King of Enchanters

by E-LuckArcher

AU. Izuku was born with a quirk, one that at first appeared to be a simple energy generation one. However, Izuku's desire for a true friend leads him to discover that his quirk is much more versatile than that. Watch as Izuku becomes the greatest Hero in history, enchanting his way to the top. POLY. AU

11. Chapter 11

Special thanks to The Sinful for Beta.

Disclaimer: I don't own My Hero Academia or any related content.

ι

The villain screamed like a lunatic.

Momo's eyes widened seeing the villain lunge at Izuku's prone body, his mouth stretched taut in a psychotic hateful grin.

She couldn't let him touch him. She couldn't let him kill her classmate. Momo couldn't let him kill the one who saved her life.

She acted without thinking, her body going through the motions and forming a familiar—though it was black and green this time—FN SCAR rifle.

The villain's palm was just about to touch Izuku's head. Just another moment and he'd be able to decay her classmates. She couldn't allow that.

Momo fired, still operating without thinking. The recoil hurt like hell, but Momo didn't pay any attention to it.

She was rewarded by a howl of agony by the villain. One bullet had pierced into his thigh and two others tore through his wrist, blowing his hand off and sending it flying.

She wasn't the only one who had moved.

Miruko. Beautiful and deadly Miruko materialised on Izuku's other side out of nowhere—Momo didn't even register that there was something different about her at that moment thanks to her speed and the fire. Still covered in flames, her feet connected with the villain's face.

There was a satisfying sound of bones breaking and sizzling of skin just as the air was displaced, and the villain's body was sent flying.

Momo was moving before even that. Operating on instincts she didn't even know she had, Momo moved in a trance just as Miruko's kick connected.

All the calculations needed were done and Momo's eye was trained on the spot the villain would reach.

Killing wasn't encouraged for Heroes. In fact, it was encouraged to take villains alive as most were small-time criminals. There were exceptions, of course. Such as killing to protect civilians and other Heroes or the villain being too strong that could only be taken out.

A villain with an extremely dangerous quirk attacking a school, leading a band of villains to kill students, hurt Pro Heroes, and was moments away from killing one of them?

No one would've blamed Momo for taking such a deranged killer out.

Black fog started to swirl mid-air. At the same time, the entrance was blown wide open and All Might—who wasn't smiling—burst through.

Working in machine-like efficiency, Momo fired.

The black fog engulfed the villain and vanished. A fraction of a second later, the bullet passed through where the villain's heart would've been just then.

Momo blinked, coming out of her trance filled with confusion.

She registered two things before her legs gave out. They had won, and Izuku was safe now.

ι

Denki had arrived just before his classmates carried out their plan. He wasn't the only one, as everyone who wasn't in the Central Plaza before, arrived roughly at the same time. Some looked worse than the others—Kuroiro was heavily injured and unconscious—but they all looked like they'd live. And that was the most important part.

He, like everyone else, gawked when they saw Izuku's finishing attack: a massive sword beam that destroyed everything in its path. And like everyone else, they gasped in horror seeing the state of their friend after the attack, and the mad villain's rush to try and kill Izuku.

Thankfully, Yaoyorozu and Miruko managed to stop him, protecting Izuku and dealing some decent injuries to the villain.

Denki had to blink upon seeing Miruko. If it weren't for her uniform, he'd not be able to recognise her. Rather than being more like a Bunny cosplayer—after all, she only had ears and tail—Miruko now looked like a proper rabbit.

She was taller and her body was covered with white fur. Her hair was longer, and her face looked slightly more like a bunny than a human while her tail was much bigger and longer, almost looking like a fox's tail. She also had some form of electricity running around her body. In short, she looked like a proper humanoid rabbit rather than a simple rabbit girl.

Several people—Komori, Yaoyorozu, Mina, Fumikage, and Kirishima—ran towards Izuku, wanting to check on their classmate who seemed out of it. At the same time, there was an explosion from somewhere, but no one paid it any attention until All Might suddenly materialised in front of them with Recovery Girl on one shoulder, and Nana on the other.

Recovery Girl immediately jumped beside Izuku.

"Give me some space to work, everyone," she said, shooing everyone away as she went to her knees beside Izuku, examining his body.

Meanwhile, All Might looked around. "Are there any villains still here?" he asked.

"Any who remain are incapacitated," answered Todoroki.

All Might nodded, and Denki realised what was wrong. All Might wasn't smiling. All Might turned to Miruko with a puzzled look on his face.

"You are?"

"I'm Miruko!" She snapped. "This is…" she gestured to her body before suddenly, she started shrinking, and her fur disappearing. The flames and the green aura around her body disappeared too. "Okay… apparently, it's not permanent, whatever, I'll think about it later." She turned to Recovery Girl, a scowl on her face. "Hey, Recovery Girl. Is Izuku going to be alright?" She asked, and Denki blinked at the soft expression she had on her face.

"He's heavily injured, but he'll make it if we hurry," Recovery Girl said, simultaneously assuring and worrying his friends. She took a piece of paper and wrote some things on it before she turned to Yaoyorozu. "Give me some first aid kit, girly, and work on creating a stretcher that will restrain his movements."

Yaoyorozu nodded immediately, creating the first aid kit in a moment before going to the side so she could create the stretcher.

"Is there anything I could do?" Asked Denki, feeling helpless.

Recovery Girl snorted. "Shut up, and gather your injured classmates nearer."

He did as asked, the worst injured were: Kuroiro, Todoroki, Kirishima, Sato, Aizawa, and Miruko. The rest were injured, but their injuries weren't that bad. As he finished, he saw Mina and Komori helping Recovery Girl put a bandaged Izuku on the stretcher and secure him tightly.

Recovery Girl turned to All Might, looking at him seriously. "All Might, take him as fast as you can to the hospital. My quirk won't work on him with how exhausted he is and will simply kill him. I left a note with his injuries and what they should do."

All Might nodded. "I'll get him there quickly."

"Be careful not to make his injuries worse though," warned Recovery Girl and All Might nodded before he carried the stretcher with him and disappeared alongside Nana.

"Will Midori really be alright?" asked Mina, looking at where Izuku's body was a few moments ago. Several of the girls had some tears in their eyes, severely affected by the state of their classmate and their saviour.

"He will be," Recovery Girl answered softly. "As long as All Might gets him there in time… He's heavily injured and pushed his body past the limit, but I trust that he'll be alright…"

"Izuku-chan…" Komori was hugged by Mina while Jirō hugged Yaoyorozu. Denki sighed in relief, the knot in his stomach unravelling, trusting that Izuku was strong enough to survive, especially since All Might would ensure that he got to the hospital without delay.

"Now, let's see about the rest of you," said Recovery Girl.

What followed was a long wait as his classmates got checked on by Recovery Girl while they waited for the other Pro Heroes—All Might was simply too fast for them to keep up with—and the police to arrive.

Sato had a broken arm and rib, and several fractured bones and his body was heavily bruised. Kuroiro had severe burns, the worst on his lower jaw which was going to scar for sure—Todoroki looked at him with sympathy hearing that. Kirishima had some fractured bones and a lot of lacerations on his torso while Todoroki had two broken ribs, a fractured leg and some other injuries. Miruko had a few broken ribs, a twisted leg, some more fractured bones and other injuries. It was amazing that she was still standing and ready to fight despite looking utterly exhausted. The rest of them had a few simple injuries or were simply exhausted.

The worst of all was their teacher: Aizawa. His arms were broken alongside several ribs, his nose, and one of his legs. His jaw and skull were fractured, and one of his eyes was lost forever. He was the second to be carried away by All Might—who arrived only a few moments after he took Izuku away—to the nearest hospital.

After that, things got more hectic as the rest of the Pro Heroes arrived half an hour later, as did the police.

The police had no mercy. Anyone who wasn't unconscious was questioned immediately, and Denki found himself having to report everything he knew. Meanwhile, the other officers searched USJ—they and the Pro Heroes were shocked by what happened to the building itself—and found the remaining villains.

Many were seriously injured, but aside from the monstrous Nomu—Denki found out their name later—none of them died. Of the Nomu, the one that Izuku completely obliterated was gone, but the corpses of the ones who fought Miruko could be recovered which was a boon for potentially finding out the mastermind behind this attack.

After that, those injured were sent to rest in either the hospital or U.A infirmary while tearful parents picked up the rest. Nezu had decided to give the entire next week off for the students of Class 1-A with only the obligation to show up to school for counselling sessions.

