnaught continued, but the worse was over... they... they did it.

"Doubt any... monster could've survived that," Katsuki voiced everyone's thoughts. "The hell... was that, Deku? Did you..."

"Y-yeah," Izuku shifted his weight to lean against Yuki, head on her shoulder. "I've never used it because it's by far the most unstable with OFA, not to mention SIVA enhancing it further. Thankfully, we only needed a split second to concentrate," It was a very risky play, the aftermath in front of them told Izuku painfully clear how much training he needed to fully master that aspect of OFA. "I-I can't believe it..." The sight wasn't registering to him. And a bittersweet feeling in his gut made him frown, it was the outcome he wanted to avoid, but that relic of the Darkness had done too much damage to Shigaraki.

"Hey," Yuki wrapped an arm around his waist, squeezing him, "This isn't how either of us expected it to end, but... atleast it's over," There was relief in her voice, but Izuku couldn't bring himself to share that sentiment, simply sighing. Maybe after it was 'truly' over the situation would click. "Right now, however, we need to focus on getting everyone off the Siege Engine, any moment now it'll collapse once NARA starts to collapse in on itself without a source."

"I'll inform All Might and Eraserhead of our location and situation," Jeanist replied, "For the time being, Endeavour requires medical assistance as well as Hawks, if you can manage, Aksis."

"Sure," She nodded, leaving Izuku's side. "You rest up, and Katsuki?" He met her soft gaze. "Thank you, I'm sorry you had to listen to that bullshit,"

"Tch, like hell I'll let you two get any further ahead, just you watch, I'll be the top pro one day, even if it seems completely impossible to climb to the height One For All or SIVA are, that'll just give me more reason to try!" He yelled back, but, smirked at her own smile. "All Might never gave up, neither will I,"

"Even down an arm and you still have so much energy to yell..." Rolling her eyes, she quickly moved in the direction of Endeavor who appeared to be out cold again. "Miruko and Lemillion, you guys mind helping me!?"

"On it!/Sure thing!" The pair turned on their heels to provide support.

But Yuki slowed in her step, the others coming to rest just behind her as she listened through the flames and other ambient noises to hear... rumbling, a soft vibration beneath her feet. "The Siege Engine... it's still moving?" She spun around to the Skytree not far from their view, it was perhaps another ten minutes away at their pace. But the large structure was still shifting closer.

Scraping could be heard coming from the massive fissure in the ground, the black smoke pulled back against a large leg as it pierced the ground with its weight, wrenching the rest of its out from hiding as Shigaraki's body hung by wires, shrapnel and bone, his eyes flickering with rage. "wE sHoUlD oF kIlLeD yOu YeArS aGo... Yuki!" Nara growled, blood dripping down from his lips as the rest of his massive frame rose to its full height once more, a dozen or so black tendrils snapping down to pick at the deck, tearing up the ground to siphon more nanites into his frame.

Then, his flesh bulged from his metal carapace, large thick hands covering Shigaraki's torso like armour, the same hands forming a new, fleshy mask around his mouth and around his scarred right eye, allowing his snow-white hair to flail wildly in the hot wind. His body had reached a new apex that even NARA couldn't replicate.

"Is this its final form...?" Jeanist wondered in shock. "He's completely switched to defence."

"That was your mistake," Yuki glowered, enhanced to full in a heartbeat as the others spread themselves out. "How... how is your core still intact?"

Mockingly, Nara began to laugh, "So long as our core remains intact, the Siege Engine will breathe as we breathe, its power like our blood, its movements shadow our own," Shaking his head, he watched them squabble to prepare a counterattack. "Thief, oh Thief. Do you know why you are so weak? Because you only stand in your own two shoes. Do you know how narrow your vision is? How much misfortune have you ever seen? You've only seen some unremarkable scenes through a narrow view... but we've experienced far more tragedy than you ever have,"

Without warning, tendrils burst from the ground around them, whipping the heroes from their feet, threatening to impale them within inches of their bodies. Instead, the limbs quickly coiled themselves around the likes of Hawks and Endeavor. Miruko wasn't so lucky after they severed one of her cybernetic legs, though she put up a far bigger struggle as their metal clung to their bodies.

