Clambering onto the ship ended up being far easier than Izuku had expected. The skeleton's attempts to catch their group had been doomed by a barrage of cannon-fire, smashing their bodies to bones while not leaving so much as a scratch on any mortal present. Modeus got knocked around a bit, but not enough to do any serious harm. Justice was probably having trouble aiming such a swathe of smoke-cannon-things.
Climbing up the sides was made simple by a set of ropes sent down for each of them. All the while, parts of the ship seemed to mould itself around them during the climb, lifting them up the side and soon onto the deck. With that task complete…
"So, what's the plan?" Izuku wished he had an answer to Uraraka's question.
He really did.
"Well," Justice turned the ship's wheel as it took off, out of the battered remains of U.A.'s top floors and through the sea of bones. "Mine's a little loose but it mainly involves not drowning in undead."
"I can get on board with that." Hagakure was ever the optimist.
"Do we have anything more specific?" and Aizawa was more than happy to bring that optimism crashing back to reality.
"Well…" Izuku aggressively twirled his hair around a finger in thought as he began pacing by the ship's railing. Looking around, it was clear that there was almost nothing left but an ocean of skeletons. Only the tip of U.A. pierced the clattering white void, while the outline of a hollowed circle with bursts of flame shooting out told him that Cerberus and Pandemonica were still busy. Other than that, all that was left was their ship in the haunting red shade of the World Sphere.
"Modeus, you said that Justice could break us out of here, right?" he recalled what the demon had said earlier.
"Afraid that's impossible right now." Justice called out from the raised deck, "Right now most of my energy is going into this thing materialised." she slapped the ship's wheel for emphasis, "If I try to focus it into breaking us out, this thing falls apart, meaning…"
"Death by skeleton horde drowning." Todoroki nodded in understanding.
Monoma glanced over the ship's outer railing, a clear nervousness creeping onto his face. "And now the skeletons are climbing onto the boat…"
"What?" Iida asked.
"AND NOW THE SKELETONS ARE CLIMBING ONTO THE BOAT!" Modeus yelled loudly.
"We got it…" Aizawa glanced at the speaker around Present Mic's neck, "And we can still hear the stupid music." he looked towards Izuku, "You all clearly have a better understanding of this that we do." We do? That was news to Izuku. "We'll try and keep them at bay. You-" he gestured vaguely at Izuku, his two dead companions and two demonic ones, "Try and figure out a plan to get us out of here." he flourished his capture tape before striking out on-beat at a skeleton that reached an arm over the outer rail. "Let us know if we can help."
"R-right!" "Understood!" "Let the curtains rise." "We shall purify these abominations!" "Here we go again…" the living former students were quick to back-up Aizawa, while Present Mic joined Izuku and the others to keep the speaker safe.
"This thing won't run out of… magic, right?" Present Mic gestured towards the speaker in question.
"Nope." Modeus wore a smug smirk of superiority, "Won't run out of battery either."
"Even if you use your abilities?" Izuku wanted to be sure, "Shifting focus won't stop it? Like Justice with the ship?"
"Uh-uh." Modeus shook her head, "It was complicated to set up, but the spell's basically self-sustaining." she tapped a finger to her lips in thought, "If we get out of this fight and the song ends it'll need some demonic power to restart, but otherwise it's powered by the music."
"If we get out of this fight we shouldn't need something like that." Hagakure pointed out, "Right?"
Izuku wanted to agree with her. He wanted to say that they wouldn't be involved in any more conflicts with demons, or any other supernatural entities, or any conflicts, period. He definitely wanted to agree that, even if by some cruel twist of fate they did get into a fight with the supernatural, they wouldn't need to drag any living souls into it.
"… Probably best to keep it safe." He also knew they'd gotten into two fights with dangerous individuals within thirty minutes, and that even though one of those groups were mortals, having some supernatural gear on hand could still prove useful. "… Just in case."
"It would be safest." Todoroki agreed, "But that doesn't relate to the current situation. Maybe we should stay on topic."
"Oh, no!" Monoma danced past them, whipping a bunch of demons off the boat with a thick vine, "Please, take your time!"
"Right, sorry!" Izuku slapped himself on the head, "Ok, so…" he took a breath and looked to Modeus, "Skeleton ocean is rising. Can we stop it?"
"Probably not?"
"Closing the rifts they're climbing through would take more energy than breaking the Sphere." Justice answered from behind the wheel.
"Rifts-?" he shook off the question – need to stay focused. "Breaking the Sphere would require…?"
"Either an immense amount of power, or dealing with its creator."
"Pandemonica." Todoroki held a hand to his chin in thought.
Izuku glanced towards the battleground between her and Cerberus. "I get the feeling we're more powerful collectively, but…"
"Power's useless if she can fly over it." Justice finished his thought.
"Right." he glanced towards the horizon of the dome entrapping them, "Think a 100% punch would be enough to break through it? I tried 5% and it just kind of…" he thought back to being sent skittering across U.A.'s courtyard and crashing into its 4th floor. Dirt à la concrete did not taste nice. "… Reversed me."
"Probably." Justice shook her head, "But if you mistime it or lose control then it's bye-bye Izuku."
"It's a risk I'll have to-"
"Idea vetoed."
"Seconded" Modeus agreed.
"Thirded." Present Mic added.
"Fourth… 'd"
"Fifthed." Hagakure and Todoroki both agreed.
"But I-"
"Nope." Justice wasn't having it.
"If I can-"
"No."
"But-"
"It's not happening!" she turned the wheel sharply, sending a number of off-balance demons careening over the edge while some of the rigging snapped out to stop Iida from doing the same, "And just to make sure: If I sense you even trying to do something that stupid, I will dematerialise this boat before you get the chance. Got it?"
"Bu-"
"Got it?" she pointed an accusatory finger his way with a sharp look.
"… Fine." he huffed. Clearly it was worth the risk to protect his friends, but Izuku was fairly sure Justice would follow through on that threat and get everyone killed. Or, well… Sent to an afterlife. "But what else do we have that could break it?"