ι

"Aaagh! It hurts, it hurts! I'll fucking kill her; I'll fucking kill THEM! That bitch and that bastard. Agh, I-"

With a sigh, AFO pressed the button muting the annoying wailing of Shigaraki. He would've almost laughed if it wasn't for how annoying his voice was.

Do I have a voice changer quirk somewhere? I can't believe I put up with him this long. It was all just to spite All Might and Nana's memory, and yet sometimes, AFO wondered if it was even worth it dealing with the manchild. Soon, soon….

He turned toward Kurogiri who had been standing there for four hours now, waiting until he permitted him to explain what the hell had gone wrong. It was purely out of spite, knowing that Kurogiri could stand for days without feeling tired—a downside of being a living corpse.

And apparently, that included being so incompetent that they couldn't kill a few schoolchildren only in their first week in Hero Course. That was after devising a plan that gave them every advantage possible and provided them with the villains and Nomu needed. Do I have to do everything myself?

"Explain."

Kurogiri shivered at his tone. Good, at least he could intimidate a corpse while being half-dead.

"I… My lord… The plan started out well, though All Might wasn't there when he arrived." That's because I planned distractions for him, did you really think you could defeat All Might with what you had? Fool! "And things went according to the plan, isolating them from contacting U.A and sending all the pawns to their designated places."

AFO's breathing filled the room as Kurogiri grew silent again. He put his hand on the arm of the chair, resting his head on his palm as he looked through the helmet and his injury into his minion's black void. "And? What happened? You didn't kill All Might." Not that he ever expected them to do it, if they did, then All Might wouldn't be the biggest thorn in his side. "You didn't kill even a single student, and instead, you lost all the Nomu, and most of the villains that I sent with you."

Kurogiri would've shuffled in place and played nervously with his thumbs if he could. The atmosphere of the room grew colder and more oppressive with every second and even Kurogiri's dead body was screaming at him to flee and run.

"There were… complications…"

"Complications? They're school children and Eraser Head, nothing to speak about."

"They are U.A.'s students," Kurogiri corrected. "Things did go well at first, and we had them where we wanted, though from the start things weren't as exactly planned thanks to Miruko being there."

AFO would've blinked if he could as he was reminded of that detail. "What was that woman doing there anyway?" The Rabbit Heroine was a pain in the ass. He, obviously, could deal with her if he personally faced her but she proved too much for his pawns time and time again. She was persistent, skilled, unbreakable and a force of nature. Honestly, he didn't understand why All Might hadn't chosen her as his successor already, and he was thankful for whatever reason that stopped him from doing so.

"But it wasn't just her, and she was a huge wrench already." He pointed at the stack of papers that lay beside AFO's chair. "The real problem, as it turned out, was Midoriya Izuku."

AFO frowned, his skin crackling under his helmet. His hands grasped the papers, searching for the one he wanted until the files of one Midoriya Izuku were in his hands. "What of him? An energy generation quirk isn't that difficult to deal with, and we sent a perfect counter for it."

"Well, that file is a complete lie."

"… A lie?"

Kurogiri nodded. "His quirk isn't simple energy generation. Frankly, I have no idea what his quirk is. I've seen him project a massive eye on the ceiling of USJ, and change his Support Item from sword to spear to a staff. And he somehow made his allies stronger, and worst of all? It wasn't him using all of his energy to destroy the Nomu that frightened me and gave me pause… It's the fact that he somehow warped the very ground we stood in. He did something and USJ was warped, twisted and its very geography changed, destroying every advantage that we had, and giving his team the upper hand."

"What?" That didn't sound anything like OFA or the quirks of the previous users, so obviously this kid wasn't All Might's chosen successor—though not that'd remain the case for long if what he was hearing was true—but what Kurogiri talked about—if he wasn't delirious—sounded like the effect of several quirks. He had no knowledge of any single quirk that could do all of that.

There is no way he has a quirk similar to mine, is there? No, the very thought was heresy. There was no one like him, for he was chosen! A false prophet? He turned to Kurogiri. "Give me access to the National Quirk Registry Database's files about Midoriya Izuku, and I want you to gather as much information as possible about him."

Kurogiri nodded. "Your will shall be done." And vanished in a swirl of black fog.

AFO relaxed in his chair, fingers intertwined in his lap, thinking about this new variable. If this Midoriya boy was strong enough to not only turn the tide but defeat a Nomu on his own, then he was possibly a new player on the board. If he could do all of that, while not having access to OFA, what could he achieve with it? Unless he couldn't have it…

His thoughts were interrupted by Garaki entering the room. AFO didn't hear any of Shigaraki's screams so either he calmed down—unlikely to happen so soon—or he was sedated.

"Well, the brat isn't going to die," said the Doctor, chuckling coldly. "The bullets nearly ruptured some important blood vessels, but he was lucky."

"And his hand?"

"As you know, since he didn't have a regeneration quirk, giving him one now wouldn't fix his hand. At least no regeneration quirk with enough power to regenerate a limb could, so now, he could only use his quirk in one hand, halving his powers."

It was an unfortunate setback, but one AFO didn't care for much. "Let it be a lesson to him. Maybe there is still hope for him…"

The doctor snorted. "That'd be a cold day in hell. Of course, there is that option…"

AFO shook his head. "No, that'd be a waste of resources on him."

The doctor nodded, having expected this. "Very well. I'll provide a mechanical hand to replace the one he lost, but obviously, it won't help with his quirk."

"Do what you think is necessary."

The doctor nodded again, leaving the room to continue Shigaraki's treatment, leaving AFO for his thoughts. USJ was an unfortunate disaster since he failed to kill any of the students, but at least it gave him knowledge about a possible danger to his plans, and U.A. was still going to get a massive hit from the attack. All in all, it was a minor inconvenience, and nothing about his plans changed.

ι

Unlike in stories, Nejire didn't wake up with an ominous feeling that day, nor did she think something was out of the ordinary, or her stomach got tied into knots for no reason she could pinpoint.

In fact, she woke up happier than usual, greeting the new days with a huge smile. She ate breakfast with her parents, kissed them goodbye and skipped to school with a spring in her steps. She started her school joyfully greeting her friends—Mirio was just as enthusiastic while Tamaki barely replied back, which was natural—and eagerly waited for her classes.

She was actually incredibly excited that day, knowing that it was the day Izuku went to USJ. The first time the First Years went to USJ was kind of a right of passage, and Nejire couldn't wait for Izuku to tell her all about his experience alongside his friends, especially Mina-chan! He had shown her his support item before everyone else, and what a thing it was! She wondered how other people would react to this.

Even when the alarm rang and they started the evacuation drill, Nejire simply thought it was another media invasion. That's until she heard someone say a few words.

In an instant, Nejire had rounded on the speaker—a Second-year student she didn't know—and cornered him, leaning forward with an intense stare that didn't match the normally cheerful airhead. "What did you just say?"

The boy, terrified, could only answer. "T-They're saying that villains attacked a first-year class at USJ."

And maybe that was what made it all worse, as the guilt, fear and wear came down on her like a speedy truck that hit her right in the stomach. Nejire staggered back, her eyes almost popping out of her head in horror. Izuku, Mina! Her mind screamed at her, as her heart tried to beat its way out of her chest.

If it wasn't for Mirio. She'd have just run in whatever direction like a mad woman, but thankfully, he was able to stop Nejire long enough to find out where the students were taken and if there were any casualties—the mere question leaving Mirio's lips almost broke her—before Nejire was flying towards the hospital in question.

When she entered, she ignored everything after she asked the receptionist for Izuku's room. Nejire almost crashed into several doctors and patients on the way, always managing to avoid it at the last second.

A part of her breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Mina standing in front of the door. She was bandaged, but otherwise healthy. Nejire almost bounced on her, before she stopped herself, worrying that she might injure her more. "Mina, you're alright?" She asked the girl who was startled by her presence. "What about Izuku!?" Nejire asked without stopping, leaning forward into the girl's guard.

"Nejire, calm down!" Nana came out of nowhere, floating in front of Nejire's face. "Mina-chan already had a bad day, no need to overwhelm her like that! Izuku is fine!"

Nejire finally stopped, the intense beating of her heart calming down for a moment knowing that both Mina and Izuku were apparently fine. She noticed the tears at the corner of Mina's eyes and she hugged the girl. "I'm sorry, Mina-chan! I was just so worried. I'm glad that you're alright."

