'Thursday morning. Another day of Evoker classes,' Izuku thought as he roused in his dorm bed, smiling at the sight of little Eri slumbering peacefully beside him.

Last night she'd had a nightmare and pleaded to sleep with him, so he'd received texts from the girls insisting he spend the night in the dorms rather than at The Crowley. Not surprisingly, a six-year-old sleeping above a pub wasn't an ideal option, so he'd obliged.

Eri stirred, blinking awake to find Izuku's warm smile greeting her. "Good morning, Eri. Sleep well?"

The girl threw her little arms around him in a tight hug. "Yeah! Good morning, Papa!"

She'd started calling him that shortly after moving into the dorms - apparently Mina's idea. Izuku didn't mind; he just never expected to be filling a fatherly role at his age. Mina was also working on getting Eri to call her 'Mama', but that hadn't quite stuck yet. In his opinion, she'd sooner call Ochaco that than Mina, but Izuku can't fault her spirit.

Izuku hugged her back, patting her messy bedhead affectionately. "I'm glad, sweetie. Want some breakfast?"

"Yes please!" Eri piped, tummy rumbling hungrily.

"Alright, just give me a few minutes."

He slipped from the warm sheets and padded downstairs to the kitchen. Soon the mouthwatering aromas of sizzling bacon and fluffy scrambled eggs filled the dorm. He plated the hot food along with a glass of orange juice for Eri and his own caramel frappe.

Back upstairs, Eri dug in happily as Izuku sipped his coffee, the two eating in comfortable silence. A little while later, a sharp rap at the door made Eri jump.

"Izuku! There you are!" Nana swept in, decked out in her gear and practically vibrating with excitement. "Morning, Eri!"

"Good morning, Nana-nee!" Eri chirped around a mouthful of eggs.

"Morning, Nana," Izuku echoed, arching a brow. "What's going on?"

"We need to get down to The Crowley basement right now! I've got something amazing to show you!" Her eyes sparkled like an eager child's, reminding him of when Eri first learned 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' on her ukulele. And despite not knowing anything about modern technology until recently, Ochaco has a pinned picture of it inside her room she that laminated herself. He finds it very sweet.

"But what about the lecture?"

"Trust me, this is way more important! Now move that cute ass!"

Izuku sighed at her antics. "Okay, fine. Just let me say bye to Eri."

"Yeah yeah, but be quick!"

He turned and hugged Eri tightly. "I've got to head out for a bit with Nana-nee, okay sweetie? You stay and practice your music."

Eri nodded as Izuku kissed her brow. Despite her rough start, she was settling in so well here.

They went to The Crowley, Nana grinning from ear-to-ear as she led Izuku toward their mysterious destination. When they stopped, she turned to him, eyes alight with childlike excitement.

"Gear up, Izuku! This is gonna be so awesome!"

Though perplexed by her uncharacteristic giddiness, he'd never seen her so thrilled before. Shrugging, he complied, heading back upstairs to change into his usual camouflage attire.

"You've gotten much quicker at throwing that gear on," Nana observed from the doorway, making him jump.

"Jesus, Nana! Trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Now that would be an embarrassing way to go," she laughed. "An Evoker, immune to all disease, felled by cardiac arrest!"

"Hilarious," Izuku deadpanned, zipping up. "Just gotten used to having to suit up in a hurry sometimes. We hitting the Portal?"

"You know it! There's someone I need you to meet." Her grin stretched even wider, if possible. "Ready?"

Izuku frowned. "Shouldn't we grab the others?"

Nana waved a dismissive hand as she strode toward the shimmering portal. "Nah, this is a secret rendezvous. Couldn't tell you about it until now, much as I wanted to." That megawatt smile returned. "But trust me, it's gonna be sooo worth it!"

"Where are we headed, exactly?" Izuku asked as he followed her through the shifting planar rift.

"Bit further into the Wilds of Elsewhere than you've ventured yet."

"Should be a fun experience."

Soon the familiar lush, vibrant scenery surrounding them began taking on an ominous, sinister edge. Twisted tangles of gnarled branches clawed up from the gloom, leering with macabre faces that seemed to follow their passing with empty sockets. The air thickened with a dank, oppressive chill that raised goosebumps along Izuku's nape.

