my birthday was a week ago, sorry for the delay!

Denji's feet moved faster than his eyes did.

His left hand tore through tendrils of quivering and erratic flesh just as his right saw melted off and scooped up the small girl. Denji's chain paused to a shudder as his saw got caught on something hard. The limb kept the still frozen in shock child to his right as Denji rotated his head back to see the cause.

…And now he kinda wished he just abandoned his arm and didn't bother to look back.

It was like the hotel all over again, hundreds of disfigured arms and wings sprouting out of somewhere in the mass of slithering flash in rapid surges. 'Cept this time, it wasn't slowing down, and his arm was getting grabbed by one of the gross hands.

Man, these guys were always the most annoying to kill.

"Gragh!" Denji cut his losses and moved on, by which he meant literally cutting off his arm and sprinting around the groaning abomination to find his teammates.

Looking back, the girl he was carrying was still motionless. At least she wasn't freaking out by him chopping off his hand, but still. Why can't a plan ever work out!?

A goofy smile showed on his metal face. "More fun this way though!"

Swish!

Ducking and sliding under a tentacle meant to clothesline him and promptly then hopping over a few dozen hands meant to spear him, his body suddenly froze in the air. "Whuh!?"

Rocketed forward in an ungraceful way while gripping tight on his passenger, Denji slammed onto the ground near Magne next to the unconscious thug that had created this mess. Ignoring his very audible swears, Magne raised her good arm and Twice landed near her with another audible oof.

Raising both of her arms now, Magne swore loudly at the nonresponse her quirk gave her. "Where the FUCK is Shigaraki!? I can't even fucking bring him over here!"

Twice groaned, before startling himself and checking his body for a broken bone, and then sighed in relief. Looking around like a meerkat, he put his hands behind his head as Magne freaked out, still on the ground as he did so. He saw a kid being held by Denji.

Ignoring that, Twice decided to talk to Magne instead. "I mean, he's still hiding, right? Dude is gonna absolutely dust Chisaki, we'll be fine!"

Nearly barking back a threat, Magne was interrupted and cringed at the disgusting sounds of bones cracking and flesh being ripped apart because of the continued monstrification of the man before her. God, she thought the whole fucking reason for the league existing was so they didn't have to deal with crazy shit by THEMSELVES!

"What are you talkin' 'bout Magne?" He continued, "Ya alright?"

Her head was throbbing. "I didn't mean to say that out loud."

"Ok!"

At least Denji's still chipper. Magne swung her around and took a look at Twice's costume. The mask was miraculously free of all but the tiniest of scratches, but it was due to expire. Swinging her head to her right, her mind had to reboot itself upon seeing Denji holding a little girl.

"Denji, who is that?"

"I dunno."

Maybe she should have just moved to America after all.

Ignorant of the inner bloodcurdling scream of frustration in Magne, Denji got up carefully. Cracking his elbows and doing quick stretches, Denji gently plopped the girl down next to Magne, and a saw carved through his previous barren left arm. Which splashed blood all over the mystery girl beside him.

Eri blinked.

Scratching his head, Denji yawned and pointed at the obelisk of flesh. "Ya mind if I dice him up right now? Shiggy wouldn' get mad at me right?"

"Depends," Magne replied in a deadpan tone, "Just don't fuck up things even more."

Denji took a moment to think about it, and then he thrust his arms out and dove directly into the mass of whirling limbs, "AWWW YEAH! THAT'S ALL I NEEDED TO HEAR, BABY!"

Ducking low, he swung both of his hands up lazily and slid his saws through some threatening appendages aimed his way. Almost seemingly annoyed, dozens of elongated hands spurt out of the maimed limb towards Denji's way, aimed to pop him like a balloon.

Unfortunately for Chisaki, Denji was just having too much fun for it to end now.

An outstretched hand darted towards Denji's face and—

Krunch!

Denji took a swift bite out of the limb and swallowed the fresh morsel of fingers as it recoiled back in pain, "TASTES LIKE PEACH JAM, GYAHAHAHAH! ARE HANDS YOUR ONLY MOVE!? CUZ IT'S GETTIN' BORING!"

More akin to that of a freestyle breakdance with Denji's laughter as its music track than any fair fight, Denji had soon littered the cracked cement floor with a literal rain of gore as he drew closer to the main body. As the distance between the devil and the abomination turned into mere meters, the ground rumbled as a bona fide wall of hands popped up in front of Denji.

Denji had a big 'ol grin on his face.