Nejire almost fell back when Mina fully collapsed into the hug, putting her entire weight on Nejire as she started sobbing. Bracing herself well, Nejire hugged her friend as hard as she could, without being overbearing, wanting to send as much comfort as possible. "It's alright, Mina-chan. I'm here for you."

Nejire shot a look at Nana, who shook her head. "We'll explain more later, Nejire-chan," said the doll. "Izu-kun is alright. He injured himself and pushed himself too far, and is suffering the consequences, but it's nothing life-threatening. The doctor wants him to rest and forbade anyone from entering before his family got here, so we're waiting for Inko. She was stuck in traffic, and is coming here on foot."

Nejire frowned but nodded. She looked around, noticing that there were other people. There was a blonde kid she remembered seeing and figured was Kaminari whom Izuku mentioned. He was standing nearby with a frown, his eyes moving from one person to another before frowning.

On a nearby bench sat three girls. One was Kinoko—she wasn't heavily injured, which made Nejire sigh in relief—who was looking at the ground with a horrified look, tears running down her cheeks. On the other side of the same bench was a gorgeous black-haired girl who could only be Momo. She stared into the door of Izuku's room but didn't appear to see it, her hands clenched in her lap so hard that Nejire wouldn't be surprised if she drew blood.

Between them sat a pretty girl with short purple hair and plug-like earphone jacks for earlobes. She had one arm around Momo's waist, and another around Kinoko's shoulders, trying to comfort the girls.

Seeing where she was looking, Nana sighed and moved closer to Nejire's ears to whisper. "Kinoko-chan had some tough times, and went hard… she misjudged her ability, and thanks to one villain having a condition with his respiratory system… She accidentally killed him. Momo herself acted on instinct, heavily injuring the villain who tried to kill Izuku, and almost put a bullet in his heart. It was a clear case of acting on instinct, and now she's dealing with her actions and everything that happened… including the fact she was almost bitten in half."

Nejire's heart went out to them both. Now that she knew Mina and Izuku were safe, her heart was worried for the other students who were caught up in the attack. Despite working with Ryukyu, Nejire still hasn't faced a situation where she had to resort to extreme violence or even kill a person. For those younger than her to go through that in their first week of school, she couldn't help but tear out, feeling helpless as she didn't know what she could do to help them with everything.

It was something that only was touched upon in class theoretically, and despite practical experience, it was nothing that Nejire knew how to truly deal with. Being told about something or reading about it in class was entirely different from dealing with it in the real world with real people.

Nana seemed to have read her mind and understood the conflict in her while looking at her eyes. The Doll Heroine floated down to sit on Nejire's shoulder and patted Nejire's cheek softly. "There is nothing that you can do now, Nejire-chan. I've said what needed to be said, but there is nothing more we can do but give them some time to deal with it, and let the professional handle it… As much as it pains me, my time was much more brutal than now, and people's views on killing and such were… vastly different."

Nejire nodded, differing from Nana's vastly more informed opinion. It didn't help that she didn't exactly know most of the people—something that maybe she should work on—and she feared making things worse. Nejire was a bubbly airhead, but she didn't become one of U.A.'s top three by being stupid.

Momo stood up suddenly, her phone vibrating in her hand. She cast a troubled look at it before she excused herself and moved to the far end of the corridor and took the call.

Nejire turned to talk with Mina but she saw that she was looking at Momo with a puzzled frown. Nejire spun back to take a look herself and wasn't sure what Mina was bothered with. Momo's shoulders were slumped, her stance rigid, but she could see no more as she had their back to them. Whatever it was, Nejire didn't know Momo well enough to know if there was something wrong, or if it was an extension of what she was already going through.

A few moments later, Momo came back. She looked like a child caught stealing cookies—her hands were in front of her, fingers twiddling with each other nervously and she didn't hold eye contact with them. With each step, her eyes drifted to the door of Izuku's room, growing heavy before she tore them back.

"Ah, I'm sorry everyone, but… I'm needed at the house. I need to leave now," she said, putting on an obviously fake smile. "I will come back later, but for now, if Izuku-san woke up, please do tell him that I'm sorry for not being here, and I'll visit later to offer my thanks and see if he's alright by then."

"Momo, are you alright?"

"Yeah, is there something going on?"

Asked Mina and the earphone-jack girl.

Momo looked startled, her smile slipping but she put it back on. "Of course… I'm as good as expected given the situation."

That made several people flinch, being reminded why they all were in the hospital in the first place.

"I'll see you around," Momo said not a moment later and walked away as her friends raced to wish her well, telling her that it was okay.

A few minutes after Momo left, a good-looking—though more on the rough side—teen with red spikey hair and a lot of bandages came. Nejire remembered seeing him when she met Izuku's friend, and if she wasn't mistaken, he was called Kirishima.

He waved at them, smiling a bit more cheerfully than one would expect given the situation. "Sorry guys, but I was more injured than I realised."

"No problem, Midori hasn't woken up yet. You alright, Eijirō?" Mina asked, walking around Kirishima and poking at his bandages.

"Yeah, yeah… I had a few bad injuries but my Quirk and Recovery Girl saved me from being worse." He slapped her hand away in annoyance. "Midobro was so manly today! I hope he's going to be okay."

Mina smiled, giving Izuku's room a long, fond look. "Well, he should be according to the doctors. He just pushed his body and quirk too much, and Recovery Girl couldn't heal him well or he'd die from lack of energy, but he should be totally fine in a few days or so they said."

Kirishima smiled back. "Well, that's great. He's a great bro and I don't want him to suffer some kind of permanent injury for saving our ass." His smile turned upside down, his eyes hardening. "We're going to need to kick up our training a notch or two though. We can't just depend on Midobro if it happens again, and these villains need to learn that we're not easy pickings."

They were prevented from saying more as a woman came running. Midoriya Inko was a beautiful woman, kind and always with an easy smile on her face, but right now she was running with wide panicked eyes, hair sticking at odd angles, a heavily flushed face, and dried tears on her cheeks.

She clearly still had no idea what exactly happened beyond the basics, and she looked like she was about to lose her mind. "Izuku, is he alright?" she screamed as she saw them. "Where is my son!?"

ι

U.A! Is Plus Ultra Incompetence the Hero School's new motto?

By: Chitose Kizuki—Executive Director of Shoowaysha Publishing.

As our dear leaders may know, earlier this week, the Unforeseen Simulation Joint AKA USJ building was attacked by a group of dastardly villains who call themselves the League of Villains. (for details about known members, see page 23)

Their name seems to suggest that they're an alliance of many villains working together towards a common goal. And what a goal it is: To kill our beloved Symbol of Peace and put an early end to the careers of a most promising batch of future heroes; the students of U.A's 1-A class. (full list of students on page 14)

The attack came dangerously close to succeeding at one of their goals; the death of our future heroes. That is if it wasn't for the effort of one particular student: Izuku Midoriya—the Hero of USJ. (Front Page)

Information obtained from the police and interviews with some students revealed that the villains not only knew of the class schedule, but they also knew the details of each student's quirks—aside from Izuku whose great foresight allowed him to trick the villains (page 4)—and made use of that information that put our beloved future heroes at a great disadvantage during the fight.

Such information should be highly protected by U.A yet it found itself in the hands of the villains that used it against the school's own students on their own turf.

Need I remind our dear readers that U.A just a few days before suffered from a break-in? Or that a few weeks earlier, one of the Entrance Exam's sites was compromised by a rogue robot that almost killed many examinees? An incident that was also solved by a great sacrifice from one Izuku Midoriya. (see page 7)

U.A boasts and claims that it's not only the best Hero School in the world, but also has the best security aside from Tartarus itself. Yet it suffered several incidents that put the lives of innocents in danger, a break-in followed by an outright attack by villains.

U.A failed at both preventing such incidents but also at responding accordingly, relying on the brilliance of our dear Izuku Midoriya to save their hide.

It calls into question the competence of the staff at U.A, and if All Might is no longer enough of a deterrent for those seeking to destroy the peace we are enjoying.

A question that is being asked by many, especially the parents of the victims. I've personally interviewed many of them, and the sentiment is that U.A had lost the trust of those they swore to protect and safeguard.

"I'm thinking of pulling my kid out of U.A," said one angry parent. "Shiketsu seems more reliable."

"I can't trust U.A to protect my lunch," were the words of one concerned citizen. "How can we trust them to protect the students? If it weren't for the Hero of USJ, we'd have a full class of dead students on our hands."

