Chapter 13

Burden of Beast

Strelitzia sized up the creature as it stalked towards her. This Nomu was big, towering over her, roughly the size of an elephant, if not bigger. Claws like blades, teeth like knives, horns like lances. A frill rose up on it's back as it approached.

She'd fought bigger.

Nomu's claws dug into the pavement, and it was her only warning before it shot forwards, mouth open to crush her in its jaws. Strelitzia dove to the side, as the creature chomped down with an audible snap.

It didn't waste any time, even as she dodged and it's attack missed, it was already turning towards her, its body twisting as it pushed forwards. Strelitzia was forced to leap back, dodging a series of swipes and slashes from razor sharp claws.

All the while, it's thick tail thrashed, cracking the pavement and destroying lampposts. As it went for a bite again, she leaped up, striking down with her Keyblade against what seemed to be a weak spot, its exposed brain.

To her surprise, the attack did nothing instead bouncing off. Unprepared for the sudden resistance, Strelitzia's arm jerked. She let go of Starlight, spinning to land at Nomu's side. There, she re-summoned her weapon and struck again at its flank. The weapon again bounced off. Strelizia moved with the momentum, bouncing back to swing around a lamppost, utilizing Flowmotion to unleash a spinning strike. Again, there was no effect, the creature barely even reacting. Instead, it swiped it's tail, catching Strelitzia off guard. She was sent flying, spiraling to hit the ground painfully, Starlight bounced out of her hand as she rolled.

Regaining her wits and gritting through the pain, she looked up to see Nomu stalking towards her, saliva dripping out of its mouth to sizzle on the pavement, claws unsheathed and tail thrashing back and forth.

It made move to pounce, and Strelitzia called Starlight back to her hand, only for it to be just a moment too late-

"SMASH!" It took a moment for Strelitzia to process the entire sequence of events resulting in a large cloud of dust being kicked up forcing Strelitzia to shield her eyes. As Nomu had leaped towards her, Izuku had leaped out of the water, striking in desperation at at Nomu as hard as he could.

Unfortunately, it had no effect. Nomu was unharmed, and surprisingly, so was Izuku, much to his surprise, seemingly on both fronts.

"H-how?"

"Strength is meaningless. You'll find no purchase there." Strelitzia turned, to see the bird-masked man speaking, his voice a strange cadence. "Shock absorption; Nomu's power scribed. Selected from among many to be hallowed All Might's demise. The hunters tool, the perfect sword, forged to kill the so-called Hero. Even his vaunted strength would ring hollow 'gainst a foe of this like. Matched to him, a mere stripling is but fodder, fit to whet his appetite for the feast to follow."

Nomu turned towards Izuku, and swung it's claws. Fortunately, Tsuyu was already in motion, wrapping her tongue around Izuku and yanking him out of the way, as at the same time, Minoru hurled his sticky balls at Nomu, attaching its feet to the ground.

Much as she had her misgivings about the boy and disliked being around him, she at least was grateful for his Quirk in this situation. Even Nomu was struggling to break free after stepping on them.

It gave her time to prepare.

Starlight appeared in her hands once more and she began casting.

"Cura!" Her scrapes, bruises, and cracked bones were healed. This was followed by a Protera, forming a skintight defensive barrier around herself, Bravera to increase her strength, and Vigilance to increase her reaction times.

It proved to be just enough time, as Nomu ripped itself free from Minoru's snare, pulling up chunks of the ground along with the balls. Before it could move to attack its would-be captor, Strelizia dashed forwards, kicking off a chunk of debris to charge flowmotion and slamming into the creatures side. Again, it didn't even react, as the energy cleared.

It didn't feel like she was hitting flesh like a normal human, or the metal carapace of a robot, or even the strange… Darkness… a Heartless was comprised of. Instead, it felt like she was hitting rubber of some sort. Like a tire.

It was clear physical attacks weren't going to cut it. As Nomu turned towards her with a claw swipe, she backed away, casting a spell.

"Aero!" Strelitzia swung Starlight, letting lose a blade of air. The strike struck Nomu on the shoulder, though it did little more than stagger it for a brief moment. Strelitzia used that opening to unleash a greater volley of magic.

"Fire!" She chanted, unleashing a barrage of fireballs at Nomu, detonating against it's front and side. Smoke billowed out as the villain reeled back slightly from the heat, the fire leaving burns on its body.

Then, Strelitzia watched in awe as Nomu healed. The injuries shifted, new flesh and skin forming over where the flames had injured it.

It could also regenerate. Great.

