"Did you hear about Midoriya?"

"Our girl Yuuma asked him out for some reason yesterday, and he totally rejected her!"

"I heard he said some horrible things to her. Even made her cry!"

"That's what she gets for thinking that the freak was cute…"

"Don't blame her. It's Midoriya's fault he's such an asshole! His Quirklessness probably rotted his heart!"

Izuku kept his head down as he walked through the halls of Kuoh Academy, trying his hardest to pretend like he couldn't hear the whispers constantly floating around him.

It wasn't very easy. It felt like everyone in the world knew Amano, or at the very least her friends (who probably helped set him up to get punked), and now wanted to tear him a new one for ruining their prank.

Great. Either he gets laughed at or he gets beat up. It was a win-win scenario for everyone but Izuku.

Did he mention how much he hated his life? Because he did. Everything was starting to become too much.

Izuku couldn't take much more of this humiliation. After fifteen years, the pain was beginning to be just too much to bear anymore.

"Heya, Midoriya-kun!"

He grimaced almost immediately. At least there was one person who pretended they didn't hate his guts… even if he knew it was only to get something out of him.

Izuku still didn't know why Kiba bothered talking to him. It was like clockwork - Izuku came to school, he had a shitty day, and then Kiba came up to him at the last second and tried to pretend that they were friends.

He didn't need this. It wasn't like Kiba had made any headway into whatever he had planned for him either - he should really just drop the act and just get to the point.

"H-Hi." Izuku didn't bother to act extra friendly - not that he ever did in the first place.

"How've you been?" He tried, "Everyone's been talking about you today, you know. Any idea what that's about?"

Izuku flinched and Kiba immediately realized he'd messed up. "No."

He nodded slowly, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "Got it, got it," Kiba agreed, straightening up slightly, "A-Anyways, have you given any more thought to checking out the Occult Research Club? It gets kind of lonely being the only guy there sometimes!"

He froze again. "…Y-Yeah…"

And he was being honest. Izuku had, for the lack of a better term, been seeing some… weird things recently. A girl gave him a flyer on his way to school this morning that had something to do with devils and making his wishes come true, but that wasn't even the worst part.

He was pretty sure he was being stalked. Over the past month he'd see things out of the corner of his eyes, whether it be a pair of wings or a shady figure in the darkness, and every time he made to look or blinked to make sure he wasn't seeing things they'd disappear.

To make a long story short, Izuku wasn't having a good time in Kuoh Town.

What did this have to do with the Occult Research Club?

Probably not much.

But he sort of figured that if there was weird stuff going on in Kuoh, maybe there was a chance they were the people to ask. From what little information Kiba had given Izuku (beyond simply saying 'You should come check it out! We'd be happy to have you!'), the club seemed invested in the strange happenings that had been popping up recently. Maybe they'd know something about the strange things that were going bump in the night and causing him to lose sleep?

Who knows? It might have been worth a shot if Izuku was normal and people had reason to care about him.

Kiba lit up at his admission. "Really?" He asked, "Awesome!"

The sheer eagerness in his voice made him hesitate. What if this was all an elaborate prank? What if Kiba just made up the entire club as a means to get Izuku alone in a classroom and finally pull the rug out from under him, either by making him believe he'd be welcome somewhere or just plain beating him up? It wouldn't be all that surprising.

"We're actually meeting today!" The blonde prattled on, "You should come! It's in room three-forty-one! Can't miss it!"

Izuku frowned slightly. Just because he said he had given it some thought didn't mean he'd agreed (or done anything to elicit such a positive reaction from Kiba). "...I'll t-think about it."

"Great!" Kiba clapped him on the back hard enough to make him stumble. "Hope to see you there!"

At least that got him to leave Izuku alone for a while. Kiba clearly thought his job was done here.

…And he was kind of right. Izuku was getting desperate for answers (or at least for someone to tell him he wasn't going insane), and if he had to go and talk with the Occult Research Club to get some closure it might just have been worth it.

–

Nevermind. Coming here was a mistake. Izuku knew better than this - why did some smooth-talking from a classmate he barely knew convince him to show up here?

He hadn't even made it to the door and he already wanted to run home. He was such a coward. And a loser. And a–

Izuku shuddered. Was it getting colder all of a sudden?