"Well," Justice ducked under a skeleton that had gotten through the living-guard before shattering its skull with the thrust from- when did she get a sword? "Your power's still our best shot. Modeus is decent with energy channelling, so safest option is probably to keep dancing while she siphons some of your energy into a suitable vessel." she struck the deck with her foot, sending a ripple of fog down from the top deck to where the rest of them were standing. A small explosion of fog pulsed upwards, and by the time Izuku had blinked the mist out of eyes, an enormous bronze-cast cannon filled the centre of the deck. "There's the vessel. Get to channelling."
"You said 'siphon'?" Todoroki sent a questioning glare back her way.
"Oh, you got me." Justice gave sarcastic jazz hands, "I've brought him all this way just to suddenly have Modeus kill him for no reason. You figured me out. Congratulations."
"It'll be harmless." Modeus reassured Izuku with a smile, "You'll just be a bit weaker while fighting than normal."
"Right." Izuku nodded again, glad that they had a plan before something came to mind, "Would it be faster in a duet?"
Modeus gasped in excitement before rushing into his personal space again, "YES!"
"Wait, what? How do you-" Justice glared at her fellow demon with widened eyes, "Did you trick him into a fucking duet?!"
"'Trick' is such a strong word."
"I leave for five damned minutes…" Justice hit her head on the wheel with a groan.
"Uhhhh," Izuku raised a hand lightly, "Mortal boy confused. What's wrong with a duet, exactly?"
"Long story." Justice groaned again-
"We don't have time for long!" Aizawa's restrained panic brought Izuku's attention towards the front of the ship-
W H A T
Ahead of the ship, the sea of skeletons had concentrated, pooling around certain areas to raise three great mounds of bones. Those mounds grew, undead fragments spilling upwards into bloated masses. Ahead of Justice's now seemingly-insignificant vessel, three hulking monstrosities slowly took shape. Before Izuku's eyes their transformations completed, the light of life igniting in the three enormous skeletons born from thousands of their smaller brethren. The giants looked downwards at the mortal group…
~! Awaken (aka Pillar Man Theme; JoJo's Bizarre Adventure) !~
… and started posing… Menacingly. ゴ ゴ ゴ
"Alright." Justice span the wheel faster than a roulette wheel, almost throwing Uraraka and Aizawa overboard with the speed the boat changed course. "Not enough time." thankfully, Izuku couldn't see any other points in the ocean which bones were rushing towards, meaning hopefully they'd only have three to deal with, "Do the bloody duet."
"YES-!"
"But Modeus, I swear if I find any trace you've messed with him-"
"Yeah, yeah-"
"No, I'm serious." she fixed Modeus with a harsh glare, a hidden pressure palpable behind the eyes. "If you alter him. I will end you."
"… Ok." the demon answered in an uncharacteristically small voice. "P-Promise." she was quick to shake off the nervous disposition, holding a hand out to Izuku once again. He wouldn't lie and pretend that their conversation hadn't rattled him a little, but they'd already done this once and he was fine, right?
…
He was fine, right?
With the ice platforms melted, Cerberus was forced onto the back-foot. Not to a dangerous degree, of course. Monica could throw her little sparks all she wanted; Cerberus would dodge them all day and sleep through their heat all night.
No, the more pressing issue was that all the time she was fighting here was more time Zuzu would be dealing with the skeletons alone. No, wait, not alone. With Modeus.
That was much worse.
It was a relief when Justice broke out of Sradadada's stupid fog domain, but Cerberus doubted her ability to be much help while maintaining something easy for Zuzu to stand on. If they really wanted they could probably dance over the skeleton's head. But knowing how sensitive her mortal was, he'd probably be upset after being subjected to the screams of his living companions having the flesh stripped from their bones as they drowned in the sea of skeletons.
Really, that boy was too nice for his own good.
So assuming Justice went with the 'keep Zuzu happy' option, which she seemed fairly likely to do, her finishing up with the foul chimney hadn't done much to change the status quo beyond them being on a cool boat now. If Cerberus went to help she could keep him safe and break out of the Sphere with some time, but then Monica would be free to kill everyone else. And that was bad, apparently.
What to do, what to do…
"Getting tired down there?" Monica summoned another series of flame geysers under Cerberus' feet.
"Not really." her bodies dotted from point-to-point, avoiding the fires without issue.
"Just thinking how to rip your throat out easiest."
"Will coffee burst out?"
"Har-har." Monica said sarcastically for some reason. Would the caffeine be demonically infused? Oooh, I wonder what that'll do! "But I have to wonder, why are we even here?"
"Ugh."
"I hate philosophy…" two of her bodies threw the third in the air, only for Monica to twist away.
"Some mortals got scared of death so they made up a load of stuff to explain it away." Cerberus hit the wall of skeletons and quickly kicked off back to the ground.
… Wait a minute…
"I meant why are we fighting? The simple fact is that even if you could beat me here, that doesn't grant you victory. All I need to do is capture one mere mortal, by myself or with Lucy's servants, and that's it. I win." she scoffed, "With how desperate the control freak is, I'm sure she'd be happy to grant whatever you liked if you pitched in. Perhaps an exclusive pancake house staffed by Hell's best chefs-"
"That's it!" Cerberus grinned in excitement.
"Well, that was easier than I-" Monica choked after Cerberus started running up the wall of skeletons that made up the perimeter of their arena. The demon had chosen to leave the arena clear for their fight instead of flooding it with the skeletons – maybe she didn't want them used against her as projectiles? But instead, she'd given Cerberus an easy way to close the vertical distance.
Monica jetted upwards, a twin pair of flames bursting out to help her ascent, but Cerberus was already primed in position. All three of her bodies launched upwards and inwards. She transformed one into hound-form, making a bigger springboard for the other two to launch directly towards Monica.
The coffee-dosed demon hastily threw more flames her way, but Cerberus continued through them without a care – heck, she'd been getting cold in the shade of the skeleton walls!
