Chapter 146 - Ends of Perfection
"Ah... hah...!" A hot breath caught in Izuku's throat as his eyes shot open. The air was stung with ash as fires burned around him. By now, a large radius of the once flat battleground was littered in uptorn sheets of metal and holes, flames flickering within the holes as distant explosions shook the insides of the dreadnaught. Izuku sat up, glancing over to the Skytree, to his surprise. All of the blue strips of wire from NARA, the nodes and swarms. They were gone, just dead, grey material. But something inside him warned him that a thread loomed. "This is awful..."
The city below held pillars of black smoke, clearly from the shockwaves. Thankfully, the worst that Escalation Judgement could do was reduced almost down to nothing. Finding his strength, Izuku shuffled to his feet, wandering forward without much direction, but something was calling him. "Yuki... I saw her fall back before that blast knocked us out... she must be nearby... or Nara..." Keeping his wits about him, the greenette stumbled past curling mounds of scrap and bonfires toward the pressure his head led him to.
Wandering the chaos left in the fallout of whatever Yuki had done, Izuku felt worry run down every inch of his body. Was she okay? What happened? He couldn't see Katsuki, Jeanist, Hawks, any of them, they must've been blown back by the blast, but were they okay? Endeavor is probably the most injured, did his flames stop the bleeding? The lack of answers was frustrating, so instead, he focused all that anger into keeping his body moving. He needed to locate whatever was luring him further...
There was a faint sound of a helicopter to Izuku's right, but he couldn't see it, that must mean the defences for the Siege Engine are down, hopefully. Before he could assess further, two hands grabbed his shoulders, jolting him to stop. "Hold on, Midoriya," It was the fourth, Shinomori, his eyes were narrowed just off to the left. "Over there, keep your guard up."
"Okay," Izuku rubbed some dirt from his face as he followed the path past debris to a large section completely blown backward, revealing the dark internal structure of the dreadnaught below. "This is where Nara stood... and that's..." His breath hitched, and for a moment, Izuku's heart stopped before his thoughts rationalized.
Laying on the ground, breathing irregularly was the last person Izuku anticipated finding. If he was honest, he had every reason to quickly turn and run, or better yet, detain the man before him. His midsection was completely replaced by torn, flailed wires and other mechanical parts that sparked when his muscles twitched. Blood dripped from vicious scars over his body, and only one eyelid was uncovered, the metal visor ripped apart and blown back against some burns over his scalp. The leader of the Paranormal Liberation Front, successor to All For One. Tomura Shigaraki.
Izuku bit his cheek to steady himself, then approached with careful steps. Anti Barrier was no longer affecting him so Danger Sense would be his lifeline. The source that drew him in... resonated with something in his pocket. Izuku fiddled with his left pouch to find two things. One, the last source of his tampered NARA cluster infused with strands of SIVA from his now burnt cloak, the remnants used to repair some of his costume, leaving his cloak a dark navy tint. And two, a single, pulsing SIVA cluster, the dim light gave Izuku the relief he needed. Yuki was still alive.
Pocketing the Splicer Key, Izuku approached with the SIVA cluster in hand, seeing a faint glow of dark red trickling from a wound in Shigaraki's chest, through the blood and torn skin he watched as tiny flakes of red drifted away from the gash. The NARA Core was breaking down. Now, realizing what he needed to do, Izuku knelt beside Shigaraki, core in hand, and made contact with the villain's wrist, thankfully, he only had the one left, meaning so long as Izuku didn't let it near the ground his Decay shouldn't trigger. He hoped.
This was it. Everyone had given their all for this moment. Kovik had twisted so much of their world and threatened it time and again, nearly succeeding. That extended to the villains that he manipulated. But Shigaraki... this was Izuku's fight, just like Yuki's is Kovik. Now, thanks to her, he had his chance to make it end. "Ms. Star, you didn't die in vain, I swear, this suffering ends now," He promised, and soon, with a spark of OFA, his mind simply fell away.
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...
...
Izuku blinked a few times, having grown accustom to visiting the mindscape time and again. But unlike the voids sometimes filled with wind and a linear path. What he came to witness was anything but tame. The ground he stood on was all Izuku could call stable, the rest was an amalgamation of destruction. Buildings, skyscrapers, and other assortments of objects and items floated and crashed into one another like floating lands, creating a perverted version of the mindscape.
"This is Shigaraki's mind?" Izuku breathed. Taking a few steps forward, he leapt to the next stable footing, the side of a skyscraper tilted upward slightly. Slowly, he started to walk forward. Deep in his own heart, he could feel it, that source that drew him hear was calling for him. "It might be AFO, I have to be careful,"
"Watch out, Izuku!" From seemingly nowhere, a pair of hands wrapped underneath his armpits, hoisting him high above the skyscraper as a huge slash was taken out from it, disintegrating a large majority of the structure in the process. He blinked, staring up at the ravenette, Nana Shimura, as she landed safely on a rooftop fragment. She sighed with relief. "That was close, you okay?"
"I-I am now, thank you," He replied, looking back. "What was that?"
"Shigaraki's mind, it's trying to cut you off from this place, but... we need to reach him," She sounded hoarse, and her expression was racked with grief and dark determination. "...it is what you said you'd do, right?"
He stared up at her, he recalled saying that while in the hospital, when he discussed how to deal with Shigaraki when the time came. Much to the expectations of the visages, Shigaraki had become the very incarnation of evil through Kovik. Together, they were a living demon without a shred of remorse, and the Incubator had solidified that mindset. But still, there was something in here that Izuku could feel. He had to reach it before this place collapsed.
"Can you-" He paused when Shimura smiled faintly at him.
"Let's move, the others are still trying to supress Decay but it won't last forever," Smiling with her, the pair leapt forward, gliding through the destruction as more buildings and objects were swept with large, white gloves, just like the one Shigaraki used to wear over his body. Their touch destroyed everything caught in the swing, but as a result, it gave them footholds to stop and extend their glide. Shimura grabbed Izuku's cape when he brought forth blackwhip, threshing his body faster through the debris toward that source.