"Crap!" Katsuki blasted those nearest him and Izuku to pieces, shoving Izuku toward Yuki who quickly scrambled to their sides as one yanked Katsuki by his ankle, slapping the blonde off the ground as he twisted and burned his own ankle to free himself only for two more to erupt from the ground like sinkholes, binding his good arm as they did with Jeanist after he ran out of space to freely move his threads, tying his arms against his sides.

"You are constrained by your limited existence, whereas we have lived for centuries, watching the decline of our race, and through the eyes of one neglected by the world rotten with false heroism. We live for the sake of destroying that false world, to reclaim what is ours. What about you?" Nara dared, his tendrils retracting say for the ones holding the heroes down, the only one not caught was Mirio, but even he couldn't move in close without NARA density blocking and eventually capturing him. Anti Barrier would protect them but that didn't matter if they were caught. "You are but fools, blind and deaf, despairing over the littlest of things, proclaiming yourself saviours."

"What do we do...?" Yuki whispered, her back against Izuku's as their energies mingled.

"Focus on freeing the others, we don't have much time left," He was right, but how could they do that if Nara can create an endless amount of them?

"Oh, we suppose you're worried about whether or not you have the time to defeat us, but we wouldn't worry about that," He then motioned to the tower not far behind him. "Whoever said NARA required a direct connection?" That single line threw their hearts into their stomach, eyes stretching beyond measure. "NARA. Consume. Enhance-"

"No/Wait!" Their pleas went unheard, and Nara's eyes glowed brightly in the dark.

"-Replicate."

There was no way of stopping him now. From the bow of the dreadnaught, massive, thick bodies of red cables struck the nearest rooftops, weaving through concrete and rebar like a ruinous flood of water, they forked their way through glass and panels, stretching like silk over to neighbouring spaces until they all converged toward the Skytree. From the highest point the skyscrapers provided, NARA dug its way like burrowing ants, freely tearing the insides of the complex apart toward the tip of the spire.

All wrapped and coiled to metal and circuitry, digging deep into hardware and rewriting software. Red light bled from the glass as clusters and nodes bulged and bloomed like vicious thorns, the darkness that surrounded the sky around the Siege Engine expanded further, red lightning striking NARA at the tip of the Skytree, releasing a crackling wave of plasma down the length of the tower. The lights of Tokyo flickered from the resulting influx of energy, before rising again to turn the buildings twisted by NARA into red beacons.

To drag that despair further, Nara raised one arm, and the sky broke apart with red stars, swarms of NARA circling in the air like vultures. They failed. They failed everyone.

"In the end, you are too immature. You have never experienced despair at the brink of destruction. Your people struggle but have never been driven to the point of collapse in a single night, forced to flee on scraps and fight their brothers and sisters. You lost your family, but have you lost your people? Have you heard the ear-splitting screams of an Eliksni as their arms are docked from their flesh? Have you seen the skies turn an entirely new shade of blue as the weapons of thousands rained down around one another?"

"You are clueless, but we don't blame you for that. If you really wish to put your foolish thoughts into action and prevent the revival of the Eliksni race, the destruction of a false world and pretentious ideals, the revitalization of two worlds..." With his free hand, Nara motioned them to come forward, prompting fear in the hearts of the heroes that struggled to break free. "Then, try and stop us. Try and stop this incarnation of True Strength. Come."

Yet, in this bleak hour, something unimaginable occurred. Bridging the gap between the skytree and the dreadnaught looming over Tokyo, a great compressed wall of air slit through concrete and metal like a disk. Dozens - no, nearly a hundred formed and expanded into layers of compressed, solid air that formed a foundation, a wall of such magnitude that it completely brought the rest of the siege engine to a grinding halt.

"W-what was that!?" Izuku gasped, their heads spun around with Nara's, feeling the air grow hotter from its insatiable rage.

"What... is this...?" Nara snarled, seeing, right at the epicentre of this wall of air, a single man, burning with radiant power that flowed from an unknown source, held his ground, using a platform of air to hold himself steady as his hands held back the full might of the siege engine alone. His moustache burned with the power blessed upon him, his veins buldged but he did not yield. His whole figure was a burning resolve of a man with a rekindled light of a hero.

"Is that...?" Izuku couldn't believe it.