*B-BAM* Cerberus two bodies sent a pair of fists crashing into Monica's chest and ribs. She could feel the bones crunching from the blow, before her foe was sent flying upwards from the force. While Cerberus fell back towards the sea of bones, Monica crashed painfully against the upper parts of the Sphere. While she was too distant to hear the effect, Cerberus could see from her stilted movements that the blow had the intended effect.
"Sorry, what were you saying?" she called up after landing on some skulls.
"Something about pancakes?" her twin form voiced her thoughts.
"I want crêpes again!" her hound form barked in remembrance of the delicious pancakes with custom toppings. Maybe they could get some more after this? Winning so hard worked up an appetite.
Ignoring her question, Monica soon peeled herself off the sphere and disappeared in a flicker of flames. Sniffing around, Cerberus couldn't sense her nearby at all.
Guess she gave up.
With that victory settled, she started bounding over bones towards her new mortal and the giga-skeleton rising up to try and stop him.
Slipping back into the duet's song had proven even easier than Izuku expected. Did he feel a little more cautious now that Justice had voiced concerns about the idea? Yes. Were his motions a little more guarded as his mind raced with the possibilities of what could incite such a reaction? Probably. Was he overthinking everything? Absolutely. But he quickly swept whatever fears he may have had about the ordeal under the rug, owing to the fact that it was working.
As he and Modeus tangoed amidst the chaos, the faintest flicker of green light danced around her form. He could feel the hum of energy coming off of her, steadily waltzing into the huge cannon which was slowly forming a pulsing sheen of green and red.
Beyond that, any foes that broke through the others' defences were effortlessly cast away with a flourish of flames, a breezy backhand, a robust roundhouse. It was rare one was able to throw so much as half an attack before being sent off the ship or broken to bones. No, the skeletons that had once been wearing Izuku down bit by bit weren't his issue any more.
"Careful~" Modeus gently moved him away from being slapped across the face by a skeleton who'd done particularly well, before lightly hip-smashing it into oblivion. Immediately afterwards she coiled her arms back around his and the dance continued on.
"Eheh, t-thanks…"
"Mhm." she slackened her grip long enough for Izuku to deliver another haymaker to a now-smashed skull. "Don't worry about what Justice said; I don't bite." she leaned in to throw a bout of flames against a skeleton behind Izuku, lingering long enough to whisper into his ear "much~"
No, Izuku's new problem was keeping his focus off of the teasing, pretty, talented… flexible- the fight! He had trouble staying focused on the fight. The very serious fight. The extremely important, life-or-death fight which should be terrifying him to his core, somehow seemed muted whenever he noticed the way Modeus' smile lit up everything around her- No, focus!
Perhaps this is what Justice was concerned about? Maybe this song was reducing his inhibitions? Or maybe revealing the truth he'd always known- his perceptions, maybe it was colouring his perceptions of his duet partner, that's what he'd been thinking.
"Watch out!" At Justice's warning, Modeus spun herself and Izuku out of the shadow that had formed at their feet-
*CRASH*
And there was the other problem. The gigantic skeletal arm punching straight through the deck of the ship.
Justice stomped on the ground and the skeletal arm was rocked upwards, a burst of energy shooting out before she took the ship in another direction to try and avoid another hit. The one mercy was that the huge skeletons couldn't move much faster than the ship. The main issue was that the huge skeletons could move faster than the ship.
"We'll never get that thing charged with tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumbers hammering us!" Justice tried strafing the ship to avoid the colossal blows. Unfortunately, demonic energy aside, 18th Century frigates weren't exactly built for rapid strafing.
"A little busy!" Aizawa was throwing skeletons off one side of the ship with his capture tape at an impressive pace.
"Ditto!" Hagakure answered while she and Todoroki were destroying skeletons on the other side.
"Occupied!" Monoma and Shiozaki were near the front of the ship, whipping skeletons off the side and sinking them into a vine-infested floor before crushing them in coils.
"How could one even fight that?!" it sounded like Iida and the other 1A members were up on the top deck trying to get Justice some room to breathe. Looking up towards the behemoths behind them, Izuku couldn't help but agree. How could someone even fight something like that? He'd taken down the zero-pointer thanks to the absolute bullshit that was his Quirk at max power, but apparently risking the destruction of his soul to try and help people was 'ReCKleSs' or something. Even then, Judgement had only been blown back by a music-enhanced blow, so how could he know…
"Modeus…"
"Hmmm?" the demon leaned her head close enough that she could probably feel the heat coming off of Izuku's now-blushing face.
"I don't suppose you know anything about…" he nodded towards the behemoths.
"Well," she threw her head back to shatter another skeleton before grabbing Izuku and mowing down more in… was this a foxtrot? I really need to learn about dancing if it's going to be life-and-death-and-undeath. "Almost any human-like is weak in the head and heart. And even while we're charging that," she nodded towards the once-again charging cannon, "You should be able to damage the skull enough while we're like this." she suddenly spun him around and leaned into another dip, kicking a leg up backwards to destroy more would-be attackers before pulling him back to standing.
"Ok…" he glanced back at the skeleton triplet of doom, one of them almost in position to strike down again. He glanced back to the cannon, "Can you charge it from a range?" a small, coquettish nod was the response.
"You have an idea?"
"Something resembling one…" he sighed, "But I feel insane even considering it…"
"Those ideas are always the most fun!" she drew the two back to a more neutral dance pattern, "I guess you can lead for a while…"
"Justice!" he glanced back towards the demon through his and Modeus' temporarily slower dance, "I need to get up to the crow's nest fast!"
"This better not be for something batshit insane and suicidal!" despite her concerns, Justice slammed the wheel in front of her, sending fog rippling forwards until some kind of mechanism appeared on the main mast. From the hook and winch, Izuku assumed it would get him and Modeus up as requested. Quickly stepping over to the mast and breaking another couple of skeletons along the way, the two grabbed onto the hook.