With a tuck and roll, the pair landed on what appeared to be a long stretch of road, thankfully still intact though not for long if they remained still. Izuku flinched when he came face to face with a strange woman. She was silent, hands clasped by her waist as she stared at them with curious but wary eyes. "Huh? Who are you?" Izuku asked softly, and then she shook her head, looking off to the right over the road where various buildings were smashed together, there, dozens of figures came into view. Izuku gasped, even Shimura looked completely bewildered at what they saw.
There were many different people, all of various sizes, ages, even mutations. All of them had their arms linked and tugged back on a hideous person who was crumbling at the seams. He wore a black suit that was starting to grey and erode. His face was marred by damaged skin, but it was flaking, breaking down like the large hands had done to the ruins of a city below and the mindscape around them. Izuku found his voice, but it came out like a growl. "All For One..."
"His quirk's lingering imprint of him," Shimura murmured, equally as cold.
"What are they doing?" He asked, turning to the woman again to see a flash of relief in her eyes.
"Izuku, they're like the visages and me, they're the manifestations of the quirks AFO has stolen over his lifetime, and now, thanks to all of you, they have found the strength to revolt, and are withholding AFO from accelerating the destruction of Tomura's mindscape," Shimura explained, nudging him to see that same strange woman step aside, pointing toward an intact building not far down the crumbling road. "Hm, it seems she wants you to continue,"
"Thank you!" Izuku bowed his head quickly. "All of you... it was Star and Stripe that gave you that power to revolt, wasn't it?" His question made the woman's brow raise as if not expecting this sort of question. To explain, Izuku answered quickly. "We heard about what she did against him and Kovik, she used New Order to cause her own to destroy those residing in AFO, and as a result, your visages were able to manifest after being supressed for so long, right?"
Her jaw opened a little, then closed again as a tiny, content smile appeared, then she nodded, bowing her head a little. Then her arm moved, beckoning Izuku and Shimura to pass. With that settled, the two quickly ran toward the house that started to come into view, making Shimura's breath catch as she slowed herself down near the edge of the lot, almost afraid to go further. Izuku turned to her, then saw that frightened look in her eyes. This was the house of her son, and as a result of her absence from his life, it birthed all this hatred.
Taking a deep breath, Izuku walked back and took her hand, meeting her eyes. "Izuku... I... I don't know if me being here will be for the best, I can't be forgiven for what I haven't done,"
But he didn't let go, "What happened to Kotaro wasn't your fault, you did your best at the time you thought was the best answer, there was no telling how events would've played out from you wanting to be selfless," Maybe this was more of Yuki speaking, but Izuku pressed further. "Don't scorn yourself for something beyond your control, it's not healthy, I should know... heh, I'm still trying to forgive my own inactions, Yuki berates me for thinking that way, and she was right, but its a slow process," He squeezed her trembling hand. "But I won't let you face it alone, you and the others said I wasn't alone anymore, well, the same goes for you,"
Shimura was at a loss for words, but slowly, she allowed herself to be pulled over that threshold, of course, Izuku stopped to ensure she was okay to proceed. After earning a curt nod, he led her through to the house's front door. Opening it revealed a darkened image of what it used to be, the distinct remnants of a family shrouded in darkness. Izuku followed the stronger source to the back of the house, the interior was far too blurred to see anything worth investigating, but for whatever reason, he caught Shimura staring at photographs, clearly, not everything was coated in murk for everyone.
Once at a back sliding door to the backyard, Izuku felt his fingers pull it back only to for an ice-cold breeze to cut through him. It was so similar to the room the Incubator was enclosed to he almost felt himself sneeze from the sudden drop in temperature. Across a small wooden deck onto the grass. At the back of the moonlit yard, against the wall grey brick wall, that same sobbing could be heard, and Izuku's face fell as Shimura stayed back.
"Izuku... be careful," She didn't mean to sound harsh, but the soft look she got from one of his green eyes put her worries to rest, if only slightly.
Izuku stepped onto the grass, staring ahead to where a young boy had tucked his legs up against his chest, head sunken down with his arms wrapped around his legs. His hair was black and scruffy, he was very similar to Izuku in that regard as he approached the young boy... the young Shigaraki, rather, the person buried in the depths of his own soul. Hearing the footsteps, his grey eyes shot up with tears, and screamed. "Leave me alone!" Izuku had barely any time to yank his head back, avoiding three large gashes that slashed through the earth an inch from his foot. "Please... leave me alone...!" He started to scratch away at his neck, "Go away... go away..."
Izuku decided to stand his ground, watching him claw away at his skin. "I'm sorry for intruding, but... what's your name?" He began slow and tender.
"...Tomur... T-Tenko Shimura," He answered, shaking his head to bury it again. "It hurts... it hurts and I can't stop it..."
"Tenko, okay, I'm Izuku Midoriya, b-but you can call me 'Deku' if you want," He replied kindly, and Tenko peeked up slightly.
"...deku...? But that means 'useless'," He murmured but saw the way Izuku's eyes brightened a bit.
"Yeah, at first that's how I saw it too, but I had someone special to me change it's meaning, so now, it means someone who 'never gives up'," Izuku replied, then his face reflected a sense of melancholy. "Tenko, do you scratch your skin when you feel irritated or can't express yourself?" That made the young boy's head shoot up as Izuku remained calm and understanding, never taking his eyes off Tenko. "It's a common sign of supressed trauma, and... if I'm assuming correctly, did something happen to make you act this way?"
"I..." He stuttered, then grabbed the sides of his head. "...shut up, stop it... leave me alone...!" He begged, and another pressure struck Izuku as he rolled to the left, narrowly avoiding the slashes that tore up his sleeve slightly. Tenko only seemed to worsen, digging deeper into his skin as he scratched relentlessly. "It's not my fault! I hate you... I hate you...!" His words were raw and bubbling with pain and grief.