Things need to be changed for sure. U.A needs to work to regain the trust that it lost, and it can no longer rely on the brilliance of one who will surely do great things in the future—our own beloved Hero of the USJ.

I promise that I won't let matters slide, dear readers. These are the lives of our children and future heroes we're talking about, and we won't allow U.A or anyone to hide the truth. Look forward to more articles about this matter, the incident, and what could be discovered about this League of Villains.

Toshinori watched as Vlad King threw the paper down after he finished reading it in front of everyone. "What horseshit!" He growled, glaring at the newspaper as hard as Aizawa usually did.

They were meeting to discuss the events of the USJ, which now was being dubbed as the biggest disaster in the history of U.A., not that they were wrong. Several students were injured, and Aizawa—who was missing from the meeting—took the worst beating with a broken nose, fractured skull, severe lacerations in the head, an arm broken in two places, and the other snapped in half, but worst of all was the loss of his eye which left him at best with a halved quirk.

Of course, there was also Kuroiro and Midoriya himself who suffered the worst injuries and were still unconscious two days after the events.

"Wel, they're not wrong," said Midnight, her tone serious and her usual demeanour—one she kept to tease people, gain an advantage, and train students against such tactics—was completely missing. "Technically, everything that was written in here is right…"

"Technically, yes," said Power Loader, frowning at the paper. "But it's clear that they're trying to make everything seem worse than it is. And I can't help but notice that they completely ignored Miruko's contribution."

"That's just Chitose," Midnight said. "She's a bitch who is always out to bring down anyone at the mere hint of a chance. You'll never get the truth out of her mouth, and I'm honestly shocked how much she's praising Midoriya… not that he doesn't deserve it."

"How did she even get this much information this fast?" asked Vlad King. "A lot of the information shouldn't even be available to her!"

"I've heard reports of students and parents being approached by a journalist," said Power Loader. "And she probably has connections with the police—they always do, this type of people."

"Well, whether she has ulterior motives or not," interjected Toshinori finally. "It doesn't matter, and I'd not say we didn't deserve even worse than what we've got."

Several eyes looked at him sharply, but Nezu talked first.

"All Might is right. This is the third security breach in less than ten days. Two of those, students and innocents could've died, and twice we were only saved by the actions of Midoriya Izuku, with the help of Miruko for the second time. This is a complete failure on our part, and we shouldn't be looking to blame those trying to take advantage, but rather fix our own mistakes first."

"I agree," Midnight said. "The media will always find something to criticise, but we're basically giving them free gifts with our failures. I don't care what people say about me, never have, but I can't stand the fact that several of my students are injured, and they could've easily died if not for the pure luck of Midoriya keeping his true quirk a secret for so long!" She slammed her hands on the table. Whatever people thought of her, Midnight was someone who cared for her students genuinely and enjoyed being a teacher.

"I think for this to be a productive meeting, we need to discuss things properly, going point by point, rather than as we've done so far," said Nezu, putting his chin on the back of his hands—which were raised on the table—before looking at Power Loader. "What do we know so far? What happened that day?"

Power Loader gulped. "Wel… The attack seems to have been planned well. We know that they stole the files about the students the day the media tried to enter the school, and used that information to plan around their quirks. Whoever is behind this has vast resources."

"Why were the files not secured?"

Power Loader shrugged. "We never needed to. And they stole the physical copies which were left out in the open."

Nezu hummed but waved for him to continue.

"Right. So, they took out our communication using a jamming quirk, which left us basically blind as the USJ is quite a distance away from the main campus. This isolated the students, especially after the villains took control of the USJ's control unit, and used the security features against the students."

Power Loader continued. "But it wasn't enough. All Might could've easily blasted through all of that, but it's clear that they know of his condition." Power Loader didn't know the exact details beyond injury and age, not allowing Toshinori to operate for a prolonged period of time—all U.A. staff knew of this. "I can say for sure that the increase of villain attacks that very morning was meant to keep him occupied as long as possible, which is confusing as the villains stated their goal was to kill him."

Vlad King took over. "From the security footage that we got, and statements of the students, we managed to get more information on this so-called League of Villains." He pointed at the screen, showing scenes of the attack. "Most of the villains were lowlives, but they were handpicked to counter each student's quirk as best as possible. The students were also sent to the area in USJ that presented the most disadvantage for them. That's of course thanks to the information that they stole, but it also speaks of how vast their resources are. Finding such specific quirks means that they have no shortage of underlings or at least a vast network connected to them."

"Yes, that's troubling," admitted Nezu. "There have been some suspicious activities in the villain's underworld that might be related to them, I think."

"Right." Continued Vlad King with a nod. "Aizawa, Miruko, myself and others had many missions that could be connected to this League of Villains which might make the attack on the USJ nothing but the start of something far bigger."

"Anyway, the students were outclassed, badly. Not only did they lack experience, but they were put at every possible disadvantage. It was then that Midoriya Izuku did what he did."

The footage showed Midoriya giving the Buff to all of his allies, using that strange massive Eye, before the most impressive of all: the enchantment that changed, swapped and warped the very geography of the USJ.

They've seen the aftermath of that enchantment in real life when they rushed, but they've been preoccupied with the safety of the students, and apprehending the villains so to see it right now unfold fully in 4k… It was something else.

"Honestly, it almost feels unreal," Midnight said.

Power Mic nodded, for once he wasn't shouting, showing the seriousness of the situation. "Midoriya has shown incredible strength from day one and is only getting stronger and more skilled. But seeing this." He gestured to the screen. "I can't help but think we're looking at the next All Might in the future."

It was a testament to the impressive feats achieved by Midoriya in such a short time that no one scoffed or dismissed his words.

"The ability to change the terrain," said Nezu. "If controlled and trained, then it'd be a great asset in the field, especially when facing a similar attack."

"It's clear that what Midoriya did saved the lives of everyone. While the students did great with the hand that they were dealt, many were on the verge of death before Midoriya's interference in granting them strength, saving them from one last attack, or giving them a chance to go all out without being stopped by counter quirks and disadvantageous terrain."

"And that's why I don't think the media are going too far when calling Midoriya the Hero of the USJ," said Midnight, smiling fondly at the image of Midoriya on screen. "I think we should reward him in some way."

"I agree." Nodded Nezu. "Not only Midoriya-kun deserves it, but also it'd keep the vultures satisfied."

Toshinori grimaced. The unfortunate reality was that PR was an important part of the job, and while it left a bitter taste in his mouth, such tactics or at least, being aware of the weak points you left for the media was unfortunately necessary. As a side effect of the celebrity status that the Pro Heroes enjoyed, their reputation and public perception could very well make or end their career, and even Hero Schools had to care about that. With U.A. being at the top, they had to be extra careful or many would try to bring them down at any sign of weakness.

"Anyway, from the footage, and what we learnt from the students, the villains-"

"Can we postpone that topic for a few moments?" Growled Hound Dog, speaking for the first time since the start of the meeting. "I think there is an important topic we must discuss before we talk about the villains and delve into speculations."

"And that is?" asked Vlad King, looking annoyed at being interrupted.

"The students," said Hound Dog. "They've been through a traumatic experience. Not only were they attacked in what was supposed to be a safe place for them there, but they had to fight for their lives. Some also were forced to injure or even kill villains whether on purpose or while defending themselves and not to mention the injuries they and their friends suffered right in front of each other."

People nodded sombrely, understanding his points. These things weren't something the students were supposed to be exposed to this early in school, and they hadn't been prepared for the horror side of hero work yet—not that preparation made it any easier the first few times.

The standouts for sure, those who would have to receive the most attention were most likely Midoriya himself, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Kuroiro, Kinoko, and Kirishima as they were either those who suffered the worst beatings or had to resort to extreme violence to defend themselves and their classmates.

Toshinori wasn't happy that these innocent kids were subjected to these traumatic experiences only because some crazy villains wanted to get at him.

"So I suggest a trip for them to have fun, even for a day, and counselling sessions with me and other therapists for the sake of their mental health."

"These are good points." Nezu nodded. "Actually, given that Midoriya-kun and Kuroiro-kun are still not ready to rejoin class, and given what happened. I was thinking of giving the week off not only to Class A-1 but all the Hero Course. As for a trip, we can send them to the beach or a water park next weekend, and I do approve not only of counselling sessions, but also emergency lessons to talk about the realities of Hero Work, and the necessity of using extreme force or even killing given specific circumstances."