~! Palm Tree Escape (Pirates of the Caribbean) !~
"Not suicidal!" he kicked at the mechanism, making the hook quickly drag Modeus and him up the mast, "No promises on the rest!" he called as they streamed up through the air.
Upon reaching the crow's nest, he took a quick glance at the surroundings and ducked into the pod, bringing Modeus down with him. Thankfully, it seemed the entire thing was opaque and… even felt reinforced for some reason.
"What are we doing?"
"Waiting for a sudden shake…" he put an ear to the nest while the two of them made sure to keep nodding along to the beat – it was lucky the rules of demon dances were so generous when it came to keeping the rhythm going. They probably weren't building much power like this, though. Still, he could feel himself practically buzzing with anticipation.
Any minute now…
A few more agonizing moments past.
Any moment…
Still nothing.
Any-
*CRASH*
"NOW!" with Modeus' hand in his they vaulted over the crow's nest. Izuku prayed that the skeleton had punched down where he'd assumed from the vibrations. Well, less assume, more roughly guessed at.
"Grab on!" Luckily he'd guessed right. He and Modeus grabbed onto some of the skulls sticking out of the behemoth and held on for dear life.
"And how do we get up his arm?"
"…" Izuku glanced up at the still-largely vertical arm. He hadn't really thought that far. A moment later, Modeus had began climbing up with a flicker of red energy. She held a hand out with a small smirk.
"Guess I'll take the lead again."
The moment he took her hand, the two were somehow dancing up a vertical wall. They skulls and bones became footholds and handholds which they used to weave up the arm and around each other, Modeus easily leading him in a rhythm which by all account should be impossible. As the arm reared back for another strike it evened out into a slope. The two danced along as quickly as they could but tried to keep low and out of the giant's gaze. As it reared its arm back, it seemed like they may be really be able to get close to its head without it noticing!
And then, beginning to unleash another punch, its eyes glanced back for the briefest of moments. Suddenly, its body froze in place as its head did a double-take.
"Don't. Move. A muscle." The beast answered Modeus' whispering with a scowl, before the skeletons making up the arm began re-forming, clawing their way onto the surface. "Nevermind move every muscle!" the two charged forwards.
The giant rolled its arm to try and get them off, but with Modeus probably using some kind of demon magic they mercifully stayed rooted in place. The only effect it had was throwing the smaller skeletons off. With that strategy useless, it kept its arm in place while its smaller brethren continued rising out of the arm. The other three giants –wait I thought there were only three total? Apparently they'd added one to their number, and the group made to help after realising what was happening.
Damn.
Modeus and Izuku's dance quickly picked up the pace, desperately dodging attacks from the giants while threading through the army of skeletons constantly forming. The two leapt forwards to avoid a slap from a huge skeletal hand, Modeus steadying him so the two remained safe between two fingers before jumping over what was left. As the hand rose they grabbed onto one finger and used it to swing forward, practically tap-dancing over the smaller skulls rising from the beast.
"Are they…"
"Yes." Justice turned the boat back around; the colossal skeletons' attention was now focused squarely elsewhere. In other words, those two idiots were gonna need all the help they could get. On the one hand, Justice couldn't believe she'd enabled this. On the other, they were doing surprisingly well. "They are."
"Damn…" Speaker-dude whistled, "They've gotta be the best dancers I've ever seen."
Justice pushed down her feelings of disbelief, anxiety, and something else bubbling under the surface. "So it would seem…"
*whoosh* Izuku jumped onto an enormous arm sweeping over the one they'd been climbing, sprinting forward and jumping off the end. Hitting the ground with a roll, Modeus quickly spun him out of the way of a smaller skeleton's attack before scorching it to dust and continuing on.
Almost at the giant's shoulder, Izuku was starting to try and form a plan. His previous plan had largely consisted of '1) get on the giant. 2) get to its weak spot. 3) ? 4) Escape.' but now was forced to try and figure out how to even hurt this thing. Would a 5% blow be enough to beat it? Considering the depth of the skeletal ocean, the giant was even taller than the 0-pointer.
"Go all out." Modeus seemed to read his thoughts as she cartwheeled the two of them past a cluster of attacks, burning the offending skeletons in the process. "You basically know how this stuff works now." they sidestepped one of the giants trying to chop them, before holding onto each other for stability as the arm serving as their floor was driven downwards by the blow. "Keep the rebound to a minimum, I'll handle any overflow!"
Izuku nodded in response, pulling together every scrap of knowledge, leaning into every instinct he'd developed over the last… Wow it's really been only like 2 days since I died, huh? It felt more like a year at this point. But he tried to dredge up all those two days of experience and learning, syncing every movement with the beat, flowing through the rhythm, imagining that egg ride the microwaves inside the microwave which he was cranking up to full power. He'd called out his attack last time with Judgement… Did that help?
"One for All: Duet Departure!" It couldn't hurt, right?
"Skeletal…" Modeus spun him around more forcefully. One full turn. Two. Three. On the fourth, she flung him towards the giant's skull…!
"SMASH!"
The last thing the monster saw was a face full of green energy, before the blow smashed it into a million disparate bones.
The next thing rusing past Izuku's face was those disparate bones, which were now completely useless as a platform. Gravity pulled him from the collapsing giant towards the sea of undead.
"Did you see that?!" Modeus flew – well, more fell in a purposeful and controlled manner – towards him even as Izuku's mind was struggling to catch up on what just happened. "We. Were. AMAZING!"
"Ok but how do we-" Modeus grabbed onto his hands and the two span through the air… before Modeus leapt off of one of the falling skulls. Dragging Izuku with her. He looked around the storm of falling bones around them.
… You can't be serious.
"How is that even possible?!" Grav-girl voiced an opinion most of the mortals seemed to share. Apparently, staying airborne by leaping between falling objects in a still-rhythmic pattern, grabbing onto each other for support, direction, and partnership, was something the living would consider 'completely ridiculous' or'against the laws of physics'.