"You don't mean that," Izuku pressed, and again, another three invisible cuts nearly took his left arm off as he rolled backward from the strikes. "Tenko, take a deep breath!" He asked, seeing the boy shakily do so, even as he drew some blood from his scratching. "Hold it for a few seconds, then release," Izuku did the same, allowing Tenko to copy him. "Okay... now again," They repeated the action until the tension steadily dropped. "Good, you're doing better..."
"Izuku...!" Shimura's voice drew his head back when he found her eyes staring at what was visible behind Tenko. It was a dark, inky creature with wide, red eyes. It toyed with Tenko's distraught form, pulling strings to force his hands to continue digging into his skin. Listening close, Izuku could hear a faint whisper, cold like icy fingers that plunged themselves into Tenko's ears.
You broke my rule. This is all on you.
"Shut up, shut up...!" Tenko kept refusing to listen, his tears flooding down his cheeks as the edges of the house and walls started to break under the tension of invisible fingers, decaying them into dust.
You're a monster. You murderer of your own family.
Tenko rocked his head side to side, trying to block it out. "I'm sorry, Mama, Hana, Grandma, Grandpa...!" He was mourning but that didn't satisfy the shade whose voice grew louder and louder.
I tried to beat that sense into you. But you never listened. You're ungrateful.
By now, Izuku had moved forward, ignoring the cuts of the claws that skimmed by his body, he stretched across what seemed like an endless field of grass that turned to rubble stained in blood. He never looked at the dismembered bodies of a family in the ruins, the crumbled house behind him that Shimura stared back at briefly. Nor did he Izuku hesitate as he smelt the stench of blood in the air. His eyes were burning with fury.
You want to know what heroes are!? They're people who hurt their own families... only to help complete strangers!
*Thump*
The static and rumbling caused by the claws slowly died down, the edges of where the claws stopped a mere centimetre from Izuku's form closing up around him as he placed his arms around Tenko's body. Tenko's eyes were wide and welled up with tears as he failed to understand what was happening. "You're... not a monster, you're just lonely, no one understands you, and the person you want to trust and love can't move on and you paid the price. This... was never your fault," Izuku whispered, staring down at Tenko who leaned back to see something extraordinary.
Izuku was covered in fresh cuts from the hands, but he was smiling with so much light, and his emerald eyes were deep with kindness and understanding. He saw Tenko, all his layers and was smiling back at him. The dark spirit over Tenko was bigger, trying to encompass Tenko but Izuku held the boy's biceps, keeping his grey eyes to his green. "Tenko, I can't reverse what's been done, the losses that have occurred. But I'm glad I got to see the person you could've been, and... even if I can't change the past," Izuku smiled without a slither of anger. "I know, that you would've become an amazing hero. You would destroy any darkness, and bring light back into people's lives, some just like you,"
Heroes destroy lives... they're selfish, greedy, heartless!
"No..." Izuku finally met the man that should've never projected his hatred onto his son, an innocent child that had no sense of right and wrong, "You never gave him that choice... you never moved on," He shot back, the shade recoiling from his words. "Tenko is your son, he needs his parents to lift him up when he has nothing, to support and love him, to teach him what's right and wrong," Then, Izuku returned his eyes to Tenko, wiping his tears away with his thumbs.
Izuku's smile finally brought daylight to the house once drenched in cold and darkness, sunlight trickled down into the lush green garden, the beautiful house standing proudly behind Shimura as Tenko broke out into a fit of hiccupping tears. "I-I-I'm *hic* s-sorry~!" He screamed into Izuku's torso, tugging at his costume as Izuku let his fragmented soul sob loudly. Izuku can't rewrite the past, but, at least he could save his soul.
The dark spirit was gone, and slowly, Shimura approached, kneeling beside Izuku as the world started to crumble, but now, it was scars of white light that swallowed the chaotic mindscape. "You did it... how...?" She was speechless as Izuku looked to her.
"Because, I know what it's like to feel useless," He replied. "And, I know I would give my all to keep that from hurting others like me."
"You... I..." She sniffed, rubbing her misty eyes. "You really are amazing, Izuku."
He raised a brow slightly, "I honestly thought you'd have called me crazy."
"That too," She teased, and then saw that Tenko was staring up at them. "Tenko?"
"My mind's starting to collapse," He replied, sniffing as he wiped away a few of his tears. "All of the quirks AFO stole will disappear too, and... then I will too,"
It hurt to imagine that but Izuku knew it was unavoidable now, the damage done by Kovik was irreversible, the fact the mindscape, and in turn, Shigaraki, had withstood this much pain was almost inhuman. "Then I'll be thrown out of this place too," Izuku sounded almost saddened by that fact.
"You heard me..." Tenko drew back their focus, and a shy smile crossed his cheeks. "But why did you help me? I've done so many bad things to you, to everyone you care about, if anyone should hate me it's you!"
"You're right, and a part of me does resent you," Izuku admitted completely, running his hand over the one with a silver ring across the finger. "But I understand now why you became the person you are. People groomed you into Tomura Shigaraki, leader of the League of Villains, but Tenko Shimura... he was a victim in that situation. And while no one will forgive you for the things you've done, I'll at least be glad I got to save you in the end," It was all Izuku could ask for, and he was thankful to have been given the chance to write the wrongs of the past. "The world won't be perfect, and its all muddled shades of grey that will continue to reshape our world. So bit by bit, I'll grow to learn and understand all those colours, and hopefully make our world better in time."
"And we'll be right there with you," Shimura patted his shoulder, then, out of nowhere, hugged Izuku from the side. "Thank you for this Izuku... thank you," Her voice broke slightly.