"I'll take care of that," Midnight said confidently. "Not only class A-1, but also the B-1 just in case."

After a few moments of silence, Nezu motioned to Vlad King to continue.

"Right, given the students' testimonies, the captured villains and the footage, it seems that this man is called Shigaraki." The image of the villain with severed hands on his body appeared on screen. "And despite what he presented himself as, isn't actually the true leader of this League of Villains, and was put in charge by the boss. The plan itself doesn't seem to be his work, and he showed a lack of knowledge of it, so most likely he's nothing but a pawn though one with more power and authority than the average goon that showed up."

Nezu looked at Power Loader. "What do we know of this Shigaraki?"

Power Loader shifted in place. "Aside from his name and idea of his quirk? Not much. As a person, he was described by the students and captured villains as psychotic, insane, a manchild, or a powerful kid throwing a tantrum. He seems to be viewing the whole thing as a game, and truly believed he and his villains could take on All Might and win."

It seemed like a baseless assumption given that the villains with him were nothing to All Might, and while he had a dangerous quirk, Toshinori was confident he could defeat him with ease. The Nomu were another thing, but nothing Toshinori couldn't handle in his current state unless he was already out of energy.

He continued. "The Police so far have nothing on him. There is no record of such a person or someone with a Decay quirk at all, but they're trying to run the DNA they gathered from the scene to try and find his origin. He has no criminal record that is known so far, but knowing his quirk, there are those in the Police who believe there are several murders or missing person cases that could be attributed to him.

"For now, he's not considered the top priority."

Midnight slapped her palm on the table. "Not top priority? Have they not seen his quirk?"

"Yes, he is dangerous, and they are searching for him, but they think that the 'Boss' is the top priority."

"And I agree with them," said Nezu. His eyes met Toshinori's, and they both knew what they were thinking about. "We've dealt with such villains in the past. The likes of Shigaraki are nothing but dangerous criminals with no plan, no strategy, nor the ability to gather any important allies or lead vast organisations. At most, they'd hope for similarly insane criminals. While depending on their quirks, they could be incredibly dangerous, on their own, they're nothing but powerful children throwing a tantrum and will never have any lasting impact in any competent society. Shigaraki's quirk is dangerous, but I can easily name more than ten Pro Heroes who can take care of him. Quirks aren't everything in the end. At the end of the day, Shigaraki isn't fundamentally different from your average street criminal; it's only his quirk that makes him a true danger. His actions, words, and failure in the end are a clear picture of what he is without support."

Toshinori took over, his side aching at the remainder of that monster. "However, those who are like this supposed 'Boss' are always more dangerous. They hide in the shadows, or even in the open. They don't move unless they're guaranteed a win, and they always have more than one plan going. They're the most insidious and dangerous type of villains. The fact is that so many villains were involved in the attacks, and countered our students isn't a coincidence, but evidence that whoever it was, the Boss is someone with charisma, connections, vast resources, and a lot of power to get all of these people, including Shigaraki, in line."

There was only one person who could pull it off—and the information they received about the Nomus pointed at him—but the thing was that he was dead. Toshinori had personally turned his skull to paste, his body was sent to the morgue and was buried afterwards. They had even checked the coffin yesterday and confirmed that his remains were still there.

So there was no chance that he was alive. Not a single method that they knew of, but that presented another quandary, if All For One was dead, then who was the true leader of the League of Villains? And was it possible he had similar powers?

ι

Ryuko's eyes narrowed as she flew through the air, yellow-golden eyes smouldering in barely restrained anger as she raced after one of the villains: Killer Angel. A low-level villain who was wanted for several accounts of theft, one murder and three further attempts. He was a middle-aged man with a pair of white wings and a bald head that shone under the sun, nearly blinding. On the ground, Yu was chasing after another villain called Killer Gator. A middle-aged woman who looked like a female alligator—she was Killer Angel's long-time partner and took part in all of his crimes.

"Stop following me, dammit!" Killer Angel cried out, sending several feathers flying at her fast—they were faster than bullets and harder than iron. Ryuko didn't care and crossed her arms in front of her. The feathers impacted against her arms, making her grunt slightly, but she didn't stop as her scales absorbed the impact, barreling through the storm of feathers without any care.

She uncrossed her arms, eyes narrowing further seeing that there was no sign of the villain. "You think you can escape me?" Eyes searched the horizon, and she was quick to spot him flying low in a narrow opening between some older buildings. "Got you."

Ryuko launched herself at him, fire erupting from under her wings like a comet in the sky as she zeroed in on Killer Angel. The villain felt the heat a moment before Ryuko slammed into him with the force of a speeding truck.

Killer Angel cried out in pain as they both were propelled down, slamming down into the ground. The street, unexpectedly, exploded in a shower of rubble, gravel and dust as they fell down under street level.

It took Ryuko a few moments to gather her wits from the disorientation of the fall. She had not intended to go that hard on the villain, and she surely didn't expect there to be such an opening under the street. Her anger had burned away her reason and restraint, and just thinking about it made her snarl, fire dancing on her teeth as she looked down at the villain below her.

Killer Angel was knocked out, which made her relax a little, though Ryuko cursed knowing that she wouldn't be able to get him to talk because of that. With a sigh, she released a small fire breath as her wings retracted into her back, and the scales disappeared from her skin.

She clicked her earpiece. "Mt. Lady. I took down Killer Angel, but he's unconscious."

There was a moment's pause before Yu got back to her. "Roger! I was actually going to tell you that I stopped Killer Gator and captured her."

Ryuko sighed in relief. "Follow my tracker and get here. I think this might be a good place to get some information that we need."

"Okay, Ryukyu," Yu replied seriously. There was none of the playfulness or cheer that her voice usually held.

Ryuko sighed again and looked around with a frown. She was in some kind of dark, large opening, and the only source of light was from the hole in the ceiling—which was actually the street above—but for her enhanced sight, it was enough.

It seemed that she was in some kind of ancient underground train station. Judging that she had no idea one existed here, and the wear and tear she could see all around here, it was probably from before even the emergence of quirks.

There was something on the wall, and Ryuko walked closer to see it. She picked up a piece of rotted wood and breathed fire at it to create a torch—at times like these, she envied Endevour's control over the fire as she could only generate it, and not control it or shape it in any form.

She directed the torch at the wall and noticed that there was a large mural done in the style of graffiti. Most of it was covered in grime and dust, while other parts were vandalised by other graffiti later.

The main part that she could see depicted a large man as the central figure with his arms open wide. Ryuko couldn't see anything of his head, as it seemed someone erased it, but from each hand, a spike emerged and pierced the body of a person. One person looked to be in pain, while the other seemed to be praying.

All around them were people bowing in obvious worship to the large figure, while destruction and corpses piled in the background.

Beneath the figure, these words were written in a stylized font that Ryuko remembered was called Comic Sans.

"Praise be HE. HE Giveth and HE Taketh Away. Pray for HIM. One day, HE will shape the world in HIS image, after HE vanquishes the DEVIL."

"Well, this is either some joke, or I just found evidence of a weird ancient cult… one without any taste apparently."

She shook her head, her ears perking up as she picked a particular sound. She moved back towards where she fell and saw something thrown from above. Looking down, it was Killer Gator, tied up and muzzled.

A moment later, Yu jumped down and Ryuko's anger simmered down to a cool flowing flame at the sight of her love. Yu walked closer to her, and as much as they might've wanted to hug or kiss, since they were keeping their relationship a secret they couldn't show affection in front of the villains in case they opened their mouths and talked.

"Well, that was annoying," said Yu, frowning at the villains. "That one almost escaped into the sewer, which would've sucked even more to chase her there." She wrinkled her cute little nose in disgust but Ryuko knew that Yu would've followed regardless—Yu was vain, but she was a hero in the end, and this was important on top of that.

Ryko dragged Killer Gator and threw her to the wall, not before ripping her muzzle.

"Fuck!" The villain cursed, glaring at them hatefully. "I'm going to kill you once I'm out of these cuffs!"

Ryuko and Yu scoffed together. "You can try, but you're the wrong class of lizard to go against Ryukyu, I believe." Yu wasn't even smiling and she put her foot on Killer Gator's chest, pushing her against the wall and leaning forward. "Now, why don't you shut the fuck up and answer a few questions of ours? I'll promise that we won't mention you resisting arrest in your report."

Ryuko didn't give the villain any time for a comeback. "What do you know about the League of Villains? And where can we find them?"