He peered around the edge of the hallway that ye had been hiding behind, staring intensely at the door of the classroom the Occult Research Club had commandeered for their meeting today.

Why was he so afraid? What was the worst that could happen?

Okay, dumb question. He knew all too well what the worst that could happen was, and he wasn't keen on getting beaten up or told to kill himself again for being a Quirkless freak.

Once per week was enough - even if it was almost a guarantee that it would happen to him again by Friday.

Izuku winced. Something felt really off, and not just because of the sudden chill down his back. It felt like his skeleton was going to jump right out of his skin, and maybe even more than that–

A hand landed on his shoulder from behind. "What are you doing?"

Izuku screamed - both in surprise and fright - leaping around immediately to be greeted by the scariest gaze he had ever seen.

The worst part was that the girl didn't even look particularly angry. She was a few inches taller than himself, but with the way both of them were holding themselves she may as well have been three feet above him. Her maroon eyes and cool stare cut through him like a hot knife through butter, and her long violet hair looked like it was going to come up and choke him.

"Are you lost?" She asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion. Despite how calm and collected she was, each word made Izuku cringe as though she were dragging nails on a chalkboard. His muscles coiled up like a rusty spring - ready for action but also completely and utterly broken beyond belief.

"I-I'm s-sorry!" He cried, shaking like a leaf beneath her gaze. Izuku felt like he was about to be torn to shreds. Was this part of her Quirk, or something? Not even Bakugou made him feel this afraid. "I don't– I wasn't– I j-just t-t-thought–"

He snapped like a broken suspension cord. Whatever this feeling was, he couldn't take it. Maybe it was this girl's Quirk, maybe it was his nerves, maybe it was both - it didn't matter. He just had to get away from here.

Screw that club, they'd probably just think he was insane anyways. Hell, he probably was insane. Who would want to kidnap him?

Izuku bolted away from the girl like a scared rabbit, sprinting down Kuoh Academy's halls as if the devil himself was after him.

…

Akeno watched as the green-haired boy Rias was interested in ran away with a soft frown on her face.

She had a funny feeling that she had messed up somehow.

Oh well.

–

"Will that be all, sir?"

Izuku offered the cashier a quiet nod as she rang up his meager groceries - bread and milk and nothing else. He didn't need much to sustain himself, and he didn't really care if it wasn't very healthy to eat nothing but the bare minimum. He wasn't about to waste his mother's hard-earned money on himself when he could get by just fine by scraping the barrel.

She offered him his bag with a tight smile, one that was barely reciprocated by himself as he walked towards the exit. "Have a nice night!"

"Y-You too."

He would have preferred to use one of the self-checkout machines, but they had all been occupied - and even if Izuku really hated interacting with people, he'd rather just get it over with instead of waiting several minutes for a machine that wouldn't even work properly. His luck guaranteed nothing less.

His chest felt lighter than before as he left, though it wasn't much consolation. Izuku had run until he couldn't run anymore out of Kuoh Academy, leaving himself weak and gasping for air as he leaned against the front gate - but he didn't care. Anything was better than the feeling of what seemed like his soul being ripped out of his body that he felt when he was trying to subtly check out the Occult Research Club.

Izuku shook his head at the memory. What was he thinking? Why would anyone there care about his problems - problems that weren't even real! He was just freaking out over nothing, as usual. Who would stalk him?

The correct answer was no one. Even random passersby could tell that he was a waste of oxygen.

He sighed silently to himself. What was the point anymore?

Izuku frowned as he thought about his waste of a life. What was left for him now? Barely graduate high school? Get a dead-end job where his coworkers hated him as his best-case scenario?

Gee. What a wonderful future to look forward to. He may as well–

What was that?

Just like he had been for the past few weeks, Izuku saw something out of the corner of his eye. He couldn't make out any details, but there was almost certainly something following him. A shadowy figure with what seemed to be massive arms trailed behind him, maybe a block or so away, and Izuku realized his only saving grace at this point was that whoever it was didn't know they had been caught.

Izuku felt his heart rate spike immediately. What could he do? Look around for help? A quick glance around him showed that somehow, someway, he was alone on the dim sidestreet. It was just him and his stalker.

…Fuck.

That meant he had two options. Well, three technically, but turning around to face whoever his pursuer was didn't seem like a very good idea.