"It was the least I could do," He answered, noticing that the world was starting to darken around the corners of his eyes. "It's time..."
"Grandma?" Tenko stared back at his deceased grandparent. Then he looked down shamefully. "...sorry for saying I hate you back then..."
Shimura blinked a few times, then burst out giggling behind her hand. "No apologizes needed, what matters..." She shared a warm glance with Izuku. "...is that you're smiling again,"
The last Izuku saw was that healed trauma embracing the visage of his grandmother. But briefly, several others surrounded Tenko as he smiled widely. A young girl with black hair in pigtails hugging his side, sobbing apologizes to him. An old couple that sat behind the two, smiling softly. And a woman with light brown hair embracing her son tightly to her chest, burying her teary face into his hair again.
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...
Overhead, a helicopter made it safely within range of the Siege Engine as a woman spoke into the camera while assessing the situation from a safe distance. ~-we're currently flying over what has been dubbed as the 'Siege Engine', the primary fortress of both the Paranormal Liberation Front and the Devil Splicers. In two anxious hours for the whole world, the remaining heroes across Japan banded together into two groups. A Ground Team to evacuate those caught in the Siege Engine's path, and the Raid Team responsible for the halt of the flying fortress with the aid of a villain at the last second~
Her eyes then widened with a gasp. ~We've gotten a visual at the peak of the Siege Engine... there, where the smoke is clearing!~ She pointed as the camera focused and zoomed for a better visual of the scene.
Below, Izuku knelt beside Shigaraki as his body started to crumble into dust, the sheer exhaustive power of NARA and AFO had taken their toll on his body. He held the man's wrist up, careful still not to touch his hand less his quirk triggered, even subconsciously. He watched with forlorn eyes as one red eye stared up at the sky, Shigaraki's breathing winded and faint. "What's going on? Am I dying? I guess I lost..." He didn't feel angry about that. He didn't feel anything but a heavy sense of dreariness wash over him. "The game's over... so what's with that face, Izuku Midoriya?" He couldn't understand why the brat was watching him with sad eyes. "After all of this... and that's the face you make?"
Izuku placed Shigaraki's hand on his own chest, then spoke quietly. "You can rest now, I'll keep my word,"
Shigaraki stared up at the child, this follower of All Might's... but he had no strength left, his body was crumbling away like all the Splicers before him. He still loathed All Might, his symbol engraved into society, so why did a part of him feel relief at those words? It shouldn't change anything, it hasn't. Then his red iris widened at the gold streaks of light in the blue sky. Those annoying voices had stopped hammering in his head, he felt his own mind race with only his own feelings. And his skin wasn't irritated at the sight of Izuku nor the bitterness of defeat.
He finally felt at ease. If there was an answer, he doesn't hear it... as his world faded away...
All that was left was a pile of dust and oxidized parts that all blew away in the wind say for a single, gloved hand. From the visual that the camera could see, Izuku stood up as he adjusted his cloak and opened his eyes again. ~He's gone...~ The reporter's voice broke a little as she tentatively found her words. ~He's... Tomura Shigaraki has been defeated! The hero...~ She paused, looking quickly for a name before her eyes brightened. ~The Emerald Hero; Deku!~
Unaware of the revelation currently exploding above, Izuku looked around quickly. "The others, I need to find them while I'm still able to move," Shigaraki was gone, but at any point things could get worse for the others, he needed to contact the other teams for support. Izuku turned to run-
One pair of glaring blue eyes burrowed into his. "What... you're still alive?"
Izuku stumbled backward as Kovik leaned forward slightly, towering over Izuku's frightened state. His helmet was smashed in to the right, revealing his scaly head and scathing blue eyes. His armour made some sparking noises, and only his two main arms remained, his cloak torn in many places. His armour was either scorched black or missing, and the barding beneath much the same as he stalked closer to the boy, swords in either hand.
"He's alive!? Yuki, did she not finish him off!? Did his Core survive that explosion!?" This was by far the worst possible scenario.
Kovik's true face was a frightening sight, a lustful rage burned behind his eyes, darkening his features. "I was so close... I stole the power of the Darkness, I was going to use it to finally take back the home stolen from my people! I failed my House, the Eliksni... all because of you and the Thief," His voice strained as if he were mourning, arms trembling with regret and hatred. "Every attempt since we met, you've interfered with something beyond your world. That obtrusion ends here," With one cleave of his swords, he nicked the edges of Izuku's shoulders as he stumbled backward.
"I need a plan, now!" His body heated up as he scrambled onto his feet, stumbling away through the wreckage. As he skirted around fires and scrap metal, a sudden rush of wind caught up to him, Danger Sense warned him but he couldn't react in time to the leg slammed against his stomach, causing him to cough up blood as his body was thrown across the area, tumbling onto his back.
"Watching you scrounge around for a solution, desperately seeking a way out - you're by far the most disgraceful, putrid, pathetic excuse for a human being," Kovik growled, watching the boy try to hide his presence. "No one is out there to save you, they're either going to die in the flames or have already passed on - that includes the Thief, SIVA's sacrifice was all for naught, and her body was shredded by a sheer density of nanomachines in the air,"
Through those flames, Kovik shambled forward, blades drawn down as the shadows covered his front from the glaring fire behind him, the blue of his eyes merging with the red flicker on his shattered helmet. In his desperation, Izuku raised his fingers, flicking a meagre amount of air force back at the Splicer. The strikes smacked off his armour but it didn't so much as bring a slight tremor to Kovik's stride. After throwing his arm wildly a few times, Izuku gasped in agony as that same foot came up and slammed his head into the ground from his crown.