If any of them ended up in Hell, Justice would have to take them out partying some day.
Not bad, 'Zuzu'. Still, it was seriously impressive for such a recently deceased soul to pull stunts like this. Just need to make sure Modeus didn't ruin him… Justice swore, if the 'love'-demon ended up fucking with his soul there wasn't a force on Heaven, Hell or anything in between that would keep her safe.
"Hey!"
"Hey!"
"Arf!" three bodies suddenly jumped onto the ship from the opposite direction their group had been looking at. The dog-Cerberus quickly morphed back into human form. "What'd I miss?"
"Uhhhhhh…" Speaker-dude blinked several times at the transformation before just assuming it was normal from everyone else's lack of a substantial reaction. He gestured vaguely in the direction of Modeus and Izuku cleaning house, having just found their way running up the arm of another of the giants. "That."
"Oooooh!" Cerberus gave a small clap.
"Guess you took care of Pandemonica?" Justice ran the boat by one of the giant skeletons, letting loose a broadside barrage. It didn't do must damage, but it threw them off balance enough to keep a few attacks of the mortal-demon pair.
"Kinda." one Cerberus shrugged, before beginning to take care of skeletons on the lower deck.
"I hit her real good." another started guarding the raised deck, effectively buying Justice and the mortals aboard plenty of space and relative safety. Probably for the best – some of the others looked wiped from the fighting.
"And then she just kinda left." the last one let out a smug huff, "Knew she was out of her league…"
"She…" Justice paused, "… Just left…?" the words were barely above a whisper. That wasn't the Pandemonica she'd known. Definitely not the coffee-dosed sadist they'd been facing.
Maybe what Lucy was offering was way below her pay-grade… the fight above continued on, and Justice tried to provide support by tripping the giants up. The pair hit another giant skull-on, sending a shock-wave through its form as it fell to bones. Two left.
But then, why would she come to the mortal realm? The punishment for that's no joke, so it wouldn't make sense to come unless she was being offered something worthwhile… They moved onto the third, while Justice kept harassing these last two with cannon-fire. Bird-boy had managed to grow his shadow-beast-thing to a decent size, and it was scratching at one of the giant's legs. Even doing an OK amount of damage.
But then why retreat after coming this far… She's at a disadvantage, sure, but it's not like there's a 0% chance of victory here. She's crafty; she could definitely come up with something- the thought made Justice pause, Meaning… she probably has come up with something. Izuku and Modeus worked their way up the next giant's arm. At another glance, Justice realised they were moving quickly. She'd put it down to raw strength, natural talent and Modeus' 'experience' before, but with a closer look… Were they going easy on them?
But why would they do that? All it would do is mean a ton of demonic energy is wasted in their construction. She could use it any number of forms, and she just throws it away? As was proven when another shockwave proved the end of the third giant skeleton, allowing the pair to move on to the fourth-
Wait. An unnerving shiver crawled up Justice's spine, There were only three… The fourth didn't appear until-
"GRAV-GIRL!"
"Eh-EH?!" the about-to-be-even-more-traumatised girl shrieked as Justice grabbed her and lifted the mortal over her head.
"Make yourself weightless, NOW!" As the weight disappeared, Justice made her desperation play.
Izuku and Modeus were on fire! Well, not literall- actually, Modeus did sport some flaming highlights every so often- but the point was that they were doing amazingly! Not five minutes ago Izuku had viewed these behemoths as unstoppable forces, insurmountable peaks that they would never be able to touch. And now they'd beaten three of them! They were on the fourth, weaving up its huge arm, and no more giant skeletons had formed amidst their fighting!
With practically no enormous skeletal arms trying to swat or sweep them off the final titan, the pair snaked up the arm, slithering between some smaller rising skeletons and smashing past the rest, quickly reaching the beast's shoulder once again.
"Just one more to go." Modeus began her sentence excited but finished sounding almost deflated.
"We'll be fine!" Izuku tried to cheer her up. Just one more, and they should be able to break out of the World Sphere trapping them. Just one more grand smash, and they could finally get out of this nightmare.
"Mhm." Modeus shook off her hesitation, "Finish on a high note!" she dragged him back into a spin, primed to launch at the final, gigantic skull. Instead of releasing him on the fourth, Modeus span him around, and around and around and around and around- before releasing him on the 16th turn!
Izuku shot up like a bullet, barely able to wind up his arm in time to unleash a final SMASH against the colossus. Just as before, the bones caved in. Just as before, a visible shockwave spiralled down the beast, ripping bones apart with it. Just as before, the thing quickly fell apart into disparate bones.
"-?!" unlike before, something white yet not made of calcium reached out from the waterfall of bones, mere inches from Izuku's body. It grabbed Izuku by the face, quickly revealing itself to be a hand-
As Pandemonica's wicked red eyes broke through the skeleton's falling form, Izuku felt frozen. He'd been right, there had only been three before.
And she built a fourth around herself.
"I win." Flames erupted from Pandemonica's form, wrapping around the two of them before Izuku could so much as try to scream. As the two were enshrouded in a cocoon of fire, the surroundings began to warp. Izuku tried to bat her hand away, but it was like hitting a brick wall- damn it! In his panic, he'd hit her outside the rhythm. He'd done more damage to his hand than her arm.
She was right. She'd won-
*thump* something from stage left thwacked into the demon and mortal both like a hurtling bag of cement. They were sent spiralling through the air. Izuku lost track of Pandemonica, too busy getting hit with a mind-crushing bout of vertigo. After a long, hard blink, the cocoon of flames had vanished, replaced with an abandoned street under a drizzly sky. The cold air and battering rain helped to brush off the sudden bout of heat Pandemonica had brought, but it did little to stifle his velocity.
*CRASH* which promptly led him crashing into a wall.
Owww…
On the bright side, he was still alive and could feel everything. On the down side, everything hurt. Not a scorching, intense pain like going through Gehenna or after he'd overused One for All, but everything ached immeasurably. Like he'd just finished an intense workout exercising every.single. Muscle. After already having done one earlier.