"Fira!" She held out Starlight in both hands, unleashing broad jet of searing flame as if from oversized flamethrower to wash over Nomu, completely engulfing it. Maybe if she could deal enough damage all at once she could-

Her train of though was interrupted as she heard the cracking of pavement that signified Nomu's movement.

It emerged from the flame cloud, engulfed in fire as it leaped towards her, claws outstretched. She backed away, feeling the wind as Nomu's claws barely missed her head. Letting go of the spell she leaped to the side, using Flowmotion to put some distance between them as the now blazing Nomu skidded on the concrete before digging in its claws and proceeding to dash towards her like a fiery missile with huge, ground-eating strides.

Strelitzia was forced onto the back foot, desperately dodging flaming attacks as the two of them moved across the USJ. Even with a second tier protect spell, she didn't think she could withstand a direct hit from Nomu, especially with it on fire like that. The flames didn't even meaningfully impede Nomu, it's flesh was burning and healing in equal measure and it could still charge, pounce, and bite with all the same force and dexterity it had been before. She could feel the heat radiating off the Villain, and in the wind stirred up from every attempted swing, every pass, every leap.

As it was, she was stuck defending, unable to find any breathing room to cast a spell as Nomu's barrage was relentless. She was almost completely focused on dodging, only able to spare the barest glance to her surroundings, and that only thanks to Vigilance. It was through this however that an opening presented itself when she backed up against the wall that was the side of the staircase. As Nomu lunged at her, she leaped back, using Flowmotion to run up the wall. For a brief moment, Nomu was stuck, allowing Strelitzia a little breathing room.

"Watera!" A broad torrent of high pressure water emerged from Starlight, slamming down on Nomu with a force that for a normal person would break skin and shatter bones. The impact cracked the tiles of the floor yet against the villain, it seemingly had no effect, the Shock Absorbtion ability negating the impact. It did however, neatly extinguish the flames.

Strelitzia kicked off the wall, landing behind the villain as it broke free. Maybe she could try to restrain it. It would easily break through any stone walls she tried to put up so instead… "Gravira!"

The spell formed a brief dark sphere, engulfing Nomu, increasing it's weight and it did nothing.

The villain didn't even seem to notice the increased gravity, such was its strength. It continued almost unabated, and Strelitzia was forced to release the spell as it charged. She managed to avoid its claws but was clipped by its arm, sending her sprawling across the floor in pain as Nomu ran past her, the protection spell pushed to it's limit by even that glancing blow.

As she struggled to her feet, she looked up to see Nomu just about to leap towards her again from the other side. She was in no state to dodge quickly enough. She raised Starlight, prepared to at least try to deflect it, only for a strange fluid to instead rain down on Nomu.

Immediately, its flesh began to sizzle and hiss as the acid ate through Nomu's body. Nomu stopped and looked up, and Strelitzia followed its gaze to see that others were joining in. Reiko was levitating a chunk of debris with Mina and Hiryu riding along.

Hiryu was firing his scales though they were having comparatively little effect to the acid Mina was raining down.

Nomu attempted to leap up at them, but Reiko quickly moved her platform out of the way, taking her classmates safely out of the way of the Villains claws.

As it landed a wave of ice and cold swept across the plaza, freezing Nomu to the ground. Shoto had arrived.

As Nomu struggled to break free of the ice, Strelitia rose to her feet, taking advantage of the lull to prepare more fully.

Hefting Starlight, she began casting.

"Cura!" A soft light washed over her as her wounds healed. With that taken care of, she moved to her next spell. She needed more power if she was going to do anything lasting to this creature, or at least, to be certain of it. And thus her next spell. "Faith!"

Almost immediately, Strelitzia felt a surge of confidence and clarity of mind. With this, her magical abilities were enhanced, which she took almost immediate advantage of, targeting its regenerative abilities.

"Bio!" A greenish aura engulfed Nomu and Strelitzia watched as it's flesh roiled. The spell sapped away at the villains vitality, causing its body to decay at the same time as its regeneration tried to recover it. The scene reminded her oddly of boiling water; hunks of rubbery black flesh degraded and sloughed off, then bubbled back into existence, only to repeat the process. Even if she had a talent for it, she didn't like using this kind of magic.

Nomu was staggering as it's limbs were not spared this effect, the damage and healing throwing the villain off balance. The damage was further exacerbated by Mina's acid, searing through the villains rubbery hide. All throughout this, Nomu didn't seem to be perturbed in any way. No cries of pain, no grimaces or changes of expression, not even any winces or flinching.

Shoto turned towards her, giving her a strange look, though Strelitzia couldn't dwell on that now. They had to press this advantage why the sap effect lasted.