That was the whole reason for the chase. They were out of their usual patrolling area chasing after any villain they could find; anyone above extremely low-level criminals that either had too weak of quirks or never got too violent or attempted to murder anybody.

The reason was, of course, the attack on USJ. Ryuko had been, and still was, furious after hearing about that attack. Of course, that was after Nejire managed to calm her down and she got over her worry about Izuku. She was appalled that these villains attacked innocent young men and women in their school, but her fear and sheer wrath were certainly amplified by the fact that Izuku was a target who could've died.

Dragons were territorial creatures. Dragons liked to hoard stuff, and they certainly didn't appreciate anyone trying to take or harm what they considered their precious.

And Ryuko was coming to terms with the fact that her feelings towards Izuku were not merely physical attraction to a handsome young man, but the fact that she was also falling for him just as she surely fell—without even realising it—to Nejire beforehand. And the news she got that day and her reaction certainly made that clear to her.

And thus she and Yu had set out to seek any information they could find on these bastards. Not only to get back at them for their actions but also to prevent a similar attack from happening on innocent civilians. An organisation strong and bold enough to pull an incident like USJ's wasn't one that could be allowed to go unchecked for long.

Killer Gator visibly paled before she shook her head. "I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT THAT."

Ryuko and Yu looked at each other. Well, that wasn't suspicious at all!

Ryuko turned back to the villain, glaring at her so hard that Killer Gator flinched. She growled and started transforming into her full size, bones cracking and reshaping, muscles growing bigger and stronger, and skin turning to scales. In a few moments, a massive golden western dragon was in her place, her wings digging into the ceiling, shaking the whole place as some dust and small rocks fell down.

Ryuko leaned forward, her massive head near the villain and opened her mouth, revealing rows of big strong teeth that could rip concert to shreds, and the back of her throat glowed with restrained fire making the villain pale further, her green-brown scales almost looking white as she quivered in fear.

Yu leaned forward too, her leg still on Killer Gator's chest. She smiled maliciously at the villain, her smile positively villainous, and with a venomous voice, she warned her. "Now, no one knows you're here. If we kill you, none would ever find your body, especially if my friend Ryukyu here can crush you like an ant, burn your bodies, then leave you buried under the rubble." The place shook at that moment, showing that it was indeed not stable enough. "Or you can talk and enjoy a long stay in prison."

Of course, they weren't going to kill the villains, but they only needed them to believe that they were. Ryuko leaned forward, the fire in her throat growing brighter.

"I'LL TALK, DAMMIT! I'LL TALK, PLEASE DON'T KILL ME BUT I SWEAR I DON'T KNOW MUCH! I SWEAR!" Tears fell down her scaly face, but Ryuko didn't care. They were going to get what they wanted. Hopefully, it'll be worth it.

ι

Izuku hoped that staying in hospitals wouldn't be a habit for him going forward. Not only did he hate the antiseptic smell of disinfectants and the dull white walls and furniture, but he also didn't want to worry his mother too much. His mother had been hysterical since she had learnt about what had happened—at least according to Nana—and even after he woke up, it took him a lot of time to calm her down and stop her from pulling him out of U.A.

That conversation might've been the hardest thing that he had ever gone through and he even had Nana's help…

Mina, Kinoko, and Nejire weren't much better than his mother. They fussed over him like mother hens, alternating between telling him off for his recklessness, hugging him and bawling their eyes out, and thanking him because they considered that he had saved their lives—well minus Nejire who wasn't there. They rarely left his side, and have visited him every day since he had woken up. Even now, he had to send them off to rest after a rather stern talk and had them take his mother home.

His other friends and classmates had visited him too, offering thanks and seeing if he was okay or if he wanted anything. Kirishima's visit had him call him manly in so many different ways that Izuku almost felt hair grow on his chest in real-time, while Denki had taken care to inform him of everything that happened.

The fact that the media were now calling him the Hero of USJ left him both embarrassed and proud. He had always wanted to be recognised as a hero by the public—every Hero Course student obviously did—but he wasn't comfortable with the fact that it came from a situation that put the lives of his dear friends in danger.

Denki had explained that the media were surrounding the hospital, trying to get in and get an interview, but security provided by both U.A. and the hospital stopped that, which Izuku was thankful for.

He also told him that apparently, they were given the entire week as a holiday and that they were going on a trip to a Water Park at the weekend for free! Denki even mentioned that there were talks of Counseling sessions for everyone because of the events of U.A.

Izuku, while not comfortable with the idea of talking to a stranger, did know that it was important given the near-death experience for many, or for someone like Kinoko, the fact that she killed someone even by accident. Kinoko was a mess, and he couldn't cheer her up—not even with the help of Mina and Nejire—so Izuku hoped a professional could help her. Izuku himself had technically killed someone too, but the Nomu was literally a living corpse so he didn't feel as bad, especially given the situation.

All Might and other teachers had visited him too—Aizawa couldn't as he wasn't in the condition and it seemed that someone else needed to take his place for at least the next week. They have offered their thanks, apologised for what they saw as their fault, and praised his actions; it was honestly the most uncomfortable and prideful hour of his life.

Ryuku and Yu also had visited him both when he was still out and after waking up. They both were just as bad as Nejire and his mother, and much more affectionate than normal—which obviously he didn't mind. Ryuku especially seemed on edge for some reason which Yu handwaved by saying it had to do with her quirk. And before they left, they had even kissed him on the cheek! Before they promised that they'd visit him again before leaving to continue their work.

Right now though, his attention was on his latest visitor. Yaoyorozu Momo looked stunning in her simple knee-length black skirt, and blood-red blouse though Izuku supposed that she'd look phenomenal wearing a literal torn sack.

She was looking down at her fidgeting hands, sitting like a proper lady beside his bed. "I apologise, Izuku-san, that I failed to wait until you've woken up or that I've been unable to visit you until now."

Izuku smiled, hoping that it'd make her feel better. "It's alright, Momo-san, you don't need to blame yourself. The fact that you were there first, and now again is enough to show you care. Just because you have other circumstances, I would never hold it against you or another even if they didn't visit me at all."

Yaoyorozu looked up from her lap, a beautiful small smile on her lips and pink dusting covered her cheeks, making her look even more breathtaking. Izuku couldn't help but blush when he saw it.

"Thank you, Izuku-san. You're truly a kind person and…" Her cheeks darkened. "C-Can you call me Momo alone?"

"Of course, and you can do the same for me too. We're classmates and friends, and I hope that we can be even closer friends in the future."

Momo nodded sharply, her cheeks still red. "Of course… You're right, we're not only friends, and President and Vice-President, but you've saved my life on top of that…" Her smile was a little shaky, but it stretched even wider, lighting up the whole room. "I'm thankful for that, Izuku. I don't know how I could ever repay you."

Izuku waved his hands. "I was only doing my job both as Class Prez and a Hero, besides, from what I was told you also saved my life when that insane villain tried to kill me after I was down."

Momo flinched, her smile slipping a little. "Yeah, I guess that's true… I just… couldn't let him kill you, you know, my body moved on its own and just acted based on instinct drilled in me."

"Well, I was once told that moving on your own to save somebody is the mark of a true hero." Izuku very much enjoyed the renowned blush and smile. "And I'm grateful, though I'm also happy that you didn't end up killing the villain for my sake. Kinoko is already going through a tough time, and we're too young for any of us to be put in that kind of situation."

"I almost did," said Momo, her eyes now not looking at him. "I don't think I'd regret it if I did; I'd feel bad, but not cry about it given how insane and evil he was… Does that make me a bad person? I'm not even sure if what you're saying is true… about being a Hero. I only acted because I felt fear for you and myself, and just went to the most effective lethal action as my tutors had drilled into me since a young age."

Izuku frowned, wondering just what exactly she was taught from when she was little, but he put it out of his mind now. "That's not true, Momo. You feeling bad proves that you're not a bad person, and as long as you don't enjoy it and do it for the right reason—like saving other heroes, innocents or yourself—you'll always be a hero. And when you saved my life, obviously you were a hero to me."

Momo blushed like a tomato and muttered a quick thank you. After that both talked a bit more about what happened, the public's reaction—Izuku supposed it wasn't an easy week for the teachers—and the trip before Momo excused herself.

Not even half an hour after she left, Izuku had another visitor: Miruko.

"Yo! You're looking good, brat."