Option one was to keep walking like normal, pretending like he didn't know he was being tailed, and hoping that whoever was behind him eventually got bored and gave up on their hunt - for whatever reason that may be.

Option two was to make a break for it and hope they couldn't catch up to him - at least, not before he found a police officer or an adult or something.

He went with option two. Just because this street was abandoned didn't mean the next one would be, right?

Izuku dropped his groceries immediately, sprinting away the moment they hit the pavement. He didn't bother looking behind him for his pursuer - it would have just slowed him down. Well, slowed him down more than he'd already be. He wasn't in very good shape, and the fact that he was basically living off bread and potato chips didn't help in that regard.

That didn't mean he wasn't incredibly close to losing his shit when he heard the sound of… wings beating? It was the only sound Izuku could connect the sudden noise to, but the noise itself wasn't the problem.

It was the fact that it was coming from right behind him.

He nearly screamed as he felt something brush against the back of his neck. With a second gear he never knew he had, Izuku suddenly found his second wind. His legs felt lighter as he put everything he had into running, and it felt like even the breeze itself was pushing him forward (and simultaneously pushing whatever it was that was behind him further away, too - but how could he tell that that was the case?). His pursuer screeched in protest, but they already sounded further away than before.

Izuku didn't know how long he ran like that, but he kept going long after he stopped hearing anything behind him. His lungs burned and he couldn't feel his legs by the time he ducked into a nearby alley to rest, but he didn't care. He tried to keep his labored breaths as quiet as possible as to not expose himself, and he cursed his luck as he realized that he hadn't passed a single pedestrian as he ran. How was that even possible? Kuoh wasn't exactly a ghost town.

It took longer than he would have liked to finally calm his breathing, but it was a moot point. As he tentatively peered out of the alleyway, it seemed like the coast was finally clear–

Two hands wrapped around his head, yanking him back into the alleyway before he could so much as scream, and Izuku suddenly found himself being slammed into the dirty concrete ground.

"You worthless maggot," A strange (yet somewhat familiar) voice mocked, "You thought you could escape me?"

His attacker laughed. Izuku blearily realized that it sounded like a girl. "No," she crooned softly - right before slamming his head into the ground a second time. He whimpered pathetically in her grip, but he doubted she even heard it. "I don't take no for an answer, Izuku."

That was the last thing he heard before he was forced into the realm of unconsciousness - courtesy of a third slam into the pavement.

–

"He's awake. We can begin now."

Izuku stirred slowly, his head still throbbing from being slammed into the ground several times. A bright light was flashing into his eyes, and when he moved to block it with his hand he dimly realized he couldn't.

"What the–"

He froze as he raised his head enough to look down at his arm - the reason he couldn't move them was because he was tied down, apparently.

What?

Almost instinctively he began to struggle against his binds, but all that did was make whoever was standing around him start to laugh. "What's going on?!" He demanded, "Where am I?!"

"Try all you want, kid," the voice from earlier taunted, "You're not breaking free. And even if you did…"

His head was raised against his own volition, and he was forced to look down at what seemed like hundreds of people eagerly looking up at him.

They all had identical thick black cloaks completely concealing them, except for their eyes, but Izuku couldn't make anything out from that far away anyways. Even if he could, he had a funny feeling they wouldn't be very friendly looks that he was receiving.

"My friends wouldn't like that very much."

He glanced around his surroundings slowly, desperate to find any advantage he could from his position. In the dim lighting he could make out an impossibly large flight of stairs that went down to the ground level stood in front of him, and when he craned his neck backwards he could see two massive crosses looming ominously behind him.

That was when he realized that he was on an altar.

The voice from before giggled. "You really should have just gone out with me," she taunted, "At least then you could have died as slightly less of a loser."

Izuku frowned. Gone out with her? Died? "Huh?"

All he got in response was another laugh. "Forgotten me already, have you?" The woman asked, "It's only been a few days!"

His blood turned to ice immediately. "...A-Amano?"

The woman who suddenly came into his field of vision smirked - but she was definitely not the same girl from the bridge who tried to 'ask him out'. "Bingo!"

He shook his head. This girl was taller, had darker hair, and almost looked… more evil (as stupid of a descriptor that that was, Izuku felt like it fit pretty well) - and had wings, which Amano certainly did not.