"Keep attacking!" She said. "Freeze it!"

Shoto nodded, and held out his hand, only to grimace and collapse to the ground, shivering. He had frost running across his body, though unlike before it didn't look by choice.

"It's too cold. After fighting the other villains I've reached my limit."

Thinking quickly, Strelitzia raised Starlight. "Barfrost!"

Shoto visually warmed up as the spell took hold, stopping his shivering and having his full range of motion. He rose, clenching and unclenching his hands. "You can..."

"Attack!" Strelitzia interrupted.

Shoto nodded, and with a wave of his arm, a surge of ice and cold stormed forth. Adding to the chill, Strelizia cast Blizzara, sending the dual cold wave storming towards their foe. Amazingly, despite the injuries and hindrances, Nomu still managed to partially avoid the attack, the wave of cold catching it on its right side; its right legs were encased in ice.

It hadn't been what she had been hoping for, but Nomu was still restrained and massively weakened. Meaning she was now free to tend to other urgent matters, namely Mr. Aizawa.

Her teacher remained where he lay, forgotten by the villains now that he was down, though the same couldn't be said for the Heartless as pack of Shadows was converging on him.

"Thunder Surge!" Lightning wreathed Strelitzia as she dashed forwards, striking at the Heartless, destroying them before they could finish him off.

With the enemies cleared for the moment, she looked down at her unconscious teacher. Mr. Aizawa was in bad shape. He was bleeding profusely from the head, parts of his arm were straight up missing exposing the muscle underneath, and there were deep gashes in his back where Nomu's claws had torn into him.

"Cura!" A soft light shone over Aizawa, and his wounds closed, the gashes on his back were reduced to deep cuts and began to scab over, new flesh grew over the exposed muscle, and his head wound stopped bleeding. He was still unconscious, but at least he was stable.

As she finished the spell, Strelitzia felt a wave of fatigue, and she propped up Starlight, leaning on it to catch her breath. She had been using a lot of magic today, using techniques and spells that were once trivial but now costly. Haste, Faith, Vigilance, Bio...

She wasn't out yet, but her magic reserves were dwindling and she would eventually need to let them recharge. She didn't have that many casts left.

But for now…

"Strelitzia!" A familiar voice sounded from above. She looked up to see Relm flying towards her, riding on the back of a painted creature that looked roughly like a pterodactyl. She circled down towards her, quickly leaping off her mount once it was low enough.

"Relm?"

"Are you okay? Is… is… is Mr. Aizawa gonna be okay?" She asked, looking down at her wounded teacher.

"He should be." She'd cast another healing spell, but she needed to conserve the energy. He was stable, thankfully, so Recovery Girl could tend to him.

"So what now?" Relm asked, looking from Aizawa to Nomu, who at that moment broke free of the ice it had been trapped in. Unfortunately, (for it), the freezing hadn't just been on the outside, it's right legs were frozen completely through and they broke off, sending the villain staggering to the ground.

Its flesh continued to shift and roil and Strelitzia could see muscle and bone exposed on Nomu's stumbs. They shuddered and bubbled as Nomus regeneration attempted to restore its missing limbs. New flesh and bone grew and decayed off in equal measure, leaving the villain disabled, at least while the spell lasted.

Meanwhile, the other villains in the area were keeping their distance, either intimidated by Strelitzia and Shoto, or wanting to keep their distance from the thrashing Nomu. The bird-masked villain remained motionless, like he had for much of the battle, while the shadowy villain was attempting to tend to the wounds of the hand-masked villain who was clearly their leader. The Heartless were dwindling, few left.

"Take Mr. Aizawa back up the stairs to Thirteen."

"Uh… Thirteen's down as well."

"What?!" Shoto asked.

"They said that shadowy guy turned her own Quirk against her!"

"Are there any Villains up there now?" Shoto asked.

"No. She's down, but everythings still calm up there. Momo and Hanta are trying to do what they can to tend to Thirteen's injuries now. In good news, Tenya managed to get away!"

"He did?" Strelitzia asked.

"Yeah, he slipped past the Villains and made it to the exit.

That was good news! With his speed, even if communications were down, he could run over to get help in person. Reinforcements were on the way.

"Then take Aizawa up there where it's safe. Hold down until the Heroes arrive."

"O-okay, what will you do?"

"We'll-"

"Look out!" Shoto interrupted, throwing up a wall of ice. Less than a second afterwards, something impacted the ice, shattering it in a pulse of light.

"Go! Now!" Strelitzia shouted as she shielded her head from ice shards.