A chain shot out of his headsaw, and his right leg split open as a fourth blade erupted from his knee. The chain dug into the top of the screeching flesh-wall and Denji's left knee dented the ground underneath him as he readied and—leapt over the wall in an Olympics worthy high jump.

His arms were raised up high, before slamming down violently to chop off the various miscellaneous appendages aimed to intercept Denji. One of such limbs recoiled back in agony, only to be sliced open in its vulnerability as Denji's saw-leg dug in and slid him down it like a macabre skateboard trick.

Jumping off the improvised slope, Denji's tongue lolled out in his maniac smile as he shouted, "TTTTIMMMBBEERRR!"

The tower of pulsating flesh was bisected as Denji landed on the ground with style that only surviving lethal velocity dozens of times could provide. The top of the tower shrieked as it toppled over, onto the ground, as Denji did his textbook superhero landing. Shaking his leg to shake off excess blood, his saw melted down and, he looked back at the previously spasming obelisk.

It almost looked like an otherworldly tree, one formed from blood and skin rather than that of wood and sap. The bark was kinda like calluses, Denji noted, and it was pretty weird compared to other stuff he had seen in his time here. Sure, some freaky lookin' dudes were roaming the streets, but the weirdest ones always just looked like fiends, not… trees.

Denji puffed out his chest, "Meh, all's well ends well!"

Drip.

A drop of blood fell off the bark of the tree, and Denji turned around. And then, slowly, the tree began to bleed. As if a well had been over pumped with water, what began with just a few droplets turned into a steady trickle. A steady trickle into an overflowing bottle, and an overflowing bottle to a bursting fountain of blood, raining the nearby area and its occupants in blood.

Dark, too dark, blood pooled out from the eerily silent tree. It was too similar to water, blood was thicker than this.

Blood tasted a little bit sweeter, too.

Denji cracked his neck and strolled casually over against the shouting from Magne and some other voices he didn't recognize, and didn't really give enough of a shit to heed their warnings.

He took a knee on the edge of the trunk and looked inside. A pulsating heart stared back at him. It beat slowly, and each pump splattered blood on Denji. Its top was the only part Denji could see, the main mass of the thing resting alongside the roots of the tree.

…

Denji sniffed the air and cocked his head in confusion.

"I thought devils wasn' a thing here…"

The egg cracked, and a baby bird took its first chirp.

"The hell!? Beat it punk!"

His heart was pounding, but Izuku still moved forward toward the yelling man. He dodged a hammer-shaped arm (literally) and gave a light, unpowered kick to his chest. The man grunted as he stumbled back, only for a burst of air to slam into the thug and quickly handcuff him.

Resisting the urge to methodically write down notes of how quickly Gran Torino just did that, Izuku decided to be more useful to his teacher. "I've been using 5% One For All for a while now, and I'm sure I won't need to slow down anytime soon!"

Groaning and rubbing his back, his teacher nodded. "Good. You shouldn't even be here at the moment, but I knew Yagi would get himself into trouble all the damn time when he was your age. Just make sure to not overdo it, and know your limits."

"Eeek!" The boy said before devolving into mumbles again.

Ah, Izuku was fanboying over the "hidden lore" of All Might again. Truly, he did not think Yagi had it in him to actually do all the nonsense he was spouting way back when. And now, he had every nerd in the country spamming his emails. And with all the effort he put into being a crappy hero too…

Good times.

"Gran Torino?"

God, he wished it wasn't so late. "Midoriya, have you been sent any messages on your phone regarding the situation at all? I only have my emergency signaller on me, this new fangled technology they give to heroes is confusing for little old me…"

Muttering something about his emergency signaller or whatever humbug the boy was saying, Izuku sputtered and responded after the old man cleared his throat. "Ah! No, I haven't… I even tried sending some messages to some of my classmates that had been patrolling this city, but… no response."

"Well–" the man cut himself off as his eyes widened at something behind Izuku.

…

Gran Torino disappeared from Izuku's sight, and the boy found himself tackled onto the street. The man rolled off of Izuku and started wheezing. His previously only dusty boots were completely reduced to specks of yellow paint on the old man's feet, and he looked as if a bucket of sweat had just been dumped on him.

"Midoriya…" Koff… "Call for… emergency… backup…" Koff.

He must have tired himself out too much, Izuku calmly reasoned.

"I–," he stuttered, "I will."

Only then, did he realize everything was too quiet.