That was without mentioning the fact that she was wearing nothing but a tiny grey thong, spiked shoulder pads, and leather straps around her breasts. If he wasn't so terrified he would have probably been embarrassed to look at her.

"Y-You're not–"

"I am, although my real name is Raynare." She said it with so much confidence that Izuku felt forced to believe her. "Yuuma may be an alias, but it was definitely me who was with you on that bridge - and do you know how embarrassing it is to be rejected by someone like you?!"

Raynare slapped him across the face. "What gave you the right to ignore me? Huh? What, you think you're better than me? Too good for a pretty girl like me? You're a Quirkless nobody - you are less than an ant beneath my boot, and you thought you could reject me Nuh-uh. Just for that, I'm making your death all the more painful."

She sneered down at his shaking, mortified form. "Pathetic."

Izuku was almost as lost as he was terrified. "D-Death?!" He shrieked, "Just because I c-could tell you were trying to p-prank me?! Who the hell are you?! Where are we? How do you have wings now?!"

Raynare seemed content to ignore him until that last question. "Don't play dumb," she hissed, "You used your Sacred Gear when you were trying to run away, didn't you? You know exactly how this works. The date thing was just a setup to get you alone with me. We would have gotten some food, tried on some clothes, and then I would have ripped your heart out and left you to die. But no, you had to go and be a pain in my ass and run away! So instead, we're going to be doing this the hard way."

She chuckled to herself. "At least this way I'm getting two Sacred Gears instead of just one. Maybe I'll even keep it, if it's strong enough."

Her words just made Izuku struggle harder. Even if he had no chance of breaking free, he'd be damned if he didn't try, right?

He still had a million questions floating around in his head, but it seemed like asking them would be a waste of time - and energy. For all Izuku knew this woman was completely and utterly insane, and it sounded like there was absolutely zero reasoning with her.

"There's no use resisting."

Izuku hesitated at the sound of another unfamiliar voice, craning his neck slightly to see that he was not alone on the stone altar - and immediately felt his face burst into flames.

He shared his bindings with one of the cutest girls he'd ever seen. She had long blonde hair and soft green eyes (just a shade lighter than his own, as a matter of fact) that were perfectly complimented by her gentle features, although the look was ruined slightly by the fact that she was wearing nothing but a white tunic and similarly covered in ropes. She looked at him sadly, as though she knew both of their fates were written in stone.

His eyes quickly found their way off of her - even in his final moments, he didn't want to be seen as a pervert. "I don't care," he hissed, tears springing up at the corners of his eyes at the complete and utter helplessness of her tone, "I don't know who these people are, or what they want with me, or what a Sacred Gear is, I just want to go home."

The pretty blonde sighed softly as Raynare turned her attention away from the pair to address her veritable army beneath them. "I'm sorry you had to get caught up in… this…" she whispered, "You don't seem like you belong here."

"Y-You think?!" He cried. "All I know is that I've been getting stalked for weeks and now I'm–"

Izuku was cut off by the sound of rumbling above them. He didn't know what was about to happen to him and the girl by his side, but that ominous feeling from before was back - and that really helped the reality of the situation sink in.

He was going to die here.

"Dohnaseek, Freed," Raynare called out, cutting herself off in the middle of her speech, "It's time. Hoist our martyrs up."

Two men approached them. One looked like a stereotypical Christian priest (from what little Izuku knew about Christianity, that was), while the other - the one who approached him - seemed to be a middle-aged man who wore a simple grey trench coat and matching black fedora.

He cut through the ropes binding Izuku with disturbing efficiency. Before he could even think about attempting to break free, however, the man snatched him up in his hands and pinned him up against one of the crosses behind them.

Izuku struggled, of course, as the man chained him up to the cross, but he was no match for one of his abductors - and that wasn't just because he was a powerless loser. He duly realized that wings had sprouted out of the man's back as well, and had used them to fly up to the height required to tie Izuku up against the cross.

"Nothing personal, kid," he grunted, pushing off of his frail body once he had finished, "Sucks to be you, though."

As he retreated, it finally dawned on Izuku.

He was going to be crucified.

His body shook in horror as he realized what was going to happen to him.

"It'll be okay," the blonde tried to comfort him (to no avail), "It– It will be over soon."

Her words had the opposite effect. "H-How can you s-say that?!" Izuku practically screamed. He would have been kicking and screaming if the chains around his limbs allowed him to. "I don't want to be a sacrifice!"