Maybe it's an after-effect of the fight…? The music had died down, after all, Or maybe leaving the World Sphere…? There was a distinct lack of hellish red lightning.
Wiping his face to try and shrug off the aching in his everything, he quickly took in that he'd crashed into a concrete wall. Parts around Izuku had cracked and broken, but he hadn't been sent flying into someone's house. Instead, he was lying up against it in the middle of a street. For some reason, despite the rain, he could feel a warm weight on his chest-
"Ughhhhh…" the warm weight on his chest groaned, leaning up slightly before wincing and grabbing at their lower spine, "My back…"
"Hey, Uraraka…" Izuku tried for a wave, only to regret the effort.
After looking behind her, she waved back in kind, "Hey Mi- wait!" she quickly rolled off of Izuku, straight onto a jagged piece of concrete. "Owwww…"
"You ok?" he tried to sit up himself, before looking around. As expected, they were in the middle of an abandoned street. But, strangely, the street seemed made almost entirely of concrete. Even the windows seemed empty- "Wait…" he quickly glanced up and down the street. Nothing but concrete. No people, no paint, no nothing. "Is this…"
"Ok…" an irritated, terrifying voice sounded out from Izuku's left. Turning his head, Pandemonica stepped out of a building she'd crashed through. "That could've gone better… Still." she stretched out before rubbing her collarbone with a pained wince, then eventually turned towards the two mortals. "I won."
Izuku made to jump to his feet-
"Oh, please." before being snapped back to the ground by an unseen force, laid flat on his back. He was barely able to even move his head enough to realise she'd formed a glyph directly beneath him. "Don't get up on my account."
Uraraka, outside the glyph's control, quickly grabbed a chunk of cement and lobbed it at Pandemonica-
"Really?"only for it to be held in place by a glyph at the tip of Pandemonica's finger. Dropping the cement piece, she put a glyph behind Uraraka which pinned the girl in the air. "Well, I suppose it wasn't terrible. You even made it weightless to add some speed, I see…" she shrugged, sauntering over towards the pair, "I've seen mortals do worse."
Desperate, Izuku tried to channel One for All through him, taking any free movement he could find to create a melody from the air's silence.
"Oh, I wouldn't." the glyph pinning Uraraka snapped from behind her back to around her neck, suddenly suffocating Izuku's friend, "Unless you want to see just how much constrictive force my powers can create?"
Stunned at watching his friend grasp at her neck, struggling against an intangible piece of demon magic, he released any semblance of power he'd been able to build.
"Good." Panemonica glanced at Uraraka, "Use your Quirk or whatever. It's not that tight." the girl slapped a hand against herself, gasping for breath. It seemed the thing around her neck was loose enough that it wouldn't suffocate her without the force of gravity. But with the wince as she opened her mouth, it looked like it hurt to speak.
And… What were they even supposed to do now? The others were still stuck in the sphere – hopefully not for long but definitely long enough for Pandemonica to kill Uraraka and… What, double-kill Izuku? He couldn't fight back, or Pandemonica would kill Uraraka. Even if she could move, Uraraka had no way of fighting against demons.
We're out of moves…
"So…" he glanced at the smug demon. "What now?" He'd just have to stall for time. It wasn't much, but it was the best he could do.
"Well, let's see…" she slowly paced back-and-forth, clearly savouring her 'victory'. "Next, I need to bring you back down to Hell, so…" she paused, her smug grin twisting into something more cruel. A moment later, she stuck out a hand to Izuku. "I'm going to ask you come willingly."
"What?" Izuku stifled a laugh at the thought. The force on one of his arms had lessened. Enough to stick his hand out if he so chose. "Why on Earth would I do that?"
"Well, you see," she withdrew a hand, prowling around Izuku's prone form. He immediately regretted the question. "Taking a deceased soul to an afterlife willingly is quite easy. We could be down in Lucy's office," she snapped her fingers, "Like that. But dragging them unwillingly?" she tutted, "Much harder. Not impossible, mind you. But as I was asked to keep this on the down-low…"
"Sounds like it's in my best interest to refuse." it was easier to stifle a laugh this time. While he wasn't familiar with this demon, it was clear she wasn't an idiot. What's she planning?
"Well, you see." she continued strolling around Izuku, "Taking a soul back to Hell is rather difficult." she paused in front of- "Sending a mortal there, however?" she slowly drew a sharp fingernail down Uraraka's cheek. The girl tried to pull back from the touch, but the glyph threatening to strangle her made the gesture futile, "Considerably easier."
"She-" Izuku stuttered, redoubling his efforts to get up and help, but to no avail. He tried again, but the burning in his muscles became almost unbearable, while the glyph showed no signs of weakening. "Leave her alone! She doesn't have-"
"Anything to do with this?" Pandemonica didn't leave her alone. Instead, she took her by the chin, forcing their eyes to meet. "I beg to differ. It would appear this mortal is, to some extent, now aware of the supernatural." she turned back to Izuku with a fake pout, not releasing her grip on Uraraka's face. "That's against the rules."
"B-But that's because YOU-"
"Irrelevant." she finally released her grip, slapping Uraraka lightly on the cheek before continuing to stalk around Izuku. "As she's now aware of the existence of demons, she defaults to our system of afterlife. Considering she's been consorting with demons?" she let out an exaggerated gasp, "Heaven wouldn't touch her with a ten-foot cross. Now, if her soul was important, things might be different. But look at her." she paused on Izuku's side opposite Uraraka and crouched down to his level. She glanced back to the living mortal, who was still unable to defend herself verbally or otherwise thanks to that cursed magic circle- "Some random girl who hasn't properly prayed a day in her life? A coward who hid away in her room after she did everything wrong? A weakling who let her friend die? A murderer?" she shook her head and stood back up. Even if Uraraka could speak, the shell-shocked look on her face told Izuku she wouldn't.