Nana, however, radiated delight - utterly unperturbed as their path wound ever deeper into darkness.

After some time they arrive at a large tree. Much larger than what he's seen before and far creepier as well.

At length they reached a gargantuan, ancient tree, its blackened trunk larger than any Izuku had ever witnessed. Wicked, curved thorns as thick as his wrist protruded haphazardly from its bark. Below the grotesque behemoth yawned a shadowy crevasse that seemed to drink in all light.

"Down we go!" Nana announced brightly.

Izuku eyed the ominous pit with trepidation. "You're sure? Looks like a monster's den."

"Oh don't be such a big pussy," she scoffed. "There's not much in Elsewhere meaner or bigger than a couple of Evokers. He should be around here somewhere..."

Her voice trailed off as a deep, gravelly baritone suddenly rumbled out of the gloom.

"Who is 'he'?"

"That'd be me, Midoriya."

A towering, barrel-chested figure materialized from the shadows - easily over six-and-a-half feet tall, with a wild red beard and blazing white eyes. A massive warhammer rested casually across one shoulder.

Izuku started violently. "Eindridi?! What's with the jump scares today? For a moment, I thought you were a Lich or something."

The giant rumbled with harsh laughter as Nana called out a greeting.

"We're here, just like you asked, Grandpa!"

"Grandpa?" Izuku's brow furrowed in confusion.

"Yeah! Remember when I said I had huge news?" Nana could barely contain her glee. "Well, I met up with Gran, and she filled me in on some crazy family history."

"So Eindridi is your grandfather?"

"Totally! But that's not even the best part, because I almost didn't believe the other bombshell she dropped."

Izuku arched an expectant brow. "Which is?"

The towering figure rumbled with harsh laughter. "That Eindridi isn't my name - it's a title. My true name is Thor."

A smirk played over Izuku's lips. "Cute. Same name as the Norse God of Thunder, huh?"

"No, boy." Thor's glowing eyes bored into him with ancient solemnity. "I am the Norse God of Thunder."

Izuku nearly toppled over, just barely windmilling his arms in time to catch his balance. "W-What? You mean THE Thor? As in the actual Thunder God Thor?"

Thor inclined his head once, braided beard swaying. "The one and only."

"Seriously?" Izuku sputtered. "My lecturer is a literal god? UA just gets crazier!"

At first he didn't think anyone could top having All Might, but now he'd apparently been studying under a divine being all along.

"Told you it would blow your mind!" Nana crowed, jumping excitedly.

Izuku turned to the massive deity, head swimming. "So why keep up the charade in class? Or are we just here for the ambiance?"

"I looked into what transpired," Thor rumbled, "and located the necromancer who unleashed that lich upon you. He was...reluctant to talk at first, but in the end he spilled what was happening. Along with his guts."

A feral grin split Nana's features as she pantomimed gutting a foe. Izuku swallowed hard.

"Point is," Thor continued with a scowl, "the Outsiders are returning to cull another failed pantheon - the price we'll pay for Merlin's hubris."

"Unless we stop them," Izuku pointed out.

The god's bellow of outrage made the gnarled trees shudder. "You still fail to grasp their significance, cub! They are key forces of nature itself. The wolves must cull the herd to preserve its health!"

Indignation blazed in Izuku's eyes as he fired back, "And the deer get no say in this slaughter? Fuck that!"

Thor shook his head slowly. "Your arrogance is staggering, cub. All life ends, even for the gods. But this time, at least the Outsiders will cleanse the stain of Merlin's miscarried experiment from the Earth."

"Like hell! I'm guessing Merlin and my father planned for this." Izuku said hotly. "That's what the whole Mantle business is about - the Once and Future King prophecy! Together, we can defeat them again!"

Thor laughed then, harsh and mocking. "Foolish boy. You and Arthur's pathetic get cannot slay the Outsiders. Which brings us here." His tone became somber. "It gives me no real pleasure, kid. In another life, I would have been honored to share a drink with you in Valhalla."

Izuku frowned, thoroughly lost. "What are you-?"

"But Merlin's plans ends here. As do you."