If he was going to die, he'd rather do it himself. He didn't want whoever this Raynare person was to have the satisfaction of killing him after everything she'd done (or tried to do) to him.

The cavern's ceiling rumbled once again.

"Freed," Raynare ordered, getting the priest's attention, "Go deal with… whatever that is."

He nodded, disappearing in a flash of light that made Izuku's head spin. He blinked the stars out of his eyes in pain, only to immediately stop once he realized that was probably the least of his concerns

The girl winced. "I'm sorry," she murmured softly, "I didn't mean to upset you…"

Izuku was barely listening to her at this point. It took all of his power to not completely break down. "I-It's okay."

She stayed quiet for a moment, merely watching as he struggled to not completely lose his shit. "My name is Asia," she whispered, "What's yours?"

He wasn't sure what was going through her mind to ask for his name of all things.

Maybe she just wanted to meet one last person before she died. Izuku couldn't really see the appeal - it wasn't like they'd ever see each other again, or like she'd care who he was if she knew he was Quirkless, or delusional, or knew anything more about just how worthless he truly was…

But what did it matter? They were both going to die anyways, weren't they?

"...Izuku," he whispered back.

Asia smiled. Despite the nightmare they found themselves in, she seemed that little bit happier now. Or maybe she had finally made her peace. "Izuku," she repeated, "That's a very nice name. Maybe once this is over, we'll see each other again in–"

"Shut up," Raynare ordered, finally turning back to the two of them with a crazed look in her eyes, completely uncaring of the continued rumbling from above them (where the hell even were they?), "It's time."

The metal crosses they were hanging on began to glow green as Raynare began to speak in a strange language. He had no idea what she was saying, but it made his skin crawl.

Izuku struggled harder against the binds. He didn't want to be here he didn't want to get killed or turned into a demon or whatever she was about to do to him–

The rumbling grew louder. Raynare stopped her ritualistic chanting to angrily look up at the ceiling - no, the far wall. The rumbling was spreading

That same ominous feeling he felt back in front of the Occult Research Club was getting stronger. He felt like the darkness was about to consume him, like his shadow was about to leap up from behind him and rip his heart out of his chest–

Something exploded at the far end of the massive room they were in. Shockwaves ran through the horde of winged-people at the floor of the altar. Raynare and Dohnaseek's eyes hardened.

"Devils," Raynare spat. "Why are they here? Where is Freed?!"

Dohnaseek's eyes widened as a small group of people stepped into view, a blade of what looked like pale blue light immediately forming in his hands. "Raynare, that's–"

Izuku gasped as he saw just who showed up. "K-K-Kiba?!"

It wasn't just Kiba. Gremory Rias was there, too, as well as a shorter girl with pale hair and the scary-feeling girl from outside the Occult Research Club from earlier.

Ah. So that answered one of his questions. Unfortunately, there were now around thirty more that swam around his brain. Most pressingly, of course, was…

What the fuck was going on?

Asia blinked as he started to shudder. "D-Do you know those people, Izuku?"

He shook his head rapidly. "I d-don't– I mean, I d-do, b-but–"

"Who the fuck keeps interrupting me?!" Raynare shrieked, pointing dramatically towards Kiba and the group he had brought with him. "Kill them!"

Her little army reacted immediately, each and every one of them pulling out glowing swords or pistols - but they were hopelessly outmatched by Kiba and the girl with white hair. Kiba pulled out his own sword, going seemingly toe-to-toe– no, winning, against half of the assembled cultists (because that was what this felt like to Izuku, a really big and really fucked-up cult), while the other half were getting their asses kicked by his friend.

"Rias Gremory, next heir to the House of Gremory, at your service!" The crimson-haired beauty announced gleefully, causing Izuku's abductor to gasp as she walked up to the stairs alongside the other girl that hadn't joined the fighting, "I believe you have something that I want - and I can't stand to see Fallen Angels acting in my territory. Akeno?"

The violet-haired girl (Akeno, he figured) nodded cheerfully. "Of course, President!"

She lunged forward at speeds that made him dizzy, only to be interrupted by Dohnaseek. "If anyone is intruding here, it's definitely you, Gremory," he sneered, "This is a church. You are in enemy territory, bitch."

