Takai stands in front of the swordsman. Yoriichi? Why was that name so familiar?

And with a flash, his blade is inches away from her throat. Takai drops to the floor, barely dodging the attack. He had moved across the building in an instant, almost too fast to be seen.

Blood drips from her throat. The blade had grazed her. Takai grunts. If she lets down her guard for a moment, she's as good as dead.

Yoriichi turns around and stares at her. She snarls, and leaps forwards. Her hands glow with a neon blue light, and she carries Yoriichi's blade with her bare hands. She swipes her other hand towards Yoriichi, but he's already gone, appearing behind her. Blood drips down her chest, as a large cut stretching from her shoulder to her opposite hip.

"G-guh…" Is all she can manage to get out before she falls to the floor. "His quirk is able to cut things he touches? Or is he really… just that fast?"

Against a power like that… she was dead the moment he had set his eyes on her.

As she lays there dying, she sees the man walk towards the door to the stairs. He was going to…

He's going after her students. The kids.

??? Years Earlier.

"Mama!" A loud young girl shouts, as she rushes into a small cottage, made of simple thatch and wood. Her hair and eyes are the same color, both pure white, a byproduct of her quirk. Everyone always tells her that she resembles her mother to such a point where, once she grows up, they'll be indistinguishable.

The village was small, about 20 other cottages, made of the same materials as hers.

"Mama, look what I found!" The young girl shoves a pale white flower in front of her mother's face, as the mother is attempting to set the table. "It looks just like us!"

The mother giggles. "Oh come now, we look nothing like flowers!" The child pouts. "Mama, you know that's not what I mean"

The mother smiles back. "I know. Here, hand it over"

The child did so gladly, and the mother gently wrapped her hands around the plant, and placed it in a vase, setting it in the middle of the table. "There, now we can look at it every time we have dinner" She says, and her child cheers.

"Yay! Thanks, mama!" She yells, as she darts off, her mother watching her run out of the cottage to meet the other children.

—

Cottages are going up in flames, as explosions rain all around the village. Some villagers are running for their lives, others are lying on the ground, bleeding out.

The child sits in her burning cottage, crying. She doesn't know what to do. Her mother will protect her, that's what her mother does! She's the main protector of the village, the one deterrent to the threats of the outside world.

Another explosion rings out, shaking the cottage, scaring the child, who holds her hands over her ears, crying.

Fire creeps closer, pushing the child to action, as she runs out of the cottage as quickly as she can. The child looks up, and sees something truly terrifying.

The cause of the destruction. The eye of the storm. It's a man. Pure white hair, like them. And yet, the child can tell that they are nothing alike.

The man simply points, and explosions form. Any who dare get close to him are torn apart from the fierce winds surrounding him before they can land a single finger on him.

This man is pure death.

The child sees her mother, struggling to get up, as an entire cottage has fallen on top of her, as well as some strange material that she's never seen before. It's cold, tougher than wood, and makes a funny sound when hit.

"Mama, are you OK?!" She asks. Her mother nods. "Listen, you need to go, now. Don't look back, run into the forest over there" She points at an entry to the forest pathway. "Keep running, go past the apple tree, and you'll find a big hole with some steps, go down those, and hide in there, OK? Someone will come get you, I promise"

"B-but, Mama, you look hurt…"

Her mother grunts as a piece of debris that is sitting in her shifts about. "I'll be fine, okay? Just please, get going!"

Her child is about to follow what she tells her to do, when another person catches her eyes. The man is pointing directly at one of her friends's parents. The father has fear in his eyes. He knows that this is when he is going to die, and there is nothing he can do about it.

Suddenly, the child runs over. "I can help!" She thinks. "I'm like Mother!"

She runs in front of the father as her mother shouts out. "NO, DON'T, PLEASE, LEAVE THE FIGHTING TO THE ADULTS, PLEASE"

She shouts until her voice is run ragged, and keeps shouting still.

Her child stares down the man who caused all the destruction, who just chuckles at all the commotion, as he raises a finger, blood red eyes peering at the child.

The child is scared. But she holds firm.

The mother is scared. But the wreckage holding her down holds firm.

Takai Erufu's daughter was 6 when she was murdered by All For One.

Pure blue energy bellows out from the roof of the hospital, as Yoriichi turns back, his attention returning to his opponent.

