* AN: This story stub has not been beta-read.

In this story Izuku has a Quirk that allows him to animate ink. And he also doesn't have One for All. Whether it is so because he never met All Might that day, or because the Sludge villain never managed to escape and take Bakugo a hostage is not relevant here. Izuku was able to pass the practical exam into UA's Hero Course with just his own powers - after Dusk trained him up for a couple of years. As a result of that, classes are different. Shiozaki Ibara is now in class 1-A (mostly because I wanted her to meet Dusk) and Mineta isn't. Another character who ended up in 1-A rather than 1-B here is Juzo Honenuki. During the USJ incident is able to quickly escape the dome and contact the primary campus for help much sooner than Iida was able in canon, allowing heroes - All Might in particular - to arrive to USJ sooner.

Oh, well, forget all that. This whole thing is just an excuse for me to write a 'character X beats Nomu up' story. Ain't Nomu such a convenient punching bag?

Disclaimer: I DO_NOT own "Boku no Hero Academia" or "Arknights" franchises. No profit is being made.

Boku no Hero Academia & Arknights crossover ::The Power of Art

"Thank you." Izuku said, coughing a bit from the water he had just inadvertently swallowed, as Ibara's vine-like hair dragged him aboard of a boat sitting near the center of (currently infested with uninvited aquatic villains) artificial lake within the Unforeseen Simulation Joint.

"His will guided me in aiding you in this moment of peril, Midoriya-san." The said girl replied soft, releasing him from her vines. "I'm glad to see that you're fine despite the machinations of these evildoers."

"Hiya, prez. So you too ended up sent here?" The third student of 1-A on the boat, a blond user of Electrification Quirk, Kaminari Denki asked. Normally his Quirk was very potent, even with its drawbacks in mind, but at the moment… Let's just say that it didn't mix well with water, and at the moment Denki too was dripping wet.

So it was basically up to him and Ibara to find a way out of their current predicament.

And while Izuku's own Quirk, Ink Animation, was good enough to let him pass the UA entrance exam and 'survive' Aizawa-sensei's Quirk Apprehension Test, it was not that good in a direct combat. His creations were not especially powerful and one solid hit could dispel them. The villains in the lake would have little trouble destroying whatever ink constructs he could throw at them. And at least one of the aforementioned villains also could fire water projectiles, so escape via an ink bird wasn't an option either.

There still was a way out of this mess for the three of them, though. It just required Izuku to call upon his mentor's assistance. Hopefully, she would deem his current situation dire enough to step in and intervene on his behalf…

"Ibara-san, Denki, I'm going to try and ask my mentor for help. With any luck, she will get us out of this predicament in a flash." He told his classmates. He paused for a moment, before focusing solely on the Electrification user. "And, I know she is a very beautiful woman, but, for the love of all that is good, please don't perve on her. You absolutely don't want a god to be angry at you." His tone alone was serious enough to make Denki gulp and nod.

"A God?" Ibara asked.

"In a Shen-Hsien sense." Izuku quickly added, placating his religious classmate a bit. "As in, an unaging individual of great power centered around a certain concept. Hers being perception of reality, expressed through visual arts. I first met her when my Quirk somehow connected a door I drew to a painting she lives in."

"Oh." Was all that the vine-haired Heroine-in-training could say in response.

Meanwhile, Izuku pulled out a rather simple scroll from the special pouch on his Hero costume and unrolled it, revealing a drawing of an ornate wooden door. Then he channeled his Ink Animation into the scroll, making the door manifest into reality as an actual object. Izuku placed his hand onto a large bronze handle, before pausing.

"With any luck, I will be able to convince Shishou to come here and help us resolve this crisis. If not, I'm sure we will be allowed a safe passage through her domain. There is another gate there to our world, with the exit at my apartment. Explaining how we got there would be a pain, but it definitely beats whatever fate these villains want to inflict upon us." And with those words Izuku pushed the door open and stepped through it and into what looked like a mountain-top lodge house. The door shut itself a moment later.

Izuku returned after a couple of minutes with a strange woman walking gracefully after him.

And she was definitely a beauty. Pale impeccable skin, though colorful dominantly-green tattoos covered her arms up to the elbows; long, flowing black hair that reached past her hips; soft red eyes and elf-like pointed ears. She also had a pair of green dragon-like horns on her forehead and a long tail that ended with a tassel of green fur. And her clothes consisted of a sleeveless greenish-blue qipao dress and black high-heel shoes.

Her arrival didn't go unnoticed by the villains and water, who immediately - and loudly - began wolf-whistling and discussing what they were going to do with her.

That finally got her to drop some of the apathy she was previously displaying.