"You...?" Nara's visible eye narrowed at the man - no, a nobody, and yet... the siege engine had been halted.

"Tell me, boy! Do you once again... find yourself fighting for the joy of others!?" The man asked, feeling the love from afar bolster him beyond measure, beyond the man he was of the past. "On that fateful day, I only wished to save someone who'd fallen... Yes, to be of service to others was my hope!" Tears of hope built in his eyes, evaporating in the haze. "Worry not... for with my resolve, and the love that gives my life a kindling to shine!" Gentle Criminal's whole body flared with a burning rosy flame, deep into his eyes. "This darkest hour shall not be our last! GENTLY SUPER-LOVER!"

"Gentle!" Izuku gaped, the other heroes visibly shocked by the small-time ex-villain that did the impossible, even as the force he stood against tore at the buildings, NARA seeping into the bones of the city, threatening the barriers oppressing its march to finalize the skytree's connection.

Izuku was at a loss for words, he looked to Katsuki, his childhood friend trying to move his wrists to blast himself free, but only a few errant sparks came to life. He then stared at his own hands, slowly, he closed them and then brought his eyes to the girl who changed his life. She wasn't looking despaired, fearful sure, but she was looking at her right hand, specifically, the finger that held her ring from sight. It was so baffling he might've laughed, but... she looked beautiful, even at the possible end of their world.

"I can't begin to put what I'm feeling into words," She spoke up, closing her fist as she lifted her head to meet his eyes through her mask, but he could tell the kind of face she was making. "There so much happening right now, but... I'm glad it was you I get to experience it all with," She brought her left fist toward him, and Izuku, right then and there knew what to do.

"Nothing's been easy for us, and I'll be honest, I don't know how drastic my life might've been without you," It was definitely corny, but frankly, he didn't care. "I wouldn't want anyone else beside me right now, no matter how this ends, I'm glad it was you who I met that day," Her eyes flickered with surprise, then, his knuckle brushed to hers.

With a swing of their fists, Katsuki fell onto his stomach in surprise. "What are you-" His voice caught in his throat when, like a lapse in his own memory, Izuku held out his burned, bleeding hand.

"Kacchan... there's just one way... the three of us can do this," Izuku's words didn't take long to click in his head, his eyes wide as she shot him a silent glare. But again, Izuku stretched out his offered hand, Yuki standing by without saying a word.

'Not like that, what I mean is you can temporarily transfer your power to me, something SOMEONE should have told you! Your power is the ability to stockpile power and transfer it, though that second part's a secret, no one said that you had to transfer the whole package over, you get me?'

Katsuki, of course, sneered at the stupid plan. He lowered his head again, squeezing his eyes shut. But... there wasn't another way he could see them beating this. With how much energy was gathering above them, it would take more than just One For All and SIVA to destroy it. He knew that, Izuku and Yuki knew that too. He couldn't surpass SIVA and One For All, he... didn't have that power, it almost felt like a sick joke now. And yet... he wouldn't give up. Who gives a crap if they had some unique power? He'd do fine on his own. He opened his eyes, seeing Izuku waiting with an anxious breath. "Please, Kacchan."

Slowly, his legs managed to dig themselves under his stomach, lifting his body high enough to grab Izuku's hand, the gashes over his right palm mixing his blood with the small cuts along Izuku's. Their hands trembled, but eventually caught each other tightly as Katsuki was pulled to his feet with some pain. With focus that was second nature, Izuku willed some of OFA to the one person he trusted as much as Yuki with this secret.

"If you do this, will you still be able to us it?" Katsuki asked.

"Yeah, it was a technique Yuki told me about, the ability to pass my power temporarily to another, though I'm unsure if that includes the other users' quirks," Something of a sigh of relief washed over Katsuki. "But even if that wasn't the case, All Might managed to protect us for so long with only its embers," He was thankful that wasn't the case, but this wouldn't have swayed his choice.

"Looks like you two can work together," Yuki smiled, and her energy and the boys started to swell.

"What did you do?" Nara, who had objectively ignored them to stare in bewilderment at Gentle Criminal's resolve, finally took notice as the boys bodies released a winding scream of power, purple lines etched into the skin as it evened out and dispersed across their bodies.

"With two... One For Alls..." They chimed as one.

