The fifth match had already started. It had been Hagakure versus Aoyama, and Izuku was sure that Hagakure had this match in the bag. The two had been working together during their training to train Hagakure to not only refract the light around her, which she did passively, but to focus it on a target and warp light around her, effectively being her own flashbang and beacon. They had some success, and Hagakure was a quick learner, but they simply hadn't had enough time to get it up to the level of some other light manipulation Quirks in time for the Festival. It was still good though, and she still was going to win; Izuku was certain.
Aoyama had opened with a blast at Hagakure, but she had dodged under, the audience cheering for her move as she flashed them a wide smile. It continued on like that for about a minute, Aoyama unleashing his Navel Laser in a flurry of attacks at Hagakure, who dodged them all with ease. Hagakure was incredibly nimble, and had shown incredible control over her motor functions during her training. Part of her training was to become capable of moving so quietly as to not alert people to her presence, so that her invisibility could really mean anything.
About a minute into the fight, however, Hagakure stopped. Aoyama fired his Navel Laser at her again, but she didn't dodge. This time, she stood in the path of the beam of light, with a determined look on her face, and Izuku knew what Hagakure was planning.
Hagakure, as soon as Aoyama's Navel Laser got close to her, threw her hands out toward it, already having some light shimmering around them. Izuku had worked on this move with her, and Hagakure had made some impressive progress with the ability considering that she had learned it could be possible a week prior.
The beam of light began to bend slightly as it soared toward Hagakure, and she smiled, knowing she had it. Almost immediately after the bend, Aoyama's Navel Laser completely turned, missing Hagakure and morphing into a curve of light, spinning around Hagakure. She had taken to calling that part of her Quirk 'Warp Refraction', and Izuku liked it. It was accurate to the ability, and it had a nice ring to it, at least he thought.
Hagakure bent the Navel Laser around her, forcing it to go around her in circles, building up speed, until it became a halo of light around her, spinning around so fast that the head had joined up with the tail and it was a spinning disc of energy. After a moment of letting it build up, Hagakure threw her hands out, splitting the Navel Laser into two different beams that followed her hands.
The Navel Lasers converged back into a single bream, their glow intensifying for a moment before it shot out. The laser crossed the distance between Hagakure and Aoyama almost instantly, hitting the boy square in the chest.
Aoyama was sent flying back by his own Quirk's power, and he was sent out of bounds by the blast, not having moved from his starting position at the edge of the ring. Hagakure cheered, throwing up a peace sign to the audience, who cheered along with her. She looked happy to be getting so much positive attention, and Izuku felt glad he could help her in getting it. She really did deserve it as a potentially great Heroine in training.
The fight was over faster than Izuku was expecting, but it had been as easy to use Aoyama's Quirk against him as Izuku had thought for Hagakure. Aoyama was one of the best enemies for Hagakure to have, due to their complimentary Quirks, thought that relationship was fairly one sided. Izuku had thought that Aoyama had more fight in him than that, but apparently not.
Hagakure and Aoyama walked away from the ring, the latter holding his stomach with a pained expression, clearly in a considerable amount of pain due to overusing his Quirk. Izuku had overheard once that shooting out his Navel Laser for more than a second at a time hurt his stomach, which seemed like a very strange drawback for something that was a biological part of him. It would be understandable to Izuku if the negative effect of overtaxing his powers was something like overheating, or a decline of Quirk strength when used for long periods of time. Izuku also didn't understand how that limit was so low, only needing to be used for a second at a time before hurting Aoyama. That seemed completely impossible, considering that he had to have been training his body, his Quirk and his mind for a good deal of time before the entrance exam, where he had seemed confident to Izuku, the two having been put in the same Battle Centre.
When Hagakure sat back down in the stands, Izuku flashed her a bright smile, getting one from Hagakure in return. Izuku was fairly sure that Hagakure had literally begun to shimmer from the sheer amounts of joy she was experiencing, accidentally using the light warping aspect of her Quirk to make herself shine to reflect the light inside her as well.