"Let's get over it." She said as a paintbrush appeared in her hand seemingly out of nowhere. She then made a swish with it, leaving a trail of ink hanging in the air. After a moment, it turned into a huge Easter dragon that let out a mighty roar before diving into the lake. There, it did a fine job tearing through the villains' ranks.

"Everyone, meet my mentor, Dusk." Izuku introduced the draconic woman to his rather-shocked classmates. Dusk gave a small nod before creating another dragon - this time to carry the four of them to the shore, once again doing so with a single stroke of her brush.

A ride on the scaly back of an ink dragon wasn't especially comfortable, but it brought them to the shore quickly and without incident. And once they were standing on the solid ground, Dusk proceeded to summon a multitude of ink-made creatures at Izuku's request to help the rest of his classmates. Some of these creatures looked like white foxes with colorful markings on their 'fur'. Others were… well… big, mostly-black blobs on short stumpy feet; some floating scaly creatures with long beak-like jaws and no visible limbs; and even living flames.

Ibara couldn't help but stare at this casual display of power. And as much as didn't want to admit it, she could actually see why people might think this woman, Dusk, was a 'god'. Especially if what Izuku had said about her being unaging - and probably much older than her appearance might suggest - was true.

She was brought out of her thoughts when Dusk finished summoning and sending off her army of ink creatures and addressed the three teens in front of her, telling them to follow her closely as she ensured they had a safe passage to the exit from the giant dome of the USJ.

They actually made it halfway to the staircase leading towards the entrance area - the place where class 1-A was before that warp-gate villain scattered them around - when Izuku saw something dreadful that made him stop in his tracks: down at the lower plaza, next to the spot the whole villain incursion began from, Aizawa-sensei was being crushed (literally) by that strange jet-black-skinned exposed-brain thing. With the apparent ringleader of the villains and a small number of small-time evildoers watching this 'show' with sadistic glee.

"S-Shishou…" Izuku called, drawing the draconic woman's attention. "Please, please save my teacher." Dusk was silent for a couple of seconds before letting out a sigh.

"Very well." She said, before creating another ink dragon to escort the Hero-students in her stead. Then she turned on her heels and headed towards the villains.

Shigaraki Tomura could honestly say that Eraserhead was amazing. Thanks to Sensei, he knew that the pro-Hero could shut down Quirks of other people by looking at them - one at a time - and so he had brought a bunch of small-name villains to overwhelm the man with numbers. And then Eraserhead defeated them all.

But, of course, no matter how good he might be, the scarf-wearing Hero was no match for Nomu. It was, after all, designed to take on All Might in a one-on-one fight and win. And so, once it entered the fray, Eraserhead ended up on ground, beaten and broken, with Nomu currently pulling the man's right arm - not enough to rip it out just yet, but that could be changed with but a single order…

"What an unsightly beast this is." A new, unfamiliar voice suddenly spoke. Looking away from tormented Eraserhead, Tomura saw an unknown woman walking towards his location. She didn't look like a member of UA staff or any pro-Hero he or Sensei knew of. And she was far too old to be one of the students. Just who the hell was she and how did she manage to sneak into USJ to, apparently, interfere with his 'raid'? Before he got to ponder on these questions, the mysterious woman continued: "My little disciple asked me to save his teacher you're currently torturing. So, would you kindly let him go?"

"How about no?" Tomura replied before silently telling the few no-name villains still able to fight after Eraserhead cut through their ranks to deal with this new annoyance. And they were more than happy to oblige, immediately rushing at the woman. A second later, though, they were thrown back by an 'explosion' of what looked like black ink. And while none of them appeared to be killed by whatever that was, none of them were getting back up either.

Well, that was unexpected. Tomura had expected her to be an easy prey to his minions because she, apparently, was neither a Hero nor a student training to become one. But she wasn't weak. Still, it wasn't a problem: he had Nomu at his beck and call, and as it was created to be the anti-Symbol-of-Peace, this woman shouldn't stand a chance.

"Nomu, kill this bitch." Shigaraki commanded. Nomu released Eraserhead - who was too broken to do anything but continue lying pitifully on the ground - and charged at the mysterious woman with the speed that should be too much even for an average Hero. But not fast enough for this woman, who not only managed to raise a defense - by getting a great sword from somewhere - but actually withstood the full might of Nomu's attack, only getting pushed back a few feet.

Dusk let out an annoyed sigh as she watched her sword break down into ink. She definitely hasn't expected there to be a - clearly artificial - being capable of matching a Feranmut like herself in terms of raw physical power. And she didn't exactly sign up for a fight like this when she agreed to rescue her little disciple's teacher from these 'villains'. Still, she gave her word and she intended to keep it.

Meanwhile, the beast came at her again. But its speed and strength were no longer a surprise for her, so she stepped out of the way of its charge, before using her tail to strike its legs, unbalancing it enough to make it tumble and fall onto the ground, skidding to a stop in an ugly heap. A moment later it was getting back up onto its feet, ready for another attempt to carry out the orders of its - equally unsightly (who the hell uses human hands as headwear?) - boss. Dusk wasn't going to let it do that, though.