Izuku then felt a hand yank his head up by his hair, shaking his strained face side to side. "Get it now, brat? Your mate is dead, her power is gone, your friends, your allies, nothing is left for you to claw your way to victory. You'll burn with them, screaming and squirming like the rodent you are," He let his curly hair go, glowering as he hunched down to meet Izuku's face overwhelmed with dread. "I don't know why that cluster in your pocket remains active, perhaps due to the volume of SIVA and NARA still lingering in the air, but it won't save you this time,"
"Yuki, and Siva are..." No, he had to know for himself it that were true, even if that idea of it scared him more than the monster currently holding him at knife point. Sitting here, wounded and defeated, Izuku felt a bitterness rise through his body and up his throat. "How many times have I been like this? How long... am I going to sit here and let this happen to the people around me? What was the whole point I made it this far at all!?" His fingers curled on the ground, then he threw his head back to look up at the sky through the smoke.
Izuku was there when Shoto overcame the first hurdle of his own power from an abusive father. When Iida learned to not give in to his selfish desires for revenge. When the Hero Killer acknowledged him. Velk's wilfulness to mend the bonds between her and Viral before his death. Hana overcoming her own supressed feelings. Kyoka and Nana sharing their talents with all of UA, an in turn, saving Eri from Overhaul's shadow. Viral's forgiveness and apparent sacrifice for them all over his own life. Akio's resolve in following in Viral's legacy. Katsuki making amends for Izuku's messed up childhood because of him. Ochaco's words to those scornful of Izuku's return, begging them to let him and Yuki stay. Star and Stripe carrying his and Yuki's wishes into her final battle.
Twice. Mr Compress. Toga. Spinner. Red Dragon. Shigaraki. And every other person he's fought against that had resolved in their own aspirations where their lives were unjust or left them for dead, they sought to change it, even if it was wrong, their motives were deeply rooted in their wish for an end to the events they've endured.
Yuki... she had overcome so much in the time he's known her. When he fell, she always picked him back up, and Izuku did as much as best he could, sometimes, he failed to reach her before the damage was done, but she never hated or yelled at him for it. She smiled, and she cared, and loved him day after day when he felt so undeserving of her.
"Feeling completely void of strength, rather, your lack of spirit frustrates you, doesn't it? To be utterly useless even with the strength of several quirks, you can't help but hold contempt over yourself," Kovik noted, enjoying the crumbling resolve of the green hero before him. Kovik leaned a little closer, blades nearly against the ground. "So you've finally accepted it, haven't you?" Not a word, so Kovik drew his blades back slowly. "A painless death... fitting for a warrior, even if you are a disgrace,"
There so many people in his life that Izuku felt blessed to have met, all of them have given and sacrificed so much to endure and fight this long. He... would settled this alone if he had to, carrying all of their wills with him! "I..." He rasped, shoulder shaking slightly as that adrenaline rush burst down to the tips of his fingers, purple lines starting to etch across his burns. "I..." When he raised his head, not a single tear was shed, nothing but a raging fire burrowed back with greater intensity. "I've been waiting for this..." Without warning, Izuku slammed his right fist into Kovik's side, breaking a few pieces off his barding but otherwise only succeeded in making the Splicer stumble.
"That's the last of your strength? How disappointing," He moved to his feet to skewer the brat only to feel his muscles seize up, causing his him stumble and fall onto his backside, wheezing from a chilling pain that quickly spread itself through his veins. "What happening to me!? What did he do!? I should've recovered from SIVA's intrusion, the Core's too damaged to work properly but something as basic as a punch should've have this-!" His eyes dilated when they found the source of the problem. A single, pulsing cluster of red and blue had spread its venomous lines through a gap in his armour, eating into his body and the surrounding plates. "That... damn cluster!? I see... he used the air force strikes to weaken my armour, then that punch helped him stab the Splicer Key through!"
"Then... what was he running away for!?" That answer came as quickly as his inability to move his arms now, staring up shakily to the greenette raising one of the Quickfangs between his hands, inverting the tip to aim for Kovik's chest. "He was going for one of the blades... that's why he was doubling back! Dammit, why... why did it have to be you!?" His frustration turned to sheer fury but no matter how hard Kovik tried, his body was unable to move correctly. NARA couldn't fight off the infection as quickly as he'd have liked. "You're not some Lightbearer! You're just a disgusting human runt! Your arms are covered in burns, you're bleeding and bruised and have fractures all over, so why!? Why are you still fighting when there's nothing left!? Just cave in already! How can you have a will... that indomitable!?"
Izuku swung down with all his strength, the blade grinding against the breastplate shielding the final Core from reach. "Hyrraaaaaah!" He screamed for all the pain, suffering, and loss that have accumulated today. Enough, this was enough. "Even if she's gone, I... will not let it be for nothing!"
In response, Kovik slammed his elbows into the ground, feeling his right arm dig its claws into the ground to withstand the pressure that dug into his armour, worming its way further into his body as red sparks spurted from the wound. Inch by inch, Kovik's right moved to grab the Splicer Key embedded in his torso while feeling that cursed sword reaching further into his body. "I have to cut through, pierce the Core!"
In his fit of rage, several blackish-red tendrils spawned from Kovik's back, their jagged forms wrapped around and hone in on Izuku too fixated on Kovik to notice. "I'll skewer you, runt!"
*Boom-Boom-Boom!*
"AP Shot!" From the far left, a streak of thermal energy stripped through the debris and shattered the tendrils in time, causing Kovik to momentarily pause as his anger soared to new heights, seeing the blood run down one side of Katsuki's face as he held up his non-broken left arm. "Dumbass Deku..." He huffed as Kovik snarled, unleashing another five tendrils to seek out and pierce Katsuki. The blonde whipped his arms back in the air, ignoring how much pain burned through them as he blasted himself forward with Explosive Speed, bringing his left arm forward as the shift in momentum spun him sharply to avoid the jagged blades and swing a wide blast in an arc, shredding them down. "That nerd's given us one shot to put him down for good! So hurry up and kill this guy, Izuku!"