Knowing the next match was going to be an interesting one, being Iida versus Yaoyorozu, Izuku started getting excited. The energy from his excitement eased the pain in his bones slightly, but did nothing to alleviate the building feeling of something being wrong that was building in his mind. It was like there was a pressure on his brain, but it was like a phantom. He knew it was there, he just didn't know if it was real.
Izuku quickly ran through the list of abilities that could lead both Iida and Yaoyorozu to victory, and it was looking like Iida was going to take the match. The gap between their combat skills was clear to Izuku, as he had dominated in the footage from their battle trial that he had gone back and watched a week ago. Izuku saw that he was an incredibly agile, flexible fighter, even without help from his Quirk, and he just didn't think Yaoyorozu could match his strength and mobility, even with her versatile Quirk.
It was a strange feeling, trying to keep his focus while feeling himself slowly slipping away from consciousness. He knew that he'd have to go to Recovery Girl if he didn't ration his energy, but he was so caught up in the festival. Izuku also knew that All Might knew there was something wrong; he'd seen it on his face. When he had said to not worry about the battle raging within him and enjoy the Festival, that had bothered Izuku. It was strange. Izuku decided that it was because All Might had been so excited about him announcing himself as the next Symbol, that he had been quick to play off the energy drain.
Izuku stood up, grunting as his low energy level made it a stressful task. He went to walk up the stairs to the exit of 1A's viewing segment, pushing off the seats with his hands, which still ached from the explosion of Blackwhip during his match with Shinso.
He walked out into the hall and spotted the bathrooms. Izuku knew that he needed to go to Recovery Girl's office, but he also felt the bile rising in his throat, threatening to come out at any moment. Deciding that the bathroom was a good enough stop for now, Izuku began to stumble toward it, feeling the weakness in his legs intensify with every step.
Entering the bathroom, Izuku saw that it was empty. All the stalls were open, and nobody was in there. Perfect. He went to the closest stall, locked the door and curled up on the seat, a heat in his chest increasing rapidly. Izuku almost cried out, but managed to control himself enough to not make any sound of pain, lest there be someone in there that tried to help him. He didn't know if he could control any outburst of power in the state he was in, so he didn't want to risk it.
Izuku felt like he was going to explode. This feeling that was quickly overwhelming him surely wasn't a good sign for the battle between One for All and All for One. It was like the heat that flooded into Izuku's body when he used One for All, except dialled up to eleven.
Soon, the heat subsided, and Izuku felt more able to stand. He did, and found that he was still a bit lightheaded, but could manage to walk. As he took a step, Izuku's head throbbed, and he fell to the ground, his face to the ceiling. He tried to stop it, but he had no more strength to give. Izuku's vision faded, slowly turning to black as he lost consciousness.
When Izuku came to his senses, he was in the vestiges' realm. He looked around, seeing the vestiges all crowded around him, just like his last visit. In front of him was All for One, still grinning like a madman, his dark lightning spreading through the misty realm. One for All's power was resisting him, but Izuku could tell that it was failing.
"Izuku! It has to be done now. I know we haven't had much time to discuss this, but this may be one of our last chances!" Yoichi yelled.
"Um, alright! How do I do this?" Izuku asked.
"Just let our power flow through you. It'll escape you, but don't fight it. Guide it toward All for One," Nana said, putting a hand on Izuku's shoulder.
"Alright," Izuku said.
Without warning, power began to flood into Izuku's body. He could feel it filling and strengthening him, his past tiredness disappearing and being replaced by an overwhelming power; One for All. He had never felt this much power, and wondered if this was what All Might felt every time he shifted into his muscular form. Izuku felt another hand touch his shoulder, and saw that Yoichi had put his hand on it, joining Nana's shining hand with his own.
One by one, each of the vestiges put a hand on Izuku's shoulders, some overlapping the others. Izuku felt like he could take on the world and win, that his power would never run out, that he was above everything everywhere, but he had to ground himself. Izuku took a deep breath, steadying himself as he looked at All for One, whose dark energy was still spreading throughout the vestige's realm.