With a flick of her paintbrush, she brought a couple of furies into existence. The giant ape-like ink spirits let out mighty roars before charging at whatever biological monstrosity that jet-black-skinned, exposed-brained thing was. The resulting brawl was appropriately animalistically-brutal, and after a little while Nomu managed to defeat the Furies, turning them back into ethereal ink. While suffering no visible injury.

"Hahaha! Did you see that?" Tomura called. "My Nomu was made to put an end to All Might! A pair of monkeys can't do anything to it because of its Shock Absorption. No matter how hard they hit, Nomu can take it!" He bragged.

"Oh?" Dusk 'asked', raising an eyebrow, apparently not very concerned about Nomu once again charging at her. Stepping out of the brute's path, she summoned her greatsword and slashed at its back, her construct easily slicing through skin, flesh and bone alike. With its spine severed, Nomu collapsed onto the ground.

"Gah!" Shigaraki cried in rage. "You're just like all those damn heroes, doing violence whenever it pleases you! But we were ready for that." He switched back to bragging as the wound on Nomu's back closed itself and the beast started getting back onto its feet. "Shock Absorption isn't the only Quirk Nomu has. It also has Super Regeneration! Nothing you can do can keep it down. So accept your defeat and die like an entitled Hero bitch you are!"

Dusk's only response was a sigh of annoyance.

While no stranger to fighting, she didn't enjoy it. Much. She was an artist, a creator. And, right now she was 'tasked' with saving that homeless-looking apparently-teacher lying broken on the ground. A slugfest against a regenerating beast with strength on par with her kind was not a desired course of action. And her summons, apparently, weren't especially good at handling this mockery of a human either… Looks like it was the time for her to step it up a notch.

With a swing of her sword, she summoned a flock of small Oriental dragons, only a few feet long and no thicker than her wrist. These little ink spirits then wrapped themselves strategically around Nomu's limbs and lifted it off the ground. The beast struggled but couldn't free itself.

"Nomu, what are you doing?" Shigaraki asked. "Free yourself and finish off this bitch!" The creature definitely understood the order, but couldn't fulfill it.

"No matter how strong this abomination is, raw strength is useless if it has no leverage to use it meaningfully." Dusk commented as she produced a scroll from …somewhere. Unrolling it in a single smooth motion, she left it hanging in the air around her. Then, having dismissed her sword, she started painting on the scroll. Nothing fancy - a temporary prison doesn't need any of that - but still, an artist in her demands she doesn't settle for just an empty void.

Yet, the world she was painting was very simple and it took her only a dozen of seconds to put it onto the parchment. Then she pushed her power into the scroll, bringing her work to life and making it temporarily overwrite reality around her. To an outsider it looked like a ring of ink expanded away from her, with a dry desert inside of it contrasting sharply with the concrete plaza that it 'replaced'.

Then Dusk returned the world she painted back into its scroll, bringing Nomu along for the ride, effectively sealing it in a pocket dimension.

Shigaraki, the hands-for-headgear villain, stared dumbly at the spot his Nomu had been previously occupying for a few long seconds before he finally managed to process what the hell had just happened.

"You stupid bitch, you killed my Nomu!" He screamed then. "I'm going to dust you!" And with that he himself rushed at her, his right hand outstretched, telegraphing his intent to grab her. Apparently, he needed to touch his target for his Arts - his Quirk - to do… whatever it does. It probably wasn't that much of a threat for her, but Dusk wasn't about to chance it.

Summoning back her ink-sword, she got ready to cut the crazy brat down. But a fraction of a second before he got within her reach, a smoky purplish-black portal swallowed him, releasing him back at a safe distance. A second later a… sentient cloud of the same dark purple smoke with glowing yellow eyes appeared next to the 'hands' villain.

"Young Master," The portal-cloud-man addressed as if it was a butler. Which it probably was. "Please do not put yourself in unnecessary danger. An opponent that can disable Nomu is not someone you're ready for."

"You saw that?!" The brat cried. "Why didn't you stop her? Because of you we've lost our secret weapon against the All Might. This raid is now a bust." Dusk could almost see the portal-maker sigh at his 'master's' antics. "I guess it's our time to leave. But first, I still want to dust this bitch."

"As you wish, Young Master." The cloud villain said before creating a small portal, with his charge moving to stick his hand through it.

Dusk couldn't really feel the exit portal forming an inch behind her back, but she still knew it would be there. And she still wasn't keen on finding exactly what would happen if that manchild wearing human hands actually touched her. So she released a pulse of raw power. There was no sound to indicate that the portal behind her was gone, but the one by the could villain did collapse, apparently giving its creator quite a shock.