Takai stands, as she faces the man who would threaten another child she is tasked with protecting. Her scalera glow blue from the energy bellowing throughout her body. Her fingertips, and the veins across her body also glow blue, as if the energy within her is barely being contained, and itching for escape. Her hair is floating in the air, as if gravity no longer has an effect on it.

"No children die today" She says, not needing to shout, as her voice echoes throughout the building regardless. The class hears it throughout the building.

Katsuki smiles. "Hell yeah, now I'm getting excited! That's one hell of a war cry, teach!"

Kaminari walks up, standing beside Bakugo, wiping blood off of his nose. "Yeah, we gotta show them what class 2A is made of!"

The girl rushes forwards, slamming her fist into where Kaminari was, however, her fist only meets concrete, and slams into the wall, as Kaminari jumps over the blow, pointing his finger downwards.

"Sorry, but you're not gonna get close to anyone here! Once you get out of prison though, call me!" He says, grinning as a spark of electricity launches itself from his finger, coursing through the woman's body.

The woman falls back, coughing smoke as she does. "In… your…. dreams" is all she can manage before she falls down.

However, as she hits the ground, her skin transforms, becoming translucent, as water bursts out of her body at inhuman speeds.

"DAMMIT!" Bakugo shouts, as Kaminari attempts to open a door, but is unable to, the water pressure being too strong, holding the door closed.

"Bakugo, blow the door open already!" Kaminari says as he tries to keep his head above the water.

"ARE YOU STUPID?" Bakugo shouts. "I can't ignite my sweat underwater, idiot! Use your electricity to take the villains out already!"

"In case you haven't noticed, we're in the water too! You'll get hit by the stuff as well!"

Bakugo grits his teeth. They were trapped

The rising water finally reaches the ceiling, and they're left with only a single breath of air each, as the shark man propels himself over to them, mouth open.

"Is this really how it ends?" Bakugo wonders, his confidence wavering. "Am I really… that weak?"

Iida and Hagakure stand, surrounded by pitch black darkness, that's slowly creeping closer. "What do we do?" Hagakure asks.

"I don't know!" Iida responds. "But number one priority is not letting this spread to the floor above us, if it gets to Tokoyami, the rampage will kill all of the patients!"

Suddenly, from the middle of the darkness, a woman rises, made of pure darkness. "Thanks for telling me that, you pitiful hero!" She cackles, her voice raspy, like the sound of nails on a chalkboard. She laughs, and her miniature lake of darkness starts to move towards the stairs upwards. After she leaves, Hagakure looks over to Iida. "Tokoyami is below us, not above us, isn't he?"

Iida nods. "Todoroki is above us. If he's able to use his flames, he should be able to hold her at bay. I just hope he's able to handle it"

"Don't worry, ìf anyone can handle this, it's Todoroki!" Hagakure reassures Iida.

Akaza launches himself at Izuku, swinging his sword overhead, and slamming it onto Izuku's blade, who had just barely managed to react in time.

Akaza presses down harder, forcing Izuku onto his knees as he commits to the block.

Kirishima rushes forwards, attempting to punch Akaza in his jaw, but Akaza drops the offensive, and dodges Kirishima's blow by back flipping into the air, landing gracefully back onto the ground.

Akaza launches back at them, slashing at Kirishima, who catches his blade while activating hardening, which surprises Akaza.

Izuku launches himself over Kirishima's shoulder, and swings his sword directly at the face of the swordsman.

Akaza ducks as the sword passes by, overhead,

He plants his foot on Kirishima's face, as he pulls the sword out of the boy's hands, he pushes his foot forwards launching Kirishima backwards, sending him flying into a wall with a THUD.

As the dust crumbles away, all Izuku sees is blood flowing from Kirishima's head. He's not dead, not yet, Kirishima is tougher than that. But… right now… it's all down to Izuku.

He grits his teeth as Akaza grins. "YES! THAT IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR! PURE FIGHTING SPIRIT!"

Izuku snarls. "I won't let you hurt anyone else!"

-

-

So, its been a while since my last note, huh? Its funny, going back on my old-ish writing and seeing how much it has evolved!

We're getting closer to where the fic is at on Ao3, and should be there in a week and a bit.

This is also officially the final arc of act 1! know that theres a lot shrouded in mystery right now, but I promise stuff will be explained in the future, just not in act 1.

Thanks to everyome who has followed, or left a review on this work. Your feedback means a lot and is really encouraging!

With that, I dont really have anything left to say as of yet, so thank you for reading, and I'll make sure to leave my next author's note when we finally catch up to the Ao3 fic!