Izuku held his hands out toward All for One, hoping to guide the energy within him toward his enemy. After a moment, lightning danced up and down Izuku's arms, sparking a bright green. Izuku recalled his body being surrounded by an aura of lightning during the Obstacle Race, the same color as this lightning, and reasoned that it must be a manifestation of One for All's power, the raw power being filtered out into the surrounding air.
Feeling a power building in him, Izuku waited. He saw All for One's sickeningly gleeful face, or what was left of it, and he let the power build. The lightning grew in intensity and brightness, scaling with the amount of power filling his body. As the power reached a fever pitch, Izuku felt Yoichi take his hand away. Slowly, each vestige took their hand away in the order of succession. Izuku suspected that it was because they had given all the power they could, each successor having more power to give than the last.
The last to take their hand away was the incomplete vestige of All Might, staying for a much longer time than the others. Izuku could've sworn he could see an eye manifest out of the wispy, smoky form, but put it on the strange lighting of the vestige realm.
Now filled with all of his predecessors' power, Izuku threw his hands forward, the lightning spiking as he did. The lightning flowed down his arms, flashing different colours before settling on green. Izuku pushed with all his might, trying to get the power to obey him, but it was unwieldy. It wanted to do what it wanted, not what Izuku wanted.
Giving his all, Izuku yelled, trying to get his power under control. He felt One for All settle slightly, and he took his chance. He pushed with everything he had, feeling the power submit to him and flow out of his hands, striking the ground near him before seemingly finding his target, and rushing forward.
The lightning struck All for One, colliding with his own energy, and a large flash of light blinded all of the One for All users, past and present. The light died down to let Izuku see that All for One had been shaken out of his corruption process by the lightning. Smiling, Izuku kept at it, sending more and more lightning his way as he heard the vestiges speak behind him.
Something broke off of All for One's body, flying away into the darkness of the vestige realm, and Izuku smiled, knowing his attack had worked.
"He's getting pushed back!" Lariat said.
"Yes, but is that enough?" Shinomori asked.
"Maybe. Let's see how Izuku fares," Yoichi said, placing his complete faith in Izuku.
Izuku felt his power draining out of him as the lightning flowed. It was slow, but noticeable. He kept pushing at All for One, who he could see was getting pushed back by the power of One for All. Seeing his attack working, Izuku just pushed harder, going further than he had ever gone with any of his Quirks and unleashing the true power of One for All.
All for One threw his hand out, Izuku's lightning blast colliding with it violently. All for One didn't move, though. He just stood there, his hand shielding him as he gathered his wits. He snapped his attention to Izuku after a moment, and grinned an evil, demonic grin.
The vestiges behind Izuku, namely Lariat and En, he thought, began to panic.
"Oh, man," Lariat said, in a rare show of fear.
"Calm down, Banjo. We ha" Shinomori said, narrowing his eyes at All for One.
All for One began to approach Izuku, shielding himself from the boy's blast with his hands. Izuku began to panic, pushing harder and harder and feeling his power deplete faster than ever. All for One reached him in no time, Izuku almost stumbling back at the man's sudden appearance in front of him.
"Izuku Midoriya. The ninth. The nexus point. Give me One for All, and I'll spare your life," All for One said, grinning like a madman.
"NEVER!" Izuku yelled.
Izuku quickly shut off the lightning blast, much to the vestiges' fright. He quickly repositioned his hands on either side of All for One's scarred head, making the power spark inside him once again as he unleashed One for All on the twisted shadow of a man. The blasts collided on either side of the Villain's head, making his sick grin twist into a pained scowl. Izuku bared his teeth, growling as he pushed his lightning blasts into All for One's head.
The demon groaned, pulling his hands to either side of his head, once more blocking the blasts. Izuku quickly stopped firing off his power, trying to figure out a way to get him for good. His planning was cut off by All for One raising both hands and throwing them down onto Izuku harshly, giving him no choice but to stop his thoughts and catch them, flooding his hands once again with One for All.
The two gave it their all, trying to overpower the other, but it seemed they were on even ground strength-wise. Izuku didn't believe that, as All for One was surely holding back at least some of his power so as to not kill him, as if he died, One for All would be lost forever. Even All for One didn't want that, longing for the power he had created by accident all those decades ago.