Relm nodded, and the pterodactyl picked up Aizawa as she leaped on top. As she took off, she narrowly had to dodge one of the projectiles being fired. A gray-white sphere that Strelitzia recognized. Ruin.

That wasn't a Quirk! That was… magic!

She looked towards where the Ruin spell had come from, and sure enough, the figure in the black coat now held some sort of scepter in her hands. With Relm out of range, she turned to fire at Strelitzia and Shoto. Both dove out of the way in opposite directions as the sphere was launched towards them.

As Shoto landed, he ran his fingers along the ground, letting lose a wave of ice. The black-coat villain dodged the line of ice, though Strelitzia followed up with an Aero spell, blowing her off her feet. With Flowmotion, Strelitzia leaped over to her as the villain hit the ground. She attempted to rise, only to be tackled.

"Who are you?" Strelitzia demanded.

"None of your business. Aero!" The villain returned the favor, the air spell blasting her square in the chest. Not only was she caught off guard by the attack, she hadn't been expecting any serious magical attacks and had neglected a to cast a Shell spell.

She felt pain as the rending wind sent her flying to land in a heap. Still, she couldn't just lay here, she needed answers. She pushed herself to her knees and-

Blood. Her blood. Strelitzia froze, feeling a chill as memories of her death flooded back into her. Like she was back on that warehouse floor and-

"Strelitzia!" A familiar voice shook her out of her stupor. A shadow fell over her as the platform carrying Reiko, Hiryu and Mina lowered towards her. Mina called out. "Are you okay?"

"C-Cure!" Strelitzia chanted, and healing light washed over her. The injury wasn't as bad as she had initially thought. She was a Key-Bearer. Even without defensive magic she was still far more durable than normal.

"I'm fine." Strelitzia insisted dropping into a fighting stance once more. They weren't out of the woods yet. Several more villains were starting to creep closer to them, emboldened by the hooded figures attack it seemed. Strelitzia tensed, as gray light formed on the tip of the hooded villains scepter, prepared to block or counter her spell, only to hear a near-deafening explosion, followed by another familiar voice.

"DIE!" Katsuki had arrived out of the Conflagration Zone, and had launched himself straight at the hooded figure, blasting her away. Behind him, Eijiro and Ochako followed, with Eijiro slamming into a pair of villains with his super-hard body while Ochako hammered one away with a signpost.

The hooded figure was blasted off her feet, send flying backwards, her coat singed and seared as her scepter went flying in a different direction, clattering to the ground before fading away.

"After getting in my way is that all you extras have?!" Bakugo shouted.

"Nay. Much is yet in reserve, while you run dry. You will fall here, to the Hero's despair."

Unfortunately, it seemed he was serious. There was the sound of claws digging through concrete behind them, prompting Strelitzia to turn and see Nomu rising, the Villains right legs regenerating. The Bio effect had worn off.

The Villain staggered towards them, taking slow, uncertain, lurching steps on it's fresh legs as they weren't quite finished regenerating.

"It's back up!" Mina said.

"How do we fight it?" Hiryu asked.

"Were all gonna die!" Minoru shrieked.

"Strelitzia, can you do… whatever you did before?" Shoto asked.

"No." Strelitzia said. "All this fighting has left me pretty drained. I don't think I can anymore."

"Well I'm still raring to go. You extras can just sit back and-"

"Kacchan don't!" Izuku shouted.

"Don't tell me what to do Deku!"

"B-but It's got shock absorption. You're explosions aren't going to do anything against it!"

"That doesn't-."

"No, he's right." Said a familiar, nasally voice, interrupting. The ringleader of this whole thing, watched over by the darkness Villain. Even missing a limb, he still managed a vindictive laugh. "You're all going to die! Especially that bitch with the key!"

Strelitzia focused as Nomu stalked them, it's limbs fully regrown. Shoto attempted to freeze it again, though this time it effortlessly broke through the ice before it could be encased. She was about to try a Protect wall. She didn't know how well it would hold against Nomu's strength, but she had to try.

Nomu moved to pounce, while Strelitzia raised Starlight to cast, only for a loud crash to sound behind her.

Nomu stopped, it's attention turned towards where the sound came from. Tentatively, she looked up, to see a large cloud of dust had been kicked up around the entrance area. But more importantly was who emerged from that dust, his trademark smile replaced with an outraged scowl. All Might had arrived.

"HAVE NO FEAR FOR I AM HERE!"

This chapter kinda fought me. The USJ is surprisingly harder to write than I expected, though the changes probably don't help. Thankfully, I actually got a big chunk of the writing done on Christmas Day of all things.

~Dragonexx