Izuku stood up slowly and looked at the police cars.

They were flashing, yes, but the head cracking whine of the alarms was only just barely audible above the pounding in Izuku's head. Smeared blood and damages evident from quirks and bullets littered the ground. They must have been fighting those who tried to escape the building, Izuku calmly reasoned.

….zap…

Hosu's lights flickered, and then everything went dark except for the screeching sirens. Emerald green sparks flashed across Izuku's body as he slowly turned backward, even as every instinct in his body begged him not to.

"In situations of uncertainty and fear, make sure to calmly find any and all clues for the villain's quirk and capabilities before any response."

There, in the pitch black, stood the frame of something massive. Something his mind vaguely labeled as a blurry dark claw dug deep into the concrete walls of an office building like paper mache and yet, the dark and heavy breaths of the shadowed individual were loud and clear even in the mental fog Izuku had at this moment.

By some miracle, several of the backup generators must have kicked in, illuminating the section of the street Izuku was in.

The wrinkled claw dropped from the building and hung low to the ground, its talon-like fingers piercing slightly into the sidewalk, allowing itself to be gazed upon by Izuku. In all aspects that truly mattered, it still resembled a human's hand. It may have been too long, too thin, and too sharp for any regular person he'd met, but it must have just been some quirk, Izuku calmly reasoned. Something which he had encountered before.

The sound of a waterfall interrupted Izuku's flow of thoughts. Of course, he calmly remembered that waterfalls didn't sound quite so viscous as the one he was hearing now.

It leaked onto the streets like an abandoned faucet onto an old bathtub.

Izuku kept on inhaling and exhaling slowly, each breath acting as a shaking hand of assurance on his shoulder. That and the rough coughs from Gran Torino behind him were the only thing keeping him from not literally quivering in his boots.

A grinning vulture was looking into him. Its curved beak was in a wide sneer, and it was open with a torrential river of blood flowing out onto the empty street.

The rest of the humanoid body had the same look as its hand, wrinkled and obsidian black, and for a second Izuku thought of that monster All Might had beaten at the USJ. It did, after all, have the same vague looks.

But the Nomu's skin didn't look loose on the body, almost dropping from its flesh and exposing its skinny frame, Izuku was sure of that.

The Nomu's beak didn't look like patchwork fabric sewn onto the skin.

The Nomu wasn't the size of a small building.

The Nomu never vomited blood.

The Nomu never smiled wide at him.

And most of all,

the Nomu was always human,

this thing wasn't.

…

The ground that Izuku stood on turned into dust.

"Ugh…"

He spat out chunks of himself as he revved one last time. The transformation from chunky salsa on the ground to his normal self again has been completed. And no dudes saw him this time, yay!

Denji stood up slowly, walked to a nearby corpse, and without even so much a glance at the man's face, he put on the slightly torn jeans. It would take a while to kill the dev–dude if he died every time Chisaki touched him, cause he'd have to find new clothes every time!

Well, that's what he thought happened. He caught a whiff of a devil and then he instinctively pulled his ripcord, only to wake up on the ground. Again.

"Oi, Magne, Twice, ya there!?" Denji hollered.

Just more rumbles somewhere around him. Maybe he shouldn't have ignored them.

Damnit… if they died, he'd probably get kicked out of the league!

He sighed before taking a look at the dead body he looted. The dude didn't die from a fall or anything, and if he got hit the same way Denji did, there'd be no pants left. The jeans were pretty good quality, despite being robbed on an active battlefield. So…

Swish!

Denji pivoted 90° degrees to his left and caught the whistling dagger in his fangs, and crunched it into scrap. A few tiny shards drew pain as they dug into his tongue, but Denji only drew a smile at that. His saws quickly accelerated in irritation as he turned to the attacker and spat out the metal shards.

A scratchy voice crept into his ear, "...Scum."

He still needed to find his fucking squad and beat the tar out of Chisaki!

…Well, and save that little girl, but mainly those two, something which Denji could be doing right now if he wasn't being FUCKING interrupted!

"What's a guy gotta do 'round here to get some peace 'n QUIET!"

Denji heard a scoff from the dark, as a man hopped down in front of him. He had no nose. Freaky, but it didn't stop him from slamming his saws together in a show of intimidation. He was a pretty patient guy, Denji thought, so he'd give the dude a few seconds to back off before he turned him into a chainsaw kebab.

Chizome was thoroughly unimpressed at the show. "Your instinctual passion for combat is admirable, but in the end, you're just a mad dog, aren't you?"