"If a soul like that were snatched out of Hell's huge backlog, no one would notice. No one would care. Of course, you'd have to be in a position to reach her soul once it had been sent down there. Say…" her voice reached a peak of smugness, "Head of soul sorting? The first point of contact any soul has in the afterlife?" she glanced back at Izuku, pausing in front of Uraraka once again "Remember who that was?"
"You…!" he was barely able to answer accusingly through gritted teeth.
"That's right!" Pandemonica snapped her fingers, and the glyph around Uraraka's neck started spinning. Izuku's friend coughed, taking a gasp of breath as it became harder for her to breathe. "And trust me, you may have seen Hell's upper circles, but that's nothing compared to an arch-demon's personal attention." she ran a hand lightly down Uraraka's struggling arm and Izuku swore if he ever got out of this- "How long will it take for you to break? An hour? A day? A week- month- year- decade- Century?" she retracted her hand, turning back to Izuku. "I'd have all eternity. Honestly, part of me is hoping you'll decline. But it would be much easier for me if you came along willingly." she stuck a hand out to Izuku again,
"So… do we have a deal?"
"SHIT!" Justice kicked at the ship's wheel in frustration. "Shit, shit, shit!" She'd tried to use Uraraka to interrupt Pandemonica's stupid translocation spell, but it wasn't fast enough! They could be almost anywhere-
Wait… ok, time to make some real good deductions real fast.
This isn't Hell, she isn't familiar with this area, the Sphere should limit long-range translocation, and she'd want to avoid public spaces. She can't have gone far.
"Is there somewhere abandoned nearby?!" her head snapped to speaker-dude, "No, wait, first- Cerberus, get Modeus right here RIGHT NOW!"
"On it!" Cerberus bounded off to collect the still-falling demon.
"Uhh-"
"The training grounds!" tape-man called up from the main deck, "Everywhere nearby is either campus or city! We're at the main site so-"
"How many?"
"25, including gyms and the USJ."
Too many! She'd seen how big this stupid campus had been on the way up; even pushing her soul sight to the max, she wouldn't be able to cover more than maybe three at once. They didn't have time!
Ok, narrow it down. "Without gyms!" they'd be too enclosed an area – Pandemonica probably wouldn't want to risk them escaping. It was a leap, but it was the best she could do.
"11" and even with a major assumption, they had way too many. But Pandemonica wouldn't choose somewhere giving her an amazing environmental advantage – she didn't need it! Would she pick one at random? No, most of her decisions had some rationale to them. So what-
"… Where did Izuku die again?" if she didn't choose at random, and there wasn't a tactical reason, the only obvious thing left was to toy with them.
Tape-man met her gaze, "Ground Beta."
"Then that's where we're going." she took the wheel, turning in the direction tape-man quickly pointed towards.
"Slight problem: There's a dark crimson dome of death in the way!" Copycat was getting on her nerves.
"Got her!" Cerberus brought Modeus onto the deck.
"She got-"
"I know! Just finish it!"
"Oh!" the demon complied, quickly kissing her own finger before touching it to the cannon.
"So it's charged?" tape-man asked, quickly scurrying up to the top deck for safety.
Justice left the wheel after pointing the ship in the right direction, jumping up to the railing of the top deck. "It'll have to be!" she leapt down onto the cannon, surging every ounce of demonic power she could muster into the weapon. The ship immediately began to fall apart, but that wasn't important right now.
In all honesty, Justice couldn't remember what it was like to look at things normally. She understood it theoretically: refraction of light, reflection, lens focus, chemical reaction, etc. etc.. But after two millennia of viewing everything by the fields of natural energy, through the lens of the soul's flow, she really couldn't remember what it had been like to see any other way.
All this was to say, she didn't know what the others saw. All she knew was what she saw: One of the greatest stores of supernatural energy she'd ever unleashed, focused through the emotion of a romance-obsessed demon, and shaped into a single sphere by yours truly. All hurled at a dome of oppression, colliding in the brightest light she could ever remember.
All she knew was that for that brief moment, with the world saturated in white? For the first time in an age, the blind demon couldn't see a damn thing.
Izuku was struggling to breathe. Did he even need to breathe anymore? It felt like it, because every moment that went past he could feel his chest tightening and then he went to take a breath but his throat closed up and then his chest felt tighter and he struggled for breath more but he couldn't and-
*BOOM*
An explosion- no, the unholy offspring of a nuclear bomb and an atrocious dubstep remix flew through the group. Turning his neck, Izuku found a blinding white light exploding outwards from the direction of the school. Did Justice and the others-
"Ok." Pandemonica brought him crashing back to the dilemma before him, "Time's up." she waved the hand of hers that wasn't extended to Izuku, and the glyph around Uraraka's neck span faster and faster. "Looks like we have maybe a minute, tops. So she has, oh… Ten seconds?" she smirked down at Izuku, "I doubt I have enough time to force you with me. So… Save yourself, condemn your friend here to an eternity of torment worse than you could fathom? Or go with me, and save her? What'll it be, 'hero'?"
Once more, Izuku could feel the world around him slowing to a crawl. It was such a simple question, yet one that sent his heart hammering into his mouth. Agreeing would be the final nail in his coffin. He'd be dragged back to Hell, probably sacrificed to some evil demon who even Pandemonica was subservient to, and then said evil demon- if he understood all this right- would have absolute power within Hell. If he surrendered, he'd make Hell worse. And would it stop there? If One for All was apparently so powerful in a demon's hands, who was to say all of Hell would be the end? Would they go on to start a war in Heaven? Conquer some other supernatural plane? If he gave up here, how many people- how many souls would Izuku be condemning to unknown suffering? No matter which way he looked at it, surrendering would be a result beyond terrible.
And yet…
"I- I-…" Uraraka tried to speak through the ordeal. She was in an even worse situation than Izuku – she didn't even have a choice.
Although… Honestly that might be better. A big part of him wished he didn't have to do this. A part of him wanted it to be over already.