Raynare snapped her fingers. "Mittelt! Kalawarner! Deal with her while I finish the ritual!"

Out of nowhere two more women appeared, with the first being a short blonde girl in a maid outfit and the second being an older woman with blue hair who donned what seemed like a lewd version of an office worker's attire. Both immediately attacked Gremory, and Izuku was forced to tear his eyes away from the unfolding fight as Raynare turned back to himself and Asia.

"I will have no more interruptions!" She shrieked, "You two will die, here and now, and I'll have your Gears all for myself!"

"What is a Gear?!" Izuku cried, "I don't have any Gear! Or power! I don't know why you want me, but–"

"Enough!"

Raynare slammed his head against the back of the cross he hung on. Black spots started to dance in his vision and his tongue felt like lead as she began to speak in her weird, unfamiliar language once again (if Izuku was more cognizant of the situation and not freaking out so badly, he would have realized it sounded vaguely like Latin).

Their crosses lit up once again. Asia gasped in pain, and it wasn't long until Izuku felt whatever it was she did.

It wasn't pretty. It felt like part of his soul was being ripped out of his body.

The chains that bound him shuddered as he fought like hell to break free - even as he felt his strength begin to wane. It was like a scalpel was being taken to his entire body and cutting as deeply and as painfully as it could, but Izuku couldn't focus on that. If he focused on the pain, it was over, because he could barely even think while trying to ignore it.

The air began to heat up around him.

Gremory and Akeno were still fighting those three people (who had all grown wings, somehow - the same wings Raynare bore), and Kiba and the other girl were still fighting with the mass of cultists down below. If he was going to get free he'd have to do it himself, but he didn't have any power to get free with, but that didn't matter because Izuku needed to get out of here it hurt so much he needed to be free–

The chains around Izuku burst into flames, instantly reduced to nothing but ash. He had less than a second to think before he was falling to the ground with no hope of catching himself, but the pain from face-planting onto the dirty floor was infinitely nicer than whatever was happening to his body moments ago.

His cross turned dark. Raynare didn't even seem to notice - she was too wrapped up in whatever her insane chanting was, and Asia's eyes had clenched shut in pain.

Izuku didn't bother dwelling on how he was free. That could come later. Now, he needed to run and–

No, he couldn't run. Not when Asia was right there, and not when he could still do something about it. He didn't know her very well - in fact, the girl was basically a complete stranger to him (and for all he knew, this whole thing could have been because of her. Maybe she wanted to be sacrificed?), but that didn't matter.

Izuku could never be a Hero.

But that didn't mean he could sit back and watch when somebody else needed help.

He pulled himself to his feet with a strength that he shouldn't have possessed, surging forward to wrap his hands around the chains at Asia's feet. Whatever that was that freed Izuku clearly wasn't going to happen again, so he had to try more conventional methods.

Unfortunately, Izuku wasn't very powerful. All he could really do was shake the chains noisily, grabbing Raynare's attention as she screeched in anger.

"YOU!" She screamed at him, a pale-red javelin of light appearing in her grasp, "You are proving far too annoying! Die!"

She flung the javelin at Izuku with speeds he couldn't even hope to dodge–

Before he could even finish his thought, it went straight through his chest.

"!"

Izuku gasped as he crumpled to his knees, pain overloading his entire body as blood erupting from the newly-formed cavity where the javelin had gone through him.

Asia gasped in horror, having received enough of a respite by Izuku's pointless distraction to open her eyes and watch as Raynare killed him. "Izuku!"

Her cry garnered some attention… not that Izuku was aware of that. In fact, he was barely aware of anything beyond the gaping hole in his body and the ice-cold chill that was running through him.

No mind was paid to the screams of the three winged people Raynare had ordered to fight for her as they were completely obliterated. Even if he wanted to, there was no way he could have moved his body enough to see Gremory or the others as they approached the top of the altar.

"Midoriya-kun!" Kiba shouted from below, horrified, "Oh, no…"

He couldn't react. Was this really it? Doomed to die as some sacrifice to whatever god Raynare and her cultists worshipped?

Considering the fact that he could barely even breathe anymore, it seemed likely.

"No!" Raynare cried, her devastated and angry tone piercing the veil of despair Izuku had crafted for himself, "This wasn't supposed to happen! You ruined it, you bitch! You ruined my moment! If I can't have Twilight Healing, nobody can!"