The ground beneath them was starting to creak, the pressure bending into the steel surface as Kovik fought against Izuku's downward plunge. "Even with the Splicer Key, I can't cut deeper!" Panic started to surface as more of Kovik began to rise against the blade, but that push didn't cause the blade to sink deeper, something was building and fighting back within his frame. "Was it not enough!?"
"Get... off of... Me...!" Kovik's tone was feral as he finally tore the cluster free, crushing it between his fingers. "RAAAAH!" His scream was quickly accompanied by a small field of red nanites swarming around his body, the pressure eroding into the edges of Izuku's costume as he felt the hot wind tug back on his hair and against the tip of Quickfang.
"No! Not yet, I still have a chance to-!" But his thoughts were silenced when the sharp ring of metal threw him backward, losing his grip on the sword as it was flung from view. Slowly, Kovik rose to look down on Izuku, drawing his cutlasses forward with pure malice behind his eyes. "NARA's recovery is increasing!?"
"I'VE HAD IT WITH YOU!" In his bloodied scream, Kovik lunged and struck across Izuku's arms only to find two thick lines of blackwhip wrapped securely to his damaged arms. He struck again and again, slashing at any opening he could find, but Izuku reacted in kind and blocked with the whips, even as the force threw him backward after three sharp slashes in succession, followed by a kick to the gut.
"I need to find a way, no matter what, don't let up!" He had to scream to keep himself from collapsing. Katsuki was nearby, but more tendrils spewed from Kovik's back, keeping him at bay. "Kacchan's badly wounded, but if I can give us an opening!" Another powerful horizontal strike threw Izuku almost to the ground but he kicked his heels and steadily his retreat. "His speed and reaction time is starting to return to normal! I can't keep up with this!"
Kovik lunged forward, slashing down with both arms, dispelling the right arm's blackwhip, then he twisting his arms in an uncomfortable angle and sliced across the left, leaving Izuku without any means to fend off the deadly blades. With a roar deep and animalistic, he plunged his swords forward, one for Izuku's throat and the other to his heart. Both points within millimetres of breaking skin. Izuku couldn't breathe, he couldn't even formulate a single thought, only stare up at the nightmare that was closing in for the kill. He had nothing left to use in that nanosecond.
*Ting-Clang!*
Both Izuku, who had fallen onto the ground, and Kovik, who stared at his now severed hands, couldn't believe their eyes. In a single violet arc, Yuki swung down the Quickfang Izuku had lost, then, she yelled as with her right hand free, fired a blast of blue plasma to send the Splicer Priest flying. Grinding his claws into the ground, Kovik's face was on the verge of erupting. "She's not dead!? How... I saw her die! No... wait, SIVA, it must've been SIVA!" Realization dawned on him as he watched her procure the other Quickfang, bringing the hilts together to bind them both in a thick, black chain, swinging them around until both resided in one hand, just like Halimaka's sickles. "It used Detainment in conjunction with Anti Barrier to keep the density from suffocating her!"
"Thanks, Hansuke," Yuki silently prayed to, then reached out her hand to Izuku's flabbergasted face.
"Yuki...?" Those fears had all but vanished as he took her hand.
"Come on, let's finish what we started," Hoisting him up, she held his hand as tightly as he did, reassuring them both this was real. Hearing her confident voice made his return tenfold, sparks of green and blue coming together again. "Until the very ends of the earth,"
"I'm with you," He replied as strongly, letting her hand go for her to draw the connected blades into both hands, swinging down.
"This is it, Kovik, even if at the end of my life, I won't relent until you've fallen too!" Yuki yelled, cursing his name.
"No matter what happens, we'll fight by each other's sides, That is what it means to have true strength!" With or without his quirk, he knew that to be true now more than ever.
"Together, we're going for the win!" The world was watching, hearing, anxiously waiting as the hero duo spurred forward with their strengths revitalized.
"Then fall together!" With one thresh of his arms, a nearly unavoidable barrage of tendrils shot forth from his back, slicing through the Siege Engine to pincer the pair together.
Izuku fell in behind Yuki, and she spun her blades wide, whipping one in front of her horizontally, grabbing that blade in her right she let the left go and swung it back from right to left down to her hip, then back again to deflect the third tendril. Two more fell to the anticipated strikes, freeing the space that closed between them and Kovik. "Did you forget I can read the flow of your predictable moves!?" She grinned devilishly. The technology in the air had never been so crystal clear to her.
Slashing in a saw-like motion, she gave Izuku his opening to strike down with a Manchester Smash, missing Kovik but blinding him enough to the twin strokes of a spinning blade around Yuki's body. She knelt down, avoiding Kovik's retaliating cross-slash only for Izuku to use her back soon after, smashing his left fist across Kovik's helmet, breaking off more of the helmet to reveal his knit frown, teeth bear at the two. Yuki slipped by, plunging her right blade forward, triggering Whirlwind Blade with the left as it swept by Izuku's face, and came crashing down on Kovik's right shoulder, amputating him while both slammed their boots against his stomach, tossing the Splicer across the burning battlegrounds and up against a wall.
Shaking off the whiplash, his sheer rage spewed a new arm from his socket while nanites bubbled and surfaces from his wounds. "'Read the flow'!? She learned that Sacred technique, how can she see it!? The technology in the air!" Humiliation and abhorrence went hand in hand as he carved his blades through the now molten ground below. "There's no way a revolting human like her can learn that!" "Every moment you've intruded on my plans... every mockery of my kind... our history, our culture... I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" A thunderous red wave practically burst behind him, turning his blades dripping red with NARA.
Kovik warped until he was right in front of them, swinging his left blade down as Yuki swung her own wide to meet in the middle, causing a single blast of red particles in the air around them. Izuku caught Yuki with blackwhip, throwing her back into the fray to block Kovik's strikes to the greenette with her own, spinning one of her blades in a cyclone to ward off the flurry of blasts that followed. Kovik struck Izuku's hip with his leg, punting the boy away while he focused solely on Yuki, slashing at her blades while the pair danced around one another in a thrilling back and forth, neither quite landing a fatal blow as blood-red and sky-blue nanomachines twirling in the air around them, darkening their vicious strikes against one another.