Izuku and All for One pushed against each other's hands, their arms sparking with their respective lightning. Izuku was stuck looking at the face of evil, grinning down at him like a fox about to have it's dinner. Izuku then felt something change. It was like his hands suddenly felt very cold, and he looked to see All for One's dark lightning spreading over his fingers, a black, inky substance crawling onto his hand slowly.
"Give in, Izuku Midoriya. There is no point in fighting me. You can't kill the devil!" All for One laughed.
"I'LL NEVER SUBMIT TO YOU!" Izuku cried, feeling the dark, sticky liquid spread further up his hand, reaching halfway up his fingers now.
"You know that you can not kill me. I'll simply come back stronger, like your failure of a mentor, All Might. What a worthless One for All user. He didn't even have a Quirk to pass on. What a waste," All for One said, grinning the whole time.
"What did you just say about All Might?" Izuku asked, his eyes wide.
He suddenly felt the power of One for All mix with something; anger. How dare this monster insult All Might like that? He was the greatest Hero Japan had ever known, the one to give him that potato of a head. How dare that thing have the audacity to call him worthless? How dare that monster insult the man that Izuku looked up to, the man that he wanted to be just like when he was older. His mentor.
Izuku pushed harder on One for All than he ever had, feeling the strain even in the vestige world. He felt more power fill him than ever before, the heat rising in his chest and spreading to his arms. Some of that energy, that power, spread to his head, and Izuku felt something change. He felt like a new rush of power had overtaken him, and he could do anything, just like he had when he first received this power.
The dark substance that had been crawling up his hands evaporated, the heat of One for All beginning to manifest outside of Izuku's body. He pushed back against All for One, actually getting somewhere this time. Suddenly, though, his head began to throb, something inside him aching. He needed to move, but he didn't know how or where. It was this overwhelming urge to do something that he wasn't doing, but he didn't know what that something was.
Behind him, Izuku could hear Shinomori gasp lightly. It was strange, but he felt more connected to Shinomori now, and that was when he realized; it was Danger Sense. This ache in his head was Danger Sense's manifestation, the urge to move was his new Quirk telling him that something was coming.
Looking around, Izuku spotted it. A small piece of flesh that he remembered breaking off All for One's main body as their battle had commenced, and it seemed that it was his plan to catch Izuku off guard with it. Too bad that he hadn't accounted for Danger Sense, something that it looked like All for One himself was realizing as Izuku ducked his head as the piece of flesh missed and was assimilated back into All for One's body.
"Get out of my mind, All for One!" Izuku cried, pushing so hard with One for All that he thought he was going to break.
"You're going to be mine, little brother!" All for One screeched.
"Wrong!" Izuku shouted back, finalizing his plan.
Izuku collected his power in just his hands, a higher concentration giving him more strength than ever before. He quickly used this burst of strength to pull his hands, and All for One's by proxy, and made an opening to strike. All for One broke his hands out of their lock with Izuku's, but it was too late. With all of his power now collected in one fist, Izuku roared, his power causing a harsh burning sensation in his hand.
The boy punched, sinking his fist into All for One's chest as lightning pulsed through every part of him before settling in his fist with the rest of his power. All for One grimaced, the flesh of his chest caving in pitifully. Izuku grinned, feeling his fist go right through the monster.
"I'm going to beat you!" Izuku screamed, feeling All for One's form flicker and change against his fist.
All for One's body started to fade from the vestige realm, letting Izuku know that his efforts had been rewarded. It started with his head, the man's remains of his face turning into mist as he slowly turned to black smoke. In a moment or two, he was gone, the only sign that he had even been there being the pained and tired look on Izuku's face.
He turned to the vestiges, not even realizing that his legs had become solid. Izuku grinned, seeing the vestiges happily looking at him. He tried to speak, but the drain of energy after the extreme adrenaline high of the battle was taking hold. Izuku fell, but was caught by Nana, resting his head on her thigh as he laid on the ground.
"I did it," Izuku said, his voice breaking.
"You did. We're proud of you, Izuku," Nana said, smiling softly.