In a blur of motion, Thor's massive warhammer cracked him in the ribs with a deafening boom of thunder. Agony whited out Izuku's world as his body was blown apart in a welter of shredded flesh and shattered bone. Unfathomable power arced through him, paralyzing every nerve with pure electrical trauma.

Nana's scream of horrified rage barely penetrated the muffled ringing in Izuku's ears. "WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, EINDRIDI!"

Everything felt distant, muted - his body refusing to respond as he leaked precious lifeblood into the loamy soil.

The god said with infuriating calm, "I'm doing this for us, Nana. For the Clan, and the Æsir. The way to outrun a wolf pack is to ensure you're not the slowest member of the herd. And sometimes, that requires you to break someone's leg to keep them from running too fast."

Through the searing agony and waves of darkness crashing over his senses, Izuku managed to croak out a plea. "N-Nana..."

He saw her unleash hellish flames that should have incinerated a lesser being where they stood - but Thor didn't even flinch.

"Fuck yer clan and Æsir, Eindridi!" she raged, aura blazing like a solar furnace. "Ye don't get to do this to mah mate! Ah don't care what reasons ye think ye have!"

Lightning arced from Thor's palms to smash Nana aside, her wrath extinguished as quickly as a candle flame. She crumpled, scorched and senseless.

"Loyalty is well and good, child," the god intoned. "But blood will always come first."

Defiant to the last, Izuku spat a glob of bloody phlegm. "F-Fuck you...Eindridi..."

Thor sighed wearily as he loomed over him, one huge hand lifting Izuku's shattered body with ease. Using the other, he reached into Izuku's chest and grasped something that made the boy's eye widen in shock and denial.

He extracted a slender, gnarled staff, its wood glowing with the faintest hint of eldritch runes.

"Your father presents...complications," Thor explained, giving the mystic rod a cursory glance. "A hard god, and vengeful. Best for me to avoid an outright confrontation, if possible."

"Who...?" Izuku rasped, every shallow breath a white-hot knife in his punctured lungs.

"Such questions will cease to hold meaning, soon enough," the god said with an edge of pity. He let Izuku's ruined form crumple to the ground as the staff came free with a final, brutal tug. "But I'd prefer being able to stare into his eyes and honestly say I didn't kill you. Which precludes just smashing your skull in and leaving you as a snack for the beasties." The God smirked at the thought.

"What are you...doing?" Izuku's voice was little more than a gurgling wheeze.

"Severing your link to magic," Thor told him soberly. "Depriving you of your ability to control or wield that Spark. Without it, your Spark will simply...consume you. Slowly, agonizingly."

With a monumental effort of will, Izuku managed one defiant croak. "If you strike me down...I shall become more powerful...than you can imagine..."

But the god's expression was unmoved, unsparked by mocking bravado. "I think not, boy. Goodbye - you were my second favorite pupil in that class."

With cruel nonchalance, Thor snapped the gnarled staff in two with a sickening crack. Instantly, Izuku's world detonated into a blinding, endless vortex of white-hot agony. His Spark erupted into an all-consuming firestorm, flaying his very soul as his ability to control magic was stripped away.

It felt like being skinned alive, then boiled inch by agonizing inch in a vat of molten metal while his skeleton was slowly extracted, bone by bone. An endless cycle of destruction as his existence itself seemed to combust from the inside out.

'I've lost my magic,' he realized through the torment, the realization almost as excruciating as the physical trauma. 'I'll never feel that surge of power racing through my cards again...'

He saw Thor dragging Nana's limp form away, her body leaving a crimson trail across the loamy soil. Such brutish treatment, but Izuku knew the god could have killed her instantly if he wished.

'I'm sorry I'll never get to say goodbye,' he thought as a fresh wave of infinite torment crashed over him. 'To the girls...to Mom...but most of all, to Ochaco.'

One final, cataclysmic detonation of searing pain seared what little remained of his mind. As oblivion encroached, he managed one last, tremulous thought toward the love of his life:

'Goodbye, Ochaco...I love you...'

Yeah, I'm splitting it. Feels more appropriate. Plus, it creates an interesting duo for the title. Hammer of God and Sword of Mankind.

Next up: The Sword of Mankind