Izuku let out a chuckle seeing the brash and happy Pro Hero. She looked as beautiful as always, though they were a bandage peeking from under her casual clothes. Miruko wore a simple white shirt that hugged her figure well, and a pair of black jeans pants that looked painted on her powerful and thick legs.

"I'm well, Miss Miruko, and glad that you seem to be doing well yourself."

"Ah-a!" Miruko wiggled her finger, walking closer to him before flicking his forehead making him yelp and hide his forehead behind his hands. "You can call me Rumi, brat. You deserve it after saving everyone's ass and pulling that stunt at the end." Her teeth shone as her beautiful lips parted, her red eyes shining both in excitement and fondness.

Izuku blushed hard. "I-I didn't really do muc–Agh!" He cried out in pain as her fist hit the top of his head.

"None of this bullshit," she growled out in displeasure. "I don't like wimpy men or those who are too humble. Some humility is nice—no one likes an arrogant asshole—but not this. You saved everyone's life—as much as I hate to admit it—and you should own up to that, not try to downplay it as if our lives don't matter. It's annoying and unattractive, brat."

Izuku paused for a moment, stunted by her rant before he nodded. "You're right… I guess I must say that you're welcome then… Also, you can call me Izuku you know, not brat."

Rumi huffed, crossing her arms and lifting her nose in the air. "As if! We aren't dating so I ain't calling you that!" She looked down at him. "Unless you have a problem with it?" Rumi said it sternly, and her eyes were narrow, but Izuku could see the question in her eyes: she didn't actually want to offend him.

Izuku laughed. Might as well let her have this for now. "Sure, you can call me whatever you want, Rumi."

She huffed again, giving him a 'as if you could've said anything else' look. "Then we're cool."

"Oh, and by the way, since Aizawa is out of commission, I agreed to be your homeroom teacher until he returns."

Izuku nearly choked when he heard that. "What? That's amazing!" This reminded him of something. "But, Rumi, why are you at U.A? I know that you don't like teaming up in general, and you don't even take students in internships. So what changed your mind?"

Rumi's face turned stone cold, her eyes glaring at something that Izuku was sure wasn't him. "Let's just say that the damn HPSC played dirty. I had to agree to help with the Heroic Classes."

Izuku frowned, sensing that she wasn't telling the full truth, but didn't think it'd be right to press her. He also didn't like the fact that HPSC from what she said—and she implied—basically blackmailed her to teach at U.A.

"Is there anything I can do?"

Rumi looked caught off guard for a moment before letting out a short laugh. "Nothing you can do about it, so don't worry your cute little head about it." She ruffled his hair, and Izuku blushed as hard as Momo did earlier; he got the feeling that she didn't realise what she said. "Anyway, you guys at least proved to be a little bit useful, and I'd rather teach you, especially you Mr Hero of USJ, than team up with most of the other Pro Heroes out there."

Izuku smiled widely, his chest puffing up a little; that was a bigger praise than almost everything he got so far coming from her. "I guess that's why you agreed to take over Aizawa-sensei's duties?"

"Yup! Besides, I was advised to take it easy." She scoffed at the mere idea. "And well, at least I'll be following the stupid doctor's orders while doing something that doesn't kill me from boredom."

Izuku laughed. Yeah, that doctor had no idea who he was telling to rest. "Oh, that's right. I heard something happened with your quirk in USJ?"

Rumi smirked slightly at him. "Oh~ You want to see, brat?"

"Of course!" Quirks were an obsession of his after all.

"Hmm, I dunno~" She put her finger under her full bottom lip. "Maybe if you say please and kiss my feet I might~" Rumi purred out.

Izuku chuckled, knowing that she was trying to get a reaction out of him. "You should be careful who you say that to. I know for a fact that many people would jump at the chance to do just that for free; some would pay you for it."

Rumi dropped her act, looking slightly green. "Ugh, please tell me you're not one of them! Like I understand in some situations but… like this?"

"I don't know… I really want to know what happened~"

"Agh!" Rumi put out her hand in front of her. "Stop! I was just trying to fuck with you, jeez." When she saw his smile, she growled. "Ugh, I guess that bit me in the ass."

Okay, that I'd love to do even outside sex. Izuku flushed at his own thoughts.

Rumi shook her head. "Anyway, you wanna see? Here!"

Izuku was certainly not prepared for what came next. Rumi transformed right in front of him. She grew taller, her arms now were covered in white fur, and her fingers had transformed into claws. In fact, her whole body was covered in beautiful soft-looking white fur. Rumi's tail grew considerably. Static electricity seemed to dance around her claws, tail, feet—which seemed to look even more rabbitlike—and hair.

It didn't stop at that as her very face morphed into that of a humanoid rabbit. Rumi's eyes turn a brighter red with black sclera surrounding them. Her ears grew larger, and her hair was also twice as long as herself, and much more voluminous. The fur around her neckline was noticeably thicker, vaguely resembling a lion's mane.

Izuku was mesmerised, his heart started beating faster the more he took in her new look. She looked strong, gorgeous, dangerous and so soft at the same time. It was like she was a being out of a mythical tale; she looked like a perfect goddess.

"Woah! This is so cool!" He exclaimed, leaning closer. "Your fur looks so soft and beautiful; like if someone made fur out of snow!" He had lost control of his mouth without even realising it. "And you look so strong and ferocious, but also so enchanting like you're out of a fairy tale! Hell, If I ever had to imagine what a rabbit goddess of the moon would look like, I'd say she should look like this."

Izuku's mind finally caught up to his mouth, and he instantly shut up and he slammed his hands on his mouth; he would fit in Christmas with how red his face was right now. He sneaked a look at Rumi, fearing that she was going to kick his ass for his stupidity, but she seemed to be looking away, a beautiful dusting of pink covering her white-furred cheeks.

A few moments of awkward silence followed—Izuku thanked every god that he wasn't dead yet—before Rumi coughed awkwardly. "Yeah, so this is what I can turn into now."

Feeling the need to apologise, but thanking her that she chose to move on, Izuku nodded, trying to look serious. "I-It's really interesting. I've not heard of something like this happening before, do you have any idea?"

"Well, apparently it's a known but very rare case of something they call either Quirk Awakening or Quirk Evolution," Rumi said, crossing her arms and looking smug again, putting the whole thing behind them. "It's super rare, but apparently, if someone trained their quirk to the limit, and then pushed past it in situations of extreme duress or stress or danger, their quirk would awaken or evolve to become something else; something much stronger."

Izuku's eyes widened, and a different look of interest entered his eyes, making them shine brighter. He couldn't believe that such a thing was possible and he didn't know about it. "That's incredible! To think that such a thing was possible! Does the evolution follow what the original quirk was always, or is it possible that the quirk could evolve into something else? What are the actual prerequisites? Mumble Mumble Mumble Mumble Mumble Mumble–"

Rumi stared at him wide-eyed for a few moments before she burst out laughing, shaking her head with a fond smile. "Aaand, I lost him."

ι

Bakugō growled his fingertips digging into his head painfully, sparks flying from his hands. If it wasn't for the Old Hag kicking his ass, he'd have long exploded in his room and burnt most of it.

But he wanted to explode! He could feel his emotions bubbling under his skin, boiling from the sheer frustration and anger that he was feeling. And to make matters worse, he had a feeling that merely letting out some explosions wouldn't make him feel better at all.

He had thought things were going to be different in U.A. That he'd prove that he was better than that green-haired bastard Deku, but things weren't going as he imagined at all!

Not only did Deku score first in the Entrance Exam, but he also destroyed Bakugō's own record on top of that, all while looking like a hero because he was lucky a Bot malfunctioned at their testing site.

But things kept getting worse. No one in his new class respected him or treated him as the extras did in his old one, and somehow, Deku kept on showing him up again and again.

Bakugō came Fourth in the Quirk Assessment Test, not even Second place! That almost sent Bakugō into a fit of rage—not only did he lose to Deku, but to two other extras on top of that.

Then came the Battle Trials. Bakugō thought that he had surely hit rock bottom in his life there, to have to work with that half-half bastard to fight against Deku—as if he needed anyone to win against him!—together, but instead, they lost! Bakugō had never felt such humiliation in his life; he lost a 2vs1 battle against Deku in front of his whole class.

Even now, the memory made Bakugō grit his teeth, a harsh growl escaping his mouth as smoke rose from his fingers. The Old Hag was calling to him again—probably asking him to get out of his room or telling him that dinner was ready—but he ignored her as he did ever since he came back from USJ.

Of course, everything paled compared to what happened at USJ.