It was at times like these that Nana really did remind Izuku of his mother. They had the same smile, the same motherly aura. He missed her. He did. He just couldn't face her while she still blamed him for the things she did. That was his decision. Now, though, Izuku was really missing having a mother. He needed someone to cry to, and he didn't feel like he could do that here.
"How do you feel?" Nana asked.
"So … tired," Izuku said, feeling all of his previous exhaustion returning.
"That's okay. You can let out anything you want here. We won't judge you," Nana said, her beautifully loving smile getting Izuku to relent.
The dam broke, and Izuku let all of his frustration, exhaustion and pent up emotion out in a warrior-like scream into the air. He didn't care now that he knew the vestiges weren't going to judge him for showing this kind of weakness. He was taking his chance while he could, while none of his friends could see him. He didn't know when he had started to hug Nana, but he wasn't going to stop.
After a while, Izuku broke away from Nana's oddly comfortable embrace, turning toward the other vestiges while wiping the tears off his face.
"W-What happens now?" Izuku asked.
"All for One is not dead, just down. He'll be back, and we'll need to be ready," Yoichi said.
"Right. Us vestiges will be preparing for his next move, but you should get some rest, Izuku. You need it," En, the sixth, said.
"Right. I'll make sure to get some rest, but before that I need to talk to you, Shinomori," Izuku said, turning to the fourth user.
"You manifested my Quirk. I felt it, too," Sinomori said, smiling slightly.
"I think that Danger Sense will be one of my most important Quirks, though one of the most dangerous," Izuku said, not meeting Shinomori's eyes.
"That's very likely. My Quirk is dangerous. Not in the sense that it can hurt a lot of people, but because of One for All's supercharging effect on Danger Sense, you will always be able to sense the danger around you. The person getting mugged a few streets away. The woman being assaulted in the alleyway a block away. The child that gets hit by their father because they won't stop crying. These were things I had to know about, but couldn't interfere in. You'll have it much worse with the more powerful version of my Quirk," Shinomori warned.
Izuku nodded shakily. He wondered how long it would take to leave the vestige realm this time, but as he focused on feeling something change, he realized that he was already leaving. His hands had turned to smoke, and the change was spreading throughout his body slowly, a smoother process because of the newfound stability of the realm.
Nodding to the vestiges, Izuku returned to his body.
He was in Recovery Girl's infirmary with All Might beside him. Izuku looked over, and almost scared the man out of his skin. All Might smiled, getting to see his successor awake again. He was clearly worried, having been wearing a very tense expression before he had realized Izuku was looking at him.
"All Might," Izuku laughed.
"Izuku! Are you alright? What happened? Was this something to do with One for All?" All Might asked in a rapid flurry.
"I'm alright. I was … pulled into the vestige realm again," Izuku said, pausing to readjust himself on the bed.
"Why?" All Might asked.
"We fought All for One," Izuku said, as if he didn't just battle the biggest supervillain of all time.
"Did you … win?" All Might asked hesitantly.
"Yes. For now," Izuku said, smiling softly.
All Might visibly relaxed, sinking into his seat with a satisfied groan. He soon began laughing, and celebrating to himself that Izuku was still alive.
Izuku was more concerned about something else, however.
"Who brought me here? How long have I been out?" Izuku asked.
"Oh, Young Bakugo found you in the bathroom, passed out, and brought you right here. That was two hours ago," All Might said, freezing up at the question.
"Bakugo? What the … TWO HOURS?!" Izuku said, his eyes feeling like they were bulging out of his face.
"Yes. You were eliminated from the tournament, unfortunately. I think that can be excused, though, because you were battling AFO. I'm so proud of you, Izuku. You've done something I could only dream of for most of my life," All Might said.
Izuku felt disappointed. It was natural, he supposed. He had been so excited for the Festival, for his chance to show the world that he was here, and that he was going to be the greatest Hero Japan had ever known, but now he couldn't do that. He was out, and it was his own fault. Maybe not his own fault, but he was still upset.
"What happens now?" All Might asked.
"The vestiges said that they're going to figure that out on their own. They told me to rest until then," Izuku said, kind of bummed about that.