Izuku didn't know why her words called him to action like they did, or how he knew exactly what those words meant for Asia, or how he could suddenly move again, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that as Raynare lunged forward towards Asia with another sword of light in her hands, Izuku was there in a gust of wind.

Right in front of Asia.

Raynare nearly cut him in half. But he didn't scream. Or cry. Or fall down again.

Not until Gremory appeared behind her, that was. Izuku didn't even flinch as he was forced to watch his upperclassman literally evaporate Raynare with a burst of light.

After that, his job was done. His knees buckled as he fell to the ground, and he knew his time was up.

"Izuku!" Asia cried as her chains dissolved into nothingness, just like their master.

Someone rolled him onto his back. It probably would have hurt if Izuku could feel anything.

Through his hazy and rapidly-darkening eyes, he could see Asia leaning over him, tears dripping down her face as she reached for his hand. "Why…" she whispered, "Why would you do that for me?"

Even if he wanted to respond, he couldn't. Izuku didn't have an answer himself… at least, not one beyond 'My legs moved on their own'.

Asia just looked like she needed help.

He tried to smile, or at the very least show her that it was okay, but it probably didn't come out very well considering he still couldn't feel anything.

But that was alright. If his entire life had led up to this point, then it was worth it. All the bullying, all the pain, all the burns, all the suicide-baiting and long nights wondering if it was even worth it to wake up in the morning and not just take a leap of faith of the side of a building, all of that would have been worth it if it meant Izuku got to save a single person.

And it looked like he got his wish.

Izuku didn't even realize he was crying until Asia's hands cupped his face to wipe his tears away. He felt the cold sting of metal on his cheeks from the rings on each of her middle fingers, and he blinked in confusion as the blonde began to glow an ethereal green color - the same color as her eyes. His pain receded slightly from whatever she was doing, replacing the static void in his head with a gentle sense of peace, but that didn't really matter considering he was still nursing a hole in the middle of his chest and a cut in his side that went well over a foot through him.

It seemed like Asia realized that too. "No…" she whispered in horror, hands flying back up to her face in terror, "T-This can't be. I-I've never failed to heal someone…"

She glowed green again, but nothing happened. She tried it two more times before she started to scream, tears coming down even harder than before. "No!" Asia shrieked, "Please God, let me save him! PLEASE!"

The white-haired girl pulled her back from his body, and Izuku duly realized that she was covered in his blood now. Oops.

He'd have apologized if he could.

Kiba's form quickly took over the space above his head. He wondered how he wasn't dead yet - didn't long, drawn out deaths usually only happen to important people?

Izuku wasn't important. He had no goodbyes to receive from anybody here. He was nothing.

"I'm so sorry, Midoriya-kun," Kiba whispered, voice continuing on even as Izuku's vision grew dark for the last time, "If I had been faster– if I realized something weird just a little bit sooner–"

There was no more fanfare.

Izuku's eyes closed.

–

Rias's eyes were filled with a swirling myriad of emotions as she watched the boy she had ordered Yuuto to guard die. Regretfully, she knew that she was partly to blame - had she taken their opponents more seriously, perhaps Izuku Midoriya would have survived.

The blonde girl screamed even louder. "Help him!" She begged, "Please! That should be me! Is there anything any of you can do?! You're devils, aren't you? If Twilight Healing isn't enough then I'll gladly sacrifice my own life for his!"

Rias frowned softly, both at the green-haired boy's fallen form and the litany of tears being shed by both Yuuto and the user of Twilight-Healing. "There is a way. You don't need to surrender yourself for it, however."

She pulled out one of her final Evil Pieces, her mind made up long before this moment - a decision only cemented by the thought that she needed to take responsibility for her failure. "Izuku Midoriya…" Rias began softly, kneeling down to his side…

"Live for me."

—

A/N: Yeah he still dies. RIP! At least for this chapter - it's not very hard to see what happens next. This is a fun write, though it is unfortunate that I am trying to watch DxD for the plot while doing so lol. I like torturing Izuku (I promise things will, uh, eventually get better). Anybody figured out his Sacred Gear yet? It'll be revealed pretty quickly, but I'm curious to see if anybody can already tell.

Thanks to my beta Lugia for reading this (and supporting me writing a harem fic lol), it's not always easy!

Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you thought! See you next time!