Just the reminder made the room feel smaller, the air's viscosity dropping as he felt the now familiar pressure around his body and the burn in his lungs. He was falling, drowning again, his vision turning black as he was about to…

"Agh!" Bakugō cried out in anger and bitterness, bringing himself out of whatever that was. "Fucking weak," he growled venomously for what else could that be? The Old Had was out of her mind, and this was nothing but himself mocking his weakness!

His weakness at USJ.

Deku, who was supposed to be inferior to him, was a hero who saved everyone and defeated the stronger villain, showing the world that his quirk was superior to any other.

He, Bakugō, the one who was supposed to be the next number one hero, had his quirk neutralised and almost died a very slow and painful death. Worse, it was Deku who saved his life and all Bakugō did during the whole thing was defeating some lowlifes that no one cared about.

Deku was now known as the Hero of USJ while Bakugō's name wasn't spoken or remembered by anyone.

Bakugō had nearly blown up the dinner table when he read that sham of an article—he still needed a new phone as it was destroyed—and the Old Hag had thrown a fit about him "overreacting about nothing".

As if someone like her could understand what he was dealing with! He was great, his quirk was great, and he surely was destined to be the Number One Hero. He couldn't lose or die just like that!

Heroes were people who didn't lose. Heroes were people who defeated the villains and always won and All Might proved that already. And if he lost then what did that make him?

He gritted his teeth again, eyes giving a hint of the toxic rage simmering beneath the surface of his skin. I am going to be the Number One Hero no matter what!

ι

Curious sighed, frustrated; her fingers drummed upon the wooden armrest of her expensive seat—her nails hitting the hard surface in a melody she vaguely remembered from her childhood. Her eyes scanned the words of every news report, article, social media post, and TV show.

The reaction to the incident at USJ was both what she had hoped for and a disappointment. The people were angry, and U.A. 's rating was the lowest it had been since it first rose as the Hero School decades ago.

Some people demanded an investigation because, surely, if there wasn't an inside agent, these events wouldn't have happened. Conspiracy theories were rampant, and there were a couple of vandalism attacks on U.A.

Others called for the resignation of Nezu and several teachers and demanded that U.A. be put under government control—she knew that the HPSC had a hand in that one. The HPSC always wanted their hands on U.A., not happy with how independent the school was, thanks to private investors and U.A. 's ability to fund itself for the most part.

They were one of the parties trying to take as much advantage as they could from the situation as possible. The HPSC had even talked about a special announcement in a few days, and Curious's insiders told her they were planning to publicly acknowledge Midoriya Izuku's actions—the grasping bastards were clearly trying to get their claws into him.

The other Hero Schools also took their chance; they made sure to tell everyone who would listen how secure and safe their schools were—some even went as far as posting that they'd accept any student wishing to leave U.A. without a question.

Some people were calling for legal action against U.A. which didn't garner much enthusiasm so far, but Curious knew that there were some parents—whose children were in U.A—who might be persuaded to do such a thing. She didn't expect anything to come out of it, but the mere action would help drive the knife deeper into U.A.'s cracked armour.

U.A. 's response wasn't exactly strong: promises of better security, an acknowledgement that Midoriya Izuku was truly the Hero of USJ and other weak attempts. Their real strength came from the support they got from various Pro Heroes who studied them before, sharing their "stories" and trying to shift all the blame on the villains.

None of that was as much as she hoped of course. She had done a lot of damage to U.A.'s reputation, but she couldn't kill it yet. The school was simply too popular, too big to fall that easily.

It was frustrating to see, but she maybe shouldn't have expected anything else.

There was a knock on her office's door before it opened a moment later. A tall, lanky man in a black and white striped suit walked in. He was a middle-aged man with a prominently long, pointed nose, obtruding chin, and small, dark eyes. His hair was short, orange-brownish set noticeably far up his forehead, a widow's peak pointing downwards in the centre, and he had it swept back around his head. He possessed no eyebrows making his appearance odder.

It was Yotsubashi Rikiya, the President and CEO of the Detnerat Company, and was also the Grand Commander of the modern Meta Liberation Army, known as Re-Destro. He had inherited that as the descendant of the infamous Hero—a villain in the eye of the enemy—Destro, his own great-grandfather.

Curious smiled, her fingers stopped their drumming and instead were touching her hair, playing with it. "Mr Yotsubashi, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Not everyone at Shoowaysha Publishing was part of the MLA, so they needed to be careful with how they acted.

He waved her off. "Minato-kun is just outside, Curious."

She blinked, understanding the message that it was okay to talk freely. "Then, please have a seat Mr Re-Destro." She noticed the slight black fire-like stain on his forehead. "You're troubled."

Re-Destro sat on her desk, taking her other hand—the one that wasn't playing with her hair—in his hands. "You could always read me so well, my dear!" he exclaimed happily, but Curious could see the slight tension in his shoulders.

"Are you not satisfied with my work then?" Curious hoped that it wasn't the case, for she didn't want to disappoint him.

He shook his head. "You could never disappoint me, you know that." Curious flushed but looked him in the eyes. "You've done an excellent job even if you don't think so."

Curious laughed. "You know me so well."

"Of course! How long has it been since we've met? Thirty years?" It was exactly thirty years since she had met him. "Regardless, you've done a lot of damage to U.A. even if it wasn't as much as you hoped. One doesn't destroy a tower from the top but works at the bottom. I'd even say you've exceeded my expectations even, and that's why I came to you."

Curious frowned, looking at him for a moment. "You have a mission for me?"

Re-Destro nodded. "It is, and I'm not sure if it is safe." His hands tightened around hers.

"When we started, we knew we had to walk alongside danger, and any misstep could spell our doom. I'm not afraid."

Re-Destro smiled and leaned forward, planting a kiss on her forehead. "But I am, my dear."

"What is it?" Curious had no idea what was troubling him so much, even if her heart fluttered at his concern.

"The League of Villains."

Curious's eyes narrowed. "What of them? They're no match for us. I've managed to get the footage, and they're honestly pathetic compared to our members and numbers."

"That may be true my dear, but what I'm afraid of isn't what we saw but what we didn't see." Re-Destro turned to look through the window, and she could feel his hands trembling slightly so she squeezed them in assurance. Re-Destro smiled, turning to give her an affectionate look before his smile disappeared. "I've heard rumours… disturbing rumours. The League of Villains isn't a danger to us, from what we saw, yes, those Nomu certainly could be, but what terrifies me is who is the real leader of those bands of misfits? What little we know hints at massive resources and connections in the Underworld that haven't been seen for a long time now."

Curious frowned at that, remembering a few reports that got back to her. "I've heard word that there is a dangerous figure making waves in the Underworld. Suspicious villain activities and the like… you think it's related?"

Re-Destro nodded slightly. "Yes, I do. And that's what I want to know. I want to know who is the one behind the League of Villains and are their activities only what we saw, or is that just the tip of an iceberg that can sink our ship."

"I'll find out," Curious declared. She wasn't going to fail him or their cause.

"Be careful." He squeezed her hand again. "If it is who I suspect it is… then you don't want to be found out."

"Who could ever frighten you so, Rikiya?" She had never seen him acting like this ever since they moved from a small time group to their current position a few years ago.

Re-Destro looked lost in thought, once again looking out through the window. "It's a nightmare… a monster that scared even my great grandfather…" He turned to look at her seriously. "Tell me, my dear… Have you ever believed in God?"

ι

AN:

Hello, well, this chapter took a while to write for many reasons:

1- I thought it was going to be a small chapter showing the aftermath, instead it became 14.2k words monsters but then again, the last chapter was 22k words so… I guess it's smaller?

2- Usual irl bullshit.

3- For a long while, I had lost all motivation after the ending. Like that trash left me feeling… nothing. I didn't care (and still don't care much) and lost the spite that motivated me to write so I had trouble.

4- I had trouble with a lot of scenes in this chapter, and honestly? I'm still not 100% satisfied or happy with it but I wanted to be done.

About the chapter itself? I don't think I have much to add at the moment aside from that don't expect canon events to happen at the same time as they did in canon. I'm talking about Summer Camp, Sports Festival… etc.

The Sports Festival is THE event of the year and yet it's like 1 month or less into school and BEFORE they even go to a camp to specifically train their quirks?

What are they going to show for the Pro Heroes?

It simply doesn't make any sense to have it so close to the start of the year.

I think this is it?

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. As always, leave a review, follow and favourite and until next time.