"We'll protect everyone," Izuku vowed with every ounce of his being, compressing the excess energy into his bones.

Bolts of mint green snapped off sapphire blue to his right. "This nightmare will end,"

"...and we'll win," Katsuki concluded, his eyes were more jagged now, and his hair stood up slightly with orange highlights and neon orange discharge buzzing around him. "'I'll live in their shadows' huh? Maybe that's true, but like hell I'll just roll over and accept that! This is my legacy as the number one hero, you damn freak!"

"Hm, we'll offer you and every hero aboard our Siege Engine a quick, painless death," Nara offered. "Then, the rest of your country will follow in ruin."

The sky let out a cacophony of screams and static tones that sent tremors through the air. The javelins were manifested in probably near the hundreds by now, with that alone, the Siege Engine, possibly a sizable chunk of Tokyo would be completely obliterated, and the uncontrollable fires that would ensue would be catastrophic. If they failed, if they missed their mark by even a percentage... then there was no going back.

"Let's make sure this won't be the final time we do this," Yuki offered, standing to Izuku's right.

"We're going to win, and go back to UA, to become heroes like we said," Izuku replied taking a breath, then he raised his left arm's Focus Lens gauntlet, feeling the heat and wind beginning to build in his body and straight to his arm's attachment to better harness its uncontrollable power.

"This doesn't change a thing, I'll still be the number one hero, and no villain's gonna take that from me!" Katsuki declared, drawing his left fist back to mirror Yuki.

With a wave of his hand, the largest, and completed form of Escalation Judgement zeroed in on the entire Siege Engine. The sky was scarred in red. People across Japan watched with bated breath as the world-changing battle dreadfully crawled by. Across the whole world, heroes, villains, vigilantes, and civilian alike couldn't peel their eyes away.

The trio stomped as one, a roar bellowing from their depths of their hearts. Blue, Green, and Orange followed them from behind, building into a devastating omen. "Detroit...!/Devils...!" Thrusting their arms into the sky, the power of SIVA, OFA, and Explosion unleashed their own, harrowing cacophony. Air pressure and thermal energy building into a cone around a destructive laser of green and blue. "SMAAAAAAASH/RUIIIIIIIN!"

The tremendous energy swelled and eventually erupted forward in a flash of white, blindingly striking the impending storm with enough force to cause the whole sky to twist and converge around the positive energy. The javelins were easily swept up by the spire of light, torn to pieces under the intense strain that broke through the clouds in streaks of light. The trio didn't relent for a second, unleashing every ounce of power they had into their attack, tearing apart the sleeves of their costume and leaving a few cuts in the process but by the time the energy left their arms, the dark skies gave way to a massive explosion, releasing the unstable energy.

The darkness was dispersed in the blast, and the clouds were gradually erased, revealing a bright blue sky beyond, the storm effectively erased before their very eyes. The entire scene was unlike anything Nara could predict. "What...?" The three below felt their quirks dissipate, Katsuki looked a little worse for wear as he broke his entire arm, recoiling from the excessive force. "Is that... it?"

Their brows shot up in surprise, not realizing the black tendrils that slowly crept up without warning beneath their feet, but with how dangerous the threat was before them, either SIVA nor Danger Sense could pinpoint any threat was wasn't in front of them. "Is that... all... you've... GOT!?"

"Watch out!" Katsuki managed to throw Yuki away with a flick of his fingers, again, breaking them thanks to One For All but not before the black metal coiled and compressed the two, and... started to dig into their costumes, infecting it with stark red lines.

"Izuku, Katsuki!" Yuki screamed but was forced to warp back from two more tendrils attempting to impale her from the sides. All around her, Miruko, Mirio, Endeavor, Hawks, and Jeanist were all being constrained and infected by NARA.

After that massive blast, Gentle Criminal was also bound by black tendrils of metal as the siege engine began to shift, his power-up fading, yet, even as he bled, he held out his arms, trying to withhold this indomitable force. "This beast simply cannot be quelled!? Young man, I will not let this line fall!"

"W-What's going on!? Anti Barrier's not working!" Izuku gasped, feeling NARA beginning to eat into his skin around his bare arms, both now lined with burns and gashes.