"Grah!" Kovik managed to slip his arms between her guard, bringing them down to smack her across the side of her chest with his leg, then throwing another wave of black tendrils to raze the whole filed in serrated blades. Yuki caught herself by tossing her left Quickfang into the ground, using the chain to pull herself to a stop before swinging her right back, tossing the left from the ground to deflect the first blow before spinning to twist and fling the flying blade wide to counter two more arcs of black metal, holding her right out to stop a forth and then slashing backward to ward off the fifth and sixth.
"Yuki, jump!" Izuku cried out and she did so, hopping once when the pressure of two feet met her soles and she was sent flying straight through the remaining tendrils, bringing her right Quickfang down on Kovik's chest only to grind it against his own cutlass as the momentum tossed them both through the debris and fire, straight into the open where both separated from trying to slash at each other in their tumble, Yuki throwing him back by drawing her sword in a rise against his own, effectively throwing off his stance.
"Tch, graaaaaaahh!" Yuki spun her swords then grabbed them both to immediately come within striking distance of Kovik.
"Raaaaaaahh!" He too bellowed out his anger, colliding with her in the middle with several diagonal slashes that were met with even force.
More and more strikes filled the air with their cacophony that became a haze of flashes and explosions as they shot streaks of plasma straight from their blades, erupting around them while their velocity only seemed to heighten considerably. They slashes the air and the ground to pieces, red and blue melding into oranges and yellows that drowned under their feral cries of anger. Neither landed a blow, countering every attack the other made in a back and forth that held no sign of a victor, only a blasting hellfire that surrounded them both until that intense pressure they had built suddenly erupted between them, sending out lines of devastating explosions in all directions like a chain reaction.
The air pressure flung Yuki into a tumble, giving Kovik the chance to sweep upright and break the chain binding the two Quickfangs, then another blast threw each other away. Yuki landed on her side when she saw Izuku rush in, arms bound by blackwhips again to punch and deflect Kovik's attacks as he drew the Splicer's attention onto him. With Izuku's mobility, he leapt away from perilous strikes and kicked through the weaker ones, punching with every move under his belt while float kept him airborne slightly longer to avoid being skewered alive. Izuku blocked two blasts to his right and struck with his left fist, blasting pressure through the Fallen's side but that did little to stop Kovik from swiping under Izuku's feet, keeping the boy from landing any shots near his chest.
Yuki pulled herself to her feet, stumbling a little as she grabbed one of her swords. "Izuku's running on fumes, between us, he'll be the first to topple over from fatigue," She kicked up her momentum, managing to manifest the bare minimum of Blackbird for what she had planned. "I have to finish Kovik off before that, whatever it takes, we have to end this now!"
Kovik continued to sweep in wide arcs, throwing Izuku off his defensive posture furthering the openings the Splicer required. Punches met with the edge of a blade, even as it cut into Izuku's skin he didn't relent for even a second, chipping away at the dark blades bit by bit. But one ferocious flurry of cuts left Izuku's arms recoiling as the muscles tensed, clearing suffering from fatigue. Izuku gasped in pain as one of the cutlasses dug into the right side of his stomach, but he quickly threw a palm-heel strike wrapped in blackwhip, obliterating Kovik's left arm before his cutlass could do lethal damage.
Izuku grit his teeth, even as the remaining cutlass swung down, slicing straight through his left eye and down his cheek slightly. Blood clotted that half of his vision as it all became a muddled black. Yuki saw this, finding her voice. "Izuku!" Hearing the pain in her voice only made the rest of his body burn much hotter.
"Don't stop now!" He drew back his right fist, compressing the very last slithers of One For All he could muster. "United States of Two Worlds-" His most powerful attack, one he had only really thought of in concept, came bursting forth from his wounds in a shriek, the wind pressure gathering with the heat until it exploded against Kovik's chest with a burning, molten white glare. "-SMAAAASH!"
The knockback of the punch threw Kovik off his feet, giving Yuki ample time to blast forward with the small vents against her shoulders, since Izuku was trying to aim for the Core, she'll aim for another vital point, the neck! Swinging with both arms, she drew Quickfang down. Kovik glowered up at her, feeling his nanites gather around his vertebrae. "You... are far too predictable!" Three tendrils shot over his shoulders, piercing near her shoulders, and through her stomach too. "Even together, you still blew it! This is over, you Thief! There's nothing that'll save you now!"
But her eyes slit and her nose crinkled in disgust, the tension in her veins not once dissipating. "Even I'll die I'll take you with me! No more running away, no more hiding!" Her sword swung down, slamming against his thick neck. "I'm ending this once and for all!"
This only made the livid state on Kovik's face heighten to new extremes. "You still swung you blade, how thick-headed are you!? He couldn't pierce my Core, what makes you think decapitating me will change anything!?"
"It's not just my arms, every inch of my body, I need to siphon all of SIVA into this attack! Everything that Siva left for me, I need to ignore all the pain and flush it out toward my arms, summon all that's left within me thousands of time stronger than before! Dig up the very remnants of Aksis's soul left in mine!" Little did she know, the various augments over her time bonded with SIVA manifested. Her right eye was shades of dark and light blue with specks of green forming into a brilliant blue sky in her iris. The left was comprised of reds with purple and orange ascending like a sun at twilight.
She let out a scream so unlike her own, slashing a thin line across Kovik's neck to his throat as she snapped the tendrils suspending her in place, pressing her left foot off of Izuku's back to twirl and bring a tremendous amount of weight down on the cut across Kovik's nape, this time, the blade sank further, cutting through flesh and metal with a cleaner groove than ever before.