"It appears that your wish isn't meant to come to reality, Young Master." The 'butler' spoke once he recovered from the shock of having his portal destroyed. "I suggest we retreat before the odd stack even more against us. The Heroes must be on their way here by now."

"Grr…." The hands-villain wasn't happy to hear that by any means, but he wasn't dumb enough to argue. "Get us out of here, Kurogiri."

"As you wish." The now-named Kurogiri said, before opening a large portal. His Master threw one final hate-filled glare at Dusk before walking through that portal. Kurogiri followed him a moment later. Then the portal closed itself.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, Dusk dismissed her sword, again, and walked up to her disciple's teacher. The man was still lying broken on the ground, unconscious but thankfully still alive. Alas, despite spending some time around actual doctors aboard Rhodes Island, Dusk didn't have much medical knowledge herself, so there wasn't anything she could do to fix him. At best she could only make sure his broken bones didn't get broken even more while he was transported to a hospital.

She was about to conjure some casting for the not-hobo when she detected an incoming attack from behind. Quickly turning around, she blocked a punch from a huge, ripped blond man in the most abominable yellow pinstripe suit imaginable. And damn, this guy was just as strong as that Nomu monster.

Thankfully, before the situation could devolve into another fight, her disciple showed up.

"All Might…" Izuku called between his gasps for breath. "This is… my Shishou… She's here to… help." The walking affront to a good fashion sense stopped dead in his tracks and gave Dusk a long, appraising look.

"Please forgive me." He said finally. "All of the Heroes here are on edge because of his attack and with you standing over my colleague like that…" The Feranmut lady responded with a tired sigh. "Since you've apparently played a big role in thwarting a Villain attack on USJ, I have to ask you to remain here to give a statement to the police." Dusk sighed again. Why again did she agree to come here? She could've been working in peace in her workshop, located inside one of her paintings, instead of this. So troublesome…

~/ *** \~

All for One was also dealing with troublesome matters. Namely, trying to decipher the angry-gamer rant of his protege into something comprehensible. So far the Supervillain managed to grasp that the attack on USJ failed because there was interference by a powerful outside force that no one had anticipated.

Finally getting tired of listening to Tomura's tirade, All for One dismissed him with some 'words of wisdom' about learning from one's defeats, before turning his attention to Kurogiri.

"Can you describe to me the woman that managed to thwart my protege's plans?" He asked the portal-maker.

"An unknown woman of about twenty five years old, dark hair, red eyes, has green horns and a tail of an Eastern dragon. Hands completely covered by mostly-green tattoos." Kurogiri replied.

"And what of her Quirk?" Nomu, while tailored specifically to counter All Might in his prime, was still incredibly strong, fast and tough thanks to all of the Quirks it had been implanted with. For it to be defeated by a single person, not even a Hero,.. That should've been impossible. But apparently someone with that level of power existed somewhere in Japan, and All for One needed to prepare countermeasures against them, should they prove to be …uncooperative.

"Unknown." Kurogiri replied. "Aside from draconic horns and a tail, the woman had displayed physical strength and toughness comparable to Nomu and All Might." Well, while quite unlikely, it wasn't impossible for a draconic mutation Quirk to give those attributes. "Additionally this woman appears to be able to manipulate ink. She was able to fashion a sword and create a large number of familiar creatures from it. It also appears that she can bring entire painted landscapes to life, or seal people inside her paintings."

All for One would be frowning furiously, if he actually could do that, at this point. Super strength to rival All Might alone was troublesome. Add in the ability to create - potentially unlimited in numbers - minions and goddamn reality warping, and this mysterious woman shaped up to be a potential threat to his (planned) Global Empire beyond even Stars and Stripes. She needed to be dealt with, as soon as possible.

"Find out who she is." He ordered. Once he knew her name and where she lived, he could use his resources to remove her from the picture - heh heh - for good. As powerful as that woman's Quirk was, trying to take it from her probably wasn't worth the risk.

"As you command, Master." Kurogiri replied with a bow before ending the video call.

~/ *** \

Following the villain attack on USJ, all classes were canceled for several days while UA investigated the incident and upgraded its security systems to ensure nothing like that happened ever again.

Then classes resumed and…

"Midoriya-san." Looking up from his notebook - Quirk Analysis #18 - Izuku saw his vine-haired classmate approach his table.

"Anything I can help you with, Shiozaki-san?" He asked.

"I remember what you told me back… back in USJ, but…" The girl paused for a moment, before continuing: "Can you please tell me who… no, what your Shishou is?" And since they were in the classroom, several people heard the question and were now leaning in, trying to sate their curiosity about the mysterious woman that had caused the USJ villains to run with their proverbial tails between their legs.

Izuku let out a small sigh, then he began his tale.