"As you should. You've just been through a lot," All Might said, laughing softly.
"Yeah. First, the Festival. Then, AFO's first appearance. Then, the energy drain due to AFO's leeching. Then, AFO's second appearance. Then, having my Quirks shut off. Then, AFO's final battle. Unlocking Danger Sense, and then the rest of the battle. That's a lot for one day," Izuku said, truly realizing how much had happened.
"Danger Sense?! That's great!" All Might said.
"Yeah. I have a feeling it'll take a lot more focus than the other Quirks to keep it under control, though. Shinomori told me that I'll be aware of almost every bad thing happening around me for the foreseeable future. That's … not great," Izuku said.
"Oh. I'm sorry, Izuku. I didn't mean to-" All Might tried.
"It's fine. I know you mean well. You always will. You're All Might," Izuku said, smiling softly.
Izuku looked over to the screen, now showing the results of the Sports Festival in its entirety, Bakugo having won against Todoroki in the final. Some replays showed some truly impressive attacks from them both, with Todoroki projecting massive ice walls and Bakugo detonating them all with massive explosions. It would have been magnificent to see it in person.
The door opened, and Recovery Girl walked in, her hand waving to someone that Izuku couldn't see. She paused when seeing him awake, and her grimace turned into something like relief. She turned back to the person that Izuku couldn't see with a small smile on her face.
"I guess you can see him," she said, and a crowd of voices shouted out.
Shinso, Tsu, Iida, Hagakure, Yaoyorozu and, strangely, Bakugo walked through the door, one after the other. Iida and Hagakure were the most animated and vocal about their worry for him, but he could tell that Shinso and Tsu were even more worried, their hands having been shaking when they walked in. Bakugo was scanning Izuku's body, it seemed, for injuries or bandages. Yaoyorozu simply smiled brightly at Izuku, who smiled back.
"Hey, guys," Izuku said with a small wave.
"Midoriya! We were worried about you when you just disappeared!" Iida said.
"We thought you might have been kidnapped by Villains or something!" Hagakure said, trying to stop tears forming in her eyes.
"Villains would have to be stupid to kidnap a student of UA!" Bakugo laughed.
"Yeah. It's not like they have his name, face and Quirk now or anything," Shinso said.
"I agree. The Festival seems like kind of a bad idea when you think about it," Tsu said.
"How so?" Iida asked.
"A whole slew of Villains could just … watch the Festival every year for updates on how the Heroes of the future are progressing. They have our names and faces, they get to see the strengths and weaknesses of our Quirks, and they can get it all for free," Shinso said.
"With how universally loved the Festival is, I doubt they'd just stop hosting it, though they could dial back how many people have access to it," Tsu added.
"Like only letting people who physically pay for a ticket watch it," Shinso said.
"Exactly," Tsu agreed.
"Those are good points," All Might said, almost unconsciously.
Attention turned to All Might, still in his true form. Izuku panicked, but quickly remembered the cover story the two had worked on. He cleared his throat and turned back to his friends.
"Oh! This is my personal trainer, Mr. Yagi," Izuku said, giving All Might a look that said 'please realize what you've done'.
"Yes! I've heard very good things about all of you," All Might said, wanting to be anywhere but there.
"Oh, hello!" Hagakure said, quickly cheering up.
"You must be a very good trainer if you helped Midoriya develop the skills he has today," Iida said, too deep in thought for his own good.
Bakugo simply stared at All Might, as if he was trying to put something together. Izuku knew that the blond wasn't stupid, and that if he was allowed any more time to look at All Might's face, clothes and hair, he'd realize who he was. That was bad.
Recovery Girl saved Izuku and All Might, and to an extent Bakugo, from his realization, though, ordering everyone out in order for Izuku to properly rest. He swore that he'd respect the old woman for the rest of his days, even if she was long gone. Izuku felt such admiration that he almost started to pray, but thought that was a little too far for where they were in their relationship, so didn't do that.
The rest of the day was spent asleep for Izuku, having been claimed unconscious soon after everyone had left. His dreams that night, for the first time in a long time, were actually pleasant.