"No, not like this... not by you!" Kovik felt himself starting to panic, feeling every small adjustment Quickfang made to dig deeper and further along to his throat. But his pupils were the size of pins, feeling NARA starting to regain its former strength. "So what if she does decapitate me? So long as my Core's intact I'll survive, and then... I'll skin you both for the whole world to watch!"
Izuku, however, was beginning to waver, his fist - no, his whole body was starting to slow down. "I can't keep this up much longer! I can't break through!"
"Izuku, it'll be okay," Yoichi reassured, gripping the boy's arm to hold it steady. Izuku's eyes widened as he saw more hands connect from his forearm to his bicep, up to his shoulders and against his back. The Second and Third helped to hold his arm forward. The Fifth and Sixth kept his back straight and his form balanced. The Seventh and All Might's astral Eighth held each shoulder tightly. "This battle is not your own, with what remains of our spirits we'll pour into One For All. This power is truly yours to have completed, and will remain that way forevermore,"
"What are you... saying?" Izuku realized what that steady tone meant, and the way the silverette smiled proudly back at Izuku. But he didn't want to say it.
"We're talkin' about finishin' what we started, ain't that righ'!?" Banjo grunted with a sharp grin.
"You've done what all of us had failed to accomplish, our strengths were pooled into OFA but now they're yours alone to master," The Second User stated with a nod.
"Keep learning and don't forget our warnings, you tend to overuse your quirks more than you should," The Third instructed.
"Our quirks are just tools, how and when you use them are entirely up to you now, not that we've been able to tell you otherwise, I suppose," En sighed but looked no less accepting of this choice.
"I have had the pleasure of seeing you hone your talents beyond my own expectations, it has been an honour, Midoriya," Shinomori bowed his head with the upmost respect.
"You've done what I couldn't, you saved a person I had no faith could be saved, even in death," Shimura broke a small smile to Izuku. "But more than that, I've been given the chance to say the words I never could to Toshinori nor Torino, I'm grateful for everything you've done as our final successor, you were the right choice."
All of them gave him their praise that he felt he still hadn't earned. Maybe it was better that way, thereby, he would always strive to do well even with whatever followed his uncertain future. These people died for a better world, also unfamiliar with how the present day could become, all relying on him to carry their torch the final stretch of their legacy. All Izuku could think of in that moment was nothing short of gratitude. "Thank you so very much!" He felt his power rise beyond measure as the darkness he face grew equally as potent and sickening.
NARA crawled from every gap peppering Kovik's form, so much so his lips peeled back into a triumphant smirk. "This is your end!" NARA Density was beginning to rise while multiple blackish-red tendrils tore out his back, curling around the pair that couldn't escape nor avoid this time.
*BOOM!*
From either side, Katsuki's bloodied hand was raised, blasting a small cone of blasts through the sky while a column of fire intersected with his attack straight from Endeavor, the flame hero falling to his knee. "Don't... underestimate us... machine..." He then collapsed to the floor, spending a good portion of what little stamina he had rejuvenated while Katsuki fell onto the cold, hard surface again, blood dripping down from his nose and mouth.
Unfortunately, the heat blast from their combined attacks had pushed back against Kovik, causing both Quickfang and the fist to dig further into his body. "I-I need to unleash NARA Density! But w-why isn't it r-responding to me -" "Ah...!?" His breath caught when he stared up at Yuki, roaring with all her might as the remnants of Aksis shadowed her, the darkness of his body only exemplifying the glow in his eye. "There's... no way..."
Izuku's eye had the same glow too, every colour visible in his iris as several figures held onto his body, their silhouettes dipped in the same pigments. He too let out an unearthly cry. With the last of their strength, unifying their attacks one last time, Izuku's knuckle cracked the thick breastplate, splitting multicoloured gashes across Kovik's torso from the impact. Yuki's sword left a streak of jagged violet and blue ether through the air, creating a spiral around her, Izuku, and Kovik.
*Shiiiing-Boosh!*
With an enormous blast from the simultaneous punch and decapitation, Kovik's chest was blown wide open from the back, leaving a massive, irreparable hole with the shattered remains of his Core, all while his head spun off into the air, a permanent look of agony and shock woven onto his reptilian face.
Sunlight began to trickle in further now that most of the fires had been quelled. The news helicopter kept circling, taking in the entire struggle of a fight without uttering a word, there was simply no time to even begin to process what had happened. ~I... I see the dust settling, but...~ The reporter held her breath, waiting for the aftermath of the carnage to subside. ~There, where most of the fires have been snuffed out!~
Izuku was panting madly, choking on his own breath as he coughed. His arms were badly damaged but not broken, not that he was able to tell as most of the pain was around his stomach and the left side of his face. Without thinking, he tore a large strip off his cloak, mentally apologizing before wrapping it around his wound, it stung as the fabric was tied to his face, but atleast it would help stop the bleeding.
"Yuki!" His head shot up, and he winced as the pain rushed to his head again, he steadied himself, looking around for her form. His eye shot wide. "There, just over... there..." His breathing slowed until his heart almost stopped with it.
She was on her knees, staring up at the sky with blank eyes, that same, awful dull blue that had haunted his nightmares so many times in one of the low points of his life. She wasn't moving, she wasn't breathing, she simply stared up at the sky, her mouth ajar, completely devoid of life.
The cluster in his pocket continued to glow.
To Be Continued...
This has been a fight I've been itching to write for a very long time, the sheer spectacular fashion of Yuki and Izuku against Kovik while all are on their last legs was heart-pumping to write. And let's not forget both Katsuki and Endeavor coming in with the clutch. That ending though... oh I am horrible, we've got two final parts to this arc's conclusion, and an epilogue to wrap up the story. I hope you enjoyed, I appreciate the support as always; seeya in the next chapter, Heroes!
Next Chapter Intermission: Don't Give Up
In a hopeless situation, when the dust settles, who will be left standing to witness a new dawn...?