"That's because your luck has run dry!" Nara set in stone, watching as Yuki flailed about, slashing away at the tendrils chasing her away. "Your efforts have surmounted to nothing, and now-" With a click of his fingers, another storm was starting to emerge, pulsing from the Skytree to rallied another large plume of dark red nanomachines, rebuilding the lost Escalation Judgement javelins very slowly as Gentle's interference proved to strain NARA. "-you'll truly understand the weight of absolute despair, Thief. You have no tricks, no schemes, nothing that can counteract what's been set in motion since this day began, we've plotted for every possible angle, nothing is left in your corner,"

"No matter the heroes or former villains to muster can prevent what has already been cast," Nara assured her. "Absolute destruction is all that will remain,"

Yuki | We have one option left | If... you're willing?

She paused, feeling her heart skip a beat at what Siva suggested. But... what other choice was left? Her friends, her family... Izuku... they were worth more than she could ever be. Yuki raised her fingers to her ear, eyes briefly shook by the gravity of what she had to do. What... she was willing to lose.

"Guys... support me, one last time," She removed her earpiece, tossing it aside, and felt the heat rise to her calves, feeling the air under her spring her over a barrage of plasma, another formed at her back as Gentle aided in her propulsion as best he could, "Striking Exile!" Her body shot forward in a blur of blue, slashing apart the tendrils that fought to subdue her, carving her way to the top, straight in front of Nara as she dove over his rifle's explosive rounds to knock it away, digging her hands against his chest, straight to NARA's core directly. "Let... Them... Go!" She growled, seeing the red lines already beginning to stretch over her barding, tearing it to pieces as density around them battled to overpower the other.

"Where... you factory defect?" He snarled in her face, allowing her wrestle with NARA as it dug at her old wounds, exposing her cybernetics after only a minute of injecting SIVA back into Nara's body. She could feel her hands near the Core as it pulsed like a heartbeat, its synthetic form stripping parts of her armour away as she felt a cough rise through her throat with a dribble of blood. "NARA's Density is far too much for your body to consume. Your chances of survival past this point... ARE ZERO!"

"You said... I can never... ngh... understand true despair, and you're right," Yuki gagged, the haze of red and blue beginning to surround them as SIVA warded off the worst her body couldn't handle. "That's why, I have gone... to such lengths in my life, I've staked my very body on preventing those hardships, healing the tragedies that no other person sees or cares for! I... I will not allow either world to endure that kind of pain... the likes of which you've done nothing but enjoy!" Her right eye became visible, sparking as she coughed up more blood. "You said... for me to try and stop you? This is me... both of us... STOPPING YOU!"

The black metal limbs that once held the heroes captive crumbled into rusted piles of dust. Izuku shot up from his hands and knees. "No... no-no-no, Yuki, you need to stop! Please, you're body can't handle NARA's density field!" His screams went unheard as the worst was about to happen. Again, he couldn't sit by and do nothing again! He tried to summon blackwhip only for the mass to wobble and vanish into thin air.

"Young lady, you mustn't!" Gentle gasped, coughing up blood, feeling the strain begin to break down his elastic walls.

"Dammit, Mute, you need to let go now!" Katsuki tried but to no avail. Just then, he saw several blue threads reach for the bluette caught in the unstable swarm of nanites. "Jeanist!?"

"I'm afraid, tch!" He recoiled, seeing his threads snap on contact. "My threads cannot pierce that energy field..."

"She's... protecting us," Mirio swallowed hard, all he could imagine was the sight of Nighteye... and how helpless he was to prevent that death.

Yuki's breathing was starting to labour, she felt her lungs were filled with lead as she coughed more violently. But her arms remained as they were, she was close, just a little further! "I... am a hero... and heroes... always find a way... for justice to be served!" Both her eyes glowed with a bright blue twinkle. She and Siva spoke as one. "Go Beyond... Plus Ultra!"

Then, a large, steady stream of raw SIVA particles flooded into Nara's chest and straight through to the Core. Without the other fragments displaced across his body, he had nowhere left to hide. "No! What are you... doing to us!?" He screeched in retaliation, his arms reaching around to tear the girl to pieces only for a new pair of arms to catch them as the storm increased immensely.

"|Not yet... not like this|," Behind Yuki, she managed to crack one eye open and see...