"Don't call me a fuckin' dog, toad face!" Denji barked, "Didn't you see that shit that just happened? I gotta get over there!"

The man sneered, "What, another one of those Nomu's sent by the brat? Perhaps we had gotten off on the wrong foot… it'll be a good test to see which heroes will persevere. But no matter, I thought had killed you before, surrender your life to me quietly, and I–"

"UGH!" Smacking his saws onto his headsaw with a violently unpleasant sound, Denji howled. "I don't… FUCKIN CARE! I keep gettin' INTERRUPTED, out of my way, or I'LL KILL YA!"

Stain narrowed his eyes under the thick cloth bandaging his head, "What, did Tartarus not teach a brat like you to grow up?"

Denji dove forward, "DIE!"

Denji's slash hit air as Stain sidestepped his lunge and sliced open his back with a worn katana, drawing out a mild grunt of annoyance. Assuming (rightfully) that the boy would not shrug off the attack, Stain pulled his sword arm back to prepare a quick thrust through the heart, but unfortunately for him, Denji ignored the wound.

Rather than avoiding the thrust or just slicing back at him, Denji cracked the uneven ground underneath his feet and threw his body back against Stain, impaling himself on the sword and getting it stuck in his guts, but also slamming Stain hard onto the rubble below them. The force of the counter was enough to probably shatter the spine of a civvy, so Denji took his chances. Beginning his classic demented cackle, Denji turned around quickly and prepared to vivisect the vigilante.

"GYAHAH–Ghrk!?" Denji's body froze.

RRRRrRRrrrRrRrrrrRrrrrrr….

Denji's blood trickled down his chin, Stain unsheathed a dagger as he panted and promptly staked it into Denji's heart unceremoniously. The squelching of meat and the slight sounds of exertion from Stain was the only audible tell there was a conflict in the first place.

Splurt…

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Denji stared at Stain as he removed his hand from the blade in his chest, blood pouring out as he did so.

"Hah…" Stain staggered back as the lack of new adrenalin reminded him of his fresh wound.

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Muscles still unmoving, Denji's body stood slack and silent as Stain caught his breath. Cracking his neck, Chizome took out another dagger and began his insurance policy for regeneration, a quick decapitation should–

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrR.

Clack.

Stain's knife fell to the ground.

Heaving, Stain backed off from Denji in a flash and his newly sliced off arm that now laid on the ground.

rrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrRrr.

Little pieces of Denji's fangs fell out of his mouth, having shattered themselves against one another with the sheer force at which Denji clenched his jaw. The headbutt Denji had just done was meant to slice the man in half cleanly, but he had missed. Stain's quirk was still locking up the body of Denji to enough of a degree to save his life, but only just that.

rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrRrrRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrR.

The rest of Stain's blood splashed off of Denji's head mounted chainsaw as they rotated faster than they had for a very long time.

rrrrrrrrrrrRrrRRRrrrrrrrrrrrRrrRRrrrrrRRrrrR.

The yellow flames in Denji's eye turned blurry, and separated into fours as Stain cupped his bleeding elbow. Quickly breathing and breathing out in sets of three, he unwrapped a bandage from his chest and wrapped it over his bleeding limb sluggishly.

rRRrrrrrrrRrrRRRrrrRRrrrrrrRrrRRrrrrrRRrrrRRRRRR…!

Stain's wide eyes stared into the unblinking headlights as the very muscle fibers in Denji's arms ripped themselves apart to physically overcome his quirk, and force the knife in his heart out.

His life essence oozed out of his heart, and just barely before his skin connected, Stain saw a pair of unblinking eyes in Denji's heart.

Denji's eyes didn't move from Stain as he discarded the blade. "I'm gonna kill ya."

RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

Excruciatingly, Denji took a step forward, even as every muscle fiber in his body ripped itself apart to do so. Didn't matter, since he can always make more chains to replace 'em, and a little bit of pain was nothing compared to what he's gonna do to this asshole.

It was fine though. Denji liked that feeling of pain, anyway. Made him forget all the crappiness 'round him.

…

Oh. The dude was gone. He didn't even hear him leave over his saws.

A puddle of vomit and blood was where Stain had marked his exit.

RRRrrrrRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…

"...What a jerk."

Denji rubbed his heart gingerly and gave it a small pat. Turning around, he kicked the dismembered arm with a huff into the rest of surrounding debris and walked toward the sounds of fighting.