"I…" he sighed, and began to reach out his hand. He didn't know how many souls he would condemn, what nightmare his surrender would unleash. The only thing he knew for certain, was what happened if he didn't.
She's already suffered enough.
"I accep-"
"I'm-" Uraraka's eyes were red with rage, forcing her voice out through sheer force of will, "not-" she gave up on clawing at her neck, instead throwing an arm out towards Pandemonica.
And brushed her fingertips against the demon's bushy hair.
"-some FUCKING DAMSEL!" Pandemonica floated over Izuku.
"Wha-" the floating accelerated before either of them even knew what was happening. Barely a blink later, and Pandemonica was sent flying down the street. A crash erupted moments later-
*gasp* And the glyphs holding the two mortals in place vanished.
"Uraraka!" Izuku forced himself up and ran over to the sputtering girl, "A-Are you-"
"Don't you dare!" she grabbed him by the collar. Izuku honestly wasn't sure if it was mainly to get in his face, or pull herself up despite the exhaustion. "Don't you fucking dare!"
"I- Wha-"
"I stayed here to protect YOU from these shitstains!" ok she's really loud up close- "So don't you DARE throw your- whatever life you have left- don't throw it away! Not for me!" the grip on his collar slackened, "Not again…" she could barely able to get the last syllable out through the tears that had started forming.
"I-" Izuku's mouth opened. He closed it again. And opened. And closed. Eventually, he took a breath,
"I'm sorry…" it was the only thing he could think to say.
"Ugh." Uraraka groaned – in frustration or pain, he wasn't sure. A moment later, a short breath escaped as a single chuckle. "Why do I get the feeling I'm gonna be hearing that a lot?"
Moving her hand towards his shoulder instead of the collar, Izuku laughed quietly. "At least you'll be hearing it." because somehow he got the feeling he wouldn't be parting with Uraraka any time soon. "Right?"
"Oh, bravo!" a frustrated, sardonic voice called from behind them, freezing Uraraka's answer in her throat. "Quite impressive, girlie!" turning around, Izuku found his fears come to life.
Pandemonica was still under the effect of Uraraka's awakened Quirk. Her clothes and hair were being forced back by a breeze that didn't exist. Every step she took was pained and assisted by a glyph countering the Quirk's momentum. Every bone in Pandemonica's body looked like it was pointing in the wrong direction, or threatening to do so.
"Truly defying stereotypes! But there's just one thing your little stunt can't change!" a new pair of glyphs appeared either side of Pandemonica. Another pair either side of Izuku and Uraraka.
"I'm a DEMON! You're a sad, pathetic, worthless MORTAL! I've seen things you couldn't even fathom! Killed monsters whose mere sight would leave you paralysed!Lived for over a dozen of your lifetimes- well…" Izuku made to move away from the glyphs with Uraraka, but they simply moved with the pair. They began to glow a bright orange. "Over a hundred of yours! So would you just." Izuku could feel the heat. "Fucking." the flames leapt out. "DIE-"
*BANG!* the glyphs burnt away. The hollow flames licked near-harmlessly at Izuku's hair.
Pandemonica was knocked forward to the ground.
"Wha-"
"UGHHHHHHH!" the demon screeched as she struggled to get up, "WHAT NOW-?!"
*BANG!* she was knocked to the ground again. Izuku saw something flick off of her head… Was that… A purple bullet-
"S-Sniper!" Izuku forced Uraraka into a nearby street, hopefully out of sight of the new combatant.
"W-what do we do?!" Uraraka was defaulting to him again.
Great.
Izuku tried to cobble together something resembling a strategy as fast as he could. Part of him – the optimist – thought they could defeat Pandemonica now. A new challenger had appeared, and considering they prioritised shooting Pandemonica twice they were probably on Izuku's side, or at the very least against Pandemonica. Out of the demon's grasp, Izuku could probably attune to a soul song thing maybe, which would put him on a level approaching not immediately dying to Pandeminica. Combine that with their friendly sniper peppering away at her, and the fact Justice & Co. would probably be here soon, and they should be able to win. They could do this, they could fight back the evil demon, Izuku could deliver an incredible blow that would make her regret ever trying to hurt his friend!
… But another part of him – the 'I'm completely out of my depth here and it's a miracle I didn't just die again' side, however, told a different story. If this sniper was only an enemy to Pandemonica rather than a friend to Izuku, they could quickly turn the moment Pandemonica was put down. They could have reinforcements ready to ambush Izuku and Uraraka the second Pandemonica was off the board. Pandemonica could have reinforcements about to be summoned at any moment. Izuku didn't know how any of this worked- heck, for all he knew, here outside the World Sphere the ghost of U.A.'s past could get pissed with some mortals trespassing on their turf and try to kill them all.
It could happen! He couldn't disprove it!
Eventually, the latter part of him won out. Not wanting to waste this chance they'd been given, Izuku grabbed Uraraka, called on One for All at 2%, took a moment to ignore his screaming muscles, and went for backup option. The ultimate fallback. The 36th Stratagem. The Joestar secret technique.
RUN AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
A/N:
We almost got through two renaissance-era fights on boats without a Pirates of the Caribbean reference.
That was never gonna happen.
In other news, we're out! Call this a spoiler if you want, but yeah. This marks the end of participation in this fight for our main squad. I really did not expect it to go on this long, but in retrospect, I'm glad that it felt substantial. Maybe it went on a tad long, but everything got covered, we got some nice character moments, the whole thing turned pretty insane, and this is basically the climax in terms of a fight for this arc of the story, so I'm satisfied.
Sorry this came out a bit later than usual in terms of time; most of this got written and edited yesterday and today because I found out about a colonisation mod for KSP and got back into it and... well, it's a time sink basically. Hoping to get back on top of this so I'm a bit ahead of release, but there's also another fic idea I want to start on soon and I mean I have the attention span of a goldfish so we'll see.
With that said, as usual please do comment with thoughts, predictions, concrit, etc. etc.; above all though, have a good weekend!