"S-Siva?" She didn't have the words. "W-What are you-?"

His lower arms resided on her shoulders, while his upper arms glided across her own, diverting the energy flow for him to command. "|You won't survive in this density field long enough to purge the Core...|" His next words made her heart stop entirely with a strained gasp, finding it easier to breathe with Siva warped a protective layer with Anti Barrier. "|But I can|"

"L-l-let go o-o-of u-us!" Nara continued to thrash, unable to reach the pair as SIVA devoured the hands before Decay could breach further, even using Overhaul proved to be futile in reverting the damage.

With a shift, Siva made it easy to push Yuki away, taking to the vanguard with his arms still locked to her shoulders as she tried to move but was off balance, hanging by her toes while he eyed her over his shoulder, his red cape tickling her body. "Siva, shut up! Stop talking like it's over!" But wasn't that what she had intended to do?

"|My host is you alone, I will accept no other, not even Izuku Midoriya|" Her gasp made his assumption clear of what she had done prior to running headlong into battle with him. He too had an alternate motive. "|I have watched you grow, you've faced the darkest times of two worlds, the experiences you've endured should never have befallen you|"

"|I have seen you mature into the person you are now, and that will only continue toward a future I am certain will come to pass. To you, the girl that saved my soul when I was so unworthy of that kindness, to the world that looks at my curse as a gift in your capable hands|" Siva spoke with tender voice, all other sounds muffled as it was just them. Tears rolling down Yuki's visible face as she stared up at him, feeling her hands move to rest on his own. "|I am glad it was your world Kovik fell into... for I got to find... a human with the heart of a hero, and the soul of an Eliksni... my friend... my sister. You... have earned your right to call yourself Kell|"

His arms threw her back, far from what was to be his end, in those last moments, she watched as his head turned to face Kovik, the markings of the Devil Splicer flying back in the violent wind. Her tears flew in the air in front of her hands, and a strangled cry caught in her throat. "AKSIIIIIIS!" But she couldn't reach him this time as her vision blurred and blackened.

As SIVA and NARA began to break themselves apart, Siva's mind wandered. He saw the very first day Yuki could walk again, she ran faster than any other person he had seen, far from that hospital in the dead of night. The times he watch her run across Japan, hiding, keeping out the cold while harnessing SIVA for herself, or until the fateful day she became what he once was. The day they were both saved by a hero of legend.

He recalled meeting Akame, the woman offering genuine love and affection for a girl that wasn't her own flesh and blood, how that ultimately broke Yuki out of her shell, and the steps forward to improve on her usage of SIVA, to be what he couldn't, a hero. He watched as she stumbled upon a nervous young man who worked his body to its limits to become All Might's successor, and the days that followed where he watched the boy's and the girl's friendship grow.

Their time at UA, making allies and enemies, the struggles of the USJ and confronting the League of Villains, Sports Festival and overcoming her inner struggles, Hosu and their battle to overwrite SIVA's directed, I-Island and their climb to defeat Ravage, Camp and the hardships that followed Camino and the days of recovery after, Dren and Overhaul to save Eri, the Cultural Festival, and so much more and in-between that it was all blurs to his mind. But it made the old Eliksni smile beneath his respirator, he... was at peace.

"No, NoooaaaAAHHH!" Nara's cries of agony drowned in the complete destruction of SIVA and NARA.

Aksis closed his eyes, grateful to the Splicer he met.

To Be Continued...

---

I never expected this to be so long, and we're not even done, but yeah, that was... something, alot of fighting (End me please). And since Lady Nagant made a return, why not Gentle? And that scene at the end was... yeah, sacrifices must be made. I was originally going to have the last second save to be for Yuki and Izuku, but I felt Katsuki's earned a place in that epic display, not that he'll remember it, but it's the thought that counts.

May I also add how bloody off I was on the mark for what the Second User's quirk was? 'Course, when I wrote this, I had no idea what his quirk was, lo and behold, it was called Gear Shift, not a laser quirk - and quite frankly, Gear Shift is so much cooler so I did my best to incorporate the changes, was a real tricky one too. Anyway; The story's not over yet, I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Heroes!

Next Chapter Intermission: Ends of Perfection

The dust finally settles over the Siege Engine, and Izuku reaches past hatred for hope...